Austin City Blues

This is not a masturbation story per se, there will be some romantic entanglements as the store goes on, but there is not going to be sex every other paragraph. If you want that type of story, stop reading now.

*****

Immediately I went from being horny to feeling my fight or flight adrenaline kicking into overdrive. I could tell now that he wasn't just a hunk with a sweet looking ride, he was a fucking Versch. From his prominent upper and lower canines I could tell he was what popular culture likes to call a vampire, although they never refer to themselves that way. The most I've been able to pick up from the 'unofficial' Marshal grapevine is that they refer to themselves as Nachzeher, afterwards devourer.

Basically pretend that the mythical Vampire banged a likewise mythical ghoul, your result is a creature that drinks blood and 'afterwards' they eat the soul essence from the body. I don't care if you are atheist, believe in a deity of some type, or figure on being reincarnated, souls exist. When science reached a sufficiently advanced state to force the Versch to come out of hiding, we learned a lot of new things like that. When a soul is eaten, it is irrevocably destroyed instead of ending up wherever it should have.

I've seen their victims more than I care to remember, before SCOTUS ruled the Altered Humans Act constitutionally sound, and let me just say that the vics are definitely unforgettable. When you have been drained of every ounce of your blood and spiritual essence, your body looks almost like an unwrapped fucking mummy. I can only imagine the sense of terror that would be present as you feel your blood and soul being devoured by a damn monster, while you lay in their grasp totally helpless to stop it from happening.

As I was standing there, trying to surreptitiously reach for the gun I was carrying in my hideout purse, he began talking to me with just the slightest hint of a Germanic accent. "You don't need to reach for your weapon, Bethany, for I mean you no harm this night." The bastard had the audacity to continue smiling as he braced me with his request, not to mention the fact that he called me by my given name.

Nobody but my family has ever been allowed to call me Bethany. I even got kicked out of school once for slapping a teacher that refused to call me Beth. I spent 3 months in a 'corrective school' for girls after that incident and if you had been around to ask me on the day I got out, I would have said it was worth it. It's one of my many quirks. I guess a shrink would say it was because my name is one of the few things I had left to remind me of my family. Of course if I ever actually opened up to a shrink, they might need to seek mental therapy of their own.

I glared at him and asked "Just tonight, fangs? Because if you plan on harming me some other night we might as well get this dance started. Plus, I never gave you permission to call me Bethany, so unless you want to piss me off further you will address me as Beth or Ms. Jaeger."

I tried to force as much bravado into my voice as I could; normally taking down a bloodsucker required a marshall as well as a special ops team. I unfortunately hadn't expected to need the team for a normal night 'out on the town', so I hadn't planned ahead to have them available. When you factor in that the team is all male, it would theoretically be counter-productive for me to have them tagging along while I am supposed to be looking for male company. Special Op's teams, with full equipment, also tend to be poor dancers.

If anything his grin got even wider, making him look truly scary. "You have fire in you, like your hair. I had heard the rumors of your temper, but now I see that you truly deserve a hearty German name like Jaeger!" He threw back his head and laughed before catching me with his glance again. He held out his hand as if to take mine.

I figured my evening couldn't get any stranger, and I certainly couldn't stop him from taking it if he really wanted to, so I held out my non-gun hand. I could tell this amused him even further, as if he knew I wanted my right to be ready to make a futile attempt to still grab my gun from the purse.

He brought my hand to his lips, brushing them softly in a light kiss against the back of it. Even though I knew what he was now, I couldn't help but feel aroused again at the feeling, wondering if his kiss would be like soft liquid heat elsewhere. I clamped my legs together, trying to keep wetness from trickling around my panties and further down the inside of my thighs. I couldn't explain to myself how I could be feeling so aroused, knowing that he was, at best, a reformed killing machine with a trail of bodies in his past. Human bodies, bodies like my father's. The thoughts of my loss helped to bring me out from under his spell, so I removed my hand from his quickly and broke contact with his eyes.

For the first time he seemed upset, a small frown and a downturn of his eyebrows marring his perfect face. "I sense that you refuse to give in to your inner desires, Beth. This, of course, will make things more difficult between us. I had hoped to have a comfortable working relationship with you, hopefully even more, but it seems you are conflicted." His face returned to a more normal mien and he pulled himself erect. "I would like to take you for a ride. There are things we need to discuss in a more private setting than this, things that pertain to the humans that you protect so carefully."

