Abigail Forsythe Ch. 01

Two other bystanders pitched in and the four of them quickly loaded Brasolic into a nearby carriage.

"To a doctor!" Cole cried out.

Radigan, who didn't speak a word of Hungarian, whipped the horse into motion.

***

"I'm glad to see you are at last awake, Brasolic," Abigail said. "I was rather afraid the good doctor had miscalculated the amount of curare needed to sedate you. That would have vexed me. My name is Abigail Forsythe and you killed my parents, Lord Reginald and Lady Florence Forsythe. Why did you do that?"

"They annoyed me," Brasolic said in heavily accented English. "You have angered me. I will rape you to death for this."

"I rather doubt that," Abigail disagreed with him. "This is Mister Cole, who you already know. He helped me set the explosives in this house. And this is Radigan, who served my father and now serves me. Radigan is holding the control that will allow him to blow this house to God, or Satan. And this is Doctor McCormac, who is very excited to meet you. You are in his laboratory and he has some questions to ask you."

"I will tell you nothing."

"My good man, I believe I may be able to help you, perhaps even cure you. If I am able to do so I might be able to prevail upon her ladyship to spare your life. She plans to kill you, you know," the doctor protested.

Brasolic laughed. "Cure? I am a god! What sane man would wish to give up this power? Better that you kill me than turn me back into food like you. I remember your mother," he said to Abigail in a voice dripping with malice. "She was pretty, so I did not kill her at once. I turned her and made her my willing slave. She sucked my cock and licked my feet and came to my heels when I snapped my fingers. She killed your father at my order; she sucked the last drop of blood from his body while I fucked her like the bitch she was. And when I tired of her..." His smile was the epitome of evil and McCormac took an involuntary step backward.

Abigail, without any visible emotion, pulled a switch next to her hand and the steam turbine whooshed to life. Brasolic felt the result but couldn't tell what was causing it. Then his eyes caught sight of the glass vial that was rapidly filling with blood, his blood. He screamed and thrashed at the restraints to no avail and his struggling grew weaker and finally ceased. When the blood stopped flowing into the jar, Abigail broke the connection and turned away from the corpse.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning," she announced. "You have until then to take your samples and do your dissection, Doctor. Mister Cole, you will remain with the Doctor while he works and ensure that Brasolic does not revive somehow. When the doctor is done, cut Brasolic's head off and put it into the jar the doctor has prepared. Radigan, please begin packing."

"My lady," McCormac protested, "I needed him alive to test his responses to stimuli. His eyes, I needed to see if he displayed a sensitivity to strong light as Mister Cole does and...." he trailed off as he saw his words were addressed at Abigail's rapidly retreating back.

"The information I could have had," he moaned.

"Less talkin' and more workin', Doc," Cole advised.

***

There was express train service to Covasna, but not from Covasna, which Abigail thought reflected an entirely disturbed sense of priorities. The local service stopped at every small station, sometimes for hours, as passengers disembarked and boarded and freight was loaded and unloaded.

"Faster to go by carriage," she muttered.

"But not as safe, my lady," Radigan commented.

Abigail nodded in agreement. The railway was protected by Imperial soldiers while the roads were, at best, protected by local militias who were often indistinguishable from the bandits they hunted.

"I should have let the doctor have his time, Radigan," she said.

"Perhaps, my lady. But he has his samples."

"I let him goad me," she confessed.

Radigan remained silent for a moment. "Perhaps it's better this way, my lady. You gave him a better death than he allowed your parents. This is... cleaner, I believe."

Abigail nodded. "Perhaps. Why haven't we moved yet? The platform is quite empty of passengers and has been so for the last five minutes."

"Completely clear, my lady?" Radigan asked with concern.

"Yes," she replied, a worry taking root in her own mind. Sudden gunfire erupted from down the hallway and she heard Cole yelling something and his wife screaming. Radigan pulled a revolver from his pocket and pressed it into Abigail's ready hand. With a knife in his other hand he approached the door to the passageway from one side while Abigail aimed the revolver at the door.

She heard the crash of glass just before she felt herself being pulled backwards, through the broken window, by impossibly strong arms. She had a glimpse of Radigan's shocked face looking towards her as the door to the compartment burst open and two men fell upon him.

