Night Feast (18 page)

Tori had sworn never to drink again, but it was her guilt that broke the promise that she had made privately to herself.  She couldn't tell her parents, she couldn't tell her brother but she had to tell someone.  Her biggest mistake was telling Amberlee Robinson.  Tori knew that Amberlee was okay when she went missing, because she knew exactly what she was capable of.  So it came as no surprise to her when Amberlee, egged on by her delicious courtroom fantasy of Jay being sentenced to death for her murder,  had contacted her from Philadelphia, and threatened to expose her hit and run secret if she didn't meet her demands.  Amberlee had shipped one of her shoes to Tori, who had made sure that her parents did not discover it.  She had sneaked out of the house on the night of the day she'd received it, and placed it in Jay Patterson's back garden.  No one had seen her do it, and on her way back home she had gone to a public phone booth, disguised her voice and phoned the police to tip them off.  Amberlee Robinson had got her firmly under her thumb.

Lia sat alone in her house and waited for Cora to call her with more news of her beloved Jay.  She sat for three hours, and her eyes were focused on the telephone, as she tried to control the rage that was growing inside her against Amberlee.  Then the telephone rang and it was Cora.  She told her that Jay had been granted bail at one million dollars, and that there was no way that she could get that sort of money together.  Lia told Cora to leave it with her, and even though it was daylight and the shop would be closed, she made her way back to the Jackson's antique shop.

When a vampire has been invited into a building once, they will never need another invitation.  Dalia and Abe were aware of this fact, but it came as quite a shock to see Lia standing in their bedroom, watching them while they slept.  Dalia had been the first to wake up, and had shook her husband who had been snoring gently next to her.  Lia spoke, again without greeting.

"I need you to do something else for me now" she said in a commanding voice.

"Y-yes of course what is it?" Dalia had to admit that Lia was becoming more than a little bit scary, she pulled the covers closer to her chin.

"I want you to go to the police in Portland and put up bail of one million dollars for Jay Patterson, do you understand?"

Dalia and Abe understood only too well.  Lia's demand was the answer to all the questions, that they dared not ask about the vampire's interest in the missing girl.  It was obvious that this beautiful, undead girl had fallen in love with the human boy.  They had seen the news that morning, after taking their son to school, so they knew about the Patterson boy's arrest.  Lia left the room and waited in the shop while Dalia got dressed.  There was no concern about getting the money together, and Dalia was happy to post bail for Jay, because she trusted Lia enough and knew that there was no risk to them losing it.  Cora had given Lia, at her request, the name and address of Jay's attorney.  She in turn, gave Dalia the same information.  Dalia went to see him immediately, and he made all the arrangements and Jay was released from custody.  As soon as he went home to his mother's house he called Lia.

"Lia it's me Jay, I'm out" he said, he sounded relieved and he just wanted to hear her voice.

"Jay, oh Jay are you alright?  I miss you so much" said Lia her voice was full of emotion.

"I'm okay Lia and I know I have only got you to thank for that.  How did you manage to get the bail money?"

Lia was fast on her feet, and the lie easily slipped from her tongue.  "Oh that? well the woman who posted the bail is a friend of my parents and she is sort of looking out for me while they're away."

"But Lia to post one million dollars for someone she doesn't even know, that's really something else."

"Oh it's not her money Jay, no it's daddy's and if I say you're innocent he'll say that too."

"Oh well please tell him thank you from me and he'll get his money back I won't let you down.''

''I know that baby'' answered Lia gently.  She wished that she could take him in her arms and love and protect him.

''My mom's very impressed, she thinks that I got myself a rich girl!''  They both laughed and Jay could feel his mood lift a little.

''Jay I need to go away for a while, I won't be gone more than a day'' Lia told him apologetically.  She felt that she was deserting him in his hour of need.

''Where are you going?'' Jay sounded panicky.  He needed her more than ever now.

''Oh nowhere really Jay, I've just got to do a little errand for daddy, in New Hampshire, I couldn't refuse him after he's what he's just done for us''  Lia lied again.

''Well come back as soon as you can.  I'll come and pick you up from your house and take you to meet my mom.''

''Oh yes okay I'd love that, I call you when I get back.  I love you Jay.''

''I love you too Lia.''

Cora prepared vegetable soup and a buttered bread roll for Jay, and sat with him at the kitchen table while he ate.  They chatted about the incriminating shoe that had led to him being arrested.  It was clear that Cora was very worried, she felt that she was living in her worst nightmare.  The gratitude that she felt for her son's release was nothing short of immense.  Lia must be a very special girl, she had really gone out on a limb for Jay.  There was one thing that was puzzling Cora though.

"Jay the police came and arrested you in the middle of the night didn't they?'' she asked.

