VLAD (Noir MC Book 2)

by Celia Crown

  What if she’s late and the gate is already closed by the time she gets there. What if she has to wait for the next flight and depending on how terrible the snowstorm is in Nevada, it could even be delayed further back. What if she catches bacteria in the airport when she stays?

  The rational part of her thinks she’s overthinking again, and the irrational and germophobic part of her wins over with rising anxiety. Mavis doesn’t want to be stuck at the airport for who knows how long and increase the risk of being infected with the flu.

  Since everyone always gets sick in the air for some reason yet stay perfectly healthy when they’re waiting at the airport.

  She breathes a long sigh of relief.

  There are people waiting in the chairs while the air hostess steps into the gate with her luggage.

  “Doctor Mavis Lewis?”

  The man up at the reception desk glances at her and back down again for confirmation on his computer.

  Mavis looks up at him with a questioning gaze in her eyes.

  “You may board the plane.”

  She doesn’t question him and quickly goes up to another employee for him to check her ticket.

  The less time she spends at the airport is better.

  When she walks her down to the plane, she tries not to breathe too much since the smell of airplanes makes her nauseated. It churns her gut and she grimace in response.

  An older woman greets her with a kind and professional smile, and she leads Mavis to her seat.

  It’s large enough for conversations to be difficult with the person next to her, and with her amazing streak of good luck, she doesn’t have anyone beside her. The chair can be labeled as a sofa because the cushion is puffed and soft to the touch. A large screen in front of her with amenities around her area.

  She doesn’t take off her coats as she sits.

  “Would you like something to drink?”

  “Water is fine, thank you.” Mavis smiles back at the woman who nods.

  The woman shuts the wooden divider.

  It’s a fancy plane, they thought about the train features and how it could give privacy with a door divider and a window to peer through for employees to see if everything is fine.

  Mavis breathes in a sigh and got comfortable in the seat with her back molding on the cushion.

  A five-hour flight shouldn’t be too bad since she’s by herself and can fall asleep until it’s time to go. Snacks and bathroom break can wait when she’s getting her needed sleep.

  A knock catches her off guard just when she’s about to close her eyes and the woman hands her a glass of water in a fancy cup. Mavis makes sure her finger doesn’t touch her and smiles in gratitude before the wooden door is shut again, leaving her in her own silence.

  Sleeping comes easily to her. A hectic day with the worst fundraiser ever went down in history and the dreaded email of another fundraiser so soon after the last disaster, she was drained of all the energy.

  She shoots a text to Jennifer saying that she’s not missing, only gone into hiding until the fundraising season is over because for some unfathomed reason, near New Years is the time everyone should get together and put money on materialistic things.

  She wakes up with the captain’s voice over her head.

  Then violent turbulence shakes the plane and the worst thought comes to her mind. The plane can’t withstand the turbulence, or the storm knocks it so hard that some part of the plane malfunctions, leaving the oxygen masks dropping down and passengers screaming.

  She shakes the bad images out of her mind and intakes a deep breath to calm her nerves.

  Another up and down movement makes her queasy stomach tighten in fear.

  Mavis isn’t like Honey. Her sister is bold and adventurous, Mavis is the exact opposite, she doesn’t like to put herself out in the open. She’s afraid of a lot of things, and turbulence makes it to the top of the list as of right now.

  Nothing beats the things on her sister’s bucket list.

  The level of absurdity is astonishing whenever she sees the ever-growing list of things.

  She doesn’t know how the man her sister is in love with makes it on the list, or if he even has anything to do with it.

  All she knew is that it went somewhere along the line of first love at sight.

  Mavis, like a good sister she is, did a background check on the man. Only she couldn’t find anything on him. She has no idea what his last name is, where he’s from or even a description of him.

  She was going to hire a private investigator, but her plan was foiled by Jennifer, who has eyes everywhere, and told her that she’s being a helicopter mom rather than a supportive sister.

  “What if he’s taking advantage of her? Quick, I need that private detective now!”

  “What if he really loves her?”

  Mavis knows she’s being unreasonable. Just because she can’t experience love, it doesn’t mean her sister can’t, but she’s been taking care of Honey for as long as she can remember. They only had each other, and since the beginning, Honey had been her entire world.

  That belief expanded to mom, Laura, and now Jennifer.

  Then, Kane came in.

  Changes make her uncomfortable. Every aspect of her life that had alteration brought pain and tears, she doesn’t want to experience anything like her childhood again.

  She can’t help but feel scared that one day Kane would replace Mavis in her heart.

  Everything she knows about Kane comes from her sister, and she’s so blinded by love that Mavis has a little bit of trouble believing how perfect he is.

  He’s strong and protective, he stood up for her when a man from town aggressively touched her. Mavis has listened to her sister swoon about the tattoos on his ripped muscles and baritone voice.

  Kane sounds like a fictional character.

  Honey assures her that he’s very real, especially when he’s being mean.

  Whatever that means.

