Witchblood (27 page)

         ‘Daniel, I need to do this. It’s bugging me and I don’t think it will ever go away. You and Eva were both in terrible situations directly before you were turned. Eva was fleeing for her life in the French Revolution, and you were likely to die of mustard gas poisoning or worse. But I was happy. I had my whole life ahead of me and they stole it. They took away my future without a care and I want to make them pay.’

         ‘I thought you were happy with me now, in this new life?’ He asked, his eyes looking sad and worried.

         ‘Yes, I think I can be, but to come to terms with everything that’s happened, I need two things. To say goodbye to the people I loved and to somehow make those girls pay. It would have been okay if the police had caught them and they were being punished, but they’re free, and they are
still
hurting people.’

         Daniel sighed and looked into my passionate face and I dealt my trump card.

         ‘They were in the paper again this week. I saw it whilst I was on the bus. The report said a man in his seventies had been walking back from the post office after collecting his pension, when he was jumped on by a gang of four girls. They kicked him in the stomach until he gave them his money, and left him bleeding on the pavement. People witnessed it but didn’t do anything to stop them. Again, they all had alibis vouching for their whereabouts. Daniel, they need to be stopped!’

         ‘Okay, I’ll agree to help you, mainly because I don’t see any alternative. I don’t want to risk you disappearing again the first time you get an opportunity, and frankly it’s about time you had some trust and didn’t have to be chaperoned everywhere.’

         ‘Yey!’ I celebrated, a huge grin spanning my face.

         ‘If Sebastian questions me I’ll say it was imperative for your development.’

         ‘You know, if we want to track them down, tonight will be the best time to do it. It’s Saturday. It was a Saturday when they attacked me. It was also a Saturday night when they attacked the two other girls I read about. All those attacks happened near Exodus, and there are loads of convenient back streets in that area.’

         ‘So you haven’t been planning it much then?’ Daniel said with a wry half-smile. ‘We could always go next weekend?’

         ‘My mum always said ‘S
trike whilst the iron’s hot’
, and although she wouldn’t normally condone violence, I think she’d allow me this. I think she’d want it for me,’ I said, suddenly sure I was doing the right thing. I didn’t want to waste any time, or more to the point give Daniel the chance to back out. I needed him. After all, I’d never in my life been in a fight. The one and only time I’d been in a fight or flight situation I had chosen flight, and look where that had got me! Though I’m pretty sure I would have been in the same situation had I turned around and tried to fight them. Yes, I would definitely have been dead. Or rather undead! You can’t fight against knives. At least human girls can’t fight against knives. Vampires? Now
that
was a whole different ball game, and I was determined to play them at their own game. And win.

On arriving back at the house I still felt nauseous, so I headed straight upstairs under the pretence of getting changed and when I heard the TV go on in the lounge I tiptoed into the bathroom and stared gloomily at the toilet. I knew what was coming as wave after wave of nausea rushed over me, my stomach clenching as it evacuated its dark red contents into the bowl. A minute later it was all over and looking in the mirror I noticed my old pallor was back, but I felt much better.  Instinctively I knew this was not something I should mention to Daniel, along with the toast craving that was creeping back in, so I crept back into my room and chose my evening outfit.

I was dressed for clubbing. I had my skinny leather jeans on again, this time teamed with killer ankle boots and a skinny black polo neck. I know I was all in black, typical vampire attire, and I didn’t normally like to dress to the stereotype, but on this occasion I wanted to look formidable. Hell, I wanted to look like their biggest ever challenge; a challenge I knew they wouldn’t be able to resist. I would look beautiful, which they’d be jealous of, wealthy, which would fill their pockets, and tough, which they’d want to challenge. Daniel would be hidden; I would appear to be alone. They would walk straight into my trap.

         ‘Right! Well I can see you mean business,’ Daniel said, as I tried to emulate Eva and glided not quite as gracefully, but certainly as fast, down the stairs.

         ‘Yep, let’s go. I’m really hyped! It’s so amazing to have you on side,’ I said, still feeling a little overwhelmed by his support, as I knew it would be likely to get him into trouble with both Eva and Sebastian.

         I took his hand and let him pull me into his embrace. Going with the feeling, I reached up and kissed him. Luke had walked away from me, twice it seemed, so now I had to start a new life. I had to stop thinking about him. I would try.

         For a moment he looked a little surprised, and I realised it was probably the first time I’d proactively kissed him. The surprise only lingered a second, before his emotions took over and he backed me against the wall and crushed his lips against mine. His lips were hard and unyielding, yet somehow warm and tender. They crushed mine, but never hurt. He held my head in a way which sent shivers through my body. I could be kissed like this all night long!

         ‘Come on then, we should go,’ he said, reluctantly pulling back and disentangling his hand from my hair.

         We’d left the car at Exodus, and after briefly checking in with Sebastian and spending a somewhat dull hour sitting pretty in the club, we were now walking the back streets, hunting our prey. Daniel’s arm was wrapped around me casually, and we looked like any young couple out on a Saturday night.

         Initially, we walked past the long line forming at the front of the club, and I scanned the faces, not sure whether I wanted to recognise any or not. I yearned to see Alex again. The sight of her at the funeral hadn’t interested the vampire in me, but it had stirred the human girl. I remembered how I’d wanted to run to her and hug her, but then I remembered my dream and shivered. I was pretty sure that if I could control the blood lust, Alex would be more than willing to overlook my somewhat scary transformation and reinstate our friendship.

         ‘Are you okay, Jessie?’ Daniel said suddenly, interrupting my thoughts.

