DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Part II

By Wesley Overhults

June Moone’s Apartment, San Francisco, California

“Who the hell is Kevin Craft?”

Rachel still didn’t understand what was going on.  June had tried to explain it to her on the way back from the store but hadn’t been very successful.  It still made no sense to Rachel why a world-famous supermodel would be down at the port taking pictures of her while she was busting up a human trafficking ring apparently run by vampires.  None of those things fit together in any meaningful way.

“Geez, Rachel, have you been living under a rock or something?” asked June as she pulled up a Wikipedia page for Kevin Craft.  “I mean I thought everyone had heard of this guy.  He’s always on some magazine cover.  The cameras can’t get enough of him.”

“Exactly what makes you think I would follow something like that?” inquired Rachel.

“Right, my bad,” realized June.  “Look, my point is that this guy is ten different kinds of famous.  Why would he be anywhere near whatever was going on that night?”

“I don’t know but I know what I saw,” confirmed Rachel as she studied one of the many pictures of Craft that accompanied the page.  She couldn’t be sure but there was something about his eyes that she found hauntingly familiar. “That guy was there and he knows my face.  Maybe he works for Brother Night on the side or something.  You know that clown’s been trying to get at me.”

“He’s way too famous to keep anything a secret,” said June.  “This guy gets mauled by paparazzi everywhere he goes.”

Rachel looked closer at Craft’s picture and couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something about him that she recognized from somewhere else.  It was definitely something about his eyes but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what it was.  She tore herself away from his picture long enough to read through the entry about him.  There wasn’t much known about his early life.  Much of it was very standard and even though anyone else wouldn’t give it a second look, Rachel thought it seemed too perfect of a story to be real.  Since his rise to international fame and fortune, Kevin Craft had been a media darling.  June was right, the camera couldn’t get enough of this man and it seemed that Craft had an equally intense love affair with anything that captured his image.  Rachel wasn’t interested in his vanity or the machine that fed it.  She wanted to know the facts about this man, the real facts that he apparently hid from the rest of the world.  Rachel knew what she saw that night.

“Doesn’t seem like he settles down,” she realized.

“Yeah, he’s always got some new girl on his arm,” agreed June, her eyes skimming the page as Rachel scrolled through it.  “Wait, back up a bit.”  June read the last few sentences.  “That’s . . . that’s the same modeling agency that Emily got her internship with.  Holy crap, why didn’t she tell me she might get to meet Kevin Craft?”

“Wait, you know someone who works at this place?” asked Rachel.

“Yeah, Emily,” answered June.  “The girl in my sorority that I was telling you about before the party Friday night.  You know, the one in the picture.”

Rachel nodded, recalling their conversation.  The wheels were turning in her brain.  If Kevin Craft was represented by this agency and he was down at the port that Friday night then that either meant that the agency was completely clueless about what was really going on or that they were somehow involved in it.  Rachel was betting on the second theory but there was no solid proof yet.  However, she knew that she now had a good way to get that proof.

“I think we need to visit this place,” she decided.

“You mean I need to,” corrected June, not flinching when Rachel glared at her with a look that said plainly that June wasn’t going to get involved.  “Look, Craft already knows what you look like.  The second you walk in there, this whole plan will go to crap.  Let me go in there and poke around a little.  I can just say I’m looking for Emily or make up some other excuse related to her.  I’ll be in and out in no time.”

Rachel internally admitted that it was the smarter play.  What June said about Craft was true.  If the people that ran his agency were involved in the human trafficking then he would have told them about Rachel or maybe even shown them the photos he took so that they would know what she looked like.  June was anonymous and plus she had the perfectly legitimate excuse of trying to get in touch with her friend.  Unfortunately, it also meant putting June into a proverbial den of wolves.  If the agency was involved in the trafficking then it also meant they were most likely vampires.

“This is dangerous,” warned Rachel.

“I can do this,” promised June.  “If Emily is somehow mixed up in this then I have to help her, Rachel.  We’re Sigma sisters and even if we weren’t, she’s still one of my best friends.”

“Alright but you have to promise me that you’ll do this fast,” said Rachel.  “I don’t want you getting hurt, June.”

“I promise,” said June.  “You think we should do it now?”

