by Ashley Ladd
Tingles of fear spread through her body. Luke wouldn’t sneak in, so it must be something else. But then again, maybe she was just paranoid. Surely she had nothing to be paranoid about. She was merely tied up helpless, out in the middle of the spooky swamp.
“Luke? Is that you?” It was at least worth a try. Maybe he didn’t know he walked silently as the wind, or maybe he’d transformed into a butterfly and forgot to transform back.
No reply, but the temperature dropped so swiftly she shivered. She wasn’t alone, and she’d bet it wasn’t Luke.
Luke, where are you? she screamed in her mind, hoping he was attuned to her frequency and could read her thoughts from far distances. It was at least worth a try. I need you now!
There was no answering voice in her head or spirited on the wind. Like she’d really expected an answer.
“Tsk tsk,” a snide feminine voice said from the middle of the room as Anika shimmered into view before her. “Has Luke left you alone and defenseless? How careless of him.”
“Luke!” Terror imploded every cell of Chloe’s body and she writhed against her chains, cursing them and damning Luke for leaving her so defenseless.
Sinister laughter burst out. Anika’s underlings scurried out of the shadows, circling her like a pack of starved rats, pure evil gleaming from their soulless eyes. “Luke! Luke! She cries as if he’ll ride in on his white horse and rescue her. How pathetic.”
“Luke will be back any moment and he’ll kill you if he finds you here.”
Anika pouted prettily, knelt beside her, and held out a perfectly steady hand for Chloe’s inspection. “I’m so very frightened.” Then the vampire clutched her throat theatrically. “Luke’s going to kill me. Oh, Aunty Em! Aunty Em! I’m so scared!” she mocked.
The woman was insane! Not just a touch of which she had accused Luke, but totally, completely, around the bend. There would be no rational dealing with her. But what other choice did she have?
Clamping down on her fear lest the fiend catch the scent, Chloe forced herself to breathe deeply and steadily. She also did her best to blank her mind of surface thoughts the vampire could pick up on. “I don’t love Delaney. Why would I love a beast that kidnapped me and left me tied up in this dump? He’s inhuman! You’re welcome to him. Just release me and I swear I’ll never interfere with you and him again.”
“Filthy liar!” Anika backhanded Chloe with remarkable strength, slamming her head back against the wall, making her dizzy.
A second vampire appeared and pulled Anika off her. Ohmigod! Gerald! Fiery, agonizing torment slashed at her heart. This was her fault. Okay, he was a whiny, sniveling mama’s boy, but she hadn’t wished eternal damnation on him. “Oh my Lord! What happened to you?”
Fangs exploded from Gerald’s mouth. “Ishn’t ith obviouth?” he said with a pronounced lisp. Reeling on Anika, he snarled at her. “Get away from her. She’s mine. You promised her to me.”
Anika stepped back and bowed regally in a totally foreign gesture to her. “A thousand pardons. My baser nature got the best of me. She’s yours. Take her with my blessings.”
“No!” Chloe couldn’t help but yell out, even though he was far preferable to the witch of all vampires. But she didn’t trust him much farther. Still, it had been a stupid exclamation as she stood far greater chances of survival with her ex-fiancé than with the vampire diva.
“You don’t mean that, Chloe.” Gerald approached her stealthily, parting the minions as if he parted the Red Sea. “You belong to me. We’ll have a glorious eternal life together. We’ll be ecstatically happy.”
Since she didn’t see Luke charging in on his white stallion, she had to do whatever it took to survive. Not that she had any delusions that Gerald would let her live much longer than his malevolent creator. But she might be able to buy a few crucial moments until Luke returned, if he was planning to return.
She injected a sweetness into her voice that almost made her vomit. “Of course, I didn’t mean it that way, Gerald, my love. I was just so shocked, so upset to see what she had done to you that I cried out in anguish. I meant ‘no’, I was heartbroken that you’d been cursed.”
Anika rolled her eyes and pretended to play a violin. “Boohoo. See? I’m going to cry. I’m shedding a tear.”
Chloe longed to tell the bitch to shove it, but she couldn’t yet, so she just increased the wattage on her smile. “You came to save me? After how horrid I was to you? I’m so touched. So impressed.”
