Blood Harvest Read online

  Swinging the door open quickly each man took his position, weapons aimed, and moved through the door. The room was a large empty warehouse with no visible hiding spaces. Still, the darkness could be enough to conceal two people, especially if one was unconscious. Steve and Chris moved carefully though the facility. Finding a staircase on the far side of the room the two men completed their cursory search of the warehouse and moved up the stairs to the next level. This floor was almost identical to the first floor; however, there was a great deal more ambient light illumination as a result of several large windows facing the street at the far end of the warehouse. The extra light made the reconnaissance of the room instantaneous with the end result revealing no woman or second assailant. Chris moved to the windows and scanned the street below.

  “Over here!” Chris called out.

  Steve ran to the windows and looked down to the street. At the mouth of the alley the second assailant stood in a fighting stance. The woman he and his partner had accosted was leaning against the alley wall, clearly terrified yet none the worse for wear. The man was circling someone else who was out of sight from the window. Judging from his footwork, he had spent a good deal of time inside a boxing ring. The man was about six feet tall, probably two hundred pounds, apparently in excellent shape. He lunged forward toward the unseen individual and immediately staggered backward as if he had been hit with a jolting punch. He regained his composure as he moved back from the alley and further into view, again staring at whomever he was fighting.

  Steve’s breath caught as he felt something tug at his insides. He wanted to burst through the glass and jump the distance to the street below. Fortunately, his mind and body didn’t function as a whole; he instead leaned against the wall to one side of the window.

  It was then Steve could see Lei confidently walk into view. She was wearing a schoolgirl outfit complete with white-buttoned shirt, unbuttoned to expose her overly ample cleavage, and an extra short plaid skirt. Her incredibly long hair was actually in pigtails, bound by bright red elastic scrunchies. She skipped forward in white knee high stockings and patent leather loafers. Placing her arms behind her back and grabbing her wrists, she leaned forward toward the man and said something. Steve and Chris couldn’t hear what she was saying but it incensed the man who lunged for her again. Lei casually reached for the man’s striking arm and grabbed him by the wrist. With ridiculous ease she twisted and launched the man against the near alley wall where he struck with such impact his body bounced nearly five feet as he landed in an unconscious heap.

  Both women stared at the unconscious body for a few seconds then looked at each other. Lei moved to where the woman was standing against the far wall and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. From their vantage point, Steve and Chris saw the woman begin to speak to Lei in what looked like a relieved string of “thank yous.”

  To his utter amazement Steve heard the words the woman spoke in his head as clearly as if he had been standing next to her.” I don’t know how you did that, but I really don’t care.”

  Lei nodded and caressed the woman’s cheek. The woman tried to look back to the motionless man lying less than ten feet from them, but Lei’s hand gently guided the woman’s face back to hers as they locked eyes. Moving closer to the woman, Lei pressed her body up against the woman who looked initially as if she was going to panic and push her away.

  "What are you…?”

  Lei locked eyes with the woman as she took hold of the woman’s wrists and raised her arms above her head, pinning her to the alley wall. She kissed the woman fully on the lips in one strong, sensual motion. She heavily mashed her perfectly enhanced breasts into the woman’s own natural bosom.

  “You were looking for me weren’t you?” Lei whispered into the woman’s ear. “Well here I am.”

  “Wait. I’m not, I mean…I don’t…I’ve never…” The woman’s voice trailed off into heavy short breaths. The startled woman didn’t resist, but was clearly overwhelmed by what was happening.

  So were Steve and Chris.

  “Uh, wow,” was all Chris could manage to say as he watched through the glass in disbelief.

  Steve could only mutter under his breath, as he had to use all of his will power to keep his own body under control. “Damn it Lei, don’t you do it!”

  Neither woman broke eye contact as Steve began to feel an irresistible pull at his core. Now he could feel the woman’s body against his as if he were the one on the street below moving against her. He knew there was no logical way to hear what was going on beneath them, but the words were clearly audible to his ears.

