by Brenda, Lady
He swept her through another turn before he answered. “I was merely enjoying the feel of you in my arms, the music, this moment in time, nothing more.”
She did not question him but he sensed she felt his tension and was chilled by it. He felt the walls of the cavern closing in on them like a trap. He held her tightly to reassure her. When the music ended he led her out of the cavern and into a small banquet area.
Tables had been set up against the rock wall with crystal glasses that waiters filled with all types of beverages from champagne to absinthe. In the corner of the narrow hall was a small raised stage where a crowd of guests had gathered to watch an exotic looking woman dance with a large green serpent to the haunting sounds of a violin. Her naked body, adorned in silver chains and coins, was covered with small seeping wounds. Every so often the serpent would sink its fangs into her flesh. A gnarled and bent figure, dressed like a court jester, caught the dancer’s blood in tiny glasses. The crowd of vampires applauded and threw gold coins at the dancer’s feet.
Esmeralda was appalled but she did not dare show her revulsion especially under the watchful black eyes of Ligea. When a server brought the silver tray around with the tiny glasses of blood she felt uneasy at the way Devlin downed his with relish. She took one aware the Black Queen Ligea watched her for any sign of mortality. She quickly drank it nearly choking on the peppery hint of venom.
Seconds after tasting the tainted blood she felt as if she was filled with a blazing fire. She felt alive, sensitive to the energy and the very air around her. Devlin’s light touch around her waist caused wicked sensations throughout her whole body. She vaguely registered that she had ingested some type of powerful aphrodisiac. In a fuzzy haze she followed Devlin as he took her hand and led her from the room down a candle lit tunnel. Separate, private caverns branched off from the tunnel. Muted voices, laughter and cries could be heard behind velvet curtains. Esmeralda hesitated, a blush rose up from her chest.
“Devlin?”
He did not answer. Instead he crushed her to him kissing her deeply. When she returned his passionate kiss, her whole body vibrated, taut like a piano string. Her gown and corset suffocated her with the need to be skin to skin with him. It was as if he could read her mind because Devlin swiftly drew back the curtains to one of the private caverns and pulled her inside.
Scented candles lit the silken draped room. A large feather bed sat in the middle upon a colorful Turkish rug. Next to the bed there was a small table and a bucket of chilled champagne.
Esmeralda gasped with delight. “Devlin, this is, astounding! Decadent!”
Devlin smiled. He drew her down beside him on the bed. He looked deep into her eyes then caressed her cheek.
“I want to be very wicked with you this night, tear the clothes from your perfect body, drive myself into you, mount you like a mad stallion.”
She flushed with the heat of his words and her senses reeled with desire. Moisture pooled between her thighs and her whole body tingled. Her skin sang with sensation as Devlin slowly, deliberately unbuttoned her gown, unlaced her corset and slid off her pantalets. Her own hands unsteady, she stripped him of his fine coat and shirt and unbuttoned his trousers. They faced each other, naked on the bed. Esmeralda undid the pins in her hair then tossed its fiery mass free. She looked hard at him from under her lashes, gazing slyly at his erect shaft. She reached out and wrapped her hand around its silky length and caressed it. Devlin sighed. In a bold move she bent forward and took its tempting head in her mouth. She sucked lightly swirling her tongue around and around.
“Ah, slow down, Angel,” Devlin gasped.
He threaded his hands through her hair. After a long moment he pulled her up and kissed her. Their tongues entwined.
“Take me Devlin, take me hard, don’t hold back.”
Devlin embraced her, rolled her over and crushed her under him. He spread her legs wide and drove himself into her molten core in one sure thrust. Esmeralda gasped. She bucked wildly meeting him thrust for thrust.
Devlin kept a steady relentless pace even when she cried out. “Oh, Devlin, hurry, hurry.” He ignored her pleas but instead took his time to drive her over the edge with an orgasm that curled her toes and made her scalp tingle. Then and only then did he allow himself to find his own pleasure.