“Tomorrow,” said Rachel.  “In the meantime, get in touch with Emily and see if she’s working tomorrow so your cover will be more believable.  I’m going to start learning more about this guy and the agency that represents him. They’re tied into all this and I want to know how and why.”

Emily Briggs yawned as she finished changing back into her normal clothes.  It was getting late and it was time for her to clock out although really she wasn’t even sure what her job was anymore.  It had been a whirlwind of a first day and she was exhausted trying to keep pace with everything.  She couldn’t believe what had happened.  She was going to be a model like she had always dreamed of being.  It was so surreal that she didn’t believe it was actually happening.

“You did good tonight.”

Emily was startled by Victor’s words.  She had just come out of the bathroom after washing her face and then checking her makeup.  She was all set to go home for the night but she didn’t want to appear rude on her first day so she decided she could indulge in a few minutes of small-talk with the cameraman.  Emily figured she at least owed Victor one for making her look so good.

“Thanks.  I saw some of the shots you took.  Thank you for making me look so great.”

Victor nodded in appreciation but his eyes never left Emily.  She could tell what he was doing.  It was what most guys did when they got a good look at her.  Emily wasn’t an idiot.  She knew she was attractive and that it only took one look at her for most guys to realize it too.  She figured Victor was used to it by now though.  His line of work meant that he was around gorgeous women all the time, women who were way more attractive than Emily, at least in her estimation.  So why did he seem to pay extra attention to her when there were so many better options for him to choose?

“Night’s still young,” he reminded her.  “Maybe I could buy you a drink to celebrate.”

“I’m just under twenty-one,” admitted Emily.

“So we make it a private party then,” decided Victor and Emily suddenly noticed the lack of space between them.  “Your place or mine?”

“How about you go to your place and I’ll go to mine,” retorted Emily, backing up to get some space.

Victor moved closer and Emily was about to tell him to back off when she caught his gaze.  There was something in his eyes, something that she had never seen before.  She felt her body go numb, her muscles get heavy.  On instinct, she tried to back away and stumbled back into the bathroom.  She tried to get her brain to function properly and wondered just what was happening.  Victor wasn’t going to give her time to do that though.  In mere seconds he was in the room with her and had her backed up against the wall.

“I guess I’ll have that drink here,” he decided.

Emily looked into his eyes again and her brain refused to work.  She dimly noticed that when Victor opened his mouth, his teeth were long and sharp.  They glinted in the florescent light and he moved dangerously close to her.  He kissed her on the lips and Emily sloppily returned it.  She felt intoxicated, like the signals going from her brain to her body were all scrambled.  Victor’s hands were all over her and she couldn’t help but like it.  She wasn’t like this though.  She wasn’t the kind of girl who would have a quickie in a bathroom with someone she had only known for a day.  What was she doing?

“Stop,” she mumbled in between kisses.  “I . . . I can’t think.”

Victor could tell she was trying to resist and that meant he was going to have to hurry.  He moved in close to her and let his fangs plunge into her neck.  Emily gurgled in an attempt at screaming but the blood from the wounds clogged her throat.  Victor began voraciously drinking that blood.  He guzzled it down and took Emily to the floor once her legs were too weak to support her anymore.  He had seen many beautiful women in his line of work but there was something special about Emily.  There was something about her that made him want her, made him know that he had to have her.  Victor knew that he would have her for all eternity once he was done with her tonight.  She would be a child of the night just like him.  More importantly, she would be his pretty plaything, a doll whose strings he could pull when he wanted to have some fun.  He planned on having so much fun with her.

Once he was finished with his meal, Victor knew what he had to do next.  He raked his bare arm along the sharp edges of his fangs, going deep enough to break the skin and draw some blood.  He put his wounded arm up to Emily’s mouth, making sure she swallowed the blood.  He held his arm there long enough for her to get a good dose of it, knowing that it would turn her into a vampire like him.

“Your table manners are quite unbecoming.”

