The Vampire's Seduction (28 page)

Shari’s corpse was in slightly better condition than it had been when I’d last seen it, thanks to Melaphia’s recent ministrations. Her chants and potions had had some restorative effects—short of actually bringing Shari back to life, of course. There were twigs and herbs scattered on Shari’s body. I could see why Olivia had mistaken her for a sleeping vampire.

“Melaphia dressed her and did some kind of spells and incantations over her body while I was sleeping last night. I guess that’s what the herbs are for. She said it would help keep Shari’s body from being possessed or something.”

Olivia picked up a sprig of what looked like lavender, sniffed it delicately, and then replaced it. “Yes. Melaphia is a good woman. There are things I will do for Shari as well. I must bleed for her, and . . . other things. I’ll also document her brief half life. Later.”

“Document?” I asked, confused.

“Never mind. I’ll explain some other time.”

I sighed. “I didn’t mean to hurt her, honest. I did everything William said to do—to the letter. I can’t figure out what happened. Melaphia said it just happens sometimes, but there must be more to it than that. Do you know anything about making female vampires? I mean, you are one, and you got made somehow. I don’t remember my own making, so I was wondering—”

Olivia put her fingers to my lips. “No one remembers their own making. But in answer to your question, yes. I know a great deal about how female vampires are made, just as I know of their trials and tribulations once they become full-fledged blood drinkers. There are certain . . . difficulties involved at all levels. But Melaphia was right. There are many things that can go wrong in the process and none of them bear thinking about too closely at this point. I’m sure you did your best, so try not to dwell on it.”

“She appeared to me as a ghost last night after her spirit had the time to leave her body.”

“Really?” Olivia said, her eyes widening. “How extraordinary. You must be a sensate.”

“Huh?”

“A blood drinker who has the power to communicate with the lower undeads—spirits and the like.”

“You make it sound like there’s a class system where dead people are concerned.”

She didn’t crack a smile. “There is.”

“So I guess we’re pretty high up in the pecking order?”

“Dead right,” Olivia said. She did smile then. “We’re the crème de la crème.”

“That’s French for top dog, right?”

“Like comparing crème brûlée to a tin of Alpo, but yes, something like that.”

“You have to get up pretty early in the night to put one over on old Jack McShane.” In actual fact, I felt about as ignorant as the night was long. There was an undead caste system, and we were at the top. There was a name for my ability to communicate with spirits—in addition to being a smart-ass dead white boy, I was also something called a sensate. Who knew?

“We vampires are like the rock stars of the dark realm,” Olivia continued. “Royalty, if you will.”

You learn something every day. Well actually, I didn’t start learning anything until just lately. “You’re just trying to cheer me up.”

“Yes, I am. But that doesn’t make it any less true.”

“So, if we’re such hot stuff, is there anything that you or I can do for Shari at this point? I mean besides the bleeding and documenting stuff you mentioned earlier?”

“I wish I could tell you there was. But the spells and treatments that Melaphia made, as well as the small gestures I will do, are the only things that can be done.”

“Shari said she was in a bad place, a dark place, and there were some shadowy, scary things out there trying to get her.”

“That concerns me. But if Melaphia did things correctly, it should prevent Shari’s possession. I don’t fully understand the source of Melaphia’s abilities, but the methods she has used on Shari are very ancient indeed and have similarities to the ones I’m familiar with. They have much in common with the ways of the Druids.”

“Aren’t they the ones who dance around the maypole naked on moonlit nights?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that.”

My head was starting to hurt again, as if it were about to bust with all this new information. My mind turned back to the girl in the coffin. “Reedrek drained Shari to the point of death, so William asked Shari if she wanted to be one of us. She said she wanted to be a vampire. Where the hell is William anyway? Do you know?”

A strange look came over Olivia’s face the instant I said the name
Reedrek.
It was like she’d just remembered something very important. She turned back to stare at Shari’s face and reached out to smooth her hair, murmuring something to the dead girl. She seemed deeply moved by the death of Shari, a young woman she never even knew. After a while, she said to me, “If she chose to undergo the transformation from human to blood drinker, you can rest assured that you did the right thing, even though it was not to be.” I barely noticed that she’d ignored my question about where William was.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that I blew it.” I put my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. “I think there must be something wrong with me.”

