by LeighEllwood
Flora's eyes narrowed. She trained the gun between Jack's eyes. "What are you playing, D'aubigne?"
"Fuck you," Jack told Flora.
"His name is Jack Thurmond!" Lars roared, and there came thunder to accompany the lightning shooting through his body. The electricity spurred him between the two just as the gun fired.
The first bullet lodged in Lars' shoulder and he crashed into the wall, Jack's cries long and low in his muddled consciousness. The pain was severe and seared his arm right to the fingertips, but he knew it would pass quickly. He couldn't, however, turn around in time to ascertain where the second bullet was fired. Jack's ensuing silence was not a comfort.
The sight of Miss Ruby holding Flora in a chokehold, her long arms draped in flowing sleeves, helped a little.
Jack kneeled at his side now, gingerly touching the perimeter of the wound. "We need a doctor," he was saying over and over.
Lars patted Jack's trembling hand. "I'm fine, love. The wound will close. Don't touch it," he warned. The bullet certainly tainted his blood, if only temporarily. Changing Jack would have to wait until he was one hundred percent, but that wasn't his main concern right now.
Flora quivered in Ruby's grasp, and cried out as two fangs sank into her neck. Ruby tore a good patch of flesh; warm blood sprayed the floor and bedspread. Flora fell limp in Ruby's embrace; the female vampire crooked her neck toward the two men.
"Help me carry her to the next room. I don't have the strength to do it myself just yet." Blood lined her lips and coated her teeth and tongue.
"What are you doing here? No." Lars stilled Jack and kept him from rising. Ruby might have facilitated their reunion, but her presence here was odd. And as a vampire...how had that happened? "This is a trap."
"I promise you, it isn't, but time is short. I need this woman's blood in the next room."
"It's okay, Lars." Jack managed to free himself and lifted Flora's legs by the ankles. The old woman was suddenly too weak to resist. Jack kicked away the gun, which had fallen to the floor during the melee, and only then did Lars look up to see a bullet hole in the wall over the bed.
When he looked back to the room, he was alone. He rose and followed the spattered blood trail to the next room, where Ruby tended to another man. Closer inspection revealed sharp fangs inside a mouth that hungered for sustenance.
"Who is he?" Lars asked Ruby.
Ruby lowered a whimpering Flora toward the vampire, who began suckling the second the wound touched his lips. Flora cast a final pleading look at Lars but won no sympathy. What fondness he'd once held for the woman dissolved the second her true colors bloomed.
"His name is Argent. He claims you killed his brother, another vampire," Ruby said, and smoothed back Argent's tousled hair as he drank.
"That would be Rodin. I've killed no other vampires but him, and that was in self-defense." Lars watched the medium with Argent, noting her gentle caresses and concerned smile. "What happened to him?"
Ruby's lips curled into a frown. "Exhausted himself getting here, neglecting to feed, too consumed with wanting to come here and kill you." She rolled her eyes. "I literally carried him from the airport."
"Helping him?" Lars couldn't imagine why the medium would aid another in destroying him not long after she helped Lars herself. He could only imagine the other vampire paid more for her loyalty.
"I'm helping him get well, and I brought him here," Ruby said. "Is this not a haven for vampires?"
"It is. I'll spare you formal introductions to the hostess." Lars gestured to Flora, whose eyelids fluttered rapidly as life slowly drained into Argent's system.
"I know who she is," Ruby spat, "and I knew what she had planned."
"And yet, you sent me here?" Jack asked. "To die?"
"To live," Ruby corrected. "I knew I'd be here, too."
Lars felt Jack's hand curl around his bicep and tighten protectively. With all that had happened, neither one had the time or thought to dress. Flora's blood spotted their bare legs and chests, and Jack shivered from the sudden cold. He didn't need to be here.
It probably wasn't a good idea, either, for the young man to see this happening, though feeding would soon become a necessity. He'd been through enough for one night.
"Get in the shower. I'll be there shortly," he told Jack, guiding him back to their room. He then gripped the threshold and turned back to watch the feeding. "Once he's sated, is he going to try to kill me?" Lars asked with some skepticism.
"He won't, you have my word." Ruby tested Flora's pulse and, satisfied, gently laid her body to the floor. "We'll also take care of her."
"Thank you," Lars paused, "for everything."
"Thank you, for coming to me in the first place," Ruby said. "If you hadn't, Argent wouldn't have come to me, and my destiny would never have come to pass."
Six
The luxurious tiled bathroom was the only modernization evident in the house, and it was connected to Lila's room. The full bath with shower stall and claw foot tub took up what had once been hallway storage. Lars slipped inside to see a fogged-up shower door and hear the sound of running water.
Jack stood underneath the spray with his back to the door. The water beat down on his head, matting his red hair to a darker shade. Thankfully he didn't jump at Lars' gentle greeting.
