The Scene (17 page)

             
“My darling, are you feeling drained?” The thick voice came once again sending a chill up the back of my neck.

             
I turned to look at the beautiful tan girl with auburn hair. I was in awe at how gracefully she sat in her little black dress as to not flash the world all she had to offer. My fat ass would’ve flashed my hoo-ha and everything in between.

             
“No, I’m fine. I have to ask you a few questions though. Are we about done here?” I was obviously tired, annoyed, and quite a bit freaked the fuck out.

             
“There is still the matter of bloodletting. If we are to accept you both into our coven, you must provide your blood to us and us to you.”

             
“Hold the fuck up!” I yelled, as I leapt from my kneeling position. “You want me to what?”

             
“Allow us to feed upon you, as we will all allow you to feed upon us.” She spoke this as though I was the biggest idiot she had ever met.

             
“Oh, fuck that! It was bad enough she had her mouth on me!” I jammed my finger toward Tatum. “There is no way in hell any of you are touching me! I have no desire to drink any of your blood either! I did not come all the way from freaky ass L.A. to get involved with you sick fucks!” I was fuming at that point.

             
“You must have a coven in the City of Angels. There are many there. In fact, you are blessed with a Primus in your own city. Why would you come to Fresno to partake in such mundane rituals? Have you not an open club much nicer than ours?” The smooth voice pulsed over my skin.

She obviously did not understand the situation at hand.

              “If you love it so much, you fucking move there! Maybe someone will put your ass behind a dumpster!” That was mean. I don’t care.

             
“I see.” She looked down then back up to meet my eyes. “You must understand, we aren’t involved in that. I apologize if you assumed we were responsible seeing as though we reside in the center of those goings on; however, it was simply not our kind. In fact, not one of us has ever been to your city.” She was nervous now.

             
“Well…” Shantressa’s tiny voice chimed in.

             
“That is of our business only, leech!” Sandora was pissed.

Now we’re getting somewhere
.             

“How dare you call me a leech? I
am no leech!” Shantressa hissed.

             
“I’m sorry, am I missing something?” I asked confused.

             
“Coven politics is all.” Sandora was trying to avoid the state of affairs.

             
“Coven politics my ass Sandora! She left here and suddenly there are dead bitches turning up in a trail behind her to L.A.!” A new voice joined us, a man from a dark corner.

             
“Dante! This is a coven affair.” Sandora was obviously the leader here and she was pissed. She was also covering something up.

             
“Damn it, Sandora, we can’t keep it a secret forever.” Pixie voice this time.

             
“Wait! What the fuck are you guys talking about? Who? Who left here?” I was dying for information and someone in this room was going to give it to me if I had to stake it out of them.

             
“We have been questioned on more than one occasion by police officers. We do not wish to answer your questions, nor must we.” She was attempting to stand her ground. I knew I could take her. I had forty pounds and about six years on her. I had this one.

             
“You
will
answer my questions. If you don’t, I’ll rain hell fire down upon you in a fashion not seen since Sodom.” I was trying to be as intimidating as I could be.

             
“Regina. She left here after the last girl bit it and she hasn’t been back.” The man’s voice rung through the silence again.

Thank you
, Dante
.

             
“Dante, you have doomed our Haven. We will never escape ridicule. You are banished from this Haven, never to return. I forswear you. You are dead to me. Leave, now.” Sandora had spoken.

The man stood and moved silent
ly and quickly to the door. The room flashed bright as the metal door swung open. Darkness swallowed us once again as the door slammed closed with a metal clang.

What the fuck is going on?

              “See, was that so hard? I couldn’t care less about your stupid Haven. I wasn’t here for that, or you, any of you. Unless…did any of you kill a hooker recently?” Blank stares from all around. “Okay, figured not. So this Regina…” I stopped.
Regina. Reggie. My Reggie? No way.
“Tall, leggy, pale and drawn? Works at Macabre Saturnine?” I was seriously praying this was not the same Regina. If it was, every piece of information I gathered from her was tainted with possible lies.

             
“She works there?” Pixie girl asked.

             
“Not that Reggie, no way. She isn’t involved. She can’t be.” I was slightly stunned by the recent disclosure.

             
“You must know our lost friend. She’s working at Macabre Saturnine, according to you that is. If that’s the case, she’s lost forever. I don’t know if she is involved in the horrible deaths of those girls. I know she was here, and then she was gone. That’s all I can tell you.” Sandora seemed sad; forlorn she would have called it. I would imagine anyway.

