The Dark Proposal (The Claire McCormick Trilogy)

by Megan Cashman

  “You will realize it would be for the best. You and I will be together and there will be no one else.” He went over to sit on the couch.

  Claire took a few seconds to take in what he said. “No one else? You plan to isolate me from my friends and family?”

  “Not really. It would just be that you won’t be able to see them, except at night or on cloudy, rainy days. Even that one would be tough.”

  “That is isolation!” She began to inch her way closer to him. “You want me away from everyone I love so you can control me, beat me, hurt me -”

  “Claire!” he snapped before continuing more calmly. “This won’t be done to harm you. It would be done to protect you from the elements. And the only reason why I want you to be with me is for your company.”

  “Company,” she echoed. “Is that it? You’ve been around for centuries and you decide I am best for that?”

  “Yes,” he said, stern eyes fixed on her.

  “Well,” she began. “What if I say no? What if I don’t want to be like you? Be a murderer, be away from the sunlight? Be away from anyone that I love?”

  He shrugged, lifting his hands up. “It’s your choice. But I can’t let you wander around knowing what I am and what I do. That would be too dangerous for you.”

  “How so?”

  “Claire.” He leaned forward, his blue-green eyes growing colder. “Don’t you realize you’ll be saving your life and protecting others if you agree to follow me?”

  “I’ll be destroying lives if I do,” she said.

  “That may be one way of looking at it. But it depends on which lives will be destroyed.”

  She shook her head. “No. No, I will not be like you, Daniel. And I am leaving now and never coming back. We’re through, me and you.” She grabbed her coat still draped over one of the dining room chairs and headed for the door.

  “Remember, Claire. You will regret this decision.”

  “No, I won’t. I already don’t.” She opened the door and left.

  Claire called out sick from work as she headed home. During her travel, she felt numb and fought to get some feeling back into her. She might have ended a seemingly perfect relationship, but it had a quick downturn, and it was best to end it. Part of her felt proud of herself for being so brave, but at same time, she felt as though she were in mourning. But that would soon pass, and she could move on with her life.

  She got home to find both of her roommates in the kitchen, unpacking the weekly groceries. She announced in a voice both strong yet sad that she and Daniel were done. He was too pushy about them moving in together and he acted like a real jerk.

  Monica and Samantha expressed their regrets and gave her hugs. But once they pulled back, they congratulated her for being strong enough to end the relationship. Bittersweet tears rose in Claire’s eyes, but she also smiled at that. Everything she wanted was right there. She didn’t need an abusive boyfriend - vampire or not - to ruin her life.

  Later on, Claire removed every photo she had taken of Daniel and threw it in the garbage. She deleted him from her social networking sites and from her phone. He was out of her life.

  But she had one more thing to do to him before she could continue on. After dumping the trash bags of Daniel’s photos into the cans outside, she returned to her room and shut the door. She dialed the tip phone number of the police department. Quietly so her roommates wouldn’t hear, Claire told the operator she suspected Daniel Bertrand in the murder of Colin Willis.

  “He told me he did it, right to my face,” she said. She gave the operator Daniel’s address and hung up. A heavy weight fled from her body.

  She kept busy for the remainder of the day by cleaning the apartment, doing research for her assignments and making dinner with her friends. By the time she went to bed, she felt a peace she hadn’t felt in almost a week, and she was glad to have it again. There was no looking back for her. She had done the right thing.

  Claire shot up in bed an hour before the sun rose. There screams of terror and agony upstairs where the Palmeros lived. Only Vincent, the husband, was screaming; there was nothing from Theresa.

  Jumping out of bed and running out to her roommates’ bedroom, Claire tried asking them what had happened, but they were just as confused, and scared. Through the walls, they were able to hear Vincent call for help, and that made Samantha grab the phone and call the police.

  Fifteen minutes later, the police arrived and the three went out to meet them. One cop went inside while another spoke to the tenants. All the girls could say that they heard Vincent screaming like something horrible had happened, yet his wife was not heard. Had something happened to Theresa? Did she collapse somehow?

  The other policeman stuck his head out of the front door and told his colleague to call for an ambulance. “We’ve got a homicide here.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The ambulance arrived minutes later and the policeman dealing with the three tenants took them back to their apartment. All three were shaking and Samantha had tears in her eyes. “I don’t feel safe here. I don’t feel safe anymore!” she kept saying. Monica was biting her nails.

  Claire was shaking and had grown pale in the face. Daniel did it. He had certainly killed, or at least arranged the killing of her landlord’s wife. It had to be him. He was getting back at her for contacting investigators about his involvement in Colin Willis’ murder. This was his revenge.

  The sounds of her roommates sobbing and the cop consoling them sounded as though they were all underwater. Claire simply sat at the kitchen table, bent over in fright.

  The cop tried to get information from the three, but none of them could provide anything useful. When he left them to converse with the investigators outside of the apartment, Monica and Samantha unleashed their anguish.

  “What is going on here?” Samantha sobbed. “She was such a sweetheart to us and someone killed her? And it happened so close to us!”

  “I don’t know, I don’t know,” Monica kept saying.

