Black Heart: Wild On (22 page)

            "Back off, Valerie!" Jeff cried.

            My gamble was paying off. I thought Jeff liked Valerie too much to hurt or kill her. Anyone else, and he would just slaughtered her within the first seconds of her attack. But his desire to keep her alive and unhurt gave me the seconds I needed.

            Racing to Gabe, I scooped him up and tossed him over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. He moaned and groaned, but stayed still. At least he was coherent enough to know I was the good guy.

            "I don't think so," Ben growled, jumping in front of the stairs.

            I cut left and reached the table before he realized what I wanted. Snatching up Gabe's Glock I turned on Ben and started shooting. He howled with pain. Again. Ben was the only vampire I knew who reacted so profoundly to pain. Didn't he ever get in to a knockdown, drag out fight with another vampire before then?

            "I'm going to
kill
that bitch!" Valerie cried.

            "Oops," I said. Jeff must've caught her eyes. Now no one was blocking for me. Turning the pistol on them, "Ciao, baby."

            Pulling the trigger as fast as I could, which was damn fast, I ran to the stairs. The slider locked back just before I reached them, and I threw the pistol at Ben and headed up. I took the steps three and four at a time, and burst out the top into the short hallway.

            "Shit!" I cried.

            Bouncers were racing towards me. They were already within the short corridor. So I turned into the bedroom and slammed the door. I locked it, and overturned the chest of drawers in front of it. Then I looked around.

            "Damn, Sabe, you fucked up," Gabe whispered.

            "Not the first time," I said.

            "I hope not the last, either," he said.

            "Ha! I ought to bite you on the ass," I said.

            "Oh, that's the only part of me that doesn't hurt right now," Gabe said. I tossed him on the bed. "Whoa!"

            "Wait a second," I said, and eyeballed the wall. The music was coming through loudly. I kicked out, and my foot penetrated the sheet rock. Three more kicks, and I thrust my head through and looked down. Dance floor! The middle level was hidden from view beneath me, but I could see the dance floor, VIP Lounge and long bar. "Bingo."

            Using the only straight-back chair in the room, I quickly cleared the sheetrock between two wall studs. Enough to squeeze through with Gabe. So I grabbed him and pushed through.

            "Oh shit! Sable!" Gabe cried, as we were suddenly freefalling.

            "Oh, shut it," I said, extending my wings and flapping frantically.

            Men and women screamed and scattered. I hit pretty hard, but kept my feet. Folding my wings back, I took off running for the door. Jeff shouted to stop us from the hole up above. People screamed and scattered behind me, and I heard his feet hit the floor.

            A couple bouncers moved to block my escape, and I thrust my wing spikes at them. That scattered them, and I raced out the door to more startled shouts and cries. I could hear Jeff just feet behind me.

            Planting my right foot, I spun around. Jeff cried out in triumph, and I brought my right wing spike around in a brutal right cross. That spike drove straight into his temple, coming out the other side of his head. I kept spinning, and
threw
him across the street. And I was running again.

            Within a dozen feet I was off the ground and winging it hard. Heading north. Heading for Kale's house and safety.

Chapter 14

            "You can't go to Wild On tonight. It's too dangerous. Everyone on the council will be there," Desiree said. She stood before me, wringing her hands and fidgeting in helpless fear. "Including Jeff Howell."

            "It probably wouldn't be prudent," Gabe said. He was on the couch and grinning at me. "So I want to go."

            I sat beside him on the couch, between him and Heidi, tying my running shoes. I was wearing faded black jeans, running shoes, and a red Metallica t-shirt. What I wore wasn't important, since it would all come off soon after arriving.

            "I bet you do," I said, stroking his bearded cheek. We shared a smile. "You're even dumber than me."

            "It's a gift."

            "You're both out of your minds," Desiree said. "Don't you understand, Sable? Council wants you under heel, or dead. You refuse to submit, and are proving too powerful to subjugate. That only leaves dead."

            I wasn't feeling particularly powerful after the previous night's setback. I preferred "setback" to the more obvious and painful "defeat" and "capture" by mere mortals. It just proved to me I had to stay focused. If I'm the least bit distracted — BAM. Slap down. I had to be more careful.

