by Megan Hawke
Mercedes turned and strode off. I looked around. Dane was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Gabe. Henri pressed up against me, his left hand sliding up into my long, black hair. His right hand started stroking the small of my back.
"I didn't come here to be seduced by you," I said, locking eyes with him.
"You're not pushing me away."
"How can I? The air is thick with the stench of pheromones," I said. I did manage to take his right hand in my left, and remove it from my rump. His deft touch was doing a number on me. "Why aren't you telling her the truth about Dane? And then I have more questions."
"About Dane?"
"About an accountant," I said.
He stiffened, then looked left and right.
"What accountant?" he said, thrusting his face into mine.
"Timothy Saxon," I said.
"Who?"
"Timothy Saxon. You haven't heard of him?"
"No. Should I have?"
"He works some of your accounts at Lubner, Schram, Bricker, and Kanady."
His hand in my hair turned into a fist, and it snatched up a tight fistful of hair. Ripped a gasp from my lips. He lifted me up so that I was on tiptoes. His fierce gaze bore into me.
"What do you know about my accounts?"
"Only that Timothy Saxon worked on some of them," I said.
"Which ones?"
"I don't know that," I said.
"Then what about this Timothy Saxon?"
"He was kidnapped by vampires," I said. "Actually, it seems more likely they forcibly recruited him into their ranks."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"Who recruited him?"
"I was hoping you could tell me that," I said. "I'm looking for him. His family has hired me to find him, before they Change him."
Henri released my hair and stepped back. I rubbed the sore spot on the back of my head, where he almost pulled the hair out by the roots. The pain subsided almost immediately, but the memory of it lingered.
"The prey are loose!" an outcry rose up. "The hunt is on!"
Henri's head whipped around. He hissed, fists clenched. Then he eyed me narrowly.
The announcement surprised me, too. I was told the hunt wouldn't start until midnight. Vamps and shifters were changing into wolves all around, many already racing into the dark woods.
"That is all wrong," he said. "Vampires don't recruit. We Change and subjugate."
Exactly. So odd.
Henri reached down, unfastened his jeans and pushed them down his thick, muscular legs. I sucked in a breath, unable to pull my eyes off his family jewels. And what a treasure he carried.
"The elk is mine!" he declared, and morphed into a wolf. He was a big wolf, all dark brown fur like Henri's hair.
Vampires took the shape of wolves, but kept our hair and eye color. We even stayed the same mass. Werewolves looked more like real wolves, only much bigger. Some alphas could keep their natural hair color as wolves, as well. Most werewolves increased in size by fifty percent when they shifted. I heard some alphas could double in size when they morphed.
Looking around, I saw everyone who could was morphing. Ten feet away a man's face began to elongate as fur erupted from all exposed skin and he pulled at his clothes, trying to get out as fast as possible. Near him a woman threw her head back and howled, all while I watched thick fangs grow, both upper and lower.
After the fangs were fully grown, she looked at me with the wickedest expression. Our eyes locked, and I felt so much menace emanating from her. Then she started ripping off her clothes to morph into a wolf. I spotted two other alphas, both male, sprout a set of upper and lower fangs before morphing into wolves of the four legged variety.
Every werewolf, even the alphas, were going four-legged. The smell in the air changed dramatically. The scent of lust and sex was washed away by dark hunger and fear and anger. It hit me almost as hard as the smell of sex and sexual need. But it made me hungry for blood, for killing.
A dozen wolf howls rose up in unison. A second later I was standing on all fours, and answering that howl with a long soulful one of my own. Then I struggled out of my clothes, and took off after Henri.
"Sable!" Dane cried, but I didn’t care.
I chased Henri, following his scent. Everyone's scent was so alike, yet so distinct. I realized I could tell everyone apart just as easily by their smell as by their appearance. More surprising, in wolf form their scent changed, but retained enough of their human scent for me to tell them apart.
Within seconds I was running in the pack. Mostly the others were much larger than me. I spotted a few other vampires, both male and female. Yeah, I could still tell the difference between the genders. Everyone retained their same auras, too.
