The bony hands clasped her ankles tight, long, sharp nails piercing her skin, pinning her to the satin sheets. But this wasn’t sexy at all. The smell of death and decay marched up her nose until her stomach recoiled. “Help me! Please, somebody!”
She heard the doorknob rattle as the skeletal fingers rose up her legs and dug into her thighs. Hot breath danced along her skin as a cackling laugh rose in the room. “Where’s your hero now?” it hissed, and she knew that the Creature had cornered her once more.
Outside Sonja grabbed Xavier up and released his hard cock from his jeans. He lifted her by the waist to press her against the wall, and her legs scissor crossed behind him. He plunged into her unceremoniously and fucked her hard at her demand. He thought he could hear screaming, but figured it was someone else getting lucky inside.
Abi didn’t feel so lucky as the Creature spread her legs wide. She struggled but it was way too strong. Her screaming had strangled into a hoarse plea. “Let me go, please!”
Again something banged against the door, and as she was about to brace for the Creature’s angry lust the door swung open and light flooded the room. She saw the Creature’s hollowed out face just inches from hers. Her scream quickly returned.
The Creature hissed as it turned toward the door where a man with dark flowing hair stood silhouetted. Abi stared in disbelief. “Raven?”
But the vampire stepped further into view. “Holy hell!” a British accented voice exclaimed when he caught sight of the hideous Creature who had mounted the petrified human.
The Creature exploded into an angry red mist and flew at the intruder, then past him into the bowels of the coven. Abi gulped sobs down with ragged breaths. Damien ran to her. “Are you all right, love?” he asked as he bent down to her, then gently he pulled her skirt down and helped her sit up.
She shook her head. “It tried to... it was going to...” She couldn’t even get it out.
“It’s okay now,” he assured her, even though he wasn’t quite certain himself. He pulled her up on her feet and steadied her with an arm around her shoulders.
Outside Sonja had just bared her teeth and was preparing to feed when she caught sight of the strange red mist exploding from the club. Slowly the mist took shape of a Creature long dead. She screamed as it flew towards them and knocked Xavier away.
Inside, Damien and Abi heard the scream. They ran toward the door.
Outside the Creature lifted Sonja up by the throat. Abi and Damien stopped short when they realized how high the Creature was taking Sonja. Her pleas for help were strangled, and just before either vampire on the ground could spring into action, the Creature tore her throat out and sent the rest of her lifeless body crashing to the cement below.
Abi stifled her scream behind her mouth as she jumped inside the door of the club. The Creature laughed at a horrified Xavier and Damien before it disappeared into the sky. Sebastian ran outside just as the Creature flew out of sight, and caught a glimpse of what remained of his beloved Sonja.
With an anguished yowl he ran to where she lay. His sobs rose from his body with centuries of anguish. Damien and Xavier hung back, but Abi went to him. She knelt down and took him into her arms and rocked him back and forth, saying nothing as she did so.
Each of the witnesses understood the game had now changed. No one was safe. Not vampire, not human. This beast was out to punish them, one by one, by sending them to their final judgment. There would be no coming back, as Sonja’s now decapitated corpse attested.
Abi sank to her knees, helpless and terrified. For a moment Sebastian had grown silent, his agony reduced to a silent and bitter regret.
He looked at her and this time his eyes stole nothing. They seemed hollow. His spirit as dead as the body it inhabited. “Now you know,” he whispered.
“Know what?” she asked.
It had to be said, Sebastian thought. Raven wanted it that way. And so, he thought with a sinking heart, would Sonja. “The price you pay for courting a monster.”
Chapter Ten: Gina
In Abigail’s apartment, Damien glanced at the different photos in funky frames along her bookcase. Normally he didn’t really waste his time on humans, they came with too many complications. He liked those who knew the score, of course – donors who would haunt covens in the hopes of snaring immortality – but he preferred those who already had the taste of death.
It was just easier that way.
But Abi was hard to resist. He had saved her life, and in a way felt responsible for her. Since she made it clear that she was determined to pursue her story on vampires whether he was there or not, he figured that he might as well be there for her.
“Ready to go?” she asked as she emerged from the bedroom, dressed in black, dressed to kill.
If not him, he thought with a smile, then whom?
Neither was aware that the lights of the club were dim, the music silenced. Sebastian was so overwrought by what had happened to Sonja that he shut the doors and sent everyone away. He wanted to mourn in silence; the severity of what had happened left no occasion for frivolity.
He sat in his quarters, dazed on wine and pain, totally unaware that in the darkness of the building below someone was on the hunt for clues to what had truly taken place.
This stealth investigator made no noise. Things were lifted and replaced as quietly as possible. Tiny clues were pocketed and no stone was left unturned.
Lives – both human and reanimated – were on the line.
So that was why, in the dark shadows of the silent club, this hunter was determined to get to the bottom of things, no matter the cost.
When a hand fell on her shoulder, she flung around ready for a fight.
Constantine La Rouge stood before her, dressed all in white as he was known to do. “Who are you?”
Gina Mandrake straightened her spine and allowed her fists to fall to her side. She had long ago learned to trust her instincts, and she knew in an instant this vampire meant her no immediate harm. “Who wants to know?”
