“Know any good locksmiths?” I joked, as I continued to hide behind the protection of the rack of clothes.
“Not funny,” Frederick retorted from his crouched hiding place at the rack next to mine.
I’d never heard haughty before, but I doubted I could mistake his voice for anything else. “I really wasn’t trying to be funny,” I said, hoping to placate him. “I’m sorry about pushing you. It’s just…Marcus and I had a little mind-altering incident on the way over here, and I’m still a bit touchy on the subject, and I guess I over-reacted.”
Frederick’s eyes narrowed as he glared at me. “Just get out of my store,” he hissed.
“I’ll spend more of Marcus’s money if you let me stay,” I offered, trying to look coy and fluttering my eyes innocently at him.
He turned from me and looked pointedly over at my discarded pile of hard-won, as-close-to-normal clothes as I was ever going to get in this store.
“Those are all too big for you. I told you the sizes you needed, though why you want more clothes I simply don’t know. Marcus bought you lots of…”
I rose up on my knees, and Frederick’s voice trailed off as I grabbed the hem of the black sweater I was wearing and pulled it off.
“This is what Marcus bought for me to wear,” I said, staring at him stolidly while internally cringing for being seen in a metallic green skin tight tee and low hung blue jeans. “I’ve got tons of crap like this. I want something I can be comfortable in,” I told him. Then I noticed the little vampire shopkeeper’s mouth hanging open. Oh crap. Not again.
“Pose for me!”
“What?” Slightly stunned by his outburst, I held the black sweater back in front of me. “What did you just say?”
“I have something here that you have got to try on,” he said, grabbing at my wrist determinedly.
We kept low and scrambled back to the fitting rooms, away from the deadly sunlight still streaming into the front of the store.
“Keep the pants on. I’ll find you a shirt that will go with your coloring, and I’ll be right back,” he said, pushing me into a dressing room and slamming the door behind me.
I had barely peeled myself out of my shirt when the door reopened and he stepped inside with me. I was impressed. That little vampire could sure move when he wanted to.
He had brought several silk shirts of different styles and colors with him, and he held them up to my face one by one, grabbing my pony-tail to compare it against each color and shaking his head. Finally he thrust a gold shirt at me, gathered up the others, and slammed the door behind him as he left again. Okay…
Pulling the shirt on I was amazed at how nice it felt on my skin. I ran my fingers over the arms, relishing the silky softness. It felt really, really nice. I buttoned it up and brushed my hands over my stomach, edging lower. Ooh, maybe a little too nice.
I jumped when the door opened again.
“No, no, no!” Frederick grumbled as he unbuttoned every button I’d done up, except for the one right at my navel. “Oh good, you’re not hairy,” he exclaimed delightedly, and I jumped again as he ran his hand down my chest. I actually started to feel like a side of beef, the way he was appraising me, but I could tell he wasn’t even aware he was doing it. “Okay, now try this,” he said as he held up a full length leather coat in front of me.
It was a severe cut, and it fitted perfectly. Like the shirt, it was nice to touch, feeling buttery soft on my fingers. But I gave a small sigh when I realized that there was only one fastener which did up right at the navel too.
Frederick backed away, his hands at his mouth, his eyes agog. “Oh yes. Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes! You look gorgeous!”
That didn’t sound good. I got embarrassed and started to take the coat off, but Frederick held up his hand in a stop motion. “Oh please. You have to. I will not take no for an answer,” he said, pulling the coat back in place on my arms.
“What are you talking about?”
“Modeling; exclusively, for the store.”
Was he kidding me? Just because I was trim and could see my feet now, didn’t mean anything. “Modeling? I don’t know anything about modeling,” I protested.
He ignored me. “Cock your left hip out. Take one step back with your right foot. Put your hand in your right pocket. See, you can do it. Please say you will do it. I have been looking for the right image for years.” Frederick was getting so excited, his body actually vibrated.
“I’m not a model. I do like this coat though,” I admitted. It had to be the softest animal hide I’d ever worn to date. And there was something about the smell of this leather that made me want to keep sniffing at it. The leather pants that Marcus had picked out for me just weren’t the same. Yeah, sure they smelled the same but what I mean is…this coat was something I would have picked out for myself. And that made all the difference.
“Take it as a gift in exchange for one day. One session. One roll of film!” Frederick clasped his hands together, waiting for my answer.
“Hit the afterburners, Frederick. I said no.”
“I’ll buy you sweatpants. And cotton tee-shirts. Flannel shirts, or whatever you want. You want baggy rapster pants? I can get them.” He leaned in, his voice becoming low and conspiring. “You want bowling shirts? I can get silk. I can even get them embroidered. I have contacts down in Chinatown and you should see the quality of embroidery they do. Tres Cool.” He kissed his fingertips for embellishment.
“One roll of film, eh?”
“One roll. No more, no less.”
“Make up?”
“Yes. Understated. I don’t need you made up like a whore.”
“When?”
“Saturday. I can have your stuff ready for you by then.”
“Deal.”
