THE BEAST WITHIN
Laura was walking to her office. The usual walk along the beach, up into the skyscrapers through the park to the edge of the inner city forest that had been developed over 50years ago.
She reached her door the notice on the door read:
L. HOLLIS.
HEAD HUNTER.
EST. 2015
She had started the business after all the shenanigans that had been occurring in her life over the past couple of years. She was a bounty hunter of sort but not your usual kind. She hunted the supernatural. Not your bog standard ghosts, but the vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night that she had found to be real not just fairy tales.
As she opened her door the phone started ringing. Dumping her bag and coat she ran to answer it.
"Head Hunters Laura speaking?"
"Hello my name is Mrs. Dean"
"Good morning Mrs Dean how can I help you today?"
"I hear that you deal in the strange goings on"
"What exactly do you mean by strange Mrs Dean."
"Well, I have seen this girl around my block for the past few days. She is not your standard kind of girl. You see I have security cameras around my property because of the amount of break-ins that have occurred. I was looking through them and the times I have seen the girl I have written down but on the recordings she isn't on them."
"OK Mrs Dean, would it be possible to see these documents and videos?"
"Yes of course. Would you like to come round this afternoon and I can have them all ready for you?"
"That would be perfect Mrs Dean. If you give me your address I will come round about 3pm if that is alright with you?"
"That would be wonderful Laura. I hope you don't mind me calling you that it's just what you said when you answered the phone."
"That is fine Mrs Dean."
Laura took the lady's address and then looked through the notes she had made during the call. It all added up to one thing, she checked in her book she had to confirm what she thought and it did. She was looking at hunting a vampire.
This would be the first one that she would have hunted on her own. She had done training with her mentor Danny but that was just a straw model never had she seen a real vampire just what had been portrayed in movies and what her imagination had lead her to believe what they looked like.
She was still unsure of herself so she picked up the phone and dialled Danny's number.
"Hey Danny... Oh damn it the answer phone she must be out with Kirsch or Will."
"Danny it's Laura can you call me on my cell when you have a minute please I have just taken on a job and I think it involves vampires but I just want you to look at the notes." She said to the machine at the other end of the phone then hung up.
She spent much of the morning and early afternoon just going over and over her notes, she didn't want to look stupid this was only her 2nd client, not bad considering she had only opened her office a month ago. Still she wanted to look and sound professional and knowledgeable.
Locking her office door, Laura looked at the piece of paper and saw that the house was close to her own on the beach front. Walking as if she was going home at the end of the day she made her way back through the city to the beach, but instead of walking along the beach as she would normally do she turned off into a little cul de sac, it had picture perfect houses in it. She found the house she was looking for no problem. Mrs dean was not lieing when she said that she had cameras. There must have been at least 20 that Laura could see. Either she was a complete busy body or she genuinely was worried about all the break ins that had happened but still it was a little OTT to have so many cameras.
Laura made her way to the front door. She went to reach for the bell and the door swung open.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing here" Came the big voice from the little woman in front of her.
"Er I'm Laura you called me earlier today about your tapes?"
"Oh my dear, I'm so sorry if I scared you. Its just you can't trust anyone these days."
"It's OK honestly that was one of the nicer welcomes I have received" Laura laughed trying to break the ice.
"Well my dear come on in and let me show you what I have." The woman ushered Laura in the door and bolted it shut.
"Don't worry Laura, I don't bite. It's just so I know I am safe."
Laura followed the lady to the living room where she saw a giant TV with what looked like 30 divisions which would be the cameras around the house. She could see that some of the little screens were still and some were dark.
"Yes these are all my cameras that I have around the house. The gentleman across the close got burgled a few weeks ago and I actually helped to catch the culprit with the cameras but it got thrown out because I do not have signs saying that I have security cameras. Well I do now they are in my windows."
"Mrs Dean can we talk a bit more about what we discussed this morning. I have made notes whilst on the phone to you earlier and looked in my journals and books that I have and what you have described to me sounds like a Vampire. But what you didn't tell me was when you saw the girl was it during the day or night?"
"Laura dear, I have seen her at all times of the day. She lives on the close. If you look at camera 6 on the screen you will see the house that she lives in. in the next 10 minutes she will come out her front door and make her way down the street. You watch the camera you will see the door open but no one come out the door. Then you come to the window and you will see her go past the house."
