by Alana Melos
Hope surged from to my right, and Jeff-or-Greg sat there, giving me a big puppy dog eyed look. I’d told him he was here for her, and now that he knew she was a vampire, he understood fully what that meant. If she couldn’t drink, then maybe he could go free.
I shook my head. “Don’t count on it, Greg,” I said, then frowned. “Jeff, I mean.”
“My name’s Kevin…” he offered, then yelped as Nosferatu moved swiftly to lift him from the couch. He sank his teeth into the guy’s neck and ripped out a chunk. Blood spewed everywhere. Adira laughed lightly as she watched the other vampire feed, clapping her hands together in girlish delight. Nosferatu continued to bite and drink, chewing through the man in the most grotesque way he could. The man’s life ebbed away in a wash of agony and fear. It ran through me. I swayed where I stood, enraptured by the intensity of his death.
“Sorry, Kevin,” I said as I watched him die. “There was another hungry vampire to feed.”
Chapter Two
After mauling the hapless Kevin, Nosferatu dropped the body on the floor. He stood covered in blood, almost head to toe. Adira stood up, covered with blood as well. She smiled at Nosferatu, having come to some sort of agreement, then went to fetch her clothing. I sat there and sent out strong ‘everything’s cool, don’t call the cops’ vibes around me, discouraging people from doing just that in case they heard the violent fucking and murder.
Nosferatu smacked his lips and approached me, head cocking to the left, then to the right as he watched. “What do you want, Nos?” I snapped, not wanting to go back into his head. The fact he stood there bathed in blood didn’t bother me. If anything, it beckoned me forward, to lose myself in his dark embrace. My heart beat faster just thinking of it. I wrestled with my demon, struggling in vain to smother it. If anything, the attention to the stupid emotion increased it the more I dwelled.
“Mine…” he whispered again, looking at me intently.
I shook my head, but he laughed at me, as I’d laughed at him earlier. “I don’t belong to you,” I said, my voice hot with anger. Anger felt so much cleaner to me than the bloodlust right that second.
“You are…” he rasped as he walked around me. I sensed his presence, a cold wind at my back, but he stayed his distance and didn’t touch me. “Jussst haven’t… realizzed it… yet….”
It burned me. I wanted to give in. Wanted him as bad as anything, but his arrogance that he was in charge made me stay still, gave me enough anger to push back the want and the jealousy. I clutched at it, strengthened it. “If you want to go rounds, Nos, and see who comes out on top, let’s go,” I replied. “Just not tonight. I have work tonight.”
“Work…?” he asked, as if he’d never heard the word.
“It’s not paying work,” I replied. “A pa… a frien… one of Adira’s pack members died, but she thinks he’s still alive, somewhere in the crash site.” I paused for a moment. “She’s bitten him, more than a few times, I think. How long does the bite effects last, anyway?”
“Forever…” he whispered in my ear, so close I felt his breath on my neck. Anger began to fade. The sheer presence of him was almost enough to break me, drive me backwards into his arms. The fresh bite on my neck throbbed. It was the fulfillment of a dream, with a promise of more to come. Yet I couldn’t be the lesser. I wouldn’t. God, I wanted him. Our brief rendezvous, frantic though it was, down in the basement of the decrepit building came to me. I wanted that roughness, that intense, blinding need to fuck, to take him. The smell of blood came to me. When I looked down, I saw his fingers covered with his and Adira’s blood, offered up like a sacrifice.
I opened my mouth… and a noise from the side made me look up. Adira walked into the room looking more or less fresh, though rumpled. “Are we ready?”
“Yes,” I said as I pushed away his hand, sounding more confident than I felt. “Yes, we need to go.” Now, before I lost it.
“Where…?” Nosferatu asked from behind me. I heard amusement in his voice.
“You’re coming with us…?” she asked, looking at the two of us and raising a brow. Though she ran warm right now, her cool demeanor came back, settling onto her like a second coat. “I… that would be a surprise, and a boon.”
“Yesss…” he rasped. I felt him shadowstep, only to reappear behind Adira. There, he showed no such restraint in manhandling her as he had with me. The elder vampire slid his hands over her hips and jerked her back into him roughly. Jealousy writhed within me anew. I swallowed it, but I knew both vampires smelled it. They had keen senses of smell, presumably to track their victims. And to be gross in ‘smelling lust’ and other such emotions. “Coming….”
