A Day in Bridgend

‘Maybe we took a little too much from her…’ It was Matt’s voice. Slowly I drifted into consciousness but I didn’t open my eyes, I was afraid of what they would do to me if they knew I was awake. My phone suddenly started vibrating in my pocket again. My heart leapt. Perhaps I could answer it and scream for help before they restrained me…

‘Someone put that thing off,’ said Matt. He sounded annoyed.

I felt someone reach into my front jeans pocket and fish my phone out just as Hand of Blood (my current Bullet ring tone) got into full swing. Whoever it was quickly rejected the call and put it off.

There was a pause in which no one said anything. I took this time to try and take in my surroundings without opening my eyes. It didn’t get me very far. By the time Padge spoke, breaking the silence, I had only figured out that I was lying on the sofa and the men were watching me intently.

‘I think we did take too much from her,’ Padge commented. ‘She should be awake by now.’

‘But her blood is so sweet,’ said Moose, longingly.

‘True…’ Jay replied, thoughtfully.

‘And look at her neck,’ Moose continued. I felt his eyes travelling up and down my body. ‘It’s beautiful. It makes me feel like ripping it open and sucking her dry.’

I stiffened at his words. No, I thought. That’s impossible.

‘Don’t let her hear you talking like that, Moose,’ said Matt. ‘She’s going to be scared enough as it is when she wakes up.’

Moose reached his hand out to me and touched one of the two puncture marks that Matt had created. He ran one finger across it, silence for a second, then I heard him sucking that finger free of blood.

That was the last straw for me. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had never felt fear such as this before. My eyes snapped open and I leapt to the other side of the sofa, away from those creatures. I brought my legs up to my chest and hugged them, making myself into a ball, then clutched the top of my shirt, holding it closed, protecting my neck from them.

I suddenly felt extremely dizzy. So dizzy that I started seeing little dots in front of my eyes and I lost my balance. I slowly slipped off my perch on the edge of the sofa. Padge, who closest to me at the time, caught me before I fell, his hands on my shoulders to keep me upright. I forced myself to recover fast and pushed him away, pressing myself against the back of the sofa. He raised his hands in a defensive gesture and moved away. My neck and wrists hurt a little as I resumed my position on the sofa.

‘Its okay,’ said Matt. ‘We’re not going to hurt you-’

‘Your vampires,’ I interrupted shakily.

They glanced at each other briefly. ‘Yes,’ said Matt. ‘But I promise we aren’t going to hurt you.’

‘You already have,’ I replied, my fingers reaching up to brush the small puncture marks. ‘Let me go,’ I begged.

‘I’m sorry, we can’t,’ said Padge, softly.

‘So you’re going to kill me?’ I asked.

‘No,’ said Jay.

‘Then why am I here? Are you going to keep me to feed from me until you do kill me? What do you want from me?’ I sobbed pathetically.

‘We want you to come on tour with us.’

I stopped sobbing abruptly and raised my head to look at Matt in amazement. For a while I just sat there in silence, staring at them uncertainly.

‘So will you?’ Moose broke the silence. ‘We won’t force you to let us drink from you, that’s up to you.’

‘I-I,’ I stuttered disbelievingly. This couldn’t be happening. They said they wouldn’t force me to let them drink from me but how could I trust them? They were vampires for fucks sake! But if they did want to kill me, wouldn’t they have done so by now? The possibility that they wanted to feed from me for a long time still existed but I wasn’t so sure that was what they wanted. Finally I said, ‘Why?’

‘Why not?’ Padge retorted.

‘We watched you for a long time before we let you see us,’ Matt explained. ‘From the moment you got to Bridgend in fact. You seem like a very…interesting girl.’

I couldn’t think straight. Would I really give up everything I cared about to go touring with Bullet for my Valentine? I already knew the answer. Yes. Yes they were vampires. Yes I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them and yes I was shit scared of them. But I’d wanted this for so long, and finding out what they were hadn’t changed that.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll come.’ They smiled happily and Moose moved forward, arms outstretched, to hug me but I jerked back. ‘I still don’t trust you,’ I said. ‘And I’m still afraid of you, but I’ll come.’

