Vampire Dating Agency (8 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

The music had gotten louder. The
bass, heavier. Alone Haley stood in the archway before the ballroom, her eyes
scanning amongst the crowd, trying to find Melanie. In the time she’d left it
seemed more people had joined the room. There were lots of pretty new faces. In
amongst them, she struggled to recognize anyone. No sign of Melanie, or Madame
Nightshade, or Brock, or anyone that she –

“There you
are!”

Haley turned
to find Melanie grasping hold of her wrist.

She was
dragged down the rest of the hallway, the music fading with each step they
took. A door was located within the realms of the bar area, and it opened out
to a terrace outside. Once they were through Melanie closed the door and they
followed the pathway around the side of the house.

“What’s going
on?” Haley asked. “Where are we going?”

“I’ve found
your second suitor,” Melanie explained. “He’s out in the yard with his cousin
and a couple of their friends. They’re rich and powerful people.”

“How does he
know me? Did we meet him before?”

“There was a
brief introduction. After you went to the bathroom he came to the table looking
for you.”

“Wait – it
isn’t that –”

Haley stopped
herself short, not being able to find an adequate description. At this point
they’d reached a set of steps leading down to the back of the house. Once there
Haley’s gaze drifted out as far as the light of the house would let her…

“Come on,”
Melanie said.

They walked
together across the lawn.

“How far away
are they?” Haley asked. “Is this safe?”

“Why?”
Melanie countered. “Are you afraid something’s going to happen to you?”

Haley inhaled
the darkness.

“I’m asking…”
Haley murmured to herself. “Are you sure this is safe?”

Maurice? Riley?
Jason?

Anyone?

“Don’t
worry,” Melanie said. “I have your back.”

Even if no
one else did…

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Maurice had his feet up at the back
of the van. His laptop rested on a small table to the side of him, displaying
the live feed from Haley’s camera. He wasn’t looking at it. Somehow a Movie and
TV magazine had found its way into his lap, which now accounted for the bulk of
his attention.

Riley wasn’t
much better. She was sitting against the side of the van with her iPad mucking
about with her colorful apps. Tension ran through Jason’s body as he looked
from one to the other, each passing second more excruciating than the last.

“Are we even
paying attention to what’s going on anymore?” he blurted out.

Maurice
glanced at his computer then went back to his magazine.

Riley didn’t
move at all.

“Hey!” Jason
shouted slamming his palm on the floor.

They both
looked up.

“What?” Riley
snapped.

“She’s asking
us a question – is it safe – is it safe – does anyone want to discuss how we
should answer that?”

“At some
point she has to take responsibility for herself,” Maurice said. “We can’t hold
her hand the whole way.”

Riley tilted
her head. “What he said.”

“What if
they’re onto her?” Jason asked. “You ever think of that? What if she’s being
lured away so they can ambush her?”

“The mission
is not without its dangers,” Maurice said. “Haley knew that going in.”

“We’re
supposed to call Dino if we think she’s in danger.”

“Is that what
you think?”

Jason
shrugged. “I have no idea. But … I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit.”

“Any time you
want, you can take it up with Kendra,” Maurice said. “But honestly I don’t know
why she thinks you need to be here. What you’re contributing isn’t helping the
work atmosphere.”

“So you want
to drive the van now?”

Maurice
rolled his eyes. He turned back to the computer.

“Don’t worry,
we’re still with you Haley,” he said into the mike. “If things get too much for
you, just let us know and we’ll send in support. For the time being, hang in
there.”

Maurice
looked back to Jason with his eyebrows raised. “Well?”

“You’re an
asshole,” Jason muttered.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT

Cyrus Rance saw her, felt her, heard
her, sensed her presence before she was within reach of any of these things. He
steadied the rod his hand and faced his opponent, his mind never of course
leaving her.

 “You seem
distracted,” his cousin Edmond goaded. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

An aura of
green light flashed from Cyrus’s eyes and he leapt up into the air, swinging
his rod to make contact. Edmond blocked him with his weapon once, twice, three
times – and then rolled across the ground.

Cyrus stopped
short, his attention distracted as Haley and her companion entered the frame,
walking up the hill towards them.

Edmond’s rod
then slammed into the back of his knees, causing them to buckle and fall over.

“Ready
indeed,” Edmond laughed triumphantly.

“You really
are hopeless, Cyrus,” his sister Avril said helping him up.

Cyrus didn’t
respond. He watched as Haley’s companion unlocked the gate out the front of the
cottage, both of them stepping into the yard.

“Fresh
humans?” Avril’s partner Magnus interrupted, leaning in between them. “Edmond
you shouldn’t have.”

“They’re not
for drinking fool,” Edmond said walking towards the girls. “Don’t get any
ideas.”

“Spoken for
then, eh?” Magnus muttered. “Such a shame. I thought I heard you Rances like to
share.”

Avril elbowed
him.

“My gracious
Melanie,” Edmond said taking her hand. “How I didn’t spot you in the crowd
before, I’ll never know.”

Haley looked
anxiously from her friend towards Cyrus.

“Sorry if I
scared you in the bathroom before,” Cyrus said quietly.

“That’s …
okay.”

“So – shall
we go again then, Cy?” Edmond challenged. “I’m sure you’ll want a chance to
restore your pride.”

“Hey aren’t
you going to introduce, Avril and I?” Magnus demanded.

“The less
they see of you, the better,” Edmond muttered. “Come on, Cyrus.
En-garde
.”

“Some other
time,” Cyrus said. He turned to Haley. “Will you accompany me for a walk then?”

Haley looked
to Melanie.

“Oh it will
be alright,” Melanie said breezily. “You lay a finger on her and I’ll have you
for breakfast.”

Cyrus stepped
in the space between them, heading towards the gate.

