Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
I’ve just bought my first-ever load of practical food.
It was a challenge, as at one point I had a trolley full of random items, stuff that I like to eat but that didn’t go together.
When I realised that custard, mashed potato, and olives weren’t really a good flavour combination, I had to turn around and start all over again, putting things back and picking up items that would not only work together, but was stuff that I might actually cook.
Ha, at least I had the epiphany before I paid.
As I am leaving the supermarket, I see leaflets fluttering on the customer notice board.
I guess not everyone can afford the internet.
Nosily, I turn my head and scan the ads.
A flyer catches my eye. It is for a women’s self-defence class at a local gym.
Huh. Now that might be handy, and there is a new class tomorrow evening.
I put the trolley back and battle to free my pound coin from the locking mechanism that is holding it hostage.
It has gotten dark while I’ve been inside, and the car park is strangely empty.
I hurry away from the supermarket; I avoid the car park and stick to the pavement.
As I make my way around the side of the store towards a normally busy shopping area up the road, the hairs on my arms rise and a shiver works its way down my spine.
My instincts scream at me, I am being followed.
My eyes dart about, my heart thuds. As I pass a dark shop, I glance in the window at the reflection of the street behind me. My heart misses a beat when I spot them tailing me. Three vampires are hunting me.
I’m sure there are more.
They move so elegantly that they almost float, compared to me as I shuffle awkwardly along the street, overloaded with my shopping.
I hold the bags in my sweaty, tight-fisted grip, my still-weak arms trembling.
The bags rustle and my heart pounds; sweat beads on the back of my neck.
Somehow I don’t think they have anything to do with John…
the word must have gotten out about my being a demon, or about my unprotected status.
Creatures love to gossip, and I am guessing these vampires are probably opportunists looking for an easy mark. A snack.
They mean for me to see them, so I’m more worried about the ones that I can’t yet see. I think I am being herded. With so many eyes on me, opening my doorway is going to be a challenge.
With trepidation, I search the quiet street. I was going to go to a shop that I know well and use their doorway, but it’s further up the road. Too far up the road—I need to get out of here pronto.
Unfortunately, I can’t use the supermarket doors as they are automatic and they don’t have a door handle. I con-template abandoning my shopping, dropping it to the street and running, but I know the vampires will be on me within seconds.
A can clangs down the street, noisily scraping the ground as it rolls across the pavement. The sound spooks me. My heart jumps and I spin, my shopping bags painfully smacking against my legs as I abruptly do a sideways shuffle into a dark alley.
Not the smart-prey move.
Nice one, Emma. I am being hunted by vampires, so what do I do? I hop into a dark alley. I hope my crazy move will confuse the hunting vampires as much as it does me. If I’m lucky, it might gain me a few extra unseen seconds to find a doorway and escape.
I hurry past two huge bright-yellow bins full of rubbish and food waste. I breathe through my mouth so I don’t get a whiff of the rotting garbage. Yuck…mouth-breathing doesn’t help, as the stench is so bad it fills my mouth to the point where I can almost chew it.
The alley has rear fire doors for a takeaway and a nightclub.
I head towards the closer nightclub door, which I know will be locked.
However, I hope I can access my home through the locked door before the vampires arrive at the top of the alleyway and grab me.
I’ve never attempted to use a locked door before.
Crap. Perhaps this is a thing I should have practised?
I jump almost a foot into the air when there is a crash, a bang, and a gurgling scream at the mouth of the alley. What the hell is that?
An echoing, angry growl reverberates off the tight walls of the surrounding buildings. A shifter has joined the party.
Oh hell, a bad shifter or a good shifter?
Oh God. Oh God. I don’t look back and instead I break into a run.
I avoid a puddle of something unpleasant as my feet slap against the tarmac.
When I get close to the door, my hands shake as I push the bag handles down my right arm to the crook of my elbow to free my hand.
I reach for the handle and open my door.
Heart pounding, I rush inside and slam the door closed and slump panting next to my touchy-feely ward. My back thumps against the door.
Safe. God, I feel sick. That was way too close.
I drop my bags in disgust. I bought too much stuff and I encumbered myself with the shopping—that choice could have killed me. I scrub my shaking hands across my face. I need to do better.
I remove my coat. When I go to remove my boots…
eww…a used condom is stuck to the bottom of my left shoe.
I almost throw up in my mouth. That is nasty.
I am so glad I have gloves and that I bought bleach.
I carefully remove my boot. That will teach me to wander into nightclub alleyways, I think with a curl of my lip and a full-body shudder.
I ignore my shopping and my poor boot for now.
Dejectedly I wander over to the sofa and slump down.
I stare up at the ceiling. One step forward and then two steps straight back…
I’m rubbish at this. I can’t even do a basic shop without messing everything up.
I tug at my ponytail and then rub my face in frustration.
My real strategy hung on my being able to change my entire visage or being able to run. Crap, it looks as if hoping to have a handy doorway to step through will never be a foolproof plan.
I groan. This is no way to live, and at the moment I’m a demon that feels like prey. If I don’t get myself at least halfway able to look after myself, I’m going to get hurt. Dead.
I need desperately to learn some self-defence so I can at least fight if needed or stop an attacker long enough so I can run away.
The whole being-stalked-by-vampires has seriously upped my deadline.
