Pressed again his hard chest Madison found the sound of a thudding heart vacant and the more she tried to listen for it, the more she realised that the silence didn’t scare her, but she found it peaceful. His chest rose and fell, mimicking breathing, but there was only silence from the small space where his heart should operate.
“Does Gabby and Trace still kill people?” she suddenly asked.
“No! Of course not, if they did the coven would have them killed” Brendan replied, shocked.
Madison pulled herself away from him to examine his expression - she had offended him unintentionally.
“I’m sorry, I did mean….” she said sheepishly.
“No, it’s fine. Like I said, there are strict rules that we must live by. Some that cannot be broken without the penalty of death. We must never break the peace, or draw attention to ourselves or the coven. Killing a human is forbidden, the punishment for killing a human is almost certainly death. It is also forbidden to tell a human a human of our existence…”
“But you just told me! You’ve broken one of the rules!” Madison pointed out, unhelpfully.
“Not exactly” Brendan said uncertain.
“Yes you did!”
“Actually, Bernie told you...”
“Yes, but you didn’t deny it”
“Good point. Well, that settles it then” he said.
“What’s that?” Madison asked.
“I’ll have to kill you now” Brendan joked.
“You will have to catch me first”
“Umm…that wouldn’t be hard…” he laughed.
“But you’ve broken a rule, what’s going to happen?” Madison asked more seriously.
“Like I said before, with knowing this information there will be consequences. Things will change for you, but the most important thing is you cannot ever tell anyone what you know. Not even Gabby or Trace should they ever ask - it is likely they will become suspicious now that Gabby has seen you here, but they can never know. It is in your best interests that no one finds out; if they do there will be serious consequences. This stays between me and you - do you understand? Brendan said firmly.
Madison nodded, gulping down the large ball that had formed in her throat.
“As far as you are aware, I’m just a normal guy that offered you a place to stay when your house burned down. We met at the club and became friendly – there’s no crime in that!”
“But… my house didn’t burn down” Madison corrected.
“Not yet anyway…”
“What? What are you going to do? All my belongings are there and my handbag! It has my cards and mobile in it! I must have dropped it when Rich grabbed me!” Madison said frantically looking around the apartment for her handbag – making sure she Brendan hadn’t picked it up on his way out.
“I’ll get all your belongings tomorrow, but it’s important you stick to the story. Let me worry about removing the evidence” he reassured.
“Ok…” Madison stuttered.
“So the Skin Crawlers… their not Vampires?” she asked.
“Demons” Brendan hissed through his teeth.
“Demons?” Madison repeated, thinking carefully.
“Demons are everywhere, some worse than others. As humans populated the earth, the demon world died out. As a result some of the demons blood got mixed with the blood of humans - creating half breeds. Most humans are unaware that they even carry the demon gene and some never truly become demons but continued to live as humans until they naturally die out, others are destined to live alone or in groups, hiding from the real world. Some demons spend their lives conspiring against the human world, building armies in attempts to wipe out all traces of human blood in hope that the demon world will once again populate the planet. That’s where we come in, me and a small army of vampires are just one of the Coven’s units that specialise in protecting the peace. As vampires we rely on the donation of blood from human’s to survive, like many other demons for humans to be wiped out would mean the extinction of us. Our unit hunts down the demons that intend to hurt the humans and reason with them, bring them to justice and on occasion destroying the demon clangs that are not so willing to go peacefully”
“So there are different types of demons?”
“Yes. Lots”
“And you….are like the good guys?”
“You could say that, but in some ways we’re still very much like demons” Brendan joked.
“I think I could do with another drink” Madison said heading back towards the sofa to sit down - trying to process the new information.
Chapter Eight: A day to Remember
The sunlight shone through the crack in the curtains, it lit up the room in a beautiful display of orange and yellow lights. Madison opened her eyes and stared into the unfamiliar room where she had crashed out after too many Brandy’s. The room was painted a clean cream colour with white fitted wardrobes stood at the opposite end of the room at the foot of the bed. Madison turned her head to the left only to be confronted by her own reflection in a tall wall length mirror. Repulsed by her own reflection, she examined her pale tired face from a distance.
They had spent most of the night talking, he had gone into great detail about his life before becoming a vampire and Madison gave vague details about her life in Thatcham – leaving out a majority of the details. Brendan had originally been born in London and he was the son of a book store owner. His parents were extremely poor and he had a hard upbringing working nonstop in the family busy. He then told her about how he had made the trip over to New York and started up as an actor and how he had made the trip back to London as a vampire. They talked until Madison could barely keep her eyes open. Even though Madison felt safe in Brendan’s presence she had still found it difficult to sleep after tonight’s events. She had managed to sleep a few short hours without the reoccurring nightmare resurfacing – probably fended off by the bottle of brandy.
Madison stretched, sitting up too quickly the blood rushed down her body sending her spiraling into dizziness. Her head thumped from dehydration, only now did she realise the amount of Brandy she had consumed last night was probably not the best idea under the circumstances.
