Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
The vampires had taken over London’s night club to do their sinister deeds.
But the scale of their network in the city was unknown--an issue which would keep me up at night.
The brightly lit city streets were thriving, with couples holding hands and people bar hopping.
I wished I could be one of those unsuspecting humans.
That was, assuming I could elude death for just a little while longer.
I shifted gear and sped ahead of a yellow bus with a sign reading London’s Night Sightseeing Tour. I clenched my jaw and changed gears again. I couldn’t accelerate as much as I wanted on the small, busy streets.
Tammy and I would be in so much trouble when the vampire caught up to us. The last time I checked, he was only several feet behind us. Police car sirens rang around me. Wide-eyed, I glanced at the rearview mirror.
The vampire’s dash had slowed to a walk, and he appeared to give up on following us. I couldn’t believe our luck. Was he really not going to pursue us because of the police presence?
At least not tonight anyway.
As I drove away, the vampire completely disappeared from my view. Deep down, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. He must have realized that with the police arriving, he was forced to do damage control to save their disguised business at the club.
My body didn’t relax. Instead, a quiver settled in my stomach.
He will be back soon enough. Just not tonight.
The vampire master had likely memorized the scent of our blood, which we’d left on the floor of his torture room. He would find a way to discover who I was, and then there wouldn’t be a safe place for me to hide in this city.
How safe would Tammy and I be in London from now on? Would the master pay us a visit tomorrow?
I had toiled to build a new life among the humans, only to have it all snatched away in one night. Finding the access point to my dream realm was only the first tile of the domino chain of my destiny. Now, the tiles fell one by one in an unstoppable line of events.
The ties I thought I’d cut with the supernatural world were very much alive. Would I ever be able to escape my destiny?
Panic coursed through my veins, and an icy chill trailed down my back because I knew that another nightmarish encounter lay in wait for me at some future time.
There was a small chance that the vampire master would completely give up on us, too busy to follow up. He could forget about us, but I doubted it. In the back of my mind, I acknowledged the looming danger, but I squashed such thoughts and plowed forward.
Right now, Tammy needed care for her bite wound and bad compulsion.
I sent a sideways glance at my best friend. Her body was relaxed against the seat, but she was mumbling something in her sleep.
Deep breath in. Exhale out. It’d be okay. I kept repeating this to myself, but the tightness in my chest didn’t disappear.
My mouth went dry, and my throat constricted at the thought of being responsible for more death and destruction in the werewolf kingdom if the vampires found out who I was.
I’d risked Tammy’s life by taking time to free the Alpha. In hindsight, it was a difficult choice to save the human and leave behind the werewolf or save the werewolf and risk our lives.
I shifted in my seat, restlessness and exhaustion hitting me at once.
I did the right thing.
I turned on my signal and made a right turn, driving away from the center of the city. It would be a long night. After I helped Tammy, I would have to erase all traces of the night, starting with the blood stains Tammy and I were leaving on the car seats.
The long cut on my forearm stung and burned. My eyelids became heavy, my mind reeled, and my body wanted to drop onto my soft bed.
After I parked, I gently shook Tammy’s shoulders.
Supporting her, we finally made it inside my apartment, but not before we left more drops of blood behind like a trail of crumbs for bloodthirsty vampires.
I mentally made a note of the places I had to go back tonight to wipe up and clean.
I let Tammy rest on my bed, took off her boots, and unwrapped her purse straps from her chest.
My apartment was my sanctuary, my safe place. But I couldn’t share it with my best friend. I wanted nothing more than to be roommates with her, but I couldn’t let her hear my conversations with my werewolf parents, and I couldn’t stomach the vampire horror movies Tammy watched nonstop.
I inched my way up to the bed, trying to avoid waking Tammy.
I gently undid the tight knot of fabric that was wound around her wrist. My shirt was stained a deep red.
I scrambled to the kitchen and fumbled with the cabinet door until I grabbed the first-aid kit.
Back at the bedside, I treated Tammy’s wrist. When I wiped the two wounds with an alcohol pad, she stirred in her sleep and whimpered.
Tears prickled in my eyes as I waited for her to calm down. I then applied ointment and put sterile bandages over her wound. I dropped the bloody shirt in the laundry machine. My clothes would go there too once I finished cleaning.
I blinked back more tears as I spared one last glance at Tammy. After dragging my feet out of my bedroom, I found myself rooted in the middle of the living room, darting my gaze restlessly around the small space.
I was safe in my apartment. In my cocoon I’d lovingly put together. My refuge that I’d furnished with second-hand, mismatched furniture that I bought with my own money.
I didn’t have much décor other than a long string with clothespins to hang paper in the living room.
It stretched across the white wall, taking up most of the space.
My mom had sent it to me for one of my birthdays.
The five paper sheets Mom had included were five words written in calligraphy–shine, believe, dream, laugh, and love.
The tightness in my chest only intensified when my gaze fell on my favorite apron, hanging on a hook in the kitchen, that my dad had gifted me for Christmas. It read Baking Queen.
I rubbed my eyes with my bloody, dirty hands, as if I could stop the tears from falling. My mind wanted to go blank. My body wanted to shut down.
Why did the supernatural world follow me? Why couldn’t it just leave me alone?
I dragged my fingers over my cheeks and groaned. I’d done everything I could to live among the humans. Why was this happening to me now? Why me?
