Operation: Marauder
Chapter 9

As soon as Zoey got home, she made sure to shut all her blinds and lock all the doors and windows. She went straight to her office, where she typically drew up designs for clients. This office looked far more like the office of a car designer than her office at work; there were beautiful pictures of classic cars, her favourite being the 1966 Ford Mustang Fastback. Owning one was next on her hit list.

However, she wasn't in her office this evening to daydream or design someone else's car. No, she was on her laptop researching everything she could replace on vampires. Her earphones were on, playing the Avenged Sevenfold album, keeping her focused. The last few days had taken their toll on her and she was replaceing it increasingly difficult to stay awake, especially after scrolling endlessly through forums and websites.

It was nearly midnight when she had to take a break. After spending hours looking up vampire myths, their weaknesses, strengths, sifting through what was true and false, which was a little hard without one around to ask, her mind couldn't take it any more. The words were growing fuzzy and what words she could discern, she honestly couldn't process them anymore.

From what she could tell before her brain was fried, the vampires burning in sunlight myth was a dud. They were definitely incredibly strong and fast, something she could personally attest to. She wasn't sure about sparkling in the sun; she'd had a sack over her head when they were outside. She wasn't sure if not inviting them into her home would protect her. Garlic, holy water, and crosses were potential weapons. . . except she didn't have a cross or holy water. Someone had mentioned iron was a good deterrent, which Zoey could work with. Cars used quite a bit of iron in their engineering; she was sure she could replace something useful at the shop.

As to how she was going to use all this information. . . she would just have to figure it out in the morning. Beyond exhausted, Zoey dragged her feet out of the office, through the living room.

The front door rattled.

She paused in the middle of her living room. The world seemed to still around her. Silence rang in her ears. They're here.

They'd found her. Connaville wasn't a huge town, but she'd been hoping they'd take longer to replace her. At least long enough for her to arm herself or get into contact with Jack.

She was only still for a moment, then she was moving, exhaustion forgotten. She hurried to the kitchen to grab a knife.

The door burst open with shattering force. Arms snared around her waist and dragged her back into the living room. Her assailant shoved her into the armchair and stood before her, arms crossed in a cocky, superior way. She didn't quite know how she knew, but it was Sid, the bastard who took her blood. He was as pale as his companion had been, tall and lean, dressed in black that made him look like a wraith.

"Found you," the cocky little shit said with a smirk.

She held up a fearless front. They had scared her once, but now it appeared there was only one of them and he was very confident she couldn't do anything to him. The cast iron pan she had on her stove begged to differ. As soon as she found a way to get to it.

"What do you want with me?"

He walked over to her table and picked up her phone. He dangled it in front of her. "You're a slippery little human, I'll give you that. However, we still have need of you. You will call your brother, tell him you need to see him."

What? So she could lure him into a trap? No, thank you. She wasn't about to do that to Jack.

She stood up, standing head to head with the vampire. He didn't seem to like that he didn't scare her and hissed in her face, exposing a set of terrifying fangs. The back of her brain screamed for her to run away, to call the cops. Do something that would get her out of this alive.

Against all rational thought, she held her ground. "I don't know where he is, but I'm positive he's not in this country. I can't just call him over."

Sid raised his hand and watched with a sick smile as thin, needle-like claws grew from his fingertips. Her eyes went wide. "You don't know what he does, do you? Who Rowan and his men are? Ha! If we give them a reason, they will come!"

He twiddled the claws in her face, tauntingly tapping her nose; a bead of blood welled and dripped off the tip. His tongue slowly ran over his top row of teeth as he watched the drop dribble down her face, off her chin, between her breasts. "Call him."

It didn't matter how annoying Jack's vague job description was or how many questions she had about Rowan's involvement, she wouldn't give him what he wanted. Not only would Jack's life be in danger, once she had given in, they would have no use for her--which meant she was liability. She knew what happened to liabilities. "No."

With a savage snarl, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her down on the table. Still pinning her down with an obnoxious amount of ease while she kicked at him, he leaned over her, taking her in head to toe. Slowly, tauntingly, he waggled his claw-ridden fingers over her form. A single claw cut a thin line down her chest, slicing through her shirt like it was paper until he reached her belly button. "There is more than one way for me to get you to do what I want, human," he growled in her ear. Her stomach clenched as his cold breath seeped into her marrow. "Call. Him."

She glanced at where he had his feet planted and wiggled to line herself up just right. Jack always said the most important weapon she had was surprise. "No."

She knocked his feet out from under him, grabbed his shirt and threw him over the table. In the next second, she diving for the counter. She slid across it and grabbed the cast iron pan. Sid hissed in her ear. She whipped around, holding the pan like a bat and hit him square on. She felt his skull crunch beneath the iron. He smacked into the counter on his way down then laid still on her kitchen floor. Black blood quickly puddled at her feet.

