Voracious Vixens, 13 Novels of Sexy Horror and Hot Paranormal Romance

by Travis Luedke

  This was the first time we both laughed. The expectations of a vampire are modest—that is what I told him. “I am sure it will do.”

  I climbed inside and he wished me a good rest. I was asleep as I closed my eyes. It was not a dreamless sleep. There were nightmare images, terrible they were. I saw the Storetons and Fenway...I saw all the debauched things we had done. But then I saw Gascoyne’s face and he looked loving and gentle. But his expression changed as anger replaced it.

  Normally, I know where I am but I didn’t then. I think I cried out as I heard a voice call to me asking me if I was alright. I recognized Edward’s voice immediately. He opened the door and asked me if I had rested as many hours had passed. I said I had. And now I need to feed. No, I didn’t say it I only thought it.

  “I was just going to read. I’ve painted today. Do you want to see?”

  My smile was my answer. The portrait looked nearly finished. The woman was indeed beautiful, this Rachel. I would ask him about her later.

  “Edward...I need to go out.”

  Yes, to feed as all blood imbibing beasts do. He looked startled at first but then he looked like he understood. “I will be here when you return.”

  The girl greeted me. She was a solitary looking child, dirty and unkempt yet kindly too. “He’s nice, init ‘eh?”

  I nodded. Best go now I thought for I had begun to smell her own fragrant blood.

  The streets were filled with people. It seemed there were more now than the previous night. They were on steps and at windows. I felt so many eyes upon me, judging me, questioning me—possibly questioning my right to be among them.

  I tried not to rush along. It wasn’t easy, as I was ravenous. Best walk as though you were human, Justine. Yes—mustn’t stand out. One never knew if Destroyers were about.

  I headed into an alley. Alleys had long since become my friend and it was their divine darkness I sought now, that and the shadows I could drag my prey into. I spotted a man, quite young and robust who looked the worse for drink. He was singing and stumbling along.

  I helped him into an alley, making certain no one saw. He was so far gone on his liquor he barely noticed my presence. Feeding was fast. I fed and let go of him. I didn’t drain him—I just took enough to quench my thirst. Vampire thirst is awful, indescribable.

  There I was, under the cover of night—hurrying along in the shadows. Not as I used to be—for now the night held no fascination for me. I wondered if that was because I was without my own kind, or was it because I was changing yet again.

  I reached Edward’s building but I did not go to the front, I chose the back. There was a yard with rubbish but no people about, no one to witness my strange flight up toward Edwards’s open window. His back was to me. “Edward,” I called.

  He looked startled. “I can fly,” I said.

  He motioned for me to enter. “And you must be invited in.”

  I smiled. “One of the musts.”

  We didn’t discuss my feed or anything about it. Instead we spoke of his painting. “It is nearly done,” he said. “I so wish for Rachel to see it. I was thinking of sending her a message.”

  This pleased me and I asked him if they wrote regularly to one another. “Oh yes,” he said. “A girl comes to deliver messages and take mine back, a servant. She will come tomorrow. She comes monthly.”

  I wondered if Rachel was anxious to see her painting and asked him. He smiled ruefully. “It is hard to know. She is a puzzling woman. She always has been even as a child. You see, I have known her that long.”

  He asked me if I thought he should have her wait until the painting was completed. But then he said he didn’t want to wait.

  I said as it was nearly done, she certainly would be able to see that. I made some suggestions but then I added, perhaps if she sees it as it is, it might be best.

  He thought that was a good idea and began to write the letter. He took great care with it. When at last he finished he sighed. “I quite poured out my heart. I hope I didn’t say too much.”

  He looked as though he wished me to read it. When he saw my hesitancy, he smiled. “It is alright. I will seal it now. Whatever happens, happens right, Justine?”

  Precisely I thought. That is fate.