After a much-needed moment, I dropped my arms to my sides and looked at the white ceiling with the small round light fixture. An image of the massive light that appeared as a bloody sun over the club dance floor flashed in my mind, making me wince.
I tiptoed to my bedroom and peered through the ajar door. Tammy lay on her side, unmoving, other than the slight rise and fall of her chest.
I let out a heavy sigh and headed for my kitchen.
Besides Lisa from across the hall, Tammy was my only human friend.
The only human who stuck around long enough in college to befriend me.
I’d been so closed off when I first arrived in London that other students found me strange enough not to pursue me as their friend.
But Tammy… She stayed by my side, even when I pushed her away.
I took the bleach spray and paper towels that I’d stashed underneath the kitchen sink.
I staggered to my front door, opened it, and shut it behind me.
I was about to spray the door handle when I noticed it was already shiny and clean.
I bent over, put my face close to the door lock, and sniffed the handle.
The strong, chlorine-like scent hit my nose, and I frowned. With furrowed eyebrows, I scanned the hallway and the closed apartment doors. Listening intently, I held my breath. No one appeared to be around.
Exhaling loudly, I retraced my steps to the stairs and climbed down to the first floor with my head low, staring at the tiles. I had mentally mapped out the blood drops, but now they were all gone.
A heavy feeling settled in my stomach. I had to check one more place. The car.
At the parking lot, a wave of nausea hit me as I stared at the shiny car door handle where my bloody fingers had touched twenty minutes ago. I pulled the car key out of my pocket and clicked on the button.
Instead of the bloody stains Tammy and I had left on the seats, wet, clean spots dotted the seat fabric. Someone had wiped off all traces of blood.
I looked in all directions, trying to detect any movement, but only darkness and silence surrounded me. I wanted to shout “Who did this?”
More eerie silence. The half moon hung low over the parking lot, casting shadows on the cars. A solitary streetlamp flickered at the edge of the lot, and a cold chill ran down my spine. The faint buzz of the light was the only sound breaking the ominous silence.
Someone must have followed me to my apartment or, worse, waited for me here. I darted my gaze over the silver glow of the sea of cars. Would anyone jump out of the darkness and attack me?
Shoulders tensing at the anticipation of more danger, I power walked back to the building. As I stumbled to my apartment, my raspy breaths slowed, and I tried to understand the situation. Maybe because my mind was on high alert from tonight’s events, I was thinking about it all wrong.
Whoever cleaned my mess wasn’t my enemy. They didn’t want traces left behind for the vampires to follow. They were buying me time. Did they know the vampire master would follow me and Tammy tonight?
As I retraced my steps, a prickling wave of goose bumps erupted on my forearms, a response to the eerie sensation that I was being watched from the corners of the night. I paused in my tracks and waited for the hidden assailant to spring from the shadows to hurt me.
The witch from my dream realm could be hiding in the dark alley between the buildings. She also hid in my dream realm. But why would she be helping me now, unless she wanted something from me? Pulse racing, I gave my head a shake. I still didn’t know if that witch was a foe or a friend.
After a moment of listening intently, I realized no one was coming at me. So, whoever cleaned my mess tonight wasn’t a foe, most likely. But who could have my back?
Maybe it was the Alpha I’d saved from being tortured. Having one out of the five Alphas as my ally could be useful. But if it was the Alpha from the fake vampire club, he would have appeared before me. He wouldn’t be hiding.
There was one more possibility that made my stomach churn.
The King.
But he promised not to intervene in my life and let me be a human in the human world. There wasn’t another explanation that I could think of. It must have been Dad’s men. I didn’t like the thought of it, but the chances were high.
I shut the building’s massive front doors with extra force, and the loud clanging of metal broke the eerie silence. With slumped shoulders, I stomped upstairs to my apartment.
Not long ago, Dad and I talked about my so-called independence. The King supposedly understood I needed to prove to myself I could live on my own.
How long had my father’s people been watching me? Protecting me from afar?
Inside my apartment, I stripped and dropped my clothes in the laundry then rushed to the bathroom. The faster I washed off tonight’s events, the faster I’d go to sleep.
I halted in front of the large mirror at the vanity and sucked in a deep breath. A nasty bruise surrounded the cut on my forearm.
Inside the shower, I cranked the dial to the hottest setting. I drew the plastic curtains and let my body relax as the hot water streamed all over it. After a moment, my skin burned. The open flesh throbbed.
The physical pain I could endure, but I couldn’t agree with my father’s meddling.
The life I’d built was all a lie.
I adjusted the temperature to warm and placed my face under the stream. I let my tears mix with the water drops. I was ready to close my eyes and pretend nothing had happened. After a moment, I dried myself and dressed in my short-sleeved pajamas. I couldn’t put any material over my wound.
I slipped under the blanket next to Tammy, careful not to wake her. How much would she remember tomorrow morning?
I wanted to draw the quilt all the way over my head. I was supposed to put ointment and bandages over my bruise and cut. I was supposed to take care of myself. I was supposed to stay away from the supernatural world.
Tomorrow morning, I would find out how much the King from California had snooped in my life while I was supposed to live alone in London.
If Dad’s men were around, Tammy and I would be safe tonight in my apartment. With that thought, my body drifted down into the mattress like an anchor at sea, and my eyelids eased shut.
But before I sank deeper, another thought rocketed me out of the blissful oblivion I had been so close to only moments ago.
What if Dad’s men weren’t around?