Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 23
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
Ashley and I ran after them, we tried throwing spells at them, but they were savvy enough to deflect them. As we all burst out on the street they split up. One man and the woman went left, the remaining blonde man went right.
‘You go right, I’ll go left,’ I said to Ashley. It would be unchivalrous of me to suggest she go after two and I take care of the one.
‘I bet I catch mine first,’ she said playfully and shot down the street.
‘We’ll see,’ I muttered to myself and ran in the opposite direction. It was hardly fair considering I had double the amount to catch.
I hadn’t got far when I heard the screeching of tires followed by Ashley’s scream. I’ve heard a lot of horrible noises in my life but let me tell you, nothing has ever chilled my blood the way that scream did. I turned. The blonde man, who I now saw had a nasty looking scar down one side of his face, was standing on the edge of the pavement having just cast a spell. Ashely was staggering back into the road, clutching her chest in pain. A red Vauxhall Corsa slammed into her hard. She bounced off the corner of the bonnet as if repelled and then smashed right into the front of a double-decker bus coming from the other direction. Her body hit it hard enough to dent the steel and crack the glass. The bus squealed and hissed noisily as the driver braked but another car was already coming from the opposite direction. The blue Fiat swerved to avoid running into the back of the Corsa and instead ended up slamming into the front of the bus. Ashley cried out again as she was crushed between the two vehicles.
‘Ashley!’ I screamed and hurtled towards the crash. The attackers no longer mattered, in my mind they didn’t even exist. Nobody did, only Ashley. As I arrived the Fiat reversed, freeing her from the death grip. I got there just in time to catch her as she collapsed. I sunk to my knees, cradling her in my arms, healing magic already pouring out of my palms. I ran my green-glowing hands over her bloody, battered body, but it was too late. Her green eyes had faded. She was already dead.
Chapter Two
What followed was the longest week of my life. time seemed to stop purely to elongate my misery and loneliness. You don’t realise how much you value a person’s company until they’re gone and you know you’ll never be able to talk to them again. I stayed in my house — Ashley’s house — the whole week with nothing but my despair for company. I thought about only one thing. Revenge. Gabe had the attacker who’d staked him locked up. He and his vampires were doing everything they could to find the other three. Gabe had insisted that I stay away from the attacker until all four had been caught, he was worried that I’d killed the only lead they had. He was probably right, so I did as he suggested. Gabe had been amazingly supportive. He’d stepped up and taken over pretty much everything to allow me time to grieve. He wouldn’t allow a single problem to reach me. He’d even taken care of the funeral arrangements, checking in with me about the details when he needed to. I realised that having him as just a security guard had been a serious waste of his skills.
The day of the funeral came and I finally had to leave the house. I finally had to face people. A few people had tried phoning me or stopping by the house over the week, but I’d refused to see any of them. The only person I wanted to see was far out of my reach. Sure, I could always try and communicate with her spirit but last time I did that it went horribly wrong and I don’t think Ashley would be very forgiving if I yanked her back from the other side and got her stuck here. If she’d wanted to stay here she would never have crossed over.
Gabe had left out a plain black suit for me to wear. I pulled it on slowly, my whole body fatigued from lack of sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I was plagued with memories and dreams of Ashley. Waking up to the realisation that none of it was real was almost as painful as losing her all over again. Or worse, sometimes I’d see the hideous way that she’d died again. That was an image I wanted to burn out of my memory forever. If only I could create a potion that removed only specific memories. I’d thought about asking Gabe to compel me to forget but I wasn’t sure that was the right thing to do. I felt like this was the sort of pain I was supposed to hang on to. Like to forget it would diminish my love for her in some way.
My fingers fumbled with the tie and I made a complete mess of trying to fasten it. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d worn one. Luckily Gabe was on hand.
‘Here, let me,’ he said gently as he came towards me. I dropped my arms and allowed him to tie the garment with expert precision around my neck. I’d never felt more like a child.
