Dark Desires Ch. 6
Deacon watched her for the last day or so, he could see that she was tormented by the death of her friend, and he was doing what he could to comfort her, but it was hard for him. In his very long life, it had been centuries since he felt the pang of someone's death.
Depending on how you looked at it, it was a blessing, or it could be the curse of becoming a vampire, the lack of empathy towards the idea of death.
Right now, she was lightly engaging with Mercury, who all but vowed to skin the person alive for causing her friend so much pain.
He was grateful for both Raquel and Mercury, while they were cold and calculating, they were still able to give Ruby what she needed, female friends with sympathy.
He called Detective Anderson the next evening after they got home, making sure that Ruby got some sleep, between their night at the ballet and her being up most of the day and night she was exhausted. Closing his eyes as he finished his blood, his mind racing back to the conversation he had with his familiar.
FLASHBACK
Deacon looked down at her sleeping form, if it was possible, she looked smaller than she normally did, perhaps this is what heartache looks like on a person, it's been so long since he's seen it or even cared that someone was going through it.
Looking down at the watch, if he calculated right, she's been asleep close to 18hours, gently placing a kiss on her neck, he would let her sleep for a bit longer, but soon he'd need to wake her up, she was already keeping strange hours for him, he didn't want to make that even harder on her.
Slipping on a pair of slacks, Deacon grabbed his phone, and headed towards the living room, finding his crew sitting on the couch, waiting for him or Ruby to come out of their room.
Raquel could see that he was tired and worried about Ruby, "How is she?"
"Heartbroken." Was all he said. His eyes finding the women's looking at him, "I don't know what to do to fix her."
Mercury wanted to laugh, but now was not the time, "You can't fix her. Her friend was killed, it's going to take time for her to process that." Men, always wanting to fix something. "Just be there. Don't push her."
Raquel smiled at her lover, "She'll communicate what she needs." Her eyes seeing Quinn watch them, "Women, even vampire women, need kindness from time to time. That's about it."
Quinn nodded, while he would trust them on that, he knew that finding the assholes that did it would make him feel like he was doing something for her. "Do we have an idea of who?" he asked his boss.
Pulling out the card that Ruby gave him, dialing the number.
"Detective Anderson."
"It's Frost, Ruby told me you caught her friend's case. What do you have."
Clearing his throat, "I have a video of her attack, single male, can't see his face. No obvious markings to a vampire house, or any other tattoos that I can see. Patrol canvassed the area, nothing stood out sir." Taking a moment, "I have her things here, I was about to go through them."
"No bring everything to the loft." Looking up he could see Ruby was making her way out of their room, "Tomorrow night."
"Yes sir."
Disconnecting the call, he watched as she made her way to him, "I was going to let you sleep a bit longer, my love."
Giving him a small smile, "I know, but I needed to get up." She wanted to hug him, but she wasn't sure he would want to be so affectionate in front of his family.
Raquel could see she was wanting to be held, whispering under her breath, "She wants you to hold her."
Pulling her into his chest, he could feel the moment she relaxed, "Let's get you something to eat. I'll even put garlic on it for you." Hoping that a little light teasing would be good.
Snorting, "Nah, if you did that, I'd have a big mess to clean up and I'm not really in the mood for all that."
Laughing with her, he placed a kiss on her lips, "I will find who hurt your friend my love."
Feeling a bit better, "I know. Make it hurt."
END FLASHBACK
A light knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts, swinging the door open, he could see Anderson holding a few things, stepping aside he let the human walk into his home.
Smirking as he could smell a tinge of his fear, before he could speak, he saw Ruby stand and walk towards him, her eyes on her friend's bag and belongings from the hospital, "Can I have that?" she asked, her voice small.
Anderson looked at the women, then back at his master, "Sir?" Asking for his permission before he said anything.
Nodding. "It's hers."
Ruby carefully picked up her bag, her eyes finding the cops, "Thank you." Looking up at Deacon "Thank you." Turning on her heels Ruby made her way to the balcony, needing to be a lone with Julia's stuff.
Deacon watched his love curl up on the couch, and start pulling things from the bag, turning his attention back to the cop, "The video?" His voice not leaving any room for debate.
"Yes sir." Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a zip drive, handing it to his master, "If I may sir, I have a theory, but I have no proof."
Taking the zip, he looked down at the man, "Oh, and what would that be?" Curious to what the man thought.
