Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (9 page)

            They were there for the band.  I didn’t understand that at all.  The band was terrible.  No accounting for taste.  But around midnight the little love fest broke up.  Three of the girls were heading to a private club, called The Crimson Knot.  Sabrina begged off saying she had to catch up on sleep, and the blonde and Roger also begged off for unspecified reasons.

            Sabrina and the blonde left together.  The other girls lingered a few minutes with Roger, trying to get him to go with them.  But he said he had chores to do at home.  He stayed to pay their tab, at which time I got up and left.  I waited for him in my car, then followed him when he left.

            Roger lived way up in an older section of Carrolton, in a track house — slab foundation, brick, two car garage.  His windows were all sealed against light, with crosses prominently displayed in every single window and upon the front door and garage door.  His automatic garage door opener allowed him to get in without braving those frightening crosses.

            “Go figure, a vampire working overtime to keep vampires out of his house?” I said.  That was just weird.  What if he lost his garage door remote?  “Sabrina really knows how to pick them.”

            When Roger pulled into his garage, I zipped in behind him.  He was half out of his car when I whipped in like that.  His eyes were huge with fear.  I thought he was going to have a stroke when I jumped out.

            “Vampire!” he cried.

            He cowered from me.  Cowered.  I felt like crap, like a big old bully or something.

            “Why are you hanging out with all those young women?” I said.  “I saw you all at Mystique in Deep Ellum.  I was sitting near enough to hear, and they don’t know you are a vampire.  That seems awful suspicious to me.”

            “They are my friends,” Roger said.  “I have to pretend to be mortal.  They all hate vampires.  They wouldn’t have anything to do with me if they knew.  I’d be kicked out of The Crimson Knot.”

            “Hmmm,” I said.  I have to admit, this wasn’t going down like I expected.  With vampires it was usually either screw each other senseless, or threaten to rip out each other’s throats.  Sex or violence.  Sometimes both.  “Why are you with them?  Never mind.  You’re a vampire, and they are beautiful young women.  Duh.”

            “Oh, we’re not that kind of friends,” he said kind of sheepishly.  “Not
that
intimate.  They see me as a friend.”

            “Bull.  You’re a vampire.  You can have any one of those young women at any time you want,” I said.  “Hell, if subtle enough you can soften them up with vampire pheromones and make them think it was their idea.”

            “But if it went wrong I’d lose my only friends,” he said rather pathetically.  He really looked shocked by the suggestion.  And why was I making such a suggestion?  I want to
protect
my sister, not give him ideas.  “Are you going to try to kill me?”

            “Depends,” I said.  “Do you work for the council?”

            That totally confused him.  I swear, he looked like he was about to shake his head to clear it.

            “What council?”

            “The vampire council.”

            “There’s a vampire council?  Why?”

            Great, I found a vampire even more clueless about the vampire community than myself.  Of course he might just be a great actor.  I didn’t think so.  He seemed genuine to me.

            About that time he started edging deeper into the garage, towards the door into the house.  So I strode purposely towards that door, forcing him to scramble to the side.  Too late he realized his mistake.  I smiled at him.

            “I haven’t hurt anyone!” he cried.  "I don't even feed off fang whores."

            “Strangely, I believe you,” I said.

            “Then why are you trying to kill me?”

            “I’m not.  Yet.  If I wanted you dead, you’d be there already,” I said, now standing between him and the door.

            Roger looked all of eighteen years old at the moment.  So pathetic.  I had a hard time seeing him as a vampire.

            “How long have you been a vampire?” I asked.

            “None of your business,” he said, looking longingly past me at the door.  “How long have you been a vampire?”

            “Couple of weeks,” I said.  “How old were you when Changed?  Sixteen?  Seventeen?”

            “Twenty,” he said, brown eyes flashing.  “I was a grown man.”

            Oh, I was offending him mightily.  Shame on me.  Roger wasn’t good at hiding his feelings.  He was too discombobulated by my position between him and safety.  I smiled and turned for his door.

            “No!” he cried, and sprouted huge black wings.  I heard them rip through his shirt, and watched awestruck as they unfolded within seconds.

