Whiter Shade of Pale

"Dalila, you monster," rasped Geoff, "now I really am going to have to kill you."

"I don't know if you brought enough stakes for that," Mistress drawled. "Come now, Dr. Coen. Did you honestly think I'd risk the safety of my newest, tastiest acquisition? Look around you; I'll give you the leeway for that, at least."

Geoff frowned suspiciously, but he glanced around the room. Abby heard him gasp; then she was free to look as well. All the while she'd been approaching him, the loft had been silently filling with the rest of the coterie. They'd moved quietly to cut off every avenue of escape; she could even see one standing on the fire escape, his pale skin vivid in the gathering gloom. "Oh, you bitch," Geoff whispered.

Dalila's grin tightened. The smile went out of her eyes. "You know what they say, Geoff," she said. "I'm a bitch...and then you die." The coterie closed in.

Abby would have joined them, but she felt Mistress' will holding her back, so instead she just watched passively as Geoff swung the stake. He raised only a few scratches before the pack disarmed him. They plucked the hammer and stake from his hands as easily as children picking daisies. Then they pulled him to the floor and Abby felt Mistress' arms enfold her, even as the others ripped away his clothes and exposed more flesh to their touch. "They're a little clumsy, I'm afraid," she heard Dalila tell Geoff. "What I coax free, they tear out by the roots. But don't worry, Doctor. I'm sure it doesn't hurt--" Geoff's screams filled the loft. "--for long."

Abby caught only glimpses of Geoff after that: a hand here or a foot there, whitening in jagged bursts. Gradually his struggles lessened, and then there was nothing left to see but the writhing bodies of the pack as they crawled across him.

Abby's own body quivered to join the feast, but Mistress restrained her. "Not this one," Dalila whispered. "Not for your first. He's bound to be sour and dusty, and I'd rather not taste that from your lips. From the others, perhaps; they've held so many different flavors that it all tastes the same after a while. But I want your first to be someone...delectable."

The way she spoke made Abby wonder if Mistress had already selected her first victim. Unbidden, her mind leapt back to the view from the window, the sight of Carly staring up at her without even knowing it. Abby's pulse quickened at the thought of drinking her lover dry.

THE END