7 comments/ 53054 views/ 10 favorites A Night's Tale By: Domwoolf It was another Saturday night, mid summer, eleven o'clock and still over 100 degrees. Heather didn't mind the heat or the lack of humidity; she just hated the short night. It didn't get dark until 9 and was already starting to get light by 5 am. Still it was nice to get out and just walk around even if this wasn't the best part of town. Heather knew her friends would be aghast if they knew she was out by herself. It just wasn't done, anything could happen. A woman alone stood a good chance of being raped or robbed or both. Of course being with a group sometimes was no help either as Gloria, Heathers oldest and dearest friend had discovered when she went out with a group of her friends to a new club. They had had to park several blocks away and got jumped as they were headed back to their car. Some of the women had gotten away and run for help, two got robbed and beaten up, and Gloria, well Gloria got taken by the gang. The cops were no help. Oh they filled out their forms and interviewed every drunk in a five block radius, but that didn't help Gloria whose naked, raped, and tortured body was found ten miles away in a dumpster a week later. Heather had spent a lot of hours on the internet and discovered Gloria was only the last in a long string of kidnapped and raped women that this particular gang had used and thrown away. The cops knew who they were but never found enough evidence to do anything. Heather also found a pattern in the times and places these animals attacked their victims. She knew if she spent enough time in the right areas it would lead her to the ones responsible. However she had been at it now for six weeks and hadn't even gotten close. The cops had put too many units in the gang's areas and they were keeping a low profile, at least until some other big public tragedy caught the public's attention. Then the police units would fade away and open season would be declared by the gang and it would be business as usual. Heather caught site of several of the gang members tonight already on the prowl and unlike the last few weekends she hadn't seen a patrol car in several hours. She was dressed as their favorite prey, business casual with a little flair, several buttons on the slightly small blouse undone, and the jeans just a little too tight. She decided to cut through the alley to check out the club on the side street, one block over, hoping to find the one gang member that the group had identified. Of course he had an alibi, he was with his girlfriend, or was it his mother. Did assholes like him even have mothers? Heather had just passed another side street when she realized they were behind her. She started to turn when several figures appeared in front of her. She had found her gang or rather they had found her. "Lady, you're either a cop or a reporter." Strong hands grabbed her arms from behind. "Don't matter either way cause we are gonna fuck you up." Heather started to struggle when something hit her hard over the head. The gang ripped open her shirt and pants, quickly checking her for a wire. When they decided she wasn't an undercover cop, they picked her body up and dumped her in a van and drove away. Inside the van they stripped her pants, blouse, and bra off and cuffed her arms behind her back. The usual rounds of crude and lewd comments followed as they described what they wanted to do to her breasts, cunt, and ass. Followed by the usual bragging about how she was gonna love it and how she had never had such big strong hard cocks in her life. The van finally turned into a warehouse far from where she had been abducted. Here, Heather decided, is where they bring their captives. A safe place, far from nosey cops or neighbors; a place where they can torture, rape, and abuse women with little fear of being heard. Heather was again tossed over someone's shoulder and carried to a cage where she was tossed on the floor. Two other women were in the cage looking somewhat the worse for wear. One, a Latina looking woman was crying quietly and continually. She wore less than Heather by one pair of panties and multiple burses. The other naked woman was just staring at the ceiling, sprawled on the floor. Looking into her eyes Heather could see there was no one home. Whatever they had done to this woman had broken her mind. A couple of hours later and the warehouse had begun to fill with noisy gang members. The music had been kicked up until it was hard to hear anything over the nasty rap/crap hip hop whatever they called this electrical static these days. Gang members kept coming by the cage, making crude comments to all three women and informing them how they were going to be raped, in what hole and with what crude phallic symbol. Baseball bats, dildos and bottles were just a few of the items mentioned. Heather and the crying girl stayed far enough back from the cell bars to escape the groping hands, but still got hit by globs of spit while being called whores and cunts, etc. Heather kept watch for the one gang member she was looking for but so far he had not joined in on the fear parade the gang used to rattle the women. The music got turned off, the gang members moved away back to the center of the warehouse leaving just two guards to watch the women. The Latina girl started moaning and praying over and over in Spanish for deliverance from the evil. Heather smiled at her and the girl looked up with tears streaming down her face. "They will be coming now. They will take us and rape us and beat us with belts and sticks and make us do disgusting things to them and each other." "What happened to her?" Heather asked. "The evil ones raped her and made her watch as they killed her friend, they gave the poor woman to their dogs to tear apart. Tonight, they will kill her because her mind is gone and she's no fun anymore." "How long have you been here?" "Forever, I don't know, there were five of us. But one by one they kill us. You're the first new one in a while." Yeah, Heather thought, about six weeks. Four of the gang members came to the cage and took the girl from the floor. They dragged her out and not one sound did she make. A few minutes later they could hear the sounds of a motorcycle running back and forth across the warehouse and lots of yells from the gang but they never heard a sound from their companion. The same four came back and took the girl. She screamed and fought and pleaded to no avail. The screams went on for quite some time. Heather still had not seen the one gang member she was looking for but figured she would get to see most of the gang members when her time came. It was sometime after 1 a.m. when the four gang members returned for her. Heather put up a fight but she was held by the four and marched into the center of the warehouse. Lights were aimed at a center area where Heather could see the Latina girl getting fucked by three men on a dirty mattress. She had been set down on one of the asshole's dick, which had been pushed, into her ass. Another bent her backwards and was shoving his cock deep into her pussy while a third was sticking his filthy member into the crying girls mouth and face fucking her. The rest of the scummy bunch was waiting to watch their newest fuck slave get hers. Heather looked around past all the lights but still didn't see the one she wanted. The four released her and backed off in a circle surrounding her, to see if she would run. A voice told her to remove her panties, her last item of clothes. Heather recognized the physiology behind this, if the victim undressed herself even if she had no choice, it worked on her mind that she was willing to be raped. It removed the last vestiges of hope from the victims mind. She slowly put her thumbs in the side waistlines of her panties and pushed them down. Heather stopped when they were at her knees and stood upright, her arms hanging at her sides. This gave the gang a good look at her heavy hanging breasts, her shaved pussy, and well-rounded ass. The catcalls and comments got filthier as she stood there. She was told to finish taking her panties off. She gave a little wiggle and the panty dropped to her ankles where she simply stepped out of them. Heather stood defiant, fists at her hips and legs slightly spread, letting them all have a good look. She heard the asshole come up behind her and felt his hands reach around her naked body to grasp her tits and crush them in his strong grip. She let out a little scream. That generated more comments and laughter from the watching crowd. She could feel the man's hard prick jammed between her bare ass cheeks as his hands groped her body. He twisted her head back and licked her cheek. Heather snarled at him and jerked herself out of his grasp. He laughed, after all he was in control, and a little fighting spirit just made the rape all that more fun. He was putting on a show for his buddies as he stalked her around the mattress where the Latina girl covered in slime from the many cocks that had fucked her lay quietly crying. The gang wasn't finished with her by a long shot but for now they had new and more interesting prey to play with. Heather continued to back away from the leering big man as he tried to capture her wrists and regain control. A belt slapped across her ass from one of the circle of men. It was designed to distract her and also let het know the limits of the play area. Heather ignored the slap and kept circling. She knew if he caught her wrists the play would get much more serious. Taunted by his friends the big man finally rushed Heather. Heather dropped and rolled to the side kicking the big mans knee as he reached for her and missed. Her kick knocked him off balance, crashing him into his friends but didn't break the knee as she had hoped. She was up and facing towards him as he regained his feet. One of his buddies caught his shoulder and he looked back at them, that was the opening Heather needed she took two quick steps, leaped into the air and kicked him square in the face. The hard heel of her foot broke his nose and snapped his head back sharply; he was out cold before he hit the floor. Heather slapped the floor with her arms, rolled, and regained her feet and her panties. She stood there, her breasts heaving as she fought to catch her breath. She was covered with smudges of dirt and scraped in places, but she still had her panties. She defiantly stepped back into them, covering herself. She knew fighting back would make things worse when they grabbed her, she didn't care. The catcalls changed, instead of teasing and taunting they now took on the edge of fear and anger. Where before they had called for her antagonist to garb her tits and pussy, now they yelled for her new foe to mess her up. Suggestions ranged from cutting off her tits to stomping her to death. Not much of an improvement. Still only one asshole moved into the makeshift center ring of this sadistic circus. He was smaller, wiry and tough looking. He moved like a fighter, balanced, quick and kept his center of gravity low. Heather knew he wouldn't be tricked as easily as the gorilla. She started to circle, waiting for an opening but someone in the crowd got impatient stabbing her ass from behind. The knife stabbed her in the meaty part of her left ass cheek. Heather knew it wasn't deep but it made her jump forward and that was what her opponent had been waiting for. He struck with a stiff finger blow just below her rib cage, his fingers sank into her flesh hitting the nerve cluster and paralyzing her breathing for a few moments. That was all it took. He had her down on the floor and men were holding her arms and legs down and spread far apart. Her conqueror ripped away her panties and placed himself between her legs to claim his prize. She screamed as his first thrust penetrated her, pressing his thin, long cock deep inside. Hands mauled her tits, grasping, crushing, and twisting her breasts seeking not sexual gratification but to cause her pain and humiliation. Other hands grasped her hair, forcing her head back, and her mouth open to the dirty penis shoved within. Knees crushed her arms, deliberately pressing down on the delicate elbow joints trying to cause pain and damage. The cock shoved into her throat choked off her screams of rage and pain, her face was slapped over and over. Her legs were pulled and twisted to cause the most pain as the men fucked her. The first man came inside her and was replaced by a bigger thicker cock. The rapist face fucking her filled her throat with his cum and his jism, drool and snot filled her nose from the inside. She snorted trying to clear her clogged membranes and draw a breath before the next motherfucker began raping her mouth. Instead a fist smashed into her cheekbone and then another fist hit her from the other side. Her head was wrenched back again for the next dick, a huge thick thing, already dripping with precum as she followed its path to her forced open mouth. That's when she saw him. The asshole that had taken her friend away from her; subjecting her friend to rape and torture and finally death. The one that had taken a vibrant, sweet, and harmless woman and turned her into a pitiful sex toy thrown into a dumpster like a used tissue when they were through with her. She stretched her neck further to open her mouth even wider and took in as much of the thick nasty cock as she could swallow. Her eyes smiled as she sank her fangs into the blood-engorged cock and the asshole didn't even notice. To him it seemed as if she was swallowing his cock sucking at him for all she was worth and she was. They didn't even realize that the game had changed when he dropped down on her, slamming into the other asshole in her pussy. He reacted by smashing his fist into the dead man's face knocking him off her and out of her blood-smeared mouth. The blood from the dead mans cock raced through her body healing her wounds and giving her the unnatural strength that made her race feared throughout the world. She wrenched her legs free of the hands holding her spread and locked her ankles together squeezing the man in her pussy. She crushed him in a second and was amused that his body's last act was to cum all over her thighs as she tossed him away with a flick of her hips and legs. She twisted her arms and grabbed the cocks and balls of the two men who had held her arms down. She crushed them as her elbows had been crushed, slowly and with out mercy. The gang members still hadn't grasped the situation for they piled on her, raining down blows that she barely felt. She bit into a bared neck as her fingernails grew into