Blood & Vengeance: Barbie The Vampire Hunter: The Complete Series

Blood & Vengeance: Barbie The Vampire Hunter: The Complete Series

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Barbie

Life’s a bitch and then you die.

I crumpled the remains of the surprisingly accurate fortune and popped the rest of the broken Chinese cookie into my mouth, chewing slowly as I stepped back and looked up at the massive side of Broadhaven’s Church of Christ.

My fingers were already aching, and I hadn’t even started yet. Stuffing the stupid slip of paper into the back pocket of my jeans, I sighed. None of the doors had been unlocked and while I was willing to do a lot of things in the name of my cause, breaking down the door of a church was not one of them. I was also pretty sure the thirteen-year-old pickpocket rooming with me at the Youth Home for the last three weeks was behind my missing lock picking set.

I reached up, stretching on my toes as my fingers closed over a brick and began the climb. As I scaled the side of the building, tightening my fingers around the uneven edges of the stone bricks jutting from the wall’s surface, I thought—not for the first time that night—how fucked up my life had become. Rather ironically, Ginger, the same thirteen-year-old pickpocket, had mockingly asked me to think what would Jesus do before I had snuck out of our cramped shoebox sized shared bedroom.

Never in my seventeen years on this Earth had I ever actually considered the question: What would Jesus do? Whatever choices He’d make, though, I was pretty sure it wasn’t this. I reached the edge of the windowsill, my fingers clamping down as I strained up—my pointed toes barely making contact with the small ledge I teetered on.

Please don’t be locked. Please don’t be locked. I repeated the silent mantra in my head as I reached for the edge of the window, and somehow, His Holy Grace must’ve been looking down on me with favor because the damn thing was not only unlocked—it had been left slightly ajar. Wedging my finger between the window screen and the pane, I shoved upward and gained a few inches.

Muscles straining and sweat coating my upper lip, I shoved again, earning a nearly inaudible squeak as it slid the rest of the way up. No matter how quiet the sound had been, however, I paused and glanced inside just to make sure I hadn’t been discovered. No one appeared to be in the main hall of the cathedral. I sighed in relief and gripped the window as I leveraged myself up and inside, turning so that my legs dropped down first before the rest of my body.

I released the window and let my body fall, my feet smacking the cold hardwood floor behind a pillar. This wasn’t the first time I had been in a church, but it certainly was the first time I had broken into one. The soft scent of smoke lingered in the air. At the altar, a row of candles was displayed for visiting members who might appear for a late night prayer. Though, how they’d enter when the doors had all been locked, I didn’t know. Only two of the candles were still lit. A third had been mysteriously blown out—the tendrils of smoke curling above its still warm surface where the wax hadn’t yet dried.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be in here.”

My heart nearly leapt out of my chest as I whirled in the direction of the unfamiliar voice, my hand going to the inside of my leather jacket and clamping around the handle of the dagger I kept there. I blinked. A short boy, not much younger than me, with a curly crop of carrot colored hair, stared at me with a perturbed frown. My fingers itched to withdraw the small dagger in my grasp, but I knew this boy wasn’t a likely threat. The creatures I hunted couldn’t enter a church. I slowly released the dagger and withdrew my hand from inside of my jacket.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

His frown deepened. “I’m Mitchell Callahan. Who are you?”

“A figment of your imagination,” I replied.

His eyelashes fluttered. The frown remained. “I’m going to get Father Gabriel.”

“Why?” I asked, straightening and taking a step back. “It probably wouldn’t do to have him find out that you’re seeing people that aren’t really there.”

His lips pursed. “Your voice echoes, you’re here,” he replied.

I turned towards the altar with a sigh. I just needed what I came for and then I could be gone as if I really were a figment of his imagination. “No, I’m not,” I said.

When in doubt: deny, deny, deny.

“Yes, you are,” he pressed, his voice growing thick with irritation.

I pulled out the empty bottles I stored in my jacket as I strode up the steps of the dais where the priest would have given his sermon had he been there and had the church actually been open. “Nope.” I reached the basin of water in the center of the dais and paused for a moment, looking back. “Has this water been blessed by your priest?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied. “Why?”

“Because I need it,” I said with a shrug and began to load up. As soon as one was full, I recapped it and started on the others.

“Why would a figment of my imagination need holy water?” the boy asked.

I flashed him a glance over my shoulder and asked another question, rather than answer his. “What are you doing in a church so late at night?”

He narrowed his caramel colored eyes at me. “I was helping Father Gabriel clear out the basement for a food drive. Why are you?”

In lieu of lying to him, I once again ignored the question. “Why only you?”

“It’s not only me,” the boy informed me, making my spine stiffen. “My whole family is here. They’re downstairs with him. They sent me up to get something out of the car.” He waited a moment as I recapped the second bottle. The weight of holy water in my jacket made me feel marginally better—like I’d wrapped myself in a security blanket. “Your turn,” he said matter of factly.

I chuckled, turning towards him. I looked at him and then the front door. “You going to let me leave the easy way if I tell you?” I asked, spotting the key that dangled from a lanyard in his fist.

“Maybe,” he replied, “if you don’t steal anything.”

“Only thing I’m stealing is the water,” I said, lifting my hands in mock surrender as I descended the dais.

He rolled his eyes and with a huff turned and strode towards the door. “You can’t steal holy water,” he snapped over his shoulder. “It’s just water. We give it away for free.”

“Then no, I won’t steal anything,” I promised as I trailed after him—my gaze bouncing around, looking for shadows and things beyond them.

“You going to tell me why you want the water?” he asked as he stopped in front of the door and inserted the key.

I moved up behind him, my head canting down slightly. The top of his head barely came to my shoulder. Had my brother ever been that small? I wondered. Brandon had always seemed like a giant to me.

I reached past him and turned the key when he didn’t make a move to do it himself, making the boy’s back stiffen as I fingered the handle of the door. Leaning down, I gave him his wish. I gave him the truth.

“I’m hunting vampires and you shouldn’t go out at night all by yourself.”

Gripping the door handle, I opened the door and slid around the astonished boy. I disappeared into the darkening shadows of the church’s parking lot. Sure enough, the kid probably thought I was some crazy lady who had broken in to steal free water. But maybe—just maybe—he might heed my words and his family wouldn’t end up like mine.

Dead as doornails.

end of excerpt