Cruz picks himself up off the floor and has the last word before he leaves the room. “Grow some fucking balls will you? Find another woman to fuck. You have 45 minutes to get yourself to the venue. Mr. Blaise is gracing us with his presence tonight.”
I rush to the door to beat the shit out of Cruz, but he manages to escape me and I pound on the door instead, shouting at him, “I can’t fucking wait until you succumb to your Entwined then you will realize no other woman matters but her!”
Cruz snorts and shouts back, “That’s never going to happen.”
I shake my head, he has no idea and I can’t wait until he falls so I can laugh in his face. I quickly take a shower, my mind focusing on Viper, it’s the only way I can cope. I have let Peppa down and even though my mind isn’t in the game, I couldn't let Saul and Cruz down either. I pay Noah a very quick visit, he asks me to stay with him so we can talk and I say I will try and get back, but can’t promise that will happen.
When I reach the venue for tonight, Saul and Cruz are all set to go. Cruz can’t help but be his sarcastic self, “Are you feeling better now? Did you find a hole to fuck …”
I didn’t let him finish as my lips curl back and my fangs drop, giving him his only warning.
Cruz takes a step back and smirks at me, “Someone needs to take a chill pill.”
Saul and I say the same words at the same time, “Shut the fuck up, Cruz.”
His smirk gets bigger, “Now, there’s the Cassidy brothers that I love to hate.”
Saul chuckles and I shake my head while a small smile makes itself visible. We practice for a while and then it’s time for Viper to take the stage. I’m on auto pilot, playing my drums, trying to concentrate and missing a few beats here and there. The first couple of songs go down well, the crowd is going wild as they did each time we played. It isn’t until I heard the words in my head, “I’m going to make you suffer Peppa Thorne. You are going to wish you never became involved with Noah. An eye for an eye you bitch.” That's when everything goes wrong. My head snaps up searching the crowd for the person whom I know the voice belongs to. My focus turns to Cruz when he starts to stumble over his words and I notice his stance change as it goes rigid. He then stutters the words to the song. The crowd starts to look confused and boos start ringing out. And then all that is heard are the dying sounds of Saul's guitar and my drums as the room goes silent. My eyes travel to Saul, who appears as confused as I do and he shrugs his shoulders. Then the boos start up again.
Cruz collapses to the floor and the boos soon turn into oh my gods. Saul and I run over to him, pushing away the fans who are trying to take photos and touching him where they can. They have no respect for him and it pisses me off, so I stand up and shout out to them, “There will be no more show tonight, please leave the premises and give us some privacy!”
Most left without any backlash, but a few shout out something about getting their money back and they are quickly shown my middle finger. When I turn back around and kneel down by Saul, Cruz has his eyes open.
Saul quietly says with anger in his voice, “He fucking faked it. He pretended to faint.”
Cruz lifts his head up slightly and takes a glance around, “What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t sing because of the fucking soul reaching out crap.”
My eyes widen and Saul laughs, “It’s finally come to bite you on the ass. Good, now maybe you can stop fighting it and embrace it.”
Cruz’s body goes rigid again and through gritted teeth he manages to say, “Not going to happen, don’t let her touch me.”
My eyebrows furrow together and a female shape bends down next to me and I twist my head to gaze into the face of a worried Lara. The words just burst from my mouth, “No fucking way.”
Then it’s Saul’s turn, “Oh, this is just too good to be true.”
Lara doesn’t seem to have heard a single word we have said, she is trapped by Cruz’s pout. I’m finding this whole situation amusing and I'm trying so hard not to laugh as Cruz squirms with need. Lara reaches a hand out to touch Cruz saying “Are you ok? Do you need me to phone for an ambulance?”
He flinches and jumps four foot in the air, landing on his size eleven Doc Martins, backing away from her with his hands held out in front of him in mock surrender. He stutters, “No...I..feel ok now. I..just need some air.” His head turns to the exit, he gapes back at us frightened as hell and suddenly runs for it.
My shoulders shake as I let out a throaty laugh, trying so hard to hold it in as we all stare at the door Cruz has just burst through. “Should I go after him and make sure he is ok?” This comes from Lara who has taken a step in the direction of the exit door.
