Opal (Rare Gems Series Book 4) (9 page)

“
I was wondering if you could answer two questions for me. Not counting that one.” He frowned. She’d asked him a question? “I don’t know how to make my fangs go back. Can you show me?”

Rufus looked at his bed
, then back at Opal. He really wanted to like this kid, and there was a time or two when he and Sloan would have shared, but he knew better than to even touch her. Instead he told her he’d meet her in the parlor and turned to get dressed again.

“
Damned women folk.” But he was right proud she’d asked him.

~~~

Fletcher knew he was being watched. He even had an idea who was doing the watching, but what he didn’t expect—and it still surprised him when he thought about it—was that Henson was out there. He had a feeling that he was simply waiting for a mistake, and when Henson found it, Fletcher was as good as dead. And there was no fucking way he was going to let that bastard take him.

“
What do you suppose he’s looking for? Do you suppose that he thinks I’m going to go out there and just say, ‘here I am, kill me now’? Moron.” No one answered him, as those in the room with him were all dead. Hell, he figured if he were to go around the house and look, he’d find dead bodies everywhere. He’d gone on a spree last night and now…he looked around the room. This was not what he wanted to see when he’d gotten up this evening. And now that he’d started to remember what had happened, he was surprised that there weren’t more dead bodies.

Nineteen
…nineteen people had lost their lives because of him being depressed and lonely. He’d been depressed because he’d felt the death of his good friend Marvin. The man had died horribly, and he was reasonably sure it was at the hand of the faerie that had warned them before. So he’d gone out and brought a bunch home with him to mourn his passing.

Fletcher
was pretty sure that wasn’t right either, the count that he’d come up with to tell the cleaning service. But they’d asked and he had taken a quick inventory of this room only. He’d not left this room, nor had he ventured into the bathroom. Most of them were still bleeding out when he’d woke up about ten hours ago, but he knew that all of them were dead by now. And he was stuck here with them. Fear…fear of what was out there and who was waiting for him had kept him in the house. And now…well, now he had no idea what he was going to do about the bodies or going out to feed.

The cleanup service had said they were running behind when he
’d called them the first time. That had been over eight hours ago. And when he’d called them again, they’d told him he was going to have to find another service, as they were no longer cleaning up bodies. Then they’d simply hung up. What the hell had happened in the few hours since they’d done it yesterday? He called back and asked to speak to the manager, and that had made him want to go down there and tear the woman’s throat out.

“
We are just a cleaning service and no longer dispose of bodies or anything else that does not have to do with cleaning a regular household. I’m sorry, sir, but that part of our business in no longer in operation. The owner was quite displeased that we were…he was unaware of the services we had been providing to you.” He asked her who the owner was and if he could speak to him. “No, sir. I’m afraid that’s not possible either. He was quite…the crew that was working here is no longer here. I cannot afford to lose my job as well. You’ll just have to find other means to take care of this for yourself.” And again, he was hung up on.

He thought about going to the place and demanding answers
, but he was pretty sure he had them. One of two people owned that business; it was either Henson or Crane. And he’d bet his last dollar it was Henson.

The man had his name on a lot of businesses in the downtown district.
There was his business that he let his wife play in, and he was sure that was to keep her out of his hair. Fletcher sneered at the thought of having a woman in the workplace. And then there was the big building across the street that he knew Henson owned and worked from. There were others too, about six all together. The man had his fingers in just about everything.

Again Fletcher thought about how he was nearly always broke
, and if not for the fact that he could steal all he wanted when he wanted, he’d never have a thing. Even the house he lived in was one that he’d simply moved into. His magic, what little he had right now, had done a nice job of making the place livable, but it wasn’t the place of his dreams. That was something he had a great deal of, big dreams, and someday soon he’d bet he’d have them come to fruition, too.

Fletcher sat at the big desk that came with the house
as he contemplated what to do now. He had often wondered if the people who had left the desk had any idea of it’s worth. It had taken him a while, but he did now. When things got to be a little tight at one point, he’d tried to sell it, but no one had the means of getting it out of the house without taking down a wall or two. The thing was monstrous.

It was solid oak with maple and cherry trim.
The drawer pulls were made of gold and the inlaid desktop was a work of art. The beautifully inlaid wood had been made into a lovely pattern that still amazed him. There just wasn’t any way to believe this thing had been completely crafted by hand during the eighteen hundreds. And right now, it was worthless. The blood stains on it would very much lower the value, he thought with a grin. But he had more important things to consider than a desk that was not getting him anything.

Now what
? He couldn’t go out for food. Not that he wasn’t full enough now, but he might need a snack later. Fletcher supposed he could go out and kill the wolves milling around his property, but there were so many of them, he was sort of leery about facing them, especially alone like he was now. Without food to replenish himself, he might as well hang a sign around his neck that said, “Free dinner for any of you who want it.” Not that he thought they could get the better of him, but why take the chance? Considering what he should, he remembered his meals in the sublevels.

Getting up
, he moved to the lower levels, the ones below his lair, to look at the five women and men he had there. Fletcher thought if he were to play for a bit he’d feel a good deal better, so he picked up his blade to lay it on the skin of the first man. The man cringed, and Fletcher felt his mood lift considerably.

“
There is no reason for you to act as if you’ve not been cut by me before. I’ve taken your leg off, haven’t I? And a few other tasty pieces of you.” Fletcher licked his lips when he thought of how much he’d enjoyed eating the flesh of his playthings while they had watched. “Do you know that your blood is tastier when you’re afraid of me? It is. And there is the added bonus that you’re not completely human. Yummy.”

