B007XKEWAE EBOK

by Lawson, Nicola

  The girl hesitated and tilted her head back to look up at him, "You seem different."

  Fulton put his arms around her back and put his hands on her behind. He pulled her closer so that their bodies were pressed together.

  "Different in a bad way?"

  "Hell no," she replied. "I'm different too. I think I'm ready to do this properly. You know, go upstairs."

  Although she was trying to sound sure of herself the slight quaver in her voice and the doubt on her face were easy for Fulton to identify. But this time he wasn't going to let petty residual human emotions guide him. She said she wanted to, he did want to, so he was going to.

  "Come on then."

  He took hold of her hand and headed back the way he had come. The vampire watching the door at the top of the stairs gave the girl a full once over.

  "Not worth the two you came in with but very nice. And unspoiled as well, good choice," he said.

  Fulton didn't answer he just pushed past dragging the girl after him.

  "What did he mean? What other two?" the girl asked.

  "I came here with my sire and her lover," Fulton answered not even having to lie.

  The upstairs section of this club contained the same sounds as the other Fulton had attended, an assortment of moans and groans, slaps of leather and rattling chains and other sounds he couldn't immediately identify but which his imagination provided an assortment of images to go with them. Unlike the last club this one had been divided up into a series of separate areas by hospital style curtains and rails, giving at least a little privacy. Although some of the silhouettes they could see as they walked between the curtained cubicles left nothing to the imagination.

  Fulton found an empty cubicle and pulled the girl in behind him. He released her hand so she could pull the curtain closed behind them while he looked around. There was a low bed up against the back wall at about shin height. The mattress and sheets were well worn, still ruffled and stained from the last occupant's use. Assorted sexual accoutrements and toys were strewn on the floor having spilled out of a torn cardboard box in the corner. Also on the back wall located at varying heights above the bed were a series of metal hoops linked by metal chains and leather straps. Fulton guessed that there were at least a few cubicles or another room where the furnishings were of a higher standard since he couldn't really see Francesca or Gabriella putting up with this.

  "Shall we get started?" the girl offered.

  Looking at her standing there waiting for him to use her, desperate that it would somehow make her feel better or give her a better life, Fulton felt a resurgence of the feelings that had made him try to help her that first time. The feelings only strengthened when she started to undress. She made the process totally mechanical as if it was a chore she had to complete. There was no expression on her face the whole time she stripped, except at the end when she removed her final item of underwear when her face was clouded by a mask of hopelessness. As if she couldn't believe how low she had sunk.

  Taking a deep breath and plastering a false smile on her face the girl looked up at Fulton and gave him a slow twirl.

  Fulton closed off his emotions. They were only a remnant of his old weakness, since he had joined Francesca he had gone past all that. Maybe they were why Gabriella had been so quick to forget what there could have been between them. Francesca never showed weakness, she was sure of herself and what she was. That was how Fulton should be.

  He took hold of the girl by her slender shoulders and thrust her down onto the bed. Instead of being turned off by the unkempt surroundings he viewed them as an outward expression of how he should feel. He should revel in the depravity.

  Fulton stood above the girl as she waited nervously spread-eagle on the bed. She looked almost as though she would throw up. Fulton unbuckled his belt and dropped his trousers and boxer shorts.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  "So now are you going to turn me?"

  Fulton had finished with the girl and was stepping back into his trousers. Now that it was over the girl seemed relieved. She had gone through her trial and now it was time for her reward. She pushed herself up and approached Fulton tentatively.

  "I gave you what you wanted, now I want you to make me like you. I want to live forever."

  She pushed her hand up Fulton's chest under his shirt. "We can be together forever," she whispered using her other hand to brush her hair aside as she tilted her head to expose her neck.

  Did Fulton want to be with her forever. Francesca had Gabriella why couldn't he have a little slut for himself. He could use her when he wanted and if he did get bored with her he could always get rid of her.

  Fulton knew that the whole idea of forcing someone else to endure a life like his should have been abhorrent to him. It still felt that way but he had given up living by his feelings. They were what guided him when he was weak but now he was past that.

  "Are you sure you know what you are asking for?"

  Why was he still hesitating he should just get on with it.

  "I'm sure," the girl answered just loud enough for him to hear."

  Fulton let his face transform. His jaw shifted to accommodate his fangs, his brow shifted and his nose was pulled up and back. He liked the tips of his fangs and bent his head forwards. The scent of the girl made his head swim.

  He couldn't go through with this.

  He put his fangs to the smooth skin of her neck and applied pressure. The resistance gave way when his fangs punctured the skin and sank easily the rest of the way into her flesh. Her warm blood pulsed out of the wound filling his mouth. The girl let a quiet moan of pleasure escape her lips.

  Fulton gulped the liquid down until the torrent was reduced to a trickle. The girl's pulse was weak as her heart tried to pump a greatly reduced amount of blood through her body. Reluctantly releasing her Fulton held the girl upright with his left hand. He brought his right hand up and used his fangs to open a wound into the veins on his wrist. He spat his own blood away and presented the wound to the girl.

