Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (27 page)

            "What a gorgeous backyard, Kale," I said.

            It was the most beautiful backyard I ever saw.  He had three large oaks, tons of shade and thick green grass.  No weeds I could see, and flower beds all around the fence and around the trees.  He had a rocky water feature in one corner.

            "Thanks."

            "You did all this?  Without a wife to make you do it?  I'm impressed."

            "You're a funny girl," he said, grinning.  "But no, I didn't landscape it.  It was like this when I bought the house.  I just maintained it."

            "Good boy," I said.  "It really is beautiful."

            Praise over with, I felt the press of time again.  So moved a few feet out into the grass and laid down.  The grassed was soft and cool, and rich with that lovely earthy smell.  I wasn't sure what to do, but so much of being a vampire was just instinct and willing it so.  So I willed myself down into the ground, visualized myself sinking down into Mother Earth.

            "Wait," Kale said.

            Too late.  I felt a bit of disorientation, and it was if the earth opened up and swallowed me.  Fast.  Something long, thin and hard resisted a second, but snapped.  I thought of those big, beautiful oaks and hoped I didn't harm one of them by breaking a major root.

            I dropped down about six feet.  Go figure.  The earth pressed against me.  I couldn't breathe, but that wasn't necessary anyway.  But I really didn't like not breathing.  It was distressing.

            Kale above me seemed stressed.  Strange, it was his suggestion.  But my experiment was over, so I willed myself back up.  And up I went.  In a flash I found myself laying on the cool, damp grass.  Actually, I found myself in a puddle of water.

            "Where did all the water come from?" I said, sitting up.  I had a ton of dirt in my hair and I was coated with it.  Yuck.  The water turned it all to mud, of course.  "Eww, I'm filthy now."

            "You sank into the ground over one of my sprinkler system pipes," he said.  "I tried to warn you, but..."

            "Oh Jesus," I groaned.  "I am so sorry.  I'm such an idiot sometimes."

            "Not your fault," he insisted.  "You had no way of knowing, and I wasn't completely sure myself.  Until you went down, and the water came up."  He grinned weakly.  "You're a muddy mess.  I can help you shower."

            "I bet you can," I said.  I morphed into a bat, flew out of my clothes, and changed back into human form.  Took all of three seconds.  "Not necessary.  I'm done."

            "Damn!  That's incredible," he said.  "I've never seen anyone do that."

            "I have my talents," I said, picking my wet latex clothes and thigh boots out of the water.  "I need to clean these up.  You have an old washcloth and dish tower I could use?  Nothing new.  The mud might stain."

            Quicker than Kale liked, I cleaned my clothes and was back in them.  I think he rather enjoyed watching me struggle and wiggle into my tight latex pants.  The thigh boots and halter top went on relatively easy in comparison, though no less snug.

            I shouldered my pack and headed for the front door.  Kale followed on my heels, looking uncomfortable and worried.  Then he thrust something at me.  Without thought, I held out my hand and he put a wad of cash into it.

            "What is this for?"

            "Gas money," he said.  "Sorry, all I have is that thirty-two dollars.  I'll go to an ATM before you get back and get more."

            "No!" I said, pushing the money back at him.  "I can't accept this."

            "Of course you can," he said, refusing to take it back.  "You need gas money."

            "I don't need charity," I said.  Well, maybe I did.  But my family or
older
friends should provide it, not some guy I just met.  "And I've taken advantage of your generosity far too much already."

            "Nonsense.  I want to help," he said.  "Tell you what.  You take the money, and we'll call it a loan.  You can pay me back, therefore it is not charity."

            "Oh," I said, suddenly unsure.  I did need gas money.  But I didn't really know if I would ever see him again.  Fritz might get the drop on me, and bye-bye me.  "Jeeze, okay, but I think you're just loaning me the money cause you know I'll make a special effort to get back to you to repay it."

            "Well, I haven't thought of that," he said.  "But I like it.  Devious, but with my heart in the right place.  Wow, how special am I?"

            I couldn't help but grin.  I loved a man with a sense of humor.  Kale might even understand my warped sense of humor, too.  We'll see.

