As he hissed the words into her ear, Xavier had to use all of his self-control not to take her into his strong arms and kiss the breath right out of her. She was deliberately put on this earth to cause him trouble, he was completely convinced about that. And she was doing a damn good job of it too.
“At least I have balls.”
Still smirking, Alicia looked up, his eyes were dark green today. These were his ‘pissed off’ shade. She had observed in their now three encounters with one another that his eyes changed shades depending on his mood.
“As if I would rob anyone! I told you Commander Prick, you know nothing about me, so let me go! I won’t scream of make a scene and you…well you can go grow a pair of balls. I’m sure the old ladies just love that about you don’t they?”
Still ignoring her jibes, Xavier took out his cell and started filming her.
“Confess to the thefts and attempted thefts. Give me the names of your co-conspirators, and it will go better for you when I hand you over to Belcastro. Don’t be a fool, female, you have been caught and you will have to pay for your crimes. This way, I will be able to have some sort of leverage to plead for leniency for you, yeah?” He didn’t know why it mattered so goddamn much that she didn’t suffer at the hands of Snr Belcastro, but even the thought of anyone touching a hair on her head made his deadly mood, vicious.
“Oh! You want a picture? Well allow me to pose just perfectly for you shall I?” Not answering any more of his questions about her crimes and how he thought he could save her skin, Alicia moved closer, flipped her middle finger up, stuck out her tongue and posed for her five seconds of fame. ‘Action man’ was too busy filming her and…did he growl? Yep, she was pretty sure he had just growled there!
Alicia knew he was so preoccupied with the filming of her ‘confession’ he didn’t notice her bending her knee and lifting her leg towards his balls. With force, her knee connected with his crown jewels.
“Looks like you do have balls after all Xav — bruised ones! You take care now!”
Alicia laughed loudly as she ran out the cupboard while the Commander was momentarily distracted. She ran down the long hallway and around the first corner where she flashed away, landing on top of the roof of the mansion so she could listen in on the events that were about to unfold.
A sharp pain that registered from his balls to brain immobilised Xavier, and he almost dropped his cell as Alicia made her escape.
“You only get to do that if you stay to kiss them better, Sweetcheeks.”
No one was there to hear that his voice was raised several octaves higher, but he swiftly regained control of himself and ran out of the room in hot pursuit. Cursing under his breath, he vowed that when he caught up with her it was going to be no more mister nice fucking guy. If the female wanted to play dirty, then she’d find out just how dirty he could be. Sprinting down the corridors, his eyes scanned left, then right. She had disappeared!
There was nowhere for her to hide, and yet she was nowhere to be seen. Thinking that she must have headed in the opposite direction into the main body of the mansion, he slowed his pace and retraced his steps. Stopping several guards, to enquire as to whether they had seen anyone pass by in the last ten minutes, they all denied it.
So either they were working with her or she had just vanished into thin air.
Chapter Thirty Two
“I’ve caught her on film. You can see for yourself what Friera looks like,” Xavier said shoving the cell into Shuggie’s hands. He moved to pour himself a very large scotch, contemplating using the ice in his glass to help with the swelling to his nuts. “So I don’t know what game you were trying to play last night hooking me up with the oldest swinger in town, yeah? Now you have proof and the picture of our public enemy number one.”
As Xavier sunk the drink, and poured another, Shuggie pressed play on the cell and began watching the footage.
After a few minutes Shuggie looked over at Xavier, his face solemn, and voice quiet.
“Commander, ah think...well we think - me an the Doc, that is - that yer having a bit o’ a nervous breakdown. The woman you were with last night is Friera, and...” Shuggie passed the cell back to Xavier, “…There’s naebody but you oan that video. Ye huv been talkin’ tae yersel!”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I took that film myself - it’s her!” Xavier looked down at the screen and was dumbstruck. The film had recorded his voice talking to what, for all intents and purposes, was an empty storage closet. He was interrogating a mop and bucket!
