Blood Haze

by L. R. Potter

  Her heart twisted in her chest at his ultimate betrayal. Rising to her feet, she scooped up her purse.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said quietly, before moving rapidly to the door, all the while, her name scraped up from his throat, calling her back.

  She scrambled to the elevator and fell heavily against its wall trying to suck much needed oxygen into her lungs. Devastation fell heavy upon her shoulders and she struggled to remain upright. She felt betrayed and cut loose. She desperately needed a friend. Sadly, the only friend she’d ever depended on had just destroyed her.

  Karmyl was the only one she could think of. When the elevator doors opened, she stepped out and dug her cellphone out of her pocket. She scrolled through her contact list and found Karmyl’s number. She selected it and pressed the connect button, only to immediately disconnect. She didn’t want to talk about this just yet… she couldn’t talk about this just yet. With the pain of something more fierce than a broken heart, she turned and hurried out of the hospital.

  So absorbed in her pain, Arabella failed to notice the man standing in the shadows of the hospital’s entrance with a lit cigarette in his hand. He watched her flee from the entrance, a grin lifting his lips. With one last drag, he flicked the cigarette away and moved swiftly to the parking lot. He waited until she pulled out onto the street before following.

  ~X~

  Arriving back home, she once again dropped her purse on the table. Her cellphone rang just as she turned. She considered ignoring it, thinking it was Drew. But what if he’d taken a turn for the worse or something? The thought had her grabbing her phone.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms. Marks?”

  “Yes,” she answered as she gripped the phone tightly.

  “Ms. Marks, this is Loren Jordan from County General. I’m calling about the arrangements for your brother. You’re the contact we have on file. Is that right?”

  “Yes, it is,” she replied emotionlessly.

  “Can you tell me when we can expect the funeral home to pick up his body?”

  She closed her eyes as tiredness washed over her.

  “I… I’ll… I’m sorry, I’ll contact them tomorrow. Is that alright?”

  “That will be fine. We just can’t hold onto his body for much longer,” Ms. Jordan said.

  “I understand. Tomorrow, I promise.”

  “I look forward to talking to you then. Have a good night.”

  “Thanks,” Arabella answered woodenly as she slowly depressed the phone.

  Punching in Karmyl’s number, she was thankful when it went to voicemail. “Karmyl, I made it home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Glad her duties were now done, she moved sluggishly to her bathroom where she quickly disrobed before standing under the hot, hot spray of the shower. But no matter how long she stood underneath the heated water, she couldn’t get warm. Her mind kept trying to drift to things which would hurt her, but she refused think about them just yet. Later… later, she’d go over all she’d learned. But for now, she concentrated on the bracing water as it pelted over her bowed head and shoulders.

  Slowly and meticulously, she scrubbed her skin near to the point of raw. She desperately needed her outer shell to match the searing pain within. She didn’t know how long she stood underneath the pounding water, but evidentially, she realized it was no longer scalding hot, but freezing cold. With the gait of an old woman, she sluggishly forced her body out of the shower. Shivering, she rubbed the towel over her wet skin trying to instill some warmth. She slipped on a pair of sweats, a T-shirt, and some socks before sliding into her bed.

  Rolling onto her side, she hugged her pillow close to her body. She wanted to cry… no, she wanted to wail… but she had nothing left. She lay dried-eyed staring into the darkness trying to figure out what she did from here. She’d lost both of her mainstays in one fell-swoop. Her chest burned and felt hollow.

  It was almost laughable now to think that when she’d arrived at Ian’s apartment earlier, walking inside was going to be the most painful thing of her day. She’d not been prepared for the police and what they’d revealed to her about Ian being responsible for both Maggie’s and his own deaths. She’d certainly not been prepared to learn about Drew being in the backseat with another woman… although, she’d known because of the glimpsing, she’d just not wanted to acknowledge it.