Afterwards they cooled down with a drink of chilled champagne. They clicked their glasses in a salute. Esmeralda reached in to the ice bucket and retrieved a chunk of ice then slid it playfully down Devlin’s torso. Devlin grasped her hand and guided it to where his spent cock lay against his leg. He rubbed the ice up and down his shaft. It sprang back to life and Esmeralda threw her leg over him, rose to her knees and began to guide it inside of her. When she was fully impaled Devlin sat up and pulled her towards him. Devlin opened his mouth to speak when a huge booming explosion rocked the tunnel.
Outside of the Morpheus Mine, a smoking torch held high in his grimy hand, Lance grinned as the cannonball smashed through the iron doors to the mine.
Take that you friggin’ Bloodsuckers! he thought.
He wasn’t going to pussyfoot around anymore. Shit no! Last night Big Jim gave him the key to a shed off E Street. Inside it was a Union army cannon mounted on steel rimmed wheels. He and his crew hitched two mules to it and made their way to the Morpheus mine. When the guards refused them entry he had touched off the fuse to the cannon and blown them to Hell. In a separate cart he brought along several crates of bottles filled with moonshine and stuffed with rags. When the door went crashing in, he lit a bottle, and threw it into the mine.
“C’mon ya bastards, lets burn us some Bloodsuckers!” he cried.
He plunged into the mineshaft. Before they could all follow him, SWISH, a fiery bolt, a flaming arrow pierced the neck of one of his crew. Then another, and another arrow, before they were able to reach the safety of the mineshaft.
“Friggin’ God damn redskin,” he cursed.
He barreled through the smoke filled tunnel. When a burly guard jumped into his path, he blew him off his feet with his sawed off shotgun and then headed for the lift.
Inside their private cavern Devlin and Esmeralda scrambled up from the bed and quickly pulled on their clothes. Esmeralda discarded her corset and stockings and just pulled on her dress then shoved her bare feet in to her dancing shoes. Devlin put his hands on her shoulders.
“Listen to me, Angel, get to the ballroom as quick as you can. If I know Ligea there is bound to be an escape tunnel.
Esmeralda shook her head. “No, I have a gun. I won’t leave you.”
“You will and that is my final word. I won’t put you in the path of that depraved beast, Peabody.”
Devlin grabbed her hand and they ran down the corridor. When they reached the ballroom total chaos had erupted. The raised platform had been moved to one side and a dark tunnel was revealed beneath it. Ligea, candelabra held high, was herding her guests into it. Virgil handed Esmeralda a silver candelabra.
Her face full of dread, Esmeralda gave Devlin one last glance.
“Don’t die,” she said.
“Never,” he replied.
Without a backwards glance Esmeralda and Dahlia fled down the dark stone steps. Another blast shook the ballroom and a fireball flew through the air, it bounced across the floor and smashed into the long skirts of Ligea. She screamed and Virgil jumped on top of her. He ripped the flaming fabric from her body and tried to push her towards the escape tunnel. Ligea threw him off, drawing a long wavy dagger from her garter.
“Unhand me, Virgil, I will stand and fight.”
Furious, Virgil grasped her arms again. “No, Domina, you must not put yourself in danger, the Hive needs you.”
Ligea looked from him to Devlin, head held high she followed the others down into the tunnel. Devlin, Virgil and several others pushed the platform over the opening to conceal it once again. Seconds later Lance Peabody with his crew at his heels burst into the ballroom.
“Devlin, you Son of a Bitch! I�
�m here ta take ya down! Fry ya all like a Bloodsucker barbeque!” he shouted.
Gunfire erupted from both sides shattering glass and splintering wood, blood sprayed the air. Devlin kicked aside an overturned chair and charged towards Peabody.
“We’ll see who dies for good this time, Peabody.”
He unloaded his 44. The bullets tore through Lance Peabody’s mangy coat and he staggered and then dove, under a table.
One of Peabody’s crew leapt up, shotgun in hand and aimed for Devlin’s back. Before he could pull the trigger, Virgil neatly decapitated him with his saber. Another flaming bottle of moonshine crashed onto the floor spreading fire to the wall hangings. The fire caught the clothes of two of the vampires. Unearthly screams were added to the fight.
A tall grey faced gunman rushed Devlin with a sawed off shotgun. Before he could pull the trigger Devlin swung his own sword. The gunman’s head flew into the burning vampires then bounced back to Devlin’s feet.
