by Megan Hawke
His hands were big and hard, but with a gentle, skillful touch. Who would’ve thought such a brutal bastard could give such pleasure. Or be such a generous lover, at the same time taking everything he wanted. Yuri made my body sing.
His lips found mine. The heat in that kiss was instant. I thrust my tongue deep into his mouth, toying with his, teasing it, as our hungry lips slid all over each other. He groaned and wrapped his arms around me, then hugged me fiercely.
He hugged a low groan of pleasure out of me. I loved how he made me feel. I loved the feel of his hard, powerful body pressed against me, the feel of his whiskers against my palms. The soft sounds of his pleasure called to my heart, and I melted.
He rolled me atop him to straddle his stomach. I caught his lip in my teeth, as I gently raked my nails down his chest. His hands caressed my butt, making my skin tingle.
"Oh, baby." My voice was sleep husky. The sun was still beating down on the house, but close to setting. We'd be in twilight within the next five to ten minutes, and I feared we’d be interrupted. "So good to me."
Both of his hands came up and cupped my breasts. It was glorious. I so wanted to please him, to give him the same pleasure he stirred within me.
"You have the softest skin I have ever felt," Yuri said.
"Oh, baby."
"Ah, you are coming into your vampiric hedonism nicely."
Why did he have to spoil it? "Sweetheart, don’t speak."
“What if I told you that I loved you?”
Pure pleasure infused me. I never believed a vampire could love, but I knew what I was feeling at that moment. It wasn’t just lust. Could Yuri love? Did he? Or was he just being the ultimate master manipulator?
"Sweet Jesus." He found my sweet spot. Did I mention he was gifted? "Hello."
Yuri brought my desire to a head in less than a minute. It was enough to curl my toes, if they weren't still stuffed in those wicked stiletto knee boots. Indeed, all I wore were the boots and the jewelry of the night before, including that damned choke chain. Per Yuri's request.
Yuri gave my butt a firm slap. "Mount me."
“Such a romantic.” I scowled at him, but he couldn’t see it.
I slid down Yuri's body. His little friend was waiting for me, and it wasn't that little. Yuri guided himself into me, and I pushed back on it, forcing him in deep.
"Oooooh, yes." I groaned. I moaned. I was a bit surprised at how wanton I sounded. The close quarters of a coffin really let you hear yourself. "Uggh. Jesus."
"Eventually, my Sable. You will have to stop invoking the name of Jesus. I assure you, he is not listening to either of us."
"Shame, because this is glorious."
"Yes. You are the best I have had in a long time."
"Better than Anastasia?"
"Yes. More innocent, more eager to please than Anastasia."
"Better than Petra?" I recalled how ravenous she was with sex. Men had to really like that, right?
"Petra was not good in bed. She was too impatient. Too aggressive. She could only find pleasure in group sex. Preferably a gang bang, I think you Americans call it."
"Eww. But what about Dominique? You’ve spent a lot of time with her. She's beautiful, and she's sexy French, too."
"Very sexy French." He laughed. "I like how you said that. It is so fitting for her. But Maîtresse Dominique is an old whore and dominatrix. She would much rather spank me than make love."
"Ouch." I recalled her riding crop across my butt and upper thighs. The woman was a sadist of the highest order. One day I’d shove that riding crop up her butt. "I guess I'm your girl then, because I know the LaFere twins can't be any fun."
We both laughed at that. I bet they were a lot of fun.
"They have issues."
"Don't we all." By that time I was rolling and gyrating my hips in the sweetest way. It was becoming too overwhelming to speak, to even think. "Oh, Jesus, help me."
Yuri chuckled at my cry out to Jesus, but he didn't hesitate or slow down on the erotic pumping in and out of me. It was beyond glorious. How could sex get better every time you did it?
Light filled the coffin. The lid was up. I froze. It wasn't sunset yet.
"Son of a bitch!" Gabe cried.
I sat up and turned to look up at Gabe, my former colleague and kinda sorta friend. He had a wooden stake in one hand and a small sledge in the other. He was covered from head to toe in a clear plastic rain suit, with surgical mask, sunglasses, and goggles. Only someone who knew him, had seen him in his staking gear and was familiar with his voice would've recognized him.
