Night Hungers (17 page)

“When I killed James, he’d shot me. Several times, as a matter of fact. I was losing blood quickly and I had been so weak that it was all I could do to get back into my cell and close the door. Hell had broken loose in the sublevels and nothing was safe from the others. I didn’t…I tried to regain control, but without feeding on one of them I couldn’t do it.”

“How many were in that lab? I’d heard different amounts, but none of them were very accurate, I think. Anywhere from fifty to a hundred is what I’d heard.”

Zane looked up when Sara entered the room, Aaron beside her. Before she could answer the queen Aiden came in as well. Zane didn’t move from the doorway, but did shift to lean against the jamb.

“Counting the ones on my level there were almost nine hundred of us. Fifty-two of us were donors, the rest were other breeders. There were about three hundred women, fertile, and some two hundred that were trying to carry the spawns the lab boys made.

They were having minimal success.”

Zane grinned at Aaron’s observation. “You were keeping them from succeeding, weren’t you? How? Were you doing something to the test or just using magic?”

“Magic. Mostly anyway. There were a few of us strong enough that when we worked together we could make the tests get too hot and kill off the samples in the lab. It was that or have to put up with knowing that they were making whatever it was they were working toward. I think Sherman knew, that’s why he had us put in the lowest levels of the lab. I don’t think he counted on that having the opposite effect. Being under the labs simply made it easier to use the vents upward to collect their energy and pull it into us.”

Aiden didn’t move. She didn’t have to look at him to feel his anger. She wanted to tell him “I told you so,” but kept looking into the night. It was a safer feeling for some reason.

“They came down—the lab boys came down to my level about once a month. They couldn’t be there much more than that. We were all very strong and without Sherman they couldn’t control us and our combined strength. There were ten of us. The first two cells held a pair of wolves who they thought could breed. We all knew that without them being mates, that nothing would ever become of it, but hey, they had fun. Cell three was a fae, though I’m not sure what flavor she was.”

“Flavor? You mean type of fae? And did you know anyone’s name, their surnames?”

Sara asked as she moved around the kitchen getting drinks for everyone.

“Yeah and no. I meant type of and no on the surnames. We, none of us, had any that I’m aware of. I had been there first; I wasn’t created there, but at the castle. The one you live at.” She pointed in the general direction of Mel. “I don’t remember much of that one, but the one I…the one that I finally left I remember very well. Four through seven held vampires that I know weren’t very old, maybe less than a couple hundred years. Eight and ten were both succubae, eight a sex succubus and ten, anger. I’m not sure what they thought keeping those two together could do, but they tried to make them breeders as well. As with most paranormal, without them being mated they couldn’t reproduce either.

I was…I guess I was them all. I could do what they did and then some. But mostly I made their lives as much a living hell as I could.”

“How long were you there, Zane? I’m assuming it was awhile. About how long?”

Zane looked at Aiden. She knew they all thought she was much younger than she really was. No one had ever cared much before now so she didn’t feel the need to share.

She glanced at Mel and at her nod she looked out the door again. “I’m…I’m nearly four thousand years old. Sherman created me when he had first mated Mel. Her mother was still the reigning queen.”

Zane waited. She knew that it was quite the bombshell and wanted more than anything to turn and see what they were doing, but she simply stood where she was. It was hard not to just shift and leave. She was surprised when she heard Aiden speak her name.

“Allison, come here. I want to hold you, please.” His voice was soft, almost too soft for anyone to hear, but she didn’t turn and look, just closed her eyes and continued.

“He told me that I was going to be the future. That I was going to be his best creation yet. There were others, more than…fifty-three of them, but they died after the first few months after we left the castle. He thought it was the loss of magic that is characteristically a part of the realm, but that wasn’t it. It was the air. The…it wasn’t pure.”

“Then how did you…I’m sorry, that sounds crass. But how did you manage to survive when the others hadn’t?”

Zane looked at the queen again then out the door. It was easier to speak like this.

“They were dying. All of them. I couldn’t save them, I tried, but I couldn’t save them.”

