“How did they find out?” I asked as we walked into arrivals at Heathrow airport and there was a crowd of fans waiting. There must have been two hundred of them.
“One person finds out who tells someone else, who tells someone else and then when it gets on Twitter, that’s it really.” Siva explained and I rolled my eyes.
“If a bunch of fangirls can find out where we are, it’s not going to be hard for agents to find us either. Look, I’ll go wait outside just to give you some space.” I said and Jay reached out towards me but I walked away, annoyed at how everyone’s safety could be at risk.
I got outside as soon as I could and breathed in the English air, I looked at my surroundings and smiled at the London landscape. This was home, this was where I belonged. I loved seeing the black cabs and the business men and women rushing around. I loved the smell that I just couldn’t explain, a mix of exhaust fumes, high end perfumes and something else… Something else that just meant home.
I shivered slightly at the October breeze passing by me and then turned around to look back into the airport, seeing the boys with their fans and all the commotion. It made me laugh slightly at how oblivious the fans really were to the reality that their idols were vampires. Then as I looked closer I saw how the boys treated their fans, they were so lovely to every single one of them, having as many photos as possible and talking to people on the phone.
“Skai?” A voice came from behind me and I didn’t recognise it so I paused for a moment before turning around with curiosity in my eyes.
“Yes…?” I asked, looking up to see a woman I recognised from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite remember where from. That was the worst bit, I couldn’t remember where I knew her from.
“W-What are you doing here?” She asked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow and then frowning.
“I’m really sorry but I’m having trouble placing you…” I said, shaking my head slightly.
“I’m one of Rocky’s secretary’s.” She said and then the penny dropped, making my eyes go wide.
“Oh for fuck’s sake…” I sighed, grabbing her arm roughly and beginning to drag her away from the main entrance.
“Skai!” She called as I dragged her and I could feel her resisting but I ignored it, pulling her around a corner of the building so there were less people looking at us. I slammed her against the wall and looked her up and down.
“What are you doing here?” I growled.
“I’m going on v-vacation.” She said, trying to pry my hands off of her.
“What?” I asked, releasing my grip slightly.
“I’m going to the Maldives for two weeks, I booked it off ages ago.” She said, seeming relieved as I let go of her completely.
“Oh yeah…” I said, remembering a conversation I had with her a couple of months ago about it.
“I can’t believe you’re still alive Skai, after everything Rocky did to kill you, he thinks you’re still in the US.” She explained and I nodded.
“And that’s the way it’s going to stay.” I explained, making her look into my eyes and seeing her pupils dilate as I caught her full attention. “You never saw me here today or The Wanted, you’re going to go on your holiday completely oblivious to the fact that I am back in London. Now walk back over to the main entrance and carry on as you normally would.” I instructed her and she nodded slightly before snapping out of the daze and walking off, back to the main entrance.
“Phew…” I breathed, chuckling lightly and turning around to walk back to the entrance, only to come face to face with Jay.
“What was that about?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just someone I know that I couldn’t risk seeing us.” I said and he nodded, holding out a hand for me to take.
“We need to get going, the boys will bring any of the bags we brought but we need a cab or something-“
“Why pay for a cab when we can just hot wire a car or something?” I asked him, smirking.
“Because not all of us have an overloaded criminal record!” He laughed.
“Well we’ll just compel someone then.” I laughed, letting go of his hand and appearing next to a car that had just been parked. A woman stepped out and frowned at me slightly, stood right next to the car.
“Are you on your own?” I asked, feigning worry and frowning slightly.
“Yeah.” She laughed. “Business trips are just getting over the top-“ I appeared in front of her and gained eye contact, smiling slightly. Her pupils dilated immediately and she seemed to relax.
“Nice car.” I smirked, looking at the clean, white Fiat 500 with racing stripes in green and red.
“Thank you.” She said lazily, not breaking eye contact with me.
“I’m going to need to borrow it so when you get back from your business trip it won’t be here. You’re going to report it as missing and let the airport take the blame, okay?” I asked.
“Okay.” She repeated.
“Now, get your bags out of the car and give me the keys. Then you’re going to walk away and forget you ever met me.” I instructed and she nodded, following my instructions perfectly.
The keys were soon enough in my hand and she was walking away, oblivious to everything.
“Nice work…” Jay whispered in my ear.
“Well I am a badass.” I chuckled. “Get in.”
