Angel: Private Eye Book One (28 page)

This… this was the kind of implausible,
eerie situation that should only be possible in movies.

Here I was. I could try to pretend this was
a nightmare, but even nightmares weren’t this bad.

Just when I tried to convince myself it
couldn't get any worse, I heard footsteps.

From out of the darkness, Theodore Van
Edgerton appeared. He was dressed in a truly fine suit. Though I
hated to admit it, it gave his somewhat wiry frame a nicely rounded
look. Making him seem larger, stronger.

He walked all the way up to me, reaching
out. At first it appeared as if he intended to brush his long
fingers down my cheek, but at the last moment he changed track and
smoothed his long, thin, ice-white hair out of his face
instead.

“It's so nice of you to finally join me,”
Van Edgerton said in a smooth, calm, courteous voice. It was the
kind of voice you would use on a valued guest. Maybe a friend.
Maybe an acquaintance. Not a woman you’d kidnapped and tied to a
chair.

It cost almost every scrap of energy I
didn't have, but I managed to sneer at him. “The only place I'm
going to join you, is in my car as I take you to the police
station. Kidnap and assault are illegal, Van Edgerton, and I will
testify against you. Just as I’ll prove that you killed Susan
Smith,” I snapped. The reason I could snap – the reason I could
face him – was that memory. The memory of Susan's ghost clutching
onto me. The memory of the last pulse of her fear before she'd
slipped away to the afterlife, a fragment of her soul missing. I'd
been too chicken to look up what would happen if somebody died
without all of their soul. I wasn't naive, though – it would be
devilish. Maybe she’d be sent to Limbo. Or perhaps she'd book a
ticket straight down to Hell.

One thing was for sure – she didn't deserve
it. And I was currently looking up into the goddamn repulsive
expression of her murderer.

“Now, now, Miss Luck. You are strangely
brave for a woman in such a precarious situation.”

“I’ll find some way to get out of this
chair,” I sneered at him.

“And then what? Lizzie – you don't mind me
calling you that, do you?”

He didn’t wait for me to reply.

“Lizzie, you need to accept your precarious
position now. I don't just have you tied to a chair, my darling. I
know precisely how to kill you. Kill you in the most painful way I
can find.”

I swallowed. Or at least I tried to. In the
end I choked as if Theodore had just wrapped one of those white
knuckled-hands around my throat.

“You don't remember, do you?” He ticked his
head to the side and smiled as if he were about to share a
tremendously funny joke with me. “You appear to be dangerously
allergic to vampire blood,” he said through a happy laugh. “It's
extremely rare.” He suddenly locked all his attention on me as he
shifted forward and gently pressed a hand into my shoulder.

While the move was soft, and some could say
tender, it was accompanied with all the promise of a gun pressed
against my throat. “Do you know how exquisitely rare it is for
somebody to be allergic to vampire blood? It means the person in
question can't be turned into a vampire.”

I tried to hide my surprise, but couldn't as
I hissed, “What?”

He smiled. He probably intended it to be
electric. To be charming. To be powerful. What it was, was insane.
He looked as if he was trying to chew his own lips off. “Lizzie, my
dear Lizzie,” he leaned down, pressed his face alongside mine, and
whispered right in my ear until every puff of his breath played
through my hair and shivered down my neck. “Though you can't be
turned into a vampire, if I make you drink my blood, you will die.
You will die the most painful death in existence. You'll be split
apart, cell by cell, cell by cell,” he repeated with a slimy
hiss.

“No, no,” I stuttered.

“So, isn't this fun? I now have the perfect
means with which to threaten you, don't you agree, Lizzie?”

Though I practically begged Benson to call
me by my first name, now I wished I didn't even have a first name.
The way Theodore said it made me cringe and shiver with such a
violent force, I was sure I was ready to shrug out of my
shoulders.

He tipped his head back and chuckled at my
move.

