Blood Sacrifice (Faith of the Fallen Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Wreathed In Flame

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Blood Sacrifice

  Faith of the Fallen: Book Two

  By Cassandra Sky West

  Copyright © 2016 Cassandra Sky West

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this work may be reproduced without the express, written permission of the author. For permission contact the author at www.cassandraskywest.com

  Cover by: Vivid Covers, learn more at www.vividcovers.com

  For the love of my life. You are my super power.

  ONE

  “Hey Detective Yu, Charlie sent up a booking for you, said it had to be done by someone in missing persons,” the uniform said handing him a manila folder. Yu had to glance up to catch his name.

  Yu sighed. It wasn’t the first, or the last one of the day. He felt an impending headache. The uniformed officer handed him the manila envelope with the case ID number on it.

  “Fitz, why don’t you give it to someone who hasn’t been here for eleven hours,” he asked. He accepted the file anyways. He knew the answer before he asked it.

  “Captain Terasov said all new booking go to you, my friend. I don’t know what you did to get on his bad side, but you’re on it.”

  He opened the folder to take a look. With any luck, he could get a statement from her and be home before dawn. He was almost done with his own cases for the day. He flipped through the file and a spike of irritation rushed through him.

  “Is this a joke? I don’t have time for this,” he said.

  Fitz had already disappeared into the crowded station. Normally they would be half as full this late at night. However, there was a lot of extra work and too many cases for the office. In all his time here, he had never seen it this busy. He held the image up to the light for a better look. Lens flare obscured most of the picture. He could make out the shape of a woman, and the board that said her name… Doe, Jane. That was all he needed, malfunctioning cameras and a person with no ID. It could take him hours to track down who she was.

  The interrogation room Fitz had put her in was on the north side of the department. It wasn’t anything special, one-way mirrors and recording equipment. Detained suspects were left in handcuffs that were connected to the table. Normally he wouldn’t interview a woman alone, but with all the open missing person's cases he couldn’t exactly get another body in there with him, there simply wasn’t anyone available. Which was why a detective was handling a booking instead of a desk Sargent.

  The booking jacket was surprisingly light on detail. The booking officer, Brown, brought her in to the desk Sergeant for…Jaywalking? Yu shook his head, he couldn’t fathom why anyone thought it was important to arrest someone for jaywalking. Usually, it was a simple ticket and off you go. There wasn’t a resisting lawful order charge, or anything else. The jacket didn’t even have her fingerprints. Someone did some damn sloppy work. As tired as he was, he would make sure that reprimands were forthcoming.

  File in hand, and a fresh cup of bad coffee in the other, he headed for Room Five. On a whim he decided to check the equipment, it didn’t pay to be alone with a female suspect and no witnesses. The Observation room held all the gear. He put his stuff down, flipped the switches, then looked into the room.

  She wasn’t the usual class of women who were often handcuffed to that desk. Wavy blonde hair fell down past her shoulders and framed her face. Bright blue eyes shined from behind her smoky makeup. On top of a white tank top she wore a brown leather jacket that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the cover of a fashion magazine.

  Calmly, she held her hands together, as if the cuffs didn’t exist. She glanced at the glass, her eyes tracked him, and for a moment he swore she could see him. He found himself staring at her. Suddenly, he shook his head. How long he had been looking at her he didn’t know. She certainly was beautiful, though. He caught himself thinking about her as he prepped the gear and turned it on. Every few seconds he would look in the mirror to catch a glimpse of her.

  He left the room. Something about her eyes… it got to him. He downed his coffee and tossed the paper cup into the garbage. He couldn’t shake the way her blue eyes looked at him through the mirror. He slapped himself lightly in the face a few times, “You’re tired, get it together.”

  He closed his eyes for a few seconds, inhaled several times sharply. The influx of oxygen cleared his mind. With his eyes open he entered the room with a smile. The smell of vanilla washed over him. It was pleasant and subtle enough not to make him flinch. Her dark red lips parted to show snow white teeth as he sat down. Her smile was pleasant, to say the least. She had full lips to match the rest of her. John couldn’t help but muse what she would look like in something less modest.

  “Hello,” he muttered as he shuffled paperwork and forced himself to stare down at the threadbare file. Stalling gave him time to get his act together as well as putting the suspect on the defensive.

  “I’m Detective John Yu. Your name on the file obviously isn’t accurate. Can you clear that up?” He pulled out his pen and clicked it on as he put the tip to the paper. He forced himself not to look up.

  When she spoke, her voice’s soft pitch and smooth tone broke his will. Underneath the surface, there was current to it. The little hairs on his arms stood on end. He couldn’t help but look up now.

  “I’m looking for a man, Detective. A special man. Can you help me?” Her words rattled around inside of him. He wanted to say yes, anything to keep her talking. He found himself nodding to her. His heart raced and heat flooded his neck and face. He was here for a reason… right? She was under arrest.

  “You do understand you’re under arrest…” he said, trying to point out the obvious to her to get the conversation back on track. Had she given him her name? He was having a hard time focusing. She’d asked for his help, wasn’t that more important?

