Vampire Dating Agency III

VAMPIRE
DATING AGENCY III

ROSETTE
BOLTER

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CHAPTER ONE

At 2.30 a.m. inside Frankie’s Diner
on the Southbound Highway, the place was almost empty. An oversized trucker had
just exited the bathroom in a semi-conscious state, unsure whether to stay for
another coffee or head back out to the road. To the left of him a waitress was
wiping down the counter with a wet rag – further down the owner was mopping the
floor.

Brock Ferns
watched from a booth at the back as the trucker adjusted his overalls and
walked outside to the deserted car park. There were no new cars that Brock
could see out there. No new headlights pulling in. He shifted in his seat
uncomfortably and then turned his attention to the laptop computer in front of
him.

The USB was
already in.

Subfolder
after subfolder, eventually he found the name he wished to see appear. A couple
of clicks and he was in.

There were a
lot of photos. Judging by what could be seen in the thumbnails, most seemed
unnecessary. The first few were pics taken during one of her classes. Other
students had rallied around her and she was speaking, as though she was some
sort of team leader. There were photos of her in her training gear. Photos of
her inside the simulations.

Brock paused
and looked away slightly, as if he’d forgotten what he was searching for.

Selfies.

Family
photos.

The
thumbnails went on.

Then there
was a photo with a timestamp marked for around one week ago. Haley was in the
middle of some nature reserve, skipping stones across a pond. Brock wondered
who had taken the photo.

“Well, I’m
here.”

Brock looked
up startled to find Haley standing over the booth. He quickly closed the laptop
and stood up as she sat down. He could see she was beaten up and bloodied –
much worse than she had been before.

“You’re hurt,”
he said, sitting back down. “What happened?”

“It’s a long
story.”

The waitress
walked over. “Hi honey. Can I get you anything?”

Haley picked
up the menu. “I’ll have some pancakes. Syrup and two scoops of ice-cream. Also,
a glass of lemonade, please.”

“You got it.
Anything for you yet?”

“I’m fine,”
Brock said.

The waitress
walked away.

There was a
moment of silence between them.

“I didn’t
know if you’d still be here,” Haley said. “You said one thirty, didn’t you? I’m
an hour late.”

“I was late
myself,” Brock admitted. “Was worried you’d came and gone.”

“How long
would you have waited for me?”

“Maybe
another hour. Or two.”

“You must be
really eager to see me.”

“Yes,” Brock
nodded.

“So? Why so
eager?”

Brock smiled.
“It’s a long story.”

“So who’s
going to share first?”

“Well … I was
thinking … Thinking about us. Thinking about everything that’s happened.”

“And?”

“And I want
to broach you about something,” Brock said. “Only … I need to know all the
facts first. I need to know where we stand on things.”

Haley
shrugged. “Okay.”

“Well. I’m
sure you’ll tell me in time what’s happened. But … I can see the night is
tiring you. The energy that’s there, isn’t what it was. You’ve been through an
absolute nightmare. I don’t want to sound smug, but I feel that it is my duty
to protect you. Even though I obviously haven’t been doing a good enough job of
that…”

Haley leaned
forward.

She waited
till she had his eye contact.

“I don’t need
your protection,” she said firmly.

“Perhaps
protection isn’t the best word,” Brock corrected himself. “What I’m offering
is…”

“Support?”

Brock
hesitated. “Y-yess- but not exactly –”

“I don’t need
your support.”

“Okay, so you
don’t need it. Or … I can see you’re upset. As you – probably deserve to be. I’m
really making a mess of this. I’m sorry. I just – I don’t think we currently
have the best approach to solving these … murders…”

Haley folded
her arms. She leaned back in the booth.

“The solving
part is over.”

“It is?”

Haley nodded.

A brief
interval passed whereby the waitress returned with Haley’s lemonade. “Pancakes
are right around the corner.”

“Thank you,”
Haley said graciously.

She sucked
the lemonade out through a straw.

“So you know
who is behind this then?” Brock asked.

Haley nodded.

“Well then,
tell me who.”

Haley
swallowed what was in her mouth.

She removed
part of her fringe that had fallen into her eyes.

“I won’t tell
you,” she said. “I’ll show you.”

CHAPTER TWO

A short time after Haley had finished
her pancakes, she and Brock left the diner and walked through the empty car park.
Haley led Brock up to the main road and they crossed over to the other side
where the terrain sloped down. A car was parked in the clearing beyond it.

