Mortal Bite (Golden Vampires of Tuscany)

by Sharon Hamilton

  “Hey, missy, you’ve had cock,” Rubin objected. “Give me a little time and I’ll be right back on your little ass so fast—“

  She turned and cut him off with a slap across the face. Lionel was instantly alarmed. He didn’t like to see a fight erupt when he was unable to do anything about it.

  “Why you ungrateful little bitch,” Rubin lunged after her, going for his preferred method of killing women: strangulation.

  But she was fast, much faster than he was. Her lilting, teasing laugh echoed throughout the building, making a couple of trapped pigeons fly up and hit the metal ceiling. Rubin lost his balance and fell on his stomach.

  She pulled a gun from her bag. Lionel judged the thing to be a Raptor II. He hoped to God she’d put silver bullets in it, or she was in for a nasty surprise when the executioner got up and continued chasing her.

  Lionel watched her breasts bounce as she pranced around the room, brandishing the gun. The executioner was livid with rage. Lionel just hoped she’d get on with it, but no, she seemed to want to tease the fat vamp until he had to stop, bending over to brace himself on his knees, out of breath. He shook his head.

  “Okay, okay, missy. You win this round. Come on, let’s kiss and make up.” He massaged his limp dick a few times and almost got it to salute for her when Lionel heard the gun go off. Sure as shit she’d shot the vamp and only a silver bullet in the middle of his chest could have stopped him clean like that.

  She blew the barrel of the gun like a gunslinger from Hollywood. But she certainly didn’t look like any gunslinger he’d ever seen before.

  Forgive my evil thoughts. He’d never wanted a woman more in his life. He thought about begging her to get right to it, not even untying him first, he was so hot for her. But then reason came flooding into his brain, and he remembered the mission.

  “Untie me.”

  “And you’ll do what?”

  “I said I’d make it up to you. And I will.”

  She cocked her head to the side. Her gaze dropped to his groin and, sure enough, he was ready to perform for hours on end. He was twice the size he had been when she had him in her mouth.

  “How do you guys do that?”

  “This?” he said, looking down. “I have no fuckin’ clue. I just know that I like it.”

  “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

  “Should I be?”

  She nodded very slowly. “I almost killed Dag.”

  That did earn a little respect from Lionel. “How the hell did you do that?”

  “Tied him up with silver when he was sleeping. Your employer left him in a terrible shape. Disgusting burned flesh. I think that’s why he came over and got you. After I healed him, of course.”

  “So why aren’t you with him now? Why choose his man?”

  “Because I wanted to see you. And besides, Dag wants to kill me now. So you see, we are a match made in heaven. He wants us both dead.”

  “Wanna celebrate?” Lionel was trying to sound casual, maybe a little sexy. He was starting to get alarmed that perhaps this little lady only liked to torture her conquests. That he had grossly misjudged her, as had Dag.

  “Thought you’d never ask. Beg me.”

  “Please.”

  “Not good enough. I can wait all day, but you can’t. You haven’t much time. They’ll be over here for Round Two.”

  “If you and I were alone together, and I had my hands, I’d first explore every inch of your body. I’d scrub your sex so hard you’d come in my shower. I’d remove any trace of that filthy disgusting slimeball excuse for a vamp, and then I’d replace it with some good clean cum and make you glow from the inside out. You’d want me so bad you’d keep me in a darkened room and fuck me 24/7. And I’d make you come, baby, every conceivable way possible. There. How’s that?”

  She jumped his bones, wrapping her legs around his waist, which pulled his restraints and hurt like hell. But he’d made a promise, and if she kept hers, he’d keep his. She whispered in his ear, “I can’t wait.”

  She ran buck naked to search through Rubin’s pants until she found the restraint keys, then ran back to unhook each wrist.

  Lionel was grateful.

  “Thanks, sweetheart. I can trace us somewhere for a quickie, but I got things I need to do, and I sure as hell have to get out of here, and I think you do, too.”

  She nodded her head. She was going to be putty in his hands.

