Nocturnal- Chapter 4

It didn't take long for his sexy accent to stop the rings.

"Hello? Who is this? And why are you phoning me at this time? Don't you have to sleep or something?" He sounded oddly energetic for a 1am phone call.

"Erm... Hi, it's Nancy, you know the girl behind the bar, you told me to phone you as soon as I got in, apparently I have to be warned?"

"Oh hello Nancy, sorry, I guess you've just got to be careful around here at this time, especially over the phone, they have tracking and everything when they find out." I was getting more and more confused by the minute, who had tracking devices, and why did I have to be careful? What the hell was he talking about?

"What do you mean, when you find out what? Do you have a screw loose or something?"

"Look, I guess you know about the attacks in Northwich? The ones they claimed were random attacks on innocent civilians?" His tone hardened but it still sent chills up my spine.

"Yeah, I guess so, I read about them before, they weren't planned were they because they were pretty brutal, someone must have really been in the wrong for those to have been planned?"

"Look, Nancy, you sound shattered, get some sleep and meet me at Mrs Luckett's tomorrow morning at half ten, before your shift tomorrow, we can talk more then, it will probably be safer too, don't know who's listening in on these phone calls. Sleep tight."

"But...-" Before I could fully ask my question he had hung up. I had so many thoughts floating round my head; the murders were planned, people listening into phone calls, even on mobiles, the tea room on the corner being some how safer than everywhere else in the village, even my own home. Woodston was becoming scary, it seemed the business in Knutsford and Northwich were slowly creeping into the little dusty village in between the two.

There was nothing I could do until the morning, Patrick probably hung up so quickly because he needed sleep, and I realised I did too. I yawned about five times just going up the stairs to get ready for bed and I was so sleepy after my bed time routine that as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

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I couldn't get the thought of meeting Patrick out of my head the following morning, I woke early to make sure I looked perfect. I wore my hair in a loose bun with a few curly tendrils framing my face which had make up covering my blemishes, but not much else, of course not much else meant eye liner, mascara ,powder and blush, but I had to look perfect. I had picked out my favourite dress, the knee length cream dress with the lace finish, I supposed if I was going to a tea room for the first time I may as well try to fit in and look like I had been to a tea room every day back in America, then again, did tea rooms even exist in America, I had never seen one in Baltimore, but I didn't get out a lot due to my studying. They had coffee shops dotted all over, but no tea rooms. With the dress I wore little cream socks with my baby blue classic Mary-Jane patent heels to match my small baby blue bag which contained spare lipstick, money, my phone, a notepad and a pen, just in case Patrick told me to take notes on how to keep safe in the area.

I arrived at exactly the same time as Patrick, he led me in, introduced me to Mrs Luckett, the owner who was old, but younger than Hilda, possibly in her fifties. She had her hair in a beehive and wore a floral dress with small heels in brown which matched the belt going round her thin waist. She looked friendly, but I could tell she was very proud of her achievement of keeping the tea room open in such struggling times.

The room was flooded with natural light which came through the windows which stretched the whole length of the wall at the front of the shop. My heels clacked on the bare wooden floor as I walked and the white tables and chairs reflected the light making it seem even brighter than it was. There wasn't much to it but it was such a relaxing place to be, the turquoise walls screamed tranquillity and peace and even though I only barely knew one of the people in there, Patrick, I felt at ease.

"You look gorgeous," Patrick complemented me as I sat down, I felt flattered yet relieved that my hard work hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Thank you very much," I beamed back, staying completely self concious and not allowing my nostrils to flare like they usually did when I was extremely happy. "So what do I need warning about, that phone call last night really confused me?"

"Keep your voice down, we can't let anyone hear this, okay?" The mid Saturday morning rush was at it's high so the sound of mindless chatter and china clinking drowned out my small voice anyway, but Patrick looked serious but fragile at the same time, like he could shatter just as easily as one of the china tea cups which were being placed on the table, so I kept my quiet, just as he had asked.

"Alright, is it really that serious?"

"Yes, yes it is. Those attacks were committed by hunters-"

"You mean like assassins? You really have assassins in Cheshire? Or the Cheshire Mafia or something?"

