B008GMVYA4 EBOK (26 page)

Madison relaxed slightly at the empty nightclub but the
pursuing shadows unnerved her.

“It’s okay, she’s defiantly gone! I can smell traces of her
scent on the air, but it’s not strong enough to suggest that she’s hiding”
Brendan said reassuringly.

“Are you sure?” Madison asked concerned.  

“Yes, positive. She’s not stupid. She knows I would rip her
throat out for what she’s done! She wouldn’t hang around for that!” he spat.

“You believe me?” Madison whispered thankfully.

“Of course, I’m sorry I doubted you to begin with, but any
Vampire would be stupid to go against the laws of the Coven. But I guess, if
anyone would do it, it would be Gabby. She acts too much on compulsion and emotions
rather than considering the consequence for of her actions or the logic in her
decisions”

Madison squeezed Brendan’s fingers fondly and flashed him a
weak smile.

“Come on, let’s get out of here” Brendan said leading
Madison towards the main entrance of the club.

A veil of darkness lay over the doorway to the reception
area. Madison shivered at the prospect of entering the darkness once again. Her
mind flashed back to the reoccurring dream that had turned into reality, the
pressing nightmare that would haunt Madison for the rest of her life. She felt
disappointed not to of adhered to her unconscious minds warnings, but
realistically it was uncommon for a person’s nightmare to become reality.

Her hand was clammy resented within Brendan’s as they both entered
the darkness of the reception room hand in hand. The darkness of the room
threatened to consume them; it had eagerly awaited the presence of a person as
it began to swallow them whole. Brendan squeezed Madison’s hand reassuringly as
he guided her towards the two large wooden doors of the entrance.  

“My bag! It’s behind the bar!” Madison blurted out panicked.

“I’ll get it, wait here” Brendan murmured.

Before Madison could protest the prospect of being left
alone for a single second in the darkness, Brendan had faded away into the
shadows.

The silence was prolonged and deadly; her ears were filled
with the sound of her own heart beat thumping loudly in her chest.

The darkness dance wildly all around Madison, shapes and
figures seemed to jump out at her. She stared around as the outline of Gabby’s
curvy silhouette began to jump out from the darkness. She knew her mind was
playing tricks on her as it tried to process the darkness, but the fear was too
near for her to cope with even the silhouette of Gabby generated by her
imagination.

“Brendan!” Madison cried, tears beginning to well in her
eyes once again.

In a flash Brendan was stood at her side once again. She
jumped at his fast movement, the movement jerking a single tear from each of
her eyes causing them to slide quickly down either side of her flushed cheeks.

“I’ve got it! Are you okay?” Brendan asked eyeing the fresh
tears on Madison’s cheeks.

Madison struggled to make out the disguise features of
Brendan’s soft face through the darkness. Brendan was able to see perfectly
fine through the thick veil of black, Vampires seemed more cat like than any
other animal. Unfortunately for Madison she did not posses this trait.

“I’m fine. Let’s get out of here” she said wiping the tears
from her cheeks.

Brendan grabbed the handle of the right door and flung it
open. Madison hurried through onto the street followed closely by Brendan. Once
outside Madison took her handbag from Brendan and pulled out the ring of keys
for the nightclub. Her hand shook violently as she tried impatiently to insert
the key into the lock. After a few seconds of frantically trying the key
slipped into the lock and she twisted it - locking the nightclub.

She turned towards Brendan and smiled weakly. A gust of wind
swept through Madison and circled around her body sweeping past Brendan down
towards the street. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end, a chill
flew down her spine. The large gashes on her knees throbbed in pain, the cuts
had already beginning to heal but the pain lingered on.

The road was lit up in a beautiful golden glow from the
street lamps. Water that lined the street sparkled like a string of diamonds
beneath the street lamps. Brendan’s car was parked alongside the pavement
across from the entrance of the nightclub.

