Blood of Gold (14 page)

“Well, that didn’t work too well,” Feller said.

“I think they’re supposed to agree to join the Shadow,” Kelton said. “They have to really mean it.”

“So not only do they have to be evil,” Feller said, exasperated, “
really
evil, but they have to agree to this? How the hell are we supposed to know if they’ll do that? How are we going to find anyone?”

Kelton suddenly had the answer. He started laughing. “Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem anymore,” he said.

“What the hell are you laughing about?” Feller turned around and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“Did you hear what the poor bastard said?” Kelton asked. “He just got released from Pelican Bay… you, know, the supermax, where they put the worst of the worst.”

Feller frowned, and then he got it, too, and chuckled. “Shit… and it’s only three miles from here. Of course! How obvious!”

“Yeah, all the recruits we could ever want. The meanest of the mean.” Abruptly, Kelton stopped laughing. “Only one problem. How do we get them out of there?”

“You forget,” Feller said. “I was FBI. I still have my ID. If we go during the daytime, they’ll never suspect a thing.”

The Master of Shadow will be pleased
, Kelton thought. He had commanded them to find an army, and there was a big, evil recruitment center waiting right over the horizon.

Chapter 13

Laura snapped awake the second the sun dropped below the horizon. She’d noticed this tendency before. It was like an internal vampire alarm clock. She was ravenous. The driver of the pickup had only whetted her appetite. She wasn’t going back to animal meat, not if she could help it.

The clothes she was wearing, which had been scavenged from nearby houses, had begun to stink, especially the bloodstains. The garments didn’t quite fit. Some were too small, some were too big. She’d tried washing them out in the shower, so they were tolerable, but they were all wrinkled.

She wanted to look pretty. She hadn’t had anything new to wear since before she’d been kidnapped. The Monster had brought his prisoners some makeup once in a while and told them to make themselves look presentable. Simone, who had had the most practice before she was captured, had tried to show Patty and Laura how to apply it, but Laura had looked in the bathroom mirror once, and she wasn’t fooled into believing she actually looked nice.

But that didn’t mean she
couldn’t
look nice. She had a curvy body. The man she’d eaten had tried not to stare at her breasts, but she’d caught him looking. If she was going to trap men, she’d need to play up her looks. There was a mall that stayed open in the evenings on the south end of town, not too far to walk to. She pulled the money out of the bald man’s wallet. There was over five hundred dollars there, along with some credit cards.

Laura kept one of the credit cards and tossed the wallet away. She couldn’t imagine anyone walking around with five hundred dollars in their pocket. In her normal life, she’d been given five dollars here, five dollars there: never much more than that. Her foster mom had written checks for larger amounts, most of which had bounced.

Laura closed the motel room door behind her and glanced at the office across the parking lot. She caught a glimpse of movement, the curtain closing, a shadow behind it.
I’m going to take care of that busybody,
she thought.
But not before I’ve gotten my three nights’ worth.

The parking lot was nearly empty. There was a car near the office and another about halfway down the row of spaces. Laura didn’t want to feed too close to where she was staying. She started off down the highway.

She caught a ride after only a few hundred yards
. Another horny middle-aged man
, she thought. She resisted attacking him, because she wanted to at least be presentable when she went to the mall. The man brushed against her boobs when he opened the door to let her out, but didn’t do more than that.

Laura went into the first clothing store she saw, then paused just inside the door. It was really fancy, way more fancy than she was used to. She felt out of place, and almost turned around and left.

“Can I help you?”

It was a girl not much older than Laura. Her tone suggested that she doubted there was anything she could do to help Laura.

“Hi!” Laura said brightly. “I just got back from summer camp, and my clothes are a mess. Daddy told me to get some new ones.” She pulled out the wad of bills and the credit card. “He said to use his card if I could, but if you can’t take it, I’ll just spend the cash.”

The clerk’s demeanor changed immediately, and she flashed Laura a smile. She was tall and skinny, almost gawky, but her clothes looked good on her, Laura noticed enviously, hanging off her bony frame just right.

