Dark Desires – Chapter 10

On Sunday night, Eric came awake feeling strange. Before meeting Katy, he rarely had dreams about human women, but he had dreamed again of her today. The dreams were so intense and erotic that he woke up turgid and aching with with need. He took a cold shower, but it didn't help. His erection strained against his pants as he dressed. It really ticked him off that a mere human woman could make him feel this way.

For the first time in almost a year, he asked Alan, the young male vamp who served as his personal secretary, to bring a fangbanger to the small room adjacent to his office on the first floor. Ordering her take off her panties and lean forward with her hands on the wooden desk he took the woman from behind. He was rough. There was no foreplay, no kissing, no tenderness of any kind. He didn't ask her to undress and neither did he.

For him the sex was functional and quick, but she moaned and groaned in ecstasy as if it were the best sex she ever had. She screamed with pleasure when he finally bit down on her neck and drank a little of her blood. He grimaced with distaste and asked her to leave immediately afterward. He felt disgusted and unsatisfied, but at least he was able to walk around without being in an obvious state of arousal.

Tiffany Coulter, the young fangbanger who just serviced him, was blonde and sensuous. She was extremely aware of her body and the affect she usually had on men. But her nearly perfect body and face hid a truly tormented and twisted mind. As a child, she had been incessantly teased and made to feel like an outcast both at home and in school. A grossly overweight, clumsy kid, she never fit in with the popular crowd in school, although that was her sincerest desire. Her beautiful, slim mother constantly berated her and forced her on diet after diet. The constant belittling and teasing left her with deep emotional scars that never really healed even after years of therapy.

At the age of eighteen, once her mother could no longer object, she had bariatric surgery and lost 150 pounds. At nineteen, she underwent a series of plastic surgeries to remove excess skin from her arms, legs and stomach. She had large breast implants to uplift her smallish bosom, a nose job, laser surgery to correct vision problems and extensive dental work. The ugly duckling had become the beautiful swan she had so longed to be. While once shy and retiring, she became proud and arrogant and cruel. She put other girls through what she went through herself without a qualm, but she completely lacked self esteem.

Tiffany had worked for two years as a model earning good money. It was when she was a model that she had her first taste of V and met her first vampire. Now at the age of twenty four, she wanted nothing more than to score V, have sex with a vampire and be bitten by one. For the past three years, in addition to V, she had become addicted to alcohol, and other drugs. She didn't have to worry about money; she was the only child of a wealthy and powerful California congresswoman. She lived off an extremely generous trust fund set up by her even wealthier grandmother.

She was dating a vampire when she first saw Eric Northman at Fangtasia in Shreveport. The vamp male she was with was old and ugly; she was only dating him only for blood and sex; even old vampires were better in bed than most human males. She was immediately attracted to the blonde viking Sheriff of Area 5 and offered herself several times. It made her boyfriend jealous and he dumped her after a couple of weeks.

A newer, younger vamp boyfriend introduced her to court life just before Eric became king. She was in seventh heaven once Eric was crowned. Now on her own, she became one of the regular fangbangers who hung around court and at Fangs II, hoping that one day, Eric Northman would notice her, but he never did. She became obsessed with him.

That Sunday night, Eric's secretary selected her from all the other fangbangers in the large front room where they hung out. He escorted took her to the room outside Eric"s office. Her heart fairly burst with pride and happiness. Afterward, she bragged to the other fangbangers how wonderful it was to be with him and how much he had wanted her. She embellished in great detail the few minutes she actually spent with him. In her deluded mind, she was having a grand love affair with the powerful Vampire King of Louisiana. She had no idea that her selection was totally random. She wouldn't have believed it anyway, the effects of her addition to V and other drugs made her totally delusional.

Bill Compton and Daniel Brady passed her in the hallway on their way to Eric's office for the scheduled meeting. From her disheveled skirt and the marks on her neck it was clear what had just happened. Daniel took a long hard look at her. Bill looked too, and he was disgusted with what he saw.

"Do you know that blonde is Tiffany Coulter and her mother is Diana Coulter. She's a congresswoman from California. You better be careful with that one. There's something about her that's not quite right." Daniel said, but Eric only waved the warning off; he was not interested in the blonde who had just left.

