Black Heart: Coeur de Sade (Black Heart Series) (37 page)

            With that I took off.  I knew were Desiree went.  It wasn't back to Brandon's house.  Good girl.  Don't endanger your friend.  Of course, I was still irritated.  She went to Kale's house, endangering him instead.  I didn't recall telling her the address or directions.  We'd have to talk, because I had the feeling she was checking up on me somehow.

            "Where is Heidi?" Dane said once we were about three blocks from the gym.

            "I wish I knew," I said.

            My heart was thundering in my ears.  Something was terribly wrong, beside the fact I was Heidi's killer.  There was no good reason a vampire would take Heidi's body, unless he planned to reanimate her.  I really didn't want an undead Heidi trying to kill me.

            I wanted to call Desiree.  There were so many questions needing answers.  But my cell was in my purse.  The purse was in my back pack.  The pack was at Brandon's.  See my problem?

            "You have a cell?"

            "Yeah."

            "Really?"

            "In my locker."

            "Funny," I said, annoyed.

            "Do you think the vamps know where Heidi and I live?"

            "Bat Man does," I said.  "He forced Desiree to tell him."

            "How did Desiree know?"

            "I told her."

            "Dammit.  I have to warn Heidi so she doesn't go home," he said.  For the first time I realized he didn't know I killed Heidi.  He was probably the only one in the gym that didn't see it.  "But I bet she doesn't have her phone either.  We have to get to my house before she does."

            "Not necessary.  We're going to meet Desiree," I said.  "Going to your house at night is suicide.  You'll have to move."

            "Bat Man will kill Heidi!"

            "She's already dead," I said, more fiercely than I wanted.  He went cold, and so did I.  That just slipped out.  Nothing to do but soldier on.  "I know her, so I can feel her.  I felt her die.  Someone took the body."

            "Oh God," he said, and I felt despair fill him.  The feelings within him send chills rolling up my spine.  Sometimes the link wasn't so good.  "I swore I wouldn't allow another...Oh God forgive me."

            Spotting a 7-Eleven, I turned in and parked in front of the door.  Dane just sat there, staring into space.  He was all wrapped up in his own personal hell, cocooning his pain with self-loathing and guilt.  There was a time not so long ago when I was good at that, too.  Then I died, and the ability to sustain such feelings vanished.

            I could feel guilt and shame, but I couldn't sustain it.  Those dark feelings bled away pretty quickly.  The longer I was a vampire the less guilt and shame I felt.  That worried me, and it bothered me that my guilt at killing Heidi wasn't the least bit emotionally crippling.  I was more concerned with Dane's reaction when he found out, and he would figure it out eventually.

            Going inside the 7-Eleven, I walked over to the clerk and smiled at him.  He was a young man, maybe earlier twenties, blonde spiky hair, and a face full of pimples.  I caught his eyes, and I owned him.

            "Phone please."

            He reached under the counter and pulled out a dirty, black phone.  I crinkled my nose in distaste, but took it and dialed Desiree's cell.  She answered on the third ring.

            "Hello?"

            "Desiree, Sable here," I said.  "Why did you go straight to Kale's house?"

            "I...uh, didn't know where else to go," she said sheepishly.  I felt fear and guilt radiating from her through our link.  Why such intense fear?  "And it was close."

            Closing my eyes, I sighed deeply and ground my teeth a moment.  No changing what had already happened.  A terrible accounting will take place once all the dust settled.

            "We'll talk later," I said.  I hesitated, almost afraid of the next question's answer.  "You got it?"

            "I got it," she said.

            Relief flooded through me.  I eyes burned and I trembled.  It was almost over.

            "Stay there," I said.  "I'll be there eventually.  I have to make sure no one is following me first."

            "I'll protect it with my life," Desiree said.

            "No.  If a vampire shows up, give it to him," I said.  "I'd rather hunt it down again than lose you."

            "Really?"

            "You have to ask?"

            "No, but I like hearing it," she said.  She hesitated.  I heard it in her voice, and felt it through our link.  "I took Heidi's body."

            "Why?  Everyone is going crazy because it is missing," I said.  "Council probably thinks she's still alive, so will be looking for her."

