“How is that exactly?” Jason replied.
“We’ve seen what value these vampires have on human life,” Maurice said. “I don’t think anyone of us wants to go through what Haley has.”
“I’ll just tell my family to get out of town,” Riley said. “Until it all blows over, you know.”
“I wouldn’t think that stands up as a solution to our problems,” Maurice replied. “If we can make peace with the Count –”
“We tried that all fucking ready,” Jason cried. “Look what happened.”
“Well, we have to do something,” Haley pleaded. “I mean, aren’t we supposed to be finding this killer? How are we supposed to do that with the Count after us? Or, are we just giving up on that now?”
Jason finished his drink and walked back to the cupboard for another.
“Who do think the killer is, Haley?” Maurice asked.
“What?” Haley replied. “You mean, I should just guess?”
“I’ll tell you one thing – it’s someone who knows us,” Jason said over by the cupboard. “Someone who knows Haley. Someone who knows me.”
“What you’re saying is, it’s one of the vampires we were looking at tonight,” Riley said.
Jason walked back round and stood next to Luna with his refilled glass. “Isn’t that what we’ve been saying all along, Haley?”
Haley nodded. “It’s one of the three.”
“Which three?” Luna asked.
“The Count,” Riley said.
“Brock Ferns,” Jason added.
“Cyrus Rance,” Maurice finished.
“If there’s only three of them, shouldn’t it be easy to figure out which one it is?” Luna asked.
“My money’s on the Count,” Riley said. “What do you think Jason?”
Jason shrugged. “It might be the Count. But it could just as easily be one of the other two. Personally, that Brock rubs me the wrong way. I don’t trust him.”
“Maurice?” Luna asked.
Maurice hesitated. “I don’t have enough evidence to suspect any of them.”
“But what is your gut telling you?”
His eyes went to the back of his head. “Cyrus.”
“I agree with Maurice,” Haley said quickly. “The guy was fucking weird. Not to say that the Count isn’t messed up, but the Count doesn’t fit the profile for this. He’s too centre stage. This creep hides in the shadows. If you get my drift…”
“And Haley doesn’t think it could be Brock because she’s in love with him,” Riley commented.
“Fuck off,” Haley hissed. “Why would you say that?”
“Umm…”
“Knock it off, Riley,” Jason scolded. “Haley’s had enough for one night.”
Riley touched Haley’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Haley, that just came out.”
“Apology accepted.”
“But – who the fuck are you standing up there, passing judgment on me?” Riley continued.
“I’m not passing anything,” Jason mumbled, sipping from his glass.
“Guys, do we have a consensus here?” Maurice asked. “It would be great to have something for them before they come back.”
“It’s pretty simple,” Jason said. “Some of us are going to follow Nadine into hell. And some of us aren’t.”
“So that’s you then?” Haley demanded. “You’re not with us anymore?”
Jason put the glass down. “I’ll hear out whatever her plan is. But that doesn’t mean I have to go along with it.”
Riley nodded. “I agree with Jason. I’ll hear her out and then I’m done.”
Maurice turned to Luna. “What about you?”
“I don’t mind helping out with whatever,” Luna said. “As long as it’s behind the scenes.”
“Amen to that,” Riley said.
Haley stood up. She felt sick.
This room was full of pain.
“Excuse me.”
She took a few paces around the side of Riley and approached the door.
Maurice stepped back, making way. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but the words weren’t there.
Haley put her hand to the door, and felt as though she was going to slide off the face of the earth.
“Do you need help?” Luna asked. “Do you need someone to come with you?”
Haley turned to them, burning tears oozing out of her eyes. “I can’t give up. I CANNOT GIVE –”
She stopped herself, aware of a faint vibration against her leg.
It was her phone.
Her green phone.
“Haley, you finally answer,” Cyrus whispered into her ear. “I’ve been looking forward to your company all evening. Are you ready to go?”
Haley swallowed.
The empty faces peered around the room at her.
“I’m ready,” she said. “I’ll tell you where you can get me.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
It was him. And it was her.
A battle of arms, or a battle of wits, the battle was coming to them soon. Haley could feel his presence all around her. Invading the air she breathed. He was trying to find a way in. Trying to figure her out completely. Once he had, then it would be game over.
Unless she figured him out first.
Either side of the road was dark. Sure, there were lights. Lights in the sky. Lights in the distance. There was even the light of Haley’s green phone. He would see her from a while away. The question was – would she see him too?
Haley inhaled the freezing air. The thing was, she wasn’t even that sure it was him. Cyrus, that is. She didn’t really know much about Cyrus. She hadn’t seen enough of his character.
She’d seen plenty of the other two though.
Brock.
And the Count.
She didn’t think it was either of them. No – it had to be Cyrus. He was the only one left. The only one they’d been following tonight…
No voices.
No voices in her ear.
This time she was alone. She wondered how things would go down without her. How hard Nadine would try and make the others find her. If they would even bother to look.
