Viola blinked then smiled. “You have balls,” she laughed as she glanced at Mark. “You know I actually believe that right now she and I are the only two people in this room with that physical attribute.” Viola raised a hand to silence the protest she saw coming from Jaime. “No I’m sorry that was a cheap shot.” She focused her eyes upon Jaime. “Okay I have a better idea about how to handle the matter with Tortego. It may work as long as Vinnie can pull it off.” She turned her eyes towards Mark. “I hope your hubby brings more to things to the table than a smoking hot ass. He better be cool under pressure and devious as all hell.”
Mark gave her a hard look as he tried to bit back an equally insulting retort. Ultimately he lost that struggle. “He is highly capable in any situation which you well know having served with him as a judge,” he replied taking delight in emphasizing those final words. He grinned as he observed her reaction even as he chided himself on the childish pleasure he received in knowing his verbal dart had struck home. Vinnie had run rings around her during that trial and they both knew that fact only too well. “Now Viola,” he smugly said. “If we have finished insulting each other can you inform us your solution? I don’t know about you but I would just like to get on with it. So, tell us this amazing idea that you claim to have up your sleeve.”
Viola quickly explained her solution. Jaime glanced at Mark who nodded her approval over what they had just been told. Mark hated that Viola’s plan was even better than his but he had to give her credit. “Okay do it,” he conceded with as much grace as he could muster. “It is pretty good at that,” he reluctantly admitted hating the self-satisfied expression on Viola’s face as she heard his concession.
Viola chuckled as she picked up her cellphone and made a call. She spoke to someone at the other end of the line. A one point their conversation grew slightly hostile. “Just do it or I swear…” she paused and smiled. “Glad you will comply. I hate the thought of having to come over there to kick the shit out of you if you had not done what I require.” She briskly closed her cellphone and gave Jaime and Mark a thumbs up. “One problem solved.” She winked at them, “Relax you two. Trust me, he would get off on that type of punishment.”
Jaime sighed as she gazed at her bedroom. “Jean-Claude is asleep right now but when he wakes up he will be in pain. The drugs are neutralized and his body will be craving for more very soon. I hope we are up for this nightmare.”
Mark went over to Jaime and put an arm around her. “He has more strength in him than any of us,” he assured her. “I linked with him. I know he is ready and able to win this fight.”
“By the goddess, he is a Roué crown prince he will win this personal battle with flying colors,” Viola boasted with more confidence than she actually felt. “First we get Jean-Claude totally clean. Afterwards we get that bastard, Tortego, for everything he has dared to do to our kind.” Her features grew grim. “I want to deal with him after I transform during the next full moon.”
Mark smirked at that thought and did not envy Tortego’s odds in that matchup.
Suddenly, they heard Jean-Claude stir. “We better go in right now in to talk over things with him,” Jaime quietly told the others. “Soon he will not be in a mental condition to be rational. Just remember we must be strong in front of him. He needs to feel we are confident if he is to beat his cravings.” She took a deep breath and put on a smile. “Okay I’m ready. Let’s go see him.” She strode towards the bedroom.
Mark and Viola exchanged looks as Jaime walked into the room. “She has guts,” Viola said to Mark. “Come on blood eater let’s help my crown prince win this battle and then go out and kick ass in our war.” She moved towards the bedroom with an impressed Mark following close behind her. That week was to be even more hellish than anyone imagined.
Viola’s Solution Unfolds
“What do you mean he left word with you that he is too busy to meet with anyone including me?” A visibly enraged Tortego shouted at Anole. He had come for his daily visit with Jean-Claude only to be told by her that he could not see the werewolf.
“Really Mr. Tortego there is no need to shout or be rude,” Anole calmly stated with some irritation. “As I told you before, you cannot go in right now because he is in a critical meeting with Mr. Pasquale.” She grabbed her appointment book from the side of her desk. “I can schedule you for sometime later in the week,” she primly responded while innocently smiling at the now red-faced vampire.
“How dare you,” he sputtered in anger. “You are seriously informing me to make an appointment and, by the way, I should now be addressed by you as Father not Mister,” he snarled.
