“You have great depths in you, my dear. True potential,” she said, staring directly into my best friend’s eyes. “You are an old soul. Come, tell me about yourself. Let me heal you.”
“Taylor , no,” I hissed, gripping her upper arm but she shrugged me off like a gnat and walked quickly to the stage.
“Celeste, I am ready.” Her pupils were dilated and her voice sounded somehow robotic. It was frightening but there was no one I could ask for help. No one but me who wasn’t under the vampire’s spell.
I learned later that this was Celeste’s special gift as well as the key to her popularity. She could glam an entire auditorium of willing humans just with the sound of her voice and make them believe anything she wanted. The actual show was pretty cheesy, Celeste asking audience members up and telling them trivial details of their past like where they had mislaid their favorite pair of earrings or predicting their love lives. But because they were under her spell, they left thinking they had witnessed something life changing and profound. It was all a big cheat but try telling the tourists that—they adored Celeste and she loved being worshiped so it all worked out. Well, for her, anyway. For my best friend, not so much.
The vampire mistress played Taylor like a violin. She dropped a few hints about the recent frustrations of her love life and my best friend melted like ice cream on a hot summer day. She cried and begged the vampire to help make everything all right.
“You shall be healed of all your sorrows, beautiful one,” Celeste intoned, stroking Taylor’s cheek softly. Right then I knew something more than a show was going on. At five ten with a curvy, statuesque figure and long black hair, Taylor looks like a heroine on the front of a bodice ripper romance novel. I’d always admired her flawless, freckle-free skin and her model’s physique but from a friend’s perspective. However, I could see Celeste’s dark gaze crawling greedily all over my best friend’s body and it was clear the vamp wanted more than friendship from her latest “volunteer.”
I sat helpless in the crowd while the vampire glammed Taylor within an inch of her life, wishing like hell I could do something and knowing I was powerless to stop what was going on in front of me. It seemed to take forever and involved lots of stroking and kissing and soft-core panting from both Celeste and my friend but finally Taylor was released to come back to my side.
While the vamp called up her next victim, I snapped my fingers under my best friend’s nose. “Taylor, wake up! Snap out of it.”
She blinked her big blue eyes and smiled at me in a dreamy way. “Addison? Are you still here?”
“Where else would I go?” I said grimly. “I was stuck here while you spilled your guts to the vamp. What was all that shit about your love life, anyway? She had you acting like you’d been left at the altar and you haven’t even dated anyone seriously in over a year.”
“She saw into me. Deep into my soul,” Taylor murmured dreamily. “I told her everything because I had to—it was the only way she could help me. And now I know what I must do to be healed.”
I really didn’t like the psychobabble coming out of her black lipsticked mouth. Show or no show, I wanted to leave. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” I tugged at her arm until she rose obediently and followed me out of the banquet hall, walking with a slow, measured tread like a zombie. All the way to the exit, I was sure I could feel Celeste’s dark eyes on my back but at least she didn’t say anything. I breathed a sigh of relief when the doors shut behind us and began towing my best friend toward the hotel lobby.
“You didn’t feel it, did you?” The voice was close, almost right in my ear.
“Excuse me?” I stopped my forward motion and looked back in confusion. Standing right behind me was a black man who looked to be somewhere in his sixties. He was wearing a rumpled brown suit that looked like he’d been sleeping in it and his hair was almost completely gray.
“That she-devil’s power. You weren’t feeling it—I was watching you so I know.”
“Why were you watching me?” I took a step back and Taylor moved with me, as obedient as a well behaved child. I really needed to get her home and see if I could break the weird trance she was in.
The man shrugged. “Recruitment. This is as good a place to find non-glams as any in town.” He stuck out a hand. “Gerald Holmes. I work for the VAB—the Vampire Auditing Bureau.”
“The what?” I asked, taking his hand by reflex. It was hard and callused and he pumped my own hand exactly twice before letting go.
“Vampire Auditing Bureau,” he repeated patiently. “It’s a government agency.”
“What, like the FBI or the CIA?” I asked, fascinated despite myself.
He laughed. “Actually, we’re an offshoot of the FDA, don’t ask me why. But the point is, we’re always looking for new Auditors and you have what it takes.”
I shook my head. “Look, I’ve never even heard of you or your agency and I don’t know what an, uh, Auditor is or does.”
“We keep track of the vamps. Make sure they aren’t abusing their powers and glamming humans who don’t want to be glammed. Without us, the entire country would be controlled by bloodsuckers.”
“That sounds like a worthy calling and everything but I’m in grad school right now. So—sorry, not interested.”
“What are you in school for?”
“English lit. I’m going to teach on the college level if I can ever finish my dissertation.”
“English lit, huh? Dracula. Now there’s a book you might want to look into.”
“Sorry, I’m more into Dickinson than Stoker.”
He looked me in the eye. “‘Because I could not stop for death, he kindly stopped for me.’ Death stopped for your friend just now.”
“Look,” I said, trying not to feel exasperated. “I’m sorry but I really don’t have time to chat right now. I need to get her home.”
He looked into Taylor’s big blue eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. She’s been glammed pretty good. You better watch her for the next twenty-four hours.”
