From Scavengers (Underground, #1)

Aidan’s head perked up. “Do you smell that?”

Sydney's blood rushed. Her vision and hearing became sharp. She heard the rain rush through the storm drains. She picked up a police siren three, maybe four miles away, and then blacked it out, an unnecessary distraction. A woman laughed at the television on the first floor of the building, while her cat defecated in its litter box. Sydney honed in on the woman walking down the street. She was young, the cells in her body still ripe. The odor of hormones was almost noxious. She was probably ovulating. Based on her bitter, earthy scent, Sydney could tell that she was vegetarian except for the occasional fish or lean chicken. There is another scent, maybe evergreen or juniper or - 

"Gin," Aidan says.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Really? Gin?"

"Yes, gin. she got an early start.”

"It smells like some kind of pine to me."

"It does, and underneath that is the unmistakable odor of alcohol."

Sydney closed her eyes. She blocked out all other senses, the sirens, and the traffic, the purring cat on the first floor, and the litter box that hadn't been cleaned in three days. She shut it all out until the woman's juniper scent was the only thing in the world…and then she nearly threw up. "Jesus, she's practically bathing in it."

"Told you."

"That's what I get for getting distracted."

Aidan nodded at the house. "Your boy is here."

The man stepped out of his silver Buick, a bucket of fried chicken cradled in one hand. He rushed through the steady rain to his front door. He went inside, and a light came on in his living room.

"Finally, we can get out of this crap," Aidan said. "What's our way in?"

"He leaves the back door unlocked, but let's give him a few minutes to settle in."

The man lived in a quiet neighborhood, which meant no witnesses. He was a loner, and loners made the best targets. If Sydney learned one thing from these hunts, humans had power as a herd.

She first saw him at a bakery in north Portland. He sat at the table next to hers as she enjoyed a pour-over coffee. Well, enjoying it as much as a vampire can enjoy something that tasted like dust. Since turning, the taste of human food tasted like nothing at all. Neither good nor bad, just nothing. Sydney didn't miss the taste of coffee, but she missed the aroma. It triggered the delightful memory of the first cup of the morning and the promise of a new day. And it made for a good hunting ground.

The man looked dapper in a turquoise collared shirt and light gray slacks. He sat straight up and sipped his coffee, glancing up each time the bell twinkled on the front door. With the outfit and his anxious expectation, Sydney gathered that he was on a first date. An hour later, the man still sat at the table with an empty coffee cup in front of him. Shards of a sweetener package littered the table, and he no longer glanced up when the bell tinkled. 

Alone and lonely, Sydney thought. Perfect.

A blue glow flickered from the man's living room window. He was probably halfway through dinner by now. She didn't know the man's name, and she didn't want to know. Celine taught them not to get attached. It ruined the appetite.

Sydney crept down the side of the man's house with Aidan following close behind her. She stopped when she saw a glow on the back lawn. Peeking around the corner, Sydney noticed that the back door was open. She waited, saw nothing, and entered the house.

The kitchen was tidy except for half-empty containers spread across the counter. She moved stealthily to the door leading through a dining room and into the living room. That was when she saw what she least expected: an overturned ottoman, a half-eaten chicken leg on the floor, the prey splayed out on the carpet, and another vampire eating her dinner.

"What the shit?" Aidan said.

"Who the hell are you?" Sydney said.

He was tall and lean with shaggy brown hair and was young when he turned. He sucked at the man's gaping neck, his face covered in blood. He looked up at Sydney as he fed, but he didn't respond to their questions. A dark red patch bloomed on the carpet.

"This is disgusting," Sydney said.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Aidan said, pulling the collar of her jacket over her mouth.

Sydney stepped slowly forward and raised her hands. "Take it easy, okay. You're making a huge mess, and you're going to attract the wrong attention. Are you in some kind of trouble? Are you one of Celine's children?"

The vampire continued feeding. The vertebrae in the prey’s neck cracked.

Aidan touched her shoulder. "We have to get out of here before someone notices."

Sydney started to follow Aidan out of the house but stopped. She turned back toward the other vampire and kneeled on the floor. "You have to be more careful than this," she told him. "Didn't your guardian teach you how to cover your tracks? Who's child are you?"

The vampire looked up at Sydney and spit out a piece of cartilage.

“You know what Johanna will do to you if you get caught, right?”

He gulped and wiped his mouth with his forearm. He took in the gore surrounding him and said, "Johanna is dead." Then he dived his face into the man's neck and fed like a pig in a trough.

THIS BOOK DOES NOT HAVE COVID.

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