by L.H. Cosway
“What’s so funny?” asks Rita. She’s not sitting in direct view of Delilah so she doesn’t get it.
“Nothing, just choked on a crumb.” I answer.
Finn steps up close to me and glances down, kicking my foot lightly with his boot. “How’s the weather down there, Missy?”
“Oh, just fabulous.” I glance over at the vampires, not caring that I’m being obvious.
Finn nods in understanding. I glance briefly at Ethan to see him looking between the two of us questioningly. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about vampires, it’s that they’re often oblivious to sarcasm, it just goes right over their heads.
Finn turns to look at Gabriel, avoiding making eye contact with any of the vamps. “So, how do we start this Gabe?”
Gabriel coughs to clear his throat. “Well, I was hoping that Tegan could give us a more detailed account of what happened to her today,” he glances at me as a prompt.
I put down my tortilla chips and begin talking. “In a nutshell, I was having a wander around the shops and when I came to Campion Row it was like I’d stepped into bizarro world. People were beating on each other at random like crazed animals or something. Then this one man, I’m telling you he couldn’t look any more dowdy and average, decided to attack me when I asked him why he was fighting with another man. In the end I had to do a runner to get away from the riots. The man kept chasing me though, and when I turned around to confront him he began rambling, all confused and couldn’t explain why he was after me. Something dodgy was going on.”
“Wait a second, some man attacked you?” Finn asks, looking angrily at Rita. “You never told me that part.”
Rita shrugs, all nonchalant. “Ethan gave her some of his blood to heal her injuries, she’s fine now.”
Finn looks cuttingly at Ethan for an explanation. “You gave her blood, what’s that some kind of kinky role reversal?”
“Our blood heals human injuries, Slayer, I thought you would know that.” Ethan answers, his voice low, but I can tell he doesn’t enjoy being questioned by Finn.
Finn laughs joylessly, but doesn’t respond. His coping mechanism with being around the vampires seems to be to ignore them as much as he can.
I break the silence by saying, “Um, I think you’re both missing the point here, the city centre just randomly turned into a war zone today, no explanations, nothing. Has anybody seen anything on the news?” I glance about the room, but don’t get an answer. The vampires won’t speak to me, the others just seem clueless. I shake my head and stand up to grab the remote before flicking on the television and sitting back down. I flick through the stations but there’s another five minutes to wait until the nine o’clock news starts. I blow air out through my mouth.
Lucas and Dru begin whispering quietly to each other and then Lucas lets out a low laugh. Huh. I wonder what that was all about. Probably some joke at my expense. Finn sits down beside me and gives me a wink and a smile, perhaps to cheer me up. I give him a weak smile in return. And God, I can’t help it, I glance up at Ethan expecting to see him looking at me blandly. Instead I discover him with an almighty scowl on his face. Well, perhaps he doesn’t like my friendship with Finn, the two of them are mortal enemies after all.
When the news starts up a blond woman wearing a fitted grey blouse and a suit jacket comes on the screen. She reports on a few other stories before she finally gets around to talking about the riot, and it’s only a few short lines.
“There are reports of a violent disturbance that occurred in Tribane city centre earlier today. Several department stores were broken into and looted and a number of people were critically injured. It is thought that the disturbance was gang related. The police are currently investigating the matter.”
And that’s all she says. If I ever had any doubts about the selective nature of what gets reported on the news then they are well and truly put to rest now. Gang related my arse. The man who attacked me today was certainly not connected to any gang.
“Well, that was a load of BS,” says Rita, folding her arms.
“I don’t know,” Delilah murmurs, “perhaps it was just some human gang war. These sorts of things do happen you know.”
Rita gives her a sharp look, then turns to me. “Tegan, did the man who beat you up today look like a member of a gang?”
“Not unless it’s suddenly become stylish for gang members to wear brown leather dress shoes and woolly jumpers.” I answer. “Oh and not unless middle class dads are now partaking in gang membership.”
Delilah narrows her gaze on me. Rita laughs and nods her head to the dhamphir. “You see?” she asks, but before Delilah can respond, Rita’s entire body bucks forward as though she’s having a fit. She lets out a loud wail of pain and then collapses onto the floor.
About the Author
L.H Cosway is a self-employed writer, editor and proofreader. She has a BA in English Literature and Greek and Roman Civilisation and an MA in Postcolonial Literature. She lives in Dublin city. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favourite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books. You can follow her on twitter at twitter.com/lhcosway and you can read her blog at lhcosway.blogspot.ie. If you would like to contact her, you can do so via [email protected]. She loves to hear from readers!
