‘I’m Jake,’ he said simply when he was standing in front of me. His accent was pure North London. He held a hand out and I shook it. ‘Hi, Jake.’
He turned to Will. ‘Khiara isn’t here yet.’
Will nodded. ‘I am aware of that. It is not entirely unexpected.’
Another woman walked over to us. She was tiny and beautiful, and appeared to be either of Chinese or Japanese extraction. She had the glorious, glossy blue-black hair that seems to bless most Asian people. Exquisitely dressed in a black satin kimono, with tiny dragons embroidered in gold silk down one side, she appraised me with dark, almond-shaped eyes. She held a tiny hand out to me. ‘I am Aimee-Li Chann.’ Her voice, like her, was small and perfect. I smiled at her and shook her hand. ‘It’s good to meet you Aimee-Li.’
‘Would anyone like a drink?’ Luke asked.
Drink? Drink blood in front of all these vampires? Did blood come in cans now?
Will turned to me. ‘We can drink alcohol, although you, as a fledgling, will have to keep your intake to a minimum at first.’
I sighed. Just like being a teenager again. ‘Can I have a beer?’
Will shook his head and turned to Luke. ‘Could you bring some champagne upstairs?’
He started to lead me over to the stairs. Aimee-Li, Jake and Roxy followed us.
‘So I can drink champagne but not beer?’ I was confused.
‘I did not say I was allowing you to drink it.’
‘What are you, my father?’
His deep laugh did nothing to alleviate the frustration I felt. I didn’t want to ask what the problem was with alcohol, I just knew I could do with some. I had no clue what would happen later, and something ‘medicinal’ to chase away the pit of dread residing in my stomach would have been very welcome indeed. Will led us to the farthest nest of sofas, and a couple of vampires who’d been sitting there stood and left hurriedly at our approach.
‘Scary Mr Spooky,’ I muttered quietly, knowing he’d hear me.
‘Some good healthy fear is a useful commodity to instil,’ came the dry reply.
We all sat down, with Will on one side of me, and Aimee-Li the other. Luke soon appeared at the top of the stairs, carrying two bottles of champagne in ice buckets, followed by Honyauti carrying several glasses. Oh joy. Almost involuntarily, I found myself pressing closer to Will at the sight of him. Luke set the bottles on the table in front of us, and Honyauti put the glasses down at the same time. Luke expertly opened the champagne and began to pour it. Will lifted a finger, as he began to fill another glass, and, picking it up, offered it to me.
‘Alcohol will affect you differently now,’ he said. ‘At first it will make you feel inebriated very quickly, just as it did when you were a teenager.’ He smiled. ‘When you are older, it will affect you less and less.’
‘So at your age you can’t get drunk at all?’
‘That is correct, although I still enjoy the taste.’
‘Boring,’ I laughed. ‘What do you do to celebrate then?’
Green eyes sparkled at me. ‘I have ways.’
I lifted the glass to my lips, but he stopped me before I drank any. ‘I mean it Elinor, sip it at first, the effects will be instantaneous.’
Well, I didn’t want to be the embarrassing girl who danced on tables, so I took a small, tentative sip of the sparkling liquid. Immediately, my taste buds exploded, and my head began to spin.
‘Wow,’ I whispered. ‘I see what you mean.’
He took the glass from my suddenly nerveless fingers, and put it back on the table. Looking up at Luke, he said, ‘Any sign?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Shall I call her?’
Will stood up. ‘Perhaps I should do that.’ He looked back at me. ‘Please stay here, I shall not be too long.’
He strode toward the stairs, and left me feeling just a touch desperate. Luke sat down next to me, and I felt better with him there, but with Honyauti sitting opposite in an armchair, staring at me with his dead eyes, I felt scared and very intimidated. I really hoped Will wouldn’t be long.
Aimee-Li suddenly leaned across and, taking my left hand in her tiny one, stared at my ring. After a few minutes, she looked at me with a strange smile. ‘The Ring of Porphyry, it means you are Will’s chosen one for all eternity,’ she said. ‘He is wise in some ways to give you the ring tonight, but in other ways very foolish.’
‘Why?’ I asked, although I could probably guess the answer.
‘Khiara will be so angry. Never in all her centuries has any one of her men found a love they preferred to hers.’
‘Would she know the ring?’
‘Every vampire will know the ring,’ replied Aimee-Li. ‘It is well known among us for its magical properties.’
I looked down at the beautiful emerald, and watched it shine with the same green lights that shone in Will’s eyes. It glowed on my hand as though it were truly alive, and I wondered what magical properties it contained. Will had said it would keep me safe, whatever that meant.
‘Porphyry was a magician, devoted to magical practices in both the white and black arts,’ she continued. ‘It is many centuries old.’
‘How did Will come to have it?’
‘His family was aristocratic and the ring has been in his family for centuries, but I do not know how it came to be there. Although I do know that Khiara expected it to be hers, yet it is now yours.’
‘Should get the evening off to a good start then,’ I said. Aristocrats, eh? That explained a lot. One day Mr William Whatever-His-Full-Name-Happened-To-Be and I were going to have a really long chat about his family. He knew all about me after all, so it was only fair.
