When the sun goes down and it’s time for me to awake, I open my eyes to find myself on the floor curled up in the fetal position and then the pain strikes me hard and fast. Noah needs me, I can feel it and I don’t have time to waste. This pain cripples me. I hate to think what it is doing to Noah.
I don’t bother showering, I dress as quick as I can and run to Noah. I don’t even have time to feed myself. I only knock once before Jade lets me in and all I can hear is Noah shouting out in pain and anger. “How long has he been like this?”
Jade answers me wearily, “About an hour now, he woke me up.”
Words of sorry form but I don’t get to speak them as Noah shouts out, “Juan is that you? Please I need blood! I’m dying Juan help me!”
I rush into the room to see Noah pulling on the ropes that are holding him down. I can smell the blood from where the ropes have dug into his skin. I kneel by his head and I watch his eyes fall to my lap as he licks his lips. My dick starts to rise as he projects images of what he would like to do to me. We are both going to be disappointed in that department as I don’t have time for any of that tonight. It’s too risky for me to let him free so I bite into my wrist and lower it to his mouth.
He surprises me by not drinking straight away. His nose sniffs my arm and he runs it up the length and starts to sniff the areas he can reach on my body. “I can smell her. I can smell Peppa.” He smacks his lips together, “I want Peppa. I want to fuck her, I need her.”
I push his body back down on the bed as he struggles in the restraints. I lean over and bring my mouth down on his to try and calm him. His tongue seeks mine and he dominates my mouth by sucking and biting on any flesh he can get in his teeth. I break free as he bites my lip and I bite my wrist again and force it into his mouth. “Drink Noah, I can’t stay tonight. We have a gig and I need to find out how Peppa fared at the police station.”
His questioning eyes find mine as he sucks away, gulping down all the blood that fills his mouth. He surprises me again when he stops sucking and smiles up at me. I ask him, “Have you had enough?” He continues smiling at me and closes his eyes and sighs.
I call Jade in to untie him as she has used some sort of oriental knot and I can’t undo it. I tell her thanks and we all hear Saul’s voice so Jade makes her excuses and goes to him. Noah didn’t move and I notice his eyes are still closed. “Noah, are you ok?”
He jumps me and I find myself flat on my back with my legs in the air and Noah between them rubbing himself into me. He starts sniffing me again, “I can smell her all over you Juan.”
He suddenly pushes himself off me and stands and turns away from me. I don’t know how to feel about that. A little rejected maybe? I say his name to try and get him to look at me but he doesn’t. Instead he crumbles to his knees as he lets out an anguished cry, “I miss her, I miss her so much!”
I reach for him and try to bring him into my arms but he twists out of my hold and stands up again. He turns to stare down at me, “You should go. I can’t cope with her smell being all over you. It’s driving me crazy and all I want to do is go to her.”
He turns away from me again and that fucking hurts me as I crave his touch, not his rejection. I push myself up by my hands and I take a step towards him, I keep some distance between us and I lean over and kiss his neck and whisper, “I’m sorry.”
I turn to walk out of the room and I hear him mutter, “I love you. Please hold Peppa a little tighter to show her I love her too.”
I stop and talk with Saul and Jade for a while and ask her if she will take extra care of Noah tonight, as he is hurting, and if she can get him to talk that would be great. I wanted to know he is still ok with the whole vampire thing and I know he won't talk to me about it yet. Saul asks me to wait for him as he says goodbye to Jade and we both make our way north to become Viper for a couple of hours.
We are terrible tonight, each of us mess up somewhere in the set, which is not like us at all, especially not Cruz but the crowd didn’t seem to notice as they storm the stage at the end of the set. I'm glad when we made it out of there, you can only have your dick and balls grabbed so much before they start to hurt and throb. Cruz isn’t happy and wants us to practice but is told by Saul and myself to fuck off, it will have to wait. Before he leaves, he reminds us that we are moving to a different city for the next couple of gigs and gives us the address of the hotels that have been booked. I said my goodbyes and ask Saul to get in touch if Noah needs me and I am off to Peppa’s to find out how today worked out for her.