Laura grabbed a chair and made herself comfortable she didn't want to stand and make it obvious that she was nervous. She wanted her client to see her confident and knowing what she was doing.
Bang on the 10 minutes that Mrs Dean had said Laura saw the door swing open but no one came out. She stood up and made her way towards the window and only managed to see the back of what looked like someone her own age.
"Can we rewind the tape please Mrs Dean?" Laura asked the woman.
"Of course lovely." She replied on her way back towards the control panel.
Laura sat and watched the tape over and over. She asked the lady to do a copy for her to take back to the office, where she would give it to her assistant Lola to analyse.
"Mrs Dean, I am going to take this job, it is $100 dollars a day, we only charge expenses if we go out of state. We aim to have this person/creature captured within a week abut if we do end up going past that then the cost goes down to 50 dollars a day. If you want daily feedback then that is an extra 20 dollars a day but that is entirely up to you. We will start charging as from tomorrow, but I would like you to inform us by 9am tomorrow of places you think she goes to. Places you know she goes to, people who come and go from the house. Also we need your schedule in case we have to come and monitor the house." Laura explained.
"OK Laura, just one question though? What will happen to her once she has been captured?"
"Well, my friend Danny has a lab/lock up where she will keep this person and run tests we need to gain what type of vampire she actually is because there are not many that can walk about this freely in the day time without spontaneously combusting. We will let her live in a controlled environment where we will feed her and record her. We do not kill any of the creatures/people unless we know 100% that there is a threat of them killing."
The look said all it had to say to Laura.
"Mrs Dean I will call you first thing tomorrow and you can tell me if you wish to proceed or not with this. But if you do not wish to proceed yourself we will endeavour to do the job ourselves, but I do so want you to be a part of it seeing as you brought it to my attention." Laura said all this knowing that the last sentence would be the selling point and the woman would want to be involved.
"Goodbye Mrs Dean. I will leave you to think about things and tonight I will do some preliminary findings."
"Goodbye Laura and I will speak to you tomorrow." the lady replied.
Laura left the house and went and looked at the house the girl had come from. It was in darkness the curtains closed and unable to look inside Laura went round to the gate. This was locked. Laura kept herself pretty fit so jumped up and over the fence with little problem and landed gently in an overgrown yard which betrayed the beautifully kept front yard of the house. Laura made her way to the back door. There were no curtains up and she pressed her face against her hand to try and look inside. Suddenly there was a rustling from behind her and she heard a soft pad pad of paws on the ground. Spinning around she came face to face with a large Doberman. Laura was petrified of dogs, it was almost as if this girl knew she would be coming. What better way to keep her away than to have the animal that she feared the most guarding her property. Laura was about to turn back around and make her way out the garden when the back door opened. There stood the girl she was to capture.
"Who the hell are you? And what the fuck are you doing on my property?" She scowled at Laura.
"I I I I'm sorry. I was playing Frisbee with my friends on the beach and I was sure that it came over here. I did knock but there was no answer." Laura lied.
"Frisbee eh?" the girl questioned all the while looking Laura up and down.
Laura was petrified all she could do was nod. Sweat started forming on her brow. She had to find a way to get out of this situation before she blew her own cover.
"I'm Sorry I must get back to my friends before they send out a missing persons report on me." Laura laughed.
"Hey Frisbee girl what's your name? If I find it I would want to know who to return it to."
"My name? Yeah my name is Laura and you?" Laura asked.
"My true name is Mircalla but I hate that so I just changed the letters round and came up with Carmilla and I prefer that so much more." She explained in her soft husky tone.
Laura offered out her hand "Nice to meet you Carmilla, listen I have to go but hopefully I will bump into you again."
"I would like that very much." Carmilla replied, looking as if she was already planning on bumping into her again.
Laura jumped over the fence and made her way towards the beach at the back of the close. She had to keep up the pretence that she had come from there to begin with. There was something about this girl, it was like she was dangerous but she wasn't. Evil but good. It was like there was so much she needed to know about her but didn't want to trouble her. It confused her that she was getting so many mixed feelings just from spending a few minutes in her woman intrigued her she had to keep in mind that she was now hunting this woman but it wouldn't hurt to try and find out some information about her.
