CHAPTER THIRTY

"So you're coming with me?" Mattie asked me.

It was the next night. Everyone was standing around in the lobby. Earlier we had another meeting on how to progress Rose and that was to actually be in vampire society rather than just to hear rumours. I wasn't sure what exactly we were going to do but by the sound of it, it was a security.

I nodded. I was determined to do better this time. Since I was heading out of Rose, I kind of thought this was a case.

But I knew this was different. I would be seeing a different part of society.

I wasn't going to carry Alpha and Beta. Sam took care of them.

"Let's go then!" Mattie said.

So now we're out on the road. Mattie was driving with his sunglasses on, he must have put a set in each of the cars we used. We were in a black rental car, a Volvo this time, thanks to Sam. It was comfortable though. It looked big on the outside but on the inside, it felt really snug. It was a weird feeling.

Today was a cloudy day, I think. It was hard to determine what kind of day it had been. All I saw were the dark clouds hanging over us as we drove threatening to dump their load of water all over us. It was unusual to see a guy in sunglasses when it's dark. I wasn't scared of his driving. I probably might be if he was human.

Cars drove past us since we were in the left lane, flashing off their headlights. We were on the motorway heading to vampire society although I wasn't sure how to even get there.

"Mattie?"

"Yes?"

"This sounds like a stupid question but where exactly is vampire society?"

A grin broke out on his face.

"Don't laugh at me!" I pouted looking through the window. Rain wiped the window.

A hand patted my knee. "Ah, I'm sorry, Alice." He chuckled. "Everything under the night sky is vampire society." He took a left turn past a lit up sign with directions that I couldn't see since we were going too fast. "Vampires have different names for places, you'll know it as Milton Keyes."

I'd never been to Milton Keyes so I was a bit excited.

I looked at him. With only the lights of the dashboard, I could see the lower half of his face only slightly lit. The corner of his mouth was upturned, the only evidence there was of Mattie's grin.

The upper half, however, was completely covered in darkness. Not to mention the shadows of the sunglasses he wore.

"What exactly are we doing there?" I asked.

A breath escaped his lips as he mumbled, "I should really ask Iain to include you in the briefs, although I'm not entirely sure why he hasn't invited you." Then in a louder voice he added, "Iain thought it was time to expose you to vampire society since you're only used to security. He seemed apprehensive which might be why he didn't ask you. Although I know you'll do well." He turned his head to give me a full on grin.

"M-Mattie!" I pushed his shoulder to get him to watch the road then I realised I was grinning myself. What this man does...

"Ah, it's fine, Alice!"

"But are you sure?" I whispered. It put an end to his playful mood.

"Sure of what?"

"Sure that I'll do well in this society?" What about being human?

Mattie took forever to reply. "You'll do fine, Alice. If anyone even plucks a hair out of your head, I'll beat them up."

His enthusiasm (if it could be called that) scared me. I couldn't think of anything to reply with.

"We'll actually be meeting someone. You know her."

A vampire… a female vampire…

"Sarah?"

"No."

"Cindy?"

"No."

I pouted. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

That smile was back. "Oh no, it's a surprise!"

I had forgotten how much I loved Playful Mattie.

At about midnight we arrived, or so Mattie said. We were just in front of a set of thick gates surrounded by a large field. Behind us were the buildings that belonged to Milton Keyes making it seem like this field was the only thing that separated human and vampire society.

Up ahead was a narrow, cobbled road that could probably only just fit a van. Olden buildings in black, a dirty white shade and brown with the smell of dust bordered it, were just behind this gate. There were beams on the outside of them. I suppose it was for design.

The narrow pathway lead to another, larger road going horizontal. Sometimes horse pulled carriages could be seen, their drivers holding the reins. Strangely enough that was all I could see. There were no people walking past.

Vampire society was like a ghost town.

I noticed all of this as I climbed out of the car. I had to hang on to the open door because my impression was completely different to the scene before me.

Mattie came round to pull me off the car and to close the door. "We'll take a carriage from here."

