The Hunger Read online

  Marcus picked up the other two bodies and carried them to the door, then opened the door and looked into the back room. It was deserted. Crossing the room he grabbed the knob a twisted it out of shape, destroying the opening mechanism and insuring that no one would come into this room. He walked back to the door and tossed the first body into the room. He followed with the other two and Tashawn appeared with the gas can.

  Marcus took the three gallon can from his minion and poured the gasoline over the bodies, then poured some more over the floor boards around the bodies. He motioned Tashawn out of the room. In the alley he pulled a Zippo out of his pocket, flicked it to life, and tossed it into the room. The gasoline flared to fiery life as flames engulfed the bodies.

  “What if the building burns down?” asked Tashawn. “Be kind of rough on the whores if they can’t get out.”

  “As you so eloquently say, my friend,” said Marcus, looking into his minion’s face. “Fuck em. Now we have a place where we need to be, and this is not it. So let us go and wait for our prey.”

  “You know where she’s gonna be?”

  “No, Tashawn,” said Marcus as he gestured for the other vampire to lead the way. “But I have a good idea where she might strike next. I hope your human servant is good at reading maps.”

  * * *

  Monsignor John O’Connor stood on the sidewalk looking across the street at the eight-bedroom house that was the Padillas manor. He cringed a little again as another unmarked police car cruised by, the man in the passenger seat staring at the man who had spent the last fifteen minutes on the corner.

  I need to find a better vantage point, thought the priest. He was not doing anything illegal, and he had the permit for the gun he carried. But police were more likely to take him to the nearest station to clear him as not. And that would take him away from her hunting grounds when he most needed to be there.

  The only problem was that this was a residential neighborhood. There were no bars, restaurants or convenience stores to cover behind, not even a church he could pray in. And he knew no one in the neighborhood, so he couldn’t shelter in a nearby house.

  This was where she was most likely to come this night. He could feel it in the air, as if God was telling him where to be to fulfill his destiny. So here he had to stay.

  O’Connor tried to blend in with the landscape as he saw another car going slowly down the street, driven by a young white man with another in the passenger seat. The sure sign of an unmarked car on patrol, when just about every other car on the street either whizzed by a fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit, or crept along barely under the control of an elderly retiree who should have given up the license years before.

  The car was just a hundred feet away now, one of the Fords that police departments around the country liked to use for cruisers. The passenger window was rolling down as O’Connor tried to look like he was buried in a book.

  “And what brings you out on this fine Florida night, Padre?” said a familiar voice.

  O’Connor looked up and into the eyes of the FBI agent he knew believed. The only one that he was sure did.

  “You know what I am about Agent DeFalco,” said O’Connor, drawing himself up to his full height. “Can I assume the same for you?”

  “You sure can, Father O’Connor,” said the agent with a smile. “I know how I ended up here. The police have solid intelligence on where our girl might strike next. But how did you end up on this quiet street?”

  “Would you believe that God sent me to this spot?”

  “As much as I believe in vampires?” said the agent, nodding his head. “But I think it might be a little too hazardous for a civilian to be hanging around here. Why don’t you go home, or to the Mission, or where ever the hell you Holy types go when you’re not working?”

  “Who better to try and stop the spawn of the devil?” said O’Connor, staring the agent in the eye as he fingered his cross. “A soldier of God will have the best chance of stopping her, no matter what you might think.”

  “OK,” said DeFalco, holding a large Greek Cross up for the priest to see. “You can stay. But stay out of our way.” DeFalco then chuckled for a moment. “Unless you see her kicking our asses. Then come a running.”

  “Let’s go,” DeFalco said to the driver, as he pulled up a microphone to his lips.

  “Bless you my son,” said O’Connor, sketching out the sign of the cross.

  DeFalco looked up from the microphone and grinned. “I’ll take any help I can get from the Almighty.”

