The Heist (12 page)

Friera gave a
rattle, that he soon figured out was her laugh, and asked in broken
English if he was trying to get her drunk and have his wicked way
with her. The very thought froze the blood in his veins, but he
gave a curt smile and after pouring the wine into her glass,
promptly refilled his own.

From the shadows, Shuggie
appeared, and quickly spotted the ‘lovebirds’ at their table.
 Through the glass, he couldn’t make out what they were
saying, but the look on Xavier’s face was relaxed and he noted he
was almost smiling.  He would enjoy telling the Doc later on
that her idea had worked, but for now he reckoned he’d hang about
for a while, make sure that everything went smoothly.

Xavier relaxed in his
seat opposite Friera, as his thoughts wandered to how Shuggie would
meet his demise.  A smile grew on his face as he contemplated
making Shuggie scream until hoarse before he finally ended
him.

As the main
course was placed in front of the unlikely pair, Shuggie was about
to leave them to it when he caught sight of a young woman standing
open mouthed and in shock standing a few feet away from
him.

“
Ye alright
there, miss?” Shuggie walked slowly over to the girl, not wanting
to startle her, but it was apparent that something had shaken
her.

Unable to
move her eyes away from what she was watching, Alicia heard the
deep voiced male, and a thick Scottish accent asking her if she was
alright. She was sure her mouth was gawping like a fish does when
out of water.

“
That man is
a panther! Either that or he’s being nice to his Grand Madre…but
then you don’t have a candlelit dinner with your grandparent do
you?”

Shuggie stood silent for
a moment, smiling at her words.  He had been walking this
earth for thousands of years, but it was still a rarity to find one
of his own kind.

“
Ah think the
word is ‘cougar’ no ‘panther’ and aye it’s no wit ye’d expect,
ah’ll gie ye that,” he shrugged a shoulder, then turned his
attention back to the woman. “Although ah cannae fathom why it’d
concern one such as yersel.”

Peeling her
eyes away from the carnage that was date night in the restaurant,
Alicia turned her head to be met with yet another giant, cranking
her neck up to study him more. He was six foot three with deep blue
eyes that looked a little weird, almost like they should be another
colour, had short brown hair and tattoos made of Celtic patterns
across his body.

“
I said
cougar! And it’s no of concern to myself, Sir. I was just out for a
little evening stroll and simply found it amusing that is all. It
is not something one tends to lay eyes on very often now is
it?”

Shuggie
didn’t correct her when she answered. Truth be told she amused him
but he silently nodded, then reached over and picked the sticky
candy off of her top, holding it in front of her.

“
Ye know
lass, ye shouldnae eat such sugary treats, they’ll rot yer teeth,”
leaning down as he lowered his voice so that only she could hear
him. “Or should ah say, fangs.” Straightening up, he flashed a
grin, then turned his head to watch the Commander and Friera
through the glass front of the restaurant.

Letting out a
gasp, Alicia’s words were quiet as she stared up at the Scotsman
beside her. “Whatever do you mean Sir?”

“
I mean ye
huv fangs, no human teeth.” Giving a side glance at her, he started
to move away, knowing she would follow.  He was keen to
converse with her, but not when there was so many humans lurking
about.

Stuffing a
fresh lolly in her mouth, Alicia slowly moved to follow the
stranger who had headed towards the derelict park. It was dark with
no lighting, so there would be no interruptions. Once through the
gates, the Scottish giant sat on a bench where Alicia cautiously
sat down beside him.

“
How did you
know?”

Shuggie
looked straight ahead, leaning his elbows on his knees, and rubbing
his jaw with a hand. “Yer accent is European. Italian? Aye,
Italian. So tell me, wit brings an Italian vampire tae Mexico?”
Deliberately avoiding her question, his curiosity about her
piqued.

“
Well you see
Sir, I like to treat myself to a vacation once a year so I fly the
mortal way to blend in. I am Italian, yes, but riddle me this
Superman…what’s a Scottish vampire doing in Mexico?”

