Drop Dead Gorgeous (11 page)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Clara watched Derek run up the street in her rear view mirror. As soon as he was out of sight, she reached into her purse beside her to fish out her phone to call Monica. When she couldn’t find it, she pulled over and dug a little deeper. No phone.

Damn.
She’d left it charging by her bed. She drove around the block and parked out front, leaving her purse in the car while she ran inside to grab her phone.

It was right where she’d left it. She pulled the charger from the wall socket, and wrapped the cord around her phone as she headed back into the living room.

She heard the front door lock click and stopped in her tracks, every hair on her body standing to attention. Something told her it wasn’t Derek coming in the door, and she was right.

The beautiful redheaded woman stepped into the living room, her bright red lips in a sweet smile.

“Hello, Clara.”

“Hello.” There was nowhere to run.

“Derek asked me to come and get you.”

She knew the woman was lying. “I was just on my way to the set to check on him, actually.” She wondered if the woman caught the tremor of fear in her voice.

The woman eyed the phone in Clara’s hand and said, “I’ll give you a ride.”

Clara put her phone and keys into her pocket on her way to the street. A police car was double parked beside her car, and she briefly considered screaming to get the officer’s attention until it became evident that the redheaded woman was leading her right to it. The knot in Clara’s stomach tightened. A dark-haired man dressed as a Los Angeles policeman sat in the driver’s seat, his face blocked from view. Clara knew he was no police officer.

Her captor opened the back door, shoved Clara inside, and climbed in beside her.

Clara met the eyes of the driver in the rear-view mirror and nearly gasped when she realized the man wasn’t just a vampire but also the former love of her life, the recently deceased Jeffrey Rizo.

He started driving without a word.

Real fear gripped Clara as thoughts swirled in her head. Obviously, there had been no drug overdose. How had Jeffrey become involved with these vampires? What were the odds that the two men she’d been involved with had both been taken into the same nest? And would Jeffrey help her?

She hadn’t thought her life could become more surreal, and yet, here she was, at the mercy of a dangerous woman vampire, driving to meet her ex-boyfriend vampire by her other ex-boyfriend – also a vampire. It would be funny if she weren’t scared out of her mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Derek was late to work – a first for him, but he apologized and they weren’t ready for him anyway, so it was no big deal.

They put him through hair and makeup and wardrobe while they shot the close-ups of the Mercedes parked on the street in front of the huge outdoor mall on Hollywood Boulevard. Rented police officers held the traffic when they were shooting, and production assistants kept the crowds of curious tourists at bay.

Once Derek was ready, he stood on his mark in front of the Mercedes and they shot his close-ups reacting to the admiring stares of the women who weren’t actually there. A production assistant stood on the sidewalk where they should be to give him an eyeline.

Soon afterwards, the women emerged from the hair and makeup trailer ready to shoot. The camera crew moved the equipment across the street to shoot the master, and Derek and the women stood and waited while the lights were set and the extras were placed and given their directions.

Once everything was ready, the police held traffic and the camera rolled. The beautiful women admired Derek and he smiled at them like an idiot, standing in front of the shiny new Mercedes. They shot a dozen or so takes of that, and then changed lenses to move in a little tighter.

Derek was anxious to get away to check on Clara, but he wanted to finish the shoot. The income would help Clara until he could figure out another plan to get money for her. He hoped he’d be wrapped after they got the closer shots.

While they got a few takes of the tighter shot, Derek thought he felt the presence of some of his brothers and maybe even Madeline. He tried to tell himself it was probably nothing. If they were there, they were most likely just curious about the shoot just like the crowds of onlookers that surrounded the set. He kept scanning his surroundings, but saw none of them, and the feeling was weak – like they weren’t close.

