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REVAMPED
By
Crystal B. Bright
© copyright November 2006, Crystal B. Bright
Cover art by Jesse Pallon, © copyright November 2006
ISBN 1-58608-969-2
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.
Chapter One
The things women did for money. Elaine crossed her legs, gripped the arms of the imposing high-back chair she’d been directed to sit in by her tight-lipped host, and sighed. She couldn’t exactly lump all women into her financially crippled category.
“Perhaps you should sit down, Mr. Overkill, so that we can get started.” She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the name. She hoped the man would at least allow her to call him by his first name, Seth.
The décor of his home epitomized his surname. She peered down at a sea of white carpeting surrounding her well-worn white walking shoes. Vacuum tracks all facing the same way streaked the carpet. A carved crystal vase sat in the center of a huge mahogany wood coffee table. She sat in one of the two matching white chairs that flanked the couch. And a crackling fire flickered in the fireplace.
Sure it was the middle of October. It was also Virginia Beach, Virginia and the weather hadn’t turned into the nice, autumn temperature it should have yet.
He jumped as though he’d forgotten she’d been sitting in his chair for over five minutes. “Sit? No. Not yet.” He kept his gaze on the floor.
Trying to look interested, she feigned a genuine if not concerned smile. She’d been called to this mansion for what the woman who had called her office had described as an emergency.
When Elaine had started her psychiatric practice in Virginia Beach she thought for sure that neurotic narcissists wouldn’t be as abundant here as they were in California or New York. After tonight, she knew they were everywhere.
“In my line of work, it’s better if you sit. Or would you prefer to lie down?” she asked.
Before he could respond, she reached into her bag and pulled out a notepad and pen. As her gaze followed her financial benefactor pacing back and forth in front of her, she wondered if the special after-work trip to his home was even worth it.
With the money she would receive from this one house call, she’d be able to pay up at least two months of her office lease, three months on her medical equipment rental and renew her subscription to Oprah’s magazine. It wasn’t her fault that every time she tried getting him to make a daytime appointment he upped the payment to her, unusual for a new patient.
No use waiting. Tomorrow’s lineup proved to be just as hectic. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have a full schedule at work. That’s why she was there now.
“I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Overkill, but I’ve come to your home after hours. I would like to address what your wife described as urgent.” She wanted to appear in control but it was hard to pull off that appearance in Hush Puppies.
“Wife? You talked to my wife?” It was the first time he stopped his trek and looked directly into her eyes.
The commanding gesture even behind his black-rimmed glasses made Elaine avert her gaze. No matter his quirkiness, he exuded a power that bowled her over. To mask her uneasiness with the stare, she wrote Seth’s name on her notepad.
“A woman called. I assumed she was your ….”
“Not my wife,” he said, cutting her off.
“All right. Then it was your ….”
“Assistant.” He shuffled his weight from one side to the other and mumbled something she couldn’t quite catch.
He hung his head like it burdened him to carry it above his neck. The nervous energy he must have surging inside of him made him wring his hands, one over the other until he transformed his walnut-colored skin as crimson as his sweater.
Even with his shoulders hunched, he carried an impressive height. His back curved forward as though he wanted to swallow himself up into his own body, disappear without a trace.
When he did bring his head up, Elaine caught his expression. Although hidden behind glasses, his skin tone made his nearly black eye color more prominent. And his short black hair was carefully brushed down with clean edges.
He looked like an Aztec warrior plucked from his time and plopped down into the twenty-first century. Elaine fanned her face just thinking about him conquering her.
One thing did catch her eye: a ring, more like a band. A wedding band on his left ring finger. His wife hadn’t made the appointment. His assistant had. Code for having an affair with the assistant, Elaine thought.
“Please, sit,” she asked again.
He stared at her for a while as though studying her face, trying to pick up all of her laugh lines around her eyes thanks to her mother and her frown lines around her mouth thanks to nights crying over the memory of her father.
