Defender's Blood Alex's Destiny (An Urban Fantasy) (4 page)

Duncan just harrumphed and replied. “Hell its ye that’s no been back on these bonny shores in over a hundred years! Why dae I hae tae keep visitin yersel?”

“Yes but you like America so much don’t you?” Zach laughed. “That I do ma friend, that I do,” Duncan replied.

They left the office and the music assaulted Alex’s ears once more. The club was even busier than before and she wondered how these folk got up for work in the mornings.

They retraced their steps out to the big steel door. Duncan opened it and first went out to check all was okay. “Cannae see, sense or smell anythin bad. That is apart fae the usual crap in the alley,” he told them. Zach took Alex by the hand and led her to the SUV where she had to climb to get up into the seat, with help from Zach.

He then went back, grabbed Duncan in a bear hug and said his goodbyes. He joined her in the car and they took off for her apartment. Duncan stayed watching until they had left the alley.

Once they were back in familiar territory she began to give him directions. He stopped her. “Alexina, I’ve been watching you for a number of days. I know where you live.”

Startled, she asked “How long and was it only you or has anyone else been ‘watching’ me?”

Zach answered with a slight smile. “About four days. It’s only been me. I don’t need that much sleep and when I did need to rest I just had a catnap in here while parked outside your building.”

Alex’s mind started to think of that and there were some questions she had. So she took the bull by the horns and asked “Sorry, I’m a bit confused and would like to ask some questions as in, are you not a Vampire and therefore asleep during the day? Don’t you have to stay out of the sun? Although I know here in Scotland we don’t get much of that, but daylight? Don’t you have to stay out of it, I mean?”

Zach did that little smile again and lo and behold she got bloody butterflies in her stomach again. What the hell was going on with her today?

“
Alexina, I understand you have some preconceptions regarding Vampires so I will give you some truths rather than the Hollywood film versions. No, I don’t need to stay out of the daylight. It won’t make me burst into flames although if I am in direct sunlight for any length of time it can make me tired. Newly turned or young Vampires do tend to stay out of the sunlight as it can make them feel ill, but again they won’t burst into flames. The older a Vampire gets, the more tolerance they have. Are there any more questions you would like to ask, although we are nearly at your place so you may want to wait until we’re on the jet?”

Alex looked out the window and realised they were just round the corner from her apartment. “Think we should wait. I have to phone my aunt and get some stuff together for this ‘trip’.
I’ll use my phone to send a quick email to my boss too. I’ll say theres’ been a family emergency, give me a minute.
” She was done in less than that, her fingers flying over the small keyboard.

He parked, then they got out and approached the main door to the apartment building. It was a relatively new building on the outskirts of the city and she only rented it. Even the furniture came with the let.

She had very few personal possessions and even less that were important to her. In fact only one thing that she would not have left without.

As they entered the building, she saw a very tall woman. In fact she would go so far as to say ‘girl’. She had the most distinctive white-blonde, very long hair that Alex had seen.

She was as pale as a ghost and stick thin. She was dressed in a long skirt, flip-flops and an ornate blouse which had abstract symbols embroidered on it. The closer they got to her, the more Alex had a feeling that Zach knew her.

As they came alongside her Zach spoke. “Hi Arielle, how are you? I haven’t seen you in a very long time. Belgium wasn’t it?”

The woman with the long blonde hair gave Zach a long look before replying. “Yes Zachariah, indeed it was Belgium. Nasty business that was.” The softness of the voice didn’t go with the age-old knowledge Alex saw in this female’s eyes.

Zach smiled. “Indeed,” he replied.

Arielle started talking again, barely looking at Alex and directing her words to Zach. “The property has been completely cleansed and warded and all is safe. For the moment.”

‘
For the moment’ – what the hell did that mean? Alex was thinking. Zach too, obviously, as he asked. “So it may not remain so? What is it that you have detected, Arielle, and how long do we have?”

*****

Arielle looked worried, which in turn worried Zach. He had known this Witch, this very powerful Witch, for many years and he didn’t think he had seen this worry in her before.

Even her tone was worried as she replied “I cannot be certain Zachariah, as I have never come across it before, which concerns me. Concerns me greatly. It is not another Witch, Mage, Vampire or even a Wolf. I can tell you what it is not. What I can’t tell you is what it is,” Arielle finished and Zach scowled.

How can that be? Zach thought. There is nothing that Arielle cannot deal with. How could she not know?

She continued “All I can say is that whatever it is, it is powerful and the only other word I can use is evil.”

Zach and Alex looked at each other – the woods – the smoke thing. They had both felt the evilness that was there.

Zach addressed Arielle. “I think Alexina and I have had a fleeting encounter with this thing, in the woods earlier. However, I grabbed Alexina and moved us away before it materialised properly. But the overwhelming feeling that was there was evil.”

Arielle frowned before continuing on. “Zachariah, I think yourself and Alexina had a lucky escape. This is not something to be trifled with. I have a lot of work to do so I will have to go now. As for how long you have in the building? Well I would not like to give a time period. All I will say is get in and get what is required and then leave. Quickly.”

Zach moved towards the woman. “Thank you once again for your assistance Arielle. Goodbye and safe travel.” Zach gave her a short hug and then Arielle said goodbye and left, not even looking in Alex’s direction.

*****

Alex had been standing to the side of the two of them while they spoke. Unfortunately, the more she heard the more anxious she became. Her heart sped up and her breathing became shallower. She was beginning to feel light-headed when she felt Zach’s arms close around her. There was that tingling sensation again?

“Please don’t worry little one, I will make sure you are safe, please trust me,” he said softly.

