Savannah Vampire - The Vampire's Kiss Part 5

Though her state of decomposition repulsed me, my body began to respond to her as it always had, becoming hard and hot.

She reached up, grabbed the chains above her and pulled her body off the floor. She wrapped her legs around my waist and rubbed her s.e.x against me. "I can't believe you're going to leave me here with them," she mewled. "I need all the power I can get, William. You know what you have to do."

What she was referring to was plain. In addition to letting her drink my blood, I could in fact give her a measure of my strength without freeing her. In the world of the undead, a female can draw power from a male through s.e.x.

I unfastened my belt and freed my swollen c.o.c.k. I grasped her thighs and jammed her against me, entering her with such force she screamed loud and long, whether from pleasure or pain I didn't know. She'd been ill-used by her captor in ways I didn't want to think about. But her legs clung to me as I worked in and out of her. I bent her torso backward so I could suck her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, laving her nipples with my tongue, tugging hard until they were plump and stiff.

As I tasted her I recognized the stench of Hugo on her skin and I remembered the vision of her and Hugo on the plane. He 'd taken her roughly from behind, pinned her to the bed with his ma.s.sive frame, and rammed himself into her again and again as she whimpered in pain and begged him to stop. When he was finally finished, he'd collapsed onto his back and draped his leg across her body to hold her there until he was ready to use her again.

Revulsion made me decide to end things more quickly than was my habit.

I grasped Eleanor's waist and pressed her to me, entering her fully, and quickened my pace. Soon I came and felt her response as her muscles gripped my shaft in rhythmic waves that made her buck and writhe.

As my demon seed filled her, her body hitched and she arched her back as far as she could against her restraints, her eyes rolling back like those of a doll dropped on its head.

When her body stilled, I slipped out of her and re-clothed myself. Spent, she sagged limply against her chains, but I could feel the power transference. She would be stronger for a while. Still, the fix was only temporary. She would begin to rot again, and soon.

"I'm begging you, William. Take me with you now. I can help you find Renee."

"How can you do that?" "I'll help you search. I'll do anything you say."

"I can think of only one way you might be able to help. Stay here and try to seduce Hugo into disclosing where they're keeping her."

"Seduce?" Eleanor said with a bitter, near-hysterical laugh. "He's done whatever he wanted with me since the moment we took off from Savannah, no matter what I said or did."

"Isn't that what you volunteered for? I'm surprised that your talents haven't allowed you to wrap Hugo around your finger- much like I once was. I imagine you're quite surprised as well."

Tears coursed down her cheeks, but I found I could not pity her. "It's that d.a.m.ned Diana," she said. "She bewitched both of you. I can't believe that you don't still love me, at least a little."

"Believe what you wish."

Faced with my stern facade, she changed tactics. "I can still bring you to your knees," she said. "Now that I know you're in London, I can call out to you as my sire. I'll remind you day and night what we once were to each other. What we still can be."

"You can't invade my mind unless I let you," I said.

"You'll let me."

My recent gifts of blood and power had allowed her to look like the old Eleanor, elegant and seductive. She lowered her head and locked gazes with me. My head swam with erotic images from the first time we 'd made love. She had discovered how I thrilled at the sight of expensive, white Egyptian cotton sheets, pristine except for a few drops of my own blood. I blocked her thoughts before she could persuade me to change my mind and free her.

It occurred to me that-because a female vampire draws power from a male-she can eventually grow stronger than her mate.

Thus it is common for male vampires to kill the females before this happens. That is why so few females survive more than a human lifetime. Those who do survive have learned to make themselves indispensable in some way to the male on whom they depend for protection. That usually means an exquisite s.e.xual relationship. But the male protector, having been weakened through the years by the woman, often becomes the weaker vessel. That is the point at which it is common for the female to kill him.

I had planned to stay with Eleanor for the rest of my existence. If she eventually destroyed me, so be it. My death wish would be satisfied and at least the intervening years would be anything but boring. But I didn't think she would kill me...because I had actually trusted her.

In five hundred years I had met only two women who could tempt me so sorely that I might let my guard down enough to suffer my own demise. Those two were Diana and Eleanor. Perhaps one day I would see my death wish to fruition by allowing myself to be drawn off my guard by the siren song of some other particularly seductive female. Even let her kill me during s.e.x if she were clever enough. But it wouldn't be either of the two who so recently betrayed me.

"If I can't find Renee on my own, I'll come back to learn what you've been able to discover. Do not disappoint me." I started to walk away but paused at her voice.

