B008GMVYA4 EBOK

by Drake, Rebecca Ann

  The door to the wooden house flew open with a loud bang causing both Madison and Brendan to become startled, they both looked away searching for the cause of the disruption. Brendan pulled his hand away from Madison’s face and turned to look towards the dark figure that had appeared in the door way of the wooden house.

  “Shoot me in the foot and call me spanky! Brendan, you son of a bitch, what the fuck are you doing here?” the dark figure said rather excitedly in a deep Scottish accent.

  “Leon, how are you?” Brendan asked politely, he flashed his perfect white teeth at the figure in a childish grin.

  The dark figure chuckled happily and took a step out onto the porch.

  “Don’t just stand there, come on in! And bring your bird” he gestured towards Madison.

  Brendan turned towards Madison and mouthed an apology to her. He smiled shyly in embarrassment at his friend’s presumption of their relationship.

  Madison smiled and followed Brendan up the wooden steps of the porch towards the front door where the dark figure had vanished inside the house.

  The corridor inside the house was dimly lit. The décor resembled much of the outside of the house; the walls constructed of the same wooden boards and paint a grayish colour. The staircase stood in the centre of the hallway; its wide wooden steps were cracked and rotten. The first floor landing was covered in complete darkness prevent Madison from making out the design of the upstairs floor plan. The wooden walls were bare, there were no pictures or decorations, the house would have appeared disserted if it wasn’t for the figure that greeted them. The house had an odd smell to it, almost like dirty water covered up by a strong smell of burnt incent sticks.

  Madison pulled the door closed behind her and turned to face Brendan and Leon.

  Both men directed there gaze to her as if she was about to lead the conversation. She stared on shyly, her eyes flickering between the two men. Leon didn’t look like Madison had expected him too, nor had his deep Scottish voice suited his appearance. Leon looked roughly around Madison’s age, possibly a year or two older. His hair was cut short almost like a skin head, his facial features were that of a teenage boy. A few spots on his forehead and chin, his eyes a deep brown and his physic was very slim and athletic. He didn’t look vampire-ish or demon-like in any form, he looked completely normal with his big oversized ears that stood out on either side of his youthful face. His large nose was slightly rounded at the tip and his face was clean but unshaven like most young men. Leon wore a dark blue t-shirt and faded baggy blue jeans that revealed the elastic waist of his boxing shorts. There was something geek-ish about his appearance but he was also attractive in a strange way.

  “And who’s the pretty lady?” Leon asked in a sly voice as he directed a smirk at Brendan.

  “This is Madison” Brendan replied politely gesturing his hand out towards her in a manner of induction.

  “Madison this is Leon” Brendan said gesturing back towards Leon.

  “Hi” Madison replied sheepishly.

  “Nice to meet you Madison” Leon replied, flashing a white toothy smile at her.

  They all stood in silence for a few seconds, each of them throwing each other an awkward look.

  “Umm… could Madison use your toilet?” Brendan asked.

  “Yeah, up the stairs, It’s the door at the top of the landing” Leon said.

  Madison nodded and headed up the staircase. Leon’s eyes widened as he noticed the closed wound on Madison’s cheek from the Skin Crawlers and the newly healing injuries to her knees and forearm. Leon’s eyes quickly narrowed towards Brendan and he moved closer to him at an attempt to talk to him in privacy.

  Madison looked back from the middle of the staircase and shot Brendan a worried look. Brendan half smiled at her and turned back towards Leon who was closing the gap between them. She turned back towards the pitch blackness that surrounded the first floor landing and continued to climb the rotten staircase.

  Silence remained between the two men as she reached the top of the staircase. Her eyes slowly focused in the darkness and she walked towards the door straight across from the staircase. Slowly Madison pushed open the wooden door and felt around for a light switch or cord. Her fingers touched a plastic disc which was suspended in the air, she pulled on the disc until the cord clicked and the bathroom instantly lit up. The light was too bright compared to the utter darkness on the landing. She squinted and shut the bathroom door behind her. Purple and black blobs floated round the room from the overexposure of light and she blinked several times to clear her sight.

  The bathroom was painted white and had a matching white bath tub, toilet and sink. There was nothing spectacular about this bathroom compared to the bathroom in Brendan’s apartment - it met it means and it was clean.

  Above the basin hung a beach coloured medicine cabinet with a sliding mirrored door. Madison headed towards it. Muffled voices echoed the staircase, travelling up towards the bathroom door.

  Perching on the edge of the bathtub, Madison torn off some toilet paper and rinsed it under the tap in the sink. Pulling aside the remaining fabric of her tights around her knees, she began to dab the cuts with the wet toilet paper. She winced as the cold water touch the wounds. Carefully, she removed the dry blood and the specks of tarmac that had clung to the drying blood. Once both cuts were clean and she had attended to the large gash on her forearm, Madison threw the tissue into the toilet and flushed it. The room rocked from side to side as she struggled to rise from where she had been perched. Taking a few deep breaths the rocking motion began to subside and Madison eased herself slowly to her feet. The cuts on her knees and forearm where inflamed and would most likely become infected but as long as she continued to keep the cuts clean, they would heal without too much scarring. A drop of blood fell onto the white tiled flooring of the bathroom; she lifted her forearm to see the cleaning of the wound had reopened the edge of the cut. Grabbing more tissue from beside the toilet she applied pressure to the cut until it stopped bleeding and wiped the blood from the floor.