the talons she would use to defend her self in fights with others of her kind. She ripped and twisted and broke anything that came into reach of her questing arms. The tide turned as the remaining members of the gang started to try and escape the mad women who was killing and maiming them. Automatic gunfire rang out as someone decided what was needed was more firepower, accuracy however was lacking. Several of the scrambling gang members were hit and went down but not a round hit Heather. The gunman ran out of bullets and Heather snapped his neck before he could reload. She spotted her target and took off after him. She was slowed several times by men trying to take her down, most using makeshift weapons of some sort, all died before they could manage to score a hit. She caught up one of the weapons, a medium length pipe and threw it javelin style at the escaping murderer. The pipe went through his thigh and she was on him seconds later. Heather picked up the pipe in one hand, twisting and tearing it free of the flesh. He swung a fist at her face; she caught it and broke his arm. Heather told him of her friend Gloria, told him of her life, her ambitions, and goals, while one by one breaking every bone in his arm and legs. The warehouse had grown quiet, except for the whimpering of her victim. Heather lifted the man by the throat, explaining that it was hard for her to make friends and that they were all the more precious because of that. To lose such a friend due to an act of insanity by such as this gang just made her mad enough to reveal herself; an act frowned upon by her kindred. The man died in her hands and she threw the corpse aside. Her fangs slowly retracted and her talons retreated as she calmed. She walked through the warehouse picking up guns and shooting corpses to hide traces of how they died. She punctured holes in the gas tanks of several cars and a motorcycle, fire being the great cleanser of evidence, when she heard the whimper. Lying on the mattress was the Latina girl, still alive after all they had done to her. Heather bent down and gently cradled her head. She stared into the girl's eyes until she became calm and quiet. Heather kissed her forehead. "Via con dios." She snapped her neck and lay her back down on the mattress. Heather dragged the mattress and its pitiful burden outside and away from the building before tossing in a lit road flare. Wearing a dead mans leather jacket and jeans, the vampire walked away from the burning building, already preparing her plans to move to a new city and start again. Forever is such a long time to live. A Night's Tale Ch. 02 A Nights Tale had the most comments and e-mails of any story I have written even though it had the least readers. So for those that enjoyed it I offer part 2. Dom Woolf * She walks through the hot summer night, her body glistening where flesh is exposed. She stalks her prey, keeping to the shadows in areas where they are most likely to be until she spots a target. The hunt is ongoing, never ending, one climax only leading to the next chase, the next hunt, the next prey because that is how you survive. She watches for the hunters, the ones that would bring her down, capture her, stop her hunt. It becomes a game of shadows and light. Hide in the shadows to avoid becoming prey, duck into the light to hunt and attract your own prey. Endless night. Heather looked good and she dressed to enhance what she had. The trick was to look good enough for the Vegas night club crowd with out going overboard and descending into hooker category. She loved the feel of the soft material in her new lite green blouse. The deep v front showed off enough to entice without exposing her to the world even when she danced. Just as the slit up the side of the skirt flashed as she moved or sat but didn't reveal too much. She loved watching the crowd as she sipped at her drink. The young ones so full of energy and drama. The older ones trying to remain with the in crowd, refusing to believe their time had come and gone. The pros, not a part of the in crowd but decorations to be hung on ones arm to look good, to look successful, to say look what I can afford. Then there were the hangers, the gofers, the not famous and not successful ones that hung around to fetch and carry and be the whipping posts of those that had made it. Las Vegas was a good move after the fiasco of Phoenix. Here in a twenty four hour a day town, nobody noticed if you were only seen at night. Many people worked the night shifts. Here one could shop, bank, play, and party all night, every night and it was nothing unusual. The hunting was good between the tourists and the immigrants and the homeless there was a never ending supply of people that nobody noticed or cared enough about to complain if they went missing. There was also a steady supply of assholes, some made so by drink, some just born that way. Heather preyed almost exclusively on a steady diet of these. It fit her notions of justice. The strong preyed on the weak and she preyed on the strong as a sort of payback. Tonight her quarry was a real asshole, one that liked to pickup women in bars and clubs and get them drunk before taking them to some dark alley and beating them half to death while raping them. She knew if he struck out in the clubs well then just cruse the hooker areas, pick up some sex worker trying to stay alive and feed her kid by offering her body for sex, take her off to a dark place and become her worst nightmare. Heather had narrowed it down to three guys, all of whom frequented the clubs, all of whom were known to pickup women and be a little rough and all of whom had been seen with the victims before they got raped and beaten. The cops had let it become known that none of the women victims remembered their attacker because he must have slipped one of the date rape drugs in their drinks before taking them out to become his punching bag. Several women had reported becoming sick and passing out after a night of clubbing, but none had been able to swear that one of the three had mickeyed their drink. So Heather picked one and watched and followed and listened. She eliminated one last week, when he got his date drunk, took her to a hotel and partied till dawn. He had paid for her cab ride home and the woman while hung over was none the worse for her experience. The fact that the guy ignored the women the next time they met made him a serious fucking asshole but not the s.o.b. she was hunting. Tonight's poor example of the Darwin theory in action was having no luck with the ladies. Some started out talking to him and a few even danced with him but something was scaring them off. They would make excuses or find other people they knew and crowd the guy out before escaping to another part of the club. Heather could see he was getting pissed off and ready to leave. She finished her drink and followed as he left the club. If this were her guy he would high tail it to the badder parts of town and pickup one of the street girls to work off his aggressions on. Heather intended to work off some of her own pissed off feelings and satisfy her own peculiar hungers at the same time. Bad ass lumbered to the back parking lot where he got into a black hummer and burned rubber leaving the parking lot. Heather had reached her 280z, preparing to follow when some tourist in an RV cut in front of her. It took the idiot forever to make a left across the busy traffic blocking Heather the whole time, by then the hummer and Mr. Bad Ass were long gone. Heather fumed, she knew in the mood asshole was in when he left the club that some poor hooker was in for a bad time tonight. She headed for the area where most of the streetwalkers were known to hang out, hoping to spot the big gas hog that asshole was driving. It took a half hour but she finally spotted him cruising past a group of prostitutes, she watched as he turned into an alley that led to a parking area big enough to turn the big hummer around. She parked and walked up to the three hookers. "Take a break girls, go get some dinner." "Says who bitch?" "Take thirty minutes or thirty days in county and if you blow my cover I'll lose your ass in the drunk tank for 72 hours first." The girls grumbled but headed down the street for a diner. "Hey blonde!" The blond hooker turned around, "Trade me your blouse." "Is you nuts?" "Trust me your getting the better deal." She pulled off the five hunderd dollar Donna Kerin blouse. The hooker shrugged and pulled off the flashy dime store shirt. Donna tossed her the blouse and caught the cheap perfumed shirt as the hooker walked back to her group laughing and showing the label. "I am so making this asshole pay for that." Heather swore. The hummer turned onto the street as the hookers entered the diner; Heather flashed a little leg and left the top unbuttoned half way down. The hummer pulled in beside her. "Hey baby looking for a date?" "Yeah get in and let's party." Heather crossed the street. "You a cop?" "No way baby, just horny." She climbed into the big hummer, which pulled out even as she was closing the door. It was a nice hummer, leather interior, all the toys, g.p.s., power everything. The big guys hand was working its way into her skirt even as he pulled away from the curb. "You like hummers?" Heather made her voice purr as she slipped the double entendre into the question. "You bet baby, there's three hundred in the glove box. So why don't you slide over here and lets see how you hum." Heather lay across the seat and found he had already gotten his cock out for her. She licked the tip of his cock and slowly engulfed it, drawing it deep into her mouth. She began bobbing her head as she sucked drawing him in. Once she got his saliva slicked member into her throat she began humming. His big hand wrapped itself in her hair and set the rhythm as he began moving her head up and down his cock. He was forceful but not harsh as he controlled her movements and he pulled to the curb just as he came in her mouth. She swallowed and sucked him clean as he disengaged his hand from her hair. "That was great. How much for the whole night? I got a suite at the casino down the street." Heather looked up and for the first time saw him in the lights of the street lamp. Not her prey, damn it. "Sorry baby, I'm booked. The hummers on the house. Welcome to Vegas." She slid over and quickly jumped from the vehicle. She strode back down the street ignoring the man's voice as he shouted to her. As soon as she was out of sight she began running at her full speed back to her car. Thirty seconds later she was driving down the street looking for the black hummer. She spotted her prey and left the safety of the shadows, glancing around for the hunters. She made her approach, caught the eyes of her prey, and went in for the kill. Heather saw the black hummer pull away from the curb and take off down the street. She pulled in behind the hummer following it through the streets and out towards the hills surrounding Las Vegas. Once outside the city limits she allowed the hummer to get a long lead and shut off her lights. Her eyes widened until the night looked bright as day. The hummer turned off the road and headed up into the hills, Heather slammed her car to a halt. There was no way her little sports car could follow the rough dirt road that the big hummer was powering up. Heather started running after the vanishing off road vehicle. Her jaw hurt where the big man had slammed his fist into it. The door on her side wouldn't open and she knew she had seriously fucked up. When he turned off the road and began heading into the hills she began to whimper. He reached over and backslapped her. "Shut up bitch!" He ripped her blouse open with one hand and hooked his hand into her bra using the material to pull her over to him. He pulled her tit out, twisting her nipple. He released her tit and grabbed her hair. "Strip whore, I want you naked in one minute or I start hurting you." She fumbled with her clothes, silently crying as she pushed the skin tight pants and thong panties down her legs. She pulled the bra and torn shirt over her head and sat back naked as the day her crack addicted mother gave birth to her. He shoved his hand between her legs and began squeezing and tearing at her pussy. His fingers forced their way inside her and she cried out as her hurt her. His laughter was his only response. He slapped her as he let go and drove through a tricky turn in the canyon before stopping well away from the road and any prying eyes. That's when she started screaming. Heather was pissed she had let the hummer get too far ahead in an effort to be unobserved. Now he had a several mile lead and she was on foot. She stopped and removed her shoes; she flexed her feet and concentrated. The talons her kind used for fighting grew from each toe. Now she had the grip she needed to really run, she began to follow the dust trail of the hummer unless he kept going she should catch up before too long, She just hoped it wasn't too late. He had dragged her from the car by her hair and tossed her to the ground. She stood watching him approach and turned to run. He caught her before she got twenty feet. He spun her around and began backhanding her across the face. His hand dug into her hair and het punched her in the stomach with the other hand. He mauled her tits, squeezing and twisting them; he slapped her breasts back and forth, then slapped them from beneath watching the tits bounce. He was in no hurry. He had the whole night. This was the part he enjoyed the most, reducing these whores to quivering piles of pain that would do anything he ordered. He preferred to do this with women he picked up at bars and clubs because they were the real whores. They dressed to tease a man, show him their hard young bodies and tight asses in clothes that revealed just enough to set a man on fire. Accepting his drinks and money, dancing and grinding at his groin but never expecting to have to put out. Oh no, that wasn't part of their deal. They would tease and touch, but when it came time to deliver they would laugh and walk away. That's when he began to bring them out here. Here he was in control. Here the little whores would beg and plead to suck his cock. Here they would gut their best friend if only he would make the pain stop. Here he hurt and degraded and humiliated the bitches and here he took their stupid useless and wasteful lives and gave them time to think about the whores they were. Just a little ways away was an old mine shaft. A mine he bought for nothing because it was played out. He sealed the front with a wall and steel door, inside