Bloodlines: Betrayal

Those who know me, know of my need to feed from the darker elements of the human psyche, those aspects that everybody has but few embrace.

This is a continuation of an original story I wrote sometime ago, though I did have a very special collaborator. The original story charts the first encounter between a vampire hunter of note, Kassandra Harker and a feared and powerful vampire; Helena Bathory, a descendant of the legend and who for many decades had found peace and sanctuary deep in the heart of England

The shadowy organisation fronted by Reynard had at last tracked down the location of Helena and sent his best hunter, Kassandra, to claim his organisations greatest prize. But Kassie was greatly troubled by her past and her families heritage… a trait that would lead her to eventually question exactly what it was she needed out of ‘life’

Their first encounter was a civilised affair… but the atmosphere that coursed through them belied some deeper need… something that echoed from them both. The attraction between them slowly became more tangible and in the end Kassie turned her back on the pain and the expectations of her bloodline and fully embraced what Helena offered… an existence beyond the realms of mortality, to experience history first hand…and to forever be by her side as her equal, her lover…

Through the course of the initial story it became clear that Reynard had betrayed Kassandra, but as to the level of that betrayal and its reasoning were never revealed…until now…

So much had changed since I last walked through the door of my apartment, and all as the result of a fated phone call… his words even now echoed through my head.

“We’ve found her!”…

I remembered my first encounter with Helena with a soft smile and for a moment my fingers briefly brushed across my neck. Our deep bonding had freed me from the torment of my past, allowing me to finally feel at peace. This was the first time I had left her side since then, but it was a journey I felt I needed to make… I needed to finally close of the last vestige of my past, but the sight that greeted me was unexpected… the apartment block that I once called home was now abandoned and undergoing major renovation, the topmost floors having been gutted by a vicious fire…instinct told me that it would have started in my penthouse apartment… perhaps an effort by Reynard to cover up my disappearance… I watched as the clouds began to thicken and roll in the heavens high above me, this night had been dark enough but now it was plunged into and almost apocalyptic scene as a deep crack of thunder shook the sky and the first splatters of rain hit against my leather jacket. I forced my way into the building and began to make my way up.

It didn’t take long to reach my apartment, though it had now been sealed with a heavy iron door and swathed in yellow police tape that proclaim the area to be a ‘crime scene’ and ‘off limits to unauthorised personnel’ I ran my fingers down the edge of the door… the tape had already been torn, a sign perhaps that I wasn’t the first to have entered recently… I took hold of the door and heaved it inward, feeling it crack against the frame as it bowed to me…

I strode through… my feet crunched against the blackened remains of my old place, nothing remained… my heart dropped a little when I gave thought to all those ancient texts that I had housed in my library, the stench of burnt wood still lingered in the air, making each breath I took cloyingly bitter. I comforted myself with the thought of the library back home, so extensive I had to fully explore every text that lay hidden there, delighting at how many of them were original first editions… my senses peaked for a moment, it felt as though a shadow had fallen across me… but the room was empty but for me… I spun about, my hand dropped to the hilt of the sword that hung from my waist; I could feel the intricately moulded metal that held the crest of Wallachia at its centre, there was a brief flash of lightning and my eyes were drawn to the balcony windows which lay shattered, no doubt from the explosion that engulf my old place… there was movement, fleeting and brief, but I cast my mind ahead, its probing fingers reaching out… I found nothing, where I should have at least found something there was emptiness… someone was taking great pains to block their presence, a skill I knew only to well.

I burst through to the balcony just in time to see a fleeting shadow disappear over the edge of the building, illuminated by a flash of lightning and on to the roof as the harsh rainfall battered against my face. I braced my foot against the lip of the balcony and launched myself upwards coming to an easy rest on the edge of the apartment block. Slowly I scanned the roof… I couldn’t see any sign, but the fact that my mind still brushed against this unseen barrier was enough of an indication that I wasn’t alone… I gently dropped onto the lowered floor of the roof, my footsteps kicking up a faint misty haze. My hand clasped against the hilt of the sword and slowly withdrew it… the rain shimmered against the blade and each bolt of lightning that tore across the heavens was reflected back from it. Slowly I made my way across the roof, the rain slapping against the black leather that camouflaged me against the deep night. My eyes closed as I tried to pick up on any sound no matter how slight that the storm may be masking, from my right came a gentle hiss… a sound I knew well, the sound of a sword catching against its scabbard as was drawn. My own grip tightened and I continued to look forward as my ears pricked to each slight noise, the movement was almost imperceptible against the background of the storm… Helena would have little trouble in picking them out, but I was still embracing these new abilities with which I’d been blessed.

Again the sky flared as the electrical storm punctured the night and the storm intensified, the brief flare drew my eyes to shadow… approaching fast… there came a faint whistle as a blade sliced through the air, I bought my own around and only just caught it in time… the impact from the strike vibrated through my arm and I caught my first good look at the attacker, lean but powerful, his long hair as black as the storm that raged about us, his sharp eyes given over to some deep force that seemed to control is actions. He kicked out with his foot as he tried to push me away, I feigned to the side and the strike hit nothing but air… I pushed myself back to give me some room and assess him a little better, his gaze sought out mine and a sly grin cut across his face and he twisted his sword about as he prepared to charge… his movements were fast as he started towards me before I had readied myself, he closed in and I bought my sword to bear… our swords clipped and he instantly dropped lower and twisted his strike which hammered into my side… I staggered backwards, embedding the tip of my sword in the roof to maintain my balance.