I could hear Henri up ahead. His scent was stronger, but intermingled with everyone else's, too. I could still pick out the individual scents, and that amazed me. Being a wolf was better than I thought. Prior to that night, I'd spent more time as a bat, and enjoyed flying over running.
A disturbance in the pack caught my eye. To my left a much larger wolf was pushing sideways as she ran. She was tripping up quite a few wolves, but no one seemed to be challenging her abrasive behavior.
Mercedes! I thought, recognizing her scent more than anything.
She moved to my left front, then glanced back at me while in full stride. I felt a pang of fear. Was she looking for me? Why? I slowed just a tad, looking around to see if anyone else was moving up on me. Did they think they could take me out?
Mercedes turned on me with a vicious snarl. Even as a wolf I possessed vampiric reflexes. I dodged right, ducked under another wolf and let another pass before taking off full out. From the sounds of it, Mercedes bit another wolf either by accident or anger. That werewolf didn't appreciate it and they got into a scuffle.
Angling off to the right, I cleared the pack a few seconds later. A loud fight was raging behind me. Some of the other wolves stopped to watch.
I hope Mercedes bit off more than she can chew, I thought. That was a pleasant thought. Mostly, she got the best of me in our few encounters. The thought of going back and taking a bit out of her hairy butt appealed to me. Oh, wait, what's that?
The pack members still on the scent were heading almost due east. I heard some serious crashing sounds to the south-southeast. Were one or more of the deer making a loop around? I could cut him off, and make the kill while the others were off chasing the wind.
That would just kill Mercedes! I thought with wicked glee.
I took off running. Full tilt, as they say. Wish I knew what that meant. I wended through the trees, ducking and dodging brush, hanging limbs, debris on the ground. It was almost like running in slow motion, seeing everything in plenty of time to avoid it. I felt like the wind flowing through the woods, closing in on my prey like the Angel of Death.
Off by myself I ran in remarkable silence. I even stopped breathing, just so I could better hear my prey and concentrate on him. It was definitely just one animal.
Casting my senses out, I saw that the five deer had split up, and now the whole pack was split. I could feel the surging of blood, the feelings of excitement in the pack, the stark terror in the deer. And as I grew steadily closer on my intercept course I realized it was the bull elk I had zeroed in on.
Yes! I thought. Mercedes would be beside herself when she learned I brought that glorious bull elk down. This kill is mine.
I could tell at least half the pack was after the elk. They were close enough now to hear, though they moved much quieter than the elk. I redoubled my efforts. I had to make that kill.
The bull elk was heading down towards the river. The underbrush was growing thicker. The humidity increased, as did the stench of rotting wood and fish.
There! I thought, getting a glimpse of him through the thick tangle. I heard cars above, and realized I'd just reached the long I-45 bridge over the Trinity River, just above the trees. The elk jumped over something and I saw him in all
his glory, perfect side view. Wow!
What a magnificent beast. I felt the tiniest of regrets that he was about to be killed. The feeling was fleeting. A second later my blood lust consumed me, and I pushed myself to the limit. That elk would be my first kill as a wolf.
A snap to my left. Just a breaking twig. I wasn't alone. Another wolf was closing in on the kill. Panic flashed, then I reached out with my senses. Nothing.
Another vampire! Henri! I thought. Dammit.
It had to be Henri Trudeau. He was the biggest and best of the vampires. If anyone could outrun alpha werewolves it was Henri. Then I saw the elk again, and forgot about the vampiric challenge to my kill.
The wind changed, and I got a good whiff of that frightened elk. What a heady smell. My mouth started to water and my heart rate increased. I was almost there.
Yes! I silently cried. The elk was bounding through the woods to my front left. I was on a perfect intercept angle. I didn't think he realized I was there. He's all mine!
That's when I spotted the big brown wolf bearing down on the elk. Altering my angle just a tad, I bore down on that unsuspecting elk, with the other wolf in the corner of my eye. He was closer, but directly behind the elk. I thought my angle would give me the advantage.
