by TW Gallier
"Defy her? How am I defying Antoinette?"
"I told you. Many times," he said. I shrugged, not understanding. "She sets up jobs for you. Remember? She has me tell you when and where to meet them."
"She’s mad because I refuse to whore myself?"
"Antoinette is not used to being refused," Boney said. He looked ill, then shook his head woefully. "Council gave you to her, but she only has six months to bend you to her will, then it’ll be open season on you."
A cold chill slithered up my spine. I couldn’t breathe. Council gave me to her? Gave? What did "open season" mean?
"I could have everyone on council after me?" I said.
"Yes."
"Trying to kill me?"
"Some think you’re too dangerous to be left alive, others want to possess you," Boney said. "Your power is growing fast. You’re an Uber Vamp, and some want to control you, use you." He shrugged with a grim smile. "Submit to Antoinette, and the others go away."
Anger boiled up within me. He wanted me to agree to be her call girl. The filthy pimp didn’t see a problem with that, of course. I had to remind myself that he was firmly under Antoinette’s thumb, and he wasn’t happy about it either.
"This is not looking good for us," I said. "She’s going to use you to get at me, and it’s going to ruin our friendship."
"I don’t want that."
"Neither do I, but I will never be Antoinette’s whore."
"Other vampires will come after you. I can’t imagine falling under any of their power could be better than being under Antoinette," Boney said.
"I will not be a whore. Period. Tell Antoinette and council that they mess with me at their own risks."
Chapter 3
Gabe called as I drove down I-35E. I was approaching downtown, and had to ensure I was in the right lane or I'd end up in the mix-master and heading God only knew where.
"You timing sucks," I said, eyeing the big green signs above the freeway.
"Sabe, where are you?" Gabe said. He knew I didn't like it when he called me "Sabe." He liked to rhyme my name with his. I don't know why it amused him.
"I'm on I-35, heading towards your house," I said. "It takes time to drive all the way across Dallas."
"Great, I'm in Deep Ellum now," he said.
"What the — !" I cried.
"Meet me here ASAP," he said. "Ben Rothschild is here in Deep Ellum."
"Hold," I said and tossed the phone into the passenger seat.
I'd already passed Woodall Rogers, which cut across the northern edge of downtown over to Central Expressway, and from there a short hop to Deep Ellum. Now I had to hit the mix-master, and come up to Deep Ellum from the south. I looked all around, then cut across two lanes and headed for the mix-master.
Since I rarely have the pleasure of traversing the mix-master, I had to keep my eyes open and read all the signage. I had to be ready to change lanes as needed and do it without much thought, since everything happened fast in the mix-master. And within a few minutes I came up on the other side of downtown, heading north.
"Okay, I made it," I told Gabe, phone back in hand. "You ask me to come over, then leave? Give a girl a little more heads up next time."
"No problemo, Sabe," he said, chuckling.
"And stop calling me ‘Sabe,’" I said. "Don't make me bite you."
"You wish I'd let you bite me," Gabe said.
"Yeah, right. What's going on, Gabe?" I said. "Talk to me."
"I'm walking about a hundred feet behind Ben Rothschild," he said. "I think he's headed for the Ruby Necklace. Wait. Son of a bitch, those idiots!"
"What!"
"He lured five young punks down the alley behind Ruby Necklace," Gabe gasped out. He was running.
"Don't go in there without me," I said, and hit the gas. "I'm only minutes away."
A moment later I exited the highway and made for Deep Ellum only blocks away. And hit bumper to bumper traffic. I'd never seen such traffic in Deep Ellum. Had to be the preliminaries for New Year’s. So I pulled over and got out. I took off running down the sidewalk.
Deep Ellum wasn't terribly large as districts went. I found Gabe at the mouth of the alley moments later. He was breathing hard, eyes wide, and gripping his Uzi tightly. Understandable, since the sounds of carnage from deep in the alley were rather loud.
My friend Gabe wasn't a classically handsome man, but he was an impressive sight. He stood six foot two, with muscular body and long dark hair and full beard. He looked like an outlaw biker, and actually did own a couple of Harley Davidson bikes.
