Blood Rose Ch. 08

Tyler wasn't sure how much time he spent staring at Dorian after hearing that, waiting for the little smirk or the "had you for a second" to indicate the joke was over. But Dorian's face remained rock-steady, with no trace of humor at all. From over at his workbench, Ethan finally pitched in with, "He's serious."

Tyler slumped against the cot as he realized the harsh reality of his situation. "This is just perfect. I've been abducted by a loony tune."

"We're vampire hunters. I was looking for a missing member of my team when I found you. That bandage on your neck is covering the wound from where your girlfriend bit you last night."

"You're crazy!"

Dorian sighed. "You don't have to believe me right now kid. What's important right now is—" Dorian stopped and looked behind him at the sound of the large door opening and a car pulling in. Then he turned back forward and continued, "What's important is making sure you're safe before we send you home."

"I need to be safe from you, you crazy bastard!"

There was the sound of a car door shutting, and another set of footsteps ascending the metal stairs, and a middle-aged black man with a salt-and-pepper beard in a tan coat and a tie came into view. "The kid's finally awake?" the man said, looking at Tyler.

"Yeah," Dorian said. "He's still a little hysterical, though."

"I'm hysterical?" Tyler snapped. "You're the freak who's talking about vampires!"

"So I see," said the man.

"Hey Keith," Ethan said, "you heard from Andy at all?"

"He hasn't checked in with you guys?"

"We haven't seen him since he took off last night while Dorian was out."

"No worries, I'm here," said a new voice coming in through the still open big door. The young man with the ponytail and the long black duster who appeared now stopped at the top of the stairs when he noticed Tyler. "Oh, didn't know we had company."

"This is Tyler," Dorian said. "I found him last night when I was looking for Kaeli. He'd been bitten. Oh, and Andy, I didn't find her. I'm sorry, it was a dead end."

Andy's already glum face darkened, and his head hung low. "I know. I found her."

The other three men instantly focused their attention on him. "And?" Ethan said.

Andy looked up, his jaw set in a grim line. "They turned her."

The room fell into a somber hush. Even the dog seemed brought down. "Did you take care of her?" Dorian asked after a moment of silence.

"I tried. She got away."

Ethan responded by grabbing up a wrench and chucking it across the room, hitting the wall with a resounding bang. His dog backed away from him and whined. Keith slumped into a chair and sighed, "That's two of us lost in as many nights."

"What we gonna do now?" Ethan said.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do," Andy said, pointing a tense finger at him. "We're gonna track Kaeli down and finish her off, 'cause I'm not gonna sleep at night knowing my girl's out there somewhere sporting a pair of pointy ones."

"We'll deal with that later," Dorian said, firmly laying down the law. "Sooner or later, I think she'll come to us. Our first priority is Electra."

A collective scowl turned in Dorian's direction. "Is anyone else sick of that name?" Keith sneered.

"You ask me," Ethan said, "I think our priority right now is the kid."

Even Tyler himself had almost forgotten he was in the room until the attention turned back his way. And he realized at that point that he'd stopped thinking of these people as insane by now. He'd just watched a serious conversation between four men who seemed perfectly sane, albeit a little scary. These guys were serious—but they couldn't be, right? They couldn't really be vampire hunters, could they?

Tyler looked around at their faces, waiting to see what they were going to do with him—and then spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Something that really didn't belong in the whole warehouse, let alone the table it sat on. And what was more, he was sure it hadn't been there a minute ago. "Hey, what's with that red rose over there?"

Dorian instantly sprang to his feet and looked wide-eyed in the direction Tyler was looking. He strode to the table and picked up the rose, and now Tyler could see a tag attached to it that Dorian was reading. "Everybody get out," Dorian commanded.

"Why, what's going on?" Andy said.

"Get in the van, take Tyler home."

"Is she here?" said Ethan. "We're not going anywhere without—"

"In the van, NOW!"

There was no more argument. Keith and Andy began heading down the stairs. Ethan approached Tyler and gently lifted him by the arm to his feet and guided him along, saying, "Come on, Tyler, let's get you outta here. Shadow!" The dog followed as Ethan led Tyler down the stairs, and they followed Andy and Keith into a rusty gray van, filled with weapons, that Keith started up and drove out the door after the dog climbed in and Ethan shut the sliding door behind them.

