In Love With A Vampire Page 8

  Rellie blew a huge sigh, her bangs fluttering on her forehead. How she wished she hadn’t stayed back in the office so late to work on this vampire story. But Kalista’s story had drawn her, and it was so intense that she somehow felt a deep connection to the story itself. She had no regrets on working late for the story, but she didn’t exactly want to stand there all alone and abandoned at the streets.

  The howling wind whipped her hair into tangles, and it was so strong that her glasses slid off her face and tumbled onto the cobbled ground. Rellie’s vision instantly became blurry, and she was about to retrieve her glasses when she saw something approach her … something dark.

  Was it an approaching cab? But if so, it would be strange … because there didn’t seem to be any headlights.

  The dark figure loomed closer, but in her blurry vision, Jesse couldn’t make out what it was, or who he or she was.

  The dark figure approached her, and was so close to her that she could practically smell the strong cologne he was wearing, and the sound of his ragged breath.

  And then, she heard something crack at her feet.

  “I don’t think that you’ll be needing those glasses,” the voice said in a hoarse whisper.

  Heart sinking, Rellie realized that the mysterious figure had shattered her glasses with his foot. And now, she couldn’t retrieve her glasses for a clear vision. She was now stuck in shadows and blur, and her heart was battering against her chest, drawing beads of sweat from her forehead. Rellie felt disoriented, and she didn’t know which direction to run, or what to do at that moment of fear.

  “Can’t see well?” the voice taunted her, with a slight amused chuckle.

  “Who are you?” Rellie demanded, her shoulders trembling. Rellie was born with a very poor eyesight due to some genetic deformity, and since young, she’d needed to use glasses to be able to see well. And now without those glasses, Rellie felt hopelessly lost. Her glasses were like her lifeline, and she never took them off unless she went to sleep or took a nap. Without them, she was like a vulnerable animal in a hunting range.

  He laughed again, sinister coldness filling the tone of his laughter. “My, my … isn’t this kind of fun? You can’t see me clearly, and you don’t know who I am. You’re almost as blind as a bat. It’s kind of sadistically interesting to see you in such a helpless state.” His evil cackle filled the silence of the night again.

  “Let me go, OK?” Rellie pleaded, desperation filling her voice. “What do you need? Money? I’ll give you anything … Just let me go …” Hot tears stung her eyes, adding to the blur in her vision. She tried to retrieve her satchel which she’d left on the bench, but she could vaguely see a dark shadow shoving the satchel away out of her reach, and laughter ensued.

  Who was this vile man who was torturing her like this? She wished that there were passers-by at the streets now, and they would come to her aid. But it seemed as though the streets were completely devoid of any signs of human life, except her and this … heartless stranger who seemed intent on making her night miserable.

  “I don’t need money, silly …” he mocked her again. “I can get those green bills anytime I want. What I feel like having now is … blood.”

  Rellie shrieked in fear. It dawned on her that this stranger who was standing only inches away from her was a vampire … a deadly one.

  Rellie began to run, and accidentally knocked against the cab stand railing, causing her to groan in pain. Where should she run? She couldn’t see her surroundings clearly, and it was anguishing her.

  “You can run .. but you can never hide …” The mockery continued.

  “Stay away from me!” Rellie warned, grasping the railing as she shuffled her way along it. “Just stay away from me! Don’t come close! Don’t!”

  “Without your glasses, you can’t see and you can’t do much. You can’t even see how I look like.” He was hovering around her, his shadows circling her ominously.

  Rellie whirled around warily, her face twisted in panic. She saw shadows flitting around her in a whoosh. The vampire must be moving around in a fast circular motion, playing with her as though she were a toy.

  “Stop it, OK,” Rellie cried. “I know who you are. I know your name!”

  The flurry of shadows suddenly stopped, drawing the vampire’s sudden attention. “My name? You know my name? How is that so? You can’t even see how I look like? How do you even know my name?” There was a slight pause in the vampire’s voice, as if the curiosity was affecting him.

