“Whatever the case, I don’t have to worry about that anymore, Olivia. Because it’syou. You’re the Cataclysmic I’ve been searching for all these years. I canfeelit. It’s different this—”
“Whatisthat?” I said, peering out the windshield. I pointed at a shadowy spot by the restrooms. Michael glanced at the area with disinterest. Slowly, I ran my right hand along the door, searching for the handle. I prepared to run. I probably wouldn’t get far, but I had to at least chance it.
“Nice try,” he said with a snort. “Even if Ididallowyou toget the door open, do you actually believe you could outrun me?”
What he didn’t know was that I truly had seen a shadow. My desperate mind was hoping it was magically Robert coming to kick Michael’s ass the way he had Nick’s. Dare to dream.
“Now, can I continue?” he snarled. “You can think I’m a monster all you want, but I’ll have you know that I did my best to scare the love right out of you. I gaveallthe Cataclysmics a chance. I thought if I frightened you enough, it would put you off vampires and the visions would end. I ransacked your homes, called hundreds of times a day, stalked you, killed your pets, made you think you were imagining things, going insane. It even worked on a few, but most of you couldn’t be deterred. Like you, Oliva.”
“But I would never hurt a vampire!” I shouted, bringing my fists down on my thighs. “Mybest friendandboyfriendare vampires. I love those two more than anyone else in the world. I would never hurt them! Never!”
“There’s no need to shout,” he said. “And I believe you when you say that you love them. But there’s a darkness around you that only I can see—it shows itself in my visions like a black halo. I’ve never seen it, ever, on any of the other Cataclysmics. It’s you, Olivia. You’re the one.”
“What if I do what you want?” I said desperately. “If you let me go, I promise that I’ll go away and that I’ll never talk to Robert again.”
“Sure you will.”
“Please—”
Michael sprang on top of me, and I screamed for all I was worth. Your stinking,filthyblood,” he huffed in my ear. “To never have to smell it again! I will save us all!”
I squeezed my eyes closed tight enough to see white stars dancing in front of my lids. His lips were at my neck now, and I braced myself for the agony, for the stinging of his mouth. I held my breath and waited, hoping it would be over soon. But . . .
Suddenly I was . . . slimy?
Slowly, I unscrewed my eyes. Michael was gone. The driver’s side door was ajar, and I was covered head-to-toe in blood, guts, and hair. It was like a gory bomb had gone off inside the car. Everything was covered. In Michael, I realized.
Then the pieces began to dissolve, until nothing was left on the car seat except sparkly ash and a pair of fangs. I coughed from all the dust in the air. “What the hell just happened?” I murmured.
I looked up for the answer. Outside the car, with a stake griped in her quaking, red nail polish-tipped fingers, was Marlena.
EPILOGUE
It wasn’t until Penelope went missing that Marlena had truly started to believe that Michael was behind the decoy disappearances. She’d never intervened, not until the rest stop staking, though she’d started to suspect him of misconduct when Raquel vanished in the 1920s.
With no solid proof, she’d never had grounds to accuse Michael of murder. Or stake him. Vampires have laws they must abide by, too.
As part owner of Dignitary, Marlena had opted to treat employees with open hostility as a method of protection. If she discouraged decoys from dating clients, she figured she could keep them safe. But her strategy didn’t always work; some decoys, like yours truly, didn’t like to abide by the rules.
Michael had foiled his own homicidal plans by insisting that I pick out clothes in the Dignitary closet. It had been his one and only mistake. Had I come out two seconds later, I would have been a goner, since I would have missed Marlena walking by.
My life had been saved by two measly seconds, since it was in the hallway that Marlena learned of Michael’s intent to drive me home. In all the years Dignitary had been in business, he’d never once offered a decoy a ride. Marlena knew a rat when she smelled one.
To think, Michael’s scheming had been ended because of my indecision over kitten heels versus stilettos. Marlena had sensed in her non-beating heart that Michael would hurt me if she didn’t follow us. Still, she had to catch him in the act. And there I was, unwittingly acting as bait.
Marlena knew nothing of Michael’s predictions and had never heard of Cataclysmics. She dismissed the rage Michael felt toward Dignitary decoys as old-fashioned jealousy. Seemed there was a final chapter in the Iris / Michael / Alexander love triangle that Michael had never gotten around to telling me. Lucky for me, Marlena knew the story and was eager to tell it, or else I might have blabbed about how he believed I was going to be responsible for ending the vampire race.
According to Marlena, Iris had fallen into a terrible depression after learning of Alexander’s death—a murder Michael had orchestrated to look like a robbery gone bad, framing two peasants who would later face the gallows for their alleged crimes. Iris’s grief became too much for her to suffer, and one warm spring morning she walked into her flower garden, kneeled on the grass, and let the sun cook her alive. Michael was furious, since he’d never believed that Iris truly loved Alexander. That, and he’d become a vampire to be with her, though she’d hadn’t viewed him as anything more than a plaything. To Marlena, this was a plausible explanation as to why Michael would want me—and other decoys in romantic relationships with vampires—dead. He’d envied us for attaining a level of love he never could never have.
What Marlena (and other vampires) would have done to me after learning of Michael’s true reasons behind my attempted murder, I didn’t want to imagine. Michael was undeniably evil, but his visions were believed to be accurate. Marlena had saved my life, but these days trust wasn’t an emotion that came easy.
And Robert? Would he send me away if he knew my love for him could possibly result in mass genocide? It was a question I wasn’t ready to have answered. So, I would keep Michael’s secret to myself.
I was thinking of Michael’s predictions when Robert reminded me of the time. We were running late for Liz’s wedding, which wasn’t acceptable for the maid of honor. Robert quickly helped me into my dress and then zipped up the back. I was thankful for Liz’s impeccable taste, and that she hadn’t made me look bad just so she’d look prettier at the altar. Like she needed any help inthatdepartment, anyway. My dress was exquisite: long and black, with delicate lace along the bustline. My only accessory was the deep purple orchid tucked in my hair, which matched Liz’s bouquet.
“It’s a beautiful night for a wedding, isn’t it?” Robert asked.
“Gorgeous,” I beamed. “Liz will make a beautiful bride.”
