The Calling

SEVEN

DEXTER



She stepped into the elevator and turned. I smiled at her, and I swear I saw disgust cross her face before she returned the smile. A big, ridiculous smile that held no sincerity at all. She squared her shoulders as the doors closed. I wondered if she was resisting my effects or if maybe she was too angry about Penny's absence to be swayed. I had told Penny she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about us. When she was fully consumed by me, I made her stop coming to work. I hadn’t meant to do it. It was with Penny that I realized just how out of control my powers were becoming.

She was head over heels in love with me even before my power consumed her. I could tell she was skeptical about me in the beginning, but I knew how to charm a woman. I had her hooked within a few weeks, and I hadn’t even used my abilities. I had thought she was the one. There was something different about her, something brighter and purer than all the other girls I had ever been with. There was a true pureness within her, and when I lost control, I did it completely, consuming her whole being.

She was so ensnared that she wouldn’t be able to survive without me, even worse than the others. I was hoping Merrick’s potion would fix her, but I didn’t want him to know how bad off she was. I needed to fix this quickly. If I had Penny managed, then I could use her to gain Elara’s trust. I smiled to myself. Of course, it would be me to make my soul bond happen first. Me, with the ability to draw them in with a simple touch or whisper of their name. What an advantage. I got in the elevator and headed to the parking garage where my car was. As I was getting in, my phone went off with Penny’s ringtone.

She wanted me to come to her. I sighed. I didn’t want to, but I knew I had to. She needed me to stay alive. Penny was probably feeling pretty weak by now. I didn’t feel like driving. The burden of going to someone I didn't really want to see weighed on me, and my mind was wandering with thoughts of Elara and the way she seemed not to react to any of my abilities. I left my car in the garage and called for an Uber. I waited on the bench outside the building. Traffic was bad, and the Uber was going to take some time.

As I waited, I responded to some of the messages that had been chiming in all evening from the countless girls I had courted these last few months. I hadn’t truly been with any of them yet, and I sighed, realizing I would have to continue not being with any of them. The Oasis was already full of love-sick blondes that needed me near them at least once a day to survive. I could only feed from them maybe once or twice a week, and I could never fully satiate myself, or they would die. I was just too out of control.

I was surprised when the Uber arrived. I'd been lost in my thoughts for some time. I realized almost an hour had passed since I’d called and found it odd that Penny hadn’t called again. I felt uneasy. Because of her advanced condition, I had to be near her much more often. I called her cell phone as I slid into the back seat of the car, a white sedan. The driver was an older man with a friendly smile. He offered me a water, and I smiled and shook my head.

The call went straight to voicemail, and I felt fear run down my spine. Merrick would be furious. Father might banish me. But the thought that bothered me the most was that my chances to find out if Elara was my soul bond would be lost. In the years before, I never worried about it. But I’d grown tired of lonely mornings and women falling all over me simply because they had no choice. They couldn’t ignore the draw to me.

It was almost refreshing that Elara could resist me. That there was disgust in her eyes when she looked at me. But it started a longing in me and made me realize something I had been ignoring—I wanted to settle down. I laughed in spite of myself, and the driver looked nervously in his rearview mirror.

“Sorry. I just caught on to a joke a co-worker said this morning,” I said to soothe him.

He just smiled politely again and turned on the radio.

Good man, I thought.

I liked people who minded their business. I’d been a little worried he’d ask what the joke was. I glanced out the window to see we were driving through Penny’s neighborhood now. A quaint little place with small cottage homes. The place always smelled of flowers, even in the winter months. It was much like The Oasis in that way. No one knew that my family owned the neighborhood and handled all the rentals. We owned many rentals in the state of New York, but we used another company name to stay a little more under the radar.

I wasn't sure how under the radar my father expected to be when we had stock in everything, but I rarely questioned his judgment. He was good at business, and he'd been alive for many years—far longer than I had lived. I felt a pang of fear in my chest, thinking of my father. I tried calling Penny once more, but again it went straight to voicemail.

Please be alive...

With my father's health being poor and the things Merrick had warned us about earlier, I was very on edge. I needed her to be okay. I couldn't disappoint my father or ruin my family's chances at a good life in this world. Returning to The Void was not an option.

The driver pulled up to Penny's home. Somehow her home was more beautiful than all the others, with vines growing up a trellis and flowers cascading over the openings of her porch. Even with the flowers being a bit wilted from lack of care, her home stood alone in its glory. I stepped out of the car and gave a pleasant goodbye to the nice man. I quickly pulled out my phone, left a five-star review, and then began walking up the drive.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a sleek, black car in the driveway. Panic gripped me—something I rarely experienced. Then I heard Penny’s frantic screams coming from inside the house. I ran up the drive and onto the porch, looking through the big window. I saw Penny pummeling another woman who looked familiar. The woman had her arms up to shield herself from Penny's frantic swings.

Penny screamed at her to leave, her voice shrill with fear. “HE’S COMING!” she shouted repeatedly.

A wave of guilt washed over me. I had caused this—this wild, erratic fear. She was terrified that I would harm her or leave her if she broke my rules. I squared my shoulders and jaw and took a deep breath as I opened the door and stood in the doorway.

Immediately, Penny moved back and rested on her knees, staring at me in complete fear. I saw her tremble, her fear turning to rage as she looked at the other woman, who was pressed back against the side of the couch. Penny whispered something angrily that I didn't catch, and the other woman slowly stood, careful and watching Penny as she moved backward to stand in the kitchen doorway.

The back door was in the kitchen. Smart girl. She dared a glance at me in the doorway, and I saw her take a sharp breath.

Ah. Elara. Of course.

I smiled at her, hoping to ease her with some of my charms. She looked like a caged animal. Her hair and clothes were completely disheveled from her tussle with Penny, and her eyes looked like a real storm—a deep, menacing gray.

“Mmm. Naughty Penelope. I said no guests,” I said as I continued to stare into Elara’s eyes, searching. Was I affecting her? It didn’t seem like I was. She inched back more, and it didn’t seem like she realized it.

Penny's fear returned, and she crawled across the floor, sobbing and begging as she clung to my legs. I smiled at Elara once more, then broke our gaze to look at Penny.