CHAPTER 2
SILLY GIRL
"WHO is this, mama?"
The words came out before Hadley could stop them, causing Elizabeth to appear out of the shadows of her bedroom, yanking the double doors wide open. Mama hung on the edge of her tongue and came out as a hiss. Elizabeth wasn't really her mother, but she told Hadley once to think of her that way. She was the one who turned her. "I gave birth to you," Elizabeth whispered years ago, "metaphorically, of course." She always wanted a daughter, and when she found Hadley, standing at the front desk as she worked the first shift of her summer job, the Countess knew she was the one. Hadley was the perfect age of a girl that Elizabeth wanted. She was the perfect fit, as if it had been destiny for Elizabeth to meet her.
Hadley didn't remember her real parents anymore. Perhaps that was a good thing. It was always better to forget.
Elizabeth tightened the belt of her favorite black silk robe, but it still hung loosely around her shoulders, exposing most of her chest. She was barefaced, highlighting the sharp edges of her natural beauty. Grabbing a small remote control, Elizabeth shut off the speakers immediately, and the room was engulfed in silence. Hadley looked from Elizabeth to the strange man, and was suddenly wondering where Donovan was.
She approached Hadley quickly, placing her hands on the young woman's shoulders. "Nothing important, child."
"The fuck does that mean?"
Hadley peered over Elizabeth's shoulder when the man replied. His hair was horrendous, an almost half-mohawk with dark blue and pink strands. A simple white button-up clung to his built arms, revealing his whole torso, while a pair of ripped jeans hung unzipped on his hips. Hadley raised a brow, looking back to her creator with confused eyes.
The Countess whipped her head in the man's direction, hissing under her breath, "Tristan, can you stay quiet for a moment, please?"
The man – supposedly, named Tristan – ran a hand through his hair. With a roll of his eyes, he said, "Whatever," and plopped himself on the cream-colored couch. The sound of his butt hitting the cushions almost made the floor shake, and Hadley now had a sick feeling in her stomach.
"Are you serious?" Hadley whispered, narrowing her stare towards Elizabeth. She carefully shook off her creator's hold. "Another one? How many sickos are you going to turn?"
Tristan's head turned in Hadley's direction, sending her a glare, before she stuck her tongue out at him. Elizabeth sighed, striding over to her glass pitcher full of her favorite supply. Hadley's mouth almost began to water as she watched her pour herself a drink. Swirling the crimson liquid around her glass, Elizabeth tsked, "Silly girl." She took a long sip, licking the edges of her lips once she was done. "You know I'm never satisfied."
Hadley crossed her arms over her chest. "What about Donovan? Where is he?"
Elizabeth hummed under her breath, sharing a short glance with Tristan, who was grinning from ear to ear. Hadley's expression twisted. She tapped her foot, waiting for an answer.
"I had to end things with Donovan," she finally replied. "It was better for him."
"You what?" Hadley blinked incredulously. "How – why?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "You wouldn't understand, child."
"Oh, bullshit," Hadley spat. "You know damn well that I may look only twenty, but I am far from that, mama."
Her creator's eyes closed for a mere moment. "I know you were close with him," she whispered, approaching Hadley with a sympathetic smile. Her hand went right back to Hadley's shoulder, and this time, she didn't shake it off. "He was almost like a father to you. I didn't do it to hurt either of you. It needed to be done, for his sake."
"So – what?" Hadley tightened her hold on her own arms. "Did you just throw him out into the streets?"
Donovan had a drug problem way back in the nineties, just a few years before Hadley graced the premises of the Cortez. After Hadley's transformation, she found it especially difficult to adjust to her new life, to the overwhelming thirst. Elizabeth didn't have much time to help her; she was off trying to find more children. Truthfully, Hadley thought she was scared of her. When she had woken up with the new virus pumping through her veins, she lashed out, swinging her fists towards the Countess as she screamed for the thirst to end.