  She rinsed her face and removed the stained makeup before exiting the bathroom quietly. Madison stopped outside the bathroom door; concealed by darkness she could hear Brendan and Leon discussing something with lowered voices.

  Brendan’s voice was a gentle hum compared to Leon’s deeper much louder voice with a Scottish twang. Leon’s voice had a childlike quality to it, very much like his childish facial features. Both men had left the corridor by the front door so Madison began to step down the staircase silently, struggling to hear the conversation that was being had.

  A door to the left of the staircase was cracked open, a beam of light shone out into the dimly lit hallway. Slowly Madison walked silently towards the door, avoiding any floor boards that looked loose or weak that might creek under the weight of her body. Madison grabbed the doorframe to support herself from stepping on a loose floorboard; she peered around the doorframe through the gap in the door. Slowing her breathing Madison strained to hear the conversation that was occurring in the next room. Brendan was perched against a fireplace, his body twisted in the direction of the far wall. The room was painted cream with the same wooden flooring which covered the whole house or as much of the house that she had seen so far. An old green arm chair sat in front of Brendan only allowing her to only see the top half of his body. Apart from the few furnishings that were in sight of the gap, the room looked bare.

  “I don’t know what to do!” there was level of despair in Brendan’s voice that unnerved her.

  The hopelessness feeling flooded back in, even Brendan was lost for ideas of how to protect Madison. She almost thought about serenading to Gabby and the Skin Crawlers, after all if Brendan didn’t know how to keep her from harm there was little she could do.

  A painful ball grew in her throat and she pushed back tears that threatened to spill out over her cheeks. She had cried enough over the last month for one lifetime, she wasn’t going to allow them the satisfaction of more g
ut felt tears of sorrow.

  “I really don’t know mate. It’s clear to me, you have two choices. One, you run and when I mean run, I mean run! You change your names, your appearance, everything. Leave the country! Go as far away as possible and stay hidden for the rest of your life and hers! And for you, that’s a very long time to stay hidden. Two, well I don’t know how you feel about this but…..you turn her! Under New Coven laws all vampires are protected unless they pose a threat to the lives of humans or fellow vampires. As a human with the knowledge of your existence she does pose a threat. A weak human with unstable emotions which could result in the whole of humanity knowing about things that they really shouldn’t know anything about! From what you have said, she’s alone in the world. This may pose as an advantage in your defense of turning her. But understand if you do so, there will be consequences for the both of you. I am afraid I don’t know how serve they would be, but I’m guessing with your position within The Coven and with the high powered ‘friends’ you keep, the punishment would be minimal for you. For her, if you can convince them you were in a sound mind when you changed her and there was no other option, then she might be allowed out under your guidance” Leon replied truthfully.

  Brendan put his head in his hands, his right elbow lent against the mantelpiece of the fireplace. His fingers rubbed his temples in an attempt to subdue the pain in his head.

  Madison’s heart wrenched at the sight of Brendan experiencing physical pain which she had unintentionally caused. Her mind pondered over what Leon had said about Brendan turning her into a Vampire. Becoming a Vampire had never occurred to Madison before now; she had never even thought it would be an option because of the strict laws of The Coven. She wondered for a split second what it would be like to become a Vampire, drinking blood to survive, never growing old or dying.

  “I can’t choose that life for her. This way of life isn’t something to be taken lightly, it’s a curse! I won’t allow her to lead that life unless I have no other option!” Brendan insisted.

  “Then you run…” Leon said softly.

  “Ok. We run.” Brendan said more hopeful.

  “She won’t live forever, Brendan. Then what will you do? You’ll be alone… forever” Leon said emotionless in his Scottish accent.

  Madison heart raced in her chest. Anger flickered through her as they were deciding her fate without her even being involved in the conversation.

  “Brendan, you know Gabby. You know she’ll never stop until she gets what she wants! And by now she’s probably told The Coven her deranged side of the story and now you will have them chasing you as well. All their resources! For Christ sakes you are their top hunter! You know how they play the game! They have undocumented resources all over the world, if they wanted too, they could find you in a heartbeat. You know running away will not work if they want to find you” Leon protested.

  “Let’s hope they won’t want to find us that badly then. You’re right, I am their best hunter, and that’s why I know to avoid certain towns and cities that The Coven has some hold over. I can protect her! Maybe give her a shot at some kind of normal life” Brendan said defensively.

  “What is it with this girl? I thought you said you just met her? You’re planning to spread the rest of her life, which could be another 50-60 years to keep her safe? She’s only going to grow old and die…” Leon said confused.

  Madison’s cheeks flushed, she felt embarrassed and angered at Leon’s confusion to why Brendan would want to help her. It was clear Leon had some kind of bitterness towards humans and The Coven. He couldn’t see any point in protecting something that would surely die when the expiry date ran out. Human years were nothing more than a couple of month to the immortal.

