B007XKEWAE EBOK (28 page)

Francesca walked down the curved staircase into the lobby of the large house and was met by her client's trusted
driver. He walked her to the car and opened the door to let her into the back seat.

It took barely five minutes for them to get to the graveyard and Francesca stepped out of the car when the driver came around and opened the door. She looked out at the gothic graveyard. It's iron gates and grey stone statuary and headstones were illuminated only by the light of the full moon. Although that meagre illumination was sufficient for Francesca's vampire eyes to see by the driver provided her with a lantern that burned with an electrically powered imitation of flame.

"He will meet you over there," the driver said pointing over to a small crypt used to house the bodies of rich families
dead, possibly it was her client's own family crypt.

Francesca didn't speak to the driver to thank him for the lift, the light or the directions, he was just doing his job.

She entered the graveyard through a black iron gate that was well oiled and did not squeak. She held the pseudo-lantern up to illuminate her path and walked over to the crypt. Her client had given her brief directions on how she was supposed to act, right now she was being a frightened maiden making her way home afraid of what may lurk in the darkness.

Shivering as though cold she used her free hand to pull the cloak about her. She rounded one side of the crypt and feigned shock when the light from her lamp caught her client in it's beam. He   
was dressed in clothing much more suitable for being outdoors than she was, but it was still old-fashioned Victorian-style attire.

"What is a young girl doing out in a place like this so late at night?" her client said.

Francesca shook her head and looked at her client as though she was just waking from a dream. "I . . . I do not know, sir," she said sticking to the script her client had given her.

"Well it is not safe for a maiden such as yourself to wander alone in such a place at such a time." Her client was obviously relishing every single second of his new game.

"Why not?" Francesca said.

"There are foul things about this night," her client replied. "Demons and
Devil-creatures walk the Earth this night under the light of the full moon."

Francesca tried to look scared but she was starting to tire of the game. "Gosh, I wish I was safe in my bed, yet I am a long way from home."

"Fear not. I will escort you to safety. Take this, it will protect you from evil as we walk."

He handed her a home-made wooden cross. Francesca dropped it as though it burned her and turned away from her client letting her face transform as she did. Her client rushed around to confront her holding a wooden stake in one hand and a small mallet in the other.

"You are revealed to me, daughter of Satan. I will remove your evil from this world."

Now they were getting to the parts Francesca could enjoy. She moved quickly to take the weapons from her client and to drop him to the floor with herself on top.

"You can do nothing to harm me," she moved a finger slowly before his eyes. "You are under my spell."

Her client was unable to keep the idiot grin off his face even though he was supposed to be acting like he was hypnotised. Then they got to the parts Francesca could
really
enjoy.

             
Xavier fumed as he stalked the streets. How had he sunk so low so quickly? He had been a high ranking member of a large vampire nest, about to
pull of a coup that would make him its leader. If it hadn't been for that little slut Gabriella betraying him and Fulton returning he would have managed it.

             
Now his plans rested in the ashes of the old steel works. Those vampires who had survived the fighting and the conflagration had scattered on the winds. There was no longer any nest for him to lead.

             
Xavier was sure that those three he hated; Francesca, Gabriella and Fulton would have survived the blaze. At least they were in a similar position to him. Forced to start again.

             
Xavier glared at the people walking the streets with him, it was still very early and humans were everywhere. A couple of them must have seen something in his eyes because they
crossed the street so that they didn't have to pass so close to him. Or maybe it was how the rest of him looked. He had escaped with nothing but the clothes he was wearing when he left the nest. His blood stained shirt had been covered with a jacket stolen from a victim. But he had been forced to sleep rough without a chance to bathe or change.

             
This was an entirely intolerable situation. And it was all their fault. Francesca for just being herself, for not recognising his native superiority and just stepping down so that he could take her place. Fulton for coming back and putting the odds against him. And most of all Gabriella for betraying him, for sleeping with him and using him.

             
Xavier caught his reflection in an electronics shop window. He brought his
hand up to his face to assure himself that in his ire he hadn't let his true face show. His eyes caught the multiple screens of a television display. He brought his hand away from his face and slowly smiled. Maybe he could start to get some revenge against those who had wronged him.

"This is insane."

"Nobody asked you to come along."

Fulton skidded the car around a tight corner and down over the crest of a hill. The centrifugal force caused Gabriella in the passenger seat next to him to lean over before the motion was stopped by her seat-belt. She hadn't fastened it up at first until Fulton had taken a few corners so fast it nearly landed her in his lap.

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked.

Gabriella repositioned herself back properly in her seat and braced herself for the next corner. She had redone her hair,
again
, this time it was a little longer and her locks curled about her face. This time the hair was black a certain amount of it tucked under a shiny purple cap. She was in hip-hop mode, a purple vest-top under a short pink vest-jacket with a couple of gold chains about her neck. Matching pink hot pants covered the tops of her legs, tight against her slender muscled thighs.

"I don't know," she said quietly after a long pause.

