1 comments/  28356 views/  6 favorites

Blood Rose Ch. 01

By: icehead



Six years ago...

As of this particular moment, the single general thought flowing throughout the house was relief. The interrogation would surely come later, but right now everybody was just happy Anthony was home. Everyone had been beside themselves with worry; he was supposed to have returned from his camping trip five days ago. But the worry was over now. Anthony was back.

Or was he?

Elizabeth knew there was something...different...about her brother. What it was, she couldn't even begin to guess; but then, she was still so much younger than him. She was still only a child at twelve years old, and there was a lot she didn't know. But she couldn't deny there was something about Anthony that seemed very not right.

Mom and Dad had been both overjoyed and on the verge of tears at the same time when he'd finally come parading in through the front door with a big smile pasted on his face as if he was expecting a party. The smile on his face had been the first thing that struck her as wrong. Because... well really, wrong was the only word that really described it. That smile was just plain wrong. They kept asking him questions about what had happened and where he'd been, but he just kept telling them to relax and not worry about it. He said that a miracle had happened to him; that he'd been changed for the better. That was all. That was the second thing that seemed amiss; Anthony had never been cryptic and mysterious before. It was just an anti-Anthony thing. But more than anything else, she could feel it around him, that something was different.

And she was still dwelling on it, sitting alone on her bed amongst her stuffed animals, when Anthony asked her to come with him into his room. "Elizabeth, come with me. There's something very important I want to show you."

Elizabeth hesitantly rose from her bed, thinking he was just continuing to grow more and more suspicious. When did Anthony ever have anything he wanted to show her? Since when did he view her as anything more than his obnoxious kid sister? Suspicious as she was, she found her curiosity taking precedence, and she proceeded into Anthony's room.

The room was lit only by the bedside lamp. He stood looking out the window into the night, his back to her. "Shut the door behind you," he said, not bothering to turn around. She hesitantly obeyed. "Sit down," he said then, gesturing with a hand to his bed. He still hadn't turned around.

A moment of silence passed; Elizabeth was starting to get a bit nervous. Finally, still keeping his back to her, Anthony said, "You've never been afraid of the dark, have you?"

What kind of stupid question was that? "No," she said curiously. Technically, that was a lie; she had been when she was three. But that was a long time ago.

"Good," he said, finally turning to look at her. "Because that's what I wanted to show you. The Darkness."

"What do you mean, you want to show me the darkness? You want me to see the lights off?"

He chuckled. Something in his laugh made the nervousness that had started clutching at her heart grip tighter. "No," he laughed. "There's more to the Darkness than just lack of light. There's so much more." She just stared at him, not understanding. He added, "It especially becomes more when you become one with the Darkness. I have, and I want to share it with you."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, steadily moving across the border from being nervous to being actually scared. But his wordless answer was what really frightened her. All he did was look at her. And there, in his eyes, she saw the source of her fear. What it was, she still couldn't name. But it was there. Whatever it was. And somehow, on some level, she was beginning to understand.

"There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you; you have to experience it for yourself, and I want you to have that chance. But I'll only show it to you if you let me. And you should know right now that if you decide to accept this, you can never go back." Elizabeth fearfully shrank back from him. She still didn't really know what was going on, but whatever it was, it was drawing her in and scaring her off at the same time. "It's okay to be scared right now," he added. "I was too. But when I accepted it, I learned to love it. Do you want it?"

Such a simple question. "Do you want it?" And those four words were what made her realize something at that moment: she wasn't just scared, she was excited. She wasn't feeling drawn to the darkness around her brother in spite of her fear; she was feeling drawn because of it. And she knew then that whatever the darkness coming off of her brother was, she wanted it. She wanted to taste it.

"Yes."

Slowly, Anthony bent down to her. With his hands, he gently tilted her head to the side and brushed her hair off of her neck. As he leaned in towards her neck, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

She felt the warmth of his breath on her neck, and then the sting of his teeth... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth's eyes snapped open, and she sat bolt upright in her seat. Harrison stood looking down on her, arms folded and an eyebrow raised. "Checking our eyelids for leaks, are we?" he jibed.

She gave him an awkward smile, brushing her dark hair out of her eyes. "Um, yes sir," she said hesitantly. "They're... they're clear, no leaks."

"Well that's a disappointment," Harrison said. "I was hoping maybe you'd have still seen everything I just showed the class." Hushed laughter arose from around the small classroom. Elizabeth started to blush a bit as she looked around at the six others gathered there. Not for the first time, she found herself envying humans going to public schools. It was one thing to be embarrassed in front of a room full of twenty or thirty people you barely knew. But in a room occupied by six other students who all knew you personally... Ugh!

For obvious reasons, schools for vampires had to be private schools. They also had to be well concealed; it simply wouldn't do to have a human drive by and read a sign that said "(fill in the blank) School for Young Vampires." About seven or so students for each class was the general norm, particularly considering vampires in a particular area were generally few enough in number that that number was appropriate. They'd found ways to blend in well with human society, but one way or another, they would always be a separate, detached minority.

Her mind drifted back to the dream again... no, the memory. Dreams were things that didn't actually happen. But she'd been asleep, and the actual memory of the night her brother had made her what she was had played through her mind. Every detail about it was still as vivid as if it had happened last night, even after six years. And every time she found herself envying humans, her thoughts drifted back to that night, and she reminded herself of one thing: You chose this. He gave you a choice, and you said yes. Every so often she would hear another voice in her head respond, But you were a stupid kid then, you didn't know what you were doing! Now was not such a time.

No, she was not going to frown on her choice to become a vampire right now. Not with the way Sylvia was looking at her. Sylvia was her friend, and although she had been laughing with everyone else just a moment ago, her look was friendly and affectionate now, and all Elizabeth's embarrassment instantly smoothed over.

As Harrison went back to his lecture, Elizabeth panned her eyes around the room. Most of the students in the room were pureborn; they were born vampires. Most vampires young enough to be in high school were pureborn anyway. A youngblood who was turned as young as Elizabeth was wasn't especially common. In fact, the only other youngblood in the room was...

Nathaniel. Ah, Nathaniel! All she had to do was think of him once, and she would be swept away into her own little dreamworld. The corners of her mouth turned wistfully up as her gaze fixed upon him. 

Nathaniel had a fairly decent build; not exactly Pumping Iron, but just a musculature that looked generally good. On any guy, that was a good start, but Nathaniel's appeal hardly ended there. There was also the face to think about, and he had that. He had superbly angular features, with a pair of sparkling brown eyes and a head of wavy dark hair. But above all was his seemingly limitless confidence and utter fearlessness. He'd been a star athlete at his previous high school before he became a vampire. She could just imagine him standing over her, yanking his shirt off of that athlete's body, and unzipping his pants, preparing to unveil his concealed weapon for her...

"So I'll see you all tomorrow," Harrison finished, "and hopefully you'll know what I'm talking about by then; I won't mention any names, Elizabeth." The class laughed again. That's the other problem with having a class so small, she thought, it's a lot easier for the teacher to tell when you're not paying attention.

It was a little after midnight when the class let out. For also obvious reasons, classes had to be at night. Now the task of walking home presented itself. Most humans their age would probably be terrified of walking home from school at this hour, but Elizabeth had been doing it for years. Most of the kids either drove or at least got rides, but Elizabeth liked walking. As always, of course, she wouldn't be walking alone; at least not for a while.

She and Sylvia proceeded off the school side-by-side. Sylvia had blonde hair that was usually tied up in a tail or a fountain or something along those lines, and her eyes were green and narrow and always seemed to be studying something, be it a book or someone's face. Right now they were studying Elizabeth. "So come on, spill, what were you dreaming about?"

"Oh, nothing." She paused, deciding to feed Sylvia a line that would satisfy her. "Just some sweaty romantic fantasy."

"Concerning someone we know?" Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "Someone like... Nathaniel?"

Elizabeth grinned sheepishly. "How'd you guess?"

Sylvia glared at her, yet continued smiling. "Okay, first of all, I wasn't guessing at all, I was just playing along with you, because you know as well as I do that you just fed me a load of horse shit."

Elizabeth gave her a look that essentially asked "How'd you know?" She didn't actually say that aloud, but the meaning was there.

"My first big clue was your pointed use of the word 'sweaty,' when I could see just how peaceful you were right there. But more importantly, it's written all over your face. So why don't you try again?"

Elizabeth's head hung. "I was remembering being turned."

"Oh, yeah... your brother, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. Really big moment that comes back to me in my dreams sometimes."

Sylvia sighed. "I kinda envy you sometimes, Elizabeth."

"Why?"

"I always hear youngbloods like you talking about how incredible turning into a vampire is, and when you've been one since you were born, you're just kinda stuck never knowing what they're talking about."

Elizabeth chuckled. "Well maybe you should consider yourself lucky, 'cause being turned isn't all fun. I still remember feeling completely drained, and lying sick in bed all day."

"But then when you wake up isn't it supposed to be like you're suddenly more awake than you've ever been or some Zen thing like that?"

Elizabeth looked at her friend with a raised eyebrow. "You get used to it."

Sylvia scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You're such a party poop!"

Elizabeth grinned. "I know. Isn't that why you love me?" The two girls glared at each other a moment, then burst into laughter.

They reached Sylvia's house first. As she usually did, Sylvia invited Elizabeth to stay a while, but Elizabeth decided she just needed to get home right now. So she went off walking, on her own. She never would have admitted it, but this was what she considered to be one of the simple joys in her life: walking alone at night. Yes, it was a bit frightening—certainly less so than it would have been if she was human, but frightening nonetheless—but she still reveled in it despite that. No, it was because it was frightening that she reveled in it. She felt alive walking alone, vulnerable, on the dark and at this moment foggy streets.

As chance would have it, she didn't stay alone long. A rumbling motorcycle pulled up by the curb next to her, and the rider stepped off, running his lecherous eyes up and down her body. "Hey there, pretty thing," he smirked, removing his helmet. "You lost, baby?"

"No, just on my way home," she said simply, barely sparing him a look.

"Well hey, don't go yet, maybe you could use some company, huh?"

"No thank you."

The scruffy-looking man in the leather jacket moved around in front her, attempting to block her path. "Hey, don't be like that, sweet cakes!" She moved around him, eager to be gone from his presence. But he wouldn't have that. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled. "I said don't be like that!"

"Let go of me," Elizabeth commanded, her simple coldness steadily giving way to anger. She felt no form of intimidation at all.

"I just don't want someone as cute as you to be alone," he said, reaching to grab her with his other hand. He didn't get that far.

"I said let go!" Elizabeth snapped, lashing out with her claws at his face.

The man reeled back, still holding onto her arm with one hand, while putting the other to the four bloody streaks that had appeared on his face. Rage flashed across his face as he reached into his jacket pocket. "Oh, now you're dead, bitch!" he roared, flipping out his switchblade.

The average human girl would have been screaming in terror at this point. Elizabeth hardly batted an eyelash when that blade appeared. His hand began thrusting the blade at her; it would reach her in less than a second. That was far more time than she needed. Her free hand sprang up and grabbed the attacking hand by the wrist, and she swung him over her shoulder onto the ground.

Her attacker lay at her feet now. No... not her attacker. Her prey. He was at her mercy now. Her vampire instincts knew exactly what to do, and she needed no further incentive to obey them. She dropped to her knees, pulled her lips back from her teeth, and proceeded to indulge in the pumping fluid under the flesh of his neck. She ignored the way he grunted and squirmed beneath her; she remained oblivious to everything except the sweetness of the thick, coppery liquid running down her throat. She didn't even notice when he stopped struggling.

When she had fed to her heart's content, Elizabeth let her victim drop, and raised herself up and leaned her head back with a passionate sigh. It was always the same when she killed someone; the thrill of the moment as she fed, the blissful calm that followed, and then her conscience started talking. There had been times when her conscience had screamed at her; heck, the first few times she'd actually flown into a panic, especially since it was her friends she'd been killing. But right now, she could barely hear her conscience at all. She tried very hard to feel some smattering of pity for the dead man at her feet, but ultimately all she felt was triumph. This man had tried to assault her, and then kill her for God's sake! He got exactly what he deserved, and she got a meal out of it! All was right with the world now.

"You look like you enjoyed that."

Elizabeth whirled around at the sound of the voice. "Who's there?" she said, finally starting to feel a bit of fear. She saw no one; but there was enough fog about tonight that that wasn't particularly surprising. It wasn't all that thick, though, and when the speaker stepped out of it, Elizabeth could see her clearly. A young woman stood before her, roughly mid twenties she looked like, with neck-length black hair and a pair of the greenest eyes she'd ever seen. She had her hands in the pockets of her open trench coat, under which she had on some simple street clothes. But it was her eyes that truly caught Elizabeth's attention, shining like a pair of emeralds.

"Who are you? What did you see?" Elizabeth asked in a just-this-side-of-panicky voice.

"My name is Annabelle," the young woman said. "And I saw everything."

Elizabeth was about ready to cross into the realm of blind panic, at a complete loss as to what to do next. "Um, let me explain... this guy..."

"Relax, you don't need to explain anything to me, and you don't need to worry about anything." When Elizabeth gave her a curious look, Annabelle added, "Haven't you learned by now how to recognize one of your own?"

Elizabeth said nothing for a moment, starting to breathe easier. "You mean you're a—"

"A vampire? Just like you? Of course I am. And what's your name?"

"Uh... E-Elizabeth."

"Well tell me, Elizabeth, do you usually take your meals off the street like this?"

"Uh, no..." Elizabeth was a bit unsure of what to say, not knowing what kind of answer Annabelle wanted to hear. "I mean... he attacked me, and I defended myself, and one thing led to another, you know, and I just couldn't help myself..." She was suddenly painfully aware of how meek and insecure she must have looked in front of this stranger. Of course if she did look that way, it wouldn't exactly be far from the truth.

Annabelle laughed. "I understand. I understand completely." She slowly started moving closer. "You don't need to explain the urge to kill to me; I know it just as well as you do. Possibly even better than you do. But I know we all have other needs, too. Other desires. Other urges." The closer Annabelle grew, the brighter her eyes seemed to glow. Elizabeth's breathing grew heavier, and she felt her heart starting to accelerate. Something in those eyes... What was it about those eyes? Why were those eyes exciting her so much?

For an agonizing moment, Elizabeth was too nervous to speak. When she was finally able to summon up her voice, she managed to get out, "Wh...what...do you want?"

Annabelle smiled. "I want to help you, Elizabeth. I can tell you need it."

"Help me? W-with what?"

"What do you think?" Annabelle smiled. "Look at yourself. Any fool can see you're not happy. How do you intend to deal with eternity the way you are now? I can show you ways to truly make the most of your immortality. I can show you sensations you've never even dreamed of. I can show you ways to make you feel truly alive."

Those glimmering emerald eyes never stopped boring into her all the while Annabelle was talking. Elizabeth wasn't really sure what to make of her offer, but something about Annabelle herself was just too captivating to turn away from.

"You don't have to give me an answer right now," Annabelle said after a moment passed with Elizabeth saying absolutely nothing. With that, Annabelle produced a small slip of paper and placed it in Elizabeth's hand. "When you're ready to give me one, you can meet me at this address.

And so the mysterious woman turned and began disappearing back into the fog. "I'll see you again," Elizabeth heard her say before she vanished from sight. Elizabeth hesitated a moment, pondering over the slip of paper in her hand. After a minute or two, she finally turned to continue the trip home.

The fog had disappeared.

***

If one thing was constant about Dorian Steel, it was that his mind was always in turmoil. Anyone who knew him would call him a brooding and unhappy man. He seemed to think of little more than finding and destroying anything that walked like a human but bore a pair of fangs. But right now was one of those rare times when he could stop his brooding and just enjoy the moment. And at this moment, his mind was on nothing but the feel of Jade's lips on his cock.

Jade epitomized the look of the stereotypical bad girl. She had spiky green hair, and piercings and tattoos everywhere. She had five earrings on each ear, she had two rings on the left side of her nose, one on her right eyebrow, one on the left side of her lower lip, one on her tongue, one on each nipple and one in her navel. A spider web tattoo decorated her right shoulder all the way from the neck to the upper arm, with the spider itself sitting in the center; on her left shoulder blade was a vicious dragon, on her lower belly was a flaming skull, and some wicked-looking ornamental designs covered some other parts of her body, such as the underside of her left arm, the out-facing side of her left shin, and just above her ass. Even without her clothes, she really looked more like a punk rocker than a hunter.


Blood Rose Ch. 01



And in another world, that's precisely what she'd be, Dorian thought as her lips came up off the head of his rod with a loud pop. He relaxed deeper into the couch as she began beating his cock against her tongue, and looked up at him and laughed as she did this before taking it back into her mouth. He imagined how things would have been different for her had she not had her encounter with a bunch of vampires that night last year.

Dorian had met Jade at a Rob Zombie concert; Dorian and the team he had at that time were, of course, hunting vampires. Jade was just there for the music, along with her leather-and-metal clad buddies. A group of bloodsuckers had happened upon them, invited them to sneak backstage for some fun, and mayhem ensued. Dorian and his team showed up and killed a few of the vamps while chasing the others away, but not before they'd succeeded in killing all of Jade's friends and leaving her with a bite herself. The team had given her an antidote before the change could take hold, and she'd been hunting with them ever since.

If he'd learned anything about her since then, it was that she liked it rough, and when she wanted it she wanted it now. And now, when she was done bobbing her green-topped head up and down on his shaft, she wanted it now. She stood up, turned around, and seated herself down on his lap. When Dorian's upright staff pierced her, he heard a low bestial growl come from her. And almost right away, her demonstration of the fact that she liked it rough began. She went into a heavy bouncing frenzy, with f-bombs repeatedly exploding from her mouth. Dorian grabbed hold of her sumptuous ass, giving it a good slap as it repeatedly slammed down on him. The response was an instant, feral squeal.

After she had been continuously bouncing for a few minutes, he took hold of her hips and stood up from the couch, not once pulling out of her. She lowered herself down on her hands on knees on the couch, while he stood on his knees behind her. Now it was his turn to be in control. "Oh, fuck yeah, fuck my fuckin' pussy, you fucker!" He pounded her hard, giving her ass another good slap. 

She continued bombarding him with f-bombs, ultimately shouting, "Stick that fuckin' cock in my ass!" Dorian knew better than to argue with Jade about things like that, so he pulled out of her pussy, wiped some of the juices that were gushing from her around her puckered little hole, and slid himself into her back entrance. She growled like an angry dog and screamed "Fuck yeah!" Dorian moved as best he could in and out of that tight, hot vice, pounding her hard, eliciting all the profanity Jade was capable of, until he could hold back no more, pulled out, and decorated her ass with white ooze.

Thus spent, Dorian collapsed onto the couch. Jade picked up a tissue to clean the goop off her ass, then proceeded to take a cigarette. She offered him one before lighting hers, and he accepted, taking the lighter when she was done with it. It wasn't for the typical reason of relaxing after sex. He took it because it helped to calm his thoughts. The moment of pleasure was over; now it was time to brood again. 

There was nothing to be particularly happy about tonight anyway; tonight's hunt had been a bust. They'd found no vampires, and hence killed no vampires. Spotting a vampire who wasn't doing anything particularly vampiric was a difficult task, and it took years of experience to tell one apart from an ordinary human at first glance. Somebody like Jade couldn't spot a vampire until she saw a pair of fangs, but Dorian and a few others on the team, like Ethan and Kaeli, who had been doing this for at least the last ten years, knew how to spot one out of a crowd. Tonight had been one of those nights when they'd spotted nothing. Oh well, tomorrow's another day...

Except there were still more of them crawling around out there, and he had missed a chance to rip their fucking heads off! He was all pent up, which was probably why he'd done what he'd just done with Jade. As he pulled his pants on he looked over at Jade, who'd already gotten back into her studded leather clothes and was just hanging idly around with a burning cigarette in her fingers. They weren't trying to find comfort in each other's arms or anything; he felt absolutely nothing for Jade, any more than she felt anything for him. They did it because they wanted to, and that was that.

There was no room for love in a hunter's life. In their line of work, sex was something you had because you never knew when, or if, you would get another chance. When you spent every night looking for monsters that were so much stronger, and more adept at killing than you, you had to face the reality that any night could be your last. Caring about people just set you up for heartbreak.

And wasn't that how you got yourself into this business in first place?

An image of Melissa flashed across his mind. He shoved it away. If he had learned anything over the past twelve years, he had learned that it did not do to dwell on memories. Staying in the now was the only way he could expect to survive.

Jade finished her cigarette quickly, and shoved the butt into the ashtray and headed for the door. "You going home?" Dorian said.

"Got a right to sleep in my own bed don't I?"

"Just thought I'd ask," said Dorian, taking another drag. "Just remember to keep your windows—"

"My windows up and my doors locked and blah blah blah, I know the drill. Don't worry, I'm still keeping a nine-millimeter and a dagger in my glove box and a box-full of weapons at home, I'm prepared. Getting bit once was fuckin' enough for me, I don't plan on repeating it."

"Fair enough. Good night." With that Jade left without another word.

On the subject of sleep, it was late now, and he should probably be thinking about getting some himself. He should; it didn't mean he was going to, whether he went to bed now or not. Hunts that produced no results always seemed to make an insomniac out of him. It was harder to sleep knowing that there were vampires out there he could have killed tonight, that were probably draining some poor soul dry right now because he didn't.

He took a breath—or a drag, rather—and calmly reminded himself that he was only human; he was just a hunter, not a superhero. There were always some people out there he couldn't save.

Funny how I always try to tell myself that as if it's going to make me feel better.

Dorian got up, put out what was left of his cigarette, and headed off to his bedroom. He'd find out in the morning who was out there that he didn't save.

***

Elizabeth crashed onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling as if it weren't there. To put it mildly, her trip home had been interesting. Hell, her head was still spinning about it. Mom and Dad had evidently noticed that something was on her mind, but they'd been her parents long enough to chalk it up to school or boy trouble. Of course human parents would have asked if she was on marijuana or something; as it was, hers just let it slide for now. And she certainly preferred it that way. She certainly wasn't leaping with excitement to tell them that she'd killed someone on the way home.

And she was definitely in no hurry to tell them about Annabelle. That was the big one.

Strange, she thought, that she was more concerned about Annabelle than about the fact that she had taken a life. Of course, being a vampire meant that an occasional human death was something you had to face sometimes, but that didn't mean it should be taken lightly. Shouldn't she feel a little worse about what she did?

Then again, why should I feel anything at all? The world's probably better off without that scum anyway! Hell, I did the world a favor by sucking him dry!

Surely her parents would agree with that, wouldn't they? Anthony had done the same thing to them that he'd done to her; they understood the thirst for blood as much as she did, and they certainly had some blood on their own hands. Wouldn't they be hypocrites if they scolded her for it? Still, she decided it would be best to keep it from them.

On that note, her thoughts turned again to Annabelle, and again she thought of how peculiar it was that her encounter with her felt like more of a taboo than the dead human. What was it about Annabelle she was so afraid of? Why was she afraid of letting her parents know she'd met someone? And what about Annabelle's weird offer? That part just didn't make any sense at all... 

No, that wasn't right. She still didn't know what it meant, but it would be a lie to say that the offer didn't make some kind of sense. She just hadn't figured out what that kind of sense was.

So many questions, none of which would have easy answers. Maybe it would be best not to think about them right now, and just relax. She found she was feeling another kind of need right now, and one she certainly knew how to respond to. Chances were, it might help to calm her nerves a little bit. She slid her hand down into her denim skirt and allowed herself to slip away into the familiar pleasures of her clit. For a moment she laughed inwardly at herself, remembering when she'd first discovered the pleasures that came from that little spot between her legs. She'd been barely thirteen, only having been changed into a vampire very recently, and for a while she'd thought these pleasures had been something that came with the transformation. A comical notion now that she was older and wiser, but still worth a laugh remembering now and then.

Her eyes slowly closed as her fingers moved back and forth over the little pea-shaped nub. She let her mind drift, conjuring up another image of Nathaniel standing over her. His beautifully built body was uncovered for her viewing pleasure, and his ten inches of dick was standing and ready to pierce her. To deflower her. She was ready for him. Impulsively, her legs spread apart, and her free hand cupped itself around her breast through the fabric of her shirt and bra, and began to squeeze. She could just imagine his huge weapon sliding into her, opening the folds of her pussy... her tongue ran itself over her lips, savoring the delicious moment.

Then suddenly she saw a feminine pair of hands appear on Nathaniel's shoulders from behind, and a face that belonged to Annabelle peeked around from behind his head. "Do you like it?"

Elizabeth's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. The mysterious woman she'd met tonight had invaded her sexual fantasies. How the hell did that happen?

Elizabeth shuddered, and decided she needed a shower. So she got up and walked into the bathroom, stripped off her clothes and hit the hot water.

She stood there a while, her eyes shut, savoring the warm, soothing patter of water on her. She picked up the soap and began running it over her body like she always did. She hadn't realized until now just how desperately she did need this. But there was something else she needed too, and she had cut herself short of satisfying it. Almost without her consent, her hand again drifted down between her legs.

"I can show you sensations you've never even dreamed of."

Her eyes remaining closed, an image of Annabelle's face flashed before them. Her wise and lovely smile. And those eyes. Those incredible emerald eyes that you just couldn't look away from. And suddenly the fingers that were massaging her clit began to work harder, faster.

"...ways to make you feel truly alive..."

Elizabeth started breathing harder. Her heart began accelerating the same way it had when Annabelle stood before her. As she ran the soap over her breasts, she felt how hard her heart was pounding against her chest. Her nipples were standing on end. A soft moan escaped her lips.

"...pleasures..."

She wasn't sure at what point the soap slipped out of her grip, because for the moment she'd forgotten the soap even existed. She was now fervently squeezing her tit with one hand and rubbing her clit with the other. Her head rolled back, her eyes still shut. What had started as a low moan was steadily escalating into sharp cries.

Annabelle's face appeared again.

"Do you know what you want?"

"Yes!" That was equally in response to Annabelle's question as in response to her own approaching orgasm. In a matter of seconds later, it came. Her eyes finally opened when it did, accompanying her loud squeal. She stood there a moment, gasping and convulsing, attempting to get a hold of her senses.

She was alone, wasn't she? There was nobody else in this bathroom with her. Annabelle was certainly not here. And yet, she had been talking to her. Or had she? True, she hadn't actually heard those words just now. Not with her ears anyway. They had been in her head. But they didn't feel at all like they were coming from her. It was like Annabelle's words were completely skipping her ears and going straight to her head.

"Do you know what you want?"

In a moment of ecstasy, Elizabeth had said yes. Now she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure at all. But maybe there was a way to find out. Maybe Annabelle could help her find some answers. She decided she would go check out the address Annabelle had given her on the way home from school tomorrow night. Just to get a sense of what Annabelle was really about. What could it hurt?

***

Ten or twelve years ago, when this sort of thing happened, Dorian's general reaction would have been to grab something heavy and throw it across the room. But having repeatedly dealt with this situation in the twelve years since he became a hunter had mellowed him to it somewhat; now he would just frown and take another drag on his cigarette. It still made his blood burn, though.

He'd been out looking for them, and still they managed to get someone.

The police had identified the victim as Eric Torrence, 28, found on the side of 7th Avenue at approximately 2 am. Police reported double neck wounds and severe loss of blood, while very little blood was found at the crime scene. Definitely a vampire's work. A motorcycle registered in his name was parked a short distance away. A switchblade was found in the victim's hand, but no blood was on the blade at all.

Dorian could already see the whole scenario playing out: The guy stops his motorcycle to inspect it, the vampire comes along and attacks him, the guy takes out his blade to try to defend himself, but the vampire's too fast, and the guy gets sucked dry. The kind of thing that happened way more often than most people would care to know about. All he could do now was scowl about it, and blow out another breath of smoke.

"Sorry Dorian," said Keith. It was the same thing he always said when this happened; it was all anybody could say. It never made things better.

Smoke from the two men's cigarettes was steadily clouding the ceiling of Keith's office. Keith, as chance would have it, just happened to be a detective, working secretly as a hunter by night. This provided them with some useful insights as to where vampires had been and where they were likely to be found. Keith was African-American, with a beard that was just starting to turn a little gray. At 42, Keith was the only hunter on Dorian's team who was actually older than Dorian himself.

That didn't necessarily mean he was the teammate for whom Dorian had the most respect; he was a useful ally, and possibly even a friend, but the life of a hunter didn't really mean as much to him as it did to some of the others, Dorian included. This probably had to do with the fact that he hadn't lost anyone important to him to vampire attacks the way most hunters had. He'd gotten into hunting after stumbling upon a scene of a victim being killed by a vampire, and decided he wanted to do something about it. Certainly a good enough reason, but when the battle wasn't personal, his heart wasn't in it quite as deeply as it could be.

"Yeah, everybody's sorry," Dorian muttered.

"Well, we'll be out again tonight, we just might bag the suckhead that did this," Keith shrugged.

Dorian scowled. "I'm tired of 'we just might.' Honestly, Keith, how many more people have to die like this?"

"What do you want to do about it? You know we're just doing our part to fight a battle we can never really win. Is the world gonna run out of vampires? There's still just too many out there for us to deal with them all."

Dorian's scowl deepened. Some little part of him had always known that what Keith was saying was true. He just never wanted to believe it. He couldn't accept the idea that humanity would never win this war. People had hunted plenty of other species to the brink of extinction; why were vampires so different?

"That's not true!" he declared. "There's got to be a limit to how many of those monsters there can be, and sooner or later we will get them all!"

"Well what do you expect us to do?"

Dorian paused on a moment, chewing on Keith's simple, yet infinitely profound question. At last, he gave an answer that was even simpler, yet twice as profound: "More." Off Keith's look, he continued, "It's as simple as that: we do more. I think the reason we didn't catch any vamps last night was because we gave up too soon. We stay out longer, we expand our search parameters, and we don't go home until we kill something!"

Keith looked unsettled. Probably to be expected from someone who didn't have any personal reasons to fight. Ultimately, Keith stood up and said, "Dorian, I know how serious you are about this, but you've got to remember I have a life and a family to think about—"

"So think about them!" Dorian cut him off. "Think about what would happen if a vampire found one of them! Every bloodsucker that slips by us only increases the risk of that happening! I'd think for their sakes you'd be as devoted to this as I am!"

Dorian could see him chewing on this; Keith, the only hunter he knew who had a family at all, which gave him an ideal source of incentive to see things Dorian's way. "All right, Dorian, I'll stay out two hours longer, but that's my limit."

Dorian struggled to smile at Keith's half-hearted compliance. As much as he liked to think of himself as a fair and righteous man, Dorian just didn't like compromise.

***

Elizabeth stood transfixed, not quite sure how to grasp what she was seeing. Based on what Annabelle had been wearing last night, she expected her home to be a simple suburban house, or any kind of home the common vampire would dwell in. She certainly hadn't been expecting a massive, elegant mansion.

A decorative iron fence surrounded the front of the house, with a gate positioned in the middle which Elizabeth was now looking through. The central section of the house stood three stories tall, with two-story wings branching off from the sides. The trip from the gate to the front door was, put simply, a long one, which involved passing through a gorgeous courtyard dominated by a huge fountain with a pair of prancing horse statues. 

As she gazed upon the beautiful, yet somehow intimidating, estate, Elizabeth realized she had actually heard of this place before. This was one of the local urban legends; the unnamed haunted house just outside of town, supposedly inhabited by some sort of ghosts or monsters. Or vampires, Elizabeth thought whimsically.

Of course, she was having trouble picturing a haunted house having a voice intercom box posted on the front gate, which implied to her that nobody had gotten this close to inspect it in a while. She stepped up to it and pushed the button, receiving a mild buzz as a response. Moments later, a feminine voice with a thick southern accent that clearly did not belong to Annabelle spoke through it: "Hello? Who's knockin'?"

"Uh... my name's Elizabeth, I'm here for Annabelle?"

The girl on the other end chuckled. "Honey, ain't that who we all here for. C'mon in, Ah'll give her a holler."




Blood Rose Ch. 01



There was a heavy metallic click and the gate slowly opened, and Elizabeth cautiously stepped through. She made her way along the path to the front door, curving around the massive horse statues in the fountain that made her feel very small. She reached the large double doors at the front of the house and banged the shiny brass knocker. She could just hear the sound echoing inside, moments before one of the double doors opened, and she hesitantly stepped inside.

In a single word, the room she had entered was magnificent. It was also huge, bigger than many entire houses she had seen. The room was dominated by a wide carpeted staircase leading up to a second-floor balcony that was supported by elegant marble pillars that stretched up from the marble tiled floor. An elegant chandelier hung down over the cavernous room, throwing its amber glow over the smooth white walls.

It was only when she heard the thunderous echo of the door closing behind her that Elizabeth turned to observe the person who had let her in, a girl who didn't look much older than her—though if she was a vampire she very well could have been—dressed only in a red silk kimono. "Well hi!" the girl beamed, her accent confirming Elizabeth's suspicions that she was in fact the girl she'd spoken to on the intercom. "Ah'm Rosanna!" she said, shaking Elizabeth's hand.

"Um, hi," Elizabeth returned with an awkward smile. The question of why Rosanna was dressed the way she was started forming on her lips, but she decided to let that lie for now and instead asked, "Is Annabelle around?"

"Oh, Ah gave her a holler, like Ah said Ah was gonna, she should be just about—"

"Here," a voice cut her off. Elizabeth turned back and now saw Annabelle gracefully descending the grand carpeted staircase. And there again were those eyes; Elizabeth's gaze was drawn to them immediately. Those shimmering emeralds looked back at her, seemingly expressing a sense of welcome in a way that mere words could never hope to convey. Elizabeth was just faintly aware of how dramatically Annabelle's wardrobe had changed. It was as if her clothes changed specifically to fit in with her surroundings, much in the way a chameleon changes its colors. Her casual street clothes and open trench coat had been replaced with a classy black dress and a decorative pair of open-toed high heels.

"Hello Elizabeth," she smiled warmly. "Welcome."

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile back.

"Rosanna," Annabelle said, "why don't you go rejoin the others while I give Elizabeth the initiation."

"A'right, see ya later," Rosanna beamed as she began prancing off, her shoulder-length brown hair bouncing as she moved. "Don't be a stranger!"

Slowly, elegantly, Annabelle turned and began moving back up the steps, as Elizabeth cautiously followed her. Naturally, she had more questions, which she continued asking as they moved up to the second floor. "So, Rosanna... she's a vampire too, right?"

"Trust me," Annabelle replied, "you're never going to find anyone in this house who isn't."

"So this place is yours?"

"It's my inheritance, so to speak. My family house. Of course I'm the only surviving member of my family, so yes, the house is mine. But I try to keep it as alive as possible. There are always a few people here at least. Like you."

Elizabeth paused a moment as they continued through a door and into the labyrinthine halls of the second floor. "You said you were giving me the initiation... into what?"

"Well it's not an official initiation; just a sampler of what you can expect here. After that, it's entirely up to you."

Elizabeth fell silent after that, following Annabelle through another door into a fairly sizeable and rather charming bedroom. The bed appeared large enough for at least two people, but it hardly dominated the room. There was also a sofa, and a fireplace, and a large fern by the floor-to-ceiling windows, of which the curtains were currently open. There were large, decoratively framed mirrors on two walls, and a third on the ceiling. Above the bed, no less.

"Is this your bedroom?" Elizabeth asked.

"It's one of them, yes. I have many. This is one of the ones that don't see a whole lot of sleep." That last part was delivered with sly eye and a smirk. Her meaning was as clear as the glass of the windows. Elizabeth shivered, beginning to wonder what she was getting herself into. Was this some kind of brothel?

"Please, make yourself comfortable," Annabelle said, moving towards another open door, which from what Elizabeth could see led to a bathroom. "I'll be right back."

Annabelle disappeared through the door, and Elizabeth removed her coat and hung it on a hook on the wall. She began slowly moving about, taking in the room in greater detail. As she moved past the fireplace, which one of the mirrors was positioned above, she happened to notice a picture on the mantle that caught her eye. Like everything in the house, it was clean and attractively kept, but the image itself was old and in black and white. She noticed then that it was dated 1872. It appeared to be a family portrait, with a wealthy-looking family of about six, all well dressed for the time period.

And she did recognize Annabelle among them, standing casually amongst her family in a fashionable nineteenth-century dress and hat. The picture was clearly taken while she was still human; the family was standing outside in broad daylight.

"I think I still have that dress." 

Elizabeth jumped at the sound of Annabelle's voice. She let out a breath as she looked around into her wistfully smiling face. "You're really good at sneaking up on people," she breathed. Glancing back at the date on the picture, she then added, "Well I guess you've had a long time to practice."

Annabelle gracefully moved towards the center of the room, gesturing for Elizabeth to follow. Elizabeth didn't. "What's supposed to happen now?"

Annabelle put a finger to her lips. "Shh. Your questions can wait for now. Just come here."

Growing nervous, Elizabeth put a hesitant foot forward. Then another.

Those eyes...

And another.

Those eyes!

And another.

As she drew ever nearer, all the while transfixed by Annabelle's emerald eyes, Elizabeth suddenly became very aware of how wet her panties were getting. Her nipples felt like they were going to cut through her blouse. And especially she realized how increasingly nervous she was becoming with every step.

She kept walking. She couldn't stop now.

Don't be afraid.

Annabelle's voice in her head. Those eyes were speaking to her.

She continued moving forward until she was close enough for Annabelle to put a hand on her shoulder. That hand moved along her shoulder up to her neck, and pushed her hair away from it and gently tilted her head to the side. "Just relax," Annabelle whispered. And she did. Starting to feel a very strong sense of déjà vu, Elizabeth closed her eyes and breathed deeply as Annabelle leaned in towards her neck.

She felt a brief sting from Annabelle's teeth; then there was a little tingle of electricity that made her shiver. She could feel blood being drawn from her neck, and something about it was turning her on. After a few seconds, Annabelle pulled away, her lips considerably redder than they had been before. "Now come here," she said, "taste your blood." Now Annabelle was leaning in for her lips.

This was crazy! This woman was going to kiss her... and Elizabeth was going to let her do it! She gave no resistance at all when their lips met. The inside of Annabelle's mouth was coated with Elizabeth's blood, serving as a dressing as their tongues danced together in a graceful union.

"Now," Annabelle said once she pulled away, tilting her own head sideways, "taste mine."

Elizabeth again surprised herself by giving no hesitation. She had become a complete slave to impulse. Annabelle was telling her to bite her, and her bare and exposed neck was just too inviting to give a moment's refusal. Elizabeth leaned in and carefully sunk her teeth into the soft flesh of Annabelle's throat. She felt alive; as alive as she only did when she fed off a live human. But this wasn't feeding; this was just tasting. And she was loving it.

And apparently, so was Annabelle. Elizabeth felt a hand placed on the back of her head, and a contented sigh next to her ear. As her hand casually moved across Annabelle's shoulder, she happened to move one of the spaghetti straps of her dress, and suddenly found herself tempted to continue moving to the point of sliding it off her shoulder. She wanted to undress Annabelle.

Go ahead. Do it.

The sound of Annabelle's mental encouragement was all she needed. Off went one strap, and as she pulled her lips away from Annabelle's throat, off went the other. The dress slid down and pooled around Annabelle's feet, leaving her body exposed for Elizabeth's viewing pleasure. Once again the two women brought their lips together, Elizabeth now offering Annabelle a taste of her own blood. Before she knew what she was doing, her hands were cupping Annabelle's breasts and giving them a good squeeze.

Something was happening. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but Annabelle was doing something. It wasn't until she disengaged their lips that she saw that Annabelle was unbuttoning her blouse. Under different circumstances she knew she'd be attempting to stop her, but something was encouraging her to allow Annabelle to do what she was doing. She even spread her arms when the last button was undone to allow her blouse to be removed—and again her hands began moving almost without her consent by reaching behind her to unfasten her bra. Seconds later, she had exposed her own breasts for Annabelle to put her hands on.

She sighed and leaned her head back, cupping her hands under her breasts, as Annabelle leaned down and began flicking a tongue over one of her nipples, which by now felt like a pair of pebbles on her chest. What the hell am I doing? she thought. I've never even been with a man, and here I am getting intimate with a woman; one I just met last night, no less! What does this mean? Have I really been a flaming lesbo all this time?

No, a lesbian wouldn't have fantasized about Nathaniel the way she did. And nonetheless, she was allowing Annabelle to put her tongue on her nipples. But as Annabelle moved over to put her tongue on the other one, Elizabeth just stopped asking herself questions. Right now she just wanted this to keep happening.

In fact, she was already making an effort to keep this moving by beginning to unfasten her jeans. She took a small step back and bent down to slide her pants down her legs and stepped out of both them and her shoes in a single motion. She was now standing in front of Annabelle in nothing but her especially moist panties.

Annabelle began dabbing her fingers at the little wound on her neck, coating her fingers with her blood, and then proceeded to smear her own blood over her tits. Without an instant's hesitation, Elizabeth leaned in and began lapping away at Annabelle's blood, and once again felt her hand on the back of her head. And then she heard Annabelle's soft moan.

Now she felt Annabelle's other hand: running down her belly and into her panties. And then to... there. Elizabeth gasped as that spot, which until now she had only allowed herself to touch, was gently caressed by Annabelle's expert hands.

Ahhh... virgin. That explains it.

Elizabeth looked up curiously into Annabelle's hypnotic green eyes. "That explains what?"

Annabelle smiled. Her smile was almost as alluring as her eyes. "Why you're so full of fear. It's natural to be afraid of what you don't know."

But you... you like to be afraid, don't you? 

Elizabeth said nothing; she was just trying to chew on what Annabelle had just "said" to her. She thought back to the night she had accepted her brother's gift. She had said yes for one important reason: she was frightened. And still now, when she walked home from school in the dark on the streets, reveling in her own fear, that hadn't changed. And even now at this moment, as she shared this intimate moment with Annabelle, she was still afraid. Being afraid was what turned her on.

She nodded. 

Annabelle smiled—and dropped to her knees. Before Elizabeth knew what was happening, her panties were on the floor, and Annabelle's mouth was moving in. Her heavy heart leapt for a moment as she saw what was about to happen.

Her head rolled back and her eyes fluttered shut. Her hands took on a life of their own, playing with her tits, and a soft groan escaped her mouth. Doing this with her hand was one thing. What Annabelle was doing now was, for lack of a better word, incredible. Her lips and tongue were not only warm and wet, but skilled. Annabelle knew what she was doing. This was starting to remind her of the shower she had last night, only this was different. This was so much more intense.

Are you enjoying this?

Yes!

Are you still afraid?

No!

Do you want me to make you cum?

"YES!" Elizabeth screamed, unable to hold back. Her fingers dug into Annabelle's scalp and she pulled, wanting to keep her permanently locked to her sex. She was only now beginning to notice the very loud noises that were coming from her own mouth. "YES!" she screamed again. And again. And again, until her orgasm came roaring through her like a volcanic blast.

Annabelle stood up, and once again brought her mouth to hers, this time bringing a whole new flavor with it. Elizabeth didn't even realize until their lips disengaged that they had their arms around each other. The feel of their flesh—and especially their tits—pressed together was an erotic thrill all its own. And at that moment, right their, warm in Annabelle's passionate embrace, she knew this night had changed her forever.

"Elizabeth?"

"Yes?"

"I'd just like to be the first one to say: welcome to the Blood Rose."

To Be Continued... 



Blood Rose Ch. 02



1875

Annabelle breathed deeply as her eyes opened. With a level of vigor she never thought she would ever feel again, she sat up in bed. Impulsively, she began to laugh. She felt... strong. Revived. Alive. The fever that had ailed her for days, that had already claimed the rest of her family, was gone. She was herself again.

No, that wasn't quite right. She felt better, stronger now, but not necessarily like herself. It was more like she felt like someone else. It didn't matter. By all rights, she should have joined her family in the afterlife by now. She hadn't. And as much as she would miss them, she was grateful for that.

All that had happened over the last few short weeks felt so far away now. It had started when her brother Peter had contracted the fever. Before long it had started to spread. One by one, each of her family had fallen ill. Annabelle herself had remained free of the disease long enough to see Peter die five days after he had been stricken, but it wasn't long after that she had fallen victim to the fever herself. They had contacted the doctor in town and he had been busy making medicine, but it had taken time to make and more time to reach him; and in that time, the fever had managed to kill off a good portion of her family.