Laura made her way back to her apartment. She liked that she kept quite a distance between her workplace and home, she liked to keep distance with everything. She and Danny had been a couple once but as soon as Danny had become her mentor it finished. She couldn't deny that she was still smitten with her but she knew that now they were working together they couldn't be anything more than just friends. It had been hard at first and they had ended up sleeping together a few times after, but each time Laura felt guilty and had to distance herself from Danny. Now they both knew it couldn't happen and did everything they could to avoid being alone with each other. Danny had taken on 2 other assistants in Will and Kirsch she was training them up to take control of the compound as she wanted to take more of a back-seat. Laura liked Kirsch he was one of these men you could not take at all seriously. He just joked all the time and Danny hated that, Will on the other hand was very studious and was always to be found with his nose in a book or in an old document. He wanted to know everything about anything.
Once back home Laura called Lola.
"Hey Lola I know your probably busy right now seeing as I am talking to your answer phone can you ring me as soon as please. We may have a new case from tomorrow and I want to brief you on it." Laura put the phone down and got herself a bottle of water from out the fridge.
Laura enjoyed the coolness in her hands. She didn't realise that she had been sweating as much as she had. This woman had made her nervous like never before. It was like she loved the thrill of it all.
Laura thought about how the girl looked. She had long black hair, dark brown eyes, perfect skin, she couldn't be any older than 19 maybe 20 years old. About the same age as she was. Her eyes though looked haunted like something was eating at her. Something stopping her from being happy.
Laura made her way into the bathroom and switched on the shower. She needed to get the smell of that dog from around her. But she couldn't get her mind off Carmilla. The woman she was about to start hunting and would become a science experiment. There was a niggling feeling that there was something more to this than she realised. She knew that the more she looked at the case the more involved she would get. It had happened with her first case of the werewolf La Fontaine. She just kept digging and digging and found that she couldn't kill the target like she was hired to do. It would have been like killing a friend and that's what they had become since they had been sent to the containment lab. Laura would be found there 2 or 3 times a week unless there was a full moon and she would sit and talk about everything with them. They had become her best friend and confidant. She would definitely be paying them a visit this coming week.
Laura undressed and got under the shower letting the hot water wash over her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the relaxing pitter patter of the water over her body, she didn't know whether she was dreaming or if it was real she felt as if someone was in the room with her. She didn't want to open her eyes in case she was only dreaming. She leaned back against the cold wall and she felt the tiny water droplets as if water was bouncing off someone else in the shower with her. She wanted to reach out and see if there was someone else there but she couldn't move it was like she had been glued to the spot. Suddenly there was a hand at the side of her face pushing her hair away from her eyes. Gently running their fingers down the length of the hair. She thought maybe Danny had given in to temptation and had come round she had a key for emergencies. No it wasn't Danny she knew how Danny's hands felt on her.
Laura let out a small sigh as the hand touched her neck. The hands were cold despite the hot water. She could feel goosebumps forming all over her body. Again the mysterious person touched her cheek, this time Laura managed to move her arm and reached to where she thought the person might be. Her hand just went through water. She heard a small giggle coming from the other side to where she had just reached. Suddenly lips were against hers. Whoever it was, was using their mouth to open Laura's. Laura couldn't help but respond. It was a new mouth against hers and the fact she had kept her eyes closed all this time made it exciting to her. Whoever was kissing her now was slightly taller than she was. They were slim as Laura's hand had connected with flesh and she traced her hand down the body that was edging closer all the time.
Something made Laura's eye shoot open and suddenly she was alone, that's if she hadn't been alone to start with. She made her way out the shower and stopped still when she saw the wet footprints leading out of the room. She had been so sure that she had been dreaming she had convinced herself but seeing the footprints actually scared her. Someone had been in her home and in all intents and purposes had violated her. Well not so much violated but taken advantage. She made her way to her bedroom and saw a single red rose on the pillow underneath that was a note. She picked it up and read it.
Frisbee Girl,
Can't wait to meet you again. The next time you hopefully won't have to rush off.
C.
