Dark Descendants - Leonardo Part 3

Vince laughed as he backed away to stand next to Raife. "Can't blame a h.o.r.n.y vampire for trying, el amigo."

"Well, isn't this a heartwarming scene," a voice said from behind them.

Erin sniffed the air and caught the evil vampire's scent, along with the scents of two other males and the woman, Eva.

Tala growled and stood by Lucius. He patted her silvery coat in a calming gesture.

"You all come together just to face me?" Michael laughed as he and his companions began circling.

Each male radiated danger, and Erin grasped a stake from her inner pocket, but kept it hidden. At the first chance, she'd immobilize that b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

But how could she possibly get close enough?

"Michael, I warned you never to come to my hunting grounds." Lucius stepped forward. He appeared calm in this crowd of masculine vampiric power.

"Lucius, you Viking raider. I see you got yourself a wolf-b.i.t.c.h. Why the h.e.l.l would you care about where I hunted?"

Growling low, Tala stepped forward, but Lucius still talked in a cool manner. "I would be careful how you talk about my mate. She has a certain dislike for b.a.s.t.a.r.ds born to wh.o.r.es."

Erin gasped and turned to Leo.

"Michael is illegitimate. My father had a mistress..." Leo whispered into her thoughts.

Michael glared at Tala and Lucius, then backed off a step to proceed toward Erin and Leo.

"Raife, darling, long time, no see, my love." Eva broke from the other vampires and edged up to Raife. "I think it has been...what? Two centuries since I felt you between my thighs? I could use your special brand of loving, sweetheart." She grasped his crotch and rubbed his c.o.c.k through the material. "You always had an impressive sword to impale me with, darling," she added in a low husky voice.

Raife grabbed her wrist and ripped her hand from his groin. "I wouldn't want to f.u.c.k you if you were the last female on earth."

Her eyes slid between Riafe and Vince, then she smiled coyly. "Perhaps you two would like to have a threesome. Both of you could f.u.c.k me at once. I'd give you the best head you ever had this side of eternity. I--"

"Enough!" Vince commanded, unsheathing his sword and pointing it under her chin. "We're not interested, so back off."

"Eva," Michael interrupted. "Get back with the others...now."

"But--"

"I said now!" Michael raised his arm, and the female vampire flew backward with an invisible push.

Erin had noted Michael's interest in Eva's attempts at seduction. He got visibly excited at her suggestions, then when Raife and Vince declined, he seemed disappointed. Could a similar tactic by her turn him on? At least enough so she could get close enough to stake him? Worth a shot! "You shouldn't have told her I was illegitimate, brother. That wasn't very nice."

He had heard their thoughts? But of course! They shared the ultimate blood bond--same parents--or in their case, a shared parent. Therefore, Erin decided, she couldn't let Leo in on her plan to get close to Michael.

"I warned you about her, Leo. She wasn't meant to become one of us. Think of all the vampires she's killed. Now, you lie with a slayer. You, my brother, are the enemy." Michael paused in front of them, unaffected by the other vampires.

c.o.c.ky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"I'm not the enemy, Michael. You are. You kill for the joy of it, the physical rush of a most deplorable kind. You're the one who needs to be destroyed!"

"After this night, brother, you'll never have to worry about seeing me again. I'll leave you out to face the sun while I take your little c.u.n.t and f.u.c.k her in every orifice. It'll be for me to screw her virginal a.n.u.s into the next century, and all the while, the one who made her a vampire will be long forgotten."

Leo's anger became palpable, and the muscles in his jaw twitched in irritation. Erin found her chance, but just prayed Leo would forgive her.

Leo wanted to throttle his half brother. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had existed way too long. And threatening Erin went beyond the limits. Just the slightest thought of her with anyone else but him became unbearable.

Just as he prepared to slash that smile from Michael's face, Erin purred next to him, "Oh wow, f.u.c.k me in every way imaginable? I have to say, that is tempting."

"What the f.u.c.k are you doing?" he mentally asked, but she refused to answer.