By the time it had come down to her father, her sister, and herself, they began to realize the doctor was late. A few short days later, Annabelle had been the only one left. She knew she was staring death in the face when suddenly that woman arrived. Such a lovely woman was she, with hair like red silk, and her eyes... those beautiful, sparkling violet eyes that were so difficult to look away from. She'd said she was a nurse, and that the doctor had been robbed and murdered before he could complete the medicine. Then she'd started saying she had a way to save her, but she could only save her life by giving her a new one. Annabelle didn't care what that meant; she wanted to live.

After that was just a blur.

Annabelle looked quickly around the room in search of the mysterious nurse who had saved her. She appeared to be alone, but she did find what the nurse had left her. Smiling, she picked up the lovely red rose that had been placed on her pillow and gave it a sniff. Her senses felt stronger than she remembered them. The sweet fragrance of the rose seemed amplified, reminding her again of how grateful she was to be alive.

"Awake at last?" Annabelle instantly recognized the silky voice and proud English accent of the mysterious nurse as she stepped in through the door. Her gait was as graceful and weightless as before, even as she carried a bowl in her hands. Whatever was in that bowl, it smelled delicious.

"Yes," Annabelle breathed, smiling. "Thank you."

"At last. I waited all day for you to wake." Annabelle took a look towards the window, and found it dark. She hadn't even realized it was nighttime; everything seemed so bright. "How do you feel?" the woman asked.

"Alive again, thanks to you. Whatever you did, God bless you." It wasn't until she stood up that she felt the mild pang in her gut. "Though I am feeling a little hungry... no, not hungry exactly..."

"Here," the woman stepped forward, holding out the bowl in her hands for her. "I have what you need."

Annabelle took the bowl, and only looked for a moment at the dark red liquid in it before bringing it to her lips and starting to drink. Ah, the thick rich taste that ran down her throat was utterly exquisite! She slowly leaned back as she drank, emptying the bowl, savoring every last drop.

When she was finished, she brought the empty bowl down with a loud sigh. The woman stepped forward with a smile on her face and a handkerchief in her hand. "My, you were hungry," she grinned, wiping at the corner of Annabelle's mouth. It wasn't until she saw the deep red that came off on the white handkerchief that Annabelle began to grow suspicious.

"Was that... blood?"

The woman looked her square in the eyes. "I warned you that you would be giving up one life for a new one. This is merely an adjustment you will have to make. You made the choice to live by embracing the Darkness; now I want to show you how to make the most of that choice."

Annabelle eyed her suspiciously. "Who are you?"

The woman smiled again. "My name is Electra. Now come with me. You have much to learn."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth seated herself down on the bed. Damn, it was a comfy bed, too. "What exactly is the Blood Rose?"

"Put simply, a discipline," Annabelle explained. "It's something I've been teaching vampire girls like yourself for several decades now. It involves total communion of the mind and senses, and an amplified awareness and intimacy with the world around you."

Elizabeth tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. Annabelle laughed, and said, "Don't rack your brain over it now, you'll get the idea eventually. You're welcome here anytime now, anytime you wish, but I do have particular times when I hold my sessions." 

"I suppose I'm supposed to get some kind of memo then?"

Annabelle shrugged. "Something like that. But you should really try to think of this house as a second home of sorts, because I encourage the girls who come here to socialize as much as possible, and there are plenty of ways to do that here. Trust me, you'll be making plenty of friends here." She paused a moment, getting a particular look in her eyes that got Elizabeth a bit anxious. "In fact..."

Annabelle began moving towards the door. "I'll be right back. And I won't be coming back alone." She stepped out through the door for a moment, then leaned back in and added, "Oh, and don't even think about getting dressed!"

Elizabeth hadn't even noticed until Annabelle said that that she was still stark naked. Come to think of it, so was Annabelle, and she was going off to get someone that way. That should have seemed a little stranger than it actually was.

Elizabeth stood up and took a good look at herself in the mirror. She took a look at her youthful face, at her long dark hair, at her light hazel eyes. She looked up and down her body, and for the first time in her life began to realize something: she was actually attractive. If the girl looking back at her was actually a person standing in front of her, she might actually be tempted to touch her.

Light footsteps at the door a few moments later heralded Annabelle's return. And true to her word, she did not return alone. There was now a third girl in the room with them. And just as naked, too. She was tall, thin, and blonde, and she didn't look a day over seventeen, but something in her eyes presented a feeling of age and wisdom.

"Elizabeth," Annabelle purred, draping her arms over the other girl's shoulders, "this is Charlotte."

"Hi," the other girl smiled.

"Uh, hi," Elizabeth returned.

"Charlotte," said Annabelle, "why don't you go have a seat on the bed." Charlotte did as Annabelle said, and then looked at Elizabeth with an eager smile. Annabelle took Elizabeth by the arm and led her to where Charlotte was sitting. Charlotte leaned back slightly, supporting her weight on her hands, and spread her legs apart, exposing her pink pussy.

"Down on your knees, Elizabeth." Her heart was thumping as she followed Annabelle's direction, bringing the place between Charlotte's legs to eye-level. Never in her life had she seen another girl's vagina this close. She could smell it; Charlotte was ready and waiting to be tasted. She nervously placed a hand on Charlotte's inner thigh and stared at the beautiful pussy in front of her face.

Annabelle knelt down beside her, diligently watching her every motion. "Go on," she said softly, "don't be shy."

And with that little encouragement, she leaned in, and her tongue ran itself up Charlotte's lips. Charlotte's body shivered in response. "Go on," Annabelle encouraged. "Don't stop." Elizabeth licked it again. And again. She could taste the salty juices in there. "Keep licking," said Annabelle. Having taken that first step, Elizabeth continued what she was doing, starting to go faster. Charlotte began mewling softly.

"Spread her lips apart," Annabelle instructed. Elizabeth obeyed with none of the hesitation she had before. Her fingers pulled at either side of the thing she was licking, opening it like a pink flower. "Now start licking her clit." Elizabeth's tongue obediently sought out the little nub at the top of Charlotte's valley, and began selectively toying with it. Charlotte moaned louder.

"Now stick your fingers in there." For a moment, Elizabeth stopped to think about just how crazy this situation was, but only for a moment. She continued tonguing the tiny spot while she carefully slid two fingers into the tender folds of Charlotte's pussy. She felt a hand on the back of her head, trying to pull her closer. Charlotte had begun to squirm where she sat, and she was still moaning louder. Elizabeth realized then how much she was enjoying this, and how happy the sounds of Charlotte's pleasure were making her.

"Mix it up some," commanded Annabelle. "Suck it a little." Elizabeth did as Annabelle instructed. She began sucking the little nub between her lips, and alternated between that and what she had been doing before. She suddenly noticed that some of the noise in the room was actually coming from herself; she was humming while she did this. Without even consciously knowing it. And Charlotte was probably appreciating it too.

Elizabeth turned her eyes upward as she continued to service Charlotte's sex. Charlotte had her eyes closed and her mouth open, and attached to her right tit was Annabelle's mouth. She momentarily threw her head back and grunted hard. It gave Elizabeth a warm, happy little feeling when she considered that she was the reason Charlotte was experiencing this kind of pleasure.

Annabelle looked down at her. "Focus, Elizabeth," she instructed. "Pump her harder. You're gonna make her cum." Elizabeth obediently returned her full attention to what she was doing, moving her lips and tongue faster and pumping her fingers harder.

"Oh, yes..." Charlotte breathed. "Oh god... Don't stop!" Elizabeth hardly needed to be told that. If anything, she was just getting more excited. "Oh my god, I'm gonna cum!" Those words alone were enough to get Elizabeth going faster than ever. She wanted this to happen as much as Charlotte did. 

She heard Charlotte's happy cries beginning to build, and she prepared herself for... she really wasn't sure what she was supposed to prepare for. She'd certainly gotten herself off many times, but she'd never been on this side of it before. For a second or two, Charlotte fell silent, then she suddenly went stiff and screamed as Elizabeth's fingers became drenched in juices. As Charlotte's body convulsed a few times, Elizabeth pulled her fingers out and, without stopping to think what she was doing, put them in her mouth.

God, they tasted good!

"How is she, Charlotte?" Annabelle purred, her hands once again draped around Charlotte's shoulders.

"She was wonderful," Charlotte beamed.

"You hear that, Elizabeth?" Annabelle mused. "You're a natural pussy-eater!" Elizabeth smiled. She was actually happy to hear that.

Elizabeth seated herself on the bed next to Charlotte. Charlotte smiled at her, and Elizabeth found herself returning it. "I think you're going to fit in like a glove here," Annabelle purred. Then suddenly Annabelle's look lost its enthusiasm. "Now, we do still have the issue of that little cherry of yours. We really must do something about that." 

Elizabeth gulped.

Charlotte suddenly arose from the bed and moved over to the drawers saying, "Well, there's one way we could do that here." She opened the top drawer, reached in, and... Elizabeth gasped when she saw the six-inch purple vibrator that Charlotte pulled out. Charlotte, however, looked at it, pursed her lips to one side, and set it down on top of the dresser and began rummaging through the drawer. She began pulling out one sex toy after another and setting them all down on top of the dresser, until—

"Ah, perfect!"

Charlotte turned around with that thing in her hands, and Elizabeth found her mouth unable to close. She'd never seen one, not really, but she knew exactly what it was: a strap-on. And Charlotte was intending to use it on her.

Annabelle smiled wide. "What do you think? Would you like to be popped right here and now, or would you rather I haul in a guy to do the honors? It's your call, but you should know that virginity has no place in the Blood Rose."

All it took was the mention of a guy doing the "honors" to get her thinking once again of Nathaniel. She'd fantasized so many times about him being the one to deflower her... Suddenly she realized that she was being suggested the prospect of being de-virginized by a woman; in a way, Nathaniel could still potentially be her first if she did this. And perhaps this could make her more ready for him anyway.

It suddenly occurred to her how easy this question was. Yet somehow, the words couldn't seem to get through her throat. All she could really do was give Charlotte an affirming nod.

That was enough.

Charlotte grinned and put her legs through the harness, while Annabelle moved over to help her fasten it. When the thing was secure on Charlotte's lower half, she began eagerly moving in Elizabeth's direction. Elizabeth found herself shrinking from the thing protruding from Charlotte's crotch, leaning back and supporting her weight on her elbows. Once again, she was afraid. And as before, that meant being more turned on than ever. Charlotte climbed onto the bed, spread Elizabeth's knees apart and knelt between her legs. Her skin tingled as she felt the tip of the rubber rod touching the lips of her pussy.

This was it.

"Ready?"

Elizabeth nodded.

Slowly, carefully, Charlotte pushed the rubber thing into her. Elizabeth squinted her eyes and her teeth mashed together, and a squeal of pain slowly worked its way out of her mouth. The thing finally stopped its slow and ponderous intrusion, and began its in-and-out thrusts. She felt tears running down the side of her face. God, it hurt!

"Just be patient," she heard Annabelle say. "It'll only hurt for a moment. And when the pain stops, then you'll find out why people do this."

As if in response to Annabelle's words, the pain was already starting to fade. Her eyes slowly opened as she found herself starting to like what was happening. The big rubber thing moving in and out of her tight hole was steadily starting to feel good. She looked up at Charlotte, seeing her open mouth and heavy breathing, and understood that Charlotte was particularly enjoying this herself. With a quick glance at where the strap-on was... strapped on, she understood why. She could tell how the back of the thing was rubbing against her crotch each time she pushed in...

Elizabeth laid her head back and moaned aloud, her train of thought buried.

She heard another soft moan that clearly did not come from Charlotte, and looked over in Annabelle's direction. Annabelle was seated on the sofa across the room, and was busy using the purple vibrator Charlotte had pulled from the drawer on herself. She had one foot on the floor and the other on the armrest of the couch, with her free hand groping her breasts while the other hurriedly pumped the thing in and out of her pussy as she watched what was happening. She saw Elizabeth looking at her and returned her look with an encouraging smile. "How is it?"

Such an open-ended question. Elizabeth didn't really feel up to trying to form a sentence right now.

Annabelle refined her question. "Do you like it?"

"Yes," she said, then paused. "Yes!" she said again. "Yeah, I like it!" And before she could stop to think about what she was saying, she suddenly blurted out, "Fuck me harder!"

Charlotte was only too happy to oblige her. The thrusts began coming harder, and faster. And Elizabeth was steadily moving from the realm of liking it to actually loving it. "Oh God, yes!" she shouted.

"That's it girl!" Annabelle exclaimed, right after a grunt of her own self-induced pleasure. Charlotte began leaning forward as she continued her thrusting, placing a hand next to either of Elizabeth's shoulders. Elizabeth looked up into her smiling face, and Charlotte brought her lips down to hers. Elizabeth eagerly returned the girl's kiss, meeting her lips and tongue with matching hunger. Her arms reached up around Charlotte's body and pulled her tighter to her. Charlotte's hands slid their way under her shoulders, allowing her to return her embrace as she continued fucking her.

A mere hour ago, Elizabeth would never have imagined herself doing something like this. Ever. Yet now here she was, losing her virginity to another girl, and there was no part of what was happening that she wasn't loving. The thing that was invading her pussy, the feel of Charlotte's naked body pressed against her own, the wet tenderness of their kiss... everything was wonderful. Her hands took on a life of their own, exploring every peak and valley of Charlotte's body they could reach.

Charlotte finally broke off the kiss and held her cheek-to-cheek, allowing Elizabeth to finally release the cries of delight that had been muffled by Charlotte's lips until now, as well as to look up and see the beautiful reflection of what they were doing in the ceiling mirror. Only for a few seconds, though, as another pair of lips—Annabelle's—came down to make out with her. Annabelle's kiss only lasted a moment, before she pulled away, looked into her eyes and said, "She gonna make you cum?"

Elizabeth didn't answer. Not with words, at least. She resumed her noises of pleasure, still looking into Annabelle's eyes. "C'mon, Charlotte," Annabelle commanded, "fuck her some more. She needs to cum."

Charlotte raised herself up on her hands and looked down into Elizabeth's eyes. "C'mon, cum for us baby," she smiled.

 Cum.

Cum.

 I want you to cum.

Annabelle's mental voice was seeming to have its desired effect; Elizabeth's orgasm was approaching. "Oh my God... oh my God..."

"You gonna cum?" they both said, though not at exactly the same time.

"Yes, I'm gonna cum! I'm gonna cum!" And a few scant seconds later, Elizabeth tensed up and screamed as she felt the overwhelming flood of her orgasm. Charlotte cheered.

Elizabeth lay back on the bed and attempted to catch her breath as the rubber thing was withdrawn from her. She looked up, into Charlotte's smiling face, into her luminous eyes. Annabelle started to say something, but Elizabeth was so not listening. In a flash, she bounded up and grabbed Charlotte by the neck, and hungrily locked lips with her. She could tell Charlotte's passion level had not waned a bit.

She looked again into Charlotte's eyes when their lips disengaged, and realized then what it was she wanted to do at that moment. She looked over at Annabelle and said, "Can I taste her blood?"

Annabelle grinned and shrugged. "Don't ask me."

Understanding perfectly, Elizabeth looked back at Charlotte, who was giving her a wordless response by brushing her hair away from her neck. "Be gentle now," Annabelle instructed, but Elizabeth was barely listening. She rose up, pulled her lips back, and gently sunk her teeth into the tender flesh of Charlotte's neck. The taste of her blood sent a happy little buzz running through her body.

"That's it girl," Annabelle said. "Easy, gently now."

Moments later, Elizabeth released her with a long, slow breath, which she heard Charlotte echo. Their eyes locked, and the two girls giggled a moment.

"Ooh, look, you got a little..." Annabelle didn't bother to finish her sentence, but Elizabeth got the message when she leaned in and licked a bit of blood from the corner of her mouth. They giggled some more.




Blood Rose Ch. 02



Elizabeth finally crawled out from under Charlotte and sat up. "Well what now?"

"Now," said Annabelle, "you should probably go get showered." She gestured towards the bathroom connected to the room. Realizing that sounded like a wonderful notion, Elizabeth got up to do just that. As she stepped through the doorway, she was momentarily stopped by Annabelle's voice: "Friday night."

"What?"

"Come back on Friday night at one for your first session."

Elizabeth grinned sheepishly. "Okay."

Since entering this mansion, certain things had become readily apparent. She could certainly tell that this house had been around for a long time; there was much of it that had a very antique feel to it. However, it was also certainly apparent that it had been lived for a very long time. There were so many other things that had been modernized to the extreme. And in that sense, it was also readily apparent that Annabelle had a lot of money to play around with. This bathroom alone was enough to suggest that.

It was decently clean. Elizabeth could tell by looking that it was frequently used, but it was still decently clean. It certainly wasn't shiny like new, but nor was it filthy. That wasn't really the part that mattered. What mattered was that it was still beautiful. 

The shower was set into a corner of the room, about five-by-five feet in width. The walls of the shower were completely tiled, stretching from both walls of the room but not quite meeting, leaving an open doorway which had no door. There were actually two water jets on two adjacent walls, angled such that the separate streams would cross at about the spot where the occupant would stand, and not a drop would escape through the open doorway. Next to the shower, running along the remainder of one wall, was a marble bathtub that was actually sunken into the floor, and the sink was set in a marble countertop beneath a nearly wall-length mirror embroidered in gold.

Elizabeth stepped into the shower, turned the handle and was greeted with dual sprays of hot, soothing water. She stood there a moment, eyes closed, just taking a moment to savor the feeling of the water on her skin. She really didn't understand completely what Annabelle had done to her tonight; what was really happening to her in this mansion. The only thing she really knew for sure was that she could not remember the last time she had felt this good. It was almost like the euphoric feeling of having just fed off a live person without the accompanying guilt trip. Everything in her body felt alive. And amazingly, her level of arousal had not quite gone down yet.

Her thoughts began focusing on Charlotte, and on the intimacy they had just shared. She remembered the feeling of that thing inside her, and suddenly found herself excruciatingly eager to find out what the real thing felt like. Once more, she began thinking about Nathaniel, and on impulse began groping her breasts. His beautiful face, his rock-hard pectorals...

She didn't even notice she wasn't alone until she felt another pair of hands slide under her own and begin fondling her tits for her. "Hi sugar." Rosanna.

Elizabeth didn't say a word. She didn't need to. She barely even opened her eyes. She merely turned her head sideways to accept Rosanna's tender kiss. Her fingers entwined with hers, and moved with them as they squeezed and fondled her tits. She could feel the tip of Rosanna's tits touching her back, which sent a tingle of excitement through her. And when Rosanna's right hand began moving down her body to the magical spot below, Elizabeth's hand moved with it.

Some part of her brain was whirling right about now. This made the third lesbian encounter with as many girls she would have in one night, when she still hadn't even done it straight yet. And yet as aware as she was that this was crazy, she couldn't have cared less right now. She rotated herself around to face Rosanna, never once unlocking lips, pressing against her tit-to-tit. Rosanna was massaging her clit like a pro, and Elizabeth grinded against her hand with burning need.

A need that had not been satisfied when she suddenly no longer felt the touch of Rosanna's lips and tongue on her own. But Elizabeth felt disappointed only for a split second, as Rosanna's tongue touched another part of her, just below the neck, moving slowly downward. Elizabeth became more excited than ever that her sex was about to have a mouth on it again. And when it happened, when she felt the touch of Rosanna's warm, moist lips in her most intimate of places, her entire body shivered with delight. 

At that moment, lost in blissful passion, her eyes shut and her mouth hanging open, her fingers clutching Rosanna's skull and digging into her hair, Elizabeth made a definite decision: The fact that she still didn't fully understand what this Blood Rose thing was didn't matter at all. One way or another, she would definitely be coming here again.

***

As far as Kaeli was concerned, if tonight's hunt was as uneventful as last night's, that would be fine with her. Actually, she was kind of hoping for them to find nothing tonight. She knew Dorian would be pissed, but right now she couldn't care less. Not as long as she and Andy could keep doing what they were doing.

Kaeli lay on her back, clutching Andy to her, relishing the feel of him inside her. Her neck arched back and a low moan escaped from her mouth, which she had been trying hard to suppress. She really didn't want to attract attention right now. Andy was quick to stop the noise she was making by pulling her head up and locking lips. It was a gesture she appreciated a lot. For more than one reason. She really didn't want them to bother the guys in the front of the van.

The back of the team's van had a small room with a door used primarily for what the two of them were doing right now. Most hunters liked to take a few minutes to have this kind of fun when they could. She'd been back here with both Dorian and Ethan a few times, but Andy was still her favorite. And not just for sex. They'd tried their best to keep the real nuances of their relationship under wraps; Dorian would never approve if he knew they'd really fallen for each other.

Kaeli rolled herself on top and slowly raised herself upright on Andy's lap. Andy beamed up at her with his dark, dangerous eyes as he groped at her tits. "You like bein' on top, don'tcha?" he grinned.

She smiled back at him, thrusting her hips back and forth. "I just like being in control."

Andy's face took on a decidedly wicked look. And since his face usually had the look of a wicked notion being behind it anyway, seeing it look decidedly wicked usually meant trouble. "You do, do you?" he smirked. Kaeli had a split second to understand that something was about to happen before Andy lunged up with a feral roar, grabbing her and tackling her down without pulling out of her once. She let out a scream, which quickly changed into high-pitched laughter. "Who's in control now?" 

She realized then that she had probably failed in a very big way to avoid attracting attention, but she found herself a long way from caring. Andy was a talented lover: not many guys she'd been with could talk to her and focus on continuing to please her at the same time, but at no pint during the words she had just exchanged with him did his pace falter. He never failed to make her hotter than hell, and she knew he was probably less than a minute away from getting her off in a very extreme kind of way. Oh, she could feel it coming—

The van stopped moving. Which could only mean one thing. "Hey, you two! Front and center, we got a live one!"

Dammit!

The two of them reluctantly ceased what they were doing and hastily pulled their clothes on. Kaeli donned her green tank top and her leather pants and boots. Andy, decked out in a white shirt and a pair of jeans, strapped on his knives before pulling his black duster on over them. They exchanged a glance of disappointment, and Kaeli shrugged. "Look at it this way," Andy said, "the sooner we go, the sooner we get back." He gave her a smile, which she returned.

Kaeli grabbed her longbow and her arrows and hopped out of the van where Keith was waiting outside, his revolver ready. "Talk to me, Keith, what's up?"

"Dorian's got one on the run, he wants back-up."

Kaeli tapped on the transmitter in her ear. "Dorian?"

"Kaeli, I'm chasing a vamp up 23rd, about to cross Riverside. I want you to set up an ambush on Eastvale."

"Got it," Kaeli acknowledged and took off running.

She heard Dorian's instructions to the others, but for the moment she'd heard what she needed to know. "Andy, try to cut him off on Riverside, I've got Jade watching the flank."

"I'm on it."

"Keith, stay by the van with Ethan, be ready if he tries anything brave."

"Will do."

Kaeli had already had time to get over her disappointment. Where a vampire walked, it needed to die, and no amount of pleasure was worth allowing it to get away. That was the most essential truth she knew. It was all she had ever known.

At 25, Kaeli was one of the youngest hunters on Dorian's team, yet ironically also one of the most experienced. Born the illegitimate child of two hunters, she had been pretty much raised by her parents' entire team, and was taught from the cradle everything she ever needed to know about vampires. Hunting them was what she was born into; her purpose in life. Had she been born under different circumstances, she had no idea what she would have done with her life, nor did she ever bother to think about it. 

She heard three gunshots over the transmission. "I got him takin' a detour on Riverside." That was Jade. Trigger happy Jade, always brazen enough to think they would be able to bring her target down before the cops had time to investigate reports of gunfire. They were fortunate enough that it was late, and there didn't seem to be any civilians on the streets in the immediate area right now, but Kaeli doubted that the shots had gone completely unheard. This had to happen quickly.

Kaeli leaned around a corner, and spotted the target moving up the street like a bat out of hell, with Ethan's dog Shadow hot on his heels. She got ready, drawing an arrow and preparing to let it fly at any given moment. Andy emerged from an alley, tossing a few knives into the vampire's gut. In the time it took for him to reel from that blow, Jade had time to catch up, and he barely evaded Shadow's teeth. "We got him cornered on Riverside," Andy announced into the intercom.

"On my way," Dorian responded. "Keith, Ethan, bring the van around."

"Yes sir."

Kaeli drew her bow, preparing to launch when the appropriate moment arose. The vampire attempted to get away by leaping at least ten feet into the air onto the side of an adjacent building and climbing up. Her aim followed him; he was clear of Andy and Jade, but she still had to aim carefully. She wanted to make sure this shot counted. She found her moment, and let fly.

Bull's-eye! Right through the heart.

The vamp had time to gasp for a second or two before dropping back down to the street where Andy and Jade, and now Dorian, were waiting. "I got him," Kaeli announced.

"He's down," Andy confirmed.

"Good job guys," said Dorian.

The van pulled up and Ethan and Keith emerged. "The bloodsucker's dead?" Ethan checked in his gruff, raspy voice as Shadow bounded over to him for a pat on the head.

"Yeah," said Dorian. "Let's load him up and get him to the incinerator."

As always, Ethan stepped up first. Ethan was all sweat and muscle. When not hunting vampires, he spent most of his time in the metal shop at Dorian's headquarters forging weapons. He was the kind of guy who was hardboiled to the point that Kaeli often suspected he was forged in a metal shop himself. He was the weapons specialist on the team, and anytime someone on the team needed manual labor done, he was The Man.

As Ethan and Keith lifted the body, something fell from it. Andy picked it up to inspect it, naming it when he saw what it was. "A rose. How charming."

Dorian suddenly got an urgent look on his face. "Let me see that," he commanded, receiving the red flower from Andy and taking a look at it. "Keith, Ethan, hold on!" The two guys stopped, looking at Dorian with more than a little curiosity. "Check his pockets," Dorian commanded.

The two of them set him down and began digging through the dead vampire's pockets, pulling out a wallet, a cell phone, a set of keys and some loose change but not much else. Dorian immediately snatched up the wallet and began rifling through it. When he pulled a small business card out of it, his face lit up like a candle flame. "Paydirt!" he beamed.

"What is it?" said Kaeli, joining the others crowding around him. Dorian responded by handing the card to her. The card referred to some nightclub called the Deadly Rose. And then she saw the name of the owner.

"Electra Rose."

The looks on Ethan and Andy's faces denoted that they knew exactly what this meant. Jade and Keith had no clue. "Who the hell is she?" Jade shrugged.

"Only one of the most powerful and dangerous vampires alive," Kaeli said. "She commands a massive organized crime network, mostly run by vampires."

"She leads a group of vampire assassins called the Blood Squad, too," added Ethan. "Nasty motherfuckers, known to wipe out entire teams of hunters in minutes."

"And yet I'm detecting a happy vibe going around here," Keith said, perplexed. "Someone care to fill me in on why we're excited about this?"

"Just imagine for a moment," said Dorian, "what it could mean if we took out a vampire like her. The everyday vamp we all know is just a small step in making the world a safer place. But Electra... we're talking about the ultimate femme fatale! The Attila the Hun of vampires! And we've got her address!"

"So you're thinking we find this club, throw a bomb in and blow the shit out of the place?" Jade suggested. "Sounds good to me!"

"No, wait," Kaeli put in, "we don't know for sure that everyone in the club is going to be a vampire."

"She's right," Dorian agreed. "Vampires who own clubs try to blend in by allowing in anyone who buys a ticket, vampire or not. Not to mention it gives them an opportunity to lure some poor saps into their fangs. We've got to do this carefully."

"So what were you thinking?" said Keith.

Dorian contemplated a moment. "Well don't expect me to form a plan right on the spot. This just points the way, so from here I guess we'll just kind of play this by ear."

"And keep an ear to the ground," added Kaeli. Everyone looked at her, asking for an explanation. She went on, "well if there are going to be other vampires there, which there's surely going to be in a vampire club, we can see if we can eavesdrop on them and find some connections. This could be an opportunity not just to nail Electra Rose, but some of the other big hotshot vampires out there as well if we play our cards right."

Kaeli could see them chewing on this idea, and some of them seriously considering it. "That sounds dangerous," Ethan cautioned.

"And name one thing we do that isn't dangerous," Andy put in. Kaeli smiled at him, and he turned a warm-hearted eye to her.

"All right," Dorian broke in. "We'll check this place out on Friday, when the club should be at its busiest and see what we can find. We play it quiet, keep all weapons concealed, don't do anything to attract attention."

"So you're saying we just go to have fun," Jade grinned. "I'm into it!" Kaeli grinned with her, realizing this probably was exactly Jade's kind of mission. Not that she wasn't looking forward to it herself somewhat. She clutched at the crucifix that hung from her neck as she wondered if that was wrong. But then, why should it be? When doing something as righteous as killing vampires, what could be wrong with taking some kind of pleasure in it? Why did it feel like a guilty pleasure?

***

Elizabeth did ultimately get around to mentioning Annabelle to her parents. She didn't tell them much; just that she'd made a new friend, and that she'd be going to her house after school on Friday night. That was enough for them, and she was free to pursue... whatever it was she was pursuing.

She arrived at the mansion at about 12:58, and was greeted at the door by an Asian girl with short pink hair in a red silk kimono, just like the one Rosanna had worn. The girl smiled, and said, "You must be Elizabeth," with the faintest hint of some accent in her voice.

"That's me," Elizabeth smiled back.

"My name's Noemi," the girl beamed, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you." 

A gentle hand touched Elizabeth's shoulder, and she turned her head to look into the dark eyes of another Asian girl in the same kimono, this one with slightly longer blue hair. "And this is my little sister Miko," Noemi said. Elizabeth opened her mouth to say hi, but before any words could come out Miko greeted her by shoving her tongue down her throat. Elizabeth was caught off guard for a moment, but then relaxed into Miko's kiss and closed her eyes and returned it. Noemi laughed.

It took a second or two after Miko disconnected their lips for Elizabeth to open her eyes again. "What was that for exactly?"

Miko shrugged. "Just saying hello."

"Sorry, I didn't really have time to warn—" Noemi started to say, but was cut off by Elizabeth grabbing her face and giving her the same kind of kiss.

"Didn't want you to feel left out," Elizabeth smiled.

Miko laughed this time. "I think I like her," she giggled.

Elizabeth took a look around, although quickly realized the futility of that. "Where's Annabelle?"

"She's just getting ready for you," Noemi said. "She told us to keep you company in the meantime. Can we get you something to drink? Some blood maybe?"

"Sure."

Elizabeth followed the two sisters into a sparkling and grandiose kitchen. Noemi opened the six-foot silver refrigerator and asked, "What type do you take?"

"Do you have AB+?"

"And plenty of it," Noemi smiled, producing a so-labeled package. She pulled a glass from the pantry, popped the top off the tube end of the package and filled the glass with the thick red stuff. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Elizabeth took the glass and sat down at the island in the middle of the room. "How long you two known Annabelle for?"

"A few years," Miko replied. "But we only started her Blood Rose training about a month ago."

"So are you youngbloods, or are you pureborn?"

"We're youngbloods," they both replied. Miko went on, "I don't think Annabelle works with pureborns very much."

"Why's that?"

Miko thought for a moment. "I think she says something like, it's easier to tap into your latent vampire senses when you've felt them awakened in the first place."

Elizabeth's thoughts trailed back to the things Sylvia said the other night, about how she envied youngbloods. It now sounded like that feeling was being given just cause.

"So... how'd you get to be vampires?"

Noemi thought wistfully for a moment. "We were in high school in Tokyo, I think it was 1983. Miko was in tenth grade, I was in twelfth. There was this college boy who showed up at one of our school dances, and we both started seeing him a lot. We were both attracted to him—oh, he was a vampire, by the way—"

"Yeah, I got that."

"Anyway, he was attracted to both of us too, and we had to face the fact that he had to choose one of us, and... he ended up choosing me. So, he turned me. But you know, I couldn't just leave my sister behind, so I turned her too."

Elizabeth turned her eyes downward, making a small, wistful grin. "That sounds familiar."

"What do you mean?" Miko asked.

She started to give them a brief recounting of what happened the night Anthony came home, but she didn't get too deep into it. She really wasn't interested in thinking about Anthony right now. "So anyway, what happened to this guy?"




Blood Rose Ch. 02



Noemi shrugged. "He left us. When I turned Miko, he decided I wasn't as devoted to him as he thought, so he left."

Elizabeth scoffed. "Loser."

"Just wondering," Miko said, "who made your brother a vampire?"

Everything in Elizabeth's brain stopped. She took a moment to chew on this question that had somehow never entered her mind. "He never told me. I never got the chance to ask him, either. He left home about three weeks after he turned me. I haven't seen him since."

"Why'd he do that?" said Miko.

Elizabeth shrugged. "He never said anything. He just left. I must have asked my parents a million times where he went, but none of us have heard a word from him in years."

"Wow..." Noemi said, "that's..."

"Cruel?"

"I was going to say 'weird,' but yes, that too."

Elizabeth took a quick look at the two girls in front of her. "Whereas you two seem to have stuck to each other like glue."

Noemi and Miko smiled at each other. "Well we always kind of had this thing for each other," Noemi said. "We were still perfectly attracted to boys, but there was always this mutual lust going on between us."

Miko smiled wider. "We used to use each other to practice making out."

"Oh really?" Elizabeth grinned wickedly. "Show me."

They took a brief moment to gape at her, a bit surprised by her sudden directness—which she was a little surprised by herself—then smiled and turned to each other. They came together, gently placing their hands on each other and slowly bringing their mouths together. Elizabeth found herself unable to remove her smile as she watched their eyes close and their tongues meet. She could hardly believe how enticed she was watching these two sisters making out with what looked like years of practiced skill.

"Ole!"

All three girls immediately turned to the sound of the new voice—and when she saw the speaker, Elizabeth fell silent for a few seconds, before managing to blurt out the first thing that came to mind:

"Ay caramba!"

The guy was, put simply, the ultimate Latin hottie. Elizabeth never knew guys who looked like this even existed. Tan skin, rippling muscles that had no shirt concealing them, long, curly black hair tied back in a ponytail so that only a few thin streams of it hung in front of his incredibly beautiful face... her mouth just hung open as she stared at him.

He tilted his head as he looked at her. "Is the señorita all right? She looks a bit unwell." Good God, even his voice is perfect! Deep and mildly raspy with that romantic Spanish accent...

"I think she's just feeling a little hot," Miko beamed. "Nothing to worry about."

The guy's mouth curled into a smile that made Elizabeth feel like she was going to faint, and he took three steps towards her. "Buenos noches," he said. "Name's Rodrigo."

Elizabeth's mind began racing for something to say. "Hi, I'm Elizabeth." "Nice to meet you, I'm Elizabeth." "Buenos noches." "Hello jalapeño hotness!"

"Hi," she squeaked.

"Wow, I just love an articulate woman," he joked. Elizabeth laughed in a very stupefied kind of way.

"Elizabeth!" Annabelle appeared in the doorway in the same red kimono that Noemi and Miko were wearing. "We're ready for you."

Elizabeth took another, albeit long, look at the Latin stud in front of her, then slowly got up and moved in Annabelle's direction, following her out of the kitchen. It took all of her effort to keep her knees from giving out from under her. "Ay caramba," she said again.

"Rodrigo has that effect on most girls," Annabelle grinned. "This way."

Annabelle led her through a door on the other side of the main hall, into a small room decorated by hooks all around the walls. The right wall displayed articles of clothing of all kinds: jackets, blouses, jeans, skirts, while on the floor along the wall were plenty of shoes and even panties and bras. The left wall was decorated with more of the red kimonos Noemi and Miko were wearing. There was no one else in the room, and only one other door on the other side. Annabelle stopped.

"Before we go any further, I have a rule I need you to understand. We are about to enter the west wing first floor. Now anywhere else in the house, clothing is entirely optional. But beyond this point, every article of clothing must be discarded."

Elizabeth stared at Annabelle like she was an alien. "Are you serious?"

"Completely," she declared as she pulled the kimono off of herself and hung it on the wall, leaving herself completely exposed. At the sound of a door closing behind her, Elizabeth turned to find that Noemi and Miko had followed them, and wasted no time in discarding their kimonos as well. Suddenly surrounded by nude women just standing around looking at her, Elizabeth realized they were waiting for her to join their ranks. "Go on, we don't have all night."

Elizabeth looked around sheepishly and proceeded to strip down. When the last of her clothes was on the floor and she was left standing in her bare flesh, Annabelle smiled as Noemi and Miko picked up her clothes and hung them on the wall. "There's a good girl." Annabelle took her by the hand and led her on.

They stepped through the door into a spacious, lounge-like living room that seemed to have been set up for a special occasion, with various candles set up here and there. Four other girls were already there, including Charlotte and Rosanna and two more she didn't know. Of course, all of them were completely undressed.

Annabelle guided Elizabeth to the center of the room, where a small circle of velvet pillows had been set up on the floor, just big enough for a single person in the center of it. Elizabeth took the hint from Annabelle's gestures and stepped into it, then looked around, waiting for someone to tell her what to do next.

One of the girls she didn't know, a black beauty with long dreadlocks, stepped forward with a strip of black fabric in her hands and moved around behind Elizabeth. "The most basic skill involved in Blood Rose," Annabelle began, "is to have all five senses functioning equally at all times. Since we are prone to rely on our eyes more than the rest of our senses, the first thing you must learn is what you can do without them."

With that, the strip of fabric was pulled over her eyes and tied behind her head. "Okay, so I'm going to be blindfolded. Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Well first, just sit down." Elizabeth obeyed, seating herself cross-legged on the floor. "Now I want you to relax. Relax all your muscles; breathe deeply. Breathe now, in through your nose, out through your mouth." Elizabeth followed each instruction. Through her nose she inhaled deeply, taking in the fragrant aroma of flowers and candles that filled the room, and exhaled long and slowly through her mouth. She felt an atmosphere of calm surrounding her. She felt all her nerves relaxing.

She remained this way continuously for a few minutes, then she heard Annabelle's voice say, "Now, let's see what you can do. And whatever happens, don't take off that blindfold until I say so."

"What does that mean?" No answer. "Annabelle? Hello? Anybody?"

Silence.

Slowly she stood up, resisting the urge to yank off the blindfold and see what was happening. She could currently perceive nothing; all was quiet.

Her head turned suddenly to the sound of bare feet running past her, but then the sound was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. Her head turned again when someone giggled on the other side of the room, but it wasn't repeated. Then there was a third sound, of someone blowing out a candle. This one had a smell of smoke and incense to accompany it.

Extending a hand in front of her, Elizabeth carefully took a step out of the circle. Then another. And another. She was beginning to understand the purpose of this exercise: she needed to display how well she could get around and find everybody without being able to see. Perhaps if she could find a candle and blow it out...

She stood still for a moment, sniffing the air for the telltale scent incense. Telling which direction it was coming from wasn't easy, but she went with a guess and began moving towards her left with an outstretched hand. Her hand landed on the armrest of a sofa, which she carefully maneuvered around, extending her other hand. She could tell she was getting close to something hot; she stopped when her hand found an area that was considerably hotter than everywhere else. Her hand hovered around what she knew was a candle flame for a moment, then she leaned her face in closer to the heat, and gave a quick, hard blow. The heat instantly disappearing and the smell of smoking incense appearing in its place rewarded her.

No applause, no Annabelle telling her she could take the blindfold off. That hadn't been enough.

There was someone behind her.

The simple, barely perceptible sounds of breathing and a beating heart were enough to tell her. Slowly she turned around, extending a hand out, and felt a set of fingers meet her own. Her hand clasped with that of the person standing there... and gripping her hand, breathing in the scent of the air around her, suddenly she knew:

"Charlotte?"

There was a quick giggle, and suddenly the other hand was gone from her grip. She couldn't be entirely sure she'd been right that it had been Charlotte's hand she was gripping, although she was about 80% certain she was. In either case, she was gone now. She took a few quick steps forward, feeling wildly around the air to find her again... no. It wasn't going to be that easy.

She put her hands down, relaxed her muscles and resumed her controlled breathing as she stood. She had been able to perceive Charlotte's presence just by the subtlest of clues; now if she could just focus enough to find her or anyone else in the room from where she was. She stood almost motionless, listening as hard as she could for anybody around her. She waited, concentrating... anybody...

...And she did begin to detect somebody not far away. She focused all of her attention on that presence, attempting to determine which direction she was in and how far away she was. When she had gathered a fair idea, she began moving, and knew she was going the right way when she felt the presence getting closer. The closer she got the more she could perceive. When she was about ten feet away, she realized the person she was approaching wasn't standing at all, but she was lying horizontally on the couch. 

When she was about five feet away, she realized the person she was approaching wasn't a she at all.

There hadn't been any guys in the room when the blindfold was put on her. Somehow he'd entered the room and lain down on the couch without making a sound. When her hands landed on the back of the sofa, she guided herself with her hands around to the front of it and knelt down on her knees. Carefully, nervously, she reached out to put her hands on the person she was detecting right in front of her. Her hands landed on a toned, muscular, and very masculine abdomen. Her hands slowly moved along, feeling every contour, ultimately coming to...

Oh God, holy shit!

She'd never touched one of these before, but she knew exactly what it was her hands were feeling now. And it was big, too. There was no way she was going to sense anyone else approaching now, with the way her own heart was thudding in her ears. Her free hand began moving along his body in the other direction, moving across his rippling pectorals, up his neck, and to his face. Gently she felt his face, trying to get a feel for what it looked like. In the middle of starting to form a mental image, her fingers found a few curly wisps of hair and suddenly the image was complete.

Rodrigo.

Suddenly it all made sense. Rodrigo showing up in the kitchen the way he did had been Annabelle's way of whetting Elizabeth's appetite for what was happening now. "Virginity has no place in the Blood Rose," she'd said. So prior to bringing her in here, Annabelle had thrown the sexiest, most charming guy she had in her face to get her worked up, and now here he was again, with his thing in her hand, which was growing rock hard right now. No more explanation was needed; she knew what to do.

And she was ready.

All her attention turned to the stiff thing in her hand. With her other hand she found the top of it, and carefully guided her mouth down to it. Her lips wrapped around the shaft and her head began bobbing up and down. Her tongue danced merrily around the huge thing intruding her mouth. And during all this, the most poignant thing she was noticing was how wet she was getting downstairs. She thought back to the other night when she had first come here, and what she had done with Charlotte. She remembered the stiff piece of rubber that Charlotte had penetrated her with, and realized how much she was craving that feeling of being penetrated now. She continued her oral service for as long as she could stand to wait, then finally she reached the point where she had to have it now.

She pulled her lips off of him with an audible pop, then rose up off her knees and swung her left leg over him, resting it on the other side of him while her right foot remained on the floor. She held onto his rod, doing her best to position herself when she couldn't see what she was doing. She felt the tip touching the lips of her pussy, and from there guided it to the right spot. It was time.

She moaned softly as she lowered herself down and the hard rod filled her. And in that moment, as she felt Rodrigo's manhood inside, she could only think one thought:

I'm a woman now!

And with that she took off, throwing her weight back and forth on top of him. The silence that had pervaded the room for several minutes now was quickly and profoundly broken. A moment ago she couldn't hear a damn thing over her own heartbeat, but even as hard as it was pounding now, it was nothing as compared to the loud moans that were coming out of her mouth. She wanted to freeze time, so that the massive piece of man-meat inside of her could stay there forever and keep doing to her what it was doing now.

Rodrigo's hands took hold of her breasts, and she passionately clutched at his hands as he did. She had received this kind of treatment from Annabelle, Charlotte and Rosanna before, but his hands were different. Not necessarily better or worse, just different. He groped her with a different kind of passion; less delicate; more vigorous. She wasn't about to pick a favorite, but a little variety was nice.

She leaned forward, and was pleased to find how the change of position changed the sensation she was feeling. With her movements a bit more horizontal now, Rodrigo took the opportunity to make things a bit more intense by putting a hand on her ass and giving her a little push on every forward motion. He was moving her harder now, and what she was feeling was getting more intense as a result. And he wasn't letting anything else go slack either, bouncing his hips up and down beneath her. He was good.