"Gabe?"
"Sabe?"
The pig was staring at my naked chest.
Yuri screamed and threw me out of the coffin and straight into Gabe. "Yikes!" I cried, then slammed into Gabe. The sharpened stake in his hand stabbed me in the lower belly. When we hit the floor, me on top, the stake was forced completely through my body. "Jesus Christ! Bastard! You stabbed me."
I stood up and ripped the stake out. Tossing it aside, I looked down just as Gabe pointed his pistol at me. He was lying on his back between my feet, eyes huge and round. He pulled the trigger. Five times. Five silver bullets ripped through my body. I was hit in the right butt cheek, between my vagina and butt hole, lower belly, upper right thigh, and left breast.
"Uuuggghhh." I shuddered, gasped, staggering away barely able to think.
The pain was indescribable. White hot poker in the eye painful. I was amazed sanctified silver didn't kill vampires. I fell to my hands and knees, trying to regain control of my pain-maddened mind as my bladder emptied. Three of the bullets passed completely through my body. That left two silver bullets burning inside my lower belly
Then I remembered Gabe and my vulnerability.
Glancing around, I found Yuri beating the crap out of Gabe. Yuri was so mad he wanted to hurt the vampire slayer before killing him. Hurt him badly. Did Yuri realize Gabe was a werewolf, so much harder to kill? For Gabe’s sake, I hoped not.
Poor Gabe was incoherent. You can beat a werewolf down, though it wasn’t easy unless you were supernaturally strong. He was like a rag doll in Yuri's grasp as the Russian vamp shook him. Yuri threw him against the wall, then picked him up and threw him across the room. Gabe landed bonelessly next to me. His goggles and sunglasses were gone, and I could see his eyes rolled up into his head. If he wasn’t a werewolf, he’d be dead after that pounding.
Yuri picked up a pistol off the floor. “I’ll kill him with his own gun.”
The silver bullets in that gun would kill a werewolf. I couldn't let Yuri kill him. Problem was, Gabe was covered in blood which called to me, distracting me despite my best efforts to shake those dark urges.
It gave me an idea, a way to divert Yuri for a moment, at least. “Wait, I have a better idea.”
I leaned over him, pulled aside the rain gear. I thought, Please forgive me, and bit his neck. I started sucking blood, and realized my mistake. Talk about heady. So delicious it scared me. I could feel him, his soul. I reached out with my senses and touched it, and realized I could possess it in a way. I made Gabe my own.
There is no other way to describe it. I knew I could always find him after that. He could never escape me. That thought made me stop sucking, and I healed his neck wound. Was that what Anastasia did to me? Did that mean I could never hide from him?
"He's out." I licked my lips and suppressed the moan of pleasure from the blood buzz. The aroma of his blood filled the air. Neither of us could ignore it. "Forget him for now."
Yuri looked at me like I was crazy. I knew he was going to kill Gabe. He was too angry to not finish the job.
So I changed the course of his anger. "What about the others?"
As if to answer me, a woman's scream of pain and terror echoed through the house. It sounded like one of the LaFere twins. I heard pounding. Not the sharp banging on door or wall pounding, but the dull thud of stakes being driven into yielding flesh. My blood ran cold.
Gabe
had not come alone.
I pushed aside the pain in my belly and staggered to my feet. Yuri raced out the door with me on his heels. We must've made quite a sight. The smell of blood was even thicker in the hall.
I spotted Wendy and Anson, their rain suit sheathed bodies splattered with blood. They were dragging the limp bodies of Darcy and Darby out of their coffins. Wicked wooden stakes were sticking out both vampires' chests and backs. Their beautiful, blood-splattered faces were slack in death, their dead eyes wide in disbelief.
I heard another thudding sound and turned around to see Dane rising up from staking Dominique. The sexy French vampire was sprawled out on the floor spread eagle, wearing nothing but one red pump. A naked mortal man lay next to the wall, groaning miserably.
"We're the last two alive," I said. The vision of Dane staking Anastasia flashed before my mind’s eye. My eyes rose from the stake in Dominique’s chest, and locked on his eyes. He was splattered with blood. I used to think that made him look powerful and sexy, but now it scared the shit out of me. "It's still light outside. We're trapped."