  “I keep my word. You let me go, and I promise to come back and send you to heaven a few dozen times, but not right now, honey. You understand?” He lifted her chin with his fingers and placed a sweet kiss on her lips.

  She began to wrap her arms around his neck and he ducked out. “Nope. Sorry. Just hold that thought. If we both survive the next few days, I’ll be back.”

  “Take me with you. I’m an ally now. I’ve fought your enemy. I’ve aided your cause.”

  “Doesn’t work that way. I don’t make the rules. You’re going to have to fend for yourself for a bit until this is all over.”

  “Did I tell you I qualified expert?”

  Lionel began taking Rubin’s clothes. The pants he had to cinch up with the belt high above his waist. His shoes were about five sizes too small.

  “I can believe that.”

  “Let me be a member of your team.”

  “I don’t get to choose that.”

  “Let me try out.”

  He thought about it for a moment and then decided yes; he had room for one more, especially if she was a crack shot. “Okay, get your clothes. We gotta disappear right now or it will be too late.”

  She was quick. He took her hand and they opened a side door to the night. “Hang on, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear. Lionel traced them to the Monteleone villa, dead center in the living room, like he’d done dozens of time before. She stepped clear of Lionel and they both studied a cadre of muscled and well-armed men grinning from ear to ear. Some had been playing video games, some were lounging in front of a big screen TV. Pizza boxes and fast food wrappers were everywhere. Lionel knew the Monteleones would be royally pissed if they saw the scene in front of them.

  “Holy cow. Lionel’s brought the cavalry,” someone said.

  “That’s right, boys,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “I’m the inspirational speaker for tonight’s meeting.”

  Chapter 38

  Cara awoke to the sounds of cheering coming from down below. She slipped out of the luscious, buttery sheets and padded barefoot across the room to the double doors. She was pleased when she found them unlocked. On the landing she could hear lots of chatter and movement down below. Music was playing, and she could smell sweat and something else besides the left-over aromas of fast food. A glance to the corner by the front door explained it all. A small arsenal was leaning against the plaster walls of the grand house in case any intruders chose to come uninvited.

  There was some raucous party happening in the living room. Waves of laughter erupted. Someone wearing a shirt and no pants disappeared into what looked like a hallway guest bath.

  No pants?

  The music sounded like a home Karaoke machine and the male singer was horrible, flat and off key. But a female singer took over to the whistles and catcalls of the audience. She was singing a song Cara had seen on old Marilyn Monroe films. But this singer was better than the the great lady herself.

  Cara retreated to the bedroom. Beside the door she spotted a wicker basket with a set of clean clothes and a pair of shoes. She quickly dressed. Grateful that the maid had provided tennis shoes, she tiptoed down the hallway and found a rear exit leading to the back yard of the house. She opened the back door and began to run like hell.

  Paolo didn’t like airplanes. He usually traced. But the tracing always scared Lucius to death, so this time he sat back and allowed himself to be transported more slowly, enjoying quality time with his son, and politely fending off the attendant who kept inserting her body parts everywhere.

  Lucius waved a genero
us goodbye to her as they were deplaning. “I think she liked, me, Father.”

  When Paolo turned to look back, she winked at him.

  “You know, son, I think maybe you’re right.”

  Paolo and Lucius were picked up at the airport by Marcus, who drove an armored Suburban. It surprised Paolo he was not taking more precautions.

  “How was your flight, brother?”

  “Long.” Though it was morning in Italy, and Paolo wished he could go straight to bed.

  “It was awesome, Marcus. I played video games, and we watched three movies.”

  “Oh, my.” Marcus picked up Lucius’ bag and slung it over his shoulder. “You get any rest, then?”

  “Not a wink.”

  “Well, I’m afraid to say you’ll not get any for a bit longer. I have to get over to the Council chambers within the hour. There’s just time enough to drop Lucius off.”

  “Where’s your driver, Marcus?”

  “I needed to speak to you in private, if you know what I mean.”

  “Problems?”

  “Complications. And I’m having trouble with some loyalty issues.”

