Blood Harvest (17 page)

Alex sighed. “Did he even have a chance?”

“His well being was never of any real interest to me. My only priority was the collection of the tissue I needed in order get the information required.” Dr. Whelan frowned at Alex. “Most, if not all, of the great breakthroughs in medical science have always had a particularly nasty, yet necessary, dark side to them. Now is not the time to get squeamish Mr. Daniels.”

Alex suppressed a chill traveling through him at the coldness in the doctor’s tone of voice. He changed the subject. “So how could he have been shielded?”

“We’re working on that, but I would surmise there was a private area cut off from the rest of the nightclub, despite all of the plans and schematics we looked at prior to running the test.”

“But we don’t know, do we?”

“No, the police were alerted too quickly for me to properly search the entire club after I dropped Devereaux with the mobile device. Perhaps after things calm down a bit more we can use the cover story Kunnert put together to get another look inside the club.”

Alex nodded. “Good idea. I think I’ll have him get on that as soon as you all return from this second test of yours.”

Dr. Whelan smiled. “All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go.”

Then he started singing in one of the worst Elvis impersonations Alex had ever heard.

“Viva, Las Vegas…Viva, Las Vegas… Viva… VIVA… LAS VEGAS!!!”

Chapter 18

“Hey! Oh my goodness. Who the hell is that?” Chris bounced in his seat with excitement as he spoke.

Steve’s head whiplashed back to the street to see a woman, deliberately avoiding the direct beams of streetlamp light, walking alone down the opposite side of the street. Her back was already to the H2 as she moved away from where they were parked. Long, luxurious raven hair reflected an almost metallic sheen as ambient light flashed across her mane.

Initially, Steve felt a surge of panic, but as the woman passed under a streetlight he realized it wasn’t Lei.

Chris was excited at the enticing garb the prostitute was wearing. His mood instantly changed for the better. “Damn, I need to do more ride-alongs with you!”

Steve chuckled, “Still thinking with that part of your anatomy are you?”

“Well c’mon bud, you know I spend most of my nights looking at…Uh, oh.” Chris sounded suddenly alarmed.

“What?”

“Look a little further down the street.”

Steve turned to scan the darkness and saw them immediately. Two young men were cruising right for her and, from the look of their gait they were clearly hopped up on some kind of pharmaceutical.

The woman had noticed them and initially moved into the shadows in an attempt to keep from being seen. Too late she realized the men had already seen her and were now changing their course to move where she was hiding.

Steve killed the interior light of the H2 and opened the door. He could immediately hear the three separate voices speaking anxiously. Realizing the scene was going to turn violent, Steve drew his weapon and exited the H2.

Before he could take a step, Steve recoiled from a sudden ear-splitting scream. He spun around just in time to see the two men dragging the woman into an alleyway between
The Inferno
and the neighbor building. The woman was fighting them. Kicking, screaming and slashing with long fingernails, she desperately tried to escape their hold on her. She connected with her nail weaponry across the left cheek of one of her assailants. This small triumph was rewarded with a hard right cross to her jaw. Her body went slack as she moaned from the blow to her face. Steve was running full speed toward the commotion as the three disappeared around the corner and into the shadows of the alley.

“Freeze, Police!” Steve shouted toward the darkness. No response came from the void.

He rounded the corner to find one of the two men lying in a heap on the ground with his neck displaying an unnatural angle. Steve cautiously approached the body and immediately knew something was terribly wrong. He knelt to check for a pulse at the neck. The slightest touch to the neck caused the head to roll back and away. The man’s neck had been fatally broken. Steve aimed the weapon in front of him as he moved further into the alley.

The alley split into two possible outlets, both leading back to a street. Steve noticed a door in the brick wall to his right standing slightly ajar. He squinted into the darkness but could not see any evidence of anyone moving. Deciding the remaining man must have been looking for a private place to take the woman, Steve reached for the door.

