“You could be married by my priest – I believe Señorita Calvert is a Catholic? – and spend your honeymoon at my ranch. I can vouch for my staff’s discretion and their ability to keep your aunt at bay.”
Under a vampiro’s roof?
Sarah glanced up at Edmund but he wasn’t looking at her.
“If it’s the fastest way to get married, we’ll do it. Thank you.” It might not have been Edmund’s most gracious speech but it was certainly emphatic.
“It is nothing. After all, what are old comrades-in-arms for except to smooth the road?” Don Rafael bowed courteously, only to quickly bring himself upright. He’d need to feed soon so he could heal. But he undoubtedly had resources close at hand, since this was his territory.
“Do you wish to leave by ladder or through the ballroom, during the midnight supper, my friends?”
“Ladder,” Sarah and Edmund announced in unison.
St Just snickered softly.
“Then if you will permit me a few minutes, I will have one brought round and you may depart. My friend here will remain inside so you may be assured of no interruptions.”
“Thank you, sir,” Sarah said, feeling much more cordial towards him. “You’ve been very kind.”
“Perhaps.” He raised a dark eyebrow. “Or a little foolish.” He nodded to them both and was gone, still keeping his elbow tucked hard against himself. St Just shut the balcony door, ending a final glimpse of the fickle, grasping world inside, and left the lovers alone in the warm silence.
Edmund spun her around to face him, blood trickling slowly down his cheek. “Are you sure? We’ve been separated for more than a year.”
Poor darling, he’d lived through such hell. What delight to spend a lifetime making it up to him.
“Dearest love.” She caught his face between her hands and kissed him on the lips, giving him all the love, all the reassurance she could.
He caught her closer and his mouth devoured hers, tasting her breath, catching her joy, her trust in tomorrow, her tongue’s willingness to make new words of love. Always him, only him.
“My darling Sarah.”
His fangs pricked her lips and she moaned softly, moved closer, candlelight drifting behind her eyelids. Oh yes, giving him a small taste would be lovely now.
He nipped her and sucked, drawing on her like the breath of life itself. Her fingers tangled in his hair and his heart beat against her. Warmth surrounded her, swept over her shoulders, and down through her bones.
He rumbled her name and sipped her blood, while firelight warmed her veins. Tomorrow when they were married, there’d be a nova of stars to enjoy when they shared their first deep drink of each other’s blood.
And centuries together to love one another.
Vampsploitation
Jaye Wells
Los Angeles, November 1979
The guy on camera wore a ratty ski mask, a black turtleneck stretched precariously over a beer gut and too-tight bell-bottoms. The wall behind him was covered in some sort of collage done in shades of black and white with accents of red. I tried to make out the details, but the poor video quality made the picture fuzzy.
I shook my head at the grainy image. If it had been anyone else showing me this, I’d think it was a joke. But the Dominae weren’t exactly known for their senses of humour. I glanced over at Slade. He wasn’t smiling. He rarely did from what I’d seen. Of course, I’d only known him for about ten minutes, and his lack of good humour was probably due to him not wanting to be saddled with a rookie.
“My name is Lord Viper,” the guy on tape said dramatically. I barely managed not to roll my eyes at the fake name. “For too long we, the mighty Lilim, children of Lilith, have hidden in the shadows. The time has come to reveal ourselves to the sons of Adam. Unless—”
He paused dramatically. I knew what was coming and resisted the urge to fast-forward through his lame speech.
“—the Dominae gives me one billion dollars!”
I choked on a shocked laugh. Lord Viper wasn’t the first vampire to try to extort money out of the Dominae. But he was the first to demand such a ridiculous sum.
“The money must be deposited by midnight Wednesday or I will give all the major media outlets in LA the story of the century.”
He went on to rattle off the name of a local bank and an account number. Tanith cut the tape off as he started to rant again.
“Do you have the envelope the tape came in?” Slade asked, all business. His look screamed bad-ass assassin. Dressed in black from neck to toes, he wore a leather blazer, slacks and expensive Italian leather shoes. In fact, the only things keeping his look from being a Shaft rip-off were his pale skin and auburn hair.
