Where Loyalty Lies

by Hannah Valentine

  I slipped in through the front doors again, pausing to take off my trainers so that I didn’t leave muddy prints all the way to my room. I did my best to wring all the water out of my clothes and hair and, when I turned back into the hall, Saul was standing watching me.

  Damn, he had seen me.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I lost my temper earlier.”

  For a few stupid seconds I stood in silence. Watching him a few minutes ago, I’d seen him from an entirely different perspective. I understood now how strong and dominant he could be, but here he was apologising to me for losing his temper when, actually, I thought he’d been well within his rights to do so.

  “No, I’m sorry,” I finally said. “I was the one who was out of order.” I wasn’t sure if it was due to my new perspective of Saul or just the incredible amount of alcohol I’d consumed, but I decided it was time we came to some kind of truce. “I didn’t mean to be a bitch but I just can’t handle this, well, I mean... you. I have enough on my plate right now and I just want to keep my head down and get on.” I picked my words carefully. I knew that, if I told him again that I didn’t want to be part of his game plan, it would just irritate him and we’d end up arguing. “It’s too much and I really need to keep my mind focused right now.” I almost crossed my fingers hoping he’d understand. I had no idea if he’d accept my excuses and back off a bit or if he’d shun me completely, but either one was better than this constant battling.

  There was another moment of quiet while he processed my request. “If that’s what you’d like,” he said.

  I nodded. Then we both turned and headed in our separate directions.

  Chapter 42

  There was a definite spring in my step as I made my way through the hallways of Rillith. I jangled my car keys in my hand as I trotted down the stairs of the main entrance and down a passage that I knew would lead me to the west side of Rillith, where the car park was.

  I yelped as I turned a corner and walked straight into somebody.

  “Well, I thought that might be you coming; only you could make so much noise,” Henry said.

  I held my hand over my still racing heart and let out a long breath.

  “Bloody hell, Henry, you scared the hell out of me. Could you at least try to make a bit of noise when you’re moving?”

  I looked over Henry’s rather ruffled state of appearance and smiled. Maybe he was trying to be quiet for a reason.

  “Well, I don’t need to ask what you’ve been doing,” I said.

  Henry followed my gaze to his crumpled red shirt and he gave an evil grin as he attempted to straighten it out and tuck it in.

  “There, is that better?” he asked when he’d finished fussing.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not really, you have lipstick on your neck.”

  Henry’s hands moved towards his neck but then he seemed to decide he didn’t really care and propped himself up against the wall instead.

  “So we’ve established where I’ve been, but I’m intrigued to know where it is you’re heading in such a jolly mood.”

  “I’m going for a drive,” I said, waggling the keys in my hand for added emphasis. I regularly went out driving, even though I still couldn’t leave Rillith. Holt had patiently sat with me at first but, after a few times, he’d told me he thought I’d be fine on my own.

  That was one thing I loved about Rillith. They had their own laws here and nobody batted an eyelid at the idea of me spending hours driving myself around, even though I didn’t have an official licence.

  “I see,” Henry said. “Well, I could use a bit of fresh air, would you mind if I tagged along?”

  I gave him a knowing look. “I go out on my own all the time, you don’t need to come and keep an eye on me.

  “I didn’t suggest it so I could keep an eye on you. I just thought you might like some company?”

  I couldn’t be sure if Henry was telling the truth or not but I decided it would be fun to have him with me.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “But you’re not coming like that; you look like you’ve just come out of a brothel.”

  Another evil grin from Henry. “It could well have been a brothel for all the things that innocent-looking lady just did to me.”

  “Oh God, no... no... no. I really don’t want to hear about it.” I held my hands up between us, as if they might be able to stop Henry’s words from settling into my brain. “Please just go and shower and change and I’ll meet you by the front doors.”

  “Fair enough, give me fifteen minutes.” Henry moved off without making a sound.

  I shook my head, he wasn’t even the tiniest bit ashamed of being caught doing the morning walk of shame. I couldn’t say I was really surprised; it was Henry we were talking about after all.

  My car was exactly where I’d left it, parked between a Porsche and a Ferrari. It was strange that, out of all the expensive cars here, my little Yaris was probably the most loved and appreciated of all of them.

  I slid into the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition. It was cold so I set the heaters onto full blast and waited for the air to heat up. After fifteen minutes, I was warmed through and I turned the heaters off before driving round to the front doors. I hadn’t expected Henry to be there yet but he was already waiting.

  I mentally rolled my eyes. Only a vampire could shower and dress that quickly and only Henry could look gorgeous, despite the lack of time he’d had.

  He bounded down the stairs and slid into the passenger seat. His hair was wet and tied back in its usual style and he smelled fresh and clean.

  “That’s better,” I said as I pulled away.

  I felt more than a little silly driving around with Henry, not actually being able to go anywhere. I headed towards the usual road I took that led around the back of Rillith. Henry’s hand came out to touch my arm and I hissed in pain as he touched the place where it had been cut with silver.

  “Sorry,” Henry said, eyeing the part of my arm that was nicely covered with a grey woolly jumper. “I was just going to say you should go down there.” He pointed to a road forking off to the left and I took it. It wasn’t a road I’d driven down before because I’d assumed it led to the front gates.