  Paolo paused after he deposited Lucius in the second seat and made sure he was strapped in. “Not the Jett brothers?”

  “No. God, no. They’re golden.”

  Paolo looked back at his brother who chuckled, “Well, not Golden, but no, no problems there. Dag made a raid on Cara’s apartment about an hour ago. She’s safe; Jeb and Huge traced her to my house. But they captured Lionel.”

  “Not good.”

  They sped along the freeway, Lucius becoming engrossed in the movie playing behind the driver’s seat on a portable screen. The countryside was greener than he remembered. The farms and olive orchards they passed, nestled amongst old stone ruins, looked smaller after living for a while California, where the scenery was similar, but with larger open spaces. But Tuscany was his home, and he was glad to be here at last. He wished Cara were at his side.

  “I’ve alerted the local authorities,” Marcus began. “The SEAL embedded with them said Cara was sorting through lots of papers last night. And she made a couple of calls. We’re trying to track the numbers now.”

  “Surely you don’t suspect Cara of—“

  “No, brother. But I think she’s beginning to piece together her last forty-eight hours, not that she remembers any of it, but she’s re-tracing her steps.”

  They got behind a tractor pulling an enormous tiller. Marcus had to reduce speed. He checked the clock on the dash. “We have to hurry to make our allotted time slot.”

  “You should have brought the driver, Marcus,” Paolo said.

  “I can see that now. But, we need the privacy.”

  “So what else is going on?” Paolo asked.

  “The Council is very concerned about the missing book. They hold the family partly responsible for its disappearance. Praetor says they have already had one meeting.”

  “No way we could have known. I think we told them as soon as we found out. It’s not like we were hiding things from them.”

  “I agree. We have to make the Council understand. They can impose sanctions if they feel we have mismanaged things, brother.”

  “That would be so unfair. We have all risked much.”

  “And complacently underestimated the gathering forces of the dark coven leaders.”

  “Leaders?” Paolo knew about Dag. But the Monteleones had a long history of coexisting peacefully with the dark coven lords, helping them through tough times on occasion. They had been generous with their time and their money.

  “The leaders are uniting. There is a scramble. Word is, the book contains something so powerful it could affect us all.”

  Paolo had felt such a shift in the temperature of their world.

  “So I was right, she was looking for the book last night,” he said to Marcus. “Perhaps it wasn’t wise to erase her memory. We might have needed information she had stored in her head.”

  “I admit, perhaps I acted rashly.”

  The tractor pulled off on a dirt road and Marcus gunned the Suburban. They tore down the narrow country road until they saw the villa mounted high atop the hill, like a crowned jewel amongst the pale olive trees that had been in their family for nearly a thousand years. Was all this at stake, Paolo wondered?

  “Whatever happens, I am with you till the very end. You will not have to suffer for any of my misdeeds, as has happened in the past.”

  “Love. Always complicated. Sometimes fleeting, and for us, usually dangerous.”

  “Very dangerous. I should have been more careful, Marcus. I have much to make up for. First Lucius, nearly costing you your life, and the life of your Anne. Now Lionel, who has been loyal to this family since before we were born. I pray to the God of vampires he will be returned to us safe.”

  They rounded a sharp corner and Marcus nearly lost control of the vehicle. Paolo held on to the handgrip bolted into the ceiling.

  “In a sad way, your becoming involved with Cara has perhaps saved us. Had we not known about the book, the coven leader and his designs, we might not have been as prepared. So don’t take that guilty tone with the Council. We have to convince them we have done all we could. I fear the day they would take the power away from us to act on the Council’s behalf.”

  “If not us, who?”

  “I don’t know. I have been away this past year. Laurel doesn’t involve herself in politics, so I have no clue, brother.”

  They drove up to the stone pillars that meant home. It was bittersweet—he was so grateful to see the apricot colored stucco of the family villa, but he faced the possibility it all could be confiscated, or worse yet, lost in a dark coven war that might claim them all.

  As soon as the vehicle stopped, Paolo dashed out and ran around to unstrap Lucius, carrying him into the house. Marcus came behind with the luggage.

