It was funny, but I didn't dare laugh. I felt better having Johnny behind me and James close to the stage. What was I going to do? Well, I was the entertainment.
With all the pieces of our game in play, Mason gave Johnny the signal to start the music. I shot a harsh look over my shoulder toward Mason, because I recognized the song. It was a tune which spoke of a beautiful woman who only came out after dark. It had been played in a movie about a vampire bar just before all hell broke loose and he was a sick motherfucker for selecting it.
But what could I do? If I objected to the music it would blow our cover. So, I strutted onto the stage to do my part. Not only was I going to dance for them, I was going to put them in a trance. Dracula had explained to me that it was possible to unleash my power without using the voice. He said that if I concentrated hard enough I could transfer what I felt to all the members of the audience.
I moved slowly toward the pole in the center of the stage. I let my hips sway with every move as I took a deep breath and let go of my fear. I didn't want them to feel fear. I wanted them to feel sex. There was violence in my movements. Movements which promised both pain and pleasure. I showed them with my smile that I would enjoy causing them pain.
I moved my head in slow circles, causing the black wig to cascade about my shoulders and face. I looked through my hair as I crawled across the stage toward the vamp sitting nearest to James. As I looked into his eyes I knew he was falling under my spell, and so were the others. I could feel it. I could taste their desire on the air as I breathed, almost like candy.
I thought of Dracula sitting naked by the firelight and I let my hands become his hands on my own skin as I moved. I threw back my head and ran my hands over my breasts as I thought of Marco in the shower, hot soapy water falling down his body. I ran my hands up and down my thighs and saw Bade naked against my scarlet sheets. I ran my fingers through my fake hair and remembered Dracula's bite. I moaned involuntarily and the room seemed to vibrate with my power. My voice had never held more magic.
As I opened my eyes to gaze lazily at the crowd I knew that they were now amber. I gasped with pleasure and so did they. At the back of the room a lone dark figure stood in the shadows. It was Dracula, and he was dressed to kill. He was wearing another pair of black pants which clung to his long muscular legs. The tight fitting coat he wore buttoned up the front then parted above the belt line to hang to his knees in back. It was embroidered with intricate stitches along the seams. Around his throat he had tied a long black scarf which seemed to blend with the cape that trailed behind him, caressing him like the shadows that he stood in. His knee high boots glinted in the dim light and I saw a whip attached to the belt that rode low on his slender hips.
They were ready. I had done my part. Now I took hold of the pole as the vamp near James leaned toward the stage. I swung around, kicking my leg high and around the pole. As I fell to the floor I buckled my legs underneath me and leaned back. My shoulders had barely touched the stage when I heard a gunshot.
I looked to my left and looked through a hole in the head of the vampire that had been closest to the stage. Through this hole I saw James Matthew with his "injured" leg propped on the table. There was a long barreled gun strapped to the brace down his leg and while the body of the first vamp hit the floor he spun around and fired five more times.
After this all hell broke loose. I rolled off the stage and onto the floor by James. Unfortunately I had landed on the body of the vamp with a hole in his head and he wasn't dead. He sprang on me and I pulled one of the silver blades from my boots. I stabbed through his ribs and thrust upward into his heart. As I did this Mason fired a shotgun, blowing his head completely off.
Blood and brain matter sprayed across me but I was alive. I wiped at my face as I crawled behind the table James had turned over for cover. He had removed the brace with the long gun from his leg and was now firing with two pistols he'd had up his sleeves. That man was armed to the teeth and he was a damn good shot.
Some of the vamps were armed too and as they returned fire he ducked down beside me.
"Ma'am," he said, tipping his hat with his gun.
After this he went back to shooting and I saw Beau motioning for me to run toward him beside the stage. I scurried on my hands and knees toward him and an arm went flying past me. I paused but didn't recognize the limb, so I kept crawling.
He had some of my weapons stashed behind the stage at Johnny's request, including my favorite blades. I quickly strapped the two sheathes across my forearms. They had some more water guns, but holy water wasn't practical in this crowd. We might accidentally burn one of our own. From the sound of things James was the only one who wasn't out of ammunition.
I pressed the indention in the strap across my palm and extended both my blades as I ran from behind the stage with a yell. I slashed and clawed my way through the crowd as if my life depended on it, because it did. When I paused in front of the stage I heard a horrible rumbling noise.
"What's that?" one of the vampires gasped.
I knew what it was. It was the collective sound of a bunch of werewolves growling behind the stage.
?
Chapter Fifteen
Marco, Bade and several other werewolves came crashing over the stage and into the audience. They were all fully transformed and they were angry. Among them was a wolf about a foot shorter than Marco with dark blond fur. It could only be Elijah. I had never seen his half-wolf form, and now was not the time to stop and stare.
My silver blades were having a much better effect than my claws would have and I turned back to the fight. I saw Dracula in the corner of the room. I looked up in time to see his whip catch one of the other vampires around the neck and snap his head clean off.
