Baby Doll Ch. 07

"And then."

And another pause.

"And then, something ... weird happened."

"Just spit it out, Sweetheart. You'll feel better." Cliff gripped her hand. She loved how his fingers felt, covering her, warming her.

"I thought ... Eric was kissing his throat, but no. That wasn't right. The man was screaming and jerking around like he was in pain. And then Eric just," and here Rebecca made a swinging motion with her free hand, "rammed the guy's head into another wall like it was nothing. The wall was caved in a little, and the man's head was split open, and it looked like a chunk of his throat was gone, like Eric had just taken a bite out of him!"

She swallowed down something sticky in her throat.

"And Eric looked so scary. His eyes were all red, his mouth was all bloody, and his teeth looked wrong. There were fangs, Man! There were fangs! When did he get fangs?!"

"You serious?" Cliff's hand tightened over hers.

"I am not playing around here. I know it's crazy." She licked her lips. "I flipped out. I screamed. He saw me, and I said that I wasn't going to deal with this. I told him I wasn't even going to call the police. I just wanted out. I wanted to wash my hands of everything this was. It was too messed up, too weird for me to handle."

"He didn't like that, did he, Rebecca?"

She was shaking her head again. "No he did not. He turned on me, and it hurt so ... god ... damn ... much." Her body bent over. She pulled her hand from him. She covered her face. She didn't want to remember the horrible, draining, piercing pain of it. "I don't know how the fuck he was able to grow some god damn fangs, but he did it, and he bit me. He sucked out so much blood that I couldn't stand up. Obviously, he didn't kill me. Oh no, not Baby Doll!"

"What the fuck?" His voice was so low that Rebecca could barely hear it.

"He put me back in my bed. He told me I needed to calm down, and I'd feel better in the morning. He licked at my neck and for some weird ass reason, I think the holes closed up. By the time I had enough energy to get up and look in a mirror, I didn't even have a bruise."

"He hurt you."

Rebecca was too scared to look at his face. She didn't want to see another man's beautiful face ruined by violent intent. "For a few days, he kept me like that. When I showed signs of wanting to get away, he'd ... bite me again. I think he was trying to keep me weak. I decided to give up for a while, and when he noticed that, he stopped hurting me. He said he was sorry and he was doing what was best for me. For a few months I pretended that I understood."

"He fucking hurt you, Rebecca!"

"And that's not all he wanted," she said, ignoring Cliff's angry statement. "He said that once he found a man he liked, an Uncle, he'd make it so that we'd be a happy family forever, and that meant we'd both be just like him. I pretended I wanted it, because I knew that he really stretched things out with me, like when he first started dating me. He took his sweet time. He wanted me to want him so badly that I'd go crazy. So, I'd ask him very politely to make me into something like him."

"You're scaring me." His voice had a little bit of a catch in it.

"Of course, Eric teased me. He said that it will happen one day, and I needed to keep being a good little girl. I wanted to get out. Early one morning, when I knew he was sleeping, and he really slept like the fucking dead, I dyed my hair black, packed up all my stuff, and I drove away from Gildinton. My habit of saving money turned out to be a good one. I have a pretty good amount in the bank."

She sniffed. "I didn't even tell my parents anything. They have no idea where I am. I was scared they'd tell Eric. I was too scared to even give you references. I thought, 'Eric knows I'd be looking for a job. He'd probably sniff around my hometown for information.'"

She coughed. She wiped her face. "And that's it. That's what happened."

Silence.

Then there was Cliff's awestruck voice. "Are you telling me that vampires are a thing now? I didn't know they were a thing."

"If you're willing to believe me, then I guess they are a thing." Rebecca was hugging herself. She looked back at Cliff and saw that he was about to text someone, but then his phone glowed and rang.

"Hold on, It's Jessa." He tapped the screen a bit and held the phone out, letting the microphone hover around his face. "Hey Jessa. I put you on speaker phone. Rebecca's right here."

