Wrath James White presents Poisoning Eros I & II (7 page)

“What did you give me?” She sat up, crossed her
hands over her throat. “My God, what did you give me?”

That weasel-grin formed on his face again. “I don’t
have time to watch you suffer, as much as I would have enjoyed
that. I told you, my client is not as patient as I am. And I know
you would have suffered for at least a week. Maybe some other time
for that, eh?”

She sighed, nodded. Didn’t know what else to do,
what to say. How could she be grateful to a man she utterly
despised, one who repulsed and terrified her—but had saved her from
so much agony?

The addiction was gone; she was no longer trapped in
its stranglehold.

“You couldn’t have gotten hold of anything stronger
than baby aspirin anyway. Trust me.” That vile grin turned into a
laugh. The expression on his face was happy enough, but she saw
that his eyes remained cold. Empty. The smile never touched his
eyes.

“It
was
you, then? The dealers?”

“Of course it was me. You think the police are
capable of doing that much? They can barely do their own job, never
mind doing something so extraordinary.” He leaned over until he was
resting on his side, head cupped in his palm. “I always get what I
want. Always.”

“So what do you want?” she asked quietly, unsure
that the words had come from her own mouth. She certainly hadn’t
meant to ask; the words just popped out on their own.

“Get dressed, put on a nice dress. But shower first.
Please
. You still smell like pig shit. And now you smell
like vomit as well.” He shook his head. “You’re quite a classy
lady, Gloria.”

*

She followed him out of the building and into the
taxi he had hailed.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” he said, leaning back into the
seat.

Surprises weren’t something she much enjoyed. A
surprise didn’t have to be something good—and in her experience,
they usually weren’t.

“How much are you paying me?”

“You mean over and above that miracle cure for your
addiction?”

“You only did that for your client, not for me. You
don’t give a shit if I suffer, you said so yourself. So don’t try
to pass that off as payment—I’d rather go through with the
withdrawals.”

Vlad chuckled. “At last you know how to negotiate.
All right. You’re getting a hundred thousand for today’s work.”

Gloria was torn between feeling absolutely ecstatic
over that amount and extreme terror at wondering what she’d have to
do
for that much money. Traffic outside the cab whirred by
as the driver took them north along the East River Drive. The
normally congested Drive was unusually clear that evening; their
cab always seemed to get around the rest of the vehicles. Almost
seemed to float past them.

“Where are we going?” she asked again as they got
off the Sixty-ninth Street exit and headed west, toward Central
Park. There was no reason to worry, yet a lump lodged itself in her
stomach as she realized where it appeared they were headed. But
that was impossible. Even if Vlad knew where they lived, why would
he bring her there?

He stroked her cheek with his forefinger and shook
his head. “We’re almost there. Don’t ask so many questions.”

The cab stopped on Fifth Avenue and Seventy-second
Street, and the blood rushing to Gloria’s head made her dizzy. “Why
did we stop here? Please, we have to go. I can’t go here.”

Vlad took her hand after he paid the fare and led
her out of the cab. And she followed, filled with dread and terror
as they entered her former building and moved toward the elevators.
When he pressed the button for the seventeenth floor, she thought
she was going to pass out. She wished she would drop dead.

“I can’t do this,” she said, reaching for the Door
Open button, but he took her hands and pushed them down.

“You can and you will.”

They reached the floor and exited the elevator, and
headed down the hallway toward a world she thought she’d never see
again, even in her dreams. An existence foreign and frightening to
her now. To people she no longer knew.

They entered the apartment, and it was as if she had
never left. The same art adorned the walls, the furniture had
obviously been replaced through the years but the style was
remarkably similar to what she had been used to. Same hardwood
floors leading from the foyer to the living room and den, buffed
and waxed to an almost blinding sheen. Even the umbrella stand by
the front door was the same. It was as if time had stood still in
this place.

“Have a seat in the living room,” Vlad said. “We’ll
join you in a moment. I trust you remember where it is?”

She nodded and wandered toward the living room, sat
on the sofa beside the fireplace. A small pile of wood was stacked
haphazardly against the wall.

