Elegant Black

by M. L. Bullock

  A cold finger was on my lips, and the Creep was on the edge of my bed. He wasn’t touching me, but the sensation of that cold finger on my skin lingered. And I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Inside, I continued to scream.

  “Hush now,” he said as he crossed his legs and puffed on a cigarette. “You have another chance, Sustainer. Another chance to redeem yourself.”

  I focused my mind on moving my hands. I wanted to beat the hell out of him, but I could only muster up enough strength to wiggle my fingers. If the Creep noticed, he didn’t say so. I kept focusing on my fingers as he continued to smoke.

  “You have no idea how valuable you are, Levi Wallace. So valuable that you survived another night, but it won’t last. You have been summoned by the Frenzied and must obey. We will never leave you alone, Levi Wallace.” He dropped the cigarette on the carpet and blew the smoke in my face. He had an accent; it was from somewhere in Eastern Europe, but I couldn’t place it. “We know who you are; we’ve known for a while. And we’ve been patient. So patient.” He brushed my hair out of my face and leaned in close. With all my effort I managed to turn my head away, but it didn’t bother the Creep. He tossed his head back and laughed at my misery. “Be at Crush tomorrow night. Come alone. If you don’t come alone, your pitiful friends will die. Your mother will die. Coleman and all those nice police officers will die. And…” he said with a disturbingly wide smile, “you’ll never see Lisa again. Nine o’clock.”

  He blew a kiss at me and walked to the window. He wore the same outfit as he had the first time I saw him: black leather pants, ripped shirt, black high-heeled boots. He made the peace sign at me and then flew, and I mean flew, out the open window. A wild wind whipped through my room, and I heard my name lingering on the evil gust for a few seconds. The invisible storm ripped the posters off my walls and moved every bit of paper on my desk. When it ceased, I could finally move again.

  Naomi was pounding on the door demanding that I let her in. I couldn’t do anything except curl up in a ball and try not to be sick.

  I knew what the Frenzied were now, and I knew that the Creep had Lisa. I didn’t understand it all, I couldn’t possibly understand all this, but they somehow had power over me, especially in my dreams. I believed the Creep. He was never going to let me go—none of them were. I had to go to Crush. Lisa must be there! I wanted to go, I knew I would go, but fear held me in its grip.

  Once upon a time, our band had dreamed of playing at Crush. The place was kind of a legend around here. Billy Michaels played there once, and there had been a rumor that Rex Teaser showed up last year for an impromptu jam session, but we never believed it. I’d brushed it off as a hopeful rumor, but now I knew better. And what about Jax Staff? He was certainly one of those creatures, like the Creep.

  Like the murderous creatures with glittery eyes, wide smiles and beautiful faces that had ripped Vanessa apart. Yeah, I would have to find the courage to go because I couldn’t let that happen to Naomi or anyone else. And Lisa was in their devilish hands!

  Yeah, I knew what they were. The Frenzied were vampires, and they were real, not some stupid movie monsters in white makeup and black capes. They were people I knew and admired, rock-and-roll idols that always seemed larger than life. Now I knew why. They weren’t alive at all. Not like me. Not like Lisa.

  They were vampires through and through, the real kind.

  And I was their next victim.

  Chapter Fourteen—Levi

  “Hey, it’s me. Levi Wallace. Could you meet at the Top Knot Deli? It’s at the corner of—”

  Coleman said, “Believe me, I know every deli in the tristate area. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  I hung up the phone and debated whether to tell Naomi I was going out. With the Creep hanging around, at least in my dreams, I decided I should do that. It was nine o’clock, but she wasn’t up yet. I’d finally come to the door last night and lied to her. Well, it was kind of a lie.

  I’d said, “Just a nightmare, Naomi. I’m fine.”

  “You sure?” she’d asked. “I can make you a cup of tea if you like.”

  “Go to bed. I’m fine.”

  Yeah, I’d been an ass, but surely she didn’t expect anything else from me at this point. I didn’t know why I felt such a need to punish her. I loved her, and a part of me wanted to cry on her shoulder like she’d cried on mine.

