Part 1 (1/2)
DESCENDANTS OF DARKNESS:.
LEONARDO.
by MARIANNE LACROIX.
”Oh, Christ, no!” the female vampire frantically pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
”G.o.d isn't here to help you,” vampire slayer, Erin O'Connell, sneered. She shoved the vampire's weakened body against the alley's brick wall, then twisted the stake protruding from her chest. The wet, cool surface matched the vampire's own loss of body heat. Dark, rich blood oozed from the ma.s.sive chest wound. Without feeding, the vampire would become incapacitated as her precious life fluid pumped from her body.
The ancient belief of a stake through the heart was still the most effective way to impair a vampire. Only decapitation would ensure the final death, or the greeting of the morning sun, incinerating the remains into ash to be scattered with the wind.
The vampire lost consciousness and slid down the wall into a heap.
Erin had no time to wait hours for the sun. She pulled a machete from an inner pocket of her long trench coat, the polished blade gleaming in the soft streetlight. What a beautiful piece of equipment for such a dreadful task. But, it wasn't anything new to her. This vampire marked her fifty-first kill.
Raising her arm, feeling the weight of the weapon, Erin let all the inner hate and pa.s.sion for revenge bubble up through her. With a scowl, she swung the blade and severed the head from the vampire's body.
She had been a slayer ever since one horrible night eight years ago when a male vampire had eased his way into her parent's home by dating her older sister, Karen.
Karen had been talking about Michael, a dark, handsome man she had met in the university library. She had thought he was a student, but it turned out Michael was a three-hundred-year-old vampire. Before their eyes, he had changed from the charming man into a bloodthirsty demon.
He fed upon them all, enslaved them under his magic spell as he drank from each at his leisure. When he had gotten to Erin, however, a vampire slayer interrupted him.
The slayer, Casey, a twenty-five-year-old man with dark hair and eyes, and a muscular build, had been delayed by one of the vampire's minions. He arrived in time only to save Erin from being drained. Unfortunately, Michael had escaped after the ensuing battle.
From that moment, Erin vowed to find the demon that destroyed her family, and all those who shared his lifestyle. Casey had taken her under his wing for two years, teaching her the art of slaying.
Convincing him to allow her to become involved in such a dangerous business had proven difficult at first, but he eventually relented. At nineteen, Erin began to learn how to hunt and kill vampires.
After a year with Casey, Erin began to care for him, wis.h.i.+ng she could give into her inner desires. He, however, had been secretly in love with Karen. Teaching Erin the ways of the slayer had been his way to avenge Karen's death. When Erin eventually discovered the truth, she left Casey to continue her work alone. It hurt too much to see the man she adored yearning for her dead sister, so Erin immersed herself into her work to ease the pain wracking her heart.
Six years on her own as a slayer, she had sent fifty vampires to their eternal rest. She moved about the United States, all the while following Michael's movements. His hunting grounds became hers. He sought victims, meals for the evening, while she tracked him and those of his kind.
Then, three months ago, Michael disappeared. He had never gone to the ground, but she began to believe that was what he had done.
One night, however, she came face-to-face with him in the streets of Philadelphia. He had just fed off of a hooker in a back alley. Erin confronted him, and it became her most difficult skirmish. She got in a blow to severe his jugular, causing him to run off into the night faster than she could follow. But she hadn't seen him since.
Three days ago, she decided to visit the American vampire capital, New Orleans. She could almost sense the evil about her, and amid it, Michael, the d.a.m.ned night-walker who destroyed everything she held dear. But, where was he?
While searching for clues, Erin had run into this female vampire. She persuaded the one called t.i.tania to show her the city's vampire society.
t.i.tania, of course, was apprehensive. Erin tried weakening her with a special potion Casey had created to drain some of the vampire's strength.
Still, t.i.tania would not willingly reveal the secret gathering places of her fellow demons, so Erin had no other choice but to kill her.
Now, in the alley off Bourbon Street, darkness surrounded her as she stood over the corpse. Not a pretty sight. A grueling, messy job, but someone had to do it. And this one had been tough in the hunt, but again, Erin had triumphed.
A male vampire, still hidden by shadows, burst onto the scene. Erin could feel his anger as he gazed over the staked, headless body.
