Authors: Jez Strider
“Alright, alright.
Calm down.
I’m sorry! I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
He grabbed me and pulled me against him, as if that would protect me.
I struggled to fight the tears in my eyes.
All I could think was that I had gotten Marcus killed.
The anger was fleeting.
I couldn’t blame Antonio.
“Let’s go back to my house and see if we can find a clue.” I said with resolve.
“Dante’s goons will be watching the house.”
He said as he walked back around to get in the car.
It was just as well.
There was no way he could dissuade me.
“Be on your guard.”
On the way back to my house, I kept my hand gripping the .38 in my purse.
I would definitely be prepared.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as we drove up to my house.
From a distance I could see that the front door was shut.
I found that odd since Ash had told me that it had been kicked down.
I pulled the revolver out of my purse and climbed out of the car.
Antonio grabbed me by the shirt.
“Let me go first.”
He growled at me in a whispered tone.
His gun was already out.
Despite my confident façade, I was actually scared.
I took up position behind him without protest.
“Hurry.”
When we reached the door, he silently counted to three with his fingers before twisting the nob.
The suspense was unbearable, but the door didn’t budge.
Antonio took a few steps back before I could stop him.
For the second time today, my door was kicked down.
“Seriously?
There was a key under the flower pot!”
I hissed softly at him.
Both our eyes locked on my living room.
The place had been cleaned.
There were no visible signs of blood or the flowers my friend had mentioned.
Strangely, pages from an old diary were strewn about the room.
I stepped in and picked up the first one I came to while Antonio watched alertly.
“What is it?”
He questioned as I read the page.
My laugh was abrupt and I lost it for a moment, ripping the paper into shreds.
“He’s toying with us.
It’s the journal I kept in Versailles.”
I shook my head.
“There are many mentions of our affair.
No wonder he sent you.”
Antonio began looking around the room for clues as I gathered up the pages of my old diary.
With everything that had been going on, I hadn’t consumed enough blood.
My head felt cloudy and I found myself reading over every page I picked up.
It was strange to read my thoughts from so long ago.
Doing so was taking all my focus.
The lifeblood kept us strong, immune to disease, and our minds alert.
I’d already been living on the minimum amount required before health would begin to deteriorate.
“I think I found something.”
He pulled a business card that hand been pinned to the refrigerator by one of my animal magnets.
“Dante runs some BDSM clubs throughout the country.
It’s a good business, but he’s become…”
His sentence broke off when he noticed my state. He opened the fridge to get me a bottle of blood, only to find them gone.
“He’s a libertine and hedonistic.
These clubs aren’t run for anyone’s pleasure except for his own sick and twisted variety.”
There was concern in his eyes as he headed over to where I was leaning against the sofa.
“That must be where they took Marcus then.”
I gave a wave of my hand, trying to signal to him that I was fine.
He dragged his teeth across his wrist, making a small cut, before extending his arm to me in an offer of blood.
“You have to feed.
It may take us a while to figure out which one he’s at or if…”
My frown was apparent.
“If he’s dead already,” I finished for him.
He was right, though. I felt so weak.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to feed.
There was a painful sting in my neck.
My hand flew up to pull the tranquilizer dart out.
As my eyes were rolling back in my head, I caught a glimpse of an angry Antonio making the same motion to his neck.
He reached out for me and then everything went black.
It must have been during the ride that I awoke to voices.
“I can’t believe that bastard took two darts to take him down.”
One of the voices said.
“Probably all the adrenaline from seeing his bitch knocked out.
I sure hope those chains hold.”
My wrists couldn’t move at all as I tried to get free.
I could tell we were moving in some sort of vehicle.
I opened my eyes heavily to catch a glimpse of the captors.
It must have been a van because I saw the two men were talking in the back.
One of them seemed vaguely familiar.
I can’t be sure but I think he’d come in to donate blood during the drive.
If he was a vampire...and that blood was given to a patient….
I couldn’t really process it at the time and I couldn’t lift my head to look for Antonio.
