Agent of S.T.A.L.K. in New Orleans

What an insane tableau, his daughter had straddled and raped him while he'd been bound hand and foot to the bed. His mind whirled with the implications and he banished them to the farthest corners of his thoughts, knowing they'd surface to haunt him when least expected. Mercer couldn't believe Nova had joined them as well and been party to such depraved lovemaking, if what had transpired could be deemed such.

He told himself to close the lid on that memory and not dwell on it. Worse things lay in wait for him than guilt and self loathing, far worse. When he swung his head round Stephanie busied herself repaying Nova for the favor, Nova's legs widespread, eyes squeezed shut and her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip, drunk on pleasure, not struggling or making any move to escape.

Throughout their Sapphic sojourn, Mercer stayed aroused with one of the hardest erections he'd ever sustained.

~~~~~~~~~~

When Stephanie raised her head from between Nova's thighs she kissed her wetly on the mouth. "You taste delightful, now go stand next to Geoff again while I finish off out mutual friend."

Perfect, thought Nova, Stephanie took for granted she was still hypnotized, obedient and harmless.

Nova backed stealthily away from the four poster bed, her eyes raking the vicinity for anything she could use as a weapon while Stephanie gorged again on Mercer's still-hard cock. Among the detritus there had to be something lying around that could waste a vamp! She spotted one of the lanterns and thought about splashing the bitch with kerosene flames, but doing so would injure or kill Mercer in the process. Gilly stood like a manikin rooted to his spot by the stove, helpless. Then her gaze fell on the crate full of splintered pine wood he'd used as kindling to start the fire. Nova edged over to it and her heart skipped a beat. Among the broken boards lay a sliver of pine about twenty inches long, wider at one end than the other. She fished it silently from the crate and discovered it tapered to a sharp point. A wooden stake!

She clenched the wider end in both hands and reapproached the bed. Would a vampire die if thrust through the heart from the rear instead of the front? Made sense, and Nova had nothing to lose; no way could she survive trying to take out that monster face to face, she'd have to take a stab at the back. She needed to act fast before Stephanie looked up or Laroque and Jimbo paid an unannounced visit. Nova once got involved in a firefight with some drug dealers in Los Angeles, but she'd never taken a life. Adrenalin coursed through her body, mouth dry as a stick, shuddering worse than a mouse getting batted back and forth between the front paws of a cat.

Stephanie still had her back to Nova, long red tresses obscuring her head and face as she fellated Mercer. Nova gulped. She focused between the vampire's shoulder blades, she must strike as close to the left one as possible to puncture the heart. Daring not to breathe, she raised her improvised stake. A girlish little jab wouldn't suffice. A determined plunge with the force of an Ahab harpooning a white whale was required. Nova willed herself to concentrate like martial artists who break cinder blocks with the edges of their hands; don't think of the top of the target, think all the way through it.

Don't hesitate, girl, stab with every ounce of your strength.

Stephanie's head lifted and turned. Nova thrust with as much force as she could muster, not even feeling the pine splinters gouging the palms of her hands. The stake went in with a thunk, sinking far deeper than Nova hoped for. Stephanie's back arched as the pointed end pierced her, the tip sticking out half a foot between her breasts. A bloodcurdling scream left her mouth and she rolled over on her side on the bedspread, threshing and spazzing like an epileptic.

While Stephanie flailed about and shrieked to no avail, Nova tore at the duct tape securing Mercer's wrists. When both of his hands were unbound he started yanking at the tape on one ankle while she worked furiously undoing the other. Stephanie continued to writhe on the bed in her death throes. As she contorted and twitched, her body began an astounding transformation. Nova watched, aghast. The beautiful face and willowy body changed into a woman who was neither Stephanie Mercer nor Alisa Dwyer, but a wholly different female with pale blonde hair and a somewhat chunky torso.

Nova clung to Mercer, crying out, "Who the hell is that?"

"I don't know," he said, free of his bonds and the hypnotic spell after the vampire perished.

"Her name was Rafaela." The voice belonged to Gilly, also freed of the trance he'd been under. "She used to be a simulacrum before you staked her, a shapeshifting succubus," he explained to Nova. "Rafaela could assume the form of any person she'd ever laid eyes on, even a man. When you staked her she reverted to her true form in death."

Nova asked him, "Why would she take the shape of Stephanie?"

"Why do you think? To fuck up Clive Mercer's mind. The Vampire Congress enlisted her to capture him to avenge Reginald Orr."

"Capture? We were shot at in the Quarter. I'd call that attempted murder, not a 'take them alive' proposition."

"Laroque got nervous with Mercer's aggressiveness and started shooting by mistake."

Mercer regarded Gilly with an icy stare. "Well, well," he said as he began throwing on his clothes, "If it isn't my old friend Geoff Guillory. Are you still an activist watchdog?"

"Yes sir," Gilly countered, "And you're still a legalized killer."

Mercer got a nasty grin on his face. "Society thinks of me as a servant."

"That dog don't hunt, Mercer." He pronounced it Mersah. "The undead aren't legally recognized by living members of society. They need representation, they have rights too."

"Go preach it on a street corner, Gilly, I tuned out your propaganda years ago. You just eyewitnessed how treacherous they are."

Nova snapped impatiently, "We haven't got time for this. If Gilly's out of his trance then the spell Laroque and Jimbo are under should logically end too. Don't forget they've got three guns to our none."

The sound of scuffling feet on the steamboat's deck brought all their heads around. In seconds Rafaela's triggermen would enter the boiler room and gun Mercer down and have their way with her. Mercer spied the opening at the other end of the long compartment.

"I forgot all about those two, Nova, but I'll put the blocks on them," he growled, "and spell finished to what they started back in the car park." He dashed off to meet the threat bare handed.

Nova called out for him to stop, but Gilly reassured her. "If we're not under the vampire's influence anymore, they'll have no reason to do us any harm."

"Yeah, but they might remember Clive kicking their asses and bear a grudge."

"I don't think so, young lady," Gilly said calmly. "Why don't you get some clothes on before they get here?"

"And what would you suggest I wear? My clothes are strewn along ten miles of highway."

Gilly picked the maroon trenchcoat off the couch and handed it to Nova. "I know wearing Rafaela's clothes may revolt you, but it's cold outside and we should get out of here. Put this on and I'll take those boots off her corpse."

Nova got the London Fog over her shoulders mere seconds before Laroque and Jimbo appeared. To her relief they weren't waving guns around and issuing threats.

When Jimbo saw Mercer he asked, "Where in the hell are we?"

"Yeah, what the fuck's going on?" wondered Laroque.

"Don't ask me, gentlemen," said Mercer. "Just got here meself." Whereupon he struck Laroque a savage blow to the kidneys in return for the one Laroque landed on him back at the parking garage. Nova thought, paybacks are a bitch. Then Mercer shifted his attention to Jimbo; he'd been the one who kicked him in the ribs.

