Past Due (7 page)

“
I saw it in Tracy’s memories.”

Alex grinned. “You’re psychic. How wonderful!”

“
Don’t get excited, it’s nothing helpful like seeing the future. I can’t predict who will win the Grand National or where our killer will strike next.”

“
You see the past,” he was slowly understanding. “Touch makes what you see stronger. Animate or inanimate objects?”

“
Both. The impressions I get from people are much stronger than I get from the objects they touch but also more confused.” Frankie was smiling. She was talking about her gift and smiling, a completely new sensation. Usually she was fearful of being called a freak, of being laughed at, ridiculed or even called a liar. To talk so freely was unheard of. Even those she worked with who knew about her gift didn’t seem comfortable talking about it.

“
I haven’t met a true psychic in, oh must be over two hundred years. This is fascinating.”

“
Was the other psychic immune to your mind games too?”

“
No, she was as susceptible as everyone else, but her gift was slightly different. She used cards and sticks and tea leaves to give readings. She could see the future on a good day but she wasn’t very accurate. The future fluctuates far too much for that sort of gift to be useful.”

“
You have no idea how wonderful it is to tell someone what I can do and have them accept it.”

Alex leaned forward. “I understand what’s it’s like to have to hide your true nature, Frankie.” He looked almost vulnerable.

“
Yes, I suppose you do.” She had never thought about how it would feel for other supernatural creatures. “Doesn’t anyone know?”

“
There are a few other supernaturals who come here, they can sense what I am, like you can but we don’t really socialise.”

“
Why not?”

“
Vampires don’t play well with each other for very long and other supernaturals are wary of us.”

“
And no humans? You don’t have like a…”

“
A consort? No, not for a while. I have to be very careful who I trust. Humans are a very frightened race and when they’re scared they lash out.”

“
You’re trusting me and I’m a spy.”

Alex went to the mini bar and got two bottles of water. He handed one to Frankie, figuring she’d be happier opening it herself. She accepted it without comment.

“
We know about your secretive group. In this day and age, we have to. When humans hunted us with pitchforks and torches we could outrun them mostly but now… now you have rifles and missiles and weapons of mass destruction. You pose a greater threat to us than ever before, we have to be careful. If we thought you meant us any harm you would have been wiped out decades ago.”

“
But you can’t vamp me into forgetting. I can report all this to my superiors.”

“
You could, but I don’t think you will.”

“
Why not?”

“
Because you are a decent person. Your sense of fair play wouldn’t let you.” He sipped his water. “And of course, there's the fact that you aren’t human either.”

“
What? Of course I am.”

Alex shook is head. “No. I thought you were being evasive when I first asked what you are but you really don’t know, do you?”

“
I’m human. Just as human as anyone else.”

“
As human as me?”

She glared at him.

He placated her with a smile. “You’re mostly human, I’ll agree, but not completely. Your gift is off the charts for strength, I’ve never encountered a human with that much ability. I’d also be willing to bet there’s more you can do but you’ve been denying your talents. Have you ever tried to hone your craft?”

“
Trust me, what I have is bad enough.”

“
The gloves. You can’t stand touching people, can you?”

Frankie was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“
If you trained your ability it would give you greater control over it, perhaps even the ability to block those visions you don’t want.”

“
I have to go,” she stood up and headed for the door.

“
Frankie, please wait. I’m sorry.”

She paused, stopped by the sincerity in his voice.

“
Stay, please.”

She turned slowly and in her eyes he could see a lifetime of rejection.

“
You have no idea how wonderful it is to talk of what I am so freely,” Alex explained. “I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries.”

“
I really do have to-”

“
You could question me. Ask me anything, I will answer honestly.” She still looked torn. He held up three fingers. “Scouts honour.”

A reluctant smile finally broke through. “You were never a boy scout.”

“
No. I ate a few, does that count? I’m kidding,” he told her when she looked appalled. “I actually have no need kill these days.”

Frankie took a deep breath and sat back down. “I’m sorry. I know I have a lot of issues. I even tried therapy once.”

“
Did it help?”

“
Hardly. I nearly got sectioned.”

Two hours later Frankie was settled. She’d graduated to whisky and Coke, kicked her shoes off and was enjoying an evening completely free of censoring herself. Frankie told him stories of the dirty secrets she’d seen and Alex had told her of his travels, of his experiences of history.

The club had opened and they could hear the muffled beat of the music through the walls.

“
So how old are you, exactly?” she asked.

“
Hard to say with any accuracy, but nearly 700. I was born here, in Scotland, near Dunfermline.”

“
And how did you become a vampire?”

“
Ah, well there was a woman.”

“
Isn’t that a bit of a cliché?” she teased.

“
A lot of a cliché, actually, but there’s a reason why things become clichés.” He looked up at the ceiling but Frankie thought he was looking into the past. “I had joined the church, or rather been forced to and I wasn’t happy about it. One evening I was walking the grounds. I was supposed to be meditating but my anger issues were hindering me somewhat, and that’s when I came across her.

“
She was beautiful. I offered her assistance thinking she was lost but she said she was just taking a walk herself. She showed up every night for two weeks and I was infatuated. She seduced me with tales of far off lands and adventures I would never have while stuck in the monastery.

“
Then she told me she was leaving and asked me to come with her. I didn’t need asking twice. The next night we ran away together. She took me to her house and showed me what she truly was. I didn’t care. I didn’t think anything as beautiful as her could be evil. So she made love to me and when I woke up I was a vampire.”

