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“Yeah. He’s my superior,” he laughs. “And sort of my best friend, in a fatherly kind of way. He’s a great man.”
“I can see that from the medals,” I reply, with maybe a fraction too much sarcasm.
Finn sits down, mug in hand, and eyes me for a moment. “You really are on their side, aren’t you?”
“I’m on nobody’s side but my own Finn, think of me as a slightly hostile version of Switzerland. Neutral, with a mild distaste for both sides.”
“Yeah, and a mild attraction to one side,” he replies, giving me a run for my money in the sarcasm stakes.
“Your opinion doesn’t bother me,” I tell him in a flippant voice, which only functions to let him know that his opinion does bother me. A lot. Wolf makes a grunting noise and gets up to leave the room, clearly telling us that our talking is interrupting his afternoon nap. That dog has a wicked personality. Even if his size does scare me.
There’s silence for a minute or two after that, which is ironic really, and the sound of us taking small sips from our warm tea is the only noise to be heard.
“How long have you lived in Tribane?” I ask finally. “You’re obviously not native.”
“You’re a shrewd one,” says Finn with an over exaggerated Irish lilt, still not giving up on the sarcasm. “I came here about three years ago. Tribane has one of the largest centres for vampire slayers in the world.”
“So that’s why you moved here is it?” I say. “To join the DOH? That’s a fairly drastic life decision.”
“I had my reasons,” says Finn in a cold voice.
“What reasons were those?” I ask, knowing I’m delving into personal waters but not being able to help myself.
Finn looks at me for a minute, no longer drinking his tea. Then begins, “A vampire back in Dublin killed my mother and my sister, the only family I had. He’d developed some kind of sick obsession with the two of them and messed with their heads for a while before he finished them off. Exactly what Cristescu will do with you in the end. He might toy with you for a little longer than usual since he can’t use his compulsion on you, but believe me, once he gets bored, and they always do, he’ll drain you until you’re nothing but a shrivelled old corpse.”
“Lovely.” I reply, smiling vaguely at his morose use of imagery. And he calls me and Rita the morbid twins? But the smile is a façade, because a knot of worry is forming in the pit of my stomach as I wonder if Finn is right. That Ethan will kill me in the end. That it’s inevitable. Ethan had claimed vampires don’t kill, but that could very well be a massive lie. Thoughts of last night have me even more uncertain. Was any of it real? Did Ethan really mean it when he told me he’d never end me and kissed me like it meant the world?
Finn is quiet and I take the opportunity to ask, “So you think I should stay away from Ethan, from all of the vampires?”
Finn quirks his eyebrow. “I don’t think that’s an option for you anymore sugar.” He answers, deadpan.
Yeah, I guess not, I say to myself just as my phone begins to buzz in my pocket. I pull it out and find Rita’s name flashing on the screen.
She doesn’t even wait for me to say hello. “You need to get down to the port now. Not the functioning end, the deserted end. Do you know where that is?”
“Um, no. But wait a second I’ll ask Finn.” I put down the phone and ask him and he nods to say that he does. I pick the phone back up. “Yeah, he knows it. But why do I have to go there?”
“Because,” says Rita in an irritated voice, she obviously hates to be questioned, “the whole city’s running wild on a rumour that Theodore is going to show himself there at sundown, which is in approximately twenty-five minutes time.”
I sigh inwardly. Yet again I’m being pulled into supernatural drama. “I’ll be there.”
“See you then,” says Rita before quickly hanging up.
I glance back at Finn. “That was Rita. Apparently there’s a rumour that Theodore is going to reveal himself down at the deserted end of the port at sundown. You up for a little outing?”
His eyes widen a fraction before he jumps up and practically shoves me out the door.
Chapter Sixteen
Magical Mr Mistoffelees
Before we even get close to the port we’re slowed down by crowds upon crowds of people making their way there. Rumours must travel fast among the supernaturals of Tribane. Or maybe they’re all here because they’re afraid that the rumour could be true and that their lives are going to be turned upside down. The hope of disproving what they have been told fills the air like a heavy cloud of unlikeliness.
Bodies fill the footpaths on either side of the road and there are even people walking in the middle of the road out in front of us. Finn decides to park the van and walk the rest of the way. We find a spot and get out, disappearing into the hordes. Finn instructs me to stick close to him. I agree only because of the fact that you can tell there’s something not quite normal about the people I’m surrounded by. Something in the atmosphere that tells me that they’re different.
There are only dhamphirs and magical folk around me, the vampires must be taking a different route so as not to bump into their enemies. My mind fills with thoughts of a riot breaking out when the two tribes have to stand in close proximity once we get to the part of the port Rita told me about. The very idea makes every bone in my body scream in protestation. Get out now, while you still can, it tells me.
I feel like I’m going to some strange version of a football match, where everybody walks down the road towards the stadium. Tension fills the space. Supporters of either team eye each other in expectation of a fight. This situation is so similar it’s almost funny. Almost.