"Are you sure no one's going to like… nick the car?"

"No." He even had to shake his head as if just saying it wasn't enough. "This field serves as a car park. People in those houses over there-" He nodded toward Milton Keyes, "know they are neighbors of a city occupied by vampires and you don't really want to deal with a vampire." Surprisingly enough Mattie wagged his eyebrows.

I looked at him as of to say, 'really?'

"But on a serious note, since we don't technically have the support of Rose, there are a few things you need to know."

I suppose he paused there for emphasis which was my queue to ask a question. "What do you mean by 'support'?"

Mattie looked up at the sky. "Hm, it's because Rose would have retaliated if a member got hurt during security or anything other than that."

I gaped at him. "So what might happen if I stepped through those gates and got injured?"

"You won't." It was said with determination and confidence. He paused again in thought. "Alice, what do you know about a vampire?"

I frowned. He was changing the subject for some reason so I just went with it. "Well, they have a long life, I suppose they don't really age… they are physically strong, have better eyesight and hearing… I can't think of anymore." I shook my head.

"But in summary?"

"They're better than a human in every way?"

"Yes."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I'm saying you need to know what they can do and how little you can do against one."

I swallowed, paling. It was just like what happened at Paper. "I already know that." I whispered.

Mattie put a hand on my shoulder as he pulled me in. "I'm sorry." A finger touched my chin to lift my head up to his emerald eyes. "I need to make sure that you know who surrounds you. Especially now without Rose."

I nodded.

"There's also another thing." Mattie gently turned my head to look at Milton Keyes. "You see the people there, right? Their movements, where they're looking, where they're going, their speed, etc. It's the same with us. Although you may not see what a vampire does, vampires see each other's movements."

I looked at him frowning. "You're saying that vampires can keep up with other vampire movements? Just like humans with other humans? That means it's a level playing field?"

Mattie nodded.

"That's how you'll protect me? By anticipating people's movements?"

"Yes."

"You better get that accurate." I mumbled.

"Oh, I will." He smirked, then tilting his head, he said, "shall we?"

I nodded. Mattie guided me toward the gates and pushed. It was open. I shouldn't really be surprised, but I was.

It was like we were stepping back in time. The cobblestones felt weird under my trainers, like I was going to trip over. On closer inspection the wooden walls that lined this small pathway were mouldy patches which made the wood even darker.

When we got to the larger road I could see how far back in time we were. The buildings opposite us were in a dirty white shade with black beams supporting the structure. On some houses they had a severely overhanging balcony as if it were a room.

The road was still cobbled with black iron lamp posts protecting their flames, giving light to the night.

I scanned the place. It was completely quiet. No one was even around. I couldn't even hear any carriages that Mattie said we would take. There was more dark spots under a fire lit road. It was eery. I didn't like it.

In the darkness of an alleyway between two houses, I could see something there and I realised that I was absolutely relent on Mattie's observation and simultaneously useless without Alpha and Beta.

Suddenly an arm pressed against my shoulders making me jump. I almost screamed if it wasn't for Mattie putting himself in my eyesight. It was his arm around my shoulders.

"Calm down, Alice." He said gently.

I took several breaths to steady myself. Once I had calmed down Mattie started us walking one way.

After a few minutes a carriage could be heard coming our way. It took me by surprise when it suddenly stopped where we were.

It was a black carriage coupled with two black horses almost hidden in the surrounding darkness. The curtains in the carriage were open showing no one inside.

The driver had the reins in his hands. He looked at both of us with his red eyes but as he looked at me, his gaze didn't wander. I stared back. How rude is he to stare at someone?

Eventually he broke contact, turning to Mattie saying, "Matthew Taylor?"

"Hello." Mattie's tone was one you would use to state a fact. To me he said, "Alice, hop into the carriage."

With an unsure face I did what he asked. The seats were a deep red quilted colour but it didn't quite match the shade of blood red eyes. One was behind the driver facing the back and the other facing forward. It might be able to seat six people. I sat facing forward.