As though coming to peace with her request, he nodded and made his place in the matching chair opposite of where she’d sat.
She sighed, relieved she wasn’t with a complete psycho. The man harbored some issues apparent from the way he tapped his fingertips on his thumb over and over again, from index finger to pinky and back again.
Agoraphobia had been the excuse given to her receptionist for why this man couldn’t come to her office. Elaine was nothing if not accommodating.
She rubbed the back of her neck, relieving the tension headache mounting her head. A tiny part of her wished he would take those large hands of his and rub her shoulders until the headache disappeared.
What the hell was she doing? She could not be thinking that this man, her future patient, could be a suitable partner. It was unethical. It was wrong. He was married. However, it was fun to think about.
She crossed her legs then opened her mouth to speak when he sprang to his feet again. It was going to be a long, long night.
“I do not know what you have been told, but I’m fine.”
She detected a slight accent that she couldn’t place at the moment. Definitely Latin. If she couldn’t pick that up, her dear abuela would have tanned her hide.
Perhaps his culture found it demeaning or disrespectful for a woman to question a man’s personal life. She’d heard other non-traditional beliefs before.
Then again, she’d grown up hearing all about the unusual, things that went bump in the night, thanks to her dear Abuela Celia. Her grandmother spouted stories about how Elaine was destined to help people on the other side. All voodoo talk that Elaine didn’t believe then or now. Grandmothers like that ought to be committed.
“If you feel there’s nothing wrong then this session will not take long at all. Please, sit.” She patted her hand on the sofa and smiled. The move mixed professionalism with a little bit of flirting. “My assessment of you, Mr. Overkill, will be quick. I promise. I would like to ask you some questions to get a general idea of what’s troubling you. Besides, a big, strong guy like you shouldn’t be afraid of a little, ol’ me.” Elaine stopped short of batting her eyelashes.
It must have worked. Seth returned to the chair although his knee bounced so much it looked like Seth had a jackhammer in his pants.
“So have you lived here long?” she asked, trying to relax him.
“No.”
Not a big talker but at least he stopped pumping his knee.
“I detect an accent. Where are you from?”
When he didn’t answer right away, she gazed up at him. The way he stared at her made her think that he was imaging she was someone else, someone he knew from his past.
Seth stood again, which forced a sigh from Elaine. This time, though, he sauntered to her.
Elaine swallowed but kept her ground. She’d never been physically attacked by a patient, and she hoped today wouldn’t be the first time for such an occurrence.
Reaching his hand forward like he wanted to remove a stray curl from in front of her face, he stopped when she gasped. When he whirled to go back to his chair, she picked up his unmistakable scent. A mixture of sandalwood, citrus, and a touch of vanilla emanated from his body. Unable to stop herself, Elaine took in a deep breath, implanting his aroma into her memory.
He proved her assumption when he said, “I did not think you would look like this.” His low voice surrounded her like a hug.
Her tension headache worsened when she furrowed her eyebrows together. “What do you mean? Because I’m a psychiatrist?”
“No. All, um, developed.”
Developed? What did he mean by that? Elaine pulled her cardigan sweater closed.
Seth averted his gaze. Calming himself involved tapping his fingertips on both hands to his thumbs and mumbling something incoherent.
“Perhaps you would feel more comfortable taking off your shoes and socks while you lie down, Mr. Overkill.” Now nothing seemed funny to Elaine, not his name, not this job, not this night.
He reached forward to undo them but stopped and sat back. “I would have to wash my hands afterward. Then cleanse them again when I put the shoes back on my feet.”
Elaine sighed. Sure he was cute but he was also nuttier than a squirrel’s home. “Perhaps you should have your assistant call my office in the morning to make an appointment there. Maybe you’ll be more comfortable in that setting. Your primary care physician can prescribe something to calm you enough to make it to my office.”
“What?” he asked and sat up straighter as though something she’d said was inappropriate.
“An appointment.”
“Cute? You think I am cute?”
