A Tale of Revenge

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.

"Yeah, and don't mess with the house, lady. It might get you bit." He smiled back at me, seeming more human in the midst of all the animals.

The dark closed in over us for an instant as the door slammed closed behind us. The noise it made rang in the eerie silence, deafening me to all other noise. I felt a hand brush against my back and I reached out, grabbing it and twisting, yanking it up hard against an unseen back.

Another door was opened and dim light streamed into the small antechamber. I stared at the man whose arm I held pinned as he wiggled and squirmed, crying out in pain.

Trainer touched my arm, shaking his head and I let go of my prisoner reluctantly. He backed away, rubbing his shoulder. "Go ahead in," he squeaked, disappearing behind a different door.

"What was that all about?" I asked, angrily. "That little jerk tried to feel me up."

"Doorman, so don't get your panties in a twist."

"That would be kind of hard to do since I'm not wearing any," I muttered angrily as he turned away from me.

Trainer started into the next room leaving me staring at his back and then at the garishly appointed room around me. Dark red walls, the color of drying blood led to a vaulted ceiling. An overly ornate chandelier hung on a long golden chain, huge crystals hanging off of it like tear drops. Regular candles, not bulbs, were placed in its curved, complexly twisted arms.

Paintings were everywhere; religious suffering seemed to be the genre of choice. Crucifixions, people being impaled and stoned, all done in sweeping strokes of a master artist and hung in gilded gold frames surrounded the room.

One painting caught my attention. A woman dressed in robes, her body heavy with pregnancy, lay supine in front of the door of a church. Her arms were outstretched towards the man, a priest by his robes, who was closing the door with downcast eyes. Behind her, a horde of men and women, their faces incredibly hostile, reached for the woman with hands shaped like claws. It was so realistic, so heartbreaking I could barely look away.

I gasped when a hand touched my arm and looked up expecting Trainer.

Dark eyes caught mine, a face that was almost impossibly beautiful with thick lashes, high cheekbones and a lush mouth that seemed made for sin, captured my attention. A man shouldn't be so pretty was all I could think as he stared down at me.

"You like my work?" he asked, his voice strangely accented.

"It's a little depressing but the work itself is magnificent," I heard myself say. I couldn't seem to tear myself from his eyes.

"Would you like to see more?" He smiled at me and I could glimpse sharp incisors behind those lush lips.

"Ye..."

"There you are honey!"

Trainer grabbed my arm, pulling me away and taking my attention off of pretty boy. As soon as I broke away from his stare, I felt myself returning. It was as if he'd hypnotized me. Like the vampire in the alley who had made me want her with such ease. But this time, I hadn't been able to break the spell as I had in the alley, my crucifix hadn't saved me.

"I thought I'd lost you in the crowd, babe. Try to stay with me, from now on." Trainer's voice was jovial but there was a low warning that I caught.

"I was just talking to..." I turned back around, amazed to find that the man had disappeared as quickly and easily as he appeared, leaving me feeling slightly wary, the itch of desire between my thighs growing.

I felt myself being pulled through a crowd, techno music throbbing around me. The noise was almost terrifying, the press of bodies stifling after my encounter. I longed for a taste of cool, fresh air, something not sullied with the scent of spilled beer and stale tobacco. Trainer stopped at the bar, ordered drinks for us while I collected myself.

"Who was that?" I had to almost scream to make myself heard over the raucous noise of the music.

"His name is Jean-Claude. He's one of the oldest vampires in the area." Trainer handed me a glass filled with amber liquid.

I stared at the glass, not sure if I wanted to drink anything that was in this place. Who knew what they could slip into the alcohol?

Trainer took a large drink of his beer, wiping his mustached mouth off on the back of his hand as he turned and stared at the room. His eyes never seemed to rest upon any one person for very long.

"Can you tell which is a vampire and which is human?" he asked, yelling in my ear to be heard.

I scanned the room, unsure of what I was looking for.

"Don't look with just your eyes, let instinct and the power of the crucifix guide you."

I closed my eyes for a moment, taking slow deep breaths, allowing the sensation of power and knowledge ease over me. When I opened my eyes again, the flashing brightness of the lightshow seemed almost as an afterthought compared to the eerie glow that surrounded some of the people in the bar.

Humans, it seemed, gave off an aura that was visible to my eye. Maybe because of the human soul, or the warmth of body heat that caused the glow, I didn't know. But I could see it. The auras were different colors, greens and yellows, reds, blues and white pulsating with the life force of the people they surrounded. The auras of the people who were being used as food by the vampires were weak, pale colors with little strength.

The vampires had no auras, their bodies blank canvas that missed out on the warmth of life, the glow of a soul. They were dead in all ways that counted, parasitic beasts that fed off the living. And the love of her life, James, was now one of them.

I felt the same strong gut wrenching pain at the thought of him. It made me want to double up, to scream in anguish over the loss of him. But instead, I'd rather use that pain, focus it into power and use that power to kill every vampire I possibly could.

The stake in its slim pocket along the length of my thigh seemed to sing to me, wanting to be in hand, to sink into the vampire scum that I now could so easily pick out. How many could I kill before they could rip me apart?

"Does Marina come in here?" I shouted at Trainer, scanning faces to see if I could find the tall, pale beauty.

"She does when she's not hunting," he checked the room again. "I don't see her in here tonight."

"And James? Have you seen him here also?"

"Her boy toy? Yeah, I've seen the two of them in here together."

