by Megan Hawke
"D-Do you know who Timothy Saxon is?"
"No. . . Wait. Doesn't he work at Lubner, Schram, Bricker, and Kanady?"
"Yes. He works on a couple of your accounts," I said. I pressed one hand to my lower belly, and laid the other across my heaving chest. I tried to avoid looking at the redhead licking him, but I couldn't ignore the slurping sounds. I think she was purposely exaggerating them. "He has disappeared. Maybe kidnapped."
"So?"
"So. . . the men that took him might be after your accounts," I said. "I can't think of any other reason he would be taken."
"Lubner, Schram, Bricker, and Kanady know about this?"
"Yes," I said.
"They should've told me that my accounts are in danger," he growled. "I'll deal with those idiots." He looked me over with lust. "But first we'll deal with the idiot in hand. Billy. Lady. You know what to do."
"Jeff, you're making a terrible mistake," I said. I was so confused. Billy started to untie Valerie, who was glaring daggers at me. "Please, you don't understand. I have to find my friend."
The redhead, Lady, stepped up before me.
"Forget about your friend, babe," Lady said, cupping my chin. She kissed me on the lips. "We're all about to get our needs taken care of, by you."
I slanted a look at Valerie, now halfway to freedom. She was looking at me with darkest hate. Jeff never had any intention of helping me, or dealing with me in any manner. It looked like he was giving Valerie a gift — Me.
"You don't care your finances may be compromised?" I said.
"Don't you worry about that, Miss Sable. Once my good friend Valerie takes possession of you, I'll go take care of damage control," he said, a cold glint in his eyes.
That pissed me off. I knew I couldn't trust him, but to lure me in to give to Valerie was too much. I chomped down on my tongue, piercing it deeply with both fangs. The pain only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to dispel most of my ardor. The pheromones in the air would ensure I fell back into heady hedonism. I didn't plan to be there long enough for that to happen.
My wings erupted from between my shoulder blades.
"Aaaiiee!" Lady cried, dropping to the floor and scrambling away. "Help!"
"Son of a bitch!" Jeff cried. I drove both wing spikes deep into Jeff's chest, piercing his heart from two sides. "You're going to pay for this!"
"You left me no choice," I growled and hurled him through the wall. I locked eyes on Billy, then Lady and finally Valerie. Within seconds all three mortals were mesmerized. I commanded them. "Kill Jeff. Fast!"
Lady and Billy raced to the hole in the wall, and through it. A second later I heard the fight begin. Jeff was in a rage that I would use his followers against him. Let me tell you, that man could cuss. Valerie still had one leg tied down, and she was frantically trying to free herself so she could obey my command.
I didn't waste any more time. Billy and Lady wouldn't give Jeff much trouble. Only the initial surprise of his friends attacking would slow him down. I didn't have much time to get out of there. Jeff was much too old and powerful to try to kill unprepared.
I headed for the stairs. Jeff was shouting in the next room. I felt the two mortals fall under his power, his gaze, so took off running down the hallway. Francisco and Sid were coming up the stairs, so I jumped over the railing and to the floor below.
"Ha! I think you're too late!" I shouted when they both started to turn around to come after me. "They probably have your boss staked by now."
That sent both of them racing up the stairs. I turned on the pretty little French maid. Her eyes got huge and fear erupted from her. I caught her eye, and she was mine.
"Get me my jacket and pistol. Now," I commanded.
She darted to a side closet, and pulled them out. I grabbed them and charged out the door. I didn't need the jacket, but the gun would be needed.
As I ran down the driveway, I pumped two rounds into the limo's engine, one through the windshield and then emptied the magazine into the rear after I ran past. I was rewarded by a tremendous explosion of the gas tank.
I was peeling out from the front of Valerie's house as the vampires came running out. Fire was one of the few things that could kill a vampire, so they were brought up short by the raging inferno in the driveway. It was enough to ensure my escape.
Chapter 8
We parked on the outskirts of Deep Ellum. Dane and I rode with Gabe. We were going to scout out Deep Ellum for Ben Rothschild until about eleven, then go over to Victory Park. It wasn't far. Deep Ellum and Victory Park were on opposite sides of downtown. That gave us two hours.