  This morning, I tapped on her bedroom door lightly and didn’t hear anything but snoring. Not her snoring, though. This wasn’t feminine snoring. What if the Creep was in there? Couldn’t be him. He was a creature of the night, one of the Frenzied. I opened the door a crack and immediately recognized the tattooed arm that was thrown over my sleeping mother’s body.

  Jackie Dean!

  “Damn it, Naomi!” I said as I watched her stir awake.

  “It’s not what you think,” she said as she slid out from under his arm.

  “How old do you think I am? It’s exactly what I think. Do you know he’s married? He is married with a kid.”

  Naomi grabbed her nylon robe and slid it over her nightgown and then hurried out the room, closing the door behind her. “He’s separated, and not because of me. Come downstairs, Levi. Jackie worked a late shift.”

  “Do you think I care? I can’t believe my mother is hooking up with a guy who’s my age. This is bullshit, Naomi. Total bullshit. Debbie is dead, Dad is gone, and you’re…you’re…”

  “Be careful what you say to me, Levi. I’m done letting you talk to me any way you like. And for the last time, stop calling me Naomi. I’m your mother.”

  I didn’t have time for this. If my mother wanted to spend her life in a drug-induced fog, that was her business. If she wanted to hook up with all my friends to get back at me, more power to her. I was going to find Lisa. I left the house without another word, slamming the front door one good time before I hopped in my car and spun out of the driveway.

  With some effort, I forced the scene out of my mind and paid attention to the road. There were people congregating at the end of the street. What the heck was going on here? I could see two cop cars, a few of my neighbors and more than a handful of strangers gathered around a blue lump on the ground. I recognized Black and Blue, Mrs. Sherman’s dogs. Mrs. Sherman’s next-door neighbor Brad Something-or-Other held their leashes as they barked at me. Brad shot a look in my direction and tapped the sleeve of the police officer next to him. I kept driving. Oh, God! Was Mrs. Sherman dead? Would the cops try to pin that on me too? Great. By the time they finished “investigating,” everyone I knew would be dead and I would be on Death Row.

  I hurried to the deli and parked the car as lightning cracked across the sky. It got dark fast. I raced inside to find Coleman waving me to his booth in the back corner. I barely sat down good before I said in a mad rush, “My neighbor is dead. At least I think she’s dead, and I had this nightmare last night. It was real, man. I swear it was real. I saw the Creep again, and there was another person there. I think her name was Vanessa.”

  “Hey, what will it be, Charlie?” A balding man wearing a neat apron approached us with a notepad and a pencil.

  “Two eggs and some toast, Tom. Same for my friend. And a pot of coffee. Thanks. Nice apron, by the way. Bonnie late again?”

  “You know my daughter. She’s late every Monday.”

  Coleman smiled politely, and I held my peace as Tom delivered two white coffee cups and a carafe of coffee. “Be back with those dishes in a few minutes. If Bonnie comes in, tell her I’m looking for her.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Coleman joked back with a smile. When the cook disappeared behind the swinging doors that led to the kitchen, Coleman said in a whisper, “Tell me everything you saw.”

  “They call themselves the Frenzied, and I think…I think they are more than just killers. I was standing in this room, like an auditorium, with this girl. She was singing, and I had Lizzie.”

  “Lizzie?”

  “My guitar. I had it with me in my dream. I dreamed about
this place before, right before Debbie disappeared. I mean, before she was killed. We both dreamed about it. I woke up to her screaming and she had this weird wound on her wrist and her window was open and I think someone broke in but—”

  “Okay, slow down.” Coleman dug a notebook out of his worn briefcase. “I’m going to take some notes, if you don’t mind.”

  “No, go ahead. The girl in my dreams, Vanessa, they killed her. They ripped her up.” I sobbed at the memory but didn’t let my emotions keep me from telling Coleman everything. I had to tell someone what I had seen. I couldn’t bear all this by myself. “Do you know who Jax Staff is? The front man for Urgent? He was the emcee. He shoved her into the crowd.” I shivered as I dumped a few tablespoons of sugar in my coffee. I stirred it with no intentions of drinking it. I had no appetite whatsoever. “They call themselves the Frenzied. Their eyes glittered like animals.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you ever shined a light at a raccoon? Their eyes glitter a little. That’s what I saw. The eyes of the Frenzied glitter when they are hungry. They made the most terrible sounds. She begged for her life, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t help her!”

