Night Walker (Undeadly Secrets Book 1)

by Aaron L Speer

  “I may well be a psychopath, but I’m a rich psychopath.”

  “Enough talk,” came a voice from behind Ryan.

  “Help! Help me, please!” Lauren screamed.

  “Silence the whore,” the voice said.

  Ryan stuffed a pair of his underwear into Lauren’s mouth with a shrug. “Sorry. I like that sexy voice of yours, but they are paying customers. Duty calls.”

  Ryan got up, set the video camera to record, and gestured to Lauren with both hands as a man and woman of equal height stalked slowly into the room. Even in the dim light of the bathroom, Lauren thought the man looked much older than the woman, his hair thinning, his skin sallow and sagging. The woman had a young face, with big, frizzy, unkempt hair. They both ignored Lauren’s muted sobbing.

  “She’s all yours.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Sorry Is The Hardest Word

  The man and woman knelt on either side of Lauren and got to their knees. They placed both sets of hands directly over Lauren’s heart.

  “I honour you with this gift.”

  “As I honour you.”

  Lauren’s panic rose in her mind, and she believed she was hallucinating. The couple’s canines extended and they slowly turned in unison to face her. The woman lowered herself first, smelling Lauren’s neck and kissing the wound on her forehead, licking her lips and moaning with appreciation.

  “You have nothing to worry about, my dear,” the man said, doing the same. “Except that this is really going to hurt.”

  Lauren couldn’t suppress a whimper. She had never before known what terror was. And then she jumped when a frantic pounding sounded on the front door.

  “Ryan? It’s Alex. Get your arse out here now!”

  *

  Alex had flung the door open and torn off out of the still-moving car as soon as Matt pulled up outside Ryan’s apartment. On their way over, Matt had played her the voicemail Lauren had left on his phone. Alex didn’t say anything. Her senses numbed her with bristling fear. She merely leant her elbow on the door, trying not to panic, watching the world go by, until Matt turned into Ryan’s street.

  Upstairs in the hallway, she caught sight of a small indentation in the wall and bloodstains on the floor. Full of rage and fear she balled up her fist and hammered the door again.

  “I’m not leaving. I know she’s in there. Get the fuck out here!”

  Matt finally caught up to her. “Alex, this is ridiculous.”

  “What?” Alex asked, fury burning her cheeks. “How dare you. You heard that voicemail. You heard it.”

  “Yeah, I heard it. And like I told you then, I thought it sounded like

  she was having a bad trip. You’re being hysterical.”

  “Bullshit. That wasn’t a trip. She was petrified!”

  Alex was about to pound the door again when it opened, and there stood Ryan, holding it ajar. Alex was ready to push him aside when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Matt reach around his pockets, pulling out his phone and turning his back on her to take the call he’d been expecting. She decided against pushing her way in if Matt wasn’t going to have her back.

  “You wanna take it up a notch, Alex? I could barely hear you in there.”

  His tone was light, his voice was cold, but Alex could see through it. She wasn’t Lauren. Whatever charm he had had never worked on her. She saw the shift in his stance, the twitching in his eyes and completed the picture in her own mind.

  “Fuck you. Get out of my way. Where is she?”

  Ryan halted her with a stiff palm. “Whoa. Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m taking my friend out of here.”

  “Oh, is that so? She said she doesn’t want to talk to you, so why on earth do you think she would go with you?”

  “What do you call this,” Alex said, pointing to the indentation in the wall. “And that?” she finished, pointing to the bloodstains.

  “Yeah, she is an animal,” he answered, and held out his hand to show her his palm, and a fresh cut. “She attacked me as I opened the door,” he laughed. “Couldn’t get me undressed fast enough.”

  Nice try, Alex thought. Probably self-inflicted. “You expect me to believe that? Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? If you don’t let me in I’m calling the cops.”

  “And tell them what? That you’re paranoid? That your best friend doesn’t want to see you? Go right ahead. When that doesn’t work, what are you going to do?”

