“David and Antony will help you through this, do you understand? They will hunt for you and keep you from taking innocent life. Will you accept their help, and their way of life?”
Randal nodded, and this time, he hugged her.
When morning approached, Randal laid back on the bed and closed his eyes. David had come to stand in the doorway. She turned to David and they closed the door on the way out.
“I think he’ll be okay,” Maggie said.
“Me too,” said David.
While the vampires slept, David and Maggie hunted. It was the first time David had ever captured prey with her assistance, and he had to admit, watching Maggie fight aroused in him feelings he had never before felt. Whenever Maggie saw him looking she questioned him with a look. He just smiled, blushed and turned away. They completed the day’s catch quickly. Maggie’s gift of seeing red auras around evil men ensured them that their day’s catch was authentic. They deposited the four men—Antony’s usual three and one extra for Randal—in the panic room. They could kick and scream all they liked, they couldn’t get out, and no one could hear them. They had all the oxygen they needed to breathe pumped in through a very sophisticated aeration system. Once the lock was in place, Maggie and David climbed the stairs to the living room to relax.
“That was amazing!” Maggie said and shook the neck of her blouse to fan herself.
She spotted David staring at her again, and she could see where his eyes were landing and it wasn’t on her face. She smiled. It also didn’t escape her notice that David’s jeans were tighter than normal. When he saw she had caught him looking at her chest, he blushed and turned away.
“We make a great team. Who knew teaming up would be so much fun,” she said.
David looked down and realized his own body was betraying him. He squirmed.
She giggled playfully at his distress.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Maggie told him. She stepped closer.
“I’m not ashamed,” he said. “It has a mind of its own. I don’t know why it’s coming out now.” He immediately regretted his words.
“I do,” Maggie said reaching for him playfully. He backed away, still trying—and failing—to hide his erection.
When David moved to the right, Maggie countered the move, anticipating it. She latched onto him and pulled him into her embrace. She looked up at him. In a soft, tender voice, she said, “It’s a natural part of being human.” She kissed him then. Feeling his body shivering in her grasp, she led him toward the bed and began to remove his clothes. Resistant at first, David soon reciprocated her advances and helped her peel off their clothes. They fell into the bed naked. David moved his hands over her body, feeling her soft skin and exploring her curves. His light touch sent shivers through her. He thought of telling her that he had never been with a woman before, but somehow he felt she already knew. He kissed her erect nipples. She arched her back as he entered her. He pushed against her gently, shuttering at the immense pleasure he felt at being inside her. He kissed her neck, her ear, her mouth. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and felt her lips accept it. He moved slowly and rhythmically against her. Their moans melded together. David found a warm spot inside her. He touched that spot again and again until Maggie started to cry out, as if in pain. When David tried to pull away, Maggie pulled him back. He pressed against her, driving his erection deep inside her. Maggie gasped and dug her nails into his back, dragging the nails across the flesh and leaving long red welts. She didn’t seem to be aware of what she had done. David cringed, enjoying the pleasure in the pain. He dove deeper into the pleasure of her flesh, and his movements began to grow more frantic. She wrapped her legs around his, wanting him to release into her. Just when she thought he was about to release and finish, he backed off and slowed into a new rhythm. No other lover had ever brought her to this level of ecstasy. His stamina was maddening. She wanted it to end—needed it to end—but prayed that it would not. It didn’t.
It took David several hours to finally reach his own climax, and with a gasping shuttering heave, David lay still. Maggie tensed as the explosion of an orgasm ripped like white hot fire through the core of her being. She panted, needing water. He pulled out of her and rolled to the side, soaked in sweat and exhausted. They lay silently entwined in each other’s arms, their glistening bodies wrapped into one form. David drifted into sleep first; and Maggie, honored to have been his first, held him tightly until she too glided down, down into blissful exhausted sleep.
David woke first. He slipped away from her quietly, stepped into the shower and let the scalding water wash over him. He didn’t leave the shower until he had scrubbed every inch of himself red and raw. When he stepped out of the bathroom, a wave of steam escorted him into the cooler air of the bedroom. He walked naked over to the dresser and retrieved fresh clothes. He was sitting on the sofa in the spot where they had made love when Maggie woke. They didn’t speak and he didn’t look at her. The sun shone in through the window, heating up the house and causing sweat to break out on their foreheads. David thought he should say something, but didn’t know what.
As she sat in the recliner with her eyes closed, a bead of sweat formed in the hollow of her throat. David was suddenly worried about her. He felt strong feelings for her, and he wanted her to know that, but what he wanted for himself would not bode well for her if she were to fall in love with him. If he got what he wanted—and that was to be a vampire—he would have to leave her behind. She would grow old and die, and he would live on. Also, Antony had told him vampires do not feel love or lust in the same way that humans do. It would not be fair for her if he did not have the same feelings she felt. She would want to satisfy her sexual urges and that wouldn’t be possible with him once he turned. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them to get into a relationship. So he concluded he would not allow it to happen again. For the rest of the day, David could not look Maggie in the eye. He didn’t know what he would see. He was grateful when the sun set and the two vampires in the house rose.
