by Megan Hawke
Suddenly, neither did I.
I was so intent on pinning it on either Gustav or Philip I completely failed to consider the close proximity of that notorious vampire strip club. Everything just got a lot more complex.
Around 1 A.M. I went in search of Sabrina. Her and Gustav's scene ended hours earlier. She should've sought me out, but she was nowhere to be found.
Penny was gone, too. But I found Sabrina's other good friend, Nessa. The trampy teenage tart was topless and giving Master T a very naughty lap dance. I mean the girl was still two months shy of nineteen, and shouldn't know how to dance like that. I was twenty-five and didn't know how.
"Have you seen Sabrina?" I said to Nessa. She screwed her face up in thought, while Master T sucked loudly on a soft pink nipple. "She left with Gustav. Hours ago."
All I could think of was the smug look of triumph on Gustav's face. He was nailing my sister. He was nailing Roger's best friend. That pathetic excuse for a vampire was getting back at everyone he didn't like by screwing her.
"Together?"
Gustav was dead. All the way dead, because I was going to stake him. He mesmerized Sabrina. I just knew it. And once I proved it, his goose was cooked.
"Of course," Penny said. She started rubbed her crotch against his bulge, hard. I think she was trying real hard to make him cream his shorts. "He led Sabrina out on a leash. I think they made a love connection. Like me and Master T."
I was going to make a connection. My sword with his neck, followed by his head bouncing on the floor. Then I was going to dance on his putrid heart in the sunshine. Well, maybe I'd find someone to do the latter part for me.
"No one said anything? No one questioned them about it?" I said. It occurred to me that if Gustav was the murderer, Sabrina could be his next victim. "No one told me?"
Nessa gave me the most annoyed look. Like I was bothering her, ruining her fun, and get over myself.
"Well, Sabrina is usually led out of here on a leash by whichever lover she chooses for the night," Penny said. That rattled me. Didn't want to know that. "We've all seen it a hundred times before. And, believe me, she does not want you rescuing her. I really am too busy for this, bye-bye."
Officially, The Crimson Knot did not allow sexual intercourse on the premises. Officially. In fact, they fucked all over the place, but it was highly frowned upon to have sex in the main parlor. Management wanted that activity done in a more private setting. In case city officials showed up to inspect.
I collected my purse and left.
All of the victims were murdered in their own apartments. I hurried down to my motorcycle, stuffed the purse into the black leather book bag, and strapped it onto my back. Seconds later I was speeding up Harry Hines, heading for Sabrina' apartment in University Park.
The apartment was dark. I could feel one person up there, and it wasn't Sabrina. I knocked on the door, and a few minutes later a very groggy girl answered. Sabrina's roommate Cyndi Simmons. Cyndi was wearing an oversized t-shirt and knuckling the sleep out of her eyes. She had a really bad case of bed-head, too.
"Sable? What are you doing here? You know what time it is?" Cyndi said, then noticed my clothes. "Aren't you cold in that?" She shook her head, and whispered, "I guess kinky runs in the family."
"Where's Sabrina?"
"The Crimson Knot," she said.
"I was just there. Sabrina left hours ago."
She looked at me like I was an idiot.
"Then she's getting laid," Cyndi said. "Your sister is a tramp. Sorry to be the one to tell you, but she likes one night stands and kinky sex. Not my problem. Bye."
Cyndi slammed the door in my face. Not closed. Slammed. I really wanted to bite that bitch, but instead I went back down to my bike and waited. Waited hours for my sister's return. She never returned.
About every thirty minutes I called Sabrina's phone. It stayed off. I didn't bother with messages.
Around six I began to panic for another reason, too. Sunrise was coming in about an hour, hour and a half. I didn't want to leave before Sabrina returned, but I couldn't stay there. I still had time to reach Gabe's house, or Dane's house, though Kale's house was closer.
Who could help me the most?
Gabe was werewolf crazy, so too dangerous to release on my sister without supervision. Dane would also look for Sabrina during daylight, so would Desiree and Kale. Then I had another thought, someone who could help me at another level.
Roger Rippner.