Frederick shook my hand and then, leaving me behind in the dressing room, he went and picked up the items of clothing from off the floor that I had dropped earlier. Following after him, I noticed that the store was back to its non death-ray status. His human assistant must have shut the door, and it now had a chair propped against it to keep it closed.
After he had stacked the tee-shirts and baggy pants back where I’d found them, Frederick began rummaging through the racks and pulled out another size of jeans for me.
“There is no way I am allowing you to walk out of my store with ill fitting garments,” he said. “This brand tends to run a little bit more roomy. You should be comfortable in them.”
I stood and watched as he picked out tee-shirts, holding them up in front of himself, framing me and imagining me dressed in them. Then depending on whether or not they met his approval, they were either pushed into my arms or set back in the racks.
“Your skin is too pale to wear white, your hair too auburn to wear reds—clashy and garish. Trust me Xavier, I do know my product. The next time Marcus comes in purchasing clothes for you, I know just what to steer him away from now.”
I opened my mouth to say something then snapped it shut. I used to hate it when non-computer people would argue with me about my work. I always felt like they were belittling my talents. What the hell did I know about fashion? Frederick seemed to know what he was talking about, and I suppose, as long as what he picked for me didn’t cling, I’d be happy with it.
Grabbing my wrist, Frederick dragged me after him and deposited me back in the changing room before motoring off to gather more appropriate casual clothes for me to try on. I changed into each and every outfit he brought and by the time I was dressed in my “street” clothes again, he had everything rung up and bagged. I handed him the leather coat and gold shirt that I liked so much and he folded and boxed them up too, slipping them into another black shopping bag. There were a lot of black bags at my feet.
“What was Marcus looking at?” I asked curiously, walking over to the jewelry counter and looking down in through the glass panelled top.
“Diamond cuff links, these ‘M’ and ‘X’ ones,” Frederick replied, coming over to point them out. I bla
nched at the price displayed. That would have been my salary for a whole year in my old job. Those cufflinks were going to have to stay there.
“You have some nice stuff, Frederick,” I said ruefully, knowing I would never have been able to afford a single item of any of it if spending my own money.
“Thank you, Master Xavier.”
I looked up at him. “Master?”
“Marcus owns this territory. He is the Master here, and you are his mate. Therefore you get the same title, even though in your case it is honorary. Pardon me for being curious, but how old are you?”
“What’s today? I asked.
“The fourteenth,” he answered.
“I mean, the actual day.”
“Wednesday.”
“Then four.”
“You’re four years old?”
“Four days.”
“That’s good…four days.” Frederick’s eyes widened. “But Marcus started buying your clothes eight months ago.”
I smiled, a little embarrassed. The big vampire had been confident right from the start that he was going to get his skinny little bride.
A horn sounded from outside, and through the window we could see a large van had pulled up with the word, Locksmith, painted on its side. The door to the store opened easily, even though it was blocked, and Darius stepped in carefully, closing the door quickly as both Frederick and I pushed ourselves into a dark corner behind the cash register.
“Master Marcus sends the locksmith with his apologies, Frederick,” he called out. “Are you finished here yet, Master Xavier? I am to take you back to the manor if you ready.”
Darius could withstand sunlight, so that made him old I thought to myself as I scrambled out of my hiding place and glanced over at Frederick asking, “What time do you want me on Saturday?”
“How about 6:00pm? The sun will have started going down then. Will your eyes be fully healed?”
“I sure as hell hope so,” I answered. Although I could see alright at the moment, there was still a slight stinging in my eyes, and the golden rectangle flared up occasionally, blurring my vision.
“Oh, and bring the coat with you when you come back,” Frederick called out as I was setting my dark goggles to sit on top of my head.
“See ya.”
“Thank you for your business, Master Xavier.”
Frederick lifted a hand to his chest and made a slight bow to me. That was awkward. Was I supposed to bow back? He was older but then, he had called me Master.
Darius came forward to take the bags from me that I had picked up, but I waved him away. “Just get the door open. I don’t want to blind myself again,” I told him.
“You were injured, Sir?” There was a hint of alarm in his voice.
“My own fault, I broke my sunglasses. But I got better ones now,” I smiled, giving my head a small jerk The goggles slipped down over my eyes and I blinked everything into focus just as Darius walked out of the store, climbed into the driver’s seat and…drove the limo away.
“Uh…what the hell?”
Frederick peered over the counter, as perplexed as I was. “Should I call you a cab?”
“I don’t know where I live.”
“You don’t know where you live? Can you call?”
“I don’t know the number.”
“You’ve been with Marcus for a year…” Frederick’s voice trailed off. How did I explain that my time with Marcus had been boot camp hell? He’d made me thin. He’d made me beautiful, if what he kept saying was true. But Marcus hadn’t ever made a heck of a lot of conversation.
“Yeah well, we didn’t do a lot of talking,” I said, which was true.
“I’d say.” Frederick’s eyebrows rose up in a knowing way.
The limo suddenly reappeared, backing up onto the sidewalk with the back door parked directly at the entrance to the store. Darius stepped out from the front of the limo, and coming inside, he took the parcels from my hands and headed back outside, opening up the rear car door and tossing the bags onto the passenger seat.
