Chapter 37 - Greed
Deep in the heart of Seattle, Lauren Mallory waited impatiently in a cold alleyway under the cover of darkness. The December air was frigid, a soft mist of rain falling on the rough brick buildings, filling the potholes in the blacktop with ice. One small light flickered like a warning beacon from a shaded window five stories up, providing little light with which to see. Shivering, she pulled the small fur coat tighter across her chest, cursing herself for not bothering to change clothes before lighting out of Forks.
All because that damn ape blew me off, she comforted herself. You can run but you can't hide Jacob Black. One day soon, you'll be in my bed. All I need is time. Lauren smiled maliciously. She might have failed this afternoon, but tonight she'd planned take what should have been hers all along. Bella Swan would regret the day she'd ever moved back to Forks, stealing away everyone's attention.
It was ridiculous the way everyone fawned over the police chief's daughter. As if that redneck, Andy Griffith position in the community made her royalty. From the second that bitch drove up to the school in that rusty heap of junk, everyone acted like she drove a BMW and wore glass slippers. First she took Lauren's friends, then she stole her boyfriends and the one boy who Lauren was sure would have been hers had Bella not come along.
Edward Cullen. The one guy in school that understood what it was like to be different. Better than others. They would have been a power couple, she was certain of it.
From that moment on, it seemed to Lauren that life had become a long string of disappointments. Geeky Angela making Valedictorian, that skank Beth being voted prom queen, the lousy modeling contract right out of high school which had turned out to be nothing more than work for cheap dime store circulars. Getting groped by photographers whose nighttime work consisted of filming pornos for horny men to jack off to. It had been one long line of bad luck until two days ago.
Until Seattle.
Edward Cullen had blown back into her life like a guardian angel. Having gone into Seattle to look for new modeling work, she'd come up empty, wandering the streets while trying to come up with a new plan for her life. A man ran past, snatching her purse as if she was his own personal ATM. Little did he know there wasn't more than forty dollars to her name in there. Just enough left to blow on a tank of gas to get home and back to her daddy's house where a hot meal would be waiting.
She'd fought like a bear trying to get the mugger's greasy paws off the designer bag she carried. It was one of the few things in her wardrobe that wasn't a knock off and damn if she'd let some thief steal it from her. The man shoved her down on the sidewalk, tearing the strap off her purse in the process. Before he could run, Edward Cullen had appeared out of nowhere, twisting the asshole's arm behind his back, wrenching the stolen booty from his hands in a display of raw power. Real tears formed in her eyes, washing over her cheeks in a river of self-pity.
Edward Cullen kneeled before her, wiping the tears from her face with gentle ease. That was the moment when pity turned into cold-hearted calculation. This was a sign. Divine intervention from God above, proving what Lauren had always known. They belonged together.
Congratulating herself on having been smart enough to take a few acting classes in her quest for stardom, a fresh round of sobs wracked her chest courtesy of the memory of her childhood dog getting run over in the street. It worked like a charm. Edward took her into his arms, whispering sympathetic words, offering up kindness and comfort. All the while she pretended to be a lost and helpless soul, scheming about how to get in his bed sooner than later.
Ushering her into a warm coffee shop, like a true gentleman he'd held the door, then fluttered over her with the care of a mother hen and all the power of a man. His flattery was a soothing balm to her stinging soul. While he waited in line to order her some tea, she studied him carefully. He'd not aged at all since the last time she saw him in their high school parking lot, lounging as carelessly as a male model against the door of his silver volvo.
What money he had then, belonged to his father. Lauren noted that he was dressed impeccably in a finely tailored gray wool suit, down to the highly polished shoes on his feet. Galliano, if she wasn't mistaken. Either Daddy's trust fund had kicked in or else he'd done well for himself. Whichever it was, didn't matter. This man was the total package. Everything about him attracted her, one look from his gold eyes and she was lost. Edward Cullen was everything Lauren wanted and thought she deserved. Good looking, strong and rich to boot. That was the most important part. She needed someone to dote on her and he was just the man to do it.
After he settled in at the small table, she turned on the charm, smiling wide and making sure to lean on her elbows just enough to produce the right amount of cleavage. It was idle chitchat, old friends catching up. Except, they'd never actually gotten to be friends. Bella had seen to that. At first, when he asked about her, Lauren bristled. Unwilling to give up the spotlight she turned the attention on herself. After ten minutes it was clear that even after all this time, Bella Swan still had him, hook, line and sinker.
She was about to leave when he proposed something even better than sexual entrapment. Edward asked her to help him get Bella away from Jacob Black, a man Lauren had wanted to bed for as long as she could remember. She quickly realized that he might not be interested in her, but his bank account definitely was.
If Edward wanted to give her fifty grand to play this role, she'd gladly take it, sure that sooner or later he'd succumb to her charms or the blackmail she was already banking on for down the road. If only he'd understand that it would take time.
Bella Swan had always been able to sink her claws into men so deep it was nearly impossible to dig them out. But Lauren knew she had something more to offer, something better. It was only a matter of time before Jacob Black was in her bed, leaving Bella out in the cold.
Today he'd turned her down, but he couldn't resist her forever. She was banking on it.
Tonight, standing in this dark alley, Lauren prepared herself mentally for a challenge. Edward wouldn't be happy. A sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that he could be an even more calculating bastard than her.