            "I'm keeping my eyes on you, boy."

            "Good, because I can't help looking at you.  But who could?"

            "Flattery will get you everywhere with me," I said, grinning.  "Thanks.  I mean it.  This does help."

            "Hey now, don't go get all mushy on me," he said.  "I might bite you."

            "Really?  Promises, promises," I said, and headed for the door.  "Just be careful, you might bite off more than you can chew with me."

            I hopped on the trusty ole Ninja.  No wasting anymore time.  Soon, I was skidding to a halt at the intersection where my first decision had to be made.  One was important to me, the council and all of Dallas's vampires.  The other was only of interest to me.

            Oh well, I turned right and headed for Dane and Heidi's apartment.  It wasn’t that far, and it was important that Heidi understood she can shoot me in the head all day with sanctified bullets, but I wasn't going to stay away from Dane as long as he lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.  A sick part of me thought of him as my ex and future boyfriend.

            I know, pathetic.

            Dane wasn't there.  He was way over on the east side of Dallas, maybe even in Mesquite.  But it was Heidi I wanted to speak with anyway.  Girl talk, to get a few things straight.

            The gates were closed.  I waited and waited, but no residents went in I could piggy back through behind.  Okay, I waited maybe five minutes. But I was in a hurry.  There was only so much darkness in one night, you know.  So I parked the bike outside the fence, hopped right over said wrought iron fence and headed for their apartment.  Didn't take long to reach it.

            "Shit," I said.  Carpet people were cleaning up after replacing the carpet.  There was no furniture inside.  Let me say, I upset a couple of people by just marching in and looking all through the apartment.  Closets, pantry, fridge, were all cleaned out.  "They moved."  I reached out with my link to Dane.  "Do they really think they can hide from me?"

            That meant I had more time for my friend Fritz Rotmensen.  I remembered what Roger told me about his name meaning Rotten People or something.  That was funny, and kinda appropriate from my perspective.  He was certainly messing my life up.

            "He owes me.  Big," I said, getting on the Ninja and racing off toward Farmers Branch.

            It was still early evening, so traffic was relatively heavy.  There was no breaking any speed records that night.  But the ride over gave me time alone to think how complicated my life was becoming.  There was a rumor it might be on the verge of getting out of control.

            I was about to attempt things I have never tried or discussed if feasible with a vampire.  My theory was wolves have an even better sense of smell than vampires, which would be quite impressive.  Really, vampire noses are that good.  But nonetheless, a wolf was low to the ground and uniquely qualified to be tracking prey by scent trail.

            Yep, I was going to try and follow Fritz's trail from his hasty retreat the night before.  I figured he went somewhere safe.  That's what I would do.  A safe house.  A bolt hole.  He might've even gone to a friend's house.

            On top of that, I was going to try and keep all of my clothes.  That is the biggest drawback to morphing into a bat or wolf.  When you get to where you're going, you are buck ass naked.  Kinda hard to intimate, scare, or impress a killer when your naked.  So I had a plan.

            The lights were on at Fritz's house as I approached.  The garage door was open and his jeep was full of stuff.  Fritz was moving.  He probably should've gotten it done before full dark.  I grinned.

            I could feel him inside.  He is agitated, but not overly concerned.  Have to admit, I was hoping I was the cause of that bit of anxiety.  But he was home, and I had a plan.  Lots of plans.

            I killed the engine half a block away.  Coasting, I rolled right up into his front yard.  Kickstand down, and I put on my wraparound reflective glasses.  Fritz's anxiety spiked.  I smiled.

            Reaching around to my left side, I pulled my new Glock 31 out of the hidden holster.  A round was already chambered.  I had easy access to the four extra magazines Dane gave me with the gun.  I was loaded for werewolf.  Unlike vampires, even an unblessed silver bullet would kill a werewolf if you hit a vital organ.  I was good at hitting vital organs.

            "Hey, Cujo, you home?" I said.  I didn't shout or call out.  He was a werewolf.  His hearing was supposedly almost as good as mine.  I could hear his heart beating, and it was racing.  I whistled, and made kissing noises.  "Come on, boy, you can do it.  Come to Sable, Cujo.  That's a good boy."

