18
“Good morning. Big night huh?" Anita commented as she followed me into the kitchen when I arrived at work, she pointed to the large takeaway coffee cup in my hand.
“Oh, yeah. Something like that” I blushed.
“Did you go out?”
“No, I stayed at Vaughan’s last night.”
“Oh really” She drew this out into a long high pitched drawl. “So you guys are pretty serious?”
I nodded, trying to hide the smile that was spreading across my face. The blush I felt heating my cheeks.
“Have you said the ‘L’ word yet?”
“Anita!”
She put her hands up defensively “I’m sorry, don’t mean to pry. It’s been a few months now and you’re sleeping over. I’m just curious, that’s all.”
I took my phone out of my bag and dialed Bec, ignoring Anita. She took the hint and left me alone. “You were supposed to call me last night!” Bec answered angrily into the phone.
“I’m sorry. I forgot. I stayed at Vaughan’s last night.”
“Oooh.”
I let out a long frustrated sigh “Don’t you start to?”
“Are you at work?”
“Yep.”
“Is Anita giving you grief?”
“Yep” I answered.“How’s Joel?” I wanted a distraction, anything to keep my mind from the threat that was looming.
“Meh.”
I tried to hide my surprise “Already!”
“Can I come around tonight?” Bec’s voice hinting that she needed to talk.
“Of course.”
“Gotta go, see you tonight.”
“Bye Bec.”
The entire day was filled with Anita’s mindless chatter about nothing. So I was more than glad when we shut the office doors and left for the day. The car park was dark as usual as we rounded the corner of the building. Anita stopped suddenly, grabbing my arm “Can you feel that?” she whispered urgently.
My body froze and I tried to see or hear what she was referring to “Feel what?”
She looked around the car park, then behind. “It feels like someone is watching us.”
Anita’s fingers were still clinging to my arm as I looked around the car park. Vaughan was definitely not here, he would have shown himself. “I’m sure it’s nothing” I tried to reassure her, but my voice shook slightly. She released her grip on my arm. “You’re right. It’s just this creepy old car park, it’s always so dark when we leave. My imagination must be playing with me.”
“I feel that way too” I tried to assure her, still scanning the car park. We took a few more steps when something brushed behind both of us, Anita screamed. “What was that? You felt that too right?” Her eyes wide with fear.
I nodded, scared also as I looked behind me “I felt it too.”
“Let’s get out of here Nicola” she said as she hurried to her car. A high pitched cawing stopped us in our tracks as we looked around the car park again for the source. From nowhere a large black bird swooped down on us, hitting me in the face. The feeling of its feathery wings brushing against my skin made me scream and fall to the ground, thrashing at it with my hands. Anita screamed as she tried to hit the creature away from my face with her handbag. A sharp pain stung my forehead as the bird continued to come at me. Two of the accountants from the office heard our screams and came running to our aide as the bird flew away. They helped us from the ground “Are you ok?” Brian, the senior partner asked as he took in the sight of us. “What happened?”
Every part of my body was shaking. Words could not form a sentence as I stammered. “B b b b”
“There was this massive crow that attacked us” Anita exclaimed hysterically as she was helped up from the ground.
“Nicola, you’re bleeding. Are you ok?” Stephen asked me.
I put my quivering hand to my forehead, a warm trickle of blood oozed down my face. “I I I think so.”
“Come back inside and we’ll get you cleaned up.”
Mum ran towards me when she saw Stephen helping me out of the door of his silver Jeep as I held a handkerchief to my forehead “Nicola, what happened?”
“I was attacked by a bird.”
She gave me a look of skepticism “A bird. Where were you?”
“At work, I was in the car park and it swooped down and hit me in the face.”
“Thank you for bringing her home” Mum said to Stephen as she put her arm around me.
“No problem. She’s pretty shaken up but I’m sure she’ll be fine” he nodded to mum as he turned to leave.
Mum guided me onto a kitchen stool in the centre of the room, directly under the light and took the makeshift gauze away to assess the damage “That’s a nasty gash.”
I winced as she lightly touched the surrounding area. A sharp stabbing pain shot through my skull “Will I have a scar?”
Mum only shook her head “I’ll get my first aid kit.”