  O’Connor breathed a sigh of relief as the car moved down the street. It seemed he would be allowed to stay. And much as he liked the idea of the police being near when it hit the fan, he still felt that they didn’t know what they were dealing with and were out of their league.

  * * *

  “I don’t like the smells coming from down there,” said Marcus, sitting in the back seat of the car five or six blocks from the Padillas house. “The police are there in force. And I smell the stench of a priest.”

  “You afraid that the police might get her before you do?” asked Tashawn from the passenger seat, looking into the back of the car.

  “I have no fear that they will get her as you say. But I am afraid that they might frighten her away. What I can sense so can she. And she has shown uncommon wisdom for one so young.”

  “Let’s see how wise she looks when I tear her head off,” growled Tashawn, as Marvin pulled the car forward a block and made a left turn, trying not to stand out too much.

  Poor youngling, thought Marcus LaMons, staring at the back of Tashawn’s head. Yes, you are strong, stronger than one should rightly be at your stage of development. But physical strength is not everything, and I would bet on my dear Lucinda should you ever meet her by yourself.

  * * *

  Lucinda banked over the city, several blocks to the east of the Padillas house. She sniffed the air, screeching in anger as she picked up the multiple scents from below and sorted them out. She could smell the priest down there, and the FBI Agent. People who had been on her trail for months. But innocents she could not harm, no matter that they were trying to destroy her.

  She could also pick up the faint scent of the vampire lord, close to her own mistake. Those two are now in league, she thought. She couldn’t say that she could take either one of them, much less the two of them together.

  She felt the hunger deep in her breast at that moment. The instinct that told her to take her victim, to feast on his blood, no matter the risk. She knew this instinct was what killed so many of her vile kind. And she wanted no part of it.

  Tonight is a bust, she thought, forcing the hunger back down so she could think. But I still need to feed. The image of her sinking her fangs into the skull of a baby came unbidden to her mind, as she shuddered in revulsion at the same time as she felt the hunger surge back again. Again she forced it back. I will not be a slave to my instincts.

  With that thought a sense of calm came over her and she could think rationally again. Undead she may have been, but the exercises she performed daily to quiet her mind worked on the non-living as well. She banked back to the right as she released a sonar screech. She thought she knew where the secondary target might be. And that action would impact the primary as well.

  * * *

  Jacob Padillas had his dad’s olive skin tone, and his mom’s striking blonde hair. He moved toward the bar of the Club Astropolis, feeling the eyes of the many women in the club follow him. With his rugged good looks and athletic body, he knew he would have no trouble finding a bed warmer this night, as he didn’t on any other night of the week.

  Of course the Armani suit and the Rolex bought with daddy’s money doesn’t hurt either, he thought as he leaned over the bar and flashed Gregorio, the bartender, a smile.

  “Your nose, Jake,” said the bartender as he approached Padillas.

  Jake rubbed the underside of his nose, dislodging the coke that had stuck there. He licked his finger
s, tasting the almost pure Columbian crystal.

  “Gimme a scotch on the rocks,” he said the Gregorio.

  “Yes sir,” agreed the bartender, pulling a bottle from under the counter. The good stuff, reserved for those who could afford it.

  Jake took the offered drink and turned his back to the bar, leaning against the bar’s bumper as he let his eye roam around the club. He took in the dance floor, where a couple of dozen women danced with the losers who were trying to pick them up. He dismissed half the women out of hand. They did not meet his standards. Almost another dozen were past conquests. He would try for them again if he no luck otherwise. The rest were to his taste and strange, but he could see two of them would probably want nothing to do with him. Wearing expensive jewelry and original Paris dresses; his money wouldn’t impress those bitches. Maybe by his looks, but again, seeing the pretty boys they were dancing with, maybe not.

  Then she caught his eye. A stunning redhead he had never seen in the club. Her knee length blue dress set off her pale complexion and fiery hair perfectly. She had tastefully selected diamond earrings and a pearl necklace. A professional lady, thought Jake. Not a whore, but a businesswoman out for a little fun. Who might be impressed by Jake Padillas.