Victor finished his work before looking up to spy the owner of the voice.  He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt and stood up to face Kevin Craft, the golden child of the modeling world.  Victor and Kevin never had a good working relationship.  Victor believed that Kevin was nothing but a pompous pretty boy, the kind whose constant smug grin could only be erased by a punch in the mouth.  Kevin thought perhaps even less of Victor.  Kevin viewed Victor as nothing but a thug with all the dignity and charm of a caveman.  Kevin knew of Victor’s habits, knew that Emily wasn’t the first time that Victor had tried something like this.

“You know, I can never figure you out,” said Victor as he sized up the supermodel.  “I mean I can see the way you’re looking at me like I’ve done something terrible.  Given your history with women, I thought you would show me some professional courtesy.  Maybe that’s beneath the great Kevin Craft.”

“Perhaps,” admitted Craft.  “Just make sure you clean up your mess, Victor.  She’s your pet now and you know what happens to children who don’t take care of their pets.”

“I’ve been wanting to see what you’re made of for years,” said Victor as he moved towards Craft.  “What makes you think you’re any better than us, Craft?  The way I see it, you’re just an ordinary human in a world full of monsters. You must either be too stupid to know what that means or you’ve got a hell of a lot of balls.”

“You think I’m human?” asked Craft as he laughed at Victor’s attempt to threaten him.  “Oh now that is too rich.  Come and find out what I am if you think you can handle it.”

Victor moved to take a swing at Craft but the supermodel shot out his hand and clutched Victor’s fist to stop the punch.  Craft squeezed on Victor’s fist with inhuman strength, bringing the vampire to his knees.  Victor struggled to comprehend what was going on even as Craft’s eyes began to glow blood-red.  Indeed his entire face took on a different appearance, his eyes multiplying until there were two sets of them.  Craft picked up Victor just by the grip he had on the vampire’s fist and then slung him into the bathroom mirror.  The collision didn’t kill Victor but it at least left him unconscious.  Craft smirked, knowing that Victor would be picking glass out of his fangs for the rest of the night. He turned his attention to Emily and decided it would be a good idea to take her home.  He had seen what Victor did to the rest of the girls he turned.  He would play with them like toys for a while but eventually he would grow bored of them when some new meat came along.  Once that happened, the results weren’t pretty for anyone involved.

“A shame,” he said to himself as he used some wet paper towels to clean Emily up.  “All that blood can be very nasty for your complexion.”

Kevin Craft finished his work and noted that the wounds were already starting to heal at a rapid rate.  That meant he didn’t have much time to get her back to her home before she woke up.  He threw the towels into the trashcan and looked at his reflection in the broken mirror.  There was a cruel smile on his face as he noticed the multiple reflections in the fractured shards of glass.  He fished his phone out of his pocket and held it up, taking a picture of himself. He wanted to admire himself in the mirror more but there wasn’t time.  As always, it was business before pleasure.

The Next Day

“She’s not picking up.”

Rachel could see that June was worried and she didn’t even need her powers to tell her that.  Rachel had spent most of the day researching Kevin Craft and the Velcoro and Mishkin Modeling Agency.  The company had been around longer than Craft and had started right in San Francisco.  It had a good reputation for getting its clients some very lucrative work but when Craft signed with them, it took them to a completely different level.  Craft brought notoriety to the agency and it seemed as if it wasn’t long before everyone in the modeling world wanted Velcoro and Mishkin to represent them.  So far though, there was no connection between the agency and the vampires Rachel had encountered at the port.

“She’ll call back when she gets the chance,” assured Rachel.

“Maybe,” said June.  “Emily’s just not like this though.  She’s always on her phone.  She never goes this long without returning someone’s call or at least texting them back.”

“I still think this is a bad play,” said Rachel as the two of them sat on the bus that would take them to the modeling agency.  “It’s too dangerous.”

“I can sell it,” promised June.

Rachel still had her doubts about the whole thing but the bus had arrived at their stop and she knew that despite what she said, June was going to do what they had planned.  The two girls got off the bus and walked a block to get to the modeling agency.  Rachel silently nodded to June and the older girl nodded back before going towards the building while Rachel walked past it.  They had to make everything look normal or else someone would realize that something was wrong.  Rachel turned back to see June go inside the building.  Her eyes drifted up to the window on a higher floor.  She could swear that someone was watching her and when she got a feeling like that, it was usually accurate. She saw someone standing at the window but when they noticed that she was looking in their direction, they moved away.  Rachel couldn’t be sure but she knew that something was going on inside that building and she had just sent June right into the middle of it.

