Scarlet Queen Ch. 00-01

Dedication

To Snowbear, ScarletKisses and Zeke, thanks for everything. A story is going as good as the editors behind it. You guys rock.

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Prologue

"Welcome to another edition of Late Night with Lou Smythe, I'm Lou and my guest tonight is Rain de Guerre, lead singer of Les Vampires. Mr. De Guerre, you've had quite a career, no less than seven platinum albums over the last decade, quite accomplishment, isn't it?" Lou asked.

Rain de Guerre smiled at the man and drawled lazily, "So they tell me."

Lou chuckled and continued on, "It's been reported that you write all of your material, where do you find your source of inspiration?"

Rain sat back from the table, brushing his long platinum hair away from his face and looked directly at the camera, as he coolly replied, "From experience, such is life."

"I find it surprising that there could be a woman like your song 'Temptress in Scarlet', who ran away from you. You've been voted 'the sexiest man alive' according to all the magazines."

Rain smirked at the remark, "It is an honour, but alas, I'm still looking for my 'Temptress in Scarlet', she has something I want..."

"...Your heart no doubt, though there's plenty of women out there who could console you..."

As she turned the television off, the woman muttered, "Bastard, they're all welcome to him."

Ellie Prescott leaned back and sighed. So Rain was still searching for her, was he? Well, good luck with that. Ellie had actively, if not obsessively, made sure that she would never be found.

Ellie currently lived in a small nondescript apartment in a large city. She believed in keeping an apartment like this so that she could disappear at a moment's notice. Everything in the apartment was disposable.

It sounded quite paranoid to go to the extremes that she had just to avoid being found by one man, but Rain de Guerre, also known as 'Rainier de Fortenot, Viscount de Guerre' was a perverted fiend who would take over Ellie's life, given half a chance, and there was absolutely no way she'd let that happen. Ellie might be quite paranoid, but she liked her safe existence and no one was going to change that.

It was ironic; everyone thought he was just another Gothic lead singer playing at being a tormented vampire, but he wasn't playing at anything, he was the real deal. Well maybe not tormented, he was more like the tormentor.

Ellie shivered at that thought then mentally relaxed, refusing to think of him for one more moment. She had better things to do today. As she stood up and was about to walk out of the room, the phone rang.

Ellie didn't move to pick it up, she never picked up the phone first, there was no sense in alerting someone to the fact that she was home. On the third ring the phone switched over to the answering machine. The automated message played and then Ellie heard the caller speak.

"...Detective, this is Angel of Enigma Agency, we have a top priority case for you. Call me back when you get this message."

The answering machine clicked off.

Ellie stood stock still for a moment, inwardly debating with herself. Did she really want to take a case? Though, more importantly, did she have enough time to finish one?

Intrigued as she always was at the prospect of a new case, Ellie's eyes wandered over to a wall calendar. She hadn't written anything in it, but she had an important day mentally marked. That day was only one week away.

Ellie knew that her curiosity demanded that she hear the case details, then she would decide if she was going to take the case or not.

She walked over to a strange device that she had created herself and turned it on. It looked peculiar, but little did anyone know, its peculiar design was merely a decoy to distract a person from discovering its true purpose, and it made it easier to destroy it should the need arise. In fact, every item in her apartment was booby-trapped, after all it paid to be cautious... and paranoid.

She picked up a prepaid cell phone, confident that the strange device would block any attempt at triangulating her signal, and dialled the only number she ever called on it.

After two rings, Angel picked up, "Detective, I'm glad you called me back. Have you seen the news?"

Ellie inwardly sighed at the attempt at small talk but didn't bother to respond to Angel. She didn't like to waste time on niceties.

Angel huffed out an irritated breath and continued, "I'll take that as a no, anyway. Someone tried to murder Rain de Guerre after a television interview. They planted a bomb under his car, though luckily it went off before he got in the car. He was only wounded, though his record label went all out. They contacted us immediately after the incident happened and demanded the best bodyguards and detectives we have on staff. The bodyguards are already on scene, but we need you to investigate. The record company is offering ten million for finding the person or persons responsible and giving the information over to the authorities. What do you say, do you want the case?"