  “He would be an unusual kind of man,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “This man is unusually attractive, sexy even. Regardless of your gender.”

  Yu knew of such a man in his precinct. He opened his mouth to tell her his name when he realized she hadn’t answered his question yet.

  “Wait,” he said, holding up his hand to his face trying to clear his head, “What’s your name?”

  He clicked his pen twice trying to use the simple action to focus his thoughts. He couldn’t see past the way she looked at him; the way her eyes sparkled in the light. He looked down to the blank paper then back to her. Why couldn’t he get a name out of her?

  “He’s the kind of man who doesn’t ask permission, and when you confront him about things you end up seeing it his way, at least for the moment. Later on, you might think differently. Do you know of such a man?”

  “Yes,” he said almost as if he couldn’t help himself. Their Captain, Victor Terasov, had transferred in from…he couldn’t remember, but he was sure it was six months ago.

  “Who is this man?” she ask
ed.

  Yu opened his mouth to speak. He wanted to tell her, wanted her to be happy with him, but why? Instead, a grunt came out. The part of his brain that made him afraid of the dark screamed at him. His body flushed with goosebumps as he realized he was in a room with a predator. He couldn’t see it, but he felt it.

  She smiled at him.

  “Sorry Detective, I know you’re one of the good guys, but I need this information,” she cleared her throat and leaned into him, “Tell me his name.”

  Her words came out as a command, not a question. Pressure built up on his head. A vice squeezed his brain and the only thing that would relieve it was a name. The name.

  “Terasov,” he grunted between clenched teeth. The pain vanished. He scrambled backward his hand on his pistol sending the chair clattering to the floor.

  “Who are you?” he growled. He wanted to draw his gun, to level it at her, but his hand froze on the butt.

  “Someone you don’t want to trifle with. Your man Terasov, where is he,” the pressure in his head to answer returned.

  He couldn’t fight it.

  “He’s the Captain, his office is in the corner,” he found himself saying before he could even think to resist.

  Fear rolled through him like ice. Two tours in Iraq, and a decade on the force and he never froze, not once. He couldn’t move. His legs were frozen. She snapped the chain of the cuffs as she stood. Then effortlessly stripped the bracelets off. The metal shattered and clinked to the floor.

  “How?” he managed to utter.

  She glanced at him with a smile. Was there a touch of sympathy in her gaze? It was gone before he could think about it.

  The door opened to her touch, and the whole room froze in motion as she walked out onto the floor. She stopped for a moment, glancing up, her lips moving as if she were talking to someone. Her eyes roamed the floor until she locked onto the Captain's office.

  Yu heaved with everything he had to take one step. Then another, and another. The door loomed in front of him and the effort required to move was too much. The closer he tried to get to her, the harder it became to move.

  His eyes widened. How he had missed the long deadly sword she had slung over her back was beyond him. The ivory pommel and cross guard felt old to him. As he looked, she drew the sword in one swift motion.

  The door to the Captain's office withered under her kick. The frame shook and the crash caught the attention of the room. Like him, no one could move. They could see it, but they couldn’t do anything about it.

  Terasov’s gun appeared in his hand. He didn’t quick draw it, the weapon simply appeared. Shots rang out in rapid succession. Wood splintered, a light shattered, someone wailed, Yu couldn’t turn his head to see who.

  The blade swished through the air and Terasov’s arm went with it. He screamed and fell to his knees clutching a stump to his chest.

  “Please don’t kill me, I swear I’ll leave town,” he cried. Tears rolled down his face as he begged the leggy blonde for mercy.

  “Then you’ll just hunt somewhere else, and I won't have that on my conscious.”

  The blade ripped through the air on a back swing. Terasov screamed and threw up his good arm to stop it. The silver blade cut through him, slicing flesh and bone with no more effort than air. The walls shook as she embedded the sword into a beam.

  His head fell to the floor. The shocked part of Yu’s mind couldn’t comprehend what he saw. The analytical part wondered why there wasn’t more blood.

  It wasn’t over. Black smoke rose from the ground. Something dark and transparent, that looked vaguely like Terasov hovered in the office above the body.

  “Please, Alexi,” he pleaded with her. The smoke wrapped around his limbs. Red light, like lava burned from beneath him. The chains of smoke pulled the image of Terasov down agonizingly slow.

  Yu blinked. The sound of the office returned. He could move. His breath came in ragged gasps. All around him officers and civilians blinked away the haze. As one, several men rushed to Terasov’s office. There was no body, no sign that he’d been killed. They looked at one another. It hadn’t been a dream, Yu was sure.

  The six-inch long slice in the drywall told him that.

  ***

  Hunger gnawed at it… him. It? He wasn’t sure anymore. Days ago he had been working hard on something. Now, he shambled back and forth, his once sharp mind working sluggishly. All he could hear was the sound of his master telling him who to bite, who to drag away in the dark. The life he had before, the home, the family, they were fuzzy thoughts.

