Hunger Within (A Sable Hart Vampire Slayer Novel Book 1) Read online

  I would have my vengeance.

  Chapter 6

  “Yuri will be here soon to claim you,” Bone Daddy said, starting to back away. “Pardon my rudeness, but I don’t want to be anywhere around when he does.”

  "Why not? Aren’t you vampires all one big, happy family?"

  Bone Daddy barked a bitter laugh. "First off, you are a vampire too now. So, welcome to the family. Second, our little community is hardly a big, happy anything."

  I took a step toward him. "But you know Yuri and his family?"

  He looked wary. "I know of them. I have no desire to meet him. You may find this hard to believe, my dear Sable, but most of the vampires around here don't like vampires like Yuri. He brings an unwanted spotlight on us. Rogue vampires get the peasants all in a tizzy, breaking out the pitchforks and torches, so to speak. We prefer a much quieter lifestyle."

  I graced him with my best I-doubt-that look.

  "He’s telling the truth. Most of the local vampires would've been extremely pleased if you’d killed him," Desiree said. "The undead are really not evil."

  “Ha!” I barked laughter. "You’re crazy. They’re evil incarnate. Vampires are the most reviled creatures in all of creation."

  "I know," Bone Daddy said. He looked so sad and forlorn. "Reviled by God, at least." He indicated Desiree. “Thankfully, others disagree.”

  I just stared. Bone Daddy agreed with me? What kind of vampire was he?

  I shook my head. "You're not like any vampire I've ever known before."

  "We're all different." He shrugged, then graced me with a wicked smile as he gently caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers. I wanted to jerk away, but I didn't want him to think I was afraid of him. "Just like mortals, some are good and some are bad." He stroked my hair, as he started to move past me. Then he gave my butt a swat, that kinda felt quite good. "And some of us are just plain naughty." That last was breathed right against my ear and made me shiver.

  Bone Daddy turned and started walking away from me. The hookers followed him.

  “Hey! Where are you going?”

  “To much safer ground, my friend,” he said.

  “Yuri’s not coming. I promise.” He stopped and arched an eyebrow at me. I shrugged. “I severed the link.”

  “You severed… How?”

  “I just did,” I said. “Was that wrong?”

  “It’s impossible. The Sire can close a link, but not the other way around,” he said. He looked me up and down, and then looked all around me. Was he studying my aura? “Were you a dhampir before Yuri Changed you?”

  “No.” Dhampirs became incredibly powerful vampires. Most vampires were wary of Changing them for fear they would dominate their Sire. “I need your help. I don’t know what I’m doing, and a few minutes ago you seemed willing enough to help me.”

  He looked at Desiree. “Do you think she really can cut the link to her Sire?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve heard of it, but it’s very rare.”

  Bone Daddy gave me a long, speculative look. “I’ll do you a favor, and help teach you the basics tonight. I can’t promise more than that.” Then he looked me over again, and didn’t look particularly impressed. I squirmed a bit in my blood-splattered clothes. “Besides, you’re not ready to be released into the wild.”

  “I appreciate that, I think.”

  "We're drawing a crowd," blonde number one said.

  Some of the patrons from Crazy Girls were gathering around, trying to catch bits of our conversation. I shook my head.

  "Are you people crazy? Do you want to die?"

  That seemed to bring them to their senses. A couple of the men turned and hurried away. Most moved away more slowly. Male pride at its most ignorant.

  “Shall we go?” he said.

  “Where?”

  He grinned. “Home. I can’t think of a more private, safe place to discuss your predicament. Can you?”

  “Your home?” He nodded. “This isn’t a crude attempt to seduce me?”

  He laughed. “No. It isn’t.” His eyes locked onto mine, and it was that same erotic jolt that earlier had left me all tingly inside. I gasped and he grinned knowingly. “Well, we’ll see what happens.”

  “How did you do that?” I said, no longer sure I wanted to go with him.

  Before he could respond, Desiree spoke up. "Can I come too?"

  "No," Bone Daddy said. He gave her a stern look. "This is a work night for you."

  I frowned. "Still a pimp."

