Chapter 6: The Truth is Frightening

Stella:

My brain has turned to mush. It's too hard to think. Hurts too much. I've been hanging here in his butcher's workshop for what feels like forever. I have no idea how long it's actually been. The unending cycles of rest and torture are blending together. Nearly dieing has become as mundane as household chores. How sickeningly sad is that? Today seems a bit different though. I can tell The Vampire's gearing up for something. I can't help but wonder what?

He's been rushing about the house all day. I'm not sure if it's for real or just my half dead mind playing tricks on me, but I could have sworn he's been poofing in and out of existence. One minute he's flesh and blood, the next he's nothing but a shadow. I watched him and watched him until I could take no more and my scaly lips cracked open like a scabbed over wound.

"What're you doing?" I rasped.

He turned away from the throng of candles he'd been lighting and his lips curved into a misleading smile. He looked so handsome and charming in the candlelight. His dark, shoulder length hair shining in the light. His face and body lies. Those eyes of his are the only things that reveal the truth about him, they offer a glimpse at his true nature. Those blood red eyes that beam at me hungrily no matter how much of my blood he's stolen. Those horrible, unquenchable, eyes.

"I have to prepare for the ceremony, silly." He chuckled.

"Ceremony?" I asked between gasps. It was getting hard to breathe.

"Yes. Tonight is the night of your rebirth and everything has to be perfect." He said dreamily.

I was getting real fed up with him. Nothing he said made sense. "Talk like a normal person. I don't understand your damn gibberish." I growled at him.

"That's what I like about you Stella. That fiery attitude of yours." He laughed. It would sound friendly…innocent to most people, but not to me. I knew he well enough to sense the wickedness in his tone. "It's what's kept you alive all this time. You've lasted a lot longer than the others."

My eyes widened. "Others? What others?" I asked. My heart began to race wildly.

"Can you imagine what immortality is like? To never get ill or grow old? To always remain the same, while the people around you wither away and die?" He mused, taking my face in his hand and squeezing my cheeks, forcing me to look him directly in those red orbs, which I tried to avoid at all costs. "It's incredibly lonely. That's why my people tend to congregate together. We can't stand being alone. I've been alone a long time. I've been looking for a bride for nearly a hundred years. You are not the first I've brought home."

"How many?" I demanded.

"One Hundred and Fifty Eight." He replied, without missing a beat. "Few lived past the first few days and those that did, did not survive the turning, but don't worry, I've had nearly a hundred years of practice and my process is nearly perfect. I am confident that I will succeed with you where I've failed with the others. You will survive and I will finally have my eternal bride."

"How can you be so confident, when you've killed the hundred and fifty eight women before me?"

His lips pulled up in one corner. "Those women were weak. You're much stronger than any of them. I believe now that they died because it was always meant to be you, Stella." He said lowly. He kissed me and sank his teeth into my bottom lip. Blood trickled from our conjoined mouths. When the kiss was finished he licked up the red stain around his mouth. I turned my head and spat out a mouthful of metallic flavored spit.

He grinned boyishly back at me. My blood stained the front of his wife-beater. "Tonight will be perfect." He said, laughing euphorically.

He then went back to work, preparing my dungeon for what would be, in a sense, the scene of my death. I couldn't bare to watch him anymore. I closed my eyes and chose to think of better things. Mom, Gremlin,…Dad. I'm so sorry. I should have told you about the messages. I should have said something. Anything. Maybe then I would not be where I am now. Hanging by a chain watching my kidnapper prepare to kill me. Stupid. So Stupid.

Wild:

Thanks to the V.V.P.A's always dependable sources, I was able to find my way to the tiny town of Bloom, Texas where my newest case had taken place. Of course, there was always the possibility that this girl had run away all on her own. So I would have to check out that possibility first.

The house itself was pretty nice. It was a big colonial, two stories with white paneling and hunter green shutters. There was a dogwood tree in the front yard. There were multicolored pansies in the flowerbeds around the doorstep. The picture perfect scene was made complete by the white picket fence. If it were not for the two police offers huddled around a middle aged Italian woman with a tissue crushed in her hands there would be little evidence to say that the world wasn't all kittens, hugs, and rainbows.

"Mrs. Rossi?" I asked, approaching them. The sheriff and his deputy shot me suspicious glances.

"Yes? Can I help you, sir?" She asked, hoarsely. She'd obviously been sobbing for quite a while. The smell of tears saturated the air around her.

I pulled out my badge and showed it to her. "I'm Agent Adam Wilder with the V.V.P.A. I'm here to ask you a few questions concerning your daughter's disappearance."

"That won't be necessary, Agent…Wilson was it?" Huffed the fat old sheriff.

"Wilder." I corrected. Geeze, I hate dumb asses.

"Wilder, whatever. We have everything perfectly under control. What is the V.V.P.A anyway?"

I really hate having to explain this to people. I wish the existence of vampires was common knowledge. It would save me the aggravation. "It's a sect of the F.B.I." I replied. No need to go into full blown details.

"We don't need the fed's help. We can handle this." The sheriff growled.

It must be true what they say. Ignorance is bliss.

"Really? Have you found her yet? Any leads? Any suspects?" I asked in a calm voice, but with an edge to my tone that told him how absolutely annoyed I was becoming.

He got this deer in the headlights look on his face and his cheeks flushed crimson. "Well…uh…no." He stuttered.

"Didn't think so." I said. "Now I'm here to help. You can cooperate or not. Either way. It won't make any difference to me. I'm here to help you find the girl. End of story." I then returned all focus back to the person who really mattered, the girl's poor mother.

