1 Dead Girl's Guide to Style (17 page)

I braced myself and finally asked, “Why are the vampire hunters chasing after Max Dupree?” I had rushed the words out as if that would make the question less confront
ational.

Silence filled the air and I was sure that
the Enforcer wasn’t going to answer me. He was probably getting ready to have me kicked out of his home. I glanced at James and he had a worried expression on his face. Why had I come here in the first place? I’d taken James’ word for it, but I shouldn’t have come to this man’s home when I knew it could be potentially dangerous. I hadn’t thought this plan out well.

The
Enforcer studied my face for a moment and then he said, “It has to do with what he did before he was turned. That has nothing to do with you, so I don’t know why you are asking.”

“I am his friend and these vampire hunters have been bullying me too, so I think that makes it some of my concern,” I said.

“He will have to deal with this on his own. I can’t believe he has his girlfriend trying to help him with this matter. It’s something he should do on his own.” The Enforcer scoffed and shifted in his seat.

His eyes still focused on me. I didn’t like his smug attitude, but there was nothing I could do about it. He was in charge of all the vampire hunters and he definitely had the upper hand.
Apparently if the Enforcer was upset with a vampire he’d send these men to bring them to him.

“What did
Max do before he was turned that has them so upset?” I asked.

The Enforcer
scoffed again. I felt like that was a fair question and one that he should answer. By the look on his face, he didn’t agree with me. I liked him less and less by the moment. He shifted in the seat again as if growing tired of my presence. Well, the feeling was mutual. I was ready to get out of there, but not before I had answers.

His stare remained on me. Finally he said, “Do you really want to know what
Max did?”

I nodded. “Of course, that’s why I’m here.”

“Okay, if you must know.” The Enforcer paused and I waited for the answer.

The suspense was getting to me.

“He killed someone,” the Enforcer said.

It felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I looked at him and was expecting him to say that it was a joke and that he hadn’t meant it, but he said no such thing. Silence hung like a thick fog in the air.
The room was getting smaller by the second.

“What do you mean
Max killed someone?” I asked.

The Enforcer
stared for a beat and then said, “You know what I mean. He killed someone.”

“I don’t believe you. It can’t be true. Max would never do anything like that.” Words slipped from my mouth, but now I had a tiny doubt in my mind. After all, I really didn’t know Max. He could have killed someone. But what were the circumstances behind the accusation? Maybe someone else was responsible for the crime. I definitely had to talk with Max about this, but would I ever get the opportunity? Did he know this was why the vampire hunters were after him?

“To be honest, how well do you know Max? He’s only been back for a short time. I don’t believe you knew each other in your former life,” the Enforcer said.

How did he know anything about me? What did it matter how long I’d known Max anyway? Regardless, he had been successful at putting the doubt in my mind.

“Anyway, he killed another vampire and now the vampire hunters are after him. The situation has escalated now. I’m sure you are aware of that.” The Enforcer smiled and seemed so smug about the situation.

Did this
make him happy? Well, it just made me angry.

“So now they want him dead permanently because of what they claim he did to another vampire?” I said.

He nodded. “Yes, that is exactly what I am saying.”

“I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that. I won’t accept that without some kind of proof. I don’t want only one side of the story
.”

“I don’t think it is up to you anyway,” he said.

Yeah, he was probably right, but I wouldn’t let it stop me from trying to force them to explain this to me. I wanted to know exactly what had happened. It didn’t look as though I would get an answer from him though.

“As I’m sure you are aware, if you do something wrong, then you must pay for that. He did something wrong and now he must pay for it. It’s as simple as that. Nothing against you, Hadley, I know we’ve never had any problems from you, but I would hate for you to get involved in this. Just stay out of it and mind your own business,”
the Enforcer said.

I couldn
’t believe he was telling me to mind my own business. Yeah, there was a fat chance of that ever happening. I wouldn’t listen to him. I still wasn’t convinced that Max was guilty of anything. He was innocent until proven guilty, right?

“I don
’t know how I can stay out of it when the vampire hunters came after me. Mona had them capture me and try to bring me to her home. That is definitely bringing me into it and I want to know why. What does Mona have to do with this? Does she work for you? And if so, did you tell her to have the vampire hunters kidnap me? Why did you wait so long to send the hunters after Max? I know you are the one who sent them. Did you sent them to get me too?” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and glared at him.

I thought that was sending a clear message that I wanted a straight answer. There would be no more dancing around the subject. But had I walked right into his trap?

The Enforcer picked invisible lint off his pants and then looked up at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“So you don’t know Mona Patton?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes, I know her, but I don’t know what you are talking about. If she did something to you, then that was all her.”

Yeah, I didn’t believe him about that either. I was definitely suspicious.

