Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (21 page)

            "Hey, you wanna hang out with vamp girls you have to learn to stay up later, baby," I said.  "Sable here, by the way."

            "Sable!  You called," he said.  "At one in the morning, but you called.  Do you want to meet?  I mean, for coffee?"

            "I want something hot from you, but it isn't coffee," I said, and laughed.  "Sorry.  Just one of my famously bad jokes."

            "I think you're funny."

            "I love you," I said.  I grinned.  I loved a man that sucked up to me.  Who didn't?  "I'm going to need a place to crash today.  Is your place safe?  And, more importantly, would you be interested in that?"

            "Very interested.  Are you serious?" he said.  His voice was husky again, but this time not from being awakened.  "My bedroom is sealed against light.  I can take the day off to...protect you."

            He wasn't thinking about protecting me, of that I'm sure.  Horny boy.

            "Meet me at the gym.  I'll follow you home, and then...," I said.  Let him use his imagination.  I would use mine once he got me home.  "I just have a little something to do, then I'll be ready to go home with you."

            "I'll be waiting," he said.

            "Thanks.  Bye-bye, lover," I said, and hung up.

            Even if I killed both Giorgi Girls, I was going home with Kale.  I was horny just thinking about it.  Which kind of bothered me deep down, since I shouldn't be arranging my coming day of debauchery, but worrying about my hospitalized friend.  But guilt didn't seem to stick well to vampires.

            The hospital wasn't that far from the gym, and the ambush site.  Strangely, though, it seemed to me to take forever to get there.  How many stop lights did they have on that damned road?  It felt like they put a light at every single intersection, and I hit every one on red.

            I pulled into the gym parking lot, and parked next to the street instead of up close to the building.  So I was all by myself out there, and feeling exposed.  The other parking lot had a lot more cars.  The Tom Thumb was twenty-four hours, as was my gym.

            "What the...?" I said, seeing huge black wings appear above a line of cars.  "Roger?"

            Roger's house wasn’t that close.  Maybe he just liked that Tom Thumb.  I realized it was on the way home for him from The Crimson Knot, if he took the most obvious route home.

            Either way, Roger wouldn't sprout wings in public unless threatened.  I jumped out of the Charger and raced across the street.  I was getting better at running in stilettos that I could barely walk in prior to being Changed.

            As I approached, I spotted my car.  It was smashed up, and upside down.  Lorelei knelt near it, holding her stomach and retching.  She was covered in blood.  Lolita was nearby too, sprawled out unconscious atop a blue pickup truck hood.  Looked like their little ambush went terribly wrong.

            The wings did belong to Roger.  He was frozen in place, staring open-mouthed at Fritz.  Roger was captured by the power of the Coeur de Sade.  Fortunately, Fritz's back was to me.  I could hear that familiar voice giving Roger his final command.

            "Fly above Loop 635 until sun up," Fritz said.  "I want you flying low enough for everyone to see you.  It'll be spectacular when the first rays of sunrise hit you."

            "No!" I cried, seized the werewolf by the collar and belt from behind, lifting him up and throwing him through the windshield of the nearest car.  Then I raced at Roger, who was preparing to fly away.  "Roger, stop!"

            He hesitated, and I plowed into him.  He cursed and threw me ten feet away.  A second later we were both on our feet and hissing at each other.  I know, but sometimes I can't help it.  I always feel stupid one second after I do it.  It's instinct.

            I leapt at him.  Roger was not freed from the talisman's magic.  But I knew how to save him.  I freed Jerry by nearly killing him.  Extreme trauma and pain freed the entranced victim.

            Roger's wings had a viciously wicked "claw" at the joint halfway down his wings.  They were like ten inch spikes.  As I charged him, he flapped his wings, hissed again, and brought those nasty spikes in towards me from both sides.  I am embarrassed to admit it, but I hesitated at that unexpected development.  Both spikes penetrated my chest, on the sides behind my boobs.  I think they met in the middle of my chest, in my heart.

            The pain was incredible.  I wailed soulfully as he lifted me off the ground and shook me violently.  I was slammed onto the ground with all of his strength.  He picked me up again, and threw me across the parking lot.  I must've sailed a good forty feet before crashing through the front window of a closed boutique.

