Fatal Allure Collection

by Woods, Martha

  I also wonder what Tommy would say if I told him I think Cara is in the arms of a vampire. I know they are real; I know they can entrance a person’s mind to make them believe they are the oxygen they need to survive.

  I know that if my suspicions are correct, then time is running out quickly for Cara. It is very possible that soon no one will be able to reach Cara because her body will be buried so deep in the ground a dog couldn’t pick up her scent.

  Chapter 3

  I spend some of my time at work checking out Cara’s Facebook for clues, but there are none. January is a slow month. My boss, Rick, who is the lead investigator at the LAPD, has decreased my caseload since James vanished. It doesn’t look too good to have me working at the LAPD and be questioned by them at the same time, which I had been.

  When it gets dark outside I send Damon a text. Sorry I won’t be home to kiss you goodbye. I have to take care of a friend.

  What friend? I miss you, Damon responds.

  Cara, the friend I grew up with. Apparently, she’s dating someone who is potentially abusing her.

  You need me to come?

  I don’t need your protection from everything. I think I can handle myself. I shoot a smiley face to lighten the harshness of the words. Smiley faces fix all arguments.

  I don’t like this. Text me when you get there. I love you.

  My fingers hesitate over the keys before I write back that I love him too. I do, right? Love is wanting to be with a person when the thought of their face makes you smile. It is supposed to be something that is hard. At least that’s what all the articles I’ve read on it say, and what Cara tells me love feels like. Cara did want Damon and me to be together originally, even though it took away from us spending time with one another. She told me to fight for that love. Even if at the end she is second-guessing that. It is easy to see why people would think Damon is a bad influence on me and a potential abuser.

  My parents really could not understand why I didn’t bring him with me for Christmas, and why I only stayed with them for two days instead of the week I typically took off. There is something about being involved in the supernatural world that makes a person disappear from people’s lives.

  I send Cara a text next. Hey girl, how have you been? I know it’s been a long time, but I want to tell you I’m sorry for the way I have been treating you.

  I look at my phone and note that she has read my text message. I wait to see if she responds, but I don’t get anything back. I’m not really that surprised. If she’s already in the process of disappearing, then a text from me isn’t going to change that.

  I do some paperwork before clocking out at 8 p.m. Michelle has already gone home by then, and only Rick is left, with his office door carefully shut. Rick’s job is his life. I get the feeling sometimes that he sleeps there. He is very good at what he does, though.

  I go to the trunk of my car and open it, removing one by one the panels that cover where the spare tire is kept. Instead of a tire, there is equipment for protection and hunting vampires. I pull out a cross necklace and slip it on, putting it inside my shirt. I ignore the stake that is in there – I’m not really good at aiming with one yet. I take out a long silver knife, more like a dagger, that Faye used to Awaken me. When I touch it, something in my head seems to open up and I can see lines of energy around me. It also feels like the knife becomes an extension of my hand. It’s hard to explain. James vanishes almost instantly when I touch it. That’s a relief.

  I get into my car with the knife and think I should probably tell Damon my suspicions, but what if I’m wrong? He likes to stay out of human affairs as much as possible. I am really hoping I am wrong, but I’m not sure how I could talk Cara out of an abusive relationship if she is that hooked on the guy. It usually takes women in abusive relationships seven tries to finally leave, on average. This is mainly because they believe their life is in danger, that the person will change, or that the hitting will stop if they just behave better. There is a whole psychological manipulating that goes into it that I feel a lot of people don’t understand. I know most of this stuff from Cara. She works with a lot of women who are trying to get restraining orders or divorces from abusive people. That is why it is so strange for her to get into one of those relationships. She knows the red flags like the back of her hand.

