Jack of Diamonds

by LeighEllwood

  6470A Glenway Avenue, #109

  Cincinnati, OH 45211-5222

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  eBook ISBN 1-59426-561-5

  Jack of Diamonds © 2006 by Leigh Ellwood

  All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Cover art © 2006 by Stacey L. King

  Phaze is an imprint of Mundania Press, LLC.

  www.Phaze.com

  One

  She knew.

  Argent gathered as much, watching her.

  The thin second hand of the large, sunburst clock situated over the parlor's mantel ticked blandly past the hour. Seven o'clock, closing time, and she hadn't moved an inch to begin her closing ritual. From his point of vigil, Argent saw the gypsy still sitting in her plush, wingback chair, legs crossed and back straight, idly shuffling her tarot cards. Her vacant stare was cast downward, as if disappointed not to find an escape hatch etched somewhere in the floorboards.

  He watched the lovely black woman with the tightly coiled hair and long, red fingernails, impressed with her intuition. He had misjudged her after all this time, thinking her a charlatan, no better than any of her televised, toll-free counterparts.

  This woman was not a fraud. This woman knew she was going to die tonight.

  That established, Argent felt a bit disappointed with the woman's complacency. He had hoped for more emotion—fear, anger, a mad rush for the door and an attempted escape into the night. She would be caught, of course; wily as she seemed, she was no match for his power. Nothing like wrangling with a feisty victim to stir the beast within, he mused with a smile that exposed his elongated fangs. The mere thought of her writhing in his grip, those lovely breasts shifting underneath her low-necked blouse, caused his cock to twitch.

  In the time he'd been casing her home, where she dispensed her predictions, Argent noticed she took no lovers. How exciting it would be not only to end her life, but to be her last fuck.

  Quite suddenly those deep brown eyes darted toward the window, staring through the attached neon sign resembling a crystal ball. Miss Ruby Sees All, so revealed the twisted, glowing yellow tubes. Argent had to laugh. Ruby was hardly an original name for such an occupation.

  Tonight, the look on Miss Ruby's face spoke volumes...she saw.

  She could see Argent. Distance wasn't an issue with her, either.

  No sense delaying the inevitable. Argent upturned the collar of his long, black raincoat and strode purposefully across the street. The trek that might have taken a human two minutes to complete took the vampire two seconds.

  Three seconds later, he stood before Ruby. She didn't move, but only acknowledged his entrance with a slight nod.

  "You seem to know everything that has happened and everything that will come," she told him, her voice low.

  "As do you," Argent replied.

  Ruby looked away. Argent couldn't help but let his gaze fall to her breasts. Thick, hardened nipples were visible under the thin fabric of her blouse. To think that the woman might be aroused at the prospect of victimhood excited him all the more. He wondered if her pussy was wet, aching for that one last breach before shuffling off this mortal coil.

  "And yet..." Ruby rolled her shoulders back and jutted her chin towards him with a sultry pout, "you still need me."

  Argent plunged a hand into one deep coat pocket and produced a small, heart-shaped stone. He held the rose quartz high so the overhead light illuminated the many white-lined fissures spidered throughout the gem.

  "Last week a red-headed, faggot make-up artist handed you a stone that looked a lot like this one. He wanted to find the vampire who had given it to him. You told him...what?"

  "I told him where to find said vampire." Ruby's voice gained strength; Argent's arousal soared. Perhaps he could look forward to a last-minute burst of resistance, after all. He watched as Ruby tilted her head, looking past his lips to his sharpened incisors, as if wondering how they would feel piercing her throat. Argent felt bad about having to mar even a small patch of smooth, mocha skin, and he had to wonder, too, how she would taste. Presently she smelled of the fragrant patchouli that whispered long lines of smoke from lighted sticks placed about the room. Coupled with the dark honey hue of her body, he anticipated her delicious death.

  "And where is said vampire?" Argent wouldn't speak his name, not until said vampire was at his mercy...and only seconds before Argent ended his life the same way said vampire had ended the life of Argent's brother.

