Invierea

by Bruce T. Jones

  “I never saw her after the Convent, so maybe you’re right, she bolted for the Big Apple.”

  Gabrielle shrugged, “What is this Big Apple?”

  I let out an honest chuckle, amused by her ignorance of the modern world. “Just a nickname for New York. So, maybe Angelique is in New York, helping Sabine?” Wasn’t this a picture perfect moment. Two vampires, hell-bent on killing one another, having a quiet conversation amongst the masses of unawares.

  “I do not know. But what I do know; Angelique is obsessed with you. She commanded no harm befall you. It was Angelique’s affection for you that spurred Monique’s desire to conquer you. After our escape from the convent, Monique blamed her for everything.”

  I could come up with several damn good reasons for Angelique’s apparent obsession. With my striking resemblance to my father, did she somehow know who I was, or was she just grateful for the freedom we provided? If Sabine and Angelique were in New York, suddenly Sam’s safety was a major concern. If Angelique knew of Sam, which given our public outings, was almost a certainty, she could be in imminent danger. Shit. If I could somehow turn Gabrielle, she could prove a major asset in locating her sisters. My sisters. My evil, bloodsucking sisters. I had a poker deck of options before me. But which hand to play?

  “Gabrielle, there is no need for you to die. If you will travel with me to New York, help me find Sabine …” I reached out and took her hands. A surge of electricity jolted between our bodies. The identical sensation when Angelique kissed me, and when Monique seduced me. Instantly, Gabrielle’s desires swooned, intoxicating me. I experienced her yearning for companionship, freedom, and love. Unfortunately, I was not able to conceal my reciprocal lust.

  “I know what you desire,” she purred.

  I broke the grip and withdrew my hands. Quickly, I blurted out, “I have seen her daughter. I know where Sabine’s child lives.”

  Gabriel’s eyes lit up, as if a key to her salvation had been found. “And Sabine’s child … Is she like us?”

  “No, her life is prolonged, as is yours, but she can move in sunlight, and does not share your thirst.”

  “My thirst? How little you truly understand,” Gabrielle protested indignantly. “Take me to your home and make love to me. Then you shall know of my thirst.”

  In her eyes I witnessed a yearning two hundred years in the making. “I fear too many a young man has already made that mistake. I am in no particular hurry to join all the others.”

  “Celine’s appetite, like Monique’s, was insatiable and as such, she killed many. I have not fallen in their ways for fear I would become like them. I have never killed.”

  “Never killed?” My tone registered immediate agitation. “The Convent? His name was Rob. And he was a damn good friend.”

  Gabrielle reached out and took my hand. “He was already dead. I feared Monique’s retribution if I did not follow my sister’s example.”

  I digested her story, reliving the video in my mind; it was possible Rob was already dead. “Obviously I can’t hide my feelings from you. As you know what I desire, if I were to allow it, how do I know you will not kill me?”

  “You are not like any other man I have known. You killed Monique, and all the others. My power is but a whisper of theirs. But if you fear me, then strike me down where I sit. I will not resist.”

  A momentary silence passed. To offer her life, appealed to the mercy I had begun to nurture for one of my own. Was this some kind of genetic predisposition I shared with my father’s legacy?

  “I will not take your life, but I cannot give you what you want.”

  “It is her? This woman, Samantha, who was with you in New Orleans.”

  “No.” I snapped defensively, eager to remove Sam from any jealous homicidal thoughts.

  “It is foolish for a man who lives the life you do, to be involved with a weak, vulnerable woman such as her.”

  I squeezed Gabrielle’s hands tightly. “My relationship with her, or anyone else, can never be any concern of yours. If we can find a path, some mutual, agreeable course for you to remain free, you must promise to never seek her, or anyone I might be involved with … do you understand?”

  Gabrielle donned a devious smirk, which suddenly gave me the urge to instantly finish her off. Her silent attitude was threatening, and at this moment, the only thing keeping her alive was her knowledge of Sabine. A minute or two passed, neither of us breaking the visual checkmate.

  “Damn, I give up. We can go back to my place.”

