Angel's Messiah (2 page)

The last drops of blood from the two I had a hold on were absorbed into my body. Before the others could see that their companions were dead I stood up, dragging their limp corpses along with me, dangling them like puppets.

I saw something being passed to the front of the line — a spear. The silly buggers were going to try and skewer me while they thought I was still connected to the dead vamps. They’d seen how my fingers had melded into the necks of their friends.

When the vamp threw the spear I pulled the bodies in front of me as a shield, thrusting them forward to meet the spearhead. As I did so, I let go and transported to a new position, behind the enemy lines, grabbing the two at the rear by the back of their necks.

“Bye boys,” I yelled out, then left, into the lights.

I knew that being held by the back of the neck makes it hard to put up a good fight, yet I felt let down by their half-hearted efforts to even so much as kick me. Maybe the lights had freaked them out, or they were resigned to their fate. Either way, they offered little in the way of a challenge.

I let them go when they’d been drained. Their bodies disappeared, back to where they’d come from. I was sure the reappearance of the dead bodies would cause a bit of a stir.

“I can’t believe I’m
still
hungry,” I muttered.

I shook my head and returned to the underground tunnels. The remaining vamps were poking the dead bodies that had miraculously appeared out of thin air, trying to make sense of what had happened. I wrapped my arms around one and took him away, into the lights, careful to keep my hands on the coarse tunic he wore. I wanted to taste his blood and feel it running down the back of my throat. My lips touched the base of his neck, away from a vein, so it would be a slow death and I could enjoy it all the more.

I was sorely disappointed when his blood tasted off. It wasn’t poisoned or drugged — I would’ve known if it wasn’t pure — but it just didn’t taste right. It was quite horrid actually, a little on the vinegary side, if my taste buds were to be believed.

I’d only tasted one other vamp from this region in the traditional way, and she had been sweet, if slightly tart, but certainly not vinegary. Was it just a fluke he tasted off? Was it just a fluke
she
tasted okay, or did all males here taste funny? There was only one way to find out. I had to try a few more.

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, so I’ve
still
got a bit of room.”

I performed a quick snatch and grab for another male. He was just as vinegary as the previous one, so much so that I couldn’t finish him off. I had to detach — it wasn’t as hard as the first time I’d tried it. I dispatched him using Death, the blade Danny had given me years before to defend myself with. His body returned to the underground network while I held onto the head. I’d need to dispose of that separately. If I let it go and it returned to where the body was, they might know to reattach it.

I headed to the cavern in the abandoned mine that had been the resting place of many a vamp I’d killed over the years. A drop kick saw the head land in the water at the other end of the cavern. Danny and I believed the water was the reason behind the mine being abandoned.

My stomach started to feel queasy. The vampire’s blood wasn’t agreeing with me, which was a first. I’d call it a day and go back to the savannahs tomorrow, looking for a female. My stomach heaved and the muscles clenched. A pool of blood spewed forth. It was just the once, not like when I ate or drank something no longer compatible with my stomach. Maybe the evolution of the male vamps in Africa included new defence mechanisms.

As I produced a wet cloth to clean my face, along with a toothbrush and toothpaste to make my mouth taste minty fresh again, I thought about it some more. The first two vamps, both males, were fine, though I hadn’t fed off them the traditional way. My fingers didn’t have taste buds, after all. I hadn’t really paid much attention before, to where the blood went when my hands were involved, but it wasn’t my stomach. The blood entered my body directly via the blood stream, not the stomach. If these vamps had developed a new defensive mechanism that worked on taste, or by the blood being absorbed via the stomach, I would just have to use my hands.

More theories to test out. Tomorrow, not today.

I felt a bit better after I’d cleaned myself up, though the smell of the blood on the cavern floor made me want to retch again. My stomach rumbled.

“What are you, a sucker for punishment?” I mumbled.

I returned to the cottage, somewhat disturbed by my experience, and caught Danny practicing his dancing, of all things, in the ballroom, with someone he’d conjured up. As soon as he saw me she disappeared. I didn’t get a chance to see what she looked like — what Danny’s ideal dance partner looked like.

“You’re back early,” he said.

“Yeah, I decided I only wanted a quick snack. I really need to satisfy my
other
hunger,” I lied, quite convincingly I thought.

Danny rolled his eyes and chuckled. “And you say I’m bad.”

“I have seven years to catch up on, you know,” I laughed.

I pulled Danny closer to me by his shirt.

“You won’t be needing those,” I said, looking at his clothes.

Danny was standing in front of me naked, his clothes gone, courtesy of my dirty mind. Sometimes I thought he regretted gifting me his abilities, skills and knowledge before he’d died, all those years ago. I misused everything he gave me, for my own wicked pleasures. I had a hedonistic streak not even I’d been aware of, until I could do nearly anything I wanted to, with little or no consequence.

My hand automatically went to the scar near his hip, courtesy of Amy, a former love who had fallen with Satan. It was a constant reminder to me of how lucky I was to have him.

Danny began to undress me. He enjoyed taking off each item of clothing, revealing more of my skin with each piece. For him it was all part of the dance, an art form in itself. I indulged him by not wishing all of my clothing instantly gone, even when the need for out naked bodies to join as one was so great I thought it would consume me.

Always a hunger burned within me — for him, for blood and for violence.

“Am I a creature of habit, Danny?” I asked softly.

He unhooked my bra and let it slip to the floor, his hands caressing my back, making me shiver.

