Fan Fiction ❯ The Vampire Hunter II: Bloodlines ❯ Chapter 7

Chapter VII

Gabrielle glided across the waxed stone tile floor of the financial institution and went up the stairs that directed her to the bank official she knew was waiting for her. She relaxed her pace to visible so that the banker would be able to see her arriving through the glass walls of her office. Gabrielle gently pushed the door open and the older woman smiled at Gabrielle as she stood to greet her new client.

"Good evening, Ms. Gabriella Clark is it?" she inquired.

"Yes. Please, just call me Gabriella," Gabrielle attempted to affect the same sunny disposition as the woman.

"Of course, Gabriella. And I'm Nancy Burroughs, but you may call me Nancy. I'll be your personal liaison here at Bank of America. I believe you have several accounts with us that you would like to have transferred into a trust fund for someone?"

"Yes, that's right. My niece, Dana Clark. But I don't want her to be notified of this account unless I've passed on."

"Alright, let's see what we can do," Nancy sat at her desk and motioned for Gabrielle to take a seat across from her.

They spent the next hour going over numbers and contracts and basically making sure that everything would work the way it was supposed to. If Gabrielle died, Dana Clark would be notified of the trust fund's existence by personal messenger courier and would be supplied with all travel arrangements and temporary accommodations, up to twenty-five thousand dollars' worth. There was only one last thing.

"I also want to attach a security deposit box to the account. It is only to be opened by myself or Dana, regardless of whether I am still alive or not."

"Well, alright. If she comes to open the box, is she to be told about the account in her name also?"

"No. That won't be necessary. If she's coming for the box, then she'll already know about the money."

"Of course."

Nancy tried to hide her curiosity at the seemingly clandestine preparations the young woman across from her was requesting, but the very rich had a tendency to be a bit eccentric. Nancy had learned not to ask too many questions after her many years of service in the name of financial security.

"There you go," she said as she typed in the last entry and tapped the Enter button on her keyboard. "Everything is in there and will go into effect tomorrow morning. Oh, that's a Friday the 13th. I hope you're not superstitious," she grinned.

"No, not at all," Gabrielle replied.

"Well, is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Yes, I'd like to put something in the deposit box, if I may," Gabrielle requested.

"Oh, of course. I almost forgot. Let me get the keys and I'll take you to the vault."

Gabrielle followed the woman down the stairs to the steel-gated vault area. She was shown to a small private room and then Nancy left her alone to do what she wanted with the empty metal box.

Gabrielle brought out the needle and the test tube. It took a little mental persuasion, but she had the tube filled halfway with her blood in only a couple of minutes. She placed the tube in the box and then locked it up tight. It was a risky thing she was doing. Gabrielle knew there was enough blood in that single vial to convert dozens of people into Second Order vampires overnight, but she also knew that money wouldn't be enough to keep Clark safe if she was killed.

With that amount of blood, Clark could dose more than once, taking her from a Second Order vamp to a First Order vamp in rapid succession. Unless someone managed to feed on Gabrielle herself more than once, Clark would become the new Queen. But only if she chose to.

Gabrielle opened the door and carried the metal box to Nancy, so that it could be locked away. They exchanged pleasantries and then Gabrielle was on her way. She left the building at top speed and headed directly for the club where Avarice was supposed to be.

Most people driving by car would have taken a minimum of half an hour to traverse that distance, especially with the Thursday night Hollywood traffic, but it took Gabrielle less than ten minutes to navigate it by foot. She weaved in and out of traffic and pedestrians as though they were standing still and they never even saw her, though a few felt an unexplainable chill as they continued to walk down the street.

Gabrielle didn't stop until she was already in the club, having bypassed the bouncers at the door completely. She scanned the room, seeing rather well through the dim light and the smoky air. She quickly spotted the redheaded vampire she was looking for and climbed the narrow spiral wrought iron stairs up to the third level dance floor.

The music was loud and made even more intense by an exaggerated undertone of bass, so there was no way for Gabrielle to announce her presence as she walked through the gyrating throng to Avarice's table, one of many that lined the perimeter of the dance floor. The vampire was engaged in what looked to be a very lively conversation with three humans, two female and one male, and another male vampire. Even so, as soon as Gabrielle was within a few meters of the group, Avarice looked up and met Gabrielle's eyes. The grin that lit up Avarice's features sparked a twin on Gabrielle's face and the redhead rose to greet her old friend.

