The men were unimpressed by her story, but considering the loss of lives she had mentioned, Michael waited a few respectful moments before he said: “Trust me, there’s nothing lurking in this alley that the three of us couldn’t handle.” He uttered a loud laugh, which held a menacing edge. Then he hugged me tightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”
I ignored all my instincts and followed them, though I was loath to do so. I hate the feeling you get when you just know you’re heading into trouble. “No problem so far,” Michael announced when we’d walked a little further. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so premature.
“We can change that,” a deep voice came from behind, followed by malicious laughter. Dark silhouettes stepped from the shadows behind and in front of us. They were dressed in leather, armed with heavy iron rods or knives, five men on each side. Their heads were shaved blank. Frightened, I took a step to one side and shot Michael an accusing glance, but he appeared unimpressed. Didn’t he realize we were in danger?
Sarah stood in front of me, stiff with fear. I reached out, grabbed her by the shoulder, and pulled her closer to me. She was shaking. “Don’t be scared,” Alessandro whispered lovingly into her ear and put a comforting arm around her.
Michael gave me a fearless smile and a wink, then a quick kiss on the mouth. Afterwards everything went down so fast I could hardly process what was happening. What I registered was that our companions seized the initiative. Most of the skinheads were lying on the ground whimpering within seconds. One of the attackers came at me, but before he could reach me, Michael grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him backwards. I was frozen in place and could only watch. My arms and legs felt numb and useless. I must have looked terrified, which I was, because Michael tried to catch my eyes, aiming to calm me down with an encouraging smile and a whispered “Have no fear.” The effect of this gesture was nullified by the fact that one of the attackers suddenly rammed a knife between his shoulder blades. I couldn’t even scream. I simply stood there, utterly motionless. The only effect the knife seemed to have on Michael was that his mood darkened visibly. He whipped around, grabbed the stabber by his collar, and ended the melee by hurling him through the air. The guy landed at least ten meters away from us.
Phillipe and Alessandro were greatly amused. They laughed and teased: “Ooh, Michael, did the mean human hurt you?” They seemed to find it hilarious that Michael had been injured by an ordinary person. Almost as if he was no human being himself. But he was, wasn’t he?
I slowly stepped closer and went on tiptoe, trying to get a better view of his shoulder. The wound had healed a good deal already. Could this be an older injury? It was obvious that a knife had pierced his skin. The area around the wound was blood-stained and reddened. But it didn’t look fresh, so I scanned his back for another puncture. In vain, for there were none. Perplexed, I circled him, looked him in the eye and asked softly: “What are you?”
He held my gaze, but didn’t answer, instead using his palm to gently caress my cheek. I shook my head and tried to focus on the here and now, staring at the men that were strewn around the alley, whining and whimpering. Had Sarah and I been on our own, we wouldn’t have survived the evening, I was certain of that. It slowly dawned on me what had transpired here. My stomach clenched painfully, my knees buckled, and I slumped onto the asphalt. One of our companions pulled me to my feet again. Embarrassed by my girlish reaction, I looked around. Sarah was shaking violently, and Alessandro did what he could to calm her down. It took me a moment to realize that Michael was speaking to me in a soothing voice: “No need to be scared anymore, you’re safe. We’re all safe.”
“I know, I’m not scared.” My voice sounded strange, as if coming from far away.
“But then why are you still looking so worried? We’re safe now.”
With a nod of my head I indicated the skinheads on the ground. “I’m simply wondering how we’re supposed to explain that to the police.”
“Don’t concern yourself with that!” He was obviously used to giving orders, for now he turned to Alessandro and said: “You go ahead with the girls. We’ll take care of the rest. Phillipe, you know the drill.”
Alessandro had no problem following Michael’s instruction. Quite the contrary, he nodded gravely and then led us away from the scene of the fight.
I had a sudden intuition. “Are they going to kill the men?” I had blurted it out before thinking it through. As soon as the words had left my mouth, I realized how dangerous and hopefully absurd the question was. They wouldn’t kill anyone, would they?
Alessandro thought about that for a moment. Before he answered, his lips moved silently. “No, they’re not going to kill them. I guess they’ll put a spell on them and take away their memories. Maybe they’ll even call EMS. Anything else would be unnecessary and too much of a bother.”
