Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 41

"I promise" he said, and rubbed his hands gently up and down my arms, then let go. "You tell Hess that if anything happens to you, I'm killing him hard"

I smiled faintly. "Ooooh, tough guy"

"Sometimes. Look, I didn't ask before. Is Justin okay?"

"Okay? You mean, did they hurt him?" I shook my head. "No, he looked pretty much in one piece. But he's in a cage, Micheal. And they're going to kill him. So, no. He's not okay"

The look in his eyes turned a little wild. "That's the only reason I'm letting you go. If I had any choice-"

"You do" I said. "We can all sit here and let him die. Or you can let Eve go in her wild ass rescue mission and let herself get killed. Or you can let sweet, calm, reasonable Anastasia do some talking"

"Guess that means there's no choice"

"Not really" I agreed. "I was kind of lying about that choice thing"

Detective Hess was surprised when I gave him the address. "That's old-lady Day's house" he said. "She lived there with her daughter. What do you want with them? Far as I know, they're not involved in any of this"

"It's where I need to go" I said stubbornly. I had no idea where Amelie's house was, but I knew of one door into it. I'd been thinking about ways to explain how you could open a bathroom door and be in a house that might be halfway across town.

"You prepared for trouble?" He asked. When I didn't answer, he reached into the glove compartment off the car and pulled out a small jewellery type of box. "Here. I always care spares"

I opened it and found a delicate silver cross on a silver chain. I silently put it around my neck and dropped it onto my chest. I already had a back up, one of Eve's handmade woods ones, but this one felt real, somehow. "I'll give it back to you" I said.

"No need. Like I said, I've got more"

"I don't take jewellery from older men"

Hess laughed. "You know I thought you were a mousy little thing when I first saw you, Ana, but you're not, are you? Not underneath"

"Oh, I am a mousy thing" I said. "All this scares the hell out of me. But I don't know what else to do, sir, except try. Even a mouse bites"

"Then I'll try and give you a chance to show some teeth"

He drove half a mile or so, navigating dark streets with ease. I saw glimpses of people moving in the dark, pale and quick. The vampires were out in force.

Hess pulled to a halt in front of the old Victorian style house. "You want me to come up with you?" He asked.

"You'd just scare them" I said. "They know me. Besides, I'm not exactly threatening"

"Not until they get to know you" Hess said. "Stay out of the alley"

I paused, hand on the door. "Why?"

"Vampire lives at the end of it. Crazy old bastard. He doesn't come out do there, and neither does anybody who wanders in. So just stay out"

I nodded and ducked out into the dark. Outside, the Morganville shadows had a character all their own. I looked at the house, and felt its presence. It was like the Glass House, all right. It had some kind of living soul, only where the Glass House seemed mildly interested in the creatures scuttling around inside of it.

I shuddered, opened the picket gate, and hurried up to knock on the door. I kept knocking, frantically, until a voice shouted through the wood, "Who the hell's that?"