Lana’s confused face looked at Katya and then to Aaron. She shrugged and took his hand. “I googled Paris. There are stores for shopping!”
Aaron laughed aloud again. “Well then its official, we’re bringing Michelle with us. The quickest way to a woman’s heart is to go shopping with her.”
Urvashi flowed up the hallway with a dour look on her face and her cell phone held to her ear. Urvashi waved to Aaron and put her phone away as he pulled Lana down the hall, still glued to his hand. The fallen angel eyed Lana and seemed to consider her words more carefully. “That was Gavin on the phone. He’s found Natalya. She is with the Georgian mafiosi – but not by choice.”
Aaron let out an involuntary growl and Lana frowned at him. Urvashi laid a hand on his shoulder and imparted a touch of her soothing aura. “Let Gavin help this time. We don’t need a repeat of the last incident.”
* * * *
Chapter 28
Richard Sanguine – formerly known as Aaron Pilan – emerged from the icy water of the Moskva River onto the boat launch platform floating beside a behemoth, white, river yacht. Dressed in only his black, heated wetsuit, he silently dashed up the metal staircase leading to the lower deck of the yacht. The guard making the rounds walked by, passing within a few feet of where Aaron hid.
His sword slipped from his back scabbard without a sound and he severed all but the guard’s spinal column as he slashed through throat, muscle and tendons. Aaron silently eased the dying man to the floor and checked to see no one had witnessed him. He moved up the stairs to the upper floor level and slipped inside the door, leaving it open a crack. His wetsuit gloves left no fingerprints on the door knob as he waited.
Within a couple minutes a guard walked past. Aaron slashed his throat too, then dragged the body inside the door and moved farther down the upper deck to the aft side of the boat. Coming around the corner, he walked right into another guard who opened his fat mouth to yell. Aaron skewered him through his mouth and out the back of his neck, then yanked his rifle away before he could fire any shots.
One by one, Aaron silently killed each of the five guards on the boat without leaving fingerprints or body fluids of his own. His wetsuit dripped with their blood, but not one drop of his blood was spilled. The neoprene hood covering his head kept a tight grip on his short-buzzed haircut, ensuring not one single hair was left behind on the boat. On the top level, midship, in the entertainment room of the yacht, Aaron found them – four men in white dress shirts and black pants. They had removed their black suit jackets, but, they were the Black Suits he remembered from the nightclub.
There were three women in the room, completely naked, dancing to the raucous sound of Russian folk music, some kind of polka. Natalya was not among them, but then Gavin had already told him where to find her.
The man knew his shit.
Aaron opened the sealed zipper pouch at his side and extracted a small black plastic box with a single button, an electronic device Gavin had provided him. He pushed the button and waited. Within thirty seconds a slight humming sound vibrated off the windows of the yacht and everything electronic aboard the boat shut down. A satellite-based targeted EMP weapon. Aaron had provided the location for the EMP targeting system.
The lights went out and the music stopped. Aaron pulled his second sword silently from its sheath and entered the room with both blades ready. His nocturnal eyesight adjusted quickly to the darkness, and he slipped from man to man, laying them open from groin to throat, a noisy, gruesome slaughter. The women screamed themselves hoarse and stumbled through the darkness. They tripped over the quivering corpses of the dead, but none of them were harmed. Aaron took his time capturing each woman and injecting them with one of the three syringes Gavin had provided him. They were quickly subdued, unconscious.
The job had taken all of fifteen minutes, but this was not why Aaron had come. This was not shaping the world by the stroke of his sword or any other lofty shit. Killing these men was simply payback.
The main reason he had come to this boat was for the woman tied in the engine room below deck. Aaron made his way down quickly, kicking through the locked doors into the lightless space where the triple diesel engines were housed.
A whimper signaled Natalya’s location, and he found her floating in that in-between world of agony and exhaustion, half-awake, half-asleep, and wishing she was dead. Her hands had been tied up high, hanging from the ceiling. Her legs had ceased being capable of holding her body weight, and she sagged against the ropes that had been cutting into her wrists for over a day.