The door was still open so I saw Mattie looking up at the driver talking. I couldn't hear anything though. He looked a bit stressed until he fished in his pockets and gave the driver something before taking the seat next to me.

We didn't say a word until the door closed. The second it did Mattie sighed, wrapping a comforting arm around my shoulders.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"The driver wanted to know what's happening with Rose so I just said I couldn't tell him anything."

I looked ahead. There was a small porthole where I could see the driver's feet. "He can hear us?"

"No, no." Mattie shook his head. "You'll be surprised to see how much vampire's love and miss privacy. These windows," he indicated all of them around us, "they are soundproof. Most houses in vampire society will have them."

"Even vampires are fed up with their hearing?"

Mattie grinned. "You'd be surprised at what things a vampire can pick up."

Flashes of something ran through my mind. I probably shouldn't ask but I did. "What kind of things?"

"Oh, Alice." He tugged me so I fell feeling his mouth just grazing my ear. "What if you and I were in bed?"

I blushed harshly, pulling back so hard I crashed into the door on my side of the carriage. I didn't know what to say.

Mattie pulled my arm to get me back next to him. With a grin that could light up the deepest, darkest thoughts, he kissed my cheek as he wrapped his arms around me. His head rested on my neck as if he was going to take a bite.

Just then the carriage stopped. Mattie sighed, releasing me to open the porthole in front of us and asked the driver if we were at our destination. We were, so we hopped out.

Before us was a mansion that looked similar to The Manor. It was a dark colour but its corners had a wooden enforcement in an even darker shade. The windows, that held six or eight or so panels in one, were a beige colour. They were rounded at the top to reveal a little sunrise kind of design. I couldn't exactly see how many there were where I stood, it was far too dark, plus there were only lights on around the front door. A lantern hung above the door.

Mattie was at my side in no time after paying the driver. I heard the noise of the horses hooves drift away in the wind.

"Is this the place?"

"Oh yes, Alice."

He walked to the front door and knocked.

Just as soon as he did, it was opened by a woman with blond hair in a pink blouse and a black skirt who recognised Mattie immediately. "Mattie! You're finally here! We were wondering when you were going to come!" She hugged him then she turned her attention to me. In a reassuring voice she glided her way toward me and took both of my hands in hers. For a vampire, they were warm. "Ah, Lucy Henderson?"

I nodded. Who was this woman? I know her? I racked my brain but I just didn't know this vampire. Was she at Rose? I barely looked at anyone else other than the people I was on familiar terms with.

Her eyes were a lovely shade of blue though, it was hard to turn away. If I could, I'd give Mattie a look that said, 'help me'.

"Alice, my name is Elizabeth King. I'm Amanda King's mother."

King? As in the Amanda I met at Paper?

"Hello." Oh shit, it sounds like I wasn't sure I should have said that. "I'm sorry, Amanda as in-"

Suddenly there was a shriek from the house and the wind blew my hair back. Just at the door was a young girl probably about twelve in a red and white dress. It was Amanda.

Oh, thank God she's fine!

I grinned at her. She bundled up to me and hugged me. "Lucy!"

She was shorter than I, her head just hit my chin. I nuzzled my nose in her strawberry smelling hair. "How are you?"

"I'm much better since you helped me!" She was all smiles, I couldn't help but reciprocate it. As she hugged me I looked at Elizabeth who had a knowing look on her face at our reunion. Mattie was the same. "Mattie, thank you." I felt like I should say it. I probably wouldn't have visited Amanda if it weren't for him.

Even though I had a feeling that we were here for a reason.

"Would you like to come in?" Elizabeth offered her hand which was gestured to the open door that allows light to pour out in the darkness.

I accepted.

We were in a narrow lobby that had a staircase zig-zagging up to the first floor. There was a little landing where a window sat allowing the dim light from outside to stream inside.

Two doors were on either side of us, the one on my left, a small living room with a kitchen connected to it. I couldn't see what was on the one on my right as the door was closed.

