Chapter 20

The address was in the next state over and a several hour drive. I was glad that I’d had sleep, but I certainly hadn’t anticipated this. The miles ticked by and I fought to stay focused while at the same time, I dug through my brain to try to figure out who would be angry at me. I had twenty years to sift through but nothing really stuck out at me.

After many, many hours of driving, I slowed down as I approached the address. As was to be expected, it was in an old warehouse district of a town, which was where most vampire business took place. I parked the car and got out, then slowly walked around towards a door. I knew full well that I was walking into a trap, but I couldn’t figure any other way to figure out what was going on.

I pushed the door open and walked into an empty warehouse.

“Hello?” I called out as I focused my senses in the dim light.

I pushed deeper into the warehouse, gripping the handle of the dagger as I looked around for any signs of life, human or vampire.

“Hello?” I called out again.

“Took you long enough. We thought you weren’t coming.” Came a sweet seductive voice that sent chills up my spine.

“Where are they, Liz!” I called out, spinning around.

“Where are who?” Liz replied in an innocent voice as she smirked at me. She was dressed all in black with her arms crossed over her chest.

“The girls! Where are the girls?” I yelled.

“I can’t keep track of all of your pussy Scotty. You apparently have girls all over the country, or you did.” Liz smirked.

“You fucking bitch! I’m gonna fucking kill you!” I screamed. I lifted the dagger up and ran towards Liz full speed.

Still smirking, Liz reached behind her back. I was moving too fast to stop myself as Liz brought her hand around and lifted it up.

I felt a sharp point in my chest, like a doctor’s needle that was the size of a pencil. I dropped the dagger and fell to my knees.

“What the fuck did you do to me?” I gasped as I rolled onto my back.

“Good thing that they want you alive. Nighty night Scotty.” Liz called out.

Her smile was the last thing I saw before I went dark.

My eyes finally came back on and I tried to stand up.

“What the shit?” I exclaimed as I tried to raise my arms.

“Come on Scotty, it’s not like this is the first time you’ve been tied up.” Came Liz’s voice.

I jerked my head around to see Liz at the head of a long table. Her feet were up on the table and she was holding a glass of red liquid in her hand.

As I regained consciousness, I looked around the room and realized it was some sort of huge office or conference room I was seated in a chair with my arms behind my back.

“Liz, get me the fuck out of here! What the fuck is happening!” I yelled, pulling my arms apart.

“Oh Scotty. You’re so fiesty. You’re not going to get out of those cuffs. As you told me, we’re still human, sort of. So just sit back and relax.” Liz teased.

“What the shit is going on?” I screamed.

“You are in way over your head, that’s what’s going on.” Came a new, female voice. I jerked my head to the side.

“Who is that?” I yelled.

“Forget me already? It has been a few years so I guess I’ll cut you some slack.” Came the voice, which grew louder. I could hear footsteps approaching me.

Out of the shadows came a female figure in a suit. Long dark hair spilled over her shoulders.

“What the shit?” I gasped.

“Hello Scott.”

“Alicia?” I gasped.

Alicia’s face split into a grin.

“So, you do remember. I would be hurt, but I know that twenty years is a long time. I should be on Forbes top 100, if I allowed any of my business to get out into the public view. There are so many downsides to being a vampire, but the stock program makes up for it I suppose.” Alicia sighed.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Actually, you are in her place.” Liz corrected.

Alicia grinned.

“This is true.” Alicia commented.

“Ok, fine. What the fuck am I doing here?” I asked.

“We’ll get to that. First, I want to fill you in on a little back story, not that it matters.” Alicia began.

“Uh, OK. That would be swell I guess.” I replied.

“Do you remember what I was doing when you and I met?” She asked.

“Something about medical supply. Or, Mason was doing that before you killed him.” I shot back.

“He was a prick anyway. You know that he filed for divorce the day after you turned him? Fucking asshole was going to leave me. Good thing that his lawyer liked me better. Shame that he tasted so good. I liked him.” Alicia said.

“So you DID kill Mason. I knew it!”

“Not hard to connect those dots, Scotty. Naturally, I wasn’t going to let him cut me out. The good news is that I inherited all of his stock and his board seats. With him out of the way, I took control of the company. Let’s say I’ve been on an expansion ever since.”

“Awesome. Who gives a shit.”

“Oh, it doesn’t matter. I just figured that you wanted to know what an old friend had been up to the last twenty years.”

“What I really want to know is what I’m doing here and where the girls are.”

“Ah yes, your girls. Well, your girls are safe for the moment.” Alicia said.

“But not for long.” Liz sang.

“What?” What’s that supposed to mean?”

“More stories and then we’ll get to that. So, after I took over the company, I expanded into other fields, mostly blood services. Ever wonder where your blood supply came from?” Alicia asked.

“You are one of the shell companies?” I asked.

“No, I AM the company. My conglomerate has hundreds of shell companies underneath it. The blood supply company is just one of them.”

“Interesting. What the fuck does that matter to me?” I asked.

“Well, I figured that you’d be happy to finally meet one of your vendors.” Alicia shrugged.

“Great. Nice to meet you. Now let me the fuck out of here!”

“She’s also your landlord.” Liz said.

I looked over at Liz and then back at Alicia.

“It’s true. I also own several real estate companies.”

“You own the club? Your company?” I asked.

Alicia nodded.

“So, you owned Steve’s house?”

Alicia nodded.

“So, you knew what he was doing there?” I asked.

“Horny vampires need kinky sex too and they are willing to pay a lot of money for it. As you know, vampires are rather durable.” Alicia grinned.

