Vlad Tepes, the Vigilante Vampire

by Lillie J. Roberts

  “Ms. Jennings, it's Vlad Tepes, and I asked your father to bring the guards closer to your home. I know it's not what you want to hear...”

  “I'm sorry, Mr. Tepes,” she replied icily, “why would you do that? You know my feelings.” As she spoke, her tone rose higher, each word had a cutting edge.

  “Because there's a murderer on the loose, and I'm afraid he's coming your way,” I said as my patience started to slip. “The guards are there until I can arrive myself. He'll kill you if he can. Please let the guards stay until I arrive.” Begging isn't something I did on a regular basis, but if I had to get down on my knees and plead, I would.

  “I can take care of myself,” she grounded out quietly. “I've fought off muggers, my father's 'boys', the old farts he tried to foist on me. I'm sure I can handle myself.” She ended the call with a resounding thud.

  Cursing, I turned to Raymond. “You, I need you to go to Franc Crifaseno's house.” I touched his mind, showing him the home in all its gaudy glory. “Now!” He blurred in the next moment and was gone, but his thoughts remained with me.

  Bringing my own burst of speed, I headed for the Jennings home, for what was soon to be the new hunting grounds for our old rogue. Only one question remained, where would he hunt first? Franc Crifaseno's stronghold or the home of his daughter? Which was to his best advantage? Would he take the easier prey or work to get what he really wanted? Without another thought, I called Vanic, urging Sarah and him to Crifaseno's. It was larger with more access points.

  If Loupgarin wanted to bring death and destruction, he'd start there. If it was an easy kill he was looking for, it would be Franc's daughter. For all I knew, he might make an insane vampire army in the here and now, Franc's boys as his vampire crew. Even a few created in his image may prove to be too great for my family. It was going to be bloody killing day, and only time would tell who would survive. I was hoping for us, but the odds were not in our favor.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When I arrived at Sheree's home, she met me at the door, fit to be tied. To soothe her ruffled feathers, I attempted to explain why the guards were essential. Why I felt the need to protect. Taking her hand, I led her to the sofa and pushed her into the cushions.

  “Before you get too angry, there's a story I need to share.” My forehead wrinkled with worry. “You don't know much about my family or me. It started several centuries ago.” Now, I was no longer breaking just a few of the rules, but all of them. My insides quivered as I knelt down beside her and took her face gently in my hands, smoothing my thumbs across her cheeks and bore deep into her eyes. “This is going to be unbelievable, but I'm going to ask you to trust me, to keep an open mind, because everything I'm about to say goes against everything you think you know, and it's all true. I swear it.”

  She grew calm and placed her hand over mine. “What is it? It can't be that bad, look at my life.” She gave me a lopsided grin.

  So I began the story of my life, both human and undead, explaining both Vanic's and my own, how we came into existence. How Sarah joined us, and finally how Raymond came to be.

  Saying the word vampire to anyone outside our own society was forbidden. No mortal should ever know of our existence, but at this point, I had little choice. As I finished the story, my thumbs brushed along her jawline, across her warm lips. “I know it's impossible to believe, but I swear, it's the truth.”

  “You're joking, right? My father sent you here to scare me, trying to force me to go to him? Please, I really don't need all this crap in my life.” She looked over at me, like I'd committed a crime, and pushed my hands away. “Thanks a lot, just what I need... Look, maybe I led you on, maybe you're just some sick bastard who wants to make fun of me. Damn it, I let you into my life!” Tears gathered in her eyes.

  “I swear, everything I told you is the truth.” My hands shook. “And I don't share my story with everyone. It's because it's to you, because I want you to understand me, to believe me, to believe in me.” What else could I do to convince her? As my fangs fell into place, I smiled, just enough that my canines peeked below my lip. “Please, I'm not making fun, belittling, I'm not like the other people in your life who make you feel small. I'm not like that. And believe me, you're better than that.”

