The odds are stacked against her--just how she like it.... After the Revelation, when Vampires around the world came forward and disclosed themselves to the world, the Hunters and Guardians that had fought in the shadows to defend humanity were also exposed—and hunted down, enslaved, destroyed, and sent into hiding. Jo McReynolds, the daughter of the most powerful Vampire Hunter to ever live, continues to slay bloodsuckers in the night. After the mysterious disappearance of her mother and a series of conflicts with the rest of her family, Jo is out on her own, and that’s fine with her. Because she doesn’t need anyone but herself. But the others need her. When her team gets a tip as to the whereabouts of the Vampire responsible for the disappearance of Jo’s mom, her family wants her back. No one can kill bloodsuckers like Jo McReynolds. Saying she’s sorry and coming back to the fold will be difficult, and she’s not sure she even wants to go—but finding this Vampire might reveal what really happened to her mother, so Jo accepts. With Jo as part of the team, can they track down the Vampire and discover what happened to her mother? Is it possible to rid the earth of Vampires once and for all and restore the Hunters and Guardians to their former glory—or will Jo and her team end up captured or destroyed like so many of their colleagues?
Lihat lebih banyakJo McReynolds brought her motorcycle to a stop outside what she could only assume was supposed to be a gas station of some sort, though by the looks of it, the establishment hadn’t been used for that purpose for at least the last few years. Trash overflowed out of the garbage receptacles on either side of the door. The lights inside flickered through dirt-covered, smudged windows, competing with lightning in the distance to illuminate the cracked asphalt parking lot and the corroded gas pumps out front. She put her kickstand down, checked her weapon was still strapped securely to her back, and swung her leg over the seat.
This would’ve been easier if she had brought a Guardian with her, but most of the time, Jo preferred to work alone, especially in the last year or so when the situation with her so-called team had gone from bad to worse. It was hard to believe there had ever been a time when Vampires lurked in the shadows, and Hunters and Guardians were able to keep an ignorant human population out of harm’s way, but Jo did vaguely remember what that had been like. She was barely fifteen when all of that had changed. Now, she was more of an outlaw than the bloodsuckers she hunted.
She put those thoughts aside as her boots crunched over broken glass. She needed to be quiet if she was going to have any element of surprise, though she had no idea whether or not the Vampires she had caught wind were staying here were capable of sniffing her out. A churning in her gut let her know she wasn’t alone, that the phantoms were inside the rickety building. More than one of them, though she didn’t know exactly how many, would await her entry. She’d have to be quick in order to get rid of them and flee the scene before the authorities showed up. Vampire Hunting was illegal, and the last thing Jo wanted was to end up in jail--again.
Her weapon of choice was a modified Glock. It had a built in silencer, and the barrel was elongated so that the velocity of the silver bullets she fired would penetrate Vampire bone and flesh deeper and quicker than anything on the market. These bullets were different, too. Since silver bullets had been outlawed in ’42, just two years after the first Vampire was elected president, she’d relied on a secret black market of former LIGHTS members to get her what she needed. Sometimes the bullets worked; sometimes she had to pull her knife and end things the messy way.
Cameras likely wouldn’t be a problem here, though they were an obstacle she had to account for. It was obvious this old building had no exterior surveillance system, and she doubted there were working cameras inside either. Still, her fingers automatically went to a device in an interior pocket of her jacket, and she pressed a button that would send out a signal meant to interfere with any video recording or transmissions. Major Christian Henry might be a nutcase, but he was good at inventing the tools necessary to combat the growing threat. And despite the rumors she’d heard about the Major’s past, Jo figured it was as much her own parents’ fault Henry had lost his mind as anyone else’s.
“Where are you?” Her brother’s voice in her head was an invasion of privacy Jo wished she could turn off. At least they no longer had the annoying video capabilities they’d had before the Revelation, back when the Intelligence Assistance Communicator was fully-functioning. Now, it was more of a faint phone call one received directly into their head, rather than a multi-dimensional technological device that could allow members of LIGHTS to coordinate movements thousands of miles away from each other. Since the US government, as well as several other nations, were purposely jamming any signals sent over the frequencies the IACs were designed to use, they were lucky if they worked at all. Most of the time, it was just an annoying blip in Jo’s eye that allowed her to see the time without looking at her watch. In other countries, they were still fully functioning, but not in this part of Colorado.
