Another chapter down! it feels good to be back!
~DDM~
"Hey," he said. "Calm down beautiful, I'm just playing around."
Before I could do anything else, a large hand latched onto the hand on my elbow. Gabriel gave Matt a yank, pulling him almost fully out of the booth as he leaned down, tipping his hat back to show off his eyes and the fangs he had bared.
"Let go of her, before you lose that hand."
"What are you?" Matt no longer looked confident, his eyes were wide, true fear clouding them.
"Your end, if you don't back off."
"Gabriel," I said, pulling his attention back to me as the other man let go of my arm, pulling his bruised wrist into his chest protectively. "I think we should go."
I ignored the whispers from the other patrons as I pulled him toward the exit. I gave an apologetic smile to the woman who'd seated me, though she'd not come back to my table since Matt had sat down. It just reminded me that people in towns were mostly just out to look after themselves, since it was clear to anyone with eyes that I was uncomfortable with the man who'd decided to sit with me. We'd made it outside and were heading back to the bike when a voice shouted behind us.
"Hey, freak!" We both turned to see Matt standing just down the street, only he wasn't alone anymore, he had several men with him now, all armed.
"Gabriel?" I asked nervously, pressing closer to his side.
"You care if they die?" he asked, voice low and ominous.
"No, but it will bring trouble from the rest of the town." I whispered, we were interrupted by the angry, rejected townsman.
"Why don't you make the smart choice," Matt said as he and his friends came closer to us. "Leave the girl, get back on your bike, and disappear. Or we're going to have problems."
"Who do you think you are?" I said, angry that he seemed to think I had no say in staying here or not.
"I'm going to be your new man." He said with a confident grin. "There aren't many women here in town, and certainly none that look like you. You don't need to be a Nomad, with whatever he his, you can stay here, where it safe, marry me and I'll give you what you want."
"You don't know what I want." I snapped back. His grin took on a different edge, making me feel uneasy. He didn't seem to think it mattered if I wanted to be with him or not.
"Lily," Gabriel said softly. "You want to stay here?"
"What?" I asked, stunned.
"You said you didn't know where you wanted to be, you could stay here, be surrounded by regular people." He was looking at me, an odd glint in his eye.
"Don't say stupid things." I said with a huff. "I'm not going anywhere with them; you and I have a date with a Queen."
"You sure?" he asked.
"Yes." I looked him right in his unique golden eyes. "I'm sure."
"The lady doesn't seem to want to go with you." He said, looking at Matt and his friends. "You should walk away, while you still can."
Matt and his friends all laughed, one of them raising a shot gun and pointing it at Gabriel. He gently disengaged from me, nudging me off to one side.
"You think you can take us?" one man asked.
"I'm going to enjoy it." Gabriel said, rolling his shoulders. Faster than I'd ever sees anyone move, Gabriel shot across the space, grabbed the end of the shotgun, yanked it from the man's grasp and hit him in the center of his chest. The man went flying backward and Gabriel used their shock to snap the neck of one of the others who were armed and drop the last one. With only Matt left, the townsman looked shocked and terrified.
"Boo." Gabriel said, getting in his face. Matt fell back, scrambling away from Gabriel, who took a step forward as if to follow him.
"Gabriel!" I said, not wanting him to chase the man. "We need to go!"
He turned away from the scared man and joined me, wrapping an arm around my waist and hurrying me to where we'd parked the bike. I looked up and realized it had gotten darker, the sun was beginning to set. We climbed into the bike and I could hear the sound of screaming from where we'd left.
"Their dead!" someone screamed.
"The stranger did it!" Matt's voice joined the others.
We made it back to the train without being followed and I was thankful for that. Gabriel got off the bike and slid the car door aside, lifting me into it before turning and easily lifting the bike back inside. The sun had almost completely set when he pulled the door closed and began to my bags out.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking at me uncertainly.
"I'm fine," I nodded. "Just shaken."
"Because I killed them?" he asked, his eyes shadowed.
"No," I said honestly. "I'm not upset that you killed them."
"What shook you then?"
"The way he looked at me." I said. "He didn't care if I wanted to stay there or not. You heard him, there aren't many women in that town, apparently none who are attractive to him. He was willing to force me to marry him, if it meant he got his way. I've met men like him before, seen forced weddings in my town. Men like that scare me."
"But I don't?" he asked.
"No."
"They could make trouble for us if they put out what I did to their law. Towns like that don't like Nomads, they'll put out to other towns to keep an eye out for us."
"What should we do?"
"We've put enough distance between your town and this one."
"You want to let them out?" I asked, gesturing toward the rest of the train, thinking of the vampires asleep inside.
"Would it upset you?"
I thought about it for a moment, would it upset me to unleash the vampires on this place, like they had been on my town? Would I be sad to know they were gone? Guilty?
"No, it wouldn't upset me. They'll try to do the same to someone else who might come along."
"You'd let the others have them?"
"They have to eat, don't they?" I asked.
