Death Becomes Her

by Michael Anderle

  “Story for another time.”

  “When?”

  “About thirty minutes after I feel I trust you more, now stop being nosy and help me figure out a way to stage this house so they don’t come looking for DNA evidence.”

  Seems like she had the normal vampire trust issues. Or, Nathan conceded, she could have been this way before the ‘V’ change.

  He looked around at all of the blood everywhere. Even taking up the tarp, they couldn’t clean this house where a CSI group wasn’t going to get her blood. “Not going to happen. There’s no way they can’t see the arterial spray and realize something else went on. Shit, there’s a damn hole in the wall and half your stomach with it.”

  She looked where he was pointing, that was just gross seeing her insides sprayed across the wall.

  Tom, are the authorities going to find the nanocytes in my blood all over this room?

  No. Within an hour, all of your blood won’t be recognizable and your organs that are presently on display will be decomposing at a very fast rate. So long as no one throws them in a cryogenic vat nothing here will be traceable back to you or be able to find the nanocytes.

  More than likely, she figured that the pack would find this place before the cops. By the time she was done with Petre, there wouldn’t be any DNA evidence left for any cops, if they were even called. She would get a broom to make sure Petre wasn’t a recognizable lump. Well, if it was true about sun turning them into ash. Otherwise, she’d toss him into the house.

  However, Nathan’s scent was all over this house. Looks like fire it was, then. Even if the house didn’t all go up, the smoke generated would be enough to mask any of Nathan’s scent.

  “Nathan, did you find any money in the safe?”

  “Yeah, enough to get us all first class tickets back to the States and a little extra. I found a few pieces of jewelry, not sure whose. Some paperwork and insurance documents, house documents and the like. Nothing but the laptops, money and jewelry seemed that important.”

  “OK, we can use the money to get out of Romania without using credit cards and if we need to pay to get across the border.”

  Nathan looked at her and smiled, “I think you’re still remembering being human, I don’t think you need to worry about getting across the border, you could probably just run past them and they wouldn’t see you.”

  “Until they looked at the video, sure. But I get your point. What about you?”

  “Me? I can just change and run across and meet up with you on the other side.”

  “What about Ecaterina?”

  “She’s going?” Nathan’s interest peaked up.

  “If she wants, she held her own and stopped a vampire. That’s pretty gutsy in my book. Granted, he wasn’t the shiniest tool in the shed, but she didn’t know that. I wish I could have seen Petre’s eyes when that bear trap crunched his leg.”

  “Speaking of Petre, what do you want to do with him?”

  “I’m going to talk with him, but I’ll do that alone. You can help me by finding whatever fuel you can use to start a fire. Your smell is all over this house, so I want all of the rooms to have a chance to go up in flames when I’m done.”

  “What about your…” He waved a hand towards the wall.

  “Won’t be a problem by the time we leave. Call Ecaterina and Alexi and let them know we will meet them back at the room to grab our stuff and decide where to go next. I don’t want them here in the house. Did you find any video?”

  “No, they actually didn’t have any video.”

  “Hmmm…”

  Nathan was reminded of the ‘whiny bitch’ comment and started to consider a tactical retreat was in order. “I’m just going to go and find that fuel…”

  Bethany Anne watched him walk out, “You just do that.” She walked over to Petre and thought about whacking him one more time for good measure, but decided she needed to get answers and get back to Brasov.

  Now, what would be the best way to provide motivation to a sun-fearing vampire? She reached down and grabbed one of Petre’s legs and started towards the front door, “You know, Petre, you should have put on a little more sunscreen this morning. I’m thinking you are about to have a serious sunburn issue. Watch the doorstep. Damn, that had to hurt, if you were awake to feel that anyway.”

  Nathan came back into the kitchen area in time to hear Bethany Anne mumbling to the completely comatose Petre as she pulled his body out through the front door, down the step and around the corner.

  “Michael was either a genius, or suffering from a mental lapse when he chose that woman.”

  Nathan could hear Bethany Anne’s voice from out front coming through the door, “I heard that!”

  Nathan got busy pouring gasoline around the kitchen, he’d found the fuel in the garage. “Well, fuckity-fuck, the walk back is going to suck.”

  Her voice was soft, and right behind his ear, “Don’t make me pull off one of Petre’s legs and beat your disrespectful ass, Mr. Lowell.” Nathan turned around, but she was already gone.

  Nathan kept his mouth shut, this time.

  Brasov, Romania

  Alexi, Ecaterina and Ivan were in the small basement when Nathan and Bethany Anne got back. Nathan immediately went to go and take a shower as the smoke was bothering his nose.

