Jackson and the others looked at me. I got a lump in my throat, my body started shaking, all of them noticed. I didn't look at them; I stared at the floor feeling rather dizzy as all my memories came flooding back.
“If he wanted to find a cure to help her, why have people attack her?” Jackson quizzed.
“How the hell should I know?”
“Watch your tone.”
“Look man, that’s all we know OK, we can’t tell you what we don’t know.”
“How many of you are there?”
“I dunno exactly, there were around thirty of us to begin with, now there’s a lot more; but some of us have disappeared, they went on a job and never came back.”
“Well, that’s what happens when you try to kill people.” Nancy shot.
“You killed them?”
“What were we supposed to do, let them attack us for no reason and kill us? I hardly think so.”
“You bastards!” the blonde shouted.
“No,” I said, snapping out of it and walking closer. “You bastards, you’ve ruined our lives, we never wanted this. We were happy, peaceful, quiet, until you bastards decided to attack us. You make me sick, all this for some guy you don’t know. You know at first I went berserk, I didn't want any of you to be hurt, or killed... but now... you all deserve to die. You should be ashamed of yourselves and I swear when your time comes, something, somewhere, will drag your souls to Hell!”
“Where do you all meet?” Nancy asked them.
“It varies,” the blonde answered.
“Where do you all stay?”
“Do you think I’m going to tell you that? You would kill all of them. Some of those guys aren’t even twenty yet.”
“But you don’t mind those guys coming to kill us do you?”
“I don’t want anyone dying.”
“Then tell us what we need to know, if we can get closer and learn more about the boss, we can find him and end this.”
“But then we won’t get our money.”
“Your money isn’t my concern!” I shouted. “People’s lives are!”
“And if I refuse?” the brunette challenged.
“You die!” Jackson seethed. “Then we find them anyway, and send them to you in hell.”
The two men looked at each other for a moment and the room was filled with silence. Nancy started pacing, she was clearly getting more and more agitated.
“If we tell you, are you going to kill us anyway?” The blonde asked.
“No,” Tristan replied. “I admit we will keep you locked up until this is all over, but you won’t be harmed, you will be fed and watered...”
“We normally meet in one of three places,” the brunette began. “Either at Digley Reservoir, Dovestones, or... now, where her house was,” he looked at me. “It’s rare it’s anywhere else.”
“Thank you.”
I’d heard enough now and had to leave the room; I needed fresh air. I stood in the back garden, looking out at the hills taking several deep breaths. A few minutes later Nancy was beside me.
“Something upset you down there, something about a cure. I think there is something you haven’t told us. Maybe at the time you didn't think it was relevant, but I think it is now,” she said in a rather calm tone.
“I never even thought about it, the only reason I didn't mention it was because I wanted to keep some parts of my past to myself. Everyone has that right.”
“I know, but you need to tell us now. We were wrong in shouting and accusing you of being one of them. I’m really sorry Leticia, please forgive me.”
“Let’s just go inside and I’ll tell you what happened. The parts I missed out originally.”
We all made our way into the living room, and once again I took a journey into my past.
Chapter 30
January 15th 2001
It had been a few days now since I saw Luke, I was heartbroken, angry, worried, all at the same time. Why had I been so stupid? Why the hell did I tell him? I guess the answer was simple. I trusted him and I wanted to be with him. I was just about to walk out of my hotel room, when there was a knock at the door. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him standing there.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
I didn't respond, I motioned for him to enter and then went and sat on the end of the bed. He hesitated for a moment before sitting on one of the chairs opposite. He looked pale, his eyes were dark and puffy. He looked like he hadn’t slept for a while.
“I want to help you,” he finally spoke.
“Help me?”
“I’ve spent the few days looking for scientists. The best money can buy. I’ve found two...”
“Why?”
“Let me finish... they have agreed to come over to England to help me find a cure...”
“WHAT!” I screamed. “You’ve told two other men what I am?”
“No, no I haven’t,” he assured me. “I said I had a relative who was extremely poorly and that I needed someone to help me find a cure. I told them all sorts of rubbish, like, the hospitals couldn’t diagnose it, all treatment was failing, that my relation was getting worse each week that passed... I told them I would fund it all, pay them more than generously and provide them with anything and everything they needed...”
“I don’t need curing Luke! There is nothing wrong with me, I like who and how I am. I don’t want to change.”
“How are you supposed to live a normal life with anyone? You’ll never age, but they will. You can’t have a family can you? So no children, grandchildren...”
“I accepted that a long time ago.”
“You will spend the rest of your life alone unable to commit to a serious relationship. Leticia, sweet, nobody should be alone. What you are, it’s not normal... it’s wrong...”
“How dare you...”
“But who you are, the way your mind works... you’re amazing... smart, beautiful and I love you more than anything. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want us to grow old and grey together. Don’t you want that?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then let me try and do this please,” he practically begged. “If it doesn’t work we can work something else out.”
