Chapter 5: A New Case
Wild:
"So that guy that Icy brought in last night was Candy's son?" Skulls asked, his surprise evident in his voice.
"Yea. I'm surprised you didn't know. You and Candy have been dating for almost three years now." I said, washing down my lemon cream filled doughnut with my coffee. Ah the joys of being undead. You can eat all you want and never gain a pound. If the public knew of our existence we'd have thousands, if not millions, lined up at our doorsteps begging to be turned.
"She never mentioned anything about having a kid." Skulls grumbled, his already deep voice dropping an octave in anger.
I watched his hand curl into a tight fist. I knew he was pissed and hurt by this new development. You think you know some people, then they surprise you. Candy is an especially…complicated case. I've known her for over thirty years and still I know very little about her past.
"Don't let it get to you. There's still some things I don't know about her." I said, trying my best to comfort my friend.
Skulls shook his head, his jaw clenching, his eyes narrowing behind his dark tented sun glasses. "Yea well, you're not the one who lies next to her every night." He growled bitterly.
I jumped slightly at the sound of my beeper buzzing away. I checked it and saw that I was being paged by the Chief. "It's the Chief." I whispered to Skulls who's eyes brightened slightly at the news.
I took out my cell and speed dialed the office.
"Wild?" Greeted the Chief.
"Yes sir. I just got your page. Do we have a new case?" I asked.
"You do. I need Skulls back here. Seems Dragon's been spotted up town, we need him to go check it out. Send him back to the office so that he can be briefed on the situation."
"Will do, sir." I whispered the order to Skulls who promptly said his good byes and went quickly to his car.
"So what do you have for me?" I asked the Chief.
"We've got a missing persons case in Bloom, Texas. Stella Rossi. Nineteen years old. Graduated from Bloom High School last month. She's been missing for a week now. There's a convicted rogue living just three miles from her house. A Mr. Ezra Shade. I need you to go check up on him. Make sure he didn't have anything to do with the disappearance."
"Got it." I said, getting up from my table. "Do you have any more info on him? His turning date? His threat level? What type he is? Anything?"
"We're having trouble locating his file at the moment. I'll update you as soon as I can." Replied the Chief.
"Okay, but you know how much I hate flying blind like this." I grumbled as I climbed behind the wheel of my car.
"You'll manage. You always do." He said with a chuckle.
"Yea. I guess." I sighed. The conversation over, I hung up and dropped my cell phone back in my coat pocket.
"Where the hell is Bloom?" I wondered aloud.
Stella:
How much longer will I make it? Can't be too long. I haven't eaten much. He gives me water at least. I'm freezing. Can't stop shaking now. Can barely hold my head up or open my eyes. My body is numb. I can't even feel his bites any more. Is this what it's like to die?
I heard the now routine creak of the trap door being opened and the heavy footfalls of The Vampire as he climbed down the ladder.
"Good morning, beautiful." He greeted with a bright smile, as if I wasn't hanging by a chain like a piece of butchered meat.
How I hated him. I've never hated anyone so much, even people who truly pissed me off. I'd spent days hanging there. In the beginning all I thought about was how much I hurt, now that I was numb, it left me more time to think about other things. Like killing him. There were no shortage of weapons down in the dungeon. Knives lay everywhere. This was where he butchered his meals, dogs, cats, birds, pigs, and what not.
He came over to me and kissed me, such was our routine. I stopped fighting him long ago. I just hung there and let him do whatever he wanted now.
I lost count of how many times I'd fantasized about taking a butcher knife and plunging it into his heart. If he really was a vampire, then that's what you go for right? I never thought I was capable of murder. Now I know I'm quite capable of it. The human psyche is capable of anything when we're backed into a corner.
After our morning kiss, he looked me over, carefully. He opened his mouth and saliva dripped from his pointed teeth. He was hungry. "You're a bit anemic today, so I'll let you rest a while before the next feeding." He said. Then he kissed my cheek before walking over to one of his big freezers.
I was quiet while he took out a zip locked baggie of blood out of the smaller fridge he had there and tore into it with his teeth, slurping up the putrid liquid like it was the nectar of the gods.
"What's your name?" I croaked, my voice sounding muted and weak.
"What?" He asked, surprised. Blood covered his mouth.
"What's your name?" I repeated, forcing myself to speak louder.
His bloody mouth stretched into a suspicious smirk.
"Why the sudden interest?" He asked, stalking towards me.
"If I'm going to die, that I would like to at least know the name of my killer." I replied, glaring at him coldly.
He chuckled in his eerily frigid way. He cupped my face in his hand. His hands were even colder than I was. "You think I'm going to kill you?"
"I know you are. I'm not going to last much longer like this." I growled.
His thumb rubbed against my cheek, soothingly. It always creeped me out the way he could snap from affectionate to psycho in a split second.
"You're not going to die, Stella." He cooed, his lips grazing my neck.
"Look at me! Do you honestly think I'll be able to live forever like this?!" I screeched at him. My raw throat instantly protested against it, sending a wave of pain through my system.
One red eye shifted to burrow his deadly gaze into my psyche, as he whispered into my ear, in the most chilling voice I've ever heard, "You will…once I make you like me."
Author's Note: Sorry. Short chapter this week. I'll make Chapter 6 a long one. You have no idea how much the villian creeps me out. He scares the bejeezus out of me. Skulls is awsome. I can't wait to talk about him some more. You'll get to find out where he got his nickname from soon. So how am I doing so far? I didn't get many reviews for the last chapter so I'm going to remind you again that reviewing is the only way to keep my interest in a story. If you want more, review! Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!