Blood Lust

by T. Lynne Tolles

  Chapter 21

  Blake announced to everyone that Anton and Libby were on their way. The plan was working so far. Anton had fooled her; now it was up to them to complete the job. He knew he had at least a half an hour before they would be at the house, so he opted to call Rowan. She was never going to forgive herself for not trusting her sister, as he was not sure he would ever forgive himself for giving up on his brother.

  “Rowan, hey sweetie, it’s Blake.”

  “Hey. How was your flight? You didn’t kill Dean did you?”

  “No. Flight was fine and Dean is still alive.”

  “So, when are you coming home? Did you talk to Darby yet?”

  “Umm, yeah, about that.”

  “What?”

  “Well, it seems she found Devon.”

  “She what? You mean she found Devon and Libby? Yuck, I’m sure she’s not handling that well after going off the deep end.”

  “Well, that’s the funny thing, you see, she didn’t go off the deep end. We did.”

  “What do you mean, Blake?”

  “I mean your sister was right all along about everything. Libby has men all over the east coast that are half drained of their lives – she leeches off of them. She’s been controlling their minds, feeding off their sexual energy, and draining them of their vampire blood.”

  “No, that’s not possible…you said vampires can’t do that.”

  “Well, apparently I was wrong. You should see the tons of research and paperwork she and this guy, Mark, came up with that proves everything. Libby even got rid of women that Anton started getting too close to. She’d pay them off and move them out. Even sent one to a mental hospital because she wouldn’t leave Anton.”

  “Oh my God, Blake. What have we done?”

  “Exactly. We gave up on our families is what we’ve done, Rowan. Darby was right all along, every single fact. Libby lured him away from the house and then had some kind of telepathic mind control thing over him as she drained him, like she did with Anton.”

  “Geez. What do we do, Blake?”

  “I don’t know. I have absolutely no idea. Things aren’t completely done here; I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later with the details. I love you, Rowan.”

  “Love you too. Be careful.”

  Dean looked at Blake as he hung up. “Groveling, that’s what you’re going to do. Seems you’re good at it!”

  “You are not funny, fuzz face.”

  “I told you never to call me that, fang face.” The phone rang, it was Dominic.

  “Dominic. How is he?...Oh Crap…I will Dominic, I promise you on my mother’s grave, I will make her pay.” And he hung up.

  “Well?” Dean said.

  “They found him.”

  “And?”

  “He said he looks so bad he was almost unrecognizable.”

  “Damn. That can’t be good. And what about your mother’s grave?”

  “He asked me to make her pay for what she did, Dean. It’s that bad that he wants me to make her pay. I swore on my mother’s grave that I would make Libby pay.”

  “That’s pretty damn bad, isn’t it?”

  “I’d say so, Dean.”

  “Well then, we’ll make the slutty vixen pay, won’t we?”

  “Most definitely.”

  Blake texted Mark, who waved at him from his hideout behind the bushes.

  “Dean, you should probably go get in place too. I’ll wave when I get the sign that they are within a mile, okay? I’m going to be on the cupola lying flat and under the eaves so they can’t see me when they drive up. Dean, you are the first line of defense if the arrow doesn’t hit its mark. I’ll be your back up.”

  “Don’t let me down, man. Never fought a vamp before.”

  “Got Darby’s pouch?”

  “Yeah, tied it to the silver charm Darby gave me last fight. You got yours?”

  “Yeah, in my pocket.”

  “Okay. Don’t forget those gloves.”

  “Right.” Blake jumped straight up to the top of the cupola that covered the front porch of the house, much like a carport for a valet. A driver could drop off a passenger under this, if the weather was bad. Just as he got to the top, he got a text from Anton. He waved his arms. He could see Mark nod at him and he saw some bushes wriggle nearby from, hopefully, Dean. Blake got into position and hid himself from sight. He put the gloves on and held the poisoned stake in his right hand.

