“Forgive me, Jack. I don’t socialize often.” She tried to explain as best as she could.
“Why not?” Jack locked his arms around her waist.
“A long time ago, something happened to me…that changed me. Forever.” she said quite seriously. What was she doing? She was on the verge of telling Jack everything!
“You were hurt?” Jack guessed, sounding more than a little protective. Lillian couldn’t do it. She pulled away, and walked away a few steps, giving Jack her back.
“I should leave.” She voiced.
“Lilly, whatever it is-” Jack began, but she cut him off and turned, flashing him a practiced smile.
“It’s nothing.” she lied quickly. “I should go.” she said again, feeling the confusion arise in Jack. He wanted to help her, but he didn’t know how. There was no way he could help, Lillian thought regrettably. Her soul was lost forever. Jack’s didn’t have to be. “Goodnight, Jack.” she said with finality. It took so much for Lillian to walk away from Jack, but her feet were moving on auto pilot, taking her forward, away from him as her mind and heart lingered behind.
Chapter eleven
“A woman.” Jack said it out loud, hoping that saying it out loud would make it sound more plausible.
“It’s just not possible.” Bordello said thoughtfully as he thumbed through the case folders.
“Both Jose Gonzales and Tyrone Watson say that it was a woman. Hell, they practically gave the same description.” Jack pointed out. He scooped up his now, cold, Styrofoam cup of coffee from the desktop and wrinkled his nose in distaste as he took a long, bitter swallow. Caffeine was a life saver on this job. Even if it did taste like shit, he thought.
“Yeah, but Tyrone only saw her from behind. It could have been a guy.” Bordello countered.
“So now we’re looking for a vampire in drag?” Jack laughed out. He couldn’t help it. “This case is getting ridiculous.” he shook his head.
“Tell me about it.” Bordello whistled beneath his breath. “But our guy, or our girl, whichever he or she may be, is still out there, and their still killing innocent people.” Bordello’s voice dropped dead serious.
“I know.” Jack replied stonily, and he took another sip of his bitter coffee.
Jack sat at the coffee shop that next evening, but it wasn’t Lillian Saint Rose who sat across from him tonight. No. It was Dr. Harold. She looked about as appealing as ever: not very. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back haphazardly at her neck and there was no makeup to speak of was on her pale, pretty face. She was dressed in tan slacks, a blue top, and the ever present white lab coat. Jack grunted at the sight of her, but she sat down anyway.
“I think we’re dealing with two separate killers here, Jack.” Dr. Harold spat out instead of the standard greeting most normal people would use.
“Alright.” Jack leaned forward with his elbows on the table. “Tell me why?”
Dr. Harold was more than happy to oblige. “The first killer is larger than the second. The fang marks on two of the victims, Rita Gallenger and Walter Brown, were identical. They were also somewhat larger than the marks found on Arthur Miller and Bobby Williams.”
“You measured?” Jack‘s brow rose inquisitively. He had to admit he was impressed. What had made her do such a thing? Was that protocol?
“The depth and width.” Dr. Harold cut Jack off with a curt nod of her head. “Like I said, much larger. There are also distinctions between the killings. For instance, Bobby Williams and Arthur Miller were killed cleanly and quickly, while the other two victims, well, they were killed a little more messily, now weren’t they?” A smart smile lit her face as if she had just figured out a most difficult puzzle. “Our other killer took his time.”
“And you know this how?” Jack rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. He knew what was coming next, and he wasn’t in the mood for it as usual.
“Well, I can’t be sure concerning Rita Gallenger with her, uh, body missing, but I did have time to examine and measure the wounds in her neck. They matched the wounds of Walter Brown, body number one. Walter Brown also sustained other wounds, scratches, bruises, cuts, which suggest to me a struggle. Arthur Miller and Bobby Williams had little to no bruising. No scratches. And the wounds found in their necks were substantially smaller than the ones in the other two victims.” Dr. Harold finished relating her theory.