“I must say, it's terribly nice to have the
means to finally get your attention. Though I'm surprised you’ve
been trying to get mine.” He ticked his head to the side, opened
his lips, and appeared to test the strength of his canines by
running his tongue experimentally over them. “I heard from
reputable sources that you signed a contract promising that you
would kill me before the next full moon.” Again he began to lean
in. This time he was slower, though. This time he clearly wanted me
to see every minute movement of his muscles as he shifted my
way.

He didn't stop until his face was almost
pressed up against my own. “You should not have signed that
contract, dear Elizabeth. But I'll help you break it.”

There was such a dark promise slipping
through his words that I couldn't help but gasp.

Theodore appeared to take stupendous
pleasure in the noise, and shifted forward, pressing his ear close
to my mouth. “What a pleasant noise that was, dear Elizabeth,
please do it again.”

Though fear still curdled through my gut,
growing with every awful second, so too did a flash of anger. “Get
the hell away from me, you bastard,” I spat, a few droplets of my
spittle splashing over his cheek.

He made a disgusted face, jerked back, and
wiped his pretty little face clean with the sleeve of his expensive
jacket.

“Now, now, Elizabeth,” he snarled around his
teeth, “You really need to be a lot nicer to me. You see, I now
hold your life in my hands.” He snapped his hand up, spreading the
fingers wide before snapping them closed with all the force of
somebody trying to crush a stone.

I shuddered, but wasn't stupid enough to let
out another gasp. Instead, I ground my teeth closed, pressed my
lips against them, and practically choked.

“We're going to start with you telling me
just why Benson is interested in you. And I shouldn't need to
remind you that if you lie, I will know. I'll be able to smell it.”
His nostrils flared.

I… I think I was waiting. Waiting for
something to save me. Whether it was Benson or the strange power I
appeared to have. Something, anything. I needed a miracle.

But as the seconds passed, and Theodore only
drew closer until he clamped both hands on my shoulders and tore
into me with his gaze, I realized the cavalry weren’t coming.

If my magic was somehow strong enough to
push through the ropes holding me in place, surely it would have
done so already.

Which meant I had to face the fact I could
not be saved.

Unless I told the truth.

Closing my eyes, unwilling to face him, I
opened my mouth. “I killed a vampire.”

“I know that. You've told me that before.
How?”

“I don't really know. The vampire… he
attacked me, drank my blood. But it… it did something to him. He
had a reaction. And before I knew it, he turned to dust,” my voice
collapsed in my throat on that word. Because it conjured the full
horror of seeing that vampire crumble to ash before my eyes.

Though I shouldn't have, though I really
shouldn't have, I opened my eyes to stare up into Theodore's
face.

He hadn't moved, he was still barely a few
centimeters from my nose. Close enough that I could see the exact
confused and yet almost greedy expression that crossed through his
eyes. He brought that same tongue out and ran it over that same
canine. Except, it was slower this time. Goddamn, was it slower. I
saw every move of the muscles down his neck and up into his cheeks.
“Continue. Tell me everything,” he warned.

“I was taken to the police station, and they
called Benson. He forced me to sign a contract with him. I had to
promise not to let any vampires drink my blood.”

“And in return?” Theodore barely raised his
voice above a sharp hiss.

“In return, he'd find out what I am.” I
shivered uncontrollably as I admitted that. Because I was starting
to realize that if only I'd known what I was earlier, none of this
would have happened. If I hadn't put my head in the sand over the
past nine months, and refused to investigate my magical origins, I
wouldn't be here now. I wouldn’t know Benson, I wouldn’t be tied to
Theodore's chair. I would be safe even if I wouldn't be normal.

“What you are?” he asked, tone flat.

I closed my eyes. “What race I belong
to.”

There was a long pause. It was so long, in
fact, that I had to blink one eye open to check that he was still
there and hadn't wandered off in boredom.

He was still there, all right. In fact, he
was closer now. So close he was just a millimeter from my face.

There was that look again. That look of
pure, undiluted greed. I shivered as his gaze sliced down my form
and locked back on my face.

He smiled, showing all his teeth. Was it
just me? Or were his canines growing longer?

“This,” he said, a puff of air splitting
from his lips and blasting against my cheek, “Is interesting.
Perhaps I will keep you alive, after all.”