Tanith shook her head. Of the three Dominae, she was in charge of the business side of running the race. Considering the sum of money this guy was demanding it wasn’t a surprise she was taking part in this. “We had them dusted. No fingerprints.”
Slade nodded. “Have you tracked the account he mentioned?”
“The account belongs to a Zeke Calebow.” She slid a file across the table.
I scooted closer to Slade to get a look at the contents. He ignored me and focused on the papers. The picture clipped inside was a mugshot of a portly male vamp with shaggy copper hair and freckles. He looked stupid and mean – a bad combination. The guy in the video wore a ski mask, but my gut told me this Zeke and Lord Viper were one and the same.
“What do we know about Zeke?” I asked.
Tanith sighed. “Not much. Family is trash. Last known job was a strip club in the Valley.”
Slade slammed the folder shut before I could read the name of the club from the dossier. “We’ll check it out,” he said in a clipped tone.
“You have forty-eight hours to neutralize this threat,” Tanith said, looking from Slade to me and back again. “I don’t think I have to remind you how sensitive this matter is. We want this guy dead yesterday.”
“Consider it done,” Slade said. Then he turned on his heel and marched towards the door. He didn’t look back to make sure I followed. But I did anyway.
An hour later, Slade pulled up in front of the Tit Crypt. He hadn’t said much to me on the way over. I tried to play it cool, but inside I was stoked. Even though I’d graduated with honours from assassin school five years earlier, most of my jobs thus far involved roughing up vampires who forgot to pay their tithes to the Dominae. This would be my first kill mission, which was why I’d been paired up with a more experienced assassin.
Among enforcers, Slade Corbin was a legend. The instructors at school spoke about his feats with reverence and had used some of his more daring missions as case studies. Rumour had it he was less than a century old, which was hard to believe. But looking at him, he obviously couldn’t be that old. The light auburn colour gave him away. If he’d been older, the shade would be darker. For him to have accomplished so much at such a young age meant he was someone I’d be able to learn a few things from.
He turned the car off and leaned towards me. “OK, this is how it’s going to work. You’re going to shut up and stay out of my way. I ask the questions. I make the decisions. And when we find this asshole, we’re going to split the payment ninety-ten.”
My mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”
“Which word didn’t you understand?”
I cocked my head to the side. Slade might be a legend, but no one spoke to me that way. “Listen, buddy, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but the Dominae asked us to team up on this. I’m not going to sit around and let you collect all the money.” And the respect, I amended silently. I’d waited too long for a real chance to prove myself to the Dominae as an assassin for this guy to get in my way.
“No, you listen, sweetheart. You get in my way and I will end you. I’ve got a lot riding on this payday for some rookie to fuck it up for me. So, you’ll march your ass in there and watch while I find our guy and get the job done. For your trouble, you’ll walk away with ten per cent. And I’m being
generous here. Ten large for doing nothing is a good deal.”
I could tell this asshole wasn’t going to listen to reason. Fine, I decided. Let him believe I was just some inexperienced hack. “OK, I’ll tell you what. I’ll let you do the talking in there if you agree to a seventy-thirty split.”
He cursed under his breath, something about godsdamned stubborn females. “How about ninety-ten and I don’t kick you off the case altogether?”
“You can’t do that!”
“Watch me.”
* * *
The bouncer at the door waved us in. Slade swaggered ahead of me, and I followed along, glaring daggers at his back.
I’d been in this place before. Being an enforcer for the Dominae meant I had to experience the seedier sides of the vampire underworld on a regular basis. Strip clubs especially seemed to attract tithe-avoiding repeat offenders, so I spent a lot of time staking them out. That allowed me to make contacts with the club owners and bouncers, who understood the benefits of cooperating with an enforcer. For me, the relationships meant I had access to the who’s who in order to find out the what’s what.
