B008GMVYA4 EBOK (35 page)

“Filthy Vampire is blinded by jealousy” spat the other boy.

“I KNOW WHO THE KEY IS! I mean, I think I do. It has to be!”
Gabby shouted, correcting herself, back tracking over her mistake out of fear
for her own life.

“Take us to it” the boys demanded together.

“Ok, let me kill the girl and then we’re go...” Gabby said
calmly, as if it was natural to just kill someone.

Madison did not flinch. The aspect of her life ending meant
little to now and nothing seemed to matter anymore. The stone that has kept
Madison grounded was now gone.  There was no emotion left and she was
empty. Gabby had ripped out every last spark that had made Madison, her, now
she was no one - nothing. Madison knew that eventually Brendan would come for
her, but the prospect of continuing her life without Stephanie in it was too
much to bear.

“There’s no time, Brendan is coming for her. He will be here
in little than five minutes” one of the boys said.

“That’s ok, I’ll only need a minute” Gabby said stepping
towards Madison.

“No, she comes with us. You have failed to fulfill your side
of the deal. Until you do, she remains under our protection”.

Gabby huffed and shot the two boys a frustrated, almost
childlike look for not getting her own way.

“Brendan…..” Gabby whispered, jealously and hatred curling
off her tongue.

Both boys turned to face her, there posture and movement
mimicked. Their heads lowered to the ground, masking their faces. Gabby stared
at them for a moment, but she did not protest any further.

“Fine! She comes with us…” Gabby spat.

Gabby span in a circle like a ballet dancer and made a
beeline for Madison.

Madison lay motionless on the floor and watched as Gabby’s
slender legs approached her. Her vision had not shifted since she had been
thrown to the floor, shock had taken a hold and this time it was too strong to
shake off so easily. Gabby knelt down over her and in one foul motion she
grabbed Madison by the hair pulling her head up towards her. Madison sat
upright without making the conscious decision to do so; she winced in pain as
her hair was tugged from her scalp. She was completely at Gabby’s will.

“Tell me Madison, what does a guy like Brendan see in a girl
like you?” Gabby joked, her words twisted with jealousy.

Madison didn’t answer. Her eyes were glazed, staring over
Gabby’s shoulder towards the two hooded boys.

“Huh? You don’t know?” Gabby said forcing Madison to shake
her head.

Madison squirmed and screwing up her face at Gabby’s
persistence. This action awoke her slightly from her shocked state.

“Brendan could do so much better then you! Let’s face it,
you’re no Angelina Jolie. And your fashion sense, it’s so 90’s. New Look Skinny
jeans and a plain black t-shirt, have you ever heard of Gucci or Ralph Lauren?
Brendan likes his girls with a bit of class. Although he was seeing this one
girl... Fred? I think that what her name? And oh my god, she makes you look
good!” Gabby said bitterly.

At the sound of Fred’s name, Madison made eye contact with
Gabby for a moment before looking away once again. Leon and Fred had completely
slipped her mind, but now Madison could see their faces in the emptiness of her
mind. She remembered Fred’s funny, high pitched voice and Leon’s well thought
out, witty remarks. She felt concerned for them, they had helped her when she
needed it and now it seem she had unintentionally go them involved in her mess.

 “Fred” Gabby muttered.

Madison blinked several times; unaware that Gabby had
noticed her reaction to Fred’s name.

“Has Brendan ever mentioned Fred before? And… now what was
his name? Oh yeah… Leon?” Gabby hummed, as pieces of the puzzle began to slot
together.

Madison froze. She held her breath as Leon’s name rolled off
Gabby’s tongue. She knew how important it was to protect Fred and Leon – so she
ignored Gabby. The conversation that Brendan had had with Leon the first night
they had arrived at the Lodge played over and over in Madison’s mind. How Leon
had protested that he must protect himself and Fred from the Coven.

Madison would not allow Gabby the satisfaction of ruining
anyone else life, not after everything they had done for her – offering her a
roof when there was nowhere else to go. No more blood would cover her hands,
she had already lost two dear friends and she wasn’t going to lose anyone else.

“Don’t treat me like an idiot, Madison. I know your
pretending you don’t know who I‘m talking about!” Gabby said, pushing Madison’s
face away from hers – releasing her grip.

“I don’t know anyone called Leon. I‘ve never heard of him
before!” Madison said sincerity in my voice.

