Reborn by Blood (12 page)

As we pushed open the front door and stepped inside the well lit and tastefully decorated foyer, the concierge looked up from the magazine he was reading as he lounged behind his desk and frowned at us.

“Can I help you?” He asked in a tone that implied that he really didn’t want to.

“Yeah, I’m here to visit apartment 4b” Beth said.

“Please take a seat while I check if Miss Harrison is available.” The stuffy man said.

“Yeah, you do that.” Beth said with an eye roll before she flounced across the foyer and dropped into a deep seated chair.

I followed her slowly as I watched the concierge tap gently on the keyboard set before him. His white shirt and dark blue blazer were immaculately pressed and his dark hair was combed neatly. An overlarge nose and squinty eyes that seemed to glitter with distrust. His whole demeanour seemed to shout out his irritation at having to deal with people.

“Did you use to have to go through this every time you visited?” I asked Beth curiously.

“Yeah, all the occupants have to list whether they are available for visitors after nine o’clock. It should be fine though, Gemma is always listed as available.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked gently.

“No, but it’s our best option isn’t it.” Beth said and looked away as she lapsed into silence.

I was not looking forward to seeing Gemma. It didn’t help that she was gay with a deep seated dislike for men and couldn’t understand why Beth was even friends with me, let alone best friends.

We had clashed whenever we met and it often ended in screaming at each other while Beth tried to referee no matter how much I would tell myself that I wouldn’t argue with her, it always ended the same. It was a cause for deep upset for Beth while they were dating.

My dislike of Gemma had turned to hate after they broke up. The way she had acted and the things she had done to my friend could still make my blood boil. No, I certainly was not looking forward to seeing her again.

“You can go up.” The concierge said before going back to his magazine.

I looked at Beth who gazed back with a seemingly calm demeanour. She shook her head and muttered a few words that I doubt she expected me to hear before rising and crossing the foyer to the set of lifts that were opposite the front doors.

The trip up to the fourth floor was made in silence and all too soon we were stood outside Gemma’s door. With a noticeable pause Beth reached up and pressed the button to ring the bell. We waited impatiently for a response from within.

Gemma opened the door wide and stood framed in the light from within the apartment. She was a stunningly beautiful woman. Her straight blonde hair was tied up in a messy bun and she wore black leggings and an oversized shirt covered in splotches of paint.

Her lips curled up in a smile when she saw Beth and it seemed that even my presence couldn’t dislodge that.

“Beth darling, it is such a delight to see you.” Her predatory gaze ran over Beth who stood with arms folded before her.

“Hi Gem.”

“What can I do for you at this time in the morning?” she asked and I detected the faintest scent of alcohol whenever she opened her mouth.

“We need a favour.” Beth said.

“You do or he does?” Gemma asked with a quick nod of the head towards me. Her eyes never left Beth.

“We both do. It’s important.” Beth said, “Please.” It sounded way too much like pleading to my ears. To Beth’s too by the way she hunched her shoulders and seemed to shrink into herself.

“I suppose you must come in then.” She said with a widening smile, “Make sure he wipes his feet.”

A quick glance from Beth warned me to bite my tongue and I did, though it was a struggle.

I followed Beth and Gemma into the apartment and listened silently as they made some meaningless small talk. The usual nonsense and inane questions you ask an ex when you bump into them.

The apartment was a two bedroom affair with laminated flooring and expensive rugs. Oil paintings hung on the walls and sturdy wooden shelves were filled with framed photos of Gemma in all manner of exotic locations as she smiled smugly.

Gemma invited us to sit on one of the blue couches that were covered in some incredibly soft fabric and were entirely too spongy for my comfort.

“What is this favour you want?” She asked Beth with one eyebrow raised.

“We need to borrow your silver cutlery set.” Beth replied almost nervously and I couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to be looking everywhere except at Gemma.

“Why on earth would you need to borrow that?”

“I can’t really tell you.”

“Is it money you need? Has he run out of his own belongings to pawn?” She asked with a sneer.

“It’s nothing like that. We don’t need to sell it.” Beth said.