  She understood about getting carried away in a moment, she’d done it herself. But she’d managed to let it not get out of control. What upset her the most… what she felt the most betrayed by, wasn’t that he was with the other woman, it destroyed her that he’d used her past as an excuse, had led her to believe it was because of her that he wanted to break up. When really, he’d only wanted to be with the other woman. His words cut her like a knife, it was easy… so very easy… to just, like, talk to her.

  Guilt cut at her like razors until she was forced to draw her knees up to squelch the hurt. While Drew might have claimed to have been at fault, she really knew who was to blame… she was. She should have cut Drew loose long ago, when she’d seen her first glimpsing. But she’d done exactly the opposite, she’d had sex with him, for the sole purpose of binding him tighter to her. She’d known what she was doing… hadn’t had the excuse of being blinding drunk.

  Bile rose up and she swallowed hard to keep it down. Luckily, she’d not really eaten anything in two days. She’d destroyed all their lives… just like her mother had ruined her father’s. That her mother had foreseen Ian’s death, she had no doubt. That’s why her mother had paid up his life insurance policy. Why hadn’t her mother forewarned her?

  But she knew why, fate was a fickle bitch and no matter what you did to change it, the end result always came out the same. Her knowing, wouldn’t have protected Ian, it would have only driven her crazy trying to change his future.

  She brought a shaky fist to her mouth and the sobs which had remained silent, now rose up from out of the depths of her soul. She cried for the loss of her father… her mother… Ian… Drew… her belief that she had any control… and lastly, her belief that she would actually be able to live a normal life.

  She didn’t know how long she lay there with her heart shredding when a sound had her sitting straight up in her bed. She turned her head and listened carefully, trying to understand what had caught her attention. A creak in the floorboards further out in the house had fear lancing through her. Feeling defenseless and afraid, she did something she’d never done willingly, she closed her eyes, allowing the aura of the room to fill her mind. She didn’t see anything but darkness. Frustration roared within her.

  She snatched her eyes back opened and strained to see. Not knowing what else to do she grabbed her cell from the side table, slid from the bed onto her knees, and made her way to her closet. Noiselessly, she slid the mirrored closet-doors open and crawled inside, sliding the door back almost shut.

  Trembling violently, she peered through the narrow gap in the closet door, straining to see anything in the dim light filtering in through the curtains from the streetlight. Her heart was pounding in the chest. As she tried to rearrange her position in the closet, the hard case of the cellphone cut into her hand. Her cellphone. She’d forgotten she’d grabbed it. Not really being able to see, she hit the redial on her phone and pressed it to her ear. She tried frantically to remember who’d she had dialed last. After three rings, she heard Karmyl answer.

  In a feather-light whisper, she said, “Karmyl, it’s me. There’s someone in my house. I think they’re in my bedroom. Please call the police!”

  “What!” she heard Karmyl squawk. It seemed her voice carried out beyond the closet. Slowly, she clicked the phone off in fear the intruder would hear it.

  She sat perfectly still, listening intently. The longer she sat in her closet in the dark, the more imbecilic she felt. Maybe she’d not really heard anything. She began to inch the closet door open… slowly and carefully… inch by agonizing inch… ensuring it slid smoothly and soundlessly
. The fear of what might lie out there in the near dark made the muscles in her body feel heavy and stiff. She’d just stuck her head out of the door, when the dresser’s mirror adjacent to the mirrored closet-doors reflected someone in the doorway.

  Panic nearly made her scream in fright, but she managed to swallow it back. Slowly, she pulled herself back into her hiding place. Her position in the closet was both her saving grace and her angst all at the same time. While the intruder’s view of her position would have been blocked by the bed, so was the intruder blocked from her sight for the same reason. No matter how hard she tried to breathe quietly, it seemed all she could hear were her own breath and her heart pounding in her ears.

  “Here, Kitty-kitty,” she heard a male voice sing-song.

  She cowered in fear, her body shaking in terror.

  “Here, Kitty-kitty,” she heard again.

  Oh, God! What could she do? It’d be only a few seconds before he opened the closet door. Sliding into the very back of the closet behind the clothes hanging above, she struggled to hear what was happening beyond the closet, but the clothes muffled any sounds. What did she do? What did she do? She repeated over and over in her head.

