Club Monstrosity

by Jesse Petersen

  The night air was cool as they moved through the circular doors onto the street.

  “Are you going to tell me your big rent plan or what?” Natalie pressed.

  Alec shrugged. “Well—” he began, but then he skidded to a stop and jerked his head to the right.

  “Alec? You aren’t going to put me off by going all sentry wolf on me, okay?” Natalie said. “Seriously, I don’t, shockingly, mind having you as a roommate, but—”

  Alec lifted a hand. “Shush,” he admonished, his tone sharp.

  Natalie slammed her teeth together in annoyance. Shush? His answer was shush?

  “I smell Trench Coat,” he whispered.

  Natalie blinked and her annoyance at the rent situation faded instantly. “What?”

  “Trench Coat,” he repeated in a tense, guarded tone. “I smelled faint remnants on Blob in the freezer, and on Hyde tonight. And now I smell it again.”

  Natalie stared at him as he looked from one side of the street to the other. “What does that mean?”

  He let out a low growl and pointed a block down. “There! Trench Coat!”

  Without any further explanation, Alec bolted in the direction he’d been pointing. Natalie stared for a second, too shocked to move. And there, darting around a group of Japanese tourists, was a glimpse of, indeed, a trench coat.

  “Shit!” she cried, and then started running after Alec.

  He was much faster. Frankenstein had built her for size and strength, not speed, and Natalie had never been much for the gym (skimpy clothes were no way to cover up hideous surgical scars). Still, she managed to keep her eyes on Alec, if not on Trench Coat, who had disappeared into the crowd in the night.

  Alec, however, was impossible to miss. Now, only a few days away from the full moon, he had stopped running like a man and was bounding, crouched like the wolf he would soon become.

  People squealed as he jumped past them and called out very unattractive suggestions of what he could do with his pushing. At intersections, he didn’t pay attention to the crosswalk signals and cars swerved and honked as he bounded into their paths and out again, just barely missing being crushed by taxis and trucks delivering goods to stores.

  As he leapt past another group of tourists, these speaking Russian, a few lifted their cameras and started taking pictures. As Natalie rushed past, she heard one of them say, “Dog Man!”

  The pictures were what made Natalie’s heart lurch. You never knew when something might end up on a talk show or in a tabloid, and then suddenly it was all, Abandon your apartment, change your name, move to the middle of nowhere.

  “Alec!” she cried out, hoping to catch his attention.

  But like a bloodhound on a scent, he didn’t pause. He just continued to leap forward toward a person she couldn’t even see anymore, thanks to the crowd and the darkness.

  Frustrated, she elbowed her way through a group of people waiting outside a restaurant and then skidded to a stop. Alec was gone. She lifted on her tiptoes to look for him, but she could no longer see.

  “Damn it!” she muttered as she rushed forward again. “Alec? Alec!”

  She was digging for her phone when she caught a glimpse of him. He bounded down a set of metal stairs into a subway station and vanished.

  “Bad dog-boy!” she shouted as she ran toward the entrance.

  A few people jerked their heads toward her, but she ignored them. She was too frustrated to care that she was making a spectacle of herself, just as she always scolded the others about doing.

  She bolted down the rickety stairs into the subway station below. The lights there were brighter than the ones on the street and she blinked as she scanned the area for Alec. She caught sight of him just as he vaulted over a turnstile and ran onto the subway platform behind it. Thankfully there wasn’t someone from the transit authority watching.

  Natalie dug in her purse for her MetroCard and swiped it, then pushed through the turnstile and onto the platform. A subway car was sitting at a standstill. Its doors had already closed and the train was about to pull away from the station.

  Alec was standing beside one of the windows, banging on it with both his fists. As Natalie rushed to his side, she heard him growling, low and serious.

  She peered around him and into the window. About ten people were on the car and all of them were staring at Alec as he pounded on the window. But one stood out. One in a trench coat, standing right at the window, watching them with a smug smile on . . . her face.

  She had blond hair, pulled back in a ponytail, and around her neck was a dangling medallion with a flame stamped into the metal.

