The Murder King's Woman Read online

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  The Murder King’s Woman

  by

  Jamie Leigh Hansen

  Copyright

  Published by Jamie Leigh Hansen

  Copyright 2009. Jamie Leigh Hansen

  Cover by Jamie Leigh Hansen

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

  All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.

  For Craig. Always and Forever.

  The Murder King's Woman

  “99 veins of blood to tap,

  99 veins of bloood…

  Pick the best flavor and drain it dry.

  There’ll be 98 veins of blood to try.”

  Sasha sashayed her curvy human body across the busy foyer of the San Francisco Vamp Palace, her booted steps in sync with the rousing chorus of vamps in the next room and her jaunty nurse’s cap bobbing with the tune. Grasping hold of the song, she continued the refrain silently as she pushed the empty black wheelchair through the crowd of costumed, but deadly, vampires.

  Her nurse’s top was white and cut low to the thick, black belt on her waist. A bright red wonder bra pushed everything she had out and up in a bountiful display. The skirt stretched high on her thighs, leaving a few inches of skin bare to the tops of her thigh-high black boots.

  She appeared the epitome of a nurse/whore, her make-up vivid and glossy as she pushed the wheelchair with latex-gloved hands to the elevator behind the grand staircase. A Bela Lugosi look-alike cast lascivious glances all down her body as a Queen Elizabeth smiled at her with condescending indulgence. Contrary to modern myth, vampires loved Halloween. It was the one night a year they could let their fangs hang out. Though, tonight their fangs were a bit sharper than usual.

  Smiling vacuously, her mind only shielded with the most basic of barriers expected from an average mortal like her, Sasha continued to sing silently. 98 veins of blood to tap…

  Sasha entered the elevator, pushed the button for the fourth floor, and gripped the wheelchair handles tight. She smiled, wide and excited for any who glanced her way. 95 veins of blood to tap…

  The elevator doors slid open to a long, dark wood hallway with doors on either side. Some were open, some weren’t. At one, a beautiful ice blonde in a dress Cinderella would envy smiled teasingly at a dashing, kilted Scotsman. Her voice was a smooth purr. “You can look under mine if you let me look under yours.”

  He chuckled, his voice low as he leaned forward and twisted the doorknob behind her. “Only look?”

  Sasha’s smile came easier as she passed them, the chair rolling quietly along the deep red carpet. 89 veins of blood to tap, 89 veins of bloood…

  Toward the end, between two closed doors where the wall should be a smooth mural, she deftly swiped a card through the nearly hidden slot. The hallway was silent for the moment, but the pounding of a human heart carried easily through the walls into the many bedrooms. She only had seconds before someone would come to see why hers pounded.

  Adding more joy to the refrain in her head, she slipped into the secret hallway with its walls thick enough to hide almost anything thought or spoken and pushed the chair down the narrow tunnel. Halting outside the guard room, she parked the chair and stepped into the opening, leaning against the door frame in a seductive pose.

  There was only one guard, sitting with his feet propped up and staring at the monitors morosely. He glanced back at her then did a swift double take, nearly falling from his chair. Sasha grinned wickedly. “I heard you were hungry.”

  As he stood, the light hit his name tag. Stan. Stan took his time, gazing from the pulse in her neck, down her exposed cleavage and lower to the inches of thigh exposed between her skirt and boots. In less than a blink, he stood before her, taller, faster, stronger.

  Sasha shivered.

  Stan wrapped his large hands around her sides and grinned with anticipation.

  Pick the best flavor and drain it dry.

  Stan groaned, “Oh, yeah.”

  There was a reason the little ditty was popular among vampires. Stan leaned forward and licked a trail from the curve of one breast to her neck, meaning to tease her.

  Instead, Sasha held him as he slid silently to the floor. Any of her personal taste he’d managed to pick up would be disguised by the knock-out gel she’d smeared all over her skin. It left a brutal aftertaste.

