Eddie Lancaster Box Set 2, page 34
part #4 of Eddie Lancaster Series
Chapter Eighteen
Gabe had booked a conference room at the Hilton Hotel. He said leadership needed to be luxurious at times. A good impression was needed. I wondered how he usually dealt with these people who he had let divide up my town. Did he usually meet them in such fancy venues? Even though I saw the usefulness of his plan I was still a little bitter that he’d done it without my knowledge. Although, I doubted there was much I could’ve done to stop it even if I had known about it. The important thing was that he’d kept on top of the situation.
I was wearing another new suit which Gabe had provided for the occasion. This one was a charcoal grey with a dark blue shirt. I’d absconded on the tie. Gabe was wearing a suit too as were all the other vampires. Gabe had all of his vampires at the hotel to show a strong front. Seeing them all together reminded me that we’d lost Neil. His life had been wasted since Nick killed Charlotte anyway. We’d hold a memorial for him and lay him to rest properly. Gabe told me that Marty had recovered what he could of Neil’s remains. Marty was standing by the doors of the conference room looking at me with a thinly concealed disgust. He was unhappy that we’d left him at Charlotte’s flat. Maybe if we hadn’t left Marty behind, he would have died instead of Neil. I smiled a little at that. I immediately felt guilty. Marty meant something to Gabe, perhaps as much as Ashley had meant to me. I wouldn’t wish the pain I was living with on Gabe. There were few people I would wish it on.
‘The others are inside,’ Marty said pointlessly. I already knew that everyone was inside otherwise I wouldn’t have arrived yet. Marty opened the doors for Gabe and I to walk inside. As Marty had said, Alison, Sabrina, Sharon and Charlene were all inside, each standing in one of the corners of the room, each dressed as smartly as I was. I understood the need to make a good impression, but I really didn’t like the falseness of it all. Everyone knew what I was like and I really didn’t think wearing a suit was going to change many opinions, but Gabe had insisted and for some reason I’d relented.
There was a long beech conference table with pale blue leather chairs around it in a plain white room. Six unfamiliar faces looked up at me. Nobody stood to greet me. Rude.
‘Lo and behold!’ a man said, waving his hand at me in an over the top fashion. ‘The king has deigned to meet with us himself!’ A mixture of amused and bored faces looked over from the table.
‘Eddie, this is Ethan, leader of the Tovil vampires,’ Gabe explained.
‘Tovil. That explains it,’ I said, nodding my comprehension. Tovil was a grubby area and Ethan looked like the sort of person who would come from a grubby area. He had dark curly hair that he’d tried to straighten with way too much gel. He had a nose long enough to substitute for a snooker cue. He was dressed in dark jeans and a red shirt that was a size or two too big for him. He looked like he was in his thirties but that meant nothing to a vampire. He could be thirty, or he could three-thousand. To be in charge it’s likely he was fairly old.
‘Explains what?’ he said testily, jutting his chin out.
‘The accent,’ I replied with a tiny smile.
‘This,’ Gabe moved to the slight fair-haired lady to his right. ‘Is Elana. She runs the river witches.’
‘Pleasure to meet you,’ she said softly, with a polite nod.
‘Likewise. What do you mean river witches?’ Did they live on the river or did they control it?
‘They’ve all agreed that the town centre is a neutral area with the exception of the area around the river near Whatman Park,’ Gabe said.
‘They’ve agreed have they?’ My attitude was peeking out and I saw the worry on Gabe’s face. Of all the things that could blow this meeting up, my attitude was not supposed to be it.
‘With your blessing,’ Gabe added, his tone pleading me to let it go.
‘And this is?’ I pointed at the older lady next to Elana. She adjusted the locket around her neck and extended one wrinkled hand to me. I took it firmly in my own.
‘I’m Cheryl of the Penenden Heath witches,’ she said, her voice old and cracked.
Gabe moved to the other side of the table where the remaining three leaders sat. He gestured to a fairly normal looking chap. He was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. If he could dress down I didn’t see why I had to wear a suit. ‘This is Paul of the Ringlestone werewolves.’ I sniggered.
