Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

I was out of NYC before the Manhattan incident occurred. I was broke by then and at home.  It’s simply amazing you can wake up in the city that doesn’t sleep and drive 12 hours to a cornfield where everything furry hates you for abandoning them for 10 days. I have only now gotten back into pettable range. Now you know where I get the hellcats attitude from.

As I whip along, I would like to thank the loyal who have reviewed and left comments and beta advice; Rosei; k; Natana; Rosemary; meadows_peal; Dark Avenger; paper.heart; laur and a.taste.of.insanity

WARNING: REALLY DISTRUBING CONTENT. VIOLENCE, RAPE AND SUICIDE

Chapter 143: The Key, the Shot & the Moon

Holy crap. I snatched the revolver out Kevin’s hand and then covered my head as another piece of ceiling crashed to the floor. “Are you trying to deliberately get us killed?”

“I told you I never used firearms before.”

“I told you about the recoil. Are your arms made out of spaghetti?” Kevin stepped back as another piece hit the floor. He stared over at me for a moment then a wide smirk transformed his face.

“How about spaghettini?”

There was going to be hell to pay for the ceiling. I grinned back at him. We were so fucked. Worrying about it now was nothing but wasted effort. Kevin was not a marksman. “Didn’t you ever play videogames?”

“Some.”

I let the smile fade from my face. “Kevin, you’re my back up. I have to rely on you out in the field. I would rather depend on you than Orel Wessel.”

“I’m not like you, Skell. I’ve never killed.”

“You’re a vampire. You will, eventually. You accepted the Covenant, Kevin. This is part of the gig. Come here.” I waited until he came up to me. He still didn’t like me touching him, he tensed every time but he didn’t shove me away. He was aware that we were on candid camera. “Our life is shit here. Wessel doesn’t care if you come back from a mission, but I do. You are here because of me. They dragged you off the streets to be my companion. I will protect you. I will do my damnest to protect you, but eventually, you are going to have to stand on your own two feet and protect yourself. Even if it is from me.”

/You don’t know what you’re pumping into my neck. It might be something designed to set me off./

Kevin stared up at me. He was just a little shorter, a little leaner, a whole lot younger but he had a survivor’s core. That was like me. /You’re different./

I pulled back and regarded him with an arched eyebrow. /What?/

“You look like you’re at home here.” He turned and gestured to the concrete bunker that was designed to be a shooting range. “Those,” He pointed at my Glocks, “look like they are an extension of your hand.”

I looked out at the gun range then felt the weight of my Glock in my right hand. “Ear protection.” I raised my gun and emptied my magazine into the paper target. Kevin flinched with each sound of the shot. I set my pistol on the table and pressed the button to drag the target up to us. Perfect grouping. All a kill. I was home here. Guns felt good. Knives felt better.

No, Kevin was not meant for knives. I set my pistol down, set up another target and pushed it back to the farthest range. Kruger wanted me to teach Kevin, I would teach him. If something happened out there, I wanted him to have the skill to survive. Or at least make the attempt to do it. We are Vampire. We are stronger than humans. We should not be at their mercy. Well at the mercy of Orel Wessel. They didn’t have any.

“I got your back, Kevin. Are you going to have mine? Can I trust you?”

I gestured for him to pick up his own firestorm. Smaller caliber. Smaller recoil. He needed to get accustomed to firearms. “I think so.”

“I can’t go out in the field with a think so. Do or do not, there is no, I think so.”

“You sound like Yoda.”

Actually those worlds rang familiar. I told it to one of the apple twins…we were naked? He was my lover? Was he my lover? That Vampire in the bar, let us go without a fight. I was involved with the other brother? /Skell?/

“Yoda sounds better than Princess.”

“Who the hell had the balls to call you princess?”

“I didn’t always have fangs, Kevin. Okay, we are going to practice until you hit the paper. Then we are going to practice some more until you hit the target. Then we are going to practice even longer until you can get a clean kill.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Then learning how to master your weapon is the best way to do it. If you have skill you can shoot were you are aiming. If you want just to leave a flesh wound, you don’t want to shoot him in the head. Wessel is never going to give you an uzi to spray around, Kevin, so you have to make every bullet count.”

I pushed him too hard. By the time we got kicked out of the firing range, Kevin was done talking to me. He wasn’t even looking at me. If he could have gotten away with running down the corridors, he probably would have done it. What put the cherry on the whipped cream was the knowledge that he had been permanently moved into my cell. He got a bitch on that lasted six days. Which meant during that time any time I got a groove on, I had to do a bpm on myself. He grumbled beneath his breath the entire time I was getting my business done.