  The other girl realized Claire was still silent, as she had been during the questioning, and blurted out, “What’s wrong with you? Aren’t you upset?”

  “He did it. It was him,” Claire whispered. When Samantha frowned, she said louder, “Daniel did this. He killed Theresa.”

  Her two roommates stared at her in disbelief before Samantha got angry. “What the fuck are you talking about? Are you saying your ex killed our landlady?”

  Claire repeated, “It was him. He told me he would hurt me when broke up.”

  “Whoa, what the hell happened between you and Daniel? What are you hiding from us?” Samantha snapped.

  “Come clean, Claire. Please don’t be going around accusing Daniel of this just to get back at him,” Monica begged.

  Taking a deep breath, Claire explained. Daniel showed a side to himself that she had never seen before last week and again the other night, a very ugly side that terrified her. She told her friends about him raising his voice at her, grabbing her arm and leaving it sore with bruises, and threatening her if she ended the relationship. “He really is a psycho, and he’s been hiding it all along. He is not the nice guy he appeared to be.”

  Her two friends looked at each other when she was done speaking. They had suspected something wasn’t right about Daniel, but never thought he was someone cruel and even dangerous.

  “But I don’t understand why he would kill Theresa,” Monica wondered aloud. “What does he have against her?”

  Claire threw her hands up. “Who knows? He did say he will torment me somehow.”

  Samantha leaned across the table. “Why didn’t you tell us about how he was treating you before? Why not last week or yesterday?”

  She paused before answering. “I was in denial. He was such a great guy up until that point. But when he nearly tore my arm off, reality set in.”

  “Do you think we should get a restraining order?” Monica suddenly asked. “I mean, he could be the stalking type.”

 
Before Samantha could voice her agreement, Claire declined, deciding to wait until something actually happened.

  The ambulance took away Theresa Palermo’s body and her husband was brought to the police station for further questioning. Guilt gnawed at Claire upon seeing Vincent being led away by the police.

  It turned to fear when the cop spoke to the three again.“The investigators will look at all angles of this case, because already it is a mystery. There’s no sign of a break-in or foul play. And Mrs. Palermo was found on her bathroom floor, throat slashed.”

  All three shuddered at hearing of the throat slash, but Claire’s shudder was worse since she knew what it truly meant.

  None of them had the appetite to eat a full breakfast. They each made coffee and called their families. Samantha’s parents were on their way over from Long Island, while Monica and Claire only spoke on the phone with theirs. Claire didn’t want her parents to come over from Bedminster to comfort her; she was an adult now and could handle her problems herself.

  As she talked to her parents, she mentioned that she and Daniel had split, but refused to bring up his threats or abuse. She already felt a bit mortified that her friends knew of what she went through, so her parents could not know. She also left out the part that Daniel might have committed the murder himself. She didn’t want them to get further upset.

  Samantha’s parents came in over an hour later and took the girls out to get away from the scene. They spent time at the local mall, just walking around and not buying anything since all were on a tight budget. They spent nearly two hours at the food court, chatting about their lives. The DiCarlos’ wondered if their daughter would move back in with them after this incident. For the first time, Samantha looked as if she seriously would, but then changed her mind and suggested that all three find a new apartment where they wouldn’t be haunted by Theresa’s death.

  By 5 PM, Monica and Samantha had places to go. Monica had evening classes while Samantha had a networking event to attend in Manhattan. Both wanted to go to keep their minds off the morning’s event. The DiCarlos’ made their rounds with their car, dropping Monica off at Richmond, their daughter at the ferry, and then driving Claire back to the apartment.

  “Honestly, are you going to be okay?” Samantha asked her as her parents pulled up at the ferry terminal. “I wouldn’t want to be there after all that’s happened.”

  “Yeah, but where else can I go? And we’ve got to go back sooner or later.” She looked at her friend and patted her hand. “I’ll lock up tightly and the police are going to be around for a while. I’m not afraid.”

  Samantha smiled, hugged her and got out of the car.

  Her parents drove Claire back home in silence. She did wonder if she was crazy to go back to the apartment knowing someone had been killed in the home above her. And what about Daniel? If he tried calling her, she would alert the police. She had them on her side.

  At home, Claire put the MP3 player on loud to drown out the deafening silence in the apartment and also drown out her nerves. She ate her dinner while doing research for her assignments. She kept a sharp steak knife by her side, just in case. She began typing up one of the articles when she heard some creaks and thuds in the apartment. When she looked around, knife in hand, there was nothing. It was likely just the house settling.

  At a quarter to eight, Claire felt it would be best to take a shower. She had been sweating a lot all day with anxiety.

  While she showered, she thought about the police coming to Daniel’s apartment. Did they come in the morning? Was he willing to answer the door at that time? She knew he had to have sat down with the investigators and explained himself.

  As she gave her brown hair a final rinse, something caught her eye outside of the shower door. Her eyes widened and she jerked open the door, and let out a shrieking gasp.

  Daniel stood a few feet away.

  Claire couldn’t breathe. How did he break in without her hearing anything?

