CH24
The guy tied to the tree had been uncooperative giving Kate the answers that she had wanted. It wasn't in Kate's nature to torture anyone for information so simply asking him was all she knew to do. Being a vampire didn't mean she was a monster.
In the end Kate had left him tied to the tree with a gag in his mouth, out in the middle of nowhere, where it got to below freezing at night. Or at least came close.
It was late as they were arriving just outside the loft. Rick had mentioned that he needed to do some shopping if him and Alexis were going to eat breakfast in the morning. Rick would only be gone a few minutes, half an hour at the most.
Kate had easily carried Alexis into the loft and up the stairs to her room, taken off her clothes and slipped on her PJ's. Kate had just finished tucking Alexis into bed. "I love you." Kate whispered to the sleeping child before exiting her room to go downstairs and wait for Rick.
They had delayed leaving the Hamptons at Kate's request. Kate had spent most of the day in her bikini in the pool with the two of them. Even after spending half the night making love, Rick was still flirting with her and trying to get frisky in the pool.
Kate had spent part of the time squealing and laughing as Rick chased after her while Kate would turn tables and use her strength to dunk Rick into the pool. Since only the pool was heated and not the space around it, it was a long time before Kate ever left the pool.
Alexis was taking a nap while Kate and Rick sat on the sofa inside after having fun in the pool.
It wasn't long before Kate could feel Rick kissing her bare shoulder where her oversized t-shirt she was using as a cover had fallen to expose that area. This was soon followed by feeling one of his hands on her breast.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Kate whispered out while she could still think to ask questions. Kate already wanted him and had missed his answer.
It was only moments later when Kate found Rick's head placed firmly between her legs with the bottom of her bikini having been thrown who knows where.
Kate was just putting her bikini bottom back on as was Rick his swim trunks, after Kate had, had 3 orgasms followed by one more with her on top and Rick naked on his back on the floor, when Alexis had shown up.
They were both too busy recovering from making love to each other and stammering out a greeting to Alexis to notice that Alexis had said. "Hi mom, hi dad." While shuffling her feet over to Kate to get a hug and a kiss while yawning after having just gotten up from her nap.
Rick had made dinner for the two of them while Kate pulled out a blood bag and warmed it up in the microwave.
"Do we have to go back?" Alexis was moaning and to Kate it sounded a lot like her father.
"Yes pumpkin, both you and Kate have school in the morning. … Which reminds me, I need to know when you don't have classes for a few days. I need to schedule when we can go to Disney World together." Rick offers up.
"I'll look when I get home. I think there is a break somewhere around something called Christmas." Kate tells them, trying to remember her schedule.
"You don't know Christmas?" Alexis's eyes were wide and had a look of disbelief on her face. Watching Kate shake her head.
"WELL, we'll just have to fix that oversight, won't we pumpkin." Rick now had a reason to go all out this Christmas. And it gave him a reminder that he needed to do some Christmas shopping, and this year it would include Kate.
What do you get a vampire from outer space for Christmas?
Rick had finished shopping and was sitting in his car thinking. Gina was gone, Black Pawn was gone, his lawyer was studying the contract that another publisher had offered. He had a publicist, Kate had entered his life and he was happy. A lot more happy than he had been in a long time. And it was all thanks to Kate.
Kate the vampire, who just wasn't the kind of vampire their culture, movies and books, said they were.
Did he care that they couldn't have children together? Not really, yes he would miss having the chance at having children with the woman he loved and married because he loved her, but he would rather have Kate than have more children.
Wait, did I just say that I loved her and was going to marry her? Too fast Rick, way too fast.
Rick shook his head and started the car to drive home.
Kate had sat at Rick's kitchen but hadn't really used it, except to get a blood bag out of the refrigerator. So now Kate was searching it for what there was. Most of the appliances did things she knew nothing about.
Kate was inspecting the coffee machine when there was a knock at the front door.
This presented Kate with a problem. Should she answer it? This wasn't her home, she didn't live here. Alexis was asleep upstairs and Kate knew she was fast and strong enough to handle anyone at the door, so Alexis would remain safe.
Kate worked out it wasn't Rick, he wouldn't knock at his own door. Rick says he knows a lot of people, was this one of them? It must be someone though since whomever it was made it past the doorman without calling up first.
Kate decided to answer the door and let them wait for Rick to come back inside instead of sitting on the floor outside his front door.
Kate opened the door after taking in a deep breath, confirming to her that whoever it was, was alone and human. Opening the door Kate saw a woman, about as tall as her, a little pale skin with reddish hair. She was dressed trying to impress someone or just herself, and she had a large bag next to her.