Gerald broke the chains that bound her as if he snapped a toothpick. Then he tore the irons from her wrists and rubbed her bruised flesh in his palms. “Soon you’ll never suffer from physical ailments again.”
“Spare me.” Anika paced quickly, her hands linked behind her back. “Where is Delaney? He should have come to your rescue by now.”
A giant wolf leapt through the door, his fangs bared and bloody, his claws extended murderously. To Chloe’s utter astonishment, it transformed into Luke in midair and landed on Gerald, his hands squeezing the doctor’s neck. “Get the hell away from her!”
Red-faced, Gerald roared in agony, his hands going around Luke’s throat. Struggling in hand-to-hand combat, they danced on the floor.
Chloe saw her chance for escape and tried to slip quietly out the door to merge with the shadows. She was a step from the door when a cruel grip almost tore her arm from its socket, making her cry out from the excruciating pain.
“Leaving the party already? I’ll join you.” Anika didn’t wait for an invitation, just whisked them away on the wings of the wind, cackling with a maniacal laugh that sent chills down Chloe’s spine.
“I thought you promised to let Gerald have me?” she asked bitterly, gasping from the pain.
Hatred twinkled in Anita’s eyes. “Men are so simple. He believed every line I fed him. He’s keeping Delaney busy while I dispose of you.”
Abject fear asphyxiated her, making it almost impossible to breathe. Her broken arm hung limply, twisting with the violent motion of their flight, strafing pain through her very core. The pain taking up more and more of her consciousness, Chloe struggled to speak, her words spurting out on short bursts of ragged air, “Why go to all this trouble? Why not just murder me there?”
Anika paused for several long moments before deigning to reply. Finally, with a snicker, she said, “I want Delaney to suffer the way he makes me suffer. If he survives the battle with Gerald, he’ll be worried out of his mind. Then he’ll get sloppy when he comes to your rescue. We’ll be waiting for him, and he will have the supreme pleasure of witnessing your slow, torturous death at my teeth. And you, my dear, will have the agony of knowing that I will own Luke’s heart and love once you’re in hell.”
Oh, God! She prayed that Luke wouldn’t come after her, that he would save himself. The devil incarnate dwelled inside this most evil of spirits. For herself, she prayed she would expire now so that she would not be conscious of her wretched fate.
If she were to drop from this height, her body would shatter on impact. It would be quick and merciful, a far superior death than the one to which Anika alluded. To that end, she bit Anika’s hand with all her might, tearing the flesh.
Anika screeched shrilly, opening her talons, dropping Chloe.
“Thank you, God.” She knew it was to be almost her last thought. “Save Luke,” she pleaded, welcoming her imminent death.
“Not so simple!” Anika screamed, swooping down on her, scooping her roughly into her arms. “You will not escape your destiny so easily. I have decreed you will suffer, and so you shall!”
Fed up with the woman’s melodrama, Chloe sighed loudly. “Don’t even try to become an actress. You’d never make it.”
Anika let loose a bloodcurdling scream and dug her talons into Chloe’s throbbing flesh. “You dare mock me, you insignificant slime. You aren’t fit to wipe my feet, yet you dare insult me. You will know the fury of my teeth, the indignity of my rage.”
“So you say.” If only she felt a te
nth as calm as she pretended. A hundredth! The fear almost paralyzed her, it was so overpowering. She was not only going to her death, but to a torturous one.
She would have to divorce herself from the pain and terror. She tried to hypnotize herself with some ancient techniques she’d studied back in college. That was the best she could do at the moment. Perhaps once they reached their final destination, an opportunity for salvation would present itself.
“You will be reverent in the manor.”
“Or you’ll do what?” What could be worse than torture and death?
“There are many levels of hell, and you’ll become well acquainted with the very worst. “
Chapter Seven
“Chloe’s mine! She’s promised to me!” Gerald raged at Luke like a castrated bull, more annoying than deadly.
“The lady will make up her own mind. From what I recall, she told you to get lost and stay away on more than one occasion. Can’t you take a hint?”
“Would that I drowned you in the river when I had the opportunity.” Gerald’s nostrils flared and he sunk his incisors into Luke’s breast, ripping his shirt to shreds.