‘
Little one’ – he did NOT just call her ‘little one’. Her anger rushed to the surface. She may be small but she was nobody’s ‘little one’.

She pushed away from him and turned around to face him, anger in her voice as she all but shouted at him. “Okay, alright, you may be a hundred gazillion years old but do NOT treat me like a child! I am not yours or anyone else’s ‘little one’. I am a grown woman and I deserve to be treated as one. I may not have much knowledge when it comes to Vampires, Witches and God knows whatever else but I refuse to be talked down to. Do you understand? You got that mister!” and she gave him a very large poke in the chest.

She pushed past him and made her way up the stairs to her apartment, anger evident in her every movement.

She went in and got a small suitcase and started to throw stuff in. She didn’t really care what went in, she was still riled up.

She turned to go to her dresser and Zach was standing in the doorway with just a hint of a smirk on his face. Which made her even madder.

She got the one thing that was actually important to her from her mother’s locked steel box which was in the bottom drawer. A piece of jewellery her mother had put around her neck the last time they saw each other. She put it in the suitcase and then found her passport. “Okay, I’m ready to go,” she told Zach, who was still in the same position with the same look on his face.

Just as they came out of her bedroom she stopped dead. Zach looked at her expectantly waiting on her to follow him but she just dropped her case and put her hand over her mouth. “Oh God, I forgot to phone Aunt Mary! What am I thinking? I was ready to leave and forgot to phone her! Jesus, my mind is totally fecked!” She turned and went to the landline, picked it up and hit speed dial number one. It started to ring at the other end.

Zach stood to the side, giving her some space but also near enough to grab her if anything happened.

“Yes Auntie, I’m sorry for not phoning earlier but today has been so weird. Can I please explain, without you interrupting?” She paused while her aunt replied. “Okay, here goes ...” and she went on to tell her aunt everything that had happened.

She was amazed her aunt did not stop her from talking. Her aunt usually would butt in on a normal conversation and this was anything BUT a normal conversation.

When she had finished telling her everything up to the point where she was on the verge of leaving the country in a jet, with a Vampire no less, she expected her aunt to go mad. However, the strangest thing happened. Aunt Mary went on to tell her she had to be careful and that there were some things she needed to tell Alex.

Alex was a little scared, this was not the way she thought the conversation would go. She listened warily as her aunt first apologised for never telling her what she was about to. This scared Alex all the more.

“Alex, baby, please stay calm, I know this is going to be difficult to hear and I know I should've told you ... but ... your parents – they didn't die in a car crash, they were murdered. It was because your mother was a member of a very old sect ...”

“
What! What are you saying? That's crazy, they were killed in a car accident – you TOLD me that!” Alex's voice had risen and she was fighting hard to control her breathing. This was nuts, completely insane!

“
Calm down Alex, I know this is hard honey, and I know I should've told you more as you got older. As the years went by I found I just couldn't do it. I wanted to keep you safe darling. I tried to do what I thought best ...”

Then her aunt went on and she told Alex that she had an old journal of her mother’s and she should have talked to her about all of this and given it to her years ago. However, she realised that she would need it now and asked her to come and get it.

“Aunt M, I can't believe you kept this from me. I deserved to know how my parents died and about this ... this ... book or whatever it is, you should've given it to me, you just should have ...” Alex couldn't go on. She tried to fight back the tears that filled her eyes, and failed, they flowed down her cheeks and she swiped at them to clear them from her face.

Aunt Mary then said something Alex couldn’t quite understand and barely heard as her aunt whispered it as if talking to herself: “I have not done my job.”

“What?!” Alex asked into the phone and she heard her aunt take a sharp breath in.

“
Nothing Alex, it's nothing,” her aunt replied.

“
It's not nothing – what did you mean by that?” Alex was confused and hurting and she was sure there was more to this than she could even begin to imagine.

“
Alex, honey, I can't even begin to explain, just get here and I'll go and get the book I'm talking about. Maybe it will help.” Her aunt was obviously not willing to explain and Alex felt more than a little exasperated.

“
So what about the fecking trees, Aunt Mary? I may as well ask as this conversation is already so far out there that talking trees can't make things any weirder! What was that all about?” Alex had been sure she could sense the trees or something, telling her to get the hell out of those woods. She had thought she was going a bit crazy when it happened.

“
Ah Alex, that was just your sixth sense warning you of danger, that's all,” her aunt said. But she wasn't sure she believed her. Sixth sense, talking trees, Christ could this day get any worse?

“
Okay, we'll be there soon,” was all Alex said before hanging up the phone.

*****

Zach was immediately behind her and his arms wrapped around her. He did not know why Alex was upset and crying but he could sense so many things going through her. She was extremely sad, hurt, angry and a host of other emotions. He felt them all warring inside of her and he wanted to stop them.

He couldn’t bear to see her like this and he would do anything to take this pain she was in away. She finally said goodbye and replaced the handset of the phone. She turned to him and her eyes were still teary and rather desolate but she seemed to have a better hold on herself.

“Oh dear God, what is going on?” she breathed.

Zach looked down at her as he queried “What is it Alexina? Tell me, maybe I can help.”

Alex was shaking her head as she replied “Nope, don’t think so on this, Vampire. My Aunt Mary has just told me my parents were murdered and my mother was part of some sect or other and she has some kind of journal that she says I will need. I always thought my parents were killed in a road accident! Why did she not tell me? I mean surely I had the right to know this? I am so upset and confused I can’t think straight!”

Zach now understood why she was in turmoil and really couldn’t blame her. This must have come as a terrible shock. At the same time, maybe this journal would shed some light on why Alexina was being targeted. They had to go and get it.