“
So sex turns you into a vampire?”

He laughed. “No, I was just being polite. After we’d made love she drank my blood until I was nearly dead, then I fed off her.”

“
How long does it take? I mean to come back from death.”

“
Three days, give or take.”

“
And where is she now?”

“
We had a good run, stayed together for about fifteen years but it’s hard for us. We’re not naturally inclined to pair up.”

“
Then why did she turn you?”

“
I think she was lonely. It’s hard always having to hide what we are.”

“
But isn’t there a way you could still be together?”

“
What we feed on, the blood we ingest whether human or another vampire is full of power. It’s almost magical. When we’re first turned we’re full of our sire’s magic and that allows us to stay together, synchronises us almost. It means we can teach our children what they are, how to handle their power, how to hide.” He sighed. “But as we feed off more and more people that initial harmony is overpowered with human life force. The disharmony brings out our true natures and eventually drives us apart.”

“
That must be lonely. Isn’t there any way around that?”

“
If we keep feeding from each other, yes, but eventually all vampire children feel the need to strike out on their own, the need to make our own way. Once we stop exchanging blood with our sire we begin to see each other as a threat, a fellow predator. We argue, we fight and if one doesn’t leave, we eventually kill each other.”

“
Wow. Don’t invite me to the reunion, then.”

He smiled. “We can tolerate each other in a setting like this club where there is plenty of prey but when alone our instincts eventually win out.”

“
Do you have many children?”

“
Three.”

“
Only three in seven hundred years?”

“
There have been others. They died. Immortal doesn’t mean invincible.”

“
I’m sorry.”

He flashed her a sad smile. “It’s not your fault.”

“
That must be awful.”

“
When you live forever, you get used to losing people. You have to.”

They sat silently for a few moments. Until Frankie decided to move the conversation on to lighter topics.

“
So what other myths are untrue. Obviously you don’t die again during the day?”

“
In the beginning we sleep most of the day but as we get older, we get stronger. We need less sleep and less blood to sustain us.”

“
And you can drink water,” she pointed to the bottle he was sipping from.

“
Every living creature needs water.”

“
What about not casting a reflection in mirrors?”

“
Myth.”

“
Crosses?”

“
Nope.”

“
Photographs?”

“
We avoid them because they are evidence we don’t age.”

“
Garlic?”

“
Uh uh.”

“
Holy water?”

“
No.”

“
Are any of them true?”

He grinned. “Not many. Sunlight, fire, beheading are true. Stakes hurt like hell but won’t kill us. We don’t need an invitation to enter a home, we do cast a shadow, we can eat but not digest regular food, we can walk on hallowed ground just like anyone else and we can’t turn into smoke or bats.”

“
Okay, you just killed my enjoyment of every vampire film from now on.”

“
Don’t blame the film makers, we created most of those myths ourselves or played up a few of the good ones. If people think vampires are afraid of crosses, what better way to prove we aren’t one? And the bat and smoke theories are just very cool.”

“
Cool?”

“
We have to keep up with modern vernacular, Frankie. It’s all part of the cover.”

She laughed. “Yeah, but you can’t pull that one off. It’s like me trying to say ‘totally awesome, dude’ or ‘you go girl,’ it just doesn’t work.”

“
Well, now that you’ve taken my ego down a peg or two, would you like another drink?”

“
Sure.” She handed him her glass and as he poured her another, she wondered about the one question she really needed to ask and hadn't.

He handed her the glass and frowned. “You look worried.”

“
Can I ask you anything?”

“
Of course.”

“
Have you ever killed?” she really doubted she’d get the answer she wanted and a part of her was happy about that. She liked him, perhaps too much and an excuse to walk out would be a welcome relief.

“
Yes. I don’t kill for pleasure and I don’t kill to eat but in the early days I did have accidents from time to time.”

“
And now?”

“
Now when I kill it’s for other reasons.”

“
What sort of reasons?”

“
I’ve turned lovers when they’ve asked me to. I’ve killed for justice. To protect the weak.”

“
You call killing justice?”

“
A form of it, yes. Sometimes it’s the only justice.”

“
Give me an example.”

“
This case. When we find whoever’s doing this I will kill him. He deserves nothing less.”

“
So you’re a vampire vigilante?”

“
No. I kill to protect those that I love and what is mine. This club is mine as are its patrons. I will not allow someone to get away with harming them.”

As reasons went it wasn’t actually a bad one. “You can’t just kill him, Alex. I can’t let you.”

“
Do you have a better solution?” he asked.

Frankie remained silent. Keeping a witch of Bradley's power under control would be difficult, perhaps impossible but she wasn't ready to admit that yet. “So, have you ever killed out of malice?” she asked, moving the conversation forward.”

Alex looked into her eyes, his expression haunted. “Only once and he… was my father.”

Chapter Five

“
Oh my god!” Frankie exclaimed. “You killed your own father?”

Alex wasn’t sure why he was being so honest, only that he both needed and wanted her to trust him.

“
He was a monk at the monastery I later entered. My mother worked in the kitchen, serving the monks. She was young and impressionable and he impregnated her. Confession wiped his slate clean and all was forgiven but the monks weren’t so charitable to my mother and she carried the shame of it and the burden of raising his child alone. She wouldn’t do the noble thing and kill herself so she continued to work there so they could hide her and their shameful secret but she was an outcast, we both were. Often times she went hungry to feed me while he sat upstairs his room and prayed. He did nothing to help her.