“Do you think there’s anything we need to worry about concerning the murder in Columbus?”
Damien had passed on Gideon’s concern to the rest of the brethren before they all departed but was still positive the murder in Columbus was the result of an evil mortal with a twisted mind and had nothing to do with them. “No, but we’ll keep an eye out anyway. I told Gideon to let me know if he discovered who killed that girl and any one of us would be happy to help mete out justice”
“I’ll second that.” Living as long as they have, fighting in several bloody wars as well as trying to rid the world of evil whenever they could, it wasn’t anywhere near the worst atrocity they had dealt with nor would it be the last, but such a brutal death, especially for one so young and innocent, was hard to ignore. “It’s quiet tonight, as far as crime goes.”
“It won’t stay that way.” No sooner were the words out of Damien’s mouth than a terrified scream rent the humid night air. If it wasn’t for the gift of their preternatural hearing, they never would have heard that cry for help or been able to detect the alley from which it came from. Moving in a blur of speed too fast for humans to see, both men sped down the alley from where they could hear the now muffled cries.
Spotting a young woman struggling on the dirty, garbage strewn ground against two thugs intent on rape, Damien let loose with the rage that always consumed him when he came across a woman being brutalized. While Jacob grabbed for the punk who was laughing as he held her down, Damien gripped the man intent on ripping her clothes off by the neck and lifted him effortlessly before slamming him against the brick side of a building.
“Get out of here. Now,” he instructed the woman who had gained her feet and stood staring with wide-eyed surprise and relief at her two rescuers. Waiting until he saw her safely exit the alley, Damien then turned his attention to his struggling captive. When the high as a kite thug kicked him in the shin, he barely felt it. Smiling, he allowed him to see his pointed incisors, let the rage filling him turn his dark brown eyes eerily red.
“Wh…what the fuck are you?” he gasped as his red face paled.
“Your worst fucking nightmare.” Damien lowered his head and sank his teeth into the neck he held so casually, not bothering to shield his victims mind or ease the pain of his bite. Rarely did he feed from such scum, and when he did, he made sure they weren’t filled with drugs. But he was hell bent on teaching this young man a lesson, and, as far as he was concerned, the more painful the better. When he had taken enough to weaken him but not cause any significant harm, he lifted his head and slowly licked his lips, glaring down at the pale faced, petrified would be rapist. “How does it feel to have someone invade your body against your will, take something from you you’re not willing to give?” he asked him with soft menace.
“I-I’m sorry, let me go, please. I swear I won’t tell anyone….”
Damien laughed before saying, “Who would believe you? Mardi Gras, the city with a heritage of voodoo beliefs, cemeteries reported to be haunted, need I go on to all the reasons why no one would heed a word you might say?”
Knowing he was right, his fear doubled and the doped up thug lost control of his bladder, certain he was facing death. “Please...” he whispered tremulously.
Tossing him aside, Damien sneered, “You disgust me, mortal. Remember this, I can find you anywhere, anytime. Make sure you give me no reason to teach you another lesson.”
Damien watched him flee the dirty, dark alley along with his cohort before the last of his strength gave out and he leaned wearily against the brick building.
“Damn it, Damien,” Jacob cursed him as he put an arm around Damien’s shoulders and let him lean on him. “That was a mild skirmish for us and a small tax on our power of speed and yet look at you, barely able to stand. Hold on, I’ll get you to Marie, even though we both know she’s not who you want or need.”
“Don’t go there, Jacob,” Damien warned him. “Just leave me at Marie’s and hook up with Jon and Luc for the rest of the night. It’s not smart to patrol alone.”
“Look who’s giving instructions on what’s smart,” Jacob snorted as he teleported both of them to the courtyard of Marie’s small Creole townhouse.
The door was answered by an attractive woman in her middle fifties wearing a satin robe belted at her trim waist. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a tight chignon and her green eyes were cloudy with worry as she simply stepped back, saying, “Take him to the parlor, Jacob.”
