B007XKEWAE EBOK (22 page)

Laughing like she had never done without Francesca before, she jumped over the edge herself. But she landed
safely on her feet. With one last look at the carnage she had wrought Gabriella headed back. Francesca would be appalled at the attention something like this would draw. At least the cause of death of her two victims would be impossible to determine now.

She made it back to the nest less than an hour before dawn and still giddy from her triumph. Her elation was swept away when she saw the guard who told her that Fulton was still with Francesca and that they had returned to her chambers an hour earlier. That meant another night in her dingy little hideaway for Gabriella. Alone.

She was sorely tempted to take Xavier up on his offer at that point so desperate was she for companionship. Any kind, any partner seemed suitable at
that point. But she decided to wait until Francesca wanted her back. Why settle for less?

So she went back to her secret chamber. She entered the room with the conveyor belt that would admit her into her den. She climbed onto the belt and crawled through the curtains.

A rough hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and yanked her from the belt. She was thrown roughly into the dirt. She rolled along the floor until she slammed against the wall and jolted to a stop.

She had to take a moment to get her breath back before she faced whoever had attacked her.

A pair of booted feet at the end of thick legs came over to where she lay with her side against the wall. Gabriella
remained unmoving. A large hand attached to an arm almost as thick as the legs reached down for her.

In a sudden burst of movement she took hold of the wrist and slid between the legs. She came up to her feet holding the arm between the owner’s legs. With a heave she lifted the arm upwards flipping the large vampire over to land on its back. He clutched at his groin moaning.

Two other male vampires, not quite as large as their companion but still rather big, had watched the display and now they closed in on her. The largest, who Gabriella had painfully floored, was now struggling up.

The only exit was back in the direction she had come in, but she had been thrown to the opposite side of the room and all three vampires approached
from that direction. Between her and her way out.

Gabriella knew she would not be able to fight her way out past them and she was not quite fast or agile enough to slip past them all. So she used her only other method of defence, the one which she had used most and had been most effective in the past.

"Any one of you lays a finger on me and the Mistress will see that you suffer a long and painful death," she threatened.

All three of her attackers smiled at her lustily.

"I don't think she cares what happens to you anymore," The biggest said.

They continued to advance.

"She does care. Unless you leave now all three of you are dead."

"I don't think so. Take a look around, girly. She makes you live like this and you think she cares. I think we can do with you as we please and then tell the Mistress every detail of what we did to you and she won't bat an eye."

Gabriella backed away until she was trapped against the back wall.

"Get away from me. I'll scream."

"Please do. No-one will hear you."

The leader of the group stood directly in front of her. His minions flanked him on either side. Facing her he moved his eyes to each of them and gave an almost imperceptible nod. The smaller two vampires moved in.

Gabriella tried to strike out at them but they pinned her arms back to the wall at her sides. They each used one of their legs to slightly separate hers and to trap
them against the wall as well. When she was fully pinned their fully recovered leader moved closer.

He reached down with his hand. She tried to squirm away from his touch but she could move very little. He pressed his fingers against her.

"Come on you little whore. The way you swan around us looking like a tart, teasing us all. Don't pretend you haven't asked for this."

Gabriella closed her eyes as tears ran down.

Xavier had followed Gabriella and waited outside when she entered her hideaway. Now he lay peeking through the flaps. Gabriella was pinned back against the wall weeping. The largest
vampire had started feeling her up. Things were going according to plan.

This could
not
happen to her. She was Gabriella Pendolari. She was the favourite of Francesca dela Fuente. She had commanded the nest in the name of her Mistress. Vampires should be afraid to even look at her the wrong way in case she took offence and had the Mistress punish them. They should not attack her and assault her. They should definitely not indecently assault her within the same nest as their Mistress.

Gabriella tried to stoke up her inner fire. She was outraged at how they dared to treat her. Her anger should be bubbling up to consume them. But all her efforts were quashed as easily as she
was being held in place. Hatred and anger could gain no purchase against the abject terror that filled her being. She could not fight them off and they were not afraid of recriminations after the event. Such recriminations that, even if they came, would not help her avoid this fate. Since becoming a vampire Gabriella had never known fear like this.

How could Francesca let this happen to her?

Gabriella closed her eyes so that she could avoid the lecherous looks on the faces of her attackers. But doing so opened her mind to imagined images of what they were going to do with her before they were through. With three of them there was an almost infinite number of awful possibilities to run through, and because there were three of them, with
the greater stamina gifted to vampires, they could run through all of them and invent new ones she couldn't even begin to imagine.

She willed herself to pass away into unconsciousness. She was desperate for a way to avoid having to go through this, and being unconscious so that she couldn't remember what they did to her seemed like it would be an attractive alternative. Never since being turned had she felt, or actually been, this helpless.

With words of encouragement from his two companions the largest vampire continued to grope her body. Touching her roughly in all the most intimate places.

"I think it's about time we got down to some real business, don't you, Honey?" he leered.

"I do. But don't call me 'Honey'."

The big vampire turned around to face the newcomer and got a good look at his fist just before it rammed into his face.