  He had to press his wrist up against her mouth and hold it there for her. For a moment she didn't move and Fulton wondered if he had drained her too fully. Then he felt the tip of her tongue searching the wound. In the next instant she had latched onto his arm of her own accord and was sucking his blood desperately, like a woman lost in a scorching desert presented with a fresh water fountain.

  When she was done Fulton guided her on to the bed and let her lay there while she recovered. No, recovered was the wrong word, she would never recover from what he had done to her. Fulton ignored the guilt he felt. Transformed was a better word. She was going to be transformed into a superior being.

  Fulton left her in the cubicle closing the curtain behind himself. He waited outside and couldn't help but listen to the sounds coming from the other cubicles. Through the cacophony of noise he could still make out the familiar sounds of Francesca and Gabriella together. They were really going at it in there. Fulton flushed hot and stalked towards the door. He needed a break.

  "Just getting some air," he told the vampire on the door. "I'm letting the girl get her breath back as well before I give her some more."

  "I'll let you back in."

  Fulton was already on his way down the stairs and didn't acknowledge the vampire's words. He stepped out into the crowd putting what he had just done and his reasons for fleeing the upstairs area out of his mind so that he wouldn't have to deal with them.

  "You can't really think it's that easy?"

  Fulton looked himself in the face and shook his head, "I got rid of you already, get lost."

  The imagined Fulton, dressed much more sombrely than when Fulton had seen him before, gave a smile as a human woman danced right through his image. "That's so cool."

  He regarded Fulton again, "You did get rid of me for a time. You finally stopped trying to be something you weren't, once you listened to me and behaved like you're supposed to I had no need to manifest and explain to you like this. But
now you're doing it again. To keep me away you need to be true to yourself."

  "And how do I do that?"

  If anyone in the club noticed he was talking to himself they didn't give any sign and carried on with what they were doing regardless.

  "Stop trying to be something you aren't. Before you were stopping yourself, denying your nature. When you started to embrace it you were doing good but now you've let yourself go to far the other way. What you did to that girl wasn't right and it wasn't you. And this other thing, this infatuation with Gabriella, it isn't healthy. You need to make a choice, mate. Either do something about it or give it up but this inaction and jealousy is getting you nowhere."

  "So what should I do? Am I meant to take Gabriella away from Francesca, she won't let her go without a fight, or should I keep my feelings to myself and try to move on?"

  "You know what to do," the pseudo-Fulton answered fading away.

  Fulton aimed a punch at the fading image of himself, he knew it was futile but he simply couldn't help himself. The image was gone before he connected, but instead of hitting empty air his fist connected with another vampire close by. Before he knew it he was caught up in a brawl with a growing crowd of vampires and club staff.

  He extricated himself briefly from the fight and hurried upstairs.

  Inside the upstairs area Fulton made his way immediately to the cubicle where he had heard Francesca and Gabriella. Throwing aside the curtain his eyes took in their naked flesh. Gabriella pulled a sheet from a bed Fulton was surprised to see was almost as grotty the one he had used to cover herself, Francesca simply stared at him.

  "We need to leave. I think I caused a bit of trouble."

  Fulton offered a brief explanation, leaving out the insane part, and pointed to the window at the end of the room. "We need to head out through there."

  There was a growing commotion coming closer from downstairs. Whoever Fulton had pissed off he had pissed them off good.

  On their way to the window they passed the cubicle where Fulton had left the girl he had turned. Deciding that if anything could take his mind off Gabriella she could, he took a moment to turn aside and carry her out. She was still mostly out of it but was slowly coming around.

  "What is that?" Francesca asked.

  "I liked her so I turned her."

  "We don't have time for this," Gabriella put in, "Just leave it behind."

  "I'll carry her."

  Gabriella was the first of them out. She just dived through the window almost without a second thought.

  Francesca went next. Fulton looked out and saw her land. Gabriella helped her up and then Francesca started walking calmly away. Not that would make her any less conspicuous, nobody could fail to notice someone naked walking down the streets, especially when they looked like that. Gabriella remained for a moment looking up at Fulton.

  "Catch." He leaned out and dropped the girl.

  Gabriella turned away to follow Francesca leaving the girl to slam into the concrete floor. Fulton threw himself out and landed in a crouch at the girl’s side. She was still alive which he assumed meant the change was working, she would recover quickly from any injuries she sustained in the fall. He still wasn't happy that Gabriella had let it happen though and he let her know it.

  "It's your responsibility," Gabriella said when he confronted her. "If you want a new toy to play with you can look after it."

  "Stop bickering and come along," Francesca called back over her shoulder. Fulton saw her eyes flick up from where he and Gabriella were making their way towards her up to the window they had jumped out of.

  "Why don't you put it-," Francesca cut herself off, "What's her name?" she asked indicating the girl Fulton carried.

  Fulton shrugged, "It never came up."

  "You made it one of us and you don't even know it's name," Gabriella said incredulous.

  "Will you stop calling her it?"

  They had crossed the open ground which separated the converted warehouse from the derelict buildings surrounding it. Soon they would reach populated areas where someone would notice them. They needed to steal themselves some transport.