Ellie's reaction was immediate, she hung up the phone.

So, someone was trying to kill Rain, were they? Well she wished them luck with that, and she wasn't about to impede them. After all, it would solve her problem wouldn't it? Rain couldn't kill her if he was dead.

The phone rang again, and Ellie snorted, knowing full well who was on the other end. Angel hated being hung up on.

As soon as the beep sounded, Ellie heard Angel blasting her.

"Detective, you better call me back immediately! This is not a case you can say no to, and if you try to blow it off, you'll be in the unemployment line so fast your head will spin. Oh, you just try and hang up on me the next time and see what happens!"

Ellie snorted at the idle threat, finding it amusing that Angel thought she knew her. Ellie had lost track of how many identities she had used, hence why Angel called her 'detective', not by her real name or another one.

The threat of unemployment didn't phase her either. Ellie didn't have money woes, as she lived on cash, and cheaply for the most part. That meant that she had a considerable amount of savings from her job. She also incidentally owned a great deal of corporations and a hefty stock report that she was greatly removed from.

It was a bit like a pyramid, but the people who worked for Ellie thought that they worked for someone else, who reported to another who then to another and so on and so forth. Until, seventeen levels up, there was one man who knew everything and sent reports to random mail boxes that Ellie indicated at different times of the year.

When Ellie thought about her circumstances, she realized that if someone really knew how paranoid her actions were, they'd probably deliver her to the nearest madhouse, but then they didn't know what Ellie knew, nor did they know the great secret of what she was.

Ellie was born with that great burden. It was one that she hadn't wanted to share with anyone, but then, unfortunately, someone was bound to find out what one doesn't want them to know.

There have only been a handful of people to know her secret. Five of them were from the same family that Ellie's trustworthy businessman was from. Another one was once a family friend, who surely hated her, and then Rain, the 'unmentionable brute' and a vile plague upon the good human race.

Helping said brute, was not going to happen in this lifetime if Ellie could help it. There was nothing on earth that was going to put her anywhere near him. Nope, nothing... absolutely nothing!

Later that day...

At some point, Ellie had fallen asleep on the couch, and had been woken up by the most ridiculous noise ever. It was the phone ringing, again. Groaning, she rolled over on her stomach and buried her head in the couch to block the sound out.

Finally, the answering machine picked up.

"... Lady Prescott, I'm in desperate need for you to contact me immediately, something bad has happened. Please call me back as soon as you get this."

Ellie lifted her head off the couch and picked up the phone immediately. Rafael Ellington, her 'Man of Affairs' would not contact her, unless the world was ending.

"Lady Prescott?" Ellington asked.

"Yes, Ellington, it is I. Today's password word is Grim." Ellie answered.

She had developed a password system that she used with her contacts so that they could trust that it was her on the other end of the line. She also had other passwords for different life threatening scenarios, and only the Ellington Family or a designate, who was given the password, knew them.

"We've been hacked, every single one of your accounts were targeted and flagged, IT department is working on fixing it shortly, but I received an email saying that if you don't take some case then they will make all of your personal information known. I thought it was a hoax, but then I got a second email, with selected information about you, like your address, full name and a picture of you circled, with a note underneath that says 'Temptress in Scarlet'. I thought it best to warn you, I will see to this matter personally."

Ellie sighed, "Don't worry about it Ellington, I know exactly who's behind all of it. I'll take care of it."

"Are you sure? I don't mind, we Ellingtons have served the Prescotts for ages. I won't let anyone threaten you."

"It's not a threat, more like a desperate attempt to get my attention. I will take the case, good night, Ellington."

Ellie hung up from him and dialled Angel again.

When Angel picked up Ellie cut to the point, "I'll take the stupid case, but this will be my last one for Enigma. One more thing, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I will kill you Angel, and it will be a slow and painful end, do I make myself clear?"