Jack thought over all she had told him. Dr. Harold was a whack job, but when it came to medical autopsies she was the best in her field, didn’t miss a thing! He knew he shouldn’t count her theories out. Even though she was screaming vampire, there were some truthful facts somewhere embedded within the mythology.
“Also, and this is more your territory, but did you notice that both Arthur Miller and Bobby Williams weren’t the best of men?” Dr. Harold leaned forward to say lowly as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear.
“What do you mean? Williams was a gang banger, but Miller was-” Jack didn’t make the connection.
“A child molester?” Dr. Harold filled in.
“What?” Jack looked up sharply.
“Hasn‘t anyone told you, Jack?” Dr. Harold exclaimed. “Two little girls came forward with their mothers. Jordan Gray, the News’ anchor, suggested that they expected even more children to come forward.”
“Shit.” Jack cursed beneath his breath. Why hadn’t he been told? He should have been the first to know! Damn it!
“Yeah, shit.” Dr. Harold repeated. Jack couldn’t help but to think of what Tyrone had told them concerning how Bobby Williams had brutally beaten a young boy to death. Another evil doer?
“Rita Gallneger was a prostitute.” Jack thought and blurted out at the same time.
“Yes. Not a noble profession, but who was she truly hurting besides herself?” Dr. Harold cocked a curious brow.
“So you’re theory is that one of our guys kills for sport and the other kills for, what, some kind of punishment?” Jack scoffed in disbelief.
“No. I know you think I’m crazy, Jack, but listen to me. Both of the killers kill for blood, for nourishment, but one, the female, she’s more selective with her prey. She likes the evil-doers.” Dr. Harold leaned in closer for confidence.
Jack rolled his eyes. She was crazy! Dr. Harold shook her head angrily. She stood to her tall height and snapped down at Jack, “Think about it, Jack!” Then she was gone.
How he could he not think about it, Jack thought after Dr. Harold had stomped fitfully from the building. The woman was insane, but her theories almost made sense. Was he going crazy too? Both Jose Gonzales and Tyrone Watson had witnessed a woman doing the killings. No one had been seen at the other two murder sites. Jack and Bordello had just had an ass-chewing from the Commissioner that afternoon and the FBI was threatening to take over the case if they didn‘t find a suspect soon. The titles serial killer and madman were being thrown around every other sentence. Yet Jack and Bordello really had nothing solid to go on. There were no fingerprints to speak of, no blood that didn’t belong to the victims. There had been no skin tissue beneath any of the victims’ fingernails even though there had been an obvious sign of a struggle. No hair. No threads or fibers found on any of the crime scenes. Nothing! All they really had to go on was the word of two witnesses, and both swore to have seen a blonde woman with supernatural strengths! This was ridiculous! A woman couldn’t have done this. It just wasn’t possible. The strength that was needed to carryout such a crime no woman could possibly accomplish alone, Jack reasoned. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
“You’re pale, My Lady. You haven’t fed in a week.” Reginald fussed over Lillian a few nights later. Lillian brushed Reginald worries off with a wave of her hand.
“It’s becoming too dangerous to hunt.” She said calmly. Truth be told, she was feeling a little weak and groggy. “Four bodies have been found, not counting the last I took. The city, the people are becoming frightened.”
“Still, you must nourish yourself.”
Reginald worried.
“Nourish myself? You mean kill, Reginald? I must murder another to feed myself!” Lillian hissed in a temperament.
“It’s the way of things. It always has been. You do not take from the innocent, and the ones that you do take are better off out of this world.” Reginald barked in her defense.
“Tell that to the police officers working the case! To the families of the victims I take, to the ones who discover the bodies in horror!” Lillian all but shouted as she sprang to her feet in one lithe movement, and sent an antique lamp flying across the room with a sharp flick of her hand. The lamp crashed loudly and shattered against the far wall. Josh and Troy came running at the sudden noise.