My hand slid down the smooth length of my thigh, finding the small pocket flap that held the stake. Without thought, I lifted it, reaching into the pocket to pull the stake out. But before I could get it in my hand, Trainer grabbed my wrist, pulling it away from my leg.

"Are you fucking nuts?" He shouted, holding my hand in the air. "Do you want to get us killed? God, have you learned nothing since I took you in?"

He tossed my wrist aside as if it burnt him, taking another drink of his beer before slamming the bottle back on the bar. He grabbed my glass, drinking the amber liquid in it and then dropped it onto the bar also. Then, pushing me ahead of him, he headed out of the bar.

The exit he took me to lead out to an alley way. It made me nervous considering the last couple visits I had in alleys hadn't turned out the best. Well, they'd been better for me then the vampire scum that had attacked me there.

Trainer rounded on me the minute the door closed behind me.

"I go into that bar all the time, they trust me in there, they don't know who I am or what I do. You could have blown my cover with that stupid stunt not to mention killing yourself and me too. Do you know how many vampires were in that bar?"

"About six less than there were when we went in," I said, reaching into my pocket quickly for my stake.

Trainer whirled, seeing the advancing figures, still mere shadows in the dim light. They moved with amazing speed and stealth, seeming to fly across the hard cement of the alley as they headed toward us.

They surrounded us quickly, backing us toward the bricked up dead end of the alley. Trainer pulled his pistol from its holster, flicking off the safety with a flip of his thumb. I tossed my stake up in the air, the heaviness of it now familiar and comforting in my hand.

The leader of the pack snarled, showing off his white fangs. His chin seemed to elongate, his lips stretching to contain those sharp teeth. He wore all black, as did the rest of them, four men and two women.

"Don't look in their eyes," Trainer hissed at me, leveling out his weapon and taking aim.

"No, duh," I said quietly, taking stock of the situation as I slid automatically into the stance that Trainer had drilled into me during my weeks of training.

They stood, staring at us and I could feel that little niggle in the back of my brain, that itch that had me wanting to stare at the biggest of them, a man who wore black leather pants that clung to every line of his hips and thighs, outlining the bulge in his crotch with intimate precision. His chest would have been bare except for the long leather trench coat he was wearing. His face was exquisite, chiseled and hard, almost as if he were some kind of Greek statue come to life. His skin was as pale as death. I felt myself losing to his will as my eyes scanned his face, resting upon the full lushness of his lips, the long thin nose, high sharp cheekbones.

Trainer grabbed my arm, shaking me from the trance that the vampire had put me in. "He's strong. Dammit, Raina, you've got to fight it."

Hearing my name from Trainer's lips was a shock and helped me focus on something besides the mind games that were being played. I didn't even know he knew my name. "I'm fine," I managed to mumble, pulling away from his grip on my arm. And just in time too. The first vampire attacked, coming in low and incredibly fast.

I let loose the grip my mind had on the crucifix, allowing it to glow with its unearthly light. The blood sucker closest to me shrieked, throwing her hands up to her face as the glow hit her. She backed away, wanting to flee that light but unable to pull her hands away. I watched as the skin from her hands seemed to almost melt off the bones, leaving them glistening unnaturally white in the light. The glow hit her face next, hair burning away, skin dissolving until nothing but a screaming skull was left.

Hands reached for me, claws that were talon sharp raking at my skin and the leather vest. I jumped back and turned, flipping over and using my feet to propel the attacker back. He came back at me almost before I could prepare, his face beastlike in his blood lust. I blocked the lunge, side stepping and, using all the strength I could find, staked him through the heart.

I saw his body start to blow up like a balloon and knew what was going to happen. Grabbing the other female vampire, a short blonde, I used her body like a shield, blocking her attack at the same time.

He blew with such force that a four inch piece of his bone went through the blonde as if she were butter. She screamed, staring down at the small piece of bone that protruded through her chest. Reaching up, she pulled it out as blood and gore rained down upon all of our heads.

To my amazement, the wound healed, the skin knitting back together as I watched. She smiled at me, and then licked the bone clean of her blood with a tongue that almost seemed forked at the end.

"Nice." I started forward and then was jerked to a halt as arms, long and thickly muscled, came around me. A shot rang out and I heard the whiz of the bullet as it passed next to my ear, going through the skull of the vampire who held me and knocking him backwards. He stood still for a moment and then dropped to the ground, his body turning to a mass of melted gel.

Three down, three left to go.

I heard Trainer grunt and knew he was being attacked. But at the moment I had my own problem. The blonde who'd been my shield now sauntered around me, stalking me with wary movements. She shied back from the glow of my crucifix but it didn't stop her for long. And then she attacked, her claw-like hands grabbing my arms, holding me in a grip like a vice just above the elbows.

She drew closer, her face contorting as her jaw expanded, her teeth sharpening. Her mouth seemed huge and her eyes glowed, turning eerily red in the dim light. I waited for my moment and then, as she started to bend her head, I threw mine forward, smashing into her forehead with my own. It knocked her backwards and she dragged me with her, pulling me down as she tripped over the trash in the alley.

I tried to roll free of her, but she had my arms. Instead I depended upon my legs, inching them up until I could get my feet between us, then I kicked her backwards, watching in amazement as she landed against a broken pallet, one of the boards punching through her back and out her front.

Trainer's grunt had me searching for him. He was being pulled back and forth like a child's toy between the two vampires that were left. As I watched, one pulled him close enough and bent his head, sinking his teeth into his neck.

"NO!" I screamed as loud as I could, rushing forward and throwing my stake. It landed exactly as I had intended, right in the beast's heart.