Netherworld: Drop Dead Sexy (23 page)

With noticeable effort, Neuhaus tore
his gaze from that grin to look at Tristan again. “Could there be a
vamp in your territory you don’t know about?”

Tristan allowed anger to purse his
features. “It is a possibility, though all visitors are supposed to
make themselves known to the ruling vampire.

I had sudden insight. “Not likely
though,” I whispered.

Augustus gave me a questioning
look.

Watching Tristan pretend to be incensed
the Ripper might be an interloper who had gained access to his
territory without his knowledge, I told Augustus, “The killer has a
witch working for him. Erica Ford isn’t likely to trust someone
she’s not seen around. Why is Tristan lying to them?”

Augustus looked at Tristan for a long
moment before returning his attention to me. “The prize of
vengeance is not willingly awarded to others,” he
whispered.

Cold crept through my body. “He wants
to get this guy himself. To exact his own justice for the trouble
the Ripper has caused him.”

I shuddered to realize that vampires
could be bloodthirsty in more than one way.

* * * *

The agents left. The assembled paras
settled down to what I supposed to be their usual business. It got
pretty boring pretty fast. People typing on computers, asking
Tristan to sign this or that, making phone calls to argue about
various zoning ordinances … yawn.

Augustus was beautiful, smart and
companionable. However, his inability to converse in anything but
riddles and philosophical ruminations made for less than fulfilling
discourse in the long run. Even debating the strengths and
weaknesses of the Georgia Bulldogs versus the Florida Gators would
have captured my interest at this point.

Once my killer was caught, it looked to
be a long, tedious afterlife.

Three hours after the FBI’s visit,
Penny, the pale blond vampire who wore too much black, approached
Tristan. She said nothing, just quirked a toothy smile. Tristan
nodded and rose from his desk.

“What’s with the secret handshake
stuff?” I asked Augustus.

A beak can’t grin, but there was
amusement in his attitude. “Follow the path. Though it be dark, it
illuminates all.”

I watched Tristan straighten his jacket
and adjust his tie before striding towards the door leading to the
hotel lobby. “I should follow him? You mean, spy?”

“The beast feeds his hungers, and the
yet unborn shall learn his ways.”

My skin crawled. “You mean he’s going
to suck some blood? I definitely don’t want to watch
that.”

“To love is to accept all of the
beloved; that which delights and that which despairs.” Augustus
pushed me after Tristan. His being solid and me incorporeal proved
no hindrance at all. It felt as if he pushed right through me, but
I was shoved along anyway.

I pushed back. “I only like him as a
ghost. I don’t care anything about his vampire side.”

The griffin herded me along, implacable
as a border collie, apparently intent on my watching Tristan leech
off some blood groupie.

I was getting pretty mad by now. “Gosh
darn it, Augustus, I don’t want to!”

The hateful birdbrain said nothing. He
nipped my hand, and though he left no damage to my ghostly form, I
felt it. That beak was sharp. “Ouch! All right, all right, stop
being so mean.”

I stomped after Tristan with as much
bad grace as I could muster. As Augustus paced behind in my angry
wake, I contemplated griffin wings in hot sauce with blue cheese
dressing. I wondered if the hotel’s chef could pull that one
off.

Prodded by the implacable Augustus, I
followed Tristan into a room on the hotel’s ground floor. The
vampire was too intent on what waited in the room to note Augustus
as he shut the door between me and the griffin. And of course I
remained invisible to him. I wondered how Tristan would feel if he
knew Augustus wanted me to watch him feed.

Lit by a single art deco style lamp,
the room appeared markedly different from the room Dan and I
frequented. Rather than the ornate antiques that gave the
atmosphere such opulence, this room was almost utilitarian. Double
bed. Nightstand. Mirror. Dresser. Clean but very boring. The kind
of room a business traveler would sleep in rather than some rich
clod’s resort appointments.

It took me a moment to realize this
room, like the ballroom, had been repurposed. I wasn’t looking at
the hotel’s ghost. This was the physical world’s face.