  “So what happened to your arm?” Henry asked.

  I’d tried to prepare myself for what I’d tell Henry if he ever asked. I felt a little guilty about having to lie to him but it was for the best, the main problem was that I had to keep track of my emotions so they didn’t give me away. I gave a casual shrug and tried to think about something else entirely.

  “I slipped on the floor when I was coming out the shower.” This was true, I had actually slipped coming out of the shower a couple of days ago, it’s just not where my injuries had come from. I concentrated hard on the road, trying to keep my feelings to a minimum.

  “Must have been quite a fall,” Henry said.

  I wasn’t fooled by his casual tone, I knew he was probing.

  “It was one of the most painful things I’ve ever done. I cried like a baby.” Now I was talking about how I’d actually received the cut, so this was also the truth.

  “Maybe you should go and see a doctor about it, if it’s that bad.”

  “I did. Phillip’s seen it, he says there’s no permanent damage and it should all heal over in the next week or so.”

  That did it, Henry knew I was telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth about that and he assumed that, if Phillip had seen it and thought it was okay, then there was nothing to worry about.

  “So where does this road go?” I asked, grateful to change the subject.

  “To the airstrip.”

  “The what?” I said. “Rillith has its own airstrip?”

  “Of course. You don’t think The Sénat go on public planes?”

  I hadn’t really given it much thought. “It’s one thing to have your own private jet but it’s another to have your own airstrip.”

  “It’s just more practical. Enforcers hav
e to travel a lot so it’s more convenient not to have to get to the nearest airport. Plus there’s the fact that sometimes we have to come back with unwilling guests and that would attract too much attention at a public airport.”

  I had to admit that did make sense. Plus The Sénat seemed to have more than enough money, so why not make life easier for themselves and their own.

  Chapter 43

  “Do you like being an enforcer?” I asked as we took a sharp turn and headed towards the top of a small hill.

  Henry considered before answering. “I have been many things but nothing has ever given me a sense of purpose like being an enforcer does.”

  “I guess being the good guys, hunting down the bad guys, must give you quite a sense of satisfaction.”

  “It does.”

  “Still, it seems like it’s a lot of pressure too, I mean you must be tempted sometimes to settle for a less stressful job. It seems like, not only do enforcers have a damn hard job but, when you get back here, instead of being able to relax, you have to worry about keeping up appearances, about your social status.”

  “It’s not so bad; most enforcers don’t worry about that so much. It’s only people like Saul, who want to be top of the game, who have that added pressure.”

  At the mention of Saul’s name, my stomach lurched. Obviously “being an enforcer” wasn’t a safe topic. Time for a change.

  “So is it safe to drive around this airstrip or am I going to cause an accident?”

  “There aren’t any flights this morning. As long as we make sure we’re not here after twelve, we’ll be alright.”

  I nodded. Now that I desperately didn’t want to talk about Saul, all my mind could do was think of him.

  “It’ll be nice when I can actually leave Rillith; you know, go out properly for a day.”

  “Yes, we could go back to Inverness and do some more shopping. It will be interesting to see if you learned anything I tried to teach you on our last trip.”

  “Um, well it was a long day; I think I remember some of it,” I mumbled. The truth was I couldn’t remember much at all, apart from the fact that apparently I was an hourglass shape and that was supposed to be a good thing.

  “Well, I suppose I can forgive you for not taking it all in. I think you had your mind on other things. Or other people.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Henry smiling, but I could hear the curiosity in his voice. It took all my effort not to frown. I was beginning to suspect that Henry was trying to bring up Saul on purpose.

  “Wow, this place is huge,” I said as the airstrip came into view. I’d been expecting one long strip of tarmac but this was more like a grid. It looked like a giant noughts and crosses game and all along one side were huge warehouses that I guessed housed the jets.

  “Are you sure this is okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, it’s fine. You can really put your foot down here, have a bit of fun,” Henry replied.

  “Have you brought your Lambo here then?”

  “I have a couple of times but I prefer the open road; you can’t go as fast, but it’s still more exciting.” Henry paused and I could tell he wanted to bring something up. So this is why he’d wanted to come, so that he could get me alone where I couldn’t escape.

  “You know, Saul knows some local places that you’d probably like to visit once you’re through with your tests. I’m sure he’d be happy to show you where they are.”

  I slammed on my breaks so hard that the smell of burning rubber filled the car and even Henry, with his vampire reactions, almost smacked into the dashboard.

  “What is this?” I asked.

  “Well, it’s the airstrip. I thought I’d told you that?” Henry said, but his false innocence was completely transparent.

  “You know what I mean. Why do you keep bringing up Saul?” I said, giving a glare that I hoped conveyed the level of my annoyance.

  Henry sighed. “I never was very good at being subtle,” he said, mostly to himself.

  I snorted. “Subtle? I think a chimp could be more subtle than you. Now what is this all about?”

  Sensing my mood, Henry twisted in his seat so that he was facing me. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. The fact that you’re climbing out of windows to avoid him, shows there’s quite clearly something wrong.”

