The minicab service in Fipoli was obviously as bad as it was back home in Catford!
‘You haven’t been drinking, have you?’ I asked suspiciously. No way was I going to let myself be driven anywhere by someone who’d been drinking.
‘No. I do not drink and drive, and I will have to drive some new friends back to the hostel later,’ he said. ‘I will be more than happy to drive you back there as well.’
He walked over to his car and opened the right-hand door. I was puzzled until I remembered that the steering wheels in Continental cars were on the left-hand side. I got in and he shut the door behind me. Andrew got in the back and Julius walked around the car to get behind the wheel.
‘Julius, what about your parents? Won’t they mind you inviting strangers to your house?’ Andrew asked.
‘I live with my brother and he is away at present. My mother and father are both dead.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said sincerely.
‘They died a long time ago.’
The way he spoke of his parents he might have been talking about last week’s weather. My dad died when I was eleven and I still couldn’t string five consecutive sentences together about him without choking up. But if Julius’s parents had died when he was a baby, or very young, then maybe that would explain his attitude. Perhaps he couldn’t remember a thing about them – like Teegan didn’t really have many memories of our dad. My trouble was, I could remember lots about him. I kept waiting for the memories to fade but they never did. Did I want them to? At least then, thinking about him would hurt a little less, but maybe that was the price I had to pay.
On the way to Julius’s house, we talked about our holiday so far. I looked at the houses we passed as Andrew and Julius chatted as I wanted to memorize the route, just in case we didn’t get a lift back to the hostel. It was easy to remember, even for me, who had absolutely no sense of direction: Julius drove straight along the main street and turned right at the bakery, then he headed up a winding street for about another five minutes. The houses in the street were all terraced, with brightly painted shutters and whitewashed walls. He pulled up outside the last house on the left-hand side of the street. All the lights were on and I could hear the people at the party laughing and music blasting out. I turned and grinned at Andrew.
‘The front door is open. Everyone is in the large room to the right, at the top of the stairs. The food is up there also,’ said Julius.
‘Aren’t you coming in?’ I asked, surprised.
‘As soon as I have parked my car off the road.’
Andrew and I got out of the car. Some music I didn’t recognize boomed out into the night air. I wondered how Fipoli neighbours compared to London neighbours!
As we walked towards the front door, Andrew murmured, ‘Jayna, are you sure you want to do this?’
‘We’re here now.’ I frowned at him. ‘You don’t sound very keen. What’s the matter?’
‘I had other plans for tonight.’ He stopped walking and winked at me.
A slow heat crept into my cheeks. ‘Oh!’ I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Andrew’s smile broadened. My face was on fire. ‘You!’ I laughed. ‘Well, we don’t have to stay too long. An hour at the most?’
‘Make it half an hour and it’s a deal. I don’t want to waste my energy dancing.’
‘Andrew, behave!’ Anyone would think we hadn’t already been at it like bunnies.
‘I can’t help it. You’re so sexy,’ he said softly.
I smiled with mischief, whispering in his ear, ‘Good, because I want you too. Very much.’ I ran my tongue around the shell of his ear before breathing on it, knowing my warm breath would feel very hot before cooling rapidly.
He inhaled sharply. ‘Damn it, that’s not helping!’ His gaze was so intense. ‘I get turned on just looking at you. I love you, Jayna. Very much.’
‘I love you too, Andrew.’ My arm sneaked further round his waist and his arm round my shoulders pulled me even closer.
‘Can’t we go back to the hostel now?’ he said plaintively.
I laughed. ‘No, I’m hungry. I need food to give me the energy to keep up with you.’
We entered the house. There were at least four couples kissing on the stairs who didn’t even look up when we went inside. From the laughter and chatter, at least fifty people must have been crammed in dancing above us.
‘Half an hour, that’s all,’ I said, trying to ease the sullen look on Andrew’s face.
‘Twenty minutes,’ he amended firmly.
We went upstairs. At the top of the stairs there were two doors, one to the left and one to the right. The left-hand door was shut, the right one wide open – and it looked like I’d underestimated the number of people. To my surprise a Bob Marley track started. Maybe the party wouldn’t be so bad after all! We walked into the room where it was all happening.
