Crimson Kiss

by Trisha Baker

  "Why not?"

  "She won't admit it, but I think she's hung up on this other guy and won't make a commitment to me."

  The woman seemed genuinely interested. "Well, what does the other guy have that you don't?"

  "Nothing! I mean, she hates him. It's not that she's still in love with him, but he didn't treat her well. So I don't know if she trusts me."

  "What did this man do?"

  "Beat her—wouldn't let her live her own life." That was about all Maggie told him about Simon. Other than that, all he knew was that she'd gotten away from him when she put that stake in his heart.

  The woman came closer, and he saw she had pretty eyes—dark blue. "Maybe your girlfriend is lying about her fellow."

  "Maggie doesn't lie!" he snapped. Well, so much for thinking he didn't care anymore—he'd tear some stranger's head off for saying one bad word about her.

  The woman shrugged. "Didn't mean to offend, honey. It's just that you're handsome and I'm lonely." She gave him what he imagined she thought was a seductive smile. "What do you say we go down to the beach?"

  "Are you insane?" he asked. This one was a beast; he wouldn't fuck her with a rented dick.

  The woman's eyes flashed. That didn't look like hurt to Jimmy; it was more like rage. Was Rockaway crawling with crazy people? Great, now he was probably going to have this psycho screaming at him until the bus arrived.

  The woman tried to shrug her anger away, and rearrange her face into come-hither lines. "I thought it would take your mind off your problems."

  Jimmy was about to say no, and then he reconsidered. Why not? It would make Maggie good and jealous.

  As they headed for the boardwalk, he told the lady, "Sorry if I hurt your feelings back there. You just surprised me."

  "It's quite all right." This woman wasn't so bad after all. Why not go with her?

  "What's your name?"

  "Renee." The woman tried to purr. Something was wrong in all of this. Jimmy felt like the woman had no real interest in him or sex. It was more like he was an assignment…

  "Holy Shit!" he exclaimed. "Are you a hooker?"

  "No, not at all. Let's walk a bit farther."

  Jimmy thought of declining, and then that strange impulse came over him again to go along.

  They were walking an awfully long way. They were no longer by the apartment houses; the beach was starting to look isolated. Well, maybe she was being prudent. You wouldn't exactly want to have sex in full view of a neighborhood, would you?

  Renee put her leather satchel down and threw off her cape, revealing a torn black lace dress with a dog chain used as a belt wrapped around her waist. She lay down on her cape, holding her arms out to Jimmy invitingly. He backed away—disgusted with her, with himself. What the hell was he doing here with this strange lady he didn't even like? He decided to head back and find Maggie—maybe now that they'd both had time to cool off, they could talk.

  "What's the matter, Jimmy?" she called after him.

  Shit! Jimmy very slowly reached into his jacket pocket for the Magnum. It wouldn't kill this thing, but it would stun her long enough for him to run away. He wanted to keep his back turned, but it would be fatal to take his eyes off the thing.

  He turned around, and Renee was right in front of him. If he hadn't turned around…

  "What's the matter, babe?" Jimmy taunted. "Can't get laid unless you use that power?" The thing's lips twisted, and Jimmy knew he was on the right track in provoking her. He kept insulting her so she wouldn't catch on to his gun. "Now I thought you got prettier when you became a vampire… What kind of pig were you before?"

  With an inarticulate cry of rage, Renee threw herself on him and he yanked the gun out of his pocket. But he had no time to shoot because the pistol was torn from his hand and Renee was flung away from him.

  Jimmy turned around, intending to thank his rescuer—it must be Maggie or one of her friends. But then he saw the impassive yellow eyes looking down on him. No, God, don't let me be with…

  Renee tried to attack him again, and the other vampire held her off with one hand. "Master," she screeched, "this mortal dared to insult me; give him to me!"

  "Renee," the evil thing said her name slowly, pronouncing each syllable separately. There was no inflection in the quiet whisper, but Renee turned paler by several shades and became still.