The revolver was smacked from her hand with brutal force as she was dragged out of the train station and into a carriage. A moment later Cole's wife was thrown in beside her, wailing in terror. An explosion from the direction of the train spooked the horses and they bolted while the driver tried to bring them back under control.

***

Cole wearily kicked the door off and stood up. The dynamite had demolished a good half of the car and the rest of the woodwork was smoldering as it worked its way up to a genuine blaze. He emptied the spent shells from his revolver and thumbed more rounds into it before making his way forward in a search for survivors or foes. He found Doctor McCormac, his throat ripped out, sitting in a puddle of his samples. Radigan he found a few moments later.

The big butler was bleeding all too slowly from obviously mortal wounds. When Cole tried to staunch the bleeding the man opened his eyes.

"They took her," he croaked.

"Jasmina too," Cole said. "McCormac's dead."

"Save her," Radigan ordered.

"Reckon I might give that a try," Cole told him. "I'm a might peeved at these folk. Don't worry none, Radigan, I'll save her or I'll see you soon. Save me a spot close to the fire."

The butler's laugh turned into a choking cough and then ceased entirely. Cole closed Radigan's eyes and took a look around. The far end of the train car had caught fire and the dry wood was burning merrily. Outside he saw a crowd beginning to gather. He crawled down the passageway back to his compartment and grabbed his pack of gear.

"Time to absquatulate," he muttered.

***

The driver, it seemed to Abigail, had given up on controlling the horses and had settled for guiding them in their madness. The repeated crack of the whip, however, suggested that he habitually drove in such a manner. She and Cole's wife were tossed about by the rough roads and the laughing men in the carriage seats helped matters along with the occasional kick.

After what felt like hours the carriage skidded to a stop and the door was thrown open. The men in the carriage pushed them out, and into the arms of others waiting outside. Abigail looked around and saw that they were in the courtyard of a castle. It was lit by torches held by men and women dressed in black clothing; they followed as Abigail and Cole's wife were dragged into the castle and down a set of stairs into the basement.

The crowd took it in turns to rip a portion of their clothing from them, and by the time they were each chained to a wall they were completely nude. Laughing, the men and women left and took the light with them. Abigail squatted down, wrapping her arms around her legs to try and conserve body heat, while she tried to think of a plan. Nearby, she could hear Cole's wife sobbing quietly. 'I told him to get rid of her,' she thought irritably.

***

The door to the room crashed open and naked men carrying torches poured in. Abigail stood on shaky legs, determined to meet her fate with courage, but the men simply unlocked the manacles and herded them out of the room and through the castle.

In a large room a long, black carpet flanked by still more naked men and women led to a raised stone dais at the far end of the room. A man in black robes reclined on a throne of skulls surrounded by naked women. The crowd pushed them along the carpet until, at last, they stood in front of the man. He regarded them coldly, 'Like a snake,' Abigail thought, and then gestured. She found herself knocked to her knees.

The man addressed Cole's wife in a language that Abigail didn't recognize but guessed to be Turkish or Arabic. She replied tearfully in the same tongue. The exchange went on for several minutes and gave Abigail time to look around. The women around the throne were examining them with hungry eyes and when one them licked her lips, Abigail shuddered.

"And you must be Lady Abigail Forsythe," the man said. Abigail looked up at him.

"I am," she replied.

The man chuckled. "I was so very upset with Miklos when he killed your parents. Your father, perhaps, but your mother... That was not at all what I wanted. I had planned to kill him for that when the time was right. But now you have done the work for me and given me my entry into England. We'll have to educate you, of course. Did you really have to blow up the house with Miklos' body inside it?"

"Not really. I'd already had his head cut off and placed in a jar of acid. But it seemed prudent to be safe. I didn't want to leave trash lying around," she replied.

A few hisses behind her told her that she was treading on dangerous ground.

"You will need to learn some manners, too, it seems. I enjoy teaching manners, however." He stood and left his robe on the throne. He padded forward on bare feet, his erect cock bobbing between his legs.

"You will come to enjoy it," he promised.

Abigail, despite her fear, responded bravely. "Good heavens, I employ men who are better endowed than you."

The smile on the man's face broadened. "Your Mister Cole? I do hope it's Mister Cole. Because Doctor McCormac and your man Radigan are both dead. Only Cole remains to mount the heroic rescue attempt. He's on his way, you know. I think we'll arrange to play a little joke on him when he arrives."