“Lillian, you are still with us this evening?” Troy asked in surprise, and Lillian scowled at him. She could read of his mind what he was thinking. “Why aren’t you out? Why aren’t you hunting, feeding?”
“It is wrong to kill!” Lillian shouted in fierce emotion to the room, causing everyone to become deathly still and silent afterward. Obviously, they were not used to her displays of emotion, and come to think of it she was not used to having the emotions either, not even the anger that consumed her soul now.
“But you do not take from the innocent.” It was Josh who spoke again first.
Lillian’s eyes flashed white as she turned her gaze on Josh. The hunger grew and chewed at her insides like nails scratching the inside of her stomach, the beast clawing to get out.
“I take human life! I am a murderer! Never forget that!” Lillian hissed violently, and she fell almost clumsily back into her chair. Where was this coming from? She had not had these curious feelings since the very beginning when she had transformed from mortal to immortal, and had still possessed the lingering human emotions. It had been over a hundred years since that time. Why was her conscience suddenly plaguing her now?
“If you won’t hunt then take from me.” Reginald rushed forward as fast as his old, feeble bones would carry him. Lillian could hear his aged heart beating rapidly as she watched him rip off his dark suit jacket, and jerk up the sleeve of his crisp, white, dress shirt. The sagged skin was nearly as translucent as her own, she noticed, when he offered her the use of his arm.
“Never.” she hissed. She was immortal, not inhuman. She had once been human with a human heart and a human mind and even a human soul. Though her human body had died, had been replaced by this…this whatever it was exactly she had become, she liked to believe that her soul had never truly left her. She was still herself inside. Wasn’t she? Somewhere buried down deep after the cold years of solitude where nothing had mattered but the hunt and her own survival.
“Why not? Gina took from me when in need. It will not turn me. You know that. Drink from my veins, My Lady. You are in need.” Reginald called out desperately, and he shook his arm in her face.
Lillian stared at Reginald’s bone-white arm. Her eyes traveled up the wrinkled, loose skin, up to the junction in his elbow where large, blue veins pulsated. The music in her head began to play in rhythm to the beat Reginald’s heart made, to the flow of the blood through his veins. Without permission, her incisors began to grow, to protrude past her bottom lip. The skin on her nose began to tighten, and peel back, and the hunger inside of her began to moan.
“No!” She slammed to her feet, and took herself to the stone fireplace, as far away from Reginald and all that he was offering her as she could get without quitting the room. Josh’s heart was racing. Lillian could feel his fear as if it were a physical being. “If you fear me, Josh, then perhaps you should leave. I have never taken from your grandfather, or of any other innocent for that matter. I never plan to!” Lillian hissed beneath her breath.
Troy sent a scolding glare at his brother as did Reginald, but Josh could not help, nor could he hide from Lillian how he truly felt.
“I can’t help it. This is all still so new to me.” Josh commented dryly.
“Lillian you need to feed.” Reginald begged.
“Put your arm away, old man.” Lillian growled. “I am perfectly fine. I will not take of the innocent. You know what it does to us, and I will not be like him!”
“My blood freely given will not turn you cold.” Reginald argued.
“Or mine.” Troy offered generously.
The hunger clawed at Lillian’s ribs. Her eyes were alight with the need to feed. She turned, allowing the others to see her fully transformed. From the doorway, Josh sucked in his breath, and his blood rushed through his veins quickly. The fear in him was great now, but he was trying to control it. Lillian was doing her best to tame the beast within, to not allow it to prevail against her guardians.
“I don’t understand why you help me, any of you! Why you are so loyal. Look at me! I am a monster!” She addressed the room loudly. Grabbing her gut when the severe pain seized her, she nearly doubled over. It was becoming intense. She had to get out of there.