            “Son of a ...!” I cried, falling straight back on my butt.  “How did you do that?”

            I've never even heard of a vampire with wings.  Most vampires could turn into bats, so didn't need another way to fly.  But I couldn't take my eyes off of them.

            “Stay out of my house!” he cried, taking an aggressive stance.  “I leave you people alone, so leave me alone.”

            “You people?”

            “Yes.  You people. 
Vampires
,” he said, almost hissing the word.

            He snarled at me.  Sounded ominous, but without the fangs the threat was less than frightening.  What was he doing to do,
chew
on me?  But what struck me was the pure, unadulterated loathing he expressed in that one word —
vampires
.  Could another vampire possibly hate vampires more than me?

            “Oh,” I said.  I know, articulate, aren’t I?  “How did you grow those wings?”

            I tried to grow some wings.  Right then and there.  I concentrated real hard, but nothing happened.  So I stood up.  Roger was looking at me like I was crazy.

            “Can you fly with those wings?”

            “Huh?  You have to leave,” he said, and tried to slide around me.  Instead, I turned, yanked the door open and marched into his house.  That would show him.  I heard him groan with frustration.  “I told you to stay out.”

            “I asked you some questions, and you aren’t answering,” I said over my shoulder.  I walked to the middle of his living room and stopped.  Looking around, I shook my head woefully.  “Men.”

            There wasn’t a single thing on the walls.  The couch was a threadbare piece that Goodwill would reject.  Blue.  No other chairs.  The TV was a mere nineteen inch model, and not even a HDTV.  Nothing fancy.  He didn't even have cable, but both Xbox and Gameboy systems were connected.  The carpet was worn and a rust colored long shag popular in the seventies, when my parents were kids.

            “You decorated yourself, I see.  Who helped you?  A Salvation Army Store sales rep?” I said.  He came up to loom over me, wings spread wide menacingly.  He was so cute trying to be intimidating.  “Are you going to tell me about the wings?”

            I turned to face him.  In my four inch heels I was only a little shorter.  My face was just inches from his, and I turned on the vampire pheromones.  They hit him hard.  He swallowed, clearly shaken.  Despite his fear, his own pheromones started filling the air as well.  In seconds flat we were two very horny vampires.

            “I...I don’t...oh,” Roger said as I moved closer, my lips just brushing his chin.  I reached out and stroked his chest with both hands, thrilled that his huge bat wings were starting to wrap around us.  “You...you kind of look like my friend.”

            “I’m Sabrina’s sister,” I said.

            I reached up and caressed his wings, along the bone from his back outward.  They were covered in soft, fine black hair.  It was no illusion, which some vampires could pull off.  Roger had real live wings.

            “She has a sister?” he said.  Sabrina never told him she had two sisters?  Then his eyes went wide.  “Sable Hart!  You’re Black Heart!”

            “I know,” I said, and grinned evilly.  “Can you fly?”

            I had visions of myself flying all around with a set of wings like that.  The only thing that kept me from flying everywhere now was the need for clothes.  It’s hard to be intimidating when naked.

            “Yeah, I can fly.”

            Roger started backing up.  I paced him.  I backed him right into the couch, and straddled his lap when he fell onto it.  He tried to crawl straight back out from under me, but I held him down.

            “No man has ever tied to get away from me like this,” I said.  I locked eyes with him, making him freeze like a deer caught in headlights.  Our noses brushed.   I licked full, burgundy lips and watched his eyes drop to them.  He stared, licking his own lips.  Yes, he wanted to kiss me.  I could tell.  I turned my face, brushing his cheek with my own, and whispered in his ear, “I’m used to fighting the boys off.”

            I pushed my hot, wet tongue into his ear.  My libido was on fire.  I had to have it.

            “You scare me,” Roger said, jerking away and rubbing at his now wet ear as he slid down lower.  I found myself straddling his belly, looking straight down upon him.

            “Does this scare you?” I asked, and slowly lowered my lips to his.  Just as our lips met, I parted mine slightly and brushed them across his lips. Then I sank into the kiss.  “Mmmmmmmmm.”