about a hundred yards was a deep pit. At the bottom of that pit were the bodies of all those women he had brought to his place of redemption. He would play and hurt and torture them here, then lower them into the pit with a case of water bottles. They would freak out seeing the bones of his last victims, they would search for a means to escape, and them they would find the knife and fork he left for them. They would see the water and realize they could live for weeks. But the only food was the body of the girl preceding them into his makeshift hell. Sometimes he had put his latest victim in while the last was still alive. He sometimes wondered which one had the nerve to kill the other. Some, a few he had let go, taking them back into town and dropping them near the club where he had picked them up. Those few had managed to convince him that they were not the cock teasers he had thought they were. But just a few, the rest went in the hole. Sometimes he would sit at the top of the hole and listen to them plead and beg. He would talk to them explaining why they were in his stone cunt. He would listen to them promise anything he demanded if he would just let them go. He never did. Once they were in the hole they were in to stay. And die. He caught the hooker again as she tried to run, this time he broke her leg. Still she tried to drag herself away. He went to the truck and took out the home made flogger he had built. It was made from leather strips and he had fastened razors blades on the tips. He wanted to see how well he could flail the skin from the whore. He usually had a toy of some sort that he had read about on the internet and built. Many he had only used once because they did too much damage, after all one can't repent if one dies from the play. He approached the girl amazed that she had managed to make it almost thirty yards away. She was strong this one, she would last a long time before he had to lower her into the pit. "Come whore it's time to begin your redemption." He raised his arm as he approached standing in the light of the headlights so she could see the tool of her pain and punishment. He began swinging it in a big figure eight. Soon the edges would brush her flesh, slicing thin lines through her flesh, so thin at first she wouldn't even feel them. Then the flesh would part and sweat and dirt would get in the wounds and the pain would begin. Another whore stepped between him and his victim, where she came from he couldn't guess but if the bitch thought he would stop just because he now had two whores to play with she was going to find out he could play with two just as easy as one. Maybe he would have his first whore whip the second one. He swung the flogger across her face. The tips open lines through her cheek and lips and sliced her nose. She screamed and attacked. He tossed the flogger away and punched at the bitch. She caught his hand. The bitch caught his hand. He looked into her eyes and saw the lines across her face thin and close and heal. His hand she was crushing his hand. He pulled and struggled and still she squeezed until he could feel bones pop and snap. He screamed but of course there was no one to hear, that was the point of bringing the whores here in the first place. He looked up into her face and saw her start to smile and then he saw the fangs. Oh god those long sharp awful fangs. Heather dropped the man's corpse and wiped he mouth on the sleeve of her whore top. She walked over to the whimpering girl still dragging herself across the rocks and sand. "Shhh, it will be ok." She gazed into her eyes watching as the girl calmed and finally dropped off unconscious. Heather placed her gently in the back seat of the hummer. She looked around for a place to stash the body of the mad man she had killed. Her eyes followed a path barely visible in the rocky soil. Someone had been here a lot and she was betting she knew who. She followed the path to the wall in the rock and used the keys she had taken to open the door. The smell hit her first. There was death here old death and new. She could taste the fear and pain and despair on the air as various flavors mixed together. She followed it to the pit and her enhanced senses made out the horrors at the bottom. Heather went out and retrieved the man's body. If there were an after life then maybe the ghosts in this pit would get their revenge on the spirit of their killer as his body joined theirs. Heather yanked one of the support posts as she left closing the steel door on the collapse that followed. That pit of horrors was closed for good. Driving back to the highway she planned to drop the girl at the hospital emergency room then take the hummer to a car thief she knew. He would get her twenty thousand for the hummer no questions asked. After all it costs money to stay in Vegas and Mr. not so bad ass owed her a new blouse. She walks through the hot summer night, her body glistening where flesh is exposed. She stalks her prey, keeping to the shadows in areas where they are most likely to be until she spots a target. The hunt is ongoing, never ending, one climax only leading to the next chase, the next hunt, the next prey because that is how you survive as a hooker or a vampire. Forever is a long time to live. A Night's Tale Ch. 03 As the last rays of the setting sun winked out behind the mountains Heather awoke. She walked out of her sleeping chamber stretching as she secured the door behind her and flopped down on the bed searching for the remote. The large screen TV which was set on the local news channel came on just as the evening news started. She was headed for the shower when the news story headline caught her eyes. "Third body discovered in the desert in as many months." The blond, smiling, talking head, commentator read off the teleprompter. "According to witnesses and the Las Vegas Police department, this body was also partially eaten by either coyotes or wild dogs. This makes the third missing visitor to our fair city to turn up far out in the desert and the third one to show signs of being eaten by animals. Police are not saying what the cause of death was and so far have not released the identity of the third victim." She muted the no nothing TV personality, tossed the remote on the bed, and continued to the shower. Stripping off the oversized tee shirt she favored for sleep wear she adjusted the water to her normal temperature and allowed the steaming liquid to flow over her naked body. Considering what she had learned around town as she lathered her body with the loofa sponge and the cinnamon body wash she had just purchased, Heather decided it was time she looked into these desert dumps a little more closely. After all, the last thing she needed was the cops looking for a night stalker. Several hours and a good many questions put to the inhabitants of the underside of the city's night life a picture was emerging that the vampire huntress didn't like at all. Benny a local coffee shop owner had the most info. 'He should' she thought. Benny's was one of the local cop hangouts in the downtown area, situated close to the strip but with a large parking area and open 24/7. Benny kept a smaller back area reserved exclusively for the local cops. His food was quick and cheap, his coffee strong and filling a thermos was never a problem. The fact that the small room was monitored 24/7 and the wait staff was paid to listen and that Benny sold information out of the bar that backed the coffee shop had never occurred to the local p.d. because Benny was never seen in the coffee shop and anyone looking at the ownership records would never connect the two businesses. For a price Benny had revealed that the cops were stumped, that all the bodies had a cause of death that was listed as heart failure, (i.e. the medical examiner didn't have a clue) and all three bodies showed signs of having run for miles through the desert before they died. All three had claw and teeth marks but the animal that caused it was still unknown, one of the detectives said the coroner would have labeled it a wolf attack but there were no known wolf packs that roamed the southern Nevada desert. Heather knew the first two victims had nothing in common; the first had been an Oklahoma girl here for the yearly rodeo, disappeared while out getting feed for her horse. Her truck was discovered near Primm, Nevada a casino and outlet center on the Nevada /California border. Her body was found in the desert 40 miles north and west of Las Vegas. The second was a business man from New York here for a convention, who went for a jog, and died 30 miles north and east of town. The third body belonged to a visitor, young, male, athletic, here for the poker tournament; he had gone on a scheduled break and never returned. The bodies were discovered over a week after they vanished, no indication where they had been for the missing time and the bodies were all next to major roads leading to quick discovery, two had been dead less than twelve hours. Ages varied from 22 to 38, one white, one black, one Spanish/Inca Indian descent, none had large amounts of money, both the business man and the poker player were married, the cowgirl was divorced. No drugs or alcohol were involved. Heather had seen the first two crime scenes weeks later and had found nothing, this time she was determined to see what she could find while it was fresh. She tucked her shoulder length red hair under her helmet and rode her motorcycle out of town towards the latest body dump site. It wasn't hard to find, the place was still swarming with crime scene investigators and cops. She rode past a few miles and went off road. Turning off her headlights and using her natural night vision she circled the scene several miles out. Heather hid her bike, helmet and shoes behind a large patch of cactus and extending her claws ran out into the night working her way close to and above the cops guarding the perimeter. Cops were predictable, they were watching for someone coming from the road not from the deep desert. She was able to circle close enough to listen to the normal bullshit discussions of the bored patrolmen. That was when she discovered the blood trail and the scent of both the victim and the killers. The trail lead back into the desert with the victims trail overlaid with the scent of his pursuers. Heather slipped into the dark and followed the trails out into the night. She found that even with her enhanced senses the trail was not an easy one to follow, especially as the hunters were playing a form of cat and mouse with their prey. They would let him run for awhile then tag him, doing no major damage but causing injuries at each attack. They were also using the tags to herd their quarry to the exact location beside the highway where they killed him. It took her most of the night to follow the trail back to the point where they had released their victim and started him on his fifteen mile run to his death. Here she could see the slashed ropes where they had freed him and the first drops of blood shed when they started him running. Heather backed away from the scene and making sure she left no trace of herself, returned to her motorcycle. She arrived back at her high rise apartment just as dawn was beginning to lighten the eastern sky behind the mountains. The next evening she was out early walking the strip, talking to her contacts and using her enhanced senses to catch any trace of the distinctive scent of the two killers. Heather didn't expect to find them by walking around sniffing for trace; she just knew that weirder coincidences had happened. If the pattern the killers had established held up the wouldn't even grab their next victim until the end of next week, then they would hold the person somewhere until the next dark of the moon when they would take them out into the desert for their fun and games. Heather knew an average of twenty people a week went missing in the Las Vegas city area alone. Most were people that wanted to disappear, wives or husbands leaving their spouse for one reason or another or kids running away from home. Some were just thoughtless people that forgot to tell someone that they decided to do this or that instead of what they were expected to do and these showed up eventually. Actual kidnapping was rare despite the over used clique seen nightly on the idiot box. Just after midnight Heather dropped by Krave, her favorite night club for two reasons. One it was the hottest club on the strip and two it was always filled with young people looking for a good time. It didn't take her long to separate one from the herd and invite her home. The beautiful brunette was smoking hot, voluptuous, and ready to fuck. The two women were wrapped around each other before the apartment door closed, fingers searching buttons and zippers and clasps, eager to unwrap and explore the soft skin and rapid heat of their bodies. Nipples became erect, moist heat steamed from soft folds as tongues and fingers probed and teased. They crashed through the bedroom door and onto the bed already thrusting, pressing, and stimulating one another. Kisses started at the neckline and with agonizing slowness descended to the hollow of the throat and slid down into the valley between the mounds, climbing to the tight nub at the top. Sucking, nipping, and pulling the flesh into hot wet demanding mouths. Pressing soft lips against tight firm stomach muscles, licking past concave little navels to the mounds pressing up in need. Tongues exploring the delicate folds, searching for the elusive button as finger begin to probe the warm cavern below. Thrusting, pressing, separating, exposing, each digit, and member doing its best to bring on the explosion, the little death. Breathing slowing, bodies cooling, enjoying the silky sensuous feeling as fingers trail across thighs and buttocks and breasts and the heat rises again. Slower this time, taking the time to explore and admire, to test and tease, find the responses and play to the soft muffled cries. Regaining the heights and the need, the urgency and the flash as the flood breaks in wave after perfect wave and the body arches only to return to the earth and the calm after the storm. Staring into each others eyes, the brown set losing focus and the face relaxes becoming younger as the muscles loosen. It all becomes a dream, loose and flowing, liquid and apart from the sensations, the quick sharp pain that becomes just the hot wet draining away of all the cares of the world and dark, so dark, so quiet. Heather tucked her into the big bed, between the silk sheets covered by the down comforter. She watched her sleeping face and the slow rise and fall of her breasts until the light from the window intruded into the room. She wrote a quick note leaving it on the pillow next to the woman. Heather went to her secret room, her sleeping chamber and sealed the door behind her as she prepared to rest, enjoying the feeling that came from both the blood and the sex. She slept. Nearly two weeks went by before she heard of another missing tourist that fit the profile. A woman staying at one of the strip hotel/casinos for a convention went to her room to change for dinner with friends, when she hadn't shown up two hours later the friends went looking for her. Her clothes from the convention were on a chair but no sign of the woman. Her purse and hotel key still in the room, no sign of violence, and no sign of the woman. Heather checked her computer; the dark of the moon was the next Saturday, two days after Christmas. 