B008GMVYA4 EBOK (23 page)

“Maybe” Madison said happily.

Brendan smiled awkwardly at Madison and turned to exit the
room, leaving Madison to talk to Stephanie in private.

“Oh, so that’s why you haven’t been answering your phone”
Stephanie said sarcastically.

“It’s not like that! Honestly! Brendan is a perfect
gentleman” Madison said proudly.

“Brendan, huh? Well, give me details” she giggled, eager to
hear all the gossip.

“Steph, he’s amazing. He’s Intelligent, generous and
absolutely gorgeous! You will love him” Madison gushed flopping onto the bed
next to the large suitcase.

“How did you meet him again?” she asked excitedly.

“I ran into him last night at work. I’ve got some kind
of….umm…infestation problem at my house, so I spent the night at Brendan’s”

“Oh….” Stephanie said, suspiciously.

“Nothing happened…I spent the night in the guest room. Like
I said, he’s the perfect gentleman. He wouldn’t try anything like that; I don’t
think he would anyway? I’m going to stay with him until I find somewhere else”
Madison said.

“Do you really think you should stay with him? It doesn’t
sound like you know him very well?” Stephanie said, concerned.

“I know more than you think and we were up most of the night
talking. It’s weird, I can’t explain it”

“What is?” she asked confused.

“I don’t know… I feel connected to Brendan. Drawn to him,
like our lives are meant to be intertwined somehow” Madison said thoughtful.

“Sounds like you’re falling for him” Stephanie laughed.

Madison smiled to herself; Stephanie was right - she had
never felt this way about anyone before. There was something about Brendan that
made her feel whole again. The empty hole that had been present inside Madison
for a long time was slowly beginning to heal in Brendan’s presence. She felt
like she had unknowing spent the whole of her life up until the moment she
first clapped eyes on Brendan, waiting for him. The bond she now felt for
Brendan was stronger than anything she had ever felt before, it was the kind of
bond that could never be broken. Madison had no idea what the coming days or
weeks would bring, but she was excited and hopeful that something more than
friendship would occur between them. She knew that it was forbidden for a
vampire to reveal its identity to a human and if the coven found out, they
would kill Madison because of the knowledge she possessed and probably kill
Brendan for sharing this information with her. The only possible chance Madison
had at a relationship with Brendan would be to become a Vampire. The coven
would never allow a human/vampire relationship to be conducted underneath their
noses. It was forbidden for Vampires to change humans and Madison knew she was
walking on very thin ice, but she couldn’t help but continue to let her
friendship with the handsome stranger grow.

“I don’t know it’s complicated” Madison finally said, less
hopeful.

“Madison, all relationships are complicated” Stephanie
laughed.

“I know, but Brendan’s different from other guys”

“We all think that at first… then we get to know them and…”
Stephanie said skeptically.

“No it’s not that, he really is! I’ve got to go anyway; I
need to get ready for work. I’ll call you later” Madison said, getting up from
where she had flopped happily onto the bed a few moments ago.

“Yeah, sure talk to you later” Stephanie said hanging up the
phone.

Madison rubbed her face, trying to remove some of the doubt
and concern that now clouded her thoughts. Slowly she began to unzip the large
suitcase to get ready for work.

“Wow, you look beautiful” Brendan said as Madison emerged
from the bedroom and entered the lounge.

Brendan was led flat out of the sofa, his nose in a book -
his eyes widened with delight when he saw Madison.

“Thanks” she said shyly.

Madison had made an extra effort to ensure her makeup was
flawless and her long hair perfectly straight. Normally she didn’t put so much
effort into her appearance just to go to work, but now she was staying with
Brendan she decided she would have to make more of an effort with appearance in
general.  She wore a clean black work shirt with name
luxuriance
sewed in gold thread onto the right breast pocket, a black pencil skirt with
thick black tights and a long black cardigan that hid the numerous bruises on
her arms.

“Is everything okay?” Brendan asked closing the book and
sitting up straight.