~~~~~~~~~~

Early on Christmas Eve morning Mercer and Nova got back to her hotel room in the French Quarter after spending hours at the police station. She asked, "Do you think the police will coerce Gilly to divulge the location the Vampire Congress' boat will dock tonight?"

"I doubt it. His lawyer got to the precinct house half an hour after we turned them over to the coppers. By tonight he'll have a phalanx of attorneys and be out on bail."

"What about Laroque and Jimbo?"

"Small fish. I doubt Gilly or Stephanie confided much in them."

"Rafaela, not Stephanie," Nova reminded him with a slight frown on her face. "Can't you get that through that hard head of yours?"

"That may or may not necessarily be true. Remember I told you shapeshifters have one or two favorite forms they like to revert to, it's a kind of comfort zone for them. Rafaela could well have been one of those for Stephanie." Mercer sighed, "So my daughter might've raped me and you might've killed her, in which case I might never determine the truth. Now who's to know if she's out in the world somewhere."

"I see what you mean, or she could be dead."

"If Stephanie is still at large she's a bigger threat than ever, no less of one than the Vampire Congress. They still want my head on a pike."

She kissed him lightly. "But you lived to fight another day."

"Thanks to you," Mercer said. "I owe you one, Nova."

"And I expect repayment in the next five minutes."

"Patient, aren't you?"

"You know I'm joking. What are you smiling about?"

"Just remembering the looks on the men's faces when you flashed your badge and put the three of them under arrest."

"Especially Gilly's," Nova said with satisfaction. "He thought he'd conveniently change sides without anyone noticing. But I'll testify in court about him conspiring with Rafaela and how he wanted to kill us and be done with it."

"Well, if accessory to murder doesn't hold up against all three of them, the kidnapping charges will."

"You were quite unsubtle when you took possession of all the firearms."

"Couldn't believe they handed them over with so little protest," Mercer smiled. "Between my ribs and my shoulder I wasn't in any condition for too much rough housing."

"Are you fit enough for another kind of strenuous exercise?"

Mercer pursed his lips. "Dunno, Nova. Probably not after what Stephanie put me through."

She wrinkled her nose at the memory. "You're a real gentleman, Clive Mercer. To be honest I feel pretty much the same way. I just want to take a long hot shower and sleep for twenty four hours." She knew she couldn't sleep that long, she had to catch a late flight to L.A. in order to be with the remaining members of her family on Christmas day.

"I second the motion," he said. "After what Rafaela did you don't really feel like . . .?"

"I'm serious about wanting to change my ways, but will you come to bed with me? I just want to be held, for the time being anyway."

"Happy to oblige. By the way I thought it poetic justice you killed the succubus responsible for your brother's death instead of me."

"Somebody had to do it, you were lying down on the job if I recall."

"Nova, you're something else."

She laced her arms around his waist. There wasn't anything else to say. They held each other for a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~

That evening they took a cab to the parking garage to retrieve Nova's rent car. Mercer checked under the hood and didn't find any explosives. He insisted upon her standing back while he started the car. Nova hoped he didn't have a death wish, but nothing went boom. He rode with her to the airport to turn the rental in and put her on a plane to L.A. They hadn't had much to say since they got out of bed. When her flight began to board she kissed him on the cheek.

"Things will be different when we get together again, Clive, we both need a little time to chase the demons out of our heads."

He nodded in understanding. "I'll be in touch," he said softly.

"When I get to California I'll send you an email to let you know I arrived safely. Sure you don't want me to buy you a ticket? I can take a later flight."

"No, you go on ahead, Nova, don't want to get in the middle of your family and Kris Kringle. I'm off for London tomorrow morning," Mercer said.

When she walked toward the departure lounge with her boarding pass and carry-on bag she looked over her shoulder at him and waved. "Merry Christmas," she called.

"Happy New Year," he called back.

But he didn't look too happy about it.