Thirst (10 page)

I put my hand on
Peter’s arm to silence him. His face was red with rage, but I could
sense his fear.

“Can you help
me?” I said, taking a cautious step forward. Arthur flew toward me
as fast as lightning, gripping me and pulling me away from Peter
before I could make a sound. My feet never touched the ground.
Arthur held my gaze as he swept me further into darkness. Peter
swore as he and Carl ran after us, but I shouted at them to stop.
They both skidded to a halt as I carefully took Arthur’s hands from
me. The faint odour of decay and the thundering of Peter’s
heartbeat made me skittish, but something about Arthur felt
kindred.

He gazed at me in
wonder for a moment, then bent his head and pressed his ear to my
chest. I looked helplessly at Peter who seemed as stunned as I was.
Carl relaxed; even he could tell Arthur meant me no
harm.

Arthur stepped
away from me at last, his eyes watering with bloody tears. “It’s
true,” he whispered. “You’re alive. But how?” He gripped my
shoulders tightly. “Tell me,” he urged. “How did he do it? Are
there more?”

I shook my head,
wondering who he was talking about. “Just me. And I need help
first.”

Arthur frowned.
“If I help you, will you come with me? To see the head of my coven?
He’s interested in you. I didn’t understand when I first saw you,
but now I get it. This changes everything.”

“You’ll help me?”
I asked, hope surging through me.

“Only if you help
me. I need more blood. He’ll let me have a bigger share of the
quota if I’m the one who takes you to him. Come with me. Without
those two,” he said, gesturing to Peter and Carl who were slowly
approaching us.

“Ava,” called
Peter, his voice a low warning.

“It’s okay,” I
called back. I didn’t want to go with Arthur, but he seemed to know
what I was. I was desperate to know more about myself and just as
desperate to help Carl so it didn’t seem like a bad deal. “What am
I?”

“You have many
names,” he whispered. “Let me take you home.”

“If you help me
get rid of Carl, I’ll go willingly.” I ignored Peter’s frustrated
grumbles and shook Arthur’s hand. He looked into my eyes and nodded
his agreement.

“This is
ridiculous, Ava, you can’t go with him!” Peter shouted.

“It’s fine,” I
said. “He’s my own kind, right?”

Arthur jerked his
head around, but it wasn’t enough of a warning. My body flung
backwards as a vampire barrelled into my midsection, winding me. On
the ground, I barely made a sound as his hands wrapped around my
throat. Without thinking, I grabbed my cross and pressed it against
his wrist before he could crush the bones in my neck. Surprised, he
let go, his skin sizzling. Peter and Carl rushed at him as I lay
there struggling to catch my breath, but Arthur got to the vampire
first.

He wrestled him
to the ground, only lifting his head to shout at Peter.

“Get her out of
here! I’ll find you, just go!”

Peter and Carl
helped me up and made me run to the car, despite my pleas to stay
and help Arthur. If he died, I’d have no options left.

“Get in the car
Ava,” Peter said, pushing me in the back seat.

None of us spoke
for a few minutes, but Peter’s heartbeat was racing again. I kicked
the back of his seat in frustration.

“We should have
stayed.”

“Are you stupid?
That vampire tried to kill you, did you want to die?”

“We outnumbered
him,” I protested.

Peter muttered to
himself and put his foot on the accelerator. He kept glancing in
the mirrors, probably looking for a speedy vampire who wanted me
dead.

“Where are we
going?” I asked, finally realising we weren’t heading for my
home.

“To see Eddie.”
Peter shut down after that and didn’t speak for the rest of the
journey.

The bookshop was
closed for the night, but Eddie had the door open before we could
knock on it. He ushered us in, highly agitated. We followed him
into his tiny back room. Eddie put the kettle on and mumbled to
himself. Peter gnawed on his nails and even Carl seemed on
edge.

Eddie made coffee
and sat down, looking straight at me but seeing right through me. I
watched, fascinated, as his lips moved silently. Then he shook
himself, and his eyes focused again.

“Nobody is hurt.”
It was a statement rather than a question.

“What the hell
happened?” Peter said. He sounded angry, but I could still sense
his fear.

Eddie shook his
head. “Things are happening too quickly. I didn’t expect it. An
assassin was sent after her.”

“You could have
warned us,” Peter said, sounding petulant.

“And you could
have warned me when you brought Nancy Delaney’s granddaughter to my
place for a visit,” Eddie shouted. The air crackled around him, and
the hair on my arms stood up.

Peter looked me
over in horror. “Nancy? Nancy’s your grandmother?” he said,
appalled. I was sure he thought it was a shame a nice old lady like
Nancy had an evil being for a grandchild.

“No matter,”
Eddie said. “Things just became more complicated. I don’t know how
they knew so soon.”

“Who knew what so
soon?” Peter said.

Eddie took a deep
breath. “Ava, Arthur’s maker is an ancient called
Maximus.”

“Yeah, Becca told
us that,” Peter said.

“Becca? Hmm,
maybe it was her words... never mind that now. Ava, I’m sorry, but
the vampires are on the brink of civil war. Your appearance just
changed the game.”

“Me? What can I
do?”

“Maximus believes
you’re a daywalker. A living vampire. A daywalker could destroy all
of the vampires without a battle. You could tell Maximus how you
were made so he could create an army of daywalkers. To protect him,
kill his enemies in daylight and help him overcome
Daimhín.”

“Daimhín?” I
asked.

“Another ancient.
She’s the oldest vampire in the country and the one with the
largest coven, so she rules over the other covens. It’s by her say
so that they don’t drink their fill. She assigns quotas for each
coven, and it’s up to the head of the coven to decide who feeds and
who doesn’t.”

“Why do they have
quotas?” I interrupted. “Arthur is starving, why?”

