Vampire Dating Agency II (5 page)

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Kendra had closed her eyes. Her hands
were on the table. She felt completely alone in this room. With Maurice on his
phone, his expression ever vacant, she might as well have been. Bad thoughts
were coming to her. An emotional storm was setting in. Everywhere she looked in
her life, she felt anguish. Shame. Bitterness. Her heart was divided, in almost
every situation. On one hand she saw how her team had walked out on her, and
how it had been her fault for not being present – for having control of the
situation. She’d let them down. It made her feel horrible. But then her mind
warped a little, and there was anger. Anger at them for not putting up with it.
For not being strong. For saying the wrong about her, it was too much. When she
thought about what had happened earlier at her own house, that was when she
really did have to close her eyes. That was when she couldn’t look. When she
couldn’t even bear to see.

“Knock,
knock,” a cheery voice called.

Kendra sat
up.

Over by the
door a young woman with flowing dark hair and sunglasses entered the room. She
was wearing a bulky leather jacket, with a dress thrown on underneath.

“And you
are?”

“Nadine
Blue,” the young woman said. “Dermott said you’d be expecting me.”

Kendra
glanced over at Maurice who was still playing with his phone.

She stood up
and moved around the table, tapping him on the shoulder in the process.

“Hello,”
Maurice muttered.

Kendra shook
Nadine’s hand. “I’m Ms. Armistice. I’m in charge here.”

Nadine
smiled. “Not anymore.”

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

The van slowed down and pulled up
next to Haley’s house. “That’s it?” Jason asked from the driver’s seat. Haley
stood up and peered through the window.

“Yes. That’s
me.”

Riley opened
the back of the van and stepped outside with Haley. They walked round the side
to meet Jason as he got out.

“So what do
you think happens from here?” Haley asked. “Did we all just really quit?”

“Nah, I don’t
think so,” Riley said. “Kendra will come to her senses. We’ll be able to work
it out.”

“What about
you?” Jason asked. “Are you really quitting?”

“I guess so,”
Haley said. “For now. How will I … how will I get all my things?”

“Don’t
worry,” Riley said. “Jason will drop em’ off for you.”

“Yeah,” Jason
said clearing his throat.

Haley glanced
back at her house. The lights were on. Her Mom was up.

“This has
been a really weird day. But I guess that’s what I should have been expecting.”

Riley reached
over and gave her a hug. “At least you made some new friends.”

“Oh,” Haley
murmured, blushing.

Jason hugged
her too. “It was really great to meet you.”

“Same to both
of you.”

Haley stepped
away from them. It was a nice scene to be sure.

She waved to
them and walked up to her front porch, pressing the doorbell, glancing back.

Jason and
Riley were still there.

Making sure
she was safe.

Two seconds…

Five seconds…

Ten…

Thirty…

Haley stepped
back from the house. She peered through the frosted windows of the door and saw
a shadow move inside.

“Mom?” she
called. “Danny…?”

“Everything
alright?” Jason called from the road.

Haley turned.
“They’re not hearing me or something. I’m going round back.”

“Okay. We’ll
… We’ll wait.”

“I’ll be
fine,” Haley said. “You can go.”

She walked
round the side of the house and opened the gate. She stepped through into the
backyard and walked up to the backdoor. She pulled it open.

“Hello?” she
called. “It’s me Haley. I’m home.”

Haley peered
around. The house seemed mostly quiet. There was some music playing down the
hall near the bedroom’s. Danny must’ve been still up.

Haley went to
the fridge and pulled out a bottle of fruit juice. She drank a few gulps and
put it back. She entered the lounge and circled it, looking for anything out of
place. Everything seemed tidy.

“Mom? Where
are you?”

She walked
down the hall passed Danny’s bedroom which was closed and pushed open the door
to her Mom’s room at the end. No sign of her. The bed was still made, and there
was a pile of clothes on the ground.

Haley
frowned.

She turned
back and walked a few paces down the hallway, peering first into her own
bedroom, and then into the bathroom.

Inside the
bathroom the air was warm.

“Mom?” Haley
asked hesitantly. “Sorry, but…”

She peered round
the side of the door and saw there was something in the tub.

The water was
dark.

“Mom…”

Haley then
saw her Mom was in the tub, and it was filled with blood. She started
screaming, wild, frantic, helpless. “WHAT DID YOU DO? WHAT DID YOU FUCKING
DO???”

She pulled
her Mom out and laid her across the bathmat.

She wasn’t
breathing.

“Help!” Haley
squealed. “FUCKING SOMEONE HELP ME!”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Haley stood up. Panting. Panting. Air
in the lungs. This was real. What she was looking at was realer than anything
else she had experienced. Her back pressed up against the tiled wall, and then
she suddenly heard the music again. The music that had been playing all along.

“Danny!” she
screamed rushing down the hallway. “Danny call 911!”

She pushed
open his bedroom door, eyes darting to find him curled up on the bed.

“Danny!” she
cried shaking him.

Her brother
rolled over, his eyes open and vacant. Looking down further she saw his neck
was covered with blood.

“AARRGH!”
Haley screamed.

She backed
away from him, clutching her heart, the room falling into a million pieces.

Vmm…

Vmm…

Tears
streamed down Haley’s eyes and she staggered out into the hall aimlessly.