  A couple minutes later, the black car with a red car behind it, showed up and parked in front of the garage. The gorgeous blonde with legs to the sky got out and stood waiting for Anton to escort her to the front door. Blake could hear their shoes in the gravel. Libby was giggling and saying something about whipped cream. Blake squinted up his face in disgust. He could hear them stop. Anton said something and then there was silence. A fraction of a second later, he could hear the zip of the arrow coming and crossed his fingers it would hit its mark, but before he heard an impact he heard a man say, “Ow” and a shuffle of what sounded like heels on crushed rocks. He looked towards the cottage to see Mark shake his head in defeat. He heard something heavy slump to the ground, more gravel sound and then a growl he knew all too well.

  Dean was now in her presence. She hissed as Dean growled and circled her. She kept eye contact with him as he continued round and round her, sizing up her weak points and deciding where to strike. Blake had crept to where he could look down at the two circling below him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Anton down on the edge of the porch. Crap. Must have gotten hit.

  Dean lunged at the woman and cut her deep across the face and chest with his razor sharp claws, but not before she bit him hard on his other limb. Dean yelped and pulled away and that’s when Blake did a double back flip off the roof, landing dead in front of her. Before she could figure out what had landed, the poison stake penetrated deep into Libby’s chest, grazing her heart. This was exactly what Blake had hoped because he wanted her to hear this before she died. He pulled back his right fist and as the fist made its way to Libby’s face he said, “And this is for my brother and cousin, you bitch.”

  Libby was dead from the poison before she landed on the ground, but she most certainly heard what Blake had said to her before dying. She sailed through the air like a rag doll until she connected with the wall of the house and slid down it, dead.

  Blake ran to Anton. The arrow had barely grazed him, but he knew the wound should be cleaned well. He yelled for Bernard when he opened the door and carried Anton in.

  “Bernard. Anton will be fine, just use some very hot water and some hydrogen peroxide to clean his arm thoroughly. Looks like she scratched him in the face too. I’m also going to need you to help me clean up Dean. Looks like she bit him in the arm.” He deposited Anton into a chair and ran back out to help Dean.

  “You all right, man?”

  “Yeah, no sweat. You vamps don’t have venom or poison, do you?”

  “No, Dean. You’ll be fine.”

  “Sweet move off the roof!”

  “You liked that?

  “Very nice. A little showy for me, but nice.” He made sure Dean made it into the house as Mark ran up.

  “Hey, Blake. I’m sorry. She moved at the last minute.”

  “It’s cool. Looks like she scratched him when she heard the arrow.”

  “It didn’t hit Anton, did it?”

  “Just a graze. We’ll make sure the poison is out and he’ll be good as new.”

  “Whew! Little worried Dominic would come back and go vamp on me for killing his kid.”

  Blake laughed. “Not to worry. I’m calling him right now. Can you help me move Libby in a couple of minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  “We’re going to take her over to the burn barrel over there.” Blake pointed to an area behind the boathouse.

  Mark looked at the barrel then back at Blake and scrunched up his face in disgust, much like Blake had done when hearing Libby’s reference to whipped cream.


  In answer to his disgusted look, Blake said, “Yeah, we’re going to burn her, don’t want her coming back.” That didn’t seem to make Mark feel any better.

  “You don’t have to help if you don’t want. I can do it.”

  Feeling his competitive nature rear its ugly head, Mark said, “No, no. I’ll help.”

  Blake put his phone to his ear and said, “Dominic? Blake. It’s clear for you all to come home. She paid dearly and she won’t ever hurt this family again. See you soon.”

  Chapter 22

  Dominic was pulling out of the grocery store parking lot when his phone rang. It was Blake.

  “Yeah? Good! Perfect! We’ll be home soon.”

  Dominic smiled as he came in the door of the little beach house. He went to the bedroom to find Darby wiping Devon’s face with a wet washcloth.

  “Still hasn’t opened his eyes?” Dominic asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, how about you give him a little more and we go home.”

  “What? Really? We can go back?”