  “Keep your voice down. No need to get these people involved too, Levi.”

  I don’t know why, but I laughed at his worry. “Oh, it’s too late. The Frenzied know all about us. And they mentioned your name. They said if I didn’t come to Crush tonight at nine o’clock, they would kill everyone I knew, including you. I have to go, but not just for that.”

  “Good Lord,” he said as he dropped the pen on the table.

  “Lisa is alive. The Creep says if I want to see her again I will be there. I know they are going to kill me, tear me up like Vanessa, drain me like Debbie, but I have to go for Lisa. I have to.”

  “I think we should go to Loomis and tell him about this. Pass right by Reynolds, though. He’s an ass. He’s never going to believe any of this. I find it hard to believe even though I know it’s true.”

  “They’ll die if I do. It’s bad enough that I involved you. I’m sorry, Mr. Coleman.”

  “Kid, I was involved long before you came along. Don’t sweat it. If I can survive Puerto Rican drug smugglers and a stint in the Army, I can survive the Frenzied, or whoever they fancy themselves to be.”

  “You think that, but wait until you can’t move or speak or do anything but obey. It’s like being in hell. Everything is happening to you and you can’t prevent any of it. I wish I had died instead of Debbie. I wish it every minute of the day.”

  “Everyone who loses someone feels the same way. It’s natural to feel guilt when a loved one dies, especially so young and unexpectedly. I’m sorry you have to experience such a thing. Tell me about Debbie.”

  My voice shook as I told him about her love for unicorns and her family, and how she hated it when I stole pens from her desk. How she was always so worried that I was going to leave her, but in the end she left me. I was dabbing at my eyes with a paper napkin when the food arrived. I didn’t want to be hungry, but I was starving. I thanked the cook and immediately pierced one of the runny yolks with a toast point.

  “As long as you remember her, she will always be alive. That reminds me of something. Wait a second.” He dug in his briefcase and took out a worn manila folder that I could see was stuffed with black and white photographs. He glanced at me worriedly and then picked the folder back up and carefully skimmed through the contents until he found what he was looking for. “Do you recognize this young woman?” He shoved the picture in front of me, and my throat immediately felt dry. My appetite left me as I picked up the picture and stared at the pretty face that looked back at me.

  She had tan skin, short, curly dark hair. Silver earrings and a warm smile. This was Vanessa. Beauty, a victim of the Frenzied.

  “That’s Vanessa. The girl from my dream.”

  He slid the picture back in the folder and sighed as he leaned back in the booth. “I was afraid of that. This is Vanessa Traywick. She’s missing…or was.” He tapped the folder with another sigh and shoved it back in his briefcase. We didn’t say anything for the next few minutes, just drank coffee and avoided looking at each other.

  “What’s the matter with the eggs?” Tom asked when he came back to retrieve our plates.

  “Nothing. Just leave them. We’re not done yet.” Coleman grinned up at him. “No sign of Bonnie yet?”

  “Nah, she’s probably just hungover.” The doorbell rang lightly as another customer came in for breakfast and Tom excused himself.

  “I can’t let you go alone tonight. I’m going with you. I’ll linger in the background.”

  I shook my head and frowned at that idea. “I can’t let you do that. I can’t have another death on my hands. I have to do this by myself.”

  “Whether you approve or not, I am going to that club. I can handle myself, Levi.”

  I swirled the remnants of the coffee in my cup before slugging it down. “You’re right, of course. I can’t stop you. I’m just warning you. Hey, one more thing. Have you heard of a Sustainer?”

  “A what?”

  “A Sustainer. That’s what the Creep called me. He said I wasn’t dead yet because I was a Sustainer. I was just wondering what that meant.”

  “I wouldn’t put too much stock in what he said. But come to think of it, it does sound familiar. I’ll do some research today, see what I can dig up. By the way, you mentioned that you won the tickets from a radio station. What was that, a call-in thing?”

  “No. Apparently I won the tickets from some drawing they had.” My heart sank as I remembered Hillbilly John’s voice on the radio. Rat bastard! He must have been in on it too! “It was a blood drive. My name got put in the hat at last year’s blood drive at city hall. Lisa was entered too.”