As a matter of fact, he was about to drive her to orgasm. Her body straightened up again as she felt it starting to happen, and as it drew nearer she leaned further and further back. Ultimately, just as she started to cum she was practically on her back on the couch. He'd already gotten up onto his knees, not once pulling out of her or faltering in his pace. Her body thrashed about on the couch as her orgasm tore through her, eliciting a carnal scream. And when it subsided, he was still going like an energizer bunny.

He had time to drive her to a second one before reaching his own. It only took another two minutes before she came again, and when that one was subsiding was when he pulled out of her. A few tense seconds later, her body shivered at the feel of little streams of jism landing on it.

Cheers and applause rose up from around the room. Recognizing that she was done, Elizabeth reached up to her face and slid the blindfold off, first seeing Rodrigo knelt above her, then looking around to see the smiling faces of the other girls applauding her, ultimately finding Annabelle's satisfied grin. "That was excellent, Elizabeth. You've completed the first step."

Elizabeth grinned, feeling very pleased with herself. And to think, she'd forgotten all about Nathaniel.

To Be Continued... 



Blood Rose Ch. 03



Six years ago...

It was almost midnight. Brad and Ritchie had already retreated to their tents; Anthony was alone. Aside from the chirping of crickets and the crackle of his campfire, it was quiet. The pale light of the moon danced eerily on the ripples of the lake. He sat calmly in front of the fire, gazing out around the darkness of the woods.

She was out there. 

He was certain he'd seen her once already. Last night when they got back from their hike he was certain for a split second he'd seen her face. Before he could get close she disappeared. She definitely knew they were there.

If only Brad and Ritchie knew... They had no idea why Anthony had really come on this trip. He'd heard the stories of vampire sightings in these woods around this time of year. If they were true, he might actually find what he'd been looking for all along. And now he knew...

Wait, he didn't know, not for sure. He was still certain he'd seen that mysterious redhead, but he couldn't know for sure that she really was a vampire. The only way to really find out would be to see her again, for longer this time. Of course, he had no idea how to find her—which meant he'd have to bring her to him.

He took a moment to chew on what he was considering, then made up his mind to do it. He decided the benefits greatly outweighed the risks. He dug into his backpack and found his survival knife. He stood up and moved to the edge of the lake. He held out a hand, and brought the knife up to it, and wincing sharply made a quick cut across his palm. He squeezed his hand, letting the blood drip on the rocks. If she was a vampire, she'd smell this and come running.

He stood there, letting his blood drip down. He waited. And waited.

And waited.

Nothing. Nothing but a bloody hand.

Anthony sighed, disappointed, and went back to his backpack for his roll of bandages. Maybe this is all just more campfire talk, he thought as he wrapped his hand—

"Why do I get the impression that you're actually trying to get my attention?" He turned at sound of her silky voice, rich with her English accent, and by the light of the fire saw her standing where he had just been over his blood on the rocks. Even in the darkness, her violet eyes seemed to glow like the stars, and the light of the moon shined on her blood-red hair. His mouth curled into a smile.

"Looks like it worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, it did," she nodded, and then began striding gracefully, yet ominously, towards him. "Which, if you do know who and what I am, begs the question, are you tremendously courageous, or just grotesquely stupid?"

"I know what you are," Anthony said, not intimidated. "I wasn't aware I needed to know who you are. I was merely looking for one of your kind."

"Hmm," she grinned, raising her eyebrows. "What an interesting twist of fate you just happened to find me."

"And what makes you so special?"

Her head tilted, and she gazed at him studiously. "You're really not afraid of me, are you? Even though you claim to know what I am."

"Which is a vampire, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then yes, I'm not afraid of you." He began unwrapping his cut hand. "I'll even offer you a little something." He held out his bloody hand before her. "Care for a taste?"

She studied him a moment more. She didn't seem the type to surprise easily, but she looked like he was constantly surprising her. She looked down at his hand, then took hold of it and proceeded to lick the blood from the wound.

Suddenly her head snapped up, and she stared at him wide-eyed. "Great Bones of Valek!" she declared. "You're the one!"

Anthony furrowed his brow curiously. "The one what? Who are you?"

She smiled as though she'd found a beloved trinket she'd been missing for years. "My name is Electra Rose. And believe me when I say I've been searching for you for far longer than you've been searching for me. What is your name?"

"Anthony."

"Anthony... am I correct in assuming the reason you sought audience with me was because you wish to become what I am?"

Anthony grinned. Success. "Yes."

"Then come with me. We should go about this where we don't have a pair of morons in the general vicinity." She said that last part with a nod toward the tents. Anthony silently agreed. He wrapped his hand in the bandage again and poured the bucket of water over the last of his dying fire. Then she took him by the hand and led him along.

He was particularly grateful he had her guiding him with a held hand. Without a vampire's night vision, he could easily lose her in the dark, and evidently she knew it. Not to mention the little squeeze she was giving him was quite enough to get him excited.

She brought him to a cabin by a cliff overlooking the lake and brought him inside. "Do you live out here?" he asked.

"Hardly," she grinned, lighting an oil lamp. "This is just a little piece of property I own that I like to vacation in during the summer. I like nature. It's clean and quiet and beautiful, and loaded with wildlife to snack on."

Anthony stepped forward, tilting his head to the side to expose his neck. "So, shall we just do this and have it done, or—"

She grabbed his head suddenly and vigorously brought her mouth not to his neck but to his lips. To say the least, he was caught off guard.

"What was that for?"

"If we're going to do this, I say we enjoy it. Now take your clothes off."

If he hadn't been sure of it before, he came to the quick decision now that he liked her. "Direct, aren't you?" he said as he pulled off his shirt.

"Yes I am." Evidently he wasn't going fast enough for her, because she had started unfastening his pants for him. She managed to strip him down faster than he knew was possible, then grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him down on her bed. She knelt over him and took hold of the shaft he had pointing to the ceiling. Her mouth dropped open, and she let out a long, slow breath, drawing a long, slow stroke with her tongue along that shaft. Her tongue moved into a slow, graceful dance, circling around the head and coming down into another long, slow upward stroke four more times before she bent her head down and sucked him into her mouth.

Anthony groaned and rolled his head back as she kept his cock in the warm, wet vacuum of her mouth. She was good at this, bobbing her head up and down at a slow, diligent pace. He could feel the head teasing the back of her throat. She was so good in fact, that she seemed to know exactly the right moment to stop. He was right on the verge of pumping her mouth full of his seed when the wet vacuum suddenly disappeared.

He was about to look down to see what she was doing now, but he never got the chance before she shoved her crotch into his face. "That was a little bit of what I can do," she said, straddling his face. "Now show me a little of what you can do."

Needing no further encouragement, Andy took hold of her thighs and proceeded licking away at the juicy slit hovering over him. He heard her low moan of approval, and felt her body start to writhe above him. He suddenly realized she'd already undressed herself; when she'd had time to do that was what particularly baffled him.

Even as she moaned and squirmed as he continued to pleasure her, he began to realize that no matter what happened here tonight, she was the one in control. She threw him down on the bed and given him oral service first, and even now when he was returning the favor, she still had him pinned down. She was that girl who liked to be on top, and no matter what he did, she was going to stay that way.

All at once, apparently when she was satisfied with his oral service, she back vaulted onto his lap and proceeded to mount herself upon him. "I already know you're special, and you're going to be important. Right now I just want to see how good you really are." With that she lowered herself, taking his length inside her.

She was experienced. That much became evident as she rode him. She'd done this dance many times before, with many different guys. For all he knew, she could've been doing this for centuries. Don't assume anything, just enjoy this.

The light was dim, but there was enough for him to see and fixate on her glistening curves, and her face, which was fixed in an expression of carnal pleasure. Her hips pumped his lap like a piston. She was going about this hard and fast. And she was good at going about it hard and fast. She leaned back, supporting her weight on her hands behind her, pointing her tits to the ceiling. Her face disappeared from view, but she was still doing plenty to be heard. Her screams were those of a savage animal.

And she almost scared the living hell out of him when she brought her screaming face down to him, rocked by her own orgasm, and in that single motion he felt her teeth lock onto his throat. It was a shocking release that drove him to finally explode inside of her.

The moment passed. Her head lifted up, and in the dim light of the oil lamp, he could see his blood on her lips. She'd done what he wanted her to do; he wouldn't be keeping his humanity much longer.

"Thank you."

"You'll have plenty of time for that. Trust me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaeli and Andy finally piled into the van and they were ready to go. Dorian didn't have to guess what they were doing while the rest of the team was getting ready, based on the slight ruffle of Kaeli's clothes and hair. So young, those two. So in love. Dorian remembered what that was like, when he and Melissa—

Don't think of Melissa. We've got work to do.

Chances were one of them was going to end up like him someday. They tried to hide their relationship from him, but there was very little about them that wasn't written all over them. If it were all up to him he'd keep them apart and spare them the inevitable heartbreak, but who was he to tell two people they couldn't be in love?

Andy pulled the door shut, and Dorian commanded, "All right, let's roll." Ethan turned the key and the engine rumbled to life. As the van pulled out, part of Dorian was feeling numb. It was just so hard to believe... he'd actually found her. After all these years, it just didn't seem real. It was too good to be true. The one vampire he'd been searching for ever since...

...ever since what happened with Melissa.

There it was again. It seemed there was nothing he could do that wouldn't bring her to mind again. He'd reopened an old wound, and it didn't want to close. But if this worked, if they could find Electra at this club and finally bring her down...

...then she can finally rest.

After driving for about ten minutes, they came upon the neon-lighted entrance to The Deadly Rose, and circled around to a nearby alley to park the van. As Ethan turned off the engine, Jade whooped and hollered, bounding up from her seat. "All right! C'mon, Dorian, let's go kick some fuckin' vampire ass!" Her enthusiasm even startled Shadow.

"I'm not going in with you guys."

Every head in the van turned in his direction. "What do you mean you're not going in?" Kaeli demanded.

"Yeah, I thought you'd be first in line to want that bitch's head on a stake!" Andy added. "It's freakin' Electra Rose we're talking about here!"

"I know who we're looking for!" Dorian snarled, hardly able to believe himself that he was saying what he was saying. "But I think having me in there would make this job a bit more... challenging."

Kaeli tilted her head. "How so?"

Dorian just looked at her, not knowing what he could say. He wanted desperately to charge through the front door, tear the place apart, find Electra and blow her fucking head off with a shotgun, but he couldn't. If she saw me... if she found out I was there... it's too risky.

"Fuck it," Jade sneered, "he doesn't want to party, guess we can't force him. He's the boss."

"I arranged for Kaeli, Andy and Jade to be on the guest list. You'll be going inside and conducting reconnaissance. Keith, Ethan and I will watch the back door with Shadow. Keep in touch at all times. You spot any vampires, report it right away, but do not engage, understood?"

Jade rolled her eyes and groaned.

"UNDERSTOOD?" Dorian glared.

"Yes, I get it," Jade moaned.

"We got it," said Kaeli.

The three of them stepped out of the van and moved off for the entrance. Dorian silently wished them luck, and then wished much harder, desperately, that he could go in with them. If only.

Dorian grabbed his shotgun and hopped out of the van himself. "Let's move," he said. Ethan and Keith both emerged from the front seats. "C'mon Shadow," Ethan commanded, and his loyal German Shepard obeyed. 

Dorian was decked out with his 12-guage autoloader, a handheld bowgun concealed under his brown leather jacket, a Desert Eagle at his hip, and a dagger stashed in his right boot; his usual arsenal. Guns were more useful for hunting vampires than some people gave them credit for. You couldn't usually kill them with a gun unless you got a shot straight to the head or heart with a really powerful gun at really close range, but they could certainly hurt them like hell and thereby slow them down long enough for you to get in close and use something more lethal.

Ethan was much less consistent with his arsenal, so Dorian never knew what he was going to bring with him on a hunt. Tonight he was packing an Uzi and his custom-made repeating crossbow, along with a belt-full of metal stakes. Keith, never being much of a front-line person, at least not when hunting vampires, didn't carry much more than his revolver, which certainly packed a nice wallop, but had limited uses in this line of work.

They'd made their way to the alley behind the club when Kaeli's voice spoke through the transmitter in Dorian's ear, accompanied by some loud thudding music. "We're in."

"Anybody giving off a vampire vibe?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "The bouncer, for starters. In a very big way. And I stress the word 'big.'"

"Seriously," he heard Andy agree. "The guy looks like Shaq on steroids!"

Ethan made an impressed smile with a breath that was halfway to being a laugh. Keith just looked unnerved. "Keep scanning the area," Dorian commanded. "Look for anything that might point in Electra's direction."

"Yes sir," Kaeli replied.

Kaeli's transmission ended. Dorian looked at the building they stood behind, and his blood burned at the knowledge that only a few concrete walls stood between him and the creature that destroyed everything he ever cared about. If only he could take a crane with a wrecking ball and break those walls down... And while he was wishing, he might as well ask to have Melissa back. None of it was going to happen.

Shadow went off barking madly, just a split second before the back doors of the club opened and a skanky-looking guy carrying two trash bags to the dumpster emerged, his attention instantly turning to the roused dog. Shadow was trained to give them this kind of alert when he smelled vampire, and even the most experienced hunter couldn't spot a vampire as fast as a dog could. One of Electra's low-rent employees had just wandered into their crosshairs. "Oh, shit," he said.

BOOM! 

Dorian let a blast out from his shotgun, leaving the vamp on the ground with a huge, bloody wound in his chest, screaming his vampiric scream of agony. He only screamed for a moment though, before Ethan stepped up and shut him up permanently with one of his stakes.

"And here I was thinking we'd be getting the quieter part of this op," Keith quipped as Dorian reached into his pocket for his cigarettes.

"You know what they say," Dorian said through his lips that were holding a cigarette as he went for his lighter. "Expect the unexpected."

***

Anthony sat at the bar alone, carefully scanning the crowd. The light patterns were erratic and the music was deafening, but that didn't bother him. He was used to it. There were plenty of succulent young girls here tonight, and all he had to do was pick one.

The first one he saw that caught his attention was a buxom blonde in a rainbow-striped halter-top and a denim miniskirt joking around with her friends. She'd probably do just as fine as any other girl, so he focused his attention on her. Focus... He reached out with the power in his eyes for her... Come on, look this way...

Look at me.

The girl obeyed the voiceless mental command and looked in Anthony's direction. And then she froze, her eyes becoming locked to his from across the room. He wouldn't have been surprised then if she'd just blithely dropped her beer without even noticing. He had her.

Come here.

To the utter confusion of her assembled friends, the girl began walking in Anthony's direction. With every step she drew closer, and Anthony was better able to see into her through her eyes. And as she came closer, and he was able to see deeper into her mind, he began to realize how fortuitous he had been in his choice. This one was naïve and impressionable. Easily controlled. She might even make a good addition to his little harem.

"Hi, I'm Caitlyn," she smiled.

"Caitlyn," he said, taking her hand and bringing it up to his lips. "Lovely." He gave her hand a quick, light kiss, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Wow," she breathed, her eyes wide and her breath heavy. "Thank you Sir Galahad!"

"So tell me, Caitlyn, what are you looking for tonight?"

"Oh, just a... just a good time... you know."

"And have you found that? Are you having a good time here?" You are now.

"I am now."

Anthony grinned. She was almost too easy. Almost. "That's wonderful." He concentrated his gaze on her eyes, boring into her delicate psyche. "Would you like me to kiss you?"

"Yes I would," she said without a second's hesitation.

"Because I'm not going to." She gave whimper of disappointment, but then Anthony added, "At least not yet. Right now I have other things in mind." He gently reached a hand up and brushed her hair away from her neck. "Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid." The look in her eyes was one of absolute truth. She was not afraid at all. She was just putty in his hands.

Slowly he leaned in towards her and brought his lips to her neck, and gently bit into the soft, tender flesh of her neck, tasting the sweet nectar of her blood. He concentrated on holding back the meta-toxin in his fangs; he wanted to be able to taste her again. Having every victim a vampire fed off of either change or die was such a shortsighted development on the part of evolution; it made so much more sense for victims to be reusable. It had taken a lot of practice, but Anthony had finally reached a point where those he drank from would only turn if he wanted them to.

When he had drunk to his satisfaction, he released her to find her in a bit of a trance, with her beer cup blithely dropped on the floor. And then Anthony noticed the other girl that was ogling him. About 25, brown hair reaching just past her shoulders, big brown eyes, green tube-top, shiny black shorts, and looking at him like she knew what she was. She began reaching a finger up to her ear. Anthony didn't know what she was up to, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be good. 

He fixed his gaze on her eyes and her motions stopped. She stood trapped under his gaze, trying her darnedest to move. She was strong; much stronger than Caitlyn, at any rate. She was doing all she could to fight him. And she really did seem to know what he was. And as he dug deeper—which was much more difficult with this girl than with most of the girls he encountered—and began sensing hostile intent towards him, he began to realize what she had to be.

A hunter.

Won't Electra love that.

As much as this constituted a threat, Anthony figured the last thing he should do right now would be to make a scene with the hunter. He had best finish his business with the simpleton, then bring this to Electra's attention. He broke contact the hunter's eyes and looked back into Caitlyn's. He definitely wanted to have more fun with her; she was too easy a plaything to pass up.




Blood Rose Ch. 03



"Come back again next week," he whispered to her. "I'll be waiting here for you." That was the usual drill for training a slave: manipulate her a little, arrange a second meeting, then manipulate her some more, and over time she would eventually become his obedient little toy. He imagined this one would be a quick and easy conversion. Hell, he might even have her by their third meeting.

She nodded, her eyes still wide, and then turned and wandered back to where her friends were. With that done with, Anthony turned his attention back to...

Shit!

The hunter was gone.

***

Kaeli shoved her way through the crowd. She'd definitely found a vampire in here, but right now she was more concerned about the victim. She needed to find that girl and get an antidote to her fast. She watched the girl as she turned and walked, following her as best she could, but as she dissolved into the crowd all she could do was guess where she went and try to find her there.

That had been a weird moment there, when the vampire looked at her. She'd happened to spot him feeding by the bar, and was about to report it to Dorian when he'd seen her, and when he looked into her eyes it was like everything in her system just froze. She'd stood there with her hand hovering in mid-motion of going to tap the transmitter in her ear, and she'd tried desperately to move, but as long as he kept staring into her eyes, all she could do was stare back. She couldn't even blink.

What did this mean? What were they dealing with? Did this vampire have some kind of hypnotic power? That would certainly explain why the girl hadn't even put up a struggle. He'd bitten her, and she'd just stood there and let him do it, and now Kaeli needed to find her before she started to change. When that girl walked away from him, she'd completely forgotten about reporting to Dorian; her priorities had just changed in a big way.

When she spotted the blonde hair and rainbow-striped halter-top she was looking for, she moved in, happening to overhear the chat that was going on. "Hey, who was that guy?" some girl said.

The blonde girl looked back towards the bar. "I don't know, he didn't say his name."

"Well you seemed pretty eager to see him."

"I don't know why, he just looked at me and suddenly I just felt like going over and talking to him." She suddenly began sinking to her knees, and one of her friends had to catch her. "Whoa, suddenly I feel kinda faint."

"Pull your hair back."

The girl and her friends instantly looked in Kaeli's direction. "Who are you?" one of them asked.

"Pull your hair back," Kaeli repeated.

"What are you—" the girl started to say.

"Just do it."

Hesitantly, the girl reached a hand up and pulled her hair away from her neck. One of her girlfriends gasped. "Oh my god, Caitlyn, you're bleeding!"

"What?" The girl reached up and touched her neck, her fingers coming away crimson and wet. "Whoa, how'd that happen?"

"So you don't remember exactly what happened with that guy just now?"

The girl—Caitlyn—gave Kaeli a curious look. She pondered for a moment, then said, "Not really, it's all kind of blurry."

"You're gonna have to come with me."

"What? Why?"

Kaeli quickly took her by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "Just trust me. That guy did something to you, and something's going to happen if you don't let me help you. Now come on, this'll be quick." With that, she began walking for the door, pulling the girl along behind her.

"Um, okay... what did he do to me anyway?"

Kaeli didn't bother to answer. She immediately tapped her transmitter as she walked. "Dorian, I got a girl whose been bitten, needs an antidote fast."

"Gotcha, I'll send Keith to meet you out front."

Andy's voice spoke up: "Did you see the vamp that did it?"

"Yeah, he's over by the bar—" She turned to look in the direction that she saw him before, and found his barstool empty. "Damn, he's gone." She sighed, and said, "Dark hair, long ponytail, red collared shirt... handsome, in a dark and sinister kind of way."

Looking around the club as she spoke, she suddenly stopped when she spotted the object of discussion up on the landing above. "Wait, there he is, I see him!" And then she saw the woman he was talking to, a redhead in a red leather halter and black leather pants. He seemed to be talking to her, while she seemed to be scanning the crowd below. "He's up on the landing, and he's talking to this woman—"

The woman looked at her. And Kaeli froze. Even from this far, she could see what almost looked like a violet glow coming from her eyes. She was trying to continue talking. She really was. She was trying to turn around and continue out the door. She was trying to just look away, to blink even. She couldn't. It was just like with the guy... with one little difference. This time she actually felt afraid.

"Kaeli? Kaeli what's going on?"

"Um, hello?" That was the girl, who waved a hand in front of Kaeli's face. Caitlyn's hand coming in the way of their locked eyes proved sufficient to snap Kaeli out of her thrall, and she had no intention of falling back into it. She continued for the door as fast as she could without looking back.

"What's going on here?" the girl asked. Kaeli ignored her again.

By the time they made it to the door, Caitlyn was starting to stagger along, and Kaeli had to pull a little harder to keep her moving. She was quite ungrateful for the way she was being slowed down, particularly when she again passed by the huge bouncer. She'd seen thousands of vampires in her life, but she couldn't remember ever seeing one that intimidated her so much. Andy's earlier assessment seemed fairly accurate: he really did look like Shaq on steroids. He stood at least seven-and-a-half feet tall, and wore a green muscle shirt to show off his musculature of steel, with biceps the size of basketballs. To think of a guy already built like that having vampire strength... Kaeli shivered, imagining what trying to take him down would be like when he could very conceivably defend himself by throwing a car at them.

"Your friend party a little too hard?" the bouncer asked, looking straight at her. Kaeli tried as hard as she could not to cringe. She knew he could smell the blood from the girl's neck.

"Just can't keep her away from those tequilas," Kaeli played along, meeting his gaze squarely. She turned away from him and continued moving.

"You have a real good night now," the bouncer said ominously. Kaeli paused for a moment, fighting the urge to turn around and jump kick that vampire in the face. As tempting as it was, there was no way that would end well. She composed herself, and kept moving.

When Keith appeared around the corner of the building, Caitlyn began looking a little suspicious. "Who's he?" she asked. Then she turned back to Kaeli and added, "Hey, you still didn't tell me who you are!" As she continued to speak, her head began to sway and her eyes began to flutter, and her voice grew gradually weaker. "I mean... w-what is this, any... way... what's... going...." Her eyes rolled back and she passed out in Kaeli's arms. The blood loss had finally gotten to her.

Keith pulled one of her arms over his neck while Kaeli did likewise with the other one, and they carefully carried her to the alley where Ethan and Dorian were waiting. "You have the antidote?" Kaeli asked Ethan.

Ethan produced a vial of clear liquid from his belt. "Always."

As Ethan began readying the syringe, Dorian asked, "Kaeli, what happened in there? You suddenly broke off transmission!"

"Well, that woman the vamp I saw talking to, when she looked at me it was like... like my body just froze up. I was honestly trying to talk to you, but as long as she kept staring into my eyes I genuinely couldn't move. It was so weird..."

Dorian looked at her with fierce determination. "What did she look like? Red hair, purple eyes..."

"Lots of leather," Kaeli nodded. In Dorian's eyes, she could see it: "That was her, wasn't it?"

Dorian nodded. "That's Electra." He hadn't said anything, but Kaeli could tell that his interest in bringing down Electra Rose was about more than just eliminating a powerful and influential vampire. There was something personal about this.

Dorian tapped his transmitter. "Jade! Andy! Kaeli says she's seen her up on the upper level. Red hair, violet eyes, lots of leather. Keep a close eye on her, but do not engage, that's an order."

"Got it," Andy replied. "Yeah, I see her."

"Jade, do you copy?"

"Yeah, I hear you boss. Watch the bitch, but don't attack, I got it."

Ethan had just finished rubbing Caitlyn's arm with cotton and was ready to give her the injection. "There's something else—" Kaeli started to say, when Keith suddenly cut both her and Ethan off:

"Wait a minute! Why isn't Shadow barking?"

All eyes turned down to Ethan's loyal German Shepard, who was watching the situation intently, but remained totally silent. "If she's been bitten," Keith went on, "he should be able to smell the meta-toxin in her blood, and he'd be letting us know, wouldn't he?"

"But I saw her get bit!" Kaeli insisted. She pushed the girl's hair aside to show them the bite marks. "And she's got the marks to prove it!"

"What does that mean?" said Keith.

For a moment, no one said anything. Ethan handed Kaeli the syringe, asking her to hold it for a moment, and produced from his handy belt another small device that was used to draw a small drop of blood from a subject to test it for vampire meta-toxin. He pressed it to the spot on the girl's arm where he'd been about to inject the antidote, then looked at it. Then he looked up at them, utterly bewildered. "She's clean! Meta-toxin level at 0%!"

"How is that possible?" said Dorian.

"She was only bit something like ten minutes ago," said Kaeli. "Have we ever tested someone who was bitten that recently? Maybe the content in her blood is just not enough for that gadget to detect yet."

"There should still be enough for Shadow to detect," Keith pointed out. "This girl's clean!"

"So," Dorian pondered, "we've got a vampire that can feed without infecting his victims."

"That's a good thing, right?" said Ethan.

There was an ominous moment of silence before Dorian breathed, "He wants his victims to be reusable."

"Hey wait, Dorian," Kaeli said suddenly, "there's something I was about to tell you. The vampire I saw bite this girl, the one who was talking to... Electra..."

"Yeah?"

"Well, what I said about how I couldn't move when she looked at me? It was the same way with him! Right after biting the girl, he spotted me, and I was about to report it to you guys right then, but then he made eye contact with me and I just froze!"

"Both of them?" said Ethan. "They just looked at you and you went stiff?"

"Yeah. It was like they had some kind of... hypnotic power. I mean the girl said that when he looked at her, she just felt like going over to him."

"So he lulls the girl into a trance, gets her to come his way and let her guard down while he has his way with her..." said Keith.

"And then he probably planted a post-hypnotic suggestion in her head to come back so he could do it again," added Dorian.

"There's more," Kaeli added, not liking the direction the conversation was taking. "While I was... trapped under his gaze, it felt like he was..."

"What?" Dorian said.

"Like he was studying me. It felt like he could almost see into my head. Like he knew..." A chill went down her spine as she realized for the first time, "Like he knew I was a hunter."

"And immediately reported to the boss lady that they'd been infiltrated," Ethan concluded. "Beautiful."

Dorian scowled. "Dammit."

"What do we do now?" Kaeli asked. "If she knows she's got hunters in her club, she'll be watching for anybody watching her."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence before Dorian tapped his transmitter. "Jade, Andy, regroup, we're pulling out."

"What? Why?" was Andy's reply.

"She knows we're here. It's too dangerous now. Pull out, now."

Andy sighed, then said, "Yes sir."

"Jade, did you get that?" There was no response. "Jade? Jade!"

"All right, all right, I'm coming!"

"What do we do with her?" Keith asked, focusing his attention on the unconscious girl in his arms.

"She had some friends in there who probably know where she lives," Kaeli said. "I could take her back to them."

"I think that's an unnecessary risk," said Dorian. "Electra saw you, and she'll be looking for you."

"I for one want to keep an eye on her to make sure she really is clean," Ethan added. "I say we keep her at headquarters for the night and let her go in the morning."

Suddenly an idea dawned on Kaeli. "Wait a minute... Dorian, you said that vampire probably gave her a post-hypnotic suggestion to come back, right?"

"Yeah... what are you thinking, Kaeli?"

"Ethan, do you have a tracking bug you can plant on her?"

Ethan grinned. "You're thinking we tag her and let her lead us to the bitch herself! I like it!"

At that, Dorian also grinned. "Now that's a plan!"

Andy and Jade rejoined them at that point. "What's goin' on?" said Jade. "Who's the chick?"

"We'll fill you in on the way back to base," said Dorian. "We're taking the girl with us for overnight observation."

Ethan lifted the girl into his arms as they began moving back towards the van. As they walked, Kaeli stopped for a moment. She turned her head, taking another look at the building they were leaving behind. Something felt... strange. Almost as if she was being drawn back to the club. Leaving it behind was almost making her uncomfortable.

Shivering, Kaeli clutched at her crucifix. She had felt the touch of evil tonight, and it wanted more of her. She made a stance now: now matter how loudly it called, it wouldn't get her. God would not abandon her as long as she continued to fight.

One way or another, she would definitely be coming back to this place.

"Kaeli, come on!"

"I'm coming!"

***

Electra smiled. She didn't want Anthony to know it, but she was in a good mood all of a sudden. Having hunters show up in the club was enough to get him worried, but for herself, she was excited. Hunters! It had been so long since the place had seen a little excitement. It was far too uncommon that she encountered prey that put up a decent fight.

So many vampires feared them, but what were hunters really other than a few fussy humans with a few weapons and delusions of grandeur? They were really nothing to worry about—not for her anyway—but they were certainly worth a little bit of fun.

Anthony had decided to remain watchful for a while longer before he went home. Electra was allowing him to have his paranoid little concerns, but she didn't plan on doing anything differently tonight. If a hunter did attack her, it would hardly be the first time. And it would end just the same, just as quickly.

It occurred to her she had yet to enjoy a human tonight. The club would still be open for another hour or so, so she decided she might as well take advantage of the crowd while she still could. She began scanning the crowd from where she stood on the balcony level. She wanted someone genuinely attractive, yet simple-minded and weak. Someone she could take her time with and enjoy, but who would also be easily seduced.

"Electra? Electra!" She turned to the voice calling her name, which she recognized right away. Shao Li was making her way towards her, with a look of slight concern on her usually calm face. Once the Chinese pureborn was within speaking distance, Shao Li spoke, "Anthony is saying there are hunters here tonight. Is it true?"

Electra grinned. "Yes, exhilarating, isn't it?"

Shao Li tilted her head. "You are not concerned?"

"Are you?"

"Not for my own sake, or yours," Shao Li replied. "But there is a possibility they might do something to disrupt our business. In my experience, hunters are persistent."

"Until they meet the pointy end of your sword, am I right?"

Shao Li just looked tense and irritable. "I just think we should be watchful."

"And we shall be, my friend, we shall be. If any human approaches me expressing hostile intent, I intend to rip his still-beating heart out and drink from it. I trust you to do similarly." Shao Li seemed less than convinced, but she expressed no further argument. "Just relax, Shao Li." Then she got an idea: "In fact, I know just the way to clear your head. I was just starting to look for a human I could enjoy for a while. Would you care to join me?"

It took a moment or two, but Electra could see a smile starting to form on Shao Li's face. She finally nodded when that smile finished forming.

Shao Li was the oldest member of Electra's Blood Squad, not to mention the only pureborn among them. She was just pushing two hundred years, all but the last eighty or so of which she had spent living in China. She had been trained in many forms of Chinese martial arts and sword techniques, which she'd been continually practicing and perfecting for nearly her whole life; and nearly two hundred years was a lot of time to spend perfecting one's skills. It still amazed even Electra herself when she saw this woman in action; how she was able to leap and twirl through the air with the grace of a swan, land behind an enemy without making a sound, and remove the enemy's head in a single, swift motion.

If Electra had learned anything else about Shao Li, it was that you could take the girl out of China, but you couldn't take China out of the girl. She left her homeland for her own reasons after the rise of communism, but her roots were still written all over her. There was nothing in her wardrobe that did not scream Chinese expatriate. Like tonight, she had on a red halter with a big yellow Chinese character for "woman" on the front.

"I think I like that one," Shao Li said, pointing to lonely looking guy sitting at the bar.

Electra looked hard at the one she had selected. "All by his lonesome. Just waiting for someone to come by and notice him."

"Shall we grant his wish?" The two women grinned at each other, and headed for the stairway down.

On closer inspection, Electra found the guy bore a striking resemblance to... who was that bloke? She was never that good at identifying American celebrities, but he looked like someone she had seen in a Hollywood vampire movie. She did occasionally look into those for a good laugh... Brad Pitt, that was it. He looked like Brad Pitt.

He didn't even notice them approaching until Electra spoke. "And I think to myself, what is a bloody handsome devil like yourself doing with no girl by his side?" He looked her straight in the eyes, as if attempting to determine where she came from, when Shao Li showed up on his other shoulder.

"I think he could even handle two girls, don't you?" Shao Li said. He looked quite bewildered.

"Well, I just came here hoping to find one, but... when opportunity knocks..."

"You want to talk opportunity, do you?" Electra said suggestively. "I happen to own this place, and I'd be happy to grant you an exclusive pass to the VIP room. Right now."

His eyes went wider. "Really?"

"He seems excited, doesn't he?"

"Well, you know, I don't usually have two girls just drop out of the sky on me like this..."

Enough talk! Electra grabbed him by the arm and started pulling him along to the back. Shao Li followed close as she guided him to the rooms in the back of the revelry, and through the door into her cozy little VIP room.

It only took a nanosecond after Electra shut the door behind them that Shao Li grabbed his head and savagely engulfed his mouth. Electra grinned widely, and dropped to her knees and proceeded to unfasten his pants. When she pulled open the zipper, the large thing underneath, which had already gotten quite excited enough to be ready for them, instantly sprang out to greet her. She tightly grasped the base of it, and her practiced tongue skillfully wrapped around it. She heard him grunt his approval against Shao Li's mouth.




Blood Rose Ch. 03



She didn't really notice at what point Shao Li discarded her top, but when she got down on her knees next to her, the halter was already gone. Electra pointed the guy's cock in her direction, and Shao Li eagerly engulfed it in her mouth. Electra continued tonguing the length of it that wasn't inside Shao Li's lips. The guy pumped it hard into her mouth, placing a hand on both women's heads. Electra kept her tongue dancing in the most artful ways she was capable of.

When she decided she'd serviced him long enough and was ready for some pleasure herself, Electra immediately stood up, stripped off her leather party clothes, and marched over to the chair. She placed her left foot on the seat and her hand on the armrest, and commanded, "Get that cock of yours over here now!" The guy grinned—as Electra noticed for the first time that Shao Li had not only discarded her own top but also his—and marched over to her, putting his hands on her ass and sliding his way into her. 

Electra closed her eyes and smiled, reveling in the feeling of having him inside her. It was moments like these, experiencing the simple pleasures the world had to offer, such as the touch of a man, that made immortality worth living. She moaned out her delight. He was not the most experienced man she had ever felt, but he was certainly good enough to satisfy her. And he was enthusiastic, eagerly pumping her hard and fast. She liked it when they pumped her hard and fast.

She suddenly felt another sensation between her thighs, and she realized Shao Li had crawled beneath them and was busy tonguing her clit. "Ahh, there's a good girl," Electra grinned. She grunted hard, loving the dual sources of attention she was getting. Shao Li's act was actually more appreciated than she realized. Nothing made Electra happier than being the center of attention. Souls of the Old Ones, this was wonderful!

No need to be greedy, though. She really should let Shao Li experience some of this pleasure too...

Well, maybe in a few minutes. Right now she wanted to enjoy this a little longer. The feeling of his massive rod penetrating her, thrusting hard and deep into her depths, accompanied by the warm wetness of Shao Li's delicate tongue on her sex was utterly exquisite. Shao Li wielded her tongue with the same awesome skill as any sword. "Ahh, yes!" The hand that wasn't supporting her weight she used to squeeze and massage her tit. At this rate she knew it wouldn't take long for the two of them to bring her to a magnificent orgasm.

But Electra had learned nothing over the last four hundred years if not patience and self-control. She knew when it was time to step back and let someone else have a ride. She stood up straight, removing the guy's cock from herself, and gestured for him to have a seat in the chair. An exchange of eyes was all that was needed for Shao Li to get the message, and the Chinese pureborn stepped forward, turned her back to the guy, and slowly, carefully took a seat in his lap while Electra knelt down, taking hold of him and guiding him into her.

Shao Li's response was instantaneous. Her eyes rolled back and fluttered shut, and her mouth dropped open. Sound didn't escape from her gaping mouth right away, but it only took a moment or two for a short, low moan to emerge from it. Her lower portion began to churn back and forth on his lap, giving Electra a full view of the hard flesh weapon sliding in and out of her. Electra proceeded to run her tongue upward along Shao Li's torso, and she could feel how much more excited Shao Li was getting because of it. Especially when she reached her right tit, and heard her start breathing Chinese expletives.

Electra gasped both in surprise and pleasure as she felt Shao Li's fingers suddenly insert themselves into Electra's moist folds. When her eyes opened she saw Shao Li looking into her face with her distinct wicked smile that she had probably learned from Electra herself. Electra felt compelled to say something to her, but as Shao Li's fingers continued frigging her pussy that notion was lost as her head rolled back and a moan of delight poured from her mouth.

"I'm gonna stand up now, move with me," the guy announced, taking hold of Shao Li's hips. Both he and Shao Li arose to their feet without him pulling out of her. Now the guy had Shao Li bent over while he fucked her from behind standing. Shao Li's eyes squeezed shut, and she again began saying expletives in Chinese, only this time barking them. Her mouth needed something to do. Electra moved around in front of her and lowered Shao Li's head such that she was in the right position to shove her sex into her face. Shao Li got the message and again applied that magnificent tongue of hers to Electra's clit. Electra smiled and groaned. No woman she knew could eat pussy like Shao Li.

"By the Old Ones, I need more of that cock!" Electra declared.

"Not yet," Shao Li gasped. She grunted hard a few more times. "Just about..." She grunted some more, steadily increasing in volume, until her face contorted and she screamed out another Chinese superlative.

"All right, now let me have it!" Electra commanded. Shao Li removed the guy from herself. "Down on the ground, on your back!" Electra ordered.

"Yes ma'am," said the guy, lying flat on the floor. Electra immediately straddled his lap and slowly pierced herself on him. Her movement totally free, she began thrashing about almost right away, she had sexed herself up so while he had been out of her. She screamed out her delight, once again relishing the ecstatic feeling of his manhood. She had been patient long enough. The tremendous orgasm she had been so close to before, she wanted now. Riding him hard, she frigged her clit as fast as her hand could move. It took a grand total of five more seconds for that orgasm to come ripping through her body.

And he was still hard.

She hoped against hope for a moment that she might be able to cum a second time with him, but that didn't bear out. Before too much longer he grunted out that it was about to happen. She immediately dismounted, and knelt down and brought her face close to his cock as she pumped it with her hand, while Shao Li knelt down next to her. As soon as his rising growl abruptly stopped, both women extended their tongues to greet the gooey white fountain that erupted, tasting the salt of his seed.

Everybody paused a moment to catch their breath, while Shao Li grabbed a couple of tissues so she and Electra could clean each other up. The guy finally sat up. "Well..." he said, "that was... different. Don't suppose I could get some numbers now?"

Electra grinned. "No. I dare say you won't be needing those."

Shao Li struck first, lunging from behind and plunging her fangs hungrily into his neck. The guy had time to gasp in shock, then freeze in mute terror as Electra hissed at him, exposing her own set of fangs, before she too lunged forward to taste his blood.

When they had finished draining him they let his lifeless body drop back to the floor. Electra licked her lips, and Shao Li reached to her with a clean corner of her tissue and gently wiped at the corner of her mouth. "Thanks, Shao Li."

Shao Li stood up and proceeded to get her clothes on again. "I'll send for the janitor," she said before walking out the door.

As she pulled her clothes back on, for some unfathomable reason, Electra took a moment to look at the guy's face. His dead face, frozen in his final expression of horror. Maybe she should try to remember this one for once; all right, she'd always remember this as the one who looked like Brad Pitt.

Oh, who was she trying to kid? She'd forget his face in a week, tops. Electra was 728 years old, and in that time she'd fucked millions of men. Most of them were faceless now; hell, there were only a select few who didn't end up just like this one just now.

In fact, as far as she knew, Anthony was the only one still alive, though there was another she certainly hoped was still alive so that she could have him again. She could think of a few who probably still lived, probably still licking Veatrice's expensive high-heeled shoes right now, but she wouldn't know since she hadn't seen them in four centuries.

Not since she lost her throne.

It made her blood boil every time she imagined Veatrice sitting on the throne she once proudly called hers. She could just see that insufferable, sadistic smile on that smart-assed magic-wielding bitch's face. It was bad enough that Dracula cast her from his side, but then he had to go and select a high-riding blonde slut who couldn't do anything but cast spells and seduce men to take her place. And then just two centuries ago, Electra had gotten word that Dracula had been sealed away into forced hibernation by the Darkhunters, thereby leaving Veatrice with all the power. Simply intolerable.

She'd make them pay. The day wouldn't be long in coming now. Just a few more years, maybe a decade or so.

Then Anthony would be ready.

***

Everything felt different.

It was already more than half-past three when Elizabeth got home. Most humans were long since asleep by now; she was usually in bed a little less than an hour from now. Tonight, though, she was a little more tired than usual. Her experience tonight had been, for lack of a better word, a whirlwind. Tonight she would go to bed officially deflowered. Tonight she would go to bed a woman. So much had changed in just one night.

For the longest time she just stood in the shower under the spray of hot water, eyes shut, hardly moving. She could still feel Rodrigo's hands on her breasts, his stiff weapon inside her. Part of her wished to have him here again right now. What she had felt tonight she desperately longed to feel again. Tomorrow was Saturday. Tomorrow night, as soon as absolutely possible, she was going to revisit Annabelle's mansion. She didn't care who she found when she got there; one way or another, she was going to get laid again.

Already she could feel her juices beginning to flow again. Just the memory of Rodrigo's cock inside her folds was getting them wet. Unable to hold them back, her hands vigorously groped her tits. Suddenly she started to wonder why she bothered coming home at all. She should have just stayed at Annabelle's place, where sex partners were readily available. She just wanted to stay there and keep having more sex and never stop. All she wanted was more.

More.

More.

"...More..."

Her eyes opened. Reality check, here. She got her nerves to calm down and her head out of the fantasy world. She was in her own home, in her own shower, and she needed to get some sleep. 

She turned off the shower and returned to her room with a towel wrapped around her. She walked over to her wardrobe and opened the drawer with her bedclothes. She started to reach in... then stopped. Questions she'd never bothered to ask herself were beginning to form in her mind. For whose benefit was she going to put these clothes on? People wore clothes because society dictated that nudity was taboo. Yet Annabelle seemed to think of it differently.

Elizabeth dropped the towel and turned to her mirror. She took a good look at her naked body; that body that she had admired in Annabelle's mirror the other night; that body which Annabelle had encouraged her to show off in front of a room full of people, which she had done and only been uncomfortable about for a moment; that body which she had just voluntarily placed in a man's hands. Was there anything wrong with it that needed to be covered up? And who was going to care whether or not she covered it up while she was in bed?

She closed the drawer. She went over to the window to tighten the blinds, ensuring the sunlight would be kept out while she slept. As she started to do this, another, bolder thought came to her. She hesitated a moment, but just a moment. Then she pulled hard on the string to raise the blinds. It wasn't a magnificent view, but it was a view of the night world outside, in her quiet little neighborhood. Hesitating just for a moment again, she gripped the bottom of the window and lifted it up. Instantly a rush of chill night breeze greeted her bare skin. She shivered, loving the sensation. She felt alive. She felt compelled to be out in that air.

She put her hands on the sill and leaned forward. Once again, she hesitated for a moment. Her concern that somebody might see her outside naked was quickly tempered by the realization that she was hoping somebody did. She leapt out of her second-story window, landing on her bare feet on the grass of the front lawn. She slowly stood up, eyes closed, relishing the feeling of cool night air on her skin. Acting purely on instinct, she took a step. Then another. And another.

Then, eyes still closed, she started running. She didn't open them until her feet touched the hard pavement of the sidewalk, but her feet continued to move. She didn't even know where she was going; she just felt the need to run in this air. For the first time in her life, she felt truly free. Nothing between her skin and the air, no one to tell her to go back, nothing but herself and the ground and the moonlit sky.

