Have Teeth, Will Bite

by L D Marr

  Madame pressed a chubby fist over her mouth. She trembled and swayed from side to side.

  Jonah exchanged a look with the sheriff. Then Jonah continued.

  “OK ma’am. I know you’re upset. There’s just one more thing I want to ask you, and then I’ll leave you alone. Was there any particular reason why you used a stake to the heart as the murder weapon?”

  Madame trembled some more, and her eyes bulged as she looked back at Jonah.

  “Reason? Reason? No reason!” she said. “I had to use a stake. What else would I use?”

  Jonah was bemused. He’d gotten exactly nowhere with his questioning. Except now, the case was even more confusing. It sounded like Roz had been Madame’s target all along. But why? Madame was hiding something. If she knew that Roz was a vampire, it was clear that she wasn’t going to open up about it. But what would she have to gain by that when she was going to hang for this murder no matter what? In any case, Jonah wasn’t going to ask her about vampires in front of the sheriff.

  “Thank you for your time, ma’am,” he said. “I’ll be getting along now.”

  “Time’s all I’ve got, deputy,” said Madame with a sniff. “And I don’t have much of it left. How much time do I have, Sheriff DuBois?” she asked. “Do you really have to hang me?”

  The sheriff offered Madame sympathetic words and a solemn, kindly face.

  “I’m sorry, but we do, ma’am,” the sheriff answered. “Believe me, hanging a woman is the last thing I ever want to do. It doesn’t sit right with me, but that’s the law. I’m not in a rush to do it though. Do you want me to get a preacher in here to prepare you before you go?”

  “I’d like very much to speak to a preacher. Thank you, sheriff,” said Madame.

  “I’ll send for one then,” said Sheriff DuBois. “Or wait. I think there might be a man of the cloth in town right now. Unless he passed through already.”

  “Yes. Reverend Thatcher’s in town. Such a kindly pious man!” Madame raved. “I’ve talked to him on a few occasions, and he completely understood my frustration over these tainted women I’ve had to associate with all these years.”

  “Very well then. I’ll bring him in to see you if he’s still around,” said the sheriff.

  He stood and picked up his stool. Jonah stood too.

  “We’ll be getting along now, ma’am,” said Sheriff DuBois. “Thank you kindly for talking to us.”

  “Yes. Thank you, Madame,” said Jonah.

  He picked up his stool too and followed the sheriff out of the cell.

  Chapter 20

  Late that night after the saloon had closed, Cowboy Bob lounged with Loretta in his arms on the small bed in her room. An open bottle of champagne sat in a bucket of ice on her nightstand. As usual, Loretta was the only one drinking.

  To avoid sharing her intoxication, Cowboy Bob usually drank her blood before she got drunk. Or sometimes he allowed himself to drink after she’d had only a glass or two. He needed to keep his wits about him. Especially when there’d been a killer at large.

  But tonight was different. Madame was safely locked up in jail. And with all the traumatic happenings of the past days, Cowboy Bob felt like a night of drunkenness was in order.

  Loretta emptied her glass and handed it to him.

  “Fill my glass again, cowboy,” she said.

  “As you wish, my lady,” he answered in his undisguised voice.

  Loretta giggled.

  “You aren’t the cowboy I fell in love with, but you’re a mighty captivating man. Are you ever going to tell me who you really are?” she asked.

  Cowboy Bob carefully poured the champagne into the narrow-stemmed crystal glass. He’d brought these necessities with him from Europe.

  “Drink up, darling,” he said as he handed the glass to Loretta. “I might tell you who I am someday, but now isn’t the right time. If you had that information, you could be in grave danger from forces of evil who would do almost anything to get it.”

  “Ooh! You’re so exciting!” she answered in a drunken voice.

  The intoxicating smell of her blood now carried the aroma of fine champagne. Cowboy Bob brushed her soft blonde curls away from her neck, lifted a long-fingered hand, and began to caress his favorite feeding spot.

  Loretta sighed and pressed her body against his.

  “Isn’t there anything you can tell me though?” she asked. “I should at least know something about you, mystery man.”

