by Hall, Ian
I tried to look surprised, and hoped the next word out of her mouth would not ne Edinburgh. “And where does Monsieur Renard say she is located?”
“Exeter.”
Oh boy. The mention of that name brought my need for revenge instantly to the fore. I couldn’t believe the possibility a mission for the Queen could also be played to my personal advantage.
“Where in Exeter?” I asked.
“I am told there is a cadre of miscreants in the area. The Lady Jane Grey is being held in Exeter Castle.”
I could hardly contain my excitement. “So am I under the orders of Fakenham? Or do I travel under your orders?”
“Fakenham knows of this,” she said somewhat absentmindedly. “And we both feel you are the man for the job. The way things are shaping up you in London, we may only have days to bring Lady Jane Grey back to the tower. We need stability, not flux.”
Once dismissed, I walked from the Queen’s chambers, my heart beating outside my chest. I would travel to Exeter, the last known place of my vampire enemy. When I reached the King’s Head, I grabbed my bow and a full quiver of arrows and instructed Steve to do the same. I had no idea the depth of vampire infestation we would encounter. I didn’t want to be unprepared.
“Shouldn’t we just get ourselves some guns?” Steve asked as we packed.
“They’re still far too unreliable, slow to use, and inaccurate.” I looked up from my saddlebags. “And apart from anything else, when we hit Exeter we must assume vampires will be there, and if we aim for the heart with our wooden arrows, then we kill and destroy vampires on first strike.”
Steve nodded. “I can see that. No point going off half-cocked.” He laughed at his own joke.
Before we left London, I circled the tower again and again sniffing for vampire pheromones, and came up empty. So with no time to lose, we left just after midnight and rode across London Bridge, and south, out of the city.
I’d been to that area of the country before, welcoming Catherine of Aragon to the country. Exeter lay 200 miles away, at the southwest finger that England extended into the Atlantic. We got rid of the horses as soon as we’d gotten outside London, and set off at a vampire jog, enjoying the starry night in Southern England. By dawn we were hiding in the woods outside Exeter.
The town had a wall running most of the way around it, with a small castle on the northerly corner. There seemed little to stop us going into town, but we stayed outside, treating the situation very warily. Vampires against vampires can be a very scary fight, and I didn’t feel Steve was up to speed for anything large-scale.
“So what now?” Steve asked. “Do we reconnoiter in town?”
“Oh I have little doubt that Fallon has spies in every tavern, bringing word of every newcomer. I would have.” The morning sun cast long shadows. “I think I’ll just sit here, watching the drawbridge,” I said. “There’s only two ways out of the castle; one south into town, and the other, here to the north, over that rather precarious drawbridge, moaty roadway.”
“And me?”
“Well, since he doesn’t know you, you could take a trip into town, gather information, watch for vampires, and hopefully get out in one piece.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Steve left, leaving me to my contemplations.
Fallon had turned my lovely Lady Jane Winterbrooke to a vampire, probably kept her as a sex slave for fifty-odd years, then somehow traded her off as Lady Jane Grey. I had a fair bit of revenge to get my teeth into.
The castle walls looked deserted, not one guard walked the parapets in the hours before sunset. I’m not ashamed to say, in my comfortable position, I dozed, falling asleep more than once. Seems I felt relaxed to be here, perhaps even to get my revenge this time.
But I did recognize the mission came first.
I heard Steve’s footfalls before he approached. “How’d you get on?”
“That’s a weird place,” he began. “First, the town doesn’t like the Baron, well, the second Baron. There’s already stories a plenty told about the evil goings on in the castle.” He sat down beside me on the grass and made punctuation marks with his fingers. “Very tight knit group, none of the senior guards drink in town, so can we assume they’re vampires?”
“That’d be the way I’d do it,” I said. “A tight group of trusted men, controlling the rest.”
“So our next step?”
I got to my feet, moaning at my aching bones; too long lying on the damp grass. “I think it’s dark enough to climb the castle walls and take a look inside.”
