Vampire Dating Agency III (3 page)

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Within thirty minutes they were at
Roxanne’s house banging on her front door first, then jumping round to the
back. The house was completely dark and there was no sign of her or her car
that they could see. For a brief moment, Jason thought perhaps Roxanne had
stayed somewhere else tonight.

“Shit –
Jason, shit … over here…”

Jason ran
from the back door to the side of the house where Riley was.

An open
window with flapping curtains was just above her head.

Smashed
glassed was at her feet.

“Roxanne!”
Jason cried out in panic.

He hoisted
himself up and through the window, forcing his way through the laundry area
into the living area. He switched on the light.

No sign of
her yet.

“Roxanne?”
Jason called out.

Riley stood
beside him. “Where’s her bedroom?”

“Down there.”

They walked
down the passageway together and stopped in front of the open doorway.

“Oh no,”
Jason gasped.

The room was
trashed.

Bed sheets
flung everywhere. The chair and table turned over. Picture frames broken and
stepped on, on the floor.

“Where the
hell is she?” Riley demanded.

Jason looked
back at her, his eyes wide with anger.

Then his
phone began ringing.

“Who is it?”

“Quiet!”
Jason shouted.

He put the
phone to his ear.

At first
there was silence.

And then the
monster spoke.

CHAPTER NINE

After the conversation, Jason was a
wreck. He had fallen to the side of the bed, tears streaming down his face.
Riley stood over him, trying to look strong.

“So he has
her then?”

Jason nodded.

“This is a
man we’re dealing with, isn’t it?” she questioned. “You can tell by his voice?”

Jason shook
his head. “No. He’s got … He’s got some program on his phone. It changes the
sound of his voice. It’s … it’s like talking to a machine.”

Riley knelt
beside him. “What else did he say? He wants you to hurt someone?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

“He wants
me…” Jason paused, unable to get the words out. “He wants me to fuck Haley.”

“Haley?”

Something in
her tone caught him in the wrong way. “Yes – Haley! You think I’m making this
up?”

“No, no, no
–”

“I’m not
going to fucking do it! This is – it’s batshit insane. It’s like … he’s so
focused on her.”

“How are we
going to get Roxanne back?”

“I don’t
know,” Jason said trying to stand up. “I don’t – aw, fuck…”

“What?”

“We can’t
even ask the others for help. They’ll just – they’ll just try to incorporate us
into their investigation.”

“No shit.”

“I can’t
believe this … it’s … I should have run faster. I mean, we had him. He was
right there coming out of Haley’s house. All I had to do was run faster. Catch
up to him. See his face at least…”

“We didn’t
know who that was then,” Riley said. “Don’t beat yourself up.”

“Yeah.
Right…”

“So what now?
Do we…?”

“Yeah. I
guess we have to try and find Haley. Wherever the fuck she could be. But … you
don’t have to stick around for it. You should probably…”

Riley looked
at him awkwardly.

In a rare
moment she was reminded of the feelings she once had for him.

“It’s okay.
I’ll stick with it. See it through.”

“You will?”

“Sure. Why
not?”

“Thanks,
Riley.”

After walking
around the house for a minute to make sure there weren’t any clues to find, the
pair exited through the front door and walked across the empty driveway towards
the van.

Once they
reached it, Riley noticed through the glass that Jason had hesitated before
getting in.

He walked
back round the front to meet her.

“I thought we
were going for that coffee,” she said.

Jason pointed
behind her.

She turned
but there was nothing there.

“Look,” Jason
said walking in front of her. “That house.”

She followed
his gaze. “What about it?”

“Is that – is
that a security camera –?”

Riley leaned
in to get a better look.

It seemed to
be that it was.

Jason stopped
in the road and looked from the camera to Roxanne’s house.

“Holy shit,”
Riley whispered.

Jason nodded
defiantly. “Let’s see if they’re home.”

CHAPTER TEN

Jason pulled back the screen as the
motion light switched on overhead, and proceeded to pound his fist into the
centre of the door. Riley stood beside him nervously. They waited.

Jason then
decided to pound the door a second time. “Police, open up!”

The door
unlocked and a pair of eyes appeared behind the chain.

“Police?” an
old man’s voice inquired of them.

“That’s
right,” Jason said. “Open the door, please.”

“Let’s see
some identification.”

Jason reached
into his pocket and flashed the man his credentials.

“What does
that say?” the man asked peering down at them. “Paranormal…”

“For the last
time, sir –”

“Alright,
alright.”

The chain
came down and the door parted for them.

Jason
immediately strode into the hallway.

“What’s this
about?” the old man demanded.

“There was a
break in across the road from you,” Jason explained. “We need to have a look at
your surveillance.”

“Oh. Well,
through there…”

Riley
followed them through an archway into a lounge room. The man switched the light
on revealing a desk and PC in the corner.

Jason stood
beside the computer. “It’s connected to this?”

“Yes,” the
old man said approaching slowly. “I’ll boot it up for you.”

The man sat
down in the chair.

They waited
for the computer to load.

Once it had,
the man opened up the program, revealing a live feed from the camera. Jason
bent in round over his shoulder. “Yes. That one. It’s perfect. Can you go back
a few hours? Or –”

“What time do
you want exactly?”

Jason glanced
back at Riley.

“I guess …
bring it back to midnight,” Riley said.

“Yeah. Can we
do that?”

“No problem.”

Soon a clear
line of vision of Roxanne’s house at 12 a.m. was on the screen. Roxanne’s car
could be seen sitting clearly in the driveway.

“Damnit,”
Jason cursed.

“What?” Riley
asked.

