Femme Fatale

Gone

With tires squealing, Elizabeth rushed to the hotel, pulling the car that she rented into the parking space that was right in front of the hotel room. She fumbled for the card key in her purse for a moment until she finally found it, flinging the door open once it was unlocked. "Carmen?!" Elizabeth called out, sprinting into the room. Her eyes scanned the room. Carmen wasn't on the bed, where Elizabeth had left her. On the bed was Elizabeth's phone, which the back of was covered in blood. It had to have been Carmen's blood. Elizabeth picked up the cellular device and took it into the bathroom, dampening some toilet paper in order to clean the blood off the phone. She shoved the phone into her pocket and opened the shower curtain, just out of curiosity to see if Carmen was hiding in there or not. After all, she was a demon. It wouldn't surprise her. Elizabeth even looked under the bed, only to find nothing. "No!" She yelled. Elizabeth normally didn't panic, but now she was. She couldn't let Carmen hurt innocent people.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" Elizabeth whispered to herself as she exited the hotel room, roughly slamming the door behind her. She walked over to the nearby building where guests checked in and out. Opening the glass door, Elizabeth quickly ran into the building and up to the desk where a young lady sat in a black chair, clearly not happy to be at her job where she didn't do much. "Have you seen a girl around here, dark brown hair, wearing black boots?" Elizabeth asked, slightly out of breath. The check in lady furrowed a brow, her eyes flickering up to make eye contact with Elizabeth. "Sweetheart, you're going to have to give me a little bit more information than that," she drawled in a southern accent. "Do you know how many brown haired girls in black boots we got running around this town? Tons." Elizabeth became irritated with the woman. She didn't have time to argue with her. Elizabeth leaned in closer, her pupils dilating as she spoke, compelling the young woman. "Have you seen a girl, about 20, walking around here? She's brunette, extremely beautiful, wearing all black?" She said as she grabbed the woman by the throat, her voice laced with fury. The woman looked petrified. "N-no!" She stuttered. Elizabeth sighed, releasing her grip on the woman's throat. "Thanks for nothing" She mumbled as she exited the building.

Bad thoughts went through Elizabeth's head. Where could Carmen be? And most importantly, what was she doing? Carmen was a bloodthirsty, unstoppable demon. If Carmen smelled a human from a block away, she'd pounce on them and eat them like they were beef jerky. Elizabeth didn't want Carmen to hurt anyone. The spell was definitely backfiring on her. Elizabeth walked to her car and unlocked it, pulling open the driver door and getting inside. Elizabeth put on her seat belt and pulled her iPhone out of her pocket. She went to her text messages with Aria. She began dialing Aria's number. Once the number was dialed, the phone began to ring as she put the phone up her ear. "Come on!" She said, impatiently waiting for an answer. Aria finally answered.

"I'm sorry, didn't you just throw your drink at me and give me third degree burns as a Christmas gift? What do you want?" Aria said, irritation prominent in her voice.

"I'm sorry about that, okay? I need your help. Carmen's gone and I don't know where she is."

"Me? Help you?" Aria laughed. "You're hilarious!"

"Please, Aria. If I don't find Carmen, she'll end up hurting innocent people." Elizabeth pleaded. It was obvious that she was panicked.

"You're scared. I've never heard you scared. Interesting." Aria smirked slightly.

"Please!"

"What's in it for me?"

"Name your price."

"Unlink Carmen and Tate."

"I can't do that. I don't know how."

"Well, figure out how, or you can forget about me helping you."

"Fine."

"Why do you need my help, anyway? You're a witch, do a locator spell to find her."

"I'm planning on it. I just..." A sigh followed her words.

"You what?" Aria questioned.

"I'm afraid to do this alone. She attacked me earlier today. Something's wrong with her."

"Of course something's wrong!" Aria snapped at her. "Don't you know how demons are made?! In order to turn someone into a demon, you have to put a demon soul into their body!"

"I can't argue with you right now. Text me your address, and I'll be right there."

Aria didn't reply. Aria hit end on the call, and quickly typed out the address, hitting send. After the message sent, Aria shoved the phone into her pocket. She looked up to see Tate standing in the doorway, all bandaged up due to his injuries caused by Carmen. "Who was that? Sounded intense." He sat down at the end of the bed, gazing at Aria. "Elizabeth. Apparently, the little demon spell backfired on her and now she wants my help to help track her down." Aria sighed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. Tate perked a brow. "Aria, tell me she's on her way here." Aria nodded. "Why?" Tate burst into a smile, a chuckle following. "Don't you get it? This is our chance. This is your chance to kill Carmen." Aria returned the smile. He was absolutely right.

About a half hour had passed before Elizabeth finally arrived at the house, knocking at the front door abnormally hard and frantically. "Hold your horses!" Aria yelled before opening the front door. Elizabeth rushed in with a small bag draped over her shoulder. Aria scoffed. "Sure, of course you can come in." She said in a sarcastic tone, before shutting the door behind her. "Sorry." Elizabeth mumbled. She brushed past Tate and made her way into the living room, slamming her bag down on the coffee table. The two of them trailed behind her into the room, sitting down on the sofa. They watched what she was doing. Elizabeth unzipped her bag and pulled out a giant map of the city, along with a knife. "Tate, give me your hand." Elizabeth said. Aria noted the shakiness in her voice. In the decades that the two of them had been best friends, not one time did she ever seen Elizabeth scared. She'd never seen Elizabeth like this, in this state. The situation must have been pretty dire for how much Elizabeth was rushing. Tate looked at Aria, then to Elizabeth, then back to Aria. "Do you really think we've got time for a staring contest? Give me your hand." Elizabeth demanded sternly. Tate sighed and held his left hand out to the blonde. Elizabeth took his hand and began to drag the sharp blade across the surface of his palm, adding light pressure. The blade sunk into his flesh like warm butter, creating a deep wound. She turned his hand, letting his palm drip blood onto the map, creating a small puddle in the middle of it.

Aria got up from the sofa, and went to the kitchen to fetch her boyfriend a washcloth to clean the wound with and to prevent infection. She handed it to him, him nodding in response to give his thanks. He began to wipe the blood away from the cut, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. Their gazes then focused on Elizabeth, whose eyes were closed and was now chanting a spell in an unknown language that neither of them could understand. The fact that Aria couldn't understand it was odd. One of her many talents was that she was fluent in many foreign languages. As Elizabeth chanted, the blood on the map began to mysteriously move in a certain direction. Near the end of the spell, all of the blood gathered on one specific point of the map. When Elizabeth had completed the spell, she opened her eyes and stared down at the map, her lips spreading into a smile. Aria pointed to the puddle of blood. "Any idea where that might be?"

Elizabeth nodded. Oh, yeah. She definitely knew where it was. It was a diner that stayed open late not that far from Aria's house. She was happy that she was able to find Carmen, but she was also terrified because it was a diner that was often very busy. To Carmen, it would be like an all you can eat buffet. Elizabeth stood up and grabbed the knife, shoving it in her bag. "We need to go. I'll drive." Aria nodded, standing up as well, following behind her. Elizabeth stopped in her tracks and turned to face Tate. "You and Carmen are unlinked, by the way. I wouldn't recommend you come with us." Elizabeth's gaze flickered to Aria. "Aria's one of the strongest people I know. She can handle herself." Elizabeth tossed Aria a smile. Tate nodded, capturing Aria in a loving kiss and hug before letting her go. "Call me if anything goes wrong." He mumbled. Aria nodded in response.