Poisonous Pleasure (31 page)

“No way, dude, I am not watching the news. I’m looking for something a little more away from reality.”

“Go back, dammit! Did you see that girl?”

Marcella leaned forward just as the news broadcaster came back on. Multiple girls all fitting the same profile as Marcella were aligned across the screen. They all had dark hair with pale to lightly tanned skin. She shivered as she noticed they all looked eerily like her.

“Serial killer?” Jason looked around the room curiously. “Around here? That doesn’t really sound like anything I’ve ever heard happen in this area, even Corpus. It might be a city, but it’s really not that big. Twenty-four dead girls, seems unreal.”

“If you ask me, I happen to think they look a lot like our queen. I’m afraid I know who’s doing this and maybe I’m responsible.” Ambrose sighed.

“You think it might be Gwen?”

“Without a doubt in my mind. Gwen and I used to be very close. The relationship hasn’t been well for a while, but regardless, she’s still very protective over me. In my opinion, she’s trying to send a message to whoever took me, and she obviously knows what you look like.”

“Then I need to go and see her. I need to explain how you belong with me now.”

“You’re not going anywhere, not alone anyway.” The look in Dominic’s eyes said he meant every word.

“I’m going Dom, and I’m going alone. As your queen, that’s an order.” A curse was his only response. Marcella bit her lip and turned back to Ambrose. “I’ve been thinking about this for awhile now, and I think we need your servants, Ambrose, all of them. They’re warriors. They’ll fight with us. Especially, if it means regaining the chance to claim their souls, if they should ever die.”

“She might let you have me, but she’ll never give up power over them.”

Looking at Dominic and Jason, she turned back to her vampire. “She won’t have a choice. We need their help, and I’m taking them.”

* * * *

“That’s the story you wish to tell me, collector? You want my servants, my lover, and my soul?” Gwendolyn eased off the bed, but stayed in place as she glared down to Marcy. Emotions completely left her while she focused all of her energy on protecting herself if this vampire decided to attack.

“Yes, don’t you see how important this is? It’s imperative we all come together.”

A blonde eyebrow rose at her. “Why? So you can save your mate, or yourself?”

Groaning, Marcella stood. “Have you not been listening to the story? Supernatural souls are not making it to where they need to be. A collector is the only person who can deliver them to their resting place. As of today, that’s me or Jason, and no one else. The devil himself, would rather you all sit here and rot instead of a single one getting the peace you may deserve. Don’t you think that’s unfair?”

“I could care less. The majority of us are immortal anyway. We have no worries of ever dying.”

“Oh, but you can die. We both know that, don’t we? Where would you go? What would you do? Have you any idea what happens when a person dies?”

“From your story, I’m assuming I would be trapped in the same area in which I passed. But I’m not going to die, so I’m not worried.”

“That’s yet to be seen. When I leave, I’m taking everyone with me. Either you can come or you can stay, but you’ll be alone.” Marcella braced herself. She could feel the energy from Gwen increasing. She knew she should have her shield up, but as her aggravation spiked, it was taking too much energy to contain both herself and her protection.

“You’re not taking my clan! Ambrose doesn’t want to come back, fine. But you’ll not take the people I’m master to. I’ve waited too long for this opportunity and you will not take it away from me.”

“So you’ll condemn everyone you’re responsible for? That doesn’t sound like much of a leader to me. It sounds like greed. I promise if you come, you can still lead them. But I need their souls. You don’t even have to live there if you don’t want. Although they will have to, so I assume you’d want to, too.”

“Listen to me good, collector. You have five seconds to remove yourself from my house or else I’ll try my best to see you dead.”

Marcella could feel her heart jump. She was so sure she’d be able to talk Gwen into coming. It was the only reason the men let her come alone. Sure, they could be here in a second, but she convinced them it wouldn’t come to this. Now, she was about to eat her words.

“Don’t do this. It doesn’t have to be this way. You won’t even know I’m in the fortress. I promise. Shit, you can have your own wing if you’d like. We can make this work.”

“No, if they follow you, they’ll worship you, and I won’t be their master anymore. It defeats the purpose. One of us dies right now.”

