Hunger Within (A Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Novel Book 1)

by Megan Hawke

  All I could think to do was find a hiding place atop the building, and then I realized she was close enough to see me. There was no way I could find a place to hide with her so close.

  When I reached the top of the building I saw there wasn't any place to hide anyway. It was a forest of antennas of varying sizes, which told me it was the LaFleur Building. One of the antennas came close to ending my flight when my left wing struck it. It spun me completely around in midair – a tumble I barely recovered from. Darcy let out a triumphant sounding squawk.

  My collision slowed me down considerably. Darcy was gaining extraordinarily fast. The buildings were all below us – I had nothing to hide behind. So I turned and changed back into a human as I plummeted towards her.

  Darcy changed to human a second before I crashed into her. We struggled as we fell. We were directly over the building, so we wouldn't fall all the way to the ground.

  Darcy screamed like I never heard anyone scream before. It was pain and surprise and fear. Something erupted from between her breasts. I wasn't fast enough, and that sharp thing impaled me too, right though the belly.

  "Oh God Almighty damn!" I had an antenna through my body, penetrating just above my navel and erupting from my back. "Son of a bitch, that hurts!"

  "Shut up and get me off this Goddamned thing!" Did she really think I was going to help her? Really?

  Darcy was in a much worse predicament. The antenna looked to have pierced her heart. Very painful, I imagine. Mine was painful enough, but I watched in amazement as she reached up, grabbed the antenna, and started to pull herself up inch by slow inch. She couldn't move very fast and the pain seemed to be sucking a lot of her strength away. I understood that at the moment.

  Since I was facing downward, I couldn't pull myself up like Darcy was doing. Instead, I had to drop my hands and feet down to the antenna, and push myself up. I realized then it wasn't steel, but appeared to be fiberglass or something similar. I didn't go much faster than Darcy, but I was on top – I would get off first. And if she got much closer, I could use her to step on for leverage.

  That antenna had thrust a good twenty feet through me. It took an hour to worm my way off of it. I'm sure of it. Gusts of wind hit us, shaking us, and we'd slide back down a little bit. And it hurt like Hell the whole way up. I did get to step on her twice though; that was kind of satisfying.

  As I neared the top, the antenna began to bend more and more, so I was able to let my weight pull me off the last five feet. It came out with a loud twang and the vibrations sent Darcy sliding back down past where she started. Oh, you can bet she was pissed. I could tell by her cursing. Nasty mouth on that girl.

  I fell off the antenna. And kept falling. I realized I was over the side of the building when I came off and was en route all the way to the ground. I managed to change into a bat before I hit the ground, barely.

  Flying away was my first instinct. I was afraid of Darcy. Terrified of her. I'm not too proud to admit that. That vampire was the thing of nightmares for me, but I had an opportunity. So I flew back up to her.

  Darcy scowled at me when she spotted me circling her.

  "Laugh, bitch, but I'll get off this damned thing and hunt you down." Her voice was strained from pain and effort. "You won't escape my vengeance."

  I alighted on the antenna and changed to human form. I wrapped myself around it and clung to it. My feet were about two feet above her hands. Darcy stopped pulling herself up, a look of fear spreading across her face.

  "Hello, Darcy. How's my favorite shish kabob?"

  Her face twisted into a mask of rage.

  "I'm going to rip your tongue out first." She started to pull herself up again.

  I think she actually thought she could whip my butt with a hundred foot antenna shoved through her heart and chest. I loosened my grip a tad, and started to slide down the antenna. I felt like a fireman.

  "Wahoo!" I cried, just before my feet slammed into Darcy.

  "Aaaaaiiiieeeeee!" Darcy was pushed back down the antenna all the way to the base.

  "Now that was fun." I smiled down roguishly. “Wanna do it again?” I was standing on her chest, her arms and legs thrown wide in terrible pain. "You don't really think I'm going to leave and let you pull yourself off, do you?"

  Darcy's eye widened. "What do you mean?"

  She glanced eastward. Toward the coming sunrise. I smiled down at her, still standing on her chest. I shimmed up the antenna a few feet before she thought to grab me.

  "I’m not going to allow you to pull yourself off this antenna."

