by Laurèn Lee
She stood under the shower head for over a half an hour, simply absorbing the scalding water. Not a single thought passed through her mind.
Once she exited the shower, Charlotte threw on a robe. She made some coffee, toasted a few pieces of bread and figured she should head back to the hospital to see how Liam was fairing. Luckily, Liam had a second vehicle, meant to be driven during the winter, so she wouldn’t have to call for a ride or take a cab.
Charlotte disposed of her robe in the hamper and dressed quickly. She pulled on a pair of worn jeans and a hoodie while carefully folding up the emergency outfit Sophia had lent her.
She looked on the dresser hoping to see her phone, but remembered it was nearly destroyed in the accident and never recovered.
Well, I suppose I should get a new phone before going to the hospital.
Not quite ready to leave the safety of her condo, Charlotte walked aimlessly around her home. Pacing, she wondered if any kind of emotions would come rushing back. She looked at pictures of her and Liam, greeting cards they had saved from each other and she even gazed down to her engagement ring, but she felt nothing.
At least I’m not scared anymore.
In fact, Charlotte felt increasingly confident and in charge. She looked in the mirror in her bedroom, originally expecting to see herself looking ragged and disheveled, but instead, she looked beautiful and fierce.
Charlotte filled her second favorite purse with only the necessities, like her Burt’s Bees lip balm, a comb, compact mirror, cash, and mascara. She chugged some orange juice from the carton and left the condo. After an hour or so, she cruised to the hospital with her new iPhone in tow, not at all timid about being in a moving vehicle again. Despite having been in a near-deadly crash less than twenty-four hours previously, she felt calm and confident driving Liam’s car.
She parked a little farther from the hospital, hoping to enjoy a little fresh air before becoming victim to the hospital’s sterile aroma once again.
While walking, she turned on her phone, programmed her voicemail and checked the messages. She had several voicemail recordings waiting for her. First, she chose to listen to Sophia’s message.
“Hi, Charlotte. It’s me. Just checking in on you to make sure you’re all right. Please keep me updated about Liam. Talk soon.”
Charlotte felt admiration for her fellow reporter. Sophia was like a second mother to her. She wished she could tell her what was actually going on right now, but as kind and compassionate as Sophia was, she might have some trouble understanding a demon was holding Charlotte’s soul hostage.
She had three other voicemails to listen to as well, all from Tori.
Shit, she thought, she never told Tori about the accident and they were supposed to have arrived last night.
The first message from Tori said, “Hey, Char. I can’t wait to see you! What time do you think you’ll be here? We were thinking Mexican for dinner. Call me!”
The second message sounded a little more anxious, “Uh, hello? Where are you guys? Why aren’t you answering my text messages? I think the Mexican restaurant is closed now, but we can always order a pizza once you guys get here. Call me!”
Charlotte cringed as she began to listen to Tori’s third message, “What the hell, Charlotte? Part of me is pissed off because we had plans, but the other part of me is starting to get worried. Stop being a bitch and answer your text messages or call me back!”
Despite lacking her normal disposition, Charlotte still felt a twinge of guilt knowing Tori was worried sick about them.
Charlotte wasn’t up to a phone call, so she texted Tori instead.
“Hey, I’m so sorry. Something came up, we will have to postpone the visit. Everything is okay, talk soon. Love ya, xoxo, Char.”
She knew Tori would call her immediately after reading the text. Charlotte silenced her phone and tucked it away in her purse, wanting to avoid the call when it came. Tori would absolutely know something serious was happening. She couldn’t keep a secret from her best friend if she tried. So, instead of letting Tori pick her apart like a vulture, she would just ignore her for as long as possible. Or, at least until was able to get her soul back.
Entering the hospital, Charlotte took a deep breath and attempted to appear somber and heartbroken. Even though she felt completely content, she had to put on a show for the medical staff treating Liam. Eventually, she found Liam’s room thanks to a friendly nurse at the nurses’ station.
“Ah, you must be Mrs. Chamberlin?”
“Yes. I mean, no. Actually, we are only engaged,” Charlotte said to the doctor in Liam’s room.
“My apologies. I understand you were also in the same accident as Liam? Did you get checked out too?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine,” Charlotte lied. The doctor must not have known Charlotte made a great escape last night without being officially discharged.
“Good to hear. Well, we still have him in a medically induced coma, but he’s doing much better than we could have expected at this point. The swelling and bleeding in his brain have receded somewhat and his pulse is steady.”
Charlotte nodded, uncertain of what to say next.
“Don’t you worry, we are taking great care of Liam. Of course, we will need to keep him in the medically induced coma until his body has a chance to further heal itself. Do you have any other questions?”
“No, Doctor. Thank you for updating me.”
“Certainly. Here is my number if you need to reach me,” the doctor provided a card, squeezed Charlotte’s arm, and winked before he strolled out of the room.
Charlotte watched him leave and shivered at the less than appropriate goodbye from the doctor.
“Creep,” she said under her breath.
Charlotte pulled up a chair next to Liam’s bed. She knew she should be emotional right now; crying and wishing Liam would wake up. Instead, she simply gazed at him wondering if he was aware she was in the room at all.