“It was her - she was right there!” The more Xavier protested, the more damning the footage became. “Swear to fuck, Shuggie — she is real, I’ve not imagined her.” Xavier was met with sympathetic eyes, as Shuggie carefully removed the scotch from his reach, and shoved him down to sit into a chair.
“Ye huv been under a load o’stress, Commander. There’s nae shame in huving a breakdoon, it kin happen tae the best o’ us.”
“Don’t give me that shit, Shuggie — I’m telling you I am not mad. Friera was there, dressed as a chambermaid and she kicked me in the balls after flipping me the bird — I am not mad!”
Xavier was by now ranting like a stark raving lunatic, and Shuggie vowed to himself that he would stand by his best friend and ensure he got the best medical care to get him back to the man he once was.
Chapter Thirty Three
“Duck a Fuck! What the hell is his fucking problem?”
Alicia paced the wooden floor of her lounge. She had ditched the rags she had been wearing back at the mansion and was so enraged about her earlier encounter that she was unaware she was pacing in just her underwear and boots, talking out aloud to herself as she walked back and forth.
“He has me on fucking video! How in the name of the gods can I get back in there during the daylight hours? He’ll have all the damn guards posted on what I look like! What hand did I lift up? If it was my left one then I’m fucked as my bracelet will be on show! Duuuuuck a Fuck!”
Alicia stormed to her room, threw on clean clothes and headed out.
The only way to calm her mood was to feed.
****
Xavier didn’t have time for this shit.
His best friend thought he was going insane, meanwhile his sanity assassin Friera was free and running rings around him. It was un-fucking-acceptable.
“Shug, I’m only going to say this one more goddamn time, yeah. And if you keep telling me in that damn simpering voice that I’m ill, I will tear your fucking throat out — are we clear?”
Shuggie sat in silence, his dead heart heavy in his chest. How the mighty have fallen.
“Ok, Commander, if ye ur so convinced she is real, then describe her tae me. If she’s not the old...” he decided it was politic not to add decrepit, coffin dodging and ancient out of his sentence, “...woman from last night, then tell me what you think she looks like.”
“It’s not what I think she looks like, it’s exactly how she looks,” Xavier grumbled petulantly as he snatched the bottle of Scotch back off of Shuggie and drank straight from the bottle. “Friera is about four foot eleven inches and fifty kilograms, long curly brown hair and a light olive complexion. Large brown eyes, and slim but curvy build.” The more Xavier started to describe her, the softer his voice became as he pictured her in his mind’s eye. “I’d say she was early to mid-twenties, and has a soft Italian accent.”
Shuggie stilled.
The woman that Xavier was describing bore no relation to the old woman Friera that he thought had been the object of Xavier’s obsession. She sounded almost exactly like...but no, it couldn’t possibly be…could it? For the description was a dead ringer for the little vampire he bumped into outside the restaurant last night. And her name wasn’t Friera. She called herself Alicia.
“Look, ah think ye shud get some kip, Commander. It’s been a long day fur both of us. I’ll get back tae work on your bank accounts, and trying to get intae the laptop ye gave meh. By the time ye awake, we shud huv mo
re answers.”
Xavier eyed Shuggie suspiciously, at his change in tone and subject. But Shuggie was right, all he wanted to do was get some shut eye as his head felt as though it was about to implode. Once this mission was over, hell would freeze over before he ever set foot in Mexico again, he promised himself that.
Sitting at his desk, Shuggie was typing furiously on the laptop that Xavier had given him two days before telling him it was Friera’s. Whilst he worked on it, his own computer was still working on configurations tracing the money trail of Xavier’s various bank accounts. Time meant nothing as he concentrated on his work. He needed to find out if the woman that Xavier had described as Friera was, in fact, the little vampire Alicia that he had met. If so, that would open up a whole storm of questions that he feared may be unable to be answered.
“Shite.”
Shuggie stared at the laptop as lists of drives and files finally appeared on the screen. There had been an attempt to clean the laptop of certain drives, but he had managed to retrieve them.
“Fucking shite.”
