Justin dressed as an eighties rocker: black skinny jeans, a blond spiky wig, and an AC/DC t-shirt. He spotted me, stared for a moment, then cocked his finger-gun back and shot at me. He gave me that wicked I-got-you smile, downed his beer, and walked out of the room.
As I was thinking how Justin had a surprise coming his way, Nadia, the Fourteen Year Old From Hell, glided past in silent pursuit of her prey.
Then the vertigo hit me. “Shit, not again.” I had to sit down for a minute as a vivid vision came over me.
I was flowing along behind Nadia as she followed Justin through the party, always in the same room, watching, stalking, waiting. Then he went into the upstairs bathroom, and she slipped in right behind him.
He stood peeing at the toilet. The only noise to betray her presence was the click of the door latch. Justin looked over his shoulder while deftly maintaining his flow into the toilet. “Hey! I’m in here. Wait your turn.”
Nadia advanced on him. “I’ve been waiting all night for my turn, and now I have you all to myself.” Justin’s stream faltered with her words, but then he spit out a final spurt.
“If you insist on watching, the least you can do is give me a hand.” Justin turned to her with his cheesy pickup line, flashing Nadia with his unimpressive display.
She smirked. “Hmm, not much to it, is there?”
Justin bristled at her comment. She moved in face to face, growling in a quiet menace. “We haven’t been introduced yet. I’m Mike’s friend, Nadia.” She attacked swift and silent, snatching Justin off his feet to slam him against the rose-patterned tile wall. He cracked the back of his head on the wall with a dull thud and girly squeal of pain. Then he was airborne, thrown to the tile floor to land on his back. The air whooshed from his lungs in a wheezy grunt of pain.
She was on him in the blink of an eye, holding him down by the throat, pinned to the ceramic tile floor. Her legs straddled his chest and she leaned forward to stare in his eyes. Her left hand at his neck, her right hand reached into the open fly of his jeans, for a firm grasp on the Justin Shelby family jewels. She had him by the short and curlies, the fate of his future progeny in her claws.
Justin stared into the eyes of a predator, a killer. Understanding dawned across his face. He no longer sat at the top of the food chain. He squeaked as her claws seated into his scrotum.
“Nice to finally meet you. We have so much to discuss.” Nadia pinched tighter down below and Justin flinched. Sweat beaded on his forehead and his face scrunched up in pain. “Didn’t Mike tell you I’d be paying you a visit?”
Justin nodded and then opened his fool mouth, “But he said you were a vampire.”
Nadia unhinged her jaw and her mouth opened inhumanly wide, displaying oversized fangs on a monstrous visage. She hissed in his face and snapped her teeth closed a hair away from nose.
She growled in a deep menacing voice, “I know Mike warned you, I was there outside your house! Don’t you remember, he pointed me out?”
I could see it on his face as the memory of the hoodie girl flashed through his mind. The boy was terrified.
His bowels opened in foul sounding release. Nadia growled in revulsion as the smell of his fear permeated the bathroom.
“Please don’t kill me, please, please, please, I don’t wanna die! My parents have money, they’ll pay you. My dad has over two hundred thousand in the bank right now. I’ll never tell anyone! I promise! What do you want!”
“I want silence. You will never speak of Mike Evans!” She hissed directly in his face. The boy quivered as his eyes tracked the deadly sharp fangs a centimeter from tearing his face off.
“Anything! Just say the word and I’ll do it! You want me to give him money? I know he needs money! I have his skateboard. I’ll give it back right now. I promise!” Justin babbled, saying anything that might buy him a few more seconds of precious life.
“The police! You will convince the police you lied about Mike. There can be no suspicions towards Mike! I don’t care if your parents have to pay bribes! There can be no accusations against Mike.” Nadia squeezed a little harder, and he squealed as she drew blood in her wicked grip.
Eyes wild with fear, he cried and begged some more, “Please, oh god, it hurts, please stop! I’ll do anything you want! I’ll tell them I lied, I’ll tell everyone I know that I lied! Please don’t do this, I don’t want to die. I’m too young to die.”
She whispered threats of death and dismemberment. “You live as long as you maintain silence, and only if you convince the police to leave Mike alone. If they suspect Mike of anything, I will come for you. If you ever speak to Mike or Anita, I’ll come for you. If you ever tell a single soul about me, I will find out and come for you. I may not kill you. I’d rather castrate you, let you live as half a man. Or maybe I’ll take the other half too, leave a clean slate. Yes, that sounds better. A complete sex change.”
She removed her hand from between his legs to show him the blood on her claws, “Do you think I’m a skilled enough surgeon to take it all off and keep you alive?”
Justin shook his head and babbled, “No no no no nooooo, please no, please no.”
“Here’s a little something to remind you of your promise.” With her left hand firmly clamped down on his throat, her right hand sliced through Justin’s AC/DC T-shirt and dug her claws into his left breast.
She clamped her hand over his mouth to cut off his screams as she marked him for life. When she finished, she leaned into his screaming face and shushed him. After a moment he calmed down and she removed her hand from his mouth, but he started babbling again immediately.