  Honey must have picked up on mom’s vagueness when it comes to describing things because all she got was he’s tall, dark, and handsome with tattoos.

  Mavis thinks her sister can’t be any vaguer, Honey hits her with she’s in love with him and is living together.

  It’s got to be the bucket list’s fault.

  Chapter Three

  Mavis

  On the topic of the bucket list, Mavis uses its usefulness to distract her on the unstable turbulences while she clips on the seatbelt tightly.

  Mavis had slept in one of the most haunted houses. It was Honey’s fault for convincing her to conquer one of her fears. Even if there were at least twenty other people in the house, it was even more frightening to know there were strangers and the possibility of ghosts within two feet from her.

  She is not a fan of horror and thriller genres, but it was something she felt it would be best to get it over with and it made Mavis suffer through the entire night without sleep.

  Rumor had the house haunted by dancing ghosts, it was chilling and bizarre at the same time.

  Honey wanted to sit through the night with a strong dose of caffeine and neglected the flashlight to enjoy the experience.

  The house was old, and the slightest movement would create noises and the hole in the basement restricted wind that went through, which made soft howling sounds. Mavis begged Honey not to go down as there was no escape if the reaper were to steal their souls.

  Mavis had cried during the middle of the night because of the terror and stress on her body. Honey had laughed at her dramatic expression. She pouted and went to snuggle even closer to the corner.

  Her sister believed what she saw, she did not believe in ghosts unless she personally saw one. Mavis immediately put a stop to her speech about how she’d prefer to stay in the middle, not believing yet believing at the same time just so the ghost doesn’t happen to be an asshole and jump scares her.

  The black-haired girl had brought up badly filmed paranormal movies as examples of how real it was when sh
e saw the trailers.

  If it was possible, Honey’s eyes would have rolled behind her skull at the outlandish movie references.

  “You have to open your heart to experiences, Mav.”

  “Do you want me to go into cardiac arrest?”

  The sun raised after several hours of frightened jumps, loud shrieks beside her ears from other girls, and the fingernails that dug into Honey’s arm where Mavis input her feelings into her skin.

  Honey thought it was hilarious to see her sister’s wide blue eyes darting to the sound of every noise.

  Mavis did not find it amusing at all.

  Honey admitted it was very entertaining to see how the house had not collapsed after she suddenly screamed to pull a reaction out of Mavis, in which the black-haired girl screamed even louder with the other girls’ vocal as her backup.

  It was one of the times Mavis had been so conflicted; to cling onto Honey for comfort and protection or pull away from her little prank and pout so hard that words would not justify her resentment.

  “I love you with so much hate.”

  “Love me more.”

  There was the other time where one of the bucket list items was about to be crossed off when Mavis had told Honey that only she would be happy to go into shark-infested waters.

  In return, Honey had grinned while dipping her feet into the cage that kept her and the sharks separated. It took much persuasion and confidence in the instructor's voice that the cage was very sturdy and would not break if the sharks were to attack.

  The instructor said they were only tiger sharks as if it would ease the worry and fear in Mavis' soul.

  She didn’t know what is scarier, reliving her horrible memories of that bucket list or the fact that it distracted her so much that the descending plane’s bouncing tires wrench her out of her thoughts.

  The first-class section is only occupied by her and another man. She is the first out of the plane when they announce that she may go after the terminal is connected and the door sliding open.

  Since the other first-class man has a piece of luggage he needs to retrieve, Mavis didn’t have the awkward encounter with who goes first if they were to make it to the exit at the same time.

  Mavis scrambles out the tunnel and flies down the long halls with her eyes scanning the dark sky with snow falling heavily.

  Her ticket allows her to move through security with priority, it’s also because she has no carry-on luggage to be checked through the machine.

  Just her phone and travel documents.

  Bad planning on her part when she doesn’t know how to get to her mom’s bar without a car. The airport is at least several miles away, and with the snow, everyone is looking to get the first taxi out of there.

  Usually, she doesn’t call car services as Jennifer has given a personal driver to her when she started working for the woman.

  Personal safety reasons, she prefers not to ride with a stranger.

  At this point, there’s no option for her.

  She looks for local car services around the area while waiting for the conveyer belt to move, pricing doesn’t matter as long as the security and ratings are the best.

  Finding one that is considered the best with references from other legitimate businesses, she sets her mind on the car service and types in her mom’s bar address.

  Her eyes catch the first suitcase that comes out and it’s hers. Black colored with a pink and white stripe band around it for security measures, and a priority tag on the handle.

  Getting the black suitcase is one of the best decisions she’s made because she hasn’t washed that thing in years and she has traveled to many places with Honey and sometimes her boss for business meetings.

  Any stains or germs picked up from travel doesn’t bother her as it goes into a room with other backup suitcases that don’t come in contact with her bedroom.

  She doesn’t go into her room without being clean and showered, and if she absolutely needs to, she’ll just tiptoe in.