"Geb! You're here! Sorry I wasn't there to greet you when you woke up, but business called!" Avarice yelled over the noise of the club.

Gabrielle read the vampire's lips more than she heard her, but she knew if she couldn't clearly hear Avarice, then no one else could either.

"It's alright! I needed to take care of something anyway!" Gabrielle yelled back as they walked the rest of the way together to Avarice's table.

"Everyone, this is Geb, I mean, Gabrielle, your new Queen! She may look sweet, but don't piss her off! She'll chew you up and spit you out, as the song says!" Avarice introduced Gabrielle to the others seated at the table.

They each stood and nodded as their name was yelled out and Gabrielle nodded to them in return. After the pleasantries were exchanged, they all reseated themselves. Then, Eric, the male vampire, offered his female servant, Keshia, as refreshment.

"I haven't touched her yet tonight, so she's completely fresh, my Queen!" Eric yelled as he leaned forward to be heard more easily. His thick Arabic accent reminded Gabrielle that she would be in Egypt soon.

"No thank you, but I appreciate the offer! If you don't mind, I need to speak with Avarice alone, please!" Gabrielle looked at everyone to make sure they understood she was referring to all of them.

Eric laughed loud enough to be heard over the music.

"You want to talk to her alone in a club jammed with people! That's funny!" he grinned and stood up from the table.

Eric's dark brown skin and bald head glistened with a light sheen of blood sweat from the heat of so many bodies packed into such a confined space, but his black jeans and black muscle shirt didn't show the stains. He held out his arms for Keshia and the male servant and they immediately latched onto him and disappeared with him into the crowd.

Gabrielle waited for Avarice to send the last remaining servant away and then moved closer so that she wouldn't have to yell to be heard by her old friend. They sat side by side in one of the noisiest places on the planet, looking out over a turbulent sea of humans and vampires spread out over three stories, but for the two vampires, there was no one else to intrude on their reunion.

"How have you been?" Avarice asked.

"I've been better," Gabrielle replied frankly.

"Killing Blake must have been difficult for you," the redhead commented.

"It was easier than you think. You didn't see what he became. He changed."

"I wasn't around him all the time, no, but I heard what he was trying to do. I knew you'd eventually have to intervene. And I knew you'd prevail."

"That's what Chris said. He said he was glad Blake did what he did so that I'd become Queen."

"Well, I don't know if I'd go that far, but I'm certainly glad you're finally taking charge."

"Why? How do you know I'll do any better than he did?"

"Oh, shut up, Geb. Pity parties aren't your style and you know you're the best one to lead us. You're the oldest, you're the smartest..." Gabrielle raised her head to protest, but Avarice kept going. "Okay, maybe not the smartest, but you know more than anyone else alive, so it's the same thing. Now, forget about all that bullshit. I want to hear about Dana Clark, the one human all of us seem to fear, except you, who seems to have taken a liking to her."

At Avarice's mischievous grin, Gabrielle was unable to hold onto her grim mood and smiled a little shyly. Avarice laughed out loud.

"I don't believe this, you're blushing! You know, I've seen pictures of her, she's cute."

Gabrielle smiled even more.

"And I bet she's a good kisser, too," Avarice said on a guess and watched Gabrielle's blush deepen. "I knew it! Okay, so what's she like? You can't keep any secrets from me."

"Alright. She's a great kisser," Gabrielle confirmed.

"Aaaand?" Avarice prompted when nothing more was forthcoming. "Come on, Geb, I changed my name to a word that means greed. Now, gimme."

"Yeah, why did you do that? I thought Gula was a great name."

"Well, maybe when I was still considered a goddess, but Babylonia is long gone and so are its gods. And anyway, do you know what its meaning is now? I'm no longer a symbol of healing, now it means eating too much. I'm synonymous with gluttony. Oh my god, do you think that's where they got the word from?"

Gabrielle shook her head at her friend. The vampire was just as erratic now as she'd been centuries earlier as a human. When Gabrielle had first met her, she'd been so inquisitive that she'd actually gotten herself sentenced to death for blasphemy, but Gabrielle had intervened and eventually put the young woman in touch with one of the few vampires Gabrielle trusted.

"Well, Avarice sounds nice. Can I call you Ava?"

"Don't you dare."