  Jumping off the antenna, I fell to the roof. Oh, that hurt. Did you know skyscrapers have rocky roofs? Why would they cover the top with gravel? It boggled my mind, and it hurt my feet when I landed. After I recovered, I looked around until I found what I needed. Wire.

  There were pieces of wire, varying in length from less than an inch to several feet long. Most of the pieces were thick coaxial cable, but there were some thinner gauge pieces too. Extra wire cut off and left behind when they installed or repaired the antennas. There was not a whole lot, but there was enough.

  Changing back into a bat, wire held in my mouth, I flew up to Darcy before changing back into human form below her. I grabbed a foot and hung from it until she screamed in pain. I tied one end of the wire around that ankle, then grabbed the other ankle. I quickly had her ankles tied together.

  "Tell me, Darcy, are you as into bondage as Dominique? As I recall, you and Darby took your turns sexually abusing me while I was tied up and helpless."

  "Dominique made us! I'm sorry! Please don't do this. I'll die."

  "That's the idea."

  Getting hold of one of her wrists was a bit more problematic, but I finally got one. After that the other wrist wasn't so hard. Darcy screamed threats, then begged for mercy. She even promised to be my best friend and help me hunt and kill Yuri. I ignored her pleas as I bound her wrists together behind her back. With her arms and legs secured, she was helpless. Darcy would not escape her terrible fate.

  Just to be sure, and to rub salt into the wound, I tied her elbows together. Her shoulders were forced way back. That looked as uncomfortable as the antenna through the heart. Then I tied her wrists to her ankles.

  Hogtied vampire. On a stick.

  I wanted to leave. Surely she couldn't escape that, but someone might come up and let her go. Security officer. Maintenance man. It didn't matter, if a human came up and she caught his eye, then he would do anything he was told. He would set her free and she would be back on the hunt. So I stayed until the eastern sky was starting to lighten.

  "Tell Darby I don't miss her. See you in Hell."

  "Sable!" she cried as I flew away. "I'll be waiting for you, Sable! When you finally come to Hell, you will be mine!"

  Hmm, why do I think she'll have to fight a lot of others for that privilege? I thought as I flew away.

  I found my car right where I left it. There were only a few people around when I got there. From the way they looked at me I had the impression they weren't there earlier when I fought Darcy. Though the car was still there, my purse was missing; the clothes Darcy and I left behind were gone. The trunk was cleaned out too.

  "Bastards." I grumbled as I started it up, but I was thankful the car was still there.

  I drove home. I arrived with just minutes to spare.

  I called Yuri on my cell.

  "Hello, Yuri Romanov. It's sunrise, and do you know where Darcy LaFere is?"

  He was silent a long moment. "You killed her?"

  "Probably."

  "You do not know?"

  "Well, I just left her impaled and hogtied on an antenna high atop a skyscraper. Once the sun is fully up, I'll be pretty sure she is dead. Vaporized, you might say."

  I hung up and dialed the next number. It rang three times before he answered. He sounded sleepy.

  "What time do you get up, Longhouse?"

  "What? Who is this?"

  "Sable Hart, Sergeant. You kn
ow, Black Heart." I tried to sound amused, but I was too tired. The sun was up and beating down on the house. I could feel its oppression growing fast. I needed to sleep. "I struck again. I suspect there won't be much evidence, but I left a vampire follower of Yuri Romanov atop the LaFleur Building, impaled on an antenna and hogtied with wire. You might want to check it out."

  I hung up, and then considered calling Dane. Our link indicated he was awake and due north. The phone rang. It was Yuri. I turned it off. Time for bed.

  Chapter 20

  Vampires don't dream.

  You'd think our evil little minds would be filled with visions of blood and sex, or blood-drenched sex, or something even more sick and perverted. But no, the undead have no dreams. I don't know why that bothered me so much. Maybe it's because I was able to remember so many of my dreams as a mortal.

  When I sleep, I am oblivious to the world, totally devoid of thought. I'm not even sure I breathe. I remembered Yuri didn't breathe when he slept, but Boney did. I never asked if I breathed while asleep. I'd like to think I did, that I retained some small aspects of my lost humanity. I was afraid to ask.

