AN: Just so you know, I went back and edited chapter one a little to make it more clear why Bella shot the woman in the opening scene. It's because, in this story, vampire venom can be transmitted via saliva. The purpose of that scene was to establish Bella as an anti-hero, but rest assured: Bella is not evil, she's just cold-blooded.
BTW, this story is completely AU, which means everything's changed. Forget what you know about the original novels, because this is all different. Also, there's no wolves in this fic, and only some of the other Cullens will be appearing. Bella and Alice are the main characters, and when Jane's introduced she'll be a main character as well.
Anyway, thank you for the reviews/favs/alerts. Here's the next chapter, hope you like it.
Hearts of Darkness
Chapter 2: A day's work
Laurent swirled the red wine in the glass he held in his hand. The nightclub was loud and rowdy. The lights and lasers playing over the clubbers and the deafening music thumping in his eardrums. He sat alone with his glass of wine, and he sat watching it swirl but he did not drink. The table was on the balcony overlooking a smoky dancefloor and when he looked over he could see James and Victoria down there dancing together. James wore his darkblonde hair in a short ponytail and Victoria's scarlet locks spilled about her bare and pale shoulders like flames. She wore a red dress that left very little to the imagination and she slouched against her partner in a rather salacious manner, grinding up against his thigh, her tongue flicking out to lick his neck. People were watching, and not many in disgust. Over Victoria's shoulder James spied a blonde eyeing them from the bar. When their eyes met the blonde looked away blushing. When she looked back James was still staring at her. He whispered something in Victoria's ear. Victoria's lips curved into a smile and she turned to look at the blonde too.
Laurent shook his head and turned his eyes to the wine. He raised the glass to his nose, closed his eyes, and inhaled. When he opened them again there was an attractive brunette leaning over his table. Laurent had beautiful black hair and rich dark skin and the brunette's eyes roamed him quite approvingly. "Hey baby," she said. "Want some company?"
Laurent appeared to consider. She wore tight jeans and a mintgreen tubetop and as he looked her over she dipped her eyes to his pants so he was sure to notice. No stranger to a one night stand, this one. Laurent smiled and shook his head. "Not tonight, my dear," he said. "Not tonight."
She shrugged and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Suit yourself," she said, and then strutted away into the further gloom of the nightclub.
# # #
They went down the sidewalk in the rain, Bella and Alice, raindrops the size of marbles spattering noisily in the street and on the roofs of cars. The sky was grey and heavy as far as you could see and Bella had her hood pulled up over her head but the hoody was fleece and she was soaked through within minutes. Alice paused to buy an umbrella from a streetvendor, holding her satchel over her head like a peculiar hat, fairly yelling at the salesman over the roar of the rain. Bella strode on but soon Alice was jogging after her and they went on huddled together under the umbrella.
They came to the public library where they trotted up the wet stone steps and went inside. Bella sat at a computer and Alice leaned over her shoulder. "There's a coven of nomads currently based here in Seattle," Bella said. "I've been meaning to hit them the next time I was in the area. Now's as good as time as any."
"Are they Volturi?"
"No. They're just nomads."
Bella clicked a few times, typed in a couple passwords. A photograph popped up on the screen.
"This is them," Bella said. The photograph depicted four people exiting a nightclub. It was hi-res and the vampires were caught mid expression. It looked like the kind of picture taken by some private investigator or paparazzi hiding in the bushes. "The guy with the ponytail calls himself James," Bella said. "The redhead's his mate, Victoria. The other guy's known as Laurent."
"And the girl?"
"A victim."
Alice frowned. "Where'd the picture come from?"
"A colleague."
Alice looked at her. She looked at the picture. "And they're not Volturi?"
"No," Bella said, leaning back in the chair. "It'll be a simple job, bordering on pointless, but think of it as practice. If you're serious about going up against the Volturi, we'd better have at least some idea of how we function as a team."
Alice nodded but she looked a bit troubled. Bella glanced at her and then turned back to the screen, clicked a few more times, and rose to fetch the printouts.
It was almost dark by the time they got to the hotel. Alice paused under the awning to shake out the umbrella and Bella pushed on through the revolving doors. The lobby was large and echoey and a crystal chandelier hung shimmering from the moldered ceiling. A low din of voices and click of shoeheels on the polished floor. Bella was leaning on the oak frontdesk when Alice came in. "Just a single," Bella told the clerk.
"And how long will you be staying?"
"Make it a week."
They rode the elevator to their room. Bella opened the door with the keycard and they went in and tossed their backpacks on the carpet. There was a doublebed, a sofa, a TV. Everything clean and cream colored. Bella went over to the window and opened the curtains. It was raining so hard she could barely see out. It was dark and grey and the streetlamps had just come on. Alice sidled up beside her.
"Um, this might be a silly question," she said. "But if there's only one bed, where am I supposed to sleep?"
"Vampires don't sleep."
"Well not technically, but I still like to lay down."
"You can have the bed if you want."
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Don't you have to sleep?"
"Not as long as I have serum."
"I guess that means you won't be eating either."
"No."
"Rats. I was looking forward to watching you eat."
Bella glanced at her.
"What?" Alice asked innocently. "It's one of my things. I like watching people eat."
