Vicente (10 page)

~~~

Vinnie waited in the well-appointed waiting room with Samuel. Stephen and Clar were running behind, but it didn’t matter. So was Leonard. He’d been detained, they’d been told, and was coming now. He glanced over at Samuel, who was leaning back in his chair as if he had not a care in the world. He supposed in a way he didn’t.

“What do you think detained him?” Vinnie grinned at Samuel’s question. “Yeah, me too. It’s a real bitch when all your money disappears like that. I guess he’s going to have to see about an extension on his loan. Wonder who you’d go to when you have snorted all your cash into your nose and the government is breathing down your neck at the tune of millions of bucks?”

“I would imagine that he’s trying to figure out where Abbie is. He’s had to have figured out by now that she’s the one who took it. Or at least has a general idea that she took it.” Vinnie had been worried about that when their contact at the bank had called and told them what had happened when Mr. Dillard had come in for his money. She’d told them she thought he knew it was Abbie, as he’d left without much of a fuss when she’d showed him the withdrawal. He looked at Samuel when he laughed.

“If you’re still worried about Abbie, I’d be more worried about Dillard. The man isn’t going to expect what she is now if he does find her. I don’t think she’ll go quietly in the night either.” He laughed harder. “She’s a little on the intense side compared to how she was when we first met her. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the girl; but damn, she can stand up to the best of them.”

Vinnie knew that she’d gotten a good deal better at standing up to him too. They’d gone into the fields behind their house last night after they’d gotten back from Samuel’s house. It had been a full moon and it had shown her in the most fantastic light. She’d shifted several times before he’d let her fly again. Auggie was getting just as frustrated with him as Abbie was.

“You think to have her pee on a paper too?” He looked at the small faerie. “I heard that’s what they do to train new pups. Make them pee in a place that’s convenient to the human training them. Want my advice? Never mind, you’re going to get it anyways. I’m thinking you should just let us go. We can handle whatever comes our way out here.”

“And what happens if she falls to the earth? Do you think I want her to get hurt?” Yve cleared her throat, and he looked at her. “Not you too? You think I should let her go on her own and be fine with it?”

“I do. She is…I think she will do better than most alone. Not to say you shouldn’t shift and fly with her, but I do not believe she will come to any harm here.” She leaned closer to his ear. “Is it not better that she fly this way than you tossing her from a window?”

He flushed. Vinnie had looked up at the repaired window and shuddered. He’d thrown them both out rather than have her shift in the bedroom and collapse the house around them. They were not all that lightweight, and their wingspan was tremendous.

When the elevator beside them opened, Samuel stood up and Vinnie sat still. This was the man who had hurt what was his.

You’ll behave or I’m going to kick your butt.
Vinnie grinned to himself at Abbie’s warning.
I’m serious. We have a plan and I for one would like you to stick to it.

I want to kill him.
She told him she did as well.
But I know this plan is better. Without any witnesses, he’ll get off with only a slap on the wrist.

I’m going to enjoy this.
He knew that she would too. As soon as Stephen and Clar got there, they were going to sit the man down and have a little talk with him. Then kill him.

Dillard simply walked by them and into his office without a word. Vinnie supposed it was fine this way. Now he could calm himself a little more.

You need to take a deep breath and stop thinking I’m going to break. I’m pretty sure I proved to you last night and again this morning that I’m pretty good at this stuff.

This stuff? If you’d been any better at this stuff, I’d still be in bed recovering. Where on earth did you learn how to ride that way?
She’d woken him riding his cock. He’d been so overwhelmed by seeing her there that he’d nearly come as soon as she cried out. But he rolled her to her back and took her as hard as he’d wanted. Then, for good measure, he’d feasted on her pussy to make sure she knew how happy he was about his wake-up call
. How about as soon as this is over we see if we can make each other come a dozen or more times?

Her soft growl had him wanting to say forget this shit and go home to her. But he knew as well as all of them did that these men had to pay for what they’d done. And the sooner the better. The soft ding of the elevator told him that Stephen and Clar had finally gotten there.

