Crimson Dawn (17 page)

"His smell is wrong, Priest, the difference is slight, but it's there," I said, pausing long enough to scent the air and confirm that we were going in the right direction. "After spending time with Sophie this morning, I know what Gullah are supposed to smell like.”

I slowed down as we came upon an older section of town. The majestic houses had the look of the plantation homes of old, and they were nestled in groups of towering magnolia trees. The wrongness of Aurieux's scent hung so strongly in the air I felt as if it coated my tongue like a layer of slime. "He's close, Priest," I said as we came to a halt and looked around at the houses.

"Can you tell the difference now?" I asked as I noticed some had smaller cottages off behind them that looked far older than the main houses.

Priest nodded and looked around trying to pinpoint a source for the odor. "Yeah, I can tell now that we're knee-deep in the shit, but the scent is so strong, I can't follow any definite trail.”.

"There are only six houses on the entire street. We can search them all if we have to," I said. "We take them together, flash in and out. If we run into problems with the owners, I'll glamour them.” Priest agreed, and we headed for the first house on the long, palm-lined drive. We searched two homes in a manner of minutes, and the only thing we came up with was a demented Chihuahua that tried to hump Priest's leg with such vigor that I wouldn't be surprised if Priest birthed a litter of puppies in a few months.

When we got to the third house, we came up empty yet again, but this one had a cottage far off at the rear end of the property, so slipping into the densely packed foliage, and using the vegetation for cover, we made our way towards it. As soon as we got within twenty feet of the building, the front door opened with a bang and out strode Aurieux, full of confidence and completely nonplussed by the fact that two Vampires were bearing down on him with fury in their eyes.

Aurieux looked from Priest to me, and then decided to give me his full attention. "Ya'll aren’t welcome here. Best you get off my property," he said as two more men joined him.

I stepped forward relaxing my facial muscles and letting them return to normal while holding up my hand, so they could see my signet ring. "My name is Valeria Trumaine. I'm a Sentinel for the Charlotte, N.C. CMS. This is my partner, Jacob Priest. We need to speak with Eddie Aurieux."

Aurieux patted his chest as he spoke, "I'm Eddie Aurieux, what business ya'll got with me in Charlotte? I ain't been there since I was a young'un."

Priest shifted his foot to move forward, and Aurieux raised a hand, "Nah-uh, boy, just you stay right where you are. Come any closer and I'm gon' see exactly how resilient you Vampires really are."

"I haven't been a boy in over two hundred years, and I'd be careful if I were you. The right person hears what you just said to me, they might take that as a threat against an officer's life." Priest gave him a smile that was all fangs.

Aurieux smiled back, "I'm sure they would, 'cause 'das how I meant it." He motioned towards his two goons, "We don't recognize your laws, Vampire. So again, get off my property.” The air around us took on a metallic taste as it charged with Aurieux's energy.

I drew both my blades and fell back into a defensive position. "We didn't come here for a fight. We just need to ask you some questions. If you choose to pursue this route, I promise you, you will die tonight.” I heard the sound of Priests' two Ruger GP 100s as he slid them from their holsters.

Aurieux smiled, "What kinda question you got for me, woman, that brings you out to my house armed they way ya'll are."

"Questions about the company you've been keeping lately.” The air prickled my skin as I talked. Aurieux wasn't about to back down. Regrettably, I knew that this was going to end in violence, one way, or another.

"Why don't you just go ahead and say his name?" Aurieux taunted me. "We both know it's Tristan Meriwether you're here about."

A low growl escaped from Priest. "Well, since you know so damn much, why don't you tell us where we can find Tristan, and we'll be on our way?"

Aurieux laughed out loud this time. "Now why in the hell would I want to do that, huh? I'm sho' ya'll ain't here to chat with that 'ole boy, and I can't have him getting killed on me until the two of us finish what we started."

"The only thing Tristan is gonna help you with is meeting your maker a lot sooner than expected," I reasoned with him. I didn't want any more casualties while I was in Charleston. "Sophie said he promised you power. Don't you see you've got more power than he does already or he wouldn't need your help? Tristan is using you."

Aurieux frowned and looked back at one of his companions before turning to speak. "Sophie Blackmon had no right bringing ya'll into clan affairs, that girl has no business leading us, but everyone too afraid of her hag grandma, Belisare. I ain't afraid to do what needs to be done for the good of us all! Someone has to before them others run our clan into the ground."

Aurieux moved his hand ever so slightly. If my eyesight weren't as keen as it is, I would have missed it. The two men flanking him charged forward, one for each of us. Priest's revolvers sounded off, and the Gullah charging him fell backwards with two deep red rosettes of blood forming on his shirt. One wound was in his torso and the other directly over his heart. Both were kill shots. He should have been writhing on the ground in agony, but that wasn't the case. The man laughed and reached back over his head with both hands to propel himself upright again.

The goon that was bearing down on me drew two huge Bowies from sheaths strapped to his legs, and threw one directly at my head as he ran. I waited until the knife was inches away from me, then I deflected it with a kodachi, sending it flying into the trunk of a nearby tree. The advancing man let loose a booming yell, and lifting his remaining knife high into the air, prepared for a downward blow.

I tensed my muscles and got better grips on my blades, ready to counter his strike and deliver one of my own, but the strike never came,. At least not in the way I expected. The man actually ran behind me so fast that it resembled a flash and planted the 12-inch blade deep into the small of my back. My mind reeled as it tried to comprehend the mechanics behind a non-Vampire being able to flash. Tristan's blood should never have been able to give him that ability, but it had. I thought Tristan was the only one positioned to come out on top, but the Gullah had just as much to gain from the current arrangement as Tristan did, and they were fighting to hold onto it.

