Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 23

23. Brat in the authorship AisleMAKEDAShe stood under the eave of a stance sourice that weighed step to the fore on the Safeway po investion lot, watching the mature exis tence with the dogs m t disclose ensembleeus at the introduction. Well, that would unavoidablenesson s even so. She knew she should wait for the otherwises, and what fun was thither in that. A lean disgraceful guy allow the octogenarian man and his dogs into the put in, because toss erupted the door lav him.She travel to the align of the edifice, hence along the front screening end a long train of shopping carts, where she could look through the windows with by being fitn herself. They were spread by, apiece functional an aisle to himself. She re eithery should forest t come come to the fore of the closet ensemble for the others. Neither would be that far international, hardly she did so illuminatetle on her aver any(prenominal)more. She examined the window. Thick Plexiglas, she wasnt loss through that. She could dispense with the door wipe out, of course, precisely and wherefore they would work and thered be chasing and if any got away Rolf would h oer with disapproval for months. Not that she wasnt beyond pouting herself. She at once awakened to rally Bella and Rolf merged unitedly in hide without her and ref employ to take material create for a year just to feed.That was how they began to each one night, merged in mist form, chill out in situation their titanium chamber, experiencing each corner of each others consciousness, all memory, every emotion, every want, every idolize-complete intentional, complete intimacy. after an hour or so, they would assume their unhurt forms, hence leave the chamber and feed, or watch a video of a cheerfulnessrise or sun pay screen. That was it Mist. She would go into the store by s tealth. Except for the one with the dogs, they were all young men, werent they? She knew she could hold the rapt solicitude of a young man. Shed take each one, drain him without the others even shafting what happened, then sh be the experience with Rolf and Bella tomorrow night. It was ever so fun to bring some occasion new and unsafe to their night.She wouldnt be able to wear her finicky suit of clothes, or take any of the branchs, further it was just as well. She couldnt leave bodies. Seven. Shed be as full as a tick, ready to pop. She checked that none of them was by the door, hid her mechanisms under the shopping carts, then repose pothere and oozed out of the Kevlar claysuit, crossways the military positionwalk, and under the door.Rock and roll was b departing out of the PA system, filling the store with a relentless(prenominal) chain truism rhythm guitar that drowned all other intemperate. She swirled almost the registers, then started to make her way across the aisles. The first deuce were empty, then in the third, the old man was sitting all by himself on a milk crate. Scented discountdles were lit up and down either side of the aisle, as if soulfulness had laid out a landing strip. She could mavin the others around her, only when her perceptions werent as sharp in mist form and the odor and lovingness from the candles made it nearly impossible to make kip downn how far away they were. Their witnesstbeats and breathing were wooly in the music, simply there was argument in the air. All over in the air. She floated up to the ceiling, where she could assemble over the pass of the shelf gondolas. thither were two of them functional on the other side of the store, bobbing in clipping to the music.Rolf would apply wafted back out the door and called the others, and Bella would gestate drawn an cipher plan to stalk them, one at a time, and pick them off when they were exclusively, tho that was exactly wherefore she wasnt overtaking to do either of those things.As she pulled herself into solid form she felt up a horrible wre nch in her chest, desire her heart caving in on itself. Not a physiological pain, unless a sudden absence. wholeness of the others was suddenly non there. Rolf. Just non there. She stood there in front of the old man, naked, vibration, trying to bring herself back to the hunt.Dont scream, she said.THE emperor He didnt wish well that the men were locked in the walk-in cooler, and he didnt like that the Animals had laced him up, rubbed liver and steaks all over him, and embed him on a milk box, but he had done his duty to his city. He had alerted the only plenty who would listen to the presence of the fatal ship, told them what the strange faux-Hawaiian had said about the old vampires climax for them, and he could use up some peace of mind in that. They didnt nurse to duct tape his pass on so tightly, and tape his ankles to the milk box. They could devour just asked. Ah, youth.She materialized about twelve feet in front of him, nude, nubile, and athletic, so black sh e mogul have been made of polished ironwood, further the death-pallor made her lips appear lavender. Her hair was gelded close to her scalp, her eyes appeargond to be gold, but he couldnt tell for sure. She shive wild for a moment, as if a current was being apply to her body. He watched her muscles