Redemption

Chapter one

She was sitting in a dark corner when he first spotted her, playing some game on a computer. The very same one she had been on every night for the past 2 weeks. Headphones blaring some music, she was totally unaware of her surroundings. Talon could see her aura, pulsing and glittery.

There had been rumours floating around for years that a human of magic blood had been born, but with everything that had happened it got lost in the system. The last report of her was 6 months ago, here in this shitty café. Talon couldn’t believe his luck when he rang and the guy who ran night shift, the vampire who had rung in about her, and found out she was still going there.

She was there from opening time at 8am till closing at midnight, every day for the last 6 months. Talon had to ask himself why. The plan was to spend a night or two following her then approach her, try to get to know her a bit, then ask her to go out with him, then take her to a secure facility where she would be trained if she wanted. He thought he had 1 month to complete this mission. He got a bottle of blood and went and sat on the other side, where he had been sitting for the past 2 weeks, where he could see her clearly while looking at the computer. The last Human mage born was about 1500 years ago, well the last one that is still alive. The thing about him was anyone could pay for his services because he was the only one who could do the things he did, like help raise demons from the deep abyss. Although not a part of the demon raising team his sister Silver had just dealt to. It was Silver who insisted we had to help this girl, she knew all too well what others would do for magical blood.

It was nearly closing, he watched as she put away her headphones, a flash drive, did a clean on the pc she was using and turned off the computer. She put her hoodie on before she turned around, and headed out the door. Talon thought she was trying to avoid looking at anyone or anyone looking at her. Just like every other night.

She happened to glance in Talons direction, he smiled at her, that was a first normally she would not lift her head at all. She hurried out the door. She seemed terrified, what kind of a life had this girl had, but then she was old enough to have been born during the power failures, god knows not a great time for humans, really things had only started improving for humans in the last 10 years, the old vampires who were being stubborn, they had too much power and liked their slave force. He went over to her computer and checked her history, wiped clean. He used a program on his flash drive to do a full scan he would check it out later. It only took 5 minutes to find nothing. She was professional at hiding what she did on a public computer. Just like every night.

Talon then went out the front door waving to the guy doing his final take for the night.

He sniffed the air, yup he could still smell her. He could even see her across the street about to enter an apartment above a garage. She closed the door. Just like every night.

Talon was about to go, but he noticed something moving on the roof of the house next to the garage, it was vampires, he positioned himself into a shadowed tree and watched 3 of them come out of the Attic window in the house and ghost their way across the roof to the girls roof. They waited for all her lights to go off, when they cracked the window, Talon moved out of his hiding space and shot to the door. As he bust through the door, he heard her scream and headed that way. When he got to the room she was in, she had already ashed one vampire and staked another, it turns out it was not her that screamed but this last vampire, she sliced through his chest and he staggered back. She jumped to face Talon, so he raised his hands to show that he was not going to attack her, then she turned back to the other vampire and did a nice spinning kick popping out some blades from her boots, and slicing open his throat.

She went into a defensive stance ready to attack Talon if he made a wrong move.

“Well I see you don’t need my help” He said with his hands still in the air “I saw them breaking in here and was going to warn whoever lived here, but I see you can take care of yourself”

“What do you want Vampire?” She said angrily

“I have an offer for you, part of it was protection, but I see you have that covered” He said as he leaned on the wall

“Get out” she said

“Look I have a friend who is similar to you” he said trying to use the most soothing voice he could “She found out about you, which means others will have too”

“I said get out” she snarled as she packed her bag

“We can offer you help and training in your magical gifts” He spat out as a desperate last move “Also if others get a hold of you they won’t kill you right away, your blood becomes a tradable commodity, just like what happened to my friend”

“I don’t have magic powers” she said “But you don’t live to be my age if you don’t kick ass”

“You do have magic powers, I can see your aura” Talon said smiling gently “You don’t have to become one of us or anything but be yourself, we are quite big on the whole free will thing”

“I don’t believe you” she said

“Did you see the news reports a few months ago about the world saving shit that happened in Brazil?” Talon asked

“Yeah” she said

“That was my friends, my sister is Silver and I promise you, we only want to help you” he pleaded

“So you can use me for your own means?” she snapped “Get my help to blow up more Rain forest?”

