Leticia (12 page)

“Leticia
,
” I heard Nancy say
.
“
Can
I join
you?
”

“Sure
,
” I said motioning for her to sit down
.

“Are you
OK
?”

“I’m fine
.
You
?”

“Not bad, but I’ve been better
.
”

“How did you know I was in here?”

“I phoned Jackson to see if he had managed to speak to you, he just muttered something and said you
were
going for coffee. I guessed it would be here with you being here the other day
.
”

“
O
K
”

“He also said you
were
approached
in
the
parking lot
again
.
”

“I didn’t think he’d seen that, I thought he’d gone
.
”

“That’s what he wanted you to think, but trust me he was watching
.
If
it had gotten out of hand, he would have been at your side in an instant
,
” she told me
.
“
But
don’t tell him I told you that
.
”

I shrugged
.
“I doubt I’ll be speaking to him again anyway
.
”

“You will
;
he won’t let you go that easily
.
”

“I don’t understand
.
”

“Jackson happens to like you, quite a lot, he thinks you
’re
...well, I’m not saying actually he can grow a set of balls and tell you himself. Just believe me when I say, he won’t stay away, he won’t tell you
why
,
” she sighed
.
“
But
he will keep bumping into you
.
”

“Whatever you say
.
”

“Leticia can we be friends again
?
”

“I’m not the one that started
this;
you wanted to kill a young
man
in my house
.
”

“I was worried for you, that’s the only reason. I don’t want to lose my friend
.
”

“You haven’t known me two minutes
.
I don’t mean that to sound heartless, but it’s not like we’re lifelong friends is it?”

“But we could be
.
”

“Don’t
shape shifters
age at all?” I asked
.

“
No
, and I know you don’t either. How old do you think I am?”

“Well
,
you look about twenty-one
.
”

“I haven’t aged since then, but I was actually born in 1872, Christmas Day
.
”

“Wow, are you older than Jackson?”

“No, he’s the older one, he was born in 1865,
October
31
st
.
” she told me
.

“Halloween
.
”

“Yeah, weird isn’t it
?”

“Hmm, how old is Tristan?”

“Oh he’s ancient
,
” she laughed
.
“
He
was born in 1524, in
Brighton;
he was turned when he was twenty-
two
.
”

“Wow
.
”

“W
ere
you born a wolf
or...
”

“I was attacked, it killed my mother and left me like this
,
” I explained
.
“I have a nice collection of scars from it
.
”

“Where?”

“I have four claw marks across my left
side
, they’ve faded, but you can still see
them.
”

“Oh god
.
”

“Great isn’t it, my
m
other
was with me when it happened, we were out taking a walk. She was savagely attacked and died in my arms. I thought I was going to bleed to death, and not long after my
m
other
died, I passed out. When I woke up I was in someone’s house. My
mo
ther
was
lying
on the floor covered up by a white sheet
;
I was in a vampires house. He cleaned me up and then explained what had happened to us
.
”

“That was nice of him
.
”

“He’d called a doctor to see to my
mo
ther
,
and then
spent the rest of the day explaining to me exactly what I now was
.
”

“How did you feel?”

“Shocked, in disbelief, upset, furious, but also curious
.
”

“Curious
?
” she said, not understanding what I meant
.

“To see what I could do
,
” I explained
.
“
H
ow it would feel;
I felt different already, stronger, but as soon as I let even the slightest bit of the wolf through, I’m like... superhuman”

“But you’re still stronger when you’re just normal too
?
”

“Yeah a little bit
.
”

“Cool, we’re strong, me and Jackson I mean. Tristan is very
strong
and lightning fast, we’re not as fast as him sadly, but we can still move quicker than a human being. We like what we are
.
”

“Good
.
”

Both of us turned silent for a moment, I
turned
back
to
the window
,
drinking my coffee.

“So are we friends?” she asked
.

“Yeah
.
”

“
Good
, good. What are you
r
plans for today?”

“I’ve got another client to see, I’m making up for ones I cancelled
.
”

“Can I come with you?”

“Why?”

“I’m bored, I’m sick of being at the house, Jackson
was
in a foul mood and
went
out, and Tristan has gone out somewhere. So I could come with you and then you could come to
my house
for a bit if you want
.
I doubt Jackson will be in before you make him the excuse not to come
.
”

“Yeah
OK
then
.
”

We finished our drinks and went to my
client’s
house. When we went to collect the car I noticed Jackson’s was still parked there. I wondered, even though it was none of my business, who he was meeting. Was it a friend? A girl? Why did I even care? Nancy hadn’t driven into town so she rode with me. My client really liked
her;
she was very chatty and had us both in hysterics at times
.
In
the end
I was actually
really glad she came
.

Once
we’d finished at my client
’
s we went straight to Nancy’s.
I’d
thought about backing out of it but I knew it would really upset her. When we pulled
in
the driveway my stomach sank a little, Jackson’s car was the
re. His almost brand new, black
Audi RS4 was parked in the same spot it was in when I last came around.

“Don’t worry
,
” Nancy said to me, noticing that I was starting to feel uncomfortable
.
“We don’t have to speak to
him;
he’ll probably just shut himself in the study anyway
.
”

“I hope so
.
”

“He’s not so bad once you get to know him. He blows hot and cold, he never used to, but
,
well, like I said before,
it’s
for him to tell you the reasons why
,
” she told me as we got out of the car
.
“I just so wish he would go back to how he used to be, sometimes I tell him he’s not my brother and not to talk to me until he brings my brother back, do you understand what I mean
?
”

“You mean he’s like two people?”

“
Kinda
, I love the
old
Jackson not this new one, I can understand why he puts this front on, but he needs to stop
.
He’ll
lose everyone if he carries on
.
”

“I guess
it’s
up to him
,
” I shrugged
.

“Don’t act like you don’t care, Tish
.
”

“Tish?”

“Tristan said
it’s
what he
’s
calling you so I thought I would to
. You
don’t mind do you?”

“I guess not
.
”

“Great, anyway, like I was saying
,
” she continued, unlocking the front door and letting us inside
.
“Don’t act like you don’t care about him, I saw the way you looked at him when you came here
.
I know you’re attracted to him
.
”

“Think what you like
.
”

“Listen, just because he’s my brother
doesn’t mean I’m going to run off and tell him what you say. I told you I wanted a girlie friend, and this is one of the reasons why
.
”

“T
o set your brother up
?
”

“God no
,
” she laughed
.
“
To
have these girl chats, I love them
.
I won’t ever tell him what you say, so speak freely
.
” She led us into the kitchen and closed the door behind us
.
“Soooo
.
”

“So what
?
” I asked
.

“Tell me what you think of him
.
”

“He’s weird, arrogant, cold, cocky, rude
, and
I don’t like him.” I stopped talking as Jackson walked in the kitchen. He didn’t speak, he just looked at me with a mixed look on his face, half sadness and half ang
er
. Had he just heard what I’d said about him? Did I really care when all I was saying was the truth?

“I thought you’d be out for the day
,
” Nancy said to him as she got two cans of Pepsi out of the fridge for us
.

“No
.
”

“Do you want to join us?”

“No
.
”

He got himself a can of Carling out of the fridge, glanced at me for a moment, then left the room again.

“Once upon a time
he would have come and sat with us, asked us how our day had been, offered to make us a drink and a snack. He would have
taken
the time to get to know you
,
” Nancy said sadly
.
“Tish, please try and see past his bad points,
if you could get through to him
you would see he was a really nice person with a massive heart
.
”