Peabody popped up from behind the table. His eyes bugged out. “Yer gonna burn, Winter!”
He lobbed a flaming bottle at Devlin.
Devlin dodged it then kicked the burning head at his feet, hard. It flew into Lance Peabody’s filthy face.
“You first!” he laughed.
Devlin leapt backwards as a flaming, moonshine soaked head of a missile exploded all over Peabody’s hulking form.
“Let’s go!”
He shouted to Virgil as he grabbed him by the sleeve. Together they made a mad dash towards the lift while Peabody staggered and crashed around the ballroom screaming, burning alive like a weevil inside a roasting cornhusk.
They pounded down the narrow passage and followed the flickering lights of lanterns ahead. Dark ragged forms jumped out at them. Devlin and Virgil fought back to back, hand to hand. More and more of Peabody’s men poured into the tunnel. Blood spray saturated the stale air as Devlin slashed and thrust cutting through their enemies like butter. When the last one fell they climbed over his corpse and continued their run towards the lift. When they were nearly upon it, Virgil reached for the door. At that moment a dark form leapt up. Devlin heard Virgil grunt as a long hickory stake pierced him through the heart.
“Noooo!” Devlin cried out, as Virgil collapsed to the ground.
The murderer scrambled away but not before Devlin blew the top of his head off with his hideout gun.
He tried to lift Virgil to his feet but he had already began to writhe and shake. Devlin grasped the stake but Virgil stopped him.
“No, Devlin, go…on without me…the Hive, you must help Ligea.”
He could see that Virgil was himself beyond help. His immortal body had begun to shrivel. It became lighter and lighter. His handsome face ravaged with age until the white bones of his cheeks protruded from his paper thin skin. The sound of heavy boots pounded towards them and Devlin had no choice but to leave Vigil where he lay. He jumped up and into the lift and pulled the lever.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wrath
Devlin burst out of the mine. Walking Ghost galloped up. He held Devlin’s stallion. Devlin vaulted into the saddle and they headed back towards the town.
Daylight was just breaking as they reached D Street and The House of the Rising Moon. Ligea’s silent black man stood guard at the entrance to her red door. When he saw Devlin’s blood soaked appearance his body stiffened. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Go on away from here, Mister.”
“Let me pass,” Devlin demanded.
Before Ligea’s bodyguard could answer the door swung inwards and the Queen herself stood there. She looked from Devlin to Walking Ghost then back to Devlin.
“Where is Virgil? Was he not with you?”
Devlin stepped forward. He reached for her but she stepped back. “No Devlin, tell me what has happened? Is Virgil alive?”
Devlin met her frightened gaze. He knew there was no way to soften the blow. “No, Ligea, he has perished, one of Peabody’s men drove a stake through his heart.”
Ligea gasped. Eyes blazing she leapt at Devlin, long red nails aimed at his eyes. He caught her wrists; fiercely he struggled to restrain her.
“You are a blood curse, Devlin, a foul disease. Oh my poor boy!”
She cried. Tears ran down her cheeks. They fell like tiny diamonds on the red velvet of her bodice. Devlin could do nothing but stand there. Nothing he could say or do could bring Virgil back. All he could do was try to protect those that were left.
“I am sorry for Virgil’s death, but you are alive and must protect those of the Hive. I have brought this to your doorstep and I will be the one to rid you of it but first I need to know what happened to Esmeralda and Dahlia”
Ligea shook her head.
“Do not feed me your lies, Devlin. This is all about you and your hellborn quest. As for Miss Jones and Dahlia I have not seen them since we left the tunnel. Everyone went their separate ways.”
That was not what he had wanted to hear. But to press her for more at this time was out of the question. He left silently closing the door behind him.
The parlor door opened and Cleo, the Librarian with the curly blond hair, entered.
“We cannot let this stand, Domina,” she said.
Ligea rose and dried her eyes with a lacy handkerchief. “Call on all of the Hive, this is war and we will go down into that mine ourselves to meet this evil, head on.”
The Librarian nodded solemnly; glad that she could finally have a chance to avenge her poor Thadeus.
