Not What She Seems

chapter 27



“I knew Mason would go flying out of here if his precious office building was in trouble, so I found a group of homeless guys, bought them each a disposable cell phone, and gave them instructions on how to sneak into the building during business hours then hide out until everyone else left. They were to wait for my text, then set their designated section of the building on fire when I text them. That’s what I did, when I excused myself to use the bathroom earlier. So they had their disposable cell phones, their instructions, and the $200 a piece I gave them to do this.”

“Why? How could you do that to Mason? He has nothing to do with this!” Sylvia finally found her voice. She understood his vendetta against the succubi, but she couldn’t fathom why he had chosen to involve his brother on any level.

Jeffrey pulled a different hunting knife out of its sheath and examined it closely. “Because, he already has too much. He has the business, the money, the name, and now you. He has a woman like you, and because he doesn’t know what you are, he can enjoy you as he should. I will never have that opportunity, or the money, or the business. Mason always gets it all.” He leaned towards her and ran the tip of the large knife down the front of her sweater, in between her breasts. She sat perfectly still and willed herself not to faint. If she fainted, he might never allow her to wake up again. It was a struggle to keep her wits about her.

“Joke’s on him, though. I’ve been swindling money from the company for years. I’ve got a nice little nest egg built up for myself now. My fake ID and passport are ready to go, so after I take care of business with you I think I’ll head out to Eastern Europe, see if there are any of you she-devils to destroy there. It’ll mean letting Elora go for now, but I know my time here is just about over. And Mason? Well, he’ll lose his office building. Sure, it’s insured, so it will be nothing but an inconvenience for him, but still… he deserves a little pain in his life like the rest of us. I’m sure some other slut will step up to take your place once you’re gone.” Suddenly he lunged at her and grabbed a thick clump of her beautiful hair. “Perhaps I should take pity on him, leave him a souvenir to remember you by.” With that he used the knife to cut the chunk of her hair free. He placed it on the table as Sylvia sobbed uncontrollably. Her self-control was crumbling fast.

“You’re lucky, really. I’m just trying to figure out if I should do you here and leave your body up in bed for Mr. Lucky to find, or if I should do you here and find a new spot to dump you. The Charles River has been working out well for me. By my count there’s three more bodies of you soul suckers still floating around in there that haven’t turned up yet.”

He stopped to examine the table with a frown on his face. “Something’s missing… oh, the apple. I forgot I used the one in the bag on some homely fat whore last night. She was totally pathetic, all over me the minute I showed her any attention at all. She went down fast, she was too stupid to even be suspicious of me.”

Deborah, Sylvia realized. He had killed Deborah last night. Lilith’s hunch was right, no wonder she hadn’t shown up for work. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

“Oh, don’t cry, pretty thing, you’ll be joining her in the river soon enough,” he promised as he began searching the kitchen for an apple. “What the hell?” he complained as he investigated the countertop and the contents of the fridge. “He buys kiwi, and pineapple, but no apples. Who doesn’t eat apples?”

Sylvia watched him silently. “No problem, I’ve got a bag of them in the car, best to be prepared, right?” He winked at her before putting the gag back in her mouth to keep her quiet and hurried out of the house to go retrieve the apple he needed to defile her body once she was dead.

Time was running out for her as she tried again to slip her bonds. Grunting with exertion she did her best, but the plastic cable ties were inescapable. With her hands behind her and feet bound underneath her she was unable to find the right angle to burst free of them and they were far too tight to slip out of. Her limbs were tingly and numb from being restricted like that and her strength was quickly ebbing. It was hopeless. She was going to die, in Mason’s beautiful brownstone, at the hands of the Hunter, his brother.

Resigned to her fate, Sylvia didn’t even flinch when she heard the front door slam again.

“Sylvia?” a familiar voice called frantically. She couldn’t place it, but she recognized it.

The gag prevented her from responding loudly, but she grunted as loud as she could and used her body to rock the chair so its feet banged on the hardwood floor. She must have rocked a little too hard because suddenly the whole thing tipped over, with her still on it. Unable to protect her head or face from the fall, Sylvia turned away as best she could as she hit the floor with a loud bump.

“There you are!” Walter appeared in the entrance to the kitchen and hurried over to help her. “You okay?” he asked as he pushed the chair back upright and examined the cable ties that held her.