‘Were you some sort of P.A. before you got turned?’ I asked him. I’d never really spoken to Gabe or the other vampires much since taking them on. I’d been a bit lousy in that regard. I’d agreed to the terms of our arrangement with them and then pretty much left them to it. Gabe was the only one I really spoke to at all and that was usually just to give him his orders and listen to his reports.
‘No, I worked in retail,’ he said.
‘Well you make a bloody good assistant,’ I said.
‘Thanks. All I really do is listen to what you say and follow the instructions. There. Done.’ He smiled warmly at me as he finished my tie and took a step back.
‘Do you ever miss your old life?’ I asked. I turned and grabbed my phone, stuffing it into my pocket along with my keys.
‘I miss some of the people. The job sucked and so did living with my mum,’ he said honestly. Since I took the vampires on I’d insisted that they all stop living with their families. I couldn’t risk them exposing what they were and causing any fuss. They all lived together in one shared house now. Luckily, they were all young and living with their parents so it wasn’t like they’d had to give up any spouses or children. Their families believed they were on some sort of apprenticeship. They still visited their mums and dads, I wasn’t cruel enough to forbid that.
‘I love the power that comes with my new life, though,’ Gabe added, his pale eyes twinkling with his grin. I knew all too well how good it felt to go from being ordinary to suddenly having supernatural powers. I didn’t get my first taste of magic until I was a teenager.
The sound of someone knocking on the front door broke off the conversation there. ‘That’ll be the car,’ Gabe said. ‘I’ll be in the car just behind you.’ Gabe was one of the few vampires who could go out in the sun. A handy side-effect of Aldric’s sub-species of vampire.
‘No, you ride with me,’ I said as I headed for the stairs. ‘I could do with the company.’
I didn’t recognise more than half the people at the funeral. Matt and Emma were there, as were Ashley’s half-sisters Annabelle and Clarabelle. Her cousins were there too. Bobby had come with some of his staff. Beyond that I was looking at a sea of strangers. She had a lot more friends than I’d realised. I sincerely doubted this many people would turn up to my funeral.
The service dragged. I was thankful that we didn’t have to get up and sing any hymns. I hate that about churches, they just love getting you up and signing. When you pay so much money for a funeral you expect someone else to do the signing for you.
I’d given Gabe the details he asked for about Ashley so that the vicar could put together a eulogy, but when the time came I realised I couldn’t dishonour her by not saying something myself. I had to say something to acknowledge the impact she’d had on my life. She deserved that.
‘Stop,’ I said in barely more than a whisper, but everyone heard me. The vicar looked down at me from the altar, his eyes confused, but compassionate. He was probably used to this sort of thing. ‘I want to do it,’ I said. I pulled myself up using the railing in front of me and then made my way to the altar. The vicar stood graciously aside and allowed me to address the congregation.
‘Ashley…’ I really should have thought this through. I couldn’t think of the words I needed to describe what she meant to me. My throat was dry and my palms sweaty. I looked down at the vicar’s eulogy. No, I couldn’t read those emotionless sentiments written by a man who didn’t even know her. I looked out into the crowd. Gabe was standing at the back where he had a good view of the whole church. He looked me right in the eyes and gave me a small nod. Somehow that one simple nod cleared my mind and settled my nerves. Then the words came to me with ease.
‘Ashley was everything to me. She found me at a time when I had no-one. I was alone in the world and I thought I was happy that way. I was… I was empty, except for a darkness that was slowly eating at me. She showed me that I was wrong. I was living life wrong. I wasn’t happy at all. I was barely content. I was scared. Scared to let people in. Scared to have people in my life. She taught me to love. She showed me how important it is to have people in your life. She showed me how they can make you so much stronger than you can ever be on your own. She saved me from being consumed by darkness. She made me a better person.’ I paused and took a deep breath. My voice was growing shaky and I knew that tears were on the way. I didn’t really care, though.