The laughter that swept the room washed over Abigail from a dull distance. The news of Radigan's death seemed to have stabbed her heart with an icicle and it filled her with remorse, for she'd led him to his demise.

The shriek from Cole's wife snapped her back to the moment and she saw that the man had fallen upon her. His cock was buried inside her and his mouth was at her throat. The shrieking went on, but the timbre changed, from fear to... passion. As Abigail watched, the woman shook in what seemed like a continuous orgasm that rolled on and on. Then the man withdrew from her and stood. He smiled at Abigail, his mouth bloody.

"Watch," he told her. "Your turn is next." Then he turned his attention back to the woman trembling on the floor before him. "Suck, my slave. Taste my seed."

Slowly, unsteadily, the woman rose to her knees and took him into her mouth. Abigail saw the women from the throne crawling forward, gathering in a pack around his feet, licking their lips in anticipation. A moment later she understood why, as he filled the woman's mouth and then overfilled it. The women rushed forward, lapping at the edges of Cole's wife's mouth, at the underside of the man's cock and balls, at the heavy drops falling to the floor.

Chuckling, the man left the women to their efforts as he approached Abigail. She tried to flee, but the crowd formed a wall of flesh that pushed her toward him. Then she felt his hands on her ankles and he flipped her over onto her back and was over her and then in her, his cock tearing through her virginity. His laughter filled the room.

"Virgin blood, my pets! Come, taste," he called and withdrew from her.

The women rushed forward, Cole's wife with them and began lapping at the blood between her thighs and streaking the man's cock. Warm tongues seemed to cover her sex, to fill it, while lips pulled at hers. And then the women scattered into the crowd, sharing the blood with those who sucked at the traces around their mouths. The man lowered himself onto her again and his cock forced its way deep inside her.

The moment of dull pain was replaced by a sharp pain at her neck that made her gasp and her entire body stiffened. Then her blood seemed to boil with lust and she screamed in pleasure. The divine torture lasted for longer than she could imagine and then it was gone and there was only a deep need to have it again.

"Suck, my pet," she heard and saw his distended cock in front of her.

A distant part of her protested even as her body crawled forward and her mouth engulfed him. The more of him she took, the better she felt, and the harder she sucked. She could feel the other women gathering around and when he erupted into her mouth she felt their tongues again at her cheeks and competing for a greater share of his seed.

His seed seemed to tingle in her mouth and filled her belly with a warmth that spread throughout her body. When he pulled away from her and stalked to his throne she felt... empty.

"Go back to the cell," he ordered. "We'll let Mister Cole come and find you. When he rescues you, kill him. After this is done, we will discuss your role in advancing our interests in England."

"Yes, master," Cole's wife replied.

Abigail was silent and felt the man's eyes boring into her. 'Something's wrong,' she thought. Desperate to shift the suspicion that seemed to be falling upon her she blurted, "Please, master, I beg for another taste of your cock."

The man chuckled and then laughed, all trace of suspicion vanishing from his face. "No, my pet. Not now. Obey my every command or it will be a long time before I allow you that privilege again. Go."

"Yes, master," she remembered to say. She crawled after Cole's wife, down the black carpet and through the crowd that parted like a sea before them. Her mind was racing.

'I felt no compulsion to obey him,' she thought. 'Why...? The serum! I wasn't immune to the lust he engendered, but perhaps it prevented him from gaining control over me. That means...' She darted a glance at the woman crawling next to her.

"I am Jasmina," the woman said. "You saw Cole when he fucked me. I saw you leave. You did not want to come and join us. How amusing that together we will end his life and serve a truly strong master."

Abigail forced a smile to her face. "Yes, very amusing."

'You've got to go,' she thought darkly.

***

The castle hadn't been hard to find after Cole had offered his first informant a chance to tell him where the vampires were. If he did, then Cole promised to beat him up a little and leave. If he chose not to tell Cole where the vampires were, then Cole promised to put a large sum of money on the table and thank the man loudly. It had been a bluff, Cole didn't have any money to speak of, but it had worked.

Transportation had been somewhat more difficult, but it wasn't the first time Cole had stolen a horse. The act had been somewhat nostalgic, in fact. And once he was within ten miles of the castle he couldn't possibly miss it.