  “Anything I have to do!” she screamed, clenching her fists again.

  “Oh yeah? I don’t care what sort of friends you’ve got at T. You tell him I have got more. He’s outnumbered.”

  Even as furious and scared as she was, this made Alex pause. What the hell was that supposed to mean? She had not mentioned Dante or T at any point.

  She was about to risk kicking the door as hard as she could when it opened a bit more and Lauren peeked out over Ryan’s shoulder.

  “Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”

  Alex embraced Lauren frantically. “There you are. Don’t worry about a thing. Let’s go.”

  “No,” Lauren said, “I’m staying here.”

  “What? What about your message?”

  Matt grabbed Alex by the arm, thrusting his phone in his pocket at the same time. “Come on. Let her go, for fuck’s sake. You were obviously imagining things.”

  Alex wrenched her arm free and kept her focus on Lauren. She stared hard at her friend’s expressionless face. She knew Lauren, and even if she didn’t, the puffy eyes were evidence enough of recent crying. “Loz, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to stay here with him. He’s hurting you. I know it. Just come with us, please!”

  Lauren got a strange look in her eye then. “Would I do this with someone who hurts me?” She grabbed Ryan by the back of the neck and brought him in to kiss her.

  When she let go, Lauren faced Alex. Alex waited, silent and confused. Lauren took a step forward and slowly leaned in. Lauren placed a delicate kiss on her lips and touched her forehead to Alex’s.

  After a second, she closed her eyes and whispered, “I love you,” with a heaviness Alex had never heard from her before. When Lauren’s eyes opened again, they were full of something else, something colder. “Do yourself a favour. For once, stop trying to tell me what’s best for me. Have a look at your own love life and fix that, why don’t you?”

  With that, she shut the door in Alex’s face.

  *

  “I tried to tell you,” Matt said as they neared his car.

  Alex hated it when he got this snotty, superior attitude. “Don’t give me that. You didn’t even try and help me. Hope your conversation was worth it.” Her voice went quiet as she turned back towards the window of Ryan’s apartment.

  “I told you I was waiting on a call,” Matt replied quickly. “Anyway, look, I know it’s hard for you to hear, but Lauren is more trouble than she is worth. You have been worried sick about her and look how she talks to you. Some best friend.”

  “You don’t know her like I do, ok? I’m really afraid for her.”

  “God, why can’t you see her for what she is? She is trouble. She doesn’t want your help. The more you try, the more she pushes away. Trust me, I know the feeling.”

  “How is this now about you?”

  “I did the nice boyfriend thing by coming with you, even though I thought it was stupid. I thought it was even more stupid when you said Dante was the one who told you to keep Lauren away from Ryan. But now, after seeing that disaster play out exactly as I thought it would, I’m going to say it: you’re an idiot for trusting a guy you barely know, especially over me. But then again, why wouldn’t you trust him, as perfect as he is?”

  “Shut up, Matt. Just shut up.”

  “Why do you have to keep on kissing him?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Every time you say hello or goodbye, you wrap your arms around him and kiss him. Not on the cheek, on the fucking lips. Every
single time!”

  “We’re just friends. I do the same thing to Lauren. It happened not two minutes ago. I didn’t hear you complaining then.”

  “That’s different. She’s your best friend.”

  “What you mean is, you’re fine with it because she’s a chick, right? But just because Dante is a guy, you’re going ape shit.”

  “Yeah, I am. Excuse me if I hate the fact some euro-trash dude gets to lock lips with my supposed girlfriend.”

  “It lasts a second. What’s the big deal?”

  “What would you say if I did it to my chick friends?”

  “I wouldn’t care.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “No, I wouldn’t, because I am not a hypocrite who believes in double standards. I say hello and goodbye to him, I sleep with you. I give you everything I have! Now you’re saying it’s not enough and you want more. And you want me to stop being who I am.”

  “What I want is to know why you don’t just stop kissing him. If it’s no big deal it should be easy to give up right? Admit that you like it.”