  "Always. Nothing I can do about that."

  "Really?"

  "Really." There was no mocking smile. "No choice."

  The girls all nodded. So there was something they weren't telling me. Bone Daddy didn't look pleased when he said he couldn't change his vocation.

  Bone Daddy headed for his Mercedes. I followed as the three girls returned to walk their stretch of road. By the time we reached the car Desiree had struck up a conversation with one of the Crazy Girls' patrons. The two blondes were up on the street laughing and joking, and I had to admit that them having so much fun did make them look younger and sexier: more appealing.

  The Mercedes had a black leather interior. Very luxurious. It had that new car smell, too. Bone Daddy slipped into the driver's seat and smiled at me, which set my heart racing. My eyes were drawn to his face, strong chin, straight nose. The facial hair just added to his aura of strength.

  "The sexual exploitation business is good to you."

  He started the car. "Better than you know."

  Within seconds we were southbound on Harry Hines. We drove in silence until we reached Northwest Highway and turned east. There were a few Gentlemen's clubs near Harry Hines, then it turned into a thoroughfare through an older, wealthy neighborhood. We drove past Inwood and the Dallas North Tollway. Bone Daddy turned south on Preston, and drove straight to exclusive Highland Park, where he turned off onto a side street. Moments later, he pulled into the driveway of a two-story brick. It looked a lot newer and bigger than the homes around it.

  "Home sweet home?"

  "For now. Officially, it belongs to Desiree Dyer. I built it for her."

  That house was worth a small fortune. Was it hers for keeps? "What if something happens to her?"

  "Then I'd have to find another place to live."

  "Tough luck."

  "I never said it was easy being a vampire."

  We went inside. It was still early evening. Vampire morning, so to speak. The house was tastefully decorated. Indeed, I would even say elegantly decorated. There was a large library that was all inlaid wood paneling and shelves. Sheer decadence. There was a whole room just for billiards.

  Did I mention the five beautiful young women inside? Four were all dolled up for a night of hooking, while one was busy with household chores.

  After showing me the first floor, he urged me up the stairs with a hand at the base of my back. A very intimate kind of touch. A rather possessive kind of touch. My heart raced as I led the way upstairs, holding my breath, half afraid he would try to seduce me into the master bedroom; half afraid he wouldn’t.

  There was a comfortably appointed common area at the head of the stairs that all three bedrooms opened onto. The space sported a fireplace, with a forty-two inch flat-screen TV mounted above the mantel. Arcade video games lined one wall, and there were two separate computer stations setup.

  Bone Daddy showed me the bedrooms. All three were set up like barracks. Bunk beds everywhere, including in the master bedroom. I counted sixteen beds in three rooms. How many hookers did he have? Were there enough women to fill all those beds?

  "Mercy. You're stacking them in two and three deep."

  "I treat my girls well and word gets around. Girls want to work for me."

  Was that an invitation? He was standing way too close, pressed up behind me most of the time. It would be easier if he wasn’t so damned good looking.

  “You won’t recruit me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

&nb
sp; I wanted to give him a defiant look, but didn’t trust myself to look him in the eye.

  “I don’t manage vampires. Vamps might be the horniest creatures on Earth, but they have a tendency to eat their clients. Bad for repeat business.”

  Bone Daddy took me back downstairs and ended his little tour in the basement. In truth, it was the first time I had ever entered a basement where I had no intentions of staking a vampire. I felt just a little strange.

  Dark wood paneled the walls, offset with brass fixtures. Portraits of beautiful people decorated the wall. The furniture was all black leather and looked expensive. The hardwood floors were a much lighter shade than the walls, broken up by several beautiful Persian rugs.

  "Son of a bitch!" It was huge. Beyond huge. "That is the biggest coffin I have ever seen."

  It was as wide as a twin-sized bed, and eight feet long. The coffin was at least four feet deep, painted a gorgeous deep midnight blue, and it sported a stylish vaulted lid. It was so large he’d had hydraulics installed to open and close it. There was a small deck around it. It was even more impressive inside, with a small flat screen TV mounted to the lid, stereo surround sound, and even a charger for his cell phone.