  Jimmy hadn't been this scared when he saw that thing feeding on Amy and Jay. Even that monster hadn't emanated evil and cold, deadly menace the way this man did by simply staring at him. Don't look at me, Jimmy wanted to scream, but he couldn't speak. If it didn't stop looking at him, he'd lose his mind. Maggie, how the hell did you escape this thing? How strong are you? Now I know why you didn't want to talk about him—why you just wanted to forget he existed.

  "Meghann can never forget me." Jimmy longed to hurt this bastard—hearing him speak her name in that evil monotone was an abomination. "Tell me of your relationship with her."

  "No," Jimmy whispered, "you can't make me tell you."

  "I can disembowel you and make you thank me for it." The man didn't raise his voice when he issued the monstrous threat. "And you will betray Meghann."

  And then the saffron eyes fixed on his, and Jimmy heard himself telling Simon everything he wanted to know. How he and Maggie met, what little she said about Simon, Alcuin's plans for killing him, even the argument they'd had tonight. A part of him was crying and screaming, desperate to keep quiet. Jimmy didn't understand how, but he intuited that Simon wanted him to be aware of his pain, wanted him to feel himself resisting the monster's questions but answering anyway. Jimmy knew vampires could read minds—Simon could have easily reached into his head for the thoughts he wanted. But no, Jimmy had to hate himself while he answered the interrogation.

  Finally the vampire seemed satisfied and he took his evil gaze off Jimmy to address Renee. "She will know his pain." He dropped Jimmy on the sand. "Feed on this worthless specimen and deal with my wayward consort when she arrives. That is my reward for your good work this evening."

  Then the fiend was gone as suddenly as he had arrived. Jimmy tried to get up, but Renee leaped on him and began drinking his blood.

  At first, Jimmy was too shaken from his encounter with Simon to even register what was happening to him. Then the pain hit and he thought he heard himself screaming. The ache wasn't just in his neck; it was all over his body as he was drained of blood. The skin became numb when his circulation was cut off, and then he heard drums beating. No, that must be his heart.

  I'm dying, he thought hazily. Maggie, I've got to tell her… Maggie! Jimmy cried out from the bottom of his soul. Maggie I love you!

  * * *

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  « ^ »

  Charles caught up to Meghann—she had walked into a schoolyard. She looked up and tossed a baseball at him. "Some kid must have left it here. Throw it back."

  Charles wanted to protest that this was hardly the time for a game of catch, but he thought he should go along with anything to calm that feverish glint in her eyes. So he lobbed it back at her.

  She assumed a pitcher's stance and drilled the ball at him—screwball pitch, he thought, and felt a sting in his hand when he caught it. He thought it might have gone through the brick wall of the school if he hadn't caught it.

  "If I do say so myself, I used to be a goddamn good pitcher." Whack—the fastball nearly broke Charles's hand. He decided to hold on to the ball for a few minutes. "I was taught by the best—my brothers. And they never went easy on me for being a girl—if I was missing the plate, believe me I heard about it that night at dinner. They would've been real proud if they saw the last game I ever threw—it was a shutout. And I thought that's all I was going to do all summer after I got married—pitch games for my team while Johnny cheered me on, go to Playland… all sorts of fun stuff."

  Meghann glared, and Charles threw her the ball. "And you want to know something? It never occurred to me even once to be grateful for what I had. I
had no knowledge, none whatsoever, of what kind of evil there was in the world. Maybe if I did know, I would have treasured the last game I ever pitched, the last time I ever stood on a mound in blazing sunlight and screamed at the umpire for a miscall. But I had no idea April 21, 1944, was going to be the last truly good day of my life—that a mere three days later I would drink my fiancé's blood. Did I ever tell you Jimmy doesn't know about that?"

  "What does he know about, Meghann?"

  "That once upon a time there was a guy named Simon Baldevar and this cute little girl called Maggie. Same old story: guy bites girl; girl turns into a vampire, falls out of love with guy; guy leaves her on a rooftop to die; girl turns the tables on him." Meghann gave him a cynical glance. "Now, you don't think I left any details out, do you?"

  "Maybe you could tell him—"

  "I could tell him lots of things. His hair would turn white when I finished. But that's going to happen anyway—the hair turning white, that is. Because I will not transform him, or any other person." Meghann smashed the ball into Charles's palm, and he cried out. "Sorry, Charles. You know, Jimmy hates me because I won't talk about Simon and I won't transform him. He can't understand why."