  “You’re Catan, aren’t you?” Rellie surmised. “Your name is Catan.” Once Rellie had finished her sentence, there was a momentary eerie silence. At first, Rellie wasn’t positively sure that it was Catan. But everything Kalista had told her about the vampire seemed to confirm Rellie’s suspicions. The way the vampire had acted around her seemed to match the account Kalista had given about Catan’s cruel, playful characteristics.

  “How did you know my name?” Catan finally spoke after a while. “Who told you my name?” His voice was not taunting anymore … in fact, he sounded a little infuriated, as if somebody had just punched him in the gut.

  Rellie could tell that Catan didn’t sound happy at all. She wished that she’d kept her mouth shut. She didn’t want to provoke Catan further, but it seemed that she had just put a foot in her mouth.

  But somehow, Rellie felt a slight relief to know that her guess was right after all. The man was absolutely Catan. She was standing a breath away from the notorious vampire who had claimed hundreds of innocent lives in the past few months. And Rellie realized in horror … that she could be next on the list.

  “Speak up!” Catan seethed, and grabbed Rellie’s neck, partially choking her.

  “I-I …” Rellie tried to get the words out, but it was difficult as Catan was almost strangling her to death.

  Realizing what he’d done, Catan retracted his arm, and Rellie could feel the air rushing back to her lungs again.

  “I-I … don’t remember,” Rellie managed, trying to appear clueless, but she knew who had told her, alright. The quick flash of Kalista’s face appeared in her mind, but she couldn’t tell Catan about Kalista. He might be tempted to kill her next if he knew about it.

  “You don’t remember?” Catan snorted. “Do you need help in jogging your memory? I’ll help you,” he offered. Catan clasped Rellie’s head with both hands, and twisted it so hard that Rellie screamed in agonizing pain followed by the sound of a cracking skull. But Catan was careful not to completely pulverize Rellie’s brain, or else she’d be completely dead. He just wanted her to be alive and feel the pain at the same time. He enjoyed seeing her suffer, and he wanted to know the name of the person who had given his name away as though it was a freebie.

  “Help!” Rellie screamed, her voice echoing through the dark streets. “Can somebody please help me? Please! Help!!!!”

  All of a sudden, Rellie felt her jaw crack as a fist punched against her, and she reeled around in deep pain. Blood oozed out from the corner of her mouth, so tantalizing that Catan’s lust for blood spiked.

  “Oh, did I hurt your jawbone?” Catan taunted. “Well … if you didn’t want that to happen, you shouldn’t have screamed for help.” The sight and smell of Rellie’s fresh blood fueled the bloodlust within Catan, and all he wanted to do was to pounce on Rellie and sink his fangs into her flesh, sipping all the blood that he could.

  Catan hadn’t plan to suck Rellie’s blood so soon. He’d wanted to toy with her for a little longer … seeing the way she suffered gave him sadistic pleasure. But now that her mouth was dripping blood from the punch, he couldn’t hold back the temptation any longer. The scarlet liquid that flowed from her mouth was so welcoming, so inviting that he couldn’t control himself anymore.

  He sprang toward her and sank his fangs into her neck, feeding on her as her screams of terror echoed through the night.

  He fed on her like there was no tomorrow. Rellie’s body was drained of blood, and became as pale as a ghost. Her
screams faded to silence as the last threads of her life ebbed away.

  Catan couldn’t stop himself. The more he fed on her, the more wild and uncontrollable he became. He felt himself become stronger and stronger as Rellie’s blood flowed into his system. Yes, he needed more of her blood. He felt so powerful … so good, and he didn’t want to stop sucking her blood.

  When he sipped the last drop of her blood, Catan released Rellie and Rellie’s limp and lifeless body collapsed onto the floor. He let out a howl of satisfaction, feeling as though he could do almost anything in the world. Rellie’s blood empowered him, giving him a boost of strength. He loved the feeling, the feeling like he could take over the world at any moment.