She struggled the first week, and Donovan, above all, knew how she felt. He saw that she was at her lowest point, confused as he had been, grappling with this new identity without Elizabeth's help. Donovan made an effort to talk with Hadley every day. He told her his secrets, why Elizabeth turned him. He suffered from a heroin overdose in Room 64, after sharing a needle with the infamous, half-beaten drug addict, Sally, who still roamed the halls of the hotel. Elizabeth was instantly attracted to him, and he had been living in the hotel ever since. From that moment, Hadley felt like she could trust him with her life. He was the parental figure she needed in this hellmouth; he was her best friend.
Not anymore. Now that he was gone.
Elizabeth stared at her for a short while, grip loosening on her shoulder. After a moment longer, she released her claws from the thin material of Hadley's shirt. "You wouldn't understand," she whispered. "It wasn't for me. It was for him. He needed the push to be out on his own, just like me."
"So when are you going to tell me to pack my bags too?" Her brow shot up, and her creator sent a defiant glare. "When is my push gonna come? I am a child, after all. I need a little heads up."
The Countess shook her head, taking another hefty sip from the refined glass in her hand. "Don't be so ridiculous, Hadley. You won't understand until you've been in my shoes, until you know how I live my life successfully."
Tristan raised a hand then. "Can I say something?"
"Shut up!" Elizabeth growled, shoving a few clawed fingers in his direction.
Hadley opened her mouth to fire back a response she knew she'd regret, but before she could spew a word, Tristan turned around in his seat. He raised a glass full of blood in Hadley's direction, smirking as he said, "Looks like I'll be your new daddy." His eyes drifted down, raking over her small form with curves in all the right places, before sending her a wink. "Seems like you need one."
Elizabeth jerked her head back to Tristan, snarling in a low tone, "Don't you dare lay a finger on her."
With flared nostrils, Hadley released a disgusted noise before trudging out of the penthouse suite. No blood supply was worth this bullshit. Elizabeth allowed her to walk away, knowing that, in due time, she'd learn to accept the choices she made. She knew what she was doing. Everything the Countess did was calculated.
•••
Hadley decided that keeping her distance from Elizabeth said more than words ever could. She was beyond pissed. How dare she turn Donovan away, like a lost puppy. They had been together for years, at least, as long as she knew them. Hadley was Elizabeth's second creation after Donovan, or so she said. She wondered if the Countess could so easily throw her out as she did was Donovan. Maybe, it was only a matter of time before she found out.
Truthfully, Elizabeth knew she could never do that. Hadley wasn't a lover; she was like one of her children. She would care for her children forever.
"Still not speaking to her?"
Hadley looked up upon hearing Liz Taylor's voice. The brunette leaned carefully against the front desk, playing with her fingers in order to distract herself. Liz peered down at the younger woman from over a cheesy romance novel by Danielle Steel, wrapping her pink lips around a lit cigarette and exhaling the leftover nicotine. Hadley straightened her back at her question and shrugged.
"Kind of," she replied. "She asked me yesterday if I would attend her monthly dinner with James. She never usually does that, because I refuse every time. So I guess, technically, I spoke to her yesterday to say no." Hadley sighed, avoiding Liz's curious stare. "I've been sleeping on a different floor to avoid her."
"Christ," Liz breathed, "March is still living in that dream that you three are like the new Brady Bunch, huh?"
Hadley nodded, "Unfortunately."
Liz marked her page and set the book down. The cover curled at the edges, creases wrinkled into the paper. Taking a drag from her cigarette, she said, "Sweetheart, maybe the Countess was right. Maybe it is better for Donovan –"
"How can you say that?!" Hadley screeched, pounding her fist onto the desk.
"Kid, calm down." Liz snickered, batting her fake lashes with the utmost delight. "I'm not trying to say you're wrong. I just think that –"
The entrance doors swung open, and instantly, the room was filled with drunken shouts. Three young men stumbled through the door, grabbing onto each other. Specifically, the man in the middle, with the dark golden hair, gripped the other two and dragged them to the elevator. His staggering suggested that he was tipsy, but not as much as the others.