  “You are the one making it a big deal. You’re cracking the shits and you expect me to just wilt to what you want,” Alex fired back.

  “So what if I am? All I want is for you to stop kissing another guy, and you are the one who keeps the fight going by not doing what I say. It’s only Dante.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with Dante or kissing anybody. It’s just your new expectations of me. You heard what Ryan said out of the blue about my ‘friend at T.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “It’s obvious Dante knows something about him. Dante was only trying to warn me because he cares about me, that’s all. But for argument’s sake, let’s say I do bow down to you and do what you say. When is the next new order expected? A few months? Years? I thought I was in a relationship, not a dictatorship. What is it going to take for you to finally cut me some slack?”

  “Simple. Don’t see Dante anymore.”

  “That’s unreasonable. I can’t do that.”

  “Yeah, I thought so. Hope the sex was good for you.” Matt got into the car and drove off, leaving Alex stunned.

  What the hell just happened? she wondered. She rubbed her face with her hands, shaking her head in disbelief and anger.

  *

  Lauren returned to the bathroom in a daze, followed by the male vampire. She knew him for what he was now. She couldn’t struggle. There was no point. Any thoughts of fleeing were gone when they’d threatened Alex’s life. Lauren had managed to get the truth out in a small way, at least. She had never said those three words to anyone, but she could never have meant them more. It was a thank you for the years of friendship, an apology for countless things, and lastly, the goodbye she knew she would never get to say.

  The male took Lauren’s wrist and reverently smelled her hand, running his long nails up and down her arm. The female did the same to her neck and jaw, planting pecks of kisses as she went. Lauren trembled, still disbelieving her senses. The male took the lead, biting her wrist, holding her arm in place. Lauren screamed. He’d been right. This hurt like nothing she’d experienced before. The female clamped her hand over her mouth and pushed her head to the side so no noise escaped. Like a snake, the female lashed out, biting Lauren’s neck and holding on. Lauren heard the dull crunch of the fangs and could feel the female actually drink her blood, hearing the sickly wet sound of it being swallowed down her throat.

  She became aware of her surroundings again only a few moments later. Her breathing was out of rhythm and her eyes stared upwards, but Lauren could barely see. She could not move at all. She heard Ryan in the room. He seemed to be filming everything. She felt weak; so tired.

  The vampire couple knelt over her still. The male presented his hand to the female, as she in turn did the same with hers. They each used a fingernail to slice Lauren’s and each other’s wrists. The vampires took an arm each, and pressed Lauren’s wrists underneath their own.

  Both sets of cuts poured blood into her open wounds. Her jaw opened and closed slowly, tasting nothing but air and a hint of the tangy blood travelling directly to her heart. The rest of her body lay as still and cold as lead. Ryan shuffled around to Lauren’s head and held the camera above her face.

  “You’re watching history here, subscribers,” came Ryan’s whisper. “What you are about to see has never been captured on film. I know it looks strange, having her arms moving as if by their own accord, but I assure you there are two other people in this room right now. And if this turning is successful, Lauren will be leaving us very soon. She will evaporate before your eyes…yet still be right here in the room.”

  Lauren felt something burning and tearing at her insides, as the light from the ceiling lamp grew dimmer and dimmer. The bathroom was plunged into sudden darkness and Lauren felt death close her eyes.

  But this wasn’t how death was supposed to be. Where was the light? Where was her grandmother to meet her? There were no angels here; there weren’t even demons. Lauren felt forsaken and alone.

  “And there you have it,” Ryan said, into the lens, to all his subscribers that had paid to see this. “She’s gone.”

  Chapter Twelve

  What Goes Around…

  Alex cursed under her breath, the night air picking up. She wrapped her arms around herself in a desperate attempt to warm up for her long walk home.

  In her rush to get to Ryan’s she had not taken anything with her. Besides her keys before running out the door.

  She looked up at the long, dark stretch of road. “Fuckety.”

  Several street lights were out and she couldn’t even see the main street from here. She didn’t know this area at all, but if she could find an open pub she could hopefully ask directions, or at least use a phone and call a cab.