“Grrrmph,” she answered through her gag. Walter swiftly removed it.

“Where is he? Where’s Jeffrey?”

“It’s okay, I dealt with him. A good crack over the head with a tire iron, and even a big, tough Hunter will fall,” he joked.

“You killed him?”

“No, he’s alive. I stuffed him in the trunk of his car, but the police will be here soon. One of the neighbors saw me putting him in the trunk and said they’d called the police, so we haven’t much time.” He rooted through the kitchen drawers until he found what he was looking for, a pair of kitchen shears. He used them to cut through the bonds that held Sylvia.

“We gotta go, come on!” He helped her to her feet and she almost fell as the blood flow returned to her limbs. Walter looped her arm around his neck to help support her and hurried out the front door with her limping along beside him.

“Car’s right here,” he pointed as they rounded the corner, away from the brownstone. He eased Sylvia into the passenger’s seat before jumping in and speeding away.

Sylvia was in shock. She had been sure it was the end for her, yet Walter had shown up just in time. “How did you… why were you…” Her brain felt fuzzy and muddled, and she found it hard to formulate the question properly.

“Lilith. She saw that picture of you, in the paper yesterday, and it mentioned your rich boy-toy, so she looked him up, figuring you were staying with him. She asked me to keep an eye on you as best I could. I’m sorry you didn’t know about it, but she wanted me to keep it quiet.”

Sylvia nodded. So Lilith had sent him to guard her from a distance, without her knowledge. While the idea would have made her uncomfortable a few days ago, given the harm that had come to both the incubi sent to help her before, now she was glad Lilith had acted behind her back on her behalf. She would be dead at the hands of the Hunter if she hadn’t done so.

“Where are we going?” she asked quietly as Walter zipped in and out of traffic, anxious to leave the scene from Beacon Hill far behind them before the police arrived.

“The office. I haven’t had time to text or call Lilith, but she needs to know about all of this. And,” he added as an afterthought, “I don’t know where else to take you.”

Sylvia leaned her head against the cool car window and wondered what Mason would make of all of this. She felt she needed to at least let him know she was okay, but she couldn’t figure out how to do that without attracting the attention of the police. As soon as she contacted him there was a chance he would mention it to the police, and then they’d be hunting for her. They probably would be anyway, once Mason told them she had been in the house with his brother, but at least without any contact there would be no need for explanations. She could just disappear, off to her new life, and he would think she left him because of his brother. It wouldn’t make it any easier for him to deal with the end of their romance, but it was better to make a clean break without the messy break up scene.

When they arrived at Enchanted Escorts a bit later, they found Lilith at the front desk, busily fielding calls. The media had gotten wind of the serial killer’s capture, and the sensational story of the unknown man that had knocked him out and put him in the trunk of his own car for the police to find was all over the major network channels. Succubi all over Boston were calling the office to find out if the rumors were true, the Hunter had finally been caught by the police.

“Yes, as far as I know… I haven’t heard…” Lilith spied Sylvia and Walter coming off the elevator and cut her conversation short. “I should have some answers shortly, but I’ve got to run now.”

Her face lit up in a rare display of pleasure as Sylvia approached the desk. “You’re alive! I feared the worst.”

Sylvia grinned. “Thanks to Walter, otherwise I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”

“So you’re the ‘mystery man’, Walter?” Walter nodded proudly.

“Well, as best I can gather, various neighbors called the police when they witnessed you hitting a man over the head with a tire iron and then stuffing him into the trunk of a car. He was awake, and screaming bloody murder from inside the trunk when the police arrived. They found apples, rose petals and various other nasty things in his car, and the front door to Mason’s house was wide open, so they had the legal right to enter and search it. They found the rest of his, uh, supplies, as well as signs that someone had been held against their will inside the house. It was enough for them to arrest him on multiple charges, and I’ve heard from Lieutenant Brisby that no bail is expected to be set. He should go away for the rest of his life.”

“Good,” Sylvia sighed. Finally it was over. The Hunter would stalk her kind no more, and she was safe again.

“Yes, but now they’re looking for the unknown blonde female that witnesses saw the mystery man leading away,” Lilith said pointedly. “The Hunter may be gone, but you still can’t stay in Boston, Sylvia. If they find you, too many questions will no doubt be asked, and it would put the business at risk, as well as the rest of us.”

