Chapter Forty-Three…

Chapter 43: Papa Bear.

This chapter will be told from both Nick’s and Lila’s POV.    😉

Additionally, this chapter contains a shit-load of violence. So proceed with caution, lol.

That night, Lila’s dreams were invaded by images of Darius.

Once again, he was a vampire; his fangs sharp as razors, his tongue forked like a snake’s. Maybe he was part vampire, part snake? But whatever the case, he kept trying to bite her neck, to suck her blood, to suck the soul right out of her.

However, she wasn’t going to let him; at least not in her dream. In her dream, she fought back, raking her nails over his face. Then visions of the reddish skull appeared, its empty eye sockets glowing like candles…

A rustling sound awakened her.

Her eyelids fluttered open. Darius stood by the bed.

Time to freak out.

She bolted upright.

“Darius?” she said. He said nothing, only stared at her through cold, ice-blue eyes.

“L—let me get the light,” she said leaning over toward the lamp.

She switched it on, and a soft glow flooded the room.

“What did you want?” she tentatively asked. As his hand went to her thigh, she already knew the answer.

His fingers found her leg, and slid up her thigh.

Lila swung her legs over the bed, stopping Darius’ touch.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” she blurted.

“Don’t take too long,” he muttered. “But first, I want to touch you. I haven’t touched you in forever.”

Oh, God.

Darius lingered right behind her. She could feel his breath, hear his hastened breathing.

He embraced her from behind, pressing his body against hers.

Think quick, Lila.

“Just a kiss, Darius. I really have to go pee,” she said; then turned to face him.

Darius’ lips brushed against hers, and then he fully kissed her; as though trying to suck the life right out of her. Not unlike a creature of the night, and not unlike her dream.

A moment later, she was allowed to use the bathroom.

Meanwhile in Riverview…

After spending fruitless hours on the phone with the police, an exhausted Nick gave in; at least for the time being. There was nothing else to do.

He bent over to hug Travis. The little boy was just as devastated as his father.

Both walked over to Bella’s abandoned blanket and toys, crying.

“Dad, why don’t you just go get Lila and Bella?”

“Because I don’t know exactly where they are,” Nick sobbed. “I only know they’re somewhere in Sunset Valley.”

“Then go there and ask for directions! I miss Lila! I miss Bella! I want them back!” Travis shouted, clenching his fists.

Maybe the kid was onto something, Nick reflected as he wiped away his tears. There’s got to be some clue as to Darius’ whereabouts.

Regardless, he stepped into the foyer and called the police for the millionth time.

“Any news yet on my fiancée? Her name is Lila Harris.” he said.

“Sir, we’ve already told you that an adult must be missing for 24 hours first,” the woman replied.

“For fuck’s sake, she’s already been missing that long! And there was evidence of foul play since her car was abandoned at the restaurant!” he fumed.

“Twenty-four hours, sir,” she repeated like a robot.

“My daughter’s missing too, you moron! And she’s only eight months old!” he shouted.

“Sir, let me get the sergeant for you,” she said and elevator music began playing. Nick wanted to take his phone and slam it against the wall.

A few seconds later: “Mr. Moore, since there’s evidence your wife—err, fiancée and your daughter are out of state, we’re looking to contact the FBI,” a male voice said.

 

“Then do it,” Nick snapped. He turned off the cellular and crammed it back in his pocket; frustrated as always. Then again, at least now they’re doing something…

An hour or so later, Nick finally got the break he so desperately needed and wanted…

and that break did not come from the police.

A text message popped up on the screen:

223 E. Court Dr.

Sunset Valley, AZ

91200

pls help, nick

The cellular hovered in the air, his fingers clenched tightly around it. The gadget almost broke.

Nick quickly dressed and then hurried downstairs. For a brief moment, Nick wondered how Lila got the address.

“I’m going to Sunset Valley,” he announced.

“Yaaaaay!” Travis exclaimed.

“Grandpa Moore is coming to babysit you.”

Travis stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry.

While speeding to Port Riverview, Nick prayed there’d be an available flight to Sunset Valley.

He rushed into the building, trying not to think about what could be happening to Lila and his daughter. His only thoughts were getting his hands on those airline tickets…

Thank God, Nick thought as the jet rose to the sky. His prayers had been answered so far, hopefully that trend would continue…

The jet landed at the Sunset Valley airport, its wheels skidding on the pavement.