She returned and started cleaning the wounds on my face “I’m glad you’re home tonight, there was something I wanted to talk to you about” she started as she dabbed antiseptic on my skin.
“What’s that?” I prompted, cringing at the stinging pain.
She took a long, deep breath “You and Vaughan.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Nicola, please. Hear me out. I know you’re an adult and you can do what you want now. Things seem to be getting serious with you two, by the amount of time you spend together…”
“Where is this going?”
“If you let me finish” Mum scolded “Well, I don’t know Vaughan that well, and I’d like to, but you’re never here so I don’t get that chance. So I’m relaxing the house rules.”
“Relaxing the house rules?” I mocked.
“What I’m saying is that if he wants to stay here the night with you. That’s ok, because he seems important to you.”
I couldn’t help smiling “He is mum.”
“I thought so. There, all done.”
She had me so distracted with her talk of Vaughan that I had forgotten about the pain in my head. I put my arm around mum’s shoulder and squeezed her to me “Thanks.”
She kissed my cheek “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Bec joined us for dinner. Then we retreated to my room “So what’s so meh with Joel?” I asked as I checked my dressing in the mirror, trying to brush my hair over it so it could not be seen.
“I don’t know” Bec flopped onto my bed dramatically. “I like him, but the guys he lives with are stoners. They’re having a party this weekend and they want us to go, but I don’t know if I want to.”
“If his roommates are stoners, what makes you think Joel’s not?” Giving up on my hair I fell onto the bed next to Bec, propping myself up on one arm to face her as she stared at the ceiling.
“I know, I know. That’s what I thought too when I met them. I don’t want to be with a stoner, yuck” she shook her body as though trying to be rid of some bad taste in her mouth. “Nic, what am I going to do?”
“Why don’t you go to this party and see for yourself.”
“Will you come with me?”
“Of course. Unless I’m rabid by then and foaming at the mouth” I joked as I pointed to my forehead.
The cold water was refreshing on my face. I moistened the dressing and slowly started peeling it from my skin. Shivers ran down my spine as the fine hairs stuck to the tape on my face lifted and brought tears to my eyes. When it was finally all removed I stepped back to take in the sight. Two long bloodied lines ran from my hairline, down my forehead and stopped beside my left eye. The dark brown lines of dried blood and broken skin had faint purple bruising along the edge and was still sore to the touch. Lightly touching it with my finger, I recoiled with pain as tears stung my eyes. A dull throbbing still persisted in my head. I fixed my hair, sweeping it to one side across my forehead, covering most of the damage. Stephen assured me that a pest controller had been called
to check the car park and remove any birds he saw. Unfortunately there was no sign of it anywhere. Vaughan’s face became hard and grave when I showed him the scratches, his eyes turning black and menacing. “Are you sure it was a bird?”
“Of course I’m sure” I scoffed “It was hard to miss. It flew straight into my face and attacked me. It was bigger than what I thought a crow would be. I screamed and fell on the ground and it was flapping at me, scratching my face then flew away.”
“Can I see the marks again?” he asked as he tried to move my hair.
“No” I shrunk back “It’s hideous and disgusting.”
He rolled his eyes and laughed softly “You’re so vain. Can I see it please?”
Vaughan’s eyes turned back to the deep smoldering blue that was hard to resist “Ok” I whispered. His fingers brushed my hair gently from my face. “Can you smell…the blood? Even though it’s dry?”
Vaughan nodded, not taking his eyes away from my forehead.
“Are you ok?”
Another nod “It’s not fresh.”
I let out the breath I had been holding.
“Were you worried?” Vaughan asked now looking at me. His eyes creased in the corners with a smile.
Embarrassed, I dropped my gaze to my hands in my lap and nodded “A little.”
Vaughan took my hand and kissed it gently “I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
My eyes met his “I’m not afraid of you. I know you would never hurt me, but something in my subconscious tells me to stay cautious. It’s ridiculous I know.”
“It’s not ridiculous. It’s your human nature telling you I’m your predator.”
“But I trust you.”
“I know that” he interrupted “Your instincts are telling you otherwise and it’s natural. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Do you think I’m ugly now, that I’m disfigured?” I pouted, pointing to the lines on my face.
Vaughan shook his head slowly “What am I going to do with you?” he laughed.
