The Lost Souls Dating Agency

by Suneeti Rekhari

  ‘Hello!’ I answered eagerly.

  ‘Shaleenee, how art thee?’ Victor said hurriedly then corrected himself. ‘Sorry, how are you? Forgive me, I revert to my old ways once in a while.’

  ‘That’s okay, it’s quite endearing.’ I smiled down the phone. I felt positively chirpy. ‘How was your date last night?’

  ‘Last night was not a date.’ Victor was acerbic. ‘I merely chatted with the lady.’

  And there, ladies and gentlemen, was the arrogance that came so easily to him. I frowned.

  ‘Anyway, tomorrow night I meet with her again,’ he said.

  ‘Well that’s great!’ Two nights in quick succession, huge!

  ‘So tomorrow will be our first date, as you say,’ he said.

  ‘Where are you going?’ I asked out of curiosity.

  After a long pause, Victor said, ‘To Luna Park in St. Kilda.’

  ‘What?’ I laughed, amazed. ‘That’s an unusual first date venue.’ Especially for a vampire.

  ‘I’m…’ he hesitated, ‘I want to take her to a place surrounded by people.’

  Alarm bells rang softly in my head. ‘Victor, are you worried about something?’

  ‘Shaleenee, you will not understand this. I do like her and I…I want to make sure she is safe.’

  ‘Listen, Victor, you’re starting to scare me. I thought you had blood transfusions for this sort of thing…’

  ‘You really don’t know much about my kind do you?’

  I do know about your kind thankyou very much and that’s why I’m concerned. But all I said was, ‘I’m starting to wish I did.’

  ‘Don’t worry, that’s why I’m taking her to a theme park,’ Victor said with disgust. ‘The excited squeals of people on the rides and the bright lights will be just enough to keep me nauseated for the entire night,’ he said in a humourless tone. ‘Spending time with her there will help me, as the kids these days say, figure things out,’ he ended dryly.

  ‘Listen, I don’t want to risk a human life for you to see if you can figure things out okay?’ I was blunt.

  ‘Shaleenee, I am over eight hundred years old. I have learnt to control my urges,’ Victor replied haughtily.

  ‘Fine,’ I said through clenched teeth. There was nothing I could do to stop him.

  ‘Fine,’ Victor said. Then after a pause, ‘I am grateful for your services thus far, Shaleenee.’

  ‘Just make sure she is safe and there won’t be any need to thank me.’ I was angry, mainly at myself, for not seeing this coming.

  ‘I give you my word.’ And with that he hung up.

  I felt uneasy all the way home.

  I slept fitfully that night, thoughts racing through my head. By the time I woke the next morning, I knew what I had to do.

  Chapter 11

  So far, so good.

  I had been following Victor and Fiona since their arrival at Luna Park a few minutes ago. I had disguised myself in dark baggy trousers and a grey hooded jumper. I made sure I didn’t get too close. There were so many people and so much noise, I was fairly confident about not being spotted. Just to be safe, I was wearing hideously strong lavender perfume. Not a chance that Victor could sniff me out.

  I watched them walk through the “Mr Moon” face entry to Luna Park and the flanking towers outlined by sparkling neon lights. I waited a few seconds, and then followed them in with a surge of people. Thank god it was a busy night!

  Fiona looked charming. She was wearing a blue and white polka dot knee length dress and radiated luminous warmth, even in the harsh glow of the electric lights. I glanced at Victor. If I didn’t know him better I’d say he was actually enjoying himself. I hid behind an empty popcorn stand as they chatted nearby. I could only catch snippets of conversation. Victor was asking Fiona about her research.

  ‘Don’t you wish you had lived back then?’ I heard Fiona’s voice drift my way.

  I saw Victor nod in agreement.

  If only she knew how much! At that moment I felt quite sorry for him.

  They meandered though the stalls and I saw Fiona clap her hands excitedly when they walked past the Ghost Train ride.

  ‘That is so awfully tacky! Oh please let’s go in!’ she said loudly with eager eyes.

  There was only one other couple standing outside the entrance to the ride and I decided it would be too obvious if I followed them in. Instead I skulked around near where I thought they would exit. I waited and waited some more. Over half an hour later, I’ll admit, I panicked. They should have come out ages ago! Where could that sneaky vampire have taken her?

