Bad Taste (Part I) // Colby Brock

132 - Rebecca

Tara stopped on the parking lot of my sister's apartment building after hopping the security fence to get in here in the first place. The first thing I noticed was my sister's car sitting across the lot, abandoned. If she'd had James pick her up for the showcase, there was a chance it'd been there for a while. That was assuming she hadn't come home that night, which I hoped for the love of God that she did. I hated her but she was my sister and her death would break my mother.

We walked fairly slowly towards the door, neither of us willing to say much. Tara was occasionally sniffing the air but never said if she could smell my sister or not. I'd been told her scent wasn't particularly pleasant, so Tara being unable to smell her was unnerving.

Angela lived in a penthouse at the top of the building, as if the anticipation wasn't enough for me and Tara. We reached the door after what felt like forever and Tara paused, narrowing her eyes. I waited next to her patiently, though I was losing my temper the longer I waited. I didn't feel like standing here and doing nothing when my idiot sister could be out there getting either herself or me killed.

After a moment, Tara smiled at me. "She's here. There's another scent that's stronger than hers—it's why I couldn't smell her." She paused. "Everything behind that door is covered by vervaine."

"Vervaine?" I blurted, frowning. Why would my idiot sister take any precautions against vampires when she went out and knowingly got bitten by them on the regular? That didn't make sense.

"I might have to wait outside, it's really potent," Tara told me.

I hesitated but knocked on the door anyway. Tara stood at the opposite end of the hallway, her head tilted as she listened to whatever was happening inside. It took a moment for my ears to pick up the heeled footsteps heading toward me. When the door cracked open revealing my sister in a short, white jumpsuit, wearing a fantastic messy bun, yet still a pair of white stiletto heels, I wanted to laugh.

Angela took one look at me then a long gaze at Tara behind me before she smiled as if nothing was wrong. "Becky!" She exclaimed excitedly, stepping right over the threshold. "I'm so glad you're here."

"You are?" I asked in surprise, though I was the one who hated her and not the other way around. She nodded, glancing again at Tara. I saw the realisation in her face when she saw the silver ring, but she said nothing, leading me into her apartment.

"I've been waiting for you to visit me! I can't believe you're finally here. Is the blood-sucker coming in?"

I hesitated, looking back at Tara, who shook her head. Angela shrugged, slamming the door right in Tara's face. I felt a little unarmed despite definitely being stronger than my sister in every way.

We walked to her perfect leather couch and she kicked off the stupid heels. She leaned back comfortably, breathing in the surprisingly fresh air. I hadn't been here in forever.

"How come you've visited?" She asked, twisting her body towards me. I felt so uncomfortable.

"It's about the showcase," I lied.

Angela's jaw set in place and she looked away, disheartened. "What about it? Is it about James? Because I already know."

"What do you know about him?" I replied.

"Oh, that he's a cheating son of a bitch!" She exclaimed. "He was all over all the girls when he was supposed to be with me. He went missing, you know, right at the end. I bet he went home with some slut."

Not quite, I thought.

"It is about him, isn't it? Did he hit on you? I'm sorry if he did, he's a-"

"Angela," I said, cutting her off, "stop fucking talking for a second and let me explain." Angela's open mouth closed and she shifted, meeting my eyes. I nodded in approval then continued. "James didn't go home with "some slut". He dragged Jax outside and killed him then kidnapped me."

There was dead silence. A long, long silence. I decided to leave out the part of Jax coming back alive because she didn't need to know that. In fact, the less she knew, the better. What she needed to know was what she had done to me and to another human being. At least then, she was more likely to go along with this willingly.

Minutes passed without a word being spoken between us. I was starting to get more and more agitated the longer we stared into each others' eyes, but I didn't know what I could say to get her to speak. She was clearly in shock somehow, lost in her guilt. She had never been anything like me.

When she eventually showed any sign of life, it was in the worst way possible: she burst out into tears. Her shoulders were shaking and she had her face in her hands as she sobbed and sobbed. I had no clue what to do.

"I am so sorry, Becky!" She wailed without looking up. "I'm such a shitty sister! How could I do this to you? Mom's gonna kill me." She paused and looked up. "How are you okay? How... who saved you? What happened? Oh my god!"

In an attempt to calm her down, I grabbed both of her wrists tightly and held them together, maintaining eye contact. "Vampire boyfriend, lots of vampire friends," I answered. It was far from the truth but just enough to get her to start breathing again. "James is also dead now," I added.

She sighed. "I still can't believe I did that to you! I'm- wait, why are you here after all that? Why-"

I cut her off. "I'm here because I need to get you under control before I get hurt again or you hurt Mom," I said sternly. Angela showed no signs of argument. "I couldn't give a fuck about when you were selling your life to a bunch of vampires, but right now, you're putting others in danger because of it—specifically me. You need to be taken under control and I have a clan of vampires, which my boyfriend is in charge of, to help with that."

"W-What do you mean?" Angela whispered, terrified.

"You need to stop going to shitty vampires to get bitten, you need to stop letting yourself get compelled, and you need to stop being so naive about everything." She was silent. "You understand?"

"I... I can't just stop being bitten. It's a drug."

"There are some single vampires in the clan," I said simply. Those very same single guys had said on many occasions that the crazy ones tested best. I didn't doubt that Angela was more than insane, so they'd be happy to feed on her if necessary.

We were silent again while Angela thought it through. It wasn't her choice whether she came with me or not, but I was letting her think that it was. I didn't want to have to fight with her about this, not if I was going to end up fighting Colby later because he was keeping things from me—that might not be necessary but just in case, I wanted to save my energy.

I waited and waited for Angela to reply to me. It took her forever, but when she did, it was worth the wait.

"Okay. I want you to help me."