Once Upon A Time
Chapter Three
Gwen had tailed Marko's bike out of the centre of town as he'd headed south towards the Cabrillo Highway. After a few miles he'd pulled off at a truck stop and slowed to a halt outside the front door. Gwen parked the Triumph next to him, glad that the short ride was finally over. As soon as she'd driven off the boardwalk, Dwayne had looped his arms around her waist and settled himself up against her back. There was something about the guy that set her nerves on edge, and when he'd touched her, goose bumps had broken out across her flesh, and not in a good way either. She was also very cold. For the second night in a row she'd ridden without a leather jacket on, or gloves and a crash helmet for that matter. She must have been crazy; she'd never be this careless back home. Last night she'd been running on pure, undiluted adrenalin, but not tonight; instead, she seemed to be running on what felt an awful lot like fear.
She waited for Dwayne to dismount before turning the engine off and pocketing the keys; there was no way on this earth that she was walking home for a second time in as many nights. Gwen slid from the bike, and almost instantly, Marko snagged her arm with his again, pulling her towards the entrance, with his dark haired companion bringing up the rear. Gwen faltered for a second, as an icy chill shot down her spine, but she recovered quickly, and let Marko lead her inside the brightly lit establishment, that was, if nothing else, full of other people. There was safety in numbers, right?
Marko chose a booth at the rear of the diner, and sat with his back against the wall so he could face both the room and the exit. Gwen certainly didn't want to sit next to him, so she took the opposite bench. Much to her relief, Dwayne chose to sit next to his friend. The waitress eventually ambled over and poured them each a coffee and Gwen immediately wrapped her freezing hands around the hot mug of caffeine, grateful for the heat the cup provided. She loaded the brew with a heavy dose of cream and sugar, took a sip and grimaced. She hated coffee, but it was warm, and even her insides felt chilled to the bone right now. It was a deep rooted chill, and she was pretty sure that it was more than just the ride in the cold wind that was causing it. Still, it would be just her luck to come down with a damn cold after spending two consecutive nights on a bike inappropriately dressed.
Marko tossed a coffee stained menu in her direction. "What'll it be, girl?"
She glanced down that the options in front of her, and after a couple of minutes of deliberation, made her choice. "I'll have the plain omelet, and can I get a pot of tea?"
"That's it?" Marko sounded a little shocked. "Jeez girl, you're the last of the big spenders. You not want a burger or something?"
Gwen scrunched up her face up in distaste. "I'm a vegetarian."
Dwayne spat hot coffee all over the Formica table top in disgust. "You're a what?"
She rolled her eyes and handed him a wad of napkins. "I'm a veggie, I don't eat meat. What? There's nothing wrong with that."
The guys exchanged glances, and Marko grimaced, obviously horrified by the idea of a none-meat-product diet.
The young waitress wandered back over, pad in hand and a bored look on her face, and Marko glanced up at her. "One plain omelet and a pot of tea," he all but spat out, "A burger with fries, extra rare, no salad, and," he looked to Dwayne.
"I'll have a burger too, also rare with no salad or fries, and a slice of cherry pie."
The waitress, whose name tag read Sue, scribbled everything down, nodded half heartedly and walked away again, popping gum as she went.
Gwen propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin upon her hand, trying to appear laid back and not at all bothered by their presence. "So boys, what's going on?"
The guys exchanged uneasy glances, and it seemed to Gwen that neither of them was too sure about telling her what was going on.
"Paul's-"
"It's like-"
Gwen rolled her eyes. "One at a time, boys.
Dwayne took a sip of coffee, studied the wall intently and appeared to be collecting his thoughts, while Marko absently pushed grains of spilt sugar around the table top with his finger.
Gwen was fed up, tired and still cold, and decided that enough was enough. "Look, you drag me all the way out here to tell me something important, and now neither of you wants to talk. What the hell is going on? It's not like you're spilling some state secret or something."
Dwayne glanced up and gazed straight into her eyes. "Do you believe in the supernatural?"
She frowned, and an uneasy feeling formed in her stomach. "What like ghosts, that sort of thing?"
"Kind of, what about vampires? Dwayne continued, causing Marko to shift uncomfortably beside him and chew on his finger nails.
"What about them?" Gwen asked suspiciously.
"Do you believe in them?"
Marko kicked Dwayne under the table; the waitress was returning with their food. Once she had gone again, Dwayne pressed the issue once more. "Do you believe in them?"
Gwen looked at him like he was nuts; maybe these guys were on drugs. "What sort of whacked out question is that?"
"An honest one," Marko replied. "So, do you believe?"
"Do I believe that there are vampires out there who drink people's blood? No, I think that there is a lot of nasty shit in this world, but it's just caused by humans; nothing more, nothing less. Look, what does this have to do with tattoos? I'm not really that hungry, so if it's all the same to you, I think I'll go."
