Blood and Bullets

by James R. Tuck

  Son of a bitch.

  “You allow the humans to walk away from here. Let them leave the building and walk away free and unharmed, and you can touch me.” I did not want her hands on me, but I would not let anyone hurt those two women again if I could help it.

  “Done.”

  Appollonia snapped her fingers and two other Were-spiders dropped from the ceiling. As they descended, they shifted from the form of gigantic spiders into the graceful form of half man, half spider. Almost politely they gestured and guided Larson and his family down the center aisle away from the stage. Larson looked at me in question. I nodded that it was okay and waved him on. They needed to go, to get out of the roomful of vampires, to be away from the danger. The doors to the sanctuary shut behind them and I had to assume they were going to be taken all the way outside.

  The smile on Appollonia’s face would have made a hungry tiger jealous. She took another step to me, her arm extending toward me. I stepped back out of her reach.

  Her full lips turned down into a frown and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. Poisoned honey-colored eyes flashed killing daggers. “Do not mock me, Deacon. We have an agreement.”

  I waggled my finger at her and pointed to the man slumped in chains at the back of the stage. The red ruin of flesh that had been his back was turning into something that looked like spoiled meat. The skin had been flayed away in large sections. Raw muscle was frayed and torn. In places the bone of his ribs and spine glistened in the one gigantic wound his back had become.

  “There is still a human who needs to be set free.”

  Appollonia’s laughter pealed throughout the sanctuary. It grated along my nerves like ground glass. “He is not human. He has not been human for a very long time.”

  Even though I did not understand her remark, I wasn’t letting it slide. If she had that much wrath for anyone, then the safe bet was that they were her enemy and could be a potential ally for me. Plus, I just could not leave someone in that condition if I could stop it.

  “He looks human. If he is not, then what is he?”

  “He is cursed.”

  Cursed? “Doesn’t matter. Cursed or not, he is human, and if you do not take him out of here and into safety, then we have no deal and you are a liar.”

  Spiders crawled down her arms and shoulders as she shook her head side to side. Her voice dropped a full octave into a growl. Vampiric anger rolled off of her, slapping into my skin like tiny whip cracks. “I will not give him up. He was not in our agreement.”

  “He was on my part.” Standing tall, I ran my hands over my chest and stomach, trailing them down to hook my thumbs in the belt of my leather pants. My splayed fingers framed my groin. Tensing my arms brought the muscle to definition. I was putting myself on display. “If you want to touch me, then you have to honor the agreement. Otherwise, you can fuck off and forget it.” I was gambling, rolling the dice.

  She weighed out my words. In her eyes she was deciding if she wanted me enough to give me what I demanded. Watching carefully, the tension built along my spine. My neck could have used a popping. If she chose to call off the deal, I was going for my coat.

  After a few moments her hand motioned to Charlotte. The Were-spider came forward, small, tightly controlled steps carrying her swiftly down the aisle. “He cannot be set free, but I will have him unchained and taken to safety. If I do this, then there is no limitation on my touching you. You will be mine to explore at my leisure.”

  She was evil. She was a vicious creature who stole lives. But I was pretty sure she wanted my body and not my blood. Still, to be careful, “If he is included in our agreement, there is no limit to you alone touching me.” Again, careful, I did not want her to pull some mystical vampire crap about all the vampires and Were-spiders in her control being extensions of herself.

  “Agreed.” She nodded at Charlotte.

  Charlotte produced a key and unlocked the shackles holding the man upright. Her four spider arms caught him as he slumped bonelessly to the floor. Lifting him as if he were weightless, she was careful to avoid his injuries as much as possible. Because his back was such a large wound she couldn’t help but touch it somewhat, which brought a moan of pain from his lips. Charlotte carried him past us and I got a good look at him.

  He was almost as tall as I, but thinner. Not in a scrawny way, but rangy, sinewy. His limbs were long and straight, the muscles stretching along his frame. Blue ink traced out Celtic tattoos across his chest and biceps. I recognized the designs. I had some that were similar tattooed on myself.

