by Sean Stone
He turned and looked down at her blankly. “Hello, young lady,” he said. His voice was very deep and crisp. I’ve heard ladies like that.
“Your eyes are red,” she said, pretending to be fascinated.
“How very observant of you,” he replied. The barman placed a glass of bourbon in front of him which he sipped at. So he was a sophisticated blood-sucker. My favourite kind. There were so many vampires who acted like they were the highest class of being, but at the end of the day they still bit into humans and sapped up their blood like animals.
“Was you born with red eyes?”
“I think you know that I was not. Drop the pretence young lady. You know what I am. What do you want of me?” He didn’t seem annoyed, just bored.
“I want to be like you,” she said. I was yet to see how she was going to figure out his age using this tactic, but I left her to it. If things took a turn then I’d have to step in.
“Do you now? And why would you want that?” He turned to face her completely, showing more interest all of a sudden.
“Strength. Speed. Living forever. Who wouldn’t want that?”
“It comes with its downsides too. I have not seen the sun for centuries. Not properly anyway.” Clever girl. It was working, but I needed more precision.
“Really? How many centuries?” it was like she read my mind.
He issued a small chuckle. “Last week I celebrated my six-hundred and twenty-ninth birthday.” Bingo. A six-hundred-year-old vampire was a rare find. It wasn’t every day that you bumped into one in a bar. The older a vampire got, the smarter it got, which meant staying under the radar.
“I’d love to live so long,” Ashley said, still playing her part. We needed to get him away from the public so we could get his blood.
“If that is truly what you wish I can make it so. It has been a long time since I had a companion.” His eyes wandered over her body. Automatically my fists clenched at my sides. I’m not sure why; I’d eyed her up plenty of times myself so I could hardly take a moral standing.
“It’s my wish,” she said.
“Then follow me.” He led her away from the bar, towards the stairs. They were going to the toilets.
Part of turning somebody into a vampire involves the vampire giving them some of his blood. The problem is that’s the final part of the process. So Ashley would become a vampire. I couldn’t let that happen, and I’m sure Ashley felt the same way. Keeping my distance I followed them upstairs and into the men’s toilets. I stayed outside whilst the vampire cleared the room. One of the vampires powers is the ability to compel a person to do as they say. It can be resisted by someone with a strong enough mind, but this vampire was strong and resisting it was unlikely for the drunken users of the men’s room. In general, vampiric compulsion does not work on witches and warlocks, but a particularly old and skilled vampire could pull it off. This guy probably could. Once the toilet was clear I waited. The first step of turning someone is drinking their blood. When he was drinking from Ashley he would be distracted and I could move.
“Now then,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re really up to?” he asked. He must have made her from the moment she joined him at the bar.
“What do you mean?” she asked. She was nervous. Obviously.
“You expect me to believe that you came up here to be turned and to become my companion? We haven’t even exchanged names.”
“Alright, listen—”
“No, you listen.” I peeked round the door and saw him holding her head in his hands, staring directly into her eyes. He was going to compel her. I should’ve stepped in then, but I wanted to see if he could do it. “Tell me what you are playing at, right now.”
“We’re trying to take your blood to use in a ritual,” she said at once. Wow. He was strong. Not even a lick of resistance.
“We?” he repeated.
“Yep. I’m in on it too,” I said. I stepped into the toilet and blasted him full force with my magic. He smashed into the urinals, shattering one with the force of the blow. He was up again immediately.
“There’s no need for that, Edward,” he said. I froze.
“You know me?” I asked.
“Of course. Edward Lancaster. The one of a kind warlock who sells his services to all who can afford them,” he said dryly. “A name like yours travels far.” And there I was thinking I was keeping a low profile. Obviously, I expected my name to travel through the local areas, but not farther.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded.
“What do I want? Nothing. You want something of me, remember? My blood. And as it happens, I am inclined to give it to you.”
“What?” I was too dumbfounded to say anything else.