Deep Ellum was packed. I wasn't sure how we'd find Ben in all that massed humanity. We figured our best bet would be to keep to the back alleys and dark places. He still had an aversion to killing in public.
I dressed in a way that I could use my wings without damaging my clothes. I wore the same matte black leather bustier and thigh boots from the previous night, but with shiny black leather pants. I also put on a pair of black leather opera gloves, a wide leather collar and silver hoops with a tiny black heart pendants hanging within them.
The earrings were a Christmas gift from Gabe that he had custom made for me. I got a lot of jewelry with a black heart theme for Christmas. Go figure.
Dane was dressed for our "date" in dark gray wool slacks, white shirt, and a very nice black leather jacket. Gabe dressed the same every day for the cold — jeans, hunting boots, t-shirt, and a bomber jacket. He wore a black Dallas Stars cap, backwards, too. Both men carried black nylon book bags, holding their vampire-staking gear. And they each were carrying pistols, no less than three hidden in their clothes. They were very good at it.
"Here are your walkie-talkies," Gabe said. He handed us each what looked like a cell phone. There were nine buttons on it, three with letters and the rest blank. "The first button, labeled with an 'A' is if you want to speak to everyone at once. Press the 'D' to speak to Dane, 'G' to speak just to me and 'S' to speak just to Sable."
"Why walkie-talkies?" I said. "We all have smart phones."
"Mine only has A, G, and S," Dane said.
"These are more secure, and they are faster than looking up numbers on your phone," Gabe said. Then to Dane, "You want to talk to yourself? Also, each is setup specifically for each of us. Mine doesn't have a 'G.'"
"Of course," Dane said, rolling his eyes. "I'm a dufus. Never mind."
I didn't say anything. I was wondering why mine didn't have an 'S.' Glad he spoke up first. Instead, I pressed the G button, and Gabe's walkie-talkie gave a low dong sound.
"I don't have to answer," Gabe said. He pressed a button on his, and mine donged. He spoke into his walkie-talkie, and I heard him from mine, "You can start talking and I can hear you. You see the G button is now flashing on your walkie-talkie. Press it once and we are linked, an open line until we press the button again."
"Nice," Dane said. "Needs work. Everyone can hear what we're saying to each other. Does Bluetooth make a walkie-talkie?"
"It's the best I could do in a pinch," Gabe said.
"It'll do for what we need tonight," I said before they started fighting. They were once the best of friends, but they'd gotten a bit snippier to each other since I started sleeping with both of them. "I have a few ideas to improve them, and we can all get together and work on it at another time. Sound good?"
"Hmm," Dane said.
I clipped the walkie-talkie on my belt, next to the buckle. It looked so geeky. At least it was black and not too obvious. Then I gave Gabe a "well?" look.
"Whatever," Gabe said.
We each had our own area to patrol. Dane had half of Deep Ellum, and Gabe had the other half. I would fly overhead and watch over it all. So we split up and went our separate ways.
Dane and Gabe each paused to zip up their jackets. The temperature hovered around forty at that time. That's a winter temperature in Dallas, but actually pretty good for New Year’s night. I didn't think Dane's jacket was enough protectio
n, but he insisted it was fine.
I waited for both of them to disappear from sight before extending my wings. They were huge bat wings, covered in the softest, finest black hair. At the wings' joint, there was an eight inch black spike. Very sharp. And there was another sharp spike at the very tip of my wings, though not as long and much thinner.
As far as I knew, I was the only vampire capable of sprouting such wings. The vampire that helped me manifest them was dead, by my hand. Roger went rogue, but I couldn't help but think of him whenever I used them.
Unlike my friends, I didn't carry any weapons. I didn't have anywhere to hide them. With the walkie-talkie Dane or Gabe would be within minutes of me, so I only had to hold Ben in place. Besides, I was more than capable of ripping out Ben's heart.
I leapt straight up. Just my legs alone propelled me a good fifty feet into the air. My wings started flapping before I even got close to the apex. I heard numerous people gasp and cry out when I took off. Not to brag or anything, but I'm a rather impressive sight flying around.