“No, we honestly just want to help” Talon said pausing “By the way my name is Talon” He smiled and held out his hand pushing himself off the wall at the same time

“You already know my name I suppose” she snapped slapping the hand away “And what a kind of a name is Talon?”

“Actually no, your file has no name” He said looking sad “It was my Sire’s name for me”

“Fine, I’m Mat” she said lowering her defensive stance a little

He looked at her really hard for a moment, he was getting frustrated.

“You know the people who come for you will increase in skill and numbers” He said “We can keep you safe, and you can probably have as much internet time as you like for free”

“I’m fine” she said grabbing a duffle bag and shoving some clothes and other items into it

“Look how about you just come with me, try the place out for a day or two while you decide what you are going to do next, at least come meet my boss, she’s a really awesome person” he said trying to convince her “Is there anything I can say to get you to believe me, that we mean no harm to you at all?” Talon was feeling extremely desperate to keep this girl safe

“It would be more convincing if you had of been human” she said in a snarky tone

“We don’t have any human’s working for us yet except the cleaners, who I must say get paid very well” he said

“Really?” she said “so what you pay then $3 an hour and think that’s ok?”

“No we pay $20 an hour” he said looking annoyed “Look I know most vampires are assholes, I have even been through a phase of being one myself, but my sister is something special, she is…very into harmony and balance, equal rights and things like that.”

“Equal rights for who?” She said

“For everyone, humans, vampires and shifters” He said

“Shifters?” Mat asked

“Yeah, you know werewolves, weretigers and the like” Talon explained

“Oh I knew about wolves, but tigers?” Mat said looking surprised

“Yeah, I know 3” Talon said “And some werepanthers, and a werebear”

“Wow” she said sitting down on the bed she looked up at Talon with an enquiring look “So if I don’t want to stay, I can just leave?”

“Yup, Silver will not hold anyone prisoner even for their own safety” He said “You know how some vampires are, they treat the new ones like shit”

“So she was kept against her will at some point?” Mat asked

“Yes just recently she was defrosted and kept a prisoner and was also being bleed daily” He replied

“So she is a criminal vampire?” Mat raised an eyebrow to Talon

“No, she was removed from the field before they started doing that” Talon said “Turns out the guy who did it was trying to hide her, for her own safety”

“Right” she gave a bit of laugh, then looked like she was thinking as she finished packing

“Ok, but only because I can’t stay here and I have nowhere to go yet” she said zipping up her duffle bag

“One more thing before we go” Mat said “Why did your sire name you and Silver?”

Talon laughed

“Silver is her given name, Mine was because I was turned to be my sires assassin” he said turning to walk out the door

“So really if you wanted me dead I would have been dead two weeks ago” Mat said. Talon looked back at her and chuckled

“So you do notice things around you?” he said

“I notice everything, that’s why I have to have my headphones on and music playing, it removes seeing everything” Mat said looking very tired all of a sudden. “Look we gotta move I need sleep, you got a car?”

They went down to a car parked across the street at the cyber café, As they were leaving Talon noticed a sole figure standing on the roof of the house watching them leave, he made a note to make sure they were not followed and switch out cars asap, after they did that Mat jumped in the back.

“Wake me before dawn, tell me where to go and I’ll drive from there.” Mat said lying down in the back seat

Talon drove through the wee dark hours of the morning. They got to the place they would be staying the day and he woke her.