  Jennifer thinks her personal hygienic germaphobia is silly.

  Mavis can’t help when her mind thinks of all the disgusting bacteria in her clean sanctuary.

  She picks up her luggage and walks to another employee to give them her documents. Mavis nods her head in thanks before quickening her feet to the waiting area with people looking around to find whoever they are supposed to meet.

  The automatic door hisses open with the wind hitting her face and snowflakes clinging to her hair.

  Her phone lights up with the driver’s identification and license plate. It just so happens to be parking in front of her as she makes sure the driver is the right person while texting all the information to her sister.

  Better safe than sorry.

  The ride wasn’t bad, the driver didn’t try to come up with a way to talk to her as he focuses on the dangerous road.

  “Did you believe in the Flat Earth theory?”

  She spoke too soon.

  “No?”

  “I do.” he nonchalantly waves a hand, and Mavis wants him to put that limb back on the steering wheel.

  This isn’t a dry road, there are slush and ice everywhere. He needs to focus on his driving because her life is in his hands.

  She laughs awkwardly. What is she supposed to say to that? She’s a scientist, albeit not a Geologist, but she’s a scientist nonetheless.

  She doesn’t believe in Flat Earth theories.

  “It’s why the North Pole is so cold, the sun orbits around the dome.”

  She’s not sure what to say to that so she stays quiet.

  “I didn’t believe it at first because I took the Earth class in high school. They showed me pictures and proof that Earth is round, but I always knew something was wrong.”

  Mavis wish the car would drive faster, this one-way conversation is making her regret taking a car service.

  “Then, I found some Flat Earth believers. They even brought a telescope to look across the ocean. We saw the South Pole!”

  Just stay quiet, Mavis tells herself.

  “There’s Square Earth believers too. It’s like a religion, I don’t judge people’s beliefs. They do have lots of evidence too.”

  She bites her tongue, asking for proof from her driver probably isn’t the smartest idea.

  “They say the reason why the ocean is endlessly deep is that it’s a continuous eternity that circles back into the sky, which is how rain is made.”

  The scientist in her dies with every word that comes out of his mouth.

  This has got to be the worst car ride of the century.

  “What do you believe in?” he asks, stealing a glance from the car mirror.

  There’s a tick on her eyelid. This could in many directions; she could agree with him and survive the trip, disagree with him and end up on his bad side, or stay neutral. However, she doesn’t know what that option might land her.

  “Round Earth believer here.” she chuckles forcefully.

  He isn’t offended, he’s more intrigued than anything. Has he never met a person who thinks the earth is round? In a society that’s overrunning by technology and science, he’s taking her confession as if she’s a new species.

  “I’m curious,” the driver hums, “Why do you think so?”

  Evidence. Years of scientifically proven evidence that many intelligent people gathered. The moon landing, satellites, experienced travelers that go around the earth.

  “It’s what school taught me.”

  She’s not going to argue with her driver. It’s not worth it and there’s just too many complicated factors that she can’t account for if she tells him that she’s a scientist.

  “Let me explain my views to you!”

  He’s so passionate that Mavis doesn’t have the heart to tell him that she doesn’t care what he believes in.

  “All the round earth pictures are photoshopped. The government is lying to us by making fake space programs and Mars missions.”

  A wish upon a st
ar for him to stop talking.

  “Pilots are drugged and hypnotized before they fly the plane because the government doesn’t want people to know the earth is flat. Pilots are tricked into thinking their coordinates are taking them around the planet, but they’re just circling around in the sky.”

  A dip and thump later, she finds that he’s pushing on the gas to power forward the ditch a tire had sunk in.

  Mavis mentally groans.

  She knew it.

  Her streak of good luck is just a hoax.

  Before she even contemplates on walking out on the snow, she’s already praying for her cold, bare legs.

  The lesser evil of the two.

  She’d rather walk in the snow than spend another second listening to him.

  “We can wait for a tow truck.”

  “Oh,” Mavis declines with a polite smile, “I have an emergency, it requires immediate attention.”

  “Well, good luck.” the driver salutes with two fingers.

  “Good luck to you too and thank you.”

  Chapter Four

  Vlad

  His muscles flex under the leather jacket as he lifts the pile of snow over to the side. His lungs expand to take in the crisp wind that blows snowflakes in his black hair.

  His palms burn on the handle of the shovel as it throbs steadily.

  Some town drunk tried to start a fight with him earlier, screaming about cheating women and that she left him for Vlad. He didn’t know what the intoxicated fucker was talking about but when he raised his fist, Vlad struck him across the jaw.

  The man broke a beer bottle and swung it at his neck, Vlad counts that as a threat to his life and defended himself by crushing the bottle in his bare hand while smashing the drunk’s head on the floor.

  His brother, Kane, had to toss the unconscious man away. He didn’t know where and didn’t care either.

  “Ah, fuck!” the voice of another one of his brothers, Bone, hollers out.

  Vlad turns his dark eyes to the complaining man, “What now?”