I tried to figure out a strategy to avoid getting into his car and came up with nothing. From his brief statement I could tell that if I didn't take him up on the offer, I would likely be involved anyway when the bodies started showing up. Given the option of being proactive vs cleaning up a Versch's mess, what else could a girl do? I just hoped that, whatever this mess turned out to be, I might come out the other side somewhat unscathed. "Fat chance" I thought to myself, "Nothing is ever that simple when dealing with Versch."

I turned to Kelly, who still seemed awestruck and silent, either from the appearance of the creature in front of me or the fact that he seemed to be hitting on me instead of her. I tapped her on the forehead lightly, "Kelly, I am going to take a ride with the nice monster. If I don't call you in the morning, please call the duty sergeant at the Police Station. Give them a description of him, the car, and his license plate." I looked back over my shoulder, "It would be helpful if I had your name. Somehow I don't think tall, blonde, and muscular is going to narrow things down much." Especially if Matthew McConaughey was back in town for a visit, this guy could have passed as a stunt double for him fairly easily.

"Of course" he said with a slight smirk. "My name is Konrad Herzog, your lovely friend may also have my business card to help 'narrow down' search." I had to hand it to him, it is hard to pull off cocky and humorous at the same time. He handed a light cream card to Kelly, who took it without removing her eyes from his face. She still seemed to be in some sort of a daze, I couldn't remember if I had ever seen her so out of it like this. I just hoped that she would at least remember to call the cops if I didn't report in. Some type of funeral would be nice, even if I ended up drained and mummified before morning. "Now, if you please, Beth?"

He moved with a grace that seemed akin to that of a large cat stalking it's prey to the passenger side, opening the door for me. Men who open doors for me was another one of my pet peeves, but I figured I would favor discretion over getting pissed about it. Maybe I am getting more mellow as I get older, but I doubt it. As I sank down into the low slung seat, it seemed as if I was sitting mere centimeters above the pavement. He closed the door softly and for a moment, before he glided to his side and opened the driver door, the small enclosed space of the car smelled completely of his masculine aroma.

From the notes of citrus and jasmine, I assumed he probably used Acquia Di Gio predominantly. Between that and what I assumed was his natural scent, the mixture was extremely heady and arousing. I felt wetness as my pussy continued lubricating itself for an act that could not be allowed to happen. I wouldn't allow myself to fall for this creature, even if it was simply lust, not without betraying everything I believed in. My mind certainly thought this was the case, even as my body relied on instincts old as time itself to argue against the rationality I was attempting to cling to.

Fortunately his smug grin, which reappeared as he opened the door and smelled my aroma mixed with his, helped to shift my mood once more. Anger overrode that ever unreliable temptress called lust, allowing me to regain a modicum of control. I smiled cheerfully as his grin faded once more in dissatisfaction. "That'll show him!" I thought to myself in a mixture of glee and rage.

Anger can be like a wonderful, warm blanket to wrap yourself in to keep out the cold. Ever since the loss of my family I've cultivated it, weeding out useless feelings like love and affection while the rage continues to grow. I've watered it from the well of hatred that I dug deeper and deeper each time I've hunted down Versch. I've fertilized it with the remains of their poor victims, most of which I still haven't been able to get clear from my mind. I can picture it in my head, a lush cornfield with tall stalks that go on and on in rows as far as the eye can see. You can easily hide in a field like that; even the monsters can have a hard time finding you. I know from experience.

"You are extraordinarily intriguing, Beth. Your moods shift faster than the wind in a winter storm." he rumbled, his exotic accent tinging his words with the hint of frustration and anger. I was getting a rise out of him finally; not the one he had been hoping for, but a rise nonetheless. "If I treated you according to the old rules, you would simply serve me in the capacities that I desired. Treating you as an equal is tougher than I had thought it would be."

"What do you want me to be like Konrad? Should I be giddy with eagerness that you have singled me out? Should I zip you open and fellate you while you give me the details of whatever service you need me to perform?" I let me anger seep into my voice as well, making it colder with each word. "I don't know if you know it, but I loathe your race. You are abominations of the worst possible kind and, like it or not, you prey on those weaker than you. It doesn't matter if you sprout fur or fangs, if you are allergic to cold iron or silver, you Versch are not my cup of tea."

He glanced at me sadly. "Would you paint all of us with the same brush, Beth? Do the humans not have their own monsters? Have not their leaders in the past and present not killed far more of their own kind than we 'monsters' have?" He turned his eyes back to the road, "I've had to kill to live in the past, but it is not something I wanted to do. Many of us learn quickly that dead bodies bring hunters upon our race; we temper our desires to consume the full draught of life or we find other life to feed on. You mention our furry brethren, most of whom had always subsisted on wildlife until the humans expanded into almost every possible land and proceeded to destroy it."

