Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (19 page)

            Everything smelled divine.

            I wasn't much of a breakfast person before being Changed, but since learning I could eat regular food as well as blood, I loved breakfast.  I had to have blood, but my body would
process
normal food.  Basically, it came out half-digested.  But I didn't care.

            "Perfect," I said, finally digging into that once unhealthy meal.  Crispy bacon, hash browns, and over easy eggs all had so much grease and fat, but vampires didn't have cholesterol problems.  We didn't have heart attacks or blocked arteries.  Heck, we didn't really even absorb anything from the food.  Only blood gave us nutrition.  "Mmmm, so good."

            "Thank you.  I try," she said, beaming.  Then she upended the catsup bottle on her plate, soaking everything but the bacon in it.  Disgusting.

            The cell phone rang again, thankfully taking my mind off Desiree’s ruined breakfast.  It was Boney.  The thought of just letting it ring crossed my mind.  Instead I answered, and then hung up.  That way he knew I didn't want to speak with him.

            "Who was that?" Desiree said.

            "No one important," I said.  "Tell me about this latest suicide.  Beside the part where you thought it was me.  Where was it?  How did it go down?"

            "It happened in front of City Hall," she said, and shuddered.  "It wasn't caught on tape or anything.  But they say the vampire was running around, growling and biting people, like a wild animal.  Until the sun hit her."

            "So we don't know who she was yet?"

            "I know, though the police and media don’t," Desiree said.  She knew?  Then what was all that drama at the front door?  "Her lover is a friend of mine and mutual friends called me around three this afternoon to let me know."

            Did they have some kind of fang whore support network going on?  If anyone needed a support network it would be fang whores.  What a miserable existence most of them led.  Before Yuri Changed me fang whores baffled and disgusted me, now I mostly pitied them.

            "Was her fang whore with her at the time?"

            "Yes," she said, slanting a look at me.  "Why?"

            "She couldn't save her?  Talk sense into her?"

            "He.  Brandon was her fang whore," she said.  "And no, he couldn't.  She was half-crazed."

            "Could you take me to see Brandon?"

            "Maybe," she said.  She gave me a wary look.  "Most fang whores don't want anything to do with Black Heart, you know."

            "We won't tell him who I am, okay?"

            "Uh-huh," she said.

            After breakfast I changed.  We were going to see a fang whore, so it was time to get out of “normal” clothes and vamp out.  Fang whores always responded to vampires.  And usually to any vampire.

            No time for a shower, and I really needed one after my day of debauchery with Roger.  So I transformed into a wolf, and back into a human.  That vanquished all the dirt, grim, and makeup.  I was pristine, or as pristine as undead could be.

            I put on a burgundy latex mini dress with deep scoop neckline and long sleeves.  Over that I wore a black leather corset, zipped up the front, with four buckled straps over that.  Desiree bought this outfit for me.  I finished it off with black thigh boots, big silver hoops and matching bangles.

            Needless to say, Desiree was thrilled to see me in it.

            We took my Mustang.  Desiree wanted to drive me over in her new Dodge Charger, cherry red, black leather interior.  She loved her car like I loved mine.  Could a Mustang girl and Charger girl ever find common ground?

            “So, tell me about this man taking up all your time and keeping you away from me,” Desiree said as we headed east, towards the White Rock Lake area of Dallas.  “I mean you stumbling in at the crack of twilight, all bedraggled and looking totally satisfied.  Perhaps I should meet him.”

            “Roger is a vampire.  A very strange and usual vamp, too,” I said.  I didn't really want to talk about him, since I still hadn't dealt with what he could do, and did, to me.  "Have you met Boney's mistress?"

            "Antoinette LaRue?"

            "Yes.  Have you experienced her power?"

            "Yes," she said quietly.  For once Desiree didn't sound totally infatuated with a vampire.  "She's the one that turned me into a hooker and a fang whore.  I was a good Christian girl before I met her.  Not all of my time with her was pleasant."

            That confession was unexpected and startling.  For a moment I forgot what we were talking about.  Antoinette turned Desiree into what she was now?  She was a "good girl" before?

            "Well, I met another vampire with that same power," I said.  "And today he had his way with me seven ways to Sunday."

            Desiree groaned and rubbed her legs together.  I thought she was going to climax on me, except her emotions were raging.  She was filled with warring emotions.  Longing.  Revulsion.  Lust.  Disgust.  Heart racing, she fought a silent battle and all I could do was watch.

