Five years later…
It was a brisk winter's night. The pale full moon hung low against the charcoal sky while the blinking stars shone bright. Ally loved the night. Everything was so peaceful, but tonight everything had a haunting feel to it.
Sitting in her black Mazda, she became lost in her thoughts of the mystery that continued to haunt her. Many things were still unknown about her parents’ deaths. The police had come to the conclusion that it had been a random animal attack, and ruled the case closed.
If the evidence had been open and shut, perhaps she might have believed them and moved on with her life. But one question continued to linger in Ally’s mind…What kind of animal drained its victims of blood without slashing it to pieces? Not any that she could name, and certainly none that lived in Melbourne.
Ally spent the last five years trying to solve the unanswered question surrounding their cause of death, without success. Her grandmother told her to let it go and move on, that it was time for her to heal. But as much as she might like the idea, it wasn’t possible. Until she had the facts about exactly what had happened to her parents that night, she wasn’t going to move anywhere.
Ally became a private investigator as a result of trying to solve the mystery of her parent’s death. She dealt more with cheating spouses than homicide cases, but it was something that she found fulfilling and satisfying, in a way she could never have imagined. Being an inquisitive and quick minded person by nature, it suited her perfectly. She also enjoyed having the freedom to work alone since she was a loner by nature these days. Alessandra’s only friends in the world seemed to be her Gran and her dog, Coco.
After her parents’ deaths, she had shut down and withdrawn into her own little world. Her friends didn't understand and expected her to get on with her life. Her best friend, Kathryn was no longer a part of her world either, although that had been all Ally’s doing. She was there with her on the day of that awful prediction, and every time she looked at Kat it was a reminder that she neither wanted nor needed. Ally had never wanted to hurt her, but she had to, for both their sakes. What was the point in having a ghost of a friend like her anyway? She had been irrevocably changed that morning, and it haunted her to this day.
In the most secret places of her soul, she feared that she would never recover from the tragedy. Walking through the world as a shell was not the life she had planned for herself five years ago, but fate had stepped in.
James had not returned. Adele gave her a vague response whenever she had asked after him, but that was a long time ago. She decided to put the errant thoughts of him back where they belonged…in the past.
Stretching as much as one could in a car, Alessandra ran her hands through her chocolate brown waves, something she had done from the time she was a little girl. Whenever she was uneasy, it seemed to comfort her.
“Not long now, Coco,” Ally said, half expecting the dog to reply. The little Blenheim cavalier just lifted her head up and looked at her, then promptly went back to sleep as if to say, ‘whatever.’ Ally let out a soft chuckle and gave her puppy a scratch behind the ears. “Can always count on you to keep me entertained on assignments,” she said, as she picked a bit of fluff off her favorite jade green knitted top.
Ally reached behind the seat, looking for her coffee flask and a snack, which was essential on any stake out. She found the flask and brought it out. Her hand touched something and she twisted it to see what it was. There was a pink post-it note attached to her flask.
A laugh escaped her; this was obviously from her grandmother. Anytime, there was something important to tell Ally, she would put it on a post-it and leave it somewhere that it would be seen. Most people would send a text message, but not her grandmother. Adele had told Ally on many occasions that she was tech-challenged, and this was easier. She grabbed the note and read it, “Don’t forget the Masquerade Ball tomorrow night, Ally. Love Gran xx”
“How could I forget?” she muttered. It was all her Grandmother had spoken about for the last few weeks.
Adele was quite the humanitarian, always looking for charities to support. Her father had been a very wealthy man, and Adele had inherited the money and his property upon his passing. Having seen both sides of life, she found that she had a drive to help the less fortunate. The Masquerade Ball had become an annual event to raise money for whichever charity she had deemed most worthy.
Kathryn had been invited to this year’s event, and she had a feeling it was going to be awkward and uncomfortable. She missed Kathryn but so much had happened. Ally was one to burn bridges and not keep the passages open for backwards travel. It was a habit she had developed ever since her parents died. Some things Ally just didn’t want to analyze.