Something else in the room gave me
pause. A naked woman draped over the black duvet covering the bed.
Her eyes glowed with anticipation as she watched Tristan move
towards her.

The blond blood donor looked to be in
her mid to late twenties, a little on the too-skinny side. Long and
lanky, she waited for Fulton Fall’s head vampire, her hands fisting
the bed’s cover as he loomed over her. Her eyes were wide, and she
flicked her tongue over smiling lips. A couple of healing puncture
wounds on her throat told me this wasn’t her first rodeo. She was a
real blood bank, a vampire groupie.

Tristan smiled at her, his fangs
shimmering into view as he let go the glamour that kept them
hidden. My heart went to my stomach, but the bleeder whimpered an
excited little sound. Her breathing quickened, and I couldn’t help
but look. Moisture glistened on her inner thighs, confirming her
arousal. Good God.

“So nice to see you again, Stephanie,”
Tristan said. He unfastened his trousers as he bent close to press
a kiss to her forehead.

She wasn’t too terribly ugly, I suppose
… okay, Stephanie was pretty. However, her voice whined nasally,
setting my teeth on edge. “I’m always glad to serve you, Mr.
Keith.”

“Very sweet. Hush now,” Tristan
murmured. I guess he didn’t care for that voice either.

His face hung so close to hers that his
eyes must have filled her vision. I watched her gaze glaze over.
She shuddered, another happy moan slipping from her lips. He
glamoured her, taking her to a place of utter helplessness. I felt
cold all over watching him steal her will away.

Tristan said, “It makes you happy to
give yourself, Stephanie.” He pulled his half-interested sex free
of his pants and lay over her slight body. “Turn your head, my
girl. No pain, only pleasure.”

She obeyed, letting her head fall to
one side. Her expression had gone somehow both blank and euphoric
all at once. I shivered. Had I looked like that when the Ripper
took me? Had I welcomed my death with the same quiet
eagerness?

Tears slid down my cheeks. I didn’t
want to see any more of this, but for some reason I couldn’t turn
away. Maybe Tristan had inadvertently glamoured me too. Maybe not.
All I knew was that I had no more power to look elsewhere than the
girl under his spell.

He drove the pearly fangs into
Stephanie’s throat, and she gasped. Her body arched beneath his,
and she shrieked ecstasy. Peal after peal erupted from her, and she
clawed furiously at Tristan’s back. I wondered if his shirt would
survive the assault.

I gaped, my hands pressed to my ears to
shut out some of the din. “Dang girl, they’re going to hear you in
the next county. What are you doing to her, Tristan?”

The blood bank writhed in continued
orgasm, her screams tapering to throaty moans. Between each
expulsion of pleasure, I heard the liquid sucking sounds of Tristan
feeding. He pulled hard at the wounds he’d made, his red-rimmed
eyes half closed. His hand went between their bodies, readying
himself for the first thrust into his donor. When he took her, she
screamed with renewed climax.

He rammed against her, not gentle at
all. All the finesse he’d used with me was decidedly missing.
Tristan wasn’t making love, wasn’t even having intercourse. He
flatout effed her, a monstrous vampire using a human to quench his
most base hungers. And the bleeder enjoyed it.

I felt queasy. And, horribly, horribly
turned on.

Stephanie’s arms slid from their death
grip around his torso. Her eyes closed, and her cries dwindled to
little whimpers. She lay still beneath the creature feeding on her
now. Her eyes rolled over white, and her eyelids
fluttered.

This was going bad fast. Despite
knowing he couldn’t hear me, I said, “You better get off her,
Tristan. She’s gonna die if you don’t quit.”

Still he drank and rutted, uncaring
that he drained her. Killing her. Oh crap. He’d burn for this.
“Come on, you darn vampire. Stop!”

I needed Augustus. Someone had to call
a halt to it. Just as I was about to race to the door, Tristan’s
head flung back, and his groan of completion filled the room. Blood
dribbled from the corner of his mouth, his fangs stained crimson.
He jerked his hips a couple more times before pulling free of the
too-quiet bleeder.