It was just a simple note but it spoke volumes to Laura. The game had changed she was now the hunted and Carmilla was now the hunter. Laura began to shake with fear because this woman that she had only met once for literally minutes had found out where she lived and entered her home all within an hour of leaving the house. This was freaking her out, She was used to having strange people following her around but never within minutes of meeting them. This girl was strange as hell and the sooner she wrapped up this case the better she would feel.
Getting dressed Laura tried Lola's number again.
"Lola Perry where the hell are you. This is so unlike you not to answer your phone or reply to messages. I need you to call me as soon as!" Laura exclaimed down the phone.
Next she tried Danny's phone. Again it went to answer phone.
"Danny please call or come round I'm freaking out here and I need someone to talk to." She was almost in tears at this point. She jumped as her phone started ringing.
"Hello?" she said into the mouthpiece.
"Did you get my note?" the slightly husky voice said in reply.
"How the hell did you get into my home and into my shower." Laura demanded.
"Sweet cheeks, ican get anywhere I want to, and I wanted to be there. So when can I see you again? Well I saw quite a lot of you not so long ago. I mean I want to spend some proper time with you."
Laura wanted to put the phone down but couldn't something stopped her. She wanted to get back to being on the case in hand.
"Now and the next week are not good times. Maybe next week when things are a bit less busy for me." she lied.
"No Laura, I want to see you now!" Carmilla demanded.
It scared Laura how forceful she was being, but she had to be strong because, she knew that at the end of all this Carmilla was going to be imprisoned and she would go about her day to day life. She couldn't let herself get side tracked.
"No Carmilla, I have told you when I am available, I am not at anyone's beck and call. I have work, I have a home to maintain and I have obligations. You may have lots of time to do things and to demand things but I have a life to live, bills to pay, you get the gist?!"
"Laura we have more in common than you realise. And I know that you felt something when we first met that's why I am doing this because I felt it too."
"Carmilla the only thing I felt was fear, because a big assed dog was sniffing round my feet and you came out of nowhere and scared the shit out of me. So excuse me when I say you obviously didn't feel the same as me else you would know that I was fucking shit scared!"
"Laura, there was something other than fear in your emotions I felt it."
"Carmilla I am putting the phone down now. I have work to do and people to try and get hold of, now please leave me alone."
"I can't leave you alone Laura."
Laura put the phone down and exhaled a deep breath. Going round the apartment Laura made sure all the windows were closed and locked and that the front door was bolted closed. She felt safer knowing that she was locked in. She took the papers out of her jacket pocket that had all her notes on from the day. She started to read them once again even though she knew every word that was written on it. It was just a distraction, but it didn't work she ended up thinking about Carmilla again. What was this case doing to her? She knew the sooner she captured Carmilla the better off she would be.
Laura sat in the darkness and soon found herself sleeping. She began to dream. She was running through the city looking all around her. She didn't know who or what she was looking for just that she had to find it! Suddenly LaFontaine was there in their wolf form running towards her growling, she could make out a few words in that growl "GET AWAY FROM HERE!" Laura couldn't see anything else around except for the wolf and of course herself. She caught something in the far distance that she couldn't make out. She couldn't help but move towards it, but it seemed to be moving away from her. She ran faster to try and catch up but the faster she ran the quicker the figure moved away from her. Suddenly there was another figure in front of the other one and she tried shouting out to them but they couldn't hear her. She ran as fast as she could but still couldn't get any closer.
Then a hand was on her arm, she looked up and the figures in front were in the exact same position. Turning around she came face to face with Danny.
She tried to talk but nothing came out. Danny was pulling her but she pulled away. She saw fear in Danny's eyes. This made her scared. Will came next to Danny but there was something distorted about his features. It was like when the optometrist put those different glasses in front and it blurred your vision. She knew it was him but just couldn't focus on him. Kirsch was next to appear and he had become this confident exaggerated person. It was like he was a bigger version of himself. She didn't like this dream and she wanted to wake up.
Lola was talking to her about the Carmilla case telling her not to get involved in it because it would end badly. Lola was the voice of reason whether it be in a dream or in real life. A shadow began to form behind Lola and then Carmilla was there in Vampire form. Laura tried to scream again to warn Lola but it was too late. Carmilla hand sunk her teeth into the girls neck and was feeding from her. It wasn't fear that Laura felt at that point, it was a complete calmness and understanding. She knew exactly what she now had to do. She had to kill Carmilla before she killed her. She had to push everything else out of her head and focus on what she had to do.