“
Batman. No
Superman.” Shuggie noticed that this little vampire consistently
got popular culture references wrong, but he found it endearing
rather than irritating. “And I am neither, of course,” he laughed
well humouredly. “However, how can a vampire fly in an aeroplane as
the humans dae?  Whenever ah huv tried, ah always end up
puking ma guts up!” Shuggie leaned back on the bench, and stretched
his legs out.

Alicia turned
her head to look at the male in awe, she was dumbstruck. No one had
ever called her out on her
true
identity. Well, of being a vampire that was, and
she had never met another one in her one hundred and fourteen years
of age. Yet here she sat beside one of her own kind who just
happened to have impeccable manners and was such a gentleman!
Vampires were far more polite than mortals!

“
I get the
most horrendous sickness also Sir.  Why is that do you think?
And who is this batman you speak of? A vampire also?”

He turned his
head to look at her. “Batman is a fictional character — comic books
an the like, aye? But in answer tae yer other question, well, it’s
obvious is it no? Ye get ill cos aeroplanes are made oot o’steel.”
He was about to laugh, but stopped short when he realised that the
little vampire had no notion that they as a species could not exist
in or near steel without becoming very ill.  It was one of the
few weaknesses that they had. Well, that and the obvious sunlight.
“Tell me, lass, did yer Maker no teach ye this at the time?” His
face was turned to her and he gave her his full attention by
now.

Willing her
petite frame from shaking, Alicia’s words came out through gritted
teeth. “Dead.”

“
Yer maker is
deid? Well afore that, when ye were made, did he no teach ye about
what an who we are?” Shuggie had noted the change in the little
vampire’s attitude and could guess that she was not made with her
willing consent. That angered him, as it always had done. No one
should be turned without their express permission, but he kept
these thoughts to himself as he listened to her
intently.

Lowering her
eyes to the ground, Alicia's hand shifted to find the label to the
back of her boot, her fingers rubbing the fabric as she spoke. “Her
name was Mabel, she advised me of nothing Sir and now she is
dead.”

Shuggie
looked sadly at her, and tilted her chin up with a finger so that
she would look at him.  He softened his voice as he spoke.
“Then ah’ll no press ye further oan it lass, as ah can tell it
upsets ye.” Changing the subject, and his tone, to lighter things
he added, “It’s no often ah meet one o’ oor kind - ah’n ahm afraid
ma manners are lacking.” Giving a smile he held out his hand. “The
name is Hugh MacAndrew o’ the Clan MacAndrew, and it is an honour
tae meet ye.”

Giving a small
smile as the huge hand was offered to her, Alicia placed her small
one to shake their hands.
“You are the
first I have met Sir, and I must say also what a pleasure it is to
meet a male with such wonderful manners. I’m Alicia.”

Her small
hand was so delicate as he held it momentarily, Shuggie smiled and
nodded. “Aye, we are no the most sociable of beasts.  But ah
kin tell ye are a youngling,” he said patting her hand, almost
fatherly. “No even at yer second century, ah’ll bet? So take some
advice frae an ol’ man an be careful who knows yer true
identity. Vampires are shunned at best an feared most often -
an humans are the least of oor enemies, Alicia. Ne’er let yer guard
doon.”

“
I’ve
survived this long Hugh, don’t you be worrying about me, and I live
alone, operate a little modest bookkeeping business that keeps me
busy and out of trouble. Sorry if I have kept you from something
this evening.”

There was a
mischievous glint in her eye that Shuggie had observed, so he gave
a short chuckle as he said, “Ah dinnae think ye keep oota trouble
aw the time, lass, eh?” Nudging her with his elbow as he continued,
“But dinnae be too alone either - eternity is a long time wi’oot
friends or love.  For loneliness is the biggest killer o’ the
vampire.  When ye get tae be ma age, ye’ll understand that,
youngling.” Standing, Shuggie took Alicia’s hand and kissed the
back of it. “Ah hope oor paths cross again, youngling, but the
night is drawing in ahn the blasted sun will be appearing,” adding,
an old Vampire saying before he flashed back to the base. “May yer
nights be long, the blood rich, and the adventures challenging and
may the sun ne’er rise til yer in yer death sleep an hour or
more.”

