B008GMVYA4 EBOK

by Drake, Rebecca Ann

  “Yeah, fine. The skin crawlers have moved on like I suspected” he said.

  “So that’s it, their gone?” she said, sitting up quickly.

  “Yes, I think so” Brendan said sensing Madison’s hesitation.

  The thought of the Skin Crawlers coming for revenge clouded Madison’s thoughts. Brendan had killed Suzie trying to save her and Madison saw that as a valid reason for the Skin Crawlers to become revengeful.

  “Madison, it’s okay. They are not going hurt you, I won’t let them” Brendan reassured.

  “I know, I just thought…it’s doesn’t matter” Madison said shaking her head.

  “I’ll put this in your room” Brendan said, grabbing the handle of the suitcase.

  “My room?” Madison asked, shocked.

  “Well, yes. If you’re going to stay here until you find somewhere else it will be your room” Brendan smiled happily.

  “Thanks” Madison smiled, following Brendan to the guest bedroom.

  Brendan laid the suitcase down on the bed and Madison’s handbag beside it; a few clothes poked out from the tear in the suitcase where Madison had dropped it when she had first arrived at the bed sit.

  Brendan turned towards Madison cupping her face in the palms of his hands.

  “Stop worrying” Brendan said softly.

  Madison froze - their eyes locked on each other. She remained silent, but nodded slowly in agreement. The sunlight streamed through the window casting them both in a brilliant white glow. Gravity began to push Madison’s body towards Brendan’s, she ached for him. She wanted him to touch her, for him to hold her and for his lips to be pressed up against his. Brendan held Madison’s gaze, his lips grew closer to hers as gravity began to take hold. Madison’s heart pounded excitedly in her chest, she felt his cool breath flow over her face. The burning desire for his lips to be intertwined with hers grew stronger. Her eyelids closed slowly, the kiss becoming inevitable.

  RING! RING! Madison jumped, her head connecting with Brendan’s head in a painful collision.

  “Ouch” Madison gasped as they head butted each other.

  Brendan’s hands fell away from her face; she rubbed her forehead trying to ease the pain from the collision. Brendan smiled awkwardly; his cheeks flushed a pale pink in embarrassment.

  “I’m so… sorry” Madison moaned, also feeling embarrassed.

  “It‘s ok” Brendan chuckled, disappointment spread across his face.

  “I should get that” Madison said gesturing towards her handbag.

  Brendan stood silently as Madison searched through the contents of her handbag to retrieve her mobile phone. She grabbed the small vibrating, black, phone and quickly flipping it open.

  “Hello” Madison said a flicker of annoyance in her voice.

  “Madison, where have you been? I’ve left about twenty messages. I’ve been worried sick!” Stephanie said panicked without taking a breath.

  “Steph, umm….I guess I lost track of time. I’ve been really tired lately and haven‘t looked at my phone…” Madison said uneasily, turning to look at Brendan for support.

  “I was really worried” Stephanie continued...

  “I know, I’m sorry…really I am” she said sincerely.

  “Just ring me in future, okay?”

  “Ok. Sorry” Madison replied.

  “So, what have you been up too? Where are you anyway? It’s strangely quiet wherever you are. Normally you have to shout over the drum and bass music” Stephanie laughed.

  “I’m with a…. friend” Madison replied casually.

  “And is this friend of the male gender” she asked suspiciously.

  Madison saw no point in lying to Stephanie about Brendan, obviously she would leave out the parts about Brendan being a Vampire, but Stephanie already knew that Madison had met a dark and handsome stranger that she was hoping to get to know better – so there was no harm in telling her things had progressed a little further. She would only tell Stephanie the bits she needed to know.

  “Maybe” Madison said happily.

  Brendan smiled awkwardly at Madison and turned to exit the room, leaving Madison to talk to Stephanie in private.

  “Oh, so that’s why you haven’t been answering your phone” Stephanie said sarcastically.

  “It’s not like that! Honestly! Brendan is a perfect gentleman” Madison said proudly.

