by C. L. Quinn
Once their food arrived, eight different entrees gone quickly, Tamesine dabbed her lips with her napkin and leaned toward Xavier.
“Last night, we told you about our history with Claude and the SRS. You know he forced me to convert him through blackmail. What we need to go over with you now are his methods. This is important, Xavier, because if he wants us badly enough, and he does, history shows he’ll repeat himself. This man kidnaps people you care about and threatens to kill them if you don’t accede to his demands, which he would do with no remorse. We’ve only escaped losing those people by the skin of our teeth. So I have to ask you, are you close enough with anyone you’ve met here for him to use them for leverage?”
Xavier didn’t have to think about it. “Aye. Lucky, the bartender, my boss. We’ve developed a good friendship and I wouldn’t allow him to be hurt.” Dropping his eyes to the tabletop, a warm smile lit his face.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Tamesine interrupted before he could speak. “Your lady lawyer.”
“It would destroy me if somethin’ happened to her because of me.”
“Then we need to arrange protection immediately. Vampire protection.”
“How?”
Koen dropped a fork noisily into his glass. “That’s where I come in. I’ve called in first blood reinforcements. We’ll protect your friends and we’ll get Claude, then we’ll take you home and heal you so that you can once again annoy the shit out of everyone in the clan.”
“People love me here,” Xavier barked, offended.
“People here don’t know you, brother.” Koen slapped Xavier on the back, laughing. “And we do too. So, how should we begin, Tam? I’m guessing that you’ve completely lost Claude’s lifeforce?”
“Completely, for the time being. He’s certainly maximized his stolen first blood talents. I cannot wait until I can know that he is gone forever.”
“Get in line,” he borrowed from something she’d said yesterday.
The equivalent of four more entrees and their sides were gone in half an hour. Satiated, Xavier headed back to the bar, while Tamesine and Koen went to their hotel to shower and change.
Before they left, Koen took Xavier’s hand. “Brother, David and Bryn will be here shortly. I’ll station one on each of your humans and we’ll set about finding Claude.”
“The sooner the better, then. I’ll keep a close eye until then. Thank ya, my friends. I can see that I have much to learn about who and what I am.”
“It will be simple, Xavier.”
“I must ask one thing. Do I have a wife, or significant relationship?”
Tamesine shook her head. “No. You’re a bit of a womanizer. Some would call you a cad. But women love you, so that term doesn’t quite hold.”
“But I’m not promised to someone? I’m not in love?”
“You aren’t in love, Xavier. And in fact, I think you quite scoffed at the idea the last time someone brought it up. It would appear things may have changed.”
“Nay. Just askin’. Goodnight, then. I’ll see ya at the end of my shift again?”
“You got it. See you in a few hours.”
“You’re not going to tell him?” Koen asked when Xavier was a safe distance away.
“Not at first,” Tamesine answered. “He doesn’t understand what’s at stake. And, Koen, I think he’s falling in love with his little attorney.”
“Xavier’s never been in love in ten centuries.”
“Xavier has a new view of life. He’s unfettered by his own prejudices and history. He’s grown, Koen, haven’t you noticed?”
At first Koen didn’t respond, then nodded. “I notice that he’s different. Figured it was because he doesn’t know us yet.”
“It is. But he’s also had an emotional epiphany. It’s just that the man he is hasn’t yet been introduced to the man he was. It will be interesting when that happens. For now, though, let’s stay quiet about the fact that we need to use the woman he cares about as bait.”
Her door was locked when she got home, so she had to knock. Robert opened it to let her in.
“Sh-h-h. I finally got the kid to sleep.”
“It sounds like we brought home a child.”
“Not much more than. It’s criminal that a girl that age has done the things she’s done.”
“It’s life on the street, Robert. Out there, life is hard and harsh. Most people do whatever they have to do to survive.”
“Sounds like the voice of experience.”