“Oh God, please help me! I promise I won’t say anything, ever! I promise to never ever go near Mike for as long as I live! Please have mercy! I’ll do anything you want …” His begging ended in sobs, bawling like a child.
Nadia stood up, a look of disgust on her face.
“Look in the mirror every day. Look at that mark. Remember that keeping your promise to me is the most important thing you will ever do.” With that she was gone, leaving Justin curled in a fetal position on the floor, crying. She had cut an N shape into the skin of his chest, a scar to remember her by.
I found myself sitting on the couch, damn near hyperventilating from the intense vision. I would never make the mistake of pissing Nadia off.
Never.
“Are you okay?” Anita look worried, holding my hand, confused.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath for a minute.”
Nadia slinked in next to me on the couch with a sly half smile on her lips. She looked satisfied with a job well done. She licked the red off her fingertips.
Sick little monster.
“I can’t believe you did that. I said don’t hurt him! You promised.”
“You saw that, huh? There’s just no keeping secrets from you.” She shook her head.
I stared at her in awe and shock. The little shit had no remorse.
“He’s not hurt, not really. Just a little bruised, and one itsy bitsy scar. I had to make sure he doesn’t forget his promise. No big deal. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
“Alright. I am officially done for the night. I think I’m gonna puke.”
Headed for the front door, Nadia encountered Taylor making out with a very drunk Cleo on his lap. When Nadia saw Taylor’s hand up Cleo’s little French skirt, she actually growled. Her eyes took on a feral gleam as she zeroed in on her target.
Nadia snatched Taylor’s arm whip-fast, jerking his hand from between Cleo’s legs. She pinched in good and hard with her claws. Taylor cried out in surprise, “Ow! What the hell?”
Cleo was so drunk she couldn’t even sit up straight. She slumped over in Taylor’s lap, her head flopping sideways. Nadia looked ready to skin Taylor alive. She grabbed him by the chin and pegged him with her golden stare. “It’s not nice to take advantage of drunk girls. Especially innocent girls. She’s too young! Go home before you end up arrested for rape!”
&nb
sp; Taylor nodded his head in perfectly hypnotized agreement, and stood up to go like an obedient dog following commands. Cleo flopped over on the couch. She reached out to grab Taylor to stop him from going.
“No, stay with me,” she slurred, her eyes only half open.
As Taylor kept moving, he pulled Cleo right off the couch to land face first on the floor in an ungraceful thud, her bare rump in the air, panties down around her thighs. Taylor made the mistake of moving towards Cleo to help her up and Nadia intercepted him, yanking him back with a snarl, “Go now!” He beat a hasty retreat, favoring the arm she had pinched in her razor grip.
Nadia pulled up Cleo’s underwear, and Anita helped to haul her up on her feet. The girls walked Cleo to the upstairs hallway leading towards her bedroom. They didn’t quite make it.
Cleo started to gag.
Nadia rushed Cleo into the upstairs bathroom. I watched from the door, uncomfortable and sick to my stomach, as Cleo barely made it in time to give homage to the porcelain god. She emptied her stomach and kept going, dry heaving and crying. After Cleo cleaned out her digestive tract of every last drop, bawling and swearing she’d never drink again, the girls helped her wash up and guided her to her bedroom. Cleo was asleep in minutes.
The situation quickly degenerated to chaos. With the host unconscious, the party was effectively over. Nadia took charge. “We need to clear this place before it gets out of control. These kids are gonna get stupid when they find out Cleo’s passed out. We need to shut it down before the neighbors call the cops.”
We presented a consolidated front, me, Anita, and Nadia, working together to usher everyone out of Cleo’s house. Nadia camped on the front door, watching everyone with her unnerving stare, making sure nothing valuable disappeared. It was midnight by the time we cleared the place and locked up. The house looked like the day after photos of a class five hurricane, and Cleo would probably have a kickin’ hangover in the morning, but nobody got in trouble and nothing major was stolen.
Cleo slept alone, her virginity intact, mostly.
* * * *
Jeremiah 3:15
“And I will give you shepherds in agreement with my heart, and they will certainly feed you with knowledge and insight.”
Ezekiel 25:17
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”
Epilogue
Monday, November 8th
The whole gang got together for pizza: Richard, Nadia, Anita, and me. We sat in a booth near the arcade games at Chicos Pizza Parlor off Valley Road. We devoured an extra-large Hochstatter’s pizza, indisputably the best pizza in Moses Lake if not the whole northwest. It was named for the multigenerational Hochstatter family who’ve been patrons of Chicos for decades. Loaded with ridiculous poundage of pepperoni, Canadian bacon, bacon, sausage, hamburger, and a healthy layer of black olives and mushrooms – it was simply decadent. It was so greasy customers have complained they can actually feel their arteries hardening with each bite.
Anita loved it. “You know, this could be a decent substitute for sex.”
Richard choked on his pizza, “And what would you know about that?”
“Ahm, nothing. I know nothing, I see nothing.” Anita suddenly found her pizza fascinating.
I couldn’t recall a time I had ever done anything like this.
It was like … a family.