  I pursed my lips. Saul was Henry’s brother; there was no way I could confess everything to him.

  “I know he can probably seem a bit arrogant and intimidating because of his position but surely you know he’s a decent guy. He’s more than decent, he’s the best person I know and I’m not just saying that because he’s my brother.”

  My heart sank. Henry was truly a friend but could I really ask him to stay my friend if I didn’t get along with Saul? It wasn’t fair of me to expect Henry to stay in the middle, He'd only known me for a few weeks, it wasn’t right to make him feel like he had to avoid talking about his own family, just in case it upset me.

  I let out a long sigh and slumped back in my chair. “I’m sorry; I know it makes things uncomfortable for you. And for Holt too, but...” I trailed off, still not quite sure what to tell Henry.

  “I don’t know what it was that someone said to give you this opinion of Saul, but I know him better than anyone else. Surely you don’t think I’d tell you Saul was a good guy if I didn’t really believe it?” Henry said and his pleading look made me feel so guilty.

  “No Henry, I know you wouldn’t...” I stopped as his words sank in. How had he known that the reason I’d taken a dislike to Saul was because of what someone had said? The only person who knew that was Saul. He’d asked me, that day in the swimming pool, who I’d been talking to, and I’d told him that it didn’t matter. That meant that Saul had obviously talked to Henry, had told him about that day at the pool and what had happened.

  “Did Saul put you up to this?” I asked. I saw the surprise cross Henry’s face before he could wipe it away again. “Don’t lie to me, Henry.”

  “I wouldn’t lie to you, Faine,” Henry said and his voice had lost all its humour. “Yes, Saul did ask me to talk to you; he wanted to find out why you’ve taken such a dislike to him. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you, or that I’m not worried about you.”

  The car filled with silence as I bit the inside of my cheeks.

  “If Saul hadn’t asked me to, I’d never have brought this up because I can feel how much you don’t want to talk about it, but the truth is I’d like to know. I want to know who’s made you feel like this?”

  What was I supposed to say? As hard as I tried, I couldn’t get over my feelings for Saul, I just couldn’t. I desperately wanted Saul to leave me alone so that I didn’t have to keep battling with my feelings but, at the same time, I was terrified he’d give up on me.

  “Please tell me,” Henry said. His hand found mine and his gentle touch made my sadness double. I tried to laugh but it came out sounding bitter.

  “It doesn’t matter who said it. All they said was what I already knew, what you yourself have told me over and over in your stories.” I took a deep breath.

  I couldn’t tell the truth. Henry had been so good to me, right from the first day we’d met, I wasn’t going to sit here and tell him I thought his brother was only interested in getting one thing from me.

  “Saul is a big deal,” I finally said. “What he does and where he goes is always going to be a topic of interest for everyone at Rillith. Yes, I do like Saul but I’m just getting to grips with things at Rillith and I don’t need anymore on my plate right now.” I kept my eyes on Henry, hoping he could feel the truth in my words.

  Henry nodded. “I understand. I’ll talk to Saul; tell him you just need to focus on your own issues for now.”

  “No,” I said, “it’s fine. I’m sorry things are awkward for you, you shouldn’t have to be involved in any of this.”

  “It’s okay, believe me. This is all new to you and you have your trial coming up; you’re right to want t
o concentrate on that at the moment.”

  I gave an uneasy smile and it was returned by a genuine one from Henry.

  “Come on, then, I’m desperate to see some of this driving that Holt keeps telling me you’re so good at.”

  I pulled away, not quite sure how I was feeling about my little chat with Henry but deciding that maybe it was a good thing.

  “But, if you don’t mind, please could you warn me next time you’re going to do an emergency break. I’m rather fond of my face the way it is, without the damage your dashboard could inflict.”

  I smiled. “It’s not like it wouldn’t heal.”

  Chapter 44

  I looked at my hand of cards, trying desperately not to let myself feel smug. Henry had been the one who’d taught me to play poker but he had a huge advantage in that he could sense my emotions so he could always tell if I was bluffing or not. If Holt hadn’t been playing with us then I’d have thought it was impossible for Henry to lose, but Holt had won three hands and told me that years of practice had taught him how to control his emotions so that he could stop Henry guessing what his cards were.

  Of course that meant I was years off being able to win against Henry but I’d been lured in by Henry’s promise that, if I beat him, he’d let me take his Lamborghini out for a spin. That was definitely worth trying for.

  The three of us were sitting in my living room at the dining room table where we’d been for the last couple of hours. Holt’s was the best poker face I’d ever seen. I watched him carefully for a sign that would give away his hand, but his expression never changed. Henry, on the other hand, spent the whole time grinning and joking but then, seeing as he’d won eight hands, it wasn’t really surprising.

  The door burst open and, before it had even slammed shut, Saul was standing at the table glaring across at me. The green of his eyes couldn’t be seen as the pupils had fully expanded. He looked so pissed off I was surprised there wasn’t steam coming out of his ears. I fought the urge to shrink back in my chair.

  “Damn, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed!” I quipped. Then I quickly looked back at my cards so I didn’t have to see the effect my words had on Saul. “Right, is it my turn?” I asked Henry.