It was a blood bath and my stomach lurched as I recalled how he had taken down the horde of barbarians in much the same way. I stood back. Everyone around me was already dead. I heard a terrible howl and looked to see Elijah mangling one of the vampires. The vamp was being held down on one of the tables while Elijah's long claws pulled his insides out like a piece of rope. Bade was going from one fallen vampire to the other and ripping out their hearts. Mason had a long broadsword he was using for decapitating those who still had a head attached when they hit the ground. It was the most awful thing I'd ever seen.
Once it was all done and nothing remained of the vampires but scattered body parts, Mason held his sword high and declared victory as if we were on a battlefield. To my surprise everyone joined in the cry and the wolves howled in triumph. Was I the only one who wanted a bath?
The fight had taken much longer than I'd thought. Marco and the other wolves all turned back into their human forms and put on some old torn up clothes they'd brought with them while we began to clean up. It wouldn't do for people not involved to find a trace of what had happened.
Marco and Dracula both came immediately to check on me. After I assured them that there wasn't a scratch on me, we all started to clean. They worked on the inside and Bade and I started carrying bodies outside.
"Why outside?" Elijah asked.
He seemed oddly detached from the situation and I recognized his cop face. He would do what had to be done and have nightmares later.
"That way when the sun comes up in a few hours these fuckers will burn," Bade said.
"Easy way to hide the evidence," Mason agreed.
But poor Elijah didn't have the stomach for it. He had reached his limit. I helped Bade for as long as I could stand it before going outside to talk to Elijah. I found him throwing up beside Bade's car.
"Oh, my God," he gasped repeatedly. "I can't believe what I did," he said as he started to cry. "I wanted them to suffer. I wanted revenge. But …" He threw up again. "I'm an animal, Lilith. Really and truly an animal."
"No, you're not," I soothed as I knelt beside him.
"I enjoyed it," he said, his eyes widening with horror.
I sighed. "You're a werewolf, Elijah and the beast craves violence. T
hat doesn't make you a monster, it simply makes you a werewolf. You don't have to go around murdering people just because you like violence. That's why the pack hunts on the full moon, it's part of your natural instincts."
"How do you know all this?" he asked, still gagging, but less violently.
"Because I'm half wolf, and I come close enough to the real thing to have the same desires. I'd like to say that part of me didn't enjoy that scene tonight but that would be a lie. I love the rush of a good fight, but I can't tell you how many times I've ended up just like you are right now. I don't want to hurt people, Eli, but sometimes we have to."
"I just didn't know I was capable of that sort of thing," he said. He had now begun to shake and I put one arm around him.
"At least you don't have blood on your butt cheeks," I soothed.
He laughed and for a minute he sounded like his old self again.
"I'll be alright," he said. "And Lilith, I swear I won't hurt anybody. I'm so sorry for the way I acted yesterday, for the way I looked at Kat and hitting Dracula. I'm having a hard time learning to control the beast, but I would never hurt anybody. It's hard enough to control the change without having someone you love murdered on top of it. I'm getting better every day. I promise I won't freak out and eat someone, least of all Kat. She's …" His voice broke. "She's the only sister I've got left now," he said quietly. "I would die for her, Lilith. I just wanted you to know that."
"I know," I said, as I leaned over and kissed his forehead.
He smiled.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really glad you didn't kiss me on the mouth just now. I'm not entirely sure I didn't eat some of those vampires tonight."
"Do you think you can walk back inside?" I asked.
I had an idea, but I didn't want to traumatize him worse by taking him inside. However, I badly needed to wash up.
Elijah agreed to go back inside and as we walked by Mason I asked, "Can I borrow your bathroom?"
He licked the blood from his lips as he smiled and said, "I could just lick you clean."
I shivered. "Or, you could let me use your shower."
He pretended to pout before handing me his key. I told Marco where I was going and that Elijah was coming with me.
"He doesn't need to see any more of this," I said, "and leaving him alone is even worse."
Marco agreed but then a smile passed over his face.
"You think Mason would let you borrow that outfit later?"
I laughed. "Oh, my God. We're in the middle of cleaning up a massive blood bath and you're looking at my ass."
"You mean you haven't been looking at mine?" he teased.
"Yes, Marco, but I can't look at any more of this either."
The compassion returned to his dark eyes as he kissed my forehead and said, "Go get cleaned up, Red. We've got this under control."
Elijah had seen me topless before, but never completely naked. Once we were in Mason's room he helped to loosen my corset, but remained outside the bathroom until he heard the water running. Mason's shower has glass doors too, but not like Dracula's. His doors are opaque instead of decorative. So, you can't see everything, just the outline of someone in the shower.
"Did you know Mason has the guitars of several dead rock stars in his closet?" he asked as he sat on the closed lid of the toilet.
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me."
We talked about everything else in the world besides what had happened tonight and what had happened to Mary. He even put the wig back in the closet and commented on me looking better as a redhead.
"But the black wig was hot," he confessed.
Elijah removed his shirt while I scrubbed in the shower and washed off from the waist up at the sink. He handed me a towel over the top of the glass doors and we switched places. While he showered I got dressed and dried my hair. We were running out of things to talk about.
