“It's good.” The knitter spoke through the phone. “But you need to speak to the phone William, not to us.”
He nodded and turned to me.
“The camera will show us the path ahead, we can converse through the phone. Dawn is almost upon us and I will have to retreat into the boot for cosy time with Nick and Marty. We will tell you where to go, how to get to the safe house in the city. All you need to do is follow our instruction and move to the place quickly but not too quick as attract the attention of the police.”
“Oh yeah, I could imagine it.” I scoffed. “Ma'am can I have your licence please? What no licence? Well you'll have to come with us. What's that sound in the boot? Vampires you say, well maybe it's the nut house for you then, all I see is a boot full of ash.”
William looked at me as if I were a naughty child. “Drive safely and quickly, listen to my instruction and avoid too much attention.”
He climbed into the back, pulling the seat up behind him. His words of reassurance and guidance were always there, along with the clicking of the knitting needles. It was crazy, this was crazy. I was nineteen, having never driven a car before, now I was doing it. Now I was driving a monster of a car that looked far too expensive for this little girl. I could imagine it would look like I swiped the thing. What if a cop pulled me over after the sun was up? I couldn't exactly drag William out of the boot to vouch for my story. The towering buildings that dominated the city horizon slowly came into my view, with every passing second I was getting closer and closer to the destination. I would beat the morning rush hour, I would get the three vampires in the boot to the safety of this place and hopefully, I would avoid anyone's attention. What I didn't realise until it was too late was that I was actually outside. All my fears of stepping out that front door had been forgotten, replaced with trying to figure out how to not crash a car. Anxiety began to grip me as I looked around the motorway in a panic. Cars whizzed past me as my foot began to lift of the pedal.
“Mary, what's going on?” William's voice was laced with concern. “Why are you slowing down?”
“I'm outside.” I whispered. “I have to go back, I can't be outside. Where do I turn around? Take me back.”
William's words of reassurance were nothing but a static noise as I hastily looked around, the car slowing. A horn being tooted frightened me, I jumped as I looked at the glowing red lights that disappeared into the distance. I looked around as the car crawled at a snail's pace. The sun was slowly rising, the sky was lit with a pale gold hue. I snapped back into the moment, the panicked voice on the phone was getting more and more tense. He was readying to come out of the boot. Sun or no sun, he was worried.
“It's going to be okay, just a few more minutes and we will be there. You will have four walls again, a room to hide in and you don't need to leave it. Just get the car moving Mary, please.”
His voice was strained, I could hear the pleading was desperate. Another car zoomed past me, I looked at the red lights that were lit up brightly, the glow of the morning sun glinted off the paintwork. A few more minutes and we would be there, I could do this, I could escape the world and retreat into the unknown safe house. Unknown. But worse yet, it was the city. My old life. He would be here, somewhere in the depths of this urban sprawl, he would be waiting for me. Tears snaked down my cheeks as I remembered his threat, his proposition. I couldn't. I couldn't endure that pain again. I couldn't do this.
Chapter Thirty-five
The sound of William snapping at Marty or Nick echoed through the phone as the world seemed to close in on me. An odd doof sound sent a wave of dusty air from behind, I shrieked when Nick appeared beside me.
“It's okay, we are going to get there.”
He sat down onto the passenger seat and wound down the window slightly, putting a blanket into it and then winded it back up.
“I'm going to stay here with you. We can do this, just keep the car going otherwise you might cause a crash.”
“But he's there, he'll find me.”
Nick put his hand on my shoulder with wide concerned eyes. “No one will find you, we will hide you. Do you want me to drive?”
I nodded, feeling like a complete failure.
“Pull to the side and we can swap and as payment for this, you are going to tell me who he is.”
Reluctantly I pulled over, ignoring the panicked white knuckled grip as Nick told me over and over again that I was getting too close to the guard rail. What did any of these people expect? It was surprising that I had done so well. William would gloat that it was his fine teaching skills or that it was his precious car that was a dream to drive. It didn't matter, so long as his stupid car was unscratched and we were alive that was all that counted. Though considering that three of the occupants were in a state of distress because of the rising sun, I'd say the clock was ticking on that one.
I didn't want to discuss the nightmare of my past again but considering I just had a panic attack on a motorway, I'd say I didn't really have much of a choice. After we had swapped seats, Nick drove like a crazy man. I gripped the seat belt, wide eyed staring at the road in front of me.
“Out with it.” He muttered. “Who are you scared of?”
“The guy that was the director of the orphanage for the last four years that I was there. The shift that I worked as the cashier before I was attacked he came into the store and said that he had won his appeal. He said that he was going to sue me for defamation and if I didn't want that to happen I could give it to him on a regular basis.”
Nick sighed as he shook his head, probably wishing that my life had been different. I spent most of the past nineteen years thinking that. The cold concrete jungle loomed over us as we finally made it into the shadow of the buildings. Nick visibly relaxed and took a slight glance at me as I pulled the blanket from the window. Now that we were hidden by the shadow of the buildings he didn't need his protection.
