Ed’s eyes narrowed. “Forever?” he asked.
“For as long as you continue the treatments,” I answered. “It’s not perfected yet, and some subjects still occasionally fall off the wagon, but even then they can control the Hunger enough to just take what they need and not kill the victims. It is a chance to live without the guilt a lot of us feel at taking innocent lives.”
Kim’s eyes filled with tears and she hugged Ed, sobbing gently against his cheek.
“So,” I said, leaning back and sipping my drink, “where do we go from here? Which side do you choose, Ed?”
He straightened up, his arms still around Kim. “For me, there is only one side: Kim’s. I don’t give a damn about Vampyre politics, and I don’t give a shit what anyone else wants to do. But, if Kim wants to take the treatments and give up our way of life, then I’m with her, to the death.”
“What about your friend John?”
He shook his head. “I’m afraid he feels differently about it. He sides with this Morpheus character, who seems to think it’ll be the end of us as a race.”
“No, Ed, that’s just it,” I argued. “All the vaccine means is that we have a choice. Those who want to continue to live and feed off Normals will be able to. No one can make them take the treatments any more than anyone can force someone into rehabilitation for drugs or alcohol. The person has to truly want to change for the vaccine to work. As I said, it’s not a miracle drug and it’s not for everyone.”
He nodded. “I can see that, Elijah, but there are many of our kind who are not going to see it that way. I’m afraid you’re going to have a hell of a fight on your hands.”
“I know, Ed, but as long as there are those of us like you and Kim who want to have a choice, it’s a fight I’m going to make.”
“What can we do to help?” Kim asked.
I gave them my cell phone number. “For right now, just keep a watch on your friend and the others that are on their way up here to try and stop the vaccine. Call me if there’s any news. Later on, I’ll give you the number of a man who will see that you and Kim can get the treatments, even if they succeed in stopping me.”
Thirty-seven
John Ashby drove slowly as he headed for home. He had a lot to think about and didn’t want to hit a moose or bear while his mind was preoccupied with the problem of Elijah Pike . . . or whatever the man’s real name was.
Ashby had a funny feeling about Pike; the bastard was much too slick to be who he said he was, and it worried Ashby that every time he tried to pin him down, he got a slippery answer instead of concrete facts. For instance, he reminded himself, he’d asked several questions about the exact location of the cabin Pike had supposedly rented, only to have him evade the question or change the subject entirely.
Something was definitely not kosher about Mr. Pike, and Ashby was determined to find out what it was. The only problem was how he was going to accomplish this without Ed’s help, or even his knowledge. The son of a bitch had Ed and Kim convinced he was a fair-haired boy, and Ed had practically told him to stay off Pike’s case and to leave him alone when he’d left their house.
That was bullshit, and Ashby didn’t intend to put up with it. Ed might be his boss on Mountie business, but this concerned the entire Vampyri race, and that took precedence over both work and friendship as far as Ashby was concerned.
Just before he reached the edge of town, he decided the first step was for him to find out where Pike was staying. He couldn’t use any of the other Mounties to tail him, for Ed would be sure to find out and would chew him a new asshole, and for the same reason he couldn’t afford to take time off work to do it himself. That left only one solution: the all-knowing computers—Ashby’s specialty.
Since almost all of the long-term rental properties near Banff advertised and booked over the Internet, he decided he would go on-line and track all of the properties rented in the past year. Pike was probably smart enough not to use his own name, especially if he was dirty as John suspected, so he’d just have to try all of the cabins listed that were out of town but near enough to commute. It might take a while, but sooner or later he would have his address, and then he could take an up-close and personal look at Mr. High-and-Mighty Pike. It would be a real feather in his cap if he could have Pike all wrapped up and ready for delivery when his new friends from the states arrived.
Yes, Ashby thought, I’ll make the computers sing a song about Elijah Pike and be there to take down the lyrics.
