Sean doesn’t retort, his eyes catching mine.
“For God’s sake, Christine,” Roy says. “Leave the lad alone. He’s doing what he wants to do. That’s more than most people can say about their careers.”
“Yes, I know that, but I’d sleep better knowing he was safe. Don’t you agree, Freya?”
An awkward smile forms on my lips. “I’m sure Sean is careful.”
Christine mumbles something under her breath, and starts to clear the table.
“And where do you work, Freya?” Roy asks, finishing off his glass of wine. “Sean tells us you’ve been away somewhere? Working? Or just travelling?”
I stutter for a moment before answering. “Urrr...travelling.”
“Anywhere exotic?”
I shake my head, struggling to maintain eye contact. “No, just around the UK with some friends.”
“Well, I suppose it’s not safe travelling too far from home. God knows how dangerous those other countries are. I can’t imagine Spain or Italy having the HCA to protect them. I bet their cities are overrun with vampires.”
“How many times, Roy?” Christine cuts in as she wipes the crumbs from the table. “No vampire-talk in the house.”
“Sorry, love.” He finishes his drink, and then gets up with a tired moan. “Well, that’s me done for the evening. It was nice seeing you again, Freya.”
“You, too, Roy. Thanks for the drink.”
“It’s only nine, Granddad,” Sean points out.
“Got a golf trip first thing.” He leaves the room. “Goodnight, kids.”
“Let me do the dishes, Christine,” I offer. “It’s the least I can do for such a fantastic meal.”
She collects my bowl. “Don’t be silly. You’re our guest.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am. We have a dishwasher anyway.”
Sean and I sit in uncomfortable silence as Christine finishes clearing the table. Should I force myself to talk? Make it seem like I’m just a friend visiting? It’d be easier if we still had college, or had a movie or a TV show to talk about, but nothing springs to mind. Only Ben. Only The Facility.
“We have the spare room already made up for you,” Christine says. “You’re more than welcome to stay over.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine.”
“But it’s past curfew. It’s not safe out there.”
My mind tries desperately to come up with a good reason to leave, but nothing passes my lips.
“Stay over,” Sean says. “Gran’s right. It’s too dangerous out there this time of night.”
With no lies left in me, I nod. “Okay. Thank you.”
“That’s great,” she says. “I’ll give you two some privacy to catch up. If you need me, I’ll be upstairs.”
She kisses Sean on the cheek, and then leaves.
Once again, the room gets swallowed up in silence.
I sip my wine, trying to think of something to say, praying to God Sean speaks first.
I shouldn’t have come here. I should have got the directions from somewhere else.
You know why you came here. Stop lying to yourself.
You wanted to see him.
Sean walks over to the door and glances out into the hallway, and then closes it. “Let’s say you manage to climb the wall—without being seen by any guards or security cameras—how are you going to get inside the building?”
Relief washes over me when I hear his voice. “I’ll find a way in. There’s bound to be a window I could slip through.”
He shakes his head. “I doubt it.”
“A side entrance?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only been there once, and that was through the garage entrance.”
“I’ll figure something out. I always do.”
“How about you let me try to get him out myself. Or at least wait for me to get my own clearance pass from Michael. He trusts me.”
“No. This is my mess. I’m the one who has to clean it up.”
He glances up at the ceiling and lets out a frustrated sigh. “But you won’t get in, Freya. It’s built specifically to keep people out, and vampires in.”
“I don’t care! I’ve got to try!” My eyes start to well up. I dab them with my napkin, and take a hard swig of my drink, finishing the glass.
Sean pulls up a chair. “I know you do. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve been surviving on my own since Mum died. This is just another day at the office for me.”
Sean takes my hand. It feels warm. Familiar. “There may be a way inside,” he says.
I can feel my face light up with optimism. “Really?”
“Yeah. It might work.” He grabs the bottle of wine and pours himself a glass. “But you’re not gonna like it.”
8
In revulsion, I stare at my reflection as my hair drops into the sink. This is idiotic. A cold feeling of regret washes over me with every cut from the scissors.
“Maybe you could just pull your collar up to hide it,” Sean suggests.
“I can’t. You said yourself that the place is heavily guarded.” Another thick strand leaves my head, nauseating me. I look revolting. “I’ll stand out a mile in the security cameras with long blonde hair.”
Sean sighs, his face appearing behind me in the mirror, his expression filled with pity. “What happens if they catch you?”
I turn to him. “You don’t have to worry.”
“Frey, these people won’t take any crap. They’ll shoot you. Or at the very least throw you in prison.”
I hover the open blades between a piece of hair. My hand is shaking; my eyes tearing up. I drop the scissors, and then grip the edges of the sink. “It’s not like I have a choice, Sean,” I blurt out, in tears. “He’s my brother.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, pulling me in for a hug. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I know you didn’t. I’m just so tired. I keep fighting to stay alive. Fighting to keep Ben safe. But no matter what I do, I keep screwing up. Ben warned me about the farm. He knew we shouldn’t have gone there. I should have listened. And now I’ve lost him.”