  Lei straddled one of the woman’s legs and with incredible control, began to almost imperceptibly gyrate her entire body against the unbelieving woman who appeared to become more enthralled with each passing moment.

  Letting go of the woman’s wrists Lei stroked the back of the woman’s neck with her left hand and gently traced her fingertips down the bare flesh of the woman’s left arm. The caress continued over the woman’s shoulder, neck, sternum, left breast, flank, and finally came to rest in a grip around her left hip.

  The woman, who hadn’t dropped her arms as they were released, closed her eyes and began to move with the gyrations of her savior. Steve could feel the woman’s body trembling with never before known excitement as her inhibitions eroded under Lei’s ministrations. With a sudden, assertive, yet gentle manipulation, Lei raised the soft part of her thigh up, between and across the woman’s pubic area. Electricity shot through the woman as her hands shook uncontrollably with the combination of ecstasy and uncertainty. Releasing a hot breath across the tender skin of the woman’s neck, Lei teased at her flesh with gentle neck kisses and slight tongue licks. Finally unable to keep herself in check the woman surrendered as her hands dropped down the Lei’s back then disappeared under the short schoolgirl skirt. Moaning aloud and totally lost in the enthrall, the woman held tightly to her hero as the intensity of what was happening threatened to send her into unconsciousness.

  “No.” Steve said, but the words came out hoarse, little more than a whisper as he “felt” the small intense contractions of the woman’s torso against his own hip and abdomen. He sensed the intensity building within the woman, an intensity which felt like a rise in energy from the woman’s core, soon to be discharge in a physical explosion which should not have been possible. Steve turned away from the window as the sensations became too strong. Averting his eyes however, did not diminish his connection to what was going on.

  Steve turned his gaze to Chris who was lost in the site of the whole spectacle. He looked as if he was excited, ashamed and completely unnerved all at once. Steve turned back to the scene on the street to find Lei in complete control of the woman’s body. She held one of the woman’s legs aloft from the underside of the knee, while the other leg swung limply across the pavement, supporting no weight. The woman was moaning so loudly a minute amount of noise could be heard through the glass, although Steve heard everything with a clarity akin to having the woman screaming in his ears.

  Then a sound as eerie as Steve had ever heard drowned out all other sounds and commanded his attention. It came on subtly at first, but grew in intensity until it was all Steve could concentrate on.

  A heartbeat.

  “Oh God! Lei stop!” Steve actually managed to get the words out and it broke the spell Chris had been in.

  Chris turned away from the window, “Steve?!? What’s wrong?” Steve couldn’t hear his friend any longer as his ears were filled with the deep and resonant thrum of the woman’s heartbeat increasing in speed with each moment. Steve placed his hand on the wall for support. He wanted to move away from the window despite his last failed attempt to sever any connection to what was taking place on the street below.

  The woman was tearing at her own clothes, desperately wanting to feel her champion’s soft skin against her own. She wanted to kiss the mouth so perfectly sending electric impulses down from her neck into the very center of her being
. She wanted so much to be a part of what was happening except most of her strength was gone. All she could do was hang on.

  The woman sensed it happening, the building intensity she had only experienced in a similar but wholly different way before. Her face began to flush and her legs began to vibrate as she pulled her rescuer tighter into her body. Lei began to gently bite at the flesh of her neck increasing the eroticism of the moment. Each small, tantalizing nibble sent tidal waves of pleasure into the woman. Lei bit down only slightly harder and the woman had to concentrate to keep breathing. Reaching up with her right arm the woman grabbed a handful of hair near the back of Lei’s head and forced that amazing mouth down hard on her neck with all of the strength she had left in her.

  Upstairs, Steve swooned as the taste of the woman filled his mouth. He became severely dizzy and slumped to the floor, closing his eyes in an attempt to clear his spinning vision. Behind his closed eyes the scene continued to play out in real time as if he had never taken his eyes off of the window.