  “Brendan, huh? Well, give me details” she giggled, eager to hear all the gossip.

  “Steph, he’s amazing. He’s Intelligent, generous and absolutely gorgeous! You will love him” Madison gushed flopping onto the bed next to the large suitcase.

  “How did you meet him again?” she asked excitedly.

  “I ran into him last night at work. I’ve got some kind of….umm…infestation problem at my house, so I spent the night at Brendan’s”

  “Oh….” Stephanie said, suspiciously.

  “Nothing happened…I spent the night in the guest room. Like I said, he’s the perfect gentleman. He wouldn’t try anything like that; I don’t think he would anyway? I’m going to stay with him until I find somewhere else” Madison said.

  “Do you really think you should stay with him? It doesn’t sound like you know him very well?” Stephanie said, concerned.

  “I know more than you think and we were up most of the night talking. It’s weird, I can’t explain it”

  “What is?” she asked confused.

  “I don’t know… I feel connected to Brendan. Drawn to him, like our lives are meant to be intertwined somehow” Madison said thoughtful.

  “Sounds like you’re falling for him” Stephanie laughed.

  Madison smiled to herself; Stephanie was right - she had never felt this way about anyone before. There was something about Brendan that made her feel whole again. The empty hole that had been present inside Madison for a long time was slowly beginning to heal in Brendan’s presence. She felt like she had unknowing spent the whole of her life up until the moment she first clapped eyes on Brendan, waiting for him. The bond she now felt for Brendan was stronger than anything she had ever felt before, it was the kind of bond that could never be broken. Madison had no idea what the coming days or weeks would bring, but she was excited and hopeful that something more than friendship would occur between them. She knew that it was forbidden for a vampire to reveal its identity to a human and if the coven found out, they would kill Madison because of the knowledge she possessed and probably kill Brendan for sharing this information with her. The only possible chance Madison had at a relationship with Brendan would be to become a Vampire. The coven would never allow a human/vampire relationship to be conducted underneath their noses. It was forbidden for Vampires to change humans and Madison knew she was walking on very thin ice, but she couldn’t help but continue to let her friendship with the handsome stranger grow.

  “I don’t know it’s complicated” Madison finally said, less hopeful.

  “Madison, all relationships are complicated” Stephanie laughed.

  “I know, but Brendan’s different from other guys”

  “We all think that at first… then we get to know them and…” Stephanie said skeptically.

  “No it’s not that, he really is! I’ve got to go anyway; I need to get ready for work. I’ll call you later” Madison said, getting up from where she had flopped happily onto the bed a few moments ago.

  “Yeah, sure talk to you later” Stephanie said hanging up the phone.

  Madison rubbed her face, trying to remove some of the doubt and concern that now clouded her thoughts. Slowly she began to unzip the large suitcase to get ready for work.

  “Wow, you look beautiful” Brendan said as Madison emerged from the bedroom and entered the lounge.

  Brendan was led flat out of the sofa, his nose in a book - his eyes widened with delight when he saw Madison.

  “Thanks” she said shyly.

  Madison had made an extra effort to ensure her makeup was flawless and her long hair perfectly straight.
Normally she didn’t put so much effort into her appearance just to go to work, but now she was staying with Brendan she decided she would have to make more of an effort with appearance in general. She wore a clean black work shirt with name luxuriance sewed in gold thread onto the right breast pocket, a black pencil skirt with thick black tights and a long black cardigan that hid the numerous bruises on her arms.

  “Is everything okay?” Brendan asked closing the book and sitting up straight.

  “Yeah, fine. Sorry, my friend Steph rings me every night, we‘ve been best friends since, like, forever. So she worries if I don’t answer her calls, alone in a big city and all that”.

  A sudden feeling of loneliness washed over her, she realised for the first time since she had arrived in London that she was utterly and completely alone. Stephanie was Madison’s only link from her past life and Phi still hadn’t tried to contact her after she left so abruptly.

