Fade to Black (pt. 5)

Mandy awakes at 6pm. She rolls over, and looks at me with a smile on her lips. I kiss her, and hand her the other glass of wine. I take one last drag off my 3rd cigarette and put it out. Looking back at her, I say “It’s time,” and roll out of bed. Behind me I heard her get up and get in the shower, and I go to my closet and pull out some clothes for me to wear. After putting on some pants, I make my way to the bathroom. The mirror is slightly steamed up from Mandy’s shower, so I take a towel, wipe it away, and begin my ritual of brushing teeth and styling hair.1

I leave the bathroom, and look at my date book that I hide in my dresser. Tonight there was a rather executive function going down at some ritzy club on the other side of town, and there was also a rave somewhere in the boonies. I haven’t had “rich” blood in a while, so I decide on the executive function. Putting the book back in its place, I go back to my closet. I hang my pants back up, and proceed to put on my black business suit with a white dress shirt and blue tie. Just as I finish dressing, Mandy steps out of the bathroom, hair still slightly dripping. I turn back to the mirror with a smile on my face. 2

After I finished adjusting my tie and making sure I looked as professional as possible, I turn to her and say “Executive look tonight, love. We are the Haydens and I run a data management firm. Getting dinner might be a bit tricky tonight, but I’ll do my best. You will have to help though.” “How my dearest?” “Well, I think our best course of action will be to have you get the wife and I will break the man. We shall invite them to ditch the party and come home with us for a drink.” 3

She nods in response and draws from the closet a long, slinky-but-professional dress. I grin and toss her a black thong. “You don’t know women and dresses very well, do you?” She remarks in a condescending manner. I smile and tell her apparently not. “You don’t wear underwear with something like this!” I chuckle quietly and sit on the bed to put on my shoes. She finishes dressing shortly thereafter, and goes back to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. I smile when I notice she doesn’t wear makeup, letting her natural beauty radiate instead of marring it.4

She finishes quickly, does a quickly spin for me, and asks “Well?” “Never in three hundred years have I seen such beauty and grace in one person, such... perfection... No man could resist, not even an immortal like me.” I say with a smile on my face, she slaps my shoulder playfully and kisses me before grabbing her purse. “Ready?” I nod and we walk down the stairs, out the door, and to my car. “Tonight love, we cannot show up in a Jeep.” I push a button on the side of the garage, enter a code on the console that pops up, and hit the enter button. The garage door slowly opens, and I step inside. Mandy waits outside until she hears a loud whine from inside the garage. I slowly pull out in a black 2002 Lamborghini Diablo and stop next to her. I get out and open the door for her, and close the garage door. After I get back in, we speed off towards tonight’s meal. 5

We arrive at 8 o’clock, and the club, called ‘Spectra’ is already somewhat busy. We ‘prowl’ for the next hour, spotting several possible feeds and no immediate threats. We enter the establishment without any hassle from the doorman, whom I knew from many other functions here. We walked with our arms around each other through the bar area to the main dance floor, though there was no dancing going on. Just lots of networking, cell phones ringing, and PDAs being filled. I send Mandy to buy us a couple of drinks, and I search the crowd for possible feeds.6

Just as Mandy returns, a well built, young businessman approaches us, along with his youthful and beautiful wife. He introduces himself as Mr. James Richardson, and his wife as Mrs. Kourtney Richardson. After I give him Mandy and I’s false introductions, he tells me that he is an advertising representative of some high-dollar corporation and that he is looking for someone that can be counted on to produce high-quality works. I smile in response, and tell him my new false occupation. He smiles back, and for the first time, locks eyes with Mandy. “Gotcha.” I think to myself, and as he passes me to go speak with her, I move towards his wife. Immediately I begin working, first holding her gaze to my own, then making small contact.7

A playful touch, a light brush, simple yet amazingly powerful gestures that are so subtle most people never pick up on them. Mrs. Kourtney is completely mine now. She would throw herself off a bridge at my slightest beckon. Mandy seems to be enchanting James as well, though her technique is still slightly weak. I move towards her, noticing Kourtney following me like a lost puppy. I grin at Mandy, and she nods to me. I turn to James when I reach them, and I invite him and his wife to come over to our house where he will be able to see some of my work, have a drink, and talk business. He immediately agrees.8

They follow us home, and we lead them inside, to the den. I had called ahead for Alaundo to set out a few disks I had specified. So I go to the computer in the corner with James and I show him some of the animations and graphics on there. He is highly impressed, and pulls out a checkbook and write me a check for 30 thousand dollars just to work for them. I take the check with a smile, and we go back into the den. 9

What happens next is a blur. James lets out a surprised / frightened gasp, right as I turned to see what it was he saw. Mandy had started a bit early, and is on top of Kourtney and beginning to kiss her neck “Fool! What are you doing?” I ask with out speaking. “Feeding, Love, what else?” James cries out his wife’s name, and both women look towards him. He sees Mandy’s fangs, and rushes forward towards them. I grab his arm and jerk him back towards me, fearing he may hurt my love. I grab him by the throat and hold him against the wall.10

It seems James is not a very bright man. He starts to flail about, punching my face and kicking my chest and stomach. Kourtney sees this altercation, which takes only seconds to play out, and flees out the door, leaving Mandy on the floor, stunned from shock. I snarl in anger, and slowly close my hand around James’ throat. I feel the last breath escape his lips, and I let him fall limp to the floor. Before his body hit, I am beside Mandy, making sure that she is ok. 11

She stands slowly, and buries her face in my chest, crying. Between sobs, she says “I... I’m so sorry... I couldn’t help it...” I hold her in my arms, run my fingers through her hair, and whisper that it’s ok and that we’ll be all right. Deep down though, I knew we are headed for trouble. I sit Mandy on the sofa, and go to James’ body. Fighting the anger that is coursing through my body, I pick up the corpse and move to another hidden space in a wall. I open it, slide the body inside, close the door, and hit a button on the side of the compartment.12

The whir of machinery quietly begins, and I move back to Mandy’s side. I hold her in my arms, and kiss her periodically. Her tears finally stop falling, and the sound of the machine stops shortly thereafter. I move to the compartment, and open a door below it. I pull out a 2 gallon jug, a little more then half full of the man’s blood. My hand rises to the original compartment, and presses a blue button below the one that activates the machine. The sound of a chute opening and something sliding out comes next.13

I close the openings, making sure they are hidden from all but x-ray vision. I then take the blood back to the kitchen, and pour it into two large goblets. I bring our meal back to Mandy, and we sit on the sofa, sipping from our glasses occasionally, completely in silence. I decided I should not speak to her of what could happen because of her blunder, she had gone through enough tonight. I contented myself with wrapping one arm around her and staring into the fire.14