Bloodsong

Chapter 4

“ Q uinn? You awake in there?” Mia waved her hand in front of my face, and I realised I’d zoned out, staring after Matteo.

“I’m awake,” I murmured and let out a sigh. “Unless I dreamed him up. Damn.”

I grinned at her, and she beamed back. “She’s checking out men again!” she fake-whispered to Lilith.

“He was hot,” Lilith noted with amusement, spinning a drumstick through her fingers.

“A new admirer,” Mia laughed. “Quinn’s playing hard-to-get, though.”

Lilith grinned. “Good, although that dark hair, if you don’t want him-”

“He has an accent,” Mia noted, rolling her eyes at Lilith’s obvious attempt to annoy her.

“Ohhh.” Lilith held her hands up. “He’s all yours, then, Quinn.” She grinned at Mia. “My dark-haired girlfriend is enough for me.”

The pair gazed at each other with dopey grins.

Mia pretended to pout. “You only say that because Quinn has called dibs on him.”

“I haven’t called dibs on anyone,” I laughed.

“No, just any man with an accent.” Lilith put her drumsticks away.

“Hey, you like anyone with dark hair, Mia likes tattoos, I like accents. We all have our thing.” I shrugged. “Why do I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before?”

I glanced back at the crowd, relieved that I saw no sign of him. An intriguing interaction, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Or his lips. Ugh, snap out of it, Quinn!

Pete, the owner came over, cash in hand.

“Here’s your cut for tonight,” he said, and then passed an extra wad to me. “Some guy left this as a tip.”

“A tip?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Who leaves tips here?” There had to be five hundred dollars in his hand.

He shrugged. “He gave it to Jazz, so I didn’t see him. He told her to make sure it got to the red-haired beauty on stage with the hypnotic voice.”

Mia grinned. “It’s your mystery admirer!”

“Not a mystery if I know what he looks like and his name,” I offered, staring at the cash.

“Of course you already know his name!” Lilith laughed.

Part of me loved his gesture yet felt a bit disquiet about some random guy walking in off the street, flirting with me, and giving me such a large amount of cash. I split the money three ways and pocketed mine anyway. Everything we earned we shared.

“You drew a larger crowd tonight than we’ve seen in here for a couple of years,” Pete said. “How would you like to discuss playing on a weekly basis?”

I met Lilith’s eyes. She nodded once, as did Mia. “What’s your offer?” I asked.

“Five hundred, every Friday night,” Pete said. “Only I’d ask that you not be half an hour late like you were tonight.”

I winced, knowing it was my fault. I’d never been good with deadlines, and my indecision about what to wear, followed by the need to eat, had delayed us. “Sorry about that,” I said.

He shrugged. “It didn’t bother anyone tonight, but it cannot be a repeat occurrence.” He turned, motioning to someone. “Lisa here is going to film your gigs. We’re going to put the footage on our website. You’ll really draw the crowds.”

“Is there going to be a contract?” Lilith asked. “Or is this just a week-by-week thing?”

His eyes were on her in an instant. Lilith, our negotiator. “I can have something drafted up. Drop by on Monday; you and I can talk.”

He walked away, calling out to someone across the bar. I helped Lilith and Mia carry their equipment up the stairs. Outside, cold air surrounded me, wind pulling at my hair.

“You want a ride?” Lilith asked when we were done.

“Yeah, nah, I’m all good. It’s a five-minute walk.” I laughed.

“Walk safely.” Mia got into the car .

Lilith studied me. “You sure? It’s no problem.”

“Lil, go. I’m okay,” I said.

It was a cold night, so I zipped my jacket up, grateful that it wasn’t raining. I waved to Mia and Lilith before heading towards my apartment. They lived together in the suburbs. I’d given up my beachfront one-bedroom a year ago, the sound of the sea too much of a reminder of the sister it had taken from me. Now, I am a city girl. It was a clear night, with an almost full moon, and the drunks were out.

I walked past an alleyway and almost gagged. It reeked of vomit. Graffiti covered the walls, and shadowed figures pressed against each other in an intimate embrace. One single street lamp lit up the woman’s blue hair. She had her head thrown back, the man nuzzling her neck. A low moan echoed from the woman. He had one hand around the woman’s waist, pulling her to him, the other behind her head. Get a room. I rolled my eyes and hurried past.

