The Innocent Life of Valerie Vale

Jagged Edge

Jagged Edge

‘Look at you,’ shouted Alex, ‘you’re a mess! I invite you into my house, I feed you, I clothe you and this is how you repay me?’ Alex was furious. His expression was cold and hardened and his body was tightened in an anxious stress. Valerie stood before him. Blood stained her skin.

Taken by Nico and dragged below, Valerie found herself in a darkened room. It was a large space within the cellar. There was a well stocked bar to the left where Hannibal and Liebgott were getting drunk. Lorenzo and Thorn were playing pool in the centre of the room. To the right was a leather sofa. There Sabian watched the security monitors on the wall, feeding footage of the club. Valerie could see the Theatre, the girl’s dressing room, caged humans trapped in the dungeon below and the quiet room where Coco lay – drained of blood, resting to be used once again. A cabinet of weapons faced the door – swords and knives, pistols and assault rifles. It was a warrior’s den. It was an arsenal.

Alex stormed into the room. There was no need to hide his anger. He took one look at Valerie and shouted at her in disbelief. ‘Look at you,’ he roared again. ‘Do you have any idea who that was?’ Grant moved behind the bar and poured Alex a bloody drink. He knew the boss would need it now.

‘He was the great Dupont’ Valerie replied with a smile, ‘was being the important word in that description.’ Testing Alex was her intention. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her now, or so Valerie had thought. The girl was playing with fire, igniting it beyond control. Her tender skin was about to burn.

‘He was an influential man,’ Alex warned, ‘with powerful friends, enemies I don’t need to make!’ There was something about Valerie he deeply admired. Standing there before him, half naked, covered in blood and smiling in delight – she was simply sensational, a nightingale of sin. Why did she do this? Why did she force his hand?

‘Get over it,’ Valerie replied, ‘he’s dead now.’ Without hesitation, Alex punched her in the face. The force of the blow knocked her to the ground. He bent down and held her throat with one hand as blood dripped down her nose and out her mouth. Then he punched her again. Valerie cried out in pain. She was a vampire now. She was stronger than a normal girl and could take a heavy beating but Alex was a powerful man with fists of fighting fury. There she lay in agony, paralysed in torment.

Suddenly Leon entered the room. Valerie, through her blurred vision and watery eyes, noticed something under his arm. It was a brown sack – a dirty old thing. Leon held it tight. It was moving. Whatever was inside, whatever it was – was alive.

‘I told you we had rules,’ Alex said, looking down to Valerie’s bloodied body below. Leon dropped the sack on the ground and Nico cut it open with his blade. Alex took a mouthful of blood and spat it out on the floor. Lorenzo and Thorn were silent now. Liebgott and Hannibal were frozen. Sabian watched and Grant swallowed hard as Nico peered inside. Shaking his head, he grabbed hold of its contents and pulled it out to the room.

Valerie was horrified. It was the little thief, the rascal – the boy she murdered earlier in the night. He wriggled in distress. He fought violently as Nico held him still. The child was demented, a freshly turned vampire with no sense of control – an untempered creature, a rampant animal, sick and in need of a compassionate release.

‘You did this,’ Alex said in disgust. ‘You murdered this boy and you turned him without even thinking. A child can’t handle this existence. I warned you and just look at the mess you’ve made.’ Alex clenched his fist in anger but Valerie was defiant and she wanted more. ‘What do you want,’ she asked rhetorically, ‘an apology?’

Alex moved to the cabinet. He selected a knife – a long sharp blade with a jagged edge. He approached Valerie and bent down beside her, holding the knife against her neck. ‘I should finish you,’ Alex said as he glared into her eyes. Nico smiled, taking pleasure in her misery. Sabian’s expression was cold, heartless and emotionless. ‘But I won’t,’ he said, letting her go and turning his attention to the boy.

Alex took the child from Nico’s grip. He held it by its hair and sunk the blade into its neck. The boy struggled in anguish, scraping at Alex to escape its fate. It squealed in a demonic rage and hissed in a ravaged moan. Blood dripped down its neck as Alex cut away through infant flesh and delicate bone, decapitating the child in a merciless act of rigorous execution. He held the head up for all to see as the boy’s body fell to the floor. Flesh and blood, turning to dust before their eyes – its body and its head, crumbling apart in bitter decay.

Valerie closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look. She felt a pain inside her heart but moved quickly to shut it out. She refused to let herself feel regret. She refused to mourn. The child was dead now. He had it coming. 

‘Pick her up and throw her out,’ ordered Alex as he dropped the knife on the ground. He was done with her. The street could have her now and he never wanted to see her again. If only he knew.

follow @PrincePegasus