  Terrifyingly, she watched as the closet door slowly inched open. Her breathing became shallow and her chest rose and fell rapidly. She shifted her head to try and see between the hangers, but all she saw was a form with no distinguishable features. Her body trembled and quaked. She was going to die. Maybe this was the way it was supposed to end. Fear made her want to sob out, but she clamped her quivering lips together.

  Trying to move without disturbing the hanging clothes, she began to step sideways to the opposite end of the closet. She watched as the intruder stuck his head into the closet.

  “Oh, Kitty, I can smell you. You smell divine. Where are you, my Luscious?” The intruder began to move clothes aside in the closet as he groped trying to find her.

  She longed to scream out in terror, but she bit down on her lip and continued to slide down the wall to the end. She glanced down once more at the intruder as he fumbled with the clothing. With every nerve-ending on edge, she waited until she had the perfect moment. Then in one swift move, as hard as she could, she grabbed the closet door and slid it toward the intruder. As he’d just dropped his arms, and was instead straining his head around to look into the closet, the doors caught the intruder squarely in the temple. He yelped both in surprise and pain.

  “Stupid bitch,” he screamed as he stumbled to his knees, dazed

  Breathing rapidly, she darted out and ran as fast as she could.

  As she rounded the corner, her socks caused her to slip and she fell heavily onto her knees. Pain jolted her body on impact and she gasped and whimpered in frustration. She struggled to gain her footing but the she couldn’t seem to get any traction. She sobbed and began to scamper forward on her hands and knees. Strong hands grabbed at her from behind and this time she didn’t try to control the scream. Terror greater than any she’d ever known caused her body to tense to the point where she momentarily had no control over her muscles.

  The intruder grabbed her around her waist and effortlessly, it seemed, lifted her up to press her back against his front in a vice-grip. Forcing her body to move, she struggled against his hold, but he just laughed at her efforts.

  “Ahh, here you are, you naughty Kitten,” he whispered evilly against her ear.

  “Let me go, you bastard,” she screamed, as she tried to hit him with her elbows, her head, and her feet. But his grip only tightened. “What do you want?” she wailed, as she allowed her body to go limp at the wasted effort.

  He growled against her ear as he inhaled deeply. “What do I want?”

  She felt him press his lips against her neck and felt his tongue as he ran it along the vein there. Oh, my God! He was going to rape her. She tried to think of anything she’d ever read about rape victims. Would he let her live if she just went along with it? She whimpered in frustration, she just couldn’t remember!

  “I. Want. Your. Blood.”

  Her eyes blinked rapidly as her mind struggled to understand his words. Her blood? “Why? She whispered inanly.

  “Because it’s gonna taste sooo good. I can smell it from here,” he rasped against her skin.

  She knew that voice, had heard it recently, but where? Was he some kind of crazy person? He wanted to drink her blood? Was it some sort of witchcraft thing or something? She struggled to breathe and not pass out. Terror had her muscles paralyzed. “No! Let me go!” she railed against him.

  Her efforts only made him crush her even closer to his body. His strength astounded her, his arms felt like bands of steel. She whimpered and begged, “Please, don’t. Please let me go.”

  “Shhh, it won’t hurt but an instant, I promise. Then, you’ll be begging me to do again,” he said, with a cruel laugh. Reaching a groping hand up, he grasped one breast roughly. “Afterwards, we’ll see where we go from there. What’d say?”

  Oh, God, oh, God! He was going to rape her. She gave one more try at squirming out of his bear-trap grip, but his hold never weakened, finally she bowed her head in defeat. She once again felt his lips against her neck and she tensed in preparation for whatever was to follow. Her mind scrambled trying to figure out how he was going to get blood from her body. Would he cut her or would he just bite into her like a rabid animal?

  She didn’t have long to wait. After running his tongue once more along the vein in her neck, he placed his mouth firmly against her neck and sank his teeth into her soft flesh.