“I got a suite so it has 2 rooms let’s rest here, I can arrange a more direct flight for tonight” Talon said to her

She shook her head and got out of the car with her bag

“I said I would drive “Mat said

“We can’t drive over that much water” Talon laughed as he headed to the rooms he had rented, it was a pretty low class kind of place, to Talon it reeked of desperation“I don’t have a passport.” She said as Talon unlocked the door

“That’s fine, you don’t need one, but I can get you one when we get there.” Talon said “If you really want one” They went inside

“But don’t you need special permits and papers to travel now days” she said “And I mean I am human, we have rules too”

“See this is where being law enforcement for vampires helps, we have contacts everywhere, and most places vampires are the ones in control, they like to avoid me at all costs” Talon said locking the door and closing the curtains. This dump was made for Vampires who wanted to hide

“So you think most vampires are crooked?” Mat asked

“A lot of them, I don’t think anyone expected the older ones to come out of hiding when they decided vampires needed to come out.” Talon said disarming his body on to the bed in the first room, the second room was also a bedroom. This one doubled as lounge kitchen.

“It’s ones like Cleopatra, and a bunch of Nazi’s that are the biggest problem” he mused he sat on the bed and started cleaning his guns, while Mat was glancing over his silverware.

“Those are the finest katana’s money can buy” Talon said watching her almost drooling over them “My sister has some wicked and awesome daggers”

“May I hold one?” she asked tentatively he nodded at her

She very carefully picked up one of the Katana’s, it was well balanced. To look at the handle was very plain but so well done you could tell it was looked after.

“How old is she?” Mat asked

“About 1000 years old, the smaller one is it’s match” talon said looking at this human with a look of absolute wonder.

She gently put it back down.

“I could never afford a nice sword, but I have always loved the look of them” She confessed

“Well maybe I can help you there” Talon said “I could even train you to use one if you like?”

“Would you really?” She said sounding like she didn’t believe him

“Yeah” he said “if we get time when we get back I will” he looked at her for a minute, like he was thinking

“If you want you can go in the other room and rest” Talon said

“I would rather you took the other room and I slept out here so when I am wide awake I can watch TV” Mat said back

“Fair enough” Talon said picking up his gear and taking it into the next room.

“It will be dawn soon, is there anything you want me to do during the day” Mat called out

Talon practically jumped back through the door

“Please do not go anywhere, do not order anything on the phone. I have arranged for pizza to come at dusk for you, but please don’t leave this room” Talon said over-stressing the importance of staying put

Mat raised her hands to surrender.

“Ok boss, I’ll stay put “she said saluting him

“Sorry I just don’t want anything to go wrong between now and tonight and getting you to safety” Talon said calming a bit and realizing he was being a bit of an asshole

“It’s ok I guess your job is full of danger and stuff” Mat said

“Sometimes” He said “I have to go to bed, I’ll see you this evening”

Talon closed the bedroom door behind him and leant back on it, he wiped his brow and leant his head back on the door. What was wrong with him? Why was he acting so strange? He went to the bed and laid down, the last thing he thought before the sun rose was I hope Mat will stay put.

Mat couldn’t go back to sleep, she was awake now, she explored the kitchen, tried the taps, the water was clear that was a bonus. Lucky she had bottles of water in her duffle bag, she always kept a few supply’s in the bottom of that bag in case she had to bug out quick, she decided to go get one.

She got a bottle out of her bag and spotted something on the floor. It was a small box. She picked it up, it was about the size of a credit card, but it wasn’t a box, it was a small book, she opened it.

There were small pictures of a few people some were hand drawn, some photos all the same size.

She read the names on them, Gustavo, Dominic, Rift, Angel, Anastasia, Phoenix, Camille, Lucius, Luca, Lily, and Silver. Most of them had a small x next to their name, except for Rift and Silver.

She closed the book, she assumed that this was his family, and those with x were gone.

She crept into Talons room and placed the book on the bedside table. She glanced over at Talon lying there asleep, or dead he was on top of the covers only wearing pants. He looked at peace. Since she had the chance she really looked at him, in the half light of the open door. He was so very handsome, finely chiselled face, and shoulders and chest you just wanted to run your hands all over, this guy could have been a model, he had shoulder length dark hair, he had been wearing it up before, but now it framed his head like a halo. She shook her head and turned to walk out of the room. She closed the door behind her.

