Fated Absolution (8 page)

“You are?” Her voice was weak and tight, her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated.

They all could hear her heart pounding with terror as well as he did, her breaths short and harsh.

“Yes, love, we all are. With the exception of Bradley over there who’s an alpha ‘were, we’re all vamps. Some of us are a little extra. Like for instances, Sara and Lizzy are also magical beings, related to the Queen of all Magic.” Kyle stood slowly and moved toward her, knowing she was close to losing it. This could have gone a good deal better. He nodded to Aaron, but could see that he’d already saw the situation could go bad. Kyle moved to a little closer to her.

“Of course, why not. If you’re going to believe your vampires, why the heck not have a queen too. I can’t breathe, I need to breathe.” She ran toward the glass door and it opened before she could get to it. She stopped so suddenly that Kyle who had made to follow her bumped into her back. “Don’t touch me! You all need help serious help. I…I’m leaving. I…you people are sick.”

“Madison, calm down. Let us explain.” Kyle and Aaron were closing in on her. Kyle knew that if she left here she could hurt herself. She wasn’t thinking and that could put her in harms way.

“Calm down? Calm down? Are you fucking insane. You just told me that you’re all vampires and you want me to calm down. Well,
fuck
off
.” She darted to the kitchen area.

Duncan was putting food – little cakes, cookies and a slice of pie on a large tray. She noticed that there were cups and glasses there as well. This was all too surreal for her and she sat down hard on a chair.

“They eat? I mean, they eat food? There’s always food here when I come, they can’t be vampires and eat, can they?” She knew she was babbling, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. It was that or start screaming and tearing at her hair.

“Ah, they have told you. No, Miss, the gentlemen do not eat food. The ladies all eat however and the little ones of course. We are not sure why the ladies can partake of food, but there you have it.”

“Yes, there I have it. I need to use the phone, I…I’m going home you see and I need to leave.” She put her hand over her pounding heart. “There are things going on that I don’t…can’t understand. I need to go home and have someone wake me up. Yes, that’s it. I’m asleep.”

Duncan shook his head and she didn’t ask him what he meant. She was actually very afraid he’d give her and answer she didn’t want to hear.

“Of course Miss, but I can transport you. It would be my pleasure.” He took off his pristine white apron. Then he reached over and took his coat off the rack near the door. He had just picked up a set of keys when the door behind her opened. She didn’t turn around.

She knew that Sara was there, could feel her eyes burrowing into her, but she refused to look at her. Maddy just stood at the opposite side of the room, her back to the room and faced the outer door.

“Maddy,” Sara asked quietly. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, Mr. Duncan, I’d like it if you could take me home. I seemed to have lost my…my car. I could use a ride. Please, right now. I need to leave right now.”

Maddy didn’t want to hear what Sara had to say so she kept talking about the ride home and her car and anything else that popped into her mind until Duncan led her out the door and to the garage.

Maddy didn’t say a word once they got into the big Hummer and she had given Duncan an address. She had just moved over to the window and huddled against the glass staring out of the rain streaked covered window. Her mind was just overwhelmed.

Maddy was thinking hard, her heart and her head hurt. Vampires and werewolves, and the little boy believed he was a necromancer. Magic, there was something about magic she was suppose to remember, but couldn’t. Kyle had pushed her away twice. Blood and food. Nothing was making sense, yet everything was swirling around and around. She realized that they had been stopped for a while and looked to see where they were. In front of not her home, but a place that should have been—the house of their dreams, her and her grandmother’s dreams.

“We were going to buy this house, my Grammie and me. She was going to take art classes and I was going to practice law out the back. There’s a little garden in the corner that had daffodils when we were here to look at it. Aren’t they the happiest flower?” She looked for a few more minutes, Duncan not saying a word. “They really are vampires aren’t they Mr. Duncan, and that little boy Mac, he spoke to her, my Grammie, didn’t he?”

“Yes, Miss.” He didn’t elaborate. She wasn’t sure what else he could say to her. She was certain she might be having a breakdown of some sort and was sure once someone gave her something stronger everything would be fine. Then again…

“Yeah, of course they are.” She closed her eyes before she spoke again. “I don’t live here.