  When Catan eventually calmed down from the euphoria, he took one last glance at Rellie’s dead body.

  “Thanks for the blood,” Catan sneered. As he was about to whisk off into the night, something suddenly tugged at the corner of his mind. His heart sinking, he realized what he’d just done. He’d killed Rellie, and he’d never know the name of the person who had given Rellie his name. Fury boiled within him, and he realized that the person who supplied Rellie his name could prove to be a threat to him. And he didn’t like of feeling of not knowing who that person was … it made him feel a little insecure and wary. This person might pose a threat to Catan, and the sooner Catan knew who this person was and eliminated him or her, the better it was. He had to know the identity of this person.

  Catan heaved a sigh as he looked down at Rellie, whose lifeless eyes gazed back at him. He could see the fear in those eyes, even in her death. She must have been petrified.

  Catan squatted down next to Rellie, shaking his head as a solution crept into his mind. He couldn’t believe what he was going to do, but it didn’t seem like he had any choice.

  His fangs protruded out, and as he was about to inject his blood into Rellie’s dead body, something caught his eye. Lying on the cold ground of the cab stand was Rellie’s satchel, which opened halfway to reveal some papers inside.

  His fangs retracted as fast as they had protruded. Maybe he didn’t need to be so hasty with his decision to turn Rellie into a vampire so she could be conscious again and spill the beans about who told her his name.

  He flitted over toward the satchel, and spilled the contents out. Piles of paper cascaded along with a mascara tube, eyeliner and other cosmetic products which Rellie was using. There was also a Louis Vuitton wallet and an expensive-looking diamond ring. But Catan wasn’t interested in any of those things.

  He grabbed the papers, and shuffled through them as though they were some kind of important artifact. He skimmed through the contents, and was surprised to discover that Rellie had written a story about … him. If course, it wasn’t completed yet, but all the details Rellie had written were so vivid that Catan felt as though he was actually reliving those moments. And those moments were real. Catan couldn’t deny the fact that Rellie had written every single piece of truth in the story. It was told from the viewpoint of none other than … Kalista!

  So that was the person who had supplied his name to Rellie. It was Kalista all along! And if this story was published in the papers, Catan’s identity would be revealed and all the vampire authorities would be after him, and his life would become a mess.

  No, this story must not get out to the papers, to public knowledge. Once his identity was known, there would be a worldwide vampire-hunt for him, and his life would be hell.

  He crumpled the draft papers in his hands, a sinister grin on his face. No one was going to retrieve those papers and get the story out. He was going to make sure that the evidence was destroyed.

  With his supernatural powers, Catan rubbed the crumpled papers between his palms and they burst into flames.

  Catan laughed once more, and flicked a pitiful glance at Rellie. She was beautiful, but not as beautiful as Kalista. Her body would most likely be discovered the next day, as the streets were empty except for stray cats and dogs scavenging for food.

  Catan didn’t need to turn Rellie into a vampire anymore. He already knew that it was Kalista. Catan shook his head incredulously, feeling foolish for not killing Kalista in the first place. She could pose a threat to him, with the vital information that she had about him and the Maze of Doom. If she revealed his secrets to the public through the media, Catan was definitely going to endure trials and tribulations. The only way was to kill Kalista … and yet … he couldn’t bear to kill her. There was something about her that made his heart feel heavy to do the evil deed of ending her life.

  Catan chastised himself for being so soft on Kalista. He was the world’s deadliest vampire who had innocent blood on his hands, and yet, there was just one person who seemed to be able to sway him and make him go soft: Kalista.

  Catan swore to himself that one way or another, he was going to hunt Kalista down and finish her off.

  But he wasn’t sure if he was able to do it. He still recalled the moment when he was at the Maze of Doom, on the brink of killing Kalista … but he just couldn’t do it. As evil as he was, he still had some feelings for her, and it was driving him crazy.

