17: Wrong Turn Pt. 4

Victoria made herself comfortable in the sand and watched as Derrick finished laying out the wood to prepare the bonfire. “I read that vampires aren’t very keen on flames,” she smiled towards him as he turned to look at her. Striking a match against the heel of his boot, he tossed it mechanically onto the twigs and watched the fire instantly engulf the wood and rise to the apex of branches.

Dropping onto the sand beside her, Derrick pulled his legs against his chest and peacefully watched the dance of the flames in front of him. “There’s no love loss true but it doesn’t mean we don’t need to use it in everyday life. Why? Are you making plans to toss me onto the pyre, Victoria?”

“Now why would I do a thing like that? Besides, I’d have to ram a wooden stake into your heart, cut off your head and pour holy water on your corpse before setting your body to ash; too much work.” He laughed at the confident smile on her face and took a swig of the bottle he’d liberated from her cabin. 

“You’ve been doing your homework, Detective, that’s good. You’ll really need to know everything about my kind and of the many other creatures that lurk in this world.”

“Have you encountered them all?”

He nodded and sipped again. “I’m over four hundred, Victoria, I’ve seen my share of everything.” She shook her head no as he offered her the bottle and turned her attention to the fire. Derrick watched her features for a moment and the growing curiosity he saw in her expression. “Ask,” he growled and waited for her to speak.

Victoria chewed her bottom lip a moment and then parted them with a sigh. “How were you turned?”

“By an embittered father and his willful handmaiden. I was born in Great Britain, Coventry and grew up in Shropshire. My father was Thomas Constantine 4^th Duke of York, my mother, Nicolette Middleton, was a Countess in the royal court of Sussex.”

“Wait a second, you’re royalty?” Victoria asked with interest.

“A blue blood through and through can’t you tell? And like most royals around that time I thought the world was mine. I never cared about the ‘little people’ or the commoners who toiled and bled to make the country what it was. I only cared about the next girl whose virtue I could take or where I’d get my next drink. That is until I met Cecily Ambrose, the daughter of a local vintner named Liam. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes upon and I’d almost instantly fallen in love with her. I had made plans to marry her but her family had arranged other plans. Her hand was promised to a wealthy merchant with whom the father had business. His shop sold very little during the winter months and in order to keep their heads above water, he arranged her marriage in a deal that he would not break from pleas of a lovesick young boy.”

“Angry I cursed the father’s luck even more not realizing such wishes could be heard and turned against me. His handmaiden, working her way into his bed, saw to it that my thoughts found the ears of her father as hopes of gaining standing. And before I had the chance to make good on my threats, he had his servants kidnap me. I was held for three days in the cellar of his shop. I was beaten and tortured before Liam slit my throat and tossed me into the alley behind the tavern at dusk.”

“But before the last breath left my lungs, a bumbling drunk found me; at least that’s what I thought he was. Attracted by the smell of my blood, he pulled me from the ground and sank his fangs into my neck. I could feel the last beat of my heart before slipping into unconsciousness. When I awoke I found myself in the home of an old friend, Count Rowan Grafton. He offered me a drink, blood, and explained what he’d done to me and the ‘gift’ he’d blessed me with.”

“A Count? Really? That’s sort of...ironic.” Victoria smiled to herself thinking of a brand of cereal she enjoyed very much as a child.

“Where do you think the stories come from? As a boy I’d heard plenty about the creatures that plagued the twilight hours and preyed upon innocent townsfolk but never had I imagined it to be real. Angry, I took to my new life quickly, plotting my revenge against Cecily’s father and the maid that saw to my death. But when I arrived at his shop, I found her there in mourning.” 

“News of my murder was the top story in the town although my body hadn’t been discovered. So when I revealed myself to Cecily, you can imagine her shock. But it wasn’t a happy surprise to see me. Being a devout Catholic almost immediately she knew what I was; called me ‘a foul thing’ and would have nothing to do with who I’d become. Because of our intimacy I could see her thoughts. She never loved me. She saw my title as a means to escape her common life and elevate herself within the royal court.” 

He stood and poked at the flames to keep them from dying down before coming to rest in front of the pyre. “Heartbroken I made plans to leave England for one of the newer colonies being settled in America and make a fresh start. While waiting on my boat I got the news of Cecily’s death and that of Liam and his maid. Rowan took care of them for me. My early birthday gift he said. I was turned one day before my 26^th birthday. Rowan told me that in order to survive I must be willing to ignore the humanity I feel for those around me. He said it would only cause more grief and being an eternal creature, that’s no way to live.”

“After that, I made everyday a new adventure. Traveling wherever I could, experiencing women of every country, every race. I even fought in a couple of wars; you’d not believe the amount of blood spilled on a battlefield.” Gulping down a large mouthful of Bailey’s, Derrick wiped his mouth in a hiss and sat the bottle between them. “What about you, Detective? What’s the story of your life?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t lived through many wars and fought in historical battles nor was I born the child of a royal family. I’m afraid my biography would be short and uninteresting.”

“Short, perhaps but uninteresting, that’s for me to decide.” He smiled encouragingly and Victoria sighed.

“Ok. I’m originally from Florida, Miami to be exact. My Dad was a Mail Handler, my Mom was a Nurse, both retired. I have 9 siblings split evenly down the middle, 5 girls, 5 boys of which I am the youngest. I’ve been a cop for almost nine years, working as a Homicide Detective for five. The end.” 

“No, Victoria, that’s only the beginning. How did you decide being a cop was what you wanted to do?” Derrick asked and watched as she eyed the bottle beside her leg. Just the fact alone that her attention went to the alcohol told him the story would not be a pleasant one. But he’d shared something with her he’d never told another person. He was very interested in seeing into her closet as well.