Though her body and soul were weak and broken, her heart beat strong. Gavin had given him a first aid kit and some morphine, but Aaron left that shit behind. Aaron’s teeth held the key to her survival. He untied the harsh ropes around her wrists and gently cradled her naked, sagging body in his arms. She didn’t smell good at all, but he ignored her unclean scent and sunk his fangs into her bloody, raw wrist and held on for a good two minutes.
He didn’t drink her blood. She had precious little of it to give. He saturated her bloodstream with a strong dose of his venom. She came alive in his arms murmuring things in Russian. In the darkness Aaron could see her swollen black eyes, puffy bruised cheeks and broken nose. She looked right at him and tried to say his name in wheezing croaks. Her throat evidenced dark marks and abrasions where they had choked her off several times. Her voice was gone, but her mind told him everything he needed to know.
He sensed her burst of joy that he’d found her. She cried with the relief that she could impart the most important thing she had to give him before she died – her apology.
She’d been a complete fool to risk his life and her own, all for nothing. Everything she needed and wanted was in Aaron’s arms. As she drifted into unconsciousness, she prayed he understood how deeply sorry she was for ruining his life in a Moscow prison, for ruining everything they could have had together.
“Shush, Natalya. I’m here now. I’m here to take you home.”
As he carried her up the stairs and out to the boat deck, to the flat black military boat waiting a few feet off the stern, Aaron knew Natalya would survive. Though she had suffered broken ribs and probably other fractures beyond her broken nose, this girl was far more resilient than even she knew.
Within the pages of Dmitri’s personal diary lay a secret Michelle had never discovered in her ninety years as a vampire. Bloodslaves with prolonged exposure to vampire’s venom experienced a long list of miraculous side effects. Their bodies became more resistant to disease, with highly efficient immune systems. Their healing and regeneration became far more aggressive than a normal human. Eyesight improved. Even aging slowed down dramatically.
Pharzyme had nine years of intensive research on Dmitri’s bloodslaves. Their data proved conclusively that regular doses of vampire’s venom improved the human condition, making the bloodslave tougher, more resilient, more capable of surviving anemia and excessive feedings, able to heal lethal injuries, and bone breaks within weeks instead of months. The one bloodslave who had been with Dmitri the longest, Kristina, was technically thirty years old, but her biochemistry and all other indicators put her in the age range of twenty three to twenty four. Kristina had only aged a year in the seven years she spent with her vampire master.
Vampire’s venom was the fountain of youth – for bloodslaves – if only they could survive a vampire’s mistreatment.
The lost soul in his arms, who had made so many mistakes, had hurt herself and so many others with her callous, destructive lifestyle – this girl was a survivor. Whether he gave it to her in the neck, wrist, femoral artery, or straight through the lips of her slippery wet pussy, Aaron would make damn sure this bloodslave got her venom, without fail. Natalya was not a lost cause, and he would never give up on her.
He’d left a trail of dead bodies across four countries and burned up all his grace along the way. In giving Natalya the grace she needed to survive, maybe he’d scrape a little for himself. Working
as a contract killer, he needed every bit of grace he could scrounge.
THE END
Coming in 2015
A new Urban Fantasy Series from Travis Luedke
UPON THIS ROCK
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Nightlife Series novels
THE NIGHTLIFE: NEW YORK
Vampires, strippers, escorts, night clubs, pimps & dirty cops – the Nightlife New York is never boring. Aaron Pilan’s life is forever changed when he’s shot trying to rescue a drop-dead gorgeous woman on the streets of New York. Aaron is thrust into the shocking world of vampiric slavery when Michelle shares her blood to save his life.
Michelle's existence as a solitary vampire is also altered when she accepts this naive young man into her life. Bound by her blood, Aaron is subject to her authority. He walks a tightrope of strictly controlled feeding regimens & intense sexual adventures while catering to the neurotic control-freak tendencies of his new master. She vows to eliminate him if he proves too difficult to control.
