“Good morning, sweet Ella.” Ella did not even acknowledge Warren’s presence in her bedroom doorway as she continued to run her silver backed brush through her long red hair. He drifted across the room, the air seeming to become cooler as he neared her.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you disappeared again last night.” Warren’s long slender fingers closed over her hand and took the brush away. He paused momentarily before continuing the strokes through the long red tresses.

“I did not think you would realize I was gone.” Ella replied truthfully, meeting his gaze in the mirror. They were so different.

His skin was tanned and she was as pale as snow. Her hair a dark red and his black. His cheeks were gaunt and thin while hers were full and almost childlike. And their eyes…. His black, intense and full of evil malice. Hers a deep green, beautiful but lifeless.

“You’re not jealous, are you, Ella?”

“Sickened.” she replied coldly. It sickened her to think that those mortal women wanted Warren to touch them. Wanted him to bite them. What had happened in their short lives to make them so desperate?

Warren threw his head back and laughed deeply as he laid the brush on the dark cherry wood vanity.

“You are far too brooding. You need to learn how to enjoy life.” he said matter of factly as he grabbed Ella’s arm and pulled her to her feet. Ella went with the movement, having used up all the fight she had left some years before.

“Now, you need to begin obeying me, Ella. I told you not to be killing men so close to where we live.”

“Then you should have stopped me.” she replied with a shrug and Warran’s grip became painfully tight on her arm.

“Don’t push me, Ella. I am in a remarkably good mood this morning. I am feeling well refreshed and therefore very forgiving of your transgressions. Also I like knowing that my little pet has such a bloodthirsty nature.” Warren’s eyes darkened and his tongue moistened his thin lips as he looked up and down the length of her body.

Ella wished she had had time to pull on her robe before Warren had entered. Truth was she hadn’t expected him until after noon given his activities the night before. Instead she was wearing only her chemise, under shorts and corset. Her breasts were pushed up high and much of her pale skin was visible for his hungry eyes to feast on.

“Unfortunately, I must be leaving.” he admitted with a sigh. “I’m afraid that business is calling me away again and I will be gone for three days. I trust you’ll be here when I return?” There was no doubting the threatening edge in his voice or the warning in his dark eyes.

“You know I will be.” she replied simply, focusing on his narrow chest beneath the fancy white dress shirt and starched collar. Ella did not bother to ask what kind of business drew him away. Not only did she not care but Warren liked to keep his trips secret. Ella suspected he was going to look at new pets or perhaps simply going to sample blood elsewhere. Either way it got his hands off of her for a few days.

“And please, take a break from the murders before you bring a Hunter down on our heads. I will take you into Savannah when I return and you can kill to your hearts content for days.”

“How thoughtful.” Ella stated, though there was no venom or sarcasm in her voice. It had been a long time since Ella’s voice had held any emotion at all.

Warren hissed and his hand fell sharp across her face, leaving in its wake a stinging throb that resonated throughout her head. Ella refused to show her pain as she met his eyes.

“I grow tired of your rebellion.” Warren warned. “I am good to you. Allowing you to roam the city. I do not chain you in the cellar, though that is what you deserve. The least you could do is show me a bit of gratitude.”

When Ella remained silent Warren sighed.

“You are to speak to no one while I am away. If you do you know I will be able to tell, I can always tell.” With that, Warren tenderly kissed the cheek he had just brutally smacked and then he turned and walked away, his fancy high heeled boots resonating down the hall.

Ella turned and sat back down roughly in her stool. She looked at her haunted expression in the mirror as she once again picked up her silver backed brush and began running it through her hair. Her assaulted cheek was a nice bright shade of red, sticking out sharply against the paleness of the other.

Three days without Warren. She should feel relieved but she did not. She knew that even with him gone she could not relax. Warren always seemed to know what she was doing. She knew it wasn’t any vampire senses that told him since vampires could not use their powers of the mind on each other but somehow…. Somehow the other vampire knew when she had disobeyed his orders.