What has been seen, cannot be unseen, she thought shaking her head, why did she have to see him like that. She flopped down on the bed. She fell asleep naturally for the first time in a long time, right there where she had flopped on the bed. She was woken up by Talon the next night.

“Pizza’s ready sleepy head” he said as he gently hit her leg for her to move it

“Did you get your little book?” she said “I found it on the floor out here, so I put it next to the bed”

“Yes I did thank you” he said not looking at her

“It’s ok, I understand if you don’t want to talk about them” Mat said he gave her a look that said how did you know what I was thinking

“I…” Talon didn’t know what to say “One day I will tell you all about them, just not tonight and not here, we are getting a chopper to the airport then we get on a plane and go to Austria”

Mat spat out her pizza

“Where?” she asked

“Austria, in Europe.” He said

“Wow I never thought I would get to go there” Mat said trying to control her breathing. She felt like panicking she was unsure how she felt about flying, after all they only got planes working again a few years ago. They were not known for being the safest transport.

“You ok?” Talon said looking at her as her breathing got worse. He jumped into action and crouched in front of her,

“Look at me” He said putting his hand on her ribs “focus on me…breathe in and hold with me, you can do this, just hold your breath for a second and breathe out slowly”

She started to do it, and he kept guiding her through the breathing exercise till it was over and she had calmed again.

“I’m so sorry” she said “I have never had that happen before”

“It’s ok” Talon smiled “Everyone has moments”

“Have you?” She said

“Yup, and it wasn’t too long ago, only mine came out as rage, lucky I was alone” He said

“It must have been something really bad” she said

“Yeah it was” Talon said avoiding any further talk on the subject “anyway freshen up, eat, we leave in 45” he got up and went to the other room and sat down on the bed putting his head in his hands.

Mat quickly finished two more slices of pizza before jumping in the shower and changing her clothes.

When she came back out Talon had packed everything up.

“Change of plan, I packed your bag we gotta go now” he said

She ran to the bed and grabbed the bag off him and they bolted out the door to the car, they got in the car and took off.

“We need to swap out cars again, I don’t want this guy knowing what we are doing?” Talon said driving about 60 MPH swerving in and out of cars, there was defiantly someone chasing them, Mat could see two sets of headlights out the back that were swerving all over the road trying to catch up to them.

“Put your belt on” Talon yelled “This is going to be rough”

She quickly faced front and put her seatbelt on. Soon as Talon saw her do it he swerved right off the road, through a fence and into a field of maize a short distance, then made a left hand turn and stopped about 5 meters in. He then backed up turning left and went back a little, so you couldn’t see the car from the road and turned everything off, they sat and waited. A minute later two suv’s went flying past the front of the car down the same path we first took, only they didn’t stop, the kept on going. Talon waited about another minute then took the car back to the road. He went back the way we came from and took off at speed in that direction.

“Ok we will get to the chopper site we can just shove this car in the shed.” Talon said as they speed along the road out the other side of the small town they stayed at. He turned off the highway about a mile out of town and down a long dirt road on private property. He finally slowed down to a normal speed. There were no headlights behind us and no lights in front of us, we turned a corner and there down a slight hill was lights, and buildings. It seemed to be some sort of Private runway for small craft. There were a few hanger buildings, one had the doors open, and there were a few small planes around parked up around the hangers. Talon drove down the little dirt road that lead to the hanger with the door open and drove right on in he pulled up at the side of the building leaving enough room to get out. He stopped and turned the car off.

“The chopper should be here soon” Talon said looking out the window of the car. “We should be safe here” he got out of the car as a big man came into the hanger from the rear. Talon waved at him, he waved back. And smiled.

Mat got out of the car and grabbed her bag. And went to stand next to Talon.

The big guy had reached Talon by the time she did.