They took turns in the shower and Alice ordered Bella some room service and they sat on the bed in their bathrobes and sifted through the printouts from the library while Bella ate and Alice watched. They'd blowdried their rainsoaked clothes and the clothes hung in the closet on wire hangers. Alice lifted one the printouts and looked at it. "You know," she said, "I always thought you were a lone wolf sort of character. I didn't know you had friends who helped you out."
"They're not friends," Bella said. "They're associates."
"Ah."
Bella started gathering up the papers in a pile. "I work alone, but like any field operative I wouldn't get very far without a handler."
Soon it was midnight. Alice was in bed, laying on her side with the covers pulled up to her chin. Bella sat at the desk cleaning her shotgun. When she had it reassembled she looked over her shoulder. At Alice, at Alice's pale face. She stood up and carried the shotgun over to the window. She pulled back the curtains and looked out. It was still raining and she could see nothing. She turned to the bed. Then she set the shotgun on the sideboard by the alarm clock and crawled under the covers in her bathrobe. Alice felt Bella's weight tilt the mattress and smiled. They lay there in bed on their sides facing away from each other. They listened to the traffic in the street, the patter of rain on the window. Their eyes were closed.
"Bella?" Alice whispered.
"What?"
"What are we doing tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow we're going shopping."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Alice smiled and pulled the covers up over her shoulder. "Cool."
# # #
When Laurent left the nightclub he went wandering through the city. Ambling along the sidewalks in the rain, no particular destination in mind. After a while he found his way to the seedier districts of the city where the whores called to him from the streetcorners they stalked. Where they prowled through the rain in their miniskirts and fishnets, the cheap nylon wigs they wore clinging wetly to their heads. Mascara running down their cheeks like black tears. Laurent smiled at them and nodded them a good evening and passed on.
Strolling through the ceaseless rain, scanning the sky from time to time for stars but there were no stars. He passed a chainlink fence where a dripping dog ran alongside yapping and snarling. He passed the ruins of apartment complex where a child's doll lay in a pool among the rubble. He passed the mouth of an alley where a circle of bums stood with their hands outheld to a oildrum where a fire hissed in the rain and by and by he found himself at the bus station.
The clock mounted in the wall marked the time as four in the morning. There were few people about. A bus had just pulled up in the terminal and one or two people got out toting bags or suitcases. There was a drunk passed out on one of the benches and Laurent stood looking down at him, his expression halfway between amusement and pity. The drunk slept using a box of wine as a pillow and sheets of newspaper as blankets. Bearded, filthy, stinking, flies crawling over the rancid clothes he wore. Laurent shook his head. He went to adjust one of the newspaper sheets like a mother reaching into a crib when the drunk woke. Through the greasy crags of his eyesockets he saw the man looming over him and recoiled, squealed hysterically like a frightened pig.
Laurent held up his hands and smiled. "Easy, friend," he said. "I mean you no harm."
But the drunk seemed not to hear. He drew back into the bench, gibbering mindlessly, clutching the box of wine to his chest. Laurent shook his head and looked about and then he took a seat beside him. The drunk was wheezing and rocking back and forth like an asthmatic mental patient. "Didn't do it," he moaned, sniffling. "Didn't do it."
"Didn't do what, my friend?"
The drunk squeezed his eyes shut. He stank from wine and urine and shit. "Didn't do it," he gibbered. "Didn't, didn't, didn't."
Laurent smiled and looked out over the station. A busdriver went by in a slateblue uniform holding his hat in one hand. Laurent nodded to him and the busdriver frowned and went on. They must've made an odd pair, sitting there side by side on the bench. The drunk in his rags, Laurent in black silk. The drunk had taken the bladder out of the winebox and was sucking at it noisily. Laurent looked at him and shook his head.
"Tell me friend," Laurent said. "Do you have any family or close friends? A wife? Children, perhaps? Anyone at all who would care if you were to be somehow viciously murdered in the night?"
The drunk pretended not to hear, wine dribbling down his beard.
Laurent leaned to him slightly. "The reason I ask is because I am, in fact, a vampire, and I'd rather not kill anyone of any consequence. If you know what I mean."
The drunk rocked back and forth, his grimy eyes cutting about.
"Well," Laurent said. "You seem wretched enough, at any rate. Terrible depths I've sunk to, hm? Do you know I turned down three brunettes and a blonde to get here tonight? It's this infernal conscience that has come to plague me in these latter years. It insists upon the lesser evil, and here I am about to sink my fangs into the loathsome flesh of a wretch such as yourself. It seems we're both creatures to be pitied. What do you think, my friend?"
The drunk whined and whimpered. "Didn't do it," he blubbered.
Laurent smiled and clapped his hand on the drunk's shoulder like an old friend. The drunk cried out and started chanting idiotically. "You know," Laurent said. "We're not so different, you and I. The way we cling to drink as a means to sustain our, shall we say, questionable existences. Of course my existence has been and will be much longer than your own, but more's the pity if you ask me. I've lived two whole centuries and I still miss the old days. I used to be a pirate, you know. Had a ship of my own. She was called the Blushing Mermaid and she was a beauty. Time does fly, doesn't it?"
The drunk was muttering to himself balefully.
Laurent laughed. "But I can see I'm boring you," he said. He stood and dusted his hands on his pants. "Come," he said, gesturing to the station archways. "Let me buy you a drink. We'll toast to better days and better ways and then, perhaps, you'll offer me a drink yourself."
The drunk eyed him suspiciously. He seemed to understand the word drink. He lurched to his feet and staggered forward and Laurent steadied him by the arm and led him out into the rain, into the night.