"Mrs. Rossi, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a look around the house." I said. I hadn't even entered the place yet and already I could smell him. A vampire had definitely been here. Whether or not this vamp had actually taken or harmed Stella in any way was still up for debate. It was crucial that I look around for clues.

"Of course. Please follow me." She said and led the way into the house.

The house was eerily quite. The only sounds that perked my ears were the gentle breath of the mother and the ticking of the enormous grandfather clock in the corner. We sat down in the living room, she on the couch and I in a chair across from her.

"Forgive me, sir, but I'm afraid I've never heard of the V.V.P.A either." The woman prodded, avoiding my gaze sheepishly.

"Very few people know about us." I replied. "We are a law enforcement and investigation group and, like I said before, we work with the F.B.I on cases that may need our special expertise."

Her Italian eyes narrowed slightly, "and my daughter's dissapearance warrants the government's envolvement? I wasn't aware of that. I was actually stunned at your arrival. So far all the cops keep saying is that Stella ran away."

"I take it that was not a possibility for Stella?"

Mrs. Rossi shook her head wildly, "No! She would never do something like that. She was perfectly happy. She was excited about starting art school in the fall. She was going to be a graphic designer. No, sir. Stella would not run away."

"How about friends? Boyfriends? Anyone she'd leave with?"

"No one. Stella mostly keeps to herself. She's a bit…shy with outsiders I guess. She hasn't started dating yet and she really didn't have many friends her own age and she and her best friend, Julie, have drifted apart recently."

"How about enemies? Do you know of anyone who might want to harm, Stella?" I really hated asking her. I could tell immediately that this question struck a cord with her. Her eyes teared up and the muscles in her neck tightened.

"No…everyone…everyone loves Stella." She croaked. She was obviously struggling to hold herself together.

"Was Stella involved with any…uh…shady activities?" I asked.

At my surprise, she chuckled a little, even while the tears built up in her eyes. "Are you kidding? Stella is a walking anti-drug advertisement. She's a strait arrow. A good kid."

I couldn't help but notice that she spoke of Stella in the present tense. She must still believe that her daughter is alive somewhere. Sadly, if this rogue vampire had anything to do with it, this was most likely not the case. "I'm sure she is." I said with a reassuring smile. I really hate lying to people.

I still couldn't shake that scent. It was even stronger inside. It almost seemed to emanate from the upstairs bedrooms. "Is her bedroom upstairs?" I asked. "I'd like to look through her things if you don't mind, ma'am."

"If it will help you find, Stella you can ransack the house if you want."

"Thank you." I replied then ascended up the staircase. The smell of old blood led me strait to the girl's bedroom. It was a little different from what most teenaged girls' rooms are like. No frills in sight. It was a royal blue color and sketches and drawings were everywhere. The drafting table was piled high with sketchbooks, rulers and pencils. There was an easel in the corner with a half way finished painting of a cherry blossom tree on it. However, the thing that really caught my attention was how strong the scent of vampire was in her room. It soaked the carpet, seeped from the very walls. A vampire would have had to have been here hundreds of times to leave such a calling card. Once again I sniffed around until I found what seemed to be the highest concentration of the scent. A small door right above her drawing table.

I looked over at Mrs. Rossi, who'd been watching me from the doorway. "Why is this door here?" I asked.

"That goes up into the attic. Why?" She asked.

"I'd like to take a look up there before I leave." I replied, turning towards her computer.

"Why didn't they take the computer?" I wondered aloud.

"The police said it wasn't necessary."

I couldn't help but growl at that. "Not necessary? Idiots. In this day and age everything is done with computers."

I asked her permission to go through Stella's inbox and history. She kindly concentrated.

The search history led to nothing. She mainly went to art community and fan fiction sites. I was surprised I didn't see any MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. When I checked her inbox however, I was completely blown away by what I found. Over 200 messages from an unknown sender. I read each one of them carefully. Each said the same thing. "Now I lay you down to sleep, pray the Lord your soul to keep. If you should die before you wake, pray the Lord your soul to take." These eerie words reminded me of an old prayer I'd heard once or twice. It was a prayer taught to children, however he'd changed the wording to a degree that made it much more diabolical. I could feel Mrs. Rossi slowly edging towards me so I quickly exited out of her email. She didn't need to see that right now. She was worried enough.

"I'm going to check the attic." I told her.

"What for?" She asked.

"Just being thorough, ma'am." I lied. I was getting a bad feeling about the attic.

After moving the drawing table out of the way, I opened the door and dragged the ladder down and went up. The further I ascended, the stronger the scent of decay became. I pulled on a chain above my head and a dangling light bulb flickered on. I bared my teeth at the sight that filled my vision. Just a few feet away, right over the area where Stella's bed was, was what looked like a make shift camp. There was a fold out chair, a few blankets, some junk food rappers and an abundance of little skeleton zed, squirrels and mice littered the attic. I walked over to the camp and, shifting a few empty potato chip bags with my foot, I found a small hole. Just the right size for a discreet peep hole. There was no doubt in my mind at this point. A vampire was behind this. The camp wreaked of vampire. I could almost envision him sitting up here in this dank little hole, watching her from above through that tiny hole. He'd probably been watching her for months without her ever knowing. Among the blankets I found a girl's t-shirt and several other garments. I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at my findings. This was really bad. This wasn't just a rogue going hunting. This was…obsession. The poor girl. My skin crawled just thinking what the creep had already done to her.

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait guys! Thank you for all the support! I promised a long chapter and I think I delivered. This is twice as long as I usally like to go. Keep the reviews coming!