The police stopped traffic for the next take, and the remaining cars in the street moved along until nothing blocked the view of the camera. When the crew was ready, the first assistant director across the street called out, “Rolling!” The director yelled, “Action!” and the extras began to move along the sidewalk. Derek watched the beautiful actresses admiring him and he smiled at them, but just as he was turning to discover the Mercedes behind him, he felt her. Madeline was there. And she was getting closer.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

No one said a word as Clara and her two vampire escorts rode up to Hollywood Boulevard. Clara saw the production trucks and lights along the street where the shoot was happening, but the police car turned away from them and parked on the block just east of the production. All three of them sat quietly in the car for what seemed an eternity. Finally, the redhead pulled Clara from the car and took her by the arm, walking her up the block and across the street.

The vampires clearly had some sort of plan in mind, but Clara had no idea what it could be. Surely they wouldn’t hurt her here in front of so many people, and yet her instincts told her she was in great danger.

They stopped at the corner and turned back to watch the patrol car for a moment. Clara tried to make eye contact with Jeffrey, but he looked away. There was an ambulance parked behind him with another handsome vampire at the wheel.

Clara looked across the street and saw Derek standing on the sidewalk with his back to her. The camera was on her side of the street, surrounded by the camera crew. They were rolling and Clara watched the scene unfold across the street.

The redhead yanked Clara by the arm and dragged her along the sidewalk at an alarming rate of speed. When they stopped beside the camera, she regained her footing and saw Derek turn and look at her. He looked scared for a split second, but when Clara felt the fingernails dig into her arm hard enough to break the skin, he looked pissed. And scary.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

In a blur almost too fast for a human to track, Derek watched Madeline pull Clara along the sidewalk to stand beside the camera, smiling as she held Clara like a trophy. Derek focused on the shiny red fingernails gripping Clara’s arm.
Mine. Clara is mine.

Derek felt his fangs come down and he kept his mouth closed, very much aware that the camera was still rolling. Clara looked terrified, her face contorted in pain. Madeline’s nails pierced her skin and a tiny drop of blood ran down her arm. When Derek caught the scent of it in the air, he lost his ability to remain calm and headed towards them.

As he stepped out into the empty street, he heard a car and turned to see a police car headed right at him. At the same instant, the gripping pain of Madeline’s punishment exploded in his chest. The car hit him but he was aware of nothing but the searing pain of Madeline’s torture. He flew through the air and hit the pavement. People screamed all around him, but all he could do was curl into a ball of pain and close his eyes. He knew in an instant that his new career was over and that Madeline had found a way to remind him once more that his undead life was in her hands and no one else’s.

As pissed as he was about that, fear for Clara’s safety consumed him, but he was helpless to do anything for her, crippled by Madeline’s power.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

As she watched Derek step into the street – into the path of the speeding patrol car, Clara knew she was bait. She watched in horror as the car driven by Jeffrey hit Derek, sending him flying ten or twelve feet.

Derek fell in a heap on the street as onlookers screamed. For a split second, no one moved, but then people rushed over to Derek. Clara tried to run towards him, but was held back by the woman who still had her by the arm.

Within seconds, the ambulance arrived and two vampires dressed as EMTs jumped out and loaded Derek onto a gurney. She could no longer see Derek’s face because so many people crowded around him, blocking her view. She couldn’t imagine that he could be dead. Surely, it would take more than an accident like this to kill a vampire.

She watched the faces of the people all around the scene, and it dawned on her that this was staged for their benefit. They had all witnessed the death of Adonis Jones. For some reason, these vampires wanted the world to think Adonis was gone. She wondered why, but her thoughts quickly shifted to what would now become of her.

No one could protect her – not even Derek. And Jeffrey’s allegiances were made clear when he ran Derek down like an animal. As she tried to catch a glimpse of Derek on the gurney, she was jerked by her arm again and led away – but to what?

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Derek was blinded by pain as he curled into a ball. Aware that the siren had been silenced, he felt two of his brothers in the ambulance with him.

“You’re fucked, pretty boy,” Samuel said beside him. “I haven’t seen her this pissed in a
long
time.”

Derek was unable to move, but his mind raced with the possibilities of what Madeline was doing with Clara.

He considered the irony that he’d been made a vampire – a strong and powerful monster, and yet at the hands of his maker, he was a useless lump of dead meat with no means to protect the only person in the world he cared about. Once again, he hated what he was and thought the world would have been a better place had he simply died and left Clara to a normal life.