“I thought –
I thought maybe he was bluffing. That maybe she wasn’t home.”

“Well, keep
going. Let’s see if the car moves before the break in.”

“Could you
scroll through?” Jason asked.

The old man
got out of the chair. “It’s easy enough for you to do.”

“Alright.
Thanks,” Jason said getting into the chair.

“You didn’t
hear anything tonight, did you?” Riley asked the old man. “Out of the ordinary
I mean.”

“Well…” the
man paused. “Not to my recollection.”

“Okay.”

“Although my
dog started barking at one point. Probably around this time.”

“Where’s your
dog?”

“Out back.”

“Perhaps you
should check on her?”

“Him,” the
man corrected. He walked past Riley and exited the room.

She bent over
behind Jason. “Anything yet?”

“Yeah,” Jason
said quietly.

“What?”

“You see this
car here?” Jason said. “It’s parked just outside Roxanne’s house.”

“Just a
neighbor perhaps?”

“No. I … They
haven’t got out of the car yet. I’m scrolling through slowly. I don’t want to
miss anything … but they’ve been sitting there for close to ten minutes.”

“What’s the
time there?”

“Twenty past
twelve.”

Riley flexed
her hands.

Jason
scrolled faster.

“Stop,” Riley
said quickly.

The cursor
froze.

A group of
dark individuals were walking alongside the car.

Three, four …
up to six men.

One of them
was talking to the driver.

Jason glanced
back at Riley.

Two of the
men were standing at the foot of Roxanne’s driveway.

“This is it,”
he muttered.

They both
turned and faced the screen.

A few more
seconds past.

Then the men
stormed up her driveway.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

They had her. It was real. Right
there on the screen.

Riley was
saying something in the background. The old man had come inside with his dog
who was excited to see them. But Jason blocked it out. His eyes were moving
closer and closer. Closer to Roxanne’s frozen face on the screen.

This was it.
He had to save her.

He was her
last hope.

“Hey,” Riley
said tapping at his shoulder. “Hello…?”

Jason turned
slightly. “Can’t make any of them out. We’ll have to send it back to
headquarters. Get the footage analyzed.”

“You have a
flash drive we can use?” Riley asked the old man.

“I have CDs,”
the man replied.

“Alright,”
Jason said. “Where are they?”

It took about
ten minutes to burn the video file to the disc. Jason and Riley left quickly
after that, hurrying back to the van. They each got in and Riley pulled out her
phone while Jason turned the ignition.

“Who are you
calling?” he asked.

Riley waved
him away.

“Maurice?
Where are you…? Yeah, I think you should get out of there. Jason and I have new
information regarding –”

Jason quickly
pushed the phone out of her hand.

“Hey,” Riley
said. “What the fuck?”

“Why are you
calling Maurice?”

“Because
maybe he can analyze the footage faster than we can. Besides we know who is
behind this now –”

“Wait, we
don’t know that.”

Riley rolled
her eyes. She picked up the phone. “Yeah, Maurice. Sorry, I’ll have to call you
back.” She put it away. “He and Nadine are obviously walking into a trap.”

“Back up. Who
do you think is behind this?”

“God, you’re
such a moron. It’s the Count, stupid. Those were his men who came and got
Roxanne. I thought you recognized them.”

“No … we … we
couldn’t tell who they were…”

“Not
individually. But by what they were wearing. How they filed in towards the
house. It confirms what we should have known from the start.”

Jason
hesitated. “I think you’re making a leap.”

“Well then,
genius. What’s your explanation? You still think its Brock we’re after?”

“Maybe. No. I
… I’m just not a hundred percent convinced. Sorry.”

Riley paused.
“I think you’d have a point, Jason. But I recognized them. It was the Count’s
men. That’s what I saw.”

“Maybe …
Maybe he does have her then. I just – we have to be so careful about this.
Killing people means nothing to him. Even if I comply to his every demand, he
could just do it anyway cause he feels like it. But at the same time, if we
don’t tread lightly, if we don’t comply – then Roxanne’s death is certain.”

“What about
Maurice and Nadine? You want to put them at risk?”

“At least
they might be able to keep the Count busy for a while.”

Riley pursed
her lips. “You’re starting to act like Kendra, you know.”

“How’s that?”

“Making
compromises. Treating your teammates as expendable.”

“I’m just
tired.”

“So was she.”

Jason looked
at her. He felt beaten in the argument.

Then his
phone started vibrating.

He picked it
up to discover the picture of Roxanne he’d been promised.

She was
sitting on a bed with a piece of cardboard containing the message:
You have
one hour to fuck Haley.

There was
blood on her face.

She’d been
bashed.

“Motherfucker,”
Jason hissed under his breath.

“Give it
here,” Riley said taking the phone. “Wow. That doesn’t look good.”

“You think?”

Jason angrily
started the car and pulled away from the curb.

The phone
vibrated again.

Another
message.

“Uh-oh,”
Riley said.

“What?” Jason
demanded. “Show me.”

She held it
out for him.

It was a
photo taken of them getting into the van.

“What the –?”
Jason murmured hitting the brake. “How did –?”

He glanced up
in the rearview mirror and saw a dark figure standing in the middle of the
road.

The phone
vibrated again.

Another
message.

Hurry up or
she dies.

“Are you
seeing this?” Jason whispered to Riley. “Is that him?”

Riley shook
her head. “I don’t know.”

New message.

Jason grabbed
Riley’s hand and they looked at it together.

This is your
last warning.

Jason clenched
his teeth and stared up at the darkened figure. There was a moment where he
almost forced open the door and ran blindly into the abyss.

Instead, he
drove on.