  “Yes. Blake took care of it. He said it was safe to bring him back.”

  “Oh, Dominic, that’s such good news.” She got up off the bed and came around to the side where Dominic was standing and pulled the bandage off her neck. “Do you need to bite again?”

  “We’ll see; if he doesn’t latch on himself, then I will reopen it.”

  She pulled Devon up to her and Dominic guided his head to the wound on her neck. Devon bit hard, so hard in fact, Darby winced and sucked air through her teeth.

  “Easy, Devon. Easy. Don’t hurt her.”

  Devon let up a bit, never opening his eyes, and drew in gulp after gulp of Darby’s blood. His draws on her neck grew stronger and stronger as her fingers and toes ached, and things were getting gray when she said, “Dominic.” Dominic immediately pulled Devon away from her and caught Darby as she slumped towards him.

  He swept Darby into his arms and took her to the car. She was conscious, just a little woozy and weak. He put her in the back seat where she had sat on the drive there. He then went back into the house and deposited Devon on the backseat, lying in Darby’s lap. He handed her the wet washcloth and he jumped in the car and sped away back to Westport.

  Blake and Mark took Libby out to the burning barrel and, nonchalantly, Blake lit her on fire and put a bunch of wood on top of her to make sure the fire was hot enough to burn everything. He would later crush the bones to powder so that no evidence of her would ever be found.

  An hour later, Dominic pulled up to the front door and honked the horn in hopes that the guys would help him with his cargo. Blake was the first one out to greet Dominic. Dominic asked, “Any other casualties?”

  “Umm, Anton got grazed by the arrow because Libby scratched him in the face and got away from him.”

  “Is he okay?”

  Anton walked out to greet his father. “I’m fine, Dad. Bernard cleaned it out and it’s already healing.”

  “She also bit Dean pretty good, but werewolves, like vampires, heal pretty fast. Bernard has him all bandaged up too,” Blake continued.

  “Can you grab Darby? Your brother got a little greedy and she’s pretty woozy. I’m not sure she should be walking.”

  “Yeah, no problem. How’s Devon?”

  “He’s alive. He’s taken a lot of Darby’s blood, so he should be coming around pretty soon. He was a bit farther gone than Anton was. We had a tough time getting him started, but I think he’ll be okay. Why don’t you take her to his room? She’s not going to want to be away from him.”

  “If he wakes up, he won’t drain her? I mean, he’ll know who she is, won’t he? God, he looks awful.”

  “Actually he looks fantastic compared to when we found him.”

  “Damn, that bad? Geez.”

  “That bad, Blake, I mean really BAD.”

  “No clothes?”

  “Couldn’t find any. He was strapped to a huge metal bed with chains on all four limbs. He even had an infection in some of his wounds.”

  “Really?” Blake said. All of them followed as Dominic and Blake deposited their armloads on to Devon’s bed. Bernard started a fire in the fireplace and brought up some food and set it on a table near the bed. Both Darby and Devon lay very still. Darby was conscious but could barely keep her eyes open. She tried so hard to keep them open for fear that she’d find it was all a dream, waking up and finding herself miserable, cold and alone in that house in Massachusetts. Seeing him lying there was like a dream. If she closed her eyes, he’d vanish again.

  She whispered, “Devon. I love you; please don’t go away, I’m so tired.” She lay her head on his chest and listened to him breathe and heard his heart pumping strongly. She closed her eyes and smiled and kept listening. As long as she could hear his heart beat it couldn’t be a dream, right? At least, that is what she kept telling herself.

  The sound of the fire crackling, and the wonderful, strong heartbeat in her left ear, slowly relaxed her. Her head moved up and down with each breath he took. His skin was finally warming now. And she remembered what seemed like so long ago, lying like this in her own bed, in her own home, with her handsome vampire prince next to her. His skin radiant in the morning light and his hair a beautiful arrangement of iridescent golds, browns, and reds, making his own perfect color. And always, a huge, black, furry monster cat, with a white undercarriage, jumping on their chests to get them out of bed to feed him. Was it all just a dream, those months with Devon? Would she ever hear his wonderful voice whisper in her ear again? Or would his voice forever stay in her head as her conscience as it had been for the last four months?

