Beautiful Deadly: Betrayal Vol. 2 (2 page)

A police officer walks out of the house, holding Alex’s red dress that she wore on the night she disappeared. Her mother screams and her friends all start crying.

“Does this belong to her?” the officer asks.

Her friends nod their heads in agreement and the police go back inside to continue their search.

A half hour passes and the officers come back out to the door. “It would appear that she has been living here. It would also appear that it isn’t by force, at least, not physical force because we didn’t find any evidence that tells us that she is being held against her will. The fact that she was seen alone tonight proves that as well.” One of them tells the crowd.

“So you are saying that my daughter is willingly staying away from us? She is willingly causing us this pain and suffering?” her mother asks.

“I wouldn’t be able to answer that for you. I just have to go by the evidence that I have here. There might be a reason that she is staying away, but she seems to have free will and the chance to do what she pleases. Why she hasn’t contacted anyone isn’t clear to me.” He looks away from her sobbing mother. It is hard for him to see anyone in such pain.

Alex’s heart breaks into a million pieces when she sees how much pain her parents and friends are in. She wishes that she could just jump down from the tree and give them the answers and comfort that they seek. Unfortunately, it isn’t so easy. Jumping out of the tree might cause their death. Even now, her throat itches for their blood. The scent is intoxicating and she uses every ounce of strength embedded in her to restrain herself from doing something that she will regret. She has to be careful to not hurt them, and she has to be careful to not get discovered.

She sends up a silent prayer for her friends and family. She has no idea if God still listens to her, but she does it nonetheless. She asks God to comfort them and to bring them peace and closure. She asks Him to fill their lives with blessings and love and that they get through this tragedy stronger than they went in.

For some reason, Alex feels the need to pray for Chris. He seems so troubled and riddled with guilt. She asks God to free him from his guilt and allow him to move on.

Being stuck in the tree while the assembled crowd chat below her gives her time to think on the issues that she has been avoiding. Is she only blaming guilt for Chris’ distraction? What if he just doesn’t want to be with her anymore? Could it be possible that he allows her to stay out of pity and not because he really loves her? Surely what they share isn’t just an illusion. She could feel the love he has for her. His arms are her home, her haven, the only place that she ever feels safe. This isn’t something that she wants to believe is a possibility, it just cannot be.

As the time creeps on, she realizes that he should be returning soon. She has no way of telling him to stay away because in her haste to leave the house, she left her cell phone inside. Though she has the advantage of speed, she still has to stop in the room to search for the phone. If she knew where it is, then she could just run inside and get it, but she doesn’t remember where she put it.

If Chris walks into this swarm of people, unexpectedly, then things are sure to turn ugly. She hopes that the distraction he was experiencing earlier was gone because the only way he would sense them before he gets into the yard is if he is fully alert. He will be running too fast to be able to sense them on the way, so her only hope is that he senses or hears them before he enters the woods. Another prayer escapes her lips as she hopes for this to end well.

The police and her family has to leave, eventually. All they have to do is to stay out of sight until they do. In order for Chris to stay out of sight, he would have to know that they are there, she hopes that he stops and listens before running in.

Her fears take deeper root when the officers start sitting down, two at the doorway and the others sit about the yard. This means only one thing, they are not leaving until someone returns.

A few minutes later, Alex’s body tenses even more when she hears a sound at the entrance to the woods. She moves to stand on the limb, to send out some kind of a warning to Chris, but her weight causes the limb to creak and she immediately stands still. She cannot afford to allow them to see her after hiding successfully for so long.

Just as she turns to look in the direction of the sound, she hears the speedy footsteps, coming into the yard. Chris runs straight into the cops sitting at the door.

Alex feels like fainting. She wishes the world would just stop spinning for a second. Chris bounces backwards onto the floor and the officer that he hit cries out in pain. Chris looks around him in horror as the other officers rush to their fallen colleague’s aid and then surround Chris.

Chris could have easily escaped, but he didn’t know where Alex is and he doesn’t want anything to happen to her in the hands of the humans, so he is willing to go down for them both. If he runs away now, they would immediately know that something isn’t normal about him and quarantine the house. If Alex happens to return and they capture her, he would never be able to forgive himself, so he will allow them to take him.

After a few seconds, Chris realizes that he can sense Alex, but he has no idea where she is. The scent of the humans mask her scent and is making it difficult for him to locate her. If only he could communicate with her, they would be able to escape, but moving off without knowing where she is isn’t safe for anyone involved.

Alex watches Chris from the trees and successfully restrains herself. He is a powerful vampire, with enough experience to take care of himself. She knows he senses her because he keeps looking around the yard in an attempt to locate her. She sees no way to give him any clues without the many people in the yard noticing too, so she remains still.

“Who are you?” One of the policemen finally ask him.

Under the cover of darkness, Chris is able to look at the officer without worrying about the color of his eyes. “My name is Jack and I live here.” He replies.

“Who do you live here with?” the officer asks.

Chris doesn’t answer. He isn’t sure if they already searched the house, and if they did, what they found. In a case like this, he has to remain silent in order to not be arrested.

“Okay, that’s how you want to do it. We found some items belonging to a missing girl. Her name is Alex and her parents are worried sick about her. One of her friends saw her in the woods tonight and alerted us and her parents. Do you know where she is?”

Still no answer.

“You are a sick bastard if you are keeping this woman away from her family and friends. Tell us where she is.”

Chris stares right through him.

“Since you want to be stubborn, we have to take you into custody for questioning. We believe that you know where she is and on that grounds, we are within our rights to take you into custody.” The officer motions for him to stand.