  From one of the large front pockets on her smock, Sasha pulled a flash drive and plugged it into the tower. Three key strokes and enter executed the desired file. The monitors and hard drive were recording an old episode of Buffy before she left the room.

  85 veins of blood to tap…

  85 veins of blood…

  Only intense practice kept her focused as Sasha pushed the chair into the next room and saw the once healthy and robust vampire lying there. The bed holding him was more like an incubator, enclosed with glass and shining bright UV heat lamps directly on his skin. He wouldn’t burst into flames from this false sun, but he was burned a deep red from head to toe. Tainted blood flowed into his right IV while the blood he’d filtered through his ancient system flowed from his left thigh, to be used in other ways later.

  A small, horrified moan passed her lips and she stiffened. If she broke her mental block now, she’d never have the calm concentration to get it back.

  83 veins of blood to tap…

  Her movements trained to smooth efficiency, deep breaths keeping her heartbeat slow and regular despite the strain everywhere else, Sasha set the brakes on the wheelchair and opened the “legs” to give her room to seat him. Then she opened the lid and removed the tainted IVs from his emaciated arms.

  From the backpack hanging on the back of the wheelchair, she pulled a bundle of clothes and a bag of fresh blood. She attached a new IV and the bag of fresh blood to begin feeding him immediately. Pulling him up, she managed to snap a hospital gown and belt a large, fluffy bathrobe around him. He wasn’t his regular weight, though still tall and bulky, or she couldn’t have maneuvered him so easily. By now his eyes were blinking and he tried to steady himself so he wouldn’t hamper her more. His minimal balance helped when it was time to swing him into the chair.

  Gently, Sasha placed the bag of blood in the robe pocket hidden at his shoulder. Slippers and a thin cashmere blanket covered his skin from the toes up. She tucked him in with the legs of the wheelchair so nothing trailed to catch in the wheels. The sleeves of the robe hid his hands. Moving even more quickly now, Sasha powdered his face from a ghastly grey-ish red to a sickly white-yellow, turned his blue eyes brown with contacts and wrapped a scarf around his neck. Almost done. A yellow hospital mask, a dark brown curly wig to hide his straight black hair, a cap to hold it on and he was ready.

  Standing behind him to push didn’t offer her much opportunity to draw vamp gazes to her, so she’d had to use their precious little time to perfect his costume.

  29 veins of blood to tap…

  Sasha set a canister on his bed with a sharp click and rushed, pushing him in front of her, to the office to release another canister. She jogged with him to the door. In five seconds the canisters would release a gassy burst of ammonia and bleach in the sealed tight room, fuming the air and erasing any traceable scent.

  One deep bre
ath to slow her heart and they flowed from the hidden wall, quick and brazen, as if they’d exited the room next to it. Behind her, the trick wall slid shut and a part of her eased. So far, they had gathered the notice of none of the vampires moving in and out of the rooms in the hallway, but her heart was beating too fast for a common ditty.

  Seamlessly, Sasha switched her thoughts to a vampire porno she’d watched, in which a seemingly sickly vampire chased his sexy nurse around the hospital room. Only, in her mind, she was the teasing nurse evading an easy capture.

  The chase made her heart beat faster, nearly bringing life to the heart of her vampire patient. She ran around the bed, one hand on the footboard, but an added push sent her spinning onto the mattress. Her belt popped open, displaying her from her vulnerable throat, two tiny spots dripping blood, to her bright red I-Wonder-How-It-Holds-‘Em-In bra. She landed with her thighs spread, exposing the matching red panties under her skirt.

  At least two of the male vampires in the hallway glanced her way, their eyes burning red at the centers while their fangs pressed against their lips. Sasha bit her lip coyly and thrust out her chest and she played the fantasy further.

  Her vampire patient grabbed her wrists and slid between her thighs and notched against her thin panties. His tongue traced the sensitive skin from her ear down, smearing the slight trails of blood over her neck. She shivered, goose flesh prickling her neck and collar bones and her nipples springing to tight peaks poking the lace of her bra.

