39: [res-kyoo]

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When Carmine wakes up again, she finds herself lying face first on the cement. With a groan, she tries to push herself up but she still feels sluggish from the after effects of the tranquilizer. A sharp breeze cuts her cheek like a shard of glass and she winces.

With her head spinning and her eyes so dry they hurt, Carmine musters up the strength to roll over onto her back. The ground is hard against her tender spine and her pelvis feels dislocated. She looks up at the pitch black night. Thick clouds obscure the moonlight and there isn't a single star in the grim sky.

Just darkness.

Squinting and looking from side to side, Carmine realizes she's still in the parking lot. The air reeks of cigarettes and the dumpster nearby. She's lying near the very back of the lot, her body obscured behind a navy blue pick up truck.

"H-Help..." she moans, her dry lips on the verge of cracking. Her throat is parched and achy and her tongue feels foreign in her mouth. "Someone...please." What the hell happened?

Carmine shuts her eyes again, taking in a slow deep breath. She's still alive and Liam is nowhere to be seen. Perhaps someone rescued her?

Nyla?

Carmine slowly wiggles her painful wrists. She's no longer bound by the silver handcuffs. At least that's a plus.

After a minute or two, Carmine finds her strength slowly returning to her body. Her muscles are still a little stiff but she manages to push off the ground and stand up. Wobbling down to the fenced area behind her, she starts hissing, "Nyla? Are you there?"

No answer.

The parking lot is mostly deserted at this hour. There are only two cars parked there: the truck and Liam's sports car. There are bound to be some staff still inside the hotel but the hotel entrance is almost a hundred feet away and no one can see or hear her.

"Nyla?" Carmine tries again. She tries to stay as silent as possible, in case Liam is hiding just around the corner, prepared to ambush her. "Nyla, are you there?"

Silence.

A motorcycle vrooms loudly as it zips down the highway. Carmine jumps at the loud sound, the distant rumble still tearing through her ear drums.

What happened while she was passed out?

Carmine decides to stand still and perk up her ears, listening for any irregular sounds: erratic breathing, shuffling, a moan or a sigh.

Then she hears it: gentle female moans coming from behind a grove of bushes nearby.

Carmine silently draws near, her breath hitching in her throat. She doesn't really want to see who or what's behind the bush but her curiosity is just too overwhelming.

When Carmine finally pulls back the straggly branches, she wishes she had listened to her gut instincts.

Nyla is straddling Liam's body. His clothes are ripped into shreds all around him. His unseeing eyes stare up at the sky; his mouth frozen in a permanent gape. Nyla bares her fangs and sinks them into Liam's chest, carving a long bloody groove into his muscular torso. Then she presses her blood-soaked mouth into the wide gash and starts noisily slurping up his life essence. Flecks of blood paint her pale white cheeks but she doesn't seem to notice.

Horrified, Carmine stumbles backwards, tripping on a stray tree root. She crashes to the ground with an oomph, hitting the back of her head on something hard. Carmine flips around and tries to crawl away from the scene when she hears Nyla's voice cry out loud and clear, "Aren't you going to thank me for saving your life?"

Realizing there's nowhere to run, Carmine slowly stands up and shows herself. Trying her very best to remain calm and collected, Carmine says slowly, "Thanks for saving me...Nyla...But I really wish you hadn't killed him."

"If I hadn't killed him, he would've killed you. He had silver handcuffs on you. He was planning to murder you," Nyla says, standing up and wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"He just wanted to have sex with me. That's all. He had no intentions of killing me." Carmine turns away, unable to let her gaze linger on Liam's body for a second longer. The gruesome sight makes her stomach churn and she feels bile rising in the back of her throat.

They were never in love but they still had a history. Sure he was blackmailing her...but he was just a young and arrogant man filled with delusions of grandeur. He was stupid. And a lusty bastard. But that didn't mean he deserved to die. Not like this. He was only 21. He'd just been reunited with his brother...

"You're extremely ungrateful, you know that?" Nyla says, spitting a glob of bloody saliva onto Liam's cold body.

"I- Nyla...I'm grateful that you saved my life. I would've been in big trouble if you hadn't come along. It's just that...well, he was blackmailing me. He said if anything happened to him he would release footage of me...killing someone." Carmine doesn't bother adding the fact that she thinks Liam didn't deserve to die. She can't afford to look soft in front of Nyla. Vulnerable and humane vampires tend to be the targets of harassment and coven persecution.

