B008GMVYA4 EBOK (27 page)

Madison looked back from the middle of the staircase and
shot Brendan a worried look. Brendan half smiled at her and turned back towards
Leon who was closing the gap between them. She turned back towards the pitch
blackness that surrounded the first floor landing and continued to climb the
rotten staircase.

Silence remained between the two men as she reached the top
of the staircase. Her eyes slowly focused in the darkness and she walked
towards the door straight across from the staircase. Slowly Madison pushed open
the wooden door and felt around for a light switch or cord. Her fingers touched
a plastic disc which was suspended in the air, she pulled on the disc until the
cord clicked and the bathroom instantly lit up. The light was too bright compared
to the utter darkness on the landing. She squinted and shut the bathroom door
behind her. Purple and black blobs floated round the room from the overexposure
of light and she blinked several times to clear her sight.

The bathroom was painted white and had a matching white bath
tub, toilet and sink. There was nothing spectacular about this bathroom
compared to the bathroom in Brendan’s apartment - it met it means and it was
clean.

 Above the basin hung a beach coloured medicine cabinet
with a sliding mirrored door. Madison headed towards it. Muffled voices echoed
the staircase, travelling up towards the bathroom door.

Perching on the edge of the bathtub, Madison torn off some
toilet paper and rinsed it under the tap in the sink. Pulling aside the remaining
fabric of her tights around her knees, she began to dab the cuts with the wet
toilet paper. She winced as the cold water touch the wounds. Carefully, she
removed the dry blood and the specks of tarmac that had clung to the drying
blood. Once both cuts were clean and she had attended to the large gash on her
forearm, Madison threw the tissue into the toilet and flushed it. The room
rocked from side to side as she struggled to rise from where she had been
perched. Taking a few deep breaths the rocking motion began to subside and
Madison eased herself slowly to her feet. The cuts on her knees and forearm
where inflamed and would most likely become infected but as long as she
continued to keep the cuts clean, they would heal without too much scarring. A drop
of blood fell onto the white tiled flooring of the bathroom; she lifted her
forearm to see the cleaning of the wound had reopened the edge of the cut.
Grabbing more tissue from beside the toilet she applied pressure to the cut
until it stopped bleeding and wiped the blood from the floor.

She rinsed her face and removed the stained makeup before
exiting the bathroom quietly.  Madison stopped outside the bathroom door;
concealed by darkness she could hear Brendan and Leon discussing something with
lowered voices.

Brendan’s voice was a gentle hum compared to Leon’s deeper
much louder voice with a Scottish twang. Leon’s voice had a childlike quality
to it, very much like his childish facial features. Both men had left the
corridor by the front door so Madison began to step down the staircase
silently, struggling to hear the conversation that was being had.

A door to the left of the staircase was cracked open, a beam
of light shone out into the dimly lit hallway. Slowly Madison walked silently
towards the door, avoiding any floor boards that looked loose or weak that
might creek under the weight of her body. Madison grabbed the doorframe to
support herself from stepping on a loose floorboard; she peered around the
doorframe through the gap in the door.  Slowing her breathing Madison
strained to hear the conversation that was occurring in the next room. Brendan
was perched against a fireplace, his body twisted in the direction of the far
wall. The room was painted cream with the same wooden flooring which covered
the whole house or as much of the house that she had seen so far.  An old
green arm chair sat in front of Brendan only allowing her to only see the top
half of his body. Apart from the few furnishings that were in sight of the gap,
the room looked bare.

“I don’t know what to do!” there was level of despair in
Brendan’s voice that unnerved her.

The hopelessness feeling flooded back in, even Brendan was
lost for ideas of how to protect Madison. She almost thought about serenading
to Gabby and the Skin Crawlers, after all if Brendan didn’t know how to keep
her from harm there was little she could do.

A painful ball grew in her throat and she pushed back tears
that threatened to spill out over her cheeks. She had cried enough over the
last month for one lifetime, she wasn’t going to allow them the satisfaction of
more gut felt tears of sorrow.