'Ok,' she thought. 'I have the who, and the when, I just need the where.' There was a lot of desert surrounding Vegas and so far the killers hadn't returned to the same area twice. She pulled up Google Earth, a topographical map and checked out where the bodies had been found the first three times. Since she knew the entire layout of the third victim's route she began there taking notes on terrain and roads. Then she looked at the areas around victims one and two finding several similarities. Heather decided to confirm what she was beginning to suspect was the starting point of the second run for your life scenario. It only took her a couple of hours of searching the rural roads to find the pieces of rope where the game had started for the businessman. Now that she knew what to look for, she searched for places where the game might be played this time. She soon narrowed it down to five possible locations. Heather went out to each to get a feel for the areas wishing there was some way to narrow it down further. At the third possible area she caught the scent, just a whiff, but certainly the scent of one of the killers. She smiled knowing she had them now. The killers had come out to check the area two days before the game started again. This was the going to be the last game. Heather awoke early in the night of the dark moon; she dressed quickly and slipped into the backpack she had prepared ahead of time, by the time it was truly dark she was sitting comfortably in a crevice in the rocks overlooking a large section of the rural back road where she expected the game to begin. She sat in the almost perfect stillness that only the undead can manage, extending her senses until every sound, every scent, every movement of the small desert creatures creeping around in the night became part of her world. The later it got to be the quieter the desert became, by midnight the only things registering on her senses were the night creatures and their struggles for survival. The next two hours passed in quiet anticipation, but by two thirty Heather was beginning to think she had picked the wrong area or maybe they had decided against this area for some unknown reason. Finally she saw a van approaching without lights. She watched as it pulled off the road about a mile away, two people got out of the front of the van, opened the rear doors, and pulled a bundle from the back. She could see the glint of a knife as the bundle was cut open. A woman emerged still bound by ropes, naked except for a pair of tennis shoes. 'Good, now let her get a nice head start so she's away from you two freaks and then you and I will see if we can change the game.' Heather knew she didn't have a chance of saving the woman until she was far enough away from her captures because once Heather joined the game they would kill the woman in an instant before trying to deal with her. She would wait until the chase actually began, then take out the freaks one at a time. What she hadn't counted on was the couple playing with the woman before the chase. Heather could do nothing but watch as the female began kissing and fondling the struggling prisoner from behind as the male kicked apart her legs and groped the woman's privates. They played with her body, twisting her nipples causing their crying victim to scream from pain and humiliation. Heather knew they were getting themselves off on her fear and terror. The male undressed, tossing his clothes into the van, he took the woman from his partner and threw her to the ground. While he began his rape his partner disrobed and locked up the van. She rejoined her mate, kissing and torturing the screaming woman as he was fucking her. Heather quivered with the need to stop the unholy rape going on but she knew that to reveal her self now would just get the woman killed. She would have to stick to her original plan and wait for the actual chase to begin. Heather watched as the female of the pair began to change. Every muscle on the slim body stood out as if the body was strung way too tight. The woman's scream was that of a person in agony as her skin rippled and fur sprouted along her back covering the rest of her body as if it were poured from a single point and washed over her. Heather could hear the crunching sounds as the bones reshaped themselves. The woman's face elongated, becoming a snout and the teeth grew into sharp and distended fangs. The woman being raped hadn't noticed the change until it was almost complete. She screamed at the sight of the werewolf standing over her. She looked into the face of the man raping her and said something that Heather couldn't make out. "Don't do it!" Heather murmured in a whisper as she watched the man grin. He lifted himself up on his arms, staring into the face of the woman he held pinned to the ground. While still fucking her, he began the change. The woman's scream was a combination of horror and fear and pain as his body underwent the metamorphosis while still inside her. He rolled away from her as his change completed and Heather could see the blood and slime on his engorged cock as he stood, throwing back his head, and howling his triumph. The woman rolled away and scrambling on all fours began to crawl, then staggered to her feet and ran. The two werewolves let her escape as they circled and nipped at one another. Heather watched until the two started fucking before quietly making her way down from the rocks. She needed to be ahead of the hunters and between them and their quarry. The vampire quickly found the woman who by now was staggering more than running, blood running down her inner thigh leaving a trail the hunters would have no trouble finding. Heather watched as the woman stopped for a few seconds, then hearing the howling behind her started running again. Heather slipped over to where the woman had paused, as she hoped there was a small pool of blood. She dipped her fingers into the blood; she then went off in a different direction from the woman leaving drops of blood trail as she went. She smeared blood along rocks and cactus then circled back to the woman's trail and using her enhanced senses to find the minute traces the woman had left, eliminated the trail. Now the werewolves would find the trail split and would have to split up. She returned to a place where she could see where the trail split and waited for the hunters. 'Fucking horny bastards.' She had to wait almost a half hour before they came loping through the desert easily following their quarry. She smiled as they circled the spot where the woman has stopped, confused by the two trails leaving the area. They followed one trail for a few seconds then returned and followed the second. Only one wolf came back and hurriedly took off following the first trail again. 'Got ya.' Heather moved to the high point she had spotted above the first trail and waited for the wolf to pass below. The vampire flung herself into the air extending claws and fangs as she dropped onto the large wolf's back. She settled for ripping her claws into his side and neck before flipping herself off him and landing several yards away. The large black furred man-wolf rolled and stood snarling deep in his throat before launching himself at her. Heather ducked under the swinging claws and huge arms of the werewolf slicing through his soft underbelly with her own claws. She rolled to her feet and leaped using her foot claw to smash into the side of his face, knocking him to the ground. He spun before she could land another blow and slammed into her taking her to the ground. Heather flipped onto her feet as the wolf scrambled for his footing; they circled each other for awhile both looking for an advantage. When the wolf threw back his head to howl for his mate, Heather attacked. She dug both sets of finger claws into his shoulders, squeezing as hard as she could and when his head lifted sank her fangs into his throat. His claws tried to rip into her back as he fought to break her hold, but failed to pierce the body armor Heather wore beneath her leather outfit. His struggles grew weaker as the blood loss took its toll and then his dying body changed back into the naked man Heather had watched rape the woman. She snapped his neck as she pushed away from the dead body. The few slashes and cuts on her body were beginning to heal when the female's claws slashed across her face and neck the impact throwing Heather into the rocks and away from the dead body of her mate. The werewolf sniffed at the body for just a moment before letting out an anguished howl. Heather barely had time to brace herself before the werewolf slammed into her, teeth going for her throat. The two fought and rolled across the desert, the female werewolf fighting like a berserker. Teeth and claws slashed and ripped with incredible strength as the female sought revenge for her murdered mate. Heather was losing, no matter what she tried the anguished werewolf was just too fast and too insane with grief for her to get a moments respite. Heather was down, the claws of the werewolf digging into her throat, her head being slammed over and over into the rocks on the ground. Her vision was blurred, her strength fading. The jaws of the creature were dripping saliva into her eyes and it was all she could do to keep the snapping teeth from ripping into her face. Heather felt more than heard the thud of the rock as it buried itself in the skull of the werewolf but she watched as the life and rage faded from its eyes and the body went limp in her hands. She pushed the corpse off to one side, lying back exhausted as she stared at the naked woman with blood dripping off her body. A Night's Tale Ch. 03 "Is it dead?" The woman asked. Heather glanced at the corpse while letting her claws and fangs retract, hopefully the woman hadn't noticed. "Yeah, the rock through the brain pretty much did it in." They both stared as the body returned to its human form. A pretty dark haired woman in her early twenty's with a sharp edged piece of shale sticking into the top of her skull. "They were chasing me and I got turned around somehow. When I saw that thing attacking you I just got mad and wanted to kill it. Oh my God! I killed her." The woman began to shake. Heather slowly got to her feet and took the woman in her arms. 'Not exactly what she planned but at least she was alive.' It took awhile but the bodies were hidden for the moment and Heather helped the woman back to the van where they found her clothes. Heather drove the van to where she had hidden her motorcycle and put it in the back. Dawn was close before they got back to her apartment. Once inside Heather closed the blinds and dressed the woman's wounds. She gave her enough sleeping potion mixed in a strong drink to put her out for several hours and tucked her in bed. Heather retreated to her sleeping chamber just as a wave of exhaustion swept over her and she slept. The woman was still sleeping when she awoke the next evening. Heather sat next to the bed sipping from a glass and wondering what to do with the woman once she woke up. The rape had sealed her fate and Heather debated killing her in her sleep. She was still debating with herself when she noticed the woman was awake and watching her. "Thank you." "I think I am the one who should be thanking you." The vampire smiled. "My names Lynnette, call me Lynn." "Heather" "It's nice to meet you Heather. What are you?" Heather sighed. 'So much for her not noticing.' "I'm a vampire and those things that took you were werewolves." Lynn pulled the covers up tighter. "I was hoping it was a nightmare and I just got really really drunk last night and dreamed the whole thing." "I'm afraid not. They have been hunting and killing tourists for a couple of months; you were going to be their latest victim." Lynn smiled. "But you stopped them. Why?" "You mean because I'm a vampire? Why is one monster stopping another?" Heather gave a tight smile and shrugged. "I don't like cruelty in any form. I need blood to live but I take it from willing donors or sometimes from bad people that I can stop but the cops can't. Werewolves are so far out of the cop's world that they couldn't even imagine dealing with them. So I do." "So you're what? The supernatural sheriff in town." Lynn asked. "Something like that." Heather paused as she decided how to explain. "I didn't choose to become what I am and I decided that since I couldn't undo what was done to me; I could at least keep others from being used the same way." Heather looked at the woman lying in her day bed. "And that's the problem. When you were raped last night, he changed and you were bleeding when he finished." "Oh god, I felt like he was ripping me apart inside." Lynn started to shudder at the memory. "I checked last night. You're not torn up. As a matter of fact you're pretty much healed." Lynn's face had a shocked expression. "I feel....fine. No aches, no pains." She threw back the covers. Her naked body didn't show a single bruise. "That's..." She looked up at Heather. "I was going to say impossible, but it's not good. Is it.?" "You're infected. Next full moon you'll change." She shrugged. Lynn lay back down and pulled the covers tightly around her as Heather got up and went out to the living room. She pulled up the yellow pages on her computer and ordered grocery's delivered. Once her online order was sent she called the local market and paid a bonus for quick delivery. Heather never kept much food in the house as eating solids wasn't high on her list of priority's. Heather was busy compiling a list of references for Lynn when apartment security called to inform her that her delivery was on its way up. She had put them all away and returned to her studies when Lynn stumbled