Suppressing a shiver, I said, “Not unless I have to.” I’d opted for a pineapple-flavored Chapstick for a little gloss, but lipsticks were high maintenance and often ended up smeared across my face. I was more a dark eyeliner kind of gal.
“Pity.” His eyes slid down to my lips. “You would look famously beautiful in a shade called Fire and Ice.”
My blood froze as everything inside me stilled. My instincts crested in a wave of realization that was so insane it couldn’t possibly be true. My imagination was getting away with me. I’d been told that my whole life. Too much whimsy and ridiculous notions. Still, I couldn’t shake the thought that gripped my brain. “Can you excuse me for one minute?” I asked with an apologetic smile. “I downed a big gulp earlier and it’s come back a-knocking.” Landon nodded ever so slightly.
I couldn’t feel my legs even as they carried me back to the bathroom. Alarm bells went off in my head, drowning out the sound of the restaurant. Once I’d flipped the lock, I pulled my phone out and pulled up a search.
Fire and Ice lipstick. The parking tickets. They were pieces fast arranging themselves as Landon’s voice echoed in my mind. “I’m an avid thrill-seeker.”
A number of women’s bodies turned up over the last year. Correction, bodies missing their limbs. The news reported the cops suspected a serial killer, but nothing was confirmed. But I took skips to the police station, and I overheard the cops talking about the link between the bodies. Fire and Ice. It was a cheap, common drugstore lipstick, but it had been applied to every girl’s lips, postmortem.
I searched my phone for the location of the bodies, discovering what I hoped I’d been wrong about. Crane’s vehicle was ticketed relatively close to four of the six. Letting out a breath, I braced myself against the wall. That was too many to be a coincidence.
Could I leave? Pretend I never saw Landon Crane’s mug shot? The payout wasn’t worth the danger I suddenly felt steeped in. But my damned conscience told me I needed to get him off the streets as fast as possible. I’d talk to the cops at the station, tell them what I found and make it their problem.
After a quick pep talk in the mirror and a splash of cold water on my face, I went back out.
Once I was seated again, Crane said, “For a moment, I didn’t think you were coming back.”
My laugh sounded forced. “Can’t get rid of me that easily.”
There was an almost imperceptible change in his demeanor, as he if were listening closer now to what I was saying.
Anxiety crowded in around me until I couldn’t breathe. I had no idea if I sounded or acted normal anymore, and not like I was sitting across from a serial killer. “You were saying I’d look good in Fire and Ice? Was that a color your mother wore or something?” From what I knew, serial killers mainly came from messed-up childhoods. Epically messed-up childhoods.
Darkness flickered in his eyes for a moment. “Or something.”
Shit, I shouldn’t have asked. But now that I had a suspicion about who he was, it was emblazoned in my mind in big neon letters, serial killer, complete with blinking arrow pointing at his head.
Landon toyed with the stem of his wine glass. “You’re right. Why deny ourselves dessert. Sitting here with you I’ve become quite…hungry.” Then he did something wildly terrifying. He smiled.
I doubted his neighbors would pull any of that, “I never would have suspected that guy of murder.” They would one hundred percent be the witnesses saying, “There was always something off about him, but what are you going to do?” Because his smile gave me the absolute willies, like a toy clown from the seventies that was still way too pleased to meet you and your delicious spleen.
Despite his terrifying grin, I was grateful this was almost over. Out the back and a quick car ride to the cops with him in my caged back seat. I threw him a look that was both coy and smoldering.
“But first”—he lifted his glass of wine—”to thrill-seekers.”
I picked mine up and our glasses clinked. Usually, I would have only pretended to take a sip but Crane downed his, making pointed eye contact to make sure I did the same. The pinot was decent as it slid down my throat. Hell, it might even help my nerves.
I proposed we exit out the back because I knew a fun spot to get the party started. He threw a twenty on the table and followed me out.
As we walked past the kitchen, I began to feel flushed and lightheaded. My stomach started to churn fire. But it wasn’t until the heavy steel door shut behind us, that I realized he’d drugged me.
I wanted to turn around and bang on the door for someone to open it back up. But the thick door automatically locked when shut—usually a bonus, so my skips couldn’t run back inside. The kitchen staff was used to ignoring any ruckus in the back alleyway when I was around.
On shaky legs, like a newborn colt, I took two steps, stumbled, took another, then fell into Crane’s arms. His words echoed around me as I was swallowed by darkness. “You thrill me.”
29
“You drugged me, you son of a bitch. Drank my blood, then tossed me in an alleyway,” I yelled at the psychopath standing above me. This was why I didn’t like drinking red wine at the Wolf Town Club, and why I refused to accept that Ken-doll’s drink. While I didn’t consciously remember, my instincts had and they’d been warning me.
Crane continued to pet my hair back even as I jerked to get away. “An unfortunate calculation on my part. But at the restaurant, I knew you were special. Normally I wouldn’t even give someone with your features a second glance; I prefer those of a lighter, colder complexion. But you were different from the rest, smarter. I saw it in your eyes when you figured out who I was and what I’d done. I’m not sure how you did it, but I knew the instant you did.” He chuckled low. “And how you knew about my mother…” He trailed off, in wonder.
He stepped back, his hand falling from my hair. I desperately wanted to jump under a hot shower until I could scour away his touch. If I had been blonde and blue-eyed, would my limbs be scattered about the state by now? Like all those women he’d tortured and cut into pieces? Undead didn’t seem like the worst of the two fates, but it was still out for debate.
He went on. “Do you know how often I am surprised? Rarely. That’s why I not only drugged you, I added blood of the Original to your glass when you left for the bathroom. But all the same I wanted you to be the one by my side, helping me plunge the world into fire and make it new. I’ve been looking for an equal for so long, and I knew I’d finally found the one. I’d say perhaps I’ve become too much of a romantic when I suggest that you would be my queen in a new land.”
Crane said the last bit with the bashfulness of a schoolboy, the sick fuck.
