Born in Fire (Demon Days, Vampire Nights World Book 1)(16)

I INFORMED the captain that I’d meet with the vampires, and no more than an hour later, after I’d scarfed down a quick meal of frozen food and secured the book in my safe, I received an email on my new computer regarding how to get to the Dungeon. Not having a printer, I wrote all the info down before strapping on my weapons.

I stepped out into the night with my game face on.

“Going to work after all, huh?” Mince wasn’t far from my porch.

“Are you stalking me?”

“Nah. A couple kids wandered into the cemetery. That old loon Smokey went in after them. I figured I’d watch from a distance to see if anything happened. Smokey probably thinks they’re witches or some shit. He’s nuts.”

I had no idea who Smokey was by name, but if he haunted the area, chances were I’d know him on sight. “I figured I’d get some game time in while I waited.” He held up his phone.

“You’re too old for computer games.”

“A person is never too old for computer games. I’m good, too. Those little ten-year-old bastards don’t know who they’re dealing with.”

“Watch my house,” I said, bouncing down the steps.

“Maybe,” he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes and started to jog. All my weapons bounced on my person, which was annoying, but I was too impatient to walk. That would give me time to think, and I didn’t want to talk myself out of that fifty grand and punching a smug vampire in the mouth.

This was a terrible idea.

“La. La. La. La. La,” I sang to myself, and ran faster.

I made it to the gate in no time and slowed as I approached the white, wavy line cutting vertically through the air. As a rule, I didn’t spend much time in the Realm. My mom had always warned me away from the watchful eyes of nosy magical people.

Summoning my courage, I pushed through. Electricity surged through me as the tear in the fabric of the universe checked my body for the pass: magic.

The black sky in New Orleans shifted to the burned-orange of dusk as I emerged in the Realm. A tiny breeze ruffled my hair, perfectly pleasant. A bench sat off to the side, meant for those with only a little magic. Crossing was extremely taxing for them, but not for me, so I hurried along my way.

Light gold filaments drifted through the nighttime air, swirling as I walked. My boots scraped the cobblestone pathway. Eternally blooming flowers lined the edges, the sweet smell and lovely colors adding to the pleasantness of the temperature.

I reached a fork, checked my directions, and took the road less traveled.

That made sense—no self-respecting person paid house calls to the vampires.

I was an idiot.

As far as I knew, the Realm was as expansive and diverse as the Brink.

The elves lived in a huge castle of some sort (I’d never seen it) surrounded by a metropolis, but there were also giant stretches of woods and wilds, and equally as many towns and villages. In parts, various groups of magical people lived together in relative harmony, compromising and adapting to everyone’s differences. In other parts, the magical groups more or less isolated themselves.

The other interesting thing about the Realm was the travel ways, which was the only reason I’d visited in the past. Minute for minute, time in the Realm was the same as the Brink, but the distances you could travel within that minute changed. In relation to the Brink, I could enter from a gate in New Orleans and exit in France within an afternoon if I chose the right paths.

Or it could take a whole day to go five miles at a fast run, something I’d learned the hard way.

In addition, some of the travel ways were magically enhanced to speed up travel within the Realm. You walked along as normal, but the towns and cities whipped by like you were in a train or fast car. It didn’t take me long to realize I was on one of the special paths. As I walked, turning occasionally, patches of wilds whipped by, shaggy and forlorn. The effect was mind-boggling. I didn’t see any gates leading back into the Brink, which was probably why it was a fast track, but it was still crazy. And though it felt like it took all night, light did not illuminate the horizon. Nor did either of the two moons shift in the sky.

No, I did not go to the Realm often. It freaked me out a little.

Nearing the end of the directions the captain had sent me, which had apparently been posted with the bounty notice by a vampire named Darius, I wound around a bend and found two things. The first was that the cobblestone path ended abruptly—as did the lovely flowers on the sides.

Clearly the magical path was finished. I was on my own.

The second item of interest was the massive cluster of rocks directly in front of me. Large and jagged, the smallest could crush a skull, and the larger ones loomed over me.

“’Scuze mer!”

The deep, booming voice made me jump. I whirled around and was confronted by a stone crotch. There was no definition or dangling bits—just an apex between huge stone legs. Looking upward, I gaped at the face of a giant man made of stone.

“How do you reproduce?” I blurted.

Of all the questions I could’ve asked.

A big hand swung down, swatting at me.

I dodged, whipping out my sword. “Good gracious, what’s your problem?”

“Move!” He swatted at me again.

“How about a please?” I stepped to the side, ready to dodge a kick.

“What you here from?”