I picked up my glass in an attempt at nonchalance and sipped the champagne carefully.
My head spun again. I blinked trying to clear the dizziness, and was left with the warm fuzzy glow you normally only get after several glasses of the stuff, not just a few sips. Rather shakily, I put the glass back on the table, and was relieved to feel Will close again. I looked up as he emerged at the top of the stairs and flashed a dazzling smile at me.
Luke stood up as he approached.
‘Khiara is not at the house,’ Will said without preamble. ‘Neither is anyone else. Most of her people are downstairs, except for Vincente.’
‘What should we do?’ Luke looked perturbed.
‘Wait another hour or so.’
Aimee-Li was chatting with Jake and Roxy now, and didn’t appear to be listening to Will. I stood up, needing to be close to him, and he held a hand out to me as if he knew. Which I’m sure he did.
‘Downstairs I think,’ he said half to himself. He pulled my arm through his and began striding back toward the stairs.
‘Slow down,’ I pleaded as we reached the top of the stairs. ‘I’m wearing a dress.’
He turned to look back at me with a wicked grin. ‘Oh, believe me, I noticed.’
Will and I stood at the top of the stairs like a royal couple making an entrance. I looked down at the assembled throng of vampires below. Sure enough, there was no sign of Khiara. She was exceptionally beautiful enough to stand out in any crowd, even one such as this – where absolutely everyone assembled appeared incredibly attractive. A quick sweep of the people below assured us she was, indeed, conspicuous by her absence.
‘Where do you think she is?’ I asked.
‘Playing one of her many mind games, no doubt.’
‘Does this mean we win if she’s a no show?’
‘Oh, she will show at some point, I have no doubt. But not necessarily this evening.’
I still didn’t understand what was going on, but then I didn’t think I was expected to. I refrained from asking Will interminable questions, because they tended to irritate the hell out of him. A fact I’d discovered to my cost a f
ew times.
We descended the stairs and all vampiric eyes suddenly focused on us. Everyone gathered below fell silent.
‘For those of you who have not yet met her, this is Elinor, my chosen consort,’ said Will, his deep voice strong and authoritative. Consort? No one spoke. He continued, holding my left hand up for everyone to see. ‘She wears the Ring of Porphyry and no doubt you all recognise its significance.’ There were a few mutters and nods amongst the throng. I spotted the hateful Katarina who was glaring daggers at me. The sooner she went back to Italy, the better. Luke appeared behind us on the stairs.
‘Do you wish to make an announcement about Trials?’ He asked Will.
‘Not yet. My suggestion is that we stay here for an hour or so, and if Khiara does not arrive within the time we set, we will call Trials off for tonight.’
Luke nodded, and wandered off towards the bar and a rather attractive brunette. Will turned me to face him, his arms encircling my waist.
‘Do you have regrets Elinor?’ he asked softly. ‘Do you still miss being human perhaps?’
‘It’s been hard to come to terms with,’ I said. ‘But you know that. I miss the theatre sometimes … even rehearsals …’
He stared down at me, his beautiful eyes shining with the emerald fire I loved so much. ‘I am so sorry for the things you miss, but there really was no other way my love,’ he said softly. ‘I could not let you die, not once I had found you. I could not lose you. I would not lose you.’
‘There’s one thing I am sure of, there is no way on this earth I’ll ever regret meeting you.’
His eyes sparkled as he smiled, and, bending his head, he kissed me. Just the scent of him made me shiver and want him again; the mixture of expensive cologne and the underlying masculine, exotically dangerous smell that was just him.
Holding me away again, he looked at me with a mixture of emotions. ‘Ti amo, I love you Elinor,’ he said. ‘I love everything about you, your hair, your eyes, your spirit’—he laughed softly—‘even your reluctance, to a point.’
‘As touching as these little declarations are, some of us would like to find Khiara,’ said a cold, spiteful voice to my right.
Will and I turned as one, and came face to face with Katarina.
‘Katarina, as unwelcome as ever.’ Will’s voice was cold. ‘You are interrupting.’
‘Perhaps so,’ she continued viciously. ‘But it is difficult to speak to you alone these days. Is the little fledgling permanently affixed to your side now, Will?’
‘If you cannot keep a civil tongue in your head, Katarina,’ said Will mildly, ‘perhaps it should be permanently removed?’
Katarina took a step back from Will. Very wise. I knew that tone of his, and I was sure she did too.
‘I meant no offence,’ she repeated her phrase of a few nights ago, her voice meaning completely the opposite.
I drew a breath to speak, but somehow Will’s voice sounded instantly in my head, ‘No.’
‘Luckily for you, none has been taken,’ said Will, and then, in a louder voice for all to hear, ‘If Khiara does not arrive within the hour, we shall call it a night.’
Katarina stalked off towards Josephine.
I frowned at him. ‘How did you speak in my head?’
‘Do not frown, it mars your beauty.’
‘You’re enjoying all this aren’t you?’
Laughing, he turned to watch Katarina and Josephine talking together.
He put a hand on my bare back, which was somehow both reassuring and erotic at the same time. ‘Shall we go back upstairs and find a private corner?’