It was another ten minutes before they were shown into Dillard’s office. Vinnie took one look at the man and knew that he was stoned. Samuel knew it as well as he looked at him and shook his head. They’d heard, of course, that he had a bad habit, but seeing him this way when a meeting had been arranged was unprofessional.

“Please have a seat. And I wanted to tell you again how sorry I am that I was running behind. My car had been in an accident, and I—”

“You mean you totaled it last night when you were stoned out of your mind. And what of the house you demolished? What do you think is going to happen to those people when they figure out you’ve skipped out on them?” Vinnie watched Dillard’s face as Clar continued. “I would say that you’ve had, what, five lines of coke before you even left your house, and another one in the limo on the way in?”

“What’s the meaning of this? I’m not a man who would skip out…and drugs? I do not do drugs, so you’re very wrong about—” Stephen grabbed his arm and cut a long cut up his arm from wrist to elbow with a claw that suddenly appeared there. Blood poured from the wound, and Dillard was screaming.

“What would happen if I showed you just how much you’ve done?” The blood looked the same to him, but he knew what Stephen was doing. He’d made it so Dillard was seeing white powder come from his wound, and it was spreading out on his desk like a fan. When he let him go, Dillard continued to stare at it as if he was contemplating snorting it as well. The man was gone as far as being any help to them.

“What are you doing here?” Dillard didn’t look up from the desk when he asked, until it was apparent no one was going to answer him. “Is this some sort of joke? An intervention or some bullshit like that? I assure you that I’m able to stop anytime I want.”

“All right. I will give you one hundred million dollars in business if you check yourself into a drug rehab facility right now and dry out.” Dillard was shaking his head even before Samuel finished speaking. “You don’t want my business, or do you have more than enough money?”

“I heard that you’ve taken a big hit here in the past two days. Eighty million dollars is a lot of money. Well, you do have that dollar.” Vinnie stood up, then sat when Leonard stood as well. “Did you think that she’d not get her pound of flesh from the three of you?”

“Who are you? And how do you know that cunt? She robbed me and took money from—”

Vinnie had Dillard hanging a foot from the floor before he could think this was a bad move. Dillard was turning a nice shade of purple when Samuel put his hand on Vinnie’s shoulder.

“Let him down.” Vinnie felt his fingers tighten more around Dillard’s throat. “If you kill him, no one gets justice. Especially not your mate.”

“He deserves to die.” Samuel told him he did, just not by Vinnie’s hand. “And what makes you think she won’t be happy that the bastard is simply dead? I know that I will be. It will be a lot less stress in her life if he’s dead.”

“Because all the other women need justice as well.”

Vinnie held Dillard for a few more seconds before he dropped him in his chair. Vinnie could feel that his dragon wanted out, and he wanted out now. But he’d had years—millennia—of experience calming him, and had him under control a few minutes later.

Dillard glared at him. “You going to tell me where my money is, or do I have to have you arrested?” Samuel laughed. “What the fuck do you think is so funny? Can you afford to have someone rob you of that much money and not feel it?”

“Probably.” Dillard stared at Vinnie for a few seconds after Samuel spoke. “I, however, do know enough not to go to a loan shark that charges you fifty-one percent interest when the banks only charge you about four, with good credit. Next time you have a spending spree like you’ve had lately, you might want to think long term. I know you won’t, but you might want to give it a try.”

“I could as well. A great deal more than that before it had any effect on my way of living. But I’ve learned to say no. You should add that to your things to learn. ‘No, I don’t want more drugs.’ ‘No thanks, I don’t want to pay for things I have no use for.’ It could work, if you wanted it to.” Vinnie leaned back in his chair as he continued. “We’re going to talk about you and my wife. Then we might, just maybe, let you live just a little longer.”

“Wife? What the hell do I know…? Mother fuck, you’ve married the cunt.”

Vinnie took three deep breaths as Dillard sat there staring at him with fear in his eyes. It was the most difficult thing Vinnie had ever done in his life not to get up, take the man into his claws, and rip him in half. Literally in half. And from the look on Dillard’s face, he knew it too.