Once there he
undid the latch and pulled the gate back, urging Haley to step through.

“Like she
said, if I lay a finger on you, she’ll have me for breakfast,” he advised.

Haley looked
at him glumly. “Don’t worry. I’m not afraid of you.”

Cyrus didn’t
believe a word of it.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

Haley walked with Cyrus in a dreaded
silence. His approach towards her had moved him high up on the suspect list,
higher than Brock. Where Brock had put on a forced air of confidence and charm,
clearly capable of deception and perhaps even violence, Cyrus’s aura and
mannerisms weighted her into the ground. She had yet to see anything appealing
in him, only that his warped mind was wrapped around something incomprehensibly
gloom-ridden. His eyes glared. His cheekbones stiffened. The wind fell into his
face and he felt nothing.

“You don’t
like her, do you?” he said suddenly.

“Like who?”
Haley replied.

“Melanie.”

Haley
shrugged. “She’s alright.”

“I know what
she sees in you,” Cyrus went on. “She thinks you’re going to be her sidekick or
something. She’ll find you a seat front row centre when you’re not on stage
with her. She’ll have you cheering her on every step of the way.”

“Whatever.”

“But she is
blind to what’s going on in your head. She thinks she’s using you … But I think
it’s closer to being the other way around…”

Haley
stopped. Behind her, the cottage was now blocked by the trees.

She could
only just make out the lights of the VDA House in the distance.

“This place
is really big, isn’t it?” she murmured.

Cyrus stood
close beside her. He moved in behind.

“Don’t move,”
he whispered in her ear.

She felt his
arm extended upward. He was reaching round towards her forehead.

His fingers
brushed just over her right eye.

“I have
selected you,” he whispered. “You have been chosen.”

He placed a
dark object in her hands.

“Later
tonight, I want you to call me. We’ll go somewhere we can be alone together.
Somewhere … you won’t be safe.”

Haley kept
still, waiting to see if there was anymore.

After a few
moments, she turned slowly to find that he had vanished.

“Cyrus?” she
mumbled.

She took a
few steps in the direction of the cottage, before retreating back out into the
open. Once she reached the lawn she could see that what he’d handed her was a
dark green phone.

She knelt
down on the ground and opened up her handbag, placing it inside.

“I think we
know who our killer is,” she said out loud.

“I don’t
think we can make that determination yet, Haley,”
Maurice said.
“There’s still the first vampire who asked you for a date.”

“Yeah well,
that guy seems like a puppy dog compared to that last creepozoid.”

“Still it’s
important we keep an open mind.”

“Yeah.
Right.”

Haley stood.
She looked back again, in the direction of the cottage, wondering if she should
return there. It seemed a bit awkward given Cyrus’s unexpected departure.
Clearly she would have to phone him at some point.

But what
should she do until then?

Was it time
to go visit Brock?

Had he been
waiting for her this whole time?

Haley took a
moment, trying to calm herself down. Collect her thoughts. Polish the hard
exterior.

She then
looked back to the house and realized, someone was calling for help.

CHAPTER
THIRTY

Haley could barely hear it. The
whimpers trickled away into the night, the house’s pulsating music sweeping
them underneath the wind. A once beautiful creature, the victim in question was
sprawled out across the garden bed at the back of the house, her dress covered
in dirt and blood. As Haley approached she could see the woman had sustained a
gash to her throat, and it was interrupting her speech. Haley’s demeanor became
stricken with shock as the woman looked to her with panic filled eyes.

“Get away
from there, Haley,”
Jason’s
voice blared in her ears.
“Get back inside the house at once.”

“What?” Haley
replied, disturbed. “She’s dying. She needs medical attention.”

“Jason’s
right,”
Maurice
said.
“This has nothing to do with you. Get away from there before anyone
sees you.”

“Shut up,”
Haley snapped at him.

She looked
back down to the woman in the garden and saw she was still alive, still moaning
and whimpering. Her hand drifted across to the grass as though reaching out for
Haley herself.

Haley took a
couple of steps back.

Her body
turned in all directions.

“Help!” she
called. “Somebody! Please come! Someone’s hurt!”

The music
from the house seemed to get louder.

Hands
shaking, she stooped to one knee and faced the woman.

“I’ll be back
soon,” Haley said. “I’ll get help.”

The woman’s
eyes widened. “It was him. He…”

“What?” Haley
said leaning forward.

“He did this.
He said he wanted to kiss me but…”

“Who?” Haley
demanded. “What’s his name?”

The woman
nodded, showing she understood. “He… His…”

“Someone call
for help?” a loud voice said shrilly from behind Haley.

She turned
and saw it was Madame Nightshade.

Two burly men
in dark suits were standing behind her.

“I just found
her like this,” Haley said. “I think someone attacked her.”

Madame
Nightshade crouched to the ground next to Haley.

“Did you see
who it was?”

“No,” Haley
said. “I was trying to ask her.”

The woman
moaned and turned her face away from them. She appeared to be trying to move
her body away from them.

“Thank you
for bringing this to our attention,” Madame Nightshade murmured rising to her
feet.

Haley joined
her. “Are you going to help her?”

“She’s beyond
help, wouldn’t you say?”

“I don’t
know. She’s moving.”

“No,” Madame
Nightshade shook her head. “When you found her she wasn’t breathing. You tried
to help but she was already dead.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s for
your benefit. He’ll be … concerned about what you’ve encountered. It’s best we
erase all doubt.”

“I’m not
following you.”

Madame
Nightshade smiled. “Yes you are, dear.” She looked to her bodyguards. “Get rid
of this as discreetly as possible.”

She grabbed
hold of Haley’s wrist and yanked her in the direction of the house.

“Where are we
going?” Haley exclaimed.

“Upstairs.”