Think positive, she thought as she poured a hot cup of coffee. Maybe it will be as if time never passed between us. It was as she had this final thought, she noticed that her mark had come home, and it appeared that she was waiting for someone.
“Really, is it so hard to be faithful to your husband, Sarah?” Ally’s voice dripped with sarcasm as she placed the cup down, managing to spill a bit on her new denim jeans. She groaned then looked up to the window again.
Seeing her mark, Sarah, made her check her own reflection in the mirror briefly. She wasn’t especially vain, but she was a young woman after all.
Overall, she was happy with herself. Alessandra’s wavy hair fell half-way down her back and vivid green eyes reflected back at her. She was an average height, slim and curvy.
The beautiful woman in the crimson silk evening gown Ally had been hired to follow was Sarah Carrington. Former highly paid escort to the rich and lonely men of Melbourne, now adulterous wife of Richard Carrington, heir to the Whitestone Publishing Empire. He had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but Ally had liked him well enough when they met to discuss her assignment.
Richard was a tall man with sun kissed blonde hair, baby blue eyes and a body that most women would worship. All the enquiries she had made about him had the same result. People that knew him had described him as generous, hardworking, fun and a fiercely loyal man who adored his wife. He had taken Sarah from a somewhat seedy background and made her into the glamorous socialite she was today. Ally had gathered from their meeting that Richard was very much in love with this snake.
Sarah was a rare beauty as much as she hated to admit it. She was blessed with a tall curvaceous but slim figure that men would drool over. With a pair of legs that seemed to reach the sky, and her long blonde hair fell down her slender back, Ally could understand why a lot of men would try to coax her away from Richard, but if she truly loved him, she wouldn’t stray. But herein lay the problem, Sarah Carrington only loved herself and didn’t appear to appreciate true love.
Truthfully, Ally didn’t even know if true love existed, but she liked to think it did. Her parents had truly loved each other, but perhaps that was rare.
She wasn’t sure when she had become so jaded and cynical about life, love and everything in between, but she thought it was like the forming of a cliff face. The sea hurled itself at the helpless rock over a long period of time and slowly but inevitably, the salt that lay within the cold emotionless ocean steadily tore away at it, wearing it down and making it something new.
She glanced back up at the window to see Sarah was no longer alone in the bedroom. Her guest had arrived. From Ally’s position in the car, she had a clear view straight into the bedroom. They seemed to be the kind who didn’t mind an audience. It was damned inconvenient when the mark hid behind curtains.
Ally was happy that she had taken the time to install audio in the bedroom. The audio always convinced her client that their spouse was committing adultery, and it provided the answers that a photograph couldn’t, giving her clients some form of closure.
The man came into her focus now. He was sin itself in tight fitting dark denim jeans and a crisp black shirt that grabbed in all the right places. “Oh my,” Ally gasped.
Ally understood what Sarah saw in hi
m, but as she looked closer through the lens of her camera, she seemed to be drawn into a trance, hypnotized by his potency. He was tall with a taut body and raven tousled hair that sat just below his ears. She couldn’t see his eyes as they were focused on Sarah, but she made a guess, they would be a piercing blue. She noted his aura seemed to send out a sense of danger. Even though his pull was phenomenal, and he was incredibly gorgeous, something deep inside her was repulsed at the same time.
Ally felt as though she were two different people at that moment. One-half drawn to this sinfully handsome dangerous man while the other half sensed evil, and told her to run. The trance broke as he walked behind a curtain.
Coco barked, bringing her back to reality. “For God sakes, Ally…Focus!” she scolded herself. Coco had seen something and was staring intently at the apartment above them. “So even dogs think he’s gorgeous, hey pup?” Then the bark changed to a deep low growl.