“Where ya goin?” a man in a dark hoodie approached me.

“I’m going home, ” I said tersely, a sliver of fear raising the hairs on my arms.

“What’s your hurry?” He stepped in my way.

Now my heart was pounding, fear becoming icy fingers down my spine. I loved the city, but there were creeps around, and until then, I had been lucky to not be confronted by one. I wished I had taken Lilith’s offer of a ride. “I just want to go home,” I said, working to keep my voice steady. “Please, let me pass.”

His smirk suggested he wasn’t going to move. I took a step back, ready to run.

“Quinn?” My heart skipped at the familiar voice behind me. Matteo from the bar. “Is everything okay here?” His eyes glinted like steel under the streetlight, a hard look that he gave to the guy in the hoodie.

“Mind your business,” the one in front of me said.

“Now why would I do that? Move on, Amico .”

If I weren’t so relieved at his appearance, I would have melted at his use of Italian.

“Make me,” the mugger challenged.

Matteo slammed the other into a glass window with a loud crack. I hadn’t even seen him move. “I told you to move on.” His voice changed, touching a fear deep inside of me.

In shock, I turned around, glancing up the street I had just walked down. He’d come out of nowhere. Was he following me? I frowned at Matteo with thoughts of stalkers.

The would-be mugger tried to push Matteo off him, but my rescuer didn’t budge.

“You’ll leave her alone,” Matteo’s voice sent a shudder through me.

“I’ll leave her alone,” the hoodie guy said. Then he gasped. “What?”

I caught their reflections in the darkened window and took a step back. Something was very, very wrong. My instinct told me to run. I sucked in a breath, and he looked over his shoulder. It was just a flash, but enough for me to catch. His eyes were red. I dropped my guitar case and bolted, the spike of fear gripping my throat. I loved my guitar, but at that moment, I valued my life more. My shoes pounded the footpath, and I focused on steady breathing. Adrenaline flooded through me as I fought against the urge to look over my shoulder. Don’t look, just run. I had been an idiot, stupidly thinking the five-minute walk home wouldn’t be a problem.

I made it home, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone had followed me. I stood at the door for a moment, relieved to find no one. The guy at the concierge desk gave me a strange look as I ran past him to the elevator.

Safely in my apartment, I leaned against the door, out of breath, a trickle of sweat sliding down my neck. Did I really see that? My teachers in school had always said I had an overactive imagination. Maybe my fear was playing tricks on me. He had stepped in to help me, after all.

I hung up my jacket, kicked off my shoes, and swapped my silver hoop earrings for smaller studs. Once done, I pulled on my dressing gown and grabbed a notebook before opening the door to my balcony, looking over the city. Taking a seat, with the light over my shoulder, I started to write in my notebook. Despite what I thought I had seen, I couldn’t stop thinking about the dark eyes on mine in the bar. I wished I could draw, and I kept seeing his lips, curved into a smile, his jawline, and the way his hand had grasped mine.

I could no longer focus, so I put down my pen. I sighed and read over what I had written. Lovey crap about Matteo.

“Ugh, you’ve got it bad,” I groaned, but could feel a new song coming. It had been a long time since I’d felt that creativity.

I spent the next hour writing lines that came to me, crossing some out as I re-wrote them differently.

I flicked through the pages, reading and humming, already knowing the tune. There was a lower tone to it, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Mia and Lilith would add to it. It would need work before I could call it a song, but it was a good start. I hadn’t written a song in at least twelve months. ‘Dark Eyes of a Stranger’ seemed like a good title, so I wrote it at the top and underlined it before standing. I dropped the notebook on the chair and leaned against the railing.

I hugged myself in the cold. I’d been so engrossed in writing that I hadn’t felt anything. I took in the sight of the city. Dark clouds had moved in, and the city lights shone, my favourite view. Twenty storeys below, people went about their night.

“Wherever you are, Matteo, thank you,” I murmured. “Sorry you had to rescue someone as hysterical as me.” I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the thought of not seeing him again. Lilith had been right, he was hot. It had been months since I’d even looked at another man after the mess of my last relationship.

The idea that I had seen red eyes just seemed ridiculous in the light of my apartment. I wasn’t usually one to panic like that. Now I’d need to buy a new guitar. Idiot .

