The Vampire Obsession

Chapter 19

After cleaning myself in the bathroom, I sat on the bed and buried my face in my hands.

Where in life did I go wrong to be so f****d up in the head?

Working with what I did, it was natural that my s****l fantasies had become peculiar. I tried to convince myself it was just that: things had mixed in my head, nothing more.

Suddenly, a light illuminated the entire room like a beacon.

My cellphone began to vibrate on the mattress.

My already accelerated heart skipped a beat when I looked at the lit screen and saw "unknown number".

"Hello, who is this?" I asked when answering, by pure habit, because I already knew who would reply.

I tried to hide how breathless I sounded.

"Hello, investigator Cross." A rough and familiar voice emerged from the other side. I could taste the smile in his words. "You sound agitated. Was it my call that made you like that or something else?"

"I was exercising," I blurted the first thing that came to my mind.

"I do not see any light on in your house. Is it your habit to exercise in the dark?" There was a hint of humor in his voice.

"Wait, are you close to my house?" I got up from the bed instantly and ran to the window.

However, as usual, he answered my question with another.

"What were you doing in the darkness, Evelyn?"

"That is none of your business." I peeked through the curtain and scanned the lower floor, the entrance of the chalet. But besides David’s patrol car, I found nothing.

No one wandering there.

A dark laugh thundered through the line.

"I would even think you invited the benevolent officer David to spend a cozy night in your chalet and exercise with you. But you did not seem very interested in him, did you? So I will imagine you are exercising alone."

"Wait, you were listening to our conversation? Are you stalking me, damn it?" I choked on my own breath, imagining him lurking, smiling while I rejected the officer. "And I do not want you imagining anything about me, thank you very much."

"Too late, my love, my imagination has already gone far. And he is an asshole who does not deserve a fraction of your time." His tone took on a violent depth. "Did you know that David gets women drunk, records his s****l encounters with them and shows everything to his friends? You would only be another on his slaughter list. You did well rejecting him."

I shuddered with that information.

I did not ask how he knew that, I did not doubt the Ripper’s capabilities to obtain whatever he wanted.

After all, it was still a mystery to me how he had gotten my number.

"What are you doing near my house?" I asked harshly. "You better not answer me with another question. Or I will hang up right now and never answer any call that comes from an unknown number that could be yours."

"I came to deliver a present to you."

"A present?" I frowned, disbelieving.

"I left it in the last place where we met."

As soon as I heard the words, I ran to the kitchen and found a sophisticated box resting on the window counter.

It was completely open, letting the freezing night air invade the house.

Even though I was absolutely sure I had closed all the windows before sleeping.

"Careful, or you will start to spoil me," I said ironically to disguise how fearful I was to find what was inside that box.

"Why am I getting another present from you?"

"For your honesty the last time we met. It is something I value very much, Evelyn."

"Then start being honest back with me," I demanded.

His soft and obscure laugh caressed my ear, making me shiver slightly.

Something I preferred to blame on the cold air entering the kitchen.

"Open your present."

I did not worry about being delicate with what I had in my hands, I tore the wrapping abruptly, eager to discover what was waiting for me.

And the beauty and opulence of what I found stole my breath.

My lips parted, searching for words to describe what I was seeing.

I was unable to find any.

"Why?" I asked weakly, equally amazed and frightened. "Why did you give me something like this?"

"Would you wear it for me, Evelyn?" he asked, his voice as soft as his fingers when suturing my skin.

Inside the box, wrapped in black satin fabric as soft as a night cloud, rested a ruby choker of a red as intense as coagulated blood.

I carefully took it in my hands and walked to one of the tall mirrors in the room.

I brought it to my neck and fastened it.

The choker wrapped around my throat like the touch of fingers strangling me.

The jewels hung from my neck delicately, like red liquid dripping down my skin.

"My God," I sighed, completely stunned with the reflection in the mirror. The beauty of the choker in contrast with my pale skin like a ghost at midnight.

"What do you see, Evelyn?"

"It looks like blood running down my throat." I touched the jewels, amazed and frightened with my own vision. "It looks like an open wound."

Like the ones you draw with your knife on the throats of your victims.

It was a macabre gift.

It could be considered a threat, a promise and even a mockery.

Even so, it was the most beautiful gift I had ever received.

The part of me that survived on cheap ramen at the end of the month could not help considering how much that cost.

It seemed to be worth a fortune.

I heard a low chuckle from the other side of the line, and that was when I realized I had let my last thought escape out loud.

"Money does not matter when the subject is you, investigator."

"Oh really?"

"I would love to see you right now. It is a shame I had to leave in a hurry. But I did not forget your last present."

"You brought me another present?"

"I made you another present," he whispered darkly, as if telling me a profane secret. "Good night, Evelyn. I believe you will discover what it is soon."

The call disconnected at the exact moment bells echoed through the house, making me jump in place.

I walked to the entrance suspiciously, on the tips of my feet so I would not make noise in case I needed to pretend there was no one home.

I checked the peephole before turning the handle.

There was a police officer standing at my door.

"Good evening, officer," I greeted.

The man looked at me for a moment, until his gaze fell to my neck.

That was when I realized I had not removed the ruby choker the Ripper gave me.

"Good evening, investigator Cross," the officer said, clearing his throat. "I came to inform you that the Ripper committed another murder tonight."

My eyes widened in shock.

I should have predicted that after his call.

The Ripper never acted by pure chance.

All his steps were meticulous and coldly calculated toward his objective.

"I made you another present," he confessed before hanging up.

"My God. Just a moment, I will get dressed to go to the crime scene with you..."

I made a move to close the door to run upstairs and change my pajamas.

However, the man placed a foot on the threshold, preventing me.

"Excuse me?" I arched an eyebrow, turning back to him.

"It will not be necessary, miss. The crime scene is right at your door."

Then he lowered his head and stepped aside, revealing an inert body on the stairs leading to the chalet.

It was David.

Painting the steps red and bathed in a pool of blood dripping from a deep cut in his throat.