sanguineangels (55 page)

My name is Ronnie
.

I knelt between Devon’s legs. My lips worked his cock as my tongue slid up and down his shaft. It was cold and long in my mouth, but I shifted my shape to take it all in. Absently he patted my head as I worked him. The feeling of his fingertips on my skull was pleasure and payment enough for me to keep going until he shot into my mouth, releasing his salty cum into my throat.

I should have been with my Master all of the time I had been imprisoned, but Veronica had been stronger. She stirred a moment as I thought of her, but I ignored my other half. I was the one in control, and it would be like that forever. I grieved for all the lost nights with him, so many glorious evenings because of what I had become: a human-loving bitch. I purred inwardly, knowing this was what I had been missing.

To show my obedience, I swore he could have Brenna to do with as he pleased. It made him happy when I expressed my total and utter submission to him. He smiled and fucked me, hard and rough, until I bled from his claws and his dick. As I lay, drained from the exercise, I reveled in how much he loved me as he cleaned the blood from my wounds.

Yes, he was a kind and generous Master for allowing me to come crawling back to him, after so many years of disobedience. Soon we would have another to torture and play with. He had told me this as he cleaned my gashes, informing me of the plans he had for my offspring. He would break her until she was nothing more than a shadow and use her powers. I licked my lips, envisioning her beautiful, human demeanor ripped to shreds. When that happened, we would mold her into the perfect child. I smiled as Devon withdrew himself from me. The pure sweet pain of her torture enlightened my hunger. My forked tongue darted between my lips, taking in the last of him.

Master, may I?
I asked.

Devon looked down at me, his mind searing through mine. I crouched lower, showing my obedience. He tapped my head, granting my request. I turned from him and set my gaze on the meat in the corner, a young mortal. Her fear called to my hunger the closer I got. When she saw me coming, she whimpered, but I didn’t care about her pleas. She should have welcomed my ravaging. I was her God, just as my Master was mine. I smiled, showing her my maw of fangs. A terrified look still painted her face as I descended. I wrapped her in my wings so I would not splatter any blood on my Master.

My name is Brenna
.

I screamed in frustration once again as I tried projecting the aura Aria wanted, a hardened shell, a bestial energy more like her kind. She wanted me to recreate the energy signature I had when I first met her. She and Veronica used similar projections to fool others of their kind to think they were not human-lovers. I understood now what Veronica meant about trying to blend in. Most of the mortal loving types were killed off swiftly if they showed signs of weakness, but a few fell through the cracks because they deceived the other bloodsuckers. The others were just monsters, masquerading as human.

It was a quarter to midnight, and Aria had wanted to leave by eleven thirty. She had me dress in a corset in which my breasts hung over the top. I slipped on a short, velvet skirt, but settled on my knee high Doc Martens. Dressing right was easy, but I couldn’t reconstruct the aura she wanted. When I was human, I had pulled energy around me, focusing it outward so it was dark and pulsating, but as much as I tried, it was useless.

“Look, it’s just not happening,” I told her finally. “Why don’t you go without me?”

Aria sighed. “I wish I could, but you’re the one who has to do all the talking. I’m just going to get you in. Besides, you’ve never been among many other undead before. There were only eight of us at the Black Rose. That club’s for both humans and our kind, but this place is exclusive. No humans allowed, unless they’re food. If Malachai asks you why you’re looking for Devon, tell him he’s your Master and you wish to be reunited to show your loyalty. He’ll eat it up.”

“Why can’t I say I’m your child? And why does it have to be me talking?”

“Brenna, you have to know how to play their games. Everything is about loyalty. You’re the slave until you break free from your Master, or kill him. Very rarely will a Master let a vampire get strong enough to go out on its own. If that happens, then the Master trusts it or loves it in its own perverted way. How do you think I survived since my Oracle days? You show your allegiance to the owner. He’s the head of the vampires in this area. He also used to be a sorcerer in his human days. He retained a power or two when he crossed over. He’d know where Devon is. You have to prove your devotion, just as you would to your Master. By me bringing you to him, it shows that even though I have free will, I’m showing acquiescence to him. But if Malachai doesn’t believe you, well, he owes me a favor.”

“Wait, you know this vampire? Did he make you?”

Aria laughed, her voice twittering like a flute doing scales. “Hell no, but we shared a few centuries together. He was fun, but we got into a fight over… Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s old news. I’m sure he won’t remember. He was great in bed, though. But anyway. You have to ask him where Devon is. When you go in to see him, meet his eyes once, then keep your head bowed. Everything in your demeanor must be subservient.”

“I don’t bow,” I grumbled.