We flew through the busy streets of London and I was surprised at the speed that the little Fiat went.
“So we’re going to your place?” I asked, overtaking a bus.
“Yep, just on the right, here- Oh you missed it.” Jay replied so I slammed the hand brake on and spun the wheel effortlessly, slamming my foot back on the accelerator and taking off the hand brake so that we U-turned with ease in the middle of the street.
“What…” Jay managed, laughed as he’d been thrown into his side of the car. I pulled down the street he indicated and then slowed down as we reached the building he pointed out.
“Remind me never to get in a high speed car chase with you.” He chuckled, kicking his door off the hinges and climbing out.
“Why’d you kick the door off?” I laughed, getting out sensibly.
“One, it’s not my car, two, we won’t need the car again and three, I’ve just always wanted to do that.” He chuckled and I rolled my eyes as we approached the front of his building.
“What floor then?” I asked, pushing the door open to the lobby.
“Top, I’m a posh bastard you see.” He laughed, following me in. We got in the lift and soon enough arrived on his floor.
“The bachelor pad awaits…” He said, dragging me from the lift and unlocking his door.
“Wait.” I said, stopping him from opening the door. I placed my ear against it and heard ticking and a battery working…
“What?” Jay laughed, pushing the door open.
“JAY NO!” I shouted, pulling him by his hand and trying to run away from the door but the explosion happened before I could get him far enough away.
I grasped tightly onto his hand as we were thrown through the air and into the lift doors with an unhealthy force. The heat from the explosion was tingling on my skin and every part of my body ached as I lifted my head lazily to see smoke and dust everywhere.
“Jay…?” I rasped, still holding onto his hand. I frowned slightly as I looked down to our hands and saw nothing but Jay’s hand.
“Oh fuck…” I said. There was no arm attached or body attached to that, I literally had his hand in mine. I closed my eyes and almost laughed at the novelty of it.
“This can’t be happening!” I shouted, standing up and coughing slightly, dropping his severed hand and then running a hand through my hair. What the hell would I do now? My boyfriend was in pieces, his apartment was in just as many pieces as him and I had no way of contacting anyone.
“TOM! NATHAN! SIVA! MAX!” I shouted as loud as I could, hoping that they were nearby or that they were listening out for me. I heard faint voices in the distance, above all the settling dust and falling rubble.
“Skai?” It was Tom and I smiled.
“Tom, you’re never going to believe what just happened.” I sighed, picking up Jay’s severed hand and putting it down next to the lift.
“Surprise me.” His voice was getting slowly clearer.
“Well basically, Jay’s in a million fucking pieces.” I said, finding one of his feet. “Ugh this is disgusting…” I moaned, throwing it over to where the hand was.
“What?” Tom asked, his voice even clearer. “Are you joking with me?”
“Do I sound like I’m having a bloody joke?!” I shouted, finding his right leg. “I think I’m going to vom.” I said, laughing nervously and putting it with the other parts of his body that I’d found.
“What the hell happened?” Tom asked.
“There was a bomb in Jay’s apartment and he opened his door.” I explained, finding other body parts and putting them in the pile.
“Oh great…” Tom said. “Okay you need to get all his body parts together or as many as you can find, we’ll be there in a minute.”
“Brilliant.” I said sarcastically, almost throwing up as I saw his head on the floor. “Oh God…” I moaned, putting a hand on either side of his head and picking it up.
“You owe me big fucking time McGuiness.” I said, putting his head down in the pile too and counting all the bits, putting them together in my head and coming to the conclusion that I’d got all of them.
“You’ve done really well.” I heard Max from behind me and turned to him, giving him my best death stare.
“This isn’t what I signed up for!” I said, pushing open the door to the stairwell and holding it open for the rest of the boys to come into the dusty and rubble-filled hallway.
“We’re going to have to go see her.” Nathan said and all the boys nodded in unison.
“It’s the only way we can sort Bird out properly.” Siva agreed and they all began putting his body parts in bags.
“Who is ‘she’?” I asked but they ignored me as if I was invisible. “GUYS!” I shouted but they carried on, talking to each other quietly about this being the only place they could go and that she might not be happy to see them.
“You can’t not tell me who we’re going to see!” I complained and they all stood up, bags in their hands and smiling at me.
“Let’s go Skai.” Tom said, taking my hand and guiding me to the stairwell.
“Not until you tell me who ‘she’ is? And why do you guys seem so scared to go see her?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and making them all sigh heavily.