A small row of electrical shops and outlet stores lined the upper end of Crown Street; each shop housed residential units above them. Joel lived in one with two other people. A doorway between a second hand store and a pawn shop was the only entrance to the units above. Both shop windows were covered in mesh, the second hand store had an aluminum roller shutter covered in graffiti over the door to the store. A little arcade led past the shops and to the stairs at the back for access to the units above. The door was propped open by a brick. Bec and I stopped at the foot of the stairs, the smell of marijuana wafting down “Are you sure you want to go up there?” I asked.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaled, took my hand and turned to me “Ok, what’s the signal to leave?”
Pulling on my left earlobe, Bec nodded in agreement.
“Let’s do this” and she took the first step up the dirty staircase. The linoleum flooring was peeling badly, exposing concrete and poor glue work underneath.
The front door to Joel’s unit was open. A few people were standing in the doorway, others sitting outside the door in the hall. Bec and I maneuvered our way past. The lounge room was small and barely furnished. The only items were a two seater lounge, that appeared to have sunken in the middle and the cover badly faded and torn, and a television that was resting on milk crates and had a coat hanger in place of an aerial. The wall was decorated with a tie-dyed Rastafarian sheet with a picture of Bob Marley in the centre. All the other walls were bare; the beige paint was peeling in places, showing the brickwork underneath. The one small window in the room opened to a view of Crown Street. Bec and I stood in the lounge room looking out of place. Bec caught my eye and we turned to leave when Joel appeared from the small adjoining kitchen. “Bec, you came” he seemed excited to see her. Behind Joel, Tim followed. He was holding a beer in one hand and a joint in the other, he stumbled his way towards us “Hey Joel, look. Bec did come. You thought she wouldn’t make it” He turned to me and whispered too loudly “He thought she wouldn’t make it. Hey I know you” His face lighting up with recognition “You’re Nicola.”
“Yep” I answered turning to Bec who shrugged her shoulders. Joel made a gesture that Tim was drunk, although I didn’t need his help to point that out. Tim was swaying on the spot and his eyes were red and bloodshot, the lids half closed. He smiled, beaming at me with a dopey look on his inebriated face. “So, Nicola. Come here often? Oops, sorry” he giggled “That’s what you say when you meet someone in a bar. Look around we’re not in a bar” he cleared his throat and straightened himself up, trying to act sober “Let’s start again. You are looking very lovely this evening.”
“Ah, thanks, I guess.” I couldn’t help laughing.
“You see. I have this problem talking to women. You may not know this about me, but I’m really shy. But since I moved here, I found this stuff” he held up his joint “and it gives me more confidence.”
I looked towards Bec, trying to catch her attention so I could give her the signal, but it wasn’t working, she and Joel were engrossed in conversation.
“Hey, what happened to your head?” Tim pointed to my forehead.
“A bird hit me in the face” This made me self conscious and I played with my hair, fixing it over the scratches.
“What sort of bird?”
“A crow.”
Tim then found his nerve and started to talk nonstop. I checked my watch, it was 11:00. I yawned, trying to give Bec, or even Tim the hint that I wanted to leave. A friend threw his arm around Joel and started to tell Bec what a great guy he was, when he handed Joel the bong he was holding in his hand “Your turn man, you wanted to wait until the missus arrived. She’s here now, so rock on bro” his friend urged, Joel took the bong. This was all the confirmation that Bec needed, the one thing she hated more than drugs, was to be referred to as ‘the missus’ she looked over towards me and nodded as we headed for the door. Halfway down the stairs my phone rang and I rummaged through my purse to find it. I quickly answered before it went to voicemail. “Hello?”
“Where are you?” Vaughan’s voice was panicked and urgent on the other end.
“Bec and I are at a party around the corner from the bar. What’s wrong?”
“Where exactly are you?”
“We’re in a unit that’s above an electrical store on Crown Street. Vaughan, what’s wrong?”
“I’m coming to get you, don’t go anywhere.”
“Vaughan, Vaughan” I called into the receiver, but all I heard was the dial tone. Bec was now at my side. “Nic, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know, Vaughan didn’t say, he is on his way to get us.” my hands started to shake with fear.
