Night Realm (16 page)

“You’re very pretty,” he told her. “Stunning eyes.”

“So have you,” she heard herself say. She then cleared her throat and asked, “Will you dance with me?”

“Sure
, but I must warn you I’m not very good.”

“That’s okay. Neither am I.”

They got out on the floor near Rachel, who shot Chelsea a look of approval. The DJ had taken over again and was playing some tracks that really had the place cranking. Travis started off a little awkwardly, but soon relaxed and got into a bit of rhythm. Chelsea felt compelled to stare into his eyes virtually the entire time. She tried to arrest herself and look away, but found it impossible to do. She was mesmerized by them, and by him. There was just something about him, something completely different to any other guy she’d ever met. She had no idea what it was, but it was definitely there.

“You’re a pretty good dancer,”
she told him and meant it. She enjoyed watching him move his slender frame about the floor. He appeared tall and gangly as if he should be a little uncoordinated. He was anything but.

Travis just smiled and nodded, scanning her all over with his eyes again. Once more they seemed to hesitate on her neck for just a
brief moment. Then he was looking into her blue eyes again, the smile never slipping from his face.

Emma came onto the floor then and danced up beside Chelsea. She whispered in her friend’s ear, “You like him.”

Chelsea gently nudged her away and nodded at the same time.

“What?” Travis wanted to know, his eyes searching Chelsea’s, the smile still in place.

Chelsea just grinned and felt herself redden in the face.

“Nothing,” she said. “I’m going to go get a drink. You coming?”

Travis followed her to the bar, where Chelsea got another Coke and one for Travis as well. Rather than actually drinking it, he seemed content to just hang onto it.

Chelsea eyed him quizzically. “What? You don’t drink liquid of any kind
?”

Travis looked lost for words for a second, then he smiled again and said, “Of course I do.” He took the smallest of sips. “See.”

“You’re unusual, Travis, but I quite like you. You’re different and that appeals to me.”

Chelsea was surprised at how open she was being. Although she was very forward most of the time with most people - especially her brother - she was usually quite the opposite around a guy she fancied. It generally took her a while to open up and admit that she liked somebody. But here she was telling that to a guy she hardly knew and had only met less than an hour ago.

Emma suddenly appeared beside her with her handbag slung over her shoulder. She grabbed Chelsea by the arm. “Come with me, girlfriend,” she whispered. To Travis, she said, “I’ll bring her back in ten minutes, I promise.”

Travis just nodded and smiled his charming smile.

Emma led Chelsea down beside the stage, where they exited through a fire escape door and out into the night. From there Chelsea was literally dragged behind a small grove of trees. Emma rummaged around in her handbag and produced a small bottle filled with a clear liquid.

“Give me your Coke,” she said and Chelsea obeyed. Emma then proceeded to pour a sizeable nip into the cup and handed it back.

Chelsea sniffed the cup and asked, “What is it?”

“Bacardi. Enjoy.” She grinned. “I feel half pissed already. Happy birthday to me
. Happy birthday to me.”

“Narcissist,” Chelsea said and
smirked. She drank some of her drink and sighed with satisfaction. “Yummy. I was getting sick of plain old Coke.” She then lit a cigarette.

“Give me a sip.” Emma took the cup from her and tilted it to her lips. She handed it back and said, “I think you like Travis.”

“He seems nice.”

“And he’s hot.”

“In an unusual sort of a way. But I like that. You know me. The stranger the better.”

“Weirdo.”

“Am not.”

For the next few minutes the
y chatted about guys while finishing off the Bacardi and Coke and sharing the smoke. When the cup was emptied they got stuck into the remainder of the bottle, drinking it neat. By the time they were done Chelsea was feeling a nice warm buzz seeping through her veins and entering her brain.

“I feel good now,” she said and got up. She held out a hand and helped her friend to her feet. “We better get the birthday girl back to her own party.”

“You just want to see Travis,” Emma said and smiled knowingly.

“That too,” Chelsea freely admitted.

The fire escape door worked on a one-way system and could only be opened from the inside, so the girls were forced to have to go back in through the main entrance at the front. As they walked around the corner of the building they saw car after car entering the car park.

Emma stopped in her tracks. “Who the hell are all these people?”

The cars parked here, there and everywhere. It was all haphazard. Car doors burst open and guys and girls ranging in age from about fourteen to twenty starting filing out and heading towards the entrance to the hall. The two security guards came together, their big frames effectively forming a bit of a wall between the door and the advancing crowd.

Chelsea said, “Gatecrashers.”

The rebels started yelling abuse at the men on the door. Wondering what the ruckus was about, people from within the hall began coming out to see what was going on.

“Let us in or we force our way in,” one of the youths threatened the guards. He swayed as he stood there and was obviously drunk.

“Take your friends and get the hell out of here before I call the police!” the Maori guard warned. His advice, however, fell on deaf ears.

Some of the youths, mostly the guys in the group, started to push their way past the guards and on into the hall. Invited guests from within were still coming out at the same time and it didn’t take long before scuffles broke out.

“I think you needed a lot more security,” Chelsea said to Emma a moment before her friend strode purposefully towards the entrance. Not one to back away from a confrontation herself, Chelsea followed Emma into the melee.

From just inside the doorway, Chelsea heard Emma’s father demand, “What’s going on? Who the hell are you?”

“Fuck you, old man,” someone rudely responded.

Both security guards and several of Chelsea’s male school friends were by now engaged in fist fights and wrestling matches. In no time there was blood everywhere; on the ground, covering clothing, gushing from facial wounds. In the confusion people seemed to lose track of who they were even fighting against. Chelsea saw John throw a punch at one of his school mates by accident
; a totally reactionary response when he was bumped into. The Maori guard knocked out one of the bigger intruders with one punch square to the face. Blood exploded from a shattered nose and the guy dropped to the ground amid a throng of feet stomping all around him and over him.