  “I thought you would never ask.” Gabrielle rose from her chair, her long slender legs leading her body toward me. She held out her hand for mine. “And, what about Samantha?”

  “New Orleans is a long way away.”

  Outside, rain poured down in warm sheets saturating our bodies. Gabrielle jerked at my arm, unable to hide her anticipation. “Which way?”

  “Let’s wait for a cab.”

  “I don’t see any, and I’m already soaked. Can we just walk?”

  My primeval instinct guided my eyes to her white cotton shirt, clinging tightly to her braless chest. Acutely aware of my gaze, Gabrielle pushed me against a wall and pressed her lips to mine. Her tongue was met with the iron gate of locked lips. All the efforts I had made to conceal my vampire nature would have been in vain the instant her tongue raked across my fangs.

  Frustrated, she took my hand, and pulled it to her legs, guiding it up her rain-soaked flesh. Her voice quivered with my touch.

  “You are going to have to wait a little longer, my dear,” I explained as I took her hand and led her toward my condo ten blocks away. We had walked about two blocks in silence, my mind racing with conflict, hers racing on sex.

  “If I consent to help you find Sabine, when would we leave for New York?”

  “Tomorrow, just after sunset.”

  “Are we to fly? I have never been close to these machines that fly as birds.”

  “Yes, we will fly.” After a brief chuckle at the notion, machines that fly like birds. I broached the burning question of the evening.

  “What about the others? I can’t leave anyone behind.”

  Gabrielle looked bewildered, as if I should already have known. “There is only me now. There are no others.”

  “Tonight you will stay with me and tomorrow we will leave for New York.”

  I quickened our pace as we sloshed through the monsoon. We arrived back at my condo and now I was clueless as what to do with a seductively soaking wet vampiress in the mood for romance. But I knew I could not let her out of my sight. Entering the condo I made a beeline to my laptop.

  “Make yourself at home, I need to arrange our flight.” Stroking the keys, I looked into the reflection of the window to see nothing. Then the hand touched my shoulder causing me to jump. Damn non-reflecting vampires. I wheeled around in my chair. Minus the six-inch Dante’s Inferno–red bedroom slippers, Gabrielle was naked.

  “I am sorry, I forgot you were soaked. You must be freezing. I’ll get you something dry to wear.” The sight of her silky flesh and perfect curves stirred the inner demon once more.

  “Don’t bother. I am always cold. Occupational hazard.”

  With a long slender leg, Gabrielle cut off my angle to the bathroom and wrapped her arms around me. I gave her a quick kiss, and pulled away.

  “Cool your jets, girl. We have all night.”

  She grabbed my collar from behind with one hand, and my crotch with the other.

  “My jets have been cooled for over two hundred years. Right now will be just fine.” Her voice was oh so sultry, the kiss on my neck electrifying. This was not going well at all. I felt the firmness of her breast pressing into my back. Somehow, not tonight dear, I have a headache, was not going to work. Her hands were having their way, exploring my body, and my body’s reaction was not helping convince her I was not interested. Gabrielle grabbed my hand and pulled it behind, guiding it between her legs.

  Options? I could kill her now, even though I f
elt she would be of some value in New York. She groaned in my ear while guiding my hand. Sam would not be at all sympathetic or understanding to my predicament in the least. Options? With her free hand she stroked me.

  Suddenly, like another gift from above, there was a knock at the door. I turned and put my finger over Gabrielle’s moist lips. The driver? He did not know the apartment number. Chuck would know, but I did not believe he would show up at this hour unannounced. The cops? Possibly Phillip, or worse, given the fact Phillip knew the location of the condo, it could be Sam. I went limp. “I am not expecting visitors,” I whispered. I took Gabrielle by the hand and led her to the bedroom. I opened the closet door and grabbed a shirt. “Put this on, stay in here and keep quiet.”

  I walked back to the door. The scent from beyond the door was unfamiliar. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing I did not have to explain the half-dressed vampire in my apartment. I opened the door, wedging my foot as a doorstop. One good look at his face and the overwhelming noxious odor and I knew, he was a vampire! He burst through the door, knocking me backward to the floor. Followed by two similar-looking lads. Suddenly I realized Gabrielle had been a very bad girl.