“We’re…” Nathan started, then looked me dead in the eyes. “We’re going to see Jayne.”
“Just keep your mouth shut, yeah?” Nathan said to me as we appeared in front of a huge London townhouse.
“Why?” I chuckled. “Surely she can’t be that bad.”
“You’d be surprised.” Max laughed as he knocked on the door. It was pulled open a second later by a woman in her late thirties, maybe early forties, with a mass of frizzy hair pulled back into a tamer style. She had laughter lines around her eyes and smiled sharply, revealing her fangs.
“Oh how long I’ve been waiting for this day.” She laughed, pulling the door open wider. “Long time now see, come on in my boys.” She said, gesturing for them to walk in. They all walked in and I was about to follow but she held a hand out to me before I could go further.
“I don’t invite strangers into my house.” She warned, her eyes flashing a bright red colour.
“Oh, well I’m Skai and-“
“I’m well aware of your name, don’t you worry.” She laughed and I raised an eyebrow, unsure of how she knew who I was.
“How do you-“
“I don’t answer many questions either.” She interrupted and I rolled my eyes.
“Listen, Jay is in about ten pieces in those bags that the boys are holding and apparently you’re the only person they know who can fix this properly, so please can you let me in so we can get the fuck on with this?” I snapped and the boys were silent behind her with their mouths agape. Jayne looked me up and down before smirking.
“That’s the kind of girl I welcome into my house, come on in darling.” She smiled wickedly, pulling the door open further so I could walk in.
“Thank you.” I replied, smirking back at her and winking at the boys.
“So our Jay is in pieces?”
“IT FEELS LIKE PIECES!” Max sang with mock enthusiasm.
“THE ONLY THING I’LL NEVER KNOW-“ Nathan sang and then they all joined in.
“HOW DO YOU GET UP FROM AN ALL TIME LOW?!” They shouted, all laughing in unison.
“Yes, yes, boys. Now come on upstairs.” Jayne laughed, disappearing.
“And then Jay’s apartment blew up and he ended up in pieces. That’s how we got to here.” I explained to Jayne and she nodded. We were all sat on her sofas in the living room, drinking warm blood from her posh china mugs.
“Wow, your life is most certainly complicated.” She laughed, putting her empty mug down on the coffee table.
“Tell me about it.” I laughed, putting mine down too.
“Well I say, you lot stay here tonight, it’s getting late anyway. Then at least Rocky isn’t going to know where you are.” She replied and I nodded.
“But what are we going to do?” Tom asked standing up and we all followed his lead and stood up.
“Whatever you want.” Jayne laughed, walking over to Jay’s body that had been assembled nicely in order so he could heal quicker.
“I bet there’s loads to do in this house.” I laughed. “It’s massive.”
“Our Jay is starting to heal up nicely, his skin is beginning to knit which means the bones will start soon too.” Jayne explained, standing up from her crouched position next to him.
“So what are we going to do tonight?” I asked and Tom walked casually through to the massive kitchen, sitting on a bar stool.
“I say we have our own little version of the Great British Bake Off.” He smirked and I nodded my head.
“Is that a challenge?” I asked, knowing that my baking skills went through the roof.
“It is.” He laughed back at me.
“Count me in!” Max said, appearing next to me.
“I’m in but I’ll be shit!” Nathan laughed, appearing next to the fridge and starting to get things out.
“I guess I’m in too then.” Siva chuckled.
“Well you lot have fun, do you mind if the District 3 boys come over? They come over most nights because when they’re in the X factor hotel, they have to be quiet after twelve, so it’s a bit of a problem.” She laughed and the boys all nodded and agreed but I had no idea who they were.
“Awesome, I’ll text Dan, we haven’t spoken in ages.” Nathan said, pulling his phone out.
“Am I missing something here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as the boys started getting ingredients and equipment out.
“District 3?” Max asked. “They’re a group on this year’s X Factor? Jayne manages them?” I still had no idea so I shook my head and they all laughed.
“Well they’re great lads.” Siva explained. “Nath’s known them since school so it’ll be good for him to see them again, they’re a year or two younger than you.”
“Oh awesome.” I said, nodding and perching on a bar stool. “So what are we making?” I asked.
“How about we all make some sort of ginger bread?” Max asked.
“Yeah that’s easy, can we make it in any shape or form we like?” I asked.