Vmm…

A small white
light lit up the darkened area.

There was a
phone on the ground, a phone she didn’t recognize.

Vmm…

It was
vibrating.

Haley scooped
it up and answered the call.

“It’s you,
isn’t it?”
came
a muffled voice.

“What?” Haley
mumbled. “Hello?”

“Haley. Stay
right where you are. Take a moment to breathe. You’re in shock.”

“Who is
this?” she whispered.

“You were
looking for me tonight. You wanted to know who I was.”

“I’m sorry, I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” Haley said. “I’ve got to go. Something…
Something’s happened –”

“You’re not
listening. I’m the killer. I’m who you’re searching for.”

Haley
clutched for the wall. “What…?”

“Your mission
was to find out who I was. And in that time I found out who you were. You are
my chosen one for tonight. I was disappointed to see you leaving the game so
early. So I thought I’d give you some incentive.”

Haley dropped
the phone.

She stared
down at it, nauseated.

What was
happening?

How did this
phone get here?

Who – How –

“Haaayleee,”
the voice
purred.
“Haaayleee where are you?”

Haley stepped
over it and into the kitchen. She looked out to the lounge, as if expecting
someone to be there.

“Do you want
me to go? I’ll go.”

Haley bent
down again and picked up the phone.

“I’m back,”
she said.

“Good. It’s
so nice to hear your voice.”

“Were you
here? Were you … in my house?”

“That’s what
I’ve been trying to tell you,”
the caller said.
“I know it’s
probably a lot to take in. But you could wind up surprising yourself. You might
actually be fine with it.”

“With what?”

“Losing
people. As cold as it may sound.”

“I have to
go,” Haley said. “I have to call an ambulance.”

“They’re both
dead, Haley. You know that already. It’s … really a thin line when you think
about it. We’re all just one slit throat away to the other side –”

Haley’s face
scrunched up, and she threw the phone across the room. She didn’t even see
where it landed.

She fell to
her knees sobbing.

Something
terrible had just happened.

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

“Haley?” I purred into the phone.
“Haley, are you still there?”

The line had
gone dead.

I stepped out
from my hiding place in the yard and walked slowly up to the backdoor leading
to the kitchen. I peered through the glass and saw Haley sitting on the ground,
in a crying mess.

A stretch of
sadness cut through me. I felt as though I wanted to console her. Step inside,
pull her to her feet, wrap my arms around her. Tell her that everything was
going to be okay.

“Shit,” I
muttered.

I felt a tear
drop from my eye.

It was bad.
I’d crossed the line now. She’d never be able to love me if she ever saw who I
truly was. That … that made me quite sad. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone and…

A laugh
choked over me.

I curled my
fist into a ball to cover it, stepping into the shadows just as she looked over
her shoulder.

Funny.

Yes, it was
quite.

Some people you
can see really value their lives. The Mom for instance – she knew it was over
for her the moment I stepped into her room. There was almost an instant
screaming.

The little
brother though…

He actually
tried to fight back. He thought he had a future.

Somehow, he’d
been misinformed.

“Stop it,” I
said with a giggling grin. “Just shut up.”

Suddenly the
back lights lit up.

I edged
across the wall just as the backdoor opened up.

“Are you
fucking out here?” Haley called in a whimpering tone.

As tempting
as it was to answer her, I discreetly slipped around the side of the house and
kept going forward. I climbed up on the fence and used it as a spring to jump
into the front garden. I continued to walk slowly up the side of the house,
scanning to see if the coast was clear.

“Shit.”

Two dark
figures and a van out front. Haley’s friends no doubt.

I reached out
behind me and pulled the dark hood over my head, concealing myself as best I
could. Then I strode quickly out towards the footpath.

“Hey,” a
male’s voice piped up. “You there.”

I kept
walking, keeping my head down.

Made it to
the footpath.

“What were
you doing in my friend’s house?”

I walked
faster.

“Hey! I’m
talking to you!”

He was
chasing me.

Shit.

“HEY!”

I broke into
a fast sprint and let my legs carry me as far as the end of the street. There I
turned, only to realize that the bastard was just behind me.

I darted
across the road and ran into a driveway where a car was waiting.

I climbed up
on top the roof of the car and then leapt up onto the roof of the house. I
glanced momentarily to find him also climbing onto the car, attempting the same
jump.

“Jesus,” I
hissed.

I ran forward
and hurtled myself through the air from the roof of one house to another.

I looked
back.

He’d just
landed on top the first roof, and was looking a little tired.

“Hey!” he
shouted at me.

“Hey,” I
muttered back.

“What?” he
said, peering forward. “Why – why are you running from me? What’s going on?”

I lowered
myself to the edge of the roof and dropped down to the ground landing on both
feet. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the names.

I heard his
feet land on the house above me.

I raised the
phone to my ear.

“Jason…”

“Who’s this?”

“You know who
this is.”

Silence.

“Stop chasing
me,” I ordered. “Or Roxanne will be next.”

“What…?”

I hung up the
phone.

I hurried
through the backyard, and leapt over the nearest fence into another yard. Once
I’d made it onto another roof again, I looked back to see him still frozen
where he’d taken the call.

My deduction
would be…

That I had
scared him.