‘She made me a better person,’ I repeated. ‘She was my light. She was my happiness. And they took her from me.’ Now the tears came. They drizzled down my face like tiny little rivers. ‘And I don’t know what I’m gonna do without her.’ I sniffed and wiped my eyes on my sleeve before returning to my seat. Somebody behind me grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. It was supposed to be comforting but it did nothing for me.
‘Beautiful sentiments there from Edward,’ the vicar said before resuming his eulogy.
After the service we all followed the coffin outside and watched as it was slowly lowered into the hole in the ground. Another speech followed before I got to throw some dirt in the hole. And that was that. That dismal service was what closed the book on Ashley’s life. She deserved better.
I knelt down at the edge of the grave and looked in. ‘You will have better. I will hurt the people who took you from me.’
‘That was a really nice thing you said inside.’
I looked up and saw Annabelle standing over me. There was no expression on her dainty face. I pulled myself to my feet and faced her. ‘Had any more visions of my death?’ I asked sarcastically. She’d told me many months ago that I was going to die on a sunny day. I was yet to see the evidence for her psychic ability.
‘Yes, actually I have,’ she said, failing to pick up on my sarcasm at all.
‘Terrific,’ I growled.
‘I saw you lying on the ground on a sunny day, your veins were glowing red. You were outside a shop called Cotton Socks,’ she said airily.
‘Is that it?’
‘For now. Perhaps the vision will improve in time.’
‘Pity you couldn’t have seen this one coming,’ I said and pointed my thumb at the grave. Annabelle looked taken aback, her face contorting with hurt. She took a step back from me, her lip quivering.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said as the guilt gnawed at me. She didn’t deserve that. ‘Obviously, I don’t blame you for this.’
‘You’re in pain, I understand,’ she said. ‘Good news is on the way.’
‘What?’
‘Eddie,’ Gabe said as he appeared at my side. His phone was in his hand. ‘They’ve got the other attackers at the house.’
A malicious smile curled my lips. Good news indeed. ‘Excuse me, Annabelle. I have people to hurt.’
Chapter Three
Gabe drove me to the house on Sittingbourne Road. It was a massive abandoned house, not far off from being a mansion. Gabe and the other vampires had taken it as their home when they’d come to work for me. They’d really spruced it up from the dilapidated wreck it used to be. It was now filled with expensive furniture and a modern decor that somehow suited the old-fashioned building.
As I stepped into the minimalist hallway I thought about how Ashley had always hated the house. She disagreed with how Gabe had come to acquire the property and all the furnishings. None of us could afford a place like this so Gabe and his vampires had resorted to using mind compulsion to steal everything, including the house. She never objected to me using the house for my own business though. I needed somewhere to do my kingly duties, the house I shared with Ashley was hardly impressive and I couldn’t exactly invite them to my now unused storage facility.
Gabe led me through to the reception room at the rear of the house. It was the largest room and the one I always used for my business. The rest of the house was Gabe’s and his vampires’. The reception room had been cleared of its usual furnishings. Even the rug had been rolled up and removed, that told me that Gabe was expecting things to get messy. Good. He’s learned to read my moods.
The four attackers were kneeling in the centre of the room on the dark wooden floor. The tall man who had staked Gabe was on the far left. Next was the thin woman, followed by the chubbier of the men. Last was the blonde man who Ashley had been chasing when she’d been hit. For a long while I stared at that blonde man channelling my hatred into him. He looked back at me, his pin-prick brown eyes stared into mine and then he blinked before looking down to the floor. I wondered how he got that ugly scar that ran from his eye right down his cheek. No doubt he’d pissed somebody off.
I looked around the room. Marty and Sharon, two of Gabe’s vampires were in the room. ‘Leave,’ I said quietly to them.
‘Are you sure?’ Sharon asked, looking to Gabe for confirmation.