  The train pulled away and rushed into the tunnel, leaving Alec and Natalie standing on the platform, watching it.

  “Holy shit,” Natalie breathed.

  Alec jolted and turned on her. By his surprised expression, he hadn’t even realized she was standing there. Thankfully he didn’t look so wild anymore, but more like a man.

  “That was definitely our stalker,” Alec said with a sigh as he wiped off his sweaty brow.

  She nodded. “But—but she’s a woman!”

  He wrinkled his brow. “So? So are you, and you’re a badass.”

  Natalie felt herself blush even though this was not the time to get all schoolgirl.

  “Not really,” she muttered.

  “Well, either way, we need to let Kai know about this.” Alec reached for her hand. “It lets Rehu off the hook, for sure.”

  “But who is she?” Natalie asked.

  Alec shrugged. “No clue. But I’m sure as shit going to find out. Because I’m going to get that bitch before she gets any more of us.”

  15

  The door to Kai’s apartment swung open and she stood inside, dressed in a flowing silk robe, her blond hair with its dark streaks down around her shoulders. She looked softer without her usual power suit and done-up hair and makeup, but she still didn’t really do it for Alec. Without thinking, he took a side glance at Natalie. Yeah, he liked his girls a bit tougher.

  “Come in,” she said, motioning inside with one elegantly manicured hand.

  Alec started to move, but Natalie reached back and blocked the way with her forearm so that he couldn’t make it past her. He stared at her.

  “What?”

  She ignored him and kept her gaze firmly on Kai. “Is your psycho boyfriend here?”

  Kai’s face fell and there was true sadness in her gaze. “No. He . . . he took off after I confronted him about Alec. I don’t know where he is. Honestly.”

  Natalie searched the Mummy Girl’s face for a minute, but then she nodded like she was satisfied with the answer. “Okay.”

  She moved her arm and waved at Alec to come in.

  “Wow, my big protector,” Alec muttered as he moved past her. “And you thought you weren’t a badass.”

  He stifled a grin as Natalie blushed dark red. It was way too easy and way too fun to make her do that.

  Kai led them into the living room and sat down on a big leather chair as she motioned them toward a matching sofa.

  “So what happened?” Kai asked. “Alec’s message said you guys saw the stalker?”

  Alec nodded, but didn’t speak as he looked around the room. It was a nice apartment, decorated with tasteful Egyptian influences and bright, beautiful colors. It screamed good taste and sophistication in a way Jekyll and Hyde couldn’t match.

  Except for the lotion bottles.

  They were on every available surface, including tables and even the seats of some chairs in the bar area in the great room. They were in all varieties, from the super-cheap drugstore brands to Chanel and Dior brands that even Alec knew cost an arm and a leg.

  “God, add a bunch of tissue boxes and this is a fifteen-year-old boy’s dream,” Alec said with a laugh.

  Kai stared at him. “Really, Alec?”

  “Hope you own stock in that company of yours. And in Johnson & Johnson, Suave, and all these other companies,” he continued, highly amusing
himself, if no one else.

  Kai folded her arms. “Are you done?”

  Alec stared at the ceiling and then said, “No, wait, I have another one—”

  Natalie swatted at Alec’s arm and hissed, “Alec, knock it off.”

  He stopped and stared. Kai’s face was darkening to a deep, angry red. Impressive; he had never bothered her that much before.

  “The lotion,” Kai said, slowly and succinctly, like she was talking to an idiot (which she probably thought he was), “is to keep my skin from drying out. I was mummified, remember, stupid?”

  “Sorry, sorry,” Alec said with a shake of his head. “But come on! You have to admit it’s a little weird.”

  “Like all the crap you do?” Kai folded her arms. “I mean, your garbage man must think your trash filled with used razors and hair clumps is pretty weird, too. And your neighbors have got to love the howling.”

  Natalie turned on him. “None of us are exactly rocking the normalcy. Glass houses, Alec.”

