A Vampire's Life Book 5

Chapter 8

The afternoon sun blares down on us as I quietly make my way down the street, hoping to not draw attention to myself or this bird on my shoulder. He chirps quietly in my ear as we reach a street corner. I begin to step off the kerb and he chirps again.

"This way?"

His head turns the other way, down the street.

"No this way is better."

He pecks at my shoulder and chirps a little louder.

"Yeah, yeah. Jeez, pushy bloody bird."

My feet are sore by the time we reach the destination, I have no clue where Jonah was leading me. I found it surprising that we didn't see anyone on our path here. I was worried that people would see the bird and be fascinated by it, after all it's not as if you see a large orange bird, looking very much like a peacock on the shoulder of a woman walking down the street. But thankfully, our path was an easy one. I had looked for rock faces along the way, there was nothing, and now I stood at the edge of a sand bank, staring at the ocean. As the waves crash into the beach, the foam frothing onto the sand, I look around and see why he brought me here, a cliff. I rummage through a nearby bin, not finding any bags to hide him in.

"Sorry Jonah, you aren't going to like what I'm about to do."

The bird looks up from the ground at me as I lift the lid to the bin, pulling the liner out and dumping its contents into the bin.

"Pee-eww." I crinkle my nose. "I think it's been sitting here a while."

I move to put the bird in the bag and he squawks at me, flapping his wings and fails at trying to fly. He scampers along the ground as I fall onto my knees trying to catch him.

"What do you want Jonah? You said non see through bag. I don't see any other options, do you?"

He sticks his head up in the air and begins to walk down the path to the beach.

"Fine, be picky."

It was a long walk to get to the cliff, but it was worth it, an easy door into mid jump out of view of the passing world. The bird stops walking and squawks at me, I kneel beside him.

"Are you going to get in the bag now?"

He chirps as I put it down and to my surprise he picks up one of the edges and lifts it over his head, moving down to the bottom of the bag.

"Oh, so you want it inside out do you, mister fussy pants?"

He squawks at me again.

"Hang on, let me wash it first."

I take the bag and wash it in the ocean and turn the bag inside out, which of course the bird happily got in the bag. The bag is still smelly and now it is wet. I form the key and open the door to mid jump, grateful to be safe.

People bustle around me, looking at me and crinkling their noses. Yes, I had a stinking wet bag under my arm, its contents a mystery. Jonah stayed very quiet and still as I made my way through the corridor for the gates. When this place was first built, it consisted of one level of about a fifty gates. But as time started to pass and mid jump became more popular, the queue for the gates increased. Now there were three levels of about fifty gates per level. The only time there were queues now was when the shops were having massive sales and I refused to be anywhere near the place when they were on. I hated crowds. At the very end of the corridor was one solitary elevator, the sign above the button said it was restricted access only. A few of the office staff had started to congregate behind me, lunch hour was over and they were returning to their jobs. The door opened with a ping and took a deep breath, entering one tiny box with a stinky bag. The elevator takes forever to reach the top floor, many of the people who had gotten into the lift with me only stayed for one floor, opting to get out rather quickly. The bird continued to remain quiet and still, obviously not wanting to draw attention to himself. We reach the top floor, I have never been here before, it is the new grand council meeting place, unless you are a member or have been specifically instructed to be here, your presence is not welcome. The doors open to a small foyer, at the end is one door, two guards either side of the door.