“If you like… Nosferatu,” she said, her body melting against his.
Nosferatu flashed me a triumphant grin, but I kept my mask in place, giving him a look of cool indifference. On the inside, I raged. For now, I had it under control. I kept telling myself that. Sooner or later, I would believe it too.
“Where?” he rasped, his hands leaving bloody prints behind on Adira’s smooth silken dress. It didn’t matter, I guessed. We were both going to change into more suitable clothing for a job anyway.
“To meet up with the Siren,” I said, “near the pack HQ. She promised she’d help.” The Nacht Sirene, whose real name was Rebekah, wanted to help. She liked Rory as did I. The big wolf man had been friendly and vicious. I knew he was dead though. I’d heard his last thought and felt the connection snap. There’d been nothing after that. Adira insisted he was alive because of the vampire mark. She would know, she’d said, if he died and he hadn’t.
“Sssiren…” Nosferatu rasped, tasting the word.
I glanced at him, but turned my back lest he read the expression on my face. “If you’re coming, then come. If not, then fuck off.” I wiped my blade clean on the couch, grabbed my jacket, sheathed my sword, and strode out. I didn’t hear or sense them follow. I had no doubts Nos wanted to play a little more with her, and he could fly her to the pack’s HQ. I had to get out of there before I choked on my jealousy. When I reached the cold air outside, I gulped it down trying to calm myself. Even though I kept my emotions as dulled down as I could without hampering myself, that one rose straight to the top and clogged up everything.
I took off into the air and flew towards the pack’s HQ on the edge of the crashed platform of Uptown. They liked it there since it was quiet. No one dared to go too close because of rumors of being haunted. Knowing what I knew now about the sentient forest, maybe those rumors were the best people could come up with to explain the strangeness. Certainly, I’d never heard anything about living trees before.
As I flew, I let the cold air chill me. It was better to have my teeth chattering and swear about the icy wind than to think about what the two of them were doing behind me. What made matters worse was that I admired Adira… I even liked her. I was more jealous of her being with him… but I was jealous of him being with her at the same time. I wasn’t too good with sharing.
I landed in front of their den, which was an old abandoned apartment building. I sensed their minds as I approached, taking note of where they were in the area. Their guards saw me as well and, once they recognized me, let me in. They were expecting Adira and I both, and I sent a quick telepathic message to the closest she was on her way.
I opened the door and bathed in the warmth from within. In the last couple of days, they must have gotten the furnace going, and it felt lovely to stamp the snow from my boots and warm up. I went downstairs to the main gathering area. Even though all the windows were covered and it was a basement, it was still a nice, comfortable space. Couches and chairs filled the main basement floor. Rugs had been thrown down to pad the hard cement underfoot. With electricity and light, it was made even more homey as now I could actually see the movie posters on the wall.
“Reece!” Rebekah exclaimed and hopped up from one of the nearby couches. She bounced over to me smiling broadly and gave me a one armed hug. The other arm ended in a stump a f
ew inches short of where her wrist would have been from our last adventure, but she didn’t let that get her down. “You’re late,” she said.
“We had a bit of trouble during Adira’s buffet,” I replied with a shrug. “What in the hell are you wearing?”
Instead of her normal black leather military jacket and heavy green pants, she wore a short white dress with silver strappy heels to go with it. Her platinum blond hair was still spiked in a punk hairdo, but it seemed styled, purposeful instead of haphazard. Though she was one of the heaviest hitters I knew, her body was small and delicate, highlighted by the white dress. She didn’t look like she could punch her way out of a paper bag, but I’d seen her explode heads before with a single blow. That made the vulnerable way she was dressed all the more shocking and discordant for me.
“Don’t you like it?” she asked, spinning around so the short skirt flared out a little. A couple of the pack members who were also down here wolf-whistled and she laughed, but blushed at the same time. “I went shopping… I’ve other clothes too, but I never got to wear many dresses, so! Now I am!” She grinned, the smile lighting up her pixie-like face.
