Vampire Seeker Read Online Free Page B

me, and I snapped my
     head forward, my brow connecting with the bridge of his nose. I heard a cracking sound as he flew backwards, his hands to
     his face. The other three by the horses reached for their guns. There were several deep booming sounds and all three of them
     were flying backwards through the air, their heads erupting in a shower of red mess. Wondering where the gunfire had come
     from, I looked down to see I was holding two gleaming handguns. Smoke trailed from the barrels in wispy streams.
    How had they gotten there? I wondered. But before I’d had the chance to consider my own question, I heard a voice from
     behind me.
    “You fucking whore!” the voice screeched.
    I spun around to see the guy holding his crotch with one hand and reaching for his gun with the other. Before I truly knew
     what had happened, a deep, black hole the size of a large coin had opened up in his forehead and the gun was thundering in
     my fist again. A crimson jet of blood squirted from his mouth and he flopped onto his side, the hand that was still holding
     his groin twitching, as if he had died messing with himself. Fretful, the horses whinnied, reared up on their hind legs, and
     galloped away. Then, I felt a pain in the back of my head, and I crumpled to the hard-packed ground, my guns spilling from
     my hands. I peered up into the sun and could see the man with the broken teeth swaying before me and everything went black
     again…
    …In the darkness I could hear those voices again, as if they were coming from far away, hushed and ghost-like.
    “She’s English,” the preacher said.
    “How do you know?” asked another.
    “Her accent - and she asked if she was in London,” he said.
    “London?” a voice cut in, this one female. “A long way from home then?”
    “We could use her – replace Marley,” another voice spoke. “If she is as quick on the draw like you
     say she is, then…”
    “No one could replace Marley,” another voice broke into the darkness. “She could never be replaced.”
    “You should have thought of that before…” the preacher started and the blackness took me again, his voice fading
     away.

Chapter Four
    I woke to find myself in some kind of covered wagon. I was stretched out on a narrow, leather covered bench and my feet hung
     over the end. It was dark and the only light came from an oil lamp which hung from the roof of the wagon. It wasn’t
     as hot as I had remembered it to be, but it wasn’t cold, either. I looked down the length of my body and could see that
     I was dressed in the same clothes that I had been wearing in my dream.
    But had it been a dream?
I wondered. I was beginning to fear not. In my head I could hear that man – the preacher – telling me that it
     was the year 1888. That was the last thing I had heard before collapsing into unconsciousness. Swinging my legs over the side
     of the bench, I wondered how and why I was back in the year 1888 – that is, if I really was. I had been in London, chasing
     down that man – the one they called the Jack the Ripper copycat. But he hadn’t been any Ripper copycat, he had
     been a vampire and I had been close to proving it.
    I touched my neck where he had gripped me with his arm, and just for a second, I felt his ice-cold breath on my cheek. Who
     had he been and where was he now? If I was truly back in 1888, was he here, too? The flaps of material which covered the opening
     to the wagon fluttered like two sails. I wondered if I opened them, would I be back in London, just like Lucy opening the
     wardrobe door and stepping out of Narnia and back into her own world – her own reality? I stood up and felt something
     slap against my thighs. Looking down I could see those two giant pistols in leather holsters. Just a figment of my imagination,
     like the Turkish Delight the White Witch had given Edmund back in Narnia. But they felt real, the smell of gunpowder smelt
     real enough – but it had to be my imagination. I