Lengths For Love (18 page)

I nodded. “You’re very different from your son.”

“Times have made me different. I used to be like that, but I know better now. I just wish he did, too.” He started to leave the room. “You better get busy with something else. I don’t want anyone to be suspicious, all right?”

“All right. Make yourself at home and, if you need anything, I’ll send Kristine down,” I said, closing the door behind me. I leaned against it and sighed. Even though I had made a promise, I didn’t feel comfortable going through with it.

I made it to the bathroom and stared at myself. My hair was messed up and greasy, my eyes were bleary from the stress I got here, and my bottom lip was still swollen. Great. Just great. Claude wanted me to fight back, but I always ended up losing. How the hell did a guy who was shorter than me and clearly had no muscle always beat me? I was doing something wrong. Vincent had a weak spot, but I hadn’t found it yet. Sure, he was in love with my girlfriend, but I couldn’t use her as a human shield.

Looking down at the bottom of the mirror, I noticed that it was slightly cracked. Oh, someone was going to get it. Was it Jenny who had broken the mirror? Whatever the reason, I needed to protect myself. I didn’t like the idea of using a weapon against anyone, but things were going too far. Reaching over, I broke off a piece of mirror and hid it in my pocket. It wasn’t a whole lot, but if I could scratch him with it, then I would have done my job.

Alexis was waiting for me outside of the bathroom. She looked sick so I let her go in. But she did not move and looked up at me.

“It just happened,” she said.

“I know.” I wasn’t sure who said those words because it didn’t sound like me. “It was bound to happen. Both of these things were. We should have known better than to think we would be safe.”

“I care about him,” she murmured. “And I know you care about Kristine.”

“But do you love him?” I wanted to know. “And I’m not talking about as a friend. Do you love him the way you love me? Or do you love him more?”

She shook her head and tried to get into the bathroom. “I’m not even sure of this, Ian. I just know that... we need to get out of here. You were right. We should never have come here because it was... it was a stupid idea. I just wanted to be rid of the pain and I get more of it instead.”

“Alex, listen...” I started, trying to touch her shoulder but she got into the bathroom and started to close the door. “Look, I’m not mad about that! If you love the guy, tell him! If he’s the one you want, and I know he wants you too, then you should...”

“Ian, I just want to be left alone! Please!” With that, she closed the door on my face and locked it. I stared at it and tried to listen to what was going on. But the wood was so thick that I couldn’t make out anything behind it.

“I’m sorry, baby.” I whispered.

But I don’t think she ever heard me.

I thought about what Claude had said earlier and decided that if I wanted to leave, I needed help in doing so. Kristine and I made time after Claude left to break into Vince’s office and find evidence. As iffy as we felt about each other, this was something that had to be done.

“I need to get into Vince’s office,” I said. “I have to find something, any kind of evidence to put the creep behind bars. You can’t live like this. No one can. I know it won’t make up for all the crimes he’s committed, but it would be something. He’d be locked away forever.”

“Are you sure about this?” She asked.

“More sure than ever.” I looked at his office door. “He won’t be in. If we don’t start now, it’ll never get done. Let’s go.”

I turned the knob of the door and was shocked to find that it was unlocked. His place was neat and tidy, no books or papers lying about. But there had to be something in those file cabinets about him. I nodded to her to follow me.

“I feel so strange breaking in here,” she said as I opened the door and headed to the file cabinets. “I feel like I’m violating his privacy.”

“He’s violated far worse and you’re worrying about his privacy?”

She conceded my point. “What do you expect to find here?”

“Something, anything... that will lock him up forever. Or send him to a good psychiatrist. He’s not in his right mind, Kristine. It’s about time people saw that.”

I flipped through the cabinet and saw many names. I wasn’t sure who these people were, but it couldn’t be good news for them. Taking out one of them, I looked at it. Trevor Markum. There was a giant red X across his papers and a small strip of paper with three Xs on it. I was about to wonder what this was when I saw a yellow sticky note with the following on it: Stake Through the Heart.