His elbows were pressed to his sides, appearing as if he cupped something in his hands. "Would you like me to wash your back?" Lars offered. He closed the door behind him and pressed close to Jack, reaching around for the bar of soap he assumed the young man held.
He wasn't too surprised, however, to feel instead the hard, faceted texture of a large diamond. The Seine Rose was brilliant, the size of golf ball, and it filled the palm of Jack's hand.
"So," Lars said, "where was it?"
"Inside the bedroom wall, where the bullet hole was," Jack said. "Flora must have kept the original framework in this part of the house. I remember putting the diamond inside a knothole in one of the posts. I had covered it with a bit of wood, which is probably how she missed it."
Lars had to laugh. To think Flora's own gun found the diamond before she did.
Jack couldn't stop staring at it. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"
"I'm looking at him right now."
Jack turned to him. Were those water droplets or tears streaking down his cheeks? Whatever they were, Lars wanted to kiss the wet away.
"I don't know if I could keep this, knowing what it does to people." Jack set the diamond in the soap tray and turned completely around to let Lars embrace him. "I like the rose quartz better."
"I'm glad you do."
"What I remember of Amelie, I can't imagine she was always driven by money."
"Some people have the ability to completely fool others," Lars said. "Flora managed to do it, I don't doubt she did it in a past life."
Jack kissed the shoulder where Lars' wound had been. It was now healed. "Tomorrow I'd like to find a museum and make arrangements to donate the Seine Rose." He smiled wryly. "When does the Louvre open?"
"Hopefully not too early." Lars nipped Jack's ear and slid his hands down to the small of Jack's back, twining his fingers. He ground his rising cock into Jack's thigh. "We need to get some rest, and recuperate."
"Yes," Jack agreed, his lips closing in on Lars'. "I can think of a few ways of relax."
* * *
At that moment, as Argent swallowed the last tangy drop of human blood, he decided there could be no sweeter taste in the world.
Then his eyes opened to see Ruby hovering over him. She was naked and straddling him, her dark breasts pendulous and tipped with thick, puckered nipples aching to be sucked as much as any victim's neck.
He found the strength to reach his fingers underneath her thighs and play with her labial folds. He would definitely have to retract his earlier thought.
"How did you get here before me?" he mumbled.
Ruby leaned forward and pressed close to Argent's side. "Brother, you
were so out of it you didn't see who else had boarded that plane."
"What?" Argent searched his memory for an African-American goddess, draped in fringe, anywhere on the plane. Save for the stewardess' impressive tits, the whole trip was a blur thanks to his neglect to his own natural instincts.
"You're not much of a vampire, are you?" Ruby pouted.
"I made it this far, haven't I?"
"You couldn't make it up the stairs by yourself." Ruby playfully pushed him to one side, but soon covered his body with hers. Her breasts crushed against his chest. Argent's cock stirred in response. At least some parts still worked.
"But," she continued, "you're an incredible lover."
"As are you." Argent kissed the tip of her nose. "And when I'm ready I'll give you the chance to prove it again."
"You're so kind."
"Is he here?" he asked, his face now dark.
"He is, and you don't have to worry about your plan for vengeance." Ruby shifted and parted her legs, rubbing her pussy against his growing crotch. "The woman you fed on is the true culprit. In her former life, she set up Rodin to rob the D'aubignes and that inadvertently led him to his death. What Lars did was in self-defense. He is blameless."
Argent considered Ruby's words, yet was hardly comforted by the news of Flora's demise. Her death seemed to come too quickly, and he was out of it for the most part. The worst part was, it didn't bring Rodin back.
"Ah, my love, but Rodin is back," Ruby said to Argent's surprise. She kissed his cheek, then his chin, and slowly worked her way down his chest. "He is reincarnated, too. One quick change, as you did to me, will have him back forever."
Argent swelled at the news. Of course, Ruby's attentions bore some responsibility for his euphoria. To have Ruby by his side, and his brother back, would make him very happy indeed.
What the hell, he'd let the other vampire and his boytoy live, too.
"How is it you're sure of this, that my brother lives on in another person?" he asked.
Ruby smiled and grasped Argent's cock, scraping the tip with a long, red fingernail. "How soon you forget, love," she said, kissing the pale shaft, "Miss Ruby sees all."
About the Author
Leigh Ellwood is the pen name of a writer of mysteries; the name she has chosen for the purpose of writing romance (be it chaste, sensual, or spicy) is derived from the names of two favorite entertainers (close to it, anyway—she doesn't want to give away too many secrets). She lives and writes in the sweltering South and seeks inspiration in the many people she has met and loved over the years.
Having found moderate success in writing mystery and suspense, Ellwood decided in 2004 to try her hand (and pen) at romance.
You are welcome to visit Ellwood online at
http://www.leighellwood.com.
She also welcomes comments from readers at
[email protected].
