“I don’t thinkthere’s an evil bone in your body, Than.”
“Aww, Elle.” I pushedmyself from the bookshelf and turned to the teen who was resting inthe computer chair. I placed my hand on my silent chest. “I thinkthat has to be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Must be. It wouldexplain why there’s a bit of sick in my mouth.”
Elle was choosing totrust me—something that went against everything she had been taughtto do. Everything that she believed.
“You and she weregetting quite cosy up there.”
The feel of her warmskin under my fingertips … God, nothing had ever felt so good. Andthe way she smelled, like honey and milk. She was warm and real andthe first human contact I’d had in six weeks.
“She was cleaningblood off my face.”
“Looked veryintimate to me.”
She had finally lookedat me like she used to, like she knew me. It was such a relief.
“Plus, youapologized for being such a shit-head.”
It had been easierthan I’d thought it would have been, admitting I had been close tolosing my mind. Admitting that she had been the only thing that hadkept me going.
“You didn’t mentionme, though.”
“I think explainingthat I was talking to an imaginary teen Elle may have steered theconversation off in a different direction.”
“True. I doubtedshe would have gotten that close t’you if she knew you werefantasizing about little girls.”
I moved past her.“Don’t say it like that.”
“Likewhat?”
“Creepy-like. It’s notlike that.”
“Oh, don’t get yourknickers in a twist.”
“If I’d had known whatElle looked like now, then I would have thought of you as anadult.”
“Yeah, somehow, Ithink imagining adult Elle would have driven you crazier.”
I didn’t want to admitshe had a point. Fortunately, Elle didn’t have social media so itwasn’t like I could have even known from prior to my six weeks inHell. I doubt I would have been able to do her justice anyway.
“So, you do wantt’kiss her?”
Did I? Being so closeto her. Being able to feel her breath on my face and the warmth ofher skin …
“Okay, okay. I getthe picture.” She pushed off the seat. “Plus, I think if youtold her that you imagined her keeping you company …”
“It would sound justas bad.”
“Yup.” Shestopped next to me. “So, what now?”
“Well, I apparentlyhave super cool senses and strength and all the other things thatmake Vampires fairly cool. So, I guess I better get t’grips with mynew talents.” I lay my hand flat against the red punch bag. “Whatd’you think? D’you think I will break it the first hit?”
“I think you’regetting a head of yourself.”
“I don’t want t’betaken again.”
I couldn’t be. I knewI wouldn’t survive if I was. They would either kill me, or I wouldlose myself completely.
“You can laugh all youwant at that.”
“I wouldn’t laughat that.”
“I don’t want t’makeit easy for them, y’know.” I unzipped the hoodie and shrugged itoff. “Plus, I don’t want t’stand there like a—”
“DicklessVampire?”
“And leave Elle t’doall the fighting. They’ve made me a monster.” I threw the hoodie onthe ground and turned back to the bag. “I want t’make thempay.”
A wide smile brokeacross the teen’s face as she moved into my peripheral vision.“Well then, let’s make sure they know it was a mistake t’turnthis Irish lad.”
ChapterEight
~ Danielle ~
Saturday17th October, 2015
2:11pm
The scent of coffeeand pizza assaulted me as I trudged down the stairs.
“I can’t believe youlet me sleep this long,” I stated while walking into the kitchen,stopping at the sight of Nathan standing at the breakfast bar, hisleft arm outstretched, a hot mug of coffee cradled in his grasp,the handle pointing to me.
“You obviously neededit.”
“Erm, thanks.” Iaccepted the mug off him and moved to the opposite side of thecounter.
“Besides, roughly twohours and the sun will have set, so we can be on our way. Iremember how impatient you are, so it seemed easier t’just leaveyou be.”
Well, I couldn’t faulthim there.
“What’s this?”
Made up of sheets ofwhite A4, the colourful print outs were stapled together to form amap of London.
I looked at himquizzically. “You made a map?”
“Say what you want,but it’s very difficult to see everything on a computer.” He placedhis finger on a black dot he had drawn. “This is where The Sphinxis located.”
Taking a swig of mycoffee, I looked at the map following his index finger as he movedit to a red dot a little lower down.
“This is roughly whereFreddie and I were when we were attacked.”
I didn’t miss thecatch in his voice at the mention of his dead travel buddy. Hehadn’t spoken much about his friend, and in all fairness, I hadn’teven asked about the guy.
With guilt niggling atme and the understanding that Nathan and I were now on friendlyterms once more, I decided it was only right to try and offer somecomfort. “How long did you two know each other?”
“Since I movedt’Switzerland. He was the first kid that spoke t’me at HighSchool.” He folded his arms across his chest. “He was reallyinterested in forensics. Loved learning about Jack the Ripper andother historical murders. The idiot liked t’read Sherlock Holmes.”He glanced at me. “He kinda reminded me of you.”
My brow furrowed. “Hedid?”
“Yeah, he wasn’t anormal kid.”
“Gee, thanks.” I tookanother mouthful of coffee.
“I mean, he wasinteresting. That stuff didn’t freak him out.” He laughed. “He wasthe reason we stopped off in London. He wanted to visit Whitechapeland do the Ripper tour and even booked us in to a cheap hostel nearthe Sherlock Holmes museum.”
“He sounds …interesting.”
“Yeah.” He placed hishands on the counter, his fingers curling around the edges. “Hedidn’t deserve to die.”
I ducked my head tocatch his gaze. “Neither of you deserved to.”
“He sure as shit wouldhave known what all the crap in that file would have meant.” Henodded to the manilla folder that sat to his right.
“He an expert inVampires and Werewolves, as well?”
“No, but he was smart,y’know. Smarter than me. He would have had a better clue.”
I reached across andsqueezed his shoulder. “I