I rose up well above the tallest buildings in Deep Ellum. So I flew around about a hundred feet above the street and looked for Ben or any kind of disturbance. I wasn't an uncommon sight above the party district. Most of the time I broke up normal muggings, no vampire involved. My friend in the police, Sergeant Longhouse, said violent crime had dropped by seventy percent since I started patrolling Deep Ellum.
Deep Ellum was full. I mean, the Fire Chief should be there turning people away, saying the district had overfilled its capacity. The sidewalks were packed. The streets were bumper to bumper, with walking people intermingling with the cars without fear of injury.
A dark part of me wanted to be down there, right in the middle of that tight press. I longed for the touch of warm bodies, pressed against me, rubbing against me. Hands on me. I wanted to feel hot breath on my face, my breasts.
The vampire in me wanted to have sex with everyone down there, and then bite each and every one. Sometimes it wasn't easy to control the urges. This was one of those nights, because the air was charged with their excitement, their arousal, their needs and desires.
"There is no way we're going to find Ben in all that mess," I said. I idly wondered if after midnight I could lure both Dane and Gabe into bed with me. Without using my vampiric powers. Two guys in bed were better than one, and five were better than two. "This is insane. I'm even having crazy thoughts now."
Why did I let Gabe talk me into this? I was real tempted to hit the all button and tell Dane and Gabe we're heading on over to Victory Park now. That's what Dane wanted to do anyway. I was even reaching for the walkie-talkie when I spotted a candy apple red Cadillac caught in Deep Ellum's traffic jam.
"Oh, yeah," I said, wondering if I dared.
One hundred feet below me council member Vanessa Mancera was sitting in the back of that Cadillac. It wasn't any kind of Cadillac that I've seen before, either. Okay, I knew it was a 1976 Eldorado, but it was also a convertible and a stretch limousine. Vanessa was high on the back of the seat, in the middle on a special little seat put in there. That Cadillac looked like something customized specifically for parades, for the Grand Marshall, a celebrity, or a beauty queen to sit upon.
My heart started racing. My "encounter" with Jeff came flooding back, most unwelcome. That meeting had gone as bad as I feared, but it did let me determine that Jeff had nothing to do with Timmy's disappearance. Should I take the chance on a meeting with Vanessa?
I started circling Vanessa, slowly descending while I thought it through. She looked to be in a grand mood, big bright smile as she waved to the adorning crowd. Vanessa was their beautiful undead queen, and they were all eager to give her their throats, eager to feel her sharp fangs penetrate their necks. Thralls, one and all.
Vanessa looked up at me when I was only fifty feet up. I saw a faint frown flitter across her face, then she returned her attention to the crowd. I guess she wasn't too concerned with Black Heart flying around. So I stopped being stealthy, and wishy-washy, and made a couple simple maneuvers and swooped down at the front of the Cadillac.
At the last second I pulled up, hovered twenty feet above the open air limo, and dropped straight down with wings fully extended to slow my descent.
"No!" Vanessa snapped, both hands thrust out in opposite directions to hold off her undead bodyguards. "I'll handle her."
"Ooh, handle me?" I said, a mischievous grin on my face. "If that means hot girl-on-girl with you, count me in, baby."
Vanessa just raised a haughty eyebrow.
"Guess that is a no," I said, as I landed. "Hello, Vanessa. Looking good."
Vanessa was wearing a designer gown of shimmering red silk, her neck, ears, and wrists a-sparkle with diamonds and rubies. The sexy Latina's dark brown hair was long and parted down the middle. Even her undead thugs were exquisitely attired, looking like models as they walked down the street to either side of her limo.
The inside of the stretch limousine had a wrap-around seat, in white leather and red carpet. There was a small refrigerator and lots of champagne.
Vanessa wasn't alone in the limo. To either side of her sat beautiful blondes. They also wore designer gowns and a ton of jewelry. The fourth person was a man, tall, dark, handsome, and looking to be well into his fifties. He wore a tuxedo and looked quite comfortable there sipping champagne. They were all vampires.
"You and your entourage definitely win the best dressed award," I said.
