Where Loyalty Lies (10 page)

“Did he get up?” Holt asked.

I nodded. “For a few seconds he didn’t move but then he got up and called me a freak and said I would pay for what I’d done to him. What if he comes here?” I asked. “What if he tells the police and they come and arrest me?”

“It’s okay, Faine. I’ll stay here tonight while you sleep, then in the morning you can pack and we’ll go. I promise there’ll be no problems.”

“You’re going to stay?” I asked.

“Yes. Like I said, I don’t need much sleep so I’ll keep watch here while you get some sleep.”

“I don’t know if I can sleep,” I insisted. “I keep seeing his body, all crumpled on the floor.”

“That’s understandable. Nothing like this has ever happened before?”

“No. A few little things but nothing like this.”

“Well, I think that’s pretty incredible. When people first become vampires it takes a lot of training for them to get used to their new speed and strength. They have specific classes to help adapt their instincts to deal with the changes. So I’m impressed that you dealt with it on your own and didn’t have any accidents.”

My ears pricked up at the new information. I hadn’t even thought about people being changed into vampires. How did they do it? Could anyone be changed?

“Oh dear, I know that face,” Holt commented. “But no more questions today. You need to sleep. You can ask questions tomorrow.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep. I’m too wired,” I said.

“I’m betting that you’ll drop off quicker than you think,” Holt insisted.

I wasn’t so sure, but Holt had dropped everything and rushed round here to make sure that I was okay; I owed it to him to at least try.

“You’re sure you’ll be okay out here?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” Holt moved onto the couch and made a shooing motion at me.

“Okay, then. Night.”

I headed down the hallway and into my room. A glance in the mirror revealed a dark purple bruise on my right cheekbone. Great, that was going to make a fantastic first impression at Rillith.

I had a quick shower, as I always did after a shift at the pub, because I hated the smell of smoke on my skin and hair. Then I changed into a pair of PJs and climbed into my bed. I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling. Holt was wrong; there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep after everything that had happened. I thought more about what he’d said, about humans being turned into vampires. It was a topic that raised a million new questions. I thought about getting up and finding my pad and pen so that I could jot down some more questions, but I was too comfortable to move. I rolled onto my side. Maybe I’d lie here for just a minute and then I’d find my note pad. It wouldn’t hurt to rest my eyes for a minute. 

I was rudely awakened the next morning by a stabbing pain assaulting my face when I rolled onto my right side. I sat bolt upright and looked around bleary-eyed. Last night’s events came back to me and, before I even looked in a mirror, I ran down the hall. I found Holt in the kitchen, chopping up a banana. He looked up at my bedraggled appearance and visibly fought back a smile.

“Everything’s fine. No problems at all,” he said.

I nodded, relieved at the news. That was good but it didn’t mean I was out of the woods.

“I can handle any trouble that turns up,” Holt said with confidence. “But it still might be a better option to leave sooner rather than later.”

I couldn’t agree more. I was still expecting a knock on the door at any minute. I had no idea what Holt meant by handling any trouble, but I didn’t want to find out.

“That’s fine by me; I’m just annoyed that I have to show up there with this,” I said, pointing at my face.

Holt came over and inspected it again.

“It’s already going down. How long do you think it’ll be until it’s completely gone?” he asked.

I thought about it. “Two days maybe, but tomorrow it’ll be yellow enough to cover with make-up. I don’t think I can wait here for that long, though.”

“Rillith is about a nine hour drive from here, so even if we left right now we wouldn’t get there until late afternoon. I have a place a couple of hours south of Rillith, nothing much, just a small place that I go to when I need some peace, but, if you like, we could go there today and then drive to Rillith tomorrow. In fact that may be a better plan because I have some books at the cabin that you can look at before we go and you’ll be able to see what Rillith is like; really know what to expect.”

I tried hard not to let any worry show on my face. The word cabin implied a log building in the middle of nowhere surrounded by woodland. Suddenly, getting in a car with Holt seemed like an insanely stupid idea. What if there was no Rillith? What if he was just some pervert who wanted to get me alone in some cabin where nobody could hear me scream?

“It’s okay, we don’t have to go,” Holt said. “It was merely a suggestion. If you’d prefer, we could stay at a hotel. I just thought it might be better to turn up at Rillith when you don’t look like you’ve done a couple of rounds with Mohammed Ali.”

I smiled at the comment but still felt uneasy. It was suddenly very clear how much of a gamble I was taking.

“No, it’s fine; I’d like to learn more about Rillith before I get there.” I glanced at the clock. “I don’t have much packing to do, so I could be ready by eleven?”

“Fine with me, but first breakfast. Do you like banana pancakes?”

“Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever had any, but I like bananas and I like pancakes so I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes.”

“Good.”

I watched as Holt worked his way round the kitchen. His movements were swift and confident, giving me the impression that he’d done this many times before. In almost no time at all, he’d produced a stack of amazing-smelling pancakes right in front of me.

“Do you have maple syrup?” he asked.

“Yep.”

I ransacked my cupboard to find a bottle that was still sealed. I’d brought it a few months ago when I’d attempted to make pancakes for Pancake Day. It hadn’t gone quite as well as I’d hoped and they’d gone straight from frying pan to bin.

“Oh my God, they’re amazing,” I said rudely through my first mouthful.

Holt looked just a little pleased with himself. I couldn’t blame him. These put every other pancake I’d ever eaten to shame. I was halfway through the stack before it occurred to me that Holt hadn’t made any for himself.

“So, it’s just... erm... blood that you eat, then?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t ever eat normal food?”