The owner of the laptop was to an Alicia Carberletti. His little vampire was called Alicia. So therefore, Friera was Alicia. Alicia was a vampire.
“Jesus Fucking Shite.”
Staring at the screen would get him precisely nowhere, but Shuggie was unable to tear his eyes away. He zoned in on the name, and started putting the pieces of the puzzle together bit by bit.
“That’s why she couldnae be seen on the CCTV or cell phone,” he muttered under his breath. “She’s a fucking vampire - we cannae be caught on any electrical recording devices.” This had always been a plus in Shuggie’s book — the ability to keep almost complete anonymity — but now? Now he found it irritating. He should have thought of that first instead of writing the Commander off as a looney tune!
But something was amiss. If ‘Friera’ was actually the vampire ‘Alicia’ then how the fuck did Xavier keep meeting her in the daylight? His first encounter was when she ran him off the road, just as the dawn was rising. The second time was late afternoon at the docks — and Xavier had said she was sunbathing on top of a container when he found her.
Leaning back in his chair, he scrubbed his face with his hands.
She gave me a weird look when ah said ah hud tae leave cos the sun was risin. This didn’t make any sense whatsoever. In the park when he was talking to her, she looked bemused when he made his excuses to leave as though she had nae fear o’the sun! Shuggie shook his head slowly.
“This cannae be right. It jist cannae be right at aw!”
Determined to get to the bottom of the puzzle, he shut the laptop down, let his computer keep running and flashed from the base to the park where he met the little vampire, hoping that she would still be hanging about the area.
Chapter Thirty Four
The park was deserted, and there had been no signs that Alicia had returned to the place. Shuggie was an ancient vampire. He would have been able to sense a youngling in the air if she had been there. Deciding to retrace his steps back towards the old town, to the restaurant where their paths first crossed, he hoped his instincts were right.
“Gotcha.”
A sly smirk formed on his mouth as he heard a soft female Italian voice talking soothingly to someone. He would bet his left ball that it was Alicia, mesmerising her dinner for the night. Casually walking down the alley to the side of the restaurant, he stood with his arms crossed.
“A wee bit peckish the night, youngling?”
Just as Alicia was about to strike the vein of the mortal males’ neck she heard the deep familiar voice from days before. Hugh was behind her. Telling her dinner to run off and never remember their encounter, she slowly turned around to look up at her new friend.
“Hugh! Well isn’t this a lovely surprise seeing you again. How are you faring this lovely evening?”
“Fair tae middlin’ lass.” His smirk turned into an easy smile as he walked towards her. “But ye didnae huv to stop yer dinner jist fer me, Alicia. Ye need tae keep yer strength up.” Shuggie thought to himself — especially if you are out in the damn sunlight — but kept his expression masked.
“You mustn't concern yourself with me Sir, I shall feed later on. It’s rude to converse with your mouth full as my Madre always reminded me. Manners are everything.” Alicia gave the giant towering over her a genuine smile as she popped a lolly into her mouth.
“Wud ye permit me to escort ye through the town tonight. Maybe we cud find some grub the gither?” Holding out his arm towards Alicia, he gave a short bow.
Alicia gave out a soft laugh as she curtsied in front of Hugh, raising to her full height which was dwarfed by the gentleman, she hooked her arm through his offering one.
“That would be delightful Sir, lead the way.”
“Ah kin assure ye the pleasure is aw mine,” he said leading his young protégé through the town at a leisurely pace pointing out random areas of interest. He tried to form a mind bond with her to see if he could unlock her secrets and determine if she was, in fact, one of the fabled. Sanguis-solis…Latin for Blood Sun. He had heard of them through the years, but had always thought them the vampire form of urban myth. He frowned slightly, as he couldn’t tap into her thoughts.
That a vampire as old and skilled as he was unable to mind-bond with such an inexperienced youngling was as surprising to him as it was alarming. All the signs were pointing to this little vampire being something very special indeed. Was she a new breed? Or was she something other than vampire?