Michael laughed as he wrapped an arm about her waist. "All it took was a taste of blood to see the glorious darkness." He leaned toward her ear.

"You fought so long against us, and now you are one of us. You shall replace Eva as my mate, Erin, and we shall rule the vampires to hunt and kill.

Imagine all the feasts we shall have, then I will fill you to the hilt. Oh yes, I can see it now, f.u.c.king you up the a.s.s as you drink from your latest victim."

When Michael licked her cheek in a gross gesture, it proved too much for Leonardo, but everything seemed to snap at once.

Erin drew out a stake and plunged it into Michael's chest. His scream filled the night and he clutched her hair, drawing her with him as he backed away in pain. Blood gushed from around the wound, spraying red upon Erin and surrounding tombs.

The other enemy vampires advanced, and Lucius, Tala, Alonso, and Jolie took action. Ripping flesh and vicious howls rent the air.

Eva screeched and flew toward Michael, still holding Erin by the hair. Raife and Vincente stopped her. Swords cut through the air and her skin, slicing her throat, clogging her voice with bubbling blood. She grasped the pumping wound and hissed, then transformed into a mist and disappeared into the night. Raife and Vincente nodded at each other before also shifting into clouds of mist.

Leo advanced upon the struggling Michael, but his hold on Erin's hair dragged her with him. Michael eventually staggered and fell, losing his grip upon her.

Behind him, the sounds of the fight faded into silence as his friends defeated Michael's henchmen.

"It's time you pay for your evil deeds," Leo said.

Blood seeped from Michael's mouth. "You don't have the stomach to kill me, brother. I am your own brother, your blood. You can't do it."

Leo looked solemn as he watched Michael beg for his existence. But he couldn't let him live. He'd continually be a danger to all.

"It's not Leo's place to kill you, vampire!" Erin spat as she pulled the machete from her trench coat. "That pleasure is all mine. It's past time you went to h.e.l.l."

In a split second, she lifted the weapon and severed Michael's head from his struggling body.

Leo exhaled, unaware he had been holding his breath. Erin stood over the body, breathing deeply as she calmed her own nerves. He took her into his arms. She dropped the machete, and it landed with a thump next to the corpse.

"It's over. It's over," she repeated as she held onto Leo tighter.

"Leo, Eva got away. We took off after her, but lost her," Raife said behind them.

Leo turned with Erin still in his arms. "She'll have to recover before she appears again."

He gazed at Lucius and Alonso, stroking their mates. Tala, still in wolf form, nuzzled against Lucius as he whispered to her in soft tones. Alonso held a shaking Jolie, apparently surprised at her newfound instincts to protect.

"Well, Leo," Raife said, "I think you have a night of hunting with your mate ahead of you. Vince and I, however, have plans at Pirate's Alley. After we clean up this mess, we're heading out."

Leo nodded and led Erin into the cemetery, now eerily quiet compared to only moments ago. He soon felt the others depart, leaving them alone.

He looked over his shoulder. The several vampire corpses and their detached parts had been gathered into a pile. With a wave of Leo's hand, the mound burst into flames. Ordinarily, he would have let the sun incinerate the remains, but being early in the night, he felt it better to take care no one tripped over a body. The sun would burn away any blood left behind.

"How about we get cleaned up before we find our meals?" he said as they stopped walking. The moon shone brightly, and the flickering flames behind them lit the night. Apart from the crackles of fire, he heard only the heartbeats of small animals scurrying among the tombs.

"Just promise me something first," she said, tilting her head toward his.

"What?"

"That I never turn into a beast like Michael."

He kissed her forehead and held her by the back of the head, relishing her silky hair beneath his fingers. "That could never happen. Michael was disturbed when he was mortal. Turning vampire only amplified his problems."

"And one more thing."

"Whatever you wish."

"Love me forever. Don't ever stop."

"I'll always love you, Erin. That is something I can't help even if I tried."

She wrapped her arms about his neck and whispered against his lips, "I love you, Leo."

