CHAPTER 38: A NIGHT AT GALLOWWAY 3

 Samuel walks back to the dining room where the music still plays. The room is empty or so he thinks; Elma appears from the dark like she herself is one with the shadows at the corners of the room.

The darkness surrounds her like a thin gown of dark sheets.

She holds a bottle of whiskey and a half filled glass, sipping as she leans against the wall. Her body is almost buried in the shadows but his eyes see her clearly.

Her thighs seem to slip through the dark sheets mixed with the wavering light of the candles.

She stretches her hand forward, offering him the glass of liquor. The taste is harsh and bitter behind his tongue, just the way he likes it.

"Why the long face?" Elma asks, peering into his dark eyes to read his mood.

He backs away until he is sitting at the edge of the table, his eyes staring into hers as he puts the glass on his lips, "You never talk to me when something is bothering you," she says as she walks closer to him. The striped cloth covers her adequately but not the seductive steps she takes towards the distraught sphinx.

"There is usually nothing to talk about," he says in a low voice and looks to the ground.

"Come on Sammy. I may not know you for as long as Amanda but I know you well enough. I know you don't trust me. I wonder why," she says, her voice even lower than his.

She places a hand on his shoulder and the bottle on the table. She tries to find his eyes in the dimness of the night but he doesn't look up, not at her, not when she wants him to.

He has always been like that, never committing to a woman that was willing to commit and now she watch him chase a woman he will never get. Not if he is going to save his brother.

"Are you afraid?" she asks and he scoffs before emptying the liquor into his throat, "Are you afraid of losing her?" she asks and he finally raises his head to meet her gaze.

Her eyes are dark under the candles' struggling light and her hair is darker than he remembers. He perceives liquor and a hint of blood on her breath.

Her hand slides down to his chest, "You can't lose what you don't have," he says, "Luckily, you have me" she says as her long fingers trace his chest.

The song becomes silent in the moment as her second hand begins to pull his shirt, "Little vampire, what do you think you are doing?" his voice becomes deeper and hot.

But she won't be letting him melt her away, "Nothing," she says as she begins to massage his shoulders and chest. Pulling at his nipple with a feathery touch.

Elma removes strands of hair from her face and bends to kiss his shoulders.

"What happened today? Why did you fall off the pegasus?" she asks but the sphinx ignores her and carries the bottle on the table, gulping up its harsh content before dropping it.

"You don't need to talk. I can do the talking," she says as her soft lips move to his neck. A pair of fangs shoot out of her mouth and she buries them into Samuel's neck.

He is motionless to her actions, unalive and devoid of emotion he stands.

He pulls her back from his body and slams her against the wall. His glowing eyes watch her eyes for a second while his blood drip from her mouth. She tries to push him off but he holds her against the wall and sinks his own set of fangs into her neck.

She groans at his roughness, feeling a pinching pain and savoring an untainted pleasure. She uses her hand to massage the back of his neck. He pulls away and rips the shirt away from her body.

Her dead heart almost skip a beat but a dead heart does not beat; his eyes glow but they carry a wild hunger in them. She kisses him roughly and jumps on his body.

Samuel turns around and drops her against the table, her back hit it hard but she shows no sign of pain as she spreads her legs revealing her sensitive hole without a protective cloth.

"Don't you think you are being a bit gentle?" she says, she leans on her elbows and watch him as he pauses. He turns his eyes away from her and holds onto his pants before letting out a sigh.

He takes a step but not towards the willing vampire but away. Elma's hands screech the wooden table as she moves towards him but he swiftly grabs her by the neck.

"You claim to know me but you test me. You are the one that comes to my beck and call, not the other way round," he says and throws the naked woman on the floor.

She hisses and glares, "Because my name isn't Rachael?" she snarls and he wears a laid-back expression.

"Go to bed vampire or whatever. I am not in the mood to entertain your nonsense," Samuel says and walks away.

MEANWHILE, AT PIKE MARKET.

 Alex and Carter enter the narrow street where they are met with vampires, all wearing cloaks. They take her to the scene of the dead vampires; one with no heart and the other with black fluids leaking from his head, clearly the work of someone stronger than them.

"They were here," Carter says.

"What were they doing here?" he asks one of the vampires, "We don't know but they say he left with a woman on a pegasus. The human I assume," the vampire says.

"And why didn't anyone stop him?" Alex snarls at the vampire, her gaze is intense and her fists are clenched tightly.

"We weren't sure it was him. We heard it was going to be an old vampire but he had a beating heart. It was the human's scent that made us question their presence here," the vampire says.

"Damn it," Alex cusses.

Her fair skin turn pale in the dark and her hair dangle with her rough movements, "If they left on a pegasus where could they have gone?" she asks.

"He is one half of Mors et tempestas, then he would have gone to Gallowway. They took over the Gallowway hills after killing its ruler," the vampire says.

"We have to move now. They have flying horses, I'm not sure we will be able to get to them before dawn," Carter says, "We may if we go through the hills at the down market," Alex says and her chubby companion chuckles.

"We have to call master Azazel. There is no way we will be able to make it in time. Even if we were to use the hills which I prefer not to because I want to live longer," he says and she gives him a death glare.

"You are right about one thing, we won't reach them on time. I wonder where they are headed after Gallowway," she says, rubbing her chin and staring into the darkness of the street.

"You," she calls one of the cloaked vampires, "Take some of the men and go to Gallowway, find out whatever you can about their whereabouts" she orders.

She turns to the one that showed them the scene, "Take us to the Dark Tower at the borders of Gallowway, I need to send word to Azazel before the day breaks. We need to hamper their efforts by any means neccessary," "Yes ma'am, but the fastest route to the Dark Tower is also through the hills of pike market," the vampire says, "We are not going through those fucking hills," Carter says with a stern glare, "Alright, follow me," the cloaked vampire says with a bow.

They move like the wind and blend in like the shadows, preparing their little schemes to take out the sphinx and his friends.

Will they succeed?