            Roger’s arms, legs, and wings flopped around a long moment, then settled down.  He stopped fighting me, and just enjoyed the kiss.  When he didn't kiss back, I became a bit flustered.

            "Are you a vampire or a priest?" I said, frowning at him.

            By that time most men had their hands on my breasts or butt, or both.  If not for his pheromones and hard-on, I wouldn't know he was the least bit aroused.  I ground my groin into his bulge, and smiled seductively.  His eyes grew big.  So I leaned down and kissed him again.  Deeply.  He even returned it.

            "Good boy," I whispered when he tentatively cupped my breasts through the cotton tank.  While he fondled me, I started kissing my way up his jaw line, then began kissing my way down his neck.  He froze the second I started on his neck.  Odd.  I located his carotid artery, and kissed the spot deeply.  "Momma wanna little taste."

            I opened wide, prepared to sink my fangs in and drink some of his blood.  It's what vampires did.  Union rule, you know?  Or at least that was what I thought.  Apparently Roger went by another set of rules.

            "No!" he cried, and shoved me off.  Shoved as in
threw
me across the room.  I crashed into and through his tacky dining room set.  "Don't bite me!  Never bite me."

            "You...," I threw one of her broken chairs at him, which he easily batted aside, "...are one strange cookie."

            "So I've been told," he said, scowling at me.

            "I want to be your friend," I said.  I didn't really, but I wanted to know more about his wings.  I don't know why, but I was obsessed with them.  "You're not making it easy."

            "I don't like vampires," Roger said.  "I don't trust you people."

            "Back to that 'you people' crap again," I said.  "Remember who and what I am.  I am Black Heart — number one vampire
hunter
and bane of the undead.  I don't like vampires much either, but I make exceptions for some."

            Roger frowned.

            "Black Heart," he muttered, shaking his head.  "I cheered you on.  I never thought you'd show up at my house."

            "I'm not trying to kill you," I said.  "I just want to ensure my sister is safe around you.  Besides, I don't kill every vampire I meet."

            "You should," he said, grinding his teeth.  "They are all evil.  I hate them."

            "I hate all
evil
vampires, too," I said.  "And I kill them.  But I sense you aren't evil, so why should I kill you?  There's no reason for me to kill any vampire that hasn't turned to evil."

            "If you're going to tell you sister what I am, I wish you'd stake me first," he whispered.  "I couldn't stand to know they all loath me."

            I thought that a little melodramatic, but he did look like a teenager.  Maybe that was how he thought.  He was such a strange vampire.

            "Don't you think they deserve to know?"

            "No," he said.  "I've been a vampire for eighteen years, and on my own for five of those.  It took me four years to find a place I'm accepted."

            "Which is?"

            "The Crimson Knot," he said, and waved it away.  "A private club.  But all of my friends are members."

            His wings slowly spread wide, giving me my best view so far.  They were glorious.  I loved them.  Most people would think of them as bat wings, but I could turn into a bat.  They weren't like real bat wings, but more like the wings you’d see on a movie or cartoon demon.  I’ve never seen a real demon, or even a picture of a real one, so didn’t know for sure if they actually had wings or not.

            "How did you get those wings?" I said.  "I mean, is it just one of your talents?  Like levitation?  Or did you do something to get them?  Magic?"

            "Sold my soul to a demon," Roger said, scowling at me.

            "Really?  So you got them before you were a vampire?"

            "I was joking," he said, suddenly all shy again.  He was so damned cute when he got all shy.  I was a sucker for shy.  Shy or not, I could smell his pheromones filling the air.  I know I was still oozing them like crazy, though my libido was cooled considerably by being tossed across the room.  "I just wanted them.  And..."

            "What?  Impossible," I cried.  It didn't work that way.  Or did it?  "You just asked for them?  Did you pray to Lucifer or something?

            "Well, it wasn't just like that," he said.  To my regret his wings began to slowly retreat into his back.  "I thought and concentrated on them a long time, before they actually began to sprout.  Once they began, it went pretty fast."