BloodlustBundle

by Margaret Carter, Crystal Green, Erica Orloff, Patricia Rosemor

  “A bad feeling?”

  “Yup. Like Satan was there.”

  “You believe in Satan?”

  “The things I saw in prison, my man, I surely do.”

  Cool stared off down the street. “Bro, I got to tell you something.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I broke up with Holly.”

  Jorge’s eyes twinkled. “You did, huh?”

  “Yeah. I got a thing going with Lily, man. I think I’m in love.”

  “Really?” Jorge exaggerated the question—as if the word were five syllables long.

  “What? You knew?”

  “Please, Cool. I’m in charge of security, man. I’m paid to know everything that goes on inside that club. Which is why we’re going in the back way and sticking around in case Tessa needs help.”

  “Lily’s the real deal to me.”

  “I know, Cool. I saw it in your eyes. When she was missing, I knew you were a goner.”

  “You think she’s in there with Tess?”

  “I know it. They’re as tight as you and me.”

  “What do we do once we get inside again?”

  “Tessa’s got a bunch of kick-ass swords in her office. Whoever she’s expecting, she’s planning on slicing ’em to pieces. So I say we grab two swords and get ready for whatever happens.”

  Cool nodded, and the two of them started walking toward the club.

  “I ever tell you I was in a gang when I was a kid?” Cool asked.

  “Yeah, white boy.”

  “Just so you know—I can be tough when I have to be.”

  The two of them knocked fists together in a gesture of solidarity. “I never doubted it, bro. I never doubted it.”

  Flynn and Alex sat in an unmarked car across the street and down the block from the club. They had a pair of binoculars between them and were watching the activities outside the Night Flight.

  “They closed the club awfully early,” Alex commented.

  “And now her head of security and DJ are walking back.”

  “You think something’s going down, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “With vampires.”

  “Alex, my friend, I do.”

  “Flynn…you realize you sound like you’ve lost it?”

  “Yes, I do. But if they’re not vampires—how do you explain that?”

  Flynn handed his partner the binoculars and pointed in the direction of the roof of the Night Flight Club, where, like a flock of crows perched on a telephone wire, seven black-garbed figures stood.

  Chapter 25

  Tessa and Lily stayed in the center of the room, waiting for whatever came through the door.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  Two vampires slammed open the front door and flew into the room and over the bar, knocking glassware down and landing on their feet in front of Tessa and Lily.

  “Hello, boys,” Lily taunted, thrusting out her sword.

  “Is this Marco’s idea of an anniversary present?” Tessa asked, her sword drawn, too.

  “His idea of an anniversary present is to punish you,” one of them sneered. “First he’ll kill anyone you care about, then he’ll make you suffer. Eternally.”

  Tessa was aware of lore in the vampire community. Suicide was only possible, for the most part, by walking into blinding sunlight. Swallowing pills, swallowing the barrel of a gun, were not enough to commit suicide—healing would follow. So she had heard of creatures like Marco holding vampires prisoner and torturing them night after agonizing night, for decades on end, never enough to kill them. Bringing them to the brink of death, and then letting them have just the taste of blood—sometimes in the form of a farm animal—enough to heal them so they could be tortured again the next night. She wouldn’t put it past Marco to envision such suffering for her.

  Without further warning, the first vampire leaped at Tessa, fangs drawn. She waved her sword, and a dance of death ensued. He would come at her, occasionally levitating, always hissing and making bloodthirsty noises; she would slice through the air with her sword.

  To Tessa’s left, Lily also attempted to fight off her opponent. Lily was not as practiced with her sword, and Tessa was fearful she would falter—but she had underestimated how badly Lily wanted revenge.

  Tessa feinted to the left, then whipped around and, with a single perfect stroke, beheaded the vampire she was fighting. His head sailed through the air, and his body stood erect for a moment before toppling, blood spilling in pulsing rivulets.

  That act was enough to momentarily shock the vampire facing off with Lily. Then, as if the fates intervened, he slipped for a moment in the blood of his companion. That slip cost him his head, as Lily’s sword sliced his neck clean through.

  For safe measure, Tessa moved to each body and stabbed both through the heart.

  “This is going to be a hell of a mess to clean up,” Lily commented.

  “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “Now what?”

  “Now we wait. He’s got an army, Lily. He’s been amassing them since I left him. This is only the beginning.”

  “Now what?” Flynn asked Alex.

  The two men had just watched all seven whatever-they-were leap down from the top of the building, a distance that would kill a mortal. They landed on their feet, and two of them entered the building. Then the other five went in.

  “Think we should go check it out?” Williams asked.

  “Yeah. But now do you believe me?”

  “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but you realize whatever we see tonight stays with us or we’ll be sent packing on a psychiatric leave. Man, leave it to you—you finally get a woman and she’s a fucking vampire.”

  As the two men prepared to exit their vehicle, they saw a veritable horde of what appeared to be homeless people marching up the street.

  “Will you look at that?” Williams asked.

  “This is going down as the weirdest night of my life.”

  “Me too.”

  When the ragtag band of people got to the Night Flight, Flynn and Williams could see one of them, a man with flowing white locks and an expression of grim determination, was clearly the leader.