Eric turned the topic to the redhead they both saw him with last night. He gave them all the information that he had on Katy and directed them to begin a thorough investigation. He wanted to know everything about her. He asked Daniel to check with his friends in law enforcement to see what he could find out. Bill was tasked to go to Little Rock and see what he could dig up there. He asked Bill to use any resources that Judith Vardamon may have to uncover the truth about Katy.

"Eric, you should stay away from this woman until we find out more about her. She looked harmless enough last night, but I don't like the fact that she's been lying to you. She could be a psychopath for all we know. Even if she's not, she could bring trouble down on you." Daniel said emphatically. He liked his boss and he was worried about him. Bill held his counsel, but he agreed with Daniel. When when Eric looked at him inquiringly, Bill nodded in agreement.

"I've already decided to do just that. I don't like the fact that she's lying either. I won't see her again until I know who she is and why she is in hiding. I want you to assign your best staff to watch her at all times. Vamps can do it at night; humans in the day, but no one is to go near her unless there is trouble. I want a daily report on her activities. If there is any trouble, I want to know immediately. Understood?" Eric said.

Daniel agreed, and he and Bill left. Eric turned his attention to the kingdom's business. His agenda was full and he was busy. He had a number of vamps seeking favors or permission to open businesses. There was the usual number of vamps requesting that he settle their disputes. There there was a newly turned baby vamp that had to be introduced by her maker. An a older vamp named Peter Kenyon who visiting New Orleans for a few days had to check in with him as well.

Eric took an instinctive dislike to the small red haired male. When Kenyon walked out of the throne room, Eric signaled Daniel back into his office. "Find out who he is and what he's up to." Daniel called one of the vamps on his staff and gave him the order to follow Kenyon.

All in all, the night was tedious and Eric was both tense and bored. He wanted to see Katy Jones, but he knew he could not. All night, as he worked, he tried to forget her, but everything seem to remind him of her. At one o'clock, he finally gave up, closed down the court and accompanied Daniel and Judith to Fangs II for a little blood and some relaxation. Bill and Sookie left earlier in the evening for Bon Temps. Bill would head to Little Rock on Monday night. Sookie missed their human family, and she was checking into taking classes at LSU starting in January. She and Bill both agreed that waitressing wasn't the best use of her intelligence. Since her telepathic gifts were enhanced, she was better able to handle the onslaught of other minds. Of course, Eric didn't know her gifts had returned.

Eric noted Judith had been hanging around a lot lately. She seemed to be interested in Daniel. That surprised him a little since Daniel was nothing like Bill. He knew the two had started dating and were involved with each other now. He made a note to ask Daniel about that later.

At the bar, several times he looked up quickly when thought he heard Katy's husky voice. Several times he thought he picked up the smell of orange blossoms, honey and spice that was her unique scent when the air conditioner blew his way. He couldn't stop himself from looking for her. It had been bad for him the prior week when his staff had searched for Katy, but could not find her. That paled in comparison to the torment he felt now.

Now that he actually had her, he felt much, much worse. Instead of becoming quickly bored with her as he usually did with human females, he wanted her even more than ever now. In the last two nights he had spent more time with her than he had with any female in very long time, except Pam and Sookie. He had even slept all Saturday in her bed. His vampire mind remembered every second of it, and that made him want to see her again, just to make sure it was real. She was an itch that he couldn't scratch. He futilely tried to erect a barrier against her in his mind.

All night long, he kept thinking of her soft, satiny, warm skin and her soft kissable mouth. He shivered a little as he remembered how good she smelled and and how wonderful her blood tasted; he could still taste it. He couldn't stop thinking of how it felt inside her and how she moved under him as they joined. He couldn't stop hearing her soft sighs and moans as he pleasured her or the sounds she made when she came. Unbidden thoughts of her kept breaking through his shaky barrier. He was distracted. He knew she didn't have to work tonight, and he wanted to see her, or at least call her, but he didn't. He kept his word to Daniel.