“I’m at home, nuking a Hot Pocket,” Jo replied, not at all interested in telling her nosy older brother what she was up to. As far as she knew, he was still a couple of states away, back in Kansas City, trying to figure out a way for their team to reestablish itself. It was a nice thought, one their father was passionate about, but Jo had given up hope the day President Vincent Crimson—not his given name—took office. She’d taken off a few weeks later, headed west, to where Vampire Hunting was slightly safer thanks to the lower human population that had been a direct result of the Free Choice movement, and hadn’t looked back.
“I know you’re not home,” Cadon replied as Jo approached the front door of the convenience store, her weapon drawn.
“How do you know?” She readied herself for entry, thinking she’d kick through the door and start shooting as soon as the first bloodsucker showed itself.
“Because I’m standing in your living room.”
“Shit,” Jo mumbled, hoping it didn’t transmit. “Why are you in my house?”
“Why are you not in your house? Jo are you on a hunt?”
She had no time to answer that question. Movement on the other side of the dirt-streaked glass let her know she’d been spotted. Ignoring her brother, Jo raised a black boot waist high and kicked through the glass door, the strength from one blow knocking the steel frame in, bending the setting, and sending a spray of glass shards flying into the air that covered the floor all the way back to the soda machines in the far corner.
“Can’t talk now,” Jo said, flinging herself through the opening, her weapon already lighting up the area between herself and rows of food stuffs with a soft blue glow. “I’ll be home soon.”
“Son of a bitch,” Cadon muttered, but Jo was too busy aiming at Vampires to hear him. A flurry of motion in front of her let her know she was in for more than she’d bargained for, but she wasn’t concerned. Jo McReynolds had never faced a Vampire she couldn’t take on, and if this night proved to be the first, she wasn’t concerned about that either.
How Christian went about opening the portal, Jo wasn’t sure. It was like he cast a magic spell of some sort, though, when Scott asked him how he had done it, all Christian said was, “Science.” The next thing she knew, there was a wavering light in the wall of the black tunnel. An orange boundary grew brighter around the edges, and then inside of that, there was a moving orange light that seemed like a flickering fire in the distance. It was slightly different than the portal they’d come through, but it was close enough, and she was in a hurry to get her mother home where she belonged.Christian went through first, followed by Cadence, Cassidy, and Scott. Ryker followed him, and Zane insisted that Jo go ahead of her. But she grabbed hold of his hand to make sure that he didn’t get left behind. If he couldn’t come through the opening for some reason, she was staying, too,
“Do you want to hold your mom’s hand?” Jamie asked Mallory as she lay on the operating table in his office. Cadon couldn’t believe how quickly everything was beginning to look like it used to. Even with the American government under collapse and citizens taking it upon themselves to hunt down Vampires and dispatch them, despite the laws that were still on the records, furniture, and other supplies were not that hard to find if one knew where to look–apparently.“Yeah, I’d like to hold her hand,” Mallory replied. She was so nervous, Cadon could see her shaking from his spot behind Jamie and slightly to the Healer’s left. Annastasia was standing on her daughter’s other side and had no problem taking her hand.“It’ll be fine,” Jamie assured her. Cadon had lost count of how many times he&
The angry monsters were coming at them, and Jo, Zane, Scott, and Cassidy were outnumbered at least ten to one. The chances of them being able to shoot all of the monsters dead before any of them died were slim to none.Thankfully, Cassidy didn’t have to shoot the monsters in order for her to get them out of their way. As Jo and Zane worked on shooting them, Cassidy used her powers to create a bubble around the monsters, one they couldn’t break through. Jo held her fire, afraid she might do something to mess Cassidy’s plan up. The men followed suit. The monsters were contained, but it wasn't clear how long they would stay that way, and they were still blocking the group from reaching the door, the only means of escape.For now.Cassidy directed Jo, Scott, and Zane to move behind her. “Get out
The penthouse was far quieter than Cadon had ever experienced before. At least, he couldn’t remember a time when his previous home wasn’t buzzing with noise of some kind. Whether it was his parents talking and laughing or loud music coming from his sister’s room, noise always filled the space. Now, he was sitting on a foreign sofa in a room that was painted the wrong color and had no decorations on the wall, and all he could think about was whether or not any of his family members would ever be in this home with him again.He’d decided to stop sitting in Christian’s office after a couple of hours of waiting for Jo to come back through the portal with his mom. It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in either his sister or his mother. It was just… Ashley had told him the room was finished, and he’d needed to see it.
