Heartless

Heartless - Chapter Four

HEARTLESS

CHAPTER FOUR

It turned out that Garranza Avenue was only a few blocks away from where we’d first started looking for the vampires. The building where this particular group of the undead was meant to be hiding was only marginally better than the ones that we’d searched through before. At least it had unbroken windows, blacked out as they were, and the brick was slightly less filthy.

I sat next to Luna, our backs against the grimy wall of another building as we watched our target from afar. We hadn’t dared go near just yet.

“Are you sure that this is the one?” Luna asked for what seemed like the millionth time.

“Joseph told that Zane guy to bring his coven here tonight, so I’m guessing it is.”

“Charming neighbourhood, once again. These vampires sure know how to pick their hideouts.”

“Tell me about it.”

We leant back, shrinking back into the shadows as a van passed us. Its headlights seemed to light up the whole street, but our hiding place was good enough to conceal us from the driver.

“Do you think that’s it? The delivery of blood that the coven’s expecting?” Luna whispered.

“Let’s wait and see,” I said softly, watching the van slow down as it approached the building.

The one thing that I really hated about the building was the wire fence that surrounded it. These fences were more of a hindrance than a help, just as they were designed to be, and it looked like the van driver agreed.

The van turned towards the fence, screeching to a sudden halt. The driver must have turned the ignition off, because the street fell into silence again before the van door swung open and a dark figure got out. Its footsteps echoed down the street as it walked along the side of the fence, probably trying to spot someone on the other side. Pausing in their pacing, the person shouted something up at the building. They were obviously impatient.

A second later, another figure had appeared outside as if he had simply sprung out of thin air. Luna and I exchanged a look. We both knew that only a vampire could be that fast.

I wondered if it was Zane Richards, the leader of the coven, or if he’d sent another vampire out to do the work. In the few minutes that I’d seen him, Zane hadn’t exactly come across as the kind of vampire who would volunteer to go outside to meet the delivery guy. I wished that we were closer, or that it was lighter, so we could at least see who was there.

Maybe it’s Chris, I found myself thinking before I could stop myself.

The vampire was stood opposite the person from the van with just the fence between them. They walked across the boundary leisurely, as if to infuriate the van driver further, until they reached the heavy gate that the van had parked outside of. In a flash, the gate sprung open, the heavy metal at the bottom scraping across the floor in a painful sound.

The other figure got back into the van and drove through the gates, which were slammed behind him barely a few seconds after he’d cleared them.

Luna swore under her breath. “I hoped that they’d leave them open,” she muttered. “It would’ve been easier than climbing the fence.”

“We can slip in while they open them to let the van out?” I suggested.

She made a face. “We could, but that vampire would see us. We should’ve thought this through before… we could’ve found where it was coming from and snuck into the van before it got inside or something.”