He wished for nothing more than a safe and peaceful life for Clara, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Clara heard the siren of the ambulance behind her as her captor walked her down to the corner and turned towards Sunset Boulevard. But before they got to Sunset, they crossed at the light and started walking along Selma, away from the throngs of tourists and into a residential neighborhood.

Clara knew she couldn’t overpower the woman but she wondered if she could catch her off guard and use the stake still discreetly wedged between her breasts. Would she be able to really attack and kill this woman?

The patrol car pulled up beside them and Clara was pushed into the back seat and joined by the redhead. She knew the opportunity to free herself had passed now that she was once again in the company of two vampires. Any hope of Jeffrey becoming an ally had died when he ran over Derek.

“Derek’s alright, isn’t he?” she asked the woman.

“You should be worrying about your own pretty little head right now.”

Believe me, I am.

The car drove south and east into an area Clara was unfamiliar with. It pulled onto a dead end street lined with dark houses. The ambulance was parked on the side of the road. Derek was nowhere in sight.

As Clara and the woman exited the car, Clara noted how loud the freeway sounded at the end of the block – probably loud enough to drown out the sound of her screaming if she felt inclined to do so. And she feared she would very soon.

Clara was led up the front steps of one of the huge dark houses and the door opened for them. The front hall was beautifully decorated with a round table in the center of the room sitting on a rich oriental rug. They turned into the living room and Clara recognized it as the room in which Derek had taken his fake catalog shots. Terence was sitting in a chair by the fire and looked up from his book as they entered. Clara caught his eye, desperate to make contact. Would he help her? Or was he a part of the plan that had brought her here? His face was a blank as he looked from Clara to her kidnapper.

A handsome black man stood at an easel in the corner of the room with a portrait of Derek perched on it. He also looked over and seemed surprised to see them.

Clara glanced up at the painting over the mantel and recognized Madeline, the beautiful blonde woman, and in the same instant she knew that the painter in the room was Raymond Barrington.

“What’s going on?” Terence asked.

Clara was led to a table behind the sofa and pushed down into a chair beside it. Terence was no longer in her line of vision, but directly behind her. The redhead opened the long thin drawer just beneath the table top and rummaged through it.

“Where are the cuffs?” she asked.

Terence replied, “Is that necessary?”

Clara was terrified at the thought of being restrained further. Using the stake concealed beneath her shirt would be impossible with her hands cuffed. Not that she even considered whipping it out now, in a room full of vampires who could easily overpower her.

“That didn’t sound like an answer. That sounded like a question.” The woman spoke to Terence with authority.

“I’ll get them,” he said, and left the room.

When Terence returned, he handed a pair of black leather cuffs to the redhead, and then stood back and watched as Clara was pulled from her chair to stand. She studied his face, eager to see a glimpse of empathy, but he kept his focus on the redheaded woman. Clara briefly debated whether to speak to him, but thought it more prudent to remain silent.

The woman held Clara’s waist and set her on top of the table. She knelt to the floor and picked up a chain, proceeding to cuff Clara’s left wrist to the chain. Clara suppressed a fresh wave of panic as she was forced to lie back onto the table and her right wrist was also chained to a table leg. Clara’s legs extended in front of her, her feet hanging off the end of the table. The chains were tightened and she was no longer able to move. Her body trembled with fear, and she fought to control her emotions, not wanting to appear weak.

Clara’s captor leaned over her and licked her left arm where fingernails had pierced it earlier. She lapped up the dried blood that had dribbled down her arm, and Clara wondered whether she might bite as well. Clara seized the moment with the woman distracted and turned her head to look at Raymond and then back to Terence, but both just watched without expression. Would they bite her as well? They were vampires, after all.

She was relieved when the woman released her arm, walked around the sofa, and stood in front of the fireplace.

Terence and Raymond watched and waited for her to speak. Clara heard her own heart beating loudly in her ears, and wondered if they could as well.

The woman looked at Terence and said, “You need to draw up a will.”

“Alright.”

