The bed sheets were crisp. She cocooned herself in them and buried her head in the pillow. Alone again. She had only just found Caius and now she was sleeping alone again.
Evie had always been more than a little paranoid. Mostly because she had been terrified of people finding out that she was a fraud so her eyes roamed everywhere, making sure that no one was watching her. But now that she’s human, she shouldn’t need to feel that way. Yet she did. Because Caius was right. She still needed to hide. She’d never be able to stop hiding as long as Nico and his men were around. Most humans didn’t go out at night because of the vampires. They’re safe in the daylight. Evie was never safe.
She thought about going back to Caius as she sipped at her soup in a local café. She could go back to sitting in the house all alone while her lover lay unconscious in bed. But that would be letting Nico win. He had already turned Caius into a bag of nerves. She wasn’t going to let herself crumble, too. She left Caius for a reason. She had a life now, a human life, where she could have everything she wanted. The vampire groupies that hung around in vampire bars claimed that Turning would ‘open so many doors for them’, and that ‘immortality is the ultimate gift’. But they were wrong. Immortality didn’t just close doors, it locked and bolted them. It trapped you in a life of endless darkness.
Now Evie was sitting in a café bathing in the sunlight, slurping down a deliciously warm bowl of hot tomato soup. So what if she was alone now? She had her whole life ahead of her. She might bump into the perfect man at any moment.
… Maybe that man at the pub? Joe. He seemed nice. A man of secrets but she couldn’t judge.
But the thought of trying to start something on a romantic level with him made her nauseous. He was not Caius. It wasn’t right. Caius still had a firm grip on her heart and she feared that no matter how long she waited and no matter how perfect a new human man could be for her; she could never be happy because she would feel like she was being unfaithful.
He was her Maker, after all.
He’s not your Maker anymore. He’s nothing to you.
Oh, if only that was true.
A long day of wandering and discovering had Evie’s legs aching. Wanting to hold off from going home for as long as she could but also not wanting to be alone in her room at the hotel, she found herself back in the pub again.
She was nestled right in the corner, liking the closeness of the walls. Her vibrant red hair was still tucked away under her woolly hat and her backpack was perched on the chair beside her. Maybe she had subconsciously put it there so it’d make her feel less alone. She felt quite lame at the thought.
“What are the leaflets for?”
Evie jerked up at the voice so violently that the wooden chair slid a few inches across the floor, making a screeching noise that everyone in the pub turned around to check out.
Joe gestured to the array of different sized leaflets spread across the table with his pint before he sat opposite her.
Evie sighed, staring down at the leaflets dismally.
Joe picked up one and read the cover. “Thinking about joining a college night class? You into art?”
She shrugged. “Not really. I once knew someone who was so passionate about it. It bugged me that I wasn’t. I thought maybe if I took a class, I might start liking it.”
Joe arched a dark eyebrow with a smirk. “You can’t just learn to be passionate about something. That’s not how it works. You either like it or you don’t. And I’m guessing you don’t.”
She frowned. “Maybe you’re right. It was just one option anyway. I was leaning more towards the cooking classes. I need to brush up on my skills. It’s… been a while.”
Joe nodded and gulped his pint. “Sounds good.”
Evie fiddled with the cookery leaflet in the silence that hung over them. All day she had walked around the city trying to find something that excited her. And an art gallery, a museum and a wine tasting session later, she found herself tired and lonely.
Despite Joe being nothing more than a stranger, Evie found herself comfortable around him. So comfortable that she waited a few more minutes to bask in the peaceful silence they were sharing together before she finally spoke up. “Drinking alone again?”
He smiled. “Not anymore.”
Evie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “What are you drinking to forget this time?”
“Ah, well, if I told you, I’d have to kill you.”
She shook her head with a laugh. “You can’t say stuff like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like all that cryptic stuff. It just makes me want to know even more.”
Joe got to his feet. “Well maybe this is all just a ploy to keep you around.” He winked then gestured to her empty glass. “Can I get you another?”
“Sure. It’s not like I have anywhere to be.”
Joe’s eyes shifted to the backpack on the chair. “I noticed.”
As Joe went off ordering more drinks, Evie grabbed all of her leaflets and shoved them into her backpack. She had spent the whole day trying to figure what to do with her new life but all she found herself wanting to do was run back to her old one and curl up beside Caius while he lay until the sun went down. Now the sun was down and they were both still alone. Well, not entirely alone. She had Joe. Which was… something.
Evie watched as every drinker in the pub turned to look at the door. A woman with pin straight black hair down to her lower back sashayed up to the bar and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She was tall, imposingly so. Like a model. She grinned at the bartender and fluttered her swooping eyelashes.
“Double whisky please, darling.” Her voice was sensuously husky. If Evie still had her vampire hearing, she would have heard all the men in the pub gulp.
But the bartender didn’t seem to succumb to her charm like the other men, who sat practically with their tongues hanging out. The bartender narrowed his eyes and pushed his shirt sleeves up to his elbows. “You’re not welcome here, vampire,” he almost spat. “This isn’t one of your bars.”
