B008GMVYA4 EBOK

by Drake, Rebecca Ann

  “You are well out of your depth here, kid and if you’re not careful, you’ll get bitten by a shark!” Gabby teased, a smirk twitching the corners of her lips.

  “What do you mean by that?” Madison asked suspiciously.

  “I think we both know...”

  Madison fell silent. She stared into Gabby’s judgmental, stunningly green eyes. Did she know that Madison knew her secret? Had Brendan told her?

  Brendan had made it quite clear last night that under no circumstance should she make any other Vampires aware that she knew about their existence, but now Madison doubted whether Brendan had adhered to his own warning.

  “I wouldn’t tell… anyone?” Madison said carefully.

  “Tell anyone what?” Gabby asked suspiciously, a satisfied smile spread slowly across her face as she realised Madison had just walked straight into her trap.

  “Umm… I didn’t mean…”

  Madison tried to backtrack, but it was too late. The wide, toothy smile on Gabby’s face proved she had gotten what she had come for, confirmation that Brendan had revealed their secret to her...

  “Brendan’s been a very, very naughty boy. You know, I would have thought he would know better than that! But people do surprise you” a hum of satisfaction in her voice.

  “He didn’t, Bernie told me” Madison protested. This statement was true, Bernie had told her Brendan was a Vampire; Brendan had only confirmed it.

  Gabby took a step towards her, closing the distance between them even more. Her eyes locked onto Madison’s and she took a deep breath - blowing her cool breath out over Madison face. Goosebumps spread out rapidly like a plague over the surface of her skin, causing every hair on her body to stand on end.

  “Bernie?” Gabby asked, scanning Madison’s face for a flicker of deceit.

  “Bernie lived in the same house as me, he was my neighbor and a Skin Crawler” Madison said sincerely.

  “Skin Crawler? Where did you learn that word?” Gabby hissed in disgust.

  Her body twitched towards Madison as if she were about to pounce on her. Madison flinched in response, her body becoming more eager to distance herself from the angered Vampire before her.

  “Brendan… said... he… umm… saved me from them. They were going to kill me! If Brendan hadn‘t been there…”

  “Still… Brendan knows this is the most vital and enforced rule, never tell a human of our existence. You have no idea how many situations like this have gone hideously wrong in the past. How do you think Bram Stoker came up with the idea for Dracula? One of the most famous poor examples for a Vampire that has been swayed by a human!

  Dracula fell for a human girl called Mina and her fiancé didn’t take to kindly to Dracula’s actions, having him killed, and telling his friend, Bram Stoker, of his encounter with the Vampire. It was too late before the Coven were made aware of the situation and before they would do anything about it, the book of diary entries and ship logs was published for the whole world to read about the encounter. It was published in great secrecy so that the evidence was not removed before publishing. It caused such outrage and scandal throughout all the different Covens in the world. Over the years The Story of Dracula which had once been feared by thousands of people became nothing more than a myth. Obliviously, the Coven would have preferred a story of such scandal to have never been released, but sometimes people don’t notice what is right in front of them. And if anything, it made Vampires a fictional phenomenon.

  It took years for the hype of Dracula to settle down. During that period we were more exposed then ever. Brendan really should know better than to expose us in such a selfish and reckless fashion…

  In these types of circumstances, when a human becomes aware of the existence of Vampires and Demons, we are instructed to neutralize the suspect swiftly and promptly” Gabby said.

  Madison froze – fear began to take hold of her, her blood pulsing around her veins. Panic erupted within her, clouding her judgment and sending her thoughts swirling out of control. She didn’t know if Gabby was intending to cause her harm or whether her threats were an attempt to scare Madison enough that she would no longer pursue Brendan, but she knew she couldn’t trust the beautiful, green eyed Vampire.

  “The normal procedure is to take you quietly to The Coven. They would deal with you in a convert manner, we tend to make too much mess if we do these things ourselves, but…I think I would enjoy this a lot more if I did this myself” Gabby whispered, leaning towards Madison as if she was telling her a juicy secret.