June took a deep breath and then made her way into the building.  She had no clue what exactly she was going to do.  The plan had been for her to ask for Emily but now she didn’t even know if Emily was here or not.  Her fingers closed around the phone in her pocket and she summoned up her courage.  If Emily was in danger then she had to help her.

“Hi,” she greeted the secretary as she approached the front desk.  “I’m looking for a friend of mine that works here.  Her name is Emily Briggs.”

“She was supposed to come into work today but never showed,” said the receptionist.  “That means you know exactly as much as us it seems.”

June’s face soured.  Now her cover was completely in the toilet and she was going to have to find another excuse for hanging around.  There was also her fear about Emily’s whereabouts.  As she told Rachel, June knew that Emily and her phone were inseparable.  If Emily wasn’t on her phone then that meant that there was the possibility of something really bad happening to her.

“I believe I’ve seen the girl you’re looking for today.”

June would admit to not being a follower of the fashion world but she would have to be completely out of touch with pop culture if she couldn’t recognize the voice.  She turned and found herself staring at Kevin Craft.  Her heart began to flutter as he stepped forward and stood next to her at the receptionist’s desk.  June barely managed to tear her eyes away from him to notice that his presence was having the same effect on the receptionist.

“I haven’t seen her come in today, Mr. Craft,” said the receptionist.

“Please, you can call me Kevin,” said the model.  “I’ve seen this young lady’s friend in here today.  Perhaps this Emily girl came in while you were on your break?”

“Yeah, that . . . that’s possible,” admitted the receptionist, clearly flustered by the fact that Craft was holding her gaze so intently.  “I’m sorry, Kevin.  Sometimes I’m just such a ditz.”

“No harm, my dear,” assured Craft.  “Would you mind if I took this young lady to find her friend?  I know we don’t usually allow people into our offices without an appointment but I’m sure we can make an exception.  I won’t tell if you don’t.”

“No, that’s . . . that’s fine,” agreed the receptionist.

Craft smiled before turning his gaze at June.  Just catching the remnants of that smile made June melt inside.  The pictures she had seen of him didn’t do him justice.  She could see why everyone fawned over him.  He was gorgeous. There was something else going on inside her though.  It wasn’t just the nervousness of meeting someone so famous.  June was feeling . . . something she couldn’t quite name.  It was a deeper, more primal feeling than she had felt before.

“I . . . I’m June,” she stammered, trying to get her mouth to move correctly.  “You’re . . . you’re really him.  I mean you’re really . . .”

“Me,” finished Craft with a grin as he led June deeper into the building.  “I get that a lot but really there’s no need to be so star-struck.  I’m just like everyone else.”

“Are you kidding?” asked June.  “You’re Kevin Craft.  You’re like the hottest guy on the planet.  Everyone wants you.”

“Everyone?” inquired Kevin and he flashed her that smile again.

‘He’s doing something to you, June.  His magic . . . it’s familiar somehow.’

June tried to listen to the words of The Enchantress but something else was going on in her head.  The second she saw him smile at her, something surged in her.  She felt like the emotion was going to overcome her, like it was a tidal wave that was going to drown her.  She could name it now.  It was lust.  She wanted this man, wanted every inch of him.  She would do anything to get him and she would let him do anything he wanted to her.

“Yeah,” she squeaked, trying desperately to control herself.

“Maybe I don’t want everyone though,” said Craft and June was having a hard time focusing on what was going on around her.  “You’re quite attractive yourself, June.  I’m sure you have no problem getting someone’s attention.”

June felt the heat in her cheeks as she blushed from his compliment but there was another kind of heat in her body and it was driving her crazy.  She could tell that he could see it and that maybe he liked what he saw.  That thought only made her feel hotter.  Her head was swimming so much that she could barely register his hand clasping hers.  He pulled her into an empty room and that was when their lips finally touched.  It was a spark that ignited an inferno. June could barely keep up as she felt his tongue in her mouth and his hands all over her.

‘June, his magic . . . it’s like Rachel’s.  It’s preying on your emotions and I can’t . . . I can barely fight it.’