“You haven’t lost him. Michael needs him alive. He knows how important he is.”
“Yeah. But for how long?” I ask, as Sean strokes the top of my back, soothing my anguish a little.
He doesn’t reply.
I come out of the hug, wiping my eyes with my sleeve. “This plan will work. It has to.”
Gathering up the scissors from the sink, I finish cutting the rest of my hair. I look like a twelve-year-old boy. What the hell would the old me say if she saw me now? She’d probably have a heart attack. Probably threaten to hack me with the scissors if I didn’t stop. “How do I look?”
Sean stands beside me, beaming. “You look stunning.”
I snort, tucking what’s left of my hair behind my ears. “You’re a good liar.”
He takes my hand and pulls me close. “I’m not lying.”
My stomach flips as he draws me even closer, until our bodies meet. “I love you,” I whisper.
“I love you, too,” he replies, just as our lips meet.
And we kiss...
Part V
SEAN RICHARDS
9
We lead the last batch of vampires along the corridor. They are dressed in orange boiler-suits, and chained to each other by their ankles and wrists. Most of them are half asleep, exhausted, dragging their shackled legs like zombies towards the back exit. The sight reminds me of those American prison movies. The ones where they’re hacking rock with pickaxes along a desert road. Why would anyone give a convict a pickaxe? Nick opens the doors, allowing the sun to fill the corridor. They scream in agony when the light hits them, covering their burning eyes with their bound wrists. It’s cruel, and it’s hard to watch, but they’ll do just about anything to get inside the lorry.
It’s better than frying to death.
“Is that all of them?�
�� I call out to him as he slams the back doors of the lorry.
“Yep. All forty-nine of them,” he announces, and then throws me a set of keys. “Go on, then. She’s all yours. But no speeding tickets or Michael will kick both our arses.”
“Thanks, Nick. You won’t regret this.” I race to the front of the vehicle and yank the door open. My stomach flips when I see Erin sitting in the driving seat. “Thought you weren’t coming in today,” I say, cagily.
“Yeah, me, too.” She snatches the keys from me. “But I wouldn’t want to miss out on another trip to The Facility.”
Body rigid with stress, I try to pinch the keys off her. “Nick said that I could drive.”
She moves them out of reach, and sniggers. “What are you? Eight? I’m driving.”
“Come on, Erin. Let me drive,” I plead. “You can drive on the way back. You’re better with directions than me. Come on, I need the practice.”
Erin snorts. “Yeah, nice try, Sean. How gullible do you think I am?”
Like lightning, I manage to pluck the keys out of her hand.
Wincing in pain, she throws me a sharp grimace. “Jesus, Sean! That hurt! What the hell’s the matter with you?”
Nick sighs like a frustrated parent. “For Christ’s sake, will you two morons shut up! Who gives a shit who drives?”
“Fine.” Erin tuts like a spoilt child, and then shuffles over to the middle seat. “But you owe me.”
There’s no victory to celebrate. Just relief that I’m struggling to contain. “Thanks, Erin,” I say, climbing onto the driving seat. “I just had my sights set on driving up. And I didn’t fancy travelling back in the dark.”
“Oh, so you’d prefer me to drive in the dark then?”
“For the love of God,” Nick cuts in, “will you get this thing on the road. Any longer and it’ll be night before we get there.”
“Sorry, Nick.” Nerves crippling my insides, I start the engine.
10
Erin has barely spoken to me the entire journey. It could be from me stealing the keys from her, but it’s probably because I’ve been so cold with her since the farm.
Does she know that Freya and I slept together last night?
No, she knows Freya would never be stupid enough to turn up at my grandparents’ house.
Erin probably thinks that my head is fuzzy from everything that’s happened. I mean, who wouldn’t be screwed up from bumping into your fugitive ex—just after you’ve shot someone in the chest. In fact, the last thing I should be getting from Erin is the cold shoulder. I should get a little sympathy, or at least some therapy.
“Take the left turn,” Nick instructs me, but I remembered from last time.
“Okay,” I reply, joining a narrow country road, the knot in my gut contracting.
“Can we stop for some food on the way home,” Erin asks Nick. “I skipped breakfast.”
“What? In this lorry? No chance,” Nick chuckles. “You can grab something at The Facility.”
I turn to Nick, confused. “I thought we were just dropping off the shipment today.”
Nick points at the windscreen. “Eyes on the road, Sean.”
My eyes shoot ahead. “Sorry.”
“Michael wants you to assist Doctor Moore with something,” Nick says.
“I thought Michael was off for a few days,” I say, my voice calm, somehow hiding the crippling anxiety.
“Nope. No rest for the wicked.”
The dread of running into Michael turns my knuckles white on the steering wheel. What if I can’t hide the guilt on my face? That’s what Michael does best. He smokes out liars, gets them to confess.
I’m screwed.
We’re almost a mile from The Facility and my mouth is bone dry with stress. I swallow hard, searching the front for a bottle of water. I can’t find one, but there’s no time to take a drink, anyway.
“Sean. There’s something on the road,” Erin says, pointing ahead.