“I told you he was going to be fine, for now,” a silky voice confided behind Charlotte.
She whipped around to see none other than Adriel, the demon.
“Oh, it’s you,” she muttered.
“Not happy to see me? That hurts, Charlotte!” he placated.
“What do you want? Haven’t you caused enough damage already? Plus, the sun is out, I thought you hated the daylight.”
“I told you I wasn’t a vampire,” he said.
“You could be a witch hybrid werewolf for all I know.”
“As much as I love our banter, we should probably continue our discussion from last night.”
“Why? Are you going to tell me more about how amazing it is to be a demon?”
“First, she can’t stop asking questions, and now she wants to be sarcastic,” Adriel said out loud, clearly mocking Charlotte’s change of heart.
“You’re an ass, you know that right?”
“It’s a quality I pride myself on every day,” he said.
“Fine, let’s go. But, can we exit the building like normal human beings this time? Your last trick almost made me gag.”
“I am not a dirty human, but sure, we can walk out if we must.”
And with that, Adriel and Charlotte left the hospital by foot.
16
Present
It was nearing dusk, as the days were growing shorter and shorter in preparation for winter.
“Where are we going now?” Charlotte asked.
“The casino, downtown,” Adriel said.
“Seriously? My fiancé is in a coma, I don’t have a soul, and you want to go gambling?” Charlotte asked exasperatedly.
Adriel smiled, exposing his perfectly white teeth, “This is not a field trip for fun, Charlotte. The casino is our first location we must go for you to begin carrying out your contract.”
“So, you stealing my soul isn’t the only part of our agreement?”
“I didn’t steal your soul, Charlotte. You gave it to me willingly, remember?”
Charlotte
didn’t answer, but continued to follow Adriel closer and closer into the heart of Downtown Buffalo.
“Okay, so when I said I wanted to walk out of the hospital, I didn’t mean I wanted to also walk all the way to our destination, too!”
Charlotte paused to remove her Chuck Taylor sneakers and shake out all of the loose stones which had accumulated thus far.
“You can’t always get what you want, Charlotte,” Adriel smirked.
“The casino is still a few miles away, can’t we do the weird traveling thing again?”
“Oh, now you want to disapparate?”
“Disapparate? Who are you, Harry Potter?” Charlotte chided.
“It’s a great series, you should read it if you have the chance.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes and kept walking beside Adriel.
Finally, Charlotte and Adriel approached the casino, which happened to be magnificently glowing against the dark sky. The building appeared welcoming with its beaming banners, signs and lights.
Charlotte felt an odd sensation travel through her body and instinctively looked down at herself to find she was dressed in a completely different outfit than she had chosen for the day. Instead of her guess jeans, hoodie and sneakers, she now sported a radiating candy apple cocktail dress with golden heels.
She looked at Adriel incredulously, waiting for an explanation.
“I may have a few other tricks up my sleeve,” Adriel said, now wearing a flashy tuxedo.
Charlotte gawked at Adriel, wondering how he was able to perform this fantastic feat without her or anyone else on the street noticing. She also realized just how handsome he looked without his typical grungy attire. His hair, no longer a disaster, was smoothed down and his eyes only glittered slightly with the crimson sparkle.
“Charlotte, stop staring. You’re making me blush.”
Charlotte punched him in the bicep and forged her way to the front doors where a polite employee graciously opened the door and greeted her.
“Good evening, miss. Enjoy your night,” he said, holding the door as she entered.
Adriel quickly caught up to her and fastened Charlotte’s arm around his.
“If we want to play the part, we must look the part, darling,” he said.
“Well, darling,” Charlotte snarled, “Which part are we playing?”
“I am the wealthy business man coming to gamble away a small fortune, and you are my gorgeous trophy wife who will stand next to me, and blow my,” he paused, “dice.”
Charlotte felt the urge to punch him again, but tried her best to remain cool, calm and collected.
“Can you please at least tell me what I’m supposed to be doing besides being your good luck charm?” Charlotte hissed through her teeth.
Adriel and Charlotte strolled over to the poker section and found an open spot at what appeared to be the high-stakes table.
Adriel leaned in closer to Charlotte and whispered into her ear, “Pay attention to all the players in this section of the casino.”
Charlotte nodded and felt an electric tingle travel down her spine. Adriel stood only inches away from her, his lips nearly touching her earlobe when he whispered to her.
Swiftly, Adriel sat down at the table among several other seemingly wealthy men, reeking of smug entitlement. Charlotte did as she was told and glanced at each player at the table, but didn’t recognize any of the faces.
The dealer accepted Adriel’s buy in and dealt him into the game. Charlotte didn’t follow poker so she continued her mission of looking around the section, as inconspicuously as possible.
After a few moments, she did realize she saw people she knew, Liam’s co-workers. They were the exact same men Charlotte noticed at the Buffalo Sabres game in the suite next to theirs. Charlotte whipped her head toward Adriel, who in turn, looked back at her and winked. Ideas began swirling around Charlotte’s mind. What could a few of Liam’s fellow employees have to do with any of this?