“So you fucking knew that he was trapping vampire girls and using them as fucking sex slaves?” I asked incredulously.

Alicia shrugged.

“I call it ‘aggressive recruiting’. Supply and demand. The market had a need and I found a way to fill it. Besides, the girls healed, didn’t they? What’s the problem? “ Alicia asked.

“That’s fucking sick. You let innocent girls get turned into vampires and raped for money and you call that aggressive recruiting?”

“You know what they say about glass houses?” Liz asked.

I turned to look at her.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.

“Innocent girls. I mean, didn’t you turn your girlfriend? Alicia asked.

“That was an accident! I’m taking care of her!” I shot back.

“Yeah well. She’s not your first, is she?” Alicia asked with a grin.

“What? What in the FUCK are you talking about?” I cried.

“Well, now it’s a matter of technicalities.” Liz said.

“Yeah, we are sort of splitting hairs here, aren’t we?” Alicia nodded.

“I suppose.” Liz sighed.

“What in the holy hell are you two insane bitches talking about!” I yelled, my voice breaking.

“Boy, I didn’t know that tormenting him would be so much fun. But, I think that the gig is up. Come on out Jen.” Alicia called out.

“Jen?” I asked, confused.

“Boy, your memory does suck.” Came another female voice.

I looked into the darkness over Alicia’s shoulder. Slowly a blond figure came into view.

“Who are you? Do I know you?” I asked as I focused my eyes.

“Yes, you do. Though it was very, very short.” The woman replied. She walked over towards Liz and put her hand on her shoulder.

I stared at her intently.

“You were at the laser tag, weren’t you?” I asked.

Jen nodded.

“Why?”

“Hunting.” Alicia replied.

“Hunting?” I asked.

“Learning her prey.” Alicia said.

“Prey?”

“Jen here is a hunter. She does my dirty work for me. She’s very, very good. She knows that she needs to investigate her target first, just to make sure that there weren’t any surprises. You surprised Liz, and we didn’t need that to happen again.”

“You were the one that let Liz out?” I asked.

Alicia nodded.

“Jen did actually. She was coming to check out the club for me when you and your friend pulled your little stunt.” Alicia explained.

“I don’t understand. What does this have to do with me?”

“Well, first off, you killed my staff. Steve was an asshole, but he brought in good money with the sex thing. You cut that off from me. While you are bringing in good sales numbers lately, it doesn’t remotely make up for the money that he was bringing in with the private rooms.”

“You mean, the money he was making on the vampire sex slaves.” I corrected her.

Alicia waved her hand.

“Regardless, I’m annoyed that my bottom line has dropped. That doesn’t make me happy.”

“So, you’re going to kill me over it? How is that going to help your bottom line?”

“Oh, that’s just a side benefit. The real key here is to fulfill a promise I made to Jen.” Alicia said with a smirk.

“What’s that?”

“That I’d get to kill you one day.” Jen replied.

“Why? Do I know you? Why are you mad at me?” I exclaimed.

Jen slowly walked over to me and knelt down. She turned her head to the side and tugged the collar of her shirt down.

“Oh no. No. No, it can’t be. It can’t be.” I mumbled.

There were scars on her neck.

“After you ran away from me, I went down to investigate. I found Jen in the tunnel. You did quite a number on her, but she apparently had quite the will to live. I turned her right there.” Liz said.

Jen turned towards me.

“Part of me wants to thank you for killing Brian, though I would have preferred to do it myself. Though, I understand that at the time I didn’t have the strength.”

“After I pulled Jen out of that pipe, I took her home. We became good friends, didn’t we, sweetie?” Liz said.

Jen stood up and nodded.

“Yes we did.”

“I met them at a club. I needed good people and Jen needed a job. Something to focus on. Something to direct her energy on.” Alicia said.

“Me? I just want to fuck.” Liz shrugged.

“And Jen just wants to kill.” Alicia said.

“Why?” I croaked, looking up into her hard, blue eyes.

“Do you know what you took from me?” Jen asked.

“I’m sorry.” I gasped.

“I wanted to do things. I wanted a life. I wanted a family. I wanted to be something. I didn’t want to hide in the dark for the rest of my life.” Jen shot back.

“I’m so sorry.”

“She’s got a life now though. She’s the fucking best.” Alicia said.

“You’re a killer?” I asked.

“She’s a fucking predator is what she is.” Alicia corrected.

“And it’s all been leading to this.” Jen said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Jen made me promise that if we ever found you, she would get to kill you herself.”

“Where are the girls?” I asked in a small voice, afraid of the answer.

“Let’s just say that you won’t need that family plan any more. Washington is nice this time of year.”

I dropped my head to my chest, feeling tears fill up my eyes.

“Are Kayla and Jill alive?” I asked between sobs.

“For now. I have something really interesting in mind for them.” Jen said.

“What’s that?”

Jen walked over and grabbed the hair on the back of my head. I gasped as she yanked my head backwards and leaned down towards me.

“You get to try to save them.” She grinned.

“What are you talking about?”

“I have a lot of property here. They are out in the woods. If you can get to them before my pets do, they live.” Alicia said.

“What’s the catch?” I asked.

“ME.” Jen replied in a dark voice and then released my hair.

“Why? Why kill them?” I called out as Jen walked away.

“Loose ends are never pretty. On top of that, the dogs have to have something to eat.” Jen said over her shoulder.

“What do you want to do next?” Alicia asked.

“Take him downstairs. I’ll meet you there in 30 minutes.” Jennifer said.