B007XKEWAE EBOK (25 page)

Fulton could smell Francesca and a few other vampires beyond this doorway. With all the confusion he had fought through to get to this point, he had no idea what he would face in there. So Fulton had to be careful when he went in there.

Fulton charged and dropped to his knees as he slid through the door and ducked behind the cabinet.

Fulton rolled away and came up to his feet holding his knife pointing at the vampire, Jacques, who had been closest to the door. He glanced around taking in the scene as quickly as he could.
Surprisingly Gabriella appeared to have sided with Xavier against her Mistress.

"Am I interrupting something?" Fulton asked looking at the tableau.

"They decided to revolt against my leadership," Francesca said calmly.

"Shut up," Xavier spat at her.

"You have more problems than just me," Francesca said.

Jacques and Fulton eyed each others weapons dangerously maintaining a stand-off.

Xavier was alternating his eyes from Francesca to Fulton. Fulton and Jacques moved around each other sizing each other up. Fulton being careful not to approach too close to Xavier and Jacques preventing him from getting too near to Francesca.

Gabriella's gaze fluttered around the chamber. Her eyes remained on each of the prospective combatants for only a moment before moving on to the next. The little vampiress slipped in closer to Xavier, nestling in up to his side as if to get more into his protection.

"You could join me," The male vampire said wrapping his left arm around Gabriella's slender waist. "I could let her live and offer her to you as a sex slave," He indicated Francesca.

"Tempting but no," Fulton said pretending to consider.

"Then it's time for her to die."

At that instant Gabriella shifted in his grip. She produced a knife from somewhere on her person, there weren't all that many places for her to hide it
underneath her gown. She placed the tip of the knife in the side of Xavier's ribs.

"Well, this just keeps getting better and better," Fulton commented. "Will you people please make your minds up about who you each want to kill?"

"What are you doing?" Xavier snarled at Gabriella.

"Do you really believe that I would turn my back on Francesca to be with you, Xavier?"

Xavier shifted the arm which held his knife, a little increased pressure from Gabriella's weapon made him wince and think better about any movement.

"We knew you would try to betray me," Francesca told Xavier.

Fulton watched as realisation dawned on him.

"You set me up?" Xavier's jaw had literally dropped.

Francesca nodded.

Xavier glared at the two women.

"Hey, I'm sorry I've interrupted this little revolution but can we just hurry up and get all of this sorted?" Fulton said.

"This doesn't look like it's going to end well for any of us. So why don't we call this one a draw and go our separate ways?" Gabriella tried.

Even with a knife point digging into his side Xavier wouldn't relent, he shook his head. His eyes turned towards Jacques, who was still keeping most of his attention on Fulton, his most immediate threat, while obviously wanting to make some move to aid Xavier. Obviously Xavier was attempting
to signal his ally, it was really none too subtle.

"Time's up," Francesca said.

"Indeed," Xavier retorted.

Gabriella watched as Jacques feinted towards Fulton and then moved to strike out at Francesca. Her concern for her Mistress made Gabriella hesitate. Xavier started to twist himself out of her grip, bringing his weapon arm about in a position so that he could strike at her. The arm that he had put about her when he thought she was on his side had tightened to keep her in position for his attack.

With a hate-fuelled snarl Gabriella remembered she was hardly helpless here. Xavier had got into a position where her knife point was no longer digging into him. Gabriella forced
her arm forwards and got the knife back into position. This time she didn't stop when she felt the first pressure of resistance. She plunged the blade deep into Xavier's side. Sticky wetness seeped from the wound and over her hand.

Her attack elicited a cry of pain from the one-time lieutenant. On instinct Xavier struck out. She screamed when the cold steal bit into her shoulder. Xavier tensed his left arm throwing Gabriella backwards with the hand that had been holding her close.

             
She landed painfully in the ruined remains of the weapons cabinet she herself had thrown aside earlier on. She heard Francesca calling her name as if from a great distance. The knife had remained in her back on her flight across the room and when she hit it was forced
even deeper into her body. The knowledge that she would recover from any wound that didn't penetrate her heart didn't make this hurt any less.

             
Blinking past tears, Gabriella fought to get back into a position she could defend from. She dimly saw Fulton slamming a blade into Jacques' chest with Francesca holding him in position. She saw Xavier realise that he was suddenly very outmatched. The vampire pulled her knife out of his side and glanced about with wide eyes, torn between a desire to exact revenge and to save his own skin. In the end, as Fulton twisted the blade in his comrade’s chest slicing into the heart, Xavier's sense of self-preservation won out. Before either Fulton or Francesca could respond he vanished out of the door.

             
Gabriella coughed, the familiar taste of blood coming into her mouth unfamiliar at the same time because it was her own blood coming up from her own lung. And then Francesca was kneeling down with her.

             
"Get him," Francesca instructed Fulton.

             
The other vampire stared at Francesca for a long moment.

             
"Now," Francesca's voice had become a snarl.

             
Fulton finally obeyed his Mistress's direction and ran out of the room after Xavier. Francesca watched him go and then regarded Gabriella with concern in her eyes.

             
Gabriella winced and pulled the blade out of her back so that she could start to heal. She gasped with the effort.

             
"Easy," Francesca said softly cradling her head and stroking her fingers through her hair.