  "Is that a mattress inside it?"

  "Yes. I spend half my life in there, so I want to be comfortable."

  "How did you get something like this made?"

  He laughed. My enthusiasm seemed to please him. He was clearly proud of his coffin. I didn't blame him.

  "There's a vampire-owned company that makes them," he said. "They are not cheap. Only very wealthy, well-connected vampires can obtain them."

  The mattress and pillows were covered in shimmering red satin. It looked quite inviting. Bet he seduced a lot of minions with that coffin. Hell, it aroused me.

  "None of the vamps I staked had anything approaching this."

  "No doubt. Rogue vampires move around a lot. They need coffins that are easier to transport, if they even bother with coffins," he said. “Of course, we don’t actually need coffins, but they offer protection in case someone opens a door or window. My coffin is more for personal security, since it is extremely difficult for a… um… vampire slayer to open.”

  “I know I’d have freaked out if I found a coffin like this.”

  We went back upstairs to the library. A pretty woman in a white sundress hurried over to him; she looked maybe in her early thirties. She had shoulder-length curly brown hair and big brown eyes. She looked me over, and completely failed to look impressed.

  "Ah, Abigail," he said. "Dear, bring us a carafe. Thank you." He smiled at me and indicated a small sitting area in the corner. "Have a seat."

  The conversation pit was arranged around a large fireplace. I took one of the chairs. The sofa looked more comfortable, but I was afraid he might sit next to me.

  Bone Daddy took a seat on the sofa nearest me. He pointed out a few things about the room while we waited. He loved fine art and was quite the collector. His favorites were the many small sculptures, mostly of couples romantically entwined. His eyes rarely ventured away from me, gray and bold. He especially seemed obsessed with my lips and my legs. Odd, most men stared at my chest. I licked my lips and crossed my legs, strangely aroused by his increased interest whenever I did so.

  Abigail arrived with a covered silver tray. She set it on the coffee table and then left us. I was grateful for the distraction that pulled me from my own dangerous thoughts.

  "Maid?"

  "Hooker, and one of my thralls."

  "Really?" She actually looked rather ordinary, not whorish at all.

  "Worse than Desiree, I'm afraid."

  "I see," I said. Would I need to assemble a herd of mortals to survive? I detested the thought. "What should we discuss first? I thought I knew vampires, but I find that I know very little that’s actually useful."

  "I’m not surprised. I bet you know a lot about how to find and kill vampires," he said. I smiled and shrugged. "First and foremost, you must learn to feed safely." He removed the domed cover from the tray. There were two champagne flutes and a leaded glass carafe full of blood. I froze as my hunger erupted. "This is the only civilized way to feed."

  "You robbed a blood bank?"

  "Funny, but no, we buy it from another vampire-owned business. It's mostly cow blood. They sell pig blood and chicken blood, too. They all have a different taste. You'll have to decide which you prefer, but cow blood is the most plentiful and cheapest. I like how it tastes, too."

  He filled both glasses with the thick, red blood. My mouth watered and my stomach grumbled loudly. It smelled delicious, and I inhaled deeply when he handed me a glass.

  "It's hot. Did they just take this out of someone?"

  "You have so much to learn," he said, shaking his head with a big grin. "No, it is not fresh blood. Abigail heated it to ninety-eight degrees for us. Some prefer cold blood, but I like it best at body temperature. Besides, it's cow blood. It's harder to buy human blood, and human blood costs much more."

  "I see." It smelled so tasty, and that scared me. Feeding on blood would be crossing another line.

  "Enjoy," he said and took a long swallow from his glass. I watched him drink a quarter of the glass. He smiled sympathetically at me. "The first time is the hardest. You'll find you actually like it. Go ahead, drink."

  "I can't."

  "Yes you can. You have to."

  I arched an eyebrow at him. Was he presuming to command me?

  "Sable, please. If you don't drink blood this way, then you will get it from a person, and you will kill that person. Please drink."

  Damn him for being so reasonable. He had a point. I had no choice.