Hadley turned in the direction of the noise, eyebrows creasing. Their hollers progressed as they got closer to the elevator. "Who are they?" She asked, not bothering to face Liz again as she watched the group of boys.
Liz groaned. "New occupants. Only staying for a week – thank God. They've been coming back to the lobby hammered every night." She tsked, flicking her cigarette into an ashtray. "They smell like cheap vodka and strippers."
Much to her own surprise, Hadley began to grin devilishly. "No," she quipped, "they smell like dinner."
Liz released a low huff, picking up her book again as Hadley continued to narrow her eyes in the direction of the boys. The one in the middle tried his best to yank his friends inside the elevator, but he struggled, and Hadley could practically smell the fast beating of his heart, the sweat beads on his forehead. She squared her shoulders, closing her eyes and inhaling the combination of their sweet scents mixed with inexpensive cologne.
When she finally opened them again, his blue irises were focused on her. Hadley was stunned, penetrated in place as the middle boy with the dark blonde hair quirked an eyebrow in her direction, face twisting with perplexity. There was something different about that human, something she'd never seen before. It was a sense of hate, fueled by his own reluctance to abandon the negative people in his life. It was a type of humanity that showed his loyalty, even to those he disliked. Hadley got that all within one look. Before the male could do anything, the elevator doors closed, breaking their contact.
It took Hadley a moment for her to finally be able to breathe.
"It would probably be wise to kill them first," Liz said, interrupting the eerie silence. She had leaned over the desk, hesitating just above Hadley's ear, until the younger girl turned and met her eyes. Liz puffed out smoke. "Only a matter of time before the Countess finds them and asks Iris to suck 'em dry."
Hadley's lips puckered, thinking over Liz's words. She didn't like killing until it was absolutely necessary, but ... maybe the older woman was right. Killing the three boys would possibly show Elizabeth her true anger towards Donovan's abandonment, and then she'd have her own stock supply for a few weeks – if she had the restraint to not kill all of them within a minute. However, something was holding her back, or maybe it was someone. It was the boy's eyes, the empathy in them. They made her hesitate.
As she lifted her stare to Liz, Hadley became suddenly distracted from the problem at hand. Her grey eyes focused on the shelf just over Liz's shoulder, where Iris hung the keys to each room. Every key dangled by a simple silk ribbon, even the ones for rooms of permanent residents, just for show. They glistened in the dim yellow lights that adorned the lobby of the Cortez. Hadley froze in place upon noticing the disappearance to one key in particular.
The one for her suite. Room 66.
•••
It was pure luck for Percy and his friends that they were gifted a room with two beds and a pull-out couch. Bobby and Christian obviously claimed the beds first, leaving Percy with the couch, but he didn't really mind. The first time they arrived in Room 66, Bobby commented that it looked like the suite had been lived in for a while. The sheets were clean and folded. The tables were free of dust, and yet, female toiletries resided in the bathroom. Christian told them not to think much of it: "Probably the hotel giving us free swag." They didn't question the items anymore, especially because they were coming back every night fueled by several shots of tequila.
Percy wasn't sure about a lot of things at that moment. As he laid on the uncomfortable mattress of the pull-out couch, trying his best to get comfortable, he couldn't pinpoint why he wasn't falling asleep. Bobby and Christian were out like a light as soon as Percy shoved them into their beds. He turned over on the mattress, curling himself into the thin blanket, questioning if the room was getting colder. He also wasn't sure if he was having fun during this vacation, or that was simply the alcohol talking for him. Percy didn't like getting drunk every night, but he did it to please them. Soon enough, the vacation will be over, and then graduation will be long gone.
Most of all, Percy wasn't sure if he had truly seen that girl in the lobby, or if it was just his drunken imagination. It was probably the latter.
•••
A/N: Hadley the first time she saw Percy: