Vampire Dating Agency (3 page)

CHAPTER
SEVEN

“This is the Vampire Dating Agency.
As you can see we have pictures of it from the front and side, but getting to
the back was too difficult. The house is enormous as you can see. Latest book
value was north of a hundred million. They have a security surveillance set up
with guards patrolling the grounds twenty-four hours, seven days a week.
Somewhat recently, after these pictures were taken, the VDA bought up all the
nearby land and properties, locking down the entire road the acreage is located
on. There’s been reports that anyone within a ten kilometer radius picks up a
tail until they leave the area.”

“Jesus
Christ,” Riley remarked. “What the hell is wrong with these people? They’re all
walking into certain death.”

“To be clear,
most of this security is for their vampiric clients, but at certain intervals
of the year government officials are granted access to make sure nothing unruly
is happening there. I should stress that as controversial as this place may
seem, their core intent is to service the needs of vampires looking for
companionship, or humans looking to meet a vampire. It seems highly unlikely
that any of the murders we’re investigating were committed onsite or with VDA
approval.”

“So what the
hell is happening at this place?” Jason asked.

Kendra leaned
against the desk behind her. “They advertise themselves as the safest place to
meet a vampire. The humans register their details online and the police are
notified of anyone who visits the establishment, and when they leave. According
to the website you can have your date with the vampire at the VDA, and I’m sure
they have all the facilities that may be associated with that. Our fifteen
girls were all killed within a week of visiting the VDA. Some that very same
night.”

“So the
killer vampire is following them home?” Maurice suggested.

“We can’t
verify that exactly,” Kendra replied. “All the bodies were found dumped away
from the murder scene, so there’s no telling where they were attacked.”

“Are the VDA
working with us at all on this?” Riley asked.

“Absolutely
not,” Kendra answered. “They won’t acknowledge the killer is one of their
clients. It’s bad for their reputation. People might get scared away.”

“I don’t
understand,” Riley said. “How are we supposed to investigate this if we can’t
get inside the VDA?”

“We’re
sending in an undercover.”

“What?” Jason
blurted out.

“Holy shit,”
Maurice said.

“Don’t look
at me,” Riley joked.

“We’ve got
someone who fits the profile of most of the victims.”

“How’s that?”
Jason asked.

“Of the
fifteen victims, twelve were aged twenty or under. Of the fifteen, eight were
wearing black, five purple, and two blue. Nine had facial piercings, eleven
were wearing heavy makeup around the eyes, and all fifteen had short black
hair.”

“And where
are you going to find someone like that?” Jason wanted to know.

At that
moment Dino peered through the window above the door, and then opened it,
allowing Kendra’s assistant Luna, and another girl matching all the features
that had previous mentioned.

“Hey
everybody!” Luna said cheerfully. “Come over here and meet the new girl.”

Jason and
Maurice got up from their desks.

The new girl
walked forward nervously.

“Hi,” she
said. “I’m Haley. What are you guys talking about?”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Haley’s eyes shifted from the two
guys approaching her, to Ms. Armistice and the slideshow adjacent. Photo after
photo, girl after girl, they all looked the same. They all looked like Haley.
At first she didn’t get it (
jeepers, is this my competition?
) but then
it became clear who the faces belong to. All these women, all these people,
they were dead. Buried. Gone.

Haley felt
sick.

“What are you
–?” she began. “What have you –?”

She touched
her forehead and felt her knees start to wobble.

“Bad timing,
huh?” Luna remarked.

“Seriously
Kendra,” Riley said. “What are you thinking? You can’t send her in. She can’t
even stand.”

Haley tried
to swallow. “Can you … can you please excuse me?”

She turned
and stepped out into the corridor, her face flushing, her heart racing. She
walked quickly down it, searching for a toilet symbol to appear on one of the
doors.

A sign
hanging from the ceiling indicated she should turn right for both the bathroom
and the exit. Haley kept walking, the sounds drowning out around her, unsure if
anyone had chosen to pursue her. She pushed her way into the bathroom and
walked to the sink at the back.

She put both
hands on the counter to steady herself, and looked into the basin, wondering if
she was about to hurl. It seemed to be going away.

She splashed
water on herself and held her hands underneath the drier.

She stood
where she was a moment, trying to get a sense of bearings.

Something had
gone wrong here. This wasn’t a proper assignment.

They were
setting her up to be killed.

“Goddamn it,”
Haley swore between clenched teeth.

“Haley?” a
voice called from outside the bathroom. “I’m coming in.”

The door
opened slowly, and Ms. Armistice poked her head in.

“There you
are.”

Haley
straightened up trying to look tough, as her instructor approached.

“How are you
doing?” Ms. Armistice asked. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t
think so,” Haley said.

“You got
freaked out because we dressed you up like the girls who have been murdered?”

“Sorta.
Yeah.”

“But didn’t
we say we were going to do that?” Ms. Armistice reasoned. “Didn’t we choose
this assignment out for you together?”

“How do I
know it’s not going to be me?”

“What’s not
you?”

“How do I
know I’m not going to turn into one of them?”

Ms. Armistice
hesitated. “Look in the mirror, Haley.”

“What?”

“Just look.
Tell me what you see.”

Haley turned
her neck slightly. “Yep. I’m a mess.”

“I don’t
think so. But explain away.”

“I look
easy,” Haley said. “Like I’d say yes to any guy.”

“What else?”

“Like … I’m
depressed. Like … I take drugs. Well …”

“You don’t
take drugs, do you Haley?”

“No.”

“You’re
projecting, based on your image, correct?”

“Right.”

“Can I tell
you what I see now?”

“Okay,” Haley
shrugged. “Sure.”

“I see a
piece of trash. A person without an identity, who will throw themselves at
anything. I see someone who maybe practices self-harm. Who likes pain. Because
they’re worthless. Absolutely, positively, pathetic.”

“Well,
thanks.”

“We can thank
Luna. She has given you the perfect costume you need for this assignment. I’ll
tell you what I see underneath that costume. I see a woman who has worked hard
for the last four years in preparation for this moment now. I see someone who
has an opportunity a lot of people her age would kill for. I see someone who is
brave, and intelligent, and simply brilliant in every way she allows herself to
be.”

Haley turned
away from the mirror to face her.

“I see
someone who has something to prove,” Ms. Armistice said.

Haley shook
her head. “I see someone trying to manipulate me.”

Ms.
Armistice’s eyes became smaller. A smile touched her lips faintly.

“That’s why I
know you’ll succeed.”

CHAPTER NINE

They put the blindfold on her again.
The nerve. Surrounded by the new group she was a part of, the group she didn’t
know, she was marched through the building once again to the elevator to reach
the car park. Once there they led her out to the back of a van were she was
seat and strapped in, the doors closing in behind her. Although she couldn’t
see them, she was aware of two people in the back with her, while one was
driving, exiting the area. Haley asked who was who and what was where, and
learned that she was in the back with ‘Maurice’ and ‘Riley’ and that ‘Jason’
was driving. Ms. Armistice and Luna were staying behind in headquarters.

Haley wasn’t
really clued in on their plan for her. Of everyone here she seemed to know the
least of what was going on. She knew as much that they weren’t driving out to
the Vampire Dating Agency outright, of course that wouldn’t work. She was going
to a location where she’d be transported from
to
the VDA presumably. Her
objective was clear enough – find out who was killing all those women, without
getting killed herself. But the means to figure that out? She hadn’t had much
in the way of pointers so far.

The more she
thought about it, the less this seemed an undercover investigation, as it did
that they were using Haley as bait. She shuddered at the thought.

“Are we far
away yet?” she asked after about ten or fifteen minutes of driving. “Can I take
this off yet?”

No response.

“Well?”

“Ms.
Armistice would probably prefer you to leave it on,” Maurice said. “If it’s all
the same to you.”

“Seriously?”
Haley snapped. “Because this is making me feel really yuck. I’m risking my life
for you guys, and you don’t even trust me?”

“Well, what
if you get captured?” Riley asked. “What if the vampires start torturing
information out of you?”

“Riley,”
Maurice hissed.

“That’s it,
it’s coming off,” Haley declared.

She ripped
the blind free.

Riley who was
sitting across from her had a look of disgust written on her face.

“You guys
have to talk to me,” Haley said. “I’m serious. I’m not going to go through with
this if you’re all gonna shut down and be robots. I need to feel like I have a
chance here.”

“You think
you have a choice?” Riley replied. “With all you know about us?”

“What do you
mean?” Haley said.

“You wanna fuck
our team over? Maybe we find out where you live, and fuck you over.”

“Hey!” Jason
called from the driver’s seat. “Shut the fuck up, Riley. That’s no way to talk
to someone.”

“Fuck you,
Jason,” Riley called back. “I’ll talk however I please.”

