B008GMVYA4 EBOK

by Drake, Rebecca Ann

  “Don’t you lay a fucking finger on her” Brendan said angrily, his voice loud and clear.

  “That’s funny, because I have five fingers on her and a gun to her head. I don’t think you are really in a position to be making demands” Trace said sarcastically, pushing the barrel of the gun harder into Madison’s temple.

  She winced at the pressure in her temple. Fear flowed through her body like magma flowing through a vent in the earth’s crust. Shock flooded her system and the last thing she had expected was for a Vampire to carry a gun.

  “How are you here? Where’s Jonas?” Gabby asked furiously.

  “I got a tip off from a little birdie who told me you were heading over to The Coven to collect something very old and valuable. All I had to do was arrive here first and stay ahead of the game. Of course, I wasn’t to know that you wouldn’t kill Madison before you got to the Coven, but some old friends caught up with me when I arrived in London, they sent a false message to The Black Orchid, giving them the impression that I was only a few miles away, heading directly for you. But of course, I was here……with Jonas. Telling him exactly what was going on…

  He knows about Madison, and he knows about the arrangement you have with The Black Orchid - Madison for the scroll. As you can probably imagine, my Fathers not very happy to hear a few of his trusted members are plotting to give The Black Orchid such a treasured and powerful weapon” Brendan said.

  “And where is Lord Jonas? Hiding in the closet?” Gabby laughed, but fear crippled her voice.

  “Father decided to sit this one out. You know, turn a blind eye and all. It found it all too messy and thought it was probably best to stay out of this one. It’s funny; he didn’t seem to care less when I told him about Madison. It seems that he trusts my judgment, although he did say that he didn’t feel it was necessary to inform any of the other Coven members about Madison. Or the fact, a few forbidden guest turned up unannounced. He was quiet understanding, on my part anyway. Don’t you agree, Leon?” Brendan said his eyes shifting towards the guard on his left.

  The guard raised his hands and threw back the hood of his black robe. Leon relieved himself from under the black monk-like robes. His forehead was damp, beads of sweat clung to his hair line from the warmth of being hidden underneath the thick black robe. Leon looked pale, big dark circles hung underneath his eyes from lack of sleep, but he appeared to be in high spirits – prepared for the fight.

  Madison was completely taken aback from Leon’s appearance, she never expected Leon to assist Brendan knowing how dangerous it was for him or why he would put his life on the line for her when she had done nothing but cause unnecessary doubt for him and Fred.

  Madison stared in shock as her eyes darted from Leon and back to Brendan, in total amazement.

  “Leon” Trace hissed, followed by a deep inhuman animal like growl.

  Gabby and the Twins shifted nervously, lowering their heads and arching their backs in a defensive posture. Readying themselves to strike encase of an attack.

  “Hello mate, miss me?” Leon asked in a mocking tone.

  Trace screwed his face up in disgusted, he unknowingly jabbed the gun harder into Madison’s temple. She winced at the force, her head jolted slightly to the right.

  “Where’s the whore? Left her in that twisted dimension of yours?” Gabby hissed bitterly.

  “Actually, Gabby… I couldn’t give up the chance of kicking your fat, unattractive ass!” said the cloaked guard on the left. The guard raised its hand and pulled back black thick hood, revealing a slightly smug looking Fred.

  Madison watched in astonishment as all her new friends risked their life for hers.

  Her thoughts trailed back to the last time she had seen Stephanie at the club, her eyes a deadly red, the paleness of her skin and the vicious ordeal Gabby had inflected on her. As Brendan had never gone to the club, it meant that Stephanie could still be there, a lethal newborn vampire alone, possibly, by now, loose in London. She almost burst into tears at the thought of Stephanie lost on the streets of London, afraid and alone. She could have been in danger or worse, preying on some innocent human. Faye’s lifeless and cold body discarded in the VIP area of the club.

  “Stephanie” Madison whispered unconsciously, deep in thought.

  Trace jabbed her with the barrel of the gun, urging her to be silent.

  “What?” Brendan asked curiously.

  “Stephanie! My friend! She came to London looking for me” Madison said quickly before Trace could jab her again.