“I think it was more than a coincidence,” I said.

“I will certainly say something to her if you’d like,” he said with a sly smile.

I stared for a moment, and then said, “Yes, I’d like that. Please ask her why she did that. I can’t believe you are acting like you don’t know what’s going on. I think you know exactly why she did what she did.”

James touched my arm, but I didn’t stop talking.

“I’m not stupid, you know? I can see what kind of game is being played. I may not know all the answers right now, but I won’t stop until I figure it out,” I said.

James touched my arm again, but I wasn’t going to let him stop me either. Why did these people think they could just push people around? I didn
’t have to put up with it.

The Enforcer
glared at me for a moment and then stood. He stepped across the room and I wondered if he was coming over to attack. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. No, I couldn’t let him scare me into silence. I would speak my mind. I stood a little straighter and stared back at him.

“I wouldn’t advise talking to me like that
.” He flashed a fake smile. I stared at him again and gave a smirk. I really didn’t like this guy. He was so smug and arrogant. He thought he was the bee’s knees.

James reached out and touched my arm again, pulling me toward him. “Maybe we should go now.”

I paused for a moment and then said, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

This was getting me nowhere but in
to trouble. I would have to come up with another plan. I stepped across the room with James behind me. I thought he was making sure I wouldn’t turn around again, but it would do no good because I had thought of another question. I had to ask before I left because once I was out of there I doubted they’d ever allow me to return. I was lucky I’d been allowed to stay this long.

I spun around and James almost fell over. He shouldn’t have been so close.

“I have just one more question,” I said.

“Uh-oh,” James said.

“Where are the vampire hunters? At least you can tell me that much. I would like to talk with them. I can let them know that there is no reason to follow me,” I said.

Yeah, even I couldn’t keep a straight face with that lame excuse. I knew
the Enforcer could see right through me. I should have come up with a better excuse. I didn’t have time to think of anything though. Working well under pressure was not one of my strong points.

“Why should I give you that information? I don’t owe you anything. They are just trying to do their job,”
the Enforcer said.

“I am aware that you don’t owe me anything, but it would be a nice thing to do,” I said.

“I can’t do that, sorry. But I can look into why they were following you. I can make sure they leave you alone,” he said with another one of those fake smiles.

“Yeah, thanks a lot,” I said.

Considering they shouldn’t have been following me in the first place that wasn’t much help. I would find out where they were on my own. I didn’t need his help. Okay, I did need his help, but what could I do?

“You know
, if you told me about the vampire hunters and I talked with them maybe I could figure out the truth about what happened with Max,” I said.

“I don’t think they need you to do that,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I want to know the reason for what they’re doing. Why they say he did this. He is innocent until proven guilty, am I not right?” I asked.

“He
has already been proven guilty.”

“By who? You and the vampire hunters? I don’t think that’s a jury trial. I think you aren’t being fair
.”

He scowled and I knew by that he didn’t care what I thought.

“You don’t trust me to be fair?” He flashed his fangs at me and I knew that he was getting aggravated.

I flashed my fangs too. Hey, he wasn’t the only one who had them. He laughed of course when I showed mine. Whatever, I knew that I had a tough bite when I wanted to. He
wouldn’t be so tough if he didn’t have all those large security guards who were now circling me with frowns on their faces.

I figured I was about to be kicked out instead of leaving peacefully. Hey, it would be fun to be kicked out of someplace, right?

“We should probably go now,” James said, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the door.

“Yeah, I had him scared there for a little while, don’t you think?” I asked as James dragged me out the door.

The guards watched every move we made.

“No, I don’t think he was scared in the least.”

I frowned. “Yeah, maybe not.”

We’d almost reached the car when someone called to us. I spun around and saw a guard walking toward us.

“What have we done now?” I asked.

“I heard you were asking about the hunters who have that new vamp,” he said.

I exchanged a look with James.

“Yeah, we were asking. Why do you ask?”

He glanced around. No one appeared to be watching us, so he slipped us a piece of paper. “I think you’ll find the info you need on there.”

“Why are you giving us this?” I asked as I took the paper.

“I met Max Dupree. He’s a good guy. Just be careful,” he said as he turned around and walked away.

“That was weird,” I said as I climbed into the car.

“We’ll take all the help we can get,” James said.

We took off from the place and I didn’t look back to see if they watched us. I hoped that the guard didn’t get in trouble for talking to us. I still wanted to know why he’d given us this information. I guess
ed he was just trying to be nice. That was something that I wasn’t used to. Then again, maybe he was looking for a job at the Dupree Company. Helping save Max would be one way to make that happen. We made our way through the streets as I read the address off to James.

“Do you know the place?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t know anyone who lives around there either. And I know a lot of vampires.”

