Black Heart: Wild On (21 page)

            "He's dead, too," Judd said in a whisper.

            "Black Heart warned you that your little friend was dying," Ben said. "Like idiots you didn't listen. He died because you wouldn't help him."

            That hit them hard. Guilt infused their psyches and then fear blossomed and consumed them. The scent of their fear reached me then, down on the ground.

            "Before I kill you I just wanted to thank you for handing me my deadliest enemy on a silver platter," Ben said. That made me think of Gabe. Did Ben catch and kill Gabe? Was that why I couldn't feel Gabe through our link anymore? "You, come here."

            Orson's body changed instantly. Ben must've caught his eyes. None of those fools were wearing shades to protect themselves.

            "Orson, no!" Riley cried.

            "Stop!" Judd shouted. Then Orson's flame was snuffed. "Oh God! Oh God!"

            Then the real screaming began. It was horrible, the cloth covered my face so I couldn't see anything. I heard feet shuffling, running, kicking. Grunts and horrified screams filled the air, and I felt the last two men consumed with fear and dread. Riley died first, after just a moment or so. Then Ben had to chase Judd down. He died near the end of the alley.

            After that all I had left was Ben's heartbeat and footsteps. Oh, there was the slurping sounds at the end of the alley. Once his appetite was sated, Ben headed towards me.

            Since I wasn't breathing, the chloroform wasn't taking me completely out. But I was immobilized and handcuffed. I didn't stand a chance against Ben in that condition.

            "Peek-a-boo," Ben said as he pulled the cloth off my face. "Thought you could hide from me, did you? Naughty girl." He looked me over, head to toe, with wicked relish. "You'll have to be punished. Oh yeah."

            I tried to speak, but my mouth wouldn't even open. Nothing worked but my eyes, which I had control over. So I watched in morbid fascination as he reached down to my face and pulled my lower lip down. Ben got the hungriest look, and leaned over and kissed me. Then his hand started sliding down my body, over my breasts and across my belly.

            "You look so helpless and delicious," Ben said.

            He kissed me again, then lowered his mouth to my neck. His fangs penetrated, driving deep into my jugular. My body tensed, then relaxed as my libido was ignited. I involuntarily groaned, and writhed a tiny bit. That was encouraging. I chose to take it to mean I was regaining control of my body.

            "Delicious," he breathed, his hot breath reeking of blood. Then he sank his fangs into my throat again, right into the carotid artery. "Mmmmmm."

            "Ben," I croaked out as he switched over and bite me on the other side of my neck. The man had an obsession with biting. He wasn't really sucking down much blood. "Gabe. What happened to Gabe?"

            "Who the Hell is Gabe?" Ben said.

            "My friend...the hunter," I said. "I felt him...vanish."

            "Ah, the big biker boy," Ben said, sounding pleased with himself. "I caught him. He fell right into my trap. Too funny. You should've seen the look on his face when he realized I'd duped him."

            My throat tightened and my eyes burned intensely. I tried to squeeze off the tears, but they flowed anyway. I failed Gabe. I wasn't there when he needed me the most.

            Ben laughed at me. While I was consumed with grief, he stood up and wandered off. I didn't care. All I wanted was to curl up and cry. Hide from the world.

            "Come on, let's go find a nice quiet place to play," Ben said. He pulled my head back, so that my chin was pointing straight up. Then he poured something down into my nose. Talk about a horrible feeling. "There, that'll keep you nice and malleable."

            It only took a second to realize he poured chloroform into my nose. Wow, talk about doing a number on my brain. I wasn't breathing, but it was being absorbed through the nasal membranes.

            "Bastard," I managed to gasp out.

            "I know. Cool, isn't it?" he said and laughed.

            Ben picked me up in his arms and started walking with urgency. What was his hurry? There wasn't anyone in Deep Ellum interested in rescuing me. No, not Black Heart.

            The chloroform sloshing around in my sinuses, evaporating and making my world spin uncontrollably, caused me to lose all control over my body. I couldn't even see anymore. Everything was just a dizzying blur. For the first time since dying I was feeling nauseous.

