𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤

eighty-three

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐒

"I'm serious," Marcel told Cami as leaned closer, their foreheads lightly touching. The sweet scent of her perfume engulfed him, and he groaned in appreciation, using all his self-control not to steal a kiss form her rosy lips.

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Cami muttered with a nervous laugh. Her eyes lowered towards his lips and she bit her bottom lip wondering what it would be like to kiss him. The two of them had been flirting and sharing drinks for the past half an hour and were more than ready to take their conversation somewhere more private. It was a surprisingly quiet night at Rousseau's and even though her shift was over, Marcel had convinced her to stay and have a drink with him. The two of them had been getting really cozy lately and the tension between them was building to an almost unbearable point.

"Only the pretty ones," Marcel offered her a sexy smirk while serving her another round.

Cami giggled. "You think I'm pretty?" her eyes lingered on his lips once more, something that did not go unnoticed by him.

Marcel traced the side of her face with his index finger and drew her chin up. "I do," his hooded gaze pierced right through her soul.

Cami closed her eyes, heart racing, and cheeks turning pink. Her eyes flew open just as Marcel leaned closer. Before he could kiss her however, Thierry appeared at their table, and cleared his throat.

"This better be good," Marcel groaned in annoyance. If looks could kill Thierry would be six feet under.

"Trust me, it is." Thierry tilted his head to the side and motioned Marcel to follow him. "You want to see this."

Cami sighed and looked down at her drink; any desire she had felt had quickly evaporated.

Marcel hated the disappointed look he saw on her face. "I'll be back," he promised and kissed her cheek before following Thierry out of the bar at vampire speed.

Cami watched them go sadly. She grabbed her purse, paid for the drinks, and headed out of the bar, walking in the opposite direction.

Thierry took Marcel to an alley a few blocks away from the bar. A handful of vampires was already there as were two of Klaus's hybrids, Felix and Riley. There was even a cop who was being compelled to go away by a daywalker.

"A tourist found the bodies," Thierry informed Marcel. "He called the cops." The tourist had already been compelled to leave.

Marcel followed the trail of blood on the pavement which led straight to the corpses, a total of five, but two of them were missing their heads.

"These three were drained completely of blood," Thierry pointed to the three vampires. "While these two, were beheaded." He pointed to the rest of the corpses. "We haven't been able to find the heads."

Marcel crouched down in front of one of the bodies, inspecting it quietly before glancing up in Felix's direction. "Any witnesses?"

"None," Felix replied nonchalantly. "Unless you want to count the tourist who stumbled on the bodies."

"Did you talk to him?"

"A drunk college kid, had nothing useful to say. I compel him to leave and forget what he saw." Unlike the nervous vampires gathered around the alley, Felix was calm and composed and so was Riley. The two hybrids did not seem in the least perturbed by the gory scene.

"Why would a vampire drain his own kind?" Thierry asked out loud.

"What I want to know is why he took two of the heads," Riley muttered. "It doesn't make any sense."