B007XKEWAE EBOK (15 page)

None of this was what caused Gabriella most concern. The thing she worried about mostly now was Francesca herself. Xavier was conniving and duplicitous but he had very little skill at hiding it from her. Francesca on the other hand may have been hiding things from Gabriella for a long time. If she had not seen her on that fateful night she would never have known that anything had
gone on. How many other times were there that she didn't know about?

Even now Francesca could be betraying her.

Gabriella walked amongst the unfortunates who, like her, had to wait caged up here for others to return with victims for them to feed on. Unlike her, who had her victims hand picked by Francesca and brought back live so that she could make the kill, these just had to make do with what they could get. If all that was brought back were a few half drained slobs that was what they got.

She meandered from this side chamber back to the floor of the main chamber which was overlooked by hers and Francesca's private rooms.

A handful of workers carried equipment and plans back towards a
space they had cleared in the nearest of the rear areas that had been abandoned by the humans without being refurbished. Many of those areas had been sealed off with heavy sheets of thick metal welded across the doorways. It was done at Francesca's order but based on Xavier's recommendation.

Xavier stood talking with Jacques. He gestured at another small group of newcomers and the other vampire nodded. There was another exchange of words before Xavier waved his hand imperiously and Jacques moved off.

Xavier turned to see Gabriella staring at him. He came over to her.

"Bored?"

"A little," Gabriella was amused to see a brief look of confusion on his face
at her lack of some sort of comeback or insult.

He surprised her himself by not making some malicious comment on her unusual response. "You want to be out there with
her
?"

Gabriella nodded. "I grow tired of this waiting."

"As do I," Xavier nodded without taking his eyes off her. "But fear not the Mistress will soon return."

"I hope so. As it is I can hardly wait."

Xavier took his leave of her and went off in the direction of his own private rooms, as Francesca's lieutenant he was also entitled to a space removed from the rest of the crowd. Gabriella watched him leave.

From outside there came the sound of an engine. It was switched off.
Moments later Francesca walked in through the main entrance. She was followed in by a male vampire in biker’s leathers. They had blood on their faces but there was no indication that Francesca had brought anything back for Gabriella.

Not knowing what this meant she jogged uncertainly over to Francesca. Her lover took her up  in an embrace. They shared a kiss and the coppery taste of blood made her hunger.

Francesca put her down and moved to include the newcomer in the conversation.

"Gabriella, this is Fulton." The other vampire nodded curtly in her direction.

"Fulton was separated from me after I turned him some time ago. I meant to bring him into the nest then. He has only
recently sought me out. I'm going to take him upstairs to fill him in on how all this works. It is my hope he will become a valuable member of our family."

"We'll see," Fulton said contradicting Francesca. Something no-one else in the nest would ever do. "I sort of got used to being a loner."

Francesca gave him a wink as she took him by the hand and led him away. "There are some things that just don't work as well alone."

Gabriella ran around in front of the pair. "Didn't you fetch me anything?"

"Oh sorry, my sweet. I had you one picked out but then we met up," she indicated Fulton, "and I forgot all about it. You can take one of those the others bring back."

Francesca separated from Fulton to give her a peck on the cheek. "Forgive me?"

Gabriella gave a weak smile. "Of course."

Beaming Francesca ran up the steps with Fulton. Gabriella stood in place staring after them. Familiar footsteps tramped up behind her.

"You might have to find somewhere else to spend the day," Xavier breathed on the back of her neck.

Gabriella whirled on him. "And where did you have in mind?" she growled.

"I have a private area all to myself," He took a step back extending an arm towards a corridor leading off the main floor. "You could join me there."

"I've not sunk that low."

"Yet," Xavier smiled. "The offer will remain open. If you change your mind you know where to find me."

Xavier felt a warm glow inside as Gabriella huffed and walked away. The discord between her and Francesca was growing. Now he had made sure that he was positioned to take advantage of it. Francesca trusted the silly child more than anyone but she couldn't see that Gabriella was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way she was treated.

When the time was right he would forge an alliance with Gabriella. It would only be temporary, when Francesca was taken care of he would no longer need her. Perhaps he would keep her around as his personal sex slave. She was a little whore but she
was
good at what she
did. He resented being forced into those acts by Francesca but if he was the one doing the forcing it would be an entirely different and more gratifying experience.

The idea took hold and grew. He could share her around his men to keep their morale up. Or he could offer her as a reward to get himself more followers. Xavier thought better of the last part. He needed allies he could be sure of. Who he trusted completely. If word leaked out before he was ready things would not go well.

But having Gabriella for himself, that idea grew and grew. Perhaps if Francesca continued to alienate her by spending time alone outside the nest or with others like the mysterious newcomer she would accept his offer and come to her of his own accord. It wouldn't be
because she liked Xavier. It would simply be a way for her to feel she was getting some revenge on Francesca for her treatment. But Xavier wouldn't mind. In her heart Gabriella would hate him even as she made love to him. It would be just a small taster of what was to come.

He felt himself stirring deep down and stalked off to find some companionship to relieve himself.

Fulton was taken up the steps to the upper rooms in the converted steelworks. He felt anticipation welling up inside him as he thought about what was about to happen. Francesca opened the door and showed him through into her personal chambers. Fulton was impressed with what he saw. He had never been a
history buff, all those names and numbers, wars and battles just started to run into each other, but he could recognise that a lot of this stuff was antique and in immaculate condition. He knew practically nothing about these things but even he could tell that this stuff would be worth a fortune.