  ****

  As Rachel was supposed to visit Friday afternoon, I knew I didn’t wish to be there when she came. I offered to find another place to sleep. “It is too uncomfortable for me to know I am in the same room—a sleeping vampire,” I explained. “It is not fitting.”

  At first Edward didn’t agree but then he did. He asked me where I would stay. I assured him a vampire could always find a place. As it turned out, I found somewhere right in the building—in the cellar, ah—what would we vampires do without cellars?

  I slept well and rose late in the evening. I was anxious to see Edward for I wished to know how his visit went. I was surprised to find him crying.

  “Rachel came herself,” he said. “She was just going to leave this letter and go away, but I asked her to stay. She did the worst thing she could have done then, she pitied me. I saw it in her eyes. I hate that. It is soul destroying for me. As for the painting, she liked it or said she did.”

  He cried for the longest time. “I have no reason to carry on... I am a fool to think anything would have come of it. I am a deluded fool...”

  “No, Edward. You are no fool,” I said. “Life is a gift, do not throw it away.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Gift of life, I kept going over those words in my head. Life was precious. I had found that out too late. My existence was the stuff of human nightmares, the world of the undead, a predatory creature gorging on blood? What other answer was there?

  As for my friend, I was determined not to let Edward harm himself. I watched him whenever I could. I did fear daylight hours as I had to sleep and could not be vigilant.

  Edward knew how fearful I was and he’d try to reassure me. “I promise, Justine. I am no liar. I will not do anything.”

  Despite the reassurance, I worried.

  Immediately following that awful visit by Rachel, he destroyed the painting. He actually looked better after he did. He even swore he was over her. That I didn’t believe as he still moped about, crying occasionally and denying it.

  Eventually he did seem to be over it and we carried on. In time, we developed a routine—where I fed as needed and slept as required. He was day and I was night but our friendship endured. In fact I felt certain he wished it to change.

  I suspected he’d attempt relations with me and he did. It happened several times, usually after I comforted him. He’d look at me and say “If only I could...we could be so happy.”

  He didn’t add ‘like normal people’ and I was glad.

  I didn’t think we could ever feel like that, not with me as I am. But I didn’t discourage him, as I felt it would be the worst thing I could do and so there were attempts at intimacy.

  There was irony for me there. I was tender and compassionate! This thing that I am—this creature, amazingly was actually feeling concern for a friend. I’d have gladly been destroyed instead so as not to hurt Edward. It pleased me and gave me something to be proud of.

  It was during this time and after that we became deeply committed friends. We accepted things as they were—our fate as Edward often referred to it.

  “I will never know the kind of love I have dreamed about,” he’d say wistfully and I was pretty certain that he wouldn’t. Though I wished he might.

  I was used to him, used to his company. I had a place to stay and I was grateful. The young neighbor I learned was called Nancy. She told me her name as I told her mine. She was as kindly as I had thought and often came to visit. I met her mother once, she was a sad looking woman, one whom life had beaten and nearly destroyed. She was kindly to Edward and pleasant to me, never questioning. She worked in a nearby drinking house washing pots and cleaning. Nancy often accompanied her.

  There had been a father of course, but he
was long gone. Three other adults lived with them in their two tiny rooms, one woman and two men. They rarely spoke to anyone. Edward said they had been there for quite a long time adding he hadn’t spoken to them ever.

  The poor, I have found live that way. They live as they can—in awful lodgings, crowded and hungry, grateful for so little. Life for them is an ordeal and nothing more.

  In France they overthrew the regime—they wished for something better but seemed to get something worse. I had heard things, terrible they were for the era now was called the Terror.

  Broadsheets and newsboys shouted the latest headlines. The King and Queen had already been tried and executed. If I felt sorry for the King I felt sickened at the queen’s death, dragged before a crowd—thrown into an open cart to be spat at and ridiculed. But she had died bravely and with dignity.

  I told Edward how kind she was, how loyal and true to her friends. And then I broke down to cry once again.

