Chapter One
"I'll take the front entrance and you go around the back," Galvin instructed me. After a year of doing this it was the same boring thing. Galvin would tell me what to and I'd just go along with it. By now I was capable of taking charge myself but he still insisted I wasn't ready. What more could I possibly need to know?
"Fine," I sighed throwing the pulse gun over my shoulder and walking around the building to a side door. It looked old and the coat of paint that was once there was breaking off in thick flakes. I tried the handle but it was locked. With a swift kick, I managed to break it open. This was second nature to me by now, just another day at the office.
Apprehensively I started through the corridor. You could never be too careful. It was still light outside but it was eerily quiet. I thought I heard a noise behind me but when I spun around nothing was there. Why was I being so jumpy? Usually I was fine. Must be having an off day.
I continued to walk quietly down the corridor, trying not to draw attention to myself. Everything was fine until something grabbed me from the side and hauled me into a room before I could react. The complete and utter surprise made my pulse gun fly across the room and sent me sprawled on the floor. It didn't take me long to spring to my feet in a fighting stance, ready for attack.
Looking in front of me, I realised with a shock that there wasn't an evil monster ready to rip my throat out. Instead, stood in front of me, was a petite girl. She was extremely pretty and her dark brown hair curled beautifully around her face. I had no idea how she'd managed to throw me to the ground because she was stick thin and could only have been five foot five at best. She stared at me with big blue eyes and something about her made me relax and become calm.
"Hi," I said awkwardly.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked ignoring my attempt at pleasantries. There was an element to her voice that made her sound fierce despite her appearance.
"Umm…" I started searching for words and coming up a blank. How could I explain this? I went for a different approach instead. "I'm Luke."
"I don't care who you are. You need to leave. Now."
"I-" She interrupted me by closing the distance between us, and slamming me up against the wall and putting her hand over my mouth.
I had no idea what she was doing but before I could struggle she whispered, "Shhh." Doing as she asked I stayed extremely still and within a few seconds I heard screeching and running down the corridor outside. When she was sure they'd gone she breathed a sigh of relief and released me. "I need to get you out of here."
"It's fine. I can look after my-"
"No arguments." She opened the door and checked left and right. "The coast is clear. Grab your toy gun and let's go."
Yet again, I did as she asked. I ducked down, grabbing my weapon and followed her from the room to the corridor. I was a little nervous because although she looked harmless enough, I knew from experience that looks could be deceiving. I'd fallen for a girl over a year ago that turned out to be a harpy and I'd had no clue before my friends informed me.
"Who are you?" I asked, my curiousness getting the better of me.
"None of your business," she said coldly. When we reached the door that I had kicked open to get in she gestured for me to go first.
"Ladies first," I said as an excuse to avoid turning my back on her. With clear annoyance she went first. Even though I wasn't sure if she was trying to play me or not, there was a chance she wasn't and I couldn't have innocent people in the middle of this. Galvin may not care who got hurt but I did.
"You need to leave," she said.
"No you do. It's dangerous here."
"I know that but you clearly don't. You're going to get yourself killed." She was getting angry now and I felt guilty that I couldn't tell her that I'd be perfectly fine. A lot safer than she would be. My phone started ringing then. It was Galvin.
"Luke where are you?" he asked.
"I'm outside. Why? Where are you?"
"On my way out. There's nothing worth the hassle here. Just a bunch of type fours. We'll deal with them another time."
"Okay. I'll meet you by the car." I hung up and turned back to the girl who was still staring at me. "How did you get here?" I hadn't noticed any other cars.
"I've got these things called legs you see and they're quite useful for getting around."
"Well do you need a ride somewhere? The car's just around the corner."
"No thanks. Don't stick around."
I started to ask what she was doing here again but she was already walking away. "Nice to meet you," I said sarcastically.
By the time I got to the car, Galvin was already inside with the engine running. He had some kind of country music playing and I grimaced as I got in the passenger seat. Before I could shut the door he was pulling away and singing along to the song.