Gwen stood to leave, and Dwayne's hand shot out lightening fast, and he grabbed a hold of her wrist, clamping down hard. "Stay."
The few remaining diners hunched over their food, avoiding the scene between the three bikers as best they could. No one would get involved, that was their way, but it didn't stop Marko from shaking his head in dismay at Dwayne's outburst.
Gwen's gaze went from Dwayne's face, to her captive wrist, and then back to Dwayne. Fury shone in her brown eyes and the unease in her gut turned to fear. "Let me the fuck go. Now!" she demanded angrily.
"Sit." Dwayne spat.
She narrowed her eyes. "Stay? Sit? What next, roll over? I am not your damn dog, mate."
Marko bit his lower lip in a vain attempt to stifle the snigger that was bubbling up, and he kicked his brother under the table.
Dwayne let out a sigh, and let go of Gwen. "Finish your meal, please?"
"Or what, you'll beat the shit out of me?" she replied bravely as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.
"I'm tempted to, but no."
Gwen glanced at him, and then at Marko, who smiled at her reassuringly, so she slowly sat down again, though still was not at ease with the situation. "Okay, but I'm still not happy about this; I just want one of you to speak in plain English and tell me what the hell you want."
Dwayne took a bite of his burger and nodded slowly. "Okay, truth time; we want you to tattoo Paul so we can win a bet, but it can't be done in a tattoo studio."
She poked at her omelet with her fork and pushed it around her plate. "That I can do, I'm sure we can find somewhere suitable, and I'll just take the stuff that I'll need from work. But you know what; I have a feeling that there's more to this, right? I mean, there has to be some reason behind your cloak and dagger routine."
Marko choked on a mouth full of rare burger, causing Dwayne to hiss at him angrily, before he got his emotions back in check and looked over at her again. "Promise me Gwen, that whatever I tell you next will never reach another living soul, can you do that for me?"
Gwen eyed him cautiously, the fear ramping up another notch in her belly. "And if I tell someone, I'll be dead, correct?"
"Exactly."
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and put her cutlery down on the side of her plate slowly "You're not just a gang of bikers, are you?"
"Correct again."
"Say I keep my mouth shut about whatever it is that you want to tell me, and then ink Paul, what guarantees to I have that I won't end up dead anyway?"
Dwayne smiled proudly. "You really are one smart cookie, doll. You will have my word."
She nodded thoughtfully, picked up her fork, and finally ate some of her dinner. A few beats later she spoke again. "But what about the other one, David? It looks like he's in charge to me."
"Even if David finds out about you and this deal with us, which I hope that he won't, you still have my word."
Marko looked from Gwen to Dwayne, pushed his plate out of the way and thunked his head on the table top. "I cannot believe," he muttered, "That you'll go against David over this. Are you fucking nuts, man? It's only money after all."
"Yeah I know, but live a little, man."
"David won't kill you Dwayne, but he will make you suffer for an eternity, don't you ever forget that." Marko grumbled. "Remember what happened in New Orleans, bro."
Dwayne glared at his brother as he absently ran his hand over this thigh and the wounds that had long since healed. "You think I can forget what happened there? Just because I don't carry the scars, does not mean that I've managed to erase it from my memory. And let me remind you, man, that it was you who dreamt up this little wager in the first place, so I think that his anger will be directed at you more than me."
"Shit," the blond groaned. "Let's just forget all this insanity, drop Miss Wendy over here off at her place, and get back before David gets suspicious."
"David's always suspicious, it's his nature," Dwayne countered. "Besides, his life would be dull if he didn't have us lot to deal with. I reckon he's just as curious as the rest of us about this whole thing anyway. He may have taken the bet, but deep down he knows that you wouldn't have gambled that much cash on a whim. David will suspect that you're up to something crazy and dangerous no matter what happens now. So we just need to keep this and Wendy-"
"Gwen!"
"Whatever. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we just need to keep this and Wendy under our hats until we can collect our cash. I still think that if we pull this off he'll be too stunned to kick our, well mostly your ass from here into next week."
"Fine, but just you remember that I'm taking you down with me when the shit hits the fan," Marko replied as he tugged at his curls in frustration.
"Guys, will one of you just cut the crap and tell me what the fuck is going on," Gwen demanded grumpily.
Dwayne sighed in resignation. "Okay Wendy-"
Gwen narrowed her eyes as she cut him off. "If you keep calling me that, I'm going to leave you and Cousin It here to dig yourselves out of whatever nasty shit you've dropped yourselves into."
"Does it really bother you that much?" Marko quizzed as he picked apart the burger, discarded the limp looking bun, and slowly licked the blood and meat juices from his fingers.
Gwen looked at the bloody mess with distaste, but Marko just shrugged his shoulders and carried on eating. Finally she nodded her head. "Yes it bothers me."
"Why?" he pressed.
"Think about the person in your life that you hate or hated the most, okay. Picture them in your mind, what they did to you for you to hate them so much, how they made you feel. How do you feel now?"
