VAMPIRE DATING AGENCY III
ROSETTE BOLTER
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CHAPTER ONE
At 2.30 a.m. inside Frankie’s Diner on the Southbound Highway, the place was almost empty. An oversized trucker had just exited the bathroom in a semi-conscious state, unsure whether to stay for another coffee or head back out to the road. To the left of him a waitress was wiping down the counter with a wet rag – further down the owner was mopping the floor.
Brock Ferns watched from a booth at the back as the trucker adjusted his overalls and walked outside to the deserted car park. There were no new cars that Brock could see out there. No new headlights pulling in. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably and then turned his attention to the laptop computer in front of him.
The USB was already in.
Subfolder after subfolder, eventually he found the name he wished to see appear. A couple of clicks and he was in.
There were a lot of photos. Judging by what could be seen in the thumbnails, most seemed unnecessary. The first few were pics taken during one of her classes. Other students had rallied around her and she was speaking, as though she was some sort of team leader. There were photos of her in her training gear. Photos of her inside the simulations.
Brock paused and looked away slightly, as if he’d forgotten what he was searching for.
Selfies.
Family photos.
The thumbnails went on.
Then there was a photo with a timestamp marked for around one week ago. Haley was in the middle of some nature reserve, skipping stones across a pond. Brock wondered who had taken the photo.
“Well, I’m here.”
Brock looked up startled to find Haley standing over the booth. He quickly closed the laptop and stood up as she sat down. He could see she was beaten up and bloodied – much worse than she had been before.
“You’re hurt,” he said, sitting back down. “What happened?”
“It’s a long story.”
The waitress walked over. “Hi honey. Can I get you anything?”
Haley picked up the menu. “I’ll have some pancakes. Syrup and two scoops of ice-cream. Also, a glass of lemonade, please.”
“You got it. Anything for you yet?”
“I’m fine,” Brock said.
The waitress walked away.
There was a moment of silence between them.
“I didn’t know if you’d still be here,” Haley said. “You said one thirty, didn’t you? I’m an hour late.”
“I was late myself,” Brock admitted. “Was worried you’d came and gone.”
“How long would you have waited for me?”
“Maybe another hour. Or two.”
“You must be really eager to see me.”
“Yes,” Brock nodded.
“So? Why so eager?”
Brock smiled. “It’s a long story.”
“So who’s going to share first?”
“Well … I was thinking … Thinking about us. Thinking about everything that’s happened.”
“And?”
“And I want to broach you about something,” Brock said. “Only … I need to know all the facts first. I need to know where we stand on things.”
Haley shrugged. “Okay.”
“Well. I’m sure you’ll tell me in time what’s happened. But … I can see the night is tiring you. The energy that’s there, isn’t what it was. You’ve been through an absolute nightmare. I don’t want to sound smug, but I feel that it is my duty to protect you. Even though I obviously haven’t been doing a good enough job of that…”
Haley leaned forward.
She waited till she had his eye contact.
“I don’t need your protection,” she said firmly.
“Perhaps protection isn’t the best word,” Brock corrected himself. “What I’m offering is…”
“Support?”
Brock hesitated. “Y-yess- but not exactly –”
“I don’t need your support.”
“Okay, so you don’t need it. Or … I can see you’re upset. As you – probably deserve to be. I’m really making a mess of this. I’m sorry. I just – I don’t think we currently have the best approach to solving these … murders…”
Haley folded her arms. She leaned back in the booth.
“The solving part is over.”
“It is?”
Haley nodded.
A brief interval passed whereby the waitress returned with Haley’s lemonade. “Pancakes are right around the corner.”
“Thank you,” Haley said graciously.
She sucked the lemonade out through a straw.
“So you know who is behind this then?” Brock asked.
Haley nodded.
“Well then, tell me who.”
Haley swallowed what was in her mouth.
She removed part of her fringe that had fallen into her eyes.
“I won’t tell you,” she said. “I’ll show you.”
CHAPTER TWO
A short time after Haley had finished her pancakes, she and Brock left the diner and walked through the empty car park. Haley led Brock up to the main road and they crossed over to the other side where the terrain sloped down. A car was parked in the clearing beyond it.
“Wait,” Brock said breaking the tension. “Whose car is that? Did you drive yourself here?”
“It belonged to Cyrus Rance,” Haley said walking in front of him.
“But it doesn’t anymore? Does he know you –?”
“Cyrus is dead.”
They stopped next to the car.
Haley leaned against the back of it, biting her lip.
“He’s dead?” Brock said after a moment. “What happened to him?”
“Someone killed him.”
“Who?”
Haley looked at him, thinking. She walked round to the driver’s side.
Brock followed her.
“No,” she said. “Go back there. And … keep your senses.”
“What’s going on?”
