Page 11 (1/2)

~ Wherein Our Heroine is Taken for a Ride ~

Macey landed in the backseat on her hands and knees, and before she could recover, another rough shove sent her sprawling face-first onto the floor aritty and spattered with oil, and a heavy, cloying scent filled the air

She noticed one female and two male pairs of shoes just as the auto door closed "Keep her down," sorowled

A hand twisted a fistful of her hair and whipped her to the floor again Pain streaked over her scalp, her knees were scraped and bruised, and she was out of breath, taken utterly by surprise She hadn&039;t - the man a squeak, let alone a screaentle lurch, and she kept her head lowered for the e point a her abductors&039; feet

The back of her neck felt as if a block of ice was pressing there, which told her she was in the presence of more than one undead And the backseat of this auto was unlike anything she had ever seen It was roo each other, like on a train A covert look told her there was a third seat facing forward, where the driver sat Surrounding her were three pairs ofwith the Mary Janes-and the feet they were on Even in the di aardly fro foot, its strap catty-wonker and the button loose The legs attached to the shoes sagged open

A shiver streaked up Macey&039;s spine, this one having nothing to do with the presence of an undead She looked up the woman&039;s body and saw the blood Everywhere It stained the front of her clothing, running in long rivulets from multiple wounds on her neck, shoulders, and wrists She couldn&039;t see if she was conscious, for the woman&039;s head was tilted back into the shadows

By now she recognized the dull, heavy smell in the air Macey drew in a deep breath and realized the oil on the floor was not oil but blood She closed her eyes, fighting back nausea and terror This is not good

And it wasn&039;t Al Caponeunless he&039;d sent some vampires after her

She was trapped in an auto with three undead No one knehere she was And her stake-the one stake she&039;d added to her pocketbook at the very last ht-was in her pocketbook, which she&039;d dropped as she was shoved into the auto

"Macey Gardella Thank you for joining us"

The speaker wore the cleanest, newest, roup She lifted her face to look at him and her body went even colder "You"

It was the lean, dangerous-lookingfor Miss Gardella His eyes glowed faintly red, but he said nothingThen he looked across at his coht nod

Before she could prepare herself, Macey was dragged up onto the opposite seat by the other two h, imprisoned her as she tried to twist free She bucked and twisted with all herthe chunky heels of her Mary Janes like billy clubs

But, strong as she ith her vis bulla, she was no match for the two undead in the small confines Already shocked and out of sorts, not tofrom the violent blow to the head, she was murky and slow Her heart pounded and she couldn&039;t catch her breath as the two held her immobile, sprawled between the it at an aard angle as he gripped her left wrist

The other grabbed her right arh a the United States govern her garters and the bottoot to the juncture of her thighs andit into her captor&039;s cheek He grunted when the heel sla his cheek This caused hi her the opportunity to jaroin of her other captor He cried out and backhanded her so hard her ears rang, and she tu sharp and with a start, she realized it was the clasp of her pocketbook How did et in here?

But she didn&039;t have time to wonder, or even try to open it and fumble for the stake They forced her back up onto the seat, this ti her at full length across the car so she had no ability to coil and buck

Her chest heaving, internal organs turned to ice, Macey realized she was in serious trouble Her one hope was to get the stake out of her bag Which ain

"Who are you?" she de at the presu, maybe she could take them by surprise and free herself "What do you want?"

"Hold her" So flashed in the leader&039;s hand, and Macey stiffened when she discerned a knife blade

She tried to wring herself free once ht they leah the auto&039;s , and Macey realized the vehicle was no longerto kill her in this dark alley and due The man from the library reached for her, and with a sharp, swift ht down the front of her

Her dress split and fresh air spilled over her torso as i her from breast to hip Her head swa trickled from her eyes, and she realized it was a trail of tears

Most of her breasts and belly were bare Macey could see the growing stripe of blood all along her sternuht, was the silver vis bulla, settled in her navel

"So you have taken the a red-pink, his fangs bared "You are the Gardella" The tip of his tongue slipped out, caressing his thin lips His eyes turned brighter

"Did Capone send you?"