Saul rests a hand on her arm shaking his head, “No, it’s ok, I will go. I don’t think he will appreciate you seeing him spewing his guts up.” He turns to me with a shit eating grin on his face, “Phone me later to make sure I’m still alive. I’ve been waiting a long time for this and I’m going to have fun winding the bastard up.”
I grin at my brother and nod my head, my shoulders are still shaking with silent laughter and I watch him walk away. A voice cuts through the air and my mood changes as I face the man who has made Peppa’s life hell.
Noah inherited his father’s looks, but Donald has streaks of grey running through his hair and you can see signs of him going bald in places. He has wrinkles that make him look older than he is and he is a lot slimmer than Noah. The one thing that is different from Noah’s warm brown eyes is Donald hard, cold, ice blue ones that bore into me with hate.
“What the hell happened? I hope you realize tonight’s loses will be coming out of your pay packets.” I shrug my shoulders not wanting to get into a conversation with him.
“Lara, will you please go to the bar and order me a drink? My usual tipple please and wait for me there. I just need a quick word with John.” Donald’s eyes stay on me when he gives Lara her orders.
“Daddy it's Juan, and please behave.” Donald waves his hand dismissing her, “Young lady, be gone with you.” She scurries off to do his bidding.
His features darken when he speaks at me, “How much is she worth to you John?” I keep my face free from emotion, he wants a reaction from me but he’s not getting it.
“It’s Juan, but you already know that don’t you? I don’t play games Donald so get to the point.”
His mouth starts to form into a sneer and he pulls something out from the inside of his suit jacket, “I can write a cheque for you right now, just name your price. I want Peppa to suffer like she has caused us to suffer by taking Noah away from us. Losing you will do that and I will enjoy watching the bitch fall to pieces. You not taking this money will mean you’re involved too, and imagine the headlines. I can destroy you and Viper with a click of my fingers. The papers will be full of you being arrested for the kidnapping of my son. Did you know I can have pictures made of you fucking other women and taking drugs? Imagine Peppa’s face at seeing them. Is her cunt made of gold that you will go down with her, or does my tempting offer have you walking away?”
Anger twists and turns inside of me but the only outer signs of it are my fists that are clenched into balls as no emotion at his words show on my face. I have to think fast on my feet and what I come up with is partly true and I slyly answer him with, “You really are one twisted, evil bastard and your hatred is aimed at the wrong person. Destroy Viper and you destroy Noah. You can keep your blackmailing money as Peppa and I are no longer together.”
I turn to leave as I have the urge to rip his throat out, but turn back to him and lean in to whisper, “If anything happens to Peppa, the police will hear about this conversation and then I will enjoy reading the headlines.” I slap him on the back and glance over at Lara and wave, “You have such a beautiful daughter, imagine if she ended up with someone like me.”
I stroll away from him then, laughing, but that soon dies down as my thoughts then start to build as everything starts crashing down on me. My head feels like it’s going to explode with all this guilt I feel inside. How much more can I take? By telling Donald there is no Peppa and I, I at least hoped he will back off and leave Peppa alone. I don’t even notice Saul when I walk out into the nights air, “Juan, wait! Are you coming back to Jade’s with me to see Noah?”
I don’t even check to see if any people are still hanging around, I use my vampire speed to get out of there and the words, “They are better off without me” leave my mouth. My actions are the same as the night before and I find myself on top of the same hill after feeding from Dolly. Donald’s statement plays over and over and I bury my head in my hands. I start pulling at my hair at the frustration of it all. A part of me thinks it will be easier if I'm not around. I come to the conclusion that if I have to stand on the sidelines and watch her from afar I will, but I can’t walk away from Peppa or Noah. My phone starts chirping at me, it’s about the sixth time tonight and I read the messages from Saul and decide it’s time to head back and talk to Noah about a few matters.
When I reach Jade’s, Noah is in his room and when I open the door he is lying on his bed and I’m knocked back a step with his emotions. By the time I’ve straighten myself a fist contacts with my face and another one lands in my gut. “Don’t you dare say I’m better off without you.”
