Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (7 page)

The others reach the
diner at the same time as us and we go inside. I notice that Delilah’s looking
a little worse for wear; she’s got dark bags under her eyes. Once we’re seated
at a table and the waitress has taken our orders I decide to question her about
it.

“You alright?” I ask
eyeing her shrewdly.

“I’m just tired,” she
answers in annoyance.

“Are you sure?” Gabriel
adds. “When was the last time you had blood?”

A-ha. Now why didn’t I
think of that? Sometimes I almost forget that dhamphirs need blood too.

Delilah scowls. “A
while ago.”

“How much of a while?”
Gabriel probes.

A sigh. “Just under a
fortnight,” she tells him flatly.

“That’s far too long,
Delilah,” he reprimands. “You need it every few days.”

“Yeah well, I’ve been a
little preoccupied.”

“You can feed from me,”
comes Ira’s low voice into the conversation.

Delilah looks at him in
surprise and shakes her head. “No, I couldn’t do that. I always drink from
donors. They’re already addicted.”

“It’s just one time,”
Alvie puts in. “Harmless, really.”

“I want to,” Ira stands
firm.

Delilah shoots Gabriel
an exasperated look and throws up her hands. “Fine, fine, we’ll do it later.”

“I can put a glamour
around the table if you want to do it now. You look like you need it,” Gabriel
offers.

She bites on her lip,
considering it. “Well, alright then.” She turns to Ira and mouths,
are you
sure?
He nods silently. When my eyes flick down to Allora I can tell that
she’s listening to the conversation intently. She seems nervous.

“It’s morning, right?”
she whispers leaning close to my ear.

“Yeah. Delilah’s a
dhamphir. So is Gabriel. This is a vamp free zone.”

“Okay. That’s good.”
She exhales heavily.

I study her curiously.
“Have you seen vampires in your visions?”

“Yes. I’ve seen many.”

“Hmm,” I say, rubbing
my chin.

I want to ask her more
questions but my attention is drawn to Gabriel who’s muttering an incantation
to create a glamour. Once it’s up no one will be able to see that Delilah is
feeding from Ira. The red head leans close to my friend and seems to take her
time breathing in his scent. His posture goes still as stone and I notice her
small fangs sticking out past her lips.

A moment later she places
her hand on his shoulder, sinks her teeth into his neck and begins to drink.
Ira is one of those stoic giants. He never lets his emotions show outwardly,
but I have to wonder if he’s turned on right now, since something’s obviously been
brewing between these two for a while.

It’s kind of funny how
awkward and quiet everyone gets as we watch them. Several gulps later, Delilah
pulls away and licks her lips. Her pupils are dilated to the point where they
almost cover all of the green. Feeling devious, I jiggle the table leg with my
foot.

“Hey, Ira. Get your
stiffy under control.”

Gabriel and Alvie burst
into laughter while Delilah gives me the death stare. One end of Ira’s mouth
curves as though he’s trying to suppress a smirk. Allora blushes next to me,
even though the comment had nothing to do with her. Wow, this girl is
shy
.
I’m probably not the best person for her to be around, since half the things
that come out of my mouth need an 18+ rating.

The waitress comes and
begins setting food down in front of us and I dig into my bacon and eggs with
gusto.

“So, what’s the plan for
today?” Gabriel asks.

“I booked us in to stay
another night here. Today I was thinking we could drive into the city and scope
the place out, see if the vamps are still killing or if Cristescu has ordered
them to behave themselves. We’ll come back to the hotel to sleep. We’ll check
my street, too, and see if everything’s okay. If it is then we’ll head back
there tomorrow. I can’t be putting you all up in the lap of luxury like this
forever,” I joke.

Delilah snorts. “I
think I saw a cockroach this morning.”

“Ah, a nice bit of
wildlife to give you the full experience,” I tell her with a wink.

Another snort.

“If we’re going to the
city,” Allora begins to speak. “Could you bring me to my parents’ house? It’s
on Edmund Street just past the north side of the river.”

I glance at her,
something tightening in my chest at the thought of her leaving already. I
swallow.

“Sure. We’ll go and see
if they’re there. If not, and there’s a big likelihood that they fled, you can
still stay with us.”

She nods her head and
takes a sip of coffee. She looks cute in the clothes I bought her, just like
the pretty girl next door. Seeing her appear out of nowhere in that ethereal
gown last night made her seem almost like an apparition. But now she’s sitting
beside me eating her eggs Benedict, a light sprinkling of freckles across her
cheeks, looking like everything I’ve ever wanted in a girlfriend.

I think about the
possibility of her family still being in the city. Will she want to stay in
contact with me if they are? Perhaps when everything settles down she might
even let me take her out on a date. These are good, healthy thoughts. I’m not
trying to save her like I tried to save Tegan. I just really like her in a very
normal, boy meets girl sort of way.

If I keep thinking this
perhaps I’ll eventually convince myself it’s true.

We finish breakfast and
then everyone loads up into the van. On my way back from the shopping mall
earlier I stopped by the parameter of Theodore’s enclosure, noting how even
more people have gathered there now. There’s a frantic, desperate energy about
the place.

Some people are saying
the barrier is a sign of the apocalypse. Others think that the devil has taken
hold of Tribane. Most people are saying it’s aliens. If I didn’t know any better
I’d think it was aliens too, trapping us in a cage so that they can study
humanity.

The motorway is
practically empty on the way into the city, and when we arrive the streets have
very few people on them. Those present scurry from building to building, afraid
that if they stay outside too long they might get snatched up by a fanged
monster.