  “Shut it” Trace snarled, his cold breath flowing on to the back of her neck causing all her hairs to stand on end.

  “Gabby killed her! She turned her into a Vampire, so she would kill me. She‘s still at the club.” Madison shouted to Brendan, ignoring Trace.

  Brendan eyes were fixed on the loaded gun attached to Madison’s forehead, concern covered his features. Brendan had become slightly more panicked by the thought of a newborn Vampire roaming the streets of London looking for something to eat.

  “Did you do that?” Brendan asked shocked at the lengths Gabby had gone to.

  “Best plan I ever come up with. Turn her friend and then watch as she gets eaten by the only person in the world that truly cares about her. I find it quite poetic” Gabby spat, a pleased smile stretched across her face.

  “You sick, twisted, spineless bitch” Brendan spat, angrily – disgusted with her.

  “Whoa… Brendan. You know I like a bit of dirty talk, but not in front of Madison. Please.” Gabby joked, sarcastically.

  “You left a newborn Vampire in a nightclub, unguarded, in the centre of London?” Leon asked disbelief in his voice.

  “Well technically, I left her for Brendan, but he never turned up. So I guess… the answer is yes” Gabby said, as normal tone of voice.

  “The coven needs to know there’s a newborn Vampire on the loose” Brendan whispered to Leon.

  Leon nodded but did not move his eyes remained firmly on Gabby and Trace.

  “Please don’t hurt…” Madison began, but was stopped abruptly as the wind was knocked out of her. Trace jabbed her in the stomach with the handle of the gun to silence her. Madison instantly doubled over in pain, gasping for air. Trace grabbed her, pulling her upright and forcing the gun back to her temple.

  She wailed in pain, the broken noise from her lungs filling the room.

  “Madison? Madison? Madison, are you alright? You bastard…”Brendan shouted, stepping towards them.

  “Hey, you stay where you are” Trace demanded, pushing the gun harder into Madison’s temple.

  “They killed Faye” Madison croaked, now beginning to find some confidence against the Vampires.

  She needed to tell Brendan what the other Vampire’s had done before they killed her, particularly in an attempt to semi clear her conscious, although the death of her two friends would always lay heavy on her shoulders and so Trace, Gabby and the twins would receive the punishment they deserved for what they had done.

  “You killed Faye too?” Brendan asked in disbelief, clenching his fist at his side.

  “No, actually I didn’t kill her, the newborn did. We were starving it, making sure it was hungry enough to kill Madison without a second glance. You know what these newborn vampires are like, some of their humanity hides beneath the surface. They feel guilt for the people they kill once the mental blocks lift. I wanted to make sure it was entirely overwhelmed by hunger that it wouldn’t even recognise Madison as nothing more than a juice steak when she stepped in that room. The survival instinct is a very hard one to fight, everyone starts looking like a meal when you get that hungry, especially when you’ve just gone through that type of transformation. Unfortunately for Faye, she simply got in the way…” Gabby said calmly.

  Brendan expression was shock and sorrow; he was truly remorseful for the violent and sickening lengths Gabby had gone too as a result of her jealousy towards Madison. Brendan lowered his head in shame and hopelessness, the types
of emotion you wouldn’t expect a Vampire to feel, but Brendan was different from other Vampires, he felt. The new evolved type of Vampire’s that had evolved to live closer to human, who had lost their desire to hunt and feed on humans, but regained some of their human emotions, a better breed of Vampire who no longer hid in the shadows. Brendan was ashamed of his Vampire relatives that had hurt the girl he loved out of Gabby’s jealousy and Trace’s love for Gabby, and the twin’s willingness to do anything Gabby or Trace asked.

  Brendan had too lost a friend, Faye had been a friend of Brendan’s like she had been a friend to Madison. They had both lost someone, and Madison couldn’t shake if the feeling she was about to lose a lot more.

  “You let Faye die?” Brendan asked staring directly at Trace, an excusing tone to his voice.

  Trace blinked and shook his head slightly. Madison felt his body temple against hers, his knees knocked together as his legs threaten to collapses beneath him.