  My hunger was in a rage now. The scent of blood was thick, enticing. So I slowly lifted the glass to my lips, never breaking eye contact with Bone Daddy. He smiled as I tilted the glass and started to drink. And drink. I sucked the glass dry and caught myself licking the inside of the glass. Very embarrassing.

  "Good?"

  "Very. Could I possibly have more?"

  "Of course."

  I was full before I finished the next glass, but I drank it all anyway. After I had slaked my thirst, he proceeded to tell me how vampires actually lived. Well, how most of them lived. He answered all of my questions. We spoke for hours. Some of the things he told me shocked and awed me.

  I was especially surprised by the number of vampires he believed lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Hundreds. I figured maybe a hundred or so, counting Yuri's undead family.

  “Probably less than a thousand,” Bone Daddy said. “No one’s ever bothered holding a census for us.” He winked.

  “Holy shit,” I said.

  He claimed that vampires worked in nine to five jobs all over the place. That was nine at night, to five in the morning. “Vampires work everything from night watchman to helpdesk call center technicians. Night clerks at convenience stores and gas stations are popular jobs, and many work in vampire-owned enterprises that mostly cater to our community.”

  A whole subculture I knew nothing about. A secret culture. My culture now?

  "Do many vampires work in those clubs down in Deep Ellum?"

  It seemed a natural. I might need a job in the future. I made a lot of money staking vampires, but I’d never considered how to work alone. I doubted my friends would want to continue our working relationship. Most vampire slayers were solitary creatures, so I knew I could do it.

  "A few, mostly as bouncers, but that seems a bit obvious. Too dangerous." He waved the thought away dismissively. "Vampire slayers would stake you."

  "Oh, I didn't think about that."

  That reminded me of Dane, Wendy, Anson, and Gabe again. Longing to go to them, particularly to go to Dane, welled up, but fear of rejection stomped it back down. They all had reasons to hate vampires, and none of them even believed in good vampires.

  "I avoid those clubs, and I suggest you do, too." He stared into space, a hungry look on his face. "They are tempting, though. S
o many willing throats. You can pick and choose who you want to spend time with, and feed off of later."

  "Aren't they all sex clubs?" I asked.

  "Yes. Mortals don’t give blood out of charity." He leveled those sultry eyes on me again. "They have… expectations. They want sex, and they want you to suck blood from them. Usually at the same time."

  Eyes locked with his, my throat tightened and my belly began to quake in a very good way. I couldn’t breathe at all until he released me from his gaze.

  "Sounds dangerous." I looked around, trying to calm down, and afraid to lock eyes with him again.

  He smiled knowingly. "Extremely."

  I wasn't feeling too well. It crept up on me so slowly I didn't realize it at first. Did Bone Daddy drug me? Was he going to sell me to Yuri?

  He glanced at the window. "Not much time. It'll be sunrise soon."

  "Sunrise?" I was shocked to realize how long we'd been sitting there talking.

  "Can't you feel it?" He looked up and spread his hands. "It is so oppressive."

  "Yes! I thought… never mind what I thought." I was embarrassed. I was so ready to accuse him of high crimes and misdemeanors.

  He smiled at me. There was nothing chaste about that smile. I remembered he was an oversexed vampire and a pimp, and from the reaction of my own body, I was starting to realize I was just as oversexed. I knew vampires were one and all obsessed with sex, but now it seemed it might be something beyond their – and my – control.

  “Shall we retire to my coffin?”

  “Both of us? Together?”

  Vamp pheromones filled the air. My heart raced as my body succumbed to arousal. Then I realized I was also pumping out pheromones.

  “It’s a big coffin,” he said.

  I didn’t have anywhere else to spend the day. Besides, I knew what he expected when I went with him. But still, it didn’t seem right, despite what my undead body wanted. The thought of being manipulated killed my ardor.

  “Do I have a choice?”

  He looked surprised. “Of course. I can arrange other accommodations for you.”

  “I would appreciate that.”

  Without a word, but with a tight smile, Bone Daddy stood and offered his arm. I stood up, took it, and let him lead me back downstairs. He revealed a hidden room, with five regular-sized coffins.