"I think there could be a rogue vampire in the area. There are too many people from skid row that are missing, and several tourists, no bodies just missing sir." Seeing the other crowd around him, "I wouldn't mention it, but it's too concentrated for it not to possibly mean something."
Mercury hissed, while she had no issues feeding from humans, she didn't like the idea that a rogue one was possibly taking them, you feed and that's it. Her eyes looking towards her leader, seeing his tension, she knew that he would look into this.
Looking at his human, "Good work. Keep your mouth shut until I figure out what's going on."
"Yes sir. Is there anything else before I go?"
"No." Deacon watched as they he walked out of his home, his eyes turning towards his most trusted, "Hit the streets, find what you can."
Sharing a look, they all grabbed their gear, ready to find what they could, a rogue vampire not adhering to the rules would bring the council as well as the Daywalker, they didn't need that shit in their lives.
Deacon was about to head to Ruby, but his phone rang, looking down, hissing at the thought of talking to Gitano. "Yeah?"
"Frost, I need to see you. Head to my office." Disconnecting the call.
Resisting the urge to crush his phone, he made his way to Ruby, who was reading what looked like a journal. Sitting down next to her, gently kissing her shoulder, "I need to head to a meeting with Dragonetti." Seeing her tense, "Everyone else is hitting the streets, looking for answers. Are you going to be OK here alone?" worried about her, hating the thought of her of being alone at a time like this.
Turning her head, hating to tear her eyes away from her friend's journal, "I'll be fine. Unless I should worry about another vampire popping in?" Not really wanting to deal with fighting for her life.
"No. Outside my crew, no other vampires are allowed here." Placing swift kiss on her lips, "I'll be back as soon as I can." Hating the thought of leaving her when she was clearly so sad.
Kissing his lips, "Go. I'll be OK."
Standing, he looked down at her, "I swear Ruby, on my life I will find who hurt you so dearly." With that he grabbed his shirt and took his private elevator down to the garage, ready to deal with Gitano and be done with that shit.
Letting out a sigh, she was happy that she was finally alone, not that she wasn't grateful for their concern, but she knew it was hard for them to understand what she was dealing with, and as much as they tried it was just obvious that it was so foreign to them.
Turning her attention back to her journal, smiling at some of the entries, but most of this was filled with her dreams, her wanting to meet someone to love. Letting the tears slide down her face, gently wiping them away. Shutting the book, she put everything back in the bag, other than finding a text to her boss about a spontaneous trip to New York, nothing really pointed to what brought her here.
Standing, she brought everything back into the room, not really ready to deal with the thought of getting rid of her things. Placing it under her side of the closet, Ruby headed towards the kitchen, grabbing an apple, taking a bite she looked down towards the island finding a zip drive.
As she stared at it, everything in her body told her this was the video of what happened to Julia, a war raged in her head, should she? Could she handle seeing it? But the drive for the truth pushed her to pick it up and plug it into her laptop.
Ruby stared at the play button for a good 20 minutes, her finger hovering over her touch pad, mentally trying to convince herself that she didn't need to know, but she knew if it was reversed Julia would have done everything to find out the truth. Closing her eyes, she hit play.
Her eyes never leaving the screen, the man was wearing long black sleeves, so it wasn't clear if he was a familiar or just some psychopath. Tears welling up in her eyes as she watched her friend fight for her life, getting a few good hits on his face, which was obscured by the angle of the camera. Shaking with rage as she watched Julia take a swipe at his neck, that was when he stopped trying to get her into the trunk and pick up a brick and smashed her repeatedly over her head.
Covering her mouth, Ruby stared at screen, the video reached the end of it's recording. Closing her eyes, she could feel her body shaking, vowing that there wasn't anything she wasn't willing to do to find this person, and personally feed them to Deacon, and she would take Mercury up on her offer to break them into little pieces.
A loud knock on the front door brought her out of her momentary rage, shutting the laptop, she made a motion to stand moving towards the door, looking through the peep hole groaning at the site of him, but he was Deacon's familiar so until he was found useless, she wasn't going to say shit. Opening the door, "What brings you here?" she asked, her voice clipped.
Her eyes watching him, smirking at the bruise under his eyes, wondering who she should sent flowers to.
Krieger looked down at her, he could see that she was crying, but that wasn't his problem, he was here for his new Master Dragonetti, to spy on Frost, and give him false intel on the Daywalker. "I have some information for Frost, where is he?" Knowing that he should be on his way to see Dragonetti.