This time Elaine blinked and sat up straighter. She hadn’t said that out loud. How did he know what she’d been thinking?
“What?” she asked.
“What?”
“Hello!” The third voice made Elaine whip her head around to find a woman lurking in the shadows.
Having someone else in the home shouldn’t have surprised her. The house could have accommodated the Washington Redskins team and their coaching staff to boot.
As a giggly youth, Elaine used to proclaim that one day she would live in this very house that sat on the oceanfront and have servants wait on her hand and foot. Things always seemed different from the outside.
The cocoa-colored woman sauntered in the room as though she owned it, the house and the universe. Her straight auburn hair curtained her back and framed her face. Her piercing green eyes demanded attention. And in her tiny tank top and toddler-sized shorts, she looked like a model with all legs, arms, and breasts.
The woman’s confidence made Elaine scan her conservative outfit and question her sex appeal. She smoothed her hand over her mousy brown hair then sighed. Yes, this would be a very, very long night.
“Well, well, well,” the woman began. “What an interesting little set up. A woman in your home and you in your chair. Looks like old times. I’d never thought I’d see you prowling again. Very nice.”
She must have been the assistant. Yep, Elaine was sure the woman typed her heart out in an outfit like that. Definitely affair material.
Not sure of what to think of the suggestive if not odd statement, Elaine rose to her feet. “I’ll leave you my business card. Just call me when you’re ready to make another appointment at my office.”
“You are open during the day.” The man shook his head. “Not a good time for me.”
Elaine cleared her throat. As much as she needed the money, this man had too many problems that he needed to deal with first before seeking assistance.
“Perhaps the best thing for you to do is to inquire about a different type of professional help before requesting my services.” She shoved her pen and pad back into her bag.
“Different type of help?” he repeated like a parrot.
The model wannabe sauntered to the couch and sat on it, crossing her legs gracefully if not with the full theatrics of a Rockette doing a fan kick. “She’s trying to say you’re crazy and you need to be medicated before she can work on you.” She laughed.
Elaine had to save face. “Of course I didn’t mean to imply ….”
“Cut all of this nonsense and just tell her why she’s here.” The woman huffed as though her time was being wasted.
“Quiet, Mina,” he barked and sprang to his feet. The pacing started again.
Elaine wondered how he hadn’t worn a hold in his rug from the constant marching.
He glanced at her a couple of times before he spoke. “I have been rude. Let me do introductions.” He nodded toward the woman. “Dr. Puro, this is Mina, my assistant. Mina, this is Dr. Elaine Puro, daughter of Olivia and Alex Puro, first born on the night of a monsoon-type rain that cleansed the land and brought forth a new era in our world.”
Mina sucked on her teeth and turned to Elaine. “Wow. All that printed on your business card?”
The creepy yet odd statement triggered Elaine’s heart into a solid pounding. “How do you know my mother and father?”
“Your family and mine are irrevocably linked over several generations,” Seth said
“What are you talking about? I’ve never seen you before.” Or had she? The more she stared at him, the more familiar he became to her. Why was that?
“Your family offers an invaluable service to mine. You offer something special that I need.”
Elaine stared at the man, trying to see if she knew him, remembered him from her childhood although most of that was a blur.
“My name isn’t Puro anymore. It’s Shrink.”
“As in psychiatrist?” Mina howled with laughter. “How appropriate. Shrink and shrink.”
He stared at Elaine and didn’t break his gaze this time. “I didn’t know your family name had changed.”
He tilted his head and furrowed his eyebrows. “Your mother must have remarried after your father, um, passed.”
‘Um, passed’ was a nice way of saying brutally murdered. Elaine’s eyes widened. “How the hell did you know that? How do you know so much about me?”
He crossed his arms then dropped them down to his waist. His arms settled into a number four position, one arm straight down in front of him while the other crossed in front of his body to grip his elbow.
Fidgeting. Had she met this guy in a bar his apparent nervousness would have been adorable. As it was, the gesture annoyed her, triggering anxiety within her.
