“RRRAAARRRGGGHH!” Haley screamed into the air.
Her teeth clenched together, her lips open.
Her eyes felt swollen. Her nose shriveled.
Jason and Riley appeared to the left of the footpath, hurrying over.
“What’s happening?” Riley called.
Haley didn’t reply.
When they reached her, they didn’t know what to do. Riley tried touching Haley’s arm, but she nudged her away.
“I’m … I’m really sorry, Haley,” Jason said.
Haley looked at him, the menace and hatred oozing out of her.
“Don’t worry,” Riley assured her. “We’ll get the bastard.”
“How?” Haley demanded.
Riley and Jason looked at each other.
“I called Kendra,” Riley said. “She’ll be here soon.”
“Kendra?”
“Ms. Armistice,” Jason said. “She’ll get to bottom of this.”
“You mean like how we got to the bottom of it? How we so spectacularly failed to complete our mission?”
They looked at her, perplexed.
“It’s the same killer!” Haley shouted. “He knows about us! He knows we were investigating him!”
“Alright, just calm down,” Jason soothed.
“I am fucking calm!” Haley screamed. “It’s him! One of those freaking vampires!”
“Alright, alright,” Jason murmured. “Um. I should add something as well. He knows who I am too. He had my phone number.”
“What?”
“When I was chasing him, he wound up calling my phone,” Jason said. “I was just trying to explain this to Riley. He mentioned … He mentioned Roxanne’s name. Said she’ll be next or something. Roxanne is my girlfriend. I tried calling her, but no answer. Left a message. I should probably go round there. Make sure she’s okay.”
“What?” Riley demanded. “You’re not leaving us here.”
“Someone has to stay here,” Haley wept. “My Mom and my brother are –”
“It’s alright. We’re not going anywhere. Right?”
Jason looked at them sideways. “Roxanne could be in trouble.”
Headlights blared down the right end of the road.
They walked to the edge of the footpath as another dark van pulled up on the opposite side of the road.
“Who is that?” Haley demanded. “Is that anyone?”
“I think it’s –” Jason began.
A large heavy set man in dark clothes exited the driver’s side. They watched as he went round the side of the van, and a team of five similarly dressed individuals exited.
They started coming over.
“Oh phew, it’s only Dino,” Riley said.
They waited for him to get within range.
“You guys needed some help?” Dino called to them. “A couple of dead bodies?”
“They’re my fucking family, you insensitive bastard!” Haley cried.
“Sorry,” Dino muttered. “What’s the plan here?”
Haley turned to Riley. “Did you even call an ambulance? Did you call the police?”
“Uh … We thought, or I thought we should handle the matter internally.”
“So they’re in this house?” Dino asked, pointing.
“Do you have any real training?” Haley demanded. “Do you know how to check them properly and…”
She collapsed.
Dino’s men began wheeling two long stretchers past them.
“Yeah, just inside,” Dino said, responding to a question from one of his men.
Riley crouched beside Haley. “We’re going to take care of them. We promise. They’ll be looked after.”
“You really trust that brute?” Haley mumbled.
Dino looked down towards her. “I’m sorry for your loss. I once … lost my mother too…”
He walked over to the guys wheeling the stretchers towards the house.
“Let’s be gentle, team. These people are ours.”
Haley looked away to the ground.
“It’s okay,” Riley said trying to comfort her. “We’ll get you somewhere safe.”
“I don’t want to be somewhere safe,” Haley whispered.
“Well, what do you want?”
“I want to get even.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
It was Nadine’s car, so she didn’t mind driving. The guitar she’d retrieved from her earlier operation rested in the passenger seat, while her two companions sat anxiously in the back. Neither of them had wanted to be bothered with investigating these supposedly unrelated deaths. But as far as serial killers and vampires were concerned, Nadine had the experience and she knew that these deaths were likely to be no coincidence.
A short while into their trip, noticing that the pair were silently conversing with one another every time her eyes left the rearview mirror, Nadine decided to turn on the stereo. It was a decision most favorable. Not only did she have the highly meditative luxury of cruising the nighttime suburbia in her state of the art modern vehicle, but to accompany them they got to listen to no less than five classic songs from the golden 80s. It was an era Nadine herself was too young to remember.
But not too young to appreciate.
The group of three were waiting outside the house near the road on arrival. Nadine was first out of the car, but last to approach them, taking in every angle of the environment. Every shadow that hit the ground.
“We have someone new working with us,” Kendra explained as Nadine descended upon them. “She was sent by our director, so please, the utmost respect.”
Nadine cast her eyes across the three individuals.
“Jason,” the man said offering his hand.
Nadine shook it.
One of the women stood up beside him. “Riley.”
Nadine shook her hand.
Then turned her direction to the woman still on the ground. “You must be Haley.”
“Yeah,” Haley said. “Who are you?”
