The Power

by Cynthia Roberts

  This was ridiculous! Why was she here? She could be with Jack at this very moment, talking with him, holding him, loving him. A twist in her gut made her suck in the breath that she did not need. With her vampire eyes, she stared out into the night, searching for what, she did not know. She could see for quite a distance as clearly as if the sun itself was lighting the street below. Where would another of her kind be? If it were herself, she would be walking the streets, tuning into the thoughts of the mortals so that she could pick and choose her prey, but she knew that other vampires did not possess her power to read minds. So that took that possibility away. How would he search? Did it matter to him who he chose? Did he take his time to select his prey as she did? She thought of his victims. There had been a young college man, handsome, on the road to success, but there had also been a prostitute thrown in there. That didn’t make sense if the other was at all selective, Lillian reasoned. No wonder Jack was having so much trouble! Lillian stood to her tall height and carefully walked the ledge like a balance beam, toe to heel, toe to heel.

  Making sure no one was about, she dropped to the ground below, and stood to walk from the alley when her head lifted at a sudden sound before her. Someone was coming into the alley. Creeping back into the shadows, she waited and listened.

  “Shut up!” A man growled in a fierce, low voice, and then he made his appearance, dragging a young woman into the alley with him. Lillian watched as the big, Caucasian man dragged the petite, redhead into the alley, and shoved her face first into the brick wall. “Keep real quiet now. Any noise, and I’ll do it. I’ll slit your throat, bitch!” he hissed against the woman’s ear. Lillian could hear the muffled sobs the woman was making, sounding as if she had something stuffed into her mouth or held against it.

  “Please.” the woman begged through sobs of terror. A salty, metallic scent suddenly filled the air and Lillian closed her eyes against it. No, she thought, trying to fight it, but it was already too late. Opening her white eyes, she focused on the man before her as her nose wrinkled back to create room for the fangs that slid down over her bottom lip. Looking down at her hands, she watched as the nails lengthened and sharpened. She hadn’t come out tonight looking for nourishment, but it appeared as if dinner were being served on a silver platter! She could hear as material was being torn away, as nails dug into flesh, as two hearts beat out strongly, one in lust, the other in sheer terror. The only thoughts she could read were the raging lustful ones of the man, and then the panicked ones of the girl he had brought into the alley with him to rape. She could not read of the man’s past, of his past deeds, good or bad. He could be an innocent, she thought in alarm, but he was about to rape a woman!

  “Please!” the woman begged for her life, but the man didn’t pay her any mind. His hands were in the front of her blouse now, scraping roughly against her breasts, and suddenly the woman’s thoughts filled Lillian’s head. “Oh God! Please. Please, don’t do this. I have a kid, a little boy, a husband. We’re happy. Please, please don’t do this. God please save me!”

  It was all she could stand, without thoughts of consequence Lillian moved within the shadows too quick for the human eye to see, too swift for it to make a difference if they had. Slamming into the back of the man, she ripped him backward, and slung him into the brick wall on the other side of the alley. The man hit his forehead, busting it open, and blood began to spill over into his eyes. The woman screamed, probably alerting others to their presence, but Lillian did not stop. She rushed the would-be rapist, and dragged his body up the wall, holding him by the throat as the blood lust took control. Watching his dark eyes widen in shock, she drew her tongue across her bottom lip in anticipation. The woman behind her screamed again, and Lillian tossed a look over her shoulder. The petite woman was standing there with saucers for eyes.

  “Quiet!” Lillian hissed. “Sit down. I won’t hurt you. It’s him I mean to do damage.” she promised, and the woman swept the thick lengths of red hair from her light green eyes.

  “Him?” she stuttered out, and Lillian nodded firmly.

  “Sit.” the command was delivered to the terrified woman’s mind. Lillian was surprised when the woman obeyed her instead of running away, but she turned back to her prey all the same. The man was young, handsome. His blonde hair was long, falling into his frightened eyes as he stared at her in opened mouth shock. It happened like that sometimes, her prey too taken aback by shock at what she was capable of, that they could not move or speak. It would wear off soon, Lillian reasoned, and she brought the man down to her level, leaning in close so that he could get a good look at her transformed face. His heart was racing madly away from him, but still he did not move.

