Where Loyalty Lies

by Hannah Valentine

  I combed over the story in my mind. As with everything Holt told me, it all seemed a little too convenient. Could I really believe that on the one night that a vampire decided to try and kill me, Holt just happened to be around to save the day? It seemed like too trivial a fact to fuss about now and I didn’t have a chance to come up with an answer because suddenly something else struck me.

  “You said you sensed the other vampire. What does that mean? Like a smell?”

  “It’s nothing as obvious as a smell, it’s like a vibe. Vampires can sense when other vampires are close.”

  I frowned, trying to work out if I could sense Holt. I hadn’t noticed anything when I walked in the door but, now I thought about it, there seemed to be something. I didn’t know how to explain it, it was like a really low scale vibration, but I wasn’t sure if I was just imagining it because I was trying too hard. Holt must have worked out what I was trying to do because he tried harder to explain.

  “It’s subtle, you wouldn’t even notice it unless someone pointed it out, but once you’re aware of it, you can use it as a guide; you’ll know when someone’s close.”

  “It’s like living near an airport,” I said before I’d realised that I’d spoken out loud. I knew I would have to explain now. “It’s like when you live near an airport and the sound of planes landing is just background noise that you don’t even notice until someone points it out, then it suddenly seems deafening.”

  Holt laughed at my comparison. “That’s it exactly,” he agreed. I realised I was smiling back and it surprised me. I didn’t honestly trust anyone and yet here was a man who’d just pinned me down in the hall and told me he was a vampire and, for some bizarre reason, I felt like I wanted to trust him.

  “Can you sense me?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No, you don’t give off a vibe, even a small one.”

  I was relieved. The thought that I was sending out an invisible signal that might attract vampires to me was more than a little disconcerting.

  “There was a fire that night. The fire department put it out but the whole kitchen was destroyed?”

  “I’m sorry, it was me that started the fire, I had to because one of our laws is to make sure that humans never discover us and his blood was all over the kitchen and half the furnishings were destroyed beyond repair. There wouldn’t have been a good explanation for what could have caused that sort of damage in just one room of the house. Only a couple of minutes after you’d left the house, the vampire that attacked you tried to make a run for it. I quickly set the fire and chased him down. I heard the firemen arrive but, if they hadn’t, I’d have made sure the fire was contained and didn’t destroy the rest of your home.”

  “What about me, then?” I asked. “I was a great big, walking, talking bit of evidence that you existed. Is that why you went back to find me, so that you could... dispose of me?”

  “No,” Holt replied sharply. “Like I said, I could tell that you were one of us and so I expected that you wouldn’t be telling everyone about how you’d just been attacked by a vampire. But by the time I got back, you’d gone. I hung around long enough to learn that the woman I’d originally thought was your mother wasn’t actually, and that she wasn’t telling anyone about the vampire that attacked you either.”

  Holt’s last sentence was heavy with meaning. I had no doubt that he’d probably overheard the neighbourhood gossip about Mary calling me a devil and everyone thinking I’d attacked her, but I wasn’t going into all that. I hadn’t seen or contacted Mary since that night. My memories of her were firmly shut away in my past and Holt was hugely mistaken if he thought I was going to discuss them with him, when we’d only met five minutes ago.

  Chapter 4

  We lapsed into yet another silence and I studied Holt carefully, not caring that it was rude of me to make it so obvious. I wanted him to know that I was suspicious. I would rather be thought of as overly cautious and untrusting than stupid and gullible.

  “There are about a million things I want to ask but my head is so overloaded that I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted.

  Holt smiled. “I have plenty of time.”

  At the mention of time, my eyes automatically flicked to the clock.

  “Shit!” I jumped up and, before I could even blink, Holt was also on his feet, looking around for the source of my panic. I stifled a laugh. “Relax, I’m just late for work.”

  I ran down the hall to my room, where I grabbed a clean black top and quickly threw it on. I retrieved my bag from where I’d dropped it in the hall and stood in front of the mirror by the front door. I looked pretty dreadful but didn’t have time to do a full fix. Holt came to watch my frantic effort.

  “I thought you just got in from work?”

  “I have, but this is my second job,” I replied running my fingers through my hair. I usually loved my hair, it was thick and dark chocolaty brown and fell in waves down to about four inches below my shoulders but, at times like this when I had no time and it looked like a bird’s nest, I sometimes wished it was shorter and easier to maintain.

  “Why do you have two jobs?”

  “Um, well it’s just for the money, really.” I rummaged through my bag and pulled out my lipstick.

  “You need two jobs to pay all your bills?”

  Holt sounded so incredulous that I laughed. “No, I could pay the bills with one job.” I put on some eyeliner and stepped back to take in the full picture. I still looked like I’d just woken up.

  “So why do you have two jobs, then?” Holt followed me as I grabbed my umbrella and walked out the front door.

  “I’m saving.” I twisted the key in the lock and then headed towards the stairs.

  “Saving for what?”