She kept running. She ultimately realized she'd run all the way to the park; a perfect place for what she was doing. Soft, gentle grass in every direction was so much nicer than hard concrete. She ran out onto the grassy fields, and on a downhill slope ducked her head down and allowed herself to tumble onto it until she landed flat on her back. She laughed out her exhilaration. The soft, moist blades of grass tickled her back. Every part of her body was alive and awake. She began to wonder why nobody else felt compelled to do this.

Well, then again, most people weren't vampires. It was only natural to expect her to love the night.

But of course, she had to remember that it would only be night for a couple more hours. She really did need to get back home and into bed. As exhilarating as this was, it had to end. Maybe not just yet, though. Maybe she could enjoy this a little longer. She stood up, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply.

Somebody was nearby.

Apparently Elizabeth was a faster learner than she ever knew, because already she was making use of what Annabelle taught her tonight. She could sense a heartbeat... no, two. Her first impulse was to look around in every direction, but then she stopped herself, realizing this was an opportunity to continue using what she'd learned. She closed her eyes again, slowed her breathing, and focused. Where were they?

Behind her... to her left... they didn't seem to know she was there yet.

She slowly looked in that direction, and spotted a pair of larcenous looking thugs standing by a car. And from the looks of things, the only reason they hadn't noticed her was because they were too focused on breaking into it, shoving a metal ruler under the window.

Too easy.

She ran to the top of a mound where she could easily run down and out of sight, and giggled loudly for them to hear. She instantly caught their attention, and as soon as they saw her it was clearly undivided. With her heightened senses she could just make out their words from this distance. "What the fuck?" "Is she naked?" Making the sexiest movements she was capable of, she crooked a finger to them, and then turned and ran down the hill.

She could hear their running footsteps from here. Perfect. Now where to go... There was a tree not far from her that she could probably get to before they made it over the hill. She ran in that direction, and then leapt up into its branches and waited. She saw them come over the hill and the instant look of confusion that came over them. They began wandering aimlessly, looking in every direction for her. "Where'd she go?"

When they'd gotten a good distance past her hiding place, she dropped down to the ground, and in her most sultry voice called, "Oh boys!" They turned instantly, and began running in her direction. She ducked around behind the tree and looked around for her next move. She spotted another tree a short distance away, but not one she could get to unseen unless...

Elizabeth had never been that good at flickering before, mostly because the need to use it had never really arisen, but right now it might come in handy. She focused on her destination, willing herself to be there, and with a quick mental command, in the blink of an eye she had moved across that distance.

Again, she hopped up into the branches, and turned to watch the two thugs. They reached the tree where she had been a moment ago, and were again perplexed by her lack of presence there. From the branches, she giggled loudly for them to hear. Their heads turned in her direction, but they failed to see her through the dark canopy of the leaves. Suspicious, they now began moving in that direction. She waited patiently... they continued looking in every direction except up as they neared the tree. She thought carefully about what she was going to do when they got close enough. She had to remember that she couldn't flicker again so soon after doing it once; it would take a few minutes for her body to regenerate the energy needed for that.

When she realized that one of them was standing directly below her, her next move came to her like a kick in the head. Without a second's hesitation, she dropped down on him, pinning him to the ground, and bared her fangs and hissed in his face. The guy's face changed instantly to a look of unmitigated terror. The other one, the one she didn't have pinned down, instantly demanded, "What the fuck are you doing?"

She responded by raising her head and snarling at him. "Leave here now!" she growled, then turned her attention back to the one on the ground, putting a hand on his throat. She wasn't going to kill him, just scare enough of the crap out of him to send him fleeing in terror once she released him.

Then she heard the "snick" of his buddy's switchblade.

In a flash, she had dodged his thrust and had swung around behind him, holding him by the shoulders. Before she knew what was happening, her teeth were on his neck. It was the thick, rich taste of his blood that really forced her to realize what she was doing, and at that point, even though she knew she should stop, she found herself compelled to continue what she was doing. She continued feeding, letting his body sink lower and lower to the ground as she gorged herself on his blood.

When she was finished, she raised her head and hissed again at the other one, her lips and teeth still wet with her victim's blood. The remaining thug didn't waste an instant. He got up and ran for his life. Now she was left alone with a corpse. Again. Just like last Tuesday with the scumbag on the motorcycle. Someone had tried to attack her, and she retaliated by sucking him dry.

She'd accepted a long time ago that this was what it meant to be a vampire. Sometimes you'd end up killing someone, and you really didn't have a decent amount of control over that. That was the cruel law of vampire life. That didn't make it easier. True, just like the creep on the bike, this guy was a lowlife who probably deserved to die. Yet the way she enjoyed the act of killing him was still disturbing. Nature was a sadist.

Well, she could continue contemplating nature's cruelty another night; right now she needed to get back home. After she dumped the body somewhere.

***

Anthony was still a bit uncomfortable when he got back to the penthouse. Electra had seemed strangely unconcerned when he told her he'd spotted a hunter. Hunters had the potential to destroy their whole operation, and she'd hardly batted an eyelash. What did she know about the situation that he didn't? There had to be something...

Well, he would never get any sleep with a mind as troubled as his was right now. He needed to work out some of his tension—and he knew just how to do that.




Blood Rose Ch. 04



1912

The door suddenly burst open, and Electra stood in the doorway. She looked very angry. "This madness has gone far enough!"

Annabelle instantly sat bolt upright, clutching the bed sheet over her unclothed chest. The man in bed next to her, Paul, frantically shrunk back against the headboard. When Electra's rage was such that even Annabelle was frightened by it, it was only natural for someone else to go into outright panic. "First of all, we still have a right to privacy in this country," Annabelle snapped. "Second of all, would you mind explaining to me exactly what you're referring to as madness?"

"Trust me, we will be discussing much, and we will be discussing it right now," Electra fumed, "but first I would greatly appreciate it if the moron in bed with you were not privy to our discussion."

"There are many things you have in abundance, Electra," Annabelle said, "but clearly, despite what your age would suggest, patience is not one of them. You could have had the decency to wait until—"

"Get. Rid. Of the moron," Electra barked, "And. Let's. Talk."

Annabelle gave Paul a glance, and he hurriedly began scrambling to get his pants on and then button up his shirt. "Can you at least tell me when I can see you again?" he asked. "I had a wonderful time tonight, and I—"

"Stop with your chitchat and get out!" ordered Electra.

Paul looked at her coldly as he began pulling his boots on. "If I may ask, do you ever let people finish their sentences, or—"

"NOW!"

Paul was literally blown off of his feet by her ferocity. Now utterly terrified of her, he frantically pulled on his other boot and bolted out the door without stopping to look back.

"Honestly," Annabelle sighed, "was that really necessary?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I believe it was."

Annabelle scowled. There was a time when she practically worshiped the ground that this woman walked on. After the first twenty-five years, though, she started getting tired of having Electra trying to control her. She knew Electra didn't like the fact that Annabelle was trying to be her own woman.

"Annabelle, it's been thirty-seven years since I took you under my wing. I've taught you everything I have to teach you. And I've watched you pervert my teachings to your own pitiful liking. I've been patient, hoping you'll come around and accept the true reason I taught you the ways of Blood Rose, but even my patience has its limits."

"So I noticed," Annabelle said snidely.

Electra's lip curled into a snarl. "I'm fed up with your naïve obsession with physical pleasure. That's all you've ever used my teachings for. I've become quite concerned that the years I spent teaching Blood Rose to you were all utterly wasted."

Annabelle smiled, and arose from her bed, holding the sheet wrapped around her body. "Well you can lay your concerns aside, then. They weren't wasted at all. These have been the best years of my life."

Electra turned her eyes away and growled in her throat. "You are absolutely incorrigible."

"What I am," Annabelle declared, "is a free woman. That's what I was when you found me, and that's what I am still. You made the mistake of thinking you could change me into somebody I'm not. I am not your pawn, and I am not a soldier in your petty quest for power. I am Annabelle. And nothing you've done with me over the past thirty-seven years, not your Blood Rose techniques, nor your hours of intolerable combat lessons, can change that."

Electra frowned, and turned her back to Annabelle. "It's as I feared. You haven't a drop of warrior's blood in you."

"Fascinating deduction," Annabelle quipped. "You should have thought of that before you wiped out my family and made me a vampire." Electra froze for a moment, then slowly turned a pair of angry and surprised eyes to Annabelle. Annabelle found herself grinning widely at Electra's reaction. "You honestly thought I didn't know!" Annabelle realized out loud. "Yes, word does travel in our circles. I know all about how you deliberately infected my brother with the plague, and then killed the doctor before he could get the medicine to my family, thereby leaving me with nothing in my human life to hold onto. Very clever. Albeit sick."

For a long time, not a word was spoken. The two women merely stared eye-to-eye at each other. Finally Electra broke the silence by saying, "So what do you intend to do now?"

"What do I intend to do? I intend to do absolutely nothing. You're the one who should accept the fact that I didn't live up to your expectations, and find some other fool to become your damn lieutenant. Just get out of my house and don't come back."

Electra's scowl deepened, and she took five menacing steps forward, stopping just inches in front of Annabelle, staring her right in the face. "I ought to rip your bloody head off for that!"

Annabelle met her gaze squarely, not intimidated at all. "Too late for that, beloved teacher. You've already taught me how to defend myself against an attack like that. I don't pose any kind of threat to you, so you might as well just leave and forget about me."

Electra trembled in her rage, and finally turned and stormed off to the door.

But Annabelle couldn't resist twisting the knife. "You know what I'm going to do now with the things you taught me?" Electra stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head around, a look of intrigue peaking its way through the thick sheet of anger. "I'm going to teach it to others. I'll find other vampire girls who have the capacity to learn the ways of Blood Rose, and teach them to use it too. Then they can pursue their own 'naïve obsessions with physical pleasure.'"

Electra cocked an eyebrow. "All right, you may do that." The change in her expression was such that Annabelle was surprised by it. She was expecting a worse reaction from her. "In fact, I'd even be willing to pay you for it. On one condition, of course."

Now it was Annabelle's turn to be perplexed. "All right..."

"Each new pupil you recruit, I want a chance to meet her, so that I might see if I might succeed with her where I failed with you."

Annabelle's mouth dropped open. "You can't expect me to—"

"You will still be free to live your own life, as you choose. Free from my influence. That is what you want, isn't it?"

She had her there. "Yes... yes it is."

"Then we have an accord. Goodbye, Annabelle." With that she began to walk off. After her first two steps, she paused, and said, "You know, I had such high hopes for you. I hope you understand how deeply you've disappointed me."

"I understand, Electra. And I could care less. Now please leave."

"Gladly."

And with that, she was gone. Electra was finally gone. Annabelle closed her eyes and dropped the sheet from her naked body, letting herself bask in a feeling she suddenly felt more than ever in her life.

Freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Saturday night, just after eight. Tyler Partrey was fairly confident he could move safely, as long as he did so quickly. Drago and the others probably wouldn't be prowling the streets for at least another hour. He just had to get out of the house; he couldn't just keep hanging around home in fear.

Pulling his beanie and his jacket on, Tyler hesitantly took a step out the door. Stepping out of his door had become dangerous since he had the misfortune of getting on Drago's bad side. Especially at night. Especially on a Saturday night. That was Drago's favorite time to be out. Unfortunately it was also Tyler's favorite time to be out. 

Last week he'd gone over to the basketball court after nine, and it had been ten minutes before Drago and his little gang happened to come along. He still had a few of the bruises to remind him. This time he was going out earlier, and he just had to make sure he didn't stay there long enough to run into those jerks.

Peacefully as he could, he strolled down the street carrying his ball in his sports bag. He wondered who else he might find when he got to the court; there were usually a few other people from his school shooting hoops on Saturday night. It was always more enjoyable when he had someone to play against. Recently, however, the court had been unoccupied more often for some reason. Possibly because Drago had too many kids intimidated.

Of course, few people were as strongly on Drago's radar as Tyler.

Tyler felt uplifted when the court was in sight. There was a decent number of people there tonight, and several he knew well enough to know they'd eagerly let him shoot some hoops with them. He began moving faster to join the games being played—

"Hey, Partrey!"

Oh, shit.

Cringing, Tyler slowly turned his head in the direction of the call, already knowing who it came from. They were out earlier tonight, probably just to make sure they ran into him. They were getting smarter. In a way, anyway.

Gilbert Drago, Tommy Fisher, and Calvin Lance—the third being the one who had just called his name—were moving with a purpose in his direction. "Come on, guys," Tyler pleaded, "aren't you over it yet?"

"Do you hear this guy?" said Fisher. "He wants to know if we're over it yet? What the fuck is up with that?"

"Maybe Mr. Hero has a problem with English," said Drago. He roughly grabbed Tyler by the collar and pulled him up to stare him straight in the face. "Is that it, Partrey? Do you have a problem with English or something?"

"No..." Tyler grunted weakly.

"So what part of 'don't ever let us catch you out on the streets again' do you not understand? Ever means ever!"

"Drago, seriously," Tyler grunted, "you can't stay mad at a guy forever. You can only beat the crap out of me so many times, and I'm going crazy staying cooped up in my house."

"Hey, hey, did you hear that guys?" Drago chimed. "Now he knows what prison feels like! Kinda poetic justice, don't you think?"

WHAM!

Tyler tasted blood after Drago's first blow to his face.

"Hey, do we need to do this with an audience?" Lance pointed out, gesturing toward the crowd at the basketball court who hadn't quite noticed what was happening yet, but were likely to at any moment.

"Yeah, you're right," said Fisher. "Let's take him somewhere a little quieter."

Fisher and Lance took hold of his arms and dragged him along as Drago led them into a nearby alley. When they stopped moving, Drago turned back to him and said, "Now let's see, where were we? Don't tell me, let me think... oh yeah!" WHAM! "We were right about there!"

Tyler hung his head miserably. This was really his own fault for getting mixed up with these assholes in the first place. Man, being the good guy sucks.

WHAM!

***

While Elizabeth was on her way to Annabelle's mansion, two things were fighting for precedence in her mind: whatever was going to happen when she got there, and the phone conversation she just had with Sylvia. The first thing she'd noticed was the uneasiness and tinge of guilt in Sylvia's voice.

"Uh, hi Elizabeth, it's Sylvia."

"Sylvia, hi. What is it? Something wrong?"

"Well, something just came up recently... you promise you won't be mad?"

"Well I can't honestly promise anything like that..."

"Elizabeth... Nathaniel asked me out."

At that point Elizabeth had been a bit surprised at her own lack of distress. "Oh, well... that's okay."

There'd been a moment of silence after that. "Is it also okay that I said yes?"

"Actually... yeah, I think it is."

"Really? I... I kinda thought you'd be hating me right about now."

"You know, I kinda thought I would too. But I'm not."

"Wow... this is going a lot better than I was expecting it to. I know how you feel about Nathaniel and all..."

"Well some things have changed in the last few days."

"Like what?"

Elizabeth had paused there. She wasn't sure Annabelle and the Blood Rose were things she exactly wanted to share with her friends just yet. "Well, maybe I'll get into that some other time. Have fun on your date, and I'll see you on Monday."

"Um, okay, bye."

She hadn't really thought about it until now, but her sexual fantasies about Nathaniel seemed to have faded in the last few days. The world that Annabelle had introduced her to was just so much more fascinating. She had been so quick to give her virginity up last night—

Blood.

She smelled blood.

A moment later she knew what direction it was coming from. She could sense four people in an alley across the street, and at least one of them was bleeding. She ran across the street and peeked into the alley to see what was going on—

—and saw three thugs beating some poor sucker to a pulp.

Elizabeth knew the general rules of being a vampire, and the first one was to keep contact with humans to a minimum. But to turn her back on this would go against everything her heart was screaming at her to do right now. There was no getting around it; she had to intervene.

"Hey, what's going on here? Why don't you leave the poor guy alone?"

Their attention was immediately gotten. "Check out the hero chick!"

Elizabeth folded her arms and looked at them coldly. "I think you guys should get lost and don't bother him anymore."

"Ooh hooo!" said one of the three as they began moving away from their victim and towards her. "You hear that? She wants us to lay off Partrey. What do you suppose that means?"

"Sounds to me," said another, "like she wants all our attention to herself. Is that it baby? You afraid we won't share?" He started reaching for her as he said the last part.

She slapped his hand away. "I'm warning you guys. Get out of here before you regret it."

The three cretins laughed. "Man, this night just keeps gettin' better and better, don't it?" said the third one.

The first one quickly took hold of her wrist. "Don't be scared, baby, we know how to treat our women..."

Elizabeth grabbed his arm with her free hand and threw him hard into the ground. She then threw a punch to the faces of each of the other two, sending both of them landing hard on their asses. "I'll tell you one more time: get fucking lost."

The three of them scrambled to their feet and took off running.

Elizabeth now turned her attention to the guy they'd been pummeling. He looked about her age, probably the same year in school that she was. His face was pretty bloody by now. He had on a black wool beanie and a blue and white polyester jacket, with the string of a sports bag holding a basketball clutched in his hand. He looked like a kid who'd wandered into the wrong 'hood. He looked up at her with what mostly looked like bewilderment.

She tenderly reached a hand down to him. "You okay?"

***

Tyler was having a bit of trouble grasping what had just happened. No one had ever bothered to rescue him from Drago before, let alone a girl this pretty. She looked like something out of a dream, with long black hair and hazel eyes just shy of looking like gold. He was almost afraid to accept the hand she was tenderly extending to him, for fear that she might turn out to not be real when he tried to touch her. Almost.

He took her hand and rose to his feet. "Thanks," he said meekly. "I'm... not really used to being saved by a girl. Or by anyone, for that matter."

"Well," she said, "happy to be your first." She paused a moment, and then chuckled at herself.

Tyler suddenly realized he was talking to this girl with a bloody face, which probably wouldn't be making a good impression. "You don't, like, have a handkerchief or something on you, do you?"

She reached a hand into her pocket, felt around, and then pulled out a tissue, which she handed to him. "I've got this," she said.

"Thanks," he said as he took it from her and proceeded to wipe his face clean after taking his beanie off. In the middle of wiping the blood off his face, he paused a moment when he noticed the strange way she was staring at his face. "Something wrong?" 

Whatever trance she was in, she suddenly snapped out of. "Oh, sorry. It's nothing." He eyed her suspiciously as he continued wiping himself off. "Maybe you should see a doctor or something," she said.

"I've been beaten around worse by those guys." Feeling he'd gotten his face fairly clean enough, he put his beanie back on his head and stuffed the tissue into his pocket—and was slightly baffled by the way her eyes seemed to intently follow the bloody tissue until it disappeared from view.

"So, um," she stammered, as if desperately trying to find something to say, "how'd you get mixed up with the, uh..."

"Pinhead patrol?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's kind of a long story."

She hesitated, then shrugged. "You can bore me I guess."

Tyler sighed. "Well, I worked my way into their social group about a year ago. Looking back on it, I don't know why now. I guess at the time I thought it would make me cool or something. And it was okay for a while, but then the way Drago kept pushing everybody around started to really bother me. I kept quiet about it until Drago started talking about how he was planning to knock off a convenience store at the end of the week. So I tipped off the cops, and they were there waiting for Drago and his cohorts when they showed up. Now they've been riding me ever since they got out of prison."

"Wow... guess being a hero isn't what it's cracked up to be, huh?"

"Yeah, tends to get some people pissed off." She actually laughed at that. "You got some nice moves there," he commented. "You take classes or something?"

"No," she said, a bit hesitantly. "Just naturally tough I guess."

"Really," Tyler grinned. "Be still my heart! Tough and sexy!" She smiled a bit coyly at him. "Hey, I haven't seen you around school. Do you live around here?"

"I... I go to a private school."

"Oh yeah? Which one?"

An odd look of distress started coming over the girl. "Oh my god, what am I doing? I shouldn't be here!" She suddenly turned and began running away from him.

"Hey wait!" He ran after her until she stopped at the opening of the alley.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I really shouldn't be standing here talking to you like this."

To say Tyler was confused at this point would have been a gross understatement. "Why not?"

She didn't answer; she only looked at him apologetically.

"Look, though I might have a small knight-in-shining-armor complex that feels a little bit stepped on, as a living breathing human being I do want to thank you for saving my ass. So let's start again: I'm Tyler. What's your name?"

The look on her face could have said a thousand words if he could only identify what those words were. She seemed to be wrestling with some very strongly conflicting emotions. After a long hesitation, she finally said weakly, "Elizabeth."

"Okay, well, do wanna go for coffee or something?"

Her distressed expression intensified. "I-I'm sorry, I can't... do this, I have to... I have to go." And with that she just ran off.

"Elizabeth, wait!"

It was no good. She was gone. Tyler was alone, and basketball had suddenly lost all its appeal. A million unanswered questions were running through his head right now. At the forefront were where this girl came from and what the hell was bothering her so much. He couldn't be sure he would ever find out.

But I definitely know I'm in love!

***

Elizabeth ran. She wasn't really sure where she was going; at least not for the first four blocks. She'd come way too close to emotional bonding just now.

No, wait, I think that actually was emotional bonding.

There were many times when being a vampire had its upsides. Right now it sucked. It had just severely crippled her chance at a potential friend. Contact with humans was supposed to be kept to a minimum. That was the rule. And at the moment she realized she was starting to like that boy, she realized she was violating that rule.




Blood Rose Ch. 04



So she ran. She removed herself from the temptation. She did the right thing.

Wasn't doing the right thing supposed to make herself feel better?

All right, forget about it. Erased. Never happened. Just keep going to Annabelle's mansion like you were going to in the first place.

She took a moment for a breath, allowed the whirlwind in her head to calm down, and continued on the way she was going before. Most likely, something would happen there to make her forget about that guy—about Tyler.

She reached the mansion in about ten minutes, and was admitted by Charlotte. As before, the first thing she noticed was what the person who greeted her was wearing. Charlotte was not attired in a string bikini or a silk kimono; instead she was wearing some kind of ceremonial robe of black velvet. Elizabeth could tell the curiosity on her face had to be a billboard when Charlotte answered her unspoken question:

"No, we're not doing a ritual or anything, I'm doing something myself upstairs."

"And what are you doing that requires you to wear something like that?"

"Oh, I'm actually not required to wear this. I just like to wear it when I'm doing magic."

Elizabeth fell silent for a few seconds. "Come again?"

Charlotte grinned. "Magic. I'm a witch."

Again, Elizabeth fell silent for a few seconds, and then repeated, "Come again?"

"You heard me. I'm a witch."

Elizabeth hesitated, trying to think of something to say in response, when Charlotte suddenly added, "Before you say anything, I'd just like to take a minute to memorize the look on your face right now. You look great."

"So wait a minute, let me see if I understand this," Elizabeth said. "You're a vampire... and you're a witch?"

"Do you know of a particular reason why vampires should have any less capacity to use magic than humans do?"

Elizabeth shrugged. "No, but... I just kinda didn't know anybody had any capacity to use magic, cause I kinda thought magic wasn't supposed to exist."

"You're a vampire. You're not supposed exist either. I think you're beyond the point of not believing in things like that."

"Okay, so... what kind of spell are you doing?"

Charlotte grinned. "Are you really sure you want to know?"

Elizabeth nodded, a bit uncertain. Charlotte leaned in and whispered in her ear—and Elizabeth's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. "You can actually do that?" she gasped.

Charlotte nodded with a wicked smile on her face. "I'm gonna grow it, and then Katrina and I are going to have a very good time!"

"It's not permanent, is it?"

"Oh, no, it only lasts until I get off with it. I've done it once before, and Rosanna can tell you all about it!"

"What does it feel like?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity.

Charlotte cocked her head in thought. "I don't think I can describe it in words. You'd have to feel it for yourself, and unfortunately I don't think it's safe trying to cast it on someone else; I can only cast it on myself. Best I can offer is to grow it and use it on you, which by the way I can do anytime you want. Just say the word!"

Elizabeth shivered, both from excitement and from just the bizarre idea of what Charlotte was suggesting. "So, is Annabelle around?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Probably somewhere. Why don't you just explore a bit, I'm sure you'll find something to keep yourself entertained."

With that, Charlotte turned and headed up the stairs, leaving Elizabeth standing in the foyer. She'd just been given an invitation to go wherever she wanted, and there were so many possible ways to take that.

Elizabeth slowly proceeded up the grand carpeted staircase, and turned to a door on her right, heading into the east wing of the house. She found herself in another of the labyrinthine halls that this place seemed to have in abundance, lined with doors. Trusting to luck that she wouldn't get lost in this place without a guide, she proceeded on, carefully examining her surroundings.

As she turned to her left around a corner, she began hearing something to indicate what she could expect to run into around here. It was a pair of female voices making the sounds of pleasure, and she was fairly certain she knew which two females it was coming from. Upon walking a little further, she ascertained that the sounds were coming from behind a door that was just barely open. Feeling exhilaratingly naughty, she quietly stepped up to that door, carefully inched it open just a little wider and peered inside.

She was only seeing the two nude women inside from behind, but the pink hair on one and blue hair on the other clearly identified them, as she expected, as Noemi and Miko. The Japanese sisters sat side-by-side on a bed, each straddling a man's lap. She could see a pair of male legs extending out beneath each of them, and the pairs of balls connected to the shafts that each of them was rising and descending upon, but the girls' bodies were preventing her from seeing anything of the two guys above the waist.

As enticing as this was, Elizabeth decided she probably shouldn't intrude on this any longer, and forced herself to walk away. It was less than a minute, however, before her attention was ensnared in this way again.

She began hearing the sounds of more sex being had, and this time the door she determined it was coming from wasn't just open a crack. It was standing wide open. She crept up to the wall and carefully peeked around the doorframe.

She quickly recognized the girl inside as the black girl with the long dreadlocks who had done the honors of putting the blindfold on her last night; Monique, that was her name. They'd only been briefly introduced after her session last night, but Elizabeth felt comfortable in the assessment that she liked the girl, with her quick-fire wit and sociable sense of humor. She was kneeling on a sofa, supporting herself upright with her hands on the back, while a guy stood behind her, slowly and diligently pumping his way into her.

Somehow watching this didn't feel as intrusive as what was going on in the other room. The door standing as wide open as it was suggested that they actually wanted to be watched. Elizabeth leaned against the doorframe, absently rubbing her hand over the crotch of her pants. Her eyes fixed on the stiff organ that was disappearing into Monique's slit, as the girl moaned with the delight of having that thing inside her... Oh God, I want that thing inside me!

Her hand drifted inside of her pants and feverishly stroked her clit. Her eyes closed and she imagined it was her on that sofa instead of Monique... that guy, whoever he was, filling her up inside the way Rodrigo had last night... if she could only feel that again, right now...

"Are you just going to stand in the doorway all night or do you wanna come inside?"

Elizabeth immediately snapped out of the fantasy as her eyes snapped open and looked into the room again, seeing Monique looking straight at her with a sultry smile on her face. She patted the empty cushion of the sofa right next to where she knelt. Elizabeth needed no further encouragement.

She walked right in and seated herself right next to what was happening. Now she was watching Monique being fucked up close—and if watching this was getting her hot before, now her loins were practically on fire. Her mouth hung open as she watched Monique's chocolate-colored breasts bouncing on her chest and the guy's fingers squeezing the flesh of her ass. Elizabeth's fingers moved with purpose inside her pants while her other hand groped at her breasts through her blouse. Her breath was going like a machine gun.

"For fuck's sake," Monique chimed, "just take your clothes off and get it over with already!"

Elizabeth smiled at Monique's directness, and without hesitation lifted her blouse up over her head. She had decided to skip the underwear tonight, so her breasts fell free as her top was gone. She kicked off her shoes, then stood up and slid her jeans down her legs, reveling once again in the freedom of nakedness that in the last 24 hours she had come to love.

"That's more like it," Monique smiled, putting an arm on Elizabeth's shoulder and pulling her in for a wet, tongue-filled kiss. Elizabeth's tongue met Monique's with equal hunger and passion. I'm getting to be pretty easy to make friends with, she thought. All a girl has to do is get me naked and kiss me.

"This is Julian," Monique said, nodding her head to the guy who was nailing her. Elizabeth took in the guy's face for the first time, seeing short buzz cut of dark hair, gray eyes and cheekbones that boy scouts could camp under. He gave a "hey baby" grin at her, to which she responded by thrusting her tongue into his mouth.

"Man, there's just no end to friendly girls in this place!" he said, his sentence punctuated by Monique's happy grunt.

Elizabeth sat back down on the sofa, raising both feet off the floor and placing them on the cushion, her hand busily rubbing her crotch. She felt the warm, moist touch of Monique's eager tongue on her nipple, where it danced about happily. Suddenly getting an idea, Elizabeth raised a hand to her chest and drew a fingernail across the top of her bust, creating a line of blood that she proceeded to smear over her breasts. Monique giggled, and hungrily started licking her tits clean, sending more electrical shivers through Elizabeth's body.

With a few last hard thrusts, Julian tilted his head back and grunted hard, pulling out and stroking himself until he spent his load over Monique's ass, the white droplets of goop standing out like beacons on the dark skin they landed on. Monique twisted around, taking hold of his organ and feeding it into her mouth. Unable to hold herself back, Elizabeth leaned in to assist her in stroking and tonguing his length. Ultimately, Monique popped it out of her mouth and pointed it in Elizabeth's direction, smiling impishly. Elizabeth all too eagerly dove in for it, practically attempting to swallow it whole.

When she felt the hunk of meat intruding her mouth starting to thicken, she realized he was ready for more. She removed him from her mouth and scrambled back onto the couch, spreading her legs apart, and blurted out "Let me have that!"

"I like her spunk," Julian grinned, kneeling over her. Every motion he made seemed to take way too long. She was hot and horny and she wanted this now. And when at last he aimed that cock and parted her lips with it, her eyes rolled back in blissful oblivion. She'd gotten herself so hot by this point that she began an orgasm almost immediately. She hadn't really realized until now how much she'd needed this ever since last night; the feeling of being penetrated again, to have a man's essence moving inside of her. Her mouth dropped open and she screamed out her release.

"Wow, she's really excited!" Monique grinned. No sooner had she said that than Elizabeth grabbed her head and pulled her down into a heated, wild-tongued liplock. She wasn't sure whether it was in response to Monique's words or just a spur of the moment, but she suddenly felt a burning need to occupy her mouth in such a way. After nearly a whole minute of this, Monique broke contact long enough to say, "Even more excited than I thought," before returning her tongue to Elizabeth's mouth.

The second Elizabeth's mouth was free again, filth started leaping out of it. "Oh my God, fuck me!" she screamed. "Fuck me hard, oh yeah!" For just a second Elizabeth wondered if her screams would be enough to attract the attention of the whole neighborhood; she was having difficulty conceiving of the notion that anyone within a five-mile radius might not be able to hear her right now.

The world went a little hazy after her second orgasm. Her conception of time and space vanished; she knew only pleasure. She was conscious enough at least to become aware of Monique bending down over her chest. She felt the feathery touch of her lips; her teeth; her fangs. There was a mild sting in the flesh of her left breast, and the electric feeling of her blood being tasted.

She was able to get off a third time before she heard Julian begin his telltale grunts and pulled out of her. She didn't allow him time to do a thing before bounding up to grab his manhood and pulling it to her lips, just in time to taste the burst of salty spend that erupted from it.

Elizabeth collapsed back into the couch, thoroughly exhausted—though still with enough breath in her to giggle when Monique leaned in to lick the goop off her face. The smile on her face felt like it had been chiseled out of rock and was incapable of leaving her. She didn't want it to.

"I see you're getting settled right in," a voice mused. Elizabeth raised her head to look and there in the doorway was Annabelle, dressed in a strapless red tunic dress and the same friendly grin she always seemed to exude.

"Yeah," Elizabeth returned. "Lot's of really nice people here."

"When you've sufficiently caught your breath," Annabelle said, "why don't you come walk with me for a while. I have some things I'd like to speak with you about."

"Um, all right," Elizabeth said. She waited a moment or two, then slowly arose from the couch and bent down to pick up her clothes—then stopped, getting another thought. She turned her eyes up to Annabelle, who quickly answered her unspoken question:

"Yes, you may leave your clothes behind." 

Elizabeth grinned, and happily followed Annabelle out into the hallway, enjoying the freedom of her naked flesh. As they passed one of the doors in the hallway, however, a voice suddenly stopped them. "Oy! Chotto matte!" Elizabeth didn't speak a word of Japanese, but her attention was gained nonetheless. She turned and saw Miko standing outside the door she had seen her through before, still as nude. "You don't have to wait in the doorway next time," she grinned. "You can come inside whenever you want."

Elizabeth laughed inwardly at herself. With the kinds of teachings that were going on in this house, she had no reason to be surprised that the Japanese sisters knew she'd been watching them. She still was anyway. "I'll remember that," she replied.

Annabelle led her out the terrace door, and they walked along a long balcony overlooking a beautiful garden below. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Elizabeth asked.

"I wanted to talk about your session last night."

Elizabeth frowned slightly, a little worried. "Did I not do well?"

"No, quite the contrary," Annabelle beamed, "you performed magnificently. So magnificently in fact that some of my girls were asking why they haven't seen you around here for the last five or six weeks."

Elizabeth looked at her puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that's how long it takes most girls to reach a level of skill with ultra-sensory perception that you displayed last night."

Elizabeth ran around in front of Annabelle, stopping their walk abruptly. "Wait a minute, are you saying—"

"I'm saying that in a single session, in less than an hour, you mastered a skill that takes most girls weeks to get a handle on!"

Elizabeth stared at her, her mouth hanging open, struggling to think of something to say in response to that. Annabelle went on, "What I'm essentially saying is that you are what people would refer to as a prodigy. When I found you it was certainly clear that the necessary skills to master Blood Rose were strong with you, but I never could have imagined you would adapt to it so quickly. And now I'm eager to see how you'll adapt to your other lessons." She paused, and then concluded, "Which is why I've decided to teach you the next step right now."

Elizabeth looked around her uncomfortably. "Now? R-right here, right now?"

Annabelle grinned slyly. "Yes. Now."

"Um, okay... wha, what do I need to do?"

"Last night," Annabelle said, "you learned what you can see without using your eyes. Now I want to show you what you can see with them." Annabelle stood before her, gazing at her eye-to-eye. "Look at me. Look at my eyes."

Elizabeth did so, staring straight into those luminous, sparkling green orbs. "What exactly am I looking for?"

"When you see it, you'll know."

Elizabeth stared harder, feeling a bit discouraged that she didn't know what she was trying to see. She squinted her eyes...

"Stop straining your eyes so much," Annabelle instructed. "You're not going to see what you're looking for by straining the muscles in your eyes."

"But how...?"

"Here, sit down," Annabelle said, gesturing to a chair on the terrace. Elizabeth sat in it, while Annabelle sat in another facing it. "Close your eyes for a minute." Elizabeth did that. "You know how to sense the world around you now. What do you sense?"

"Your heartbeat," Elizabeth said, "and the air around us, and the garden below. And there's somebody down there I think."

"That's very good," Annabelle smiled. "That is the physical realm you are sensing. But there is more than that. There is an ethereal realm that resides within all living beings. As a disciple of Blood Rose, you must learn to look into and see that realm."

Elizabeth paused, trying hard to grasp what Annabelle was saying. "I don't think I understand."

"Close off your senses now," Annabelle instructed. "I told you to stretch out and sense the world around you; now I want you to look inside yourself and forget the world around you. Relax your muscles; relax everything. Breathe deeply. In through your nose, out through your mouth." Elizabeth did as she instructed, her head starting to sag down. "Focus only on yourself. Feel inside yourself; your beating heart, your pumping blood. This is the source of the power of Blood Rose. It comes purely from inside you. And it's the power you should feel there that I want you to look with."

Elizabeth concentrated on her heart as Annabelle instructed. This was the thing that meant she was alive; this was where her power was coming from. And she did begin to feel something there, something she couldn't describe in words. Some sort of energy was there...

"I'm not expecting you to master this right away," Annabelle said. "And you shouldn't expect yourself to do so either, now matter how well you did last night." Elizabeth opened her eyes and sighed. "That's why I'm going to give you a homework assignment."

Elizabeth looked up at her suddenly. "A homework assignment?"

Annabelle stood up. "Come with me."

Elizabeth stood up and followed Annabelle back into the house. Annabelle led her downstairs and into the grand kitchen. Annabelle picked up a small clay bowl, then opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of little heart-shaped leaves and a small vial of some light purple fluid. She put the leaves in the bowl and handed it and the vial to Elizabeth. "I want you to take those home. Each night, I want you to put one leaf in that bowl, add a few drops of the fluid, and then burn it and breathe in the vapors while you meditate on what I told you about."

"I'm using drugs now?" Elizabeth said warily, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't think of it that way," Annabelle said. "The power of Blood Rose comes wholly from inside the self, but you are not expected to fully tap into that power without a little external help. That's what these herbs are for. And don't worry, they're perfectly harmless to you, and hardly habit forming. Just be careful about where you use it. You wouldn't want to set your bedspread on fire, you know?"

Elizabeth grinned mildly. "Yeah, that... would be bad."

***

The van pulled into the garage and the team began piling out. The night had been slow; they'd spotted one vampire, but it got away. It happened sometimes... except one thing seemed a little different this time around. Ordinarily when a vampire escaped their clutches, Dorian became the most unapproachable man on the planet. Tonight he got a little flustered for a second, and then practically forgot about it. It was definitely enough to make Kaeli a little curious.




Blood Rose Ch. 04



"All right everybody, you can go home now," Dorian said as he got out of the shotgun seat. Keith and Jade turned to get to their own cars without a second's hesitation. Ethan actually lived at the headquarters, so he simply headed for the upstairs landing. Kaeli watched as Dorian followed him up.

Andy put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you coming?" he asked. She turned her head and looked into his eyes. "Your place or mine?" he said, tilting his head suggestively.

Kaeli shook her head. "Not tonight Andy. I'm not up for it right now."

His look sobered. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'll see you tomorrow."

He looked almost wounded as he turned and left. Kaeli felt uncomfortable, thinking she'd probably been a bit harsh. She'd make it up to him tomorrow. She'd make it up to him in a very big way. But right now she was more concerned about somebody else.

She moved up the stairs to the landing, where Dorian was finishing his brief discussion with Ethan and was just turning to leave himself when he saw her coming up. "Something on your mind Kaeli?"

"Actually I was going to ask if there was something on yours."

"Like what?"

Kaeli rolled her eyes. "Dorian, don't play dumb with me. I know you better than that. For God's sake, we lost a target tonight, and you're acting like all that happened was you lost a nickel down a storm drain. You should be throwing a fit right about now."

"You'd actually prefer me to throw a fit?"

Kaeli paused. "Not so much, but the fact that you're not says to me something's wrong. It's just very anti-Dorian Steel for you to not be fuming over an escaped vampire."

Dorian fell solemnly silent. He turned to the railing of the landing and leaned on it with his hands. "I guess I've just found something that's more important."

Kaeli sighed. "Electra."

She looked up into his eyes, which were not focused on her. He was just staring off into space in another direction. And in the faraway look in his eyes, she again understood something that had begun dawning on her last night. "This isn't just about bagging a powerful vampire, is it?"

Dorian looked at her. Then he reached into the pocket of his jacket, and pulled out the last thing she ever thought she'd see in the hands of Dorian Steel. It was a gold locket, its sparkling luster marred only by the tiny spot of blood it had been stained with. He handed it to her, and she opened it. Inside was a picture of a younger Dorian with a big smile on his face, next to a lovely young dark-haired woman holding a baby. Dorian's family. He never said a word about them, or anything about himself for that matter. At this point, he didn't have to. "She killed them, didn't she?"

She looked at his face—and the look on it perplexed her immeasurably. It was more than just the look of someone recalling painful memories of loved ones lost. He looked wounded. He remained silent as she returned the locket to him, but she suddenly knew there was something else he wasn't telling her. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

He said nothing. He put it back into his pocket and moved past her and headed down the stairs. "Dorian!" she called after him. "What did she do to you?"

Dorian stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at her. He stood there for a few seconds, and finally said, "Good night, Kaeli." With that he turned and went to his car.

"Dorian!"

He was already gone. He was simply refusing to open up. She was hardly surprised by that, but it still made her sad. Dorian Steel may have been cold, unsociable, and prone to fits of anger, but that hadn't stopped him from being like a father to her ever since her own father died when she was sixteen. All she wanted was to help him get whatever was plaguing him off of his chest, but he didn't want to let go of it.

Kaeli sighed. Psychology had never been her field of expertise. There was really nothing she could do right now except go home and get some sleep—

She shivered at that thought, remembering the dreams she'd had after she got home from their trip to the club last night. The eyes of Electra Rose were still haunting her even now. The sinister violet glow was so overwhelming... and yet she couldn't help this eagerness she was feeling for next Friday to come when they would return to that club again. The scary part was that she didn't really know why she was so drawn to return to it. Either she felt compelled to face the thing that had frightened her so and overcome it, or else—and this was the scarier notion—she had gotten a taste of something she wanted more of.

Kaeli forced herself to forget about those thoughts. She moved down the stairs to go to her car. This was going to be a long week.

***

It had gotten to be Wednesday by now, and Elizabeth still hadn't quite gotten the hang of Annabelle's second lesson. She'd been following Annabelle's instructions, and meditating every night while breathing the smoke from the herbs she gave her, but she couldn't quite see what Annabelle had tried to teach her to see, no matter who she practiced on. She'd looked into the eyes of both her parents, Sylvia, Harrison, and a few random people she passed on the streets (one of whom got pretty freaked out and asked what her damage was before he ran off), but so far she'd seen nothing but people's eyes.

She was on her way home from school now, and had just parted company with Sylvia, who had been talking to her about her wonderful date with Nathaniel, and the next one she had scheduled later in the week. Elizabeth was wondering at this point if she should go back to Annabelle's mansion tonight to work on the technique she was trying to master—

A drop of water landed on her shoulder. Then another on top of her head. She looked up in time for another to land on her nose. And there were more steadily beginning to patter on the pavement.

Ah, crap.

She began running, holding her bag over her head. She always wondered why it only seemed to rain on nights when she didn't bring an umbrella. At this point she definitely wouldn't be taking the trip to Annabelle's place; she was going to get drenched as it was just making the distance to her house.

A light blue Chevy pulled up to the curb next to her and stopped. When the passenger window began rolling down, she stopped moving and bent down to look inside.

"Need a ride?" said Tyler.

She gaped at him in surprise. "Tyler? What are you doing here?"

"I'm offering you a ride is what I'm doing," he said half incredulously. "Are you gonna accept, or would you rather just stand in the rain and get soaked?"

She studied him for a moment. She really shouldn't, she knew that, but getting into his car was definitely a preferable option to walking home in the storm. She opened the door and got in.

"Why weren't you using this thing on Saturday when I found you?" she asked as he pulled away from the curb. "It certainly could have helped you avoid those goons, couldn't it?"

"Which way do I go?"

"Oh, go straight for three blocks, then make a left."

"Thanks. Yeah, it could've helped if I'd had it. This is actually my cousin's car. When he took a look at my face after the beating I took, he loaned me this car for a while so I could avoid another black eye. And then I was driving around tonight when the rain started up, and I just happened to spot you running for shelter."

"Oh, well... thank you."

She saw a slight smile appear on his face. It was almost midnight, and the guy was just driving around and happened to find her. Something about it was just a little too convenient.

She guided him the rest of the way to her house, realizing as he pulled up how big a rule she'd violated. I just showed a human where I live. This is getting out of hand. "Well," she said, picking up her bag from the floor, "I guess this makes us even now." She reached for the door handle.

He sighed as she opened the door. "Well, yeah, I guess it does. But I still was kind of hoping you'd be interested in a cup of coffee or something."

She stopped and looked at him, seeing him looking right into her eyes. Those eyes were so gentle, and innocent, and—she was seeing something else through them. The world around her disappeared, leaving only that pair of eyes. She was looking into him, and what she saw was beautiful. She saw this boy named Tyler, this innocent, kind-hearted person who just wanted everyone to approve of him. Without even trying to, she had accomplished the next step in Blood Rose, and suddenly Tyler wasn't just another human. Suddenly she knew him. And he was a beautiful person.

"You know what," she said, involuntarily starting to grin, "maybe a latte or two would be okay."

He grinned widely in response. "Okay, um... Friday?"