Richard had really been trying lately, trying to be a father. Anita was radiant. Sitting beside me, she glowed, a beautiful young woman. That chubby skater girl from a couple months ago had all but disappeared. Nadia not only had her second chance to make good with Mikhail, but she also had a family, my family. Well, she was my family, I guess.
And here I sat, the glue binding us all together, the key to the equation. I had the best deal all the way around, surrounded by people who loved me unconditionally, who are always there when I need them.
As the sinfully delicious pizza disappeared, leaving greasy hands and sated smiles, the topic of conversation centered around school. My grades were okay. They had never been spectacular, but not horrible either. Anita was doing damn good, all A’s and B’s, except for Algebra. We shared a mutual hatred of Algebra.
Anita drifted into gossip mode. “Did you hear about Justin?” We all shook our heads and she continued, “He’s seeing a psychiatrist now. I guess he’s having paranoid delusions. The doctor put him on Seroquel to keep from going apeshit and Ambien so he can sleep at night.”
I pinched Anita’s knee under the table as I teased, “Going apeshit, is that a psychiatric term?” Though disturbing and just plain wrong, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Nadia added her thoughts. “It’s a new diagnosis they invented special for Justin.”
The girls giggled with knowing glances back and forth. Anita added another juicy tidbit, “Did you hear Rachelle is coming home next week? I guess they did a skin graft. She looks better, but she’ll never be a swimsuit model. They took a chunk out of her ass to graft onto her face.”
Nadia joined in, “I always thought she was kind of a butthead.”
Guffaws and horrified looks passed around the table, which morphed to snickers. Richard shook his head. “Isn’t that the girl who used to be our neighbor?”
I nodded and quickly changed the subject. “So, how’s it going with the new job?”
I eyed the cup in Richard’s hand as he swirled it round and round.
He surveyed the contents of his cup and smiled. “Nine days clean and sober. Nothing but Sprite in here. Nadia told me it was time to quit, and I think she’s right.” He smiled at Nadia, and winked in conspiracy. “And the job is great. I passed the probation period at RSC, so I’m officially a company man. Got a little competition in the maintenance department, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“They hired another guy?”
“The guy that was out on sick leave with a broken leg came back. I guess they’d rather have him organize tools and push a broom than sit on his butt and collect disability.”
Nadia leaned over to whisper lightly in my ear. “Do you want me to take care of him again? I can make it look like an accident.”
I choked on my soda. “Again? What did you do the first time?”
She gave me the look and a shush, forefinger held to her lips. We were definitely revisiting this discussion later, in private.
We returned home in Richard’s F-250 after dropping Anita off. Later, after my Dad went to bed, Nadia slipped into my room and under the covers to catch her nightly dose of basking in my aura, her arms and legs snaked around me tightly.
She woke me up, and I looked to the dresser to see it was 10:30 p.m. She had redecorated my room with new photos. Next to my mother’s picture now stood a black cardboard foldout of my Homecoming portraits with Anita. On the other side of that was a picture in a silver frame, a gift from Nadia – displaying a Halloween photo of me, Anita, and Nadia, all in costume, on Cleo’s couch. Nadia sat on my lap, her pale, skinny legs draped across Anita’s lap. Smiling serenely, she was so beautiful, in a gothic, morbid way. The white face paint and red lipstick didn’t hide the joy in her face. Every time I saw that picture, I felt like smiling.
It was my new favorite picture, and I had it on Facebook too, right next to the infamous video of Justin at the McDonalds playcenter.
I almost fell back asleep in Nadia’s embrace, but then remembered her comment from earlier. “Hey, what the hell were you talking about at Chicos? What did you do to that guy at RSC?”
She looked down, busted. “Nothing really, I just pulled a lever and the steel thingy fell on his leg.
He should have had it propped up. He didn’t follow safety procedures. Heavy equipment is very dangerous.”
“I don’t give a crap about safety procedures. You broke his leg? Please tell me you’re joking.”
Nadia explained with strained patience, “Your Dad really needed that job, so I made sure RSC needed a new maintenance man.” The simple yet vicious logic curdled my belly.
I snapped at her, “That’s horrible! You can’t go around breaking legs and burning people with acid. You just can’t!”
“I know, I know! Enough already! We’ve had this discussion several times. It happened before we made our agreement. I promised I’m not gonna hurt anyone. Why do you think I asked first? I asked what you wanted. It was only a suggestion.”
Petulant brat.
I scowled at her. “The answer is NO. That’s not what I want. Leave the poor guy alone. He’s got enough problems with his damn broken leg.”
Nadia burrowed down into the covers and mumbled, “Fine.” After a moment she popped her head back up to look me in the eyes, “So, are there any other issues we need to discuss, anyone else causing problems for the Evans family?”
“No. Not that I’m aware of.” I paused for a couple minutes. She kept staring expectantly, like she knew I was holding back. After some hesitation I finally admitted, “Well … there is this one Algebra teacher that’s a real asshole, he assigns way too much homework.”
She perked up immediately and leaned in close with an intensely hopeful expression, “Hmm interesting. Tell me more. Do I get permission to hurt him?”
* * * *
THE END
* * * *
Keep reading for ADULT paranormal romance thriller novels from Travis Luedke.
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