by Cassie Black
"What happened?" she asked.
"They made a mistake," I told her shortly. "I would like the porterhouse steak with vegetables please, no chips or onion rings. And some tea. Steph?"
Steph was still standing by the chair, gazing at me in shock. She shook herself, as if trying to wake from a weird dream, and said," Chips and a Coke, please." The waitress nodded and left, and Steph sank into her chair slowly, still staring at me.
"Aren't you going to freak out, or cry, or something?"
"What's the point? They've gone. We're fine. And Marcus is going to die. There's really no downside." I was enraged, but I was damned if I was going to show it here. I knew somehow that these were the same ones that had taken Jen, and I was almost pleased that Marcus had touched me, knowing as I did that he would now be executed. Surprisingly, my biggest worry at the moment was how Atticus would react. I didn't want him to go tearing off after these guys and get himself hurt. That was a serious shocker. I wondered briefly if I'd suddenly lost my mind.
"Do you have a mobile phone?" I asked Steph.
"Yes," she said.
"Give it to me," I said, and she handed it over obediently.
"Do you have your grandfather's number on here?"
"Yes," she said again, staring at me as if I'd sprouted horns or something.
"Good." I started scrolling through the numbers on her phone, until I found one that said Granddad, and I pressed connect. I held it up to my ear and waited. Titus answered after four rings.
"Hello?" his deep voice carried clearly over the phone.
"Titus, it's Millie."
"What a lovely surprise. What can I do for you?" Can't beat old style courtesy, I thought wryly.
"Steph and I were accosted by two vampires. One of them is called Marcus. He touched me."
There was a pause. "Are you hurt?"
"No, we are both fine. He just grabbed me around the wrist. They both left when they saw the tattoo. I don't want Atticus to overreact and go after them. So I thought I'd tell you and you could somehow prevent that from happening."
"You're worried about him." It was a statement, not a question.
I couldn't refute that, so I said nothing. I also knew that Titus would tell his son about this conversation and Atticus would know that I cared. I sighed. I was getting in way too deep now, and I needed to get out fast. I needed space and time. I needed perspective.
"Thank you for calling me, Millie. You did the right thing. I will contact the authorities now. Do you want me to send someone to fetch you?"
"Not yet. My steak will be here any minute, and I still have something I need to get. Forty-five minutes?"
He chuckled. "Fine. Don't worry about my boy. I will make sure he stays out of this."
"Thank you," I breathed, relieved. I pressed disconnect and handed the phone back to Steph, who had stopped gazing at me in horror, and was now grinning gleefully.
"Don't say it," I told her.
"Say what?" she asked innocently.
Fortunately my steak arrived just then and I tucked in while Steph picked at her chips and sipped her Coke, still smiling.
XXI
We still had twenty minutes to spare before our ride was supposed to arrive. I found a chemist a couple of shops down from the restaurant, and bought three different pregnancy tests. I had a decision to make, and I wanted to know for sure whether or not I actually was pregnant before I made my choice. I only had a bunch of vampires' word for it, and one of them was the complete antithesis of a proper doctor. It could be stress that was making me feel hungry and tired all the time. I could have some sort of condition that had nothing to do with pregnancy and everything to do with eating dodgy cheese. I could have brucellosis, for all I knew.
Steph followed me around the chemist, rolling her eyes when she saw my intended purchases. I ignored her, paid, and turned to go.
"Maddie!" She stood in front of me like a gorgeous apparition, looking serious and determined and grinning at the same time. Only Maddie could pull something like that off.
"Let's get out of here," she said, holding out her hand.
I didn't hesitate, not for a second. I took her hand and turned to Steph, who was looking at us open-mouthed. I remembered the credit card, dug it out of my back pocket and held it out to her. She stepped back, refusing to take it, so I dropped it on the floor in front of her.
"Bye, Steph," I said, smiling gently at her before I turned and left.
Part 3
Maddie
I
Millie sat in the passenger seat, her feet on the dash, while I drove.
"They came for us," she said eventually. A few miles had passed under the humming wheels of the car, and neither of us had said a word since she'd taken my hand outside that chemist.
"The wolves and bloodfeeders," I said. I had figured it out a few days after Millie had disappeared. Norman's story of two big scary looking guys had rung a bell for me, even though everyone else had dismissed his ravings. Millie had gone on a holiday with her boyfriend, I was told. What fucking boyfriend?
"And they took without asking," said Millie, anger simmering beneath her calm tone.
"Ah, Jesus, Mills, you too?"
"I was raped by a vampire. His brother held me down." The muscles in her jaw bulged as she ground her teeth together. "They got you too, Madz. That's why you ran." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes," I admitted. I hadn't explained why I had ended up on her doorway that night, dirty and tired and broke, and she hadn't asked. She knew I would tell her when I was ready.