Steve jumped as Chris slid to a stop next to him with a completely uncoordinated flailing of hands, arms and shotgun. To his credit, Chris kept his graceless dance quiet as he read Steve’s body language about the door. Chris stood to one side of the door with his back to the wall and readied himself as Steve again reached for the doorknob.

Swinging the door open quickly each man took his position, weapons aimed, and moved through the door. The room was a large empty warehouse with no visible hiding spaces. Still, the darkness could be enough to conceal two people, especially if one was unconscious. Steve and Chris moved carefully though the facility. Finding a staircase on the far side of the room the two men completed their cursory search of the warehouse and moved up the stairs to the next level. This floor was almost identical to the first floor; however, there was a great deal more ambient light illumination as a result of several large windows facing the street at the far end of the warehouse. The extra light made the reconnaissance of the room instantaneous with the end result revealing no woman or second assailant. Chris moved to the windows and scanned the street below.

“Over here!” Chris called out.

Steve ran to the windows and looked down to the street. At the mouth of the alley the second assailant stood in a fighting stance. The woman he and his partner had accosted was leaning against the alley wall, clearly terrified yet none the worse for wear. The man was circling someone else who was out of sight from the window. Judging from his footwork, he had spent a good deal of time inside a boxing ring. The man was about six feet tall, probably two hundred pounds, apparently in excellent shape. He lunged forward toward the unseen individual and immediately staggered backward as if he had been hit with a jolting punch. He regained his composure as he moved back from the alley and further into view, again staring at whomever he was fighting.

Steve’s breath caught as he felt something tug at his insides. He wanted to burst through the glass and jump the distance to the street below. Fortunately, his mind and body didn’t function as a whole; he instead leaned against the wall to one side of the window.

It was then Steve could see Lei confidently walk into view. She was wearing a schoolgirl outfit complete with white-buttoned shirt, unbuttoned to expose her overly ample cleavage, and an extra short plaid skirt. Her incredibly long hair was actually in pigtails, bound by bright red elastic scrunchies. She skipped forward in white knee high stockings and patent leather loafers. Placing her arms behind her back and grabbing her wrists, she leaned forward toward the man and said something. Steve and Chris couldn’t hear what she was saying but it incensed the man who lunged for her again. Lei casually reached for the man’s striking arm and grabbed him by the wrist. With ridiculous ease she twisted and launched the man against the near alley wall where he struck with such impact his body bounced nearly five feet as he landed in an unconscious heap.

Both women stared at the unconscious body for a few seconds then looked at each other. Lei moved to where the woman was standing against the far wall and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. From their vantage point, Steve and Chris saw the woman begin to speak to Lei in what looked like a relieved string of “thank yous.”

To his utter amazement Steve heard the words the woman spoke in his head as clearly as if he had been standing next to her.” I don’t know how you did that, but I really don’t care.”

Lei nodded and caressed the woman’s cheek. The woman tried to look back to the motionless man lying less than ten feet from them, but Lei’s hand gently guided the woman’s face back to hers as they locked eyes. Moving closer to the woman, Lei pressed her body up against the woman who looked initially as if she was going to panic and push her away.

"What are you…?”

Lei locked eyes with the woman as she took hold of the woman’s wrists and raised her arms above her head, pinning her to the alley wall. She kissed the woman fully on the lips in one strong, sensual motion. She heavily mashed her perfectly enhanced breasts into the woman’s own natural bosom.

“You were looking for me weren’t you?” Lei whispered into the woman’s ear. “Well here I am.”

“Wait. I’m not, I mean…I don’t…I’ve never…” The woman’s voice trailed off into heavy short breaths. The startled woman didn’t resist, but was clearly overwhelmed by what was happening.

So were Steve and Chris.

“Uh, wow,” was all Chris could manage to say as he watched through the glass in disbelief.

Steve could only mutter under his breath, as he had to use all of his will power to keep his own body under control. “Damn it Lei, don’t you do it!”