Finally on Saturday I just had enough.

“What the fuck is your problem?”

He stared up at me with terrified eyes. He had forgotten how much older I was. I had picked him up and tossed him on the bed with one hand. I sat on his chest now, with my knees pinning his upper arms to the mattress. I wasn’t even horny right now, just annoyed. “Get off me…”

“I haven’t made one advance to you all week and you’ve been sniping at my ass the entire time. What stick is up your butt right now?”

“I want my own space.”

“If you want your own dustpan and kitchen catcher, keeping doing this.” I reached down and grabbed a fistful of hair. “You are my fuck toy. You are my control. You have shown Orel Wessel this week that you are a spoil child.” /They are talking about terminating you./

He stilled beneath me. /They will kill you, burn your corpse and send you to the nearest landfill. Do you want that?/

“You’re crushing me.” I made a move to get off him. “No…you’re in my space, you’re in my face. I can’t turn around without you there. You’re driving me nuts.”

“That’s what prison is.” I shifted and rolled off him. He laid flat on the bed and I hung my elbows on my knees, my hair hanging over my face. “What is what prison is, Kevin. It’s dehumanizing…de-vampirizing…you know what I mean. I raped you in the past Kevin. You’ve seen what they have done to me. If you’re alone…”

Kevin turned on his side and curled into a ball. “I haven’t done anything to warrant prison, Skell. I want to go home. Let me go home.”

“You would eat your human family.”

He glared at me. “What makes you the expert?”

I snorted. “I don’t know anything. Master your flame, fledgling and you control the world. You haven’t done that yet.”

“Have you?”

“If I had, you never would have been raped by me.” I climbed off the bed and headed for the door. “You need space, I’ll give it to you. Don’t leave the room. There are those that fancy a little vampire ass.” /You’ll have to cover me tonight. The lab rats are concerned that I’m not getting my sexual quota from you./

I grabbed the key off the dresser, slipped it into my pocket and headed for the door. /I don’t want to fuck you, Skell./

I waited for the door to open.

/Skell did you hear me? I don’t want to fuck you. I’m not a faggot!/

/I heard you, Kevin. Don’t worry, I’ll have my quota before I get back…/

The door slid back and Andrews was standing there. So much for disciplinary action. “Where are you going?”

“To the showers…are you going to cum?” He smirked and stepped back to allow me to pass.

“Skell!” Kevin bolted off the bed but the door slide shut in his face. /Skell, don’t do this. Don’t let him rape you again. Skell. SKELL!/

I dropped a binding on him. I didn’t need him screaming in my head. I don’t know how far my hold would extend, but when it faded, the silent speak should fade too. I shivered as Andrews baton rang along my spine from the nape of my neck to the swell of my ass.

Wessel was disappointed the vampire porn channel didn’t provide constant entertainment. They had expected a fuck fest. Mostly a rape fest. Mostly me forcing Kevin. They didn’t like domestic fang bliss. They didn’t like it and it was out of character for the former me. I had more snatches of a past but everything was jumbled. Some were my memories, some weren’t. Can’t really explain it, it’s like I had two different sets of memories other than my own and they didn’t make sense. I was starting to feel as if I did belong with Orel Wessel. I was fucked in the head long before they got their epi-pens into me.

“Not so much fun now you have to see him every day.” Andrews halted outside the shoulders and ran his security card through the reader. No only did that signal to open the door and turn on the water, it also activated his fuck buddy beacon. Others would be joining us soon.

“He’s a whiner. He grinds his teeth in his sleep.”

“And he hasn’t touched your fine delectable ass in a week.” I got the nightstick across my throat and a hand squeezing my ass hard. “Tell me you need to get fucked, Vampire.”

This was what Orel Wessel expected. The base animal. The needy animal. What would happen if I turned and tore out his throat? I’d be shocked into submission and Kevin would be killed. I hung my head. Orel Wessel needed a distraction.

“I need to be fucked.” My words almost dried up in my throat.

“I’m just the guy to do it too.” I got shoved up against the tiles and the nightstick laid across my neck. Roughly, my pants got undone and shoved down to my ankles. “Tell me what I so long to hear, Eddie.”

