Dark Ink Tattoo Episode 6 Read online

  Dark Ink Tattoo

  Episode 6

  Cassie Alexander

  Argus Industrial

  Contents

  Episode 6 - The Past, & How Jack Found His Humanity Again

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  About the Author

  Dark Ink Tattoo Episode 7: Jack, Present Day

  Episode 6 - The Past, & How Jack Found His Humanity Again

  After unwittingly sacrificing himself to save his high school flame, Thea, Jack wakes up to discover the new course his life has taken — and has to learn how to survive.

  Dark Ink Tattoo - Episode 6

  Cassie Alexander

  Copyright © 2016 by Erin Cashier. All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, email [email protected]

  www.cassiealexander.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  One

  “Good morning, sunshine,” crooned a familiar French accent as I lurched awake. Rosalie was looming over me in a low-cut dress that hung freely enough for me to see she wasn’t wearing a bra. I was on a couch and there was clothing strewn on top of me – and a sense that something horrible had happened, to me and to –

  “Thea?”

  Rosalie rocked back, her disappointment obvious. “Yes, her, of course.”

  I sat up, knocking a wave of fabric off, realizing I was naked in time to hide myself with a corset. I felt hungover, terrified, and I was starving. “What happened?” The last thing I remembered – it couldn’t have been true – and yet here I was.

  “I promised I’d tell you who took Thea, and where, if you gave yourself to me. Which you, passionately in love with your girlfriend, did.” The way Rosalie said the word girlfriend made it drip with irony. “So now you’re mine.”

  “What? Where are my clothes? Where is she?”

  “Everything in good time, mon ami. You can’t just go on without knowing the rules. Otherwise you’ll die and be no good to us both.”

  Whatever fear I’d felt of Rosalie when I’d last seen her – I didn’t feel it now. I grabbed her shoulders. “Whatever you’re going to tell me, tell me, but give me my clothing and hurry the fuck up.”

  “Fine,” she said, angling her chin up defiantly. “Are you hungry now, mon amour?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Answer me,” she snapped, and I felt a sudden willingness to obey. I put a hand to my stomach. It felt like my whole body was starving, each and every cell.

  “I am.”

  “That’s the hunger. You were out for three days, becoming what you now are. If you try to ignore it, it will only get worse.”

  “‘What you now are’ – what the hell do you mean?”

  She studied me intently. “Sometimes people remember. Sometimes they don’t.” Then she opened her mouth wide and let me see needle-like teeth sinking down from just behind her own.

  My own jaw dropped, in horror. I did remember, seeing those teeth lower into me and – I reached for my neck.

  “You do remember,” she said with a laugh.

  I scanned the room wildly for an exit. She was small, I could take her – I could beat her to the door.

  “No running,” she commanded, and suddenly escape was not an option as I was, once again, glued to her couch.

  These were no hypnotist’s tricks. “What are you?”

  “That’s the wrong question, Jack. You should be asking, ‘What are we?’” She gestured between us both. “Thea’s other boyfriend is a lieutenant in the Nevada 13, who considered himself a bit of a ladies’ man. Then when he found out she was fucking you –“

  The full extent of what she’d said hit home. “Three days? I’ve been out for three days?” I tried again to move, but couldn’t.

  “In the service of a larger cause! You wanted to be strong enough to fight him. You couldn’t before – but now you can. You can take on an army now, Jack.” She grabbed hold of my bicep and squeezed.

  I did feel…stronger. But --

  “You just need to eat. And then you can be on your way. I’ll have Tamo drop you off – he’ll even wait for you outside.”

  I did need to eat. Hunger pangs wracked through me. Then I remembered her fangs – and her implication that I had them, too. I searched behind my teeth for them with my tongue before asking, “Eat…what?”

  A slow smile spread across her face, revealing a row of even teeth, no fangs in sight. “Only two ways to satisfy it. I can bring a girl in for you to bite – or you can give me a good fuck.”

  “You have to be kidding on both counts. I’m not biting anyone – and I wouldn’t fuck you with someone else’s dick.” I struggled against muscles that wouldn’t obey. “Let me go, and I can manage on my own.”

  “You’re a vampire now, Jack. One of the divine undead. For the entire rest of your time on this planet you’ll be foraging for life, one way or another.” She rose and crossed the room to knock on her door, then spoke briefly to someone outside.

  She waited until the door opened again from the other side and reached out, hauling a girl with fire-engine red hair I didn’t recognize in. Rosalie practically threw her to the floor at my feet. She spilled down, all gawky legs and arms, breasts free and jiggling, the lower half of a sexy Little Bo Beep outfit completing her terrified her look.

  “Who is he, Miss Rosalie?” she asked in all innocence, from the floor.

  She addressed me, instead. “There. If you won’t fuck me, fuck her.”

  “I will not.”

  “Then bite her.”

