and cuffed Poe on the cheek, hurling her a few feet and rendering her unconscious for a moment. The vampire wrenched the Astra A-90 from Poe’s limp grip and tossed it to the alert butler who caught it without expression. The spray bottle she flung behind the counter.
A shadow slipped in from the gaping entrance.
The stealthy figure clad in turtleneck and gray overalls was lost on Gwendolyn if not for the cautionary cough the butler let out.
“Gwendolyn, dear, what in all that’s scalding and torrential in the rutting part of hell are you up to? I thought you were with us?” the usually cheery Wilhemina accused, her pointed face all glint and grit.
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saw the two of you hot on the scent of Julia Poe. What am I to think?”
“I am loyal, Vilhemina. For zhat zhere is no question,” explained Gwendolyn to her fellow councilwoman. “I really don’t vant to drink Plasmacore as sustenance for eternity. My life is dreary enough. But I vill do it for ze plan. Kaleb is acquiring supporters all over California. Zhat’s a very dangerous thing. But I embrace it.” Her voice became gentler, “I love him enough to help bring down the lure of vampirism.”
“Then what possessed you to pound a girl an eighth your strength? And for chrissake, don’t say it’s because of jealousy. Women have fanned the flame of that petty excuse for centuries now, and look where it got us, still living among the cave dwellers with extra pointy fangs.”
“For godsakes, Vil, don’t go into any more of your tirades,” waved Gwendolyn. “I can’t handle a lecture tonight about how vomen are raped in zheir sleep and forced to carry zheir pregnancy to term and like zhat. Ze girl insulted me, and I couldn’t stop my fist in time. Period.”
When Poe came to, the second thing she noticed after the pain in her cheek was the heated altercation occurring before her. How long had she been out?
“I am all for ze preparations, Vil. I vill kill Trench and anyone who continues ze barbaric nonsense right beside you tomorrow,” Gwendolyn pronounced. “But you’ve got to give me ze girl.”
“Gwen, don’t be insane,” Wilhemina nearly shouted. “She’s part of Sainvire’s circle and must be protected. We need everyone, and her ambidextrous skills are key. We’ve gone over the concept of emotional maturity, Gwendolyn. Petty revenge is not only silly, it’s downright–”
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“Pathetic,” Gwendolyn finished for her. “I know all zhat, but the problem is I am insane. I need to get zhis girl out of my system in order to move forward.
Zhis is vhat I do. I torture ze love interests of my ex-lovers. It keeps me from boredom and bolsters my reputation. Like you said, I am several times stronger and vill more than compensate ze loss of such as her.
Vhat’s one little girl over a force of nature like me?”
Poe got the shivers. That’s just too Glenn Close!
“This girl survived downtown. That’s miraculous in itself. It’s wrong to sacrifice her to the mania of a vampire sociopath who has a de Sade complex.
Besides, Sainvire won’t let anything happen to her. If he ever finds out that you’ve harmed her, then God help you.”
Wilhemina ran her fingers through her short-cropped brown hair and sighed. Before she could say anything more, Gwendolyn laughed.
“He’ll never know, of course,” said Gwendolyn.
The long limbed goddess shook her head and winked at the butler behind Wilhemina. And just like that, a blessed bullet muffled by a silencer went through the councilwoman’s heart and head, rendering her permanently dead.
The vampire in lingerie kicked the corpse to be sure it was nothing but a husk then blew a kiss to Milfred.
“My hero. You’re such a good boy, Milfie,” she cooed at the man’s shooting prowess. “Now get her out of zis distillery lest someone find her.”
Poe was like marmalade for witnessing the murder of Wilhemina who incidentally had tried to save her hide. Swallowing the fear that had clamped her throat, she watched Milfred drag the body out the front door. I hope he gets an aneurysm.
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“I sink you’re avake now, short-ugly girl,”
Gwendolyn said, her back to Poe.
The insult pushed out the wimpy from her veins.
Poe took offense at insults from the top-heavy blonde who, under certain lights, looked like a used-up San Fernando Valley porn star. Again Poe ruminated on her fate, convinced that had she not lived such a flower-in-the attic