  “What? Why would you? I would never tell anyone!” Madison protested in desperation.

  “Oh sweetie, it doesn’t matter. I was going to kill you anyway, make it look like a suicide or something. Anyone can see that you’re unstable, running away from home, moving into a Skin Crawler infested bedsit that has now consequently burnt down. You were just asking for trouble. Everyone will think you started the fire that killed your house mates and then you couldn’t live with the guilt so you committed suicide. It’s quite poetic really… I doubt anyone would even notice you were gone until they eventually find your lifeless corpse. I really must thank you. You have made everything so much easier now…I don’t even have to hold back!” Gabby said, her red lips curling around her perfectly, white teeth.

  Gabby’s blood lust towards Madison was clear and terrifying. Her hungry for revenge was like something she had only seen in horror movies. Gabby gained a certain sense of sickening satisfaction out of causing human’s pain. The hunger and longing for the kill burned like fire in Gabby’s eyes, her face was twisted and it begun to appear unnatural and hunger stricken.

  Madison bottom lip quivered as her blood ran cold and the colour drained away from her face. She felt as if she was having an out of body experience, her soul, essence, had floated up out of her body and was looking down upon her empty shell and the angered Vampire. The past 24hours had been like a dream, something Madison’s subconscious had manifested into an elaborate story full of demons and mythical creatures and it didn’t matter how real it seemed – she still had a hard time believing it. Now though, the dream seemed to be coming to erupt end and all that was left was for Madison to wake up in the dark, dingy bedsit, the base of Bernie’s loud music thumping in the background and the swallow raised voices of Rich and Suzy arguing in the distance. The detailed landscape around Madison and the very angry, dangerous Vampire stood before her only confirmed that this was not a dream and the pending danger was very real. Fear swirled around in her mind like sharks circling it’s pray before the strike. Her stomach did somersaults as it tried to counteract the swimming motion of her head.

  Gabby began to edge eagerly towards Madison, the same spiteful grin plaster across her flawless face. The smell of smoky burnt wood invaded Madison nostrils causing them to tingle and inch. Gabby’s scent was bitter compared to Brendan’s naturally sweet warming scent. Gabby had attempted to cover up her scent with huge amounts of a sickly, smelling, designer perfume which was a tad too overwhelming.

  Gabby’s smile grew larger as she continued to close the gap between herself and Madison. Her head lowered towards the ground and her eyes stared up at Madison from underneath her brow as she stalked her pray. Her body movement was motionless and her foot steps were silent, but her determination resembled that of a terminator and Madison half expected John Conner to turn up at any moment.

  Before Madison had made a conscious decision to move she found herself sprinting towards the fire exit on the far side of the corridor. Her mind was blank but chaotic at the same time. She found it difficult to pin point a thought or feeling. Every sensory was thrown out of balance and her instincts had taken over, turning her body and throwing her forward across the few feet of dance floor towards the entrance of the corridor.

  A flash of colour caught Madison’s eye as she approached the entrance of the corridor. Gabby was at her side - she had moved so quick Madison saw nothing but a blur of black and a pale flesh. Her small, manicured ha
nd clutched onto Madison’s right upper arm – grabbing her tightly. She was lifted off the ground becoming air born in the same fashion Rich had picked Madison up and thrown her into his bedroom at the bedsit; Gabby was now throwing her towards the fire exit in the same manner. Madison saw the corridor pass in an instant and then there was the pending impact of the large green fire exit doors. Instincts took over; she threw her arms up over her face and closed her eyes tight as her already weak body impacted with the metal doors. Her arms Impacted first followed by the rest of her body and then there was nothing but the motion of her limp body falling through the air downwards towards the floor. Her eyes flew open just in time to see the black wet concrete from the alleyway outside growing closer. Her body impacted on the concrete with a loud thud, her knees slamming into the hard wet ground. She screamed in pain; her scream echoing down the long dark alleyway. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her whole body shook violently from shock and immense pain. Madison slowly rolled over onto her back to examine her injuries. The tights on her knees had torn back revealing 3inch deep gashes on both her knees. Another gash about a foot long on the back of her right lower arm had begun to seep blood over her clothes and onto the concrete. Tears caused her vision to become blurry and rain poured down over her wounds giving the appearance they were bleeding more than they actually were the blood diluting and running faster. Painful cries erupted from her throat; she struggled to catch her breath, gulping down large mouthfuls of air.