“I told you, a
lack of blood hurts them, punishes them. The quotas are set by the
Council to protect the human race and to keep the vampires in
check,” Peter said, his face pale and taut with tension.

“The
Council?”

“Focus, Ava,”
Eddie said. “Maximus wants to change who allocates the blood,
possibly even fight the Council on the quota. Not good news for
humans. I’m certain that assassin was sent by Daimhín to kill you
before you can tell Maximus how you were created. How were you
created, Ava?”

His voice
changed, making my senses go on alert. It seemed so simple to me,
the way I was made. But if I told people and that caused it to
happen to more innocents then I would feel guilt I never had
before.

“You can tell me,
Ava,” he said coaxingly.

I thought about
it, I even opened my mouth to speak, but the idea of Maximus’s
vampires attacking pregnant women and stealing their newborns was
incomprehensible. My mother told my grandmother I could be taken,
but I was never told how she knew or why Nancy believed her. I only
knew it had to be a secret.

“No,” I said,
gritting my teeth. It physically pained me not to answer
him.

“Good,” Eddie
said.

Another test,
great. I wished there was a way to skip past the bit where I had to
keep proving myself.

“What do we do?”
Peter asked.

Eddie shrugged.
“She’s on their radar now. They’ll look for her.”

A chill ran down
my back. Once again I was totally screwed.

“You said I was
already on their radar.”

He nodded. “True,
but they’ve acted quickly. They’ve already found you once. I doubt
the assassin was mere coincidence. Daimhín doesn’t want someone
like you in her domain, she must be worried.”

“I agreed to see
Maximus,” I reminded everyone. “If Arthur helped with Carl. I
pretty much promised.”

Eddie shook his
head. “Either Daimhín will kill you, or Maximus will use you. You
need to keep away from vampires.”

“I can’t hide
forever, and Carl needs Arthur’s help too, remember? They’ll find
me, regardless. What do I do?”

“You could
fight,” Eddie said. Although his voice was sad, his eyes were
happy. I didn’t have time to figure it all out.

“So I’ll fight,”
I said.

Peter snorted.
“You squeal like a schoolgirl anytime you’re attacked. Come on!
You’re helpless!”

I glared at him
before turning to Eddie. “Can you help me?”

“There’s a lot
you need to know. Holy water and a silver crucifix might do nothing
to you, but a stake in the heart will kill you all the same. A
vampire can drain your blood or snap your neck like a human’s while
a human can set you on fire and send you to hell just like a normal
vampire. You have to be extra careful, but then again, you might
have some abilities they don’t have.”

“Like what?
Catholic guilt?”

Eddie smiled.
“This is one of those rare occasions when I don’t know the answer
to everything.”

“How do I find
Arthur and avoid that assassin? Assuming they’re both still
alive.”

“You’re not
seriously considering making contact with that greasy vamp again,
are you?” Peter said, barely containing his disgust.

“I don’t have a
choice. Look at Carl!” Carl had fallen asleep again, and a large
gob of saliva was dripping down his chin. “I need him gone. For his
own good. You saw what happened earlier.” I held his gaze until he
looked away.

“Arthur is your
only option, it’s true. But the assassins will keep on coming.
Daimhín needs to ensure the secret isn’t revealed, or she’ll lose
her advantage,” Eddie said.

“Arthur said he’d
find her,” Peter said, his eyes narrowing.

Eddie nodded. “Be
that as it may, Maximus won’t let her go easily. It’ll be hard to
get her back if he takes her.”

“Stop talking
about me like I’m not here.” I wasn’t about to let them decide
anything for me. “I need to sort things out with Arthur, nothing I
can do about that. I’ll deal with the other stuff
later.”

Peter threw his
hands up in the air and walked out of the room.

“Spoiled git,” I
muttered.

“He’ll get over
it,” Eddie said. “I don’t think you realise how risky this is,
Ava.”

“I have to get
Carl back to normal. He cut his neck today and tried to force his
blood on me. It’s only a matter of time before I give
in.”

“Maybe drinking
blood wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

“Are you kidding
me?”

He shook his head
with a small smile. “It’s natural for you. Maybe it would help you
fulfil your potential.”

The greedy look
in his eye made me shiver. I could have sworn I felt a hand ruffle
my hair. Peter came back into the room before I could think of
anything else to say. I gripped my cross tightly; it had helped
save my life and Carl’s, maybe it would help me against Eddie too
if I needed it.

“Okay,” Peter
said, his face grim and determined. “We can do this. But we need a
plan. Weapons. Protection. We have to go in prepared this
time.”

He looked set to
carry on making his speech, but Eddie held up his hand for silence.
He retreated into his own little world again, looking but not
seeing. He blinked then gasped. Right before someone banged on the
shop door.

“Nobody move,” he
whispered.

Somebody knocked
sharply on the door while all of the front windows were pounded on.
I sat still, frozen in fear until the sound of smashing glass made
me jump to my feet.

“Ah, it’s
Maximus,” Eddie said, nodding. “Daimhín is much more
discreet.”

I must have
looked as petrified as I felt because Eddie gave me a reassuring
smile. “Don’t worry, Ava. They can’t come in.”

“Do they need to
be invited?” I asked.

He laughed
humourlessly. “Not at all. But this building is very well
protected. You can’t leave tonight. None of you. Wait until
daylight. Until then we can decide what to do next and get some
sleep.”

“So, what?
They’re all going to come after me now?”

“Pretty much,”
Eddie said.

“But there’s two
sides. Like, they’re enemies?” I asked.

Eddie
nodded.

“I’m in the
middle then. I think I’ll get out of the way and let them stomp on
each other.”

Peter stopped
pacing long enough to think about it. “Sounds like the makings of a
plan. Maybe you aren’t as clueless as you look after
all.”