by Lynde Lakes
“Why couldn’t you let destiny takes its course?” he said in a low, chilling tone. His fangs glinted in the lantern light. “If you and your muscle-bound assistant hadn’t dug around and stuck your noses in my business, no one would have ever suspected a star aerialist of being a thief and a pleasure monger.”
A swift surge of anger swept over her. “The words you’re skirting around are ‘vampire and violent serial killer’. Does your attempt to dress up the words mean even you can’t face what you are?”
His slow sneer revealed he enjoyed making her squirm. “It’s not that simplistic. I view my seduction of women as giving pleasure. It is unfortunate they have to die. But you must appreciate they die happy. As will you…”
She closed her eyes and struggled again to morph. Somehow he must be blocking the process. Damn him. The most insidious characteristic of a vampire is his ability to hypnotize his victims and create a telepathic bond. I won’t let his transfixing gaze capture my soul. I won’t give my full cooperation and surrender freely and fully to this fiend’s formidable dark, hellish gift. She pressed her lids tighter together. I won’t. I won’t. Please, God, help me.
Skully slapped her face. “Look at me!”
Of their own accord, her eyes flew open.
Skully smiled, revealing glinting dagger-teeth of both animal and devil.
Tigra rubbed her stinging cheek. “What are you going to do with me?”
He shoved her forward again and nudged her to move faster with the tip of the knife. “My future plans for you aren’t yet pertinent. We were talking about your interference. Until you started meddling, I wasn’t ever really under serious suspicion. The police were too busy watching Hugh and checking on his brother to show more than a cursory interest in me.”
She ached to turn around and face the wily demon again. I have to distract him. “What’s all the stealing about? You make good money as an aerialist, yet apparently you’ve been stealing valuables in every town we hit? How much money does one man need?”
“I don’t know about one man, but two vampires who wish to live like royalty and plan to live many more lifetimes, the amount required will be gargantuan.”
Hearing him admit what she already knew continued to stun her while the new information sent additional waves of terror through her. “There are two of you?” She trembled at the thought.
“There will be two before sun up.”
Saints preserve me. Did he have a cohort in crime? Was he nearby? How will I find the strength and wisdom to fight two monsters?
I have to keep him talking. She glanced back and noticed his skin had turned halblar, death blue or ha’foir, corpse blue. She took shallow breaths, trying not to inhale the unmistakable reek of decay. How had he concealed the evil part of himself for so many years? Probably the same way she hid her duality—remaining an enigma required privacy, secrecy, and security. “Are we almost to Madam Mystic?” Lord, let her still be alive.
He laughed hollowly. “Oh yes, I almost forgot about her. She’s just ahead. Let’s go put her out of her misery,” he said in a deceptively merciful tone.
****
Hugh paced in front of Tigra’s dark caravan, her words repeating in his mind. “If it’s not too late, I could come by your place.” But over an hour and a half had passed and she hadn’t shown up and she wasn’t home. She hadn’t said where she was going, only that she was meeting Madam Mystic. But Madam Mystic’s place was dark as well. His neck prickled. He sensed trouble. Jerry, one of the little men clowns waddled by holding hands with a monkey. He’d never seen Jerry without the monkey. “Thanks for replacing the ball cock on my toilet,” Jerry said.
“Anytime. It’s part of my roustabout duties.” He let out a gust of air. “You haven’t seen Tigra, have you?”
“Matter of fact, I have. About an hour ago, after my card game with the guys, I saw her unlock the fun house and slip inside. It was sort of weird; the place is closed for the night.”
“An hour ago? She could be hurt inside. Thanks, Jerry,” he said over his shoulder.
“She’s probably all right,” Jerry called. “I saw Skully go into the place about fifteen minutes before she did.”
Hugh froze in his tracks.
“I heard the motors come on,” Jerry said. “They’re probably checking the equipment for Lester.”