            "We're here," Ben said. "Are you as excited as I am?"

            Ben knocked on a door, by head butting it. He knocked again. Harder, more insistent. A moment later someone answered.

            "Damn, you did it," a man said. Unfamiliar voice. I still couldn't see. "I didn't think you'd be able to catch her."

            "I did," Ben said. "And it didn't even take half an hour, either. She was easy."

            Ben slipped past the man, and darkness enveloped us. I sensed close quarters. He headed up a narrow, steep stair. It was one long, long stairwell, too. We had to be three or four floors up when he finally came to a small landing and another closed door.

            "Open up! I have a present for you, Valerie!"

            Valerie? Not Valerie St. Clair. Surely not her. I desperately tried to determine my location, from how long it took him to reach that place, and directions he took. It could be Ruby Necklace. But I didn't recall a long stair anywhere.

            I heard high heels approaching from the other side of the door. She was mortal, since I could feel her. A moment later the door open to reveal Valerie St. Clair. I groaned in misery. A bad night was getting worse.

            "Oh my! You're giving me Sable Hart?" she cried in delight, and then leaned over and kissed him rather passionately. "You're always so good to me, Benny."

            She was still in the golden evening gown. As she leaned over me, I got a gander at her diamond necklace and matching earrings. They were mind boggling. Yellow and white diamonds galore, her jewelry had to be worth a half million or more. Why did Valerie always make me feel so jealous? I wasn't jealous of other rich people.

            "It's nothing. A thank you gift for all you're doing for me during my trials and tribulations of late," he said. "Where do you want her?"

            "In Hell," Valerie said, and they laughed. "Is she drugged? Can she understand me and what is happening?"

            "Yes, she's drugged. I don't know how much she understands," he said. "I can't feel the undead."

            Valerie was helping Ben? That made her an accessory to murder. Then she placed a warm, soft hand on my cheek and turned my head. We were face to face, and she had a huge smile on hers.

            "Good, you're awake. Now you are mine, Black Heart. Aren't we going to have fun?" Valerie said in the sweetest voice. She really had a great voice. Very deep and sexy. Caressing Ben's face next, "My love, could you take her down to the dungeon for me?"

            She had a dungeon under the club? Why? She had that gorgeous home, with a basement. Did she have the urge to inflict pain and humiliation on her lovers at all hours and locations?
She's been hanging around vampires way too long
, I thought.

            "My pleasure," Ben said. "I hope you allow me to stay and watch."

            "Of course. You know how much I adore an appreciative audience," Valerie said.

            I expected Ben to turn around and head back down the stairs. Instead, Valerie turned and walked off. Ben followed her across a luxurious living room, filled with antique furniture and decoration. I suspected she was trying to make much older vampires feel comfortable. We passed by a gourmet kitchen, and into a dark hallway.

            We went to the end of that short corridor. There were two opposing doors. Both were open. On the right was a very nice bathroom. The left was bedroom, with a queen sized bed. The bed was covered with a brown fur comforter.

            Valerie pressed a spot on the wall, and it opened up to reveal a dark stairwell. The walls and ceiling were painted darkest blood red, with the floor covered in black carpet. The handrail was also lacquered black.

            Okay, the chloroform was doing a number on my mind that sent me into a mental swirl, but I was pretty sure I was in the Ruby Necklace. How did you have a basement in the sky? I could hear the thumping music of the club below, I could feel the hundreds of excited hearts pounding as they dance, flirted, and had wicked sex. I even heard the DJ say the name of the club between songs.

            I couldn't recall any indication from my previous visit of a floor or two above the dance floor. I remembered the ceiling being high, like three stories high. I never paid attention to how tall the building was before, but it was one of the tallest in Deep Ellum. Were there five stories?

            Ben followed Valerie into the stairwell. My head and feet banged against the walls. But I barely noticed, because halfway down I realized I could no longer feel all the people below in the club. I could only feel two mortals — Valerie and Gabe.

            "Gabe!" I cried.

            "Sable?" he said.

            His voice was weak, hoarse. Gabe felt weak, drained of energy. His feelings of fear and dread washed over me a second later.

