B008GMVYA4 EBOK (34 page)

Both twins followed her instruction instantly, freezing on
the spot, relaxing and straightening up.

 “I really think she’s fine where she is. I might even
let her stick around for a while. Besides, I haven’t finished with her yet!”
Gabby said spitefully, turning to face Madison once again – narrowing her eyes
in disgust.

“No! Leave her out of this!” she shouted, anger rippling
through her body clouding her self-control.

“You know, I was never very good at keeping promises. Why
start now?” Gabby chuckled as she turned to walk back towards the two hooded
boys.

“You bitch!” Madison spat, shocked.

She felt light on her feet, dizzy almost. A cool breeze
caught Madison’s hair, sending it flying out behind her.  A sudden
pressure filled the soles of Madison’s feet, colours and objects seemed to fly
past her head. A few seconds pasted before she realised she had sprinted past
the twins and was now passing the two boys and Gabby. Then suddenly Madison
found herself passing the double doors which led out into the corridor of the
stairs which led up to the VIP lounge. Her legs still ached and wobbled from
whatever the two boys had done to her, but she didn’t care – she had to find
Stephanie. Madison now reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned briefly to
look back towards the corridor entrance – it was empty. The twins, the two
hooded boys and Gabby had let Madison go and they were not in pursuit. This
could only mean one thing - Gabby wanted Madison to find something. Madison
knew that she had no chance of escaping and there was little hope that Gabby
would let her go so easily, especially when she had gone to all this trouble to
make Madison’s life a living hell.

Her legs almost buckled as she took the first stair,
stumbling she regained her balance and took the next stair in a large
stride. 

“Get her! Slowly…” Gabby shouted orders at the twins, her
voice echoing.

Madison heart jumped into her mouth, she sucked in air in
large gulps. Using her hands she pushed herself up the stairs faster and
faster. She felt the presence of the twins hot on her tail. Oddly, the twins
seemed to allow Madison to continue to climb the stairs, even though they were
fast enough to stop her at any time.

Desperation forced tears out over Madison’s cheeks and she
had to know that Stephanie was alright even it was only for a split second.

The stairs veered off to the left, she began to take two
steps at a time, grabbing the banister for support. Footsteps sounded behind
her, gaining, faster than before. The door to the VIP area was insight and only
feet away. Madison almost threw her body at the large wooden door, aching to
reach it for a glimpse of her best friend.

She was inched away from her fingers touching the grainy
wood of the VIP door when her leg caught on something, causing her to trip and
her chin to impact with the edge of the top stair. Wailing in a pain a small
droplet of blood gathered at the small cut on the tip of her chin, the metal
edging of the stairs had pieced the skin. She turned quickly to see what had
caused her fall - one of the twins gripped her foot. He pulled at her foot; his
fingers twisted and ripped her skin. Madison winced again and grabbed the
banister to stop her being dragged towards him. Wriggling her foot and kicking
out she tried to break his hold – he was too strong. He began to pull Madison
further towards him and his hand beginning to climb to her calf. Panicking
Madison kicked out her leg trying to shake it free and her foot impacted with
the twins face. He released his grip imminently, knocking him down a few steps
towards the other twin that caught him from falling back completely.

Taking her chance, she jumped up and sprinting the remaining
few stairs towards the VIP area - pushing the door open on impact.

Once inside, Madison froze. The VIP area was still, a row of
expensive sofas and coffee tables lined the wall to the right. On the left was
a shiny marble bar, identical to the bar in the main club downstairs. At the
far end was a small dance floor, alongside it a glass wall that overlooked the
dance floor downstairs.

Madison’s eyes narrowed towards a figure slumped on a stall
seated at the bar – it was another Vampire. A Vampire that Madison had met
briefly before. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail and his
face lowered examining a glass of whisky or brandy that he clutched in his
hand. He didn’t flinch at the sight of Madison entering the room. He was
completely wrapped up in his own torture – pain stricken. Madison recognised
him instantly; he had been at the club with Brendan before she had been attacked
by the Skin Crawlers that night. He had been defensive and unfriendly to her on
their first encounter, eyeing her with disgust. Now he seemed lost in his own
thoughts, conflicted within his own head, almost remorseful.

