Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (5 page)

"Well, Yuri and Clive didn't think I was dangerous either," I said, smiling smugly at them.  Truth was, the four of them terrified me.  I had no idea how old any of them were, or how strong.  But they were undead thugs, and this was their element, not mine.  Advantage thugs.  "I am always surprising people."

Sid said, "We might have a few surprise for you, too, Black Heart."

"Council wants to see you," Francisco said.

Where did he come from?  How did he get back to me so fast, without me seeing or hearing him?  Did he have some new power or talent I never heard of?

"Back to this mysterious council," I said.  "What council?  Not Dallas City Council."

"The council has no name other than the council."

"A vampire council?"

"Yes," Francisco said.  "It is where the leaders of the different factions meet."

Factions?  There were factions?  I knew there were far more vampires in Dallas than I ever thought, but enough to have factions and need to meet in council?  Not a good development.

"The leaders of the vampire community?"

"You could put it that way, yes."

The top vampires in Dallas, all gathered together.  The thought of being in the same room as the oldest, most powerful vampires in Dallas totally creeped me out.  Weren't they the ones that hired Clive to transform Dallas into a virtual vampire kingdom?  They would not be pleased with little ole me.  Not at all.

"Tonight?  Tonight's not good for me," I said.  Looking around, I saw no way to get around or through them.  I really should've brought at least a pistol.  I needed a weapon to fight such superior numbers.  "Give me your phone number, and I'll call for an appointment."

"We aren't asking," Francisco said.

Licking dry lips, I stared at them a long moment.  They were not going to let me go.  Period.  I had no choice but to transform into bat and try to escape.  Of course, they could turn into bats, too.  I didn't do very well at escaping last time I changed into a bat, but what choice did I have?

Francisco's dark eyes narrowed, and he reached into his jacket.  In an instant I knew he was going for a gun.  I should've turned into a bat in that instant, but instead I froze.  With vampiric speed, he pulled a pistol and shot me in the belly.  Just once.

It was enough.

"Son of a bitch," I cried.  "Blessed silver?"

"You can't change into a bat or wolf with a sanctified silver bullet inside you," Tanya said, smirking.

I can't?
  I tried, and she was right.

"Shit.  Someone should've told me about this before now," I grumbled, as white hot silver fried my insides.

I didn't have much time to wallow in self-pity.  The vampire thugs attacked as one.  I'm no black belt or anything, but I was pretty good at Krav Maga.  The Israeli martial art wasn't the prettiest, or most graceful, of the martial arts but it was fast, furious and in your face fighting. Having supernatural speed and strength was a plus.

"Hai!  Hai!  Hai!" I cried, charging at Jerry and kicking straight up at his groin.  He dropped his hands and blocked all three kicks.  Only a vampire could've defended himself so well.  My kicks would've shattered the hands of a mere mortal.  But it did leave me in close, so I punched at his throat. "Hai!"

Jerry must've thought I was punching at his face, because he ducked into the punch.  The punch was hard.  I had leverage and my weight behind it.  Jerry flipped completely over backwards with the force of that blow.

Then the other three closed on me at once.  Fists and feet hammered me from hips to face.  Pain ripped through my body, as their super strong punches and kicks landed.  Reeling, I wasn't given a second to regroup and throw up a defense.  When I tried to drop to the floor, Tanya kneed me in the face and sent my senses spinning.

"Ha!" Tanya cried.

"Got her."  Sid laughed.

They were good.  I'm telling you.  They must've all been bondage masters.  Within seconds my wrists were secured together with zip ties.  Then my elbows were pulled together and zip tied together.  While that was going down, my ankles and knees were similarly secured with longer, heavier zip ties.

"She went down easy enough," Tanya said.  "Nothing special, like I told you."

"You're going to think nothing special when I get out of this," I growled, glaring murderously at my captors.

Without another word, Francisco, Tanya and Sid lifted me up and carried me away into the night.  Jerry hurried away ahead of us.  Moments later Jerry drove up in a large, silver sedan.  A Chrysler 300.  I smiled, determined to keep them from getting me inside that damned car.

But as my carriers held me, Jerry got out of the car with a white cotton pad and a brown bottle.  He paused to judge the wind direction, then came up to me from upwind.