# # #
In the morning Bella and Alice huddled before an ATM under the yellow umbrella. Bella inserted a card and punched in some numbers. She had to talk loudly over the rain. "This account gives up ten thousand dollars every twenty four hours," she said, as the money came spewing from the chute. "Stick with me long enough and I'll have one set up for you too."
"Where does the money come from?"
Bella didn't answer. She folded some of the bills and handed them to Alice and pocketed the rest. "Let's go," she said, and stepped out into the rain with Alice trotting after her with the umbrella.
They took a cab to the mall. Alice sat in the backseat counting her money. Bella glanced at the rearview and saw the driver look away quickly. It was her red eyes that disconcerted him.
Before anything they went to the optometrist. Alice perused a rack of sunglasses and Bella handed across the counter a prescription for contact lenses. They went to the bathroom and stood at the mirror pulling down their eyelids and touching the lenses to their pupils. Bella's were brown, almost the same as her natural color, and Alice's were violet.
"Do you think violet's okay?" Alice asked, batting her eyelids at her reflection. "It's not too exotic?"
"It doesn't matter as long as it's natural," Bella said. She let down her eyelid and blinked. She looked at Alice in the mirror. "How do they feel? When you're human it takes time to get used to them."
Alice closed her eyes and opened them again. "I think they'll be okay."
They spent the morning and some of the afternoon shopping for various necessities. Bella bought a new hoody and some baggy jeans and a pair of men's work boots in the smallest size they had and Alice found a pair of beige slacks she liked and she got a belt to match and a couple tops as well. They got changed in the change rooms and threw their old clothes in the trash. They went on through the mall and after a while Bella noticed Alice wasn't following her anymore. She turned back and found the vampire examining shoes in a display window. They went in and Alice bought some heels and a pair of knee-high boots that had heels on them too. She stood with one jean leg rolled up and her toe out to examine the sandal she wore and she asked Bella her opinion but Bella only told her to hurry up. They left the shoe shop and wound up in a boutique where Bella stood by the counter tapping her foot while Alice sat on a stool and had an animated conversation with the salesgirl about a particular soap. They bought some makeup and a few other cosmetics and they were offered complimentary facials but Bella said they had to go.
Back at the hotel they dumped the shopping bags on the floor. "You know," Alice said. "When I said I wanted to be your partner I had no idea it would be this much fun."
"You get sick of it eventually," Bella said. "I hate buying new stuff every city I go."
"I don't think I'd ever get sick of shopping."
Bella didn't comment. She went over to the window and looked out.
Alice smiled. "So," she said. "What now, boss?"
By dark they were back on the streets. It was still raining and they stood on the corner under the yellow umbrella and watched the nightclub across the street. Bella was leaning against the streetlamp and Alice was bobbing to the music that they could hear thumping even over the rain. They watched the cars pass in the street and the people lined up under the awning. Off by the service entrance two waitresses in black blouses stood smoking idly. They waited and after a while they saw the vampires come out, James and Victoria, together with a human brunette.
"There they are," Bella said.
Alice's brow furrowed. "They have someone with them."
The vampires led the woman by the hand out into the rain. She giggled and twirled on the spot as the water darkened her hair and soaked her clothes.
"I wonder why the third one isn't here," Alice said.
Bella shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he's not hungry."
The vampire's paused before crossing the street. The woman was swaying slightly as if drunk and James leaned in and kissed her and then Victoria pulled her away and kissed her too and woman giggled and then they went on.
"Come on," Bella said. "Let's follow them."
"Okay."
"And put the umbrella away. It sticks out too much."
They followed them back to a house in the suburbs. It was a short walk, Bella and Alice following at a distance, keeping to the shadows. The house was a simple two bedroom, practically identical to any other house on either side of the street. Bella and Alice watched from the corner as the vampires and their prey climbed the steps to the front door. When they were inside Alice opened the umbrella again and held it over their heads even though they were already drenched.
"The house is registered to some woman," Bella said. "She hasn't been to work in over a month so I'm guessing she's dead. No family, no close friends. The vampires'll probably move on as soon as the next electricity bill is due, so we'll have to hit them soon."
Alice looked at her anxiously. "Why not now?"
"What's the rush?"
"You saw them with that girl. Are we just going to let them kill her?"
"What else can we do?"
"We could save her. We could do it right now."
"It's too late for her. Venom in the saliva takes longer to work through the system than in the blood but she's still as good as dead. Or worse."
Alice frowned. She was holding the handle of the umbrella with both hands like a little girl and her face was wet.
"We'll hit them in a couple days before they feed again," Bella said. "But I'm not doing anything without a plan. Just because the targets are low caliber there's no reason to get sloppy."
.
The front door opened into the living room. Laurent was lounging on the sofa when the drunk woman came stumbling in, grinning and giggling, James and Victoria right behind her. The TV was on and there was a cat asleep in a basket in the corner of the room and another cat asleep on his lap. There was a quilted rug under the coffee table and quilted cushions on the sofa. It looked like an old woman's house. Laurent watched the woman curiously.
"Oh," the drunk woman said, seeing him there. "Hi."
Laurent nodded affably, petting the cat on his lap. "Good evening," he said.
Victoria sauntered up and took the woman's arm. "Brittney, this is our roommate Laurent," she said, motioning to him with a wave of her hand. "Laurent, this is Brittney."