"I ran into a pack of wolves just before I arrived on your doorstep." I told her about the bikers and their grisly end, and how the wolves had held me against that tree until that blonde man had fetched me and taken me back to the log cabin. My voice faltered as I told her about the man with dark hair, who I suspected was the black wolf who had more or less sexually assaulted me with its nose. It was unbelievably difficult to finally say the words, to describe how I had been held down and raped too. It was hard, but it became easier, and the relief as the words spilled from my soul into an empathetic ear was an almost palpable thing. And then I told her how I had plunged that knife into his gut and she grinned and put up her hand for a high five, and suddenly it didn't seem so bad. I felt as if a great weight had rolled off my chest, and I could breathe again, and laugh. Jesus, I'd missed this.
"I'm pregnant," Millie told me then, and I nodded. "I bought these test kits to confirm it, but I have a horrible feeling they told me the truth about this."
"Me too," I confessed. "Eight weeks now."
"What are you going to do?"
"I spent the last few days looking for that witch we met at the fair when we were kids. I found her two days ago. This is her car."
"Yeah, I wondered about the skulls," she said wryly, indicating the plastic skulls swinging wildly from tiny nooses tied to the rear-view mirror.
I chuckled. "They have a retreat a couple of hours away. Neutral ground apparently. We'll be safe there - they won't be able to touch us. The witches have some kind of deal with the wolves and vampires."
"You going to keep it?" I knew exactly what she meant.
"Don't know. Apparently these kind of pregnancies are really difficult to terminate. Once they take hold, that's it. So we may not have a choice."
"Shit."
"I know, right?"
"What the hell am I going to do with a baby vampire?"
"Ha! You think you've got problems? I could have a puppy!"
"Or a litter of puppies," Millie snorted, and just like that we were laughing, loudly and uncontrollably until tears rolled down our cheeks and we gasped for air. After a while the laughter subsided, and we settled into a comfortable silence as the witch's car ate up the miles. Millie dozed off eventually, while I sat and contemplated the implications of all she had just told me. My discussion with the witch I had tracked down had been brief but fruitful. Lucy was her name, an unlikely name for a w
itch, I know, but a witch's name nonetheless. She had explained about the wild gene, which cropped up in some families, and which was like the joker in a pack of cards. It meant that the person's genetic makeup could be mixed with those of the paranormals, and they could produce offspring. For some reason, the paranormals were all male, something to do with a protein and a meteor, so any woman with the wild gene was sought out by these wolves and bloodfeeders, and taken. I realised one thing immediately. It sucked to have the wild gene.
Lucy had lent me her car, and used her contacts to track Millie, so I had been able to fetch her from that shopping centre. She had given me directions to the sanctuary, and money for petrol, and had promised to meet us there and explain the rest of it. I asked her how they managed to keep the vamps and wolves at bay, and she winked at me and said knowledge was power, and the paranormals were too afraid of what the witches could tell the world. Apparently they had loads of information - details of every paranormal group. They also had DNA evidence to back up their claims, and the wolves and vampires were terrified that this would be released to interested parties. The witches had them by the short and curlies. I grinned in the dark.
As we headed further and further away from the city perimeter I started to notice a particular set of headlights with one dipped beam behind us. It would fall back allowing other vehicles to pull into the space between us, but it stayed there, sticking to our tail like stink to a pig. I decided to pull into a petrol station, and fill up the car. I knew from experience that Millie would need to eat soon, and I needed to pee. Three excellent reasons to stop. And if the headlights drove on, I could stop worrying. I reached out and shook her awake.
"What," she mumbled sleepily.
"We're stopping for fuel and something to eat," I told her, one eye on the rear-view mirror.
"Excellent," she said, suddenly wide awake. I laughed.
"I think there's a car following us too," I told her.
"What are we going to do about that?" she asked calmly. I was impressed.
"Disable it when we stop. I think one of us should slip out the back and slash its tyres while the other distracts the occupants. If it is who I think it is, I will probably have to do the distracting."
"Who do you think it is?"
"One of the wolves. I think that's the black wolf's car. I crashed through a gate in it, so the one headlight kinda slumps a bit."
"You stabbed him and then crashed his car? Awesome."
"Thanks," I grinned at her. "There's a blade in the one of the pockets of my jacket that should do the trick."
She turned slightly and dragged my jacket from the back seat, and pulled a sheathed knife from one of the pockets. "Nice. You still have that key?"
"Yep, it's right here on my belt."
"Good. Let's do this."
"Yeah, lets."
II
I watched the headlights follow us as we took the next exit, and swore softly to myself. I had hoped that I had been imagining the whole thing. Millie looked at my face.
"They're following us, aren't they?" she asked.
"Yup."
"Bum."
"Indeed," I grinned at the childish expletive. I followed the signs to the petrol station, and pulled up alongside one of the pumps. Millie was eyeing the McDonalds on the other side of the forecourt, and I suggested to her that she go and order something, or several somethings by the look on her face, but she shook her head.
"I think we need to stick together, Madz. It will make it harder for them to take one of us again."
"You're right. Let me fill up, and then we'll get something to eat."
"Hurry, I'm starving."