  At the elevator, Sasha pushed the chair towards a corner, pressed the down button and planted herself in front of the wheelchair. When the doors slid open, she froze, her mind going blank as she stared into the sharp eyes of the Master of San Francisco. David. He did not look happy. In fact, he looked a bit rushed.

  Sasha looked his tall frame over, her mind still empty of thought. When his gaze swerved from her to the chair behind her, she licked her lips. Imagining flesh and sweat and blood, she let her eyes blaze with a lust that brought back images of a tongue trickling lightly over the mounds of her breast, dipping into the cleavage until she moaned and arched, her bare, flat stomach grazing the man above her.

  David’s gaze snapped back to hers, his look considering, then all-too interested. He arched forward, exiting the elevator.

  With wide eyes, Sasha glanced to the man at David’s side. His second in command, Alexander. He was also tall and well-formed, thick veins branching down his forearms and over his hands. He looked at David and in her mind she exaggerated his expression. A touch heavy on the possessiveness, more than a touch to see a spark of lust for David.

  David jerked, his attention snapping to his second as he followed from the elevator. David set a startled, analytical gaze on Alexander as his second frowned in confusion.

  Sasha stepped past them, pushing the wheelchair inside the elevator then turning and pushing the button for the lowest level. With nothing between her and the Master but her imagination, Sasha pictured both of the men bare, tanned and wrapped around each other. Posing for her.

  Both David and Alexander stared at her with wide eyes, both aroused and nearly comically shocked at her vivid mind. In the second it took for the doors to slide closed, Sasha projected one final thought.

  If Alexander were on top, would he take advantage of the power exchange?

  David snarled at his second while Alexander tried to look innocent.

  The doors clicked shut and Sasha turned the wheelchair, tugging down the mask to examine her vampire’s healing skin. Familiar eyes, despite the brown contacts, twinkled up at her and his lip tugged up slightly at the corner. In the depths of her mind she heard his whisper.

  Diabolical.

  Sasha replaced the mask, her lips twitching at his praise. Circling behind the chair, she began a new fantasy for those who might listen, this one in the maze hedge at the back of the grounds. The leaves were dark and dense, turning the night from the darkest of blue to an inescapable pitch black. Perfect for the predator vs. prey game her fantasy master loved.

  She ran, panting and desperate. In only a yard or so, she tripped and fell, her skirt rising a few daring inches. She screamed at the cold touch of his hand encircling her ankle and gasped, struggling to her feet. With a helpless whimper, she ran further into the darkness as he raced behind her, the speed of a blur. Any inch she gained from running was only a grant, because he could catch her in a heartbeat.

  Then, in the emerald depths of hedges twice as tall as she was, her master’s fingers wrapped around her wrist and he spun her into a dark corner, his hands between her skin and the rough branches and scratchy leaves. She cried out, but it was muffled as his lips descended on hers, kneading her plump flesh until it was a beacon of red even in the darkness. She moaned, pressing into him, desperate to be closer. Closer.

  This is a side of you I’ve never known.

  And he knew nearly all of her. Sasha grimaced. All except the grown woman struggling for freedom inside her. The woman with her own needs and desires… Sasha flipped the switch again as the elevator doors slid open.

  28 veins of blood to tap…

  The maze was to her right. Turning left, Sasha opened the door to the guest parking area. Rolling him to her SUV, Sasha aided him inside and loaded the wheelchair in back to be sterilized later. Taking her place behind the wheel, she pulled out and drove down the long, tree-shrouded driveway. Her watch beeped its notice. Five minutes from start to now. She needed to hurry a bit, but nothing obvious.

  Flipping on the radio, she hummed the words, picturing the stories the songs told. Soon, she passed the guards at the end of the drive, giving them a jaunty wave goodbye as she did, and pressed her speed just understandably past the limit. With one hand, she reached into the console between them and gave him another bag of blood.

