State of the Body

Chapter 14 London

No return? Why did she say no return? When the wall was completely open, we walked inside. The wall shut behind us. It was pitch black. I felt Charlotte pull my hand leading me through the hidden passage until finally I saw a door emerge from the darkness. She walked up and knocked on the door. Knock, knock, knock. "Sean," knock, knock, knock. "Sean, "knock, knock, knock. "Se-" A deep voice interrupted her as the door flung open revealing a man. He was tall, almost a whole foot taller than Charlotte. His hair was slicked back and was jet black. He was really hairy though and really tan. He wore a red and white flannel shirt and dark blue jeans.

"I swear if you don't shut up, I'm going to rip your vocal cords out and hang you with them while-" I cleared my throat to make my presence known. The man looked at me. I stuck my hand out to shake his as I introduced myself, but he just stared at my hand.

"Hi I'm London."

"No!" He growled. I yanked my hand back. "You're human! Why is she here? Humans don't last long here you know that, but I haven't eaten in a while" He smirked and stepped towards me. Charlotte stepped in front of me.

"If you try to eat her because we both know you won't succeed, I will kill you, and she's here for a drink." His face softened and a huge smile took over his face.

"Why didn't you say so. My apologies miss first round on the house, please come in. I would never eat a customer." He bowed and stepped to the side making room for Charlotte and I to pass. We walked in and it looked like every other pub. A dark wooden floor with lighter wooden walls with random decorations. Everyone even looked human, but after meeting Charlotte and I think his name was Sean something told me not everything was what it seemed. I know Sean wasn't human because of that growl. No human could ever make a sound like that and I'm pretty sure unless you're a cannibal you don't eat other people. Before I could get any deeper into my thoughts Charlotte pulled me through the pub and towards the very back corner. There was an older looking women I would say around sixty to seventy. Her hair was grey and white. Charlotte sat down across the table from her and patted next to her motioning for me to sit. I sat down and looked at the woman's face. She had some wrinkles and her eyes were dark green.

"Charlotte... who is this?" She had a slightly screechy voice it sounded strong though.

"This is London. She is visiting the Flag Mansion." The old woman's eyes practically popped out of her head.

"You're staying at the Flag Mansion?"

"Yes...why?"

"Could she be the one grandma?" Grandma? Charlotte's grandma was still alive. I'm sure Charlotte saw my confusion because she leaned over and whispered to me what was going on. "This is my grandmother...well, my vampire grandmother. You see she was a bit on the, well, she was clearly on the older side of the age scale."

"Oh that makes sense." Charlotte went back to the way she was originally sitting and put her focus back on her grandmother.

"So is she? Could she?" Her grandmother examined me.

"Well she could be, but I thought you would-"

"Here you go miss." I looked up and saw Sean holding out a tall glass of beer. I grabbed it.

"Thank you." He smiled at me and kept standing there. I figured he wanted to know how I liked it. I took a long slow drink. I felt the cold substance go down my throat and it left a tingling and slight burning feeling in my throat. I smiled at him. "This is really good!"

"Thank you miss. If you need anything just let me know." With that he sped off. I looked back at Charlotte and her grandmother as they seemed deep into the conversation.