Elaine put things together and she didn’t like the end result. “Did your family have something to do with my father’s death?”
Seth remained quiet, but he kept his eyes on hers. He appeared remorseful and looked close to mouthing the words ‘I’m sorry.’
She released a small cry as she grabbed her bag and purse. “If this is supposed to be some sort of joke, it’s far from funny!”
“Please, sit down,” Seth requested in a calm tone.
Instead Elaine marched to the door, ignoring his appeal. As soon as she got out of the house that ‘crazy’ built, she would call the police about his involvement in her father’s murder. The murder had been almost thirty years ago. Would they even listen?
In the blink of an eye and before Elaine could touch the doorknob, she felt a slight breeze then found Mina standing between her and the door.
No way could that woman, who’d had her legs crossed as she sat on the sofa and had to have been at least five feet away from where Elaine had been standing, could get to the door that fast. Elaine wasn’t that swift on her feet, but God, this woman should have been in the Olympics.
“I was nice to you before,” the woman said with a fake smile. “Rest assured, I will hurt you if you try to run.” She shoved Elaine backward.
Even though Mina was model-thin, she possessed a strength that surprised Elaine. Elaine nearly tripped over her feet as she stumbled back to the chair. These people were serious. All Elaine could hear in her head was her racing pulse, pounding away.
No fear. No fear. No damn fear.
“Stop frightening her,” Seth said. “All of this is a little overwhelming.” He stared into Elaine’s eyes. “Right?”
She blinked hard, shocked the guy had come to her aid. What were these two playing, good psycho/bad psycho?
“Please, sit.” He motioned to the chair she’d been in originally.
Not wanting to be manhandled again, Elaine eased down in the chair and kept a careful eye on the two of them. To calm her nerves, she thought of a prayer that honored the dead while acknowledging heaven. It’d been a while since she’d done that but she needed some extra strength to get through this situation. She even put her hand to her chest to touch the locket with a picture of her father inside hidden under her blouse.
In her mind she thought up plans to get out of this situation that included the heavy-looking vase on the coffee table and someone’s head.
“What I know is not important at the moment,” he began. “What is of the utmost importance is what you know, or rather what you are able to do.” He paced but this time as he walked back and forth and tapped his fingers, she finally heard what he’d been mumbling. It sounded like he was repeating ‘dogma’ under his breath.
The cautionary tone in his voice started her racing heart until she thought the internal organ would bruise slamming itself against her ribcage. Elaine peered out of the window by the doors. Shadows floated by and she couldn’t tell if they were of trees or people the way they morphed into so many different shapes. The night never used to scare her before.
“Who are you people? What’s going on here?” Her hands clutched her bag until her knuckles felt tight.
Before Seth explained anything, he volleyed his gaze from her to Mina.
“Mina, move to this chair.” He pointed to a chair opposite from Elaine.
“Why? I’m comfortable on the couch.” Mina kept her attention on her fingernails instead of on the control freak.
“Symmetry. I need the room to be balanced.” He spread his hands out, splaying his long fingers as he pointed to both chairs.
Elaine felt there was something about him that was masterful, something deep-seeded within him that he hadn’t released, or maybe was afraid to release. His authority may have had something to do with the fact that he knew so much about her and her family and hadn’t explained how.
“Don’t you think I’ve been inconvenienced enough?” Mina’s words seemed to have another meaning the way they stared at each other.
Elaine could have sworn she heard a low, rumbling growl. She scanned the room to see if a dog hid in the shadows. To channel her fear, she bit the inside of her bottom lip.
Seth brought himself up to his full height. He loomed over his assistant, still seated. With the venom of a million cobras he said, “Know your place.”
The way he spoke to his assistant sent shivers up Elaine’s back. If this was Seth slightly peeved, she had no interest in seeing him angry.
Mina swallowed hard and with great reluctance from the way she exhaled accommodated his request and moved to the other chair.