Marko frowned, "Pissed?"
"Dwayne?"
"Angry."
"Right, so when you call me Wendy, you remind me about my older brother's best friend, Dave. Dave was a bully and a total piece of shit; his mission in life seemed to be picking on me, belittling me and treating me like shite. And he always called me Wendy, never Gwen. So if you'd like to get on my good side, I suggest that you call me Gwen, okay?"
Dwayne pushed his hair out of his face and cocked his head to one side. "You just don't look like a Gwen, doll."
"And you don't look like a Dwayne, so I guess that makes us even doll," she retorted with a smirk, as she pushed her half eaten food aside and propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her hands for the second time that night. "But all this talk is still not getting me any closer to what the hell is going on, and what you want to tell me that puts my life in grave danger. So before I die of boredom, I suggest that one of you starts talking, or I might have to take that Triumph outside for a little ride."
Dwayne mirrored her pose and leaned in close to her across the table, face only a few inches away from hers. "We're vampires," he whispered.
"Jesus Christ, what is this, the fucking Twilight Zone?" Gwen snorted.
"No," Dwayne replied as he looked her straight in eyes, his own changing to a sickly shade of yellow as she stared back at him.
Gwen jerked back as though she'd been slapped and shook her head rapidly. "Oh no, this is so not happening, you hear me! Fuck this shit, I don't need it; I'm leaving."
"Crap," Marko muttered as he ignored the stares of the other diners, and put his head in his hands.
Gwen slid from the booth and swiftly marched out of the building. Dwayne watched her leave, before he turned to Marko and clapped him on the shoulder. "Guess I better go clean this mess up. Catch you later, bro."
Gwen jammed the keys in the ignition of the Triumph, praying for the engine to catch before Dwayne caught up with her. She could see him getting closer and closer to the door, and she did not want to hang around and chat with him. She wasn't sure what the hell was going on, or if he was a vampire, but she believed what she saw with her own two eyes. His had changed color right in front of her, and that was not normal; he must be on some kind of drugs. Whatever his deal was, she was pretty sure that no good would come from associating with these guys. The bike roared to life, and with a spray of gravel that peppered Dwayne as he stepped out of the door, she tore from the lot.
Gwen had no destination in mind, just that she needed to put some distance between her and those two guys. What the hell had she been thinking? Rule number one: Never accept rides with strange men. She'd always been sensible and street smart, so why on earth had she agreed to this evening? Surely last night should have been enough of a warning to stay away from those guys.
After about ten minutes of aimless riding, she found herself back in town by the boardwalk. The place was deserted at just gone 3am, so she figured on dumping the bike and then hot footing it the half mile to her motel room. Santa Carla wasn't that big a place, but she reckoned that the chances of Marko and Dwayne finding her before she got to safety were slim. She was pretty sure that she hadn't been followed, and couldn't hear the sound of another bike engine. She parked the bike in the middle of the huge lot behind the fairground, turned the engine off, and realized suddenly that she still had to work out what to do with the keys. As much as she was freaked out right now, she couldn't just leave the keys with the bike; that would be really mean, and uncalled for. Besides, if someone stole his bike then she'd have to contend with a very angry Dwayne. How the fuck could she get him his keys back? It wasn't like she knew anything about him, other than he rode a shit hot bike, hung around the boardwalk and was apparently a vampire. Right… whatever. The only thing that mattered was getting out of here. Maybe she could take the keys with her and leave them at work; it wasn't like he didn't know where to find her. And she could always get Jake, the other tattoo artist to walk her home each night. Okay, that was a plan.
Gwen slid from the bike, pocketed the keys and set off at a trot across the parking lot. Her boots made no sound as they hit the asphalt, and the only noise in the night was that of her jewelry jangling together as she moved. About thirty feet from the bike she heard another noise in the dark, like something whistling through the air. She stopped dead and turned around slowly. Nothing. No one. She was alone, but the noise was getting louder. Fear tingled up her spine and she forced herself to set of walking again. It's just the wind, it's just the wind, she repeated in her head like a mantra. A glance over her shoulder confirmed that there was no one behind her, and the bike was still where she'd parked it. There was just the sound of the wind screaming around her and…
She walked straight into someone and let out a shriek. It was Dwayne, and he'd literally appeared out of nowhere. There was no way that she could have missed him crossing the lot, unless… unless he dropped out of the sky? Oh fuck!
"Hey doll."
Gwen backed away slowly, and curled her hand around the bike keys. "What do you want?" she asked, sounding a lot more confident than she felt.
He smirked and took a couple of steps closer.
Gwen backed up even more, but Dwayne matched her pace for pace, and she knew that the only chance she had was to make a dash for it. Without further hesitation, she turned and ran, and let out another undignified scream as she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and lift her up. The ground fell away as they rose into the air, and she didn't care how much she screamed now. She was going to die.