This story is bold and evocative infusing blood, sex, love and turmoil in an urban drama about two vampires battling evil outside & within themselves.
★★★★★ “If you like your vampires vicious and bloody and your erotica with a plot, this is the book for you.”
★★★★★ “Luedke brings his main characters to life, both incredibly flawed and powerfully charismatic, with a wonderful writing style, in this unique twist on the Vampire.”
★★★★★ “This is unlike any vampire tale I have ever read, as far removed from Bram Stoker's Dracula, as New York is from Transylvania. Travis Luedke has fashioned a compelling tale of love, passion, violence and steamy hot sex, set against the backdrop of the Big Apple.”
THE NIGHTLIFE: LAS VEGAS
Vampires, Aaron Pilan and his master Michelle, live by one rule – no bloodslaves. EVER. Aaron breaks that rule when he meets Anastasia. All Anastasia wants is to be loved and cherished, but the predatory men she’s attracted to bring her only pain and abuse. Escaping one train-wreck relationship for another, she finds happiness with Aaron and Michelle as a bloodslave, a 'pet'. When Aaron uses his telepathy to win thousands at the gambling tables, he attracts the deadly attention of the Colombian Cartel and Aaron and Michelle are 'disappeared'. Addicted to the bite of her vampire lovers, Ana is desperate to find them. But, Las Vegas isn't ready for vampires mixing heroin, sex and vengeance. Ana is trapped in the spiraling chaos.
Find out what happens in the second novel of the Nightlife Series.
★★★★★ "Go grab a copy before this much fun is declared illegal."
★★★★★ "Mr. Luedke once again showcasing his considerable talent for crafting erotic, action-packed, supernatural thrillers that leave the reader saying "Wow!"
★★★★★ "A no-holds-barred, easy-to-read romp that mixes fantasy, suspense, horror and erotica, and does it well."
THE NIGHTLIFE: PARIS
Vampire master Michelle, and her slave, Aaron Pilan, flee to Paris, leaving behind the slaughter in Las Vegas. Aaron made the costly mistake of taking a bloodslave, and then married her. The tragedy of his wife's death has driven a rift between them and Michelle is desperate to heal the breach.
Struggling with his predatory alter ego, Aaron is fractious, rebelling against his master. He desires another bloodslave, and that Michelle cannot allow. She opens her heart and soul to Aaron and he relives, through her memories, her dark, gritty tale of survival in the savagery of WWII Paris under the German occupation. Michelle's staggering revelations are deeply disturbing. The confrontation of master versus slave comes full circle as the couple faces death and separation.
And they are not alone in Paris. An investigator has followed them from Vegas seeking the unique gifts of Michelle’s blood. He’s watching and waiting for the opportunity to make his move against them.
Find out what happens in the third novel of the Nightlife Series.
★★★★★ “I was screaming at one point, crying, at another. It was an emotional roller coaster of a book.”
★★★★★ “This segment of Michelle and Aaron's tale is dark and graphic, but with mesmerizing descriptions and a morbidly compelling storyline, I felt this was the best of The Nightlife Series by far.”
★★★★★ “Decidedly darker and somewhat disturbing, THE NIGHTLIFE: PARIS takes the series for a turn towards the dark side and I loved every minute of it!”
BLOOD SLAVE
Her mother named her Esperanza Salvación – Hope for Salvation. But when a girl works as an escort for Colombian cartel in the ghettos of Spanish Harlem...there wasn’t much hope, or salvation.
Hope’s telepathic ability keeps her a step ahead of ruin, but her unusual gift attracts the attention of a psychotic vampire bitch. Trapped in a Manhattan penthouse with the psycho, she thought she was dead meat.
Her survival lies in the hands of Vampire Master Enrique. He seems to respect her, perhaps even care. As a measure of protection, he makes her his personal Bloodslave. Helplessly addicted to his bite, Enrique rules her every moment. As always, Hope must adapt to survive.
