Raven Walks (12 page)

Abi stifled her scream behind her mouth as
she jumped inside the door of the club. The Creature laughed at a
horrified Xavier and Damien before it disappeared into the sky.
Sebastian ran outside just as the Creature flew out of sight, and
caught a glimpse of what remained of his beloved Sonja.

With an anguished yowl he ran to where she
lay. His sobs rose from his body with centuries of anguish. Damien
and Xavier hung back, but Abi went to him. She knelt down and took
him into her arms and rocked him back and forth, saying nothing as
she did so.

Each of the witnesses understood the game had
now changed. No one was safe. Not vampire, not human. This beast
was out to punish them, one by one, by sending them to their final
judgment. There would be no coming back, as Sonja’s now decapitated
corpse attested.

Abi sank to her knees, helpless and
terrified. For a moment Sebastian had grown silent, his agony
reduced to a silent and bitter regret.

He looked at her and this time his eyes stole
nothing. They seemed hollow. His spirit as dead as the body it
inhabited. “Now you know,” he whispered.

“Know what?” she asked.

It had to be said, Sebastian thought. Raven
wanted it that way. And so, he thought with a sinking heart, would
Sonja. “The price you pay for courting a monster.”

In Abigail’s apartment, Damien glanced at the
different photos in funky frames along her bookcase. Normally he
didn’t really waste his time on humans, they came with too many
complications. He liked those who knew the score, of course –
donors who would haunt covens in the hopes of snaring immortality –
but he preferred those who already had the taste of death.

It was just easier that way.

But Abi was hard to resist. He had saved her
life, and in a way felt responsible for her. Since she made it
clear that she was determined to pursue her story on vampires
whether he was there or not, he figured that he might as well be
there for her.

“Ready to go?” she asked as she emerged from
the bedroom, dressed in black, dressed to kill.

If not him, he thought with a smile, then
whom?

Neither was aware that the lights of the club
were dim, the music silenced. Sebastian was so overwrought by what
had happened to Sonja that he shut the doors and sent everyone
away. He wanted to mourn in silence; the severity of what had
happened left no occasion for frivolity.

He sat in his quarters, dazed on wine and
pain, totally unaware that in the darkness of the building below
someone was on the hunt for clues to what had truly taken
place.

This stealth investigator made no noise.
Things were lifted and replaced as quietly as possible. Tiny clues
were pocketed and no stone was left unturned.

Lives – both human and reanimated – were on
the line.

So that was why, in the dark shadows of the
silent club, this hunter was determined to get to the bottom of
things, no matter the cost.

When a hand fell on her shoulder, she flung
around ready for a fight.

Constantine La Rouge stood before her,
dressed all in white as he was known to do. “Who are you?”

Gina Mandrake straightened her spine and
allowed her fists to fall to her side. She had long ago learned to
trust her instincts, and she knew in an instant this vampire meant
her no immediate harm. “Who wants to know?”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he advised in a low
tone, keeping an eye out for Sebastian.

Was that concern she saw on his face?
“Neither should you,” she pointed out.

He nodded, but didn’t look in any particular
hurry to leave, especially as he inspected her head to foot. Her
two toned hair was tied up in a ponytail, her clothes were dark and
hid her curves well, and dark glasses covered her eyes. “You a
cop?” he finally asked.

She had to chuckle to herself. “Not
officially,” she conceded at last. “Just... curious.”

“Curiosity killed the cat,” he said as he sat
up on a bar stool. “Or so they say.”

“Funny, I thought the only thing being killed
around here were vampires.”

His intense brown eyes met hers. “Why should
that matter to you? You’re not a vampire.”

She wrenched her eyes away from his stare.
“Minor detail,” she said as she continued her investigation, no
longer concerned he might impede her progress.

He watched her rifle through papers, quickly
and efficiently, like she’d done this sort of thing before. He
stared into her face wondering why she seemed so familiar.

“You don’t know me,” she said finally,
without turning to look his directly.

“What?”