“You shouldn’t be here,” he advised in a low tone, keeping an eye out for Sebastian.
Was that concern she saw on his face? “Neither should you,” she pointed out.
He nodded, but didn’t look in any particular hurry to leave, especially as he inspected her head to foot. Her two toned hair was tied up in a ponytail, her clothes were dark and hid her curves well, and dark glasses covered her eyes. “You a cop?” he finally asked.
She had to chuckle to herself. “Not officially,” she conceded at last. “Just... curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat,” he said as he sat up on a bar stool. “Or so they say.”
“Funny, I thought the only thing being killed around here were vampires.”
His intense brown eyes met hers. “Why should that matter to you? You’re not a vampire.”
She wrenched her eyes away from his stare. “Minor detail,” she said as she continued her investigation, no longer concerned he might impede her progress.
He watched her rifle through papers, quickly and efficiently, like she’d done this sort of thing before. He stared into her face wondering why she seemed so familiar.
“You don’t know me,” she said finally, without turning to look his directly.
“What?”
“You’re wondering if we have ever met,” she told him. “We haven’t.”
She was shrewd, he decided. A little too shrewd. “What kind of human reads the thoughts of a vampire?” he openly mused.
She glanced back up at him with an unreadable expression. “The dangerous kind,” was her curt reply.
“Sounds interesting,” he responded as he hopped down from the stool. She felt him approach her. “Perhaps we can go somewhere a little more private and I can learn more.”
He reached out for her but she slid easily out of reach. “What’s more private than an isolated club?”
“My room,” he said, his voice dripping over her like silk.
; “I’m not that kind of human,” she assured him before she ducked behind the bar.
He chuckled as he leaned across the bar. “You say that now. But you should know I’ve never met a human I couldn’t turn.”
She had to smile as she leaned across the bar, their faces a breath apart. “And you should know I’m not like any human you’ve ever met.”
With that she touched his hand and he felt her skin burn against his. He pulled away but did not show her how much her contact had disturbed him. “Technically we haven’t met,” he pointed out.
She considered that for a moment. He got the feeling she calculated every move she made. But she didn’t look away from him, even though he knew how powerful his gaze could be. He liked that strength, even if he didn’t know what to do with the unique chemistry she seemed to be made. It was almost as if she were –
“Gina,” she finally purred. If he didn’t know better he’d swear she had interrupted his thoughts on purpose. He watched as she picked up some more paper from behind the bar and then disappeared out of sight.
Across town the mood was somber in Lillith’s club, where many new vampires had come seeking shelter from the beast that had killed Sonja. One of those mourners was Raven Crowe, who was eaten up with guilt that he hadn’t been there that night. His skin was pale and gaunt from his unsatisfied hunger, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to feed. And no human was anywhere in sight to donate to him that which he so desperately needed.
That was why he came to find Lillith. He needed to feel the warmth of her generous curves under him while the hot, sweet nectar of her veins restored him. Raven understood more than anyone there was no time for self-pity.
Someone had declared war.
He tossed back a shot of hard whiskey, his third, while he waited for her. At least he knew Abigail wouldn’t be caught up in all this. It was cold comfort. She had haunted his dreams and his fantasies since he had first seen her and now he’d have to avoid her at all costs to keep her safe. If he had been a lesser vampire he would have turned her for her own protection; but as Sonja proved, even vampires weren’t safe now.
So it was just better he never saw her again, he reminded himself again as he ordered another round. He normally never drank, but these were desperate times. And he suddenly wanted to feel numb, very numb.
As numb as he was, he couldn’t stop his heart lurching into his throat when he caught sight of that familiar copper hair. When her eyes met his they were defiant, but as much as she meant them to be unafraid he could definitely see her tremble.
Before he could wonder why she was there, he caught sight of her date. Damien Cross.
Of course.
She was making her way through each and every vampire. Why, he still didn’t know. But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting her the fuck out of here.
Raven pushed away from the bar and stalked over to where they stood. He didn’t even acknowledge Damien. “You need to go home.” It wasn’t a request. It was an order.
“Hello to you too,” Damien quipped but neither Abigail nor Raven acknowledged his presence.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she told Raven.
“Someone needs to,” he responded. “Or didn’t you hear there is a killer on the loose?”
“Funny, I thought that was you.”
She was provoking him on purpose. Instead of letting her see his anger, he just chuckled. “Stupid human. You have no idea what you’re asking for, do you?”
Her eyebrow arched. “What’s the matter, Raven? Mad it isn’t you?” That hit home. So she added, “That’s what kills you, doesn’t it? You know you’re nothing to me.”
But even as she said it, all three of them knew it wasn’t true.
“Is there a problem here?” a female voice intruded, and they turned to see Lillith slide up to Raven.
Raven, who had yet to take his eyes off of Abigail, put his arm around Lillith possessively. “No. No problem.”
Right in front of Abigail he bent to kiss Lillith, full and open-mouthed. He could feel Abi stiffen as she watched their tongues intertwine. Lillith moaned into his mouth, which he returned before he broke the kiss. “Just what I needed,” he said as he glanced back at Abi, who was clearly shaken. “A real woman .”
