“I was right. I hate your plan.” Damian complained, again, his voice low. For the past four days they had been going to the same pubs the supposed dearg due was known to frequent with no sign of her until tonight. The plan, much to Damian’s discontent, was a classic bait tactic. Damian would act as bait for the vampires, using the vial of Gastric Shackle to make it easier to take her down. With the info on the previous victims, Catherine had deduced that the vampire preferred her victims to be in good health, the age range of twenty-one to thirty-three, and at least somewhat good looking and hygienic.
All categories that Damian fell into with his physical state being obviously much better than anyone else present in the establishment. Now, on the fourth night of drinking subpar beer in large quantities, their prey had taken the bait and was watching him like a hawk. She was of average height with golden blonde hair and her eyes were a dull emerald hue. Everything about her figure screamed seduction and grace. Every movement meant to entice, every gesture to lure her prey in closer.
“If she went for women I would have volunteered, if you have a better plan to lure her to a spot of our choice without harming any civies, I’m all ears.” When Damian sighed in resignation, she clapped him on the shoulder and continued. “Now, I’m going to make my way to the ambush point with Bronze, once I leave, she should make her move, take the potion as quickly and discreetly as you can.”
Catherine got up and bid him goodnight and stumbled her way to the door. Damian pulled the potion out of his inventory and used his body to hide when he poured it into his beer. He downed it quickly and slammed the mug on the counter and called for another from the bartender. With any luck he wouldn’t need to rely on the potions effect but better to prepare and all that.
He made it half way through his newest beer when the dearg due made her approach. He could feel the hunger in her stare as she glided across the crowded bar towards him. Her scent hit him first. It was a mixture of citrus, lavender and a faint undertone of earth. Without his enhanced senses he would have missed the subtle variances as a wash of pheromones assaulted him next, each one poised to trigger arousal and desire while dulling the senses. Her hand sensually drifted across his shoulders, less caressing and more evaluating, savoring.
“My, what a shame for such a strapping man to be left all on his lonesome, why don’t you let me keep you company for a while.” Her voice was honeyed silk and slid wonderfully into Damian’s ears.
He turned to her with as charming a smile as he could manage. Made a show of looking her up and down before saying, “Now, what sane man could deprive himself of such a vision on a dreary night like this.”
Damian desperately wished he had listened to his cousin more when he would start slinging pick up lines. He was never very good at flirting, but knowing the she-beast was trying to get him alone for a snack made things much easier.
Her laugh was more charming than her voice somehow, “Such a charmer, flattery will get you everywhere darling. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen you in this place. What brings you here stranger?”
“Call me Damian, as for what brings me here? Work has just been a hassle lately and I needed a drink to relax. However, your company is much better than some watered-down drink and thrice as intoxicating.” Damian was cringing internally at each attempt at counter seduction.
He was rewarded with that near musical laugh again as the dearg due leaned in showing more of her cleavage in clear enticement. “And here I thought I would have to put in more effort to earn your affections. You wouldn’t believe it but so many of the men here can’t handle an assertive woman very well. Despite their boasts and arguments to the contrary.”
In for a penny in for a pound, or pounding it would seem. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what was in more danger at the moment, his neck or his hips. “They just find a woman who knows what she wants intimidating. I on the other hand, find it all the more enticing.”
Damian took a chance and grabbed her chair and pulled her closer. From the amused look on her face the vampiress didn’t seem opposed to his more forceful approach. He decided to take one more risk and threw his arm over her shoulder and tucked her head right next to his collar bone. From the deep inhale and shuddering, pleased exhale he won this gamble.
The vampiress started to lead the conversation, much to Damian’s relief. She spent an hour attempting to twist him around her finger. Plying him with enough alcohol and compliments to dull his reactions and weariness, or so she thought anyway. When he proposed finding somewhere more private to continue their discussion her eyes twinkled with a faint golden light. Alighting from her chair she entwined their arms and pulled him towards the door. Once outside Damian took the lead claiming to know the perfect place for a moonlight rendezvous. They wound their way through alleys and side paths until they reached a secluded section of beach.
Damian cast his eyes about, as if taking in their surroundings, and managed to spot Bronze roosting on a distant pole. He pushed a command through their bond, begin. Bronze gave a soft call and rose into the air as Damian turned back to the dearg due. Her gaze was hungry and her eyes roamed his body like it was a buffet she couldn’t wait to dig into. Damian was about to speak when she grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him into a hungry kiss. She was passion and fire with her intensity and Damian nearly lost himself to the sensation combined with the increased number of pheromones she put out. He wrapped his arms around her to disguise his next move.
Stolen novel; please report.
With the passage of four days without finding her trail, Damian and Catherine had the time to create a few new weapons for themselves. Catherine, at Damian’s urging, made herself a ranged weapon, of a sort. Catherine refused to go beyond medium range in armament and settled on a whip sword made of basilisk-heart quicksilver, while Damian put his tojo blades together. The grips wouldn’t have looked out of place on an ornate revolver; the metal frame was adorned with polished mahogany grips. Flowing engravings of flowers covered the metal frame and led to the solid double layered trigger. The head of the tojo blades attached to a metal disk that housed blades that when the first trigger was depressed would deploy from their housing and spin at fourteen thousand rpm.
