Prison of Blood and Lies

Twenty-Five

In my room, I closed and locked the door. The rush of stealing had my mind whirling. Richard Hayes. I snorted. What a stupid fake name. And that wedding ring on his finger, just thinking about it made me see red.

Still buzzing from the excitement earlier, I decided that I wouldn’t waste any more time moping. I was going to get to the bottom of what happened to Vance.

I pulled out the smart phone Vance had given me and opened a browser. I typed in his stupid new name and the name of the city. I sorted through the money-grabbing scams until I found the modern phone book. There were three Richard Hayes in the city. I took screen shots of all three of their addresses. Three wouldn’t be too bad to visit.

I checked social media and found him. His profile was private except for his picture. It was his wedding picture. His. Not ours. His wife looked familiar but the picture was too small. I tapped on it to make it bigger and almost dropped the phone.

Alex.

My best friend.

That son of a b***h married my lifelong best friend with a fake name. I punched my pillow and screamed. I pulled up her social media profile and her picture was taken in front of her house with a recent date.

I knew where she lived. There was no longer a need to track down all three Richard Hayes. I knew exactly where I’d find the two lovebirds.

It was seven in the evening. The sun would almost be down. I only had to wait a little longer before I could hunt those two down.

I paced back and forth across the tiny room and caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the phone screen. I looked terrible. That wouldn’t do.

I needed to look the part when I showed up on their doorstep.

I marched to the bathroom with my small pouch of makeup and lined my eyes with black then smudged it just so. I painted my lips blood red. I teased my pin-straight ginger hair to give it a bit of volume. Satisfied, I checked the time for the hundredth time. The sun had set.

Time to go get some answers.

Alex lived in a small house on the outskirts of the city, near the highway. I called for a taxi again. Mercifully, it was a different diver. I wasn’t in the mood to sit through awkward small talk. At least not while I had revenge on my mind.

The cab dropped me off in their driveway. Two cars were parked in front. A smart looking sports car and a sedan. I guessed that the sports car was Vance’s. He’d always longed for the speed of a powerful engine. We had traded our car in for a minivan when we got the news that I was pregnant with twins. He fought that decision because he didn’t want to be seen in a so called mom car.

I crept to the windows in the front of the house. The lights in the front were off, but I could see a light on further back in the house. If I remembered correctly, that would have been the bedroom.

I jiggled the door handle. It was locked. I walked as quietly as I could to the back of the house. A few times when I’d slept over, Alex had forgotten to lock the back door and I harassed her about it.

“You don’t want some creep walking into your house in the middle of the night, do you?” I’d asked her then. She always laughed and locked the door.

I hoped that she was still forgetful. I tried the handle and it turned. I slipped into the dark house and looked around. The bedroom door was open and warm light shone into the narrow hallway. The TV blared some irritating reality TV show. All I could hear was a few vapid women arguing over a man. That show was always her favorite. I never understood why someone so smart would be driven to such a show.

I stopped in the doorway and knocked on the frame. Alex shrieked and Vance sat up in bed.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” I asked as I walked into the room.

“A-alice?” Alex sputtered. “I thought you died. I-I went to your funeral.”

“Yup. Dead. And here I am. Care to tell me why you’re married to my husband? He had a funeral, too, if I read the paper correctly. You two have a lot of explaining to do and you’re going to do it now.”

Alex paled and beads of sweat formed on her brow. She looked over at Vance.

“Game’s up. Vance. Talk. Or I’ll make you talk.”

“Why did you come here? Seeing me yesterday wasn’t enough for you? I told you that I didn’t look for you because I didn’t feel like it. That should have been enough. How are you free anyway?”

“Wait. How am I free? What the f**k, Vance. What did you do?” I turned to Alex who still looked like one about to s**t their pants.

She turned to Vance. “You said she was dead. What the hell is this? Why is she here?” she hissed.

“So you were in on whatever this is, Alex? After a lifetime of friendship? How could you?” I crossed the room in two big steps and slapped her across the face. My hand stung with the force of it.

I grabbed her by the collar of her nightgown and bared my fangs. She screamed. “What the hell? What is going on?”

“Tell her, Vance. Tell us both right now or I’ll tear this backstabber’s throat out right here in your bed.”

“Fine, fine. Put her down. I-I paid for it.”

I dropped her back onto her pillows. “Paid for what, exactly?”

“I paid for it and I arranged the whole thing.”

“You—you arranged our murder?” I couldn’t contain my shaking. It was a force of sheer will that I didn’t rip his throat out where he sat.

“Why?”

“I spent a lot of time with Alex while you were at work. We fell in love. I didn’t have the heart to tell you. And when you told me that you were pregnant, with twins no less? I couldn’t take it. I needed out and to be with Alex.”

My mind froze. My husband paid to have me killed so that he could be with my best friend.

“You were obviously in on it, weren’t you?” I swiveled my head to face her. She nodded. “That’s why the goodbye before Vance and I got on the boat was so awkward, wasn’t it?” She had hugged me for longer than was necessary and had tears in her eyes when she finally let me go. “You knew that I wasn’t coming home?”

I didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, I slapped her again. A drop of blood trickled from her nose. I wiped it with my finger and sucked the blood from my finger.

I turned back to Vance. “Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“Did you know what the people who were supposed to kill me were going to do instead?”

“I paid the hit man up front, but they paid me a commission. They paid well. Pregnant vampires just aren’t a thing, you know? A rarity like that is worth a lot of money.” I wanted to slap that smug look off his face. I held back because I needed him to keep talking.

“So, you signed your wife up for an eternity of being trafficked? Used and thrown away like garbage over and over and over again?”

Alex gasped. “You didn’t tell me that. You said she was dead.”

“Shut up, Alex. Don’t act like your loving husband is so perfect. You knew he paid someone to murder his pregnant wife. You don’t get to act surprised here.”

She didn’t get the hint.

“And what do you mean? You saw her yesterday? You said you stayed late at work.”

“Oh, big surprise, Alex. Seriously shut up. The fact that he’s a cheating scumbag is the least shocking thing right now. I’m asking the questions.”

I opened the messenger bag and pulled out the two tiny urns. “Do you two know what these are?”

Alex’s mouth hung open. Vance stared coldly at me.

“These are the remains of my two sons. I was forced to birth them, long after the had died. I did it alone, in a dark room. So the two of you can go to hell.”

I looked at Alex. “Actually, I’ll give you the shortcut. Goodbye, best friend.”

She tried to squirm closer to Vance, like he could protect her. I grabbed her shoulders and launched myself, fangs bared, at the front of her throat. Her scream was cut short when I tore her larynx from her body. She gurgled for a moment before she died. I tossed her body back onto the bed.

“You,” I pointed at Vance. “Get up and get your keys. We’re going for a drive.”