"It's about time you came home; I've been waiting outside forever." The woman started off with, until she saw Kate. "Who the hell are you? And where is Rickie."
"My name is Kate and what do you want?" Kate responds back.
"Babysitter." The lady at the door whispers out. "Where is Rickie?" She grabs her bag and starts to try and get past Kate and into the apartment. Kate however blocks her path and doesn't move.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Kate tries again.
"Get out of my way and tell me where Rickie is." The lady tries to push her way past Kate again, who doesn't give an inch. This wasn't her home but it wasn't this strange lady's either.
"No one named Rickie lives here, so last time. Who are you and what do you want?" Kate stares at her all set to close the door on her.
"Rickie is mine and you're just the stupid babysitter, now get out of my way and tell me where he is. I suppose my daughter is up in her room." The lady tries again to push her way past Kate but doesn't gain an inch. "I said get out of my way bitch." And tries again to push her way past Kate.
Rickie? Rick? Daughter? Alexis? …. Red hair, pale skin? …. MEREDITH?
Kate stood up straighter and changed her demeanor for this woman instantly. "You're Meredith?" Kate questions.
"Finally, your few brain cells are working, now get out of my way and out of this apartment." Meredith tries again to gain entry.
However what she gets is not what she expected. Kate reaches out with her hand and wraps her fingers around Meredith's neck and walks her to the far side of the hallway and slams her up against the wall, and easily lifts Meredith up off the floor till her feet no longer touch the floor.
"You thoughtless, insensitive, egotistical, pompous piece of shit. Have you any idea what you have done to Alexis? … You never keep your promises, you don't even give her a one minute phone call to talk to her. One lousy stinking minute for your own daughter.
What I'm going to do to you! …. I'm going to enjoy this." Kate states glaring at Meredith as she struggles to even breathe. Never having been treated like this before. No one had ever stood up to her like this, let alone ever laid a finger on her before.
Kate promptly bit her and started drinking, and drinking, and drinking.
Kate stopped and let her fall to the floor unconscious. Kate had a plan. Kate picked her up and slung her over her back and then grabbed her suitcase and started for the stairs after closing the front door.
Making it down to the parking garage, Kate stepped out and went over to the door leading outside, by-passing the doorman. Once outside Kate took off running.
Kate made it to the building she had chosen for this encounter ahead of time and jumped up onto the roof.
Kate walked over to the box she had left behind and dropped Meredith on the roof, then took the suitcase over to the edge of the roof and launched it for the middle of the Hudson River, which was not that far away, along with her purse.
Stepping back over to Meredith, Kate got to work on her.
Stripping Meredith of all her clothes and then Kate started ripping them into shreds, and let them fall over the side of the roof.
Kate opened the box and pulled out the cans and brushes that were stored inside. Lanie and she had watched this one show on TV and seeing this person on TV had given Kate an idea.
About 1-1/2 hours later Kate was done and stood back to look at her work, and then one by one Kate threw her tools out into the middle of the Hudson River.
Happy with herself Kate stepped over to the edge of the roof and stepped off and then ran for the loft, stopping at the refrigerator's in the garage to grab some blood bags before walking back up to the loft.
Kate found the front door closed, which was right since Kate had closed it. Except now it was locked, so she knocked. The door soon opened with Rick on the other side with Kate outside holding a number of blood bags.
"I was wondering what happened to you?" Rick smiled and let her in, closing and locking the door and follows her to the kitchen.
"I think there are already a few bags in the refrigerator." Rick mentions.
"These are going home with me. Lanie needs a few too." Kate tells him.
"Is Alexis asleep?" Rick asks.
"She never woke up even when I changed her clothes, she should be fine." Kate tells him.
Kate waits until Rick was done and guided him over to the sofa. "You staying the night?" Rick asks leaning in to kiss Kate. However Kate stops him and sees a look of hurt and question on his face.
"I need to tell you something." Kate was nervous, this might make Rick mad.
"Okay." Rick didn't like the sound of this. It sounded like a version of "We need to talk" Which was never good.
"Please don't be mad, it's just I hate what she has done, and I couldn't stop myself. Actually I wanted to do a lot worse, a whole lot worse." Kate starts off with.
"O-kay." Rick is guarded.
"While you were gone this strange lady knocked on the front door and I answered it. … She called me the babysitter and demanded that I get out of her way so she could enter." Kate scrunches her face, silently praying that Rick won't get mad.
Rick now had a million questions but let Kate continue, since she seemed to have a story to tell.
"She kept asking for Rickie and demanding entrance. … Then she questioned if her daughter was upstairs in her room. It was about now that I worked out the lady at the door was Meredith, since you told me once that she has a habit of just showing up suddenly." Kate tells him.