“My time living has taught me that cultivating relationships is a key aspect of survival. Relationships with certain people can be profitable. I will give you some of my blood and in return, you will owe me a favour.”
“A favour? What kind of favour?”
“Any kind of favour. One day I shall come to you and whatever I ask for you shall provide,” he said. I couldn’t help picturing the scene from The Godfather at the beginning of the film when he makes the deal with the funeral guy. “Do you find this proposal agreeable?”
“I suppose I do,” I said. What choice did I have? I could have fought him and tried to steal the blood, but he was strong and there was no guarantee I’d win. Even with Ashley’s help he’d be a bugger to subdue. Better to take the deal.
“Very well then.” He rolled up his sleeve, bit into his wrist and then held it out, dripping blood. I quickly pulled out the plastic container from my coat pocket and held it under his wrist, gathering blood until the container was full. Then I screwed on the lid and returned it to my pocket. “My name is Adrian Lazaro. Remember it well, Edward for I will come calling for my favour one day.” And then he sped out of the room so fast it seemed he’d teleported.
With the job done I took Ashley home. I offered to stay the night to keep her company, but she declined and said she’d see me in the morning. I watched her hop inside and then headed home myself. I’ll admit I was disappointed. I’d been hoping she’d want me to stay again, and not because I was hoping for another opportunity to catch her in the bathroom. Tomorrow was judgement day for us and for some reason and for possibly the first time in my life, I didn’t want to be alone.
As I climbed the stairs I heard Doris and Gavin arguing again. I looked down the hall and saw that the door to the guest room was open. Gavin had finally given in and moved in there so his room could be redecorated, but that had only seemed to cause more arguments. Doris was paranoid that he’d ruin the newly decorated guest room. She should have decorated his room first.
“What have you been doing in here?” she asked, voice full of suspicion.
“Nothing, Mum. Leave me alone,” he said.
“It smells. What’s that smell?” I could hear her sniffing the air. I unlocked my own room but hung about to listen. The pair were quite entertaining, as annoying as they could be.
“I don’t know, Mum. You’re imagining it.”
“I am not. Is that…” three quick sniffs. “Have you been wanking?” she exclaimed and I had to smother a laugh. Nobody wanted their mum to ask them that.
“Mum! Go away!” he shouted. There was no denial, though.
“You have, haven’t you? Wanking in my guest room!” She was mortified.
“Well… Mum… I was just having a little shuffle. For God’s sake! You’ve kicked me out of my room where else am I supposed to do it?”
“Just wait until you’ve got your room back!”
“I can’t wait any longer. The build up got too much for me!”
I decided I didn’t want to hear any more. I had more important things to worry about than Gavin having a sneaky shuffle in the guest room. Tomorrow I had to play my part in making a psychopath invincible. And then I had to kill him. Plus I had to make sure that neither Ashley nor I got kille
d in the middle of it all. It was going to be an eventful day. Before I dropped off to sleep I got a phone call from Matt. He’d found something on Killian. I listened intently, taking it all in. I wasn’t sure how useful the information would be, but it sure was interesting.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ashley wasn’t talking much when I arrived at hers in the morning. Margie said she was too scared and she had good reason to be. I was pretty nervous myself, but I was doing a better job of hiding it. There’s not much that can shut me up. Margie made us both a cup of tea to relax us and tried to force us to eat something. I drank the tea, but no food. I just wasn’t hungry. I don’t eat most mornings anyway, and especially not when I’m facing possible death. Probable death. Look at that, Ashley’s pessimism is starting to effect me.
“There’s no need to panic you two. Remember what you need to do. Do it. And everything will be fine,” Margie said in that motherly tone that I hadn’t heard for years. She looked at me, checking that I remembered my part.