out of the bedroom wearing one of Heathers robes. It was a little small on Heather, on Lynn it gaped in interesting places. "Hungry?" "Starved." "You'll find food in the kitchen." Heather gave her a rueful smile. "I'm afraid I have quite lost the knack of cooking." Lynn grinned. "Right now I could eat a small horse. Raw." Heather laughed and sat smiling as she listened to the sounds of a human being bristling around in the kitchen, cooking. She enjoyed the smells that began to fill the apartment. Walking out into the kitchen she sat at the bar watching Lynn cook. They talked about Lynn's life in California, where she worked, and her hobbies. By the end of the meal Heather knew more about Lynn than anyone she had known in years. It made it that much harder to tell her the things she had to know. Heather poured a couple of glasses of wine. "Come into the living room, we need to talk about your condition." They sat on the couch as Heather explained the little known facts about Lycanthropy. "It is actually an infection like vampirism. Once infected people change, usually the first full moon after infection. No one knows why it's tied to the moon cycle but I do know that the first couple of changes are involuntary. Then it seems as if a person gains control over the change, the more they practice, the better control they get until even the full moon doesn't control the change anymore unless the person refuses to change during the month. "So the more one changes, the more control one has, but not changing causes a loss of control." "Exactly. Once you have it under control you're actually going to find it's not that bad. For one thing you will heal in hours rather than days. Most colds and flu are a thing of the past. You will age much slower than normal humans will. You're going to be faster and stronger. Down side you're going to need a lot more food, it seems to kick up the metabolism. Upside staying thin won't be a problem." Lynn laughed. "You make it sound like a good thing I got caught." "I wouldn't go that far but it's not all doom and gloom either." "Ok, but I'd rather not go around eating my neighbors while I get this under control." Heather looked at her new friend musing on where this could take them. "I believe we could work something out, a place for you to stay until you get your life back under your control. It would mean pretty much giving up your old life. Then there's the little matter of explaining where you have been for the last week." "I guess I can't just show up and say I was kidnapped by werewolves and rescued by a vampire and oh, by the way, I'm going to change into a werewolf myself next month." "No, that really wouldn't work very well." Lynn sat sipping her wine and considering her options. "It isn't like I have a lot of other options." They spent the rest of the night discussing the way things would change for both the vampire and the soon to be werewolf. A week later the two women were sitting in the living room looking through the newspaper coverage of the "missing" tourist who had been discovered alive and drunk on the beach in Cabo San Lucis. According to the newspaper report the woman had met a group of high rollers and had gone with them in their private plane to Mexico, spending most of the "missing" week in a drunken state of constant partying. Her friends and associates were glad she was found alive, pissed that she hadn't contacted anyone and her boss had fired her on the spot. Lynn had closed her apartment in California and moved in with Heather. All in all the women agreed it was a clean break with Lynn's past, leaving everyone satisfied and all the questions by both the police and her friends and family settled. Heather had cleaned out the van and sent it to a chop shop where it would become pieces and parts never to be seen again. She had discovered the identity's of the two werewolves and had cleaned out their warehouse/living quarters of all the evidence of their crimes. Their missing status wouldn't raise a ripple with the police and they didn't seem to have any friends that would miss them. They had been in Vegas only a few months and seemed to make their living from ripping off their victims. Heather spent the rest of the time before the three days of the full moon getting prepared. Lynn normally a fairly mellow person began to get moody and restless, she pace around the apartment, start a million projects only to abandon them and go back to pacing. The last night before the full moon she spent sitting at the window watching the moon rise and traverse the sky. They had discussed what was going to happen to Lynn yet she seemed surprised when Heather announced that it was time to take a ride. Heather drove them to a warehouse in North Las Vegas where she unlocked the gate and drove the car into the center building in a complex of faceless buildings. Inside she closed the rolling door and led Lynn to a concrete storage room, complete with vault door. "I rented this place a few days ago. I spent the last few days getting it ready for tomorrow night." Heather opened the vault. "This was a casino chip making factory. The vault is huge and I lined the wall and floor with the type of padding used in mental institutions'. It should keep you from hurting yourself." "Or anyone else." Lynn replied wistfully. "Thanks for all the effort, I guess." Lynn looked over the vault. "I'm scared." Heather hugged her friend. "I'll be right here with you." Just before dawn they checked to insure everything was locked and alarmed. Heather sealed Lynn into the vault with food, water and a few books and magazines. She went to what had been the old counting room, which like the vault was a windowless concrete room with a vault door and sealed herself inside. Dusk came early in the winter and Heather was awake by four thirty. She checked the security cameras, pleased to see that no one had come around during the short winter day. Next she checked on Lynn via the camera mounted in the vault ceiling. Lynn was pacing around the room, one of the magazines shredded and tossed in bits and pieces everywhere. Heather triggered the microphone and speakers. "Lynn, How ya doing?" "Fine after being locked in this hell hole all damn day. I want out." The look in Lynn's face as she spotted the camera was one of pure rage. "I have a few things to take care of, then I'll be down." Lynn screamed and began yelling threats. Heather turned off the microphone and settled in for a long night. Lynn paced and screamed, she threw her books and magazines at the camera, she kicked the walls and tore at her hair. She gave every appearance of a mad woman locked in an asylum for the insane. The moon rose at 5:45 pm and Heather watched as her friend went through the agonies of the damned. Lynn's body twisted and convulsed, she curled up in a fetal position, then seconds later was stalking around the room beating on the walls trying to escape. Even with the microphones off, Heather could hear the screams from inside the vault. Lynn stopped in the center of the room and it was as if her very skin rippled in a wave from foot to skull, then erupted in fur. Her hands lengthened. Her feet widened and grew claws. Her skull and face blurred as they changed shape. The woman-wolf threw back her head and howled. Heather turned the equipment back on and began to talk, calming, quiet, reassuring sounds that would mean nothing to the maddened wolf creature that began to tear and rip at the padding in the room, but Heather talked to her anyway throughout the long night. The moon set at 7:25 am, two hours after sunrise and it was all Heather could do to open the vault cover her exhausted friend with a blanket and leave her provisions for the day. She locked the vault and returned to her cot almost asleep before she finished lying down. Heather awoke at sunset knowing she had a little over two hours before the moon rise would start the process once more. She opened the vault; Lynn was sitting in a corner, the remains of her clothes hanging off her. Heather noted that she had finished the food she brought this morning as she carried in the basket of meats, cheeses, and protein bars. Lynn looked up at her with a face covered in tears. "It's only that bad the first time. Tonight will be easier." Lynn gave out a sound between a laugh and a snort. "I don't know if I can do that again." Heather looked down at her and unwrapped a chocolate covered bar. Lynn's nose quivered and she reached for the food, stuffing the whole thing in her mouth. "Easy girl, theirs plenty more here." "Thank God I'm starving." Heather watched as she ate enough for two normal people before she even slowed down. "Oh man, I needed that." Lynn scooped up the few remaining crumbs then stood and stretched. Heather noticed that Lynn who was slightly heavy for her height had slimmed down considerably. "How are you feeling?" she asked. Lynn paused before she answered. "Actually pretty damned good." "Side effect of the change. When you change back it seems to heal any damage your body has experienced." "Too bad we can't bottle the effect, we could make millions." "Yeah but the side effects are killer!" The two women cracked up. They cleaned up the vault and Heather locked Lynn back in. She went back to the counting room and activated the system. They talked until the moon began to rise at seven. Heather watched as Lynn began to slowly stretch and change. The entire metamorphosis took a third of the time as the first change. The werewolf was calmer and seemed to listen to Heathers voice as it prowled around the vault. Heather began to talk to her about changing back, trying to get the wolf to understand. The wolf settled down about five am and thirty minutes later resumed human form. The change back seemed effortless. Heather hurried down and unlocked the vault. Lynn was on her knees, her small breasts dangling, her hair covering her face. "Lynn?" "Mostly, I think." She shook her head back and stood up. "I hope you brought food." Heather laughed. "You may be the most expensive pet I ever had." She produced another picnic basket. Lynn grinned as she open the goodie box. "Woof" The next night was a repeat of the last with Heather trying to coax the wolf to change and the wolf ignoring her. Lynn did change back early enough that they were able to make it back to the apartment before dawn. "So how long before I can begin to control the changes?" "I'm not an expert, but we can work on letting you make the change between now and the next full moon. Once you can trigger the change, we will work on your control. Heather shrugged. "The only thing is we have to work on it at the vault in case you do make the change but without any control. We don't want you wandering around eating folks." "Yeah that's one I'd like to forgo if you don't mind." The women worked at getting Lynn to change voluntarily for the next month, three nights a week at the vault; however the next full moon was approaching without any success. Once again Lynn was locked in the vault and Heather monitored from the counting room. The next three nights were a repeat of the last night of the full moon; Lynn changed effortlessly under the influence of the moon and changed back early but was unable to trigger a change by herself. Life settled into a routine, Lynn would go to bed in the early am and get up late in the morning giving her the afternoon by herself. Heather would awaken at dusk and the women would spend the evenings together. Once Lynn went to bed Heather would go out to see to her needs. Three nights a week they would go to the vault to try to trigger the change. The rest of the week Heather showed Lynn around her favorite parts of sin city. Three days before the third full moon Heather was once again in her control room when Lynn was suddenly in the midst of a change. Heather watched as the woman's body partially changed before returning to her woman's form. That night the two celebrated with a bottle of vintage wine Heather had been saving. "I could feel the change starting." Lynn stated. "It surprised me because it was so effortless. I just thought 'I want to be the wolf' and it began happening. "It should start to come easier now." Heather was grinning from ear to ear. "The next thing we need to do is get you to do a partial transformation so the woman is more in charge than the wolf." "Geese coach! I just hit the ball and you want me to start trying for home runs?" Heather laughed. "No, What I want is for you to be the lady in control not the wolf at the door." The second night of the full moon Heather had looked away from the monitor after Lynn had assumed wolf form when she heard a knocking sound from the speakers. She looked at the monitor and let out a rebel yell of triumph. Standing in front of the camera and waving one furry paw was a half wolf/half woman. Lynn had control of her beast at last. Forever can be a long time to live alone. A Night's Tale Ch. 04 Chapter 04: The Common Factor Heather stood in the center of the dark living room in a quiet house in the middle of the night just listening to the quiet sounds a home makes when its owners are away. The ticking of clocks here and there throughout the house, the quiet whisper of the air conditioning unit and the rattle of things disturbed by the flow of air. Small fan noises from the computers in the spare room turned into a part time office. The quiet hum from the compressor under the fridge in the kitchen. All the million and one sounds a lived in house makes that fade into the background of peoples lives. The house felt lived in and loved, it was tidy but not obsessively so, clean but with areas of chaos. The couple of dishes in the sink, mail gone through but not sorted and put away on the coffee table. The open book laid on the bedside tale under the small lamp waiting for its owner to finish it and replace it in the shelf above the headboard. People lived here, laughed here, loved here. They ate and shared meals and spent quiet time together in front of the TV or computer or alongside each other in bed while reading or making love or sleeping. So why did the house feel so empty? There were no signs of violence, nothing broken, no blood. Two cars in the garage, doors and windows locked, alarm set. Yet there was nobody home. Heather caught a brief flash of movement from the backyard. Just a hint of an animal slipping through the bushes, seconds later the sliding glass door opened and a creature, half human half animal slipped into the room. It spoke in a sort of half growl half spoken language, "Nothing, no trail at all in the past two days anywhere around the outside." "Thanks for