Hugh knew Lester ran the fun house. Calling Tigra or Skully didn’t make sense. If the equipment wasn’t working right, why hadn’t they called him or one of the other roustabouts? Tigra ran the office so there was the outside chance she was needed to order equipment, but Skully was an aerialist, not a handyman. And what about her meeting with Madam Mystic? Besides, after the kiss Skully planted on her, Hugh didn’t want him anywhere near Tigra. “Thanks, Jerry.” Hugh took off running, heading for the fun house.
It took only seconds to pick the outdated lock. Edgy, he slipped inside the ghoul house and called Tigra’s name. His panicky voice echoed back at him. Crazed and running out of control, he searched the place. His heart almost stopped beating when he spied the metal stake on the floor by the slide of terror. She was definitely in trouble. And he didn’t know where she was.
He shoved the stake into his tool belt, sat down on the slide steps, and put his head into his hands. Okay, Skully wouldn’t take her to his caravan. The most logical place was one of the caves. But which one? His gut wrenched and his mind exploded with an emotion so crushing, so devastating, it was beyond anything he’d ever felt before. Dear God, let her still be alive.
****
Struggling to stay calm and reliable, Hugh re-locked the Fun House entry door. Then panic gripped him again and he ran through the darkened arcade like a madman, his stomach in knots. Leaping turnstiles, he left the circus grounds and headed for the hills. He’d been right about Tigra from the beginning. She was all heart and her concern for Madam Mystic had thrust her into the hands of a blood-thirsty vampire. Hugh ran faster. He’d been a fool not to let her know he loved her more than he’d ever loved anyone. Without Tigra, he’d be a shell of a man going through the motions, with no zest for life. He had to save her from a monstrous death. And ironically, saving her would save him.
He entered the wooded shadowy silence, moving swiftly through the soft muted colors of the night until he reached foliage thick and tangled enough to conceal him while he morphed. Once he shifted, he moved deeper into the shadows. The moon reflected on an aluminum gum wrapper. The trampled and crushed moss it rested on indicated more than one person had recently passed this way. Please, Lord, don’t let me run into any hunters or someone from animal control.
An owl flew up, wildly flapping its wings as it deserted a twisted mesquite. He jumped. Damn my drum tight nerves! His fortifying breath drew in smells of earth, vegetation, and rotting wood. He’d hoped to pick up Tigra’s feral scent and Skully’s musty scent. By the stake he’d found in the fun house he was positive Skully was the vampire.
With his lungs almost bursting with angst, he squinted into the shadowy darkness, aware of every fluttering leaf, every bowing limb. He hadn’t gone far when he caught the mingled scents of tiger and mustiness. His already pounding heart quickened its pace and his nerves grew tauter by the second. Instinct and the moaning wind pushed him ahead faster. Light patches of fog floated in vaporous layers about the tree trunks. Ahead were two huge granite boulders and beyond that the series of caves.
Hugh locked in on the blended scents and followed them into the shadowy mouth of the dark and menacing cave just ahead. Was there was more than one entrance? The fact Skully was still free indicated, as a vampire, he had a well-honed survival instinct and probably a foolproof escape route. Right now, that didn’t matter as much as getting Tigra away from him.
Edging forward more slowly now, he merged with the shadowy, dank darkness. With his keen eyesight, he followed the tunnel, keeping close to the stony wall. He froze at the sound of Tigra’s and Skully’s voices ahead and spied the dim glint of a lantern.
Tigra desperately wanted to run, but she had to wait and try to save Madam Mystic…if she was still alive. The lantern Skully carried stirred the eerie, demon-like shadows of the cave into a hellish hurricane of turmoil. Finally, as they rounded the bend in the tunnel she spied the mystic, nude, shivering, gagged, and trussed up like a turkey. “What have you done to her?”
Skully smirked, his eyes tracking Tigra’s every movement, revealing his raw predatory tendencies. “Nothing much, yet.” His fangs glinted. “But now that you’re here, we can start the party. As I’m sure you’re aware, there is a strong sexual aspect of vampirism. Biting someone is a very intimate act. Compounded by the removal of blood in a commingling of fluids, it is reminiscent of the sexual act itself. Doesn’t that titillating thought make your thighs tingle?” He winked at her. “The three of us are going to have a very good time. When I arouse you ladies, your blood will pump hotter which adds to the erotic allure and my enjoyment.”