“Sedate this one again.”
The thug said to his companion.
The other ruffian leaned down to me, running one hand through my hair while the other held up a needle.
He bent down, roughly kissing my lips.
“The things I would do to you if the boss wouldn’t find out.”
My anger gave me enough of a boost to spit in his face.
I could hear laughing before I slipped back into unconsciousness.
When I woke up, I had so many questions.
I sat up on the side of the bed and looked around the area.
It reminded me of a cheap hotel room.
Antonio was sitting in the corner of the room on the floor.
His eyes were closed and he looked like an exhausted mess.
It had to be bad.
That man was always groomed and in control.
I walked over to the door and put my hands against the surface.
It had looked like glass but it was more of a bullet proof type plastic material.
Outside the door at a desk was a guard with a shotgun.
Vampires could survive many things, but a wound the size of a dinner plate was unlikely.
The guard picked up a phone on the table when he noticed me watching.
I turned away from the door.
A wallet on the small table in the room caught my eye and I walked over to it.
When I opened it up, a teenage Marcus was staring at me from his driver’s license photo.
It read Marcus Andrew Hart.
Funny that I’d never asked his middle name.
There was also a photo of us together that had come from one of those photo booths you sit in and it takes four pictures.
Even the money was still there, a couple of twenties.
The most distinguishing factor was the blood all over everything.
It wasn’t fresh blood, but the smell reminded me of my hunger.
Sickness washed over me and I ran through the door in the back of the room, assuming it was the bathroom.
I hadn’t eaten in God knows how long, so I was mostly dry heaving.
After flushing the toilet anyway and washing my hands, I took a good look at myself in the mirror.
The lack of nourishment was making me look rough.
My skin was paler than usual, I’d lost weight, and I couldn’t retract my fangs.
If I didn’t feed soon, the effects would probably be irreversible.
When I turned to face the door, Antonio was leaning against the entryway.
“We should have fled when we had the chance,” he said before walking out and returning to his seat in the corner.
It was hard to tell if he was angry at me or at himself.
I followed, taking a seat in front of him on the floor.
“What kind of person would I be if I had just left?
I’d have always wondered if I could have saved him.”
“Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker.”
The snide remark stung.
I won’t lie.
“I am sorry about your friend.”
I’d heard more sincere apologies in my time.
His gaze drifted upward and mine followed.
There was a camera keeping a watchful eye on us.
My heart hurt, but I was too hungry and too tired to properly process it all and mourn.
I also refused for them to watch me in pain on camera.
“Thanks.”
He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me onto his lap facing him.
His lips kissed my cheek before he moved them against my ear.
“They’ve kept us sedated for days to make us weak.
We’re going to have to do something to make him take action if we’re going to survive.
You’re also going to have to feed from me.”
As he pulled back slightly, he looked into my eyes and gave a small nod.
My legs straddled him and I leaned forward, pressing my lips against his.
I took the time to savor his taste before kissing his neck.
The meaning behind his words was clear.
Dante would go mad to watch us get intimate.
“Do you remember the first time?”
I asked.
“Tell me, take me back there…”
My voice trembled before my fangs delicately pierced his skin.
In my mind, I felt less guilty if I pretended we were back in Venice, before I knew Marc. Before I got Marc killed….
Beneath me his hips arched upwards when I bit down.
When he spoke, I knew whoever was watching would hear.
“Master Dante had gone to an important meeting and left us alone to wait for him in the gondola.
It had begun to rain so we got into the
felze
for shelter.”
In the small cabin on the gondola is where it all began.
But were we to blame for all this?
No, I couldn’t think that.
Dante was the criminal.
Moans came out softly as I drank the life giving blood.
It wouldn’t have the same effect as drinking from a human, but it was better than no nourishment.
I’d heard stories of vampires exchanging blood in an attempt to create a more powerful strain of the virus that made us what we were.
Antonio’s hands moved beneath me, unzipping and freeing himself from his pants.