‘What?’ Paul demanded hotly, his brow furrowing.
‘Paul the werewolf,’ I said mirthfully. ‘It’s such an ordinary name. I wasn’t expecting it.’
Gabe gave me a reprimanding look and Paul shook his head. Next up was a thin Japanese man with side parted greying hair. He was Goku of the Mote Park witches. He was an incredibly posh man in a dinner jacket and cravat. His light brown hair was brushed neatly in a high quiff. He’s stood up with his lips pursed together and extended his hand incredibly daintily. When he spoke, his voice was high and as you’d expect, pretty snooty.
‘I am Tarquin of the vampires of Fant,’ he told me. Once again I was unable to hold back a laugh.
‘Tarquin the vampire?’ I said through my chuckles.
‘You are the most uncouth ruler,’ Tarquin said, stepping away from me in disgust. ‘Have you come to laugh at us or to arrange some sort of agreement between us all?’ he said petulantly.
‘The latter, I assure you,’ Gabe said on my behalf. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I cleared my throat.
‘Yes. The latter indeed,’ I reiterated. I walked around and sat at the head of the table. After a moment of consideration Tarquin sat too. ‘Gabe,’ I said in my most kingly tone. ‘Tell me about the disturbances that took place today.’
Gabe pulled out the chair to my right and lowered himself elegantly into it. Paul turned and looked at him grouchily.
‘The main problem today happened in Penenden Heath—’ Gabe started, but Paul did not want to let him finish.
‘Before you blame it all on us let me explain,’ he interjected. Werewolves have always been associated with hot tempers. It’s one of those stereotypes that seem to have stuck over the years, like black people being criminals and white people being unable to dance. Paul was not helping disprove that stereotype.
‘Oh, yes, please let the beast explain the situation,’ Cheryl said with a flamboyant wave in Paul’s direction.
‘Beast is it?’ Paul growled.
‘Enough!’ I snapped. ‘Seriously, is this how these meetings usually go?’ I asked Gabe incredulously. I was trying to imagine Clara’s reaction if her people behaved this way in one of her meetings.
‘We’ve never actually had all of them in one meeting before,’ Gabe replied.
‘I can see why,’ I said. I looked around the table. ‘Paul please explain your side of the story,’ I told him. I felt like a parent with two squabbling children.
‘We need somewhere to go on the full moon when we change. Penenden Heath has plenty of woodland,’ he said in an almost calm tone. ‘But they,’ he pointed one long finger at Cheryl. ‘Won’t let us.’
‘We have claimed the area and would like to roam the woods freely without fear of being hunted down by a mangy wolf,’ Cheryl replied. Despite her incredibly offensive tone what she was saying wasn’t unreasonable.
‘Surely there’s somewhere in Ringlestone you can run around during the full moon?’ I asked. I wasn’t bothering to hide how bored I was. With all the shit I had going on in my life here I was trying to resolve an argument about where some werewolves could play once a month.
‘No there isn’t,’ Paul said sulkily.
‘Seriously?’ I turned to Gabe. He shrugged helplessly. ‘Why did you choose to settle down in a place so unsuited to your needs?’ I said to Paul, grinning annoyingly. If he was the one they’d decided to follow as their leader I shuddered to think how stupid the rest of them were.
‘Couldn’t they just let us use the woods once a month?’ Paul demanded.
‘No, because we would like to do spell work that requires the full moon,’ Cheryl pointed out.
‘This is just the first of the disturbances,’ Gabe whispered to me. It was going to be a long meeting unless I did something to speed things up a bit. Just as Paula and Cheryl looked like they were going to get up and rip each other to pieces I rose to my feet and slammed my palm down on the table. The bang reverberated around the room and everybody fell silent.