Finally sipping from the bottle of Bailey’s, she let the Irish liqueur coat her throat in a slow burn and smiled at the feeling of warmth before beginning. “As a child I’d always wanted to work with animals in some capacity, but that changed after my best friend was attacked and killed while waiting on me to come home from class one day.”

“Brenda and I both got into the same college and decided to live off campus. Found ourselves a nice little condo near the college and everything was great the first year. I was in school for Veterinary medicine and she wanted to become a high school science teacher. Anyway, the next semester was hard, both of us had professors who put us through the wringer and overloaded us with work. In an effort to blow off steam, we’d promised to meet up at the café down the street from our apartment one afternoon.”

“I got there a few minutes early and I waited,” she sighed as she began recalling the events of that day. Derrick noticed her expression turn somber and moved away from the fire to take a seat beside her. “I sat at the table near the window for almost twenty minutes waiting. I tried texting her and calling her to see where she was but never got a response or went straight to voicemail. A minute or two after my last text I heard sirens come blaring down the street towards the campus.”

“I looked up and I saw an ambulance and three police cars chasing after one another and turn down my street. My heart sank. It was like I knew instantly that something had happened to Brenda. I rushed out of the café and hurried towards our apartment. When I saw them rolling that gurney…she was gone and I knew she was gone. She was lying beneath a blood soaked white sheet and she was just…gone. Right after I’d received her invitation to meet at the café, the murder took place. She opened the door for someone that police say she knew and whoever it was beat her with a metal bat so severely she was left unrecognizable. He used that same object to sodomize her and choke her to death; crushed her windpipe.”

Victoria chugged another couple mouthfuls of Bailey’s to drown out the heavy emotions she felt knowing her friend may have survived had she gone to check on her instead of waiting those extra minutes. “Over the course of the next month police questioned everyone we knew. They had no real suspects and quickly turned their sights to David Crass, a business student at the school and Brenda’s ex-boyfriend. He was suspect #1 and the only person they believed could have motive to want to harm her. Blinded by media coverage and the pressing public concern to get this thing wrapped up they stayed on him until they forced a confession out of him and made the evidence take the shape they wanted as proof of his crimes.”

“It was a mockery of the justice system and I could not sit idly by and watch them hurt another of my friends because of their shitty police work. So I took matters into my own hands. Finding evidence they’d overlooked and witnesses they never bothered to question.”

“A real life Nancy Drew.”

Victoria nodded her head as she continued. “Within a week, a week, I knew the man responsible; Sammy Baxter. He worked for Fullerton’s Parcels running deliveries for the college. He had an infatuation with her, an obsession. After I gave his name to police they searched his apartment and found emails he’d sent to her begging for a date and love notes she’d sent back unopened.”

“The murder weapon was in his locker at work, still covered in her hair and blood. He confessed shortly after his arrest and they let David go with an apology. Brenda told me he creeped her out and that she never wanted anything to do with him. I told that to the police but they didn’t want to hear me. They were too focused on ruining David’s life they stopped trying to work on anything else. After that I changed my major from Vet medicine to Criminology and graduated with honors. I vowed to make it my life’s work to keep something like this from ever happening to another person I loved and help put the right people behind bars.” She beamed and Derrick inched closer towards her smelling the Irish Cream on her breath. “And now it turns out I’m a witch too and have to learn to deal with the existence of true evil!”

She rested her head on Derrick’s shoulder and passed the bottle back to him. “Now we just have to figure out how to unlock your abilities. How long are you staying up here anyway?” Derrick sipped one last time of the bottle and thumped a rock towards the shore as she answered.

“I’m not sure. I took a week’s worth of my saved vacation time, but with wolves, nymphs and God knows what else is in the woods here, I’m not sure I’ll be spending my entire vacation out here.”

“Well if you do, we can work on your self-defense against the different types of creatures and I can tell you all I know about witches.”

“Fine. Will you tell me what you really want out of all of this too?” Derrick turned and looked at her in shock but didn’t speak. “I’m a detective, Derrick. I know when someone is lying to me or hiding something. You said that you had an interest in keeping The Destroyer where he is but I know there’s more to this whole thing for you than just that. If we’re going to work together I require complete honesty, deal?”

“Deal. Anything else you want to know?”

“Well I am curious as to how you’re able to walk in the sun.”

“Ah. That would be my tattoo.”

“Tattoo?”

“It’s enchanted much like your bracelet, by the same witch no less. It’s a daylight spell that allows me the comforts of walking in the sun; although I can no longer tan,” he leaned over with a grin. “You’ll hear some tales of vampires getting necklaces, rings or other charms enchanted with the spell but I always thought those items could be easily removed and then where would you be?”

“Smart.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Derrick, but, there’s a wolf’s heart still sitting in my fridge isn’t there?”

“Well yeah, I mean it wouldn’t be right if you had breakfast but I didn’t. I figured you wanted to be a gracious host. Just don’t look in the vegetable tray for my other little surprise.”

“Gross.”

“Yeah well I could just drink from you instead.” Victoria turned the Bailey’s bottle upside down, brandishing it like a weapon and motioned towards the fire. “That’s what I thought. So, sleeping arrangements, you seem like a cover stealer so I guess I’m crashing on the couch for a week.”

“There are other bedrooms in the house, Derrick, unless you prefer carving yourself a coffin.”

“Cute, Victoria. Real cute. This’ll be fun, I promise. Only known you for a few months and we’re already shacking up together.”

“You keep on pushing, Derrick, and I’ll really turn your ass to ash.”

“Gotta catch me first,” he laughed and hopped up from the fire, rushing back towards the house.

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