“Can I at least have your soul first, that way it’s not without a place to go? If I die, you get it back. But if you die, at least you might be in peace.”

“Hell is not peace, and I’d rather be trapped here eternally than end up there.”

“Please reconsider. It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“Five…You better leave, collector.”

Marcella took a deep breath and held the vampire’s gaze. It was dangerous to do, but she couldn’t look away for fear of getting blindsided by an attack. “You know I can’t do that.”

Ice cold air crashed into Marcy’s chest throwing her over the chair and into the wall. Her head slammed into what felt like concrete. Stars danced in front of her vision, but she fought to stand. The air burned her skin like dry ice as it dropped in temperature. Holding up her hand, she blocked it from hitting her. It wasn’t seconds when the vampire’s eyes began to glow brightly.

Every candle in the room extinguished against the swirling wind circling her. An ear piercing scream grated her ears making Marcella’s hands drop to provide protection. The pain from the shrill seemed to slice her eardrums. Once again, she slammed into the wall at a force that surprisingly didn’t land her in the next room. Fire danced along her skin, the atmosphere extremely more frigid than before. Breathing became a chore as the air took her breath away.

Gwendolyn’s eerie glowing eyes were the only source of light she could see. Blonde hair whipped in front of the vampire’s face while Marcy stared in horror. This wasn’t good, at all. Pulling her hands from her ears, Marcella used the element of air and pushed the vampire into the opposite side of the room, feeling stillness settle around her.

The chatter of her teeth echoed throughout the silent space. Without the light the vampire produced, the room was pitch black. She knew she could call the element of light, but if she focused on producing it, would the vampire get the best of her? Cautiously, she stood, searching the darkness as best as she could with her vision. Sure, she could see better than a human, but even she couldn’t make out any recognizable shapes.

“You should have left, collector.”

Marcella’s body was ripped upward, toward the ceiling. Gwen plastered her against the surface locking her body into place by straddling her. Gravity pulled Marcy down, but with the vampire straddling her waist, she remained immobile.

The smell of evil burned her nose with a metallic stench. She couldn’t help but remember it was the same odor Kasey had given off the night she was told about the fire. Nothing she would be able to do would win over the murderer before her. She knew that more than she knew anything.

“I really didn’t want to do this, Gwendolyn, but it seems you leave me no choice.”

Letting the cobwebs take over, the screams began to fill Marcella’s head. She yelled out with them, feeding off of the hate and anger rushing though her. What she was capable of in her new form, she didn’t have a clue. But she’d seen the outcome once before and knew she didn’t have the rage inside of her to protect herself if she stayed in collector form. She didn’t need guilt giving her a conscience. She needed to fight for what would become of their future.

Fangs bit into her throat and at the assault the demon in her began to fight with incredible strength and hate. Grabbing the vampire’s hair and jaw, Marcella pried the sharp teeth from her throat. Yells came from below and light filled the room, but she didn’t take her eyes off of Gwen for a moment.

“You can’t have them. You can’t, collector. I won’t let you.”

“You don’t have a choice. I’m taking them.” Marcella’s thick voice was completely unlike her own. She knew she had a bit more control since the last time, but she still didn’t trust this part of herself completely.

Blood flowed freely from the wound on her neck, onto Gwen. She really needed to get them off the ceiling. In her current position, the blood kept flowing faster and faster, and she wasn’t healing nearly near as quick, in demon form.

Another scream echoed in her head, and she let the fury out by repeating the sound and letting it fill the room. Marcella stared into Gwen eyes feeling more hatred than she thought one person could hold. Her hand slid to the vampire’s neck holding back her slashing teeth from getting near her face. Words exploded into her mind.

Kill her. Kill her! Tighten your grip. Stop her from breathing.

“Ambrose, tell her to stop!” Dom yelled.

The sound of her mate’s voice distracted her long enough to bring the vampire’s face an inch closer. Between the words repeating in her head and the screams from below, it was impossible for her think clearly. She could feel her fingers growing tighter as a laugh echoed in her mind.

“Tell him to get the vampires out of the house and back to the fortress, now!” Marcy screamed.

Gwendolyn growled and the room began to grow ice cold all over again. If Marcella let go of Gwen’s throat she was done for. At least temporarily, and she couldn’t let the vampire escape or take the clan somewhere else.