            "They won't do anything at the Wild On," I said. "Henri and the other Trudeaus will be there, too. I'm pretty sure he won't let them do anything too dastardly to me."

            "Too dastardly?" Dane said. They were the first words he'd spoken since learning of my and Gabe's near miss the night before. "What's that supposed to mean?"

            "Well, he's a vampire, so I'm sure he wouldn't be bothered if they tied me up, bent me over a stump, and ran a train on my ass all night," I said. I shrugged, smiling weakly. "He'd probably be first in line, too."

            Dane grunted, a pained look screwing up his face. He really didn't like it when I was so sexually graphic, and brutally honest.

            "Sounds like Saturday night in vampire world," Heidi said. "If it wasn't held outside, in the dirt, I'd go. I'm not a fuck-me-in-the-dirt kind of girl."

            Heidi had grown her hair out since last I'd seen her. Her shoulder length hair was now down to the small of her back, and looking gorgeous. All wavy and shiny blonde.

            Heidi obviously had plans to go out partying, wearing a silvery top that left nothing to the imagination, white mini skirt, and matching thigh boots. Gabe could barely pull his eyes away from her to speak with me. Even my little sister was staring in awe.

            "Good, you can stay here and make sure Gabe stays out of trouble. He is not allowed to leave the house. Understand?" I said, my eyes boring into Heidi's. Her big blue eyes widened and she nodded. I had power over her since I Changed her. Heidi had no choice but to obey. "He's crazy enough to go after Ben while I'm at Wild On, and I won't allow it. Besides, he's supposed to be on the computer doing research for me." I gave him a questioning look. "I don't know why he hasn't started yet."

            "Hey, I've started. I'm on dinner break," Gabe said. "But don't you think I could serve you better at the Wild On? I mean, shouldn't you take your very own werewolf to the werewolf party?"

            "No, I don't," I said. "You're even more unpopular among the wolves that I am among vamps."

            That was just token resistance from Gabe. He was aroused by Heidi, and wanted to stay with her. Heidi knew it as well as I did, and was getting a little excited herself. She really couldn't help it.

            "I'll help Heidi," Desiree said. "I was invited to the Wild On, but I won't go anywhere Antoinette is at. She scares me."

            Good. I didn't want any of the mortals there except Dane. Dane had proven himself at the Trudeau Wild On that past Monday night. He had come through unscathed, as did Gabe. Of course, Mercedes claimed Dane and never let anyone else have a taste. Gabe made out with a dozen women, and loved it. He didn't care if the women were mortals, werewolves, or vampires, just that they were wild and willing.

            "So, it's just you, me, and Dane, huh?" Sabrina said.

            Little sister was wearing what she assumed was Wild On party attire: tight jeans under black thigh boots, silky camisole top, and black leather jacket. Way off. With all the rains we'd had of late, the ground was too soft to walk in high heels, especially for a mere mortal. Second off, it was supposed to get down to around thirty-five that night, and was already forty-two outside. The clouds would keep the temperature from plunging too deep. In a word, Sabrina would freeze to death.

            "No. It'll be me and Dane," I said. "You can't go."

Sabrina was instantly on her feet and in my face.

            "Why not? I'm part of the team. You said so," she said. "If I can't participate, then I'm not really part of the team."

            "There are some things mortals shouldn't do," I said. "One of them, and it's at the top of the list, is go to a Wild On."

            "Dane's going."

            "He's a dhampir, so he can give as good as they can dish out," I said. My sister slanted a curious look at him. Like most, she had a hard time wrapping her mind around the very idea of a dhampir. "Sabrina, a Wild On is run by werewolves. It starts out as a hunt, then turns into a massive orgy. You'd be passed around by vampires and werewolves until sunrise. Their bodies can handle that much sex, but yours cannot. They could easily kill you, and since you are my sister, they might just do it for the fun of it."