  Thick, tawny hair surrounded his face, one thin braid of it hanging along his cheek. The rest was lank and limp. Fierce eyes shone out from sunken hollows. They were a crystalline gray that was fever bright. His features were full and European. A thick nose sat above heavy lips and a strong chin. Those fever eyes stared at me as they passed. A shaking hand fell out and touched my arm. Charlotte stopped.

  “Thank you.” His voice was deep, but it rasped weak and soft, as if his throat had no moisture at all. I nodded sharply up and down at him. His hand fell away and those eyes closed. His face turned into Charlotte’s breast like a hurt child would do for comfort.

  I turned back to face Appollonia as he was carried away down the aisle. The moment the door shut behind Charlotte, her lips parted in a smile. Time to pay up.

  Hips swaying like the pendulum of a clock, she closed the distance between us. As she moved, she shrugged out of the web robe. It fell behind her in a gossamer drift. I did not move as she stepped in front of me. She was very close, so close that her nipples brushed the tattoo on my stomach. I felt them harden as they grazed my skin. The top of her head was even with my collar bones. Taloned fingers trailed across my chest and up my neck until they stroked my beard. This close she smelled of sex. Sex and vampire and blood.

  “Put your hands on me.” Her breasts pressed harder against my skin. “Caress me.”

  I shook my head. “That wasn’t our deal.”

  The skin on her tiny forehead creased, then smoothed as that evil smile came back. “I am so glad you reminded me of our agreement.” Her hand slid along my cheek and cupped the back of my head. I felt her nails scrape along the scabs from the vampire at Gregorios’s jack shack earlier. The pain prickled along my scalp. “I get to explore you.” Pressure on my head pulled me toward her as her mouth opened wide. I bent down, because as strong as I am, I am no match for a vampire, even one as tiny as she was. Our lips met and she kissed me. Soft, full lips pressed into mine and her wet tongue slid into my mouth, exploring eagerly. Her mouth was cool and moist and carrion sweet. The kiss tasted like blood, all iron and copper. Her eyes were shut as she gave herself over to the kiss. Mine were not. I grabbed her arm and pushed it away.

  Pulling back, her eyes flew open, anger flaring in them.

  “Watch the spear, lady.” The lance in her other hand was waving by my head as she was caught up in the kiss and I did not want to lose an ear. She nodded and moved it away from us, but still she held it.

  “Why don’t you return my kiss? You must desire me as I desire you.”

  “Look, you’re hot and all, but our agreement said nothing about me returning the favor. You do what you have to do, but I do not have to help you get there.” I was willing to take her “exploring,” but that was all. Yes, she was beautiful and sexy, but she was a vampire. I would not forget that she was an evil, bloodsucking, undead creature of the night no matter how hot she was.

  “Our agreement.” There was a heat in her voice. Lust and anger mixed into a deadly cocktail. A Molotov one. “Our agreement you cling to so closely said that I could explore you fully and at my leisure. I will have you, mind and body, before the night is over. You will desire me. Your lust for me will overwhelm you.”

  Since the transfusion by the angel I rescued years back, I have been pretty much immune to vampire powers. I hadn’t met a vampire yet who could roll me with their abilities.

  “Go ahead. Give it your best s
hot, sister.”

  Her hand was still behind my head and she pulled me down and kissed me again. This time her lips were bruising hard on mine. Her carrion tongue thrust into my mouth like a rapist. The arm with the lance circled around my body and pulled me to her. Cool skin pressed against me.

  Vampires are not cold, they are cold-blooded. Like lizards, they take on the temperature of their surroundings. The skin that touched me was smooth as silk. Lush breasts pressed against me, full and swollen. I felt her sex slide along my leather-clad thigh.

  Inside my mind the pressure of her vampire powers trying to reach inside rubbed like velvet on the inside of my skull. It was a warm, wet feeling against my brain. The slick feeling of sex trying to worm its way in.

