Dark Passion Rising

Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2011 Shannan
Albright

 ISBN:
978-1-926950-36-5

Cover Artist: LF Designs

Editor: Hannah Giersdorf

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced
electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

I wish to take a moment to thank Evernight Publishing who took a
chance on an unknown writer. To my wonderful and very talented editor Hannah
Giersdorf, thank you for all your wonderful suggestions
and gentle nudges. You made the editing process much less painful than it could
have been.

I would like to thank Gypsy Winslow who kept me from the ledge so
many times while writing this book. Susan Sanders whose belief in me never
wavered even once, Wendy and Elise who never doubted this would be published
and to my husband Curt whose love and understanding know no bounds. And last
but not least to all the supportive and talented authors of Evernight
Publishing. You ladies Rock!

Thank you all!

DARK PASSION RISING

Shannan Albright

Copyright © 2011

Chapter One

Shadows clung to the alley walls like rancid oil.  The smell of
decaying garbage and unwashed bodies clogged Tambra Ellis’s nose, making her
gag as she carefully moved deeper into the alley, swinging her flashlight in
front of her while her other hand rested on the butt of her holstered gun.  A
hot wind howled through the dark alley, a sudden mighty gust swirling the debris
around her feet.  The skittering sound of papers and dead leaves was the only
thing to be heard. 

Where the hell had that perp gone?  Tambra opened a channel on
her radio.

“Do you have anything, Cody?”  Only static answered her, echoing
down the alley. “Cody, do you copy?”

Nothing.

Muttering a string of curses, Tambra crept into the black shadows
that crowded her on both sides, making her feel a touch claustrophobic.  Being
in the bad part of Las Vegas was dangerous enough, being one of Metro’s finest
was like putting a target on your back.  

She hadn’t survived being a beat cop for five years without
learning a little about keeping herself alive.  She knew the fact she couldn’t
raise her partner, plus the disappearance of the perp they were tracking didn’t
stack the odds in her favor.  And this city was all about the odds.

     She heard a shuffling noise up ahead and her hand tightened
on her service revolver. “Cody, is that you?  Stop being an asshole and just
come out or I’ll have to shoot your sorry ass,” Tambra growled, pointing the
flashlight toward the far side of the alleyway.

     A dark shape moved just outside the weak yellow beam of her
flashlight and a shift in the wind blew the pungent odor of wet dog toward her.
 Her nose wrinkled in disgust and a shiver of revulsion skated over her skin. 

She knew it was silly that something as harmless as a dog could
make her so uncomfortable, but she had never been able to shake her unease with
man’s best friend.  She could remember how her father used to tease her about
it when he was still alive. 

     Tambra blew out a frustrated breath.

“Ok, Fido.  Be a good doggie and go.  Scram.  Beat it.” She
raised her voice in the hopes of scaring the thing off.  She was going to
kill
Cody when she saw him.  It was just like him to leave her to get rid of the
mangy thing and laugh at her the whole time.

     Gritting her teeth in irritation, she aimed her flashlight on
the dark shadow and frowned. The shape seemed bulkier, broader in the shoulders
than before.

“What the hell?” she whispered as she watched the shadow rise up
on two powerful legs. It stood least seven feet tall.  As it turned toward her,
she saw luminous yellow eyes glinting back at her.  In that moment Tambra knew
what it felt like to be prey.  

She took a slow step back, then another.  She inched her way back
to the mouth of the alley, her gaze riveted on the thing still caught in her
light beam.  Her mind screamed for her to run, but she stood rooted to the
spot, instinctively knowing that if she turned her back and ran the monster
would catch her and she would not be able to defend herself.  She needed to
keep calm, to not show the fear that was making her heart pound in her chest. 

She watched with a sense of fascinated dread as the thing stepped
toward her.  Wicked, curved claws jutted out from its fingertips, its arms long
and muscular.  The chest was massive, widening even further with each deep
breath.  Its legs were as big as tree trunks, and thick dark fur covered its
body.

But it was the head of the creature, somewhere between a wolf and
a man, which truly terrified her.  Its nose was elongated into a snout full of
pointed teeth and dripping saliva.  Its ears were laid back on its head and
blood glistened wetly on its muzzle and claws.  Hysteria threatened to swamp
Tambra.  The urge to run was overpowering.  She desperately needed something to
focus on before she became lost in madness.