“Sorry I had a father already and I’m not shopping for a replacement,” she disdainfully sniffed. She picked up a pencil. “Now I’m busy so if you will let me give you a date Mister Tortego you can be on your way and I can get back to my work.”
Tortego’s eyes darkened. He glared at the thin older woman and let his fangs extend outward. He contemplated how bad the fallout would be if he ripped her to shreds right now.
Anole sighed. “You know a good whitening toothpaste would works wonders on those incisors. Dental hygiene is so important when one gets so very, very, very old,” she slowly replied with steely resolve in her voice. She had heard what he had done to her precious Jean-Claude. Given half a chance she would have gleefully used her pencil to stake him through his black heart.
Tortego was about to say something when the door opened. He turned to face Vinnie. “Really we are trying to have a meeting and you are making a racket Tortego,” the detective sharply said to the stunned vampire.
Tortego leaned to one side. He could just make out Jean-Claude sitting at his desk through the crack in the doorway. The werewolf was busying reading papers. He never looked up to at least acknowledge the prelate’s presence.
“I have a daily meeting of a religious nature with him,” the vampire insisted. “So if you will step aside I will go in to see him … alone!”
Vinnie folded his arms in front of him and blocked entry into the office. “Anole will you give him an appointment,” he briskly told the secretary. Vinnie turned and walked back inside the room closing the door behind him. Tortego heard the door’s lock slip into place.
The amazed vampire spun around to see Anole suppress a slight smile. “Now let me see what looks good for Jean-Claude in the next few days,” she efficiently replied as she flipped the calendar pages of her appointment book towards the end of the week. “Ah I’ve something in about six days. Will that do or is later better?” she demurely asked. While her face was expressionless her eyes were gleaming with her mockery.
The vampire exited without saying another word to her. Back in his own offices a highly agitated Tortego contemplated what had just happened. “Something is going on and its not good,” he muttered. “Well when Jean-Claude gets his cravings he will call for me pretty quickly,” he told himself. Still he was worried.
****
Back in Jean-Claude’s offices an equally nervous Dustin Andrews transformed back into his own shape. “That was close. If he had managed to get in here and hear me speak, the whole thing would have collapsed. I may look like Jean-Claude but I can’t recreate his exact vocal tones when I’m a nervous wreck. You can trust me, I am in that condition right now,” Dustin groaned. “What game is Viola playing? Why am I being forced to do this?” he whined. “Is Jaime okay about this too? You know she warned me about doing this and what she would…” he stopped speaking, pulled out a handkerchief from his pant’s pocket and wiped the perspiration from his face.
Vinnie rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Dustin had been complaining non-stop since he arrived in the building. A week with this guy will drive me nuts but Viola had a great idea! I’m sure Julio will stop by to babysit him and give me a short break, Vinnie told himself without truly believing it. He knew the security chief had his hands full on some scheme Mark had worked out with him. As Dustin rambled on about things, Vinnie wondered if it wo
uld be best just to tie up and gag the shape-shifter so he could get some peace. Then he recalled the vague rumors about the unusual sex games Dustin played with Viola. He would probably get over stimulated if I did it. Now that would truly be intolerable, he decided. He weakly smiled at Dustin who kept up his grumbling even while now wondering what the tall, good-looking, muscular detective would be like in a three-way with him and Viola.
I know I’m totally straight, Dustin mentally reassured himself, But when you get right down to it I gotta admit that this human is pretty freaking, well he is highly do-able, Dustin mused. He focused his attention on Vinnie’s crotch. Yeah he is clearly packing some heavy equipment in those tight jeans. I mean that bulge in his basket is…whew. Wouldn’t hurt to try it on for size too, he pondered. I mean it would be no different than when Viola uses that dildo on me…it’s the same thing right? That doesn’t mean I’m gay or something, he decided. Dustin stopped his complaining as he allowed his mind contemplate a series of kinky fantasies involving himself and the buff detective. Suddenly being stuck in the office with Vinnie did not appear to be so bad. True, at present, he could not make a move upon the tall, well-built human. Viola would flay me alive if I tried anything right now, he told himself. Yet, Dustin considered the future possibilities when their confinement was completed. He wondered what a three-way with Dale would be like with Vinnie doing the top honors.