  Cara lives in upscale apartments on the richer side of town. If she has a flaw, it is that she loves to live in luxury. Everything she owns is designer, from her wallet to her four hundred-dollar pumps. Shopping with Cara always makes me cringe because I can’t spend more than thirty dollars on a purse. Yet she is frugal with her money, never buying anything she did not intend to use, and saves accordingly. I pull up to her apartment complex but have to park across the street since I need to be invited to park inside. Lucky for me, Cara gave me the building code years ago to come in whenever I need to. It is a lot less hassle for her than to have me call her to let me in. The code for the garage, however, changes every two weeks so I don’t have it with me.

  The knife is small enough to slip inside my boot, where I’ve sewn in a special holster. The top of the hilt is slightly visible, and it feels awkward walking with it there. At the same time, it gives me a reassuring feeling, like the power of it, is coursing through my veins. I don’t consider myself to be a hero, but I would lay my life down for those I care about. It is not a very long list, which is why I have to hold so tightly to it.

  Cara lives on the twentieth floor of the sky rise in one of the most expensive suites. A good portion of her check goes to keeping the place, but her family also has money, which made furnishing it no problem for her. I punch in the code and walk into the marble-lined walls of the place. There is no doorman at this hour, but throughout the day there is usually someone there to open the door and keep the “riff-raff” out. I walk over to the elevator, nodding to an elderly couple who exits and ride up to Cara’s floor. The elevator moves fast, and my anxiety begins to grow. I pull out my cell phone and send Damon my location, just in case.

  If I don’t text you in an hour, come to find me, I type, hitting send and regretting it instantly. That kind of text is likely to bring him to me now. Hopefully, he is busy tracking down his latest lead on a vampire. Damon never tells me about his cases; the less I know, the better. I also feel he does not entirely trust me since I am something of a vampire sympathizer.

  I reach the twentieth floor and take a deep breath. I step out of the elevator and walk down the hall; there are three apartments up here, and hers is at the very end. I check my phone again to see if Damon has responded, but he hasn’t even seen my message yet. As I knock loudly on the door, my mind instantly zooms into the undead one on the other side.

  Chapter 4

  I can see inside Cara’s apartment, and it is a mess. The large windows that look out to the golf course on the other side are blacked out with electrical tape and tin foil, which would block out the sun completely during the day. There are clothes everywhere and dishes piling up in the sink. I look down and see Cara naked on her couch. I feel well fed, and there is blood dribbling down her neck. I feel myself bend down and lick the blood. Cara moans and rubs her exposed breasts at the sensation. I feel nothing towards this warm body, so easily manipulated, but so lovely to look at. It is so easy to pull the strings of humans.

  I know I’m inside Charlie’s head, seeing what he does. I don’t know who Charlie is, how to control this, or how to pull back. The disgust rolls over me at the same time his pleasure does. Then something clicks, he can sense me in his head, and suddenly a steel wall comes down on me.

  I stumble back as if he has physically pushed me, but the door opens, and a hand moves so fast to jerk me by the neck into the apartment I have no time to react – no time to even scream. The hand is so tight around my neck. I look into the face of Charlie, whose fangs are extended, blood dribbling out of his mouth. His eyes glow an amber color as if they were once brown but whatever anger or magic keeps that undead body alive now is
coming through them. Charlie has a very distinct nose on a face that is almost too small for it. His hair is brown and falls to his shoulders, and I can instantly see the allure Cara felt towards him. Is there something about vampires and being attractive? Or are there some lonely, fat vampires somewhere out there in the world?

  “Who are you?” Charlie sneers, his face so close to mine that I can smell the blood I tasted in his mind.

  I can’t speak. I try to kick at him, and he throws me against the wall. I knock into Cara’s entrance table, falling over and bringing it down on top of me. Charlie is there crouching beside me with his hands tangled in my hair to pull my head up. I hope Damon got my text message and is on his way, but I feel no buzzing in my pocket that signals a response. Granted, all I can really focus on is the pain in my neck from where Charlie is squeezing and in my back from the heavy table now on top of it.

  My hands are free, so I grab my necklace and pull out the cross. It flares to life, causing the vampire to drop my head and fly backward. I wiggle out from under the table as the adrenaline begins to pump through my system. My hand goes down to the knife in my boot and I pull it out, still keeping my hand on the cross.