  “Tel me your thoughts.” Lillian whispered aloud, and he just stared at her.

  “You’ve done this before?”

  “No!” He cried out at last, and he began to kick for his freedom. Lillian slammed forward, pinning his body to the wall with her own.

  “Yes.” she countered to his mind, meeting and holding his gaze. “You’re a coward and a rapist. Tell me? Are you also a murderer?”

  “No. Please.” he begged out loud. “I’ve never done this before. Never. I swear!”

  Lillian’s nails dragged across his neck wantonly. Her gut twisted in complaint, smelling the blood, and needing fulfillment, but then the woman’s thoughts swam to her.

  “It was a mistake, a stupid mistake. If Barry knew I was here, that I had come with John…” Her thoughts spoke, and the guilt over what the woman had almost done was suddenly very evident to Lillian.

  “You know each other?” she stated, and the woman gasped from behind her.

  “I know him.” the woman cried with a trembling bottom lip. “We…We…I was thinking of cheating on my husband with the bastard, but I couldn’t. I told him I couldn’t, and he got mad, real mad.” she cried out, obviously still in shock. Damn! Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time! This was a lovers’ quarrel gone seriously awry, and yes, a crime had been about to take place, but Lillian could read the man’s thoughts now as well. He was scared to death, and disbelieving what he was seeing right before his eyes, but he had never done anything like this before. Yes, he had planned to rape the woman. Gayle, that was her name. She had teased him, had led him on, had made him promises to leave her husband for him, and then she had taken it all back.

  The blood though, the blood drew her to him like a magnet, and it was difficult to pull away. She was hungry, so very hungry.

  “Please. Please don’t hurt him. Just please…please let us go.” The woman pleaded now, and Lillian closed her eyes as the demon inside of her begged to be let out. No, she screamed inside. No! You must not take from the innocent, she argued with the beast But, the man is a rapist! But not a murderer! And he hadn’t gone through with the crime. Of course, if she hadn’t of been there he would have. The scream erupted from somewhere deep inside her, and came out in a primal yell.

  Leaning in to the temptation, she grabbed the man’s collar, and pulled him tight against her. “If you ever touch a woman in violence again, I’ll find you.” she promised, and then she swept back, and tossed the foolish man to the ground with a loud thud. The woman screamed loud and hard.

  “Run!” Lillian screamed to her mind. “Run! You fool! Don’t you see what I am? What I can do to you! Run, and do not look back!”

  The woman scrambled to her feet, not needing to be told twice. Lillian didn’t wait to watch her departure. Turning, she scaled the wall, jumped to the ledge, and ran in the opposite direction, not stopping as she came to another ledge, but leaping to the next rooftop and going for the next in the blinking of an eye.

  Dropping to the sidewalk in front of Jack’s apartment building, Lillian paused to stare up at the stone structure. She needed him. She needed to go inside and tell him everything, who she was, why she could only see him during the hours of night. He would understand. Wouldn’t he? He loved her! He had told her so! She could feel it! But did he love her en
ough? She was hungry. It clawed at her insides. She needed to feed. She shouldn’t be here in the state that she was in, but she needed Jack as well.

  Making up her mind, she entered the building and went straight to the elevator. She heard the elevator coming down, and was stepping forward to enter it when the doors opened and she found herself meeting Jack’s dark amber gaze.

  “Lilly.” He breathed out in recognition. “I just left you a message.” he started to smile, but stopped after he got a good look at her. “What is it?” he asked, and she rushed into his arms. Jack didn’t hesitate to wrap his strong arms around her. “It’s all right.” He whispered through her hair. “Whatever it is, it’s all right.” he promised, holding her tight to his chest as the elevator doors closed, and they began to be lifted upward.