Madam Mystic, her eyes wild and her face swollen, made a muffled sound of protest.
With all the guts Tigra could muster, she stepped forward, removed her thigh-length cardigan sweater and covered the trembling fortune teller’s nudity.
“Very compassionate,” Skully said, sliding his hungry gaze over her black lacy bra and firmly contained breasts.
“Let us go, Skully. Doing sexual acts against one’s will is an inexcusable deviancy.”
“So? That’s what I’m about—taking pleasure whether offered or not. And a taking against one’s will is part of the fun and challenge. Unfortunately, sexual arousal generally kills the victim. But in the end, no one complains.”
“That’s because they’re dead.” She wanted to add you ass, but thought it wise to skip the name calling.
“Ah, but their last breath is taken in ecstasy.”
“Says you. Their body spasms are no doubt from great pain.”
He met her gaze with glowing red eyes. “Why do you persist in hashing out this bitingly dark subject when we could be having a wild time?”
His Hungarian accent, although somewhat charismatic and erotic, grated on her nerves. She gave him a sidelong glance, feeling disgust clear to her toes. “How can you do such hell-spawn atrocities to innocent women?”
“Lust for the flesh, desire for a savage revenge, a lust for power, and the determination to spill blood of enemies and those who try to stop me.” His smirk revealed dagger-like glinting ivory. “And that includes you, my love.” To give us any chance at all to live through this, I have to keep him talking. “Were you ever a religious man in any of your lifetimes?”
“If I were, it would be blood under the bridge, my dear. Why do you ask?”
“If possible, I’d like to touch your humanity.” Tigra fought to hold her voice steady. “Deuteronomy 12:23 reads something like this: To save your everlasting soul, be sure you do not eat the flesh or drink the blood.”
“The wording is not exact, my dear. But I comprehend where you’re going with it. However, your attempt at inducing guilt is futile.” He shook his head. “You are such an innocent, using infantile nonsense against me. Don’t you get it? I am an opponent of your deity and I use blood as revenge against God and mortality.”
Damn the soulless heathen! His answer tore at her sensibilities, and she felt her nerves jerk, her body trembling, and herself morphing. She fell to the stony floor and helplessly convulsed and writhed out of control. It was as though she were spinning through space, rotating and spiraling first in one direction, then another. She felt Skully’s stunned gaze on her and met his wide eyes as the muscles throughout her body began to throb, followed by agonizing pain. Sweat trickled down her back. She raked her fingers through a wild, thickening tiger-orange mane. Her eyes pooled with tears as the attacks of pain came in waves, each surge sharper than the last. A howl ripped itself from her throat.
Skully laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned. I’ve captured myself a tiger woman.”
Feral hatred charged through her. She gave a low growl, bared her teeth, and rose slowly to a crouched position. Then she leapt on him; blood-red dagger-claws bared and dug into icy flesh. She wanted to reduce him to dust and draw the nothingness that once had been a soul from him.
He twisted and threw her against the cave wall.
Skully whirled for the counter-attack, as, from the shadows, Werewolf-Hugh leapt and landed on his back. Hugh ripped off Skully’s cape with the red lining, thrust it to the ground, and then attacked full throttle. Tigra felt like cheering as she watched the claws and fangs of her beloved alpha wolf sink into Skully’s flesh. But the vampire held his own—to unlock the grip on his flesh, the lithe, aerialist vampire used the same kind of twists, skilled somersaults, and hand clutches he used nightly in his act.
Growling, her Alpha wolf circled for another attack. Quick as lightning, he charged Skully and clamped his fangs on his throat. The wolf and vampire tore and clawed at one another’s flesh, both drawing blood and inflicting pain, but neither gaining the advantage.
Tigra’s heart pounded. With two equally determined and skilled males with super strength, either could come out the victor. To save Madam Mystic’s life and their lives, she couldn’t let her beloved werewolf fight this battle alone. The wolf and vampire parted and crouched, ready to charge each other again. Their full concentration was fixed on their opponent.