I need to be able to handle myself. You dealt with vampires before when you went all stabby, my brain helpfully pipes up. I rub my wrist.
God, I don’t want to kill anybody. But I do need to add “learning to fight” to my growing list.
Handy that I now know of a place that has a class tomorrow.
Fighting wasn’t something I ever had to think about in my old life—I was surrounded by guards. Dance, horse riding…I even had singing lessons, but nothing as uncouth as fighting. It would be silly to learn an actual useful skill to keep me alive. I roll my eyes.
Gosh, I have so much to learn. It’s so overwhelming.
I lean forward to plant my elbows on my knees and rest my head in my hands. I rub at my temples. There was that one time that Arlo mentioned that I was immortal…bloody hell, I need to be immortal, to get through my piling-up to-do list.
My phone rings. This pocket is so weird—the internet and my mobile phone work, but how?
Just like with the electricity, I have no idea.
Pocket-dimension free wi-fi and power. I just hope someday I don’t get an enormous bill.
I jump up, sidestep my boot, and grab my phone from my coat pocket.
I groan when I see who is calling. I answer.
“Emma, are you safe? Your scent disappeared and I can’t track you,” John says.
Oh bloody hell, it was him. My frightened brain didn’t imagine the growl…the gurgling. I shudder.
How on earth did he track me down at the supermarket? Is this another trick? A test? Gah, I want to tell him to get lost. I have the perfect rude words but I stop them from leaving my mouth, as I don’t want to antagonise the scary hellhound.
Instead, I aim for diplomacy. “I am fine…” How can answering him be so difficult? Talking to him…I swallow. “Thank you for your help, but as I’ve said before…I’m not your responsibility. I can look after myself just fine, thank you very much.” I say it primly, but my words are sour with dishonesty.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
The truth is, I occupy a strange space between being a damsel in distress and knowing enough about the evils of this world to realise my vulnerability. I am doomed.
I know it, and the man on the phone knows it.
I am also stubborn, and I’m unwilling to allow my fear of the unknown, of what could happen, to curb me. I will have no one dictate my life going forward.
I don’t want a man to come to my rescue. I want to be a hero, not a snack.
“You can look after yourself?” he scoffs, his tone incredulous. “Tell me then why you had vampires hunting you? Did you even notice them?” He lets out a patronising laugh and I grind my teeth.
“Yes, I noticed them. I got away, didn’t I? Did I miss hearing the beginning of our conversation when you, the mighty hellhound, said that you’d lost my scent?” I say smugly. “So that was you? With the vampires…were you helping them?” I narrow my eyes and John growls down the phone at me.
I wait for him to answer. With a grunt, he says, “Stopping them.”
“Oh, okay…well…urm…thank you?” I scratch my head and puff out my cheeks. “Do…do you, urm, know what they wanted?”
“Emma,” he says, a warning in his voice.
“Oh, look at that”—a painful laugh slips out—“I can’t even ask a simple question about my safety.” He sighs and the phone rustles like he is smacking it against his head. “You don’t have to help me out of guilt.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realise how ridiculous I sound.
God, I want to smack my phone against my head, too. The idea of John reacting from any emotion other than anger is nuts. Ha, something as frivolous as guilt wouldn’t motivate him.
“A master vampire has taken an unhealthy interest in you.”
“Unhealthy?”
“Yes, for him. I am going to kill him.”
Well, that is a little extreme. I open my mouth and no words come out. What can I say to that? “Thanks?” I slump against the wall and toe my abandoned shopping bags.
“I don’t know any master vampires…oh, oooh, the crazy guy with the bow in his hair and the lace.”
“Yes, Alexander,” he growls out.
“Alexander…why? Is he going to keep sending people after me?”
“No. He will not have another chance.”
“Why, ‘cause he’s going to be dead? Can’t I talk to him, try to reason with him? You don’t have to kill him.”
“For fuck’s sake, Emma, are you for real?” he explodes. “Do you think this is a game? He sent ten vampires tonight, and it’s not the first time.”
“Hang on…not the first time—”
“Look, I’ve got to go—”
“Was it him…did he send those vampires to the house? The ones that wanted to hurt Bob? The ones that hit the car?” Silence. “John?” I pull the phone away from my ear and check the screen. The bloody hellhound has hung up on me. I throw my hands in the air. Why is he so infuriating?
Arrrah, he is so annoying.
This is my life. Shouldn’t I have some input?
I turn my phone off. I glare at the dark screen and grind my teeth. I groan, and with a throaty growl, I turn the phone back on in case the livery yard calls and Bob needs me. I can’t risk missing that kind of call. I shove the handset back into my coat pocket.
I grab my shopping bags and head for the kitchen.
Why does he care, why can’t he leave me the hell alone?
I slam the kitchen doors as I put the food away.
This is my problem to deal with; it’s got nothing to do with him.
I got away fine and I hurt no one. I lean against the worktop.
No. He will not handle my problems for me.
I spin and go back to my coat and grab the phone. I tap it against my thigh. I know two vampires; one isn’t talking to me and the other…well, I’ve been avoiding her.
Is it wrong to call her? I hop from foot to foot. I thumb through my contacts and impulsively press the call button.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mum, it’s Emma. I need your help.”