         Oh, damn! Had he been listening? The ‘Alex plan’ was not anything I could expect Daniel to help me with, or agree to. I knew it would be forbidden. I looked at his quizzical face and smiled quickly.

         ‘Yep, I’m fine. Just wondering how we’ll track them down and what I’ll do when we succeed.’

         ‘Are you sure?’

         ‘Yes,’ I said, somewhat irritably, not comfortable with the lie. ‘Surely you know if you’re always listening in?’ I grumbled.

         ‘I don’t always listen in, Jess. You know I can’t, and if I could I wouldn’t. I’m not a telepath. If you project your thoughts to me then I can hear, if you’re in trouble I can hear, and hopefully find you, and the same applies to you. You have to make an effort to communicate telepathically and it’s always easier in the beginning when my blood is the only blood within you.’

         ‘I know, but it feels like I’ve lost so much and I can’t bear the thought of losing my privacy as well. I’m sorry. I know you wouldn’t listen in purposefully, but it feels like you always know what I’m thinking,’ I said. Now I was having this conversation I might as well see it through.

         ‘Yes, in the beginning I could hear you much more clearly. Like I said, my blood was strong within your body; it was making you what you’ve now become. Also you were new, and you projected everything my way, whether you wanted to or not,’ he said with a smile.

         ‘And I don’t do that anymore?’ I asked.

         ‘No, over the last couple of weeks I’ve heard you less and less. Now, I only hear you when you’re emotionally distressed, for example I heard you call me loud and clear in the club when you saw Gemma, and I felt your pain when Eva was making you try to move that mug.’

         ‘OK,’ I said nodding with relief.

         ‘But always remember Jessie, if you need me and I’m nearby, you should be able to call me.’ He pulled me closer and placed a kiss on the top of my head. I gratefully turned in to face him and tilted my face upwards for more, quite happy in that moment to forget the hunt and go back home.

         I looked up, somewhat shocked to see his face change so swiftly.  The Daniel I knew and was coming to love – yes, I could now admit that easily - had disappeared and in his place was a lethal predator. His face turned hard, cold, and his eyes glittered. I wondered briefly what I’d done to provoke this reaction. It was truly frightening, until he spoke. He whispered in my ear, his cold breath sending shivers down my spine.

         ‘They’re here, Jessie. I can smell them. They went this way only a few seconds ago. Down that street I think.’

         ‘You can smell them?’ I asked. I breathed in deeply, but all I could smell was the dank, slightly rotten smell that seemed to permeate the back streets of the city. I shook my head slightly and replied.

         ‘I can’t smell any humans around here. It just smells rotten.’

         ‘That’s them. Breathe in deeper and you’ll smell the blood. It’s not like the attractive aroma you’re used to. They smell rotten. Evil usually does.’

         I breathed in and there it was. I could definitely detect a lingering smell of human blood, but it was definitely unpleasant. There would be no chance of me wanting to bite these girls.

         ‘Eeuw! That’s not nice. Are you sure that’s them?’

         ‘Yes. I remember it from the night you died. I could smell them all around you and in the alley.’

         ‘Okay, well, this complicates matters. I was hoping to scare them with my formidable fangs,’ I said grinning, ‘but I can’t see how that smell is going to help.’

         ‘Don’t worry, anger as well as blood lust will arouse the vampire in you.’

         ‘Right. Well I guess this is it then?’ I said, suddenly unsure of what I was going to do. I wasn’t a violent person and my human soul didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of hunting these girls, even though the vampire was more than ready for some action.

         ‘They know we’re here. I saw one look out from behind that industrial bin. They’re waiting to see where we go, but they won’t attack you with me here. They only attack girls on their own…or the elderly.’

         That did it, as I remembered the news report from the paper, and the poor old man left bleeding in the street, because everyone was too scared to interfere. Well, I wasn’t scared. They weren’t going to get away with it.

         ‘You stay here and hide yourself until I need you,’ I whispered.

         ‘I don’t like you going in there alone, Jessie. It doesn’t feel right.’

         ‘I’m a vampire, right. They can’t hurt me. I just have to make sure they don’t get my heart or chop off my head, right?’ I said grinning a little hysterically. I had to do this now, before I lost my nerve.

         ‘Bye, see you tomorrow. I’ll be fine, the main road’s only a two minute walk away. Bye,’ I shouted, hoping the girls were listening as I pushed away from him and shouted my false goodbye.

         I had the benefit of knowing where they were, and I also noted the slightly rotten smell getting a little stronger as I closed the gap. I started humming, more to steady my nerves than anything else. I kept my eyes trained on the street ahead, knowing I couldn’t look left as I walked past their hiding place. They’d attack from behind, as always.

         ‘Hey, you! Hi, have ya got any spare change?’ called a girl, whose voice stirred something deep inside, a terrible memory. I took a deep breath, and made myself stumble a little, showing a little vulnerability. They’d like that. I took another step, pretending to ignore them.

         ‘Hey bitch! Where you going? Don’t you want to help me? Hey girls, the bitch is too stuck up to talk to us.’

         I took another step, waiting for the attack. With my new improved hearing I zoned out all the road traffic noise and concentrated on the sound of their soft-soled trainers sneaking up on me. I’d never bothered to use my new talents to their max before, and I was somewhat taken aback by the minute details I could pick out when I concentrated. I could distinguish between three different footsteps. Did this mean one girl wasn’t present or had I heard wrong? I listened again, and took another step away. They picked up pace and started to fan out behind me. No, there were definitely only three sets of footsteps. Okay, this would be easier for me, but one girl would miss out on the lesson.