  “I wish I could read lips,” Williams said, staring through the binoculars.

  The man appeared to be shouting orders to the other people, who all carried makeshift weapons—shovels, pickaxes, two-by-fours.

  “Friends or foes of Tessa’s?” Flynn asked.

  Williams shook his head. “I have no idea.”

  “All right. We go check it out.”

  “Should we call for backup?”

  “Not yet. Not with those flying vampires around. This is too crazy even for New York City in the middle of the night.”

  As they got out of their car, Flynn remembered what Tessa had said about ordinary guns being useless, but he took out his gun anyway. Just in case.

  From Jorge’s and Cool’s vantage point, they had now seen five vampires beheaded. But every time the front door opened, another one flew in looking for battle. The two men were watching the entire scene unfold from Tessa’s office on her plasma screen.

  With the arrival of King and his followers, the club was getting pretty crowded.

  “Who are those cats?” Cool asked.

  “I have no fucking idea, but I say we go in there.”

  They each grabbed a sword.

  “Whatever those things are,” Jorge said, “seems like you have to cut off their head to stop ’em.”

  “What do you think they are?”

  “I have no idea, but whatever they are, they’re not human, and they want to kill. So I say, let’s go.”

  “I’m in. What about these new guys?”

  They watched King’s disciples swarm into the building. Tessa appeared to talk to their leader, and he gave her a thumbs-up sign.

  “Seem to be on our side,” said Jorge.

  “All right, then. Here we go.”

  Tessa
’s two friends left her office and then entered the fray inside the club. The floors were slippery with blood. No sooner had they entered that the front door opened and a solid wall of black seemed to block the light from the streetlamps outside.

  “Fuck,” Cool said. “We just got a whole lot more company.”

  Tessa was at Jorge’s side in a minute. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’m not letting the godmother of my son fight whatever the hell these things are alone.”

  “You’re picking me to be godmother?”

  “Yes, but can we focus on those heads over there? What the hell are they?”

  “They’re vampires. Ever use a sword before?”

  “No.”

  “You?” She gestured at Cool.

  “Lady, I’m from the projects. Samurai swords aren’t too common. Ask me about switchblades.”

  “Look, guys.” Tessa raised her voice above the keening of the vampires. “Switchblades, guns, they might halt them for a minute or two, but it won’t stop them. They’re bloodthirsty, and they’re powerful. Taking off their heads is the only defense right now. But be careful when you swing that sword—bring it too far back, you’ll slice your own shoulder open.”

  “Got it,” Jorge said.

  Tessa spun around. “No time to talk now, boys. Watch your backs.”

  As she moved into the commotion, she could hear Cool’s incredulous voice. “Did she say vampires?” But Tessa had no time to focus on what her friends thought of the scattered heads around the building. There was a battle to be waged.

  The vampires seemed to multiply before her eyes. She understood, in an instant, why Marco had planned to fight her this way. First he had sent them in singly, to wear her down, make her fight longer—then he would crush her with the sheer number of his soldiers. But she had one weapon he hadn’t counted on: the drive for vengeance.

  She moved through the fighting, swinging her sword and carefully avoiding hitting any of King’s foot soldiers. She saw two of them get bitten and fall to the ground, but all around her, with ferocity, they struck at the vampires with bats and axes. They weren’t killing them, but they were halting them for fractions of moments, time enough for her or Lily, and soon Jorge and Cool, to strike with their swords.

  She looked over her shoulder. Cool was perilously close to being bitten as he fell down on one knee in a morass of blood. Tessa leaped over two headless bodies and sliced the vampire in half. He still opened his mouth, baring his fangs. Cool sliced off his head. It went rolling with a final hiss.

  Tessa moved on, trying to stay alert to her friends, while keeping her wits about her to fight the oncoming horde of vampires. Ever present in her mind was the fact that Marco would arrive in all his strength and glory—he would be her final battle. And he would have been feeding on virgins or whatever else he believed gave him strength. He would be powerful, and he would be brutal.

  She struggled with all this as she saw the front doors open again.

  “Flynn!” she shouted. “Damn him!”

  She made her way toward him through the chaos of violence. She heard the sounds of bodies being beaten, the wails of victims, the hisses of vampires. They were the sounds of her nightmares.

  “What are you two doing here?”

  “Apparently walking into something no one would believe,” Williams shouted. He had his gun drawn but was obviously dumbfounded, unsure who was friend and who was foe, and still trying to fathom that New York City was apparently a vampire haven.

  “Williams, your gun can only stun them. I have swords in my office. Watch your backs—beheading them is your best bet.”

  Moving away from them, she struck down a female vampire with flaming red hair. She whirled and faced her old nemesis, Jules.

  “We meet again,” he snarled.

  “Yes. Only this time, you’ll be losing your head.”

  She struck him with her sword, slicing into his side. But he was ready for her, lifting his leg up and kicking her full in the face. Tessa fell to the ground, and he was over her with a dagger drawn. Rolling over a body and into a crouching position, she took her sword and aimed it up through his belly, piercing his heart. Blood spurted out of his mouth, and she withdrew her sword and chopped off his head.