June could barely hear The Enchantress in her head.  All she could feel was the increasing heat between her legs as Kevin Craft’s lips trailed down to her neck, mercilessly teasing her.  She gasped and that gasped soon turned into an outright moan as she continued to let him do anything he wanted to her body.

“You seem to have certainly gotten mine,” breathed Craft into her ear.

June couldn’t believe that but it didn’t matter.  Nothing mattered except how much she wanted him.  Her lust was drowning out anything else in her brain.  She felt his nimble fingers undo the buttons on her blouse and then remove it from her.  She saved him the trouble of getting her out of her jeans, instead doing the work for him.  His mouth thanked her by resuming its attack on her neck and then trailing lower.

“God,” she moaned.  “Take me, Kevin.”

“All in good time, my dear,” he assured her as he moved up and suddenly kissed her on the forehead.  “There’s something interesting inside you though.  I want to see it.”

June felt her mind fade into the background as The Enchantress took over.  Whatever magic Kevin had, he had used it when he kissed her forehead.  Now that June wasn’t in control over her body, she could see things only a little more clearly.  The Enchantress was right.  Craft’s magic was like Rachel’s only it seemed more focused on just one emotion rather than the broad spectrum of them.

“What . . . what are you?” asked The Enchantress, realizing that now that she was in control of June’s body, she was subject to the same attack on her hormones that Craft employed.

“Oh I think you know,” said Craft as his eyes took on a glow that was familiar to The Enchantress.

Craft’s magic became stronger and The Enchantress soon found herself losing all control over her emotions.  She kissed him hard, moving her body up to straddle him and hooking her legs around his waist so she couldn’t fall.  It had been so long since she had the opportunity to enjoy something like this.  She missed it.  She missed that wanting, needing ache inside her.  She missed feeling alive and she felt so very alive in this moment.  She was going to milk this chance for all it was worth and she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from feeling more of this raw, passionate lust.

“For posterity,” explained Craft once he had unhooked his lips from hers and held up his phone.

The Enchantress took the opportunity to attack his neck with her mouth much the way he had done to June.  Craft just grinned as he took a picture of himself while the raven-haired sorceress sucked on his neck.  There was a sound that interrupted them though.  It was coming from the pocket of June’s jeans.

“Rachel,” muttered The Enchantress, annoyed that her fun was being curtailed as it so often had been ever since June had met the daughter of Trigon.  “You’re . . . you’re like her.”

“Am I now?” asked Craft, clearly interested in Rachel.  “I can feel you trying to fight my magic.  Nobody’s ever really done that before.  I’d like to know more about Rachel.”

“She’s not important,” snapped The Enchantress, now very annoyed that her fun was seemingly over.

“I really want to know,” whispered Craft in her ear.  “You like giving me what I want, don’t you?”

The Enchantress purred and it was the final push that Craft needed.  She felt her will dissolve under his onslaught and it felt so deliciously good to give in to him.  He was right.  She would do anything he wanted as long as he satisfied the uncontrollable desire raging inside of her.

“Yes, I love it,” said The Enchantress before she began telling him everything she knew about Rachel.

It was by the third attempt at calling June’s phone that Rachel realized how abysmally screwed they were in terms of communication.  Rachel’s living situation wasn’t one conducive to owning a cell phone so she had to resort to finding a public phone to call June.  Her lack of ability to communicate with her new partner made ideas like the one they were currently engaging in very terrible in hindsight.  Rachel mentally kicked herself for letting June try this idiotic undercover stunt.  She was going to get herself in danger and with The Enchantress still in timeout, there would be no real way for her to defend herself.  Rachel hoped that the animosity between June and the malevolent spirit that inhabited her could be put aside in matters of life and death.

“Please let that be you,” she pleaded as she heard the phone ring and answered as fast as she could.  “June, you better be on the other end of this line.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed then.”

Rachel’s blood turned cold when she heard the voice.  It was the same one that she had heard that night at the port and that meant that it could only belong to one man.  Kevin Craft was on the other end of the line and Rachel knew that meant bad news for her best friend.

“What did you do to her, Craft?” asked Rachel.

