DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE

Part III

By Wesley Overhults

Velcoro and Mishkin Modeling Agency, San Francisco, California

Vincent Velcoro was not a happy man.  In truth, he wasn’t a man anymore but that didn’t matter so much to him.  What mattered to him at the moment was his current unhappiness and the source of that woe.  The source was a member of his clan named Victor Christianson who had done something incredibly stupid.  It was decidedly dumb enough to earn Velcoro’s wrath and Velcoro wasn’t someone who was easily angered by things.

“You’re lucky we’re hours away from sunrise or else I would open the blinds and let the rays burn you to ashes,” said Velcoro as he watched some of his employees take turns with the beating they were giving Victor.  “I told you from day one that you weren’t supposed to play too rough with the merchandise, Victor.  We have rules in place to keep this operation running smoothly and you broke one of them.”

Velcoro looked to his business partner in Dunya Mishkin and could see that she was as eager for Victor’s blood as his goons were.  Velcoro had half a mind to just turn her loose but he knew he had to figure out a logical end to their current predicament.  What he had said to Victor was true.  There were rules to keep their human trafficking ring running without involvement from the authorities.  Velcoro had most of his models shipped in from various countries when he couldn’t find them locally.  They were bitten once they arrived but they were never turned into full vampires.  Models weren’t worth their keep when they were full vampires who couldn’t be photographed by cameras.  So the girls lived on as slaves in service to their vampire masters, their pictures adorning magazine covers and website photo galleries.  Most of photos were for fetish cultures of one kind or another but sometimes there was that rare model that was able to break into the mainstream.  Velcoro knew that Emily Briggs could have been that model until his idiot employee had to go and ruin that chance.

“I didn’t mean to turn her,” explained Victor.  “I got carried away.”

“No, you did what you always do,” retorted Velcoro.  “You think I don’t know that this isn’t the first time you’ve pulled a stunt like this?  No, this isn’t the first of your messes that I’ve heard about but I swear that it will the last one I have to clean up.”

“Let me handle him while you see about getting the girl back,” decided Mishkin.  “We can’t leave her loose in the city to run around and possibly expose us.”

“I know,” agreed Velcoro before nodding to his partner.  “Do whatever you like with him, Dunya.  I have to work on fixing this as soon as I can.”

“Your golden ticket,” said Victor before Velcoro could leave the room.  “Kevin Craft, he’s not what he seems.  He’s not one of us and you were an idiot to bring him in.  He’s going to tank this whole scheme by following his own agenda.  It’s his fault if that girl is loose in the city.  He’s the one who took her body out of this building.”

Velcoro nodded again to Mishkin and it was a sign for her to continue what he had begin with Victor.  Inwardly though, Velcoro was thinking about Victor’s words.  It was true that he didn’t have a high opinion of Craft.  The man was an incredibly valuable asset but he was no more or less than that in Velcoro’s view.  Perhaps Craft had been playing them all along to serve whatever agenda he had.  Velcoro knew he wasn’t going to find out by sitting around and waiting for Craft to do whatever it was he wanted to do.  He was going to have to get on top of this before it got out of hand.

“I want to know where Craft is right now,” he ordered his underlings.  “He and I have to talk about something very important.”

The staff nodded and dropped whatever they were doing so that they could begin the hunt for Kevin Craft.  Velcoro nodded in satisfaction at his own handiwork.  He reminded himself that he was still the master of the house and he wasn’t going to let anyone take that title away from him.  All he had to do was get out of this with his business intact and then it was back to the task at hand.  Whatever kind of creature Craft was, Velcoro didn’t think he would pose a very serious threat to their organization.

“You haven’t known Rachel very long, have you?”

The Enchantress shook her head, annoyed that Craft seemed fixated on Rachel when The Enchantress knew she was much more beautiful than Trigon’s teenage daughter.  She was a worldly woman who could show Craft many more things than Rachel ever could.  She knew it didn’t matter to Craft that Rachel was his sister.  The Enchantress could read the attention Craft gave to Rachel and it angered her.  She had spent so long as nothing but a voice in June Moone’s head and now that she was finally able to sample some of the true pleasures of life, her fun was getting derailed by Rachel Roth.