Shortly before closing, Tiffany, the fangbanger he had sex with earlier entered the bar with a group of fangbangers from the court. The women sat down at a table in front near the door. Eric was standing drinking a bottle of True Blood and talking to Daniel near the door to his office when Tiffany came up to him. His men tried to chase her away, but he stopped them. She embraced him tried to kiss him. He bent down and said something in her ear. Together they went into his office and had sex again. This time, he undressed her and took his time. He hoped the sex would drive all thoughts of Katy out of his mind. It didn't, not even close.

Sitting at their table in the front with a good view of Eric and Tiffany, the girls watched as he said something to her and then walked back to his office with her. They were all jealous of their friend. They wondered what she had that they didn't. One of them managed to get a picture of the two in what looked like an intimate embrace with her cellphone. The girls chattered to each other about their friend's good luck.

When Tiffany got back to the table, she had a smug look on her face. She was ecstatic as she regaled her friends with her two adventures with Eric Northman on the same night. She was convinced that he was in love with her. The fangbangers were jealous and envious of their friend. They all thought the same thing.

Katy had no reason to think Eric would call or stop by on Sunday night: he made no mention of doing so when he left before dawn that morning. Still, she hoped he would. She cleaned house and did laundry in the afternoon and ate a quick meal for dinner. By 8:30 pm when she didn't hear from him, she drove over to Mary Lebron's. By the time she got there, the kids were in bed, and Gene was out with the guys. The two women sat and watched the Tudors on Showtime.

Around midnight, Mary and Kate sat outside on the patio and nursing a beer. Katy wasn't much of a drinker, but the Sam Adams she was drinking tasted very good tonight. The night air was balmy, but comfortable. The smell of fall flowers hung heavy in the air. The two friends relaxed and talked about life in general and cheating men in particular. Mary suspected Gene was two timing her and wanted to talk about it. She also tried to get Katy to talk about the man who had slept over yesterday and kept her from attending her pool party, but Katy wouldn't say much. She felt foolish for hoping Eric would call. She knew once she started talking about him, she would only end up crying.

"It was no big deal! You always say I need a good fuck every now and then. That's all it was. I ran into this guy by accident. We hooked up for a couple of nights, and I'll probably never see him again." she insisted. Mary knew her friend better than she let on. She could hear the pain in Katy's voice, but she kept her mouth shut.

The picture of Eric and Tiffany showed up in the local newspaper's Page Six Gossip Column on Monday morning. Katy always read the paper thoroughly as she ate breakfast before going to work. When she saw the picture, her heart sank, and she felt sick to her stomach. She told herself she had no right to feel that way. No promises, No commitments. You told him so yourself; remember?

The rest of the week was busy for the clinic and Katy. She and her co-workers put in a lot of extra hours at the facility. Everyone pulled their weight, but the understaffed clinic was overwhelmed at times. It seemed all she did was get up; eat; go to work, come home; eat; shower and fall into bed dead tired.

Monday was a full moon and the clinic attended two patients who looked as if they had been torn up by some kind of large animal. They had bites marks all over their bodies, and it looked like part of their flesh had been eaten away. Both men came in unconscious, and both men expired without waking. Katy had never seen anything like the wounds on their throats. The clinic called the police to report the deaths. The bodies were taken away, and they never heard anymore about them.

On Tuesday a large pothole opened up suddenly on Route 23 and caused a ten car crackup. Five patients were brought to the clinic since it was the nearest medical facility to the accident. Katy and the other doctors worked through the night until after dawn. Three of the patients were treated and released. Two were stabilized and sent by ambulance to a larger hospital closer to New Orleans.

On Wednesday, an incident involving a shootout between the police and an armed robber in Oakville ended up in a small riot. Cars were overturned, windows were smashed and buildings were burned. From the clinic, they could hear the sounds of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances wailing all night. The riot went on until four in the morning. Again Katy and her co-workers were swamped with patients; she got home after seven in the morning and simply fell into bed.

Thursday night and Friday night were just as bad, both nights Katy worked well beyond her shift until well after dawn. Saturday morning, she arrived home after eight o'clock.