I laughed, and climbed out of the car. I was able to pay at the pump, which made life easier, and I stood leaning against the car as I held the nozzle, looking around. The pickup had parked outside the McDonalds, two empty bays on either side of it. Seriously, it was almost too easy. I finished up, climbed back in, and parked the witch's car in the bay to the right of the pickup. Millie looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"You're going to have forgotten something you left in the car, and while I distract them, you can just walk out the front door and slash tyres. Easy peasy. Stab and twist," I added, just in case she had never slashed a tyre before. She grinned and nodded.
"Let's eat," she said.
We climbed out of the car and walked into the burger outlet, side by side. Millie ordered for both of us while I scanned the room, smiling in grim satisfaction when I spotted the two men sitting in a booth a couple of metres away. Blonde hair curling over the collar. Yellow eyes. So not a trick of the light then. His partner in crime had brown hair and dark brown eyes. They watched us steadily. I feigned disinterest in them, and walked to the opposite end of the room with Millie and our food. We kept our eyes down while we ate, and I filled her in on the situation. Jesus, she ate a lot, but eventually she was finished.
"You ready?"
"Yep."
"Remember, stab and twist." Millie grinned at me and stood. I stood up too, and walked briskly across to where the two men sat. They looked surprised, and then alarmed as I approached their booth. Neither of them made any move to stand, though. They just sat there, watching me.
"Bust," I grinned at them. "Why are you following me?"
They said nothing, but their eyes didn't move from my face. I leaned in a little closer.
"Tell Cade that his little problem is about to be fixed. We found a nice discreet clinic that will scrape it right out for us. And then there can be no reason for him to send you two to follow me around, so you can get back to whatever it is you freaks do. We all win, huh?"
Their eyes widened in shock, and I smirked in satisfaction at them, and turned and walked out, half expecting them to grab me. Instead I heard one of them speak.
"Cade," I heard him say, panic in his voice.
Result, I thought as I walked out into the cool night air. Two minutes later we were back on the road, a solitary car heading north.
III
We arrived at the witches' base an hour and a half later. Millie had slept for most of the journey. I was starting to worry about her. She ate a hell of a lot, but looked skinnier than before she had been abducted. I hoped the witches could reassure me that this was normal, and that she would feel and look better in a couple of weeks. I remembered the first few weeks of my pregnancy. I had been tired too, and hungry, but nothing like this.
I drove through automatic gates and up a gravelled tree lined driveway. I was expecting anything other than the massive stone mansion that loomed in front of us. The witches had money. The thought was reassuring. Money meant power, and power meant we would be safe here. I exhaled, allowing myself to feel relief, and leaned across to shake Millie awake.
Lucy came down the steps to meet the car as we pulled up outside the front doors. A group of three women and two men stood just outside the double doors that were now open, allowing light from inside to pour into the darkness around us. Lucy hugged me, and I hugged her back.
"Welcome, Madeleine," she said in a formal tone, but with a wide grin. She turned to Millie, who had climbed out of the car and walked around to stand beside me, stretching and yawning widely.
"Welcome, my Lady," she said even more formally and bowed. Millie frowned slightly, but held out her hand.
"My name is Milla," she said, suppressing another yawn. "My friends call me Millie, or Mills."
"I know that, my Lady," Lucy smiled at her. "Come and meet my colleagues."
She led the way up those steps. I took Millie's hand and we walked up after her. She introduced us to the group standing in the doorway. A tall woman stepped forward, concern in her expression as her eyes fell on Millie. She looked at Lucy and spoke softly, and Lucy nodded. The tall woman reached out and touched Millie's face, and frowned.
"Come with me, my Lady," she said. Millie glanced at me, and I nodded. She followed the tall woman inside, and two of the women stepped in behind her.
&nbs
p; "Jane is our healer," Lucy explained as we watched them all disappear inside. "I think she's a bit worried about your cousin. But she's really good at what she does, so Millie will be fine."
"God, that's good to hear. I've been worried too. She's too tired all the time, and you should see her eat. It's frightening. Why did you call her 'my Lady'?"
"She didn't tell you?"
"Nope."
"Maybe she doesn't know yet. We'll explain tomorrow. You need to sleep too, you know. You look tired."
"It's been a shitty couple of months."
Lucy smiled sadly at me in acknowledgement. "I'll take you to your room. You will be sharing, if that's OK."
"That's perfect. Thank you," I said.
IV
I woke up with the sun streaming through a gap in the curtains and trying to fry my eyeballs. I sat up when I saw a familiar face leaning over me and smirking. Millie was awake before me, and she looked a lot better this morning than she had yesterday. I grinned back in relief, suddenly really pleased that we'd risked this trip into the unknown. I had lain in bed last night worrying that I'd dragged my sister hundreds of miles from her home to an unfamiliar place populated by strangers. Witches, no less.
"Wake up, Madz. Breakfast is ready and Lucy and the others want to talk to us."
"You look better today."
"I feel great. Jane says I had a specific vitamin deficiency that some women get when they're pregnant with vampire babies. She gave me some sort of weird tea to drink. Tastes disgusting, but I feel like a human being again. Come on, now. I'm hungry."