  Glancing down, I tried to gage her reaction. “I wanted you to let me into your life, I'd love you to be a part of mine, Franc Crifaseno or not. It doesn't matter to me.” I shrugged. “There are things in life that are not of our making, and the family you were born to is one of them. It's what you make of your life that matters. You can be proud of yours.”

  She sat there and I watched fleeting questions form in her expressive eyes. Finally, she reached up, putting a hand on the sunglasses I was rarely without. Contacts would have hidden their glowing centers, but I liked the sunglasses and the way they hid the windows of my soul, even my undead one. Bringing my hand to rest on her's, together we pulled the sunglasses away to reveal the truth of my existence.

  With a quick intake of breath, she peered into my eyes, something few people were able to do, fewer wanted to try. The misty grey of my irises surrounded the ruddy pupil, not all vampires are cursed, some would say blessed, with this particular quality.

  “I guess you're telling the truth.” She thought for a moment. “Was it you…when Bobby didn't come home?” She held her breath waiting for my answer. I was reluctant to admit the truth, but denial of my sins wasn't part of my makeup. The room felt smaller as I turned to pace it, trying to hide from the transgressions I'd committed.

  On some level, I almost wished I could take it all back. She deserved better. “Yes, I saw how he treated you, how he treated others. He disregarded life, even yours, and it's a precious thing.” Again I knelt, my eyes squinted. “There would have come a day when he would have gone too far, and by his actions or negligence, he would have killed you. At the very least, he would have broken you, changed you from the person you are to something unrecognizable.” Turning away, unable to look into her eyes anymore, I continued. “You'll never have to see me again once Loupgarin is stopped. I'd never hurt you intentionally.”

  Pushing my sunglasses back into place, I wandered around her living room. So unlike her father's taste for the outlandish and gaudy, this room brought calm, a feeling of serenity. “If only for tonight, I'd like us to stay together, in the same room, would you mind sleeping in here?”

  She followed me slowly into the room. “I don't blame you, you know. I could never blame you.”

  My heart stuttered before it came pounding to life as I listened to her words. She tugged my hand, turning me back to face her. “You might think me a horrible person, but when Bobby didn't come home,” a solitary tear slid down her cheek, “I was relieved. How does that make me sound? Like some heartless bitch who was tired of a husband she should have never married in the first placed?” More tears followed the first. “No, Vlad, I don't hate you.” Then she turned away as sobs racked her body.

  Standing in the softly decorated room, surrounded by what she cherished, it was hard to believe my ears. She thought she was heartless, when I had let my beast take her husband. I reached for her, pulling her tight against me, trying to quiet her tears.

  My lips found the top of her head, soft waves of vanilla wafted through my senses, and my beast groaned to life, needing her, wanting to protect her. “Shhhhhh...” Quietly, I rocked her, beginning to pull her guilty pain away.

  Finally, she quieted, letting me hold her, absorb the rest of her pain. She twisted in my arms, pushing up on her toes to brush my lips with a soft kiss. “Thank you… you don't know how much.” She leaned into my body, resting her head on my chest for a moment as my heart beat with new life. She slipped away from me, leaving a strange new coldness. It felt like being deprived of the sun all over again. Without her beside me, never again would my body feel warmth. Mentally, I shook my head, and smiled as I thought. Wouldn't you know it? I'd found love and I couldn't keep it.

  Late evening was gi
ving away to true night, and I spoke to her, saying the words she needed to hear. I moved the curtain aside, glancing around the quiet neighborhood. “No, it doesn't, it makes you human, like I can never be again. You go on continuing to feel, to regret, to love. Your humanity is a valuable commodity. Your ability to see inside, your ability to live, in spite of everything else. No, you stay exactly the way you are.” The curtain fell back into place. I heard her soft steps, the quickening of her breaths, the increase in her heartbeat.

  “Vlad.” She reached for my hand, and drew it to her lips. “You have a special quality for understanding, you're good, kind, everything I haven't had in my life.”

  “You're wrong,” I said quietly, “I'm quite the cold hearted bastard.” Smiling, I drew my hand back. “We'll spend the night here, okay?”