He plunged the knife into
the man’s thigh and listened to him scream around the gag, which he’d had to use because he’d been so whiney. Otherwise he’d enjoyed the way they had begged him before he cut into them. The others had screamed, which was something that he’d expected, but this man was such a baby. As the blood slid down his leg, Fletcher leaned in and licked it. It was so good that he bit into the thick muscle and drank from his vein there. The man, an athlete of some fame, was nearly dead when he pulled away. Fletcher turned to the next plaything, a woman who he’d had for a long while now, nearly three weeks. He wanted to play.

“
You would do well not to piss me off again.” She nodded but only stared at him. “You can still get around, you know. I mean, it wasn’t as if you walked on your hands anyway, now was it?” Having taken off and eaten her hand just last week, he knew that she was weak but far from dead. He thought that in the next few days he’d add her to the body count upstairs if they were still there, and it was beginning to look like they would be. But he shied away from that thought in favor of cheering himself up.

He moved to her pussy and sniffed.
She wasn’t wet or even aroused a little, not that it mattered to him much. The next man, the one he’d taken a leg from last night, was dead. Good. He’d take care of him later, and it was one less thing he’d have to worry about. He moved to the next woman and man. They had been his prize, but lately, over the past two days, he’d grown quite bored with them too. Who knew that a wolf could be so easily conquered?

“
Do you know Henson?” The man nodded. “Me too. Both of them, the older one and the younger. And I have to tell you, they’re driving me insane right now. I can’t leave my house to feed, and I can’t bring in fresh playthings because he and his pack are standing around watching me as if I’m going to do something stupid. I’ll have him know that all my plans are well thought out and usually flaw proof.”

He played with the couple
by flaying open their skin, but not enough to kill them right off. Who knew how long he’d be stuck in here before they got bored and moved on? Then he got the idea to make them have sex with him. He had a few hours to kill before sunrise, so he went to prepare things.

Fletcher had fucked a few men in his life
. Not many, but enough to know that he could get off if necessary. But the woman had a nice ass, something he loved more than tits. He pulled them down from the wall and had them shower while he watched. The woman was weak, of course. They all were. But the man was helping her. Fletcher watched as he washed her back and then held her while he washed up her hair. Fletcher felt his dick harden at the thought of the sponge being rolled over his body like that. When he thought them cleaned up, he brought them out to the smallish bedroom he used down here. The man laid the woman on the bed gently, then stood back while Fletcher thought of the perfect way to make this work for him.

“
Fuck her.” The man backed from the woman. “You heard me. If you can’t get it up, then eat her. I just want to watch you and her fuck, and then I’ll join you.”

“
She’s another male’s mate. I can’t do that.” Fletcher rolled his eyes and told him to eat her then. “I can’t do that. She belongs to another.”

“
Do you seriously think you’re going to get out of here to where he’d find out? Come on, haven’t you been paying attention? I kill you all sooner or later. Fuck her. The only people who will know is you and her and, of course, me. And you’ll both be dead and I don’t particularly give a shit who you fuck. But you’ll do it now. I want you to go down on her.” The man continued to stand there until Fletcher had to put a knife to his throat and force him to the bed. The motherfucker was taking all the fun out of this for him and no matter what, Fletcher thought, he was as good as dead.

The male got onto the bed
, but he didn’t look like he was going to do much more than stare at her. Finally, having waited much longer than he wanted, he commanded him to straddle the woman who was laying there and to not move. Then he told the woman to suck the pussy-wolf or he’d kill her. She took the wolf’s cock into her mouth so quickly that the male had to hold to the headboard. Fletcher watched her suck him and smiled. Now this was more like it. She looked like she was enjoying herself too, and he could smell her juices.

He felt his cock harden
more as he watched them. Getting up on the bed at the bottom, he could see that she was getting wet and settled between her thighs after he stripped off his own clothing. Fletcher was hungry and needy now, and she was going to satisfy both his needs. Her cream was calling to him, and when he spread her, he could see that she was wet. This was how he liked them to be when they weren’t screaming: wet or hard and ready to play with him. Burying his face into her pussy, Fletcher fucked her hard with his fingers up her ass and his tongue in her sheath. She came twice while he was still stone hard. He looked up over her plump belly and smiled.

The man was fuck
ing her mouth now, his hips moving fast as his cock disappeared in and out of her mouth. Fletcher moved up behind him and leaned him over her. Fletcher slammed his cock into the male’s ass hard as the wolf spilled his cum down her throat. Fletcher came as well and bit deep into his throat as he rode him through another quick climax. But it wasn’t enough. Not bothering with sealing up the wounds he’d given the male, he decided that it was his turn to get blown, and tossed the man off the bed.

Fletcher looked down
at her body and smiled. Christ, his cock was so hard that he thought about jacking off so he could see himself spray all over her tits before he fucked her. She was bruised and bitten, the scars he’d given her still fresh, but she was fuckable. He wished then that he’d brought the other woman over as well, but he didn’t want to move from where he was right now. He had a pussy right where he wanted it now and he needed to fuck something. Flipping her over, he fucked her from behind until she cried out she was coming. Fletcher pounded her harder, taking her to the mattress as he did. He was so close to exploding that he rode her like a dog in heat, his hips moving like the animal he was until his balls tightened to his body and he came again. He didn’t care if she got any pleasure from this so long as he got what he wanted. And that was a good fuck.

She came
again, this time fingering her own pussy, but he was still hard and needed something else.
Her mouth
, he thought. He’d fuck that mouth of hers until she bled for him. Fletcher rolled her over again and told her to suck him off. She did it with so much suction that he felt his balls tighten almost immediately. He’d give her that much. She could suck rocks from the ground ten feet under.