“Putting spells on people, okay, and then we’re crossing the rainbow bridge, right?” I expected him to burst into laughter and admit that he’d merely been joking, but he didn’t. I grew more curious. “Say you really have such abilities, say that magic really exists, wouldn’t that be a secret?”
“Yes, and? Melanie, what is your point?”
“Well, why did you just tell me about it then?”
“Because once those guys have been taken care of, we’ll do the same thing to you and her.”
“What if I escape before you get a chance? Not that I’m against forgetting this experience.”
“Trust me, you can’t escape,” he said, and his eyes challenged me to go ahead and try.
“So my initial impression wasn’t wrong at all.”
“Apparently.”
Sarah ignored our exchange. She was nestled in Alessandro’s arms and seemed to revel in that sensation. How could she be this indifferent? Her behavior had me stumped, so I looked at him for an explanation. “She can’t hear us. I magically camouflaged our conversation. She’d only be more deeply frightened by it. We can take her memory, but there will always be a residue of her emotions. And I want her to feel comfortable and happy.”
Maybe Alessandro wasn’t such a bad guy after all. He really seemed to care about Sarah. My peace of mind was an entirely different matter. “But you’re not afraid of frightening me, are you?” I joked, though I was grateful that he was giving me answers at all.
“That is Michael’s problem.”
I didn’t know what he was trying to tell me, and I wasn’t in the shape to rack my brain, so I changed the subject. “Last week in the club, Michael and Phillipe thought I couldn’t hear them. They camouflaged their conversation, didn’t they?”
“You’re cleverer than you look.”
I gave him a grim look before turning away.
What if they couldn’t put a spell on me and take my memory away? After all, they obviously couldn’t disguise their conversations from me either. Fortunately these men seemed confident about their abilities.
Michael’s house was too large for that term. It was more of a mansion, surrounded by a sprawling garden. Such a property in Salzburg was virtually unaffordable. It was so dark that I could barely discern any details about house and garden, merely their size and dimension. I really didn’t care what the building looked like, as long as it was warm inside. Michael and Phillipe joined us in front of the entrance.
“Can we finally go inside? I’m cold!” I implored them, half frozen stiff.
Alessandro shrugged his shoulders. “I think we should take their memories first.”
Michael nodded. “Right. Why don’t you start with Sarah? I’d like to talk to Melanie before I do,” he explained, giving me a meaningful look.
I was cold. I didn’t want to spend any more time freezing out here. “Can’t we go where it’s warm?” He opened his coat, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled the coattails tight around my back. What a romantic gesture! I felt a lot more comfortable right away.
Alessandro had already begun manipulating Sarah’s memory. He was standing before her
murmuring, explaining that nothing had happened on the way here.
“Nothing happened,” she repeated, trance-like. Then they went into the house, followed by Phillipe.
Michael stood a head taller than me, though I wasn’t exactly short. He looked down at me as I looked up at him. “How did you know that those guys were lying in wait for us? Do you know them?” He waited for my answer and studied me intently. No twitch of mine would escape him.
“As I said, I simply had a bad feeling. I trust my gut instincts. I wanted to take a different route because the alley seemed wrong. That is all. I can’t explain any better.”
He seemed to look right through me when he asked: “So last week at the club, you overheard every word we spoke?”
Then it hit me: I’d forgotten something! How could I have missed that? I answered his question with a casual affirmative, pulled out of his embrace, and stepped around him to take another look at his injury, but it was gone. I wanted to ask him how that was possible, but he turned to face me again and started to murmur. He had begun to put his spell on me, too. When he explained to me that nothing out of the ordinary had happened on the way here, I slowly realized that it didn’t work. What would they do to me once they figured out they couldn’t manipulate my memory? So far they hadn’t acted violently with us at all, but I knew they were capable of violence, so I didn’t want to risk anything. I tried to emulate Sarah’s expression and voice, but I had to suppress a grin. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened.”
