Bit of a filler chapter, sorry if you find it a little boring, slowly starting to get there with the romance... Let me know what you think guys!
Chapter 9
Quint swiftly unlocked my apartment door, throwing it open with ease. He staggered me in before dropping my numb body down on the leather sofa and kicking the door shut with the heel of his boot. He glanced around, obviously unimpressed.
"Nice place," He said with a slight smirk, obviously being sarcastic.
"Thanks," I grumbled.
"Pack the essentials, we don't have much time," Quint ordered as he snooped around. I was about to protest and question why I couldn't stay in my crappy apartment but all of a sudden a hysterical hiss caught my attention. Monty stood, back arched, on my dresser. His teeth were bared and fur standing on end like he had been electrocuted.
"Monty," I cooed, patting the sofa, trying to get him to approach me. He pushed himself further into the corner of the room. It was kind of ironic that he bared all the traits of a vintage movie vampire, hissing, fangs and claws out. "Monty come here baby," I slurred in a baby voice.
"Don't bother," Quint mumbled, looking through my bookcase, not even phased by Monty's outburst. "You're Lycan now, part wolf, he won't cooperate," I pulled myself over to the end of the sofa, heaving myself onto my legs. I gained balance before staggering over to my armoire. I steadied myself against its sturdy wooden body as I reached for my orange suitcase that lived above it. I pulled on its handle readying myself for the large weight of the plastic case to fall down on me; however the weight was nothing, like lifting a cardboard box. I easily tossed the suitcase onto the bed a few feet away. My new strength startled me almost, I just couldn't believe it, I didn't feel like a Lycan, everything seemed normal except for this voice in the back of my head reminding me of my new condition.
Quint's chuckling pulled me out of my train of thought; I looked over to him as I stumbled towards the bed, sitting on the edge and opening up my case.
"What's so funny?" I asked, slight annoyance edging each syllable. Quint said nothing; he simply cocked his brow at me and held up a book he had found in my bookcase. Twilight. "I was young once," I defended my book choices, slightly embarrassed I still had the teenage fiction book still in my collection.
"I hope you've not taken any preconceptions from that book," He spoke monotonously. I admit, before everything came to light twelve years ago, I was in my early teenage years and loved supernatural fiction. Vampires and werewolves were cool and sexy and everyone wanted to be one or have one as their prince charming. Then we saw the video snippets and photos on the news, Lycans attacking people like it was a feeding frenzy at the zoo, vampires decapitating people in mere milliseconds it was scary, and not make believe any longer. Suddenly supernatural fiction disappeared from popular culture and we moved onto other fads.
I pulled out a rolling plastic container from under my bed, when you have such a small apartment you have to use every inch of storage space. I opened it up to reveal my everyday clothes, not my ironed work clothes, or the odd going out dress which I hung ceremoniously in the armoire. I threw some t-shirts, leggings, jumpers, jeans and skirts in the case. Basically my entire wardrobe. I threw in my coat and handbag along with them. Less to carry.
"I said essentials only," Quint grumbled, walking over to me.
"What here is not an essential?" I asked rolling up the last sweatshirt and popping it into the case.
A loud shrieking scream suddenly echoed throughout the building. I had already pushed it to the back of my mind that Quint had left my land lords dead body in the stairwell.
"We have to go now," Quint said, stalking towards the door and checking the commotion through the peephole. I reached under the bed one last time and swiftly pulled out Monty's cat carrier. I knew it would be a struggle even getting near him but I wasn't about to leave my poor kitty cat in this dump.
"Grab Monty!" I barked at Quint. Quint rolled his eyes, I expected him to outright refuse but instead he chased Monty down into the corner of the room, Monty was a fast little bugger, but not as fast as Quint's Lycan abilities. He managed to grab Monty by the stomach, lifting him up and away from him and his flying claws. We managed to fight him into the carrier before zipping him in securely. Quint grabbed my case in one hand and Monty's carrier in the other and headed towards the door.
"You okay on your own?" He asked, eyeing my wobbly legs. I nodded yes. Quint peered through the peephole one last time. "Shit," He whispered.
"Police?" I gasped; they never usually respond that quickly, not in this neighbourhood any way.