  I wake up once or twice during the day. I'm usually never awake more than a moment – long enough to determine the time, then back to sleep. The sun's oppressiveness distracts and pushes me quickly back into my silent repose to escape it.

  A stray sound caught my attention. I was descending back into the abyss after waking to determine it was still early afternoon. The sound was familiar. It tickled at my brain, but it wasn't stopping my decline into oblivion. Old wood frame houses made lots of noises. I couldn't place it and no longer had the facilities to analyze it properly.

  Then my world began to jump and roll. First thought: earthquake, but I lived in Dallas. Shouts filled the air. The heady stench of fear washed over me, and the more arousing scent of excitement. Human blood pounded. So hot and enticing. So close.

  My eyes popped open as a large man leapt atop me.

  "Hurry!" a familiar feminine voice cried. She sounded afraid. It was her fear that saturated the air. "She's waking up!"

  Pamela Richardson. What was she doing here?

  "Staking!" I cried, fully awake.

  He had the stake in one hand and a hammer in the other. I grabbed the stake with supernatural swiftness and wrenched it from his grasp. He grabbed that wrist and tried to slam the hammer into my face. I parried that blow. Barely. Then I grabbed his throat, and squeezed as I bared my fangs and hissed. I was starting to like the hissing thing.

  The light came on, and two more men jumped on top of me. One of the newcomers wrestled the stake from my hand, while the other two men fell on me. They pounded me with fists, feet, elbows, and knees. They were good. Only my wonderfully durable vampire body kept me conscious.

  Shock caused me to fight defensively at first, but I took the fight to them the second I got my bearings. An elbow to the nose of the first attacker took him out, but he fell limply atop me, his face in my face.

  The other two men each seized one of my arms and held on for dear life. I could not shake them to save my life. Literally, to save my life. Without the use of my arms I couldn't get the first man off me either. They had me.

  Pamela's voice became shrill. "Kill her! Hurry, stake her through the heart!"

  "You're dead meat, Pamela!"

  Two more men charged into the closet. That about filled it up. After all a twin size mattress barely fit inside. Filled it up wall-to-wall, door-to-wall. Five big men and me might sound like a hot vampire date, but it was getting a bit crowded.

  Someone pulled the unconscious man off me, hurling him out the door. I kicked my momentary assistant in the groin as viciously as I could and he fell back out the door. The stake in the other man's hand didn't register until it was too late. He straddled my waist and rammed the sharpened end in between my breasts. I felt the wood penetrate my skin, pressed up against my breastbone. I froze as the five pound sledge in his right hand rose up high.

  "Yes!" Pamela cried.

  "No!" I screamed as the hammer streaked down. I arched my back, twisted, and tried to sit up. To no avail. The hammer struck true, and I felt the stake pound through my breastbone, ripping it apart, digging deep into my chest. "Aaaiiiii!"

  He pounded that stake all the way through my body. I felt it punch through my back, coming out under my right shoulder blade. Two things occurred to me at once. One: excruciating pain. Two: he missed my heart. My breastbone had deflected the stake just to the side.

  "She's dead! We did it!"

  "Yes!" Pamela cried. "Wahoo! Yuri's going to be so proud of us!"

  I forced myself to completely relax. My eyes were already rolled up in my head from the pain, and I had to concentrate to keep them there. It was even harder to force my body into complete limpness.

  "What a shame." It was Ryder, one of Yuri's enforcers. Andrew Ryder was probably the prettiest of Yuri's mortal men, though he had an ugly taste in sex play. I knew. Don't ask. Like most of Yuri's men, he was tall and muscular, with medium length blonde hair and cold gray eyes. "She was so God-damned beautiful."

  "And a helluva fuck, too." That from Norris, another of Yuri's thug favorites. He was the one who had just staked me. Norris pushed my boobs together around the stake, gave them a painful two-handed squeeze, and then pinched the nipples. Why do they always pinch the damned nipples? It was a vicious pinch and twist. All I was wearing was a t-shirt, so no protection whatsoever. Bastard. "I love her tits."

  "Get her out here so we can cut off her head for Yuri and Clive," Pamela said. "Then you can play with the body all you want."