  He felt the building, building, building of energy coming from the woman. Straining, indeed begging, for its release.

  Then it happened.

  Lei bit down hard on the neck of the woman and latched on to her. Every fiber of the woman’s body exploded with orgasmic contraction and crackling nerve conduction. Arms flailing and legs convulsively kicking as the contractions arrived in wave after wave with no indication of any cessation.

  From the window above, Chris saw the eruption of blood and immediately went into panic mode. “What the hell? Oh, holy shit! Steve! Wake up; we have to get down there!” Steve rolled to his knees and peered out the window to see blood pouring from where Lei had latched onto the woman’s throat. The woman’s skin had turned a pasty white and her eyes rolled drunkenly in their sockets; her grip on Lei’s head appeared stronger than ever, refusing to allow separation of Lei’s mouth from her throat.

  Chris bolted for the stairway as Steve fought to regain his footing. On the ground below the woman had grown weak from blood loss and her arms dropped to her sides as she gasped for breath. Her face was not one of terror, but exhaustive ecstasy as her mouth tried to form words while her vision went white.

  A door banged open on the street below and Steve heard Chris screaming for Lei to release the woman. Making no attempt to dislodge herself from the limp woman, Lei continued her sexual undulations as if she had never heard Chris. Steve watched Chris raise the shotgun and point it at Lei. The life suddenly flowed back into Steve’s body as Lei dropped the unconscious woman to the pavement.

  Lei’s beautiful mouth and chin were now covered in crimson; her face distorted into a frightful countenance of rage as she faced Chris. Steve wanted to scream in protest when a blur of black leather and white hair snatched the shotgun from Chris’ grip. Realizing he had lost his weapon Chris tried to throw a punch into the larger figure only to find himself in a chokehold a mere second later.

  Panic forced him into action as Steve fired three rounds through the window, showering the figures below in shards of glass. Bolting out of the way of the sharp rain, Alpha released Chris and dove toward Lei. Chris hit the ground and rolled in the opposite direction as Steve launched himself through the window, landing with a roll, to the pavement some 14 feet below.

  Crouching to a stop with his weapon aimed directly at Alpha, Steve spoke in deliberate, murderous tones.

  “Don’t…fucking…move!”

  Alpha was facing him, looking down through yellow eyes and barred teeth.

  “Steve, look out!”

  Steve heard Chris’ call, but couldn’t react swiftly enough as Lei kicked the gun from his hand. Rolling out of the way of her next kick, Steve increased the distance between himself and the two members of his former family. He assumed a fighting stance as he began to defend himself from an onslaught of punches and kicks from Alpha which resonated with a force of impact more powerful than anything he had ever felt before.

  Steve was able to efficiently block and parry each blow shot toward him until he sensed an opening where he countered with an uppercut to Alpha’s abdomen. The blow landed with a thud and Alpha froze upon impact. Steve was sure he had placed the punch perfectly in the solar plexus and expected Alpha to respond more than he did. Instead Alpha took two steps back, looked down to his abdomen and said in a sort of reverent disbelief, “You’ve improved.”

  Alpha’s voice was musical, deep and heavy with a European accent of unknown origin. “Let’s try that again, shall we?”

  This time Steve had no chance of blocking the perfectly placed right cross that landed squarely on his left temple. His head felt like it was going to burst as he tried to roll with the blow. Steve managed to keep conscious despite the pain.

  “Alpha, leave him! I have the girl. Let’s get out of here!”

  “You need to learn to finish what you start Lei.”

  “We need answers, now isn’t the time to settle old scores!”

  Spinning to Lei, “We wouldn’t have this kind of trouble if you showed more control.” Alpha had turned his back on Steve and seemed to scold Lei in a patronizing fashion.

  Alpha turned again to face Steve as Steve tried to square his shoulders to his mentor. From behind him a loud ratcheting sound broke the stand off as Chris loaded a round into the chamber of his now retrieved shotgun.

  “I think we all need to calm down and have a little talk,” Chris spoke in an even and level tone.