I growled. The elk heard and whipped his head around just enough to spot me. He lost a step in his surprise. I cried out in joy as I leapt, which came out as a vicious growl.
The undead wolf jumped, too. I clamped down on the elk's throat, sank my two sets of fangs deep into his flesh. The other wolf did the same from the right side, our muzzles touching over the windpipe. Then we both ripped open that heaving throat, blood fountaining all over.
The bull elk did a header into a thick tree.
Aaaiiiee! I thought, startled as I was ripped off the elk's throat and whipped completely around.
I morphed back to human the second I rolled to my feet. The big brown wolf morphed into Henri. We glared at each other a second, fangs exposed.
"I killed him," I said.
"I beg to differ," Henri said.
"I reached him first."
"I ripped open his throat first," Henri countered.
The other wolves arrived, starting to circle as they made strange whining noises. Everyone had to go over and sniff at the carcass. Finally the biggest werewolf I'd ever seen walked up to the dead elk and sniffed it. Though the wolf had beautiful markings, it had blonde fur and blue eyes. I swear, he had to be five hundred pounds. Huge.
"Did you see, Jason?" Henri asked the blonde wolf. "Did you see me kill the elk before Sable?"
"Hey, he's one of your thugs. He has to support you, whether it is true or not," I said.
"Not true," Henri said. "Wolves are pretty particular about who makes the kill. It's important enough to not lie about it."
Jason started to morph. He slowly turned back into a human before our eyes. I'd never seen any of them change so fast. Definitely alpha. Jason morphed back into a six foot seven inch god of a man, too. Yeow. Long, dark blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, muscles out the ying-yang. To say he was ripped wasn't giving his body justice.
If he wasn't clean shaven Jason would've given Boney a run for his money on the "Jesus on steroids" look. He wasn't as well-endowed as Boney, but he was definitely more muscular, maybe a bit more handsome, too. Okay, I liked men clean shaven.
"Hello, Jason," I said, my voice an octave or two lower. I realized I was shooting out vampire pheromones and my blood was up. I might've licked my lips, exposed a little more neck and otherwise shown my interest. "Where have they been hiding you?"
"No fair seducing the judge," Henri said, moving up close enough I felt his body heat on my skin.
I looked up into Henri's brown eyes. When our eyes locked, it was electricity. We were both still excited from the hunt, and my vamp pheromones were driving everyone there crazy, even the werewolves still in wolf form.
"What if I seduced you instead?" I said, and saw his flaccid member start to rise.
"What elk?" Henri said, and grinned wickedly.
"Before you two try to make undead babies, we have to decide the kill," Jason said. He was down on one knee beside the dead elk.
We watched him examine the twin wounds, wobble the head around then confer with another pair of alphas back in human form. One was a six foot tall, skinny African American and the other a tall redhead. She would've been prettier if not for that huge nose, but she had an athletic body and thick, curly red hair that more than made up for it. Being alphas in the Trudeau Pack automatically made them lieutenants to Mercedes.
"I think the elk was killed by hitting the tree," Jason said. "His neck is broken." When we both started to protest, he held up both hands to stop us. "That said, both wounds were fatal. We cannot determine either one of you alone killed him, and believe your attacks from both sides so confused the beast he ran into the tree and was killed instantly. So you are both awarded the kill."
The redheaded werewolf, Samantha, held up the elk's heart. Henri took it and gave me a meaningful look.
"Now we share the heart," he said.
Yuck. Raw meat? Did I mention, yuck? But everyone was looking at us expectantly. Henri held the steaming, blood-dripping heart at face level for me, then bent over and sank his teeth into it. He paused, waiting for me to sink my teeth in before he finished biting off his chunk.
"Lucky me," I said.
Nothing to do but do it. I bit the heart, chomping off a mouthful. Henri did the same, and we chewed it up and swallowed. I hate to admit it, but I liked it. Mostly, I loved the taste of the blood. So. . . feral, gamey. It was delicious. So we both took another bite, and another and another until the heart was gone. The werewolves then all threw back their heads and howled.