I’m not even sure why I had you bring me here. My mind seems to be a little befuddled.”

Maddy was quite for a long while thinking, and then came to a decision.

“Would you tell Mr. MacManus that I’ll work for him, I really don’t have a choice really.

But I have rules that I’ll discuss with him when he can see me.” She opened the door and got out.

It started raining then; the skies seem to open up and drenched her. “I don’t have a phone, but there’s a pay phone on the floor where I stay.” She reached in again for a piece of notepaper that was in the cars tray and a pen. She wrote the number down and gave it to Duncan.

“Miss, you cannot stay out here. Come. Return to the vehicle and get in and let me dispatch you to your home.” Duncan started to get out of the car but she back away and shut the door.

“It’s all right Mr. Duncan. I don’t have a key to get in to my home anyway. It’s still in my bag at the office. I hope so anyway. And staying in a hotel is out, I don’t have the money for that, and I have no ID anyway. I need to think, I’m just gonna walk around for awhile. Don’t worry about me.” She slammed the door and took off in the pouring rain before he could argue with her more.

~~~

“Master Kyle, you left her things at that office. Now she is running around in the dark without a proper place to sleep tonight. What were you thinking?” Duncan hadn’t even waited to remove his rain slicker before confronting Kyle.

“What do you mean, she’s running around? You left her outside in this? Why the hell didn’t you take her ho—” Kyle stood up to…

He actually wasn’t sure what he was going to do but sitting put him at a disadvantage to the little man. But he didn’t think all the height in the world would make him any bigger in the man in front of him.

“You will not blame me for this mess. I did not bring her into this house without her things; I did not upset her to the point of tears! You did,” Duncan yelled at him. “Now you will listen to me. You will not make her cry again. Or you will be answering to me. Do I make myself understood? I was a boxing champ in my day and I’ll not hesitate to pop you a knuckle sub if you get out of line again.” Duncan shook his fist at Kyle again and went into the kitchen. He had never seen him look so angry in his life, Kyle thought.

Kyle didn’t know whether to laugh or beg forgiveness. He turned to look at the rest of the occupants of the room and every one of them stood staring open-mouthed at the door Duncan had just exited.

“I’m guessing he’s never threatened anyone with a knuckle sub before.”

“City morgue, you stab ‘em, we slab ‘em.” The voice at the other end of the phone was decidedly female, but slurred. Aaron wasn’t sure if he had the right number or not and checked again to be sure. Yes, it was the correct one.

“Yes. Yes, I would like to speak to a Madison Harm please. Do you think that you could find her for me?” Surely she wouldn’t have given them the number to the morgue as a joke.

“Yeah, I think. Hang on. Is the Mad Hatter here? Hey,” he shouted nearly bursting Aaron’s ear drum. “Anyone seen the Mad Hatter today? Hang on buddy, if she’s here, somebody will get her for you.” The phone was set down on something metal, more than likely the top of the pay phone was Aaron’s guess.

The
Mad Hatter
, huh? Aaron wondered at that. The ‘mad’ part he got, from Madison no doubt, and then with the way the phone had been answered, he figured out the rest from the madness of the people in the building.

Aaron waited three minutes before she came on the line. While waiting for her he over heard a profusion of conversations as people walked by the open line. They ranged from a drug deal going down to someone who needed to let her ‘hang-buddy’ know she was late again.

“This is Madison Harm. May I help you?”

To Aaron she sounded resigned, beaten. He thought he liked her better fighting and spitting.

“Ms Harm, its Aaron MacManus. I called to see if you could come by the estate tonight.

We have a great deal to discuss, one of which will be your living arrangement. That place isn’t safe for a young woman as I’m sure you are aware. And bring a few changes of clothing, as it will be late when we finish and it will take a few days I believe to get things settled to my satisfaction.”

Aaron was used to getting his own way and didn’t think anything of setting up the arrangements for her to suit himself. Besides, he had her best interest at heart and he really wanted to piss her off again.

“I see. I can’t come over this evening, I have a prior commitment. And as for your arrangements, let me say first of all, I won’t be spending the night or any night, but thanks for asking. Secondly, my living arrangements are none of your business and lastly, we’ll settle things to both of our satisfactions or not at all. I’m not a pushover Mr. MacManus, and the sooner you figure that out the better things will go for all of us.” Maddy’s voice had picked up with her temper he thought, and she sounded less broken as well.

He burst out laughing. She had fire and spirit, he’d give her that. And he liked a good fight as well as the next man. But he knew he’d win.

“Ah, Ms Harm, I think we are going to suit well working together, very well indeed. I’ll see you tomorrow night then.”