Amanda took my hand pulling me upstairs. "Come!"

I looked back at Mattie with that 'help me' face just as I rounded on the small landing for the second set of stairs. The bastard was grinning.

"Amanda! Wait!" I panted. She was so fast every step I took made me think I was going to fall flat on my face in the wooden flooring.

Suddenly she froze pulling my arm and waist back as I flew forward. I had to lean on my knees to catch my breath.

Once I had, I realised I was in a young girl's bedroom. There was a huge four poster just like the one I had back in Silver Lining, only the design was different. Bright pink veils were draped from the top to conceal the bed that dominated the room with what looked like white bed sheets.

On my left at an angle to the far corner of the wall was a dressing table with a large mirror that unfortunately reflected myself. It was on top of a white table complete with two sets of drawers on either side. A stool matched it. On my right was a huge image of a landscape of a high place overlooking a jungle and the sea or an ocean in the distance. It was breathtaking. I really didn't expect a vampire to own something like this. It even had so much detail. I could see each stroke the closer I gazed.

"Do you like it?"

A voice shocked me out of my own little bubble. Amanda was smiling at me from in front of the bed.

"I love it. Did you do this?"

She nodded.

"That's amazing." I placed a hand on it. It was rough with the strokes so I only gilded over.

"I finished it years ago." She smiled at me fondly. "It was the year that you saved me. Thank you."

The depth of her appreciation was touching. "You're very much welcome, Amanda."

"You know," she looked shyly up at me, her lashes just catching on the hair that draped across her face. "If there was anything that you would like me to do, you can ask away." her hands bundled in her dress as she looked down at the floor. Or her hands, it was hard to tell from this angle.

"That might just be the case." A professional voice projected itself from behind me at the doorway. It was Mattie's voice.

He walked into the room to put an arm around my waist. It made me a bit nervous making a statement like that in front of another vampire.

In the same tone of voice he said to Amanda, "we need your approval to authorise Bloody Rose."

"Why?"

Again the voice came from the doorway. This time it was Elizabeth's voice.

At least that was the last time…

Mattie turned around pulling me with him to engage her in our conversation. "Because Gold is doing shit all in dealing with the vampire and human boundary."

Elizabeth was nodding as she entered our small circle. "I've seen groups of vampires passing through the gate during the daytime. When they come back they stink of blood." She stared off into the pictured landscape mumbling, "is that what they were doing?"

"Have you heard of anything about Gold?" I asked. I was addressing Amanda and Elizabeth but I looked at Elizabeth. I didn't really know her but since Mattie took me here…

"No. Not for a few decades."

How can they keep the clean line between the two societies in a few decades? I couldn't emphasis it any better.

"I know what you're thinking." Elizabeth said looking at me. Damn, are my thoughts written all over my face again?

"You may think it's up to the vampires to put things right."

She paused so I dove right in, "Aren't they? They're supposed to deal with vampire problems?" I vaguely remembered Sarah telling me that during my studies.

And this is a vampire problem.

Amanda, who I forgot during our standing up meeting (Mattie's arm was still securely wrapped around my waist, my hip practically digging into his leg), grabbed my arm to cling to looking all innocent and like she didn't know what on Earth we were talking about.

Elizabeth was nodding her head as she weighed something in her mind.

But it Mattie who answered, "The thing was when Rose was first introduced we had a bunch of problems, remember?" I nodded wide eyed. "Gold was established then, did you know that?"

"It was?" I thought Rose was the first even though it never really crossed my mind to ask about it.

"It thought that Rose would be pretty useless as Gold was doing the job."

"Which it's supposed to be doing now." I said. I got a brush on the cheek for a reward, burning my face.

"So it eventually agreed with Rose's introduction. So now with Rose dealing with this line between human and vampire, the Council did not think of it anymore. Now it sees what's happening as something Gold has to deal with in that humans are unfortunately a victim." He shrugged, "the Council just sees vampire problems only."

I sort of understood what he meant. I think it might be because I didn't know what exactly they do in detail.

