Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
LUCY
If I didn’t already know that Elias Moreno was immortal, I would have guessed it from the way he drives.
By the time we get back to the coast, my knuckles are aching from my overly tight grip on the edge of the seat.
I don’t know whose car this is, but either they have bulletproof insurance, or they don’t know Elias very well.
At least we’re back in Whitby now. The volume of traffic in town has forced him to calm it down, and I can actually speak to him without fearing for my life.
He’s a different character away from Mina, much more relaxed, and that surprises me because she usually has the opposite effect on people.
I’ll have to remember to ask Mina about it the next time we speak.
We pull up at a red light, and I’m startled by a knock on the window. When I look up, a middle-aged man is grinning at Elias and gesturing wildly to the worn Dawn Breaks Black T-shirt he’s wearing. Elias smiles back and gives the man a thumbs up before the lights change and we pull away.
‘Isn’t it a bit of a risk for you, being this recognisable?’ I ask. It’s a question I’ve had ever since I found out about him. ‘Surely people will notice when you, y’know, don’t age?’
He laughs. ‘They will, but they’ll put it down to favourable genetics and good skincare.
For a while, anyway.’ He pulls into a parking space along a narrow back street, and I breathe a silent sigh of relief that we made it in one piece.
‘I’ll make a few of those “ageless celebrities” lists, but generally people will think nothing of it.
I mean, no one suspects Paul Rudd of being a vampire, do they? ’
I almost swallow my tongue. ‘Paul Rudd is a vampire!?’
Elias smirks. ‘I didn’t say that.’ I note that he doesn’t deny it either.
‘But don’t worry about me, I’ve already laid the foundations.
I started a rumour a couple of years back that I have a secret love child hidden away somewhere.
So when it reaches the stage where my youth is getting really suspicious, I’ll fake my own death, go into hibernation for a decade or two and then reappear with a new haircut as Elias Junior.
’ He shrugs. ‘People will tell me how much I look like my dad, and I’ll squeeze out a tear and agree with them.
Done. In a few generations, no one will remember either of us. ’
I smile, though the idea makes me a little nervous. ‘You make it sound so easy.’
He laughs. ‘This isn’t my first rodeo, kid.’
I try not to think about which rodeo he’s on.
It’s a part of all this that I haven’t really considered until now.
I assumed it was possible that humans and vampires could maintain long-term relationships because of Peggy and W?adek, but I haven’t really thought about the logistics of vampires existing in a human world.
‘Will Bram have to do this too?’ I ask, more to myself than anything. ‘Will I?’
From the way Elias smiles, it’s clearly not the first time he’s had to answer this question.
‘Depends how famous you want to be. Usually just moving to a new town for a few decades is enough.’ He turns to look at me.
‘Yeah, it’s awkward. So are human relationships sometimes.
The question you need to ask yourself through all of this is: is he worth it? ’
And I know in my heart that the answer is yes. He is.
‘I met someone on the train home, you know,’ I say, looking out of the window. I feel like I need to confess this, although I really didn’t do anything wrong. I definitely can’t meet Elias’s eyes when I do it, though. ‘A man – a human – just like Bram wanted me to.’
He hums behind me. ‘And?’
‘We talked, he flirted a little, I tried to flirt back.’ I watch a seagull land on the pavement beside us, a chip hanging out of its beak. ‘But I felt nothing. Our hands touched – I dropped my phone and he handed it back to me. It was awful. He was so … warm.’
He doesn’t say anything in response, and I turn to look, worried that he’s now disappointed in me. But when I do, he’s resting back against his seat, a huge smile on his face. In that moment, he looks every inch the superstar that he is.
‘It’s happened,’ he says, amusement in his voice. ‘Once you go Drac, you never go back.’
Elias may be hundreds of years old, but right now he looks like a cheeky little boy. Sounds like one too. ‘I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.’
He shrugs, still smiling. ‘I stand by it.’
He cuts the engine, and we hop out. I don’t recognise where we are at first – not until he rounds a corner and we duck through a small alleyway.
It’s then that I recognise the quaint shopfronts that line the familiar road down towards the sea.
I assume we’re going to Bitten, so I’m surprised when Elias leads me through another alley off to the side of it.
He must sense that I falter, because when I do, he turns, flashing a grin in the dim light of the alley.
‘Tradesman’s entrance,’ he says, and then we turn a corner and emerge into a space that I immediately recognise as the alley behind the bar. ‘Just avoiding that Wednesday afternoon crowd,’ he mutters as he reaches for the back door handle. ‘They’re feral.’
I laugh, but there’s a grip of anxiety behind it, knowing that there’s a good chance that Bram is beyond this door. Will he be pleased to see me? Angry that I didn’t listen to him? Or worse – indifferent?
I gather every last scrap of courage I have, and when I see a dark shadow coming out of the stockroom, my heart seizes. But it’s not Bram. It’s Quinn.
‘Found her,’ Elias says to him, throwing back the set of car keys, which Quinn catches mid-air. ‘Thanks for the loan.’
Quinn’s car. That actually makes sense – from everything Bram’s told me about Quinn. I bet his driving is no better than Elias’s.
‘He’s gone,’ Quinn says, shooting me a sympathetic look. ‘He left about half an hour ago, maybe?’
Emmy appears from behind us. ‘I think he might just have needed some space,’ she says with a black-lipsticked smile. ‘He tends to disappear for a bit when he’s like this. I reckon he just goes somewhere to think.’
And that’s when it hits me.
‘I know where he is,’ I say, louder than I mean to, and three pairs of eyes widen at my exclamation. ‘I mean, I think I do, anyway.’ I turn to Elias, who’s now leaning on a wall like the entire thing is exhausting him. ‘Thank you for the lecture, and for the lift.’
He nods, that same small smile on his face. Elias does a great job of acting aloof, but that little curl of his lips betrays it. He cares about Bram. They all do.
‘Go get him, kid,’ he drawls behind me, as I disappear back down the rabbit warren of alleys and emerge out on the road with a determined smile.
And I fully intend to.
I wouldn’t describe myself as an athlete, but I’m pretty sure I get a personal best dashing from Flowergate down through town and over the bridge. It looks kind of strange without all the costumes, empty and open, but it makes my life easier. I’m not looking for a sea of goths.
Just one.
I’m already out of breath when I reach the foot of the 199 steps, and it’s probably a good idea to pause to catch my breath here, but I don’t. I just forge onwards, lungs screaming and legs aching as I motor up the stone steps.
I make it about halfway before I’m forced to stop by my own wheezing, and an older couple walking a jaunty terrier throw me a look of concern as I pass. I smile back.
Not dying, I try to convey with my expression. Just unfit.
It’s a couple of minutes before I’ve recovered enough to carry on, and I begin to climb again with gusto, trying the steps two at a time at first before realising that’s a death wish. I settle for climbing them in the usual fashion. I’m not going to be able to talk to Bram if I’m not alive.
But miraculously, when I reach the top, I am alive – alive and breathing hard, with sweaty curls clinging to my temples and the fire of a thousand deaths clawing at my calves. I’ll take it, though. I’ve got a job to do.
I march on through the graveyard, and that’s when I see it.
Heartbreak Bench.
And sure enough, there’s a familiar character sitting on it, dressed entirely in black, looking out to sea through his thick-framed sunglasses.
He doesn’t see me at first, and when he finally turns to look at me, the way that his eyes pinch in recognition makes my chest tighten.
He jumps up off the bench, and I really think that he’s going to walk away from me, but at the last minute, he stops, eyes fixed on me. Waiting, like he said he would.
I don’t know what it was that made him stop, but I know that this is my chance.
I just have to make him listen.