  The slender frame of Gabby’s silhouette appeared in the doorway of the fire exit. Madison caught her breath, the pain she had felt a second ago had ceased at the sight of the pending danger approaching. Her face was shadowed in darkness but her posture was still, slumped forward, stalking her prey.

  She shuffled on the ground pushing the weight of her body up with her hands and stumbling to her feet. Her legs were numb; wobbling like jelly beneath her and the skin around her knees tingled and throbbed as blood began to run down her legs soaking her tights. The heavy rain soaked the rest of her clothes and hair as she tried frantically to push the strains of wet hair away from her face allowing her to see more clearly. All she could do nothing but stare up at Gabby, tear continuing to pour from her blurry eyes.

  Gabby’s curly blonde hair flowed out from behind her shoulders and her bright green eyes became cat like, reflecting the light from a dim street lamp at the entrance of the alleyway. The pale, smooth skin of her arms appeared flawless under the orange glow of the alleyway. Her hands were stiff in preparation, but her body seemed relaxed and still.

  “You are nothing but a pet to Brendan, don’t fool yourself by thinking you could be anything more. We can have a little game of cat and mouse… two guesses who the cat is?” Gabby laughed her voice dark and cold.

  “Please…..don’t!” Madison cried her voice breaking with sobs of desperation.

  Gabby cocked her head to the side, through the darkness her brilliant white teeth shone as a smile of satisfaction spread across her face.

  “Welcome to my world” she hissed.

  In one quick motion Gabby threw her head back as if she mimicking laughter, but no sound of amusement erupted from her throat, instead a deep animal like growl erupted from her within her. As her mouth opened wide, her canine teeth began to grow an extra two inches as she continued to howl unnaturally. The sound echoed down the alleyway and in that moment everything became still and quite apart from the unnatural animal-like howl. Even the rats that had crept across the concrete down vanished in fear and desperation.

  The howl lasted no more than four seconds, but to Madison it had seemed like hours. She had forgotten what anything else sounded like in those seconds, like that was the only sound that existed in the world up until that point. Her surroundings moved in slow motion, the droplets of rain slowed taking what appeared minutes for them to hit the floor and splash off again in rebound. Every muscle in Gabby’s body seemed to vibrate and ripple, allowing Madison to see every movement as her body began to change.

  Clear strings of salvia hung from Gabby’s enlarged canine teeth onto her jaw, like something you expect to see from a wild animal. Her powerful green eyes shone in the moon light, even more cat like then before. The animal like howl began to fade slowly as she lowered her head to make eye contact with Madison once again.

  Madison eyes were wide - horror stricken. Her lips parted and for the few seconds while the unnatural howl had lasted she had stopped breathing. They stared at each other for a moment. Time had stood still. Only the sound of the rain beating down onto the concrete filled the alleyway.

  A sudden bolt of electricity jolted Madison back into reality, her instincts took over again and before she realised what was occurring, she was running deeper down into the dark alleyway. Adrenaline pumped through her veins pushing her forwards and causing her heart to pump erratically in her chest. Tears streamed continuously down her cheeks but they were masked by the heavy rainfall that fell down over her. She sprinted past bit of sodden paper and old newspapers which were scattered along the edges of the alleyway. Broken glass crunched beneath her damp Ugg boots as she tried to sprint over the broken bottles. A dark green dumpster stood against the wall of one of the neighboring buildings, she sprinted pasted it without giving it a second glance.