  “You have feelings, you know my friend. Whatever you are, you do care—you do remember.”

  Edward’s words moved me and he smiled. “Please, I only mean to comfort you. Please do not cry.”

  But I did.

  ****

  I felt a million miles from France. England was a different sort of place. I came to believe the people had more realistic expectations. The poor are rarely free and the rich don’t care and never will. Best to accept it and try to survive as best you can for that is the English way.

  Time passed as it does. It was difficult to believe I had been here for three years. I wondered how much longer I would remain. I thought this because I had become increasingly fretful about drawing attention to myself, for there were Destroyers in London then. They had recently reformed themselves.

  The cries of the newsboys along Tottenham Court Road, told as much—“Another Vampire killing!”—“Avengers trap monsters! Read about it here!”

  I felt certain it had to be the work of Rogues and not of the tame variety. Edward realized how fearful I was and pleaded with me not to leave for fear I would be endangering myself.

  I promised him I wouldn’t although I did wonder if perhaps I could take him with me. No, I wasn’t entirely convinced that was plausible or even good for him, still I thought it.

  Despite all that, there were times I thought of Gascoyne. I had begun dreaming of him, wondering how he was. Vampires never fare well when Destroyers rise up. It is better to cling together and I am sure that is what fired my dreams.

  There were other things too—I became far more cautious about feeding—about where I went and so on. As I didn’t drain anyone, I felt fearful they could be discovered by Destroyers. Still, I kept my worries to myself.

  As for Edward, he began to look more pale. He lost weight too. And though he still painted, he looked half-hearted about it. It was then that I knew he was ill. I asked him to see a doctor and he refused.

  “What are they going to tell me? Bah! I don’t care.”

  That struck me if he didn’t care, he was already longing for the grave. And those who long for it soon wind up in it.

  I never considered raising him if he died or turning him before death. I had many dreams about it too.

  If I worried about him, he feared for me. Most of the time he wouldn’t tell me what he was thinking but he didn’t have to. I saw it in his face.

  The most worrying thing about him was his deterioration physically. He was only twenty five but he was becoming more stooped. His leg was worse, he had pain and swelling and a great deal of difficulty walking.

  At first he was brave and as cheerful as he could be, but his attitude eventually worsened. He grew angry over things and quite impatient. Even our neighbor, Nancy irritated him. He’d ask her to leave which always made her cry.

  Late spring was when it happened. I had gone out to feed. It was very late when I returned to find a Rogue savaging him. He managed to croak out my name. I shouted Edward! Between that moment and the next, the Rogue and I were fighting. I was trying to tear its throat out when it suddenly hissed and pushed me off as though I weighed nothing. I watched as it flew out the window.

  There were screams—I thought at first they were mine but they weren’t. Nancy and her mother were shouting Edward’s name and screaming hysterically. “Vampire!”

  I tried to speak but could not, as suddenly several men stormed in. “Vampire bitch! We have you now.”

  They thought I savaged my friend for I was covered in blood. Clearly they were Destroyers, armed with stakes and heavy silver chains. When I was restrained they kicked and taunted me. I was distracted though not only by the savage death of my friend, but knowing they thought me responsible!

  CHAPTER 20

  I was dragged down the stairs and pushed inside a wagon. A man sat with me, laughing and taunting. “We have you, you vampire whore. Don’t think death will come to you easily, for it won’t. There is much planned for you.” He lifted up a heavy chain. “This is special. It is coated with silver—it weakens vampires. That is why you were easy to subdue!”

  The effect of that alloy not only weakened me, it made me sick and dizzy. I recall little after that, just the realization of the wagon stopping.

  “The Hall of Wonders! Your new home!”

  I was dragged out, kicked and spat at. I tried to see where they were taking me, but it was impossible. A door whined open. There were stairs. I could hear heavy footsteps—as for me, I was merely pushed down onto the next level. How it stunk. There was the overpowering smell of dust and damp, I smelled rodent droppings—and the sweet pungent stench of their urine.

