With a frustrated sigh, she focused on the video again, just as Ronny moved toward the door. The other man grabbed his shoulder, turning toward the camera and jerking him back. Now she could see both men’s faces. And she recognized the other man now: it was the man who’d attacked her in Hannah’s apartment. Ronny and he knew each other!
She had to tell Blake. In her mind, this practically confirmed that Ronny and this stranger had something to do with Hannah’s disappearance.
She was about to jump up, when something on the screen drew her attention back to it. The two men glared at each other, their eyes like red beams.
“What the—” She choked on her next word. What was happening in front of her eyes wasn’t possible. No, she had to be hallucinating. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. What she was seeing was impossible, was against all laws of nature.
Ronny and the assailant were turning into creatures that couldn’t possibly exist: creatures with red glaring eyes and sharp white fangs that they flashed at each other in a show of aggression.
Vampires.
No. It couldn’t be.
She moved the progress bar back a few seconds to the point where the stranger grabbed Ronny’s shoulder and watched the entire sequence again, this time focusing on any inconsistencies in the video that might indicate that it had been manipulated. But it was seamless. These weren’t two videos that had been spliced together, no, this was one continuous recording.
Which could only mean one thing: the two men in the video were vampires. Real vampires.
Her heart beat into her throat, and her hands began to shake. This was what Hannah had been afraid of. She’d found out that her boyfriend was a vampire. And to protect his secret, he had…
“Oh God,” she murmured, slamming her hand over her mouth to stop herself from crying out, when a gasp behind her made her whirl around, sending her heartbeat into the stratosphere.
“Wesley,” she choked out.
But he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring straight past her at the screen. “Where did you get this?”
Automatically, she pointed to the ruined appointment book on the kitchen counter. “Hannah’s appointment book. She hid it in there.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “This can’t be true.” She looked back at the picture which had frozen on the last frame. The white of the two vampires’ fangs fairly leapt off the screen. “But it must be. Wesley, they are vampires. The man who attacked me. And Ronny, Hannah’s boyfriend.” A tear she couldn’t stop rolled down her cheek. “What are we gonna do now? Hannah found out about them. They must have hurt her to protect their secret.”
The secret that vampires existed. That they weren’t just fictional.
Wesley slid onto the seat next to her. “Let’s look at it rationally.” He pointed to the screen. “This is probably a fake. It has to be. There’s a lot you can do nowadays with video editing software.”
“This isn’t edited. This is one continuous recording. Wesley, they’re transforming into vampires right in front of my eyes. Don’t you see that?” As hard as acknowledging this fact was, she couldn’t deny what she saw with her own eyes.
Wesley sighed. “I know it looks like it, but we have to weigh up all the possibilities first, before we jump to conclusions.”
She shook her head, slamming her fist on the table. “But I’m looking at it. It all makes sense now. That guy—” She pointed to the stranger in the video. “—when he attacked me, I thought I saw his eyes glare red. At first I thought it was just some light reflecting off his irises. But that’s not what it was. He was about to show his vampire side. If Blake hadn’t shown up when he did, he would have bitten me!”
“Lilo, calm down. You can’t know that!”
“I’m not crazy, Wesley!”
“I’m not saying you’re crazy.”
“You’re implying it.” She huffed. “Damn it, why don’t you look at it?” She pointed to the screen once more. “Ronny and his friend are vampires. And this is how Hannah found out. She accidentally recorded them. She was afraid for her life. That’s why she hid this in her appointment book, so if something happened to her, we would find it and figure out who hurt her.” She closed the window and ripped the stick from the port. “I’m going to take this to the police.”
“No,” Wesley protested.
She shot him a glare.
“I mean, they’re just gonna look at you like you’re crazy. They’ll never believe that this is real and not just some video some kid put together for Halloween. Think about it for a moment, before you do anything.”
“The police need to see this.” She jumped up.
“At least wait until Blake is back. Maybe he can make sense of this.”
“There’s no time. I can’t wait. Every second counts. If Hannah is still alive, and I pray she is, then I could never forgive myself if I waited even one minute when this information could help us find her.” She shoved the USB drive into her pants pocket.
She took a few steps toward the door, and Wesley followed her. He grabbed her arm, making her look over her shoulder.
“Some random policeman isn’t gonna believe you. It’s a waste of time.”
Lilo shook her head. “Call Blake and tell him I’m on my way to the police station. Tell him what we found. But I’ve got to go. Officer Donnelly already has a report about Hannah’s disappearance. He’s already working on this. When he sees this video, he’ll know what to do.”
At least she hoped so, because she didn’t know what else to do. She’d never had to deal with anything like this in her life.
Vampires!
Not only was their existence a shock she couldn’t begin to grasp, the horror of knowing that Hannah was in their hands filled her with pain to the point of paralyzing her. She needed help. She couldn’t wait for Blake. Who knew when he would be back? Besides, he was following up on other leads about Hannah’s whereabouts. No, the police would have to help her with this. They would have to use all their resources now to get Hannah back and protect the rest of the city from these monsters.
17
It had taken her nearly a quarter of an hour to hail a taxi. She’d had to walk two blocks to get to a busier area where more cars were circulating. Only now, in the late afternoon light, did she realize what an exclusive area Blake’s house was located in, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. But right now she couldn’t feel any appreciation for her surroundings, because her entire belief system had just collapsed.