Read Reality Bites Online

Authors: Nicola Rhodes

Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fantasy - Contemporary

Reality Bites (6 page)

BOOK: Reality Bites
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‘Is that better, Detective?’ she asked.

He waved his good hand dismissively. ‘Please,’ he said. ‘I think, under the circumstances, you should call me Jack.’

She looked intensely pleased.  ‘Thank-you – Jack,’ she said and gave him a dazzling smile.  Stiles actually blushed, something he had not done in at least thirty years.

‘Well,’ he said, looking at his feet, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I get the feeling that you arrived just in time.’  He looked sideways at her.  ‘Where are we anyway?’  This was starting in the wrong place, but at least it was a start.

‘Scotland – somewhere – I think. I’m not sure exactly.’

‘Scotland? How the hell did I get to Scotland – on foot – unless?’  He glanced at the empty whisky bottle.  She shifted uncomfortably, but Stiles did not notice.

‘You weren’t exactly on foot,’ she said. 

And he vaguely remembered the flying. ‘Oh,’ he said and then he shook his head.  ‘But you …?’

‘Hmm let’s just say it’s a good job they stopped when they did.  I’d just about had it.’

‘Are you saying that you followed me from London – on foot in …’ He checked his watch.  ‘Three days?’

‘Um.’

‘No wonder you were knackered.’

There was a silence; she waited for the inevitable next question, and it came.

‘So, who the hell
are
you?’

There was a further silence, so he began again. ‘Let’s start simple.  What’s your name?’  He was in good cop mode now, feeling more like himself again.

The girl hesitated for a moment; she was never supposed to have met him face to face; he was not supposed to know about her at all.  ‘Kitty,’ she said.

 Stiles saw her glance at a small cat that had wandered in out of the snow. ‘Kitty … Winter.’

He looked at her shrewdly.  ‘Kitty – the vampire slayer?’  He indicated the sharp stakes poking out of her backpack.

She smiled.  ‘If you like – that’s one way of putting it.’

‘Surely that’s a myth – syndicated.’

Kitty shrugged.  ‘Put it this way,’ she said, ‘most people think that
vampires
are a myth.  I did myself until recently. But now I know different and so do you.’ 

Stiles docketed this information.  ‘And why did they kidnap me?’

‘I don’t know. I – we – the men who sent me to protect you, they only know that they’re trying to kill you.  But they don’t know why.  I’m sorry – I know they’re working on it.’

Stiles thought about this.  ‘So, hang on if they’re trying to kill me and you’re here to stop them – no wait. Why did they bring me all the way out here, and risk you catching up with them?  They must know about you.  Don’t they?  And if they got past you long enough to grab me, then why didn’t they just kill me in London when they had the chance?  You don’t have to be a criminal mastermind to see that it doesn’t make sense.’

She looked uncomfortable.  ‘You certainly know how to ask the awkward questions.’

‘I’m a copper.’

‘I know.  I won’t forget it. You’re a lot shrewder than …’

‘Than what, than I look?’

‘No, I just meant …’

‘Look, do you
know
why?  It’s okay if you don’t.’

‘No, I do – I think.  It’s just – well it’s embarrassing.  You see those were
female
vampires and vampires tend to be – lascivious.’  She went pink. ‘And you’re a man and you’re not
bad
looking you know for …’

Stiles held up his hands, revolted.  ‘Okay, okay, I get it, don’t say anymore – I feel sick.’

‘If it makes you feel any better, I’m sure I was in time. I mean you were still fully dressed when I found you. I was right behind them; I don’t think anything happ …’

‘It doesn’t really; it’s just the idea that they wanted to …’

‘Be glad they did,’ she admonished, ‘otherwise you’d be dead.  I got careless; I was distracted – deliberately I think.  And then I left you alone with some muscle-bound idiot – when I think what could have happened.’

‘Well it didn’t. Good job I’m so handsome eh?’

‘Yes.’

‘I was joking.’

‘Oh.’

Stiles was surprised at how easily he had accepted all this, despite the fact that he had seen it with his own eyes.  He suspected that it was because he was treating the whole thing like a bad dream.  With its good points too of course, he thought, looking at Kitty.  For some reason – and not turpitude either – he kept envisioning her in a short skirt and ankle socks waving pom-poms.

‘So, what do we do now?’ he asked.

