Nightmare City

“What’s this place?” I looked up at the green and white striped awning. Half of the sidewalk was taken up by skinny black tables and chairs, which looked precariously balanced at best. At least inside there were solid, dark wood furnishings.

“It’s a cafe,” Evangeline said smartly. She walked in without turning back to see if I was following.

“I can see that,” I replied. “We passed by fifty other cafes between here and the car. Why this place?”

“I know this place. You wanted to go to a place I knew, right?”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter, since I don’t have to eat here.”

Evangeline snaked through the narrow aisles the tables created, bypassing the booths and beelining for a table close to the counter. The place was surprisingly deserted. Even in the dead of night New York City needed it’s coffee fix.

A bored teenager sat behind the counter, reading something on her phone. She looked up when Evangeline sat down and her expression brightened. “Angie! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“Hi Renee. Sorry... I’ve been busy.”

“I know, I’ve been reading your Facebook.” She picked up a white towel off the counter and slung it over her shoulder. “What do you need?”

“Caffeine, lots of it.” Evangeline put her arms up on the table and rested her head on them.

I sat down in the chair across from her. “What have you been posting to Facebook?” I asked curiously.

She attempted to shrug, but her position made her resemble a caterpillar. “You know... stuff? Don’t you check it? I know David set up an account for you.”

“I don’t remember what happened to my phone. Let me borrow yours.”

“Too tired to move. I got you a new phone, it’s back in the car.” Her voice was getting duller as exhaustion crept in.

“Why didn’t you give it to me when we were at the car?”

“...I forgot.”

“You’re completely hopeless.” I reached across the table and retrieved her cellphone from her jeans pocket. She was too feeble to stop me, though she did flop one of her arms in my direction. I flipped through her home screens, looking for the Facebook application. “This is a mess, why do you have so many screens?”

“That way I can find stuff.”

Renee returned with two coffees. She set them both down in front of Evangeline, who lifted up her head to greet them. “Want anything solid?” she asked, reaching for a notepad at her hip.

“Pennsylvania breakfast.” Evangeline took a sip of the steaming black coffee, grimacing at the taste or the heat. That didn’t stop her from sipping it again.

Just from that first sip, her eyes brightened and color came back to her face. She pursed her lips into an O and blew delicately into her cup. She turned her soft brown eyes up towards me and I noticed for the first time just how thick her eyelashes were. They framed her eyes just so, making them appear dusky through the steam.

“Is there something wrong with my face?”

I turned my attention back to the phone. “I don’t know how you go outside looking like that. You’re completely oblivious.”

In my periphery I saw her face scrunch up in a scowl. “Next time I plan on breaking and entering, I’ll bring my makeup bag.”

Renee came back with a plate bearing two, half inch thick, chocolate chip pancakes, two strips of bacon and a fried egg. “Here you go, every insomniac’s dream.”

While Evangeline was focused on her plate, the woman finally turned her attention to me. “I didn’t know you had a little brother, Angie.”

“Ugh, Chris is enough brother for a lifetime,” Evangeline muttered.

“Actually, we’re living together,” I said, giving Renee my most charming smile.

She reached up and ruffled my hair, giving me a good natured wink. “Sure you are.” Then she turned and went back to her counter.

Now it was my turn to scowl. “My powers have become ineffective.”

“Your influence is fine.” Evangeline assured me. “It’s just a different effect when it comes from a fourteen year old. You don’t have your smoldering eyes and brooding good looks helping you out anymore.”

“Smoldering? Really?” I turned back to her and paused in appall. She had taken the food on her plate and constructed a sandwich out of it, which she was just patting down and preparing to consume. “That is the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. Your eating habits will dig you an early grave.”

She took a large bite from her ‘sandwich’ and I had to look away. “At least I’ll die happy,” she said, her mouth full of food.

“You’ll change you tune after your second bypass.”

“I won’t get past thirty anyway, not with you around.” She paused to grab a napkin from the middle of the table.

I reached into my pocket. “Hold on, I’ve got a moist towelette in here somewhere.” I tossed her a small packet.

“This is mine, stop messing around in my pants,” she said sourly, getting back to her meal. She paused right before her next bite. “That’s a phrase I never thought I would say to you.”

“You checked into the cemetery in Paris?” I turned the phone’s screen towards her. “Why would you do that?”

She shrugged. “Because it let me. The cemetery was on the list of places nearby.”

“Who are all of these people on here? I’ve never even heard of them.”

“They’re my friends.”

“All of them? How come you never talk to or see them?”

“They’re Facebook friends, I talk to them on Facebook. Some live out of state, some are from my old schools.” She narrowed her eyes slyly. “Does it bother you, realizing how little you know about me?”

I put the phone down on the table. “I guess in the end, it doesn’t really matter. I’m really only curious about one thing.”

She swallowed the last of her food slowly, her expression changed to one of uneasiness. “What one thing?” She reached for her coffee quickly.

