by Jayme Morse
He pointed to the curtains hanging in the background. “Behind that curtain is our live feeding station. Some of our donors prefer to allow us to drink directly from their veins. They schedule appointments with our vampires for feeding times. These donors are always willing participants. They find it mutually beneficial to allow us to drink from them.” Darius eyed Austin and then glanced at Anna with an amused look. “I’m sure you’re aware of how pleasurable it can be for our feeding donors.”
Anna gulped. How did Darius know that Austin drank from her regularly? Was their relationship really that transparent? Or was Darius able to read minds? Maybe Austin had thought about wanting to drink from Anna. Normally, it would have crossed Anna’s own mind, but she was so surprised by this whole thing. The last thing she had expected to find at this address was a vampire training facility. She was so surprised to learn that such a thing even existed, and she still wasn’t sure how it related to her mother’s murder.
Darius continued down the hall. Motioning to a room, in which there was a large box, which looked like a speaker but didn’t seem to be producing any sounds, he said, “This is our audio station. This box that you see right here is a heartbeat transmitter.” He turned to Dan and Austin. “I can tell that both of you are struggling with not feeding right now.”
Dan nodded, lowering his eyes to the ground. “Yeah, I’ve never heard Lexi’s heartbeat so loudly before. I think I hear Anna’s heartbeat, too, but I only care about Lexi’s.”
“And you?” Darius asked, turning to Austin.
Austin nodded. “Yeah, I can hear Anna’s heart beating, too.” He shifted uncomfortably in his shoes and lowered his eyes to the ground.
“The reason you can hear their heartbeats so loudly is because our heartbeat transmitter amplifies the sound,” Darius explained.
“Is there a reason you want human heartbeats to be amplified?” Dan questioned, running a hand through his sandy blonde hand nervously. Anna decided that it looked like he was squirming; he was having a hard time composing himself over the heightened sound of Lexi’s heartbeat.
Darius nodded. “Yes, there is a reason behind it. Our logic is that if we can train our vampires to listen to heartbeats more closely, they will be able to pick up on emotions more quickly. If they want to feed from a certain human and there is fear in that person’s heartbeat, they will be able to identify it easier. Here at Westbrooke, we believe that it is important to be in touch with humans’ emotions when we feed from them. We feel that if a human is scared or upset, the quality of their blood will be poorer than a human who is willingly volunteering to allow us to drink from them. Does that make sense?”
“Sort of,” Anna replied. “What’s your logic based on?”
Darius smiled at her, seemingly amused by her question. “Our logic is based on numerous tests that we have performed on human blood donation. We’ve found that vampires who have drank from willing, eager participants thrived much better and were able to go for longer periods of time without feeding than those who drank from donors who were reluctant or afraid to be donors. I can assure you that this information is pretty spot-on. We’ve done quite a few observations.”
“How did you find unwilling participants for your observations?” Lexi blurted, staring at Darius with wide eyes.
“Are you sure you really want to know?” Darius laughed. “We made sure that we found the least willing participants we could. Basically? We kidnapped them off the street until we were finished with them. Don’t worry, though. One of the skills we teach our vampires here is self-restraint. We always try to ensure that no vampire kills a donor within our facility. Our vampires are not even allowed to drink from live donors until they have a good understanding of how much blood is too much. While it is up to them to practice this skill once they get out into the real world, we can only hope that practice will make perfect.”
“So, you teach them not to kill?” Lexi questioned. Anna could just see the ball rolling around in her friend’s head. Lexi was probably worried that this facility was encouraging vampires to take part in dangerous behavior. What separated Lexi from Anna was the fact that Anna knew that most vampires—with the exception of the ones who were attending Huntington—were dangerous. It was in their nature.
“We try,” Darius replied. Dismissing them from asking any further questions at the moment, he turned and started to stroll down the hallway, when Austin tugged on his arm. Darius turned back around, a surprised look on his face, as though he hadn’t been expecting anyone from their group to touch him.
Austin asked, “What’s the purpose of your facility? I mean, I get it . . . you train vampires. But . . . why?”
Darius stared back at him, dumbfounded that he was asking such a question. “To train the strongest vampires we can. Let me tell you something. You’re how old, Austin? A year?”
“A little less,” Austin mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Being a vampire isn’t an easy task. There are so many obstacles that will get in your way. You must learn self-discipline in order to carry out this lifestyle. You might make many decisions over the course of your lifetime that you’ll regret. One of our vampires in training is here because he killed his fiancée when he was unable to control himself one night,” Darius explained, a sad look on his face. “Our mission is to send the most self-disciplined vampires out into the world. It’s also essential for them to be strong and powerful because, let’s face it, there’s a good chance that, at some point, you may find yourself face-to-face with a vampire who wants to kill you. You will need to be prepared for when that happens.”
Darius looked like he was about to turn back around to continue giving them the tour when Anna finally spoke up for the first time since they’d arrived.
“I understand the purpose of your vampire training facility, and I think it’s . . . a smart idea, to encourage vampires to have self-restraint. I respect you for that. What I don’t understand is what this has anything to do with my mother’s murder.” Anna stared back at him expectantly, hoping he would have an answer for her.