As she sat and brushed her hair, she heard the three women from Warren’s room the night before beginning to stir in the next room.

Ella’s spine stiffened when one of them suddenly came to her own open doorway.

“Where’s Warren?” the woman asked, in a voice still slurred from the effects of the night before. A vampire bite did not always hurt or kill. A vampire could inject a rush of endorphins with their venom that served as a type of drug, giving the bitten a nice rush and a high that lasted hours. And they could also inject a type of anti-venom that kept the bitten from dying from the poison.

If bitten enough times, a human could become dependant on that rush, needing to feel it just to function. There was no quick cure for the dependency and going without the high caused agonizing pain, shakes and delirium.

It would have been kinder of Warren to kill these women instead of simply walking out and leaving them for three days.

“Business.” Ella replied, looking at the woman in the mirror. She was tall and naked, obviously not caring in her current state of vampire venom induced euphoria. She had bite marks covering her pale breasts and neck, dried blood was streaked across her taut stomach and her black hair was wild atop her head.

“When will he be back?”

“Three days.” Ella replied as she sat her brush down and rose slowly to her feet. Curse Warren for leaving this to her. He should have dealt with his toys before leaving.

“Days!” The woman screeched, her gray eyes filling with panic.

“Don’t worry, it will go quicker than you think.” Ella assured her as she closed the distance between them.

The woman frowned and Ella attempted a reassuring smile, though she assumed it probably resembled a grimace given her lack of practice at smiling.

Before the woman could speak again, Ella reached out and grabbed her, spinning her around and pulling her back into her chest. She wrapped her arm tight around the struggling woman’s neck and held tight.

The woman kicked, clawed and fought against her but she was no match for Ella’s advanced strength.

Ella listened to the woman’s heartbeat becoming erratic and then beginning to slow as it realized it was not going to get any new air. Ella calmly held the woman in place until she slumped unconscious in her arms and Ella released her hold.

She had to get to the other two women, render them unconscious and then get them all tied up tight and gagged in the cellar before they began waking up. She would hate to have to choke them twice.

***

Brendon sat outside the diner, just a block away from the home where the red haired vampire lived. He was sitting on a hard bench, his hat pulled low and his legs stretched out and ankles crossed, watching for the beautiful murderer without looking.

“They found another body last night.” he heard a woman whisper as she and two others passed by. They were wearing simple walking dresses and holding parasols to shield their skin from the sun which was already beating down intensely despite it not even yet being noon.

“Yes but this one had no holes.” Another woman replied and the third gasped and covered her mouth.

“We shouldn’t even be speaking about such things!” she exclaimed. “Leave the talk of death to the men.” The women walked on down the boardwalk and Brendon stopped listening to their conversation.

Hiding the holes in that mans neck had not been his responsibility. The serum he used he was only supposed to use on himself or to save the life of mortals. That man had already been good and dead when he’d sealed his wounds.

It was not Brendon’s job to protect the secrets of vampires, that was up to the vampire council, not that they cared one way or the other.

No he had done it for one reason and one reason only and that was to protect the vampire.

Which pissed him off.

Why would he risk his own well being for a murdering vampire? It was one thing to risk himself for Grange. That was a friend. Brendon didn’t even know this vampires name. All he knew was that she smelled like herbs and sweetness and it stirred something inside of him. The sight of her and the sound of her haunted voice brought to life a part of him that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

He wanted to think for himself and help someone he thought needed help instead of just following orders blindly and doing exactly as he was told.

But the council would expect him to come back with proof of a dead vampire. They would want to know that he had done as he was told and if he did not then they would remove him from the job list, which simply meant they would have him beheaded.

His hand subconsciously went to his neck and rubbed at it as if to reassure itself that it still held his head attached.

His thoughts were so occupied with just what the council would do to him that he nearly missed the sight of the heavyset older woman walking toward the ramshackle house where the vampires lived.