With Maggie’s gift, they began devising a plan to track the murderous vampire. Through his victims, Maggie was able to hone her visions into concrete locations, but they always seemed to arrive too late to do any good. The vampire was able to cover his tracks too well. Maggie couldn’t get an emotional lock on him. There was a moment when she thought she had sensed fear on a street not far from them—a street in Allentown where ladies of the night frequented, but when they arrived there they found nothing. They decided it wasn’t their killer since that wasn’t his modus operandi. He didn’t kill single victims, and besides, there was no corpse. When Maggie felt the same woman’s fear later that night, she felt a pang of regret that they couldn’t help her, but she didn’t bother telling the others. The only consolation she had was that eventually the girl’s killer would cross their path and Antony would dispatch him. Maggie took comfort in that much at least.
“Do you have any ideas?” David asked Maggie.
Maggie looked up from where she was sitting with Randal and shrugged.
“How about you, little man, do you have any ideas?”
Randal looked at him but didn’t respond. David thought as much, but had to ask anyway. He, himself, had nothing either: deadlocked.
“Astral projection,” Maggie said.
“What about it?” David asked.
“I’m not good at it and will need to practice, but if I can astral project to the vampire’s next target, I could warn them, and at the same time tell you where he is going to strike.” She stopped suddenly as if her idea had blown itself out, like a match: one minute as bright as a flame, and then nothing but smoke.
“You look doubtful,” Antony said to Maggie.
“That’s because I am. The only time I can hone in on the killer is when he is in his full on frenzy. I can be there in an instant, but I can’t tell you where it is until I get there. I’ll have to come back into my body and tell you where to go.
“And we’l
l be in the same boat as always. By the time we get there he will be gone and we will be too late.”
“Not necessarily,” Antony said. “You said you could warn the family. You could get them to leave before they are murdered.”
Maggie slumped in her chair. “I said I could try. I’ll have maybe two or three seconds to get them to leave before he arrives.”
“Try is right. Sounds impossible,’ said David.
“This is better than doing nothing,” said Antony. “Practice astral projection and if you think you can do it tomorrow night, send your projected self to the family. Warn them to leave. When he arrives, come back and tell me where he is. I will go there alone and confront him. All this could be over tomorrow night if this plan works.” They spent the rest of the night trying to work out the details of this new plan of attack.
Just before dawn, Antony pulled Randal aside and crouched to face the boy at eye level. With a serious look that made the boy cringe, Antony said: “I was not fair to you.”
“What do you mean?” Randal asked.
Antony looked away for a moment then turned back to the boy. “When we first heard of your existence, I immediately feared the worst. I believed you to be an abomination that would have to be destroyed. It was Maggie that forced me to admit my ignorance. I am sorry I did not give you a chance to prove your worth.”
“You have given it to me now,” Randal said. “The past doesn’t matter.”
Antony smiled. “Yes, now is all that matters.” He ruffed up Randal’s already messy hair and they retired to their sleeping chambers.
Maggie practiced by first projecting herself to the other side of the room. Then she astral projected outside. When Maggie projected herself outward, her eyes closed, her head went back and her body went limp. David was afraid she would fall out of the chair so when she returned to her body after being gone for about three minutes, he asked her to move to the sofa.
“It’s like you’re having a seizure or something. I’m worried about you.”
She stretched out on the plush cushions. “Are you trying to have your way with me again?” She smiled at his reddening cheeks: so cute.
The training went on all day, and when night approached, she felt sufficiently adept enough to send her projection anywhere she wanted to go inside the perimeter of her powers.
When Antony woke, she informed him she was ready.
The group climbed into the Zephyr and headed out to the Pocono Mountains, the Houseguest Killer’s preferred hunting ground. When they reached the area most likely to be the killer’s next stop, David slowed the RV to a crawl and they made a sweep of one street, then another. Maggie relaxed on the bed and concentrated. No one disturbed her.
Antony and Randal had each taken a victim earlier in the night, But Antony would soon need another. There was time enough after the task was finished to feed. Antony hoped he would have time to take a victim, but when Maggie started to thrash, and then went limp, he knew time was up.
15.
Sheila Beadle walked into the living room carrying the huge bowl of popcorn and frowned when she saw her son and her husband sprawled out on the sofa.
“You two better be planning on making room for me,” she said. Her husband smiled and moved over, patting the seat next to him.
“I was saving this one for you, my love,” he said using his most sincere inflection.
“Like hell you were.” She scowled suspiciously. “I don’t buy it.” She sat down and cuddled up next to her husband. “But you’re forgiven.”
“What are we watching?” her son asked.
Dad wiggled his fingers in front of his son’s face. “A ghost story.” The boy simply swatted his father’s hand away, annoyed by the lame attempt to scare him.
As Dad pressed the remote to start the movie, Maggie appeared directly in front of the television. After astral projecting to the family’s living room, it took her a few precious seconds to orient herself to the new surroundings. She focused on the family gathered on the sofa when the woman began to scream. A large bowl of popcorn tumbled to the floor.