“We’re all creatures of habit,” he said. “We all fall into a comfortable routine, although occasionally,” his lips brushed my neck and I shivered again, “something comes along to shake that up.”

“Oh,” I said.

He continued to kiss my neck.

“Why?” he asked.

I ran my fingers through his hair, my heart beating faster now.

“No reason,” I murmured.

Drake’s words rang in my ears —
you’re a creature of habit, Helena. You always return to what you know — sex and violence.

2.
Sickness

I found I needed very little sleep as the days wore on. Some nights I didn’t sleep at all. While Danny went to visit Michael, to discuss some activity to the far south, I returned to the savannahs to hunt for a female vamp. I’d never done much in the way of night hunting before.

The night was overcast and starless, very dark indeed. For a first-world mortal to be out here, in the middle of nowhere, would have been a scary experience — no street lights or light from the moon or stars. For me the lack of light created a certain mood — a dark and sinister atmosphere — just the thing for a hunt.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt it was a wonderful night for a hunt. Two vampires — female from their scents — were crouched over a body, presumably a mortal. I stealthily ran the short distance to where they were, coming up behind them. One vamp I threw face first to the ground, and sat on her back, pinning her down. The other I pulled to me, holding her bare arms. I’d finally developed better control of my fingers, and could now hold someone without their melding into the flesh until I willed it. Detaching, however, was a different matter. Once my fingers were doing their thing, they were greedy for every last drop. I had to keep working on being able to detach from my prey before they were drained.

I let my mouth find her neck. She tasted just as foul as the males. The vinegar taste was apparent as soon as her blood touched my tongue. I pulled back — it was getting easier to disengage every time I did it — and let my hands finish her off. Her companion made strange guttural and clicking noises — as well as the usual hissing — and tried to buck me off her back.

The body slumped to the side as my fingers detached. I pulled the remaining vamp’s head back, leaning into her, and latching onto her neck. Foul-tasting blood touched my tongue and my stomach heaved. I wrapped my hands around her throat, squeezing as I drained her, willing my stomach to settle down.

What a bitter disappointment this trip had been. Why had the first vamp I’d tasted here, after one of my training sessions with Rahab, tasted okay? Was she the oddity here and the rest the norm?

You know what you have to do,
the little voice in my head said.

Yes,
I thought.
I’ve got to go back to familiar territory, where I know what they taste like, to be sure.

I hated the thought of going back on what I’d said to Danny, and taking a vamp from Drake’s clan — one that may have helped me in the fight against corrupt angels. I hoped I could find a vamp whose scent I didn’t recognise — someone who hadn’t been there during the slaughter of angels.

There was no way I was going to the much-used above ground meeting area — the temple. There was a possibility Drake would be there, and I didn’t think I could face him yet. His pain at my rejection would still be too fresh and I needed no reminder of what we’d done.

The treetops near the corridor then,
I told myself. The corridor was the name given to the long row of trees that marked part of the boundary of Danny’s territory.
Let your vision range and see who’s out and about.

I blinked when I arrived at the treetops so that no one would know I was here. It was one of the better abilities I’d inherited from Danny. I pushed the invisibility barrier to just under three hours, a far cry from the few minutes Danny was able to remain invisible for. As I kept telling him, if he practiced more he’d be able to extend himself further. He believed the amount of time I could remain unseen was not to do with practice, but was something within me that I’d brought to the party.

I let my eyes lose focus and my vision ranged out somewhere in the vicinity of five kilometres in all directions. It was something else Danny wished he was able to do. I’d promised him that if I died I would gift him my abilities.

I had to admit that I laughed every time I thought of him being able to put to good use my skills and abilities at pole dancing and lap dancing. It would be worth coming back from the dead just to see that. It also reminded me I’d promised to show him what a lap dance was one day. Maybe tomorrow, when he was back from visiting Michael …

Which hunger are you here to satisfy, Helena?

“Shut up,” I mumbled. “A girl can daydream, can’t she?”

“Who’s there?” someone yelled from ground level.

“Ah, shit. Why do you have to talk to yourself so much?” I mumbled, shaking my head.

“Come on down, whoever you are,” the voice said.

I drew a deep breath through my nose and picked up the scent of the male vamp below. He seemed quite new. There was a freshness to his sickly-sweet scent that most vampires didn’t have. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that he hadn’t tasted mortal blood yet. He was very new indeed.

I walked to the edge of the tree and let my body drop, landing on my feet in front of him. He was very young, possibly only eighteen or nineteen, and his face screamed
little boy lost
.

“Hi,” I said and smiled. “You’re new.”

He sighed, “You can tell?”

“It’s in your scent,” I said.

“Really? No one else has mentioned it.”

I tapped the side of my nose. “I have a particularly good nose.”

He put his hands in his pockets and kicked a stone.

“I don’t even know what I’m doing here. I was promised I’d never die, but I’d have to fight. I don’t really like fighting, but I didn’t want to die either.”

“You were recruited willingly?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“What was wrong with you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

He must have been very sick to have so willingly agreed to this type of life.

“It’s okay. I had leukaemia. By the time we found out, secondary cancers had spread to my stomach, kidneys and liver. The doctors gave me six months to live. I’m only eighteen, I haven’t even begun to live. I didn’t want it to end so soon. What about you?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I wasn’t recruited willingly, but it’s no big deal. It’s not like I can go back and change what happened, and I wouldn’t even if I could. I’m
happy
now.”

“You’re happy, living the way you do?”