Chapter 11 Millicent Pays a Visit, Another Fun Chapter With Evil Characters
Chapter 11
The morning sun rose once more, turning the sky a beautiful red. Cosima watched from the door as her son boarded the school bus. Getting him up and ready in the morning stressed her out and made her head throb. Logan never wanted to get out of bed.
Once the bus drove away she walked inside to the living room and collapsed onto the couch for a moment. The quiet relaxed her and she closed her eyes and waited for the pain in her head to subside. She had so much work to do, she needed to wake up. First, she’ll eat breakfast, then meditate, and last, get started on editing. Meditation always helped with her headaches.
As she prepared the food her mind returned to Jeffery. She hoped he felt better and would call her today. She pulled out some strawberries and waffles from the frig. She put the waffles in the toaster oven and cut up the strawberries. She sat down in front of the TV with her breakfast when she heard a thudding on the side door. Her heart jumped, she wasn’t expecting any clients today. She hated it when they showed up without an appointment. It’s probably FedEx. Putting her breakfast aside, she got up and went to the mud room. As she approached, she could see a man through the small window in the door. He wore a suit and talked on a cell phone stuck to his ear; definitely not FedEx. He looked older, possibly in his early forties and he wasn’t a wedding client. Great, Jehovah’s witnesses are already bugging her and she hasn’t even showered yet. She walked to the door and cautiously opened it a crack.
“Hi, how can I help you?” She tried to sound polite but she hated solicitors. The man had dark black hair with a hint of grey peppered at random spots. His eyes were ice blue and his skin showed signs of age. He smiled with perfect teeth and held out his hand.
“Hi, Miss. Hornbaker, sorry to interrupt your morning. My name is Brandon Paole. I’m an investigator. I was hoping I might be able to talk with you this morning?” He continued holding out his hand. It took a moment for her to realize he wanted to shake. She held out her hand and he grabbed it pretty tight, almost crushing it. He finally let go and she pulled her hand away trying not to look rude, but his grip made her uncomfortable. He dug in his jacket and pulled out a wallet and flashed a badge that read licensed private investigator. It looked pretty official. Not that she would know.
“What is this about?” Did she fill out her taxes right? Maybe she forgot to pay her quarterly sales tax again. What if one of her clients was suing her?
“I’m investigating a man named Jeffery Walker. I’m trying to locate him for questioning. My team searched his hotel room last night where I believe you are employed?”
“Yes.” She kept her answer simple, afraid to give out information. He might not be a real investigator.
“We found your message on his voicemail and traced the number you left to your home. Do you know where Mr. Walker is now? My team and I would like to question him.”
“No I don’t. I met him at the mall last night and that was the last time I saw him.”
“Have you known Mr. Walker very long?”
“No, I just met him when he started staying at the hotel. Is he in some kind of trouble? Should I be worried? Has he done something?”
“I’m not at liberty to say but I would suggest staying away from him. He could be dangerous. If he contacts you again could you please give me a call? It’s very important that you call and keep your distance for your safety.” He reached into his jacket again and pulled out a business card and handed it to her. It had a raised seal with an eagle in the left hand corner, his name, and the words Internationally Known Private Investigator, Licensed and bonded, neatly printed on the card. Again, everything looked official as far as she could tell. Not that she had much experience with law enforcement.
“Sure I will. Thanks for letting me know.” Her heart pounded. She had exposed her son to someone potentially dangerous! She couldn’t believe it. Jeffery seemed completely harmless.
“We may want to speak with you again in the future. We’ll be in touch.”
“Sure I’ll do what I can to help. Thank you.” She took the card and closed the door. She stood for a moment in disbelief staring at the card. What did he do? That man was a private investigator which meant someone hired him. He wasn’t the police.
She hurried to her computer room and jumped down in front of the computer and typed into the Google search field:
What is the difference between a Private Investigator and a Detective?
A few seconds passed then several links appeared. She clicked on Wiki Answers and waited again. When the page loaded after a second she read the answer:
A private investigator is an ordinary person who is hired by a private person to investigate matters that are mostly civil as opposed to criminal matters. These would include finding out if a spouse is having an affair, tracking down a missing person or locating missing assets. A private investigator is also called a "private detective” sometimes. A detective is a policeman who is hired by a government agency to investigate criminal matters as opposed to civil ones.
Someone hired this man to look for Jeffery. Maybe Jeffery wasn’t really dangerous, maybe he said that to scare her. But why? Unfortunately, it worked, she couldn’t take the chance he would harm her son. Something deep inside warned her; she was being manipulated. She sat down to finish her soggy, cold breakfast.
****
After the hunter left the human female's porch, Millicent crept out of the trees and headed toward the pathetic doublewide trailer she lived in. Millicent had gorged herself on blood during the night and she could feel the extra life force surging through her. The sunlight scorched her skin as she approached the human female’s home. An excruciating burning sensation spread out all over her exposed skin. It had been a long time since she came out in the light. She forgot how painful the burning felt and how quickly it weakened her. She pushed on, through the pain, crossing the yard like a prowling feline. She approached the front door of the house and tried the door knob. Locked. She could break it but that would create too much noise. She wanted to surprise her new friend. She made her way silently to the side door and that one opened with ease.
