Empire of Blood (Book 2): Fading In Darkness (21 page)

Chapter 31

A Meeting of Many Minds

The thick heavy air was a bit much for Jack as he crept down the alleyway. He felt almost a sense of panic at the thought of breathing too much of the stuff in. As if he even needed to breathe at all. But underneath that abrasive thickness was the sweet smell of innocent blood. The boy was nearby.
Somewhere on this block.
The smell was too much. Jack bit his tongue with the lust of it. As much as he wanted to taste that decadent flavor of both innocence and his own revenge, Jack wanted above all to live to kill again. And that made taking the boy while surrounded by so many humans capable of hurting Jack completely out of the question. He stopped alongside a short tan-bricked building. This was the one, Jack could feel it. He might not be able to take the boy now but he could certainly prepare for when the time would come. And it would be here no doubt.
Soon.
Not as soon as Jack would like, but he could be a patient man when what he wanted was dire enough. And this time it certainly was. He wanted nothing more right now than to get his hands on the kid and the man who had shot him with that staking device.

On the other side of the gravel driveway, an abandoned house stood creaking and crunching, the wind blowing in and out of its crevices with a whistling howl that would rival that of a large wolf in heat. It would have to do. He could at least hide his sore bones from the sun during the daylight hours and hunt in the city by night.
And eventually…
Eventually he could grab the boy and his stake-happy
bodyguard, bring
them back here, and take their lives right underneath the enemy’s nose.

Slipping his way inside, Jack could smell the rot in every grain of wood, the infestations of mice, rats, and cockroaches and all sorts of other fowl creatures that had taken refuge in this tiny forsaken building. Yes, it would do very nicely. He sat down and plucked two wet rats in mid scurry across the floor and held them up in front of his face to analyze. Their little legs continued to race desperately for the other side of the room even though each movement took them nowhere. Finally the smaller one seemed to get the gist of what was going on and tried to squeeze out of Jack’s hand. Jack flexed his fingers and palm and crushed the life from the smaller rat and watched as the other rat suddenly realized what his buddy had figured out just before his quick demise. Jack held out his other hand for the living rat to see in the pale sliver of moonlight coming in through the dilapidated window until he was practically rubbing the dead rat against the living rat’s nose. The living rat’s clawing at Jack’s fingers became more desperate and its heart raced like a speeding train until it could no longer stay on the tracks and the rat convulsed one last time and went still. He tossed aside the first carcass and began to pet the second one with his still blood-covered hand as he grinned.

“Poor guy.
It’s such a powerful thing to watch the life go out of the young and the innocent. Some of us can’t
bare
to handle it. And yet, some of us can’t
bare
to get enough. Goodbye, my friend. May you find your peace on the other side if there is anything there to find.” And with that he bit deep into the rat’s thorax and took in its tiny portion of life blood. There wasn’t much, but it would hold him for a few days at least.
More than enough time to formulate a solid plan.

* * *

Diana’s hands felt familiar, pressing firmly against Hank’s chest as they thrust their bodies together. The tears rolling down his cheeks, her voice moaning softly, the pure ecstasy of being inside her, even the sparkle in her eye were all too real to still believe he was just dreaming. But just like before he knew it wouldn’t last. And almost as if in response to that doubt, her eyes turned green, her hair red, and her fingers became claws that dug into Hank’s flesh and Rachel was raping him all over again. She arched her back and howled up into the night sky, the cloud-covered moonlight contrasting against her now solid black hair. And this time when she looked in Hank’s eyes again her irises were crimson and he knew it was the Queen all along.
The link between them.
She was using it to enter his dreams.
But why?

The Queen put the tip of her claw up to Hank’s lips and shushed him with a lustful grin.
Even the finest blade must be tempered. You, young one, have much to learn before you’re ready to live up to your true destiny.

And with that she threw her head back again in the throes of orgasm and slammed her hips against him with an inhuman speed that even Hank couldn’t handle. He came inside her in an almost explosive release of anguish and stress that he knew would only replenish just as soon as it was over. When they were done and the air became still and heavy with the sweat and smell of their bodies, she rolled off of Hank and lay beside him. He closed his eyes hoping the dream would end. But it wouldn’t be that simple, would it? She embraced him then.
You are mine now, young one
. She brushed her hand along his chest and down his stomach until her fingertips were gently massaging the head of his penis. Hank’s body stiffened with the pleasure of her touch, even now after his body should have been spent.
Is this really so bad that you would want to get away?

Hank looked in her eyes then and
an anguish
waved through him behind the involuntary physical pleasure that was overloading the rest of his senses. A new emotion was growing within him toward her. Maybe even the first one for her he could truly understand.
A slow growing animosity, an almost simmering hatred that needn’t boil over but simply consistently existed in order to quell that sense of control being taken away from him.
That sense of rape that he’d only ever experienced once before in his life until now. And what was worse
was knowing
that this was exactly why she did it. Knowing his every thought as he did, she smiled at him and with the hand that had been massaging
him,
she rolled his eyelids closed as though he were a newly expired corpse. And when he opened them again he was lying alone in his bed, the only thing remaining of their spectral meeting still stiff between his legs. He worked to finish himself, fighting to think of nothing at all yet unable to stop seeing the burning image of her fierce eyes staring down at him from her glistening goddess-like body. And as his muscles clenched with his release he wept with a loud moan of pleasure conjoined with loss.