Swept into the decadent nightlife of Manhattan's elite, she falls in love with Enrique and prays someday he may grow to love her, too. But is it simply a relationship of convenience? Is she nothing more than a concubine desperate to satisfy his nightly demands for blood and sex?
And forever in the background is the fear that one day the cartel boss she abandoned will hunt her down to collect on old debts.
★★★★★ “Fast paced, no holds-barred, gripping, gut-wrenching, soul-ripping and most definitely tear-inducing. Perfection!”
★★★★★ “Travis Luedke writes amazing characters and amazing stories and unbelievable passion flawlessly. After reading this book I was left in shock.”
★★★★★ “You know when you see a violent or bloody scene in a movie and you cover your eyes for a couple of seconds until it has past? I caught myself doing that with this book, then I realized that the lines were not going to go away until I read them.”
THE NIGHTLIFE: LONDON
Vampires Aaron and Michelle prowl the dark, gritty, strip clubs and back alleys of London on the hunt for Michael Jamison, the man who stole Michelle's blood and left her for dead. To assist them, Aaron’s new master, Urvashi, calls in favors from her friends, Russian mercenary werewolves.
Wolves Katya and Ivan, hunters adept at killing rogue vampires, set aside their animosity for Aaron and Michelle to stop Jamison from murdering another woman – he already has one bloodless victim lying in the morgue.
Jamison, ex-special forces, feels his enemies closing in, but he won’t go down without a fight –and like Aaron and Michelle, he also has powerful friends.
Experience the violent, sensual underbelly of Nightlife London, as Aaron and Michelle mix up a wicked blend of sex, chaos, mayhem, and vengeance.
★★★★★ “Highly sexed and bound by blood thirst, blood slavery, domination and addictive ties to each other, Aaron's master Urvashi, Michelle and Aaron have a strange threesome going.”
★★★★★ “An explicit and powerful tour de force through London's nightlife. Starting off with a sex scene in a strip club, Luedke throws us in at the deep end.”
★★★★★ “I love that we have strippers, prostitutes, sluts, and Mr. Luedke is unapologetic about it...Nightlife gives it to us in spades.”
THE NIGHTLIFE SERIES OMNIBUS (Books 1-4)
The Nightlife Series is violent, sexy, and occasionally violently sexy.
Can decadence, corruption and prostitution go hand in hand with self-control? Over-indulgence, illegal activity and vampires lurk in darkness when night falls on the city.
The Nightlife Series explores the sexy, dangerous misadventures of vampires and an interesting assortment of wickedly corrupt men and women of the night. Gan
gs, pimps, prostitutes, cartel, mafia, drug dealers, addicts, alcoholics, all those wonderfully colorful people you find rubbing elbows in the back alleys, night clubs, and strip joints.
Vampires, strippers, escorts, night clubs, pimps & dirty cops – the Nightlife Series is never boring.
These creatures inhabit a world of constant blood, sex, and arousal. The act of feeding is highly erotic, victims often experience multiple orgasms. A vampire’s bite is the most powerful drug imaginable, ecstasy, euphoria, and an ever-present potential for addiction. Lethally violent predators, they cut through flesh like a hot knife through butter. They slip through the nightlife quietly, unobtrusively, until cornered. Then it gets ugly, people die.
The Nightlife Series Omnibus includes four full-length novels:
THE NIGHTLIFE NEW YORK
THE NIGHTLIFE LAS VEGAS
THE NIGHTLIFE PARIS
BLOOD SLAVE
These wicked, pulse-pounding novels drag readers breathless through one cataclysmic event after another....bite into your copy today!
THE NIGHTLIFE SAN ANTONIO
Vampires, Mafia & Mayhem: The Nightlife San Antonio is violent, sexy, and occasionally violently sexy.
All she wanted was to escape the police. All he wanted was to get laid. They both got more than they bargained for.
EMT on call, Adrian Faulkner resuscitates a beautiful woman after a Mexican mafia shootout. He can't explain why he picks her up in the hospital parking lot three days later and then ducks the San Antonio police and the Feds. Well, the hot sex might have something to do with it.