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