“I’m Nadine Blue. I’m here to fix the mess you’ve created for yourselves tonight.”
“Yeah,” Haley snapped. “Well, you can’t fix it. It’s too late. My family’s dead.”
“And so are the fifteen innocent women you all knew about at the start of this venture. Their lives are not to be forgotten. Do you understand?”
“Hey, back off Nadine-what’s-it’s,” Riley interrupted. “We’ve been through hell here.”
“Hell?” Nadine scoffed. “We have a job to do here. I’m sorry Haley, if it’s not what you want to hear, but this attack on her family isn’t just about her. It’s about US and THEM. This … could happen to any one of us. I’m sure that Haley still has some people out there, who are close to her, and whom she loves. As do we all. As of right now, this monster is putting them all at risk. If we don’t catch up with him soon, more blood will be spilt. Understand, that in this we are united. And we shan’t rest, or sleep, or eat, or fuck, or –” Nadine paused, sniffing the air. “Or smoke dope. We’re in this now. And there’s no going back. Every damn fucking last one of you better stand here with me and be committed to finding this killer before the night is out. So who will stand with me?”
Nadine stepped away from them and folded her arms.
Kendra stared back at her, like she was about to roll her eyes or laugh out loud.
But then one person suddenly made the move and crossed the line between her and she.
Nadine glanced to her side. “I’m pleased we see eye-to-eye then.”
“What are you waiting for?” Haley cried to the rest of the group. “Let’s catch this son of a bitch!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Somewhere far away, in the outskirts of the city metropolis, Brock Ferns stepped out of a parked car and slammed the door behind him. He walked up the footpath slowly, passing the occasional person or group of people as he went by. The green lights up ahead guided his direction.
Once he had made it, Brock stepped back a moment, onto the r
oad. He looked up at the seventy storey hotel, admiring its size and prestige. He walked up through the sliding door entrance and into the lobby area. A few busy faces moved about, from all corners and in all directions. Brock moved to the front desk where a group of ladies had just finished checking in. One of them turned as he walked past them, pouting her lips and winking at him.
Brock offered her no such flirtation in return.
He leaned forward, placing his arms over the desk.
A young woman with glasses stared back at him. “How can I help you?”
“I’m in urgent need of contacting one of your guests,” Brock said. “A Ms. Annabel Echo.”
“I’m sorry we have no way for you to do that,” the receptionist replied.
“Well, if you could just call her room and tell her I’m down here –”
“We don’t do that either I’m afraid. You’ll have to find another means of contacting her. Is there something else I can help you with?”
“Well, can you tell me at least that I’m in the right place? Is she a guest here?”
The receptionist smiled and nodded. “We don’t give out that information.”
“Okay thanks.”
Brock moved away from the desk and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby. The receptionist eyed him a moment, before someone else came over to divert her attention.
Brock tried the phone number he’d been given again, but alas there was no answer.
He waited a moment, watching the front desk. He was going to have to do something here.
Once the receptionist was free again, he walked back over.
“How can I help you?” she asked flatly.
“I know you’re just doing your job,” Brock said, “but I really need you to listen to me now.”
The woman nodded.
“I have a friend outside, and he’s unstable. He said if I don’t get a hold of Annabel Echo, he’s going to go crazy in here. I think he has a weapon on him.”
“By your friend, do you mean you?”
“What I’m saying is, if you keep refusing to help me, you’re going to get seriously hurt.” Brock glanced over his shoulder. He saw a security guard walking over to them. “He’s going to get hurt too now if you say anything to him about this. Do you understand me?”
The receptionist stared back stone-faced.
“There a problem here?” the guard asked behind Brock.
“This gentleman’s making threats,” the receptionist said.
“Alright buddy, let’s go. Outside.”
He put a heavy hand to Brock’s shoulder.
“You’ll regret this,” Brock whispered.
He then closed his eyes.
And lashed out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Knock, knock, knock.
The door opened just as Brock finished blotching his lower lip with a tissue.
“My word, he wasn’t lying when you said you were sisters,” Brock remarked, eyeing his new acquaintance.
Annabel Echo clutched the edge of the doorframe. “Who wasn’t lying?”
“Your father.”
She made a face. “Blegh. Fuck off.” She went to close the door.
Brock put a hand in stopping her. “I’m afraid I have some rather serious news.”
“From Julian? He can drop dead.”
“It’s about Madame Nightshade.”
She hesitated. “What about her?”
“It’s best I come inside. So I can properly explain.”
Annabel looked him up and down. “It’s just you, isn’t it?”
Brock showed her his open hands.
“Come in then.”
Brock stepped into the suite. At first there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. He could smell some odd cooking odors, and there was a pot on the stove puffing out purple steam, but otherwise it the suite could be described as simple living.
Brock stood in the centre of the living area, a couch to his right, television computers to his left.