She gazed back toward the men and tried to recall their names.
I think that one is Charlie, that one is Greg and the other has to be John.
Adriel began a winning streak at the table, much to the dismay of his fellow players. Ignoring Adriel’s praise to the dealer and apologies to the men at the table, Charlotte felt an immediate need to go greet the men she had her eye on. She wasn’t sure why, but the urge to walk over to their table felt emergent.
“Sweetie, I’m going to go play the slots, this is dreadfully boring,” Charlotte said airily to Adriel.
“Have fun, my love,” he said before smacking her ass. The other men looked longingly at Charlotte and she used all of her willpower to not deck Adriel in front of everyone. She would get back at him for that later.
Charlotte strode over to the other poker table. A cocktail waitress walked toward her and Charlotte politely stopped her, asking for a drink.
Instinctively, Charlotte grabbed the martini on the waitress's tray, thanked her and tossed the drink back in one gulp. If there was any time she needed a little liquid courage, it was now. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to the men, but she continued to feel an electric pull throwing her into the helm of their presence.
One of the men looked up and noticed Charlotte, calling over to her instantly.
“Charlotte!” he slurred.
Charlotte pretended to have just noticed the men and sauntered over. She wondered how they knew her name, maybe Liam talked about her at work?
“Hi guys, long time no see!”
Actually, I’ve never seen you up close in my life.
“You look beautiful,” another said as he shamelessly looked her up and down several times.
“Oh, thank you,” Charlotte giggled.
More seriously, the man Charlotte presumed to be Greg leaned in, “I’m sorry to hear about Liam, is he okay?”
“He’s doing great, should be better in no time,” Charlotte lied.
It seemed her answer was sufficient enough as the subject changed immediately.
“Who are you here with?” Charlie asked, looking around.
“I’m just here entertaining a client for a new story,” Charlotte said.
Again, another electrical current surged through Charlotte and without hesitation or even a second thought, she blurted out, “Hey, did you all hear about the cocktail waitress who was murdered here a few weeks ago? One of my friends at another paper is covering the story.”
The men quickly looked at each other and then back to Charlotte.
“Yes, yes, terrible,” John said right after asking the dealer for another card.
“You were all here that night, with Liam, weren’t you? He said you were here trying to schmooze some important people.”
“Was it that night?” Greg asked nervously, ruffling his hair.
“No, I don’t think so,” John responded. Charlie kept his attention on the game at hand and didn’t chime in.
“Well, it was a pleasure seeing you, Charlotte. Give Liam our best wishes. We really need to focus before we lose any more money,” Greg laughed heartily causing his rotund belly to jiggle.
Charlotte waved goodbye and saw Adriel standing against a pillar in the distance, silently clapping his hands.
17
Present
“Well done, Miss Harper.”
“I’m not really sure what I did,” Charlotte admitted.
“Well, you confirmed my suspicions,” Adriel replied.
“Suspicions? What are you suspicious of?”
“Liam’s co-workers.”
“They are kind of creepy, huh?”
“You have no idea dear, Charlotte.”
“How did I know to go over to them, though? I had this weird feeling to approach them, but it came out of nowhere.”
Adriel simply laughed, knowingly. “You did good, kid. Phase two of our plan is coming soon.”
Charlotte glowed. It was the first time Adriel had praised her instead of taunting her. She still wasn’t one hund
red percent sure about what had happened in the casino, but she still felt a rush of exhilaration.
“I could get used to these demon shenanigans, let’s cause some more trouble,” Charlotte shouted, spinning around in place. People around them turned their heads toward her, looking skeptical. They gaped from Charlotte to Adriel too, and one person near them even repeated, “Demon?”
Adriel smiled apologetically and escorted Charlotte down an alleyway, away from the crowd of people. Once out of view, he pushed her up against the side of a building. The flames within his eyes began to lick his pupils as before. Intensity clung to the air like a moth to a flame.
“You did well tonight, Charlotte. But, you can’t go announcing what I am to everyone and their mother,” he hissed.
Charlotte could feel his warm breath against her face.
“Oh please, it’s not like anyone would take me seriously!”
“You think I am the only one of my kind able to come to Earth? Able to come to this wretched city? You need to be discreet! I know you feel invincible without your soul, but darling, you are not.”
“Okay, I understand. Chill.”
“This is not a game, Charlotte. Liam’s life depends on you helping me carry out this task.”
Adriel inched even closer to Charlotte. So close, in fact, their lips were less than an inch apart. Charlotte’s breathing quickened. Her stomach felt as though she was performing somersaults down the alleyway. Despite Adriel’s seriousness, it wasn’t fear roaring in her belly, it was something else.
“I said you did well tonight, but it was only the first part. I need you to be ready for the next step. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Charlotte stuttered, barely audible, “I’m ready.”
Adriel put his lips against her ear again. His hands were raised above his head and he leaned against the building, caging Charlotte in against his body.
“I need you to kill John, Charlie and Greg; Liam’s co-workers.”
18
Present