“Wait,” Brock
said breaking the tension. “Whose car is that? Did you drive yourself here?”

“It belonged
to Cyrus Rance,” Haley said walking in front of him.

“But it
doesn’t anymore? Does he know you –?”

“Cyrus is
dead.”

They stopped
next to the car.

Haley leaned
against the back of it, biting her lip.

“He’s dead?”
Brock said after a moment. “What happened to him?”

“Someone
killed him.”

“Who?”

Haley looked
at him, thinking. She walked round to the driver’s side.

Brock
followed her.

“No,” she
said. “Go back there. And … keep your senses.”

“What’s going
on?”

Haley tried
to smile. “Just … trust me.”

Brock bowed
his head down and stepped backwards. Haley was reaching into the car.

The trunk
snapped open and a dark figure sprang outside of it.

Brock jumped
back with surprise, before steadying himself. The figure crawled across the
ground, trying to stand up.

“Who is
that?” Brock demanded. “Did you know he was in there?”

Haley walked
round behind the figure. She put her shoe into his back, and he cried out in
agony.

“It’s Edmond
Rance,” Haley explained. “Cyrus’s cousin.”

“Oh. I see.”

Brock walked
round in front of him. Black blood was oozing from Edmond’s twisted mouth.

“Did he try
and attack you or something?” Brock asked.

“He’s the
killer,” Haley said defiantly.

“Are you
sure?”

“A hundred
percent.”

Brock
couldn’t see where Edmond had been wounded, but wherever it was, the wound had
weakened the vampire’s entire being. He looked minutes from death.

Haley pushed
Edmond down onto his back and sat on his stomach.

Edmond’s
clawed fingers reached out to put up some resistance.

After a
moment, they slowly retracted.

Brock
crouched beside them. “Haley. Look at me.”

Haley glanced
at him.

“What’s going
on?” Brock persisted. “How do you know he’s the killer?”

Brock watched
as Haley turned her gaze towards Edmond’s.

There was no
mercy in her eyes.

“Will you
tell him?” Haley asked Edmond. “Or shall I?”

CHAPTER
THREE

There was a place outside all of
this. One where Haley’s heart and mind and soul were radiating with warmth and
optimism. Where they were frozen somewhere in time. Like photos on Brock’s
computer.

They were
going back of course. But they weren’t going back that far.

Words alone
couldn’t put the scene in Brock’s mind.

You had to be
there. You had to experience it.

As Haley did…

Still, he
tried to picture it. Tried to imagine what it would have looked like. The
harsh, wicked air rushing across bare arms and legs. Her eyes wrought with
tears, yet so far open that she could see perfectly. The three of them standing
there. A trio of monsters. First just shadowy outlines. Then the light begins
to touch. Things are pulled into focus –

Magnus ripped
into her flesh with his claws extended, a sickening smile lighting his face as
Avril danced round in her peripherals.

Then his
eyelids blinked.

Stuttered.

She could see
the moment he realized he’d gone too fast.

“Awwaarrgh,”
Magnus gasped.

The knife in
Haley’s other hand ripped across his throat as he began to collapse.

Edmond was
standing only a few feet from the confrontation. The fading jubilation in his
high and mighty stance, twisting into a gruesome sneer.

“You fucking
bitch!” Avril shouted jumping onto her back. “I’ll kill you!”

Haley
staggered towards Edmond with Avril slashing at her back.

One foot
after the other slowly.

In a straight
line.

Haley dropped
the knife and reached up to Avril with both arms.

She threw
Avril from her, straight into Edmond, knocking him to the ground.

Then she bent
down on one knee.

Picked up the
knife.

“AAARRRRGH!”
Avril screamed running at her.

Haley slashed
across her ankle, severing it. As the vampiress fell she jumped on her.

Smashing her
face to a bloody pulp.

Haley stepped
away from Avril’s twitching carcass.

She wiped her
feet on the road.

Steadied the
knife.

Edmond, who
was back on his feet again, started clapping. “Bravo. Bravo, slayer. Well
done.”

Her instinct
was to respond to him, but there were no words that formed in Haley’s mind.

No thoughts
in her head.

The canvas
was blank.

“I hope
you’re not tired,” Edmond said. “Because now the real fight begins.”

His metal
pole slipped out into his palm.

Then he
raised it above his head.

“One,” Edmond
whispered. “Two…”

“Three,”
Haley finished.