“Oh come now darling. You don’t need to lie to me.”

“She isn’t lying” I snapped at her, “Are you going to let us borrow it or not?”

“Beth darling, tell your...friend to keep quiet.” She said with a quiet distaste.

“Gemma stop it.” Beth said, “I don’t know why you do this all the time.”

“Do what?”

“Start an argument with Ray.”

“Just because you enjoy spending time with men, it doesn’t mean I have to. Men are the cause of all women’s problems you know.” Gemma sneered.

“Yes, you have said many times before. Look, I am not here to argue with you. I just need this favour. Will you let me borrow it?”

“Send your... friend away and we can talk properly. Perhaps have a drink and a little something to take the edge off.” Gemma said and picked up her glass of what smelt like vodka and took a long swallow, “Then we can discuss it.”

“The last thing she needs is more of that crap from you.” I snarled with anger heating my voice.

“Ray, it’s ok.” Beth said with a pat on my leg before she turned back to Gemma. “I’m not here to do anything like that with you Gem; I just need this one favour.”

“No. I don’t think so.” Gemma said her tone turning condescending. “You come here with
him
and ask me for a favour. You refuse to have a drink with me, you don’t return my calls.”

I glanced at Beth, her cheeks were turning red as she blushed and she refused to look at me. She had never mentioned that Gemma had tried to call her.

“This was a mistake we best go.” Beth said.

“Yes, leave me like you did before. Leave me to be with
him
again!” She shrieked and threw her glass at Beth.

Time slowed, I could see the flecks of spittle as they flew from the mouth of Gemma in her sudden rage. The glass was moving slowly turning in the air as it crossed the distance between the two women and Beth was cringing back in the sofa, an expression of terror and old pain plain on her face.

My own anger was rising, I was angry at myself for agreeing to come when I knew it had been a bad idea. I was angry with Beth for not telling me that Gemma had been calling her again and I was also scared that she would answer those calls and go back to her.

But mainly I was furious with Gemma for what she had done, what she always did to my friend. The fury was like a ball of white hot rage in my mind boiling and tumbling as it sought a direction. With a thought, I cast it all towards Gemma and felt it connect with her as I spoke one word. “STOP.”

The glass shattered on the wall behind Beth as time returned to normal. Gemma stood in place, unmoving. Her mouth was open mid shout but no sound emerged, her arm still outstretched.

“What the hell?” I said aloud. I could still feel the connection between Gemma and me. It was a strange and uncomfortable feeling. “Sit down.” I said and Gemma obeyed.

She sat on her couch without complaint and Beth looked at me with wide eyes.

“What the hell?” She echoed.

“I have no idea.” I replied. The link that connected me to Gemma was growing taut, pressure growing as the seconds ticked by.

“This must be compulsion” Beth said and I nodded slowly.

“Get the cutlery set and give it to Beth” I commanded and watched as Gemma rose from the couch and disappeared into the bedroom to return minutes later with a laminated wooden case. She passed it to Beth without a word.

“Now what?” Beth asked.

“Go to bed and sleep. When you wake up, forget we were ever here.” I told Gemma who turned without a word and went into her bedroom. The door closed with a soft thump and without knowing exactly how, I severed the link between us.

“Ow, crap. Holy hell that hurts.” I yelped as pain ripped through my brain.

“You’re bleeding” Beth said, “What’s going on?”

I grabbed an expensive looking scarf from the back of the couch and pressed it to my nose. When I pulled it away it had more of my blood on it that I was comfortable with.

“If that was compulsion, I have no idea why people would do it. It bloody hurts.”

“I think we should go.” Beth said with a troubled look towards Gemma’s bedroom.

“Good idea.” I said, “I still have a Werewolf to rob.”

We left the apartment in silence as I dabbed carefully at my nose. The pain was receding and the flow of blood had pretty much stopped by the time the lift dropped us at the ground floor. The concierge glanced up and once he saw that we weren’t one of the residents, quickly went back to reading his magazine.

I kept glancing towards Beth but she adamantly refused to look at me and I frowned as we crossed the road to her car. She unlocked the door and we both climbed into the car, the cutlery set was placed carefully on the back seat by Beth before she finally looked at me.