             
They stayed there for some time. Gabriella not really bothered about keeping track of the passage of time now that things were getting back to how they should be.

             
"Everything is all right now," Francesca said eventually.

             
"Not quite."

             
Gabriella opened her eyes and looked towards the doorway where Fulton stood. He was framed by smoke that started creeping through the now open doorway.

             
"Xavier got away, but he left us a leaving present. We need to get out of here before this whole place goes up."

             
Gabriella could only think that it was the smell and taste of her own blood filling her own lungs and throat that had kept her from identifying the scent of smoke and flame. With Francesca's help she got to her feet.

             
"What about all this?" she said indicating all of their fine belongings.

             
Francesca shook her head. "What about them? None of this matters as long as we have each other."

Gabriella shook her legs in a futile attempt at letting some of the night air in to cool them but the skin-tight material resisted her efforts. She smoothed her hands down her legs from where the trousers clung to her hips all the way to where they met her black extremely high-heeled shoes. When she straightened back up she adjusted her matching leather crop top pushing herself up for greater emphasis. This garment was as tight fitting as the trousers but was small enough, leaving ample amounts of flesh exposed to the air, that it was infinitely more comfortable. The wound Xavier had inflicted during his ill-conceived revolt was fully healed as if it had never existed.

Just as she had finished adjusting her outfit, Gabriella heard the lock of the door behind her click and the faint grinding as the old metal of the hinges moved against itself. She turned around and watched Francesca step out of the doorway. Her lover was silhouetted in the wash of light coming from behind her. Gabriella could only identify the outline of her body until she stepped far enough out to be caught by the glow of nearby street lamps.

The light of the lamps reflected from her leather dress. The full length garment was slit high on both sides to expose Francesca's legs in their entirety. It was cut so low at the back as to almost meet the slits up the side. A diamond shape cut in the middle of the front, both low and high, exposed her eternally smooth
abdomen. Francesca would be having no problems keeping cool.

Francesca let the door swing closed behind her. Gabriella slunk up beside her and capered around her before Francesca scooped her up in a tight embrace that was infinitely more comfortable than that provided by her trousers. Francesca squeezed the flesh under the back of those trousers and Gabriella could just feel her manicured nails through the material. She didn't mind the heat she now felt trapped underneath her clothes.

This was how it used to be. For the majority of the time before Francesca set up the nest it had just been the two of them. It was
almost
perfect.

The lock clicked and the hinges ground against each other again as the door
opened again behind her. This time she didn't bother to turn to see who it was, this was the
almost
who spoiled the perfection. She did feel Francesca adjust her position to look at the newcomer but she did not loosen her hold on Gabriella.

Fulton stepped out of the house they had taken over since they had been made, all three of them, homeless. By Xavier's pyromaniac activities. Fulton flicked off the hall light and stepped outside. Francesca held Gabriella in an embrace halfway down the path. His sire twisted to regard him as he walked towards the pair. The younger looking of the two vampires, who was indeed younger than Francesca despite being over two hundred and fifty years old, paid him no attention.

Leather trousers creaked as he walked as did the leather vest he wore underneath a dark-blue denim jacket. He had told Francesca he felt ridiculous in this getup but she said he needed to match her and Gabriella. She also told him he looked good in the outfit. Whatever she said Fulton still felt like an Eighties rocker. And the trousers were very binding making his lower half all hot and sweaty, he had to imagine Gabriella felt the same in her own pair, although she had less to bind than he did. A few cases of clothes were pretty much all they had saved from the nest.

Fulton took a position on one side of Francesca with Gabriella on the other. In the middle Francesca took them each by a hand as she led them to her chosen hunting ground. It was only a short walk
from their new home to the club Francesca had chosen. They had to hunt close until they got themselves some new transportation. The fire which had gutted the converted steelworks had taken Francesca's assembled fleet of cars and vans with it. Francesca led them up to the head of the queue bypassing numerous humans all dressed almost entirely in leather, a fair number of them wore studded dog collars or wrist bands. Francesca stepped boldly up to the burly doorman who wore a tight black T-shirt to show off bulging biceps. Muscular as he was even the petite Gabriella could have taken him apart without breaking a sweat. But there was no need for a confrontation, Francesca slipped him a word and a pair of notes and the trio was admitted.

Once they stepped through the curtained doorway into a short anteroom before the main area of the club Francesca released her two companions.

"Time to play."

The three vampires split up and entered the mass of human bodies. It was an all you could eat buffet.

Fulton watched the two women as they disappeared into the crowd deciding who they would take tonight. Fulton mingled in with the humans himself.

Raucous music blasted out destroying any chance of striking up a conversation. But that wasn't what places like this were intended for. Here body language and touch were the main means of communication.

Fulton let his eyes scan the crowd in search of a likely candidate. He ignored
those who were obviously couples, he wasn't as open to experimentation in that way as Francesca was and knew he would fail miserably if he tried to fake it. Besides he had no need for two victims.

His gaze came to rest on a young woman whose eyes were also scanning the crowd. Her look wasn't that of someone searching for recognition, it was more akin to Fulton's own, that of a predator on the prowl. Their eyes locked across the crowded room but it wasn't one of those romantic love-at-first-sight moments. They stared at each other and each recognised they had found what they sought. Fulton pushed through the crowd towards his victim.