"Thank you," Vanessa said, smiling now. The other three vamps lifted their champagne glasses to me in acknowledgement, all with very pleased looks. "As you can see, Black Heart, we are in the middle of something. Please state your business and leave."
"This is Black Heart," the male said. "Impressive. You say she's only three months old?"
"Three months and some change," I said, turning to face him. Up close he was even more impressive. His dark hair was cut short, but his beard was gray with just a sprinkling of dark hairs. Distinguished looking was the best way to describe him. Maybe suave. "And you are?"
"Antonio Martinez," he said.
"He is my. . . Mentor," Vanessa said, and smiled warmly at him. Mentor was vampire code for the vampire that Changed you, but no longer had control over you. But only if you are on good terms. So that meant Antonio was even older, and I assumed more powerful, than Vanessa. "Antonio, please forgive my rudeness. Yes, this is Sable Hart, the infamous Black Heart."
He looked me over, and managed to not smack his lips. I had the impression he wanted to, though. A girl knew when a guy liked what he was looking at. Have to admit, I kinda liked looking at him.
"Perhaps we can get together, Miss Hart, sometime this week," Antonio said. "I'll be here through Wild On."
"Perhaps," I said. "Please, call me Sable."
"Only if you call me Antonio," he said.
We shared a sultry gaze for a long moment. Vanessa gave a little cough to break it up.
"Since you're trying to seduce my mentor, I assume this isn't a staking," Vanessa said.
"I'm not that stupid, despite what some would say," I said. That pleased her. I didn't think she was unstakeable, but she did scare me. All council members did. Both Vanessa and Antonio reeked of power, radiated it like the sun. None of the other vampires around us radiated any power at all. It was the best sign I knew to determine the power of a vampire. "I only wish to ask you a couple questions." I paused, frowned at her. "Has Jeff Howell called you?"
"Why would he call me? To warn me about you?"
"No. I thought since you were partners with him in Nightside Investments he would call to warn you," I said, and shrugged. "Guess not."
Vanessa sat up straighter, her dark eyes more intent. I swear, she was suddenly twice as beautiful. How did she do that? Was it illusion? Or just in my mind? Her eyes slowly narrowed.
"Warn me about what? Something with Nightside?"
"Maybe," I said. How to explain, since I already muffed it up a bit. Shouldn't hav
e mentioned Jeff yet, if at all. "Do you know a Timothy Saxon?"
"Yes. Mr. Saxon works on the Nightside account," she said. "What about him? Is he stealing from us?"
The menace level radiating from her increased exponentially. I stepped back one step. It seemed prudent at the moment, but probably didn't help my dangerous reputation.
"Timmy has been kidnapped, probably by vampires," I said. "His family has hired me to find him, before it's too late. You didn't have anything to do with his disappearance, did you?"
"Don't be stupid," Vanessa said, holding out her hand to one of the blondes at her feet. A diamond encrusted smart phone was handed up. She immediately started punching in numbers. "Jeff knew about this?"
"I told him yesterday."
"Bastard." She also let out a string of words in Spanish that I didn't understand, but it certainly sounded like she was cursing.
I refrained from smiling. I just caused Jeff some unwanted partnership problems. Couldn't happen to a more deserving vampire.
"Why did you go to Jeff first with this?" Vanessa said.
"I knew how to contact him," I said. "Do you want to give me your cell number?"
She just glared at me, holding the phone to her ear. Then she started speaking in Spanish. Very fast. I didn't have the foggiest idea what she was saying. I reminded myself of my life goal of learning Spanish. Someday. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.
"That answered that question," I said. Vanessa wasn't responsible for Timmy's disappearance. No closer to finding him. Vanessa was no longer paying me any heed. She looked to be doing damage control. So I turned to Antonio. "Adios, my undead amigo."
He lifted his glass to me. "Ah, I love bad Spanish rolling from such sweet lips. ‘Til we meet again, Sable."
I laughed as I leapt into the air, my wings sprouting at the same time. Seconds later I was flapping hard down the street, about thirty feet up. Once again, I thought it time to call my boys and head over to Victory Park for midnight, and a make-out session with both of them to ring in the New Year right. If nothing else, I had to be kissing Dane at the stroke of midnight. I just had to.