  Alexi had been explaining his life to both his niece and nephew, how he had been mauled as a child and had healed up in a winter season when he shouldn’t have completely healed at all. He had not told any others in their family, for good reason. Regardless how Bethany Anne felt, he required them to give their word that they would not pass it on to others in the family. Ivan was good leaving this whole experience behind him if he could, but he could tell his sister was wanting to know more. Her closeness to the natural realm just flamed up her excitement about people who could get even closer to nature than she could and she had a driving need to know more, to be more.

  There was one person who could tell her more, but he just went to take a shower. However, she had one other person who could and would stop what she wanted to do with but a word. so when Bethany Anne came in she excused herself from talking with her uncle and brother and walked over to Bethany Anne.

  She asked Bethany Anne for a moment of her time, feeling trepidation knowing her future could be changed just asking for the chance to do more. What would she say? Would her help with capturing Petre be enough? Would she do what Nathan had talked about and follow this Michael’s rules and make her forget? She was throwing the dice. If she stayed here in Brasov, she could learn more from her uncle, maybe finding a way to safely change herself and feel the wind through her hair as she would walk through the forests as a bear.

  She had considered that idea seriously, but this time there was another that she wanted to be with, to learn more about. He was a man after her own heart, and he was so much more.

  She feared that he might eventually give in to Bethany Anne. The vampire was exquisite, beyond beautiful and she knew that if it wasn’t for the scary vampire part Nathan would have been more attracted to her. Besides, if she wasn’t close enough for Nathan to focus on, he would do what all men did and start losing his brain cells. His brain would stop reminding him how dangerous and deadly she was and all he would see was the package of female perfection she presented. At least, when she wasn’t beating people with their own arms she had pulled off a moment before.

  They went upstairs and sat at the table in the kitchen. Ecaterina started, “I want to thank you for all you have done for helping my uncle and me with these packs and Petre. If you had left us, we would have had to hide out on the mountain and they could have attacked our family until we were made to come down. So, thank you.

  “But, I have another favor I want to ask. It is a big favor, I know, I want to leave with you. I’m not sure what I can bring, but I can help and I will learn. Better English? Yes? No problem. I will do better on my speech. If you need help in any way, I want to help. I want to learn more, to do more. This
area, this area is beautiful, but I want more. I wanted more before you and Nathan came, I want to learn more. More about the Wechselbalg.”

  Bethany Anne considered the earnest woman. “You realize that you could have died today with Petre? Not every vampire or Weres we fight are going to be so easily distracted by an amazing pair of breasts.” Bethany Anne grinned when saying that. Ecaterina blushed a little.

  “It works more often than not in my knowledge. Men never get over them from baby to coffin, yes? Unless they like men, then I have Nathan flash them, right?”

  Bethany Anne busted out laughing when her comment made her imagine Nathan being up in the forest rubbing his nipples when a gay vampire came out of the tunnel. She caused Ecaterina to start laughing at her own comment and they fueled each other’s mirth for a solid two minutes, tears streaming down their eyes imagining the big, strong Mr. Lowell tweaking his nipples and blowing kisses at the vamp.

  Finally, Bethany Anne reached over and placed hand on Ecaterina’s mouth and told her to stop laughing, she was starting to cramp up and they finally slowed down to chuckling and got the tears wiped off their faces.

  “Honestly, I don’t know where we are going next, Ecaterina. We probably have to deal with this pack here in Bravos and have Nathan find out what is on those laptops. I didn’t get too much from Petre, no matter how slowly I let the sun burn his body. He lasted longer than I would have given him credit for. I’m hoping that we find something to go on as I don’t want to continue doing this blind. I’m behind the other side by a good margin and I have many more questions than answers. You could die tomorrow when you stay around me, are you OK with this? I can give you a couple of days to think on this if you want. However, by asking to be a part of me, my group, under my protection, this is a lifetime commitment. Others will know you chose a side that most of the world doesn’t know exists. You will be on my team, there won’t be an option to opt-out, to quit, in the future.”

  To her credit, Ecaterina didn’t just blurt out an answer but paused to think on the possible ramifications to her life. She felt comfortable that Bethany Anne wouldn’t just mind-wipe her if she declined. However, this was a path to the outside and to knowledge of people no one else knew about. An opportunity to see the world and if it was going to be a short ride, it would be one full of experiences she craved and answers she didn’t realize that a week before she wanted to know. She knew that Nathan had reservations about Bethany Anne, but she had none. She didn’t come with pre-supposed baggage about vampires, so all Ecaterina went on was what she had seen herself and her interactions with her.

  Besides, how could you not love a vampire that had such a wonderful laugh?

  Bethany Anne had sat back in her chair, she wasn’t going to rush Ecaterina’s decision, if she wanted more time she would provide it. She didn’t need to know until they left Brasov and that wasn’t going to happen today. She did wonder what was going through her thoughts. When she had come out of that tunnel and seen how Ecaterina had taken out Petre, that sealed the deal for Ecaterina to come along if she wanted to do so. She knew Nathan was going to be a very happy guy and Bethany Anne knew that was playing a part in Ecaterina’s considerations.