I could hear the foot steps of the rest of the guards coming down the corridor. I had to get all the lab rats attention back to me. Only on me. I closed my eyes, kicked off my pants and pressed my naked ass up against Andrews crotch. He already had a hard on for me.

“Fuck my ass, Carl.”

“There’s my boy, Eddie. Say it again.”

Only on me.

“Fuck me hard, Orel Wessel. Make me warm inside.”

It was just as bad as I suspected it would be. His fuck buddies had told two friends and they told two friends and now I couldn’t walk. The door to our cell slid back. Kevin jumped up off the bed. They threw me inside. Kevin caught me but staggered backwards and finally hit the floor. That didn’t do me any good. It didn’t make it worse either.

“Skell?”

I lay half on his chest, half on the floor. I stared across the floor slightlessly. I never saw it coming. I had no inkling of it. I heard no whisper of it in the corridors. It’s loss hurt more than the gangbang.

“Skell?” There was a hint of hysteria in his voice. God, I don’t even get a chance to recover.

/I’m okay…/

Kevin carefully turned me and brought my upper torso to his chest. “They hurt you.” I didn’t bother to try and talk. They always hurt me. At least, this time it was with a purpose.

“They took my key.”

“Key?”

“They took my key away.”

“Key? To the piano? Skell talk to me.”

I blinked slowly, “Lab rats said I was spending too much time there alone. So they took it away. I’m supposed to stay with you. They took my music away.”

“This is because I was playing ass this week isn’t it. They raped you in the showers because...you wouldn’t rape me.”

“They took my music away.”

“Skell…”

“They took my music away.”

“No, no they didn’t” I tensed as he wrapped me in a tight embrace. “Your music is inside you. Deep inside you where they can’t touch you. It will always be there waiting for you, Skell….Skell?”

/Get up on the bed, Skell. You’ll get sick if you sleep on the floor. Up. Come on…they can’t break you Skell. Don’t let them break you. Please…don’t leave me here by myself./

It took all the effort I had to get to the bed. Kevin climbed in beside me and gathered me close. I flopped my arm over his shoulder and touched the back of his head. /I’ll take you with me when I leave here, Kevin./

I was the one who had fourteen cocks up my ass but I hung onto Kevin as he cried and offered all the support I could. /I will protect you, fledgling. Come the fires of hell or high water./

Kevin sobbed harder. I had pain throughout my body but it was nothing next to the gapping hole in my chest. They took my piano away. It felt like they had just ripped that black haired man away from me. I snorted once. I had only seen him from the back as he played the crimson concert grand, but it felt like he had been surgically separated from me. I cried until sleep sent me under. Another day was done. Kevin was safe for a while.

There was a Bugs Bunny cartoon about two dogs, a big bulldog and a tiny little mongrel. The big bulldog was all tough, the mongrel was adoring until…something traumatic happened; then their roles reversed. That night was our traumatic event. Kevin turned into a true Vampire. He became the alpha to my beta…and I didn’t care. I couldn’t care. They just took it away when you cared…and I was tired. Kevin was right. After five years, why was I even trying anymore? Nothing good came out of it. So I didn’t.

Kruger noticed something changed in me. They tracked it down to that night but they came to the wrong conclusions. Andrews disappeared. The fuck buddies disappeared. I still didn’t care. The epi-pen concoction changed. My thinking actually got clearer. I killed what they told me to kill. I ate what Kevin put in front of me. I spread my legs for his domination. And I felt nothing. I was cold on the inside.

Finally, I was sitting on the examination table my hair hanging around me staring off into space. Actually, I was staring at an anatomical chart. It was sort of fascinating in a morbid way. Skin peeled back. Muscles exposed. Organs exposed. Death wasn’t pretty. The door slid back and Kruger walked in. “You were supposed to write in your journal, Ed. You are supposed to write down your dreams.”

“I don’t dream.”

“Everyone dreams, Ed.”

“Not anymore.” He laid a hand on my leg. I shifted away from his touch.

“You need to shower, Ed. Your hair is greasy.”

“I don’t like it there.”

“Those men are gone. You don’t have to worry about anyone hurting you in the showers again. I want you to get cleaned up once you leave here. Do you understand, Ed?”

I nodded. I was feeling dirty anyway. “You need to gear up after the shower. You have a mission tonight.”

I nodded.

“Edward.” I turned my head toward him. He held out a small brass key. “Would you like this back?”

I looked at it then shook my head. I turned my eyes back toward the poster. I flinched as he caught my chin and tuned my face back toward him. “Edward. Why don’t you want the key?”