“It’s not exactly work ready,” I replied, frowning at her. Of course, I wasn’t dressed for work either, but I was late and dressed to hunt men.
“Oh, no, no, it’s not… watch this,” she said, that huge grin still on her face. She moved and shadowstepped, becoming one with the darkness just like the vamps did. She’d gotten her powers from them by some experiment by a mad Axis necromancer scientist. The vampire had died during the process, which didn’t necessarily make her popular with the vamps here… but then she’d turned it around by helping them out of the alternate dimension. I thought they were at least neutral with each other now.
When she reappeared a moment later, she was in her Occulten Miliz uniform: black leather SS jacket, the knee high black leather boots, heavy green jeans, and her cap. Her night vision goggles were strapped around the captain’s hat she wore, and her gas mask lay around her neck, waiting to be used.
“Ah… that’s new,” I blinked.
She nodded eagerly. “Alistair made a spell for me,” she explained. “He altered the enchantments so I could summon them from… ah… other space.”
“Extradimensional space,” I supplied. It wasn’t uncommon to have some way to quick change in our line of work. What else were you going to do… hit up a phone booth? I didn’t think anyone nowadays even knew what a phone booth was. “Speaking of changing, I need to. Adira’s on her way… with help.”
“Help?” she asked.
“Nosferatu,” I replied as I crossed the living area to where Rory’s room was.
“It’ll be good to see him again,” she chirped. “He seemed to like you.”
I glanced behind me and raised a brow. “You know it’s not… the same guy, right?”
“Of course it is,” she said.
I shook my head and left her there. Adira and Nos would be here at any minute, and I needed to get ready. I didn’t have a quick change schtick myself, so I had to undress and redress fast. The pack had put up walls and doors to separate living spaces for everyone so they could have privacy. Even though Rory had died, no one had moved into his space yet. Partly, I think, because they had heat in the building now and I expected them to be moving into apartments soon enough, but also… Adira was certain he was alive so they’d left it for his return. He wasn’t going to return. I knew he was dead. She was grasping at straws, but you did what you could to help a friend out. That included protecting her from herself. Maybe with her and Nos being all lovey-dovey she’d forget about Rory….
I paused with my hand on the handle and shook my head, trying to banish my jealousy. Taking a deep breath to center myself, I opened the door and went in. It was much as he left it: neat, clean, with a book on the nightstand. There was, however, one addition which didn’t belong here: Gerard.
“What in the hell, Ger?” I asked as I closed the door behind me.
He smiled as he lay on the bed. He wasn’t wearing his normal suit or casual clothing. Instead, it was an outfit which more or less matched my working outfit in dark reds, black, and deep grey. I had to stop and look him over. The three colors blended together in a geometric style which was pleasing… but a little old, and a touch familiar. His boots were heavy, with thick soles, and I knew without asking they were steel-toed. The jacket he wore was mainly grey, but again, those geometric threads wound through the shoulders and sleeves, setting the black apart and making it look almost like another color. Leather pants and jacket… I couldn’t see what was underneath the jacket. More than likely it was a shirt made for working out, either a tee shirt or a wifebeater. I had to admit it looked good on his well kept frame. His perfect smile widened in his aristocratic handsome face, with faint wrinkles crinkling at the corner of his eyes. His hair had grown out a little longer--he was probably overdue for a haircut--but it was still short, light blonde with streaks of silver in it.
“Rebekah asked if I wanted to help,” he said. “How could I say no to my precious daughter?”
I eyed him suspiciously. He looked better, but he still wore bruises from his fun time at the hands of agents from Origin, not bothering to get them healed at the fleshhack we both used. “That’s your working outfit?” I’d never seen it before.
He brushed his gloved knuckles over the coat. “Don’t you like it? I found it really funny we use the same shade of red.”
“It’s not that uncommon,” I replied as I shrugged out of my trench coat and tossed it on the bed. A clothing bag hung on the back of Rory’s door containing my work outfit... well, the rest of it. The trench I had worn was a big part, and, indeed, Gerard was right: we had used the exact same shade of dark red bordering on burgundy.