We walked to the base of the steep wall, and climbed it with little difficulty. Behind the parapet lay a wooden walkway, which ran around the inside of the walls. Six towers dotted along the rough square, and a group of buildings to the west. Considering Ludlow, this looked distinctly small scale.
And absolutely unguarded.
We walked along the wooden path and prepared to drop onto the roofs of the castle buildings. Suddenly a movement caught my eye, and I pulled Steve to a halt. I pointed onto the rooftops. “Guards,” I whispered into his ear. “And armed.”
Three groups of three men sat on the roofs, looking down into the courtyard beyond, each carried a long musket.
“But why guard here, and not the castle walls?” Steve asked.
“Maybe something’s going on in the courtyard.”
With a little more care, we climbed to the ground, and snuck forward, past the frontage of the castle buildings. Two carriages were being readied, grooms busily checking harnessing and feeding horses.
Suddenly a man strode out of the arched doorway. I almost stood up and ran at him. Keith Fallon, in all his evil glory; I recognized him immediately. He gracefully took the hand of a lady who followed, then amid kisses on the hand, he put her safely in the first of the coaches. Two darkly dressed men, both short and very skinny, then made their way to the other coach; they wore wide-brimmed hats, and kept their faces downward, but something about their gait caused me concern. Somehow they moved wrong. When they reached the coach, they stood looking at each other, almost not knowing what to do, then one helped the other aboard.
“Those last two?” I whispered as the penny dropped. “They’re women.”
A small troop of guards arrived, seven in number, and milled for a while. Fallon directed proceedings, but despite my enhanced hearing, we couldn’t make out what they said.
Then commands were shouted, and the troop took off, seven mounted men, one coach, heading noisily towards the south gate, going through the town.
The second carriage, with just two men atop it, wheeled round, and slowly approached the north gate.
“I think it’s a ruse,” I said, retreating carefully to the dark wall.
When the large troop reached the south gate, they chorused ‘open the gates!’ and the command got repeated over and over again. I could hear them from a quarter of a mile.
“We take the second coach,” I said with confidence.
We went over the wall just as quickly as the carriage rode through it. By the time it had cleared the long drawbridge and approached, we were already racing across country, running a parallel course, just fifty yards from the road.
“Do we just follow?” Steve asked.
“No point. We’ll take it quickly, because if it’s a double bluff, we’ll have time to catch up with the other coach.” I increased my speed, until we were a good half mile ahead, then angled my direction to the road, where we lay in wait, one on either side. “Two arrows. You take the left, I take the right. Remember, aim for the heart; they’ll be vampires.”
“Okay.”
A little moon show from the cloudy sky, and the approaching dark coach caught some of it, allowing us to easily see our targets. I took careful aim and let loose. Before my man had been hit, I knocked another arrow. When I looked up, both men had slumped forward, but I still fired a second shot. I saw the impact of my second arrow as Steve’s man fell off, clutching his chest. “M
ake certain you got his heart!” I said across the road, and got ready to jump aboard.
Climbing onto a moving carriage, and taking the reins from a dead man, while making certain he’d been killed, would normally have been a bit of a task. But when your dead man just crumbles in front of you, leaving nothing but dust and broken bones falling onto the seat, and down onto the moving road, it proved quite easy. The shaking of the coach vibrated him gone in seconds.
I pulled hard on the reins, pulling the horses to a halt.
Steve arrived.
“Grab one, get her on your shoulder. Follow me.”
The carriage, although dark, proved empty but for the two cowering women. It took but a second to see past their attempted disguise.
I didn’t even pay attention to her protests, I pulled the first one roughly from the coach, her wide-brimmed hat falling onto the floor. I slipped her over my shoulder and ran away, putting a good ten miles between us and our crime.
I stopped and heard Steve come to rest beside me. I again gave no thought of my captive’s care, I just let her fall to the ground, and promptly sat down upon her. Her long hair had come loose, and spread around her like a pillow. I slapped her face roughly. “Who are you?”
