“Hi. So, I’m totally embarrassed to admit this, but I have sort of a kinky night. The woman I was partying with wanted to try out handcuffs, but I only had these zip-ties. Anyway, I live up the street, right over there,” he said and pointed to the row of apartments. “And the woman had the nerve to sneak off while I was sleeping, so I’m kind of stuck here. Would you mind grabbing a pair of scissors and kindly helping me out?”
The girl looked at him nervously. “Why not knock on your neighbor’s door?”
“No way, she doesn’t like me.”
“Or anyone else in the building?”
William laughed. “It’s embarrassing. You really not going to help me out here?”
The girl finally smiled. “It’s kind of fun to watch you, but I can help, I suppose.” She took out a pair of scissors from a drawer.
“Thanks, you don’t know how much I appreciate this.”
“You actually slept that way?” the girl asked.
“Well, we have a little bit to drink last night. I sort of just passed out afterwards. Thanks again,” he said and waved on his way out. He looked for the car in question but saw nothing. He pulled his hoodie over his head and left the convenience store. As he crossed the street, he saw the black Lexus waiting at a light. Instead of waiting to see if they had spotted him, he ran as fast as he could, towards the circus tent a couple of blocks away. He had an idea as to how to get rid of them.
Chapter Twelve
Back at the abandoned building, Marie was locked up in a room in what appeared to be an empty office. She had no idea what the vampires used it for, but maybe it was a place they brought their victims to. There was no telling. The room she was in was bare save for a desk and desktop computer. There was nothing on the walls except for a single window in the room, but it was boarded up from the outside. All she could see was her own reflection. She was currently tied down to a wooden chair. What Drake didn’t know, what he couldn’t know, is that she was only pretending to be tied down. She had taken the knife out of her boot the second they were captured and kept it concealed within the sleeve of her jacket, in her right hand. The two vampire women who held her captive never took notice. They had done a horrible job at tying her up and she managed to break through the thin rope. Marie almost laughed. It was too easy.
When Drake came in, he told Vincent to stand guard outside the room. He locked the door, then put his long blond hair in a man bun and rolled his chair over to Marie. He got close enough to smell the shampoo she had used. “Don’t worry. My bite won’t hurt. But here’s what you can expect. I will leave you on the brink of death. When I’ve left just enough blood to keep you barely alive, I will slit my wrist, and you must suck the blood from me back into you. You won’t have a choice. You’ll die eventually if you don’t.” He sighed as if he was bored from explaining it. “After you drink my blood, you will sleep. When you wake next, you will have become a vampire.”
“And what if I’d rather die?” she asked.
He shrugged. “One drop of my blood will make you long for more. Dying won’t be an easy option for you once you get that first sweet taste. Now, I don’t want to be disturbed by the other vampires as I prepare for our lovely little future.” He took the strong garlic potion with the red cork out of his pocket, thinking it was the dispel potion.
“How much do you normally take?” he asked.
“Half a bottle,” Marie lied. Even with the diluted dispel, her and William only took a sip. This would be much more potent, and Marie hoped it would affect him the way she thought it would.
Marie watched him drink, a plan forming in her mind.
He made a face afterwards, then shuddered by its taste. “Absolutely awful stuff, but if it does what it’s supposed to then I suppose it’s a fair trade.”
Marie only glared at him, pretending to still be tied to the chair. Drake leaned in close. He could hear Marie’s heart racing. “It helps if you close your eyes,” he whispered as his lips kissed her neck.
Marie waited for his fangs to tear through her flesh, but he was taking his time, toying with her, and he breathed up and down her neck. Finally, she felt it. A feeling not unlike a deep kiss. Marie let out the smallest of cries. She almost closed her eyes, but was brought to her senses when Drake pushed himself off her aggressively.
His face had a look of disgust as he wiped his mouth. “What’s wrong with your blood?” he spat. He felt dizzy. The room was spinning, and his vision was blurry.
It had worked! “You could call it a type of vampire repellant, or maybe a poison perhaps.” She looked at him smugly, and then made her move. She broke free from the chair and saw that in the reflection of the window, he was invisible. The garlic was working. She quickly knocked his chair over with a kick and watched as he fell onto the floor. She grabbed her backpack, the axe still wrapped, and took it in her hands.
“That potion you thought you took? It wasn’t what you thought it was. In fact, it’s actually going to ensure that you die and don’t came back,” she said as she quickly moved the chair out from underneath him and turned his body over so she could straddle him. “And you thought this was going to be so easy, didn’t you? Well, rule number one, you don’t fuck with witches. We’ve been around a lot longer than vampires have, and we know a thing or two about how to destroy each and every one of you.”
He didn’t say anything, only looked at her with a worried expression. He felt as if he were two places at once and could see her in his view, but he could also see himself as she sat on top of him as if he was hovering from above. His confusion, however, didn’t last long. Marie grabbed the axe he kept in her backpack and took one full swing, her aim just right. His head rolled away from his body. Marie quickly grabbed a whole garlic from her bag, which she had kept just in case, and stuff it in his dead mouth. Marie shuddered.
Drake’s body suddenly disintegrated and turned to dust before her very eyes. Heart racing, she walked over to the window and checked the gash on her neck. The wound was still bleeding. She cut some extra fabric off of her shirt with the blade she had and tied it around her hand so she could stop the bleeding. Holding onto her neck, she unlocked the door with the other hand and walked out. Vincent, their young mortal driver, was standing guard by the door and listening to music on his phone. He took his earbuds out, his mouth hanging open when he saw Marie.
Without hesitating, she took a knife to his throat. “Where’d your mom and her sidekick take my husband?”
The young teenager didn’t answer right away. Marie could tell he was scared.
“I killed that asshole of a vampire in there, and I’m not afraid to kill you, but I’ll spare you if you help me,” she said, her tone angry and to the point.
Vincent nodded, suddenly looking much younger than his tender age of eighteen. He peeked inside the door to the office. “You actually killed him?”
“His body turned to dust. It’s right there,” she replied, opening the door more so that he could see. “Now, where are they? Can you take me to them?”
Vincent nodded. “Yeah, I know where they took him.” He took his car keys out of his pocket and headed towards the exit, his phone his hand.