The most important part was the material of the blades themselves. They were pure electrum, a naturally occurring gold-silver alloy that were a white gold in appearance. In both ancient Egypt and Greek mythology electrum symbolized the sun and moon, and light and fire respectively. Perfect to fight a vampire with. Damian reached into his sleeves and grabbed the handles of the tojo blades and slowly pulled them out. He was forced to act sooner than he planned when the dearg due broke the kiss and sunk her fangs into his neck. He activated his new weapons and when the vampiress pulled back with a retch, shock clear in her eyes, he struck. One thing he forgot to take into account was that vampires were much quicker and stronger than humans, even with stiffened limbs their reaction speed was still at the higher end of human abilities.
The dearg due hissed as she planted both palms into Damian’s sternum, launching him back ten feet. He rolled with the blow and came to his feet whirring blades posed in front of him ready to intercept the beast’s next move. He noted with grim satisfaction that she had smoking cuts on each of her shoulders. She screamed in fury and blurred towards him. He could barely keep up with her movements, devoting all available cognitive partitions to focus on her every action. Each muscle twitch was noted and dissected with desperate precision. She swung a newly clawed hand at his chest and he barely managed to intercept with a rotating tojo blade.
The blade and claw met with a shriek of clashing metal and the smell of burning filled the air. Parry after parry, dodge after desperate dodge, Damian managed to find a rhythm to the dearg due’s furious onslaught. A feral grin began to worm its way onto his lips and he began to be a little more reckless. Desperate dodges became accepted grazes and minor slashes just so he could return the favor. Desperation gave way to feral intent and a desire for blood. Just before he could fall further into his new madness, he was awoken by an avian battle cry.
Bronze drove her bladed wings across the vampire’s back sending it stumbling. A series of quick turns and furious wing beats drove the creature back from a panting Damian. Without the strange haze that overtook his thoughts, Damian took stock of his condition. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been all things considered. While his chest and face were covered in cuts Big Lu’s coat had done its job wonderfully. Anywhere the duster covered was merely bruised from the force behind the dearg due’s strikes, while everywhere else was a crisscrossing of shallow slashes.
While Damian took stock and refocused on the fight Catherine, new whip in hand, emerged from the beast’s flank. She reared back and let the liquid silver whip fly. It landed across the vampire’s left thigh with a nasty thwack, and left behind an angry discolored welt. The beasts’ movements slowed as the venom still present in the material took effect, numbing and stiffening its limb. Damian took that as his cue to rejoin the fight. He led by launching one of his tojo blades at the dearg due as he charged. It lodged itself in the creature’s shoulder and started to burn. The beast let out a scream of agony as Catherine landed more whip strikes against the beast’s back.
The dearg due, stumbled and hissed in distress. She whipped her head around desperately looking for an escape route that didn’t exist. Just as the trio were about to put the creature down, Catherine was tackled from behind.
A shout of, “Run! I’ll hold them off!” came from a freckled lad of maybe nineteen years. The boy held a knife to Catherine’s throat, his hands shaking from his nerves.
“Follow her and I’ll kill this one!” The teen’s voice cracked as he attempted to stare Damian down. Damian glared at the boy and stood still, the dearg due taking the chance to disappear back into the maze of alleys that was all too common to New York.
“The hell do you think you are doing boy? That beast has and will continue to kill and consume innocent people because of you!” Damian’s voice came out in a low growl.
When he confirmed the monster was gone, the boy stepped away from Catherine and put away the knife. “She, is my sister! She was forced into an abusive marriage by our father. I couldn’t help her then but I won’t fail her now. Not when she’s finally back!”
Tears flowed from the boy’s eyes like a waterfall, the pain and self-loathing he felt plain for all to see. Catherine’s eyes softened and she put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“I understand your pain, boyo, but that isn’t your sister anymore. It’s a beast wearing her skin. I know it may seem hard but you need to let go and grieve, her soul is tortured into the beast she is now, the only way to help is to put her to rest.” Catherine spoke softly, as she tried to reason with the emotional boy.
She looked to Damian for support as he approached. Damian had other plans. He reared his fist back and let fly, full force into the boy’s jaw, shattering it on contact.
“You can weep for the woman who was, when the beast that is, is no longer a threat to everything around her. If I can’t find her, I will hold you personally responsible for every death that happens after. Hell, I hold you responsible for every death she has already caused. Get the fuck out of my sight before I decide to break your limbs and throw you into the damn ocean!” Damian threatened and stormed his way towards the alley the dearg due fled down.
Catherine gave an exasperated sigh, stared at the boy for a moment longer before following Damian. “That was rather harsh. You aren’t wrong but he is a boy stuck a spiral of grief and self-blame. A more delicate touch could have been used.”
Damian stopped and looked at Catherine. He took a second to calm his temper before speaking again. “If I took the time to console the stupid when I come across them, I’d never get anything done. Let’s follow the trail while the scent is still strong, I’m not completely used to tracking this way yet. So, the fresher we keep the trail the better. I’m having Bronze scout from the air to see if she can find the beast again.”
Catherine gave a surprised bark of laughter, “You can be a bloody bastard sometimes you know. Lead on my bloodhound the game is afoot!”
Damian cracked a smile at that and gave a mocking howl as he raced down the alley way, the tension in his shoulders eased.