Roger knew Gustav. He might know where that other secret vampire took my sister. I fired up the bike and headed towards Roger's house. His home was dark when I got there.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of his house, I listened intently with my back to his home. No heartbeat inside. I couldn't approach his house, since he had crosses prominently displayed on all windows and doors. I couldn't even look at it.
I tried Roger's phone, but it was also off.
"Doesn't anyone leave their damned phones on anymore?" I screamed.
It was so frustrating. Where was Roger? He got off work at five o'clock, and he didn't live that far from work. A five minute drive. It wasn't overtime, because Roger wasn't a daytime kinda guy.
At 7 AM I eyed the glow in the eastern sky nervously. Mounting the bike, I waited some more. I wasn't sure I had time to reach Kale's at that time. Where was Roger?
"No time left," I said, and climbed off the Ninja. I looked around the yard, looking for a sprinkler system. I messed up Kale's sprinkler system once by my carelessness. "I'll spend the day in his front yard, six feet under."
Actually, sinking into the ground was rather comforting during the day. It was even better than being in a coffin in a basement. There was something about being wrapped in the arms of Mother Earth.
I picked my spot and was about to lay down when I heard Roger's silver Mustang round the corner. Looking right, I smiled to see him coming down the road rather quickly for a residential street. He hit the brakes when he spotted me, but then continued on home.
Roger always seemed to panic when he encountered me unexpectedly. He was painfully shy and timid even for a human, as a vampire he was an object of ridicule to some.
Like me, Roger hated being a vampire. In fact, he probably despised it more than I did. I was starting to get used to it, to accept it, and even enjoy some of the benefits of the undead lifestyle. Roger never acclimated to being undead.
He hit the garage door opener while four houses down. I turned towards the garage and headed over. He pulled in and hit close, and I slipped inside.
"Hello, lover," I said when he climbed out of his car.
"Why are you here?"
Roger couldn't look straight at me. He was that shy. He looked at my feet, my hands, my chin, and my chest. Mostly at my chest. He could almost look me in the eyes, but I knew that would take a few minutes before he felt comfortable.
"Good to see you, too, bat boy," I said.
He was six four, with thick brown hair. Last time I saw him his hair was long and pulled back in a ponytail, but he'd gotten it all shorn off. He looked like a soldier or a cop now. He was in his helpdesk work clothes, blue polo shirt, jeans, and running shoes.
"I'm sorry, Sable," he said. "You surprised me."
"I know. Fun isn't it?" I said, stepped up and pressed myself into him as I threw my arms around his neck. Then I rose up on my toes and kissed him long and deep. Roger actually groaned. I loved it. The vampire pheromones began flowing from both of us. So I gave him a little tongue and the kiss continued on for another couple minutes. Kisses shared between vampires were never chaste or short, or lacking in passion. "I need your help."
He grabbed my butt cheeks with both hands.
"Anything you want," Roger said, and kissed me again.
His familiar scent flowed over me, but with something new.
"You bastard, while I was waiting you were with another woman," I said, pushing him away playfully.
I could smell her on him. Vampire
s had incredible senses of smell. Like bloodhounds. Her perfume was Shalimar. I could smell her sex on him, too. She kind of smelled familiar. Probably one of the women at The Crimson Knot had a tryst with him.
"Every dog has his day," Roger said, smiling bashfully. I loved it when he got all shy on me. "It was just a little fling thing."
"You don't have to explain anything to me, or justify it," I said, laughing. "I'm a vampire. I can no sooner be monogamous than a fish can grow wings and fly. I don't expect any of my lovers to be monogamous either."
"Yes. Well, let's go inside and you can tell me what is so important you risked being vaporized by the sunrise," he said.
He started for the door, but I paused. I glanced back at his trunk. I could smell the blood in there. I was famished. Roger didn't buy the usual cow blood that most vampires lived on. He paid extra for human blood. Made my mouth water just thinking about it.
"Are you going to take your groceries out?" I said. "I wouldn't want all that good blood to go bad."
That startled him. Rattled him completely, in fact. But he pulled his remote and hit the button. The trunk popped open and he started pulling out shopping bags of blood. About eight pints. A day and a half supply for a big vamp like Roger.
