Page 12 of Vampires & Bikers

We hear more bikes roaring down the street.

“The guys are going insane tonight, they’re talking about burning down the forest!” Grace shakes her head.

“Danny said something about the vampire being onto them…do you know what he meant?”

Grace spent a lot of time in private rooms with Tomásand heard more of the business dealings. I tried not to know too much of what was going on behind the scenes but I wanted to know now.

“There is a war coming,” Grace said knowingly. “Tomás and the others are planning all kinds of things. They think they can beat the vampires.” She shook her head, obviously thinking the idea was mad. “That’s why I want to get out. You should too. My cousin lives in Toledo, it’s far from the shifters and the vampires. It’s normal out there and it’s safe. You should come too.”

She grabbed my hands and squeezed them.

“I can’t,” I said. “My mom and dad are here.”

I had heard that Toledo was nice, near the sea. Even though they also had little in the way of jobs, it was at least better than here.

I told Grace I’d walk with her to the place where she was meeting her cousin. It wasn’t far, just down the road. I put on my coat and we linked our arms as we walked.

We were jumpy, getting scared every time we heard a sound behind us.

“You don’t think that vampire is still in town, do you?” Grace asked me, her voice shaking.

“No, I don’t,” I said quietly.

I couldn’t tell her that I wished he was still around, somewhere, watching me. It seemed crazy, but I felt safe with Luc, and having him around. I knew he didn’t mean me harm. I didn’t know how I knew that, but the way he had touched me, looked at me; I knew that he wasn’t a monster. I’d heard it said that they were the undead, but Luc was warm and soft. When he held me, it had not felt like death was holding me. It was quite the opposite, he had felt like the very essence of life.

Chapter 6

Luc

I was resting in the hotel room, waiting for Tick to get back to me when my senses were alerted to danger approaching. I jumped up from the bed and stood in the room, ready, listening closely. I couldn’t hear anything but I knew trouble was coming.

I thought of the lay of the hotel, what I remembered from checking in. There were two stories and I was on the upper one, in the corner. There were stairs, no elevators. I checked my window, which had a narrow balcony. There was no other way, I had to leave this way even though it was the middle of the day and the sun was fierce. I was slower this time of the day, less agile and not as strong, but I could function.

There was no time to waste.

I opened the window and scanned the street outside but nothing appeared amiss. I didn’t have a moment to wonder if I was overreacting as I could now hear running in the corridor outside my room. The door was about to burst open with an unknown number of men who would be armed.

I swung myself out onto the balcony and leapt across to the neighboring balcony and the one next to that until I had reached the edge of the building. There was a building a few feet down and I jumped out onto the roof and up into a nearby tree. The foliage was dense and I was able to hide myself in there. I could hear voices calling out in agitation from the top floor of the hotel. They were asking how I could get away so quickly, where I had gotten off to. I didn’t have much time to get away. I didn’t like taking to the air in the middle of the day when I could be spotted more easily but I had little choice now. I dropped to the ground and took off as quickly as I could.

As I put some distance between myself and Sunside Swamp, I wondered how I had been found out. I had blanked the clerk who had checked me in that morning and hadn’t noticed anyone else. But someone had seen me and known what I was. This was worrying in itself. The most noticeable feature of our kind was our eyes. They were often said to be hypnotic or magnetic, emitting a powerful energy that made it easy for us to bend others to our will but I had found that as long as I kept my eyes hidden or avoided eye contact, I could often slip undetected through the world. I had a pair of sunglasses on me at all times, just for this.

Of course, there were some who claimed they could smell vampires, that we had a very particular smell. Shifters with wolf personas and some of the other predators could have a keen sense of smell. In humans, it was more instinctual. They had the fear that all prey had, the desire for protection and fleeing.

I slowed down once I was out of the marshes and in the deep forest. Surrounded by trees and shrubs, the light was more dappled here and I felt more comfortable. I checked my phone, which had been beeping, indicating a message.

It was from Tick.

Need to see you asap.

I took that to mean that she didn’t trust the phone lines to give me the information she had. It must be important. I felt a twinge of regret that I would not be able to check in on Ruby before I left. I had hoped to see her again soon.

I quickly typed a message.

Dearest Ruby, how are you? I have been thinking of you.

I waited for a moment to check that the message had been delivered. I thought about her and wished I had a few hours to pop in and see her but Tick’s message meant I had to get back to the Capital. I couldn’t linger here in the badlands anymore.

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