"Sable!" Wendy cried. She and Anson were gawking at me. "You really are a vampire!"
"I know." Queen of comebacks, that's me.
Dane started shooting. That broke Wendy and Anson out of their trance. Silver bullets were flying in every direction. I ducked and headed for the stairs. I heard Yuri bellowing in pain and rage behind me. It took a moment to realize he wasn't following me. I don't know if he was trying to give me a chance to escape, or was too angry and wrathful to run. Or too proud. Either way, he kept them occupied.
Downstairs was complete carnage. Blood everywhere. Dead bodies. Wounded men all trussed up. Vampire slayers tried not to kill humans, but sometimes the minions fought too hard to defend their vampires. That's when the body count started to rise.
No one cared if you killed a vampire. Well, except the vampires. But if a vampire slayer killed a human, the media and police got a bit upset. There have been some vampire slayers sent to prison for murder, even though we all know it was self-defense, but the law didn't see it that way. Most of the vampires' homes were either rented or owned by their minion boys and girls. So when someone broke in to stake the vampire, and had to kill the homeowner, well, you see where this is going. Big trouble. Lots of felonies involved.
There was a loud crash, like a car smashing through the wall, and the shooting abruptly stopped. Was Yuri dead? No, our link was still intact. He couldn't have killed them all at once like that. Could he?
"Dammit. Where did he go? Shit. Find Sable!" Dane cried, followed by the sound of many feet pounding down the stairs. "Quickly, it's almost dark."
Now that was just rude. You'd think he'd give me a break for old times' sake. I guess he didn't appreciate me trying to kill him the night before, but I had a good excuse.
I was in the Great Room, the light streaming in the open front door too bright for me to tempt fate. The slayers coming after me would have a couple steps from the end of the stairs before turning left into it. Or they could run out the front door and into the safety of sunlight.
I stepped around the corner and pressed up against the wall.
“Leave me alone! Get out while you can,” I cried. “Yuri can’t be chased away that easily. He’ll be back, so you need to escape while you can.”
“She’s in the living room!” Gabe called. I should’ve known the werewolf would recover quickly.
My enhanced vampire hearing was certainly coming in handy now. I could track them well by sound. As they grew nearer, I could sense their blood, now pounding through their bodies. So tempting. It reminded me I hadn't fed. And I only took a couple mouthfuls from Gabe. I wished my hunger wasn't so distracting, so mind-consuming.
A pistol led the way around the corner, all in a rush. A Glock 31. Black. Very little caution on their parts. I felt a bit disappointed in them. They could get themselves killed like that. Were they that mad with a need to kill me? Was I that evil in their eyes?
“Why must you be so damned anal?” I cried and seized the pistol hand by the wrist.
I yanked it forward, stepped inside his guard as he was pulled around the corner. It was Dane. His eyes went wide behind his sunglasses at the sight of me. I squeezed his wrist with enough force to make him release the pistol, which distracted him a bare second. I took advantage and sent an open hand chop to the throat. I could've crushed his windpipe, even before becoming a vampire. Instead I hit him just hard enough to make him drop to his knees choking and clutching at his throat.
Turning to face the others, “I’m not your enemy!”
Wendy surprised me by sliding past on the polished hardwood, spinning around as she did and leveling a small one-handed crossbow at me. I ducked and scrambled to the side. She pulled the trigger before she slammed into the wall. Wendy was almost as good a shot as Gabe, with a very steady hand. It wasn't a killing shot, but that wooden dart ripped into my ribs, about three inches to the right and down from my heart.
"Yeeooow." Naked wood again. It didn't burn, but I understand it hurt the same on a vampire as it would feel on a mortal human. "Bitch. Why’d you shoot me? I’m your friend."
I lunged at Wendy as she tried to reload. I spotted Anson charging me with a raised sword, to my right. I could reach Wendy first, so I redoubled my efforts as I yanked the crossbow dart out of my ribs.
Ouch! It hurt more coming out than it did going in.
Wendy charged the crossbow, reloaded, and raised it as I reached her. I grabbed the end of the crossbow and ripped it out of her grasp as she pulled the trigger. The bolt went right though my hand, bounced off my left cheekbone, and split my left ear. Ouch doesn't begin to describe that.
