Seeing it from another perspective suddenly put a whole new spin on things. I felt bad, really bad, that I’d dragged it out for two days. In one short five-minute conversation with my dad, he’d turned things a complete one-eighty in my head. What an idiot I was. And I’d only made things worse by spending the night at Luke’s.
“I’ve been a bit mean, haven’t I?”
“Not mean, pumpkin, no. You just reacted based on how you felt. It’s only human. Don’t beat yourself up.”
Only human. No wonder some vampires seemed to have no regard for human life. We were emotionally fragile beings at best.
“Thanks, Dad. I wish I could have spoken to you before.”
He squeezed my hand and smiled. “Better late than never.”
I smiled and tried my best to fight back the wave of tears threatening to rise. Would he be here next week? Next month? My heart skipped a beat then as I realised that this time next year, he wouldn’t be here. I sucked in a deep breath and tried my best not to let the panic show.
“Come here,” he said, patting the empty space next to him. “Midsummer Murders is about to start.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Carefully climbing onto the bed next to him, I settled against his side like a child.
“Live for the moment, pumpkin,” Dad said, patting the top of my head. “Don’t think about the future.”
I nodded and decided right then and there that I would do exactly as Dad said—live for the moment.
Chapter Nine
Over the next few days, my routine became one of sitting with Dad in the mornings as he showed me how to do the books and keep everything as easy as possible for his accountant to do his job. Then I’d spend the afternoons helping to finish off the rooms. Sophie would cook tea which we’d eat side by side on his bed, then we’d watch two or three episodes from his Midsummer Murders box set before falling asleep.
Joanna had become quite chatty and I wondered if this was her attempt for us to be friends. To be honest, having a friend up here wouldn’t be a bad thing. I missed Hannah, my mum, and everything back down in Dorset a lot. Hannah had been bugging to come up for a shopping trip but I didn’t want to leave Dad’s side for any longer than necessary, despite him telling me he had no problem with it.
Marcus stayed in my apartment most of the time. I had no idea how he hadn’t gone mad but with his ‘abilities’ he could hear anything within about a mile radius. Spooky but cool. I tried to convince him that I’d be fine and he didn’t need to babysit me but he wouldn’t have it.
He came to me one afternoon as I finished up hoovering on the top floor. I immediately thought something must be wrong. He’d turned himself into something of a hermit staying in my apartment almost exclusively.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, trying to ignore my heart suddenly leaping into a faster rhythm.
“Not at all,” he said, giving me a warm smile.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Marcus, you’ve barely come out of my apartment this last week and now you’re suddenly coming up here to what, watch me hoover?”
He pulled his lips into a thin line and sighed. “Gordon is getting a little impatient.”
I resisted the urge to facepalm myself. I’d forgotten all about him wanting to give me an apology face to face. “I forgot about him,” I said, trying to stop the smirk that wanted to pop up out of nowhere.
Marcus grinned. “He’s easy to forget about.”
I giggled. “Well, I’ve finished up here earlier than I thought. Is he free now?” I looked at my watch. “I’ve got a couple of hours before tea.”
He walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, looking me square in the eye. “Are you sure you really want to do this?”
“All I’ve got to do is listen to him say he’s sorry and then it’s done with. Right?”
“It’s never that simple with Gordon. He’s a scheming, slimy toad.”
I rolled my eyes. “Marcus, your history with him shouldn’t influence my decisions. What happened between you two is your business, not mine. This is exactly like the whole thing with you and Luke. I’m going to make up my own mind about people based on how they treat me.”
“I understand that, Caitlyn, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to protect you from the inevitable. Luke will betray your trust and Gordon is up to something.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. As he pulled away, his eyes twinkled with mischief. “Just promise me I can say I told you so when it all goes wrong.”
I laughed. “But it won’t go wrong so you’ve no reason to get too excited about saying it.”
He sighed. “Ok, Miss Snaps. Let me make a call.”
Marcus called his delightful cousin as I tidied away all the cleaning equipment. I couldn’t help but think over what he said. However, I stuck to my guns—until someone did me wrong, I wouldn’t judge them based on their history with someone else.
“He’s heading over to mine now,” Marcus said, taking my hand in his. “Are you ready?”
I smirked. “Do you mean ‘ready’ as in acceptably dressed or ready for Gordon?”
“I’m going to refrain from answering that,” he said, kissing my forehead.
Before we left, I popped my head in Dad’s room. Soft snores filled the air as he laid flat out on his back. He had lost even more weight this last week, despite eating more regularly. He’d become almost nothing but a skeleton. His skin had become loose and saggy and it pained me to see him looking so ill. With his mouth wide open and his skin still a sickly shade of grey, a chill ran down my spine. He looked…dead. If it hadn’t been for his snoring, I would have gone to check his pulse.
I closed the door and sucked in a deep breath. “How much longer has he got?” I whispered.
Marcus lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “Days.”
My breath hitched in my throat. I fought back the wall of tears threatening to rise and walked outside to Marcus’ car.
“Are you ok?” he said, opening the car door for me.