"About your height, skin color a little paler than Alexis with reddish colored hair, all dressed up wearing heels?" Rick offers, watching Kate nod her head. "Yeah that sounds like Meredith." Rick closes his eyes and tries to take some breaths.
"Where is she now?" Rick didn't see her when he got here.
"I bit her and started draining her dry. …. It took a lot of effort not to finish drinking, but I did. Then I took her to a roof near the river. … And then I painted her after stripping her clothes off of her." Kate tries to close her ears, convince Rick is going to go ballistic on her.
"Meredith is naked and all alone on some roof somewhere and she's got paint on her?" Rick tried to understand.
Kate was nodding her head. "I threw her suitcase and purse out into the river and then shredded her clothes and dropped them over the side of the roof and then I painted her."
"Painted her, what?" Rick really didn't know what to make of all this.
"Well, … Lanie and I saw this show on TV a few days ago. Something about this guy who dresses up in a costume to fight crime. The bad guy was named Joker and he has this lady with him who was all painted up.
Red on one side and black on the other with a white face and a mask around her eyes." Kate explains, while motioning the locations with her hands.
Rick was ready to start laughing his ass off. "You painted Meredith to look like Harley from an animated Batman cartoon?" Rick was grinning and ready to burst at the seams. Watching Kate nod her head was all he needed to burst out laughing.
This was not the reaction Kate was expecting. "You're not mad?" Kate was sure he would be furious with her.
"Meredith, … is all painted up, …. To look like Harley, ….. half red and half black, …. With a mask?" Rick had fallen off the sofa and was now down on the floor laughing. Only getting words out when he could between laughs.
"Are there pictures?" Rick was slowly calming down. And watched Kate shake her head.
"We need pictures." Rick managed to get up off the floor and go into his study to find a camera, and come back out to give it to Kate and show her how to use it. "Lots of pictures, … lots and lots." Rick was still ready to burst out laughing.
Kate didn't understand, she was sure Rick would be mad. However what she really had wanted to do was drain her dry, but her mother had taught her not to kill, so she didn't.
Kate ran back to the site and found Meredith right where she had left her, still unconscious and started taking pictures, from every angle she could think of. Kate had even rolled her over to take pictures of her back since it was painted too.
If it had been a normal bite Meredith should be awake by now. However Kate had drained her pretty good, so she was going to sleep longer and be a lot weaker when she finally woke up.
Kate ran back to the loft and knocked on the front door. Rick opened it and snatched the camera out of her hands and walked for his study, leaving Kate to close and lock the door.
Rick had already pulled the memory card out of the camera and was downloading the pictures onto his computer when Kate joined him.
As soon as the first one popped up on the screen Rick started laughing again. Rick soon had tears running down his face and needed to blow his nose as he would occasionally press the wrong key on his computer since he was laughing too hard.
It was only after Rick had gone through all of the pictures. "You used body paint, right?" Wondering if Kate even knew the difference.
"Body paint?" There was paint meant to be used on a body?
It had Rick laughing all over again. "Did you leave some portion of her body un-painted?" Rick knew if her entire body was encased in paint it might kill her. Skin needed to be able to breathe.
"Just her feet, hands, scalp and maybe the back of her neck." Kate answers weakly, still not sure why Rick wasn't mad at her.
Rick thought about it and grunted. That might be enough to not kill her.
"You realize that if you didn't use body paint it will take days if not weeks for all that paint to come off." Rick turns to look at Kate. "Oooo, hold that thought." Rick holds up a finger at Kate and picks up the house phone.
While the phone is ringing. "Where is she, exactly?" Rick asks Kate.
Kate really wanted for her to suffer some more and have to yell for help to get down and be found naked covered in paint. But Kate told Rick where the building was.
Rick holds up a finger. "Hi Suze, it's Rick. … I'm doing fine thanks. Listen I have a story for you. Perfect for your page 6 tomorrow. You'll find the lady in question, …." Rick gives the location of where Meredith all painted up is located.
"How do I know? You of all people should know better than to ask who my sources are Suze. You can thank me later, so long as I don't read my name associated with this find in tomorrow's paper." Rick hangs up the phone.
"And you did this because, ….?" Rick wanted to hear it from Kate.
"That woman hurt Alexis and I wanted her to suffer for what she has done." Kate defends herself.
"So you did this for Alexis, because, …?" Rick wanted to hear it.
Kate fidgets, telling Alexis took a lot of her courage, telling Rick, … "Because I love her." Kate was ready to get yelled at again, not that she was yelled at the first time.
However what Rick did do was kiss her, and then he picked Kate up bridal style and carried Kate into the master bedroom, where Rick showed Kate just what he thought of why Kate had done what she did.