“Is that how long it takes to wear off?” I asked, dismayed.
“Sometimes it never wears off,” he said darkly. “Depends on how susceptible your friend is to the glamour and how badly the vamp wants her.”
“Wants her? But why would Celeste want her?”
“Just look at her.” He gestured to the catatonic Taylor. “Vamps are pretty people and they like other pretty people. You ever seen an ugly vampire?”
“Well…no,” I admitted. “But I still don’t see—”
“It’s all about sex,” he said harshly. “Those dead bastards only have two drives left—the drive to feed and the drive to fuck. That’s their entire existence.”
“So you’re saying they’re all id,” I said. “All desire and appetite and no restraint.”
“Exactly.” He nodded. “That’s where we come in. They can’t restrain themselves so we restrain them. You heard the saying absolute power corrupts absolutely?”
I nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
“They’re too damn powerful. Anyone strong enough to dead-lift a semi and hypnotize most of the human population can do pretty much whatever he or she wants. We have to keep on top of them or the whole world is screwed. Understand?”
“I do, yes.” I nodded. “I just, uh, I don’t know that I’m the kind of person who could do that—keep on top of them, I mean.” In fact, it had never occurred to me that vampires needed controlling or watching. They were just tourist attractions or Vegas lounge acts to me. Would you create a special government agency to police Siegfried and Roy or Wayne Newton? Despite my unease at what I’d witnessed just moments before, the whole idea seemed vaguely ridiculous.
Gerald Holms gave me a hard look, as though he knew what I was thinking. “You’re underestimating the vamps and yourself. You knew something wasn’t right in there and you got your friend away. But just think of all the folks that are still in there, at that she-devil’s mercy.”
“They signed a
waiver,” I pointed out.
“A waiver.” He made a face like the word left a bad taste in his mouth. “Yeah, the vamps have the damn lawyers in their pockets. Got all of us signing our lives away to those bloodsuckers ‘til there’s not a damn thing we can do about it if somebody gets hurt.”
I could see what he was getting at but his passionate speech was still falling into the category of not-my-problem. After all, I was just a poor student trying to get through school, and when I was done I was going to teach at a nice, private university somewhere and hopefully earn tenure so I could pay off my student loans. I didn’t see myself as a protector of the innocent or a crusader for justice and I sure as hell didn’t want a career in law enforcement. I loved to read and write and I wanted to share that love with students eager to learn—not spend my nights busting vamps for infractions or barbequing them when they got the death penalty.
So I smiled at Gerald Holms and thanked him for his offer. “I’ll think about it,” I lied, pulling Taylor toward the lobby exit.
“You do that. Here.” He produced a card with his name and number on it, then pressed it into my hand. “You’ll see,” he said darkly. “When something happens to someone you love and a vamp’s behind it—you’ll get it then. But then it’ll be too late.”
“Uh, thanks.” I accepted the card and, with his morbid goodbye ringing in my ears, I hauled Taylor out to the car and drove us both home.
I wished later I would have listened to his warning. But he was right—by the time I was wishing that, it was too late.
I spent the night worried about my best friend but she went to sleep naturally enough and the next day she seemed fine. A little subdued, maybe, but nothing really out of the ordinary. I had a job as an adjunct to one of the biology professors—it wasn’t my field but all I really had to do was set up and take down the labs—so I had to leave her alone for a night class.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked her for the hundredth time as I was walking out the door.
Taylor made a face. “I swear to God, Addison, if you ask me that one more time…”
“Sorry, sorry. You just had me really freaked out last night. It was like you were some kind of a robot or something.”
“Well, I’m fine now. So go on and go. You’re going to be late and you know how much Dr. Pincer loves that.”
“Well…” I had my hand on the knob and Taylor made a shooing motion at me.
“Go. I’m fine and I’ll see you tonight. We’ll order that pizza we wanted last night and drink a gallon of Margaritas if you want.”
“Extra salt on the rim.” I pointed a finger at her.
She laughed. “Like I would forget? You’re talking to the queen of saltoholics here.”
Hearing her sound so much like her old self put me at ease. I gave her a grin and stepped out the door, intent on getting to the class in time to set up that night’s lab. I told myself that she was fine and that the effects of the vampire’s glamour had worn off.
How could I know that would be the last time I saw my best friend alive?
When I came back from my class, Taylor was gone. Just gone. Her car was still in the parking lot and her clothes were in the closet. Her cell phone was lying on her bed—she hadn’t even taken her keys.
I was frantic. It was clear to me that someone or something had come into the apartment and taken her away because there was no way she would leave without those things. Unfortunately there were no signs of forced entry or a struggle and Taylor was over twenty-one so the police refused to let me file a missing person’s case until twenty-four hours went by. Incidentally, that’s almost exactly how long it takes to turn someone into a vampire but I didn’t find that out until later.
Of course my thoughts immediately went to Celeste and I was sure she had something to do with my friend’s disappearance. But when I went to the Embassy Suites where the Vampire Bedazzlement had been held, I found nothing. The show had moved on and one of the hotel employees told me it was only held there every other week anyway.
