Chapter Two
As if the shame and humiliation of her panic attack hadn’t been enough, the final straw came when Lilith rang on the pretext of checking up on her. Theirs was a friendship of convenience. Lilith needed someone to gossip with and Meaghan needed to learn all she could about the other students without drawing attention to herself. Without revealing her true purpose for attending the classes. Previous attempts by the police to question the students had proved fruitless so, posing as one of their own seemed like the best way to gain information. Unfortunately, she had little in common with Lilith besides their love of art.
“We so have to get you laid,” Lilith teased. “Maybe we should give Leonidas a call and organize a threesome. I have a feeling he would be up for it.”
“If you’re referring to tonight’s model, I’m sure he gets offers like that all the time. Besides, I’m not interested in a twosome let alone a threesome.” Meaghan had often wondered about Lilith’s sexuality. It wasn’t the first time she had mentioned threesomes and Meaghan was pretty sure that Lilith wasn’t even her real name. She recalled Lilith as being Adam’s first wife and the mother of vampires or something similar. It was probably chosen to represent her fascination with the macabre. They had met in night classes and after hearing about Lilith’s interest in the recent murders, Meaghan had encouraged a friendship, of sorts. She had never seen Lilith around in the daytime, but to be fair, she herself was rarely there during the day as her work schedule only permitted her to attend night classes. So far, Lilith hadn’t done anything too out of the ordinary.
“Anyway, gotta go. Meeting some people tonight who are gonna hook me up with some good shit.”
When Lilith hung up the phone, Meaghan shook her head and reminded herself that she had to ignore the drug reference. She wasn’t there to arrest drug dealers or users and she had to be careful in case she ran into any undercover narcotic agents. They might blow each other’s cover. She had worked too hard to get this particular job and knew that she wouldn’t have been given the chance if it wasn’t for her youthful looks and mediocre artistic talent. Torn between her love of art and her desire to succeed in the police force, she jumped when this opportunity presented itself.
She picked up her large sketch pad and flopped into her only chair, a big overstuffed armchair that she had found at a second-hand store in town. Flipping through the pad, she stopped at her most recent sketch and sighed. For the first time this semester, she actually had a model worth drawing and all she could manage was a mediocre sketch that would hardly get her any recognition as an artist. Not nearly good enough for her portfolio, especially if she hoped to get a High Distinction. What a waste of time. As she considered her behavior in class, she suddenly became aware of the fact that—for the second time today—she had been absentmindedly tracing the drawing with her index finger, running her hand over his body and face with the intimacy of a lover. A ripple of electricity ran down her spine, the hair on her neck prickled. She tossed the pad across the room as she yelled, “Who the hell are you anyway?”
****
“David.”
The name was repeated, this time louder. “David! Earth to David.”
“What?” David answered. He had hardly noticed when his sister-in-law walked into the room. He was forced to quickly step behind the kitchen counter to hide his erection. His body felt sensitized, as though soft hands gently stroked his skin. He had experienced the same sensations during the art class when the little blonde seemed distracted by his backside, unaware that he was facing a mirror and could see her actions. He was grateful that Anna had made her presence known before the daydream went any further. “Oh, sorry, Anna. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“You did seem deep in thought,” she agreed. “Is everything okay?”
“Fine.” He sighed, disappointed that his fantasy was cut short. “Was there something you wanted?”
“I was wondering if you had discovered anything at the University yet.”
“The students are talking plenty, but everything is hearsay, no eye witnesses that I have found.”
Anna sighed. “Maybe I was wrong. It’s been a week since I had the premonition.”
David touched her shoulder. “You were right about the first murder, it happened where and how you said it would. I have no doubt that your second premonition will be just as accurate.”
“I wish that these visions would at least give me a time and day. Something like that would be rather helpful. I feel so useless.”
“You’re still developing your powers, Anna. The last couple of months have been a nightmare. I don’t know how you coped with everything that life threw at you.”
“Fortunately, I had you and Derrick to guide me through.”
She rewarded him with a smile, but he knew she had been to hell and back. It would take time to process and heal, but he had every confidence in his new sister.
“Give it some time.”
“But what about those poor women in the visions? Their time has run out.”
“David will be at the University again tonight, watching and waiting for the killer to show up. Isn’t that right?”
David turned to see his brother enter the room. Derrick picked up his bride and kissed her. As the kiss heated and Derrick’s hands began to wander over Anna’s body, David objected.
“Will you two get a room?”
Anna blushed as Derrick put her down. He reminded David.
“We have a room. A very nice room in fact.” He pulled Anna towards the stairs and called over his shoulder, “If you need us, we will be in that very nice room,” then after a moment’s consideration he added, “try not to need us.”
****
David poured himself a drink and looked out the window. Years of experience had already warned him the sun was close to coming up, but he knew he had time to relax for a while before retiring to his darkened room. Besides, he had a feeling that sleep would elude him or at the very least, his dreams would be filled with visions of braids and daisies and, if he was lucky, more sensations of being touched.