Black Heart: Wild On (29 page)

            "I agree," I said. To not agree would be to write my family off as dead. I didn't have a choice.

            "Very good," Henri said, quite pleased. "Good luck with Jeff Howell."

            Henri hung up. That was it?

            "You are in so much trouble," Heidi said. "The vampire mafia just sank their fangs into your ass. They won't let go."

            I had a sinking feeling she was right. Henri had me "on call" now. Anything he wanted. Would I be forced to commit a crime? It could be anything, but I had to do it. If I failed to live up to my side of the bargain, they would go out and kill my family.

            "Life sucks sometimes," I said.

            "Being undead certainly doesn’t help," Heidi said. "I’ve developed an oral fixation since become a vamp. I just love having something, anything in my mouth. Throat, cock doesn’t matter."

            "Can we talk about something else?" I said.

            "I’m a vampire. All I think about are sex, blood, and clothes. In that order."

            "Me, too," I said. "But still. People’s lives are in the balance. I’m a little distracted by that."

            "I’ve noticed," she said. She fidgeted and gnawed on her lower lip. "You know, this stuff scares the bejesus out of me."

            "Scares me, too," I said.

            "But I’m not as powerful as you," Heidi said. "Someone might kill me. I don’t want to die anymore than I already have."

            "You and me both," I said. "I don’t want to go to Hell. I’m sure they’re waiting for me, too. I’ll probably be doubly tortured and tormented for all I’ve done to the forces of evil."

            "Being your lackey, I’ll probably suffer the same fate," Heidi said. She was one unhappy puppy. Were all my friends becoming unhappy being around me?

            "You can walk away from it all anytime you want," I said. "I wouldn’t blame you."

            "I can’t. I belong to you," Heidi said. Now she was confused and scared for a different reason. My link with her allowed me to feel what she felt, but not read her mind. "You Changed me. I have to serve you for a hundred years or something. Right?"

            I laughed. Heidi suffered from selective hearing, and not always to her benefit.

            "No. I can compel you to serve me for a while. Most vampires are strong enough to break the chains of compulsions by the age of one hundred. But I would never force you to stay with me, or do anything you don’t want to do," I said. "I thought you understood that."

            "So I can leave anytime I want?"

            "Yes."

            "Do you want me to leave?"

            "No. I like you," I said, and surprised myself in saying it. There was a time I bordered on despising her. Rivals for a man’s attentions can be rather ruthless. But after Changing her, then training her in the vampiric ways, I discovered I liked her. I enjoyed watching her little antics and life dramas. "I consider you a friend."

            "Whew! I thought you wanted me to leave," she said. She smiled brightly. "I’ll stay."

            "The boys will all be relieved to know that," I said.

            "I should think so," she said. "That brings us back to my oral fixation."

            "You’re incorrigible," I said.

            "One of many of my charms," she said. "We’re here."

            The apartment complex was one of the older ones. Garland had a lot of older residential areas. Most of the buildings were just two floors, with the central building three floors tall. It was still early, so most of the apartments were lit up. Of course, the flashing red and blue lights from the seven police cars lit things up nicely too.

            "Well, that can’t be good," Heidi said. "Is that a SWAT team?"

            "Yes, it is," I said. The cop on guard to keep civilians out approached us. He was young, clean cut, sharp. I stepped out of the car and got his attention over the roof. "Hello, Officer. What’s going on?"

            "We have a hostage situation, Miss. Y’all have to leave," he said.

            "But I’m suppose to pick up my friend, Charlotte Saxon," I said.

            "Saxon?" he said, he stress level spiking. "I’m sorry, ma’am, but your friend might be the person being held."

            "By who? Charlotte doesn’t have an enemy in the world."

            "A werewolf," he said, glancing nervously at the apartment.

            "Timmy?" Heidi said, getting the cop’s attention.

            "You know the werewolf?" he said, rather too aggressively for my tastes.

            "Is Timothy Saxon the werewolf in the apartment?" I said. "If he is, they yes, we know him. He’s Charlotte’s husband. He would never hurt her. I should go up there."