I spun completely around, used the small crossbow to parry Anson's attempt to decapitate me, and stepped into him. Anson's jaw dropped as he realized what was happening. I'm sure he thought he was about to die. It would've been easy to kill him.
“Anson, no!” Wendy cried.
A left uppercut sent him stumbling backwards into Wendy with a tiny grunt of pain. I think I hit him too hard. I was trying to rein in my supernatural strength and not hurt them too badly. It wasn't easy.
Spotting Gabe rushing me with a Mini Uzi, trying to get a bead on me as he ran, I moved behind Wendy and Anson. She was reaching for her pistol and Dane was recovered enough to stagger to his feet. So I grabbed Wendy by the collar and belt, and flung her straight at Gabe.
“Sorry,” I said, wincing as they collided.
"Oooff!"
I headed for the front door, the light looking dim enough to be safe. Dane’s head whipped around. I thought I was too fast for him, but he proved me wrong. He charged me, tackling me before I got out of the Great Room.
“Leave me alone. Please,” I said. I used my superior speed and strength to break his hold, and thrust him away.
Gabe rolled up onto one knee at the same time I jumped to my feet. He pointed the Mini Uzi at me and pulled the trigger, ripping my right kidney to shreds. Such incredible pain!
"Yeeeeooow!" I stepped around Dane, using him as a shield. “Jesus Christ! Stop shooting me! It fucking hurts!”
“Just surrender and we’ll make it quick and painless,” Dane said. His voice was strained, as if he was in great pain. I prayed I hadn’t hurt him. “We don’t like this any more than you.”
“Bullshit,” I said. For a second, he looked sad, distressed. “I’m the one about to get staked.”
Dane came at me with his kukri knife. The curved blade the Nepalese used to decapitate their enemies. Dane loved to use it on vampires. He came in fast, but I was faster. Just barely. Grabbing his wrist, I pushed the knife to the side and past me, as I spun with the intent to hurl him at Gabe. But Dane was a much better fighter than I would ever be, and he slammed me into the wall instead.
Wood splinters peppered Dane as Gabe opened fire. He was such a stupid, reckless bastard. Dane could’ve been killed. I think Gabe was laying down suppressive fire to h
elp Dane keep me contained. Instead he startled Dane.
I used his distraction to break free. Before he could respond, I grabbed Dane by the collar and belt. Then I threw him at Gabe. Dane's head made a beeline straight into Gabe's belly. His next shot went wild.
We all stopped and stared at each other, my friends all panting and looking afraid. It broke my heart to see them looking at me with such dread and fear.
“Please leave,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you. Get out.”
Wendy and Dane started to say something, but were cut off.
"Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" echoed from upstairs. They didn't know who it was, but I recognized the voice. It was Dominique. It was a cry of pain and rage.
Everyone froze at the sound.
I pointed at the door. "Run!" They didn't move, so I rushed Gabe and Dane, who were closest to me. "Get out!"
Gabe lifted his gun, pointed at my face. I was faster, and slapped it out of his hand. Vampiric rage filled me. What was wrong with them? I was fixin’ to kick his face in when Dane sprang to his feet and rushed me. I jumped back, but was unprepared and not in a good position to defend myself. I found Dane's arms around my waist, my feet off the floor, and his face in my naked bosom. I was stronger than all of them put together, but the simple act of lifting me off the ground took away that advantage. Without leverage, I was as weak as a new born kitten. Okay, a tiger kitten.
Dane tightened his grip. "Stake her! Quick!"
That shocked me, but the scent of blood filled my senses. Dane was all bloody from cuts to his face and scalp. Blood dribbled down his neck, calling to me. I lost control and jerked his head back by his hair, exposing his neck.
"Aaggh!" he cried as my fangs punctured his jugular.
His scream echoed through my brain. My heart went out to him, wanting to protect and comfort him, but my hunger wanted to feed, and he was so delicious! I was sucking blood, feeding, and I couldn't stop myself. I needed it so badly.
As his hot blood flowed into my mouth and down my throat, I felt something in the back of my mind. A warmth. A connection. So intimate. So alluring. I grasped at it, feeling Dane. It was like what I felt upstairs when I bit Gabe. I knew Dane was mine, too.