“Hay Talon how’s it going?” the big said grabbing Talon for a man hug and slapping him on the back

“It’s going something” Talon laughed

“Fuck that good” The big guy said

“Yeah looks like my sister might run for world vampire whatever” Talon said

“Holy shit” The big guy said “So who’s the human?” he nodded at her

“This is Mat” Talon said “though I’m still not sure I believe that is her name” he winked at her

Mat put out her hand to shake the big guy’s hand. When he grabbed it she could not believe how soft his hands were, and gentle. He winked at her.

“I’m really Doug, Nice to meet you might be Mat” he said “If you ever want to try a vampire mam, I am all yours” he said smiling and then he turned her hand over and kissed it.

Mat could feel tension rise in the air. Doug felt it too, and he looked at Talon questionly.

“Oh are you two…” Doug said looking from one to the other.

They both shook their heads but you could tell the tension was coming from Talon.

Doug Just laughed at them.

“Well you should be, with the look you giving me boy, you should claim her, before someone else does.” He playfully shoved Talon.

Talon shook it off and laughed

“Just my protective work instincts kicking in” trying to recover from the shock of what he just felt. “And I don’t think anyone will be allowed to claim this one”

“Oh you collecting her for someone?” He looked shocked

“Sort of yeah” Talon said “But the instructions are with her, she is to remain free” Talon looked over at Mat. The big guy took a step back.

“Well you must be awful special to some awful powerful vampire if they want to keep you free” Doug said “you smell delicious by the way” he raised his eyebrows twice at her.

They all heard the chopper coming in to land.

“That’ll be your ride” Doug said walking past them to the door He looked out and nodded “Yup ya rides here”

Talon and Mat got their bags and walked outside, Doug had gone ahead and opened the chopper door, so the pair of them just ran right in. Doug slapped Mat’s ass as she went to climb in, she swiftly kicked out and knocked Doug to the ground.

“Opps” she yelled sitting down and putting the seat belt on “Sorry about that Doug, just instinct”

Talon laughed and closed the door. Then he tapped the pilot on the shoulder. The chopper took off slowly, once they were in the air and clear it was like the pilot put it into a high gear and they took off.

Mat was holding the seat for dear life, having never flown before this was a scary experience for her.

Talon noticed and grabbed one of her hands, to offer her something to hold that would be comforting. She was squeezing it quite hard, and her eyes were closed.

“It’s ok to be scared, I used to hate these things, but if you look out the window you will see something really awesome” Talon said trying to reassure her. She carefully opened one eye and looked at him. He nodded for her to look out the window. She glanced over, there were lots of lights and unusual buildings, she opened her other eye and really looked.

“Wow that is amazing, Monterrey looks so pretty from up here” she said looking at one of the few city’s in the world to survive all the wars. There were interested shaped buildings everywhere here, and with all the lights it just looked magical to Mat.

The chopper went to the airport and landed right near a hanger. Someone came over and opened the door, they got out and Talon guided her to the hanger.

“Hay boss” Some scary looking woman said coming over to them. “Silver will be happy when we get back, there has been some major drama.”

“Kerry this is Mat” Talon said “So what is going on?”

“Did you catch the fights?” She said she was tall thin and wearing all tight black clothes, Her blazing bright red hair was cut in a bob style, and she had piercing green eyes. Her body was what one could only call supermodel. “Hi Mat” she added as an after thought

“No I missed it” Talon said throwing his bag at her.

“Well Trance and Lucian went at it, and Lucian killed Trance then refused to eat his heart.” She said seeming excited “Wolves tend to consider that a high insult”

“Yeah but Trance was an asshole, Lucian is the true leader” a man said walking in the hanger from a nearby office door.

“Colin this is Mat” Talon said

“Hi Mat nice to meet ya” Colin said he was a strong looking guy, bald, clean shaven, he was in a black suit, but he had gloves on. He offered to shake her hand. She took the offer and shook it. And sexy English accent.

