"Hey, I've been trying to call you for hours but your mobile keeps going to answerphone and Rosie has done her usual and ignored the house phone. Call me when you get this x"
Samantha reads her text from Gaspard as she flops herself onto the bed.
"But… my phone wasn't turned off… and it hasn't lost signal apart from when I was in the club and that was only an hour ago," Samantha speaks to herself, "Stupid phone company."
She presses the dial button and it rings a few times.
"Sam! Finally!" Gaspard exclaims.
"Hey, sorry, my phone is playing up," Samantha replies, "Are you at the airport? Do you want me to come and get you?"
"Mon chéri, I haven't even left Louisiana yet," he says.
"What? Why?" she asks, "I expected you to be back sometime tonight."
"Yeah," he sighs, "Well, surprise, surprise, there was a delay of a couple hours that became a few hours which then became much more than a few."
"So, when will you be home?"
"Tomorrow evening I hope."
"What are you going to do 'til then? Go to a hotel? You can't expect Robyn to come all the way back to collect you, by the sounds of it she has enough on her plate at the moment and Phillipe couldn't even drop you off in the first place."
"No, I think I'll stick around here, just in case by some miracle they manage to organise an earlier flight," Gaspard says, "Plus, I can do some more duty free shopping."
"Oh, please," Samantha rolls her eyes, "You've probably already bought enough cigarettes to last you an entire year."
He laughs. Samantha has always liked his laugh. His smoking hasn't yet caused his voice to become hoarse or strained and she hopes he will quit before it does. She couldn't count the number of times he has said he will stop.
"Don't worry, I didn't go wild," the smile on his face could be heard in his speech, "Plus, I said to you that I would cut down."
"I know," Samantha replies.
"On another note, how was your little trip to Crucifix?"
"I can't say it was the most fun I've had in my life but it was certainly interesting. I came out of it alive; I have bruises coming up on my neck where Elizabeth nearly strangled me and also discovered quite how much practice some vampires have had in regards to coming up with creative insults for our kind, but I think it went well."
"She tried to choke you? Shit, Sam, I'm so…."
"Don't apologise. I knew she was going to restrain me as soon as she found out who I was. I'm just glad it wasn't silver. It's fine as long as you promise to kiss it better when you come home."
"I'll do more than just kiss you," Gaspard murmurs, lowering his voice so the surrounding people aren't able to overhear him.
"I look forward to it," Samantha giggles, "Anyway! I have an explanation for Hannah. Apparently her maker is some delinquent progeny of Elizabeth's that went astray a while ago. Her name is Nancy and she creates new vampires and leaves as soon as the process is complete. Even Elizabeth is genuinely ashamed of her and wants to punish her so I made a deal."
"Please, tell me you didn't give her permission to search our territory," Gaspard groans.
"Yes, Gaspard, that's exactly what I did. I'm so incredibly thick that I told her she was welcome anytime," Samantha snaps, "Have a bit more faith in me than that, asshole!"
"Sorry, I'm sorry," he apologises, "Continue."
"Yeah, you better be sorry for that one!" she scowls, "I made a deal that if we find Nancy, we will hand her over to Elizabeth. I thought it would be a win-win situation; we get rid of the problem and she gets to sort out hers."
"So neither party has to feel like they're being forced to cooperate," Gaspard replies, "I'm proud of you. You made the right decision for the pack."
"I tried to put myself in your shoes," Samantha says.
"I never realised you were a fan of loafers," he teases.
"Your jokes are crap. Oh, yeah, I may have, um, done something a tad out of character as well but I swear it was for a good reason," she winces.
"Uh oh, I don't like the sound of this."
"Please, just hear me out."
"Sam, what did you do?"
"There's a slight possibility that I didn't quite solve the entire problem and came home with more than I intended."
"You brought the girl back with you, didn't you?"
"Maybe… yes."
"God, help me. And you did this, why?"
"Please, don't be angry. I found out that those vampires giving the other packs trouble are Elizabeth's grandchildren and I thought it would be better to find somewhere else for her instead of handing her over to the embodiment of corruption!"
Gaspard sighs. Samantha knows that this is probably the last thing he needs to hear and panics about her decision. His trust in her is clearly about to be crushed into oblivion.
"You're telling me that I now have to deal with three women in our house?" he says.
"You're not angry?" she asks, surprised at how calm he sounds.