"I love you, too, mia slayer dolce. For all eternity."

Voices, cheering and jeering, rose above the area called Pirate's Alley, located between Chartres and Royal Streets, and separating the Spanish Cabildo from St. Louis Cathedral. It was rumored that the ghosts of pirates such as Jean Laffite gathered there nightly, practicing their swordsmanship and drinking ghostly rum as they rooted for their favorite duelers.

Rapists, murderers, and criminals...they had made up the base of the original population in New Orleans. Even after death, they still haunted the city's bars and hotels. But only in Pirate's Alley did they gather to relive their glories.

Among voices rising in excitement, steel clashed against steel. Instead of ghostly pirates, two vampires fought a duel.

Raife and Vincente practiced here in order to remain close to their departed friends. Dueling reminded them of their glory days of sailing the seas and fighting for their countries. In life, Raife and Vincente had been enemies; now, centuries later, they were comrades.

As they fenced for the crowd, a voice came loud and clear through the cheers--a feminine voice singing.

Raife held up his hand and stopped Vincente's advance. The ghostly audience moaned and groaned in disappointment, for the fight had been going so well. "You hear that?" Raife asked his friend.

Vince laughed. "I don't hear anything but our amigos screaming out for me to finish you off."

Raife heard the voice calling to him more clearly...

"Come to me and sample the sweets of love. I call to you, mon chere."

He looked around, searching for the source of the voice, so sweet in tone.

Then, trotting from amid the pirates' spirits, a black cat appeared on the field of battle and rubbed against Raife's legs.

He picked up the cat and looked intently at it. Then, he heard her again...

"I call to you. Come to me..."

"What is it, amigo? A witch's spell?" Vince asked.

The cat mewed, and Raife knew it had answered the question.

A witch called to him...and he felt powerless to resist... Marianne LaCroix Author Marianne LaCroix aka Shaylee O'Hara dreamed of becoming an author ever since her parents gave her a little typewriter as a child. Luckily, her parents supported all of her creative outlets, be it oil painting or creative writing. When it came time for college, she majored in English and took art cla.s.ses on the side.

In 1994 Mari earned her BA in English, married and moved to Georgia from her childhood home in New Jersey. There she worked in an office for about two yeas before feeling restless. She made a dramatic move and quit the desk job, then returned to school for nursing. She earned a diploma in Practical Nursing then went to work in her local hospital, and eventually to a nursing home. Each night when she got home from caring for others, no matter how tired, she'd sit down and write tales of ghost pirates or roguish vampires.

When Mari got pregnant with twins, she said goodbye to nursing for a while. The twin girls were born in March, 2002, and Mari has been a stay- at-home mom ever since. When the girls would go to bed, Mari would get on the computer and write. She also worked hard on starting and establishing the review site, LoveRomances. Then in early 2003, she decided to write romance seriously, not just as a pastime. Her break came with Lady Sheba, closely followed by Another Chance. Both books have received glowing reviews, and Lady Sheba has been a Road to Romance Reviewer Choice and a selected group read for the Erotic Readers Haven Yahoo Group.

What can readers expect in the future? Marianne's erotic romances are filled with everlasting love and hot encounters, and Shaylee's romances are br.i.m.m.i.n.g with action, adventure and love. More tales of the paranormal with vampires, ghosts and fairies are on the way!

You can visit her website at: http://www.mariannelacroix.com * * * *

Don't miss Descendants Of Darkness: Raife by Marianne LaCroix, available in 2004, from Amber Quill Press, LLC

Raife is an adventurer at heart. As a former privateer, he had sailed the seas and lived the life of a buccaneer. He continued his roguish ways centuries later by meeting up with friends of old in the haunted Pirate's Alley in New Orleans. Then one night, while fighting a friendly dual amid the cheers of ghostly pirates, Raife hears her calling to him. Soon, he finds that the magic of a French Creole witch holds more in store for him than one night of sensual bliss... Amber Quill Press, LLC