Exsanguinate

by Killion Slade

  “Yes, and if that is the case, then the rogues will fight back. They’ll begin to turn every human they can find to build their own armies to fight against her and the dhampirs. No matter what, the humans lose in this scenario. That’s where you and your sisters come in. I believe the Queen wants all three of you to be a part of her breeding program to create some kind of super dhampir.”

  “But why? We aren’t from pure blood vampire lineages. We’re humans.”

  “I’m not sure, Cheyenne. None of this makes any sense.”

  The neurons in my brain scrambled. I remembered the horrific pictures of those women strapped up in the milking machines of the haunted barn. My glass of bloodwine slipped through my fingers. The crystal crashed and shattered against the marble floor. Crimson stained the linen table cloth as images of my possible future abduction and rogue vampires attacking humans flooded my brain.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  “I think I know where they are!” Harris stood up while swiping madly at his phone.

  “What? Where? Did you find something about GC 89?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know how helpful it is. The only thing she has listed under the Geo-Cache 89 is an old abandoned warehouse by a lake. It doesn’t give any reference to anything else.”

  “What was the item for the geo-cache?” I asked. “Maybe that will give us an additional clue.”

  “It looks like the person is supposed to take a picture of himself in front of the fishing nets on the docks and then load the photo onto the website.”

  “I don’t ever remember doing anything like that. I have no idea where that is.”

  “Yeah, that’s the problem. It’s under her to-do list. Looks like she hasn’t done it yet.”

  “Dammit. There could be hundreds of places like that by the water. But it sounds like they aren’t too far away.” I bit my lip, frustrated.

  It was getting late, and the check arrived. I reached for the check and four hands struck past mine to claim it. I looked at all of them and was so thankful to have such wonderfully weird friends. I stood up to go to the ladies’ room and only then realized how much I had to drink.

  Upon my return, the guys stood up. “Hey, looks like I’m gonna be staying in Orlando a few days, so I need to grab a few things here at the market,” Harris said.

  “Yeah, man. I need a few things too. Harris, you wanna come crash with me at the condo?” Briggs asked.

  “Thanks. I appreciate that. I think Cheyenne and Rox could use some quiet time.” Harris winked at me.

  “All right then. Torch, you wanna come with me over to the munitions department. Let’s take a look at what they have for inventory? Briggs, Harris – you guys want to meet me over there after your appointments?” Khaldon asked.

  Weapons inventory? I sure wasn’t expecting to find anything like that here. Maybe an army surplus store or something. But I guess they really wouldn’t have anything to kill a vampire, now would they. Hell, I don’t even know what people use to kill them anyway. I made a mental note to ask Khaldon what type of weapons and ammo we were gonna need to rescue however many more women there might be.

  I followed Harris and Briggs over to the spa area where they had a huge menu listing items for all kinds of supernatural creatures. For vampires they had teeth brightening, whitening, and filing. They even offered services for crown bridges to add additional teeth structure in your mouth.

  I bet that is costly orthodontia work.

  Harris decided to have the full spa treatment, clean up, dip, bath, haircut, and de-fleaing. I looked over at the tremendous array of beauty products just for werewolves. I picked up a fragrant apple de-tangler and glanced at an enzyme bloodstain remover for a werewolf’s hair. They also displayed a boat load of conditioner and all kinds of brushes, combs and shedding combs. I’d never really thought about how were-creatures would always want to look and smell their best, even if Harris was unaware of his own odor.

  I walked towards a department sign that read ‘Vampyre Health and Beauty’ and was amazed at all the hygiene for the mouth. I guess it made sense, though. With drinking so much red blood, my teeth were bound to become stained. I grabbed a bottle of what looked like teeth whitening mouthwash. There were Waterpiks to remove chunks from between your teeth and at least twenty different kinds of toothpastes for every mouth malady. Who would have thought vampires would have a need for a sensitive toothpaste and one to help with bleeding gums? I never in a million years would have stopped to consider why vampires needed denture adhesive. I’d had problems choosing toothpaste when I was human, how was I going to figure it out now?