Tyler slumped into the seat along the side of the van. He realized suddenly that it was night, and Dorian had been describing what happened as "last night," meaning he'd been out for a whole day.One minute I'm having the night of my life with the girl of my dreams, and the next thing I know I'm waking up with a bunch of weapon-toting wackos who think they're vampire hunters and it's a day later.

His thoughts began circulating around last night. The whole thing had seemed to him like a perfect moment—the most perfect of his life in fact—and she suddenly freaked for some reason... he could see the moment she started panicking and grabbing her clothes... the look on her face... was there something on her face? Now that he stopped to think about it, when he pictured her at the moment she started freaking out, he could almost swear there was something dark around her mouth area. Like blood. What if...

What am I thinking? This is insane! Elizabeth can't be vampire, because there's no such thing, right? Vampires don't exist, not in the real world. These guys don't know what they're talking about, no matter how much they sound like they do.

"Where do you live, kid?" Keith asked.

Tyler hesitated, noting the palpable unease in the van around him. He was just about to answer when the dog suddenly raised its head and started barking. "Pull over!" Ethan commanded.

Keith swerved off the road and ground to a halt before parking the car. The three men then began going for their weapons while the dog continued barking. "What's going on?" Tyler said.

"Shadow here smells bloodsuckers," Ethan said, putting his good hand on the dog to calm it. "That means we're up."

The dog jerked its head suddenly to the sliding side door and started barking again—seconds before they heard the sound of metal tearing and that door was ripped off the van, and tossing it away with his bare hands was a seven-foot black goliath in a green muscle shirt and camouflage army pants. Tyler scooted backwards along the seat towards the back, until the back doors flew open and a woman dressed like a cowgirl in a black hat and long coat was pointing a pair of .45s at them and commanded, "Out of the van!"

Tyler put his hands up and slowly exited out the back, while the others did similarly. The dog continued barking at the intruders, until the huge man snarled, "Shut up Fido!" and threw a kick to the dog's mouth, causing it to yelp and shrink away.

"That's my dog, asshole!" Ethan growled, snatching up an iron stake and throwing himself at the giant.

The huge man responded by grabbing Ethan by the throat with one massive hand and holding him there, saying, "You want me to break your other arm? Or your leg maybe? How 'bout your neck? I'll have fun with that!"

Tyler felt the flat side of a piece of cold metal press onto the underside of his chin, and could tell there was a sharp edge just millimeters from his throat. He carefully turned his eyes to see the Chinese woman holding the sword that held him prisoner, who seemed to be studying him. "This one is new," she said.

"And look, he's been tasted," the cowgirl said, her eyes focused on the bandage on Tyler's neck, while keeping her guns trained on the other men. "Probably a stray they found on a hunt."

"Think we should take 'im?" the giant man said, and then followed it with something that made Tyler go absolutely cold: "You know, finish the job?"

The cowgirl responded with a question that, if it was possible, chilled Tyler even further: "If he's been bitten recently, do you think he has enough blood for the ritual to work?"

"He still walks," the Chinese woman said. "And Electra did say to bring the youngest."

A wicked grin spread across the cowgirl's face. "Take him, Chill!"

"Baby, I thought you'd never ask," the goliath grinned, dropping Ethan back on the floor of the van with a hard thud. The two women took a step back to allow space for Tyler to stare up in terror at the face of the huge man now standing in front of him, who said, "You're comin' with us, squirt!" and reached out an enormous hand that grabbed Tyler by the collar and flung him onto the man's shoulder.

Tyler saw the Chinese woman leap into the air—and gaped as she flew all the way up onto the roof of the building next to them. "Don't follow us," the cowgirl coolly warned, just before the man carrying Tyler on his shoulder made the same leap, carrying the helpless Tyler through the air. From his angle now, he could see the cowgirl preparing to turn to follow her partners; he saw Keith try to take advantage of that by going for his gun; and he heard the deafening BANG of the cowgirl stopping him with her own gun. Keith's gun had barely gotten out of its holster before it dropped to the ground, and Keith seemed to freeze for a split second before dropping to the ground dead.