  “You’re so pale.” Jack mentioned in concern, kneeling before Lilly where he had sat her down on his sofa. He had brought her a glass of water, but she just stared down into the glass as if troubled or lost. He hated it. He wished that she would open up to him, tell him whatever it was that had gotten her so upset.

  “Yes. There is a reason for that, Jack.” she whispered, not lifting her head as she spoke.

  “A reason?” he asked, rubbing her arms for comfort. She didn’t move. She just sat there like some statue, like someone held prisoner by inner demons. “Damn it, Lilly! Talk to me!” Jack snapped, and she lifted her head. As Jack watched her, a tear slid down her cheek. He regretted his anger instantly. Pulling her to him, he wrapped her in his arms, and kissed her temple. “Something happened tonight?” he asked. He felt when she nodded “Something that frightened you?”

  “I…I witnessed a man assaulting a woman.” she said stonily, with little emotion.

  “My God! Where were you? When?” Jack reeled back in alarm.

  “Walking.” Lilly looked away, staring off at the damned, hunter green curtains that covered the lone window in his living room. She was lost, lost and afraid. Afraid because what she had witnessed tonight had once happened to her?

  “Walking? At night? Alone?” Jack growled before he could think better of it.

  “I’ve frightened you.” she said, and she moved to stand, but Jack pressed her back down.

  “Yes. It scares the hell out of me thinking of you out there at night by yourself. Damn it, Lilly! What is this obsession of yours with the night?” Jack demanded angrily, but he was scared, more scared then he had ever been.

  “Do you really wish to know?” Lilly tilted her head to a side curiously as if she knew something he didn‘t, and Jack’s heart jumped to pound in his throat.

  “I don’t understand. After what Gina told me…had…had happened to you. How do you find the courage to go out there alone in the dark?” he tipped her chin so that he was meeting her gaze.

  “That was a very long time ago, Jack.” she said, and she touched his face with a gentle hand. “I was young and stupid where men were concerned. The stupid, little lamb led to the slaughter.” she mused, and Jack swallowed hard.

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Why not?” she cocked her head to a side. “It’s true. Gina could see him for what he truly was. I could not. She warned me not to trust him. She even forbid me to see him, but I defied her, and look where it got me!” She stood in one fluid, angered movement, and walked to the window peering down at the city below.

  “It wasn’t your fault.” Jack stood, and going to her he loosely wrapped his arms around her middle. He was comforted when she clung to his arms, and leaned back against him.

  “You should have prosecuted the bastard.” he growled, and a sarcastic laugh escaped her throat.

  “It wouldn’t have been as easy as that.” she voiced, sounding defeated. Jack pulled her closer. He leaned down, kissing the side of her ear.

  “What happened tonight?” he asked, and she lifted her head to stare out into the darkness once again.

  “I was out. I heard a scuffling.” she shook her head, and stopped speaking. “I think I scared him away.” she said after a moment.

  “Did you call the police?” Jack inquired.

  “They both ran in opposite directions, but he was…” she stopped once more, not being able to say it. “I wanted to kill him, Jack. I wanted to kill him.”

  Jack’s arms tightened protectively around her. “Promise me that you will stop going out after dark?” he begged, and she laughed.

  “I would never go out if not for the dark.” she said, and she turned to face him. “Tell me of your day? Did you make any headway on your case, Jack?” Lilly asked, reading clearly the confusion she had created within him. Jack rubbed his temple in frustration. She was confusing him with all this back and forth.

  “None, but at least it has been quiet. No more dead bodies as of yet.” he announced, and it was her turn to comfort him. Gently, she ran her hands up his strong forearms to tenderly smooth over his biceps.

  “Perhaps he has left the area?” she put to him, and his tormented thoughts crowded in his mind.

  “Both of them?” his mind asked of her though he thought she could not hear.

  “Is there more than one killer out there, Jack? Surely, not just one person is doing this.” she nudged, and he stepped back, pulling her with him to the brown, leather sofa. His apartment was a man’s apartment, brown leather furniture in the living room, a dark carpet. No pictures to speak of adorned the walls. A cheap bookcase was against the far wall, and incased within were suspense novels by James Patterson, Richard North, and more, along with non-fiction works by Ann Rule. Had he read them all?