  With one word issued slowly from those plump, dark lips Argent had his answer. Vague as it was, Argent didn't bother pressing for details. He would have no problem sniffing out the unique stench of his adversary, then disposing of him and his limp-wristed lover.

  Unbidden, Ruby stood and folded her hands expectantly on her abdomen. Argent admired what curves weren't concealed by her flowing, floor length skirt. He noticed tonight she had forsaken the large hoop earrings and clunky costume jewelry she normally wore, and could only assume she wished to be as unfettered as possible.

  "You seem so accepting of this," Argent said. "I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm a bit unnerved by your calm."

  Her eyes narrowed to sleepy slits and she smiled. "Whatever I miss here, I'll make up for in the next life."

  "Any last requests in this life?"

  Ruby moved one hand to her side. A flick of her fingers to an unseen button sent the skirt pooling to the floor. Argent stifled a gasp upon seeing miles of flawless, shapely legs. The woman's shaved pussy appeared a lighter shade than the rest of her body, but looked no less beautiful.

  The blouse apparently laced in the back, fastened together by some intricate network of bindings only Ruby could negotiate. The same hand reached behind and pulled a string, and the entire top unraveled down her body to reveal two full, buoyant breasts capped with dark aureolas.

  Argent moved closer and palmed both in his large, pale hands. Just looking at their contrasting skin tones, visible patches of dark between his fingers, all but turned his cock to stone. He couldn't wait to see, to feel, his thick shaft easing in and out of that dark pussy.

  "Yes," Argent murmured, his lips barely brushing against one nipple now, "I certainly wouldn't want you to miss this. Who knows if I'll ever find you in your next life."

  "I think you'll find me sooner than you realize," was Ruby's response. Argent didn't ask for an explanation. Time was short.

  He suckled that one nipple until he thought it might explode in his mouth. She was dark chocolate and raw honey, wet sugar and smoky incense—her unique flavor teased his tongue as he teased her body. Ruby fell limp in his embrace as his mouth slid over the swell of her breast and up her neck. His tongue traced one bobbing cord to her jawbone, and he nipped at her lips with his fangs.

  "So nice," he whispered. So sad such a beauty had to be scarred. If only there were another way to relieve her of her life force...perhaps taking her in a fatal kiss or lapping at her pussy lips and tender clit until she orgasmed once, twice, many times more until she expired from exhaustion.

  Worth a shot. He was headed in that direction anyway.

  "No, over there." Argent palmed her high-rounded ass and lifted her low in his arms before she could sink down into the chair. He wanted her perched on the sill below the neon sign. The bluish-white tube t
hat shaped the crystal ball loomed over her head like a halo, flickering quietly as Ruby leaned back and spread her knees further apart to accommodate Argent's ministrations.

  She braced the heel of one hand against the sill for support and used the other to pry apart her labial folds. The fragrant bloom of dark and light brown hues, ringed around a deep pink center slick with Ruby's arousal, enticed Argent beyond reason. He almost laughed as Ruby's face contorted with shock, given the speed with which he undressed. He knelt naked before her now, his face gently nestled between her thighs.

  He nipped at her pussy lips with his teeth, probed her sweet core with his tongue, and pursed his lips around her clit, sucking in a circular motion that quickly brought Ruby to orgasm. The ticking of the clock's second hand that grated at his acute hearing was a distant buzz now, overpowered by Ruby's low-pitched cries of ecstasy.

  As he rode the tremors of her lengthy orgasm he cupped his balls and stroked his aching shaft, yearning for his own release. Ruby's pussy juices tasted too good, however, to just cease; he felt as though he could lick her pussy forever. The blast of energy shooting through his veins felt more powerful than any rushed intake of a victim's lifeblood.

