Raven Wals

Chapter Sixteen: Bella

They all sat at the booth -- humans on one side, vampires on the other - in the very back of the club, away from the curious, if not cautious, stares of the other patrons. Fortunately for Ginger and Hunter, their great reveal had occurred when the club was scarcely full. Which was par for the course now that there was a homicidal Creature on the loose.

Even for vampires, sometimes there was more than just hunters to fear.

Ginger and Hunter drank from their bottles of water, but everyone else chose something a bit stronger.

"So you've followed it here from Europe," Raven repeated, trying to digest it all.

Ginger nodded. "We've trailed it from Greece to Italy and even as far north as Ireland."

"What brought it here?" Constantine asked.

"We don't know," Hunter told him. "That's what we've been trying to figure out."

"At first all the targets seemed completely random," Ginger added. "There was no rhyme or reason, we just chalked it up to simple blood lust and carnage."

"And now?" Abi asked.

"Now it all seems to lead to one person," Hunter told her.

"Me."

Everyone looked at Raven. No one could really argue.

"So I guess we need to find out exactly what your ties are to Europe," Ginger told him.

"That's easy. That's where I'm from."

"That's what we figured," Hunter told him.

"So this Creature is after you, specifically?" Abi asked. "Why?"

"The thing is we're not entirely convinced it is after Raven. We think it's after everyone that Raven has touched. Which makes it highly suspect that you've not yet been attacked," Ginger said to Constantine.

Constantine leaned in. He regarded this redheaded huntress as a threat, it was obvious in his eyes. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Ginger was undaunted. She knew enough about vampires to know that he wasn't menacing. And even if he was, she knew how to deal with him. "You tell me."

His eyes hardened as he tried to stare her down, but it wasn't working.

"It could mean that the Creature is tracking both of us," Raven offered. Constantine looked at him. "Greece is where I turned you."

"But it doesn't seem to care about who I'm with or why," Constantine said. "It's only out to punish you by taking the people you care about. And since you don't care about me, I'm not a target."

"At least you weren't," Raven corrected as he sent a glance over to Abi, who shrunk back against the seat. She instantly wanted to apologize, but she didn't even really know why.

"So if you guys are tracking this Creature, does it know about you?"

Hunter shrugged. "This thing is a ruthless killing machine, it doesn't really pay much mind to humans or vampires, hunters or not. It's like it's got this one track mind. If you're not part of the agenda it barely acknowledges your existence at all. We're just speed bumps."

"Speed bumps it can't touch," Raven pointed out. His mouth still tingled from the electrifying kiss he and Ginger had shared on the dance floor.

Hunter just smiled. "Consider it our little insurance policy." He toasted them with his bottled water.

Raven's eyes opened wide. He grabbed Ginger's bottle before she could stop him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she warned him but Raven opened it anyway. He poured a very small drop onto the back of his hand, and it sizzled almost right down to the bone.

Ginger retrieved the bottle while Raven writhed in agony. "I told you."

Raven's face distorted with pain and with disbelief. "You drink holy water?"

Hunter chuckled. "Call it Vampire-be-Gone. The human body is made up of like 70% water. We just replenish with holy water and it means we're virtually untouchable."

"And it's worked until tonight," Ginger commented. "That was the first time any vampire has tried to hold on despite the burning chemical reaction."

"What can I say?" Raven quipped. "I'm not your usual vampire."

"Neither is this Creature," Hunter said. "Which is why what happened tonight was so dangerous. It outed us as hunters, yes, but the only ones who care about that are vampires like yourself. This Creature only cares that Raven singled Ginger out for a conquest."

"I'm not scared," Ginger spoke up immediately, even though both vampires and even her hunter partner could see that she was lying -- if only to herself.

"Always your downfall," Hunter said under his breath.

"You're not fighting him alone," Raven told them. "If this thing is tracking the people I care about," he briefly hesitated while he glanced at Abi, who sat silently trying to take it all in, "then I have to confront it myself."

"You don't have the knowledge it takes to fight him," Constantine told him, and immediately caused Raven's fur to rise. Constantine held up his hand. "You're not a killer, Raven. Admit it. I have a lot more experience with the hunt and the conquest. I came back here because you need me."

Raven said nothing but clenched his jaw in barely subdued anger because he knew that Constantine had a point.

"Okay, so we're all in this together," said Hunter. "Where do we go from here?"

"My house," Raven said with a resolute tone that invited no argument. "We hold up together, safety in numbers."

Hunter nodded, and Ginger sent him a surprised glare. "He's right. This thing uses the whole divide and conquer approach. Until now it's not had to deal with a group of people organized to defeat it."

"You're talking about a war," Abi finally spoke up.

Hunter's blue eyes bored into hers. "That's because it is."

"And the enemy of my enemy is my friend?" she asked him.

"We're not enemies," Ginger told her sister, forcing her to look away from Hunter. "We all have the same objective. To kill this Creature, and to survive. Since that's going to be a lot easier with us intact as a group, it serves all of our purposes to keep each other safe." Ginger glanced over at the vampires across the table. "Right?"

