Vampire Dating Agency II (13 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE

Hearing her cries for help, Avril and
Magnus rushed out from the house to offer their assistance. The three of them
pulled Cyrus out of the water and laid him on his back. His eyes were open but
there were no signs of life.

“Cyrus,”
Avril growled shaking him. “Wake up, you bag of shit. Fucking wake up. Now.
NOW, CYRUS!”

“He’s dead,
Avy,” Magnus said putting a hand to her shoulder. “You can’t do anything.”

She spun
round, her eyes fill with merciless rage. “
You
.”

“Me?” Haley
replied.

“You killed
him.”

“I most
certainly did not!”

Avril stood
up, bearing her fangs. “I don’t see anyone else here.”

“What about
him?” Magnus murmured.

The three of
them turned to Edmond was walking over slowly from the court. They waited for
him to approach.

“Was this
you, Edmond?” Avril demanded.

Edmond shook
his head.

“You see!”
Avril shrieked, pointing her finger. “I knew it! It’s her!”

“Fuck off,”
Haley shouted back. “Look how he was killed. You think that was me?”

“She makes a
point,” Magnus said quietly. He bent down, inspecting Cyrus. “Is this your rod,
Edmond?”

Edmond stared
at them blankly.

He extended
his right hand and his rod slipped into it.

“That doesn’t
prove anything,” Haley said. “He’s just used Cyrus’s rod to kill him.”

“Did you see
it?” Magnus asked.

“Me? No,”
Haley replied.

“What about
you?” Magnus asked, turning to Edmond.

He didn’t
respond immediately.

“I didn’t see
it,” Edmond said. “But I know it was her.”

“How?” Avril
demanded.

“I just had a
call from an associate from the Vampire Dating Agency. It seems Haley is not
all she appears to be.”

“What do you
mean?”

“She’s a
certified member of the Paranormal Police. She was working a case undercover
tonight.”

“I don’t
believe it,” Magnus said. “You mean she’s…”

“Yes,” Edmond
said walking forward. “Haley’s a vampire slayer.”

CHAPTER
FORTY-SIX

Chased. Cornered. Defenseless. Death
seemed to be right around the corner. Or perhaps something much worse.

It was right
around the time Haley had her hands around Magnus’s throat, strangling him on
the carpet inside, when Edmond said: “STOP.”

Haley looked
up to see Avril standing over her, brandishing a knife, ready to strike.

Edmond was in
the hallway, half standing on Melanie.

“You can’t
beat all three of us,” he declared. “But you can save her life.”

“Bullshit,”
Haley hissed.

“She’s done
nothing wrong,” Edmond said. “Unlike you.”

He walked
into the living area and took the knife from Avril’s hands.

“Please,”
Haley whispered. “I haven’t done anything wrong either.”

“Aw, you
haven’t?”

“No.” Haley
climbed off Magnus and backed away into the corner further still. “Yes I’m with
the paranormal police. Yes I went in undercover. But not to randomly slay
vampires. I’m after someone. I’m after a killer.”

“She killed
Cyrus,” Avril said to Edmond. “She has to die.”

“It wasn’t
me,” Haley insisted. “Maybe it wasn’t any of us. Maybe the killer’s still out
there. Waiting for me to leave.”

“And why are
they so interested in you?” Magnus asked.

“It’s a long
story,” Haley said.

“Whatever. I
don’t care. Just kill her,” Avril advised.

“Why?” Edmond
replied. “Maybe she’s telling the truth.”

Haley stood
up. “I am. I swear to you.”

“Here’s the
deal, Haley. Now either we can just kill you where you stand – a fight I’m sure
you know you’ll lose – or you can fill in Melanie’s role tonight and satisfy
our urges.”

“Urges,”
Avril hissed. “Are you really thinking about –?”

Without
warning, Edmond put his arm around her and leaned into her.

Haley watched
with confusion, only seeing what was happening when they both came back up from
the bend.

Edmond and
Avril were french-kissing.

Haley’s jaw
dropped. “What the fuck?”

Magnus eyed
Haley, a small smile on his lips. Then he stood up and moved in beside Avril.
He took her away from Edmond’s grasp as Edmond removed the knife from Avril’s
hand. As Avril and Magnus began kissing, Edmond walked to the kitchen counter
and put the knife on top of it. He then paused a moment, before taking out his
phone and snapping a quick picture of everyone. Then he put the phone down
beside the knife.

