'You win.' The blond man laughed and patted the tiger, which released his head.
The man then twisted sharply to the left. His movements were almost as quick and effortless as the cat's. Now the young man pounced. He attacked the tiger's vulnerable creamy white underside, grabbing onto flesh with his teeth. 'Got you, you big baby! You lose. You're still my love slave.'
William Alexander stood off in the distance, watching his younger brother with a mixture of curiosity and awe. Michael was a beautiful man-child, incredibly graceful and athletic, strong beyond belief. He wore a black pocket T-shirt and powder blue shorts. He was already six feet three and a hundred eighty-five pounds. He was flawless. Both of them were, actually.
William walked away, staring into the distance at the rich, green hills. He loved it out here. The beauty and the solitude, the freedom to do anything he wanted to do.
He was very
When he and Michael were small boys, this whole area had been a commune. Their mother and father had been hippies, experimenters, freedom lovers, massive drug takers. They had instructed the boys that the outside world was not only dangerous but also wrong. Their mother had taught William and Michael that having sex with anyone, even with her, was a good thing, as long as it was consensual. The brothers had slept with their mother, and their father, and many others in the commune. Their code of personal freedom had turned bad and eventually got them two years at a Level IV correctional facility. They had been arrested for possession, but it was aggravated assault that put the brothers behind bars. They were suspected of much more serious crimes, but none could be proved.
As William stared off at the foothills, he marveled at the concept of the
He was getting closer to the truth. So was Michael.
William was twenty.
Michael was only seventeen.
They had been killing together for five years, and they kept getting better and better at it.
They were invincible.
Chapter 11
That night, the two brothers hunted in the town of Mill Valley, in Marin County. The area was beautiful, small mountains teeming with strapping, healthy evergreen and eucalyptus trees. The redwood house was maybe a hundred yards ahead, up a steep, rocky slope that they climbed with ease. A brick walkway led to an entryway with double wooden doors.
'We have to go away for a while.' William spoke to Michael without turning around. 'We have a mission from the Sire. San Francisco was just the start.'
'That's excellent,' Michael said, and he smiled. 'I enjoyed what went down there very much. Who are these people, the ones in the big fancy house up there?'
William shrugged. 'Just prey. They're nobody.' Michael pouted. 'Why won't you tell me who they are?'
'The Sire said not to talk, and not to bring the cat.'
Michael asked no further questions. His obedience to the Sire was complete.
This definitely looked like the 'straight world' up ahead. The large house had all the trappings: gardens tended and watered daily, a small pond filled with koi, several layers of terraces leading up to a large house with more than a dozen rooms — for just two people. How obnoxious could anyone be?
William walked right in the front door, and Michael followed. The foyer had twenty-foot ceilings, a ridiculous crystal chandelier, a spiral staircase to heaven.
They found the couple in the kitchen, making a late meal, both of them sharing the preparations like the goody-goodies that they were.
'Yuppies at play,' William said, and smiled.
'Whoa!' the male said, and threw up both of his hands. He was close to six-four and well built. He was working like kitchen help at the vegetable sink.
'What the hell do you guys think you're doing? Let's take it outside.'
'
'I'm a lawyer too,' the domineering male said. 'I don't think you two were invited. I'm sure of it. Get out! You hear me? Hey, you assholes, hit the road.'
'You threatened the Sire.' William continued to talk to the female. 'So he sent us here.'
'Arthur, I'm going to call the police,' the woman finally said. She was upset now, the nubs of her breasts rising and falling against her shirt. She had a small cell phone in her hand, and William wondered if she had pulled it out of her ass. The thought made him smile.
He was on her in an instant, and Michael took down the husband almost as easily. The brothers were incredibly fast and strong, and they knew it.
They growled loudly, but that was only a scare tactic.
'We have money in the house. My God, don't hurt us,' the male shrieked loudly, almost like a woman.
'We're not after your obscene money — we have no use for it. And we're not serial killers or anything common like that,' William told them.
He bit down into the struggling woman's luscious pink neck — and she stopped fighting. Just like that, she was his. She gazed into his eyes and she swooned. A tear ran down her cheek.
William didn't look up again until he had fed. 'We're vampires,' he finally whispered to the murdered couple.
Chapter 12
On my second day in San Francisco, I worked out of a small cubicle near Jamilla Hughes's desk at the Hall of Justice. I attended a couple of her briefings on the Golden Gate Park murders, which were thorough and highly professional. She was impressive.
Everything about the murder case was weird and wrong-headed, though. No one had a fix on it yet; no one had a good idea, at least none that I'd heard so far. The only thing we knew for sure was that people were being murdered in particularly horrible ways. It happens more and more frequently these days.
Around noon, I got a call on my cell phone. 'Just checking in,' the Mastermind said. 'How is San Francisco, Alex? Lovely city. Will you leave your heart there? Do you think it's a good place to die?
'Or how about Inspector Hughes? Do you like her? She's very pretty, isn't she? Just your type. Are you going to fuck Jamilla? Better