"How 'bout Saturday?"

He shrugged. "Sure, Saturday's good. How does seven sound?"

"Works for me."

"I'll pick you up right here!"

"I'll be here." With that she got out and shut the door. She walked up to the door and turned to wave as he drove off. She found herself unable to remove the grin from her face. I just got a date!

...With a human! Her grin faded as that thought occurred to her. This was so wrong... and yet she couldn't have been happier about it. Even after the kinds of things she'd started doing at Annabelle's mansion, a simple coffee date with a guy like Tyler was enough to get her excited.

Lord, is my life crazy, she thought as she turned her key in the door.

To Be Continued...



Blood Rose Ch. 05



Twelve years ago...

Dorian shoved his way through the hospital doors and bolted for the front desk. "Where is she?" he demanded.

"Excuse me sir?" the startled receptionist said, shrinking back from him.

"My wife! Where's my wife? She's having our baby and I'm late, now where is she?"

"Uh, it would help if I knew what your wife's name is, and if you calmed down please, sir."

Dorian took a breath. "Melissa. Melissa Steel. Now please, just tell me where she is."

The receptionist began tapping at her registry computer. "All right, just a moment sir."

Dorian gave a frustrated grunt. He didn't want to wait just a moment. He should have been with Melissa hours ago. He took off running down the halls. The maternity ward couldn't be too hard to find. "Sir, please wait!"

He'd waited long enough. It was as if everything had transpired specifically to prevent him from getting here on time. The trouble at the office, the traffic pile-up, all of it had been like one big cosmic conspiracy. But he was here now, and Melissa was somewhere in this building. There was a definite chance he'd already missed the big event.

He called for her as he ran. "Melissa? Melissa!"

"Mr. Steel?" Dorian came to an instant halt at the sound of his name. "Are you Dorian Steel?"

A doctor with a clipboard in his hand was standing in a doorway. "Yes, where's my wife?" Dorian demanded.

"Please just relax," the doctor smiled, "everything's fine. She's waiting for you, this way."

Dorian eagerly followed him, as the doctor led him to the maternity ward and to a partially opened door. The doctor stepped to the side and allowed Dorian to go ahead. Dorian pushed the door open, and stepped inside.

As soon as he took one step inside, he stopped. She looked up to him with a smile. "You're late," she said. But Dorian didn't care anymore. He was looking only at the bundle she held in her arms as she sat in that bed.

"But I'm here. That's all that matters now."

"Yes, you're here," she said. "And so is your daughter."

Dorian shakily stepped forward, and sat down to accept into his arms the bundle she offered to him. He took one look at the sleeping face surrounded by the blanket, and felt his heart melt. He was holding his child. He could barely breathe. "My God... Melissa, she's so... beautiful! Look what we did!"

She laughed with him as he handed the baby back to her. If he'd ever been happier in his life, he couldn't remember when.

"Looks like someone else was cheering for us too," Melissa added. "Particularly for you."

Dorian looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

She gestured her head to the bedside table, where Dorian hadn't bothered to look before. "Somebody sent us a present."

Dorian took one look at what was on that table, and felt most of his elation vanish. It was a narrow glass vase with a single red rose. Upon closer inspection, he saw a tag on it with handwriting he would recognize anywhere: "Congratulations! To Dorian, with all my love."

"Do you know who it's from?" Melissa asked.

"Yes," Dorian said gravely. "I do."

A tense moment of silence passed. "What's wrong?" she asked. Dorian said nothing. "Honey, you're scaring me."

"It's all right," Dorian said, rising from the bed. "I'll take care of this. I'll make sure she doesn't bother us."

"Who's she?"

Dorian paused at the door. "Let's just say... some people have trouble moving on."

With that he walked out of the room, and down the halls. Once he'd gotten a good distance away from the room, he stopped and looked around him carefully. She was here. Somewhere.

"Where are you Electra? You can come out now."

"Hello lover," her sultry voice spoke behind him.

Dorian casually turned around, and saw her standing there with a calm grin on her face, as usual. "You know I'm a married man now," he said. "I implore you to stop calling me that."

She reached a hand up to stroke his face. "You'll always be my precious Dorian to me."

He slapped her hand away. "Not anymore. How many times have we had this conversation, Electra? Try to get it through your head this time: it's over."

She angrily folded her arms. "Honestly, what does that woman have that I don't?"

"My child," Dorian said. "And my heart. Which is something I never gave to you."

She seductively moved closer to him, putting her hands on his chest. "You're deceiving only yourself, my love. I know there was a time when I was everything to you. I was your definition of bliss."

"Times change, Electra," he said. "And you're over 700 years old. You ought to know that by now."

"Yes, I'm over 700. I am immortal. Forever. And so was the love I offered you."

"It's too late now," Dorian shook his head, stepping away from her. "I love her. Not you. And I want you out of my life. Don't try to see me again." With that he headed back to the room where Melissa and his newborn daughter waited.

"You're just going to walk away from me?" she said.

"I walked away from you a long time ago."

He managed to get a good distance before hearing her voice once more. "I will find you again. I promise you that, Dorian." He turned around in response to that—and she was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaeli was psyched. Friday had finally rolled around again, and they were making their return to the Deadly Rose. She didn't know what it was about the place, but she had been waiting for this all week. The line to get into the club was moving way too slow; couldn't the fanged hulk of a bouncer just let people the hell in so she could get inside?

"Is it me, or are you really on edge tonight?" Andy said behind her.

Kaeli responded by letting out a breath to calm her nerves, which she hadn't even realized had been on edge. "Sorry."

"I was just curious," Andy shrugged. "I mean you've been kind of distant all week since the last time we were here. What's going on anyway?"

"She's just pent up from all the hunting and needs to get out and party!" Jade suggested.

Kaeli rolled her eyes. "Thank you Dr. Freaky."

They were finally getting to the front of the line; only one more person stood in front of them, a woman with neck-length dark hair. The huge bouncer took one look at her, and an odd look of amusement appeared on his face. "Well I'll be damned. And what would you be doin' here, Annabelle?"

"Hi, Chill, nice to see you too," she replied. "I'm here to see Electra, where is she?"

Kaeli had suddenly developed a keen interest in the person standing in front of her. "Didn't you and her have some kinda blowout or something like five, six years ago maybe?"

"Good to see your memory still works. I'm not here to make any trouble; I just want to talk business with your boss. Now are you gonna let me in or what?"

Kaeli turned back and exchanged a glance with Andy, and saw that he was thinking the same thing she was: this definitely merited investigation. Andy carefully produced a tiny audio bug from his pocket and smoothly handed it too her. She gave him a nod, and turned to face back forward. They knew what to do.

Making himself look clumsy, Andy pretended to accidentally stumble forward and bumped into Kaeli from behind. This caused Kaeli to stumble into the back of Annabelle, and in that motion she smoothly planted the bug on the back of her dress. "Watch it dickhead!" she shot back at Andy.

"Sorry babe," he returned.

"Hey, sorry about that," Kaeli said to Annabelle, who was looking back at her with an annoyed glare.

Annabelle remained silent a moment, before finally saying, "Not a problem." She turned her attention back to the bouncer. "As we were saying?"

Chill shrugged. "All right, your funeral. Go on in."

Kaeli and the others followed without much trouble, moving casually into the din of the revelers. Andy leaned close to Kaeli and said, "Was the dickhead part really necessary?"

Kaeli grinned mischievously. "I was just living the part. Now where's our guest of honor?"

Andy produced the small tracking device disguised as a cell phone Ethan had provided them. A dot appeared in the corner of the screen. "She's in this direction somewhere."

"Tell you what, you go find her and see where she leads. I wanna check out the chick who was in line in front of us and what she has to say with the boss."

Andy shrugged. "Works for me, I guess." He pulled another ear transmitter and handed it to her. "This is tuned to the bug I gave you. Just plug 'er in and you're good to go."

Kaeli nodded, and fitted the device to her free ear. A quick tap, and a new influx of noise began coming into her ear, along with the woman's voice saying, "Excuse me." Kaeli gave Andy a nod, and moved off through the crowd to see where she led.

Gradually the sounds of ambient noise coming into her ear lessened—punctuated suddenly by the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. The gun was relaxed a second later, accompanied by another woman's voice chuckling. "I never thought you'd be stupid enough to come back here again."

"Don't sound the fire alarm, Jackie, I'm just here to talk to Electra," Annabelle's voice said.

"And the stupid just keeps on coming."

"The fact that I'm even standing here proves Chill was good enough to let me in, doesn't it? He knows I'm not going to make any trouble."

"Big Chill is not the brightest bulb if you recall. But all right, I'll let you go talk as long as you have me as a chaperone."

"Now that hurts, Jackie. Don't you trust me?"

There was a brief moment of silence. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

The transmitter in Kaeli's other ear beeped. "I've spotted our little miss worm-on-the-hook," Andy's voice came through.

"Keep an eye on her," Dorian's voice said back. "If our hypothesis is correct, she'll probably be looking for the vamp that bit her last week."

The other voices she was hearing were punctuated by the sound of a door opening. "Hey Electra," Jackie said, "you'll never believe who decided to drop by."

Andy's voice in one transmitter acknowledged Dorian's instructions, while a feminine voice in the other began to laugh. "I'll be damned to hell," a silky female voice with a thick English accent said. "And to what do I owe this dubious pleasure?"

"Long story short, Electra," Annabelle responded, "I'm interested in reinitiating our business arrangement."

There was the sound of chuckling, as Andy's voice in the other transmitter said, "She's on the move. And she's going like she's got a purpose." Kaeli was getting tired of dividing her attention between two transmitters. She sighed, and after a brief hesitation, removed the transmitter that was allowing her to keep contact with the team.

"And why, daresay, would you be interested in that?" said Electra.

"I can't continue to fund my house and my lessons indefinitely, that's why."

"Where were you when we had this discussion six years ago?" Electra snidely said. "I'll repeat what I said for the benefit of your obviously limited mind: I have no further interest in that pitiful mansion of yours, or those sad excuses for vampires you call disciples. I have my Chosen; I don't need you any more. You'll just have to swallow your pride and get yourself a damned day job."

"Yes, I recall you saying that."

"So explain to me what exactly I stand to gain by continuing the arrangement we officially terminated back then?"

"I thought my newest pupil might interest you."

Just as Kaeli heard Electra say, "And what led you to that curious notion?" she spotted the vampire from the previous week sitting at the bar in the same place. She ducked back so that another patron blocked his view of her; she didn't want him recognizing her.

Annabelle's response to Electra's question was: "Because she mastered ultra-sensory perception in a single session."

The transmitter in Kaeli's ear fell suddenly silent. Either something had gone wrong with the signal, or Electra had been thoroughly stunned by what Annabelle just said. Kaeli suspected the latter to be true, which was confirmed when she heard Electra say in a shocked voice, "You're certain of this?"

"I know I didn't live up to your warrior fantasy, and we've never agreed on much of anything, but have I ever lied to you?"

Kaeli barely noticed Electra saying, "No, I honestly can't say you have," as she spotted the blonde bimbo from the previous week approaching... only she wasn't approaching her. She was being drawn by the hypnotic lure of her Prince of Darkness. As they'd surmised, she was returning to the dark-haired, long-ponytailed, golden-eyed vampire that Kaeli was trying to avoid being seen by.

Kaeli returned the team transmitter to her other ear, in time to hear Dorian loudly calling to her. "Kaeli! Kaeli, answer!"

"Yes, Dorian, I'm right here. And I see her. She's with him again."

"Where were you? We've been trying to get a response from you for like five minutes!"

"I'm sorry, I was trying to listen to... wait, hold on." Electra was talking again.

"What else have you taught her?"

"The night following her first lesson, I instructed her in soul scanning," said Annabelle. "That was last Saturday. She came back last night telling me she'd achieved it. She should now be working on hypnotic charm."

"Perhaps if you were to bring this prodigy of yours here for me to meet, I might tell you if she was worth reestablishing our partnership," Electra said.

"Well, trouble is she's still underage."

"How old is she exactly?"

"Eighteen."

"That young? A mere tot has displayed that kind of proficiency already?"

"As I said before, have I ever lied to you?"

Dorian called to her again. "Kaeli, what's going on?" She groaned, and again removed the team transmitter, returning her full attention to eavesdropping. The conversation she was hearing was getting very interesting.

"So my understanding," Electra mused, "is that you want me to visit your mansion again, where I have had the good sense not to bother myself with in decades, so that I may meet this child prodigy, and if I find her interesting I resume supplying your funds to support your perverted teachings of my discipline?"

"I think that about sums it up," Annabelle chimed.

"And when precisely would you like me to make this thrice-cursed trip?"

"I would say whenever you want, but that would probably be never, now wouldn't it?"

"Unless it proves worth it, that is very correct."

"I instructed her to come back next Wednesday to inform me of her progress," Annabelle said simply. "You can meet her then."

"I do have my own matters to attend to, I'm sure you're aware," Electra warned.

"Oh trust me, you'll appreciate the time you took when you meet her."

For a brief moment the dialogue ended there. And it sounded like Annabelle was moving, probably for the door. "Perhaps you'd like to tell me this girl's name before you leave?" Electra said then.

After a brief pause, Annabelle responded, "Elizabeth."

Kaeli then heard the footsteps that indicated Annabelle was leaving. And she was officially intrigued. This mansion they had been talking about definitely merited investigation... but how would she find it, and then how would she get in?

Offhand, she could only think of one answer—and she knew it was one she'd rather not run by Dorian. He'd never let her do it. But for some reason, she felt this was something she had to do. She clutched at her crucifix, whispered a prayer, and started walking.

***

The hunter girl was doing her damnedest to be sneaky, but Anthony had been aware of her presence long before she was of his. He was just finishing up his taste of Caitlyn for the night when he noticed the girl starting to move towards the back. It seemed like she had found something that interested her more than him. He had a feeling he had best find out what.

First things first, though.

Caitlyn was just coming out of the trance she went into while he fed. "Caitlyn, dear," he said gently, "I have some things to do now. Will you wait for me out front?"

"Of course," she said with a weak smile.

"Go on now."

Caitlyn turned and began heading for the exit, and Anthony looked around him carefully. As he'd hoped, it didn't look like anyone—at least anyone who wasn't a vampire—was going to notice the disappearing act he was about to pull. They were all too busy dancing and drinking. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting himself drift into a deep trance. He felt his body slowly beginning to dissolve from the outside in, fading a little bit at a time. Within less than a minute he was no longer a solid shape, but a floating, drifting mass that saw and heard in all directions as it drifted along the floor.

According to Electra, the Old Ones—or at least Dracula—were capable of fading into mist almost in the blink of an eye. Anthony still needed some more work. It sometimes tugged at his patience that he was still so slow at that trait; the way Electra always talked about the glorious night when they would take back the throne, he was becoming particularly anxious to hear her say he was ready. He'd been training for six years, and the act was still a physical chore.

His vision in this form was hazy and colorless, and his hearing slightly distorted, but it was clear enough that he was quickly able to find the hunter girl again. And she was in fact moving towards the VIP area in the back, where she was most likely going to be greeted by Jackie's gun, but with a hunter one couldn't leave anything to chance. Then another woman emerged from the VIP area, and the hunter girl's attention instantly seemed to fixate on her. Anthony focused his own attention on that woman as the hunter approached her...

Wait, I recognize her. She was Electra's former protégé before she began training me. What was her name? ...It began with A... Abigail? No, that wasn't it... damnit, I can't remember.

The hunter girl got within speaking distance of her, and she spoke. "Excuse me, uh, Annabelle? That's your name, that's what the bouncer called you, right?"

Annabelle, that's right.

"Yes?"

The hunter girl hesitated. "Um... I was wondering... well... I mean... are you a vampire?"

Had Anthony been in solid form at that moment, his brow would have furrowed curiously. What was this girl up to? "Who are you?" Annabelle asked.

"My name's Kaeli," said the girl. "And I want to be like you. I want to be a vampire."

And it just kept getting weirder. Could he have been wrong about her? Maybe she wasn't a hunter after all... unless this was some kind of ploy. He was sure last week when he looked at her eyes, he was sure she had to be a hunter, and if she was there had to be some ulterior purpose to what she just said.

"Why don't you give me the long story?" Annabelle said curiously, folding her arms.

"Well, I just sort of heard a rumor that this was a vampire club, and when we were in line, and you were talking to the bouncer about the boss, I just... kind of figured you probably were... one, you know. So, I figured I'd try talking to you."

"And just why do you want to become a vampire?"

Kaeli paused. "Look, I... I have my reasons, just... can you make me one or not?"

Annabelle gazed at her studiously, looking straight into her eyes. Anthony recognized that look. If she did in fact study under Electra, what she was probably doing now was looking into the girl's soul, just as he had done. She probably had already figured out what Kaeli was thinking, whether Kaeli was aware of it or not. Then an odd smile suddenly came over her face. "So when and where do you want to do this?" she said.

"Well, not here," said Kaeli, "and not tonight. Do you have a place I could come to, or something? Somewhere you live?"

Ah-hah! Anthony understood the girl's plan now.

Annabelle grinned suspiciously. "Yes," she said in a rather oily way. "I do." She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a small card, and handed it to Kaeli. "Why don't you come by... Wednesday?"




Blood Rose Ch. 05



All at once Kaeli seemed to freeze up. She seemed to be contemplating the situation very carefully, and after a long, very tense pause, finally said, "All right. Wednesday. At eleven."

"Wonderful," Annabelle grinned. "My girls will be very excited to meet you."

Kaeli hesitated a moment more before turning to go. Anthony decided he'd best follow her, to see if he could learn anything more. One way or another, a hunter constituted a threat, and he needed to learn all he could about her. He drifted along after her as she headed for the exit. She paused once and looked around behind her, evidently suspicious that she was under observation, but not noticing anything except a little mist around her continued moving.

As she put some distance between her and Annabelle, she produced a small object that she placed in her ear and tapped. "Dorian?"

"Kaeli?" a voice said from the device. "Where have you been?" The mist form did have a distinct advantage that he could get close enough to overhear a conversation even from a small bug like that without being noticed.

"I'm sorry, I was... well I was eavesdropping on Electra. I was having trouble dividing my attention." Anthony had certainly not wanted to hear that. And Electra definitely would not be happy to hear that.

"Tell me you found out something useful."

"Well, she was having a chat with some former associate of hers. They mentioned something about a mansion that houses another group of vampires, but I wasn't able to confirm a location."

That last statement had Anthony quite perplexed. She had just gotten the address from Annabelle, hadn't she? Why would she lie to her teammate about that?

"All right, that's good enough," Dorian said. "Pull out now, we don't want anyone noticing you."

Too damn late, sucker, Anthony thought mischievously. He had enough; it was time for Electra to hear the news. He floated away from Kaeli and began moving towards Electra's office.

As he expected, Electra noticed him even before he began creeping under the door of her office and coalescing back into solid shape. Her head was raised, looking up from her desk and following him with her eyes. "So what's the trouble?" she said as he was working on solidifying. "You come into my office like that, something's got to be up."

As soon as he was capable of forming words, he formed one: "Hunters."

"That's what you said last week, except you came to me solid to say it. Please, elaborate."

"Your ex-protégé, Annabelle? She was here tonight, wasn't she?"

Electra leaned back in her chair, rolling her eyes. "Tragically."

"Well I overheard the hunter girl from last week talking to her. She used some cover story about wanting to become a vampire to find Annabelle's base of operations. They agreed to meet there on Wednesday."

"Really?" Electra said, raising an eyebrow. "Annabelle certainly thinks in mysterious ways."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Annabelle wants me to come calling the same night. Whatever can be going through that mischievous mind of hers?"

"I thought you'd also like to know that girl was eavesdropping on you."

Electra eyed him curiously. "How did you come by this pearl of knowledge?"

"I listened to her when she contacted the leader of her team on the way out. She called him Dorian—"

Electra's eyes instantly went wild. "What? Are you certain?"

"Yes..." Anthony said curiously, wondering what Electra could find so exciting about hearing the name of a hunter.

"Did you see his face?" she demanded, rising from her chair and approaching him so fast her chair almost fell over.

"No, I only heard his voice."

She put her hands on he sides of his head and looked straight into his eyes. "That's enough. Share it with me."

She wanted to mind-link. And Anthony knew better than to ask questions when Electra wanted something. He did as she did, putting his hands on the sides of her head and looking into her eyes. He concentrated on the eyes meeting his, and called up the memory of the conversation he had just overheard. He felt her presence moving through his thoughts, sharing with him his recollection.

"Dorian?"

"Kaeli? Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry, I was... well I was eavesdropping on Electra. I was having trouble dividing my attention."

"Tell me you found out something useful."

"Well, she was having a chat with some former associate of hers. They mentioned something about a mansion that houses another group of vampires, but I wasn't able to confirm a location."

"All right, that's good enough. Pull out now, we don't want anyone noticing you."

The conversation ended there, and Electra's presence in his mind began slowly shrinking back. And as they terminated the mind-link, she began to laugh. "What is it? Who is he?"

She turned back to her desk. "Leave me."

Anthony sighed, and turned for the door. He walked out, shutting the door behind him—and through the door, he heard her say something he never expected to hear her say: "Ah, Dorian... my precious Dorian... you've finally found me."

***

"Come on, spill!" Sylvia pleaded, looking at Elizabeth studiously. "Why've you been so aloof lately? You're never around anymore, what gives?"

Elizabeth just shrugged, sinking back into Sylvia's couch. "I just sort of... found a new group to hang with." She'd accompanied Sylvia into her house on the way home from school, as she often had in the past. Only one thing was different this time around.

"Sounds like you're just trying to be evasive," Nathaniel said. He'd walked with them tonight too. And the fact that Elizabeth was not as excited about that as she might have been a few weeks ago was not lost on her.

"Yeah," Sylvia added, "why didn't you include me in this new group?"

"Eh..." Elizabeth began uncomfortably. "Well... don't take this the wrong way, Sylvie, but the lady who runs this place I've been going to doesn't usually work with pureborns."

"Wha...?" Sylvia's mouth dropped open. "What the hell's up with that?"

"I told you not to take it the wrong way."

"You haven't told us enough for me to differentiate the wrong way from the right way!"

"And I don't think she's going to," Nathaniel added. "She looks bothered by this."

"Thank you, Nathaniel," Elizabeth said earnestly. "I am. Can we change the subject please?"

Sylvia glared studiously at her for a moment, then sighed out "Fine." She turned her head to Nathaniel and said, "Can you go check on the pot, see if it's boiling yet?"

"Sure." 

Elizabeth watched Nathaniel get up and leave the room. "So uh... how are things going with you and him?"

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, pretty good," Sylvia said. "Our last date was pretty... well, great."

"So have you done it yet?"

Sylvia gave her a stunned look. "What?"

"You know, sex."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, but... what? I've only been dating him for like a week!"

Elizabeth shrugged. "What's your point?"

Sylvia narrowed her eyes at her. "Okay, now I really want to know what kind of crowd you've been hanging out with."

Elizabeth briefly contemplated how to answer—and suddenly had a particularly mischievous notion. This might just be the perfect opportunity to try out the new skill Annabelle had taught her last night. As her mouth curled into a wicked smile, she began projecting herself through her eyes as Annabelle had taught her, utilizing some of the technique used to read a person's soul, only in reverse. She looked straight into Sylvia's narrow green eyes, willing the girl sitting across from her to start feeling aroused.

"Oh, a very fun crowd, I can tell you that. I have yet to go there and not find someone willing to get naughty. And they're not all guys, either."

"Eww! You serious?" It didn't seem to be working; at least not yet. Elizabeth just needed to be patient, and keep trying.

"Absolutely," Elizabeth said in her most sultry voice, slowly rising from the couch, her eyes never leaving Sylvia's, or even blinking. "Girls can be just as much fun as much fun as guys." She began steadily striding toward her friend, concentrating hard on the influential thoughts she was projecting. And as she looked at Sylvia's eyes, she could see she was beginning to get some results. Sylvia was trapped in her locked gaze, and she could see her starting to get a little hot. "Haven't you ever wondered, Sylvia? What it feels like, to be touched by someone in the most intimate way possible? Haven't you wanted to know that kind of pleasure?"

Sylvia didn't answer. She seemed like she wanted to, but didn't quite know how. Elizabeth began slowly bending down to her, gently stroking her cheek with her fingers. "I'm here to tell you," Elizabeth whispered, "there is nothing more exquisite in this world."

Sylvia might as well have been wriggling like a worm on a hook. Elizabeth had her, and there was no getting away. She was powerless to fight when Elizabeth brought her lips down to her; all she could do was rise to meet her. Sylvia's tongue was passionate, meeting Elizabeth's with surprising intensity. Elizabeth had unlocked her friend's guarded well of heat.

"Whoa, what the hell?"

Elizabeth pulled her lips away from Sylvia's grinning, and looked up to where Nathaniel stood gawking in the doorway to the kitchen. "Perfect timing," she smirked.

"What's going on here?"

"I was just giving Sylvia a little lesson in love. Would you like one too?" Her hypnotic gaze now fixated on Nathaniel's eyes. If this worked the way she hoped it would, they were about to have one hell of an evening.

"I... I don't think I get it..."

Elizabeth focused hard on projecting thoughts of lust and desire. "Sylvia wants you, Nathaniel. I can feel it. And you want her, don't you?"

"I..."

"Take a look at her. Don't you think she looks pretty? Doesn't she look just... absolutely... lllllluscious?"

Nathaniel took a look at Sylvia, and gave an awkward nod. Elizabeth turned her gaze back to Sylvia's eyes. "You want him, don't you? You see how he looks at you, you feel his affection, and you want to taste him, don't you?"

"...Yes."

Elizabeth smiled devilishly. This was easier than she ever could have dreamed. They were putty in her hands. She extended a hand to Nathaniel. "Come here." Nathaniel obediently approached, taking her hand. She made a gesture for Sylvia to stand up, which she did. "Now," she commanded softly, taking a step back, "show her how much you want her."

Thus Nathaniel took hold of Sylvia and engaged in one of the most intense make-out sessions Elizabeth had ever seen. For the slightest fraction of a second Elizabeth wondered if maybe she'd dug a little too deep into their dormant passions, but quickly brushed that aside upon recognizing how much she enjoyed watching them do this. She moved around behind Sylvia and reached her hands in between the passionate pair, and carefully began unbuttoning Sylvia's blouse. And when she had undone the last button, the two of them compliantly removed their hands from each other to allow her to remove it, while keeping their lips locked in flurry of action. And still they remained focused on each other when she moved to unhook Sylvia's bra.

It was only when Elizabeth reached around and took hold of Sylvia's full, sumptuous breasts that they seemed to take notice of her. Both of them looked down at her hands as they massaged the heaving globes, and Nathaniel hesitated only a brief moment to assist in what Elizabeth was doing. A competition of sorts began over which set of fingers could engulf the most flesh. Elizabeth leaned her face in, pressing it to the side of Sylvia's, and extended her tongue to seek out the girl's mouth. Sylvia turned her head slightly and extended her own tongue to meet her. Their tongues danced merrily together until Nathaniel leaned in to take it back into his own mouth.

All at once Elizabeth grabbed Sylvia by the shoulders and threw her down into the chair. Instantly she dove for her jeans, unfastening them in a blink and practically yanking them off her legs. As she hovered over the girl's panties, she looked up into Sylvia's eyes first. Sylvia was nervous, but she wasn't going to stop her. Elizabeth took a bit more care in sliding her panties off of her, and slowly bending down to her crotch. 

Her practiced tongue extended, and when it reached the place it sought, the results were instantaneous. Sylvia's back arched in a sudden, jerking motion, and she gasped hard. "Oh my g... oh... Elizabeth, what are you doing to m... oh my god!" Her fingers gripped hard into Elizabeth's hair. Elizabeth ate into her, tasting the sweet nectar of her sex, as Sylvia writhed about beneath her. "Oh god, that feels so good... oh god I can't stand it, it's so good!"

When Elizabeth felt Nathaniel kneeling down next to her, she removed her face from Sylvia. Nathaniel, who had already discarded his shirt by now, leaned in to more closely inspect what was going on. "Do like I did," Elizabeth instructed. Nathaniel obediently bent down and engulfed Sylvia's wet sex in his lips.

Elizabeth stood up and stepped back, and removed her top and miniskirt in a flash. She had just recently decided to stop wearing underwear, and was now having trouble imagining why she ever wore it in the first place. She was never happier than when in the freedom of her nudity. She looked down at Sylvia squirming about under Nathaniel's mouth and crying out her pleasure. She focused her gaze on Sylvia's eyes, continuing to project her influence, encouraging her to get off.

Come on, baby.

Cum for me.

Let it out, come on now.

She could actually see Sylvia getting progressively hotter from the encouragement she was giving her. And it was encouragement Sylvia probably didn't even realize she was getting. Within a few short minutes, Elizabeth could see it starting to happen; the intensity coming off Sylvia built to a crescendo, and then her back arched again and her breath stopped for a second or two before she gasped it back out.

At that point, Elizabeth took hold of Nathaniel's shoulders and stood him up. She dropped to her knees, wasting no time in getting started undoing his pants. The large thing underneath sprang free as she pulled his pants down, eagerly awaiting her lips. And after having fantasized about the thing in front of her so many times, actually seeing it was better than she ever could have imagined. She sucked it into her mouth with a hunger she didn't even know she had.

But as she pumped her head upon it, and Sylvia knelt beside her to watch closely, she gradually came to realize what she wanted to do with it more than what she was doing now. She pulled it from her mouth and pointed it in Sylvia's direction. "It's all right," she smiled. "Go ahead." Sylvia regarded it warily, and slowly brought her lips around the length. "Go on, just like you saw me do."

Sylvia cautiously got started, seemingly unsure at first, but as minutes ticked by she gradually built up a pace, getting a feel for what she was doing. Above the two girls, Nathaniel groaned his approval. "You're doing great," Elizabeth grinned.

Then, all of a sudden, Sylvia stopped. She looked straight at Elizabeth and said, "I want to do it now." Elizabeth grinned wider.

Sylvia didn't wait for instructions. She got up and threw herself onto the chair again, spreading her legs apart. "You heard her," Elizabeth beamed at Nathaniel, who seemed just as eager as she. He stepped up to her and knelt over her, ready to take her whole. "Easy now," Elizabeth instructed. "Gently." Slowly Nathaniel pushed forward, parting her lips, until Sylvia started making the contorted face that came from her cherry being broken. Nathaniel stopped, and began pulling out.

"No, it's okay," Elizabeth started saying. "It's okay, right?"

"It hurts!"

"I know, it'll get better..." Elizabeth stopped what she was saying as she observed Nathaniel's tool that he had just withdrawn, covered with the blood that had come from taking Sylvia's maidenhood. Blood that Elizabeth just had to taste. "Oh God," she gasped, diving in and feverishly engulfing Nathaniel's length in her mouth, savoring the taste of the blood upon it. And when she had taken it all, she immediately moved to get as much as she could from the source. Her tongue probed as deep as she could into Sylvia's folds, seeking out the thick red fluid that her maidenhood had given up.

She did this until the flow of blood from her sex ceased, and finally pulled back, causing Sylvia to finally stop the way she'd been squirming all the while Elizabeth had been tasting her. Nathaniel immediately proceeded with what he'd been doing.

Within a minute, they were going like wildfire. Sylvia's hands reached above her head, gripping tight the back of the chair, while her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth hung open. Elizabeth hovered over her from the side, alternating between tonguing her nipple and cheering her on. "Come on, baby... that feel good? You like that?"

"Unh... yeah... it feels good... it feels so good..."

Elizabeth suddenly jumped at the sudden shock between her legs, and looked down to see Nathaniel's finger idly playing with her clit. He was better than she gave him credit for, taking her into consideration while his attention was still focused on Sylvia. "Ooh, you're a good boy," she grinned up at him. Perhaps in response, he proceeded to thrust a pair of fingers inside her, causing her to jump again. "You're a really good boy!"

Sylvia forced out a giggle between her grunts of pleasure. Elizabeth bent down and again put her tongue to Sylvia's nipple. Ultimately, she began feeling the need to attend to the nipple she had omitted up until now, and crossed her leg over Sylvia's body so that she now stood astride of her, leaning directly over the length of her body, and took the other nipple into her mouth. 

Then suddenly she heard a moan of displeasure, which perplexed her only until she felt Nathaniel's cock pushing its way into her own hole. After having fantasized about this for so long, the indescribable pleasure of now actually having Nathaniel inside of her was almost more than her senses could handle. She hadn't realized while watching him do this to Sylvia just how enthusiastic he was. He fucked her with an intensity she had rarely felt from the other guys she'd been with.

Her hand reached down between her and Sylvia's bodies to stroke Sylvia's sex, and her tongue extended from her open mouth to meet and dance with hers. She felt Sylvia's hands gripping and kneading her breasts joyfully. She actually tried to open her tightly shut eyes, but she seemed to have momentarily forgotten how, until she felt a fierce orgasm building that snapped them open for her. And when it finally went tearing through her body, she practically blacked out from the world.

Nathaniel was still going, thrusting in and out of her, when her senses cleared again. "Back up," she commanded. "Back up a little." She began carefully moving backwards as she said this, doing her best not to disrupt what he was doing and keep him inside her. He moved backwards with her until she got to the place she wanted: with her mouth right over Sylvia's dripping sex. She was more in control now; she was enjoying what Nathaniel was doing no less, but it was no longer impeding her from her full range of skill. She lowered her mouth and again tasted Sylvia's nectar.

It was after only a few minutes of pounding and squirming and moaning that she heard Sylvia begin to shriek, "Oh god, Elizabeth, you're gonna make me cum so hard!" But even without those words that was plain enough from the way she was moving, and when the dam burst Elizabeth could taste it flowing.

"Ah, fuck," Nathaniel finally grunted. Elizabeth eagerly responded to his verbal cue, dropping to her knees in front of him and letting her tongue roll out of her open mouth as he furiously stroked himself. Sylvia, less certain about what she was doing, was right behind her, but just a little too late to catch the launch of white goop that showered Elizabeth's face and mouth. But Elizabeth felt generous, and pulled Sylvia to her. 




Blood Rose Ch. 05



"Lick it off," she said. "Lick it all off." And without hesitation, Sylvia obeyed. Her tongue went all over Elizabeth's face, drenching her in her hungry kisses.

"Wow," Nathaniel said simply.

"Now wasn't that fun?" Elizabeth grinned.

Sylvia looked like she was just waking up from a drug-induced stupor. "My god!"

"Yes, I know."

"My god!"

"I know."

"My god!"

"I heard you."

"Did we really just do that?"

"Yes, we did."

"I can't believe we just did that! Did we really just do that?"

"Yes, we still really just did that."

Sylvia put a hand to her head and shook it as if trying to clear it. "I gotta sit down." She got up and plopped herself back down on the chair without picking up her clothes.

"That was intense," said Nathaniel.

"I know!" Sylvia gasped. "I just freaking lost my virginity! And it's a school night, and I have to go to school tomorrow, and everything's gonna be the same, but it's all gonna be different, cause I'm gonna be different, cause everything's different now, and somebody's gotta shut me up here because I'm about to freaking pass out!"

"Breathe," Elizabeth said. "Slow, steady breaths." Sylvia nodded.

Nathaniel gathered up his pants and began pulling them back on, and Elizabeth just sat down on the floor against the chair, not really focusing on anything in particular. Yes, what they had just done was fun, but that was all it was. It was just fun. No more, no less. This was Nathaniel, the guy she'd had a crush on for months and fantasized about hundreds of times, and yet now that she'd actually had him, she felt nothing. He was just another guy, whom she enjoyed just as much as any other guy she'd been with. No more, no less.

She found herself thinking of Tyler. The logical voices in her head had yet to stop shouting at her that this date was a bad idea, and yet she couldn't help how much she was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. She wasn't expecting anything to really happen with him, not like what had just happened here, and yet for some reason getting to see him excited her more than what she'd just done. Why?

***

She was still pondering that very question when the doorbell rang the following evening. Several times throughout the day she had considered calling him to cancel, before she remembered that she never asked for his number. Those voices in her head telling her not to do this were screaming like fangirls at a boy-band concert as she approached the door, but her body refused to listen to them. With each step she took, the war being waged between her heart and her head grew more heated, and by the time her hand was reaching for the sparkling brass knob, with her golden, distorted reflection in it looking back at her, the two opposing forces were about ready to go nuclear.

As soon as she opened the door, her head raised the white flag. One look into those light brown eyes and all her sense of logic and reason went out the window. "Hey," he said, "you ready to go?"

"Absolutely."

***

Tyler took a careful look at Elizabeth across the table, having difficulty figuring out what to make of her. She was asking plenty of questions, seemingly interested in learning all there was to know about him, while telling him precious little about herself. He found he was able to sum up all he knew about her in his head in one sip of his latte. He'd gathered that she went to some private school, she'd never had a serious relationship, she had an older brother who left home when she was twelve and never came back, and the earthshattering discovery that she hated mayonnaise. That was about it.

"Something bothering you?" she said, noticing his gaze.

"You still haven't told me what school you go to."

She flinched. It was barely perceptible, but he was pretty sure he saw her flinch. "You wouldn't know it."

"Try me."

"No, just trust me, you wouldn't."

He raised an eyebrow. "You really don't like to talk about yourself, do you?"

She frowned. Her eyes lowered. When she looked up again, she said, "Is there something in particular you want to know about me?"

Tyler shrugged. "Sure. What school do you go to?"

"No, I mean something important. Something you'll actually care about if I tell you."

For a moment he said nothing. "Wow," he said finally. "You're something different."

Her mouth curled into a mischievous smile. "Do you like different?"

He studied her for a few seconds. "Maybe," he said in a half-grin. "I'll let you know when I figure it out." She brought her latte up to the tantalizing grin on her face.

Tyler took a look around the coffee house, and happened to glance out the window. There were only a few clouds out tonight, and the moon was only partially concealed—which suddenly drew a fabulous idea to mind. "You know," he said, not altogether sure of how to bring up what he was thinking, "we could go someplace else."

"Like where?"

"Well, there's this place I go sometimes, and there's something there I think you might like to see."

Her head tilted. "Can you be a little more particular?"

"You're one to talk."

She chewed on that for a second, and then broke into a giggle. "You're right."

"C'mon," he said, getting up from his chair. She followed him out of the coffee house and into his car, and he drove off for the place where, ironically, he ordinarily went when he wanted to be alone. He wondered if she'd think of it the same way... but when he thought about it, why wouldn't she?

He parked the car along the side of the road in a residential area about a block from his destination. The lights in the park did little to remove the emptiness from it, devoid of any people at this hour. He approached the iron fence and gate around the entrance that were far too low to be of any significance anyway, and stepped over, gesturing for her to follow.

She hesitated. "Are we supposed to be doing this?"

"Probably not," he grinned mischievously. "You coming or not?"

She looked it over for a second more, and then put one leg over the bars. Before bringing her other leg over, she took hold of his hand and pulled herself along, and when she was over she still hadn't let go. He looked down at their clasped palms, and then looked up at her. She didn't even seem to notice what she was doing. "Well? Lead the way."

He grinned bashfully, and guided her along by the hand now. He steered toward the dark edge of the park away from the lights, toward the border of trees, to that special path that few ever traversed, especially at night. The path to get where he was going was creepy to walk alone in the dark, but the end result was worth it to those who were brave enough, as he had proven himself. The path dipped down to a low road beneath the ledge, to a dark, lonely path beneath twisting branches next to a thin, trickling stream. Her hand squeezed his tighter. "Are you afraid?" he asked.

In the half-visible light that reached them down here, he could see her smile. "I like being afraid."

They continued on the uninviting path, following the trickle of the stream, until it widened into the creek that cut through the park. The path they followed continued under the arc of a wide stone bridge, and Tyler began moving faster once that bridge came in sight. He finally stopped underneath it, where they could see the sparkling gems that had been laid in the underlying foundation of the bridge. He had often wondered why whoever built this bridge bothered putting those in, since hardly anyone ever went down here to see them, but he was far from complaining. He looked up to the bright, full moon, just peaking past the edge of a cloud.

"Well this is pretty," Elizabeth said.

"Wait for it," Tyler smiled, keeping his attention on the moon. He saw her follow his gaze, watching as the cloud that blocked out the moonlight slowly drifted past. "Wait for it."

And as the cloud finally cleared from the face of the moon, the light from the great white orb came slicing down to the water that ran before them under the bridge. Tyler had seen what he was seeing now more than once before, but it never became any less breathtaking. The shimmering light of the moon reflecting off the water sparkled and danced back at them from the gems on the underside of the bridge, creating a stunning montage of glowing colors that moved with the flow of the water.

"Wow!" Elizabeth breathed. "My god, Tyler, it's beautiful!" Both her hands were holding onto his arm.

Tyler turned his head to look at her when she said this—and suddenly his fascination wasn't on the lightshow in front of them. He now found he couldn't look away from her, from the way the sparkling lights illuminated her angelic face and shined off of her midnight black hair. "It's not the only thing," he said almost without meaning to.

She looked at him with those brilliant golden eyes... those eyes. There was just something about them that made it so hard to look away. And the way those eyes were looking at him with such tender longing, and they way her hands clutched his arm... he honestly couldn't remember ever being so attracted to anyone in his life. His hand almost involuntarily rose to her cheek, and when his thumb began stroking her face, she reached her own hand up to clasp his.

He hadn't even realized their faces were coming closer until he started feeling her warm breath on his face, but it was too late to stop now. There was nothing that could prevent what was happening now. Their lips met slowly, merging together like two trickling streams of water. Gradually they both began to let go of their hesitation, steadily melting into each other. Their lips opened wider and he felt the moist warmth of her tongue meeting his, and it met him with an intensity that told him she wanted this every bit as much as he did.

And then, all at once, she broke away from it. She stepped away and turned her back to him, running her hands through her hair. "This isn't right," she breathed. "I shouldn't be doing this?"

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked, holding his hands out to the sides in utter confusion. "What is it with you? One minute you're all here with me, and the next you're somewhere else entirely!"

She looked at him with an incredibly heartbreaking look. It was as if she desperately wanted something, but didn't think she could get it. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have to go."

And with that she took off, back down the dark path, around the corner and out of sight. "Elizabeth, wait!" he called after her, but when he turned the corner himself, she was gone.

To Be Continued...



Blood Rose Ch. 06



17 years ago...

The sharp whoosh lasted only a split second before the dull thump of the arrow piercing the target sounded. The barb had struck precisely on the little heart drawn in red crayon on the drawing of the human-shaped figure mounted on the wall with the very cartoonish-looking set of dripping fangs drawn on the otherwise blank face area. Little Kaeli started to bounce up and down with excitement, but stopped as holding the bow made it a cumbersome gesture. The curved length was almost as tall as she was, and still a bit heavy for her. But nonetheless, she was getting results, and that made her happy.

"Kaeli, you are getting good!" Nell said after she finished clapping her hands. "You're gonna be a great hunter someday!"

"Nell, I want a smaller bow," Kaeli complained. "This one's so long and it's heavy!"

"But you're doing great with it," Nell beamed down at her. "And when you're old enough to actually hunt it'll be just the right size for you."

Kaeli turned her eyes down, and nodded, still not sure really wanted to wait that long. She knew she wasn't old enough yet, but she still wanted to be out there killing vampires with the others. With Daddy. She had a right to, after what happened to her mother...

The garage door came rolling up and the headlights of the truck flooded in. As the truck rolled to a stop, Kaeli came bounding up to it, still holding the bow in her hands. "Daddy! Daddy!" she shouted, bouncing as best she could while still holding the bow with a big smile on her face. "Look look look! I got it right in the heart! Daddy look!" Her finger had almost more energy than the whole rest of her body as she pointed to the target she'd been practicing on. Her father hadn't even gotten out of the truck yet.

The door opened and he stepped out first, taking her by the shoulders and moving her out of the way of the others as they got out and went around to the back of the truck. "I saw it Kaeli," he grinned. "You're doing great! Vampires of the world beware when you grow up!" She giggled at that.

The rest of the team pulled the tarp off what they where covering in the back of the pickup, and split up to carry off the bodies of the two dead vampires they were transporting to the incinerator. Kaeli got a very clear look at them. Both had been riddled with bullets and finished off with an iron stake in the heart. This had clearly been a good night for the team, coming home with two vampires eliminated. Quite often they got none.