Ellie didn't wait for a response, she hung up again. The phone started ringing and Ellie smashed it against a brick wall. Then she systematically started to destroy everything in the apartment. Exiting the apartment twenty minutes later, Ellie walked to the nearest phone booth and dialled Rafael again, who promised to send a crew out to get rid of evidence of her.

Looking up at the sunset, she had a sinking feeling that it might be one of her last ones. Especially if Rain found out that she had taken this case.

Chapter One

Rain reclined on a chaise lounge, with his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep, because sleep would only bring dreams of the woman who haunted him. The one who had led him on a merry chase, tormented him to the point of madness and then disappeared without a trace. Just before she had left him, she had gone as far as to call him a monster, when she was really one to talk.

Rain sighed, he had searched for her for years, but he hadn't found hide nor hair of her. Then again, Lady Eleanor Prescott, Viscountess of Grimsfield, who liked to call herself Ellie, was good at blending into the background. If not for her astounding beauty, he might not have spotted her in the very beginning. Rain often cursed himself for that, not because he hated his existence like Ellie did, but for all the grief she had caused him.

The door creaked open and Rain opened his eyes to spot Dante. Tall, dark, quiet Dante, was foil to Rain's blond, pale looks. Unlike Ellie, Dante had stood by Rain from day one. Rain had turned him into a vampire, not long after he himself had been turned. Dante was now his partner in crime for better or worse.

"So, anything new?" Rain asked.

"No word on the bomber, think it was she had a hand in it?" Dante asked, albeit very doubtfully.

"No, it's not Ellie style, besides she'd never want to draw our attention to her. If I had to hazard a guess, Ellie's probably lying low somewhere, thinking that the world is out to get her," Rain said with a half laugh.

It was pretty spot on, actually, because Rain believed that Ellie was born paranoid. She had originally refused to meet him in the same place twice, or be seen in public with him. Rain had been charmed at the thought of a clandestine tryst, but a tryst was not part of Ellie's plans. For one thing would mean that she would have to be completely exposed to someone, and heaven forbid that should happen.

Rain on the other hand quite enjoyed sex, and had no problem being nude. In fact he was nude right now and he slowly ran his hand down to his dick, lightly grasped it, and stroked. Not hard enough to make him cum, but enough to tease poor Dante. It was an old game they played, one that was bound to make the other man eager for sex every time.

Rain eyed Dante, who had licked his lips, trying futilely to remember something important.

"So, nothing else is new?" Rain prompted.

Dante closed his eyes from the distracting sight of Rain's masturbation, remembering what he wanted to say.

"The record company has gone nuts. They've contracted Enigma Inc, and requested two bodyguards to be issued to protect you. They also contracted a freelance private detective from the same agency."

Rain let out a little fake moan to tease Dante more. Rain knew Dante couldn't hold out any longer as he crossed the room, shedding his clothes in the process until he too, was naked.

Dante grasped Rain's dick and bent down to lick it, swirling his tongue around the head. Rain moaned for real this time, but Dante didn't let up as he ran his tongue from tip to balls and returned to the top, before taking him deep into the throat, in one smooth move, so that his nose rested on Rain's pubic hair, then he started to bob his head, sucking hard.

Rain knew he couldn't hold off a climax very long with Dante's skill. They had been together for nearly two hundred years, since even before he had met Ellie. Back then, it was a sure way to end up in the gallows if you openly loved another man. Not that either he or Dante was strictly gay, both considered themselves to be bisexual, for both had been with women before, sometimes together. Sometimes they even brought in other men, too.

Rain knew that Dante had lusted after Ellie too, and it hadn't made either man jealous. In fact, Rain being the more devious of the two, had originally plotted to get Ellie into bed with both of them.

Even now, if he ran into her again and got what he wanted, threesomes were definitely a given. Rain planned to keep both Dante and Ellie in his bed for eternity. He just had to find Ellie, and he hoped that it was all just a matter of time before that happened.

Rain felt his climax build and Dante didn't show any signs of slowing down. Rain gave a quick shout as his semen spurted in Dante's mouth. Dante, calm as could be, swallowed every last drop. Releasing Rain's cock from his mouth, he leaned up to kiss Rain, who hungrily kissed him back.