            "Stay away from him and Antoinette," she finally said.  "Take my advice, and stay away.  That power is addictive, and before you realize it he will own you."  She shuddered.  "Body and soul."

            Spooky.  That wasn't like Desiree.  She wasn't the cryptic type, and she never warned anyone away from a vampire.

            "Is that what happened between you and Antoinette?"

            "Yes," she said.  "I'm totally helpless around Antoinette even now.  I cannot say no to her, for anything.  He will do that to you, too.  Stay away from him."

            Coming from Desiree that was a potent warning.  But I couldn't stay away from Roger.  He was too close to my sister.  Roger was teaching me to grow wings.  I had to have them.  I'd risk anything for wings.  And, he was already getting under my skin.

            Brandon’s house was a rather spectacular Antebellum mansion overlooking White Rock Lake.  Oil money, according to Desiree.  He inherited a lot.  Hundreds of millions.  And yet, with all of that, he was a vampire groupie, risking his life and soul on a nightly basis.

            When we pulled in, there were two other cars in the driveway.  The first was a red Jaguar convertible.  Very pretty.  The second car was a silver Mercedes Benz SUV.  I could smell blood in both cars as we walked past them.  Were other vampires coming to pay their respects?

            “The Jag is Brandon’s,” Desiree said.

            We walked up to the front door and knocked.  A moment later a tall, austere middle-aged woman answered.  She knew Desiree, so let us right in.  Brandon was in the north sitting room, so she led us to him.  He was not alone.

            “Desiree!” Brandon called upon seeing her.

His face lit up as he hurried over to hug and kiss her.  Lip kisses.  Kinda deep and lingering.  Better friends than I was led to believe, it appeared.  Brandon was younger than Desiree, maybe twenty-five.  My age.

“Brandon, this is my special friend, Sable,” Desiree said, which I had learned was fang whore code for “my vampire.”  We shook hands as she continued, “Sable, this is Brandon Wesley.”

“Pleased to meet you, and I’m so sorry for you loss,” I said.

“Thank you, Mistress,” he said.  “Lydia was a very special woman to us all.  She will be sorely missed.”

Despite that, he looked me over closely.  The aforementioned Lydia was, after all, a black-haired woman in latex.  His interest was piqued.  I could smell it.  His aura did that shimmy thing.

With Brandon were two other women.  The fact they were sisters was quite obvious.  They could almost be twins.  Both looked young, teenager young for one, with the same brown hair, brown eyes, nose and mouth.  The sisters were tall and athletic looking, and very sassy and sexy.  One was a vampire.

“These are my friends, Lolita and Lorelei Giorgi,” Brandon said.

Lolita was the vampire, and the older looking of the two.  Neither one of them felt young, though the mortal sister, Lorelei, looked sixteen.  They were wearing low-rider jeans and crop-tops, showing off their diamond navel rings.

“Hello, Desiree,” Lolita said, and they shared a smoldering look as the vampire headed towards her.  Another vampire Desiree has slept with?  Was there one she hadn’t slept with?  “Long time no see.”

“Hello,” Desiree said with a husky voice.  She swallowed, clearing the knot in her throat.  Lolita was soaking the air with vamp pheromones, getting everyone riled up.  They hugged like friends, but that was followed by a deep, lingering kiss.  That kiss left Desiree a bit disconcerted.  “I’m sorry about your loss, too.  I didn’t like Charlie much, but I know what he meant to you.”

“Charlie?” I said, feeling left out.

“Charles Healey was the Sire of our family,” Lolita said, giving me an “I don’t like you” look.

We stood just two feet apart.  She stood eye to eye with me, despite me being in heels and her in athletic shoes.  I was shapelier, bustier, but she looked like an athlete.  If it came to a knock down drag out, most would wisely bet on Lolita.  Unless they knew I studied Krav Maga.  I believed my martial arts knowledge gave me the deciding advantage when I fought other vampires.

“Ah, yes, the suicide that got me involved in this,” I said.

“It wasn’t suicide,” Lorelei said. 

Beside the low-riders and crop-top, she wore a pink baseball cap and matching Converse sneakers.  I very well may have worn the same thing in High School.