He was a werewolf, and as alpha as they got. That meant he could morph really fast, and could turn into either a very large wolf or into a wolfman. He was also the rarest of all shifters, a lone wolf. Packless, and liking it that way.
Gabe was decked out in a brown bomber jacket and red Texas Rangers baseball cap, turned backwards. His jeans were baggy and probably concealed weapons. He carried more guns than anyone I knew, even when not on a staking job.
I thought it an improvement, since he usually dressed like an outlaw biker. Not a look I cared for. Let's just say I've had issues with outlaw bikers in the near past.
I ran right past Gabe. Vampires are super strong, fast, and virtually indestructible unless you had the properly training. A group of young punks were helpless against a vampire.
Even in the dark I could see them plain as day. Ben was joyfully ripping them into bite-sized bits. There were five of the young punks, and of them three were already dead. Literally, there were body parts strewn around the alley. The first body part I came upon was the head of a young blonde man, with wide blue eyes. He couldn't have been more than twenty.
As I approached, Ben snapped the neck of another and flung him away. The last young man tried to run away, but Ben caught him in nothing flat. Ben seized the young African American by the neck, slammed him face first into a brick wall, and then sank his fangs into his victim's throat. The sounds of slurping and gulping reached me next.
"Die, you filthy bastard!" I cried.
Ben turned angry eyes on me, blood dripping down his chin. I'd seen a picture of Ben Rothschild about two weeks back, but it was an old picture. Only the face was the same. The frosted, spiked, blonde-dyed hair was gone, replaced by shoulder length brown hair parted down the middle. He was clean shaven, and wore a now bloody baby blue button down shirt and faded jeans. He was about six feet tall with a muscular build.
He dropped the young man, leaving his wound open and spurting blood. That poor soul would bleed out within a few minutes if I didn't get to him fast. But Ben looked like he would put up a fight to keep his prey.
"You're a vampire," Ben said, now looking surprised.
"Let me introduce myself," I said. I reached him, and pounded a roundhouse into the side of his head. A kick that powerful would've caved in the head of a mere mortal. Ben was stunned and flipped end over end, sideways. "They call me Black Heart."
He recovered faster than I thought possible, even for a vampire. Made me wonder if he was an Uber Vamp, for I'd still be down after a blow like that. Ben surged up, and slammed a fist into the point of my chin. It was my turn to flip head over heels. Landed face first on the concrete.
Gabe's Uzi ripped the night air, sending a clip full of blessed silver into the rogue vamp. Ben grunted and groaned. Gabe had to stop and reload. The blood soaked vampire took advantage of the respite and took off running down the alley.
I jumped to my feet and was about to take off after him when the young victim groaned pitifully. I froze. I couldn't let Ben escape to kill again, but I couldn't let that poor guy just die. Gabe raced past me, calling for me to "Get the lead out."
"I'll be right there," I said, and rushed to the dying man's side. He was covered in his own blood. I laid my hand over the spurting neck wound and it healed instantly. There were no other obvious injuries, but he'd lost so much blood I didn't know if he would survive. I couldn't help him with that. "Be strong and hang on."
/> My cell was back in the car, but he had one in his pocket. I dialed 911, and told the operator what happened and where to find them. Then I left the phone on his chest, line to 911 still open.
Ben had led Gabe out of the alley by then. I could hear disturbances out on the street, but didn't know the best direction to go. So I went straight up.
The building was easily three stories high, maybe four. There were no windows in the back so I couldn't tell. I cleared the roof, but barely. I think I found my limit on jumping. The roof was covered in gravel like most commercial buildings, and made me wonder why again. One of these days I'll take the time and find out. Whatever the reason, it wasn't the best surface to walk across in high heels.
Two more shots rang out as I hurried across that roof, rocks crunching underfoot. Looking over the side, I spotted Ben and Gabe. The dynamics had changed for the worse. Ben was chasing Gabe now, and Gabe was cornered.
I jumped feet first. I must've been an impressive sight dropping down, in shiny black latex and my black leather trail duster flapping behind me like a cape. Like a comic book super heroine. My stilettos hit the concrete like a pair of rifles going off, startling both Ben and Gabe.