“Seriously,”
Maurice said. “You’re getting carried away.”

“I’m not even
joking,” Riley said. “This bitch is gonna step up and do what we tell her to.
I’m not up for hearing about her fucking in-over-her-head bullshit. Too late.
Understand?”

Haley inhaled
deeply.

She had to
figure out what she was going to do.

“Listen
Haley,” Jason called from the front. “We’re gonna stop off for dinner before
shit goes down tonight. So there’ll be plenty of time to bring you up to speed
on what you’ll be doing and what to expect. Can we all simmer down till then?”

Riley raised
her eyes smugly. “Well?”

“Okay,” Haley
said.

CHAPTER TEN

It was just after 5pm when the group
stopped for dinner. The sun was still out at that time, the sky still clear.
Jason had driven them all down to the beach and went off across the road to get
some fish and chips. He managed to round up everyone to a picnic table right on
the edge between the grass and the sand, where he laid the food down. Haley was
hungry as she hadn’t eaten since that morning, but wasn’t sure she should
indulge as she didn’t know what food would be offered during this whole dating
thing, and the food wasn’t particularly to her taste. She recalled the sandwich
her Mom had made for her and thought about it stuffed away with all of her other
things, she had no idea was. Didn’t seem fair that she didn’t have access to
them. Didn’t seem right. She was concerned that Ms. Armistice and the others
were taking serious advantage of her and didn’t care about her safety at all,
but at the same time she knew she couldn’t quit now. Taking down vampires in
hand to hand combat was one of the things she’d been trained for, and she had
enough good sense to know whether she’d be in danger before it was too late to
stop it.

Besides if
she walked away now, she was walking away from her entire career path. She
didn’t have much else.

“You seem
troubled,” Jason said passing her a bottle of water across the table. “Tell me
what your concerns are. I’m here to help.”

Haley looked
to the others. Maurice was busy on his laptop, while Riley was keenly
listening.

“What … what
exactly do you guys do?” Haley asked.

“What do you
mean?” Jason replied.

“I’m going in
there,” Haley explained. “Why are you all here with me? Aren’t you just
dropping me off to wherever?”

“We’re your
surveillance,” Riley said. “We’re watching your back to make sure nothing goes
wrong.”

“And if it
does, then what?”

“You’ll be
wired up,” Jason said. “So we’ll be watching and listening to your every move.
If something happens Dino and his crew will be notified and they will storm
wherever you are and take down the perpetrator.”

“What about
when I’m in the VDA?”

“We’re kind
of counting on you not getting attacked there,” Jason said. “The main thing
while you’re there will be to stay visible. Don’t go into any isolated rooms
with anyone. If you don’t think you can handle it, that is.”

Haley looked
to Riley. “Have you done anything like this before?”

“A few
times,” Riley nodded. “I took down a few wolves.”

“But you
don’t do that now?”

“It’s been known
to happen. But I try to avoid it.”

“So like … do
the girls get all the hard jobs or what?”

“If it was a
female vampiress killing men then it would be one of us in there,” Jason said.
“Lucky for us … that doesn’t happen too much.”

“On a scale
from one to ten, how difficult do you think my assignment is?” Haley asked.
“Compared to others you’ve seen or been a part of.”

Riley and
Jason looked at each other.

They both
smiled and said: “I don’t know…”

“It’s a
seven,” Maurice said.

They all
turned to him.

“How is it a
seven?” Riley asked.

“One vampire
versus a trained slayer, not exactly that demanding,” Maurice said. “Which is
why we get the new recruit involved. The difficult part is figuring out who is
the vampire you’re after. You’re going to have to figure it out before he finds
out you know. So you can surprise attack him, instead of the other way around.”

“How long do
you think it will last?” Haley asked. “What if … what if I don’t meet him
tonight? What if he’s not even there? It could be his night off or something.”

“It’s a
possibility,” Jason said. “But judging by the amount of women he’s killed and
how quickly they’ve been killed together, I’d say he’s in the middle of a bloodlust
infused frenzy. With you dressed the way you are, your hair cut like that, your
make up … I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the first vamp who walks up to you.”

“Next thing
you know he’s trying to get you back to his place for a glass of wine,” Riley
said. “If I were him, I wouldn’t be wasting any time at all.”

“But what if
it’s not the killer?” Haley asked. “How am I supposed to know whether my date
wants to kill or fuck me?”

“There’s your
difficulty,” Maurice chimed in.

“When you
think about it,” Riley said. “It’s practically the same thing.”