"I'm furious. I'm returning to a house with so much oestrogen it might kill me, send to into the loony bin or just take over and turn me into a woman altogether; which is almost the same as being sent to the loony bin!" he replies.
"You can be so charming sometimes. Perhaps it will. You're already starting to turn into a drama queen and you're not even back in the country yet," Samantha says.
"Sam."
"Sorry! What do you want me to do? I can't take her back now; Elizabeth said it was a one-time offer."
"Fuck sake. Alright, we'll just have to find a way to make this work."
"Maybe we could use her to our advantage. She's a vampire; they're strong, they're fast, their senses can almost match ours and she might have the ability to sense her maker. All we have to do is help her hone in on her natural skills and we've got ourselves a fanger we can trust."
"All we have to do? No, Sam. All you have to do. You can teach her."
"How do you expect me to do that? I can play Alpha when you're not here but playing maker is a whole different story."
"Oh, and I know everything about how to raise a vampire?"
"Ok, fine, I get it. I'll… improvise. If she turns savage, I'll stake her."
"And every time you're on your time of the month, I'll hit you with a baseball bat. You're not staking her!"
"Gaspard, please, just help me out here," Samantha cries.
Gaspard pauses for a moment to think before speaking, "Look, I can see where you're coming from when you say that trying to keep her on our side is a good idea. I agree with you; it could turn out well for both us and her. I also understand that you're not this girl's biggest fan but, if you really need something to help you in dealing with her, try and remember that four years ago you weren't so different from how she is right now."
Samantha is taken aback by the words her boyfriend has uttered. He's right. From the very second she met Hannah she has been nothing but rude and harsh to her, but regardless of how different they are in the sense of where they have come from, the current situation Hannah is in has an uncanny similarity to Samantha's previous one. A memory of her younger self works its way into her thoughts; terrified and lost in the middle of the woods, cowering before someone she thought was going to end her life.
"Please, please, don't kill me."
"I'm not going to harm you. What are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know this was your territory. I'll leave straight away, I promise. Just, please, don't kill me."
"Sam? Are you ok?" Gaspard asks, sounding worried.
"Yes, sorry, I drifted off a little bit," Samantha apologises.
"Ok," he replies, sounding unconvinced and worried, "I need to go now, otherwise my battery is going to die and I need it to call you when I get back to London."
"That's fine," she says, "I love you. I miss you."
"I love you too."
There is complete silence in the bedroom as the phone disconnects. Samantha sighs and gets up to undress. She feels much better as she removes everything but her knickers and wraps herself in one of Gaspard's button-up shirts. She sits back down on the edge of the bed and massages her feet which are sore from the high heels.
She doesn't know whether she is angry or upset about Gaspard bringing up her past. Perhaps she is a bit of both. She isn't ashamed of it by any means but it still hurt her to think about it; just the memory of it makes her feel as though someone is driving a knife through her heart. No, she isn't angry. Just sad; sad for herself, sad that Gaspard isn't here to hold her, sad for Hannah.
As she settles down under her duvet, she grabs the pillow that her boyfriend's head would normally be laying on and hugs it close to her body. A few tears falling sideways onto the bed as she closes her eyes.
XXXXXXXXXX
Downstairs, Hannah is sitting on the step that leads up onto the veranda at the front of the bungalow. Samantha has left her the key to get back in and had told her to make sure to put herself back in the basement before dawn.
She stares at the sky, counting the stars overhead. This is the only sky she is ever going to see from now on. On such a clear, cloudless night, she wonders if it can really be so bad spending the rest of her life like this. Then again, her life no longer has a limit, forever is a long time.
She sees something moving in the corner of her eye; a cat. This cat looks identical to the one that was hissing and spitting at her in the hallway before turning into a young girl. Samantha had called her Rosie. Maybe this was her.
"Hello," Hannah says, as the cat walks up to her.
The cat doesn't reply nor turn into a girl.
"Look, I know we didn't get off on the right foot but Samantha says that I'm going to be staying with you both for a while. I think it would be a good idea for us to start over, get to know each other properly," she suggests.
The cat sits down in front of Hannah and meows, staring blankly at her.
"Oh, what's the point, you hate me and we both know it," Hannah sighs, "I guess I'll just stay out of your way."
Hannah pulls her knees to her body, rests her chin on them and closes her eyes. She hears the cat running past her, leaving her alone once again.