  Chapter 6

  Lynx Rogan was once again standing on his balcony, drinking from the same square, squatted glass. The night held a hint of rain and he inhaled its fragrance. He did so enjoy a good storm when all the world seemed to finally be in one accord, acknowledging the power and control that was just beyond them. He tipped the glass against his lips and allowed the bourbon to linger against his tongue. But this time, the taste seemed flat… as had most things of late.

  He exhaled deeply as he recalled his terse conversation earlier with Karmyl. She’d been upset over what had transpired with Arabella. She’d sought him out the instant she’d gotten home.

  “She was devastated. You should have seen her face. I’ve never seen anyone look so destroyed. I mean, my God, Lynx, she’d just lost everyone she held dear. It was so horrible. Can you even imagine it? Her boyfriend of forever breaks up with, then he runs off with the first woman he comes in contact with, and that her brother, not only died, but was the one who caused the accident which killed another person. It was tragic. I didn’t want to leave her, but she insisted. I hope I did the right thing.”

  His jaw tightened at Karmyl’s words, but he refused to give in to those feelings. He’d been there before… never again! So, he’d been an asshole. “If she wants to be alone, then you should leave her alone,” he’d said harshly.

  Karmyl had been wounded, but he hadn’t relented. Softly, she’d said, “Arabella isn’t Celeste, Lynx.”

  His jaw had hurt from clenching so tightly. “No, she’s not,” he returned with quiet warning.

  “I think you should go see her. She really seemed to connect with you,” she continued.

  “Enough, Karmyl! I’m not interested in the human. Let it be!” he’d snapped.

  She’d flinched at his words. He’d never in all their many years together, ever yelled at her. She’d withdrawn without another word. So, here he stood… alone again. He threw the rest of the drink against the back of his throat and welcomed the fiery burn.

  He’d just turned to refill it when Karmyl once again burst, unwelcomed into his room. He glared at her… not as angry at her, as he was at himself, for giving a damn about another human. “It’s not a good time, Karmyl,” he snarled.

  “Lynx! You need to get to Arabella’s right away… someone’s breaking into her house.”

  “How do you know that?” he demanded.

  “She called and said as much. You have to hurr
y. Please Lynx. Go now!” she beseeched him.

  He stood in indecision, trying to think of all the reasons he shouldn’t go. “Did she call the police?” he asked, in a tone which he hoped didn’t give away any of the turbulence going on in the inside.

  “That’s what she asked me to do, you jerk! This is not a ploy by her to get to you, if that’s what you’re thinking! The police won’t ever get to her in time. You need to go. Please, Lynx! You’re the only one who can get to her in time. I’m begging you!” she cried.

  Still, he hesitated, torn between his need to run to her, and his need to protect himself by avoiding her.

  “Forget it! I’ll go myself!” Karmyl declared.

  With a curse, he threw his empty tumbler against the stone wall of the balcony, shattering it into a million pieces. “Damn it all to hell! I’ll go,” he yelled, as he swept by her.

  Contrary to myth and legend, vampires don’t fly. And while they could exhibit greater speed than mere mortals, they would never be as fast as a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle, which was touted to be the fastest motorcycle in the world. Sliding onto the sleek, black machine, Lynx turned the key and hit the electric start-button. The sleek bike went from 0 to 110 in seconds. Within minutes, he was outside Arabella’s house and running toward her front door.

  He bounded up the steps and stopped when he saw the door had been splintered at the lock. Bursting through the door, he was stopped short, yet again, at the sight before his eyes. Arabella… his Arabella, was standing looking at him, resignation in her eyes and in her demeanor… defeat hung heavy on her shoulders. Behind her was another vampire with his teeth hunkered down into the vein in her neck. He could only hope the other vampire hadn’t released any venom yet… or all would be lost; at least for Arabella. The vampire lifted fevered eyes up to Lynx’s cold ones. He growled but didn’t relinquish his bite. In an instant, Lynx was on them. The younger vampire was no match for Lynx’s strength, and Lynx was able to break the other’s hold on Arabella’s neck very quickly.