"Find anything?" he asked me when the song ended.
"Nope," I said. It wasn't worth telling him that I was practically beaten up by a girl. I'd never here the end of it. So instead I casually changed the subject. "Any plans for tonight?"
"I've got tickets for Mina's piano recital. What about you? Any big plans?"
"Not particularly ."
"Really? I thought I heard Ruby going on about some party."
"You listen to Ruby?" I asked extremely surprised.
"I try not to but some of her ramblings unintentionally sink in."
We pulled up outside my flat. "See you later Galvin." I put the pulse gun into my backpack and headed up to where I lived. I wasn't really in the mood for partying but after a series of phone calls from Ruby, I gave in and said I'd go with her.
It wasn't long before she was at my door and I realised that although she was asking me, she wasn't really giving me the choice when she called. Either way she was going to turn up. "You can't wear that," she said as soon as I opened the door.
"Why not?" I asked defensively.
"Because it's a party."
"Fine. I'll change." I couldn't be bothered to argue with her. When I came out from my room she was more approving of my wardrobe choice and we were now able to actually leave.
It took fifteen minutes to walk there. Ruby thought that it would be a good idea and I went along with it. She told about what she'd been up to and how she'd had to put up with Mina all day. I felt bad for Ruby because I knew that Mina disliked her but I also felt bad for Mina because Ruby could be extremely annoying at times.
The party was at an abandoned warehouse and our friend Danny was throwing it. I had to admit, even though I wasn't that bothered about going, Danny's parties were legendary and I couldn't help but feel a little excited. Faint music could be heard from a slight distance away but when we opened the door it was ten times louder. There were loads of people there but I didn't expect anything less, Danny had a lot of friends.
"We should find Danny," Ruby said loudly trying to make herself heard over the music. I just nodded and looked around. As I scanned the room I easily found Danny. He was where he'd always be, in the quietest part of the room, chatting up a girl. I pointed over Ruby's shoulder and she walked off in that direction with me closely behind.
When we got over there, I couldn't see who he was with. He was leant in front of her, blocking her face from view. But when he saw us approaching he moved out the way, making the girl visible. I had to look twice at who he was sat with. Beside him was the girl that had shoved me against the wall earlier today. She looked so different now. Still gorgeous but she looked more carefree and relaxed. However when she saw me she slowly lost the smile.
"Hey man," Danny said standing up from the couch. "Hey Rubs. Glad you two could make it."
"Hi," I said back. I was unable to take my eyes off of the girl who was staring back. Danny sat back down and put his arm around her.
"This is Kelly," he said. "Kelly this is Ruby and-"
"Luke," she finished.
"You two know each other?" he asked.
"We've met briefly" she said.
"Oh cool," he said. "Saves me introducing my girl then doesn't it."
"You wish," she said laughing. "You know you couldn't handle me."
"A guy can dream," Danny said as he took her arm off of her and winked at me. "I'm going to get a drink. Why don't you come with me Ruby?"
"Actually-" she tried to say but got cut off.
"Come on," he wrapped his arm around her now and veered her away from us.
I sat down next to Kelly who shifted down the sofa to make more room than was actually needed. "Well," I said. "Fancy seeing you here."
"Yes. This is quite a surprise." She didn't say anything else and I couldn't help but bring up today's events.
"What were you doing at that building today?"
"I could ask you the same question."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me," she said crossing her legs which revealed more of her thigh. I looked away before she noticed that I was staring at her, I wasn't a pervert. "It's like that then is it?"
"Like what?" I asked confused. For a second I thought she was on about the staring but she continued with something else.
"You want to know what I've got to say yet you won't say anything yourself. You're keeping secrets and you can't tell anyone." Wow she was clever I thought to myself. She'd spent very little time with me and yet she knew more than my mum did in a year. "It was nice seeing you Luke."