            "No, you’re not going anywhere," he said. "Sergeant! Sergeant Cox!"

            "You want me to bite him?" Heidi said under her breath. She was too quiet for a mere human to hear.

            "No," I whispered.

            Sergeant Cox was a heavyset African American with salt and pepper hair. He didn’t look happy about being interrupted.

            "What is it, Peterson?"

            "Sir, these two women know the werewolf and the victim," he said. "They say the werewolf is Timothy Saxon, the husband of Charlotte Saxon."

            "No, I said we know him if it is Timmy holding Charlotte, but no one has said for sure who is being held, or who is doing the holding," I said. Yeah, I was a little annoyed. "So, is it Timmy and Charlotte?"

            "We aren’t sure," Sergeant Cox said. He was looking me over curiously. It wasn’t normal for them to encounter a pair of latex sheathed young women. Not in Garland, Texas. No sirree. "Who are you? We’ll need to see both of your driver’s licenses."

            "I am Sable Hart," I said. I showed them my fangs. Both men stepped back, hearts racing. In two seconds flat I caught both of their eyes, one at a time, and mesmerized them. They froze in place, heart rates dropping back to normal. "People call me Black Heart. I hunt and kill vampires. In what apartment is the hostage being held?"

            "Wow, you’re fast," Heidi said. "I can’t capture two men that fast."

            "Practice," I said. The cops would be furious when word got out that I mesmerized a pair of them. Turning back to Cox. "What was that apartment number again?"

            "Apartment 203, ma’am," he said.

            "Dammit," I said. "That’s Charlotte’s apartment.

            I reached out with my vampiric senses. I found one heartbeat in the apartment. Just one. A big one. Male. Timmy?

            "I’m going up," I said. "Sergeant Cox, tell the other cops to not shoot me."

            "Yeah, it really ticks her off when you poke holes in her clothes," Heidi said, grinning.

            "You are having way too much fun," I said.

            This was one of those worst-case scenarios. I could only pray Timmy didn’t lose it and kill his wife and child. The chance of that happening seemed awful remote to me. There was only one way to find out.

            Cox start calling for everyone to hold their fire. That caused confusion, and when I started up the steel and concrete stairs to their apartment shouts rose up. But Sergeant Cox kept them from shooting me. Heidi was right, I hated it when someone ruined my clothes by shooting me.

            The door was ajar. I pushed it open and looked around. The furniture was ripped to pieces. Nothing was left intact. I’ve never seen such totally, malicious destruction before. Someone very strong, like a werewolf, had torn that stuff up. Pieces of furniture was throw threw the walls.

            "Timmy? You in here?"

            "Go away," Timmy said. Really, it was more growl that words.

            He was in the bedroom, to my left. I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him breathing, panting, and his heart was pounding. I took another step inside and peeked down the short corridor.

            Timmy was on his knees, rocking, clutching something small, bundled and bloody. He was more than half wolfman.

            "What happened, Timmy?"

            "They killed them," he whispered. "They killed them both. They killed my wife and baby."

            I could smell the thick scent of blood coming from the other room. Going over, I looked inside to find Charlotte spread-eagle on the bed. Naked. Staring sightless at the ceiling. Her throat was ripped open. Then I noticed something far more sinister than even that horrific scene.

            Charlotte had the tiniest of auras.

            "Oh, Jesus, why do you test me so?" I muttered, bile scorching my throat.

            Timmy came up behind me, still clutching his dead child to his chest. He looked feral, dangerous. There was madness behind his gaze.

            "Do you know who did this?" I said.

            I walked over to the body, and leaned over to pick up any subtle scents. I recognized the vampire that did this to her. My gut clenched and I clenched my fists.

            "No. I found them like this," he said. His voice was stronger now, but hoarse. From screaming, I assumed.

            "A rogue vampire called Ben. I recognize his scent. I’ve been hunting him," I said. I indicated Charlotte. "The vampire that did this is Changing her. In three days she will rise up a vampire."