Alessandra turned back to the window and saw Sarah in his embrace, her neck open and exposed as if in offering to this dark man. Her face looked strangely relaxed when she was supposed to be in the throes of this torrid affair. Not that Ally had much experience in illicit affairs, but she had seen enough, given her occupation, to know the difference.
“Something’s not right, is it girl?” Coco didn't move an inch. She was watching with deadly intent. It was very unlike her furry companion to react like this.
She turned back, and the handsome devil seemed to be feasting on her neck. It was animalistic, frantic but controlled at the same time. She couldn’t put her finger on her feeling until she saw the twin lines of crimson running down Sarah’s neck. “What the hell!” she cried out in horror and shock.
Torn between calling the police and wanting to get the hell out of there before he came after her, she decided to wait just another minute to see if she was mistaken. This couldn’t be what she thought it was. Clearly, she was either dreaming or delusional.
Ally had heard of underground groups that worshiped and pretended to be vampires. Maybe Sarah was into that kind of thing, and she had the whole scene wrong. Even so, she doubted it.
“Just another minute, girl…” she whispered to the puppy still sitting beside her.
Then everything froze.
Sarah’s lifeless body, now white as snow, fell to the floor with an inelegant thud. The crazy vampire wannabe turned to the window and began looking outside. He almost appeared to be searching for something.
Ally was well concealed, and he shouldn’t be able to see her. At least, that’s what she thought. She held her breath as she watched his gaze drift to her location. He focused on her car, and she felt the pull.
“Oh God, oh God he can see me,” she panicked. Ally knew with every instinct in her body, and felt it in her bones that this man was going to kill her.
Ally tried to drive away, but the car wouldn’t start. “Oh seriously, this is too cliché!" she said as she hit the steering wheel with both hands in frustration.
Deciding to make a run for it with Coco, she saw him coming towards her. Throwing open the door and grabbing her baby girl, Ally started to run. That was the moment, she heard him speak.
The fiend had a voice that sounded like angels singing. “Where are you off to, Alessandra?” He was only a few feet away now.
She froze, trying to understand how he got to her so fast. “How d-do you know my name?” she sputtered.
“I have been searching for you for a long time, my dear girl.” He crooked his finger and curled it, trying to lure her towards him. Ally knew she had to fight and turn around, but she found that she had little will to fight him. She felt like a puppet, unable to control anything, while he pulled her strings.
What he had said triggered a feeling of fear, but she was too terrified to remember what it meant.
Ally heard her grandmother’s voice in her mind, “Resist him with everything you have.” She wondered why her grandmother had sounded so desperate, and why she heard her voice in the first place. Ally decided the mind could do anything when the body was threatened. The survival instinct was as old as time.
Ice-cold fear ran through her veins. All her basic motor skills failed her. She needed to think, and think fast, if she wanted to survive this night. The only thing that stood out was he seemed to be the dramatic type. Maybe she could get him to talk, perhaps even boast a bit, that might be her best shot out of this situation. Ally hoped she could revise the plan as needed.
“Who are you?” she asked with a challenge to her voice, and standing her ground with an air of confidence she really did not feel.
“Why, I should think you already know who I am,” he said with an air of self-importance. “Adele should have told you.”
“Adele…” That caught her off guard. Knowing Ally’s name was a bit creepy and strange, but also knowing her grandmother’s name…What in the hell was going on here?
“How do you know my grandmother? As far as I’m aware, she isn’t in the habit of befriending psychotic killers.”
“You do have spirit, don’t you,” he sneered. “Just like your mother…or rather she used to.”
Dread slithered down her spine at the mention of her mother. Pieces of the puzzle seemed to be clicking, but she couldn’t and didn’t want to acknowledge them. If Ally let the pieces come together she knew she wouldn’t survive this, she would become overwhelmed, and she needed to keep a clear head. If only she knew how to rattle him like he did her, throw his guard off for a minute, so she could run. Who or rather what was this evil thing before her?