She stood up to leave but I grabbed her hand and said, "Wait." Gasping, she pulled her hand away. There was a vacant look that spread across her face but then it was replaced with shock.
"I have to go," she mumbled. Somehow she managed to navigate her way threw the sea of people quickly and easily while I got stuck every few steps. By the time I got outside I was worried that she'd be gone but she was leant against a wall holding her head.
"What's the matter?" I asked going closer.
"Nothing. Go back inside."
"Did I do something wrong?"
For the first time she didn't look pissed off with me. She actually looked… sorry? "No," she said. "It not you." She seemed thoughtful and then asked, "What did you say your name was again?"
Had she really forgotten my name that quickly? "Luke. Luke Rutherford."
"No that's not right," she said so quietly it was almost to herself. "I'm looking for someone. Do you think you could help me?"
"I'll do my best?"
I watched her pull her photo out of her bag. She showed it to me and said, "Do you know this man?" I looked at the picture and was taken by surprise. This girl had a habit of doing that to me.
"Yeah. That's Galvin."
"So you know him?"
"Yeah he's my Godfather."
"Do you know where I can find him?"
"Why?" I asked. Now I felt a little suspicious of her motives. Galvin didn't have many friends and he defiantly never had any visitors.
"He was there today wasn't he?" I didn't answer her but she took that as an agreement. "And you didn't just stumble across the building. He brought you there. Of course, I should have known." There was a sudden change in her expression. "I'm sorry. You don't know who I am. For all you know I could be crazed vampire." I stiffened at her words. Did she know about half lives or was she joking? "Anyway, it was nice to meet you. Maybe I'll see you around sometime." She held out her hand and I cautiously shook.
"Yeah maybe," I said. Her whole body tensed when I touched her but then she was fine. With that she let go and strolled away. That was strange I thought. I needed to find out more about her.
I went back inside and looked for Danny. He clearly knew this peculiar girl. With my sharp eyes I found him with ease. Ruby was with him and she obviously wasn't impressed with my disappearance. I stood next to them and Danny handed me a beer.
"Thanks," I said.
"No problem. So what did you think of Kelly?"
"That's what I was going to ask you."
"She's a great girl. I've known her for a couple of years now. Proper little partier. Why? You thinking of asking her out?
"What? No," I said blushing.
"Ah Luke's got a crush," he teased.
"No I haven't. I mean yeah she's hot but she's a little..."
"Weird?" he suggested.
"Yeah."
"She's like that sometimes. One minute you'll be having a perfectly fine conversation with her and then you'll turn your back and she'll be gone. No explanations about where she's been." I smiled slightly to myself. That was exactly what I'd overheard my mum saying to one of her friends about me. "But like you said she's hot. She can be forgiven."
Ruby crossed her arms and stormed off to a group of girls on the other side of the room and stood with them glaring back at me. "What's her problem?"? I asked.
"Like you don't know," he said smugly and also walked away leaving me stood there on my own.
"What are you talking about?" I called after him but either he couldn't hear me or had decided not to answer. Anyway, back to the task on hand. Danny said he'd known her for a few years which meant she was probably human. But humans could be dangerous too.
I decided that it would be best to talk to Galvin. Looking at my watch I saw that he'd still be at Mina's recital but he'd go to the Stacks afterwards. He always did. So that was where I was headed. I told Ruby who'd offered to come with me but I told her to stay and enjoy herself.
I managed to get a taxi across town and within twenty minutes I was walking towards the entrance to the stacks. However, when I got there, I stopped in shock. The door was wide open. It was never left open. Ever. Hesitantly, I peered around the doorway. "What are you doing here?" I asked, loudly confronting the figure that was stood dead still in the middle of the room…
I doubt whether anyone will read this but I absolutely loved this T.V show and decided to write something about it. It was such a shame it got cancelled.
If you are reading this then I hope you enjoy it.
Review please :) xx