“I’m sure the card will be fine,” the clerk said. “My name’s Susan, by the way.”

“I’m Laura.” She stood there, flatfooted.
Now what?
she wondered.

“Will you let me help you?” Susan asked. “If you don’t mind me saying, you’ve got a nice body, but not one that will be easy to dress. I’m really envious. I can’t gain weight no matter how hard I try.”

Laura almost ripped her head off right then and there, then realized that the girl was trying to be complimentary. This was probably her first job, and in some ways, she was just as awkward as Laura. “That’d be great. I’m really not sure of my sizes these days. Things have changed so much in the last year.”

“Tell me about it!” Susan laughed. “I think I can guess your sizes pretty close. Like I said, you’ll need smaller sizes, but ones that will accommodate your curves. Fortunately, I think I know exactly what you need.”

Eight hundred dollars’ worth of clothing later, Laura looked down at herself and couldn’t believe what she saw. If she ignored the thought of what her face and hair must look like, she could almost convincer herself she that was a sophisticated, sexy woman.

She’d held her breath as Susan had run the card, but it had sailed right through. Laura had signed the receipt with her own first name and the last name on the card, Kirkpatrick.

She was enjoying chatting with Susan and was somewhat surprised that she could feel so comfortable doing it.
Spending eight hundred bucks doesn’t hurt,
she reminded herself. Susan was only being nice to her because she had to be.

“Thank you again,” Laura said as she walked out. She was carrying two huge bags, and wondered how she’d get back to the motel room with them. She spied a salon, went in and did the same “daddy’s little girl” routine, and it worked again. Now she knew she looked great from top to bottom. Her hair was clean and stylishly cut, her facial blemishes covered up. It was as if she was someone else, someone she didn’t even know.

She needn’t have worried about getting a ride back to the motel. She’d barely walked a block before a shy young man stopped and picked her up. He barely said a word the whole way, barely looked at her. She decided to let him live, though originally she’d had him marked as her next victim. Even though she was hungry, she loved her new clothes so much that she didn’t want to mess them up.

“Uh, can I… uh… can I take you to a movie or something?” the shy guy stammered when they pulled up to the motel.

“You got something to write on?” Laura asked.

He handed her an oily gas station receipt. She wrote down a string of nonsense numbers on the back and handed it back with a smile. He nervously reached for it, and she let her fingers linger under his for a second.

He stalled his car on the way out of the parking lot. Laura could see him leaning over the steering wheel, red-faced. She smiled and went to her room. She didn’t notice that a third car was now parked at the far end of the row of spaces in front of the motel, and that someone was watching her from behind the wheel.

#

What a hottie,
Butler thought.
Wowza.
It wasn’t often you saw a girl dressed like that in Crescent City. Was she even a vampire? Hard to tell from a distance, so he’d just have to trust the motel manager’s instincts. Certainly, it was suspicious that she’d spent all day in her room, only venturing out at night to go shopping.

He pulled out the piece of paper the vampire had given him and called the number on it. “I think I may have one for you,” he said when the call was picked up.

“Describe her.”

“She’s a gorgeous blonde, sexy, dressed to the nines.”

“That’s not one of them,” the voice said, and hung up.

Screw it,
Butler thought.
I don’t care if the reward is ten thousand bucks if all that’s going to happen is getting hung up on.
He sat there in a funk. It was probably time to admit that most of the vampires were dead. He’d polish off this one and then get back to routine police work. Then again, ten thousand dollars was a lot of money.

He picked up his phone and redialed.

“Don’t hang up,” he said quickly. “It might help if you would describe the three girls you’re looking for.”

There was silence on the other end, then, begrudgingly, the vampire answered. “The oldest one, about twenty-six, is tall and skinny, kind of plain, with mousy brown hair. The second-oldest one, about twenty-two or so, is nice-looking, with black hair and an average stature. The third girl, about eighteen years old, is short and busty, blonde and pimply.”