But for the orchestral beat of thunder and the scything lash of the rain against the roof, the air between us stilled… my heart was pounding hard against my chest as I became aware of a wetness beneath my leather… so attuned where my senses now that the redolent scent of my blood filled my nostrils, met moments later by a sudden dull ache in my side. The last exchanges had cost me, but how… how was it that this man had been able to so swiftly penetrate my defence and strike a telling blow? I felt the sliced edges of my flesh burn as the tissue slowly began to knit together.

He stood stoically a little way from me; a cloud of haze rising as the rain thrashed across him… only his deep eyes betrayed his intensity and his need. I searched out the slightest sign that he was about to move, but for now he seemed content to watch me as my breathing heaved like some wounded cornered animal… an animal, that’s what he thought of me… I felt a flash of my deep fire run through me… his very presence here mocked what I was and what I had become. My tortured legacy had become even more twisted but I was stronger for it… my Harker bloodline had completely fused and been absorbed by my dear Helena’s gift of her own dark legacy. That was when I felt it surge through me and my grip tightened on my own blade, I was aware he had seen the transfer in me as his eyes narrowed and his own grip shifted… I glanced down at the sword that rested in my hand; it seemingly pulsed with a menace of its own… I wondered at long history of those who had held this in battle, wondered at how many had fallen to its cruel edge, how many souls had been torn from this earth at its behest, I felt its hunger to despatch one more flow through me.

I saw his stance shift as he faced me, matching my own as we both readied ourselves for the inevitable… for an instant my eyes were drawn upwards. Through the raging storm, the moon had punctured the swirling tortured magnitude of cloud and for that moment I felt its soft rays reach down to me… caressing, empowering and revitalising. I felt my mind descend into the red haze of blood lust as my feet bit into the roof and I charged forwards… a second slower, he launched himself towards me with a grunt. As I ran, my arm took a deep swing back and then sharply forward as I released the sword high into the air… it cart wheeled upwards, slicing through the sheets of rain as the moonlight glinted across it, bathing its ancient blade in its hidden strength.

I watched as his eyes followed its path… bringing his own sword back as he prepared to strike out at me… without missing a step I slipped my hand into my jacket and gripped against the silver stake… silver, its very touch should cause me pain, but this felt warm and almost comforting against my skin, as if it had come over with me when Helena and I had joined… we neared, he ground to a halt bringing his blade across, coursing through the air, the storm screaming around us as the lightning tore across the blackness. I pulled the stake free and twisted as I ran towards him, thrusting out with my feet as I did so… pushing at the floor and launching myself over him…twisting through the air as I bought my feet over myself to land with a silent grace directly behind him. His worthless strike had overbalanced him and he was unable to react to me in time as I spun the stake in my hand and drove it forward, the vicious point that had claimed the darkness of 27 vampyres now tore through human flesh as it crushed through his shoulder and sliced through the top of his pectoral… his cry echoed out as a thin mist of blood turned the rain red…

My eyes were drawn skyward as the rain lashed my face… the sword had reached its zenith and now dropped towards me. I planted my foot into the small of his back and thrust him forward, staggering him to the floor, as the blade arced to the earth…the sleek metal seemed to glow from the effects of the moonlight upon it… my hand struck out, my fingers embracing the hilt as the newly imbibed essence of the sword flowed through to me. The warrior spun onto his back… grunting as the blunt end of the stake caught against the floor and twisted in his shoulder. His eyes flared as he saw me standing over him, with a scream he bought his own blade to bare, which I easily sidestepped but it gave him enough leeway to flip to his feet… and now it was his turn to breath heavily as a deep red wetness flowed down his chest.

At the sight of this I felt that aching hunger that had all to readily consumed me, the sight of his blood exploded like a supernova within me, and I battled hard to hold myself fast as it mixed with the rain and flowed quickly to the ground.

Concentrate Kassie damn it!

I was suddenly shaken with the speed he moved at; despite his injury he drove himself forward the tip of his sword carving a channel of sparks across the roof as he swung it upwards… my own blade was bought to bare and the clash echoed through the storm as the night was briefly lit by a shower of sparks. He recovered quickly and we began to trade exchanges, the space between us turned into a sheet of blurred silver as each thrust was countered and each strike parried… I felt a rage building through me, partially through the closeness of the cloying scent of his spilt blood which invaded each breath I took and partially because of his speed in fending off my attack…

For many minutes this deathly ballet danced under the storm-wracked sky, the flaring of the clouds as the lightning waged its own war above us… our eyes locked as intensely as our weapons, neither allowing an inch of quarter… then for a moment I saw his eyes flick to my side and a thin grin cross his face before the mask of battle fell across him once more, and it was then, for the first time I became aware that I wasn’t alone on the roof… this seemed to spur him on and he drove forward, his blade cutting through the air where moments before I had been standing, he thrust again, the sword slicing through my jacket as it trailed behind my movements… I swung about with a jarring parry that staggered him a little before bringing the pommel of the sword down in a crushing blow on the stake that pierced him. He cried out as the pain shot through him and I swung my leg around, my heel slicing through the air and cracking against his cheek... he fell backwards and I lunged for him, driving my blade deeply into his side…