"No, hood rats," He hissed. "We can't draw attention to ourselves, use the fire escape," He commanded, already nearly over to the window side of the apartment.
"Don't draw attention? Bit hard not to with that supercar parked outside," I dug at him. He ripped open the window latch, pushing up the pane and climbing out onto the metal platform. I staggered over and followed suit. By time I was outside overlooking the back alleyway Quint had somehow already made it to street level, with the case and Monty! I wondered whether I would ever be that quick. I climbed down clumsily, finally arriving at the bottom to meet the exasperated Lycan.
"Take your time," He hissed sarcastically, heading off in a northerly direction.
"The cars this way!" I shouted, pointing to the other end of the alleyway.
"Leave it, the plates are untraceable," He said, not even looking back at me. Clumsily I half jogged to catch him up, one leg slightly dragging behind the other.
"It will be nicked around here!" I warned him.
"It's just a car," He spoke emotionlessly. That was most definitely the first time I'd ever heard a guy speak those words.
"Where are we going?" I asked suspiciously, he didn't answer; he just kept stalking onwards down the alley, with me limping along in tow.
Quint stopped suddenly once we got a big enough distance away from his murder scene. Releasing the suitcase handle he pulled a phone from his jacket pocket, punched in some numbers and held it to his ear. He spoke low, and deep into the phone, even my new heightened hearing couldn't make out what he was saying. He put the phone down suddenly, without even a goodbye, and shoved it back in his pocket.
"Come, a car is meeting us at the Baker Street," His rough voice commanded and informed. I was surprised he knew the area so well; rich daddy's boys tend to not wander into this hood very often. Not unless they're after narcotics or prostitutes anyway. We walked hastily over to Baker Street in an awkward silence, with only the sounds of the whistling chilly wind and Monty's hissing and wailing to fill the night air.
Just as Quint said, there was a large black SUV parked up at the side of the road, it flashed it hazards at us as we approached.
"Get in," Quint ordered, handing me Monty's carry case as he circled around to the rear to throw my case in the back of the vehicle. I opened the car door easily, it was a lot lighter than I expected, or rather I was a lot stronger than I expected and practically took the whole door off its hinges. I climbed in nervously, placing Monty in the footwell. Quint opened the front passenger door and climbed in, greeting the driver. We sped off quite quickly down the road, heading further north towards the nicer end of the city. My stomach flipped as an army of flashing cop cars passed on the other side of the road, I felt even sicker when it was closely followed closely by a coroners van.
"Where are we going?" I asked, trying my best to sound strong, confident and authoritative. Quint leant his head back against the leather headrest and closed his eyes, ignoring me. I leant back in my seat, folding my arms in a huff. I spent the journey numbly staring out of the window at the passing city lights, thinking about how different my life had been just one week ago. I wondered whether I would be allowed back to work, whether I would see my friends again, would I become some guinea pig, would I be put down like a dog if anyone found out my condition? So many questions and Quint wasn't willing to answer any of them, not even the simple ones.
Soon we arrived at some giant black iron gates, we pulled open and the driver lowered his window, leaning out into the cold air and pressing the buzzer. The gates began to open ceremoniously as the driver leaned back in and pulled up his window, eliminating the chilly breeze that had filled the car in those few seconds.
"Where-" I was about to ask when Quint rudely cut me off.
"My fathers house," He growled, obviously I was starting to ware on him, grating him down slowly with my continuous questions.
We drove down a long drive way, lined with trees and gardens before finally reaching a large circular courtyard, in the middle sat a beautiful vintage stone fountain. The house itself was huge, but not overly intimidating or tacky. The car pulled to a stop outside the steps leading up to the front door. Hesitantly I stepped down from the car, Monty in hand, slamming the door shut behind me.
"Come," Quint said, leading me up the stairs. I looked around for my case; the driver had already unloaded it, and rolled it towards the stairs.
"After you," He said politely. I smiled softly at before climbing the stairs. I stepped in through the open door absolutely gob-smacked, the house was just as beautiful inside as it was outside. I was in awe, yet angry at the same time that my boss could afford such a lavish, gorgeous home while I lived off cans of beans and soup.