“No, we don’t ever eat food. Most of our kind do still drink, but that’s for pleasure not for necessity.”

“So you still sit and have a cup of tea?” I asked, amused by the image.

“A small handful do drink tea or coffee, but most of us are more partial to something a little stronger.”

“You mean alcohol?” I asked and, when Holt nodded, I chuckled. “So your need for all food and drink is taken away and the one thing that you hold onto is alcohol? Personally, I think I’d have gone with chocolate. Or maybe these pancakes.”

Holt smiled. “I’m glad you like them.”

I finished my last mouthful and started washing the plate.

“Do I need to bring stuff like this with me?” I asked, holding up the plate.

“No need for anything like that. Whatever happens with The Sénat, you’ll likely be at Rillith for a while. Everything will be provided for you there, so all you really need is clothes and personal belongings.”

Holt and I cleaned the kitchen together and I finished my packing in even less time than I’d anticipated. Holt didn’t seem at all surprised that I could fit all my worldly possessions into two bags. He took them with him back to the hotel he’d been staying at. He wanted to get his things and his car.  He instructed me to wait in my flat until he called to say he’d pulled up in the street outside.

As I waited, I paced from room to room, feeling like I’d forgotten to pack something important. I’d moved around a fair bit in the last few years but this move was very different. Before, I’d always moved to a similar kind of run-down flat and got any mundane jobs I could find that paid cash-in-hand. I had a feeling there was going to be nothing run-down or mundane about Rillith.

            Since I’d officially made up my mind to go with Holt, my excitement had overridden my nerves. I was well aware that this wasn’t going to be a fairytale ending, where I was taken into a new world, finally accepted and lived happily ever after, but ever since I was a child I’d been told that I had evil in me and that I should spend my life doing good and praying in the hope that it might one day be removed from me. I’d known for a long time that the things Mary had called “evil” were merely abnormalities that scared her because she didn’t know how to explain them; now I had a chance not only to discover them, but to divulge them to people who’d accept me as normal.

When Holt called to tell me that he was outside, I said a last goodbye to my flat and left. On the way out I posted a letter into Mr Jackson’s to explain that I’d had to leave for a family emergency. I’d included enough rent to pay for the month. I was tempted to give it to him in person so that I could see how annoyed he’d be at having paid for my new locks when I wasn’t even going to live there anymore, but after last night I decided that a quiet exit was better. I felt satisfied that at least the next tenant in my flat would be safe from Ben’s thieving ways.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I climbed into Holt’s gunmetal Aston Martin. Either Chris had decided against his threat to make me pay, or he was too late. I’d not only got away but I was doing it in style.  

I wondered if Holt had bought the Aston Martin because he loved the James Bond films, or if he’d bought the car first and then discovered that a fictional character called James Bond was always associated with it. Judging by his non-existent knowledge of Harry Potter, I assumed the latter.

I waited patiently for Holt to pull away and start our journey, but instead he just sat there giving me an odd look. My stomach clenched. Had he changed his mind? Did I look so glaringly out of place in his beautiful car that he was realising I would never fit in at Rillith?

 “Well? You need to tell me where to go,” Holt said.

I raised my eyebrows. “Well I was kind of hoping you knew the way there, seeing as my only knowledge of Rillith is that it’s somewhere in Scotland.”

I saw Holt trying to cover up another of those amused smiles.

“I meant, where do you need to go first?”

“Nowhere,” I answered, not really sure what he was getting at.

“Well, don’t you need to go and inform someone that you won’t be showing up for work?”

“I’ve already done that.”

“Well, how about a bank? You must need to get some money out.”

“I don’t have a bank. I keep all my money to hand.” As soon as I’d said it, I realised it probably wasn’t the best idea to be telling a near stranger that my life savings were packed in all my stuff in the back seat of his car.

Holt frowned at me. “Why don’t you have a bank account?”

I averted my gaze and pretended to watch a young couple walking down the street, hand in hand, while I decided what to tell Holt. Eventually, I decided on the truth, but I kept my gaze on the couple as I talked.

“After that evening, I thought that you or he might have been after me; I packed up and left that same night and, when I settled down here, I didn’t want to do anything that could lead him to me. That’s why I don’t have a bank account, a payroll number, a passport or a driving licence because they’d all have my name on and it didn’t feel safe.”

The couple had rounded the corner now but I kept my gaze outside, not wanting to catch a glimpse of Holt staring at me like I was an idiot.

He said nothing but the engine of the car roared into life and my stomach flipped as we started to drive out of the town; it had nothing to do with nerves or excitement and everything to do with speed.

It had always annoyed me, seeing people in fancy sports cars sticking to the speed limit. Surely the reason you have a car like that is to put your foot down and get some thrills? Holt clearly agreed with my way of thinking as he weaved us in and out of traffic at a speed that I told myself I was better off not knowing.

We’d been driving for hours and the sky was darkening when Holt turned off the road and slowed to a stop. I looked out the window to see that we were at a service station and we were parked outside a Burger King. I gave Holt a quizzical look.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

I looked at the Burger King and then back at him. After our earlier conversation about his diet, I knew he wasn’t talking about chomping on a Big Whopper Burger.

“Um...” I stumbled over a few sentences in my mind, trying to find a polite way to ask.

“Just go in and get whatever you want. I’ll meet you back at the car.”

I got out of the car and was so concerned about what it was that Holt was about to do, that I didn’t look where I was going and it was only when I smacked into someone that I snapped back into reality.

“Oh God, I’m sorry,” I mumbled as the woman I’d collided with bent to pick up the bag of food that she’d dropped. She smiled at me as she stood up.