“I remember,” I said, giving her a nod. Killian had to die. It had been hard not thinking about it and there was no guarantee that it had worked. For all I knew Killian knew all about mine and Margie’s secret plan. If that was true he would have killed me already, though. I’d already written the ritual now, he didn’t actually need me for anything. At least he thought he didn’t. Ashley was going to need me today. There was no way she’d be able to get through the ritual alone. Looking at the nervous wreck that had become of her, it was clear that I was going to have to guide her through it. I’d given her the ritual days ago so she could get acquainted with what she was going to have to do, but under pressure, she was going to forget everything.
Margie left the room to get something and I turned to Ashley. She stared down at her hands, breathing in and out deeply to try and settle herself.
“Hey, it’s going to be fine,” I said. As expected, my words did nothing to reassure her. I don’t really know how to reassure people, it’s not something I’ve ever bothered doing before so I was out of practice. “We just need to do what we’ve planned and Killian will let us go.”
“What if it wears off before he lets us go?” It was a valid question from her point of view. She didn’t know that the spell would last until she took the necklace off. I wanted to tell her, but then she’d know that running away was not the real plan. Once the ritual was complete Killian’s invincibility would be draining her life which meant removing the necklace from Ashley as soon as possible. Telling Ashley the truth would bugger the whole plan up. She was too scared. There was no way she’d be able to keep the truth hidden from Killian. She had to be kept in the dark.
“That won’t happen. It will last long enough for us to get away. We’ll come back here, get your mum and go. He’ll never find us,” I lied. The only way we’d be running was if it went wrong and if that happened I doubt we’d be running far.
Margie returned with the necklace. It was a simple silver chain with a sapphire pendant attached. She slipped it around Ashley’s neck silently and did up the clasp at the back. Ashley barely moved when she did so. “There, do you feel the difference?” she asked, stroking her daughter's hair.
“Not really,” Ashley replied. Her voice quavered as she spoke. I could see a slight tremble in her arm. She knew the time was approaching and she was getting more nervous.
“You will when you perform the ritual,” Margie replied. “Eddie, a word?” she said and led me into the hallway.
“Don’t worry I know what to do,” I said.
“Yes, I know you do. Remember everything we’ve planned, Eddie. Do it all to the letter. Do not let any harm come to my baby girl,” she said. In her last line she was no longer just giving me instructions, but imploring me to protect her daughter and bring her home. That was all that mattered to her. In that moment, I wished there was somebody who cared that much about me. I wished I had a mum.
“I’ll do my best,” I said. I didn’t want to promise something I couldn’t guarantee. She seemed to understand that and accepted the feeble attempt at a promise.
We went back into the dining room and waited in silence until Jeffrey arrived. Then Ashley hugged her mum goodbye. They hugged for a long time, both knowing it might be the last hug they ever shared. Then me and Ashley left. As we climbed into the back of the SUV we noticed the henchmen still watching the house. They were there just in case anything happened at the river and Killian gave them the order to kill Margie. I’d have to be careful to make sure that order never got issued. I knew that there were another two henchmen outside Matt’s house with similar orders. Too many lives were at stake this afternoon, but by taking one life I should be able to save all the rest.
The journey was silent. Nobody spoke, not even Jeffrey. When we were half way there I felt Ashley grab hold of my hand and squeeze. I squeezed back. For those of you hoping for some kind of romance to blossom, I hate to burst that bubble, but that’s not what was happening. She was scared and needed reassurance, and frankly so did I. We gave each other the support we needed. Nothing more. I released a tiny bit of magic, just small enough that she wouldn’t detect it, and set it to work easing her nerves. If I allowed her to walk into the ritual in the state she was in then she’d never be able to pull it off and today we needed something just short of a miracle. After a minute, her arms stopped trembling and I knew that it had worked. I only hoped that it lasted.
I’d told Jeffrey that we needed to be at the river to do the ritual. Which part of the river was up to Killian. The River Medway is a big old river that runs right through Maidstone. There are plenty of quiet, semi-secluded points along the river that Killian could have chosen to use. Did he choose any of those places? Nope. He chose Broadway Bridge. At the bottom of the high street is a big bridge that passes over the river. As you can imagine, being at the bottom of the high street, this point of the river is one of the busiest in Maidstone. On a nice day, this area is bustling with people. People go there to fish, feed the ducks, or just to get an ice cream from the ice cream shop. There’s even a restaurant on the river about twenty feet or so from the bridge. Today was a beautifully sunny day. Oddly enough, though, there were no people about.
