"Well, this'll be a first for me," I stated. "I've never been in Bonaventure after dark. Unless things have changed in the past few years, they close and lock the gates at 5 PM. That's why we're making an aerial approach," Bart told me. "Do you trust me enough to let me carry you?" "Guess I'll have to, if we're going to do this," I said. Didn't want to let even an ally know I could fly under my own power at this point. The only ones who knew *that* particular fact were Asher, myself, Kimmy, and Tim the werebear.
"You scared of heights?" he asked. "Nope. Used to climb stuff all the time when I was a kid, the higher the better. Plus, Asher has flown with me a few times," I assured him. "Good," he smiled. "Then let's go. The night's almost half over already." With that amazing vampiric speed, Bart stepped over to me and scooped me up. A second later, we were airborne and speeding towards Savannah.
About halfway there, Bart spoke my name, "Tamara." There was an odd note to his voice that hadn't been there in previous conversations. It made me nervous, but not nearly as nervous as seeing his eyes were a solid, glowing grey-green when I turned my head to face him. "Bart?" I asked hesitantly, wondering if I was going to have to reveal my ability to fly after all. "Hush," he whispered hoarsely. Then he kissed me. My eyes flew wide with surprise. My first instinct was to fight my way loose from him. But I forced myself to remain passive. Struggling was a major turn on to vampires, especially master vampires. Didn't want to encourage him to try something else.
"What was *that* all about?" I asked when he released me from the kiss. "Partly to thank you for letting me taste your power earlier. That was one hell of a kicker. And partly because I saw the opportunity to steal a kiss from a pretty girl," Bart grinned, flashing fang. I gave him a sideways look. "Girl, huh? Dirty old man," I muttered. He got a good laugh out of *that*. (He only *appeared* to be in his late twenties.)
Shortly, we were landing for our meeting with Gracie. Bonaventure Cemetery was *the* creepiest graveyard I'd ever been in. Lots of statuary, some beautiful, some morbid. (The vamp we were visiting had her "grave" here. The marker was a life-sized statue of a little girl holding a rose, sitting on her tombstone. A plaque nearby explained that her parents missed their only child so much that they'd commissioned the statue to be done from a photograph. This was back in the late 1800s or near the turn of the century. I couldn't remember which. It had been years since I'd been there, and the plaque couldn't be read in the dark.)
Spreading oaks dripped with beards of Spanish moss. Scattered here and there were some aboveground crypts. The majority of the graves had slabs laid on them, *suppossedly* because of Savannah's flooding problems. The place looked like something out of a Scooby Doo cartoon by daylight. The darkness did *not* improve matters. I thought it was cool. (I *like* creepy.) I walked past a looming angel that had suffered vandalism, approaching Gracie...both of them.
The Master of Savannah sat on the next gravestone over, mirroring her statue down to the same dress. The only difference, other than a *little* more color in the vampire than the statue, was that she held one of the small stuffed toys that people were always leaving at her grave (along with coins and flowers). She looked every bit the innocent waif with her antique clothes, stuffed toy, and dark blonde curls. A beautiful lie. I could almost *smell* the evil roiling around her. Wouldn't do to underestimate *this* one. She was just under 200 years old and already strong enough to hold her own territory. It was scary.
A middle-aged man stepped up behind her, placing a hand on her head in a fatherly manner as he faced me. I was betting he was her human servant. She turned her head to look up at him, still playing the sweet child. "Look, Daddy, we have visitors!" she chirped. Daddy? I wondered briefly what she'd done with "Mommy" if she'd made her father her servant. Probably drained her so she could have Daddy all to herself, judging by the creepiness factor I was getting from her. "That we do, sweetling," he cooed to her, patting her lightly. "Shall we welcome them?" "Oh, let's do!" Gracie squealed, clapping her hands and bouncing a little, making the curls bob. "I love when people come by to play with me."
Uh oh. I REALLY didn't want to find out what her idea of "playing" was. Going by what I'd heard from Asher, most master vamps had a fairly cruel idea of what was fun. She hopped down from the tombstone and skipped over to me, stopping to peer up at me with a perfect look of innocence. Made me want to strangle her just on basic principle. This whole act was starting to make my gut churn.
"Hi! My name's Gracie. What's yours?" the brat chirped at me. It was like a twisted nightmare version of Baby Jane's act in the musical Gypsy. I half expected her to start singing "Let Me Entertain You." I fought the urge to grin maniacally and scream, "Kill it before it breeds!" at her. Instead, I smiled politely and said, "I'm Mrs. Lowery." I recognized my mother's tone-when-addressing-small-children in my voice. 'Maybe if I talk to her like a child, since that's the persona she's using, it'll lull her into thinking that I'm buying the act,' I sent to Asher.
'That may be a wise move,' he answered. 'Child vampires have a tendency to be unstable. If you play to their delusions, they'll usually remain fairly docile.' 'With this one especially,' I heard Bart's voice in my head. 'Bart?!' I was surprised, but managed to keep it out of my expression. 'It hasn't been that long since I tasted you, darlin'. You're mighty potent. Gave *my* powers a boost and seems to have forged a temporary link between us,' he replied silently. 'Don't worry, though. The link should be broken by tomorrow night at the latest.'
