Redemption (Book 6)

1

I stood up and sighed. "Oh, now there's blood on my shirt!"

Isaiah furrowed his brow and stood. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," I shrugged. "We should probably take care of his body, too."

He blinked. "What?"

I laughed. "Are you stupid or hard of hearing? I said we need to get rid of the body or else somebody is going to notice. I personally don't want to have to explain a murder to the cops. We've already drawn enough attention to ourselves."

"Josh?" he said slowly. "You're talking about Josh's body. Your brother's body that was just killed a few minutes ago."

I was vaguely aware that I should feel something about what he said, but I simply did not, and I simply did not care. "Yeah."

"Claudia," he grabbed my arm as I went to walk off. "What is going on?"

I smiled a little. "Oh, Isaiah. You're the one who told me to turn it off. Now I don't feel anything. Thanks, by the way, for the tip. It helps a lot."

"You can't ever remember what you felt sixty seconds ago?" he asked.

"Maybe," I shrugged. "But I don't want to. You'll take care of that, won't you? I have some things I need to do."

I'm pretty sure I left his head spinning when I walked out of the house. Looking down at my clothes, I realized they still had blood on them. I had to get something else to wear. I eyed the little boutique a block away and was over there in an instant. The salesgirl, Misty, I recognized from coming in there often because of its proximity to my house. She had been there almost two years.

"Oh, hey Claudia," she smiled. "What can I do for you today? And what is on your clothes?"

I walked up to her and looked into her eyes. Her pupils dilated as I spoke. "Ignore the blood. I need some new clothes."

She reacted instantly to the compulsion. "What are you looking for?"

I narrowed my eyes and looked around. "Something hot. I'm sick of dressing like Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink. I want some real clothes that look like I actually meant to put them on."

Misty smiled. "Well, you're in luck. I think we got a shipment of real clothes just yesterday."

When I walked out of the store, I was in high-waisted short-shorts with four buttons on the front. They were black and white striped, and for top, I had a light pink leather vest over a black lace crop-top. The shoes were the ones I had been wearing, black Converse, and I could deal with that. But I would need some different ones if I was going to go anywhere.

"Claudia!" someone called and I turned around.

Jessica was standing there and I smiled but I didn't mean it. "Hi."

As she walked up to me, she was studying me. "You look...different."

"You like?" I asked as I twirled around in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Um, sure," she shook her head. "You seem different, Claude."

"Do I?" I feigned surprise. "Good, because I feel different."

"What's up?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and looked around me. "There's too many fun things to do in the world to worry about...well, anything. See you later, Jessica."

It was a great feeling to simply not care. I felt, for the first time in my life, absolutely invincible. There was nothing in the world that could hold me back, no ties and no feelings to weigh me down. I looked around me and realized that I was completely and utterly bored with nothing to do. That is when I spotted a nice-looking woman about twenty-five with vibrant red hair walking down the street. I walked up to her and looked into her eyes.

"Don't scream," I said and she looked at me strangely.

Pushing her back behind a building, I dug my teeth into her neck and felt the blood pulsing through my body as I drank it. I wanted to finish her off, to drain every ounce of blood from her body, but I knew it would make it obvious. My self-preservation was an override for my hunger. So I let go of her and let her slump to the ground. She would be fine, if a little weak for the next few days. I licked the blood from my lips and made sure I hadn't gotten any of it on my new outfit. I hadn't, so all was well.

I decided then I would go back to the house and see what Isaiah and Ansel were up to. They would hopefully have finished disposing of the bodies. An odd feeling came over me when I thought of Josh's body lying dead on the floor, so I ignored it. That was the plan anymore. Whenever something happened that I didn't like, I would ignore it. It made life a lot more enjoyable.

"I'm here," I called as I walked in the door of the mansion I called home.

The brothers were standing in the living room together.

Stopping, I laughed. "You guys were talking about me, weren't you?"

"Isaiah told me about what happened, Claudia," Ansel said. "I'm really sorry about your brother."

I shrugged. "C'est la vie. Anyway, what are we doing tonight? I'm bored."

"Claudia, your brother died," he looked from me to Isaiah. "You aren't okay."

Isaiah crossed his arms. "There's something I didn't mention."

Ansel tilted his head and pursed his lips. "You did not tell her to turn off her emotions, Isaiah!"

He nodded a little and Ansel rubbed his face. "Are you insane?"

"You should have seen her, Ansel," Isaiah said. "She couldn't handle it."

"No, you couldn't handle it!" Ansel yelled. "You couldn't stand the guilt that you're partly to blame for Josh dying, and you couldn't stand that she was hurt so much by it. So you told her to turn off her emotions to ease your own conscience! Dammit, Isaiah! What is wrong with you?"

"She lost everything, Ansel," he said. "She has nothing anymore."

He laughed. "She had you."