On average, I drank five to six pints of blood a day. That was half a person or more a day, since the average person had about ten pints.
"Human blood again?" I said.
The pint sized bags were all in that same matte black plastic. No brand names. Made me wonder where he bought it. Surely Roger wouldn't buy from some mom and pop blood harvester.
Roger had good reason to buy that brand of blood, though. Most blood came in clear plastic on one side, so we could see what we were getting. There were brands that didn't have clear panels, so it could be sold more in the open. But poor undead Roger couldn't take the sight of blood. It made him sick as a dog. Instant upchuck.
Hemophobia was not a good or easy condition for a vampire.
The black bags seemed so right for him. I doubt anyone would suspect what was inside. No mortal, anyway. Those black bags wouldn't fool any vampire.
"Yeah. I got paid Friday, and thought I'd splurge. Besides, aside from your infrequent visits, I have so few pleasures to enjoy."
I nodded, but suspected that he only drank human blood. I found that a little disturbing, since I lived on cow's blood. Mostly. Thralls and minions did expect to be bitten on a regular basis, but with two vamps and two mortals in my little Vampire Family, there wasn't much to go around.
"Tying up girls at The Crimson Knot is not fun?"
"I was hoping you'd forget about that one," he said, grinning lecherously.
"Uh huh."
I took one of the shopping bags and led the way into the house. I removed one of the pint-sized bags of blood, and stuff the rest in his fridge. Roger frowned at me. He never seemed to really want to share his blood with me. I ignored him, and jabbed one of those thick, dark red straws he kept into my bag.
I sucked half the bag down right off. Human blood is like crack for vampires. There was absolutely nothing better. I actually got a buzz off it. That blood invigorated me, despite the sun rising above the horizon. With cow's blood I would need one and a half to two bags, but I only needed one bag of human blood. It cost four times as much as cow's blood, but it went twice as far.
I plopped down in the middle of his couch, crossed my legs and sucked down the rest of my blood. Blood like that had to be savored, and yet my intense hunger drove me to drink it way too fast. I was only able to truly enjoy the last quarter pint, after my unholy thirst was sated first.
Roger stood in the middle of the room, sucking down his blood and watching me like a hawk. I unnerved him most of the time. Have to admit, I found it kinda fun and empowering. It made me horny. But first things first.
"Gustav took Sabrina home from The Crimson Knot tonight," I said. His eyes widened. Jealousy or worry? "He doesn't like me very much, and I'm afraid he'll hurt my sister. Should I be worried?"
"No. Every vampire in Dallas knows who you are, so he knows it is a death sentence to hurt Sabrina," Roger said. "That won't keep him from having his way, though."
Roger scowled off into space. I didn't like the idea either, but I felt better. I suspected as much, but I needed to hear it from someone who knew Gustav.
"Are there any other vampires at The Crimson Knot, beside you, Gustav, and Philip?" I said.
Roger paused to gawk at me. He did that a lot when I spoke with him. It would probably be what ended up driving him the rest of the way into insanity.
Speaking of, I looked around the living room. Did he ever clean? Or dust? The stacks of comic books had only risen, his laptop was on a BDSM porn site, showing a pair of brunettes bound face-to-face and suspended, while two other women wearing strap-on dildos reamed them out.
Beside the steel ring protruding from the middle of his living room ceiling he'd always had, at least during the short time I knew him, there were two more rings in separate corners. Was Roger entertaining someone other than me? He'd only tied me up and suspended me once. He always managed to tie me up, or at least handcuff me, but I really didn't like being hung up on display.
Red ropes hung from the two new rings. That made me think. Roger only used red rope. Like at The Crimson Knot. Did he steal it from there? Was there something significant about the color red in the BDSM community?
"Not that I know of," he said. "But I haven't met everyone."
That was good. I didn't want too many suspects muddying the pool. He answered a few more questions about Gustav and Philip, but he didn't seem to know much about them. Nothing that anyone at The Crimson Knot wouldn't know and had already told me.