“I’m not going there. But thank you for your help. If you hadn’t been with me, this would have had a different outcome. I don’t think she would have said yes to me.”
“Happy to help. And what happened to Gopher?”
“I’ve always adored you, you know that. But tonight, you’ve earned my highest respect. You will be a fantastic attorney.”
“I believe so. I’ve learned a lot from you.”
“Oh, now you’ve done it. I’m going to have to get you a raise. Really, though, go home and rest. I’ll take care of our witness.”
“I’d like to come over when you take her deposition.”
“She would like that. Obviously I can’t bring her into my office.”
“Okay. Goodnight, boss.”
After Robert left, Margot dropped onto her sofa, her hand sliding along her neck. Her head laid back against the soft cushions, her eyes closed, she pictured her big Scotsman holding her as she rode him. She couldn’t imagine anything hotter. Even now, just the memory brought heat and moisture between her legs. A moan slipped out as she thought about how badly she wanted to go to the bar, drag him onto the floor, and fuck his brains out. The thought shocked her, it was so brazen and raw, and so unlike her.
“Must have been a good one.”
Startled, Margot sat up, pulling her collar back in place.
“Cheeky, hey. Robert said you’d gone to sleep.”
“Yeah. Couldn’t stay that way.”
She bounced onto the sofa beside Margot and pulled her legs up Indian-style. “You come from seein’ Rodney? Are you with him?”
“Rodney? Me? No. Hell, no!”
“Don’t get your skirt twisted around your ass, I just asked. He seemed to like you.” Cheeky sighed, hopped up, hurried into the kitchen, and stood in front of the refrigerator with the door hanging wide open.
“You see, he’s been with Brenna for ages now, and I think he’s getting bored. You would be a big step up for him.” As she reached for something, she glanced quickly back to Margot. “Oh, God, don’t tell him I said that!”
“We’re not in each other’s confidence, don’t worry. Cheeky, is Rodney nice to you? To the girls?”
With an exaggerated shrug, Cheeky twisted her lips as she pulled an ice cream bar out of the freezer. “Yeah. I mean, he’s our boss, so he makes us do the work. You know, go down on guys, or gals, and let them fuck us. He don’t interfere, usually, which can be good or bad, depending. He lets us keep half the money, and that’s more than a lot of them do.”
“But he doesn’t hurt you?”
“No. At least he’s never hurt me and I’ve never heard anyone say that he has. You’re asking if he’s a good guy.”
“I guess I am.”
Several moments passed as Cheeky bit off tiny bites of the cold ice cream covered in chocolate. Crawling back onto the sofa, she sat on one of the tufted arms, and her eyes finally reconnected with Margot’s.
“I think he is. He ain’t no prince or no hero, I guess those guys don’t sell sex, but he don’t hurt us either. Why, you gonna go after him?”
“Not the plan. No, I’m just looking to stop the man who raped and beat Sally.”
“And me.”
Margot finally got her confession. “I thought so. Cheeky, if you help me, that man will never hurt anyone again. Do you mind telling me your real name?”
“Yeah, I do. Once, I told a guy, and he had the cops drag me back to my mom’s house. I had to run away again and I ain’
t doing that again. So, I’m Cheeky, and that’s all you’re gonna get.”
“It’ll do. Cheeky, I’m not here to hurt you and if you came from a home where they did, I wouldn’t let them take you back.”
“That’s nice, but for now, I really don’t know you, so I’d just like to stay with Cheeky.”
“Cheeky it is. Are you hungry? Did Robert feed you?”
The girl giggled, sounding exactly like a teenage girl should sound. “Holy shit, did he! We stopped at, like, three cafes and got all kinds of stuff. I bet I had four sandwiches and, like, trays of different kinds of French fries. And pie.”
Margot’s eyes went to the ice cream bar Cheeky was just finishing off.