"Capone?" His eyes narrowed "No, he did not But I&039;ht have done"

"Who are you, then? You knoho I am, but you&039;re too cowardly to tell th and bravado into her voice she could "And you need two goons plus yourself to capture me What does that s savior who carries the deepest taintc sohed and reached toward her with the dagger again She stiffened, preparing herself for pain But he used the metal tip to flip the tiny silver cross as if it were a plaything "Nicholas Nicholas Iscariot at your service, Macey Gardella"

She tried to steady her breathing and cal with every pulse and every breath Iscariot continued to play with the knife, tracing it over the white, tre an occasional line of blood, then returning to slide the blade&039;s tip into the circle of the vis and jiggle it al for hi the th she had left Then it would be all over

And no one knohere I a her only chance was to get her hands on the stake, Macey glanced at the woed next to Nicholas in the corner of the auto She hadn&039;t h she wasto bethat was to be her fate unless she did so Very soon

"Oh, did I not introduce you?" Nicholas followed her attention to the victimized woman He smiled coldly, and the knife moved away as he pulled on the bloodstained arht of ribbons of flesh where the chin, neck, and shoulders had once been, ealed and s of iron The woman had not merely been fed on; she&039;d been destroyed Mutilated Bile rose in the back of her throat, and she sed hard

Nicholas paused, his s "Ah, but waitI believe you already are acquainted with this evening&039;s entertainment, aren&039;t you?"

The woman&039;s head lolled forward, then back sharply as he yanked her upright, but not before Macey saw her face clearly in the low light

She barely held back a scream Chelle It was Chelle

"No," she breathed, hysteria rising from deep inside She couldn&039;t hold it back, it bubbled into her throat and threatened to explode in a horrified cry "You didn&039;tyou" She choked and tears swahtening, tightening, and she fought and twisted and bucked wildly against her captors

"No," Nicholas said, shoving Chelle back into the corner of the auto as if she were a rag doll "Let&039;s not overset ourselves It could have been much worse, you know" Then he cocked his head to one side and s her bared skin, which appeared silvery white in the unsteady light Macey could hear the deep, guttural breathing of the vahter She had no feeling in her hands and felt her bones grinding against each other the curtains sly

The scent of blood was heavy in the air, and now some of it was hers Her heart pounded harder and deeper Like a death knell

Nicholas adjusted her dress, pulling it apart enough that one breast was fully exposed and her undergarments fell away completely As her heart pounded violently, visible in the vibration of her breast, reverberating through her liht circle around her areola A tiny bead of blood dripped down one side,into the first slice he&039;d , but she hardly noticed the pain She feared it was nothing compared to as to come

"There was once a very powerful woman of my kind," her tormentor said conversationally, "as fond of the co soth a it fro the upper lip of her navel taut- "while taking her pleasure Feasting and feeding and whatnot I&039;ve alondered what that ht be like If I would enjoy it ed His hand planted heavily on her belly, covering her vis bulla as he plunged his fangs roughly into the juncture of neck and shoulder Macey jolted and screa release of blood surging from her veins

His mouth was horrible: one lip hot and the other cold, each sensation revoltingly distinct They fastened on her skin as he sucked deeply fro in and sing filled her ears in a horrible rhythm, like the heartbeat of death

Macey could feel the life draining fro, the s flesh His weight forced her into the seat, into the foulness of the other va into her belly as the vis seared his pallass filled the air, and pieces rained down inside the auto Everything turned to chaos, and in the midst of it Macey tumbled to the floor

She landed on her pocketbook again, which shocked her into action, but by then a dark arm had jackknifed in and slammed into one of her captors The va ash, and just as she grappled her stake out of the bag, that sarabbed her and she was plucked frolimpse of Chas&039;s face-dark, livid, and intense-as he yanked her past hiround He dove back into the car, sure His new coht with sharp punches and a head-butt But Chas took the head-butt on his teainst the side of the auto With one loard thrust, he held the vah shirt and vest, driving it into his heart Just as the va, the vehicle leapt forward, its door sla closed from the sudden velocity Chas jumped back as the tires squealed, and the auto blazed into the night

By the time Chas turn to try and find , and 7Ved to her, Macey had pulled to her feet Panting and tre, she held her unused stake Her knees wobbled and she wasn&039;t certain she could even form the words to thank him

"I" She sed, realized her dress was literally hanging off her, and pulled the fragments closed

"Good God" He whipped off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders far ently than she&039;d anticipated

"Chelle Oh ed to choke She swayed and grabbed at a tree, but neverthelesssteps after the auto

Chas looked at her, his ht her arm to steady her-and pull her back fro to be done now" He hesitated, then said, "Let&039;s go You needhell, you need everything"

Chas had no choice but to take Macey back to his roo her to The Silver Chalice Vioget certainly couldn&039;t see her like this, half naked and with blood everywhere

Hell, Chas shouldn&039;t even see her like this-at least the half-naked part At least, not yet He srimly to himself

His small flat was conveniently situated on the top floor of a carriage house right next to St Anselm&039;s Church What better place for a vampire hunter to live than in the shadow of a holy place?

Chas unlocked the door and Macey stu his coat around her shoulders He had given it to her for modesty just as much as his own self-preservation The flash of breast and belly, even covered with blood as they were, had been burned into his mind&039;s eye

This is probably not your best decision ever, Woodmore

But when he closed the door and turned on a lahts he rated