“Only a few months,” she said.  “June enjoys the girl’s company.  I’m much more interested in what she is than in who she is.”

“Yes, our father and his bloodline,” mused Craft.  “She was always special, you know.  True, none of us ever met her in person but we heard about her.  She has always had our father’s attention from the moment she was born.  Being Trigon’s daughter is a very special thing.  My brothers and I have searched far and wide for her but none of us ever thought about coming to a dimension like this.”

“There have been others who wanted her,” said The Enchantress.  “She hasn’t spoken of them but I sense it.”

“But most likely they weren’t her family,” countered Craft.  “My brothers and I could no more harm her than we could each other.  We only wish to bring our little sister home, to show her the love that only family can provide for her.”

“And what of me?”

Kevin Craft smiled and his smile made The Enchantress’s heart melt.  She tried to tell herself it was just his magic playing with her emotions but she couldn’t make herself believe that.  Craft’s magic overrode all forms of common sense.  It drove people wild with passion and made them forsake all reasoning abilities.  People were so much easier to control that way.

“I think there could be a nice place in our family for you,” said Craft as he came over to where The Enchantress was sitting on top of a desk and kissed her on the lips.  “I’m sure it’s so lonely living the life you have now.”

“I have missed this so much,” confessed The Enchantress, her arms snaking around Craft’s hips and pulling him closer to her.  “I have never felt so alive before.”

“My magic can do that,” said Craft, returning her kiss with one of his own.  “My brothers and I each have our own favored emotion.  We love them so much that we named ourselves after them.  They call me Lust.”

“I can see why.”

Lust looked at the raven-haired sorceress and could see June’s eyes hidden inside The Enchantress’s.  He could tell that both of them were under his sway, that they wanted nothing more than to be his for as long as he would let them.  Lust enjoyed using his magic to get what he wanted.  He enjoyed reducing people to puddles of raw passion.  He had been counseled by his older brother to not forget his mission while he was here in San Francisco but he had to admit that The Enchantress could sidetrack anyone from their quest.

“Rachel is special among us though,” said Lust.  “We only manipulate one emotion but she manipulates them all.  That’s what makes her so important to our father.”

The Enchantress was about to voice her displeasure at once again being overlooked because of Rachel but another kiss from Lust silenced her.  The two of them continued making out but someone opened the door and interrupted them.  Lust smiled as he turned to greet the stranger.  He knew it was one of Velcoro’s people, although that was a loose term at this point.  It seemed as if his supposed boss had finally figured out what was really going on inside his company.  It didn’t matter know though.  With The Enchantress on his side as extra firepower, Lust knew he could easily dispatch with anything Velcoro and his clan could throw at him.

“Velcoro wants to talk to you,” said the man standing in the doorway.  “Your pretty friend can wait here with me.”

“His ‘pretty friend’ can speak for herself,” corrected The Enchantress as she pushed past Lust and raised her hand towards the vampire.  “She will not be going anywhere and neither will her pretty friend.  Kindly remove yourself from this place.”

The vampire never got a chance to respond to The Enchantress’s words.  A bolt of magical fire lanced from her hand and vaporized the man on contact.  The Enchantress could feel the man’s supernatural aura before she turned him to dust.  She knew that he was a vampire and that confirmed Rachel’s theory that the group of vampires at the port were involved in this place.  The Enchantress could hear June’s voice in her head trying to get her to think about Emily.  They had come into this den of wolves for the purpose of saving June’s friend but now things weren’t so clear anymore.  Lust’s magic was twisting their thoughts and even now The Enchantress could feel it clouding her perceptions once more.  Why did it matter what they came here to do?

‘She’s in trouble and we need to find her.’

“Velcoro has seemingly outlived his usefulness,” decided Lust, putting his clothes back on and then stepping on the pile of dust that was once a vampire.  “Make yourself presentable and we’ll go pay him that visit that he so desperately wants.”