  Madison spun her head around expecting to see Gabby hot on her heel. The alleyway was empty behind, but she didn’t stop - she kept running, undeterred by the sight of the empty alleyway. She fought for breath as her body powered on, fear rising within her and panic erupting from the missing silhouette of the raging Vampire which pursed her. Madison twisted her head around once more, bracing herself for the sight that she had been dreading. The alleyway appeared empty again, but the rain and darkness clouded her version. A stream of light shone down onto the wet concrete in the distance from the open fire exit of the nightclub. Madison couldn’t make out whether Gabby was still stood in the doorway nor did she want to stick around to find out - she continued to run. She had been running for longer than ten seconds and Gabby had insisted on giving her a ten second head start. She twisted her body around one last time - the alleyway still remained empty. Madison stopped dead in her tracks. The doors of the nightclub were situated in the very distance. An odd feeling of Déjà vu hung heavy over Madison; it was as if she had been here in the alleyway before – reliving this same occurrence before. But Madison had never ventured into the alleyway behind luxuriance; it had a reputation of being dodgy.

  Flash backs of the recurring nightmare that Madison had suffered for months exploded in her head. The alleyway was almost identical to the alleyway in her nightmare, even though she had never seen it before and the absorbing darkness, the littered scattered concert and the large green dumpster had all been present in her nightmare. The dream had been a premonition of her fate; the lurking danger in her dream had been Gabby all along. Madison felt physically sick, there was no way she could have known this was about to happen, but somehow her consciousness had been trying to warn her all this time. There was haziness about tonight which caused her to wonder whether she was dreaming now. It was the same fearful, surreal feeling Madison had had last night during the incident with the Skin Crawlers. But she knew deep down it wasn’t a dream, it was real and Madison’s life was once again in danger for the second time in 24hrs.

  Her mind span in panic and fear, she was unsure what to do next. She threw her hand up over her face and scrapped away the sodden hair that stuck to her cheeks and forehead. Frantically she scanned the alleyway, but she was helpless – a sitting duck. Had Gabby given up the chase? She had planned her attack and motive so carefully it was unlikely that she would have given up the chase so easily - unless there was some other kind of motive, maybe, she was just trying to scare Madison away? But it was more likely that she was playing cat and mouse, the game that she had already intended to play. This whole game was a twisted in jealousy, a pathetic excuse to keep Brendan all to herself.

  Madison knew she couldn�
�t let her guard down, if she were to relax for even a split second that would give Gabby the advantage to make her move. Just like a bird she would swoop down and devour her prey.

  Madison’s heart leapt into her throat as a shadowy figure filled the stream of light that followed onto the concrete from the open fire exit of the nightclub. She ducked quickly as her eyes fixed onto the shadowy figure. Madison leapt over towards the side of a large green dumpster that stood to her left. She cowered, her face creased with fear and her hands shook violently at her sides once again. She tired frantically to make her body as small as possible, tucking in her legs and arms, curling up into a small ball against the damp concrete – forcing herself to be invisible. Large drops of rainwater fell from the plastic rim of the green dumpster onto her weak body. The rain was beginning to ease; now only a light rainfall fell down into the alleyway where Madison hid.

  Step, step, step, step, step.

  Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the alleyway. The same heavy footsteps had been present in Madison’s nightmare, they were a sign that this living nightmare was slowly coming to an end.

  Madison lifted her shaking hands up to her mouth and pressed her fingers tightly against her lips to prevent herself from making any sound that would draw attention to where she was hiding. The urge to scream was overwhelming and her voice withered quietly through the sharp intakes of air. Her body was stiff with fright but her mind raced in panic. Tears rolled continuously down her already wet and flushed cheeks.

  Step, step, step.

  The footsteps echoed louder throughout the alleyway as the danger continued to approach closer and closer. The reoccurring nightmare flashed back into her mind, she saw herself running through the tunnel of darkness that was the alleyway. The heavy footsteps growing louder as it pursued her like a hunter pursuing its prey. The arms that would eventually pull her desperate body from behind the dumper, consuming her in darkness would be the last thing she saw. Madison fate had been written in the stars, decided for her by some higher power that had placed Madison in all these unknown circumstance leading up to this point. There was no other explanation for her dreams becoming reality. Now all that was left was for Madison to except the knowledge that she would never see Brendan, Stephanie or Phil again. That the end was drawing near and nothing was left for her but to wait.