  "Make him understand."

  "No can do—no one understands, not even you. What I can't talk about isn't what Simon made me do. No, my problem is what I became—nothing. For thirteen years, I didn't exist. You see, I was Maggie before Simon stole that away. But that girl died the night I became a vampire. She was innocent—and believe me, that stopped the moment Simon brought Johnny through the door. So what was left of me? Nada—all I could be was anything Simon wanted. His whore, his partner in blood lust, but not a person. Just a shell—an evil, amoral shell."

  "That's not true."

  "Yes, it is!" she screamed. "I was evil! And I did evil things that I will never forget. They haunt me… but what haunts me more is that the potential to do them isn't gone; it's just dormant. Sleeping, if you will. Eagerly awaiting me to lose my temper or self-control long enough to let the blood lust have its way. That is my life, Charles—a constant, unceasing battle to fight the thing Simon put in me. And that is what Jimmy wants—and what he cursed me for denying him."

  Charles grabbed her. "Stop it, Meghann! Stop torturing yourself."

  Meghann collapsed. It was like someone shot her. "Meghann!"

  She sat up, dazed. Maggie, I love you! The thought had hit her hard. Jimmy was hurt. She had to go to him.

  "Jimmy," she whispered to Charles, and then she disappeared.

  "Meghann!" he screamed at the air. Where was she? What trap had she wandered into? He flew back to the house. He had to summon Alcuin.

  Meghann allowed her soul to follow Jimmy's anguished call and found herself on the beach.

  NO! Some horrible thing was sucking her Jimmy's blood. He was bled nearly white…

  "Get off him," she ordered in a cold voice.

  The thing whipped around. Meghann saw that it was the woman who drove the car the night she encountered Simon. It dropped Jimmy, and he fell to the sand helplessly.

  The bitch didn't even bother wiping Jimmy's blood off her face. She just smiled through it. "Hello, Meghann."

  When she got no response, she queried further. "No tears, no weeping at your lover's plight?"

  "He's alive," Meghann said coolly, "which is more than you'll be able to say in a few minutes." She spied a piece of driftwood and made it fly into her hands. She held it out in front of her for protection—and attack.

  Renee was unsettled. Simon told her the girl was weak, and the mere sight of her lover hurt would make her unable to fight.

  "Don't believe everything Lord Baldevar tells you."

  "Don't speak his name, bitch!" Renee hissed at her. "You betrayed my master." She kicked at Meghann, who easily held her off with the driftwood. They spun around, Renee striking out with her arms and legs, unable to knock the driftwood out of Meghann's hands.

  Meghann didn't dare glance at Jimmy, but she couldn't fight this thing too long. She needed to get her out of the way so she could help Jimmy. How much blood had he lost?

  Meghann deflected another blow—good, Renee was getting angry. Now, hopefully, she'd become careless.

  "He promised I could slaughter you," she whined, and made a vicious kick at Meghann's face.

  "Simon shouldn't make promises he can't keep." Meghann laughed, further infuriating the other vampire. "How stupid are you, anyway? I nearly killed him; do you honestly believe he'll give anyone but himself the luxury of killing me? I have no idea why, but apparently he's decided to make you a sacrificial lamb."

  "No!" the thing roared at her. Meghann was curious—why on earth had Simon chosen this as his new consort? This girl was stark raving mad—as well as ugly. Simon was a connoisseur of beauty.

  "I'm not his consort." Renee grabbed the driftwood and Meghann shoved her off. The woman landed on the sand and was up quickly. "He values my intelligence. You were merely his concubine—I shall be his partner when we rule the world."

  "Simon does not take partners, you stupid bitch."

  "You know nothing!" Renee spied the signet ring; she hissed. "How dare you wear the master's ring after what you did to him! That should be mine!"

  "You want it? Come and get it." Renee delivered a sharp kick to the driftwood and broke it in half, then she managed to kick her opponent hard in the jaw. Meghann went down. The vampire tried to leap on top of her, but Meghann took the jagged end of the driftwood and rammed it into Renee's chest. The vampire crumpled on the sand.