Shaking violently, I watched him put
his cock back in his pants and button up. He took a square of gauze
from the nightstand and pressed it to the girl’s neck. Her
breathing was light, but she lived. She smiled slightly as he
patted the top of her head and covered her up with the
duvet.

Dizzy, I whispered, “Holy crap, this is
messed up. And I’m messed up for liking it.” Indeed, I was wet.
Despite my horror at the scene, my body responded.

Jeez, I thought I was just submissive.
But part of me had wanted to be Tristan’s victim, drained almost to
the point of death, and that went beyond mere
submission.

“I gotta get outta here.” Too
embarrassed to face Augustus, I transported myself back to the
ballroom. I made it with no side trips. Yay me.

To my relief, Dan and Lana had
returned. They had their heads together with Patricia and the dark,
muscular wall that was Gerald. Even the sight of the Judge standing
slightly apart, his expression as disapproving as ever, looked
better than what I had just been exposed to.

Dan seemed really ticked when I
appeared all by myself. “Where the hell did you go? And where’s
Augustus?”

“Nice to see you too, Daddy.” I was so
not in the mood to be yelled at. “Augustus thought it important I
watch Tristan do his personal business.”

“What are you talking about? Vampires
don’t go—” he stopped as realization eased his thunderous
expression. “Oh, he wanted you to watch Tristan feed? What
for?”

As much as I hated him jumping all over
my case, I hated the hint of a pleased expression flickering in his
eyes even more. Maybe he thought the disgusting sight of watching a
vampire snacking put him ahead in the Brandilynn’s One and Only
Lover Derby.

Keeping well out of Dan’s reach I
grouched, “You ask the big birdbrain. I’m tired of trying to figure
out his riddles.”

Tristan and Augustus entered Para
Central. Tristan looked furious. Augustus appeared worried, but he
visibly relaxed when his golden eyes lit on me. His sigh came out
with a chirp. “The lost is found and I thank the stars for leading
her back.”

If Dan played the angry parent, then
Augustus was the disappointed one. His gentle rebuke and the relief
on his face to see me safe made me instantly contrite. I hung my
head. “I’m sorry Augustus, but that scene was high on the ‘eww’
factor. I had to get out of there fast.”

Augustus came right up to me and rested
his head on the top swell of my breasts. He curled a paw around my
thighs, his claws carefully sheathed. I don’t know how many people
are gifted with a griffin’s hug, but I had a feeling it was pretty
darn rare. He’d really been upset, and I wondered what I’d done to
earn his care. I vowed to myself then and there to not disappoint
Augustus again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and
laid my cheek on the top of his feathered head. “I really,
sincerely apologize, Augustus.”

After a moment, he stepped back. He sat
at my side, his feathered and furred bulk warm against me. I’d
apparently been forgiven.

Tristan paused to glare at the griffin
with undisguised coldness. When Augustus stared unblinkingly back,
no hint of remorse in his attitude, the vampire turned his back and
went to his desk. He sat down and flicked an imperious hand at
those who awaited his attention.

Lana and Patricia sat in the chairs the
two FBI agents had parked in earlier. Gerald stood behind Patricia.
The Judge came forward, still keeping slightly apart from the
rest.

Tristan addressed Lana first. “Did you
find the newest victim?”

She shook her head tiredly. “Just the
body. Its condition conforms to the earlier victims. The Ripper has
moved to escorts apparently.”

“Her spirit was nowhere to be found
then?” Tristan’s irritability was replaced with despair. For a
moment he looked almost human.

Lana shook her head again. “Dan also
checked her home address. Nothing. She apparently moved
on.”

“Is Dan here now?”

“Yes.”

Tristan got back to business, his
vampire coldness in place once more. “The library has been warded
with as many protection spells as protect the hotel. Brandilynn
should be safe there from Erica and her friends.”