"Delighted, I'm sure," Laurent said. "Brittany, was it?"
"That's me," chirped the woman. "I'm an actress."
"Indeed? How interesting."
Laurent shared a look with James and James smirked. "Victoria," he said. "Why don't you and Brittney get started without me? I'll be right behind you."
Brittney giggled drunkenly. "I've never done it with a girl before."
Victoria smiled and started down the corridor, tugging her prey by the hand. "Don't worry," she said. "I won't bite."
Laurent turned his head to watch them go. The cat on his lap raised up to watch them go too before settling back down. "A fine catch," Laurent said to James. "You are to be commended, my friend."
James tossed his chin. "What about you?" he said. "You want in?"
"Tempting, but you three make such a charming trio I think the mood might be ruined by admitting a forth."
"You sure? There's plenty to go around. Victoria doesn't mind sharing, and I'm sure the cats can spare you for an hour or two."
Laurent chuckled and stroked the cat on his lap. "You're a devil, James," he said. "But I'm perfectly happy where I am, thank you."
"Whatever you say," James said, and then he disappeared down the corridor.
Laurent turned back to the TV. He sat watching and after a while he could hear screaming coming from the bedroom in the back. At first it sounded like screams of pleasure. Then it sounded like screams of pain. Then the screaming stopped.
# # #
Bella and Alice monitored the vampires for the next few days. Bella bought a used car out the newspaper and they spent the nights parked down the street from the vampires hideout, watching the house. James and Victoria often left and arrived together but Laurent seemed to prefer to pursue his obscure missions in solitude. They followed him one night on one of his evening strolls. They followed in the car at a distance until he ended up outside a movie theater where he stood perusing the posters. They pulled over and watched him buy a ticket and join the line. There was a woman behind him but he didn't take any notice of her. She noticed him, however, and after a few minutes she tapped on his shoulder and smiled and gestured at one of the posters on the wall in an effort to start a conversation. The woman was perhaps thirty years old and she wore a grey coat and a green scarf and she wasn't pretty but not ugly either. Laurent looked at her and at first he seemed to demure. He didn't seem interested. But the woman tried again and she said something that made him smile and he said something back that made her laugh and the line moved on and they shuffled forward and by the time they entered the theater they were chatting quite cordially.
Bella and Alice watched from the car across the street through the rain blurred windshield. Neither spoke. They sat there until the movie was over and when the vampire and the woman came out the woman was holding his arm and laughing. They stood under the awning for a moment and spoke for a bit and after a while the vampire gave her a little bow and went to leave. But the woman seemed unable to part from his company. She gestured to a car parked on the curb and the vampire paused to ruminate. Then he nodded. The woman smiled. They both got into the car and the car started and the headlights flickered to life and they drove away. Bella turned the key and followed.
They wound up in a parking lot outside a restaurant about a couple blocks from the theater. Perhaps the woman had invited him for a drink. Bella and Alice pulled up at the curb and sat watching the other car. No one got out. The car sat there in the rain with the headlights off. It was dark and at a glance it looked like the car was as empty as any other car in the lot. Then it shuddered. As if there were a struggle inside. The whole car rocked on its wheels, once, twice, then it was still. A minute later the vampire got out the passenger side and stood there for a moment before lifting his face to the sky for the rain to wash away the blood from his mouth.
Bella and Alice were silent. They watched through the blurry windshield as the vampire strolled away down the sidewalk. The rain pattered softly on the roof of the car. Alice looked at Bella and said: "You said we were going to stop them before they hurt anyone else."
Bella didn't answer. She started the car and pulled away.
They drove in silence. Alice gazed out the window with troubled eyes, watching the cars, the streetlamps. "I don't understand what we're doing," she said. "We could've stopped him. It wouldn't even have been a risk."
"And what would the other vampires think when their little friend didn't show up home tonight?"
Alice didn't reply.
"Our priority is the elimination of the targets," Bella said. "All of the targets. Picking them off one by one is the same as letting them know we're coming. It gives them the opportunity to prepare. Or disappear. And I don't want them doing either of those things, do you?"
"Of course not. But I can't just stand by and watch innocent people get killed."
Bella glanced at her. She looked back at the road. "You'll get over it," she said.
.
The next morning Alice was reading the newspaper in the hotel dining room. The tablecloth was spotless white and there was a tulip in a vase and an unlit candlestand in the center of it. Alice sat with the chair out slightly, her legs crossed, holding the paper with both hands. A cup of coffee and a plate of strawberry toast sat untouched before her. She was reading an article about a string of murders, all the bodies found dumped with similar bite marks. Some of them sexually molested. All women, all young. No suspects.
An old woman went by wearing a fancy black hat and a row of pearls and she happened to glance over and see the headline. "Oh it's ghastly those murders, isn't it?"
Alice lowered the paper. "Excuse me?"
"Those murders," the woman said, jabbing her walkingstick at the paper. "Absolutely ghastly. You know, if my driver wasn't an ex-navy SEAL I think I'd be too afraid to go at night."
The woman was old and fat and she had a blotchy complexion and hair on her chin. She didn't quite fit the profile of the other victims but Alice didn't say so. She smiled and said: "Yes, I know what you mean."
"You ought to be careful, young lady," the old woman said, shaking her head. "Absolutely ghastly." Then she waddled off.