'Any advice on dealing with this brat?' I asked, taking what advantages I could. 'Don't let her feed on you or even bite ya, darlin'. She's a rotter,' Bart warned. 'Thanks for the heads-up,' I replied. 'Death by gangrene is *not* my idea of a way to go.' "Will you play a game with me?" the child vampire asked me. "Well, I would, Gracie," I said. "But I've got to find my husband, so I can take him home." "I know where he's at! Indigo and Spice took him. Cherise got hurt really bad, though," Gracie said. "Where did they take him, Gracie?" I asked as if she really were a child instead of a vampire a few generations older than me.
"I'm not telling, unless you say you'll play with me," she pouted. Brat. "Do you know *why* they took him?" I asked, trying to redirect her. "Um-hm," she nodded. "But I'm not telling. I want to *play*...NOW!" An idea was starting to form in my mind. "If I play with you some, do you *promise* to answer my questions?" She nodded with an angelic smile. Not a hint of fang showed. Damn, she was good. I wondered how many poor souls had fallen prey to that act. 'Bart, be ready to restrain Daddy,' I sent. I opened my marks with Asher fully and felt his power merge with my own. I knew I'd have the extra speed and strength I'd need for this to work.
"How would you like to start off with a piggyback ride?" I asked Gracie. I was betting this would appeal to her predatory nature...something simple that would apparently put her at an advantage for an attack. I was right. "Oh yes! I *love* piggyback rides!" she squealed in delight. I smiled like an indulgent nanny and held my hand out to her to lift her up on my shoulders. She took the offered hand, skipping closer to me, playing the innocent child bit right up to the last minute. Wouldn't do to alarm the prey too soon.
But instead of lifting her to my shoulders (a place I certainly did *not* want her to be), I spun her around and caught her other wrist. I pinned them together in the iron grip my link with Asher afforded me. I lifted back and up on her arms, throwing her off balance. Wrapping my other hand around her small throat, I lifted her off the ground. "Daddy!" she shrieked. "No fair! *I'm* supposed to win!" "Daddy's a little busy right now," I grunted as one small flailing foot caught my side. At least the position I held her in kept her from having the leverage to put any real force behind the blow. Bart had knocked her servant unconscious and was sitting on him, giving me a bemused look.
"*Where* is my husband, Gracie," I demanded. "Tell me now, and I'll let you go." "No!" she snarled, her true nature starting to show through the child-mask. "You're not playing fair! Let me *go*!" Then she started to rot. Guess she thought I'd drop her out of terror or disgust. "Gonna have to do better than that," I laughed. "Play time is over, bitch. Now answer the question. Where is my husband?" She added a horrific stench to the rot as an answer. "Not good enough, Gracie," I told her. "I'm scarier than you. If you don't cooperate and tell me what I want to know, I'm gonna use you as crab-bait. They'll just *love* that stink." I was mad enough, that I really meant it, too.
I was gripping her rotting throat hard enough that blood and fouler liquids were trickling down from where my fingertips had pierced the skin. Gracie must've gotten the message that I meant business. "They took him to Cockspur Island," she croaked, her voice and tone almost that of an adult now. "Why?" I demanded. "I thought your master would take it as an insult from Bartholomew for failing to protect you," she answered. "The Council representative said that the Master of Statesboro had promised you and yours protection while in his territory. I was gambling that your master would avenge the insult but not be interested in keeping the territory. Once Bartholomew was gone, I could annex his territory, adding it to my own."
I flung her from me as hard as I could, slamming her against an ancient oak a few yards away. She made a sickening splatting sound when she hit, then slid to the ground, glaring at me. "You tried to play Asher and me against Bart and used Derik like a pawn!" I said furiously. Grabbing a nearby clump of Spanish moss, I wiped the smelly gunk from my hands. I'd probably end up trimming the nails down to the quick to get the stuff out from under them. At least none of it had gotten on my clothes. Gracie began reforming herself, the wounds on her neck vanishing beneath new skin.
A wash of power came from Bart, drawing our attention. He had dropped the good-old-boy facade and gathered his power about him. His face glowed with a terrible beauty as he hovered a few feet in the air, Gracie's human servant clasped to his chest, still unconscious. "You were misinformed, Gracie," his voice came deadly cold. He may not have been as powerful as Asher, but with the boost he'd gotten from feeding from me, he was damn close. "And you miscalculated. I never said I would *protect* Mrs. Lowery or her family, only that none of my vampire would ever bother them. You have indirectly challenged me for my territory. Now pay the price."
With a precise and swift movement, he snapped the man's neck and dropped the body to the ground. "DADDY!!" Gracie screamed. Her eyes rolled to look at the remains of her father. I realized that she could no longer move. Breaking Daddy's neck had left *her* paralyzed. Bart moved to where she lay and grabbed a handful of hair. He held her up by it. "You've been a very naughty little girl, Gracie," Bart said in a low voice. "You need to spend some time alone in your room. But, know this, Asher, the master of the City of Orlando, is now my ally. If his servant's husband has been harmed, I will see to it that you get to see the next sunrise on Tybee Beach. You have forfeited your position as Master of Savannah. I will file claim with the Council to be recognized as the new master and add it to *my* territory."
One of Bart's vamps arrived a few minutes later and removed the paralyzed former Master of the City. "Bart, the night's growing short," I said. "We need to get out there and retrieve Derik soon. Please." Didn't hurt to be polite when he was powered up like that. Moving almost too fast for me to follow it, he scooped me up and went airborne again. "Let's do it, darlin'," he smiled, the good-old-boy mask falling back into place. But, I noticed his eyes were still glowing grey-green. "You're not gonna kiss me again, are you?" I asked. "I *might*," he laughed.