  As much as I wanted to explore this amazing shopping experience, I really didn’t have time for this. I could spend days in this place, but right now I needed to get back home and figure out our next steps, before Ludovic contacted me in the morning.

  We gathered up my bags of groceries and books from the Super Market. The guys seemed fairly refreshed from their spa appointments, and they loaded boxes of munitions into the back of Briggs’ Land Rover.

  Khaldon opened my driver side door to the roadster ushering me in. He offered me a kiss on the cheek as he shut my door, then hovered with his arms on the window. I returned the kiss and tried to give him my best “I’m fine” smile. I don’t think I was very convincing.

  I had a lot to think about, and frankly I wasn’t quite sure where to start. The last thing I wanted to be was Ludovic’s puppet on a string. I needed to find a way to turn this around and start playing the game by my rules. I felt helpless sitting around waiting for him to call the shots. It was one thing to be prepared for when we uncovered their location. It was another wondering if he was just yanking my chain and had already hurt them.

  “You’re awfully quiet. Everything all right?” Khaldon startled me out of my thought parade.

  I seemed to get stuck in an endless line of questioning which usually brought me back to my original question. Never really solving anything just made me feel even dorkier for analyzing how I felt about it.

  Khaldon stepped away from the window and walked around the front of the car.

  Briggs, Harris, and Torchy drove up behind the roadster and blocked me in. “Hey, you two love birds, race you back to Chey’s place,” Briggs hollered.

  Khaldon shielded his eyes from the headlights. “That’s okay – think we’re gonna have to meet you there.” And with that I revved the engine, and Briggs took the clue.

  I wasn’t about to turn down a road rally and blow off the chance to release pent up steam.

  I gave Khaldon a sideways grin as he got into the car. “You might want to buckle up,” I said as the tires screamed cheetah wheelies before he even had the door closed.

  Khaldon looked at me with a ‘Do I really want to be in a moving vehicle with you’ kind of face. Briggs peeled out of the parking lot towards the interstate. I took the roadster through to the other side of the parking lot. Briggs might race cars, but he was on my home turf, and I navigated the orange groves in my sleep. My route might take a little longer, but I was able to go faster than the speed limits. Not that Briggs followed speed limits, mind you.

  Khaldon seemed more afraid of my driving and for his life at this point, as he reached up to hold onto the ‘Oh shit!’ bar as I hurtled the car over several speed bumps.

  Holding on to the steering wheel with one hand, I faked holding an intercom in my right hand and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, please return your seats to their upright position, stow any carry-ons under your seat, and extinguish all smoking materials at this time. We have air!”

  As we peeled past the orange juice plant where the burning rinds perfumed the air, Khaldon rested his other hand on my shoulder in an obvious sign of nervous caution. I noticed his knuckles were turning a bit whiter than normal as his hand almost broke off the bar above the window.

  Driving fast always made me want to crank up the stereo. I needed something like “Highway to the Dangerzone” or “Born to Be Wild” when
I raced.

  Khaldon slapped my hand away from the stereo. “Umm ... could you just concentrate on the road? I’ll get the music, okay?”

  The DOVE syndicated radio station love songs for suicidal lovers came out of the speakers. “Nope, definitely not. Gimme me speed, baby,” I said, as I gripped on to the steering at the ten and two o’clock positions. Winding through the grove’s dirt roads, I prayed there wouldn’t be a farmer out on his tractor at this time of night.

  Khaldon found an adult pop-rock station, and I belted out to “Dirty Diana”.

  “Seems to be a correlation between how loud the music is and how fast you drive.”

  I took a forty-five degree turn through the field and almost plowed down a fence post.

  Most likely trying to get me to slow down before he needed to change his shorts, Khaldon rubbed my neck. “Looks like you need to blow off a little steam, so how can I make this all go away for you?”