When he started pacing once she sat down, Mina folded her arms again. Fear coursed through Elaine’s body making her head feel near explosion. She had to get her thoughts together so she could make a plan to get out.
“You don’t have to explain anything,” Elaine said, keeping her voice low and even. “Besides, I’m sure I have people looking for me right now so I should go soon.”
Since she lived alone in her cramped condo, she knew no one would go look for her. These two didn’t know that. At least she hoped they didn’t. Perhaps her party-animal grandmama or her hermit-like mother would try to find her. Or maybe she could count on her brother who was across the country right now.
Elaine muttered a silent prayer.
“Funny,” he said. “I like the way you think.”
Damn, she was playing this too aloof. Her gaze cut to the door then back at the duo. Maybe she had to play them against one another.
“Look at him.” Mina pointed. “He’s obsessed with cleanliness. He’s afraid of bugs and the small animals.” She folded her arms and huffed. “And spoons? I don’t get that. He has a ritual for everything. Now he’s got this germ-phobia that’s really killing us, and I do mean killing us!”
Mina jumped from her seat and sauntered over to Elaine. Preparing to be grabbed again, Elaine kept her fist at the ready on her lap. Instead Mina pulled up the hem of her shirt and exposed a large bandage on her side. After removing the gauze, she showed Elaine an oozing open wound. It looked like an animal had torn her flesh.
“Can’t really style in a two-piece anymore.”
Elaine felt her stomach churning and her throat closing. “You need help. Have you seen a doctor for this?” Seeing grotesque sores like this had prompted Elaine into psychiatry instead of internal medicine.
“Why do you think you’re here?”
“I’m not that type of doctor.” Elaine’s voice quivered. “I could refer you to someone.”
Mina lowered her shirt. “Trust me. If he starts doing what he’s supposed to do and you help him, then I won’t need a surgeon.” She put her hands to her hips. “If he doesn’t feed soon, we’re all going to disintegrate into a pile of mush. But he’s afraid the next person he feeds on will have some germ or something.”
“Hold your tongue, woman.” Once he stopped moving, Seth said to Elaine, “For generations your family has assisted mine in our survival. One would not think that hunters such as our kind would need the assistance of anyone else, especially a mortal.”
Seth and Mina laughed in unison. The sound curled Elaine’s toes.
“As times changed,” Seth began, “your gift is needed again. I have not fed in several months.” Looking pointedly at Elaine, he said, “I need you to help me feed again.”
Clearing her throat first, Elaine tried digesting what he’d said. “What are you people?” she asked again.
“Sanguinarians. Life-force extractors. Human predators.” He adjusted his glasses on his nose.
“Vampires?” Elaine asked, deducing his politically correct statements. Sweat trickled down between her shoulder blades and for a brief moment her gaze became blurry like she wanted to pass out.
Mina huffed. “Come on. It’s the new millennium. Call us plasma connoisseurs.”
Elaine sat in disbelief. These people claimed to be vampires, blood suckers in this day and age. She wrung her hands this time and tried swallowing down her sandy dry throat.
“You’re obsessive-compulsive and you want me to help you so that you feel comfortable enough to kill again?” Moving to the edge of her seat, she prepared to leap from it soon and head to the door.
“It is your duty.” His tone made it seem like she couldn’t turn him down.
Seth appeared a little paler than before. A strange but instant pang in her wanted to help him, cure him of what ailed him. It had nothing to do with his sullen look.
She wanted to help him? She couldn’t be feeling this way. However, she couldn’t deny the stirring in her stomach and the guilty feeling that swarmed in her head. The feeling went beyond the empathy she would feel for her patients in need and in pain. It was as though his pain was now her pain. The hell she would feel that way for this cruel stranger.
Elaine shook her head. He and Mina personified evil. She had to worry about getting herself out of the house.
“I can’t do that. I can’t aid a serial killer to kill again. You all need help.”
In a whine that rivaled any child’s, Mina said, “I knew we should have fed from her. What good is she to us? And now she knows our secret.”
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