“How about we fix things for you? I'll find him and finish any issues that you have with him, permanently.”
“I can't ask that of you.”
Nick rolled his eyes as he shook his head. He slowed the car at the red light, thumping his fingers on the wheel. “I am a vampire if you didn't notice, I take lives on a regular basis. He would be nothing more than another feed.”
“Or she could do it for herself.”
I could hear the humour in William's voice as he spoke over the phone. My own personal revenge, vampire style.
“Maybe when we are out feeding you might just happen upon him. Maybe you might just stop and say hello and suggest that his offer could start in the nearest alley and oh dear, what are those pointy things? Bye bye nasty man, hello empowered Mary.”
Nick grinned with a little chuckle as he turned the corner into the next street. The grin died as he looked upon the building that was a watery charred mess. A police officer was ordering us to stop and turn around, the fire fighters were packing their things away.
“Radio silence.” Nick muttered as he pressed a button on the phone.
He slowed the car down to the officer, winding down his window.
“Morning officer.”
“Hmm, morning.” He leaned down to look into the car. “Do you reside in this street?”
“Just passing through, we can use another street. Not a problem.”
The officer nodded and stood upright, stepping back slightly.
“Take Fifth Avenue and then Endeavour Lane, it should bring you further up the street.”
“Thank you.”
Nick smiled as genuine as he could, I could see the hesitation. The officer stepped away, allowing Nick to turn around and leave. He sighed as he wound the window up and drove to the next intersection. As he waited for the lights to change, he pressed buttons on the phone to reconnect with William and Marty.
“What's happening?”
“The building was in ashes. Someone has torched my bloody apartment.”
I gasped watching as he shook his head ang
rily. The lights changed and he casually turned the corner, I knew it was a show for the police officer that might have been watching.
“It was crawling with cops and a few spectators. I could only imagine who might have seen us.”
“You think it was intentional?” I frowned at him.
He nodded sadly.
“Where are we going to go?” Marty's voice sounded full of desperation.
“I know somewhere that no one will ever think of.” I said with a grin. “And the car won't even be an issue.”
Nick chuckled as he looked at the place I guided him to. One giant indoor shopping mall with undercover parking, completely free of the sun. Now all we had to do was occupy ourselves for twelve hours. First stop was coffee for me. It was the only place open at this hour of the morning, the place was quiet at the moment but I figured it would be filled with people soon. There were four coffees sitting on the table but only one person drank them. By the end of the hour I was buzzing and three vampires sat watching, rather amused at the hyperactive Mary.
It was a quaint retro diner that we had strolled into, to take a few minutes to think about and discuss the recent events and the days ahead. Naturally the waitress saw four people walk in and put four coffees out for us. One of the 'humans' didn't want breakfast but two of them ate. It was a shock considering that William was so adamant that he could not eat human food. But Marty and Nick were turned vampires and still held onto small pieces of their former lives. They could digest a small amount of food though not often and they could walk in the sun for short amounts of time. Of course the longer they were out the more they burned. Nick said that he had done it once and it looked like he had a puff of grey cloud following him everywhere. Most turned vampires chose not to risk the sun, it was too much of a risk that a human would see them burning and question why. Instead they chose the born vampire way of life, hiding in the shadows and walking the land of a night time.
I was grateful that they were able to eat, I could imagine the odd looks from people if they saw one person eating and three others watching. And as for them pretending, that was never going to happen. Sure I was hungry but I don't think I could handle eating four big breakfasts. The one I had in front of me was filling enough.
“They're just damned lucky I didn't have anything that I wanted in that apartment.” Nick grumped.
“Sorry.” I muttered.
He frowned at me as he scratched his beard. Nick looked like he had rolled out of bed and had forgotten to brush his hair and picked the clothes up off the floor to wear. We all looked a little under the weather, in dire need of sleep and for the three vampires at the table, a good feed. It was a terrible thought. Three more deaths.
“What for?”
“Well clearly it's my fault. They torched it because they assumed that you would take me there. It's the closest, isn't it?”
Nick's eyes darted to Williams and then back to me as he offered a pleasant smile.
“We have lots of places in varying locations Mary, to assume that this place would be where we would go and to actually get it right, it would be lucky.”
“It's fine, we will just go to the next one.” William gripped my hand. “Don't worry about it.”
I turned on the seat to look at him better, they were far too complacent for my liking.
“And what if they have torched all of them? What if they have sent lots of little pockets of people to all of your known locations and dealt with them? Where will you go then?”
“Where?” He grinned darkly. “Home. We would go home and fight them on our own turf.”
The waitress appeared with the coffee pot in hand, ready to top up the four empty cups. I wanted to smack William when he said that he would love another one.
“Why?” I hissed when the waitress left.
“Because you are a delight to watch when you are filled with caffeine.”
I shook my head and said nothing as I got up from the seat, William frowned as he looked up at me.
“Where are you going?”
“Bathroom, I've got four coffees in me.”
“Marty will go with you.”