With that,
Shuggie disappeared, hoping to catch the Commander on his return
from his date.  He wanted
all
the details.

****

Jolted from his thoughts
of murdering Shuggie by the placing of a wrinkly bony hand upon his
upper left thigh, Xavier jumped back almost knocking his seat
over.

“
Enough is
fucking enough,” he snarled, fixing his chair and sitting back down
as he raised his hand to call the waiter over for the bill. “I am
sorry, Friera, but I have to go. There seems to be a
misunderstanding, and communication breakdown.” Passing his credit
card to the waiter, he kept his eyes on Friera, making sure she
made no further attempts to grope him.

A moment later, the
waiter came back to the table, an embarrassed look on his face as
he explained that his card had been rejected due to lack of funds,
and could he pay in cash.  Xavier snatched the card back,
glaring at the waiter as he fished out his wallet and all but threw
the paper bills at him.

There had to be some
mistake.  He had thousands of pounds in that one account
alone, so the only obvious explanation was the restaurants
equipment was faulty.

Arranging a
taxi home for Friera, Xavier drove back to the base in his SUV.He
wanted to check his bank accounts and satisfy himself that the
waiter in the restaurant was just plain incompetent.  Then he
would kill Shuggie, and then get back to working on the job that
they were actually being paid to do.

****

Alicia sat confused for a
moment at Hugh’s words about the sun.

“
He must have
had a bad batch of blood!”

She rose to her feet and
headed out the dark park, back over to her viewing point where she
saw Commander Prick having an aneurysm as his bank cards were
declined.

“
Fucking
Bingo!”

Alicia
laughed as she took the three second trip home from Mexico to
London, she was still laughing when she drew a deep bath with half
a bottle of cherry scented bubble bath. In fact, Alicia was still
laughing her little boots off for the next three days.

The Commander
was having issues with his bank accounts. Oh my…what a dilemma to
be faced with!

How could she
have run into two males from two different spectrums on the manners
scale?

The enormous
Scottish vampire she ran into when she was watching the horror of
date night was so polite, but not in a charming ‘I want to bed you’
way.  No Hugh was…like protecting her as a father does to his
daughter. Like her own Papa used to do when she was young and
mortal.

Well, didn’t
that thought dampen her good mood!
Her
mortal life had been so simple, all she had to worry about back
then was her overprotective twin brother Alessandro Jr.

Hugh’s words
echoed in her head about not being alone. She didn’t get the chance
to say to him that the reason she doesn’t allow anyone to get close
is that she’s been there, done that and they all die of old age so
why bother?

Wanting to
feel close to her Madre, Alicia padded through to her lounge and
picked up the journal.  She looked for the entries dated 31st
October. Their birthday entries made her smile and just for a few
moments, she wanted to be with her family

With her head pressed
against the cool glass of her London penthouse apartment, her brown
eyes started to read.

‘
Dear my
beloved thoughts,

Tonight is
October 31st, 1880, my bambinos tenth birthday and tonight we held
a celebration for them.

Our home was
full of people, law enforcement figures mingling with founding
Mafia families along with government officials. Everyone was
connected to the crime in one way or another.

I had to
giggle to myself when I glanced up to the grand staircase, there
was my little angel with such a frown on her face, arms crossed
tightly across her chest like she was ready to start a war with
anyone that dared approach her.

She despised
the beautiful purple gown that Lorenzo had handmade especially for
this occasion, it took me over one hour to try and persuade her to
wear it. My little angel was always in pink and when I dared to
dress in another colour…well it was not a pleasant showdown. Trying
to reason with a ten year old who already has a very unique
personality of her own that doesn’t understand why little ladies do
not wear pants like their twin brother does test one’s
patience.