  “Friend of Cara’s,” I say through clench teeth. I want to keep my eye on the vampire, but I also want to check on Cara. As if reading my thoughts, the vampire suddenly has her, pulling her up by the back of her neck. Cara giggles drool coming out of the side of her mouth. I look at her eyes, and they are blank. No one is home there. I can also see the web over her mind Charlie has weaved. I begin to pull it with my own energy, but my concentration is ruined by Charlie clicking his tongue and waving Cara’s body back and forth.

  “Surely you know the moment you do that I’ll break her neck,” Charlies says. I freeze.

  “Now be a good girl and put the knife down and the cross away,” he orders, keeping his eyes averted from me and holding Cara up between us. I slowly slip the knife into my boot and begin to take off the cross. I don’t want it to touch my chest. Whatever power burns the vampire can also burn the human wielder if they’re not careful. I found that out firsthand. I set the cross down behind me, out of sight of the vampire, then close my hand around it when the dangerous glow has died down.

  “Who are you, human? I felt you in my head.” Charlie gazes at me. I can feel him trying to weasel his way into my mind, but he can’t do it. Vincent has been in my head before, but it was more like a shared experience. We were both very intimate with each other at the time. I have no intentions of being that close to Charlie.

  “I won’t tell you anything until you put Cara down,” I say.

  “Why? So, you can try to slash me with that little knife of yours?”

  “Are you scared? You’re faster, stronger, and you have my weakness under your control. What are you so afraid of?”

  Charlie snarls at me but tosses Cara back onto the couch. She lets out a strange type of giggle as she hits it. She looks bad. Her bones are showing like she has not been eating correctly. There are chunks of her beautiful, blonde, naturally highlighted hair. I can barely recognize her as the bubbly woman who worked so hard to bring a smile to her friends’ faces. Leave it to a vampire to forget that humans need to eat actual food to stay alive. Although, it might be that he only had the intention of keeping her for two weeks and getting rid of her. God, vampires could be evil.

  I hear my phone begin to buzz in my jeans. I’m standing, wobbly on my feet, but I feel Charlie move quickly behind me to get the phone. He takes one look at the text and breaks my phone between his hands. Apparently, Damon is on his way. I hope he didn’t say anything else, like any hunter mumbo-jumbo, as that would be a sure way to get me killed before he arrives.

  “You owe me a new phone,” I snap.

  “I owe you nothing except maybe a quick death,” Charlie replies, stalking around me. He sniffs my hair and pulls my shirt down away from my shoulder to expose my neck. He stares for a while.

  “You’ve been marked by one of us,” he says.

  “Yes. I belong to Vincent,” I say quickly. That is how Vincent kept the vampires from biting me before, saying I was his. Could he still save me from wherever he is?

  Charlie begins to laugh, and it isn’t a beautiful sound. It’s like nails going down a chalkboard. I want to cover my ears.

  “Oh really? And have you seen Vincent recently? No. You haven’t. Of course, you haven’t. Not for at least a month, I’d say.”

  “Do you know where Vincent is?”

  “Maybe,” Charlie says with a creepy smile, showing off those bloody fangs.

  “Tell me,” I say, momentarily forgetting Cara on the couch. But if I keep this monster talking, he can’t hurt us.

  “Now, why would I do that? You come in here to ruin my love affair with your friend here,” Charlie says, slinking to the couch. He brings Cara onto his lap and gives her breast a squeeze. She moans back into him, turning to press kisses against his bloody mouth.

  “Cara, tell your friend how happy you are,” Charlie orders.

  “Oh, Amy.” Cara turns her blank gaze to me. “I’ve never felt more alive before. Charlie takes me to places I never thought I could reach. The pleasure is unbelievable. This is love, the truest love I’ve ever felt for someone. It’s like what I’ve always dreamed of.”