We made our way onto the street where Vaughan’s black Masarati was waiting for us. Bec and I got into the car and Vaughan sped quickly around the corner, to the car park behind Ivory. Adrian waited until we were inside the car park before he locked the gates behind us. Vaughan hurried us inside, up the stairs and into the store room behind the upstairs bar. “Vaughan, what’s going on?”
“I needed you here, so I knew you were safe.”
“Safe from what?” Bec asked panicked.
“There’s been an accident outside.”
“What kind of accident?” Bec asked.
Vaughan looked at me “A woman has been left unconscious outside the club. She wasn’t here tonight, but she’s been cut up pretty badly. No one saw her, she just appeared.”
I felt the blood drain from my face at what I was hearing and I stumbled back into a stack of boxes, holding them for support. Ulrich had made the first move. The agreement was over.
Bec gasped, her hand over her mouth “Is she going to be ok?”
“The ambulance and police are outside now; she has lost a lot of blood.”
“Blood” The word choked in my throat.
Vaughan nodded gravely at me; I understood the severity of the situation. This was no accident or coincidence. It
was a sign.
“How could no one see her?” Bec asked to no one in particular.
“The police are speaking with Ivan now, reviewing his CCTV. As soon as Marcus found out what happened, he closed the doors to the bar. Everyone is locked in until the police say so. They are talking to everyone downstairs now.” Vaughan answered as he stepped closer to me, putting his arms consolingly around me. I felt faint, what was coming? Vaughan kissed the top of my head, and then pulled away, screwing up his face “Have you used a new shampoo?”
“What?” I asked as I smelled my hair, Bec copying.
“Urgh. Nic, my hair smells like bong smoke” Bec said over dramatically.
“Mine too. I need to have a shower.”
“I am so through with him. Damn stoner.”
Vaughan looked to me for an explanation.
“I’ll explain later.”
“I’ll let Cassie know you’re here” Vaughan said as he left the room.
Ivan held another meeting once the police had completed their investigation and everyone was allowed to leave the bar. “Ulrich has violated our agreement. This kind of action will not go unpunished.” He paced back and forth, his eyes became large black orbs and his lips turned a deep crimson. I shifted my body behind Vaughan, peering over his shoulder. “The pain and fear of exposure he set upon us tonight deserves grave consequences” he punched his fist into his hand. Seeing Ivan like this reminded me of a dictator, a powerful Caesar rallying his troops for battle. “Who will stand with me?”
The room cheered, like troops hailing their leader. Ivan turned to Anna “Are you with me?”
“Yes Ivan, I am with you.”
“They will be expecting our retaliation. We will wait, catch them off guard. First we need to know their numbers, so we know what we are up against. I ask you all now to go, feed, I need you all to be strong.”
Everyone disbursed, Vaughan lingered back to speak to Ivan “What’s the plan?”
“First we need to know how many they have. I don’t know what Ulrich’s intention is.”
“Why would he do this? We have upheld our end of the bargain.”
Ivan shook his head, looking over to the bar “I don’t know. Why don’t you take Nicola home, she looks tired.”
Ivan and Vaughan both looked at me. Vaughan put his arm around me and we walked through the back exit to the car. “Are you ok?” he asked as he opened my door.
“What’s happening Vaughan?”
“Ulrich is provoking us. He knew this type of situation is exactly what Ivan wanted to avoid. He didn’t want any negative attention drawn to the club, this could expose us all.”
“Did anyone… react, to the blood?”
“No, luckily. It wasn’t without massive restraint on Marcus and Lewis’ part. It could have been a disaster.”
My thoughts went to the woman. Had she suffered? Would she survive? If so, would she remember what happened to her? My hand absently went to the raised mark on the inside of my elbow. My index finger running across it, this did not escape Vaughan’s attention. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“How many other innocent people have to suffer?”
“We’re going to put a stop to all this.” We had reached Vaughan’s apartment.