Grinning, Cheeky held up the bare stick. “I’m a bottomless pit! Hey, though, thanks for everything. Sally’s a bit momish with me, but I know she cares. And she’s right. If I stay in this much longer, I know I’ll be stuck like the other girls. Frankly, I’m kinda surprised that Rodney let me go with you.”
“It looks like he does care after all.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” She carefully laid the stick on a table. “Where do I sleep? Robert put me in your bed, but I bet you want that. This couch’ll do for me.”
“You’re sure you’ll be comfortable?”
“Lady, you need to see where I sleep someday to really understand me when I say that, yeah, this is perfect.”
“Okay. Well, if you need anything, just let me know.”
“’Kay.”
As she walked down the hall to her bedroom, Margot wished she could contact Xavier and let him know that she wouldn’t make it back tonight. Staying here to give Cheeky the sense of how important she was and that Margot was committed to her was her top priority right now.
Sex was not. Although it quite amazed her how badly she wanted to be with Xavier after decades of almost complete abstinence.
Margot dropped into her bed, ignoring the messy sheets, and didn’t sleep for hours.
Images of a naked Xavier kept her awake.
Nine
Claude sat surrounded by alcohol, food, and four compelled men quietly watching him consume quantities of both that amazed them.
“It appears that I must redesign this assault. My sire could find me at any time, so this needs to be quick. A dreadfully unfortunate turn of luck. Doesn’t matter. I have methods. True-blue, tested-in-the-heat-of-battle methods. I can’t run, you see, the opportunity will never present itself again.”
He pitched a mozzarella cheese stick to each of the four trapped compels around the table. “Please, join me, I hate to dine alone. Now, you see my dilemma. Three powerful first blood vampires against a newly made vampire…the math just doesn’t add up, does it? Unless that newly made vampire is smarter than said first bloods. Which, I am.”
More than anything in the world, the four men wanted to leave, beat the shit out of the crazy-ass man who held them, or stop him any way they could. Not one of them could speak, and not one had any idea what was happening. But all knew that none of them were likely to ever go home again.
A tear slid down the tallest man’s cheek and he wanted to wipe it away, but the only thing he could do was reach for the cold cheese stick and take a bite. He could move his eyes and he did, to watch the other three victims do the same.
Another thing that they all knew for sure now, too, was that there were things in this world that none of them had ever known existed. This creature, this man, this…whatever the fuck he was…was the spawn of the devil. It took everything he had to swallow the cheese that had hardened and stuck in his throat.
“Plans, plans, I must implement my plans. For now, though, it’s time to sleep. You, too, my little human apes, all four of you. Go to sleep and do not waken until I tell you to.”
The tallest man gratefully slid down beside the other captives.
Claude sent his compelled humans out to get the information he needed. They were his surveillance for Xavier because now that he had found his runaway captive, he could not go near him. Regardless of Xavier’s condition, memory or no, he would still feel Claude’s lifeforce. He likely wouldn’t know exactly what it meant, but even memory-deprived, Xavier was a smart man. He would know it meant something. And a suspicious Xavier was far more of a threat than one who had no clue that Claude had found him.
So, the compels would watch him, would report back, and when he had what he needed, Claude would have Xavier back where he wanted him. Only this time, he’d end him forever…immediately. It really was time to get out of town.
ACROSS THE CITY IN A LUXURY HIGH-RISE
“What is he doing?”
Michael Lipnicki was so angry, he’d already broken three of his favorite statues when fury overwhelmed him and he threw them across the room. He hated to be this upset.
“Sir, he’s going about his normal business. I don’t think he’s concerned about you.”
“He seemed concerned when he turned me down for a simple business transaction.”
Billy Burke didn’t know what else to tell his client, who seemed to be looking for something. “I have two men on the pimp around the clock and he hasn’t done or said anything that leads us to believe he’s interested in you.”
Dropping dramatically into a white chair set amongst all white furniture, Michael puffed his cheeks out. “Yeah, yeah, okay. Maybe I’m just imagining things. It’s been a tough month. You’d think with my kind of money and power I could get anything I want.”