“Yep.” Tom relied as Nathan walked back into the kitchen with three boys the same age as him, just behind him.
“Aw mate!” Tom said, appearing next to the three boys and man-hugging them all.
“Nice to see you again guys.” One of them said. Everyone began hugging and talking so I just sat on my bar stool with an eyebrow raised.
I let them talk for a while until Tom came back behind the kitchen island and began weighing things out, slowly followed by Max and Siva.
“Oh I almost forgot.” Nathan chuckled. “Guys, this is Skai, Bird’s bird.” I smirked and hopped off of my stool, pulling the first one into a hug.
“I’m Dan.” A guy with hair the same colour and style as Nathan’s said.
“I’m Greg.” The blond one said, smiling as I hugged him.
“And I’m Mickey!” The cute one with chocolate coloured hair said as I hugged him.
“It’s nice to meet you guys.” I smiled. “We’re waiting for Jay to get his ass up so do you guys wanna’ join in our little bake off?”
“Sure!” They all said in unison, smiles on their faces.
“We’re doing ginger bread, in any shape or form that you want.” Tom explained as he poured things into a bowl.
“There’s only room for two at a time in the kitchen so we can just sit and watch TV or something?” Nathan asked and the rest of us nodded, leaving Max and Tom in the kitchen and walking back into the living room.
“Ah I see what you mean now.” Micky laughed as the three of them took in the sight of Jay on the floor.
“What the hell happened?” Dan chuckled.
“His apartment blew up on us.” I explained and they all nodded and laughed.
“Unlucky…” Greg said, smiling as we all collapsed on the sofas.
“Scrubs?” Nathan asked, holding the remote.
“Go for it.” I replied, fixing my eyes on the TV.
“Ugh…” I heard a moan come from Jay as I began assembling my ginger bread castle.
“Welcome back Bird!” Some of the boys were laughing in the lounge and I chuckled as I looked up to see Micky bringing some of his ginger bread out of the oven.
“You should go see him.” He said to me, smiling.
“Be right back.” I smiled, appearing in the lounge and taking in the sight of Jay sitting up, rubbing the back of his neck and moaning some more.
“What the hell happened?” He asked, standing up and stretching.
“You didn’t listen to me, that’s what happened.” I replied, my arms folded across my chest and one of my eyebrows raised.
“Trust me…” He chuckled, appearing in front of me and kissing me lightly.
“You can thank me later for picking up your various body parts…” I said with a wink before appearing back in the kitchen to see a smiling Micky.
“Is he okay?” He asked shyly.
“Yeah yeah, he’s fine.” I smiled, picking up an icing bag and getting back to work.
“So tell me a bit about yourself, how long have you been a vampire?” He asked me and I looked up to him, smiling lightly. “Sorry, if you don’t want to tell me it’s fine. I probably shouldn’t have asked-“
“It’s fine.” I chuckled, shaking my head slightly at his lack of confidence. “I haven’t been a vampire that long, only a few days.” I said and his face dropped slightly.
“Really? Wow, you seem to be much older than that.” He said. “Wait, I didn’t mean that. I meant like as in you’ve been a vampire for longer, you don’t look old or anything. In fact you look the opposite, like really young. But not like toddler young, just like-“
“I get it.” I chuckled at his flushed face. “And thank you for that long-winded compliment. I guess I wasn’t really prepared for turning but then again, in some ways I was more prepared than I could have ever thought.”
“Care to explain…?” He asked, smiling timidly and I nodded, piping some more icing onto my ginger bread and sticking a couple of pieces together.
“Okay but you better sit tight, it’s a long story-“
“What you doing in here?” I turned to see Jay stood there with a raised eyebrow at the mess we’d made and also the finished masterpieces by Max, Tom, Dan, Siva, Nathan and Greg.
“A version of the Great British Bake Off.” I smiled.
“Well are you gunna’ come upstairs…?” He asked with a wink and I looked over to Micky who smiled lightly and then looked back down to his masterpiece.
“I um… I’ll come up later.” I said, nodding slightly. “When I’m finished, you go sit with the boys, I won’t be long.” I said and he raised an eyebrow but shrugged anyway and disappeared.
“You don’t have to stay here with me.” Micky laughed nervously. “I’m fine on my own-“
“But I was just about to bore you with my life story?” I asked and he smiled broadly.
“Oh yeah, please… Entertain me.” He replied, seeming more comfortable being around me now.
“Well…”