Excerpt from "Seducing the Darkness" by Shiela Stewart

“I need to see some I.D.”

Nodding, Trinity curled her fingers around the spike, then in one quick motion, drilled it into his chest, right over his heart. He had only a moment to show his shock before he crumbled into a pile of dust. “There’s my I.D.” Rolling her shoulders, Trinity tucked the spike in her belt loop, then double checked to make sure the large metal cross and the jug of holy water were still intact.

Slinging the pack over her shoulder, she yanked open the door.

The sound was deafening, and for a race that didn’t have to worry about losing their hearing, they enjoyed their music loud.

Stealthily, she moved through the crowd, the vampires and demons amongst her moving about to the music, barely noticing her. As she stepped up to the DJ’s pit, she pulled the spike from her belt loop and shoved it into his chest before he could speak. Still using the spike, she jabbed it into the digital player, putting a stop to the punk music it had been playing.

“Hey!” someone shouted.

“Trust me; I’m doing you all a favor. That music is crap. Now, who wants to tell me why Chaos wants to raise the king?” Prepared for the backlash, she whipped the crossbow from her back and aimed it, ready to kill. “Go ahead; I’m itching for another kill.”

“You’re not welcome here, Trinity.”

Her eyes shifted to where the voice came from and she saw a tall, gangly vampire dressed in a god-awful yellow floral shirt and red jeans. “Do I know you?”

“I’ve heard about you.”

“Well, since we don’t know each other, you’ll refrain from using my name.” With that said, she pulled back the bow, and shot the arrow at the badly dressed moron and watched as he turned to dust. “Now, I’ll ask again. Who’s going to tell me why Chaos wants to raise the king?”

“Why are you doing this?”

She turned and saw a young woman, terrified, clinging to a tall, broad man beside her. She was human. “Because, I was bored. Go home, honey. Trust me, you won’t like sucking blood for the rest of your life. Now, anyone else?”

“Chaos has his plan, and you’re not part of it,” someone shouted from the crowd.

“Shut up!”

“Really, and why is that?”

“Because, the darkness will be permanent.”

“Shut up.” Turning, the vamp pulled out a knife and slashed the demon’s throat, putting an end to anything more he might have said.

“Hmm, so he plans on making it dark. Do explain more.” She already knew most of it but she hoped someone else would provide more.

“Screw you, Trinity,” another vampire spouted.

“Now, now, that’s not very nice.” She heard the door latch and her eyes shifted to the back of the room to Dante as he entered the room. “Shit.” What the hell was he doing here?

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She didn’t turn to Basil as he appeared beside her, but instead, made her move into the crowd. “Saving an innocent life.” She’d seen the looks on the vamps’ faces when they’d noticed who’d entered, and she knew just what they were thinking. Fresh meat. Hooking the crossbow over her shoulder, she pulled out her spike, and another from her pack and began stabbing with both hands as she raced to Dante. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Basil turn into a wolf. She could hear his teeth ripping at the flesh of those he attacked. She could see Dante pull something out of his jacket, then saw the vamp turn to dust before him. So the guy could protect himself, great, but that didn’t mean she was going to stop helping him. “What the hell are you doing here?” she asked sharply as she killed another vampire right beside him.

“Following you. Left,” he warned her as another came at them.

With a flick of her wrist she turned him to dust as well.

“Idiot!” Grabbing hold of Dante’s arm, she jerked him towards the door, and hopefully, to safety. She could hear Basil chomping away at flesh behind her and figured he could take care of himself. He usually did.

“Do you want to get yourself killed?” she yelled at Dante the instant they were at the surface.
“I know how to take care of myself.” His eyes went a little wider as he glared at her. “You’re one of them.”

She licked her pointed teeth before speaking. “How do you know about my kind?”

Dante’s head jerked to the door as it opened, his stake ready for the kill. Before him, a vicious blood thirsty wolf appeared, blood dripping from his mouth. He stepped in front of Trinity to protect her. “I’ve got you, don’t worry.”

Trinity frowned, shaking her head. “I don’t need protecting, pal. That’s just Basil. Change back, Basil, before this guy stabs you.”

Dante gasped as Basil transformed into a human.

“What the hell?”

“I ought to smack some sense into you. What the hell were you thinking, going in there half cocked, demanding answers?” Basil shouted at her, getting right in her face.

She felt Basil’s fury float over her like hot waves of air and shrugged it off. “I didn’t go in there half cocked, I came prepared.”

His eyes drifted to the crossbow at her side. “A crossbow, a fucking crossbow? Jesus, Trinity, are you that stupid?”

“Watch it, pal,” she warned him, spike ready.

“He was a wolf.” Dante managed in a low voice, staring at Basil in amazement.

“Great!” She threw her hands in the air, turning to Dante. “Snap out of it, okay.” She smacked his face good and hard and was glad when she saw the anger erupt. “Why the hell were you following me?”

“I was curious where you were going. I came by…well, we won’t get into that now. You’re a vampire,” he said with a hint of shock in his voice.

“You brought a civilian? Jesus, Trinity, you are stupid,”

She turned sharply on Basil. “I didn’t bring him, he followed me. What are you, deaf? He just told us that. And if you call me stupid one more time, I’ll make sure you never use that dick again.”

“I should have known. I never saw you in the daytime, always at night. And that night, when we met up and I kissed you, I thought you felt a little…cold. No disrespect.”

“He’s the one? Jesus, this is the guy?” Basil said with hurt in his voice, as he eyed Dante suspiciously.

“I can’t deal with this shit now.” Flicking her head, the tail of her hair barely missing Basil’s face, Trinity stormed off.

“You’re the one she slept with,” Basil responded in a threatening tone.

“Let it go, Basil,” Trinity warned, turning back to him.

She didn’t like the tone in his voice or that he was close to finding out the truth.

Dante’s eyes went wide. “What? No, no, we didn’t sleep together. I want to, but she—” Basil growled and Dante swallowed hard. “Who are you?”

Basil changed into his vampire form and took a step towards Dante. “Your worst nightmare.”
“Yeah?” Dante stood a little taller, facing the menace before him, stake ready.

“Yeah,” Basil challenged, baring his fangs.

“Stop it! Jesus, what the hell is with men? Give them a dick, and they think they rule the world.”

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