Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (44 page)

‘
Good,’ she smiled. ‘Carry on thinking.’

*

That Friday,
Travis’ set didn’t start until eleven. The queue spilled into the
road, but Maddy and Alexandre strolled past it and up to the two
large doormen in their tightly fitting suits.

‘
Madison Greene plus one,’ she said to one of them. He found
the name on his sheet, looked them up and down and lifted the rope.
They walked through the crowded bar to the VIP area where Maddy
nodded to a few familiar faces. Ben was staying at a friend’s
house, so she could relax and enjoy the night without
stressing.

‘
There’s Kerri … I think,’ she said, spying her over in the
corner, talking to a group of glamorous girls. Madison only just
recognised her. She was dressed to impress, poured into a silver
micro dress, low-cut in the front, backless and reaching down just
as far as it needed to. Her hair was all blonde waves cascading
down her back and she wore towering spike heels that would have
crippled Maddy for life.

‘
Hey, Kerri,’ Madison called out.

Kerri’s face
lit up at the sight of Madison and she squealed to her friends.

‘
It’s Maddy! This is Madison, who I was telling you about.
She’s a top girl!’ She stood up and hugged her. ‘You look
amazing.’

Maddy wore a
tight gunmetal grey dress that started at her throat and came down
to her knees, with a draped, low-cut back. She had on strappy grey
sandals that she could just-about walk in and her hair had been cut
into a sleek black graduated bob which highlighted her perfect
cheekbones. Alexandre wore an immaculately tailored dark suit and
all eyes were drawn to both of them.

‘
Hiya!’ Kerri said to Alexandre. ‘I’m Kerri. Maddy’s forgotten
to introduce us.’

‘
Sorry, sorry. God, I’m so crap. Alex, this is Kerri. Kerri,
Alex.’

‘
You
are well fit!’ Kerri said in her
Gloucestershire drawl. ‘Maddy, is he the reason we haven’t seen you
for ages? Well I forgive you. I think I’d fall off the face of the
planet if I had
him
to occupy my time.’ She laughed.

‘
Thanks a lot Kezza.’ Taff walked up behind her and pretended
to be annoyed. ‘Hi Madison.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘Alright, mate.
I’m Taff.’ He held out his hand to Alexandre who shook it and
smiled.

‘
I’m Alex. I am pleased to meet you.’

‘
Come over and sit with us, Trav’ll be here in a
bit.’

They sat
around a low circular table and Taff went to get them some drinks.
Alexandre asked for a beer, even though he wouldn’t be drinking it.
Kerri introduced them to her friends who all seemed to be as loud
and bubbly as her.

Madison found
out that Travis had downplayed the evening to her, as he was
actually supporting the headline act, a big-name DJ from
Manchester.

‘
Wow, that’s amazing,’ Maddy said.

‘
Yeah,’ Kerri agreed. ‘It was your party that did it. Loads of
people said how good the DJ was that night and the club actually
tracked Trav down and offered him a trial night. Now he’s got a
regular thing going. Okay, enough talking, come and dance.’ She
tried to pull Madison to her feet, but Maddy resisted. She didn’t
want to leave Alexandre on his own.

‘
You go,’ Alexandre said to her. ‘I like these people. I will
be fine.’

‘
Sure?’ she asked. He pulled her to him and kissed her. She
instantly wished they were somewhere else, somewhere private where
that kiss could continue.

‘
Sure,’ he replied.

‘
Put her down. I’ll bring her back later,’ Kerri called over
her shoulder to Alexandre while dragging Maddy away by the
hand.

Madison danced
with her new friends. She felt elated. Here she was with the most
gorgeous, handsome man on the planet. He loved her and she loved
him. It was like a chick flick cliché but she didn’t care. Life
didn’t get much better than this. Maddy didn’t recognise this tune
but she knew she would remember it as the soundtrack to a perfect
moment of happiness.

She noticed
two blokes dancing a bit too close to them, so she and Kerri moved
off slightly to the side to avoid them. But it looked as though
they were intent on sleazing up against them. One of them brushed
his hand across Madison’s back and she gestured to Kerri that she
wanted to move to a different spot.