Alice watched her go. She turned back to the paper but she didn't feel like reading anymore. She folded it and set it beside her plate. She picked up a wedge of strawberry toast and held it to her nose and inhaled. Then she put it back on the plate sadly. Outside it was still raining and there'd been an article in the paper about that too.
.
There was an old abandoned factory in a remote part of town and Bella drove there in the afternoon, her backpack on the passenger seat beside her. She pulled up at the side entrance beside a stack of pine slats and got out and slung the backpack over her shoulder and went wandering inside. There was no one about. Rain leaked from the skylights and the place smelt of grease and mould and a large rat scurried over a conveyer belt as she approached. There was a glass beer bottle on the ground. Bella bent and picked it up. The label was faded and half peeled. She threw it at the rusty sheetiron wall behind her where it shattered loudly and then she stood listening for anything that might follow the sound. But there was nothing. The place was secure.
She put the backpack on the dusty conveyer belt and unzipped it. She took out the shotgun and a magazine. She had reloaded the empty magazine earlier with ordinary buckshot for target practice and she fitted it in and checked the breech. Next she took out a silencer from the backpack and screwed it into the bore. It was homemade, the silencer, fashioned from a hairspray can painted black and packed with fiberglass roofing insulation. It added about a foot to the total length of the shotgun and when she had the whole thing assembled she hefted it in her hands and looked about.
Throughout the factory there were large support beams. Reinforced concrete columns. Bella took a piece of chalk from her back pocket and drew a circle on one of them. Then she walked away thirty paces and turned and raised the shotgun. The first blast scoured away the paint and left a bunch of grey pockmarks. The silencer dampened the blast but it was still loud. It sounded like hitting something wooden with a hammer. She fired again. Every buckshot hit within the circle and concretedust sifted from the holes. She fired again and again and when she had spent the entire magazine she lowered the weapon and came forward to examine her work. She touched the ruined concrete with her fingertips. Not a single shot had went astray.
.
Tonight was the night.
They took turns in the shower and when Alice got out she found Bella sitting on the bed with a cloth spread before her and all her weapons lying on it dissembled. They were both wearing white bathrobes and Alice's was clean but Bella's was smeared with gunblack. The curtains in the room were closed but you could hear the rain. Alice went over and sat on the edge of the bed. She took up the silenced pistol and turned it in her hand. She flicked the safety on and off like a toy. "This wouldn't hurt a vampire," she said.
Bella took it from her and set it on the cloth. "Who said it's for vampires?"
That night they got dressed in typical clubware. They did their hair. They put in their contact lenses. Alice stood at the bathroom mirror and painted her pursed lips a delicate shade of pink. Bella stood behind her watching her reflection.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Bella asked. "It's not easy being the honeypot. It's more distasteful than you'd think."
Alice painted her lips.
Bella went on. "It'll be easier to just wait at their place and ambush them when they get back. Wouldn't even have to dress up."
Alice capped the gloss and looked at Bella in the mirror. "I told you," she said. "I can't stand by and watch innocent people die. I'd rather be the honeypot than let them walk out of that club with another victim."
Downstairs in the hotel lobby they paused to examine a glass display case of ridiculously overpriced jewelry. They drove to the club through the rain and Alice tilted the rearview to her and put on the earrings they'd just bought. They were diamond and sparkly and they jiggled from her earlobes as she cocked her head to examine her reflection. It almost looked like a different girl in the mirror there. Violet eyes. Pale cheeks falsely brightened with blush. Alice noticed Bella glance at her. Then she turned back to the road.
They pulled up outside the club and got out. The line was long and the music was thumping. The vampires were already inside. Bella and Alice scampered across the street in the rain and but instead of joining the line they went around the side to the service entrance. Out in the alleyway there they paused under the umbrella among the puddles and trashcans and Bella reached into her backpack and retrieved a small perfume bottle. "Here," she said, handing it to Alice.
"What is it?" Alice asked. She held the little bottle in both hands. The liquid was pink and there was no label. She sniffed at the nozzle and recoiled sharply. "Wow," she said, leaning eagerly to sniff again. "What is this?"
"It's a pheromone concentrate," Bella said. "It'll make you practically irresistible to vampires. Don't use too much."
Alice sprayed twice at her neck either side. "What does it smell like to humans?"
"It's a Chanel base."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah," Bella said. She took the bottle back and sprayed herself twice in much the same manner. Then she replaced the bottle into the backpack and set the backpack behind a dumpster and covered it with a trashcan lid. "Let's go."
.
James and Victoria were dancing. The dancefloor was crowded and their pale faces flickered bluely in the laserlight. Victoria grinded up against her mate and touched his cheek. They looked into each other's eyes. "Sometimes I wish all I needed was you," she said softly. James leaned in and kissed her.
.
Bella and Alice stood in line. Every now and then they shuffled forward. The rain splashed in the streets and people stood around hugging themselves against the cold. Neither Bella nor Alice wore a jacket and yet neither seemed cold either. The line moved forward and they moved with it.
"Focus on the blonde and the redhead," Bella was saying. "They're our best bet."
"Okay."
"I'll be keeping an eye on you so if anything goes wrong just give me the signal."
"Okay."
"If I see the signal I'll step in and extract you and we'll go to plan B."
"Okay."
"If everything goes according to plan they'll take us back to their place. From there we simply take em out. All three. Quickly and quietly."
"Okay."
"Got it?"