“So you took their essences. You had to survive, Zane. You did nothing wrong when you took what they didn’t need any longer. You had to survive.”

Zane turned in the jamb and looked at Aaron. She knew that, of anyone at the table, he would understand what she had done, but she wasn’t mated to him. She didn’t look at Aiden when she continued, but at Aaron. “As I grew stronger I also grew to hate what I was. I couldn’t die, I knew that in the back of my mind somehow, but I could hate. It was all I had to begin with. Then once the hate began to eat me alive I started to…to act out on it. The years I was in this realm were…I killed so much, so many. I wanted someone, anyone to hurt me, to hunt me down. But that grew to be too little too. After a while I began to turn my energies into helping those around me until I saved Liberty. She was a witch.” Taking a deep breath she moved into the kitchen and began to remove Aiden’s shirt she had on. It covered the sleeveless t-shirt under it and hid her marks too.

“I had this book, one that I had stolen from the kingdom. It was called
Nam eget Art
or
Living Body Art.
I would put the weapons on my body and she made them a part of me, my DNA. According to that book, it would be passed on to anyone who I became a part of.” Zane heard Aiden shift. “As it turned out, it worked. As the weapons became more advanced, I put them to me as well.”

She pulled the shirt off and lifted the tee side where the blade was. It was beautiful if one looked past how deadly it looked on her skin. Turning around, Zane lifted her shirt up and showed them the one on her back. Aiden was suddenly in front of her, shielding her front from view. When she looked up at him, he smiled and kissed her on the nose.

To say she was shocked would have been an understatement.

“Christ. They’re…well hell, Zane, they’re beautiful. And they work how? I’m assuming you can use them with the name
living
associated with them.” She glanced back at Aaron and nodded.

Reaching behind her, she wrapped her hand around the handle and peeled it away from her skin, leaving the scabbard in place. She turned as Aiden lowered her shirt and handed it pommel first to Aaron. He didn’t hesitate, but took it from her hand with a short nod. When he had tested its weight in his hand for several seconds, he suddenly looked at Aiden.
Now
, she thought,
now comes the truth.

“You have mated and bonded with her, correct?”

Zane felt Aiden come up behind her and hold her. She assumed he answered his master. Aiden’s arm slipped around her waist and he pulled her back to his chest.

“Good.” Zane stared at the master as he continued. “This is very good. Now, if there is nothing more you feel the need to share, I believe we have a being to take care of.

What are your plans and how do we help?”

“Wait. What? You know that he’ll be like me? He’ll have these same…why are you nodding like that? I’ve made him…he’s not just a vamp anymore, but a creature like me.

Doesn’t that bother you?”

“First of all, you are not a creature. You’re a passionate woman.” Aaron turned toward Mel when she snorted and frowned. “As I was saying,” he continued to Zane, “a passionate woman who is mated to a vampire in my realm. Secondly, very little ‘bothers’

