Thirst (11 page)

“Nice to see you
two agreeing on something,” Eddie said. “Maybe you can come up with
something a little more concrete while I go clean up the mess out
there and sort out where you’re all sleeping for the
night.”

Peter and I sat
together in silence for a few minutes, trying in vain to ignore the
jeering that rose up when Eddie entered the shop. Purely to give
myself something to do, I woke Carl up.

“We’re going to
sort everything out, Carl. You’ll be back home soon.”

He shook his head
and jutted his chin like a defiant five year old. I couldn’t help
sighing and wishing I was free of him.

“I wonder if he
has any family,” Peter said.

I shrugged. “I’ve
tried talking to him about them, but he won’t say much. He thinks
he doesn’t want to go back, but he’s supposed to be getting
married. We have to get him home before his fiancée gives up on
him.”

“Not going,” Carl
said, so loud that Peter and I jumped.

“See what I
mean?” I said, wondering what was going through Carl’s head when he
sat there staring at nothing. “What about you? Do you have any
family?”

Peter grew cold
again and refused to answer. The silence unnerved me. I pretended
to type my name on my legs. Then I switched the letters for numbers
and counted out my name in the order it appeared in the alphabet.
Added the numbers swiftly, my breathing growing steadier each
time.

“What is
that?”

“What?” I had
almost forgotten I wasn’t alone.

“That... thing
you do, what is it?”

“I’m just messing
about with numbers in my head.”

“You mouth them,
sometimes whisper them. What are you, some kind of math
freak?”

My face grew hot.
“No, it relaxes me is all.”

“Oh.”

I wished I could
hide my face. My habit had always been embarrassing but in front of
Peter, it made me feel almost exposed. My grandmother had often
acted like I was doing it purposely, just to annoy her, but I
couldn’t help it. It had eased off around my ex-boyfriend, but once
I left, my nervous habits had only increased.

“Peter, what’s
the Council?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.

“It’s a group of
beings who... oversee things, pretty much,” he told me. “They make
sure no single species has a major advantage and step in to prevent
wars. They enforce a quota on the vampires so they never become
strong enough to go on any major rampages. It works—since they took
charge, humans have stopped believing in things like
vampires.”

“What about
humans? They don’t prevent those wars.”

“Human wars
rarely have any real impact on the supernatural world, but a
supernatural war could destroy mankind. The Council protect humans
as much as they can; I honestly don’t know why.”

“They protect
humans, but they allow vampires to feed on them?” That made little
sense to me.

“They enforced a
quota,” he reminded me, shrugging. “They’re supposed to keep a
balance, not mollycoddle one species alone.”

I let the
information soak into my brain. Maybe I could find a way to make
use of this Council.

“I’m sorry about
hitting you that time,” Peter said, interrupting my
thoughts.

“That’s
okay.”

He hesitated
before speaking. “Everyone I’ve ever loved has been murdered by
something —not human. The alarm went off, I had to
attack.”

“It’s fine. I’m
not exactly innocent, right?”

He gazed at me.
“You’re not what I expected.”

“So what’s the
plan then,” I said, changing the subject in the hope the atmosphere
would lighten up.

“It’s your idea,
what were you going for?”

“I don’t know.
Maybe arrange to meet up with both sides at once, then, when
they’re busy battling it out, we kidnap Arthur and make him sort
out the Carl situation.”

He burst into
infectious laughter. “Ava, that’s the worst plan ever.”

I frowned. “I’ve
never had to come up with a plan before, okay?”

“It just might
work,” Eddie said, sneaking into the room and making us both
jump.

“Are you
serious?” Peter said, disbelief etched on his face.

“Always. Poke
holes in it.”

Peter relaxed.
“How about it’s so obvious a child could see through
it?”

“Therein lies the
beauty.”

“Maximus might
show, but how do we get Daimhín there? If she knows where Ava is,
she’ll go after her. She isn’t about to meet up somewhere all
civilised. Actually scratch what I said before, Maximus won’t
either.”

“Then we plant a
seed,” Eddie said with his eyes closed.

I felt that
strange presence in the room again. Ignoring it, I piped up. “We
could let it be known that I’ll be at a certain place and see if
they’ll race to get me first.”

“I suppose I
could let it slip to Becca,” Peter said. “Although, if that was
Maximus outside tonight, he’ll be back no matter what we say or do.
And we’ll have to talk to someone with Daimhín’s ear too.” A look
passed between the two men, I didn’t know why, but it made me
uncomfortable.

“Shouldn’t be a
problem,” Eddie said.

“But what’s to
stop them from tearing Ava apart anyway? She could get hurt by
accident.”

“Surely you don’t
care about that,” Eddie said with a calculating glint in his
eye.

“Of course not.”
Peter glared at Eddie. “But still, there’s no way we can kidnap a
vampire, I mean come on, let’s be realistic here.”

“Why not?” Eddie
said. “You’ve killed worse than a vampire. Ava is part vampire, and
the thrall can give Carl above average strength.”

“Killing
something is a bit different than kidnapping an evil being and
making him talk without attracting the attention of warring
vampires.”

“I’m sure you’ll
think of something,” Eddie said.

I yawned loudly,
barely able to keep my eyes open.

“You need to
sleep,” Eddie said.

“Maybe we should
go home.” I was reluctant to fall asleep at his place.

“They’re still
outside, waiting. They’ll be there until dawn approaches. Best to
get some sleep now and figure things out in the morning. Come on,
I’ll show you to your room.”

He stood up.
Evidently the discussion was over.

“Let’s go, Carl,”
I said, nudging him. “Beddy byes.”