  Bloodsucker number one looked like Billy Idol with a nasty crack habit. His face was gaunt, and white as bleached flour. His hair was equally white, spiked to comical proportions. Dressed in tight black leather, if I did not know better, I would have thought him to be a distasteful joke. His two Cuban sidekicks, with their slicked Ricky Ricardo hair, wearing cheap club attire, effortlessly scooped me off the floor and pulled me back until my head slammed against the dining room wall. Refraining from immediate retaliation, I decided to let this little drama play out.

  Billy slowly closed the door, as if being shut in with these stooges was going to intimidate me. “Where is Gabrielle?” His tone was high pitched and grated my nerves quickly.

  “She left.”

  “Fool,” he said as he grabbed my cheek and squeezed. “I can smell her presence.” Sniffing the air, he searched for the origin. “Gabrielle, come out. I want to talk with you.”

  Gabrielle did not reply.

  With a forearm across my throat, I struggled for words. “Hey dipshit, I banged her. That’s what you’re smelling. You been stalking her?”

  “I don’t need to stalk. When Celine did not come home I followed Gabrielle out tonight.”

  “Stalker,” I goaded.

  “Gabrielle, come now or I will kill this man.” He waited for a response, and got none. “I will not ask again.”

  Silently, Gabrielle appeared from the bedroom. Billy shook his head as he observed her attire. “Once a whore, always a whore.”

  I could only assume he was alluding to her life in France, over two centuries ago. But how did he know her history? “Don’t call her a whore.”

  “Fucking a mortal! You are pathetic. I would kill you where you stand, but I want to know where Celine is.”

  “Gabrielle, I am waiting. Where is Celine?” he shrilled again, growing impatient.

  “She is dead, Craven. I do not know how.”

  “How do you know for certain she is dead?” Billy gasped.

  “Hey shit for brains, why not ask me?” I barked.

  Billy turned, smiled evilly, flashed his menacing fangs and then smacked me across the face. “I will deal with you in a minute.” He walked toward Gabrielle.

  “How did Celine die?” he demanded.

  “I killed her, fuck face!” I exclaimed. It was past time to dispatch the clown and pony show. I tossed the two Cubans restraining me across the room. With speed they had never before witnessed, I smashed a dining room chair and thrust the splintered legs through their hearts, impaling them on the wall. Without thought, I found myself in a most peculiar posture. Defying gravity, I clung to the wall, five feet off the floor, just like spider man. I snarled at Billy, fully exposing my fangs. He grabbed Gabrielle, and thrust her in front.

  “I will kill her,” he threatened.

  “What do you think I am about to do?” I hissed back. Climbing down from the wall, I slowly stalked the retreating vampire and his hostage. I raised my arm out and with my palm turned slightly downward; my thoughts swooned, silently commanding Billy to submit. Reciting the ancient Romanian phrases of my ancestors, I struck fear into his very being. Picking up another splintered leg, effortlessly, I moved Gabrielle to the side.

  With him quivering before me, he pleaded, “No, Master.”

  “How many more vampires are there?”

  “None.”

  Coldly, I looked him in the eye. “You will thank me for this one day.” I shoved the stake through his chest until it protruded out his back. I turned to Gabrielle, unable to conceal my disappointment.

  She uttered the last word she would ever speak, “How?”

  “There are no others?” I asked bitterly. I bit deeply into her neck as she thrust against my body. Like her scent, the taste of her blood was uniquely living. She cried out faintly, as her life began to pass through me. Filling my mouth with the greatest succulence ever experienced, I stopped, just before death would take her. Sweeping up her limp body, I carried her to the couch. With barely a breath left in her body, I placed her head across my lap and caressed her once vivid face, now sunken, and gray. Her weakened eyes, which only minutes earlier had been so vibrant, pleaded with me.

  “Gabrielle, I am so disappointed. You lied. For starters, that was three others.”

  Gabrielle struggled to speak.