Curious, I looked at another file. Rose Wilde. Red X, three Xs on a strip of paper, and a yellow sticky: Drowned and Stake Through the Heart. Third file, Maxwell Shepherd. Red X, three Xs, yellow sticky: Stake Through the Heart and Burned to Ashes. No doubt about it, these were dead vampires. My blood turned to ice just reading through them. He had collected a list of his victims. I wasn’t sure if I could go through this anymore so I closed the drawer.

Lucky for me, I got a distraction because Kristine had called me over. “Ian! Come look at this!”

I went over and saw that she had uncovered a white board with names all over it. Next to those names were red Xs. This was not going to bode well.

“It’s everyone’s name,” Kristine said. “The only one that doesn’t have any strikes is your girlfriend. Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Me either,” I admitted. “The guy has done everything except get in her pants. I’m the lone obstacle that stands in the way. What else did you find?”

“He’s got tabs on you,” she said, pulling out my file. “Marked down every time you got in his way. He mentioned the time you got in between him and Jenny. When you tried to help me. When you were being kind to me.” She looked up and stared at the white board. “Well, he may not have liked it, but I did.”

I ignored that and stared at the three X’s by my name on the board. “What’s going to happen to me?”

“If you manage to avoid Mr. Augustin, I think you’ll be fine. However, he seems to be on your tail wherever you go.” She held out more papers, which looked like maps. Sure enough, they were of places that I had been to. He marked them with red pen and scribbled all over with words and swears. Some of them were so colorful, I wasn’t even sure if such words existed until then.

“And here’s more.” She handed me a bunch of pictures. “He’s been eyeing Alexis like you suspected.”

I flipped through all the Polaroids, cursing myself for never having caught him. He had been spying on her from the beginning. There were pictures of Alexis on the train, Alexis walking around Vienna, Alexis watching the horses in the stable, Alexis getting chemo. This was sickening. I had come across one picture where she was sleeping and I ripped it in half.

“That bastard,” I whispered, flinging the halves of the Polaroid into the trash. “He’s like... like...”

“He’s like what, Ian?”

But that one hadn’t come from Kristine. I turned to find Vincent standing in the doorway, arms crossed and nostrils flaring. He had no weapons on him and that wasn’t a good sign. Still, I was prepared this time. I had that shard of mirror I had broken off. If he planned to attack, I wasn’t going to go down.

“You can’t have my girlfriend,” I said firmly. “I made it clear from the beginning.”

“Oh, I know. I’m not trying to steal her from you.” He took a step forward. “I’m trying to keep you from her.”

“Meaning?” Now it was my turn to step forward. “Are you trying to take me out of the picture? Because that’s not happening.”

“Ian, don’t!” Kristine tried to stop me, but it was too late. I had to face him once and for all. It was going to end tonight.

“You don’t deserve a woman like her,” he whispered. “After she’s turned, she will be stronger than you. She’ll grow tired of you and then she will kill you. So I’m going to do the job for her.”

“And you’re not worried about her killing you?” I snorted. “Forgot that she wants to be the thing you despise, huh? You’ve got to be dumber than I thought.”

He gritted his teeth and I enjoyed it. I was getting on his nerves. “You better watch it. I’m not going to take your mouthy remarks any longer.”

“Funny, you haven’t tried to kill me yet. You’re the one that’s all talk and no action.”

“Ian!” Kristine gasped, but I was on a roll. Claude had been right; the quickest way to weaken Vince was to taunt him. I could see him unraveling right in front of me and it was somewhat pleasant. I didn’t know if it was because I was sick or because I enjoyed being able to get back at him. But I wasn’t scared of this.

“You think you’re tough, don’t you?” he asked.

“A lot tougher than you. You have to make yourself look more terrifying to everyone else. You know no one would give you time of the day if you were kind and loving. So you start to scare them and that’s when they listen to you.”

Now he turned to Kristine and started to advance towards her. “You’re behind this too, aren’t you? You little slut, you told him everything!”

“I told him nothing, asshole!” She snarled, pushing him back and baring her teeth. I felt cold when I saw them; fangs. I had seen them described in every way imaginable, but now I could see them. “I’m through with this! I’m through with all of it!”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he threatened.

“And who will stop me?”

He pulled back his fist and went to punch her but she moved away quickly. That only made him angrier and she bit his shoulder. He howled in pain and pushed away. I grabbed her as she fell to the ground. He looked down at the blood pooling on his jacket sleeve, then shot looks at us.