  I quickly walked around the immediate area. It was hard navigating through the sea of kids lapping around my knees. I contemplated shouting Fiona’s name, but it would have been pointless competing with the electric bells, horns and jingles of the rides.

  In frustration, I decided I would stand near the main gates and watch. There was little else I could do. I stood nervously watching happy faces walk in and out of the park, but none belonged to Fiona. Could Victor have heard or sensed me? I tried to stay positive.

  About an hour later I spotted a familiar polka dot dress in the distance and my stomach dropped to my knees in relief. I inched closer and saw Fiona munching away on pink fairy floss. I wanted to whoop loudly but knew the night was far from over as Victor navigated Fiona and her fairy floss out of the park. I saw them head towards a bench on the boardwalk along St Kilda beach.

  This was going to get tricky. There was a bright moon and a soft breeze. The sounds of the ocean became louder as we moved away from the noises of the Park. I couldn’t risk getting any closer. Damn it.

  I parked myself behind a lovely coastal tree that I didn’t know the name of, and watched their silhouettes. They looked comfortable with each other, deep in conversation. Well, well, I’m obviously a better matchmaker than I thought.

  After about an hour, they moved from their bench and made their way back to the main street. Now what? I followed them to the busy section of Acland Street and saw them wait at a tram stop. I lingered a little distance away, and watched as Fiona jumped onto a tram. Victor stood at the stop watching it pull away. Thank goodness that ended safely. I quickly turned and walked back to my car. I felt quite triumphant about the success of my first detective snooping. I was a regular Nancy Drew.

  As I neared the foreshore, I sensed movement behind me. My pace quickened. I hope it isn’t who I think it is! My heart rate shot up. I ran across the road to the nearest shrub and crouched behind it. After a minute of trying to steady my pulse, I peeked out from my vantage point.

  ‘I know you’re there, Shaleenee,’ Victor said softly.

  I held my breath.

  ‘You can’t hide from me for long.’ I heard him inch closer.

  My body tensed as I held completely still. Was it too late to make a run for it?

  Then as if reading my thoughts, his dark form appeared in front of my crouched body, his face an inch away from mine.

  ‘Goddammit, Victor!’ I sprang to my feet.

  ‘Hello to you too.’ He sounded amused.

  This was not good. I folded my arms. ‘Well you can’t blame me for making sure that everything went well tonight,’ I said tetchily.

  ‘No I can’t.’

  ‘How long did you pretend not to know I was there?’

  ‘I knew you were here the entire night.’

  ‘Great. That’s just great. And the academy award goes to…’ I made a mock gesture to give him an imaginary Oscar.

  ‘I think I should be the one who is a little irritable, don’t you think?’ Victor asked, continuing to look amused.

  ‘Well you left me no choice, with your ominous talk about making sure the lady is safe,’ I imitated his deep voice badly.

  ‘I gave you my word,’ he said seriously.

  I opened my mouth and then shut it again. Okay, so he had given me his word.

  ‘Isn’t that good enough for you?’ Victor asked.

  I felt abashed. ‘
I didn’t trust that you would keep it,’ I stammered.

  Victor remained silent. I thought I saw a hint of sadness in his eyes. In a flash it was gone.

  ‘Listen I’m sorry for not trusting you, but this is all part of my job. I have a duty of care not only to you, but also to anyone I introduce you to.’ I glared at him. Offence was the best form of defence.

  ‘I suppose, in a similar way, I did not trust that you would introduce me to the right woman,’ Victor said finally. He seemed subdued.

  ‘That’s true.’ I had forgotten about that. Great! It gave me some ammo to work with.

  ‘And you did…’ Victor paused then added quickly, ‘so I suppose we can call it even. Good night.’ He turned briskly and walked away.

  Wait, what?

  ‘Hey waaaaait just a minute.’ I pounced and walked beside him. ‘So the date went well?’

  ‘Yes, I think so.’

  ‘Does she like you?’

  ‘That’s hard to say since I am not her,’ Victor said cryptically.

  ‘Do you like her?’

