Master for Tonight (29 page)

He hit his forehead with his hand. “No!”

“What movies did you bring?” Kate asked
Mazzie as she popped a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

“I don’t know. I just grabbed whatever was
new on the shelf at the video store.” She tossed the DVDs on the
counter and started digging through her purse. “Where did you put
my gun?”

“Oh, I threw it in a drawer somewhere.
Couldn’t stand looking at the thing.” Kate shuddered and got two
bowls out of the cabinet.

“Go get it.”

“You go get it. I don’t want to touch it.”
She waved her hand and flipped a DVD over to read the back. “This
looks interesting.”

“Kate, go get it. You’re going to get
comfortable handling it. You need to in case I’m not around, and
you need to defend yourself.”

“Fine.” She went into the living room and
came back with the gun held away from her, pointing to the ground.
“What do you mean, in case you’re not around? I haven’t seen you in
forever. You’re never around anymore.”

Mazzie set a box of fifty bullets on the
table, took the gun from Kate, and checked the safety.

“Excuse me, if I can only take so much of
you and your beau.”

“I don’t really know what to say. I’m sorry
you feel that way.”

“You need to get out of your bed and start
thinking with your head. Where do you see this thing with Julian
going?”

“Can we just watch the movie? I don’t want
to talk about this.”

“No.”

“What? Why?”

“Why? Why do you think?” Mazzie set the gun
down and stood in front of Kate. “You’re not the woman I know
anymore. After this thing with Evangeline is done, you need to get
rid of him.”

“I’m in love with him, Mazzie! I’m not going
to get rid of him.”

“In love with
him,
or his dick?”

“Just shut up,” Kate said. She went into the
living room, sat on the couch, and crossed her arms. “I’m not
talking about this with you, because you obviously hate him.”

“Oh, no, you don’t. You’re going to hear me
out,” Mazzie said as she followed her. “Think about it. This guy
shows up in your life, and look at what happens. Mass murders, you
almost get killed...”

“And none of it is his fault!” Kate yelled.
She got up and went to the door, opening it. “Maybe tonight isn’t a
good time for you and me to hang out.”

“Really? Now you let him come between
us?”

“Why are you trying to make me choose?”

“Wow. After ten years of friendship, you’re
ready to kick me out of your house because I’m asking you to think
before you jump? What? Did he
vamp
you again? How would you
even know?”

The silence stretched between them, and Kate
shut the door and went back to the living room.

“This is my life, Mazzie. Do you honestly
think I’m not scared? Do you think I’m not questioning everything?
Do you think I don’t feel guilty about all the women that are dead
because of me?”

“Not you. Him.”

“Not him. Evangeline! I want Julian to let
me be bait to draw her out, but he won’t do it. Reese and I talked
about it, and we agree, it’s the best plan.”

“Reese agreed with this?” Her voice rose an
octave.

“It was your idea.” Kate ran her fingers
through her hair. “Remember?”

“It was a fucking joke!” she said, grabbing
her phone, typing furiously. “I’m going to kill him.”

Kate snatched the phone from her and erased
the angry text message to Reese.

“Don’t be mad at him. This has to end. I
would be protected. I’ve taken Julian’s blood—”

“You did what?” Mazzie screeched, and
grabbed Kate by her arms.

“Julian wanted to protect me, so we did it.
His blood makes me stronger and less likely to die if I’m
attacked,” Kate said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Not that big a
deal, really. Should earn him points with you, in my mind. Can we
please stop arguing and just watch a movie? I don’t want to talk
about guns, blood, my love life, or anything else tonight.” Kate
pulled away from Mazzie and took her hands in hers. “And I don’t
want to lose my best friend because she has trust issues with
men.”

“I worry, you know?”

“Yes, I get that.”

“I want you to be careful with Julian.”

“He loves me. His blood told me everything
about him and his heart.”

“I’m not sure what that means or what to
think about it.”

“It’s okay. You don’t need to understand.
Just trust me when I tell you his feelings are true. Can we just
watch a movie?”

“Okay.” Mazzie relented with a sigh.

Kate went and brought back the three DVDs.
“Don’t look. Just pick. One, two or three.”