Neither woman broke eye contact as Steve began to feel an irresistible pull at his core. Now he could feel the woman’s body against his as if he were the one on the street below moving against her. He knew there was no logical way to hear what was going on beneath them, but the words were clearly audible to his ears.

Lei straddled one of the woman’s legs and with incredible control, began to almost imperceptibly gyrate her entire body against the unbelieving woman who appeared to become more enthralled with each passing moment.

Letting go of the woman’s wrists Lei stroked the back of the woman’s neck with her left hand and gently traced her fingertips down the bare flesh of the woman’s left arm. The caress continued over the woman’s shoulder, neck, sternum, left breast, flank, and finally came to rest in a grip around her left hip.

The woman, who hadn’t dropped her arms as they were released, closed her eyes and began to move with the gyrations of her savior. Steve could feel the woman’s body trembling with never before known excitement as her inhibitions eroded under Lei’s ministrations. With a sudden, assertive, yet gentle manipulation, Lei raised the soft part of her thigh up, between and across the woman’s pubic area. Electricity shot through the woman as her hands shook uncontrollably with the combination of ecstasy and uncertainty. Releasing a hot breath across the tender skin of the woman’s neck, Lei teased at her flesh with gentle neck kisses and slight tongue licks. Finally unable to keep herself in check the woman surrendered as her hands dropped down the Lei’s back then disappeared under the short schoolgirl skirt. Moaning aloud and totally lost in the enthrall, the woman held tightly to her hero as the intensity of what was happening threatened to send her into unconsciousness.

“No.” Steve said, but the words came out hoarse, little more than a whisper as he “felt” the small intense contractions of the woman’s torso against his own hip and abdomen. He sensed the intensity building within the woman, an intensity which felt like a rise in energy from the woman’s core, soon to be discharge in a physical explosion which should not have been possible. Steve turned away from the window as the sensations became too strong. Averting his eyes however, did not diminish his connection to what was going on.

Steve turned his gaze to Chris who was lost in the site of the whole spectacle. He looked as if he was excited, ashamed and completely unnerved all at once. Steve turned back to the scene on the street to find Lei in complete control of the woman’s body. She held one of the woman’s legs aloft from the underside of the knee, while the other leg swung limply across the pavement, supporting no weight. The woman was moaning so loudly a minute amount of noise could be heard through the glass, although Steve heard everything with a clarity akin to having the woman screaming in his ears.

Then a sound as eerie as Steve had ever heard drowned out all other sounds and commanded his attention. It came on subtly at first, but grew in intensity until it was all Steve could concentrate on.

A heartbeat.

“Oh God! Lei stop!” Steve actually managed to get the words out and it broke the spell Chris had been in.

Chris turned away from the window, “Steve?!? What’s wrong?” Steve couldn’t hear his friend any longer as his ears were filled with the deep and resonant thrum of the woman’s heartbeat increasing in speed with each moment. Steve placed his hand on the wall for support. He wanted to move away from the window despite his last failed attempt to sever any connection to what was taking place on the street below.

The woman was tearing at her own clothes, desperately wanting to feel her champion’s soft skin against her own. She wanted to kiss the mouth so perfectly sending electric impulses down from her neck into the very center of her being. She wanted so much to be a part of what was happening except most of her strength was gone. All she could do was hang on.

The woman sensed it happening, the building intensity she had only experienced in a similar but wholly different way before. Her face began to flush and her legs began to vibrate as she pulled her rescuer tighter into her body. Lei began to gently bite at the flesh of her neck increasing the eroticism of the moment. Each small, tantalizing nibble sent tidal waves of pleasure into the woman. Lei bit down only slightly harder and the woman had to concentrate to keep breathing. Reaching up with her right arm the woman grabbed a handful of hair near the back of Lei’s head and forced that amazing mouth down hard on her neck with all of the strength she had left in her.