  Cowboy Bob leaned in closer to Loretta’s neck and inhaled. She had absorbed so much alcohol that he felt a slight buzz from the particles he breathed in.

  “What is it that you want to know?” he asked.

  “You told me you love me, but we can’t get married because of who you are,” said Loretta.

  “Yes, that’s true,” said Cowboy Bob.

  He tilted his head, so his eyes stared into hers, and he gave her the hypnotic command to not notice what he was doing. Then he leaned back down and pressed his mouth against Loretta’s silky skin.

  After he drank just a few swallows of her sweet blood, Loretta spoke again.

  “I’ve never seen you drink or eat anything when we’re together. That’s kind of strange. Does that have anything to do with why we can’t get married?” she asked. “Are you on some kind of special diet that you’re embarrassed about?”

  Cowboy Bob’s hunger stirred. He hadn’t had a full meal of completely emptying a body of its blood in many weeks. No gunslingers had come to town, and he’d been busy with Loretta and Roz. Although he’d drank most of Roz’s blood, she’d then taken back a large amount of his own.

  On the restricted diet of only a small amount of Loretta’s blood each day, Cowboy Bob was in a constant state of edgy hunger. But he was confident of his own self-control. Now that control was loosening because of the high alcohol content in Loretta’s blood that was entering his own bloodstream. He wanted more, but he knew Loretta expected an answer.

  I’m surprised at how insightful she is, he thought. I believe I’ve underestimated her all along.

  Cowboy Bob lifted his head and looked into Loretta’s deep blue eyes again—eyes that were even more intoxicating than the champagne in her blood. He kept a finger pressed on each of the bite holes he’d made in her neck to keep any precious drops from escaping while he talked.

  I could stare into those eyes forever. That can’t happen because she must remain in her mortal state, but at least she deserves to know part of the reason why, he decided.

  “You’re right. I do require a special diet,” he said. “And yes, that’s the reason why we can’t get married.”

  “But I don’t care what you eat. You don’t have to be embarrassed to tell me. I swear I’ll still love you no matter what gruel or whatever you’re living on,” she insisted.

  “Very well, I will tell you,” said Cowboy Bob. “You will know this information, but you’ll never be able to speak of it. It might disgust and mortify you. And when you find out, you may leave me if you want to. But you won’t be able to tell another living soul. Will you agree to those conditions?”

  “I promise I won’t leave you, and I promise I won’t tell anyone,” said Loretta. “Don’t you know that you can trust me by now?”

  “Of course, I do,” Cowboy Bob assured her. “But I won’t hold you to your promise not to leave. As far as the other promise goes, you won’t be able to tell anyone whether you want to or not.”

  Loretta looked confused by that answer, but she encouraged him to continue. “Tell me!”

  Cowboy Bob stared into her eyes again and set the unbreakable mental order: “You will never speak of what I’m about to tell you.”

  Then he spoke out loud.

  “You’ve never seen me eat or drink anything because I subsist on blood. Human blood. I’ve been drinking your blood each time we’ve been together, but you don’t realize it.”

  “What!” said Loretta. “Don’t you play with me, Cowboy Bob! You don’t think I’d notice if
you...if you...if you...”

  Loretta struggled against his hypnotic order, but she couldn’t complete her sentence and speak of his blood drinking. Cowboy Bob knew that she’d never be able to say those words, but her voice was kind of loud. He worried that others in the house might wake up and hear her.

  Meanwhile, his stomach was growling. He held a finger to his lips and gave her another mental order to keep her voice low.

  Then without wasting anymore time, Cowboy Bob said, “I’ll show you.”

  He removed his fingers from the bite holes and pressed his mouth back over them. Then he sucked to bring Loretta’s blood back up to the surface. It flowed into his mouth. Cowboy Bob swallowed and sucked harder. Now a sweet stream began to flow.

  Loretta moaned and adjusted her body to move even closer to him. She stroked his chest with one hand and ran the other through his hair.