Madison shuffled to the edge of the double bed, dropping her legs over the edge and placing her feet on the soft white carpet. She had stripped down last night only leaving on her underwear and black work polo shirt on.
Madison grabbed the pair of screwed up black trousers from in front of her feet and slipped them on. She stood up carefully gaining her balance before slowly stumbling towards the mirror on the wall. Her makeup was smudged down her face and her hair stuck out at all angles. Her face was blotchy and the three inch cut on her cheek from the bread knife looked less angry then yesterday and was barely noticeable. She looked away repulsively and grabbed her jeans from the bedroom floor – slipping them on slowly. She headed towards the bedroom door and stepped wearily out into an open plan room that had a couple of low sofas in it and a dark brown wooden desk. The right wall was completely made of glass, that looked out over the city Papers and open books scatted around an easel that stood in the centre of the desk. A canvas stood on the easel, an arrangement of colours caught Madison’s eye. She headed towards the canvas to examine the painting more closely. As Madison approached the painting it became clear the picture was a mirror image of the view from the window at night. It was stunningly beautiful with different shades of blacks and blues, dark clouds swirled in the sky giving the painting a magical effect. The yellow and white’s of the skyscrapers stood out from the dark background. She traced her finger over the raised strokes of paint and tilted her head to the side allowing the painting to draw her in.
“Do you like it?” Brendan said from behind her.
Madison twisted her body round as she jumped at the sound of his voice. He smiled sweetly at her surprise. Brendan wore a pair of black baggy jeans and a simple white t-shirt. His hair was in his usual style, perfectly hanging down either side of
his cheeks.
His skin was cleanly shaven and fresh looking compared to Madison’s pasty face. A warm scent of spiced vanilla filled Madison’s nostrils as he approached her.
“It’s beautiful” Madison said, smiling at Brendan.
“I’ve been working on it for quite a while, in my free time anyway” he said joining Madison at her side.
Madison felt herself been drawn into Brendan’s eyes, they were even more beautiful in the sunlight. They sparkled and glistened as the beams of light reflected from his gaze.
Brendan caught Madison’s gaze, she looked away quickly flushing pink.
“The view is spectacular” Madison said gazing out across the city.
“It’s really something at sunset. How are you feeling anyway?”
“Umm…. I have a little bit of a head-ach, but I’m okay - considering” she said.
“Your arm” Brendan interrupted, his eyes focused on the side of Madison’s left arm.
She pulled her arm up into view and twisted it to the side to see what Brendan had spotted. A black and purple bruise covered the whole way along the left side of her forearm. Madison touched it carefully with her index finger; she winced at the tender flesh. She lowered her left arm and raised her right to distinguish whether any damage had been done. Her right arm had dark bruises which resembled finger prints round her wrist and forearm. Both arms had different shades of purple and black bruises randomly scattered on them.
“I guess the bruises must have happened when Rich grabbed me and threw me across the room. I hit the floor pretty hard...” Madison explained.
“Maybe you should see a doctor?” Brendan said concerned.
“I’m fine, it‘s just a few bruises”
“I’m so sorry, Madison. I shouldn’t have let you in that house” he whispered in regret.
“Hey…. It’s not your fault. I should have listened to you. I owe you my life” Madison reassured.
Brendan’s eyes glazed over in deep thought. His mind ran through the events of yesterday, wondering whether he could have done something different.
“Where’s the bathroom?” Madison asked.
“You can use my bathroom; it’s bigger than the guest bathroom. The door next to the guest room, go through my bedroom and your see it” Brendan said flatly, only momentarily awakening from his gaze.
“Thanks” Madison smiled at Brendan weakly, before heading towards his bedroom.
She entered the door to Brendan’s bedroom. A strong aroma of vanilla spice filled her nostrils, sending her head light and dizzy; the smelt was sweet and delicious just like Brendan. The room was painted a fashionable light grey and it was much larger than the guest room Madison had stayed in last night. A round, double bed with sink grey sheets sat in the middle of the room and fitted, white cupboards lined either side of the bedroom walls. A large window stretched across the back wall of the room, providing another stunning view of London. A stunning gold and silver leaf chandelier with crystal stones hung from the ceiling.
Madison studied every aspect of the room for a moment, her eyes gazed over to the creased silk bed sheets and her body urged to fill the silk sheets on her naked skin - she urged to fill Brendan’s cool finger tips trace over the curves of her body.
Shaking the erotic images out of her mind, Madison sighed and continued towards the bathroom door.
The bathroom was titled with white ceramic tiles and in the centre of the room stood a huge bathtub with golden taps, the hand basin on one side of the tub and the toilet on the other. A shower cubicle stood to Madison’s left, it was modern and high tech in comparison to anything Madison had ever seen before. Brendan's bathroom was size of the bedroom/lounge and kitchen combined in her bedsit - it was the biggest bedroom she had ever seen. It looked fresh and smelt extremely clean, something that she found surprising for a man’s bathroom. Madison shut the bathroom door and twisted the lock. She headed towards the basin and began to remove the remainder of last night’s make up. The cold water against her face felt refreshing and awoke her from a sleepy haze. She used one of Brendan’s soft towels from the towel rail beside the basin to wipe the water droplets from her face.
