by Sean Stone
“Where are we heading?”
I stopped in the middle of Week Street and looked around. “I have no idea. I just… I need that dagger. I need to put Nickolas down,” I said, thinking out loud.
“Do you?” Gabe asked pointedly. I looked at him, waiting for him to go on. “The only reason you’re panicking is because one woman said Nickolas was after you. She might have been lying. And, don’t forget that all she actually said was he was interested in you. That doesn’t mean he wants to kill you. Let’s be honest, the most powerful warlock in the world could’ve killed you already if that’s what he wanted. Also, he might not even be alive.”
I stared at Gabe, processing what he was saying. Then I smiled. He made an excellent point, several of them. “I’m really starting to like you. Be honest though, do you think he’s alive?”
Gabe shrugged. “It seemed like Clarke thought so and he seems to know… everything. So, yeah. I agree with him.”
“Me too,” I said, looking up at the bright clear sky. I remembered that I was supposedly going to die on a sunny day. Was it today? I didn’t feel like I was going to die today. Ashley probably didn’t think she wasn’t going to die, but then…
“Eddie,” Gabe said loudly. I realised I must’ve been so far inside my own head I hadn’t heard him calling me. He was standing, phone in hand, looking worried. “Problem. A witch attacked one of my guys. One of the vamps. Want me to deal with it?”
I shook my head. “No. Get the car. I’ll deal with this one.” It was about time I stepped back in. Ashley was buried and I needed to get back to running my town.
The witch who was responsible lived on Wheeler Street. Gabe’s guys had placed her and her family under house arrest while they waited for us to arrive. When I stepped out of the car Neil, one of the vampires, approached us. He looked nervous though I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I was a nasty boss or anything and he was hardly in the wrong.
“Sabrina is inside with the family. Lacey Godman made the attack on Marty at a park around the corner. Her brother and two children are inside with her,” Neil explained.
“Thanks, Neil,” I said and then headed inside. Gabe stopped at the door, unable to cross the threshold without an invitation.
“I’ll wait here,” he said, as if he had a choice in the matter. “Sabrina can look after you inside.”
“I can look after myself,” I replied, a little irked. I wasn’t an incapable child. I’d managed well enough this long.
I headed through to the living room where I found Sabrina by the door. She was dark-haired and pretty gothic looking. Or, I think the expression is emo now. If anybody looked like a typical vampire, it was her. Pale white foundation and heavy eye-liner really hammed up the look. The sullen expression on her face helped too.
“It was her,” Sabrina said, pointing at the light brown-haired woman who was sitting on the sofa. She looked pretty timid to me. She was staring at the floor, her cheeks red. Either side of her sat a child, one boy, one girl. Both looked to be about ten years old. There was a man in his twenties perched on the arm of the sofa. He did not look so timid. He was glaring at me furiously, his lips drawn in contempt.
“Now you listen here!” he started before I’d even entered the room. I waved my hand lazily and he slid off the sofa, smacked his head on the cabinet next to it and fell down unconscious. Lacey and her children jumped in fright.
“I think I’ll do the talking. You do the listening and then when I ask a question you get a turn to talk. Agreed?” I said jovially, putting on my best false smile. Nobody agreed but they didn’t argue either.
“I do not care where you have come from or what your beliefs are. These are the facts: this is my town and if you want to live here you will follow my rules. All of them. One of my rules is you don’t risk exposing our kind. Fighting in a public park kind of breaks that rule.” Lacey looked like she was about to argue so I held up a finger to stop her. “Still my turn to talk. Another rule. You don’t attack my guys. Never. They are off limits. Think of them as police officers. Attacking them has a very heavy penalty. Now, my guess is you’ve moved here because you didn’t like living under Clara’s rule. Fair enough she can be a bit of a bitch. So can I. You don’t follow my rules, you go back to Clara. Attack one of my guys again and I’ll suck the magic right of you. Got it? Good.” I turned away without waiting for a reply and headed for the door. I’d delivered the warning and now wanted to get back to the real work.
