Lethal Desires

Angela Landon's car suddenly comes to a stop near an isolated area, as she is on her way home from work. It's late--very late for Angela, as she was working overtime, so her car problems added on to her stress. As she pops the hood and inspects the situation, Angela suddenly hears strange noises nearby. The sounds are faint at first, but they start become clearer, and louder, until finally Angela is shocked to see piercing, yellow eyes, the last thing she ever sees.

That is the recurring nightmare that Clare Landon, Angela's daughter, has had in the year that passed since Angela's death. Angela and Clare had a very close relationship since the death of Clare's father, Seth Landon, when Clare was only eight. She still remembers learning the news of her mother's death, as well as the discovery of Angela's body, with the wounds on Angela's throat leaving Clare wondering who, or what, could have killed her mother.

"Clare! Get up! You're running late for work!"

The voice Clare heard wasn't one she liked very much; it belonged to Vanessa Vance, Clare's stepmother. Vanessa actually worked for Angela, only to end up dating and later marrying her boss, with Vanessa becoming a widow just six months later. Clare often noticed that Vanessa wasn't really happy with her and Angela's close mother-daughter bond, though Clare didn't raise too much of a fuss, as she saw how happy Angela was up until her passing.

"You know," Vanessa said to Clare, who was all dressed and ready, "you're in college now, and you have a job. So why don't you have your own place?"

"This is my place," answered Clare.

"No, this was your mother's house," Vanessa said sternly. "I loved Angela dearly, but I always thought she coddled you too much."

"You don't get to talk about my mom!" shouted Clare. "You had, what, a year with her? I had eighteen!"

"And now you're nineteen," said Vanessa. "Key word: nineteen." Clare simply walked away from her stepmother in response, and later went to her summer job as a nursing assistant. Later that evening, she was hanging out with her best friend, Heather Grey, who had emotionally supported Clare since Angela's death, and also served as an earpiece for Clare's complaints about Vanessa. During their conversation, Clare heard something that suddenly triggered her: a report about the body of a young woman found in an alley--with her throat apparently punctured.

The image was similar to Clare's recurring nightmare regarding her mother's death, which Clare began reliving once again. In this instance, Clare saw Angela appear to call out to her:

"Clare! Clare!"

In actuality, Heather was calling her, as she noticed something was wrong. "Clare?" asked Heather, "are you OK?"

"Yeah, it's just...I have to go," Clare replied before leaving the café and heading to her car. On her way, a cloaked figure swooped past Clare, who turned around and saw no one in the parking lot. However, the figure appeared again, this time grabbing Clare before whispering the following words:

"You will be mine."

The figure escaped, leading to Clare returning to her car and driving off. The image haunted Clare on the following day at work, where she thought of her mother once again. It was the same thought she had in the year that passed: herself and Angela having their usual weekend picnic next to a pear tree, and it was because of those memories that Angela spent part of her life planting pear trees for charity. The images enveloped Clare's mind for most of her work day and entering her final hours at night; however, a blood-curdling scream interrupted her thoughts.

Clare knew where the scream was coming from and rushed to the site: one of the patients' rooms. Once there, Clare saw the patient, a young woman, deceased--with two puncture wounds on her neck. Not only did this match the death of the previous female victim, it matched Angela's death a year prior. At that moment, the same cloaked figure appeared to Clare, who couldn't see the figure's face, but saw a pair of blood-drenched fangs before the figure disappeared.

Police were later at the scene, led by the department's captain, Nadia Bellwood, who had been questioning the entire staff. During this point, Clare's nerves were working overtime, and she found herself blurting out something she never thought she'd say:

"Vampire!"

Clare's exclamation caught Nadia's attention. "Excuse me," she said, "what's your name, young lady?"

"Clare Landon," said Clare. "I'm one of the nurses."

"Captain Nadia Bellwood," replied Nadia. "Now, what were you saying?"

"I think I saw a vampire in that room," Clare said to her own astonishment, as she couldn't believe she was still making such statements. She knew that vampires were fiction, at least before she came face-to-face with one. Even so, Clare was vocal and wasn't going to stop now. "And that's not all. I think this same vampire killed another woman, and even killed my mother."

Clare figured that Nadia would deem her insane, but to Clare's surprise, Nadia responded with compassion. "I think you've been deeply affected by what just happened, Ms. Landon," said Nadia. "Just head on home and try to forget this terrible nightmare. And be safe."

Clare took Nadia's advice, but she didn't have the car as Vanessa was working late, so she got a ride from Heather after Clare contacted her. Clare talked about everything that happened, including what she said to police.

"Vampires?!" exclaimed Heather. "Tell me you didn't say that."

Clare nodded her head, which prompted laughter from Heather, much to Clare's annoyance. "I don't see what's so funny about this," said Clare.

"I mean, come on, Clare," said Heather. "You know vampires aren't real, right?"

"I know what I saw, Heather," said Clare. "I don't believe it, but I know what I saw." Heather continued to laugh all the way to Clare's house, which now started to anger Clare.