Laura woke and with a clear head she went about her morning routine. She got into her running things and went for her usual run along the beach. During this she set about her plan of action. She knew all the fictitious things that could repel a vampire but she knew the one true thing would be a crucifix and she had to go and buy one.
Once home she got in the shower, she was a quick as she could be because she didn't want to think about what had happened last night again. She dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a black tank top with a pair of green converse. She put her hair up into a ponytail tight on the top of her head. She checked her messages.
"Hey Laura it's Lola, sorry I never got back to you last night Danny, Will, Kirsch and I were in the containment lab with LaFontaine, they became ill and we had to watch them until they settled. Their a bit better today but we are going to have to keep a close eye on them for the next few days. Danny sends her apologies also. Anyway must get back to the lab. I just wanted to keep you updated. Let me know about this new case when you get the chance I would love to hear about it. Anyway must dash. Bye."
Laura breathed a sigh of relief. At least the people she cared about were safe, she didn't know what she would do if anything had happened to them.
Laura grabbed her keys and locked up. She made her way to the office and got her breakfast on the way. She loved the early morning bustle of the city as it woke up. The coffee shop she went to every morning was busy for some reason today. Laura picked up a paper left on one of the tables.
BODY FOUND ON BEACH
She quickly looked through the story and threw the paper in her bag. She would read it properly when she got to the office. Taking her cell phone out of her pocket she dialled the number for her friend Betty who worked in the Police force.
"Hey Betty I have just seen the story. Can I ask just 1 question it may be related to the case I have just taken on? Did the body have puncture marks anywhere on it?"
"Laura I shouldn't be telling you anything you know this! But I know you deal with the strange. It is like they had the life sucked out of them. There was what looked like needle marks in their wrist. Which is strange in itself."
Laura took a breath and thought about what she had just heard.
"Thanks Betty, I will let you go, but there are so many journalist in town now so be careful OK."
"I always am Laura you know that."
"See ya Betty."
"Bye."
Laura took all the information in, not that it was much. It was well know vampires went for areas where there were arteries so it made no sense that the area that had been bitten just had veins in. this wouldn't let the blood flow freely and quickly as an artery would. Nothing was making sense. Laura gave up waiting for her coffee and decided to take a slow walk to the office. Lola wasn't going to be there today and she still had 45minutes before she had to ring Mrs Dean. Something made her start thinking about Mrs Dean. How would she know about supernatural things. Just because Carmilla hadn't shown up on the camera didn't mean that she was anything other than wise to all the cameras and just didn't want to be seen. Why didn't she have any other people under suspicion. Laura was sure that there had been someone else in the close at the same time as Carmilla. So why was she only thinking about this now. Why is Carmilla and the case so important? Its just a routine vampire capture. So why was she thinking about Carmilla being innocent? Nothing was making sense any more. Not even LaFontaine becoming ill. They were never ill.
Laura kept putting all the information into the front of her mind and tried to piece it logically and methodically she needed facts and she didn't have any all she had was hear-say and that was no way to build a case. She needed to talk to Carmilla. As much as she hated to admit it she was innocent until proven otherwise. Everyone was innocent she just had to prove just how innocent or how guilty they were.
Taking a deep breath Laura picked up the phone and dialled Mrs Dean's number. It rang a few times before it was answered. Laura was surprised by the voice.
"Dean residence how can I help?"
"Will?" Laura asked shocked.
"Yes who is this I'm talking too?" Will asked.
"Will its Laura. Can I speak with your mother please?" She asked.
"She isn't here right now, she popped out, she did ask me to tell you that she wants you to take on the case and she has also asked me to say to you that she is so glad that you are working on this and she knows you will do a good job."
"Will, can you ask your mother to give me a call as soon as she is free please. I have a few questions that I need to ask her about the case."
"OK Laura, I must go because I have to be back at the lab in half an hour and the traffic is going to be murder at this time of the morning."
"OK Will I will see you soon. Take Care."
