Dance Until Dawn

by Berni Stevens

  I felt Will’s hands touch my shoulders and jumped. I hadn’t heard him move. He pulled me back against him, and brushed my cheek with his lips.

  I turned in his arms. ‘A Holy item.’

  He nodded approvingly. ‘Yes.’

  ‘A cross … holy water perhaps …’ My voice faltered.

  ‘Somewhere visible naturally. So where do you suggest?’

  I balked at the idea of disfiguring Katrina’s face, much as I hated her. ‘On her arms?’

  To my consternation, Will laughed. ‘Well maybe as an added bonus.’

  ‘Not her face—please—not her face.’

  Will moved in closer, pinning me against the bookshelves with his body.

  He tunnelled his fingers in my hair, looking down at me with a serious expression. ‘I am very much afraid it has to be her face. Surely it is better than being reduced to dust?’

  ‘She’ll be back for revenge.’

  Will smiled grimly. ‘Then she will definitely be dust. We simply cannot afford any sentimentality as far as she is concerned. We have to give a show of strength. Khiara would have no qualms about punishing her, and, indeed, if she ever deigns to come back, I have no doubt that Katarina will be on the receiving end of more wrath from her mistress.’

  ‘Why is she so stupid?’

  ‘Well, as with humans, not all vampires are intelligent. She has probably only lasted this long because of Khiara and Josephine, otherwise she would have been dust long ago.’

  He walked away from me and over to the pine chest, where he swept the magazines on its top to the floor with one swift gesture. Opening the lid, he riffled through the contents, eventually pulling out a large black box and a phial of water.

  ‘You keep those things here?’ I was horrified.

  ‘Never know when you might need a holy item. It is our secret though.’

  That was one secret I could have done without. He put both items in his jacket pocket, and replaced the lid and the magazines.

  I suddenly remembered what he’d said earlier about a housekeeper. ‘Do you really have a housekeeper?’

  He gave me an amused glance. ‘Of course. How else do you think the house and our clothes get clean? Elves?’

  I laughed.

  He touched my hair gently. ‘It is the first time you have laughed for hours, and pleasing to hear.’

  I ignored the comment because I wanted to know more. ‘Doesn’t she wonder why she can’t see you?’

  ‘But she does see me. She just does not see you yet.’

  ‘How can she see you?’

  ‘I am often around in the afternoon as you know, I have to pay her after all. She thinks my wife is at work all day, and she knows I am a club owner. It explains my nocturnal lifestyle. She only comes in three times a week, it is really not a problem.’

  ‘How can she clean the bedroom and the bathroom?’

  He gave me a long-suffering look. ‘I move you to the dressing room and keep the door locked.’

  He made everything sound so easy, and I suppose for him, it was. Plenty of practice at being devious made him perfect. The thought of Will having to move my ‘dead’ body around did make me smile though. It was like some old Ealing Comedy farce.

  An unpleasant thought suddenly struck me. ‘Please tell me I don’t have to torture Katarina myself.’

  ‘No, that is something I can help with, although unfortunately you must be present. It will not be pleasant for you, I am afraid.’ He walked towards the door, expecting me to follow. Reluctantly, I did. If it would make us safer, then there was no choice. I followed him back upstairs, feeling worse with every step.

  When we reached the top landing, he turned to me. ‘We do not have any alternative in this matter, Elinor, you have to trust me.’

  ‘I do trust you.’

  ‘All I ask is that you do not interrupt or interfere. Remember, this is a show of strength, and it is vitally important that this “message” gets across to others.’

  I nodded and he smiled briefly. ‘Good. Let us get it over with.’

  He strode into the room where Katarina was sitting sullenly on the floor, a large bruise on her cheek where Will had hit her, and angry, bleeding welts on her wrists where she had been trying to break free from the silver handcuffs.

  ‘Khiara will destroy you both for this,’ she hissed.

  ‘I doubt it.’ Will sounded unconcerned.

  ‘She will tear your little fledgling into tiny pieces and feed on them,’ Katarina continued, spitting out each word with venom.

  Will raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, interestingly, it is my “little fledgling”, as you call her, that did not want you turned to dust. For some reason she does not want to see you destroyed. So a different punishment is to be instigated.’

  Katarina glared up at him. ‘It is not her place to make decisions. She should be nothing more than a plaything. She has no right to be by your side as an equal.’

  ‘Would you rather be dust?’ Will walked around her, and she moved to keep him in her sight.

  ‘Of course not.’ She twisted to give me a contemptuous glare. ‘But be very careful what you do to me. It may also be done to her tenfold!’

  ‘More threats Katarina?’ Will reached into his jacket pocket, bringing out the black box. He took off the lid and handed it to me to hold. My hand trembled as I took it. Will took hold of a thin leather strap that lay nestled in the satin lining of the box and pulled it carefully out. A large silver cross on the end of the strap spilled out, momentarily blinding me, and I averted my eyes from its glow.

  Will moved toward Katarina, dangling the cross from its strap. She stared at it, mesmerised. ‘You wouldn’t dare …’ She sprang lithely to her feet and backed away from him. He continued to walk towards her.

  ‘Oh, I dare.’

