Chapter Three
The vampire loomed over Isabella Denning. Everything about him reeked of death, despair and disembodied souls. Isabella could hear them crying out from deep within him. She looked around for a way out, but she found nothing around her except the night.
“What are you thinking, Vanquisher?” the demon asked. His foul breath rasped out of his mouth like a fog.
“About kicking your ass,” she said in her sultry southern drawl.
The vampire laughed as though not stunned by her answer. “Many have tried but none have succeeded.”
Isabella fumbled with the ropes which bound her hands behind her back. It wouldn’t budge even though she gave it the old college try. “I bet you wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t tied up.” She said mocking him.
He slapped her soundly across the face with the back of his hand.
Isabella’s head snapped back, scattering her senses. Apparently his mother didn’t tell him to never hit a woman. She wouldn’t cry out and give him the delight of seeing her suffer. “Is that how you get your jollies, beating up on helpless women?”
“Yes,” he answered. His foul breath permeated the air. “But you are no mere defenseless woman, Vanquisher. You know that don’t you?” The teeth he bared were long, sharp and yellow. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth.
Blood from the hit ran into her mouth, down her chin and then onto her beige sweater. Shit, I’m going to have one hell of a cleaning bill. That is, if I get out of here alive.
The vampire walked around her, looking at her and sizing her up like a spider would do to a fly. She knew she looked a mess. Her long curly dark hair lay plastered flat on her head and tiny tendrils curled on her forehead. Her face, she knew bore the imprint of his hand. Her clothes were torn and dirty from the struggle. This fiend, whoever he was had been waiting for her and caught her off-guard…something that very seldom happened, if ever. She swore if she made it out alive no one would ever do it again.
“Why don’t you tell me what I want to know so I can kill you and put you out of your misery?”
“Then you’d better kill me now because I have no idea what you are talking about.”
He grabbed her chin and his fingers pressed into her chin sending spasms through her face. “Of course you do. Tell me where Alesandro is and it will all be over.”
It sure would be. Alesandro would tear out her throat. “I don’t have the faintest idea who this Alesandro person is or where he is,” she lied. “Who is he anyway? While you’re at it, who are you?”
The vampire grabbed her by the neck and squeezed.
Isabella felt her breath slipping away. She tried to pull away from his grip but he had the strength of ten men. It felt like all ten of them had their hands around her throat. She tried to pull away again but couldn’t breathe.
“My name is Daton,” he said as he squeezed.
Isabella pulled away again. This action made her fall from the chair and she landed on the floor.
Daton landed on top of her, knocking the wind out of her.
“Get the hell off of me,” she tried to shout. Sweat poured down her back and between her breasts. Her heart beat erratically in her chest. Isabella was tired and dirty and he wasn’t the type of man she preferred on top of her. This thing—this half-man, half-monster had her sprawled on the floor, pinned down by her shoulders and he smelled awful. Most of the vampires she knew took pride in their appearance. Most of them did a very good job of disguising the fact they weren’t mere animated corpses.
Damn, he’s heavy. Daton must have outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. The weight she could handle, but it was the rancid breath that got to her. The next thing she knew he got closer to her face, and licked it as if to sample what flavor she was. His long black hair covered her face.
Isabella swallowed back the bile which rose in her throat. She had hidden in garbage dumps, been dragged through filthy alleys, cleaned the toilet countless times but none of it equated to or prepared her for him.
Daton laughed, seemingly taking delight in her discomfort.
Isabella used her head to butt him against the forehead.
Daton howled loudly.
She guessed he didn’t like that too much. Served him right. She hated being slapped.
Daton pulled her up by her throat and sat her back into the chair. He kept his hands in place and she felt her breath slipping away again. “Tell me where he is, Vanquisher.”
Isabella managed a weak, “Who?”
“Your lover, Alesandro.”
Isabella was dying yet her stomach felt all mushy inside at the thought of Alesandro being her lover. She had entertained the idea a time or two. Isabella got her mind out of the gutter and went back to the problem before her. She was trapped like a rat in some abandoned warehouse in the Bywater area of New Orleans with a lunatic vampire name Daton, He’d captured her, tied her up and now demanded the whereabouts of a six-hundred year old master vampire. The one who’d been trying to get into her panties since the first night they met. Her backup was late and sooner or later Daton was going to get sick of her sarcasm and kill her. She felt half dead already.
She was angrier at Collena for telling everyone to go back to work and forget about what was really going on, until something actually happened. Apparently the opening of a demon portal did not take precedence over fighting vampires. Isabella put her focus back on Daton.
He’d probably bite her first, suck her blood and then try to drain her until she died. Isabella frowned. She didn’t fancy being turned into the undead, especially by the likes of him.
Daton released his grasp on her throat.
Isabella inhaled to get oxygen back into her lungs.