checking. Get changed. Your bags over by the front door." The figure slipped past Heather becoming more human as it moved past her, by the time it reached the door a naked human female stood shivering in the night air. "Why does changing back always leave me cold, while changing into the wolf feels like I'm on fire?" "I have no clue; I'm a vampire not a veterinarian." Heather watched as the pretty brown haired woman pulled on a black tee shirt over her small breasts and tugged a set of black jeans over her slim hips. Heather smiled remembering several months ago before the first change how Lynn complained of the weight she had put on, not a problem anymore. Werewolf metabolism was so high, that the trick was to eat enough calories each day to keep her from looking like one of those anorexic models that partied at the casinos. Lynn was devouring a protein bar even as she pulled on her boots and jacket. "We done here?" she asked as she zipped up her clothes bag. "I guess we are. I can't think of anything we missed. They are just gone, like the other five families. Poof!" The two women slipped out the back door, Heather reset the alarm, and they eased over the back wall and walked down the sandy dirt road to their van. Once on the road Heather began to go over the case out load. "Five families, now six, disappear, no signs of violence, no more than the usual money problems, no indication of domestic problems. No notice to family or friends or co workers or employers. Just gone. Cars, money, clothes, everything left behind. No indication of where they went, nobody hears from them. Nothing." Lynn's face flashed in and out of the street lights as she reclined in her seat. "That about sums it up. Cops got nothing. Nothing related about the families. Different jobs, different schools for the kids, different areas of the city. Different religions, backgrounds, ages, lifestyles." Heather sighed. "That's why the cops have nothing. Six different areas, different jurisdictions, and nothing to connect the disappearances. With no violence and no one making a lot of noise, it just vanishes into the background of daily calls." "So how did it end up on our radar?" Lynn sat up in her seat and studied her friend as they drove home. "A friend of mine is best friends with the third family that went missing. Someone she knows mentioned that another family had also just gone missing." Heather glanced at Lynn. "She went to the cops, who were less than interested, and then she started checking news reports and found other families gone. She came to me because I helped her out with another problem last year and here we are." "Yeah but where are we? So far we got nothing." "We need to find the common factor, a link between these families. Then we can turn it over to the police through a detective I know and let them handle it." Heather pulled into the underground parking at their condo. Moments later they walked into the penthouse condo they shared. Lynn had stopped to get the mail, sorting it as she walked into the living room. Heather saw her grin as she tossed Heather a letter. "What's so funny?" Lynn laughed out loud. "Sorry, I just get a chuckle every time I see a letter addressed to you. I mean, how perfect is it to have a vampire named Cross?" Heather returned the laugh, thinking how lucky she was to have Lynn in her life. A vampire lives such a long time that unless one was very careful to stay involved with the society they were living in, it was easy to become an anachronism. Lost in the styles and expressions of the past and sinking further and further away from the now. Lynn not only provided a fresh and up to date look at the world, but she saw it from young and fresh eyes and was able to give that perspective to Heather. Heather tucked the letter away on her desk to read later. She turned on her vamp speed and slipped in behind Lynn, sliding her hands under the werewolf's tee shirt and cupping her breasts. Her thumbs found Lynn's nipples and began rubbing the small tips until they stood up high and proud. Lynn leaned back against the taller woman, pressing her ass against Heathers crotch. She raised her arms over Heathers head and locked her hands behind her neck. Heather cupped Lynn's breasts, squeezing and pulling them. She licked the side of the woman's neck just behind her ear and nipped her earlobe playfully. A low growl started deep in Lynn's chest and she turned her head for a kiss. The two women turned until they faced each other still locked in a deep kiss. Heather pulled the woman's tee shirt up and off as Lynn undid and pushed the vampire's jeans down to the floor. They sank together into the deep pile rug on the floor. Neither woman was strictly gay or heterosexual, they both enjoyed sex as a full body contact sport. Lynn found that while she enjoyed rough sex before she became a werewolf, now she had a body that could take whatever punishment her partner could dish out and cum back for more. The ability of Heather to heal almost instantly meant she didn't have to hold back either. It gave a whole new dimension to the term rough sex although it was rather hard on the furniture. In the months since they had been exploring how hard and how rough they could play they had destroyed two coffee tables, one overstuffed chair, and the headboard on Heather's bed. Not that they always played rough, sometimes it was the gentle caresses and the touching, stroking and holding they kept them intertwined either on the bed or curled up on the floor with a comforter. Tonight it was the comfort of being together as they wrapped around each other kissing and hugging. The missing families affected them more than either woman would care to admit. The feel of another naked body held against one's own was an indulgence they both needed. Lynn's fingers searched out the fold of her friend's pussy splitting the delicate skin and reaching for the pink bud within. Heathers pussy was already becoming wet and slick as her questing fingers spread the moisture around the rapidly hardening clit. Lynn used two fingers to expose the inner most sensitive skin at the top of her bud and her tongue licked and teased the top of her clit until Heathers body arched under her manipulations. Lynn rode the thrusting pelvis, never stopping her assault on the clit until Heather cried out and flooded the valley of her vee with juices as she came. Heather grabbed Lynn and using her vampire strength tore open her jeans splitting them between Lynn's ass cheeks and around to the buttons in the front which popped and scattered throughout the room. Lynn's delicate panties didn't stand a chance and the tattered remains were left floating across the room as Heather pushed two fingers into the warm wet tunnel of Lynn's exposed cunt. She pumped her fingers into the women arching her fingers to press against the sensitive g spot and using her other arm to lift Lynn's back and ass to position her in the most open and vulnerable way. Heather added another finger as her lovers tunnel open under her manipulations and just as she started to quiver into orgasm, popped her thumb into the tight ring of her asshole. Lynn's came screaming and twisting in heather sure grip until they both sank down on the floor spent and loose. They cuddled there on the floor kissing and stroking each other. Lynn slept in late the next afternoon. She had only been up a few hours when the sun set and Heather awoke. Lynn set at the computer arraigning the files she had been researching as Heather slept. Heather always went for the kitchen first, taking a bag of blood from the special fridge in the cupboard and dropping it in the warming pan of body temperature water that sat on the counter. Three minutes to bring the blood up to body temperature then poured into a thermal mug that would keep it warm as Heather enjoyed her breakfast. "My, you have been a busy little wolf." Heather looked at the stacks of paper arraigned on the desk. "I've been looking for the common link and I may have found two." "Two?" Heather was suddenly intensely interested in looking at the stacks. "It's not in there." Lynn pointed at the papers. "That's just the crap I waded through to find out there was nothing there. However, what I did find is interesting." She turned the computer screen towards Heather. "All the family homes are bordered either in back or on the side by large areas of open space." She flashed through a series of captured images from the Google Earth program showing aerial images of each of the six homes." "Ok, that's a common factor alright, but it's also a common factor to thirty five percent of homes in the outlying areas." "Yeah. I kinda discounted that one myself, although it might account for the way the families disappeared." Heather shrugged. "The other weird thing I found is that each of the six families had a girl child seventeen years old." "Again statistically weird but not uncommon enough to be helpful." "That's what I thought until I looked up the girls on My space and facebook and other kid sites. All the girls had dark brown hair worn long, were tall and thin, and in every case looked nothing like the rest of their families." Lynn began to flash through pictures of each of the missing teens. Heather's face showed the shock she was feeling as each girls image showed flashed across the screen. "Show me the families." The urgency in Heathers voice startled Lynn. She brought the image files up for each family that she had found. Heather dropped into a chair. "We may not be able to help these people." Lynn looked around the computer screen. "What? Why?" "The girls are changelings or foundlings as they were once called." Lynn was confused. "You mean adopted? All of them?" "Not adopted, switched at birth. They are the children of elves!" Lynn was stupefied. "You're kidding right? Elves. Like in Santa's elves? Little people that make toys?" Heather smiled amused at the disbelief on her friend face and in her voice. "More like the Lord of the Rings. Elves were a nomadic people of the forests of what is now Germany and most of Europe. They were fierce warriors that were used by many rulers to fight in their armies." "They sort of went underground during the dark ages, partially due to their diminishing numbers and partially because the Church thought they were Satan's minions." Heather paused, thinking back over history. "It is said they are often mistaken for gypsies and use that to hide from humans. Originally they were mistaken for minor gods or deities." Lynn leaned back in her chair. "You're serious. Elf's exist?" "Says the werewolf to the vampire?" Lynn sat shaking her head. "Wow, reality check. What other creatures of myth and legend exist?" "Quite a few less than there used to be, the modern world has killed off or caused to go underground most of the beings of old. In fact I haven't heard of an actual elf tribe in well over a hundred years." Lynn stared at her friend. "I keep forgetting how old you are." Heather smiled. "And I keep forgetting that in the modern world most people don't realize I exist." "I understand that one. I'm a werewolf living with a vampire and half the time I don't believe in either of us." Lynn turned back to the computer. "Ok, elves. So what do we know about elves and changelings?" "Actually not much. Changelings are supposedly swapped at birth with human children so that the child is raised by humans, although why an elf would want his or her child raised that way is something I don't comprehend." Lynn was looking at each child and their families. "I agree there isn't much in the way of family resemblance, but why assume elf?" Heather pointed to the pictures. "Individually not much besides the obvious difference in looks between the families and the missing girls, but if you look at all the girls together..." Lynn nodded. "I see what you mean. Together all six girls could be mistaken for one family." "Call Jeffery. We need a good facial recognition program. If we can run the six through the program and match them to local school photos or My space we might be able to find others before they disappear." Lynn nodded as she opened her cell phone. "Jeffery is gonna love this. We just paid his rent for the month." It took three days and required a complete upgrade of both Heathers computers and the server she had in a back room but with an obscene amount of money many things were possible. When Jeffery a young rather overweight computer geek was done Heather and Lynn each had their own networked work stations and the most up to date system on the market. Jeffery included many different graphic programs and the latest commercial grade facial recognition program available. He also provided hacks into many local and state data bases. Heather and Lynn spent the next couple of days feeding the program with the faces of the missing girls and comparing them to school and internet social networking programs. The first run through brought back over fifteen thousand hits. Heather and Lynn just laughed. "I think we need to refine our parameters a bit." Heather looked at all the faces on the integrated big screen. "Yeah." Thirty seven searches later they had refined the program down to a base of just twelve names and faces. Looking up their addresses on the mapping program eliminated eight of the twelve. Talking it over the women decided they had eliminated as much as they could by computer, the rest would have to be done in the field. Taking two names each they split up and headed to the homes of the fey looking girls to try and discover if any of the names might be one of the families in danger. Lynn prowled in wolf form, the big open area behind the row of houses that her first family lived in. She wasn't too worried about being seen, as a wolf she wasn't much larger than a dog, and in the dark of the night she was almost invisible. There were plenty of scents in the desert area both animal and human none however was unusual or seemed to be concentrated near the house Lynn was investigating. Drawing closer to the house Lynn picked up the scent of dogs. She stopped for a second judging the wind direction, she realized that while she could smell the dogs in the yard they would be unable to catch her scent. She padded closer until she could look into the yard. Sleeping by the back door of the house were two big bull mastiffs. Lynn slipped away into the night. No one was going to "disappear" a family with those two guardians. Heather slipped over the fence and leaped to the roof of the attached garage. Most people were religious about ground floor security but seldom gave a thought about the second floor