Thanks for that Saul.
Another fist is aimed at my face, but I grab it this time and start to push Noah back until he falls on the bed. “Noah, something happened tonight, will you please calm down and listen.”
He glares at me, I can see the anger is still riding him but he nods his head for me to continue. I take a seat on the edge of the bed and I rub my forehead, before I can say a word the door crashes open and Saul storms in and I stand up quickly, “Saul, I’m sorry I caused you to worry, I’m finding matters hard right now and tonight Donald Blaise just added more flames to the fire.”
I duck as his hand comes forward but instead of a fist making contact I’m pulled into him. “I’m glad you are ok brother, I would be broken if you were gone.”
Before I can process his words I get a whiff of a scent that lingers on him and push him away from me in confusion, “You smell like Peppa.”
He sighs, “I just came from there. I didn’t know where you were and you weren’t answering my texts.”
Noah says the words that are about to fly from my mouth, “Is she ok?”
A smile spreads on his face, “If her reaction to my words are anything to go by, she still cares. Hang in there brother. Give her time.”
Noah’s arm snakes around my waist and he leans into me, “She will come back to us.”
Before I can even think on that, Saul brings up the subject of Donald and I set myself down on the bed again and begin to tell them both about what happened between Donald and I. As for the Cruz and Lara situation, I decide not to give Noah that bit of information yet as hearing what his father proposed makes him angry enough. Saul told me I played it well and didn’t think there would be any come back, but he will keep an eye on the newspaper side of things.
Noah remained quiet and after Saul left us, we lie together talking it all through again. Noah made it very clear he wanted out of this room so he can sort his father out. A few more trips out are planned so he can learn how to control his hunger. I know it isn't going to be long before he will be free to go out on his own. Like he said he is a stubborn bastard and he not only wanted to have a talk with his father, he wanted to be with Peppa again.
When we awoke the next night I offer my wrist to Noah but he refuses. He wants to go out and test himself around humans. I try to tell him I didn’t think he was ready, but he tells me to fuck off and that if I didn’t go with him he will go out on his own. I didn’t have long until I needed to be on stage so I take us to the nearest park and we both sit down on a bench watching the world go by. A few people jogged past, Noah even stroked a dog and holds a conversation with the owner.
It isn’t until a couple walk past and the woman has the same color hair as Peppa, that he struggles to control himself. He pushes himself away from the bench to stand and starts striding after them. I'm just about to rush after him when he turns around and strolls back to me muttering, “I can do this!”
His fangs have dropped and he clenches his fists so tight I can see the blue veins bulging in his neck. He slumps back down next to me and leans closer into me so he can rest his head on my shoulder. “Take my wrist Noah.”
“No, I need to do this…” And that’s all I hear before he is gone. I hear a scream not too far away and follow the noise. When I take in the sight, Noah has his arm around a woman jogger who is struggling to get away.
I put my hand on his shoulder and calmly say, “Noah, let the lady go.”
His head moves slightly to glance at the woman and then me, surprise shows on his face, “Oh shit, oh fuck Juan she smelled like Peppa, I thought it was her.”
I start talking to the woman so her eyes are fixed on mine, “I’m so sorry. My friend mistook you for someone he has lost.” I start to pull Noah away from her as the woman is now under my spell. “You will carry on jogging and forget everything that happened in the last ten minutes.” She blinks a few times and I grab Noah and start to march away.
“Fuck, Juan I swear I wasn’t going to bite her, her scent tempted me that’s all.”
I don’t say anything to Noah I just take us back to Jade’s.
When we are safely back in his room I finally speak, “I know you want out of here Noah, but you need a little more time as tonight has proved. You can’t attack women who might resemble Peppa, or wear the same perfume as her. I can’t take the risk of you losing it.”
Noah opens his mouth to say something but I shove my wrist into it and tell him to drink. He sighs into it but bites down and starts feeding and I can sense his unhappiness. While he fed, I am hit with another feeling, which is of relief. I know it isn’t Noah so it has to come from Peppa. All I have felt before is her pain so something had to have changed for her. I can only hope it is a good change and that I will be seeing her soon.