There is no one about when I enter, they must have gone to bed, so I make my way to Noah’s room and I’m hit with Peppa’s thoughts as soon I open the door. I can’t stand the thought of her thinking Noah would have another woman. He is plainly in love with her as my time with him tonight showed me. I say hi and I try to kiss her but she moves her head away from me and I close my eyes and fight the pain that gesture brings. Once again I feel rejected, twice in one night is not good for my ego but deep down, I know I brought this upon myself.
She explains what Detective Payne implied and I am not impressed, he made Peppa question her relationship with us.
When she asks if I will leave her too, I fucking lose it, but know I have to calm myself down. I'm quiet for a while trying to do that. She tries to push me away but I’m not having any of that and I let my anger show. I make it very clear that we both need her and love her and I wasn’t going anywhere. I also told her to stop twisting herself up about there being another woman because there isn’t. I hold her as she cried yet again and I felt all her pain and anguish because I felt it too and I know Noah did as well. This is so fucked up and there is only myself to blame.
After Peppa tried to get her emotions under control, she proceeds to tell me all about Detective Payne and his line of questioning. I let her know I’m not happy and he and I will be having words. I take my leave and say my goodbye before the sun rises as I need to feed quickly. With sorrow seeping out of every pore in my body, I turn to take one last look at her. It gets harder each time I leave her alone.
Chapter 6 (PEPPA)
I shiver and shake even though sweat is pouring off my body. The nightmare I have awoken from is still vivid in my memory. I lie there in a fetal position terrified that my dream can come true and I open my eyes trying to rid myself of the image of Noah lying on a mortuary slab.
When I was a child my mother would comfort me after a nightmare and she would tell me to imagine my happy place, where I can go and have fun and laugh. As I lie here, I take myself back to that place where I loved the feel of sand between my toes and where the sun always shone. Where I can have all the ice-cream I ever wanted and as I look out at the sea I can watch the dolphins play together. I find some comfort in my memories and my nightmare slowly fades into the background, but I know I will carry it with me for the rest of the day.
I decide in the early hours of the morning that I am not going to sit around and do nothing or even wait for news from Lara or the police. Today, I'm going to see if I can find out where Noah is and it will start by me making phone calls to private hospitals in the area.
I hear the radio blasting from the kitchen as I finally get my weary body out of bed. I don’t even bother showering or getting dressed. I grab my phone, put my dressing gown on and head straight for the lounge. I plop down on the sofa and rub my eyes trying to wake myself up a bit more and I check my phone to see if there are any messages but I find none waiting for me. Monica starts singing about being someone’s truly, madly, deeply and I smile a little as she must be tone deaf because she sounds like a cat being strangled. She enters the room doing a little dance and stops in her tracks when she spots me sitting there.
“Morning Peppa, you look like shit.” She comes over and sits down next to me.
“I didn’t sleep to well so you're right, I probably do and I feel like shit too.”
She places a hand over mine and I turn to focus on her. “I’m here for you, you know that right? If you want to scream and shout, cry on my shoulder or even punch something, I’m your girl.” Her arms go around me for a hug and I find myself with a mouthful of hair as I try and mutter a thank you to her.
I pull away from her and jump up from my seat, “Right, I need a phone, a pen, some paper and google. I refuse to sit here all day in self-pity.”
Monica looks up at me bewildered, “What are you planning on doing?”
I walk over to the landline phone and search for some paper but there isn’t any and I turn back to Monica and say, “I’m going to ring every private hospital in this town or the whole damn country if I have to. I need to know where he is Monica, I can’t go on like this.” I hold back the tears that I know will come if I let them. I move quickly out of Monica’s reach as her arms come up to embrace me again. I walk past her and say, “I won’t be long. I’m just going to check in Noah’s office to see if I can find a note pad.”