Laura hung up the phone. It didn't add up that she wasn't there when they had agreed just last night that she would call at that time. Its not unusual that someone would forget that they had made the appointment but not get someone to play messenger.
She sat for a few moments and thought about her next move. She had to get Carmilla on side but she didn't know how. The girl was mysterious and her cryptic phone call last night had made her a bit wary of her. She knew that she had to make the first move so to speak.
Closing her eyes she tried to focus, but all that came to her was a vision of Carmilla, as the shadow in the shower. Her mind went back to that experience, she still couldn't figure it out whether it had been real or just her imagination. She never really thought that she had any imagination when it came to anything sexual but then situations have a habit of surprising you. Laura smiled to herself and picked up her cell phone. She was just going through her call list when a text message flashed up on the screen.
Frisbee girl, cum 2 the beach this pm we will throw the Frisbee around and have fun. B there. Carm.
Laura sat staring at the screen. This is so her being hunted down. What was she going to be Carmilla's next victim like the girl on the beach this morning. Or was she trying to seduce her, or even trying to forge a friendship because she knew what was going on. She was just confusing herself keeping thinking about things. She had to have a clear head and think straight. She couldn't distract herself from everything.
She went into the dark room at the back of her office where she liked to sit and meditate when she had a lot going on. She lighted the incense stick and sat cross legged in the middle of the mat on the floor. She closed her eyes and focused on the vision of a vampire. Focus on the enemy. She couldn't see the person she had to see the creature. And she tried hard to do that but all she could see was Carmilla's face. All she could feel was that soft tender touch. Her phone vibrating in her pocket broke her chain of thought.
She looked at the screen and saw Danny's name flashing over the screen along with an old goofy picture she had taken when they had been dating.
"Hey Danny how's the patient?"
"Laura, I have to tell you something and its important. Do not take this case you told me about. Its not safe. I have been doing some digging on this Mrs Dean and she is not who you think she is."
"Danny stop stressing, its Will's mom."
"No it isn't sweetheart. We found out what was wrong with LaFontaine, it was Will poisoning them. Will and this Mrs Dean kill supernatural beings for sport. I don't know why they are getting you involved with this vampire case but you need to stay away. Its not safe for you. We have Will imprisoned in the lab and have changed all the access codes. Laura promise me you wont take the case."
"I already have Danny."
"Fuck it! I told Lola I should have called you last night!"
"Listen Danny just find out what you can about a vampire named Mircalla. Its who I'm supposed to be trailing. She is trying to be friendly with me but it feels like I'm the one being hunted."
OK Laura just promise me something. Don't do anything without back up. Now we know LaFontaine is going to be alright I am going to send Kirsch over to you. You could say he can be your unofficial bodyguard. Just to make sure you are safe."
Laura nodded into the handset but in reality she hated Kirsch and didn't really want him around. He had been so jealous when she and Danny had got together he was like Danny's second shadow the way he just kept following her around. She just figured that she would have to be gone from the office before he had the chance to get there. So she worked out that from the lab to the office would take around 40minutes in his car. So that gave her at least 20mins to get out and get a reasonable distance away.
Opening a text on her phone she simply put:
Meet me at the train station in 15
FG
She sent it too Carmilla's phone and hoped that she saw it.
Laura gathered up a few bits that she would need like her wallet and her travel pass, left everything else and made here way a few streets away to the train station. She stood by the ticket machine looking towards the entrance. Everytime she heard the swoosh of the automatic doors her heart did a jump. The she felt disappointed when it wasn't Carmilla. She was just about to give up and walk away when the door swept open again and in strolled the beautiful woman she had been waiting for. She couldn't help but smile and without saying anything she took Carmilla's hand and led her towards the platform...
When they finally sat at their seats on the train did Laura finally speak.
"I don't know what the fuck I am doing right now but I just know that I have to get away from here, and I want you with me. I don't know what you have done to me but your all I can think about. I was hired to capture you and who knows even kill you but I couldn't do it. Carmilla I only met you yesterday but I know how I feel about you." Blurted out Laura.
"Laura shush, I know and I have been watching you for so long. I was actually glad that the old dear called you it gave me a reason to approach you..."
Laura didn't give her a chance to finish. She pulled Carmilla in for a kiss. Not an imaginary one but a real kiss.