As far as clubs went, the Tit Crypt fell into the lower end of the spectrum. Instead of valet service and tight-assed chicks with glorious racks, it offered an all-you-can-eat buffet and hard-looking females who didn’t even try to conceal the boredom on their overly made-up faces.
On the stage, a female with red hair twisted into Bo Derek braids swayed her hips in time to the disco tragedy of Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls”. I shook my head at the music. How a race that invented disco managed to outnumber my own escaped me.
In contrast to the disco-inspired fashions favoured by most of the strippers, I wore a “God Save the Queen” T-shirt covered in safety pins, torn jeans and biker boots. I topped the entire ensemble off with a beaten leather jacket I’d found at Goodwill. The confrontational look discouraged the roving hands and eyes of the club patrons.
I continued past the stage, and the interested stares of the men seated there. Fang, a male vamp with a moustache that would have made Burt Reynolds jealous, wiped the bar down with a dingy towel. His steady swiping slowed when Slade approached. I hung back, as instructed, biding my time.
Fang ignored Slade until he slammed a twenty on the bar. “I need some information.”
The rag slowed its circling as Fang turned unfriendly eyes on him. “Ain’t got none for sale.”
Slade sighed and slapped another twenty down, harder this time. “I’m looking for one of your employees.”
Fang leaned forwards. “Look, mister, you want to look at some titties, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re asking me to squeal on my people, you’d best turn your ass around and go.”
I choked on a laugh at the look on Slade’s face. His jaw clenched, obviously a precursor to violence. I stood quickly, drawing Fang’s attention to me.
His face transformed into a genuine smile then. “Amateur night is on Tuesdays.”
I grinned and strutted over to the bar to run a finger down Fang’s leather vest. “How about a private dance then, hot stuff?”
Fang leaned his elbows on the bar. “You sure your boyfriend here won’t mind, Sabina? From the glare he’s sending me, his mama never taught him how to share.”
“Don’t mind him,” I said, waving away Slade’s fierce frown. “Listen, Fang, I was hoping you could help me out with something.”
Fang’s moustache twitched. “Anything for you, good lookin’.”
“We’re looking for Zeke Calebow.”
Fang frowned. “What you want with that lousy son of a bitch? I had to fire his ass.”
“Why?”
“Bastard cut a peephole in the girls’ dressing room. Caught him jacking off in the utility room with his eye glued to the wall.” He shook his head. “Two of my best girls quit when they found out.”
Slade spoke up. “Do you know where we can find him?”
Fang sent Slade a contemptuous look. “Last I heard he took a job at T&A Video over on Victory.”
“Yeah, I know the place. Thanks, Fang,” I said. “I appreciate it.”
“I don’t suppose you’d prefer to show your appreciation topless,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.
I laughed and shook my head. “How about a rain check?” I slid a twenty across the bar. Fang pocketed the payment smoothly. “Will you call me if you see Zeke?”
Fang chuckled. “Yeah. I’ll call you right after I beat his perverted ass.”
I grinned. “Just as long as you leave the killing to the professionals.”
Slade grabbed my arm and swung me around before I’d taken three steps out of the door.
“You want to explain to me what the fuck you were thinking in there? I thought we’d agreed you’d let me do the talking.”
I jerked my arm free of his grasp. “First of all, ‘you’re welcome’ for getting the information we needed. And second, Fang never would have talked to you if I hadn’t been there.”
“And why is that? You been doing some moonlighting?”
I gave him a look. “No, asshole. The vamps who don’t pay their tithes usually spend them on one of three things: gambling, titty bars or prostitutes. I know every vamp bookie, club owner and pimp in the city.” I stepped up on Slade, emboldened by the small victory of shocking him. “And if you’d taken two seconds to ask me, I would have told you that there was no way Fang would talk to you.”
“Why not?”
“Because Fang’s brother was killed by an enforcer for bootlegging blood-wine during Prohibition.”
“Why does he talk to you then?”