"When will you be back?" she demanded. "Will it be before I start to rot again? Before I die and go to h.e.l.l for all eternity?"

"That remains to be seen. In the meantime, you will not reveal that I was here. If you do, I 'll kill you myself." I turned again to leave but thought of one more thing I wished her to know. "I couldn't help but notice that you didn't think to inquire after Deylaud's health. When I left Savannah he was clinging to life-no thanks to you, who left him for dead. He loved you more than life." She gave a cry of anguish. "They wouldn't let me see to him. I couldn't help it. I swear!"

"Save it," I said.

I left and made my way upstairs. I quickly searched the spa.r.s.ely furnished rooms, finding no signs of Renee and no clues as to where she might be. The refrigerator held no stores of blood. That meant they were most likely hunting for live prey.

Once back out on the street, I walked in the direction Hugo and his little family had gone. I lost their scent on the next block so I walked the shadowy streets, lost in my own dark thoughts, until I found myself near King's Cross.

The area had become somewhat gentrified since my last visit to London, what with properties being snapped up for redevelopment near the international Eurostar train station. Still, the odd prost.i.tute and drug dealer were about. A young woman stepped out of the shadows in front of me, blocking my way. "Fancy a bit of a party?" she offered, looking for all the world as if she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"My, but you're a bold one," I observed. Her hair was dyed jet black and her makeup looked as if it had been applied with a spade. On her chin was painted what I believe used to be called a beauty spot. A tattoo on her bare right shoulder said SID V.

FOREVER.

"Are you buying or what?" she asked.

"Romantic too," I said.

She made a face. "What you want, then?"

"Like I told you. Romance. Starting w' a bit of a snog," I said, mimicking her accent. I wrapped an arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders and kissed her on the neck while dragging her back into the shadows. Before she could protest, I bit down, covering her mouth with my gloved hand to silence her scream.

I felt her blood flow past my fangs and fill my throat, the sensory delights of feeding on a living, breathing human. Her heartbeat sounded in my ears as if it were my own. I sucked and swallowed, quenching my thirst. As her heart 's rhythm began to slow, I sealed the wound in her throat with my lips. She would regain consciousness in a matter of hours with no memory of me.

I picked her up and carried her to a phone booth a few feet away-the picturesque red kind one can see depicted on London postcards alongside double-decker buses. They were largely decorative now that everyone had their own cell phone. I pushed open the door, set her down on the floor of the booth, and closed the door again. If a bobby happened by, he'd a.s.sume she was sleeping off a high.

"Don't talk to strangers, little girl," I offered in parting.

When I arrived back at Olivia's house, I found her in the sitting room with a number of her vampires. "What did Donovan find out?" I asked.

Olivia stood. "He's not with you?"

"We split up. Hugo and the others came out of the house and walked down the street. Donovan followed and I searched the house."

Bree appeared at Olivia's side. "You mean he went after those vampires by himself? How could you allow-"

Olivia put a warning hand on Bree's shoulder, went past me to the door, and looked out. He's not back yet."

Jack Right after sundown the next night I woke up in my coffin with Reyha snuggled against my side. She was accustomed to sleeping in William's coffin, but since he'd been gone, she had insisted on sleeping with me.

I'd taken up residence at William's place to protect Melaphia and the Rin Tin Twins. The twins were Egyptian sighthounds by day and humans by night. They were a gift to William from the King of Prussia. Anyway, they 're ancient, immortal, and used to guard the tombs of the pharaohs. Now they nibble their kibble at William's house and guard him while he sleeps.

When he broke his mystical oath to serve William, Deylaud had come within a hair's breadth of giving up his immortality and his ability to a.s.sume animal form.

In the last few weeks, after Eleanor moved in with William, Deylaud had developed a strong bond with her. When Eleanor thought William was turning his back on her, she left and moved to her new house, still under construction. Deylaud went with her, and when we found him there after Eleanor left, he was nearly dead. Melaphia did some incantations to restore Deylaud 's oath and repair the mystical bonds that he broke, and he'd been recovering slowly.

"Good morning, Jack," Reyha said as she waited for me to crawl from my black coffin. I could tell that she woke up a little disoriented when she realized that I was there with her instead of William. She and Deylaud missed him something fierce.

"Morning, sunshine," I said. When I had my feet on solid ground, I scooped the lanky, leggy blonde up into my arms and out of the coffin. I carefully set her down on the ottoman in front of William's easy chair and handed her the crutches she'd been using since Hugo had broken both her legs.