Damien cursed himself for his weakness then cursed Isabelle for making him this way as he collapsed in the wide, comfortable arm chair he had spent many evenings sitting in. “I’m sorry, cherie. You know I wouldn’t impose on you this way if I had a choice.”
“I know, Damien,” Marie said sadly. There was a time, long ago when she had been young and naïve, that she had fancied herself in love with her handsome, dashing, mysterious paramour, but with age came knowledge as well as wisdom, and as the years passed and she grew older yet her benefactor did not, she realized there could never be more between them than friendship and sex. Being a voodoo priestess, she had not questioned his immortal state nor did she label him vampire with all the negative, and misguided connotations that came with the name. She had come to know, and care deeply for the man he was and saw the goodness in him where others would judge and condemn him for some of the things he had done on behalf of their well-being.
Damien nodded at Jacob in thanks before he shimmered and left them alone. “I didn’t ask, are you alone, Marie?”
“I am not entertaining tonight. Perhaps I sensed you would have need of me.”
Damien never questioned her ability to know when she would be called upon to help someone. Whether it was a patron who came into her shop to buy a charm or amulet for protection or magical powder for healing or whether it was a client who was lucky enough to get into her bed, she always seemed to know when her services would be needed. With a resigned sigh, he watched Marie sink to her knees in front of him and unerringly release his straining cock into her soft hands before looking up at his face. “I do need you, but not just for sex. I hope you know how much I value your friendship.”
Coal black hair framed his handsome face, his cheeks were lean and deeply grooved, his nose as straight as his aristocratic heritage and he had a mouth that delivered on its sensuous promise. Marie felt her heart turn over as she gave him a small smile and sultry look. “It is not friend
ship you need tonight, ma paramour. I am not who you want, but I will give you what you need.” Bending her head, she slowly took his rigid hardness into her mouth, wrapping one hand around the base of his cock when she had taken him as deep as she could. Her long-time lover had a thick, long cock and not in all the years he had been visiting her had she ever tired of it and the pleasure he gave her.
Damien leaned over her bent head and released her hair, watching the dark brown waves cascade down her back before resting one hand on her crown as he leaned his head back, the pleasure of her mouth already noticeably increasing his strength. He tightened his hand as her moist tongue curled around his girth, stroked his length up and down, her fist tight around his base. When her free hand cupped his sac and rolled his balls as she pulled back until she could stroke over his seeping slit, it was a struggle to maintain control.
Straining, he lifted into her descending mouth, groaning in pleasure then frustration when she brought him to peak only to release him completely and look up at him with a teasing glint in her eyes, her hand continuing where her mouth left off. “Damn it, Marie, now’s not the time to toy with me. I’m too close to the edge.” An edge he lived in constant fear of being pushed over again.
“Oh, I beg to differ. If ever a man needed toying with it would be you,” she said as she stroked his cock slowly with her hand, covering his bulbous head and letting his seepage coat her palm before spreading it on his shaft as she moved back down. Marie shivered in arousal when he narrowed those dark chocolate eyes and his lips parted just enough for her to catch a glimpse of his sharp incisors. Her pussy wept and her nipples beaded into taut buds as she recalled the ecstasy to be found from his bite. Unfortunately, he rarely bestowed that pleasure on her, and never during sex, for reasons she had never been able to get out of him.
“Suck me, Marie,” he demanded in a guttural tone as he pushed her head back down over his straining, seeping erection. “Then it’ll be my turn to toy with you.”
With an erotic threatening promise like that for incentive, Marie could do naught else but comply. Engulfing him, she sucked voraciously on his hardness, bobbing her head up and down, stroking him over and over, licking the sensitive underside of his head, loving the way he jerked in her mouth, the way his come tasted as he spewed down her throat.
His body shook with his release, pleasure erupting from his balls to explode out of his cock, strength returning in spades to his weakened muscles with each stroke of her tongue. The tight suction of her mouth drew every ounce of pleasure from his body until every drop was spent. As soon as she released his still semi-erect cock, he grabbed her waist and lifted her onto his lap as if she weighed no more than a feather.