The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

Sadie poked her head up to see, then blushed a bit and sunk back in her chair. Vampires could blush, but it usually had to be very arousing or VERY embarrassing to make it happen involuntarily.

The Captain scrutinized a number of images the same way, then stopped to read a memo. “What is this about Austin and –”

“I don’t want to talk about Austin,” she grumbled.

“Miss Hewitt, an entire tour bus and –”This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.

“I . . . do . . . not . . . want . . . to . . . talk . . . about . . . Austin! No charges were pressed so . . . so let’s just write that off as an unfortunate occurence. Okay?”

“Unfortunate occurrence?” he replied. “The eruption of Pompeii was apparently an ‘unfortunate occurrence as well, at least by those standards.” Captain Grom closed the file and sighed. “Very well. Have you got a place to stay yet?”

“I’m crashing at a hotel today, and my house and the moving truck should be here tomorrow.”

“You brought a house with you?”

“Mobile home . . . trailer really. I’m attached to it. Worked with a realtor and got some land to put it on. Got directions in the truck. Everything will get hooked up tomorrow.

“Excellent. Well, I’ll let you go get some rest and I will see you in a couple of days. We’ll introduce you to your team and — ”

“Team? I’m used to working solo.”

“Sorry, but it’s city policy that field personnel work in teams. And even if they didn’t I’d insist that no one goes into the Gravestones without backup.”

“The Gravestones?”

“Your new beat, as it were. It’s a . . . charming little area. Nothing you can’t handle.”

Sadie was getting suspicious, but she chose not to let in bother her. She sprang to her feet, vigorously shook the Captain’s hand and started to leave.

“Oh, keep your moving and hotel receipts and give them to Melissa when you come in. She does the expense reports around here.” The Captain was trying not to start counting again.

‘She helps me get my money back? I really like her.’ Sadie headed towards the door, watching as Melissa tried very hard not to look back. She slapped the girl on the butt and said, “See ya soon Mel.” In her wake, she heard the grumbling of a very confused goth.

———— —————-

The next night . . .

———— —————-

Sadie was working out in her yard, digging post holes for where she wanted the deck supports to go. It’d be a while before she got around to building it, but she liked staying busy. The lot was as beautiful as her agent had told her it was, surrounded on all sides by evergreens except for a little path overlooking a tiny town. She’d have to find out the name of the town later. She guessed it must be a really small town, because she only saw a couple of lights flickering down there.

Her trailer was actually on ten acres of land, and she was about a hundred hards from the otherwise empty road. The movers had put up the pre-fab steel building that she used as a garage and work area, and all the utilities were on and running. Moving was one of those times where Sadie dropped some extra cash to make her life so much easier.

She heard tires on gravel and the peek of headlights coming down her brand new driveway. She really didn’t want trouble, hoping it was just somone who had gotten lost.

‘Just in case,’ she thought, going to the garage and grabbing the double-barrel shotgun off the rack in the truck. It was loaded with silver shot, which meant she’d kill just about any big ugly that came her way.

Even in the cloak of darkness, her eyes could pick out the little green Mini Cooper slowly winding its way down the drive. She’d seen that car parked outside the precinct when she’d dropped off her receipts shortly after sunset. The car came to a stop and someone got out.

“Mel?” Sadie asked. “What the hell are you doing out here?”

“I needed to get your signature on some things.” Melissa stopped. “Uhm . . . do you have any light?”

“And it couldn’t wait until I got into work?” Sadie was actually a little disappointed. The girl was making it too easy. She ran up the stairs, opened the door to the trailer and flicked on the external light.

Melissa was treated to an eyefull, and she seemed to be having difficulties keeping her face calm. Sadie was dressed in her “work around the house clothes,” which consisted of a cut off pair of denim shorts, a sports bra, her working boots and . . . that was it. Her curly hair was pulled back in a ponytail, all nice and tied up with a red ribbon. To Melissa, she looked more like a trailer-park housewife than a vampire . . . a very, very gorgeous trailer-park housewife.

“I was going to try and get everything submitted right away so you could get comped.” Melissa looked at the trailer. “It’s a giant silver twinkie.”

Sadie grinned. “Yes it is! Casa de Hewitt! Complete with everything a hot vampire needs!”

“Which is?”

