“I’m okay,” I said.

“Where’s Marc?” Pen asked her.

“He’s down in the basement changing over the barrels,” Annie explained.

“No I’m not, I’m here,” a voice said from behind us.

We all turned to find Marc standing in the doorway that led down to the basement.

“Hi!” I called out to him.

“Hello, Jim,” he said briskly. Then, turning to look at Pen, he added, “Can I have a word in private?” He then turned and disappeared back down the stairs and into the basement.

Pen looked at Annie and me and said, “Sorry about this, I’ll be back in a minute.”

I watched Pen disappear, then, said to Annie, “I’d sure like to know what fitness program Pen’s been keeping to. I could sure do with losing some weight like her.”

Annie eyed me suspiciously, then said in a hushed tone, “Hasn’t Pen told you?”

“Told me what?” I asked.

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter,” she sighed as if she’d said something she really shouldn’t have.

I reached across the bar and took hold of her hand. “Look, if there’s something wrong with Pen, I want to know!”

“Look, I can’t…It’s none of my business.

I shouldn’t have said anything.” Annie tried to remove her hand from mine but I tightened my grip so she couldn’t get away.

“Look, sweetheart, as far as I understand it, Pen’s been pretty good to you…” I started.

“I can’t, Jim. I’m scared!” Annie had a desperate, almost haunted look in her young eyes.

“Scared of what?” I persisted.

Before she had a chance to say anything more, we could hear footfalls on the basement staircase. Annie wrenched her hand free and went back to cleaning behind the bar. I looked in the direction of the door and saw Pen appear at the top of the stairs alone. She looked pale and shaken.

“Pen, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I just don’t feel too good.” She made her way to the exit.

I started to follow, when Annie said, “See ya around, Jim.”

I turned to face her and she had her hand outstretched towards me. I stepped towards her and shook her hand. She pulled me close as if to kiss my cheek.

“Call me,” she whispered in my ear.

I pulled away, letting go of her hand. As I walked towards the door and the street outside, I opened my hand and found a small piece of paper.

I unfolded it to find Annie had scribbled her phone number across it.

What was going on? I wondered, placing the piece of paper into my pocket.

Chapter Fourteen

Murphy

All the way from ‘The Ooze Bar’ until I dropped Pen back at her house, I tried to find out from her what had happened down in the basement. Pen kept persisting that nothing had happened and she had started to feel ill, that was all. Although I didn’t believe her, I didn’t push the issue and I never mentioned to her about the scrap of paper Annie had given to me.

I collected my bags and placed them in the boot of my car.

“Pen, I don’t know what’s going on down here, maybe one day you’ll tell me. If you need anything, you know how to get in touch.” I pulled her close and kissed her gently on the cheek. Pen didn’t say a word. She just stood there looking tired and frail.

I climbed into my car and drove away with a feeling of dread gnawing away at my insides.

On my return home, I didn’t hesitate in calling Annie. The phone rang at her end several times, then there was a click on the line, followed by the sound of her voice.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Annie, it’s Jim,” I said.

“Hiya, Jim,” she came back hesitantly.

“Is this a good time for you, or do you…”

I started.

“No, it’s okay, I’ve just got Katie off to sleep.”

“So what’s going on with Pen?” I asked her.

There was a short silence before she said anything. “If I tell you, Jim, you’ve got to promise me you won’t say anything to Pen. If you let her know I’ve spoken to you then Marc might find out…and that would mean trouble…real trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“Promise me, Jim. I have Katie to think of. I don’t want any trouble. I’m scared,” she whispered.

“Scared of what?”

“Promise me!” she demanded.

“Okay. Okay. I promise I won’t let on that we’ve spoken. Now what’s going on?” I insisted.

“It’s Marc…he’s a bully…no it’s more than that…he’s violent towards Pen.”

“What do you mean by violent?” I questioned, those interrogation skills coming to the fore.

“He beats Pen. You know…punches her…kicks her…he’s even thrown Pen down the stairs,” she said, her voice sounding shaky.

I could feel my stomach begin to twist into angry knots inside me. “How do you know this?”