He looked up to see his private detective flinch. “Within reason, of course. I’m a reasonable man. All right, keep someone on him twenty-four-seven until I tell you to pull them. And you can go now.”
“Thank you. Did you want the photos we shot?”
“No. Yes. Just leave them here. If I feel like looking at whores, it might give me some amusement.”
Whores. This asshole was mean. Billy hated his job sometimes, but business was tough in the city and this was a well-paid gig. Even if he did think that this prick needed someone to beat the shit out of him in a dark alley sometime.
“Uh, okay, then, I’ll leave you to the rest of your night.”
Billy couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
His lips pursed, Michael pushed open the door to his balcony and stepped out. The nip in the air promised winter around the corner, but the cold never had bothered Michael. A tall Bud in his hand, he leaned on the railing and thought about the new situation with his supplier.
Fixerman had always provided his girls to him, and now the asshole refused to do business with him. What the fuck was the difference between a seventeen year old girl and, say, a twelve year old? Come on, he thought, they’re just girls! It’s what they were made for!
But after he’d had the blow-up with his supplier, he’d felt something. Like he was being watched. Recently, things felt…off. He had a good instinct for shit like this and he didn’t trust men like the fixerman.
Snorting, he wiped his mouth. “Like he’s so fucking noble! He’s fucking with me, I know it, and if he calls in the police, or goes after me himself, I’ll turn him into fucking shrapnel. He thinks he’s more powerful than me? He’s got an education coming.”
Just the thought of a power struggle, of men duking it out, made his cock twitch. Damn, he could use a couple of girls right now to fuck hard and show who was king of his world. After he polished off the beer and pitched the can into the corner of his balcony, his eyes landed on the photos. Smiling, he walked back into the apartment to pick up the manila envelope. Photos of some of the fixerman’s bitches. Maybe he’d just jack off to them. He could get anything he wanted online, but he knew these women, he’d had his hands on most of them at one time or another. Memories of how it felt to feel his fist land on their bodies while he came inside of them filled his penis.
He couldn’t tear the envelope open fast enough. A stack of photos fell out onto the table top, scattered, shot after shot of the fixerman, several large guys, obviously his bodyguards, and the des
ired pictures of women he’d fucked.
Dropping his pants, he moved his hand down to pinch the end of his cock as he pushed the photos around to find his favorite whore, the youngest, a girl that had only been available for the past few months. He felt himself swell at the idea of fucking her hard and choking her at the same time. Moving up and down the hard-on, he nearly came when he suddenly noticed another image.
His hand stilled instantly, the fingers clamped tight on his tip. A photo partially hidden underneath a photo of the young girl shocked him. Sliding a single fingertip forward, he pushed the photo out and stared at it.
Ire exploded, his fingers squeezed, and pain hit when he realized he was strangling his own cock.
What the fuck was this? With the hand that he’d just removed from his penis, the fingers sticky, he lifted the photo.
What the fuck was Margot Napier doing with his little prostitute? Her lovely smile was crystal clear in the three separate photos he fished from the lot. Two showed her with the girl and one with the girl and a young man that he recognized. The man worked for him, he was fairly certain. An intern?
Didn’t matter. What mattered was the question of how the hell the beautiful attorney who spurned him was connected to one of his whores.
What the hell did this mean? The answer hit him like a freight train. It was she who was having him followed? Was she investigating his sexual activities?
He let his mind wander over what he had done with the girl.
Fuck! People would be shocked by what he’d done to her, they wouldn’t understand his needs. They couldn’t process the reality. These women sold their bodies and that gave him the right to satisfy his desires. He paid them for everything he did with them! He was no monster.
But others would think he was, he had no doubt. Looking back and forth between the three incriminating photographs, he knew. Margot was planning to take her case to the police; the small-minded cunt was trying to ruin him.