“Yeah, fine. Sorry, my friend Steph rings me every night,
we‘ve been best friends since, like, forever. So she worries if I don’t answer
her calls, alone in a big city and all that”.

A sudden feeling of loneliness washed over her, she realised
for the first time since she had arrived in London that she was utterly and
completely alone.  Stephanie was Madison’s only link from her past life
and Phi still hadn’t tried to contact her after she left so abruptly.

“Oh right” Brendan said, a cheeky smile spread across his
lips.

Madison threw him a confused glance; she didn’t have time to
question his expression as she was already late for work. Clutching her handbag
she hurried towards the front door without throwing him a second glance.

“I’m going now. I’m late, so I’ll talk to you later” she
said as she passed Brendan who watched her curiously.

“I’ll give you a lift” Brendan offered, throwing the book he
was reading on the sofa.

“Really? Do you mind?” Madison replied.

“Not at all” he smiled brightly.

“Good, because it’s just occurred to me I actually don’t
know where we are?” she smiled.

“Come on… let’s go” Brendan laughed.

*  *  *

L
uxuriance
was slow for a Saturday night. It was the
opening of a new club about half a mile down the road which had provoked a bit
of competition for Faye who seemed oddly un-phased by the quietness of the
club. Madison was grateful for the slow night, it gave her the chance to digest
all the information she had accumulated in the last 24 hours. She now found
herself questioning her own future.  Up until this point everything had
been laid out for her, Stephanie would move to London where they would find a
new apartment together and a couple of decent jobs. Then one day they would
probably find a couple of nice men, settle down, get married, do the whole
family and kid’s things. Now though, she had entered the unknown; the person
Madison desired was so close but almost untouchable. Another species that had
been hidden from the rest of the world, who was just as dangerous as it was desirable.
Madison felt hopeless; there was no way she could be with Brendan as a human –
The Coven would never allow it. She knew if Brendan was to change her there
would also be consequences, she would almost undoubting be sentenced to death
and there would be severe consequences for Brendan. Even if Brendan could
somehow persuade The Coven to allow him to turn Madison, she hadn’t even begun
to think about how it would affect Stephanie or what kind of impact it would
have on the rest of her life. Stephanie would be devastated and Madison
couldn’t live with the guilt of that forever. Revealing what she knew would
only put Stephanie’s life in danger and Madison would die before she could
allow that to happen to her best friend. Her mind spun in confusion, every
scenario ran erratically out of control and it always ended the same - with
someone getting hurt. Stephanie and Brendan were the only two people in her
life and she couldn’t afford to lose either of them.

With her mind spinning in various thoughts and scenarios,
Madison spent most of the evening behind the bar serving drinks to the few
customers that were in the club or just generally standing around staring into
space. Faye had left the club early, a little before 9pm; she had decided to go
meet some old friends as it was a slow night. Faye had left instructions for
her to leave early if it was still quite by 1am and to lock up the nightclub on
her way out. Madison agreed enthusiastically, excited at the prospect of
leaving early to go home to Brendan’s luxury apartment.  Scott had been
working earlier on that evening; but Faye had let him go home early due to the
slow business and not wanting another reoccurrence of the night before. Things
were still tense between them with dirty looks thrown in her direction all
night.

Madison spent the remainder of the night consumed in
thought, only arousing to serve the odd drink now and again.

“I’ll see you on Tuesday then” Jessica said, slamming a few
empty glasses down onto the marble bar. The noise startled her; she jumped
breaking free from the heavy thoughts that had clouded her mind for the last
several hours.

“Oh right, what’s the time?” Madison asked, looking around
the empty club.

The music screeched to a stop and silence fell over the
club.

“It’s nearly one. The club has been empty for the last half
hour” Jessica replied looking skeptically at Madison.

A door heavy door slammed as the DJ exited the building.

“It has? Yeah, sorry I must be tired tonight or something.
I’ve been daydreaming all night” she replied shyly.

“I noticed and it’s a good job it’s been a slow night.
Anyway, I’ll see you on Tuesday” Jessica said heading towards the door.