“Pen has turned up at my house in the early hours of the morning, scared and shaking.

I’ve seen the bruises all over her body. There have been scratches and cuts, too. She’s hidden here with me for days on end, trying to keep out of Marc’s way.”

“Pen’s got to get rid of him…throw him out…sack him…whatever it takes,” I said, fighting to keep my anger in check.

“Pen’s tried, Jim, but she’s frightened of Marc and his brother.”

“Pen mentioned that Marc had a brother…Steve I think she said his name was. He works as a chef at the bar,” I said into the phone.

“Steve’s no chef. They’re criminals, both of them. Marc’s giving his brother money every week out of the cash register, but he’s not actually doing any work. They are running up credit card bills in Pen’s name. They’re taking huge amounts of money out of the accounts, bills aren’t being paid, and they’re running the café into the ground.

The two of them are ripping Pen off and when she tries to do anything, they hurt her.”

“Why hasn’t Pen told me any of this?” I asked, shocked and angry at what I had learnt.

“Marc hates you. I think it’s because you’re a cop. He’s also really paranoid and jealous of you,” Annie explained, and I knew why Marc hated me – I was a Vampyrus and cop who hunted his kind down. “Pen told me that Marc accuses her of having sex with you.”

“What!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Pen and I love each other like a brother and sister would. We could never mix...I mean, be anything more than that.”

“Marc has told Pen that if she so much as says anything to you about what’s going on then they’ll kill her,” Annie said, and I could hear her voice waver.

“But that’s just a threat. They wouldn’t really kill Pen,” but I didn’t really believe that – although I knew it was unlikely a Lycanthrope would kill another. They would usually get someone else to do their dirty work. I just had to believe that was true.

“Wanna bet? They’ve both been to jail.

Steve’s been in jail for various thefts and robberies, and Marc’s been down for violence and fraud. These two guys are assholes, Jim,” Annie said.

I was seething and I had every intention of getting back into my car and driving straight back there and arresting the two of them myself.

“Look, Annie, when I promised I wouldn’t say anything, I didn’t realize it would be something as serious as this. I don’t think I can keep what you have told me a secret,” I told her.

“You promised, Jim!” she cried, and I could hear the fear in her voice. “Please, I beg you! Don’t say anything. If they find out it was me…God knows what they would do. I live here on my own with Katie…I don’t want any trouble.”

She began to sob.

“Okay, okay. You have my word, but I’m gonna have to think about this. Maybe I could contact the local police down there and let them know what’s going on,” I said, desperately racking my own brains to find a way in which I could help Pen.

“Pen doesn’t want the cops getting involved. She said they wouldn’t understand,”

Annie said. I knew why Pen thought that – she knew that if the Vampyrus cops got a whiff of what was going on, they would come quickly and in numbers to Pen’s café and sort out the problems there in their own unique way. That could cause problems for Pen if she were trying to make a life for herself amongst the humans.

“Okay, I promise I won’t go to the local cops, but I need to do something and I promise whatever I decide upon, no one will ever know that it was you who told me, Annie,” I whispered into the phone.

Before we said goodbye, Annie promised that she would be there for Pen and that she could always stay with her if she needed to do so. I was grateful to her for looking after Pen for me. Annie also said she would secretly keep me informed of what was going on down there.

When Chloe got home that night, she immediately knew I was upset, as I was pacing back and forth across the living room floor. While she got changed out of her uniform, I made us both supper. As I sat and watched her fork the hash brown casserole into her mouth, I told her about my trip to see Pen and what I had found out from Annie.

Chloe’s first reaction was to tell me I had to do something about it. I told her I needed to think about what I was going to do. She looked curiously at me, as she didn’t truly understand the dilemma I faced. How I wished I could tell her the truth about what Pen and me really were – where we’d really come from.

As we lay next to each other in bed that night, I listened to the soft sound of Chloe’s breathing. I went over and over in my head what Annie had told me. I swung from deep anger towards Marc and his brother to sadness and fear for Pen. As I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes, I could picture Pen and me sitting together in those vast caves, the light from those moving magical pictures flickering in our young eyes.