  Catan knew that his feelings for Kalista might affect his plan to kill her, but he just had to do it. Kalista might be the key to his undoing.

  Frowning in frustration, Catan took one last look at Rellie before vanishing into the night.

  ***

  The news of Rellie’s death spread like wildfire the next day. Video clips of her dead body were flashed across every major news channel in the country, sparking an outrage among the AEV activists, good vampires and humans alike.

  Jesse watched in horror at Rellie’s dead body on television, with police officers cordoning the place off and investigators combing the crime scene. The headline Satellite News vampire reporter killed by vampire flashed across the screen in bold red. Jesse closed her eyes tight, unable to erase the image of Rellie’s lifeless face from her mind. Too many innocent people had died at the hands of this vicious vampire. How long must this go on?

  There were too many vampire-related deaths happening in Wartwick, and anyone from her close circle of friends might be the next victim.

  Jesse had heard about Rellie, alright. She was the vampire star reporter of Satellite News, who’d been covering almost every imaginable vampire story at Wartwick for five years. She’d received countless awards from the Wartwick Journalism Association for her in-depth coverage of vampire stories across the years. She’d interviewed vampire CEOs, celebrities, sports stars and various high-profile vampires. She’d even done interviews with criminal vampires, trying to get behind the story of why they committed those crimes.

  And now when she herself was killed by a vampire, Jesse couldn’t even begin to imagine the shock that was rippling across her entire being. Rellie was a beloved figure of the good vampire community, so her tragic death created furor among the good vampires, who vowed to seek justice for her.

  The AEV tribunal representatives had given their statements to the press, saying that they would spare no efforts in a vampire-hunt for the killer and bringing him or her to justice.

  Jesse saw a gray-haired mature man appeared on the screen, being interviewed by a raven-haired female news reporter. Jesse recognized the man as Gregory Tanes, the president of the AEV tribunal.

  “We still have no idea who this vampire killer is,” Gregory Tanes said in a somber tone, his eyes showing apparent sadness over the tragic death of Rellie. “He or she has been on the loose for months. We still haven’t figured out the identity of this killer, and this baffles us. Who is he … or she? When will this killer strike again? Investigators have been working hard to identify this killer … but to no avail. We plead for the public to supply any information they have about this killer. There will be a reward for such information. For those of you with any information on the unknown killer, please do not hesitate to contact our AEV hotline at …” Gregory finished his sentence with the hotline number flashing across the screen.

/>   Jesse flipped the television off, burdened with anxiety and hopelessness. This vicious killer was very smart, and was able to avoid detection for months. Jesse wasn’t sure what kind of vampire they were up against. He could be a newborn vampire, but it seemed highly unlikely as newborns were very green and inexperienced, and were likely to leave trails of evidence leading to their arrest if they had committed a crime in the first place. No, they were dealing with a supernaturally powerful vampire, who was probably a thousand years old, or could be centuries. Jesse had a hunch that the murder of Rellie was tied to Catan. Catan had to be the one who was responsible for Rellie’s death.

  Jesse felt gloom settle over her as she had an ominous feeling that the killings would happen again, and again in an endless cycle. How could she help to nab the killer? What could she do as a vampire female police officer?

  Jesse picked up the phone and called Lieutenant Rogers, her superior, and notified him about the possibility of this vampire named Catan who could be Rellie’s killer. She gave as all the details she had about Catan to Rogers, and hoped that the information she had provided them would help lead to Catan’s arrest. Even though her details weren’t sufficient enough, Jesse she knew that the WPD would do whatever it took to get to the bottom of Rellie’s murder.

  And searching for the vampire killer wasn’t only her main concern … she was also trying to look for her missing vampire husband, who had been gone for more than twenty four hours.

  She was so dead tired combing the woods and streets for her husband the whole night that she’d informed her headquarters that she wouldn’t be turning in for work that morning. She’d told her superior, Lieutenant Rogers, about the case of her missing husband, and he’d dispatched his staff to comb the entire town for Ken.