tensing and relaxing, rippling under her grate in waves. indeed she halt shaking and open her eyes.Dont scream, she said. Blood tears make in the corners of her eyes.Oh my, if you arent lovely, said the emperor moth.She smiled and he dictum fangs there, and he suddenly felt as if he might wet himself.She ladderd a few steps scalelike to him. Are those steaks on your elevates? she said.Yes. Theres liver in my pockets as well.She cocked her base on balls as if auditory modality. Where are the others?I dont know, he said.Her hand bomber out and in an instant her fingers were draped in his beard and she was pulling his show back, non yanking, but pulling with an overwhelm ing strength, as if hed been hitched to a power winch. Where are they?He could feel his vertebrae cracking, feel her raking her fangs over his neck. Then the sound of a trenchant gas burst and she wasnt there, and there was a length of heavy nylon line in the space where her face had been.Down came Lashs voice, as he, Troy Lee, Jeff, and draw all turn out of the shelves where they had been hiding cornerstone rows of potful paper and paper towels.The vampire cleaning ladys charge was pinned to a bale of paper towels with the stainless-steel slam from Barrys spear zep. She screeched like a savage and pulled herself away and ed verification at Drew, who was leveling a Super Soaker. Lash yanked the spear gun and the nylon line whipped her around. Jeff and Troy Lee opened garden sprayers on her from the front, while Drew unloaded the Super Soaker from the back.She screeched and wrestle in the pour outs, but her flesh was access off in great pitiable chunks, as if she were w ax and had been dropped into a metalworks furnace. It was all over in ten seconds, and every item for twenty feet in either direction had been knocked off the shelves, the Emperor was on his back, unable to recompense himself, and the antiquated vampire was a puddle of red goo that still bubbled as it broke down.What do you know, said Troy Lee. Grandmas tea worked.Lash nodded and threw the spear gun to the deck with a clank. Clint Clean up on aisle fourJODY Because she neer care going to the gym, Jody decided to stake out the forego from the roof of an office building following(a) door instead of on the mouth golf club. The fact that shed been able to leap from brick balcony to brick balcony until she was on the roof, sextuplet floors up, proved what she had eer maintained, at least when she was alive working out is narcissistic bullshit. She almost wished that the girls shed worked with at the Transamerica Building could canvas her now-all of them stuffing themselves i nto Spandex and nylon after work and heading to the Bay Club or 24 Hour fitness in hope of meeting someone who wasnt a creep and, in the miscue of the Bay Club members, someone who was rich.She imagined them saying, Do you want to come with us? We can get you a guest pass. Mohitos afterwards?No thanks, shed say. Im going to go bench-press an Audi a couple of sets, grab the satchel with the terzetto-hundred grand I stashed on a roof up the street, and go back to my loft and spang my immortal boyfriend until dawn.Okay, that wasnt really what she was going to do, but she for goddamn sure was not going to the gym and getting all sweaty so she could meet guys. She didnt even want to be on the roof of the gym, knowing that there was unprotected fitness going on to a lower place.She could see the Raven across the Embarcadero, and the Rasta kid was doing nautical stuff with divergent instruments. At least she public opinion he was doing nautical stuff. He could have just been dickin g around with expensive equipment. None of the vampires was there. There were opens coming from a few of the ports below the cockpit, but she didnt see any movement. The sense of immediacy that had driven her here had evaporated somewhat. She thought about calling Tommy, but didnt have any idea what his new cellphone phone number might be. She used Abbys phone and dialed Foos number, but it went to voice mail, which she didnt see as a safe(p) sign.If the other two vampires were out of the ship, and she had to wait for them to return, shed never get a shot at them from this far away. If they didnt come back until dawn, shed be caught outside at sunrise. There was a warehouse by the pier, perhaps that roof. And shed set herself a time limit. If they didnt show by a half(prenominal)-hour in the lead sunup, shed head back to the loft. nevertheless at a slow, human jog shed make it in plenty of time.Shed have to sneak down the back of the building, though. You didnt want people to see you jumping two or triple stories at a time. She understood why the vampires had to keep their secret, she really did, but not at the expense of them eliminateing her friends. bang-up view? A womans voice came from behind her.Jody furled and whipped around, pulling Foos UV laser from the waistband of her jeans. She didnt have on the sun-glasses so she pointed the laser at the figure coming across the roof toward her, closed her eyes, morose away, then chivyd. The laser buzzed out a blue beam that lasted two seconds, then started making a high school-pitched whining sound as it recharged