“It’s really
very simple, Haley,” Edmond said walking over to the camera. “You can fight us
and die.”

Haley pressed
herself against the wall, her mouth twisting with disgust.

Magnus and
Avril feverishly undressed each other.

Edmond
stepped away from the camera and started walking towards them, unbuttoning his
shirt.

“Or you can
fuck us and live.”

CHAPTER
FORTY-SEVEN

Something in Haley snapped. The train
with twenty carriages had steamrolled in and knocked her off the rails. Outside
of herself, she knew she could have stood her ground to stop it. A hand and arm
outstretched, signaling to the driver that she wouldn’t budge. She could have
taken it, in all its force. But it hadn’t played out that way.

She was off
the rails. Or lost at sea. At some point though, the island, the light, the
gateway would open up. She’d have her chance to run again.

She just had
to remember her purpose.

She just had
to remember him.

But there was
no easy way to say it. No easy way to justify it. There were so many lies and
half-truths spinning round her head she felt nauseous. As if she could almost
stop thinking. As if she could switch off completely.

The clothes,
they were gone.

Gravity
appeared to be too.

She was lying
down, her body spread out, but she wasn’t on the floor. Something was holding
her in place above it. Edmond perhaps. Or Magnus. Or … maybe it wasn’t as
simple as that.

She was
suspended, she was sure. As they were too.

Higher, and
higher still.

Magnus was on
top of her. Edmond was underneath.

Avril was
between worlds, up by her face, nibbling at her ear.

Edmond was
feeling her. His chest at her back. His hands at her hips. They were moving
around. Swirling in motion. He felt her stomach. Her buttocks. Her breasts. His
teeth were just by her shoulder.

Magnus was
fucking her. His penis just went right in. All so casual about it. As if they’d
had sex a million times before.

The biting,
the kissing, the licking.

Edmond and
Avril were all over her. She turned left. She turned right. Their mouths forced
their way to hers. Their tongues sticky, and warm, and wet.

Then all of
the sudden, the tempo changed.

Haley was
back on the floor. The hard, hard floor.

Her knees
seeped into the bristling carpet. Edmond forced his way into her from behind.

A yelp
expelled from Haley’s lungs. Tears streamed from her eyes.

The fucking
was vicious. He was tearing up her walls.

In front of
them, Magnus was lying on his back, with Avril sucking him off.

Behind them,
the camera. The camera recording everything.

Their faces
drenched in green light.

“No,” Haley
whispered.

She tried to
straighten herself.

Pull away.

“Stop.”

Edmond
laughed, his fingernails biting into her.

“STOP!” Haley
roared.

She kicked
herself away from him, hobbling a few paces away on her knees.

Edmond
quickly latched back onto her.

He forced her
face around so she was opposite his.

“You’ve
already come this far,” he said to her. “Don’t let yourself down.”

“You’re a
monster,” Haley said.

“I know.”

He then
opened his jaw and bit into her neck, sucking her blood out like a state of the
art vacuum.

Haley’s body
pulsated.

Her eyes
moved past the kitchen bench to the backdoor, barely making out the outline of
someone standing there.

It’s you,
she thought.

You’re still
here.

You’re still
after me.

Edmond let go
of her and she fell

Fell

Fell…

Staring up
into no one.

“I’m coming,”
Haley’s lips breathed. “I’m coming to get you…”

CHAPTER
FORTY-EIGHT

Haley woke from her paralysis to the
sound of a bloodcurdling scream. She sat up, the blacks and greens of the room
fading in. She touched her chest and found the drying remnants of a warm, gooey
substances. Blood.

As she crept
up onto her knees, seamen rolled on out of her vagina. She clutched her
stomach, wanting to scream and vomit and vomit and scream – but it was no time
for her to suffer. In the centre of her left ear, she heard Melanie’s dying
cries whittle away. As well as the crunching. And the gnawing. And the sucking.

Haley twisted
her gaze towards the hall to see if it was true.

If it was
really happening.

It was.

One of them
was raping her too.

Haley quickly
covered her mouth, so the squeal wouldn’t escape. She felt around the dark for
the remnants of her clothes. She found her blouse – or maybe it was Avril’s –
and pulled it over her. Then she began to crawl, as quickly and quietly as she
could.

Soon she had
reached the kitchen. She continued across the tiles before a loud sound stopped
her dead.

Edmond’s
phone was on the counter.

It was
ringing.