  Meghann ran over to Jimmy. "Honey, can you hear me?"

  He looked up at her with glazed eyes. "I'm sorry…"

  "Shhh. Nothing to be sorry about." Jimmy's eyes filled with fear, and Meghann turned around. Renee had managed to yank out the stake, and she attacked again.

  They struggled on the ground. Renee was filled with fury—and fear of what Simon would do to her if she failed to subdue his consort. Meghann did her best to deflect the blows, but Renee did manage to claw her face and pull one of her pigtails right out of her scalp. Meghann got a hold on Renee's wrists, sickened by the sight of her skin and a large chunk of her bright red hair dripping from the vampire's long nails, and shoved her down to the ground. Like a hellish jack-in-the-box, the bitch launched herself at Meghann again. Meghann flew a few feet away, and reappeared by the shore. Renee, so incensed she was not thinking clearly, chose to run at her rather than fly. When Renee was a few inches from her, Meghann delivered a vicious kick to the bitch's chest. Her foot smashed through the vampire's breastplate. Meghann broke her ankle on impact, and Renee's chest collapsed.

  They both fell to the sand. Meghann raised herself up, wincing at the pain in her foot. She looked at the broken, concave thing on the floor. Was the injury fatal? For a mortal—even though it was nearly impossible to shatter someone's breastplate—it would be. But a vampire?

  Incredibly, Renee glared up, and started chanting in a low monotone. The language wasn't familiar until Meghann caught the phrase "Unchi om ors" and felt that cold emanation from the night she looked into the scrying bowl.

  "No!" Meghann screamed, and spun around clockwise. Jimmy saw a circle of white-blue light appear. Immediately Renee's curses were powerless when she was trapped in Meghann's circle.

  She kicked Renee. "You fool," Meghann spat. "You would conjure demons with your broken body?" Meghann did not understand what force was giving this shattered thing the ability to speak through what must be unimaginable pain. Could a vampire heal from an injury like that? Meghann's ankle already felt better; her scalp was tingling with hair growing back once more. How long until Renee's bones knitted together?

  The thing didn't answer her but hissed, "Master!"

  Meghann felt her skin crawl. "Why are you calling Simon?"

  Renee gave her a smug smile.

  "He was here, Maggie," Jimmy whispered.

  "Simon was here?" That meant he was nearby. So why couldn't she feel his prese
nce? Knowing it was useless, she again asked, "Where is he?"

  Renee laughed—until Meghann kicked her and broke her jawbone.

  Meghann turned her back and yelled at the sky. "Where the hell are you, Simon? You cowardly, vile bastard! Come out and show yourself!" She felt a hand on her ankle and looked down at the gloating in Renee's eyes—at her inability to do anything against Simon Baldevar. That smug sureness made Meghann want to kill her, smash her—wipe it off her face for eternity.

  She knelt down and gave Renee a diabolical grin. "So you would curse me with darkness, wretch?" She saw the uncertainty on the evil thing's face, and her grin widened. "Oh, yes, I understood your little chant just fine. Now I believe a fitting punishment would be for the Dark to enter you, and take what you so clearly have no use for."

  Meghann stood up and focused her eyes on the moon. She had never done this before. Alcuin had shown her the ritual, but she did not know if she could perform the only magic capable of destroying a vampire.

  Jimmy became aware of a change in the air. The wind picked up, and the dark seemed to grow denser; he could barely see. All he could make out was that sphere of light and Maggie's pale hands extended toward the moon.

  "Taranis, Esus, Teuta." She called upon the darkest gods of the Druids—the ones who demanded human sacrifice. Her voice had nothing in it—no tone, no pitch, no inflection.

  Lightning flashed in the sky, and thunder erupted. Jimmy thought he must be delirious. It seemed like the moonlight was pouring into her hands. But when it hit her hands, it lost its silvery luminescence and turned into a dark shadow. Meghann, her eyes blank, turned back to Renee.

  She placed her hands, with that dark shadow, on Renee's concave chest It seemed like the darkness absorbed the area around her heart and Meghann's hands. Jimmy pulled himself up—what had happened to her hands? Then she pulled her hands away from Renee's body—clutching the vampire's heart.