The Merciless Alpha(erotica)

“Agreed,” Emily said as she stood up. “I have to catch my connecting flight. Put an end to this, Vicki.” She shook my hand, then tossed a twenty-dollar bill on the table and walked off.

I stared at the card. Making a decision, I picked up my phone and called Luna Adrienne. “I need you to fly to New Orleans on the next available flight,” I told her when she answered.

“New Orleans?”

“There’s a man we need to see. It’s an emergency.”

She didn’t say anything; she was probably linking to Leo. “Are you all right?”

“I will be after this. I’ll meet you at the airport, text me your flight information.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said.

“I’ll fill you in during the drive.” I let her go, then wrote a note on a napkin and dropped it at Ben’s table. “Thank you for the drink, but I have a boyfriend,” I said as I walked off. I found a ticket agent and changed my flight to New Orleans.

That vampire was going to die, and I wanted to do it.

**************

I boarded the flight for New Orleans, stuck near the rear in a center seat due to the late ticket buy. Ben was just in front of the bathrooms at the back of the plane. Thank Luna that it was a short flight with only one crying baby.

We waited together in the lounge near the gate Adrienne was coming in at for almost an hour. She started interrogating me on what was going on while her plane was still landing, and kept it up until she stepped into the terminal. I had her caught up by the time Adrienne pulled me into her arms and squeezed. “You bold, reckless girl,” she said as she sat back. “I’m kicking myself for letting you get into this situation.”

“It was the right move at the time,” I said. I turned to Ben. “We’ve got it from here. My Aunt will protect me now. Thank you for everything, and have a good flight back to San Diego.” I handed him an envelope with his fee in cash, and he pocketed it as he walked off. We couldn’t bring a human to where we were going next.

My Aunt had called ahead to rent a car, and soon we were making our way through the sweltering August heat to get into the full-size sedan. We were on our way to the French Quarter, where the sprawling three-story Italianate mansion lay just a few blocks off the tourist area. It was my first time in New Orleans, and I could see why the vampires liked it. “Drunk tourists, voodoo, poverty, all within easy walking distance,” I said.

“Preying on tourists makes it more difficult to establish patterns,” Adrienne agreed. We pulled up to an iron gate between a commercial building and the neatly manicured grounds of the mansion. Adrienne rolled down the window to speak into the security screen, where a uniformed guard appeared on the small screen. Looking around, I spotted a dozen surveillance cameras, two concealed sniper positions, and the outline of the pop-up vehicle barrier system. These vampires didn’t play around with security. “Adrienne Volkov and Vicki Lawrence here to see Master Cyprian Pontalba.”

“Do you have an appointment, Mrs. Volkov?”

“No. It is worthy of Mr. Pontalba’s time.”

The video went dark as we waited. It was a few minutes before the gates started to move apart. The guard appeared on the screen again. “Pull around to the left and park in the visitor space. Mr. Pontalba’s assistant will meet you there.”

“Thank you.” We pulled forward and turned just before the garage at the back of the property, parking in one of the marked visitor spaces. A beautiful young woman came out of the mansion, holding her tablet computer in one hand. “Let me do the talking unless I ask you to fill in,” Adrienne said. “These Masters can be fickle and easily offended.”NôvelDrama.Org owns all content.

“They give me the creeps,” I said.

We got out as the raven-haired woman reached the front of our rental. She was a vampire, so her actual age could be anything, but she looked like she was about my age. Her skin was pale and flawless, her body sculpted by a God, and even I was a little intimidated by her beauty. “Welcome to the Dufour Mansion, Luna Adrienne, Miss Vicki,” she said with a bright smile. “My name is Cornelia, and if you’d follow me, we’ll get you comfortable until the Master is available.”

“Thank you,” my aunt replied.

We followed her up the stairs to the wrap-around porch and inside the entry door; if Master Corvinus’ office was plush, this place was a museum. Antiques, paintings, and many other priceless items filled the space. The ceilings were very high, at least twelve feet, and transom windows along the top would have allowed for air circulation in the times before air conditioning. Marble floors stretched wall to wall, while ceramic tiles ran up the walls ten feet high. The wall hangings hung from hangers near the ceiling. “Interesting choice of materials,” I said as I looked around.

“As you know, flooding in New Orleans is fairly common. The mansion design allows for floodwaters up to eighteen feet high without structural damage; when the floods recede, we rinse off the tile and bring everything down from storage in the upper rooms,” Cornelia said. “Add in hurricane shutters and solid construction, and this house has survived everything Mother Nature has thrown at her.”

“What happened during Hurricane Evelyn?” Evelyn was a Cat 5 storm that had flooded most of New Orleans to levels not seen since Katrina. In addition to the high winds, the storm surge was fifteen feet above sea level.

“We had time to move the priceless objects to secure storage inland. The flooding reached within a foot of the top of the tile. It was a close one.” I had a lot of respect for hurricanes, and couldn’t imagine living in a place with those AND streets already six feet below sea level. She led us up a staircase to the second floor, where woodwork and tapestries took over the décor. We ended up in a sitting room overlooking the garden. A human maid brought us lemonade and cookies as we waited. “I will get you in as soon as I can,” Cornelia said as she checked on us a half-hour later. “Master’s schedule is full.”

“We understand,” Adrienne said. “Circumstances did not allow us to request an appointment.”

An hour later, we were still waiting. “How long do we wait,” I asked.

“Until he sees us. Vampires do not sleep, so eventually, he will find time for us. How is your friend doing?”

“He expects to leave the hospital in the morning; I’d like to be there.”

“I don’t know if we will be back in time if this goes late. Make other arrangements,” Adrienne said.

I sent a text to Susan, asking if she and Hammer could watch him if I didn’t make it back in time. “Way ahead of you, Vicki. We will be bringing him to our place, and Commander Prentice is assigning someone to protect him while he recovers. NCIS is investigating the attack with Coronado Police. They think it is more likely retaliation against a SEAL than an attempt to kill a swimsuit model.”