Madison took off her skirt and turned to examine her back in the waist height mirror above the hand basin. A large purple graze covered the arch of her back and green/purple bruises began to form on her shoulder blades. The bruising was in the exact place Madison’s back had impacted on the hard wooden floor after Rich had thrown her. The graze had occurred from the force caused of being thrown backwards and sliding across the hard wooden floor. Small, dark purple and black bruises had formed randomly over Madison’s back and shoulders, but there was no serious injuries.
After noticing every individual bruise on her body she began to feel the dull ache of every individual bruise. Her lower back ached, causing her to feel uncomfortable standing and her arms were tender to touch.
Carefully Madison began to remove the rest of her clothes, before slipping into the shower cubicle and shutting the door behind her.
* * *
Madison stepped out from Brendan's bedroom into the large open plan apartment. She wore the same dusty uniform she had worn last night, but she was clean and feeling more relaxed. Her wet hair was tied up in a bun on the top of her head and her cheeks pink from the heat of the shower.
The clang of pots and pans echoed from the kitchen - Madison headed to the noise.
“Hi” she said as she entered the kitchen.
“I’ve made you some breakfast, take a seat” Brendan said gesturing towards the breakfast bar in the middle of the kitchen.
“What time is it?” she asked, as she sat in front a plate of scrambled eggs.
“It’s a little after one” Brendan said, eyeing up the bruises on Madison’s arm again.
“I didn’t know vampires could cook?” Madison joked, trying to remove the concerned look which was once again present on Brendan’s face
“It‘s a skill not all of us have” Brendan chucked “Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?”
“No. No, I’m fine. Just sore” Madison said smiling weakly.
“I’m so sorry….” Brendan began to say.
“It’s ok. Let’s talk about something else, please” Madison insisted, scooping a large folk full of scrambled eggs into her mouth.
Brendan fell silent for a moment and then slowly nodded in agreement.
“What do I do now? I mean, I can’t go back there, can I?” Madison asked slowly.
“No, you can’t... You can stay here as long as you want” he said, hopeful.
“Thanks” Madison said, shocked “But... I should really think about finding somewhere else to live. After seeing Gabby’s reaction last night, I doubt she would be too thrilled if she found out I was still here”
“I’ll deal with Gabby, it’s none of her business anyway” he said angrily.
“Still... I don’t really feel like picking a fight with a vampire”.
Brendan features shifted to the floor, her comment had offered him slightly. Madison had noticed on a few occasions when the word vampire came up in Brendan almost winced or looked hurt.
“Gabby wouldn’t hurt you, not if she valued her own life” Brendan reassured.
“How old is Gabby?” Madison asked, suddenly curious.
“She’s old, a lot older than me. Neither Gabby nor Trace is able to step out into the sunlight. I don’t really know for sure how old they both our and they don’t talk about their past. I don’t even know how they met? But, from what I’ve gathered they were newborns around the same time and they have been together ever since. How they change though, is a subject they both never talk about and something they both want to forget, and I've never pressed the subject with them. Most Vampires are not willing to discuss how they were changed or when - most simply just don’t remember. For us, it‘s not something we really discussed to be honest”
"Sorry..." Madison said feeling slightly embarrassed.
/> "It's OK, you didn't know..." Brendan smiled sweetly.
Madison ate the rest of her scramble eggs in silence - Brendan watched fascinated from the opposite side of the breakfast bar. There were still so many questions she wanted to ask Brendan, but she felt she had asked enough for now. Once she had finished her eggs, Madison grabbed the glass of orange juice Brendan had poured for her and gulped it down in two swigs. She hadn't realised how hungry she was until she saw the soft, white, fluffy, scrambled eggs - now her stomach was full and settled.
“My clothes….” Madison said, placing the empty glass down onto the breakfast bar.
“You’re clothes?” Brendan said, eyeing Madison’s grubby work clothes.
“I need to be at work for 4pm and I don't have a change of clothes. I really can’t wear this!” Madison stated, examining her dirty shirt.
“I’ll go now, I won’t be long” Brendan said softly, jumping up from the breakfast bar and heading towards the front door.
“I can come with you” Madison offered, leaping to Brendan’s side.
“No it‘s fine. You stay here and watch some TV or a DVD. I‘ll be back before you know it” he said reassuringly.
Madison smiled and stopped dead in her tracks.
“Be careful” she shouted after him.
Madison gazed into the still, silent apartment. Her body ached and her mind fell blank into the silence surrounding her.
* * *
BANG! Madison jumped up from where she had fallen asleep on the white corner sofa. Brendan stood in front of the front door - Madison’s suitcase stood beside him and her handbag clutched tightly in his right hand. His hair was windswept and his expression a little bleak, but he managed to greet Madison with a large smile as his eyes met her sleepy expression.
“Are you alright?” Madison asked, hazy from a deep sleep.
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