Haley’s heart
beat faster and faster.

“Leave it,”
came a mumbled gasp. “We’re filming this remember…”

Haley quietly
stood up from the floor. Once the phone had finished ringing, she reached out
and took it.

Avril’s knife
was on the counter. She took that as well.

Then she
turned to the backdoor.

Haley put her
hand on the handle. She took a breath. Closed her eyes.

And pressed
down.

CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE

Outside the house of the Rance
vampires, the night had expanded. The storm had cleared and the clouds had
parted. The full moon hovered in the sky looking down on them.

A black
feathered raven sat above all.

Haley
staggered across the concrete, barely glancing at Cyrus’s body as the raven
inspected it. She rushed forth to the tennis court and broke into a full sprint
once there.

The green of
the court, the green of the towering lights above –

It stunned.

It burned.

It seared.

Haley’s face
reddened, weeping. She grasped hold of the gate fumbling about for the latch,
only to discover the padlock still there.

“No,” she
whispered. “No!”

She shook it
and the fence.

Haley then
took a step back. She breathed in deeply.

She had seen
it – she had seen Cyrus unlock this thing with a key attached to –

His belt.

Haley’s gaze
turned back to the house.

No movement.
No shadows.

There was
still time.

She hurried
back across the court again, this time even faster – and threw herself at the
ground where Cyrus lay. She grabbed hold of his belt, twisting it around, until
she found the chain attached.

Her fingers
glided across the metal, until she found the button. She pushed down and the
chain gave way.

Bbrrinng,
bbrinnng –

Edmond’s
phone.

Edmond’s
phone in her pocket.

“Fuck,” Haley
gasped.

She took off
like lightening, running back across the court towards the gate.

They couldn’t
have heard it. They wouldn’t have.

After all,
Cyrus had been killed out here without anyone hearing anything.

She should be
safe.

The padlock
came undone.

She ripped
the gate open, just in time to see the backdoor open.

They were
coming.

Haley forced
her gaze ahead and then ran into the thickened forest before her. Soon darkness
consumed everything. Every right. Every left. Every up or down. Haley kept
going, the never-ending scream in her mind knowing no relief.

It seemed
like forever.

The cuts. The
bruises.

The trips and
falls.

She could
hear them. She could hear them coming.

But she
wasn’t sure how far away they were.

Light.
Normal, artificial, street lamp light. Relief flooded through Haley as she
found herself not far away from Cyrus’s car.

She held out
the chain in front of her, scrabbling through the keys to what she thought
belonged to the car. She rushed to the driver’s side and opened the door,
sitting in the seat behind the wheel.

“Please,”
Haley whispered. “Please…”

She forced the
key into the ignition, and it did fit.

“Oh thank
God.”

She pulled
the lever out of park, and put her barefoot to the accelerator. The car pulled
away and drifted further, further, faster away…

“Yes!” Haley
screamed. “Fucking yes! Yes! Yes!”

She turned the
corner at the end of the road and took the phone out of her pocket which was
making more noises.

She wondered
if they were trying to call her.

She slowed
down a little, inspecting the newest message.

Thanks for
the video, Mr. Rance. I’ll get to work on it as soon as I can.

Video?

Haley hit the
brake.

Surely –
surely he hadn’t had time to upload the fucking porno he just filmed of her.

Haley bit her
teeth together. She had to see.

After a
little bit of scrolling and playing around with the phone, she found Edmond’s
sent attachments. She opened the first one to which his message read:
Watch
in private.

Haley then
opened the video.

Although she
had been dreading it to be the video of her, it turned out to be something much
worse.

“Please,”
Haley’s Mom said into the camera. “Don’t.”

A gloved hand
reached out and ripped away her towel exposing her naked body.

The phone
flew out of Haley’s hand as she screamed in agony.

Screamed and
screamed.

Over and
over.

Her mother’s
screams echoed on the phone as the video was still playing.

Haley pushed
open the diver’s door and vomited onto the road.

“It’s
you
,”
she choked. “Edmond Rance…”

She then
looked up in her reflector, and saw a dark trio of figures running down the
street she’d just exited from.

She quickly
closed the door and started to accelerate away.

But her
mother’s screams wouldn’t stop.

The terror.

The
nightmare.

It had to
end.

Haley hit the
brakes and ripped back open the door.

Avril, Magnus
and Edmond were standing there in the centre of the road, watching.

Waiting for
her next move.

Haley ran at
them.