He studied me with a suspicious glint in his narrowed eyes, but then he nodded and pulled me into the house with him. He was obviously satisfied that I was under his spell. I stumbled after him, stiff with cold. When he discovered a man sitting at one of the tables inside, he let go of me and asked me to leave him alone with his friend Daniel for a minute. Daniel struck me as eldritch. Looking at him I immediately had a mental image of him biting a woman and drinking her blood. Sometimes my vivid imagination really went overboard! Maybe I simply had a problem with beautiful people, because he was incredibly handsome as well. His T-shirt was molded by his abs and biceps, and his black hair made his manly face appear even more masculine. On the other hand I already knew that there was something weird and uncanny about all of them, so it was probably a good idea to keep my distance. I heeded Michael’s request and left them alone.
I wanted to find Sarah anyway. I found her in the adjacent room. She was already a little too tipsy, and was chatting with Alessandro, Birgit, and Stefan. I joined them and took in the room. I’m not an expert when it comes to furniture and their cost, but I was sure that everything in here was exquisite and expensive. The large parlor had at least five wide windows with deep, upholstered window seats. They looked very cozy and inviting. A large stereo provided music, and one table was loaded with all kinds of beverages and snacks. I was somewhat relieved to see that this party appeared like any old student weekend bash. I’d half expected to see a barman and other wait staff.
“This has sure turned into an interesting evening, don’t you think?” I whispered to Sarah, when the others were not paying attention. She gave me a lascivious smile. “And the evening isn’t over yet.” I had to giggle, for this was vintage Sarah.
Stefan left us and then returned with a tray filled with shots of Tequila. He handed us a glass each. “To a wild night,” he toasted, and we had little choice but to drink with him. Even though it was clear that he wasn’t interested in me, he compelled me to drink four more Tequila shots.
It didn’t take long for Alessandro and Sarah to disappear into one of the little alcoves that were perfect for necking. I continued to chat with Phillipe, Birgit, and Stefan. The former seemed to have lost all interest in me, a fact that I was actually relieved about, since he simply wasn’t my type. My head was slowly beginning to spin. I had drunk alcohol at the restaurant and now here. I felt a little too intoxicated for my own taste, and declined any further drinks they offered me. After a while, the guests all seemed to split into pairs and retire upstairs, or into the window alcoves. Stefan and Birgit were too well-mannered to leave me alone, so I made the first move, taking a seat in one of the niches and thus giving them a chance to go wherever they wanted. I let my gaze travel the room tiredly, until I nodded off, slumped back against the wall.
Suddenly I felt a gentle hand caressing my cheek. Alarmed by the evening’s events, I opened my eyes with a gasp. I couldn’t think straight, but I realized I was looking into Michael’s sympathetic face. A mischievous smile played on his lips, before he lowered his head slowly. I couldn’t move, and when I felt his warm lips descend on mine, I offered myself up to his tenderness. Surprised by the sensation his touch elicited, I felt my body strain against his. My arms were no longer under my control; they wrapped around his neck of their own accord. His fingers touched my breasts with slight pressure, and my body erupted in goose bumps. His eyes were burning with desire, and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to resist him. He was emboldened by my reaction, because my hips pressed against him without inhibition, so he opened the button of my jeans. That was the moment I could seize my first rational thought since waking up. I had resolved not to sleep with him. Not after everything that had transpired. And least of all in a room filled with other people. Even though it took me more self-restraint than I thought I possessed, I pushed away his hand, gently but firmly, and buttoned my pants again. I was afraid my passion would cloud my judgment again, so I pulled away and glanced helplessly at my watch. It was twenty to three. If we wanted to get home before morning, we’d have to hurry to catch the last night bus. I spied Sarah and her beau heading upstairs, ready to slip into one of the rooms there. I turned my back on Michael and called after her: “Sarah, we have to leave now if we want to get home.”
“I’m sleeping here!” She came back to me and whispered in my ear: “I’m fucking Alessandro tonight.” Sarah was relatively cavalier when it came to sex, but normally she didn’t hop into bed with a stranger that quickly, and the few times she had done so, she’d regretted it in the morning.
“Are you sure? I mean, as drunk as you are right now?” I wanted to know.
She gave me an annoyed look. “Of course. I just told you. I know what I’m doing.”