I nodded and took a shaky breath. “I’ll be fine.”
After I sat down, he closed the door and came around to the drivers side, seating himself in utter silence. I felt like I’d said or done something wrong even though I knew I hadn’t.
When we hit the main road, Marcus said, “I’m sorry,” as he reached over and took my hand in his.
“For what?”
“For what’s happening with your dad.”
I smiled and patted his hand. “It’s ok. It’s not like it’s your fault.”
He squeezed my hand and then returned his to the steering wheel. I stared out of the window, my mind blank, enjoying the beautiful views. I suddenly remembered out of nowhere that I hadn’t replied to my mum’s text this morning. I’d been so busy with Dad, I read it, told myself to reply later, and forgot.
I dug around in my pockets, trying to ignore my rising panic as the realisation I’d potentially lost my phone hit me.
“What’s wrong?” Marcus said, pulling into his driveway.
“I’ve lost my phone. I need to text my mum back. What if Dad needs me?”
“Calm down,” he said, bringing the car to a stop and switching off the engine. “I’m sure you’ve left it in one of the rooms somewhere. It’ll still be there when we get back.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “You know people. Who’s going to happily hand over a brand new phone?”
He grinned. “Ok, point taken. I’ll go back and fetch it.”
“Thank you.”
As Marcus helped me out of the car, I spotted a bright red sports car parked at the other end of his driveway. It looked awfully expensive but also rather old.
“Gordon likes to be rather ostentatious. He has to have people admiring him constantly.”
“What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“It’s an AC Cobra. Terribly expensive, rather rare, and should be painted blue.”
His tone of voice gave me
the feeling that he really didn’t care for Gordon’s taste in colour on old cars.
“Each to their own, Marcus. We can’t all be the same or it’d be a terribly dull world.”
“Wouldn’t be any less dull without him in it,” he said, muttering under his breath.
I smirked. “Stop it and play nicely.”
With a deep frown creasing his forehead, he led me to the house and into the living room. Gordon had sprawled himself all over the sofa, his long legs stretched across the corner. He propped his head up on his hands and sighed when we walked in.
“Clearly the Cobra is still faster than your Italian rubbish.”
“I didn’t realise we were in a race,” Marcus said. He walked up to his cousins feet, grabbed them, and then threw them off the sofa with such force, I swear I heard a bone snap. “Sit up properly. You’re making the place look untidy.”
A lazy smile unfolded over Gordon’s face. “You know, nothing in life gives me more pleasure than seeing my dear cousin show some emotion. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Say around three hundred years.”
“Right,” Marcus said, his voice suddenly deep and booming. It actually made me jump. “Get out. Now.”
Gordon laughed and held his hands up in a surrender sign. “I’m only messing. Although I do have to say, Caitlyn wore the dress so much better.”
Marcus had his hand around his cousin’s throat in an instant. I didn’t even see him move.
“Marcus, no.”
His entire body seemed to be quivering. I couldn’t see his face but I could take a guess the expression wouldn’t be particularly friendly. Gordon didn’t seem phased though. He still wore his stupid grin.
“Don’t react to him, Marcus. This is exactly what he wants.”
“You should listen to your little pet there, Marcus.”
With a mere flick of his wrist, Marcus flung Gordon back on the sofa.
“Could you go and fetch my phone please?” I asked, putting my hand on Marcus’ back.
“I am not leaving you alone with this piece of s—”
“Marcus, I’ll be fine. It’ll take you, what, ten minutes?”
He visibly relaxed as he became more engaged in our conversation and turned around to face me. “Not if I go as the crow flies. More like two.”
“And what can he do in two minutes?”
Marcus turned around and glared at his cousin. “You touch one hair on her head and I’ll decapitate you with my bare hands.”
Gordon sat on his hands. “I’ll be as good as gold. Scouts honour.”
“You were never in the Scouts.”
“No, but I ate the leader so that’s kinda the same thing, right?”
“Don’t,” I whispered to Marcus. “Don’t react.”
“I will be two minutes.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. “If he does anything, stab him in the eye. Takes us a while to heal from that.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or be worried. Before I could reply, he’d gone, the draft he left behind moving my hair.
“Isn’t this nice? Just me and you, all alone for two whole minutes.” He turned his wrist and looked at his fancy silver watch. “Let’s time him shall we?” He pressed a button, making the watch beep, then stood up grinning. “I’m saying he’s going to be three minutes at least. What do you say?”
“I think you should be apologising to me which is what you wanted to do, remember?”
“Ah, yes. My dear dear Caitlyn, please do accept my most sincere apologies for what happened at the ball. I am truly very sorry.”
His dark eyes were gleaming with anything but sincerity. The smug smirk tugging at his lips told me that whatever this was, Marcus had been right. I tried to ignore the dread churning around in my stomach.
“What are you doing?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “You’re not sorry at all.”
“The only thing I’m feeling sorry for is you, Caitlyn,” he said, taking a few steps towards me.
I frowned. “You feel sorry for me? I find that hard to believe.”
“What he did to you at the ball, letting you wear his ex’s dress, it was rather cruel.”