He considered heading straight to the office, but decided what the hell, tomorrow was soon enough, and he had something in his basement at home he’d been saving for just such a day, and it would be a shame to keep her waiting any longer. Besides, he hadn’t eaten for over a week now and the Hunger was starting to interfere with his concentration. Better to go to work on the Pike problem with a full stomach, and empty loins . . .
* * *
The group of four walked, or rather stumbled out of the Italian Scallion Restaurant in downtown Banff. Shooter had insisted on ordering a fourth bottle of Chianti, and they were all stuffed to the gills and feeling no pain as they got in the car and headed back to the hotel.
Matt insisted on driving, since Shooter was way past sober, and halfway up the winding road to the Banff Springs, he glanced in the rearview mirror and laughed. “Hey, you two. Get a room, would you?”
A very drunk Shooter lifted his head from TJ’s chest, where he was trying to gnaw his way through her blouse to her breast, and said, “Hey, pal, we’ve got a room, so would you put the pedal to the metal and get us there—quick.”
As Sam started to turn and look back, Matt said, “Uh-uh, sweetheart, you’re much too young to witness something as gross as Shooter in full heat.”
TJ, almost as far-gone as Shooter, grabbed his head and pulled it back down onto her breast, pulling her blouse open so he could get to it. “Oh,” she moaned as his teeth took hold of a particularly sensitive part of her anatomy. “Yes, Matt, hurry please.”
Matt glanced in the mirror and almost ran off the road at the sight of TJ’s breast sticking out of her blouse with Shooter’s lips firmly affixed to the nipple. He felt a warmth spread through his groin at the sight, and looked over to see Sam watching him, a smile on her lips. She’d been right to warn him about errant thoughts, for she could read him like a book.
At the hotel, the laughing friends piled out of their car, Matt throwing a handful of Canadian dollar coins to the valet, and managed to find the right elevator and the correct floor and finally the rooms Pike had reserved for them.
As Shooter stuck his card-key in the door, he turned bleary, bloodshot eyes at Matt and Sam just down the hall. “I don’t want to hear anything about breakfast until at least noon, okay?”
“You got it, podnah,” Matt said, opening his and Sam’s door and goosing her as she entered.
By the time Shooter had the door locked and bolted, TJ was half-naked and sauntering toward the bedroom. “Hurry up, babe,” she called over her shoulder, “I’ve never made love in a fifteen hundred dollar a night hotel room before.”
Shooter began to strip his clothes off as he followed her, stumbling and almost falling when he caught his foot trying to step out of his pants. “What do you think we did in the shower earlier?” he asked.
“Oh, that was just the appetizer,” TJ called back as she flung herself naked on the bed before him and lay on her back, crooking her fingers at him. “I think you’re ready for the main course, big guy.”
Her eyes dropped to his groin as he dropped his shorts, and she added, “And I do mean BIG!”
When Shooter lay on the bed next to her and took her nipple in his mouth and got his hand between her legs, TJ’s eyes fell on the pulsating pulse of his carotid artery and she felt the familiar urges of the Hunger begin to stir in her gut.
As the warmth began to spread up her abdomen because of what Shooter was doing to her lower regions, she reached down and took his swollen penis in her hand an
d placed her lips against the vein in his neck.
She licked the warm spot first, the smell of his blood just below the surface causing her to groan and arch her hips against his hand, her sex becoming wet and hot. When his fingers ceased their rubbing and spread her labia and entered her, she almost fainted with pleasure.
Moving against his hand, squeezing and pulling on his groin, she bared her fangs and gently bit his neck. He stopped moving for a moment, startled at first at the sting, and then as the hormones from her saliva entered his bloodstream, he almost shouted with joy and lust as they had their usual effect on his libido.
TJ felt his penis throb and grow larger and harder and the hormones took their effect on her, too, causing her sex to contract around his fingers and squeeze them tight.