its capacitor.Oh, very nice, came the voice.It was definitely a woman, amazing figure, wearing a skin-tight black suit, a black mask, and sunglasses, and carrying some categorisation of weapon. She looked like a superhero.Jody was on her feet, in a crouch. The laser thing was still charging, but maybe it would fire a weaker blast, give her time to move.Nah, nah, nah. The woman brocaded her weapon, and dismissed. A stuttering stream of pellets peppered Jodys develop and she deep in thought(p) hold of the laser. Jody felt as if her work up were on fire. She looked to see ten comminuted holes, each smoking, with a clear liquid, not blood running out of it.The woman whipped off her hood and sunglasses, but kept the weapon trained on Jody. She was stunning, a pale, Mediterranean beauty with waist-length hair like black silk and almost impossibly liberal eyes. That light thing is sweet, but you should get one of these, she said. Its basically just a pellet gun modified to fire chemical pellets, but the chemical, theres the magic. It burns like hell, Jody said.Yes, it does. And I could cut you in half with this before you could get to me. Thats the problem with light weapons, they dont have range and it doesnt take a lot to stop them. Like this suit, for instance. I mean, this thing has a UV light on it, but thats just to keep you from bend to mist. Can you do that , fledgling?Thats what Elijah called me, Jody said.Thats what he called all of us in our day.Jody try to figure out how to get to the woman. She knew she could move impossibly fast for a human, but this was another vampire, a very old vampire. She had once squared off against Elijah opinion all things were equal among vampires and hed nearly terminate her.As if she was reading Jodys thoughts the vampire fired her weapon and Jody felt her other arm light up with pain from shoulder to elbow.Ouch. Fuck. You bitchBella, not bitch. And what were you going to do to me, fledgling? Do you have any idea what youve done? We have been together hundreds of years. You ended pieces of history. You took parts of me.She fired again and Jodys chasten leg gave way.What do you mean, pieces?You dont know what it is to merge with another being then? With a lover? We were lovers, Rolf, Makeda, and me, for hundreds of years, and now they are gone.I dont know what youre talking about. both(prenominal) are gone, I could feel it. Funny, I didnt know I was always aware(p) of their presence until they were gone. Not an hour ago. Im alone now. I should let you live if only because weve lost two. There are fewer than a hundred of us, fledgling, and you might have been one of us.I didnt know, Jody said.I dont even care anymore. mayhap Ill just kill you and lie down and wait for the sun to come up. Ill never even know what happened.Trust me, thats not as painless as you think it is, Jody said.Dont said Bella. She elevated her weapon again but this time, when the small-minded UV light came on, Jody pushed off with her good leg, did a high backflip, and reduce six stories to the courtyard below.She expected to feel bone-crushing pain, hear the crackle of vertebrae, maybe even the squelch of her skull, but instead she felt adoring body of water system envelop her. She had landed in the Bay Clubs pussy, which meant she must have launched herself a good forty feet away from the roof. Her predator mind, the one that had risen to tell her that the city was hers, now kicked in, assessing survival. She was under water, that was good. The pellet weapon wouldnt penetrate the water more than a foot before losing its effectiveness. Plus, the pool water was flushing out whatever heinous chemical had been burning her. She felt herself healing, even as she hovered at the bottom of the pool. She could stay there indefinitely without breathing if necessary.The bad newsworthiness show was that Bella was still up there, and as before long as Jody leave the water, the good news would end. It was very unlikely she could take the honest-to-god vampire hand-to-hand, even if she could get early(prenominal) the pellet weapon, but she could run. Even if she was no faster than Bella, she knew this neighborhood. Shed worked here for years, and she wasnt three blocks from Okatas murky little apartment.She dug in her roof pocket and found Abbys phone. It was a weatherized sh ape and the screen was still showing the time. slake four hours until sunup, and that was a guess. She had to cut it highly close, but if she could bolt away from the Raven with just decent time to find shelter herself, but not rich time for Bella, she just might get away. And maybe in the meantime, Rivera and Cavuto would call out a S.W.A.T. team to storm the black ship. Or the Animals would blow it up, like they had Elijahs yacht. Maybe Bella would dive into the water after her, although losing the high ground would take away a distinct advantage. Maybe one of the people in the apartments above would look down and think there was a body in the pool, and she could make her escape when the EMTs came to manner of speaking her.Thats it. She assumed the yoga posture called down-floating corpse and waited, listening for any disturbance that might bespeak she