Madison gasped as the cold air filled her lungs. Together
they stepped quickly down the stone steps of the entrance towards the car.
Brendan grabbed the door handle of the shiny black car and opened the passenger
door for Madison. She slipped inside slowly, gasping as her knees ached from
being bent as she sat down into the seat of the car. Brendan shut the car door
behind her and quickly ran around to the driver’s side of the car and jumped
in.

Madison pulled the seat belt over herself and began to
examine the deep cuts of her knees. Carefully she removed the ripped fragments
of tights from the wounds, clenching her teeth at the sight of the deep gashes.

Brendan half watched as he started the car and pulled away
from the pavement into the road.

She lent back in her sear, unsure of where she was going or
what would happen next but she was reassured with the knowledge that Brendan
was once again at her side.

She found it difficult to focus on her surroundings. Her eyes
were blurry and sore from the many tears that she had shed that night. Large
balls of golden light flew past the passenger window as they sped down an
unknown road. They looked more like shooting stars rather than street lamps,
each ball of light urging Madison to make a wish. The motion of the road
outside the car resembled the blurriness you get when you’ve drunk too much
alcohol. All the different coloured lights seeping into one another, producing
one extraordinary mass flowing colour. Her body was relaxed, but the muscles in
her arms and legs were still tense. The pain had now subsided but she was left
with the tingling sensation of healing wounds. Only in the morning would
Madison truly feel the impact from her injuries. There was an edging darkness
in her mind that had been caused by shock, which had caused her to fall in and
out of consciousness. Her mind was mentally tired and her body more so. In the
state of shock that had grabbed a hold of her like a parasite, she had no
concept of time. It seemed like they had been driving for days, but reality was
they were almost an hour outside of London in a town or village where Madison
had never been before. There was a lot of countryside compared to the normal
sight of towering buildings and pebbled roads which she had become accustom to
in the busy London lifestyle. There was something about the deadly calm and
tranquility of the countryside that unnerved Madison. She knew now that silence
was the root of all evil.

Small droplets of water fell from overhanging trees onto the
windscreen of the car as they zoomed through the countryside.

Madison hadn’t noticed when the city had diminished and the
countryside began, the whole journey was becoming a never ending blur of street
lambs, trees and darkened fields.

“Where are we going?” Madison asked.

Brendan span around to look at her, she met his gaze. He
seemed surprised that she had spoken; the silence between them both had lasted
for some time.

“A friend’s place, we can lie low there until I figure out
what to do?” Brendan replied facing back towards the road.

“…try to get some sleep” he continued.

Madison sunk further into the bucket seat of the car; she
rested her head against the seat belt and allowed her eyes to fall slowly shut.
 

*  *  *

She was awoken by the sound of gravel grinding under the
wheels of the car.

Brendan was creeping slowly up a long drive way towards a
small wooden house surrounded by large fern trees. The front garden appeared to
be about half a mile long and consisted of a large stretch of grass and a
small, narrow graveled driveway. The house at the top of the driveway was old
and painted gray, there was a large wooden porch that stretched along the width
of the front of the house. The house was more suited to a western movie rather
than situated in the middle of the countryside. It looked out of place and not
very friendly to visitors. The two large French windows at either side of the
front door were lit up with a white glow from the inside lights. A few pots of
multi coloured flowers were scattered along the porch and at the corners of the
wooden steps which lead up to the front door. Brendan pulled the car around
alongside the porch and stopped. He turned off the ignition and stepped out of
the car onto the driveway leaving Madison behind. Slowly, Madison unbuckled her
seat belt and got out of the car to join Brendan.

It was almost dawn, a few beams of orange light flooded out
over the edge of the horizon. Birds sung their morning songs from the trees
that surrounded the still, wooden house. The wind and rain had subsided and all
that was left was a fresh smell of morning due on the grass.

“Where are we?” Madison asked, doing a full circle scanning
every inch of their surroundings.

“This is Leon’s house, I known him for a few centuries now”
Brendan said a little smugly.

“Vampire?” Madison asked shyly.

“No, Leon is something completely different” Brendan
smiled. 