  He pulled off his mask and pierced the plastic with his fangs, too starved to care it was lukewarm. He took out the contacts, dropping them in the garbage sack she handed him. The empty bags and IV followed.

  Singing louder, Sasha unpinned the hat and shook out her hair, then unbuttoned the nurse’s top and pulled on a loose, scoop-neck blouse. Changing was a trick while driving, but doable. It would be wonderful if she could give him her wrist and let him feed. She would as soon as she could wash away all the knock-out gel coating her skin. It’s the least she could do. This whole evening was the least she could do. She owed him her life.

  He covered her hand with his and his voice was deep and raw. “Not anymore.”

  “Always.”

  Ten minutes until dawn. It was a huge risk, but the only way this could have worked. Vamps weren’t locked in sleep at dawn, but they would have to stay inside, well away from any beams of light. She looked to the side. Including her vamp.

  A few miles down the road, she pulled into a parking garage. Up and up, she drove to the end few people preferred, happy to back in so the passenger side of the SUV was near the passenger side of the blue Dodge half-ton.

  Sasha parked and left the keys in the ignition. As she exited the SUV, she pulled out a long, flowing wrap-around and tied it at her waist. Taking the key from the hide-a-key under the truck, she unlocked the doors and exposed the truth of the extended cab. The back seats had been removed, allowing a long, deep light-proof box to fit snuggly behind the front seats. The top made it appear to be large speakers.

  Sasha helped him to the truck step and disconnected the drained bag, replacing its tube with a tube that led through the bottom of the box to a closed garment bag hanging over the speakers, disguising ten large bags of blood, all hooked to his IV. Sasha looked meaningfully into his healing face, knowing he read the thoughts easily.

  He nodded, his blue eyes clear and warm. “You’re an amazing woman.”

  With a grateful peck on her lips, he crawled into the box.

  Lips tingling, Sasha sealed the box and closed the doors. Gathering the bags he’d emptied and adding them to the garbage bag, Sasha pulled the last thing from the center console,
clicked it and left it on the seat.

  In the back of the truck was a cooler full of bleach. She tossed in the bag, her boots – as sad as that was, but they were too noticeable to keep – and pulled off her short skirt. Seconds later, the truck roared to life and she headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Within an hour, she was firmly on HWY 101 and heading north.

  The most beautiful and scenic drive in America had two other benefits. Minimal traffic and a cool, comfortable climate to drive in. Small clusters of towns gave way to long, winding roads and gorgeous ocean vistas. The feel and smell of the wind instantly relaxed her. And best of all, she was finally too distant for any vampire to read her mind.

  Sasha?

  Except that vampire. Mary grinned and relaxed into the driver’s seat. “A nurse wears a name tag and I have a nasty habit of talking to myself. It seemed bad form to announce I was the Murder King’s human, here to rescue him.”

  True. That wouldn’t have worked nearly so well.

  In a world of exotic vampire names, human names stood out. Hers, especially, considering she’d been raised by the Murder. Linked with the phrase ‘a murder of crows’, though which came first was anyone’s guess, they were a group of vampires charged with policing their kind. If one stepped out of line – or say, went on a killing spree, like the one who’d taken her family from their tents, deep into the mountain’s tunnels and caverns to torture and eat them – then the Murder came for him.

  In her case, she’d been the only victim left alive. An orphan too traumatized by the gruesome deaths of her brother and parents to be mesmerized into forgetfulness, but too young to reliably vow silence and go her own way, Sebastian had taken her home. It had been a temporary fix that became permanent.

  Why the hell did they send you?

  Mary buried the pang his question caused and, with a tight grip on the wheel, focused on the logic. She didn’t heal as quickly. Wasn’t as strong. Couldn’t move as fast. Couldn’t prevent the powerful ones from reading her mind or mesmerizing her. God, the list was endless for why she was the worst choice for rescuer.