I handed him a towel and as Elijah stepped out I asked, "Are you going to be able to live with what happened tonight?"
He looked lost and I almost wished I hadn't asked, but I needed to know.
"Yes," he said. "What choice have I got? Marco said I didn't have to come. But I couldn't have lived with not avenging Mary. Someone deserved to suffer for what was done to her."
I agreed. But it broke my heart to see Elijah this way. He was still standing in the shower with the doors open and his body was warmer from the hot water. As I approached I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. The full moon was two weeks away and he was running a temperature like any other werewolf.
"I can help, if you'll let me," I said softly. "I can't make what happened to your sister go away, but I can make your burden easier to bear."
"You mean like you did before, when I saw Alfred kill all those werewolves?"
"Yes."
"But I thought you didn't know how to control it?"
"I've practiced," I said, offering him a weak smile. "If I can help you, I will. Because your eyes just aren't the same without their sparkle." I touched his face and Elijah's deep blue eyes became watery again. "It is a gift passed down from my great, great grandfather. He was a very powerful wizard," I explained. "I would give anything to make this right for you, but this is all I can offer."
As I spoke those last words I wrapped Elijah in my arms. He's only two inches taller than me, so my face fit perfectly into the curve of his neck as I embraced him. I put my hands flat against his back as I whispered, "Think of everything that hurts, and give it to me."
"How?" he asked.
"Breathe it out."
And he did. With every breath Elijah took I felt his misery lessen. All I wanted to do was to take him in my arms and make it go away. With all that was in me, I wanted to comfort Elijah. He rested his cheek against my face and sighed. With that sigh, I felt the tension begin to leave his body, and where my hands touched his back, began to flow into me. I couldn't take his memories, but I could take some of his pain. I held Elijah to me and did my best to ease his burden.
He took a deep breath as I pulled away and said, "Thank you. I feel … lighter."
I understood what he meant. Grief is a heavy thing to carry.
"You're welcome," I said softly.
I was weakened by the events of the night and by the energy it had taken to absorb Elijah's misery. But I didn't dare let him know it had affected me so strongly or he would feel guilty. Even after all I'd seen I needed to force myself to eat something and get some sleep.
He was able to talk about things now and it seemed to make him feel better. While Elijah got dressed he told me he was taking Mary back to Oklahoma for a funeral service with their family. He had already told his parents. Just the thought of how they must have reacted upset me, and I didn't ask how that had gone.
"Do they know that you're a werewolf?" I asked.
"Not yet," he sighed. "I'll probably tell them while I'm there."
Elijah said that Mary had wanted to be cremated. He said they'd talked about it after she was kidnapped a few months ago. After the service with their family, he was having her cremated and would be taking her ashes to the mountains as well as a few other places Mary had always wanted to go.
"We'll take the scenic route," he said with a bittersweet smile. "We always talked about taking a road trip. It's the least I can do for her."
It took everything I could do not to cry, but he seemed to feel better the more he talked, so I let him talk.
When we finally went back upstairs most of the cleaning had been finished. They had cleared out all the broken tables and debris as well as the body parts which had been scattered about. Mason had two male vamps mopping the floor, but it was mostly clean.
I walked over to Marco and put my arms around his waist.
"Feel better, Red?" he asked, kissing the top of my head.
We talked for a few minutes and he said that he had already discussed things with Dracula and I should go back with him.
"We don't know where Khan is," he
explained, "and you might still be in danger. He couldn't find you before, so it stands to reason that he won't be able to find you now."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I've got a report to make to Aldan and Jacob. They're both waiting for news. Of course, I'll edit things a bit for your father. I think he only tolerates me now because he knows I love you," he said, flashing me his wolfish grin.
"So you won't come with us?" I asked hopefully.
I needed comfort, and I couldn't think of anything more comforting than being with Dracula and Marco.
"I can't," he sighed. "I've still got to check on Luther too, and Elijah will be coming back with me. But if it's comfort you're looking for, I could send Bade."
That didn't sound so bad. His words made it clear that if I was looking for more than comfort Bade had better not go with me. But it was safe to send Bade. All I'd seen tonight had definitely put a damper on my libido. I just craved the nearness of the pack. There was safety in numbers and that's what I needed.
Dracula walked past us on his way to the car. He touched my arm lightly and said, "The dawn is fast approaching, my angel."
I smiled up at Marco as I pulled his lips closer to mine. It felt like years since I'd kissed him, but the moment his lips touched mine it seemed like only yesterday. I would have waited years. I would have waited a lifetime for the chance to touch Marco again.
"I'll see you soon," he promised as I turned to leave.
On my way past Bade I saw Mason handing him a video camera.
"Get a good camera angle, won't you?" Mason said.
"Get your ass inside before you burn," Bade laughed.
Mason was leaving Bade outside to film the sunrise, but it wasn't the beautiful horizon he was interested in. He just wanted to see the pile of dead vampires burn. Bade followed me to the car and smacked my ass before I sat down.
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