  Her hand slid from my neck, caressed down my chest and stomach until her fingers found the top of my pants. Turning, they slipped inside to surround me. Her grip was firm and insistent. Regardless of what she expected, though, she found nobody was home.

  The arm around me pulled, pressing us together crotch-to-collarbone. Her arm was trapped between us. Her hand was still inside my pants gripping me firmly. Power washed over me as her mouth worked insistently on mine. Her hand stroked me up and then down. That power trickled into my mind. I felt the tear. The small crack in the dam. My eyelids grew heavy and fluttered closed against my will. I hardened in her hand as wet, slick power broke through and washed me away.

  Thick, silken hair filled my hands and I pulled the mouth I was kissing closer. I ate at that mouth with a hunger that raged from my crotch to my throat. There was no breath, no hesitation, only need.

  Familiar skin brushed against mine. God, I hadn’t touched her in so long. I had missed her so much. Her touch, her taste, her smell. Need pushed me against her, my hardness trapped in her hand. My fingers came down and cupped my wife’s full breast. Leaning back slightly, she gave me room to flick my thumb across her nipple. Her mouth pulled back to let her gasp in pleasure. I was complete, healed, once again. My love in my arms touching me, holding me.

  My wife tightened her grip on the base of me, squeezing so slightly. Her tiny, soft hand stroked me. Mine was full of her breast and the one in her hair pulled her mouth back to mine. My wife, my wife, oh God how I missed this, how I missed her. My heart had been so empty with her gone.

  Finally, I was whole, reunited with my wife.

  Lust for my wife coursed through me, burning away the ache in my heart.

  I was healed by my love for ... my ... wife.

  My hand tightened around the hair in it and yanked her head back, pulling her mouth from mine. The illusion shredded as I stared down at the face of Appollonia, her eyes half closed in lust, mouth slack with need. Anger filled me in a spontaneous combustion. My fist swung back as far as it could on the end of my arm and then slammed down into her face. My knuckles crashed, covered her entire eye socket.

  “NEVER, EVER USE MY WIFE’S MEMORY AGAIN! STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD, YOU BITCH!”

  My fist drove her away from me and to the floor of the stage. The hair in my hand tore out of her scalp by the roots. Sprawled on the floor, her eyes were wide with shock. The lance fell from her grip and clattered loudly on the wooden stage.

  The power of her tore from my mind, ripping like tendrils from my brainstem. Pain consumed my anger. Sharp, stabbing pain, the inside of my brain being rubbed with a cheese grater. Nausea closed under my sternum like a physical blow. What was left of my dinner spewed out onto the stage in a rush. My stomach emptied itself like a purse. Sweet oxygen was driven from my lungs in the spasms of my diaphragm, and I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I had been turned inside out.

  Hissing filled the air as the vampires in the pews all began to move. They shook themselves as if coming awake after a long sleep. Appollonia’s head jerked to look at them, fear naked on her face. She scrambled almost faster than you could follow with human eyes and snatched the lance from the floor. The moment her hand closed around the haft of it, the vampires in the room all silenced as if a switch had been thrown.

  Spots of black crowded the edge of my vision as her power lashed back at me. It was the metaphysical version of the cat-o’-nine-tails. That vampiric power scourged my mind. She rose to her feet as if she were pulled up by strings. With her vampire speed I didn’t even have time to try to move as she swung the lance and smashed it across my temple. I didn’t have time to feel myself hit the floor either.

  18

  Being knocked unconscious is nothing like falling asleep. The thing about being knocked unconscious is that you never remember being out of it. One moment you are awake, then BAM! The next moment you are coming to and you have no idea where you are.

  I woke up sharply, but the entire world was covered with a haze, almost like a fog. Black specks clustered in my vision to form a tunnel, and everything in that tunnel seemed far away. I was confused, disorientated, and my hearing was off too. I could hear the static whoosh of my blood pulsing in my ears and nothing else.

  Slowly, my vision began to clear and the whoosh lowered in volume. Problem was, they were replaced by a grinding ache in my skull. Rats were gnawing their way through the bone in my head—that was the only explanation. The pain made a migraine feel like an orgasm. I tried not to move or change my breathing. When you wake up from being knocked out, sometimes you do not want the people who have you to know you are awake.

