Blood Hunt (Blue Blood Babies sequel!)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

“Alfie!”

My name was called as soon as I stepped through the door.  At least, I think it was my name.  It was difficult to tell through the squeal.  Before I had time to turn, something slammed into me and I was aware of two hands clasped tightly around my neck.  I breathed in and a very familiar scent wafted over me; a scent that had the muscles in my stomach contracting as it triggered a haze of memories.

“Maggie?” I said hopefully.  I still couldn’t see who my attacker was.

She stepped back, releasing my neck to reach for both of my hands.

“Oh, I was so hoping you would be here,” she said.

Then she smiled at me, and for half a second I forgot where I was.  Wow she was beautiful.

Maggie and me, we’d never really gotten off the ground.  Aside from a couple of stolen kisses in the midst of madness, there hadn’t been time for us to work out what was going on between us.  Then the whole thing with Murphy was over and I’d hoped...

But Maggie’s parents had pulled her and her brother away.  They’d disappeared with nothing more than a hushed phone call goodbye in the dead of night.  I hadn’t heard from her, not a peep, until yesterday.  And I hadn’t even been in to take the call.

“Alfie.”  Someone shouldered Maggie aside and suddenly Connor was in my face, broad shoulders filling my vision.  He offered me his hand and I took it, sending his sister a slightly bemused look at this very formal greeting.  Then I felt shooting pains across my knuckles and I realised exactly what he was doing. 

“Connor, how’s it going?” I asked, trying not to show how much he was hurting me.  I grimaced at him to tell him I got the point.  As soon as he let go I took a very deliberate step away from his sister and he smiled approvingly. 

“I’d say it was nice to see you,” he said, offering me a twisted smile, “But I don’t want to be here.”

“No,” I agreed.  “But it didn’t seem like we had a whole lot of choice.”

“We’d no choice,” Maggie cut in ferociously.  “I went over that stupid summons with a fine tooth comb.  It’s totally ridiculous, absolutely against our human rights.  But the government don’t even seem to care-,”

“They’re too worried about their own skins,” Connor finished for her.  “Or rather, their blood.”

Of course they were.  No politician was going to stick their neck out for us when it meant signing their own death warrant. 

“Still,” I said, “At least they sent us to the same place.”

“Yeah,” Maggie smiled at me warmly.  “That’s something.”

There was a brief second where time stopped and I gazed right into her eyes, memorising their exact colour of green... then Connor coughed.

“Is Jazz here?” I asked, glossing over the sticky moment.

“No,” Maggie frowned.  “I think his family went back to Tyang.  I hope they’re alright.”

I looked from her face to Connor’s, who was grimacing like he doubted it.

“Why wouldn’t they be alright?”

Connor raised his eyebrows at me.

“Haven’t you heard?”

“Heard what?”

It was Maggie who answered.

“About the riots.”  The look on my face must have told her I’d absolutely no clue what she was talking about.  “It hasn’t been on the news,” she went on.  “Not the public channels, anyway.  I don’t think the government wanted anyone to know.  We only saw it because my cousin that we’ve been staying with is a bit of a computer nerd and he hacked into one of the streams from abroad.”