"Isn't there a reason why Rose was shut down." Elizabeth said. "I don't want to put our name on it just to realise it has baggage."

"It collapsed because of what Paper were doing." Mattie's arm around my waist tightened. He lead me to sit at the edge of the bed. Amanda sat with me on my lap so I wrapped my arms around her to secure her. It seemed like Mattie didn't like it since the arm around me came up to my shoulders to rest my head on his shoulder.

Elizabeth folded her arms with narrowed eyes. "You have to give me more than that."

Mattie shook his head. "Basically many bad things, you're already pry to that…"

She blanched. "But having a farm… that has a fine, right?"

"Paper was doing far more illegal stuff."

She froze looking at Amanda. I think that if she were human, I would have seen her swallow or be concerned. After some time she sighed nodding. "Alright."

"Alright?" From the corner of my eye, I saw Mattie's head tilt upward slightly. She had his attention.

"We'll authorise you."

Mattie grinned. He got up to give her a handshake and a massive hug. "Great! Thank you!"

After that we went our separate ways at least for a few hours. Mattie decided to stay behind to talk to Elizabeth while Amanda showed me around. I didn't know what time it was when I ended up sleeping in the spare bedroom that Amanda pointed out for me.

Something was tickling me. I had to move to make it stop but it seemed to follow me around.

Why won't it stop?

I sighed before I forced open an eye. A tousle of brown hair was just above my chest.

I must have mumbled something because that fluff of hair invited a familiar face.

"Morning, you," Mattie said smiling gently.

I moaned a reply then rolled over on my side to go back to sleep.

"No, Alice… don't sleep."

I felt a pair of hands under the top I wore.

But suddenly they were tickling me! I burst in giggles, my sleep time over just like that. "Mattie!"

I tried to grab his hands but they evaded me. Almost like he knew where I was going to aim for.

All too soon the tickling stopped. Finally!

I stared at him panting like a dog.

"Good morning, Alice."

"What an alarm, Mattie." I couldn't help the grin plastering itself all over my face. "What time is it?"

"It's about three pm. I woke you up to tell you that I have to go out."

Where? "You're leaving me in vampire society?" And you're going in the daytime?

He grinned. "Yeah. But you shouldn't worry about security. Elizabeth won't let anything happen to you, she's also a pure blood too."

I pouted. I knew she was a pure blood but it was like Mattie didn't get it that I just didn't want him to go.

"Hey, don't pout." He pinched my bottom lip. "I'll be back soon, and in the meantime you're free to explore the town."

I sat up. Mattie sat next to me with an arm wrapped around my shoulders just like yesterday. This is nice. I like being next to Mattie like this.

"Explore the town and you just said not to worry about security." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Vampire society is pretty quiet during the day. Most of the action-" Suddenly his face was too close, so much so that he stole a kiss from me. Immediately I turned scarlet. "-is at night, although you may encounter a few vampires..."

I sniffed. "Fine. What are you doing?"

"I have to see some people. Since I haven't been a part of society in a while, there's a lot for me to catch up on. You know, pure blood vampire duties." Mattie winked making me blush even harder. How is this guy mine?

Innocently I locked eyes with him then wrapped my arms around his torso.

"Alice…" Now it was his turn to try and grab my hands. "You're making it hard for me to leave you!"

"That's the point." I mumbled in his shirt. It smelt of deodorant and that freshly ironed smell. I rubbed my nose in it.

"How about a deal then?"

I didn't understand what he meant so I looked up and saw those emerald eyes reflecting mine.

"You let me go now and I'll give you a surprise?"

At the sound of 'surprise' Logical Alice shot up out of bed. She loves surprises. "What kind of surprise?"

He put a finger to his lips. "Now it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you."

I grinned. I really loved it when he says unexpected things… and is generally unexpected. I let him go. "I love surprises."

He kissed my forehead as he got out of bed. "I'll be gone for a few hours. I'll pick you up here, okay?"

I nodded.

"See you, baby." And he left.