            "I don't know, it just seemed like the thing to do."

            She was lying.  Really, a half lie.  Even separated by several miles I knew.  It was neither the time nor the place to call her on it.

            "Where's the body?  Dane will want it," I said.

            "No he wouldn't," Desiree said.  "I stashed it.  It's best if everyone thinks she is alive and has the talisman.  Better for us."

            She had a point.  Playing games with someone's earthly remains was icky, though.  It had to be a sin or something, not that it would matter to my already damned soul.

            "What do I tell Dane?"

            "Nothing.  You honestly don't know where she is, so don't have to lie to him," she said.  "He doesn't even have to know she is dead."

            "I already told him."

            "You told him you killed her?"

            "Not that part," I said.

            "Don't," Desiree said.  "Ditch Dane, get here as fast as you can.  You and I can share Kale."

            She was serious.  Desiree was thinking about sex.  She was horny.  After all that blood and death, Desiree wanted to get naked and party.  I shook my head, not sure what to think.  Even with our link, and her pouring erotic feelings into me, I was not the least bit aroused.  My link with Dane flooded me with despair and self-loathing.

            I spent the next hour weaving around North Dallas, on both sides of Loop 635.  Then I drove Dane to Gabe's house and dropped him off.  Gabe was a little freaked at the possibility of having both of us staying with him.  I think he was afraid Dane would cut something important off of him.  But I left within the hour, so no uncomfortable questions came up.

            I rode around Gabe's neighborhood a while, too, just in case unwanted company showed up.  When their link told me both had gone to sleep, I headed for Kale's house.  I did stop three times to change into a bat and search for any undead pursuit.  So I arrived at Kale's home very late in the night.  I could feel the dawn approaching.

            "Sable!" Desiree cried as I walked in the back door.  I left the Ninja a couple blocks away, in a strip mall parking lot.  Yeah, I was paranoid.  She leapt upon me, wrapped her arms around my neck and legs around my waist, and kissed me deeply.  I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back with just as much enthusiasm.  Then I patted her rump.  "That's enough.  You have something for me?"

            "Do I ever," she said, dark eyes sparkling with glee.  She dropped back to the floor, reached up under her over-sized sweat shirt, up to her bosom, and pulled something out.  It was a while cotton handkerchief.  Something was wrapped up inside.  "Ta-da!"

            "Thank you," I said, taking it gingerly.  Slowly, warily, I unwrapped it.  It was the Coeur de Sade all right.  I would never forget that ancient talisman.  But I still had to know with absolute certainly, so handed it back to Desiree.  "Hold it a second.  Long enough to see if it entrances me, then give it back."

            "Okay," she said, eyeing it like it was snake.

            Desiree took the talisman from me.  My eyes were already on it, and once she had complete possession of it I felt the icy cold of its magic consume me.  Desiree owned me, body and soul.  A second later she thrust it back into my hand.

            "Take it!  I'm so sorry, Sable!" she said, wild-eyed.

            "No, don't be.  I had to test it.  I had to know without a doubt we had the real talisman," I said.  "Now we know.  Whew!"

            I carefully wrapped the talisman back up in the handkerchief.  A deep sense of relief swept through me.  It was almost over.  I just had some hard decisions to make.  But that could wait.  I smiled wantonly at Kale.  His libido kicked into overdrive.

            "Think you're man enough to satisfy both of us?" I said.

            Desiree's face lit up in a smile almost as wicked as mine.  She cut a sexy look at him.  His eyes went wide, and he swallowed hard.

            "I'm man enough to try."

CHAPTER 22

            It was eleven o'clock, Sunday night, and just ten days since I was first dragged before council.  I marveled at all that had happened to me, all that I had done, since becoming a vampire.  September twenty-second was the day I woke up a vampire.  It was October fifteenth.

            "Just over three weeks," I said, shaking my head.  "Way too much has happened in that time.  I need a vacation."

            "Go somewhere sunny," a familiar voice said.  She didn't sound pleased to see me.  "You have something for us?"