They nodded, Raven quicker than Constantine, and then all proceeded to Raven's old plantation named Bella, in grand old Southern tradition. It was immaculate and Raven had been dedicated to its upkeep, making sure it was restored to the original condition he had enjoyed when he first came to New Orleans a century ago.

Everything was a step back in time, right down to Raven's manservant Bernard, who seemed surprisingly unaffected by the horde of people to show up at the door of his ultra private master.

At a very spry, and permanent, 60, Bernard looked as though nothing really surprised him anymore. He worked for a vampire -- what else could possibly happen to him?

"Good evening, Bernard," Raven greeted warmly. "These are my guests. They are staying with me for an indeterminate period of time. I trust you will make sure they are made to feel at home."

"Of course, sir," Bernard said with almost a slight bow. He was old school and treated his job and his master with ultimate decorum. "Any preferences in the sleeping arrangements?"

Hunter stepped forward and put his arm around Ginger. "My wife and I would like to stay together."

Constantine was quick to stake his claim too and take Abi's arm in his. "And we would like a room together as well."

Though neither came as a surprise to Raven, he wasn't all that pleased by either. Yet he understood the logic behind it. The women had to stay with those who could protect them, and Abi would be at far greater risk to share his bed than Constantine's.

"Very well," Bernard said as he gathered the bags they had stopped to collect along the way to the plantation. "This way," he said to Ginger and Hunter. With just a small backward glance over her shoulder at her sister, Ginger followed, seemingly reluctant to leave Abi alone with the two vampires.

"You do realize having them here is like juggling dynamite." Constantine said to Raven once they had gone out of sight. "Are you sure you trust them?"

"I trust them about as much as I trust you," he said, sparing Abi only the briefest glance. "Besides," Raven headed toward his ornate cherry wood bar in the corner of his main sitting room. "Can we afford not to?"

He pulled out a bottle of water from the refrigerator. "It does make your choice a little more difficult now, doesn't it?" he asked Abi.

"What do you mean?" she asked with a tip of her chin.

"He means your choice to become a vampire," Constantine filled in as he flopped on the antique sofa.

"Who says I have made that choice?" she immediately wanted to know.

Raven walked back around the bar to where she stood. Without saying a word he lifted her hair and exposed her wounded neck. "A little something you should know about vampires. We can read thoughts. I know what you felt when these wounds were made because I was there, thanks to my connection with Constantine."

The thought both thrilled and frightened her. "Kind of makes your Halloween episode to try and scare me away rather useless, don't you think?"

He chuckled. "Indeed." He went over to join Constantine in a chair near the sofa. "But if you're going to become one of us you should know that is what you eventually become. The only difference between us and that Creature is some muscle and skin."

"I don't believe that," she said as she stalked over to where they sat. "There's a lot of humanity left in both of you, whether you choose to see it or not." They both scoffed but she put her hands on her hips. "If that weren't true, whether I became a vampire or not wouldn't even be my choice."

Both Constantine and Raven leveled their dark eyes on her and said in unison, "What makes you think it is?"

They both rose and approached her where she stood, one on either side, close enough she could feel both of their hot breath on her skin. Again she tipped her chin. "I'm not scared," she tried to assert, but it came out as a breathless whisper.

"You should be," Raven told her in a firm, low voice. As he ran his hands up either of her arms, Constantine lifted up her hair and kissed every inch of her sensitive neck except for the two throbbing wounds. She stared into Raven's eyes, unable to look away, even when she wanted to tip her head back and lose herself to the sensations.

"This isn't a game," he told her, his finger trailing up her arm and over across her chest, up her neck and across her jaw. "We play for keeps."

"So do I," she whispered as her arms slipped up around his neck and she kissed him hard on the mouth.

They all crashed into a guest room decorated in blue satin and black lace, a tangle of arms, lips, hair and skin. There was no more discussion on what was right or wrong, good or bad -- there was just blatant, raw, animal need. Constantine ripped off his shirt before he lifted Abi up by the waist and thrust her up onto the four poster bed.

He was quick to follow, crashing down on her with fevered kisses and hands that didn't miss an inch of her already exposed skin, as her tiny halter dress left little to the imagination.

Raven was slower to follow, stripping casually as he watched their passionate embrace. He felt every touch, every kiss. Adding to that the voyeur experience of looking on made it more deliciously erotic.

Abi pushed Constantine onto his back and straddled him, running her fingers along his bare chest and up into his long, silky hair. From behind she felt Raven as he knelt on the bed beside them, his hand in her hair, cupping her head as he guided her mouth down across Constantine's shimmering skin. Her tongue burned tiny circles across his chest, over each nipple, across his ribcage and down over his trembling stomach.

Her fingers deftly unbuttoned Constantine's pants and his huge member strained up to meet her full lips. Her tongue slithered up the hardening shaft and danced across the satiny head. He gasped from the contact of her breath against him, and Raven's hand grasped her hair. "Take it," Raven commanded.