Looking at him, she didn't know what Deacon would want in this situation, so she pointed to the couch, "He's out. Don't know how long he's gone for."
Taking a seat, he looked back at her, "I'll wait here." Plopping down on the couch, "Anything to drink?" he asked, figured while he was waiting to give him false trail to follow so that his Master didn't have to worry about him, he could enjoy some of his amenities.
The way he was so comfortable in the house was driving her nuts, but she was never one to be rude, nodding, "Yeah." Walking behind him towards the bar, she could see a bandage on his neck, something inside of head started screaming. Shaking her head clear, "Scotch?"
"Yeah. Sounds good." Enjoying that Deacon's toy was serving him a drink. "Put one ice cube in."
Clenching her fist, "Of course." Reaching to grab the bottle, "So, what happened to your face and neck?" She asked, feeling the hairs on her body stand up. Every instinct she had was telling her it was him.
Snorting, his mind flashing to the little brunette the night before, "A bitch didn't understand her place. I helped her see reason." Chuckling at the memory of her eyes rolling in the back of her head as he bashed it in.
Turning towards him, her body shaking, looking down at her hands she found it gripping the neck of the bottle, with every fiber of her soul she knew he was the one that hurt Julia, not evening taking a second to think of possible consequences of her actions, Ruby brought the bottle down as hard as she could against the side of his skull, enjoying the sound his body made as it hit the ground.
Moving as quickly as she could over the couch, ready to bring it down on him again, but instead of a semi-conscious man, he was out cold. "Fuck," dropping the bottle, she quickly removed his gun belt and patted him down, finding his back up ankle piece, tucking it into the back of her pants.
Ruby stood and stared down at the very unconscious man in the living room. Rubbing her face, she was in this now, either she was going to find out if she was right or have a very strange conversation with Deacon about why she was attacking his familiar.
Grabbing him by the leg, she knew that she didn't want blood staining the floor, she slowly pulled him out to the balcony, once he was outside, she ran back inside grabbing the handcuffs from his belt, securing him to the bench that was out there, she went inside looking for anything to secure his feet, not wanting anything to give him a chance to get free.
Rummaging through the cabinets until she found some duct tape, Ruby made her way outside, securing his feet to the bench as well, once that was done, she stared at the man, ripping the band aid off his neck, almost growling at the sight of claw marks.
A wave of nausea rolled over her, sitting down in the chair she pulled up to sit across from him, she watched him, wondering what she was willing to do get the information that he was holding in his fucking head.
Her eyes finding the knife on his belt, grabbing it, in that moment she knew there wasn't anything she wasn't willing to do to get justice for Julia, even if that meant cutting out his heart herself.
Taking a second to center herself, Ruby stood, slapping him as hard as she could across his face, ready to find out if she was right or losing her fucking mind.
Krieger felt like his head was on fire, trying to move, he found himself bound to something, looking around he found Ruby staring down at him, hatred burning in her eyes. Swallowing, nervous that she was trying to get back at him for setting her up. Not wanting to show her fear, "What the fuck do you think you're doing you bitch?" he snapped.
Holding the knife in fist, she could feel the urge to drive it through his fucking face, but she needed answers first, "I am going to ask you questions, you lie I will start cutting pieces off."
"You're fucking insane. Does Deacon know what you're doing to his property?" Hoping to God she realized that probably meant her death.
"He's not here, is he?" Looking around the loft, "No one is here, just you and me." Crouching down so she could look him in the eyes, "You killed someone last night, a brunette," seeing recognition in his eyes, "Her name was Julia Larson."
Just saying her name sent a wave of anguish through her body. Locking her eyes on his, she knew he wasn't going to take her seriously until she proved that she was willing to do what it took. Bringing the knife down into his knee, his scream echoed into the night, but she held strong, twisting it just enough to hear him cry out, "She was my best friend. Did you know that?" she asked, twisting it again.
Screaming out, "NO! I SWEAR! Please." He whimpered.
Pulling the knife out she placed her hand over the wound squeezing it, "Are you lying to me?" Squeezing harder.
Shaking his head, "No, I swear I didn't know who she was." Praying this would stop.
"OK. I believe you." Her eyes seeing relief in his eyes, bring in knife down into this other knee, "So, the question, why would you try to take her?"
"STOP, PLEASE." Krieger begged, "FROST IS GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS." Hoping that it would stop her.