  Brendan caught a nerve; Trace had seemed completely relaxed and focused until Gabby mentioned the details of Faye’s death. Trace had then become rigged and stiff, tightening his grip around Madison’s chest and digging the gun deeper into her temple. There had clearly been something between Faye and Trace that had caused such a reaction, this explained why Trace had been so shell shocked when Madison had first come across Faye and Stephanie in the VIP lounge – pieces of the puzzle began to fit to fit together.

  “I… I…”Trace stuttered, unsure how to reply to Brendan – suddenly confused.

  “It was too late. If we had stopped the newborn, Faye would have bleed to death anyway – so what we did was kinder. There was little suffering” Gabby protested.

  Trace shifted his eyes in Gabby’s direction but did not make eye contact with her, he stared blankly through her. Trace inhaled loudly through his nose, regaining his focus and straightening up, pulling me closer against his chest.

  “You broke the code, killed a human…” Brendan shouted.

  “No! You broke the code” Gabby shouted back, her eyes accusing.

  “You broke the code when you told your little whore! How do you know that the first thing she did was run and tell her little chum, the newborn? And the newborn could of told someone?!” Gabby continued her voice echoing around the room.

  “She wouldn’t” Fred muttered.

  Madison stared at Fred, their eyes meeting for a second. Madison released she had made a friend in Fred like she had in Stephanie. The bond wasn’t as strong between Fred and Madison as it was with Stephanie, but it was there, and Madison appreciated that.

  “Madison would never say anything, I trust her completely” Brendan argued.

  “You don’t know that for a fact, you’ve known her for what like three weeks? A month at the most? That’s not really long enough to trust someone is it? She hasn’t even told you about her past… Besides, everything was fine until she started sniffing around” Gabby said, angry at first but as her sentence flowed she became more drawn and distant.

  “That doesn’t make it right to forcefully take someone’s life and turn them without their consent, you know this better than anyone… And then allow a newborn to kill another human in the process. You know that is not how we do things” Brendan protested, he’s becoming sympathetic.

  “We’re Vampires, Brendan or have you forgotten that? That’s what we do... You may have been brainwashed by The Covens being civilized thing, and the ‘live along humans not against them’ but we can’t! We are too old; we haven’t evolved like you… Drinking blood out of a plastic bag isn’t the same for us, we need the kill. We thrive on the kill… You may have been domesticated but the animal inside us is still very much there” Gabby protested, passion raining in her voice.

  “You are really twisted, Gabby. Just because we’re Vampires doesn’t mean we have to act like psychotic murders. Killing innocent people because you’re jealous the person you’re infatuated with has chosen someone else” Brendan spat.

  “Don’t flatter yourself!” Gabby laughed slightly embarrassed.

  “Why? Everything I’ve said is true. At first you probably only intended to scare Madison off, make her leave quietly, but as you went along, you grew more sick and twisted, turning a harmless game into war. Killing people, destroying lives, working with the Black Orchid! Making a deal with them to give them something so powerful that it could wipe out the entire human race and us too! I bet you didn’t even think of that, did you?” Brendan said.

  “She did this, not me!” Gabby said accusingly, pointing her manicured polished index finger at Madison.

  Brendan laughed; he turned to Leon and shook his head in disbelief. Leon frowned at him in response, almost laughing hysterically.

  “You’re delusional, no one did this but you” Brendan laughed.

  “Whatever….” Gabby muttered, unconcerned.

  “See that’s your biggest problem, you never listen do you? I said it centuries ago and I’ll say it again now. I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOU, GABBY! I NEVER HAVE BEEN, AND NEVER WILL BE. Get it?! It doesn’t matter if it’s Madison or some other girl, it will never be you. I’m sorry, JUST GET OVER IT” Brendan said harshly.

  Gabby shook her head in denial, she tried to shrug off Brendan’s comments, but Gabby knew that under the circumstances, this time Brendan really meant it.

  “No, that’s…” she whispered, trailing off into deep thought.

  “Yes, Gabby” Brendan said slightly patronizing.

  “No, I mean…. it’s not like that” She protested, suddenly aware of how pathetic she must look.