  Alpha didn’t move, but his eerie yellow eyes darted from Steve to Chris and back to Steve. Steve put his hands on his thighs and bent over in an attempt to catch his breath. Chris moved to Steve’s side, “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just give me a minute.”

  “Sure, I…”

  Suddenly, although he was well out of striking distance, Alpha kicked one leg out at them. Realizing what he was doing, both Steve and Chris instinctually turned to protect their eyes as several small shards of broken glass flew off the ground and sped toward them. Having been able to shield themselves in time, the glass bounced harmlessly off their clothes. Steve and Chris turned back to find both Alpha and Lei running a good distance away down the lighted street with the unconscious woman over Alpha’s shoulder.

  Steve picked up his gun and took off after them with Chris tight on his heels. Rounding a corner, Steve saw Alpha effortlessly open a manhole cover about fifty yards down the street. Lei jumped in the manhole first as Alpha looked up at Steve, then carefully dropped the woman feet first into the hole. Steve and Chris both stopped in their tracks knowing they were about to lose their quarry. Chris raised the shotgun, but Steve placed a hand on the barrel causing Chris to lower the weapon.

  Never taking his eyes off of Steve, Alpha pointed a long gloved index finger at him. “Until you remember where your loyalties should lie, stay out of our way boy!” Alpha’s voice resonated through the deserted street. “This isn’t personal, at least not on my end, but don’t make me wish to change the situation!” Then, with barely a sound, he jumped into the open manhole.

  Chapter 19

  Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada

  It is a rare and rather unpleasant experience to feel the outside temperature tipping the thermometer at 105° at 10:30 in the evening. There is no such thing as a cool breeze at that temperature. Instead the wind gives a sensation more unto that of opening the door of a convection oven and getting blasted by the hot air.

  The “Fremont Street Experience” is a project built several years ago in the downtown area as a major undertaking to bring back the once former glory of the current “low end” area of old Las Vegas. The project resulted in the closing of three blocks of Fremont Street, which was the downtown area’s main street and a distant cousin to the Las Vegas Strip, now the world’s vision of Las Vegas. The production included an enormous metal and glass canopy bridging the street between the hotels on each side. This covering was filled with millions of multicolored lights surrounding sound speakers that stretched over the entire t
hree blocks. All this technology culminated in a spectacular light show of sight and sound supposedly unlike anything else in the world.

  Unfortunately, the high end production of the “Experience” did not prompt the various casinos in the area to modernize or improve their facilities in any way. For reasons known only to their owners, the downtown casinos languished in their current run down, filthy, past-its-prime décor as the standard for the area. Only the Golden Nugget Hotel could claim any of the magic that could be seen from the mega-resorts on the famous Las Vegas Strip. This apparent apathy from the downtown casinos left the area in the same dilapidated state on the inside, despite the high dollar and admittedly extraordinary facelift of the street outside.

  Kunnert stood at the street corner with an earpiece resembling a blue-tooth wireless phone as he waited for one of his agents to call in. Dr. Whelan’s second test was underway as of five minutes ago and once again, the doctor had insisted on performing the test himself. The only difference between this test and the last was that this time Kunnert had sent an agent of his own to tail the doctor and report back as the test progressed.

  Kunnert’s agent’s voice now broke over the earpieces: “Visual of target acquired. Target is going into the Glitter Gulch.”

  Kunnert replied, “Understood. No one move except on my orders.”

  For years the Glitter Gulch was an extremely successful slot parlor-type casino; that is until the owner envisioned a change for his highly lucrative business, a change that would generate even more profit than the slot parlor. The owner of the Glitter Gulch simply turned his successful slot parlor casino into a large topless strip club and watched as his expenses diminished and profits multiplied. The location of the club was now set dead in the heart of the elaborate “family friendly” Fremont Street Experience. Despite several attempts on the part of the city public relations team to shut it down, the club remains open 24 hours, 365 days a year to this day.