“Lillian, we-” Reginald began, but she didn’t allow him to finish. It was close now, much too close. Sweeping from the room in a gush of wind, she left the three of them standing there, staring after the blur that they saw slide from the room. Out the back door, she ran, ran until she came to the twelve foot, stone fence, and then she scaled it, and jumped to the ground and into the street. Where she was going, she did not know. She only knew that she had to get away from her would-be friends as quickly as possible. Running dark alleys and the tops of roofs did not calm her. She needed to feed, but the hunt was complicated. She usually had her meals planned days before actually going on the hunt. Tonight, she felt reckless, led by hunger and pain. Sounds filtered up to her from the street below. She could pick out voices, heartbeats, and even thoughts, but none called to her. The conversations and thoughts were concerning fickle things of little matter. Lillian was about to rise and move on when the scent of someone familiar caught her senses.
“Jack.” she voiced aloud. She had not seen him in nearly a week. He had called, asked her to meet him, but she had not returned his call, nor had she met with him. They were getting too close, she and Jack. She could not allow that to happen. Danger always lurked near her. He would not be safe, and besides, he would never accept her for who or rather what she truly was.
Looking down, she could pinpoint Jack’s tall, slender, muscular form in the crowd below. He carried himself well, just slightly more clumsily than one of her own, she thought. He and his companion, a tall, stocky, dark skinned man with rich brown hair were talking, but Jack’s thoughts had wandered. He was thinking of her. She knew it to be true. Where was she? Why hadn’t she returned his calls, or come to meet him again? Had he frightened her away by moving too fast? What was she hiding?
If you could see me now, Jack, you would know exactly what it is that I’m hiding, Lillian thought in self-loathing.
“Jack? Where did you go, man?” Jack’s friend’s baritone voice called Lillian back to the present.
“What?” Jack shook the thoughts of Lillian from his mind.
“You’re thinking of that girl again, aren’t ya? Nine to five, Man, nine to five.” his friend laughed out.
“Yeah, uh, it’s eleven-thirty p.m.” Jack reminded him.
“Well shit! I should be home in bed.” The friend teased in loud laughter.
“Yeah. Me too.” Jack agreed, and then they were too far away for Lillian to hear or read any longer. For an insane moment, Lillian considered following by rooftop, but she couldn’t. Not tonight. The hunger was too strong. She needed to feed before she went insane.
Standing, she dropped to the pavement below. Perhaps if she was closer to the mortals then she could better sort them out, she reasoned. Keeping her head down, she concentrated on those around her. Thoughts swam to her fast. She tried to pick through them, to locate a sense of someone who was feeling particularly guilty, or perhaps feeling sick pleasure over what he or she had done, or was planning to do. Lillian ducked her head, moving through the crowd, and trying desperately to keep the hunger at
bay so that it would not show on her face.
Nothing! Nothing at all to choose from! She walked for thirty minutes or more when she looked up and saw a child sitting on the front stoop of an old, decrepit, apartment building. The beat of the small heart was familiar to her. The little girl’s head was lying on her folded arms beside her. She was halfway asleep, but too frightened to surrender to sleep all the way. Lillian made her way to the child. Kylie blinked, and then blinked again before smiling in relief.
“Lillian!” Kylie grinned. “I was so scared, but you always come when I’m scared! I prayed you would come.” Kylie sat up, placing her tiny hands in her lap as her eyes reflected her joy at finding Lillian there. The child was clearly freezing, Lillian thought angrily, staring at the child‘s bare arms.
“Why are you out here at this time of night, and all alone?” Lillian came closer, but tried to keep her head lowered. She didn’t wish to frighten the child. Though Lillian was not transformed at the moment, her skin was deathly pale, and she was sure that the veins in her face were shining through from beneath.
“Don’t be mad, Lillian. My mommy told me to come outside. She has a friend over, a man.” Kylie whispered as if it was a secret.
Lillian looked up the five stories to where she knew Kylie’s bedroom window to be. She had checked on the child a few times over the last month, just to make sure it was okay. The lights were all on in the apartment, and Lillian could see movement within the mother’s bedroom. Frowning because she didn‘t know what was going on, Lillian looked to the child in concern. She couldn’t just leave her out there alone. Who knew what could happen?
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