  ‘That’s even harder to say.’ He stopped walking and looked at me. It always made me a bit uncomfortable when he did. His eyes had a depth I found unnerving. ‘I’ve never met anyone quite like her. She is smart and independent and lacks the usual tedious feminine qualities.’ I rolled my eyes as he said this. He continued, ‘Yet she is quite delectably beautiful and —’

  ‘Please don’t use the word delectable to describe a woman. It makes me nervous.’

  ‘Shaleenee, despite all your fears, I am not going to eat her,’ he said with a half smile.

  ‘How do I know that?’ I knew I was in a huff.

  ‘You don’t,’ Victor replied wickedly.

  ‘What kind of an answer is that?’

  ‘The only one you shall get tonight. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.’

  ‘What things?’ I asked suspiciously.

  He did not reply. There was no use following him anymore. I wasn’t going to get any answers. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted answered anyway.

  ‘Good night,’ I called gruffly as he walked away. He waved his arm casually without looking at me and disappeared into the night.

  ***

  The next day, I went straight to the gym in the hope of meeting Fiona there. She didn’t turn up. I finished my weights routine and left. I was in a rotten mood which I found hard to shake. Ironic, when my first case was proceeding so well.

  As soon as it was dark, I rang Victor. He didn’t answer his phone. I tried a few times with no success. I must have left him a zillion messages.

  The next night, I rang again grumpily, half expecting never to hear from him again. He answered after three rings.

  ‘Before you ask, yes I did get your messages,’ Victor said briskly.

  ‘Why didn’t you ring me back then?’ I jumped.

  ‘I was away,’ he added slowly, ‘on business.’

  I considered this. ‘Can I ask what business?’

  Victor was silent.

  I decided it was no use sulking and said instead, in a professional tone, ‘I’ll keep it confidential of course, in case you are worried.’

  ‘I had to consult with a few people on a property I am selling in England.’

  Likely story! ‘So you expect me to believe you flew overnight to England and back?’

  ‘Well I could do that, or I could just Skype and conference call,’ he said sarcastically.

  Idiot! Why was I being so accusatory? I would never get any information from him this way. I felt like a nagging mother.

  ‘Are you going to see Fiona again?’

  ‘Yes, this weekend,’ Victor replied casually.

  ‘Can —’

  ‘And this time I’m not telling you where we are going.’

  I pursed my lips. ‘That’s fine, I wasn’t going to ask.’

  ‘Shaleenee, you must learn to trust me.’ Victor’s voice softened. ‘I will do her no harm.’

  I scowled down the phone. So this was it. I had finally reached it, my moral crossroad. It was my decision to get involved in this world. How could I have thought it would not present me with these dangerous choices? Choices I would make about other people’s lives. Ultimately, there was not much more I could do but choose to trust the vampire.

  For now.

  Chapter 12

  I didn’t hear from Victor for the next few weeks. I decided not to contact him, even though it made me uneasy. I had given him what he wanted, practically on a silver platter. Should I have been more prudent, more cautious?

  In a bid to ignore my conscience, I focused on my lectures and course work. I was sitting in my usual spot in the university library when I heard a friendly voice. ‘Hey there, Shalini!’ I looked up to see Will grinning at me. It was hard not to grin back.

  ‘How was your break?’ he asked, placing himself on the seat next to me.

  ‘Uneventful,’ I lied. ‘How was yours?’

  ‘I was up in Byron Bay scuba diving for shipwrecks.’ Will shrugged, as if it was the most common thing to do.

  ‘Wow really?’ I noticed he did look more tanned. His copper blonde hair fell neatly across his forehead and he had a hint of golden holiday stubble across his square jaw.

  ‘Yup.’ He smiled. It was quite a nice smile.

  ‘And what was the purpose of this shipwreck investigation?’ I asked.

  He leaned back on the seat and cracked his knuckles comically. In a deep, serious voice he began, ‘Well, young lady, I’m thinking of doing my honours project next year on a study of the underwater shipwrecks along the coast of Byron Bay.’

  ‘How is that related to anthropology?’ I interrupted him.

  ‘It isn’t,’ he shot back quickly. ‘You know my major is environmental science, don’t you?’

  ‘Then how come you’re in my new media class this year? And the religion class last year?’ I was puzzled. For a science major, he sure took a lot of social science classes.