"Got it."
The line moved. They moved with it.
.
The vampires noticed them moments after they walked in. From the dancefloor in each other's arms they looked through a part in the dancers and saw them sitting on stools in the blue glow of the neonbar. Alice wore hipster jeans and a pink haltertop and pink sandals which showed her pink painted toenails. Bella wore a black cocktail dress and black stilettos, one long leg crossed over the other, the ivory lengths of them glowing pale blue in the neonlight. Two almost empty martini glasses sat before them and they were both glancing over their shoulders at the dancefloor. James and Victoria watched them.
"Mmm," Victoria said. "I can smell them from here."
James smirked. "Which one do you want?"
.
"Here they come," Bella said. She took up her martini glass and drained the last drop and set it back on the bar. "Whoever they pick, just go with it."
Alice looked nervous. She had her hands folded in her lap and she was watching the vampires approach in the mirror behind the bar. "Okay."
.
Laurent sat alone his usual table overlooking the dancefloor with his usual untouched glass of wine. The music thumped and thumped. He swirled his wine vaguely. He looked over the balcony and saw James and Victoria leading two young women by the hand out onto the floor. Victoria's target was dressed in a short and tight black dress and James's was dressed in jeans and a halter. They both had dark hair, one short, one long. They were both beautiful. He watched them all start dancing and then he turned to his wine. When he looked up again he caught sight of a trio of similarly clad young women sitting in a booth across the aisle from his table. They were smiling and giggling and drinking. Laurent watched them for a moment before dipping his eyes to the wine. He took a sip and winced as if it were painful to him.
.
Bella was dancing with Victoria. They drew looks and stares from the other dancers, partly because they were both female, partly because they danced immodestly, and partly because they simply made a sexy couple. They were of similar height and their hair was same the length and same style, long and wavy, Bella's black, Victoria's red, and they wore similar dresses, cocktail dresses that had about the same coverage as towels worn after a shower, Bella in black and Victoria in red, their legs long and bare beneath the hems and their breasts swelling from the necklines. The dance wasn't slow but they moved slowly, a sultry shuffle of stilettos, touching each other at the waist and shoulder, gazing into each other's eyes. They danced, and Victoria slid the spaghetti strap from Bella's shoulder and kissed the spot where it was and slid the strap back up. The vampire whispered in her ear: "Why don't we go someplace more private?"
Bella glanced at where Alice was dancing with James. Alice looked troubled but she didn't give the signal. Bella turned back to Victoria. "Soon," she said. "Besides, I wouldn't want my friend to feel left out."
Victoria pouted playfully and brushed Bella's cheek with the backs of her fingers. "As you wish," she said. "I suppose I can wait, considering how utterly delectable you both promise to be."
.
Alice was dancing with James and already she was having second thoughts. She could feel his hands clamped at her waist from behind and she was grinding back against him in the way she'd seen other women do with their partners and his hands were firm and uncomfortable. He leaned in and bit her ear and she almost squirmed in disgust. She turned around and he kept his hands locked at her waist. The vampire's eyes had been bright bloodred when he'd first approached but now they were a deep dark burgundy. He gazed into her face intensely. "Open your mouth," he said.
Alice's expression trembled. "What?"
"I said open your mouth."
Alice looked at where Bella was dancing with the other one. Their eyes met briefly and then Alice turned back to the vampire and parted her lips. He smirked and leaned in and slipped his tongue between them. Alice almost whimpered. She couldn't do this. She thought she could but she couldn't. With the vampire's tongue in her mouth she sought Bella with her eyes and gave the signal.
.
Victoria leaned in and kissed Bella hungrily. Bella didn't close her eyes. They darted to the left where Alice was in a similar predicament with James and as soon as their eyes met Alice started tapping her elbow like a baseball coach signaling to the pitcher from the dugout.
So much for the plan.
Bella pushed Victoria back. "I've got to go," she said. "I just remembered something."
Victoria looked stunned. "What?"
Bella didn't answer. She was already weaving through the other dancers toward Alice. Victoria frowned and hurried after.
Bella grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her away from James, practically tearing their faces apart. James turned on her with a crimson glare.
"Something came up," Bella said. "We've got to go."
Alice shifted closer to Bella. Victoria sauntered up.
"You know," James said. He reached out very deliberately and took Alice's hand. "I think you're friend is quite happy right here."
Bella didn't let go of Alice's hand but then the vampire tugged harder and his eyes went colder. Bella let the hand slip and Alice moved indecisively back to James.
Victoria had her arms folded under her breasts, glaring from one to the other. All four of them standing motionless on the dancefloor in the flickering light.
"And even is she wasn't," James said to Bella. "She's not going anywhere."
Bella's face was impassive. She looked at Alice. She looked at James and Victoria. Then she snorted and shook her head. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, and without further comment she stalked off to the bar.
James and Victoria exchanged a look. Alice watched Bella go.
.
Bella stepped up to the bar and placed both hands on it palms down. In the blue neon uplight her face looked deadly calm. There were two men either side of her, one with a scotch, one with a beer. She turned to the one with the beer. "Hey," she said. "You got a cigarette lighter I can borrow?"
The man looked her over. As if her appearance had some bearing on whether not he did indeed posses a lighter. "Yeah, sure," he said. He took a brass Zippo from his pocket and hand it over. "So can I buy you a drink?"