Darius looked her straight in the eye. “Annemarie Lancefield was an active participant here at Westbrooke.” When Anna stared back at him blankly, he explained, “Your mother was one of our most frequent donors.”
Chapter 14
“Why are we just sitting here?” Gabe questioned impatiently. “I thought we were going to meet up with your dad.”
Rhonda sighed. She had parked alongside the building that she’d seen Lexi and her friends go into. Luckily, Gabe hadn’t actually seen them. Rhonda wasn’t sure what she would have done if he spotted them, but then again, it was worth the risk. She couldn’t let Anna out of her sight.
If Rhonda had it her way, which she would, Anna was never going to leave Ohio.
Just thinking about killing Anna still made Rhonda feel happy inside. It made this whole God-awful trip worth it.
Turning to Gabe, Rhonda said, “My father said he’s supposed to meet us here.”
Gabe glanced around the mostly empty street. “This seems like a really random place to meet someone. Do you see him anywhere?”
Rhonda shook her head. “No, I don’t see him.” Not that she was really looking for him. She knew that her father wouldn’t show up here . . . or in Boston, for that matter.
The first time she had ever talked about her family to Gabe, she had mentioned that her father was an alcoholic. And that was the truth; her father did have a drinking problem. But Rhonda led Gabe to believe that her father was still alive. That had seemed easier than admitting the truth—which was that her father had died as a result of his drinking problem.
Her mind flashed back to the night she had found her father, lying on the cold tiles of the kitchen floor, with a bottle in hand. Rhonda had gotten her glass of orange juice and headed back to her room, the same way she did every time her father passed out from a drinking binge when she stayed there on the weekends, after her parents had separate
d.
Except when she woke up the next morning, her father was still in the same spot . . . and there was a pale look to his skin. Rhonda had knelt down and felt for a pulse, only to find that there wasn’t one. She was about to call someone—911 or one of the neighbors—when there was a knock on the front door. Her mom was there to pick her up and when she saw the tears streaming down Rhonda’s cheeks, she’d yelled, “Where is he? Did he hurt you? I swear I’ll kill him if he did.”
Rhonda had sobbed even harder at her mom’s reaction. “He didn’t hurt me. He’s dead.”
Now, Rhonda glanced over at Gabe. “Let’s just wait here for a few more minutes, okay? My dad always makes it a habit to be late.”
Gabe shrugged. “Sure, whatever. How much longer do you want to wait before we get out of here, though?”
Rhonda rolled her eyes. She’d thought that her surprise for Gabe would have made him treat her a little more nicely than he had been this morning. After the girls had left the motel room the night before—with blank minds about what had happened because Rhonda had erased their memories of the blood drinking—Gabe hadn’t said a word to her.
This morning, she’d told him that they would be meeting her father when she’d heard Lexi and her friends get into their car. She’d managed to get Gabe to leave the room in time to follow them to this location.
“Well?” Gabe pressed. “Should we give your dad fifteen minutes and then leave? Or what?”
“I don’t know.” Rhonda glanced over at him, running her hands over the lacy trim of her camisole and meeting his gaze. Stop asking so many questions. Just go with the flow.
When Gabe stared back at her, he had a dazed look in his eyes. “We can stay here as long as you want, Rhonda.”
Rhonda smiled. “Thank you.” Close your eyes, she mentally urged him. Keep them closed until we leave.
She watched as Gabe’s eyes fluttered shut. “I wish I could sleep,” he mumbled, leaning his head against the car seat’s headrest.
“Me, too,” Rhonda admitted quietly. For once, she wasn’t lying about something to him. She really did miss sleeping. She also missed sleeping at home, in her own bed, until mid-afternoon. The days went by so much quicker when she was able to sleep at night. Her eternal life was going to seem so much longer than a human life for the simple fact that she was awake both day and night.
Rhonda stared at the building ahead of them, wondering what it could be. Was it a school or a hospital? It resembled both of those. It also sort of looked like it could be a jail. It made Rhonda wonder what it had anything to do with Anna’s mom’s murder. Maybe her mom had gone here, whatever it was.
It sometimes made her jealous to realize how close Lexi and her circle of friends were with one another. Rhonda had never had a best friend, and it seemed like that was what Lexi and Anna were to each other. Even more than friendship, though, Rhonda felt jealous of the romance that Lexi and Dan—and Austin and Anna—had with one another.
She wondered what it was like to be in a love with a vampire who you didn’t need to use mind-control on. What did it feel like to really be in love?
Chapter 15
Back inside Westbrooke Vampire Training Facility, Lexi watched as the frown crossed Darius’s face. “I’m sorry, Anna. Please tell me that your mother told you about all of this . . . about her volunteering as a blood donor at Westbrooke.”
Anna shook her head, her dark brown and pink highlighted hair moving with it. She looked small and fragile, like a kitten. When she spoke again, Lexi could hear the tears of surprise in her voice. “No, my mother never said anything about it.”
“I didn’t mean for this to be such a big shock to you,” Darius said. “Why don’t you step inside my office so I can have a word with you about your mother’s situation in private?” His eyes drifted over to Lexi and then to Dan and Austin. Lexi found herself getting offended; it was like Darius didn’t think they were trustworthy enough to tell Anna whatever he was going to say to her in front of them.
