Free Where Loyalty Lies by Hannah Valentine Page A

anything, just let me know. One other thing about vampires is that we don’t sleep much, so don’t be worried to call any time of the day or night.”
    With that, Holt left before I could start questioning him on how much sleep he actually needed.

Chapter 8
    In the couple of hours I had between Holt leaving and having to go to work, I started packing. I was suddenly grateful that I’d always chosen saving over spending as it meant I didn’t have that much to pack. I never had much time on my hands so, even though I loved reading, it took me forever to get a chance to finish a book, so I didn’t have many in my collection. I had two medium holdalls and I hoped that they’d be about the equivalent of three small ones. The sad thing was that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t need to send for the rest of my stuff. The minimal furniture I owned was tatty, second-hand and on the verge of dying anyway. I didn’t think I needed to bother taking bedding but I had plenty of money to buy anything I needed once I was in Scotland.
    That evening I left early for my shift at the pub so that I could stop into the cafe and tell Lisa that I wouldn’t be returning. It had been a fairly straightforward event until, just as I was leaving, Lisa had grabbed me in a huge hug and told me to take care of myself. It had taken me completely by surprise as I’d never thought Lisa had been that fond of me.
    As I made my way to the pub I mulled over my decision. If I was honest with myself, I’d known the answer all along. I was twenty-one years old and I had nothing in my current life that was worth staying for. I had two crappy jobs, a pitiful excuse for a home and no real friends. I couldn’t complain about any of that, though, because it was all my own doing. 
    Mary had always encouraged me not to make friends or get too close to anyone. She’d been so worried that someone would find out that I wasn’t quite normal that she’d drummed it into me early on that it was a bad idea for me to get close to people. Of course I knew now that I could easily keep my differences hidden but old habits were hard to break and working two jobs didn’t give me any time to go out with friends anyway.
    I could hear the pub before I saw it. As I turned the corner and it came into view, I slowed my pace despite the fact that I knew it might make me late. I’d worked here ever since I’d arrived in Hull about eighteen months ago and, in that time, it had become so familiar to me that I hadn’t realised how run-down it looked.
    The walls were crumbling, the old wooden window frames needed pulling out and replacing and the sign above the door which should have read “The Royal Oak” had only the R and the O remaining.
    The whole place needed an entire re-vamp but the owner, Gus, saw it as work that didn’t need doing. The customers of The Royal Oak had been coming for years. It was the sort of place that nobody new would ever set foot in and that was how everybody liked it.
    I pushed open the door and was greeted by a huge cloud of smoke. Gus had formed his own opinion of the smoking ban and there was even a sign up behind the bar that read, “If you have any complaints about our establishment... then you can fuck off!” Not exactly friendly but it offended nobody here, in fact Gus had received massive applause when he’d nailed it to the wall.
    I could see Chris serving customers up at one end of the bar and, as it wasn’t too busy, I slipped straight into the back room to find Gus sitting behind his desk, squinting at his computer screen.
    “You’ll damage your eyes if you don’t wear your glasses,” I chided. I rummaged through his stack of paperwork, found his glasses buried at the bottom and handed them to him. He scowled at me but put them on. I hid a smile. I knew he didn’t like wearing them, he thought they made him look old.
    “You’re late,” he muttered as he tapped away at his keyboard.
    “I’m leaving,” I said. There was no