The Deal Maker (Book I)

Chapter Thirty - Highway to Hell

Chapter Thirty

Highway to Hell

My lip had swollen twice its size before it finally settled in a nice shade of purple with hints of bloody red. The man working at a gas station kept saying I needed to go to the police and whoever did this to me shouldn’t get away with it. I couldn’t tell him the guy who did this to me, in fact, didn’t get away with it. If anything, I should be brought to the police. After all, I had started it.

I held a foam cup filled with blue slushy to my lip, wincing as the pressure sent pain all the way down my jaw. This will all be worth it after I buy a house with this money. It will be worth it when David’s excitement shows when I tell him I found a house ‘cheap’ for us. I’ve already planned it out. I’ll buy the house myself and tell him it was for barely anything. I’ll lie, like I’ve been doing. All of this, these physical and mental wounds, will be worth it if they bring me a new life. I’ll put this all behind me.

After popping a few aspirin into my mouth, I leaned my head against my headrest and took deep breaths in hopes of getting rid of the dull throbbing in both my lip and my head. Earlier I had to pull into a Wal-Mart parking lot to take a nap because my body just couldn’t take anymore. It helped some, though waking up to a truck driver tapping on my window wasn’t something I wanted to see. At least Hank was nice, even if he kept calling me girly and blew cigarette smoke into my face.

The drive to Decatur felt longer than the drive from Chicago to Springfield. Maybe it was the increasing headache or the lack of sleep? I nearly stopped at a motel for the day, but decided against it when I realized I could be home before the night is up. So I drove with a cup of coffee in one hand and a shaky hand on the steering wheel. The road was just an endless black strip with hardly any cars around at this time of night. It was peaceful, a bit too peaceful. Several times I worried I’d fall asleep. There was something about constantly moving and being alone that made me relax. I kept the stereo on the entire time, not caring what was playing.

By the time I arrived to my new destination I was more alert and ready to move. I slid out of the car and made sure I had both stakes, my cross necklace, and even a tiny bottle of holy water I had gotten from a church near my house. I hope stealing holy water won’t curse me or something.

The place I had parked in front of was an apartment complex that was actually lovely. The apartment buildings were tall and cream color, though it was difficult to tell the exact color in the dim lighting of the lamps nearby. The place even had dozens of tulips surrounding the building. I glanced down at the paper, barely able to make out the name Miranda in the dark. There wasn’t even a moon out to provide some sort of light. Most people would wait until it was daylight before charging into an apartment to stake a vampire. But seeing as Miranda was labeled as a four, I thought it’s best to just get this over with. Also, she was barely five-foot and was a young vampire.

Instead of leaving my hair in a ponytail like I had last time, I decided it was best to just put it in a bun so it wasn’t as easy to get a hold of. I took the elastic band from my wrist and pulled every strand of hair back before forming a ball on top of my hair and wrapping it all up. My legs were stiff from sitting so long, but the walk up the stairs fixed that right up. Taking the elevator would have been smarter if I had known there was one. Instead I huffed it up five floors before arriving in a golden hallway with shiny gold wallpaper and dark grey flooring. My eyes had trouble adjusting to the brightly lit hall as I searched for which door was hers. It’d be pretty bad if I broke into the wrong apartment and staked someone else. That’d be embarrassing.

I stood in front of apartment 513 and took several deep breaths. If she wasn’t home—it’s nighttime, so she might not be—I’ll wait for her. I just hoped she had cable television or something so it wasn’t too rough to wait for her. I could at least watch some Spongebob or something while I waited. I placed my hand on her doorknob and gave a slow turn to see if it was unlocked. Surprisingly, it was.