  “There you are, young prince,” Laurel said as she ran to her nephew and lifted him in her arms, twirling him around the kitchen. Laurel was wearing flowers woven into her hair, and her blouse was frilly, with a big collar that fluffed up in the breeze coming from the kitchen. “Let me look at you. Oh, so handsome.” Lucius blushed and giggled under his aunt’s affections.

  Laurel addressed Paolo, giving him a hug. Paolo could feel her shaking. His sister was scared. So was he, for the first time in centuries.

  “Marcus tells me there is a new love in your life. I am so happy for you.” Laurel was Marcus and Paolo’s unmarried sister. She had served as a link between Paolo and the rest of his family while he was living out his fantasy of a normal, mortal life in the States, as he said farewell and buried three wives.

  Paolo had loved spending time at this house, where she had entertained him over the years, talking about Marcus and his investments and adventures. Laurel was the one who kept Paolo informed about family business, the marriages and births, and occasionally the tragedies, making sure he stayed loosely connected in case he ever wanted to return to the fold. And now perhaps it was too late. He could see it in her eyes.

  It was in this house, Paolo remembered, that he learned the fragrance of the orchard as it bloomed in the spring months. As a young boy his mother had taken him through the warm sunny hillside, back when he was mortal. When everything was perfect. He still missed that idyllic life, even now.

  “You are lovely, even more beautiful than before I left.”

  Laurel’s caramel-colored hair and fair complexion were similar to his own. They’d been mistaken for twins growing up, and they were the closest in age. However, Laurel took the turning two years before Marcus and Paolo, anxious to be done with her mortal life and ready to begin a family.

  But time had not been their friend, and so neither of them had married. Laurel had never met her fated mate, and Paolo hadn’t wanted anything to do with his. Because they all believed Marcus had fathered the child, Laurel made it her job to look after young Lucius for her bachelor brother. “Laurel,” Marcus said
to her, “we have to trace to the Council immediately. You will see to it Lucius gets settled?”

  “I will, certainly. Safe journeys.”

  Outside the villa, Paolo asked a question he’d been wondering about for the past half hour. “Any idea what number she called?” Paolo was curious to see if someone else had gotten close to Cara and was directing her actions.

  “A number in Eastern Europe.”

  “Give me the number.”

  Marcus gave Paolo a slip of paper with the number written in Marcus’ scrawl.

  “We have no time for that. Let’s meet with the Council, and then we’ll make plans,” Marcus said.

  They both knew the way, having traveled to the little Council headquarters numerous times. Their tracing appeared with practiced precision at the steps to the chamber building. The brothers entered, and the tall copper doors with copper bas-relief designed by Michelangelo himself, shut behind them, sounding like the boom of a cannon.

  In the anteroom, a robed novice greeted them. She was a beautiful girl, probably not quite twenty and not yet the age of choice, for she had porcelain features and appeared to be affected by the two handsome brothers. That was a mortal trait.

  Paolo cursed under his breath when he saw her.

  Careful, brother, Marcus mentally warned.

  The Council, made up of aging Golden vamps of legendary lineage, always surrounded itself with younger girls, and it was well known that Council members occasionally bedded them.

  Paolo checked his attitude, inhaled, and set his mind on the task at hand, not quite knowing if this would be the last day he would wander around Italy as a free man.

  The lovely novice opened the doors to the inner chamber and they stood before the dais of the Council. Paolo recognized almost all of them. But a few newcomers were present who did not smile. Two members were hunched over in wheelchairs, red IVs dripping into their arms. He’d always thought it was odd some members would waste their lives on things that would make them weak and sick, and wondered why their advice could be valued considering their aged, addicted state.

  In the center of the council sat Praetor Artemis. At last Paolo had something to feel grateful for. He knew the Golden vamp to be an honest man who had helped Marcus out of the predicament of the murder trial. But since most the Council were made up of men who were clinging to power, Paolo wondered how much of a tightrope his old friend had to walk to stay on as Chairman.