Suddenly, there is the sound of quiet footsteps behind her. It must be Samantha coming to tell her to get into the house. It wasn't coming up to dawn yet but maybe she doesn't trust Hannah to manage herself. She keeps her eyes closed, waiting to be spoken to before she moves. The footsteps get closer until they are standing beside her on the step.
"You know, I don't think cats can understand human speech."
This voice, though female, doesn't belong to Samantha. Hannah opens her eyes and is surprised to find Rosie. She is a slim, pretty girl with pale skin and long brown hair, a similar length to Samantha's. Her almond-shaped eyes are emerald green and her full lips portray would could be considered a slight smile. She sits down next to Hannah.
"But that cat can. That was you," Hannah states.
"No, that wasn't me. If it was then I wouldn't have clothes on right now. I'm stark naked before and after I shift, same as Sam," Rosie replies.
"Then… who was that?"
"That was Kitty."
"And Kitty is just a cat? Why does she look just like you then?"
"Actually, I look just like her. I have to see an animal to be able to shift into it. I'm not animal specific like werewolves are. I can become any animal I want providing I physically observe it first."
Hannah raises her eyebrows in surprise. Two days ago she would never have imagined she would be a vampire be sitting outside a house owned by a werewolf talking to a girl who can turn into any animal in the world with the added knowledge that she now has a whole new family bonded to her by vampire blood.
"Well, I feel incredibly stupid now," Hannah laughs, "I was practically talking to myself."
"You are incredibly stupid. If you weren't then you wouldn't be here right now," Rosie replies.
"No, I wouldn't. But I can't say I would rather be at home," Hannah sighs.
"I'm not really interested in hearing your sob story just yet," Rosie says, leaning back on her elbows, "But I did hear what you said to the cat."
"And you think it's an idiotic thing to suggest because I am 'little miss anti-sunshine' and you would rather lock me out and watch what happens to me when the sun comes up because you hate my guts?"
"I don't hate you. I just don't like you. But, though it pains me to say it, you're probably right. Sam isn't going to stand for us being at each other's throats, which even I don't want considering you've got that big set of fangs hiding in your mouth, and Gaspard will most definitely not tolerate conflict in the house. So, I guess I can put aside my previous judgements and give you a chance to prove to me you're not just another nasty, little fanger."
"Thank you," Hannah says, smiling at Rosie.
Rosie returns the smile and lies down fully on the veranda. Hannah mimics her and they both lay side by side, watching the sky. Rosie thinks about what Hannah had said, that she isn't sure if she would rather be at home, and ponders over what might be the reason for her doubting that still being human would be a bad thing. She wonders if Hannah's story is similar to her own.
XXXXXXXXXX
At nine o'clock the next evening, the door of the basement is flung open and Samantha's voice echoes down through the hatch.
"Hannah! Get up here!"
Hannah jolts awake and panics, trying to think what she might have done that she would be being shouted at for. Did she forget to lock the door? Did she knock something over when she shut the hatch last night? She gets up off of the camp bed which Samantha had set up for her after they had returned from Crucifix and rushes up the ladder.
Once she reaches the top, she discovers Samantha standing in front of her, holding out a yellow summer dress. It's her summer dress, the one she had been wearing the night she met Samantha in the woods, only now it isn't broken and covered in dirt, it's clean and the strap has been fixed as well as the tears.
"Oh! Thank you!" Hannah exclaims.
"It's not perfect but it will do," Samantha says.
"Will do for what?" Hannah asks.
"We're going out," Samantha explains, "I'm taking you to the pub I work at. We're going to start over. Rosie told me this morning that you two are going to attempt not to kill each other and now it's time we straightened things out too."
"Ok," Hannah says, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
Samantha sighs, "I know I've been giving off a lot of mixed signals but it's been brought to my attention that I really should have given you some slack on the whole vampire issue. I should have been nicer to you when I found out that you weren't knowingly trespassing on our territory and I apologise. But let's wipe the slate clean, yeah?"
"Sure," Hannah replies.
"Great! Now go get dressed and meet me in the car," Samantha smiles.
As Hannah walks up the stairs and into the bathroom, she can't stop smiling. Things are starting to look up. She might actually be treated somewhat equally and for once in her life feel welcome.
Ten minutes later, she leaves the house, wearing a pair of Rosie's sandals because she doesn't have any shoes of her own. As she hops into the passenger seat, Samantha starts up the engine and backs out of the driveway.
"Off to Loup-Garou we go."