A wave of heat and the smell of lager and wine spilled out to meet us. It was so forceful I almost took a step back. It seemed like every light in the entire house had been brought into this one room. Bizarre! I preferred parties with every light out!
‘Ciao! Come state?’ A pretty girl with dark-brown hair down to her shoulders and mid-brown eyes spoke to us. She was doing a very peculiar dance, moving with the sinuous slink of a seductive snake.
It took a few moments for my brain to switch from English to the few words of Italian at my disposal. ‘Bene, grazie,’ I said, wondering if I’d got even that right! Then I decided to push it. ‘Mi chiamo Jayna,’ I said.
‘Luisa,’ she replied. She looked at Andrew; an appraising look that liked what it saw. Yeah, but he’s taken, I thought with a trace of belligerence.
‘This is Andrew,’ I said, my Italian defeated.
‘Ah! American,’ she said.
‘No, English,’ replied Andrew. He took my hand and we pushed on into the crowd. ‘Want a drink?’ He leaned closer towards my ear to make himself heard.
‘Yes, please. Just water,’ I mouthed. It would be pointless to shout.
All of a sudden, there was an arm around my shoulder, and it wasn’t Andrew’s. I turned my head. Julius.
‘I will get you both a drink, yes?’ He smiled. ‘Wait here. I will bring you the speciality of the house.’ And off he went.
Andrew turned me round to face him. ‘My dance, I believe,’ he said.
We cuddled up close and swayed to the music. Andrew pulled me even closer to him as we started getting into it. I could tell that he was getting excited.
‘Ten minutes,’ he murmured in my ear.
I laughed, just about to answer when Julius came back.
‘Here we are.’ He thrust two long glasses filled with red liquid towards us. I took a glass. The noise in the room lessened somewhat. A few curious eyes were trained on us.
‘What is it?’ I asked, swirling the liquid around.
‘Taste it,’ Julius said mysteriously.
I put it to my lips and sipped tentatively. It was ice-cold and tasted sharp and extremely sweet all at the same time. I wasn’t too keen. And anyway, it had been drummed into me for years: Never accept a drink from a stranger. But Julius was so welcoming, so eager for us to enjoy his hospitality. His pale eyes caught mine for a moment and I felt my misgivings melt away.
‘It’s not bad,’ said Andrew, surprised. ‘What is it?’
‘My secret,’ said Julius. And he turned and faded into the crowd.
‘D’you want mine?’ I whispered. Now Julius had gone, I felt no desire to drink any more.
‘Don’t you like it?’
‘Let me put it this way – if we were next to a house plant, my glass would be empty by now.’
Andrew laughed. He carried on sipping his drink, and no sooner was his glass empty than I swapped my half-filled glass for his. I’d drunk a little of the stuff because the room was incredibly hot, but a little was more than enough as far as I was concerned. Andrew had no sooner drained my drink than Julius appeared with two more filled glasses of
the same red concoction.
‘I thought you would both like it.’ He smiled. Actually it was more of a smirk.
‘Yeah, it’s all right,’ Andrew said.
‘It is an acquired taste,’ Julius told me.
He took our empty glasses after giving us the filled ones. It wasn’t a taste I particularly wanted to acquire. I didn’t like alcohol much – I rarely drank more than the occasional cider or glass of wine, which Mum still thought was far too much for my age. She’d have gone mental if I’d ever come home tipsy, never mind drunk! Ten minutes later, after we’d eaten a few chicken and prawn canapés, I reminded Andrew about leaving.
‘Let’s just stay for another couple of minutes,’ he said, pulling me close and kissing me hard. It was OK. A bit caveman, but OK. Usually Andrew’s kisses were so gentle that the contrast was noticeable. A few people around us whistled and cheered. I drew away first, downing more of Julius’s drink to hide my discomfiture. Andrew grinned at me, knowing exactly how I was feeling. He always could read me like a book.