“I really don’t know mate. It’s clear to me, you have two
choices. One, you run and when I mean run, I mean run! You change your names,
your appearance, everything. Leave the country! Go as far away as possible and
stay hidden for the rest of your life and hers! And for you, that’s a very long
time to stay hidden. Two, well I don’t know how you feel about this but…..you
turn her! Under New Coven laws all vampires are protected unless they pose a
threat to the lives of humans or fellow vampires. As a human with the knowledge
of your existence she does pose a threat. A weak human with unstable emotions
which could result in the whole of humanity knowing about things that they
really shouldn’t know anything about! From what you have said, she’s alone in
the world. This may pose as an advantage in your defense of turning her. But
understand if you do so, there will be consequences for the both of you. I am
afraid I don’t know how serve they would be, but I’m guessing with your
position within The Coven and with the high powered ‘friends’ you keep, the
punishment would be minimal for you. For her, if you can convince them you were
in a sound mind when you changed her and there was no other option, then she
might be allowed out under your guidance” Leon replied truthfully.

Brendan put his head in his hands, his right elbow lent
against the mantelpiece of the fireplace. His fingers rubbed his temples in an
attempt to subdue the pain in his head. 

Madison’s heart wrenched at the sight of Brendan
experiencing physical pain which she had unintentionally caused. Her mind
pondered over what Leon had said about Brendan turning her into a Vampire.
Becoming a Vampire had never occurred to Madison before now; she had never even
thought it would be an option because of the strict laws of The Coven. She
wondered for a split second what it would be like to become a Vampire, drinking
blood to survive, never growing old or dying.

“I can’t choose that life for her. This way of life isn’t
something to be taken lightly, it’s a curse! I won’t allow her to lead that
life unless I have no other option!” Brendan insisted.

“Then you run…” Leon said softly.

“Ok. We run.” Brendan said more hopeful.

“She won’t live forever, Brendan. Then what will you do?
You’ll be alone… forever” Leon said emotionless in his Scottish accent.

Madison heart raced in her chest. Anger flickered through
her as they were deciding her fate without her even being involved in the
conversation.

“Brendan, you know Gabby. You know she’ll never stop until
she gets what she wants! And by now she’s probably told The Coven her deranged
side of the story and now you will have them chasing you as well. All their
resources! For Christ sakes you are their top hunter! You know how they play
the game! They have undocumented resources all over the world, if they wanted
too, they could find you in a heartbeat. You know running away will not work if
they want to find you” Leon protested.

“Let’s hope they won’t want to find us that badly then.
You’re right, I am their best hunter, and that’s why I know to avoid certain
towns and cities that The Coven has some hold over. I can protect her! Maybe
give her a shot at some kind of normal life” Brendan said defensively.

“What is it with this girl? I thought you said you just met
her? You’re planning to spread the rest of her life, which could be another
50-60 years to keep her safe? She’s only going to grow old and die…” Leon said
confused.

Madison’s cheeks flushed, she felt embarrassed and angered
at Leon’s confusion to why Brendan would want to help her. It was clear Leon
had some kind of bitterness towards humans and The Coven. He couldn’t see any
point in protecting something that would surely die when the expiry date ran
out. Human years were nothing more than a couple of month to the immortal.

“Don’t talk about her like that!” Brendan said angrily.

“I’m sorry” Leon said sheepishly, his voice made it clear he
was only sorry for Brendan’s reaction not for what he had said.

 “Look, I can’t explain it. It’s weird, I don’t even
know what I feel myself let alone put it into words so that you might
understand it.” Brendan sighed.

 “Does she have any family? Where does she even come
from?” Leon said curiously after a few seconds of silence.

“She’s from Berkshire. Like I said before, I’m not sure
about her family… I don’t think so… if she has she won’t talk about them”
Brendan said honestly, hopelessness seeping into his voice once again.

“Maybe she can go home then?” said a women’s voice from
across the room. The woman had not been in Madison’s line of sight through the
gap in the open door, so she was surprised to hear such a feminine voice. 
The woman’s voice was high pitched, but soft – music-like.