“I want you to tell me about the one you were talking about earlier.” I placed my elbow on the table and leaned my head on my hand. “The one that broke your heart.”

She coughed into her drink, spilling some of it on the table. “Why do you care about something like that?” she asked in annoyance, grabbing a handful of napkins and wiping her hands and the table.

“Because it’s been a while since I’ve seen you so flustered.” I gave her my best smile.

She looked to the side. “No way. You’ll just make fun of me.”

“Oh? Now I must know.”

“No.”

“Maybe I’ll ask one of the people on here.” I looked back to the phone.

She got to her feet and hurriedly reached across the table. “Give me that.”

I held the phone back, forcing her to lean in closer. I grasped her wrist and looked her right in the eyes. “Tell me.” I laced my voice with influence. She was constantly bragging about how she was ‘immune’ to it, but most of the time I wasn’t really trying.

She stared at me for a solid thirty seconds, then sank back into her seat, defeated. “Have you ever done something incredibly stupid?” she asked.

“I’m sitting here right now.”

“Have you ever done something incredibly stupid for a over a year?”

I leaned both elbows on the table, intrigued now. “Start at the beginning.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Part of the reason I chose NYU was because that’s where he was going. I had idolized him for a good part of High School, and I wasn’t ready to let him go when college sprang up. There were other reasons, of course. NYU was close enough that I wouldn’t have to get a dorm, and it had classes I was interested in, but I wasn’t quite foolish enough to think those were the main reasons.
At the same time, I was hesitant to approach him. He wasn’t my first crush, but popularity was intimidating. He was handsome, smart, and funny, a combination that guaranteed numerous friends. He had a twin brother, Daniel, who was just as popular. I knew that my own feelings were special though, because I only had interest in him, and not his brother.
Large crowds are not my thing, but I found myself hanging out in the places that he did, and making friends with his friends. I became a fixture, and after a while, it seemed strange to them that he and I had never spoken.
I had spent so much time merely watching him that I was becoming content to just leave it at that. I was getting absorbed by my classes, as well as my new friends. I didn’t need him to acknowledge me.”

She pushed her plate away and leaned on the table, her eyes gloomy. “It happened by accident, one day. At least, I think it did. Maybe it was planned by a third party, I don’t know, but we somehow found ourselves alone together.
It was a short elevator ride, and I don’t remember most of it. Somehow by the end of it, I was nodding my head, promising to see him again that night.
After that it seemed like we were always together, even walking to and from classes. It was easier to talk to him than I had ever dreamed. He was even more smart and funny up close than when I watched him from far away. He surprised me with our first kiss, during the fourth of July fireworks. I was beyond happy,” Her voice darkened grimly. “I was exhilarated by how perfect everything was.”

“What did you do when you found out he was cheating on you?”

She focused her attention on me, startled, as if she forgot I was sitting here listening to her story. Her jawline tensed. “I punched him in the face so hard I broke his nose.” She turned away from me, looking out the large plate glass windows at the street. “I guess I should have seen it coming. He was rather... pushy when it came to physical contact, but he still should of told me that he wasn’t going to wait.”

“Wait for what?”

She turned back to me, raising one eyebrow. “Duh, till we were married?”

Just then a fire truck roared past the cafe, sirens blaring, red and white lights spinning. Two more thundered after it.

I stood up, leaning to look down the street. “They’re going the same way we came from.”

She stood up as well, also looking after them. “It’s probably just a coincidence, they could be heading anywhere.”

We both looked at each other for a beat, then she reached into her wallet and threw a twenty on the table. I pocketed her cellphone and we hurried out the door.

I sprinted ahead of her, my keen eyes spotting smoke and the glow of flames far down the street. She huffed along after me, then stopped. “Hold up,” she wheezed. “I just... ate.”

I headed back to where she stood, clutching her knees. I turned and kneeled, showing her my back. “Come on, I’ll carry you.”

“What? No way!”

“I could do a ‘princess carry’?” I suggested.

“Grrr, fine.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. I stood up, grasping her legs under her knees and pulling them till she reluctantly hugged my waist. Then I took off towards the source of the fire.

The building we had broken into was ablaze, of course. At least, the top floor was. Fire crews were at work, trying to contain the inferno, while Police corralled tenants and bystanders across the street.

“Head back to the car,” Evangeline said urgently in my ear. Her body was starting to sag down my back, so I moved my hands up to her thighs, supporting her. She made an indignant sound that was somewhere between a bark and a squeak.

“Put me down,” she ordered when we reached the yellow SUV. I obliged, deciding now wasn’t a time to tease her. The front passenger window of Chris’ vehicle was smashed in, tiny bits of safety glass littering the sidewalk. Most of the glass was in the seat, and closer inspection revealed the glove compartment had been wrenched open.

“Is the radio gone?” Evangeline asked, peering over my shoulder.