  “Hello, Claire. It’s good to see you again,” he said in an icy voice.

  She was barely breathing. Life returned to her when he began to approach her. Gasping loudly again, she backed against the shower wall, as if it would prevent him from getting closer.

  Cool eyes fixed on her, he leaned into the shower and turned the faucet off. “You shouldn’t waste water.” He then grabbed a towel from the rack and handed it to her. She reluctantly took it, wrapped the towel around herself and stepped out.

  She struggled to find the words to say but he spoke first.

  “I know what you’re thinking. How did I get in? Well, you’re the one who did her research on those like me, so you should know.”

  She stared at him for a moment before it dawned on her. Those websites she looked at over the weekend mentioned vampires are capable of slipping through doorways and window cracks. He didn’t need to break in anywhere; he could just turn into a mist and go where ever he wanted.

  Slowly, she managed to say, “You did it.”

  He nodded gruffly. “I suppose you thought you were quite brave telling the police about me. I was waiting for them when they came yesterday afternoon. I knew you would tell them, since you wanted to play the hero. But I was prepared. I answered all their questions and they left without arresting me.” He threw his hands up with pride. “I wonder how I did that?”

  Claire stared at him, “You manipulated their minds and made them forget things.”

  Daniel nodded again. “As I told you before, you have no idea what you are dealing with.” He put the toilet top down and sat on it. “What do you plan to do next, Claire? Tell them I’m a vampire who played with their thoughts? Is that your next step?”

  When she didn’t say anything, he let out a short laugh. “What can you do? You’re trapped, my dear. If you told the cops I’m stalking you and they put a restraining order against me, I’ll still come, because I can.”

  “Stop it. Please!”

  His eyes were laughing at her. “I’ll murder them because I can get away with it.” He folded his arms across his chest. “There’s nothing you can do. You’re dealing with an entirely different being - one that few know about.”

  “Those people online do. They know you exist.”

  “So? They’ve been around for years and the average person sees them as crazy people with crazy ideas. Are you really going to side with them against me?”

  “Daniel,” Claire closed her eyes and opened them again. He was still staring at her, a look of triumph glowing on his face. “Why did you kill Theresa? Why did it have to be her?”

  “Because it’s in my nature. I have to drink blood in order to survive.”

  “No, you had a real reason. Why did you do it?”

  “Because I needed to teach you a lesson,” he glared at her. “I had to show you what happens when you mess with something like me. I could’ve let you walking out on me pass, but when you decided to play superhero for your dear professor, there was no way I could’ve let you get away with it.” He stared at her for a moment. “You’re under my control, Claire. Once I showed you what I really am, there was no going back. Now, you are under the realm of the vampires. It’s your choice which direction you go into.”

  “Choice? What choice do I have?”

  “You know what. Say it, I told you already.”

  “You,” she stuttered before taking a deep breath. “You want me like you. You want me to say yes or else I and others will suffer.”

  “Indeed, Claire. Think about. You are responsible for Theresa’s death. If you hadn’t disobeyed me, or better yet, agreed to join me for eternity, I wouldn’t have killed her.”

  “What the hell?” She gasped. “You’re going to keep killing people until I say yes?”

  “If it comes to that.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re lucky it was your landlady. It could very easily have been your friends, but I was lenient this time and got someone close, but not too close to you.”

  With those words, panic consu
med her. She was gasping when she heard the front door open and Monica call her name. She began to walk toward the bathroom, her calls getting louder.

  Claire hoped with all her heart she would somehow unlock the bathroom door to find Daniel there. Then she would call the police and that would be the end of everything. But instead, Monica abruptly stopped calling Claire’s name. She heard her roommate’s footsteps disappear from near the bathroom door.

  Claire stared at Daniel, her mouth hanging open. He smiled proudly. He must have just made Monica forget about looking for her.

  She felt her knees weaken and she slowly fell to the bathroom floor. Her breathing was getting shorter and shorter.

  Daniel was watching all this with a hint of concern on his face. Curling his lips in, he gently cupped his hand on her jaw and raised her face to examine her. Her jaw was clenched shut with fear.

  “Hmm,” he said. “I know this is all overwhelming for you. But as I once told you, it is for the best.”

  Unable to physically speak, she used her thoughts to communicate. She tried to tell him to stop and to leave her alone. She was not going to be a murderer like him. She was not going to be under his control.

  “Calm down, Claire, calm down,” he said as though her thoughts went unheeded. “You can’t go through your days like this. You’ll never be happy.”

  I’ll never be happy with you, she thought to him.

  He didn’t seem to notice. He let go of her face and helped her to her feet. Leaning in close, he whispered, “The choice is yours. But only you can stop anyone around you from dying. Meet me tomorrow after class.” He kissed her cheek and let go. Right before her eyes, he faded into a blur. That blur then flew toward the window and disappeared.

  Claire didn’t need to pinch herself. She had already seen so much in a few days.

  Her lip trembling, she sat down on the toilet top and began wailing, first quietly, then she got louder. Loud enough for Monica to come knocking on the door.

  “Claire! Claire, open up! What’s wrong?”