”Who the h.e.l.l are you?” he asked, rage spouting from his every pore.
”Your worst nightmare, vampire.”
Obviously, these two creatures had had a connection, bringing him to her with a pained call for help. Perfect. Now Erin could destroy two of them, making it a very productive evening.
He stepped from the shadows, revealing his handsome features in the dim street light. Erin gasped. His chiseled jaw, dark eyes, and short black hair, matched with a tall stature and a well-toned chest, washboard abdomen, and lean, muscular legs, made her heart leap. It felt as though all air had escaped her lungs. l.u.s.t shot through her body, betraying each and every instinct she had honed in the past eight years.
For the first time, she felt confused. How could her body react in such a way to one of the night-walkers? She had trained to kill them, no matter her feelings. But somehow, she couldn't lift the machete to strike out at him.
”Who are you?” she whispered.
”The one about to destroy you. d.a.m.n you, slayer!” He approached in ethereal speed, knocking her to the cobblestones. The machete flew out of her hand and into the dark shadows.
His hard, muscled body pressed her down into the equally hard alley. Erin struggled for release, but he securely held down her wrists on each side of her head. She gazed into his face and gasped again. He appeared more striking even closer. Moisture pooled between her legs as her traitorous body awakened with desires long denied.
He hovered above her, those chocolate-brown eyes intense with hate. Yet for a moment, a flash of something else reflected in those dark mirrors to his soul. Had it been her imagination, or had she seen a spark of l.u.s.t?
His body could not hide its reaction to her. She felt the telltale sign of his arousal pressing into her pubis. She eased open her legs, and he nestled his bulging erection close to her core. She moaned as the sensations triggered her body to urge along his contact.
She wanted him, needed to feel connected to him, this vampire, one of the creatures for which she had spent part of her life hunting. d.a.m.n, what a confusing situation.
”Will you kill me now?” she croaked in a small voice.
He continued to stare into her eyes. A bevy of emotions and expressions flashed across his face, as though he couldn't decide what her fate would be at his hands. He surprised her by lowering his lips above hers. ”Perhaps there is some other way to exact my vengeance.” He covered her lips in a bruising, possessive kiss.
Erin's entire being responded to the awakened pa.s.sion. His tongue probed her mouth in a sensual a.s.sault, tasting her in sure strokes. Her body arched beneath his powerful mastery over her senses. His harder body answered the silent pleas of her own by pressing firmly between her legs.
For a moment, she thought he'd take her there amid the alley and the nearby gore of her latest hunt.
That last thought slammed into her senses. She had vowed to track and kill the dreaded vampires, vile creatures that lived off the blood and lives of humans. This one was no different, no matter his allure.
She struggled against his kisses and embrace, refusing to submit to the intoxicating caresses. She would not let the enemy into her life other than in the role of ”the hunted.”
When the kiss ended, the vampire once again stared into her face. He growled and leapt off her body. In a flash of speed, he collected the remains of the female vampire and dashed off into the night, leaving behind only the dark redness pooling over the ancient cobblestones.
Erin rose from the damp ground just as the sky opened up and rain began to pelt her. She continued to stand within the sudden storm and watched the blood wash into oblivion.
Quickly drenched to the bone, her hair matted to her body, she s.n.a.t.c.hed her lost machete and placed in inside her long coat. No words would come to her. She had killed a vampire, and met another that affected her like no other male--human or otherwise. As she walked home, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd ever see him again.
Leonardo laid t.i.tania's remains upon the roof of her resting tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No.1. Many of his fellow beings had tombs in the historic cemetery. Luckily, the heavy stone doors kept them fairly safe from most humans, while rumors of ghosts and vampires kept the curious from finding out the reality of it all. Fear acted the main weapon to survival.
He placed a blanket over the battered body, knowing t.i.tania would rather be remembered for her beauty than her means of destruction. There upon the roof, her remains would greet the morning sun, burn away to ash, and scatter in the winds. Vampires did not rebury their fallen. What was the sense? No, the body was only a vessel for the soul. Cremation via sunlight was the way to ensure the soul found eternal rest.
”I heard what happened.” In mid-s.h.i.+ft from a gray owl, Raife landed on the neighboring tomb's roof. ”Any idea how Ti met a slayer?”