"Humans have wiped clean from the face of the Earth many were tribes, blaming them for losses to livestock or using them as scapegoats for murders performed by other humans." He continued, "Do you know that we used to be hunted for sport as well? I will tell you that my first unfortunate victim was a gun bearer for a Great White Hunter in the jungles of Africa. His master chose to hunt me instead of the other deadly wildlife lurking there, wounding me severely enough that I had to take a human life to heal the damage. The hilarity is that I had fled to the jungle to prevent this, after I was turned by my sire, but I was still forced to destroy an innocent in the remotest part of the continent I could find to hide in."

His words lashed into me, making me feel pretty low. I guess I haven't spent as much time talking to Versch as I have hunting and killing them. Of course, he could simply be playing me for a fool, but his story seemed plausible enough. I guess only time would tell if he was being truthful. I turned slighly in my seat. "Look, Konrad, let's call a truce for now. We've apparently both been through some harsh situations, but you didn't track me down so we could spend hours dishing over our complaints about other species." Who says I can't be reasonable? Of course I can't recall anytime previously, so I'll take the Fifth just to be safe.

We drove along in silence for a couple of minutes, the steady engine noise unlike anything I had ever heard. I figured I would break the ice that had formed by asking why. He seemed a bit shocked, but replied, "It's unique to this type of car, sixteen cylinders and four turbochargers. Basically a German car company, Volkswagen, took a twelve cylinder engine and stretched the design to allow four more cylinders. They did this for a concept car from Bentley that was never produced. After that, they decided to use it in the Veyron." He paused, then continued, "I have some...family holdings that give me a large amount of stock in the company and I love fast cars. The rush is similar to that of charging on a war horse into battle. I told them to design the fastest production car in the world and this is what they came up with. I'm told they sell them now to the public, but this was the first."

I noticed a fierce look on his face when he mentioned the charging into battle bit; sue me, but I am trained to catch these things. You can tell a lot about what an opponent is going to do if you watch their face and eye movement. I filed it away mentally, but it did make me start to wonder just how old Konrad might actually be. I ain't a history major, but I can't recall any mounted German charges in the last few years. "So now that we have managed to use our words again, what did you want to tell me Konrad?"

"I need to ask that this will remain betwen us, off the record so to speak. Tonight you need to not be a Marshall or I will have to take you back to your car and drop you off."

I turned and nodded my assent, motioning with my hands to continue. "I can swear that it will remain between us and not my superiors, but if I find that one of your race is breaking the law, I will kill them. That is about as much of a guarantee as I can give as far as not letting this go past us."

"That will have to do, Beth." He pursed his lips and gripped the steering wheel more tightly. "You have killed quite a few of our kind, but you and the humans know so little about our internal structure. What may surprise you is that we have our own laws and methods of justice, many of which are somewhat archaic by today's standards." He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. "We are an old race, our thoughts sometimes haven't left the middle ages in many ways. One of our more unique methods of determining guilt or innocence is Prozess Urteil, trial by ordeal. You would call it trial by combat."

I looked at him in shock. "You mean to tell me that you not only have a 'shadow goverment' but legal courts that dispense justice? If that was true, why the fuck do I have a job? Your people should be taking care of these assholes that go around screwing up innocent people's lives by killing their loved ones!" I couldn't believe it, all this time that I have been cleaning up Versch messes when they could be doing it. Of course, I wasn't really doing it for altruistic reasons, according to my suddenly talkitive conscience. Was I really only in this for the revenge? I slammed that thought back into its lockbox and administered a hard kidney punch to my conscience, had to keep it from getting uppity like that.

"It's not a goverment per se, Beth. It is more of a loose racial council with a lot of infighting and backstabbing. Again, very medieval, but that is what we have to work with. In fact, if we want to be fully open with one another, I have to tell you that my visit to you tonight was not exactly...sanctioned." He glanced at me briefly and then into the mirror.

I flinched as his hand shot at me, thinking he was attacking, but he was grabbing at my seat belt and pulling it tight. "We seem to have a tail, forgive me but I shall need to 'lose them' as you Americans say." His foot slammed to the floor and I felt myself slammed into the seat by an incredible pressure. We were going at highway speed and yet I heard the tires squeal as they grabbed for traction. Apparently this night was going to get even more interesting.