"Chloroform will calm her down long enough to get her to council," Jerry said, grinning as he started emptying the contents of that bottle into the handkerchief.

I was reminded of Desiree's almost off-hand warning to stay away from drugs and alcohol, since vampire's were more susceptible to their dire effects.  I redoubled my efforts to break free, but they tightened their grasps and held on as Jerry walked up and pressed the pad to my face.

"Hhhnnnnnnnnnn!" I screamed into the cloth.

I held my breath and continued to struggle.  I was a vampire.  Why did I need to breathe?  If I didn't breathe, they couldn't drug me into la-la land.

So someone punched me in the gut.  I gasped out of reflex.  That sucked in a lungful of chloroform, and it was lights out super fast for me.

CHAPTER 3

            I was in and out of consciousness.  I don’t know how much time passed, only that I was in a very dark place.  Literally.  About the third or fourth time I almost achieved full consciousness, I realized I was scrunched up in a trunk, and the car was moving.

            Being pulled out of the car almost woke me.  My eyes fluttered.  I was awake enough to understand what was happening.  The fluorescent light hurt my eyes.  It was still night.  The silver bullet was out of my belly.  I thought I was gagged, but realized it was a just something holding a chloroform cloth over my mouth and nose.  And blackness consumed me again.

            “Is she awake?” a gruff male voice said.

            “Almost, boss,” Francisco said. 

He kicked me in the shoulder.  Not hard, but enough to stir me a bit.  I realized at that time I was laying face down on cold tile.  Forcing my eyes open, I found myself staring at a pair of very nice men’s dress shoes.  Following the legs up, I found Francisco frowning down at me.

“Ah, we meet again,
mi amigo
,” I managed to slur out.

“She’s awake,” Francisco said, and walked away.

A soft murmur of voices filled the air.  I remembered where they were taking me.  Vampire council.  That couldn’t be good.  I wasn’t very popular among vampires in general, and I could only imagine the degree of hostility I’d find from the vampire community’s leadership.  After all, it hadn't been a full week since I fouled their evil plans to take over the city.

I felt them to my bones.  They radiated power.  Mostly, that felt like menace.  I ground my teeth, felt the goose bumps on my skin.  It was the feel of old vampires.

Propping myself up on my right elbow, belly down, left leg cocked, I pushed my hair straight back out of my face with my left and looked around.  I was in the middle of a circle of vampires.  My brain was still too groggy to even begin to count them, but there had to be at least two dozen.  Mostly men.  They ran the gamut of size, shape, age, and race.

“What is this?  Some kind of vampiric rainbow coalition?”

That raised a few brows.  Mostly, though, they stared at me with casual indifference, or mild annoyance.  So satisfied I was making a bad first impression, I dragged myself to my knees.  I was recovering from the effects of the chloroform remarkably fast, but it left my stomach sour and head feeling strange.

“Someone owes me twenty dollars for a new Cowboy t-shirt,” I said, pushing my finger through the bullet hole.  I glanced around at the room.  It was a large domed room, marble, mostly unfurnished.  There were ten chairs evenly spaced around the circular room.  Seven men and three women sat, with their evil minions arrayed behind them.  My senses indicated we were deep underground.  “Where are we?  The bat cave?”

            I heard a single grunt of amusement from behind.  Slanting a look over my left shoulder, I spotted Bone Daddy standing behind an absolutely gorgeous brunette.  When our eyes locked, his went wide.  I saw fear.  His mistress suddenly perked up, curious at our connection.

            "Do you know my friend?" she said, leaning forward slightly.

            "Huh?" I said.  That's me, quick on my feet.  "You're friend?  You mean that Jesus-on-Steroids monstrosity?"

            Boney stiffened, and several others in the room tried unsuccessfully to stifle barks of laughter.  Oh yeah.  An appreciative audience.  I was starting to warm to them, despite the fact Boney graced them all with a dark scowl.  Then big momma vampire locked eyes with me and turned on the oomph.  Ouch.

            "Oh," I gasped, falling back to sit on my legs.  The intensity of her gaze was palpable.  Sucked the air right out of my lungs.  My libido went into overdrive.  "You have a license to carry those eyes?"