I gasped in surprise when my back hit the wall of the car, hard enough to knock the wind out of me. Then cool lips descended on mine as Gabriel kissed me, lining his much large frame up against mine, pressing close.
"You are an amazing woman." He said, when he pulled back, leaving me breathless before him. "The sun has set, time to move on."
He pulled me away from the wall and back into the cars I was more familiar with, the table usually holding food was empty. He left me at the table as he yanked open the door and shouted for a random Familiar to get us moving, telling him we were stopping into town. A moment later, I could feel that we were moving again, and he came back over to sit with me.
"Do you want to stay on the train?" he asked, looking excited. He was obviously please with what was going to happen.
"No, I'll come into town." I decided.
"We'll be there in ten minutes," he said, standing quickly again, not seeming able to sit still. I followed his movements from my seat, smiling slightly to see the almost child like anticipation on his face. He paced while we waited, constantly looking out the window as we got closer to the lights of the town. It felt like no time at all when the train came to a stop and he held out a hand for me. I took it and let him guide me through three cars of excited Familiars and to an exit. We walked down the steps and onto a platform of a train station. I was about to ask him what we did next when all the cars along the middle of the train opened and vampires came pouring out of them, disappearing into the dark, headed to the town.
"Maybe we'll find your friend." He said as he put his arm around my shoulders and directed me to the station exit. When we reached the town, people were already screaming, random gunfire going off in the distance.
"Do you need to find something to eat?" I asked. "Or someone?"
"And if I did?" he asked, glancing down at me.
"Then I'd say go ahead, I think I'll be okay on my own."
"Such a strange little thing." He said playfully before kissing me on the temple and taking off to fast for me to track. I wasn't alone long, before there were two thuds behind me and I turned to see two vampires making their way toward me, bodies low to the ground. I stopped walking and waited for them to reach me, putting my hand out to let them sniff me. They reminded me so much of dogs as they took in my scent, nuzzling against my hands as I patted their strange shaped heads.
"Are you going to stay with me?" I asked them as the settled in close on either side me of. They made a strange hissing sound that I took as an affirmative and began walking again.
I walked down the street with my vampire guard, seeing much of the same thing here as what happened to my town. Bodies of the townspeople lay in the streets, some of the buildings had caught fire and I stopped to watch the little diner we'd stopped at earlier had smashed in windows, a fire had started somewhere in the interior. I knew it was selfish of me, and part of me felt like I should feel guilty at what was happening here, but I couldn't seem to dredge up the feeling. I'm sure there were probably good people here, but the men I'd met had colored my view of the place in a similar way to how I'd seen my own town. They didn't care who they hurt, as long as they got what they wanted in the end, even willing to use violence to get it. I stopped by the shop where my dresses had come from, since the town was going up in smoke, it seemed like a fine idea to take a look through the store again. It wasn't like they would be needing what was in there.
I slowly opened the door, peaking my head in to look around, but I didn't see anyone inside so I went in, my guards slinking in behind me. I made my way toward the section with the dresses, stopping to see if they had any pants that might fit me on my way. I stopped when I heard the unmistakable cocking of a weapon and turned to see the shop keeper was standing behind his register, hand shaking as he pointed his gun at me.
"You…you were here before." He said, hand lowering slightly. "It's not safe, you need to hide."
"Hide?" I asked, confused. "What do I need to hide from?"
One of my guards made itself known as it slid up beside me, bumping my hand so I would pat it. The man's eyes went impossibly wide, his breathing coming out in panicked gasps as he stared at the creature beside me.
"You're with them?" he asked, confused.
"You should have stayed down." I said.
"What?" His expression of confusion didn't even have time to change as he was plowed to the ground by my other guard. I closed my eyes as he screamed and deliberately turned away from the counter. I picked out several pairs of pants as his scream died and grabbed the rest of the dressed in my size. I had to peek around the counter to get a couple of bags, doing my best to ignore the body that lay there, blood pooling around him. I filled the bags and left the store, leaving behind the man who'd owned it. The screams of the people were still going strong as countless vampires roamed the streets, attacking anyone they say. My guard stayed close as I walked, but we were stopped when several more landed in front of me. Gabriel and I hadn't talked about them, but I was curious what kind of mental capacity they had. I knew now they weren't mindless beasts like I'd been told and had read in books.
"Could you take these bags back to the train for me?" I asked the pair that had joined me, holding out the bags. They seemed to consider me for a moment before they came forward and took the handles of the bags in their mouths, fangs grazing against my fingers as they took the bags and disappeared into the night. I knew I had enough clothes from earlier, so if for some reason they didn't make it back, I wouldn't be sad, but I really wanted to know if they would follow through, or had the capacity to really understand.
"Lily," said a voice to my right and I turned to see Gabriel standing further down the main road, several bodies in front of him. I made my way toward him, seeing Matt and another man from earlier kneeling in front of him. He had blood covering his chin, his golden eyes bright with excitement, the flames from the buildings seemed to dance in their depths. "I found these for you."