by Megan Hawke
"I suggest you leave," Clive told them in an icy tone.
"Fuck you," the big black vampire said.
"What Jerome said," the dominatrix said, scowling. "You Euro-vamps are fucking up our lives with all these killings."
"Exactly," Boney said. He stepped forward and lifted a sword. I noticed they all had swords. Katanas. No silver on those blades, but they would still severe a vampire neck. "You have outstayed your welcome. Time to leave town."
"That is not your decision to make," Clive said.
"Wanna bet, jackass?" the redhead said. "Just because a few of the oldest vamps are kissing your ripe asses doesn't mean the rest of us like you, or what you're doing."
"You're riling up the mortals," Jerome said. "We don't need that."
I realized they were Boney's vampires, the ones he Changed. Jerome, the rival pimp that got out of hand two years back. Tawanda, the prostitute that he Changed after he bit her and drank her blood ten years ago. An accident. The redhead had to be LaBelle, a stripper he also accidentally Changed with a bite twenty years back. She was the first he one he had Changed. Boney regretted them all, except Jerome. That was self-defense.
"Are you going to leave quietly?" Boney asked.
"No," Clive said. He pointed at Boney, "Kill them!"
I stepped forward and thrust my sword into Clive's back, right through his heart. All Hell broke loose at that point. The vampires all screamed in rage and jumped on each other. Dane and Wendy gawked at them a long moment. Boney and his vampires were outgunned, so I ripped the sword back out and around, taking Clive's head off before he could recover.
Kicking the head away, I charged into the thick of battle. Five "baby" vampires against six old vampires. Then Boney managed to lob off Lawrence's head and I started liking our chances.
"Yuri!" I was filled with the need for vengeance. "Where are you, you sick bastard?"
"I'm right here," he said from my left rear. He was completely naked, which meant he’d transformed into an animal – probably a bat – and came around behind me. Obviously he wanted me as much as I wanted him. "Now you die?"
"You first." I thrust for his heart.
Yuri parried with his left forearm, taking a nasty cut. He punched me in the chest, knocking me back a few steps. I maintained my feet. Only my sword training saved me. I kept it between us, giving me time to recover.
I dropped low and kicked at his feet. He jumped up and levitated. Show off. "I always said you were flighty."
"I find you – irritating." He dropped to the floor and moved towards me. "Unfortunately, I may have to be satisfied with killing you, instead of a slow torture."
"Oh you sweet taking rogue. Talk about sweeping a girl off her feet."
Glancing left and right, looking for help, I noted a pleasant sight. Dane, Wendy, and Boney were triple teaming one-armed Claude. Boney transformed into a wolf and leaped out of his clothes at Claude's throat. He was back in human form, and tackled Claude. The French vampire growled a threat as he hit the floor, but Wendy was waiting and thrust a javelin through his heart.
"Ouch, Claude's dead."
Yuri looked appalled. I don't think the battle was going as planned for the bad guys. Grinning, I rushed him. The Russian vampire batted my sword thrust aside. This time though, he stepped past my guard and knifed his hand up into my belly, penetrating deeply.
"Uuugh," I groaned, intense pain stealing my strength. "Oh God."
"God will not help you, Black Heart," Yuri whispered into my ear. I could feel his hot breath on my cheek. "You are about to stand before Lucifer. I would love to see what he does to you for betraying our side."
I spat in his face. He snarled and thrust his hand deeper, higher up into my chest. I realized with cold dread what he intended for me. Yuri meant to rip my still beating heart from my chest. So I turned my head to face him, and bit off his nose.
"Aiiee!"
I lifted my feet, planted them on his thighs and pushed up with all my strength. I pushed myself off his arm, off his impaling hand. I fell flat on my back, my head bouncing off the floor. My protective glasses came off and skittered across the floor. I tried to suppress the pain in my belly and go after those all-important protective glasses.
Yuri recovered faster, and stomped on my glasses, crushing them to bits.
"Oops. I hope they were not too expensive."
Now I couldn't even look at Yuri. How do you fight a man you don't dare look at? Bigger question, how did I avoid being killed by that same man when I couldn't look at him? Unfortunately that was all the time I had to think.