Gabrielle laughed and it was Avarice's turn to shake her head.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"What's the Hunter really like?"

"I answered you. I told you she was a good kisser."

"You said she was a great kisser and that wasn't what I meant. What's going on with you?"

Gabrielle stared at the rising and falling tide of people on the lower levels moving in time to the music that she had all but blocked out.

"I think I'm in love with her."

"Oh my god. What are you going to do? You can't just make her one of us. She'd hate you. I mean, she's a Hunter. Have you told her?"

"No."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know."

Avarice looked around at the laughing and jostling groups of people around them, hoping to find some sort of inspiration that she could pass on to Gabrielle. Nothing came to mind.

"So, where is she now?"

"I told her she should take a vacation to think about what she was getting into with me and she agreed it was a good idea."

"And so now you're trying to rule the world all alone, while she's off working on her tan?"

"Something like that."

"Well, that's just not fair," Avarice complained and then stood up. "Come on."

Gabrielle looked up confusedly at her friend.

"Where are we going?"

"Come on, we're going to dance the night away and you're going to have fun and relax for a couple hours. Then you can go back to being Queen of the Vampires."

Gabrielle looked at the dance floor. She hadn't danced in years. But it seemed fitting that Avarice would be her partner again, since she was the one who had coaxed Gabrielle into a dance the last time. Gabrielle stood and took the hand that was being held out to her.

"Alright, but you're going to have to teach me the latest moves. I don't know any of them."

"Oh, it's easy. Just remember some of the festivals you used to attend and dance like the worshipers."

"If you say so."

Avarice grinned and they headed for the second level's dance floor.

~\/^^^\/~

Clark cursed again as the car in front of her only inched forward. Finally, the light changed, but it turned red again before she could enter the intersection and she swore at the mechanical timing of the stupid thing.

Gabrielle's position hadn't changed at all for the past five minutes and Clark was anxious to see what the vampire was up to. The coordinates matched the location for one of the clubs Clark had checked out earlier that day.

Finally, the light turned green again and Clark turned off the main street and followed several other cars that had decided to be smart and take side streets. With less traffic, Clark made better time to the club, but it still took her several minutes to find a place to park.

Clark got out of the car and took a quick check of her clothing. She was wearing black combat boots, black jeans with a black leather belt, black tank top, and her black trench coat. She was also wearing a gun and had two wooden stakes clipped to the gun harness in an X formation across her lower back.

She took the harness off and tossed it onto the floor of the passenger side of the car. She knew she would be searched before being allowed to enter the club and there was no reason to let them know she was a Hunter. Most people on the west coast had heard of her, but they usually didn't know what she looked like, so she would probably be able to get in without alerting anyone to her presence.

The Bloodletting's crimson sign announced its existence to the world and Clark strode up to the front of the line of customers waiting to be admitted into the club. Normally, Clark didn't think about her looks, but she'd learned that doing reconnaissance work was a lot easier for her than for some of her co-Hunters because of how beautiful she was. She had no trouble getting into clubs that tried to keep their clientele on the prettier side and tonight was no different.

The bouncers, who were checking IDs and keeping the hopeful patrons from rushing the door, took one look at Clark's tall black-clad form and removed the velvet-covered rope blocking off the entrance and let her in. They didn't even ask her for the cover fee.

The music made her body pulse and she tried to keep her heartbeat under her own control. The strobe lights and lasers that bounced off the walls and dancers gave Clark's eyes a fit, but she continued deeper into the building. She made it to the bar and squeezed between several people to order a drink.

One three-dollar half-can of soda later, Clark found a dark corner of the room to watch from and began scanning the bottom floor for Gabrielle. She had an advantage with her height, but the darkness of the room made it difficult to rule certain people out at first glance. Eventually, though, Clark would realize that she couldn't feel that spark of recognition that always came when she saw Gabrielle, and she'd move on.

Clark cleared the first floor's inhabitants off her list and looked for the stairs that would take her up to the second floor. It took a bit of maneuvering to get through the crowds, even the stairs were clogged with people, but she didn't mind nudging them out of her way, so it only took her a few minutes to get to the landing she wanted.

She found another corner to stand in and began her search again. When she did find Gabrielle, Clark's reaction wasn't what she thought it would be. Maybe that was because the image of Gabrielle dancing with another woman wasn't something she'd ever thought about before.