Fulton turned to look at her. "I can take care of myself, you know?"

"Your driving is going to kill us both before we even get there." She faced him and shock spread over her face. "Get your eyes back on the road it's bad enough when you're paying attention."

Fulton turned the car off onto another road before he put his attention back on the road. "I grew up around here and I'd know where to go blindfolded."

Fulton slowed to a speed that wouldn't attract undue attention, although being the only car on the streets at three a.m. if anyone was watching there wasn't much else to take their attention.

"Why are you so intent on doing this?"

"That was my parents making that appeal. I thought they had forgotten me and just got on with their lives."

Gabriella looked at him sideways. "Maybe
you
should just move on. This isn't what I would call healthy and if Francesca knew she would have certainly forbidden you from taking this little excursion. Or she would have different plans as to what you should do once we get there. What exactly do you hope to accomplish by this anyway?"

Fulton pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car, he left the engine running. He had no answer for her.

"You might think they want you back. They might think they want you back. But if they do it will be as you were when you were taken from them. Do you really think they will want you back as you are now? You don't belong in that world anymore."

Fulton ignored her and pulled out to continue driving. He would only have been able to bring himself to answer her question with a lie and he knew she would pick him up on it. Better not to face that until he had to.

Or would it be a lie? Parental love was supposed to be unconditional. But Fulton couldn't kid himself. The people who talked about that love being unconditional knew nothing of the conditions that could exist. Maybe parental love was unconditional by human standards of existence but they could never contemplate Fulton's situation.

Fulton shut those thoughts away. He would deal with them later if he had to. But later was fast approaching, he could see the turning that would take him up
the road past his parents house. Fulton pulled up at the corner and left the engine running while he checked out the surrounding area for anything that looked out of place. There was movement almost all around as the wind waved trees and bushes about. Shadows appeared and vanished randomly.

"Are we just going to sit here?"

Fulton looked back at Gabriella and tried to look like he knew what he was doing. "I'm checking the area."

Gabriella gave a thin smile. "Having second thoughts?"

"No," he snapped back.

It took him a couple more minutes to screw up the courage but then he unbuckled his seat-belt, turned the engine off and started to get out of the stolen car. "Wait here."

"Oh, no," Gabriella said. "I'm coming with you. Francesca will be
most displeased
if I let you get all taken with this and abandon her without saying goodbye."

Fulton took his hand off the door handle. "You try anything with my family and I'll kill you."

Gabriella held his stare. "Do that and Francesca will kill
you
."

"I'll take my chances."

"Then so will I."

Fulton opened his door and climbed out of the car. He pulled the broken handle to lean his seat forwards and retrieve the bag on the back-seat while Gabriella undid her belt and got out the opposite side. Fulton closed his door gently annoyed at the click it still made as it closed. Noises were always magnified
at night. He nearly jumped out of his skin at the loud bang of Gabriella's door closing as she swung it carelessly shut.

"Bloody hell!" Fulton whispered even that sounded much too loud.

"What?" Gabriella said looking at him like he was stupid.

Fulton cast around then leaned over the top of the car to talk to her. "Just do as I say and ask me before you do anything."

"Ooh, you want to be on top."

Fulton gave her a look and she raised her hands in a defensive gesture. "Okay, okay."

Fulton unzipped the bag not worrying about the noise it made, if there was anyone around who could hear that they would already have heard Gabriella. He reached inside and pulled out the
knife he had carried since the confrontation with Xavier, it seemed he was getting to be a little bit paranoid.

Fulton watched Gabriella out of the corner of his eye, she looked bored.

"You sure you don't want to just wait here for me?"

"Let's just get on with this little reunion."

Fulton tucked the knife away in a sheath in his trousers, making sure the handle was hidden by his top before they set off.

Gabriella had never considered seeking out her own family after Francesca had turned her. She had simply gone with her lover and that had been enough. She
had
had contact with someone she had been very close to. It was her first kill.

“Watch, here they come.”

             
Gabriella and Francesca were lurking in the loft of Mr D’Silva’s barn. It turned out that as a vampire getting up there without a ladder was even easier than as a human
with
a ladder.

             
Gabriella didn’t know how Francesca knew that someone was coming but she trusted that she was right. The
they
Francesca mentioned
opened up the loose slats in the side of the barn and shone a light inside.

             
“Oh, what died in here?” The revulsion was evident in Stefan’s voice.

             
“Don’t.” The second voice belonged to Gabriella’s friend Raquel. “I didn’t dare tell her parents about her coming here with you last night, and if anything has happened to her . . .”

             
“Don’t worry about her.”

             
From her vantage point Gabriella watched as Stefan moved in close behind Raquel and wrapped an arm about her body.

             
“Look, she obviously isn’t here.” He waved the lantern about with his free hand and looked about the apparently empty barn.

             
“But she was here.” Raquel said pulling away from him. She wandered
over to the side of the barn where Gabriella’s ruined clothes had been dumped when Francesca cleaned her up. After bringing her here from the church.