  “Life’s a bitch…and then you die,” she muttered, and moved on.

  The carnage was massive. The smells and sounds were enough to drive a person to insanity, and she hoped her friends would all be able to cope…if they won against the darkness.

  She battled on, feeling weary, but then using her powers of concentration, her thirst to avenge Hsu and Hack’s deaths to spur her on. She looked around to ensure her comrades were okay. She spied Jorge and Cool, Lily, and Williams and Flynn. Then the door opened again. He was flanked by fresh vampire soldiers.

  Marco.

  And now the real battle would begin.

  Chapter 26

  She watched how he operated. Immediately his vampires scattered to the four corners of the room. Fresh fighters against her weary troops.

  Marco exchanged a look with her, taunting her, and he moved in fast strides across the bloody nightclub to the back stairwell. He was going to the roof.

  King saw him, too, and he hacked off the arm of the vampire he was fighting and then gave chase.

  “King, don’t!” Tessa shouted, but he didn’t turn back. “Damn him,” she muttered. King and his pickax were no match for Marco. But she knew King’s thirst to avenge his wife and child was so great, there was nothing she could do to stop his suicide mission. She ran across the room, sword striking left and right, and then down the hallway. She would at least back him up; maybe together they stood a chance.

  She could hear the clanging of boots on the metallic staircase above her as she charged up. Then she heard King’s howl. It was as if all his pent-up grief was emerging into a war cry. She rushed through the door to the roof to find Marco and King confronting each other.

  “You killed my wife and child,” King said, his voice strong yet choked with emotion.

  “Old man, I’m going to kill you, too.”

  “Do you remember? A desert. New Mexico. You plucked them from my van and killed them, and left me to wander this earth, waiting for my revenge.”

  “I kill so many…No, I don’t remember,” Marco said casually. “Oh, wait. A little girl with brown hair?”

  “Yes…” King’s resolve seemed to crumble, and Tessa didn’t know if Marco really remembered or just wanted to torment poor King.

  “She cried for her daddy over and over again as I sucked the life out of her. Children only enhance my strength. I love plucking little flowers.”

  It was more than King could stand. He charged at Marco with his ax, swinging wildly, his emotions getting the better of him. Tessa moved closer to the pair, her sword drawn.

  “Wife, I’ll settle with you in a moment. First, I’m going to make him suffer—”

  “Don’t, Marco. This is all about me and you. Not any of these people.”

  “Always feeling sorry for mortals. You’ve let it cloud your judgment, Tessa darling.”

  As Marco spoke, he used the element of surprise, taking three long strides and stopping King as the older man raised his ax. Tessa heard the snap of bone and King’s pained cry, then Marco took him into his jaws and killed him, pulling his mouth back, full of blood, reveling.

  He dropped King’s body to the rooftop.

  “Now, my darling wife, it’s time for us to dance.”

  Down in the club, only five vampires were left. Climbing over human and vampire limbs, covered in blood themselves, Flynn and Williams were beyond exhausted. Flynn looked down at his shirt.

  “I think I reopened some stitches.”

  “You’ve got to rest, Flynn.”

  “Are you crazy? With all this going on?”

  As the last of the fighting wound down, Flynn realized Tessa was not in the room.

  “Anyone see Tessa?” Flynn shouted out
to Jorge, Cool and Lily.

  “Roof,” Lily said. “She followed Marco.”

  Flynn raced toward the back hallway. A lone vampire blocked the entrance to the stairwell.

  “Move out of my way, pal,” Flynn instructed.

  The vampire just laughed at him. Flynn took out his weapon, fired three rounds into him, stunning him for a moment, then took the sword he was using and chopped off his head. He kicked the body out of his way and tore up the staircase.

  On the roof, Tessa glared with hatred at her husband.

  “Why?” she asked. “Just tell me why. Over a hundred years, thousands of miles, multiple continents…why still chase me? Why all the carnage? It’s a bloody battlefield down there.”

  “Because you are my one.”

  “Marco, you deceived me about what you were. We took our vows under a veil of lies and darkness.”

  “But from the moment I saw you, I knew I had to tame you, own you. You were my one across time and place.”

  “But you were not my one, Marco.”

  “So who is your one? This detective you’ve been seeing?”

  The question made Tessa uneasy. She held out her sword. “You should have stayed away, Marco. Either I die tonight, or you die.”

  “Or I capture you for my own.”

  He flew at her, and she swung her sword but sliced at air. He was fast, even faster than she remembered him. He levitated and kicked her in the stomach, temporarily knocking the breath out of her. When she leaned forward, he reached down for the pickax that had fallen near King’s body and, using the handle, struck her in the head. Tessa crumpled, her sword falling to her side. In one swift motion, he kicked it out of her reach. Then he descended on her, unzipping his pants, pressing himself against her.

  “Don’t you miss me, darling?” He took her face in his hands. She fought him with her fists, striking at him, but this just seemed to amuse him.

  “I don’t miss you!”

  “But do you not remember how we used to make love all night long?”

  Up close, she saw time had not dimmed the intensity of his eyes. He was as youthful and dashing—and evil—as the last time she saw him.