‘
I need a wee anyway,’ Kerri said to Maddy.
‘Coming?’

Maddy nodded
and they escaped to the Ladies.

‘
Ugh, what a couple of pervs,’ Kerri said when they reached
the loos.

‘
Why do I always attract the weirdos?’

‘
Uh, hello! Alex is not exactly what I’d call a weirdo,’ Kerri
said.

‘
You know what I mean. If I’m on a bus or a train, you can
guarantee the creepy nutter will come and sit his arse down right
next to me.’

Kerri laughed.
‘Ditto! We better not go out together again. We’ll end up
attracting a meeting of Freakshows Anonymous.’

‘
D’you think it’s safe to go back in the water?’

‘
Yeah, they’ll have moved on to someone else by
now.’

They used the
loos, re-applied some lipstick and made their way back out to the
other girls. After a couple more tracks, Maddy grew anxious about
Alexandre and she started to make her way back to the VIP area. As
she threaded her way through the crowd, she felt a hand grope her.
She turned around and recognised one of the sleazy blokes from the
dance floor.

‘
Can I buy you a drink?’ he asked.

‘
No, but you can keep your dodgy hands to yourself,’ she
spat.

‘
No need to be rude,’ another voice said. Madison spun around
and saw the other man. They were both in their late twenties, not
unattractive, but with no sense of style whatsoever and Maddy could
tell they were total creeps.

She tried to
push past them and continue on her way. The last thing she wanted
was to start any trouble and she definitely didn’t want Alexandre
to see what was going on.

‘
Where are you going?’ the shorter one asked.

She ignored
him and tried again to walk past.

‘
It’s rude to ignore people,’ he said.

‘
Yeah, we’re just being friendly,’ the taller one
added.

Maddy sized
them up. They were pretty solidly built and looked like they could
handle themselves. They didn’t seem the type who would run away
from a fight. She prayed she could get rid of them before Alex
spotted them.

‘
Look,’ she said. ‘It’s nice you want to chat, but I’m not
interested. So please. Can you just go and find someone else to
talk to? I’m already with someone.’

‘
But we don’t want to talk to anyone else,’ the short one
persisted. ‘We want to talk to you.’

‘
She does not want to talk to you,’ Madison was both relieved
and worried to see Alexandre arrive at her side. ‘I believe you owe
the lady an apology.’

‘
Who are you?’ the taller one asked.

‘
Apologise,’ Alexandre repeated.

‘
Leave it, Alex,’ Madison tugged gently at his arm. ‘They’re
just a couple of losers.’

‘
You are right,’ Alexandre agreed. ‘Let’s go.’ They began to
walk away.

‘
Hey, mate!’ the taller one called to him. ‘Mate, okay. You
win. I’m sorry.’

He came up to
Alexandre and put his arm around his shoulder, patting him in a
placatory manner. But then he reached up to Alexandre’s head and
yanked it backwards, trying to punch him through the jaw with his
other hand. Alexandre instinctively anticipated each move before it
happened and threw the man to one side without breaking a
sweat.

The shorter
one pulled out a knife and waved it in front of Alexandre. People
around them had begun to notice the fight breaking out and a couple
of girls screamed when they saw the knife. The area around them
cleared.

The short one
tried to stab Alex in the chest, but Alex took the man calmly by
the neck and held him off the floor, away from him. In the
meantime, the taller one had recovered. He also had a knife and
tried to stab Alexandre in the back. But the knife failed to pierce
his skin. It slipped down and cut the man’s hand.

Alex threw the
shorter man across the floor where he smashed into the side of the
bar. Alexandre reached his hand around behind him and picked up the
other man by his shoulder. He tossed him casually in the same
direction as his friend.

Six bouncers
suddenly appeared through the crowd and two of them picked up the
dazed men from the floor. Alexandre remained unharmed and unfazed,
standing calmly, like a marble statue.