“So what now Lucian is the new alpha?” Talon asked

“Yup, even though he didn’t eat the heart of Trance, he claimed back all that was meant to be his, including his only son”

“So Jay knows the truth now?” Talon asked

“Yup and he and Savannah are getting married in 6 months” Kerry said

“And it all unfolded on global webcast pay per view, it’s been the talk of social media” Colin said

“I saw some of that” Mat said “but I have not really been interested in those fights before, so I didn’t bother looking into it much”

“So are they back at the new place yet?” Talon asked

“They will be by the time we get back” Kerry said “Mind you with Colin flying we might beat them”

“Yeah well its better I fly cause I’m not afraid of the sun” Colin laughed

“Are some vampires immune to the sun?” Mat asked

“No” Talon said quickly “Colin is a wolf”

“Oh I am sorry I didn’t know” Mat said

“It’s ok, lots of people have the idea wolves don’t play well with vamps, no one expects me to be friends with them” Colin said “Anyway we should make a move, unless you guys wanna hang here another night”

“No I want to be on the move as soon as possible, Mexico is full vamps we don’t know, and they are after this one” Talon said pointing at Mat.

“Well we are fuelled up and ready to hit the runway as you ordered boss” Colin said

They all went out to the taxiing area of the runway and got on board a very nice private jet.

It was all decorated in antique style furnishings, like it was from a Victorian era. Mat couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Everything was so very opulent and stunning, there were embroidered letter I’s in an old gothic style on all the seats, she was pretty sure there were no planes in Victorian times so this would have to be a custom build.

“Have a seat Mat” Kerry said pointing to the lounging area.

“How long is the flight?” Mat asked

“The way we are going about 20 hours” Colin said “If you get bored during the day you can come talk to me in there” he nodded his head towards the cockpit. “Gets boring flying all day with no one to talk to.”

“Thanks” Mat said finding a comfy seat

The flight was pretty boring, Talon just spent his time trying to do anything to avoid looking at her, and Kerry was reading.

Mat had a sleep in the massive bed at the end of the plane, it was too comfortable and she didn’t want to get out when she woke up, but she knew she would have to leave the plane eventually.

She visited Colin in the cockpit a few times during the day, taking him food that they had brought with them and having lunch together. They chatted about the weather, it was glorious day above the clouds, where Colin had learnt to fly, and how he used to be a driver for a vampire fashion designer, who was also kind of a cop, and how he got accidently bitten getting in the middle of what he thought was a fight between two wolves, sadly for him it was foreplay. And the couple were so distraught by what they done they started to treat him like a god, so he left.

“No point getting pissy over something no one can change” Colin said when Mat asked him how he felt about it.

“Besides, now I am much better at my job” he laughed

“So what is your job?” mat asked

“I am whatever is needed to get the job done” he said being very serious “so what about you?”

“Nothing to tell” she said

“There must be something?” Colin said

“I was born, I fought and worked my ass off, raised myself mostly” she said “Nothing amazing, no flash fashion designers in my life”

“You raised yourself?” he asked trying to be casual

“Yeah well, I’m lucky I wasn’t sold, or worse” She said

“Well I know where we are taking you, nothing like that will happen, Silver is a really good person” Colin said

“Talon said she was going to running for world vampire something?” Mat said

“Yeah apparently, she wants to bring back equal rights and human rights, she is more being pushed into it” Colin said

“She really is quite a superstar” Mat said

“Yeah the last thing she ever wanted” Colin sort of chuckled “How much do you know about Silver?”

“Just what I have seen on social media, how she fooled the press away from her wedding, runs the prison boats, changed the death matches to just fights, freed a bunch of prisoners who were not meant to be there, blew up a chunk of brazil, had her home and family totally destroyed.” Mat rattled off what she could remember of what she had seen.