  “You don’t mean that Cara, he’s gotten your mind all confused,” I tell her desperately, trying to keep my voice soft and gentle.

  “I mean every word of it. I would die for Charlie. Isn’t this what you had with Damon?”

  “No, not at all what I had with Damon. He didn’t keep me captive and messy in his apartment. He remembers to fix me something to eat. He gives me clothes to wear when company comes over,” I say, a bit sharply this time.

  Cara sets her lower lip in a pout. Charlie begins to massage her shoulders, running his hands down her arms. I wonder how much of Cara is actually in there. She reminds me of a person on ecstasy; any little touch making all the cells come alive in her body. I know what it is like to be with a vampire, I’ve been with one, and I know there was a chance of him becoming a drug to me. Charlie is pouring all of that vampire magic into her, which took away much of her free will.

  “I sent you a text asking how you are.”

  “Yes, I remember. Why should I have responded? We aren’t friends, remember, you made that obvious. And that really hurt! Then Charlie found me and showed me I didn’t have to hurt anymore.”

  The words are driving a knife into my gut. I have to get her out of here, but I am not sure what exactly Damon’s text said.

  “Would you like me to make Amy disappear, my sweet?” Charlie asks as he runs his long fingers through her hair.

  “You would do that for me? She doesn’t seem very happy here,” Cara replies.

  “Oh, of course. We have to do it quickly, though. She has friends on their way,” Charlie says.

  “Not Tommy, I hope. He’s been crying so much. That poor boy; why did I ever become friends with someone so weak?” Cara murmurs.

  “You’re not talking like yourself,” I say. “Tommy has been a good friend to you for a long time.”

  “It isn’t Tommy. Someone named Damon, does that ring a bell?” Charlie says.

  “Yes, Damon is the whole reason Amy decided to be a bitch,” Cara whines.

  “Then we can make Damon disappear as well.” Charlie kisses her cheek and stands, walking towards me with his hands in his pockets. I back up against the wall and reach down to grab my knife, but he shakes a finger at me.

  “I do like this human, just a smidge. I want to keep her around a little longer, but having you around is making that impossible.”

  “I’m Vincent’s, you’re not allowed to kill me,” I say. I’m not sure if that is true or not but it makes him hesitate.

  “True, but there are no witnesses,” he says.

  “I’ve tasted his blood. He’ll know the minute I die,” I counter.

  “Then he’ll feel some more pain. I
am sure Olivia will enjoy it. Vampires don’t kill vampires who have not broken the code,” Charlie says. “Oh, look at you shaking. Realizing that you cause a lot of people pain with your life? Don’t worry, sweet, it’ll be over soon.”

  My body is shaking, not so much from fear but anger. I want to go to grief, guilt, but if I let those emotions overcome me, then I will definitely die. I don’t know what overcomes me, but I suddenly throw my mind with all its force into Charlie’s head. He stumbles back, and I begin to scramble through his memories, calling out for the location of Vincent. I see it, the house, Olivia’s house. I drag out the directions to the place (I’ve only been there once, with Vincent driving) and feel Charlie scream his frustration as he desperately tries to pull me out of his head. Sweat trails down my body, I begin to feel weak from the psychic force. I should be using this to free Cara, but I want to know where Vincent is. I don’t know why that feels more important.

  And then I do. I get his location and Charlie moves to grab my neck again, but I see his movements coming. I can see his energy coming towards me. I have been in there deep enough to get his psychic scent. The moment his hand comes toward my neck, I am ready with my blade and bring it up in an arch to where his hand is. I feel the spray of blood across my shirt and face. Then Cara is screaming, off the couch and running at me, as Charlie stands back, cradling the wound I have given him.

  “You fucking cunt,” Cara shrieks, moving her hand to slap me. I let her and just stare at her through the blood that is threatening to get in my eyes. My adrenaline is still pumping, but I can feel my energy draining.

  “Oh, I am going to make you suffer,” Charlie says, coming towards me again and knocking Cara to the floor.