  Her though—she was easy to follow. The smell of vanilla, the warmth of her body. His stomach growled when he looked at her. Well, it growled when he looked at anyone. A man passed by him, barely noticing him. And why would he? His once fine suit fit was in tatters. It fit him like a laboratory skeleton. If he could eat more, he was sure that it would fit right again.

  He shifted his legs, his feet scuffing the ground. There had to be something he could eat around here. Footsteps echoed on the pavement. Currently he rested against a concrete planter, big enough for him to sit beside and not be seen. The pseudo garden behind him would make it easy to escape. Easy to eat. Was he supposed to escape? Turn her or drag her back? He couldn’t remember. Hunger was making it impossible to think. I’ll just take a bite, maybe gnaw on her a little.

  The footsteps stopped.

  “Sir, are you okay?”

  The smell of vanilla washed over him. He tried to look up, to look at her. A streetlight above him made it hard to see. He cursed his failing eyesight. It had to be her, hadn’t it? He reached out for her. She jerked back. It’s her, eat!

  The creature that used to be a man, lunged at her feet. His over grown fingernails tore into the flesh of her calf, hooking her like a fish. She screamed as she fell. The asphalt punished her. She kicked at him as he used his fingers embedded in her flesh to pull her closer to him.

  Just one bite! He tried to remind himself, but the hunger was to much. He tore into her leg, his rotten teeth severed her artery on the third mouthful of warm flesh. He had enough sense to drag her into the garden behind him. Her screams would quiet in a moment he was sure. Just one more bite. One more.

  ***

  Alexi skipped down the stairs of the police precinct, happy to be outside at last. There was never any real danger of her being arrested or held but something about the experience left her on edge. Now, outside and able to smell the salty air of Seattle she felt free.

  Are we still connected? Savanna’s voice came to her. It brought a smile to her lips. She fed off her a tiny bit so that they could use Savanna’s gift of telepathy with women who shared her blood. It was a gift to the female members of Savanna’s birth coven, somehow Alexi didn’t think they ever imagined their birthright being used by a vampire.

  Yes. Your spell worked like a charm. Though our Detective Yu managed to move a couple of feet, Alexi thought.

  Interesting. He shouldn’t have been able to. Maybe we’ll run into him again, he certainly seemed…fit. The wave of arousal that propagated over their link sent blood rushing through Alexi.

  That’s the last time I do this when you and Connor are on a date.

  It’s not my fault you interrupted us. By the way...

  Alexi felt the sudden rise of anxiety in her friend. They arranged to meet at a Cafe Osita, a small coffee shop a few blocks west of the precinct. The shop wasn’t normally open, but Alexi convinced them to open an hour early this morning.

  Savanna…what did you do?

  Connor’s with me. He promised he wouldn’t do anything but be my back up while I cast the spell. He wanted to talk to you, but you don’t exactly return his calls.

  Fine, whatever I’ll see you in a…Savanna? Get here now!

  The intoxicating smell of fresh blood filled her lungs. Her mouth watered from the sudden and unexpected scent. Her boots scuffed the edge of the streak of blood that ran from the sidewalk into the little garden that was partially
hidden by a row of large concrete planters. She looked around, the street was deserted, the cops came and went in their cruisers, not on foot. With it being near the end of winter people didn’t usually wander the streets at five a.m.

  The line of blood started, paused, and pooled as if someone dragged the body for a few feet before stopping. The small splatters on the sides told her that whatever did this wasn’t a vampire. It was eating along the way.

  Alexi let out a breath to center herself. She took a step forward honing her enhanced senses on the four-foot tall grass, flowers, and tree’s that made up the small garden.

  Crunching, tearing, chewing… something was eating a person.

  She steeled herself for what it could be. A big dog? The way shivers ran up her spine, she guessed it wasn’t. With one hand on her sword and the other in front of her to spread the shrubbery, Alexi moved forward. It wasn’t hard now to follow the sound. Once past the planters, it got louder. She carefully planted each step to not make any of her own. Ten feet in she came to a small clearing.

  A woman, or what was left of her, lay dead in the center. A man who once could have been well dressed knelt over her pulling meat and tissue from her thigh and stuffing it in his mouth as fast as he could swallow. Alexi had seen a lot of things in her short time… this made her want to vomit. He’d already stripped the woman's calf down to the bone all that was left was a bloody skeleton.

  Her sword made the barest sound of metal on leather as she drew it.

  “You,” he scowled as she caught his attention. He looked back to the woman who was dead in front of him, then to Alexi. She was prepared to fight, but not for how fast he moved. He lunged at her, covering the distance in a blink. He knocked her over, her hand hit the concrete sending the sword skittering out of her reach. Claws dug into her throat. He snapped his mouth at her, trying to get to her face.

  Alexi snarled. She heaved with her legs, sending him sprawling over her to land face first on the street. She went with the momentum to flip herself onto her knees. The thing slammed into her back, it’s putrid teeth ripping into her shoulder. Alexi screamed as pain shot through her arm and it fell limp.