“It’s okay,” she whispered to herself. “You can do this. You can figure this out.”
The road was still dark. He wasn’t here yet.
Haley pressed her shoe into the ground.
It was different now. Different because he knew.
She was going to have to fake it – pretend she was just coming along for the company and conversation or whatever. If Cyrus was innocent, then he wouldn’t know otherwise.
But if he was guilty, as she suspected him to be, then he already knew what she was doing here.
He knew she was trying to find him out.
Lights.
Headlights on her left. Drifting down the road.
Haley rubbed her arms together, trying to stay warm. The dark car approached her.
It slowed down.
Haley walked slowly round to the side of it. She peered into the glass.
It was Cyrus alright.
Cyrus sitting behind the wheel.
This was it.
No going back now.
It was time to learn the truth.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The night knew no different. No different than any other. All around them: the shapes, the colors and shadows – it all had a fleetingness. The world appeared one way when looking at it from one perspective. But really it could be anything. Haley thought about how she too was interchangeable. Just as Cyrus was, and the car they were occupying. To the oncoming stranger, they were but shadows in the car, and they could be anybody, doing anything. Living any kind of night. It was on that note, with her eyes on the glass, that Haley almost convinced herself that her mother and brother weren’t dead. That she could just block the last few hours out of her life. Forget they’d ever happened. It really didn’t seem that hard. And if it wasn’t hard, then maybe – just maybe…
It coul
d be real.
“You’re a long way from the Vampire Dating Agency,” Cyrus remarked, his eyes on the road. “I wonder, how you came to stray so far?”
“It’s been an eventful evening,” Haley replied.
“Care to share?”
“Not particularly.”
Cyrus paused. His grip on the wheel tightened. “Well, we must talk about something.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m lonely.”
Haley looked him over through her peripherals. She watched his posture. His breathing. Trying to gage his temperament…
“I will break you, you know,” he said after a moment.
“Pardon?”
“Your walls. Your defenses. I’m not stupid. I can see you’re partially repulsed by me. It’s an effect I have on people. Yet, I’ve lured you to me somehow…”
“I take it I wouldn’t be the first person you’ve broken.”
“No dear,” Cyrus said calmly. “You wouldn’t even be the first tonight.”
“What’s to say I won’t break you?”
Cyrus tilted his head towards her slightly. “That would surprise me.”
“Because you think I’m just a fragile female? Incapable of wrapping my finger around the big, strong vampire? Incapable of seeing you for who you really are?”
“I don’t know what you’re capable of, Haley. But I’m quite sure before the night is out, you’ll show me.”
“Yes.”
The moon passed over Cyrus. “Yes … yes what?”
Haley remained in the darkness.
“Yes, I’m certain too,” she said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
It was a strange neighborhood where Cyrus lived. Many of the houses were tall, crooked, and covered with grisly decorations and blinking lights. As if they were celebrating some kind of holiday Haley never knew existed. The car slowed down to the side of the road and Cyrus was out before Haley had even removed her seatbelt. Once they were both outside the car, Haley took a step into the middle of the road, embracing a pool of red and blue light.
“Not that way,” Cyrus said quietly behind her.
Haley turned. He was standing at the side where they’d parked, opposite a cluster of dark trees.
“Come on,” he said.
Haley walked past the front of the car cautiously as Cyrus made his way into the trees. She followed him there, keeping her distance.
“Where is this leading to? Is there a path…?”
“We’re just up ahead here,” Cyrus replied.
Even as Haley’s eyes adjusted to the dark, she found herself being able to see less and less. She had no idea which direction they were headed, or where they were going.
Until of course…
She realized.
“Stop,” Haley whispered under her breath.
Cyrus didn’t seem to have heard her.
“I said stop, Cyrus.”
Now he stopped. Now he turned.
“Why have you brought me out here?” Haley asked.
“When one asks for another’s intentions, one does not always get a straight answer.”
Haley swallowed. She was on the verge of it.
Of giving it all away.
“Just a couple more minutes now. We’ll soon be there.”
Is it you? Haley’s thoughts demanded.
Are you getting ready to kill me now?
Cyrus turned back and kept walking.
Haley breathed in deeply and forced herself to take another step. Forced herself to keep her eyes on him.
He made no sudden moves.
No tricks to dart or hide.
And then, without warning, an aura of green light consumed what lay ahead. Further now, further – Haley could see the trees were ending. This was leading somewhere.
She brushed through the last of trees, the trodden dirt and bramble below her feet now cross over to a well maintained lawn. Cyrus was standing near what appeared to be a series of large open tennis courts, fenced off with metal wire. Tall posts towered over the courts, producing the source of the near blinding green light.
Cyrus reached into his pocket and pulled out a key attached to a chain, and inserted it to a padlock on the door. He unlocked it and pushed the door open.
“After you.”
Haley stepped through.