My senses screamed out and my mind flared as I picked up on a shadow racing towards me from behind, a faint metallic hiss as pair of thin blades was withdrawn. I pulled my sword from him as he fell and swung it about; a trail of blood following the tip bringing myself about to face the new threat… my glimpse was fleeting as she came up to me… her blue eyes shimmered, her long golden hair streaming out behind her… as she neared me she crossed her blades, catching my sword between them and driving it to the side where the tip bit deep into the roof. Her foot drove against me, wrenching the sword from my grasp… I was staggered… but regained my footing quickly… her thin sallow faced grinned the lust for the kill gripped her, a look I knew only too well. With a scream she launched at me, the twin blades crossing through the air as she spun about… I twisted quickly and one whistled perilously close to my head… the second cut from the side and I was forced to drop to the ground, feeling the blade clip across my hair… springing to my feet I launched out with my heel which narrowly missed her… her lithe body bent at an almost impossible angle as I bought my other foot around at head height… damn she was quick, frustration bit deep into me as I pressed my attack… she twisted about and bought one of her blades behind, arcing towards me… I raised my forearm to intercept and there was a solid clunk as the steel hit against the iron bracer beneath the leather of my jacket… with a scream she spun across me and rained down blows for her twinned weapons, my forearms twisted in front of her as I attempted to parry each one with the bracers… my foot struck out and caught her in the gut… she doubled and staggered but didn’t stop… her eyes burning like a beast possessed she drove herself forward…

I bought my arms up and shifted my stance as she neared… the first strike came from the side, I pulled myself back and felt it fleetingly tug against my leathers… she stepped past me and the second strike whistled from overhead, I raised my arms and crossed them, catching her blade as she did mine… bringing my leg up I hooked it over her arm and drove it down which ripped the weapon free of her grip… I flicked it around and caught my fingers against its thing hilt… without losing a step she lashed out, the two blades clashed and slid together, locking at the handgrips… my hand struck out and wrapped against her throat… my teeth bared as the rain hammered my face… I could feel her blood pulse beneath my fingers and I had every intention of draining each drop of crimson from this bitch… she met me with a defiant grin and it was then her face betrayed her and I caught a brief glimpse of a shape behind me in her dark eyes… I had no time to react as a heavy arm wrapped across my throat and pulled me backwards, his other arm hooking against mine as I struggled. With a hiss the woman paced towards me and placed the tip of her weapon against the leather that covered my breast… she moved to run my heart through with the blade…

“WAIT!!…. Lucretia… stay your hand… Vincent, bring her to me!”

The voice rang out against the storm, his voice… through the haze of rain I saw him… the instrument of my betrayal… Reynard. My eyes ripped through him, my thoughts hammered against his mind, for a moment I thought I felt his will buckle against me before he was able to compose himself.

“Lets get in out of this rain shall we?” he wore a defiant grimace.

I tried to struggle against Vincent as he pressed me close to him and began to walk me towards the open doorway, the point of Lucretia’s weapon forever poised to deliver the damning blow should it be needed…

… I was free of the rain and the water dripped from my body, pooling at my feet. My captors manhandled me down the stairwell as we followed my one time mentor… we had descended about three floors when Reynard swung open a doorway that led into part of the apartment block under heavy renovation. Many of the walls had been torn away leaving much of it open plan and surrounded on all sides by full length panes of glass, the sound of the rain clattering against them filled the space around us. I was held roughly, the blade still poised as Reynard continued towards the window, he placed his hand against it and gazed out at the storm that battered the capital, I heard a faint sigh come from him… and with his line of sight still fixed upon the skyline, he spoke…

“Believe it or not Kassie but it is actually good to see you again, it is just the circumstances that I regret..”

I tried to wrench free of my captors but Vincent’s grip remained strong and Lucretia wormed the tip of the blade through the leather of my jacket and it stilled me when I felt the coolness of the metal against my skin… “Quite the welcoming party you held for me..” I spat as I felt the tip of Lucretia’s blade draw a pinprick of blood…

Reynard grunted derisorily, “Yes they are quite single minded aren’t they, quite focused too... it was fortunate I interceded when I did as they can get quite carried away sometimes..”

With the blade still in place, Lucretia moved around the face me, her thin fingers reaching up to my face and tracing down the contour of my cheek… her mind flared against mine for a moment and I was suddenly consumed by an image of a young woman laying prostate on the steps of the Vatican… her head slowly rising up, her eyes burning and an enraged scream filling the air… quickly I shook my head free of this sight, my eyes narrowed and I regarded Lucretia with something I hadn’t felt for some time… a sense of fear… it was as if Reynard could sense this and he turned from the window and watched for a moment…

“Yes, Kassie… she rose from a dynasty almost as tainted as yours… surrounded in fifteenth century Italian decadence… violent and twisted…there is much blood on her hands…” his voice trailed off

There was something wrong, even before I was turned I could sense a Vampyre, but I could determine nothing of this kind from Lucretia, and yet if Reynard was indeed truthful about her then she should’ve passed into the footnotes of history several centuries ago… Reynard sensed my unspoken question..

“There are darker beings than Vampyres Kassie..” he smiled and I watched as he slowly made his way to a thick oaken board that lay at a forty five degree angle attached to a heavy frame from which were secured chains… he ran his fingers over the pitted wood for a moment before regarding me again… “Bring her..” his command immediately followed and I was unwillingly manhandled across to the frame… Lucretia moved the blade away and picked up one of four shackles from the floor, circular in shape, the inside face filled with short sharp spikes designed to pierce the either the wrist or ankle… I tried to resist but Vincent tugged one of my hands into the open and his partner clamped the shackle hard against me, I cried out as the metal bit deep, drawing a small taste of blood… and then a second clamped down hard… Vincent finally let go of me, leaving me standing a short way in front of the frame as he walked behind the device and picked up the chains that fed through the oak and were secured to me… he tugged sharply and I was lifted form my feet and fell hard against the wood. For a moment I was left breathless, which was time enough for him to secure the chains and clamp two more around my ankles, holding me fast to the board.