  I heard the sincerity in his voice, but I wasn’t sure how to answer him. The way things had been going, I was on a collision course with death and had no idea how to get off this evil carnie ride.

  “Khaldon, I think we both need some alone time. We need to sort through a few things.” I caught his nod in my peripheral vision. “But we really don’t have that kind of luxury right now. How can I even think about being happy and making love with you while my family could be getting tortured this very minute? For all I know, they could already be dead.”

  I downshifted into third as Khaldon broke off one side of the ‘Oh shit’ bar and squeezed my leg with his other hand. I veered left, barely missing the road closed sign. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him to agree with me. I revved back up to speed and headed out on an old gravel road. The roadster shifted in 4th and up into 5th as we flew past the orange trees. I thought about his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe I did need to blow off a little steam. How long had it been since I’d had a good bronco buckin’ in the haystack?

  Don’t answer that!

  I decided I didn’t want to think how long it had been since getting laid and broke into another chorus of, “Dirty Diana..na ..na.”

  With a note of resignation in his voice he said, “You’re right, Cheyenne. We have plenty of time to figure us out. We need to concentrate on finding your family.”

  We were right, and that was exactly what I wanted to hear, but the last thing I needed was for him was to be thinking about Amicula and her little stunts.

  If he can’t remember what happened last night, what else did she do with him? Is he telling me everything?

  He was a man, and dammit if he didn’t have needs too. Was I truly that stupid? Was I really giving him the brush-off?

  I’m so confused.

  “Feck it!” I decided it was time to lose the race. My right foot let off the accelerator.

  I grinned at him. “Do you wanna blow off some steam, or do you want me to win the race?”

  He looked at me for a moment and then planted a slow, sweet kiss on my cheek. That was all the answer I needed.

  The door handle above the window completely broke off in his hand with a clang, accompanied by a sheepish, questioning grimace. “I guess I’ll need to get that fixed.”

  I smiled, relaxing my face. I loved this man. What the hell was I waiting for? Instantly, color flooded back into his face and his grip on my leg relaxed. I slammed on the brakes, shifted down into second, and pulled the car off into the orange grove where there was an opening in the fence line. I drove about a half mile in between the trees and shut down the engine. I was ready.

  I grabbed a blanket out from behind the seat and met his gaze. Without another word, Khaldon jumped out of the car and in a flash, had me out of the car and in his arms.

  He kissed me with quiet whispers. His mouth still tasted of the cinnamon tangy bloodwine we had drunk at dinner. I reached my arms up around his shoulders and felt for the steely frame under his silken skin. Never in all my dreams had I envisioned him this vivid, this complete. I nestled my head into his shoulder as he kissed me deeply and thoroughly. This time there was no holding back, no niggling of guilty feelings. Here was the man of my dreams who had been in my dreams for so long, literally. His hair was soft as it tangled in my fingertips. He had hair I could kill for. Long, black, thick. I couldn’t wait to see it falling around his shoulders.

  Our song came on the radio as if by magic. “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. I had visions of an actor holding up his boom box serenading me outside my bedroom window. But instead Khaldon began to dance us in the headlights. It was wonderful to get lost in his breath, to get lost in his kisses, to simply just get lost hoping he would find me.

  Chapter Forty

  Of course just when I thought Khaldon and I might have a moment alone, my cell phone chirped at me. I really tried to ignore it. I kept on kissing him, knowing it was most likely the guys looking for us. But then, it came across as Dakota’s text message ringtone. Whenever Elton John’s “The Bitch is Back” came across my phone, I knew it was Dakota.

  I pulled away, mid-lipped from Khaldon, and grabbed my purse in the car. The text display read:

  Where can you find a dragon, a virgin, a pineapple, and a dinosaur?

  Use the Force to find your way.

  “It’s definitely from her phone, but I don’t think the message is from her.” Khaldon was instantly at my side. He was the one who, as Roxas, had helped me pick out the ringtone for Dakota and knew this had to be from her. “Just another way for Ludovic to mess with your mind.”