Jessa's angry voice was hissing out of the phone. "He was here! He was right fucking here! He just left!"

Swallowing a wad of panic, Rebecca sank deeper into the sofa.

Cliff gripped her knee reassuringly, but his eyes were sternly concentrating. "Are you sure?"

"Damn sure. He punched me!"

Rebecca moaned her misery into her fist.

"He did what?!" Cliff's fingers tightened around his phone.

"He'll drive past your house in about ten minutes! Do NOT let Rebecca go outside! Do NOT let her near any windows! You do NOT want him to even think Rebecca might be there! Just let him drive by!"

Roughly, uncaring if Rebecca had any qualms about it, Cliff pulled her up by her arm and dragged her into the nearest bathroom. There was one tiny window there, but it faced the backyard. The glass had an abrasive texture for privacy. There was also a dark curtain hanging over it. Rebecca was well hidden in there. Cliff stayed with her, locking the door behind him.

"We're in the bathroom. He can't see us from the road."

"Good. Text me when you're sure he's gone."

The phone stopped glowing. Rebecca balanced her backside on the edge of a bathtub/shower combo. "He doesn't know I'm here, right?" Her legs were shaking. She felt like she was being dipped in a murky sickness.

Cliff put his phone on the sink's counter and sat down beside her on the edge of the tub. "He doesn't know, Sweetheart. He'll just drive on by here without a clue."

He put an arm around her, and Rebecca didn't feel at all crushed by the weight. She felt cared for. The hair on his arm tickled her neck.

His voice was so casual. "I spy with my little eye something that starts with an S."

Rebecca inhaled the yummy steak and pine smell that he seemed to be soaked in. "If you say shit, I'm going to bop you."

"I was going to say soap."

And during the ten minutes between Jessa's house and Cliff's house, Rebecca had to endure the most boring of word games. Near the end of it, she had to endure hot kisses.

Soon, though, Cliff's body tensed up, and he took in deep breaths through his nose. Rebecca heard a car zoom by. When another two minutes passed after that, Cliff told her to stay in the bathroom while he took a little walk outside.

She was relieved to see him return within few moments, a satisfied grin stretched out across his face. He texted Jessa as they went back into the living area. A moment after that, and the phone rang; Cliff put Jessa back on speaker phone.

"That mother fucker acted like I freaking invited him, and then he freaking punched me!"

"Calm down, Jessa," Cliff said into his phone, rolling his eyes. He put a little kiss on Rebecca's jawline. "You're going to freak Rebecca out. Just tell us what happened."

"He knocked on the door and I answered with a shotgun. He knocked the gun out of my hands and punch me right in the face. He was so fast! I can't fucking believe he caught me off guard like that! And he walked around the house all like, 'Where's Rebecca?' Now, I had already hidden her car out on that dirt road, you know, the one you have to know about to find. So I said, 'She packed her shit and left town, Asshole.'"

"Are you okay, Jessa?" Rebecca asked, leaning over the phone.

"I'm fine, just got a sore jaw, is all. When I told Blondie that Tiny's gone, he looked around a bit more, and then he got in his stupid fancy car and left."

Cliff made a tsk tsk sound with his mouth. "Does he have a nice car?"

"I want his car so damn much!" Jessa's voice whined out.

Rebecca wanted to laugh, but she didn't want to be disrespectful. The poor woman had been assaulted!

"You think you need some time off?" Cliff asked.

"No fucking way am I going to let some prick keep me from working! By the way, what's his name?"

"Eric Hardy," Cliff supplied.

"That sounds like a perfume or a movie detective."

Rebecca couldn't help it. She laughed. "It does, doesn't it?"

"Listen Jessa, tomorrow, around seven pm, we need to meet up at Pa's and Nana's place. Emergency family meeting. Spread the word. I'll get Rebecca up to speed on things so she won't be confused."

"Got ya, Bro. I'll make sure everyone knows. You just try to keep Rebecca from running away like a dumbass."

***