Madison had
been hysterical while the men had attacked him, screaming at them
to stop and calling out Alexandre’s name. Now she ran to stand
protectively in front of him, crying and shouting uselessly at the
bouncers.

‘
He didn’t do anything! Those blokes just attacked
him!’

‘
Can you move out of the way please,’ one of them said to her,
walking slowly up to Alexandre.

‘
It is alright, Madison,’ Alexandre said and then he turned to
face the approaching bouncers. ‘Please, I do not wish to hurt
anybody else.’

The suited men
smiled to each other at his words. They’d heard it all before. As
the first one approached Alexandre from the right, Alex’s hand shot
out and swatted him away like a bug. Although the music was still
playing loudly, a crowd had gathered.

‘
Gonna have to ask you to come with me,’ one of them said to
Alexandre. ‘Don’t want any more trouble.’

He took
Alexandre’s arm but the vampire just shrugged him off. The force
was such that the bouncer crashed backwards into a crowd of
onlookers. Madison screamed.

‘
Come on, Alex! Let’s just go!’ She turned to the remaining
two security guards who charged at Alex from both sides. ‘No! We’re
leaving. Please, just stop!’

Alexandre
almost smiled, but still he didn’t move. His feet were planted in
exactly the same spot and, as the bouncers made contact with him,
he repelled them with a flick of his wrist and a jab of his elbow.
All four men were now out cold.

‘
Come on, Alex,’ Maddy said. ‘Before someone calls the police.
Please, let’s just go.’

‘
Of course,’ he turned to her and put his hand on the small of
her back, guiding her through the crowd which parted in front of
them. As they left, more security turned up, speaking frantically
into their walkie talkies and looking nervously at
Alexandre.

‘
We’re leaving,’ Maddy said to them as they
approached.

Alexandre
didn’t even appear to have noticed them.

‘
Please,’ Maddy pleaded with them. ‘Please just back off.
We’re going. It was those other guys anyway.’

Security
walked behind them at a distance to make sure they vacated the
premises.

‘
Mads, you made it!’ She heard a voice above the noise of the
club. It was Travis sitting at a table with some people Maddy
didn’t recognise. He walked up to her. ‘Did you get a look at what
was going on over there? I didn’t see it but something was going
off.’

‘
Yeah. Trav, I’m really sorry but we’ve gotta head off early.’
She kept moving towards the exit, mindful of the bouncers watching
them. She didn’t want anything to kick off again.

‘
What?’ Travis exclaimed. ‘You can’t go now. I’m on in half an
hour. Can’t you hang around a bit longer?’

Maddy inclined
her head towards the four or five dark suits who subtly escorted
her and Alex out of the building.

‘
Oh! Shit man. No worries.’ Travis looked warily at Alexandre
who stared back at him intently. ‘See you later then, Mads. Take it
easy.’

He sat back
down with his mates and she left them to their speculation and
gossip.

Her mind
whirled. What the hell had just happened? Those men had knives.
Were they on something or what? Poor Alex. He must think her world
was a terrible place.

‘
Are you okay?’ she asked, once they were outside.

‘
I am fine,’ he replied.

‘
Those men. They were mental. I think there was something
wrong with them. That’s not normal behaviour,’ she gabbled, trying
to make sense of what had happened.

‘
I will find you a taxi and then I must leave you for a
while,’ he said without emotion.

‘
Alex, no! Please don’t go looking for them. Please. It’s so
not worth it. They’re scum. Just let them go. The bouncers will
sort them out anyway. They had knives. They’ll have been arrested
or something. Please. Don’t leave me.’

Her last words
did the trick and he softened slightly.

‘
They were not good men,’ he said. ‘But they were
weak.’

‘
You were amazing. So calm. You just stood there and defended
yourself. You didn’t even get angry.’

‘
I was angry that those men spoke to you in such a manner and
I was furious that they dared to lay their vile hands on
you.’

‘
Well, thank you for defending my honour, Sir,’ she said in
her poshest voice.

‘
You are most welcome, Mademoiselle.’

‘
You do know we’ll be barred from that club for
life?’