For the next hour, we danced and ate and laughed with some of the others present. It was good fun, better than either of us had expected. I tried to remind Andrew that he’d wanted to depart early a couple of times, but he now seemed in no hurry to leave, so I took the hint and shut up about it. I suspected by the time we made it back home, Andrew would be too drunk to do anything else but snore. Ah well! We had tomorrow. No rush. So we laughed and danced and drank some more. After about the third glass, Julius’s drink didn’t taste quite so bad. But after about an hour and a half, the strangest feeling came over me. I didn’t realize what was going on until I was dancing with Andrew and he had to practically hold me up.
‘I think Julius’s drink has hit my legs . . .’ I blinked, surprised.
‘I feel a bit queasy myself. Maybe we both need some fresh air. We should be getting back to the hostel anyway,’ said Andrew.
Finally! The crowd had started to thin out now. We walked out of the room, but as soon as I stepped down onto the first stair my legs went completely.
‘I think you had better take Jayna to the room of my brother.’ Julius appeared from nowhere to point to the room opposite the one which had held the party.
‘Just for five minutes,’ I said groggily. ‘I just need to sit down for five minutes.’
Julius and Andrew helped me to my feet and into the other bedroom. I couldn’t understand it. My brain was functioning – it’s just that my legs weren’t. A couple of drinks and I was plastered? How totally feeble! I’d always thought that people who drank until they were pie-eyed were total dorks but I’d previously drunk so little and Julius’s drink must have snuck up on me. What was in it? A horrible thought! Was there some drug in it? I shook my head. Andrew had had much more of it than me, and he wasn’t falling over, so there couldn’t have been anything dodgy about it.
No, I was just drunk, I thought blearily. Was this how it usually was? Being too blitzed to walk but not too blitzed to know you were blitzed! Another first. This holiday was turning into a whole series of firsts.
I sat down on the bed, but once my bum got comfortable the rest of my body wanted to follow suit. I lay down.
And once I closed my eyes, I was out.
11
WHEN I AWOKE, it took me a good minute to remember where I was. I moved my pounding head slowly. Andrew wasn’t anywhere around and the house was deathly quiet. The party must have finished. It took me another minute to get my legs to work. What was in those drinks Julius had brought us? I felt totally grungy, like cold leftovers. Oh God, surely Julius had spiked our drinks. Why would anyone do that? And then I thought of all the warnings I’d been given and went icy cold for a moment. Had someone . . .? I cautiously slipped my hand down below to feel my jeans and an intense wave of relief washed over me. At least that hadn’t happened.
Furious with myself, I tried to call for Andrew, but my voice had gone. There was nothing there, not even a croak. My lips moved but no sound came out. Staggering to my feet, I fell away from the bed to the door. I just wished my head would stop pounding, then I could throw up without worrying about what the noise and the action would do to my head. Never again! I reeled out onto the landing and headed for the room that had held the party. I pushed open the door.
There was Julius, squatting over Andrew’s prone body. Andrew was lying half on his back, half on his side facing me, his eyes closed. He looked like he was sleeping. Julius’s face had a wax-like pallor and his eyes shone like rubies.
But the thing that made my heart lurch, then almost stop completely, was that Julius was holding Andrew’s wrist to his mouth. Blood ran over his lips, painting them like garish lipstick.
He looked up and we both froze like images in a photograph. I stared, disbelieving, as blood trickled down from his lips and over his chin. Could I be hallucinating? Slowly he wiped his mouth with his free hand and the blood smeared across his face. My mind started screaming, over and over: No . . . no . . . I opened my mouth. Not a sound came out.
Say something. SAY SOMETHING.
My voice finally came back, croaky and hoarse, and the words erupted. ‘No! Get away from him.’
The sound of Andrew’s blood drip-dripping onto the wooden floor galvanized me into moving. I flung myself at Julius, battering at him with my fists. He stood up, warding off my blows as if swatting away harmless flies.
‘What are you doing? Don’t. Don’t!’ I screamed.
My mouth filled with cool saliva and my head was whirling. The whole room was spinning wildly as Julius pushed me away. I fell backwards, my head snapped back against the wall and I crumpled like wet newspaper. My upper body lay against the wall, so limp and sluggish that I felt I must surely fall straight through it.