  ‘Oh I can choose a few electives from the Arts degree,’ he said clearing his throat. ‘It helps to broaden my horizons,’ he concluded vaguely.

  ‘I see.’ I nodded and left it at that. All of a sudden I felt a little shy around Will.

  As he bent his head to reach into his bag for his laptop, I saw another familiar face appear behind him. This face had the signs of a dark thunder cloud about it.

  ‘Shalini Gupta.’ Megan glared at me. ‘I thought I might find you here.’

  Oh no. I had avoided her for weeks and I knew she would be furious. She made a motion to come sit near me when Will looked up from his bag and gave her a smile. That took the edge off Megan’s fury. Thank you, Will!

  She gave him a cursory smile and turned back to me. ‘We need to talk.’

  Will looked at her and then at me. He shoved his laptop back in his bag and stood up. ‘I’ll catch up with you some other time, Shalini,’ he said. Why did I only just notice the dimples that ran down either side of his face as he smiled at me?

  ‘Sure, you know where to find me.’ I smiled back, sans dimples.

  He winked and left. I watched him walk away and noticed that Megan did as well. She plonked herself on the spot where he had been seated.

  ‘Who was that?’ she asked, momentarily forgetting her anger at me.

  ‘That’s Will! The guy I told you about. We took the religion class together last year remember? We met so often in the library that we got to talking and studying together.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me study Will was so cute.’ Megan gave me a look which I knew meant, where have you been hiding him?

  ‘He’s okay I suppose.’ I felt my cheeks warm.

  Megan stared intently at me. ‘You can tell me about Will later. Right now I want to know about Lost Souls. What happened? I’ve been trying to ring you. You disappeared after the advertisement thing. I mean if it hasn’t worked…’ Her voice trailed off as she gave me a sympathetic look.

  ‘It
did!’ I whispered the details of my dealings with Victor to Megan. It was funny watching her face change from surprise to shock to utterly perplexed. After I finished, I knew it was time to tell Neha.

  Megan rang her and we told her to meet us at the warehouse. I felt such a surge of cathartic release as I talked to them. Seated around the sofa in my office, I wondered why I had waited so long to confide in my friends.

  ‘Gosh I don’t know whether I want to meet this Victor or not,’ Neha gushed, after I concluded.

  ‘Are you kidding me?’ Megan looked at her incredulously. ‘I don’t want a vampire anywhere near me!’

  ‘But he’s a good guy,’ Neha said hopefully.

  ‘We don’t know that,’ Megan said seriously. ‘What do you think has happened to Fiona?’ she asked me.

  ‘I don’t know.’ I really didn’t.

  ‘Do you know where she lives?’ Megan asked curiously.

  I shook my head. ‘No, I just met her at the gym and I haven’t seen her there for weeks.’

  ‘What about where she works?’ Megan persisted.

  A light bulb went off in my head. ‘Of course! She is research assistant at Victoria Uni for a…’ I tried to remember the name of the professor she worked for. ‘Fergusson? Pearson? I think his name sounded like fearsome or something.’

  Megan nodded. ‘Easy enough to find out with a quick online search.’

  I jumped up from my seat on the sofa. I wanted to hug Megan. I would circumnavigate Victor totally, and track down Fiona instead.

  Chapter 13

  Two days later, I sat waiting in an open meeting area near Professor McPherson’s office, at the Footscray campus of Victoria University. I hid behind a large book which I carried with me when Fiona walked past. She didn’t even glance at me. She looked terrible! Her usually rosy cheeks were replaced by skin that looked almost as sallow as Victor’s and her eyes were distant and puffy. She looked like she had been crying for days. As soon as she went past, I tiptoed to the edge of the corridor wall and saw her walk into an office four doors down. I went back to my waiting spot. What had Victor done to make her look like that?

  I sat in the meeting room all day, and when Fiona went past carrying her bag to go home, I waited a few seconds then followed her. She walked to the train station at Footscray, where it became easier for me to meld with the crowd. She changed trains at Flinders Street and I nearly lost sight of her at one point before I quickly jumped into the same compartment in her departing train. I don’t know why I bothered to be so careful about not being discovered. Fiona seemed to be in a distant trance. She barely looked up or around and her entire gait was sorrowful.