“Oh really?” The woman cocked a pencilled eyebrow and sat back on a bar stool, taking in the snug, lounge-like pub. “I guess I hadn’t noticed the lack of leather-clad strippers and muffled screams of ecstasy but hey-” She winked at one of the punters who instantly turned the colour of Evie’s hair and shied away, “-one things the same. All eyes are on me. Like they’re all just waiting for me to sink my teeth into their necks.”
The bartender slammed his fist on the bar, making her dazzling green gaze lazily slide back to him. His teeth were gritted so hard that his jaw jutted out. “Get out of this bar right now. I have a gun loaded with wooden bullets under here and I am not afraid to use it.”
She licked the top row of her teeth and looked him up and down with a flirty twinkle in her eyes. “Yes you are. And I can assure you, you won’t be needing it. All I want is a double whisky. Has it ever occurred to you that vampires also just want to sit and drink and forget the world around them? And it’s pretty hard to do when you’ve got humans practically humping your legs, begging for you to taste them.”
The bartender glared at her a moment longer before stiffly turning around and fixing up her drink.
“Wowee, that was intense,” said Joe when he appeared by Evie’s side with a glass of vodka tonic.
“Why is she even drinking whisky?” wondered Evie aloud as she took the glass, “vampires can’t stand anything but blood.” As if on cue, the lady vampire took a sip of her drink and screwed up her face with disgust.
“Probably trying to fit in,” said Joe, settling back into his chair.
Evie’s heart panged with sympathy. Been there, sister.
She sipped at her drink, very aware of Joe’s eyes on her.
“You look hot.”
She almost choked, coughing into her glass. “Excuse me?”
Joe chuckled at her indignant tone. “I mean you look warm. Your face is flushed. You might want to lose the hat. I hardly th
ink you’re going to get caught in a blizzard in here.”
Evie’s eyes widened then she shook her head.
“What’s up with you? You get a bad dye job or something?”
She shook her head again and settled her glass on the table. “No, nothing like that.”
Joe watched curiously as she scoped their surroundings. “You hiding from the law?”
Her eyes shot back to him, fear flashing in them like a bolt of lightning before she willed herself to calm down. “That would be telling.”
“Touché.”
But she was rather warm. The top of her head was on fire. She took one last scan of the pub before pulling off her hat. Her table was squashed in the corner of the oddly shaped room. She’d know if she was being watched.
Her long red waves tumbled down her chest as if rejoicing their freedom. Some of it stuck out from the static caused by her hat so she smoothed it down, feeling rather embarrassed by the way Joe was smiling at her.
“Is that your natural hair colour?”
“Yeah.” She shifted awkwardly in her chair.
“It’s nice.”
He took a gulp of his beer then caution lit up his eyes. He wiped the foam from his mouth. “I am not hitting on you by the way. Just thought I’d make that clear. I know I put my foot in it earlier but seriously, I know that this-” He gestured between the two of them, “-would not fit. I mean, I must have –what- fifteen years on you?”
Evie forced back her ear to ear smile. “I’m a lot older than I look. You’d be surprised.”
He laughed. “Sadly, I cannot say the same. I have not aged well.”
They drank their drinks together in a peaceful silence. As every other man in the pub was leering over the sexy vampire at the bar, Joe’s eyes were fixed on an empty space on the wall behind Evie’s head. He was clearly hung up over someone. Over a vampire. She so desperately wanted to talk to him about it. His secrets were like a giant elephant in the room. She was pretty sure he felt the same way about hers.
“So, did you get kicked out? Is that why you are trying to figure out what to do with your time?” asked Joe.
Evie winced at the question. “I didn’t get kicked out. I left.”
“Ah, I see. Do you have anywhere to stay?”
“A hotel a few streets away. It’s not much but it’ll do.” She slipped her phone from her pocket and checked the time. “Actually, I’d better get going.”
“You haven’t finished your drink.”
She grabbed her glass and downed the remaining contents. “Now I have,” she coughed out and got to her feet. Joe also downed the rest of his pint as Evie shrugged on her backpack.
“Let me walk you back.”
“No, honestly, I’m fine.” She tucked her hair up into her hat. “But thanks for the offer.”
“Nonsense.” Joe got to his feet. “Please, I insist. I know what happens to people who walk home alone at night.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Are you talking about vampires? I thought you said they’re being given a hard time.”
He shrugged. “They are but I also know that that doesn’t apply to all of them.”
She sighed. “Fine, come on then.”
He grinned and gestured her to lead the way.
“There’d better be a room available,” said Evie as she bunched up against the cold night air. Streetlights lit up sections of the pavements, leaving patches of grey darkness between them. Evie was quite thankful to not be alone.
“You didn’t book in advance?” asked Joe, keeping at her side.
“No. I thought I’d keep my options open. Even though I don’t even know what my options are.”
“Well, I would have offered you to stay at my place but I guessed that wouldn’t go down very well.”
Evie laughed. “We have already established that there is no way anything is going to happen between us but yeah, I would have declined the offer. I hardly know you. And I’d rather not be under the same roof as a man full of secrets.”