Every morning when she got home from work, she checked her telephone for messages, but there was nothing from Eric. She didn't remember if she had even given him her phone number. By Friday night, she concluded it didn't matter. Everyday another picture of the big blonde male hugging or kissing a different woman showed up in the paper. The women were all drop dead gorgeous, and he looked like he was certainly enjoying himself. She remembered how he tried to glamour her into forgetting him. No matter how intensely passionalte those two nights had been, clearly, Eric Northman was not interested in seeing her again.

On Saturday morning, Ralph Thompson, sat in a booth in Fangs II. He was drinking straight scotch and nursing his hatred for Katy Jones and Eric Northman who sat on the throne. For a man who professed to hate vampires, Ralph Thompson had no qualms about taking their blood. He was a V addict, and he wanted to score tonight. He called his usual dealer without any luck. He ended up in Fangs II because he thought a vampire bar was just the natural place to find V. He was sitting alone hating Katy and Eric and feeling sorry for himself when he noticed a pretty blonde woman sitting at the bar. She looked upset. He and got up and introduced himself.

"Can I buy a pretty girl a drink, or something else?" he asked. The girl had a beautiful face and a sexy body with big breasts that were obviously fake. Ralph felt his groin tighten. He was definitely a boob guy and her breasts were much bigger than the redheaded doctor he hated so much. Best of all, she looked like she had just lost her best friend. He knew sad women were easy, and he wanted easy tonight. She'll do for a quick roll in the hay. He thought.

All week Tiffany had tried to get close to Eric again, but had no luck. He went out to bars and nightclubs with a different woman every night, and she was green with jealousy. The papers were full of pictures of him, kissing and hugging these tramps. At the palace, every night when he wanted sex, Alan, Eric's secretary, made sure that it was someone other than her who was brought to the king's office. By now, the other fangbangers realized that Tiffany had lied to them about Eric's interest in her. They started to laugh about her behind her back; they recalled her stories and called her delusional and a liar. Now the other women had their own stories to tell. This all reminded her of being the unpopular, obese dork at school. She was furious, and she began to hate Eric and the other women.

She had tried once more in the bar to catch his interest, but had been promptly rejected by him. He told her to get away from him; it was clear he didn't want anything to do with her now. She was devastated, angry and embarrassed. This morning, she was down in the dumps, feeling sorry for herself and drinking heavily.

She turned and looked at the guy who had just spoken. He was tall, good looking with sandy hair and brown eyes. He looked like he knew the score. Although he was human, he looked like he could give her a good time. Tonight, she desperately needed some male attention to make her feel good about herself. She decided to go for it. "Why not? I'm Tiffany. What's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Ralph. Why don't you come sit with me?" he answered. She shrugged and followed him to his table. Thirty minutes later, they left the bar and headed for his apartment in a five story building about ten minutes away. Ralph drove them both to his place. The two were all over each other, so they didn't see the red haired vamp in the corridor outside his apartment. The small, wiry male vamp had several photographs in his hands, and one of them dropped to the floor. In a flash, he was on Ralph; his fangs were bared, but he didn't strike. Tiffany picked up the photograph from the floor, turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could.

The vamp grabbed Ralph's face and forced him to look at him. Then he made Ralph look at the photo. The photographs were various pictures taken of Katy's table at the charity function two weeks ago. They showed Mary and Gene Lebron, Katy Jones and Ralph Thompson and two other couples that Ralph didn't know.

"Invite me in!" Peter Kenyon, the male vamp, demanded. Ralph opened his door and did as he was commanded. Once inside, the vamp asked him, "Who is the redheaded woman in the photographs?" From the tone of his voice, Ralph knew he had to answer, or he would die. He not only told the vamp Katy's name, but where she worked. He told him everything he knew about Katy Jones, including where she lived.

Once he got the information, Kenyon glamoured Ralph hard to make him forget he had ever met him. His first instinct had been to drain every drop of blood from Ralph's body, but his orders were not to kill anyone. He was disappointed, but he told himself. It was a good night's work.

He wasn't worried about the blonde, he had seen her at the palace on Sunday night. That was the night he he came to register with the king. He would find her sooner or later, and she would be glamoured into forgetting him too. He pulled out his cellphone and made a call to his boss in California.

"I found Katy Dumont, Mr. Califano," he said. "I'll pick her up tomorrow night. We'll be in California by Monday morning the latest.