Butler recalled that Deb Hutchins had described the girl as covered in grime. For some reason, he was certain that the third girl was the one he’d just observed.

“I think the blonde one is here,” he said. “She’s all gussied up… new clothes, hairdo, makeup. But her physical features are right.”

“Where are you?”

“It’s the Beachwood Motel,” he said. “It’s at…”

“I’ll be right there,” the vampire interrupted, then hung up.

Less than ten minutes later, a Toyota sedan with scratched green paint pulled up next to him. There were two vampires in it; one of them was the huge brute who had paid Butler that creepy nighttime visit. He got out and eased himself into the backseat of the unmarked police car, sweeping the vampire hunter equipment aside with a strange look on his face. “What room number?” he asked bluntly.

“The last unit,” Butler answered. He resisted the urge to reach for his gun or turn around, certain that he wouldn’t be quick enough. The FBI had a term for vampires like this: Alphas. He’d let someone else deal with this vampire, perhaps when all three girls were found and paid for.

“Here’s your money,” the Alpha vampire said. “Keep your eyes open for the other two.”

The money was in a paper bag. Butler didn’t count it, as he got the impression that the vampire didn’t care about money and was eager for results. “Don’t you want to check her out first?”

“No, it’s her. I can smell her.” The huge vampire opened the car door and got out. “Get lost.”

Butler didn’t question the order. He started the cruiser and drove away, trying not to look like he was in too much of a hurry. He’d have to pay the motel manager later. He hoped for her sake that she didn’t get in the middle of whatever was about to happen.

#

Laura examined the array of short leather dresses, tight silk blouses and sheer lingerie spread out on the bed.
Maybe I should have gotten some clothes that were a little more functional,
she thought. She was still hungry, but she didn’t want to get blood and gore on any of her new things. Without thinking, she’d allowed Susan to throw away her old clothes.

There was a knock on the door. She didn’t bother to look out, certain it was either the awkward teenager who had dropped her off or the motel manager who wanted to scam some more money off her.

She opened the door and stopped cold. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes grew wide and her heart began to race. There he stood: the Monster.

She wanted to run. At the same time, she felt the urge to leap into his arms. Instead, she simply stood there with a blank expression.
What do I do?

“Hi, Laura,” he rumbled.

“Come on in,” she said finally, walking away from the door. Feigning nonchalance, she started hanging up her new clothes.

He turned around and spoke to someone outside. “Wait in the car, do you mind?” Then he went over and sat on the bed.

This obviously wasn’t going the way he’d expected. Laura almost laughed at the astounded look in his face. He’d probably thought he’d have to overpower her, put his big, beefy hands over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Laura found she wasn’t frightened of him. In fact, now that he was here, she felt safe again.

“You look nice, babe,” he said, watching her warily, as if he expected her to bolt. “I should’ve bought you nice things long ago.”

“Yeah, you should have,” she said, walking back and grabbing another blouse that was lying on the bed near his hand. She put a little extra flounce in her step.

“You don’t have to worry about that ever again,” he said. “I’ve got so much money, I can buy you anything you want.” She walked past him again, and he grabbed her and swung her around onto his lap.

She let out a delighted squeal.

He nuzzled her neck. “Not that we have to pay for anything. We can take what we want. Nobody can stop us.”

She pulled away from him and stood up, straightening her short skirt. “I hear vampires are getting wiped out.”

“Old-fashioned vampires, maybe,” the Monster said. “Me and my friends are something new, babe. We’re invincible. I’m beginning to think you might want to join us.”

“Why would I want to do that?” she teased. “You’re mean. You treated me bad.”

“I’m sorry about that,” he muttered. “I guess I didn’t know what a great girl you are.”

There was one last piece of lingerie left on the bed, a pair of frilly black panties. As she reached for them, he grabbed them and held them up to his nose. “I’d like to see you in these,” he grunted.

“Oh?” she asked playfully. She snatched the panties from his hand and started to undress, demurely turning her back on him. She could feel him staring at her smooth back and wide hips. She wiggled into the tiny garment and turned around.