She needed no further urging. Her mouth covered Constantine's hard cock and slid down to take as much as she possibly could into her throat. Raven, who had unbuttoned his own pants before he knelt on the bed, grasped his own hard cock and jerked off slowly, savoring the sensation of her mouth on his skin through Constantine.

Her bright red hair fell over his thighs and through Raven's clinched fingers. She licked, she tasted, she savored and celebrated his cock with slow strokes, alternately sucking and slithering her tongue all around his stiff dick. Constantine's hand disappeared between her creamy white thighs, slipping easily around her pussy, dripping wet with her own desire for the two men whose bed she shared. They were like a drug, and she was hopelessly addicted - even though she knew that each and every encounter threatened her very life. She was willing to give it all, just for one taste.

He gently teased her hard clitoris with his fingertip, slow at first, but increasing in pace with the rhythm of her mouth on his cock. Raven responded in kind, stroking himself faster as he watched her grind against Constantine's fingers.

The more of him she got in her mouth, the more urgent Constantine's fingers on her cunt. When she reached the base, taking the whole thing deep into her mouth, he inserted two fingers deep inside her and caused her to groan against his skin.

Raven urged her to go faster, to virtually fuck Constantine with her mouth while he in return fucked her with his fingers. Raven's head tipped back, spilling his long black hair across his lean, muscled, bare back, as he furiously jacked off to the once removed sensations that still felt as intense as if he was being blown by or finger fucking Abi himself.

Just as everyone was racing toward their first mind blowing orgasm, Constantine withdrew his fingers and slid himself from her mouth. He lifted her up on her knees to face Raven. Now with Constantine's hand in her hair, she began her intimate journey across Raven's body at his neck.

Constantine positioned himself behind her, and slid his free hand down in between her legs to resume his torturous teasing while she kissed her way down Raven's rock hard body. She barely hesitated as she dove down onto his cock, sucking Raven inside of her mouth while Constantine mimicked her actions with his fingers in her pussy.

Constantine watched as Raven stroked himself in and out of her mouth, and he could not hold back anymore. He used both hands to push the fabric of her dress over her hips, and used both knees to spread her legs wide so that he could mount her from behind.

The minute he shoved himself deep inside of her quivering cunt, Abi grunted against Raven's thick cock shoved deep inside of her throat. Raven cupped her face in his hand as he fucked her mouth in the same rhythm that Constantine fucked her pussy. She lost control and bucked against Constantine with the force of her orgasm.

Effortlessly Constantine lifted her up into his arms. She was still cumming the minute Constantine thrust her right down on Raven's hard cock, which caused her to cry out.

Though he had felt the sensations through Constantine, to feel her tight, hot pussy all around him was mind boggling. He had dreamed of this moment from the very first moment he saw her, and now he was here, fucking her with a raw intensity that normally scared his partners -- but one that Abi encouraged. His fingers dug into the soft skin of her ass as he drove inside of her with an urgency he hadn't felt in a very long time. He couldn't get close enough or deep enough, and all he wanted to do was to keep her cumming until she was ready to pass out from pleasure.

Still slick from her well lubricated pussy, Constantine positioned himself right against her tight asshole. She shook her head, but only slightly, as she was reeling from the pleasure of Raven's fucking her faster and harder.

Constantine gently pushed the head of his cock into her ass, which prompted her to cry out again. She had a full body shudder that encouraged him in even further. While Raven was pumping into her, Constantine took his time, sliding in, opening her up to him, until he was balls deep inside of her.

She was completely filled with vampire cock. She thought she'd black out from the pleasure they were giving her, but even as good as it felt it still wasn't enough. There was still something she needed more than she needed to breathe.

She bared her neck.

Raven's eyes burned red as his fangs grew, and though he wanted to resist he found himself unable to once he stared down at the clean side of her neck. He felt her pussy clutch at him, begging him, urging him for more. He bent forward and put his mouth on her neck, scraping his fangs against the virgin skin.

Constantine lifted her hair from the side of her neck he'd already marked. He mirrored Raven's actions by licking the skin and teasing her with the sharp tips of his own fangs.

From the cocks plunged in both her pussy and ass, to the dangerous mouths that circled her veins, she couldn't take it any longer. If the choice was hers, she was going to make it. "Please!" she begged breathlessly.

Simultaneously four fangs penetrated her skin. Abi came harder and longer than she had ever come in her life, and the more blood they sucked the more exquisite the pleasure.

Both vampires lost themselves in their own passion, and with raw animal power they drove themselves to the brink and beyond ... each cumming inside of her while they felt her blood pour down their throats.

Only when she started to slump against them did they regain their senses. Surprisingly, Constantine was the first to break his hold on her and stumble away. Raven was quick to follow, easing the pale, unconscious woman onto the bed and checking her pulse to see how far they'd gone.

It was weak, but a pulse was there.

Raven collapsed on the bed next to Constantine as they both tried to catch their breath. "She's alive."

Constantine sighed. "For now."

Raven said nothing, but his thoughts mirrored Constantine's. No matter how hard they tried, Abi would die in the arms of a vampire.

The only question was if she'd awake a vampire or be torn apart by a Creature determined to steal all of those who walk where Raven walks.