Brendon had seen the male vampire leave earlier that morning but had not yet seen the female so he guessed she was still inside. The scents in the air were too cloying and intense for him to be able to scent the house from here.

The woman knocked on the door and after several long minutes it was opened and Brendon saw her. She looked just as otherworldly and beautiful as she had the day before when she’d run into him. Her cream and brown colored short sleeved work dress fit her frame and showed just how tiny her waist was and the fullness of her chest. Her dark red hair was pulled back in a braid and then wrapped in a chignon at the base of her neck.

Instantly he felt himself wanting to go to her… Why was that? For all he knew she was married or mated to the other vampire. And besides that she was a murderer…..

She killed protecting an innocent. She’s no more a murderer than you are. A voice in his head chided him. Brendon shook his head. This time she had killed to protect innocence but that didn’t mean she’d killed for that reason before and it didn’t mean that that would be the reason she killed in the future.

Brendon rose to his feet and circled the back of the buildings, coming close enough to the ramshackle house to hear what the two of them were saying without ever having been noticed.

***

“So your husband is out of town then?” Widow Callahan asked as she peered over Ella’s shoulder, hoping to catch a peek inside the house that no one she knew had ever been inside.

“Yes.” Ella replied, stepping out and closing the door. The lie that Warren was her husband had been his idea. Then no one would question why the two of them were living together or the fact that Ella rarely left the house. Everyone would just assume that Warren was a controlling husband and Ella an obedient wife.

“I know we spoke of it yesterday, but Ella, is there anyway I can convince you to come by the orphanage? Little Maggie has not been eating well of late and I know that it is because she misses you.”

Ella felt that small piece of her heart not yet dead being tugged at Widow Callahan’s words. And looking in the woman’s watery blue eyes told Ella that she knew exactly what she was doing by mentioning Maggie and what Ella’s absence was doing to her.

“I don’t know…” Ella replied, glancing around, half expecting to see Warren watching her with a angry glint in his black eyes and a knowing grin on his gaunt face.

“Will you at least think about it, please? I won’t tell that man of yours that you came and I think it would be good for both you and Maggie.”

“Me?” Ella asked with a curious raise of her brow. Widow Callahan nodded and laid a gentle hand on her arm. Ella looked down at her wrinkled hand and frowned…. Tenderness was so alien a thing for her to feel from another person that she wasn’t at all sure how she was supposed to react.

“I know you have a hard life, dear. Now I won’t pretend to know the details and I know it isn’t any of my business to ask them but we all need friends, Ella. I can be that for you.”

Friend? Ella had never had one of those. Or at least not since her life before realizing she was a vampire and that had been so long ago it seemed as if it was another lifetime… or even a dream.

How nice it would be to believe that a simple friend could solve all her problems. That she could open up and share all the dark secrets of her past.

It was a nice thought and that is all it was. Widow Callahan, if the woman didn’t run screaming for the nearest church or stab her with a crucifix at learning what Ella was, would be killed without a second thought by Warren.

Warren had made it clear that Ella couldn’t get away. Ella was his pet. His greatest treasure. His most prized possession and he would kill to keep her. He had proven that more than once.

Ella pulled away from Widow Callahan’s touch and rubbed at the place her hand had touched.

“I’ll think about it.” she said quickly and then she turned and quickly went back into the house, closing the door before the old woman could reply.

‘I’ll think about it!’ she whispered as she leaned against the door and shook her head.

Why had she said that? If she went there then children could die! But then again maybe Warren wouldn’t find out.

Ella couldn’t stand the thought of Little Maggie missing her and thinking she’d abandoned her. The least Ella could do was go see the girl and tell her goodbye. Explain to her that she wouldn’t be able to come back.

It was a risk but one worth it in Ella’s eyes. If Warren did find out then Ella could possibly soothe his tempers in other ways without anyone having to die. That thought alone was enough to sicken her but Little Maggie was worth it.