  “Use the Force? What is he some kind of Star Wars nut? Is he gonna send a Sith after me now?” I cursed at the campiness of his riddle. “Seriously, does he think I’m stupid or something? Anyone who lives in Orlando knows exactly what he’s talking about.”

  Khaldon looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He was trying to understand the riddle. “A dragon and a virgin. Well we really don’t have any castles around here except for Cinderella’s Castle at Disney. But I don’t recall seeing a pineapple or a dinosaur in the mist around the moat.”

  “You’re close,” I said. “It’s Downtown Disney. They have a dragon made of Legos floating in the water, a huge Virgin records store. The Pineapple is a Cuban Café, and then there is the T-Rex Dinosaur Café. It’s all right there.”

  “He must have something waiting for you then. He couldn’t have them in such a public place. Let me read the text again.”

  I held the phone up for Khaldon.

  “Use the Force to find your way. What do you suppose that means?”

  I slapped at my arm where a mosquito tried to spear me with its bloodthirsty straw. “Why in the hell do mosquitoes drink from vampires? I thought for sure I would be rid of these damn things once and for all! Anyway, I don’t know about the Force part, but I know someone who will.”

  I had Harris on speed dial, and within seconds I could hear them singing to “Friends in Low Places” when he answered.

  “Cheyenne, when you get the guys, tell them to meet us at my place. I want to pick up a few things before we go.”

  I nodded at Khaldon while I spoke to Harris.

  “Hey, Chey, where are you guys? We beat you back to the house.”

  “Harris, listen. Meet us over at Khaldon’s place. I think we have a lead on where Dakota and Sheridan are being kept.”

  “No shit! Okay – we’ll be there in just a few minutes,” Harris replied.

  “I’m gonna forward you a text I just got from Dakota’s phone. See if you guys can figure it out, but I’m pretty sure it’s Downtown Disney. It’s just the Force part I can’t figure out. I’m hoping you guys can Star Wars the logic out of it and we can come up with an answer by the time we get to Khaldon’s. I’ll explain more then.”

  “Okay – you got it. Send it over, and we’ll meet you there.”

  “Oh, Harris – wait.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Can you walk the pups for me, or bring them with you? Either way, they need to go ou
t I’m sure.”

  “No problem – will do.”

  “Thanks, see you soon.” And with that I shut the phone and we hopped back into the car. I smacked another vampire mosquito as it bit into my cheek. It actually hurt. “Ouch! Damn mosquitoes.”

  “It won’t be long and they’ll stop biting you. Right now, they aren’t sure what you are, so you are inviting. Soon your smell will change, and then they’ll just buzz on by.”

  “My smell will change? Okay, that one will have to wait for another day. Right now I need to concentrate on this Force thing. Why do you want us to go to your house first?”

  “I just don’t think you should go into a potential situation unarmed. I have katanas, a cross bow, and several pistols. I haven’t had the need to kill any of my own kind for a long time. I also haven’t used these weapons in years except on a firing range, but I keep them clean and in good shape.” Khaldon rubbed the back of his neck. “I think it’s a good idea to arm ourselves, to be prepared, but you have to remember something – we immortals live in a regulated society among humans now. We can’t just go walking around with these kinds of weapons in public places and not get arrested. Downtown Disney is a family vacation spot. Granted, there won’t be many people there at three in the morning, but still. We must heed caution.”

  “Okay, I get it. You’ve got a point, but still the next clue leads there, and I don’t want to be caught off guard. You’re right. I do need something to defend myself with. Do you have any ultraviolet light bullets?”

  Khaldon snorted a hearty laugh at me. “Cheyenne, I think you watch way too many vampire werewolf movies. There is no such thing. Well, at least I don’t think there is. Anyway, why would I have UV bullets? I seldom need to kill a fellow vampire.”

  I felt kinda stupid for asking, but I just had to. It was worth a shot anyways. How was I supposed to know those things weren’t real? Hell, vampires and werewolves weren’t real a couple weeks ago.