Walking in the Shadows (34 page)

A smile curled the c
orners of his lips
, and I couldn’t help but
kiss him ag
ain
. In
that moment I felt invincible.

I had never had a sixth sense for when things would go wrong. The only reason I had felt something was wrong with my parents was because when someone that close to you is ripped away from you, it is like something inside of you is dislodged; like a part of you is lost forever to the abyss. So, I pushed off what I was feeling now as a result of the anxiety of what had just happened with Tad. I
still
glanced around the familiar surroundings of my apartment building’s exterior with an unsettling angst that something just was not right. There was nothing I could do about it now; I had no place to go. I couldn’t return to Tad’s apartment for fear that the police could show up at any moment and finding me there was the last thing we needed. Instead
I to
ok a deep breath and went up the steps that led to my apartment.
While
I fiddled with the door knob I slid open my cell phone to text message Tad that I had gotten home.
Despite the feelings that were overwhelming me
I still
slid in
to my apartment.
I closed my eyes as I rested my head against the cool metal of my door while I counted to three to try to calm my heart beat. When I opened my eyes my heart all but stopped.

“Hi there
,
Vera
,” Miss Jennings hissed
as she
sat
on my coach
with
a
gun pointed at me.
She flipped her fake
apple-red
hair over her shoulder before she continued,
“You know it makes sense that you would have a gun, especially after what I did to your parents.”

She had a cocky
,
disturbing smile on as I held my cell phone behind me
and text
from m
emory
:

Jennings killer
help
i
m next
m
y
apt sos
l
ove
u

I slid the cell phone shut with one hand and hit the button on the side that r
ecorded audio. She stood and slunk
towards me.

“But you think you would bring it wi
th you,
”
Miss Jennings cooed
,
cocking her head from side to side.

“Why do you want to kill me?”
I asked in a clear voice. I wanted to whisper, but knew I needed to make my death cl
ear, so she wouldn’t have a way out.

She licked her lips
,
and
her eyes filled with insanity.

“
Mhmm
…good question.
See at first
,
I was going to leave you alone…but then I thought fate must want this. I mean why else would you come to exactly where I was hiding? And then there was the matter of you stealing my man
,
”
s
he
said as she
c
ame
closer
.

My shoulder blades ached as I pushed hard up against my door, my body was trying to get away, but my mind knew it was impossible
.

“Knightley
?”
I whispered this time.

She nodded her h
ead
,
eyebrows raised
. “
Yes, Lily
told me all about th
at.”

“I do
n’t recall him ever being yours,
”
I snapped as I tried to sound fierce.

Her eyes widened with anger
,
and she shook the gun at me
as she hissed
,
“He could have been!”

“Ki
lling me won’t help you get him,
”
I answered, and although I felt I should be panicked, I wasn’t.
Instead I was livid. This was the beast that had murdered my parents and friends.

She burst out in an evil laugh
that sent me slamming into the door.
I wasn’t panicking,
my breath wasn’t coming quick and jamming my diaphragm up and down, but I was scared, very scared.

“Oh, I don’t care about h
im anymore. You’
re onto me…I saw it in your eyes the day after they found Mike—you had a feeling
that
I had something to do with it
,” s
he
explained as
her eyes narrowed
.
“Then I figured out why you looked so familiar. Yes, your parents were easy prey.”

It took everyth
ing within me to not scream as
I turned and ope
ned the door
,
only to find Lily
standing outside.  She pushed me back into Miss Jennings
,
and my cell phone fe
ll to the floor face down. Lily
slammed the door behind her as I struggled with Miss Jennings.

“Get a
chair and
my rope!” Miss Jennings ordered
,
placing the gun against my head. Her lips graze
d my ears as she whispered,
“I’
m goin
g to have fun killing you
,
Vera
.”

In that instant I knew this would not be my parents
’
death. I would not close my eyes due to drugs and never open them. She wanted to hurt me
, to torture me physically as she had emotionally.

Lily
shoved the chair in front of me
,
and Miss Jenning
s twisted me into it while Lily tied my hands down.

“Lily
, why are you doing this?”
I gasped.

“We’re vampires!” Lily
answered,
her eyes twitching
with her lips in a sinister smile.