Carl and I
followed Peter out of the room and up a narrow staircase. I was
surprised to see upstairs resembled a real home. A nicely furnished
one. Thick lush carpets covered the floor, and the walls displayed
watercolour paintings. Eddie led us to the very end of the hallway
and opened the last door.

“This is where
you’ll be sleeping for the night. Sorry you have to share. There’s
a bathroom right next door.”

He said goodnight
and left us to our own devices. The room itself was moderately
large and furnished in gold and plum velvet. A little too heavy for
my taste, but I appreciated the effort that had gone into it. A
large double bed sat in the centre of the room. A small lounger was
in the corner, and the rest of the furniture was dark
mahogany.

Peter shifted his
feet, obviously ill at ease. I realised there was one bed for the
three of us. Hesitating, I looked at the lounger, thinking I might
fit on it.

“You can have the
bed, Ava.”

“Oh, it’s okay.
The lounger looks like my size. You two can share the bed, I mean,
if you’re secure enough in your manhood and all that.”

“Funny. Just take
the bed. I’ll have the lounger, and Carl can sleep on the floor or
something.”

“Carl, get into
bed,” I ordered. “But even look at me during the night and you’re
on the floor. Got it?”

Carl shuffled
over to the bed. Peter shook his head and tried to relax on the
lounger. I threw a blanket and pillow at him.

I sat on the bed
and took off my boots. It had been a long day, and I wasn’t sure I
was going to make it through many more of them. The sick part was
something inside me wasn’t scared; it welcomed the idea of death. I
was so tired of merely existing, but I couldn’t see a way of truly
living. I had a purpose, I reminded myself as I watched Carl get
comfortable on the bed. I wasn’t going to give up without a
fight.

I inched over to
the window, half afraid to look outside.

“Shit,” I
whispered, seeing half a dozen vampires in full view. Who knew how
many were hidden.

“Don’t worry.
They’ll be gone in the morning. Worst case scenario is you never
leave your home at night,” Peter said.

I threw him a scornful look. “Sure,
that’s
the worst case
scenario.”

He sat up and
spoke earnestly. “We’ll get this fixed, Ava, don’t
worry.”

“Easy for you to
say. I’ve never been in a fight; I haven’t a clue how to defend
myself.”

“Maybe tomorrow,
I’ll teach you a few moves,” Peter said and yawned.

“Eddie said
you’ve killed worse than a vampire. What’s worse than a vampire?” I
asked.

“You don’t want
to know.”

“Sure I
do.”

“Go to sleep,
Ava.”

I sighed and lay
on top of the bed. Carl was already snoring under the blankets. He
needed as much sleep as a newborn baby; that couldn’t be a good
sign. I lay awake for ages, listening to the comforting sound of
Peter’s steady heartbeat.

I had been about
to solve my problem with Carl when an even bigger crisis was thrown
at me. Clutching the silver cross, I mentally thanked it for saving
me and wondered how Carl had ever seemed like the biggest problem
imaginable. One group of vampires wanted to use and enslave me,
while the other just wanted me dead. Even with a half-baked plan, I
couldn’t see any possible way to get out of the mess I was
in.

Carl woke me the
next morning, looking pitiful and claiming he was starving. Bleary
eyed, I stared at him until I realised he hadn’t eaten in a long
time.

“Alright, I’ll go
hunt and gather. Wait here. And don’t wake Peter.”

I got up but
paused to look at Peter for a minute. His face was completely
relaxed and utterly handsome—devoid of frowns and glares, he looked
five years younger. I felt a little pang as I wondered what had
really happened to him. Losing his whole family must have affected
him badly. For an instant, I wished our lives were normal so I
could get to know him better.

Heaving a sigh, I
left the room, knowing it wasn’t meant to be. We both had too many
issues to deal with. The fact I could probably do to him what I had
done to Carl didn’t help.

The chilly
presence followed me out of the room.

“What are you,
then?” I mumbled, half to myself.

“Ava?”

I jumped about a
foot in the air. Covering the yelping sound I made, I greeted Eddie
with a false smile.

“Hi, um, Carl’s
hungry. I was going to go out and get him something.”

“No need for
that. Kitchen’s this way. Sit with me while I finish making
breakfast. It’s still early, but I thought we all needed a good
meal to start the day. Before we get into anything
else.”

I followed him
into a cosy intimate kitchen. There was a small table surrounded by
four chairs near the door, but I was too absorbed by the smells
coming from the old-fashioned cooking range to be interested in
anything else.

“That smells
delicious. Need any help?”

He shook his
head. “Sit at the table; I’ll pour you some coffee. Did you sleep
well?”

“Okay, I suppose.
As well as anyone would knowing there’s an army of vampires outside
waiting to tear you apart.”

He smiled. “It
wasn’t quite an army.” He sat across from me. “In fact, I believe
you would be more than a match for any of them.”

“But not all of
them,” I said. “I doubt I could take on even one of them,
anyway.”

He hesitated then
leaned forward. “If what I’ve heard is true, daywalkers are strong,
stronger than vampires even. But they must drink.”

“I thought I was
the only one.”

He leaned back.
“The one who ruled before Daimhín created one. He passed on the
knowledge to Daimhín as he lay dying, murdered by his own child.
She had that daywalker murdered and swore to never allow another to
live. There have been others, most are killed in the womb or not
long afterwards. Some escape for a while, but almost all are found
out in the end.”

“How do you know
all of this?” I asked in wonder.

“I have my ways.
Just remember what I said, you have untapped talents inside, that’s
what Daimhín’s afraid of. Use them. I’ve been waiting for a
daywalker to come along for quite some time now.”