I folded my arms over my chest and glared at him. “We’ve moved on from that, Gordon.”
“I’m guessing he finally fessed up to his history with Tatiana, did he then?” he said, now circling me like a shark.
I nodded. “He told me everything and I’m still here. Whatever plan you had didn’t work, Gordon. Just go home and leave us alone.”
He grinned at me, baring his teeth like a wolf. “I had no plan when I came here, dear Caitlyn. So suspicious. Still, it’s only natural for your kind. It’s in your DNA to be suspicious of those who can drain you dry for their own gain.”
Rolling my eyes, I said, “It doesn’t bother me, what you have to…eat to survive. It’s no different to a lion needing to a savage a gazelle. It’s cruel but that’s Mother Nature for you.” I shrugged my shoulders. “So try again.”
He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”
I tried to ignore the instant ball of fear that lodged itself in my throat. My stomach flipped over, churning with nerves. “Told me what?”
“The real reason he’s leading you on, keeping you close, playing this little pretend game of love.”
I should have known Gordon had more cards to play, that it didn’t just end with Tatiana. Marcus had a past; I knew that. The fact Gordon had more things to divulge crippled me with pain. It killed me that Marcus had more secrets he’d kept from me. Why couldn’t he just be honest with me?
“What now?” I whispered, trying to keep the despair from my voice.
“Tell me,” he said, smirking. “Have you ever thought about someone that you’ve not had contact with for a long time, then suddenly you hear from them in some way?”
I frowned. “Yes. And?”
“Don’t you find that a little odd?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “It’s just coincidence.”
“Is it? What about…I don’t know…say we’ve had a heatwave and you’re secretly wishing for a thunderstorm. Does one happen that day or the next?”
My mouth started running a little dry. “Coincidence.”
“Ever fancied watching an old film and it then just happens to be on TV? Ever needed a little boost of cash and something pops through the post like a tax rebate?”
“Coinci—”
“How many incidents can you attribute to coincidence before you start wondering if you’re actually influencing these things happening around you?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying? What are you trying to tell me?”
“You know we need blood to survive. Made vampires and born vampires can exist forever, but there is a distinct difference between the two. Did he tell you?”
“He said that vampires, when they drink the blood of a human, are passed on that human’s remaining life. So if a forty year old man had another forty years to live, then the vampire gets that forty years.”
“Correct,” he said, nodding. “But did he tell you that’s not how it works for us? For those of us who are born vampires?”
Fear pricked my heart. I knew whatever he said next would not be something I wanted to hear. “I…I presumed it worked the same way…”
“It does, kind of. You see born vampires aren’t the evolutionary leap that he likes to think we are. We were born from magic, Caitlyn. It’s magic that allows us to procreate, to exist, to pass on our gifts to others, either through offspring or…” he exposed his canines, flicking his tongue over their sharp points “…through other means. That magic still runs through our veins. We need it to continue living.”
I stepped back, trembling. My head was whirling at a sickening speed. “Magic? What? I don’t understand…”
“Witches, Caitlyn,” he said, all but hissing. “Born vampires need the blood of witches to survive. Regular human blood does nothing for us
. Well, I lie. It does. It makes us lethargic, slow, like humans and junk food.” His eyes glazed over, no doubt with his talk about blood. He focused back on me, his black eyes gleaming once more with dark secrets. “You have that blood, the food source that sings to us like a beautiful siren.”
My knees went weak. “Witches? Blood? My blood?” I tapped my chest with my index finger. “I’m not a witch.”
He chuckled. “Oh, but you are, dear girl. I can hear the magic running through your veins, it calls to me like nothing else on Earth. I know that sound, I’ve hunted it for nearly five hundred years.” He bent down, placing his head near mine, and inhaled deeply. “That scent…ahhh…it’s so sweet, so fruity, so delicious. I’m almost drooling just at the thought of tasting you.”
“Do it then,” I said, determined to show him he didn’t scare me. “I’m not afraid of you.”
A sinister smile spread over his pale face. “If only it were that simple. You see, there’s a slight complication with witches and vampires. If a witch happens to fall in love with a vampire, her blood sings only for him. Should another vampire dare to…” he reached out and traced his fingertips over my neck, making me jump “…take a bite, her blood will kill them. Burn them up from the inside out like a fireball.”
I faltered, not really knowing what to say. What the hell was this? I needed to sit down. My entire world was spinning at a rate of knots all around me, like a carousel out of control.
“Unless I wanted to die, which believe me, I really don’t, then you, my dear Caitlyn, are utterly safe. You see, where it concerns born vampires and witches, it’s really quite the case of survival of the best. Any vampire who has the heart of a witch will live for a long time.”
“Because she’s what, a constant food source? What about when she dies?”
“You’re being very gender specific here. Witches are male, too. As for your question, well, it’s quite simple, really. When the witch dies, the vampire simply moves on but sixty years of ingesting a witch’s blood, all that magic, will last a thousand years at least.”
Love, Lies and Blood Ties: A young adult paranormal romance (Love, Lies and Ties Book 2) Page 8