Shrugging, "Maybe, but that's a problem for another time. Now" twisting it deeper, "Why were you trying to take her?"
Clamping his mouth, he couldn't run his mouth, Dragonetti promised him a spot in the new order. He needed to survive now to earn it.
Pulling out the knife, she brought it down into his shoulder blade, "I studied biology in college," twisting it into the bone, not caring that some of his blood was getting on her face or clothes, "I got an A in that class, so I can keep doing this for hours before you start succumbing to the pain." Twisting it harder, "Your choice."
Screaming out, "Dragonetti, he told me to find healthy attractive females to breed for his blood farm." Tears streaming down his face, hell he even just pissed himself.
Ruby stared at him, yanking the knife out of his shoulder, shoving it into his side being mindful of anything vital, "WHAT BLOOD FARM?" she screamed, hoping it wasn't as horrible as it sounded.
Couching up a bit of blood, he could see it splatter on her face, what scared him was that she just stood there, not even bothering wiping it off. "He and Claire Lemure are building a farm, breeding humans for food, and slaves." His eyes looking at hers, "Please."
Pulling out the knife, Ruby felt sick, stabbing the other side, "WHERE IS IT?"
Crying, "PLEASE STOP!"
Twisting the knife, "It stops when you answer all my questions." Using her other hand, she shoved a finger into the knife wound on one of his knees. "WHERE IS THE FARM?" she screamed at him, digging her finger deeper into the wound, touching the bone.
Coughing up more blood, "Cameron County Pennsylvania, they have about 1000 acres dedicated to the farm." Choking on the blood, knowing that he was going to die, he spit at her, watching it run down her neck, "Do you think that Deacon won't get on board when Dragonetti has it ready? You think he's going to defy his master?"
She hoped that he would, pulling out the knife, Ruby stood over the man, "Maybe he would," her eyes locked on him, "If not, I'll fucking kill him too."
"FUCK YOU BITCH!" he screamed, this was not how it was supposed to happen, he was supposed to be a vampire, living forever, doing what he wanted.
Shrugging her shoulder, "You first." Swinging the knife, she jabbed into the side of his neck, the arterial spray coated her with his blood, as his blood dripped down her face, she pulled the knife towards her, ripping his throat out in the process, "See you in hell you piece of shit."
Taking a step back towards the chair, Ruby just dropped the knife, hearing it clang on the floor.
Ruby watched as the man choked on his own blood, her eyes never leaving his, she sat in the chair across from him, watching the lights in his eyes go out, reaching down she pulled the bottle of Scotch to her lips, taking a big drink, her mind so focused on what she just did, and what she learned, she didn't hear the elevator open.
Deacon slammed his car door, all Dragonetti wanted was an update on the current bitten community, asking where they congregated during the day, this was something that he could have answered of the fucking phone.
Hearing wheels screeching to a halt, he saw Mercury, Quinn, and Raquel get out of the car, "What did you find?"
Quinn hissed, "That cop was right, people are missing, no bodies discovered yet. I have the word out to our familiars at the crematoriums about anything coming in, but so far, they haven't had any extra bodies."
Mercury nodded, "We checked with the bitten, as far as we can tell, they are following the feeding rules," shaking that the thought of a rogue in their community.
Raquel just looked at them, "Where's Ruby?" realizing that Deacon was down in the garage, not up in the loft.
Rubbing his face, "Dragonetti wanted information about the bitten sleeping habits," seeing their faces, "I know. Made me come to the office, Ruby is upstairs." Punching in the code, they stepped in, he was more than ready to see her.
Quinn knew that there was more to the story than what Dragonetti said he wanted, but he was low on the totem pole, he wouldn't even know where to go to find out his bullshit to expose him.
Hearing the chime of the doors open, they were all assaulted with the smell of fresh blood.
Deacon stepped out, his eyes searching for Ruby, "RUBY!" he yelled, seeing some broken glass on the floor.
Mercury saw her sitting outside, she's outside.
They all zipped out to the balcony, her eyes staring at the very dead human, but what surprised them was that she was covered in his blood.
Deacon looked down seeing that she cut him with his own knife, turning towards her, he didn't know what to think, "Baby?"
Bringing the scotch to her lips, enjoying the burn, her eyes found the 4 of them staring at her, all with different levels of concern. Her eyes looking at each of them, wondering if Krieger was right, would they just go along with the human blood farm? The thought sent her into another fit of anger.