He'd pressed on, riding on the road as far and as fast as possible in the belief that it would take him days to negotiate the wild terrain on either side of the road. Time was key if he was to have a hope of saving Abigail and Jasmina. Not that he had much hope, but he was going to try.

He'd cut the horse's throat as far from the road as possible to keep it from wandering away and then trudged into the mountainous terrain. The walls of the castle had appeared unguarded, so he'd simply climbed up and over. Once inside he headed for the basement in the hope that vampires would have dungeons the same as normal people.

***

Abigail heard the door open and saw Cole's face. The relief that appeared there was strangely touching. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

"My love!" Jasmina exclaimed. Cole turned to look at her.

"Hang on a minute, I'm gonna have to cut the chains," he said and turned to set his pack down.

"It's a trap, Cole! Don't turn your back on her!" Abigail snapped.

Cole whirled as Jasmina leapt and there was a muffled explosion as she crashed into him and a large hole appeared in her back. Cole pushed the body off and Abigail saw the smoking carriage gun in his hand.

"Thanks," he grunted. "Guess we're divorced."

Abigail, despite the situation, laughed, and then she saw the gun was pointed at her.

"He bit me," she confessed, showing him the bruising at her neck. "Raped me as well. He did the same to Jasmina. But I think the serum Doctor McCormac made from your blood changed something. I didn't feel any compulsion to obey him. And I did warn you," she pointed out. Her hands undid the unlocked manacles to add additional weight to her argument.

"Reckon that's so," he agreed. He dropped the carriage gun, which hung from a cord looped around his shoulder, and extracted a bundle from one of his pockets. A match flared and he held it up to the fuse.

"Ready to run?" he asked.

"Of course not," she replied as she gathered her feet beneath her and nodded.

Cole tossed the makeshift grenade out the door. Shouts of alarm were drowned out by a wall of noise and Cole was out the door before the shrapnel had stopped pinging off the stone walls. His shotgun fired once and then he knelt to light another grenade. Abigail, spotting movement behind them, snatched a revolver from Cole's waistband and emptied it into the two vampires trying to sneak up on them.

Another explosion announced that Cole had cleared another segment of hallway and she dashed after him, emptying the spent cartridges from the pistol as she went. Two more grenades got them to the courtyard and Cole was giving her a hand up onto one of the horses. Bareback they galloped out of the courtyard and down the road.

"We'll have to rest them soon," she shouted at him after five minutes. "We can't kill them."

"They will," he said, gesturing vaguely behind them. "But maybe we won't have to. Just a bit further."

She watched, fascinated, as Cole leaned out over the side of the horse and stretched his arm out. She'd ridden all her life and, despite the danger of their situation, she was fascinated by his display of horsemanship. He swung upright after a moment with a branch in his hand and kicked his horse, spurring it forward.

Behind them, the weight he'd restrained with the branch fell to the ground and a length of wire stretched itself taut above the road. The vampires barreling down the road after them barely had time to recognize the danger before they were upon it. It didn't hurt them, except for the one who snapped his neck on the ground, but it tumbled the horses into a pile of broken limbs and necks. It effectively ended the mounted pursuit.

***

"Tell me something, Cole," Abigail said. "Why did you buy Jasmina?"

"Well..." Cole began. It occurred to him that the time for delicacy had passed. "I've always been a mite... randy. But it had gotten real bad. Workin' around you, I figured I'd need someone to take the edge off."

"That's what I thought," she said. "I think we need to go to Mercury for a time."

"We?" he echoed. "Mercury?" he said as the second part of the statement registered in his brain.

"Mercury," Abigail confirmed. "Unless someone has managed to map a route to Jupiter it's the farthest we can get from these creatures. That seems rather a good idea to me at the moment. Doctor McCormac also mentioned that he had a colleague who shared his interest in vampirism. He works in the Russian enclave on Mercury. I should like to consult with him."

"Well.... I'll allow as how that makes sense. But why 'we'?" he asked.

"Because I suspect I'm afflicted with the same hyper-sexuality you suffer from," she told him. "I've been raped, have lost my virginity, and have ridden bareback, in every sense of the word, for several miles. I should be in agony. But all I can think of at the moment is that there had better be some sexual relief at the end of this ride or I'm going to become the first woman in history convicted of rape. Besides, your salary will be excellent."