  The woman met his eye and she squirted some breath spray into the mouth. Jake felt his heart beat faster, and not from the coke in his system. The woman radiated sexuality, and Jake found himself imagining how she would perform in bed. In his mind’s eye he could see her straddling him as he lay on the silk sheets of his bedroom, lust in her gaze as she moved up and down on him.

  “What,” he said, as suddenly she was at his side, smiling at him with one of those half smiles that hide most of the teeth. As if she was laughing at him inside. He felt his face flush with anger. But a look into her wide blue eyes killed the anger with lust.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before,” he said, trying to calm a voice that came out too high from his nervousness. What the fuck, he thought. He hadn’t been nervous around a woman since taking Charlotte Harden’s virginity in the storeroom of St. Agnes’ Catholic School. But this one made him nervous, with a thrill of danger that had his blood pumping in his ears.

  “I’ve never been here before,” she said leaning toward him so he could smell the minty fresh breath from her mouth. “So I’d be surprised if you had.”

  I’m Jake,” he said, putting out his hand. She took it in hers and he started for a second at how cool it felt.

  “I’m Lucy,” she said. “Lucy Tegano. Pleased to meet you.”

  She gave it a gentle shake, then lightly raked her fingernails over his palm as she withdrew her hand. Jake took in a sharp breath as he looked into the wide pupils of her eyes. Either a sign of interest, he knew. Or of drugs. But she didn’t act like she was on any strong narcotics.

  “Would you like a drink, Lucy?” he asked, nodding toward Gregorio.

  “I don’t drink, liquor,” she said in a throaty voice. “But I would love to dance. Would you dance with me, Jake?”

  “Sure,” whispered Jake, feeling a little light headed. He reached out his hand and she put hers in it. He led the way from the bar to the dance floor, the psychedelic lighting scheme dazzling his eyes. He pushed his way through a couple of ecstasy heads, the man turning an angry gaze on him until he realized who it was. People moved out of his way as he led her to the center of the floor. Jake reveled in the power that he held in the nightlife of Tampa.

  As they reached the center of the floor Lucy pulled her hand from his and started moving to the music. Jake stared at her in fascination for a moment, watching her graceful movements in perfect rhythm to the metal music that was playing over the expensive sound system. She smiled at him and he felt embarrassed to be acting like such a schoolboy. He started moving himself, arms and legs attempting to find her rhythm. But she moved like a professional dancer, and he did his best just to keep up.

  Looking at the slender curves of her perfect body under her tight fitting dress, he felt himself becoming aroused. She flashed him another bemused smile, and moved toward him, falling into his arms. He flinched for a moment as she molded her body to his and began moving in a rhythm that had nothing to do with the music. His arms went around her, feeling the taunt muscles of her back moving as she swayed. Her soft breasts pressed against his chest, as he ground his hard manhood into her hip and groin.

  There was a musky scent about her that pulled Jake even further into her spell. He frowned for a second as he smelled something else under the perfume and natural scent. Something that reminded him of the corruption of death. But then her mouth nuzzled his ear and all thought that dealt with anything but lust fled his mind.

  “I want you so badly,” he whispered into her ear. “I want you now.”

  “I think the dance floor may be a little too public,” she said with a chuckle.

  “No,” he said with an answering laugh. “I think I can wait till we get in private.”

  “I want you too,” she said in a husky voice that dripped with sexuality. “I want you so bad.”

  “Then let’s get out of here,” he said, pulling out of the embrace and grasping her hand. He led her from the dance floor, nodding at a smiling Gregorio, while he wondered who had won the pool on him tonight.

  They walked toward his car hand in hand, and Jake waited in anticipation as they approached his car. He knew that the silver Maserati Spyder normally sparked excitement in his women. He pulled his keys from his pocket and triggered the lock/alarm system. He felt a little bit of disappointment as she took her hand from his and walked to the passenger door, pulling it open and sliding her lean form into the seat.