* * *

That evening when the last of the sun’s heat dissipated outside, a hundred thousand vampires rose as one from deep within the cave. Every single consciousness was a light inside her mind turning on together like a million candles lit in unison. She felt the blood flow through each and every one of them and the pulse quicken as each of them remembered what the night ahead held in store for all. And in their varying reactions she sensed an overwhelming fear strong enough that even she could succumb to it if it were allowed to take her in and swallow.

My dear
children,
calm yourselves. We are many, we are one.

And with that the majority of them exhaled a deep breath and steadied their flashing synapses to focus on the task ahead without drowning in the worry of how things might turn out.

* * *

The tension in Bill
Whindsor’s
little rental car was almost replacing all of George Nelson’s oxygen as they whipped left and right along the curvy road beneath them. Thick trees and woods adorned both sides of the road everywhere he looked. Neither of the men had spoken from the time they left the terminal of the
New Orleans
International
Airport
. They’d only exchanged glances a number of times and only in reaction to the voice of the GPS abruptly filling the silence with its loud monotone female-like drone.

Unsure what else to do, George leaned his seat back and closed his eyes. Before long, he woke in nearly complete darkness and feeling disoriented as the car slowed to a stop. Bill pushed the gearshift into park and killed the engine. Distant sounds of reptiles and birds chipped at the outside of George’s window as Bill cleared his throat.

“Well… we’re here,” he said with finality.

The two just looked at each other for a moment and then fumbled out of their seatbelts and out of the car. It could have been the beginning of a horror movie from old for all the sounds of the night and sense of foreboding that came with realizing you were hopefully all alone in the dark. Except in this case, George knew they wouldn’t be alone for long. There was no guessing, no hopes of not meeting monsters, because on this very night they would come face to face with just that.
Real life monsters.
About a hundred yards to the east a large black semi truck and trailer stood parked in the middle of nowhere. It was barely visible save for the glint of moonlight that caressed its shape with a blue-gray glow.

A huge fire burst from in front of the car a few hundred feet ahead. In the firelight, several pale shapes dressed in dark clothing could be made out standing behind the huge yellow flame.

“Welcome, Mr.
Whindsor
and Mr. Nelson. We understand you’ve both only recently made each other’s acquaintance as well, so maybe you’ll be prepared for yet another meeting of new minds,” a thin voice called from behind the fire.

George held back the urge to complain about the near heart attack their little pyrotechnics had nearly caused him and gave a lame sort of wave against his body’s unwillingness to move.

Bill bowed respectfully and called out a hello.

The next moment the vampires were there standing all around the two men, not menacingly, but so suddenly that it startled both of them into a quick jump of fright. They stood tall, dressed in suits, their fangs very obviously visible outside of their lips. They seemed to wait in a mockery of human patience and courtesy. The one in the middle, with blond hair and blue eyes and the look of a man in his mid thirties stepped forward and held his hand out to George. With a hand shaking more than extending, George shook the cold clammy hand and tried not to explode in utter terror.

The vampire smiled at him as if to say he knew how terribly painful and frightening this was to the old man and yet with a sense of familiarity as well.

Then he turned to Bill and shook his hand.

“Gentlemen, I am Simon. I’m afraid
Ishan
could not be with—“

A voice called from behind George and Bill, “I’m so sorry I’m late, friends. Please,” and then before George could even turn around a short man with long black hair and a charming yet troubled smile on his face took both George and Bill’s hands and shook them simultaneously in a strange sort of custom unfamiliar to George.

“I am
Ishan
, and who might you be? I’m afraid I was otherwise occupied when this meeting was set in motion.”

The two men introduced themselves and George noticed the livid tension between the two vampires he now stood between.
Looks like there’s trouble in Vampire
Paradise
.
Eventually the niceties turned to business and places were set for everyone to gather around the fire and strategize.

“The best we can tell, the Imperial vampires disappeared a few days ago.
No more road blocks, no more harassing people out of their homes, not a single sign of them has been noticed since.
It’s almost as if they went into hiding. So, I’m inclined to think that’s exactly what they’ve done. They’re hiding long enough to divert our attention or to strategize their next move,” Bill said as he continued to draw aimlessly in the mud with a broken stick.

“That makes
sense,
however, I would be concerned that it’s possible they already know where we are and that the
Foederati
are helping us. It’s better to assume the worst at this point, otherwise we won’t be ready when the worst comes knocking on our door.”
Ishan
sat crouched forward moving his hands over the fire as he spoke. Even the other vampires seemed to be wary of this strange behavior. “Are the
Foederati
factions ready to move?”