Chapter Four
In fact, if I had a clue as to what he'd had in mind, I probably would have knocked his ass back on the mat and walked away. Instead, I went along meekly, like a lamb to the slaughter.
We left in my Grand Prix, the torture master driving this time. He did it like he did everything, with no wasted motion, no hesitation or fear. He was aggressive behind the wheel, and I couldn't help but look at his hands as he drove, watch the long, graceful fingers as they played across the steering wheel. I could feel my nipples hardening under the black leather vest I wore. And suddenly I wished I hadn't fought him so hard on the mat when he had kissed me.
"Where are we heading?" I asked to get my mind off of the heated itch that was suddenly between my thighs.
"Oh, just this little bar I know." He looked over and smiled at me and I should have known right then. He didn't grin like that; he never really even smiled at me.
My second clue should have hit me the instant we pulled up to the bar. The clientele milling around outside weren't your average couples out for a night on the town. These were freaks, tattooed and pierced, wearing leather and metal as if it were jeans and tee shirts.
Just sitting in the car I could feel the heat from my cross, see its faint glow in the darkness.
"What the... Are these all vampires?"
"No. Some are wannabes, some are here because they like being the pets of the undead, and others, well, they are just here to be food." He pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car, plunging us into the somber half dark of the busy lot. "This is one of their nests, a place a vampire feels safe. This is the kind of place where their ranks grow."
"And you brought us here for what? To join them? Are you completely out of your mind?" All I could think of is what two vampires had done to me, what would it be like to be up against dozens, maybe hundreds of them and on my own?
"Listen," he turned towards me, taking my arm in his hand. Even with my new, defined muscle mass, his fingers still wrapped completely around it. "You need to know this. I'm not always going to be around to pry your ass out of trouble if you get into it. You need to know how to escape, how to run when it's necessary if you plan on surviving longer than any of the rest of those who'd worn the crucifix."
I stared into the melted chocolate of his eyes, seeming to lose myself in the heat and passion I could sense at his core. He'd been so cold with me until that kiss on the mat earlier. Now, I could feel how much he desired me.
"Fine."
"Fine?" He looked at me with confusion.
"Yeah, let's get this over with. Am I supposed to go in without weaponry or did you bring along some toys?" I reached into the glove box of the car and drew out my stake, slipping it into the long pocket that was sewn into the leg of the black leather pants I was wearing.
"What more could you want?" he asked, a cocky grin upon his face leaving me with an almost irrepressible urge to wipe it off.
"How about a flame thrower and the national guard behind me for starters?" I muttered, grumpy now that my eagerly anticipated night out had turned into another kind of training mission.
"You have a lot of faith in yourself," he said, slipping another stake into his pocket and checking the load on his 9 millimeter. The bullets he used were special made, a core of liquid silver nitrate surrounded by sterling silver casing. They were designed to burst upon impact, leaking the silver nitrate into the vampire's system, decimating their internal organs until they burst, or imploded as the case maybe.
One of my earliest training days had included lessons upon how to make my own ammo, and the different kinds of liquid metals that were usable for killing vampires. My trainer had shown me pictures of what silver nitrate did to the blood sucker's vital organs. It wasn't a pretty sight and would have had my gorge rising a few weeks ago. But since James, since his changing, any vampire's death was a good thing.
I got out of the car, feeling eyes light upon my flesh as if I were a walking feast. It made me itch, the way those eyes felt as they caressed the skin that I had left bare. The vest fit tightly, pushing my breasts together and up, making a much deeper cleavage, the golden crucifix just touching the top of the dark valley between.
I knew the leather looked good on me, I'd seen it in my trainer's eyes when I'd come out of the bathroom. A few weeks earlier, I'd loped off the long chestnut colored curls that James had adored. Even wearing them in a ponytail had caused me problems during training, giving trainer something to grab and use to control me with. And I remembered the female vampire in the alley, the way the man who raped her had used her hair to force her mouth to jack off his disgusting cock.
Now my hair was short, coming above my ears and in wispy bangs over my eyes. The hairstyle looked good on me, I had to admit, after staring at myself in the mirror for a few minutes, making my face seem elfin and giving my eyes a vulnerable cast I'd never seen before.
Not that I was vain, but it never hurt to use what God gave you when fighting something that lived by its senses.
Vampires fed when hungry, sought pleasure over pain unless pain was their pleasure, lived to feed the empty place where their souls had once been. Their lives were filled with nothing. They felt no love, no joy, no emotions other than the primal. They felt lust and hunger and would turn loyalties when those needs weren't being met.
"Get your mind on what you're doing!" Trainer snapped at me, drawing me from my musing.
We were crossing the parking lot and I could feel the heat of my crucifix, feel the power of it filling me. I concentrated upon the cold heat, holding the power inside of me as I'd practiced for hours to do, keeping its glow shielded from the eyes of my prey until it was my wish to use it. Trainer had taught me well, through long hours of torturous training.
"Are you ready?" he hissed at me now, slowing his step to bring me to his side.
"As I ever could be," I snapped at him, still angry at losing my treat.
"Watch your back in here. They will try to crowd you, to make you nervous and scared. They feed off of it. Don't let them." He reached for the door, heavy steel and completely without windows. There were strange markings on its surface, some kind of letters that seemed to almost glow in the dark that caught my eye.
"What are those?"
"Vampire code. It proclaims the owner of the house and a little of his lineage. A hierarchy if you will."
"Are you telling me that vampires are social climbers?" I couldn't help but laugh.
