Page 341 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

They nodded again.

“Okay. Ready?”

The other two nodded and he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and dematerialized. He arrived with his stake poised to strike and took down the first live body he saw. Stella and Randolph were right behind him. They were in some kind of hotel suite. Eight bodies. Kate on the bed, bound. Fox, on his feet, not bound, looking ready to fight.

“Fox has been turned,” Kate screamed.

He killed another one but the stake stuck in the fucker. Fox materialized in front of him and lunged for his throat with his fangs bared. He tried to knock him back with a blast of energy, but it had no effect. Dammit. He wrestled Fox away from his throat and punched him as hard as he could in the face. Fox flew back and hit the wall, breaking a hole in the plaster. The entire scene was a blur of bodies dematerializing and materializing around the room, making quick strikes when they could.

“Say goodbye to Girlfriend!” Roxanna screamed, a knife poised over Kate's heart.

“NO!” he yelled. In a lower tone, he said “Go,” and true to their word, Stella and Randolph vanished.

“Dammit!” Roxanna cursed.

Dom stood perfectly still, his hands held up in surrender. Four vampires lay dead on the floor. Fox was recovering, getting up and shaking himself off. One more vampire was standing up, rubbing his face.

“Take my place,” Roxanna hissed at Fox, who obediently took the dagger from her hand and held it to Kate's throat, as if he'd never known her. “You,” she said to the other vampire, “hold him down. Fox, if he makes one move, any move at all, you kill the girl. Got it?”

“Got it,” Fox agreed.

“Fox,” Kate pleaded. “Foxy, it's me.”

The other vampire kicked the backs of Dom's knees so he knelt in front of Roxanna. She smiled a slow, dreadful smile. “Dominic DeParma,” she purred. “I've been looking all over for you.”

“I'm right here,” he drawled, looking at Roxanna, but keeping his attention on Fox and Kate in his periphery.

Roxanna put her high heeled boot on the middle of his chest and pressed him down on his back. “Hold him,” she ordered. She straddled Dom's chest and bit into his neck. Kate made some kind of involuntary noise and he looked over at her. They locked eyes. Hers were wide but completely lucid. This plan of his wasn't going that well. Sacrificing himself hadn't saved Kate or Fox. His only hope was that Stella would make a reappearance in time.

A knock sounded on the hotel door. “Security,” a male voice called.

Roxanna released her hold on his throat. “Take care of it,” she hissed at her minion, his blood dripping from her fangs. She bit into him again.

“Dom,” Kate whispered.

He blinked his acknowledgment.

“Remember what you showed me? With the drops of blood on my hand? It's your mind that controls what your body does, right? Your belief?”

He was getting lightheaded—Roxanna was drinking deeply. He didn't think she could drain him all at once, but there was a chance this was it for him. He blinked several times to keep Kate in focus. What had she been saying?

“Use your mind,” she was pleading with him. “Use it. Or talk to God the way you do. Anything,” Kate's voice broke and her eyes filled with tears.

The taste of blood was in his mouth. He closed his lips to create the suction and began to drink deeply, desperate for the nourishment after being drained.

“Dom!” Kate's voice was desperate, calling him back. Right. He was drinking Roxanna's blood. She was turning him, too. And Kate was telling him he had a choice, here. He closed his eyes and sent a spire of energy up to God. Up to the spiritual sun that he never saw anymore. And he held his intent firmly, asking for assistance from that higher realm: I will remain the same. This blood will remain inert.

There was a great convulsing. His body jerking and hopping on the floor. Roxanna was off of him now, standing over, watching with a look of satisfaction. He took it in without releasing his clear intention: only my essence will remain. He could almost feel the blood cells surging within him—there was a sense of chaos in them as matter and energy warred.

His body continued convulsing. He heard Kate softly sobbing. He sensed Stella was somewhere nearby. His vision had gone black, his head felt like it would split. He held his intent: my true essence will remain. The blood cells stilled. They held his intent. His vision slowly cleared. He sat up and vomited on the carpet next to him.

Roxanna laughed and waved her hand at Fox. “You can let her go. He's mine now,” she said with a wide smile. “You all are.”

He made a big deal about crawling up onto his hand and knees and hurling again, this time on the body of the vampire with a stake still in his chest. Then in one fluid movement, he grasped the stake, pulled it out and whirled, plunging it straight through Roxanna's back and into her heart. She never saw it coming.

Fox was on him again, fighting with an intensity and speed that made it difficult to defend himself. Stella materialized, fighting the other vampire. She finished him with a war-cry then captured Fox in a choke-hold.

“What do we do with him?” Stella's eyes were wide and pleading. She never, ever showed fear, but he could see it in her now. She didn't want to kill Fox. Neither of them did. And she was begging him to save him.

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