  Dust skittered across the surface of the floor like insects. My face was pressed to the wood. As I became clearer in my mind I tried to ignore the pain in my skull to feel my body and see if anything was broken.

  I didn’t have that sharp, sickening pain of a broken bone anywhere. I thought I was good, but I wouldn’t really know until I tried to move. My body ached, especially around my head. The pain inside my skull was a combination of trauma from Appollonia knocking me unconscious and fighting off her invasion of my mind. Vampire powers are a bitch. They crawl in your brain and if you fight them, then it feels like your brain has been dropped into an iron skillet and fried like an egg. It’s like you have third-degree burns inside your skull.

  “I know you are awake. Sit up if you are able; it is just the two of us.”

  The voice came from behind me. It was a deep, masculine voice with a thicker accent. Not a lilt like Irish, more guttural like Scottish, but something a lot older. I couldn’t see who it was. The skin on my face pulled, stuck to the floor with dried blood as I rolled over. Movement made the ache in my skull worse and the black spots came back to the edge of my vision. Slowly, I made my way up to a sitting position, putting my back to a wall. When the wave of pain passed, I slowly opened my eyes.

  The room was dimly lit and had been a children’s Sunday school room when this had been a church. All the furniture was miniature—low, round tables with small, square chairs. The pictures on the wall were from Bible stories, cartoon versions of Noah’s ark, David and Goliath, Moses and the Red Sea. The vampires had defiled these also. They were smeared with what looked to be dried shit and blood. Symbols of evil had been painted over them. The room was a mess. The blasphemy was worse somehow since it was a children’s room.

  Evil always seems worse when it is juxtaposed with innocence.

  The other person in the room was the man who had been flogged. He sat across from me, his arms on his knees. The same spiderweb silk that Appollonia’s robe had been made of wrapped his chest. Tattered slacks covered his waist and legs. The exposed skin was filthy with dried blood and had a waxy pallor. Fierce eyes watched me, waiting for me to speak.

  Softly, my fingers touched my face. Damn it hurt. The skin around my eye and cheek was puffy, soft and tender like overripe fruit. Gingerly, I rubbed my hand over the surface and the copper powder of dried blood drifted down. I worked my jaw up and down to see if it was broken. It wasn’t, but my molars on the top felt off. Pushing up with my thumb confirmed that they were a little loose. Pressure straight up helped adjust them back in their sockets. As long as nobody caught me in the jaw on that
side, I should be able to keep those teeth. Man, she had really nailed me a good one.

  The man adjusted, pushing his leg out from him to a more comfortable sitting position. “How is your head?”

  “I’ll live.”

  And I would. Never mind the fact that speaking aloud was like shaving the inside of my skull, this injury would not be the thing that killed me. In fact, if I made it out of this alive, it wouldn’t even leave a mark, thanks to my being more than human. Didn’t make it hurt any less right now, but the thought was comforting in a small way. “Speaking of, you look pretty good for someone with their back torn off like you had earlier.”

  He shrugged. “It still hurts a great deal, but I am used to that by now.” Long fingers waved to indicate the silk wrapped around his midsection. “If it were not for this bandage woven by the spider-folk, I must admit I would be unable to move still.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “I am called Longinus.”

  I waved to him. I would have extended my hand, but I wasn’t quite up to moving that much, although the pain receded in small waves as the minutes passed.

  “Deacon Chalk. Pleased to meet you.” A sneeze tickled the back of my throat and I swallowed it away. If I did sneeze, I was sure it would make my head explode. I would definitely pass out again. Consciousness was something I planned on holding on to.

  Longinus stared at me for a moment and then muttered something under his breath. It was in a guttural language I couldn’t understand. “What was that again?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, I slipped back to my native tongue.” Long fingers pushed his hair away from his face. “I have heard of you. Thank you once again for speaking on my behalf. It has been a long time since anyone has shown me mercy.”