“You won’t be disturbed,” Jeffrey said. The SUV stopped in front of a group of police officers who were stood blocking the road leading to the bridge. One of the officers came up to the window, took one look at Jeffrey and then waved us through. It looked like this whole area of town was temporarily Killian’s territory. “This whole area has been evacuated,” Jeffrey explained, not that I needed him too. As soon as we were through the officers began taping the area off with caution tape.
“Why didn’t he just pick a more private place?” I asked. It seemed like a lot of unnecessary hassle.
“Why should he when he doesn’t have to?” Jeffrey replied. A perfect example of the hubris of Killian Myers. “This way.” Jeffrey led us down the steps by the river where Killian was waiting. He was sitting on a bench wearing a full tailored suit as usual. I winced at the sight of him, remembering the beating he’d served to me last time we’d seen each other,
“Mister Lancaster, Miss Sheridan, how nice it is to see you both again,” he said as if we were old business acquaintances. Maybe that’s all this was to him. Business.
“The pleasure’s all yours,” I replied. Ashley said nothing.
“You’re looking a little under the weather, Miss Sheridan. Is everything alright?” he asked. Smug prick.
She glared at him. “I’m fine,” she hissed.
His eyes fell on her necklace. “Is that anything I need to worry about?” he asked.
“It increases my power. I can’t do the ritual without it,” she said. He narrowed his eyes and I could see that he was trying to read her thoughts. It was a good thing Margie hadn’t told her the full truth. I tried my best to keep the truth out of my own thoughts. It would be just my luck that he got the truth from my head and killed me on the spot.
; “Is your presence essential?” he asked, turning to me.
“She needs me to guide her through the ritual. I wrote it remember,” I replied. Trying not to think about killing him.
“Very well then.” He turned to Jeffrey and the two guards who were standing nearby. “Jeffrey, you and the others should keep your distance. I don’t want any magic hitting you and stopping you from tending to your duties.” Jeffrey nodded and led the other two away. It was just us and Killian. “They’re in earshot. If anything goes awry they’ll be back in a flash,” Killian said. He must’ve caught my thoughts. “So, shall we get on with it?”
“Did you bring the diamond?” I asked.
“Ah, yes,” he said and reached into his inside pocket. He pulled out a black velvet bag that had a large jagged lump in it. He handed it to me. “Cost me a pretty penny. I hope it was worth it.”
I tipped the contents into my palm and looked at the diamond that almost filled it. It was heavy and very cold. “We’re going to destroy it,” I said with childish satisfaction. He grimaced and looked away.
“Let’s get on with it,” he grumbled. I glanced at my watch. Fifteen minutes until noon.
A small table had been set up by the edge of the river. A large ceramic bowl was positioned in the centre. I laid the diamond and the pot of vampire blood on the table. I still needed some dirt from the earth. I had expected Killian to choose a more earthy location, but the place we were in was all concrete. I looked over past the ice cream shop at the graveyard leading to the ArchBishop’s Palace.
“Planning your escape?” he asked, a small smirk lighting up his face.
“I need dirt,” I replied.
“Why not just scrape some off yourself?” He mocked.
“Do you want to be invincible or not?” I snapped. I wasn’t in the mood for childish insults. Killian whistled and Jeffrey returned. He accompanied me to the graveyard where I scooped up a small amount of dirt. Whilst I was kneeling on the grass I wished I’d brought some of my mind control serum with me. I could force Jeffrey to drink it, send him to rescue Matt and Margie and then go about killing Killian without having to worry about them. But I didn’t so it’s not worth thinking about. Jeffrey took me back to Killian and then retreated back to safety.