  He pursed his lips. Girl monsters never had a sense of humor about their weirdness. It was too bad—that had been some of his best material.

  Kai gave him one last evil eye, then turned her attention to Natalie. “So . . . what happened? I’m asking you because the mutt is too much of an idiot to address.”

  Natalie nodded. “I agree.”

  “All right, all right. Just tell the story.” Alec shook his head.

  Quickly, she told Kai what had happened when they left Jekyll and Hyde’s apartment.

  Kai flopped back against her chair with a low whistle. “So he . . . is a she?”

  Alec laughed. “You two seem so surprised by that, but here you are, all tough and monstery. So much for women’s rights, huh?”

  Natalie shrugged. “I guess it’s just we’ve all been so used to the pitchforks being wielded by hordes of angry men . . . we weren’t expecting a woman to be our serial killer.”

  Kai sighed. “New century, new fears.”

  “At this point, we have to figure out who she is,” Natalie continued. “The witnesses in Ellis’s beating and Jekyll’s poisoning aren’t going to be easily accessible to us, but maybe now that we have a description, we could go back to Blob’s apartment and see if anyone saw her.”

  “Actually,” Alec interrupted, “I already kind of did that.”

  Natalie turned toward him, forehead wrinkled in confusion. “You’ve been with me since we saw the woman; how could you go back to Blob’s?”

  “Um, it wasn’t tonight. I went back the day we found his body and talked to someone in the building.” He shrugged. “Nothing.”

  Natalie blinked, but he could see the beginnings of hurt in her stare. She hid that stuff pretty well, but the better he got to know her, the more he realized that she felt things pretty deeply.

  “You went back . . . by yourself. And you didn’t tell me, even though . . .” She stopped and turned her face away from him.

  Alec shifted. He hadn’t told anyone about his return trip to Blob’s apartment. Especially Natalie.

  “Look . . . I didn’t tell you because you don’t approve of my . . .” He hesitated. “Use of recreational drugs to control myself. And since it was a drug dealer who I made contact with—”

  Natalie huffed out a breath. “We’ve been working together on this since the beginning.”

  Kai’s eyebrows were now both lifted high. “Should I be here for this?”

  Alec shot her a glare, then turned his attention back to Natalie. “I’m sorry. I should have told you. My contact didn’t see anyone he didn’t recognize the day Blob died. I sort of figured since there was nothing to tell, it wasn’t a big deal.”

  Natalie nodded, but there was very little understanding in the way she pinched her lips and refused to meet his stare.

  “Sure. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Anyway, it gives us one less lead to follow. But it doesn’t help us figure out who she is. We know her face now, but it’s not like she flashed ID at us on the train.”

  Kai frowned and then pushed to her feet. “I might have an idea. Hang on.”

  As she left the room, Natalie got to her feet and paced away from Alec, pretending to examine the decorative items on a shelf in the living room. Alec watched her.

  After a minute, he got up, too.

  “Natalie, I didn’t want you to think less of me.”

  She froze with a hand outstretched to pull a book off the shelf and turned to look at him. “What?”

  “That’s why I didn’t tell you about going back to Blob’s.”

  Alec shifted. He normally didn’t get this Dr.-Phil-about-your-feelings . . . but he really didn’t want Natalie to hate him.

  “I’m not that judgmental,” Natalie said softly. “I mean, yeah, I made a couple cracks about you carrying, but I get it. The full moon must be awful; I can’t judge you for looking for ways to make it better. I just wish I’d known.”

  “Why?” he asked, moving toward her a few steps.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  He gave a half-smile. “Sure it has nothing to do with all that kissing?”

  She blushed and once again dropped her gaze, but this time it wasn’t because she was pissed. She moved her weight from one foot to the other and then said, “You really shouldn’t provoke Kai so much.”

  He smiled. “But it’s fun. C’mon . . . admit it . . . you like it.”

  Natalie tried not to smile, but her lips twitched and betrayed her. “You suck.”

  “Nope, that’s vampires,” he whispered, then he caught her chin and kissed her.