Reynard walked across to me, I almost saw a tinge of regret in his face… as if perhaps not everything this night had been his doing… his hand rose and he brushed some of the tousled wet hair from my face, before glancing across to Lucretia… with a look that almost seemed like a warning. With that he turned and left, departing into the stairwell… my mind wondered a little and I could see his shape drifting slowly back to the roof, a heavy cloud of despair hanging over him… I was suddenly bought back by the sound of Lucretia’s heavy coat dropping to the floor… her chest heaved under her top as her breathing deepened. I sensed Vincent step back a little, allowing this woman my undivided attention. From her waistband she pulled a thin bladed knife and she came towards me, her knee resting against the board as she hovered her body inches from mine… she mimicked the movement with the blade that she had done with her fingers a few minutes before, the blade tip caressing my cheek before running gently down my neck and across the front of my chest just below my chin…

Her eyes flicked up at mine for a moment, her face split by a thin grin… my face scowled in response as she returned her attention to the knife blade as it threaded down the fastenings on my jacket, each time it reached one she increased the pressure and cut through it… continuing downwards… cutting each time until she reached the last one and it dropped limply to my side… she teased the blade back up across the thin leather vest top I wore… taking care to run the knife between my tightly clasped, leather clad mounds as my breathing began to become a little shallower… she lowered her head and flicked her tongue out across the leather, my nipples framed by the tightly hugging material… and she encircled and teased across them.

I cried out in defiance, desperate to shift her from me though I knew it to be hopeless, I arched my back, pushing against her, but she merely rose a little and drove her elbow into my stomach, dropping me against the board immediately as I once more struggled for breath… she expertly slipped the blade between the clothing and my chest and sliced downwards, I hissed at her as she set about exposing me… I tried to pull my arms forward but the shackles bit deeper into my wrists and I cried out once more…

The leather parted easily and for the moment she embedded the blade into the oak and parted my rent top with her fingers… her eyes glimmering as she exposed my pert breasts… I could see the hunger in her eyes… my face etched with hate as she bore down on me, I tried to invade her mind… intending to drive my hate deep into her, but I hit against the almost impenetrable barrier she had erected…she looked up at me for a second, her knowing smile mocking me, before she lowered herself onto my breast, cupping it with one hand whilst her tongue played across my soft flesh, slowly working her way towards my nipple, she flicked across and teased around it before drawing it into her mouth…her tongue continuing to brush it. I cried out once more, from behind I heard the faint snickering of Vincent as he stood and watched…

She finally released me but not before biting down on my soft flesh… my eyes flashed with rage… my fists clenched and unclenched… I wanted nothing more than to rip this bitches throat from her, there would be no delicate piercing of her skin.. I wanted to watch her fear as her life flowed out about her feet… it was almost as if she had acknowledged my intent as once more her mind flashed across mine…

… the steps of the Vatican flowing with blood, fire raging about her and with a look of purest evil on her face, blood dripping from her…

I screamed out, thrashing against the securing Shackles as they bit into me … her hand quickly rose and grasped my neck, pushing hard... forcing me to slow my movements until I stilled and regarded her with a venomous look, she smiled, her greenish blue eyes betrayed the calmness of her body, and at that moment I knew she too was trying to hold herself back as a familiar rage boiled within her. Slowly she released her grip, and with her eyes ever watchful she returned her attention to my breasts… I tried in desperation to call out to my lover from the shadows, my sweet Helena, but my thoughts couldn’t penetrate the enveloping blackness that she had surrounded us with.

She pulled the knife from the board and continued to flick and suckle at my nipple, biting occasionally before bringing the knife against my other breast… pressing the blade against the skin, not enough to cut through my soft flesh, but with enough pressure to remind me that any adverse movement by me would result in her spilling more of my blood. She kept this up for many moments, her eyes locked with mine… the hatred burnt between us. She was consumed with this need to debase and dominate me, but to what end I couldn’t ascertain… my mind tried to close in on itself and focus deep into my memories…

Helena, I could see her deep in my unlocked memories… she was so beautiful, a beauty that seemed more radiant with each passing day… they way her eyes would entrance me as she moved in to kiss me… our lips locked together, our tongues embraced, each time as exhilarating as that first brief touch… the touch of her lips as she would trace down my neck.. her teeth gently nipping and paying sensual providence to the faint marking on my neck, a sigh of my willing submission to her.

My body would feel electrified as she would move tenderly downwards, giving my breasts such sweet attention, drawing me into her… charging my desires with each flick of her tongue… and then onwards, her nails softly raking my abdomen as she would softly bite my pale flesh…

My mind was bought screaming back with a sudden sharp pain between my breasts, my eyes bolted open to regard Lucretia with the very tip of the blade embedded in me… sitting astride me she know slowly dragged the knife through my flesh, slicing through the top most layer of skin leaving a wake of crimson that followed her movements… I grunted through gritted teeth as her eyes widened at the spilling of my blood. The blade reached the waistband of my leather trousers and she tightened her grip and ripped through the thicker material… cutting across my crotch and then bringing the blade down through the soft leather that covered my inner thigh… I could feel the slight touch as the blade in my skin as she went, feeling the path she took as she sliced away my clothes… before returning to shred the other side from my body… the leather fell away leaving the pale flesh of my legs and tight centre to her enraptured gaze. I cried out with the anguish of being so helpless against her, her face dropped into a more hateful frame as I disturbed her from her twisted thoughts and she grasped hard against my throat, trying to drive the air from my lungs… reinforcing this my whipping the knife across the underside of my breast, I grunted as I felt the burning as my meat was split and then a moment later the warm wetness of my blood as it began to well across my stomach…