“Fun times” Colin said smiling

“You were there for all that?” mat asked

“No just some of it, like blowing up part of Brazil” he laughed

“I’m gunna go back and read a book, I noticed this plane has a nice library” Mat said

“Yeah go hard, it will be dark again soon and the others will wake up” Colin said “then it will be about another 2 hours till we land”

She went off to find a book. She was looking over some of the titles. Gone with the wind, the color purple, and other classics were in the mix, there was a section on religions from around the world, then she spotted a book that looked like it was in a hand carved thick leather binding. She pulled it out.

It seemed to be some sort of spellbook, someone’s grimoire, she had read about these, in old times witches would write their secrets in them to pass down, at one time they all had to hide because people blamed them for everything, she had got so absorbed in the book she didn’t notice Talon standing at the door watching her.

“You can read that?” He asked giving her a fright “Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you”

“It’s ok I just didn’t notice you there” Mat said

“So can you read that book?” He asked again

“Yeah” she said he nodded and she felt confused

“Can you not read it?” She asked

“Yes but only because I was taught a very long time ago” he said

“It’s strange because I know Spanish, English and German, but I have never seen this before yet I can read most of it” she said

“Can you read Egyptian hieroglyphs?” Talon asked

“I don’t think so” She said “I have never tried I haven’t had a need to”

Talon went over and found another book and handed it to her she opened it and found she could also understand this as well.

“I think I know what it says” She said “This is about some god who will rise again and bring chaos” she said reading from the book.

“Yup” Talon said “You have a very rare gift there”

“If you say so” Mat said “Would I be able to borrow these two books?”

“I’ll have to ask the owner” Talon said “I’ll do that before we land” he smiled at her

“Why do you keep smiling at me?” Mat said suddenly getting defensive

“I am sorry” Talon said “I just think you are an interesting person, and you’re very nice to look at”

She got up and slapped him which surprised him. She stormed out back into the other room where Kerry was and she sat down.

How dare he say something like that? I mean what was that some kind of compliment? You’re nice to look at…who says that.

Talon took a few minutes to come back into the room she was in, she refused to look at him, she was suddenly embarrassed that she slapped him for saying she was nice to look at.

When he did come back in he was smiling and had the two books in his hand.

“Lord Ivanovich said you may borrow his books” He said handing her the two books

“Thank you” Mat said shyly “And I am sorry I slapped you”

“Don’t worry about it, I obviously shocked you” He replied “though I am not sure why?”

“you slapped him?” Kerry said looking surprised

“yes” she said feeling ashamed

“I said she was very nice to look at” Talon said explaining

Kerry burst out laughing.

“See” Talon said “No big deal Mat really”

“I’m just not used to compliments unless someone is trying to buy me” She explained

“Oh I promise you I will not buy you” Talon said

“Silver would kill him” Kerry laughed

“We don’t trade in people” Talon said “It would go against the whole freedom for all thing she is into”

“I know you told me, I just…” Mat started

“It’s ok Mat, Talon likes you and doesn’t know how to tell you” Kerry said “and i can tell you like him too”

“What are you talking about?” Mat said starting to blush looking horrified as if someone found out a deep dark secret.

“It’s ok Mat really, Talon is a hot guy” Kerry said “And he is single”

“Shut up Kerry” Talon said shaking his head

Colin came out of the cockpit.

“Buckle up boys and girls we will be landing in 20 minutes” Colin said grabbing himself a bottle of water and heading back into the cockpit.

“How’d he do that?” Mat asked

“Do what?” Talon asked

“Who was flying the plane while he was in here?” Mat said a little panicky

“Autopilot” Kerry smiled “Nice deflect though”

Mat fumbled to find her seat belt, Talon helped her out, getting so close she could smell him, and he smelt really good. She always thought vamps smelt dead, but not this one.

20 minutes later they were landing. They got off the plane and into a waiting vehicle. It was some kind of big SUV all black with hard tinted windows she got in the back with Kerry and Talon sat in the front passenger seat. Colin eventually got out of the plane and headed to the driver’s door.

“Welcome to Venice Mat” Colin said as he started the car “next stop Silvers place”

rt writing here…