especially windows that they couldn't normally reach without a ladder. Heathers night vision had spotted a cracked window on an upstairs bathroom and her vampiric skills made for easy access. She slid through the house a dark shadow in the night, moving from room to room observing the house and its inhabitants. She found the girl in the rear second floor back bedroom. Quietly asleep she looked younger and more elfin than she had in her photos. Heather wandered her room just getting a feel for the girl, her life, and her passions. She could see that the girl was into the outdoors, hiking boots and pictures of the girl climbing hiking trails and wandering through forests abounded the room. She was artistic in the old fashioned sense, paintings and wood carvings were scattered throughout the room. She was also a thoroughly modern girl with a computer and a laptop. Heather slipped out the same way she came in and headed for her last address. Lynn's last address was empty; a big foreclosure sign out front explained the missing family. No foul play just a bad economy. Lynn headed back home. Heathers last address was also a bust for a quite different reason. The girl had gone off to collage, so that family was safe if their reasoning was correct. No girl, no reason to attack the family. Heather returned home. Back at the apartment they discussed when the next attack might take place. Looking over the six known disappearances gave them no time table that they were able to discern until they checked the missing girls birthdays. All the families had vanished within a one month time span before the girls eighteenth birthdays. Checking on their one remaining possibility they discovered the girls birthday was less than three weeks away. "So we stake out the house and in less then 20 days we will know who or what is stealing these families." Heather was studying the information that Lynn had on the family. Mara Anis Morrison, soon to be eighteen not only didn't look like the rest of the Morrison clan, even her name was unusual. The rest of the family on both the mother and fathers sides had common everyday names. Ann, Frank, William, Janet not an unusual name or spelling on either side as far back as the genealogy program could trace, and most were Nordic blonds, yet here was an auburn haired esthetically thin girl with a name straight out of old Elvin legends. Mara meaning priestess and Anis meaning dawn, i.e. Priestess of the Dawn. Heather was still pondering the hows and whys of an elf changeling several nights later as she took her turn on watch. Stakeout was probably the single most boring thing she could think of to be doing. Lynn had changed form and was probably off chasing a rabbit for dinner while Heather sat in the normally comfortable captain's chair in her van shifting from side to side as antsy as if she were stalking prey. The house as usual went dark between 10:30 and twelve and the Morrison's were all asleep in there beds. Now closing on three am there wasn't even a breeze to provide movement in the almost leafless pre spring branches of the tiny immature trees around the newly constructed single family residence. Heather got out of the van to stretch and move around, for a vampire known for their death like stillness to be so restless wasn't a good sign. That got Heathers attention; something was making her restless, something she had seen or felt and not recognized was bothering her subconscious. A Night's Tale Ch. 04 Heather let out a whistle and moments later the dark from of a wolf appeared. There were still tiny flecks of blood around her jaws and a small tuff of rabbit fur was clinging to her own dark fur but she looked at Heather waiting for instructions. "Maybe it's just me but I feel like something is wrong. Have you heard or smelt anything? Heather studied the wolf, sitting on its back haunches, tongue dangling from its mouth. In this form Lynn was able to communicate much but she could still hear and understand everything Heather said. "Nuthin yet, huh? Ok I'm going in to check on the family. Prowl around and see if you can pick up a scent? The wolf took off at an easy lope, nose high as she sniffed the air. Heather moved with her usual unnatural vampire speed over the wall and into the shadows by the house. Just as she was about to climb up to the second floor bathroom window that was usually left open, she heard Lynn howl from inside the house. Heather reached the back door and twisted the handle out of the door. She straight armed the door knocking it back against the inner wall and was inside before it rebounded into its frame. Heather raced through the house noticing the front door wide open but not seeing anything else out of place when a second howl came from above. The vampire wheeled and took the stairs in a single leap. There she found Lynn changing to the half wolf half woman form she used to communicate when her wolf form couldn't convey enough information. "Therrre gonnn, Allll offff themmmm. The whole family." The words came out half human half growl. Heather quickly checked into each room. Empty. That's when she heard the sirens in the distance. "Damn it, we must have tripped an alarm or the neighbors woke up. Change back and get out. I'll meet you at the van." Lynn was already scrambling for the stairs changing as she ran, by the bottom of the staircase it was a wolf that slipped out the gaping front door. Heather dropped over the railing landing she ran for the back door and was up and over the wall in a blur of shadows. Lynn was just coming around the end of the street as Heather eased the van across the dirt lot and back on the road. She opened the rear cargo door and the wolf leap inside. Heather eased over to the side of the road as two police cruisers blasted past, then continued on down the street. They had failed. Even with all their supernatural abilities somehow an entire family had vanished right under their noses. Heather swore she would find out what had happened, no matter how long it took. Forever is a long time for revenge. * Elvin names created by the Elvin name generator created by Grey Starr and Dimitria Night-Starr. Mara = priest or priestess Anis=dawn A Night's Tale Ch. 05 My Dear Readers, Disclaimer: What I write is fiction/fantasy/fairy tales for adults. None of my characters are real, no one was injured during the production of my stories and just like on T.V., they all get up when the scene is over, have a beer, remove the makeup and go home, ready to return in the next chapter, all the boo boos healed. Some spelling and grammatical errors are mine however some are intentional. Which is witch I leave as an exercise for those anal enough to care. Votes and comments are as always gratefully received. E-mail will get personnel response if you remember to leave me a return e-mail address. Enjoy. Dom Woolf A Night's Tale Chapter 05: Revenge takes time Lynn listened to the cussing and banging, the grumps and slamming of doors for three hours before she had just plain had enough. She went out in the living room of the shared apartment and looked at the total shambles in amazement. Papers and file folders or the remains of what were her neat and once orderly files and folders now lay strewn across the remains of the pretty coffee table and most of the living room floor. The coffee table was mostly a much shattered piece of firewood. One of the overstuffed chairs was going to need to be restuffed and there were several new holes in doors and walls that had not been in evidence when she went to bed some hours earlier. "Either someone had some very rough sex or there is a pissed off vampire bouncing off the walls." Heather lifted her head from her knees; she had been sitting on the floor in a corner of the ruined living room arms wrapped around her legs. "I am both pissed and frustrated." "There is some good news." Lynn gave a sardonic smile. The disappearances seem to have stopped. I mean there hasn't been another family gone missing in the entire south west in the last three months. "Not since the family we were protecting was taken right out from under our noses." Heather groused. "Ahh yeah, since then." Lynn shrugged. "We have done everything we can do. None of the families have turned up alive or dead. The cops don't have a clue. We haven't found any more matches for the girls and you haven't been able to make contact with the elves. I still feel weird saying that. "That's another thing that is frustrating me." Heather stood up and began collecting the shredded pieces of the living room. Lynn went out to the kitchen for a broom and dustpan and several large trash bags. "Well according to what you told me earlier. You haven't seen an elf tribe in a long time, over a hundred years I think you said." "It's been at least that long. But I put out the word to some others I know and the last time anyone has seen an elf tribe was just prior to world war two." "So that's what? Sixty five years or so. Maybe they went the way of the dodo. Extinct." Lynn stopped and thought still holding the broom and dustpan and the garbage bags. Heather walked over and dumped the load of trash she had been holding at Lynn's feet. Lynn seemed not to notice; then as if she was coming back from a long ways away, "What if that's why the changelings were being raised by humans?" "To protect them?" "Maybe if the tribes were almost gone, it was the only way to insure their safety." Heather stopped. "The question is from what? From who? And why take the entire family, why not just the girls?" Lynn shook her head. "I don't know. I am trying to imagine what would have caused them to place their children with humans and another thing why just the girl children?" Heather looked over at the computers, virtually the only things in the room not trashed. "Do we know it's just the girls?" Lynn nodded as she dropped the cleaning supplies and headed for the computers. "We ran the same program adjusted for males. Not only did we not get any hits we didn't find a single match. No fey looking boys in a family of wasps or he men. I even ran through the adoption files for the entire southwest." "Just girls. Why?" Three nights later after constant badgering from Lynn, they put aside their seemingly unsolvable riddle and went clubbing. Lynn found her capacity for drink had gone way up as well as her need for food. Oh she could get drunk for about twenty minutes. Her metabolism was so high it burned off the alcohol in very little time. She and Heather spent a week or so a few months back going around to some of the rougher bars and getting into drinking contests with themselves as the prize. They made a ton of money and got into a couple of free for all knock down drag out fights. They had a ball. Lynn noted that even though Heather started out not really enjoying the nightclubs by one o'clock she was flushed, of course that might have had something to do with the really cute stud she had stepped outside with (for a smoke) and the fact that he didn't return when she did. Heather was not above getting a little blood donation from guys that wanted to do the whole grope and kiss thing in some dark corner. She never hurt them just took a little nibble, which Lynn knew could be orgasmic and which left her dates happy but exhausted. Lynn headed for the booth the girls had been camped in when the smell hit her senses and set off every alarm she had. She froze in place and drew in a deep breath. Her nostrils flaring as if she was sniffing coke, the woman followed the scent like a bloodhound. Seconds later she ran through the crowd, slipping through holes between people that were barely there. "Heather, your not gonna believe what I just found! Our missing girl is here, in this club, right this minute." Heather just stared up at her friend, her mouth hanging open as if she was watching a person who suddenly sprouted two heads. "Mara Anis is in this club? How? Where?" "I haven't seen her but I swear it's her scent and it's coming from that private V.I.P. area in the back." Heather was always careful not to do vamp moves in public, but suddenly she was beside Lynn dragging her through the crowd towards the designated privacy booths. Two large hulks stood in front of the entrance and both reached for Heather as she attempted to walk past. Heather moved just fast enough to slip their clutches and pushed through the curtain they guarded. Both turned to make a second attempt and Lynn caught them behind their knees, dropping them both in a pile on the floor as she went past. The curtain opened up on an opulent appointed room with cushions and comfy chairs scattered everywhere. Seated at the center of the room on a sofa only large enough for three was a dark suited man with the most elegant hairdo Lynn had ever seen on a male. Dark almost blue black hair framed a smooth and aristocratic face and piercing brown eyes, eyes that tracked the two women as they walked in and dismissed them in the same glance. Seated on each side of the dark man were two almost identical girls wearing complimentary outfits that showed a lot of their nearly naked bodies off in a way that was both sexy and a little obscene. Neither girl so much as looked up as Heather came to a stop directly in front of the threesome. Other bodyguards were closing in and Lynn ignored the confrontation turning to deal with the hired help. The man on the sofa clapped his hands once and waved off the tide of muscle beginning to surround the area. He looked almost bored as he glanced at Heather standing before him. "What may I do to help the guardian of Las Vegas?" The question surprised both Heather, who hated that moniker and Lynn who had never heard Heathers role defined in such a way. It also made Lynn take a much closer look at the man seated in the center of the room as if he had done something truly remarkable. "First you can explain how you know me, second you can tell me who the hell you are and finally you can tell me about these underage females you have enthralled." The man smiled but the smile never reached his eyes. "You are Heather Cross, so that must be your pet. I am Alexandru, Alexandru cel Bun and these are my pets. Come, sit. I am being a poor host. Sit and have a drink." He waved to an empty couch across from his. Heather flounced down on the couch, but Lynn stayed standing; prowling the area behind the couch watching everything. "I happen to know these girls are not legal age to be drinking. I also know they and their families are reported as missing, so I'll ask again, how and why are these girls here and where are their families?" "I believe each of my pets has a legal document showing