“I doubt that, you couldn’t get away from me fast enough and...”
“I’m sorry, I really am, but look at it from my point of view, I’d just found out that something I thought could only exist in horror films did in fact exist. They were real. That was a shock.”
“I know,” I sighed.
“Please Leticia; please let me do this... I don’t want to be without you.”
“OK... OK... But even if you do find a cure, I won’t have it forced on me; I need to think about this seriously.”
“I understand.”
“So... what do I have to do?”
“They will need to take a sample of your blood, just enough to run tests, that’s all.”
“When?”
“They will be arriving in the next twenty-four hours. So...”
“That soon?”
“One of these guys is intrigued, so he wants to start straight away, he should arrive tonight. I’ve arranged for him to stay at a hotel and I have a lab being set up as we speak.”
“How have you done all this so quickly?”
“When you offer people money, a lot of it, then the ball starts rolling immediately. Plus I claimed a few favors.”
“Oh, OK... I think.”
“I have to go, I’ve got things to get ready; but I’ll call you later, if that’s ok?” he said standing and making his way over to me.
“Yeah OK,” I muttered. He kissed my cheek then quickly left.
It was strange when he’d left, I felt... weird, numb I think. My mind went completely empty for a few minutes before suddenly racing around. Why should I change? I loved being me, I loved being so fast, having heightened senses, being strong. Plus there was the whole living forever thing as well. I would be able to watch the world and t
he people in it change, witness all the technological breakthroughs, maybe even get to see world peace. Who wouldn’t want to be able to do that? I didn’t see what I was as an infection or a curse. I thought it was amazing, a miracle if you like. I know Luke was thinking of me, and him, he wanted us to stay together and of course I could understand that... but at what cost to me? Why couldn’t I change him? I’ll tell you why... because he would see it as un-natural, there’s no way I would be able to convince him to join me and my kind. Luke was a strong believer in nature, morality... normality. But who in this world actually knows what normal is? Who gets to dictate that? As far as I’m concerned, I am normal. If you take ten different people and ask them all the same question. What is normal? Each one of them would give you a different answer. The truth is, there is no such thing as normal. Only people’s routines, opinions and beliefs, that is what they personally think is normality.
After having that deep thought I decided I needed to clear my head. Before he came around I was going to go shopping. I didn’t like ordering room service all the time, one it was over-priced and two, I was sick of eating the same thing. I didn’t stay out too long, but the fresh air did me good and my head calmed down a lot. When I arrived back at the hotel I put my things away and lay back on the bed. All I could do now was wait.
Luke called me around 10p.m. to let me know the first of his scientists had arrived safely. He was going to show him around the soon-to-be lab tomorrow morning; then asked if it would be possible for him to get a blood sample from me in the afternoon. I sighed and agreed. This was the start of it now. I wasn’t impressed as you can imagine, but I was intrigued. It would be interesting to see if they could actually find a cure.
Chapter 31
“I’ve got to interrupt you,” Tristan thundered. “How can you be stupid enough to give a human your blood? Are you out of your mind?”
“He loved me, how the hell was I to know he would do this. All he wanted was for us to be together...” I tried to explain.
“You were stupid! Completely! We can’t let our blood be tested and played with, we’ve lived in secret for millennia. Its how we’ve survived so long. If the human world was to find out we existed it would cause war. Even if every supernatural being pulled together we’d still be outnumbered by the humans.”
“Yes Tristan I know, but you seem to forget that there are humans that know of our existence. I do believe some vampires have humans who they feed on regularly. They could tell anyone and how do they hide the teeth marks, that’s rather stupid isn’t it! You also have people working in the blood-banks who know all about you. So don’t start lecturing me!”
He didn't respond, how could he? He knew what I was saying was true. He grunted a little and walked to the window.
“Leticia,” Jackson said calmly, sitting beside me. “What happened next?”
“I met with the scientist, Mr Roger Mayfair, the following day and he took a single vial of blood. Obviously I had to act poorly and to be honest I pulled it off quite well. He didn't want to spend too much time around me in case what I had was contagious. So I was only with him about ten minutes. I didn't see Luke for a few days then, but he called me two, sometimes three times a day to let me know what was going on. He said the other scientist had now arrived and was working closely with Mayfair. Apparently both the men were baffled; they’d never seen blood work like it before. Obviously.
“Anyway, I waited and waited, I met up with Luke a few times over the coming weeks but he was very nervous around me. Then all of a sudden he turned silent. I tried calling him, I messaged him, emailed him, even called at the lab; I just had the door slammed in my face by the other scientist, Charles Mansbridge. It wasn’t long after that I started being attacked.”
“It seems to me that they didn’t find a cure, but they did find a money maker. That guy in the basement, he said your blood was sold as a drug. I think Luke saw a shady business franchise,” Nancy commented.
“It would seem that way,” Jackson agreed. “What started off being done out of love ended up being done out of greed.”