  About fifty metres further along, Alex spotted a combi-van that had seen better days, its back doors open, with four men of various ages standing or leaning, laughing and smoking heavily. By the guitars leaning against the doors, it didn’t take much to tell they were in a band. Maybe they were going to or coming from a gig? She didn’t like the idea of approaching them in the middle of the night, but then she chided herself for being needlessly paranoid. Taking a deep breath, she asked in a loud voice, “Hi, uh, excuse me? Could you tell me where I might find a bar around here?”

  “Yeah,” one said. “You keep going down here and it’s the first on your left, ‘bout a hundred yards on.”

  “Thanks,” she smiled in relief. As she was about to walk on, another of them spoke up, slurring his words.

  “You want a drink, love? We got plenty here.” He turned towards her, holding out a bottle.

  “No thanks. Just need a phone.”

  “We got one of those too.”

  Now she paused. She couldn’t see any pub from where she was standing, so it must be quite a distance away still. Should she risk it? After a brief moment of indecision, Alex knew she didn’t want to have to be out here for longer than necessary. She would just borrow this guy’s mobile, make the call and have the cab driver meet her farther up the road from here. “You sure it’s no trouble? I just need it to call a cab.”

  “Nah!” he replied jovially, “Knock yourself out.”

  Alex jogged the few steps back to the van. “Thanks so much!”

  “No worries. The name’s Pete.”

  Alex shook his hand and looked at him expectantly.

  “Nah, not me, love. Jonesy has the phone.” He gestured at another of the men.

  “No I don’t, you idiot. I gave it to Sam.”

  “Well, where the hell is he?” asked Pete, taking a swig of whiskey.

  “Calling home. Remember?”

  “Aw, shit. I do remember now. Damn, Steve,” Pete said, finishing the bottle.

  Steve? Alex thought to herself. Didn’t he call him Sam a second ago? Alarm bells were definitely ringing and this time she wasn’t going to ignore them. “Hey, look, thanks anyway, but I think I’ll just head on up
to the bar. You said it’s not far, right?”

  “I think it’s a bit farther than I thought. You probably better stay until Steve comes back,” Jonesy replied, eyeing her and unscrewing another bottle.

  “I thought you said his name was Sam.” She knew she was going to regret pointing that out.

  “Sam, Steve, who cares?” said Pete, smiling and scraping Alex’s leg slowly with his foot.

  Alex smiled, survival mode kicking in, hoping she remembered how to fake that sleazy look that made guys giddy. It was one Lauren actually managed to do really well, she mused bitterly.

  “Fair enough, then,” she said with an overdose of sweetness. “Mind if I take that drink?”

  Jonesy smirked, looking her up and down. “Yeah, I thought so. We got one here.”

  He took the first swig then handed it to Alex. She filled her mouth up and spat directly at Jonesy before throwing the bottle at Pete’s head.

  “Get that!” she screamed as she turned to sprint alongside the length of the van. The next thing she knew, she was flat on the road, having smashed into the inside of the front door, which someone had suddenly flung open. She bolted back to her feet as quickly as she could, but was pressed against the side of the van by the driver. A hand was over her mouth, and both of his legs were between hers so she couldn’t even knee him in the groin.

  The driver shook his head. “Now that wasn’t nice.”

  Alex struggled but it was no use. She heard the sound of glass breaking and moved her eyes to the rear of the van.

  “Bitch!” Pete said, blood trickling down his face. The bottle she had thrown at him was in his hand, now broken. A rather large, sharp piece was being pointed directly at her.

  “Well, now. This just got a hell of a lot worse for you, didn’t it?” Pete said through gritted teeth. “You want to cut me, huh? Huh? Let’s see how you like to be cut. Get her in the van—”

  An explosion echoed through the otherwise still night air. The sound of a gunshot cut him off and the driver fell heavily into her, grunting and pressing her harder into the side of the van before slowly sinking down to the ground.