"Sort of, Cheshire East which is where Knutsford is, is full of these hunters, but they're not looking for humans."

"Then why were humans killed? They can't be very good at their job then," I giggled but stopped when I caught Patrick's stern look, almost offended, staring my right in the eye.

"Humans weren't killed, those who were killed were vampires-"

"WHAT?!" I shouted, instantly putting a hand over my mouth to contain any more accidental blurts of questions I didn't mean to ask.

"Shut. Up."

"I'm sorry" I gave him a sympathetic look and allowed him to carry on.

"The vampires live in Cheshire West, Northwich being there. Woodston being right between the two and on the border which splits the county, acts as a common ground for the two to live in harmony and not constantly be at each others throats. Your lucky you moved here and not to either side."

"So my next door neighbours could be vampires, or any of the people I served last night could be a hunter?"

"I suppose so, yeah." Patrick looked sort of guilty but I let it slide.

"So is anyone in here either one of them?"

"Definitely," he looked absolutely certain that he new one person in the room wasn't human.

"Who is it then?" He pointed round the room, my gaze following his fingertip until he stopped. On himself. I obviously looked shocked and I could feel all the colour fade from my skin. I wanted to run but I was frozen, too scared to move just in case his vision was based on movement.

"Don't be afraid Nance. I guess you could call me a hybrid. Half human, half vamp. I have the fangs," two small, dagger like teeth snapped into place from his gums, shielding his teeth underneath, then he quickly snapped them back up so he wasn't seen my anyone but me, "But I don't get the cravings for the red stuff like the other vamps, so the hunters seem to leave me alone, just to be safe, I stay in Woodston, I don't want any trouble because as you know those hunters can be pretty violent."

"But your out in the sun, how does that work, your not sparkling?" Patrick laughed and shook his head at my naivety.

"You believe all that crap? Seriously? That was stuff written by some woman who doesn't have a clue what she's talking about, the old vamps can stay out in the sun and be fine, but the newer ones, they have to stay in the shade or they catch alight."

"And what about sleep? You seemed pretty perky last night when I phoned?"

"I have no need to sleep, that's one of the vampire traits I have, I have fangs and I don't sleep, that's pretty much it. But I could protect you if anything were to happen more than anyone, even the vampires because they have weaknesses, crosses and garlic and all that, but I'm immune to it all, I suppose I'm the strongest being there is."

"Don't you age?" Patrick looked around twenty two, but now for all I knew he was two hundred and twenty two.

"Yes, I age unfortunately, but I guess it means I get a normal life, I get to get married, have kids, who wouldn't be vampires by the way, and grow old with someone I love."

"How did all this come about? The whole hybrid thing?"

"I was an experiment two years ago. They put out an advertisement in The Reader and I answered it, I was a healthy human male, I didn't smoke and never had, I didn't drink... much. But everyone lies to get money, right? Well they were offering £500 for anyone who passed their tests, and I was the only one who did. They wanted to see if they could make the strongest vampire, one to kill everything and take over the world, they can get a bit out of hand these vampires. They injected me with this hormone they got from the venom that normally turns people fully, but only enough to half turn me. I woke up three days later in their lair with tubes coming out of pretty much every place they could stick a needle, surrounded by these vamp doctors who wore black instead of white and didn't have any use for stethoscopes or blood pressure cuffs. It was scary Nance and it's nothing to be proud of but I needed the money so badly and now I guess this is who I am, trapped in Woodston, living out of Hilda's shop and whatever Bill passes on to me at the end of the night at the pub, suppose that'll be your job soon after he retires."

"Bill's going to retire?"

"Yeah, he's been talking about it for ages, he's old now and he won't be able to cope much longer. He has no family and your his only employee so I guess when he decides to leave the job of Land Lord will go to you, Making you Land Lady Nancy, has a ring to it don't you think?"

"I guess so. Are you sure you won't eat me?"

"Not in that sense no."

"Don't be dirty, there's kids in here!" I giggled. We chatted about al sorts until I had to get ready for my shift again, even then he promised to meet me at work and take me home when I finished. At least I had made one friend in Woodston who was close enough to my own age, even if he was half blood sucker.