“Yeah, see you Tuesday. Night” Madison called.

She stared into the empty club. The lights were now on
lighting up the darkness in the four corner of the room. She hadn’t noticed
Jessica turning on the lights or that the club had been empty for so long.

Slowly, Madison collected the glasses from the bar and began
to load them into the dishwasher. She was interrupted by a bitter cold blast of
wind that filled the large room. She jumped startled, dropping a glass onto the
hard floor - it shattered sending small shards of glass flying in different
directions. She looked into the open room, the room whistling past her and circling
back out towards the fire exit in the hallway to the left of the dance floor.
Screwing her face up in confusion she stepped over the glass and headed towards
the door on the left.  From the open door Madison could see that the fire
exit was open.  Another gush of cold air hit Madison sending her hair
swirling out behind her and flowing down over her face, she swept it away and
stared curiously at the open fire exit.

“Hello?” she said, cocking her head to search around the
corners of the doorway.

Nothing, the hallway and club was deadly quiet; only the
sound of the wind whistling around the large room rang in Madison’s ears. She
continued to peer suspiciously around the corners of the doorframe, checking no
one was lurking in the out of sight. The corridor was empty and still.
Curiously Madison walked over to the open fire exit and peered around the edge
of the big green doors into the alleyway. The alley was covered in a thick
layer of darkness and Madison couldn’t see past the stream of light that shone
down into the alley from the open door. A large gust of wind hit Madison almost
knocking her off her feet; she stumbled backwards into the corridor pulling
back the large double doors with her and slamming them shut.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end and an
unnerving feeling caused her stomach to sink and her ears pricked at the sound
of shuffling feet.  

Spinning around to face the large room Madison gasped in
fright. A figure stood motionless in the centre of the dance floor, their head
lowered towards the floor. Madison eyes focused on a familiar face, a face she
had seen a few times but had recently come to feel fear at the sight of this
face. It was Gabby. Madison knew she could not reveal to Gabby that she knew
what she was and this made Madison even more anxious and scared about the
unpredictable Vampire that stood motionless in front of her. Her chest
tightened as she struggled to breathe through the shock of Gabby’s appearance.
Madison knew Gabby was a different type of Vampire to Brendan, older, unable to
step into the daylight and less human. This made her more unpredictable and she
knew for this reason she would have to be wearier of her. She remembered
Brendan saying older, un-evolved vampires finding it more difficult to feel
human emotions like evolved Vampires did. Brendan had mentioned this fact
during the fourth or fifth brandy so Madison found it difficult to recall all
the details from the conversation. She knew Gabby was under oath by the Coven not
to harm a human being or to reveal her identity to them, but this knowledge did
not reassure Madison any less.

“Gabby? What are you doing here?” Madison asked wearily,
walking slowly through the doorway onto the dance floor.

“Just thought I’d stop by, say hi and all that...” she said
softly looking up towards her, a flicker of sarcasm in her voice.

Gabby’s voice was sweet and just as beautiful as Gabby was.
Her long curly blonde hair flowed down over her shoulders onto her silk, black,
halter neck top. Her jeans were designer and tight fitting, showing off every
curve of her slim, perfect legs. Her skin was flawless and it had a golden glow
to it that Madison had not noticed before. Gabby’s eye makeup was thick black
which illuminated her usual bright, green eyes. Her eyes were angry and
accusing, and her body was positioned in a defensive manner.

Gabby cocked her head to the side and examined Madison
suspiciously.

Madison took a step backwards at the sudden movement and her
heart beat rapidly increased.

 “What do you want, Gabby?” Madison asked forcefully,
fear crackled her voice.

“Thought we could have a girly chat” Gabby replied, lifting
her head further and stepping closer to Madison.

“What about?” Madison asked. She was eager to step backwards
again to stop the gap between them closing, but she stood her ground against
the Vampire.  

“Don’t play dumb, Madison. I know you’re smarter than that!
But then again…..your actions lately haven’t been very smart, have they?” she
said, stopping a few feet in front of her so the distance between them was even
less.