Standing quickly she tossed the bottle at their feet, "He killed Julia?!" she screamed, her eyes never leaving his.
Jumping back, Deacon stared at her, "What are you talking about?" Sparing a glance at Quinn and Mercury, seeing that they were just as confused as he was.
Her body was shaking, "I watched the video of my friend's murder, she fought him, scratching him," turning her attention to his body, "I saw the scratch marks on his neck," her voice was breaking, she could see him stepping towards her, "DON'T." Stepping closer to Krieger, pulling his shirt to the side, "He murdered my friend, do you want to know why?" she asked, her eyes were full of anger and sadness.
"Tell me Ruby, why would he hurt her?" Deacon making a step towards her but surprised that she stepped back. Holding his out his hand, "Please Ruby, tell me what I can do." Wanting to help her.
He wanted to know what he could do, he could tell her the truth, "Did you know about the blood farms?" her eyes looking watching him, daring him to lie to her.
Blinking, not knowing what the fuck she was talking about, "What Blood farm?" Moving again towards her, pleased that she didn't move this time.
Seeing the truth behind his eyes, "Your master, he has a farm out in the middle of Pennsylvania, he told this piece of shit to find attractive women for breeding. Seems like him and a Claire Lemure are planning on keeping humans as slaves."
Stepping on the glass, hearing it crunch under her feet, "Are you going to join him when he asks you?" Her eyes challenging him, "That what us humans are good for, nothing more than talking blood bags?" Taking another step, she was only a foot away from him, her body wanting to touch him, but her rage and desire to know what he would do when it came down to it.
Looking down at her, he could almost feel her rage pouring out of her body, perhaps before Ruby, he might have just gone along with something like that, but now the thought of hurting humans for sport seemed like a foreign concept.
Carefully reaching out, his thumb wiping the drying blood from her face, "Before you, I may have." Never one to lie to her, "But now things have changed, I have changed, while humans will always be food, I don't see the point in causing them pain," his eyes falling to Krieger, "Some expectations are to be expected."
Ruby could feel the honesty in his words, closing her eyes, she leaned into his hand. Feeling the peace that came from his touch. Her eyes opened, finding him look down at her, "I'm going to kill him." It was a declaration, if it wasn't for him and megalomania Julia would still be alive.
Deacon pulled her into his chest, "No. It is my promise to you," grabbing her face, his eyes looking into hers, "I will take his head."
Mercury, Raquel, and Quinn, took a knee to their leader and his mate, swearing on their undead life that they would do whatever it took to stop this from happening.
Ruby could feel the tears welling up, looking at her friends, and her love, knowing that they needed more than just the five of them, her eyes turning to Deacon, "What would the council do if they found this out?"
"Wage war. Dragonetti and Lemure have violated the rules of council. While humans are still considered food, the ancients set forth laws that prohibited ruling them like animals, we were to walk among them, work with them to secure our safety, but never this." His eyes taken in the fact that she was covered in Krieger's blood, "Let's get you clean."
Standing her ground, "Your council would need proof, not just the word of a sad human, a familiar maybe," her eyes finding his watching her, "You need Blade." Seeing him tense, "If you can make a truce with him and the council and set forth rules that protect the vampire community as well as the human population, then he could be an ally not an enemy."
Placing his head on hers, knowing that she wasn't wrong. Turning his head towards his crew, seeing them nod, "I will try. But we can't find him."
Clearing her throat, "I know, but I'm sure he'd find me," feeling him tense at that, "You know I'm right."
A light knock on the door, his eyes turning towards Mercury to answer it, "We'll discuss it after you are showered and rested," hating the idea of using her as bait. Sweeping her up in his arms, his eyes looking at Quinn and Raquel, "Handle this please." Moving quickly to his bathroom, wanting to clean the blood that was now drying over her body.
He'd deal with who was at the door after.
Mercury swung the door open, hissing at the human, "Who are you?" she growled out.
Holding up his wrist, showing his glyph that branded him Dragonetti's familiar. "I have information that Frost needs to hear." Clearing his throat, "Please."
Nodding, "Sit, he's busy. He'll be out when he's ready." Sitting across from the human, she could see his nerves, "Word of advice, if you are here to spy for your master, I will kill you."
Sitting down, he gently leaned back into the chair, "I understand." Taking a deep breath, hoping that he made the right choice to come to Frost for help.