I cringed, even whimpered. I was way beyond
being brave. I was now completely at the mercy of this bastard.

Still, I didn't crumple completely. I didn't
start to cry, and, importantly, nor did I start to beg for my
life.

Instead I opened my eyes and I stared.

Though fear undoubtedly punched through
every part of me, something else… something else was there. Right
at the edge of my mind, just beyond reach.

It was the light from my dreams. The force
that had killed the vampire, and undoubtedly the true origin of
what I was. There was a part of me that wanted to stay away from it
for the rest of my life, but my life would be short unless I found
a way to utilize it. So, for the first time since this awful
misadventure had begun, I actively tried to embrace it.

Though it was the force that chased me
through my dreams, the force I’d run from with a heart full of
terror, now I reversed the situation, and I chased it.

But I wasn't quick enough to catch it in
time.

Theodore Van Edgerton leaned forward,
pressed a hand against my cheek, and locked his thumb hard over my
ear.

Just when I thought he might try to squeeze
my brain out of my eyeballs, he gave me a caress.

Before I knew what I was doing, I gulped.
“Benson will come for me,” I said in an almost pleading tone. And
it was pleading. Because the last scrap of hope I had told me it
could still happen. Maybe he'd call my phone like he had in the
basement. Maybe he'd appear like he did after I signed that
contract with Betty.

This was a magical world, right? And didn't
that mean anything was possible? Yes, and no. Because Benson… he
didn't come for me in time.

“Would you like to know what I'm going to do
with you?” Theodore asked almost conversationally as he tucked his
head back and grinned.

I couldn't speak, let alone breathe.

“I'm going to run some tests on you, Lizzie,
take a little blood, and then a little more,” as he spoke, his gaze
ticked down, locked on my neck, and then swiveled to my wrists in
turn. “Once I'm done with my tests, once I confirm what you are,
I'm going to get you to sign a contract.”

I choked through a swallowed breath. “What?
I'm not going to—”

He brought up a finger and pressed it
against my lips. “You are in no position to object. Only to listen.
So be a good girl, Lizzie, and listen to what I have to say.”

I could have snapped my mouth open and tried
to bite his finger, but that would have been a very bad idea for
two reasons. One, he’d punish me for it. Two, it would likely mean
I would cut him. And if he was right… a drop of his blood would
kill me.

Totally defeated, totally beaten by shock
and panic, I had no option but to listen.

“Once I've confirmed what you are, “my dear
Elizabeth, you are going to sign a contract, giving your life to
me.”

I shook my head vigorously, madly, wildly,
as if I would be happy to snap my neck if only I made my
disagreement crystal clear. “That's never going to bloody
happen—”

Again he brought up a finger, but thankfully
this time he didn't press it against my lips. “It will, Elizabeth.
Because it will be the only way you will ever get out of this
basement. It will be the only way to ensure you live. And,
Elizabeth,” again he leaned in until he practically pressed his
eyes against mine, “You really don't want me to kill you. I will
make sure it is as painful and protracted as I can.” With that
absolutely horrendous promise, Theodore Van Edgerton shifted back,
looked me up and down as if he were checking the strength of my
magical binds, then walked away into the darkness. I heard his
echoing footsteps until they suddenly cut out completely. There was
no creak as a door opened, no retreating footsteps as he ascended a
set of stairs.

He just disappeared.

Leaving me alone.

I had no idea how much time had passed. I
could have been down here a few minutes, or a few days.

My thoughts… my mind… everything was
threatening to shut down. Too much fear. Too much spine tingling,
soul-crushing fear.

I was done sweating. Done shaking. Done
crying. My poor body was so fatigued, my nerves so raw, all I could
do was sit there and stare with wide, bloodshot eyes at the
darkness just beyond my chair.

I waited for him to come back and for the
inevitable to happen. Though I wanted to tell myself I would die
rather than sign a contract with Van Edgerton, the more he left me
alone, the less I believed I could do it. I still remembered, in
exquisite, painful detail just how awful it had felt when that
vampire had pressed a drop of his blood against my lip.