Roger picked up a red rubber ball gag, capturing my complete attention. I'd never seen that before. Did he really plan to make me wear that? I opened my mouth to voice my refusal to cooperate in any activity that would necessitate I be gagged, when he smiled wantonly at me and his unique vampiric power washed over me.
I went from angry outrage, to helplessly horny in one second flat. Like Boney's mistress, Antoinette LaRue, Roger had the power to seduce anyone, mortal or undead, by using his power to arouse.
"Let's have some fun," Roger said, stepping up before me. "Open wide."
I struggled for a second, and lost. Whether I could successfully fight off his power was unknown, because I really didn't want to. I loved being his helpless sex slave when he used his power.
Slipping off the couch, I dropped to my knees and opened wide. Roger pushed the red rubber ball into my mouth, forcing my mouth wider than comfortable. Then he buckled it behind my head and stepped back to admire me.
His power hit me at full strength. I climaxed right there. Immediately. Then I watched him undress, trembling with need and desire on my knees.
Chapter 7
"So do you think Gustav could be daring enough to mesmerized Sabrina inside the club and take her away?" I asked from the kitchen.
I was getting our breakfast. Truth was it was only four in the afternoon. We hadn't slept, either. We never slept during the day when I visited Roger. Fortunately, vampires didn't have to sleep like regular people. But we absolutely needed something to occupy our minds and bodies or the sun would force us to pass out.
"Gustav is capable of anything. I've seen him use his powers in the club, and not just mesmerizing girls, either. And in front of mortal members," Roger said, booting up his laptop. He was still naked. As was I. Why bother dressing? We still had another hour of daylight to kill, so might as well have another session in bed. "Gustav has always scared me. When they finally figure out he's a vampire, I just know he'll expose me and Philip."
So he was daring enough to use his powers in front of witnesses. Vampires could be pretty subtle, but that was taking a chance that Roger would never think to do. But then most vampires were a lot more daring than Roger. And I thought Philip would be more daring than Gustav, but smarter, too.
"W
hat about Philip?" I said.
"I don't think so," Roger said, pausing to think. "He might, but that seems awful reckless to me. I can see Gustav being reckless, but not Philip."
Putting the two black bags of human blood into a pot of boiling water, I set the timer and hit start. I watched Roger as he started paying bills online. Maybe I'm conceited or something, but I couldn't believe I was standing there all butt-ass naked and he was ignoring me.
So I tried my sister's number again. Her phone was still off. I fought the urge to crush the phone. Monday was a school day for her, but I've never had a problem getting in touch with her before. So I called Dane, my partner in the search for the killer, and got his voice mail.
I threw the phone across the room. It bounced down the hallway. Roger turned a wary eye my way, and then went back to his computer.
When the blood was nice and hot, I carried it over with a pair of straws. I pushed the laptop off his lap. Roger gasped, and struggled to ensure it slid safely to the next cushion over on the couch.
"You can pay bills after sunset," I said. I straddled his lap, facing him. Kissing him deeply, I then stabbed a bag with a straw and took a deep pull. Good stuff. "After I've gone."
Moving the straw into his mouth, I smiled as he started sucking hungrily. All of our strenuous activity had left us starving for nourishment. I held the bag as he sucked greedily and fondled my breasts. He started to get hard.
Glancing over at my rival, the laptop, I froze. Roger's bank accounts were up. He only had a few hundred dollars in his checking, but his savings showed over eight hundred thousand. He had that much money and lived so austerely?
"What are you, a hobby miser?" I said.
"No, just cautious," he said, reached over and closed the laptop. "Do you ever mind your own business?"
"Not usually," I said, and laughed. I paused to suck down the last swallow of blood, discarded the bag and opened the next on. "You're not that old, and you don't rob other vampires like some of us more naughty vamps, so how did you save so much? Do computer support helpdesks pay that well?"
Roger laughed, kissed and licked my right nipple, then said, "Not hardly. I'm not very old, but I'm rather frugal. And, I move about every two or three years. I buy repo houses and sell for a profit. It builds up over time." He pulled the straw out of my mouth and took one big pull before giving it back. "Besides, I need a nice nest egg in case I have to make a run for it. All vampires should have a sizable savings. Think about it."