~~~

“I need six draft, three 7&7 and a Harvey. I’m so glad you’re here through the week now Mad.” Shelly told her.

Shelly Jones, wife to the bars owner, worked and was co owner, at the bar,
Puss n’ Boots
three nights a week and all day on Saturday when a game was playing. Maddy usually only worked Friday nights to help out as an extra bartender and could according to Shelly serve up drinks faster than anyone she’d ever seen. Maddy thought it was because Tina, the usual bartender was slower than molasses.

“Thanks Shell. I’m just glad Paul could use me. I don’t know what I would have done without his help and the extra hours right now. I should be thanking you guys.”

Maddy worked on the mixed drinks first, and poured the bourbon chaser for the Harvey at the same time. Fisting three mugs at a time she began building the drafts, it took someone a lot of time to get the proportions of a draft right, too much head wasn’t right and too little would get you thrown out of this bar.

Puss n’ Boots
wasn’t a bar families came into. It was more a bar you went to get drunk and have a fist fight in the parking lot you might have just puked your guts up into. Then there were the strippers. Maddy had been working part-time there since the week she’d turn twenty one. Paul, Shelly’s husband owned the bar and had hired Maddy not because he thought she was a great bartender, but because she was ‘drop dead gorgeous and built like a brick shit house’, whatever that meant. Maddy was just happy for the work.

At first she’d been a little uncomfortable working there at nights alone, but Paul had lent her his Equalizer, his Glock forty and showed her how to use it, and since then she’d felt much better. And after the third time she had to pull it and the second time she’d used it, the patrons knew that though she was a pretty little thing, don’t fuck with her. She never concealed it, but carried it right on her left hip were there was no doubt that she was armed. There was also three Louisville sluggers at different intervals under the bar if things got a little too close for comfort.

It was nearly four-thirty in the morning when she went out to her car to leave. Her feet ached and her lower back was killing her. But she’d made a hundred and sixty-four dollars in tips plus Jake had made her a burger and fries for dinner. A couple more nights like this and she’d be able to get four used tires instead of two, plus be able to catch up on her rent. She thanked Jake, the cook for walking her to her car and drove home.

She’d been purposely not thinking about the interview at the MacManus place tomorrow…no, well tonight now. But now that she wasn’t busy anymore and just laying in her single bed it came crashing in again. Vampires. Werewolves too. She wasn’t sure what to think about it, so she tried not to. She didn’t want to have to be there after sunset, and she knew that she needed to avoid Master Kyle as much as possible. She wasn’t sure what her job would entail, but she was reasonably sure it would need to be done during the daylight hours, so that took care of the sunset deadline. Also by the same logic, working with the sun out would keep her away from Kyle. She figured she had a win-win situation. She hoped.

The sun was well into the sky by the time she fell asleep, and almost two o’clock in the afternoon when the nightmare started.

“Hello my dear, what’sss taken you ssso long to visssit me?”
The voice was deep, and sounded hissed rather than spoken. The sound of it, low and full of anger making the hair on the back of her neck stand up and stiffen.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Maddy looked around the…area. It wasn’t a room, she was sure of that, but a void. There was no color here, just white and the air felt, not heavy really but old. It was like a room shut up for a very long time, allowing no air exchange.

“Why, you’ve come to me, to your home. I’ve been waiting, yesss, yesss I have. You ssshould not have gone. No, no not gone from me. I have plansss for you. Plansss for you and me. We will be together for all timesss. You musst come to me. ”