‘We have to get moving. We’ll go to my place; I know somebody who might know what to do.  It’s time to find out what’s really going on with you.’

‘And where do you live?’

‘It’s about two weeks on foot, but we’ll hitch or take a train.  Got any money?’

Stiles checked his pockets. ‘No.’

‘It doesn’t matter; there’s ways and means. If you don’t mind bending the law.’  She grinned slyly at him.

He looked out at miles and miles of nowhere.  ‘Got to get back to civilisation first.’

‘Yes it’s about three or four days on foot. I’m afraid I can’t fly?’

Stiles groaned.  ‘I could use a drink.’

Kitty looked uncomfortable.  She made a decision.  ‘I have a confession,’ she said.  ‘It was me who put that whisky in your desk drawer and I spiked your orange juice.’

Stiles looked at her impassively.

‘I had to,’ she carried on hastily.  ‘I didn’t want to; in fact I’ve rarely been more ashamed of myself; the thing is, vampires use mind control, but they find it much harder to work the mojo on a person who’s drunk. For some reason, they can’t get a grip on a mind that’s all over the place.  I was trying to keep you safe; I couldn’t be there all the time, and I knew about your problem, I hated myself for doing it.  I’m so – so sorry.’

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I understand.  You did the right thing.  On balance, I’d rather be a recovering drunk than dead.  I’d like a cigarette though.’

‘You’re not angry?’

‘No, it’s okay, I’m glad you were honest. – About that at least,’ he added quietly.

 

 ‘So, who’s this guy we’re going to see?’

They had been going for about two hours now.  Trudging through the snow which stretched on featurelessly in all directions.  If Kitty knew where they were going, Stiles did not have a clue; he had decided to just go along with it; there did not seem to be much else he could do.

‘Just a friend of mine,’ she said.  ‘He’s been looking into it for me.  I hope he’s found something out by the time we get back.  Maybe if we knew why they were after you, we could stop it.’

‘That’s what I don’t get. I mean why me?  I mean surely I’m no kind of threat, I didn’t even know they existed until today. I’m not sure I believe it even now.’

‘I know what you mean.  And I’ve seen some strange stuff.’

‘What about you?  What’s your story?  After all, you seem to know a lot about me.’

‘No story, I’m just me. I help people.’

‘Okay, be like that.’  Stiles was not giving up though, but he had time and he was an expert at getting people to spill their guts. Rule one, don’t push.  He would get it out of her, he was sure.

They had passed a few lonely farms and one solitary inn, but Kitty refused to stop. ‘We travel until nightfall. Then we have to be indoors, that’s when they come out.’

‘What if we don’t find anywhere?’

‘Don’t worry; I know where I’m going.’

Stiles gazed around him.  ‘How is that possible?  It all looks the same, or do you have some special spider-sense that lets you know where to go?’

‘Nope.’  She reached into her back pocket.  ‘I brought a map.’

 A map? –  Of nowhere?
‘Christ I need a cigarette, takes my mind off wanting a drink.’

Kitty looked away.  ‘Sorry.’

‘Oh it’s not your fault; I took up smoking the first time I gave up drinking. Now I just need to give up smoking.’

‘It’s not a good idea out here anyway.  It alerts the wildlife.’

‘So? We’re in Scotland not Africa.  What could be so dangerous out here?’

‘You’d be surprised.  Not everything has to make sense.  Besides where there are vampires, there are wolves – take it from me.’

‘Wolves?  I haven’t seen any wolves.  Anyway wolves don’t attack humans.’

‘They do if vampires are controlling them.’

‘You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?’

‘I’m not trying to scare you, you’ll be fine with me; I can handle wolves.  But it’d slow us down.  Do you carry a gun?’

‘No.’

‘Oh well, never mind.’

‘I wouldn’t shoot an animal anyway.’

In the distance, getting closer, they heard howling.  Kitty smirked.  ‘Are you sure about that?’

 

~ Chapter Ten ~

 

L
eft alone in the cell, Denny became frantic; there had to be some way to escape.  There was a small, barred window, if only there was some way to saw through the bars.  He knew he would not have the strength to pull the bars out; he needed Tamar for that kind of stunt.
A
nd he was so hungry he could have eaten his own foot.