As I open the door to Noah’s office and step in, my eyes instantly close and I breathe in the smell of his aftershave that still lingers in the room. When I open my eyes again my heart stills as I see Noah sitting at his desk smiling up at me. I know what I’m seeing isn’t real and my breath catches in my throat. I reach an arm out for him as his figure disappears in front of my eyes. I have to take a deep breath in and slowly let it out a few times to calm myself. I shake my head to bring me back to some normality. I dash to his desk and find what I am looking for. I need to get out of here so I grab the note pad and pen and leave. As I close the door I take one last glance at the now empty chair and my heart sinks as I think,
will Noah ever sit in there again?
When I get back to the lounge, I find Monica sitting there with her laptop and she pats the seat next to her. I take the hint and go and sit. “Right, I have used our friend google and she has come back to me and has listed the nearest private hospitals within 100 miles. I want you to eat something.” She points to the coffee table and I see some toast and a cup of tea. “I have the phone here so I’m going to make the first call and no arguments Peppa, I’m not handing the phone over until that’s all gone.”
I pick up the tea and take a sip and Monica abruptly says, “Toast.” I reluctantly reach for the toast and I nibble on it.
Once she is happy that she has gotten her way she starts dialling the first number. “Good morning, I'm wondering if you can tell me if you have a Mr. Noah Blaise in your care? I understand you can’t give that information out to just anyone but I’m not just anyone. I’m his sister, Lara Blaise. You see, I don’t get on with my family, except for my brother, and all I’m being told is that he is in your private hospital.”
I stare at Monica horrified, shaking my head for the blatant lie she has just told.
“I completely accept what you are saying and of course, I wouldn’t want you to lose your job. But please help me. I love my brother so much and miss him, I don’t even know how bad he is.”
My eyes widen with surprise as I watch Monica fake the emotions she just displayed. “Ok great thanks for doing that.” There’s a pause in the conversation and Monica looks at me and waggles her eyebrows. “Yes I’m still here, no he’s not on your list? Damn, I guess I’ve been lied to. Yes, I hope I find him too and thanks for all your help. Goodbye.”
She hangs up the phone and I slap her on the arm, “I can’t believe you did that. You can’t use Lara’s name, it could get us in to trouble.”
She shrugs her shoulders, “It worked didn’t it? Here do it yourself if you’re not happy.”
She hands over the phone but I refuse to take it, “You’re right. I don’t like that we have to lie, but if it’s the only way to get answers then so be it.”
“Do you want me to carry on phoning these numbers?”
I nod my head yes. She didn’t need any more from me as she dials the next number on the list. We spend a good couple of hours phoning around to the private hospitals. Some didn’t answer the call so I wrote those down to phone the next day. Some just simply refused to give any information out at all but I am determined to try again, so they are put on my list too. We gave up when Monica lost her temper and actually told the person on the other end of the line to sod off. We both sit there in silence for a while and I'm contemplating what to do next, as we aren’t getting anywhere, just sitting here.
I turn to Monica, “I know we have phoned most places, but I can’t sit here and do nothing. Can we drive to a few of the hospitals to ask questions?”
I watch a smile spread across her face, “Good idea and I know the first place we can go.”
“Please don’t start anything Monica. I just need to know if he is there. Let me get my shoes on and I’m ready to go.”
Monica stands, “I promise to be on my best behaviour, but babe, I think you might want to put some clothes on first or you might end up in a private hospital yourself with the way you look right now.”
I glance down at myself and realize I’m still wearing my dressing gown and I haven’t showered. “Give me twenty minutes to sort myself out and we can go.”
She shouts out after me. “Peppa, bring a photo of Noah with you. It might come in handy.”
I take a quick shower and make myself presentable to the outside world and I head back to the lounge to find Monica. She stands there waiting for me, “Did you find a photo of Noah?”
“No hang on.” I walk over to the sideboard and gaze at all the pictures of Noah and his family. A wave of sadness flows through me as I pick up one of him with his arms around his mother and father. I can understand the loss they feel as I’m feeling it too but it saddens me that they think I have something to do with his disappearance. I push those feelings aside as I choose a photo of Noah, who looks very dashing in a tuxedo.
I turn to peek back at Monica, “I’m ready to go.” She walks over to me and hands me a piece of paper. I open it up to find addresses written on it. I smile at her, “Thanks for being you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”