Tegan's Return (Blood Magic 2)

He smiles in relief. “Oh thank God for that. I thought we were going to have several law suits on our hands.”

I nod and go to grab my coat and bag from the back room. Then I hurry to leave and get back to my apartment. No way am I meeting Finn at the café. I told him I’d be at least an hour, that gives me some time to get home, pack as much as I can and book a flight somewhere. I walk in the opposite direction so that I don’t have to pass by the café, it will lengthen my journey by a few minutes, but it’s necessary if I want to avoid Finn.

I’m out of breath by the time I get home. I practically ran half the way here since I need all the head start I can get. I rummage in my bag for my key, shove it in the door and turn the lock. I rush for my bedroom so that I can begin packing. I’m only halfway there when I realise there’s somebody sitting at the kitchen table. Finn.

I turn around and kick the wall in frustration. How could I have been so stupid as to think he wouldn’t see right through my plan? Seeing him sitting there reminds me of the very first time he broke into my apartment back in Tribane. He’d been so comfortable and confident as he ate an apple and told me about how dangerous the vampires really are. As if I hadn’t already known.

I feel strangely reminiscent as I think about it, my life had been a mess back then, but at least it hadn’t been as isolated as it is now. At least I could see my friends when I wanted to. My dad too. A strange yearning comes over me, a yearning to get that life back, even if it means I will also be putting myself in danger.

“You really have to learn that it’s not polite to break into people’s homes,” I tell him in a snappy voice. At the same time I’m wondering how he knew where I lived, he must have been watching me for days.

“And you have to learn that it’s not polite to tell people you’re going to meet them and then not show up. My feelings are hurt,” says Finn, falsely wounded.

“You’ll get over it,” I reply and lean back against the kitchen counter, after tossing my keys onto the table. “Besides, you clearly didn’t bother going to the café at all. I told you an hour, it’s only been twenty minutes,” I say, glancing up

at the clock.

“You need to get up a lot earlier in the morning to pull a fast one on me, love. Now sit down, I need to talk to you.”

Reluctantly, I take the seat across from him and sit. I grab one of my blue coasters and spin it around and around on the table. Carefully avoiding Finn’s gaze.

He puts his hand on my wrist. “Stop fidgeting.” His skin is warm, hands slightly callused. I stop spinning the coaster and look up at him. He doesn’t move his hand.

I raise an eyebrow and smirk. “Do you still have that skin fetish off yours then?”

His hand clamps on my wrist and pulls it closer to him. “Would you like to find out?” he asks, his voice low. I pull my wrist away quickly and put my hand on my lap under the table, annoyed over the fact that his touch makes me come over all tingly. I can’t help it, he’s one attractive vampire slayer.

“So go on then,” I say, ignoring his previous comment, “tell me whatever it is you came here to tell me.”

Finn’s gaze travels over me, this time I’m even more body conscious than I’d been back in the gallery, since we’re all alone in my apartment. He shakes his head and says, “You have no clue how bad things got after that night. The night Theodore was killed.”

“He wasn’t killed,” I interrupt, “he was pulled into a hell dimension. There’s a big difference.”

“Well whatever happened to him, he may as well be dead. That hole in the sky didn’t look like it was taking him for a nice holiday in the sun.”

“What happened in Tribane after I left Finn?” I ask, curious now, they don’t exactly report supernatural occurrences on the news.

“Small fights at first, mostly between the magical families and the vampires. The vamps were pissed that North Tribane had decided to align themselves with Theodore, so once he was gone they decided they needed to teach us a lesson. What started as a few small scale attacks turned into a full blown war. We weren’t prepared for it, and the vampires were extremely angry. There were lots of casualties, mostly slayers, since we’re the most human and the easiest to kill.”

I gasp. I’d never anticipated Theodore’s actions would lead to such destruction. I just thought everything would go back to normal. Division between the South and the North as usual.

Finn continues his story. “About two days after we attacked Ridley Island, Antonia Herrington committed suicide. This added to the vampires’ anger, as they thought she’d killed herself over grief for Howard. Since he’d been murdered by Theodore, the vampires felt the need to lay that blame on North Tribane too. One of the oldest vamps in the city, you probably don’t know him, goes by the name of Jeremy Whitfield, was voted in as the new Governor and he was determined to kill as many of us as he could as a tribute to his predecessors.”

A grim sense of guilt settles in the pit of my stomach, as I realise the true cause of Antonia’s suicide. Rita’s spell. The guilt goes away fairly quickly though, as I think of how Matthew took his life because of her. An eye for an eye, and all that.

“So this Jeremy Whitfield declared war on North Tribane?” I say after a brief pause.

“Not in so many words, he first set out to get revenge, but the battles became bigger and bigger until we were fighting for our very survival. The vamps wiped the floor with us, half the population was dead within the space of a few months. Two years on and we’re still being attacked by the vampires, they aren’t going to be happy until they’ve subdued us completely.”

“What about your Governor, Siegfried Pamphrock, is he still alive?”

Finn looks away for a minute, then his eyes meet mine. “That’s sort of the reason why I’m here.” He falls silent.

“Because of Pamphrock?”

Finn nods. “Jeremy Whitfield has kidnapped Pamphrock’s ten year old daughter Rebecca. He’s holding her captive until Pamphrock stands down and allows him to take control of the entire city, the North and the South.”

“I don’t understand what that’s got to do with me,” I say defensively.