  “Life,” I answered, watching the graceful way he moved, though he didn’t look like he was even trying. I saw his look of puzzlement but didn’t add to my response. The truth was that I wasn’t exactly sure what I was saving for, it was just something I needed to do. I’d never had much of a clue about what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew that you needed money to do most things, so it made sense to save up now so that, when I discovered what I wanted to do, I’d have the funds ready and waiting.

  It was still pouring with rain and so I put my umbrella up in the front entrance before opening the door. I’d never believed the old superstition that opening an umbrella indoors gave you bad luck, but it seemed I was in a minority as, almost every time I did it, I got an odd look from people nearby. Holt didn’t even flinch as my large black umbrella clicked into place. It suddenly occurred to me how rude I was being.

  “I’m sorry about this, but my manager is a really moody git and I’ll get grief all night if I don’t get there on time.”

  “I understand.” Holt took the umbrella out of my hand and held the door open for me. “You don’t mind if I walk you there?”

  I couldn’t help but smile. It was such an old-fashioned gesture that I almost expected Holt to link his arm though mine as I stepped up next to him.

  We started the walk to work and I couldn’t help feeling a little uncomfortable at how close we had to keep to each other in order to stay dry.

  “If I told you right now that I didn’t want to hear anything more that you have to say and that I never want to see or hear from you again, what would you say?” I asked.

  “I’d tell you that it’s been a pleasure to meet you, give you my card and tell you to call me if you ever change your mind. Then I’d leave and never bother you again, unless you asked.”

  He sounded sincere and my gut instinct told me he was telling the truth, but that didn’t really count for much. The world was full of people who could lie convincingly; Holt could easily be one of them.

  “And what if I told you that I did want to hear more? That I want to find out more about vampires, and me, and why you’ve felt such a strong need to find me so that you can help me?”

  A definite wave of discomfort went through Holt as h
is eyes flicked towards me before looking back at the pavement ahead. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he could find his words.

  “This is going to be rather daunting for you, but I want to be honest with you,” Holt said.

  More daunting than everything I’d just heard? I felt the slight flutter of butterflies in my stomach.

  “Okay,” was about all I could manage.

  “In many ways, the vampire race is similar to the human one. There are some vampires who choose not to obey our laws and who cause chaos and conflict. Others live by the laws but choose to live their own lives and carve their own way in the world. But the majority of vampires prefer to live together. In the UK, most vampires are currently living in Scotland. We have a large estate there, called Rillith, for those who prefer to live amongst their own kind.”

  “Why Scotland?”

  “We have bases scattered all over the world, places chosen for their seclusion mainly. Somewhere where we can have a large part of the land and have no reason for humans to come by.” His head turned and, for the first time since coming outside, his eyes stayed on me. I squirmed slightly, uncomfortable with the attention.

  “I want to take you there, to Rillith,” Holt said.

  I stopped in my tracks, forcing Holt to do the same.

  “Why?” I asked. The idea of a mass congregation of vampires did not sound appealing and it must have shown on my face because Holt gave an amused smile. It made him look younger.

  “I know that, after your previous experience, it probably sounds like the last place on earth you’d want to go, but I think it’d be good for you. You’d learn more than I can tell you and, if you lived in the thick of it all, it’d be so much easier for you, and you’d be able to understand things better.”

  I didn’t know what to say so, instead, I carried on walking, extremely aware the Holt was right beside me and waiting for me to speak.

  My life had dramatically transformed in the last couple of hours and yet the whole world was carrying on as normal. I felt like there should be some huge altering event, like a small earthquake or a massive streak of lightning to mark the moment that my life changed, but there was just me and Holt casually chatting as if we were discussing the weather.

  “I know you must be overwhelmed by all this, but I want to assure you that Rillith is a civilised place. The vampires who live there bear more resemblance to me than the one who attacked you that night. I can promise you that you wouldn’t be harmed while you were there. If you don’t want to go, then I completely understand and I’ll still be happy to come and visit you any time you need me and I’m not working.”

  I didn’t know what to say. At this point I felt a little crazy. Everything that came out of Holt’s mouth could easily be lies and, if I agreed to go to Rillith with him, I could be walking into a trap, but I couldn’t see why he’d be bothering with all this. If he wanted me dead, he could have done it when he had me in a body lock in the hall, and if he wanted me at Rillith for more sinister reasons I knew he could easily get me there against my will. I went over everything that he’d told me, desperately trying to find a loose thread that I could pick at and make this whole thing unravel to reveal a straight forward truth that made sense in the real world. There was no loose thread; as crazy as it all sounded I had no proof that he wasn’t telling the truth.

  We arrived at The Royal Oak where I worked and I stopped again.

  “This is me,” I said, gesturing towards the run-down pub. “Listen, I honestly can’t come up with an answer right now.” A slightly hysterical laugh slipped out my mouth. “I mean, when I woke up this morning, it was just a normal day and now it’s turned into this whole insane mess where I don’t know if I should be concentrating on what I am, who you are or if this Rillith place even exists.” I opened my mouth to continue but couldn’t think of what to say.