“I thought there’d be a chance for me to talk?” Lacey said and by her tone I’d seriously misjudged her. She didn’t sound meek at all. I turned back, eyebrows high on my head.
“Go ahead. But it had better be good,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
“First of all,” she said haughtily. “We have not moved here from Clara’s town. We have lived here in this house for the last twelve years. You may have made yourself ruler of Maidstone, but this is not your town, Eddie Lancaster.” She stood up, shoulders drawn back, chin raised high. Sabrina stepped forward but I stopped her. I’d let Lacey say her piece. “Let me ask you a question, Eddie. Are your guys allowed to run amok? Are they given the town as their playground? Are we simply items on a menu? A buffet? Are we not allowed to defend ourselves?” Her voice rose an octave with each word she said, and she was on the verge of angry tears by the time she was finished.
“What are you talking about?” My voice was low, growling.
“We were in the park. I take my children there every Wednesday after school. Your vampire attacked my brother.” She pointed rigidly at her unconscious brother and as I looked down I noticed for the first time the two puncture marks on his neck. “So, tell me, should I have just let him do it? Are we just cattle to you?”
I looked at Sabrina. I said nothing, but my eyes demanded an answer. She swallowed hard and shook her head in confusion. “I don’t…” she stammered.
“Nobody bothered to ask me what happened. I defended my family and was attacked by all these vampires for it. And in broad daylight too. Maybe you ought to explain your rules to your guys,” Lacey shouted.
“Oh, you can rest assured that I will.” I turned for the door.
“And while you’re at it why don’t you think about how different you really are from Clara Winters,” she added. I paused, thought about replying then thought better of it and stormed out of the room.
“All sorted?” Gabe asked as I emerged.
“Get me Marty. Now!”
Marty had returned to the house to recover from Lacey’s attack. Her spell had left him feeling weak and malnourished. It seemed that no amount of feeding could replenish his energy. I headed to the house with Gabe and Neil, leaving Sabrina behind to make amends with Lacey and her family. My temper was leaking out of me and both vampires with me remained silent for the entire journey, both knowing not to risk annoying me further. Several times Gabe looked like he wanted to say something, but he thought better of it.
Arriving at the house, I strode through to the back room and waited. Gabe stayed close and Neil went to find Marty. A few minutes later Neil entered the room followed by a very ill-looking Marty. He was a broad guy, not fat but not muscular either, just broad. His short dark hair was wet with sweat; his skin was clammy and tinged yellow. He was wearing jeans and a white sleeveless t-shirt that was drenched in perspiration. He looked like it was taking all his energy simply to remain standing. Neil backed away from him slowly and went to stand by the door. I stood and glared for a long time, trying to decide how to proceed. The mere sight of him was only serving to increase my anger towards him. I thought about what had happened with Lacey. I’d charged in, issuing orders and reprimands without giving her a chance to explain her side. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Explain yourself,” I said through my teeth.
“What do you mean?” he mumbled feebly.
“You know what I fucking mean!” I shouted. Marty flinched at the force of my words. I noticed Gabe squirm
too even though it was not directed at him.
“She attacked me,” Marty said. He pointed to himself as if he was all the evidence needed.
“Why?” I said the word slowly, trying to convey that I already knew the answer and he’d better not lie to me.
He looked me right in my eyes and shrugged. It was the audacity of the eye contact that really bugged me. Most people have the decency to look away when being so blatantly dishonest. I sent out my magic and brought him crashing to his knees. Before he could recover from the shock he was sliding across the floor and came to a halt right in front of me. The spell had disoriented him and he was now on his hands and knees panting furiously. Gabe looked over in concern. Marty was one of his guys, I could understand that he didn’t want him to come to any harm. Squatting to his level, I took hold of Marty’s chin and lifted his face to mine. I used the contact with him to get a read on Lacey’s spell. It was intricate. Lacey was a talented sorcerer. I could still reverse it, though.
