CLUB NUMBER FIVE (Immortal Blood) (15 page)

I think I sat there almost peacefully for something like twenty minutes before I
’d
had enough. I jumped up and searched the roof again. I didn't know what I expected to find
,
but whatever it was, I didn't find it and I was left as empty-handed as before. I sank to the other side of the roof and sulked. Unbelievable. Dane would die of laughter if he saw me now.

A pigeon sat next to me and for a second I thought of breaking its neck and feeding on it, but that would've required moving
,
so I gave up. It looked at me with its small birdy eyes and I smiled. It cooed questioningly and bent its head.

“You have no idea, do you?”

It cooed again and I sighed. Fine, I was losing it if I needed to talk to a bird. The pigeon took a few steps toward me, pecking at the ground occasionally and waiting for me to make the next move. I moved my fingers from my pocket to the ground and walked them slowly closer to the bird. It jumped up
,
scared, and
fluttered off
.

“Fine!” I shouted after it. “Just go! I don't need you!”

The pigeon made a weird sound and landed on the roof next to mine. I stared at it. Could it be possible? I got up slowly and measured the fetch. If it took a small sprint from a pigeon, it would take only a well-aimed leap from a vampire to reach the next roof. I swallowed and glanced down. It was far but it wasn't that far. I closed my eyes. Was I really going to do it? The pigeon cooed encouragingly. I opened my eyes and backed up as far as I could. I steadied myself and started to run. After a few big leaps I felt like I was flying and I didn't feel the ground anymore. I moved my feet wildly, too scared to stop, and finally fell to my knees as my feet hit the ground. I'd made it! I was on the other roof and I was still in one piece.

I grabbed the surprised pigeon with my hands and kissed it. It flapped its wings
in
protest and made loud noises, but I didn't let go. I kissed it at least a
hundred
times before I placed it back down. It eyed me with a hurt look and flew away. I laughed quietly and opened
a
door. It was clearly an office building and since it was really early in the morning, it was empty. I could walk down the stairs with no hurry. Yes, I knew there might be an elevator, but elevators
have
surveillance cameras and I didn't want anyone to know where I was.

When I reached the bottom floor I opened the door and looked inside. It was so
me sort of conference room with
a pile of magazines on the table
and a nice couch
. I glanced at the clock on the wall and shrugged. Why not
?
I could rest
t
here for a couple of hours and try to decide where to go. I wanted to text Kate, but I managed not to. I was sure that someone was watching her in case I showed up
,
and I didn't want to drag her into my mess. Well, not anymore than she already was, so I settled
myself, took
OK
!
Magazine
from the table and started to browse through it lazily. Where did they find all this stuff? I let myself sink into the wonderful world of gossip and spent the next hours giggling and crying.

Finally
,
I managed to put the magazines
down
and stretched my stiff body. Six
-
thirty. Time to go. I still had no idea where to go, but I couldn't stay
t
here
,
for sure. I left the safe office and headed for the nearest coffee shop. I know, I know, it was dangerous, but it was more dangerous to stay in the awakening streets, where I
stood out
like a red flag among the few people who were hurrying to work at this early hour. So when I saw the familiar Starbucks
sign,
I rushed in and bought a caramel coffee. I found the quiet
est
table in the corner
,
from where I could watch the people come and go
,
and tried to look relaxed.

After two hours
,
the waiter started to eye me suspiciously and I knew it was time to move on. The streets were more crowded now and it was easy to mingle among the people. I paced back and forth on the street and bit my lip. Come on, think! There had to be at least one place I could hide. I thought about every place I had been to in London, every place I had heard people talk about
,
and every possible place I had read about
,
and there, the answer came to me like bright lightning.

Kate's father had once told us about a bust he had made. He had followed some small criminal to an abandoned house
,
expecting to find some drug stash, but instead he had ended up in the middle of a kidnapping and had saved a little girl's life. He had described the house in such detail that Kate and I had no option but to find
it
. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. The house was next to the Thames and looked a bit burned and ready to be crushed. All the other houses around it were nice and obviously
owned by people
with money, so why was
this
house, probably worth a couple of million pounds, left there abandoned and open to anyone who wanted to enter? Spooky.

I turned and sped up a little. It would take only a few minutes to get the
re
. I could see the London Eye looming above the buildings
;
the house was quite close to it. I made it to the river and saw that the house was just the same as before. Good. No one would ever find me there. I entered it carefully. When I came
to
the stone wall in front of the house I looked both ways
,
just in case, before I jumped over
it
. The door was hanging halfloose and I couldn't see a single window that wasn't broken. I shivered. Was I really serious?

I kicked the door open silently and went in. No one had been there for a while and I couldn't see anything that told me
that
any living person had ever been there. That was strange. Shouldn't there be at least some rats or something? And why had no squatter taken this place as his own? My pocket
vibrated
and I checked my phone. Dane was calling. Again. I closed the phone. Immediately
,
I felt it beep a
nd saw he had sent me a message:
“Answer the freaking phone!” I snorted and tossed the phone in my bag. I didn't even get a chance to sit when the phone beeped again. I ignored it
,
but after seven beeps I picked up my bag and dug out my cell.  A “Where r u?” message from Kate, some cursing from Dane
,
and a message from Jonathan asking if I was okay. I removed all of them but Kate's and texted her back. “Hiding.” She answered almost before I took my fingers off the keys. “Kidding? Smile, smile, smile. Where? It's important!”