I was frantic and so were Taylor’s mom and dad. We scoured the city for days, putting up posters while I continued to try and track down Celeste. I visited glam-sex clubs, vamp topless bars and even a vampire-friendly nudist colony, which is something I would so like to be able to forget, but no one would give me more than hints. Then, finally, exactly a month after she’d disappeared, I got a call.
“I understand you’re trying to find me, little human.” The sultry feminine voice on the other end of the phone couldn’t be mistaken. It was Celeste.
I took a deep breath. “I am, yes. My friend Taylor was one of your vic…er, volunteers at a show you did about a month ago. And the day after your show, she disappeared—do you know anything about where she might be?”
I expected her to deny it but Celeste obviously didn’t believe in lying—or else I was so far beneath her notice she didn’t fear any retribution from me. “The beautiful one with long dark hair? Oh yes, I know where she went,” she said at once.
I felt my breath catch in my throat. “You’ve seen her? Where is she?”
“She’s here, with me.” Celeste let out a deep, throaty laugh that made the short hairs on the back of my neck stand up. “She’s my new pet. You may visit her if you like.”
“She…I…where are you?” I asked, barely able to get the words out.
“Sheila will give you the address.” Celeste already sounded bored. Another voice took over and gave me directions to a community in the New Tampa area where none of the houses started below the two million mark. It was a long haul from our apartment in Beach Park—the poor part of South Tampa—but I made it in record time.
When I got there I found Taylor sitting on a couch beside the petite Celeste. My friend didn’t look particularly happy but she didn’t look as miserable as she would soon become either. I found out later that this was a pattern for Celeste—she latched onto a human she thought had “potential” and turned them to serve as her companion. For a few months—sometimes even a few years—everything was all right. But the moment her new prodigy disappointed or displeased her in any way, the gloves were off.
“Taylor, what are you doing here?” I asked, thinking how unlike herself she looked. Her normally tan skin was as pale as paper and her eyes had a strange glitter to them I had never seen before.
“I live here now.” Her full bottom lip quivered but she didn’t quite dare to let herself cry.
“What do you mean you live here? You live with me—we share an apartment. We’re roommates, remember?”
Celeste smirked at me. “Taylor is no longer your concern. She belongs to me now.”
“She doesn’t belong to anybody,” I said, fixing the vamp with a glare. “She’s a person—not some doll you saw in a toy store and decided to buy.”
“Listen to me, little human.” Celeste leaned forward, focusing her eyes on mine. “Taylor is mine. You will accept this and stop hounding me all over town. It was amusing at first but now it is both embarrassing and tedious. Do you understand?”
I realized she was trying to glamour me. “No, I don’t understand. I don’t understand how you think you can just take someone away from their normal life and own them. That’s bullshit.”
Celeste’s dark eyes widened and then narrowed. “Ah, I see you are one of those rare humans who are immune to our glamour. How very tiresome.” She sighed. “Very well, we will do this the hard way. Leave now and stop harassing me or I will have you killed.”
“You can’t do that,” I said, feeling like I’d suddenly been ejected from my safe life as a grad student and dropped into the middle of a mafia movie. Taylor’s new mistress was literally making me an offer I couldn’t refuse.
Celeste gave me a very unpleasant smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Watch me, little human—I am not one to suffer fools gladly. Taylor is one of us now. You must accept this and realize there is nothing you can do to change it.”
“You mean she�
�s a vampire?” Despite Taylor’s altered appearance I couldn’t believe it. But my best friend was nodding, her lower lip trembling again.
“It…it’s true, Addison. I’m a vampire now. That’s why I have to stay here, with Celeste. She’s going to teach me all about it. And besides, I need a light-tight place to sleep and you know we don’t have anything like that at the apartment.”
“But…” I shook my head, at a loss for words. “But what am I going to tell your mom and dad? They’re frantic, Taylor.”
Blood tears welled up in my best friend’s eyes and she blinked rapidly, trying to keep them from falling. “Tell them…tell them I love them and I don’t…don’t know when I can see them again.”
“Taylor—” I started.
“Enough,” Celeste interrupted me. “This interview is over. Go back to your human life and pursuits and forget about Taylor. She is mine now and I will hear no more about it.”
I wanted to protest further but Taylor gave me a frantic look and a tiny shake of her head. Flanking me on either side were some very scary looking vamps, obviously just looking for an excuse to do some serious damage.
“I’m sorry, Addison,” my best friend said softly as they took me by the arms and dragged me out. “So sorry.”
As it turned out, I was sorry too. But there was nothing I could do about it—my best friend’s life was ruined and it was all my fault. I should have stayed with her. Should have listened to that man’s advice. He said watch her for at least twenty-four hours, so what do I do? I leave her alone and go off to my class. What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn’t I stay with her? Why didn’t I listen to him?
My thoughts were a vicious circle of guilt and recrimination, and there was only one thing I could do. I found the card Gerald Holms had given me and called him as soon as I got back to the apartment. A week after that, I was headed for the VAB’s version of basic training.
So I guess you could say that Taylor and I both got new professions as a result of our little girl’s night out. Unfortunately, neither one of us was very happy with our new jobs. And neither one of us could quit.
Born to Darkness Box Set Page 3