  Just as he had hoped, after a brief second Natalie leaned into the kiss. Her lips were soft and full and even though he was pretty sure she didn’t go making out with guys all that often, her lack of experience was made up for by her enthusiasm. Which was awesome.

  “Wow.”

  Natalie jerked away from Alec at the sound of Kai’s voice in the doorway. She blushed as she dared a quick glance at the Mummy Girl. She stood with a very old, very thick book in her hands, staring at the two of them with wide eyes.

  Alec let out a low sigh. He didn’t really care if Kai had an opinion about them making out, but Natalie probably did. And he didn’t really like being interrupted, either.

  “I was only kidding about that boyfriend thing, Natalie. I didn’t think you’d take it so seriously,” Kai said, and sat down in the chair across from them.

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” Natalie muttered as she moved back to the couch.

  Alec kept himself from frowning and took his own place a second time. “Yeah, apparently, not her boyfriend.”

  She shot him a look, but he shrugged. She kept saying that so strenuously it was starting to hurt his feelings a little. But maybe that was just his heightened sensations talking due to the upcoming full moon.

  “So what do you have there?” he asked, happy to have a distraction.

  Kai set the big book down on the table between them. “This is the Van Helsing family tree.”

  “What?” Natalie asked, snapped from her embarrassment by Kai’s stunning assertion. She reached for the book and then snatched her hand back before she could touch it. “This looks really old.”

  Kai nodded. “I assume it is. I think it’s the original.”

  “Where would you get an original Van Helsing family tree?” Alec asked as he stared at the book.

  Like Natalie, he didn’t have any desire to touch it. It might burn or self-destruct.

  “Most humans wouldn’t even acknowledge the family really exists outside of horror movies and a little bit of seriously cool anime. It’s not like you could find it at the New York Public Library.”

  “Oh, I didn’t,” Kai said with a shrug. “I took it from Van Helsing’s townhome.”

  Natalie shoved to her feet to back even farther away from the book. “What are you saying?”

  “Um, that I took it from Van Helsing’s townhome.” Kai blinked. “Did I stutter?”

&
nbsp; Alec rolled his eyes. Kai could pretend that her statement wasn’t that shocking, but it was. “You know what she’s asking,” Alec said. “Come on. What do you mean? How did you do that? When did you do that?”

  “Ohhhh, that.” Kai sighed. “Okay, so about two hours ago, right after Hyde told us that Jekyll was killed, I took a stroll around the city. And where did I find myself but right in front of Van Helsing’s townhouse. I figured it would be rude of me not to make a call on our old friend. But he wasn’t home. So I just let myself in.”

  Natalie was still staring in utter disbelief. “And how did you ‘let yourself in,’ exactly?”

  Kai tilted her head. “Um, I broke in. I figured that would be obvious. I don’t exactly have a key.”

  “How? How did you break in?” Alec sputtered.

  Kai laughed. “Oh, honey, you’re not the only one with some illegal skills. I’ve been alive for thousands of years. I know a lot of stuff you haven’t even thought to learn yet.”

  Alec leaned back. He couldn’t help but be impressed. And sort of want to trade secrets. “Yeah, we should talk about that.”

  “Not now, Alec,” Natalie said with an exasperated sigh.

  She flopped back onto the couch and finally touched the book. She didn’t explode, though, so that was good.

  “Did anyone see you?” Natalie muttered.

  Kai shrugged. “Not that I know of.”

  “Not that you know of.”

  “Natalie . . . why do you keep repeating everything I say?” Kai asked. “It’s really annoying.”

  Natalie covered her face. “I just keep thinking of Van Helsing in his wheelchair. Yeah, he’s so small, so wrinkled . . . but there is still power in him. An ability to get things done if he wants to or needs to. And then there was that parting threat about the truce being broken.” She shivered. “Kai, this could restart the war, don’t you get that?”

  Kai stared at her evenly. “Natalie, three of us are dead. We’re already in a war, don’t you get that?”

  “She has a point,” Alec said with a glance at Natalie.