Cyrus closed the door and locked it up again.
Facing forward Haley could see a wooden area with various plant-life, just outside the back of a house.
“This is where you live?” Haley asked.
Cyrus nodded.
“What’s wrong with the front entrance?”
He walked ahead of her. “This is the front.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
A vampiress with curly black hair was sitting on the edge of the jacuzzi just outside Cyrus’s dwelling. She had a cigarette in one hand. Her feet were in the water.
“So you found her after all,” the vampiress remarked. “Good for you.”
“Where are you putting that ash?” Cyrus replied. “Not in the water I hope.”
She held the smoke out, and tapped it in front of her.
Cyrus’s hands closed together. “Give me that.”
“Fuck you,” the vampiress said and kicked a puddle of water at him.
He grabbed hold of her hand, and she switched the smoke to the other. She took a drag.
Cyrus went to push her into the pool, but she managed to take hold of his neck in time, and threw him over her head.
He landed in the jacuzzi with a giant splash.
The vampiress gave a childish laugh. She turned to Haley as Cyrus surfaced.
“You should lend him a hand, I think.”
Haley moved around the pool’s edge where Cyrus was attempting to climb out. She bent to her knees and put her hands out to him. Cyrus avoided them. “I don’t think so.”
He hoisted himself up onto the ledge a short distance away. He shook his hair, trying to drain the water. “Fucking bitch.”
“Just reflexes, I guess,” the vampiress said coolly.
“How dare you embarrass me in front of a guest.”
“And just what she wants to see too. You getting worked up over losing to a girl.”
“I didn’t lose.”
Haley turned to the vampiress. “I saw you earlier.”
“Yes, I’m aware,” the vampiress replied. “I’m Avril Rance, the little fool’s sister. I forget your name –”
“Haley.”
“Well, nice to meet you Haley.” Avril stood up. “Play nice then. Both of you.”
She walked up to the house and pulled back a sliding door. She went inside.
Haley removed her shoes.
She sat at the jacuzzi’s edge next to Cyrus, and put her feet in the water.
Avril’s cigarette floated on by.
“It’s so stupid,” Cyrus muttered. “I don’t know why she always gets to me.”
“It’s your house isn’t it? You let her be here.”
“Well, she is company. And company well trusted.”
“She’s not the only one here, is she?”
“No,” Cyrus admitted. “I suppose I should ask you whether you’re a people person or not. If you don’t mind spending time with all of them. Or you just want to spend some time alone.”
His foot touched hers.
“I think you know it’s not going to be that easy for you, Cyrus.”
Cyrus laughed. “Good. Yes – yes, of course. How silly of me.”
There was a moment of silence.
Haley watched their reflections bubbling in the water.
She couldn’t see him yet. She was trying to … trying to know if the mind beside her was the killer’s.
Cyrus glanced up at her, as though he was trying to read her mind.
And in one reality, they were both strangers. So close, and yet so far away.
And in another reality, they both knew.
Exactly who they were.
&
nbsp; CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Inside the house, Avril was lying face up, spreading herself across the silky soft carpet at her partner’s feet. Both were a few feet away from the kitchen area where Haley and Cyrus entered.
“I really must say, Cyrus,” the partner called. “This some of the best blood I’ve ever tasted.”
“It’s from Paris,” Cyrus said opening up the fridge. He produced a bottle and set it on the counter. “1585.”
“I don’t know how they did it.”
“Did what?”
“Not drink all the blood for themselves.”
“Well. One has to make a living.”
“Indeed.”
Cyrus to Haley. “Would you like to try it?”
“Is that a joke?”
“Oh I’m sorry,” Cyrus said touching her hand. “I forgot you weren’t a vampire.”
“Not yet anyway,” Avril called.
“There should be some other type of beverage in the fridge,” Cyrus offered. “Just don’t touch any of the green bottles.”
“I’ll pass, thank you.”
“Okay. Go in then. Make yourself comfortable.”
Haley walked around the side of the counter. She selected an available armchair in the far corner of the room.
Cyrus reentered and topped up the other vampire’s glass. He returned briefly to the kitchen before pulling up another chair so as to sit near Haley with a glass in his hand.
“I’m Magnus,” the vampire called across the room. “What’s your name?”
“This is Haley,” Cyrus answered for her.
“I like your look,” Magnus said.
“Thank you,” Haley replied.
“I think Edmond’s working on something similar with Melanie.”
Haley leaned forward. “Melanie’s here then?”
“Yes, your old friend Melanie,” Cyrus said. “She’ll be pleased to see you I’m sure.”
“Edmond!” Avril shouted. “Melanie!”
“You don’t have to bother them,” Magnus said bending towards her.
“But I want to,” Avril said kicking her feet up at him. “And I always do what I want.”
“To the dissatisfaction of others,” Cyrus commented.
“Still mad cause I threw you in the pool, brother?”
Vampire Dating Agency II Page 8