            I wasn't giving up on my new friend that easily.  Grabbing the monitor from the store's cash register, I ran outside and hurled it at Roger in a great arch.  He paused to watch it, judging if it would hit him or if he had to step aside.  While he was distracted, I picked up a long, sharp piece of glass and charged him.

            "Roger!" I cried as I stabbed him in the belly with the glass.  His eyes went big, he gasped and doubled up.  It hurt.  I know.  That was the point.  "Are you back?"

            "Sable?  Why did you do that?" he said, pulling the bloody, foot long shard of glass out and throwing it aside.  "God, that hurt."

            He glanced down at his hands.  They were covered in blood.  Roger's eyes widened.  He dropped to his knees and retched.

            "I had to do it," I said.  I stepped back, eyeing him warily.  He really was hemophobic.  Too weird.  "To break Fritz's spell on you."

            "Oh," Roger said, suddenly filled with fear.

            Fritz groaned.  Both of our heads whipped around to regard him.  He was stirring.  I looked at his aura.  Just like Quentin's, big and the center filled in.  No taint that I could see.

            "Fly away," I said.  "Now!"

            I didn't have to tell Roger twice.  He leapt in the air and I was buffeted as he magnificent wings started to flap.  I watched him vanish low over the horizon with a feeling of awe.  I so wanted a pair of wings like his.

            A car started.  I turned to see a silver Mercedes SUV starting to move.  Lorelei was driving, with Lolita in the passenger seat.  They were getting away.  Did they get the Coeur de Sade while I was dealing with Roger?

            I turned and ran over to Fritz.  He was crawling slowly off that car.  I saw the flash of gold chain a fraction of a second before the Coeur de Sade dropped into sight.

            "Oh," I said, and stopped.

            Transfixed, I just stared at the talisman.  A part of me knew I was in trouble.  Bad, bad trouble.  Mostly, though, I didn't care.  I felt empty.  Fritz's curses, followed by dark chuckles didn't bother me in the least.

            I just stared open-mouthed at the talisman as Fritz walked up to me.  The talisman owned me.  There was no taking my eyes off of it, so I still didn't know what Fritz looked like.  A very tiny portion of me was frustrated by that.

            "Fucking vampire whore, that hurt," Fritz said.  I was vaguely aware he was brushing glass off his clothes.  "I should've killed you at the mall.  That won't happen again.  No more mercy for vampires.  Period."  He stopped in front of me, just a foot away.  After looking me over, he said, "I like your new style better.  You really look like a vampire tonight.  That's good."

            Supreme pleasure flooded me to learn he approved of me, or at least my fashion choices for the evening.  An overwhelming need to obey, to please him, flooded my mind.  Fritz was my new god, and his every wish was my command and pleasure.

            "I'm going to beat you a bit now.  No matter what I do, you will not resist in the least," he said, and backhanded me.

            That spun me around.  I fell to the ground, from which he lifted me up over his head.  A second later I was thrown through the windshield of a car.  That broke the enchantment, but Fritz immediately dangled the talisman before my face, and I was lost again.  He ordered me to crawl out of the car, and then crawl on all fours to him.  I obeyed.  Then he threw me through the windshield of another car.

            All totaled, Fritz threw me through the windshield of ten cars.  He must've really been pissed that I threw him through that windshield.  Then I was ordered to kneel before him, and Fritz snapped my neck.

            "Ugh," I grunted, coming to my senses.

            Crumpled at his feet, I stared up at him as I felt my neck starting to mend.  The talisman was hidden under his shirt, so I wasn't entranced again.  Fritz dropped to one knee beside me, and grabbed my chin.  He forced me to look up into his face, into his cruel brown eyes.

            "You know you're going to die," he said.

            Oh, I knew.  I felt hot tears start to burn my eyes.  I didn't want to die the rest of the way.  Undead was better than dead-dead, considering I had a one way ticket to Hell waiting on the other side.

            "I didn't think vampires could cry," he said, looking pleased.

