Bloodsong

Chapter 46

“ Y ou want to tell me why you keep closing your blind?” Lilith asked.

Instead of answering, I sat down on the couch, wine glass in hand. Lilith moved towards the door, pulling open the blind. My heart pounded, but relief surged through me that Matteo wasn’t still there. Glad he’d left, I took a sip of wine. The dry flavour with a touch of fruit washed down my throat. A flash of Matteo feeding me his blood made me shudder.

Mia poured more wine for herself in the kitchen, sticking another slice of pizza into her mouth.

The aroma of hot cheese made my mouth water. “Bring me some,” I called out.

“I need you to tell me what’s going on,” Lilith said, her tone worried. “You’re sick for a week, but now you come back after a breakup, and you look traumatised.” She sat sideways on the couch, facing me.

“Nothing,” I lied and turned my head to avoid looking at her.

Out of the corner of my eyes, she continued to watch me and stood up.

“What the fuck is that?” She towered over me and grabbed my chin.

I pulled out of her grasp. “Ow. What are you doing?”

She put her hand to her hip. “Quinn, I know a vampire bite when I see one. This explains a lot. Is it Matteo?”

Her question floored me. How does she know about vampires?

“What are you talking about?” I tried to laugh. “Vampires? You’ve been watching too many movies.”

“You know I hate vampire movies,” she glared.

“Vampires?” Mia asked, her eyes darting between the two of us.

“It seems Quinn has been letting one feed off her.” Lilith gave me the side-eye.

Mia’s eyes widened. “It’s definitely Matteo. He looks like he could be a vampire. He’s got that whole dark and mysterious thing going for him.”

Instead of answering, I finished my glass of wine. Mia’s lack of surprise told me that however Lilith knew, Mia did too.

“That woman he spoke to at the masquerade, I knew something was up when you were scared of her. She’s one too, isn’t she?” Lilith said. “Quinn, please don’t lie to us. ”

I looked between the two of them and relented. “She is. He is.” I said finally, relieved to not have to lie to my friends anymore.

“Did he turn you? Is that why you were sick?” Lilith’s eyes narrowed, and she drew a wooden weapon, taking a step from me.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I grumbled. “Is that a stake?”

“You need to tell me right now what happened between you two. Quinn, vampires are dangerous. They have no remorse and just kill whoever they want. You’re lucky you weren’t killed.”

“Matteo wouldn’t hurt me,” I said.

“But he did . Clearly, he did something that upset you. Was he feeding off you this whole time?” Lilith’s anger shone through her eyes, with disgust. “You let a vampire feed off you?!” She glanced at Mia. “I’m not sure we can trust her. They have a way to make people do whatever they want. He could have turned her, and she would have let him without a fight.”

“He didn’t turn me,” I said again.

“Did he make you do something?” Mia asked in a gentle tone.

I burst into tears. They both wrapped their arms around me.

“You need to tell me everything,” Lilith said. “I have to call my family in.”

“Your family? What do they have to do with anything?” I sniffed, rubbing at my eyes.

“Please, Quinn,” Mia urged. “She knows about vampires. If you’re in trouble, she can help you. Her family can help you. ”

“My family hunts vampires,” Lilith explained. ”Please Quinn, you need to tell us everything.”

Stunned, I stared at one of my closest friends. I’d known her my entire life. “You hunt vampires?” I’d thought I knew everything about her.

She stared back “And apparently, you date one. Or dated. Who would’ve thought?” She touched my arm. “I’m still me, Quinn. Your best friend. Please, tell us what happened.”

Reluctantly, I told them everything. Lilith listened with narrowed eyes, Mia with a frown.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Mia asked at the end. “Why did you feel the need to keep this from us?”

“You really ask me now about keeping secrets when you both held one yourself?” I snapped.

“Telling Mia what my family did was one thing; it was a little hard to hide from her when she stumbled across my weapons collection. I had to get clearance to tell her. It’s not something I could figure out how to talk to you about,” Lilith told me.

“So, you’ve killed vampires, then?” I asked her.

Despite my hurt over Matteo, I didn’t want him to die. The blood bond was gone, but I still felt a connection to him. I still cared about him and couldn’t help but wonder if I’d made a mistake sending him away. I’d hoped we would talk after what had happened, I just wasn’t ready to face him after the fact that someone was dead because of me. I took a bite of the pizza Mia had left on the table for me, the cheese greasy on my fingers.

“Actually, no. Never faced one yet.” She waved the stake at me. “The vampires usually adhere to the accords, so we haven’t had to.” Lilith shrugged. “Although lately, we’ve been trying to find which vampire broke them.”

Surprised by the relief that flooded through me, I said nothing. She got up to speak on the phone in private, likely with her family. She went onto the balcony, the cold air blasting in through the door.

“I still can’t get over the fact that you posed for him naked,” Mia giggled. “You said you wouldn’t.”

I hadn’t seen the painting yet; he’d planned to show it to me when he gifted it to me. “It seemed kind of sexy,” I admitted. A tear slid down my cheek and I brushed it away.

“Oh Quinn, I’m sorry hun. I could see you were really into him, even that night he showed up in the bar.” Mia hugged me.