‘That’s okay, we don’t expect you to trust us immediately,’ said Padge.

‘So, can I go home until we go on tour then?’ I asked hopefully even though I didn’t expect them to say yes.

‘I’m afraid not,’ said Matt. ‘Just as you can’t trust us not to kill you, we can’t trust you to keep quiet about us.’

‘But, no one would believe me-’

‘That’s not the point. All you would have to say is, “Bullet for my Valentine raped me!” and we’re still fucked.’ I knew he was right. It really was a choice of either they killed me or I went with them.

‘Where am I going to stay?’ I asked.

‘Good question!’ said Moose.

‘She’s not staying with you,’ said Jay firmly. ‘Not after what she heard you say.’

‘Who do you want to stay with?’ Matt asked me suddenly.

‘I-I don’t know,’ I said, taken aback by the sudden question.

‘She can’t stay with me. I have stuff to do,’ said Jay.

‘Yeah, same here,’ Padge agreed. ‘What about Rina’s?’

‘No way!’ said Matt immediately. ‘I love her to bits and everything but you know what Rina’s like.’

‘Fair enough,’ Jay nodded.

‘Well, looks like its up to you Tucky!’ Moose joked.

Why do I feel like I’ve just been auctioned off? I thought as I watched them.

Matt turned to me, smiling kindly. ‘Is that okay?’ he asked. He was trying to make me feel safe but it wasn’t working. None of this was okay. But there was nothing I could do. I nodded softly.

‘Right, well that’s that sorted!’ said Padge.

‘Do you want to go now?’ Matt asked.

After a moment or two I nodded and said shakily, ‘Yeah.’ He returned the nod and stood up. He offered me his hand. I hesitated, then took it and he helped me to my feet. I found that I was still very dizzy and light headed. He must have noticed because he forced me to lean against him, ignoring my weak attempts to push him away.

‘I’m going to take her home,’ he said. ‘She needs some time to get accustomed to everything and to rest.’

‘Of course,’ said Padge, standing too. ‘I’ll get your stuff.’ He disappeared into an adjoining room, reappearing moments later with a bag, which he then handed to Matt.

‘See you later,’ he said leading me out. When we got there, he grabbed my bag, opened the door with one hand and helped me out into the cold, dark afternoon that, minutes ago, I hadn’t thought I would ever see again.

‘I’m fine, I can walk on my own,’ I protested.

‘You sure?’ he asked and I nodded. ‘You won’t try and run?’

‘I’m too weak to run anywhere.’

He released me and led me to a BMW M3 parked outside the house next to Padge’s. I leant against the car as he shoved our bags into the back seat. He moved around to the other side to get in and I followed suit, getting into the passenger seat. I’d just finished putting my seat belt on when Matt seemed to remember something.

‘Sorry,’ he said and leant toward me quickly. I gasped and pushed myself back against the car seat. It took me a moment to realise he was reaching into the glove compartment in front of me. He glanced at me, then closed it and sat back in his own seat, tying his hair back with a small-elasticised band.

He started the car and I quickly fastened the buttons Matt had undone on my shirt. For the first five minutes we drove in silence, the soft rumbling of the engine calming me slightly even though the silence in the car was so awkward.

Matt must have felt it too because out of nowhere he asked, ‘Do you like Metallica?’

I turned to look at him. His face was turned to me but his eyes kept flitting between the road and me. When I nodded he switched the radio on and fiddled with a few buttons. Soon Master of Puppets was blaring throughout the vehicle. Ten to fifteen minutes later he stopped in front of a security barrier. A guard pressed a button in the station to let us through. Matt waved at him briefly then drove in, found his parking space and stopped.
‘This is it,’ he said, undoing his seat belt and getting out. I quickly did the same and stared up at the massive building while he grabbed our bags.

We entered the building and took the elevator up to the fourth storey. While inside the elevator he watched me carefully. I could feel his eyes on me but I did my best to look away from him, at the floor or ceiling or just shut my eyes completely. But closing my eyes made me nervous, being unable to see the vampire at all was just too dangerous. At least I could still see him out of the corner of my eye when I wasn’t looking straight at him.