            They all radiated power and menace, but hers easily outstripped the others.  And she turned it on, too.  I was in full blown horny in seconds flat, unable to pull my eyes off her face, off her glistening, kissable lips.  Moisture warmed my nether regions and I felt my nipples intensely.  I wanted her so badly I groaned with need.  My chin rose ever so slightly, offering up my throat and lips to her.

            "So beautiful," I whispered.

            "You're turning out to be more amusing that I hoped," she said.

            With those words her erotic power seemed to evaporate.  A tension I hadn't noticed loosened all around me.  So even the other vampires were effected.  I shook myself mentally, trying to shuck the cobwebs of arousal she left behind.

            "Glad I amuse you.  And you are?" I said, voice hoarse and strained.

            I saw an opportunity to learn more about the big, scary vampire that held my friend Boney's leash.  Boney stood behind her, grimacing and avoiding my eyes.  After her demonstration, I understood why she still had a hold on him.  Wow.  Made me wonder on her age.

            She hesitated, pursing full red lips as she considered me from her elaborately carved chair.  It was more like a throne, really.  Each vampire leader sat in very individualized chairs.  Most quite ornate.  She looked to be about five foot five, with a shapely build and expressive blue eyes.  She wore a red and black silk evening gown, with a fortune in diamond and ruby jewelry.  She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, and she radiated sex.

            "I am Antoinette LaRue," she said.  Up until she said her name, I didn't note any accent.  But she gave her name with a very distinct French accent.  That accent immediately departed.  "And you are the infamous undead vampire hunter, Black Heart.  Sable Hart.  You are very pretty."

            I didn't like the way she was sizing me up.  I recalled her primary financial endeavor was working pimps and whores.  She was Dallas's top madam.  If Big Momma thought Lil ole Sable was going to roll over and let her put me to work on the streets, she was sadly mistaken.

            There were two others behind her, beside Boney.  A tall, skinny man and a rather shapely woman.  The man wore all black, including a leather trailduster, and looked tattered.  Kinda like he was used badly and put up wet.  His eyes were wild, and I instinctively knew he was barely hanging onto sanity.  The woman was vaguely familiar looking.

            “Angelique!” I said, jumping to my feet as I recognized Dominique’s younger sister.  She was wearing a cobalt blue mini-dress and matching heels.  “I see you found a new master.”

            Angelique’s eyes flashed, and she took a step towards me.  I know, taunting a one hundred and fifty-six year old vampire is stupid.  I never said I was a genius, but I was more than confident that I could defeat that old French whore.

            “Angelique.  No,” Antoinette said softly.  She quietly said something French.  They both leveled cold eyes on me a long second.  "Later."

            “Oooh, you speak French,” I said, not knowing what Antoinette said to Angelique, but seeing her backing down.  Very reluctantly backing down.  “I guess you’re not really from Texas, are you?”  She just raised a haughty brow at me.  “I suggest you keep your little lapdog on a tight leash.  She might get hurt.”

            “I would suggest you be more respectful of your elders, Miss Hart,” Antoinette said, her lovely eyes narrowing slightly.

            “You are a yappy thing,” another senior vampire said.  She was a stoutly build woman, looked to be around forty, short blonde hair, no make up.  She wore a simple blue and pink print dress, probably from Target or some mid-range retailer.  Sensible shoes.  No jewelry.  My impression was of a stereotypical small town, no nonsense wife and mother.  “We didn’t gather here to listen to you dig your own grave.”

            “And you are?”

            “Tara Voorhies.”

            Tara's aura was second only to Antoinette's in size, though very little power radiated off her.  But of all of them there, she gave the impression of being the most dangerous.

            “You’re here, little lady, so we can determine if you killed our fellow council member or not,” said the vampire that Francisco and team stood behind, forcing me to turn completely around.  Again.  Why couldn't they all sit on the same side of the room?  When I opened my mouth to ask who he was, he held up a hand to stop me.  “I’m Jeff Howell.”

            He was maybe six feet tall, a little heavier than medium build, with short dark hair and sky blue eyes.

            His throne was the simplest of them all.  Just a simple straight back chair.  He wore a dark blue western style suit, no tie, with a black felt cowboy hat and black cowboy boots.  He even had one of those big oval silver belt buckles, like he was a rodeo cowboy or something.