“You don’t want to live long, do you?” Samuel and Stephen sat side by side as Samuel continued, and Clar walked around the office. Vinnie had no idea what she was doing, so he ignored her for now. “We want you to sign a confession, stating how you and the other two men, Black and Henson, kidnapped women, took them to the house up on the hill, and used them in ways that will earn you a front page picture.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Dillard smiled at him before he spoke. “If you had anything on me or the rest of the men, you’d have the police here and not you doing it. I’m not saying I’ve done a damned thing, but if I had…well, you just don’t know anything.”

He leaned up to his desk and pulled out a gun. It didn’t have any silver in it. Any of the people in the room could tell that. If he did fire it at any of them, all Dillard would do was piss the lot of them off. Vinnie chuckled a little and stood up.

“Shoot me.” Dillard sat there watching him with this smile on his face that said to him, you’re fucking with the wrong person if you don’t think I will. “Go ahead, you know you want to.”

Dillard picked up the gun and pointed it at him. Vinnie felt his dragon stir, and it was just what he wanted. When Samuel stood as well, Dillard started to put the gun back, but Vinnie grabbed it.

“Pull the fucking trigger. But let me warn you….” He let enough of his dragon go to feel the floor beneath him crack and give. Vinnie knew what Dillard was seeing as well; a mouth full of sharp teeth, eyes the color of blood. His wings pulled at his body until he stretched enough to have them free from his shirt as it was absorbed into his flesh with the rest of his clothing. “Pull the fucking trigger and I will have you for lunch.”

Dillard screamed. As Vinnie held the gun to his shoulder, he felt the moment the bullet left the gun, but it didn’t enter his body. As Dillard continued to rant about monsters and blood, Vinnie pulled his body back and felt his dragon calm because scaring the man had been fun. He pulled his unbuttoned shirt around him as it formed around his body again, then looked at Samuel.

“It’s time we go.”

Vinnie nodded and turned to the door. He wanted to get out, to fly free. The smell of urine was burning his nostrils, and he needed out. Before they were in the parking garage, he told them he would meet them at home and took to the skies, Yve fussing at him the entire way back to the house.

Chapter 10

Abbie knew the moment he was in the house. Going to the kitchen where she thought he was, she found him standing there alone and was almost afraid of him. She’d never seen Vinnie like this. He looked…he looked like the dragon he was.

“Strip.” She shook her head, and he took a step toward her. “You can take what I need to do to you. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t strip down and bend over.”

“You touch me and I’ll kill you.” She knew something had upset him, but not what. But she wasn’t going to be his whipping post. “Take another step and I swear to Christ, it’ll be your last. I’m not going to let you hurt me.”

That brought him up short but no less pissed. They stared at each other for several minutes until Yve moved from his shoulder to fly between them. Auggie was still in his house, packing, or she wondered if he’d be there as well.

“The man that harmed you treated my master very badly.” Abbie wondered if Yve was telling her to let Vinnie have his way, but she continued before she could say anything. “He will need to calm his beast, my lady. You’ll need to help him, for I have tried this entire voyage here.”

“Did he hurt you?” Yve told her no, but he had. She could see that he had, just not physically. She looked at Vicente. “You have your feelings hurt, so you hurt those around you? Is that the kind of man you are? The big bad dragon doesn’t get his way, so he fucks his mate and hurts the one person in the world who would die for him?”

“I didn’t get my feelings hurt. Dillard said that…never mind. I was pissed. I just wanted you. Is that—?”

“Do you want me to think of him every time you touch me?” He took a step back and shook his head. “Then act like the Vicente I know and not an animal. This is not the man I know. And for your information, I don’t want to know him either. This Vicente is a bully and a prick.”

“I am an animal.” His roar made her skin tighten, and she knew it was her own dragon responding. But Vicente calmed a little and sat down. “I am an animal. I wanted to tear him into little pieces and then set fire to them. You’ve no idea what it was like to hold him around his throat and want to squeeze the life out of him until he was nothing more than a bag of broken bones.”

“No, I don’t.” She sat in the chair across from him as Doul came into the room. He looked between the two of them before he reached into the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of liquor. He set it down with two glasses and left them. Yve did as well. “You hurt her.”