  “I won’t do that, either!” Rage built in me, over what’d happened to me, what was likely happening to Thea, over three wasted days – and I used it to pry myself off the couch, just barely managing to stand.

  The girl on the floor’s eyes went wide just as Rosalie clapped her hands. “Impressive! But I had a feeling you would be.” She snapped, and the command I was fighting released, making me sag forward. The girl on the floor scooted back quickly with a gasp, and my eyes were drawn to her instantly. She looked the very picture of innocence, delicious in so many dangerous ways. Her lips parted as she continued to pant in fear – and I felt like I could see the blood in her – but that was impossible. I shook my head to clear it.

  Rosalie came to stand between us and put her hand on my jaw. “You can’t fight for Thea in your current state and you know that. You’ll go mad between now and then and kill the first tourist you see. So just eat the bird I’ve given you, rather than slaughtering two in the bush later, no? Save all your killing for Nevadas one through thirteen.” She stroked her hand off my chin, then bopped me on the nose with her forefinger. “Don’t make me make you fuck her, Jack.” r />
  I turned towards her. “You can’t. I’m not like you.”

  Her eyes flashed. “Oh? And just what do you think I am?”

  The girl moved again, distracting me. “It’s…it’s okay.” She crawled over on her hands and knees, the costume’s broad tutu spiking out in all directions, revealing the heart-shaped curve of her ass behind under a thong and tights. “See?” she said, coming up to kneel at my feet, reaching for me.

  My body – reacted. Not just my cock, the omnipresent male hunger than every man knew --but something deeper, more frightening and wild. It knew what she was offering, and it wanted to take it.

  She angled up like a stretching cat and put a hand on both my thighs. Her lips parted and my cock rose up to meet them, and when she leaned forward, taking my head into her mouth it felt like I was entering something holy.

  “Oh -- my God –“ I whispered, transfixed by the sensation.

  Rosalie purred. “It’s not always like that. But when it is, it’s nice.” She brought a handful of nails clawing down my back.

  The woman’s heavily lined eyes looked up, searching mine for some sign of satisfaction. I brought both hands to her hair and gently thrust, making her mouth take more of me, watching my cock thread the red ribbon of her lips.

  I felt the slimmest edge of hunger recede, at last – so that hadn’t been a lie. “What is this?” I asked, watching the woman work her way down my cock, equally ecstatic and mystified.

  “It’s life. Sex is it’s its own kind of magic – power, intention, fluids -- all mixed into one. Blood’s good too, and quicker generally, but –“ she stroked her fingers through the girl’s hair, as she started to earnestly take me, bobbing on and off of me, making the head of my cock dive down the back of her throat. “This is better. When it’s done right, of course.”

  I moaned, some part of me knowing I was betraying Thea, but the rest of me completely unable to resist this – it was like with each stroke she was pulling the hunger itself out of me as she sucked on my cock.

  Then she pulled back entirely, sinking onto her heels, just as I thought my cock might burst. In a movement more fluid than I would’ve given her credit for, she turned, showing me everything the tutu hid.

  I – I needed more – but Thea --

  She looked forlornly over her shoulder at me, casting a lock of red hair back. “Don’t you want me?” she asked, her voice seemingly sincere and –

  I fell to my knees, ripping through her tights, yanking down her thong. Her pussy underneath was already wet, which was good because I needed to be inside it. I spread her ass with my hands and buried myself deep.

  She let out a cry of surprise, but I felt her twitch around me as if to hold me there – and then I realized –

  “I’m sorry – condoms –“ I started trying to back out, only to find Rosalie at my back.

  “You’re already dead. What on earth could you need a condom for?”

  The red-head didn’t seem put off by her strange pronouncement – in fact she’d started rocking back and forth. And I – I grabbed beneath the tulle to pull her hips to me.

  What happened next, was wild, savage. I took her, bending myself over her, grabbing her shoulders, hips, hair, anything I could to make her mate with me. As much hunger as she’d taken away was as much empty space I had to fill.

  She cried out, bracing against the ground to take more of me. “Oh -- fuck me!” she shouted, a command, not an exclamation. I redoubled my efforts, impossibly, and felt her pussy start to squeeze.

  “Yes – yes – get me off – I need it – get me off!” she pleaded, her hands clenching into fists against the ground.

  “I –“ I panted, fucking her madly, feeling like my own cock was about to explode – I reached under to grab her breasts and drove my cock deep. “Come,” I growled, from someplace deep inside.

  She stiffened under me and around me.

  “Come,” I commanded, with the strange skill of Rosalie.

  Her body started shuddering beneath me. “Oh, yes, Daddy!” and then she let out a high pitched squeal.