She panted, obviously trying to regain her breath from her rough treatment. “You’ll pay for this,” she hissed.
But it seems I felt in no mood for niceties. I took her hands and held them above her head, pressing them into the grass. She squirmed below me, but her struggles were weak, and distinctly nonthreatening. Bending low, I hissed over her pale, yet quite comely features.
“Tell me your real name,” I breathed again, panting. “Tell me the truth. Or I will cut your throat here and now.”
She looked at me with hate and disdain, yet when she opened her mouth again, it held a subservient tone. “I am Lady Jane Grey, wife of Lord Guildford Dudley, brother of the Duke of Northumberland.”
“Now that’s better,” I began, grinning just inches above her. “Who’s your companion?”
Lady Jane hesitated. “She is Katherine Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. She is Northumberland’s daughter.”
Another Katherine; blah to English mothers.
I looked up at Steve. “We have a royal pair,” I said, grinning. I turned back to Grey, holding her chin coarsely. “You, my dear, will meet the same fate as your husband. You will be imprisoned in the Tower, and put to death.”
Then something about her caught my attention. I sniffed at her face, her tunic. A faint odor of vampire arose from her, but as I lowered my face to her crotch, I detected the distinct smell of woman’s musk.
I returned to face her. “Are you turned on by this?” I grinned. I turned around to Steve, who now looked on in utter disbelief. “This whore is actually enjoying this. Take yours over there, seems the Lady Jane and I have some more talking to do.”
“No,” she said below me, but her tone held no conviction.
As Steve retreated, I ripped her tunic open, buttons flying across the darkness. Below, she wore only a thin chemise, and her small tits were rising and falling rapidly on her chest. Suddenly reminded of just how long it had been since I’d fed, or had sex for that matter, I reached forward.
Keeping my gaze upon her eyes, I roughly felt her breasts through the chemise, and she panted, catching her breath theatrically. “You actually want to be taken, don’t you?”
“Oh, sir, you have me at your mercy, please don’t ravish me.” And yes, her mouth did say the words, but by God, her eyes had locked with mine, and she showed no sign of fear, just a feral gaze that screamed ‘fuck me’.
I knelt up from her and quickly undid my belt. At no point did she attempt to escape. I took her hand and put it to me, and she clutched onto my hardness, and moaned as if she’d been entered.
“Why sir, we should not. I am married.” She snarled at me, her hand beginning to milk my penis.
I turned to her trousers, quickly disengaging her belt, and pulled them roughly down to her knees. When my fingers pushed between her silky thighs and touched her sex, she moaned.
“Oh, stranger, you have no right,” yet she seemed to open her legs for me.
I squirmed my hand lower and declare I’ve never felt a wetter pussy in my lifetime. I pushed one, two, then three fingers inside her with complete ease. At each invasion, she bared her teeth at me, daring me for more, her hand now furiously wanking me.
Flipping her onto her hands and knees, I got behind her, parted her buttocks as well as her trousers would allow, and entered my full length in one stroke. Boy she’d been turned on right enough. She lowered her face to the grass and urged me onward. “Take me, you bastard stranger!” she moaned, her voice muffled in the grass in rhythm with my hard strokes. “Oh, my, just take me!”
I grabbed under her open tunic, grabbing two handfuls of breast and just screwed her like a jackrabbit. I gave no thought to niceties, and to my credit, Lady Jane Grey seemed to need none. Her slim form reached her zenith before I did; her body racking with convulsions under my assault. When her warm sheath pulsed on my dick, I gave no thought of holding back. I let myself shoot inside her, then pulled her neck off the grass to me, desperate to feed from her. After a little difficulty pulling her collar down far enough, I found her artery, sucked noisily and dank my fill.
Panting, I collapsed on top of her, and I think I fell asleep.