  Cowboy Bob felt starved. And lulled by drunkenness from the champagne, he drank more than he usually did. But he still knew when to stop, so that she wouldn’t be harmed. She might be more tired than usual tomorrow, but it would be nothing that a good meal wouldn’t fix.

  At last, he sealed Loretta’s wounds and looked up into her eyes. They were glazed over with passion.

  “Now you know the truth of me, my darling,” he said. “Will you leave me now?”

  She stared back without speaking, as if willing him to read the words from her eyes. But he waited to hear them from her full rosy lips.

  “Never while I live,” she breathed at last.

  Then no more words were spoken. They fell together and now satisfied the mutual hunger that was only physical.

  Sometime later, wrapped in Loretta’s arms, Cowboy Bob fell into a deep drunken slumber.

  Chapter 21

  Unlike Cowboy Bob and Loretta, Roz was having trouble falling sleep that night. She sat on her bed talking mentally to Buttons.

  “Jonah wasn’t there at the bar tonight,” she said. “Do you think that means he’s decided that the vampire thing is too much for him?”

  Buttons looked up at her with bright golden eyes.

  “Well, if you’re not going to be a lawman’s wife, at least you still have your saloon job,” said Buttons.

  “I didn’t want to marry Jonah just so I could quit this stinky job you talked me into!” Roz insisted. “I love him. And anyway, I was going to help him solve crimes. Now that I’m a vampire, I’m really good at that.”

  “Doesn’t that take all the fun out of it if all you have to do is ask, and people confess everything they’ve done?” Buttons asked.

  “Well, I’ll admit it wasn’t that fun talking to all those murderers about all the people they killed. But it’s for a good cause,” said Roz. “It’s unpleasant, but I’m willing to do it to make the world a safer place. Only now I don’t know if that will ever happen. Jonah’s been staying away from me. I guess my new undead condition is just too creepy for him.”

  A tear dripped down her face. Buttons pressed against her side and purred. Roz reached a hand down and began to stroke his soft fur.

  “It’s OK,” he said. “Even if Jonah abandons you, you can still protect the innocent on your own.”

  “How can I do that?” Roz asked. “You know that women can’t get jobs as officers of the law, even out here in the west where things aren’t that regulated.”

  “You don’t need to work for the mortal law agencies. You can do it on your own,” said Buttons. “You don’t need them. You’ve got all the equipment you need to chase down murderous criminals and wipe them off the face of the Earth.”

  Roz stopped petting Buttons and looked him in the eyes.

  “What do you mean by that, exactly?” she asked, although she thought she knew what he was getting at.

  “I mean that you can sense killers from a far distance now. Get closer and smell the murderous intentions in their blood. Then get them somewhere alone and drain it all out. Dead, gone, killer eliminated, problem solved. Question them first if that makes you feel better about it,” said Buttons.

  “No, absolutely not!” said Roz. “Even if they’re dead-hearted killers, I don’t want to drink their nasty foul blood. I’m a vegetarian, don’t you remember? Drinking Jonah’s blood is different because we’re in a relationship, and his blood appeals to me. But I’m not going to drink the blood of unclean strangers until they die. That’s disgusting, and it’s just not right.”

  “OK, if you say so,” said Buttons, who was always agreeable. “But I think at some point, you’re going to need more blood than Jonah can provide without harming his health. You’re a predator now like me, and we need full meals in order to function in tip-top health. Anyway, if Jonah doesn’t come back, then what will you do?”

  “No way. I might be a vampire now, but I’m not a predator,” Roz insisted. “And I’ll worry about it later if I don’t see Jonah again. Anyway, I’m finally feeling tired now. Too tired to think about where I’m going to get my next meal.”

  Roz yawned.

  “I’m exhausted, and I need to sleep,” she said. “You don’t have to stay and guard me tonight because the murderer is behind bars. And Cowboy Bob seems to be behaving himself, somewhat.”

  She got inside her quilt and turned off the gas lamp next to the bed. Buttons snuggled down next to her in his usual place.

  “I’ll just take a quick nap, and then I’ll go out,” he said. “Even though I’m a vampire, I still need a normal cat’s daily seventeen hours of sleep.”