Luke hurled him through the wall then searched for a wooden stake to finish the job. He should have seen this coming, that Anika would employ this idiot’s help to get at Chloe, but he hadn’t. “That was my favorite shirt.” It was authentic Egyptian cotton, a souvenir from his last plane trip to Cairo.
But the levity of his quip dissipated when a quick inspection of the room showed no sign of Chloe or Anika. “Damn!” Again Anika had bested him, distracting him with his rival. He should have guessed her scheme.
Diving on top of the bastard, stake held high, he aimed it at his heart, enjoying the trill of horror widening Gerald’s eyes. “Tell me where they went or I’ll run this through you here and now.”
“Have mercy on me. I’ve only begun to live. I’ve not even told Mumsy yet.” Tears streamed from Gerald’s eyes, plopping to the ground in a puddle of mud.
Luke’s fingers clenched around the stake, his arm growing weary. Trembling with fury, he lifted the idiot off the ground by his lapels. Longing to impale him with the instrument, he fought an inner battle. Chloe seemed to think he could earn his soul back if he didn’t commit cold-blooded murder. He wasn’t so sure, but what if she was right? What if God hadn’t forsaken him?
Gerald shook uncontrollably now, a mass of chaos. Luke pressed the sharp end to the man’s heart. “It would be so easy for me to end your miserable excuse for an existence here and now. Either tell me where they went, or take your final breath.”
Gerald gulped, his terror-filled gaze cross-eyed on the stake. “I’m not sure.” When Luke pressed the point harder, Gerald almost fainted, but gasped out, “Anika mentioned the manor. She hopes to lure you there.”
Luke pressed the stake still harder, piercing the man’s flesh, drawing a drop of intoxicating blood. “You wouldn’t be trying to lure me into a trap, would you? Would you?” Luke screamed like a crazy man.
“It’s probably a trap, but I don’t know any of the details of which to warn you.” Truth shone from Gerald’s glassy gaze, bringing Luke back to his senses.
Glaring down at the sorry excuse for a vampire much less a man, Luke spat on him. “If you ever threaten Chloe or me again, I’ll show no mercy next time. Understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“And you won’t help Anika with any more of her evil plots? Against us or anyone else?”
“What, are you trying for sainthood?” The dimwitted man snorted.
Luke narrowed his eyes menacingly, about to say the hell with it and change his mind. Would God take offense to the elimination of a toad like this? He doubted it. Perhaps he’d be knighted for ridding the world of the no-good creep. “For someone who’s at the sharp end of a stake, you’re not very bright.”
He waited for the import of his words to sink in and was amused when the man almost turned green and his eyes rolled back in his head. “So, I ask you again, and this will be the last time I repeat myself. Are you going to assist Anika in any more evil plots against us or anyone else?”
“No, my Lord. You have my word that I will not aid Anika.”
My Lord? Perish the thought. At least he was beginning to show a better level of reverence and appreciation for the position in which he found himself.
Luke lifted the stake and dropped the man unceremoniously to the ground. “Don’t go back on your word or I will hunt you down and correct my error of this day. Understand?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Imbecile! What had Chloe seen in this excuse for a man?
“Remember that. I will.” Luke put the stake in his mouth and transformed into an owl, taking to flight on the winds of the breaking dawn.
* * * * *
Anika nailed Chloe to a cross in the dungeon of what she referred to as the manor. Sidling up to her, Anika ripped her shirt and bared her chest. Then she fondled her exposed breasts, her eyes looking intoxicated.
Thoroughly disgusted, Chloe tried to twist away, but she was stuck. Unbearable anguish tore through her as if she was being pulled apart limb by limb. “You’re a devil.”
“I’m touched.” Anika licked her lips, and her fangs burst from her mouth. “I’m also quite hungry.”
“Get away, you vampire witch!” Chloe writhed against the vile bite of the woman’s lips on her breast.
“Your blood is very sweet, but not sweet enough for my tastes.” Anika lifted her head, Chloe’s blood dripping from her teeth.
“Good! I hope it’s sour and that it poisons you.” Chloe leveled a heap of curses on the vampire’s head, hoping they would crush her.