“That was wrong.” She said.

“What was?”

“Compulsion.” She said flatly, “It feels wrong to do that to someone.”

“It does?” I asked.

“Yes. You took away her control. You could have done anything to her or made her do anything. That’s wrong.” Beth said and I noticed tears forming in her eyes, “No one deserves to be treated like that and I can understand what Anna meant about it making you less human.”

“I think I see what you mean” I said carefully. It was strange, since a week ago I am fairly sure that I would have been horrified at the idea of controlling someone like I just had. Now, I was just irritated by the headache it gave me. The emotion behind it was absent.

“Promise me you won’t do it again.” Beth pleaded and it occurred to me that the idea of being completely in someone’s control was affecting her badly.

“As much as I want to, I don’t think I can.” I said quietly and I raised a hand to gesture her to wait as she opened her mouth to speak. “I will promise that I will never use it on you and that I will only use it as a last resort, but I can’t say what Sebastian will make me do and sometimes it may be necessary to save you or me.”

“That’s all I can ask then I suppose.” Beth said. “If you ever use it for fun I won’t be around anymore.”

“Sounds fair” I said with a slight smile of reassurance for her.

“Ok, let’s go and find this Werewolf.” Beth said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

I settled back into the seat and watched her from the corner of my eye as she started the car. It was an unsettling feeling to be able to identify how I was changing. Perhaps Anna was right and I would become the heartless monster she claimed all Vampires to be.

The one thing I was sure of was that I didn’t want that. I had no intention of being that sort of monster and I would have to watch myself carefully to ensure I didn’t go down that route.

“Promise me something.” I said quietly and carefully to Beth.

“What?”

“Promise me that you will always tell me when I am doing something I shouldn’t. I don’t think I will be able to always tell. You may need to be my conscience.”

“Well that may be tough since I am hardly the most moral person, but I’ll do my best.” Beth said with a low laugh.

“That’ll have to do.” I said and turned to stare out the window to watch the night time world go by.

Chapter 14

The smell of wet dog covered everything. It overwhelmed the smell of manure that would otherwise fill the senses for anyone who visited the farm. I couldn’t seem to rid myself of the odour though Beth hadn’t noticed it.

“Are you sure this is the place?” she asked in a whisper and I nodded emphatically.

We were crouched in the thick bushes on the edge of the property and had been watching the farmhouse for the last twenty minutes. No movement or lights had been seen and considering that it was close to four in the morning, I imagined any sane person would be asleep.

Beth had parked her car on the main road and we had walked the few hundred metres down the weed choked dirt track in silence. The address that Randall had provided was a farmhouse past the far edge of the city and its suburbs.

It hadn’t been a working farm for a long time. Just a small patch of land and a barn with a few cows and sheep, or so I assumed from the pens set around the farm that seemed curiously empty.

We had two buildings to watch. The first was the farmhouse itself. A two storey building of old stone with moss covered slate tiles on its roof. The windows were all single paned glass and at least two that I could see had cracks in them.

The barn was made of the same stone though the large wooden doors looked to be handmade from various odds and ends of timber. Cracked and peeling paint covered the doors and window frames of both buildings.

A battered old Ford Scorpio sat in the yard beside the barn. It was likely thirty years old with dull red paint and rust spots that were large enough that I could see them even from where we sat in the bushes. The large dent in the bonnet of the car looked new and I was fairly certain that it was my body that had made that dent as I bounced off of it.

“So what now?” Beth whispered.

“We check out the barn and then the house.” I said as I wrapped the scarf I had taken from Gemma’s apartment around my hand. “Ok pass me the knife.”

Beth held out the silver carving knife with the hilt towards me. I reached out and gripped it with my cloth covered hand.

“That ok?” she asked and I nodded.

The carving knife was ten inches in length with six inches of that as the blade alone. Its blade was curved towards the end with one edge sharpened. The handle was bordered with delicate scrolls and whorls. It weighed a little under a pound and was as far as I could tell, completely silver.