             
Shantressa wriggled in her seat and Sandora laid a heavy hand on her leg. The little pixie girl stopped instantly. There was no more movement, no speech, not even a breath for a long moment. Even Tatum sat in utter silence. I looked to every face in the room; dark shadows fell on each one. For the first time no one was looking at me.

             
“There are dead girls in my town. I want it to stop. I don’t know who’s doing this. I think it’s someone like you. Someone who believes himself a vampire, someone who feels they must consume blood. A person who enjoys the hunt: the kill. I need to help my friend; he will stop this. I know it. I don’t know what went wrong in your lives that you feel you must behave this way. There are no such things vampires and you’re all idiots.” I spoke so plainly, no emotion in my voice. I stood and stared at each of them blankly. I had finally broken.

             
“Let’s go.” Tatum said as she rose from her spot on the floor and grabbed my shoulders.

             
No one spoke a word as we left. No one moved. My brain felt like Jell-O oozing and jiggling in my head. I stared straight ahead and allowed Tatum to steer me in the right direction.

I had come here for so much more. I hadn’t discovered enough. I
’m lost in this mess. So far I had allowed my friend to cut me and suck blood from my body in the presence of complete strangers. Called said strangers idiots. Mentally broke. Also, I’m most likely drooling on myself while being lead out of the building by the person who lied to me in order to drink my blood.
What the fuck?

             
Before I knew it, Tatum was buckling me into her little car. She never spoke. She merely slid into her seat, fired the engine up, and peeled away from the curb. I never looked at her. I had no idea what to say. I was feeling very tired; apparently drained. The city lights were hypnotizing. I watched them as my eyes felt heavy with sleep. Time was unknown to me. I was gone. As I drifted, I had a happy thought. Tatum had done something stupid, I had bled, but my feet never failed me
.

Thank you, feet.

              One last thought flitted through my ever tiring mind before I was gone to the world.

             
Who the fuck is Regina?

CHAPTER 18

             
I awoke with the feeling of betrayal. I hate that feeling. It was like I’d had a bad dream of someone I loved cheating on me, or stabbing me in the back, but this time it wasn’t a dream. Memories of the previous evening flooded my psyche. Too many questions, so little time. My eyes remained closed as I replayed the events in my head.

Had Tatum known she would have to perform such a horrifying task? If so, why had she not informed me before hand? Why am I so bothered by it? My friend drank my blood, no big deal. Right?

I fought the urge to get up and go home; give up and bow out.

              I heard Tatum in the shower and knew I was alone, momentarily.  Grabbing my purse I sneaked outside with my smokes and phone. I had a call to make. I lit my smoke and dialed Mike’s cell.

             
It rang exactly one and a half times before a groggy voice choked out, “Hello? What’s wrong?” Mike, always the pessimist.

“Nothing, really. Just checking in. How goes it?” I said trying not to let on something fishy had transpired.

“It doesn’t. We’re at a standstill investigation-wise. What do you have?” He cleared his throat.

“Some weird college kids and a shitty town. Oh, and a mole in L.A.” 

“Mole? What are you talking about?”

“I’m not sure. A bartender at Macabre Saturnine, Reggie, she’s from Fresno. And, in fact, she belonged to an elite group of vamp losers right here in the heart of it.”

“You know her personally? Reggie? Do you have a last name? How do you know this?” He asked too many questions, too quickly, for only being awake a few minutes.

“Calm down. We met with a haven, or coven, or whatever, in Fresno last night. Long story short some shit happened and I discovered this Regina was part of this gang but ditched town after the second girl bit it. Apparently, she b-lined for our town leaving a mysterious trail of dead bitches behind her. Not to say it was her, just a fucked coincidence.”

“You…wait, what shit happened? I know you, Dylan. I’m not stupid, and you’re skimming the surface of the situation. I don’t like it.” He’d caught on to my game.

“Nothing big, just weird vampire bullshit, no biggie. I’m not worried about it and neither should you. Honestly, there are more pressing matters at hand here.” Which was true.

“That bartender, Reggie, she works at that bar? The one where the last body was dumped? Macabre something?” I could hear him pulling out his pen and lined notebook.

“The one and only, Macabre Saturnine. Mostly club kids and posers, but I think it’s some kind of recruiting center for the creepiest of all creeps, Embrace. The same guy owns them all.
I don’t think he’s involved, but he’s definitely a strange duck. Reggie, doesn’t strike me as a key player, in fact she gave me plenty of information. She told me about the three geeks that were annoying the bar bragging about bloodletting, and then she showed me the video where I saw Cyrus snuggling some tramp. Why would she get so close to me if she were guilty?”
Uh-oh. Damn my big mouth.