The Enchantress nodded and moved to put on June’s clothes, not even marveling at the fact that they had changed to fit her when she took over June’s body.  It was hard to explain to someone the transformation that happened when The Enchantress and June switched back and forth.  It wasn’t just that one entity was in control of the body and the other one wasn’t.  The body itself changed as well and even though neither of them had ever tested the theory, The Enchantress was willing to bet the change even happened on a genetic level.

“I’m eager to make his acquaintance,” she admitted as she finished dressing.

Rachel wasn’t going to stand on ceremony.  She knew she should have never let June go into the building without her.  It wasn’t that she didn’t think June was incapable of gathering information without getting caught.  Rachel knew that June was a smart and resourceful girl.  The problem was that sometimes she could get in over her head and not even realize it.  Plus there was the matter of Kevin Craft and his supposed connection to Rachel’s family.  Rachel’s head was still spinning by his revelations.  There was no way that what he said could be true and yet it left Rachel to wonder about a lot of things.  She was under the impression that she was Trigon’s only daughter but she remembered what The Enchantress had said when telling her about the Ramat Stones.  Trigon had multiple children in the past so it made sense that he would continue populating this world and others with them.  The idea that Rachel could actually have biological family out there somewhere unnerved her and yet it also appealed to her.  She was building a new life for herself in San Francisco but she knew there would always be something missing from that life.  The friends she was making were nice but they couldn’t take the place of true family.

“I’m looking for a blond girl,” she told the receptionist.  “College age, came here looking for her friend Emily.”

“Kevin Craft offered to help her find her friend,” explained the receptionist and Rachel had to restrain the impulse to break something with her telekinesis.  “I haven’t seen either of them leave the building so they must still be here.”

“Alright, let’s get everything out into the open then,” said Rachel as her eyes glowed a dangerous shade of red.  “You know that I’m something and I’m guessing that you’re probably a vampire like the rest of the people here.  You’re going to tell me where to find the people that own this agency so I can have a talk with them.”

To her credit, the receptionist barely flinched.  Instead, she just pushed a button on the intercom.  Within a minute, a group of what looked like security personnel came out of the elevator and fanned out to face Rachel.  She grinned as the vampires showed their fangs and moved to attack.  The chandelier hanging overhead glowed black for a second and then exploded.  Rachel used her telekinesis to direct the shower of glass towards the vampires, cutting them down with the shards.  She hoped that her makeshift shrapnel grenade would down some of the vampires permanently but she knew that she wasn’t that lucky.  Most of them were still on their feet and now they were very angry.  They surged towards Rachel but she used her telekinesis to sweep them aside and get towards the elevator.  She punched the button to call the elevator and then saw one of the vampires attacking her from behind in the reflection on the elevator’s metal doors.  Rachel sidestepped the attack and shoved the vampire into the elevator doors.  The blow dazed him momentarily but she knew it wasn’t enough to knock him out.

“Apparently being undead takes away your personality,” she cracked as she noted that the vampire wasn’t saying anything to her.  “Who knew?”

The other vampires were coming towards her but she saw the elevator doors open.  Rachel used her telekinesis to fling herself towards the open elevator and managed to get inside.  She scrambled to punch the button to close the doors, choosing whatever floor she could get her fingers on.  One of the vampires almost made it into the elevator but the doors shut on him, lopping off his head in the process.  Rachel watched the head roll on the floor before coming to a stop.  She shrugged and decided that she would just leave it there for someone else to clean up.

“At this point, I think my life is way too weird to find that gross,” she said to the severed head.  “That probably says so many bad things about me.”

It was at that point that the elevator suddenly jerked to a stop.  Rachel didn’t think this was the floor she had pushed the button for and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw something forcing the elevator doors apart.  Rachel expected herself in for another fight but when she saw who was on the other side, she realized that it was a slightly familiar face.

“Are you one of them too?” asked Emily Briggs, marveling at her newfound strength that she had used to force her way into the elevator.  “Where the hell is Victor?”

“You’re going to need to calm down before we continue this conversation,” advised Rachel, clearly unfazed by Emily’s abilities.  “If you’re asking if I’m one of the vampires, I’m not.  As for the other question, I have no idea who Victor is.”