  Her orgasm milked me dry. It’d been so long since I’d been in a woman, condom-free, feeling her pussy pulse felt like the essence of luxury. I felt myself spurting into her, my hips spasming on their own as I grunted above. I kept fucking her until I was through, until her pussy had eaten every last drop, and then pulled back slowly, drawing out the feel.

  The red-head sagged forward, collapsing into a heap of tulle, legs splayed so I could see my cum leaking out through her swollen pink lips.

  “Was that good for you, darling?” Rosalie asked. It took me a moment to realize she was talking to the girl.

  “Uh-huh.” The red-head nodded, coming up onto her elbows. “For a night or two. Or three.” She rolled over onto her back and laughed, pushing a hand down between her legs to rub her clit. “And much better than the alternative.”

  “Did you really think that I would let him bleed you?”

  “It would be no fair if I didn’t get to bleed him back.”

  “He needs all his blood inside him, for now.” Rosalie chuckled and then looked over. “And you?”

  I didn’t understand what was happening but, “I feel – better.”

  “Don’t get too used to it. It won’t last for long -- but it will last for long enough.”

  I looked down at myself – I should’ve at least felt drained, or sore, but instead I felt – revitalized. “I have to fuck…every night? Like that?”

  “Maybe not so much like that. I think if Maya were a normal girl, you might have killed her.”

  “He wasn’t that good.” The red-head, Maya, rolled her eyes. “I liked fucking him better when he was comatose. Less talking, more cocking.”

  “Wait –“ I crawled backwards in horror as what she said sunk in and Maya laughed. “You – is everyone here a –“

  “You can just say it. A vampire.” Rosalie put the word to it at last, as she reached into her closet. “And no. Only two or three.”

  “Thea?” If she were, it’d explain the sex we’d been having --

  “Of course not, otherwise I wouldn’t be needing to send you after her.”

  “I – I still don’t understand.”

  “You’re going to go out with Tamo,” she said, throwing jeans and a t-shirt at me followed by my own old boots.

  “If you’re a vampire, why didn’t you go after her?” I started hauling clothes on.

  “Because people have eyes. They can see me. I’m well known. Whereas you? You’re a nobody. Tamo knows where to go. He’ll bring you back before dawn, assuming you survive.”

  “How…immortal am I?”

  “Quite. But watch out for rogue decapitations. Can’t survive that.”

  “Crosses, garlic, mirrors?”

  “Stay away from all night wedding chapels and Italian restaurants.” And then she gestured at herself in her own mirror, by way of example. “And,” she went on, “remember that you owe me.”

  I had a feeling she wasn’t being metaphorical. “How much…and of what?”

  “Money or blood. Don’t worry – we’ll figure out a payment plan.” She gave me a winning smile and I left the room carefully, unwilling to turn my back on her.

  Two

  Five minutes later I was sitting in a car with a taciturn Tamo, him driving us off to who knew where.

  “Are you…?” wondering if the huge man was like me.

  “No.”

  “Why didn’t you stop him when you had the chance?” I asked at a red light.

  “I’m a lover not a fighter,” he said, leering over and daring me to contradict him.

  I clenched my hands into unsure fists, like I was going to punch the air. “Do you…have any advice? Or guns?”

  “Neither. But you’ll be fine.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’ve seen things like this go down before.” He took a wide right hand turn, and took me to what I was sure was the seedier s
ide of town.

  The block we wound up on had a series of huge warehouses, all of them unmarked. He cut his headlights and engine and glided in in neutral like someone who’d done this before.

  “She’s in there. With the rest of them. The entrance is around the back.”

  “How many?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What happens if I get shot or knifed?”

  He hit the unlock button on his door. “You’ll see.”

  Uncertain of anything but my need to save Thea, I got out of the car.

  I snuck around the building’s perimeter. During my brief time on the streets, I’d learned how to skulk – it wasn’t always that you were up to no good, sometimes you just didn’t need the wrong kind of attention. Walking boldly on sidewalks under streetlights was the kind of thing people who had homes got to do.

  But this was slightly different. I felt like the dark…welcomed me. I wasn’t in any danger of stepping on boards with nails, despite the omnipresent rubble – it was like even in sheer darkness I had a beam of moonlight guiding me, though when I looked up though, there was no moon to be seen.

  And – I could smell things. I scented the strong cologne of the man guarding the door downwind. I heard his voice too, so clear it was like he was talking to me – but it was an argument, on his phone, with a girlfriend.

  All in all, he wasn’t much of a guard.

  Just like I wasn’t much of a vampire either – yet.

  But trusting in this new and untested part of me, I snuck as close as I could, coming in behind him and then – I snapped his neck. Completely naturally.

  One moment he was talking, the next I reached out and clapped hands on head and jaw, and then a sound like the crack of a falling tree. He crumpled, his phone dropping as he did, leaving his girlfriend to shout at the pavement. I stepped back into the shadows and if I had had anything in my stomach, I would’ve barfed it up.