“You’ll just take it away again. It’s better not to have it at all than just keep losing it over and over.” My voice was cracked. I hadn’t been talking much.

Kruger picked up my hand and placed the key in it. “You can keep it. No one will take it away from you again.”

I wanted to throw it across the room. I closed my fingers around it and nodded obediently. I wasn’t going to use it. Kruger handed me the journal. “You need to write in it, Edward. If you don’t have dreams, anything you want. But you have to write in it.”

I nodded.

He sat at this desk and was writing something down. “Kruger.”

He paused and looked up at me. “Ed.”

“If I die, will you send Kevin to me. I don’t want him to be lonely.”

“Edward, what are you trying to tell me?”

“All good things, must come to an end. I feel it. Don’t you?”

“I know you haven’t been…right for a couple of weeks, Edward. If you want to talk…”

I shook my head. Kevin talked enough. I was regretting ever teaching him silent speak. I headed for the door. The guard there already has his orders and I was ushered to the showers. He had to shove me through the door. It was empty. I stripped off, get the water the right temperature and just stood under the spray. My hair was long and greasy. It took me a while to get it sparkling white again. I felt cleaner than I had in a long time.

The door slid back and I skittered out of the spray with shampoo stinging my eyes until I hit the back wall and crouched.

“No! It’s all right, Skell. It’s just me. It’s just Kevin.” /Fucking sons of bitches…/ I heard him come forward. “Reach out and take my hand, Skell. I’ll finish washing your hair.” I stood there with my forehead on his shoulder as Kevin cleaned me. He had brought my uniform with shoes. We were definitely leaving headquarters. The rest of the gear would be at the armory but I actually wouldn’t get it until a few minutes before beginning the mission.

/Will you ever tell me what’s wrong, Skell?/

/I’m fine./

/You’re about as far from fine as anyone can get. Skell…/ I sat on the bench fully dressed as he stood behind me and brushed out my hair. /if you want to leave, you can. You don’t have to worry about me. If this is all that you can handle…you can go. Do you understand me?/

My shoulders gave a big sigh. “I said you would come with me. Kevin.”

“It hurts me to see you like this. It’s like a switch got turned off inside you and I don’t know how to turn it back on. I don’t know if it can be turned back on.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Kevin came around and knelt in front of me. “It should matter, Skell. That is what is scaring me. You used to care.” He lifted his palm and pressed it along side my face. “I don’t know how to make you care again. I don’t know if I should make you care.”

“You’ve gotten good with the firestorm.”

“I’ve had a good teacher.”

/I want to leave here tonight. Do you want to go with me?/

Kevin stilled. His eyes opened wide and his body tensed. I had just asked him to join me in a murder suicide. He licked his lips and then pressed his head down into my lap. “You’ve given up, Skell.”

“I’m tired.”

“I don’t want to be here alone.”

“So yes?”

/Yes./ I reached down and pet his hair. “You are a good BetaZ, Kevin.”

“I have never heard what they call you?”

“White Demon of Death. I come on silent wings.”

The door to the showers opened. “It’s time.”

I pushed Kevin back and offered him my hand. “It’s time, Kevin.”

Nothing was different about the mission. We were piled into a black Hummer and left in the dark until we came to a halt in a parking garage. The team leader was a new Wessel I hadn’t met yet. Since the shower incident, the men were being rotated frequently. Probably to keep my siren’s song, my lovely delectable ass, out of harms way. I shoved the ear piece in my ear and set the sticky backed mic at my throat. I refused the flak jacket because it was just a rifle assassination, but I took my Glocks and daggers. It didn’t feel right to be out in the night air without them.

They weren’t going to arm Kevin until I pointed out that he had been given clearance and if he wasn’t going to be armed why the hell did I spend the last month training him. He holstered his Firestorm at his side. His brown eyes met mine. His resolve was set. We would leave tonight.

Team Leader dropped his binoculars and reached into his shirt pocket. He withdrew a photograph and handed it to me. This was my target. I didn’t need advance notice. I was an efficient killer. He was young…young and beautiful with long jet black hair. The photo was black and white, but I could see arctic blue eyes in my mind’s eye. I didn’t need to know what he had done. I just knew that Orel Wessel wanted him dead. Too bad. He was absolutely gorgeous.

