Blood Virtue by Jessica Marting

Author:Jessica Marting
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781989780312
Publisher: Shadow Press

It felt like they had been wandering around Niagara Falls’s snowy streets for hours, but when Violet checked the watch she kept in her pocket, she saw only forty-five minutes had passed. That stupid bat had flitted from building to building, to the tops of street lamps, and even threatened to crash into the heads of unsuspecting people a few times. Whether it knew it was being followed, Violet couldn’t say, but it was certainly either very bold, very stupid, or both.

Violet was betting on stupid. She was hoping for stupid. She didn’t feel like having a fight with a vampire tonight. While she was able to keep up with Samuel, the cold and exhaustion from lack of sleep still pulled at her.

The bat darted past them and landed on a street lamp. Its yellow light illuminated an icy, steep walkway that led to a small dock. “Damn,” said Violet. She was appropriately dressed for the weather, but navigating that incline would be treacherous.

Samuel gripped her arm reassuringly, but whether the gesture was for her or himself, she couldn’t tell. “It’s moving forward,” he said, voice low in her ear. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold ribboned through her. “What the devil is that boat doing in January?”

“It’s a Niagara Falls sightseeing boat,” she replied. “The Maid of the Mist. I rode it when I was a little girl.”

Samuel kept propelling both of them forward down the icy incline. “I think our friend intends to board it,” he said.

“Damn,” she said again. “What the hell does a vampire want on a tour boat?”

The bat swooped to the covered deck of the boat. They hurried to reach the gate, Samuel already reaching for his coat pocket. “Two, please,” he said to the unsuspecting ticket taker. “Are we too late?”

The man stared at him before speaking. “Yes, sir. The Maid of the Mist is standing room only at night in January.”

Violet loathed sarcasm.

Samuel opened his mouth to offer a rebuttal, but Violet spoke first. She clutched his arm a little more tightly. “Darling, just pay him,” she said. To the ticket taker, she said, “We really aren’t too late, are we?”

He softened a little. “Boat departs in five minutes. Be sure to pick up a blanket and stay inside. It’s bloody cold out there.”

Violet was not looking forward to that, and judging from the set line of Samuel’s mouth, he wasn’t, either. But he paid for another tourist attraction that was going to end up a greasy mess for them.

For them, she reminded herself. That vampire didn’t have a chance.

The enclosed lounge on the deck was almost humid with its steam-powered heaters, but after the cold of the outdoors Violet welcomed it. Still, she draped one of the fur blankets piled beside the deck door around her shoulders, trying to coax some more warmth into her body. It might come in use if she had to trap the vampire with it.

And that undead flying bastard was on the boat somewhere, she could feel it.

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