Thankfully, her healing powers were about as miraculous as a vampire's. She would probably be as good as new in a week or so, but I didn't think I would ever get over the shock of first seeing her or Melaphia after Hugo had beaten them so badly. It had made me sick nearly unto death.

Each and every time I saw Reyha hobbling around, or every time I looked at poor Mel or Deylaud, I vowed that I would kill that sonofab.i.t.c.h Hugo if it was the last thing I did on this earth-that is, if William didn't kill him first.

"Why don't you check on Deylaud?" I said.

Reyha brightened at the thought of her brother and hobbled off while I jumped in the shower. I let water as hot as I could stand beat down on me. I loved the fancy showerhead in William's vault. The pulsating made me feel like I had a pulse and the hot water made me feel warm-blooded. I did some of my best thinking in the shower.

Right now I was thinking about how to handle the situation with Connie. She could tell I was spooked about what she'd asked me the night before, so she had suggested that I sleep on it. Now I knew I had to discourage her from the notion of going into the underworld. William had managed to go there and come back safely, but it wasn't something I was keen to try. Something could go wrong and you could get stuck, like poor Shari had when I tried-and failed-to vampirize her. If Connie wound up there for eternity because I screwed up, I don't know what I'd do.

Maybe Melaphia would come out of the funk she was in long enough to give me some sound advice. Could I possibly get that lucky? I turned off the shower, dried myself, and pulled on jeans, boots, and a black pullover.

I stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, saddened by the scene inside. Reyha knelt beside her brother as best as she could on her hurt legs. Deylaud was still in dog form. He had been so desperately sick when we'd gotten him back to the house that night, he'd morphed into mutthood and stayed that way. William had said it was a good sign, that being a canine would help him heal faster. But it creeped me out to see Reyha in one state and Deylaud in the other. If it was disorienting for me, I couldn 't even imagine what it was like for them. They'd been in lockstep for two thousand years.

I bent down beside Reyha to stroke her brother's sleek, pale head as he lay on a pallet by the hearth. When he weakly licked my hand it made me want to cry. He laid his head back down on his paws and sighed as if the effort of holding it up had cost him.

As sad as the twins were, Melaphia was in even worse shape. Her physical injuries were healing nicely; it was her mental state I was worried about. She sat at the kitchen table hunkered over several small piles of multicolored beads. She worked her needle in and out of a tiny beaded figure, picking up a bead from one pile and then a bead from another. The thing she was weaving had taken shape since the night before, which was the last time I'd seen it. It had limbs and a torso and a head and shimmered with hundreds of tiny orbs of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Gla.s.s, crystal, stone, all came together in a frenzy of color and sheen.

"It's called peyote," Reyha said. "The st.i.tch, that is." She joined me at Melaphia's side.

That seemed appropriate. It was crazy-looking, like it had been made by somebody during a long hallucination. And yet it was somehow perfect. There was no logical pattern to the thing, but there was something magic and a little frightening about it. I was afraid to ask what it was going to be used for.

I squeezed Melaphia's shoulder gently. "Has William called?" She only shook her head. That wasn't an entirely good sign. At least she was responsive.

I turned back to Reyha. "Why don't you make Deylaud something warm to eat? Bacon and eggs maybe. He likes that. And make some for Mel while you're at it."

"Yes," Reyha said brightly, and turned toward the refrigerator.

"Mel, I've got to talk to you." I sat in the chair opposite her and told her about my conversation with Connie. It was hard to determine at first if she was focusing on my words since her eyes never left her needlework. Ever since Renee 's disappearance, Melaphia had managed only a few coherent days among mostly incoherent ones. I badly needed this to be a good day for her.

When I got to the part about Connie wanting to go to the underworld, Melaphia's busy fingers froze mid-st.i.tch, and she blinked as if she was waking from a long sleep.

"What should I do?" I asked. "I mean, we can't let her try it, and she can't do it without one of us. I think I should tell her about William and how he almost got trapped in that dimension and about all the h.e.l.lish things he saw, the danger he was in-"

"No!" Melaphia said, and, for the first time that morning, she met my eyes. There was a ferocity in her look that startled me, but at least there was some understanding, some sanity. When she saw my reaction, she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. "No," she repeated more calmly. "Let me think on it awhile. Put her off for now. Tell her that I 'll...work on the problem and get back to her."

"Wait," I said. "We're on the same page here, right? We're not going to actually try to help her do this. " Connie hadn't mentioned getting Melaphia to help with her scheme, but she knew what a powerful mambo Mel was.

