Lisa then picked up a baseball cap off the table and placed it on his head and pulled the hood up over it.
“What the hell is with jeans so low, my bum’s sticking out?” Eloim wailed.
“It’s how the human teenagers wear them, it’s the fashion.” Lisa said.
“Lisa, you’re my sister and I love you, but if you ever mention fashion or style and what I’m wearing in the same sentence again I’m gonna bite you.” Eloim said in disgust. “And what is this stupid image on the front of this top?”
“That’s the designer logo, shows it’s a top brand.” Lisa answered, smiling up at her brother. “We wouldn’t dress you in anything not designer branded.”
“What’s the name of the designer that would make such horrid, shapeless, fashion crimes? I’m going to kill them after this is over. Have you felt the poor quality of this material?” Eloim said, pulling the hoodie away from his flesh with a finger and thumb.
“Just remember you’re doing this for Polly. She’s worth it isn’t she?” Karla asked.
When Eloim didn’t answer, Karla walked over to stand in front of her brother. “The words you were looking for are ‘yes she is’. Also if you don’t wear them, I will destroy every item of clothing in this room. Is that clear enough for you?” Karla said with just the right level of menace in her tone. “Now, Polly is worth it isn’t she?”
“Yes Karla.” Eloim mumbled.
Eloim moved down the tunnel, in front of him Lisa was barely visible as she led the way. The two were sneaking out of the citadel and would be meeting up with Karla in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. For almost a week, Eloim had waited impatiently while Karla made the plans and set up their transport for them to sneak off to Spain. Lisa held out a glow stick before her to give the faintest illumination because the darkness was so complete even their eyesight could not penetrate it. Muddy water covered the floor of the tunnel and Eloim knew his boots would have to be thrown away when they reached the other end. He was thankful he had chosen an outfit from last season for the start of their journey. The thought of wearing the awful clothes that Karla had chosen for him once they reached the warehouse still filled him with dread.
How could he be expected to wear such fashion crimes, even the shoes were disgusting, white training shoes without a hint of a heel. Suddenly Lisa stopped and looked back towards him, her face glowed green in the light of the glow stick.
“Will you stop mumbling to yourself, now come on we’re here,” she said and pointed to a metal ladder that was fixed to the tunnel wall.
“I wasn’t mumbling.” Eloim protested but Lisa had already disappeared up the shaft that would lead to the warehouse. “I was just saying it’s not fair.” Eloim mumbled to himself before he walked over to the ladder and with a leap, disappeared up the shaft.
Eloim came out of the shaft through an opened drain cover and into the large expanse of the deserted warehouse. After the utter darkness of the tunnel, the faint glow of the moon shining through the dirty windows of the building made it blindingly bright for a moment. Lisa stood a little way off, talking to Karla while a human blood slave stood next to them dressed in clothing the same as Karla had insisted Eloim would have to wear. As Eloim walked over, Karla threw him a bag and smiled.
“A slight change of plans, this witch story is rubbish, one of our father’s little schemes to keep us out of trouble. He knows we’re going to run off and do something so he’s given us this titbit so we run off where he wants us to go.” Karla said.
“How do you know it’s not real?” Eloim asked.
“Because our father, the sweetie that he is; killed this Nerja witch about seventy years ago, after she tried to put a curse on him.” Karla said with a shrug. “The trouble we have is he will be watching for us heading for Spain and while we do, he won’t interfere. So we’re going to take this slave with us to play the role of you while you head elsewhere to get the information we need.”
“I don’t follow, so I’m not going to Spain then?” Eloim asked.
His confusion was plain to see and his sisters smiled. “No, Lisa and I are going there with this boy who will act as you so father’s spies will think he’s fooled us. We’ll hang around there for a while and have a little holiday while you go off to England.” Karla explained quickly.
“Why England?” Eloim cut in, trying to keep up.
“Because there’s a vampire there that can find out the information we need. There’s more than one vampire witch, this one is a bit strange but she’ll help you. Now quickly get yourself changed, Oliver will be here soon.”
“Oliver’s coming here, why?” Eloim looked even more confused as he tried to make sense of Karla’s change of plans.
“Because you need someone to keep an eye on you and he was the best I could come up with at short notice. Now get changed and stop asking stupid questions.” Karla said, reaching the end of her patience.
As Eloim began to get changed, Lisa stood next to Karla and whispered. “Is this a good idea putting those two together again?”
“Not really, but I’m out of options. Father is going to be watching us all the way, so we have to trust that Eloim can stay out of trouble long enough to find out what we need to know.” Karla said, shrugging her shoulders.
Lisa shook her head. “I get the feeling England is in for a whole bunch of trouble, this is going to backfire on us Karla.”
To be continued.