Into the Vampire's Lair Ch. 03

Fiona slumped to her knees, clearly shocked at what she was hearing.

"Does Eian..."

"Yes he knows..." interrupted Alaron. "That's why he was adamant on keeping you under his guardianship even though he's a Werewolf. Because... one adult is only allowed to be guardian for one underage Vampire."

"What! Are you saying that I was under house arrest without me knowing it?"

"Hello... you attacked a man and sucked his blood till he fainted remember?"

"Oh..." she said, recalling the incident.

"And you tried to drown yourself which I thought was so stupid. But that's beside the point. The council would do anything to keep their young alive... especially if they're born into a Pureblood family or Sired by one."

"Why?'

Alaron rolled his eyes. "You're obviously not thinking clearly right now," he commented, smashing another camera that he had found. "It's better to breed Purebloods and Nobles as they only need to feed once every few months. Hello..."

"Oh. I forgot," she replied as she massaged her temples, trying to ease the headache that was slowly creeping into her head. Then she reached into her pocket and took out her phone and begin dialing.

"Sweetheart," came the gentle voice on the other line. Fiona couldn't wish for anything more calming than his voice at the moment. "I'm sorry I didn't call you... I figured you're still talking to Erika and that it might get a bit stressful for you..."

"Yes, she's asleep now... I'm so tired Eian," she whispered and heard his comforting words. "Have your Betas finished with their canvassing?"

"Why?"

"I'll modify their memory right now. I refuse to let anyone be taken anywhere."

A moment of silence passed.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Fiona felt a strange bout of comfort in his question. Even though he doubted her, he didn't straight out refuse her help or order her not to intervene.

"It occurred to me that I had just put Erika to sleep and I wasn't even angry. I don't think I can wipe memories but I can suggest to them to forget what they saw or to pretend it was a dream or something."

"Okay Sweetheart... Is Alaron there? Close the shop properly then stay with him inside until I get there with the Betas and the witnesses. Is that alright?"

She nodded her head slowly, mumbling a 'yes' into the receiver.

"I love you," she heard him say before he disconnected.

"I love you too..." she whispered to herself.

***

"Big Mike, report your status." Eian's voice was firm and just a bit weary. He had been walking down the street for the past hour, interviewing possible witnesses and viewing surveillance tapes from the pizzeria across the street from the bookstore. It was the only store that installed a dome-shaped camera that was equipped for 360 degree surveillance and true enough, it had captured parts of the commotion in the bookstore.

It had taken Eian some time to convince the owner that he needed to view them, saying that he was representing the insurance and legal authority dealing with the bookstore's repairs and needed some verification as to how it happened.

Honestly, to the naked eye, it looked as though nothing had happened. One minute the store looked fine and the next it was disheveled. As the camera was set on a ten minute rotating basis, it didn't manage to capture anybody going in or out from the bookstore. That was a relief.

Perhaps Alaron was right. At the time of the incident, the street was practically deserted, or so he thought. Stepping out of the pizzeria, he overheard two men talking about a 'massive explosion' inside the dingy bookstore and Eian perked his sense of hearing to capture more information.

"I'm telling ya Nook... something happened in there!" said a man.

"You're just imagining things you old boozer. You're just egging me on to sneak into that shop and steal us some cash!" replied the other man.

Eian didn't want to hear anymore. He turned into the corner and spotted the two homeless men, probably in their 50s, looking as though they were about to run at the sight of him.

"No, wait," said Eian kindly, taking out his wallet and flashing a ten dollar bill in front of them. "Tell me what you know about what happened and this is yours."

One of the men eyed him warily but at the sight of the money inched forward.

"I ain't seen nothing." This came from the man called Nook.

"I see. Then maybe your friend here saw something?" replied Eian, moving a step towards the other man.

"No! I mean who's asking? I ain't no snitch for anyone," said Nook.

"I don't care for snitching. Gimme the money and I'll tell ye."

"Tell me first and you'll have the money." His bored voice matched the look in his eye; as though he didn't really care if they were going to tell him anything or not. The man who didn't mind snitching understood the look that Eian was giving and decided to spill the beans before Eian changed his mind.

"There were two lads. Handsome and tall. I was thinkin to meself that they'd be strapped with cash and I'd nick just a wallet... or two." The twinkle in his eyes told Eian that he had considered nicking him as well but one cold stare from Eian changed his mind.