The sun rose over the mountainous terrain, coloring the sky in purplish hues. However, Nick couldn’t have cared less.

He rented a car and drove around the town square. Nick had no idea of where to go, so he stopped near the courthouse to ask for directions.

Being a man, that was a miracle in and of itself.

All kidding aside, Nick loitered near a water fountain. Unfortunately, there was no one in sight.

Shit! he thought. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

He looked around, noticing a police department. It was tempting to go there, but what if they thought he was crazy? He just couldn’t chance it. There wasn’t any time.

Nick headed to the nearest market. He could ask the cashier the quickest way to East Court Drive.

Only a few miles away from Nick, Lila pleaded with Darius through the locked bedroom door.

“Please, Darius. Bella is hungry! She hasn’t ate in forever!”

“Okay. I’ll let you both out for a few minutes. I have some wafer cookies that Kayla likes in the cabinet,” he offered, unlatching the door.

Lila stepped out with Bella.

At the same time, Nick sped the rented car toward East Court Drive.

Please don’t be too late; please don’t be too late, an inner voice chanted.

As Bella nibbled on her cookie, Darius invited Lila to sit next to him.

Oh, joy.

Of course, it did give her the opportunity to ask him something; something she’d been wondering about for a while.

“How did you know I was at the restaurant?” she asked.

“I’d been following you,” he said. “Actually, I’d been following you for a few days.”

Lila shivered from deeply within.

“But why would you want someone who doesn’t want you?” she bravely said. “What’s the point?”

“Because I don’t believe… can’t believe that you no longer love me.”

“Darius, please listen to me. Please let me and Bella go, there’s just no point in keeping us here!”

“Like I told you all those months ago, not long after we married, that we’re going to be together forever. I meant what I said, Lila.” He smiled like a crazy person, with stars in his eyes. He totally did not ‘get’ it.

“I want to put my arm around you,” he muttered, his smile collapsing. According to the new look on his face, there was no room for refusal.

She scooted closer to him, and he curved his arm around her shoulder.

Oh, my God, she thought. What will I do if he tries to screw me?! Thankfully, he’d left her alone the night before. After she used the bathroom, he’d gone on to bed; maybe because she stayed thirty minutes in the shitter, just to avoid him. Lila felt shocked that he didn’t try to break in. 

Again, that question echoed in her mind: what if Darius tries to screw me??

She glanced behind him, seeing a lamp. It gave her an idea…

Nick drove the car up a hill, not slowing down as it tore through the Sunset Valley countryside.

Meanwhile, Darius began kissing Lila.

“I love you so much,” he moaned.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, Nick thought. His foot pressed down on the accelerator. The speedometer read nearly eighty m.p.h., so hopefully he wouldn’t get stopped by a cop.

Lila and Darius continued to kiss, the intensity rising like a thermometer. Lila knew it was only a matter of minutes till he tried to… yeah.

“Please say you love me too,” Darius beseeched.

Lila struggled not to roll her eyes as she replied, “I love you too.”

Blech.

Regardless, Lila knew what she had to do…

She wrestled Darius down to the sofa, laying on top of him.

“Oh, baby,” he enthused.

Dipping down to kiss him, Lila knew it was now or never;

so she reached out toward the burning lamp, struggling and fumbling to find it. She couldn’t look, or Darius would know.

His eyes closed, so she had a second to look at the lamp. As she kissed him, her hand closed around the base…

After arriving at the house, Nick circled around the property peaking in windows; desperately trying to find some way inside.

Once she whacked Darius on the forehead, Lila bolted.

Darius lay deathly still, his wounds bleeding.

Get the baby, get the baby! the inner voice screamed as Lila ran to Bella. She glanced at Darius, ensuring he was still unconscious.

Her gaze nervously darted to and fro as she scooped up Bella.

Shit. Please don’t wake up!

His lips parted…

and his eyes shot open while he tried to sit upright.

Lila headed for the front door.

“Lila?” he called, rising from the couch. “Come out, come out wherever you are, my Sweetness.”

God! Please help me! The door is just RIGHT THERE!!

Bella squealed, thinking her mother was merely playing around.

