Nightmare's Charm
an excerpt

A young woman sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Sammy held her breath; she suddenly noticed that the woman’s face was the same as Aleksandra’s. The same cold, brown eyes that her staring her down. The same lively, bouncy blonde curls that fell to her shoulders. The same pursed lips that seemed to hold a secret. Everything was the same, from her head to the tip of her stiletto heels.

Sammy’s hands burst into glowing magic, just as they always would went her anger rose.

“Please be calm, Miss Cysso,” Lady Jade said to her. “This is not the monster that you witnessed this morning.”

Sammy’s magic died down with the confusing news.

“Good afternoon, Miss…Cysso, vas it?” the woman said. Her voice was exactly the same, too. She stood up and approached Sammy, holding her hand out for a greeting shake. However, Sammy did not return the greeting, and rudely stared the woman in the eyes. “Ah, do you not trust me?”

“No, I don’t,” Sammy spat.

“Miss Cysso,” Lady Jade said, “did I not just tell you that this is not the monster you saw?”

Suddenly embarrassment overtook Sammy. Her face went entirely red. “Yes,” she said, although her voice could not carry past a whisper, “I’m sorry, Lady Jade.”

“My name is Eliisabet Grosvenor,” the woman said. “I am ze CEO of ze corporation Radibraz… Maybe you have heard of it?”

“Oh, yeah,” Sammy said. “Something with electronics, right?”

“Correct,” Eliisabet replied.

“I’m confused, though,” Sammy said. “You look exactly like Aleksandra. Exactly.”

“Ah, Aleksandra? Is she ze monster zat you encountered zis morning?”

“Yeah.”

“Miss Cysso,” Lady Jade interrupted, “would you please tell me and Mrs. Grosvenor what exactly happened this morning?”

Sammy gulped. “Well, alright. This morning I went to visit Ry— Uh, my mother, and we went to get some coffee from the ‘Bloids. When we got there, my brother’s girlfriend was warning me not to go inside. However, silly me, I didn’t listen to her and went inside to find Kait arguing with Aleksandra. My mother told me that Aleksandra was a foreign woman from Russia.”

“Pitiful!” Eliisabet cut in. “I am not of Russian descent!”

“Please, Mrs. Grosvenor,” Lady Jade said. “This would go much more smoothly if you did not disrupt every other word Miss Cysso says.”

“Apologies. But, if I could just know, vhat vere zese two fighting about?”

Sammy drew in a quick breath and her stomach churned. Finally, she was able to get out the word, “Me.”

“You?” Eliisabet said. “Zat is interesting. Vhat vas the reason to zat?”

“I’m not sure. Aleksandra seemed to have some kind of obsession with me not being a good person.”

“Vat do you mean by ‘not a good person’?”

“She called me a whore.”

“Ah. Is zat all zey vere arguing about?”

“Uh, no… Then my late husband came into the picture.”

“Your husband?”

“Late husband.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. Zat is too bad. But vhy did he come up?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Mrs. Grosvenor,” Lady Jade said, a displeased tone in her voice, “I think that is enough questions for this moment. Please continue, Miss Cysso.”

“Uh, thanks. So, yeah. Aleksandra started beefing on Luke, and Kait was getting seriously pissed. Finally, she pushed Aleksandra up against the wall and pulled out her switchblade.”

“A switchblade?” Lady Jade said. “That is quite interesting. Why would she go to an extreme like that?”

“Ah, Lady Jade, now I believe it is you zat is interrupting poor Miss Cysso here.” Eliisabet gave a laugh.

“She wants to protect what’s left of Luke,” Sammy answered.

“But I thought he vas your husband.”

“Yeah, but he was her cousin.”

“Oh, vat a coincidence! You married your best friend’s cousin?”

“Well, it wasn’t like I didn’t know they were related at first. He was living with Kait and her family at the time for reasons too complicated to explain at the moment, and one weekend he admitted that he liked me.”

“Zat is so sweet.” Eliisabet looked up and noticed some anger in Lady Jade’s eyes. “Oh, sorry, continue.”

“Were was I? Ah, right. So Kait pulled out her switchblade, but I took it away from her. Then Aleksandra started to threaten me, so Kait took charge, tackled Aleksandra to the ground, and the fight began. She punched and punched and Aleksandra began to bleed… Except it wasn’t blood. It was this black substance… And then she transformed. She turned into this monstrous creature. Sewed patches of rotted flesh still on her body… Pointy ears… And those blood-red eyes. It was bone-chilling.”

“It definitely sounds like it vas.”

“Eventually we got to a point in the fight – oh, yeah, she fought back after turning into the monster – that my mom was able to kill Aleksandra off with the switchblade. Right through the back.”

Eliisabet winced. “Ouch. But ze monster is dead?”

“I would assume so. She kinda’ disappeared into dust after she got stabbed…”

Lady Jade stood up. “Thank you very much for this information, Miss Cysso. It will certainly aid in the mystery of this monster. You may leave now.”

Sammy hesitated before leaving. “Oh, uhm, excuse me Lady Jade, but may I just ask you a question?”

“Well,” she replied, “I don’t see why not. What’s your concern?”

“Are you absolutely sure Luke is dead?”

Lady Jade paused, closing her eyes and spending a second to think. “Miss Cysso, we have gone over this before. You’re lucky that your mother convinced me to actually spend time on trying to find your husband. I’m sorry, but he is definitely dead.”

Her stomach dropped down further than it had felt beforehand. “Oh. Of course. Sorry.”

“It’s quite alright. Now, I’m sure your mother is waiting for you. Good afternoon, Miss Cysso. And please be careful.”

“Right,” Sammy muttered. She gave Eliisabet one last look and shuffled out of the office’s door.