The Forever Queen (Pendragon Book 2)
Page 23
“Relax,” Maladict said. “I haven’t killed in a long time. Do you think I’d be here if I had? Humans are safe around me.”
A quick glance at Victoria calmed Chase a little. She didn’t seem frightened or even nervous around Maladict. Very reluctantly Chase reached out and shook Maladict’s hand. It was ice cold and his skin was dry as paper.
“Welcome to West Haven, Chase.”
“Thanks. I think.” He frowned at the vampire. The word sounded strange even in his own head. A few months ago if someone had calmly introduced themselves as a vampire he would have suggested that a stay in the loony bin was urgently required. But a few weeks ago he had transformed into a snarling beast, so he felt about ready to accept anything. “Do I know you?”
Maladict shrugged. “We met. Very briefly. I came by to make sure you were recovering well.” He gave the machines such a cursory glance that Chase knew it was more for show than anything else. Whatever reason the vampire had for being there, it had nothing to do with Chase’s physical health. “Which you are. I’ll leave you to Vix.”
“Is he always like that?” Chase asked as the door swung shut behind him.
Victoria glanced towards the door. “What? You mean sarcastic, and just a little bit patronising?” She shrugged. “He’s a vampire, he can’t help it. I think it comes from having to keep up the whole tortured soul image.”
Chase held back a smile as he caught the cheeky sparkle in Victoria’s eye and he knew she tried to lighten his mood. It worked only for a moment before he turned serious. This is crazy, this whole place is crazy. He couldn’t understand how she could be so relaxed, so blasé about the world’s most feared monster, a creature that until recently Chase had consigned to myth and legend.
Victoria gave him a soft, gentle smile.
“You’ll get used to it, especially around here. But it’ll take a while.”
She stopped talking as the door opened again and the older man, Peter, stepped into the room. He smiled when he saw Chase sitting up.
“How is our patient, Miss Metcalfe?” he asked as he inspected the monitors.
“The patient is fine,” Chase said, irritated at being talked about as though he wasn’t there. He tugged the two small rubber disks off his chest, wincing when they took a couple of hairs with them, and swung his legs off the bed. Peter seemed to be normal, and most of all human. Here stood someone Chase wasn’t afraid to demand answers from. “I get the impression I’m going to be staying here a while. Am I some kind of prisoner?”
“No!” Peter turned, his eyes wide. “Of course you’re not a prisoner.”
Chase hesitated then stood up. “In that case, I want to get out of here.”
Victoria coughed and studiously inspected the ceiling.
Chase glanced down and snatched at the sheet on the bed as his face turned scarlet with embarrassment. He wasn’t completely naked. That almost would have been better, instead he wore just a pair of boxer shorts, and they certainly weren’t his. They were far too small, emphasising far more than they concealed, and had little pink hearts on them. “Ok, I want some clothes, and then I want to get out of here.”
“It’s not that simple, Mr. Finn.” Peter handed him a pair of jeans and waved at him to sit down. “Do you know who informed the Department about you?”
Tugging on the jeans Chase sat down, thinking. “Only two people knew something was wrong with me.”
“Your mother and father.”
Chase nodded. “But surely - they wouldn’t -”
“My brother turned me in, in my case,” Victoria said. “First thing I knew two agents from the Department were knocking on the front door.”
“It doesn’t make sense. What did they do? Look in the Yellow Pages for an ad…’has your son just turned into a monster? We can help.’ ”
“Most of the charges I care for here were turned in by a family member, Chase. People are scared of what they don’t understand. I imagine they called the police, or an ambulance. The Department has ways of tracking those kinds of calls.”
“My parents wouldn’t do that. They’d accept me…” Chase’s voice trailed off, his certainty deserting him. No, he told himself. His parents would never betray him like that.
Peter sighed. “It’s a difficult thing to accept, Chase. You’re not the young man you were a month ago.”
Hands balled into fists at his sides, Chase forced his words out between clenched teeth. “I don’t care what you say. My parents would never do that to me. They’d try to help…”
“And I’m sure they thought they were helping you. No doubt they assumed you needed medical attention.” Peter sighed and touched his shoulder. “Now why doesn’t Victoria show you around? Perhaps you can get some lunch.”
“Because food is top of my list of priorities.” Chase couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Well,” Peter passed him a t-shirt and patted him awkwardly on the arm. “I think it would be good for you to meet some of the other residents. You have a lot in common with most of them.”
Chase shook his head in disbelief and stormed out of the room.