  She didn’t want to fall asleep but she did and dreamt of their first official date when he took her to Monterey. She didn’t think she could ever love him more than that moment, but she had. More and more with every day she’d spent with him, and even more in the months she had spent without him.

  She dreamt of him holding her, his warm breath on her neck, and him whispering ever so sweetly, “Darby, love, I’ve missed you so.”

  She would respond, “Don’t ever call me ‘love’ again, please. Find some other pet name. SHE called you that, the horrible leech lady.”

  “You’re right,” he’d whisper. “You are the sweetness in my life, Darby, I will never forget that. ‘My Sweetness.’”

  “That’s nice. I like that. ‘My Sweetness.’ That’s a goody. Let’s keep that one.”

  Then there was the most tender feeling, soft, warm lips and hot breath on her ear and neck. She moaned. And rolled to her back, and then there were lips on her mouth. Hot luscious lips and a tongue probing her eager mouth and that’s when her eyes popped open.

  “Oh my God, Devon. You’re alive.”

  “Yes, I hope so and so are you.”

  “But I thought I was dreaming. I thought…”

  “I thought so too, but here you are and I have missed you so much. Please come back over here.”

  She couldn’t control it; the tears ran hot down her face. “God, Devon, I didn’t think I would ever find you! I looked for you for so long.”

  “You found me, Sweetness. I’m here with you. Please come here, Darby. Please let me hold you.”

  She fell into him and she held him so tight her arms hurt. “Please don’t ever go away again. Promise me you won’t ever leave me again.”

  “I promise. I do, I promise. Just hold me, Darby. Please don’t let go.” He kissed her head.

  She couldn’t control the tears. “I thought I lost you forever, Devon. I searched for months and months.”

  “I prayed for you to find me and you did. I knew you wouldn’t give up on me, Darby. I’m sorry I hurt you. It must have been horrible thinking I left with Libby.”

  “It was horrible, but nothing compared to what she did to you, sweetheart. How long were you chained there?”

  “From the first night. She couldn’t seem to clear my mind of you and somehow that made it impossible for her to completely
control me. When she tried to come on to me the first night and I refused, she was furious, so she put the chains on knowing I would leave if I could. How long has it been?”

  “About four and a half months.”

  “Felt like years. So you lived here during that time?”

  “No.”

  “Where then?”

  “Massachusetts.”

  “Why?”

  “I couldn’t afford Connecticut and it was kind of in between all the places I searched.”

  “So Rowan and Blake are here too?”

  “No. Blake and Dean flew in to help me get you out this morning.”

  “Flew in from where?”

  “California.”

  “You’re here by yourself?”

  “Well, not exactly. I mean, Anton and Dominic are in Westport, so I wasn’t exactly alone.”

  “Did Dominic give you money for the house you were living in?”

  “He would have if I had asked.”

  “How could you afford to move out here by yourself?”

  “I sold the bookstore to Sally and used the money from that and my car that got totaled last fall and rented a place. I also worked part-time as a librarian. The money went a lot faster than I had anticipated since I hired Mark to help me.”

  “Who’s Mark?”

  “Mark is a P.I. I hired.”

  “You paid for a private investigator to help you find me because my family wasn’t helping you look.”

  “Well, you’ve got to admit, the way you talked about her and how much you hated Anton for what happened, everyone just assumed you decided you were in love with her and went back to her.”

  “Really? They really thought no matter how mad I was at Anton, that I would shack up with his wife, leaving my girlfriend with my cousin?”

  “It seemed feasible to most.”

  “But not you?”

  “But not me. Although, over the months, I wavered once or twice thinking I had gone insane, or into the deep end of idiocy, but the more proof I got, the easier it became.”