“Two.”

“Vampire flick, it is, then.”

“Are you kidding me? How did that get in
there? Like I don’t have enough of them in my life, as it is.”

Kate put the DVD in the player and passed
Mazzie a bowl of popcorn.

“And you like one vampire very much. Don’t
deny it.” Kate poked Mazzie in the ribs. “I’ve heard this movie is
good, actually.”

The doorbell rang and they both sat up,
looking at the door.

“K, are you expecting anybody?”

“No.”

They both jumped from the couch as the door
resounded with a hammering of strong, insistent knocks.

“My gun.” Mazzie ran to the kitchen. “Call
Reese!”

*

The door to the warehouse creaked open at
Julian’s hand, against the metal. He entered his prior home with
Reese behind him. They moved in quickly and spread out to either
side of the room. The furniture was ripped apart and thrown about.
He looked in his bedroom and found it as he expected. The mattress
was torn down the middle. The springs, poking out with encrusted
blood on their ends.

Julian pointed to Evangeline’s bedroom,
signaling his intentions. Walking in, he was taken back to his
imprisonment by his Maker and the madness he had endured. Both his
and hers.

“She’s not here,” Julian told Reese. “Not
like we thought she would be.”

“True, but it’s still good to investigate.”
Reese looked at the bed and the chains hanging from the wall.
“She’s ready to teach you again, Jules. See that?”

Julian glanced back over to the bed and went
to the chains which had held him for so many weeks in agony.
Grasping one in his hands, his skin started to burn as he pulled,
breaking it away from the anchor in the wall. The other was soon
broken, as well, and he tossed them both onto her vanity, breaking
the three mirrors in the process.

“Maybe she will understand this
message.”

Reese picked up an album on the nightstand
and flipped through the pages.

“You need to look at this.”

“What is it?”

“A picture album of Kate, Mazzie, and other
people. Do you know them?”

Julian took it from Reese, his anxiety
rising at each turn of the page. Kate’s friends and co-workers were
there in color—Mazzie, Helen, and John. Shrugging when he saw
John’s ugly mug, he considered the possibility of her killing him.
Not like he cared. He wouldn’t break a sweat about Evangeline
taking John out. He knew Kate belonged to him, but the thought of
John holding her in his arms and carrying her after she was
released from the hospital still made his blood rage. Luckily for
John, Kate was able to talk Julian out of breaking his arms after
she told him.

“Jules?”

“Yeah. These are all people from the
shelter, plus Mazzie. I need to call Helen to make sure she’s fine
and release her from my influence.” He scratched his chin. “I
haven’t spoken to her in weeks. Why would Evangeline have these
pictures? How long was she following me?” He tapped one photo.
“This is Helen, who runs the place, and this fucker is John.
Helen’s gopher, I guess you would call him. He has a thing for
Kate.”

“And you didn’t kill him?”

“I can show restraint when I want.” Julian
smiled at Reese. “Especially when Kate uses her lovely tongue to
reason with me.” He tossed the album back onto the nightstand and
walked over to the vanity, touching the newspaper clippings on the
surface, his voice trailing down. “She owes me favors which I shall
take my time collecting. Reese, look at this.”

Reese walked over and picked up the
newspaper articles, noting the dates aloud.

“Evangeline’s been here recently. This
article about a murder is only a few days old.”

“Perhaps we should stay here and wait. She
may return tonight, and then we have her.”

“Maybe.” Reese dropped the papers back onto
the vanity. “Let’s keep looking around.”

Julian walked into the bathroom to inspect
the shower, opening the glass door to peer inside. There were no
water spatters on the floor or the walls that would indicate any
recent use.

He went back into the bedroom, and Reese was
holding up the mattress with one hand. Tossing it over, he pointed
to the box springs. “There’s a cut.” He reached down, shoving his
hand into the hole and pulling out a piece of paper.

Opening it, Reese scanned the page and
handed it to Julian.

“It’s for you.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Julian grabbed the
paper from across the other side of the bed. “What does it
say?”

“I just skimmed it.”

“Well, then, allow me.” He straightened the
paper and read aloud.