“This spell won’t kill you, but it will last for a few days and it will get worse unless I reverse it. Tell me what really happened or I’ll cast a spell that will kill you,” I said in my softest and most menacing tone.
The look in his eyes told me that he believed I’d do it. He looked over at Gabe pleadingly.
“Tell him the truth, Marty,” Gabe said gently.
“I was hungry,” Marty said, his voice weak and pathetic.
“So, you go to one of the approved feeding zones. You do not feed off sorcerers and you do not feed in a public park in broad daylight,” I growled.
Marty moved back so he was kneeling and rested on his feet. “I just… I just love the taste of magical blood,” he confessed, shaking his head helplessly as though he was afflicted with a serious addiction. “It’s so much nicer than the human stuff,” as he spoke he was practically drooling.
I looked at him in disgust. “You’re a liability,” I said, rising to my feet. “I won’t kill you. Not for this but I cannot have you around.”
“Eddie, please,” Gabe said, coming forward.
I looked at him with sympathy. “I know he’s one of your guys, Gabe, but I cannot trust him to keep the peace.”
“If you banish him Aldric will kill him,” Gabe said imploringly.
“Not if he stays hidden and leaves the area.”
“Please, Eddie, I’m begging you. Let him stay.” It was then that I realised there was more to this then simple protection of one of his guys. I looked from Gabe to Marty and saw the bond that they shared.
“Oh,” I said as I realised. “Really, Gabe, I’m surprised,” I said with disappointment.
“Really? You can accept vampires but not gays?” he said testily. It was nice to see he was willing to stand up to me on the issues that mattered to him, but he’d got me wrong.
“No, I’ve got nothing against your sexual orientation, just your choice of a partner. You deserve a higher calibre of person,” I said and shot Marty a filthy look. He threw one right back. Gabe made no reply. I looked back at Gabe. He’d done so much for me after Ashley’s death. I owed him this. “Fine. He can stay. But you’re responsible for his next fuck up.” I turned for the door.
“The spell,” Marty said quickly. “You said you could reverse it.”
“I did,” I agreed. “But I never said I would. Consider it your punishment,” I said and made my exit. Gabe made no objection.
Chapter Ten
I gave Gabe the rest of the day off so he could spend it with his idiot boyfriend. I had Neil following me around instead. He stayed quiet and kept to himself. I left him downstairs and took myself to my bedroom. It was weird thinking of it as my bedroom instead of our bedroom. I sat on Ashley’s side of the bed and looked at the messy piles of makeup and hair products that she kept over her chest of drawers. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to move any of her stuff. There was a soft meow as Boris walked in and hopped up onto my lap. He nuzzled his head into my hand and purred gently as I stroked him.
“Where’ve you been boy?” I asked him. I hadn’t seen him for days, he often disappeared on little adventures. Me and Ashley used to joke about where he went and what he got up to. The truth of it wasn’t adventurous. It turned out there was a house down the road and an old man there gave him milk. Boris was spending his time with his other family. Gabe had looked into it for me. I wondered if his other family knew that he was not an ordinary cat. Had they seen the massive claws that protruded from his paws, or noticed that he was pretty much invincible? Probably not or they would have stopped feeding him.
My phone rang and looking down I saw it was Annabelle. Probably phoning to tell me I was going to die again. I ignored it and eventually it rang off. Then she rang again. With a loud sigh that made Boris jump off my lap I grabbed the phone and answered the call.
“Yes?”
“Hi, Eddie, it’s Annabelle,” she said. Her tone was morose which was unlike her. Even when predicting my death, she maintained a fairly cheerful demeanour.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, this is difficult. I wanted to make the call because my sister can be a bit of a bitch about things and it thought it would be better coming from me.”
“Can you get on with it?” I snapped. I really didn’t have the patience for this rubbish.
