Lorne (The Dark League 1) Page 4

  Lorne

  I could feel someone looking at me and raised my head. My eyes automatically went to Trisha’s window. There she was. She must have seen me with Davina. I had no idea why I felt so damn guilty but the bad conscience that I felt could not be denied. And yet I was in no way accountable to Trisha. We were not mates and I could fuck whoever I wanted.

  As if hypnotised, I stared up at Trisha. She was looking directly at me, her face half in shadow, but the first morning light was shining on the right-hand side of her face and I could clearly see that her face was full of pain. That did not exactly help me to calm my damn conscience. It was much more like a stab in my own heart. I did not want to hurt her but I could not admit those feelings that had arisen between us. This kind of consuming passion was dangerous! Serge’s example had clearly shown that. A lot of my brothers were convinced that a firm relationship brought too many complications with it and that was why there were very few couples amongst us who were mates. The relationship between mates went much deeper than human relationships. It was forever. Only the death of a partner ended the bond and usually the one remaining soon followed its dead mate or went insane. No! I would not risk this either for myself or for Trisha! I lived a dangerous life. I could be killed and that would bring about Trisha’s doom. As long as we did not admit that there was a bond, it was still painful, but nothing compared to the sadness over a mate.

  Sighing, I looked away and forced my legs to move forward. Inside I was completely in pieces, as never before in my existence as a vampire. With Davina I had now ruined things for myself, too, after murmuring Trisha’s name just now whilst having sex. Davina had pushed me away angrily and marched off. My cock did not take it very well, either, not getting to come. Yes, it was easy to work out that this was the worst night that I had ever experienced.

  “Fuck!“ I uttered angrily after I trying to get to sleep for three hours. Without success!

  Honest to goodness, I had wanked four times and my bloody cock was simply not going to give any rest – and likewise my head that kept on pushing images of Trisha before me. I missed her scent and I rolled onto the side where she used to sleep, burying my nose into the pillow to deeply inhale. Her scent was still there but it was not the same, sniffing on a damn pillow, as inhaling it from her warm, soft skin and her silky hair. I wanted to hold her in my arms and dig my teeth into her flesh whilst pushing my cock into her hot, wet entrance. I wanted her so much that it seemed to be robbing me of my senses. If I was already feeling her loss so badly, how would it feel to have her as a mate and lose her? Panic spread through my heart. That must never happen! That was the reason why I needed to keep away from her! I must not give into my longing. Without a doubt it would abate with time. I just had to have a little patience. After all, this was my first night without her. What else was I to expect than that I would miss her? After all, I had spent almost every hour with her for the last two weeks.

  Trisha

  Two weeks had passed and I had not seen Lorne since the night when I had looked out of the window. I had found out from Charleene that he had travelled to Las Vegas with two other brothers of the League to pay his respects there to Victor who, from what I understood, was a kind of vampire king. I missed him more with every day. I had hoped that the pain would go away, but instead of that it seemed to grow with every day, like an ulcer, in my heart and in my soul. Charleene did her best to distract me. She had been a good friend and we spent a lot of time together. Every night I went hunting with her. Sometimes other vampires joined us, but usually it was just the two of us. Twice I had met Davina in the house and both times the female vampire had looked at me with obvious hatred. I had no idea why. She had, after all, taken Lorne from me, not the other way round! I should hate her – and I did. With every fibre of my vampire being!

  There was a knock at the door. My sense of smell had by now become sharp enough for me to know who was at the door before I opened it.

  “Hi, Charleene!“ I called out.

  “Hey! I’m to take you to a meeting. Come on!“

  “Hold on a minute!“ I stopped her as she went to grab my hand.

  “What sort of meeting?“

  “You’ve been here long enough to be able to learn about what we do and how everything works. I asked my team leader and he says you can attend today. So come on!“

  Sighing, I gave in and followed my friend down the stairs. I knew that there were five cellar storeys altogether, but till now I had only seen the first cellar storey, and that was only briefly and I only saw part of it, so I was quite nervous as we went down the stairs into the fourth cellar storey. Once down there we walked along a long dimly lit corridor. I could hear voices from a room at the end of the corridor. We stopped in front of a door with two entwined dragons on the front of it. Charleene looked at me.

  “Only speak when you are directly asked something, otherwise let me do the speaking!“

  “OK!“ I agreed, a little nervously.

  I had no idea what I was letting myself in for here. Since my arrival here almost four weeks earlier I had hardly moved around the house and I had always been with either Lorne or Charleene. Consequently I still knew as good as no one here. I knew that more than two hundred vampires lived here, of whom I had only come across a dozen in total.

  Charleene opened the door and pulled me into the room with her. A large oval table stood in the middle around which there were about a dozen chairs – all but three were occupied. Everyone present turned towards us and I felt their curious eyes upon me. I blushed. One of those present was not sitting in his chair but standing behind it, propping himself up on the back rest. He smiled at us briefly and I relaxed a little. I had met him once. It was Milton and he was clearly the team leader here.

  “Right, now we’re all present. Take a seat. Larissa is, of course, in Las Vegas with a few others, so for today we’re all here.“

  Charleene took a seat on one of the vacant chairs and I sat down next to her.

  “Right!“ began Milton, walking to a projector standing on a small table and switching it on. Immediately, a ground plan appeared on the wall. Milton took a pointer and turned to the wall.

  “What you see here is part of the industrial area section 89 CJ. We have received sufficient information to know that at least a handful of Renegades is staying in this section. We’re going in teams of three or two. Lukas and I will make up the team of two as Larissa‘s not here. That way we’ll have four teams. Team A - Blake, Mara and Judas. Team B – Vincent, Luna and Xavier. Team C – Charleene, Trisha and Angelo. Lukas and I are then Team D.“

  Milton explained the strategy – who, from where and when, had to do what. I tried to listen as carefully as possible to the instructions but my own heart was beating so hard with nervousness that I kept on losing the plot. I consoled myself with the fact that my two team mates would already know what had to be done and would tell me when I had to do something.

  “OK! We’ll meet here in half an hour, next to these telephone boxes. Any questions?“

  None of those present said anything, so Milton nodded, clearly satisfied.

  “Good! Let’s go then!“

  Chairs were moved. Excited conversation filled the room in which it had been quiet a short time before and where Milton’s voice had been the only one. Tense anticipation filled the air. A black-haired guy with a southern appearance joined us. So this had to be Angelo.

  “Trisha, this is Angelo – he comes from Venezuela. Angelo, this is Trisha, our newcomer. Lorne created her – so it’s best for you to keep your fingers to yourself if you don’t want him to tear you to pieces when he returns.“

  “Pity!“ said Angelo, looking me up and down with considerable interest. “Perhaps she’s worth the risk. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Trisha.“

  “The pleasure is all ... all mine,“ I replied.

  I wondered how much truth there might be in Charleene’s warning. After all, Lorne had not shown any more interest in me. Why sh
ould he have anything against me starting something with someone else? This was ridiculous. Angelo was not actually my type, but I would still not be forbidden from flirting by an arrogant vampire who had rejected me and was avoiding me as if I had a contagious illness.

  We crept through the darkness, always protected by the warehouse next to us. Angelo went ahead, with me next and Charleene behind me. All I had to do was follow Angelo quietly and inconspicuously – stop when he stopped – and duck when he ducked. I was terribly nervous. The only Renegade that I had ever seen was the blond bastard that would have killed me, had Lorne not come to my rescue. Lorne! There they were again – my thoughts about the man that I ought to forget! Swearing inside, I was not paying attention to what Angelo was doing in front of me and I ran straight into him when he stopped.

  “Sorry!“ I murmured.

  “It’s OK!“ he replied. “But do concentrate harder, OK? We don’t want the Renegades to know that we’re here. They really are damn dangerous. We need the advantage of the surprise effect. We don’t know whether our information is right – it could be far more than a handful. That wouldn’t be the first time.“

  I nodded, full of trepidation, glancing anxiously at Charleene. “Don’t worry, we’ll deal with them. Angelo and I will look after you. You stay really close to us.“

  I nodded again.

  “OK, ladies,“ said Angelo, a little impatiently. “Let’s move on!“

  Screaming was heard nearby. It was the frantic scream of a woman. Then the screaming stopped abruptly.

  “Damn!“ murmured Charleene behind me. “Do we have permission to proceed, Angelo?“

  “Yes! Come on! It looks as if we have our bastards. Quietly!“

  We ran on tiptoe to the end of the warehouse. Angelo glanced round the corner of the building. Battle cries could be heard. Ours was clearly not the only team to have tracked down the Renegades. Angelo signalled to us and threw himself into combat with a roar.

  “Stay by my side!“ said Charleene, following Angelo.

  What I saw when I, too, turned the corner, made the blood freeze in my veins. Three young women were lying on the ground, tied up, whilst all around them Renegades and hunters of the League were fighting furiously. Fighters kept on walking over the poor women in the heat of the battle. I had to get them out of there.

  “Help the women!“ Charleene acknowledged my plan.

  “On it!“ I said confidently, throwing myself into the turmoil. I bent down to a blond woman who appeared to be the most badly injured and held her under the arms. She was not exactly a feather-weight and I would definitely have had problems pulling her away previously, but my new status as a vampire came with the bonus of considerably increased abilities, so I could pull her away without much exertion. I pulled her behind a pile of planks where she was better protected from the fighters.

  “I’ll be right back,“ I spoke to her. “I need to help the others!“

  She looked at me from big, frightened eyes and nodded. Again I threw myself between the fighters and pulled a somewhat older woman with short brown hair into safety – after that, the third woman, who, despite being tied up, had managed to come towards me on her hands and knees. Glancing at the fighters, I ascertained, with relief, that the League clearly had the upper hand. All four teams had arrived by now. As far as I could make out amidst the chaos there were eight Renegades. One after the other was rendered harmless by having his head torn off. Not a nice sight. The corpses just lay there – no turning to dust or burning of the body. They did not explode into a revolting, bloody mass, either, as happened in ’True Blood‘. Fortunately! When only one of the Renegades was left Milton’s command could be heard: “I want him alive!“

  The Renegade put up a hard fight as he was dragged to Milton. Four hunters held him still whilst Milton scrutinised the vampire calmly.

  “Where’s your nest?“ he asked.

  “Fuck you!“ said the Renegade, a punk with green hair and countless piercings.

  Milton smiled. A cruel smile. He pulled a silver blade from his jacket and I could briefly see fear flash into the Renegade‘s eyes. I knew that silver was very painful for vampires, if not deadly.

  “Well! Do you want to talk now, perhaps?“ asked Milton calmly.

  The Renegade shook his head, but fear was written right across his face. The four hunters held onto him more tightly, as they were clearly expecting more resistance when Milton used the silver dagger to force the enemy to speak. And that is what happened. As soon as Miton tore the prisoner’s t-shirt to expose a pale, boney chest, the bloke suddenly pushed his feet into the ground and writhed about. For such a stick insect, he had an incredible amount of strength. As the Renegades were almost always on more or less of an overdose, they had more strength that the other vampires. But the four vampires of the League were holding him very tightly and Milton slid the blade down his chest, right down to his belly. Not only did blood flood out of the gaping wound, but his flesh also burnt and blisters appeared where the blade touched it. The tortured man was yelling, but his cry was muffled by a cloth that Charleene stuffed into his mouth so that his screaming could not alert Renegades that might still be hiding. She tied a cloth round his mouth so that the gag could not be spat back out. The panic in the Renegade‘s eyes almost aroused my sympathy. Almost! I had not forgotten what the Renegades were capable of, nor the fate that would have befallen the three women tonight if we had not come.

  Again, Milton drew the blade over the pale skin. Not as deeply this time, but slowly, thereby increasing the vampire body’s allergic reaction to the silver. The vampire screamed out again, muffled by the gag and tears poured out of his reddened eyes. He writhed about with all his might, but the four vampires of the League were able to hold onto him.

  “Perhaps you’d like to talk now? Then I’ll kill you quickly and painlessly. Or would you like me to carry on with the blade a little lower down?“

  Milton pointed the dagger at the Renegade’s genital area and the poor man shook his head in horror, his eyes wide open.

  “Is that a ‘No, I don’t want to talk?‘ or a ‘No, I’d like to keep my cock?‘“ mocked Milton and the other vampires roared with laughter.

  “Right! So, again – talk?“

  The prisoner nodded furiously and Charleene removed the gag.

  “Good!“ said Milton, satisfied, cleaning the bloody dagger on the victim’s t-shirt before returning it to his jacket. How many of you are in the nest?“

  “Only two,“ croaked the Renegade. “They’re out! Since three days ago!“

  By now I had learnt enough about the Renegades to know that ‘out‘ meant that they were high on blood and probably unconscious.

  “Take us to them!“ Milton demanded coldly. And don’t try anything on or you’ll still lose your cock before I let you die!“

  Lorne

  I tried, with difficulty, to suppress a yawn. We had been in Las Vegas for three days now and life at court bored me terribly. And with all this boredom I had decidedly too much time to think about Trisha. Even the three beauties that had besieged me for three hours could not affect this. We were forbidden from taking anyone up to our rooms, but sex was permitted as long as it took place in the large hall. Lothaire, as always, did not seem to have a problem with this – he was at it with two women on the couch opposite me, completely uninhibited. I was not interested in this sort of public fucking. Apart from anything, despite the three sexy vampire females, my cock was not going to react at all today. Complete shut-down! I knew that when I was alone in my bed later, thinking about Trisha, then the miserable traitor would rear its head again and hassle me all day, preventing me from sleeping. It had been like that for three day now and that was why I was so terribly over-tired. I had thought it a good idea to come away from New York, far away from Trisha. That was why I had registered voluntarily for the quarterly delegation. Every three months all headquarters of the League had to render account to the head of the League, to Victor. Every oper
ation had to be presented – every success and failure in the last three months. In addition, this was also the time to report vampires who had broken the rules or had even defected to the Renegades. As there were thirty five headquarters in America, and Victor dealt with one case at a time, the whole thing always took a long time. This time it lasted even longer as, in addition, the annual balance sheet was due, and because this the four hundred and sixty nine foreign representatives had come, too. The New York League was in position number two hundred and eighteen on Victor’s list and at the moment it was Tokyo’s turn, in position number one hundred and seventy six. I hated these Japanese vampires. I had an uneasy feeling about them. I could not even say why. For some reason I doubted their loyalty. But that was not my business. All I had to do here was wait with my brothers and sisters until it was our turn.

  I had had enough! It would be at least tomorrow morning before it was our turn, so I could just as well go somewhere else. Who said that I had to spend my time in this crappy palace? I pushed the women away from me, ignoring every groan in protest and got up. My eyes fell upon Phil, the other brother who had, along with Lothaire and Larissa, come here with me from New York. He was standing at the bar pouring whisky into himself. He turned his head, sensing my gaze and nodded at me. I slowly made my way over to him at the bar and he filled a glass for me without a word.

  I knocked it back and grimaced. I was not a fan of whisky, but I could do with a few now, so I let Phil pour me another.

  “I can’t stand it here. I need a change of scenery,“ I said, after pouring down the second glass.

  Phil nodded.

  “Yes, me too. What are you thinking?“