Chapter 2
“They cannot find out about Joanna,” The Master hissed, spit flying everywhere.
“They won’t I swear!” The vampire on the floor writhed in agony; his icy blue eyes were wide and scared.
‘They will, you know about Lilbit. She does not know when to keep out.” The Master clapped his hands together. “I know you will not disappoint me again Alexander, it would be a shame to have to kill you,” the Master’s voice dripped with fake sympathy.
“I swear I will do better!” Alexander cried.
Hannah pulled a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. “What ever you say,” she went back to watch her movie. You can’t lie to your best friend, I thought sadly. But she wouldn’t understand.
“Hey Pluto want to get me more marshmallows?” Hannah called, a second later Lilbit walked in. Hannah always called Lilbit ‘Pluto’ because Hannah always said she was a space case, she almost never talked. She had gone through worse circumstances that I had when she was turned, but even after almost 100 years she still wouldn’t talk about it.
“Hey Lilbit,” She waved slightly, just like she always did instead of saying hello. She grabbed a bag of marshmallows off the counter; she shot me a sympathetic look. I turned away angrily, I hated sympathy. I listened to her shoes click on the linoleum floor as she left the kitchen. I went back to the dishes; the boy who Summer had brought home stumbled towards me. He was young, maybe sixteen or seventeen. He gulped at the air like it was his first breaths in years.
“Where’s the door?” he rasped, he clutched my arm.
“This way,” as I walked him to the door I noticed two tiny puncture wounds in his neck. I left him on the doorstep. “Get home safely,” I whispered. Once I made it back inside my anger bubbled. “Summer get your f*cking *ss in here!” Hannah followed Summer into the hallway, eager to see Summer be scolded. “You just f*cked a sixteen year old.” I hissed, Summer flipped her long blonde hair behind one of her shoulders.
“So? He wanted it,” I rolled my eyes.
“That’s illegal.”
“B*tch!” Hannah screeched. “You drag us to this nuts hole and then you do something illegal.”
I sniffed the air lightly, “That wasn’t the only illegal thing she did.” Hannah sniffed the air, her nose wrinkled lightly.
“You f*ckard!” Kaylee entered the hall, making the small space even smaller.
“What happened?”
“The idiot brought an underage refrigerator into the house, then slept with him and smoked pot.” I flinched at the term refrigerator; it was what vampires called their human blood donors. I turned around; I didn’t want to deal with Summer’s disregard for the coven’s rules. I’d let Hannah scream about this one.
I went outside, the cold New Jersey wind having no effect on my, ice didn’t burn ice. The wind whipped my hair around but I didn’t feel the chill. The last time I had felt the breeze was two hundred years ago. I pulled a slightly crushed cigarette out of my pocket, if I was a human I would have long ago died of cancer. I had been smoking for almost eighty years. I lit the stick with an old fashion lighter, and then put the lit cig to my mouth.
The edges of my skirts trailed into the dirty water that filled the potholes in the road. I arrived at the old pub/inn that I stayed at most nights, the Boar and Charter. Long ago it had been nicknamed the sleeper and Garter, the ladies who usually stayed there were nice enough to make a weary traveler a little more…welcome.
I pushed open the heavy wood door, whistles and cat calls met my ears. “Would ‘ya like a drink Miss?” a drunken man grabbed my arm. I flinched away, secretly wanting to snap his little human neck I spotted Tristan in the corner, he was looking into a glass of amber liquid. I often wondered why he drank whisky if the alcohol didn’t affect our kind, he never told me. I made my way through the room, as I approached the bar I felt my heart sink into my stomach. Tristan wasn’t alone, he had Alexander with him.
Tristan gave me a small, chaste kiss on the cheek, as a way of greeting, Alexander sneered. Clearly he had not forgotten what I had done to him. Alexander hadn’t changed at all in the twenty years I had known him, he still looked exactly the same as the night he had killed my unborn child, my husband and me.
But he now had a long scar that stretched from his forehead to the left corner of his mouth, courtesy of me. “Hannah is upstairs,” Alexander’s tone was hard, but just like so many years ago it still had that same joking tone to it.
“If you hurt her-“
Tristan cut me off, “Please Elizabeth, not here. Not now.” Tristan was still looking into his glass, I wished he would look at me. I stood up, my anger welling up inside of me.
“Good night.” I stormed through the room, making it to the stairs quickly. The stairs creaked as I made my way up; I knocked three times on the room with the bronze piece labeled 138 on the door.
I heard sobbing from within, “The door is open Elizabeth.” Hannah’s tear choked voice sounded through the wood.
I opened the door, Hannah had a girl in her arms, the girl was bleeding from the neck. “Who is she?” I dropped to my knees, “Where did she come from?”
“Her name is Kaylee, Alexander used her tonight.” I brushed a bit of hair from the girl’s sweaty face.
“She is becoming one of us,” I whispered sadly. “I wonder if it will be kinder to kill her now.”My mind snapped back to the present, someone’s hand was on my shoulder, the cigarette had burned out. “Excuse me, but are you okay?” I looked at the body attached to the hand.
“I think so,” I responded honestly. The boy standing near me was handsome, he had long dark hair and beautiful hazel eyes that glinted in the darkness, I held back a sob, he looked exactly like Gerard.
“You should get inside, it’s dangerous to be out in Belleville at night.” I smiled at his concern, but I was in no danger. I didn’t fear humans or their machines.
“What are you doing out so late?” I replied.
“Taking a walk, I couldn’t sleep.” His voice even sounded like Gerard’s. “What were you doing?”
“Smoking.”
“Letting a perfectly good cigarette go to waste.” He grinned. “You just stood there letting it burn out.”
“So you’re a big fan of Marlbolo?” He tapped his pants pocket.
“Don’t go anywhere without them,” the door of our coven’s new house crashed open, flooding the street with light.
“Elsie,” Kaylee ran out to where I stood. She looked from me to the boy, “Dinner is ready,” her voice seemed to echo.
“I’ll be there in a second,” Kaylee gave a me the look, the Hannah just beat the nuts out of Summer, look.
I turned back to the boy, “You’re new around here huh?” he asked.
“Yep, just moved in,” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder to the house.
“That was your sister.”
Coven sister, I thought. “Yeah.”
“Well I guess I’ll see you in school tomorrow.” He began to walk away.
“What makes you think that?” I called to him.
“The beginning of the school year starts tomorrow, you look like you’re a senior.” I turned around, my feet carrying me back to the house.
He was right; we all had enrolled in school a few days ago. Just like we did at every new place we moved to. Once again I would be a senior in high school, and then we would move again. Just like always…
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Thanks for the comment Lexi.