Reborn by Blood by Richard Murray Read Free Book Online Page B

block out the stench that was coming from the bins.
    “It’s alright.” She said as she unlocked the door to her Ford Ka and we both climbed in. “The other people who live here leave me alone, which is what I want.”
    Beth drove with her usual confidence, high speeds and blaring music. I sat in the passenger side with the seatbelt firmly buckled and held on to the handle, set just above the door. Immortal creature of the night or not, I had little doubt of ever being comfortable with her driving.
    The trip into Leeds city centre took ten minutes instead of the twenty it would have taken anyone else. I was gripping the handle tight all the way as Beth sang along to her music and I stared out from behind my shades and watched the light washed city as we drove by.
    All through the city centre were people. They were going to and from work, doing their shopping or just wandering through from one place to the next. Students moved in groups laughing and talking, revelling in their youthful enthusiasm and hope for the future.
    Tall stone buildings rose on both sides of the street, a half dozen storeys high. A curious mixture of decorative stone architecture and newer, glass fronted buildings. I loved the city, the vibrancy and of course the people.
    We passed the building where I used to work and I made a mental note to call my office to tell them that I wouldn’t be working for them anymore. That of course reminded me that I would need to find some sort of job since I had no place to live and no money.
    Even with the shades and the hat, my skin was starting to tingle from over exposure to the sunlight and I was glad when Beth pulled into the side of the road and stopped the car.
    “This it?” I asked as I looked around.
    “Yeah, it’s in that place” she said and pointed towards a red brick building a little way up the street.
    It was five storeys tall and had a coffee shop on the ground floor, the floor to ceiling windows that formed the front revealed a lone customer waiting for service at the counter.
    “Where?” I asked.
    “Second floor, you get to it through that door.” She said with a nod towards the gray unadorned door that was set into the wall beside the coffee shop.
    Since I could barely see and Beth had visited the shop once before, I let her lead the way. She crossed the road with barely a glance for traffic and I followed with a silent prayer that I wouldn’t be run over by a car. I had no real desire to test how un-killable my new Vampire self was.
    The gray door opened into a dim stairwell and I moved inside eagerly. The tingling on my skin began to fade almost immediately and I could actually see normally again. I gave a happy sigh as I followed Beth up the stairs.
    A second door at the top of the stairs was a simple wooden frame with a frosted glass panel that had ‘Magik Earth’ embossed at eye level. I had an immediate sense of... something. I couldn’t say what it was exactly but, something about the place felt off. Beth pushed open the door and walked in without concern and I followed cautiously.
    Inside the shop was much as I expected. A small space crammed full of as much junk as possible. Baskets full of coloured beads and crystals, ornamental jewellery made of silver and other cheaper metals.
    One wall held a rack that was full of colourful t-shirts with appropriately new age slogans. It was all save the forest, smile and be happy and other nonsense. Besides that rack was a shelf full of books on meditation and self help books.
    A display case on the opposite side of the room held elaborate metal sculptures of dragons and fairies. Another section of shelving had row upon row of candles and oils. I was firmly convinced that if the shop ever caught fire it would burn for days just from the oils alone.
    At the far end of the room an old lady sat behind a waist high counter. She was wearing a long white dress that matched her steel grey hair and she was staring at us over her glasses.
    “Can