“We’re ready,” Vlad said, entering the room. “Come
with me.”

Still used to commands, especially for money. Gloria
followed without thinking, without considering the consequences,
the thought of a hundred grand propelling her. What did she care
what Vlad wanted? Maybe Ryan had turned kinky. Stranger things had
happened.

They entered the room that had once been the master
bedroom but now appeared to be something else. It was bathed in
darkness, so it was hard to tell what was in there, but there
didn’t seem to be a bed or other furniture. In fact, all she could
make out in the extraordinarily dim light was a large table in the
center of the room.

She could hear breathing, from someone other than
Vlad. Some
ones
other than Vlad.

A mewling noise filled her ears, and she wondered
what a cat was doing in the room. She also wondered just how
strange this was going to become.

“Vlad?” she whispered, groping in the darkness for
his arm, but he was no longer by her side. “Vlad?” she said louder,
stopping where she was, afraid to move any further.

Matches were struck, and several candles were lit.
The room was awash with flickering, faint light, but enough so that
she could now see the room more clearly.

Vlad stood by the table—a table that she thought had
been their dining room table, a large mahogany piece they had
gotten from the Ethan Allen gallery. He was covering it with a
sheet.

Across the room stood Ryan—and beside him,
Angela.

Gloria clamped her hand over her mouth and stifled a
cry. This was too bizarre, and she didn’t know why she was here,
what they were planning. Her legs refused to obey and stayed fused
to the same spot.

“Ryan?” she said through splayed fingers.

“Hi, Gloria.” He smiled at her, even gave a little
wave.

“What … what are you doing here? Are you involved
with him too?”

“You mean Vlad? He and I go waaay back. Don’t you
remember? He’s the one who introduced us.”

That was impossible. How could she not have
remembered? It had been a long time ago, sure, but you didn’t
forget someone like Vlad. But on some level, Gloria did remember.
When she’d first seen him on the street, she’d thought he looked
familiar but figured he was probably just a john from her long and
sordid past. Now it was coming together.

How long had this evil fat fuck been messing with
her life?

She wanted to approach Ryan and Angela, had even
tried to move her foot in their direction but something compelled
her to remain where she was. Still too afraid to approach them.
Still terrified of that rejection, even though she was standing in
the same room with them.

“Go give your mother a hug,” Ryan said, and Angela
walked across the room and approached Gloria.

Gloria gasped, choked back a sob as her daughter
threw her arms around Gloria’s waist and squeezed. Gloria buried
her face in Angela’s hair and inhaled the sweet scent of her child.
Unable to speak. Unable to do anything but sob into the girl’s
blonde hair.

Angela withdrew from the hug and returned to her
father’s side. Her face was devoid of expression, as if she were
sleepwalking.

“All right,” Vlad said. “We ready to begin?”

Ryan smiled, nodded. “We are.”

Gloria looked from person to person and tried to get
a feeling for what they were planning, but they weren’t giving any
clues. What could they possibly want from her, with her child in
the room? With
Ryan’s
child in the room? Surely he wouldn’t
let anything happen to Angela.

Vlad motioned for Gloria to join him at the table,
and slowly she walked toward him.

“Here’s the thing,” Vlad said. He chewed his lip and
looked like he was trying to choose the right words. “First of all,
there’s no backing out of this. Not that you had a choice in the
matter to begin with, but I’m telling you now that you can’t leave.
“Second, you will do exactly as you’re told. If you try to disobey,
not only will you be forced to do as you’re told, but you won’t be
paid. Am I clear?”

Gloria opened her mouth, shut it. “Well yeah,
but—”

He interrupted her. “That’s all you need to say.
That you understand what I’ve told you.”

“What exactly do I have to do?”

His grin would have been better suited on a jackal.
“Ryan—would you like to give dear Gloria the details?”

Ryan stepped forward and moved close to Gloria.
“It’s simple. But first, let me give you a little background.” He
rubbed his hands together as if he was trying to spark a fire.
“You’re a grandmother, Gloria. Your daughter gave birth to your
granddaughter.”