“I’m going to have a shower” I said as I made my way past him. I washed my hair twice, just to be sure I had all the pot smell out, then I sat at the bottom of the shower and cried, letting the water wash over me. Hoping it would wash away the inner conflict I felt. It would be easy for me to walk away from all this, from Vaughan. From the impending vampire war that was about to descend on my home and the people I loved. Life would be much simpler, my greatest concern would be what skirt and shoes would match and what club I would drink myself away in. I would be left numb, hollow. It would be the easy way out and prevent nothing. Things would still unfold regardless. I vowed to myself, not to go back to being that person. Shallow. Self absorbed. For the first time in my life, I had meaning, Vaughan was the one who gave me that meaning and I couldn’t imagine a world that he wasn’t in. A feeling of disgust came over me for thinking my life could be better without him. The water started to turn cold and I was shivering, my toenails turning blue. Vaughan was waiting outside the door, concern on his face. He eyed me carefully, taking in every aspect of my appearance. My red rimmed eyes, blue chattering lips, he took a blanket and wrapped it around me, then carried me to the bed and lay me down. Covering me with a quilt, he lay next to me and held me to him.
“How do you choose?” I asked, not looking at him.
“Choose what?”
“Your… prey.”
He was silent for a long moment “This is the question you have been avoiding?”
I nodded, still not looking at him, as the feeling started to come back into my fingers and toes.
“To answer that, I need to tell you the whole story.”
“Tell me.”
“Are you sure you want to know?” Vaughan’s voice was hesitant.
“Yes.” I replied.
Vaughan was silent for what felt like an eternity before he spoke “I was 22, and living in Abermain. My parents were migrants from Ireland. They arrived with nothing and worked hard for the little they had. They opened the first grocery store and petrol station in town. I worked in the store with my father, making deliveries. I was making my last delivery for the day, to a property just outside of town. Mrs. Kelson, she ordered the same thing every week and always liked it to be delivered at five o’clock on the dot. I had delivered her groceries and was driving my father’s car back home. A car was stopped on the side of the road, there was a woman standing next to it, she waved at me to pull over. The road was a few kilometres out of town and not many cars drove out that way. Not many people owned cars then either. The sun had just set, so it was dark and I stopped to help. She didn’t speak English, but indicated her car had a flat tyre and I offered to fix it. When I bent down to look at it, she attacked me, hitting me with the tyre iron. She opened the back door of the car and pushed me inside. I remember thinking how incredibly strong she was. Then she drove me to an abandoned homestead were she fed on me for two days, always drinking just enough so I would recover with rest, but not be strong enough to escape. On the third day she drank until I was too weak to move. I knew I was dying, I could feel it. Then she changed me. She gave me no choice, through the entire ordeal she didn’t say a word to me, she would only sit and watch. Her eyes were dark and cruel, every time she had finished drinking from me; she always ran her tongue over her fangs and looked at me in a satisfied way that made my skin crawl. Then once I was changed, she had no use for me and left me, alone, in the homestead, not knowing what I had become or how to survive. It was not a life I would have chosen for myself, or for anyone else. My parents reported me as a missing person. I became another statistic, just like thousands of others each year, who vanish without a trace. My family went to church every day, the entire town was praying for my return. Luckily Ivan found me soon after and taught me about what I had become. How to feed, how to control the burning thirst, compulsion. I had to leave my family behind, without an explanation or a goodbye. It broke my mother’s heart, not knowing whatever happened to me. My life had been taken away. I was a good person in my human life; I was trying to help someone in need. So when I see those who aren’t good people, murderers, drug dealers, rapists. Those who get to enjoy the life I didn’t get. It makes me angry and that’s how I choose. It’s those people I prey on.” I could see agony in Vaughan’s beautiful face. I put my arms around him and pulled him closer to me, rested his head on my chest and stroked his hair as I tried to fight back tears. “Now that you’ve asked the question you long avoided. Does it change the way you feel about me?”
“No, it makes me love you even more.”
Vaughan propped himself onto one elbow and looked at me, horrified. “How could you possibly still love me Nicola? You cannot deny now that I’m a monster!”
“The human in you dominates the monster. I look at you and I see a man.”
“What I would give to be a man again. The perfect man for you, one you could grow old with. I would give you everything in the world, all the stars in the heavens” his hand stroked up and down my arm, tenderly.
“You say that Vaughan, but is there… any possibility?”
Vaughan shook his head “I don’t know. Ivan remembers meeting someone a long time ago, who had heard a story about a vampire who was changed back to a human. But it’s too much hearsay; I don’t put much stock in it.”
My fingers ran through his curly black hair. “I love you just the way you are.”