Chapter 10

1193 Words
When Mark got home, he was amused at his new stamina yet again. He had walked all five miles and still wasn't tired. He was in a daze thinking about Jen, about the scene that was at the new house and trying to figure out who could possibly have done this. He barely remembered deciding that a walk was what he needed, but as he threw his jacket on the couch, he remembered that there was no one here. He had decided to walk because he was in no hurry to come home to an empty house with reminders of his dead wife everywhere. Slowly Mark sank to the floor with his hands over his face. How could this be real? How could Jen just be gone?! A knock on the door startled Mark, and he quickly got up and wiped the tears from his face. He had only made it a few feet in the door, so he could see the outline of a tall, slender man on the other side. "Who is it?" Mark struggled to ask. "Alex Gregor," the figure on the other side of the door replied. Mark cautiously opened the door and saw Alex standing there with papers in one hand and a briefcase in the other. A horrible smell wafted into his house, the same smell from the police station. It was Alex! He smelled like rotting meat, sour milk, and decay. Mark didn't react as badly this time, but he still thought he might throw up. "Sorry, please come in. I wasn't expecting you so soon." Mark led the way to the kitchen s***h dining room. There was at least a table in that room for Alex to spread out his papers. "We have many things to discuss, and you have decisions to make." Alex spread out a few documents with pictures of the crime scene in all its gory details. "Like what," Mark asked, distracted by the horror as he looked at the photos of his dead wife. "First of all, you are a vampire now," Alex said, then paused for the expected disbelief. "A what? How the hell am I a vampire?" Mark's reaction was entirely expected, and Alex didn't even miss a beat. Mark got the impression that Alex had done this countless times before. "A vampire killed your wife, killed that other man, and then bit you. You are now a vampire. A very young vampire, probably not even completely aware of your powers yet, but they will come." Alex's indifference again told Mark that this was not the first time he had given this speech. "Why me?" Mark couldn't believe that there were vampires, but this question was far more pressing in his mind. "We don't know why you were chosen and your wife killed. There is usually no rhyme or reason to the choice. Maybe you smelled less delicious, maybe the vampire who did this just has a very morbid sense of humor. Kill the wife, turn the husband. We don't really know." Alex paused to let this information sink in. After a few moments, Mark was ready with more questions. "What about Katie! They think a friend of mine, Sarah, had something to do with it. Katie is with Sarah. What if they put Sarah in jail too? Where will Katie go?" Mark sounded like he was at the end of his rope. "They won't be looking into it any further," Alex said calmly. There was more to this, and Mark needed to know everything. "What? Why would they just drop it?" Mark was now curious. How had this man been able to convince them to just drop the whole thing? "Because I told them you would be pleading involuntary manslaughter," Alex replied just as calmly. "WHAT?!" Mark was livid. Why would he ever plead involuntary manslaughter? He hadn't done anything besides getting hit on the head. "It was the best way to get you out of there quickly. This will never go to trial." The calmness in Alex's voice was now beginning to sound like indifference. He didn't care what happened to Mark in the slightest. "We can fix this! I am not guilty of anything! We can fix this!" Mark was grasping at straws. "We don't fix this. You run. You pack your things, and we'll find you somewhere secluded to wait a year or two. Then you will join one of our other houses in a different state, maybe another country. But we don't fix this." Alex was stern and sure of himself. Alex's indifference was turning to annoyance, but Mark didn't care. "But we can prove that I loved my wife. That she didn't cheat on me. There must be proof. We can win this." In the back of Mark's mind he realized that there was no proof. There was more proof that he had done this. The vampire who had done this was very careful and very precise. "I have better things to do than sit here and argue with a pathetic new vampire. I have been a lawyer longer than you have been alive. You can't prove love in a court of law. And we can't prove that your wife didn't cheat on you. We could throw up some facts about the alleged boyfriend, maybe some eyewitnesses that confirm parts of your version, but we can't prove anything. In the end, it was determined that it is too risky for you to fight this. The general consensus is that you have an extremely high chance of going to jail. We can't have a vampire in jail. Eventually, the bloodlust would take hold, and you would expose us." Alex slowly collected all the papers he had laid about the table and put them in his briefcase. His brief anger faded, and the indifference to Mark's plight returned. "So that's it? I get no choice in the matter? What about my daughter?" Mark was enraged. Who were these people to tell him what he had to do? Alex shut his briefcase, and calmly walked to Mark's side of the table. With one hand, Alex grabbed Mark by the throat, lifted him out of his seat and into the air. "You don't have a choice! The decision was made, and you will either abide by it, or we will remove you and everyone that knew you!" Afterward, Alex set Mark back down on his seat and straightened out his expensive suit. "You have two days to collect your things, say your goodbyes, and then someone will be by to take you to your new home." Alex grabbed his briefcase and headed toward the door. As he was about to grab the handle, he remembered something. "Someone will be by tomorrow with your supply of blood. You may not want it now, you're still in transition, but you will want it eventually. No need to have any more bodies attributed to you. We wouldn't want a nationwide manhunt. If that were to happen, you and your daughter might be deemed too risky. And we don't want that." With a fake smile, Alex opened the door and left.
Free reading for new users
Scan code to download app
Facebookexpand_more
  • author-avatar
    Writer
  • chap_listContents
  • likeADD