“You’re wondering if we have ever met,” she
told him. “We haven’t.”

She was shrewd, he decided. A little too
shrewd. “What kind of human reads the thoughts of a vampire?” he
openly mused.

She glanced back up at him with an unreadable
expression. “The dangerous kind,” was her curt reply.

“Sounds interesting,” he responded as he
hopped down from the stool. She felt him approach her. “Perhaps we
can go somewhere a little more private and I can learn more.”

He reached out for her but she slid easily
out of reach. “What’s more private than an isolated club?”

“My room,” he said, his voice dripping over
her like silk.

“I’m not that kind of human,” she assured him
before she ducked behind the bar.

He chuckled as he leaned across the bar. “You
say that now. But you should know I’ve never met a human I couldn’t
turn.”

She had to smile as she leaned across the
bar, their faces a breath apart. “And you should know I’m not like
any human you’ve ever met.”

With that she touched his hand and he felt
her skin burn against his. He pulled away but did not show her how
much her contact had disturbed him. “Technically we haven’t met,”
he pointed out.

She considered that for a moment. He got the
feeling she calculated every move she made. But she didn’t look
away from him, even though he knew how powerful his gaze could be.
He liked that strength, even if he didn’t know what to do with the
unique chemistry she seemed to be made. It was almost as if she
were –

“Gina,” she finally purred. If he didn’t know
better he’d swear she had interrupted his thoughts on purpose. He
watched as she picked up some more paper from behind the bar and
then disappeared out of sight.

Across town the mood was somber in Lillith’s
club, where many new vampires had come seeking shelter from the
beast that had killed Sonja. One of those mourners was Raven Crowe,
who was eaten up with guilt that he hadn’t been there that night.
His skin was pale and gaunt from his unsatisfied hunger, but he
couldn’t seem to bring himself to feed. And no human was anywhere
in sight to donate to him that which he so desperately needed.

That was why he came to find Lillith. He
needed to feel the warmth of her generous curves under him while
the hot, sweet nectar of her veins restored him. Raven understood
more than anyone there was no time for self-pity.

Someone had declared war.

He tossed back a shot of hard whiskey, his
third, while he waited for her. At least he knew Abigail wouldn’t
be caught up in all this. It was cold comfort. She had haunted his
dreams and his fantasies since he had first seen her and now he’d
have to avoid her at all costs to keep her safe. If he had been a
lesser vampire he would have turned her for her own protection; but
as Sonja proved, even vampires weren’t safe now.

So it was just better he never saw her again,
he reminded himself again as he ordered another round. He normally
never drank, but these were desperate times. And he suddenly wanted
to feel numb, very numb.

As numb as he was, he couldn’t stop his heart
lurching into his throat when he caught sight of that familiar
copper hair. When her eyes met his they were defiant, but as much
as she meant them to be unafraid he could definitely see her
tremble.

Before he could wonder why she was there, he
caught sight of her date. Damien Cross.

Of course.

She was making her way through each and every
vampire. Why, he still didn’t know. But it didn’t matter. All that
mattered was getting her the fuck out of here.

Raven pushed away from the bar and stalked
over to where they stood. He didn’t even acknowledge Damien. “You
need to go home.” It wasn’t a request. It was an order.

“Hello to you too,” Damien quipped but
neither Abigail nor Raven acknowledged his presence.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she
told Raven.

“Someone needs to,” he responded. “Or didn’t
you hear there is a killer on the loose?”

“Funny, I thought that was you.”

She was provoking him on purpose. Instead of
letting her see his anger, he just chuckled. “Stupid human. You
have no idea what you’re asking for, do you?”

Her eyebrow arched. “What’s the matter,
Raven? Mad it isn’t you?” That hit home. So she added, “That’s what
kills you, doesn’t it? You know you’re nothing to me.”

But even as she said it, all three of them
knew it wasn’t true.

“Is there a problem here?” a female voice
intruded, and they turned to see Lillith slide up to Raven.