One of her assailants released her from his grip but before she could squirm free she was held firmly by the last vampire. He kicked her behind her knees to force her into a kneeling position.

While the largest attacker shook his head to clear it the vampire who had just released Gabriella rushed to deal with the newcomer. His long ponytail flapped against his back as he charged the other vampire.

Xavier deftly side-stepped the charge and delivered an elbow to the back as he did so. Taking hold of ponytail by his hair and the back of his shirt he
used the others momentum to aim him at the larger vampire. With those two temporarily taken care of Xavier approached Gabriella and the single vampire who continued to hold her. The vampire kept his hold solid while Xavier closed on them. He never prepared to defend himself, trusting in his companions to come to his aid.

"Look out," Gabriella warned Xavier as both the other vampires got to their feet.

Xavier locked his eyes on Gabriella's not turning to face the threat she had warned him of. When the attackers had closed right up he dropped to the floor and swept his legs around dropping both other vampires again.

He pushed himself back to his feet and delivered kicks to both downed
vampires. Watching his friends in such a vulnerable position made the vampire holding Gabriella loosen his grip ever so slightly as he debated whether to go to their assistance.

That slight slack was all the give she needed. While Xavier continued pounding on the others she slithered around on her knees so she was no longer being held from behind. Now she and the vampire holding her were face to face. The other vampire dropped to his own knees to avoid being thrown by her but now he was in an even worse place.

Gabriella didn't mind being pressed up so intimately against this one now that she was the one in control. She vamped fully out and stared into his eyes. He must have seen his doom in her gaze because sudden fear washed over him.

She lunged forwards and clamped her mouth over his Adam's apple. She sank her fangs through the flesh and pulled her head backwards. The vampire's throat was ripped out of his neck. She shook her head from side to side severing a large portion that she spat out across the floor.

The vampire, still alive despite the damage she had caused, released her from it's grip. Gabriella stood towering over the bloody thing on the floor. She spat it's blood out of her mouth, vampires couldn't drink the blood of other vampires, and walked up to where the head dangled from a few ruined muscles, flaps of skin and taut tendons.

She put the heel of her boot above his exposed spinal column. Shifting her weight she pushed down and the bones
broke with a snap. The body twitched and was still.

Xavier stood over the prone bodies of the other two of her would be rapists. They were badly injured but if they were given the chance they would recover from their injuries, however extensive, but Xavier wasn't going to allow that. He pulled a wickedly curved knife from somewhere on his person. Xavier got behind the smaller of the remaining vampires. With the knife gripped in his right hand he used the left to drag the vampire up by his hair. An instant later he had drawn the knife across the vampire's neck with such fore that he was decapitated with one stroke. After the headless body fell Xavier casually tossed the head aside.

He looked down at the single surviving vampire. It was the largest of the bunch. Xavier beckoned her and Gabriella approached. Xavier handed her the knife and closed her fingers around the cool metal of the hilt. It was heavier than it looked but it fit comfortably in her grip. She hefted the weapon getting the feel of it.

She felt a strange sensation of power. It wasn't just that this was a killing weapon, she had lost count of how many times she had killed. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that she could now take care of the sorry bastard who had been feeling her up earlier on.

She turned the big vampire over with her feet. She stood above him with a leg on either side of his body. She stared at his face, the licentious mask he had worn
when he had the control had been replaced by a bleeding, swelled-up eye, and numerous cuts and scrapes all over the rest of his face.

However bad he looked Gabriella would never feel any pity for the beast. She lowered herself down but kept her knees bent in a position so that she stopped short of making any contact. She gripped the knife in both hands holding the point downwards. She brought it down between her legs. She pressed the very tip up against his manhood and gently applied pressure.

The vampire underneath her screamed in pain and bucked against her. Writhing and struggling  he continued to call out in agony. Xavier dropped to a knee. He used a leg to pin the vampire by his shoulder. With a hand
he held the other shoulder down and covered the vampire’s mouth with his other arm.

Gabriella moved the blade in a straight line to a point just to the left of his sternum. She tried to look her attacker in the eye but he had them clenched shut tightly against the pain he was already feeling. Instead she stretched and arched her back to bring her mouth next to his ear.

"Cop a feel of this," she whispered huskily.

Again she applied pressure, leaning in to force the knife through his chest and between the ribs. The large vampire gave one final shudder and never moved again.

Gabriella jumped up off the corpse wrenching the knife out along with her. She turned to point the blade at Xavier. Suspicion burned through her mind.

"What are you doing here? Coincidentally arriving just in time to save me from these morons."

Xavier held his arms out palms open.

"I came to fetch you that," He pointed at the knife she still held on him. "We know that there is dissension
growing in the nest. As the Mistress's favourite I believed you could be a likely target for those who wanted to get at her. I thought you could do with some way to protect yourself if anybody tries anything," he said.

"And to protect the Mistress, of course," he added almost as an afterthought.

Xavier tried out a smile on her. "Not that you can't take care of yourself, but people don't always play fair," He looked at the three bodies.

"Point taken. And thanks for the assist."

"No problem. I'd do that for an enemy in your position let alone a friend."