Chapter 10
August 12th, 1553
The Long Way Back to London
We’d been given the task just hours before, and now we had two high-dollar prisoners in our hands. But we couldn’t take them back to the tower just yet; Fakenham would have all kinds of questions about how we’d managed to do it so quickly. I mean, the ride to Exeter and back would have taken us four days at least.
Waking on top of Lady Jane Grey, in the middle of a dark field, gave me a bit of a shock. Anything could have happened, and I’d thrown security out of the window just to get some tail, albeit royal tail. I grabbed Steve and Lady Katherine, and we headed north and west as light began to show, weaving our path, and even walking up a couple of shallow rivers for a while. Anything to deflect us being trailed.
The girls being dressed as men helped, there were no large dresses to contend with, which had been a problem in other adventures.
By the time the sun had fully risen, I spotted a small town, and headed in that direction. Despite my flagrant lapse in caring for our captives, I knew they’d have to eat.
I scouted ahead, and found an inn with breakfast already on the go.
“You will be silent,” I said to Lady Jane, and indicated Steve should give the same instruction to his charge. “You are eloping with me, we are in love, we are running away from your father. You will not talk to anyone else, nor try to escape. Is that clear?” She’d only just woken up, and obviously still weary from our tryst in the field. She nodded her head.
The Vivary Arms, on the outskirts of Taunton, turned out to be quite a respectable establishment. With a cooked breakfast without incident inside us, we actually relaxed, drinking wonderful local cider.
“Sire?” Lady Jane began.
“Yes, my lady?”
“Last night?” She appeared very reluctant to continue.
“Yes?” I sidled closer with my chair, taking her hand in mine.
“I became overcome with the emotion of flight.” She lowered her head. “Please forgive me.”
“I do, madam,” I said, patting her hand, then put my lips close to her ear, nuzzling her hair. “But if I were to throw you over my shoulder and run upstairs, throw you into a bed, and rip the clothes from your trembling body, how would you feel?”
I could see her catch her breath. She clutched at my hand, squeezing it tightly. “If I could not resist, then I would have no option but to allow you.”
“Allow me to do what?”
She gasped again, her lips seemingly unable to manufacture words.
“Allow me to do what?”
&nbs
p; “To ravish me.”
These repressive English women had an undercurrent of such wantonness. “Tell me what you want me to do?”
“Oh, I couldn’t.”
“Tell me!” I insisted.
“Oh.” Her breathing had increased to a light panting. This seemed to be a woman in heat to a high degree. “Take your fingers, and rake them through my body.”
“Tell me more.” I noticed both Steve and Katherine listening to our conversation, and Steve’s hand had slipped onto her thigh, she hadn’t removed it.
“Take your, your manhood.” This time Katherine gasped at her companion’s risqué language. “And plough me, sir.”
I could take it no more. I put a gold coin on the table, and took Jane’s hand. Pulling her outside, we were joined immediately by Steve and Katherine. “Is she in heat, too?” I asked.
Steve nodded, smiling at me. I’d seen that expression before.
We walked for about a hundred yards, then I whisked Jane onto my shoulder.
“I’m going to take you like you’ve never been taken before!” I shouted as I ran, circling the town. I couldn’t hear her reply, but she shouted something.
I plunged into a wood, dense with trees, and once inside, found a leafy hollow to throw my captive into. I discarded all weapons in seconds.
“This time I want you naked,” I said, and she cowered away from me.
“No sir, I cannot.”
I walked over to her, standing at her feet, looking down at her cowering body. “Why not?”
“Please, sire, do not ravish me, I am married.”
“That didn’t stop you last night.” I pulled my boots off.
Her bottom lip quivered. “I became possessed.”
“You were possessed by lust, you witch!” I kicked her leg softly. “Get your clothes off.”
Her head shook, but her hands undid what buttons remained on her tunic, laying it to one side. I bent down and began to unlace her boots, pulling them off her thin legs. My tunic and shirt were off in seconds.
“My husband would not approve, sire.” She crossed her hands on her thin long shirt.