When we were standing outside his apartment Matt opened the door and stepped aside to let me go in. I moved past him, taking in my surroundings. The floor was dark wood; a massive T.V covered most of one wall while a bay window in what appeared to be the kitchen opened out onto a balcony overlooking Cardiff Bay. The place was so tidy! My first thought was, Shit! How am I going to live in such a clean place? A counter separated the living and kitchen areas. A round wooden table with four chairs was situated not far from the balcony. In the living area a couple of sofas and armchairs were spread out in front of he T.V. a couple of wooden chairs stood nearby and a coffee table was in the middle. A doorway stood beside the one we had just come through which I guessed to be some kind of closet. Across the room was another room, the door slightly ajar. The bedroom. An open door stood beside that one revealing a few guitars and other things.

The door closed suddenly behind me. I turned sharply at the sound. While I had been looking around Matt had put the bags down. He opened the other door, taking off his jacket at the same time, which he quickly hung inside. I had been right about it being a closet then, I thought.

‘Can I take yours?’ he asked putting his hand out to me. I didn’t really want to be parted from my Bullet. I felt that its luck was the only thing keeping me alive but I dutifully took it off and handed it to him. As he was hanging it up two kittens chased each other into the room. I smiled when the first one turned around and started play fighting with the second.

‘Gus and Phoebe,’ I murmured.

‘Wow, you even remembered the names of my cats,’ said Matt smiling. ‘Okay break it up!’ he said to the kittens, scooping one up and kissing it. ‘And you,’ he picked up the other with his free left hand and kissed that one too. He noticed me watching them with a small smile. He must have seen it as an opportunity to gain my trust. He took a couple of steps towards me, within touching distance. ‘This one is Gus,’ he said raising his right hand slightly. ‘And this ones Phoebe,’ he did the same with his left one. ‘Here,’ he shuffled forward very slightly, for fear of scaring me again, and put his hands out a little. I hesitated, looking up at him nervously, then raised my hand to Gus.

I let him sniff my fingers to decide whether he liked me or not. After a moment a tiny, pink tongue poked out of his mouth and the rough surface ran across my fingers briefly. My smile returned, happy that he’d accepted me. I tickled him behind the ear and without realising it, took a step forward. I turned my attention to Phoebe, letting her sniff my fingers in the same way. It took her a little longer than Gus but eventually she nuzzled up to my hand. I smiled and took another step towards them, the gap between me and Matt becoming even smaller. It was then I realised just how close we were.

I stepped back quickly, my face burning, and looked away. He let the kittens leap to the floor and freed his hair of the band. As he passed the counter he dropped the band on it and went through a door I hadn’t noticed before. I heard a tap go on and water run. I stood feeling very awkward, not knowing what to do with myself. The tap was turned off; the sound of a cupboard shutting and Matt reappeared carrying a box of plasters, a bottle with liquid inside and a few pieces of cotton wool.

‘Sit down,’ he indicated a sofa as he put the bottle and cotton wool onto the coffee table. I made my way over to it and sat. ‘Do you want tea?’ he called from the kitchen.

‘Yes…please,’ I answered.

‘Two or three sugars?’

‘Two is fine.’

As he busied himself being the host I closed my eyes. I made sure my other senses were as alert as possible; I didn’t want him creeping up on me. I was just so tired. When I felt him coming towards me I opened my eyes swiftly but he had already noticed. He looked concerned, but didn’t say anything. He couldn’t anyway. He carried two steaming cups of tea in his hands and the box of plasters was clenched between his teeth. Gus scampered after him but Phoebe was nowhere in sight.

Matt handed me the tea and I took it gratefully. He put his own mug on the coffee table along with the plasters. He grabbed one of the wooden chairs, put it down in front of me and sat down on it, his legs spread wide. He picked up the plasters, cotton wool and bottle, scooting closer to me until my knees were between his legs slightly.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked nervously.

‘Your cuts need to be disinfected, just in case,’ he explained. I nodded. ‘Can you move your collar a bit?’ he asked, pressing the cotton wool to the neck of the bottle and turning it upside down.