Burning traveled over her skin and quickly turned her arms numb.
Do it, collector. Finish her, you know you want to. Marrrciiannna…Kill her!

A yell exploded from Marcella’s throat as she fought the demon inside of her. Gwendolyn grew closer to her neck every second that ticked by. She wasn’t going to last much longer in the freezing temperatures. The numbness covered every inch of her, yet somehow the cold managed to settle deep inside of her bones. How she still was able to hold off the vampire was a pure miracle.

“Are you ready to die, collector? I’m done playing games with you.”

Marcy barely heard her words. All she could think of was fire and warmth. Her body ached all over and her teeth were chattering so hard, she’d be surprised if any remained by the time this ended. On thought, she felt the element stir deep inside of her. A sob broke past her lips at what she needed to do. The demon laughed hysterically.
Yes, collector. YES!!!!

Closing her eyes against the tears, she projected the feeling out in an explosion of flames from her skin. Evil cheers echoed in her head causing her heart to break. These personalities couldn’t be her, they couldn’t! She wasn’t evil. Never once had she imagined herself having to hurt Gwendolyn.

The vampire screamed while her body went up in a blaze. Horrified by what she’d done, Marcella pushed the demon out and called to her collector. Cobwebs covered her as the vampire leaped away, leaving her falling to the ground. Jason caught her inches before she hit the floor.

“Is Ambrose getting everyone out? We have to leave!” Jason yelled.

Dominic shook his head yes, watching the burning Gwen roll around, still covered in flames. The last of her screams pierced the room and Marcella knew the moment she died. Everything turned quiet and completely still. Fire raced up the walls and she grabbed Dominic’s arm as Jason pulled her toward the door.

“Let’s hurry before we have more than one dead vampire on our hands. We need to make sure Ambrose is out of here.”

They all raced down the dark hallway and down the stairs. With relief, Marcella saw Ambrose ordering the servants all out to the SUVs aligning the drive. No doubt, Dominic’s quick thinking.

“She’s dead. I’m so sorry, Ambrose. I never meant to kill your lover. I just…” The tears filled her eyes again as she tried to vanish the sound of her demon and the visions of Gwen’s last moments.

“Marcella, she killed all of those girls. She was trying to kill you! Don’t apologize for defending yourself.” Ambrose kissed her forehead and quickly started breaking the cluster of people into groups.

Dominic pulled her deeper into his side. “Everyone pick a car and let’s get out of here before the police arrive.”

Every vampire turned to Ambrose, who nodded at Dom’s order. “It’s okay. They are good people. I tell you the truth. Listen to them and do as the demon says. Dominic isn’t who you may think he is. He’s not evil.”

Marcella took in the faces around her. One in particular caught her attention. She studied the vampire. He didn’t look a day over eighteen. His boyish features stared, captivated at Dominic as he whispered something to the guy beside him.

Narrowing her vision, she watched a small pale finger point, and they both nodded their heads. Did they know him? They almost looked like they did. What could they be talking about? Mindlessly, she walked closer. Her mate’s hand grasped her shoulder.

“Come, love. It’s time to load up. We need to talk.” He opened the passenger side door and cradled her face. “You know you didn’t have a choice back there, right? I don’t want you to worry about anything. She was trying to kill you. You just protected yourself. In our world, that’s all you can do.”

Marcella nodded. “I know she was. But I really wished things could have been different.” Dominic gave her a sad smile and kissed her forehead. She climbed in and buckled her seat belt. Turning around, she came to face eight pair of eyes, all staring at her. They look scared, unsure of their fate. The looks were enough to break her heart.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way. Ambrose will explain everything when we get home. I know you all must think of me as a really bad person, but I’m truly not. I’d never hurt any of you. That’s a promise.”

“Gwendolyn was the bad person. The things she made us do.” A guy in his early twenties looked out the window at his words. “Vampires these days aren’t like they used to be. We’re not murderers. Most of us hate that we even have to live off of blood. We don’t lust after seeing it smeared on walls, or dripping from innocent young girls. If you wouldn’t have killed her, we were all planning to try.”