Page 82 of Thirst

“Oh fuck!” Von screams. “Shay, what did you do?”

“I don't know! I didn’t mean to. I just snapped. What do we do? Von, what do we do?”

I lay flat on my back, feeling the life drain out of me. Both of them start to panic, while all I can do is wait for death. I lay there, expecting my world to slowly fade to black, but then I hear the sound of the door opening.

With fleeting strength, I'm able to look at the door from my spot on the floor. He's upside down to me, but I see him as clear as day. Amari is standing in the doorway looking directly at me, a shade of red in his eyes as he swallows hard. Anger tightens his jaw, and even from here I can see the veins rising in his face like hoses filling with water. I watch him step inside and close the doors behind him. It’s quiet for a moment.

Then all hell breaks loose.

AMARI

Forty-Nine

“It’s starting to take a lot longer than I thought it would. You sure she's okay?”

Shawn’s eyes find me in the rearview mirror, and even with only being able to see his eyes, I can tell how serious he is. Aaliyah went inside the strip club for what we knew would be the last time, and we didn't expect the conversation to be very long. She was supposed to tell Von that she quit, get out whatever frustration she had built up over time, and then walk back out the door. She asked me not to go in. I understood because I knew she didn't want drama. Von and I have never gotten along, and with the addition of how protective I am over her, we both knew I would be on edge and ready to go if he took it there. For Aaliyah, seeing me lose it and turn into a monster she fears is brand new and terrifying. Not to mention she has learned a little about my past—the fact that I've killed people. Plenty of them. She didn't want to risk it, so I let her go. I let her walk in there by herself knowing the kind of man Von is.

It was a mistake.

As I turn toward the building to see if Aaliyah is walking toward us, I'm miffed by the fact that she isn't. It’s been too long, and I have a feeling in my gut that tells me something bad is happening behind those closed doors. I focus my hearing in that direction, and although it’s difficult to hear through things, I'm almost certain I hear what sounds like … gurgling.

Shawn turns around in his seat, his forehead riddled with wrinkles. “What’s the matter?”

I answer with one word. “Aaliyah.”

“Are you listening in? What’s go—”

The sound of Shawn’s words is cut off as I push open the door and dart out of the car. I flash from the parking lot to the entrance, and when I open the door, I'm stunned by what I see. Aaliyah is on the floor by the bar, a broken glass bottle jammed into the side of her neck as two dead people stand over her. One of them is crying in a panic, the other is standing there with a horrified look on his face. But the horror isn't because of what happened to Aaliyah. He’s scared of what the consequences will be for him. His own well-being is all that matters, and the first thing I hear when I listen to his thoughts is how he has to figure out a way to get rid of her body once she stops breathing. He doesn't want the cops and paramedics at his business, so he’d rather dump the body instead.

Yes. Dead people indeed. They just don't know it yet.

“Hey, she attacked us, man,” Von says, looking at me with pleading eyes, yet still trying to hold onto an air of confidence. He clears his throat and pokes out his chest. “Don't come in here on any bullshit, alright. Aaliyah was trippin’ but we didn't mean to hurt her. It was an accident. So just swoop her up and take her to the hospital. Otherwise, she might die, and I can't have that on my hands.”

His words have no effect on me whatsoever. How I feel inside isn't something I can put into words. It’s more than anger, more than rage, and ten times hotter than the surface of the sun. This is a violent fury beyond anything I've ever experienced. They hurt her. My Companion. My woman. Mine. There has never been a greater mistake in the history of this planet.

I wanted to kill Von. He’d come into the casino and disrupted things enough times, filling my place of business with his disrespect. He was as good as dead then, but my need to be careful kept me from acting quickly. It led me to Fantasies, and Fantasies led me to Aaliyah. Once I saw her, Von mattered a lot less, and now it has led to this. This is what I get for not following my gut and trying to live in a world of rules created by humans. I am not a human. I'm a vampire, and my rules are much, much different. Tonight, I will establish a new one.

If you touch Aaliyah, you will fucking die. No hesitation. No takebacks. No worrying about the consequences. Just death.

I steal a quick glance at Aaliyah again just to listen to her thoughts, although I know it’s breaking a promise. She's glad I'm here, but terrified that she's dying. Her heartbeat is slowly fading. She needs help immediately, and I will provide it for her. That means that what I'm about to do has to be done quickly, and it will be.

I take a step closer to my next two victims, and they both step back. They're ready to run, but they couldn't possibly run fast enough.

My steps come to a stop at the edge of the bar. “How does it feel?” I ask.

Von scrunches his forehead. “What? How does what feel?”

“To know you’re about to die?” I say with gravel in my voice.

Von begins inching his way backward. “I just told you not to come in here on that bullshit, but I see you're determined to act up. But you should know that I always keep it on me. Fuck around if you want to, and I'm gonna show you.”

“No,” I snip. “I'm gonna show you, and it’ll be the last thing you see.”

I flash from the end of the bar to standing directly in front of Shay, who startles back when she realizes how fast I moved. She gasps, but the sound is cut off when my hands reach up as fast as a whip and grab her by the sides of her head. She places her hands on top of mine, trying to pry me away, but it’s no use. The jaws of life couldn't get me off of her. My rage ignites like an atomic bomb as my ability to control myself evaporates. I open my mouth, revealing my fangs as veins in my hands pop to life to match the ones in my face.

Shay screams, terror filling her eyes along with tears made of shock, disbelief, and regret. She thinks if she yells loud enough, someone outside might hear and come in to rescue her. She has no clue that even if that happened, I would kill them, too. No one will keep me from this justice.

I let her scream for a second, allowing her to have hope, then I begin to squeeze. I press my palms into her face from both sides, and her screams fade out as her face caves in on itself. I crush her skull until her head resembles mashed fruit, her eyes popping out of their sockets as blood pours down my arms like spilled red paint. I push my hands forward until they touch inside her face, then I let her lifeless, worthless body fall to the floor in a messy heap.