Tigra used the moment of distraction to grab the nearby lantern by the handle and swing it into Skully’s face. He shouted in pain. As the glass broke, kerosene splashed over him, and his hair caught on fire. He slapped at the flames. Flames dropped to his black shirt and it caught fire. He dropped and rolled, cursing.
She’d read that perhaps a vampire could be destroyed by fire. Her heart filled with hope and then he dashed it when he sprang to his feet and ran deeper into the tunnel, his screams echoing through the darkness.
Would he burn to ashes and fall somewhere ahead in the darkness?
Tigra wanted to race to Hugh and tend his wounds, but he whirled, uttered a low guttural sound, and raced after Skully.
“No!” she called. She started after Hugh.
Madam Mystic made a muffled, grunting cry.
Tigra stopped mid-step and glanced into the darkness, feeling pulled between the two people who needed her. She glanced at Madam Mystic again. At minimum, she had to set the dear medium free. She rushed to the medium’s side, crouched, took the gag from her mouth, and untied her.
“Good thinking about the lantern, Tigra,” Madam Mystic said in a hoarse voice. “And thank you. I thought we were all goners. Our predicament is my fault for being a coward.”
“Forget fault.” Tigra helped the mystic to her feet. The nude, bruised, and abused fortune teller, wearing only Tigra’s inadequate cardigan sweater had shown no shock that the three of them, including the vampire were dual beings. God only knew what other secrets she’d learned from her crystal ball. “Can you get back to the circus on your own? I need to find Hugh and help him take down that demon.”
“You two are amazing, sacrificing yourselves for each other. But Hugh would want you to come with me to safety. Skully is a sneaky devil who’s lived many lives. Best you leave him to your feral friend.”
“I can’t leave Hugh. Abandoning him would be like forsaking my heart.”
“My crystal ball foretold your werewolf was born with the power to slay a vampire. But it warned that desire could kill your alpha hero.”
Tigra laughed without humor. “We’ve already doused ourselves in the pool of desire. Your warning only intensifies my desperation to find him. You can help best by scooting out of here to the safety of the circus grounds.” She stripped a small, broken, dry tree branch and touched it to the still burning broken lantern. “You can use this torch to light your way. Now go. Just follow the walls.” She gave the mystic a gentle push. Then she whirled and headed deeper into the bowels of the cave in search of her Alpha wolf.
Alert and
running, she scanned the darkness with her keen tiger eyesight. Her heart drummed so hard she could scarcely breathe. Every fiber of her wanted to run in the opposite direction. I will do this and I’ll survive, she repeated to herself in a mantra. She had to save Hugh or she would never be the same. Additionally, if she didn’t succeed, the circus would never be the same either.
She brought forth a cherished image of the man she'd come to love. She’d known the dream of them together after this was over was impossible. She had to be satisfied with saving him. "Hugh," she mouthed silently into the emptiness. She wished she had her rosary with the silver cross Grandy had given to her to keep her safe and ward off evil. She had only her willingness, if absolutely necessary, to die for the man she loved.
The irony of racing into the inky passages of hell where a vampire crouched waiting in the shadows, when all she wanted to do was run away, terrified her as much as the bitter taste of her own fear. The chill of the cave and eerie silence closed around her. Icy sweat dripped from her face. A shaft of icy fear sliced through her bone deep. Just ahead a rock skittered into her path. Tigra froze, her straining gaze scanning ahead. Her neck prickled. Nothing moved. Dank, icy air lay still around her, oppressive, unsafe. The taste, smell, and feel of terror pressed deeper into her nerve-endings. She listened intently, afraid to even breathe, her heart lunging in her chest. She picked up a stake-shaped rock. Okay, Skully, I'm ready for you. He was more dangerous than a rattler, but he was only one vampire. What am I thinking—he’s a vampire! I’ll never get a better chance to escape. But I can’t leave without Hugh.
She moved forward again, more slowly. Her heart pounded in quaking thuds. She held back a cough as she inhaled mustiness. Was Skully waiting just ahead?
Damn you, Skully. Let's get this show on the road. Precious minutes ticked by. Where was he? Where was Hugh?
Chapter Twenty-Two