She grinned and excitedly clapped her hands.
“For protection only.” He said as he looked at her, the cold and dark vampire shrank the woman back into her place. “Do I have to put a clamp on you?”
“No.” She said rather subdued. Quietly she rose from her seat and scurried after me.
“What's a clamp?” I asked as I pushed the door open.
“It's a spell that stops all sexual thoughts and needs.”
Marty checked all of the stalls and then leaned on the main door, waiting for me. “He can make it person specific. Like you for instance, if he wanted to stop me from thinking of you like that then that is what he would use.”
“But it wouldn't stop it for anyone else, right?”
She shrugged sadly as she looked away. “It doesn't always work right, sometimes it has permanent damage.”
I squinted at her, wondering why William would threaten something like that. “Permanent as in never having feelings for anyone else, ever?”
Marty nodded. I huffed and entered a stall, thinking about how I was going to approach this. Punch him? Maybe a tad too harsh. Yell at him? Appropriate but maybe not if we are trying to lay low for the entire day. Give him the evil eye? Oh yeah.
I settled onto the bench seat beside William, looking at him with what I hoped was the evil eye. There hadn't been much need for it previously, so I didn't know if it was being done right.
“What?”
Oh yeah, evil eye working well.
“I know what a clamp is. Don't you dare use it on Marty. Or Nick.”
He turned slightly, his arm spreading over the back rest behind me. I ignored him and continued my breakfast that was now cold.
“They are a part of my group, do not tell me how to govern my followers.”
His voice was low and cold, Marty and Nick looked like they wanted to crawl under the table and hide from the war that was about to start. Something inside of me snapped. I couldn't handle the thought that he would be so cruel to Marty, someone that would give her life for him. The knife that was in my hand flicked around as I slammed it into the seat in between his legs. The movement was so fluid and quick, I didn't know I had done it until I let my hand go, releasing my grip from the handle. Marty snapped her hand to her mouth as she tried to stifle the gasp, Nick cringed. William looked down at how close he came to having a knife for an accessory, his eyes looked up at me. What possessed me to do that instead of yelling at him? I don't know.
“I don't think you heard me correctly.” I snarled under my breath. “Do not use a clamp on Marty or Nick. Or me either. Are we clear?”
He nodded, crazily a tiny grin curled into one corner of his mouth. I pulled the knife out of the seat, dragging the blade gently past him. His eyes widened slightly as his body held tight, fearing a slip of the blade.
“I'd hate for you to become useless to me.”
“She's becoming her mother.” Nick chuckled. “Total bad ass that will cut your bits off before you can blink.”
I shrugged as I picked up the coffee cup, taking a sip. “Just taking care of those who are important to me.”
Marty crinkled a sweet smile, William moved a little closer, whispering in my ear.
“And what of me? Is that how you take care of me?”
“Don't use nasty spells on your loyal followers and we are cool. These two here, they would do anything for you. Why would you show them such disrespect? You want to be a great leader then be one by not doing nasty shit like that. You have no right to take away anyone's thoughts or feelings. So what if she makes the occasional comment that might be inappropriate? Say something to her, don't threaten to take away her ability to lust for someone. All you did was make her sad and made me angry, how did that work out for you? Feel like a big man now?”
His eyes narrowed at me, saying nothing.
/> “If you want me to stick around I would suggest you knock that nonsense off. You can still be the menacing vampire and have a good heart.”
The mood after that had altered in an odd way. Marty was incredibly appreciative of my support even if it was fractionally over the top. Nick was his jovial self, making smart arse comments and eyeing off all the pretty women that passed the window. William was talkative but was subdued, I wondered what it would be like if Marty and Nick weren't here. Would he say something about earlier on or would he still be the same? Nick was watching the women passing us with a glint in his eye that was more than hunger, he pushed his way out of the booth muttering that he would catch us later. Marty looked at the ceiling with a half-hearted attempt at an eye roll and got up from the seat, following her brother out of the diner. I could feel the contents of my stomach rise, knowing that I was now alone with William and realising that I was trapped against the wall of the booth. He wouldn't make a scene, he wouldn't draw attention to us but I knew that if he was angry at me, he would tell me in his own subtle way.
Casually I looked around the room, there were a few people here having their breakfast, a steady stream of caffeine junkies queuing for their morning fix and a couple of employees that were sluggish and vapid in their movements. My eyes darted to the clock behind the counter, it was nine am. We had been here for several hours already and I was bored. If it wasn't for the five coffees in me, I knew I would be asleep with my head on the plate. I could imagine all sorts of nonsense in my hair. Runny egg, the dried remains of the hash brown, the awful piece of sausage. Yes, I would look a treat. William however was far from happy, I could see he was tired and it was only a matter of time before the fuse was lit to this powder keg. I had to think fast, I had a tired and angry vampire and I feared to open my mouth for saying something that might set him off. It wasn't hard, I could look the wrong way and it could be another war of words. But where could we sleep? I gasped and turned to him, trying to push him off the seat.
Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1) Page 23