  Perhaps, too, the neon sign had something to do with this sudden euphoria. Argent lifted his eyes up the curved landscape to see Ruby's face. Her eyes were closed and her lips parted, mouthing silent appreciation in an ecstatic haze. Unknowingly she banged against the sign's tubing and electrical cords. The sparks issued were definitely not borne of their passion.

  He rose and stilled her, hands to her shoulders. Ruby's eyelids fluttered and she giggled softly. The sign looked as though it might burn her, but Argent knew neon gave off only so much heat. Ruby certainly offered enough from her own arousal to compensate, yet she seemed immune to her surroundings, as if her orgasm had numbed her to all other senses. He could only imagine the effect that his thick cock buried deep inside her would have.

  Her sitting position leveled her hips to his, and Argent tapped the bulging tip of his cock against her core, then pushed forward with one bold stroke. "Nice," he whispered on a pleasured sigh, remaining fully inside her so she could adapt to his size. After a few seconds, he began a slow pump in and out of her pussy.

  "You're so tight," he said. "You can't have had many lovers."

  "You've been watching me, you'd know the answer to that." Ruby finally opened her eyes, and Argent saw a delightful, humorous spark, brighter than the ones emitted from the sign as it rattled with his every thrust. Any harder and a wire might become exposed and electrocute Ruby as they fucked. Still lodged in her pussy, he might feel a shock but would escape unharmed.

  What kind of shock, though? Would electricity surge through his body in the same manner as the blood of a fresh kill? Would Ruby's pussy constrict so tightly as to prevent him from pulling out? Would the electricity sparking from the sign transfer over the sweat beading on their bodies and set them ablaze?

  He pressed his palms against Ruby's thighs, maintaining his rhythm—quick quick slow, hard hard soft, over and over. What a way to go.

  "Please understand this isn't personal," he buzzed in her ear.

  Ruby snaked her arms around his neck and drew him closer. "Everything is personal," she said quietly, and closed her mouth over his.

  One last thrust sent Ruby's body crashing against the sign. The neon sign shattered and sparkled around them; tiny shards of glass bit Argent's skin and tinkled to the sill and floor. His heel shifted for balance and cut into a few sharp crystals, but the pain experienced from that wound hardly matched the dangerous electricity searing an incredible, pleasurable pain through every nerve in his body. This was feeding magnified to infinity, this sensation. He might as well have jammed his cock into an open socket, but it felt wonderful all the same.

  Ruby's face was difficult to read this close. The one eyelid he could see fluttered like mad, and her teeth chattered as they kissed. Too much time spent in this position would definitely kill her, he knew, and would prove fatal to even him.

  He was powerless to move; his mouth remained affixed to Ruby's, and his teeth cut into her lips, tasting her blood. The copper taste was intensified by the shock and he tried to drink so as to sustain enough power to release himself. Ruby's will to live, however, was also felt in the kiss. Another trickle of blood, not hers, mingled with their warring tongues and lips. She had bitten him back and was trying to drink from him.

  Argent leaned backward and managed to dislodge them both from the broken sign's hold. They tumbled to the floor in a crumpled, twined heap, and Argent gently rolled Ruby's unresponsive body from his. He was covered in thin red slits brought on from the impact of the glass, and as his breathing returned to normal he held up one arm and watched his scars silently fuse into healthy skin. He tested his legs and stood, hoping for no long-term effects.

  He noticed, too, that the same marks on Ruby's skin had disappeared.

  Her body twitched softly, and when her head reared back to intake a great gush of oxygen Argent noticed two sharp incisors on either side of her mouth.

  Ruby licked her lips and flashed those virgin fangs at him in a wicked smile. He chuckled in response. No wonder she'd been so calm.

  "You calculating little bitch," he said, though the admonishment hardly sounded hateful through his exhaustion. "You knew."

  "Indeed," she said, running her tongue over her lower lip, tasting the last bit of Argent's blood that saw her through the transformation. "Miss Ruby Sees All."

  Heh. Considering what little blood was exchanged, Argent surmised the play with the sign helped expedite Ruby's change. No sense in trying to kill her now. If Ruby saw this coming she definitely had the advantage and would anticipate his every move.