“So, lass, tell meh how often dae ye need tae feed when yer in climates such as this?” Shuggie kept his tone light, but he was wanting answers.
No, he was needing answers.
“Well Sir, I normally feed every third day but in this heat and after a strenuous day of soaking up the sun, I tend to re-fuel daily. How often do you feed?” Alicia smiled as Hugh was taking slow steps so that she could keep up with him, enjoying their conversation and the fact she finally had someone to talk to about who she truly was.
Not wanting to lie to the little vampire, he answered without hesitation. “Well, lass, I am a very auld man, so ah only need tae feed once every three months, although ah dae like tae snack!”
Shuggie let the information that Alicia was imparting process. It was obvious that she didn’t realise how unique she was. It also made some sort of sense to him that if she was a Sangulis-solis that her intake of blood would be far in excess of what would be deemed normal for any younglings of her age.
“Dae ye huv a preference? Male or female blood?” Shuggie enquired as he spotted a young courting couple about five hundred meters ahead of them.
“Males, only ever males. Females are too bitchy and I can’t be bothered with the mesmerisation of them. I never kill them, just drink and send them on their merry way!”
Alicia wanted to ask him his preference but her Madre’s words rang in her head to not interrupt when someone was trying to converse with you.
Nodding in understanding, Shuggie led Alicia towards the couple who were in their early twenties. The street was deserted but for them, and he wondered how skilful she was at mesmerisation as he remembered her telling him that she had had no tutelage from her Maker. “Dae ye want tae compel both o’them, Alicia?” Standing back and giving her an encouraging look.
“I’m sorry what do you mean Hugh? That’s not even possible… is it?” Alicia looked up, her brown eyes full of confusion and thinking Hugh had lost his marbles.
Just as I thought, Shuggie mused, this little vampire has been self-taught on everything, and has no notion of her true capabilities, never mind how unique and special she was.
“Aye, Alicia it is possible, an ah will teach ye if ye will permit it?” Taking her enquiring look as acceptance of his offer, Shuggie leaned down to speak into Alicia’s ear. “Always start wi’ the human who is more dominant. In this case, ye kin tell the male is henpecked. The woman hus him wrapped aroon her wee finger. Start to mesmeri
se her, but jist afore you complete it, turn yer attention tae the weaker one. Fully mesmerise him then finish the mesmerisation oan the dominant one, an then ye are free tae take yer time wi’ yer feeding.” Giving a small nudge to her lower back, he stood and watched as she hesitantly took her first steps forward.
Alice felt her self-confidence leave her and she froze momentarily. What the hell was she doing? She was not prepared to feed in front of anyone, especially her new friend.
“Please could you turn around Hugh?” She whispered so that Hugh could hear her.
Shuggie gave a reverent bow and did as she bid, a sense of pride suddenly catching him unawares.
Alicia discreetly undid the catch to her bracelet and holding it in the palm of her hand, she made her way towards the couple that were heading in her direction. She moved her hand to present the bracelet in front of her.
“I’m ever so sorry to bother you, but my bracelet has come off! I don’t want to lose it, could you help me secure it back on my wrist please?” Her sweet demeanour was enough to get the couple to stop and as they looked at the gold in her hand.
Alicia had initially stumbled across the fact that she could mesmerise people by accident. It took her a good year after discovering that she was a vampire, to master what she referred to as ‘ipnotizzare’ and it all started when her bracelet fell from her wrist and she almost went into meltdown. A passing male had heard her shrieks of despair and came to her aid. As he rose to his feet with the eighteen carat antique piece balancing in the palm of his hand, he handed it to her, but as Alicia was about to thank him their eyes met and she saw his pupils starting to go larger in size. After muttering some instruction to him, she became aware that he was like her puppet, doing everything she commanded. She often did wonder what happened to him and the others that she ‘ipnotizzared’ in the early days. She only learned through time that you actually need to tell the puppets to forget her when she was finished or else the poor mortals would have ended up in a mental asylum
The Heist Page 10