“I know,” I said.  I spotted a large ruby set in a gold ring on her right middle finger, and thought of the Coeur de Sade with a flash of panic.  But I was not captured by it, so it wasn’t the talisman.  Even so, that ring radiated power.  “That’s why I’m investigating.  There’s been a rash of unexplained vampire suicides, that aren’t suicides.”

Both sisters noticed my interest in Lorelei's ring, and their eyes narrowed.  Lolita started looking me up and down, circling me.  I started walking in a circle, too.  We circled each other like two pissed off dogs.

“Sable’s been charged with finding the murderer by the council,” Desiree said.

She looked worried.  So did Brandon.  I was beginning to think no two vampire girls could get along, and girl-on-girl vampire fights might not be so uncommon.  I know I couldn't look twice at a female vampire without ticking her off.

"You don't look so tough," Lolita said.

"Funny thing, everyone who's ever said that to me is dead now," I said.  That was followed by a smug look that I do believe rattled her resolve just a tad.  "Four of them over five hundred."

"Oh my God!" Brandon cried, looking totally horrified.  "You're Black Heart!  The vampire killer."

"She only kills rogues," Desiree said, coming to my defense.

"Why you?" Lolita said, stopping her incessant circling and facing me.  "I would think you'd be the prime suspect."

"I was, but they ruled me out," I said.  "Council knows how the vampires are being killed, so it couldn't be me."  I looked meaningfully at Lorelei.  "Vampires cannot practice magic."

Everyone's eyes went wide, especially Lorelei's.

"You know about the Coeur de Sade?" Lorelei said.

"You do, too?"

The sister's smiles were smug and secretive.  I realized then they were after the talisman, too.  Somehow I don't think they had vampirekind's best interests at heart.

"You're looking for the killer, too?" Desiree said.

"Is that why you've been asking about werewolves?" Brandon said.  "Did a werewolf kill my Lydia?"

"Probably," I said.  "Did you see Lydia with a werewolf before she started acting strange?"

Brandon looked at me, then at Desiree.  Finally, he shrugged.

"How would I know?  Unless someone has morphed into a wolf, I can't tell," he said.  His eyes glazed over as the considered, thought back.  We all waited impatiently.  I didn't like the idea of Lolita and Lorelei learning the same information as me.  "There was just that one guy.  Tall, long dark hair, dressed in leather like a rock star."

"Would you recognize him if you saw him?" I said.

"No," he said.  "I only saw him from behind."

"Would — " I started, and Lolita threw her arm out to stop me.  Lorelei began to chant something quietly.  I stepped back from Lolita, and cut a look at Lorelei.  "You won't live to finish that spell if you don't stop."

Desiree and Brandon both gasped.  Lorelei stopped, eyes big, then looked at her sister.

"I won't let you hurt my sister," Lolita snarled.

"You can't stop me," I said.

"Want to bet?"

"Yes, do you?"

"No!" Brandon cried.  "I won't have vampire blood shed here.  Get out.  All of you — out."

"As you wish," I said, slowly moving away.

If Lorelei began casting her spell again, I was going to be all over her.  She kept quiet as she and Lolita collected their purses and followed us out.  I didn't trust them, so kept a close eye on them both all the way to the cars.

Pulling out, I headed down the road and watched my rearview mirror to ensure they headed the other way.  They did, and I relaxed.  So I headed home.

"What do you know about those two?" I said.  "Are they a threat?"

"Very much so," she said.  "Charles Healey and his family were all ruthless, power hungry bastards.  He was the most powerful vampire on council, and ran it like his own personal kingdom.  Few members of council mourned his death."

We drove straight home.  I needed to see if Dane or Gabe had found out anything, then plan my night.  So when we got home, I took my midnight meal and Desiree went to the den to catch up on her recorded programs.  Then I went down to the basement and started making calls.  First, I called Gabe to see if his telephone and internet search had yielded anything useful.  It didn't.  Dane's phone was off, so I left a voice mail to call me.  Then I called Jeff, then Tara with updates.  While speaking with Tara, I realized Desiree's emotions were spiking.

What was that woman watching now?  She usually only reacted like that during sex.  Or when being bitten.  Then I felt the other mortal.  It was a woman.  Not unusual for Desiree's friends to drop by for a little nookie action, and all three of us usually ended up in bed or my coffin together.  But I didn't like threesomes with all girls.  I wanted at least one man.