I did as he requested and moved my head to the side so he had better access. The touch of his fingers against my neck made me even more nervous and I shivered slightly. Gus leapt onto the sofa beside me to watch us. Matt did the left side where he had bitten me. When the liquid touched my neck I flinched, it stung badly but I let him continue. When he was done he emptied the plasters onto the sofa, he chose one quickly, relieved it of its wrapping and covered the neat puncture marks. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gus playfully inspecting the remaining plasters and box. I turned my head to the other side, moving my hair out of the way.

‘This ones still bleeding,’ he said. ‘Jay can be a bit clumsy sometimes.’ He wiped the blood away with his finger and licked it off. Again he quickly cleaned the cuts, grabbed another plaster and stuck it on carefully. ‘Right, give me your hands.’ He scooted back slightly so he could close his legs.

I held out my hands, pressed against each other, palms up. He pushed my sleeves up and put my hands onto his lap. I squirmed nervously as they rested there, terribly aware of their position. He tended to the marks swiftly.

‘Do they all feel alright?’ he asked still holding my hands in his lap.

‘Yeah,’ I nodded. When he released my hands to sweep up all the remaining plasters and return them to their box I gingerly touched the plasters on my neck. Matt stood up, took the chair back to its usual place, went to the kitchen to drop all the bits of cotton wool into the bin and proceeded into the bathroom to put everything away. Gus leapt onto my lap and nuzzled up to me, as if he knew I needed a little reassurance. I smiled and stroked his soft back, from between his ears to his tail. He purred softly as he arched his back slightly.

‘He likes you.’ I looked up to see Matt watching me. He was smiling softly. I returned the smile nervously. ‘I have to go out for a while,’ he said. ‘Need to go to the gym and pick up some food for us.’

‘You…mean…Vampires eat human food?’

‘Not usually,’ he replied. ‘I loved food when I was human; I just didn’t give it up when I became a vampire. But most just drink blood.’

‘Oh, right,’ was all I could think to say.

‘Well, I better get going,’ he said. ‘You’ll be okay on your own, won’t you? You feel alright after the blood loss?’

‘Just a bit tired.’

‘Of course, that’s to be expected. Drink the tea, I put some extra sugar in it to help with the weakness, watch some T.V, there’s a laptop in the bedroom. I’ll be back as soon as I can with food. If you want it just help yourself to more tea, but try and get some sleep, okay?’

I nodded and he smiled. He stepped toward me and looked as if he wanted to say or do something, however he just walked to the closet and got out a sports bag and his jacket. Without another word he left me alone in his flat. I heard a key turn. So he really didn’t trust me any more than I trusted him.

I sighed to myself, picked up the hot mug and took a sip of the liquid. A warm shiver of pleasure ran through my body as the sweet liquid made its way down my throat, making me realize how cold I was. I gently nudged Gus off me and stood up. Yet another wave of dizziness washed over me and I lost my balance, falling back onto the couch. I shut my eyes tightly and clutched my head in anger. This was really starting to annoy me.

Determined, I stood up again and made my way over to the closet. I looked through the jackets until I found my Bullet and carefully eased it out, avoiding knocking any others. I took my shoes off while I was near the door, and then made my way back to the sofa. I took off the black jumper and decided to put the T.V on. I turned straight to Scuzz and guess what was just finishing? Tears Don’t Fall. I froze as the last shot of Matt and Padge came on the screen. I looked around the room thinking, Oh my god, I’m sitting on Matt Tuck’s sofa right now. I still couldn’t quite get my head around the fact that I’d even met them in the first place, let alone all that had happened in between.

‘Bullet for my Valentine are vampires,’ I whispered aloud, to see if it would help me at all. It didn’t do much good. ‘I can’t do this right now,’ I said, aloud again. I was so tired I felt sick. I quickly finished drinking the tea and lay down, covering myself with my Bullet. I grabbed a pillow and put it under my head as Phoebe stalked into the room. I thought that Gus would go play with her now she had come back, but instead he curled up beside me. I smiled, glad of his small, warm, safe form lying beside me. I stroked his head with one finger, the monotony relaxing me further. He purred. Soon we both fell into a deep sleep and nothing could disturb us.

© Amber Williams 2008