Why These Two by Jackie Ivie

slammed on the brakes, killed the engine leaving the keys in the ignition. One hand slapped off the headlights while the other hit the Dead Man switch, cancelling battery activity. That way they’d still have vehicle power when they needed it.
    “We bring an Electro-Magnetic Pulse generator?” she asked.
    “Three of them.”
    He reached through the seat gap and yanked a box the size of an old video recording camera from his duffle bag before shoving out his door. Reika didn’t bother with hers. She skimmed out the window and hovered, waiting. Roger’s mouth opened. She’d forgotten. He was a newer member of the Vampire Assassin League.
    “Night goggles?” she asked when all he did was stare up at her.
    Another spate of gunfire came from beyond sight. Reika closed her eyes in thankfulness. That had to mean Darryl was alive still. Or they wouldn’t be shooting. She watched Roger do a quick check through his pockets, pull a pair of goggles from somewhere near his backside, and slip them over his head with one hand. The other still held the EMP generator.
    “You ready?” he asked.
    “I’m a vampire, Roger. I’m always ready.”
    “Oh. Right.”
    He grinned. The guy had really nice teeth, more befitting a Hollywood leading man than a mercenary trying to blend in. If he went underground he’d probably have to darken that smile with something.
    “On the count of five, then. Four. Three…”
    On three he clicked a switch on the missile. On one, he heaved it well down the tunnel in front of them. Toward the battle sounds. On zero, the box exploded, blasting the area with a quick flash of brilliant white, followed by a dark red, and then complete blackness as everything electrical checked out. Permanently.
    Reika swooped down and grabbed Roger’s collar and raced along the corridor. She’d have asked but she didn’t have time for niceties. Nor did she have time to wait for him to catch up. Other than a quick intake of breath, he didn’t react to being lifted and flown. Good recruit. Akron really knew how to pick them. She set him on his feet at the entrance to a cavernous space, probably used at one point for building something like the B-2 Bomber for the Third Reich. Rows of nothing but dust graced most the walls, although behind a wire enclosure she could see a good cache of weapons. Old school types. She didn’t check. She didn’t care. All she wanted was Darryl.
    She homed in on a bullet-ridden wreck of a truck almost dead center in the space, tilted due to the flat tires on the right side. Two dead Hunters lay sprawled on the concrete beneath the open back door. A quick glance inside revealed more dead bodies. Reika slammed the door with a vicious motion that took it off the hinges. The crash as it fell was loud, but before that happened she was on her hands and knees, looking beneath the vehicle.
    It was empty.
    “Darryl?”
    The whisper carried every bit of her worry and yearning, and something more: fright.
    “Right here, Love.”
    A moment later, she was in his arms, her legs wrapped about his hips, her lips slammed to his. Wonder opened up and washed over her. And the very next second she pulled from him and burst into tears.
    “Whoa. Reika. Love.”
    Darryl put his forehead against hers and tightened his hold, hugging her against bare skin. His voice soothed. Ripples of air from each whisper touched her earlobes. Wool scratched at her sides from his jacket. He didn’t even wear a shirt? With the effort she’d gone through over his wardrobe? The thought helped temper her wayward emotion. She sniffed.
    “Athelrod…will you look at that?”
    “What?”
    “Our Reika. Sobbing.”
    “I hear it’s a wonderful thing, Ethelstone.”
    “What is?”
    “The mating thing.”
    “Yeah. So they say. It will never happen to us. Right?”
    “Right.”
    “You even think of taking a mate and leaving me alone, and I’ll challenge you. Blood feud. Got it?”
    “Yeah. And right back at you.”
    “Aw.