Vinnie gazed at Dustin. He felt unnerved as he observed the sex demon unexpectedly grinning at him. “I hope at least Mark is having an easier time with Jean-Claude’s recovery,” he muttered under his breath.
Rough Roads To Travel
By the beginning of the third day Jean-Claude was in great pain. He sat on the floor in a corner of his bedroom not saying a word to anyone. He had been like that for hours, simply staying quiet with his knees bent up close to his chest. Sometimes he would stare at a nearby wall but more often he would rest his forehead down on the tops of his knees. When he did occasionally look up, a sheen of sweat was evident upon his forehead.
Viola and Mark stood at the entrance to the bedroom door trying not to make him feel as if they were continually watching him. Jaime had just left to feed Andre. Somehow her absence seemed to make things more difficult for the werewolf. He began to rock his body back and forth. Very soon his entire face was dripping with perspiration. When he glanced at Mark and Viola, his eyes had a desperately haunted look to them.
“How much more can he take?” Viola urgently whispered to Mark as she watched Jean-Claude. “He just stays there not saying a word. The pain must be intense.” Over the course of the last two days Viola found she had come to feel very differently about Jean-Claude. At first she had been angry with him for his role in Sebastian’s death. Now, after seeing how he was suffering to get clean, she had altered her view. Her old feelings for Jean-Claude returned albeit in a different form. Viola, to her shock, realized that she admired him. Jean-Claude was a leader one could be proud to serve. He is more of a man than even Sebastian was, she thought.
“I think he is concentrating on just holding on,” Mark softly told Viola. “But I cannot be sure how long that will be so it’s best we stay on alert.” For Mark watching his best friend endure this agony was an agony in itself. On a fundamental level, thanks to his feeding episode with the werewolf, Mark was now even more emotionally bonded with Jean-Claude. Seeing him in such anguish roiled his vampire nature. “I hate Tortego,” he silently snarled. “I want to rip out his throat and spit his foul blood back into his dying face.”
Two more hours passed. Jaime came into the room and stood by Mark and Viola. She had not slept or eaten since this ordeal had begun. “I won’t sleep or eat till he does it too,” she firmly told a concerned Mark at the end of the second day. “Now concentrate on him not me.” As she observed Jean-Claude’s torture, her eyes grew red with tears. Mark took her hand and tenderly squeezed it. Jaime glanced at him and quietly nodded.
“I can’t … I can’t,” Jean-Claude suddenly cried out. He leaned next to the bedroom wall and began hitting his head against it. “I need … it … now!” he wailed as he once more smashed the side of his head at the wall.
“Darling, stop,” Jaime cried out as she went towards her spouse.
Suddenly, without warning, Jean-Claude sprung to his feet. He gazed at the three of them with a wild-eyed look in his eyes. “Leave me alone! I can’t take anymore. Get Tortego now. I need those drugs!” He railed as he pushed past Jaime causing her to fall down and hit her head on a side table. The blow knocked her unconscious. Jean-Claude however seemed oblivious to it as well as the fact that she now laid crumpled at his feet. “I’ve got to get out of here now!” He screamed as he moved towards the bedroom door.
“No” Mark yelled as he rushed to confront his friend.
Jean-Claude stopped and focused on Mark. His eyes darted around the room like some out-of-control animal. Mark realized that his friend’s ability to withstand the intensifying demands of his cravings was collapsing. “Hang on just a bit longer,” Mark softly said as he noticed Viola moving to position herself behind Jean-Claude.
“I need it. This craving. I’m being eaten alive inside Mark,” Jean-Claude sobbed. “I’m sorry but I cannot endure the pain. Like fire ants scratching their way throughout the veins in my body,” he roared as he tried to get to the bedroom door.
Viola grabbed Jean-Claude from behind in an attempt to secure him from exiting. “You are not going anywhere,” she yelled as she tightened her grip upon him.