  “Let me get some blankets and pillows, we may as well be comfortable.” As I waited, she called to me. I hurried to her. I should’ve searched her home before I let her leave my sight.

  “I only thought if we were going to spend the night together, here would be better.” Her bedroom was washed in shades of blue and lavender, warm and appealing. The same soft song was playing, it must have been one of her favorites. She'd taken the time to change and she was a feast for my eyes. The soft fabric clung to her curves, each breath was a quiver.

  “Sheree.” I cleared my throat as my body started to respond. “I think I'd better wait downstairs.”

  “Then you'll be waiting alone, Vlad.” She pushed back the comforter, and climbed inside the sheets. “Come on, get in, I promise not to bite.” She teased, but there in lay the problem, I couldn't make the same promise.

  With the comfort pushed back, she patted the bed beside her, it was almost a compulsion to lay next to her, I pulled the blanket back into place and laid down on top of it. She turned on her side to face me, her hand tucked under her chin. “Are you going to get comfortable, or are you going to lie there like that all night?” She smiled and laughed, as I gazed into her eyes, the only thing found in them was shining happiness. There was something about her, and it made me want to please her.

  Sitting up, I pulled my black polo over my head, tossing it to the floor to reveal the extent of my vampirism, the cool flesh of my chest was pale white. Vampirism had left my body well defined, but I'd like to think it was hours spent in the dojo, working with Raymond and alone. Her fingers stroked my abs, making me catch my breath, my flesh covered in chill bumps, it rippled with her touch. “Really, that's it?” She placed her hand along my zipper, my cock pressed hard against it, begging for release. “Boxers or briefs?”

  My hand found hers, stilling her movements. “Neither.”

  “Oh,” she said as a brush of pink filled her cheeks, and then she pushed the zipper down anyway, bringing her lips to mine. “This is my choice. This is how I wish to spend the night.” Her blush deepened. “I've only known one other man, and as it turned out, he wasn't much of one. Let me know you.”

  Pushing up, I stared into her eyes. “Sheree, my life is dangerous, I am the monster.”

  She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I can't believe that, anyone who can bring me to life like you do can't be bad.”

  I gathered her closer, desire heated and hardened my body. “I can make you one promise, you'll always be safe with me.” Crushing her closer, my lips found hers in a bruising kiss. My promise was one I intended to keep even if it meant my life was forfeited. Sighing, I lowered my lips to hers, gentle this time, soft caresses too long forgotten.

  “Stay with me, tenderness and passion are things not often found in this bed, make me forget my life before you came into it. Let tonight be the first night of my freedom,” she pleaded.

  My jeans found my shirt as I lay beside her, slipping between the sheets, taking in her beauty she was so willing to give. I had to squeeze my eyes closed, this was real, not a dream or my imagination. My arms encircled her body, drawing her close. She ran her hands over my flesh as I captured her full red lips, my tongue brushed along their seam until she opened hers, and our tongues danced together, tasting and touching.

  A soft moan broke on her sigh, and I fought to maintain control, schooling my reactions to her needs. She pushed me back into the softness of the pillows, slipping across my body, letting her finely shaped hands stroked my flesh. Her auburn curls flowed across my body, bringing goose bumps alive on my arms, across my chest. Her caresses continued until she found my throbbing shaft, desire flared in her eyes. Her touch brought life to my pounding heart.

  Luxuriating in the feel of her body on mine, my beast rolled in her honeyed scent, vanilla and cream and the sweetness of arousal, peaked in need. With hands both gentle and harsh, I teased her ruby buds, marbleizing them as she groaned with pleasure. Hungrily, my mouth covered her nipples, I ravished one and then the other, sucking and pulling through the soft fabric of her gown, but I wanted more, to have her all. My fingers slipped beneath the brush of satiny fabric to find her soft core, it heated my flesh like never before. She was my treasure, my feast, my mate. My beast growled deep in my throat and I lifted her to slide beneath my body, ripping away her gown with anxious hands as I flung it to the floor.