I felt her hands on my shoulders, kneading and massaging. “Poor Jack. Let me comfort you,” she whispered in my ear. As her face brushed mine, I smelled it. Let me tell you, there’s a reason that the women at the department store fragrance counters don’t come up and spritz you with Eau de Evil Dead. Olivia had been with Reedrek. Now there was no doubt in my mind that she was dancing to his tune. Whatever happened next, I was going to have to be awfully careful.

I thought I heard Rehya growl from across the room. Olivia swung around in front of me and took my hands in hers, lifting up my arms so she could sit on my lap to face me. She kissed both my palms, after which she put them against either side of her face and looked deeply into my eyes. “You are such a lamb, aren’t you? You dear, sweet, innocent lamb.”

She emphasized the word
innocent.
I’ve been called a lot of things by women, let me tell you, but this was a brand-spanking-new accusation. I tried to think what she might mean by that—other than my failed vampire-making and my general ignorance—but she was starting to unbutton her shirt, so I pretty much stopped thinking about anything but the promise of boobs. “Mmm-hmm,” I agreed. “That’s me—baa-aaaah.” I was vaguely aware that Reyha had hopped off the ottoman and gone under the leather chair. I couldn’t see her face anymore and hoped she couldn’t see me anymore either.

Olivia planted a kiss on me that would have made me swoon if I hadn’t been sitting down. It was long and languorous and by the time it was over, her shirt was unbuttoned and her lace-clad breasts were in my face. She pushed her fingers into my hair as I nuzzled her cleavage.

“Speaking, as we were, of Melaphia’s knowledge, what
is
her secret? Where did she learn to do what she did with Shari?”

“Hmm?” How could she expect me to talk at a time like this? My tongue was otherwise engaged, trying to snake its way under the top of the bra to get to the tender buds beneath. Why was she asking me about . . . what was she asking me about?

“Melaphia. Where does she get her know-how? Is it voodoo? I read that there’s lots of that here in Savannah.”

“Voodoo. Yeah. She knows about voodoo.” Voodoo schmoodoo. Right then I was more interested in finding out whether Olivia’s frilly little bra hooked in the front or the back.

“Is that where William’s protective power comes from? That was quite an impressive display in the nightclub. Reedrek couldn’t lay a hand on him.”

I found the bra closure—eureka!—and flipped it apart with the dexterity only decades of practice can bring. The elastic let go with a snap and rode up around Olivia’s neck. Her breasts sprang free and I pressed my face between them. It was then that the dirty old man vampire smell of Reedrek came back to my nostrils. My horniness got the best of me, though, pushing away the implications of that odor, and I ignored her question.

She went for my belt the way Shari had the night before, and I flashed back to just a few hours ago and what had happened after the first time I had wild sex with a fellow vampire. “Hey,” I said, dragging my face away from her breasts, “the last time I did this with a girl vampire, she turned toes-up. What if it wasn’t the vampire-making process? What if I’m cursed or some kind of poison to girl vampires or something?”

Olivia laughed harshly as she undid the belt. “Don’t be ridiculous. You couldn’t harm me if you tried.”

Good enough for me. If something did go wrong she couldn’t say I didn’t warn her. I captured a nipple in my mouth right about that time anyway, and all rational thought left my brain. My body managed to make note of the fact that my jeans weren’t between me and her anymore, and that she was hiking up the skirt that was barely there to begin with. I reached to cup her butt and found that her bottom was completely bare. I slid my fingers between her thighs.

“Not after I get done with you, that is,” Olivia hissed. With that cryptic comment, she drove herself down on my erection with a force that made me yell. As I looked into her face, I could see her look of triumph turn to one of surprise. She looked searchingly into my eyes and put her hands on the back of the chair for leverage. At the same time, she toed off her high-heel boots and settled her feet firmly onto the spindles around the bottom of the chair. The look of confidence returned to her face and she kissed me again.