A scratching sound caught her attention and she found
herself sprinting towards a section of sofas where the sound seemed to of
originated from. 

The two twins burst through the door of the VIP area in the
same manner Madison had, but she did not turn at the sound of them, she was
close to Stephanie now – she could feel it.

 “Trace, we’re sorry! She’s got a bloody good kick on
her!” one of the twins said cradling a red lump on his cheek.

 The other twin squeezed past his brother who stood in
the door way and moved towards her.

She reached the red sofa before the twin had a chance to
stop her and leant over the back of the sofa searching for a glimpse of her
friend.

Madison froze, her blood ran cold and her face turned horror
stricken.

Her stomach flipped, she doubled over gagging, bile rose and
she vomited over the back of the sofa. What Madison saw was something she half
expected but was equally unexpected at the same time. It was a sight that would
haunt her for the rest of her life and the image would be imprinted behind her
eyes forever.

Faye’s lifeless body was laid in a pool of her own blood,
her eyes wide and bloodshot. Open wounds around her neck and arms and her
clothes drenched in her own blood. Her body was eerily still and positioned
awkwardly as if her arms and legs had been broken out in different directions.
One of her legs was bent around and upwards, both arms flung out to her sides.
Within this ghastly, terrible sight was something far worse…Stephanie knelt
over Faye, her lips pressed to a wound on her neck, her teeth sunk into her
fresh extracting the blood.

Madison sudden appearance startled the newborn Vampire,
Stephanie. She jumped back from Faye’s corpse and let out a defensive,
unnatural growl. Her eyes were a blood red – she looked at Madison as if she
didn’t recongise her.

Stephanie flashed her blood stained razor sharp teeth, blood
running down her chin onto the pretty flowery summer dress she wore. Strands of
her red/brown hair clung to the blood on her face. Stephanie was almost
unrecognisable, she was wild and dangerous. 

“Steph?” Madison wept tears running thick and fast.

Stephanie’s eyes grew soft for a moment as the memory of
Madison came flooding back, as quickly as realisation set in the Vampire gene
took over again. Stephanie opened her mouth wide snapping her over-grown canine
teeth at her.

Madison flinched. A scream erupted from the top of her lungs
and her voice withered at the strain on her vocal cords.

Tears streamed down Madison’s face, she wasn’t afraid of
whether the newborn Vampire would kill her, she was heartbroken at the
knowledge that she had done this to her best friend.

Her body became limp and she felt the lightness of falling
in a dream again - her body beginning to descend towards the floor. Two arms
grabbed around her waist and swung her around onto her feet before she could
impact with the ground.

Madison’s limp body dangled from one of the twin’s arms and
her legs shuffled on the ground as she furiously tried to support the weight of
her own body.

Tears streamed simultaneously down her cheeks, but she made
no sound now – she was frozen with grief. Her heart thumbed slowly in my chest
and her features went blank. Madison stared into the empty space in front of
her, not directly looking at anything nor daydreaming at the same time.
Stephanie growled furious behind her and the twin, sounds of glugging and
swallowing followed at Stephanie began to feed of Faye’s corpse once again.

Madison was empty, every thought and feeling had slipped out
of her body from the moment she saw what the Vampire’s had done to Stephanie.
The emptiness was beginning to consume her - swallow her whole. The emptiness
would not allow any small fragment of feeling to escape – she was numb to the
world now. Stephanie had been stolen from Madison – turned against her. Gabby
had done the worst thing imaginable to get her revenge. There was no turning
back now… Madison was broken.