Lillith understood immediately she was being used, but she didn’t seem to care. In fact, she jumped right into the role. No matter how this little human had played Raven so far, Lillith knew whose bed he would ultimately share. And she also knew that nothing any human could ever offer could compare.
She pulled him out on the dance floor and gyrated against him to the sexy music. His eyes may have been on the uptight redhead at the bar, but his cock was growing against the redhead in his arms.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered against his neck and was gratified with the shudder that followed.
“I need you,” he whispered back, his fangs protruding from his mouth.
Abi responded by dragging Damien on the floor and mimicking Lillith’s dance moves. “It’s not very nice to tease your vampire knight in shining armor,” Damien teased, the playful glint never far from his dark eyes.
“I’m not a nice girl,” she retorted, unable to tear her eyes off of Raven.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he replied and grabbed her closer. She could feel him stiffen and grow against her.
Raven watched as Damien’s hands slid over Abi’s back and over her ass, then pull her towards him. He responded by doing the same to Lillith. She hopped up into his arms and he realized she wasn’t wearing any panties under her short skirt. The warmth of her wet pussy ground against him without apology. “You can think about her,” Lillith whispered into his ear, “As long as you fuck me.”
Raven groaned and then kissed Lillith.
Abi watched them, fully aware that Raven no longer bothered to glance their way as he dragged Lillith from the dance floor and off into the back rooms. She turned to Damien, who watched her with a grin.
“So how do you propose we get even?” he asked.
Abi took him by the hand and followed where Lillith and Raven had gone.
Unlike the other coven, these rooms were meant for group fun. They weren’t closed off and intimate. They were full of beds and chaise lounges, draped in red velvet and black lace. Several couples had already found places to indulge their lascivious desires, and the sight of so many people openly fucking jarred Abi in a way she never would have openly admitted.
But it suited her purpose, she decided, as she honed in on Raven and Lillith who had collapsed together on a huge bed in the back.
She drug Damien to the same bed and shoved him down on his back. Lillith sent her a self-satisfied grin. Humans were so easy to manipulate. She had done exactly what the female vampire had hoped she would.
Abi didn’t even notice. She just saw the anger, frustration and desire in Raven’s eyes. This would teach him to boss her around she thought to herself as she straddled the fully clothed, very amused, and incredibly turned on, Damien.
Raven may have lay on top of Lillith, her legs wrapped around his waist as he fumbled to free himself from his trousers, but his eyes were on Abi as she ground against Damien.
He groaned as he watched her unbutton Damien’s shirt and plant loving little kisses along his bare chest.
Not to be undone, Lillith flipped Raven on his back and mirrored Abi’s movements. “Not bad,” she told Abi. “But are you sure you know what to do with that much vampire?”
“I’m pretty sure,” Abi responded as she stripped away the tight corset that bound her full breasts. Both Damien and Raven moaned out loud as her breasts sprung free.
“Impressive,” Lillith said before she stripped away her top. Both redheads were big breasted, and the fullness of their heavy tits swayed in front of the hungry eyes of their vampire lovers. As Damien and Raven reached up to capture the hard pink tips into their mouths, their hands couldn’t help but reach across to toy with th
e other girl’s nipples.
Both Lillith and Abi gasped as they ground against their prospective lovers.
Like twins, each woman licked and kissed their way down the bodies of their men. Both Raven and Damien grabbed their seductress by the hair as they unfastened their trousers and slid their hard cocks from their confinements.
Their tongues danced over the angry purple heads, mouths descended over rock hard shafts, and in the same motion and rhythm they sucked and stroked each hard cock. Whether they were watching it be done to the other or themselves, both Raven and Damien were lost in their passion. Each woman - one human, one vampire, one tall, one short, one darker haired, one fairer – was like one being blowing them both simultaneously.
“Fuck me,” they both demanded in unison, in the same hoarse grunt.
The women needed little urging. They climbed back up the bodies of their lovers and straddled them. Raven watched Abi while Damien watched Lillith as each woman was penetrated and cried out together.
They rocked together and Lillith reached over to stimulate Abi’s nipples as they fucked their men. Abi’s head leaned back and she groaned deep in her throat, her hand tangled in Lillith’s hair. Damien responded by thrusting up deeper inside of her. Raven watched, aching to be inside of her, feeling that pussy against his hard cock, spreading her wide and fucking her deep.
Lillith responded by leaning over and grabbing Abi’s full breast into her mouth. Raven watched as her fangs scraped against the creamy white skin. He knew she would bite into her soon. So he grabbed Lillith by the hips and flipped her around on her knees.
Abi’s glazed eyes met Raven’s as she rode Damien’s hard cock. Raven grabbed her hair and pulled her close for a scorching kiss. His tongue invaded her mouth while his cock pummeled Lillith’s tight pussy. Her scream was lost in his throat as she began to spasm all around Damien’s stiff dick, her orgasm more intense than she’d ever experienced.
His fangs grew as well as Damien’s. Both vampires wanted to drink from her at that moment. Raven pulled away and allowed her to scream with each subsequent wave of pleasure, and that was when he saw Damien reach up, fangs bared.
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