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“I think I know one of the things I need for Rebecca’s spell.”
Pamphrock loses the frosty demeanour and takes a step closer to me. “Go on.”
“It’s some of her mother’s blood,” I answer.
Pamphrock studies me for a moment and his lips tighten. “That’s not possible,” he replies, his voice hard.
“I know, Rebecca told me her mother’s dead.”
Pamphrock’s expression turns serious. “She’s not dead. It’s just better for my daughter if I tell her that. It means she won’t live her life waiting for the return of a parent who’s never coming back.”
I let out a small gasp. “Where is she then?”
“She is cared for in a remote psychiatric facility, far away from any vampiric populations. Felicity, Rebecca’s mother, she was just like you, Tegan. She had the same unique blood. She wasn’t as strong as you are though. She was delicate, sensitive. Over the years she became increasingly paranoid that she was going to be killed by vampires, or that I was going to kill her for the good of my organization. The paranoia soon turned to insanity.”
His words give me a fright, and instinctively I distance myself, stepping back and away from him.
“Oh don’t be silly,” he chides, noticing my movement. “I would never even consider the idea of hurting an innocent woman. A long time ago, small groups within the DOH formed without my knowledge and began slaughtering females like you. I put an end to that practice as soon as I discovered it was happening. You have nothing to fear from me.”
My heart rate slows down a little at his admission. “Okay. So why can’t we somehow go to Felicity and take a sample of her blood for the spell?”
“For safety reasons I’m the only one who knows the location of the facility in which she is cared for. That means I would have to be the one to go to her, and at the moment I cannot leave the city. My position is precarious enough as it is.”
“Well if that’s the case then I don’t know how else to help you. I need Felicity’s blood if I’m going to do this.”
Pamphrock remains silent for a long moment. Finally he says, “Leave it to me. I will figure something out. In the meantime, you can continue your research as to the components of the rest of the spell.”
I take a deep breath and look between the two men. They’re clearly eager to get back to their “strategy” talk. “Alright then. I’ll um, leave you both to it.”
I go back inside, closing the door to provide Pamphrock and Finn privacy for their seemingly highly important conversation. I’d completely forgotten that I’d left Ira alone with Rebecca, and what I find on my return makes me cover my mouth with my hand to keep from bursting out laughing.
Rebecca is kneeling on the sofa beside a stoic Ira and using a bright pink comb to brush his hair, just like she’d been doing earlier with her dolls. Ira has this gorgeous shoulder length, dark brown hair, so I can’t really blame her for wanting to get her hands on it. I sit down on the other side of him and give him a warm smile. His usually calm expression seems somewhat perplexed.
“Isn’t it just lovely,” Rebecca exclaims, running her comb through Ira’s dark locks. “I’m going to ask Daddy to get me a new doll with hair just like this. Tegan,” she stops brushing and holds out the comb to me, “you have a go.”
“I’m not sure if Ira likes having his hair combed,” I say, glancing up at him.
“Don’t be silly, he loves it. Don’t you Ira?”
He lets out a grunt that’s neither positive or negative.
“You see, he wants you to. Go on,” says Rebecca, handing me the comb again.
“Okay then,” I say, taking it and turning a little to Ira. He tilts his head down at me, watching what my next move will be. I reach up and run the comb through his hair, his beautiful dark eyes watching my face the entire time. I swallow visibly and he seems to watch that too.
When my fingers absently brush against the skin at the back of his neck he leans into the touch. His skin feels nice, all warm and tanned. Perhaps he subconsciously misses how I used to pet him when he was a dog. Yeah, that has to be it. I let the comb fall to the floor when I hear the sliding doors open and Finn and Pamphrock step inside.
I thank my lucky stars that Finn didn’t see me brushing Ira’s hair. That would have been an awkward conversation explaining to him what I was playing at.
“Time to go boys and girls,” Finn announces, nodding goodbye to Pamphrock and gesturing for Ira and I to follow him out. Rebecca jumps up and gives me a farewell hug. Then she walks over to Ira and squeezes his hand while grinning up at him.
The drive home is silent. When we get back to the house we find Delilah and Rita in the kitchen, both of them staring at a large jar they’ve placed on the table. Inside the jar is what looks like some kind of black and grey swirling mist.
“What have you got there?” Finn asks, pulling up a chair.
“Not sure exactly. Dee and I took a boat out to Ridley Island, but there was nothing much to find, just empty, barren land. Then on the way home I came across this little fella hovering by a shop doorway.” Rita’s taken to calling Delilah “Dee”. I’m surprised Delilah hasn’t told her off about it yet.
Rita continues, “I’ve never seen anything like it, but as I told you before, I’ve heard of strange entities like this one drifting through from other realms. We watched it for a couple of minutes and it seemed to be seeping into the people who came in and out of the shop, little by little. It was a good thing I had my kit with me. I took out this jar and trapped it inside. I think it’s got to be some kind of entity that got through when Theodore came back from hell. From the way it was seeping into the people, I’d say this is what caused the riots in the city yesterday. It’s making humans go doo-lally somehow.”