She could hear the human woman’s thoughts. She was taking a shower thinking about the old guy who came to her door earlier. One of the hunters; John was sloppy again. Millicent picked around the house scoffing at everything. The human kept thinking about her John, although she kept referring to him as Jeffery. The disgusting mortal thoughts made her cringe. He must have changed his name to try to hide from her. Millicent would always find John. He couldn’t hide from her. She made him and he belonged to her, forever.
Millicent wanted to kill the mortal woman so badly, drain her of every drop and get her out of the picture, but she couldn’t. She would attack the human. But she had to keep her alive if her plan was to work. Her revenge grew closer. She could taste it. That bastard that tortured her wouldn’t know what hit him. John would be compelled to help this human and that would lead her right to Damu, the ancient one, the bastard torturer of vampires.
A cat ran by interrupting her thoughts. Millicent grinned at the cat.
“Here kitty,” she whispered, “You’ll make a nice snack.”
****
Cosima turned off the shower and grabbed her towel from the nearby rack. She thought she heard something, but she always thought she heard something when she was alone. The walls of her double wide were so thin every sound from outside managed to seep in. She dried herself enough so she wasn’t dripping and walked into the bedroom and searched for a robe. Kitty hissed in the next room. Cosima stopped. Her heart skipped a beat, then pounded painfully in her chest. She cracked open the bedroom door and glanced out into the living room. Kitty no longer lay on top of the coach. She couldn’t see her anywhere in the living room. What made her hiss? Maybe another cat came by the window. She needed clothes. She walked into the closet and picked out an outfit to wear. Maybe she would go out tonight since Logan was staying at a friend’s house. Tomorrow was Veteran’s day and for some reason the schools decided not to have class in the middle of the week. Too bad she didn’t have any friends to go out with and she couldn’t call Jeffery or she would look desperate. As she came out of the closet, a woman blocked her way.
A blood curdling scream exploded from Cosima’s body before she could stop it. She fell to the floor of the closet, gasping. In front of her stood a red haired monster with eyes as black as night. A woman dressed in black with a long black trench coat covering most of her. Blood dripped from her mouth down the front of her clothes and in her hand hung a lifeless grey cat.
“KITTY!” Cosima screamed. ”What did you do to my cat?”
The woman tossed the cat’s corpse at Cosima’s feet then bent down getting closer to her face. She opened her blood covered mouth to reveal her long canine teeth and licked the blood off her lips and smiled with the look of the devil in her black eyes. Tears covered Cosima’s face as she moved back from the woman.
“That was a nice appetizer,” the woman said sliding up Cosima’s body smelling the air around her. Cosima hit the back of the closet trying to get further away. The salty metallic smell of blood hung strong on the woman’s breath and body as she sniffed around Cosima’s face like an animal. “But I’m ready for the main course now.”
Cosima screamed again and kicked the woman full force in the stomach. The woman stumbled back enough for Cosima to get past and out of the closet, but before she knew what happened, the woman stood in front of her, again.
“You're not going anywhere, Bitch!” The woman’s eyes burned with hate. She pushed Cosima back into the bedroom, and slammed the door shut. The woman’s solid black eyes never left her. Cosima tripped over the zafu lying in the middle of the room and landed hard on her back. She couldn’t breathe. The pain traveled up her spine choking her. The red haired monster dropped down on her and yanked her by the hair bringing Cosima in close.
“You can’t have John,” the woman whispered in her ear. “He belongs to me!”
She yanked Cosima’s head to the side and plunged her teeth deep into her throat. Pain seared through Cosima’s neck as she felt two sharp objects puncher deeper. Weakness spread through her muscles as life faded from her. She struggled to break free of her attacker, but it was no use. The monster’s inhuman strength held her pressed against the floor. Slipping away, the pain pounded in her head and neck; her arms dropped their struggle and fell to her sides. The room spun like she was drunk and her body lost all feeling. The pain subsided and everything went black.
****
Once the girl’s body relaxed, Millicent released her bite and stared at her. Nothing remarkable about this human’s appearance, she looked quite plain-ugly brown hair and freckled skin, short. She grabbed the girl’s face and turned it side to side examining every detail; plain, completely plain and boring. “What does he see in this thing?” she whispered to herself. Millicent slapped the girls face and laughed. “How can he prefer her over me?” She got up, satisfied, and gave the girl a hard kick in the side. Now John would have to help this girl. She checked to make sure the girl wasn’t dead. Her pulse beat weakly but was still present. She wanted to kill her so badly. There would be time for that after the human and Jeffery led her to Damu. Accomplish her goal first, then she could kill this creature and John would be hers again.