Chapter Eighty Eight

Darius

Carlisle's contribution was much appreciated and we divided it between the girls so each had enough to either return to Mexico or stay and find work in the USA. We told them that if they stayed together for a few more days there might be more money for them, we'd already decided to strip Marcus Mendoza of his wages of sin in any case and it might as well go to a good cause, his own victims. When Emmett arrived I left him to trace and milk Mendoza's bank accounts while Edward and I spoke to the man in person.

He wasn't difficult to pinpoint, especially as his men guarding the girls were now dead. Once he didn't hear from them he sent someone to find out what had happened. Someone for us to trace back to him although he was more careful than I expected. His henchman didn't have an address for the man himself but he did have a cell phone number and we soon traced him using that. He had a rather nice house on a gated community outside San Diego. Not rich enough to have an estate but only a few steps down.

When Edward and I started watching the place we saw he had several armed men living in the servants quarters and patrolling the extensive gardens leading down to the lake where there was a rather nice speedboat moored at a private jetty. Marcus wasn't married but had several lady friends living in, young and pretty but stoned most of the time and when you looked at Marcus you could understand why. He was short, fat, and balding, with a grating nasal voice that could be heard all over the house. He spent his time leering at the girls who spent their time lounging around the pool dressed in very little except drug induced smiles.

"Well, it's not going to be difficult to get inside the house, the dogs can be drugged and we can whisk him away for a private conversation. The question is do we kill him personally or do we leave it for his friends to do?"

"You mean plant evidence that he's double crossing them?"

"Well it was a thought but what the hell, I fancy killing this particular rodent personally. You up for it Edward? If not you can walk away now, no repercussions. Some of us can do it, some can't."

Edward

I had wondered if I could go through with murdering a human but having seen the young girls he preyed on I understood he was no better than some nomads who preyed on innocent young human girls, terrorising them before finally killing them for their blood. I was feeling sick to my stomach and I wanted to see this dirt bag pay so I nodded,

"I'm in, he deserves everything he gets."

"Yes, our next decision is what will he get? I think he should feel just a little of the fear those girls did. How would you like to play Dracula for a while?"

I wasn't sure exactly what Darius meant at first, if I bit Mendoza it would be over, drained or changed, but then he explained and I agreed smiling brightly,

"I was a pretty good actor as a human, lets see if I've still got the knack."

We went into the city and hired a vampire costume, the real Vincent Price type, black cape with scarlet lining, plastic fangs, hair dye, fake blood and then shopped for a few less savoury goods which we kept in a cool box until needed. Emmett was dragged in too, his very height and build would help terrify Mendoza especially when he put on the platform boots and slightly too small Frankenstein outfit.

The attack dogs were soon subdued with some drugged steak and I was glad, I hadn't wanted to harm them, I liked dogs, it wasn't their fault they'd been trained to attack humans at a command. Then we raced across the garden and jumped up onto a ledge outside a vacant room on the upper floor of the house. We'd watched a few days to be sure of our facts before acting and this room would give us time to prepare.

Every night after watching a movie and visiting one of his "girlfriend's" room Marcus would retire to his study on the first floor and check on the days activities. The guards patrolled the grounds and lower floor but did not go upstairs, maybe he didn't trust them with his girls!

We waited until everywhere was quiet and then I flitted to his door knocking lightly on the door and flattening myself against the far wall in the shadows as he came to the door grumbling about being disturbed. Seeing no one he frowned then shook his head and went along to the stairs to check no one had gone down giving me time to enter his suite and hide behind the door. When he came back he slammed it shut angrily without looking around and then went back to his desk only to feel my icy fingers on the back of his neck as I leaned over his shoulder and whispered his name.

He jumped but my weight on his shoulder kept him in his chair. I scraped his neck with the false fangs and told him I would be back for his blood very soon but first I would send a friend to see him. I moved fast but just slow enough that he got a glimpse of my pale face and costume then jumped from his window and raced across the lawn to the shelter of the trees.

He hung out of the window but didn't see anything which was unnerving enough as he was a good thirty feet from the ground on the second floor but before he could shout for help I saw a huge hand grasp him round the throat and drag him out of sight back into the room. I knew what Emmett would do, we'd planned it all carefully. He was to move stiffly like the "real" monster and warn him that he had been handed to the monsters of the night to pay for his sins. Emmett's speed ensured he too could disappear without Mendoza seeing him.

We did the same the next night soon making short work of his guards although they were on alert. They succumbed to the anaesthetic darts Darius had procured for us, each dart double pronged so they looked like a vampire's bite and recovered to be thrown away later. This time he too was knocked unconscious and when he woke it was to find his bed drenched in blood and entrails, care of a butcher only too happy to oblige for a fee. The next morning he found his study wrecked with a giant boot print left in the smashed plant pot remains.

We left him alone in his terror the next two nights before finishing our work and by this time Charlie who had joined us had insisted on taking a part too. I visited him in the hotel room he had booked in secret.

"You thought you could hide from me? how stupid of you."

Emmett smashed through the door to join me and behind him stood Charlie dressed as Satan, in a red suit with horns on his head, a red face and black hair and goatee beard.

"Mendoza, you cannot escape your fate. Do you have anything to say before I allow my servants to kill you?"

He was on his knees by this time gushing with information about his friends who deserved this fate much more than he did. Of course it was all noted but it made no difference to us and when he finished speaking, sobbing in terror now Charlie walked forward and took his face between his two hands.

"This is for the girls in your warehouse, my daughter, and for the man your guards tried to kill."

Darius lowered his head and we heard the scream, muffled by his hand as his teeth sunk into the guys neck. Emmett and I jumped from the window, the smell of fresh blood too much for us but glad that Mendoza had suffered before he died.