“We should pick up Caitlin. We may need the extra help. From what I’ve seen her vampire skills are badass,” I said.

We pulled up in front of my place and I ran in to get Caitlin. I found her eating raw meat out of the fridge. We needed to get her some food quickly.

“We’re going to talk with the vampire hunters. Do you want to come with me?” I asked.

Caitlin closed the refrigerator door when she saw me.

“I wouldn’t miss this trip for anything,” she said as she followed me out the door. “Maybe now we’ll get some answers.”

I hoped she was right. We climbed into the car. It seemed like years since that night when I’d met Max and all of this had started. If I’d only known then what I knew now.

“How are you doing back there?” James asked.

Caitlin
fidgeted and shifted in the back seat. “Just a little hungry, I guess. I could use a burger and fries.”

“I think you need a little more than that, sweetie. You have to drink a little blood now,” I said.

The look on her face was one of horror. “That is disgusting. I can’t do that.”

“But you have to. You’ll get used to it. Just do it and don’t think about it,” James said.

“It’s kind of like taking medicine when you were a kid, close your eyes and pinch your nose,” I said.

“Does it taste bad?” she asked.

“Well, it doesn’t taste like champagne,” I said.

After stopping off at the nearest store to pick up a drink for Caitlin, we continued to the address.
Caitlin took the bottle from my hand and twisted the top off as if she hadn’t had a drink in years. She lifted the bottle to her lips and tilted her head back as she took a big chug. James and I watched in shock as we waited for her reaction. She shook her head then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

She looked at the bottle. “Not bad. A little salty, but not bad.”

I gave James the directions from my phone, but we still ended up getting lost. We went down the same street twice. I wasn’t even sure how that had happened. It was like being stuck in the Bermuda Triangle.

We finally found our way out and got on the correct street. I counted down the addresses and we slowly pulled up to a long driveway. It was hidden by trees and they only added to the spookiness. Yes, I knew I was a vampire, but that didn’t mean I didn’t get the creeps.

The house came into view. There was a big lake to the right of the house. It was so big that I couldn’t even see the other side.

“Wow, I had no idea that was back here,” I said.

“Yeah, I knew it was here somewhere,” James said.

The house was
a small cabin style with a couple windows in front and a single door. There were a few lights on in the front of the house.

“Do you think they’re in there?” Caitlin asked.

“I guess we’ll find out,” I said.

I was nervous
, I couldn’t lie, but I had to move forward with this. Max needed our help. We pulled up in front of the house and cut the engine. We climbed out of the car and peered up at the house.

“I guess we should go in and check it out,” I said.

“Well, we have to make sure they aren’t in there first. I don’t think they would like it if we just walked on in,” James said.

“I don’t care what they like,” Caitlin said as she marched toward the house.

Uh-oh. She was a little too brave. I ran toward her and stopped her as she placed her hand on the knob. It was too late though because she had already turned it and the door opened. My stomach did a flip. I expected someone to jump out at us any minute.

To my surprise, no one jumped out at us. I was thankful, but I figured they were somewhere inside waiting for us.

“Let’s go inside,” she said.

I reluctantly nodded and followed her slowly into the house. We walked right into the living room and no one was there. We stepped across the space and went to the kitchen and then through every other room in the house, but there was no sign of anyone. It looked as if someone had been there thought because there were empty blood bottles. I was hoping to find Max unharmed in there, but he wasn’t there
, much to my disappointment.

“Let’s check around outside,” James said.

I followed him outside. Caitlin stopped to drink from a half-empty blood bottle. Apparently she wasn’t having a hard time drinking the stuff after all. We walked around the whole place, but there was no sign of anyone. It would have been quiet and peaceful if it hadn’t been for trying to find Max. It would be a great place for a relaxing weekend. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get one of those again. I had to find Max though. I knew they had to have brought him here. Where else would they have taken him?

Noise caught our attention and we hurried around the side of the house. I didn’t see anything at first, but then Caitlin called out and pointed. I followed her pointing finger and looked toward the lake. That was when I saw the boat on the lake.

“It’s them,” she said. “And I am sure that I saw Max on that boat with them.”

“Are you positive?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes, I am sure. I saw the vampire hunters and Max.”

“Did he look okay? Had they done anything to him?” I asked.

“Well, he didn’t look happy, that’s for sure, but other than that, I think he was okay,” she said.

“The lake is too big. There is no way we could get to the other side,” James said.

“Is there a road on the other side that we can drive to?” I asked.

James shook his head. “I don’t know if there is. I have no idea how to find it. We could just drive around, but that would waste a lot of time.”

I nodded.

“There was a storage shed, and the door was open. That was where they came from,” Caitlin said.

“Maybe there is another boat there,” I said.