I sighed. I had promised myself to keep Kate out of this, but what could I do if she refused to stay an outsider and pushed herself in? I hesitated and almost put the cell away, but the truth was I was tired of being alone and I missed her.
So, shoot me, but I texted her:
“Spooky Daddy issue...can't say more. Do not tell a soul!!!” The cell beeped. “Be there soon.”

“No!” I cried aloud.

I did want her company
,
but I would be okay just texting with her. “Stay away!” I texted back
quickly
. She never answered and I knew she'd be
t
here in no time.

I wiped some dust from the chairs and sat waiting. Before half an hour
had passed,
Kate tiptoed in and whispered
,
“Hi.”

“Hi
.
” I smiled at her.

We eyed each other, smiling like two idiots, and I couldn't help
a
small giggle when she rushed into my arms.

“Are you okay? Do you need blood, 'cause it's totally oka
y if you want to drink mine? Oh
G
od, you look like crap! Where have you been? I was worried, you pig!”
sh
e blabbered, nudging me gently.

“Gosh, Kate
,
I don't need to feed every two hours
!
” I laughed and hugged her tighter. “And yes, I'm okay
,
and as long as I can hide for twenty-three hours I
’
ll be invincible as well.”

“Really?” Kate's eyes looked wet.

“Really
.
” I smiled softly.

I almost jumped when my cell beeped. “What now?” I snapped and was ready to smash my phone.

“Maybe you should answer the message,” Kate said quietly.

I pushed her lightly away and narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

She
avoided my eyes, mumbling almost inaudibly
,
“It might be important.”

“Kate,” I said warningly. “Did you tell someone where I am?”

“No,”
she
whispered.

“Kate!”

“Not really
.
”
S
he hid her face in her hands. “I mean, I might have mentioned something to Jonathan, but I didn't tell
him
exactly where you are.”

“You stupid cow!” I cried and ripped her hands away so that I could see her eyes. “We have to leave here this second.”

“Sorry,” Kate whined
,
but I didn't care.

I grabbed her wrist and stepped to the door
,
but
a
soft
click stopped me. I put my hand on Kate's mouth and kept us both still. Yep, someone was definitely outside and that someone was not a vampire. My ears caught muffled whispers and soft footsteps
,
and I knew the house was surrounded. I backed away slowly, scanning the room and trying to find at least one good hiding place, bu
t the room was almost empty. Oh
crap! I had no idea how many they were
,
but my only chance was to trick them upstairs.

I pressed my mouth to Kate's ear and whispered
,
“I need you to trust me on this, okay?”
Sh
e nodded but I could see the terror in her eyes. I swallowed.
“I need you to go upstairs as quietly as you can. Then count to twenty and start to scream.”

I moved my hand from her mouth and she whispered shakily
,
“Okay.”

I nodded encouragingly at her and silently opened my cell. I texted Jonathan
–
“They found us. Call Dane. The ghost house near Eye”
–
a
nd pushed Kate lightly. She took her shoes off and closed her eyes for a second.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I whispered. “Now go.”

She moved silently up the rotting stairs
,
and when she reached the top I started to count in my mi
nd. I hid myself behind the old
smelly curtain and hoped my plan would work. The steps got close
r and I heard another click. Oh
my
G
od! They had guns! Nine, ten, eleven, twelve...I counted. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. And I heard Kate's scream.

At least six men rushed in and ran straight to the stairs. I waited a while after they had passed me and then slid quietly from my hid
ing place
. Kate screamed incessantly like someone was killing her. I could sense the men were approaching her, and I heard someone climbing on the roof, too. Okay, so there were at least seven of them, maybe more. I inhaled slowly, calming myself. Then I opened myself and concentrated on Kate, and found it easy to locate her. She was in the middle of the house and my guess was she had hidden herself in the
chimney
.
I made a mark on the dusty floor with my shoe and walked silently next to the wall. My senses were all still open
,
and to my surprise I could sense Kate and the hunters at the same time. When I put my hand on the wall trying to feel how fragile it was, I still felt everything else around me. Wow. My powers were growing and I could only imagine what I would be capable of after a couple of hours.

Dane had explained that a vampire was a predator. A creature of the night that shouldn't exist but somehow did. He had blathered on about some mumbo
-
jumbo crap
about
vampires being one of the oldest species on the planet and also one of the strongest. A full vampire was invincible. It was unaccountably fast, strong
,
and clever. Not to mention immortal
.
A
nd the only real chance to kill a vampire was when it was a newbie
,
a
s a newbie didn't really know what it was and what it was capable of. Its mind was confused and the only thing
s
it could think of was blood and sex. But I wasn't a newbie anymore. Not really. And no one could mess with my mind. Okay, I didn't know what I would do if someone brought a bleeding body under my nose, but other than that I couldn't think of anything else that would distract me from saving Kate and getting us both the heck out of
t
here.