“Ah, but I can make it sweeter…”
That didn’t sound good. Just how did she plan to do that?
“Terror sweetens the blood, my dear. Complete and utter fear. I’m surprised that it isn’t almost saccharine by now.” Anika scraped a fingernail across Chloe’s nipple.
Trying to suck in her chest to move away from the despicable touch, Chloe wondered what could be more frightening than this.
“What is your worst nightmare, my dear?”
Like she’d tell her? She wasn’t the crazy one. But deep in her memories, she recalled the horrible day when Luke had been declared legally dead. Deeper still, she remembered waking up screaming in terror from nightmares of snakes writhing over her naked body, devouring her. She hadn’t thought of that since she was a small child, and she hastily shoved it away.
But not soon enough, for Anika smiled slyly and clapped her hands in glee. “You fear snakes. Lots of horrible, devilish, slimy snakes.”
Before Chloe’s horrified eyes, Anika transformed into a serpent, a giant hooded creature with soulless eyes. Its slashed tongue lashed at her sinisterly, freezing the blood in her veins.
“Good,” the snake hissed, bowing its head to her naked breast, licking it. “Your blood’s growing sweeter by the second. But still not enough.”
More snakes winked into the room. Thousands of serpents converged on her, writhing up her legs, slithering down her head, and dropping from the ceiling. She closed her eyes against the horrible vision, but she couldn’t block out the feel of their slimy touch.
The giant snake sank its venomous fangs into her breast and drank deeply, draining her of her energy.
Weak, chilled to the bone, Chloe struggled to pull air into her gasping lungs. “I thought you wanted to wait for Luke to witness your torture of me?”
“Oh, I will, my darling girl. This is nothing yet. I was starved and needed sustenance. You can’t blame a vampire for taking a little drink. We get thirsty, too.”
Luke’s image spread itself on the wind behind the serpent. “Luke!” By now she was so woozy and drained, she didn’t know if it was an illusion or if it was another one of Luke’s many forms. She could barely hold her head up, but she struggled to watch, hoping against hope that it was her Luke, yet crazy with fear for the same reason.
&nb
sp; Anika withdrew her fangs from Chloe’s breasts, letting the blood continue to pour from the open wound. Her eyes glowed red, and she hissed, “Delaney!”
Luke solidified, pure rage etched on his face. “You’ll pay for this atrocity, witch!” He buried a wooden stake in the snake’s chest with a fiendish force.
Anika stared down at her snake’s body in confusion. Then she laughed mockingly. “Fool. A snake’s heart is not located where a human’s is. Now you’ve lost your weapon. Prepare to watch your beloved die an excruciating death.”
Luke sucked in a fearful breath when he saw Chloe nailed to the cross, and the vile serpent drinking her blood. He was vexed that the wooden stake had missed its mark, and howled in passionate rage. “I will have your head for this!”
“I already have your balls twisted in my hands.”
“Don’t you mean your slimy belly? How true to form you finally are. I knew you couldn’t fight like a woman.” Luke baited the witch’s anger, as he yanked the stake from the snake’s cavity.
Anika hissed, baring monstrous bloody fangs. “You are truly a blind fool, Delaney. You’ve been bested and you can’t see it.”
As long as there was life left in Chloe’s body, there was hope. But the way her head hung low and as shallow as her respiration was, he didn’t know for how much longer. He had no time to waste disposing of the fiendish vampire. From long experience he knew that Anika’s conceit knew no bounds and deigned that it would be her downfall.
Dropping to his knee, he bowed to her regally, “I bow to you, my queen. You’ve opened my eyes.”
Anika’s elliptical eyes regarded him suspiciously as she coiled her body around him. “Why do I not trust you? You are not one to lavish compliments so swiftly. Is this a trick?”
Chloe coughed, spurting blood, and lifted her head fractionally. “Look out, Luke. She’s trying to trap you.” The young woman’s words came out in short, pained gasps. That and her ghostly pallor sent frissons of alarm through Luke’s being. He could smell that the life was rapidly draining from her. He couldn’t afford to play these games with Anika while Chloe died before his eyes. His heart was shattering as vengeance boiled deep inside.