  “Do you really want to know this?” Jack squeezed her hand.

  “I want to know what it is that you do?” she encouraged.

  “I get led around by the nose by the bad guys mostly.” he said with a sheepish smile. Lilly leaned in close, cradling his arm as she nestled close to his warm body.

  “I doubt that. Tell me.” she pressed.

  “I’ve been working with a profiler lately, an Agent Darcy.” Jack relented.

  “And this man helps?”

  “He gives me an idea to what we’re looking for.” Jack exhaled, and he leaned back, draping his arm around her, and bringing her in closer.

  “So, what should I be on the look out for?” Lilly asked, and Jack groaned.

  “According to Darcy and Dr. Harold - she’s the Medical Examiner I work with at the morgue,” Jack paused to explain. “We’re looking for too separate individuals. Agent Darcy seems to think we are looking for a man in his late twenties to early thirties, and a woman in her mid-twenties. The man is a psychopath. The woman is looking for vengeance.”

  “Vengeance?” Lilly couldn’t help but to echo. Was that really what they thought of her?

  “Revenge for a wrong done to her. She was abused according to Darcy, either physically, sexually, or perhaps both. It’s why she only kills the ones with assorted pasts, the ones who have committed heinous crimes of their own.” Jack explained. “You don’t really want to hear all this, do you?” he tucked her chin to inquire.

  “And this Dr. Harold holds a different opinion?” Lilly asked her own question instead. Jack laughed, and Lillian wondered at what he found so amusing. She was just tuning into his mind, when he blurted out one word. “Vampires.”

  Lillian rushed to her feet, leaving Jack to stare up at her in wonder. “Is something wrong?” Jack asked in concern.

  “Did you say vampires?” Lillian asked, not turning to face him.

  “Don’t tell me you’re really frightened by the word.” Jack chuckled. Lillian turned to face him. He was smiling. “I told you this the other night, the whole vampire theory. Perhaps, that is why you had that dream? You’re not still upset over that, are you?” Jack worried as he watched her.

  “Of course not.” She smiled uncomfortably. “This doctor, she actually said the word vampires?”

  Jack reached out, grabbed her hands and pulled her down into his lap, wrapping his arms loosely around her. He kiss
ed her mouth tenderly, sleepily. “Dr. Harold is a quack, but she’s as smart as a whip at the same time. Yes, she said the word vampire, and much, much more. She believes - get this - that we are dealing with two separate vampires. You see among the six victims, all found bloodless with curious holes in their necks by the way, the bite marks, or whatever they are, are of two different sizes. Dr. Harold believes we are dealing with a male and a female creature of the night.” Jack grinned at her stricken face.

  “And what do you believe, Jack?” Lillian met his amused, amber gaze.

  “Not in vampires, that’s for sure.” Jack grinned. Lillian frowned at his reply. Should she take that personally? According to his own words, he didn’t believe in her.

  “Do you believe in me, Jack?” she found herself asking.

  “More than anything.” Jack returned seductively, and then he pulled her toward his mouth for a lingering kiss.

  “So, if the female is only killing the evil-doers.” she stopped, not knowing how to put it, or how to ask him what she really wanted to ask.

  “It’s still wrong.” he stated.

  “Arthur Miller was a child molester.” she said in self defense, and Jack sobered.

  “He should have stood trial.” He said firmly.

  “And the other two men, the ones who hurt the young mother?”

  “Again, they stood have stood trial.”

  “Even though they hurt innocent people, innocent children and women and would have done so again if she had not stopped them!” Lillian was quickly working herself into a frenzy, but why couldn’t he see it? Why didn’t he understand that she had done what she had had to do!

  “Calm down.” Jack stroked her arms lovingly. “You were a victim yourself, Love. I can understand why you would feel so strongly about this. I can see how you might even view what has happened as justice served, but I’m a cop, Lilly. I bring the bad guy in to stand trial. That’s what I do.”