“He’s the one who turned me into this,” explained Emily, her hands shaking as she turned away from the elevator.  “I can tell that you’re human.  Stay away from me so I don’t have to hurt you.”

“Oh you couldn’t do that if you tried,” assured Rachel as she got out of the elevator and trailed after Emily.  “You’re Emily, aren’t you?”

Emily whirled around and Rachel could see that the girl was definitely a vampire.  She noticed that Emily’s hands were trembling fiercely and decided that maybe the girl was a new convert or maybe that she just hadn’t fed very well this evening.  That didn’t matter to Rachel at the moment.  What mattered was that Emily knew the building’s layout and could help her figure out where Kevin Craft would be.

“How do you know my name?” questioned Emily.

“We have a mutual friend,” answered Rachel.  “June’s here in this building, Emily.  She came in here because she was worried about you.  You know how much she loves her friends.  You know she would do anything to protect them.”

“I can’t see her,” said Emily, violently shaking her head.  “I . . . I’m so damn thirsty that I don’t know what I would do around her.  I don’t want her to see me like this.  She’ll think I’m some kind of freak.  I am a freak.  That’s . . . that’s what I am now.”

“Welcome to the club, Emily,” greeted Rachel with a half-smile.  “C’mon, let’s go save June and figure out what the hell is going on here.”

Lust let The Enchantress get the door for him and marveled at the magical power she commanded.  He wondered how such a powerful sorceress as her could stand being shackled to a weak body like June’s.  Lust knew what a curse it was to hide what you truly were from people.  He knew how terrible it was to be more than your appearance.  His appearance, however, was a useful tool, one that he enjoyed using for maximum benefit.  These vampires he found himself in the company of, they worked on the same principle.  They hid themselves from the normal world, surviving in the shadows where they felt comfortable.  Lust never felt comfortable in anything but the spotlight.  He enjoyed having all the attention focused directly on him.

“I’ve decided that I need to renegotiate my contract, Velcoro,” explained Lust.  “This lovely woman with me isn’t my lawyer but I think she’ll provide a most compelling argument for why our relationship needs to come to an end.”

“I’m glad you finally decided to show up, Craft,” said Velcoro.  “There’s the matter of what you did with Emily Briggs.  I know that Victor is a thug and a rapist but my concern is her whereabouts.  I’m not interested in anything else.”

Lust looked to where Victor was still on the floor, writhing in pain from the beating that Mishkin and her lackeys gave him.  He smirked at Victor, relishing the fact that the vampire was finally getting what he deserved for a change.  That didn’t sway him from his chosen course though.  Velcoro’s human trafficking operation wasn’t of interest now that he knew Rachel was in the city and he had one of her friends under his power.  He was intent on letting The Enchantress burn the entire building to the ground with Velcoro and all of his people inside if that was what she wanted.  Knowing that he could twist her desires to his own end, Lust knew that would be very much what The Enchantress would want.

“Our arrangement just isn’t suiting my needs anymore, Vincent,” said Lust plainly.  “I’m afraid to say that I’m breaking up with you.”

“You have always been quite the arrogant one, Craft,” said Velcoro as he motioned to Mishkin and the rest of his thugs.  “I think it’s time someone put you in your place.”

“That most certainly won’t be you,” cut in The Enchantress as she blasted the vampires before they could strike.

‘He mentioned something about Emily.  I don’t care what you do with these monsters but you better make sure you get Victor and find out what happened to her.’

‘I’m having way too much fun for you to spoil it right now, June.’

The pack of vampires backed off after The Enchantress’s initial attack.  They knew they were outmatched and at this point the only sensible thing to do was retreat.  The problem was that Lust and The Enchantress were the ones blocking the only exit and the sorceress wasn’t going to let any of the vampires pass.  The vampires fanned out and tried to surround The Enchantress but she cut them down before they even had a chance to set up a proper attack formation.  She was really starting to revel in how much fun she was having as she turned the vampires into nothing but ash with her magical energy blasts.  It felt so good to display her power to everyone, to show them just how much they should fear her.  That fear was intoxicating and she was so drunk off of it that she couldn’t give it up just yet.