Chris is glad that he wore a long-sleeved shirt tonight. The officers won’t be able to feel his cold skin through the shirt. He stands up and puts his hands behind his back. Only Alex could make him willingly get himself arrested. His love for her is selfless and strong and he wants no harm to come to her. He uses his feet to mark ‘Don’t Worry’ subtly in the dirt so that only she will be able to see it. He glances around the yard one last time and walks to the police van as they lead the way.

Alex jumps down out of the tree when the cars drive off. She saw the message that Chris sent, but she can’t help but worry. What will they do to him? Can they do anything to him? She isn’t sure if there is any one thing that hurts vampires, Chris has never mentioned anything, but that doesn’t put the worry at bay.

Another peculiar thing about him is that he put himself in danger for her. Is it because he loves her? Or is it the guilt making itself known once more?

Alex can’t help but fantasize that it is love that made him do it. She could see the worry in his face as he looked around the yard for her. It is strange that it is in the middle of this misfortune that their love presents itself again. Her security in his love is back. If he was willing to do that, the feeling has to be mutual.

What to do now? Alex walks into the house and see that not even a pillow was left unturned. They even took her clothes with them, maybe to use as evidence against Chris. She walks through the house to see what else they touched. A cologne she had bought for Chris two days before lay shattered on the ground. Alex doesn’t recognize the house that a few short hours ago was their home. Everything is in disarray and she flops down in the couch where he last sat and took in his scent.

“This isn’t how it ends, Chris. We are supposed to get our happily ever after. I don’t want to spend eternity alone, I want to spend it with you.” She says to the empty house.

Alex feels horrible that she made a non-existent woman disrupt her happiness. Jessica only exists in Alex’s mind. Why did the fact that he wants to find her to ensure that she is okay become a problem between them? There are times when she feels secure in his love, and other times when she feels like a burden, like he just keeps her around out of guilt and that shouldn’t be. She shouldn’t be having doubts about the love that they share. Though it hasn’t been a long time since they met, the sparks started flying soon after. They quickly became inseparable.

Alex turns her focus on how she can help him to escape the custody of the police without being noticed. Police stations are surrounded by cameras, this will take expert skill to pull off. She could get in and out without being seen, but he will more than likely be in a cell, with guards. What will she do when she gets in and pass the cameras, but has to stop to break the lock on the cell? The guards and cameras will definitely notice her there.

Alex has been to the police station once before to visit a friend. If she remembers correctly, the cells are to the west of the building and they have air vents that will allow him to pick up her scent and sense her if she stays there for a while. She could then tell him what to do quickly, so that the guards don’t hear them. If he is able to break the lock while she creates a commotion outside and distract them, then that should help. They can both escape quickly.

Alex gets up and repack what is left of their belongings. This will be the first place that the police will come when he escapes. If the bags are ready to go by the time they return, they can just leave for Detroit immediately. She packs his personal items, his favorite cups, straw, etc. and puts the suitcases at the back door. It will be difficult for her to move discretely if she has two, big suitcases in her hands.

She doesn’t pack much for herself because the police took anything that looked like it belonged to a woman. The clothes that she wore the night of her transformation is gone, along with everything else that she treasures. Every semblance of normalcy is gone, every trace of the life she lived as a human. She takes one last look around the house and dash off into the woods.

At the police station, Chris is placed into an interrogation room. The room has just two chairs and a big, black desk. Three officers come into the room with him. One sits down in the chair across from him, while the others stand at opposite ends of the room.

Chris is worried about the glare of the light shining directly on him because he is sure that they are able to see the difference in his skin. While his hands and legs are covered, his face isn’t. He is sure that they notice that something isn’t normal about his skin. Their stares proves this to him. No one asks any questions, they are all just looking at him, wondering why he looks different from them.

Chris moves uneasily in the chair and remembers to pretend to breathe. Realizing that this is getting more uncomfortable by the second, he says. “So are you going to ask questions? I have told you before that I have nothing to do with any missing girl.”

“Then why are her things at your house? Her family identified them as hers, so you can’t tell us that they aren’t. Where is she?” the officer sitting before him asks.

Letting out a heavy sigh. Chris says “I don’t know. Did you see her there?”

Looking annoyed, the officer asks “How long has she been living with you?”

“I am not answering any questions without an attorney, and I am sure you see how pale I look, I don’t feel so well.” He tells them.

“We are going to place you in the holding area until in the morning when your attorney arrives for questioning. Do you have an attorney?”

“Yes I do. Can I call her now?” he asks.

“Sure. One of the officers will take you to make the call.

Chris decides to call Jessica. He finally found her tonight and they had a really good conversation. She is living close by and has gotten over her anger and resentment towards him. He dials her number.

“Jess?” he says when she picks up. “I need your help, I have been taken into custody for questioning at the police station. I need you, as my lawyer to be present when I am being questioned. Can you come down in the morning?” he asks, hoping that she gets the hint.

“Sure, see you soon.” She says.

As Chris walks back to the holding area, he is comfortable in the decision he made to call her. As a vampire, she knows a lot of people and can easily get a fake I.D. in a matter of minutes. He needs somebody who can help him to escape with the least amount of suspicion. There is no way that he can call Alex because that would surely give them both away.

After the officers escorted him back to the holding area, he is left alone with his thoughts. He is so happy that he finally found Jessica. She is living by herself and is doing quite well. She has mastered everything that he taught her and he is extremely proud of her.

The new predicament of how Alex will react to him finding her is something that he will have to deal with soon. He hates to see Alex sad and the pain in her eyes the last time he saw her was unbearable. Chris loves Alex and his search for Jessica is in no way to prove that he has any sort of feelings for her. How does he get Alex to understand that? How does he get her to understand that he truly loves her in a way that he has never loved before?