"Then?" Eian passed the man the ten dollar, watching as the Nook's eye gleamed with lust over the money. Pulling out another ten dollar, Eian held it up and waited for either of them to take the bait.

"It was like magic me thinks. Things were breaking and crashing everywhere but no one except your little missus standing in the middle looking like she's bout to cry. Know what I mean?"

Eian stiffened when he heard the man call Fiona his missus. Had they been watching the shop and the two women?

"The shopowner?" prompted Eian. "Where was she?"

"Your missus took her away... no wait, she carried her away. Yes I was thinkin that's one strong fine lady..." Eian's stare stopped the man mid sentence.

"Do you always watch my wife?"

"Hey... it's a free country! She's a looker that one. Pleasin to the eye."

"We don't mean her no harm. She gives us food sometimes. Very kind young lass, never treated us like dirt..." This came from Nook.

Eian cursed silently in his head. Yeah, that would be his wife. Naïve to the point of not knowing what's best for her own safety. There was no way he was going to let her work here anymore. He shouldn't have agreed to it in the first place, knowing the kind of neighbourhood she was working in.

She'll protest and beg, that's for sure but he'll just have to enforce his decision on her, even if he has to chain her up. However, he hoped such drastic measures need not be employed. She'd withhold sex from him for a lifetime if he ever did that to her.

The thought made him worried.

"Come with me," he said, motioning to the two men. When they didn't budge, he grabbed them by their wrists and pulled them along towards the bookstore. Indeed from the exterior, it looked pretty intact but the moment he peered inside, it looked like a hurricane had passed through it.

"What the hell..." whispered one of the men.

When Eian approached the door, someone opened it from the inside and Eian gave a nod to the Beta. Dragging the two homeless men inside, he let them go only when the door was locked once more.

"Alpha, I've tried my best to cover the windows with some newspapers. That way no one can see in. Also all electrical and communication wiring have been disabled."

"Okay, good. Where is Fiona?"

"She's resting in the back room with that Vamp... I mean Alaron." Big Mike cast a nervous glance at the two humans in the room and saw that they were looking at him with much curiosity.

Ignoring them, Eian nodded. "Any other witnesses except these two?"

"None Alpha."

"Okay good. Keep those two under control," he instructed before heading towards the back room to look for his wife.

He found her, looking exhausted and slumped over the dining table. He could see thick dust matted in her hair; her skin looking pale and sallow. His instincts went into overdrive with the need to comfort and protect his mate. He would have carted her off and hid her in their room for the next 48 hours or so but he knew that she needed to settle this problem.

In fact at that current moment, he could hear her thoughts screaming 'it's my fault' over and over again.

"Fiona," he called softly, watching as her head lifted to reveal a tired looking face. "They're waiting for you outside."

"Okay," she replied softly, getting up and moving towards him. He felt her fingers daintily linking with his and he gave a gentle squeeze of support.

You shouldn't blame yourself for this Sweetheart...

I should have just listened to you in the first place and stayed at home.

Shh... we'll talk about this later. I need you to be strong now for these two humans.

She glanced up wearily into his strong, steady eyes and gave a weak smile.

"Missy!" hissed one of the men as Fiona approached them. She instantly recognized them and told them to sit; assuring them that it would be okay. They did as they were told, ignoring the fact that they were sitting on top a pile of broken wood.

What should I say to them?

Tell them that there has been a fire, the shop is completely destroyed but both you and Erika and safe. Tell them also that they had been drinking so they passed out and didn't see anything. We'll leave them where I originally found them. Have them convinced that they just woke up and everything was just a dream. Better yet, make sure they forget the dream once they wake up.

"Okay," she replied and did exactly as she was told. She watched as their eyes glazed with something that looked like confusion. Turning to Eian, she asked, "Do you think it worked?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Ask them to walk over to their usual spot then you've got to make them believe they've really passed out from drinking too much."

***

Half an hour later, Eian was standing in Erika's studio apartment with Alaron and Fiona by his side. The other Weres had been dismissed seeing that the situation has been successfully concluded.