‘I’ve met people like you before in clubs.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’
A loud knocking on the club’s front door made us both turn back. Will signalled to Luke to answer. Obediently he went over, closely followed by Honyauti. As he pulled open the heavy doors, something crashed in, causing Luke to stagger back. I heard Honyauti curse in his own language and Will moved with lightning speed to investigate. I followed him merely because I didn’t want to stay alone. I had a very bad feeling about what we’d find.
On the floor was a body, a decapitated body, half-naked and covered with burns and abrasions such as I’d never seen in my life before. The wounds were filled with yellow pus and still weeping. Bile filled my mouth as I covered it with my hand. Just as we were taking in the grisly sight, a canvas bag was thrown through the open doorway, and I didn’t need to see inside to know what it held. Luke turned it upside down and a head rolled out. The eyes had been gouged out and the mouth stuffed with garlic.
‘Well,’ said Will dryly, ‘at least we know where Vincente is now.’
20 March
I gave Elinor the ring of Porphyry tonight. I had intended to wait a little longer, at least until she was sure of her feelings towards me, but a strange premonition made me give it to her tonight. The ring should ensure that if we were ever separated for any reason, I would always be able to find her, and hopefully it should also work in reverse. The very thought of a separation fills me with an unbearable pain, but with Khiara in town, I cannot rule out the possibility of a kidnap attempt. Khiara is many things, but she is, above all else, ruthless and completely without conscience. I shudder to even imagine how she would make Elinor suffer, were she to ever get the opportunity.
The ring has protective abilities; an ancient spell was cast upon it centuries ago. The magician Porphyry had studied vampirism along with the black and white magicks of the time. According to legend, his spell was a strong and effective one. The ring enables the wearer to have a certain amount of invincibility against holy items, such as holy water, the wafer and the sign of a blessed cross. It will not, however, protect the wearer from a finely sharpened wooden stake. But what could protect one from that? A stake through the heart will kill anyone, vampire or human.
I discovered these facts when the ring first passed into my family in the seventeenth century. With the ring was an ancient parchment, which listed its attributes. This was long before I met Emily and even longer before I, myself, became a vampire.
Some coincidences are just too strange to contemplate.
The parchment told of the rebirth of a red-haired night creature, a fledgling sired by a powerful vampire, an Elder, and this would precipitate the birth of a partnership that would make both vampires exceptionally powerful.
At the time I thought it all a fairy tale, and in latter years I thought the red-haired fledgling was Emily, as I had no belief in vampires. How wrong I was.
I can only surmise that one of my ancestors had been studying vampirism and then somehow acquired the ring as part of his studies.
I often wondered whether Khiara had known of the existence of the ring all along, and it was perhaps her reason for pursuing and eventually siring me. Not that she is flame-haired, but she would not have read the parchment, so it is possible she thought the powers would be attainable to whomever held the ring. It most definitely explains why she wants to destroy Elinor.
Whatever the reasons for events, which happened during my long existence, the fates surely led Elinor across my path on that wonderful day over a year ago. I know she sometimes wonders about Khiara, but one day soon, when the Trials are over, I will sit her down and tell her everything, just like I promised I would months ago.
She needs to know she is the only woman who holds my heart.
Truly, I never loved Khiara, nor she me, although I once believed I was in love with Emily. It would have been difficult not to care for her. She was beautiful, sweet-natured, acquiescent and she loved me with all her soul. But Elinor is different, certainly not acquiescent, even the thought makes me smile.
Gentlewomen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were taught to defer to their husbands at all times. I have grown with the centuries, and as
women have changed, so have I.
Men have to be stronger now, in some ways, more than ever before. It takes a strength of character and a certain amount of confidence to be acceptable to this century’s women.
I have seen firsthand the emancipation of women, I have witnessed the suffragette movement and I have watched as women became ever more independent and self-sufficient.
In more recent times, I watched history being made again, with Britain’s first female prime minister.
Now we are in ever changing times, some good, a lot of them bad, but time marches ever relentlessly on and we are powerless to stop it.
I am well aware that in the twenty-first century any true, loving relationship is first and foremost a partnership. When Elinor is stronger and more well-versed with our way of life, I know she will be the perfect partner. That she is strong-willed is evident, but she is also extremely intelligent, caring and, of course, heart-breakingly beautiful. It is terrifying how quickly she has become an integral part of me, and a necessity to my well-being. I cannot be without her.
It is this very fact that makes me so very vulnerable, and vulnerable is something I have not been for centuries.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Threats
Will’s eyes met mine briefly. ‘Get her away from here,’ he snapped at Jake, who was standing behind me with Roxy. She took hold of my arm and began to pull me back further into the club. I was too shocked, too dazed, to protest, even though I desperately wanted to stay near Will. Things had happened too fast, and I didn’t want to lose sight of him. Supposing the next time I saw him, he was without his head?
‘Let’s go upstairs.’ Roxy continued to drag me away from the grisly scene by the doorway.
When we were seated upstairs, I ran a shaky hand through my hair, ‘Wasn’t Vincente one of Khiara’s people?’
Jake nodded. ‘Clearly a dispensable one.’
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