Daton stood before her in dark pants and a black flowing shirt. His eyes were huge, blue and bloodshot and he looked as if he hadn’t slept for centuries. “My patience grows thin, Vanquisher. You know I should just kill you and collect the bounty on your head.” He walked around her again and cut the ropes binding her hands. Then he removed the ones at her ankles. Daton forcefully pulled her up from the seat. It felt like her arms left their sockets. He lifted her into the air as if she were as light as a feather and threw her against the wall.
Isabella’s young life flashed before her eyes briefly as she struggled to get off the floor. She suspected she had a few cracked ribs and maybe a concussion.
Daton kicked her in the side.
“Ouch.” Isabella lay there, struggling to catch her breath, awaiting his next move. She struggled to get up and she didn’t know how long she could last.
Daton slapped her across the face again, knocking her to the floor.
“That’s it,” Isabella shouted. “I’ve had about enough of you.” She sprang to her feet, ignoring the racking pain in her body and in her head. Her signature Bowie knife appeared in her hand.
Daton laughed. “What are you going to do with that thing, Vanquisher? Knives can’t harm me.”
Isabella slashed at his arm. It made a nasty gash that healed quickly.
“Told you,” he replied. He slapped her across the face again.
“This shit is starting to grow old,” she told him. Isabella flew with a wide side kick that floored him. Now it was her turn to stand over him. “Get up and fight you evil bastard.” She had gained back much of her strength thanks to her powerful regenerating abilities.
Daton looked up at her. Shock registered on his face. She had kicked him so fast that he hadn’t seen it coming. He grabbed her by the leg and pulled her down to him. Isabella fell atop him and he started choking her again.
Darkness came swifter this time. Isabella had to find a way to beat him. His grasp tightened, causing sweat to bead on her forehead. She was going to kick his ass first and then stake him.
“Leave you alone for one minute and I find you screwing around with the first guy who comes your way.”
Isabella eyes opened. It sounded like Ernie, her partner.
Daton released his grip.
Isabella’s breath returned in gasps. She rose slowly. The cavalry had finally arrived and it was bearing a big silver cross. Damn, she ached.
Daton glared at the powerfully built black man, raising his hand to shield himself from the cross. “Why has God blessed me so?” he asked. “He has provided me with two slayers to kill.”
Ernie continued into the warehouse and Daton backed away to give him room. The two behemoths faced each other. Daton continued to shield his eyes, sizing Ernie up. Daton was taller and older but Ernie outweighed him.
Ernie held the cross higher and Daton continued to back up.
Isabella stood back, taking in the sight. “Big bad vampire is afraid of a little cross,” she teased.
Daton snarled and gave her a backhanded slap across her face.
Isabella didn’t even grimace from the slap but she was distracting him. It was enough distraction for Ernie to pull something out of his pocket. Daton turned around in time to see Ernie had moved from his position, taking his eyes off of her. It was an opportunity Isabella hoped for. She kicked him between the legs.
Daton howled like a wounded animal.
“Ooh, I feel for you brother,” Ernie said as he threw something onto Daton’s face. Holy water.
Daton’s flesh smoked. He frantically tried to wipe the water off and douse the heat.
Isabella crawled along the floor of the warehouse, looking for her sword. She found it near some crates where she had dropped it. She reached for it, jumped to her feet and ran toward Daton. She removed his head from his shoulders with one slash. The blood squirted from his neck and Daton disappeared into a pool of dust.
Ernie ran over and pulled her into his arms.
“What took you so long?” Isabella asked as she gathered her wits.
“Your directions were bad. I had to check four or five warehouses before I found your car.” Ernie laughed. “A demon slayer with no sense of direction.”
“Go to hell, Ernie,” Isabella said as they left the building.
“Been there, done that, and have the T-shirt,” Ernie replied. “Let’s get out of here.”
* * * *
Isabella winced as Ernie dabbed at her face with a clean cloth.
“Damn girl, what happened to you?” Geena asked as she entered the office wearing more makeup than a circus clown.
Joshua Petre entered the room behind her. “You’re going to have a nasty shiner,” he said as he examined her face.
Isabella frowned. Joshua was everything she hated in a man. He was too thin, a snob and he always wore expensive suits. She bet he even slept in one.
Joshua turned to Ernie. “I thought you said she didn’t get hurt, Mister Malloy.”
Add condescending and pompous to the list, Isabella mused. “It’s only a little bruise,” she replied before Ernie could answer.
“There’s nothing little about it,” Geena added to the conversation as she chewed on a big wad of gum.
Isabella hoped she’d choke.
“I’ve got some makeup in my purse that will cover it right up.”
Isabella frowned. There was no way she was going to let Geena get anywhere near her with makeup.
“No thank you,” she said politely. “It’ll be okay.”
Geena was a horrible receptionist. She couldn’t type, file or take dictation, and she was a horror on the phone. She and Joshua had to be sleeping together. It was the only explanation for her to still be employed. Her talents, Isabella guessed were her gigantic breasts. Lucky for the company, Joshua’s sister Collena had more sense than him. She’d hired a secretary with some serious clerical skills.
Collena was the brains behind the business, the backbone, the real man of the family.