Not for the first time, he wished that he had wished for some kind of super powers when he had had the chance.  Why had he been so stubborn?  How many Djinn had he freed in the last year?  How bad could the consequences have been, really?  If they had been worse than being locked in a dank cell by a mad man awaiting certain death, he would eat his own underpants.  He could not even reach the window to try it; he had broken the only chair. And no chance of dinner either – probably.

  Well, he had wondered how this day could get any worse.

So
think!
Where was he?  Not in the real world he hoped, things tended to be exactly what they seemed to be in the real world; i.e. a solid wall was indeed a solid wall, ditto a locked door or a barred window.  In the real world, things worked.  But in other less tangible places matter could be manipulated – as Denny knew from experience.  So he tried it; he “drew” a door on the wall with a piece of chalk that he always carried in his pocket these days – just in case.  It did not work, what did Tamar always say?  ‘It’s never that easy’.  Think!  Unfortunately, he was now out of ideas. That was it – just the one.  ‘I am so useless,’ he berated himself, and sank down on the floor with his head in his hands.

 

After an indeterminate length of time, he stopped feeling sorry for himself. Well, okay, he didn’t but he stopped indulging himself in his self-pity.  If this was a real cell, he decided, then the only way out was through the door or the window.

‘Let’s face it,’ he thought, ‘I just don’t have the time to dig myself out
a la
“The Count of Monte Cristo”. And he had learned long ago that there are no easy solutions in the real world.  ‘Christ, what I wouldn’t give right now for a bottle of Djinn. –   Hmm, maybe that’s it, get all the guards drunk and steal the keys.’

The only problem with this idea was that where there should have been a couple of bored and stupid guards sitting at a small folding table playing poker and ripe for some bamboozling, there was, in fact, a whole lot of nothing.

 He did not have any booze anyway, and the guards in this place were quite likely to be vampires; they probably did not get drunk.

That only left the window.  He decided to try and fix up the bed as a ladder and try to climb up to it.

He was not too hopeful about this plan; the bars were still iron set in concrete, just as they had been before.  But it was something to do.

He unfolded the bed, which predictably snapped shut on his fingers convincing him once and for all that he was indeed in the real world.  He cursed – naturally – and unfolded the bed gingerly, then tugged off the mangled mattress.  Something clinked; mattresses do not usually clink
*
so Denny, naturally, investigated. 

*
[
Except of course in drug dens, doss houses and the occasional B&B
]

He reached inside the mattress and sliced a finger open. ‘What the hell?’  He ignored the bleeding; there had been so much of it lately that he did not wonder that the vampires were not interested in him.  There was probably hardly enough left  in him to make an appetiser; he reached inside again with his other hand far more tentatively this time and pulled out a long knife with an intricately engraved handle.  It was made of pure silver and had a twisted blade that was so sharp it could have, quite literally, cut the air around him.  He recognised it as an Athame, from the word Anathema meaning a thing dedicated to evil (or possibly from the Greek Athéos – without God).  A ceremonial knife usually used by demons, often to kill other demons, in theory.  It was undoubtedly a magical weapon, so, not the sort of thing usually found a prisoner’s cell.  Denny was, therefore, immediately suspicious; somebody had left him this little present then.  The only question was, why?  So that he could fight his way out?  But that was insane!  If you want to help somebody escape from prison you give them a key and maybe a disguise.  In Denny’s experience wielding a weapon, especially when you are likely to be outnumbered, is a good way to get yourself killed.  Denny did not believe for a minute that any friend of his had left this here for him, and he did not doubt that it had been left for him, he had never believed in coincidences.  He dropped the Athame.
As it fell, it sliced neatly through the metal frame of the bed.  Denny stared; he picked it up and examined it.  Maybe there
was
something he could use it for.

* * *

‘What do you mean, he escaped?’

The smaller vampire shook with terror.  ‘Sir, we left him the Athame, as you instructed, sir.  But he did not use it to attack Haleb as we anticipated.’

The large beefy vampire in charge interrupted him.  ‘Haleb?’ 

The smaller one pointed at a vampire behind him. ‘The food server sir.  The boy was supposed to attack him to try to escape – so that Haleb could have an excuse for our lord when Haleb killed him.  But, when Haleb arrived, the boy was not there.’ The smaller vampire closed his eyes and flinched, but the beefy captain held his peace.

BOOK: Reality Bites
3.49Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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