Yuri grabbed my ponytail and lifted me off the ground. A second later I was flying through the air to slam into the wall. It was sheetrock. I was going very fast, so I went right through that wall in a white cloud of debris. Bet it made a big boom.
Glancing up through teary eyes, I noticed it was a lucky throw. I hit the wall right between two studs. A few inches either way and a stud would’ve stopped me. I didn't feel particularly lucky at the moment. My ears were ringing as I struggled to my hands and knees.
"Police!" Dane cried.
I could barely make out the sirens. They sounded so far away. I would surely be dead and gone before they reached us. Would any of my friends still be alive? Wendy? Dane? Gabe? Had Gabe already bled to death? Would even Boney survive?
"Ah, Sable Hart, there you are." Yuri sounded rather smug. I almost looked up into his eyes. That would've been bad. "You are not looking well. Could that explain the lack of jokes now?"
I reached for my pistol. The holster was empty. I couldn't recall losing it. I couldn't recall a whole lot after smashing through that wall. Shame – I was going to shoot him in the balls and see if he thought that was funny. I'm sure it would've brought a smile to a few faces in the house.
"Nose diving through a wall kinda kills the ole sense of humor, Boris." The Boris reference confused him. Did he even know about Bullwinkle and Rocky? "I'd explain it to you, but it isn't funny if you have to explain a joke."
"I do not have time for explanations, my black-hearted Sable Hart," he sneered, moving towards me. He had my katana in hand. Kinda rude to kill a girl with her own sword. "The police will be here in a few minutes. You must be dead by then."
I panicked. I did not want to die. I did not want to go to Hell, above all else. I might have whimpered. Not completely sure. If I did, then I partially blocked it. Who would blame me? Anyway, I scooted backwards into the dining room set.
My hand hit a chair. It was too bulky to wield as a club, so I grabbed the end of the leg and kicked it, ripping it off. An instant later I was on my feet and charging Yuri. That surprised him a bit. Not much.
Yuri thrust the sword at my belly. After parrying the thrust aside, I swung the chair leg up, around, and slammed it hard across his wrist. The sword skittered across the room. I smiled at the feel of that meaty thunk. He cursed and lunged at me. I brought the leg down atop his head and sidestepped his grasp. Just barely.
"Wait!" Yuri cried, sounding shocked. I looked. He caught my eyes. "Got you."
"Oh."
Yuri grinned fiercely. "Kneel."
I dropped to my knees. My master wanted it. I obeyed.
"Lift your chin and prepare to die, Sable Hart."
I lifted my chin and waited to die. As my master wished. He smiled down at me with wicked glee, then lifted his right hand. The lost katana flew back into it. If I wasn't mesmerized, I would've been impressed.
"No! Sable don't!" Dane cried. "Duck! Sable, run!"
I glanced at him. He was running toward us. Dane looked frantic. There was no way for him to reach us in time.
My master caught my attention, swinging the sword way back as if he had a golf club in hand and was teeing off. I realized he was going to kill me, and remembered he wanted my chin lifted, so I lifted it. But… he’d commanded me to preserve my life at all cost with a Compulsion.
I dropped my chin and fell back out of range. Yuri growled and rushed
towards me. I backed into the table and froze.
"No!" Dane cried.
Yuri was between Dane and me. I heard Dane grunt with effort. Yuri twisted and leaned back. Something streaked past him, speeding towards me. A javelin thunked into the table inches above my head, embedding itself a good three inches.
Not hesitating, I jumped to my feet even as I ripped that silver-tipped javelin out of the table. Yuri swung the sword in a decapitating blow, a wild battle cry on his lips. I brought the javelin head up and around, parrying that deadly stroke. I found myself face to face with Yuri, extending the javelin all the way out with both hands.
"You should never have put that Compulsion to survive on me."
I grinned into his shocked face, and brought the butt-end of the javelin straight back with all my supernatural strength. Yuri was off balance and vulnerable, and couldn't dodge away.
"Ugh!" Yuri grunted as the dull end of my javelin pounded into his chest, shattering bone, ripping muscle, piercing his heart. My follow through shoved that wooden shaft completely through his body, to emerge a good six inches out his back.