Madison was empty. Gabby and her tormentors had squeezed out
every last spark of hope. She felt nothing. She took swallow breaths, wheezing
after each shallow exhale. All hope was gone, Madison didn’t care now whether
they killed her not. She knew Brendan would get over it eventually, they had
only spent a very limited amount of time together and even though their bond
was strong, Gabby would make sure it was broken one way or the other. Madison
suspected in time, he would meet someone else, after all she felt inferior
compared to the other women Vampire’s she had been acquainted with so far. She
was a weak, feeble human who comes with a lot of emotional baggage and life for
Brendan would be easier if she was not in it.

 The Twins began to carry Madison back downstairs to
Gabby after they apologised to Trace several times.

Trace didn’t seem to notice the commotion of what had
occurred nor did he seem concerned in the slightest. He still was consumed in
heavy thoughts, only raising his head slightly to sip his dark, tar-like
alcohol. 

The Twins let go of Madison a few feet in front of Gabby,
her body impacted with the hard wooden dance floor with a loud thud. Her body
went stiff as the pain from the impact travelled through her shell like a
rolling wave.

The two hooded boys and Gabby were still arguing amongst themselves,
their voices too low for Madison to make out what they were arguing about.

She turned to her side, laying her cheek on the cold, sticky
wooden floor.

Salty tears slid down her cheeks and she curled herself up
into a ball and led motionless – completely numb.

“Our master will not be amused if you do not give us the
scroll! We’ve given you what you want! Now it’s your turn to give us what we
want!” the husky, unnatural voice said.

“I can’t just give you the scroll, I haven’t got it!” Gabby
said a flicker of fear in her voice.

“You have wasted our time. We will not allow you to do this
again” one of the hooded boys said stepping towards her.

“Wait! Let’s not overreact here! I said I didn’t have it…
not that I couldn’t get it… ” Gabby said throwing her hands up in
defense. 

“Explain” the boy demanded stopping to hear her explanation.

“I can take you to the scroll. I have access to codes to
gain access to the building, but it’s heavily guarded and the scroll is
protected. It will be difficult for me to get it without setting off the
alarms” Gabby explained.

“Take us to it” said both the boys at the same time.

“If I take you to the scroll, I will be risking exposure.
They will kill me for treason. We cannot enter The Coven unnoticed, there are
powers working there that I can’t even comprehend. Seers will be aware of our
attentions before we even enter the building” Gabby protested.

“Your personal circumstances mean little to us. We will
consult with our master” said one of the boys.

The two boys tilted their heads backwards, their faces
directed towards the ceiling. They made no movement, remaining motionless for a
moment as if they were listening to something at a very low frequency. 
Gabby stared at their faces; she winced and directed her eyes towards the floor
unable to hide the repulsion. The twins watched uneasily, shifting their weight
from leg to leg.

The hooded boys stood with their backs to Madison, the top
of their black hoods peeked in a point. Madison shifted on the floor, she tried
to prop her head up for a moment but her head was too heavy and awkward on her
shoulders. She lay against the cold wooden floor, her eyes directed to the
empty space in the line of her vision. She had seen the two boys face once
before at the train station when she had first arrived in London. The memory of
their faces sent an uncontrollable shivers down her spine and she did not wish
to ever look upon their faces again.

After a few seconds they lowered their heads back down to
their normal hunched position, their head lowered and faces covered in
darkness.

“Our master accepts your proposal. We will assist you in
retrieving the scroll for him. He will cloak us from the eyes of the seers,
allowing us to gain an element of surprise. Once you give us the scroll, we
will honor our side of the deal” one of the boys said in his eerily, unnatural
voice.

“And when we’re in the coven, how do you intend to get the
scroll? The Coven keeps all their rare and dangerous artifacts hidden, unable
to detect. It’s rumored to be kept in an alternative dimension, and when
dealing with dimensions you have to have a key. No one knows what the key is
apart from the elders, the key could be anything!” Gabby argued, regretfully of
her own plan.

“You know where this key is?” the hooded boys asked
together, raising their heads slightly.

“Maybe you should have thought about these issues before you
made a deal that we could not refuse. You know the Black Orchid do not take
kindly to traitors!” one of the boys spat.