  "Yes," Francesca said surprising Fulton by backing him up. He had expected her to be jealous of his decision to turn the girl and bring her with him.

  Francesca slowed to shorten the gap between them as they rounded the corner of an old factory building. The whole of the front of the building was covered in pale green netting, Fulton figured it was there to stop the building collapsing, or possibly to catch any falling rubble before it could hit a passer by and land the buildings owner with a lawsuit.

  She stroked a hand over the girl’s cheek brushing her hair away from her face. The girl moaned softly. Francesca let her hand trail down over the girl’s neck, through the blood congealing from Fulton's bite trailing it down her body.

  "She's definitely an attractive female," Francesca said. "In fact she looks a little like you, Gabriella."

  Fulton took a step away, breaking the contact between Francesca and the girl before her touch could reach anywhere intimate.

  "I look nothing like that," Gabriella spat, literally looking down her nose at the girl.

  "It has been a long time since you last saw how you look to us now." Francesca trailed her fingers over Gabriella's face emphasising how it was different in human form.

  "Not so long that I would mistake myself for that." At a look from Fulton and Francesca she smiled insincerely. "Sorry, for her. Can we get away from here now?"

  Chapter Thirty-two

  The blood he had taken from the girl had sated Fulton's need to feed but Francesca and Gabriella had not been so satisfied. They needed to make a kill and Francesca told Fulton that when the girl came around she would recover more quickly from the change if she could feed as well. As it turned out the opportunity to feed had presented itself at the same time as their means of transport.

  When they first heard the sounds of an engine coming up from behind them Francesca had called out for them to seek shelter in the shadows thrown by a vandalised bus-shelter, which had had the glass broken and never replaced. There was no glass on the ground around the shelter so either the company that maintained the shelters hadn't had time to replace the glass yet, or the vandalism had happened so often they had realised the futility of trying to keep it in good repair. The three alert vampires, and the half-turned girl Fulton carried, crouched behind the shelter waiting to see the source of the noise they had heard.

  A set of headlights illuminated the shelter, deepening the shadows where the vampires waited, as the vehicle rounded a corner and started up the road parallel to them. A dull repetitive thud-thud-thud grew louder in proportion to the engine sounds as the vehicle closed right up to them. All of a sudden Francesca got to her feet and stepped away from the bus-shelter.

  "What are you-"

  "Quiet!" Francesca hissed cutting Gabriella off, "And stay down all of you."

  She calmly walked to the edge of the pavement displaying her nude body to whoever was around in all its glory.

  Judging by the engine noise the vehicle was about to pass them by when the sounds changed as it came to a stop a couple of metres further along the road.

  "Dude, did you see that?" A voice said inside the car loud enough to be heard over the thumping bass-line of their music.

  "She's still there, man," a second voice said, "Backup and see if she's looking for a bitta fun."

  The music shut off.

  "She's looking for something out here like that," a third voice put in, "Maybe she's some sort of mentalist."

  "I don't care what kind of a bitch she is as long as she's a good ride," the first voice retorted. "And she's got to be up for some lovin' mentalist or not."

  The engine noise changed again as the vehicle, probably a small car Fulton guessed, reversed to put it alongside Francesca.

  "You lookin' for a good time, sexy mama?" the first voice asked.

  "Why? Do you boys think you're up to
giving me one?"

  Fulton imagined the boys in the car trading glances.

  "Between the three of us I'm sure we could well and truly satisfy you."

  "I wouldn't be so sure," Francesca shot back.

  "Dude enough of this," the second voice said. "You comin' with us or not, bitch?"

  "I suppose that will depend on whether you boys are as good as you obviously think you are."

  It took them a moment to get it, and Fulton never knew if all three did because as soon as the first started laughing the other two followed suit.

  There was the sound of a click which Fulton couldn't place until the third voice said, "Come on in an' we can get started." When he realised that it must have been the sound of one of the car's doors being opened.

  "Yes we can."

  Fulton then heard more sounds he couldn't identify mingled with many he could. There were the usual sounds of human terror, screaming and shouting, even desperate sobs. There were numerous snaps and cracks and several long tearing sounds. By the time Fulton got to his feet it was all over and the only sounds coming from inside the car were quiet gurgles of the boys slowly choking to death on their own blood.

  Francesca backed out of the car and held the door open for them. Her smooth, pale body was adorned with running splatters of blood that followed her curves then dripped onto the ground.

  "Your chariot awaits," Francesca said waving Gabriella forwards. "Transport and food taken care of," she added to Fulton.

  "Just like a drive-through," Fulton said as he tossed the driver's convulsing body into the back-seat next to where he had left the girl. Gabriella was apparently too preoccupied with feeding to complain about her proximity.

  "This is the second car I've stolen in as many nights. If we run into money problems again I should take it up professionally."

  They had made it back to within walking distance of the house without incident. About halfway there the girl had come to, no doubt roused by the scent of blood and death that hung redolent in the confined space of the car. She had immediately transformed her face into her newly acquired vampiric countenance and fed in a frenzy.