            My neck was almost healed.  Bones took a while to heal, compared to flesh.  A couple of minutes at the most.  It seemed an eternity to me, probably because I was utterly helpless and at my enemy's mercy.  Fritz felt no mercy for me.  Then he pulled out the Coeur de Sade, and I was lost again.

            "Black Heart, you will go straight home.  Once there, you will sit in the middle of your backyard and wait for sunrise.  I want you to greet the sun with a joyous cry of 'I am vampire, hear me roar.'  Understand?"

            "Yes, I understand," I said.

            "Good, as soon as your neck is healed — Ugh!" he cried as a loud
CRACK
filled the air.  A gunshot.  He fell across me, writhing in pain.  "Bitch."

            Fritz jumped up and turned to face his attacker.  I suspected Lolita and Lorelei.  Instead I heard a familiar and unexpected voice.

            "Get away from her!" Kale demanded.

           
CRACK!

            "Huugh!" Fritz cried.  Only silver bullets could hurt a werewolf like that.  "You can't save her, boy."

            With that, Fritz turned and ran away.  A second later Kale was by my side.  He looked worried.

            "Sable, are you okay?"

            "Yes," I said.  I sat up and looked around.  There was quite a bit of damage.  Mortals were crowded in the front doors of Tom Thumb, gawking fearfully.  "I have to go home."

            I stood up and started back toward the Charger.

            "I thought you wanted to stay with me?"

            "Yes.  I do.  I have to go home and greet the sun."

            "You'll die!"

            I ignored him.  I only had one thought.  Go home, sit in the middle of my backyard, and wait for the sun.  Simple.  No problem.  Kale followed me back to the Charger, pestering me with questions I didn't have time for.  Like, what's the matter?

            I got in the Charger, started it up and left without another word to him.  He was annoying.  I forgot about him immediately.

            There was little traffic.  Nothing to slow me down as I returned to Highland Park.  Oddly, a pickup truck pulled into the drive behind me.  It was Kale.  His presence was irritating, but didn't violate my orders.

            "Is this where you live?  Do you own this house?" Kale was asking even before I was out of the car.

            "Yes, I live here.  No, I don't own it," I said, turned and headed for the backyard.  I was commanded to wait for the sun in the backyard.

            "Where are you going?" Kale said.

            I ignored him.  Getting one of those white plastic lawn chairs, I carried it to the middle of the backyard and sat down.  Crossing my legs, I waited.  Sunrise wasn't for a couple hours.  I was patient.

            "What are you doing?" Kale said.

            I looked at him.  It was a dumb question.  Wasn't it obvious?  Why was he annoying me?

            "Waiting," I said, and turned away from him.

            "Waiting for what?"

            "The sun."

            "You'll die," he said, sounding horrified.

            I thought about that a second.  What he said was true.  The sun would kill me.  Vaporize me, in fact.  I briefly wondered if it would hurt.  If it did, it wouldn't hurt for long.  Vampire flesh vaporized fast in direct sunlight.

            I looked around.  The middle of the backyard was the shadiest place in the yard.  Desiree had some very large shade trees.  I couldn't help but wonder if Fritz wanted me to sit in the middle of the yard as instructed, or sit where the sun would hit first as he probably intended.

            "I can't let you do this," Kale said.

            What was he going to do about it?  I'm a vampire.  He's not.  I could snap his neck with barely a thought, or throw him bodily all the way over to the next street.  Either way, he would die.  I was not told to kill anyone, but I wasn't told to
not
kill anyone.

            "The fight," Kale said.  "Is that what this is about?  Did that man do something to you?"

            "Yes," I said.  I wasn't told to not tell anyone what I was doing, or why.  "He commanded me to greet the sun.  So I will die.  I must obey."

            "Magic!  That's why if felt so cold around you when I got there," he said.  "You've been magically entranced."

            Was there another way to be entranced?  I didn't believe in hypnotism.

            "I can't allow him to kill you like this," Kale said, starting towards me.

            "No," I said, eyes narrowing and baring my fangs.  Kale's eyes went wide, and he started backing away.  "Go away.  Leave me alone."

            Kale turned and ran to his truck.  I put him out of my mind.  Still a couple hours until dawn.  So I sat patiently, staring off toward the east.  Soon, I heard Kale returning stealthily.