Andy and Ethan scrambled toward their fallen comrade, while the cowgirl turned and followed with the other two with the same gravity-defying leap to the roof, and the three continued on, carrying Tyler to whatever sick thing they were planning for him.

***

Dorian set the rose down on the table, waiting until the van had fully left the warehouse before he said, "Why are you here?"

"You honestly need to ask?" Electra's voice said from behind him. He turned around, seeing her sitting in a tantalizing cross-legged position on another table. "I thought you knew me better than that. I came for you, of course, my precious."

"To do what?" he snarled. "To whisk me away to some dungeon for some sadomasochistic sex games?"

Electra chuckled. "I hardly think we need a dungeon for that. There seem to be plenty of tools of pain right here."

"I'm not in the mood for games, Electra," Dorian said, then added, "Come to think of it, I haven't been in the mood for games in years. Not since... I think you know when."

"Very well then," she said, stepping down onto the floor. "If you don't want to play, then let's talk."

"I don't have anything to say to you."

All traces of humor left her face as she slowly came close to him. "Why, Dorian?" she asked, reaching a hand up to stroke his face. "Why didn't you love me?"

He slapped her hand away. "Even if I had, it would've meant nothing to you. In the 700 years you've been alive, what have you ever known about love?"

"But I do love you, Dorian. That's why I made sure you'd never forget me."

Dorian scowled. "That's true, you did. In the cruelest way possible. Just one thing I've been curious about for a long time: when did you bite her?"

The grin on her face made Dorian's blood boil. "Believe me when I say that finding the opportune moment was no dally in the roses. I knew I'd never be able to manipulate you into staying overnight at your job without the right circumstances. No, you'd have seen right through me. Engineering your little crisis at the office took work, but I got you away from home long enough to pay your wife a visit in her sleep." She sensuously sucked a finger into her mouth. "She tasted just like honey."

Snarling through his teeth, Dorian grabbed an iron stake from inside his coat and swung at her. The stake pierced only air, as she was gone from the space in front of him. He spun around and found her behind him, still smiling and still talking.

"And then I gave her an extra little present: a special cocktail I had some of my people develop, designed to reduce self-control and intensify the thirst. Very potent, and especially effective on nascent vampires. And then, as much as I would have liked to stay and enjoy the show, I had to make sure I was gone so you could chase after me. Though I must say, I'm rather disappointed it took you so long to find me. Now that you're here, I can finally ask: how did it go?"

Dorian wanted more than anything not to have to recall that night. But it was too late now. They both had said too much for him to not recall what happened. "I came home the next evening. I'd left Melissa five or six messages apologizing for being gone all night and all day and I was planning how to do it again in person. I walked in the door and called for her. She didn't answer. I went upstairs, and I found her standing over the baby's crib. I remember exactly what I said to her: 'Sorry I was gone so long, did I miss anything exciting?' And I wonder if your sadistic mind can grasp how I felt when she turned around and looked at me, holding the bloody lump that used to be our baby, and the baby's blood dripping from her lips. And then she tossed the baby on the floor like a rag and came after me. I had to... defend myself."

"And then what?" The smile had still not left her face.

"You know what then," Dorian snarled. "I found your rose on the bed, the one you left so I would know it was you. And I never looked back."

"Indeed you didn't. You've spent the last twelve years looking for me, haven't you? Answer me this, Dorian: in the last twelve years, have you ever stopped thinking of me for even a microsecond?"

Dorian said nothing.

"Admit it: I succeeded. The moment you killed your wife, I became your reason for being. Your whole world. For twelve years you've wanted me; now here I am. What will you do?"

Dorian silently glared at her, his hand starting to bleed from his grip on the iron stake. To his horror and rage, he began to realize she was right. He'd become obsessed with Electra because that was exactly what she wanted. Everything he'd done had been about her. Here she stood in front of him, the one person he hated with every molecule in his body...

So why can't I stop craving her?

He tried hard to focus only on the years of obsessive hatred, and found those warring with older memories; memories of when he first met her, of night upon fiery night when she was everything he ever wanted. She had totally destroyed his life, and still it was hard to keep his eyes from exploring her body.

