A Tempest In The Night Part 23

I was caught like a fish in an angler's net. I couldn't pull out of her mind as she went even further. Her hands traveled down in her pants. Her pubis hair a ma.s.s of tight-coiled curls. She lightly rubbed her c.l.i.toris back and forth. It moistened, fluttered. Her womb contracted. An invisible hand caressed the head of his c.o.c.k. I smelled her arousal. Through her, I caressed her smooth, wet b.u.t.ton. It glided over my fingers. My c.o.c.k engorged with blood bulged until I felt it would explode from its leather confines.

I took a deep breath, commanded my fingernails to grow, and jumped on the wall next to her window. I grasped the bricks and climbed up. I wrapped my arm around the roof ledge and jumped over, landing on my feet, not so gracefully this time.

I craved s.e.x, wanted her, but she needed my protection more.

Chapter Sixteen

Wall-to-wall people walked in opposite directions at varying degrees of speed. Two men played guitars and sang Beatles' songs, wearing the sixties Beatles-inspired wigs. Ilida bent down and placed bills in their guitar cases while other pa.s.sengers walked past pretending not to notice them.

I couldn't ignore the smell of urine, human feces and mold around me. Oh, the joys of smelling a subway station. My lungs threatened to close on me. I concentrated and forced my mind to think of pleasant scents. I always loved the smell of roses.

We were supposed to meet tonight, but I got a tip that she might be in danger. It started as feeling then I got confirmation.

Ilida has an easy gait, with a slight limp. Her long goose down, off-white coat did nothing to hide her curves. I'm an a.s.s vamp and Greek by birth. I love a voluptuous woman. Ilida has curves. The fluorescent lighting made her coat look green. It turned everyone a bad shade of green. She made her way to the platform and I followed.

It was rush hour and the subway platform was crowded. She stood towards the front - too close to the yellow-striped edge for my comfort. I'll remind her later about it.

I registered various smells from the humans around me: perfume, cologne, rancid body odor, dirty sneakers, Jock sweat, and nine-to-five sweat attacked my nose. On top of those mellifluous notes lay the scent of roses. Ilida smelled like fresh-cut roses.

I felt the tenseness in the air from her. She peered around her. Her shoulders hunched somewhat. She probably sensed me. Something was in the stale, dank air of the subway station, and it smelled like decaying flesh.

Wildly, I peered around the platform. He or it was here, waiting to strike at Ilida or me. Discreetly, I held the handle of my gun and waited. The screeching of the train in the tunnel made everyone stand straighter-on alert. Pa.s.sengers moved to the front of the platform. The train rolled into the station, heralded by a gust of wind.

It was in front of me-too close to Ilida. It couldn't sense my presence. I have superior s.h.i.+elding skills. Four zombies were thirty feet on a diagonal to my left. Keeping my mind blank, I pushed my way to Ilida. Waiting pa.s.sengers grumbled at my rudeness. A little girl behind me cried, asking for her dolly she'd lost.

The train's twin headlights illuminated the tunnel walls as it pulled into the station. The zombie reached its hands down. I sprung yelling at everyone to duck. I knocked the zombie away from Ilida, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from the edge and death.

She struggled against my grasp not looking up to see who was pulling her. We jumped over the ducking bodies on the platform. Shots rang out over our heads.

"What the-Daedalus?"

"Come on!" I pulled her against one of the many metal columns supporting the roof of the station. I had a view of the staircase. I pulled out three clips of ammo and handed them to her. "Hold this! Get down!"

Thugs in black appeared, firing bullets.

Terra used anti coagulant bullets. Deadly for vampires, but thanks to Gauge I had my own deadly weapon, bullets that will neutralize zombies, Terra, and her thugs' acidic blood.

"Clip!"

Ilida's shaking hands handed it to me. I shoved it in, swung around, and aimed at one. He ducked, missing one of my bullets then ran as I kept shooting. I missed him again. s.h.i.+t! Her thugs continued to shoot. I shot back, backing up to Ilida. I'll get them soon enough.

I felt coolness on my leg. I ducked down and behind the column. Ilida was s.h.i.+elding the crying girl. Where was her mother?

I ran over to them s.h.i.+elding them from the gunshots. "Don't ever do that again!"

One zombie collapsed as blood spurted from its head.

"I couldn't leave her to get shot."

"Two clips." She handed them to me. Quickly, I injected the clips. With both guns loaded, I fired, hitting all three Jacquerie. Their skin turned to milky white ash.

"Above my right left ankle."

She handed me the gun. I flipped it up, catching it around the handle and hooking the trigger.

"I think the police are coming. You can tell them what happened."

"Can't do it."

Running footsteps made us look up. A woman with short brown hair parted on the side, tears in her eyes and a frantic heartbeat ran towards us. "Jill?"

"Is that your mother?" I asked her.

The little girl nodded. Her tear-streaked face and brown eyes bright with fear reminded me of Juliana's. "Go to your mother."

The woman ran to her daughter, looked at us, then ran away, clutching the girl tightly in her arms.

"This will feel disorienting."

"What?"

Five cops ran up to us holding guns. "Halt! You're under arrest."

I didn't bother to answer. I pushed Ilida's neck to the left side, pushed down her coat collar, found a nice patch of skin and bit down. I commanded my body and hers to burst into a flock of bats. The officers shot at us in confusion. We simply flew up the staircase away from them.

We landed on the roof of her walkup building some time later. The bats blended to human form. That should have been more difficult to do. Ideally, you need to give a human three bites and exchange blood to make one transform. I licked her neck to seal my bite marks closed. It was something I'd deal with later. I had to get her into her apartment.