Gabrielle moved with her redheaded dance partner in a slow, sensual motion that would be giving the dancers around her wet dreams for weeks. Her arms waved above her head, as her body swayed and gyrated to the music, and she seemed lost in the sexualized rhythms. Clark wished for the first time in her life that she was someone else, namely the woman Gabrielle was dancing with. Clark looked again and realized the redhead wasn't human. Clark wouldn't have been able to explain how she knew this, but she was positive the female was a vampire.

And that vampire was grinning from ear to ear at Gabrielle and Clark knew exactly what she was thinking. Gabrielle had lost her usual black cloak and was wearing a black half-shirt that showed off perfectly sculpted abdominal muscles in pure white skin. The black dress pants were belted low and hugged Gabrielle's hips in a way that made Clark seriously want to pout that she couldn't just walk up to the vampire and press herself against her taut body.

Then the redhead did just that, grinding against Gabrielle in time to the music, and Clark nearly reached for the gun she'd left in the car. Clark had never considered herself a jealous person, but the only thing she wanted to do right now was beat the living shit out of the redheaded vampire.

Clark looked away from the dancing couple and tried to get herself under control. She took a few deep breaths and had a little chat with herself. Gabrielle was only dancing with some vampire; she wasn't fucking her.

Clark went back to watching Gabrielle and tried to put the jealous thoughts aside. Instead, she focused on enjoying the show that Gabrielle was putting on. Clark had never seen this side of the vampire before and it sparked a few possibilities in the Hunter's mind. Once she'd pushed the redhead out of the picture, Clark found she couldn't get the smile off her face as she watched Gabrielle move to the music.

As the music shifted into a faster song, Gabrielle sped up her movements and matched the redhead's actions. Clark realized that they were performing a dance that both of them seemed to know by heart, but it wasn't anything Clark had ever seen before. The dance became more frenzied and Clark noticed that she was having a hard time seeing their arms and legs clearly because they were moving so fast.

The redhead seemed to realize what they were doing and slowed them down. The club might be vampire-friendly, but Clark knew they still had to be careful and advertising their preternatural abilities wasn't a good idea.

Clark leaned back against the wall and decided to get comfortable. There was no telling how long she might have to wait for Gabrielle to finish her nocturnal reveling. As it was, almost two hours passed before Gabrielle and the redhead moved off the dance floor and up one level to claim a reserved table.

Clark followed them discreetly and managed to find a position that allowed her to watch both vampires' lips move as they talked. It was hard to catch everything that was being said, but the few words she missed didn't cause her to lose the meaning of the words she was able to make out.

~\/^^^\/~

Gabrielle let her breathing calm down as Avarice ordered a servant to her for refreshment. Gabrielle declined the offer, which Avarice had known she would, but she'd had to ask anyway. It was the polite thing to do, after all. Once Avarice was done with her feeding, Gabrielle decided it was time to get down to business.

"So, how have things been going here?" Gabrielle asked.

"Great in some respects, not too good in others," Avarice replied. "I've been doing as you said. We've gotten several dozen loyal servants into the LAPD and local VHA office, but it's getting pretty bad for us out there. We get tips on raids all the time, but it's not enough. Sometimes we lose a dozen vampires in a single night."

"Well, it's almost time. You would have had to start thinning the flock anyway. I want you to let the VHA have those of our kind that have no business being vampires in the first place. That will allow the rest of us to remain free to grow stronger. And remember that no new vampires are to be made without my permission. We need to prepare for what's coming and having drugged up one-year-old vampires isn't the way to do it," Gabrielle cautioned.

Avarice nodded.

"I'll let the other elders know your orders. They've already heard about them, but I'll reinforce the idea that they need to obey them."

"Thank you, Avarice. You've been a good friend to me. I really needed this little break."

"Don't mention it. You know I'll always be here for you."

Gabrielle stood up and Avarice rose with her to give the Queen a much-needed hug.

"You take care of yourself and don't take this ruling the world business too seriously, you hear?" Avarice chided her friend.

"Yeah. I will. I'll see you again soon."

Avarice nodded and watched as Gabrielle disappeared down the back stairs.

~\/^^^\/~

Clark walked quickly out of the front of the club and jogged to her rental car. She checked the GPS readout and decided Gabrielle had gone hunting, since she was headed away from the clubbing districts.