‘This stops now,’ I said in quiet anger. ‘These… incidents stop now. I don’t know if you’ve lived in Maidstone for years or if you just came her to get away from Clara or Aldric, and I don’t care. I am in charge here. If you don’t like that you can leave. You might think that things would be better for you if I wasn’t in charge but think about what would happen were I to step down, or heaven forbid, one of your pathetic assassination attempts actually worked. Maidstone would be up for grabs. Clara and Aldric would turn this place into a war zone trying to take control. Sure, you lot would fight them. Maybe you could even team up for long enough to form an alliance, but even if you got the whole town to stand with you it wouldn’t be enough. You would never be able to beat them, and let’s face it you can’t even agree on sharing a woodland for fuck’s sake, you’re never going to be able to sort a proper alliance. I am the only thing keeping Clara and Aldric out of Maidstone. Accept it.’ I looked down at their disgruntled faces and saw that my words were sinking in.
‘You are all welcome here. Everyone is welcome here. Vampire, witch, wizard, warlock, imp, fairy, werewolf, whatever. Come on in. But you follow my rules. Now, I’m a pretty laid-back guy. I don’t have many rules. Don’t draw attention to our kind. That means not fighting in the streets, not leaving bodies around for the humans to find. It means if you are going to do something that you probably shouldn’t, don’t get seen. And one thing you do not ever do if you value your life at all, is come after me or anyone associated with me. I’ve been pretty lenient so far. No more. My girlfriend was killed by people who wouldn’t accept my rules. They were killed in punishment. And so will anybody else be if they break my rules from now on. I don’t care about your issues. You deal with them and deal with them quietly without drawing attention.’
When I finished speaking the room was silent. They were all processing my words, deciding whether or not they would accept what I’d said. Ethan let out a low chuckle and stood up, his smug face lit up by the overhead lights. ‘I did not risk my life standing up to Aldric Ashworth, so I can be bossed around by some cocky little warlock who’s about three-hundred years my junior,’ he said mockingly. ‘It will be a cold day in hell when I bow down to you.’ With his piece said he turned and headed for the door. Alison and Sharon were blocking the doors in a flash.
‘Do the ickle baby vampires want to fight me?’ he said putting on a child-like tone.
‘As I’m sure you know,’ Gabe said darkly, ‘these ickle baby vampires were made with Aldric Ashworth’s blood. You can’t kill us. But we can certainly kill you.’
‘That won’t be necessary, Gabe,’ I said. I glared down the table as Ethan turned back to face me. The stupid smug grin was still on his face. I was looking forward to changing that. The others at the table were looking down awkwardly as people do when an argument breaks out at a party.
‘Think you can talk me round Eddie?’ asked Ethan.
‘No. We’re passed that.’ I stared into his eyes and focused. I focused heat right at him, right at his insides. Specifically at his blood.
‘Ooh,’ he said, his hand going to his chest.
‘Starting to feel that burn, mate?’ I asked him, not taking my eyes from his. I focused on boiling his blood fast. I envisioned the fluid in his veins starting to bubble.
‘Argh!’ he was running his hands over his chest as if that might help. ‘What are you doing, warlock?’
‘Just boiling your blood a little.’
Tarquin stood up nervously. ‘Hey, come on now,’ he said feebly. Nobody else said a word.
Ethan let out a yelp as blood started to leak from his eyes. Steam rose from the red fluid as it tracked down his face. It began to drizzle from his ears and his noise too. ‘Stop!’ he cried, gargling on more blood.
‘No,’ I said calmly. Inside I was anything but calm. I was angry. I was furious, because this shitbag had stood up to me. I was angry because he had insulted me. I was angry because I was being fought over by Clara and Nick. I was angry because nobody respected my authority. I was angry because my girlfriend was dead. Ethan was on the receiving end of it all.
His mouth tore open and one long shrill scream came out. The sound carried for an eternity it seemed. His pale flesh reddened and blistered horribly. The other leaders got up and shuffled to my end of the room just as Ethan exploded and the bloody fragments of his corpse rained down all over us.
Once again there was silence. Nobody knew quite what to say. Nobody moved. Gabe, who was also now on his feet, silently handed me a handkerchief. I wipe the blood off my face, ignoring the fact that the rest of me was covered too, and then handed it back to him. ‘My rules. That’s final,’ I said quietly to the stunned room. ‘Gabe help them come to some agreements so that the disturbances stop. None of them leave this room until you are satisfied that all matters are resolved.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Gabe replied. I noticed the sir instead of my name.