“Why have me attacked though? One of those guys, he tried... forcing himself on me. Luke couldn’t stand anything like that...”
“Leticia money can change people; it can alter their views on things. It makes people do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
“But he had a massive amount of money anyway; his business was going through the roof. He was a millionaire...”
“Obviously it wasn’t enough,” Tristan joined in again. “Look, what’s done is done, it can’t be changed. Nobody can change their past but they have some control over their future. So we need to find him and kill him... simple.”
Jackson and Nancy agreed with him, and now, so did I. None of us could carry on like this, we couldn’t move away; these people would find us eventually. So we had to stand our ground and fight.
“Here’s what I propose,” Jackson began. “Nancy and I turn into those two downstairs. We find out where they were supposed to be next and take their place. That gives us a way in. We keep close mobile contact with you and Tristan. We will do what we can to arrange a meeting with Luke. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll think of something. Once we know when and where we’re meeting him, we’ll let you know. Then you need to be ready, you must be close enough but not be seen. We don’t know if he will risk coming alone of if he’ll have people with him, that’s something we will have to deal with at the time.”
“Hang on... where was the lab?” Nancy asked me.
“Just outside Milton Keynes.”
“Well, it might be worth taking a trip, don’t you think?”
“You’re right,” Jackson agreed. “But we can’t all go.”
“Why?”
“Two of us need to stay here, one, to look after those two in the basement, and two, in case anything happens. The other two should go to the lab.”
“I’m going,” I told them all.
“And I’m coming with you.”
“Well Nancy, it looks like we’re staying here,” Tristan sighed.
“When do you want to go?” I asked.
“We could leave now; we’d be there for nightfall. We could check into a hotel and then look properly tomorrow.”
“Hmmm,” Nancy smirked.
“What?” I asked, oblivious.
“Nice cozy hotel room, just the two of you... hmmm.”
“Nancy, that’s not what I meant so stop trying to wind us up.” Jackson shot.
“Do you not think it would be better to spend your night more wisely,” Tristan added. “Go to the lab under the cover of darkness?”
“Good point,” I nodded. “We won’t get there until about 9 and that’s if we leave now. We can check in somewhere, and then go.”
“What are we waiting for then, get packed, I’ll drive,” Jackson said, making his way out of the room.
“I can see it now,” Nancy mocked in a voice that sounded like a movie narrator. “A long anxious drive to seek out the enemy, an unimaginable.... fight,” she said for lack of a better word. “Then the two of you alone in a hotel room, adrenalin still pumping, unable to resist each other... a passionate...”
“Oh shut up,” I laughed, also exiting the room.
I could hear her and Tristan laughing as I made my way upstairs. I have to admit, it was funny, the deep narrator’s voice she used was so amusing. I still had the smile on my face as I packed some clothes.
Jackson was ready now and waiting for me by his car. He had two bags with him, one was full of clothes, and I knew without a doubt the other would be filled with guns. Nancy assured us they would be OK while we were gone, they knew what to expect now and wouldn’t be taken by surprise again. They told us to check in regularly and keep them updated on everything. She also said she would call the hotel I’d checked into and tell them I wouldn’t be returning. Luckily I had nothing to collect from there. I felt guilty leaving them, but this was a good idea and it had to be
done.
Chapter 32
The drive to Milton Keynes was a rather slow one due to an accident and roadworks. We finally arrived at 9:30 and checked straight into a large hotel. We’d decided on the way down just to get the one room. It’s wasn’t like we hadn’t shared a bed before. We did it only last night. It wasn’t exactly dark yet, we’d have to wait until at least eleven before we could risk going to the lab.
“So,” Jackson started, as he flopped on the bed. “What do you wanna do till then?”
“I dunno,” I sighed.
“Come here,” he tapped the bed, wanting me to lie next to him.
I didn't respond I just lay on my side looking at him.
“Leticia you need to relax.”
“I know, I just honestly don’t know how to.”
He moved closer to me. “Let me show you,” he breathed, just before kissing me.
It worked. After just a few minutes I started to relax. I just lay there kissing him, holding him, and loving every second of it. I had nothing to fear, I didn't have to worry about him finding out what I was. I could stay with him as long as we both liked; neither of us would age. He liked me just the way I was and wouldn’t change anything about me. That was what I loved more than anything.
After a while things started getting rather heated. He became adventurous, moving so he lay over me and taking the kisses from my lips, gently across my cheek, down my neck, until he reached my collar bone. My heart rate increased; I got goose bumps everywhere. It had been a long time since I’d felt like this, since I’d wanted someone so much. Sadly we were interrupted by Jackson’s alarm on his phone, he’d set it to let us know when it was 11p.m. so we could set off for the lab. The kisses ended and he looked as annoyed as I felt. He groaned and sighed before getting off me, and then the bed. I giggled at him a little, which seemed to lift his mood slightly. He half smiled at me before taking my hand and pulling me off the bed.
“Are you ready for this?” He asked, stroking the side of my face.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”