“I know. I was pissed, and I said some things I shouldn’t have.” He laid his forehead on the table. “I think I might have scared Samuel as well. He was…when I told him I was flying home, he nodded so hard I heard his neck pop. I do believe the big lion was glad to be rid of me. I know Stephen was as well. I’ve been taking it out on everyone. I’m sorry.”

Abbie laughed. She couldn’t help it. Knowing that the big lion had been afraid just tickled her for some reason. Vinnie laughed too. The two of them were laughing so hard after about ten minutes that she’d had to reach for a napkin to wipe at the tears.

“Thank you, and I’m sorry.” She nodded at him. “I should have known the moment I came into the house you’d be a little pissy at me. Samuel even said you were a bit intense, more so than when he first met you. Do you forgive me?”

“Yes, but you might want to talk to Yve. I’m thinking a field of flowers just for her might be the right path. But back to the meeting. I take it he didn’t sign a confession.” Vicente shook his head. “We’ll get them somehow. I have faith in the system.”

“You would.” He didn’t sound like he was being nasty to her, so she let it go. “I really do want you.”

“I think I can manage to get into the mood too, so long as you don’t go all cave-manly on me.” She stood up and put out her hand to walk with him to the bedroom, but he pulled her to him and buried his face between her breasts as he cupped her ass.

“I want you here, across this table.” She moaned when he pulled her pants down to expose her ass. “Will you lay out for me? Let me feast on you before I take you to the bedroom and make love to you?”

“Yes.” She had no idea what anyone would say if they came into the room, but she unbuttoned her blouse and let it drop to the floor beside them. When she unhooked her bra, leaving it in place while she worked the snap and zipper of her pants, she watched him. He looked hungry enough to consume her, and her own body was warming up to the idea of letting him.

When she was standing in her panties and bra, she sat on the table in front of him and lay back. Lifting her legs up, she put her feet on his shoulders and pushed against him until she was in the center of the table. Leaning back, she spread her legs for him as she licked her lips.

“I don’t know whether I want to eat you or fuck that pretty mouth of yours.” She licked her lips again and moaned. “You’re not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

“No. I love it when you want me this much.” He stood up, pulled his shirt over his head, and dropped it on the floor. “Have you decided which way you’re going to take me? I’m very wet, however you do.”

“Yes. I’m going to do both.” He sat down in front of her, and she looked down her body at him. She’d never seen herself this way, her nipples hard as tiny stones just peeking out of her bra, her breathing almost panting, and her hips seeming to have a mind of their own in that they kept rocking up and down. “You will come as many times as you want. I’d like nothing better than to gorge myself on you.”

Abbie watched him lower his head to her. She felt her body respond as if he’d already touched her. When he nipped at her inner thigh, taking in the small droplet of blood, she wondered if she tasted as good as he did when she took his cock into her mouth. She moaned as he moved his way down her leg to her pussy, and he watched her the entire time.

Vicente licked her apex, and she nearly came then, but when he slid his fingers under the elastic of her panties and into her, she cried out. Her body was so primed for him that she came quickly. It was satisfying in that it took the edge off, but not nearly enough for her to be happy.

“You’re making this hard for me.” She couldn’t speak, nodding only that she agreed with him as he slid his finger in and out of her slowly. “My cock aches to be inside of you. Tasting you just a little might be all I get to do before I have to take you.”

“Please, Vicente. You’re killing me.” He grinned at her and lowered his head again. “Christ, yes.”

She came again, this time because he’d nipped at her clit. Abbie felt his tongue and teeth as he ate at her over and over until she couldn’t take it any longer. She’d come so many times in a few minutes that she was sure she’d need to be scooped up and carried to bed. When he stood up, Abbie was sobbing, not from pain but from need.

He didn’t waste any time but slammed deep inside of her. She came screaming his name over and over as he took her hard. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she held on as tightly as she could, knowing that when he came inside of her, she was going to pass out. When he lowered his head to her throat, she tilted her head and felt his teeth sink into her neck just as he filled her. Abbie came, her body seemingly suspended for several seconds on the side of a mountain to be plummeted over the edge in a free-for-all. The last thing she heard was Vicente crying out. Her last vision was of him looking down at her with blood on his chin.