“No, but the glove compartment is empty.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She pushed past me and opened the door. Shoved her hand into the compartment, but found nothing. “All the papers I was carrying from David’s office were in there! ” She groaned aloud. “And the check from the fertility clinic! I just had them reissue that from when my car blew up!”

“You still haven’t cashed that?” I asked. “Were you waiting for a rainy day?”

“I had other things on my mind, okay?” she snapped. She groaned again, turning it into a growl at the end. “Chris is going to kill me.”

“We’re not in any desperate need of funds,” I assured her. “Thanks to Lucien, we’ve enough in our respective bank accounts to sustain us for years, decades if we’re careful. We can get one window fixed.”

“Yeah, but all of Chris’ stuff is gone, too. Who the hell did this?” She glared up and down the street, as if the culprit was still lurking about, watching.

“That’s simple, it was Katrina. I can smell her scent all over this area.”

“Well, how did she know to attack this car?”

“Elementary, she followed my scent from her apartment to here. She is trying to kill me, you know.” I nodded importantly, though on the inside I could feel the cold finger of fear slithering up my spine.

“You really think she set might have fire to her own apartment?” Evangeline looked doubtful.

“Yes, in all honesty. I doubt that hunter would have come back after you almost killed him. Besides, I don’t think arson is his style.”

“Well, why would she torch her own place? Aren’t vampires attached to where they live?”

“Her hideout was discovered, so she destroyed it.”

She frowned darkly. “Seems kind of extreme to me.” She walked around to the driver’s side and opened the door. “Get in, we have to get back to the house.”

Using my bare hands, I brushed the bits of glass off of the passenger’s seat, out onto the sidewalk. The sharp glass couldn’t make even the smallest scratch on my skin, but I didn’t want it to tear up my pants by sitting on them.

“Why the urgency?” I asked once we had set off. Evangeline was going a bit faster than her usual crawl.

“I’m worried about Chris.”

“Don’t, he was perfectly alive when I left him. Conscious, no, but still breathing.”

She gave me a quick glare. “Not from you. Katrina has our address now. I guessing that if she had remembered it before, then the house would be the first place she would have looked for you. Since she hasn’t shown up yet, she probably didn’t remember where it was.”

“And now she knows where it is.”

“Exactly.” Evangeline kept her eyes on the road, her profile grim.

********

The house sat peacefully in it’s ocean of white gravel, it’s lone tower blocking the moon. Evangeline cut the engine and hopped out quickly, sprinting up the porch steps.

“I’ve got the key.” I followed her up the steps, key already in hand. I inserted it into the lock and turned.

The door swung open then, the key sliding out of the lock. Before I could react a blow hit me square in the face, sending me flying backwards. I landed on my back, in the gravel.

“Chris, it’s us!” Evangeline cried.

“I know,” Chris answered her, his voice sounding strained. “If you ever bite me again, Gabrielle, I swear I’ll stake you!”

“He bit you? Gabriel, you bit him?”

I sat up, unperturbed. “At least I’m not the one who let his car get broken into.”

Chris was leaning against the door frame, still not fully recovered from my venom. If he had had his full strength, I might have actually felt his punch. It was scary how powerful a human could become, especially when angered. “My car? What about my car?” He and Evangeline went back to the car to assess the damage.

I got to my feet and entered the house. There was a scent in the air, familiar, and yet so different. I first caught it outside, but didn’t recognize it till the door opened. Quietly, I closed the door behind me.

I slid my hands into my pockets as I casually walked around the house, pausing in each room on the first floor. I looked up the staircase, but the scent did not go up there. I headed back to the kitchen.

She stood on the other side of the counter, silver katana in hand. Her firey hair tumbling loose past her shoulders. Her emerald eyes reflecting the rage and hate that her body just barely held in check.

“How did you get in?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral. “There’s only one key, and I’ve got it.” I pulled my hand from my pocket and placed it on the counter between us. I moved it to the side, revealing the strange, cylindrical house key.

“Shame on you, Gabriel,” she replied. “Did you forget the secret door in the basement? Ah, that’s right, I had that installed after I locked you up.”

I brought my eyes to hers. “It’s time to end this farce, Katrina,” I told her. “You have a chance, right now, to turn around and live your life, instead of wallowing in someone else’s past. You are not Katrina Riley, not anymore.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That’s not what Lucien told me,” her voice turned to acid. “Every single day he hammered it into me. Everything that I should remember, who I was supposed to be, how I was supposed to act. Right up till the moment that I killed him.”

My heart thudded in my chest, quicker, tighter. “Lucien?”

She raised up the katana. “Well, guess what? I don’t want to be Katrina Riley anymore. I don’t want her memories, or her vendettas.” She leveled the tip of the blade, pointed at me. “But the only way to be someone else is if I kill her, kill every last memory that she ever had, and burn every last trace of her from existence. Her home... her family... and her enemies.”