Outside, Nick found the back patio doors. He pulled and tugged on the handle.

No dice.

Those sliding doors rattled from the other side. Neither Darius nor Lila heard the noise, for Lila was too busy trying to escape, and Darius was too busy trying to catch her. It was a game of cat and mouse.

Darius’ legs were somewhat longer, so he effortlessly caught up. He dove toward her.

She struggled to get away, even as he tackled her from behind.

I won’t give up! she thought, still clutching Bella in her arms.

A moment later, though, Darius forced her to give up.

Darius straddled her. Thankfully, he’d gently pried Bella from her mother’s arms and laid her a few feet away.

Lila kicked a few times, but Darius locked her thighs in place by using his own.

He brushed the strands of her hair from her face.

“I love you Lila, I always will. Why couldn’t you keep your promise to me?” he droned.

He gazed at her for a while; then reached in his back pocket.

“Now you have to die,” he said, aiming the 9 mm at her head.

Please, Darius. Please. I can’t have Bella growing up without me. Those words lay still in her throat. They refused to migrate to her lips.

When Nick saw Darius hunched over Lila like some predator, something within him snapped…

and now Nick became the predator.

Grasping Darius’ shirt, Nick yanked him up as though the other man weighed nothing.

For several heart-stopping seconds, they wrestled as Nick maneuvered the gun from Darius’ hand.

Lila got up, watching as the unbelievable fight unfolded.

With the pistol in Nick’s hand, Darius fell to the floor. Nick saw a golden opportunity, so he swiftly kicked Darius in the balls.

Darius slid further down onto the floor, holding himself and groaning.

But Nick wasn’t finished just yet…

He pounced on Darius, punching him without mercy.

Alternating fists, he punched each cheek, eye, you name it.

Pummeling, pummeling, and pummeling more…

…until there wasn’t much left to Darius’ face.

Even Bella’s eyes widened with shock.

“Stop, Nick! You’re going to kill him!” Lila yelled.

And then, he just abruptly stopped. Nick stared down at Darius.

The entire house grew quiet. It was deafening.

Only one more thought rushed through Nick’s mind, a thought that he couldn’t bring himself to vocalize.

You took Lila, so that was one thing. But you also took my daughter, my Bella. That’s quite another.

Nick pointed the gun at Darius’ forehead.

“No, Nick!” Lila cried. “He has a daughter! Think about Kayla!”

“I have thought about his daughter,” Nick said. What kind of a father would Darius be to Kayla? he thought.

He cocked the pistol and pulled the trigger.

Lila’s ears rang from the following sound. It sounded like the 4th of July inside the home.

Bella began crying, tugging at her ears.

Nick stood and covered his mouth, as though disbelieving what he’d just done.

The pistol dropped to the floor, next to Darius’ body.

“Oh my God; Nick…”

                                                             …

Nick turned away and called 911.

“Yeah. I, uh, just killed somebody,” he said.

As evening arrived, so did the police. Then the coroner, and then the ambulance.

The family of three stood on the lawn, completely dumb-founded.

After Nick was cleared of murder, he, Lila and Bella went back home to Riverview.

Nick never mentioned the incident to Audrey, for he didn’t want to needlessly worry her. Lila, on the other hand, was a different matter as she couldn’t wait to tell her mother what had happened.

Naturally, the police declared Nick’s murdering of Darius as self-defense. Lila had lied, telling the authorities that Darius came at Nick with the gun, when Nick wrestled the gun away and shot him. Darius’ injuries were explained away as defensive wounds.

Sadly, Kayla was without a father or a mother. Her grandparents couldn’t permanently take her in due to the grandmother’s recent diagnosis of cancer, thus Kayla would have to go into foster care…

As it turned out, Lila had found Darius’ address by digging in some boxes inside the dreaded closet… with the skeleton. She’d found a few precious envelopes with the address printed on them.

Lila didn’t really agree with Nick’s decision in killing Darius, but knew he wasn’t exactly thinking at the time. Who knows what one would do in that situation, and what a father would feel knowing someone had taken his child and threatened to do harm to someone/something so innocent… ironically, however, what about an innocent little girl who loses her father?

                                                          ****

Chapter 44 coming on Thurs., August 26.

Thanks for reading, and sorry about all the violence. 😛   😀

♥