Bring on the Night

With a swift, clean kick Jessie knocked the vampire's legs out from under him. He crashed to his knees. In the blink of an eye, Jessie took his head off with the tanto, his body melting away in a cloud of ash and smoke.

Calmly, she turned to face them while she replaced the tanto into its sheath. "Thank you but I don't need help."

The mortal she recognized from last night rushed to the front of the group. "It's you! You killed that...the...last night." She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with his scent. Yeah, much better than the nasty funk in this alley.

Jessie said nothing, her gaze taking in the whole group, their weapons and ready-to-fight posture. Her eyes settled on Kirkbride, recognizing him as the leader, and gave him a slight half-smile.

He aimed the shotgun at her. "I didn't know."

"Know what?" She tapped the dagger against her leg, giving him her best sweet and innocent face.

Vanilla Spice seemed to collect his wits. "That there's another monster hunter here?"

The minister said, "Brandon, step back behind me."

"Why?"

"Haywood."

"Yep." A man with a blond crew cut and ex-military stamped on his forehead came forward and followed Kirkbride's unspoken order, pulling Brandon to the back of the group. Two kids stepped up to flank Kirkbride, weapons ready.

"What the hell is going on?" Brandon tried to pull away from Haywood. "She saved my life last night. What is this?"

Jessie said to Kirkbride, "This really isn't necessary."

"I'm not taking any chances," he said.

Brandon called out, "Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on?"

Jessie raised an eyebrow at Kirkbride, who reached into his jacket and withdrew a large wooden cross, holding it out in front of him like a shield. She knew then he'd seen just enough of her unnatural strength to give her away. "She's a vampire."