I tucked the picture in my pocket and went to the back of the Hummer. I got my rifle and checked it over. Once I was satisfied, I snapped the magazine in place and headed back toward the edge of the building. I blinked and snapped my vision into something crystal clear. It looked like some sort of grand event. There was cameramen all over the street. Limos were pulling up and well heeled dames and gents were getting out and sauntering up the stairs. I pulled out my cigarettes. I was too far away to be seen, unless the target was a Vampire. Then why the hell would I be on the roof with a rifle? Orel Wessel had no problem taking Vampires down. Case in point. I glanced over at Kevin. He was staring up at the silvery moon. I flicked my eyes skyward. It was a clear and beautiful night. Not bad for our last.

/I do this, we shoot each other on 3./

/Yah./

/Aim for the heart, Kevin. Make it quick. I don’t want them reviving me./

/I don’t want that either, Skell./ “Movement.’

I looked down at the next limo to arrive. A man in black got out from the side and scanned the area. He spoke into his sleeve. Another man got out of the front and came back to the street side limo door. He opened it. I lifted the rifle and followed the sight. A head of black hair stepped out of the limo. I waited for confirmation. No, it was a female. She waved to the small crowd and took a few steps forward before turning back toward the limo. She had the face of a goddess fallen to earth. Her eyes were the arctic blue of my imagination and her flesh was pale and flawless. Vampire. Makeup could not achieve that sort of perfection. Another dark head emerged from the limo. He was tall. Must have topped six foot. Elegance defined in an Armani tuxedo. He offered his arm to the female Vampire.

“Take the shot.”

I didn’t have confirmation.

“Skell, take the shot.”

I kept my sight locked on the potential target. He paused and turned to the left posing for the camera flashes. I tightened my finger on the trigger. The recoil slammed into my shoulder as a name flashed through my mind. Sasha. My shot took him high in the shoulder and spun him to the ground.

1…

I stood up and sighted again. They were Vampire. Even the bodyguards were Vampire. They moved too fast. They had the black haired Vampire under their bodies. The scene erupted into frenzy. Camera flashes messed with my vision. I had the woman in my sight, but she wasn’t the target. I could read her mouth. Daddy.

2…

Gun fire ripped around us as the men in black traced my vapor trail back to the roof of the garage. Orel Wessel galvanized into action. I heard the howl deep within my head before the attack. I pivoted on my heel as the Lycan attacked. I dropped my rifle and pulled the Glock from my holster. Kevin broke free from his guard as the man charged a Lycan. Kevin ran to me and skidded to a halt ten feet away from me. He pulled his firearm and raised it.

3.

Our shots rang out in unison. Red agony ripped through my stomach and dropped me to my knees. He missed. All that practice and he missed. I lifted my arm to my stomach wound and pressed against it. I was a better shot. I always was a better shot. I crawled to his fallen body. His eyes were sightless. I was always the better shot. Kevin. I grimaced as I pulled him toward me, propping his body against me as I leaned on the small ledge. I wasn’t going to leave him alone. I lifted my Glock to my temple. He wasn’t going alone.

Fangs ripped into my wrist and shook it, dragging me away from the wall. My Glock went flying over the side of the garage. I twitched my wrist and caught my blade with my good arm. A boot crushed my other wrist into the pavement. The Lycan let go. I turned and looked up at the other assailant. My stomach gave me a sharp pain and blood filled my mouth. Maybe Kevin didn’t miss. I blinked the man standing on my wrist into focus. It was an apple twin. I vomited blood to the pavement. A long stream of blood saliva hung from my open mouth. My hair dipped in the blackness of my pool of blood.

Hands cupped my face and pushed me upright. I gave an involuntary cry as my guts rolled inside me. I opened my eyes to see the feral gold of a Lycan in human form. “Kill me…”

“Alpha…” Tears formed in the Lycan’s eyes. Why would a Lycan cry for a Vampire? He wiped at the blood at my mouth. “Alpha.”

The roof top was silent. I turned my head and saw the whole squad strewn across the parking level. The area was peppered with Lycan and men in black. I looked back up at the apple twin. “Please…Armor…please kill me. I’m tired…I can’t do this any more.”

He removed his boot from my wrist and crouched beside me. “I’m not Armor. It’s…”

The submission collar hit me. I jerked and spasmed on the pavement. If the Lycan and Vampire wouldn’t kill me, Orel Wessel would. The last thing I saw was the moon smiling down at me before chocolate brown eyes blocked it…then there was blessedly, nothing. No pain. No fear. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

* * *
bmp – beats per minute (masturbation)