Nyla sneers. "I may have just saved your life but that doesn't mean I give two shits about saving your reputation. Who cares? If the video goes public, just deny everything, find yourself a good lawyer and say it was a hoax."

"I'm already on the police's radar. My brother and I found a dead girl's body a few weeks ago. We didn't kill her but we were the only witnesses. Then I found the fiery wreckage containing the body of the man YOU murdered. So that's two murders I'm indirectly connected to now. I can't afford to be associated any more murders." Especially the dastardly motel murder of a man named Michael.

Nyla pouts her lips. "So you've seen some of my other work, have you?" Nyla snickers. "Again, what does any of this have to do with me?"

"You killed Melissa Wilder?"

"I didn't know her name. But it was in a park right? Skull bashed in?"

Carmine nods grimly. "I just thought since you- Well, I was hoping-"

"Think nothing and hope for nothing, princess. I'm not your goddamn fairy godmother. I do what serves MY best interests, not yours. I'll clean up this mess with your lover boy here but I'm not going to help you deal with anything else. Got that?"

"Can you make him disappear? But make it seem natural, like he's just gone on vacation or something? Me and my family need as much of a head start as possible if we want to avoid the cops."

"Why do you want to run away? Why not kill them all? You've done nothing wrong."

Carmine glares at Nyla and then sneers, "My family and I are not monsters. We may have occasional lapses of judgment but deep down inside, we want to live peacefully, side by side with the humans. We don't want to cause unnecessary bloodshed and we don't murder. We take only what we need."

"So basically you and your family are a pack of cowards and hypocrites. Why deny yourself the pleasure of a kill? Who are you trying to please? God? Because let me tell you something, there's no Heaven or Hell. All we have is this Earth and it's our playground. When will you realize that we own this planet, not them?"

"Nyla- Watch yourself," Carmine warns. "I am not a coward. I just choose the high road. If you didn't care about human culture, why did you get a job at the hotel?"

"I just needed a cover while I'm in town. Besides, all the tastiest ones are rich and all the rich seem to inevitably arrive at this hotel."

"Nyla, you've made your point. But I think we should stop seeing each other from now on. I'll quit my job tomorrow and you can have Sebastian. I need to protect my family and that means we need to move. Escape while we still can." Carmine bites her tongue. It's clear that Nyla is ten times more powerful than she is. It's in Carmine's best interest to keep Nyla as a friend, not an enemy. Carmine says gently, "Please clean up the mess you've made. That's all I ask. Goodbye Nyla."

Nyla bites her lower lip. "Carmine, when will you learn to embrace the vampire inside you? Stop hiding. Join us. I can take you under my wing and introduce you to my clan. I can teach you how to be unstoppable." Nyla rests her hand on Carmine's shoulders, giving it a small squeeze. "Think of all the amazing things you could learn from me. I'm not the only vamp in town, Carm. Others are coming. At least three new families will arrive in Richmont by next week. They're coming to kill."

"I appreciate the offer Nyla, but...I think I'll carve my own way." With that, Carmine turns around and starts stumbling back home. Her home. It's high time she admits to her sins and warn her family about Nyla and Liam's murder. They will need to make preparations to move before the entire Richmont police department catches up to them. It's time to set aside her ego and think about the bigger picture. After all, ego is useless if she's dead or behind bars.

Nyla's words ring through her head like a chant.

They're coming. They're coming. They're coming.

There's only 4, maybe 5 chapters left in this book! I feel sad that I've finished it but I'm excited to start planning my next novel! :D Please leave a vote and I promise you, some major things will be happening leading up to one gigantic finale! Thank you! ~Chesmok

Next update will be on Monday.

-TENTATIVE Update Schedule for Final Chapters-

Ch. 40 - Monday July 13, 2015

Ch. 41- Wednesday July 15, 2015

Ch. 42 Pt. 1- Friday July 17, 2015

Ch. 42 Pt. 2 - Sunday July 19, 2015

Ch. 43 - Tuesday July 21, 2015

Ch. 44 Pt. 1 & Pt. 2- Friday July 24, 2015

Cutthroat Carmine Fan Art Contest will run July 25-October 30, 2015. More details will be posted on July 25. Top prizes include: shout outs on my profile, swag, $$$ gift cards, bonus content, chapter critiques, follows and more. Stay tuned!

Cutthroat Carmine Fanfic Contest will run July 25-December 31, 2015. More details will be announced soon. 

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