"You Changed me into a vampire. I turn you into a corpse," I whispered in his ear. "Go to Hell."
I released the javelin and stepped back. Yuri had the most incredulous expression on his face as he dropped to his knees. His eyes rolled up, and he slowly collapsed at my feet.
"Damn," Dane said, staring warily at Yuri's body.
"My thoughts exactly." I grinned. It felt so great to still be alive. Sort of alive. Undead isn't exactly dead, after all. "Thanks for the assist."
The police came charging through the door.
"Halt! Police!"
Wendy and Dane immediately dropped to their knees, hands behind their heads. Strangely enough, so did I. Boney, LaBelle, Jerome, and Tawanda all turned into bats and flew right past the police, and out the front door. The few remaining evil vampires did the same. The cops ducked and waved their hands and pistols to fend off the attacks that didn't happen.
"No one else move, dammit," a plainclothes cop shouted. I guess he got to be in charge that night. When no one moved, he looked around. To his credit he didn't vomit or anything. I could tell the cops were one and all sickened by what they saw. "Mother of God!"
"Vampire staking. A really big one." I glanced around at the blood and gore. "Got kinda messy."
He gawked at me a long moment. Horror spread across his face.
"Some of these bodies are human."
I looked around. I was counting vampire bodies. Three were missing. Vera Vasquez, Cynthia Simmons, and Dominique's sister, Angelique de Saussay. Vera was over three hundred years old. Scary. Not a good development. The rest of the bodies were Clive's mortal thugs and dead vampires. I smiled at the sight of Clive's and Yuri's corpses.
"Thralls. Mortal muscle for the vampires. Some of them were more murderous, more brutal than their undead masters." I glanced at Dane and Wendy. They would go down for this. Probably prison. Unless, "I had to kill them. They were a menace to society."
"You killed them? Are you confessing?"
"Sure. I'm not ashamed of it. They were thralls and thugs." I narrowed my eyes at the cop. "I shot them dead when they tried to kill my friends. They got what they deserved."
"They deserved better than this!" He was one angry man.
"No. No they didn't."
That shocked him. I shrugged, which isn't easy in that position. That didn't seem to please him, either. He took a step closer to me.
"Who are you? Let me see your driver's license. What is your name and address?"
"Me? I'm Sable Hart."
"Black Heart," another cop muttered.
"The same. Bye-bye."
With that I transformed into a bat. I flew straight at the plainclothes cop's face, then veered aside at the last instant. He ducked and cursed. I flew out the front door, turned up and to the left. I vanished into the darkness.
I took an erratic route back to my car. There were still three of Clive's vampires loose. They might be laying in ambush out there in the dark. So I had to make sure I wasn't being followed. That didn't mean they weren't waiting by my car, but I found it safe.
The Mustang was unlocked. Heck, both front windows were smashed out by Darcy the previous night, using my head. On the backseat waited a pair of faded jeans, a red polo shirt, and running shoes. Yeah, I was going to those parties much better prepared. I was dressed in nothing flat, and fired up the car. I glanced down the street as I passed through the intersection, spotting a butt load of police cars – Dallas County Sheriff, Dallas PD, Dallas County Constable, and even two Texas Highway Patrol cars. Everyone wanted to join the party.
"Good luck," I whispered, thinking of Dane, Wendy, and Gabe.
Chapter 22
Medical City was in Dallas, on Forest Lane just west of Central. It was tall and looked kinda old to me. I remembered my stay in that hospital as a child, when I got my tonsils out.
I got a lot of looks when I strode into the hospital. Nothing I didn't expect. I was all vamped out, wearing a black leather bustier, tight faded jeans stuffed into black thigh high boots. Then there was my favorite piece, the black leather bolero jacket with the red roses embroidered on it. I accessorized with big platinum hoop earrings, matching bangles, and a red satin choker with a black heart dangling from it.
Like I said, vamped out. I was surprised people weren't running screaming from the building. Instead, they gawked. Some were more subtle than others, but they all looked and most of them looked hard.