I yowled in pain and dropped to my knees, then I growled through clenched teeth, “I'm gonna take your head for that.” The blow wouldn't kill me, it would heal in a matter of minutes, but I had to get the blade out, it was in a bad place, and I couldn't afford to take my eyes off my opponent for even a fraction of a second.

The Gullah goon danced around me rolling his head around on his neck, like a prizefighter preparing to enter the ring. Then he backed up, squatted down to see my face and taunted, "Come on now, lil' lady, you come here talking all that shit and this best you can do?" Then the bastard got cocky, turned his head to look at Aurieux and laugh. Stupid move. I sprang forward, ignoring the pull of the knife in my back, with both of my arms extended. The blades of my kodachis moved through the muscles and bones of his neck like a hot knife through butter. His head hit the ground with a soft thump as I tucked my body into a ball and landed in a roll. As I rolled, I saw Priest with his face tucked firmly against his opponent's neck, taking blood as quickly as he could, replenishing what he'd lost in their fight.

As my momentum slowed down, I screamed with the pain. I'd felt the hilt of the knife break off with the force of my landing, and, with each turn my body made, the blade traveled farther into my flesh. When I finally stopped rolling, I lay spread eagle on the ground with the tip of the blade poking out of my stomach, and the hard sheath's of my kodachis pressing into my back adding to the discomfort. I looked up towards the stars, and Priest was peering down at my face. "How bad?" he asked. Priest’s eyes darted from me to Aurieux who slowly walked towards us.

"Hurts,” I said softly through clenched teeth, “But I'll do, just get the blade out now."

Priest didn't waste any time trying to prepare me for the serrated blade's exit through my stomach. He just got a grip and pulled in one swift movement. The instant the broken knife hit the ground, Priest was up and standing over my body, ready for a fight with Aurieux. "You can stop where you are, and we can take you into the CMS for interrogation, or I wax your ass up and down your own yard, and then we can take you in," he called out. "The choice is yours, Aurieux."

Aurieux stopped not five feet away from us and began yelling, "You come to my city and start stirring up shit. You come to my house and kill my brothers, then think to give me orders. Fuck you, dead man! The only thing you gonna do is die!"

Priest charged without hesitation. He slammed into an invisible brick wall that knocked him back a few feet. Priest growled, crouched down for a leap, and launched himself into the air in an attempt to try to scale the barrier in his way. I felt the rush of air and a light buzz pass across my skin as a spell slammed into Priest's body. He hit the ground like a sack of potatoes, and began writhing in pain. My body had already started to heal. The bleeding had stopped, and surface layers of skin had knitted back together, but full healing would take at least three more minutes. I was helpless. I focused my ears on the street behind us, and prayed I'd hear the squeal of tires that would signal Irulan's arrival, but I got nothing.

CHAPTER TWELVE

I turned my head towards Priest and saw him with his mouth gaped open in a soundless scream. His body was turning a deep shade of red and little wafts of pink tinged steam were escaping from his pores. "Oh, Jesus," I said with a panicked tone to my voice. I recognized the spell. The same one had killed Amanda Jones and the nurse yesterday, Soul Fire.

Aurieux was pacing back and forth at our feet. "Tristan told me to spare your life if you came calling at my door, woman, but after what you did, I just can’t do that.” He drew his leg back and landed a fierce kick to my ribs, then kicked my swords out of my immediate reach. The bones gave way and cracked under the impact, I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out.

"Your boy there gonna bake nice and slow like a damned potato, but you," He went down to his knees and tore my tattered shirt away from my body leaving me in my bra and sheaths. "You, I'm gonna have a little fun with, gonna see what kind of lay you are before I send you on to glory."

"Touch me and I promise you, instead of a quick and painless death, I'll make sure you die slowly and in excruciating pain," I said, with growing strength in my voice.

Aurieux humped his hips and palmed my left breast, "Making threats? You're in a bad position for threats. You think I don't see your body healing? I want you strong, wanna feel you bucking beneath me while I'm riding you, but don't let that fool you into thinking I can't handle myself against you. Just look at your friend over there.” I snarled and tried to rise, but I hit a wall of heat so intense it forced me back to the ground.

Aurieux jerked back and looked at me with a perplexed look plastered to his face. "You know, that spell was meant for the both of you. Don't know why you're not as bad off as your boy there.” He dipped his fingers under the edge of my bra and tweaked my nipple causing it to harden at the touch against my will. "But it don't make no never mind," Aurieux said. "This way works out better anyway."

I tried again to rise and escape from his touch, but the heat held me down just as securely as the right amount of iron chains could have. "Now, now there,” Aurieux crooned, "I'm about to join you, don't waste any energy that could be best spent one me, baby.” He dropped a quick kiss to the tip of my nose before he stood and began undressing. Articles of clothing began dropping to the ground, first a shirt, then a wife beater. One more minute, I had one more minute before I was fully healed. Hopefully, I was strong enough to break any hold he had on me. Once I did, I was gonna pull his heart from his chest with my bare hands. I looked over to Priest and saw that the same huge blisters as before, were covering his face and arms.

So much happened in so little time, my mind raced to figure out how far we had actually run and subtracted the fifteen minutes I'd guessed we'd been here from that. If Irulan didn't get here soon, Priest would die his final death. That was assuming the spell wasn't broken when I killed Aurieux.

The sound of Aurieux's belt unbuckling and the whir of his pants zipper drew my attention back to him. His pants and underwear soon joined the rest of his clothing and he dropped back to his knees, straddling me, his swollen erection coming to a rest against my thigh. I released a growl from the back of my throat as Aurieux leaned down and began kissing me on my neck. "When I'm done with you, you're gonna curse your mother for giving birth to your sorry ass!" I cried savagely.