  The twins stood motionlessly behind Gabby, they watched Fred and Leon intently, as they stood silently beside Brendan.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. The council is meeting, deciding your fate. It will all be over soon” Brendan softly, but almost regretfully.

  Stillness fell over the four Vampires. If they had been breathing, they would have all held their breath – the tension in the room was suffocating.

  Gabby and Trace exchanged frightened glances, and so did Andy and Alex.

  They had obviously thought about what they would do should The Coven become aware of their plans – they had planned for every event.

  Madison’s eyes widened as she watched the Vampire’s acknowledgments their next plan, turning back to Brendan she threw a concerned look in his direction. Picking up on Madison’s concern, Brendan eyed the Vampire’s curiously.

  A deep growl erupted from Gabby’s throat, she flew her head back opening her mouth wide, allowing the growl to spill out into the room.

  Madison watched as Gabby’s canine teeth grew 2 ½ cm than before. Salvia hung from her the canine teeth, drooling down into her mouth unpleasantly. It was the same transformation Madison had seen when Gabby had attacked her in the alleyway behind the nightclub.

  Gabby shut her mouth cutting off the howl mid-flow; she lowered her head towards Brendan – her eyes fixed from beneath her brow. Her two canine teeth stuck out from below her top lip, strands of hair hung down either side of her flawless face. Her bright green eyes shone animal like in the shadowy room, reflecting the dim light.

  “I decide my own fate” Gabby hissed, leaping towards Brendan.

  Chapter Fifteen: The Worse to Come

  Gabby landed on Brendan, knocking him to the floor, a deep growl hummed in Brendan’s throat as he hit the ground.

  Leon and Fred looked on with wide eyes, positioning themselves ready for a fight. Andy and Alex threw their heads back, a long deep howl erupting from their throats like Gabby had, both of their canine teeth grew 2 ½cms longer as they transformed. Fred transformed as well, throwing her head back and letting out a raspy howl.

  Leon did not transform. He stood readying himself, his eyes fixated on Andy.

  Alex leaped over the room as if it was no more than a few feet, landing in front of Fred and throwing her a right hand punch. Fred ducked and responded by punching Alex in the stomach and kicking him backwards with her rig
ht foot, allowing her more room to gain the upper hand.

  Leon watched Fred for a second, a concerned expression on his face. His features softened momentarily when he realised Fred had obtained the upper hand, but before he could relax, Andy came towards him. He grabbed Leon by the collar of his black robe and picked him off the floor as if he weighed no more than a newborn baby.

  “Hey mate, it’s not very nice to grab a man when he’s not looking” Leon joked, staring down at Andy.

  Leon grabbed a hold of Andy’s jacket and pulled on it trying to free himself from Andy’s grip.

  “As you can see, seer, I’m not one for playing by the rules” Andy spat sarcastically.

  Andy snarled at Leon, pulling Leon towards him so he could protest his dominancy to Leon’s face. Andy suddenly flung Leon backwards, throwing him over the desk into the bookcase behind. Leon’s body collided with the bookcase, shaking it violently, causing tons of books to tumble down onto Leon who lend at the bottom of the bookcase.

  Andy strode towards where Leon had fallen, a smug smile spread across his face.

  Brendan rose from the floor and Gabby followed standing up next to him and lowering her shoulders in a warrior manner.

  Brendan’s canine teeth had also grown 2 ½ cm while he had been on the floor scuffling with Gabby. His crystal blue eyes scanned around the room wildly, they were fiery and his pupils had shrunk to the size of tiny pin pricks, just barely visible – causing his eyes to appear almost completely blue.

  Brendan’s eyes flickered over to Fred who barely had the upper hand over Alex now. Alex was much stronger then Fred, but was smaller and faster than Alex. All she had to do was continuously duck and deflect Alex’s attacks to regain the upper hand. However, Alex was slightly smaller than his brother and found it easy to find Fred’s weaknesses, knocking her down with a round house kick.

  Brendan eyes shifted over to Leon who was now on his feet and wrestling Andy onto the dark oak desk. Leon’s face was red from the strain of keeping Andy retrained. Although Leon was semi-human, he could hold his own against the Vampires.