They broke apart, and Dante moved to straddle Rain. Rain ran his hand down Dante's spine and then dipped past the crease of Dante's ass. When his finger traced Dante's anus, he could feel the lube on the outside, and he grinned.

"Somebody's ready for me," Rain murmured.

"Always," Dante retorted

Rain still played with Dante's ass, inserting two fingers without a word, causing Dante to arch back with a shout. Rain's cock hardened again, but he leisurely continued to play, inserting a third finger, moving back and forth, making Dante beg for Rain to fuck him.

Rain grabbed his cock and lined it up with Dante's anus. He slowly pushed in and Dante leaned back to take his cock all the way in, so that his ass met Rain's sack.

"That's right, take my cock, Dante, mon cher, ride it hard." Rain growled out as another climax started to build.

He angled his cock to hit Dante's prostate gland. The first time Rain's cock touched it, Dante froze for a moment enjoying the sensation. He soon resumed riding Rain's cock, quickening the pace as both of them were racing closer to a climax. Suddenly, Dante gave a shout as he came first; his anus tightened around Rain, who quickly followed his lover.

Dante collapsed on top of Rain, and they shared a lazy kiss before Dante lay his head on Rain's chest. Both lay there, Rain stroking Dante's back.

"We don't need the bodyguards," Rain muttered after a moment, referring to the earlier remark.

"I've already cancelled their contracts, I told the record company that we already hired more security and I called Silver in to fill that role."

"Good, what about the private detective?"

Dante lifted his head off Rain's chest to look at him, "I was going to cancel that contract as well but when I spoke with the representative from Enigma something struck me as odd."

Rain narrowed his brow in confusion and asked, "What struck you as odd?"

"Well when I mentioned cancelling the contract, I heard the rep muttered, '...she's going to be happy about that', when I asked who 'she' was. The woman on the other end apologized profusely, saying that it was nothing. I demanded to know. The rep asked me not to tell her boss, but the 'she' that she was referring to was the detective. Apparently the detective wasn't going to accept the assignment, originally."

"What? That doesn't make any sense, it would be a high profile case, it would put the detective on the map as well as the agency," Rain said.

Detectives from the NYPD were on the case, but the outside firm's real job was to find any other potential threats or leads that could be given to the police. This kind of detective services was used time and time again though privately and discreetly. Generally, their findings were only made public if it was a major break, but, in the circles of the rich and famous, Enigma and the detective would gain plenty of prestige for a case like Rain's.

"That's what I said to the rep. Plus, I found out that the record company was offering ten million to find the people responsible, but the rep told me that this detective hates being known and generally will only take a case if she can stay anonymous."

"What kind of private detective doesn't like to be known especially in circles such as ours?" Rain asked.

Dante grinned as he looked up at Rain, "I have a suspicion about the detective."

"Oh? Do go on," Rain murmured, intrigued now.

"Well, before I get started and tell you my suspicions, I told the rep that we will keep the detective's services. I also asked that the detective's credentials be faxed over. Apparently, the detective has had no less than fifteen high profile cases in the last year. The most recent was the Arbinell debacle, you remember that? When that pop star, Linzi Arbinell, was kidnapped by a cult. Well, it was the detective who saved Linzi's life. She was able to infiltrate the cult and rescue Linzi without alerting anyone. I then made enquires about the detective with Linzi's rep, who told me that Linzi couldn't remember what the detective looked like, though she remembered the other woman's voice quite well. Apparently she had a sweet soothing British accent. Who do we know who has a sweet soothing British accent, who also use to have case work on the books of Scotland Yard and absolutely loathes drawing attention to herself?"

Rain's eyes widened in shock, "No way, it can't be her, we've looked everywhere."

"I said it was a suspicion, but I've got Silver hacking into the database of Enigma as we speak. Hopefully he will find at least a name for this 'detective'. Also, from some other sources that I followed up on, the mystery detective refuses to meet face to face with a client and will only send them messages from a restricted number."