“Get out of my way,” he bellowed as he violently shook her off. In a swift movement he unexpected turned towards Viola. With an amazing display of raw power he struck her with a closed fist. The blow sent Viola reeling into the nearby wall. As she hit the wall she slipped to the ground momentarily dazed by both the power of the punch and the force of the impact. “That fucking hurt,” she growled as she rubbed her skull.
“I’m warning you Mark let me past you,” the now highly out of control Jean-Claude roared as he pivoted to face the vampire.
“No way my friend,” Mark replied as he moved toward the werewolf. Jean-Claude screamed in anger as he grabbed Mark to try to toss him aside. In that instant Mark experienced the full strength Jean-Claude’s tremendous inner wolfish nature. In his present form Mark was no match for it. He tightened his hold on Jean-Claude. Instantly he let out his vampire nature to even the odds. “Sorry but you stay,” he grunted as he pulled Jean-Claude back from the door. Still, to his shock he found himself barely able to prevent Jean-Claude from leaving. “A little help right now Viola would be greatly appreciated,” he yelled as he held onto the werewolf. He saw Viola shaking her head waving off her temporary wooziness.
“On it,” Viola yelled as she jumped up and raced into the fray to give Mark help. Together they barely managed to get an aggressively resisting Jean-Claude down onto the floor and then onto his back. Mark positioned himself on top of the werewolf’s upper body while Viola took the lower sections.
“Let me go,” Jean-Claude cried out as he fought with them every inch of the way. “I can’t stand anymore. I don’t care,” he forcefully said to his jailors. “You don’t know what it feels like. Let me just have a little of it please,” he roared as he continually struck out at them.
“Sorry buddy,” Mark huffed as he attempted to hold Jean-Claude down while looking about the room for anything he could use to bind him. “Viola can you shred a pillowcase or something to tie him up,” he groaned as he struggled to maintain his grip.
“Bit busy,” Viola grunted as she held onto Jean-Claude’s flaying legs.
“I don’t think I can hold him if he gets any more violent,” Mark shouted over the still yelling werewolf. “Where is he getting this strength?”
“We werewolves ... son-of-a-bitch …his knee just hit me in my gut,” Viola wheezed as she locked her arms around Jean-Claude’s knees. “Hidden power … in us … big time … reserves in us ... especially in ... our men. Aw fuck it …I�
��m losing my hold.”
Mark knew things were getting desperate. Jean-Claude was somehow growing stronger. It was only a matter of time until this fight ended in someone getting badly injured.
Unexpectedly Jean-Claude lower limbs broke free from Viola’s grip. When she scrambled to grab them he violently kicked her away causing her to awkwardly fall backward and hit on the floor. She lay there seemingly stunned.
“I said let me go!” a now frenzied Jean-Claude yelled as he broke from Mark’s grip and savagely grabbed Mark by the throat and squeezed.
As his air supply cut off Mark’s felt his consciousness ebbing away. Without realizing what he was doing his inner vampire nature went into a self-preservation mode. His eyes went even darker as his fangs fully extended. Instinctively the vampire nature in him took the course of action that it felt would save his life. Quickly forcing his head closer to the squirming Jean-Claude, he observed the carotid artery in the werewolf’s neck. I will not die, his subconscious mind screamed seconds before he bit into Jean-Claude’s throbbing artery. As Mark drank his friend’s blood, Jean-Claude strength and wolfish sensuality flowed into him. After a few seconds Mark dimly sensed Jean-Claude release his hold around his neck. At the same time however, Mark also experienced an uncontrollable wave of sexual lust for his prey. Part of his brain unexpectedly visualized them both lying naked and engaged in the most intimate series of erotic couplings. Mark found himself lost in erotic stimulations that exploded every cell in his body. He couldn’t stop taking in Jean-Claude’s blood. He lost himself in his own vampire nature.
The Case of the Parisian Vendetta: A Mark Julian Vampire PI Mystery #10 (Mark Julian Vampire PI Mysteries) Page 10