  “I will allow you to decide your fate. I will finish what I have started, or I will leave you this way for all eternity, making your imprisonment at the Convent seem like heaven. The choice is yours. But before you decide, you will tell me the truth.”

  Her body wrenched in unending agony.

  “Yes, it is painful. I understand. I have left you just enough blood to sustain this miserable existence. But unlike humans, our bodies will never rejuvenate blood on their own. And you my dear are far too weak to feed on your own. In this state I will leave you, unless you tell me everything.”

  Gabrielle’s eyes pleaded, seeking desperately for mercy through her excruciating pain. She moved her lips but was too weak to speak.

  I raised my wrist to my mouth and bit lightly. Blood began to flow freely from the puncture. I lowered my wrist above her mouth, dripping precious drops of blood, restoring a fraction of her vitality. Weakly, Gabrielle raised her arm and guided my wrist to her mouth. As she nursed, traces of color returned to her skin and eyes. The veins in my arm began to bulge as my forearm turned a deep shade of purple. This newfound experience inflamed my eroticism.

  “That is enough for now.”

  Breaking the bond, witnessing her tongue eagerly swipe the remaining traces of my blood from her lips, my heart pounded as I quivered with delight.

  “Please!” she pleaded. “I need more.”

  “That is all you get, until you answer my questions and I swear, one more lie and I will take you right back down to the hell you just left, and leave you there.”

  “If I do as you say, will you still take me with you? Ten minutes ago, we were about to become lovers.” With a crooked weak smile, she turned her face into my hand.

  “Gabrielle …” I pulled my hand away. “The only way this will work is from this point on we both have to be honest with each other.” Her eyes met mine with a truthful acceptance. In sharing my blood, a fascinating bond had been established. Not since that first night in the Convent with Angelique had I experienced this kind of connection.

  “You know I find you quite irresistible, there’s no hiding that. But I love Samantha. My soul purpose for bringing you here was to extract information.”

  “So you lied?” Gabrielle accused.

  “I have to eliminate the threat I unleashed in New Orleans, by whatever means necessary.” Nuzzling her head tightly against my stomach, eyes still locked in mesmerizing desire, this moment, this kindred creature was more enticing than any fantasy, and I feared my
inability to regain self-control.

  “How long have you been like me?”

  “The night I killed Monique. She did this to me.”

  “You are one of us. How is it you take the life of your own kind so easily? Especially when so few remain.”

  “I have a moral obligation, to my former race, to protect them from the predatory creatures roaming loosely due to my carelessness. Beyond protecting the humans, once I am satisfied vampires no longer pose a threat …”

  “I am no predator. I have killed no one. I have never tasted human blood,” Gabrielle replied, defending her life. “The others fed on whatever blood the Convent guards gave them. But I knew if I drank the blood of humans, I would become as unholy as they had. All hope of ever returning to the light would perish. Angelique understood my choice, and together with the aid of the nuns, we consumed only the blood of animals.”

  “Gabrielle, I saw you drink Rob’s blood.” I felt like I needed to revisit the issue one last time for any inconsistencies.

  Gabrielle reached for my hand and pulled it along side her face. “Please indulge me. No man has ever touched me so tenderly.”

  With the bond reaffirmed, I conceded and gently stroked my hand through her hair. “You were telling me about Rob.”

  “About your friend, I waited until last. He was already dead. I was afraid if I did not appear to join my sisters, they would leave me behind in the Convent. It is true, I bit him, but I never drank his blood.” From what I knew of Angelique, Gabrielle’s story was credible.

  “One last detail, please explain why I have three dead vampires on my carpet.”

  “Craven, the one you just killed, he belonged to Celine. But he was not a vampire when I saw him last. The other two, I never met. “When Celine did not come home last night, they must have followed us as he claimed.”

  “And do you believe there might be more of these?”

  “I do not believe so. With your words from the old world, I don’t think he could lie.”

  “Gabrielle.” I searched for words. I searched for feelings sprouting deep within. As my blood coursed through her veins, this helpless woman was now a part of me. Suddenly an overwhelming urge to protect her defeated all desire to harm her. Her eyes were so weak and helpless, and I knew her life was now my responsibility to change.