            All signs of werewolf vanished. He was the Timmy I remembered, only horrified. For good Christians, being Changed into a vampire was the worst fate imaginable. There was absolutely no salvation from vampirism. Once you were Changed that was it. Your soul was damned for all eternity.

            "If — " I started, and choked on the words. The tears I’d been fighting started to flow. "If her heart is removed — "

            I couldn’t say anymore. Timmy was a pastor’s son. He knew. But it was a dreadful thought. Desecrating a corpse was bad, no matter the reason. We both knew Charlotte would not want to rise up among the undead. Her soul was too precious, and eternity too long to be damned.

            "We can...we can tell the coroner and they will keep the body in direct sunlight until..."

            When the coroner believed a body might be a pre-animated vampire, they had "sun rooms" in which they kept the body. The final step of the Change was usually at night, exactly seventy-two hours from the moment of "infection." Those rooms are proof against even the most powerful vampires, literally steel hard glass, reinforced with steel rods, sitting atop the building. The vampire would reanimate while they watched on close-circuit TV. They would fill the chamber with gas that put the vampire to sleep, and then wait for the sun to rise.

            No one went inside at all. It was too dangerous. But seconds after the sun fell into the sun room, the new vampire was a pile of ashes, teeth, and hair. Sun rooms were also how the police confirmed if someone was a vampire or not.

            "I don’t want anyone knowing she was Changed," he said. "Besides, once she rises up, she is irrevocably cursed and dammed."

            I was afraid he’d say that. A chill rolled up my spine. To avoid damnation, she had to be killed the rest of the way before she Changed.

            "I’ll do it. You can’t be in the room," I said. "It’ll be too painful."

            Timmy nodded and walked over to Charlotte’s body. He stared down at her a long moment, heart racing, tears flowing. Then he leaned over and kissed her.

            "It’s all my fault," he whispered. "I’m so sorry."

            He lay Trey down next to Charlotte, turned, and walked out of the room without meeting my eyes. Rage was burning deep within him. I wasn’t sure I could talk him down. But first I had a task to perform.

            Fetching a sharp knife from the kitchen, I made an incision just below her sternum. Thrusting my right hand into that incision, I pushed up to her heart, seized it, and ripped it out. Charlotte felt nothing. I groaned miserably.

            "Rest in peace, Charlotte," I whispered. The baby was just dead. Babies could be Changed, but Ben hadn’t been that cruel.

            I took Charlotte’s heart into the bathroom. Timmy had his back to me, breathing heavily. I’m sure he could still hear everything I was doing. He knew, and it had to be pure torture.

            In the bathroom, I cut the heart up into smaller pieces, and flushed them. Charlotte would not rise again. Her soul was safe, and within the embrace of the Lord’s Sweet Love. I was a tiny bit jealous.

            "It is done."

            "Thank you." He could barely speak. Timmy was more than half wolfman, the first indications of a snout beginning to push out. He’d stripped while I was in the bathroom, his body thick with fur. Not hair, but fur. "Who is Ben? And where can I find him?"

            "If I knew, he’d already be dead," I said. "Me and my associates have been hunting him about a week."

            He fell to his knees, morphing a bit more into wolfman. I wasn’t sure he even had control of it anymore. His fingers extended, thickened and his nails turned into thick black claws. His hands raked the carpet, shredding it as he half growled, half wailed.

            "He has to pay!" Timmy said, turning vicious, feral eyes on me.

            "Without a doubt," I said. "Go to my father’s church. They’ve created a little fortress against vampires there. People are gathering to defend it. They need your help."

            "What about Ben?"

            I smiled grimly. "I think he is working for the vampire that wants to kill our parents. If I’m right, then Ben will go to that church. Tonight. Tomorrow, I don’t know. But he will go there soon."

            "And I will
kill
him!"

            Timmy howled, then leapt through the front window. The rat-a-tat-tat of small arms fire filled the air for a brief moment. I watched Timmy wend through the parking lot and police at breakneck speed. I don't think a single bullet found him. Besides, only silver would harm him.