trains before I got a reply.
If you followed instructions, she will be safe.
What did that mean? She was either safe or she wasn't. I was not in the mood for nonsense and his penchant for cryptic messages was beginning to get to me. I just knew it was a he. He seemed to be enjoying the entire cloak and dagger thing a little too much for my liking. It was almost as though he'd taken Katrina for the sake of taking her. I didn't know any women who operated that way. They usually did things as a means to an end.
I'm the one you want. You tell me if she's all right or I will not show up!
The train had come to a halt so I got out and entered the train that would take me to Canary Wharf, where I would change trains yet again for the Greenwich train.
I'd settled into a comfortable seat when I decided to check my phone. Sure enough, the creep had replied.
You are in no position to demand anything. You show up or you say goodbye to your grandma.
I dumped the phone in the pocket of my jacket in disgust. This guy was unbelievable. The phone beeped again and I dug it out. It was another text message from him.
And if you're thinking of not showing up, I will find you and not even the protector from HQ will keep you safe.
I felt a frisson of fear run through me then I decided to get angry instead. The creep thought he could control me using fear, but I was damned if I was going to let him do that to me!
Close to an hour after I left Knightsbride station, I finally got out at Greenwich station. I took a taxi but got down at the Greenwich Business Center complex, deciding to walk the rest of the way. It wasn't as though I wasn't in a hurry to get to Katrina, because I was. But I was afraid. I knew I was walking into a trap, how could it be anything else? But I had no idea what to do to avoid it. It was like I was the proverbial sacrificial lamb, but I was feeling anything but sacrificial at that moment. I had not asked for all this, it had just come to me. Now I needed to figure out a way to save my grandma and save all of humanity in the process. Well, maybe not all of humanity, but the vampire portion of it, anyway.
I had just turned into the street where I'd lived with my family when the stone on my neck began to tingle in warning. I looked around me furtively, it was very late and the street was deserted. I couldn't see anyone else walking around, yet I had that undeniable feeling that I was being watched. It turned out I was right because a few houses from my destination, I was suddenly surrounded by a group of vampires. It was almost as though they'd materialized from the darkness. I came to a halt and stared at them, heart pounding. When they just stood there without saying a word, I became impatient.
“All right, which one of you is the leader here?”
There was no answer from any of them. I nodded like I'd expected their silence.
“Fine.” I said placing a hand on my waist. “Take me to your leader.” I spoke slowly, pacing my words as though speaking to the terminally stupid. I was being deliberately provocative, I knew. But I figured I had nothing to lose.
“You're to come with us and you are to come in peace.”
I turned to the one who spoke. Unlike the vampires who had come at me last year, these were unmasked. I gazed into his green eyes as I addressed him.
“You outnumber me. There are what, eight of you? I don't have much of a choice, do I?”
“You're to come with us and you are to come in peace.” He repeated.
I frowned. This was odd. “Who is your leader? Where is my grandmother?”
“You're to come with us and you are to come in peace.”
I felt a chill run down my spine as I took a second look at those green eyes. They were completely dead, not a single sign of life in them. Whatever this was, it was several times worse than I'd imagined. I began to wonder what I'd let myself in for.
“Lead the way.” I gestured.
They immediately formed a half circle around