Brendan wheeled around towards the opposite side of the
room. His eyes met Madison’s for a short moment as he shifted his position to
face the woman, but he didn’t acted surprised as if he knew Madison had been
listening in all this time.

Madison gasped a little too loudly throwing her hand up over
her mouth to stop the large gush of air from escaping her lungs. Her eyes
widened as she watched Brendan’s reaction.

“I don’t think it’s that simple” Brendan said softly,
continuing the conversation as if he hadn’t spotted Madison spying on them from
the gap in the door.

“From the impression she’s given me, she came to London
without knowing anyone…” he continued.

“I say send her back in the direction she came from. Pay her
to keep her mouth shut and tell Gabby you killed her!” the women spat, a
flicker of jealously in her voice.

Brendan’s face fell.

“That’s enough!” Madison spat pushing the door open and
stepping into the small lounge.

Leon twisted his torso around to face Madison from where he
was sat on the green sofa. His feet rested on a dark brown, wooden coffee table
that stood in the centre of the room, newspapers and magazine spread across the
surface of the coffee table in an untidy fashion. A few books were stacked up
on edge of the table, old books which were worn around the spine.

 Leon stared at Madison in horror, his hearing was not
as attuned to sounds as Brendan was and he had been unaware that she had been
listening throughout the conversation. His face was a picture of embarrassment
and regret, like you would expect to see on any human which was caught bitching
about someone. Brendan stood up straight from where he had been perched against
the fireplace on the back wall. His eyes met Madison’s then slowly slipped to
the floor as if he was ashamed that he had not stopped the conversation which
had taken place.

“Are you okay?” he said looking up at her briefly.

“Yes, fine” Madison said calmly, hiding the anger or pain in
her voice.

She turned her gaze to the unknown woman that would have
happily sent her back home to the wolf that awaited her.

A slim blonde girl sat crossed legged on a matching green
sofa on the opposite side of the room. She was young, younger then Madison with
short blonde hair that was cut into a mid length bob. Her eyes were a deep
purple surrounded by layers of thick black eye shadow. She wore bright red lip
stick and her skin was the palest of pale, but equally as flawless and
beautiful as Gabby’s had been. A short red mini shirt covered her thighs and a
white vest was pulled down just covering her midriff. Many multi-coloured
bangles covered her wrists and forearms. She had a gothic, punk look to her
appearance which suited her small frame and mouse-like facial features. She
smiled at Madison shyly, there was no sorrow or regret in her face for the
comments she had made compared to Leon’s reaction.

“Hi, I’m Fred” she said standing up and stretching out a
hand towards Madison.

Madison watched her reaction carefully as she stepped
towards the coffee table, stretching out her damaged arm to meet Fred’s. They
shook hands holding eye contact. Fred’s smile didn’t drop, it grew larger when
Madison took her hand and faded slowly as Madison retracted her arm.  

“Madison” she said wearily, after she had already let go of
Fred’s hand.

“So how are you feeling? You got some nasty cuts there” Fred
said settling back down onto the sofa.

“Fine…..thanks” she said still holding Fred’s eye contact.

“I smelt you coming up the road” Fred laughed.

“Now Fred, you know we don’t eat our guests…” Leon chuckled.

“Their joking” Brendan said quickly, smiling at Leon and
Fred.

Madison found Fred’s and Leon’s attempts to lighten the mood
unnerving. She felt uncomfortable about them both joking about eating her.

“Oh, oh…..very funny” Madison joked, a hint of sarcasm in my
voice.

“Well by the sounds of it you have had quite an exciting
night. You must be exhausted” Leon said a little more compassionate then his
conversation had been with Brendan.

“You can both stay in the spare room. It’s the last door at
the end of the hall” Leon said looking at Madison then to Brendan.

Brendan nodded and walked around the coffee table towards
her.

“Thanks” she smiled.

“Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite” Fred giggled,
exchanging jokingly looks with Leon and Brendan.