  “Interesting and morbid,” he said as he put money on the table for the bill. I offered to chip in, but he refused.

  “Least I could do. I’ll call you this afternoon. Please don’t go to that club without talking to me. I’m going to dig deeper on this blood drive and see what shakes out.”

  “Alright, but you aren’t changing my mind. Although I wish you could. I think I’m going to see my boss, then go to the house and see if Naomi needs my help with Debbie’s arrangements. I’d like to talk to Mr. Dance, but I’m sure like the rest of the world he’s convinced I killed Lisa.”

  “Do yourself a favor and stay at home. Don’t interact too much in case they are watching.”

  “You do believe me.”

  “Yeah, I wish I didn’t. But I do. I’ve seen too much not to believe you, Levi. Go home, please.”

  “Bye, Mr. Coleman. Thanks for listening. I’ll call you later.”

  I left the Top Knot feeling better after having the chance to talk about Debbie but also anxious about what tonight meant. Was I really going to do this by myself? Maybe I could convince one of my friends to help. I didn’t have many since Lisa had taken up most of my time recently, but there were a few. And one for sure owed me a favor for not kicking his ass earlier.

  Chapter Fifteen—Charles

  The kid was right about his neighbor. She was dead, and it wasn’t a suicide. The old lady had been thrown off a building; at least that was the chatter between a few officers. Granted, they were rookies, but it was pretty apparent that the late Mrs. Anita Sherman had been smashed to the ground and with great force. There were bits of her everywhere to prove out that theory. The thing was, there wasn’t a building tall enough on this street to have crushed the old lady in such a manner. Not to mention the two major problems anyone would have had trying to harm Mrs. Sherman: those two Dobermans that yelped and whined and sniffed at the air constantly. I tried to take some photos of the scene, but Reynolds spotted me immediately and ordered me behind the line.

  “What happened to freedom of the press?” I demanded as I ducked under the yellow crime scene tape.

  Reynolds waved his bear paw at me. “I don’t have time to deal with you, and
I don’t want you interfering with our investigation. In case you didn’t know it, in case you’re blind to the fact that we have another murder here, I am a little busy. Last warning, Coleman.” Reynolds tapped one of the uniformed officers on the shoulder. “If he so much as steps a toe past this line, arrest him.” The man nodded grimly and gave me the evil eye. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

  Maybe he was right. It was time to go. I had Levi Wallace to think about and not merely my reputation. I didn’t really have one of those anyway, so I was in no danger of losing it. Not like this guy, who was obviously pushing for a promotion. I glanced at the Wallace home, but the young man’s car wasn’t there. He had not taken my advice and stayed home. More’s the pity too because he was in real danger, beyond nightmares and bad feelings. Tough break for his sister. I believed every word of his story. It wasn’t because he was such a great kid…I could tell he was kind of a screw-up, but he wasn’t a murderer. I tossed my keys in the air and caught them a few times, a bad habit of mine that sometimes resulted in my keys being dropped in places where they shouldn’t be. I decided to head back to my office and see if I could recruit some help in the research department. Levi Wallace had given me some good clues, especially the two names that he mentioned, Sustainers and the Frenzied.

  The office was disturbingly quiet when I got there. It wasn’t until ten minutes into my research into old case files that I realized I had missed an office meeting. Hopefully they weren’t handing out pink slips. If they were, I would be first on that list. I was not an office favorite. Truth be told, Detective Reynolds and my editor had similar opinions about me. Still, I dutifully wrote whatever stories were requested of me no matter how menial. The good thing was I was pretty fast when it came to writing, which left me a lot of free time to do my own research for the things that interested me.

  Including the Black Knights.

  One of the young editorial assistants, a guy whose name escaped me, spotted me and raced toward my desk. Here we go, I thought. Probably sent by the editor himself to harass me. Was that a pink slip he had in his hand? No. It was a slip of paper, but it wasn’t pink. Were those literal? When they fired you, was there some kind of law where they had to write it on a piece of pink paper? That would actually make sense, and in my experience those kinds of stories had a bit of truth to them.