Her heart pounded in her ears, so much so she nearly didn't hear the awful scream of Jack's ringtone. Watching Sid carefully as she stepped around him, she answered the call. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" he asked, surprised. He sounded tired but unharmed. That alone filled her with relief. "Yeah. Sorry I've been off grid for so long. I'm on my way home now. Are you okay?"

She looked at the body on the floor, thought about the week she had had, felt the wobble in her lip. "No."

"What happened?" His tone changed, like the flip of a switch, into a hard "I'm about to fuck someone up" voice. Zoey used to hate it; their dad had trained it into him--into both of them--but tonight she took comfort in it.

How did she sum up what had happened to her without completely losing it? "I-I think I just killed someone, Jack."

It was really sinking in now. Sid hadn't so much as moved a muscle, taken a breath, since she hit him. He was dead. She'd killed him. Yes, he had threatened her and Jack, but. . . she hadn't meant to kill him.

Yes, you did. It was him or you. She did it to survive. Something she had been taught to do all her life. It didn't change what she had done, but it helped her swallow the pill a bit better.

Jack snapped her out of her thoughts. "You what? Hang on. Mave!" His voice faded as he talked to who she assumed was the pilot. "We'll be there in two hours," he said, with her again. "Are you in danger right now?"

No one had come rushing in to save Sid, but that didn't mean he was alone. The others were probably looking for her too, he just found her first. It was only a matter of time before the others came barreling through her front door. "I-I don't think so. At least, for now. I'm not even sure the guy's dead. Vampires don't have heartbeats so how am I supposed to tell?" The hysteria was getting harder to keep at bay. Answering all of these questions made the situation more real, more terrifying.

Jack was quiet for a beat then the panic in his voice rang through the mic. "Vampires? What do you mean vampires? Zoe, what makes you think-"

"He has fangs and he drank my blood!" she snapped, fighting for control. She took deep breaths, forcing the hysteria away. If Sid wasn't alone, she needed to be ready for another attack.

Jack was stunned into silence. After waiting an eternity to get back to her, he said, "I'm going to hand the phone over to an expert on vampires. He'll tell you if he's really dead or not. You can trust him, just answer his questions."

"Jack?" She didn't want to be passed off to anyone else! She needed her big brother, not some expert.

The man on the line cleared his throat. "He's with me, miss. My name is Cassian. You told Jack there is a dead vampire in your house?" He had a very calming voice. Whatever hysterics had been rising, retreated to the back of her brain.

She took a deep breath. "Yeah. Look, I know that sounds crazy, but if you knew the week I've had, you would believe me." She was still processing the fact Jack was in the company of someone who knew how to deal with the vampires that had attacked her. She wasn't as alone as she had thought.

"No, I believe you," he assured her, unwavering in his resolve. "Listen to me, if he is a. . . vampire, he's likely not dead. How did you kill him?"

"I bashed his skull in with a cast iron pan." Just looking down at his corpse--the longer he remained unmoving, the more confident she became that he was dead--and the caved in skull, made her queasy.

Cassian, the indomitable force that stopped her from losing her mind, whistled into the phone. "Ooof. Ouch. All right. To be on the safe side, I need you to replace a pulse."

"Vampires don't have heartbeats." From all her research, that had been the most conclusive myth.

"This one will if he's still alive," Cassian countered, confident in his words. "Follow my instructions carefully."

She had to trust him, trust that Jack had somehow surrounded himself with a bunch of vampire hunters who wouldn't get her killed.

Focusing on the steadiness of his voice, she did as Cassian asked and crouched by the body. There was no signs of him breathing, so he told her to prod under his jaw. There apparently should be two glands just at the top of his throat. She grimaced when she found them; they were uncomfortably squishy and reported back as such. Cassian seemed to replace that amusing, but did his best to hide his laughter.

"No pulse," she informed him.

He sucked in a breath. "Damn. You actually killed him. Are you hurt?"

Zoey glanced down her chest at the thin cut then rolled her shoulders back, testing the ache of her bruises. Those vampires had banged her up, but she would live. "Nothing crucial."

"Good. Very well done, miss. I'm going to pass you back to Jack now."

"Thank you."

Cassian had been nice enough, but hearing Jack's voice wasn't quite like anything else at the moment. "Zoe?"

"I'm here." She slumped against the counter, keeping a healthy distance away from Sid. Knowing he definitely wasn't going to spring any sneak attacks on her helped the overwhelming bundle of nerves welling in her chest. She was safe. For now.

"You have no idea how proud I am of you right now," Jack praised. "You're a badass. All you need to do is hang tight. I've got the best pilot in the universe bringing me to you. Is everything locked?"

"Yeah, but that didn't stop Sid from breaking in." Morose, she looked over at the pile of splinters her door had turned into. How was she going to barricade the entrance?

Jack made a noise of disgust. "Sid? Christ, you named him?"

"I didn't name him, asshole. Just get here." She hung up on him. If Jack was going to be here soon, all she needed to do was replace a way to barricade her front door--in case Sid's friends came looking for her first--and wait for backup to arrive.