I felt cheated, despite everyone else's joy. That was my first kill. Sharing it diminished my accomplishment. Right? Henri didn't think so, since he started smiling. Then he started stoking my back and rump.
He smelled incredible, what with all that elk blood splattered across his chest, and dripping down to his knees. Eating the heart had been messy. I was just as bloody as Henri, and it was strangely exciting.
"Is it time to celebrate yet?" I asked with a husky voice. I leaned over and took a long lick of blood off his chest.
I looked up into Henri's eyes, and electricity slammed into me again. I'm afraid I gave out a tiny little squeak. Very embarrassing, but at the moment I didn't care. His other hand came up and cupped one of my blood-smeared boobs. So I reached up to his face, and guided it down to my lips.
"Yes, we've shared a kill," Henri said, then kissed me softly. "Now we share our passion."
We were instantly all over each other. Nothing but hands and tongues and lips and teeth. It was all good. I'd never felt so alive, so energized with need and passion. At some point we tripped and fell.
"Must be a sign," I said. I was on my back, a thick bed of dried leaves beneath me. Henri was on top, his hard penis against my right thigh. I licked his throat over the jugular, listening and feeling the blood surging beneath the skin. My hunger exploded deep in my belly, and I sank my fangs into his throat. "Mmmmmm."
Henri froze, groaning wantonly. I sucked greedily at his neck, savoring the thick, hot tastiness. Then gooseflesh spread across my body when I felt him shift, forcing my legs wide. He guided himself up to my most intimate spot, and I reached down to cover my folds with a hand.
"Not yet," I said. I gave him a mischievous grin. "You still have work to do, boy."
Henri laughed, deep and sultry. He didn't argue, either. Henri got to work. We kissed deeply, clutching at each other. After a few minutes he released my lips and started kissing his way down. My undead lover gave new meaning to "necking" by spending some time licking, kissing, nibbling and sucking on my neck. He had me writhing beneath him, gasping and clutching at him. Then he sank his fangs in.
"Uuuuggghhh," I groaned wantonly. I wrapped my legs around his waist and arched my back, as liquid heat surged
through me from head to toe. "Oh, so close."
He slipped off me, to lie beside me on the ground. His fangs never left my throat, but his right hand left my boob and slid down across my quivering belly. Henri started rubbing my tingling folds, and that sent ripples of pleasure through me, turning my insides to hot mush.
"Oooh la la, Henri," I said. He chuckled. Was that bad French? Heck, was it French at all? He answered by curling a finger up, penetrating into my slit. My whole body jerked and I moaned low and deep. "So good to me."
"We are so good together," Henri said, finally releasing my neck. He looked me over, head to toe. All the while he was doing an amazing job masturbating me. "You are so beautiful, so passionate, so dangerous. I've not been able to stop thinking about you since that first time we met."
Henri suddenly started rubbing my clitoris, hard and fast. It startled me at first, but half a second later the pleasure hit me twice as hard. And I knew instantly I was about to climax.
"Oh, Jesus! Hello!" I cried, as the orgasm slammed into me.
He started sucking on my boobs. Let me rephrase that, Henri made love to my breasts. No other way to describe it. He squeezed, caressed, licked, nibbled, and sucked on my boobs and nipples with erotic perfection. All while he masturbated me to more climaxes.
After five minutes or so, I pushed Henri's head downward. He didn't have to be told twice. Good boy. Henri laughed and pulled his hand from between my legs. For a second I felt abandoned. What did I do?
"Ack!" I cried when Henri took a nip at my right nipple. No damage, but the pain surprised me.
He chuckled, but started kissing and caressing his way down my belly. I decided to forgive him. Henri kissed his way down to between my legs, and gave that a big French kiss. Then he moved again, settling between my legs and pushing them wide.
"That's it," I said as Henri buried his face between my legs.
That tongue went to work immediately. The man knew what he was about, too. He was better than Boney. I didn't think that possible. Boney was the king of cunnilingus in Sable World. Was there to be a new king? Or was it just the excitement of the moment?