Lucretia lifted from me with a repellent grin and thrust the dagger into the wood inches from my head… her finger dipped to the wound in my chest, she ran her finger along its length before lifting it up for a moment allowing us both to see it coated red, then she placed it into her mouth and sucked greedily… my eyes burned with vengeance and the thought of the taste of her blood in my mouth…

With my blood on her lips she slowly moved her head between my legs which were held apart by the chains, leaving me unwillingly exposed to her… her tongue flicked out across me… teasing at my opening with her saliva, trying to force her tongue between me… I tried to buck her off with my hips but I had little manoeuvrability and she merely raised a little in order to drive her elbow into me again, leaving me gasping before she lowered her head once more. Her tongue flicked at my tender fleshy bud… encircling and drawing it into her mouth… her teeth biting down on me… I squealed out and my mind was ablaze with the thought of biting down on her drawing her blood into me and leaving her an empty husk… her tongue moved away from my clit and I heard her spit against my tight opening as she tried once more to force her tongue inside me… her blood coated lips leaving a crimson trail between my legs. Her hands braced tightly against my soft thighs, her nails digging against me as she forced her self harder and tighter against me, striving to slide her tongue deeper into me… I gasped as I felt her slick muscle brush upwards along my tense channel… her spit starting to lubricate me a little and allowing her tongue easier access as she lapped hungrily at me… all through I was aware of Vincent’s stoic gaze as he took in this salubrious scene.

After many minutes of her tongues attention on my tight opening she pulled away slightly and turned to Vincent, speaking in a richly tinged accent…

“The sword Vincent… bring me her sword…” her eyes flashed across me, I knew her intent and it did nothing more than build up my rage as her partner bought her the weapon… she clasped it by the bade and lovingly regarded the hilt, sliding her tongue over the handgrip.. the family crest and flicking across the head of the pommel… she lowered it so that the rounded end rested tightly against my centre… my eyes flashed as she locked with me, her thin grin as she pressed the hilt hard against me… then pressure against me was immense as …at first my body resisted her invasion, she bought the hilt to her lips and spat on it… her tongue flicked across and smeared her wetness across the tip. Again she bought it back to my opening and drove it hard against me… for a moment my body resisted her, but couldn’t resist her continued pressure and I felt my lips parts slightly as she pushed and twisted it against me… I cried out as I felt the pommel split me, roughly tearing against my walls. My hips writhed as much as they were able, my back arched and my head banged hard against the board.

She twisted hard and bought the sword back a little before driving harder against me… the pommel pushed into me and she continued thrusting the length into me, my tight walls embraced rigidly against it. She pulled back again and thrust forward, repeating this and each time was able to force more of the handgrip into me… my body was wracked with the discomfort of her violation and I tried vainly to thrash against it… this only spurred her on, her strokes becoming harder, deeper and faster… her hands were gripping the blade so tightly as she pummelled me that blood drew from her palms. Harder and harder inside me, each stroke making my body gasp against it until she finally wrenched it free of me… she bought the hilt up to her face, her eyes flickered shut as she theatrically drew her nostrils along it taking in my intimate scent before sliding her tongue across it and then taking the pommel into her mouth… sliding her mouth across it, tasting me… I screamed out at her, the senses of intrusion filling me with an unquenchable rage.

Then she dropped the sword with a clatter to the floor as once more she dropped her head to my battered opening desperate to taste me first hand… her nails ripped at my soft flesh as she lapped hard against me, almost possessed as her tongue writhed across my lips, before plunging deeply inside… her wet tongue finding little resistance in my channel stretched from the sword… one of her hands pulled away from me and drove hard against her crotch… making tight fast motions against her fleshly clit through the material of her trousers… I could feel her laboured breathing on my lips as she increased the pressure on herself and her peak began to rise, her other hand clasped hard against my inner thigh drawing a small rivulet of blood… I felt the increase in pace as her hand increasingly encircled her intimacy, her soft groans tight against my pussy… her groans became faster, her breathing ragged until at last she gasped tightly against my clit which she drew harshly into her mouth as her body became wracked with her sensual explosion… she bit hard against my fleshy bud as her peak took her… releasing me only when those deep feelings within her began to subside, and she took to placing her head against my crotch, almost as in the manner of a lover…

After a few moments she lifted her head and slowly pushed herself from me, pulling herself to her feet… her heavy scent of sex filled the air, each breath I took bought more of her into me… enraging me that it was at my expense. She slowly walked round to my head, as she drew near I spat across her face… her eyes flared for a moment before she wiped my spittle from her with her fingers which she sucked deeply… she smiled and then wiped her fingers across my, those fingers that were rich with her post orgasmic flavour that had leaked from her trousers.

“You were quite something Kassie, everything that Reynard led us to believe… but all things come to an end my dear, and yours comes soon…” she grinned and motioned Vincent to return to me while she replaced her long coat and tried to compose herself from her exertions… smoothing out her hair and wiping my blood from her mouth.

Vincent released the chains from the back of the frame and sharply pulled me from it… my senses flared at being free finally and I drove myself forward towards Lucretia, but Vincent grabbed the chains and sharply tugged them backwards. The spike tore into my flesh and I was pulled off my feet, my back driven hard against the wood… I cried out as the rough timber clawed across my skin and claiming some of my blood for its own.

Lucretia grinned and pulled the knife free that she had driven hard into the wood and knelt across me, her knee hard against my chest… “Feisty little thing aren’t you… don’t seem to know when you’ve been beaten…” she turned her gaze to Vincent, “perhaps you should show her all about being beaten?”