“Umm, number one, maybe she was trying to throw you off her scent. Number two, what geeks? And three, who the fuck is Cyrus?” I cringed. I wasn’t sure what I
’d already told Mike; I really need to write my bullshit down so I can keep it straight. “Answer me, Dylan,” he pressed.

“Some guy from Embrace. She pointed out some new guys in the bar who were braggy little fucks
, but I think they’re all talk; and I hadn’t thought of that, sorry. In reverse order of course.” My mind was working in circles.

“You
’re making my head spin; it’s way too early for this.”

“It
’s eleven a.m., Michael, get your ass up.”

“Do not call me Michael, Dylan. I was at work at two in the morning. I’m only home to sneak in a quick nap then I’m going to take a shower and head over to talk to this Reggie. You got a last name?”
he asked again for the last name. He was getting very serious about questioning her. I couldn’t have him snooping around just yet. I wanted to keep my informants trusting. The last thing I needed was the cops busting in and fucking all that up.

“No. Hold off. I don’t want her to get scared off, and you will definitely scare her off. I’ll be back tonight or tomorrow. I’ll talk to her when I get into town. Please Mike
, just sit on this until I get home. We’ll sort it all out when I’m home.”

“You’ll sit on it when you get home?” I could picture the ridiculous smirk on his face.
Gross
.

“No. I’ll call when we
’re back in town. You can buy take-out. Talk to you soon.”

“Take care of yourself, Dylan, please. Call me as soon as you’re home. I’ll bring dinner by and we’ll go over all our shit then. Hey, and don’t talk to any more of these freaks, I don’t like them. See you soon.”

“Sure, bye.” I hung up without waiting for his response. I didn’t have time to hear what else he had to say.

             
I stood on the balcony of our mediocre hotel room as I finished my cigarette. My head hurt. So did my arm. I began to wonder exactly how sanitary licking an open wound was or how clean that knife had been. My stomach turned at the thought and I snuffed the smoke out on the metal railing. I heard the bathroom door open and close as I turned to go back in. Hesitating at the door, I almost bolted, not wanting to face Tatum. I don’t know why I was so upset about it. I’m sure she only did what was necessary for the story, as usual. I could hear movement in the room. I had flipped the latch over the jam to hold the door ajar; didn’t want to get locked out. This allowed me to hear and nearly see what Tatum was doing in the room. I could hear the rustling of clothing. The clanking of make-up, hairspray cans, and such resounded from the thin crack in the door. I didn’t want to get so close to the door I could see in; then she could see me. Sighing, I turned back to face the parking lot, lit yet another cigarette, and stared into space.

             
“Hey!” Tatum’s voice came suddenly from behind me.

             
I spun around to see Tatum fully dressed and looking lovely as usual. And smiling.

Why is she smiling?

             
“Hey.” I was not smiling.

             
“You got another one?” She nodded toward the smoldering cancer stick I had in my fingers. I plucked one from my pack and handed it to her.

             
“What’s wrong with you pissy-pants?” She was making jokes. Obviously, she did not see last night as big of an issue as I did.

             
“Seriously?” I really didn’t want to get into it with her today, but it looked as though it was going to happen regardless, so we might as well get it out of the way.

             
“What?” She was playing dumb.

             
“Dude, umm, were you absent? You cut me and drank my blood!”

             
“Oh my God, seriously, you’re upset about that? I didn’t drink it; it was more of a sip than anything. Tasty.” She smiled eerily.

             
“Of course I’m upset about THAT! Please tell me you were just winging it and you didn’t know ahead of time that you’d have to do that. Last night was a freak-fest, granted we made a few minor discoveries, but nothing worth the possibility of Hepatitis. Look at this, it’s all red. I’ll bet it’s infected!” Okay, I’ll admit I was becoming slightly irate, but can you blame me? Really?

             
“Dylan, you’re fine. It’s red because you keep fucking with it. You’re taking this a bit too far. I made sure you were safe. You’re alive aren’t you?” She was being so damned nonchalant.

             
“Did you know? When you talked to Shantressa on the phone yesterday, was it mentioned? How are you so calm about all of this? Yesterday, you were all gung-ho about nabbing a predator, nasty vamp freaks going down. What changed? I have to be honest, I’m scared.  Last night was too weird. The night before, and the night before that. I’m worried what I’ve gotten into. I never assumed these posers were actually drinking blood. I figured it was only a costume party on steroids. And now, you, my ally, drinking blood. My blood! What‘s happening?” I dropped my head down into my hands.