            The blood drained from Sabrina's face. Being raped to death was as horrible a death as can be imagined. For a second I feared Desiree or Heidi would pipe in that vampires could heal her as they went, so she could last just as long as the undead. But for once they thought it out before they put in their two-cents'-worth. Praise the Lord.

            "Fine," Sabrina said. "I'll stay here. Where's Kale?"

            She would ask for Kale. Since meeting him, she'd taken to him. Kale had it pretty good, getting copious amounts of sex from me, Heidi, Desiree, and Sabrina. But since Christmas he seemed to spend more and more time away from the house. I knew where he was at those times, since I had a link with him. But I think working on his two project houses was becoming a way to avoid us.

            I didn't blame Kale. He was in it for the sex. Kale was up front about that. He would help in the more violent aspects of my life if necessary, but didn't like it. Not anymore. I think Christmas with his kids reminded him how much he had to lose. That was the main reason I engaged the services of a realtor, not that I've had time to go look at many houses since Timmy disappeared.

            "He's working on the house over by White Rock," Desiree said. "I think it's almost done, and he's getting it ready to sell."

            "Great, three horny girls and only Gabe," Sabrina said. She caught and held Desiree's eyes a long, sizzling second. I felt both of their libidos spike. "Looks like it's going to be a lot of girl-on-girl tonight, but then that really turns Gabe on."

            "Uggh," I grunted, grimacing. I still didn't like thinking about how wanton my little sister was, and had been before joining my vamp family. She was as oversexed and kinky as they came. "Well. Y'all have fun."

            "We will," Gabe said, grinning.

            "It'd be better if we had more boys," Heidi said. "Then we could rotate around the room. Group sex is the best."

            I looked at Dane, who was gawking at Heidi. She was his girlfriend after me. My and Heidi's hunger for more and more sex bothered him more than he liked to admit. We kept our raging blood thirst better hidden, not wanting to frighten the vulnerable mortals.

            Heidi, in her never ending quest to make Dane either horny or jealous, leaned over and started kissing Gabe. Dane reacted instantly, his heart racing and jealously erupting. All the rest of us just got super horny, since Heidi was flooding the air with vamp pheromones.

            Sabrina was sitting on the other side of Gabe, and she leaned over and started kissing, licking, and nibbling on his ear. I watched as her hand dropped down and unzipped his jeans. Gabe was pulling off Heidi's top and Desiree was getting out of her clothes as quickly as possible.

            "Let's go, Dane," I said, spinning on a heel and heading for the door.

            "Are all three of them really going to take turns with Gabe?" Dane said, joining me outside. The cold air was clear of vamp pheromones, and quiet refreshing. "Or is Heidi trying to get under my skin again."

            "Yes and yes," I said. "Heidi is a world-class tease. And they are all going to have sex with Gabe, over and over." I shook my head, throat tight with desire. "Boy on girl. Girl on boy. Girl on girl. They'll do it all."

            "Damn," he said.

            "I know, you got stuck with the sucky job going with me," I said. I started digging in my purse for the keys. I found a half-empty bag of plain M&Ms, and became distracted. I popped three into my mouth and crunched them loudly. Mmm, chocolate. "Sorry."

            "I'd rather go with you," he said. "But still. Do vampires and the people that hang around them think of anything but having sex twenty-four seven?"

            "Not twenty-four seven, but it does kinda look like all we do is make love," I said.

            "Sex. That's not making love," Dane said. "Making love is what you and I did before..."

            "Yes, I remember it fondly," I said. "How I miss it."

            "You could ditch the vampire lifestyle, and you and I could run away together," he said.

            "I can't," I said, though the thought excited me.

            How I would love to go away with Dane, and live happily ever after. But there was no happy ever after for the undead. If I stopped hunting, I'd quickly become the prey. Of course, I was still prey to some. Council all considered me a threat and they were hunting me. Other vampire hunters outside my little cabal might also be hunting me.

            "Can't or won't?"

            "Both. It's complicated, and you know it."

            "Yeah," he said dejectedly. "Very complicated."

            "It'll get even more complicated if Mercedes sinks her fangs into you," I said. "She wants to take you away from me. She wants you for herself."