“I don’t know who you are, but you had better go find someone else to bother. I’m done here.” Ally knew it wouldn’t be that easy to just walk away, but she had to try.
“Stay!” It was a command filled with a compulsion she could not ignore. Her feet were rooted to the ground. “Enough of this foolishness, Alessandra. You have made the task easier by coming to me, so I shall make this quick.” He paused. “Dying doesn’t have to be painful or terrifying. It might even be a pleasurable experience if you allow it to be.”
The evil creature inched closer and closer, so close that she smelled his putrid breath. She imagined a million lost souls rotting in his mouth, and imagined it was what death smelt like.
“But before I do kill you, you asked me a question that I shall answer.” He paused for dramatic effect. “I am Vincent, the leader of our kind.”
“Oh, God...you're Vincent?" She began trembling like a leaf as the terror grew inside her. He was the other man from Madame Isabella’s prediction. The one who wanted her dead at all costs, and the man she was destined to kill. Her face twisted in horror, as the truth of what she had been told all those years ago actually meant. Kill or be killed.
“You know. This is actually kind of fun,” he said, as he let out a chuckle full of dark intent, obviously enjoying watching Ally squirm.
She had no idea what to say to that, so she just stood there, stupefied, and waited for him to continue.
“Cat got your tongue, Alessandra?”
“No I just figured you had more hot air to let loose, so I’m waiting patiently.” She smirked, hoping that she had rattled him.
Vincent hissed his displeasure.
She drew in a sharp breath at the shock of someone actually hissing at her.
“Spoil my fun and you shall be punished, little girl,” Vincent told her in a tone which indicated he would follow through on his threat.
Ally’s eyes were transfixed on this monster before her as she silently chanted, “show no fear”, over and over. “You said 'the leader of your kind.' What is your kind exactly?”
“I should have thought it obvious, given that you just saw me kill Sarah whatever her name was.”
“You’re a vampire.” The words came out as a statement, but it was also a question.
Great…a vampire. The man I am destined to take out is a vampire. How am I supposed to do that?
He smiled wickedly, and she knew the game o
f cat and mouse was drawing to a close. “Ah, the penny drops for the prophecy girl,” he laughed.
What was so amusing to him, she didn’t know, but his mention of the prophecy had caught her full attention. Her mind was working through the information at a rapid pace, recalling the prediction of Madame Isabella, and hoping to find something that would be of use to her. Maybe if she mentioned James and retribution? Perhaps that would be enough to scare of him off…
“Right, the prophecy girl…I know you want me dead, and I know that I am supposed to kill you, but here’s the thing, I’m not ready for this yet.“
Vincent crinkled his forehead in slight confusion.
“What are you talking about child?” he asked curiously. She was going to die anyway, so he might as well indulge his curiosity.
“I’m not ready,” she repeated.
“To die?” He laughed sadistically. “Most people aren’t.”
She looked at him, unable to believe that someone could actually be that cold, and took an involuntary step back from the creature that repulsed her to the very core.
“To be honest you are starting to bore me, Ally.” He casually examined his fingernails and adopted an unnatural pose. Her instincts were on high alert, and she felt the end was just around the corner. All she could do was stare death in the face and show no fear.
“What about James? What do you think he will do once he discovers you have killed ‘the prophecy girl’ and his soul mate?” She bit her lip waiting for his reaction.
Vincent stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, before replying with an edge to his voice that proved she had unnerved him. “So you’re his soul mate as well…” Vincent appeared to be weighing up the options in front of him, in light of this new information. “Because you are his soul mate, as well as the prophecy girl, I have decided it will make this victory all the sweeter. Besides, he doesn’t even know where you are.”
Defiantly, she stuck her chin in the air, calling his bluff. “Yes, he does.”
Coco was still at her side, loyal as ever, and she heard the low growl emitting from her. Ally silently willed her to be quiet. She couldn’t bear it if he hurt her beloved dog. She had to distract him again, or she was going to die.