~~~

Woodrow tried to think past the humming in his head. He was broke. Not just broke, but fucked as well. He watched Leonard pace around his office as he mumbled about cunts and bitches. They both knew who had taken it all from them. And now they had this man, a man who claimed to be her brother, in his apartment.

Late last night, Woodrow had gotten a call from Leonard. He’d been high, of course (when the hell wasn’t he?), but he said he had her brother. It had taken him a while to figure out who the
her
was and what the hell he was so excited about. Now the man was tied to one of his dining room chairs and bleeding all over the tile. Leonard had brought him to his house and had told him to take care of him until he returned. Tying him up was all Woodrow could think to do.

“We have to find out where she’s at. And what the fuck she did with our money.” No shit was all Woodrow could think about, but he said nothing. He did, however, look down at the gun in his lap. Ever since Leonard had killed Nolan in such a cold and calculated manor, he’d made sure he was armed at all times. And Woodrow had it out every time he and Leonard were in the same room. He might not be a great shot, but he was going down fighting. And with the fact that Leonard had used his gun twice now, Woodrow was taking no chances.

“She’s married, did you know that?” The man didn’t say anything, and Woodrow wasn’t even sure he could. Leonard had knocked him around a good deal when he’d told them he had no idea where his sister was. “She’s married to this guy named MacIntyre, Vicente MacIntyre. Do you know him?”

“She’s not married.” It was slurred, but they both understood him. Graham Curry looked at him with his one good eye. “Suing you when released. Just so you know. I’m not going to let you fuck around like this and get away with it.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. Your sister already fucked us over. We haven’t a single red cent, as my daddy used to say.” Woodrow grinned at Graham as he continued talking to the man. “Maybe if we ransom you, we’ll be able to get enough to get us out of the country. She certainly has enough money to pay us off to get you back.”

“You think?” He looked over at Leonard, who had his gun out again. Woodrow felt his hair on his arms dance. He’d have to pay more attention to his boss. He’d be dead if he didn’t. “That one guy, Payne, said he could lose some money and not feel it. Must be fucking nice. Of course, by then they had mine. You think she’d pay anything to get this piece of shit back? I wouldn’t, but then I’m a tight ass when it comes to parting with my hard-earned cash.”

Woodrow watched Leonard lean down to the table in front of him and saw him snort five lines of coke up his nose. Yeah, the man was really tight with his money. He knew for a fact that he’d just paid his neighbor over ten grand for some of the shit he was now using. Leonard, if he made it that long, was going to be useless in another ten minutes if he kept his up. Hell, he was barely functioning now. Leonard was wiping blood off his lip when he leaned back in his chair. Yeah, in two minutes he’d be lucky if the man knew his name. His head rolled to one side, which had Woodrow thinking the man could be dead and he’d not give a shit at all.

He watched him for another ten minutes until he drifted off and drool started to roll down his chin. Leonard had been hitting the coke pretty hard for the past few days, and Woodrow knew it was not a question of if he would find his partner dead, but where. He was using blow like it was his job.

Getting up, he went to the man who was his best friend at one time. After removing his gun from his hand and sitting him better in the chair so he wouldn’t fall again, he sat a chair in front of Graham. This man didn’t look as if he was going to make it much longer either. It was time to get some answers.

“Does your sister have our money?” Graham told him he didn’t know. “I’m going to call her for you, and you’re going to tell her to meet me. And she’s to bring me all my money. Then I’ll tell her where you are. We’ll part our ways and you’ll forget you ever knew me.”

“You’re going to kill me, and we both know it.” Woodrow had to give the guy points. He knew the way things were. “She won’t pay. She hates me. So does Vinnie. As a matter of fact, they’d probably pay you just to kill me. I’m not sure, but I’d bet they’d even pay you to let them watch.”

That surprised him. He didn’t have any siblings, but his wife did. And though they fought like cats and dogs with each other, he wouldn’t want to come between them if there was something or someone hurting one of them. He was sure they’d kill for each other and not think a thing about it. But he needed his money, and he had a feeling this man held the keys to his sister whether he believed it or not.

“I really don’t care. You’ll convince her to hand over the money or I will kill you. It’s up to you.” He looked over at the woman that, according to Leonard, had been riding Graham like a pro when he’d broken in to the apartment. Leonard had broken her neck as soon as she’d tried to get past him and out of the apartment. He’d brought her body along as a sort of insurance policy to Graham, but since she’d only been a hooker, he didn’t really care all that much for her, he’d told them when he’d regained consciousness. But when he looked at her now, Woodrow did as well.

“She didn’t hurt anyone.” Woodrow didn’t say anything. He’d have never killed the women, but then they’d have had a witness. While he’d been pissed at Leonard for killing her then, now he could see the good planning around her murder. Not a single witness when this was finished.

Instead of debating how many people she may or may not have given every disease she ever had, Woodrow pulled out his cell phone. He had Abbie’s number memorized now, and simply pressed the appropriate numbers. A man answered the phone.

“I would like to speak to Abigale Curry please. Tell her it’s about her brother, Graham.” He was asked to hold please, and a click made him realize that he might not have dialed her cell phone, or the calls had been transferred to a land line.

“Hello?” He heard her voice and it took him several seconds to realize that she sounded pissed rather than anxious, as he thought she might. “Hello, Woodrow Henson. Are you having fun yet? I am. What the hell do you want now?”