  My hands became greedy with the need to touch, feel, take. My lips ached to feed from her, nipping, pulling, first one ruby tip, then finding the other. My hands moved across her body seeking her silky softness as she moaned. My fingers found her wetted core, my body filled with growing need. I wanted to mark her, to let the world know she was mine. With her hands guiding my mouth across her body, she pulled me back to her lips, grinding her hips into my hardness waiting to find entrance.

  With my heart hammering, I raised my head up to find her eyes. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to lose myself completely. I wasn't the vampire, the protector, the monster... I was Sheree's lover. It crashed into me with the force of a freight train. It fell heavy on my chest, I struggled to breathe. “Sheree, I can still stop. Are you sure this is what you want?”

  She put two fingers to my lips. “Shhh... I need this, I want it. I will have it.” She pushed herself up toward my hardness.

  A harsh groan of need escaped my lips, surprising me. The handle I thought I had on my desires had slipped, and instead, found a home in the core of her arousal. Slowly I drove into her moist folds, carefully pushing my length, stretching her wide as she tilted her hips to accommodate more. I wanted gentleness, but need overrodesensibility as she pushed herself quickly over my shaft. My eyes bore into hers as my breath stuck in my throat.

  Growling low, it became of frantic battle of wills, me and my beast, Sheree and desire, until all reason was lost. It became a delirious game of pleasure and need, giving and taking, receiving and acceptance. Her soul showed scars from years of neglect, my soul showed scars from years of longing. As she came with a driving pulse, my beast won out as it found its home. Of their own volition, my fangs slipped into her sensitive flesh as we came together.

  Gently, I cradled her exhausted body against mine, my beast had found its mate, and it claimed her with a strange new possessiveness. This side of my beast was unknown to me, but I knew nothing would ever come between this beauty and my beast. Not while she drew breath or not even if she grew tired of my attentions, I promised myself to coax and cajole her. For her, I'd promise heaven even if hell was where I existed. For the one who brought harm to her, death would come. Now I understood why I'd never shared my secret with any that had come before. The love I felt for Sheree was all encompassing, and made everything that came before her pale in comparison. Here was my life mate, in the form of a mobster's daughter.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sheree slept a little as I held her, but mostly she wanted to talk, about my life, her own, did I like my life? “How did you come to be what you are? Do you regret your decision?” she asked at one point. “Would you undo it if you could?”

  I shrugged slightly as her head rested on my chest. “I don't know.” My voice rumbled into the dark
ness, and I thought for a few moments. “I guess sometimes I have, regretted it I mean. I think everyone regrets their choices sometimes, but isn't that true with everything you do or happens to you in life? It's all a big jigsaw puzzle, and we're trying to piece it together. But, would I change it? And my family.” Love burst across my senses. “You know the saying, you can't pick your family? Well, I did.” And I laughed.

  Sheree looked at me quizzically. “You're telling the truth. You really love your family. You're not sorry about your choice.” She smiled. “You're remarkable and not because you feel duty bound to keep me safe, but because, with all the crap in my life, you're still here with me now. I could love you, Vlad.”

  That made me catch my breath, and I brought my lips to hers. “I do love you, Sheree Jennings, from almost the moment I saw you,” I whispered against them.

  “Sure, you say that now, but wait until you have dinner at my father's house.” Her grin turned into a grimace. “And I'm not joking.”

  She made me smile, my head fell back, my laughter was a welcome relief to the worry. Then passion found us again, and we touched and tasted, until sated, only to find need blooming once more.

  For much of the night, we remained in her bed... it was near bliss, heaven, bringing life to the desert without rain for too long. Even after we left her bed, I refused to let her out of my sight. It brought a long sought for peace, one I would not easily give up.

  “You know, I have a confession to make.” She smirked at me and it brought a smile to my lips. “I've been having daydreams of you since we met.”

  “What do you mean, daydreams?”

  She colored a delicate pink. “I mean like fantasies.” She laughed, her color heightened.

  “Don't.” I brought my lips to hers. “Don't be embarrassed by anything you tell me.”