"Good work, Peter. Make sure she get's here alive, and don't kill anybody while you are there. I don't want you to call any attention to us." the vamp on the other end of the line answered.

Gaetano Califano was a very wealthy, five hundred year old vamp. When he was turned at the age of thirty five, he was a brawny, but still handsome, youngest son of a Venetian nobleman. He was adept at languages and was fluent in many by the time he was turned. Wit no wealth of his own, he became a soldier who worked as a mercenary for anyone who would pay his way. Even as a human, he was vicious, immoral and sadistic. After crossing his vampire regent one too many times, he left the old world on the run for the Americas. Since the late seventeen hundreds, he had lived in Mexico and what is now California. He passed himself off as a Spanish Grandee and later as a wealthy ranch owner and businessman.

Today he supposedly owned a large vineyard in Napa Valley. He did own a vineyard, but most of his fortune had been made from other less legal ventures like the human sex trade. Even though they had no idea they were transacting with a vampire for years, John Dumont, James Wakefield and Richard Wakefield had been three of his biggest clients. He was the one who set up the sex tours; the tours were only one of his many offerings for humans addicted to sex of any sort. The humans had never met him; most of their dealings were done through intermediaries.

Now his business was being threatened by a human woman named Katy Dumont. She was a doctor who had been married to Richard Wakefield. He learned through his informants that she had a lot of evidence and planned to testify in court. She was in the Witness Protection Program now along with her aunt.

Even though the evidence would not lead to him, the money that flowed in from the services he provided would be curtailed. He wanted Katy Dumont and her aunt dead. If he could, he would have had Peter Kenyon kill her as soon as he was found her, but he wasn't sure how much her aunt, Mathilda Rothschild, knew about his operation. He intended to find out by torture, if necessary.

The Wakefields had looked for her for two and a half years. They were total incompetents. They had promised his intermediaries that they had everything under control, but they were wrong. The feds were all over the case now even if it had been off the news for years. The Wakefields had found her several times only to lose her before they could get to her.

Califano decided to take matters into his own hands. It was only by chance that a picture of her had shown up on the internet. A relative of one of his human minions attended the function and emailed pictures to his cousin who recognized her and brought the picture to him. He sent his best operative, Peter Kenyon, to New Orleans to find her and bring her back to California. Peter was good. It took him only three days.

On Saturday night, Katy pushed all thoughts of Eric aside. Mary and Gene had invited her out with some friends to the only karaoke bar south of Oakville. She was tired of being alone so she agreed. Katy drove her own car and was a little late. When she finally got there, she was was introduced to two new male friends of the Gene and Mary; these were the same guys, Mary wanted to introduce her to last week. She knew right away that neither man was her type. Still they were fun to be with; both were good dancers and one taught her how to play pool.

The bar was filled with both humans and vamps. Katy was dressed in a blue tube top and low rider white jeans and sandals. A few inches of creamy pale skin showed between the top of the jeans and the bottom of her tube top. To most men, Katy was a beautiful woman, but tonight, still showing the effects of Eric's blood, she seemed even more so. If she looked good to the human males, she was downright irresistible to the vamps in the bar. They could not take their eyes off her.

She had a good time, drinking, dancing and playing pool with the guys at her table. One of the men did a great quick step, and Katy danced with him several times. She enjoyed the movements of the dance as he took her hand, twirled and spun her in time to the music. She was laughing and happy and was slightly high when she and Mary got up on the stage and did a rendition of Billy Craddock's song, "Rub it In" to the karaoke machine.

"Lie beside me on the sand. Put some lotion in your hand.

Come on and make me feel nice and kiss me once or twice.

Say you love me again.

Then rub it in; rub it in;. rub it in; rub it in.

I feel the tingle begin. You're getting under my skin, rub it in, rub it in.

Mmm feels good...Put a little on my left shoulder, yeah, put a little right here, yeah...

Turn your radio on and find a slow grooving song.

Baby whisper in my ear, Say the things I want to hear.

Make me know you love is strong..."