Raven, who had yet to take his eyes off of
Abigail, put his arm around Lillith possessively. “No. No
problem.”

Right in front of Abigail he bent to kiss
Lillith, full and open-mouthed. He could feel Abi stiffen as she
watched their tongues intertwine. Lillith moaned into his mouth,
which he returned before he broke the kiss. “Just what I needed,”
he said as he glanced back at Abi, who was clearly shaken. “A real
woman .”

Lillith understood immediately she was being
used, but she didn’t seem to care. In fact, she jumped right into
the role. No matter how this little human had played Raven so far,
Lillith knew whose bed he would ultimately share. And she also knew
that nothing any human could ever offer could compare.

She pulled him out on the dance floor and
gyrated against him to the sexy music. His eyes may have been on
the uptight redhead at the bar, but his cock was growing against
the redhead in his arms.

“I’ve missed you,” she whispered against his
neck and was gratified with the shudder that followed.

“I need you,” he whispered back, his fangs
protruding from his mouth.

Abi responded by dragging Damien on the floor
and mimicking Lillith’s dance moves. “It’s not very nice to tease
your vampire knight in shining armor,” Damien teased, the playful
glint never far from his dark eyes.

“I’m not a nice girl,” she retorted, unable
to tear her eyes off of Raven.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he replied and
grabbed her closer. She could feel him stiffen and grow against
her.

Raven watched as Damien’s hands slid over
Abi’s back and over her ass, then pull her towards him. He
responded by doing the same to Lillith. She hopped up into his arms
and he realized she wasn’t wearing any panties under her short
skirt. The warmth of her wet pussy ground against him without
apology. “You can think about her,” Lillith whispered into his ear,
“As long as you fuck me.”

Raven groaned and then kissed Lillith.

Abi watched them, fully aware that Raven no
longer bothered to glance their way as he dragged Lillith from the
dance floor and off into the back rooms. She turned to Damien, who
watched her with a grin.

“So how do you propose we get even?” he
asked.

Abi took him by the hand and followed where
Lillith and Raven had gone.

Unlike the other coven, these rooms were
meant for group fun. They weren’t closed off and intimate. They
were full of beds and chaise lounges, draped in red velvet and
black lace. Several couples had already found places to indulge
their lascivious desires, and the sight of so many people openly
fucking jarred Abi in a way she never would have openly
admitted.

But it suited her purpose, she decided, as
she honed in on Raven and Lillith who had collapsed together on a
huge bed in the back.

She drug Damien to the same bed and shoved
him down on his back. Lillith sent her a self-satisfied grin.
Humans were so easy to manipulate. She had done exactly what the
female vampire had hoped she would.

Abi didn’t even notice. She just saw the
anger, frustration and desire in Raven’s eyes. This would teach him
to boss her around she thought to herself as she straddled the
fully clothed, very amused, and incredibly turned on, Damien.

Raven may have lay on top of Lillith, her
legs wrapped around his waist as he fumbled to free himself from
his trousers, but his eyes were on Abi as she ground against
Damien.

He groaned as he watched her unbutton
Damien’s shirt and plant loving little kisses along his bare
chest.

Not to be undone, Lillith flipped Raven on
his back and mirrored Abi’s movements. “Not bad,” she told Abi.
“But are you sure you know what to do with that much vampire?”

“I’m pretty sure,” Abi responded as she
stripped away the tight corset that bound her full breasts. Both
Damien and Raven moaned out loud as her breasts sprung free.

“Impressive,” Lillith said before she
stripped away her top. Both redheads were big breasted, and the
fullness of their heavy tits swayed in front of the hungry eyes of
their vampire lovers. As Damien and Raven reached up to capture the
hard pink tips into their mouths, their hands couldn’t help but
reach across to toy with the other girl’s nipples.

Both Lillith and Abi gasped as they ground
against their prospective lovers.

Like twins, each woman licked and kissed
their way down the bodies of their men. Both Raven and Damien
grabbed their seductress by the hair as they unfastened their
trousers and slid their hard cocks from their confinements.