[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Below is the first chapter of my novel The Vampire Hunters, the second printing of which was published by Emby Press in 2014. There are two sequels:The Vampire Hunters: Vampyrnomicon (released in October 2014) and The Vampire Hunters: Dominion (scheduled for release in the spring of 2015. The Vampire Hunters is currently available on Amazon as a paperback and Kindle edition.]
Chapter One
Even at ten in the evening, Union Station thrived with activity. Despite the hour, scores of people bustled around the main concourse. Passengers disembarking from, or waiting to board, their late-night train. Family and friends gathered to greet them or see them off. Porters hauling luggage to the appropriate platform. Cleaning crews sweeping the concourse and emptying trash cans. Shop owners peddling books, magazines, and last-minute souvenirs to weary travelers. And a vampire on the prowl for food.
Drake originally picked up its trail on the Mall, a prime hunting ground for vampires. Spotting the thing had been easy enough. On a balmy autumn night it was the only figure along the Mall wearing a soiled red windbreaker with the hood pulled tightly over its head. Before Drake could close in to verify and make the kill, however, the vampire strayed from its usual pattern. Leaving the Mall, the vampire set off into downtown Washington, following Constitution Avenue, a route that provided it with more opportunities to feed. Drake had followed at a discrete distance, waiting for a chance to corner the evil and eliminate it. With so many people around, though, that chance had not materialized. When the vampire turned onto Louisiana Avenue and headed for Union Station, Drake hurried to catch up. He was still far enough behind that when he entered the train station fifteen seconds after the vampire, the thing already had melted into the crowd.
Drake now wandered the concourse, hunting his undead prey. That turned out to be far from easy. Union Station had two levels, each with a labyrinthine maze of corridors housing gift shops and food stalls. Beyond the station lay a multi-level parking garage, loading platforms, and maintenance yard. Drake scanned the area, vainly looking for a figure in a red windbreaker. So as not to look suspicious, he stopped occasionally at a bank of computer monitors listing the arrival/departure notifications as if checking on a train’s status, and used the chance to scan waiting passengers.
He had just stepped away from a bank of monitors at the west end of the concourse when the cellular phone in the carry case on his belt began to ring. Only one person had the number—Alison Monroe. She had followed him from the Mall in their midnight-black Dodge Ram and now sat parked in front of Union Station, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Drake reached down and pressed the CALL button, then spoke into the microphone of his headset.
“What’s up?”
“Any luck?”
“Nothing.” Drake sighed.
“Sounds like par for the course for you,” she teased.
Drake smiled. “If you think you can do better, you’re welcome to try. I’d love to sit in the truck once in a while and let you do the boots on the ground.”
A chuckle came through the headset. “Sorry, boss. You don’t pay me enough for that shit. So what do we do now?”
“I’m beginning to think our friend was on to being tailed, and led us here so he could lose us.”
“You want me to circle the station and see if I can spot him?”
“No. Sit tight for now. I want to give the station one more sweep, then....”
Drake sniffed. Almonds. No. More like ammonia. The smell of the putrefying flesh of a vampire.
“Boss, are you okay?”