“Of course, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Listen, the thing is Ashley didn’t have a will. So, the house… it kind of… well…”
I closed my eyes heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose. Did the universe want to throw any more shit at me? “It belongs to you and your sister now?” I finished for her.
“Yes. Clarabelle wants to sell see, so you have to…”
“Move out?”
“Yeah. I didn’t want to do this, but she wouldn’t listen to me. I mean, no rush or anything. Move out when you’re ready,” she spoke quickly, tripping over her own words. I might have felt sorry for her having to deliver this news to me but currently I was too wrapped up in my own problems. One of which she’d just delivered.
“It doesn’t matter anyway does it? I’ll be dead soon anyway,” I said sarcastically. As always, she failed to notice the sarcasm.
“Yes, you will. I saw your death again last night. I think it is going to happen soon.”
“Always a pleasure talking to you Annabelle,” I said and hung up.
I sat in silence for several minutes thinking about the phone call I’d just had. I wasn’t really bothered about the house. I didn’t want to be here anyway. Every inch of the damned place reminded me of Ashley. If anything, I was glad to have an excuse to get out of here. The thing that bothered me was Annabelle’s prediction and it bothered me because I was finally starting to believe it. I turned to stroke Boris, but he was long gone and I was all on my own again.
I took myself down to Muggs for a bit of grub. I really didn’t feel like eating dinner on my own. I didn’t have any real company at the pub but being surrounded by people, all of whom were ignoring me, somehow helped. The chicken burger I’ve always loved just didn’t taste the same anymore. I got two bites in and then pushed it away. It didn’t seem fair. I’d been eating the gourmet chicken burger for years before I met Ashley, losing her shouldn’t change my feelings towards my favourite burger.
I was just getting up to leave when two people came and sat down opposite me. I looked over at Neil who was supposed to stop things like this from happening, but he was reading a book and hadn’t even noticed their approach. I should never have given Gabe the day off.
I picked up my half-finished Coca-Cola and peered over the glass at my visitors as I swigged the now flat beverage. The man was tall and thin with rosy cheeks and orange hair that stuck up in tufts. He bore a close resemblance to Beaker from the Muppets, apart from the crafty set of his eyes. The other was a woman, tall for a female but short in comparison to the bloke. She was young, twenties at the most, with silver hair and huge dark eyes.
“Something I can do for you?” I asked. �
�Wait!” I said before either of them could answer. “Let me have a guess. You’re part of team warlock and your boss has sent you to bring me in so he can kill me?” I hate to admit it because I am a warlock myself, but warlocks tend to have a certain air of shadiness about them. I suppose that killing people for their magic will do that to a person’s character.
“We are part of team warlock as you put it,” the man said in a voice too high for any Male to possess.
“Knew it. I’ve banned Clara’s lot and Aldric’s, maybe I should ban you too,” I said. I swirled my drink and stared into its dark bubbly depths.
“You are welcome to try,” the woman said invitingly. She gave me a sardonic smile. “Now our leader—”
“Nickolas Blackwood,” I filled in.
They glanced at each other awkwardly and then back to me. “Our leader would like to meet you so if you’ll just come with us,” the woman said, standing up rather presumptively.
I sat back and spread my arms across the back of the seat. “You think I’m going to walk to my own slaughter?” I asked.
“Nobody said anything about a slaughter. Did I say anything about a slaughter?” the bloke said looking up at his partner.
She shook her head. “No, and I know I didn’t. Our leader wants to meet you not kill you. You can rest assured if he wanted to kill you you’d already be dead.” Her expression remained bored as if she found the task she’d been given incredibly tedious. I sat silently and waited for further explanation. When it was clear that I wasn’t going to budge the woman sighed and sat back down.
“Why do you think Clara has left you running Maidstone? Obviously, she could push you out of the way at any point and there’s nothing you could do to stop her. The reason she hasn’t done that is because she needs you. She plans to use you against us.,” the woman explained.