“If you want to find Veronica, you’ll play the game.”

“Fine!”

I sighed, knowing I would do anything for her even if it meant acting like one of them.

Veronica must hate being under Devon’s spell, locked away in her mind, unable to stop the torment her other half caused. She’d never want to live like that. I couldn’t leave her the way she was, even if it meant destroying her. I realized that after she attacked me. When I looked into her eyes it wasn’t her. I would make Devon pay for the things he did to her.

As my hatred of him grew so did my hunger. My teeth lengthened, and something snaked around in my mind, crawling out of a long buried hole. The more I fed it with my anger of Devon, the more it matured into something. The more I was haunted by the notion of his hands on her pale, lithe body, the more I wanted to rip his ears and eyes out, tear his dick off and eat his liver.

“That’s it! What did you do?” Aria asked.

I shrugged. I got pissed at Devon and something had opened in my mind. My wings itched to be released; my form wanted to reshape into something sinister. My hunger had flared up, but I didn’t feel as if something were going to take me over. I was still in control. I thought about it, taking hold of my hunger, molding it, pushing that and my anger outward. I closed my eyes, hardening the energy, cementing it to me to look as if I were something akin to Veronica and Aria. It was the same process I had used when I had been human, though the energy frequency was different.

I understood now why I couldn’t call up the energy I’d projected when I had been human. I had transcended death and become what I originally yearned for. Now I was something else, and I had to create another mask to make others believe I truly was like them. I laughed happily as I cracked the puzzle, understanding that even though I accepted what I was, I had to pretend to be something else. One always had to have a hidden face.

“Let’s go.”

“Do you think you can hold what you’re projecting?”

“Of course.” I smiled as my eyes inked red because I had found some semblance of the beast in me, and even though it was just an illusion, it was as real as I could make it.

We arrived in front of a house in the Bayou. It was a plantation house that had been there for a century or more. The paint on the columns was chipped; part of the roof sagged under the weight of a tree branch resting on the worn shingles. Shutters hung from rusted nails. The front steps were covered in swamp water. The buzz of bugs and the chirping of birds surrounded the house. In the distance, I heard the splashing of alligators rising and falling as they searched for food in the brackish water. In the swamps, the reptiles were the biggest predators. At least, that was what the humans thought.

We stepped onto the porch, and I let Aria knock on the door, which was surprisingly on its hinges and in good condition. She banged several times before the thing opened. When it did, I almost gasped at the sight, but I caught myself. A half putrefied human stepped aside and let us pass. She was naked from the waist up. One breast sagged with the nipple all but gone. Her other hung from pieces of muscle that had begun to decay. Wisps of blonde hair fell out even as she moved, revealing the white of her skull underneath. She looked on us with one eye hanging out of her socket, the other gone altogether. I tried not to touch her as I passed.

The overwhelming scent of blood hit me as we stepped over the threshold. My mouth watered, the bones in my jaw creaked as more teeth pushed against my gums, but I fought the urge. On the ground floor I was astonished to see how well furnished the house was. The wallpaper was still intact, and pictures of old family members adorned the walls. The hardwood floors were neatly polished and not even warped from the moisture. Electricity sparked through the wires, illuminating a crystal chandelier. A wooden staircase ascended to the second and third floors, inviting weary travelers to find an empty room to sleep in. This would not be a place I would want to rest my head.

Aria caught my awe and disgust as we walked through the hallway into a furnished sitting room, and then into the kitchen. The house was empty except for us and the thing that opened the door.

“What was she…it…back there?”

“She’s what happens when we don’t get enough blood. She’s the walking dead, literally. There’s no consciousness. All she knows is the blood that animated her has bound her here, and she does whatever Malachai wants. He probably doesn’t bother to feed her much. Usually they last longer. She seems pretty fresh. He had a few when we were together, but I hated them. They give me the creeps. They wait like hovering ghosts.” Aria shivered as we got to the kitchen.

She rapped on what seemed to be the pantry door and waited. Her knocks echoed as she pounded on the wood, bouncing lower into a basement or dungeon, and then the door opened. I expected another one of the things that had greeted us before, but this time a mortal in his late twenties unlocked the door and let us pass. He was shorter than me and glared as I stared right back at him. I probed his mind, my power cutting through him like a knife. Memories of him being fucked and fed on entered my thoughts. He loved every minute that the vampires used him. It didn’t matter if he died in a creature’s embrace, he wanted to be used. His ultimate goal was to join the ranks of the undead, but just by piercing his mind I knew his vampiric master would never bring him over. He was too much of a weakling and loved the idea of grandeur too much. He would remain a slave.