Michael’s arms snaked around my waist from behind and gently pulled me back against him. His lips tickled my ear like the touch of a feather. “She’s an adult; let her do as she pleases.” As if sensing the fight between reason and passion inside me, he gingerly turned me around to face him, and then kissed any shred of common sense from my mind. When his hands slipped underneath my blouse and started caressing my breasts, I reveled in the sensation. I was sitting on his lap now, and when I felt that he was aroused by what he touched, my resolve melted like ice in the sun. I pushed him away in a last feeble attempt at regaining control. “My last bus leaves in a few minutes. I really should go!” It was my only chance to get away from him, before my body would betray me completely.
He looked at me with an affectionate smile. “Why don’t you sleep here?” I exhaled heavily and wanted to decline, but then he added: “You can have your own bedroom if that’s what you want.” The smile came to my lips of its own accord.
“There you go, you can stay and everything will be fine,” he continued, his voice tender but also triumphant, before he kissed me again. If it hadn’t been for my ever-active subconscious, no force on earth could have torn me away from him then. But a sudden sense of dread and danger that crept up my spine like a snake made of ice dragged me back to reality. I pushed him away. He wanted to say something, but I put a finger to his lips. “Something is wrong.”
He searched my face. “Do you have an intuition again?”
His body stiffened as he went on high alert. This time he took me seriously. Only now did I realize that we were the only people left in the cavernous room. I heard someone step on broken glass. Only seconds later, a terrifying figure loomed over us and hurled Michael across the room. The intruder moved so fast, I co
uld hardly follow him with my eyes. The same applied to Michael now. They growled at each other like snarling dogs. Then I heard noises of combat and struggle coming from the upstairs rooms. The attacker shoved Michael against the wall with the force of a catapult, and the latter slumped to the floor. My gaze was mesmerized by the knife the stranger held in his hand. His lip was split, and his wild stare told me that he was fighting to kill. My gaze flitted back and forth between Michael and his opponent. I hectically grabbed a chair and smashed it against his back. He didn’t seem injured at all, but I had drawn his attention. He backhanded me so hard that I was kicked into the opposite corner of the room. When I came to, Michael held one of the jagged chair legs in his hand, wielding it like a weapon. With one of his preternaturally fast movements, he rammed the sharp end of the wooden stake into the attacker’s chest. Then several things happened simultaneously: Sarah came running down the stairs, and Daniel bolted towards us from the neighboring entrance hall, followed by two of the intruders. One of them was badly injured. His belly was ripped open, and he had another horrible wound near his collarbone. He never stopped once he entered the parlor, but pounced on Sarah and bit down into her neck. Sarah started to scream like a madwoman. Daniel and Michael were engaged with the second attacker. “He’s under a spell; don’t kill him if you can help it!” Daniel yelled.
I stood there petrified for a long time, while the stranger drank Sarah’s blood. For a moment I couldn’t feel myself anymore. It was as if my brain couldn’t process quickly enough what was happening. Scenes from a horror movie, which I needed to dismiss as fiction for the sake of my own sanity. He held Sarah in an iron grip, and she was unable to move away from him. I flew at him and tried to tear him away from her with all the strength I had in me. He waved his hand as if swatting a fly, hit me in the chest, and I fell backwards, landing on my butt. I ran at him again, this time head-on, throwing myself against him with my full body weight. My hands were on his shoulders and I saw that I had taken him by surprise. He swayed a little, tore his mouth away from Sarah’s neck, and looked me straight in the eye. There was no time for thinking this through, so I followed my instinct. While his eyes bored into mine, I yelled: “Enough! Wake up now!” I was certain I would be dead within seconds, but he merely blinked several times, and his expression changed, betraying confusion. Then he grabbed me by the arms and sat me down on the floor. He took a step backwards, analyzed the situation, and decided that Daniel and Michael needed help, because they were still dealing with the other attacker. I crawled over to where my friend was lying motionless on the floor. There was a blood-covered bite mark on her neck, two deep holes from his canines. I stroked her cheek helplessly. “Sarah, please wake up. Come on, girl, open your eyes,” I pleaded. Then I cried for help, feeling despair wash over me. Daniel knelt next to me and studied her with an indifferent expression. “She should survive.”
Peris Night: Terakon (Secret Language) Page 3