"Victoria," Dr Lane greeted with a warm false smile. "Welcome to my home, Benedict will take your belongings, and that thing" He pointed to the carry case in my hands, "up to your room, which is upstairs, last room on the left." I tried to hide my contempt for him in my sweet smile, but I couldn't just forget his horrid treatment of me at work, and the fact he ordered Quint to bump me off.
"Thank you," I forced out.
"I have rules here Victoria," Of course he did, he was an anal control freak at work, why would he be any different at home? "Obviously we don't want you blowing the lid on what we are, keep your mouth shut, talking to anyone other than one of us will lead to your much delayed death, and us claiming no knowledge of you ever being a Lycan. Understood?" He put the point straight across, don't talk about being a Lycan. It wasn't like I was going to walk around with it written on my forehead. "Respect my furnishings and belongings, no transformations in the house, don't arouse any suspicion from the neighbours – they're nosey. Quint will be babysitting you through your first transformation next week; it will be more painful than anything you have ever experienced." I wish he had kept that part to himself. "You will work as usual, except I will have you monitored once or twice daily, just some blood samples, injections, tests, nothing to worry about," He smiled, flashing his teeth. "Do you have any questions?" He asked.
"What about my apartment? And my operation?" I asked nervously.
"Your things will be cleaned out by my men tomorrow in a staged burglary, as for your operation, I'll decide once we've made some progress with your tests, it could be too risky letting you go in for it so early in your Lycanthropy." The old man explained. He looked over to his son who was leant comfortably against a nearby wall. "Quint has impeccable healing, he may well have passed it on to you, the tumour could already be gone, we don't know yet, I've already scheduled an MRI for you with Dr Stevenson tomorrow, is that all?" Dr Lane asked. I nodded my head yes. Dr Lane smiled, but his eyes didn't match the gesture. He turned and made his way up the antique stair case, his slippers flip flopping as he went.
Benedict approached me with my case and kindly took Monty from my quivering hands; he took my belongings upstairs to my room as I just stood dumbfounded in the middle of the entrance hall.
"You must be hungry," Quint finally spoke. I hadn't realised, but my stomach was actually making some angry growling sounds. "How about breakfast?" He asked with a half smile, I nodded slowly.
"What do you want?" He asked as I followed him through the large kitchen. He headed towards the large fridge freezer. I wasn't a picky eater; I didn't have the funds to be. I jumped up onto a leather barstool at the island worktop in the centre of the kitchen.
"Eggs?" I asked optimistically. I hadn't had them in so long. He nodded, pulling an egg box out of the crammed fridge. "I like them scrambled," I added cheekily, pushing my luck. He reached up above the island for one of the pans that hung from the vintage rack. His jacket and t-shirt rising slightly to reveal a glimpse of toned abs. A blush crept onto my face. It didn't catch me off guard, you could tell he was well built even through his clothes, but seeing that glimpse of naked skin made my skin feel hot and prickly.
"It's rude to stare," He smirked, placing the pan onto the cooker. He went into the fridge once more, pulling out some milk and butter.
"Sorry," I apologised, trying to hide my redness in my hair. He cracked the eggs over the pan, adding a bit of milk and a chunk or two of butter. I didn't know why I suddenly felt so… horny is the only word I can use to describe it.
"It's the Lycan in you," He explained, as if he could read my mind.
"Oh," I said simply. And that ended that.
He began to stir the eggs slowly. It felt like hours were going by, the silence was deafening. I urgently needed to break it, I knew he hated me asking questions, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Why did you turn me?" I blurted out. He looked up at me with his intense eyes, I couldn't read him.
"It was either that or kill you, and I'd already invested money in you," He said simply, shrugging it off.
"Is that all you invested?" I came out with before thinking.
"Yes," His voice was firm. He walked over to a nearby cupboard, opening it up and pulling a plate out and setting it on the island. Next he moved to a drawer, and grabbed one set of shiny chrome cutlery and handed them to me over the counter top. He dished out the eggs in silence, ignoring the elephant in the room. I decided to bring that elephant to his attention.
"So when you kissed me, was that just the Lycan in you?" I asked confidently. He finished putting the eggs on the plate and slid it over to me.
"Eat your eggs, get some sleep, you have work in three hours," He said roughly, marching out the kitchen without a goodnight or goodbye.