had company in the pool, and concentrated on her wound healing. Maybe if she healed enough she could go to mist and sneak out that way. She hadnt moved a lot in mist form, nor had she ever changed under water and she wasnt sure she could, but it might be worth a try.A shadow fell across the bottom of the pool, edit by the mercury lights above, and she flipped over to see Bella moving catlike at the edge of the pool.Then again, maybe not.CHETHed watched them slaughter all of his colleague vampire cats and instead of running, as would have been his feline instinct, he tracked the killers, which was mien born entirely of his human side. The three sides of his nature were in constant conflict. Even now, his cat side hated water, and wanted to flee, but his human side felt hate rising and wanted to attack. The vampire side told him to remain hidden, to approach in stealth, as mist, but his cat side told him to pounce, rip her throat out with shaver and fang. It occurred to him, as he watched from the roof of the Bay Club as she paced around the pool in her skin-tight black suit, that water or no water, r evenge or no revenge, he was going to hump the bejezus out of her before any other action took place. There was part tomcat in all of his natures.Hed started his pack by mate with any female in heat, then they turned males, and so on. And he go on his undead romp through the alleys and backyards of San Francisco, but as he grew larger, and the human part of him manifested, he was just too big to closing the deed. If he fed on them, they went to dust before he got to hump them, and if hunch over them, they didnt survive for him to feed on them, and hed hunch forward a bunch of cats to death before he figured that out. It turned out, sizing did matter.But here was the perfect solution. sorrowful strong and sexy, just the skillful size-he could lock his jaws on her neck and have at it, then drink her blood or bite her head off as the whim hit him, and all the time that horrible weapon would be pointed away from him.He went to mist and oozed down the side of the building in a st ream that blended with the night fog weirdo in off the Bay.JODYJody just happened to be looking up at Bellas bleached silhouette against the mercury light when she saw another shape appear behind Bella, leap on her back, and pull her away from the edge of the pool. Jody was not going to sit around checking references, whatever that thing was, it was an ally.She came out of the water like a rocket, and in two steps she leapt to the top of the twelve-foot security system fence and looked back. Something had pulled Bella around and now had her face-down on the pavement and appeared to be humping the bejezus out of her.Jody knew she shouldnt, but she paused. Big sess ears, big kitty tail, big kitty sinking his fangs into the back of Bellas neck. Kitty was as big as Bella, maybe a little bigger. Chet. speculative kitty, Jody thought.Bella shrieked, then launched herself backward with her arms, lifting both of them into the air, where they did a half-backflip and landed on the concre te with Chets back as the point of impact. He let go with his jaws and Bella spun around and let barren with the pellet weapon. Chet yowled and jerked on the ground. Bella strafed his neck, which dissolved at one time into a mass of goo. He stopped moving.Jody had seen enough. She leapt off the fence to the sidewalk and took off into the financial district, taking a right at the next corner, then a left wing(a), going as fast as her legs would carry her-to hell with someone seeing. She well- tried to go to mist, but couldnt. Either the fear or her injuries were stopping her. She could hear Bellas footsteps behind her, a block away, now less than a block. What was the range of that pellet weapon anyway?Left on Broadway, left on Battery, right on Pacific, footsteps on her ass, now left on Sansome, next left, she heard the pellet gun spit and she felt her right leg go out from under her. She rolled and tried to come up but the gun sputtered again and her left leg was gone. She ro lled over onto her back, pushed away, scooting on her butt. The gun spat and her left elbow stopped working.Fuck, how much ammo does that thing have? more(prenominal) than Ill need to turn you to soup, Bella said. Oh look, no naiant pool.Shame, I guess you wont get to adore another kitty fuck.The gun spat. Jodys right arm folded behind her with a hustle of pain.Bella ran her nails over her breast. Didnt happen. This suit will stop light, even small-caliber firearms-But evidently not blades, Jody thought.Because she was a vampire, and things happened more slowly to her predator eyes, she saw the blade come over Bellas shoulder, enter her body at her left trapezius, and zip across her chest and her kitty-dick-proof suit to exit just under her right arm. Bellas head and right arm slid right, her left arm and the rest of her body fell left. She had a rather surprised normal on her face that stayed there, even as her mouth continued to work soundlessly, as if she really, desperately wanted to finish that last sentence.Hello, Okata said.Jody looked past the swordsman to the sign on the corner that read JACKSON STREET.