“Adonis Jones is dead. The story will be out by morning. Christopher’s already written it. The money Adonis accumulated in his brief little life will go to me, naturally.”

“Of course.”

“And while you’re at it, have this lovely young lady leave me her house in Santa Barbara. You know the one, don’t you?”

Terence hesitated for a beat. “Yes.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Terence. I thought I could depend on you.”

“I apologize.”

“You
apologize
? That’s all you have to say? Come here.”

Terence walked over and stood before her. Clara feared for him, sensing the woman’s anger build as she spoke to him.

“This will
never
happen again. Do you understand me?” she hissed.

“Yes.”

“Your disloyalty will not be tolerated.”

Terence collapsed onto the floor, clutching his chest and grunting in pain. Clara could no longer see him from her position on the table, but she could still hear his grunts and occasional moans. She watched Raymond who just stared at the woman who’d rendered Terence helpless.

“Did you know about this?” The woman turned her attention to Raymond.

“I’m not sure I know what you mean. I knew Derek had a human woman. But she’s harmless.”

“Did you know she inherited his house?”

“No. I didn’t know he had one.”

“He’s giving her money and property that should be ours.”

“Punish him. He’s still a child. He’ll learn.” Raymond was calm and rational.

“I intend to. But not before I drain his human. He won’t soon forget this lesson.”

Despite her resolve to remain silent, Clara released a whimper of fear.

Raymond said, “Take what you want. I’ll see to the magic myself. She won’t remember, and she won’t be back. And if it’s the house you want, well, that’s easy, isn’t it? All it takes is a signature and we’re done.”

“Do you think I’m a fool, Raymond? You can’t protect her any more than you could save your own human.”

Raymond glanced up at the painting over the mantel and looked back at the woman, his eyes pleading as he addressed her. “Madeline….”

Madeline. My god, this is Madeline. Here I thought Madeline was the blonde woman in the painting and all along it was this woman.
She remembered how dangerous Derek had said Madeline was and her panic rose further, if that were possible.

Madeline walked back to Clara and stood over her, smiling sweetly at her as she lay helpless across the table. Clara’s breathing was ragged and tears blurred her vision.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” she said as she traced a line from Clara’s chin down her throat. “Does he tell you you’re delicious?” 

Her nail gently scraped the skin and continued towards the center of her chest. Clara held her breath and watched Madeline’s face as her finger touched the wooden stake between her breasts beneath the fabric of her shirt.

Madeline’s eyes darted back up to Clara’s face and narrowed as she reached down into her blouse and extracted the stake.

Clara braced herself for the sharp point of the stake, her whole body shaking. She wished she’d had a chance to say goodbye to Derek.

Raymond sort of huffed a little laugh. “Well, you can’t blame the girl for being prepared. Oh come on, it’s not like she could have used it on anyone. Surely, you’re not threatened by….”

In a quick blur, Madeline was across the room and Clara heard a loud rip. She turned her head and saw that Derek’s portrait was slashed and Madeline was standing in front of Raymond.

In another flash, the painting above the mantel was slashed with the stake as well. Madeline tucked the stake into her own cleavage, hiding it from view as she spoke to Raymond.

“I don’t like your attitude.”

Raymond looked up at the ruined painting. Clara wondered who the woman was since she was obviously not Madeline, but then in the same moment, she knew: Raymond’s human.

“I never should have allowed you to keep that,” Madeline said with contempt.

Raymond clutched his chest and went down on his knees, grunting with apparently the same pain that had debilitated Terence, still on the floor, now silent. Raymond was obscured from Clara’s view as well as he hit the floor.

With both men incapacitated, the fleeting hopes for help Clara had harbored vanished. Madeline turned and faced the mantel, staring at the torn canvas. Clara closed her eyes and hoped her death would be quick and painless. Whether staked or drained, she wanted it to be fast.

Raymond’s moans subsided until both men were silent. The only sound in the room was the crackle of the fire in the fireplace and Clara’s uneven breathing. She wondered where Jeffrey was – and then where Derek was, and if he’d be able to hear her last screams before she died.