“No need to be so formal with me, Rachel,” chided Craft.  “After all, I know so very much about you now so I don’t think we need to stand on ceremony.  Your lovely friend June has been keeping me very good company.  Plus there’s the other ‘friend’ she brought with her.”

“Get to the point,” ordered Rachel, realizing that Craft was talking about The Enchantress.

“Well, there are no shortage of beautiful women in the world to keep me company,” reminded Craft.  “However, it isn’t every day that I get to spend some quality time with my baby sister, now is it?”

“Your what?”

“Yes, I figured that would get your attention.  Come to the modeling agency and find out more.  Do please be prompt too.  It’s very bad manners to keep a family member waiting.”

Rachel stood in silence as Craft hung up on her.  She was still too stunned by his words to fully process everything that was going on.  She couldn’t believe what he had called her but she couldn’t deny that there was something about Kevin Craft that she found hauntingly familiar.  Maybe that thing she recognized so well was a family resemblance and if that was the case then she knew it could only spell disaster for her and June.

San Francisco State University

Her eyes shot open and she gasped as she woke up.  She felt cold and immediately wrapped the blanket around her.  It took her only a second to realize that she shouldn’t be in bed.  The last thing she remembered, she was laying on the tile floor of a bathroom.  Now she was in her dorm room of all places.  None of that made any sense.

Emily Briggs looked at the clock and realize that it was almost time for her to be at work.  She struggled to get out of bed, her muscles heavy as if she had slept for a lifetime.  She managed to make it to her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror, or rather she tried to.  She couldn’t see anything staring back at her in the mirror.  It was like she didn’t even exist.  Emily looked down at her arms and realized that her skin was so pale.  She always took better care of herself than this.  What had happened to her?  The last thing she remembered was being at work.  She and Victor had been talking.  He . . . he had cornered her in the bathroom and . . . he had done something awful to her.

Emily winced at a phantom pain and unconsciously rubbed a spot on her neck.  She felt something inside her, something she had never felt before.  She was so thirsty.  It felt like her mouth, her throat, every part of her body was bone-dry.  She really needed something to drink.  Emily moved out of her room and into the hallway, heading towards the water fountain.  She turned on the water and greedily gulped it down.  She kept drinking and drinking but it didn’t seem to quench her thirst.  She lost track of the amount of time she was at the fountain but no matter how much water she drank, she was still thirsty for more.

“You okay, Em?”

Emily looked up and spied one of the girls that lived on her floor.  She caught a scent of something in that moment and it only made her body ache for whatever was producing that scent.  It took her only a moment to place it.  She smelled blood and it made her thirsty.  That didn’t make sense though.  She tried to process it but couldn’t because the thirst was almost overpowering.  It was then that she remembered what Victor had done to her before she passed out.  He had bitten her on the neck.

“Yeah, I’m . . . I’m good,” lied Emily before hurriedly retreating to her room.

Once inside, she shut the door and sank down into a sitting position with her back against the door.  She tried to cry but realized that she couldn’t and it only made her want to cry even more.  She wasn’t stupid like everyone seemed to think.  Victor had bitten her on the neck and now she was thirsty for blood.  She was deathly pale and it seemed that she didn’t have a reflection anymore.  It was obvious what he had done to her even if her mind didn’t want to accept it.

“What the hell do I do now?” she asked herself as she tried to come to terms with her transformation.

As if she was trying to keep herself in denial, she reached for her phone.  She checked her missed calls as mechanically as she always did, the routine ingrained into her at this point.  She had a few missed calls from June and a voicemail from her that sounded pretty serious.  Emily wondered how she could face June at this point.  She knew there was no way that June would understand even though they were like sisters.  Emily knew the smart thing would be to stay away from anyone she cared about.  She needed someone because now her entire world had fallen apart but she couldn’t take the chance that the someone she loved would be hurt by her.  She couldn’t even see herself in the mirror anymore for God’s sake.  How was she supposed to cope with this on her own?

Emily knew what she had to do.  She had to find Victor and try to make him undo what he had done to her.  To that end, she left her room and set off into the night.  She was going to make sure that no one else would become another one of his victims.

Next Issue: The mystery behind Kevin Craft is finally revealed and it’s Rachel and June against . . . each other?