Finally, neither could stand to be apart any longer and Shooter rolled on top of her, his neck against her lips while she slowly sucked his life’s blood into her mouth, swallowing greedily when he entered her. The alcohol in Shooter’s blood added a certain spice to the already sweet taste and TJ became intoxicated all over again as she drank him down.
Her nipples felt like bullets under his hand as he rubbed and pinched them, their hips moving together in a wild dance of love while she fed.
* * *
In the next room, Matt and Sam never made it to the bedroom. Sam, slightly dizzy from the wine she’d consumed, flopped down on the couch and laid her head back against the cushions, closing her eyes.
Matt, horny from the wine, put his knees on either side of her thighs and wrapped his arms around her neck and leaned himself into her, his face in her hair as he inhaled her sweet aroma.
Sam put her hands on his hips and pulled him tighter against her until she could feel his erection pressing against her breasts.
She leaned her head back and looked up into his eyes. She wiggled her breasts against his penis and said, “Does this mean I’m not going to get any sleep tonight?” she asked, grinning.
“Oh,” he answered, smiling back at her, “you can sleep, but I’m not going to.”
“You mean if I passed out you would take advantage of an unconscious girl?”
He nodded. “Of course, sweetheart. It’s all in the Y chromosome. Dead drunk passed-out women are considered fair game, especially if they’ve been warned.”
“Well then, I guess I’d better try to stay awake,” she said, reaching between them and undoing Matt’s trousers. When he sprang fully erect into her hands, she bent her head and took him into her mouth, causing him to moan and push against her.
After a few moments of this, he pulled back and pushed her onto her back on the couch. “That’s not fair. I want to play, too,” he complained, taking her clothes off as fast as he could.
When they were both naked and lying together, she looked over at him, a wicked smile on her face. She took his hand and put it on her breast. “Is it as good as TJ’s?” she asked, watching his face as he blushed all the way down to the roots of his hair.
“Uh . . . uh . . .” he stammered, not knowing quite how to answer.
“I saw you looking at her, sweetheart,” Sam said, moving her breast under his hand until her nipple sprang erect. “Would you like to touch her like this?”
“No,” he groaned, moving his hand and replacing it with his lips.
“Liar!” she laughed, rubbing the back of his neck while he suckled her. “But, it’s okay, darling,” she murmured, a dreamy look in her eyes. “From what TJ told me, Shooter’s a pretty good lover, too.”
He looked up, startled. “Don’t even think about it,” he said.
“I’m not,” she answered, “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t getting tired of just having me and not other girls, too.”
“Don’t be silly. You’re all the woman a man could ever hope to have, and I’ll never get tired of you or even think about another woman, I promise.” When he’d finished, he took her head and pulled it against his neck to change the subject before he got himself in trouble. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?” he asked, knowing she needed to feed to keep up her vampyre strength.
“For you, always,” she murmured, her breath warm against the tender skin of his neck.
She spread her legs and pulled him on top of her, arching against his erection. “I want you in me while I eat you up,” she whispered as her fangs pierced his vein.
He groaned in pleasure as her hormones coursed into his blood and he impaled her, grunting and gasping as her wonderful wetness enfolded him while she fed.
When he exploded inside her, she came with him, biting her lips to keep from screaming in delight.
Matt, exhausted, lowered his head and fell asleep, still inside her with her arms cradling him to her breasts.
Thirty-eight
In Calgary, Theo Thantos and Christina Alario entered their room at the Fairmont Hotel accompanied by a young college girl who was more than a little drunk.
It’d taken the combined efforts of their mental control to get the woman to agree to try a session with two lovers, one male and one female, but eventually she’d consented after they had plied her with several Stingers.
Christina took the girl, named Sarah Livingston, by the hand and led her into the bedroom, calling over her shoulder for Theo to make them all more drinks.