My phone rang, startling me. I stared at the screen. Mia.

“What’s wrong?” I answered, moving inside. She would never call this late.

“I was just making sure you were okay.” Voices in the background sounded like she was watching TV.

“Uh, why wouldn’t I be?” Apart from the fact that I hallucinated red eyes on a man trying to help me. But she didn’t need to know that.

“Two people were attacked down Little Lonsdale St tonight, and you walk that way to get home.”

“An attack?” I grabbed my remote. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“It’s all over the news,” she said.

I turned on the TV. A cordoned-off alleyway came up on the screen. “I was just there,” I murmured. I wondered if the police had found my guitar.

“Quinn, next week we’re taking you home. I know it’s only five minutes up the road, but the city isn’t safe anymore,” Lilith’s voice through the phone was tinged with worry. “This was a vicious attack; you need to be careful.”

A picture of a woman’s face appeared on the screen, and I frowned. The alley had been dark, but the blue hair was unmistakable. “It’s her!” I gasped as the reporter said the name ‘Leah Jackson.’

“Her who?” Mia asked through the phone.

“I saw her and a guy when I walked past.”

“You saw a guy?” Lilith asked. “What was he doing?”

“Maybe the guy is the other body they found,” Mia said.

Lilith’s voice came through the phone, but faint. “Who’s she talking to at this time of night?” I asked.

“Her family. They’ve been calling for the last hour. Non-stop,” Mia said.

A second picture took up the screen then. “The second victim was found nearby. Both appear to have fatal and gruesome wounds to the throat. Suspected animal attack. He’s been identified as Grant Cooke.”

The phone slipped from my fingers. The man who would have attacked me had it not been for Matteo. I stared at the screen in shock, the muffled voice of Mia calling me through my phone. Heart pounding, I bent down to pick it up with a shaking hand.

“Quinn?” her voice rose in panic.

I swapped the phone to my other ear. “I’m here.”

“What happened?” she asked

I tried to calm down. “That man, I saw him tonight.”

“With the woman, yeah you said,” Mia reminded me.

“No, I don’t think he was the one in the alley. He…” Do I tell her? “He tried to mug me, or…” I trailed off. “What kind of animal would attack them in the middle of the city?”

“Wait, he tried to mug you?” There was her panic again.

I hesitated. “Yes.”

“What happened?” she pressed. “I knew we should have dropped you off at home!”

“The guy from the bar, Matteo showed up,” I explained.

The silence through the phone was deafening.

“He showed up? And?” Mia’s voice rang with barely contained excitement. “I want all the details!”

“What? No!” I laughed. “Nothing happened.”

“You mean he didn’t save you from being mugged or worse to get invited back to your place? Is he still there?”

My face heated and I was glad Mia couldn’t see me. “No and no.”

“Quinn, straight single women everywhere are swooning over what you have just walked away from.” Mia laughed.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” I said.

“It does to her,” Lilith said, returning to the conversation. “What did I miss?”

“Matteo showed up to rescue her from a mugger,” Mia said. “So what happened?”

“Nothing.” I rolled my eyes.

“Did he at least walk you home?” Lilith sounded distracted, which meant she and Mia were more focused on each other.

“No.”

The sounds of kissing came through the line.

“Mia, Lil, I’m still here. How about you let me go, so you can get back to each other,” I said with a smile.

Lilith hummed in agreement. “Laters!”

“Wait! Are we meeting up tomorrow?” Mia asked.

“Yeah, I’ll text you. Bye.” I hung up .

I watched the news, irritated. I had left my guitar, and it wouldn’t be long before the cops came knocking on my door. My business card was taped to the inside, so it wouldn’t take them long. The reporter named the victims and spoke about an anonymous source of the Police Department saying that the woman had bite marks on her throat, wrist, and inner thigh, but the man’s throat had been torn out, only to be on the ground next to him. They had no leads and were calling for witnesses to come forward.

My hands shook as I changed the channel. I needed to distract myself. Thoughts of Matteo kept creeping in. Regret and embarrassment over the way I’d run from a man who’d only stepped in to help me. Cross-legged, I flicked through for a movie that might distract me.

I settled on a musical. I sang along as I watched it, feeling a bit more at ease. Music in any form always calmed me.

‘ Quinn, ’ a voice whispered inside my head. ‘ Come to me. ’