Madison stumbled around the car towards Brendan, she propped
herself up against the car next to him. Her legs were weak and not as stable as
she hoped.  They made eye contact, a warm smile spread over Brendan’s face
as he gazed into Madison’s hazel eyes. He placed his right hand across her
cheek, grazing his fingers across her soft pink lips. His touch was ice cold
but refreshing, butterflies flapped around wildly in Madison’s stomach. They
held each other’s gaze. Almost everything that had occurred a few hours ago
seemed to melt away when they looked into each other’s eyes – gazing into each
other’s soul. People say that true love is timeless. You can be with someone
for only days but it can feel like a lifetime, like you know that person inside
out. Or you can be with that same person a lifetime and still find new exciting
things about them. When you find your soul mate you can gaze into their eyes
and time instantly stands still - and time stood still for Madison and Brendan.

The door to the wooden house flew open with a loud bang
causing both Madison and Brendan to become startled, they both looked away
searching for the cause of the disruption.  Brendan pulled his hand away
from Madison’s face and turned to look towards the dark figure that had
appeared in the door way of the wooden house.

“Shoot me in the foot and call me spanky! Brendan, you son
of a bitch, what the fuck are you doing here?” the dark figure said rather
excitedly in a deep Scottish accent.

“Leon, how are you?” Brendan asked politely, he flashed his
perfect white teeth at the figure in a childish grin.

The dark figure chuckled happily and took a step out onto
the porch.

“Don’t just stand there, come on in! And bring your bird” he
gestured towards Madison.

Brendan turned towards Madison and mouthed an apology to
her. He smiled shyly in embarrassment at his friend’s presumption of their
relationship.

Madison smiled and followed Brendan up the wooden steps of
the porch towards the front door where the dark figure had vanished inside the
house.

The corridor inside the house was dimly lit. The décor
resembled much of the outside of the house; the walls constructed of the same
wooden boards and paint a grayish colour. The staircase stood in the centre of
the hallway; its wide wooden steps were cracked and rotten. The first floor
landing was covered in complete darkness prevent Madison from making out the
design of the upstairs floor plan. The wooden walls were bare, there were no
pictures or decorations, the house would have appeared disserted if it wasn’t
for the figure that greeted them. The house had an odd smell to it, almost like
dirty water covered up by a strong smell of burnt incent sticks.

Madison pulled the door closed behind her and turned to face
Brendan and Leon.

Both men directed there gaze to her as if she was about to
lead the conversation. She stared on shyly, her eyes flickering between the two
men. Leon didn’t look like Madison had expected him too, nor had his deep
Scottish voice suited his appearance. Leon looked roughly around Madison’s age,
possibly a year or two older. His hair was cut short almost like a skin head,
his facial features were that of a teenage boy. A few spots on his forehead and
chin, his eyes a deep brown and his physic was very slim and athletic.  He
didn’t look vampire-ish or demon-like in any form, he looked completely normal
with his big oversized ears that stood out on either side of his youthful face.
His large nose was slightly rounded at the tip and his face was clean but
unshaven like most young men. Leon wore a dark blue t-shirt and faded baggy
blue jeans that revealed the elastic waist of his boxing shorts. There was
something geek-ish about his appearance but he was also attractive in a strange
way.

“And who’s the pretty lady?” Leon asked in a sly voice as he
directed a smirk at Brendan.

“This is Madison” Brendan replied politely gesturing his
hand out towards her in a manner of induction.

“Madison this is Leon” Brendan said gesturing back towards
Leon.

“Hi” Madison replied sheepishly.

“Nice to meet you Madison” Leon replied, flashing a white
toothy smile at her.

They all stood in silence for a few seconds, each of them
throwing each other an awkward look.

“Umm… could Madison use your toilet?” Brendan asked.

“Yeah, up the stairs, It’s the door at the top of the
landing” Leon said.

Madison nodded and headed up the staircase. Leon’s eyes
widened as he noticed the closed wound on Madison’s cheek from the Skin
Crawlers and the newly healing injuries to her knees and forearm. Leon’s eyes
quickly narrowed towards Brendan and he moved closer to him at an attempt to
talk to him in privacy.