CHAPTER FOUR

Brock looked down at Haley. He could
see where Avril had torn at her back. Where Magnus has ripped at her arms. And
there were more wounds. The fight between her and Edmond and her had been
bloodied. Somehow, she’d made it through.

“How did you
do it?” Brock asked. “How did you beat him?”

“It’s not
important,” Haley muttered. “You know the rest anyway.”

Edmond
appeared to smile for a moment.

Haley grabbed
him by the throat. “We’re not finished here. You understand?”

He coughed,
black and green goo expelling onto her hands.

She withdrew
in disgust.

“Why?” Edmond
mustered.

“Why what?”

“Why did you
kill Cyrus?”

Haley grabbed
hold of his throat again. “I didn’t you fucking shit. It was you.”

Edmond slowly
shook his head.

“Then – then
it must have been the other two,” Haley persisted. “Of course I didn’t kill
him.”

“We only did
what we did, because you did what you did.”

“Spoken like
a true rapist.” Haley turned to Brock. “Go to the backseat would you? You’ll
see I got something along the way.”

Brock paused
a moment, before heading back to the car. He opened the backseat door to
discover a large metal drum. He carried it out.

Haley glanced
back at him.

“On his
head.”

Brock removed
the cap.

He poured the
fuel on Edmond’s head.

Haley stepped
back off him.

The fuel
consumed his entire body.

She pulled a
lighter from her pocket and held it over Edmond’s eyes. “Don’t try to run now.”

“You
dishonorable cunt,” Edmond muttered.

“What?” Haley
said fiercely. “What did you call me?”

“The victory
wasn’t yours,” Edmond said. “You don’t deserve the satisfaction.”

“Look, I’m
going to make it real simple for you. If you admit what you did, I’ll stake
your heart and give you a quick death. If you don’t admit it, you get the
fire.”

She flashed
the flame at him.

Brock folded
his arms.

“Well, what
did I do?” Edmond murmured. “We fucked, didn’t we? I guess you could call that
rape. In the spirit of the moment though, you might have been leading me on a
bit –”

“Do you
really wish to burn to death?” Haley demanded. “Answer my fucking question!”

Edmond tried
to sit up. “I think I’m missing something here. Unless – well, what is it you
wish me to confess?”

“I have your
phone. I saw what was on it.”

“What?”

“My Mom! What
you bleeding did to her!”

Edmond looked
at her. He wiped the fuel from his eyes. “Is that what this is about? Oh my
God…”

“Admit it!”

“You stupid
little slit. You think,
I
killed your Mom? That
I
am the killer?
Ha, ha, ha.”

“Don’t do
anything, Haley,” Brock said. “Let’s see what he has to say.”

Haley’s
curled her hands into fists, and punched the top of her head.

“Look,”
Edmond said. “The Count sent me that video. Among others. He’s leading some
investigation on trying to find this killer. He was hoping someone could
identify them. Which is why I was sending it off to my contacts, and so forth.”

“The Count
sent it to you?” Haley murmured. “How did – how did he get it –?”

“I don’t
know,” Edmond said. “You’ll have to ask him.”

“Brock,”
Haley said. “The phone’s on the floor of the car.”

“Right.”

Brock moved
away again.

“When he
comes back,” Edmond said, “and you see I’m telling the truth … what happens to
me then?”

“I don’t
know,” Haley replied.

“Because just
so you know, I won’t hold anything against you if you let me go. I’m sure you
didn’t kill Cyrus. And … maybe the others are still alive as well. So we could
just forget everything that happened and go our separate ways…”

Brock
returned with Edmond’s phone.

“Check his
inbox. What messages has he received from the Count?”

They waited
as Brock searched.

“Well?” Haley
said after a moment.

“His story
checks out,” Brock said. “He’s telling the truth.”

Edmond sat
up. “Can I have my phone back please?”

“No,” Haley
hissed. “I’m going to go through that thing with a comb.”

“Alright,”
Edmond said. “Can I at least stand up?”

A pause.

“I’m standing
up.”

As Edmond got
to his feet he turned towards Haley, an eerie light emitting from his face.

She saw the
green in his eyes.

The
torturing. The killing.

The fucking.

He was all
over her. He had her to bits.

“No,” Edmond
gasped, taking a step back. “Please don’t –”

Haley threw
the lighter at him.

And watched
him burn.

“Now we
forget what happened,” she said. “Now we go … our separate ways...”