me when someone is happy that I care about. I would like to learn more about you and this book, but for now, we have other more pressing needs to contend with. Now, let’s get this party started.”

~~~

P. Simon Sinclair sat in his office and stared at the man in front of him. He couldn’t have heard him correctly. There was just no way that what he said could be even remotely true.

“You say what again? And this time, you’d better have a different story than the bullshit you just handed me. Start from the top.”

The man swallowed hard. Simon couldn’t remember his name, not that he would have even if he’d told him right now. This man, this person, wasn’t important enough to have Simon remember. People like this man were here to serve Simon and he’d better, by God, start remembering that.

“I said, sir, that Mr. MacManus is asking for an interview with you. He said that it is concerning his wife. And he told me to tell you that he won’t take no for an answer.”

Simon looked at the clock on his desk. It was just after ten in the morning. This man, MacManus, was reputed to be a vampire, a very stupid one at that. Maybe his information was wrong. He stiffened at that. Sherman had always told him if you want it done correctly, then do it your fucking self. Simon caught the grin before it did more than make his face look like it was snarling.

“Tell Mr. MacManus that I’m a very busy man and that I don’t have the time today.

If he’d like to come back tomorrow then—”

Simon’s door slammed open and against the wall beside it. Power preceded the man and woman who entered, more than Simon had ever felt before. His cock actually stirred with it. Simon started to rise and was stopped by invisible bands around his waist and his wrists holding him to the chair.

“I have time now, Sinclair, and you’ll do well to see me. I’m Aaron Xavier MacManus, Master Vampire of this realm. I would have a word with you.”

“You can’t just barge in here. This is my office. I will have security remove you from here this instant.” And just that quickly Simon was lifted up off the floor, chair and all.

“Cease. You’ll shut up and listen to me or, so help me, I will drain you where you sit. As I was saying, I’m Aaron Xavier MacManus and—”

“Darling,” the woman standing next to the large vamp said. “Do get on with it. I’m supposed to meet Mel for lunch in an hour and if you start over every time this idiot says anything we could be here until you need to feed again. And unless Sinclair here wants to be your meal, then I’m afraid you will be a very, very hungry vampire.”

Simon started to say something more, but the woman looked at him. There was something very…terrifying in her eyes. Almost as if she wanted him to interrupt again just to see if the vamp would drain him. MacManus kissed the beautiful woman and turned back to Simon. The vamp had changed. Drastically. His fangs were showing and not only that, but his eyes had turned a blood red as well. And Simon was sure that the man had actually grown taller as well as wider, looming over Simon as if he was a child in a child’s chair. As he advanced Simon felt fear, the kind of fear that had one wetting his or her pants and wondering if a person would see the morning. Backing away in the chair he started to—
beep beep beep beep.

Simon shot up in bed immediately. His heart was pounding and he was covered in sweat. The room, pitch black in the night, now had shadows and sounds he’d never heard before. He lay back down and continued to stare hard around his bedroom, just knowing that somewhere the big vamp was hiding.

Simon had been having a lot of nightmares lately. Most of them had to do with his friend Sherman and their times together, but then the man who he had just dreamed about had come to him as well. Unlike the dreams with Sherman, Simon never remembered what the man looked like or the woman with him. She never said the same thing twice, but it was always quite clear that without her, Simon would be dead.

Knowing that he wasn’t going to get any more sleep tonight Simon got up and went into the bathroom to shower. Turning on the water and stripping down as best he could with one hand, he stood and looked at himself in the mirror that was steaming up as he stood there.

He wasn’t as muscled as he’d once been. It was the magic, he knew. Black magic had a way of draining a person and as much as Simon used it to get what he wanted, it was small wonder that he was a little on the thin side. His hair, once his pride, was now stringy and lank on his head. Moving his fingers through the patches his fingers came away with several more strands of it. His teeth were beginning to show wear as well. He wasn’t so sure that he liked the after effects of his magic, but the power it gave him was well worth it.

As he stepped under the spray Simon wondered when Sherman was coming back. It had been years since he’d seen him. Simon wasn’t too worried. Sherman had often told him that he had other business to attend to and that Simon shouldn’t be too concerned if he didn’t come around for a while. But it had been about ten years now…no, more like fifteen. And the money, Sherman should come back to give Simon more money at least.

There had been none for a very long time. But the lab was coming along.

They had set up the lab a few months before Sherman disappeared. He told Simon that he had a new breeder and a donor that he wanted to acquire for them. They were both females. Simon didn’t like dealing with the donors. They were usually too strong for him and the limited amount of magic Sherman had bestowed on him. Now there were several donors and a few breeders residing in the lab awaiting results. Simon laughed when he thought about how clever they’d been about using the old lab to begin again. Sherman had said it was the perfect hiding place.

“Nothing like hiding out in the open, Simon dear. No one would think twice about us coming back here to continue on. I’m betting that bitch Mel wouldn’t even give this place a second thought when she comes looking for me.”

Sherman had been right. No one had come around since they’d opened up again and the fencing kept anybody from just wandering upon the doorway to the sublevels. Simon shut off the water as he thought about the small twinge he’d gotten yesterday.