Jay nodded, he really didn't want to go into it. "Yeah why?''

''Then why did you tell me to call and tell Lia about it after I spoke to an attorney?''

With all the recent events, Jay had forgotten that he had woken up and found that Lia's side of the bed was empty.  He pretended to be chewing a piece of bread before he answered, because he didn't want to tell his mother that he had found her gone.

''Oh yeah, one if her friend's who lives in Westport got dumped or something so Lia stayed the night with her.''

Cora accepted this without any further questioning, but Jay was left wondering why Lia was out of the house in the middle of the night.  He made a mental note to ask her.  The mother and son talked a little more about the case that was being made against him.   Jay's attorney had assured them both, that the prosecution council were going to have to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that he had actually committed a crime.  He added that the finding of the shoe was unfortunate, but it was flimsy evidence and proved nothing.  Cora had told him all about Amberlee's behaviour towards Tom Harrison.  And the attorney noted down her history of unrequited love with great interest, and said that this would be useful for the defence if it came to court.  He asked if it were possible that she had planted the shoe in the back garden herself.  Cora said no she had been outside many times and she would have seen it.  The shoe had only been put there recently.  And when Cora asked if the police had questioned the taxi drivers in the area, to see if they had taken her to the airport, she was told that they had but no one had seen her.  The truth, unbeknown to all concerned, was that Amberlee had used a taxi that night, but it was driven by a foreigner who couldn't speak a lot of English.  His lack of understanding meant that he couldn't have helped, even if he'd  wanted to.  She had absconded, and Jay was obviously being set up because according to his attorney someone made an anonymous call to the cops, to tell them about the shoe.  The question is, was it someone who was helping Amberlee frame Jay, or was it Amberlee's killer? 

The vampire did not need to take a plane to get to Philadelphia.  She flew to the State, in her own unique way, and she was really looking forward to meeting Amberlee.  The missing teen had been very good company for her father, he was really happy to have her home. Amberlee was not much of a cook, but he didn't mind that because he loved to cook for her.  Herb was not concerned about the fact that Amberlee hadn't made any plans, about what she was going to do with her time.  He was glad that she hadn't bothered to contact her mother, he didn't want to lose his little princess again.

Herb had gone to bed after his night shift,  and Amberlee stood outside the door of his bedroom to make sure that she could hear his soft snoring.  Then she phoned Tori.

''Hello?''  The reluctant voice that answered the call belonged to Tori.  Amberlee smiled to herself, she could tell by her miserable tone that she had done what she'd been told.

''How did it go then?'' she said eagerly, she was ready to absorb all the gory details.

''I did it, I did what you said okay?''  Tori wanted to hang up and never speak to her again.

''Well what happened did the cops find my shoe, is Jay in prison, or what?''  Amberlee was losing patience now, she had expected more enthusiasm from Tori, especially with her track record of reckless behaviour.

''Yes, yes they found it and yes Jay was arrested, it's all on the internet Amberlee, you can read about it there.  I don't want to talk about it, I never wanted to be in....''

''Well you're gonna talk about it Tori, you have no choice, and planting the shoe is nothing compared to what you did to that woman.''  Her words cut into Tori like an assassin's blade.  She suddenly felt dizzy, and wondered if her parents would notice if she helped herself to a couple of slugs of vodka.  She needed to forget Amberlee Robinson, she desperately wanted to blot the memory of the girl right out of her mind.  Getting hammered had become more difficult lately.  Her parents were suspicious, and she found that she needed to drink much larger amounts than she did previously.  Tori knew that her body was becoming accustomed to her drinking, but she didn't want to stop, she couldn't.  Amberlee ignored her silence, she assumed that Tori was accepting that she  held all the cards, and where they both stood 

Amberlee felt on top of the world now that she knew that Jay had been arrested.  She conveniently forgot that she was now living in poorer neighbourhood compared to her home in Portland, and told Tori that bail for a suspect like him would be very high, and judging by the teeny weeny house that they live in, his mother would never be able to afford it. It was only then that the enormity of the situation hit Tori Martin like a runaway train.  She tried to reason with Amberlee, and begged her to come back to Maine.

''Amberlee this is getting really out of hand.  Jay is in a lot of trouble and he hasn't really done anything wrong, please let's just stop this now.''

''He dumped me!'' screamed Amberlee passionately, then she remembered that her father was asleep and lowered her voice.  ''He dumped me for that other girl, in front of the whole college.  I saw them, together, kissing, as if, as if I didn't matter, as if I didn't even exist.''

''I know Amber, but these things happen, people get dumped all the time.  Jay was a total ass that night, I'm not denying that, but he doesn't deserve this, he doesn't deserve to go to jail.''