Bella didn't answer. She tucked the lighter into the bosom of her dress—much to the man's surprise—and then she boosted herself onto the bar and swung her legs over and hopped down on the other side. The barman was a big guy in a tight black t-shirt and he turned to her glaring. "Hey," he shouted over the music. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Bella ignored him too. She examined the shelves of alcohol for a moment and then she took a bottle of vodka and a bottle of tequila and she tucked one of them under her arm and boosted herself back over the bar and strode back onto the dancefloor.
The barman looked at the man with the beer who'd been watching curiously. The man shrugged. "She ain't with me," he said.
One of the bouncers was looking over. The barman nodded at him and tossed his head where the thief had gone. The bouncer went after her.
.
Alice was dancing between James and Victoria, both of them holding her tight and grinding against her. All pretence at seduction had been dropped and the vampire's leered at her cruelly. "It's a shame about your friend," Victoria whispered in her ear. "But maybe we'll come back for her when we're done with you."
"Please," Alice said.
James lifted his hand to her slender neck and pressed his thumb against her windpipe. "Don't even think about making a scene," he said. "Or you'll be dead before the scream even leaves your throat."
Alice looked away. Through a part in the dancers she could see Bella coming toward them.
.
Bella wove among the dancers with a bottle dangling in each hand. She reached James first and backhanded one of the bottles across the back of his head. The bottle shattered and liquor sprayed. Both Alice and Victoria jumped back in surprise and James turned to Bella. Bella dropped the jagged bottleneck and pitched the other bottle into her right hand in a roadagents pass and reared back and shattered it against his chest. James didn't budge. He smirked, weathering the blows like some comicbook superhero. He was soaked in alcohol. "Stupid girl," he said. "Now you die."
A ring of spectators had formed. They gasped and pointed. Bella fished the cigarette lighter from her bosom and flipped it open and rolled the flint with her thumb to spark a flame. "No," she said. "Now you die."
A flicker of doubt passed over his face but as usual it came too late. Bella tossed the lighter at him. There was a low whoosh audible even over the thump of music and James screamed. The flames were blue and almost invisible in the dark. He screamed and flailed and thrashed at himself like a woman afraid of a bee and then he fell over. He fell over and curled up like a dead spider and disintegrated into ash, leaving nothing more than a black smear on the polished dancefloor.
"James!" Victoria shrieked.
.
Laurent was on his feet. The chair scraped back and fell over. He leaned on the railing and watched his friend burn up on the dancefloor and watched his mate scream his name. He looked down at the woman in the black dress and his brow twitched. As if he'd just recognized her. Then he stepped back and shook his head and hurried for the exit.
.
Victoria let loose a feral scream and launched herself at Bella.
But she never made it. Alice took her hand and twirled her back in the manner of a dancestep and then she took a handful of her hair and stepped onto her toes and bit into her neck in lethal parody of a kiss. Victoria's eyes widened as her flesh was pierced. So far none of the spectators had screamed. Some had hurried away for the exits but the other's stood around watching and beyond the ring of spectators all the other clubbers were still dancing, still drinking. A bouncer came up behind Bella and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned and kicked him in the groin. Alice's teeth tore into Victoria's neck and Victoria writhed and clutched at Alice's hair. Alice held firm and sucked at the wound. As the blood seeped into her mouth Victoria's face grayed. The writhing slowed and her hands came loose and flopped to her sides. Her eyes were glazing. "James," she whispered.
Alice let her go. Victoria slumped against her lifelessly and slid to the floor. She bled for a bit more and then she passed on into ash as her mate had done before her.
The spectators watched open mouthed. The bouncer was on the floor groaning. Alice met Bella's eyes in the flickering blue light. "Let's go," Bella said.
.
They left by the service entrance. Bella grabbed her backpack from behind the dumpster and by the time they made it to the car their hair was damp from the rain. They drove in silence listening to the rain on the roof and the squeak of the windshield wipers. Alice sat hugging her middle, her head bowed. Bella glanced at her but said nothing. She turned back to the road and stepped on the gas.
"It's a long shot but we'll try and intercept the other one at the house," Bella said. "If he has any brains at all he'll just disappear, but if he comes back we'll be waiting."
They parked a block away from the house and approached on foot. The backpack was unzipped and Bella had her hand in it clutching the shotgun. It looked like there was a baseball bat in there. They came dashing over the sidewalk in their clubware, moving low and fast through the rain. No lights were on at the house. Bella leaned to one of the front windows using her hand as a visor. She tried the front door but it was locked. They went around the back and entered through the kitchen. The sound of the rain softened as she closed the door with a soft click. They stood listening. Bella took the shotgun from the backpack and put the backpack on the kitchen table. It already had the silencer fitted on it. She opened the refrigerator door and looked in. Everything moldy. She closed the door and motioned for Alice to follow.
They passed under the archway and came to a corridor and through to the living room. Bella swept the place with her shotgun. There was a cat in a basket and when it saw her it rose up bristling. Bella ignored it. There was a fireplace and Bella noticed three duffelbags thrown beside it. Probably the vampire's traveling bags but there wasn't time to look.
They went down the corridor soundlessly. Bella stopped and opened a door. A bedroom. The covers were thrown aside and the mattress was covered in blood that had dried and cracked along the edges. Alice pushed past Bella and looked at the enormous bloodstain sadly. She turned away.