‘Leave,’ I repeated more forcefully. Gabe nodded once and Marty and Sharon hastily left the room. Gabe turned to follow. ‘No,’ I said. ‘You stay. Tell me what you’ve learned from these scumbags.’
Gabe closed the double doors and turned back to face the room. ‘All four of them are warlocks,’ he said as though he were reading the information from a dossier. ‘Only recently arrived in Maidstone. I haven’t been able to find out where they came from or how long they’ve been working together. They’ve confessed to opposing your rule. They want to be free.’
I snorted and turned to look at the sorry bunch. The tall one was covered in cuts and bruises where Gabe’s vampires had tortured him to find the others. I felt no pity for him, nor for the others for what was to come.
‘If you wanted freedom you should have gone further north,’ I muttered. ‘Instead you came to my town and tried to kill me. Did you really think it would be so easy to take me out?’ I noticed that the woman was smirking at me. Clearly, she had not grasped the gravity of her situation. ‘Something to say?’ I asked her.
‘You are so full of yourself. You think you was our target?’
‘Shut up,’ the blonde man snapped. He was the leader.
I stepped forward and loomed over her. ‘What are you talking about?’
She no longer looked so sure of herself. She looked about nervously. Clearly regretting what she’d said.
‘Your woman was always the target,’ the blonde one answered for her.
I walked over and squatted before him. ‘You targeted my girlfriend?’ My voice was shaking as I spoke the words.
He looked me in my eyes and this time he did not balk. ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘We wanted you to feel the pain of losing her. We thought it would make you forget about running the town.’
‘Such a shame that dicks like you keep underestimating me. Well, you got half of your wish. I do feel pain. Ashley was my everything. She was the only girl I ever loved and your pathetic scheme took her from me and for what? What have you really achieved? Nothing. Nothing except an untimely death.’
I closed my eyes and prepared a spell. I let my emotions guide my magic. I pulled up all the pain of my grief. The torment of losing Ashley. I let my agony power my spell and felt the magic flow into my hand. I splayed my fingers as the magic flowed through them. ‘I was going to take your magic before I killed you, but I don’t want to dirty myself with anything that’s been inside you.’
He didn’t protest or even struggle as I forced my hand over his face, my palm blocking his features from view. As my spell flowed into him he began to pant, then I felt the first sign of him fighting my spell, or trying to. Then he screamed as his ribs cracked. I withdrew my hand and took a step back from him so I could enjoy the view better. He looked up at me in bewilderment as blood trickled from his mouth.
‘Your bones are breaking, and your internal organs being crushed,’ I explained coldly. ‘Every injury inflicted on Ashley is now being replicated in you.’
He tried to say something, but his injuries were too damaging. He only lasted a few seconds longer before his life vanished and his worthless corpse fell to the ground. The other three had nothing to say. All of their eyes were transfixed on the floor, none of them daring to meet my gaze.
I looked up at Gabe who stared respectfully back. There was no judgement in his expression, only complete understanding. ‘Would you like me to deal with the others?’ he asked.
‘Nice of you to offer, Gabe. But no. These are mine,’ I replied before getting to work on the others.
By the time I was finished the floor was stained with blood and four broken bodies were scattered around the room. People in films often say that revenge does not bring any satisfaction. They’re wrong. Whilst my vengeance did not bring peace to my suffering it did fill me with immense satisfaction and for now that would do.
‘Burn the bodies,’ I said to Gabe before turning to the doors. I pulled them open and was greeted by the sight of Dean Tenson, Clara’s boyfriend and associate. He was leaning on the far wall, wearing his usual black leather jacket. His ginger hair was arranged messily on his head and his chin coated in a vibrant stubble. His hazel eyes moved over the bodies in the room behind me.
‘Clara had hoped you’d be more merciful,’ he said, raising his eyebrows at the mess. ‘Personally, I think they got what they deserved.’
‘How did you get past the guards?’ Gabe asked as he came to stand by my side. He knew I was in no danger from Dean or else he would’ve taken him down on sight.