He had never loved her. There was a time he thought he did, a long time ago, but he'd realized it was only physical lust. He may have wanted her; she may have excited every primal urge inside of him, but he had never loved her. That didn't stop all those primal urges from coming back, and growing stronger the longer he kept looking at her.

He grabbed her. He gripped her shoulders and slammed her hard onto the mesh-metal floor. He glared into her grinning face and snarled, "I hate you," right before bringing his head down for a heated, angry, violent kiss. It was both the best and the worst kiss he'd ever shared with her; a release of hate and lust that had been building for years. He began ripping the fabric of her dress and gripped her breasts with a red-hot lustful fury.

"You're hurting me, my love," she smiled. "Hurt me more."

His hand shot downward and yanked up the hem of her nearly skintight skirt, and found her opening hot and wet and uncovered, and realized she'd been expecting this all along. He unzipped his pants and drilled into her with enough force to drill through a rock.

"Yes!" she breathed. "You're just like you used to be!"

Her fingers dug into his back so that he could feel the sharpness of her nails even through his jacket, which he could hear tearing.

"No, you're better!"

He grabbed and pinned down her thrashing arms in a way that probably would have broken the arms of a weaker woman. He pounded her hard against the mesh-metal floor, and knew that he was causing her pain. And the more pain he caused her, the more he knew she loved it. She screamed out with the exquisite blend of pleasure and pain that she had always thrived on for as long as he knew her.

"Yes!Yes! YES!"

Dorian almost expected her thrashings to break through the mesh-metal of the landing beneath them and her screams to shatter the windows when she came. Driving her hard into the floor and growling like a beast he let loose into her, and then held himself there, still keeping a death grip on her arms and glaring with rage into her face.

"You understand now," she said, with the hissing tone of a snake in her voice. "You can't fight me, because you've got me under your skin. You can say what you like, but you know you'll always be mine."

Dorian's teeth almost broke from clenching together so hard. He leapt off her and grabbed up the iron stake he had dropped on the floor—and as soon as he turned back to impale her heart with it, she was gone.

Dorian stood up, zipped up his pants, and looked around the warehouse, even though he knew he wouldn't find her. What he did find was the van suddenly returning, and being driven rather awkwardly, with the sliding side door ripped clean off. Dorian ran to the edge of the stairs, as Andy, who never drove, got out from the driver's side door and Ethan got out from the passenger side. No one else exited the van.

"What happened?"

"Electra's goons ambushed us outside," Ethan said. "They killed Keith, and they took the kid."

Dorian took only a second to react to the news of Keith's death. Losing teammates was nothing new, and there'd be time to mourn him later. Right now he had more pressing concerns. "What do you mean they took him?"

"They took him," Andy echoed. "They snatched him up and took him away."

"They took him alive?"

"Yeah."

Dorian chewed on this for a moment. "Ethan, do you have a location from that tracer we put on that girl from the club?"

"Yeah, but you're not thinking of mounting a rescue mission are you?"

"Electra's gotta be up to something big," Dorian said. "She wouldn't take a prisoner otherwise. And whatever it is can't be good. Let's gear up." He marched down the stairs and headed for his weapons rack.

"Dorian, this is crazy!" Andy protested, following him. "Look at us, we're down to three! And you really think we can just march into the vampire bitch queen's nest and wrestle that kid away from her? It's suicide, man, and why is your jacket torn like that?"

Dorian paused with his hand just starting to pick up his crossbow, choosing to ignore Andy's last question. "Maybe you're right, maybe it is suicide. That's why I'm not gonna ask you two to go with me. I need to do this. One way or another, I have to end it tonight. Ethan, gimme the address."

The room fell silent, other than the sound of Dorian continuing to gather his weapons. Once he was loaded, he stepped up to Ethan for the printed address, and was surprised to find the both of them fully geared up. "We're goin' with you, Dorian," Ethan said.

"This is my fight, guys," Dorian said. "You've all pointed that out already. You don't have to put yourselves on the line for my sake anymore. And besides, Ethan, you're in no shape for this with that arm."

"I only need one arm to kill vampires."

"We're not gonna let you do this alone, Dorian," Andy said. "We're with you to the end."

Dorian looked at the resolve both of them were putting up on their faces. "Thanks guys," he said finally. Ethan commanded Shadow to stay, and they got into Dorian's car and drove off.