“Explain to me again how you happened upon this Daton fellow,” Joshua replied.
“Got word about a new vampire in town,” Ernie answered. “So, my partner and I decided to check him out.”
“The plan was to meet at a warehouse in the Bywater area, where he’d last been spotted,” Isabella added. “Unfortunately we got our warehouses mixed up and Daton was there waiting for me.”
“You mean he knew you were coming?”
“Exactly,” Isabella said. “I don’t know how but he knew.”
“What were you doing, Malloy?” Joshua asked her partner.
“Checking out the wrong warehouse,” Ernie answered honestly.
Joshua frowned. “Go on,” he told Isabella.
“Well, let’s make a long story short. Daton grabbed me, tied me up and then Ernie arrived and rescued me. Then I sliced off his head.” She kept the part about the vampire beating the hell out of her to herself. Joshua didn’t have the stomach for blood and gore.
“Any clue to why this Daton fellow was in town?” Joshua asked.
Isabella noticed Geena eavesdropping on the conversation instead of filing. She didn’t like discussing business in front of her and she really didn’t trust her for some reason.
Joshua appeared to read her thoughts. “Geena, I left some notes on your desk. Be a dear and type them for me.”
Eager to please, Geena left the room on stiletto heels, swaying her hips and getting all of Joshua’s attention. “I’m waiting,” he said to Isabella. He tore his eyes away from the door.
“He was looking for Alesandro Roma.”
Joshua made a face but didn’t comment.
“You should have seen Bella in action,” Ernie said with a chuckle. She kicked Daton squarely in the balls.”
Joshua squelched up his nose. “How terribly barbaric.”
“So is getting your throat ripped to shreds by fangs,” Isabella added, to add to his discomfort. “I couldn’t have done it without my partner.”
“Remind me not to get you angry,” Ernie teased. He shielded his privates with his hands. “Because I plan to make babies for a very long time.”
Ernie and his wife Myra had four kids and a fifth on the way.
The partners shared a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Collena Petre asked as she walked into the office dressed elegantly in a three-piece navy blue pin-striped business pantsuit. It was the kind of suit that would have looked stupid on any other woman, but Collena made it work for her.
Sometimes it was hard for Isabella to believe that Collena and Joshua were siblings. Joshua Petra was two years younger but they shared the same blonde hair and brown eyes. Collena’s hair was always immaculately coiffed in a French braid and her makeup, always perfect. Joshua’s blonde looked more like dishwater as he’d drowned it in gel to hold it down. Nature had played a cruel trick on the siblings. Collena was authoritative, smoked Cuban cigars and had a no-nonsense personality when it came to work.
Joshua was the complete opposite. He was coy, docile and a bit of a sissy-boy. Together they ran the finest preternatural investigative organization in the world. Plus PAK was manned by the best investigators in the business.
“Malloy was telling me about a bit of trouble he and Isabella ran into earlier,” Joshua explained.
Collena glanced over at her. “What sort of trouble?”
“There was a new vampire in town,” Joshua answered. “He kidnapped Isabella and Malloy rescued her.”
Collena studied her. “Looks like you forgot to duck, Bella.” She sat down at the dark mahogany desk and reached for a red satin covered box. From it she extracted a cigar. Collena brought the cigar to her nose, sniffed it and then bit off the top.
Isabella hoped she wouldn’t light it. The smell always made her ill. “Kind of hard to do when you’re tied up.”
“He tied you up?” Collena asked.
“Caught her by surprise,” Malloy answered for her.
Collena raised an eyebrow. “I find that very hard to believe. He must have been one big vampire. What’s his name?”
“Daton,” Isabella answered. “He wanted me to tell him the whereabouts of one Alesandro Roma.”
Collena paused. “Alesandro, the master vampire?”
Isabella nodded. Alesandro’s name was synonymous with evil. Everyone in their line of work knew of him, but Isabella was unlucky enough to have met him.
“Why would he think you would know something like that?” Collena asked curiously.
Isabella and Ernie exchanged glances. Isabella shrugged her shoulders. “I’m a demon slayer and Alesandro’s a vampire. You know, maybe Daton thought we hung around together.”
“Do you?” Collena asked.
The woman was wise beyond her years. She knew the two of them had contacts and acquaintances from every walk of life.
“No,” both of them lied simultaneously. The less their bosses knew about what they did, the better.
“See that you don’t,” Collena replied. “Can’t have you two hanging out with all that evil.” She lit her cigar with a crystal lighter.
Isabella inhaled deeply before the smoke left Collena’s mouth.
“I think we’ll be going,” Ernie said watching her turn blue. “It’s getting late and Isabella needs to rest.”
Collena nodded as Ernie whisked her to the door.
“Try to stay out of trouble,” Joshua shouted behind them.
Ernie pushed her through the door before she could say anything smart.
Isabella exhaled.
“One of these days I’m going to punch him out,” Ernie said to her as they left the building.
“Not before me,” Isabella replied. “You’ll have to get in line.”