“Please listen to me. You’re in danger. The Houseguest Killer… coming…to kill you.” Her warning was pointless by that time. The entire family was already in panic mode and racing for the back door. The man pushed the boy along, lifting him when he nearly fell. The woman cried in terror as she followed her family out of the house. Maggie watched them go, pleased with the result.
The front door burst open and the Houseguest Killer made his presence known with a flourish of his trench coat, and a toss of his staff. He appeared somewhat troubled by the sight of the family fleeing out the back door. He watched them leave then turned and saw Maggie standing in front of the television.
“And who are you?” He brandished the ivory head of his cane at her.
“I’m someone you’re going to wish you had never seen.” Maggie crossed her arms over her chest.
He used vampire speed and rushed toward her. She gasped at the speed of his movements, but remembered he couldn’t hurt her. He reached out for her neck to snap it, but his hand passed through her. She smiled, waved goodbye, and disappeared as he stood wondering what had happened.
“He’s at 236 Church Street,” Maggie said upon returning to her body in the Zephyr. Antony needed no explanation. He burst from the Zephyr in a rush of air. The door banged against the frame. After several seconds, Randal, too, disappeared in a whoosh of crackling air. “Randal, no!” Maggie reached for the child vampire, but it was too late.
Antony rushed through the door the Houseguest Killer had not bothered to close. He was still in the house staring dumbly at the spot where Maggie had vanished. Antony now stood not ten feet from the vampire he had spent the last several weeks chasing. He was tall, strong and old. This one was older than Antony. How much older, Antony could not tell for sure but he had spent many thousands of years terrorizing mortals.
“You are an abomination,” Antony said to the dumbfounded vampire.
“Who are you and why did you chase away my meal? And who was that girl? She is human but she disappeared. What kind of sorcery is that?”
Then Randal appeared.
The vampire’s amused smile faded as he glanced down at the boy who had once been his pet, and then looked back at Antony. He snarled.
“You stole my pet. He’s mine.”
“Hello, Dark Father.” Randal spat the words out like poisonous seeds.
“You should not have come.” Antony shoved the boy behind him but never took his eyes off the killer vampire.
The Dark Father could not focus on Antony. Randal was the one that got away, roped no more. He would have his little pet back. The new pet was nice but he was not the roped boy. He could have both pets: the beautiful little roped boy, who was perfect in every way, and the hideous corpse boy. They were brothers, after all.
“You lost your rope. I’ll get you a new one.” He reached into his coat.
Antony attacked. He flew at the killer and drove him back into the 60-inch plasma TV, breaking it into pieces. The offending vampire fought back, pushing Antony across the room to the opposite wall. The vampire glanced over at his lost pet, and Antony used the momentary distraction to break his attacker’s hold and forced the vampire to the floor. Even as Antony struggled to rip out the vampire’s heart, the other couldn’t stop looking for his roped boy. He tried to squirm out of Antony’s grip but could not break the hold. He fought again, just long enough to prevent Antony from plunging a fist through his chest, and then again tried to reach out to the boy. He felt Antony’s bite and yelped.
Antony had opened a six-inch gash in the killer’s neck. The killer yowled like an injured wolf and tried to bite Antony, but Antony dodged all his attacks easily. Antony took another big bite out of the killer’s neck. He spat the glob of flesh, and even as it left his mouth, the flesh turned to ash. Then the fight intensified.
The killer moved with lightning speed and pushed Antony away. Anto
ny flew up and tumbled over backward. He instantly pounced up on his feet. The killer flew at Randal. The boy had just enough time to lift his arms to block his face as he was struck by the Dark Father. Randal flew into the wall behind him.
Antony was on the killer in an instant, driving him onto his hands and knees. Antony wrapped an arm around the killer’s neck and squeezed. He attempted to remove the head from the body. Randal thought they looked like high school wrestlers in a match for the championship. They twisted and squirmed in each other’s grip, but both seemed to be matched strength for strength and neither could get the upper hand.
But then the killer rose up and slammed Antony on his back. The killer stood over Antony victoriously. He reached for his staff, intending to bring down the massive ivory bobble to crush Antony’s head. Antony moved just as the skull crushing blow came, and rose up behind his adversary. He used his fists to pound the killer back down to the floor. The ferocity of the blows kept the vampire pinned to the floor, and once again the staff skittered away from him and out of his reach. Antony continued to hammer the killer’s back driving him down.
But then the fight turned again.
As Antony continued to hammer the weakened and heavily damaged killer vampire to the floor, he didn’t hear the Zephyr pull up outside. David entered the house and searched frantically for a weapon to help in the fight. Maggie entered and pulled Randal out of the house.
“David, go. I have this.” Antony averted his eyes, just for a second.
This distraction was what the killer vampire needed to recover. He flipped onto his back, shoved Antony into the far wall and leapt to his feet. Weakened, but still stronger and faster than any human, the killer moved with super speed and grabbed David by the neck…
And yanked.
Something snapped.
The killer tossed him like a ragdoll and flew from the house. He then retrieved his staff and flew from the house in a crackling gust of wind.
Antony moved to chase the killer, but stopped when he saw the heap on the floor that was David’s body.
Immortal Coil: A Novel (Immortal Trilogy Book 1) Page 13