“
Julian, my love, I watch as you endure
the pains of the turning. Your sweating chest is heaving, trying to
breathe. So tragic, the short, ragged pants. The quakes of the
death rattle seizing you. Your strong, shivering body rising from
the ground, only to fall again. Hands which held me so tenderly,
now shaking and reaching out. I can’t help you. I’ve done all I can
for us. Your poor heart making every attempt to keep your body
alive, but it will fail, my love. I see the scythe above your brow.
You die tonight. You live tonight. We will be together. I heard
your words of love as you took me. The language of love spoken
fluently and with an affinity I’ve never experienced in the past. I
know now my lovers before were mere players at love, but you swore
yourself to me to be true. I’ve believed so many others, only to be
cast aside, but how could you love me so thoroughly, bringing me to
peaks with every touch, if it were not sincere? Such care you took
with my pleasure. I asked if you wanted me and you said, ‘Always.’
Your earnest eyes showed me your truth. Your wish is granted for
eternity.”

“Bloody hell! Is she serious?” Julian ripped
the paper in half and threw it up in the air. “I was fucking drunk,
and she knew it! She bought me the fucking pints!”

“What were you thinking with that night?”
Reese chuckled. “I’m glad you did, though, my friend.”

“Despite it all, I am glad for my existence
in the here and now.” Julian walked over to Reese and placed his
hand on his shoulder. “It’s been a difficult road, but well worth
it, for the friend I have in you, and finding Kate.”

“Let’s make sure you stay in the here and
now. Keep searching. I have a hunch that we’ve barely scratched the
surface. Something bothers me about those pictures.”

“Me, too.” Julian reached up for his
pendant, finding it missing again. “Let’s sweep up here and get
back to our women.”

Julian’s phone buzzed in his pocket with
Kate’s ring tone. She was screaming as he answered.

“Mazzie! Don’t open it!”

“Kate! What is going on?” Julian headed for
the door with Reese hot on his heels.

“There’s someone banging on the door!”

“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” Mazzie yelled. “Stop!
I’ll do it!”

The sound of glass breaking came through the
receiver as Kate screamed. The sound of multiple gun shots rang out
in the background.

“Oh, my God! Mazzie!”

“We’re on our way, Kate! Stay on the phone
and hide!”

“Please don’t kill her! I’ll go with you!
Please just let me call for help for her!”

Julian heard a loud smack, Kate’s cry of
pain, and the phone clattering to the floor.

“No! Kate!”

*

Julian and Reese raced through the dark
streets, back to Kate’s house. Trees and road signs flew past them
as Reese’s foot pushed the accelerator to the floorboard, and he
navigated the winding roads, ignoring traffic signals.

“Go faster!” Julian banged his fist against
the dashboard, and ran his hands up and down his thighs.

Reese said nothing in reply as he whipped
around another line of cars, using the opposing lane. Oncoming
traffic was forced onto the shoulder with angry honks and panicked
shrieks. The beams of Reese’s headlights were straight against the
swerving ones ahead. His grip on the steering wheel was hard and
his white knuckles showed the strain.

Seeing Kate’s street sign ahead, Reese
slammed the brakes, twisting the wheel. Julian grabbed the handle
at the roof and held on as the car skidded, drifting onto the road
leading to Kate’s house. Not waiting for the car to straighten,
Reese floored it again, and the car shot up the long, gravelly
drive, throwing rocks in its wake.

Her house came into view, and Reese smashed
down against the brake and threw the car into park. Julian kicked
the door off its hinges, sending it out into the darkness as he
bolted out of the car.

“Mazzie!” Reese yelled, seeing her lying in
a pool of blood in the doorway. Shell casings littered the floor
around her, and her gun was in her open, bloody palm. He ran to
her, glass crunching under his feet, as he knelt down on the floor
and checked for a pulse at her neck. It came through faintly.

“Kate!” Julian ran past them and through the
house, calling for her. Fear raced up his spine as he knew his
search was in vain. He didn’t feel her presence or smell the scent
of her skin anywhere. Still, he tore through the house, throwing
open door after door as he continued his useless search.