Theo felt his groin grow heavy at the sight of the two women walking arm in arm out of the room. He’d lusted after Christina for some years, but the opportunity had never presented itself for him to act on his desires until this trip to Canada. She’d been fixated on Michael Morpheus to the exclusion of all others, and had pursued him with single-minded determination. Plenty of the other males on the council would have given Christina a try, had she not been so intent on snagging Morpheus. Theo, knowing he had plenty of time, had not yet been ready to challenge him for her at that time. Even now, after the shitty way he’d treated her, he knew Christina still had a warm spot in her heart for Michael Morpheus, but he was going to change that tonight. As he watched the way her butt moved under her jeans, he vowed that when he was through with her this evening, she’d never think of Morpheus again.
When he had the drinks ready, he carried them into the bedroom and found Sarah naked and flat on her back with her arms crossed over her face. Christina was also nude and was lying on her stomach between Sarah’s legs, her head buried between the young woman’s thighs.
“I guess we won’t be needing these,” he mumbled and set the drinks aside and took off his clothes.
He stood there at the foot of the bed for a moment, stroking himself and enjoying the sight of Christina’s bare buttocks as they clinched and tightened while she played Sarah like a musical instrument.
When he was ready, he climbed slowly up onto the bed and straddled Sarah’s chest while he slowly caressed her breasts, making her moan with delight.
Christina moved her arms up to encircle Theo’s waist and took him in her hands, stroking and kneading the hard flesh until it throbbed and jumped under her touch.
He released Sarah’s breasts and moved her arms from in front of her face. He put his hands on either side of her head and pulled it up, pushing his swollen member against her lips.
At first, she tried to turn her head, mumbling, “I don’t do that,” but he pressed down on her chin until her mouth opened and he thrust himself into her.
After a moment, Sarah proved she did indeed do that and she began to lick and suck him while his hands went back to busy themselves with her breasts once again.
Behind him, Christina moved faster and faster until Sarah arched her back and groaned when she came, grunting and gasping with pleasure at the feeling of being eaten and eating at the same time.
Christina got up from her position between Sarah’s legs and moved to lie next to her and began to nuzzle the sweating girl’s neck while she watched Theo’s penis moving in and out of Sarah’s mouth.
Theo thought at Christina, “Are you ready?”
Christina nodded and they both bega
n to change in preparation for feeding. Noticing something was different when Theo’s penis swelled even larger in her mouth, Sarah opened her eyes.
When she saw the monsters in front of her, she tried to scream, but Theo jammed his pelvis forward, almost choking her as his penis entered her throat.
Christina reared her head back, her lips curled over dripping fangs, and bit savagely into Sarah’s neck, tearing the jugular vein almost in two as she began to feed.
At the sight of Sarah’s blood spurting over Christina’s naked body, Theo felt himself explode into Sarah’s mouth, and with a grunt he pumped harder and faster until he was empty.
Rolling off her, he joined Christina in the feast, fastening his mouth on the other side of her neck and feeding until Sarah’s body ceased quivering and lay still.
Still excited, Theo pushed the dead girl aside and grabbed Christina’s breast with his claws and pulled her roughly toward him. Christina growled at the pain when his claws tore her breast open, but she moved into him and slid under him so he could mount her, spreading her legs and taking his penis in her own claws and putting it against her sex.
Theo gasped and pumped his pelvis, impaling himself to the hilt in Christina, who lifted her hips off the bed and pumped back against him as fast as she could, groaning in delight when he leaned forward and pressed his bloody lips against hers.
* * *
Exhausted, they finally lay quiet in each other’s arms, still breathing heavily while they changed back to their human forms. After a few minutes, Christina raised her head to stare at Theo.
“That was magnificent,” she said softly, her hand making gentle circles on his abdomen.
As his penis began to grow heavy and stir under her soft touch, Theo asked, “Better than Michael?”
Christina didn’t answer, but she moved her head down his stomach to kiss and lick him.
Theo laid his head back and closed his eyes as she worked on him, thinking it was about time someone challenged Morpheus for leadership of the upcoming war. After all, he thought just before he came in Christina’s mouth, I took his woman; why not take his position as head of the coalition against the vaccine?
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