  “Oh right” Brendan said, a cheeky smile spread across his lips.

  Madison threw him a confused glance; she didn’t have time to question his expression as she was already late for work. Clutching her handbag she hurried towards the front door without throwing him a second glance.

  “I’m going now. I’m late, so I’ll talk to you later” she said as she passed Brendan who watched her curiously.

  “I’ll give you a lift” Brendan offered, throwing the book he was reading on the sofa.

  “Really? Do you mind?” Madison replied.

  “Not at all” he smiled brightly.

  “Good, because it’s just occurred to me I actually don’t know where we are?” she smiled.

  “Come on… let’s go” Brendan laughed.

  * * *

  Luxuriance was slow for a Saturday night. It was the opening of a new club about half a mile down the road which had provoked a bit of competition for Faye who seemed oddly un-phased by the quietness of the club. Madison was grateful for the slow night, it gave her the chance to digest all the information she had accumulated in the last 24 hours. She now found herself questioning her own future. Up until this point everything had been laid out for her, Stephanie would move to London where they would find a new apartment together and a couple of decent jobs. Then one day they would probably find a couple of nice men, settle down, get married, do the whole family and kid’s things. Now though, she had entered the unknown; the person Madison desired was so close but almost untouchable. Another species that had been hidden from the rest of the world, who was just as dangerous as it was desirable. Madison felt hopeless; there was no way she could be with Brendan as a human – The Coven would never allow it. She knew if Brendan was to change her there would also be consequences, she would almost undoubting be sentenced to death and there would be severe consequences for Brendan. Even if Brendan could somehow persuade The Coven to allow him to turn Madison, she hadn’t even begun to think about how it would affect Stephanie or what kind of impact it would have on the rest of her life. Stephanie would be devastated and Madison couldn’t live with the guilt of that forever. Revealing what she knew would only put Stephanie’s life in danger and Madison would die before she could allow that to happen to her best friend. Her mind spun in confusion, every scenario ran erratically out of control and it always ended the same - with someone getting hurt. Stephanie and Brendan were the only two people in her life and she couldn’t afford to lose either of them.

  With her mind spinning in various thoughts and scenarios, Madison spent most of the evening behind the bar serving drinks to the few customers that were in the club or just generally standing around staring into space. Faye had left the club early, a little before 9pm; she had decided to go meet some old friends as it was a slow night. Faye had left instructions for her to leave early if it was still quite by 1am and to lock up the nightclub on her way out. Madison agreed enthusiastically, excited at the prospect of leaving early to go home to Brendan’s luxury apartment. Scott had been working earlier on that evening; but Faye had let him go home early due to the slow business and not wanting another reoccurrence of the night before. Things were still tense between them with dirty looks thrown in her direction all night.

  Madison spent the remainder of the night consumed in thought, only arousing to serve the odd drink now and again.

  “I’ll see you on Tuesday then” Jessica said, slamming a few empty glasses down onto the marble bar. The noise startled her; she jumped breaking free from the heavy thoughts that had clouded her mind for the last several hours.

  “Oh right, what’s the time?” Madison asked, looking around the empty club.

  The music screeched to a stop and silence fell over the club.

  “It’s nearly one. The club has been empty for the last half hour” Jessica replied looking skeptically at Madison.

  A door heavy door slammed as the DJ exited the building.

  “It has? Yeah, sorry I must be tired tonight or something. I’ve been daydreaming all night” she replied shyly.

  “I noticed and it’s a good job it’s been a slow night. Anyway, I’ll see you on Tuesday” Jessica said heading towards the door.

  “Yeah, see you Tuesday. Night” Madison called.

  She stared into the empty club. The lights were now on lighting up the darkness in the four corner of the room. She hadn’t noticed Jessica turning on the lights or that the club had been empty for so long.