"Miss me?" I said, and thrust-kicked Ben in the face. My stiletto heel buried itself deep in his nose, ripping flesh, shattering bone. Ben wailed and fell back, pulling himself off my heel, blood flowing freely. I hadn't intended to do that, but was rather pleased with the results. "Ouch, bet that hurt."
He fell back against a parked car. Leaning against it, he waited while his body healed with supernatural speed. Not a scar left, and it only took fifteen seconds until he looked normal, but I knew internally he was still healing bone and cartilage, which took longer.
"Surrender, Ben, and we will take you out nice and fast and painless," I said.
"Not even going to give me any hope of living?" he said.
"You're a rogue vampire. That's a capital crime," I said. "We're here to carry out the execution."
"I don't think so," Ben said.
He ripped off the car's antenna. I tried to jump back, but he was too fast. Ben slapped the length of metal across my face. The pain was exquisite. It sucked the air out of my lungs. Before I could scream he brought the antenna back across my boobs, and then across the bare skin of my lower back.
"Aaaaaiiieee!"
A gunshot rang out, then Gabe screamed in angry agony as Ben started whipping him with that wicked antenna. Before I could recover my senses, Ben was back to mercilessly whip me into a stupor. He beat me with that antenna from knees to eyebrows, for an ungodly length of time. I managed to pull my pistol, so he took off running.
I watched with tear-blurred eyes as he ran straight to the front door of the vampire dance club Ruby Necklace. I had history with that club, and it wasn't all together bad. I'd probably go there just for fun, except it was owned and operated by Valerie St. Clair, Dallas' top fang whore, president of the Vampire Anti-defamation League and someone who utterly despised me. She never forgave me for staking a vampire in her house. Some people just can't let go.
All the bystanders must've really been impressed with my big bad vampire act. They watched me with big eyes as I sobbed and writhed on the sidewalk for what felt like seven years of Sundays. Probably only half a minute. Vampires heal fast. Super fast. Unfortunately, I was starting to believe I felt all physical stimuli more intensely, too.
"You owe me big time for all the pain I'm suffering," Gabe croaked out. He was leaning against the wall, not three feet away.
As an alpha werewolf he was easily my equal in strength. Ben, he was stronger and faster than both of us. But Gabe needed to shift to really heal his injuries quickly, and on the street before witnesses wasn't good.
"Bite me," I said. I pulled myself to my knees, feeling the pain quickly bleeding away. The welts were already gone. It was probably memory of the pain crippling me by then. I leveled angry sapphire eyes on my old vampire-hunting friend. "You're the one that invited me to this damned whipping party."
"You can bite my butt," he said, and groaned miserably. "I've never been whipped like that."
"I have," I said. What Ben just did was nothing compared to the hours long bondage whipping a certain alpha bitch of a werewolf did to me a little over a month earlier. It reminded me I still owed her, and I wanted my pound of furry flesh. "Ben went into the club. You up to continuing the hunt?"
"Can you heal me?"
I hesitated. I could heal him almost instantly, with just a touch. But why? He could step into the night shadows and do a partial shift into a wolfman, and back to human. Almost as fast as I could heal him. Thing was, Gabe didn't like to shift. And he loathed anyone knowing he was a werewolf.
"Yeah, but I'm not sure I want to," I said, and grinned at him. "Before you called I was fixin’ to get some hot vampire sex. Instead I came here and got my ass handed back to me on a silver platter."
"You're welcome," Gabe said, glancing at the crowd watching us. "Just heal me. It really hurts."
If vampires could blush, I'd be bright red then. I wasn't feeling any pain by that time, and was just bantering with my friend still in intense pain. Sometimes I overlook the obvious.
I walked over to Gabe, and smiled wickedly.
"To heal you real fast, I'll need skin on skin contact," I said. He gave me a confused look. Like why should he care if I touched him? I smiled sultrily, bit my lower lip, and leaned into his face. "Healed with a kiss."
As my lips met his, my vampiric senses pushed into him. I instantly found all of his injuries, everything that hurt and needed help. Really, in a way I "felt" his pain in my own body. I groaned, both in pleasure and pain, and pushed harder into that sweet kiss. His arms wrapped around me and pulled me in tight. Then I sent my healing powers flowing through him, taking care of all his injuries within seconds.