Fiona had been amazing, he thought. She had somehow learnt to harness another type of emotion to fuel her strength but Eian wasn't sure how stable or reliable it would be in the long run. His gut feeling told him that her abilities needed some kind of extremity; be it anger, sadness or even happiness, for it to work but the element of control was still uncertain.

The two men almost didn't wake up; passing out for a whole fifteen minutes simply because Fiona was too consumed with the idea that dreaming was a much safer place than reality. He had heard her thoughts and knew that she was worried about Erika; the dilemma battling within her as to whether she should modify her memory or not.

"What should I do now?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Can't you just suggest that her shop really burned down and that she was having a really bad dream? That way we'll all still be in her life but she'll just forget the whole Vampire lesson," suggested Alaron.

"It's really not as easy as that. Fiona cannot wipe her memory meaning that the knowledge is still embedded inside her. She may forget but any small thing might trigger the memory and unlike those two, she saw everything that happened and was given an explanation," said Eian in a resigned voice.

"We'll take her home," said Fiona, looking at Eian for permission. "I'll suggest that she's staying with us because her shop's under renovation." This time she looked at Alaron, silently telling him that the shop was going to be renovated by them. "I'll continuously suggest it to her so she will stay under control... until Draven is well enough to remove her memory permanently."

Eian wanted to say no but he could hear the edge in her voice and knew that she was struggling to keep herself in control. There was something about this human in front of her that she wanted to protect desperately.

"Alright," he relented. He loved Fiona too much to see the disappointment in her eyes.

***

Meanwhile, Draven was feeling woozy- if that was even a word to describe his current state of being. He knew they were administering drugs to him to keep the pain at bay but that did not mean the pain was gone. The cast around his right arm looked rather stupid but he knew that unless the bones were aligned, there was no way his own body could begin to heal it.

As for his nose, he wasn't sure what had been done to it for there was no cast or plaster on it. Making sure he was absolutely alone in the room, he tried to focus both his eyes towards the centre of his face, to get a better look at his nose.

He was looking cross-eyed and silly when the door suddenly opened and a tall blonde woman walked in.

"Self examination I see," she commented, leaning against one of the walls. When his vision returned to normal, he saw that she wasn't in her usual white coat but was dressed casually. He knew that she did not preside over his surgery and was curious as to why she was making herself comfortable on the visitor's chair in his ward.

"Stop scowling at me or that nose will never heal," she warned. "Then you're going to stay ugly forever."

Draven felt a desperate need to run over to a mirror to see his face when he heard her words but fought to restrain himself. Instead, he observed the way she was sitting down with her back upright and her bright blue eyes equally observing him back. She was wearing some kind of high-collared frock that cinched at the bust instead of the waist. Draven wasn't one for fashion; never keeping up with the words they use to describe women's clothing nowadays so he wasn't even sure if 'frock' was the right word.

Why are you here anyway?

It was an unconscious question; meant as a self-pondering but she heard it.

"I just got off my shift but I thought I'd drop by and see how well you're coping. From what I hear, they want you back on your feet within 24 hours to deal with damage control, whatever that is."

Draven was irked at the fact that she could hear him too but figured now wasn't the time to debate on such technicalities.

You came to check on me?

"Don't get any ideas. I'm leaving in a while. I just wanted to tell you that whatever happened the other day in my office... let's just pretend that never happened. It's much better for both of us," she said in a grim and unaffected tone before getting up on her feet to move towards his bed.

While she was fiddling with the machine beside him, Draven's eyes flicked down to see a pair of toned legs perched on sharp stiletto heels that looked like they could poke an eye out. Maybe it was best not to mess with this woman so he kept quiet and watched her walk to the door.

Just before she stepped out of the room, she turned to give him one last look.

"Sleep tight," she whispered, giving a wry smile.

"I'm not sleepy!" he protested but the door was already closing.

And stay out of my head.

Then she was gone.

As if I wanted to get inside her head in the first place. And what did she mean by damage control?

Draven found himself staring fixatedly at the ceiling; his eyelids feeling heavy.

What was I thinking about just now? Damn it. Why is my brain working so slow? I can't seem to think... so... sleepy...

His eyes were closed even before his head landed on the pillow. In his dreams, Draven saw a very nasty looking wolf transform itself into a sexy, naked woman, holding a really big syringe with a fat needle pointing directly at him.

***