“Well, whatever else you did besides talking went a long way with the staff,” Frederick remarked. I could tell that the clothier was impressed.
“Yeah, pity goes a long way,” I answered, giving him a quick wave before leaving his store and jumping into the back of the car, pulling the door shut behind me.
Darius had already walked around to the other side and was getting back into the drivers seat. I waited until he pulled onto the road before speaking to him, pushing at the button that controlled the black cabin divider and then shifting sideways quickly as a ray of light streamed into the back of the car.
“Where’s Marcus?”
“You don’t have to worry about the sun while in the car, Master Xavier. All high ranked members and Heads of the House have special glass that filters out the harmful rays,” he assured me before answering my question. “Master Marcus has gone to the Council. There had been a young Blood up on the roof of the building opposite Frederick’s that was paying too much attention to you. My instructions are to take you straight back to the manor.”
I felt a sharp stabbing twinge in the corner of an eye and I winced. “We got to stop at a pharmacy first.”
“Sir?”
“I need to get some medical supplies for my eyes,” I told him. I really didn’t want Marcus spitting in them again. Sterile eye drops would work just fine for me from now on.
“I can come back and get you some after I drop you off at home.”
I frowned. There was a little quiver of fear in his voice that hadn’t been there before.
“Am I in danger, Darius?”
“Master Marcus asked that I drive you straight to the manor, with no deviations.”
“I’m going to take that to be a yes…Darius, watch out!”
If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you’ll know what I mean when I say there are certain noises that are strangely familiar and oddly frightening at the same time. It was like that for me now as, my body slamming forward and hitting the partition hard as the other car slammed head on into us, I heard the sound of tearing metal on metal and the front windshield shattering. Within seconds I was already being tossed backwards and I felt the broken windshield glass land on my face and neck.
The whole back of the limo lifted up and then slammed back onto the street and I ended up landing hard on the carpeted floor. I was surprised I didn’t end up with a concussion. The smashing together of the two automobiles had totally knocked the wind of me.
My sunglasses were gone, and I could feel the shafts of the burning sun searing into the car. There was no protection for my eyes now. “Darius?” I called weakly. I could barely say anything as I lay on the floor.
“Run, Xavier…Run!”
Hearing the desperation in his voice, I didn’t need telling twice. I scrambled to my knees, my fumbling fingers finding my lost glasses. I grabbed them up, shoving them on my face quickly as I glanced frantically outside the cab. I saw three assailants pouring out of the other car and running towards the left hand door of the limo, so I flipped on my ass and kicked at the right door just as it was being wrenched open, causing it to fly like a rocket into the thug behind it, who dropped like a sack of potatoes.
One down.
I jumped out of the car and I’d made about three steps into the searing sunlight when someone snagged the back of my sweater. I grabbed my glasses off my face, shut my eyes, and then bent over, shimming myself out of the oversize garment. Free again, I started racing away from the reaching hands, running blind until I could get the sunglasses back on again. It felt like I was trying to run the one hundred metre dash in the middle of Death Valley, equipped with grabby hands all around me. What the hell was going on? Was I their target or had they been after Darius? The answer to my question was made deadly clear when I heard three gunshots ring out past my ear.
Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!
I ran like a scared Roadrunner with Wily Coyote on my tail, or lik
e a coyote with my tail on fire.
Seventeen
Lost and Found
Stick to the shadows. Stay out of the sunlight. Don’t look back. These were the words I kept chanting to myself as I continued to run. When I had first gotten out of the crashed car, I had glanced back over my shoulder to see Darius laying half in, half out of the driver’s side of the very wrecked limo. There had been blood on his face.
Trying not to think about that, I turned a corner and sprinted down an alley as fast as I could go, pushing my sunglasses back on as I ran. Now I was a vampire, I discovered that I was a hell of a lot faster on my feet. But this new speed, combined with my messed-up depth perception, made cornering a tricky business, and I clipped the edge of the building I was running past with my shoulder. Fuck that hurt!
I motored down the back street, not really running with a plan, just more of hopping from shadow to shadow, trying to keep from being sucked dry by the sun’s rays. And all the while I could hear my pursuers racing behind me.
Something fell to the ground from just in front of me, and I glanced upwards to see someone jumping across the gaps in between the buildings. Well, wasn’t that just great! Not only were they following me on the ground, but one of them was apparently running over the rooftops.
Swinging a right at the next corner, I ran straight into a wide stream of sunlight, and I staggered and fell to my knees. Thankfully, because I had thick jeans on, I saved my skin from getting some serious scraping.
I quickly scrambled back to my feet. I couldn’t see properly, even though I still had my sunglasses on. It was just too bright. In front of me, I could hear the sounds of approaching traffic that I couldn’t make out clearly, and behind me, the assailants were coming up fast. With no other choice, I ran out into the traffic and played real-life Frogger.
Horns blared and a few tires screeched, but for the most part the traffic managed to avoid running my skinny ass over, though I got smacked on the arm by an extended mirror on a moving van and ended up crashing into the far curb, where it felt as if I’d crushed my sternum. Ow.
Cake: A Blood Nation Novel (Volume 1) Page 22