Annabel had paused by the stove, taking time to stir the contents of the pot.
“Madame Nightshade is dead,” he blurted out.
“Dead?” Annabel replied without looking up. “How?”
“She was killed by someone working for the paranormal police. The Count sent me over here to tell you … and to possibly enlist your help for retribution.”
“My twin sister was the last thing holding anything between my relationship with him. If she’s passed on as you say, then all ties are severed.”
She turned towards him, holding out a metal spoon containing a sample from the pot.
As Brock went to shake his head in disgust, a large feathered entity appeared beside him, lumbering forward to take the offered morsel.
Brock fell back into the table by the wall, watching the giant bird with shock.
“What the fuck is that?” he mumbled.
“His name is Simon.”
“No, but I mean – what is it?”
“An emu, dummy.”
The bird looked at him, its tongue outstretched, slurping up the discolored liquid.
Brock glanced behind him, trying to figure out where the emu had concealed him.
“Listen, I…”
“Go on,” Annabel whispered in the emu’s ear. “Go to bed.”
The bird turned and staggered out into the hall.
“So,” she said. “You’ve delivered your message.”
“You seem rather unaffected.”
Anabel shrugged. “I’m not really. I’m just not expressing my emotions.”
“Oh.”
“So what does he think then? That I’ll come and join his group. Or wage war on whoever… Arianne had her way of dealing with the disease. I have mine. I’m not caught up in that world.”
“Well,” Brock smiled. “I don’t have any orders to push you into it. So I should probably get out of here and deliver the bad news back to him.”
“You know where the door is.”
Brock bowed his head and exited back towards the hall. His eyes peered round the unlit corners, wondering what secrets they too held.
He opened the front door and walked back out into the corridor.
He made it a few paces before Annabel’s shadow spread out across the carpet in front of him.
Brock turned.
“Tell me again who killed her,” Annabel said with tears in her eyes.
“I – ugh – ”
“I want to know everything. Where she was when it happened. The person who did it and why. I want to know where they are. Right now…”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Eyes sparkled. Glasses clinked. Heartbeats hummed.
A tall figure in dark clothing emerged through the dancefloor, passing couples engaged in various stages of intimacy. His legs remained straight, the soles of his feet never touching the ground. At the back of the room he paused over a young woman lying unconscious across the seating. He picked up her hand and twisted her wrist to open the cut further. Fresh blood spilled out into his glass.
“Julian? Is that you? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
As he turned, the Count’s feet fell back to the floor.
“Lady Thessalia,” the Count said mildly. “It’s been some time.”
“You poor thing,” she said taking his arm. “I just heard about Arianne. You must be overcome with grief.”
“Her passing was most untimely.”
“This whole business makes me quite outraged,” Lady Thessalia continued. “If they can get to the likes of Madame Nightshade, any one of us could be next.”
“Yes. But that sort of extreme rationale isn’t conductive to solving our dilemma.”
“I only meant to say –”
The Count allowed her to twist from his grasp.
She stepped back, bewildered.
“Your condolences are noted,” the Count said. He lifted the glass to his lips and drank from it.
“But
I want to offer more than my condolences,” Lady Thessalia said advancing again. “Who is to take on Madame Nightshade’s duties? How will you formulate –”
“I’ve sent for someone else to fulfill her role. Someone rather … close to home…”
Thessalia thought a moment. “You don’t mean –?”
“Yes. The white sheep of my family.”
“Well I hope it works out.”
The Count looked beyond her, distracted.
“If there’s anything I can do, you will let me know, won’t you?” Thessalia said touching his arm.
The Count gazed down towards her. “Of course.”
“Master? Master – Sir –”
One of his guards was calling to him through the crowd.
The Count waved his hand in the air. The guard approached.
“What is it?” the Count demanded.
“A small party has made it to the house’s main gates, requesting to see you.”
“Party? What party?”
“There’s three of them. They’ve been inspected thoroughly for weapons and devices. I think at least one of them was here earlier.”
A chill cross the Count’s eyes.
Thessalia shrank from him in fear.
“Bring them up to my study,” the Count ordered.
“As you wish, Master.”
The guard hurried away.
“What is it?” his companion asked. “Who are they?”
“The ones who killed Arianne,” the Count whispered. “I guess it’s time we got even.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I know this was your idea, but it’s probably best you left it up to me to do the talking,” Ms. Armistice said to Nadine inside the Vampire Dating Agency’s front entrance.
Nadine wasn’t even looking at her. “There’s a reason you’re not here by yourself.”
“Yeah, in case shit goes wrong.”
“Exactly.”
Ms. Armistice’s eyes went up and into their corners as she turned towards Haley.
Haley gave no show of support.
In the end, it wouldn’t be about choosing sides. The plan had already been laid out. Each of them knew their role and what they were doing.
Vampire Dating Agency II Page 5