"God, you're good to me," Gabe whispered.
"Wait till we dispatch Ben," I said, pulling away. "Then I'm really going to take care of you, babe."
"Really?" Gabe said, his libido instantly on overdrive.
"I'm going to rock your world until the sun comes up," I said.
"Cool," he said, grinning. "Let so stake that bastard."
"Do you have a stake?"
"Um, in my trunk."
"Anything to cut his head off with?"
"Again, in my trunk."
"Glad to see you're so well prepared," I said, shaking my head woefully. I could kill Ben, but I doubt Gabe ever could without a stake or a sword. "Let's go."
The doormen didn't want to let us in. There were two burly, muscle bound mortal African American giants and two smaller but scarier vampires. They were all dressed alike, in their winter uniforms of all black turtlenecks, slacks and black leather suit jackets. The two mortals also wore reflective glasses to keep vamps like me from mesmerizing them.
"Hunters aren't allowed inside."
"But I'm a vampire."
"You're Black Heart, a hunter," the blonde vampire said.
"Valerie specifically said you are forbidden inside," the African American vamp said.
"The vampire that we're after is Benjamin Rothschild," I said. All four of their auras reacted to that. Vampire auras don't react too much, so that was a gut punch. Vampires don't like rogue vampires any more than mortals. Most vamps try to keep a low profile, and want mortals to think they are just a myth. "And I hunt and kill rogue vampires."
"I'll tell Valerie, and we'll deal with him," blondie said. "Go away, and stay away."
"Do I have to stake you, too?" I said. That shocked them. "If you are helping a rogue, then that makes you a rogue. I kill rogues."
Both vampires were six four, six five, but I have a reputation. A very scary one, too, if you are a vampire. I've never failed to stake the vamp I'm after, and I've taken out some ancient, incredibly powerful vampires. So a threat from "Black Heart" wasn't to be taken lightly.
"We're just doing our jobs," the black vamp said, almost able to hide
the fact my threat rattled him.
"You're working for a stinking mortal," I said, trying to incite their undead pride. "You've given your power up and submitted to a mere mortal."
"She pays very well," blondie said.
I snatched Gabe's Uzi from his hand. Aiming it at the two vamps, "Does she pay well enough to take a chest full of sanctified silver?"
"You wouldn't dare," Valerie said. She stepped in front of them, protecting them with her mortal body. I was impressed. She was braver than I thought. "Ben Rothschild ran straight through my club, and out the back."
Gabe grunted softly, his ardor suddenly alive and pumping pheromones into the air. Valerie had that effect on men. She was a former sex industry worker, turned entrepreneur. She was tall, blonde, and gorgeous, and liked to show off her body in tight leather and latex. I thought she'd make a great vampire, since she already had the attitude and kinky fashion sense down.
"You let him get away?"
"I didn't do a damn thing," Valerie sneered. "You let him escape." She smiled cruelly. "I watched the whole thing on our security cameras. I almost climaxed while he was whipping you with that antenna. Do you know how badly I want to whip you into la-la land?"
"Well bless your heart," I sneered.
"You'll be able to watch it later today on YouTube," Valerie said. She laughed. "I think I'll title it, 'Black Heart Gets What's Coming To Her' or maybe a simple, 'Black Heart Whipped!'"
"One of these days, Valerie, you're going to push me too far," I said, glaring daggers at her. That seemed to amuse her, though her eyes grew just as fierce as mine. "Come on, Gabe. Maybe Ben's not smart enough to leave Deep Ellum. We might catch him yet."
"What? You believe that vampire loving whore?" Gabe cried. "I bet he's still inside her club."
"If he is, she'll have him well hidden," I said. "But she's not lying. I can tell those things, remember?"
I handed the Uzi back to Gabe and left. He followed, but didn't put up the submachine gun until we were a good hundred feet away. I didn't blame him.
I cast out with my vampiric senses, trying to find a mortal or mortals gripped with terror. Nothing. There were a lot of emotions out there, from pure ecstasy to burning anger, but no terror.