I carried her up the second staircase. I traversed my way to the fifth floor. Using telekinesis, I unlocked her door. The latch clicked open the door swung in without benefit of keys or any physical movement. Shutting the door, I marveled at the decor in her apartment. It was cozy with stripes and flowers. Very feminine, spring like, but not saccharine. She has taste.

She was still unconscious. It was an amazing feat not performed by many. If she weren't afraid of the paranormal, she would be proud of herself. I tugged off her coat and hung it up on the bra.s.s coat rack next to the front door. I pulled her hat off next. Her hair was pulled up in a bushy, wavy ponytail. Waves shown at her temples.

Her couch was covered in a blue, white, and yellow striped slipcover. Winter isn't her favorite season I suppose. On the side table, next to her couch, sat two pictures. A man, tall with salt and pepper afro and an earring. Interesting. Her father. She loves her father. Another picture. A younger man, tall good-looking with deep, dark skin. Her brother, I hope. I studied the younger man's face. His eyes reminded me of Ilida's-that curious liquid brown. He must be her brother. I continued to study his picture wondering why I cared if he was her brother or not. I placed it back on the side table in the same position.

Her energy was in every object. There was another energy here as well. She must have a roommate. There wasn't a scent of s.e.x in the air, so it must be female.

I had to make some calls; cover our a.s.ses after that shoot out. I dialed the first number I always call when there's clean up needed.

"Detective Matt Rodriguez."

"I'm sure you heard."

"The Jacquerie."

"That's right. I need the security tapes from the subway station. Five officers saw us."

"I hate sweeping their minds."

I rubbed my forehead, fatigue trying its best to slow me down. I know the position I placed Matt in, but I wouldn't have handled it any other way. "I'll meet you tomorrow for the tapes."

"Later."

I pressed "Send," flipped my phone closed. In my body, I felt her s.h.i.+ft. It's hard to explain-it's like feeling someone come alive throughout your bones, nerves, and flesh. Her consciousness awakened, making my brain tingle I sat on the edge of her couch, held her shoulders as her eyelashes fluttered. It was innocent. It made me harden anyway. "Wh-what happened?"

"Easy, Illy."

Easy? Was he kidding?

The last thing she remembered was me shooting at men. They shot back and they had pale faces. She recollected the smell fish. Someone must have had a bag of fish from the market. She remembered too much. I have to be slick about this or she'll remember me hypnotizing her. I have a slim, two-to-one chance of this working.

As she tried to sit up her mind teetered and tilted. "The room is spinning."

"Lay back down. You're home."

I pushed her back gently against the throw pillows.

Her thin brows arched and her eyes glittered with fear. "I have to ask you again are you FBI?"

"I'm the leader of a clandestine law enforcement agency. That's all I can tell you."

Ilida scratched her head, confusion etched in the creases on her forehead. She pulled the ponytail free then rubbed her hair, loosening the coiled curls. "This law enforcement agency is so secret that the NYPD doesn't know about you?"

I merely nodded my head. Either she would figure it out on her own, or I'd tell her. I She will turn me away if I do. She hates being psychic. She'll hate me being a vampire. It's a no-win situation, as usual.

"What happened back there?"

I rubbed my five o'clock shadow realizing I'd created this mess. "Someone wanted you dead."

"Why? What the h.e.l.l did I do?"

"It's not what you did." She wouldn't hurt a fly. "It's who you hang out with. Me!"

At that ominous statement, her heartbeat thundered in my ears reverberated in my chest. Precious, hot blood pumped through her veins. The outline of her veins in neon lights showed through her skin. I turned away hoping she didn't see my red eyes.

"Who were they?"

"The same people who killed my daughter. The Jacquerie."

"The Jacquerie," she repeated. "But they didn't look human. I-no, they looked like zombies?"

She covered her face with her hands. With my legs shaking, I went to her, held her, squeezed and caressed her shoulders. How comforting it was for me to touch her again. "I think you're too much in shock to remember the details accurately."

"Maybe you're right. Are they a gang?"

"They're drug dealers."

"Did you interrupt their drug s.h.i.+pment? Is that why they went after your daughter?"

"They want power. I'm in their way."

She considered what I said. It wasn't much. I danced around the truth, as all vampires must do, until they can trust. Deep down I knew I could trust her if I let myself. Before I do, I want definitive proof.

She sat up again and I helped, lifting her head and shoulders off the throw pillows. Her hair was like soft yarn in my hands. "You have to pack a bag and come home with me."

"What? No, no way. No how. I can stay at my father's house."

"And bring the danger to him?"

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm staying here. I'll go to the police and tell them what happened. I won't mention your name. I mean, shoot outs in the subway station...and that little girl..."

"Calm down and think. They followed you. Someone told them where you were."

"I don't tell anyone except my roommate. She's not some a.s.sa.s.sin. She's a recreational therapist with an over-active s.e.x drive."

"I followed them as they followed you."

"You followed me?"

"This is too much for you now. Don't remember anything about what happened."

"Stop it! I don't need hypnotizing." She took deep breaths closed her eyes tight then opened them breathing evenly and slowly through pursed lips. "I'm okay."

"You are a strong woman."

"Yes I am and I'm going to survive this. You are going to the police and report what happened. And..."

"I don't think so, Ilida." I took off my shoes and began unb.u.t.toning my s.h.i.+rt.

"What are you doing?"

"Making myself comfortable," I said as I took the s.h.i.+rt off, pulling my arms out of the sleeves, careful to keep facing her.

"Why?"

"I'm staying with you."

"No, you're not!" she said holding her hands up in a halting manner. "I don't know what you're mixed up in, but you can't stay here."

I dropped the s.h.i.+rt on the couch behind me then slowly pulled the notch out of my belt buckle. "I'm taking control of this, and you if I have to."

"I don't like that look in your eyes."