Haley tried to smile. “Just … trust me.”
Brock bowed his head down and stepped backwards. Haley was reaching into the car.
The trunk snapped open and a dark figure sprang outside of it.
Brock jumped back with surprise, before steadying himself. The figure crawled across the ground, trying to stand up.
“Who is that?” Brock demanded. “Did you know he was in there?”
Haley walked round behind the figure. She put her shoe into his back, and he cried out in agony.
“It’s Edmond Rance,” Haley explained. “Cyrus’s cousin.”
“Oh. I see.”
Brock walked round in front of him. Black blood was oozing from Edmond’s twisted mouth.
“Did he try and attack you or something?” Brock asked.
“He’s the killer,” Haley said defiantly.
“Are you sure?”
“A hundred percent.”
Brock couldn’t see where Edmond had been wounded, but wherever it was, the wound had weakened the vampire’s entire being. He looked minutes from death.
Haley pushed Edmond down onto his back and sat on his stomach.
Edmond’s clawed fingers reached out to put up some resistance.
After a moment, they slowly retracted.
Brock crouched beside them. “Haley. Look at me.”
Haley glanced at him.
“What’s going on?” Brock persisted. “How do you know he’s the killer?”
Brock watched as Haley turned her gaze towards Ed
mond’s.
There was no mercy in her eyes.
“Will you tell him?” Haley asked Edmond. “Or shall I?”
CHAPTER THREE
There was a place outside all of this. One where Haley’s heart and mind and soul were radiating with warmth and optimism. Where they were frozen somewhere in time. Like photos on Brock’s computer.
They were going back of course. But they weren’t going back that far.
Words alone couldn’t put the scene in Brock’s mind.
You had to be there. You had to experience it.
As Haley did…
Still, he tried to picture it. Tried to imagine what it would have looked like. The harsh, wicked air rushing across bare arms and legs. Her eyes wrought with tears, yet so far open that she could see perfectly. The three of them standing there. A trio of monsters. First just shadowy outlines. Then the light begins to touch. Things are pulled into focus –
Magnus ripped into her flesh with his claws extended, a sickening smile lighting his face as Avril danced round in her peripherals.
Then his eyelids blinked.
Stuttered.
She could see the moment he realized he’d gone too fast.
“Awwaarrgh,” Magnus gasped.
The knife in Haley’s other hand ripped across his throat as he began to collapse.
Edmond was standing only a few feet from the confrontation. The fading jubilation in his high and mighty stance, twisting into a gruesome sneer.
“You fucking bitch!” Avril shouted jumping onto her back. “I’ll kill you!”
Haley staggered towards Edmond with Avril slashing at her back.
One foot after the other slowly.
In a straight line.
Haley dropped the knife and reached up to Avril with both arms.
She threw Avril from her, straight into Edmond, knocking him to the ground.
Then she bent down on one knee.
Picked up the knife.
“AAARRRRGH!” Avril screamed running at her.
Haley slashed across her ankle, severing it. As the vampiress fell she jumped on her.
Smashing her face to a bloody pulp.
Haley stepped away from Avril’s twitching carcass.
She wiped her feet on the road.
Steadied the knife.
Edmond, who was back on his feet again, started clapping. “Bravo. Bravo, slayer. Well done.”
Her instinct was to respond to him, but there were no words that formed in Haley’s mind.
No thoughts in her head.
The canvas was blank.
“I hope you’re not tired,” Edmond said. “Because now the real fight begins.”
His metal pole slipped out into his palm.
Then he raised it above his head.
“One,” Edmond whispered. “Two…”
“Three,” Haley finished.
CHAPTER FOUR
Brock looked down at Haley. He could see where Avril had torn at her back. Where Magnus has ripped at her arms. And there were more wounds. The fight between her and Edmond and her had been bloodied. Somehow, she’d made it through.
“How did you do it?” Brock asked. “How did you beat him?”
“It’s not important,” Haley muttered. “You know the rest anyway.”
Edmond appeared to smile for a moment.
Haley grabbed him by the throat. “We’re not finished here. You understand?”
He coughed, black and green goo expelling onto her hands.
She withdrew in disgust.
“Why?” Edmond mustered.
“Why what?”
“Why did you kill Cyrus?”
Haley grabbed hold of his throat again. “I didn’t you fucking shit. It was you.”
Edmond slowly shook his head.
“Then – then it must have been the other two,” Haley persisted. “Of course I didn’t kill him.”
“We only did what we did, because you did what you did.”
“Spoken like a true rapist.” Haley turned to Brock. “Go to the backseat would you? You’ll see I got something along the way.”
Brock paused a moment, before heading back to the car. He opened the backseat door to discover a large metal drum. He carried it out.
Haley glanced back at him.
“On his head.”