We walked over and looked around. Much to my surprise
, there was a boat in there. It was my lucky day after all. The three of us dragged the old boat over to the water. Flakes of red and white paint fell off in my hands. Grass was slippery as we made our way from the shed. I prayed that it didn’t have a hole in it. I really needed to learn how to swim. This would be the second time I had almost drowned this week—although the water wouldn’t necessarily kill me instantly, but it would mess up my whole system. I wasn’t sure I would recover from that. Some vamps had died from that.

Water lapped at the old boat as James shoved it in the water. It bobbed up and down a few times until it finally settled.

“One second. I need something from the car.” I ran back to the car as they watched me in confusion.

I’d brought the stake with me. It was hidden in my big purse.
Sometimes it paid to carry a large handbag. I had all the essentials… including a weapon. After grabbing the stake, I rushed back over to the water’s edge, trying not to slip and fall in. A sly smile slid across James’ face when he saw the stake grasped tightly in my hand.

One by one w
e climbed on the boat and James finally started the outboard motor. It was loud and it wasn’t moving the boat very quickly. The little boat struggled to push through the water.

“I think I could swim faster than this,” Caitlin said.

“Yeah, me too, and I don’t swim,” I said.

The little boat chugged along and I seriously considered jumping out of the
boat, but then I thought about alligators. What if they were in the water? What if they jumped up and dragged us out of the boat? We would have a bigger problem on our hands then.

I wouldn’t even think about something like that right now. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. At least I could finally see the other side now. We would be there soon, but not soon enough for me.

We got the boat to the other side and dragged it up onto the bank. I was still thinking a little bit about those alligators. We looked around and didn’t see any sign of Max and the vampire hunters. Trees concealed the area.

“They had to go somewhere,” I said as I looked around.

“But which way? How will we know where they went?” Caitlin said.

I wish
ed they’d left a trail or something. That would have been too good to be true. I felt defeated. We’d made it this far and I didn’t want to turn back now. I had to think of a way out of this situation.

“There’s only one thing we can do,” I said. “We have to split up.”

James didn’t look as though he liked that idea. But what other choice did we have? It would take forever to look around if we didn’t.

Finally, he nodded. “Okay, but call me if you find them. I don’t want to be wandering around out here any longer than I have to.”

“I’ll go to the right and you can take the left. Caitlin can go straight,” I said.

They nodded and we headed on our way. I had to admit that I wondered if it was such a good idea, but there was no time to rethink it now.

I’d only walked for a short time when a small building came into view. I knew right away that they had to be in there. I picked up the phone and dialed the others.

“I didn’t walk far
. You’ll see me,” I said.

I decided to wait right there for them instead of moving closer to the building. We would all walk over there together.

Noise sounded from behind me and I jumped and spun around. Thank goodness it was the two of them.

“What did you find
?” James said.

I pointed toward the building. “I think they’re in there. We have to walk over there.”

We made our way through the brush toward the house. No sound came from the place and I wondered what the place had been used for. Had someone lived there? It kind of looked abandoned. Why had they brought Max there? What did they have planned for him? I was afraid to find out. I just had to get him out of there before something terrible happened.

“What should we do when we get up there?” James asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get in there or get them out of there. Whichever is the easiest.”

“I don
’t think either will be easy,” Caitlin said.

We finally reached the small building. There were two windows on the front and a door.

“Let’s go around the side and see what’s in the back,” I said.

Caitlin and James nodded. We eased around the side of the building to the back. There were two windows on the back and one on each side of the house. We went around the whole place. All the shades were drawn so of course I couldn
’t see what was going on inside. I did hear sounds coming from inside. I thought they were talking, but I couldn’t make out what was being said. I inched up to the window and pressed my ear close. I still couldn’t hear anything.

“What
’s going on?” James asked.

I shrugged. “I don
’t know.”

“We have to plan on how to get i
n,” Caitlin said.

“Well, that will be easier said than done,” James said.

I ran my hand through my hair. “Yeah, I think someone needs to create a distraction and then the other two can run in.”

“What kind of distraction
? And that doesn’t sound very safe,” he said. Who knew that he was such a scaredy cat?

“I think Caitlin can create a distraction. She can make a noise in the back and when they go check it out we can run in. We
’ll get Max and then we can all leave.”

James shook his head. “That is a terrible idea. It will never work.”

“Oh, don’t be so negative,” I said.

He frowned again. I didn
’t have to think about the plan for much longer though because the front door creaked open.

When we eased around the front we saw the vampire hunter had come out the front door. He didn
’t see us at first so we froze, but after a couple of seconds he must have sensed our presence because he turned and looked directly at us. For a moment we were all staring at each other. My thoughts were running a million miles a minute. What would we do now? How would we get out of this mess and get Max too? I wished he hadn’t seen us.