             
She looked at me for a long time. I presumed she was pondering, considering the situation. But I couldn’t tell for sure. The look on her face was blank, full of nothingness.

Finally, after a long bout of silence
, she answered me.

             
“This is real. Not a movie. Not a book. People are dying. Girls, lots of girls. All for blood. We can’t deny it. We can’t run from it. We aren’t riding the edge of this madness anymore. You dove into the deep end of bloodlust, Dylan. You wanted to know the truth, you wanted to write your book, make your millions. Well here it is, served up on a platter for you. What are you going to do with it? Run? Or dig deeper? Scared or not, you have an obligation to finish what you started. I did what I had to and nothing less; more, perhaps. It’s getting scarier because you are getting closer, don’t you see? Blood is what it is. Life. Warm, salty, copper filled life. Some people enjoy tasting and sharing, some don’t. A few, and these are the few we need to find, require it to survive. Whether they’re aware it’s merely for a sick desire or not, I don’t know. But the predators who are stalking these girls feel they need blood and seriously relish acquiring it by whatever means necessary. Get used to it, Dylan. Or go home.” Her face returned to the blank stare it had been prior to her monologue. I really wasn’t sure what to say to that. She had a point.

             
“What now?”

             
“We need to talk to Shantressa. The real girl, not the made up one we met last night.”

             
“How?” I was keeping it short.

Alcohol would be great.

              “Facebook, duh!” She whipped her phone out and signed in.

             
I peeped around her shoulder as she searched the name. Shantressa popped up in a Group for Fresno Sanguinarians. Tapping the screen, she pulled up Shantressa's page.

             
“Ah ha! She’s a college student at the community college here. And lucky for us, she checked into class twenty minutes ago.” She looked so pleased with herself. I was still stuck on thinking about what she’d said to me earlier. “Go get dressed, princess. We’re leaving.”

             
Seeing as though there was no need for a crazy get up today, I was ready in a matter of minutes. Twenty minutes later, when Tatum was ready, we grabbed our shit and headed out the door.

             
“Do you know where we’re going?” I was beginning to question Tatum’s sanity.

             
“Checking in on Facebook gives us a general location for where she is. All we have to do is scour the campus looking for her.” She acted as though this was the simplest most normal thing we could do. I highly doubted it would be that easy.

             
“Okay, and how…oh hell, never mind. Just do what you gotta do.” I was giving up. I was stuck in this shit town with Tatum-off-her-rocker Price.

Roll with it.

              We drove for quite a while before Tatum pulled into a parking lot with a big blue letter perched atop a thick pole, signifying which lot we were in. The campus looked old, clad in red brick with ivy and greenery surrounding a few newer styled buildings. All in all, it was a very nice looking campus. I followed Tatum through the maze of buildings, winding around pedestrians and avoiding being run over by bicyclists. I was watching a group of young adults standing in a circle. I’m not sure why they caught my attention initially, but I was watching them now all facing each other in the circle. No one appeared to be speaking. I thought perhaps it was a prayer group, but they weren’t dressed the part of churchies. All at once, every one of the five students in the circle turned their heads to me. Every eye pointed at me. I looked away just in time to see Tatum stopped in front of me. Nearly slamming into the back of her, I forced my feet to stop just in time. Since I can’t really see over her shoulder, I stepped around to her side to see Shantressa exiting a nearby classroom. She looked very different from the previous evening. Wearing long slim jeans and an oversized hooded sweater, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t sweltering in this heat.  With ultimate determination, Tatum headed straight for the little pixie.

             
“Oh hey, Shantressa.” Tatum had her bitch voice out, she wasn’t fucking around.

             
The girl stopped in her tracks staring up at Tatum with the deer in the headlights look.

             
“Umm, hi.” The high pitched voice finally squeaked out.

             
“Funny seeing you here. Where’s your girlfriend?” Tatum asked.

             
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The tiny girl attempted squeezing around the two of us. She failed.

             
“I don’t think so little one. We have some questions. Mainly, who is Regina and why did she leave town? Also, just for shits and giggles, why are there dead girls from here to L.A. without any blood left in their skinny little bodies?” I took over this time.  Maybe I was getting my groove back. Wishy-washy Dylan can’t make up her mind whether or not she’s a badass or a scaredy-cat.