Emma was thrashing about with some feral girl. The girl had a hold of a clump of Emma’s hair with one hand while swinging punches at Emma’s face with the other. When a second girl came in and attacked Emma from b
ehind, Chelsea rushed to her aid and landed a blow on the second girl’s cheek. The intruder staggered backwards, tripped on something and toppled over.

Someone slammed into the back of Chelsea then and she went flying into a group of guys fighting nearby. A punch hit her in the temple and she immediately saw stars. Her hair was seized from behind. Chelsea wrenched free, losing a clump of hair in the process, and turned on her attacker. To her surprise it was a male of about sixteen,
his eyes dilated and scattered-looking, like he was on speed or ice or something. He was about to strike her a blow to the face when Travis came from nowhere, grabbed him from behind, flipped him upside down and speared him into the bitumen head first. Travis then hauled the girl away from Emma. Another feral entered the fray. Travis easily dodged a swinging arm, drove a shoulder into the youth’s ribs and sent him flying through the air, where he landed on one of the parked cars. The car’s alarm system was triggered and started to screech and wail, adding to the confusion and decadence of it all.

Travis spent the next few minutes going after every intruder he could lay his hands on, subduing them and dispelling them with relative ease.

When the sounds of approaching sirens could be heard, many of the gatecrashers fled. The car park was a congested hive of rumbling engines and squealing tyres. Others ditched the cars and made a run for it. The stubborn ones stuck around and continued to cause trouble.

Chelsea, a little battered and bruised herself, put her arms around Emma. She was bleeding heavily from cuts to the face and Chelsea managed to get her inside where she dabbed at the blood with a pile of napkins.

At least five patrol cars showed up, and two ambulances arrived a few minutes later. Arrests were made and ambulance officers treated the wounded that remained.

All the while Chelsea searched for Travis, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Michael realized now he’d made a mistake by hunting in town. He’d drawn too much heat and it was risky for him to go back there. He wasn’t so much afraid of being caught, but more concerned about being exposed for what he
really was. From now on he would be forced to be more discreet.

He thought he spied something down on the ground some fifty feet below, so he swooped down and landed on the dirt with a thud, his boots kicking up small clouds of dust.

It was only a wombat.

Tonight he’d decided he might make a return to animal feeding, just until the heat died down a bit. It wasn’t his preference, would much rather feast on a human, but maybe it was the wise course of action for now. It would be hard, though. He now had the taste for human blood again and was craving some badly.

But
even though he was targeting an animal right now, a wombat was never his meal of choice. He preferred kangaroo. The blood was much richer and the supply a lot more plentiful than that of a wombat’s.

He eyed the wombat a moment as it slowly walked away from him
into the forest. Strangely it didn’t seem afraid of him. Maybe it sensed it wasn’t in any danger.

Michael stayed on the ground for now to hunt. He crept as silently as he could through the woods, using his superior eyesight to guide his way, keeping his ultra-keen ears open
to alert him to any sounds, near or far, that might give away the presence of a kangaroo. It had been four nights since his last feed and he was ravenous. The more he fed, the more his appetite became insatiable. He was fighting hard to keep it in check. If he went on a killing spree, the heat on him would quickly rise to boiling point.

It was very, very hard to do
, though. The lust for human blood was virtually all-consuming now. For the most part he could think of nothing else.

He’d enjoyed his game with the old man four nights ago, but his
blood had been a bit thin and not totally satisfying. The young woman’s, though, had been totally divine. She had been a sumptuous meal, healthy and fresh. He wanted to dine on more like her. And he would, in time.

Michael scanned the forest as he moved slowly between the trees and around the undergrowth. A large lizard scurried out of his path and rattled its way through dead leaves, desperate to conceal itself.

Don’t worry, lizard, he thought. I’m not after you.

After walking a few more metres, he paused to listen.

Thud...Thud...Thud. Silence. Thud...Thud...Thud...Thud.

Michael homed in on the direction of the sound. It had definitely been a kangaroo and a good-sized one, judging by the loudness of the thuds.
He swept stealthily through the woods, keeping his eyes and ears open. The beast was obviously stationary at the moment, for he heard no more indications of movement.

Again he paused to listen and heard a faint chewing
sound. The kangaroo was close by, he realized, just behind a thicket of bushes only a few metres away. It was feeding on leaves.

Moving in a crouch, the vampire rounded the thicket and came eye to eye with
a Big Red. The animal stopped mid chew and stared at the intruder, sizing him up.

And then it was off, bounding powerfully away from Michael through the woods. He gave chase, sidestepping obstacles as he went. With his superior speed he caught up to it in no time and latched onto the beast from behind. It hopped madly and thrashed its small head from side to side. Michael buried his fangs into its neck and quickly sucked the life out of it. The kangaroo trembled, bounded awkwardly for a few more paces, then crashed to the ground and lay still. It was dead.

Michael got off it and stood up. He dusted the dirt from his black clothing and wiped the blood from his chin. He took a deep breath of the fresh night air and stared up at the full moon.

That meal was good, but it wasn’t
nearly sufficient. He really needed human blood.

*  *  *

Ryan was up watching late night TV in the living room when Chelsea arrived home in the early hours of the morning. He turned and saw cotton wadding taped to her forehead, scratches on her cheeks, bruises on her face and arms and blood on her jeans. There may have been blood on her top as well, but it was harder to tell when it was red anyway.