  Jimmy Norris was six foot two inches of oversexed brawn and stupid. He laughed and stood up, still straddling me. I thought about kicking straight up, pounding his nuts up into his neck, but remained relaxed. The other two men hadn't released my arms yet, though they had loosened their grips. Norris moved toward the door, then grabbed my left ankle. Everyone released me as he dragged my limp body out of the closet.

  Fortunately, I only had a mattress on the floor in the closet, so my head only had a short drop to the concrete floor. I stiffened a tad when my head bounced off the floor. I did allow my eyes to roll down enough to make out a little of what was going on.

  Pamela was staring at me with triumphant eyes. She looked about to break out in giggles. The others looked equally pleased as punch. I recognized them all from Yuri's little bondage orgies. I had been the main entertainment during my short stay. I couldn’t wait to wipe the smirk off every one of their faces.

  Besides Ryder and Norris, there was Javier Martinez. At twenty-two he was the youngest. Of all of them, he was the only local boy. He was a little on the short side, but darkly handsome with short black hair and dark brown eyes.

  Jake Wallace was in his late twenties, very heavily muscled and covered in tattoos. He was one butt ugly man, too. Brutish looking. Inflicting pain, I’m pretty sure, was his greatest pleasure.

  Their leader was the meanest of them all, and the most scary looking. Zach Black's entire body was sheathed in tattoos. I’d seen. Don’t ask. Nightmarish tattoos of demons and rape and murder. His black hair was cut in a Mohawk, and everything on him was pierced. Yep. That too. Of all the humans I'd met since becoming a vampire, his black eyes were the only ones that sent a chill through me. Thank God he wasn't a vampire.

  They were all carrying either swords or heavy bowie knives, and even a couple javelins – in Zach's hands. They were armed for vampire. I guess I pissed someone off. Who'd have thought?

  "It's good to see her dead." Pamela dropped to one knee beside me. "I never liked her. She was too full of herself, too stuck up." She grinned down at me. "Give me a knife. I want to cut off her head."

  "Huh?" I said. That caught her attention. The stupid bimbo looked me right in the eyes, so I mesmerized her. "Are Yuri and Clive still at St Clair's house?"

  I had absolute control of her. If I commanded it, she would even kill herself, so she didn't hesitate
answering.

  "No."

  The men finally realized I was alive and speaking. Slow-witted dullards. They weren't the brightest monkeys in the tree.

  "Where are they?"

  The men were crying out warnings and pulling their guns. I grimaced, because I knew it was going to hurt like Hell, but if I escaped there alive, I absolutely had to know where to find Yuri and Clive. It would end that night, one way or another.

  "They are down the street from Ms. St. Clair, on the corner of Fitzhugh. The big yellow house."

  Only a few blocks away. If that. Kinda of scary to think about.

  "Thanks, now go to Hell," I said, and jerked her down atop me.

  Five guns started firing. They finally learned. Silver, not lead bullets. Didn't matter to Pamela though; silver killed mortals just as fast as lead. She had the oddest look on her face as dozens of bullets ripped her body to shreds.

  Some of those bullets went through her and into me. Very painful, but not all of them were blessed. Pamela served her purpose superbly. The men were idiots, and emptied their guns into Pamela and me. They all ran out of ammo about the same time.

  I flung the body off me, straight into Norris who stood at my feet, then I ripped the stake out of my chest. Talk about hurt.

  "Uuuggghh, bastards." I leapt to my feet.

  I felt sluggishly weak, but I knew my strength would return quickly. The men didn't hesitate. As one, four of them charged me. Norris was cursing under Pamela's dead body.

  Swinging the sharp end of the stake at Zach like it was a dagger, I forced him to dive to the side. With him temporarily out of the picture, I spun around and drove the stake deep into Jake's belly. He looked surprised, then I shoved him away as the life began to bleed out of his gut.

  Javier pressed the barrel of his Uzi to my back and pulled the trigger. The pain of silver bullets ripping through me forced my back to arch and a cry of agony rolled past my lips. Ryder slapped his pistol across my cheek and spun me around. The last round from Javier's Uzi missed me and hit Ryder in the right thigh. He howled with pain and surprise.