As I released my mind from his, he came. I knew then how much of a junkie he really was, getting fixes off what other vampires did to him. I cringed in disgust at the thought of humans actually wanting to be turned.

Granted, when I was human I always thought they were monsters in long, dark capes, beings to be romanticized. I didn’t know the whole truth. The more I learned of what my kindred truly were like, the more I despised them.

We descended a flight of stairs. The lackey led the way. The stairs led down into what used to be a basement or slave quarters. The scent of death lingered heavily in the air. Laughter echoed the further we descended. I heard the moaning and rattling of chains, of bodies slapping together in various stages of fucking. I tried to keep my eyes focused center, but there were so many distractions in the lavish rooms I couldn’t help but peek.

In one room, a vampire in full transformation held a mortal by the throat, digging into her breast with its teeth, gnawing at the soft tissue. When it caught my scent its eyes panned my way, pieces of flesh hung out of its mouth, blood dribbling on the black fur. I averted my eyes and the thing went back to its feast. In another room, further down the hall, I listened to the moans of a man. I glimpsed in and saw a vampire mostly in human form. A woman had her claws shoved in the asshole of a man with her fangs submerged in his neck. Another female vampire behind worked the human’s dick while suckling the other monster’s neck. Waves of ecstasy radiated off the second female vampire. In another room there were no vampires, just a set of women, twins, chained to the wall. They wore nothing more than collars, but they were each mounted on a mechanical contraption. I sniffed and found them to be alive, the scent of old sex lingered in the room, and I caught the sound of some kind of generator. When I looked closer I saw five gyrating poles. Three metal phalluses were attached on the end of the unoccupied ones. I shivered as I thought of the poor souls being fucked to death, locked away with the monsters.

I glanced over at Aria as I saw her eyes lingering on some of the rooms.

“The good old days,” I heard her mutter. She caught my eye and smiled.

“What?”

The junkie looked between the two of us and gathered I was new. “Those are the prep rooms. The Master likes his meat to be ready. Their orgasms give the blood a flavor he enjoys. You must be new. I’ve not seen you before.”

“She’s none of your concern. Now stop doddering and bring us to your Master. Or I’ll tell him how naughty you’ve been and you’ll get nothing. Now go!” Aria barked at him.

The junkie jumped, swearing under his breath and ran on ahead of us down to the end of the hall. He slipped past an oak door and closed it behind him. Mentally I checked my shields and found they still held, but to be sure I thought of Devon molesting Veronica again, and how willingly humans like the junkie could give themselves to these creatures. I grew furious, reflecting the emotion outward.

“Careful. Don’t let him think you’re too powerful. Then he’ll want you for his stable. Remember what I said. Don’t look at him more than once.”

I nodded, trying to relax. The door opened on well-oiled hinges. Aria stepped forward on the stone floor, and we were ushered into a large room. I kept my head bowed, casting quick glances to my left and right. Candles lined the walls and were scattered on a lush red rug. The color reminded me of dried blood; if there were any accidents there would be no way to know how much of a mess there would be. The whole room smelled like musk and frankincense. Sofas and chairs were scattered about the room, each housing vampires, and mortals in various stages of undress, some fucking, others just toying with the humans. From a quick mental scan of the victims, each of them was a willing participant. Or maybe they were now, but had been taken hostage once upon a time; now, every one of them was hooked on being dominated, sucked on like a straw.

“Master, they are here to see you,” the junkie said, his voice quivering with fear or anticipation, perhaps both.

“I can see that, Joey. Now run along and tell everyone I am not to be disturbed. This will be the last of my audiences.” His voice was smooth as oil and just as volatile.

The lackey ran out of the room, whooshing past us trying to get out of the path of his master’s wrath. I smirked as he went past. I understood why he was on the bottom of the food chain. Even I could control the boy with just a word. One didn’t even need a mental suggestion.

“Arriana, is that really you?” Malachai asked.

“Of course, love. It’s been a long time.”

“You haven’t changed a bit. Just gotten a bit stronger, I take it. And who is this lovely specimen you have brought me. A gift?”

Malachai got off his throne and came to me. His hands cupped one of my exposed breasts as it sat atop my corset. It was the only one I owned that left my breasts bare and came to a point in the space between my tits. He tweaked the nipple, testing to see how hard it would get. He then slid a clawed finger under my black mini skirt and into me. The entry forced me to look up into his face. My eyes met his as I tried not to be shocked. I was not used to being a sex toy, and the world that I had entered was something new to me. I was the one normally making the decision as to whom I slept with. Being on the other side was not too pleasing.