Clark sat in the car and debated what to do. She had an incredible urge to go back into the Bloodletting to begin a Hunt of the redheaded vampire. A vision of Gabrielle finding out her friend had been killed made Clark reconsider. She didn't want to hurt Gabrielle like that. No matter what jealous feelings she might have toward the redhead, who she'd caught the name Avarice for, the vampire was still a friend of Gabrielle's and losing her would hurt the little blonde Queen.

Clark shook her head. If she started thinking about every vampire in terms of whether they were a friend of Gabrielle's or not, she'd never be able to Hunt again. Could she even continue to be a Vampire Hunter if she remained with Gabrielle?

Acting as Gabrielle's hired stake didn't count as being a Hunter in Clark's opinion. The Hunt consisted of finding out about a possible vampire, proving he or she to be one, then tracking down that known vampire, and killing him or her. Having the Queen of the Vampires tell her to go kill some enemy vampire just wasn't the same, even though it was still enjoyable.

Killing any vampire, no matter what the circumstances, used to bring Clark so much pleasure. But ever since she'd met Gabrielle, her priorities had changed. She still loved killing vampires, but now she was thinking about what effect certain vampires' deaths might have on Gabrielle and that wasn't acceptable Hunter behavior.

Clark shook her head again. She didn't want to think about this stuff right now. She'd think about it later. She turned the key in the ignition and started up the car. She would go back to her hotel room and write up a new report to send to her server. At the very least, she could let the VHA know that they had some spies in their ranks in L.A. Not that it was unheard of; there were always a few bad cops in the bunch, but maybe the tip would help Internal Security do a more thorough job of finding them.

It didn't take Clark long to get back to her hotel room. She checked her laptop for new alerts, but there weren't any. She opened a new word processor file and began composing her latest report concerning the information she'd gleaned from reading the lips of Gabrielle and Avarice. She sent it off to her server as soon as it was finished and bundled it with the rest of the files that would be sent off to the VHA if she didn't change the send date within the next three weeks.

Clark had only been awake since four that afternoon, but jetlag was catching up to her and sleep sounded like a good idea. She checked her alert program one last time to make sure no new reservations had been made and then crawled into bed.

~\/^^^\/~

Gabrielle hurried to the airport, but she still managed to get there at just after midnight. The others were waiting for her when she arrived.

"You made it. Just in time, too. We need to check our trunks in now," Shiri told Gabrielle.

"Alright. Does everyone know what we're doing?" Gabrielle asked the group.

"Getting on a plane?" Trevor asked with a smirk.

Gabrielle grinned back at the joke.

"Yeah, but I meant after that," Gabrielle shook her head.

"Yeah, we arrive in Buenos Aires at about eight o'clock tonight," Samantha replied. "We go directly to the Argentine Compound. Then you'll have approximately two hours to meet with the elders there until we have to be back at the airport to check all of your trunks in again so that we can leave at one-fifteen Saturday morning for Melbourne. Oh, and there's a five-hour time difference between here and Buenos Aires, so we're going to feel like it's a lot earlier than it really is. Did I get everything right?"

"Yes, that's perfect. Well, I guess I'll see all of you in Argentina. Buenas noches," Gabrielle offered to everyone and then climbed into the trunk Theresa was holding open for her.

Gabrielle could hear the others being helped into their own trunks and then they were lifted onto several carts so that they could be transported to the loading area for their plane. She knew she wouldn't go to sleep for several hours yet, but she closed her eyes and tried anyway.

She had fifteen hours to kill between the time of take off and when she would finally be allowed to exit her trunk. The layover in Panama would be during the day, so she knew she wouldn't be able to leave her trunk until she was actually in the Argentine Compound.

Gabrielle listened to the sounds of movement around her and let them carry her off into a fantasy about a certain tall black-haired female. Her need for the woman was so strong she would have sworn she'd felt her while she was dancing with Avarice, but she knew that was impossible, no matter how much she wished it were true.

Gabrielle listened to the jet engines of the plane rev up in preparation for take-off and smiled. The sooner they left, the sooner this whirlwind tour would be over and she could return to New York and greet Clark when the woman returned from her own little trip.

Gabrielle hoped Clark was enjoying herself and getting a little clarity. Hopefully, she would choose to be with Gabrielle and then Gabrielle could really begin putting her plans into motion.