            "Werewolves really don't like 'dog' jokes and references," Fritz muttered.

            He was still inside, behind closed doors.  I heard him perfectly well, but then I was listening for his response.  My smile spread wider.

            "I know.  It ruffles your fur, so to speak," I said.  He growled but from a human throat.  "Oops, another
dog
reference."

            I felt Fritz morph.  At first, I didn't realize what the change I felt within him was all about.  I thought he was just getting tense and agitated.  By the time I figured it out, it was too late to rush in and shot him.  The deed was done.

            It took a long time, considering a vampire just did it.  Barely a thought involved, and snap — wolf.  Another thought, and we're a bat.  Just like that.  Werewolves, though, needed time to transform into wolves.

            "Hey, you're fast," I said, feeling his transformation finish within ten seconds.  "Oh, nice.  Definitely an Alpha Wolf."

            He gave a very wolflike snarl and smashed through the front window.  I turned to face him as I closed my eyes, still smiling and lifted my pistol.  He paused, waiting for the talisman to slap me down, waiting for the Coeur de Sade to do his dirty work.  It didn't work.

            "Surprise," I said, and pulled the trigger.

            I was a second too slow.  Fritz moved with lightning speed.  Wolfmen could move faster than a wolf.  Something to remember, just in case.

            Even with my eyes closed, my vampiric senses allowed me to follow him almost as well as I could with my eyes.  Considering the spike in his stress level, I believe I was spooking him.  Really, freaking him out.

            "Why isn't the magic working on you, Black Heart?" he growled.  I could barely understand his words.  Strangely enough, "Black Heart" came out plain enough.  "It worked on you before."

            "I took my vitamins today," I said.  "Give me the Coeur de Sade, and I'll let you go.  Enough people have died."

            "Vampires aren't people," he said.

            "Damn, got me on that one," I said.  "Let me try again...You've made your point.  You don't like vampires.  I don't blame you.  Neither do I.  Give me the talisman, and we can both stop dealing with them for a while."

            "Fuck you," he said.

            "If that's what it takes, I'm game."

            I think it shocked him.  I laughed, which only freaked him out more.

            "Crazy fucking vampire bitch," Fritz growled.

            He turned and ran between the houses.  There were privacy fences, so I couldn't follow on the Ninja.  I hoped he'd turn around and reenter the house.  It wasn't to be.  He headed out and didn't slow down until he passed out of my senses' range.

            "I guess we're going to do this the hard way," I muttered.

            With all due modesty, I walked into his house to morph into a wolf.  First, though, I took the time to undress.  Then I rolled up the thigh boots and stuffed them into the pack, followed quickly by the latex pants and matching top.  Everything went into the pack, then I shouldered it.  An elastic strap across my breasts held the straps tight.

            Morphing into a wolf, I paused to get the feel of the pack on my wolf body.  I wasn't doing this for the first time.  I'd been experimenting with in from since before the council tagged my sweet round butt, and put me on this wolf hunt.  I'd like to claim it was an original idea, but I saw them do it on one of Desiree's vampire shows.

            I morphed into a gorgeous black wolf, all modesty aside.  Boney took a picture of me once, and I loved it.  Imagine a jet black wolf with sapphire blue eyes.  As wolves, vampires and some alpha werewolves kept our natural hair and eye color.  Most werewolves had the fur and eyes of real wolves.

            Satisfied the black nylon book bag with all my clothes and supplies was secure, I headed out after Fritz.  On all fours I was closer to the ground and his scent, and could travel a lot faster on four legs than in four and a half inch stiletto boots.

            He really didn't go that far.  I misjudged him, because he didn't run to hide with friends or family.  Fritz went to a bar.  The sign out front said it was the Harvest Moon Beer Garden.  It could've been a Friday's like restaurant, except for the walled beer garden.  From what little I could see of it through the two wrought iron fire escape gates it was extremely nice.  Four impressive oaks stretched thick limbs out over it, with a gurgling water feature in the center and numerous bistro tables scattered about between flower beds.