She could tell he was seriously displeased. This was not how she planned this playing out. But she was still breathing, so maybe she was doing something right.
A cruel glint crept into his eye and sent a shiver of unease running through her.
“Well then, where is he?” Vincent was called her bluff.
She didn’t answer quickly enough, and convinced him of what he already knew. James did not know where she was. His casual pretence dropped in an instant as he took a step towards her, and she was drawn into his arms before she could even blink.
His voice had taken on a rasping quality that she likened to the sound of damned souls trying to claw their way out of hell.
“This was fun, dear.” He leaned in closer, “But now it’s time for you to die.”
Oh dear…
Ally was powerless to stop him. Her neck was exposed to him, she knew this was the end for her. She felt his stinky hot breath a mere centimeter away from her neck, when he paused.
She heard a strange sound and felt an energy that seemed to be vibrating all around them.
“So he has come then,” Vincent said absently as he let her go. She stumbled and fell to the ground. Relief poured through her, but she had no idea what had happened to make him drop her.
Then she heard it in her mind. A voice like smooth whiskey that seemed to flow through her soul and warm her insides as the drink itself would.
“I’m coming Alessandra.”
It was intensely familiar to her, but she couldn’t immediately place it. Suddenly, she knew who it belonged to. James Carlisle, the man who had haunted her dreams for five years. Ally was sure she had made him up. Come to think of it maybe she was dying and this was all some illusion her brain had created so she didn’t have to face the knowledge that her demise was imminent. Nothing tonight had seemed real perhaps it was all a nightmare.
James appeared out of nowhere, and was standing between her and Vincent, before she could even blink an eye. His eyes were fixated on his opponent. Ally was struck again by his magnificence and the energy that seemed to radiate from within him. He didn’t appear human at that moment.
She looked him over from head to toe, taking in the fine cut of his jeans and the tight fitting pale blue shirt. This man before her could have just stepped off a vogue cover shoot.
Ally looked for Coco to make sure she was all right having almost fallen on her. Coco was next to her watching the two males in front of them. James and Vincent were circling each other like two king cobras dancing, before one devoured the other. Ally looked up and was caught in a trance, as she would have been, had they really been cobras.
James never took his eyes off his opponent, but she felt his anger and disgust radiating off him in waves. She noticed how tense and rigid his body appeared to be. James was ready to spring at his enemy without a seconds notice.
She watched him with a fierce concentration and silent admiration. James was as perfect as she had remembered him to be all those years ago, but he was different somehow. The man she met when she was sixteen was sweet, kind and gentle. The man before her today was strong, dangerous and full of murderous intent if she was reading his body language correctly. Despite this, Ally realized that she felt perfectly safe with him. She knew that he could and would protect her.
She was still deeply lost in her thoughts when she heard his voice again. “Ally…can you hear me?”
Confusion swam across her face, James but hadn’t moved or given her any indication that he had spoken. Ally was still trying to decipher what was happening when he spoke again. “Get into your car and drive home as quickly as possible! Lock the doors and don’t let anyone into the house.”
James’ voice in her head giving her instructions, Ally was starting to believe she had lost her mind.
She scooped Coco into her arms and got in the car with a quick backward glance towards James. She didn’t want to leave him now that he was here again, but she sure as hell didn’t want to sit and cheer from the sidelines in case Vincent came after her again.
Ally started the car and sped away as fast as she safely could. As she was driving away, she heard the scratchy voice coming from behind her, “This isn’t finished Alessandra. I will come for you again. You will not fulfil the prophecy.”
With those final words lingering in her head, she decided first thing in the morning, she would ask her grandmother about Vincent. Adele would look at her like she was crazy, and that would be that…she hoped. Surely, one part of the damned prediction would be wrong, and she prayed with everything that she had, that it would be this part.
Chapter Two
Immortal Prophecy Page 3