Julius squatted down and again raised Andrew’s wrist to his lips. He was crazy. Totally mad. But how to stop a madman?
‘Please . . .’ I whispered. Even to my ears my voice sounded ineffectual, weak as dishwater. ‘Please don’t hurt him. Andrew and me, we love each other. We love each other very much. I’m begging you . . . Please don’t . . .’
For countless moments, Julius and I watched each other.
‘It’s too late.’ Julius’s voice was the merest sigh.
Too late . . .? My whole body trembled violently. I still couldn’t get up. Do something . . . anything . . . stop him . . . ‘Please . . . I don’t have anyone else,’ I breathed desperately. ‘I love him. Please . . .’ I swallowed hard and tried to continue. ‘Let us go. We won’t tell . . .’ I tried to say more but nothing else would come out. ‘Please . . .’ I mouthed.
‘And would you give your life for his?’ rasped Julius.
I nodded slowly but with no hesitation. And I meant it. If Andrew died because of me, because I’d trusted a stranger . . . How could I even begin to live with that?
An eternity passed as Julius and I fought silently over Andrew. A fight with no words and no actions. All I could do was silently beg Julius with my eyes, my whole demeanour. Beg him to spare Andrew’s life. A lifetime passed. Then it seemed as if Julius’s whole body sagged. With defeat? He released Andrew’s arm and it fell, hitting heavily against the floor. Slowly, deliberately, his eyes never leaving mine, Julius bit into his own left wrist.
My stomach turned somersaults. I swallowed hard and kept on swallowing. If only I could clear my head. If only I could move, do something. But the link between my body and my mind had been severed as I watched the blood run from Julius’s self-inflicted wound. He raised his arm and placed his wrist directly above Andrew’s slightly open mouth, his blood dripping past Andrew’s lips. Against my will, my eyelids closed and I couldn’t open them. They weighed a ton each.
Don’t hurt him . . . don’t hurt him . . . I begged silently.
If I could just open my damned eyes. What was Julius doing now? He was sick. A psycho. Crazy. Drinking Andrew’s blood like it was water. Biting his own wrist. He was demented.
Don’t hurt him .
. .
Don’t pass out, Jayna, I told myself urgently. But even as the thought entered my head I knew it was too late. I felt my head fall to one side and the rest of my body went with it. I’ve failed you, Andrew, I thought with utter misery. I’ve failed you.
And I’m next.
12
‘JAYNA? JAYNA, WAKE up.’
I struggled to open my eyes. There, kneeling right before me, was—
‘Andrew? Andrew!’
‘Shh!’
He looked so strange. Pale, almost paper-white and with wide, staring eyes and flushed, red lips. I glanced around. We were still in the party room of Julius’s house. I was seated on the floor, my back propped up against the wall. And my head was killing me.
‘Are you all right? Where is Julius? He’s mad. Did he hurt you? I thought he was going to kill you for sure, then me.’ I didn’t have a clue what I was whispering. It all came out as garbled nonsense to my ears.
‘Come on, Jayna. We’ve got to get out of here before he comes back. He might change his mind.’
I hardly heard Andrew. ‘Change his mind? I don’t understand. Where is he?’
‘Don’t know. Don’t care. Let’s get out of here!’
With Andrew’s help, I clambered to my feet. I took a long, hard look at him. ‘Andrew, you look like shit.’
‘I know.’
Then I remembered. Terrifying thoughts whipped through my mind. I looked down at my wrists. No blood. No marks. I pulled Andrew’s wrists towards me and scrutinized them. Once again, my heart stopped.
‘I wasn’t dreaming, then,’ I whispered.
The look in Andrew’s eyes as well as the yellow-blue bruises around the multiple puncture marks on his wrist provided my answer.
‘He’s warped. We should go to the police,’ I raged. The words, furiously spoken, set my head ringing again. The pneumatic drill was gone but Big Ben had arrived in its stead.
‘We can’t.’ Andrew helped me to the door.
My legs still weren’t my own. ‘Why not?’
‘Look, Jayna, neither of us is in a fit state to make sense of any of this at the moment, let alone explain it to someone else. Let’s just go back to the hostel.’