Drake smiled. “You’re really going with this whole marriage thing, aren’t you? Well, that’s cute. But we’re done playing house. And you know as well as I do, there are only four heartbeats in this car. Don’t take me for a fool.”
“It’s in the process of happening. I mean, we’re pretty damn good in bed, but the heart still takes some time to form. We’re not miracle workers.”
Drake shrugged casually. “Well then, I guess I’ll have to be a father figure for a little while longer.” He looked to the young boy driving. “Young Vincent here is learning everything he can, isn’t that right?” he asked, sounding as if he were proud of the boy. “And I’ll be a damn better father than you could ever be; that’s for sure,” he said, smugly.
“If you think I’m going to let you raise my daughter—” Marie started to say angrily.
Drake turned around to face them. “Personally, a kid doesn’t affect my plans either way, even if it survives the pregancy. Do you want to know what I plan on doing with you, witch?” he said, spitting out the word. “I am going to turn you, this very night. And I will keep you in a room and starve you. A vampire’s hunger is unlike no other. I’ll feed you only when I need something, and you’ll have no choice but to help me. You, my dear, are going to be my prisoner for a very, very, long time.”
Marie glared at him but refused to give into his foolish notion that she was going to be held captive by him.
A few minutes later, the car stopped. Two female vampires went for Marie, while Drake and the young driver took William. Both William and Marie struggled to escape, to no avail.
“Take her to my office. Tie her down. Then take Mr. Lover Boy over here to that spot where we hunt in the desert. Tie him down and take turns watching guard. I’ll deal with him before the sun rises. You can hurt him as much as you want, but I want to be the one to kill him. Tonight will be his last night.”
Drake and the young Vincent shoved William in the back seat of a different car. One with tinted windows, so you couldn’t see what was going on inside. Drake handcuffed him with a long zip tie as William struggled to break free.
“Don’t do this, man,” William pleaded as Marie was shoved into the building “You’re only asking for trouble with her. Just let us go, let us live our lives. It’s not supposed to be like this. We’re supposed to be on each other’s side.”
“Well, I’m all out of options to give you. I’ll make sure I’ll raise a good little prince or princess for you. If she’s a girl, I’ll take her for my own when she comes of age and I’ll make sure she knows what a joke of a father you would have been.”
William let out a loud and guttural sound. He wanted to kill Drake right then and there, but he was powerless to do so. This is how it would end for him. Marie would escape. She had to. She would give birth to his little girl. But this was it for William, he realized.
He watched as the two women vampires got in the front seats. The driver was maybe in her late thirties when she had been turned. She was a brunette and looked a little anxious, William thought. The second vampire was a little younger, in her mid-twenties, he guessed. She was petite, blonde, and a bombshell. William could see why she was turned into a vampire.
The brunette vampire woman drove. William assumed her to be Vincent’s mom. They shared the same facial features. Good, he thought. He needed something to use.
They were in the car for five minutes when William’s leg started to shake. He cleared his throat, wanting to break the silence. “You know, a few weeks ago, this is exactly what I was looking for. A way out. And doesn’t life just have a funny way of working out? Let me ask you something?” he asked, towards the driver. “What did it feel like when your son was born?”
The driver hissed at him. “No one told you to speak.”
William scoffed to himself. “If this is going to be the last time I ever have a conversation, then you bet your ass I’m going to speak. Look, I’ve been alone a long time. I don’t know if such fine ladies like yourselves can relate. This whole lifestyle wasn’t really for me. I wanted out. And then it happened. I fell in love. She’s gonna have my kid, you know?” William shrugged in the backseat as tears fell from him eyes. Genuine tears. “I don’t know,” he continued. “I never wanted this so much. I never had anything to stick around for. But the idea that my little girl is going to be out there in the world. I’m going to miss it all. The pregnancy, the birth, my kid’s eyes shining as she looks up into mine. But at least I knew what love was before this all came to pass. I guess I’m lucky in that sense,” he said, almost in a whisper that time.
William continued to shake his leg. After a few minutes at a stoplight, one of the witches turned around. “Do you mind?” She was clearly annoyed, as his leg was shaking the car.
William ignored her as he spotted a circus tent and tried to hide his smile. Instead, he looked at the interior of the car, and noticed the car-sharing app stickers. The car had an over-all luxurious feel to it, and realized it was one that they used to their business.
William cleared his throat before speaking. “This is a nice car. You must make a lot of money in a place like Vegas. Especially with the hours we keep.” His leg continued to shake. “Truth is, I have had to take a piss for about an hour now. All this back and forth. I could go in here, I have no problem with that, but I wouldn’t want to ruin your nice interior.”
“You’re going to have to wait until we get to the desert.”
William laughed. “I’ve been waiting, and I’m going to explode. I say we have two or three minutes before that happens. Also, I fed last night,” he said, lying. But he knew these two vampires would know where he was going with this. The next morning, after you feed, the blood you drink gives urine a foul odor. He shrugged. “But I’ll go here. I don’t mind.”
“Beatrice, why don’t you pull over.”
Beatrice, Vincent’s mom, nodded. “Fine, there’s a tree there. We’ll stop, but I hope you don’t mind some company. Daphne will go with you.
William gave Daphne, the blonde vampire, a small smile. “I don’t mine one bit. I’m sure you’re dying for a peek, aren’t you?” He was trying to distract her.
“Please. I’ve seen plenty,” Daphne rolled her eyes.
“Not like mine you haven’t,” he said and smiled at her.
He waited until Daphne got out of the passenger side and opened up the door for him. He thanked her with a nod of the head. They walked to a nearby tree, where he’d be blocked by a brick wall if he really had to go. He got up to the tree and with cat-like precision, he elbowed Daphne hard on the face and made a run for it. He cut through a park. It was rush hour now, and the cars on the street were in gridlock, which bought him some time. He turned quickly to see Beatrice get out the car and assist Daphne. He made a left, hoping he could lose them and tried to come up with a plan to remove the zip-tie from his wrists.
He quickly ran into a convenience store. A young woman ran the cash registers. William gave her his best smile as he approached her and thought of the best lie he could come up with in a matter of seconds.