It was my first visit to a hospital since the Change. Let me tell you, my vampiric senses were on overload for a few of minutes. First, my sense of smell was now a curse. I was nearly sickened by all those antiseptic smells I always hated about hospitals and doctor’s offices. Then there was the stench of blood. Not a good blood smell either. And punctuating all of that, the place reeked of fear and despair and vulnerability, all things vampires picked up on instinctively.
I wanted to run away and not go back. I didn’t like it, but Gabe was expecting me. I’d promised to visit him. Another promise I regretted.
I'd spoken with Gabe earlier in the evening, so I knew his floor and room number. When I got there a cop was guarding the door. Well, he was within sight of it anyway. He was actually flirting with the nurses at their centrally located station. The floor wasn’t as big as it looked from the outside, and it was laid out with all the rooms around the outside and the nurses' station and utility rooms in the center. No long hallways. I slipped by the cop and into Gabe’s room before he spotted me, and closed the door.
"Oh," Wendy said, looking surprised.
It was a two bed room, with the bathroom next to the entry. The first bed was empty and stripped of bedding. Gabe was sprawled out on the bed next to the windows. The partition curtain was pushed all the way open, so Gabe could keep an eye on the door. Vampire slayers are a paranoid lot. Dane was leaning against the window sill and Wendy was sitting in a chair near Gabe’s feet. She was eating a burger and Dane was sipping from a Burger King cup. They all turned as I entered.
Gabe looked better than I expected. He was animated and alert, and apparently in the middle of telling something funny – that died on his lips when I walked in. Dane's right eye had a bit of discoloring under it, but otherwise he looked unscathed. Wendy had a knot on the left side of her face, under three stitches, and next to that a big black eye. Her right wrist was wrapped in an ace bandage.
"Hi, y'all." I blasted them with my brightest smile. I had an incredible smile. I know, I practiced it for hours on end as a teen. Staring into a mirror and smiling over and over, until it became natural. I was pathetic back then, desperately wanting everyone to like me. I've mostly gotten over that. Mostly. "Long time no see."
"Twenty-four hours is a long time in vampire time?" Dane asked, and smiled nervously.
"Duh, there's like a hundred hours of daylight during that time. I still can't believe I survived another day. I nev
er cease to wake up and be surprised to still be alive."
"I know how you feel," Gabe said. He looked me up and down with a big shit eating grin, and then he locked eyes with me, giving me the most lecherous look I'd ever seen. He was oozing horny, big time. "You're one hot babe, Sabe. Give me a big hug and kiss."
"Oh!" I instinctively lifted my hand to my throat. "You're scaring me, Gabe."
He laughed and held his arms out. He wasn't joking about the hug and kiss. I wasn't joking about being scared. But I went to him, gave him a kiss on the corner of the mouth and hugged him briefly. I minimized contact as much as possible. I didn’t trust him not to take advantage. I'm pretty sure he wanted a French kiss and much more than a hug.
"You're such a lecher." I shook my head woefully. "That's how I know you're okay."
I heard my name from the TV mounted up near the ceiling. Glancing up, I did a double take.
"Yep," Wendy said. "That's about all anyone can talk about today."
A pair of news anchors were talking to a reporter standing outside Clive's last house. It was lit up in the darkness by the floodlights they had brought with them.
"Yeah, they've been debating whether vampires like you are good or evil," Dane said. "Everyone knows who Black Heart is now, you know. You're famous."
"I know." I'd already been outed, both as a vampire slayer and then as a vampire. Why rub it in? "So now I've been upgraded to the avenging vampire?"
At least that was the impression I got from Desiree's report when I woke up. And from the little bit of news I watched before getting dressed and coming over here.
"Something like that," Gabe said. "You should consider wearing a super heroine costume. I suggest a bikini and boots."
"You would." Didn't I have that conversation with my brother? Must be a man thing. "Jeez, you never stop."
"You're a vampire," Dane said, as if that explained everything. He did not look happy, glaring at Gabe. Dane's libido was roused, but not as much as Gabe's. Have to admit, I kinda liked knowing my presence excited them so much, even if they weren't particularly thrilled about it. "Gabe knows what that means. Word is vampires are all insatiable lovers. Can't get enough. They say a vampire will sleep with anyone, anytime, anywhere."