  “It’s okay; I’m not expecting answers straight away. I told you that the pace of all this is up to you. So, here...” Holt reached his hand into his pocket and presented me with a business card. The card was white with a black outline and simply said “Holt Altham” followed by two phone numbers. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Faine Hawkes. If you want to hear from me again, just call me on the first number there; it’s my mobile so I have it on me most of the time. ”

  He held out the handle of the umbrella for me to take.

  Casting a glance at the persistent rain, I shook my head. “You keep it,” I said. “You can give it back to me when I next see you.”

  Holt’s expression melted into something between surprise and relief. “Thank you,” he said, and I wasn’t sure if he meant thank you for the umbrella or thank you for not writing him off as some crazy person.

  I allowed myself another smile before turning and dashing inside.

  Chapter 5

  When my alarm went off the next morning, I was already awake and staring at the ceiling. It turned out, being told that you weren’t completely human and that an even stranger human wanted to take you to vampire central was enough to stop you sleeping.

  I’d spent my entire shift at the pub so caught up in my own thoughts that it was lucky that nothing more than pulling pints had been required of me. I’d barely been aware of my pig of a manager, Chris trying his best to irritate me as usual.

  Then, despite being tired by the time I’d got home, I hadn’t been able to shut my brain off. I had a notepad and pen on my bedside unit and I’d spent all night writing down all the questions I’d thought about asking Holt.

  Not sleeping through my alarm meant that I could have a lengthy shower and, for the last couple of minutes, I turned the temperature right down, hoping that the freezing cold blast would shock me out of my dazed state. It did partly work and, by the time I’d dried my hair and got dressed, I was feeling saner.

  Extra concealer under my eyes covered up the beginnings of some dark circles that threatened to get worse if I didn’t get some decent sleep soon. I wasn’t worried, though, I just had to get through today and then I had tomorrow off from the cafe so I could sleep all day if I liked.

  Just as I was about to pull the door open to leave, someone knocked on the other side. My heart raced a little at the idea that it might be Holt; fed up with playing Mr Patient Nice Guy he might have come to knock me out and drag me to Rillith. After taking a few seconds to prepare myself, I opened the door to find it was Ben.

  “What do you want?” I snapped.

  Ben jumped slightly at my harsh tone and his mouth flapped open and closed like a goldfish.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re here to break in again,” I said. “What was that? A precautionary knock to see if the coast was clear? Well it’s not, so you can bugger off!”

  I went to slam the door shut, but Ben put his arm out and I was forced to stop or crush his fingers in the door frame. As tempted as I was by the latter, I stopped last minute.

  “You have five seconds to tell me what you want and then I’m shutting the door, regardless of what body part is in the way.” I threatened.

  “I wanted to give you this.” Ben held out a wad of cash.

  I hesitated. Surely he wasn’t expecting me to buy him beer or something with that? “Why?” I asked.

  “It’s the money that I stole from you. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done it.”

  I cautiously took the money. Despite the fact that it belonged to me, it still felt wrong to be taking money off a fifteen year-old. I glanced out into the hallway to make sure none of our neighbours were about to see this little event. I could only imagine what it would look like to see a young boy outside my place this early in the morning, giving me money. Luckily, though, the coast was clear. I stuffed the money into my pocket.

  “I promised I’d return everything that I stole from you,” Ben continued. For a few seconds he stood staring at me like he thought I was going to hit him, then he stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of black material. It took about five good long
seconds before I realised that he was holding a pair of my knickers. A shriek escaped my mouth and I snatched them from him, not caring that I’d done it faster than a normal person could have.

  It was my turn to do a goldfish impression now. I stood gasping air while words like “disgusting” and “pervert” raced through my mind. I could feel my entire face flaming with embarrassment. Ben seemed to sense his chance to escape and, with another mumbled apology, he ran away.

  I slammed my door.

  “Yuck,” I shouted to my empty hallway. “Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck.” I was midway through my little tantrum when I realised I was still holding the offensive knickers. Letting out another little screech, I ran to the kitchen where I threw them in the bin and used up most of my soap washing my hands.

  I was halfway to work before I’d calmed down enough to register the facts. Okay, so the whole underwear thing was revolting and would probably scar me forever, but the bright side was that, not only had I got my money back, but Ben’s mum had obviously got her act together. Ben really had seemed terrified, so maybe he wouldn’t break in again.

  Work felt torturous. Not because I was tired or because it was extra busy today, but because everything felt so pointless. It’s not like I’d ever thought waiting and cleaning tables was going to change my life, but now that I actually had an opportunity that would change my life forever, my usual life seemed so boring. I felt a bit like Cinderella but, instead of running off with the prince when he showed up, I was saying, “Actually, I’m good here” and staying to clean up after my step-sisters. Of course the prince in the fairy-tale was offering to marry Cinderella and whisk her off to live happily ever after, he wasn’t about to take her to the Adams family’s mansion where she could meet tons of scary vampires.