"You know," Clare continued, "I've been really stressed out in the last few days. I already feel alone as it is without you making a big joke out of this."

"Wow, overdramatic much?" Heather asked as they reached Clare's house, after which Clare slammed Heather's car door and made a beeline for the front door. Clare took the next day off to calm her nerves, but Vanessa's demeanor didn't help matters.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" asked Vanessa. "Though, I wouldn't blame you. I heard about what happened; telling cops about vampires. If I said something that crazy, I'd hide, too."

"Bitch," Clare muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?!" snarled Vanessa. "You better watch your tone, or you'll see what kind of bitch I can be."

Clare left the house and went to the one place she could be in peace: the pear tree. She sat down in front of the tree and thought about her late mother and their picnics at this very tree, when all of a sudden, she heard a voice behind her.

"Need company?"

Clare turned around and saw a tall, blonde woman standing across from her--a woman she spotted outside the hospital that night. "I saw you," said Clare. "You were there last night."

"I was, yes," the woman replied. "I'm Stephanie, and I want to say...I believe you, Clare."

Clare was stunned over Stephanie's statements, especially since she was just a random stranger to her. "I've seen what you saw last night...and the night before," Stephanie continued. "In fact, I've been pursuing her for the last five years."

"Her?" asked Claire.

"Yes," answered Stephanie. "I keep getting close, but she always escapes my grasp. But you saw her, you can help me!" Clare remained stunned that she had someone believing her, but she remained wary nonetheless.

"I think she killed my mom a year ago," said Clare. "We need to go to the police."

"We can't do that!" exclaimed Stephanie. "They won't believe us! Besides, I don't think they can be trusted."

"What do you mean?" Clare asked, only for Stephanie to run off. Clare's pursuit of Stephanie came to an abrupt end when someone knocked her out from behind.

Clare woke up to discover that she was in a house that wasn't hers, and after looking around and trying to figure out her surroundings, she suddenly spotted Nadia Bellwood, the police captain, approaching her.

"Captain Bellwood?" asked Clare.

"Call me Nadia," replied Nadia.

"Is this your place?" asked Claire.

"Yes," said Nadia. "I found you after you were attacked and brought you here. It's a good thing I was in the area." Clare was still confused, but still grateful over being saved by Nadia, who motioned for Grace to sit next to her on her sofa.

"I really should be getting home," said Clare.

"It's pretty dangerous out there," Nadia said before she suddenly started caressing Clare's blonde hair, leaving Clare shocked that a police captain was suddenly seducing her. Clare's attempt to stand up was thwarted by Nadia, who pulled Clare closer to her and then whispered the following words:

"I told you that you will be mine."

Upon hearing those words, Clare realized that Nadia was the vampiress who had been pursuing her, and she later ran upstairs for cover, only to hear pounding from one of the rooms. Clare opened the door and suddenly saw Heather, who stated that she had been held captive by Nadia, leading to the girls attempting their escape, only for the sinister vampiress to appear to them.

"Going somewhere?" Nadia hissed.

"Get away from us!" shouted Clare. "I'm taking Heather and we're getting out of here." Nadia cackled in response to Clare's declaration. "Oh, you're not taking Heather anywhere," Nadia said, "right, babe?"

"Babe?" Clare thought, right before Heather appeared in front of her now former friend, flashing her own set of fangs and laughing evilly.

"Oh, come on, Clare," teased Heather. "Join the party. Have fun for once in your pathetic life."

"Fun?!" shouted Clare. "She's a monster. She kills people! She killed my mother!"

"I admit to a lot of things," said Nadia, "but I never even met your mother. All I know is that I've been searching for an eternal bride for centuries. Looks like I found two." Nadia later kissed Heather before giving her the order:

"Turn her."

"With pleasure," said Heather. "Don't take it so personally. This is my reward for bringing you to her." Nadia watched with sadistic pleasure, but she was suddenly plunged with a wooden stake from behind. As Nadia's body dropped, Clare saw Stephanie appear, as she had tracked Claire to Nadia's lair. Heather ended up back to normal due to Nadia's death, but her pleas for forgiveness were ignored by Clare.

Clare returned home, where she encountered Vanessa. "Where have you been?!" Vanessa asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," said Clare. "Only it would be, 'where were you when my mother was killed?' Working late? You always work late during a full moon? Do you, bitch?!"

"I gave my heart and soul to that bitch," Vanessa snarled. "yet she leaves everything to you." At that moment, the full moon shone over Vanessa, who started sprouting white fur and sharp claws as she continued her confession. "I had great pleasure in tearing your mother's throat out that night. And now you're the only obstacle in my quest for wealth." The evil Vanessa howled before facing Clare, who saw her stepmother transform into a feminine werewolf hybrid, with piercing yellow eyes. As Vanessa snarled and lunged at Clare, she ended up shot to death by her stepdaughter, as Stephanie had given Clare a gun full of silver bullets after giving hints that Vanessa was Angela's true killer.

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