  Slowly, Madison collected the glasses from the bar and began to load them into the dishwasher. She was interrupted by a bitter cold blast of wind that filled the large room. She jumped startled, dropping a glass onto the hard floor - it shattered sending small shards of glass flying in different directions. She looked into the open room, the room whistling past her and circling back out towards the fire exit in the hallway to the left of the dance floor. Screwing her face up in confusion she stepped over the glass and headed towards the door on the left. From the open door Madison could see that the fire exit was open. Another gush of cold air hit Madison sending her hair swirling out behind her and flowing down over her face, she swept it away and stared curiously at the open fire exit.

  “Hello?” she said, cocking her head to search around the corners of the doorway.

  Nothing, the hallway and club was deadly quiet; only the sound of the wind whistling around the large room rang in Madison’s ears. She continued to peer suspiciously around the corners of the doorframe, checking no one was lurking in the out of sight. The corridor was empty and still. Curiously Madison walked over to the open fire exit and peered around the edge of the big green doors into the alleyway. The alley was covered in a thick layer of darkness and Madison couldn’t see past the stream of light that shone down into the alley from the open door. A large gust of wind hit Madison almost knocking her off her feet; she stumbled backwards into the corridor pulling back the large double doors with her and slamming them shut.

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end and an unnerving feeling caused her stomach to sink and her ears pricked at the sound of shuffling feet.

  Spinning around to face the large room Madison gasped in fright. A figure stood motionless in the centre of the dance floor, their head lowered towards the floor. Madison eyes focused on a familiar face, a face she had seen a few times but had recently come to feel fear at the sight of this face. It was Gabby. Madison knew she could not reveal to Gabby that she knew what she was and this made Madison even more anxious and scared about the unpredictable Vampire that stood motionless in front of her. Her chest tightened as she struggled to breathe through the shock of Gabby’s appearance. Madison knew Gabby was a different type of Vampire to Brendan, older, unable to step into the daylight and less human. This made her more unpredictable and she knew for this reason she would have to be wearier of her. She remembered Brendan saying older, un-evolved vampires finding it more difficult to feel human emotions like evolved Vampires did. Brendan had mentioned this fact during the fourth or fifth brandy so Madison found it difficult to recall all the details from
the conversation. She knew Gabby was under oath by the Coven not to harm a human being or to reveal her identity to them, but this knowledge did not reassure Madison any less.

  “Gabby? What are you doing here?” Madison asked wearily, walking slowly through the doorway onto the dance floor.

  “Just thought I’d stop by, say hi and all that...” she said softly looking up towards her, a flicker of sarcasm in her voice.

  Gabby’s voice was sweet and just as beautiful as Gabby was. Her long curly blonde hair flowed down over her shoulders onto her silk, black, halter neck top. Her jeans were designer and tight fitting, showing off every curve of her slim, perfect legs. Her skin was flawless and it had a golden glow to it that Madison had not noticed before. Gabby’s eye makeup was thick black which illuminated her usual bright, green eyes. Her eyes were angry and accusing, and her body was positioned in a defensive manner.

  Gabby cocked her head to the side and examined Madison suspiciously.

  Madison took a step backwards at the sudden movement and her heart beat rapidly increased.

  “What do you want, Gabby?” Madison asked forcefully, fear crackled her voice.

  “Thought we could have a girly chat” Gabby replied, lifting her head further and stepping closer to Madison.

  “What about?” Madison asked. She was eager to step backwards again to stop the gap between them closing, but she stood her ground against the Vampire.

  “Don’t play dumb, Madison. I know you’re smarter than that! But then again…..your actions lately haven’t been very smart, have they?” she said, stopping a few feet in front of her so the distance between them was even less.

  Madison stood in silence, unsure what to say and confused about Gabby’s reaction. She knew Gabby was referring to Brendan, but she didn’t know how to respond to her statement.

  “I want you to leave Brendan alone!” Gabby spat.

  “I don’t know what you think is going on, but Brendan saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I would be dead now” Madison said sincerely.

  “Well that’s Brendan’s mistake!” Gabby growled.

  Madison blinked several times in shock, Gabby’s lack of remorse and bitterness towards her cut like a knife.