He'd be here soon and part of her wished she'd dressed differently for this meeting. It wasn't just the cold that sent goosebumps over her skin. Then again, Edward Cullen was a man and what she was wearing proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, she was a woman. A beautiful one at that. Smiling, she dug into her purse for a mirror, then swiped another coat of glittering ruby over her pouty lips. Maybe this could work in her favor.
Appearing like a ghost out of the darkness, Lauren jumped in fear when she saw him. "Did you do what I asked?" His smooth voice floated down the alley like a river of chocolate, making her legs quake with anticipation. She'd never done it on the street, but if that turned out to be what he wanted, she was game.
"Edward, you startled me," she cried, clasping a hand over her heart. "I didn't even hear you walk up."
"That's the idea."
Whatever he meant by that, she wasn't sure, but something didn't feel right. Here in the dank alley, he looked more sinister than angelic. Suddenly, she felt the overwhelming urge to get out of there and fast. The money, him... none of it mattered. Lauren was afraid. "Look, it'll take some time. It's not going to happen overnight. He loves her for some bizarre reason I'll never understand," she explained, praying that was enough.
"Of course you wouldn't," he replied. "There's not much you understand, is there?"
Normally an insult like that would have enraged her enough to show the sharp side of her tongue, but gut instinct made her back away. "I really have to go. I promised I'd meet you and I did. I'll try again in a few days." Lauren moved to quickly shoulder past him, but he shot out an arm, blocking the way.
Edward smiled manically, feeling the fear roll off her in waves. He didn't have to be an empath to recognize the sensation. It was written all over her ugly face.
"Did you want something else from me? I don't have anything more to say."
It didn't matter. He'd already heard everything he wanted to know. For the last ten minutes he'd stood around the corner, blocking out the noise of the city, listening to every sycophantic thought that crossed her mind. Edward knew that Lauren's wanton efforts to seduce the wolf would not work, but she'd dropped his name, just as he asked. It was enough to send the wolves racing in fear... and plant a seed of doubt. From the rooftops of Port Angeles he'd watched as two of them searched the city, trying to pick up a scent, never knowing what was hiding under their nose. Like fools they'd replayed the images in their minds, the desperation Jacob had felt and the demand to keep Bella in the dark, knowing it would anger her in the end.
He looked at the waste of life squirming against his arm. Edward tilted his head to the side. "You really are a fool." Then he pushed her backward into the light, allowing her to glimpse the monster within before he took her life. "Do you see?" he asked. "Do you see?"
"Please," she begged, scrambling to get away. "Let me go."
The scent of copper filled his nostrils, tempting Satan to loose the gates of hell. Broken glass beneath the concrete scratched the skin of her hands and legs.
"I can't." The words curled off of his tongue in sick seduction as his eyes grew black with thirst. "You always wanted what you can't have. Even now, your mind is racing, wondering what it is that I possess and how you can take it."
A tingling sensation hit her brain, knocking her off her feet. Lauren clutched the sides of her head, feeling as if someone were prying into her deepest thoughts.
"Fear beyond reason in the forefront, but behind it, selfish desire." Edward clicked his tongue, chastising her like a small child. "For a hundred years I have killed, feeding off the blood from the most wretched humanity has to offer. Do you know what I am?" Blood streaked down her thighs as she crawled backward over broken glass and loose gravel, searching, reaching for protection. Muted cries died in her throat, the tiniest of whimpers escaping alongside silent tears that streaked her porcelain cheeks black with rivers of mascara mud.
She sickened him.
"There is nothing you can hide, nowhere to run." He crept forward, forcing her further back until panic seized her chest, fingers searching for an exit, finding no purchase against the crumbling brick wall. Edward knelt beside her, his cool, sweet breath breezing over her cheeks while he dragged one finger seductively over the pulse of her throat. "Say it. Tell me what I am," he whispered, savoring the terror which thinned the blood in her arteries.
"Vvvvaampiirre..." The dawn of recognition washed over her face as she scrambled further backward, shrinking into the deep shadow of the alley, cornered like prey. "Bella! She knew? Oh, god, you're going to kill her?"
"Death is but a beginning," he stated, his voice melodic with lovers lament. "Isabella will live for all eternity. She and I will feast on the blood of sinners, ridding the world of thieves while emerging as glorious saints in the night. The world will be our kingdom and she will be my queen."
Frightened as she was, jealousy spiked within Lauren's soul. Always Bella. The girl who robbed her of everything, sending her life into a downward spiral of chaos. Now it seemed she would have a thousand lifetimes and Edward too.
"Even when faced with certain death, a woman selfish to the core. You would make a dangerous immortal. It is tempting, the idea of creating one like you. Tell me," he asked, "do you want this? Could you move through the world in silence, controlling your greed and lust to keep our secret?" As soon as he'd posed the question, images slid through her mind of killing Bella Swan and others who'd slighted her.
His arms wrapped around her body tightly, the cold from his hands radiating through the fake fur she wore across her shoulders. Lauren's muscles tightened in rapt excitement and chills of what was to come when his lips caressed the throbbing artery of her slim neck.
"I can taste the desire on your skin," he whispered. "Breathe in the cool night air for the last time." Edward curled his fingers tightly around her neck, crushing her windpipe before the scream could escape. Lauren's blood flowed freely while he carelessly ravaged her delicate skin, tearing sinew and muscle like a starved animal in the wilderness.
When there was no more, he left her crumpled, broken body in the alleyway. Moonlight gleamed off the damp brick, shining down on the cold, white mask of death on a garish face, her lips a bold streak of color, covered in rouge.