“I know; it’s fine; I’m okay with relocating now. I have no desire to stay here anymore.” It was true. After the trauma she had just lived through, she would be satisfied to never see Boston again. Too much had happened in the last few weeks for her to be comfortable living there anymore, she understood that now.

“I’ve got some more calls to answer.” Lilith gestured to the constantly ringing phones. “Why don’t you go into my office and use the computer to look around, see where you’d like to go? We can book your flight tonight, get you on the first plane out in the morning, away from all of this.” Sylvia nodded. “And Walter, I need you to run down to the drugstore, please.” She wrote something down a piece of paper and handed it to him. Sylvia didn’t have the energy to ask what it was.

As she entered Lilith’s office her cell phone began ringing. The caller ID showed it was Mason calling. “Sorry, but I just can’t,” she said softly as she shut off the phone. She felt horrible that he was no doubt worried sick about her, but she had already made up her mind. No communication with him again, ever. It was for the best, for both of them.

She poked around online, looking at warmer climates. As much as she loved New England, perhaps it was time to try a warmer spot to make her new home. Southern California looked good.

Lilith poked her head in to see how things were progressing. “Any ideas yet?” she asked.

“San Diego. Any good territories free there?”

“Let me check my records.” Sylvia moved out the way so Lilith could access her computer. She pulled up a map of the city of San Diego and examined the different color-coded areas on the map.

“There’s plenty open there, if I recall correctly, in the downtown area. Yes, there, right near Balboa Park, that’s prime hunting territory.” She gestured to a spot on the map. “Let’s send you there. I’ll go book your flight and send an email to my real estate agent out there to get going on finding an apartment for you. You should plan to leave first thing in the morning.”

“All right.” Lilith went back to the waiting area and Sylvia put her elbows on the desk and held her head in her hands. It was all happening so fast.

Walter poked his head in. “Hey, I got the stuff Lilith wanted for you.” He held up a bag from the drugstore. Sylvia rose and took the bag from him, curious as to its contents. Upon inspection she found a box of brunette hair color, a brush, and a pair of hair shears. She sighed with resignation. She hated being anything but blonde, but Lilith had thought of everything, as usual. To attract the least attention possible at the airport tomorrow she needed a disguise. The whole city was on the lookout for the stunning mystery blonde, girlfriend of the rich and famous Mason Kent.

In the office bathroom, Lilith trimmed her hair into a stylish angled bob before she colored it. She waited the allotted time required, reading magazines in the waiting room, then washed it out in the bathroom sink with a little help from Lilith.

She groaned when she looked in the mirror. Although her hair was still wet she could already tell she hated it.

“Don’t be silly,” Lilith scolded, “It’ll look fabulous when it’s dry.”

“I guess so.”

“Oh, I booked your flight, you’re on the 4:00 direct flight, first class. I couldn’t get you anything earlier, sorry. I’ll head to the bank in the morning and get a bank check for you so you have plenty of money to get started in San Diego.”

“Thank you.” She knew Lilith had bumped her up to first class to do something nice for her. It was a small gesture, but it meant the world to her. Lilith was not known for her kindness.

“I think you should stay here, tonight, in the office. Walter and I are staying in, too. I’ve got a lot of calls to take, and a bunch to make as well, and you two need to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. The couch in my office pulls out, so you can stay there. Walter can sleep in the waiting room, and chances are I won’t even sleep tonight so that’s not much of an issue.”

Sylvia agreed it sounded like a plan. Even as exhausted as she was, she couldn’t fathom going to sleep quite yet, so she hung out in the waiting room with Walter, watching Lilith take more phone calls as the news of the Hunter’s end spread throughout the succubi and incubi population of the city.

“Walter,” she began softly, “I never got to thank you yet for what you did tonight. I’d be dead if not for you.”

He grinned sheepishly. “You know me, always looking out for the ladies.”

“Yeah, that’s you all right. I hate to ask you for anything else, but I have one little favor I need before I leave tomorrow, but you can’t tell Lilith, okay?”

“All right,” he shrugged, “I don’t have any plans, so what’s a favor for a pretty lady?”

Sylvia leaned closer to him and explained what she had in mind.