"Of course we aren't," Melaphia agreed. "I'm just advising you to put her off. If she presses you, blame me. Tell her that I forbid it. It's too dangerous."

"Thanks," I said.

Reyha put a plate of food in front of Melaphia, who picked up a piece of toast and nibbled on it. She had barely eaten since we lost Renee. I started to hope that she was beginning to make her way back to us.

Reyha dangled a piece of raw bacon in front of my face and I grabbed it with my teeth and slurped it up like spaghetti. She giggled and I tugged a lock of her long, straight hair.

"Call me if you need me," I said on my way out. "I've got to see a man about a wolf."

The night before, Seth and I had agreed to meet at the little swamp bar and talk about how to approach Samson. I was still holding out hope that I could talk Seth out of challenging the pack leader outright. I 'd rather just have a big brawl, lay down the law, and have done with it. But two against a dozen or more weren't very good odds no matter how strong Seth and I were. I wished we had reinforcements, but the only other vampire in town was Werm. He was a nice enough little guy, but not exactly the man you'd want backing you up in a fight. He was so short and skinny, one huff or puff from any of the big, bad wolves would blow him and his house down.

I thought about how Werm had begged to be made into a vampire so he would be a bada.s.s that n.o.body could push around anymore. If he was really going to be one of us, it was time for him to stand and deliver some bada.s.sness. He had to learn to fight for his own good. In the world of the undead, only the strong survive. I decided to stop by his new place on the way to the marsh and have a little chat, vampire to vampire.

When I got to the converted warehouse, I saw that he was as good as his word about getting the wh.o.r.es involved in the renovation. Cheryl and Souxi were painting one wall red. Marlee was finishing a black paint job on another wall. Ginger and Sally were trying to install a light fixture on the third wall. They all stopped their work to greet me when I came in.

Sally hung back from the others, her gaze darting here and there, not meeting mine. Here was yet another young person I was going to have to have a serious talk with. I was beginning to feel like Ward Cleaver.

"So what do you think, Jack? It's really coming along, isn't it?" Werm asked. He actually had on a pair of coveralls. I think it was the first time I'd seen him wearing anything other than black leather. His spiky hair was poking out from under a bandanna he'd tied around his head.

The first time I'd met him, he'd had his hair dyed black in cla.s.sic goth style. Then when Reedrek forced William to make him a vampire, Werm's hair had turned snow white. Now he had it dyed dark again.

"Yeah, it's really going to be...something." What that something would turn out to be was still anybody's guess. "When's opening night?"

"I figure we can have it ready in a couple of days."

"So soon?"

"Sure. The girls are working practically around the clock."

"What are you going to name this joint, anyway?"

"I want to call it Jack's Place, since you loaned me the money and all. It never would have come together if it weren't for you."

Werm slapped me heartily on the back.

"Please. Please, tell me you're kidding." I didn't want my name a.s.sociated with any poetry-reading, punk musicplaying, rich- kid club. I liked Merle Haggardplaying, throw-your-peanut-hulls-on-the-floor, honky-tonk kind of places.

Werm laughed. "Yeah, Jack, I'm kidding. I know this isn't exactly your style, but I hope you'll want to hang out here some."

"Can't wait," I said, trying to sound sincere. "Listen, that's not what I came to talk to you about. Remember how you wanted to be made into a vampire so that you could whup anybody who ever tried to mess with you?"

"Yeah?" Werm sounded wary, like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. The kid was sharp. I always had to give him that.

"How's that been working out for you? I mean, do you think you're tough?" I really wanted to know. Maybe my instincts were wrong and Werm was stronger than he looked. I surely hoped so.

"I've kicked some b.u.t.t," Werm allowed. "None of the guys who used to ha.s.sle me can do that anymore since I put them in their place. I think a couple of them are seriously afraid of me."

"I'm glad to hear it," I said. It was good for Werm's confidence that he could beat up his old high school tormenters, but taking on supernatural bad guys was another kettle of fish. "You know how William and I have always had each other's backs all these years?"

Werm nodded solemnly. "Yeah. Ever since he made you during the Civil War."

"That's right. Here's the thing: Now that William is going to be gone for a while, I need you to do that for me. I need you to be my backup when things get rough. You know what I'm saying?"

Werm got a look on his face that was one part rapture, one part stark terror. "Me? Really? Well, sure. I mean, of course I've got your back."

He tried to look casual, but I could tell he didn't know whether he should be really proud or run for his life. He scratched his head under the bandanna. "But please tell me a boat full of dark lords hasn't just sailed into port."