“Because I flirt with him shamelessly.” I smiled. “And because I saved one of his best girls from being raped by a patron several months ago. Fang loves his girls, and by helping one of them he considers himself in my debt.”
“Oh,” Slade said.
“Yeah,” I said. “And if you drop the asshole routine, I’ll tell you all about Larry, the vampire porn king who owns T&A Video.”
A small bell dinged over the door as Slade held it open and motioned for me to go first. He’d been surprisingly quiet after our little chat. I took that as a good sign, since he seemed the type who liked to bark orders unnecessarily. So, as I brushed past him, I was feeling good. At least until I caught a whiff of the store – a charming perfume of stale cigarettes, body odour and dried semen.
T&A Video lay in the armpit of the San Fernando Valley. The introduction of VHS tapes a few years earlier had revolutionized the adult film industry, and T&A was just one of the many new establishments catering to the discerning wank-film connoisseur.
On the surface, it looked like your typical video store, except with sections dedicated to every fetish known to man – and sometimes beast. But in the back, it held one of the most extensive collections of vampire porn in Southern California.
As expected, Larry manned the counter. He had an unlit cigar clamped between his lips and wore a polyester shirt covered in a retina-burning psychedelic print. I thought the thick chain with the male symbol was a nice touch though. Over Larry’s head, a TV bolted to the ceiling displayed a scene involving a pizza deliveryman and a woman whose undercarriage might be mistaken for a tribble from Star Trek.
Near the back of the store, a clean-cut businessman perused shelves labelled BARELY LEGAL. If he saw me come in, he was doing a pretty good job pretending he hadn’t. He pulled a video from the shelf and added it to the three he was already holding.
A red curtain next to the checkout drew back and a young guy exited. His hand was busy zipping his fly when he noticed me. His cheeks went red and he scuttled by so fast he left a breeze in his wake.
Larry looked up from his racing forms as we approached. He ran a thick palm over his greasy hair and straightened his butterfly collar. His eyes groped my body in a way that left me wanting a shower.
“If it isn’t Sabina Kane. How can I help you, sugar?” He completely ignored Slade.
“Is Zeke working tonight?”
Larry’s eyes narrowed. “Sabina, you wound me. I was hoping you were coming to accept my offer to make a blood film.”
I leaned back and tried to stifle my grimace. Fang films were fetish videos geared towards the vamp population. The last time I saw Larry he told me he could make me a star.
“Sorry, Larry, but I haven’t changed my mind,” I said. “I’m just looking for Zeke.”
Larry’s eyes narrowed. “You and everyone else.”
“What do you mean?” Slade said, leaning in.
“Who the hell are you?” Larry demanded.
“This is my colleague Slade Corbin,” I said.
Larry looked Slade over with what he probably thought was an intimidating stare. Slade simply stared back, cold as ice. I covered my smile with a hand. The thought of Larry intimidating anyone was laughable. The fact he was trying to intimidate a killing machine like Slade was downright hilarious.
Finally, under Slade’s penetrating gaze, Larry cleared his throat. “Anyway, Zeke Calebow’s dead to me. He was supposed to show up for work two days ago and I ain’t heard one word.”
“Any idea where we can find him?” I asked.
The male shrugged. “I think he hangs out at that strip club on Van Nuys.”
“The Tit Crypt?”
He nodded. Shit, I thought. So far, all my clues were leading me around in circles.
“Do you have an address for him?” Slade asked.
Larry sighed. “Hold on, I got it here somewheres.” His hefted his bulk from his stool and went to a file cabinet behind the counter. As he rifled through stacks of paper, he muttered to himself.
Slade and I exchanged a look. Chances were good Zeke wouldn’t be at home waiting for us to put a bullet between his eyes. But if we had the address, we could search the place for any clues on where he was hiding out.
Finally, Larry came back over and slapped a coffee-stained job application on the counter. “The address is on that,” Larry said. “You find that asshole, you tell him he owes me two hundred dollars for all the videos he checked out and never returned.”
Love Bites UK (Mammoth Book Of Vampire Romance2) Page 37