  Personally, she wished that they would just do the horizontal mambo and get it over with. It was so plainly obvious that they liked each other. For once, Ecaterina had someone she was interested in enough she worried about getting his attentions, and Nathan didn’t want to scare her away by coming on too strong.

  Those two were going to provide more than an ample amount of opportunities for mischief in the future, she hoped that they got a chance to enjoy life together.

  She didn’t know the future, but she knew that she had some tasks to accomplish. The local issues, of course, plus it was time to get hold of Frank and get him involved. Then, they needed to acquire access to the funds and accounts that she knew about, which would involve a trip in to Switzerland or maybe Germany. Michael had a child in Germany, so she would probably choose Switzerland for her first contact with the banks. Nathan was going to need to deal with his own interests as well. She couldn’t just keep him as a pet. Well, let’s be fair, she certainly could do it but she had come to enjoy his company, and his input. He was an important contact in the Were community and she was going to completely upset the strictures the UnknownWorld have lived within for centuries. That alone would normally cause all sorts of problems. People, and she was using that term very loosely, did not like it when their comfortable understanding and place in the world was upset.

  Bethany Anne got up from the table. She needed to get clean herself and go shopping. She would use some of the money Nathan uncovered at Petre’s house to get herself some clothes that fit appropriately. She didn’t know if Brasov had a fashionable shoe store, but she hoped no ladies were wearing a pair of Christian Louboutin’s size seven on her way to the store, she didn’t need that kind of temptation right now.

  She heard Nathan come out of the shower downstairs. It was time he became useful and help Bethany Anne locate the appropriate fashion stores available in Brasov. Bethany Anne was on a mission for a new wardrobe and she spared a moment to pity any fool who managed to get in her way.

  Michael’s Notes (Death Becomes Her):

  Thank you, I cannot express my appreciation enough that not only did you pick up this book, but you read it all the way to the end and NOW, you’re reading this as well!

  I love to read, I have ever since I was in elementary school. I would have to admit that my reading got a tremendous boost due to how often I was grounded. My parents didn’t believe that television or visiting friends were options while grounded.

  I got grounded, often. It was so bad that one time I was running neck-and-neck in a reading competition in homeroom class at school simply because I was grounded and had nothing else I could do.

  The only kind of friends I could invite over were The Three Investigators (http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Terror-Castle-Three-Investigators/dp/0679811761). I found their stories exciting, their special clubhouse in the junkyard amazing and the secret candy-in-the-globe so creative I tried to make one for myself. This was probably second or third grade. After destroying my mother’s globe, one she had since (I think) her high school years, I found out that my imagination wasn’t sufficient to overcome my lack of craft skills.

  To this day I still read a lot. It is my way of disengaging my mind and traveling through someone else’s exciting adventures.

  My writing is more escapist. I love a good action story, but more than that I want to engage with the characters. I want to feel what they are going through, if possible. I want situations that make me excited, worried, where I laugh and say ‘take that, sucka!’ out loud. The challenges faced by the protagonists don’t have to be life threatening, it could be a challenge to ask that special someone out for a date that keeps the story flowing. I’m not really into books that keep you constantly afraid for the characters. If I care about a character, I’ll turn the page, and buy the next book, just to see them reach a personal milestone that is challenging to that character. However, having said all of that, action is what drives the story forward!

  For the last couple of years, I’ve been bouncing back and forth between Urban Fantasy and Military Science Fiction with my personal reading. I decided for my series, I wanted to merge both genres. However, how to accomplish this? I decided I would write a story arc that would take us from a pivotal point here on Earth and then take the characters through the effort to reach for the stars and beyond.

  There are presently thirteen titles sketched out. Death Becomes Her (originally titled “Death Comes”) is the first in the series and the next has the working title “Queen Bitch”.

  My thought behind Bethany Anne’s character was ‘what happens when you provide a person overly sensitive to injustice and give her the ability to kick ass and ignore the names? I’m sure she could effect change, but it doesn’t automatically follow that it will be good change. The f
ight she has might not be with a ‘boss’ at the end of each book, but rather with herself. Will she become that which she loathes? Will she be able to recognize humanity in enemies or will she become desensitized like Michael? How will her friends react if that occurs?

  Bethany Anne has a lot on her plate. Where is Michael? Is he alive, is Carl alive? If she changes the strictures which everyone follows that Michael laid down, what happens? How does she go about dealing with the challenge to Michael with the vampire serum? Without Michael, there is a vacuum at the top of the UnknownWorld and Bethany Anne is smart enough to know she cannot allow a leadership vacuum to occur. She is going to need to step in and ‘put her size sevens Christian Louboutin’s* up their asses if they don’t get in line.

  Well, let’s be real. She will change her shoes then implement the attitude adjustments.