He cocked his head to the side and frowned. ‘Tear you a new what? I don’t believe I’ve heard that expression before.’
I blinked at him. ‘It’s a pretty common turn of phrase for people our age, you know.’
‘Our age? Elena, I’m four hundred and forty-four years old. Give or take a few years.’
‘Ah sh-shit,’ I stuttered. ‘You’re like the Crypt Keeper or something.’
‘Elena?’ I heard Martha call out from somewhere near the front entry. The bell from the door was still jangling from her arrival.
I looked at William in a panic. He just smiled. How could he be so calm? I knew why. It wasn’t his ass on the line here. It was mine.
‘Hide!’ I hissed at him.
‘I’m sorry? Did you just tell me to hide?’ he replied, amusement lighting his voice.
‘If you don’t hide, I can promise you there’ll be no getting to know one another, because I’ll be dead.’ I gave him a pleading look.
‘Elena? I hear voices? Are you back there?’
‘Yeah, Martha, I’m in the staffroom.’ I dived into my backpack, looking for my MP3 player and made shooing motions at William at the same time. He grinned at me, and then, crouching down low, sprung up towards the ceiling. He landed with a gentle
thud
, splayed out flat on the roof above me.
Cool, he looks like Spiderman.
‘Elena?’
I immediately looked back down again. A second later, Martha stepped through the door. ‘Hi there,’ she said enthusiastically. ‘Thanks for coming in to work today, even though there isn’t too much point. We’re a lot quieter than I thought we’d be for a Saturday. Everyone seems to have this flu at the moment—even Glen thinks he might be coming down with something. He said you weren’t your usual productive self today either.’
‘I um … it’s no problem Martha. I need the money.’
‘Who were you talking to?’ she said, glancing around the room.
I crossed my fingers behind my back and prayed that she didn’t look upwards. ‘I wasn’t talking to anyone,’ I said, holding my MP3 player up. ‘I was singing to the music.’
She looked at me suspiciously and then swept the room with her eyes. ‘Well that’s some kind of baritone you’ve got going on there. I could have sworn I heard a man in here with you.’
I shook my head and laughed nervously. ‘What part of that sentence sounds right to you? Since when have you ever seen me with a man?’
She looked at me, seemingly unconvinced, and then shook it off with a wide smile. ‘You’re right, sorry, I did come in here for a reason and it wasn’t to disturb your lunch break. But I thought, given how quiet we are today and that I had to come in anyway, that you might want to go home and enjoy the rest of your Saturday.’
I resisted the urge to look up. ‘Umm, are you sure?’
She nodded. ‘I already called Susan. I hope that’s okay? She’s sending Lucas over to come and get you.’
‘Oh, okay. I guess I’ll see you Monday at the IMI then.’
‘Okay, sure thing. Enjoy your weekend, Elena.’
After that she left.
I looked back up as William flipped backwards like an acrobat and dropped down quietly from the ceiling. His feet impacting with the linoleum floor barely made any sound at all. ‘So I guess that makes you free to talk then, doesn’t it?’ he said, straightening the collar of his shirt.
‘Shhh.’ I placed a finger to my lips to emphasize the point. ‘Keep your mouth shut, will you? I don’t want her coming back.’
I dumped my MP3 player back in my bag and zipped it up. Tossing it over my shoulder, I made my way to the staffroom door and peered around the corner. Martha was greeting some clients that had just walked through the door and Glen was still busying himself with the accessory display.
Oh would you look at that—it was definitely blue.
‘Okay, go,’ I said, motioning with my hand for him to duck past me and head out through the backdoor. His blank face was a good indication that he wasn’t real good at charades.
William stepped up beside me and looked out over the front of the shop. ‘Go where?’ he asked innocently.
‘Oh my God!’ I said, slapping my forehead. ‘Are you always this obtuse? How have you not been staked to death by now?’
He shrugged.
‘Look, my brother is going to pick me up soon. You have to scram.’
He leaned back against the door frame casually, like he didn’t have a care in the world. He crossed his arms back in front of his chest and then proceeded to cross one leg lazily over the other. ‘You are on a mission to get rid of me today, aren’t you?’ He chuckled, the lilt of his British accent rich and thick with amusement.
‘Well your timing isn’t exactly fabulous.’
‘I take time where I can. I am busy trying to track down some rogue vânâtors at the moment, or had you forgotten?’
‘No I had not forgotten,’ I answered testily. ‘But there is little proof that there is a pack in this area at the moment. My parents are pretty good at what they do. Just in case you had forgotten. If there were any vânâtors here then they would know about it.’
I paused and looked at him intently. I had no idea why I had suddenly felt the need to defend their actions so strongly. ‘At the moment they’re more concerned that you and your friends are here for … other reasons.’
His eyebrow rose marginally. ‘Such as?’