I began to squirm, seeking friction, and she complied by raising herself up and plunging back down once more. She groaned. “Tell me, Jack. Tell me what William’s secret is. I have to know.”

I put my hands underneath her bottom and tried to lift her for another stroke, but she hooked her feet under the spindles and didn’t budge, determined to remain in control. If she didn’t move again soon, I was prepared to beg for mercy, but that’s not what she wanted. No, she wanted to know about William’s power, and—now it was dawning on me, despite my growing physical need—she wanted to know for Reedrek, because Reedrek was controlling her.

I let my head loll back on my shoulders, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I would not give up William’s secrets to Reedrek through Olivia, but I would make her work to try to drag it out of me. And I’d enjoy the hell out of it. She thought she was Mata Hari, did she? We’d see who’d control this little interrogation session. I opened my eyes and stared at her as calmly as I could. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

That wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She raised herself up again and came back down. “You’re lying.” Her face was turning beet red, unheard of for a vampire who hadn’t just fed. Point for Jack.

I tried to keep from moaning again. I was as hard as a sapphire, so hard I was half afraid of breaking off each time she came down on me. I wanted to scream, but I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. I said nothing as she seated herself on me, and me inside her, again.

“Why are you protecting William?” She was losing control, I could tell, and not just sexually. There was something else, too. “Look how he’s treated you all these years. He’s kept you ignorant of your power, withheld the glorious truths of your nature as a vampire. He didn’t tell you about the splendor that can be yours. All he has shared is the dark side. It’s a bloody shame. And still you serve him. You’re a fool!”

I remembered something then. William had warned me not to have sex with Olivia. Then he’d told me that I
had
to have sex with Shari. Why? Was it really that making Shari would give her strength and make me stronger as well? Or was it that Shari couldn’t give me knowledge—and Olivia could?

Olivia bucked and plunged again, making me grit my teeth. “Reedrek is the one to whom you should give your loyalty,” she said. “He, not William, has your best interests at heart.”

“Is that what Reedrek told you? Did he tell you to come here and fuck me into telling you William’s secrets? Did he tell you to promise me a lesson on how to be a vampire for dummies?” She flexed her legs and tried to rise again, but I held her shoulders, letting her know who was in charge. Bad Daddy Jack was in the house.

She laughed, and the sound had a hysterical edge that gave me the creeps. “He tried to enthrall me. Oh yes, he tried. But I’m stronger than that. And I’m stronger than you, you bloody ignorant whelp.”

“Oh yeah?” I took my hands from her shoulders and whipped my arms underneath her legs, dislodging her feet from the spindles. I raised her and brought her down on me with so much force that I winced. “We’ll see about that.”

I scooted my behind as far back in the chair as it would go and leaned forward, raising her legs high and bending her knees over the back of the chair. Her hands lost their grip on the chair back and flailed helplessly at our sides. I then wrapped my arms around her waist like a clamp.

“Tell . . . me . . . where . . . William . . . is!” I heard myself demand, working her torso up and down with every word I spat out. The position we were in narrowed her passage to a viselike grip. I thought I’d lose my mind.

“Go to hell!”

“You first!”

She screamed. I was beyond caring if it was from pleasure or pain—that’s what she got for trying to play me. Besides, she was supposed to be sapping my strength, so she got the long end of the stick out of this deal in more ways than one.

She tried to find purchase with her hands to regain control or maybe free herself altogether, but instead she pawed uselessly against my outer thighs. She tried to counter my movements with her legs, but I’d pulled them off the chair and trapped them against my chest and shoulders. She seemed to be getting weaker.

“What’s happening to me?” she whispered breathlessly. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Something’s not right.”

Still working her up and down like I was churning butter, I looked at her. Her eyes were glassy and her face was going slack. She seemed on the verge of fainting. Her muscles—all but the ones that were gripping my shaft—were going limp. Was this one going to die on me, too? Damn, I didn’t know my own strength. Time to wrap things up anyway. Just as I felt my release, Olivia’s body shuddered and I could feel her muscles spasming rhythmically all around my shaft. She screamed again with what strength she had left, and I groaned and emptied myself into her.