Tori's words only served to pour more fat onto Amberlee's already raging fire.

''Listen to me Tori Martin'' she said venomously, ''If you say anything to anyone about this, I will make sure that everyone knows that you are a drunk and you drove your mother's car into Samantha Bradshaw, and left her for dead like a dog in the road.  So what's it to be your freedom or Jay's?''

''Oh please don't tell anyone, please, I promise I won't tell I....''

Tired of Tori's whimpering, Amberlee hung up the telephone and went straight to the computer to Google Jay Patterson.  Her heart slightly fluttered at the sight of his picture, as it appeared on the screen.  He was extremely good-looking, and as she looked at his beautiful dark eyes she wished that things would have turned out differently.  She felt herself harden again, when she remembered how his lips had been pressed passionately against those of that other girl's.  Then she read the article below, regarding his arrest.  Amberlee was shocked and angry to discover that Jay was no longer in police custody, because he got bail.  She saw that she was right about the large amount of money, that was required for his release from the cold and lonely prison cell, that she had imagined was going to be his resting place for a while.  Amberlee wondered who on earth did he know who had that sort of money, one million dollars to post bail for him.  Then she remembered again the beautiful, wealthy looking girl, that he had dumped her for, on the night of the college dance.

Lia decided to go to Horrocks street in a traditional human way.  She made sure that there was no one around to see her descend from the sky.  She landed in some wasteland quite near to the airport, and then she walked in the direction, where she could see that there was activity.  Lia soon found a taxi rank, and its small queue of people enabled her to get her ride quite quickly.  The kindly taxi driver had velvety dark skin and smiling, brown eyes.  He jumped out of his car, and asked Lia if she had any luggage.  When she said no he opened the back door of the car for her, and she climbed inside.  Lia was getting used to the ways human travel in the 21st century.  She had only ever travelled by coach and horses, a couple of times with her family.  Vampires preferred their own quick and supernatural way of getting from one place to another, but there was no hurry today because Lia intended to wait until the sky was consumed with darkness, before she did what she had come to Philadelphia to do.  The taxi driver chatted amiably to her.  He thought that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, and he asked if she was from Europe.  Lia told him truthfully that her mother had been from the United Kingdom, and her parents now lived in Maine.  She also told him that she was visiting an old friend, and it was going to be a surprise, because her friend did not know that she was coming.  The taxi driver remarked that her friend was very lucky to be getting such a lovely surprise.  When he dropped her off at the modest little street where Amberlee was now living, she paid him his fare, with a huge tip, and waved him goodbye as he drove away.  Lia saw that the Clayton house was right in front of her now, but instead of going and knocking at the door, she hid herself behind a nearby wooden fence.  Her whole body was concealed, no one would ever know that she was there.  The vampire knew that the first thing that she must do is gain entry inside the house.  The difficulty was that she could not do that without invitation. She would just have to wait, and be patient until an opportunity revealed itself,  for her to take full advantage of.  For Lia an opportunity always revealed itself.  As she sat and waited, Lia thought about how good it would be if she could just kill Amberlee Robinson.  However, she knew that this would spell too much trouble for Jay, he had already had his life turned upside down.  Lia love for Jay was becoming stronger by the second, and she had no regrets about leaving her family frozen in time, or killing Elena Hudson.  It had all been necessary for her to get what she wanted, and she had succeeded.  Abe and Dalia Jackson had been the perfect find, they would be able to do whatever she wanted when she wanted it.  Lia had purposely instilled fear into the middle-aged couple, by using stony facial expressions and a certain tone in her voice.  Her father had often said that human beings could be wilful, and that a vampire always needed to let them know who was the more powerful.  He had said that they had found so many ways to wreak havoc on each other, and they needed to be treated with a firm hand.  Valentin believed that they had their own unique power, but they were ignorant of how to use it.  However, there were some individual members of the human race who were becoming aware that if they purely focused their thoughts on something they desired, it would come into existence. For this reason he had often told his daughters never to underestimate them.  Judging by her recent actions to get Jay imprisoned, Amberlee Robinson was treacherous.  Lia knew that the vulgar looking girl would turn over every stone that she could find, in order to engineer the downfall of the boy she had wanted so much.  The girl may not have physical fangs, but her metaphorical white pointed teeth were lethal and deadly.  The vampire knew that she would really have to strong arm the girl into doing what she wanted.  That was not going to be a problem, but Lia knew that she must keep her teeth from Amberlee's view.  The suspicion that had fallen on Jay was the only thing that was keeping her alive, and if she were to discover Lia's secret vampire status, there would be nothing to stop her from telling the whole world.  Amberlee Robinson's life had been spared by default, Lia was not going to kill her.