An old homeless man is
sitting on the doorstep in front of a shop when I park the van. He’s got a
bottle of whiskey in a brown paper bag, taking sips every once in a while. I
glance around, seeing two human policemen on patrol on the other side of the
street.

“Any spare change?”
asks the man when I pass him.

I stick my hand in my
pocket, pulling out a twenty I’d forgotten was there. Ah crap, I hate when that
happens. Now I’ll look like a prick if I don’t give it to him. His eyes light
up when he sees it and I stick it in his dirty palm.

“Go wild,” I say before
skipping purposely towards the two male officers.

“How’s it going around
here?” I ask them with a meaningful look.

They’re both young, in
their early twenties, and wear expressions of anxiety on their faces.

“Quiet,” says the blonde
one. “Not many are leaving their houses. This morning there were several raids
in supermarkets. People are stockpiling food.” He pauses and leans closer conspiratorially.
“There haven’t been any more…vampire attacks, but we’re all expecting them
tonight. They can only come out at night, right?” He swallows hard.

“Yeah. What about the
telephones and computers, are they still not working?”

Both officers shake their
heads. The dark haired one eyes my clothes.

“You’re one of those
slayers, aren’t you?” he says with barely contained excitement. “My uncle was
one before he died. At least that’s the rumour in our family.”

“I am, not that it
means much anymore. Most of us have been killed.”

His excitement quickly
deflates. “Is that why the vampires are killing people?”

“No. Listen, boys,
you’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work.” I pat each of them on the
back before returning to the others who are still waiting inside the van.

Just before I get
there, though, I spot someone pass through one of the alleys just off the
street. A suspiciously familiar blonde head of hair. Stealthily, I slip down
the alley and climb up a ladder to a small nook on the side of the building. I
breathe as little as possible and keep watching.

Seconds later Cristescu
passes beneath me. Shit, the fucker really can come out in the daylight now. He
walks at human speed and has this weird look on his face as though every little
thing he sees fascinates him. A moment later he’s gone, disappearing down
another alley. I let out the breath I was holding.

Seeing him walk by like
that was strange. He didn’t seem like the all-powerful, scary new being he did
on that roof. He seemed like his usual self, i.e. a confident, ‘knows all too
well how good looking he is’ prick.

I pull out my phone and
dial Tegan’s number, but it goes straight to voicemail. I wonder where he’s
hiding her.

Keeping my little
sighting to myself for now, I return to the van.

“Right, we’ll take
Allora to her house first and then we’ll drive around, see if we spot anything
unusual.”

“We should try to find
Rita,” says Alvie. “If we can somehow convince her to leave Theodore I’m sure
she’ll be able to break the seal around the city. She’s the only one who can.”

“Have you not seen your
witchy friend recently?” I ask him. “She’s gone to the dark side, and I’m
talking Darth Vader dark side. It’ll be very near impossible to get her back.”

“I never would have
taken you for a trekkie nerd,” says Delilah snidely.

I point a finger at her
and smile. “
Star Wars
, babe, not
Star Trek
, though I am partial
to a woman in one of those tight Starfleet uniforms.”

“You like a woman in
uniform. How original,” Delilah deadpans.

“Rita’s stronger than
you know,” Alvie disagrees ignoring our back and forth. “If anyone can break
through darkness like that it’s her.”

I give him a
considering look before pulling the van out of its parking spot. I know Rita’s
powerful, but I still think the chances of her coming back to us are about as
likely as me pulling Scarlett Johansson – in other words: nil.

Allora’s neighbourhood
isn’t too far from my own, a ten minute walk at most. She tells me the address
and I stop once I reach her house, number 15 Edmund Street.

“We’re here,” I tell
her softly before getting out and walking around to her side. I help her out of
the van and lead her to the front door. The garden gate lies on the ground,
torn off its hinges. I don’t mention this to her because I don’t want to upset
her, but it can’t be a good sign. At least the front door is still intact. I
take the knocker in my hand and bang it twice.

Radio silence.

I knock again, this
time a little louder. Still nothing.

“Maybe they’re gone
out,” Allora suggests.

“Yeah maybe.”

“I wish I had my key to
get in, that way you could leave me and get on with the other things you need
to do.”

“I’m not leaving you
until I know you’re with your family, Goldy,” I say tucking a strand of hair
behind her ear. She sucks in a quick breath at my touch and lets it out when I
draw my hand away from her.

I tap my toe against
the step. “How do you feel about me breaking in?” I ask eyeing the door and
knowing it’ll be a piece of piss to get it open. Most people don’t know how
easy it is for their homes to be broken into, especially by sneaky buggers like
me who know exactly how to do it.

“Um, yeah, okay. But
can you try to do as little damage as possible?”

“I won’t leave a single
scratch,” I tell her smiling and pull a small piece of wire from my wallet.

I stick it into the
keyhole, jiggle it around a little until I get some traction and feel the lock
turning. Seconds later the door pops open and I walk inside, taking Allora’s
hand. My jaw drops when I see the state of the place and I don’t know how to
break it to her that her parents either fled in a hurry or their house got
trashed. Whether it was by chaos infested humans or vampires, I don’t know.
Either way, things aren’t looking great.

“What do you see?”
Allora asks just before she trips on a smashed picture frame.

“I hate to break it to
you, hun, but the house is trashed,” I answer and she stills.

“Trashed?” she
questions me shakily.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,
Goldy. Look, I’m gonna check all the rooms and see if I can find any clues as
to where your folks might be.”

She nods and swallows,
saying, “I think I need to sit down for a minute,” seconds before her eyes fall
shut and her body drops, convulsions taking her over with another vision.