  Instead, Argent extended a hand and helped the new vampire to her feet. "I suppose, then, I shouldn't bother telling you that it will take time to adjust to the enhanced sensations you're going to experience, or how to feed."

  "Like I told you before, I'll make up for everything in the next life, which would be this life."

  "Fair enough. I'll assume the transformation hasn't affected your psychic abilities."

  "Not yet," Ruby agreed, and reached for her skirt. Argent felt himself go limp, disappointed that Ruby felt the need to cover herself. He never got the chance to come. Then again, maybe he had and couldn't sense it for all the electricity.

  "I hadn't intended to stay this long, and I need to make use of the information you gave me," he said. "Perhaps later we can finish what we started? I promise I won't bite if you won't."

  Ruby's smile was sad. "Perhaps," she said.

  Argent didn't like that look. "Do you mean to tell me I shouldn't go?"

  In a flash, the blouse was back and fastened, the skirt righted, and the medium back in her chair as Argent had found her. Ruby fingered her tarot cards, her eyes serious now. "I do mean, but I also know you won't listen. After all, I see and know everything."

  Argent scoffed, then let his smile fall when he saw how upset Ruby looked. "Certainly you're wrong at times."

  "For your sake," Ruby said, "I hope so."

  Two

  Paris

  Jack Thurmond leaned his cheek against the window and looked skyward, blinking with each droplet of rain exploding on the glass before his eyes. Ashen cirrus clouds swirled in the dark gray, slow to move and somber on this November afternoon. Outside the air was thick, and threatened to suffocate pedestrians if they inhaled too deeply. This was why Jack was inside...sitting alone in a secluded pâtisserie and hotel owned by an elderly expatriate, a woman named Flora who had yet to emerge from the kitchen and acknowledge his presence.

  He sighed. The real reason he was here in a foreign country and not home, having feigned a lengthy illness from work, was because a psychic had strongly suggested it. Just like him, Jack mused, to embrace spontaneity and do such a thing. It was the sort of behavior that led him to a number of failed relationships and job changes over the years, so by t
hat logic heeding a stranger's speculation and cashing in his savings for a plane ticket was nothing.

  The only rational thought Jack harbored through life was the belief that vampires and monsters and such didn't exist. Then on Halloween, one in the guise of his dream lover sucked his cock...and stole his heart. Jack could only hope if he found Lars here, as the psychic predicted, the vampire would take the rest of him as well.

  If not...Jack shook his head. He hadn't thought that far ahead, and didn't want to.

  "Lars, are you here?" Jack muttered, looking about the deserted café. Hand painted teapots and chipped bone china lined counters and shelves, and the sticky sweet aroma of caramel and cream cheese icing hung in the air. Jack could feel the enamel on his teeth dissolving, just by breathing through his mouth.

  "Bonjour!"

  Jack's head snapped away from the window. From the back bustled a grandmotherly figure in a blue dress, wrapped in a yellow gingham apron. She had the look of a cartoon mascot just stepped from a box of biscuit flour. To that effect, white dust trailed her like a dissolving halo, and patches of baking residue clung to the hands that poured Jack tea from a fine china pot.

  It could only be Flora, the woman Miss Ruby said harbored vampires in a safe house environment situated somewhere in the hotel. Exactly how they were accommodated Jack didn't want to know. He pictured a line of coffins arranged in a dark, dank cellar and cringed to think of his lover lying there, cold and alone, when he could be in Jack's warm bed.

  Assuming Lars wanted to be in another man's bed, Jack mused sadly. He had to know; the manner in which Lars left after their only night together was so open-ended. He needed to know if Lars wanted him, or if their one night together was nothing more than a failed attempt to recapture what Lars had lost two centuries ago with Jack's previous incarnation.

  "I'm sorry, I'm American. English, Anglais," Jack responded to Flora's rapid, unaccented French.