I swallowed, wondering how I could answer without sounding full of myself. ‘Well, umm … me.’
He chuckled again and turned away. ‘That couldn’t be further from the truth.’
‘Then why are you still here?’ I said, challenging him.
‘I just told you. We’re here to hunt the rest of the pack. There are still five of them out there, Elena. Five. That’s a lot for such a small area.’
‘There’s no proof.’
He tapped the side of his nose with a finger. ‘This is all the proof that I need.’
‘Are they in Cairns right now?’
‘I think so, but I’m not one hundred percent certain. We’re trying to run down each of their scent trails, but it’s not easy when there are so many.’
‘Oh I’m sorry, I thought this,’ I said mockingly, tapping the side of my nose, ‘was all the proof that you needed.’
‘Elena!’ Martha trilled from the front of the store. ‘Lucas is here.’
I glanced out to the front and saw the Forrester pull up in a disabled parking space just by the front door. Through the glass I saw Lucas drumming his hands on the steering wheel, nodding his head and singing to himself.
I looked back at William who was no longer looking at me. ‘I gotta go,’ I said quietly, as I stepped around him and headed for the front door.
He grabbed my hand before I disappeared around the corner. His fingers were cold and hard. I looked down at them, his flesh so pale against my own. ‘Meet me later,’ he said quietly.
‘I can’t.’
‘You can do anything you want to, Elena.’
I shook my head. ‘I’ve pushed my luck too far lately. I was serious about the wrath of my parents, you know, and I like my backside just the way it is.’
He frowned in confusion. ‘Will you try?’
I looked at his fingers enclosed around my own and sighed. It felt good. Safe. ‘Where?’
‘Let’s keep it close. How about the high school oval just down the road from your house? There’s a small skate ramp there and some benches in the shade of some trees. Find those bench seats. That’s where I’ll be waiting for you.’
I nodded and pulled my hand out of his stony grip. The skin of my fingers felt cold and kind of tingly where he had touched me, and there was a definite warming in the pit of my stomach. I turned away from him before my body decided to throw another weird sensation at me. The tingling I could handle. It was the odd feelings deep inside my body that I wasn’t prepared for.
I pushed those thoughts aside and headed through the store, refusing to glance back just in case he was still watching me. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how he had affected me.
I waved goodbye to Glen over my shoulder and pushed through the front door, the bell announcing my exit. Lucas was still bobbing away excitedly to music in the car when I hopped in. He was really into all that alternative, techno-style dance music. I personally preferred something you could really listen to, something that you could actually sing along with.
‘Hey,’ he said to me as I closed the front door and threw my backpack onto the rear seat.
‘Hey.’
‘How was work?’
‘Boring.’
‘Yeah, me too. Mum’s got me going through the storage room and counting how many bags of nails and screws we have. It’s a belated stocktake or something like that. At least we’re finished for the day.’
‘What? The hardware store is closing for the rest of the day?’ Why was I panicking? I could always meet William another day.
He shook his head and turned the music down. ‘Nah, I’m finished for the day, but Mum and Wesley are staying and keeping it open. Dad’s been picked up by Malcolm, though, and they’re heading over to the drive-in. Apparently they’re getting a little concerned by the number of girls going missing in Townsville and Mackay. They’re going to try and work out what to do next.’
So they won’t be home for a while …
‘Do you think the Vampires were right and the Vânâtors are to blame?’ I asked.
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It seems likely though given that the Vamps are still in town.’
‘Speaking of vampires,’ I said, glancing sideways at him. ‘Are you still up for a little co-mingling?’
‘What did you have in mind?’
‘How about a little rendezvous at the skate ramp?’
He looked at me abruptly, the car wavering on the road.
Just in case, I grabbed onto the door handle and checked that my seatbelt was secure.
‘You saw him again didn’t you?’ he said nervously.
I nodded, still gripping the handle with my fingers as his careless driving continued. ‘Ah-huh. He came into work. He wants to meet me this afternoon sometime.’
‘He came into Martha’s place?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘I know—don’t get me started. He didn’t even care that I might get in trouble by his presence. I swear to God that vampire will be the death of me.’
‘That’s not funny, E.’
I grinned. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean it literally.’ I swallowed. At least I hoped so.
‘Does he know about our little arrangement?’
I snorted. ‘I don’t care if he does or doesn’t. I’d feel much
safer knowing you were there.’
He switched off the radio and looked at his watch. ‘Dad’s been gone for an hour already and Mum said I don’t need to pick her up for at least another couple of hours yet, so we can go now if you want to.’
I screwed my face up. ‘Can we go home first? I want to get out of these clothes and into something I can better conceal my knife in. I also need to eat. In case, you didn’t notice, I didn’t exactly eat much this morning.’
The tires squealed as he rounded a corner a little too sharply and then over-corrected. ‘Neither did I. Now that you mention it, I’m starving too.’