Her dad performed the now useless gesture of turning her head away from the bodies being carried off. "I already saw them, Daddy," she said matter-of-factly. "You don't need to hide them from me. I think it's great that you got two of 'em!"

"You do, huh?"

"Yeah! They deserve it, 'cause of what they did to Mommy!"

Her father's eyes lowered. "Kaeli, come with me," he said. "We need to talk about something." 

He took her by the hand and led her over to the worn and torn couch that decorated the far side of the garage. She sat down and looked up into his face with worry. He never had anything good to say when his eyes pointed down like that. He sat down next to her and said, "Do you really understand how your mother really died?"

Kaeli nodded. "The vampires killed her."

He sighed slowly. "In a sense, that's true. But actually your mother killed herself."

Kaeli fell dead silent. "Why?" she managed to squeak out when she found her voice again.

"Because she'd been bitten, and we didn't get an antidote to her in time. She was turning into one of them. So she killed herself before that could happen."

"But..."

He put a hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen, Kaeli-Cat, you have to remember: vampires are evil. They're living sins against God. They may look like people, but they're nothing but abominations that feed on people's lives to sustain their own unholy existence. And that's what your mother would've turned into if she hadn't stopped it. Always remember, it's better to die as a human than live as a monster. Your mother knew that, and everyone here knows that. If what happened to your mother happened to me, I'd do exactly the same thing she did, and so would everyone else here. And if, heaven forbid, it happened to you, I'd trust you to do that to. Do you understand?"

Kaeli hesitated a moment, feeling the tickle on her cheek of a tear, and weakly nodded. Her father brought her head to his chest for a warm embrace, and her arms wrapped themselves around his midsection.

"Here," he said then, removing the sparkling golden crucifix that hung from his neck. "This belonged to your mother. I've been wearing it since she died, but now I think she'd want you to have it." Kaeli lowered her head to allow the light chain to loop around it, coming to a rest around her neck. She hoisted the golden weight that hung from it in her hand and studied it carefully. "Never lose faith, Kaeli-Cat. As long as you wear this, God will be watching over you. So will your mother. And no matter what, so will I."

She looked up at him with her tear-filled eyes. "I'll never take it off, Daddy. Never."

He smiled warmly back at her. "Good girl," he said, bringing her to him for another loving embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elizabeth let out a breath as her head breached the surface of the pool, looking up into the star-filled blanket of night sky above her. She'd always loved to swim before, but was amazed at how much better it felt without the wet cling of a swimsuit, which was Annabelle's only rule about the use of her pool. Skinny-dipping only. Elizabeth wasn't about to complain. She was beginning to wonder why swimsuits were ever invented in the first place. What purpose did they really serve?

She took a breath and bobbed her head under again, gliding around through the water like a mermaid. She'd never been so happy to have Spring Break, which allowed her all the time she wanted to enjoy the hedonism of Annabelle's world. 

Annabelle had taught her a particularly mind-blowing technique the other night: They prepared early, both her and Annabelle having a drink of a concoction that included a mix of both of their blood with a few particular herbs. Then later they both bit into the palm of one hand and put their hands together, mixing each other's blood, and began focused breathing together. 

Elizabeth had begun feeling a weird sensation running through her; everything in her body began feeling as though she had two of it. And then when one of the boys, Zachary, came along at Annabelle's behest, dropping his drawers and sliding his length into Annabelle from behind, Elizabeth could actually feel his cock even though there wasn't one inside her. To make the encounter even weirder, when Elizabeth began rubbing her own clit, Annabelle responded, "Oh yeah, do that faster!" Their two bodies had become one, sharing every sensation the other felt in the most intimate way possible. And so when another of the boys, Nicholas, joined in by entering Elizabeth, she nearly passed out from the delirium of twice the sex. The experience of feeling both Annabelle's orgasm and her own almost on top of each other was something she didn't think she'd ever forget.

And then there was what happened last night, when Katrina, who was the oldest girl there except for Annabelle herself, had her ninety-sixth birthday. Not that the age really mattered that much, since as far as anybody could tell she still looked twenty, but Annabelle nonetheless saw it as an occasion to throw a party. And of course, by Annabelle's definition, it's not a party until everyone is naked and on the floor.

What ensued was largely a blur now; eight girls, five guys, no clothes and no rules. She could clearly remember sitting down on Julian's face, giving his tongue access to her waiting sex, and leaning over to make out with Rosanna who was riding on his lap. She could remember sitting next to Charlotte, watching her getting fucked on all fours, and feeling the leap of excitement when Rodrigo pulled out of Charlotte, knowing that she was next. She could remember sitting backward on Zachary's lap on the couch, watching Noemi and Miko lying side by side on their backs, taking turns getting mounted by Nicholas, while Monique and Katrina fought over whose turn it was to suck Sebastian's cock. She actually lost track of the number of times she got off.

And then it got even better. Just when all the guys had shot off and everybody was running out of steam, Charlotte stood up and began chanting a few arcane words in a strange, echoing voice. Whatever spell she cast had immediate effects, as suddenly everyone became twice as energized as they were before. The girls all became twice as wet, the guys all became twice as hard, and everyone became twice as excited. Elizabeth didn't remember anything coherent after that, aside from lots and lots of screaming.

In truth, all these sexual escapades and Annabelle's Blood Rose lessons had been allowing her some temporary piece of mind, and the time off of school was welcome as it allowed so much more of them. Her activities at the mansion were making it so much easier for her to not think of Tyler. Giving him her number on their date may have been a mistake; he'd been calling her repeatedly since then and it had taken all of her willpower to not answer. He was just a human, after all, and she had no business getting involved with a human. So why was it so difficult to get him out of her head?

Her head emerged from the water just as a splash came from the diving board, and Rosanna popped her head up and pulled her hair out of her eyes. Katrina came and sat down on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water. "Hi Katrina," Elizabeth chimed. "Do you know if anyone else has a birthday coming up?"

Katrina chuckled through her teeth. "I think Monique's is next month," she said with her mild Russian accent. "And if I know Annabelle, you can bet she'll celebrate it the same way."

Elizabeth shivered. "How did I ever live before I found this place?"

Katrina shrugged. "I can't imagine. I've known her for almost forty years, and she throws me the same party every year. Not that I'm complaining."

"Know whatcha mean," Rosanna said. "Ah used ta get bumped ev'ry now 'n' then when ah really wanted to, but 'round here there's hunks ta keep me company anytime ah want."

Elizabeth was aware of Annabelle's approach several seconds before she heard her footsteps, or heard her voice. "Elizabeth!" She came walking out in one of her fancier red evening dresses. "If you can bear to leave the pool for a while, we have a visitor. And she's especially interested in meeting you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Why don't you come out of there and towel off. She's waiting in the living room in the east wing."

Elizabeth shrugged, and clambered out of the pool. After toweling off, Annabelle handed her one of the red silk kimonos which Elizabeth wrapped around herself, and followed Annabelle back into the house. They navigated the winding hallways that Elizabeth was still getting used to, until they reached the door to the room that Annabelle referred to. As Elizabeth approached that door, her feet began slowing almost involuntarily. She could feel the presence of the person waiting on the other side, and somehow it was filling her with a childlike sense of dread. She was slightly grateful that Annabelle was the one who performed the task of turning the knob and opening the door, but then Elizabeth still had to follow her through and meet the person inside the room. Steeling her nerves, Elizabeth slowly stepped inside.

Sitting on the leather sofa facing away from her was a woman with a head of blood red hair, finer than any she'd ever seen. As Annabelle approached the woman arose from the couch, still with her back to Elizabeth, allowing her to see the woman's black coat and red evening dress. "Electra," Annabelle said, "I'd like you to meet my prodigy, Elizabeth. Elizabeth... this is Electra Rose."

Slowly the woman turned, and looked at Elizabeth with her sparkling violet eyes. Elizabeth found herself utterly unable to say anything, overwhelmed with an all-consuming fear of the person standing before her. Something about her just felt so... wrong. She had to suppress her urge to shrink back in terror when Electra came walking her direction. 

"Well isn't this a pleasure," Electra purred in a silken voice tinted with an elegant English accent. With each step Electra took, drawing ever closer, Elizabeth's heart raced faster. When she was within touching distance, Electra gently slid her fingers through a handful of Elizabeth's hair. Elizabeth shivered at the brush of Electra's fingers against her face as she did this. "Such a beauteous thing she is."

Elizabeth stared up wide-eyed at this woman who stood several inches taller than she did. She desperately grasped for her voice, but when she found it a muffled squeak was all that escaped her throat, at a loss for anything to say. Annabelle chuckled. "Don't worry. Electra has that effect on a lot of people."

"Come, let me have a look at you," Electra purred, tilting up Elizabeth's chin just slightly and staring straight into her eyes. And staring back into the luminous violet orbs before her, the overwhelming feeling of dread that this woman was giving her only escalated. She didn't even bother trying to probe into the person behind those eyes, because what she was getting from them already was terrifying her enough. But she could definitely feel Electra probing into her. She tried to blink, to break the intrusion into her psyche, but Electra's hypnotic presence was so strong she could hardly move at all.

Suddenly the violet eyes staring at her shot open in absolute shock. "Merciful Blood of Dmitrius!" she gasped.

"Electra?" Annabelle said, stepping forward with a curious look.

Electra took a step back, just barely giving Elizabeth the tiniest bit of breathing space back. A wild grin spread across her face. "Spirit of the Old Ones have pity, this is almost too good to believe! Annabelle, I don't think you realize what you've found!"

"What are you talking about? She can't be your fabled Chosen; you already found him."

Electra's eyes never left Elizabeth, no matter how long Elizabeth waited for them to. "You said her name was Elizabeth, did you not?" Electra mused. "I believe I've heard of this girl before."

For a second Elizabeth's curiosity was able to overpower the numbing fear that Electra's presence was filling her with. "F-from who?"

Electra paused a moment, the chilling grin on her face widening. "From your brother."

Elizabeth's pounding heart suddenly skipped a beat. "How... how do you know Anthony?"

Electra's hands clasped behind her back, and she began slowly moving around behind Elizabeth, sizing her up like a car she was considering purchasing. "I suppose Anthony never spoke to you about who made him into a vampire, did he now?"

"He never told me much at all. He came home, he turned me and our parents, and then he just sort of disappeared."

"Yes, I remember. As I recall, I told him it would be best to leave after he said you did not belong with us."

Elizabeth had been consciously avoiding turning her head to look at Electra until that point. "Are you saying that you..."

The feeling of Electra's breath on her ear sent a shiver down Elizabeth's spine. "As Annabelle said, you are a fast learner. Yes, it was I who made your brother into a Child of the Dark. As you are Annabelle's protégé, so Anthony is mine."

Elizabeth turned an accusatory gaze on Annabelle, who appeared no less stunned than she did. "Did you know this?"

Annabelle shook her head. "So her brother," she said to Electra, "is your vaunted Chosen One?"

"Why do you think she adapts to Blood Rose so quickly?" Electra purred. The gentle caress of Electra's fingers in her cheek made Elizabeth's breath all but stop. "This one is kin to the Chosen. Had she been firstborn in her family, she could well have been the Chosen herself. As it is, her brother is the only one I've encountered whose potential is greater than hers."

For a few breathless seconds, the room was silent. "Elizabeth," Annabelle said at last, "would you give us a moment?"

It took a few more seconds for Elizabeth to find the capacity to move. As soon as her feet could run she hurried to the door and threw it shut behind her. She ran down the hall into the lobby, finally stopping when she could lean with her hand on the stair rail, gasping for breath with a hand over her pounding heart. She felt as though she'd finally managed to wrestle free after having her head held under water.

Elizabeth recalled the first time she met Annabelle, and in a way it had felt similar to this. She did get a feel for the power that Annabelle had, and when she came close to her it felt like wading into a warm pool. Electra's power had the same kind of feel to it, but rather than just a simple pool, Electra's power was like a lake she was drowning in. And the water was tainted with poison.

After a few minutes, the doors opened and Electra emerged, striding purposefully in Elizabeth's direction. Elizabeth's muscles, that had finally, blissfully relaxed after leaving her presence instantly tensed all over again. Each step that drew Electra closer Elizabeth prayed would be where she stopped, but she stopped only after coming within arm's length, and said four words that sent a chill through Elizabeth's blood: "I'll see you again." With that Electra turned to the front doors and was gone.

As soon as Annabelle appeared again Elizabeth had to fight off a nearly overwhelming desire to clutch her by the shoulders and let off her shivers. "That actually went better than I hoped," Annabelle mused.

"What did you talk about in there?"

"Oh, just old business. She seems to have taken a much keener interest in you than I expected."

Hearing that made Elizabeth shiver all over again. She fought back her fear and revulsion to ask another important question: "Did she mention anything about when I might get to see my brother?"

Annabelle had been half looking at her and half looking towards the doors that Electra had just left through until then. Now her full attention focused on her. "No, not exactly, but I'd expect it will happen soon." Elizabeth was both excited and terrified to hear that.

"Come on," Annabelle said, placing a hand on Elizabeth's back, "let's go fetch the other girls. We have another guest coming tonight."

"Another one? Like Electra?"

"Not quite," Annabelle grinned.

***

It wasn't until Kaeli was standing in front of the gate of the mansion, actually looking at the grandiose and ominous house, that the reality factor of what she was doing started to sink in. It seemed like such a clever plan when it formed in her mind; how could it suddenly seem so stupid now that she was actually about to do it? Of course, if she hadn't known from the start the plan was dangerous, she probably wouldn't have refrained from telling Dorian about it. Moreover, based on what she heard at the club Electra herself was likely to be here tonight; this could very well be a trap.

For more than a few seconds she seriously considered aborting. Even after she buzzed the intercom and heard Annabelle's welcoming voice and the metallic click of the gate unlocking, the idea of not going in didn't seem like such a bad one. If she wanted to, she could still make a run for it and forget about the temporary insanity that led her to come up with this daredevil mission in the first place. But when she thought it over, the ties that Annabelle had to Electra made this place too valuable a target to pass up. 

She finally made up her mind to do this. She was going to step inside under the pretense of friendship, let herself get bitten, excuse herself to a private room, treat herself with an antidote, and activate a tracer signal for Dorian and the others to follow and then let them in to wipe the place out. She pressed her back against the gatepost, whispered a prayer, crossed herself, and with a deep breath stepped through the gate.




Blood Rose Ch. 06



Halfway to the front door, passing by the prancing horse statues in the middle of the courtyard, the thought of making a run for it came screaming back as she saw who was coming the other direction. She'd only seen her from a distance, but the violet eyes that were looking straight at her now could only belong to Electra Rose herself. Somehow her feet continued moving forward, despite the way her whole body was screaming at her to turn around and bolt. Time slowed to a snail's pace, as two seconds seemed to stretch to an hour. Electra passed right by her, not saying a word, just keeping her eyes locked to hers and giving her a bone chilling smile. 

Kaeli held her breath in silence, continuing to move, promptly putting Electra behind her. She briefly considered the possibility that Electra might attack her from behind while she wasn't looking, but somehow it didn't seem likely. She opted instead to just pretend she wasn't there. Don't turn around, don't look behind you, keep moving forward, don't turn around...

The mantra succeeded in getting her to the front door. It took all of her willpower not to look behind her now; she knew if she turned to look at Electra one more time she would most likely lose what little nerve she had left. The world again went into slow motion as she reached up to lift the heavy brass knocker and brought it down on the door with a thundering bang. She did this a second time. And a third. She could hear the echo of the knocks inside the house, and now she could hear the sound of someone in heels approaching. The big door opened and there stood Annabelle in her sparkling red evening dress with a smile on her face that seemed somehow both welcoming and ominous at the same time. "Welcome, Kaeli," she grinned, extending an arm in a gesture of invitation. "Please, come in."

For a moment, Kaeli froze completely as she stared down at the threshold she was about to step over. As hard as she tried, she just couldn't shake a terrible feeling in her gut that once she stepped through this door there would be no going back. Her life as she knew it would be over. And once again, the thought of turning and running while she still could crossed her mind. She could just forget about this whole daredevil scheme and run back to Dorian and attack this place the old fashioned way.

Ultimately Kaeli steeled herself to enter. This Trojan horse idea was still the best way to take the place out. She'd planned this whole thing out; she knew what to do, and she was ready. Her right foot lifted itself from the ground and set down on the other side of the threshold, and she forcibly pulled her left in after it. She took a few more steps, and she was inside the vampire's lair. And with a solid boom that felt very much like the lid being closed on her own coffin, Annabelle closed the door behind her.

"Come on out, girls!" Annabelle called. "Our guest has arrived!"

Like rabbits out of their burrows, one girl after another began appearing from various doors around the lobby. Some were dressed normally; others wore only red silk kimonos. They all began gathering around her, most with eager smiles on their faces. As they drew near, most of those smiles suddenly faded, and a few of them took a step back. "Everyone," Annabelle said, "I'd like you to meet our new sister. Her name is Kaeli."

One of the girls, a blond in one of the red kimonos, stepped forward and seemed to study Kaeli like a dog sniffing at a stranger. "Annabelle, have you lost your mind?" she said with just the slightest hint of a Russian accent in her voice. "This is a human!"

"Yes, Katrina, but not for much longer. She is here tonight because she wants to become one of us. Tonight she will be initiated, both as a vampire and as a practitioner of Blood Rose. I trust all of you to make her feel... welcome." The word "welcome" sounded like a cue for them to do something. 

One of the girls stepped forward, a girl in another of the silk kimonos with hair as black as a crow's feathers, and looked straight at her with eyes that shined in an almost hypnotic golden glow. Kaeli casually attempted to look around, but found this girl's eyes seemed to hold her prisoner, not allowing her to look away. She'd felt this effect before, looking at Electra's eyes from a merciful distance, or the other night when she met Annabelle at the club. But something felt different about this one. Electra's gaze was one of horrible foreboding that nearly suffocated her, and Annabelle's had at least given her a few shivers. This girl's gaze seemed... warm. Welcoming. After a moment or two, a smile broke into the girl's face and she said, "I like her."

"I imagined you would, Elizabeth," Annabelle chimed. "After tonight, you won't be the newbie anymore. Come, all of you, let's take her someplace more inviting."

Elizabeth... that was the name of the prodigy that Annabelle was telling Electra about at the club. Amongst the others, this one was special. And Kaeli suddenly got the distinct impression that this was who she'd be getting the magic bite from.

A pair of hands gently took her by each arm and led her along as they all headed for a particular door on the west side of the lobby. They stepped into a short hallway with hooks along the walls with the red kimonos decorating one side. Kaeli was, to say the least, slightly perplexed when the girls began stripping in front of her. Those wearing the silk kimonos removed them and hung them on the hooks on the left wall, standing before her now in their full nudity. The ones in actual clothes were about halfway through undressing themselves when Kaeli asked, "What are you doing?"

Annabelle stepped forward, looking straight at her with those luminous green eyes that made active thought and motion difficult. "Just relax," she grinned. "We're all just going to get comfortable for the fun we're about to have." Something about that had a very ominous tone to it. With that Annabelle slid the dress she wore down off of her shoulders, letting it pool at her feet, exposing her startlingly fair body before Kaeli's eyes.

One of the girls took the strap of Kaeli's purse and smoothly slid it off her shoulder. Kaeli initially attempted to protest, but one look into this girl's eyes silenced her before a single word left her throat. Nonetheless, she kept a close watch on that purse as it was laid down amongst the shoes and socks and underwear that were laid on the floor along the right wall. The tracer that was going to signal Dorian and the team was inside of that purse. More importantly, so was her vial of antidote.

She wanted to reach out and pick it up again, but somehow her arm wouldn't move. The girls simply continued with their delicate work, sliding her coat off and pulling up on her shirt. As uncomfortable as this was making her, every set of eyes she looked into made it more and more difficult to resist what was happening, to the point that she even raised her arms to allow them to remove her shirt, and stepping out of her shoes and her jeans once they were pulled down around her feet. Her heart pounded as the multiple pairs of hands gracefully reduced her to wearing only the crucifix around her neck.

She was guided by the arms now into the next room, a warm, candlelit lounge area with a circle of pillows laid in the middle. The girls led her to this spot and slowly sat her down. By now Kaeli had counted five girls present, aside from Annabelle, because she now felt five pairs of hands touching her body. All along her legs and torso and arms were hands gently caressing her, and each breast was being skillfully kneaded, sending erotic shivers through her. Everywhere she looked was a smiling face and a pair of eyes with the same kind of hypnotic glow to them. 

The face furthest to her left, which belonged to Elizabeth, began coming closer with her mouth open for a tender kiss. Kaeli had never looked at another girl this way, but the part of her brain that would tell her to protest what was happening had long been quieted by now. Before she knew what she was doing, Kaeli's mouth was open, accepting Elizabeth's passionate tongue into it, and meeting it warmly with her own. In the back of her mind she did her a tiny voice screaming at her to stop this craziness, but with each passing second that her tongue remained in contact with the warm wetness of Elizabeth's, that voice grew smaller and further away.

She didn't break off the languid kiss until she began feeling a tingle between her legs, which she didn't even realize she'd spread apart. The girl Annabelle had addressed as Katrina was knelt over her, running her elongated fingers over Kaeli's already dripping wet slit. A brunette knelt next to her watched with keen interest, while the black girl massaging her right breast leaned in to give the pert nipple a tingling tongue flick.

Elizabeth knelt down to kiss her again, but this one proved much shorter than the last when Kaeli suddenly gasped at the shock of a tongue on her sex. The brunette next to Katrina had knelt down and begun to feast on what lay below. In fact, in several places the hands that touched her were being replaced by tongues, not just on her sex but on her breasts as well, being the kissed and tongued by the two girls servicing them. A soft moan escaped Kaeli's throat, and she began to writhe about within the prison of pleasure she had become trapped in.

Her body came completely detached from her cognitive mind. Her hand moved all on its own to clutch at the hair of the girl whose mouth had become attached to her sacred trove, and her mouth moaned against Elizabeth's. Hands and mouths moved everywhere over her body, keeping her squirming and crying out her elation. It didn't take long for a searing orgasm to come tearing through her body, eliciting a scream that would have most likely deafened the girls had Elizabeth's kiss not been muffling her. And at that point, the two girls between her legs traded switched off, and Katrina now was using her practiced tongue to bring her along the path towards a second explosion.

"How are you girls doing?" Annabelle's voice suddenly spoke up. Kaeli opened her eyes and saw Annabelle standing over the orgy that she was the center of. She had no idea how much time had passed, but it was clear now that Annabelle had left the room at some point and just now returned. "Are you all having fun?"

Five voices all voiced a unanimous "Uh-huh."

"Kaeli, are you enjoying yourself?" She managed a nod, unable to deny that she was. "Then we might as well take it to the next level. Go ahead Sebastian."

Except for Elizabeth, all the girls moved away from her then, and kneeling in front of her now was a thin and fit man with very short hair and thin layer of stubble, holding his stiff piece of equipment in his hand, ready to have his way with her. Momentarily intimidated, Kaeli leaned back harder against Elizabeth's chest. Elizabeth leaned to her ear and whispered, "Don't worry, you'll like Sebastian."

And before she could say a word he was inside her. Once more the idea of saying something to stop this insanity began to form in her mind, but all that escaped her mouth was a groan of pleasure. Elizabeth eagerly massaged Kaeli's breasts, cheering on the enthusiastic pounding she was receiving. This man thrust his way into her with a sense of dominance, and she was utterly at his mercy. This had clearly gone way out of hand, but she had no more power to control it. The situation was controlling her. And she absolutely loved it.

For the briefest of moments, some logical part of her brain managed to cry out, This is crazy! I'm having sex with a vampire! The moment of clarity failed to affect her actions, but it did allow her a moment to notice the other voices that were crying out around her. When she looked around the room, she noticed that four other guys had appeared also, and each of the four girls who had left her to let Sebastian have her was now being penetrated by one of them as well. She saw two girls' backsides sitting side-by-side, both bouncing on the lap of a guy who lay flat beneath her. One sat upright, letting her long blond hair bounce around, while the other leaned forward so that Kaeli couldn't see the girl's head. Katrina knelt on her elbows and knees while a roguish Latin hottie drove into her from behind, while the black girl was serviced similarly while she stood leaning on the edge of the sofa. 

Seeing that now somehow only made her that much more excited, and only sped along the end to which Sebastian's steady thrusting was driving her. Her screams took on an elevated pitch as she felt herself being driven to an even stronger climax than before. And when it happened, it felt as though the pounding of Sebastian's hammer had finally broken a dam, and her body seemed to freeze. Her breath finally returned after an eternity of a few seconds, bringing with it a blissful feeling of relaxation. It was only when her senses began to clear that she noticed Elizabeth pulling her teeth away from her throat. She hardly noticed Sebastian pulling out and spraying his load across her body, as a cold shiver ran through her. 

Her hand reached its way up to her neck, confirming the presence of the pair of tiny wounds Elizabeth had left. This was the only thing that had happened since entering the mansion that she knew was going to happen, but now that it had it just seemed so much more terrifying than it did before, now that the vampire meta-toxin was in her blood.

For a minute, all Kaeli could do was collapse, and struggle a moment to catch her breath. Eventually Annabelle came and knelt above her, looking down into her face. "Perhaps you'd like to repair to one of my accommodations now?" 

Kaeli gave a weak nod, and Annabelle took her hand and helped her to her feet. They began moving to a door on the far side of the room, when Kaeli remembered: "Wait. My clothes? My purse?"

Annabelle grinned. "Of course. This way." She led her back to the short hallway where all the girls' clothes had been discarded. Kaeli's, along with her purse, remained right where they'd been before, but she found herself preferring to merely gather them up, not willing to go to the trouble of actually putting them on.

The door they had just come through opened, and Elizabeth stepped in. "Annabelle, if there's no one else coming tonight, I'd really like to go now. I have someone I think I should see."

"All right," Annabelle nodded. "That'll be fine."

Elizabeth began gathering up her clothes as Annabelle led Kaeli into the lobby and up the grand staircase. They moved through the winding second-story halls until Annabelle opened the door to a bedroom and waved Kaeli inside. "It's okay to feel a little hazy right now," she said. "The change can be... unsettling. It's better if you just try to get some sleep."

Kaeli was in no mood to argue. She only prayed that after giving herself the antidote, she'd be able to wake up in time to let Dorian and the team in when they arrived. She staggered to the bed and collapsed on it, while Annabelle shut the door for her. After continuing to rest for a few seconds and very nearly falling asleep, Kaeli forced herself to regain consciousness long enough to do what she still had to do.

Remaining horizontal on her side, she popped open her purse and fished out the small vial of clear fluid and the metallic injector gun. She screwed the vial into the top and pressed the needle to her arm and pulled the little trigger, letting the fluid disappear into her. That done, she placed the now empty vial back in her purse and retrieved the tracer. Once she'd flipped the switch and the little red light began blinking, she finally let go and allowed herself to fall asleep with it still in her hand.

***

"Stop here," Keith said suddenly. "We're at the place." Ethan pulled the van to a stop along the side of the road, and the team all leaned toward the window to gaze at the magnificent house before them.

"Are you sure about this?" Andy said.

"The signal's coming from in there," Keith confirmed, holding up the readout for them to see. "Kaeli's got to be in that mansion."

"What the fuck's she doing in a place like that?" said Jade.

"Well there's only one way to find out," said Dorian. "Let's move."

The team grabbed their arsenal and piled out of the van. Andy, of course, had been the first to sound the alarm when they realized Kaeli was missing, and he'd nearly had a coronary when the tracer signal started coming in. "You know," Andy put in as they approached the gate, "she has been acting a little strange lately. Ever since the last trip we made to Electra Rose's club."

"How so?" Dorian asked.

"Like she's... I don't know, not all there. Like she's somewhere else, I mean. Not noticing me. I keep trying to talk to her, she doesn't seem to listen, she brushes me off, she says she doesn't have time or some shit like that."

"Well now that you mention it," Dorian added, "that is how she sounded that night at the club. She kept taking off her transmitter, and when she had it on she didn't sound like she was giving me her whole attention. She said she was eavesdropping on a conversation Electra was having with some former associate. Did she mention anything to you about what she heard?"

"Not really," Andy shrugged. "In fact, she was pretty evasive about it. Any time I asked her she'd change the subject."

Ethan rattled the front gate. "Gate's electronically locked," he said.

"Well then we'll just have to climb over it," Dorian suggested. "Keith, Andy, go get some hooks and cables out of the van." They hurried to obey his command, and then Ethan aided in securing them to the gate. They went over two at a time, with Keith bringing up the rear.

"Do we really know what we're doing here?" Keith asked warily. "We don't even know who's in that house, besides Kaeli."

"Well if there's suckfaces in there, who gives a shit?" Jade spat. "We'll blow their motherfuckin' heads off and drag Kaeli's little ass outta there!"

"Why don't we assess the situation before we start making holes in the walls," Dorian said. Although he couldn't honestly say he disliked Jade's enthusiasm.

As they advanced on the mansion, Dorian began getting a very familiar chill in his stomach. He knew this feeling very well; it was a sort of sixth sense he developed a long time ago, and it had never been wrong. Just from the feel of the air around him, he knew Electra had recently been here. Perhaps she was even still here. Perhaps Kaeli was here because she'd fallen victim to Electra's manipulations. He knew better than anyone just how enticing Electra's world could be.

They had just passed the fountain statue in the center of the courtyard when Dorian held up a hand, telling them to stop. All of them looked down to what had caught his eye, and what he saw was now only confirming the feeling he'd gotten. He bent down to pick up the bright red rose that lay right in the middle of the walkway, with a tag tied to it. Written on the tag in handwriting Dorian still would recognize anywhere was: "Did you miss me?"

"Dorian, what is it?" Andy said.

Dorian didn't answer. He looked up, gazing around the courtyard, not looking at anything in particular. She would only be seen when she was ready to be seen. "You can stop hiding, Electra," he called. "I know you're here."

"Hello, Dorian." After twelve long years, finally hearing her voice again was enough to remind him of way more than he wanted to remember. Slowly he turned around and looked up, seeing her standing atop the fountain statue dressed in a black rubber catsuit, with her arms folded and a cruel smile on her face. "I missed you," she purred.

"I wish I could say the feeling's mutual." Dorian could feel the team staring at him.

"Oh, I'm hurt," she said. "Twelve years and that's all you can say?"




Blood Rose Ch. 06



"What's twelve years to someone like you? If I've done my math right, you're 728 now, so twelve years should be just a few blinks of your eyes."

"A few blinks of an eye can feel like an eternity when you're waiting for something, my precious. I began to fear you'd grow old and die before you ever found me. But then your little cohort wanders into my club, one thing leads to another, and now here you stand before me."

Andy grabbed a handful of his knives and held them ready to throw at the bat of an eyelash. "What have you done to Kaeli?" he demanded.

Electra grinned back like a Cheshire cat. "Why, I have done nothing! Your lady friend should be sleeping comfortably inside that house right now. And I'd say she's probably just starting to change now."

A chill shot through Dorian as an image from his past he spent every waking second of his life trying to suppress came flaring back into his mind; an image of Melissa standing over the baby's crib after he came home one evening... nothing out of the ordinary, until she turned around...

Aiming his handheld crossbow at Electra was the only thing that prevented him from collapsing from the trauma of just remembering that moment. "Keith, Andy, go check inside the house," he commanded.

Dorian saw them moving out of the corner of his eye—and then whirled his head in their direction at the sound of a pair of guns cocking. Aimed point blank at both of their faces was a .45, and holding the guns was a brown-haired woman in a black hat and coat, like a modernized cowgirl. Before either Jade or Ethan had a chance to do anything, both of them became entwined in a similar position: Jade had the blade of a sword held to her throat by an Asian woman in a Chinese dress, and Ethan had been grabbed by the arms and neck by a bald, black seven-foot giant in army fatigues who looked strong enough to bench press a school bus.

"I'd like you to meet my Blood Squad," Electra mewled. "Jackie, Shao Li, and Big Chill."

"They definitely look like your kind of crowd," Dorian jibed. When he turned his head back toward the statue, Electra was no longer on top of it. She was standing right in front of him. It shouldn't have surprised him, but he'd having been away from her for so long did tend to make him forget her ways of approaching. He reflexively took a step back and pointed his crossbow right at her heart.

"What are you thinking?" she grinned. "You pull that trigger, I fall over dead and your comrades are saved? Even on the remote chance that that arrow actually did hit me, do you honestly think I wouldn't tell my Blood Squad to turn them all into red splotches if anything happened to me?"

"Don't listen to that bitch!" Ethan growled. The response was a sickening snap and a sharp cry of pain that indicated Big Chill had broken Ethan's arm.

Dorian knew that Electra was right. Even from this range, killing her would not be so easy, or someone would have done it a long time ago. But the hand the held the crossbow aimed at her heart didn't lower. His instincts screamed at him that it was the only thing keeping him even moderately safe right now. Before another thought could enter his mind, there was an ornamental dagger being held to the side of his throat, and a soft, edgy voice commanded, "Drop it, hunter."

Dorian's senses had been on full alert and he had no idea that anyone else was even there. Slowly Dorian turned his eyes to look behind him, getting barely a glimpse of the newcomer out of the corner of his eye; not enough to form a solid image. Hesitantly he began to obey, lowering the crossbow—before ducking and whirling away from the blade, bringing his weapon to bear against his new assailant. In the time it took for him to pull the trigger, the man behind him raised a hand just to shoulder level, and Dorian's hand was grabbed and pushed upward by what looked like a hand made entirely out of shadow, and the bolt flew off into the empty night air.

While the bizarre hand still held him prisoner, and as Dorian took a moment to get over his shock at the mysterious display of power, he now had a chance to get a good look at the newcomer before him. It was a young man, about eighteen or twenty by human standards, with golden eyes like a hungry wolf and black hair tied in a long, flowing ponytail draped over the high collar of his long coat. He moved the dagger in his hand slowly, menacingly around the side of Dorian's face, studying him. "So this is him, Electra?" the young man said. "This is your 'precious Dorian?' Gotta say, I'm not impressed."

"You weren't all that impressive yourself when I first laid eyes on you, Anthony," Electra said. "Didn't I teach you not to judge your enemy by the way he looks?"

"Why don't you stop toying around, Electra," Dorian demanded, not turning his head around, "and just tell me what you want!"

"You haven't changed," Electra purred, gently caressing his face from behind. "You still have no patience for anything less than what really matters. That's what I always loved about you. What I want right now is for you and your team to leave here, and accept the fate of your comrade. But this isn't the end between you and me, my precious. No, I still have plans for you. You can be quite sure of that."

Dorian's blood had run cold and was boiling at the same time. As much as he hated to admit it, all he had to do was look around him to know who had the power here. Electra was sending him the same message now that she tried to send him twelve years ago: there was no defying her. He had no choice. "Were pulling out," he commanded.

"Bullshit!" Jade shouted. Before anyone could do anything to stop her, she was attempting to pull away from Shao Li's sword, grabbing her gun, shouting "I'm gonna fucking kill that bi—"

"JADE, NO!"

There was no time for her to hear Dorian's warning. Shao Li twirled around, there was a flash of steel, and most of Jade dropped to the ground in a heap. A round shape of spiky green hair and the last look on Jade's face came flying through the air, tumbling to rest at Dorian's feet.

Everyone stood frozen in silence. "If I were you," Anthony said at last, "I'd do what the lady says now. All of you!"

"We're pulling out," Dorian said again.

"Let them go now," Electra commanded. Jackie took a step back, still keeping her guns at the ready, and Big Chill released Ethan, who instantly took hold of his broken arm. The team immediately headed for the gate back to the van. Dorian stayed put a second longer, staring right at Electra. There was no need to guess what each other was thinking; both of them fully understood each other. Just as he was before, even now he was still hers to do with as she pleased. He could fight all he wanted, but in the end every encounter they had ended her way. He knew that, and she knew he knew that.

"If it means anything to you," she said, "I really did miss you."

"It doesn't." And then he left.

***

In the time that Tyler had spent lying in his bed he had pretty much memorized the patterns of plaster on his ceiling. His eyes had yet to close tonight for more than two minutes. He tried thinking about things like the project he was supposed to be working on for class, or how much better things had been going since Drago stopped harassing him... but ultimately it always came back to Elizabeth. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face: her sparkling golden eyes... her black silken hair flowing behind her...

The room was starting to feel a little stuffy. Actually it had been feeling a little stuffy for at least the last hour, but he hadn't really cared. He ultimately decided he should go open the window before something happened to his health. He finally pulled the covers off of himself and went to the window, sliding it up and breathing in the night air. He leaned on the edge, wistfully letting his mind wander again. That night under the bridge kept playing itself over and over in his head. Elizabeth had returned none of his calls since, nor had he seen her. He just wanted more than anything for her to show up right now... to see her sitting there, on the edge of the roof, looking out into the trees...

At first he thought he was just drifting into a waking dream, but when he blinked a few times and that image didn't disappear, he realized that she actually was sitting there in front of him, her legs dangling over the edge of the roof, her back and her waterfall of black hair to him. "Elizabeth?"

She turned her head around. And she smiled. "Hi Tyler."

"How'd you find me? I don't think I gave you my address..."

She shrugged. "Magic."

He couldn't suppress a smile. "Yeah, I think I'm getting that. But why are you here?"

Her smile started to fade, and her head drooped. "I just wanted to see you."

"For another five minutes?" Tyler muttered. "I suppose you're just going to disappear again, because apparently this thing with me is 'not right' or something."

"That's true, it's not right," she said, sounding dangerously close to tears. "I can't afford to have a relationship with you."

"Then why do you keep coming back? You always run away suddenly, but then you always show up again just so you can pull away again. Why do you do this? Are you just playing with me? Am I just a toy to you or something, or maybe you enjoy—"

"It's because I'm in love with you."

Tyler instantly fell silent, convinced he hadn't heard her correctly. After a second, she looked up at him, her eyes wide with tear streaks beneath them. "Oh god," she said, "I just said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Did you mean it?"

She looked at him for a moment, and then gave him her wordless answer. She crawled across the roof tiles to his window and put a hand on his face. He put a hand on hers, and another on her shoulder, and they came together for a deep, long kiss. For the first time, Tyler felt like Elizabeth was really all here, and he dreaded the inevitable moment when she would pull away again. He just wanted to hold onto her and never let her go.

The kiss ended not suddenly this time, but slowly and naturally, and they remained for several minutes only staring into each other's eyes. Finally she said, "I really can't stay tonight, my parents are expecting me at home."

That felt a lot less cryptic than many of the things she'd said to him until now, which gave him hope to ask another very important question: "When will I see you again?"

She smiled widely, gripping the back of his hand and interlocking their fingers. "I'll be back tomorrow night."

He smiled back, and nodded. She released his hand and climbed down, hopping onto the branch of a tree and descending out of sight. Tyler got back into bed, and in two minutes he was asleep.

***

The girls who didn't live at the mansion had gone home by now. Annabelle decided to check on her new guest. She pushed the door open a crack and peeked inside. Kaeli was still tossing and turning in her sleep, and moaning a lot. She should be just starting to get into the change by now.

The real irony was that she thought the change wasn't happening. She thought she was such a clever little hunter, trying to infiltrate Annabelle's world by pretending she wanted to become one of them. The girl wasn't as good an actor as she thought. Nor was she especially careful, leaving her purse with her antidote where Annabelle could get her hands on it while the other girls entertained her. Now she was in there, having injected herself with a vial of tap water that she thought was antidote, oblivious to the fact that her human life was over.

Annabelle shut the door with a smile, and wandered off to her own bedroom. Things would be interesting when that girl woke up.

To Be Continued... 



Blood Rose Ch. 07



1590

Very few things in the world had the power to frighten Electra. Her master's wrath happened to be one of them. And even that was usually only enough to make her take a step back and bow her head. Right now she shrunk down to the floor, positively cowering. Dracula's shadow aura was practically causing the whole keep to tremble with his rage. "Dost thou dare presume to insult my intelligence, Electra?"

"No milord," Electra responded weakly. "I spoke only truth to you."

"Then perhaps it is thy intelligence that must be questioned," he barked, pointing the wickedly sharp nail of his almost skeletal finger at her. "Thou was truthfully foolish enough to bring all of the inner guards away from the keep to accompany thee on thy damned petty raid?"

Electra momentarily glanced around her. Dracula's fury at her was bad enough, but she was being positively humiliated in front of the entire court—or at least what was left of it. One face in particular would have truly made her blood boil if her blood wasn't already frozen with her fear of her master. "I knew the villagers would be far more intimidated if we came in greater numbers," she explained. "And I saw not how the Darkhunters could have passed the outer guards. They are but three..."

"Three who have all but wiped out my brethren of the Black Church!" Dracula roared. "Thou should have known not to underestimate them! Thou wasted our needed manpower on an insignificant jaunt, and because of that our numbers have been decimated!"

"My lord, I beg thee, have mercy—"

Electra's pleas fell silent as Dracula extended a bony claw to her, and she felt the hand of his shadow aura gripping her throat. And then she felt something else; something inside her started to burn. No, it wasn't burning. She wasn't quite sure what was happening until she felt whatever it was moving up out of her body and into the ethereal hand that held her. With a rush of horror, she realized she was being stripped of the power she had been given when he declared her as his queen.

Once it was gone, he released her, and she collapsed onto her hands and knees. Dracula held the floating orb of dark power that had been hers above his hand. "The mantle of Queen of Darkness is thine no more!" he declared.

Electra suddenly came to a horrifying realization: he wasn't going to kill her. He was going to strip her of her power but leave her alive. He was going to make her watch him give her power to someone else. And he was doing it all because he knew it was the worst thing he could possibly do to her.

And then he made it even worse.

"Veatrice!" he called. Electra cringed with horror and rage at the call of that name; the name of the one face in the crowd of Dracula's court that had made her most furious of all. And out of the crowd she came, the hem of her flowing dress gliding along as her dainty feet carried her in Dracula's direction. Electra glared at her, at that pompous whore with the sleek blonde hair and long, spidery fingers. And Veatrice saw her glare, responding with a disgustingly smug little smirk.

"My lord, I beg thee," Electra pleaded, "not the damned sorceress!"

"Hold thy tongue, wench!" Dracula barked. "Lest I should rip it out!"

Veatrice stepped up to Dracula, and dropped to one knee. "Veatrice, dost thou accept the mantle of Queen of Darkness, with all the power and responsibilities such entails?"

"I humbly accept my lord," she intoned, despite the fact that everyone could tell there was nothing humble about her. Dracula began lowering the glowing orb to her. Electra seethed with fury, and finally lunged at Veatrice, desperate to stop this from happening. The grip of Dracula's shadow hand held her back, leaving only to watch as the power that was rightfully hers was given to this foul, magic-spewing bitch. Veatrice gasped and threw her head back as the power entered her body, then went stiff for a moment, and then rose to her feet and clenched and unclenched her fists, her fingers surging with what looked like green lightning. "Yes..." she breathed. "The power!"

Then her gaze, along with a horrible smile, fixed themselves on Electra. "I'd say this merits a slight test," she mused, and extended an open hand to her. Electra felt the electrifying force of Veatrice's magic taking hold of her, and it flung her helplessly across the chamber and slammed her into the far wall. 

"Shall I continue, my lord?" Veatrice asked. Electra could hear her hoping for a 'yes.'

"That won't be necessary, Veatrice my dear," Dracula said. "Leave my presence now, Electra Rose," he commanded, "and pray that I should never again cross thy path."

Electra sat glaring at them, and especially at Veatrice, for a moment longer before rising to her feet and pushing open the huge chamber doors. And as she stepped out into the corridors that led out of the keep, she bitterly whispered, "This is not over, Veatrice."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anthony may not have exactly had total control of Caitlyn just yet, but for the moment she was still following commands well. He was dressed only in his robe, which was very loosely tied and the flaps were pulled apart at the crotch, allowing his cock to thrust upward into Caitlyn's hungry mouth. His right hand rested atop her head as it bobbed up and down on him, while his left arm wrapped around Nina's bare shoulders. Nina sat cuddled next to him on the sofa, just as naked as Caitlyn, idly fingering herself as she observed the show being displayed before them.