An image of Cody, lying broken and lifeless, filled her mind,
giving her the focus she needed.  The sharp prick of rage stung her and she
embraced it.  She focused on that anger to calm herself, leaving her once again
in control.

 “What the hell did you do with my partner, you freak?” Tambra
spat, pulling her gun out with a steady hand.  She aimed for the heart, or at
least where she thought the heart would be on the beast.   “I don’t have any
silver bullets on me, but I’m willing to bet that these will still hurt!”

A low, rasping chuckle came from the beast, lips curving up in a
parody of a smile.  It spoke with a deep and distorted voice.

“So much spirit!  I’m going enjoy this.  The last one was such a
disappointment.”

 “You’ll die for that, bastard,” Tambra shouted and pulled the
trigger.

The sound of the gunshot shattered the quiet of the night,
echoing off the alleyway walls.  Tambra shook her head in disbelief as the
beast dodged the bullet, moving in a blur of speed.Suddenly he was on her, his
claws swiping the flashlight and the gun from her nerveless fingers, ripping
into fabric and flesh.  He gripped her throat in his hands and shoved her
against the rough brick.  Dark spots danced in front of her eyes as her head
crashed into the wall.  Strong fingers squeezed her windpipe, making breathing
next to impossible.  She clawed at those fingers in a futile bid for freedom,
her legs kicking out in an attempt to make contact with the monster’s body. 
The rank odor of rotting meat threatened to gag her.

 “My, how
delightful
.  I do so enjoy a good fight.  It makes
things much more…satisfying don’t you think?” the beast rasped.    

“Then this is your lucky day, asshole,” Tambra choked out as his
fingers tightened on her throat.

 She swiped at his face with her nails, leaving deep, bleeding
grooves across his furry cheeks.  His hand on her throat loosened enough for
her to jerk herself free of his hold, she flung herself back and to the side, pulling
great gulps of air into her starved lungs.  

The reprieve was short lived.  The monster sprang at her again,
claws slicing across her stomach.  She heard a scream echo off the walls of the
alley and was dimly surprised when she realized it was her own.  Another swipe
of those lethal claws laid her right thigh open and she went down hard on the debris
littered ground.

As she looked up at those cold yellow eyes, she realized she was
going to die, and there was nothing she could do to prevent it.  She was no
match for the savage strength of the beast towering above her, but she sure as
hell was
not
going down quietly.  Hands sticky with her own blood,
Tambra groped through the litter around her, looking for something,
anything,
she could use as a weapon.

Her hand brushed against something hard and she gripped it like a
lifeline.  Splinters sliced into her palm and fingers as she tightened her grip
on the piece of wood.

Now, if only she could get him closer.  She knew she was in no
shape to meet him head on.  She had to rely on her brain and hope it would be
enough.

 “You want a piece of me?  Come and get it,” she ground out
hoarsely, her throat on fire from his chokehold on her.  With a low growl he
lunged, jaws open, giving her a view of long sharp canines as they aimed for
her throat.

She swung her makeshift club hard against his head, knocking him
off balance.  He crashed to the ground with a grunt of pain.  She struggled to
her feet, gritted her teeth together against a wave of dizziness, and brought
her weapon down again and again, not stopping her assault until the beast lay
still beneath her feet with a dark pool of blood spreading out underneath his
head.

Her knees buckled as she turned toward the back of the alley.  The
pain hit her with the force of a semi and her legs gave out on her.  She landed
hard on her side on the filthy ground.  Her eyes locked onto the huddled form a
few feet from her.

“Please not Cody. Please, please, God, don’t be Cody!”
she
chanted over and over in her head as she half dragged, half crawled her way
toward the bloody body lying with his back to her.  With shaking hands, she
grasped a shoulder and pulled him to his back.  She nearly wept with relief
that the face sightlessly staring up at the sky was the perp she had been
chasing, not her partner and dearest friend.

She struggled to her feet and fell against the wall, biting back
a cry of agony as white hot fire shot though her lacerated belly to her thigh,
where blood was pulsing quickly from the long gash in her skin.  She knew she
was losing too much blood by the way her vision wavered.  She needed to call
for back up then get herself stitched up at the nearest ER. 

Leaning on the wall for support, she inched her way to the
street, still wondering where the hell Cody was.  She couldn’t radio for him
since she had lost her radio, along with her gun and flashlight, when she had
fought the monster, and she was not about to go back and find any of those
things when she didn’t know if she had killed the beast or not.