“Which of you is Victor?” she asked.

“The one on the floor,” answered Lust since none of the other vampires would.  “Why ask that?”

“Emily Briggs,” said The Enchantress as she clutched Victor by the throat and lifted him off the floor with one hand.  “What did you do to her?”

“Made her one of us,” answered Victor as he tried to fight out of The Enchantress’s grip.

“Then there’s nothing I can do to save her,” said The Enchantress although it was more to June and less to anyone else in the room.  “I’ll have to settle for revenge then.”

Victor was about to protest but The Enchantress launched a force bolt from the hand that had him by the throat.  The energy blast cut through his neck, decapitating him instantly.  The Enchantress dropped Victor’s body and turned to see that Velcoro and Mishkin were the only two vampires left in the room that were still moving.  She was going to remedy that very soon.  She flicked her eyes in Lust’s direction and he gave her a cruel grin, nodding his permission that she should go through with what she wanted.

“Craft!”

Lust turned his attention to the voice behind him and smiled.  It seemed that his little sister had finally decided to join them and she had brought another friend for him to play with.  He could tell that it was Emily and that she was a vampire now but that didn’t matter to him.  Vampires weren’t exactly immune to his magic and he reached out towards her with it now.

“Nice to see you again, Emily,” he said.  “You as well, dear sister.”

“Cut the crap,” stated Rachel.  “How the hell are you my brother, or are you just trying to get into my head since you know you can’t do it with whatever magic you’re using?”

“I would think that my brand of magic would give you enough evidence to support my claim,” said Lust.  “However, you needn’t take my word for it.”

“He uses the same magic as you, Rachel,” confirmed The Enchantress, turning and moving to come to the aid of her lover.  “I . . . I can’t fight it.  No one can.  That’s how he’s become so popular.  That’s why everyone wants him.  He makes them that way, except for you.  It’s because you share his bloodline.”

Rachel realized at that moment just how screwed she was.  She looked to Emily and could tell that all this was going straight over her head.  There was something else too though.  She could feel something coming from Emily.  Her emotional aura was a mix of purple and orange.  It wasn’t love that the young vampire was feeling.  It was lust, pure and raw and pouring into her straight from Kevin Craft.  Rachel could feel his magic, could almost see it in the air.  It was like a noxious cloud that was enveloping the heads of both Emily and The Enchantress.  She had to get Craft away from them.  If his magic was like hers then it was most likely based on proximity so if she could just get the two girls away from him then she would be okay.  Was she really like him though?  Craft forced people to feel what he wanted them to feel.  Was it possible that she could somehow do the same?  Rachel had never thought of using her abilities like that before.  She never thought about forcing people to feel something, about creating emotions in them that weren’t there in the first place.  If it was possible for her to do that then what if she had been somehow doing it all along?  What if no one really loved her at all?  What if she just subconsciously made them feel that way so she wouldn’t be so alone?

“I’m sure you could undo my work if you tried,” goaded Lust.  “Don’t you want to save your friends, Rachel?”

Rachel knew what her maniacal brother was doing.  He wanted her to force The Enchantress and Emily free of his control because in doing so, it would prove that she had the power to do it in the first place.  He knew that the idea of having that kind of power scared her and he wanted her to use it.  Rachel could feel the demon inside her yearning to break free and wondered if this was how June felt all the time.  She wanted to save June so badly but she was scared to unleash that power for fear that it might not ever be contained again.  When she and Craft had met at the port, her demon side had been free and now it was threatening to show itself again.  She knew it was him bringing out the evil in her.

“I’m not going to let you win,” stated Rachel.

“I don’t think you have much of a choice, little sister,” said Lust as The Enchantress and Emily moved to attack Rachel in tandem.  “We were all like you once, Rachel.  We all pretended we didn’t have a monster inside of us but one by one we gave in to that darkness.  You’re the most powerful of us all.  That only means that it’s so much harder for you to fight against your demon.”