He smiled ahead. “Hey, I haven’t judged you for holding secrets from me.”
“I wasn’t judging. I’m just being cautious.”
“Very wise in a world like this.”
Evie gave him a sideways look that he didn’t catch. What was going on in this man’s head? One minute he was all for vampires having equal opportunities and the next it was as if he was damning the world for being the way it was. Clearly something in his past was still hanging heavy on his shoulders. But it seemed more than just an issue with a former vampire lover. Something else was going on. Something Evie couldn’t pry into.
They both rounded a corner and Evie looked up at the simple standalone brick building. “This is me.”
Joe’s eyes fell to the flower pots either side of the front door. “Quaint.”
Evie laughed. “Yeah, it was the cheeriest looking one I could find.” She spun around in front of the little iron gate and turned to face him. “Thank you for walking me back.”
“My pleasure. Would you also decline if I asked for your number?”
Evie chewed her lip, thinking. “No, I think that would be fine.” She took out her phone they swapped numbers. Her heart dropped to the floor when she then studied her contacts. Eric and Joe, they were the only numbers she had. She hadn’t even gotten Caius’ before she had left.
It’s not as if he’s going anywhere anyway.
Her heart clenched. When did I get so bitter?
Joe said his goodbyes and disappeared down the street. Evie watched from the front step as his broad figure was swallowed up in the foggy darkness.
Luckily, there had been a spare room. She got dressed into her pyjamas and was glad to find a fold down ironing board and travel sized iron in the room. Sadly, there was no washing machine, but after sniffing her clothes, she figured she could get another day out of them.
She brushed her teeth and sank down into the cold bed, holding her phone above her and flicking from Joe’s number to Eric’s. It had only been one day and she was bored out of her wits. She had no idea what she wanted to do with her life. Why had she picked up the art classes leaflet? Because that was what William had enjoyed. Not her. She didn’t even know what she enjoyed. In her old human life, she had been a seamstress. But that was just a job which she did to get money. Money she then hadn’t needed when she found William and fell in love.
Maybe she could try and get her old job back as a bouncer? If her boss would even hire her back. She could call Eric… tell him to put in a good word for her? But she wasn’t a vampire anymore. She was just a dainty human girl. She’d be a rubbish bouncer now. She had always relied on her vampire strength and compulsions. Now she was useless.
She switched off her phone with a heavy sigh and settled it on the bedside table before sinking under the covers.
Everything’s going to be fine.
Everything’s going to be fine.
Everything’s going to be fine…
Oh, who am I kidding?
Chapter 10
Evie woke at noon feeling like there was no need for an early start. It wasn’t as if she had anything to do with her life now. Except… try to find a life.
She changed into her newly ironed clothes but they felt stiff and dirty. Caius would be asleep. She could nip home and wash her clothes. Get more clothes. See Caius again… even just watching him sleep…
With that decided, she shoved all of her belongings into her backpack and left. The sun was high in the sky which made her wince, but the breeze was still in the air so it was acceptable for her to wear her bobble hat.
The front door was locked but she had taken her key so she slipped inside, no need to be quiet. It wasn’t as if Caius was going to hear her. If he was even still there… Suddenly, panic washed over her and she found herself leaping up the stairs taking two at a time.
She relaxed against the doorframe with a sigh of relief at the sight of Caius curled up in the centre of the double bed with a thin white s
heet coiled around him like shed skin. The light from the landing lit him up like a spotlight in the pitch-black room.
She stepped forward and felt something crunch under her boot. Pulling back her foot, she noticed the crumbled-up tissue crisp with old blood. She sucked in a gasp and flicked on the bedroom light to take in the rest of the room. The bed was sitting in the middle of a sea of old bloody tissues. Tears burned in the backs of her eyes as she stepped over them and sank down on the edge of the bed. Tissues also littered the bed and when Evie craned her neck, she noticed he still held one tightly in the fist that he was resting on. His hair covered his face but by the state of the room, she guessed red tear stains marred his perfect porcelain cheeks. Looking around the room and witnessing what she had done to him, it was clear. Evie had broken his heart.
She lay beside him and brushed back his hair that was a little greasy to the touch and noticed the stubble surrounding his thin pink lips. His eyes seemed to have sunken into his skull and dark rings hung under them from exhaustion. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her forehead into his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry I’ve done this to you. I love you so much.” A sob escaped her and she choked on it. “Why do I have to love you so much?”
She wrapped her arm around his middle and pressed herself against his back. He could have been in hibernation for all she knew. Had he drunk since she had left? Had he just lay in bed staring at the ceiling while his vision turned red? While she was out making friends and trying to discover herself, Caius was being dragged under by the unyielding claws of depression.
He had been depressed before. Living for just over a thousand years would do that to the most put-together person in the world. But Evie had been there for him. To hold his hand. To guide him. To pull him out of the pit. Without her… this is what would have happened.
But there was no use feeling guilty. She couldn’t stay. A vampire and a human could never work out. That’s why people saw them getting married as an abomination. Maybe they’re not being cynical. Maybe it was just a fact.
The Progeny Page 13