  Jake shrugged his shoulders. What did it matter if she was impressed or not by the car. I’m gonna get that pussy, he thought, and that was all that really mattered.

  As he slid into the seat and put the key in the ignition she shifted over toward him and stroked his back through the suit. Her other hand went down his chest, sliding unerringly down to his groin, where it rested for a moment, then started kneading. Jake felt his erection spring to full life again.

  “I really think it might be better to wait till we get back to my place,” he said, a wide smile on his face. “Unless you want to give me a blow job, this place is just a little too crowded for comfort.”

  “It’s spacious enough for my purposes,” she said in a cold voice.

  A chill ran down Jake’s spine as the atmosphere in the car changed. The musky sensual odor went away, overpowered by the smell of death. He turned his head to look into red, glowing eyes, while the smile on her face revealed long canines. He felt the fear settle in his gut as he realized he was in deadly danger.

  He jerked at the hand on his groin, while trying to shrug his shoulder out from under the other hand. She gripped tightly in both places. Jake hissed in agony at the pain that erupted from his testicles. He pulled with all of his strength, panic boosting the adrenaline flowing through his muscles. But Jake might as well have been pulling at a hydraulic press for all the good it did him. The slender arms didn’t budge, telling of a strength many times his own.

  Jake released the hand squeezing his balls and tried to reach under the front of the seat. There was a pistol there, and he needed it at this moment more than any other time in his life. But her hand moved like a striking rattlesnake, shifting from groin to moving hand in a blur. His hand froze in place, and he looked back at her face in a fascinated fear.

  “What are you trying to do, little man?” she said with a smile that froze his heart. “You are all mine now, and I intend to enjoy you.”

  “Please,” he croaked. “My father will give you anything you want if you let me go.”

  “Oh, I doubt that,” she said. “Since I want the same thing from him as I do from you.”

  She moved her head to just off his neck, her cold breathe chilling his skin as it chilled his guts.

  “I want your life, little man,” she whispered. “Jacob Padi
llas. Raper of little girls. How’d your father get you off on all of those charges Jacob?”

  She licked his neck, leaving a moist trail on the flesh.

  “You will not get a reprieve this time Jacob. There is no clemency in this court.”

  Jake felt the sharp pain in his neck as she bit into him. He then felt her lips against his neck, sucking at the flesh. He struggled for a moment, but his strength could not free him from her grasp. The sucking continued, until he began to feel faint headed. Soon his vision began to go red, then black, until Jacob Padillas fell into a black hole from which there was no escape.

  * * *

  Lucinda stared at the corpse in the driver’s seat for a moment, feeling the hunger abate as it was replaced by a feeling of satiation. She then looked up and around through the windows of the car. Nothing moved in the parking lot.

  I still should have waited, she thought. Someone might have seen her. But the hunger had gotten too great, until she could not resist any longer. So she had fed and made her kill, and no one had seen.

  Quickly she got out of the car and pulled the body over into the passenger seat. Lucinda then got into the driver’s seat and started up the car. Her human memories were sparked by the rumbling purr of the high performance automobile. She shifted into gear and pressed the gas, moving the car out of the parking lot and onto the street.

  A couple of blocks down she turned into the entrance to a towering parking garage. Stopping at the automatic gate she pushed the button and accepted the ticket, waiting a moment for the gate to swing up. The Maserati responded to a slight touch of the gas as she headed for the up ramp. She accelerated as the ramp sloped up.

  Lucinda drove the car past the second floor, then the third, ignoring all of the open spaces that would be full when the business day started tomorrow. She pulled onto the tenth level, the rooftop of the garage. With a squeal of tires she brought the car to a sudden stop, got out, and walked to the concrete guardrail. She looked over the guardrail and down onto the street a hundred feet below. There was very little traffic on the street, only a couple of cars a minute. Good enough, she thought. A risk worth taking.