  Chapter 22

  A few hours later, a noise pulled Roz out of deep sleep. The small click of her door lock turning. Her eyes winked open, and she was suddenly alert.

  That can’t be Cowboy Bob, can it? she wondered. He knocked last time, and he promised not to come in again without my permission.

  Roz inhaled and caught the spicy scent of tainted blood. She breathed deeper and smelled murder—many murders and some of them recent. With her sense that wasn’t smell, she detected the twisted evil in the heart that pumped the blood.

  The door began to open very slowly, as if the intruder was trying to keep it from creaking.

  Her self-preservation kicked in. Quick as a flash, Roz moved with superhuman speed from her bed to the space behind the opening door.

  When the door had opened about a third of the way, a man stepped in on silent-moving feet. He held the same tools of murder in his hands that Madame had carried—a stake and a mallet. Cloaked in dark clothes and an enormous wide-brimmed hat, he approached Roz’s empty bed.

  The man stared down for a moment in the dim moonlight. He dropped his mallet on the bed. Then he patted Roz’s covers with his empty hand.

  “Not here!” he snarled in a low voice. “Does the slut sleep in the bed of another tonight?”

  The smell of the man’s heavily spiced blood began to fill the small room. Roz’s stomach growled, and the man spun around to face her.

  “There you be, witch!” he said in a low, menacing voice.

  He grabbed the mallet from the bed.

  Roz stepped nearer to the man. His hat covered most of his face, and she couldn’t see his eyes clearly. But she gazed in their direction anyway and gave him a hypnotic order.

  “Freeze! Do not move!” Roz said through her eyes.

  The man remained still, and Roz stepped confidently forward. She took a closer look at what she could see of his sharp-featured face. There was something about him that seemed vaguely familiar, but Roz was sure she hadn’t seen him in the saloon.

  Roz moved within a few feet of the man who was an inch or two taller than her. She looked up into his eyes and gasped. They were closed!

  At the sound of her gasp, the man’s eyes opened, and in a quick movement, he dropped his mallet again and grabbed her arm.

  “I’ve got you now, mistress of Satan,” he whispered. “Did you think you could vamp me with your devilish tricks?”

  Roz struggled to get away. Her new body was stronger now, but the man’s gri
p was powerful. As the two of them wrestled, Roz noticed the white collar above his dark shirt. She remembered where she’d last seen a collar like that.

  This man can’t be the witch hunter from back east, can he? she wondered.

  “You thought you’d escaped, but no witch gets away from me,” he said as if answering her question. “Tonight, you die, witch. And then I get me pay.”

  I should scream, Roz thought, just as he pressed the fist that held the stake over her mouth.

  The stake’s splintery wood dug into Roz’s lips and cheeks. She screamed, but her scream was muffled.

  Then the man spun Roz around, so that her back was toward him, and pressed her against his body. She struggled and kicked backward at him, but if he felt her kicks, he gave no sign of it. He pulled her down onto the bed and wrapped his legs around her.

  Without lessening the pressure of the hand that covered her mouth and held the stake, the man grabbed it in his other hand and pulled. He ripped and burned her skin as he dragged the stake across her mouth and face. Roz squirmed harder, but the man’s legs were clamped around her like an iron vise.

  He positioned the stake against her heaving chest and began to push it in.

  Chapter 23

  Deep in the untamed forest several miles away, Buttons snuggled up against a gray and white lady cat. Beneath the roots of an enormous tree, they were hidden from coyotes and other unwelcome guests in the hollow that was her den.

  She was his favorite among the many feral females he’d cultivated even before he was turned into a vampire. Because she’d never been around humans, she didn’t have a name, but Buttons called her “Miss Gray.” He would have liked to spend more time with her, but female cats were only in heat at certain times, so he had to spread his love around.

  Even so, becoming a vampire cat had caused changes to Button’s romantic life. Before his transformation, females wanted nothing to do with him after the deed was done, which was the natural way in the cat world. The fear that feral cats normally had of other cats made the females hiss, scratch, and even bite during the act of love. That part had always been unpleasant if not painful, and Buttons was affectionate by nature.