Vincent smiled and I heard the grinding rasp of metal and leather as he pulled on a pair of barbed gauntlets… Lucretia moved from me and I felt the chains slacken. For a moment the air was silent and unmoved between the three of us… my sword lay but a few feet away, I tried to brace my naked body against the frame as subtly as I could, then I drove myself forward… I felt the air part as Vincent swung for me, but it caught nothing but air…but his second drove hard into my back. I screamed out as the barbs ripped at me showering his weapon with my blood… I staggered forward, my hand reaching for the sword, when he side stepped me and drove hard into my stomach, again the barbs ripped at my soft flesh… he bought his other hand around to grasp my hair and he pulled my face up to watch his eyes as he ground the barbs deep against me… my face screwed up in pain, a sight that served only to light him up. His elbow cracked hard against the back of my head dropping me to the floor.

He stood across me and reached down, lifting my head from the concrete… for a moment he regarded my bloodied face before drawing his fist back as he lined up to me…

“Vincent!!” the call showered across the empty space as I dimly heard the clunk of the door to the stairwell and Reynard strode into the room. “This isn’t the way Vincent… you know that we need her to suffer, that we need her to know that she did.”

Vincent regarded the architect of my torment with some slight annoyance at having his pleasure interrupted… he sighed a dragged me to my feet, in the process he freed me from the chains but left the barbed shackles in place around my wrists and ankles. Keeping a tight hold of me I was led back to the roof with Reynard in the lead… the storm hadn’t abated, rather it had intensified… the stinging touch of the water against my bloodied wounds just another torture for me to endure…

“It’s in place… attach her securely and then raise it into position. Then I think you had both better get moving, better that you are able to strike at Helena on our terms than hers…” Reynard walked slowly to the edge of the building as the storm clashed about us… Vincent dragged me across to a solidly fashioned X frame at each point lay a fastening for the clasps that bit into my limbs. He drove me down across it, my back arched as the pain rushed through me from the rawness of my injuries. Lucretia hovered over me, her knife pressed hard against my breast threatening to pierce me should I move as Vincent attached the shackles to the frame… methodically ensuring each was secure.

When he was at last done they both stepped away leaving me naked and spread eagled on the frame as the rushing rain watered down my flowing blood, turning the roof into a thin lake of scarlet. Vincent moved to the head of the frame and with brute strength he hoisted it vertically whilst the bitch that violated me locked it down against the floor. Finally they both stepped away leaving me crucified against the frame… I could feel the strength leaving my body as my blood trickled from me. Reynard returned from his distracted vigil and softly spoke to his two hunters, in my weakened state I couldn’t pick up what he said, but they both nodded silently and began to make their way back to the stairwell… only Lucretia stopped to regard me just before she left… her eyes sparkled as she savoured my taste, pausing only to run her tongue across her lips… perhaps at the thought of me, perhaps the thought of what was to come. I watched them leave and the air between Reynard and I lay quiet… but I was aware of the cloud of impenetrable black began to lift as Lucretia’s distance from me increased…

The pain wracked my body as my skin rubbed against the rough wood of the X frame, the rain hammered against my naked flesh mixing with the blood that flowed freely from my injuries and from the spiked shackles that bit into my wrists… my sight was blurred from the flow of tainted water down my face but I could still clearly see Reynard as he stood in front of me… his expression one of a man who could taste the fruit of his exploits. He came closer, but still he seemed to insist on remaining a short distance away, as if even now he felt that I couldn’t be trusted…

“I must apologise for the treatment by your contemporaries… they are highly skilled and very adept at what they do… as you know...” his hand gestured towards me, indicating the symphony of abuse and suffering that they had composed on my body... he sighed and continued… “But they so obviously lack your precision and poise… something I miss Kassie, I do find them somewhat tiresome at times… but they get the job done, and effectively at that… but these sacrifices I am willing to make for the bigger picture… though I can understand if the delicacies of the matter have slipped you by.”

His words were abrasive against the pain that rung through my body… I tried to move my head to follow his track as he moved about the roof, but each slight movement bought about more discomfort…

“Helena Bathory…” he sighed deeply, “Our agency has bought down many of the greatest vampyres through the ages… recently, in no small way thanks to you my dear Kassie. But that is one name that continues to mock me, a Vampyre as powerful and perhaps as infamous as Vlad himself… can you imagine the prestige of having taken down the last of the great Vampyres?” he paused for a moment as if he expected a response… but my body was too tormented and his words flowed over me like the tepid mix of blood and rain that traced down the contours of my body.

He smiled… “My betrayal of you to her was just the first stage… secretly, perhaps, I hoped that it wouldn’t come to this and you would’ve prevailed… but I had to have something set in place should you have failed… which you quite clearly did.” He hissed… I felt the darkness swirl through my mind, as unconsciousness toyed with the fringes of my senses
“You see Kassie, you found out first hand just how powerful and focused she is… the most treacherous of quarries, but what if we could find a way to disrupt that focus… perhaps then we would have a chance to take her down, rather than face her at her strongest we would find a way to weaken her… which we have… in you…”

His eyes narrowed as he stepped forward… my mind tried to focus through the searing pain… greater than the physical pain was the sudden pang through my heart when Reynard stated his intention to use me as a tool to take out Helena… his face broke into a grin as he regarded my tortured face… “Oh my dear Kassie… once your precious Helena is made aware of your tortured demise, that focus will be lost and she will come for us in the grip of emotion… powerful still of course, but without that collected focus she will be wide open to Vincent and Lucretia to finish her… she will throw everything she has at us without doubt, but you know first hand the brutality and nature of my two hunters… I doubt she could survive a simultaneous assault from them…” his voice trailed off his gaze met the brightening London skyline…