Anna shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. “No. Anything you have to say in front of me, you can say in front of them, too.”
Darius studied Anna’s face carefully for a moment, as though he were sizing her up, before nodding. “It is your decision, of course. Some of the things that you learn may surprise you.”
“Try me.” A look of triumph filled Anna’s chocolate brown eyes, as she tilted her head, daring Darius to tell her everything he knew about her mother’s relationship to Westbrooke.
Darius’s eyes darted down the hallway. “Are you sure you don’t want to step into my office? Your friends are welcome to come, too.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “I don’t really care if everyone in this building hears what you have to say about my mom. It doesn’t matter what you say because,” she said, glancing around the empty hallway, “because my mom is dead. And, apparently, you know what happened to her. So, please, just start talking.”
“Okay,” Darius sighed relentlessly and cleared his throat. “Your mother, Annemarie, first came to Westbrooke during the summer of 1988. She’d heard about us because her old college roommate, Lisa White, was also a donor here. Lisa had insisted that Annemarie had to try it out for herself. The first time I saw Annemarie, she looked so young and innocent, but she was also really head-strong. It was obvious just from taking one look in her eyes that you didn’t tell her what to do.”
Lexi watched as Darius closed his eyes, as though he were remembered what had happened like it were yesterday. When he glanced back up at Anna, he had a nostalgic look in his hazel eyes. “When your mother first came here, I tried to tell her to leave. We were still in the testing stages of our facility, and I wasn’t sure how safe it would be. Our vampires were getting stronger by the day, and even though we emphasized that we wanted them to practice self-restraint, we also knew that we had to be practical. As much as we didn’t want a vampire attack to occur, it was a real possibility.
“But Annemarie . . . your mother . . . she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She was positive that being a donor was what she wanted to do. I thought it was because she had some weird vampire fetish, or that it was because she wanted to experience how truly pleasurable it can be to allow a vampire to drink from you. But neither of those reasons had anything to do with why Annemarie wanted to be one of our blood donors. The real reason was because she wanted to help us.”
Darius glanced down at his hands, with a small smile on his face. “Your mother thought that we deserved the chance to feed under controlled conditions if it helped us learn to use more restraint when we were exposed to human blood. When I asked her if she was afraid of us, she stared back at me with a blank expression and said, ‘You’re standing across the room from me, and even though I have a cut on my finger that’s covered with a Band-Aid, you’re not trying to kill me. You may be a vampire, but it doesn’t mean you lack a heart’.”
“How many times did my mom donate her blood here?” Anna asked quietly. From the tone in her voice, Lexi could tell that the idea of her mom donating blood to random vampires at this facility made Anna feel disgusted.
It even made Lexi feel disgusted, and she had never actually met Anna’s mother. It was hard for her to understand how someone could volunteer to be a part of this world. Lexi had fallen into this life because she hadn’t had any other choice, but if she had been told that there were vampires out there who wanted to drink from random women, she would have been terrified. There was no way she would have been able to go through with being a blood donor.
“How often your mom donated varied by year,” Darius replied to Anna. “Are you aware that your mother lived in Ohio at one point?”
Anna shook her head. “No, I didn’t know.”
“When she first began donating, she would fly out from California once every few weeks, but the cost of flying halfway across the country just got to be too expensive for her. She said she wanted to make more of an impact on Westbrooke, and I think she
had other reasons for wanting to live here.” Darius smiled to himself, and Lexi got the feeling that something had happened between him and Anna’s mom. “Anyway, she lived out here for a good number of years, but eventually, she left. And then she met your father and had you. During that time, she would still donate, but her visits became fewer and fewer—usually once or twice a year.”
“Her ladies’ weekends,” Anna whispered, seeming to piece things together.
“Ladies’ weekends?” Austin asked, sounding curious about whatever Anna had figured out.
“My mom would always say that she went away one or two times a year on ‘ladies’ weekends’,” Anna explained, making air quotes with her fingers. “She claimed to go on getaways with her girlfriends from college, but I bet she was really coming here.”
“I’m pretty sure she did say that was her excuse for her absences,” Darius agreed, nodding his head.
“Okay, so, now I know my mother was a donor here, but you still have yet to tell me . . . what does any of this have to do with her death?” Anna stared back at Darius through narrowed eyes.
Darius sighed. “I can’t tell you for certain that I know who killed your mother, but I do believe I know who it was. There was a vampire who we were training at our facility. His name was Geoff. He drank from your mother on two separate occasions. He was staying here for about eight months. The day before your mom was murdered, Geoff disappeared from our facility.”
Leaning against the wall, Darius met Anna’s gaze. “That might not sound all that weird—for a vampire to leave our facility at their own will, but it’s not in their contracts. When vampires choose to stay at our facility, they agree to a minimum of two years. Some of them even agree to five right away. So, Geoff had one year and four months to finish before it was okay for him to leave Westbrooke, and he happened to leave the day before your mother’s murder? And no one here has heard from him since. It doesn’t seem like much of a coincidence to me.”