Brock removed the cap.
He poured the fuel on Edmond’s head.
Haley stepped back off him.
The fuel consumed his entire body.
She pulled a lighter from her pocket and held it over Edmond’s eyes. “Don’t try to run now.”
“You dishonorable cunt,” Edmond muttered.
“What?” Haley said fiercely. “What did you call me?”
“The victory wasn’t yours,” Edmond said. “You don’t deserve the satisfaction.”
“Look, I’m going to make it real simple for you. If you admit what you did, I’ll stake your heart and give you a quick death. If you don’t admit it, you get the fire.”
She flashed the flame at him.
Brock folded his arms.
“Well, what did I do?” Edmond murmured. “We fucked, didn’t we? I guess you could call that rape. In the spirit of the moment though, you might have been leading me on a bit –”
“Do you really wish to burn to death?” Haley demanded. “Answer my fucking question!”
Edmond tried to sit up. “I think I’m missing something here. Unless – well, what is it you wish me to confess?”
“I have your phone. I saw what was on it.”
“What?”
“My Mom! What you bleeding did to her!”
Edmond looked at her. He wiped the fuel from his eyes. “Is that what this is about? Oh my God…”
“Admit it!”
“You stupid little slit. You think, I killed your Mom? That I am the killer? Ha, ha, ha.”
“Don’t do anything, Haley,” Brock said. “Let’s see what he has to say.”
Haley’s curled her hands into fists, and punched the top of her head.
“Look,” Edmond said. “The Count sent me that video. Among others. He’s leading some investigation on trying to find this killer. He was hoping someone could identify them. Which is why I was sending it off to my contacts, and so forth.”
“The Count sent it to you?” Haley murmured. “How did – how did he get it –?”
“I don’t know,” Edmond said. “You’ll have to ask him.”
“Brock,” Haley said. “The phone’s on the floor of the car.”
“Right.”
Brock moved away again.
“When he comes back,” Edmond said, “and you see I’m telling the truth … what happens to me then?”
“I don’t know,” Haley replied.
“Because just so you know, I won’t hold anything against you if you let me go. I’m sure you didn’t kill Cyrus. And … maybe the others are still alive as well. So we could just forget everything that happened and go our separate ways…”
Brock returned with Edmond’s phone.
“Check his inbox. What messages has he received from the Count?”
They waited as Brock searched.
“Well?” Haley said after a moment.
“His story checks out,” Brock said. “He’s telling the truth.”
Edmond sat up. “Can I have my phone back please?”
“No,” Haley hissed. “I’m going to go through that thing with a comb.”
“Alright,” Edmond said. “Can I at least stand up?”
A pause.
“I’m standing up.”
As Edmond got to his feet he turned towards Haley, an eerie light emitting from his face.
She saw the green in his eyes.
The torturing. The killing.
The fucking.
He was all over her. He had her to bits.
“No,” Edmond gasped, taking a step back. “Please don’t –”
Haley threw the lighter at him.
And watched him burn.
“Now we forget what happened,” she said. “Now we go … our separate ways...”
CHAPTER FIVE
Brock had to be careful. Careful not to set her off.
Haley walked away from Edmond’s screams and suffering as if she was completely switched off to it. There was no light inside her brain.
He followed her back to the car, still carrying the phone with him.
Not knowing how to broach the subject.
Not knowing how to reach her…
Haley folded her arms and leaned against the side of the car. He could see she was broken. It was almost too much for her.
He wondered if she was just realizing what she had done.
“Hey,” Brock said trying to comfort her. “What are you…”
She pulled away from him.
He could see there were tears in her eyes.
“You can’t bring them back, Haley,” he said. “No matter how much you –”
“I know that,” Haley sobbed. “It’s just – it’s just –”
“What?”
She turned to him.
“I thought I got him,” she said. “I thought … I thought it was over.”
“It is over.”
Brock pulled her into him.
“No, it isn’t,” she muffled against his shoulder. “He’s still out there.”
“Maybe revenge isn’t the answer,” Brock said. “Maybe that’s exactly what he wants.”
“I don’t care what he wants.”
Brock grabbed her shoulders. “Look, as long as you’re with me, nothing’s going to happen to you. You do trust me, don’t you?”
Haley hesitated.
Then gave in. “Yes. I trust you.”
He pulled her close again. “Good. Now we can focus on where we go from here.”
“Where is there to go?”
“I don’t think we should stay in this city any longer. I’ve … I’ve been thinking we could take a flight somewhere. Hole up until it all blows over.”
“No.”
Haley pushed away from him.
“I don’t mean to talk down to you –”
“Then don’t.”
“As Edmond said, the Count is looking into this. I was with him after you left. I know how seriously he’s handling this.”
Vampire Dating Agency III Page 1