“How dare you...”

“How dare I what? Hurt you the way you hurt me?” Kristine asked. “No. No, I cannot do this anymore. I’ve been stuck with you for a very long time and I can’t.”

“Oh really?” He chuckled but I felt sick. The guy had moved behind me at this point and, before I could react, pushed me to the ground. Kristine gasped while I groaned. For a small guy, Vince had a lot of strength in that body. I heard another thud and Kristine let out a squeal. No doubt he had gotten to her. As my vision came back, I saw him holding what appeared to be a lead pipe and glaring down at me. I did not know where he got it from, but I did have a bad feeling what he planned to use it for.

“Spy on me, huh? Bad idea!”

The lead pipe came down on my ankle and I screamed. I could hear a sickening crack inside and I knew he had managed to break it. Falling to the ground, I clutched it and winced. No doubt he did this to hinder my escape and to get back at me for snooping around. I could see his nostrils flaring as he circled around me. Dropping the pipe on the ground, he picked up a dagger on his desk and faced me.

“I should have broken your leg on my birthday,” he grumbled. “I don’t know why I stopped, but I guess I thought kicking you would be enough. Plus I didn’t want to make Alexis unhappy. She was asking me about everything and I finally confessed to her. You think she didn’t believe you? She did. She just knew about it well before you told her.”

“You’re lying!” I hissed, holding my foot. Kristine blinked and looked up at us. I could tell her wound wasn’t healed yet and that’s the only reason she stayed put. She nodded at me, making sure I didn’t make a move.

“It’s true. I realized I couldn’t hide what I did so I told her. I expected her to slap me, yell at me, call me all kinds of names. Instead, she just looked at me and asked why. So I told her how I felt and still waited for the anger. It never came, and that’s when I knew that she was different. So we started to tell each other our secrets and she told me about you. She told me about her fears that you might cheat on her with that whore”—he glared at Kristine who stayed still and emotionless—“and that you didn’t care for her feelings. I’m beginning to think she’s right. You’re the one who keeps breaking my rules.”

Vince rounded to me and looked at where I was lying, tapping the dagger against his palm. “I warned you, didn’t I? I told you to stay where you were, but you couldn’t help it. Should have known you were too nosy for your own good. Alexis told me all about that.”

“She... She did?” I croaked out.

“What did you think we did when we were together? Yes, we made love, although I’m sure you’re aware of that now. But we talked about everything under the sun. She said it felt good to have someone listen to her since you never liked to hear her vampire talk. As for me, I enjoyed the company. It felt good to have another person talking to me since you kept turning your nose up. Like I wasn’t good enough for you.”

His grip tightened around the dagger’s handle and I felt my stomach lurch upward.

“So yes, she told me about you. How curious you are about everything. I thought she was exaggerating, but it turns out she’s right. You just wouldn’t stay away no matter what I did or said. It’s like you want a reason to die.”

“So you want to kill me?” I spat out. “Go ahead! You already broke my ankle, you might as well finish me off!”

“No!” Jenny yelled, breaking down the door. I looked up to find her and other vampires blocking the doorway. All of them looked angry and very hungry. Jenny’s eyes had turned red and her teeth were bared. Her fangs. Oh God, her fangs! I crouched down in my corner. But in front of them all was Claude, looking disappointed at all of us. Vince frowned at me.

“Hello, father.” He said through his gritted teeth. “Why am I not surprised that you’re behind this as well?”

“It’s foolish to try and fight them off, son.” Claude began. Unlike Vince, he was more calm and quiet. “They want out and I’m going to set them free.”

“No!” Vincent snapped. “Do you know what could happen?!”

“It can’t be worse than what happens here!” A deep-voice, larger vampire snarled from back. Several voices rang out in agreement.

“I knew I couldn’t trust you on this,” Claude went on. “You never did grow up or learn your lessons.”

“You’re one to talk, father,” he replied snootily. “You haven’t exactly been around to help me grow or learn anything.”

“Only because you claimed to have everything under control,” his father replied sternly. “How can I take you seriously now, considering what you have done? You know what your ancestors fought for!”