The room was full of beautifully carved furniture, old clothes that were in such good condition they looked like they could have been bought yesterday. A small selection of weapons were displayed in a glass cabinet alongside another cabinet full of pottery.

Francesca led him through past more clothes in huge wooden wardrobes. They left the first room through one of two possible doors and entered another room filled with antique treasures. A
selection of statuary stood on different heights of pedestal. Each pedestal was situated atop an ornate rug. Paintings of all different types were mounted on the walls. Next to them were yellowed sheets of paper or parchment with writing in a variety of hands and languages, or musical notes adorning them. The last objects in the room were a series of photographs so old they were the colour of tea stains.

"Almost there."

She tugged him onward through another doorway. This time they emerged into a room that had to be her most private sleeping chamber. A positively huge four-poster bed with a crimson canopy and matching curtains dominated the room.

Francesca released his hand and he continued forward to the bed. He looked back at her over his shoulder and she motioned for him to continue. He did so and gingerly reached out to part the red curtains. He drew them back to reveal crisp, black silk sheets.

He turned to grin at Francesca but he was thrown back onto the bed by a fast moving blur. His arms were pinned down above his head. There was the rattle of chains and he felt thick manacles as they were closed around his wrists.

Crouched over him his attacker tore open his jacket and shirt to expose his chest. Sharp talons traced along his ribs leaving bloody furrows.

Fulton groaned.

"You like that?" Francesca asked before she leaned down to lap the blood out of his wounds.

He just smiled up at her.

Francesca arched her back and sat up straddling him. His blood stained her lips and she licked it from them slowly.

"Tell me what you want me to do," she said.

"As long as you're there I don't care what you do," he replied. "Please yourself."

"I assumed that you would be doing that for me."

"Like this?" Fulton said rising his eyebrows at the chains that held him.

Francesca crawled up his body. "We'll see how well you can perform without your hands first. If I still think you
need them I may let you switch places with me."

It should have been an empty sensation. There was no love between them, no true emotional attachment. Nothing to make the process more romantic than a pair of biological machines performing the basest of functions. But Fulton didn't find it empty. It was devoid of emotion but the vacuum of that lack was filled with pure animal passion. An unadulterated lust that consumed them and bound them together. The purity of the act uncontaminated by feelings, and the lack of purity of their actions made them truly as one.

Gabriella fed from one of the mangy humans brought in
by
the dross
for
the dross. She chose the best from a bad bunch and had to make do with eating a middle-aged woman in a floral skirt. The woman was already half dead when Gabriella started her. Gabriella had discarded the woman even before she was fully satisfied. She left a bad taste in her mouth.

She screwed herself up and walked up the stairs towards her chambers. When she reached the top a pair of vampires barred her way.

"What?" Gabriella put her hands on her hips.

"The Mistress does not wish to be disturbed."

"I won't be disturbing her," Gabriella said.

"She left explicit instructions. No-one is to enter. Not even you."

Gabriella had half a mind to pitch this idiot and his buddy over the rail and watch them crash to the floor. She felt like her whole world was falling apart. She had never been kept away from Francesca before.

She couldn't trust herself to speak. Turning her back on the door wardens she walked back down the stairs trying to retain as much dignity as possible. Dawn was coming and she felt tired. She had to find somewhere to sleep away the day.
She couldn't bring herself to bunk with the minions. It would lower her forever in their estimation if she was forced to do that. And who knew what moron would try it on if they thought she was no longer out of bounds by virtue of her being Francesca's.

The level of rooms directly below Francesca's chambers were full of leftover equipment moved and left during the renovation. Gabriella continued on down the metal steps past them. On the opposite side of this chamber their builders had torn down the steps leading up to those rooms. There was no way for her to get to them. Plus she wanted somewhere comfortable to sleep. Those rooms would either be bare or filled with crusty old equipment.

Gabriella didn't even bother to explore the areas where most of the nest bedded down. Even wandering through there right now would be a display of her current vulnerability and could invite a confrontation she wasn't ready to defend herself against. She also steered well clear of the area Xavier had taken over for his own private space. Like she'd told him, she wasn't that desperate.

So she ended up wandering alongside some of the boarded up chambers. Some of these old parts were still open and she found herself taking a tour alongside a conveyor belt that had once run into the main chamber. It angled up and to the side going into another part of this sometimes labyrinthine structure. The door into this section had been sealed over.

Gabriella clambered up onto the thick, dirty belt. The muck and grime stuck to her previously well kept clothes. She crawled up the belt and pushed through some heavy black plastic flaps to gain access to the sealed room. She figured her hair would now be a black and grey mess rather than the white she had dyed it. The dust and dirt choked her throat and her mouth was dry. Her eyes started to run in an effort to protect them from the abrasive particles.

She rolled off the belt into a musty room. It was completely bare except for a single piece of machinery covered with a grubby sheet. There were gaps in the floor and walls that signified where other pieces of equipment had been removed. A series of hooks and pulleys had been taken from the roof and only a few signs
of them remained. The conveyor belt continued on through another series of flaps in the opposite wall.