The two women sang and mimed to the song touching the different parts of their bodies in order as it was mentioned in the song. They were both decent singers and even better dancers. In their way, their movements were more erotic and sexy than most professional strippers. Men, women and vamps in the bar cheered and whistled loudly as they sang along and mimed too.

The song was nearly over when Dallas Lebron, a young cousin of Gene's, got up and began to dance with Katy. He was about twenty two with black curly hair, blue eyes and a body most young girls couldn't keep their hands off. Putting one well muscled thigh in between Katy's thighs, he began to do a dirty dance with her. Their hips and bodies swayed back and forth in natural rhythm with the fast paced music. Katy let him lead her, but she made sure they never touched each other anywhere. If anything, the small distance between them made the dance seem even sexier.

At the end of the song, Dallas whispered in her ear suggesting that they leave together. He was definitely hoping for something more. Katy was a little drunk, but she had no intention of leaving and ending up in bed with him. She gently laughed him off. I don't need anymore problems like this, she told herself. The young man took it well and didn't try to force the issue. He focuses his attention on a younger more willing female.

No one noticed the small, wiry, red haired male vamp staring at Katy all night. He had entered the bar immediately after she did and sat down in a corner booth. He watched her intently for several hours. She excited him. He could tell she had recently taken vampire blood, but he had a job to do. Still a little fun before he turned her over to Califano would suit him just fine.

They also didn't notice as a certain tall blonde vampire walk in with a small retinue of vamps. He had been notified, shortly after Katy got to the bar, by Daniel that she was being followed by the male vamp who introduced himself at court last Sunday as Peter Kenyon. When Eric arrived, he went upstairs with Daniel. The other vamps stayed downstairs and ordered True Blood. They watched Peter Kenyon, but they watched Katy too.

Sitting in the manager's office that had a two way mirror that allowed him to see everything that was going on downstairs, Eric watched Katy and her friends at their table near the stage. She was definitely having a good time dancing and playing pool. He hissed when he saw a human male bend over her and show her how to guide the pool stick; it looked like an embrace. He got angry when he saw her do the quick step with a human male. He hated seeing how well they moved together in time to the music. He hated seeing the man take her hand and hold her close while they danced. Watching the man's hand casually slide across her back during the turns enraged him. He was almost incandescent with jealousy and envy.

He growled low in his throat when Katy and Marie started to sing and dance to "Rub It In," Eric's fangs ran out as he became aroused. When she started to dirty dance with Dallas Lebron, he jumped out of his chair as a guttural snarl erupted from his throat. His fists curled into tight balls. He was in a deep jealous rage, and he was tempted to rip the young man's throat out.

The inconsistency of his actions for the past week didn't occur to him. The fact that he decided to stay away from her until he found out more about her didn't matter to him in the least. The fact that he had been screwing fangbangers at court all week didn't count either. He rationalized that he was only trying to get Katy out of his mind,so if anything, it was her fault. As far as he was concerned, Katy was his human; she had no right to let another man touch her. She had no right to dance in that suggestive manner with another man. The only male she should ever touch was him.

"Easy, Eric. Easy!" Daniel tried to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

At that moment, Katy decided to leave. She got up, hugged Mary, said good bye to everyone and walked toward the back door with her purse and car keys in her hand. Peter Kenyon, started after her. She didn't know what was happening when he grabbed her just inside the back door. He put his hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming and pushed open the door. Katy tried to fight, but her efforts were completely futile. No human inside the bar knew anything odd was happening just outside.

When he saw Kenyon follow her, Eric was out of the office like a shot. Before the vamp knew what as happening, a large hand grabbed him from the back and slammed him up against the side of the bar. Eric's bared fangs were inches from his throat. Peter Kenyon knew he didn't stand a chance with the big viking vampire, so he put both hands up signaling surrender.

As Eric pulled Kenyon off her, Katy lost her balance, stumbled and pitched forward face first on the ground. The fall knocked the wind out of her. When she turned to find out what was happening, she was shocked to see Eric with other vamps right behind him. Eric's face was red with rage; he was holding the vamp who attacked her in his powerful grip. He looked like he wanted to kill him.

"Bring them! Bring them both!" he ordered Daniel as he shoved Kenyon toward him. He flew off into the night sky.