“Oh, shit!” I slam on the brakes, bringing the lorry to a sudden halt. There’s a loud thud of bodies coming from the back.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Nick snaps, holding his neck, his face wincing with pain. “It’s just a dead cat!”
Heart pounding, I try to get my breath back. “I don’t know. I thought it was a person on the road.”
Frowning, Erin shakes her head. “See? I told you I should have driven. Now you’ve woken up the vamps.”
“Sorry, guys. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Nick warns. “But I’m sending you the bill for my chiropractor.” He cracks his neck to the side.
“Fair enough.” Exhaling, I start up the lorry and carry on towards The Facility.
Part VI
FREYA LAWSON
11
Sean pulls up to the side of the road. The engine shuts off, and the car falls silent. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks, his expression laced with worry. “We can always go back to my place, maybe think up another strategy.”
“No. This is the only option I have. When Michael’s done with his experiments, he’ll dispose of Ben.”
“You don’t know that for sure. He’s the first vampire. He’s not some half-breed off the street. He’s special. That’s got to count for something. Don’t you think?”
I shrug. “Maybe. But I can’t risk it. If he’s still alive in there, I’m busting him out.” With my plastic bag in hand, I open the car door. “This is the last time someone takes him from me.”
A part of me wishes that Michael was at The Facility today. I’d love to rip that arsehole to pieces.
No, it’s probably for the best. Revenge is a distraction that I can’t afford to have. I need to be in and out as fast and smoothly as I can.
Michael Matthias will have to wait.
Outside is calm, quiet, with just the sound of birds chirping above us. Both sides of the road are overgrown with tall grass and stingy nettles. No houses in sight. No people for miles. Well, apart from The Facility, which, according to Sean is just a mile or so along this route.
The thought of being so close to the place should be a relief. One step closer to freeing Ben. But what chance do I actually have of getting him out? A haircut and a grey boiler-suit might get me past the guards, maybe even past the first few corridors, but what happens when I reach the prison section? Sean barely knows his way around the place. He’s not exactly an expert. Christ, he doesn’t even have his own security key-card.
But, having piss-all left to lose is an advantage that Michael doesn’t have. I don’t have an army of people to help me. The police won’t free him. An expensive lawyer would be useless.
All I’ve got in my corner is Sean.
Oh, and a dead cat.
We stare into the boot, hands covering ours mouths and noses in disgust at the rotting animal. “Are you sure it’s only been dead a week?” I ask. “Smells more like a month.”
“How should I know? I didn’t kill the thing. You’ll have to ask the guy who ran over it.” He slips on a pair of gardening gloves and picks up the cat. Heaving, he carries it over to the centre of the road, and then drops it onto the tarmac.
“Thanks, Sean,” I say, almost laughing at the revulsion on his face.
“Don’t mention it,” he replies, throwing the gloves in the boot before slamming it shut. “All part of the service.”
I kiss him. “You’re awesome. Do you know that?”
Sean purses his lips. “Yeah. Funnily enough, I do.”
Laughing, I pull him in for a hug.
“So, what happens when you get him out?” he asks.
“I plan on getting as far from this place as possible.”
Sean steps away. “What about us?”
I don’t have an answer. Not yet, anyway.
“It’s fine, Freya. You don’t have to tell me right now.” He heads back to the car. “Things are just too screwed up at the moment.”
“I’ll call you when I get Ben out.
As soon as it’s safe.”
Sean smiles. “Okay. Be careful.”
“I’ll try,” I say, and then blow him a kiss as he drives off.
As I watch his car disappear along the country road, a mist of gloom engulfs me. I take a deep breath, step over the nettles, and enter the forest. Just a few metres in, I find a thick oak tree. The sight of such an old and beautiful thing alleviates my melancholy for now, so I sit against it, open my plastic bag, and pull out my bottle of water and book. I take a sip, set it down next to me, and then start the first chapter of the book. It’s one of Sean’s science fiction stories. It’s bound to be total horseshit, but it’ll do.
Anything to distract me from what’s ahead.
12
“Ladies and Gentlemen. I promised you all a show,” Maggie bellows, her fat fingers swallowing most of the microphone. “And a show is what you’re gonna get.”
Ben is down. Bleeding. I scream his name, but he can’t hear me. I scream louder. Still nothing.
Maggie’s face is plastered in that hideous smug grin. She has a shotgun pointed at me.
“Leave us alone!”
She ignores my pleas. Ignores my cries for help.
There’s a loud rumble of an engine. Then gunfire.
Sean is standing over me, a rifle in his hand.
“Don’t let her take him,” I whisper as he pulls me to my feet. “He’s my brother. He’s all I’ve got left.”
I shout to Ben as Erin drags him away.
“Let him go!”
But it’s too late. The bitch has thrown him into the van like a criminal. The doors are locked.
“Please!”
I’m still crying when I wake.
Wiping my eyes, I notice my bottle of water has spilled on the grass. I sigh with annoyance, and then let out a loud yawn.
Blue Skin (Book 3): Blue Skin Page 3