 “I know you were lying, Madison. You stopped
breathing” Gabby said softly, sharing down the bridge of her noise at her.

She stared into Gabby’s eyes sympathetically as her version
blurred behind the tears that filled them. Madison’s face was pale and drawn;
her lips were dry and cracking. She was at the end and her appearance was
starting to show this.

Gabby’s face was calm and soft, a small smile crept across
her lips. Her beautiful green eyes scanned every inch of Madison’s face,
examining the worn, tired look that she now wore. Gabby’s eyes were full of
satisfaction, she was pleased with herself for causing her so much pain and
Madison hated her for it.

“Have you been staying with Uncle Leon and Auntie Fred?”
Gabby asked again softly, the smile on her face grew wider.

She made eye contact with her, but did not answer. She
didn’t want to put Leon and Fred in the same danger that she had
unintentionally put Stephanie in.

Gabby smile sank, her lips hardened and her expression
flickered to anger.

“Tell me!” Gabby shouted, angrily.

Madison turned her face away from her as Gabby raised her
hand to release some of her frustration. Madison shut her eyes waiting for the
impact; she was becoming accustomed to being knocked around and knew that it
would just be a case of waiting for the pain to take hold. No impact came.
Slowly, Madison opened one eye at a time, looking sheepishly to where Gabby had
been crouched. 

Gabby was no longer crouched in front of her; instead
Madison was confronted by a pair of black jeans. Slowly, she raised her gaze up
towards the black jumper which covered the torso of the person who stood in
front of her. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she longed for the
figure before her to be Brendan. As Madison’s eyes rose higher she caught the
sight of a ghastly face that had haunted her for some time after her arrival in
London. The face was horror stricken, the creature’s mouth open wide, its
features distorted and its eyes covered with circles of darkness. The skin of
its face was a transparent white with purple and pink veins raised underneath
the skin. The boy’s hood was pulled up over his forehead and from the angle
Madison sat she could see his face clearly.

Horror and disgust flooded through her, but she was
completely hypnotized by the boy’s face. He stretched out his hand towards the
top of her head.

“Our Master wants to see…” he said in his deep, unnatural
voice.

Slowly, he lowered his hand down onto the top of her head.

A gust of wind blew through her, swiping her long tangled
brown hair out behind her. His touch was like being electrocuted, as soon as
the boys palm touched the base of her head a flash of light erupted from her
body. She felt light, like she was floating through space. A brilliant golden
light surrounded her and she could no longer see the boy or the other vampires.
Her whole body tingled with waves of pleasant shivers as she floated through a
golden ghostly atmosphere. White sparks of light floated down from the edge of
atmosphere, they crackled and flickered like sparks of electricity. Every inch
of Madison felt weightless, relaxed, she had no thoughts, no feelings – she was
completely at peace. It was kind of like how she had imagined Heaven to be.

A quick flash of eye piecing bright white light shook Madison
from the peaceful blissfulness she was experiencing. She threw her hands up
over her eyes defending herself against the blinding light. Pain screeched
through her entire body, making her jerk and spasm out of control. Her hands
moved from her eyes to either side of her head as she screamed in pain. Her
head felt like it was going to explode, the pain was agonizing - like nothing
she had experienced before.

Madison’s eyes were closed tight, but she saw flashes of
different faces and images as the boy tried to pull memories from her mind. A
random image popped into her head. Madison could watch the image as if it was a
fly on the wall documentary of her life. The pain subsided and her eyes still
tightly closed with the golden obsess still surrounding her, she could see her
memory as clear as day. It was a memory that Madison had no recollection of,
something she had completely forgotten until it was thrust out in front of her
so the boy could see.

She was ten years old and playing happily on the grubby carpet
of the lounge at home (Phil’s house). Madison sat crossed legged cradling a
doll with short black hair, she chatted happily to the doll and brushing its
slinky soft hair. A loud noise startled her younger self, causing her to leap
to her feet and drop the doll in the process. She was frozen, staring curiously
towards the doorway. Madison hadn’t realised how small she had been for a ten
year old until this point and she looked so fragile.