Over her twenty-five-year-long lifetime, Jo had had to go to lots of places she would’ve rather never visited. She could think of several. The opera. A friend’s piano recital. The principal’s office. A cave full of bat poop. The gates of hell.Yep, through the doorway that led to hell had to be the least favorite place she’d ever gone that she had no choice but to travel to.Once they crossed through the doors, everything changed drastically, which was a shock to Jo because she thought the portal already seemed so much like hell itself. These tunnels that led down to the depths of despair were even more terrifying and lonely than anything she’d ever experienced before.“Are you getting a signal from Cass on your IAC?” Scott asked as Jo tried to keep her focus. All arou
Sitting in Annastasia and Mallory’s living room--again--Cadon tried to stay quiet and let Jamie and Ashley answer all of the questions the girl had. Plenty of questions popped out of her mouth as they were talking about the pluses and minuses of becoming a Hunter. Mallory’s biggest concerns seemed to be actually having to fight Vampires and the pain that she would have to undergo in order to turn herself into a Hunter.“I have a medicine I will give to you after I give you the first shot, the Transformation serum,” Jamie was explaining. “I can’t give it to you until two minutes after the first shot, but most people don’t have a reaction until after those two minutes have passed anyway. For most people, the first Transformation shots aren’t painful at all. When some LIGHTS team members have chosen to have a second Transformation shot, later in their career, so
Standing alone in the tunnel with no way of reaching the hole her mother had just disappeared through was more terrifying to Jo than she was willing to admit. Just a split second after her mother’s feet were gone through the opening, her heart started hammering in her chest, and she felt like she was going to throw up. But she took a second to assess the situation and reminded herself that she was okay. Lots of people knew where she was.That didn’t mean they’d be able to get her out.She knew her aunt could float her out, though. At least she hoped she would be able to. The thought that her powers might not work through the floor made Jo nervous. She took some deep breaths and waited.Only a few seconds had passed, but the panic was already there. “I trust you, Mom,” Jo whispered. &ldq
Cadon wandered back over to the building where he thought he’d find Jamie and Ashley. He just hoped he didn’t run into them making out again. Even though they didn’t look old, they were still his friend’s parents, and that was kinda gross, sort of like walking in on his own parents making out.Not that that would ever happen again.He pushed the thought aside. Sometimes it was hard to remember that his dad was gone. He just hoped that his sister was having some luck locating their mom.Cadon entered the building and heard voices coming from the office on the left right inside the door. Jamie’s office. The door was open, so he stuck his head in. Ashley and Jamie were sitting across from a couple he didn’t recognize. The male looked familiar for some reason
Jo could hardly believe that she was walking alongside her mother. She kept wanting to quiz the being beside her to see if she really was Cadence Findley McReynolds, or if this was some sick joke played on her by the Vampires. Maybe this was a demon that happened to look like her mom. Maybe it was a Vampire that someone as powerful as Holland was able to make look like her mom. It was just… surreal.“Do you know where we’re going, honey?” Cadence asked. “I’ve been up and down this corridor lots of times.”“You have?” Jo was surprised to hear that. “Yes, I think I know how to get out.”“Yeah, for the first… I don’t know how long… I kept trying to figure out how to get out, but after a while, I just sort of gave up, I guess. H
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