            "Sable, too?" Jeff Howell said. "Benny, you are full of delightful surprises tonight! First you bring us a hated vampire hunter, and one of Black Heart's favorite lovers, and then you bring us Black Heart herself."

            "Well, she was becoming a pest," Ben said.

            He dropped my feet and held me up. I could almost stand on my own. The chloroform had pretty much evaporated. But I stayed completely limp, forcing him to hold me up. I didn't want them knowing how coherent I'd become, and dose me with more drugs. Jeff and Valerie looked upon me with amusement, while Gabe looked at me with alarm.

            Gabe was in bad shape. His aura was terribly diminished. They'd stripped him and hung him by his wrists from the ceiling. Blood was slowly streaming down both sides of his neck, the bite wounds only half healed. His breathing was loud and labored. It was a horse race to see if he bled to death or suffocated first.

            "Now we have an audience as we kill the werewolf hunter," Valerie said. She slid a finger through a line of blood across his chest and put the finger in her mouth. Was that supposed to shock me? Her eyes locked on mine a second, then they filled with evil delight. "Jeff. I have an idea."

            "I already like it," Jeff said. "The way your eyes are sparkling say it is devilishly wicked."

            "It is. I want to force Sable to watch me stake her boyfriend," Valerie said. "Then I want to use the very same stake to stake her!"

            "I like it," Ben said.

            "So do I," Jeff said. "We'll break her heart, then kill it forever."

            Have to admit, that idea sent my heart to racing. Jeff and Ben heard it pounding within my chest, and grinned with an evil glint in their eyes. I'm afraid that just encouraged them.

            "Chain her spread-eagle on the Cross," Jeff said, indicating a large wooden X centered on the south wall. "That'll give her a good view while we stake her hunter lover boy."

            "It was my idea," Valerie said. "Can I stake him? Please?"

            "Being an accessory to murder isn't enough for you?" I said. "Now you want to commit the murder?"

            "He deserves to die," she said. She sneered at me a moment. Valerie had a good sneer. Did she do everything better than everyone else? She turned back to Jeff, "Please?"

            Jeff laughed as Ben picked me up and carried me over to the cross. Since it wasn't a Christian cross, there was no power within it to repel the undead. I never took my eyes off Gabe as I was carried across the room. Jeff moved to the side and started lowering Gabe while Valerie caught him. She laid him out on the floor, too weak to resist.

            Gabe started to groan and writhe, still too weak to even fight off Valerie. Jeff hurried over and seized his wrists, crossed them and pressed them to the floor. Then with Gabe pinned down and helpless, Valerie headed toward a table in the corner loaded with BDSM paraphernalia, atop which I spotted Gabe's pack with his vampire staking gear.

            "I'll kill him with his own stake," Valerie said.

            Ben dropped my legs, spun me around to face the wall and pushed me into it. With one hand twisted in my hair, he held me up while he unfastened the handcuffs with the other. I heard and felt Valerie move back to Gabe while he fumbled one-handed with the cuffs.

            Ben turned me around. As he lifted my left arm to lock into the waiting manacle, I spotted Valerie straddling Gabe's waist. She held a foot long wooden stake over his heart and a five pound hammer in the other hand. She raised the hammer high.

            "No!" I cried. Valerie turned triumphant eyes on me. I locked eyes with her, and shoved my power down her throat. Valerie gasped as I stole her willpower away. "Stake Jeff! Now!"

            Valerie didn't hesitate. She lifted the stake off Gabe's chest and thrust it towards Jeff. Ben froze, casting a shocked look over his shoulder. I didn't hesitate either.

            My knee smashed into Ben's groin, with all of my strength. He released me and howled with pain. I think I totally mashed one testicle, maybe both of them. Thrust kicking him in the small of the back, I sent Ben across the room to crash into that table of BDSM paraphernalia.

            "Don't look him in the face," I commanded Valerie. "Kill him! Whatever it takes, kill Jeff!"

            I harbored no thoughts she would actually kill Jeff. He was too fast and experienced to be taken down that easy. But neither Gabe nor I was in any condition to fight a vampire powerful enough to earn a chair on council.