Phil stood in the doorway, one hand gripping the doorframe
to balance him – clearly drunk as usual. The red jumper he wore was stained
with alcohol and cigarette ash smeared all over it. There was mud on the knees
of his jeans – probably due to lying flat on his face in the dirt at some point
over the last week or so. His face dirty as usual, although he looked younger
and slightly more coherent then Madison remembered him. The dark circles still
clung to his eyes even earlier on in his life.

Seeing Phil brought back emotions that Madison had long
forgotten, anger, guilt, neglect and abandonment. She felt severe hatred
towards Phil and she hated him for all the emotional and physical pain he had
caused her throughout her life. Even now Madison suspected that because of Phil
she was emotionally programmed to seek out pain and destruction that he had
caused to her. After all, what was happening to her now didn’t happen to a lot
of people, probably one in a billion, but it had to happen to Madison - Phil
had programmed her that way. Just seeing his blank, haggard face brought back
the brokenness that she had felt for so long. All those feelings she had
promised herself that she would never feel again, slowly began to creep back
in. Phil was a disease that would always infect her.

Phil wobbled towards young Madison, his eyes focused on her
scared little face. She now gripped the dolls tightly in her arms, tears
streaking her cheeks.

Phil’s mouth moved as if he was talking, but Madison heard
no sound – she had forgotten at an early age what Phil had said to her that
day, or possibly blocked it out. Phil reached for her younger self; he towered
above her and his eyes hard with anger. He wobbled. For a second it looked as
if he was going to fall on top of Madison little body, but he manage to balance
his self before he toppled over.

Phil’s eyes slowly slipped down towards the doll, he slurred
some more words then quickly snatched the doll from little Madison grip. Her
ten year old self jumped up and down trying to get back the toy that had been
stolen from her. Phil held it up high so she was unable to reach it, she
pleaded with him to give it back, but Phil shook his head, a sick, twisted,
smile creeping across his lips. Slowly he brought the doll down to his chest
and with his free hand he twisted the head and broke it off from the dolls
body. Casually he handed the doll back to Madison as if nothing had happened,
she staggering around tearful and flopped onto the sofa. She held the broken
dolls body in one hand and the head in the other - tears poured down her face.
All Madison could remember was sobbing uncontrollably that night.

She watched in shock, just another cruel act Phil had
tormented her by. Madison had forgotten all the things that Phil had done to
her when she was little. When she was old enough to realise, she convinced
herself that it wasn’t Phil it was the drink that was making him do these
things and on the most part this was probably true, but Phil was so twisted and
torn up by Madison Mother’s death – it had changed him. The pain Phil felt had
made him evil and there was no doubt about that.

Everything around her went blurry, like a car travelling at
high speed. The bright white lights flashed around her body and the pain
returned again causing her to jerk and flinch uncontrollably. The hooded boy
seemed to sift through Madison’s memories as if they were no more than DVD’s,
picking and choosing which ones to play or which ones to discard. He saw things
that Madison had never told anyone, not even Stephanie. It was intrusive and he
seemed to get some sick pleasure out of knowing Madison first kiss, first
sexual experience and other details of her personal life. She could almost feel
his excitement and arousal as he passed these memories.

Suddenly, her mind went blank as another memory was
reopened. The pain subsided and a flash of colour aroused her senses - the
images settled and came into focus. Madison saw herself again curdled up in a
dark blue sleeping bag on Stephanie’s bedroom floor. Stephanie was led in her
bed, a pink checkered duvet pulled up to her chin. She looked cute and relaxed,
not a care in the world.

They were both 16years old, it was one of the many
sleepovers Madison had at Stephanie’s when things got too bad at home.
Stephanie’s bedroom looked bigger then Madison remembered it and the walls were
painted a rose pink. This had been changed to neutral colours in the next year
or so, as Stephanie decided it was time to ‘grow up’. They chatted happily to
each other, as their eyes grew heavy with sleep. The colours of the room
started to bleed into each other, the pinks and purples mixed together and
zoomed past the corner of Madison’s eyes. The brilliant white light lit up her
surroundings again and the pain flooded back in as another memory was plucked
from her brain. Madison’s eyes rolled back in her head, the pain was becoming
more and more intense as the boy dove deeper and deeper into her memories. It
was like a drilling sensation in the base of her skull and he was beginning to
tear her mind apart. She wasn’t sure what the boy was looking for, probably
answers to her and Brendan’s plans or where she had been hiding out. But
whatever the boy was doing would slowly kill her if he didn’t find what he was
looking for soon.