  “Don’t talk about her like that!” Brendan said angrily.

  “I’m sorry” Leon said sheepishly, his voice made it clear he was only sorry for Brendan’s reaction not for what he had said.

  “Look, I can’t explain it. It’s weird, I don’t even know what I feel myself let alone put it into words so that you might understand it.” Brendan sighed.

  “Does she have any family? Where does she even come from?” Leon said curiously after a few seconds of silence.

  “She’s from Berkshire. Like I said before, I’m not sure about her family… I don’t think so… if she has she won’t talk about them” Brendan said honestly, hopelessness seeping into his voice once again.

  “Maybe she can go home then?” said a women’s voice from across the room. The woman had not been in Madison’s line of sight through the gap in the open door, so she was surprised to hear such a feminine voice. The woman’s voice was high pitched, but soft – music-like.

  Brendan wheeled around towards the opposite side of the room. His eyes met Madison’s for a short moment as he shifted his position to face the woman, but he didn’t acted surprised as if he knew Madison had been listening in all this time.

  Madison gasped a little too loudly throwing her hand up over her mouth to stop the large gush of air from escaping her lungs. Her eyes widened as she watched Brendan’s reaction.

  “I don’t think it’s that simple” Brendan said softly, continuing the conversation as if he hadn’t spotted Madison spying on them from the gap in the door.

  “From the impression she’s given me, she came to London without knowing anyone…” he continued.

  “I say send her back in the direction she came from. Pay her to keep her mouth shut and tell Gabby you killed her!” the women spat, a flicker of jealously in her voice.

  Brendan’s face fell.

  “That’s enough!” Madison spat pushing the door open and stepping into the small lounge.

  Leon twisted his torso around to face Madison from where he was sat on the green sofa. His feet rested on a dark brown, wooden coffee table that stood in the centre of the room, newspapers and magazine spread across the surface of the coffee table in an untidy fashion. A few books were stacked up on edge of the table, old books which were worn around the spine.

  Leon stared at Madison in horror, his hearing was not as attuned to sounds as Brendan was and he had been unaware that she had been listening throughout the conversation. His face was a picture of embarrassment and regret, like you would expect to see on any human which was caught bitching about someone. Brendan stood up straight from where he had been perched against the fireplace on the back wall. His eyes met Madison’s then slowly slipped to the floor as if he was ashamed that he had not stopped the conversation which had taken place.

  “Are you okay?” he said looking up at her briefly.

  “Yes, fine” Madison said calmly, hiding the anger or pain in her voice.

  She turned her gaze to the unknown woman that would have happily sent her back home to the wolf that awaited her.

  A slim blonde girl sat crossed legged on a matching green sofa on the opposite side of the room. She was young, younger then Madison with short blonde hair that was cut into a mid length bob. Her eyes were a deep purple surrounded by layers of thick black eye shadow. She wore bright red lip stick and her skin was the palest of pale, but equally as flawless and beautiful as Gabby’s had been. A short red mini shirt covered her thighs and a white vest was pulled down just covering her midriff. Many multi-coloured bangles covered her wrists and forearms. She had a gothic, punk look to her appearance which suited her small frame and mouse-like facial features. She smiled at Madison shyly, there was no sorrow or regret in her face for the comments she had made compared to Leon’s reaction.

  “Hi, I’m Fred” she said standing up and stretching out a hand towards Madison.

  Madison watched her reaction carefully as she stepped towards the coffee table, stretching out her damaged arm to meet Fred’s. They shook hands holding eye contact. Fred’s smile didn’t drop, it grew larger when Madison took her hand and faded slowly as Madison retracted her arm.

  “Madison” she said wearily, after she had already let go of Fred’s hand.

  “So how are you
feeling? You got some nasty cuts there” Fred said settling back down onto the sofa.

  “Fine…..thanks” she said still holding Fred’s eye contact.

  “I smelt you coming up the road” Fred laughed.

  “Now Fred, you know we don’t eat our guests…” Leon chuckled.

  “Their joking” Brendan said quickly, smiling at Leon and Fred.

  Madison found Fred’s and Leon’s attempts to lighten the mood unnerving. She felt uncomfortable about them both joking about eating her.

  “Oh, oh…..very funny” Madison joked, a hint of sarcasm in my voice.

  “Well by the sounds of it you have had quite an exciting night. You must be exhausted” Leon said a little more compassionate then his conversation had been with Brendan.

  “You can both stay in the spare room. It’s the last door at the end of the hall” Leon said looking at Madison then to Brendan.

  Brendan nodded and walked around the coffee table towards her.

  “Thanks” she smiled.

  “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” Fred giggled, exchanging jokingly looks with Leon and Brendan.

  Madison continued to stare at Fred for a second, dismissing the jokingly sense of humor she persistently tried to involve the two men in. Brendan placed one hand on her lower back, breaking Madison’s stare. He ushered her towards the door and hurried her out of the lounge.

  Once in the corridor Brendan took the lead upstairs towards the bedroom. The first floor landing curved around at the top of the stairs to the right and overlooked the staircase below.