They were watching Sara and Meg perform one of Anthony's favorite games on the bed in front of them: the two girls were entwined in a tight sixty-nine position, hungrily licking and slurping each other's wet folds, trying to see who could make the other cum first. Whoever won got to have sex with the master. Sara and Meg were also particularly fond of this game, and frequently offered to play it when Anthony was bored. Seven times out of ten Meg won, but each time Sara lost she gained a burning drive to win next time (due in no small part to Anthony's hypnotic influence), which sometimes brought her victory. Once or twice they actually came almost simultaneously, and the game had to be taken into sudden death.

Aside from the obvious appeal of this game, it was also particularly entertaining to watch how fiercely the two of them struggled to maintain composure. Their fingers dug into the undersides of each other's thighs, their toes curled and their legs fidgeted about, not to mention the sharp, muffled grunts that both of them were making. Sara, who lay prone beneath Meg, at one point dropped her head back on the bed and began crying out freely. "Focus Sara," Anthony commanded. "You're never going to win that way." She immediately lifted her head back up to Meg's sex to resume.

"She's certainly trying," Nina said. Anthony's attention turned away from the game in front of him to Nina. The often-recurring thought of turning her was resurfacing again. Despite his fears about losing her, the more he thought about making her a vampire the more he liked it. Nina was more to him than just a harem slave; he loved her. He wanted her with him forever.

"Nina," he said. She looked up into his face. "Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Let me hear you say it."

"I love you, master."

"Will you stay with me forever?"

"And the day after."

Anthony kissed her deeply, forgetting about Sara and Meg, even forgetting about the blowjob he was getting from Caitlyn. His mind was made up. "Close your eyes," he said, "and show me your neck." She obediently closed her eyes and tilted her head, brushing her hair away from her neck for him. It was almost the most beautiful part of her at that moment, that bare neck just waiting for his kiss. He tenderly bit into it, for once allowing himself to not hold back, and to let his meta-toxin freely pump into her as he tasted her sweet blood. 

It may have been the taste of her blood that finally set him off, releasing his jet into Caitlyn's mouth. He released Nina and looked down at his newest girl, who was diligently keeping her lips sealed around his shaft and not letting a drop escape her mouth. She hungrily gulped it down and smiled up at him. Nina lay back on the couch, panting lightly and squirming just a little.

At that moment Anthony realized just how distracted he'd been; he hadn't even noticed Electra approaching, or had any idea she was standing behind him until now. Ordinarily he would have sensed her approaching all the way down the hall, but he supposed he had a legitimate excuse. Did she know she'd taken him by surprise? Anthony decided not to let on that she had, just in case she didn't. "Is there something you want, Electra?" he asked without turning around.

"Might I speak with you a moment Anthony?"

Anthony didn't let her hear him groan. He knew better than to say no to her, though. He was just getting up and pulling his robe closed when Sara suddenly screamed out her declaration of defeat: "Oh, I'm cumming! I'm cumming!"

"I win!" Meg beamed, sitting up and looking toward Anthony with an eager smile. She had a face that said she was eager to receive her prize, and Anthony would have been all too happy to give it to her, but it would have to wait. So he decided he would make her wait.

"I'll be with you in a moment, Meg honey," he said. "For now, I want you to get on your hands and knees on the bed, and turn your ass towards me... yes, that's it. Caitlyn, I want you to go sit in that chair, and Sara, you're gonna go down on her. Meg, you're gonna stay right where you are, don't move, and you're gonna watch them, and you're gonna think about me and what I'm gonna do to you when I get back. Understand?"

"Yes, master."

Anthony turned and stepped into the hall where Electra stood with her arms folded, as usual. "I hope this is important, Electra," Anthony said. "As I'm sure you can see, you did interrupt something."

She paused a moment. "I presume you recall the little outing I went on last night?"

"To visit that old pupil of yours, right?"

"Yes. She wanted me to meet her newest and most promising student. And I must say, I was quite impressed with what I found."

"What did you find?" Anthony groaned impatiently. "And what the fuck does it have to do with me?"

"Anthony," she said, looking straight into his eyes, "I met your sister. I met Elizabeth."

Anthony supposed he should have been surprised to hear his sister's name. Somehow he wasn't. "Haven't we been down this road already? I tried to bring her in after you turned me, and you insisted I shouldn't bother."

"A mistake, I will admit. I hadn't thought then to wonder what kind of potential one of your flesh and blood might hold. I've seen it now, and I want it."

Anthony remained silent for almost a minute. "Alright," he said, "what do you want me to do?"

Electra craned her neck and looked back into the room Anthony had just come from. "We'll discus it in ten minutes with the Blood Squad. Go finish having your way with your harem, and then get your clothes on and meet us in my chamber." Then she turned and headed down the hall.

Anthony had avoided thinking of Elizabeth for a long time. He'd known ever since he was turned that she belonged with Electra's group; if only Electra had the capacity to take someone else's opinion seriously.

He continued pondering these things until he reentered the room. The first thing his mind turned to then was not Meg, but Nina, who lay on the couch half-conscious and writhing. It suddenly occurred to him that she was going to need to feed once she woke up, and for her first meal to be packaged blood just seemed like a cruel thing to do to her. She deserved fresh blood for her first meal.

Well, there's always the simpleton.

He looked at Caitlyn, seeing her squirming about and grunting in the chair with Sara's head buried between her legs. Though he had been planning on keeping her around, when he stopped to think about it he wouldn't really miss her. She was just a toy he picked up at the club, and throwing her away to feed his beloved Nina wasn't going to bother him.

Having decided that, he turned his attention to Meg, who was staring at him with desperately waiting eyes. "Are you ready for me now, Meg?"

"Yes master, I'm ready. Please fuck me now."

His cock twitched at those words. "Tell me what you want."

"I want you inside me, master. I want you to fuck me."

"You can do better than that."

"Please, master, please, I need your cock! I need it so bad, master. Please, just come inside me!"

Anthony happily discarded his robe, his cock standing ready as he climbed up on the bed and kneeling behind her. He stopped it right at her entrance, and when he heard her disappointed whimper, said, "Beg one more time."

"Please, master, I can't stand it, I'm so hot, I need you inside me now!"

"Good girl," he grinned as he slid into her warm, wet folds, getting her happy groan as a reward.

***

Even as Elizabeth grunted with pleasure and her fingers dug into Katrina's hair, she lifted one hand to look at the one thing she was still wearing: her watch. It was already half-past eleven. As much as she was enjoying herself now, she couldn't stay too much longer; she didn't want it to be too late when she knocked on Tyler's window. She would have to make sure not to get carried away.

Each night arriving at Annabelle's place, Elizabeth never knew if the night's activities would involve a Blood Rose lesson or simply fun and games. Tonight had turned out to be the latter. Annabelle had not invited the boys tonight, instead choosing to let the girls enjoy what they affectionately liked to call a "pussy party." Annabelle knelt over Monique's spread legs, expertly and quite enthusiastically servicing the ebony beauty with a big purple dildo, while Monique grabbed at her breasts and grinded her head against the floor. Charlotte had donned her favorite strap-on and was giving Rosanna a good doggy-style—and being quite the dominatrix, too, slapping Rosanna's ass and commanding her to scream louder.

Noemi and Miko, not surprisingly, remained focused on each other. They had actually been the start of the evening's entertainment: Annabelle had produced a double-dildo, and the Japanese sisters had gotten down on all fours and both slid onto one end of it, ass-to-ass. The girls had started out watching what would have almost looked like a girl getting fucked by a mirror if it weren't for the short pink hair on one end and the longer blue hair on the other. After they had each cum once—almost simultaneously—and the other girls started playing with each other, the sisters had shifted to sharing the thing while lying flat on their backs. After both cumming again, they had sat up, flipped the toy around, and stuck either end in their mouths. Then they had set the thing aside and started making out, which they still were now, legs intertwined, clits rubbing together, their mouths muffling each other's high-pitched little grunts.

Katrina's hungry tongue brought Elizabeth roaring to her second orgasm of the evening—the first having come from Charlotte's strap-on. Before Elizabeth's screaming mouth even had time to close, another girl's sex was shoved on it, awaiting her oral service. Elizabeth didn't need to look up to know it was Rosanna, nor did she even need to hear the southern lilt of the "oh baby, yeah!" that came from the girl's mouth when her tongue went to work on the pussy in front of her. She also didn't need to open her eyes to notice Charlotte come up behind Katrina and begin fucking the Russian hottie senseless even while Katrina continued her oral service of Elizabeth. Fortunately Katrina had great self-control, and her mouth kept doing its work uninterrupted while she moaned into Elizabeth's sex.

Within a few more minutes, a pleasured scream from Rosanna heralded the dam that burst over Elizabeth's face. Elizabeth's own orgasm came soon after, and then she heard Katrina's after that. Almost on cue, Monique added in with an "oh fuck, I'm cumming!"

Annabelle suddenly rose to her feet. "You girls keep playing," she said. "I'm going to go check on our guest." Then she turned and left. Elizabeth had almost forgotten about Kaeli...

And almost forgot about her again as all the girls—except for Noemi and Miko, who still remained locked in their own private bubble—ganged up and jumped Charlotte, who thus far had given plenty and received none. "It's your turn, sugah," Rosanna grinned, pulling off Charlotte's strap-on, while Monique came crawling over with Annabelle's dildo held ready in her hand. Hands and tongues went everywhere over Charlotte's body.

Elizabeth held back from the frenzy for a moment, looking again to her watch. Another seven minutes had passed. Maybe she could stay for another twenty or so. Then she dove in, getting a hungry mouthful of Charlotte's left tit.

***

Where am I?

Slowly Kaeli's eyes opened. Her vision was kind of choppy, and didn't see everything around her at once. Slowly, bit-by-bit, the room around her started falling into some kind of order. Her mind seemed to be in the same condition, too. Where she was and why she was here and what day of the week it was were still trying to come back to her. She was lying on a bed, she could tell that. On it, not in it; she was above the covers. She was also naked, fully exposed to the air.

And fully exposed the fingers that were gently touching her skin. She turned her head to look above her, and saw a woman's face looking down at her, putting a calming finger to her lips. It took a few seconds for Kaeli to attach the name Annabelle to that face. Kaeli hardly moved as Annabelle's soft touch glided across her bare arm, over her shoulder and ultimately cupping her breast. Kaeli breathed hard, and her skin tingled at the feel of the soft hand that gently squeezed her breast and pinched her nipple. She said nothing in protest or otherwise; as long as she looked at Annabelle's sparkling green eyes, she couldn't. She was a prisoner.

Relax.

Enjoy yourself.

She couldn't tell if that was her own voice in her head or not, but her thoughts weren't cohesive enough to wonder about it as Annabelle's head lowered down and her tongue extended, beginning to run electrifying circles around Kaeli's nipple. Kaeli's eyes closed again, her breath coming out hard. Annabelle's tongue danced around one nipple, while her hand slid over to begin massaging the other. Kaeli's hand rose almost on its own to place itself on the back of Annabelle's neck. Where and when and why and how didn't matter right now; the only important thing was that she liked what Annabelle was doing and didn't want her to stop.

Annabelle's tongue began moving upward along Kaeli's body, while her hand began moving downward. Her tongue made warm, wet streaks along Kaeli's neck, rising up to her face; her hand gently slid over the flesh of her midsection, making Kaeli's heart speed up as the fingers came closer and closer to her sex. And at nearly the same moment that Annabelle's tongue was warmly welcomed and greeted into Kaeli's mouth, two fingers slid inside of Kaeli's opening with a thumb moving over her clit.

Kaeli held Annabelle to her as if they were lifelong lovers, their breasts flattened against each other, tit-to-tit. Her hips writhed about under Annabelle's titillating fingers making wonderful work on her sex. Her tongue explored all the recesses of Annabelle's mouth, from her tongue to her lips, feeling the shape of her teeth and the sharp points of her fangs...

Something about that set off an alarm in Kaeli's head; not enough for her to instantly assess why, but enough for her to suddenly break off the kiss. Nonetheless, she was still mildly disappointed when she felt Annabelle's fingers removed from inside her, but she soon forgot about that as she watched what Annabelle did then. Annabelle leaned her head to the side and drew a fingernail along her exposed neck, creating a line of blood that slowly oozed onto her flesh. Kaeli lifted her head to it, extended her tongue and tasted what Annabelle offered. It was metallic, coppery—and sweet. It was wonderfully sweet.




Blood Rose Ch. 07



It's blood!

As soon as the first drop had slipped down her throat, the logical part of Kaeli's mind that had somehow been suppressed until now began screaming at her. She instantly remembered where she was and how she'd gotten there—and desperately hoped to God she was wrong about what had just happened. She bolted upright, throwing Annabelle off of her as if Annabelle were a bed sheet. It couldn't be true... she knew she'd used the antidote, and it had only been minutes after she'd been bitten. It couldn't be...

Her shaking hand rose up to her mouth, and her fingers slipped inside her mouth, feeling for... her blood practically froze as she felt the sharp tips of her new fangs. "Oh God," she managed to say in a hoarse, raspy breath. "No... no!"

"Whatever is wrong?" Annabelle said, not even trying to hide the smug undertone in her voice. "Isn't this what you wanted?" Kaeli stared at her. How much did she know? How could she have known? What in the hell did that bloodsucking bitch do?

"Come to think of it, you must be thirsty by now," Annabelle added, getting up and walking into another room. Kaeli began hurriedly throwing on her clothes, not wanting to be in the room when she got back. She dressed and grabbed her purse—

She picked up the tracer that lay at her feet, still blinking. Suddenly a whole new series of questions had been raised. Regardless of why the antidote might not have worked, it should have taken her about twenty hours to change, during which time Dorian and the others should have already come crashing through the doors and laid siege to the mansion. Yes, the plan had been for her to be awake to let them in, which obviously hadn't worked, but regardless they still should have been able to break in somehow when they got the signal from the tracer. So why was she still here? Why hadn't they come charging in and carried her back to HQ—or killed her, for that matter, if she was already changing? Why was Annabelle still alive? What happened to the team?

"Here we are now," Annabelle said, returning in a simple black dress with a white bowl in her hands. Kaeli realized that her moment of pondering had cost her the moment she needed to get away unnoticed, but that wasn't going to stop her now. She headed for the door, but Annabelle immediately stepped in her path, cutting her off. "Don't be in such a rush. Here, drink up."

Kaeli was about to push past her and walk out the door, until she looked down into the bowl that Annabelle was holding up to her. As soon as she set eyes on the dark red fluid, everything in her body started screaming at her. Her stomach churned in anticipation and she felt a stirring in her teeth. The rational part of her head was the only thing that wasn't demanding her to grab that bowl and plunge her mouth into it like a ravenous dog. Before she even realized it the bowl was in her hands, inches from her face. She could smell the stuff in it, the heavenly aroma promising a sweet and delicious release from the way her body was screaming at her.

God save me, I really have turned! I'm a fucking vampire!

Shrieking through her teeth, Kaeli tossed the bowl across the room, making a crash and a splatter on the far wall, and shoved Annabelle aside and bolted. She moved like whirlwind through the hallway and down the stairs, only stopping when she collided with one of the girls in the main lobby. She looked up from where she'd landed in a sitting position on the bottom step, and instantly recognized Elizabeth looking down at her. "Kaeli? Are you alright?"

"I'm sure you'll remember what it feels just after you first wake up," Annabelle said, smoothly descending the stairs. "You'll understand if she's a little scared right now. Is the party over already?"

"No, the other girls are still in there. I just need to go. I have to meet someone."

"All right. Remember to practice with this person if you get the chance. Don't let yourself get complacent."

"I know. I won't." Elizabeth looked down at Kaeli, said, "Don't be a stranger," and turned and left through the big double doors.

She talks to me like we're friends!

"You really should try to relax a little bit," Annabelle said. "It'll get easier. I know it might be a little difficult to accept at first. Especially for a hunter."

She knows!

Kaeli glared with more loathing than she'd ever had for anyone in her life at Annabelle, who simply stood there, smiling at her. She'd killed a lot of vampires before, but she'd never hated any individual one so much.

"You'll feel better after you have your first drink. Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

"No!" Kaeli shouted, bolting to her feet. "You stay away from me, you goddamn bloo—"

"Careful what name you use, hunter. Remember, you're one of us now."

Her moment of seething rage was swept aside by the crushing reality that Annabelle was right. Goddamnit, she was absolutely fucking right! Kaeli's head fell into her hands. "No... please, God, no!"

"You know what they say about being careful what you ask for. Because Kaeli, darling, you got it."

"NO!" Kaeli ran for the front doors, threw them open, and ran some more. The front gate with the electronic lock stood ahead of her; it could easily be opened from the inside with the push of a button, but that would have required her to stop running and push it. Instead she jumped. She jumped, grabbed onto the top of the gate, vaulted over, and kept on running.

She ran until she collapsed to her knees on a park walkway, leaning against a wooden bench. As much as her head was churning, she realized that so was her stomach. The image of that bowl of blood Annabelle had offered came rushing back to her, and it wasn't a small part of her that was now wishing she'd taken it. As horrifying as it was to admit, she needed to feed. She needed blood.

No! It wasn't going to come to that. Every hunter knew what had to be done in this scenario. It was the scenario she had always been prepared for, but had always believed she would never have to worry about. She hadn't forgotten the rule her father taught her: "it's better to die as a human than live as a monster." It was too late for one, but she could still avoid the other. 

"Hey, lady, you okay?"

Frowning, Kaeli looked up at the pair of nighttime joggers, a man and a woman, who had happened upon her. Immediately she noticed one particular thing about them: they had been jogging for a while now, and their blood was pumping hard. She could hear it pounding in their veins. Her muscles tensed, as if she was preparing to pounce.

Don't do it!

"Are you alright?" the woman asked, bending down to her. "You want me to call 911?"

"Get away from me!"

"Hey, lady," the man said, "we just want to help and you don't look so good—"

A bare-fanged, bestial growl, which it took Kaeli a moment to realize came from her, caused both of them to recoil from her. "Whoa, what the—"

If he said anything after that, Kaeli didn't hear it. She definitely heard the woman screaming, though, whether or not she was consciously aware of it at the moment. It was all kind of a blur. But when she lifted her head and her senses started to clear, she saw the woman looking at her in horror in and then turning and running off screaming. And when she looked down she saw why: the man's dead body that she knelt on top of, with the bloody wound in his neck and the taste of his blood still fresh in her mouth.

It suddenly became difficult to breathe. The nightmare had just taken its worst possible turn. She collapsed onto her side, and what few breaths she managed to get out came out as hysterical sobs. This isn't happening!

Why didn't the team show up when they were supposed to?

They should have already killed her. It would have been better than this. They should have followed the tracer's signal—

The tracer... where was it? She still had her purse, but on careful inspection she found the tracer wasn't in it, nor did she remember putting it back in her purse, or switching it off... she last remembered having it in her hand before Annabelle came in. She didn't remember putting it down anywhere... when she thought about it, she was sure it had still been in her hand when she ran out of the room...

Elizabeth! She'd been too caught up in her panic to notice it at the time, but when she thought back on it, she remembered seeing the little blinking light on Elizabeth's back down close to her waist on the left side when the girl walked out the front door. She must have accidentally planted it on her when she bumped into her.

So they'll follow the signal to her... they'll track her down, and they'll kill her... and that's good, right? She's the one who bit me...

Because I let her.

She could try shifting the blame all she wanted; this was really all her own fault. She was the one who came up with this crazy plan, and didn't even bother to tell Dorian about it because she was afraid he would've said no—and rightly so, apparently. She had walked willingly into a vampire's hands, almost as if she wanted this to happen...

God help me.

She clutched at her cross—a gesture that suddenly felt like an offense. Of course she knew the myth about vampires being harmed by the cross was false, but right now it would have made perfect sense for her hand to start burning from the piece of jewelry she held. She'd allowed herself to become the very abomination she'd spent her whole life hunting; how could God possibly allow her to touch His symbol?

But nothing happened. Her hand didn't burn; all she felt was the smooth, cool brass of the thing in her hand.

Clearly, the only appropriate thing she could do now was die—but why did that not feel right? In spite of what she had always been taught about the rules of being bitten, she had always thought of suicide as being the act of a coward. Even after what she had just done, she just couldn't make the idea of killing herself feel right. Should she just go back to the headquarters and let the team kill her then?

What was she supposed to do?

Please, God, tell me what to do!

***

Yes, the team had assembled, or at least what was left of it. It didn't look like any of them were going anywhere tonight, though. Andy was just lying on the table with his hands beneath his head, staring at the ceiling; Keith was idly checking his gun with a cigarette in his teeth; and Ethan was using his good arm to work on refining some of the weapons. The fact that he was able to do that as expertly as he was with one arm in a sling was impressive, but that seemed like the most impressive thing that was going to happen tonight. Dorian looked through the smoke he blew out at heir glum and despondent faces, worried they'd never get out in the field again.

"Anybody got any plans for tonight," Andy shattered the silence with, "or are we just going to sit here and rot?"

"I'd love to hear some ideas if anyone's got 'em," Ethan said. "'Cause if I recall correctly, we just got fucking ass-raped by the same vampire we've been looking for."

"You mean the vampire Dorian's been looking for," Keith added, looking straight at Dorian.

"Yeah, that's a good point," said Andy, looking in the same direction.

Dorian scowled. "I don't think anyone is gonna argue that the world would be safer if Electra Rose was gone from it."

"I don't mean to rain on your parade, Dorian," Andy countered, "but this is going beyond vampire-hunting. This is your own personal vendetta we're fighting here, and look where it's gotten us: Jade's dead, Ethan's been sidelined, and Kaeli's still missing."

"I ain't sidelined!" Ethan grunted. "I just got a clipped wing is all!"

"The point is, we're getting killed because of what you want."

Dorian sighed. "I hear what you're saying, guys. I really do. But if it wasn't us it would've been someone else. Someone has to bring her down."

"Do you know of any other hunters who'd be willing to try?" Ethan said. "You're the only one who's obsessed enough to go after her. I went along with you when you found that card because I thought you knew what you were doing, 'cause evidently you and this broad have some history. I knew that since I met you."

"Yeah, she was awful friendly with you last night, Dorian," Andy put in.

"Care to tell us what that's about?" said Keith.

Dorian gazed around the room, seeing the collective stares of the other three men who awaited his response. He could already feel the potential for mutiny building, and he knew that giving them the answer to that would only push things to the breaking point.

He sincerely doubted they wanted to hear that the leader of their hunting team and one of the most feared vampires alive were once lovers.

For what had to be several minutes, nobody said anything. The pregnant silence was finally broken by a mild beeping coming from Ethan's desk. Dorian hesitated, and then moved to inspect it. And for a second, he allowed himself a breath of hope when he saw what was beeping. "What is it?" Ethan groaned.

"It's Kaeli's tracer. She's on the move."

Andy immediately headed for the weapons rack. "What the hell are you doing?" Keith said.

"What's it look like?" Andy said, strapping on his knives. "I'm gearing up so we can go after her."

"Are you fucking kidding?" Ethan barked. "Am I the only one getting a sense of déjà vu here?"

"Yeah," Keith agreed. "How do we know this isn't another trap?"

Dorian shook his head. "No. Electra wouldn't expect us to fall for the same trick twice. This is for real."

Ethan grumbled. "I don't like it."

"I don't give a fuck what you like," Andy snapped. "If Kaeli's out there, I'm gonna find her."

"Hold on," Keith warned. "Electra said Kaeli was turning last night. For all we know she might have been putting us on, but what if she wasn't? What if Kaeli's been turned?"

"I think that's obvious," Ethan said. "We kill her."

As cold as Dorian felt at the sound of those words, the look on Andy's face told him he felt a thousand times worse. Of course, that notion had crossed Dorian's mind by now, but Andy looked like it honestly hadn't crossed his.

"So what are you suggesting?" Keith said. "We follow that signal and go hunting for Kaeli?"

"I'm getting sick of 'what-if's'," Andy growled. "We're not going to accomplish anything by standing around talking about this! Let's do something!"

"I'll go," Dorian said suddenly, drawing all three gazes. "I'll check out that signal and see what's up."

"You're gonna walk into a potential trap alone?" Ethan said.

"If it's really Kaeli out there and she needs help, then we can't ignore that possibility. But if it's another trap, then I won't risk the rest of you guys this time. This is my fight, remember? Besides, if she wanted me dead, I already would be."

Dorian picked up the reader and grabbed his shotgun and his crossbow off the weapons rack and headed to his car. "Dorian," Andy said, coming up on his shoulder, "let me at least go with you. It's Kaeli we're talking about!"

Dorian turned and looked Andy straight in the eyes, while keeping his look sympathetic. "If the worst has happened, do you really want to be the one to have to kill her?"

Andy fell completely silent, his look communicating a thousand warring thoughts at once. Without another word, Dorian climbed into his car and drove out.

***

"It's because I'm in love with you." I can't believe I actually said that.

Making her way to Tyler's house, every thought that crossed Elizabeth's mind circulated around what she said to him last night. What in the world possessed her to blurt out something like that?

But the more she thought about it, she slowly realized that ever since her date with him last week Tyler had never totally left her mind once. Every time she had sex with one of the boys at Annabelle's mansion she imagined it was Tyler she was with. When she met Electra and felt so overwhelmed by the woman's terrifying presence, she had wished Tyler had been there to hold her. How had she become so attached to someone she barely even knew?

But she had only to remember that moment when she looked at his eyes in that car to realize that that wasn't true: she knew him better than anyone. That moment was all it had taken for her to know all she needed to know about him, and then that kiss under the bridge was all it had taken for her to fall in love.

She approached his house, and instantly sensed that he wasn't in his room; he was hiding in the bushes, waiting to surprise her. Elizabeth grinned wide; he was so cute. And he was about to learn a thing or two about who was the master of surprise here. Just like Annabelle taught her: conceal her life and breath from the world, make herself light as a feather, give nothing of herself away. She silently hopped to the other side of the bushes and slipped up behind where Tyler crouched down. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she put a hand on his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Very stealthy."

Jolting to his feet and turning around, he put a hand on his chest and blew out a breath that turned into a small grin. "How the hell did you do that?"

She grinned back like a shark. "Now where would the mystery be if I told you that?"

"Yeah, I guess you're nothing if not mysterious," he sighed.

She responded by running giggling to him and throwing her arms around his neck and enveloping him with an eager and fiery kiss. His body jolted again, and once he got his mouth free he said, "Whoa, you are just full of surprises tonight!"

For a long while she said nothing, simply staring into his eyes with a smile on her face. The longer she looked at his eyes, and the longer she saw into his heart, the clearer it became that what she said to him last night was absolutely true.

"You know," he said at last, "we probably should go somewhere other than the front lawn of my house, 'cause my parents just might wake up."

"You're right," she grinned. She hopped over to the door of his car. "Come on, let's go!"

"Where?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's just go somewhere... away." The smile on his face indicated he knew exactly what she meant.

He drove them up sloping roads, gradually getting into a wooded area, eventually steering off the road and parking under a tree at a seemingly random point. An eighth of a second passed after he put the car in park before she grabbed his face and pulled him into the most passionate kiss she could give. He was jostled for a moment, but then his hands came onto her shoulders, and his tongue joined hers in its dance. She took hold of one of his hands, slowly guided it from her shoulder to her breast, and she felt his breath jump in his throat. His fingers merely hovered there hesitating for a moment, before tightening and giving her breast the tender squeeze she sought.

Instinctively her leg attempted to move closer and was instantly impeded by the parking brake, causing her to break off the kiss and assess her obstacle. She had suddenly been forced to realize she had never done this in a car before. Not a hard problem to solve, though, she realized. She playfully grinned and slipped between the seats into the back, laying half-curled across the seat, beckoning him with her finger.

The eyes she saw looking back at her quickly calmed her playful mood. He was nervous. But he wanted her. It was all part of that beautiful innocence she loved about him. Gulping, he slowly crawled back with her, and inches from her face whispered, "Elizabeth, you should know I..."

"Shhh. It's all right. You don't have to say anything. Just kiss me."

And so he did. His hands slid up her chest and under her jacket, and she shrugged her shoulders allowing him to slide it off. More items of clothing followed, being slowly, gracefully removed while tenderly caressing each other's skin at the same time. If he was surprised to find she wasn't wearing a bra when her shirt was removed, he didn't show it; he merely gave her exposed breasts gentle love with his hands. Her own hands did similarly with his body once his shirt was gone, and her leg pressed against the thick bulge in his pants.




Blood Rose Ch. 07



She broke off the kiss to reach down and unfasten his pants. With her legs she began sliding his pants down, and her fingers wrapped themselves around the thick member that stood ready. Their eyes locked together, and the longer they gazed at each other's eyes the more she saw his nervousness melting away, being steadily replaced with nothing but pure desire that matched her own. As many guys as she'd been with since meeting Annabelle, and as much as she'd enjoyed each of those encounters, she'd never wanted anyone so much as she wanted Tyler right now. He rolled her miniskirt up around her waist, and slowly she guided him down to her very moist opening.

She nearly had an orgasm right away just from sheer joy. Her arms and legs wrapped around him as he filled her almost completely. The long, soft gasp that came from her throat was probably the happiest noise she had ever made. Right there, lying on her back, fully engulfed in Tyler's warm embrace, with his penis making slow, loving strokes inside of her... she never wanted this moment to end.

"I love you, Tyler," she whispered in his ear.

Time ceased to exist. Sometimes mouth-to-mouth, sometimes cheek-to-cheek, they continued making the best love Elizabeth had ever known. She found herself half wishing all her previous sex encounters had never happened; that Tyler could have been her first. Eventually she began to feel the climax to this perfect moment approaching. She not only felt her own orgasm building, but by the sudden heating of his blood and the swelling of his cock she knew his was approaching too. She could smell the mounting excitement in his blood. And when it came...

For a split second, everything in her body felt numb. She honestly thought she had died from sheer pleasure. But her body had in fact never been more alive. Their two bodies were one in this moment of ultimate release. All of him was a part of her: his seed pumping into her; his flesh in her arms; his blood...

His blood...

His blood!

It wasn't until her orgasm subsided that she realized the taste of Tyler's blood was in her mouth. She pulled her lips away from the neck she hadn't even realized she'd bitten... no... that didn't happen... but the bloody marks in his neck were there.

No!

She instantly shoved him away. "Oh my god... oh my god, what've I... No!"

"Elizabeth?"

She began hurriedly grabbing up her clothes and pulling them back on. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... I have to go!"

"What? Not again! What's wrong? What is it?"

"I can't talk about it, I just... I just can't, I..." She left her sentence unfinished, simply opening the door and taking off running. She heard him calling after her. She felt tears on her face; whether those were residual happy tears from her moment of ecstasy or tears from the pain of what she'd just done to him, she couldn't tell. She had known when she first met him that she shouldn't get involved with him, but she'd allowed herself to forget that, and now this had happened. 

All of her sudden her run came to an abrupt halt as she bumped into the strong, hard body of another person. When she looked up, she was gazing into the gruff, dark face of a man of about thirty-five in a brown leather jacket, holding a small beeping device in his hand, who took a good, long look at her face—and Elizabeth realized the man was seeing Tyler's blood still on her lips. Her breath seized when the man reached into his jacket and produced an iron stake which he raised, preparing to bring down on her.

"Elizabeth!"

Tyler's call drew both their attentions, but she only balked for a moment before taking off again. Now she had even more reason to run. She bolted through the trees and the brush, running back for the road and the way... where was she going to go anyway?

She was still contemplating this question when she began slowing down, suddenly surrounded by an eerie fog, similar to the fog that appeared the night she first met Annabelle. But this was different. This fog was doing more than just impeding her vision; the additional senses Annabelle had taught her to use, which by now she had come to use with no more conscious thought than breathing, were also being clouded. And the fog seemed like it was actively moving, as if it were alive; in fact it was closing in on her like a trap. 

As it thickened around her, she began feeling faint. Was the ground moving under her feet, or was she the one moving? By now the fog was actually starting to turn black, and it seemed like it was even beginning to take a shape, but her vision was blurring too much to determine what shape that was—until a hand took hold of her, and she looked up into a face she had come to believe she would never see again, which spoke two simple words to her:

"Hi sis."

Then everything went black.

***

Dorian had followed the signal for almost an hour before he finally caught up with it. For a while it had seemed like he was gaining on Kaeli, who was evidently moving on foot. But after stopping briefly in what his map indicated as a residential area, she apparently had started moving by car, which was going to prolong this pursuit for a while. 

Finally the signal had stopped moving in a wooded area just outside of town. When he reached the area, he stopped the car about half a mile from the signal, and gathered up his weapons and carefully got out of the car.

He stopped walking and looked down at the tracker when he saw the signal suddenly moving, at a pace that indicated someone running, and right towards him, too. He looked up just in time to see the girl the signal was coming from bump into him. When she looked at his face, Dorian instantly assessed that this raven-haired, golden-eyed girl—strikingly similar in appearance to the young man with Electra from last night—definitely wasn't Kaeli, but judging by the blood on her lips she was definitely a vampire. He'd just grabbed his iron stake and was getting ready to take her out when they heard the boy's voice calling her. "Elizabeth!"

The girl seized the moment to take off running, and Dorian was about to grab his crossbow and follow her, but the boy who came running up after her with the very evident bite marks on his throat quickly became a more urgent matter. "Elizabeth! Wait... Where're you..." Dorian saw the kid growing faint while running, and he didn't even seem to see Dorian standing in front of him when his blood loss caused him to pass out at Dorian's feet.

Dorian hesitated briefly, looking back behind him and seeing the vampire girl already long gone. Obviously the kid needed to be treated with an antidote as fast as possible, and luckily Dorian had some in the car. He picked up the kid's limp body and carried him back to his vehicle, wondering how Kaeli's transmitter had ended up on that girl; and more importantly, where was Kaeli now?

***

God didn't strike her down when Kaeli walked through the church doors. When she dipped her fingers in the sacred water and crossed herself, she didn't burn. Somehow she was still welcome in the Lord's house. At this hour the church was empty, and she found some comfort in that; she could say what she had to say to God without drawing any looks. She took a seat in an empty pew in the front, and leaned forward, hugging her arms with her elbows resting on her knees, and looked up at the sculpture of Jesus on the cross.

"I know I don't have any right to talk to you," she began. "Not now. Because I'm not one of your children anymore. I've let myself become tainted. I've tasted blood... I... I killed someone tonight. He was innocent... and now I have his blood on my conscience. I know I have no right to ask anything of you... I know I have no right to even live anymore, but I..." Tears tickled her face, and she fought back her sobs to continue speaking. "I still want to live! I know what I'm supposed to do now, but... I can't do it! I can't kill myself! I want to live, but how can I live like this? Please help me! Please tell me what to do!"

For a long while, perhaps nearly an hour, she continued to sit there, the only sound being that of her quiet sobs muffled by her hands that her face was buried in. Then she raised her head and looked behind her as another sound began echoing through the church: footsteps. And she began shedding a new kind of tears when the figure making them stepped into view.

"Andy," she breathed, standing up.

"I thought I'd find you here," he said.

She hesitated for a moment, some part of her brain telling her she shouldn't get close to him now, before she cast that part aside and flew into his arms. There wasn't anyone she would've rather seen right then. She just needed to hold him.

But he didn't hug her back. He shoved her away. "Andy?"

"I need to know something," he said. With that he produced one of his knives, rolled up his coat sleeve and made a cut on his arm, and extended it to her. 

She shrunk back from it. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer; he only took a step closer. She tried to look away, but once a single drop of blood had fallen from his arm and dripped on the floor, she no longer could. She drew nearer to the blood that came from that wound, and her breath started coming in hard gasps. Her teeth tingled the same way they did when Annabelle offered her that bowl. She took hold of his harm and brought her face closer to the wound—

He grabbed her face by the bottom of her chin and pulled it to look at. He lifted her upper lip with his thumb, and in his face she saw the infinite heartbreak and horror as he saw how those two teeth had changed. "No! Not you!"

Her tears returned, and she turned away from him. "I'm sorry," she sobbed.

After a lengthy pause, she heard him say, "So am I." She turned around again when she heard the sound of his blades being drawn. "I'm so sorry, Kaeli," he said, holding his knives ready to throw.

"Andy, don't!"

Her trained hunter's reflexes instantly commanded her to dodge when the blades flew from his hand, and she new she could never have evaded them as perfectly as she did if she were still human. She heard the blades embed themselves in wood from the altar or pews behind her. "Andy please," she started to say, this time barely avoiding his lunge with another knife.

"You're not Kaeli anymore," he said. "You're the thing that took her from me."

"No, Andy, it's still me," she pleaded, shrinking away and shielding her face with her hands—which she instinctively blocked with when he suddenly threw the knife in his hand. A sharp grunt punctuated the shock of pain when the blade impaled her hand. He was already drawing more of them; there was nothing to do now but run. She turned and bolted for the doors, cradling her hand, hearing another blade plunge into the door behind her.

***

Annabelle turned away from the door after seeing Charlotte off for the night. It wouldn't be long until sunrise now, and most of the girls had retired already. Annabelle was just getting ready to retire herself, when an object lain on the stairs stopped her. Seeing what she saw laying in front of her was usually not a good sign: a single red rose. And it was only then that she sensed the one who planted it standing at the bottom of the stairs behind her. Electra's ability to hide even from Annabelle's senses was one of many things she did not miss about her.

"I must admit," Electra said once Annabelle turned around, "when I left you I never thought I'd set foot in this house again, let alone two nights in a row. Isn't this world just full of little ironies?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I merely came by to deliver a simple courtesy notice," Electra smiled, slowly climbing the steps to meet Annabelle's eyes. "Elizabeth will not be your pupil anymore. In fact, I doubt you shall be seeing her anytime soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I've taken her under my wing. Isn't that why you brought her to my attention?"

"Our business deal was that I would continue to train these girls and you would judge whether they were worthy of working for you."

"Precisely," Electra grinned. "And that is exactly what I did. After all these years, you finally found one I judged worthy. Blood of the Chosen. Now she has no more need for you."

Annabelle's blood froze and boiled at the same time. How could she have been so stupid... or so greedy? She was desperate enough for some simple cash that she put her favorite pupil under the nose of the person she hated most in the world. "This isn't what I agreed to—"

Electra's hand on her throat silenced her instantly. "I'll not have you forget that you know nothing... nothing... but what I taught you! You will fill that prodigy's head with your rubbish no more! She will learn the ways of Blood Rose from me, she will fight alongside me, and her brother, and when I am queen again she will be a princess! She will sit on her rightful throne of power by my side, and her brother's side, and lesser maggot vampires like you will squirm beneath our feet!"

"...She's... not a warrior..." Annabelle managed to gasp through Electra's vice-like grip. "She won't help you."

Electra snarled, and shoved Annabelle hard, sending her flying across the lobby and landing hard on her back on the polished floor. By the time she opened her eyes, Electra was already leaning over her from above her head, holding a sword to her throat, her violet eyes flaring.

"Elizabeth... is ...MINE!"

"Get away from her!" they heard someone scream. They both looked up to see Rosanna, Katrina, Noemi and Miko charging down the stairs with panic all over their faces.

"Stay back!" Electra barked, brandishing her sword at them, bringing all the girls to an instant halt. Then Electra began to laugh. "Look at them. Taught them everything you know, did you? Everything you learn from me? And yet there they cower. I tried to teach you how to use Blood Rose in ways that might help you—or them, for that matter—in a situation like this. Had you listened with more than half an ear, you might be fighting me back now. You'd be on your feet with your own sword in hand. But you didn't. And now just look at you."

Electra grabbed Annabelle's collar and hoisted her to her feet, holding her from behind facing the other girls on the stairs. Annabelle screamed in pain, as the other girls screamed in horror, as she felt the cold steel plunge into her back, and when she looked down she saw the bloody steel jutting out of her gut. "Look, all of you!" Electra commanded. "This is all that your beloved teacher amounts to! Watch and learn who the true master of Blood Rose is!"

She yanked out the sword, causing Annabelle to scream again and drop to her knees. Wearily she turned her head around, getting a brief moment to see Electra swing the sword down at her neck before darkness came.

To Be Concluded...



Blood Rose Ch. 08



Her hair is like blood, her eyes violet jewels

And she governs the fates of all whom she rules.

Her voice is of silk, but her words are of steel.

Look in her eyes, and your fears become real.

A blossom of blood, with thorns that can kill,

She will bend all your dreams to the ways of her will.

Her beauty is pure as the clear driving rain,

But to enter her world will bring only pain.

The blade that she holds you cannot defy.

Kill her you might, but she will not die.

There is but one truth every vampire knows:

You will not walk free when you cross Electra Rose.

Every step of Electra's $200 shoes echoed throughout her cavernous penthouse. Behind her, the hired cleaners were picking up the body of the less-than-productive human employee she had just finished snacking on. This building was her castle. Everything within 300 square feet around her and 70 stories beneath her feet was hers.

After ascending the stairs, she paused when she heard the grunting coming from Jackie's room. Smiling, she concealed the sound of her steps and glided over to the door, carefully peering inside and licking her lips. She'd seen this before, but she never stopped enjoying it: Jackie and Big Chill both naked on her bed with Jackie riding on Chill's lap. Of course Jackie wasn't particularly fond of Chill, but she was quite fond of his dick, which she couldn't even accommodate the whole length of, forced to hold herself suspended at least an inch or two above his lap. Nonetheless, this was still Jackie's favorite position—cowgirl, what else?—and if Chill ever tried to roll over on top, she would grab the gun laying next to her and put a few bullets in his massive chest. It wouldn't take him long to recover from wounds like that, but they definitely smart and remind him who was boss.

Jackie had been a saloon girl in a small town in Nevada in the 1870's, serving drinks and having her ass grabbed by drunken patrons. Her life changed the night a mysterious stranger walked into her saloon and invited her to join him in his room, and there gave her his immortal kiss. From there she was taught to "ride and shoot like a man," until the day he was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. Of course, he never made it to the gallows, burning up in the sun when they tried to drag him to it. The authorities responsible for his death were soon brought down by bullets from the girl who came to be known as "Deathbride Jackie."

Big Chill had become a vampire while serving in the Vietnam War. His platoon had happened upon a village that just happened to be inhabited by vampires, and made the mistake of making camp there. Most of the men in the unit tried putting the moves on the ladies there; most ended up dead. Chill alone walked away with just a bite, but not without filling the heart of the self-defending vampire girl with lead. He managed to stay on his feet long enough to napalm the village before passing out and turning. 

When she decided she'd seen enough, Electra turned away and saw Shao Li approaching. "They are doing it again?" the Chinese pureborn asked.

"That girl must always have her horse to ride," Electra grinned. "Is our guest ready?"

"She is still sleeping. Very comfortable."

"Where is Anthony? She'll want to see him, too."

"Anthony is with his harem. I think his new pet just woke up."

"Very well. I'll see if he can tear himself away from her long enough to greet his sister." Electra started continuing past Shao Li, then stopped and turned around, saying, "You and those two will remember to be ready tonight, won't you?"

"Of course," Shao Li nodded.

"Remember, as before, you are only to kill any of them who try to fight back. But no more than one of them."

"We will remember," Shao Li replied. "Do you have any preference as to the one you want brought back here?"

Electra had to stop and think about that for a moment. "Just bring the youngest among them."

Shao Li nodded with a smile, and Electra continued on to Anthony's section of the penthouse. 

She approached the door to the room shared by Anthony's love slaves, which was open as always, where she saw him watching his newly turned girl, Nina, finishing off her meal of the idiot blonde he had recently picked up at the club. Nina was kneeling on one knee with the dead girl in her arms Caitlyn's blood messily decorating her face, lapping up the traces that still seeped from the wound. Both nascent vampire and lifeless victim were still quite naked. Anthony was standing over her watching closely, saying, "Alright, that's enough now. I don't blame you for being excited your first time, but try to remember: finesse. I don't want you losing that."

"Anthony," Electra said, drawing his attention up from his slave, who gently laid her victim down on the floor. "If you are through instructing your little plaything there, I think it's time we greeted your sister, don't you?"

"Of course," he nodded. He bent down to look Nina in the face and said, "I'll be back later. And then... we'll see." He kissed her gently on the lips, getting some of the blood on her face on his own, causing her to giggle before he took a tissue and wiped it off.

Electra started turning, until Anthony said, "Wait... maybe I should make a more impressive entrance." With that he closed his eyes and faded into mist that began creeping out the door.

Electra sighed. "You are such a showoff, Anthony."