Gloria’s head snapped in Angela’s direction and
studied her sixteen-year-old daughter. The girl looked bored, even
yawned and cocked her head.

“How? How could you let that happen?” she yelled at
Ryan.

“How could I let that happen?” He laughed. “I’m not
exactly pleased with this development myself. She was supposed to
have Vlad’s child.”

“What? No.
No
. Tell me you didn’t let that
pervert near my baby. Tell me he didn’t touch her.”

“No, he hasn’t touched her yet. But I have.”

The room started spinning, and Gloria gripped the
table for support. She looked at Ryan and whispered, “Is the baby
yours?”

“I doubt that. Among other things, you gave me a
rather nasty case of syphilis that went undiagnosed just long
enough to make me sterile. The little ankle biter isn’t mine and
she won’t give up the father’s name. I tried to get her to tell but
she’s every bit as stubborn as her whore of a mother. So off she
goes, back to boarding school, carrying that little parasite inside
of her. Then the school calls me—Sir, do you know that your
daughter is pregnant? Heh. They ship her home with her stomach
sticking out like a fucking beach ball. I was so fucking mad I
wanted to rip her open and pull the bastard right out of her. But
too many people had seen Angela pregnant, so we had no choice but
to carry it to term.”

Gloria sucked in a breath. She looked at Angela, who
still looked bored, like she wanted to be anywhere but here. This
little routine was apparently a major inconvenience for the teen.
Vlad’s Cheshire grin spread even wider.

“So we don’t want the kid.” He reached down and
lifted up Angela’s shirt, revealing the cigarette burns around her
areolas. “I’ve convinced Angela that she doesn’t want it
either.”

“You sick son of a bitch! You’re worse than this fat
freak. She’s your own daughter!”

Ryan shrugged.

“So—what does all this mean? You want me to take the
child?”

“Not exactly.” Ryan turned to Angela. “Get her.”

Angela moved to the corner of the room and
approached a basket that Gloria hadn’t noticed before, and lifted
the infant out. It (
she
) started to cry, and Gloria
recognized that mewling bleat as the noise she had thought belonged
to a cat.

Angela placed the baby on the table.

Vlad reached beneath the table and pulled out a
butcher knife, offering it to Gloria. “Remember what I said. You
have no choice in the matter. You will do as you’re told, or you
will be
made
to do as you’re told.”

Gloria shook her head, started to back away from the
table. “You’re crazy. You’re out of your fucking minds!” She stared
with bulging eyes at the infant wriggling on the table. “Why me?
Why do you want
me
to do this?”

Vlad templed his fingers beneath his chin. “You see,
my dear, there’s a demon waiting for you in hell, waiting to fuck
you raw for the rest of eternity. You kill your granddaughter and
you’re guaranteed a trip to inferno where your demon lover will
greet you with open arms and bulging cock. Or you can let Angela
kill her and she can go to hell in your place. I don’t think her
young pussy can accommodate a cock that size. She’s tight as a
virgin, not like momma’s old stretched-out snatch. But I’m sure he
won’t mind tearing it a little to make it fit.”

What little color that remained in Gloria’s anemic
complexion drained away as she stared in horror at Ryan. This was
not the man she had known. Her sweet, shy, loving Ryan, who had
always seemed so awed and intimidated by her. This evil thing could
not have been the same man.

“But why? Why would you do this? I loved you.”

“Because I’m dying too, you filthy fucking slut! You
killed me with your diseases! You’ve killed us both! But I don’t
want to die. I’m not going to die. I refuse. And Vlad is going to
cure me. As soon as I help him get you. You or her.” He pointed at
his daughter and for the first time Angela showed a hint of genuine
emotion, flinching away from Ryan’s finger as if it were the barrel
of a loaded gun pointed at her face.

“You mean …”

“Yes. I have AIDS. You gave it to me. I loved
you—and you killed me.” His lips twisted into a sneer of profound
disgust, as if he had a mouth full of bile and was looking for a
place to spit it.