them to be over the legal age." Again the smile on his face didn't reach the hard pitiless eyes that constantly watched Heather and Lynn. "As you can see them, it is obvious that they are not missing. Unfortunately their families got involved in a blood feud, a very old one. In any war between two powerful factions there are always unintended casualties. I am afraid the families were just a few of many that died for being on the losing side." Heather sat stunned. Eight families, mothers, brothers, sisters, and fathers dead. "Why?" Lynn froze when she heard Alexandru's statement but her claws began to form. "CONTROL your pet." Alexandru hissed. Heather glanced back and shook her head. Lynn growled but changed her claws back into fingers which she closed into white knuckled fists. He smiled at the women. "Why not tell the tale? Though you will be hearing only the winning side I am afraid. There is no one left to tell the tale from the other point of view." He relaxed back on his couch and the girls curled up under his arms, giving every sign they were his completely. His hands began to fondle the young women's breast's freeing them from the loose tops they wore and twisting their nipples; emphasizing the fact that they belonged to him. They girls just murmured noises of complete satisfaction. "I am Alexandru cel Bun. A noble of the land of Moldavia born in the late 1300's I ascended to the throne during a period of time when our country was beset on all sides by enemies. Finally in the Lithuanian Civil War of 1431–1435, we were losing and my people were being slaughtered. My son Vlad Dracul of Wallachia came to me with a plan. I would be changed and receive the power to help my people. I died on January 1 of 1432 and rose three days later to begin vanquishing my enemies. I fought for my country for the next two hundred years." "I was aided in this struggle by two tribes of elves, fierce and loyal warriors who both aided me and protected me during the daylight hours. But in 1657 one of the tribes was turned by the church against me. They slaughtered my loyal guards, raped and burned my wives and destroyed everyone I cared for." "I escaped with the help of several of my remaining friends and have spent every day since, hunting down and killing every member of that traitorous tribe." He smiled and for the first time since Heather had seen him the smile was real. "These two young ladies are the last of them. The last anywhere in the world. Their tribe tried to hide them among humans, knowing I was close to wiping them out, but I was able to extract the locations of the last eight from one of their warriors before I drank him dry." He snapped his fingers. Six vampires, all female, appeared surrounding Heather and Lynn. "These are the other missing females. I turned them and soon I will turn these two as well and that will be the end of the tribe, for not only will they not bear any more children, they will become the very thing that the elves fought to destroy. Vampire." He pointed at Heather and Lynn. "Escort them out of the club." He paused to fondle the two enthralled girls at his side lifting their miniscule skirts and revealing their naked bodies under the skimpy clothes. "This is not your affair Heather Cross and we have no reason to battle." Heather nodded, allowing herself and Lynn to be led from the club the noises of sex following them out of the room. Once outside in the warm night air both women ran for their car. "We are going to follow them and save those girls aren't we?" Lynn looked at Heather. "We are going to follow them but those girls may be beyond saving. Most of them he has turned already and the last two are totally enthralled. Saving them may not be possible. Thralls are tied to their Masters. Separating them usually drives the thrall insane." "What can we do then?" "Find their daytime sleeping place for one. Scout out their defenses and possibly see if there is any chance to save either one." Heather drummed her finger on the steering wheel. "He is old, far older than me, and way more powerful. A vampire like him will have a lot of defenses in place and more than likely a lot of other vamps with him." "I thought you guys were loners more or less?" "Most modern day vampires are. The older vamps come from a time when power and strength meant numbers. The more followers you had the safer you all were and the more powerful you were. Some of the oldest vampires have twenty to a hundred vampires in their little kingdoms. Then they will have another fifty to two hundred thralls both as daytime protectors and as food sources." Heather paused. "Remember these vampires grew up in times when they were the rulers of their own little kingdoms and nobles owned their serfs and peasants. While they were nominally tied to bigger kingdoms and countries, in their own back yards they ruled over life and death from birth to grave." Heather looked at Lynn. "I know it's hard for you, a modern woman, to imagine but for some of the very oldest the modern world hasn't happened. They still rule their areas of the world as if this was the 14th century. They were and still are the only law in their kingdoms." Lynn sat thoughtfully. "Sort of like the way some of the Muslim immigrants still hold with honor killings." "Only a hundred times worse, as far as they are concerned humans are cattle, a food source, and toys for their amusement. Human rights are a joke they just don't get." They waited in uncomfortable silence until almost dawn but never saw the vampire party leave. All the next day Lynn worked her computers to try and narrow down properties that the vampire might have bought or leased or rented or just occupied. She napped that afternoon and went over her results with Heather after sundown. They spent the night checking on the various properties without finding the vamps. The next day Lynn expanded her search and found one mansion way out past the town of Pahrump 45 miles west of Las Vegas. She showed Heather the property when she awoke. It was bought in the 1950's a sprawling 500 acres with high mountains surrounding it on three sides. According to the county records it had several buildings and homes on the property. It also had but one access road and was fenced between the hills at the narrowest portion making the only safe way in a trek across the hills. This was not at all a problem for either the vampire or the werewolf and ten p.m. found them high up in the hills overlooking the compound. "Mr. 14th century warlord may not play by today's rules, but he sure doesn't hesitate to use 21st century gadgets. The compound has Infar-red sensors, motion detectors, guards with modern automatic weapons and trained guard dogs." Heather paused to study the main house. "The area surrounding the main house has a clear field of fire for at least a hundred yards in all directions. Barred and inlaid windows on both the first and second floors, so the walls are thick and solid. He has got guards on the roof and walking the perimeter. Heavy solid doors, judging from what I can see from here. The place is a modern fortress" Lynn lay back against a concealing rock. "I spotted at least 35 - 40 guards and at least twenty vamps not counting the six females and the main man. Add that to the four or five dozen people we saw going in and out of those outer ring of buildings and there must be well over a hundred people in that place." Heather crouched down and moved over to sit next to Lynn. "We would need a small army to get those girls out." "Which would be pointless, Miss Cross!" The women spun at the sound of his voice. Standing on a rock ledge behind them was the master vampire himself surrounded by six of the turned female elves. "I told you the other night this is not your affair. It is the end of an old blood war, one that is now over." He stood over the two women bathed in moonlight. The wind rippled through his hair, forcing his clothes to cling to his body and Lynn was amazed at the muscles revealed in his arms, his legs, his flat and rippled stomach, and abs. Here was a man clearly in fantastic shape. A war lord born and bred and one that never let himself get soft. Vampires were naturally strong but Lynn could tell that he worked at keeping himself in top physical condition. Heather started to speak but Alexandru held up a just a finger and her voice died away without a whisper. "This war is finally over and I and my people will return home." He gestured at the female vamps surrounding him. "I will take home the spoils of my victory to show anyone who comes against me the price of defeat. There was a bright flash and the sound of thunder. Heather awoke very securely chained to a solid brick wall in a windowless room, across from her on the opposite wall was a very nude, chained, and stretched out Lynn. She appeared to be still unconscious. Heather wondered why she was still dressed and Lynn was naked. Looking around the room as she used her vampire strength to test her bonds, she noted that the room had only one door. It appeared to be a steel door set flush with the wall in a metal frame. She doubted even her muscles would budge that door. "Who does a wolf have to kill to get some aspirin around here?" "How bad are you hurting?" Lynn groaned as she shifted trying to get comfortable. "Mr. Warlord has one big gorilla with a fist like a Mack truck. I woke up as they were hauling us in here and changed. Gorilla snagged me mid leap with one hand and hit me with the other. Thank god for shifter strength and healing. Anything less and he would have ripped my head clean off." Heather relaxed; relieved her friend was not hurt badly. "I guess that explains the naked bondage getup." She laughed as Lynn looked down her naked body and survived the restraints. "Yeah!" I have got to figure out a way to carry a change of clothes while running around as a wolf." "Good luck with that! In the meantime we may be in a bit of trouble here." Lynn strained against the metal cuffs holding her arms and legs. "Maybe if I can change, I might be able to break these but I think I'd break my limbs before I got fully furry." "Our captor has had a bit of experience holding supernatural beings captive." Heather pointed out. "I don't think he would have left us much wiggle room." "So what now, boss lady? "We wait and see what He has in store." "Not that I think we have much future ahead of us but just in case do you realize you're bleeding?" Heather began checking what she could see of herself. She finally noticed a small trickle of blood seeping out from under the cuff of her left wrist. "I see it. There must have been a sharp edge under this cuff. What I don't understand is why it hasn't stopped bleeding?" The door of the cell made a snapping sound and opened into the cell. Lynn's gorilla was standing in the doorway. He stepped inside and next to the wall. A much smaller vampire was revealed standing just outside the cell. His hair was silver with age, he face lined and his eye had no whites left, just the black sheen that only the very ancient vamps get. "Miss Cross. I have a supply of blood here for you and a meal for your pet. Two conditions. One, you give your word not to try to escape. Two, you leave your pet chained up; you may feed her but not release her. A Night's Tale Ch. 05 He waited silently and totally still for her answer. "I agree not to attempt to escape or release my partner while we eat." He smiled. "Very good." He walked into the cell and unlocked her cuffs. He handed to her the key to her ankle cuffs and stood back as she released herself. Heather smiled to herself, trust only went so far it seemed. A human guard entered with a tray of some sort of stew and two pouches of blood which he set up and left closing the cell behind him and the two vampires. Heather took a second to lick the wound that had been hidden under the left cuff, relieved to see it close and heal over in seconds. She moved the folding tray next to Lynn and began spooning the stew to her partner. Once the bowl was empty she extended her fangs and bit into the first of the blood pouches, emptying it quickly, and then taking her time on the second as she surveyed the room for possible escape routes. None presented themselves as she had expected. No sooner had she finished it then the door to the cell reopened and three guards with cross bows entered backed up by the huge vamp. The ancient one stood in the corridor. "If you would please resume your former position?" Heather walked back to her place and closed the ankle cuffs then examined the left cuff before closing it around her wrist. The big vampire walked over and locked her right wrist closed then checked the other three cuffs. The guards left and the human entered and removed the tray. The door closed. "Not much for conversation are they?" "Nope." The same scene was repeated twice more and the women talked and slept the hours away waiting for something new to develop. On the third day, the ancient one entered by himself. "Miss Cross, everyone has gone back to Europe." He set a bag down next to the door. "In the bag you will find clothes for your companion and some cleaning supplies. Once you're ready you may both leave." He unlocked her left cuff and handed her the keys, as he left the cell he called out. "There is a present for you in the cell at the end of the row. Goodbye, Miss Cross." Heather released her self and Lynn. She didn't bother to rush she could tell the place was deserted; even the ancient one had quickly left. Lynn looked up from the bag where she was using some wet wipes to clean herself off before getting dressed. "What the hell was that all about?" "We lost. Worse we weren't even enough of a bother to kill." "Shit. So what's the thing with the present? Heather stomped out of the cell and headed for the end of the row. Lynn hopped quickly behind her still pulling on a pair of oversized boots as she went. Opening the unlocked cell door Heather just stood in the doorway. Lynn edged up and looked in over her shoulder. Lying on two separate cots were the last two elf's, paler even then was normal for their race, except for two small fang marks on each of their necks and a trickle of blood the corners of their lips. Lynn brushed past and checked the girls. "Are they dead? I can't tell." Heather's head hung almost to her chest. "Not exactly. He turned them. Lynn was still sniffing at the girls. "So if he turned them why are they still lying here in the middle of the night and why is it I smell your blood on their lips? "Heather? Hea..." Lynn stared into the shocked face of her friend and partner. "He used my blood, My blood."