            Two dark figures stepped out of the darkness.  I was standing in a gazebo, overlooking a pond.  The park was heavily wooded and was serene before the coming storm.

            "Hello, Tanya," I said.  "Long time no see.  Glad to see no one's staked you.  Yet."

            Francisco was with her.  They were wearing those dark suits.  In fact, both wore black suits, with Tanya's skirt a rather modest length.  Talk about a lousy vampire.  She was going to ruin our reputations as undead wanton harlots.  Jeff's other two undead thugs didn't come along, but replacements were sent.

            "Hello Apollonia, Mickey," I said.

            Tara Voorhies’ junior family members weren't so somberly attired.  Apollonia wore a red silk blouse, black leather pants and patent pumps.  Mickey looked kinda punked out in hip hop clothes, with his hair spiked and a five o'clock shadow.  It reminded me of my shortened hair.

            I hadn't lied to Heidi about how fast it grew back on vampires.  It didn't grow one inch an hour unless we concentrated on it.  I concentrated all day, and part of the evening.  Unfortunately, all of the hair on my body grew at an inch an hour.  From the waist down I looked like lady Sasquatch.  I could braid my armpit hairs.  At least I could before preparing to meet the council's chosen representatives.  I was nicely shaven and waxed and made up like a good little vamp girl.

            My hair had grown a good eighteen inches, too.  I was pleased, but I wouldn't stop until it reached the small of my back.  I still needed to go to a salon and have it trimmed and shaped, but that would wait until I grew back more than my preferred length.  Desiree was good enough with scissors to make it presentable.

            The evening wasn't all wasted growing and then shaving hair.  No, I got out and bought some new clothes.  Not much, but I wore a pair of stone-washed Levi 501 jeans, a burgundy tank and running shoes.  I bought them at Target.  Yeah, I was moving up in the world.

            The handkerchief wrapped Coeur de Sade was stuffed in my right rear pocket.  Since acquiring it, I had removed the enchanted ruby from the necklace.  Only the ruby was in my pocket.  I hocked the gold chain and setting for cash.

            "We're not here to exchange pleasantries," Apollonia said.  "We were given the impression you had the talisman.  True?"

            I toyed with lying to them.  They wouldn't believe me.

            "Yeah, I got it," I said.

            "Then Heidi didn't have it last night, did she?" Mickey said.  He looked pissed.  What was it to him?  "You had it all along."

            "No, Heidi had it.  I got it back," I said.

            "Council will want Heidi, too," Francisco said.

            I shrugged.  "She's dead.  I'm not going to give her body to you."

            "Why not," he said.

            "I don't want her reanimated," I said.  That was true.  They might do it, just to punish her.  Desiree told me stories about council that evening, and some of them curled my toes.  Then there was the fact she was drop dead gorgeous.  Vampires were known to prefer to Change beautiful people.  The world had quite enough vampires in it, by my reckoning.  "You’ve might’ve heard that about me.  I cut out the heart of anyone I even think might be Changed.”

            The other four vampires tensed.  I got the impression they had heard, and maybe didn’t really believe it until I confessed.

            "Council won't like it," Tanya said.

            "Heidi's body is the least of their concerns," I said.  The other four vampires narrowed their eyes at me.  "I lost everything getting the talisman for them.  I want to be adequately compensated.  Richly rewarded."

            "This is about money?" Francisco sneered.

            "I lost millions to the Giorgi sisters," I said.  Only a small exaggeration.  "I want it returned, and then some."  I smiled.  "And I want certain promises from them."

            "Promises?  From council?" Apollonia said.  She looked incredulous.  "Are you mad?"

            "Maybe, but I have what they want," I said.  "And all I want from them is a promise to leave me, my family, and my friends alone."

            “They won’t promise that,” Francisco said.  "They could never get everyone to agree to that."

            “Then they won’t get the talisman,” I said.  “I won’t negotiate on that point.  They do not get the talisman until I get paid, and I get my promises.”

            “We’ll just take it from you,” Tanya said.

            They grew more menacing, their bodies all shifting subtly into more aggressive stances.  I tried to pretend it didn't bother me, didn't faze me.  I was lying, but I was a pretty good actress nonetheless.