My mentor approached me, but his smile faded as he saw the bite on my neck. He reached forward and brushed the edge of the wound, “What happened here? Adira get too hungry?” When he looked up from the bite, his ice blue eyes fixed mine in place. For anyone else, they would have been filled with sympathy. For me, he didn’t bother too much with the act and silently demanded an answer.
Shaking my head, I shrugged again. “Nosferatu is coming to join us,” I said. “He’s… helping, I think.” I still wasn’t sure myself. I thought he wanted to taunt me, but who knew with the vampire? This wasn’t a paying job and so it wasn’t Michael driving the motivation.
“Oho,” he murmured as his hand slipped down my neck. “How interesting.”
I turned away from him, still feigning indifference. He obliged me without words and unzipped my dress. When I stepped out of it, he pressed against me, his cock already growing hard. “We don’t have time for this,” I said, but I leaned into his hard body. “They’ll be here any minute… and we have to go out and find a corpse.”
He kissed my unwounded shoulder. “Mm… you’re so sure the wolf is dead?” His leather gloves ran down my curves, eliciting shivers from me. My frustration from earlier came back to the forefront and instead of doing the wise thing and pushing Ger away, I pulled him closer with my thoughts, urging him on silently. We really didn’t have time for this… but I didn’t care. I needed something, someone to soothe my wounded ego.
“Pretty sure,” I whispered as I heard a zip from behind me. His erection rubbed against my silken underwear, creating a delightful friction between us. “I saw his last thoughts,” I continued, leaning my head back against his shoulder. His hands came up to cup my breasts, squeezing them softly as he thumbed the stiffening nipples.
“And nothing else?” he asked as he placed another kiss right below my earlobe. He was playing at being gentle today, working me up slowly. I wasn’t going to complain, nor was I going to rush him. He continued to thrust his cock against my ass, flicking my nipples in time with each stroke.
“Nothing…” I gasped. I stretched my self out to him and linked with his mind telepathically. His lust overrode everything else, but underneath the desire was
possession and jealousy of his own. He controlled it well as he always had, but a thread of relief washed through me. I liked seeing my feelings reflected in another psychopath so that I knew it wasn’t that abnormal. Our lusts twined around each other, stroking our emotions and making them burn more intense. “Be fast,” I whispered.
He kissed my neck again as he bared me so his cock rubbed against my heat, wet and slick. When he entered me, we groaned in unison, our passion one. Just think about this, he sent to me. He’ll know we were together… that you were mine just moments before.
You’re making yourself a target, I sent back to him as I moved in time to his thrusts. And I’m not yours.
I misspoke, he sent back, his hands roaming my naked curves before they settled on my hips. He pumped me fast and furious, moving harder with every stroke. I wanted it hard and furious, not just because of the time restraints but because it was such a delightful feeling, being filled, knowing the sensations from both ends. My pleasure mingled with his, making a heady cocktail which was hard to resist for long. I didn’t want to. Gerard thrust himself into me as deep as he could go and pressed his body against mine. That I was yours. He kissed my neck, and whispered against my skin, “And I always will be.”
Though we were lovers, our relationship wasn’t romantic. Gerard loved dominance. He considered himself superior to everyone. Except, maybe, for me. Those endearments he told me weren’t about romance or love. They were about the power struggle between us. I had the upper hand. He submitted to me… for now. I knew he lay in wait for his opportunity to wrest dominance from my hands. In the meantime, I simply enjoyed his affections, such as they were.
They were considerable. As his pleasure rushed through me, I reflected it and turned it back to him. When we fucked, it wasn’t about my pleasure or his pleasure. It was all our pleasure. Each throb of ecstasy magnified a hundred times over, swallowing us whole. As I began to climax around him, he groaned and plunged into me over and over again, trying to stave off his orgasm for as long as possible. Connected as we were, he lasted only a few more seconds. I stroked the threads of our desire, making him throb and groan into my shoulder even as I bit down on my hand to try not to cry out. The act was fast, but the pleasure wasn’t. Our pleasure twined together, sending me to ecstatic heights most people could only dream of. Each throb, each tiny movement, each touch and kiss and moan drove us over the edge into delirious passion. The world fell away. It was just us, floating together, feeling each other’s bodies and minds as we melded together. Pure passion, the purest I’d ever known.