“A bed, a fridge, and a place to sit and watch television after sex.”

Melissa raised one eyebrow. “Yeah. Right.”

Though the girl was trying to play it cool, Sadie wasn’t buying it. The girl had driven all the way out here in tight leather pants, a silky white blouse and leather vest. She looked like a vampire television dinner: all wrapped up, and just waiting to be warmed up before being eaten. Anyone who’d been around vampire knew that they were a pretentious bunch of snobby aristocrat wannabes, and they loved the whole “tortured soul” crap. Vampires often developed “broods,” or groups of followers, lackeys, and sexual toys, and there was not race or gender limit on who could join. As a rule, the older and more powerful the vampire, the bigger and more prominent the brood. It seems the older a vampire got, they greater presence they were able to exert on the world around them.

Sadie decided to play it cool for a bit. As much as she’d like to have some fun with this lean little kitten, she didn’t enjoy herself with someone who didn’t know her rules. “So, where’s that paperwork?”

Melissa reached back into her car and grabbed a clipboard. Sadie noticed that she stretched and leaned in more than she needed to, showing off her slender legs and tight butt. And when her shirt rode up, Sadie saw the girl had extensive tattooing.

‘I wonder how far up it goes?’ she thought idly. She waited for the girl to bring her the clipboard. Sadie started leafing through the papers while Melissa descended to the next rung of the stairs. ‘She’s making sure her head is below mine. And she’s cocking her head . . . I’ll be damned.’ Melissa was doing exactly what most people would do if trying to make themselves more appealing to a potential vampire master or mistress. ‘Her neck does look good,’ Sadie thought, admiring the girl’s slim, pale neck. She could hear Melissa’s blood running through her veins like a freight train, making her dedication to a stoic facade all the more admirable.

“Well, that’s about it. Thanks I guess,” Sadie said, giving the girl no visible signs of interest.

For a moment, Melissa looked . . . frustrated. Not angry or depressed, just frustrated. She turned around and walked back to the car. “No prob,” Melissa said.

That time, Sadie could hear strain in the voice. “Hey.” Sadie decided to cut the girl a break. People who came to deal with a traditional vampire tended to have no idea what to do with Sadie Hewitt. “What’s that town down there?”

Melissa stopped and looked puzzled. “I dunno. You got a place out in the middle of nowhere . . . I’m not familiar with the –” The girl stopped, her brow furrowed.

“What?”

“Holy crap,” was the reply, lacking the coolness expressed earlier. “I DO know where that is. It’s New Plymouth. It was supposed to be the one of first towns settled when the darkworlders hit the west coast.”

“Hunh, cool. Thought a place like that would be busier. Tourists, hotels and the like.”

“Not New Plymouth. It’s been a wraith town for over a hundred years.”

Sadie stomped her foot and growled, “Dammit! No wonder the property was so cheap! I’m gonna ring my agent’s neck.” Wraiths tended to give everyone the wiggins, even vampires. A wraith was the spirit of a creature who had died a horrible death or with tremendous rage in its heart. The soul was able to remain physically manifested in this world in the general shape of its owner, and it became a ghost of vengeance. They were physically incredibly powerful that immediately sought out those that had wronged them and enacted upon them the most unpleasent revenges imaginable. Sometimes that was enough to quell the spirit and they slipped away. Strong wraiths created by strong needs for revenge stayed corporeal. There own vengeance satisfied, they acted on the feelings of those around them. Wraiths were often sought out by those who had been wronged, and wraiths were drawn to act on those needs. Some came to enjoy such work, while others sought refuge in quiet places where the draw of the mob would not weigh on them.

Besides being devilishly strong and having the ability to appear in both physical and ethereal forms, wraiths had the unique advantage of being nulls: they were untargetable by direct magics and undetectable by most darkworlder senses other than normal sight. This made most darkworlders incredibly uneasy. People tended to stay away from wraiths if they could help it, and it wasn’t uncommon for a town to die out if a wraith moved in.

“Sorry,” Melissa said.

“Hell, it’s no big thing. May go down there in a couple of days and introduce myself . . . get to know the neighbor.”

“You’re going to go talk to it? A wraith?”

“They’s usually a ‘him’ or a ‘her,’ not an ‘it.’ I ain’t got no hate in my heart, so there won’t be a problem.”