***

Slowly Elizabeth opened her eyes, and sat up on the ornately lavish bed she lay on. The bedroom she was in rivaled the beautiful quality of even the bedrooms in Annabelle's mansion, though the patterns of the décor seemed somehow less soft and feminine than Annabelle's. Then she noticed the dress she was wearing. She had to get up and inspect herself in the mirror that stood nearby. The dress was certainly beautiful, and whoever put it on her had enough of an eye for fashion to know that black and red were her best colors, but it wasn't something she'd usually wear if she had a choice.

So who put it on her? And where the hell was she, anyway?

She thought back to the last thing she remembered... she was in Tyler's car, enjoying a perfect moment that was shattered when she suddenly lost control of herself and bit him... oh my god, Tyler! What happened to him? 

She left him alive after biting him, she knew that, and judging by the reddish light that was peaking through the blinds over the window, it was late afternoon now, so he was probably still turning. What was going to happen to him now?

While one part of her mind continued swimming with those thoughts, she continued recalling the events of last night... she remembered getting out of the car and running, and then that scary man with the iron stake, probably a hunter... and then...

Anthony.

She had seen her brother's face for the first time in six years. Was he the one who brought her here, wherever here was? Was this where he'd been living?

She turned her head to the door when she began to sense someone approaching—and shrunk back to the bed when she identified who it was. The door opened and Electra Rose swept inside. "Ah, you're awake now. Very good."

"Wh-where am I?"

"You're in my penthouse, on the top of the Rose Empire building in the east part of downtown. A place I think you'll come to call home. I had you brought here so I could complete your Blood Rose training."

Elizabeth was positively cringing at what Electra was saying. "What do you mean? I thought Annabelle—"

"Annabelle has nothing more she can teach you. But there is plenty more that I can. And so can he," Electra finished, pointing to a spot across the room behind Elizabeth.

She turned to look where Electra was pointing, and saw a weird mist rising up from the floor, seeming to form into a shape. That shape quickly grew to resemble a person, and that person quickly grew to resemble Anthony. "Hey sis."

"Anthony? What are... how did... what the hell is going on?"

"You're here for the reason I made you in the first place. I'm sorry it took Electra so long to realize you belonged with us, but I knew it right from the beginning. You're going to rise with us to become one of the most powerful vampires alive."

"I don't understand..."

"Under Annabelle's care," Electra said, "you have only scratched the surface of your potential, and had you remained with her that is all you would have done. All Annabelle could teach you to do with Blood Rose is play with people and have fun in bed. That's not what I created Blood Rose for; it's meant for so much more than that—"

"Wait a minute, you created Blood Rose?"

Electra gave her a smug grin. "Yes I did." Then she paused, seeming in thought. "Well, I suppose it has always existed in some form or another. Many vampires in times past practiced the different skills it entails. I simply brought them together into a singular discipline and gave it a purpose and a name. I asked Anthony to bring you here because I believe you have the potential to succeed where Annabelle failed."

"Succeed at what?"

Electra started to answer, but then Anthony turned to her and said, "Electra, would you give me and my sister a moment alone?"

Electra looked both of them over for a moment before saying, "Very well," and left.

Elizabeth watched Anthony intently as he moved across the room. "Anthony, please..."

He stopped moving and looked at her. "Elizabeth, do you know how vampires came into being?"

That certainly wasn't what she expected him to say. "What? Uh, no..."

"We don't have an exact date," Anthony started, "but we estimate it starting somewhere between 1500 and 2000 years ago with a secret order called the Black Church. It was an underground cult spread across eastern, central and southern Europe that worshiped the power of the Dark."

"What do you mean, the Dark?"

"The world we know is balanced between two parallel realms, one of Light and one of Darkness, both of which have equal mystical influences on our world. The Black Church sought power from the energies of the Dark that exist in our world, using magic and summoning what you might call demons from them."

"You're talking about Heaven and Hell?"

Anthony shrugged. "For all I know, I might be. We don't know if the spirits of the dead go to either of these realms; they could, but we just don't know. What we do know is that eventually, the Black Church was exposed and its fourteen high priests were executed. However, their followers had prepared for this, and they gathered to perform a Dark spell that allowed the high priests to be reborn as the first vampires, what we now call the Old Ones.

"As the vampire race began to spread, a few followers of the Light who saw them as a threat decided to take action, and gave certain powers to three chosen warriors, along with blood that vampires could not drink. These warriors came to be known as the Darkhunters, and they became the greatest threat to the vampire race we have ever known. Plus their powers and their blood were passed on from generation to generation, so that there was always a new group of Darkhunters waiting. Over the centuries, they killed off most of the Old Ones, until eventually only one was left. And believe it or not, you've actually heard of him."

"I have?"

"He's gone by many names, but the one you'll be familiar with is Dracula."

"Wait a minute, Dracula? As in Bram Stoker, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, that Dracula? You mean he actually existed?"

"Still does, as far as we know," Anthony nodded. "As the last surviving Old One, Dracula declared himself king of the vampires. And he also chose a queen, a powerful warrior woman who he had made into a vampire himself and gave a portion of his power to her. That queen was Electra."

Elizabeth's eyes turned towards the door Electra had left through. "She's the queen of the vampires?"

"Was. Around 400 years ago, Dracula cast her down from her throne, and gave it to a sorceress named Veatrice. Also, rumor has it that 200 years ago the Darkhunters caught up with Dracula, and while they weren't able to kill him for whatever reason, they did manage to seal him in some sort of hibernation and hide him away somewhere, meaning that Veatrice is now the supreme vampire. Electra has spent the centuries since her exile preparing to strike back against Veatrice and win back her title as Queen of Darkness."

Elizabeth sighed. "Well, this is all very interesting, but what does all this have to do with us already?"

"We're going to help her do it."

"We are?" was Elizabeth's incredulous response. "Why? Why should we care about this?"

Anthony grinned wide like a Cheshire cat. "You did see how I entered the room, didn't you? Aren't you a little curious how I did that?"

Elizabeth didn't know what to say there. It actually seemed strange, now that she thought about it, that she hadn't gone crazy asking him what that appearing out of mist trick had been.

"The Old Ones had certain powers," Anthony said, "that no other vampire has had since. Until now. Electra has long since believed in a prophecy about a Chosen One who will wield the powers of the Old Ones and lead the vampire race to greatness. Elizabeth, I'm that Chosen One! It's my destiny to rise to power over the vampire race, and Electra is my means to do that! When she's Queen of Darkness again, I'll be by her side as her king! I'm going to take the place of Dracula himself!"

And then he leaned in towards her, putting his hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes with a big smile on his face. "And you, you're special too. That's why I turned you, and now that Electra's recognized it, it's why you're here. You are the one who has the potential to carry on Electra's techniques the way they were meant to be carried on. Don't you see what I'm saying? You're going to be princess! Lesser vampires will bow down to you, and do whatever you want!"

Elizabeth stared back at him for nearly a minute before she said, "Is this what she's been spoon-feeding you for the last six years?"

Anthony's smile faded. He sighed, still holding her shoulders, and said, "I understand that you're skeptical, because I had trouble grasping it at first." He looked into her eyes again, his eyes seeming to give off a golden glow that rivaled the hypnotic charm of Annabelle or even Electra, and forcibly pushed her down so that she sat on the bed. "But I've learned one important thing in the time I've been with her:" he brushed her hair aside and leaned towards her, so that she felt the warmth of his breath on her neck, just like the night he first bit her, as he whispered, "the only thing that really matters in the world is power. Electra has power. I have power. And whether you believe it or not, you have power. Accept that, and accept your destiny, and you can't begin to imagine what awaits you."

With that he released her and began moving to the door, leaving Elizabeth sitting in a light daze. "Don't worry," he said as his hand fell on the doorknob. "After tonight, it'll get easier."

Elizabeth instantly came out of her daze. "Why? What happens tonight?" she asked, with more than a slight impression of fear.

"You'll realize your true power. You'll see," he said, and walked out the door. Elizabeth heard him lock the door behind him, leaving her to do nothing but wait for whatever sick thing Electra was planning for her.

***

Before Tyler's eyes were even open, the first thing he noticed was warmth on his face. And he smelled something. Whether it was the warmth on his face or the smell that woke him he wasn't sure, but of the two it was the smell that dominated his attention, as his brain attempted to place what the smell was. It was when he felt the wet tongue licking his face and he sat up and sputtered that he figured it out: dog breath.

The German shepherd staring him in the face and wagging its tail was easily the first thing he saw when his eyes opened. The second was the large, nearly bald man in a white muscle shirt with his right arm in a sling that approached. "Hey, Shadow, give him some space," the man said to the dog in a deep, raspy voice, pulling it by the collar. Then he turned his head behind him and called, "Hey, Dorian, the kid's awake!"

Tyler took a moment to take in his surroundings. He was lying on a cot in what looked like a warehouse, on a metallic second-level landing, surrounded by tables with computers and power tools and a lathe or two. The part that worried him was when he noticed the assortment of weapons that decorated the place; some were firearms, others were just scary-looking edged weapons, and to his dismay there were quite a lot of them. Where the hell was he?

The sound of footsteps coming up the metallic stairs heralded the appearance to the man who emerged on the landing and looked straight in Tyler's direction. The man seemed to look vaguely familiar, but Tyler couldn't quite place from where. Tyler started to get up in a hurry, but didn't quite make it off the cot before he suddenly got too woozy and had to stay seated. The man at the stairs hurried over to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Take it easy, kid. You've lost quite a bit of blood." 

"Who are you?" 

"My name's Dorian Steel," the man said. "I'm the guy who saved your life. This is my... associate, Ethan." The man he referred to turned and moved with his dog to one of the workbenches and began checking what Tyler seriously hoped only looked like a gun.

"You saved my life?" Tyler said with plenty of doubt in his voice. "From what?"

"What's your name, kid?"

Tyler was a bit annoyed at having his question answered with a question, but after pausing a moment answered, "Tyler."

"What do you remember about last night, Tyler?" Dorian said, pulling up a chair and sitting down.

"I went out for a drive with Elizabeth... we parked in the woods..."

"Elizabeth, some chick you hooked up with last night?"

"No, I've been seeing her for about a week or so," Tyler said. "I guess..." he smiled and shrugged, "I guess she's my girlfriend. We parked, we got a little NC-17, and then she just kind of freaked all of a sudden and ran, and I ran after her... that's about where it all goes black."

"Yeah, that's about when you passed out at my feet," Dorian said. "This Elizabeth... black hair, kind of goldish eyes, about yay tall?" He held his hand at what looked like about Elizabeth's height.

"Yeah, you saw her?"

Dorian nodded. "What can you tell me about this girl? How'd you meet her?"

Tyler gave Dorian a cold look. "Would you stop trying to pry into my personal life and just tell me what the hell I'm doing here already?"

"Just bear with me for the moment, kid. We'll get there. Right now I'm interested in this girl of yours. Let me guess, she's mysterious, evasive, doesn't like to talk about herself?"

Now Tyler was piqued. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"You ever seen her during the daytime?"

Another question answered with a question. "Well, now that I think about it, no, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"And I don't suppose you remember her, say, biting you while you were parked last night?"

Tyler stared at him. "Alright, what's going on here?"

"I take it you haven't noticed the bandage on your neck." As soon as Dorian said this, Tyler did in fact become aware of the adhesive feeling on the side of his neck that he hadn't noticed before, and reached a hand up to feel the piece of gauze that had been stuck on him. "You're lucky I found you and treated you when I did," Dorian said. "Otherwise you'd either be dead or sucking blood clots now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Dorian's face had the grim look of a doctor about to give a patient the news that he had terminal cancer. "Kid, I really hate to be the one to have to tell you this," he said, almost as if he were about to do just that. But Tyler never could have expected what he said after that. "Your girlfriend's a vampire."




Blood Rose Ch. 08



Tyler wasn't sure how much time he spent staring at Dorian after hearing that, waiting for the little smirk or the "had you for a second" to indicate the joke was over. But Dorian's face remained rock-steady, with no trace of humor at all. From over at his workbench, Ethan finally pitched in with, "He's serious."

Tyler slumped against the cot as he realized the harsh reality of his situation. "This is just perfect. I've been abducted by a loony tune."

"We're vampire hunters. I was looking for a missing member of my team when I found you. That bandage on your neck is covering the wound from where your girlfriend bit you last night."

"You're crazy!"

Dorian sighed. "You don't have to believe me right now kid. What's important right now is—" Dorian stopped and looked behind him at the sound of the large door opening and a car pulling in. Then he turned back forward and continued, "What's important is making sure you're safe before we send you home."

"I need to be safe from you, you crazy bastard!"

There was the sound of a car door shutting, and another set of footsteps ascending the metal stairs, and a middle-aged black man with a salt-and-pepper beard in a tan coat and a tie came into view. "The kid's finally awake?" the man said, looking at Tyler.

"Yeah," Dorian said. "He's still a little hysterical, though."

"I'm hysterical?" Tyler snapped. "You're the freak who's talking about vampires!"

"So I see," said the man.

"Hey Keith," Ethan said, "you heard from Andy at all?"

"He hasn't checked in with you guys?"

"We haven't seen him since he took off last night while Dorian was out."

"No worries, I'm here," said a new voice coming in through the still open big door. The young man with the ponytail and the long black duster who appeared now stopped at the top of the stairs when he noticed Tyler. "Oh, didn't know we had company."

"This is Tyler," Dorian said. "I found him last night when I was looking for Kaeli. He'd been bitten. Oh, and Andy, I didn't find her. I'm sorry, it was a dead end."

Andy's already glum face darkened, and his head hung low. "I know. I found her."

The other three men instantly focused their attention on him. "And?" Ethan said.

Andy looked up, his jaw set in a grim line. "They turned her."

The room fell into a somber hush. Even the dog seemed brought down. "Did you take care of her?" Dorian asked after a moment of silence.

"I tried. She got away."

Ethan responded by grabbing up a wrench and chucking it across the room, hitting the wall with a resounding bang. His dog backed away from him and whined. Keith slumped into a chair and sighed, "That's two of us lost in as many nights."

"What we gonna do now?" Ethan said.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," Andy said, pointing a tense finger at him. "We're gonna track Kaeli down and finish her off, 'cause I'm not gonna sleep at night knowing my girl's out there somewhere sporting a pair of pointy ones."

"We'll deal with that later," Dorian said, firmly laying down the law. "Sooner or later, I think she'll come to us. Our first priority is Electra."

A collective scowl turned in Dorian's direction. "Is anyone else sick of that name?" Keith sneered.

"You ask me," Ethan said, "I think our priority right now is the kid."

Even Tyler himself had almost forgotten he was in the room until the attention turned back his way. And he realized at that point that he'd stopped thinking of these people as insane by now. He'd just watched a serious conversation between four men who seemed perfectly sane, albeit a little scary. These guys were serious—but they couldn't be, right? They couldn't really be vampire hunters, could they?

Tyler looked around at their faces, waiting to see what they were going to do with him—and then spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Something that really didn't belong in the whole warehouse, let alone the table it sat on. And what was more, he was sure it hadn't been there a minute ago. "Hey, what's with that red rose over there?"

Dorian instantly sprang to his feet and looked wide-eyed in the direction Tyler was looking. He strode to the table and picked up the rose, and now Tyler could see a tag attached to it that Dorian was reading. "Everybody get out," Dorian commanded.

"Why, what's going on?" Andy said.

"Get in the van, take Tyler home."

"Is she here?" said Ethan. "We're not going anywhere without—"

"In the van, NOW!"

There was no more argument. Keith and Andy began heading down the stairs. Ethan approached Tyler and gently lifted him by the arm to his feet and guided him along, saying, "Come on, Tyler, let's get you outta here. Shadow!" The dog followed as Ethan led Tyler down the stairs, and they followed Andy and Keith into a rusty gray van, filled with weapons, that Keith started up and drove out the door after the dog climbed in and Ethan shut the sliding door behind them.

Tyler slumped into the seat along the side of the van. He realized suddenly that it was night, and Dorian had been describing what happened as "last night," meaning he'd been out for a whole day. One minute I'm having the night of my life with the girl of my dreams, and the next thing I know I'm waking up with a bunch of weapon-toting wackos who think they're vampire hunters and it's a day later.

His thoughts began circulating around last night. The whole thing had seemed to him like a perfect moment—the most perfect of his life in fact—and she suddenly freaked for some reason... he could see the moment she started panicking and grabbing her clothes... the look on her face... was there something on her face? Now that he stopped to think about it, when he pictured her at the moment she started freaking out, he could almost swear there was something dark around her mouth area. Like blood. What if...

What am I thinking? This is insane! Elizabeth can't be vampire, because there's no such thing, right? Vampires don't exist, not in the real world. These guys don't know what they're talking about, no matter how much they sound like they do.

"Where do you live, kid?" Keith asked.

Tyler hesitated, noting the palpable unease in the van around him. He was just about to answer when the dog suddenly raised its head and started barking. "Pull over!" Ethan commanded.

Keith swerved off the road and ground to a halt before parking the car. The three men then began going for their weapons while the dog continued barking. "What's going on?" Tyler said.

"Shadow here smells bloodsuckers," Ethan said, putting his good hand on the dog to calm it. "That means we're up."

The dog jerked its head suddenly to the sliding side door and started barking again—seconds before they heard the sound of metal tearing and that door was ripped off the van, and tossing it away with his bare hands was a seven-foot black goliath in a green muscle shirt and camouflage army pants. Tyler scooted backwards along the seat towards the back, until the back doors flew open and a woman dressed like a cowgirl in a black hat and long coat was pointing a pair of .45s at them and commanded, "Out of the van!"

Tyler put his hands up and slowly exited out the back, while the others did similarly. The dog continued barking at the intruders, until the huge man snarled, "Shut up Fido!" and threw a kick to the dog's mouth, causing it to yelp and shrink away.

"That's my dog, asshole!" Ethan growled, snatching up an iron stake and throwing himself at the giant.

The huge man responded by grabbing Ethan by the throat with one massive hand and holding him there, saying, "You want me to break your other arm? Or your leg maybe? How 'bout your neck? I'll have fun with that!"

Tyler felt the flat side of a piece of cold metal press onto the underside of his chin, and could tell there was a sharp edge just millimeters from his throat. He carefully turned his eyes to see the Chinese woman holding the sword that held him prisoner, who seemed to be studying him. "This one is new," she said.

"And look, he's been tasted," the cowgirl said, her eyes focused on the bandage on Tyler's neck, while keeping her guns trained on the other men. "Probably a stray they found on a hunt."

"Think we should take 'im?" the giant man said, and then followed it with something that made Tyler go absolutely cold: "You know, finish the job?"

The cowgirl responded with a question that, if it was possible, chilled Tyler even further: "If he's been bitten recently, do you think he has enough blood for the ritual to work?"

"He still walks," the Chinese woman said. "And Electra did say to bring the youngest."

A wicked grin spread across the cowgirl's face. "Take him, Chill!"

"Baby, I thought you'd never ask," the goliath grinned, dropping Ethan back on the floor of the van with a hard thud. The two women took a step back to allow space for Tyler to stare up in terror at the face of the huge man now standing in front of him, who said, "You're comin' with us, squirt!" and reached out an enormous hand that grabbed Tyler by the collar and flung him onto the man's shoulder.

Tyler saw the Chinese woman leap into the air—and gaped as she flew all the way up onto the roof of the building next to them. "Don't follow us," the cowgirl coolly warned, just before the man carrying Tyler on his shoulder made the same leap, carrying the helpless Tyler through the air. From his angle now, he could see the cowgirl preparing to turn to follow her partners; he saw Keith try to take advantage of that by going for his gun; and he heard the deafening BANG of the cowgirl stopping him with her own gun. Keith's gun had barely gotten out of its holster before it dropped to the ground, and Keith seemed to freeze for a split second before dropping to the ground dead.

Andy and Ethan scrambled toward their fallen comrade, while the cowgirl turned and followed with the other two with the same gravity-defying leap to the roof, and the three continued on, carrying Tyler to whatever sick thing they were planning for him.

***

Dorian set the rose down on the table, waiting until the van had fully left the warehouse before he said, "Why are you here?"

"You honestly need to ask?" Electra's voice said from behind him. He turned around, seeing her sitting in a tantalizing cross-legged position on another table. "I thought you knew me better than that. I came for you, of course, my precious."

"To do what?" he snarled. "To whisk me away to some dungeon for some sadomasochistic sex games?"

Electra chuckled. "I hardly think we need a dungeon for that. There seem to be plenty of tools of pain right here."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Electra," Dorian said, then added, "Come to think of it, I haven't been in the mood for games in years. Not since... I think you know when."

"Very well then," she said, stepping down onto the floor. "If you don't want to play, then let's talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

All traces of humor left her face as she slowly came close to him. "Why, Dorian?" she asked, reaching a hand up to stroke his face. "Why didn't you love me?"

He slapped her hand away. "Even if I had, it would've meant nothing to you. In the 700 years you've been alive, what have you ever known about love?"

"But I do love you, Dorian. That's why I made sure you'd never forget me."

Dorian scowled. "That's true, you did. In the cruelest way possible. Just one thing I've been curious about for a long time: when did you bite her?"

The grin on her face made Dorian's blood boil. "Believe me when I say that finding the opportune moment was no dally in the roses. I knew I'd never be able to manipulate you into staying overnight at your job without the right circumstances. No, you'd have seen right through me. Engineering your little crisis at the office took work, but I got you away from home long enough to pay your wife a visit in her sleep." She sensuously sucked a finger into her mouth. "She tasted just like honey."

Snarling through his teeth, Dorian grabbed an iron stake from inside his coat and swung at her. The stake pierced only air, as she was gone from the space in front of him. He spun around and found her behind him, still smiling and still talking.

"And then I gave her an extra little present: a special cocktail I had some of my people develop, designed to reduce self-control and intensify the thirst. Very potent, and especially effective on nascent vampires. And then, as much as I would have liked to stay and enjoy the show, I had to make sure I was gone so you could chase after me. Though I must say, I'm rather disappointed it took you so long to find me. Now that you're here, I can finally ask: how did it go?"

Dorian wanted more than anything not to have to recall that night. But it was too late now. They both had said too much for him to not recall what happened. "I came home the next evening. I'd left Melissa five or six messages apologizing for being gone all night and all day and I was planning how to do it again in person. I walked in the door and called for her. She didn't answer. I went upstairs, and I found her standing over the baby's crib. I remember exactly what I said to her: 'Sorry I was gone so long, did I miss anything exciting?' And I wonder if your sadistic mind can grasp how I felt when she turned around and looked at me, holding the bloody lump that used to be our baby, and the baby's blood dripping from her lips. And then she tossed the baby on the floor like a rag and came after me. I had to... defend myself."

"And then what?" The smile had still not left her face.

"You know what then," Dorian snarled. "I found your rose on the bed, the one you left so I would know it was you. And I never looked back."

"Indeed you didn't. You've spent the last twelve years looking for me, haven't you? Answer me this, Dorian: in the last twelve years, have you ever stopped thinking of me for even a microsecond?"

Dorian said nothing.

"Admit it: I succeeded. The moment you killed your wife, I became your reason for being. Your whole world. For twelve years you've wanted me; now here I am. What will you do?"

Dorian silently glared at her, his hand starting to bleed from his grip on the iron stake. To his horror and rage, he began to realize she was right. He'd become obsessed with Electra because that was exactly what she wanted. Everything he'd done had been about her. Here she stood in front of him, the one person he hated with every molecule in his body... 

So why can't I stop craving her?

He tried hard to focus only on the years of obsessive hatred, and found those warring with older memories; memories of when he first met her, of night upon fiery night when she was everything he ever wanted. She had totally destroyed his life, and still it was hard to keep his eyes from exploring her body.

He had never loved her. There was a time he thought he did, a long time ago, but he'd realized it was only physical lust. He may have wanted her; she may have excited every primal urge inside of him, but he had never loved her. That didn't stop all those primal urges from coming back, and growing stronger the longer he kept looking at her.

He grabbed her. He gripped her shoulders and slammed her hard onto the mesh-metal floor. He glared into her grinning face and snarled, "I hate you," right before bringing his head down for a heated, angry, violent kiss. It was both the best and the worst kiss he'd ever shared with her; a release of hate and lust that had been building for years. He began ripping the fabric of her dress and gripped her breasts with a red-hot lustful fury.

"You're hurting me, my love," she smiled. "Hurt me more."

His hand shot downward and yanked up the hem of her nearly skintight skirt, and found her opening hot and wet and uncovered, and realized she'd been expecting this all along. He unzipped his pants and drilled into her with enough force to drill through a rock. 

"Yes!" she breathed. "You're just like you used to be!"

Her fingers dug into his back so that he could feel the sharpness of her nails even through his jacket, which he could hear tearing.

"No, you're better!"

He grabbed and pinned down her thrashing arms in a way that probably would have broken the arms of a weaker woman. He pounded her hard against the mesh-metal floor, and knew that he was causing her pain. And the more pain he caused her, the more he knew she loved it. She screamed out with the exquisite blend of pleasure and pain that she had always thrived on for as long as he knew her.

"Yes! Yes! YES!"

Dorian almost expected her thrashings to break through the mesh-metal of the landing beneath them and her screams to shatter the windows when she came. Driving her hard into the floor and growling like a beast he let loose into her, and then held himself there, still keeping a death grip on her arms and glaring with rage into her face.

"You understand now," she said, with the hissing tone of a snake in her voice. "You can't fight me, because you've got me under your skin. You can say what you like, but you know you'll always be mine."

Dorian's teeth almost broke from clenching together so hard. He leapt off her and grabbed up the iron stake he had dropped on the floor—and as soon as he turned back to impale her heart with it, she was gone.

Dorian stood up, zipped up his pants, and looked around the warehouse, even though he knew he wouldn't find her. What he did find was the van suddenly returning, and being driven rather awkwardly, with the sliding side door ripped clean off. Dorian ran to the edge of the stairs, as Andy, who never drove, got out from the driver's side door and Ethan got out from the passenger side. No one else exited the van.

"What happened?"

"Electra's goons ambushed us outside," Ethan said. "They killed Keith, and they took the kid."

Dorian took only a second to react to the news of Keith's death. Losing teammates was nothing new, and there'd be time to mourn him later. Right now he had more pressing concerns. "What do you mean they took him?"

"They took him," Andy echoed. "They snatched him up and took him away."

"They took him alive?"

"Yeah."

Dorian chewed on this for a moment. "Ethan, do you have a location from that tracer we put on that girl from the club?"

"Yeah, but you're not thinking of mounting a rescue mission are you?"

"Electra's gotta be up to something big," Dorian said. "She wouldn't take a prisoner otherwise. And whatever it is can't be good. Let's gear up." He marched down the stairs and headed for his weapons rack.

"Dorian, this is crazy!" Andy protested, following him. "Look at us, we're down to three! And you really think we can just march into the vampire bitch queen's nest and wrestle that kid away from her? It's suicide, man, and why is your jacket torn like that?"

Dorian paused with his hand just starting to pick up his crossbow, choosing to ignore Andy's last question. "Maybe you're right, maybe it is suicide. That's why I'm not gonna ask you two to go with me. I need to do this. One way or another, I have to end it tonight. Ethan, gimme the address."

The room fell silent, other than the sound of Dorian continuing to gather his weapons. Once he was loaded, he stepped up to Ethan for the printed address, and was surprised to find the both of them fully geared up. "We're goin' with you, Dorian," Ethan said.

"This is my fight, guys," Dorian said. "You've all pointed that out already. You don't have to put yourselves on the line for my sake anymore. And besides, Ethan, you're in no shape for this with that arm."

"I only need one arm to kill vampires."

"We're not gonna let you do this alone, Dorian," Andy said. "We're with you to the end."

Dorian looked at the resolve both of them were putting up on their faces. "Thanks guys," he said finally. Ethan commanded Shadow to stay, and they got into Dorian's car and drove off.




Blood Rose Ch. 08



***

Kaeli meant to wait only just until they were gone before she came out of hiding. As it was she remained crouched behind the table for several minutes after the car left. For what must have been thirty minutes, starting from the moment Dorian threw Electra on the floor until long after the hideout was empty, her breathing was virtually the only movement she made. And when she finally stood up her body was trembling and she was supporting her weight on the table.

She had known Dorian for years, since before she'd been old enough to hunt. He'd been one of the many father figures she'd had in her life, and perhaps one that was closer to her than her own father. That fact that he was always so gloomy and seemed to hate the world was just something she'd learned to accept about him, and she learned early on never to ask about his past.

What she had just witnessed had changed everything.

This was hardly the way she expected to learn the truth about his history with Electra, and now that she knew it she almost wished she could forget. She also wished she could forget seeing that side of Dorian; the side that could do that with Electra after what she did to him. She finally understood what Electra was to him. She wasn't just an enemy. She was poison in his veins. She was a drug that had completely destroyed him, and yet he was still fighting his addiction to. When he said he had to end it tonight, he didn't just mean his revenge; he was fighting to be free of her.

Then Kaeli came back to thinking about her own situation, and the overwhelming question of what she was going to do now. She came back here because she couldn't think of anywhere else to go; because even though she knew Dorian would probably kill her, she had no one else to turn to. There was no one in the world she trusted more. She came here hoping against hope to find help from him, but...

She wasn't the one who needed help. At least not as much as he did.

Her eyes turned toward the weapons rack that her longbow still hung from. She picked it up, and found the feel of it in her hands had not changed. It still felt like the same powerful weapon she had carried every night as a hunter. She held it for a moment, and slung it over herself, just as she had night after night throughout her adult life. The rest of her gear followed; her arrows, her iron stakes, her hunting boots and gloves.

Then she stepped up to the mirror on the wall. She opened her mouth took a good long look at her new set of fangs. She had ended a human life with those teeth. She had spent the daytime sleeping in a condemned building amongst a bunch of junkie runaways, hiding from the sun, knowing her apartment was no longer safe from the people she'd spent her life fighting alongside. This wasn't what she wanted, but she allowed it to happen. This was her own fault. But she was done feeling bad about herself. Dorian needed her now.

Looking into her own eyes, she put a hand on her crucifix, whispered a prayer and crossed herself. She stepped up to the computer screen that still displayed the address they were headed for and printed it off. Then using the key she kept to Andy's car, she drove out.

Tonight would be Kaeli's last hunt.

***

Anthony lay spooned beside Nina's nude form, his head touching one side of her face, gently stroking his knuckles along the other. "How do you feel?" he asked her.

"Strange," she said. "Everything feels strange."

Anthony clenched a fist until his fingernails drew blood from his palm, and held it over her mouth. Nina's tongue extended, tasting the blood he offered her. "Blood tastes strange," she said. "I can't tell if it tastes good or not. I think it doesn't, but then I think it does. It's weird, but it's exciting."

"It's all like that," Anthony said, slowly gliding his fingers down her body. "It's strange at first, but it's exciting too." His fingers slid between her breasts and down her belly. "And it only gets more exciting," he said as his fingers neared her sex.

His fingers never reached their target, as both of them bolted upright at the sudden blaring of the security alarm. "Damn it," Anthony snarled as he leapt from the bed and ran out the door. Of all nights for someone to break into the building! This probably wasn't a coincidence. Someone may have been coming for her. Or more likely, someone was coming for the sacrifice the Blood Squad had brought back. Electra said the plan was to take a hunter, after all.

He hurried to the monitor room where the Blood Squad was rushing also, and arrived to find Electra already there, her eyes focused on one monitor in particular. Three men, probably hunters by the look of them, were standing in the main elevator. "My, my, my," Electra was musing. "You never cease to surprise me, my precious." With that she opened the plastic cover on a failsafe button and punched it, bringing that elevator to a screeching halt. The three hunters reacted instantaneously, looking around attempting to figure out what happened.

"That will delay them for a while," Electra said, before turning around. "But only for a while. We still have three hours before the ritual must begin. Jackie! Chill! Shao Li! Make sure they don't reach the penthouse in that time. I must continue making the preparations, and the ritual must not be interrupted. But remember this: you may dispose of the underlings however you please, but if one hair on Dorian Steel's head is harmed, you will answer to me." Anthony could hear blood dripping from Electra's voice when she said that. "Now go!"

They responded instantly, rushing out of the room to fulfill her command. "Come, Anthony," she said. "We must ensure that everything is ready on time."

"Electra, if it's alright, I'd rather check on Elizabeth."

Anthony had seen her give him some nasty looks before, but it never got any easier to see her whirl on him the way she did now. "Do not make me repeat myself!" she snapped. "Your sister is not going anywhere! You will assist me in making the preparations, and I will hear no more words to the contrary! Now come!"

He was thankful her back was turned when she strode out of the room, so she couldn't see him snarl behind her back. If only obtaining power didn't mean having to put up with Electra's inherent bitchiness. This is for Elizabeth, he reminded himself. It's not for the bitch queen. Maybe when we finally have the power she promises, I'll be able to get rid of her.

***

It took Dorian and Andy a while to get the elevator doors opened, and then there was only a thin gap at the top of the elevator doorway that they had to climb through. It was a pretty tight squeeze, and Ethan had to be helped through last, and not without straining his broken arm.

But at last they were out of that elevator and on the floor, and they turned around—to be greeted by the barrels of Jackie's guns and the tip of Shao Li's sword, with Big Chill cracking his huge knuckles behind them. "Don't move," Jackie warned.

"This feels familiar," Andy said. "Haven't we already done this tonight?" The flat of Shao Li's blade pressed onto the underside of Andy's chin, the tip pointed straight at his jugular.

Dorian attempted to stealthily direct his hand towards his gun, but the motion was quickly spotted. Big Chill stepped forward and extended one massive paw that grabbed Dorian by the shirt collar and lifted him off the ground. "Wouldn't do that, wonder boy," the giant brute said. "I don't know why, but Electra wants you in one undamaged piece, but she didn't say dick about your buddies there. So I suggest you be a good boy and don't move, or Jackie's gonna give your boys some blowholes to breathe through when we toss 'em in the river!"

Powerless, Dorian compliantly didn't resist as Chill turned and began carrying him somewhere else—but the big lug only took four steps before he stopped suddenly, releasing his grip and dropping Dorian on the floor. Dorian was baffled at first, but then he spotted the bloodied arrowhead jutting out from Chill's chest, where it had pierced his heart.

"Dude, that ain't right," were the brute's last words. Dorian narrowly avoiding being pinned under the monstrous body when it fell.

All eyes turned down the hall where the arrow had come, only getting a brief glimpse of the figure before she dashed away. But Dorian didn't need to see her to know who it was. It only took one look to identify one of Kaeli's arrows.

Jackie fired off a few shots in her direction before Kaeli disappeared around the corner. Shao Li took off running after her, but only made it halfway down the hall before turning to use her sword to deflect the knife Andy threw. Jackie whirled on Andy, about to pump him full of holes until Ethan whipped out his own gun and fired off. Jackie tried to evade, but took one bullet to the shoulder. A gun dropped from one hand that flew to her wound. When she tried to raise her other gun she convulsed and stiffened. "Mercury bullets?" she grunted.

"Bet that regenerative factor of yours don't like that, does it?" Ethan said.

Jackie again tried to raise her remaining gun, but was too slow to avoid Andy's knife flying to her heart.

Even as Jackie collapsed, Shao Li leapt into the fray, preparing to attack, but was left to bring her sword up to deflect the bullet that Dorian fired. She landed on her feet, keeping her blade whirling around her, warding off any approach and deflecting every bullet or knife that came at her. Just as Dorian was cocking his 12-guage, he felt a whoosh go by his ear. Shao Li spun to cut down the arrow that came flying at her—and Dorian seized the split-second opening to fire his shotgun. 

Dorian marched towards where the blood-covered Shao Li lay writhing on the floor, drawing an iron stake. He stood over her, kicked her sword away and planted a foot on her wrist. "I'll be sending your boss to join you soon," he said before plunging the stake in her heart.

The three men looked about at the scene around them. Electra's feared Blood Squad lay dead at their feet, but the only things they were really looking at were the arrow embedded in Big Chill's back and the broken one next to Shao Li. "Kaeli!" Andy called down the hall. "Where are you? We know you're here!"

"She's not gonna come out of hiding that easily," Dorian said. "We trained her better than that. Anyway, we're here for Electra. We gotta get moving."

"Well I'd say the elevator's not an option anymore," Ethan grunted. "Who's up for taking the stairs?"

***

Elizabeth waited. For hours she sat in that room with nothing to do but wait. She tried sleeping; she lay on the bed for a long while with her eyes closed, but too many questions and fears kept her awake all night. There wasn't a clock in the room, but eventually Elizabeth began to sense that dawn was approaching.

Finally the door opened and Anthony stepped inside. "We're ready," he said.

"Ready for what?"

"You don't have anything to be afraid of, sis. We're not going to hurt you. I promise this will be the best thing that's ever happened to you." He gently took her arm and lifted her from the bed to her feet, and guided her out of the room.

He brought her out onto a landing and down a set of stairs into a massive room lined with glass and metallic decorations and polished wood floors, plus rows of skylights that were currently covered by aluminum shutters. On the floor in the middle of the room was a large white circle dotted at evenly spaced points with fourteen unlit candles on four-foot stands, with straight lines within the circle connecting every candle to every other, with a smaller circle in the middle. Electra stood patiently waiting off to the side.

"Come," Electra said, motioning toward the circle. "Stand in the center."

"What's supposed to happen here?"

"I told you what my significance is," Anthony said. "We're going to see to it that you can share in that glory."

"You will be granted the power of the Old Ones," Electra said, "just as your brother has. Power befitting the future vampire princess. Now come."

Anthony bent close to her ear and whispered, "Just trust me. When we have the throne, we won't need her anymore."

Hesitantly, at Anthony's beckoning, Elizabeth stepped forward, into the circle, coming to stop at the center within the smaller circle. She looked towards Electra, anxiously waiting to see what she would do, in spite of the nagging fear that she should be anywhere but here.

"Anthony?" Electra said, communicating some unspoken signal that Elizabeth wasn't privy to. To Elizabeth's great dismay, Anthony turned and walked out, leaving her alone with Electra. "Now then, shall we begin?"

Going to a small table off to the side, Electra struck a match and lit the end of a long candle-lighter. She shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. "I invoke the power of the Dark, in the name of the Black Church and by the souls of the Old Ones!" She began moving around the circle, lighting each candle, and for each candle she intoned a name. "Rogen... Valek... Jeradin... Mannorok... Tyrannis... Sidian... Dmitrius... Traxil... Beodrell... Marcolio Jonarti... Esmerus... Zoran... Memnon... Dracula." Then she put out the candle-lighter, shut her eyes, spread her arms and shouted to the air, "Foldein escelei!"

The flames of the candles suddenly turned black, and a strange black and purple sort of glow ran from each of them along the lines on the floor to all the others, coming together at the center where Elizabeth stood and engulfing the center circle around her. The dark light shot up from the circle to gather above her head, and the black flames flew off the candles to join with the light, forming a strange dark blob floating above her.

While Elizabeth stood gaping at what was happening, Electra called, "Bring in the sacrament!"

Anthony returned, pushing a human along in front of him. The hapless figure walked with his head down and his hands tied behind him. He looked like he'd been beaten, he wore no shirt, and a circle with a pattern very similar to the one Elizabeth stood on had been painted on his chest in blood. Elizabeth's anxiety quickly began turning to horror, which mounted as he was brought closer to her and she realized who he was. She kept praying she was wrong, that her senses were confused, right up to the point when Anthony pushed the figure to his knees in front of her.

"Drink," Electra commanded. "Take his blood to complete the ritual."

The human kneeling before her looked up, making her heart freeze. "Tyler?"

"Elizabeth?"

She knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder and taking his hand in the other, looking into his badly worked-over face. "Oh my god, what did they do to you?"

"What are you doing?" Electra snapped. "Drink!"

Anthony stood over them, studiously examining Tyler. "Wait a minute, I recognize him now. She was with him last night before I picked her up. Seems she has a bit more in common with you than we thought," he said to Electra.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean you're not the only one with their eyes on a human."

Electra snarled, and marched into the circle, shoving Anthony aside. She threw a quick swipe with her claws to Tyler's cheek. He jerked his head and grunted, putting the bloody scratches on his face right in front of Elizabeth's eyes. "You may find another human to toy with after we finish here," Electra barked. "For right now, be what you are! You see his blood. You want it, don't you?"

Elizabeth stared at the blood in front of her. As much as it horrified her, the smell of his blood was exciting her. She could feel her fangs stirring—and Tyler was seeing it, too. "Elizabeth?"

"Please, don't make me... not Tyler!"

"DRIIIIIINK!"

Elizabeth looked at Tyler, feeling a tear on her face, and gently ran a loving hand along the side of his. Biting her lip, she stood up and gave Electra a defiant stare. Electra's snarl deepened, and Elizabeth was sent reeling to the floor by a fierce backhand. "I do not wish to be disappointed again!" Electra spat. "Do not force to deal with you the way I did with Annabelle!"

A chill ran through Elizabeth, and she looked up at her. "What do you mean? What did you do with her?"

"Last night, while Anthony was collecting you, I paid a little visit to your erstwhile mentor to explain that she wouldn't be seeing you anymore. She proved... disagreeable. I decided she was going to become merely a bothersome fly. So I swatted that fly."

Elizabeth fell onto her hands and knees, gasping for breath. "No... no!"

Electra pulled her up by the back of her dress and threw her on her knees in front of Tyler. "Now DRINK!"

"Just do it, Elizabeth!" Anthony said. "I made you a vampire so you could rule the rest of them with me. Is this human really worth giving that up?"

"I never wanted that! And I won't hurt Tyler for it!"

"I should have known!" Electra growled. "Too much time with Annabelle has taken its toll. You're worthless!" As soon as the last word was uttered, Elizabeth heard the sound of a metal blade being drawn, and looked up to see Electra standing over her with a sword in hand.

"Electra, no!" Anthony shouted.

"Electra!" shouted another voice, one that tore Electra's attention completely away. Standing in the open doorway at the front of the room were three men loaded with weapons. Elizabeth instantly recognized the leader as the scary man from last night, who raised a loaded crossbow pointed at Electra. "Let's finish it!" he said.

***

Kaeli leaned her head around the doorframe, carefully peering inside while exercising all her training to stay out of sight. Electra responded to Dorian's declaration with a sweet-sounding, "My Dorian! I'll be with you in a moment, my love. First I must finish my business here." Electra's attention turned back down to the girl and boy at her feet—

That's Elizabeth! What's she doing here?

"Well settle this now!" Dorian barked. "You and me!"

Electra groaned. "Fine then. Let's settle it. Anthony, if you would?"

The darkly handsome man at her side flickered in the team's direction, and extended his arms, throwing forth what looked like a pair of giant hands made out of shadow and fog. Dorian ducked and rolled under the dark hands that pinned Ethan and Andy to the wall, but before he had a chance to get up off the floor, Electra was standing over him with her sword pointed at him, and kicked his crossbow away.

"I thought we understood each other by now," Electra hissed. "You can't fight me!"

Now!

It took Kaeli less than a second to draw an arrow and take aim. She let her arrow fly straight for Electra's heart, but it passed through thin air and pierced only an electronic box on the far wall. There were a few sparks and a mechanical whirring noise, and the aluminum shutters covering the skylights began drawing back, unveiling the dull blue glow of the predawn sky. Before she could make another move, Kaeli felt the flat of Electra's blade on her shoulder with the edge against her neck.

"Kaeli?" Elizabeth said, looking up from the boy in front of her.

"I remember you," Electra said. "I saw you in my club and outside Annabelle's mansion. And if I'm not terribly mistaken, you were watching me and Dorian tonight. Enjoy the show?"

Kaeli's response was to swiftly duck under the blade and draw an iron stake that she prepared to attack with as she turned and rose up, but Electra interrupted the move by clamping a hand onto her throat and lifting her from the floor, causing her to drop the stake. "And look at you now," Electra continued, carrying her by the throat into the large room. "A hunter become a Child of the Dark. How intriguing. I could use skills like yours. Interested?"

"Eat shit, superbitch!" Kaeli grunted, and spit in Electra's eye.

Electra glared at her through one eye, and threw her to the floor, wiping her eye. "I expected as much. Such a pity." She raised her sword, pointing it down at her, and advanced. "You may die a hunter, then."