‘Alison, Sharon, got to Tovil and inform the vampires there that they need to elect a new leader who will report to Gabe immediately. Sabrina, you can come with me and keep your mouth shut this time.’ With the example made I left the room confident that the disturbances would finally be under control. Maybe I went a little too far by blowing Ethan up, but I really didn’t care. It made me feel a hell of a lot better.
Chapter Nineteen
Ashley was playing on my mind all the way home. I needed her back. Nick knew how to raise the dead. He said he couldn’t do it anymore but maybe if we worked on it we could find a way to. He was family, surely he would help me do the impossible. He’d done it for himself. I could tell him that was my price. If he wanted me to join him then he had to help me get Ashley back. I wasn’t sure how a guy like Nick would take an ultimatum like that. Surely he wouldn’t kill his own grandson?
Then there was the other question. How would Ashley feel about being brought back? Was she at peace now? I didn’t know how it worked over there but maybe she was reunited with her parents. Maybe she was happy. Maybe she’d forgotten all about me… No, that wasn’t likely. What kind of an afterlife would that be?
‘Do you have a boyfriend, Sabrina?’ I said, already knowing that I would regret allowing her to talk, but I needed a second opinion and hers was the only one available.
‘Well… there’s a guy I’ve been seeing. Wouldn’t call him a boyfriend,’ she said with a shrug.
‘Hmm,’ I said it myself. ‘If someone you loved died would you bring them back? If you could.’
Her eyes flicked about whilst she thought about it. ‘Well, I mean… I can’t. So why think about it?’
‘Imagine you could,’ I pushed. ‘Would you?’
‘No,’ she said after a long pause. ‘I think the dead should stay dead.’ And there it was, the answer I hadn’t wanted to hear.
‘Easy for you to say, you’re immortal,’ I grumbled.
‘Have you figured out a way to bring Ashley back?’ she said, quite rightly guessing I was asking for Ashley. It was a bit obvious.
‘No. But Nick knows how to. I just need to figure out how to contact him,’ I told her. ‘See if he’ll do it.’
She didn’t talk again for the rest of the drive. Unlike Gabe she did not open my door for me when we arrived, she was too busy texting. I was really starting to appreciate how lucky I’d been with Gabe.
Once inside I grabbed myself a cup of tea, mixed a little rum into it and then sat down in the living room. Ashley and I had chosen the sofa I was sitting on. A few months back we’d decided to redo the living room. Put our own spin on the decor and all that. We’d thought that choosing out a new sofa would be a long and arduous task, but we actually liked the first one we tried. It took about half an hour and most of that was getting to the shop. We’d been looking forward to curling up on it and watching movies. We never actually did that. Not once. Life was so busy. I really hated Clara and Aldric for forcing me to become king. Didn’t they realise how much they’d ruined my life? Obviously not or they wouldn’t still be demanding things from me. Well, Aldric wasn’t so bad, but Clara… that didn’t matter though. If Nick could reverse the damage then Ashley would be back with me. She could tell me what I was supposed to do. Maybe we could just ditch all this and ride off into the sunset together. I could leave Gabe in charge, he was good at it. We could go somewhere far away from all this.
But I needed to get Nick to agree to help me. That meant getting hold of Nick and he hadn’t given me his phone number. I doubted I could say his name three times and summon him that way. He wasn’t Beetlejuice. How the fuck was I supposed to get hold of him? I went to sip my tea, found the cup empty and lobbed it across the room. It smashed against the far wall showering brown dribbles across the cream wallpaper. Margie would’ve done her nut if she was still alive. But she wasn’t. None of her family was.
A car passed outside and as it did the light glared in through the window and for a second the tea drizzling down the walls turned red like blood. Of course! I jumped up from the sofa. Nick was testing me. He wanted to see how resourceful I was. He wanted me to figure out a way of getting hold of him. Blood. If he was my grandfather, then I had his blood running through my veins which meant I could use it to track him down. Maybe even summon him. All of the Sheridan grimoires were in Ashley’s office. All I needed to do was find a spell…