The pain in my chest was suffocating. I glanced over at Lilith, lowering my voice to Mia. “Being bonded to him really changed how I saw vampires, and him. That hunger was nothing I could have imagined. He wouldn’t turn me while I was like that, but there were times where I wanted it. I wanted him to turn me.”

She let me go. “I’m glad he didn’t.”

I sighed. “It hurts, Mia. Everything happened so quickly, his gifts, and determination to pursue me, I was so flattered by the attention.”

She glanced towards where Lilith was talking. “She suspected something strange was going on when you reacted the way you did to that woman, Gabriela. She thought she saw a couple of vampires there, one of which apparently spoke to you and Matteo for a while.”

Carlos. He’d wanted to share me. I was grateful that Matteo hadn’t agreed to that.

“He scared me,” I admitted. “A lot. ”

“She was hurt that you wouldn’t tell her.” Mia sighed.

“Yet she held this from us for years,” I muttered, bitter.

An awkward silence passed between us.

“Quinn, Mia, look at this.” Lilith called us out to the balcony

Flames from a nearby building blazed.

“Should we call triple zero?” Mia grabbed her phone from my coffee table, returning to stare. “What if someone’s hurt?”

Sirens screamed through the streets. The fire truck’s lights passed by my building.

Dread pressed across my chest. “Oh my god, that’s his gallery.”

“Wait, are you sure?” Lilith asked.

I nodded. “He showed me once where it was, from this balcony. I’m sure of it.”

As we watched, the flames engulfed the entire building, the smell in the air strong of smoke.

I turned to Lilith. “What did your dad say?”

She kept her eyes on the fire. “There’ve been bodies showing up all over town, vampire feedings. My brother is working tonight and was called into the first crime scene. Two bodies at Alexandra Gardens. They’re on high alert.”

“Bodies?” I asked. “You’re sure it’s a vampire?” I didn’t want to believe it, but somehow I felt like Matteo was involved.

“Bite marks on their throats are a dead giveaway that some vampire has gone on a killing spree.” Lilith said.

She wouldn’t meet my eye. She was hiding something from me.

I sunk into the chair. “Did I do this, too?” I asked. “Is this my fault?” I wasn’t sure how much more guilt I could take. Every breath became more painful, anxiety sinking in. Tears welled up.

“No!” Lilith put her hand on my arm. “You are not responsible for anything he’s done. If this is him, he’s going to find that twenty hunters will be seeking him out. We will find him.”

“You’re going, too?” I panicked. I didn’t want her to face any vampire. But I also didn’t want Matteo to face her. I wasn’t sure what would happen if they came face to face. “Please don’t. Lil.”

“I have to go.” she said. “We’ve all been called in.” She turned to Mia. “Babe, stay with her. If he comes back…” She crouched down in front of me, eyes full of worry. “Quinn, if this is Matteo, and he comes back, it’s likely he will try to hurt you. Even turn you. If he’s been killing people all night, he is under the effects of bloodlust, probably drunk. In that state, they’re more dangerous than ever.”

He would never hurt me. “Okay.”

“Why does that make them more dangerous?” Mia asked.

“They’re more animal than human, and beyond reason,” Lilith said, darkly.” She looked around. “Maybe you should come inside and lock the door.”

Again, I didn’t argue.

“Okay, well, wish me luck?” She kissed Mia and left.

It was just the two of us. Mia frowned. “I hope she’s okay.”

“Do you want some more pizza?” I asked her, unsure what else to say.

She shook her head. “I don’t think I can eat while she’s out there hunting vampires.”

We went back inside. Mia locked the door and pulled down the blind .

I turned on the TV. “How long have you known about this? About vampires?” I asked.

She hesitated. “A year.”

I’d only known Matteo for a few months. She’d hidden this from me for a year. Lilith had hidden it for as long as I’d known her. I couldn’t deny that it hurt. “I still can’t believe she’s a vampire hunter. Although now the martial arts makes sense.”

On TV, the fire at the gallery was being reported on. My phone rang.

“Who’s calling you at this time of the night?” Mia asked. “If that’s Matteo, you can’t answer that. What if he can hypnotise you through the phone?”

I didn’t recognise the phone number, so I accepted the call. “Hello?”

A male voice came through the line. “Hello, I’m Detective Green, is this Quinn Bailey?”

“It is,” I frowned at Mia and put the phone on speaker.

“I’m calling you about a fire at Matteo Barone’s art gallery.”

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my stomach clenching. “Is he okay?”

He paused before answering. “We actually don’t know. We can’t reach him. I was hoping you’d know his whereabouts.”

“I’m sorry, no, I haven’t seen him all night. He dropped me off at my apartment and left.” A feeling of dread filled me. Something’s happened. He shouldn’t just be missing. “Wait, is he in the gallery?”

“Until the fire’s out, we won’t know,” the detective’s voice softened. “We did find a woman who said she was inside before the fire. She can’t remember how she got outside, but thinks she might have seen Matteo. We’re doing everything we can to get the flames under control.”

“He was inside?” My voice shook. Matteo… The pain that pierced my heart overwhelmed me. Please don’t let him be dead.