Silently, swiftly, in less than an hour the vampires congregated at the House of The Rising Moon. Ligea, now dressed in dark sturdy clothes, addressed them. Her heart was filled to bursting with the desire to crush and lay waste the men and the unholy monster who had killed Virgil. Virgil, who had been by her side for the last fifty years and had helped her build her new Hive from the ashes of the old. Virgil who had persisted with his love of her even though he guessed she still harbored secret feelings for Devlin.
She addressed the vampires of her Hive.
“Beloved blood of my blood another of our Hive has fallen to the mortals and Zombies, the puppets of the Beast, the Demon that lies within the earth. Virgil my consort has been savagely murdered. We shall go forth into the Lily Ann mine to exact our vengeance. Show no mercy and leave no one, human or otherwise, alive.”
A short time later they met with little resistance at the mouth of the Lily Ann, just two drunken guards slumped over a whiskey jug.
Ligea shot them both through the heart.
Then, with torches lit, she led them forth to the lift that would carry them down to the main shaft.
The lift jarred to the ground unnoticed and they crept towards the sound of pounding and hammering. When the main shaft opened they came upon a grimy crew toiling like red devils in the faint lamplight. One of the grimy miscreants wore a dove gray top hat.
Virgil’s hat!
A red mist formed at the corners of Ligea’s vision.
The vampires surged forth. The man in the top hat stared, but before he could utter a sound, Ligea slashed his throat from ear to ear. What followed in the seconds afterwards was nothing short of a blood bath as the vampires shot, slashed and tore the fifteen miners limb from limb. The ones that were not zombies were drained of their blood and the cohorts of Lance Peabody were beheaded.
Ligea pried the steel drill from the fingers of the man who had worn Virgil’s hat. A three foot long solid steel drill called a Widowmaker. Fueled with rage and immortal strength she snapped the drill in half and threw it against the wall of the mine. She picked up Virgil’s blood soaked hat with a shaking hand. She caressed the soft beaver skin then placed it atop her raven curls. She spit on the corpse of the man who had worn it then she and the other vampires fled the scene, stepping over the carnage, back through the mineshaft. At the mouth of the mine they dumped the severed heads in a pile.
Ligea took notice that the Zombie Peabody and that pig Big Jim were not amongs
t the dead. Well, she and her Hive had sent a clear message to them and she welcomed the next confrontation.
Let them try to set loose their Babylonian scourge now!
Devlin and Walking Ghost meanwhile galloped up the hill to B Street dodging through the C street traffic and the drunks and miners who rolled out of the saloons in broad daylight. When they got to the Emerald Salon they found it empty. The only person holding down the place was Jamie who stood polishing the short bar. He looked up nervously when Devlin and Walking Ghost burst in.
“Where is she, Jamie?”
Jamie paused but kept polishing. He avoided meeting Devlin’s eyes. “Don’t reckon I know.”
“If you know something you had better tell me, both Esmeralda and Dahlia could be in grave danger.”
Jamie’s face blanched white but his loyalty held fast. He shook his head. Devlin was out of patience. He reached out and snatched the boy by his collar.
“Spill it you ragamuffin or Walking Ghost will skin you alive.”
Jamie squirmed and sweated. “I ain’t tellin’ ya.”
“This is not a game Jamie, people are dying and if you want them to live you better tell me what you know.”
Jamie shook his head stubbornly. At a glance from Devlin, Walking Ghost drew a wicked looking knife.
“Start with his fingers,” Devlin said.
Walking Ghost seized Jamie’s right thumb.
Jamie caved. “San –San Francisco she tol’ me to buy her a ticket last week, to San Francisco by way of Carson City. That’s all I know!”
She had planned to disappear into the bowels of the West again, without him and without a backward glance. Anger rushed to his head, along with it a searing pain of heartbreak. With startling clarity he understood her plan. She had left so that his enemies could not use her to bait him.
He would not allow it! Not after what had happened between them. Besides, she must know that they would follow her, or was that part of her plan too?
He took a thin cigar out of his pocket, trying not to notice the slight tremor in his hands. He lit it and blew smoke to the side. He looked hard at Jamie. “And when was she supposed to leave, Jamie?”