Rachel used her telekinesis on random objects in the room, pulling them towards her and using them as shields to deflect the attacks coming at her from two sides.  She was fighting a war on two fronts, struggling both externally and internally.  She knew that she couldn’t win, that something was eventually going to give.  She had to figure out a way to stop The Enchantress and Emily without hurting either of them in the process.  She knew there was only one real way to do that and it was going to require giving Craft what he wanted.

“I hate you,” she said to Lust before getting her hand on The Enchantress’s forehead.

The sorceress screamed for a moment before being shunted into the back of June’s mind once more.  She instantly changed back into June and Rachel knew that Lust wouldn’t be controlling her again anytime soon.  Rachel turned and did the same thing to Emily, forcing emotions into her to break through the magic clouding her mind.  Once the two girls were no longer under Lust’s sway, they stared at each other in confusion and then at Rachel.  The only sound in the room was someone clapping and it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was doing it.

“Bravo, little sister,” applauded Lust, having snuck around the perimeter of the room while Rachel dealt with his distractions.  “Keep this up and you’ll be just like our father in no time.  I have to say it’s been a treat to see you, Rachel.  Do keep two things in mind from this little encounter.  Firstly, the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.  Secondly, when you’re ready to come home we’ll accept you with open arms.”

Rachel wanted to go after Lust as he escaped down the hallway but she knew that her magic would be of no use against him.  She felt dirty inside and she hated that he made her feel that way.  What had happened with the Church of Blood showed Rachel that her life had been a lie and now Lust had shown her the same thing only in a different way.  She enjoyed thinking that ever since she settled in San Francisco that she was bringing hope to the people she helped.  Now she wondered if she was just forcing that hope into them the same way Lust forced attraction into people.

“Rachel?”

Rachel looked at June and could tell that they both felt like crying.  Her hands were shaking and she found herself not wanting to meet June’s gaze.  All this time, Rachel had tried not to think about what she really was inside.  She tried to tell herself that she was a good person and she had made herself believe that over and over again.  What if she wasn’t?

“I had to stop you,” said Rachel and she wasn’t sure if she was trying to explain her behavior or excuse it.  “He . . . he was controlling you and I . . .”

“I know,” said June as she hugged her friend.  “Thank you.”

Rachel wanted to return the hug but instead she just pushed June away.  She looked to Emily and could tell that the poor girl was confused by all of this.  They needed to get away, all three of them.  Rachel wasn’t up to facing anyone right now though.  She just wanted to be alone.

“I’m sorry,” she said to June before teleporting away.

Lust managed to make it out of the building without any further incident.  He knew that Rachel would be too broken to follow him.  Like all offspring of Trigon, Lust knew how to manipulate the emotions of those around him and he didn’t always need his magic to do it.  However, it seemed as if he had overstayed his welcome in San Francisco.  He was going to miss the city but he knew that it was time to return home to be with his family.  No doubt the leader amongst the brothers would be contacting him any minute to demand an update on what was going on.

“Speak of the devil,” he muttered to himself as his phone rang and he answered it.  “I was going to contact you once I settled.”

“What’s your situation?”

“Our sister’s definitely here,” confirmed Lust.  “I had a talk with her that I’m sure she found very . . . enlightening.  I think for now it might be best to leave her alone.  She has a lot to digest.”

“It’s just as well.  There’s some business to take care of elsewhere and you know I’m all about business, little brother.”

“Ever the tenacious one,” agreed Lust.  “I’m coming home as soon as I can.  I think it’s time the world learned how to get by without the beauty of Kevin Craft.  I’m sure all the little people will mourn my departure.”

“They’ll survive for however long we let them.”

“Too true,” said Lust with a chuckle.  “I’ll text you before I leave the city.  You would’ve been so proud of our sister, big brother.  She’ll make a fine addition to our family once we help her see the truth.”

“I’ll keep eyes on her and wait for another moment to help her understand.  Let me know when you return home.  There’s so much work to be done.”

“That’s just like you, brother,” chided Lust.  “After all, why else would we call you Greed?”

Next Issue: Reality bites.