  The men were calling to one another. “Along here. That’s right just pull her as long as she is subdued...”

  They still feared me which made me smile and I had so little to smile about. We didn’t walk long, just a few hundred yards or so. I looked to see open doors and light coming from within.

  “Your new residence,” one of them laughed. I knew there were vampires as soon as they pushed me inside. And because their scents differed, I knew they were a few varieties. I smelled Ferals and my kind as well as Rogues.

  That was when I began to fight them. The realization that there were Rogues was horrific. I tried to move but was restrained. They shouted at me and at one another giving various commands one of which was to clean me up.

  “Wash her off!”

  They did. Buckets of cold water were splashed all over me. “You’re a monster,” they shouted. “But you can be a less bloody one.”

  One of them had come forward. I had noticed him before. He had been quietly watching me. “Destroyers have delivered you to us,” he smiled. “They are our agents.”

  I began to ask him what he meant but he started to walk away. “Welcome to hell,” he said. “You should feel right at home here.”

  I took my first look at where I was then. There were cages on both sides. The Ferals were screaming and growling. As for the Rogues, they were hanging from the bars and hissing, their yellow eyes staring wildly at me. I began screaming. I am sure I called Edward’s name.

  No one cared—they just kept moving me along, dragging me past them—toward the vampires. Vampires, I saw that were watching me so pityingly.

  “In you go!”

  A cage door was opened and I was shoved inside with such force that I fell. My kind came to comfort me. “It is bad here,” they said.

  I could still hear the horrific shrieks of the Rogues and Ferals. They sound almost alike sometimes.

  “They suffer the most,” I was told. One vampire, quite elderly, told me what I had to look forward to. “There are shows. We are but an exhibit for the curious. There is much that goes on here.”

  He introduced himself as Gregory. “I was with a coven recently. They are no more.”

  I assumed they were destroyed. When I asked, he shook his head. “No, the cause was something else. They sickened and died. I mourn them daily for they were my friends.”

  That made me think of Gasc
oyne and his coven. I asked the vampire if he had ever heard of him. He recalled the name, he said. He explained that there were many covens. Nearly all of them have been destroyed by one thing or another. He meant Destroyers or illness. I would have spoken with him more but it was time for our feeding.

  Just as they threw in live rodents and rabbits, people began to appear—all sorts of people—most of them well dressed. I imagined they took a hefty price to show them these, the freaks. One man walked up to the cage and when I hissed at him he turned white. I was thrilled.

  When two women began to stare and laugh, I deliberately seized upon a rabbit and tore its throat out. One of them fainted while the other continued to watch me feed.

  “They think they’re better than us,” Gregory said. “Why is that?”

  I had no answer.

  All I could think of was Edward’s savage death at the hands of a Rogue. I wondered if he had invited the savage in, thinking it was me! My poor friend, a friend I’d have willingly been destroyed to save. His bloody death was the reason I was here. Perhaps it was where I was meant to be. Perhaps nothing really mattered.

  ****

  There was no end to the stream of people passing by. They looked quite degenerate to me despite being well dressed. As the night wore on a different sort of clientele began to appear, men with women who looked drunk and loose. The men were kissing and fondling the women. It was disgusting, even to me.

  If I thought things were bad, I was in for a big surprise. Gregory warned me when our cage door was unlocked and I was taken out, “They’re taking you to the special room.”

  That sounded ominous. I made no protest, there was no point and I didn’t feel like being spat upon.

  “That’s a good wench!” the Handler cried as he dragged me inside another room—a room where an audience waited, an impatient one to be sure. They kept crying out for the show to start.

  I was led into a cage along with some others. When I asked what was going to happen I didn’t receive an answer. I had no choice but to wait. The door opened some time later and a man was thrown inside, he was half conscious. It was clear he had already been fed upon. I realized what they wished us to do! We were to feed on this pathetic man for a show!