All the other rooms were empty. At the end of the hall there was a door that opened to a set of steps that led down. It was pitch black, a sour reek ascending. Bella pulled the lightchain and a naked globe in the ceiling flickered to life. They went down the stairs, Bella in front with the shotgun up. In the cellar there was another refrigerator against the wall. A washing machine, a dryer. And sprawled on the floor was the corpse of the house's former owner. A middle-aged woman wearing slippers and a robe. She'd been dead a long time and she was purple and bloated and foul smelling. The vampire's hadn't even fed from her. They'd broken her neck and she lay twisted on the concrete with her eyes open and flies clambering over her shrunken eyeballs.
"Oh god," Alice said.
Bella glanced at her. She didn't say anything.
They went back up stairs and checked all the rooms again. There was no sign that the remaining vampire had been back. They went into the living room and Bella sat on the sofa with the shotgun in her lap. The catbasket was empty. Alice stood for a moment looking around as if she'd forgotten something and then she took a seat next to Bella.
.
Laurent returned home afoot, traveling by alleyways and side streets to throw any pursuers. When he got back to the house he took the doorknob in his hand and pushed it open gently. He didn't have a key and the lock splintered. He went in and closed the door. He took one step down the corridor and paused. He sniffed. He turned to the left and looked through the archway into the living room and saw the two girls from the club sitting on the sofa. Bella had the shotgun laid on the armrest pointing at him. Laurent bowed his head and sighed. Then he walked in.
Bella turned the shotgun to follow him. Alice watched him.
"I spent some time among the Volturi some years ago," Laurent said. "They spoke of a woman with dark hair and pale skin. A human. A slayer of vampires. They called her The Huntress. It's you, isn't it?"
Bella didn't reply.
Laurent smiled. "I must say, you've aged remarkably well. That was decades ago, when I first heard of you."
"Why did you come back?" Bella asked. "You must've suspected I'd be here."
"To say goodbye to the cats, of course."
Neither smiled.
Laurent chuckled. "Actually," he said. "I have a keepsake that I'd be loath to leave behind. I couldn't very well move on without it."
"A keepsake."
Laurent gestured at the duffelbags by the fireplace. "May I?"
"Go ahead."
Laurent squatted at one of the bags and opened it. He took out something wrapped in a white cloth and rose. For a moment he caressed the cloth fondly and then he unwrapped it and let the cloth fall. In his hand he held an antique flintlock pistol with a brass inlay. "It's a memento from my human years," he said, holding it in both hands. "From my days as a pirate."
Alice glanced at Bella. She looked at Laurent. "Can I see?" she asked.
Laurent handed it to her butt first. Alice took it and held it in her lap. She turned it over, examining both sides.
"That was the pistol," Laurent said, " that my crew left me in the spring of 1786 when they mutinied and marooned me on a desert island. Fortunately a Spanish frigate picked me up the very next day, so I wasn't obliged to use it."
There was an inscription on the buttplate. It was Latin. "Memento Mori," Alice read aloud. She smiled softly and handed it back. "Poetic."
"Yes, I thought so."
"You've got your keepsake," Bella said. "So now it's time to move on."
Laurent was looking at the pistol in his hands. He didn't look up "I'm not in the habit of begging for my life," he said. "But I don't suppose there's any chance you'd let me go?"
"I don't think so."
"Would it have any bearing to you if I said I'm not as bad as the other two?"
"No."
Laurent sighed and looked out the window. It was still raining.
"Well," he said. "It had to happen sometime."
Alice frowned. Almost sadly.
"Do you have any last words?" Bella asked.
Laurent shook his head. He smiled. "Last words are only words."
Bella nodded. Then she shot him. The flintlock fell soundlessly to the carpet and it's owner these two-hundred years was ferried from the world in a roar of fire and fluttering of ash.
# # #
They drove to the park. There was a lake with a bridge spanning its width and Bella and Alice were standing in the center. Soaked with rain, Bella in her dress, Alice in her halter. Bella dissembled the shotgun and threw it piece by piece into the black waters below. Then she dissembled the pistol and threw that in too. She zipped up the backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and leaned back against the bridgerail.
"I'll have to resupply before my next job," she said. "Which means now's the time to decide if you want to back out."
"I'm sorry I screwed up the plan," Alice said. "But at least we saved someone else from getting killed tonight."
"And what if the vampire hadn't come back to the house? We probably never would've found him and he would've went on killing people for another couple hundred years."
Alice lowered her head.
Bella studied her. "Look," she said. "All that's beside the point, anyway. If you want to be my partner, you're gonna have to stop thinking of yourself as a hero. Because we're not heroes. We're hunters. Do you understand?"
"I just wish we could have saved the others, that's all."
Bella shook her head. She looked up at the sky but there was nothing to see. Just the blackness from which the rain kept falling and falling. She looked at Alice. "What did that phrase mean?" she asked. "The Latin on the vampire's pistol?"
"Memento Mori," Alice said. "It means remember mortality. The legend goes that there was a roman general who was supposed to be invincible and to ward off over-confidence he had a slave who's only purpose in life was to follow him around and repeat the phrase to him every now and then. To remind him that he was just a man and not a god. That he would die one day."
"That is poetic."
Alice smiled. She moved next to her partner and leaned on the bridgerail right beside her. "Can I stay with you?"
Bella looked at her. The rain ran down their faces and dripped from their chins. "Yeah," she said. "You can stay with me."
# # #