“ And you of course will be in no state to help her … Sunrise is fast approaching my dear, of course I’m not one to be sidetracked by the old myths, but its going to be a long day under the full glare of the sun… and in your condition, I have no doubt your demise will be agonisingly slow… a fact that wont become lost on Helena I’m sure…”

Reynard began a slow walk across the roof, pausing only as he opened the door to the stairwell… he turned back a little way… “Goodbye Kassie….” And then he was gone. I threw my head back and screamed out, not with pain but with sorrow and torment… a deep lust ran through my body and I felt my skin prickle at its touch. I tried to pull my hands against my restraints but the spiked metal bit deeply into me and only increased my anguish. My head fell back and a tear mixed with the mask of blood as I gazed at the rolling storm clouds… my mind was in turmoil, the pain battered at me and my thoughts were erratic, but there was nothing that beat the agony of knowing that I had been used as a pawn to bring down Helena, to end her legacy… I cried out, a long tortured scream… I knew that wherever Reynard had gone that he would have heard it…

My wrists jarred against the restraints, the spikes tore into me and more of my blood flowed down my arms but I was deep in the thrall of a primal desire and forced myself against the metal even further… the rain mixed with my blood and turned the roof red… the lightning arced across the clouds and slammed into a conductor on the roof of a neighbouring building… there was a flash of white light and a shower of sparks that lit up the night sky, I felt the electricity in the air as my movements softened and I rested my body back against the frame for a moment… then with a scream I tensed my right arm and thrust against the shackle as powerfully as I could… there was a crack as the wood splintered, the metal speared hard against my flesh… and then freedom as my wrist tore away from the frame… I bought it around to my face eyeing the deep wounds that crossed my wrist; they looked like the teeth marks of some great beast… I placed the wounds against my lips and for a moment drunk deeply from them, I had lost too much precious blood already, I could ill afford to waste any. With one hand free the remainder of my restraints proved to be little trouble and with a splash I dropped to the sodden roof, the tainted water flowing around my naked feet…

With an ancient desire born from the legacy that flowed through me I strode to the door with purpose, almost wrenching it from its hinges… as I stood there I tried to calm my mind and allow it to wander the rooms of this desolated building… I touched upon the room where Lucretia had so gleefully indulged her desire… and further on through the building… the bright flash of silver, I smiled… the presence of the stake sang out to me and just beyond that there sat a squat dark shape as Reynard busied himself in collecting my possessions for his own purpose… sure in his own mind that I would have no further use for them… softly I padded down the cold concrete stairs… the faint dripping of blood marking my trail… as I neared my betrayer.
I eased open the door and slowly crossed the floor, keeping Reynard locked in both the gaze of my eyes and my mind… as yet he seemed unawares to my presence. With each breath I could sense his blood as it pulsed through his body, with each breath my hunger grew and with each breath my desires burned brighter. Then I sensed an unease in his mind… slowly he lifted himself from my jacket, the fear almost tangible. He tried to compose himself, but as he turned to face me he couldn’t mask the fear that glinted in his eyes.

“It’s a pity that you never demonstrated such resolve when you faced Helena, before she tainted your bloodline” he stammered…

“My bloodline was already tainted Reynard… I was a ‘Harker’ a fact you rarely let me forget, and something that you used to keep me under your control, hiding me away… controlling my actions… but Helena freed me from the wheel of deceit that you kept spinning. She freed me from the darkness and renewed my life by taking my old one…” I slowly continued my way across the room.

“Pah!” Reynard spat… I felt his spirit raise inside, perhaps he knew the inevitable consequence he faced now but cared little for it, determined not to go quietly into the night and secretly I was glad of that.

“Make your peace Reynard…” my voice a low hiss as I closed in on him.

He responded with a grin… “Its you that shall soon be at peace Kassie…” he deftly pulled a gun from his waistband… my gun… I stopped before him, silently cursing myself that I had been so absorbed with revenge that I had made such a basic mistake… the same ploy they hoped would work against Helena… my top lip curled up, revealing the white flash of my teeth as my body tensed… I launched forward…

There was a flash as the bullet exploded from the barrel of my own SAA… my senses screamed out as the silver ripped through the air, but as a result of the punishment inflicted upon me I couldn’t move fast enough and Reynard’s aim was true… there was a sudden explosion of pain that seared through my right breast, burning its molten path through my weakened flesh… driving onwards to my heart… my hand raised outstretched… my eyes wide, a look of pained anguish and defiance as my strength failed me and I dropped heavily to my knees, my hands stretched out on the floor as my breathing faltered… my chest in the grip of a powerful heat that reached out across every fibre of my body… I was desperate to scream as I tried to prepare myself for what I knew was coming. I had sent 27 of ‘my’ kind to their ultimate obliteration and stood and watched as an incandescent fire exploded for their own hearts that rushed through their body, consuming them in a bright ethereal fire until they collapsed into ash… and now I too would share that fate. The pain crushed against my chest as my eyes closed… the last sight was the satisfied look on the face of my slayer…

…the darkness, the deep embrace of the abyss… I felt the crushing pain around me lessen as the darkness slowly shrouded my mind… was this what death was like?