They were all insane;
out of their minds.

“There’
s
no such thing as vampires Lily
!”

She winked at me and my stomach flipped.

“In our world there is
,
and we have power!”
s
he reiterated, clapping her hands as she finished tying me up.

Miss Jennings
’
c
ackle broke into my mind and seared
into my soul. This was how I would die
,
and no one could stop them. She had a gun
,
and
she would shoot
me if the police came. I wasn’
t going to escape this.

“You can be
g for your life now if you wish,
” Miss Jennings
suggested
as she
came around
the front of the chair
with
hideous
ly
sharp fang teeth protruding over her lips.

“Screw you,
”
I spat.

Before I could see her reaction
the butt of the gun was slamming
into my head.

“I said beg!
”
Miss Jennings demanded.

I looked back up at her
with
my vision blurred from the impact.

“I said
,
screw you
!
”
I repeated through gritted teeth.

She hissed and lunged at me
,
plunging the fake teeth into my neck and causing searing pai
n to course down through my limps
. My body twitched in
pain
,
and
she pulled away
,
wiping her blood stained lip.

“Hit a nerve
,
did I?”
Miss Jennings teased
, running
tongue over her teeth.

“You won’t get away with killing me
.
They’ll
know who did it!” I gasped as I ignored
the pain from my head and the pinched nerve.

Lily
stepped forward.

“And how would
anyone
know?”
Lily tormented me with her eyes.

I
shook my head and the room spun a bit.
“She’
ll frame you for this. Once I’
m dead Knightley
will have no reason to stay quiet and he
won’t. He knows you framed him,
”
I accused
,
my voice
a
strong
whisper
against my wavering reality.

“
Faye
,
you’
ll protect me won’t yo
u?” Lily asked,
looking at Miss Jennings with puppy obsessive eyes.

“You’
ve got to be kidding me!”
I choked
.

Miss Jenni
ngs handed Lily
the gun and a knife appeared.

“You will die slow,” Miss Jennings began
as she
nodded over
her shoulder towards my kitchen
.
“Get two bo
wls
. Decent sized, please—I bet this one has a lot of tasty blood in her.
”

I clenched my teeth as
the
pain continued to sear through my whole body. I could feel the blood dripping from the wound
s
on my forehead and neck.

This woman was sick; she ran her finger across my neck and licked it.

“
Mhmm
…I can
’
t wait to drink the rest of it!”
Miss Jennings sneered at me.

“
Good
way to get
AIDS,” I
spat,
my voice hoarse
.

“You have AIDS?” s
he asked
.
“I doubt it.”

Lily
came back into the room and placed the bowls beneath my wrists. I tried to stop my heart from pounding
, knowing that would only make it quicker. I
t felt like it had been an hour since I had come in my door
,
but it had
only
been a matter of minutes. Would I be dead by the time Tad got here?

Miss Jennings bent down
,
putting her face close to mine.

“Still not willing to beg? I might gra
nt you a faster death if you do
.
”
Miss Jennings gave me the alternative.

“And what
,
ruin your fun?”
I said
, and I spi
t in
her
face
.

In an instant she slashed
my wrists and blood began to pou
r into the bowls.  It only took a minute for me to feel faint and for the edges of death to creep in.

Miss Jennings sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her.

“Sit and enjoy the show,
”
Miss Jennings said to Lily.

Death was
sickening.
I wondered who would have to identify my pale
,
lifeless bo
dy. Who would have to endure that
image?
I knew what it would do to them; the same thing that the image of my parents had done to me.
I
t would make them cringe and cry out in agony to take i
n my blood ridden body.
It would haunt them for their whole life.

I didn’
t think o
f my parents. They
would meet me there
,
wherever there was. They were dead just like I was going to be.
The only person I could think about
was Tad. How would this affect him? Would it break his heart? Would he know how much I loved him?
I didn’
t want him to feel alone in the world as I had before I met him. That was worse than the pain of dying this slow
,
cold death. The pounding in my head was beginning to grow faint
,
and my arms began to feel heavy and cold. I heard footsteps rushing up the stairs
,
and Miss Jennings rushed around me
,
pointing the gun at my head.