No!… Something felt different… I wasn’t alone… I felt her, despite the terrifying prospect of my extinction, to feel my sweet Helena or even a projection of her from our linked memories here with me at my greatest time of need bought me comfort…

as the blackness bared down on me I felt her arms embrace me… her sweet lips lower closely to my ear and silently whispered to me, her words flowing over me, massaging my soul… my head fell slowly back as I gave myself over totally to the sweet dark embrace…and there we stayed as the fingers of the darkness began to reach out for me… their deep chill began to claim me… but then I felt something else…

I gasped deeply, the pain tearing through me as my eyes bolted open… I should be dead, why wasn’t I dead… consumed in a dark fire that would obliterate me… my chest was a burning centre of pain, but even now I could feel it as it slowly ebbed away… why? My memories of the darkness that had embraced me and the sweet touch of Helena still lingered, her soft embrace, her whispered words still echoing around my head.

I raised my head and saw Reynard looking down at me, his forehead deeply furrowed as he regarded me with a mixture of shock and fear… he knew the bullet had struck my heart and knew as I did what should have resulted, but here I was before his still dragging air into my lungs as the fire in my chest slowly receded…

Testing my weight I tried to push myself to my feet, the blood pooled around me as the rent in my breast pulsed crimson and its flow mixed with that of my other injuries as I slowly rose. All the time my eyes were fixed on his, I could feel the deep primal lust fill me; the dark gift bestowed on me by Helena needed to be satiated. As I reached my full height I took my first long breath, feeling it scrape and ache against my chest as my body slowly started to heal. My fingers rose to my naked breast, feeling the wetness at their touch and the ripped flesh beneath them that marked the passage of the bullet… I allowed myself a smile as I recalled the words that Helena had softly spoken to me when I had fallen into the darkness. The sight of my face smiling and masked in blood was too much for Reynard, the gun fell from his grip and clattered against the concrete as he slowly started to back away from me and I slowly began to advance on him, my naked feet padding across the floor leaving a trail of bloodied footprints…

I pulled my hand from my breast as I advanced… my eyes fixed with a determination as he suddenly backed up against a plate glass window high above the streets of London…

“But…. How…. You should be…” each word laboured for release.

“My heart is not yours to take Reynard. I gave it to Helena willingly and she holds it safe and protects it… as I do hers…” my mind recalling those softly whispered words against my ear as Helena embraced me in the crushing clinch of the abyss.

My mind reached out to his and I brushed upon the frantic turmoil that had taken him… desperation now gripped Reynard tightly, I flooded his mind with my own and he screamed out as my pain flowed through him… his screams awakened the darkness inside and my slow pad towards him turned into a sprint as I charged towards him, determined to wipe the last living link to my past… my cry mixed with his as I slammed into him, instantly the plate glass behind him mosaiced and exploded into starburst of glittering fragments and we both fell from the building…

The chill wind sheared across us both as my blood fell like rain… my hand clasped tightly over his face, my nails digging deeply into his temple as his dying scream buffeted my hand… the building rushed past us both as we fell… I dragged myself closer to his side and hissed at him…

As we plummeted I bared my teeth and ripped at his throat, not a graceful puncture, rather I sheared through skin and tissue, his rich blood filled my mouth, my hunger desperate to be stilled while I had the chance… his agonised cry echoed in my ear… I wrenched free from his neck, a trail of his blood following us as we fell. Against the wind, I shifted my position, remembering all that Helena had taught me as I braced myself for impact of the approaching ground… I glanced to Reynard whose terrified eyes regarded me through the spaces between my fingers as the ground rose up to greet us.

There was a sickening wet crunch as his head drove hard against the pavement… and for a moment I stayed my position, resting on my haunches… my legs ached from the force of the impact… I looked to my side and slowly lifted my hand from the slick red pulp that was once my most trusted friend, the man who bought me back from the brink as I lay dying in that graveyard after my battle with the Farrow… and the man who would ultimately betray me in an attempt to claim his greatest prize. I gingerly rose to my feet, my entire body burning with pain of my wounds and the effects of Helena’s gift to me as my body tried to repair.

I rolled my head back as the rain massaged my tormented body washing the blood from me, caressing me as though it were her gentle touch and for a moment my mind was cast back to that first night we shared in her coffin… a tender embrace when compared to what had occurred previously or since, a simple act perhaps but one that forever shaped me… my eyes snapped open and my gaze was filled with the sight of the full moon as it shimmered through a break in the clouds, the deep bond flared between us and in that moment I knew that Helena was too gazing up at the moon, her mind filled with thoughts that reached out towards me… hunting me, seeking me out, calling me… and I felt a powerful desire to return to her side.

Briefly I returned to the building to collect my affects, wincing as I slipped my leathers over my wounded body and making my way to the roof… resting against the X frame I looked out over the cityscape of London as the comfort of the night began to give way to the first frail brush of dawn. Lucretia and Vincent had long left, unaware their mentor was dead and under the belief that I wouldn’t survive the day. I lifted the stake to my lips, still coated with his blood… my tongue flicked out and teased up its length, drawing some little sustenance from it and remembering the tight bond that it created between Helena and I that night… with a sudden start I sprinted towards the edge of the roof, my foot drove into the ground as I launched myself from the building and into the fragile cloak of the fleeing night….

Oh darling...this is wonderful. Truly you capture the moment, every emotion, pain and thought so very well....xxxxx

My only wish...that I/Helena could have ridden to your/Kassie's rescue...xXx

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PainSister

Oh darling...this is wonderful. Truly you capture the moment, every emotion, pain and thought so very well....xxxxx

My only wish...that I/Helena could have ridden to your/Kassie's rescue...xXx

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i appreciate your words so deeply Pain... You are such a wonderful inspiration to me, you know that... you are my muse

and you know that the story doesn't finish here... i think you and I have a couple of house guests on the way...

XxX