  She had her back against the wall now, and there was nowhere else to run. With a rapid movement, Will had her handcuffed wrists held above her head. She struggled and kicked out at him, but he was far stronger. I turned my head as the cross seared into her flesh, and she screamed in agony. Seconds later, she howled like a wounded animal as he pressed the cross to the white flesh on her forehead. She spat and cursed in Italian, and the smell of burning flesh filled the room, making me feel weak and nauseous. As Will released her hands, she slumped to the floor again, her dark eyes burning with such hatred that I stepped back.

  I leaned against the farthest wall, desperately wanting to be out of this room, away from the torture, and the smells and sounds of such excruciating pain. I screwed my eyes tightly against tears that threatened to fall, and clenched my hands tightly, digging my nails into my palms.

  ‘Stay where you are Elinor.’ Will obviously felt my desire to escape. He picked up the box where it had fallen, and coiled the cross and its strap back into it. He held out his hand to me for the lid, which I’d inadvertently dropped to the floor. Obediently I picked it up and gave it to him. He glanced at me briefly before returning the box to his jacket pocket.

  Katarina’s beautiful face was marred forever. There were two livid, cross-shaped burns, one on her forehead and one on her right cheek. She continued to glare up at Will, her eyes burning red with blood lust and anger.

  Will took the phial of holy water from his pocket and turned it around with his fingers, looking at Katarina all the time.

  ‘You dare not do anything else to me!’ she screamed. ‘You would never survive Khiara’s wrath.’

  Will stood directly in front of her, his eyes blazing with anger as he looked down at her. ‘Do not ever presume to tell me what I do, or do not, dare. You are lucky that my love for Elinor has made me listen to her voice of reason, otherwise you would have been a pile of dust by morning. I have already told you I will not tolerate attacks on Elinor, your empty threats, or your p
athetic attempts at undermining me in my own city. You will damn well show me some respect from now on, or quite simply you will not survive.’

  He squatted in front of her and carefully uncorked the phial. ‘I take it you know what this is?’

  Katarina just continued with her torrent of verbal abuse in Italian.

  Will merely raised his eyebrows and, standing up, hauled her up by the neck at the same time. Leaning over her, he slowly and very deliberately dribbled some of the Holy Water onto Katarina’s neck, where it trickled its tortuous way down her body. Her flesh bubbled and burned instantly as each drop touched her, and she howled like a wild animal. Blood-flecked spittle flew from her lips as she cried in agony. Her screams were in turn pitiful and then vengeful.

  Will remained completely unmoved. ‘You are extremely fortunate I am not forcing you to drink it.’

  Tears trickled down my cheeks, as I once more dug my fingernails into the palms of my hands. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut again to stop more tears from falling. When I opened them, Katarina was unconscious once more.

  ‘That should do.’ Will calmly corked the phial and returned it to his pocket. Unlocking the handcuffs from Katarina’s wrists, he picked up her lifeless body as though it weighed no more than a feather. How ironic that the only way she could be in his arms was when she was unconscious.

  Tears flowed unheeded down my face, and I drew in a shaky breath as I tried to control them. Will looked at me then, his eyes sympathetic. ‘Well done Elinor,’ he said. ‘I know how hard it was for you.’

  Carrying Katarina, he walked to the door, and I followed silently. He went downstairs and I stumbled behind like an unhappy wraith. Outside the door to the drawing room he gestured with his head that I should go in. ‘I shall be back in a moment.’ He carried on downstairs.

  I went in and sat on the sofa, burying my head in my hands.

  Weren’t vampires meant to be strong, cold and unfeeling? Why was I so different? I didn’t think I would ever make a very good vampire. Perhaps Katarina was right after all, and I was the worst partner that Will could ever have chosen.

  What if he changed his mind and thought me more of a liability?

  What would happen to me without his protection?

  He came back in at that moment, and I raised a tear-streaked face to him. He dropped to his knees in front of me, and put his arms around me. ‘Sssh—Elinor, it is over.’ He gently wiped the tears from my face. ‘She is safe in the cellar, and Luke will take her and Josephine to his house tomorrow. It had to be this way, you know that.’

  I nodded miserably. He put his forefinger under my chin, and raised my face to his.

  ‘So what else is worrying you?’

  I might have known nothing would ever escape his notice.

  It never did.

  I was betting no previous girlfriends had ever got away with anything either.

  He was one very scary man.

  ‘Suppose you decide I’m too much of a liability and you don’t want me around anymore?’ I asked, as more tears threatened to fall.

  He sat next to me on the sofa, and pulled me close against him. ‘I do not know what else I can do to convince you of my feelings for you. I do not give my love lightly, I never have. There have, of course, been many women. I may be hundreds of years old, but I am still a man with a man’s appetite.’

  I stayed quiet for once.

  ‘I want you here with me—not just for a few months, Elinor and not merely for a bit of entertainment, I want you with me for eternity. We have been through all this before.’

  I looked into his lovely green eyes and felt better – calmer.

  ‘You were right before when you said I’d never been truly in love.’

  ‘I know that.’

  ‘I couldn’t survive without you now.’

  ‘I think you would,’ he smiled but when I went to speak, he put a finger against my lips. ‘But you will never have to find out because it is not going to happen.’

  ‘I love you.’

  He leaned forward to kiss me. ‘And I love you, my beautiful fledgling.’

  It had been a very long, painful night, and I became aware of the dawn’s hungry approach. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the sofa.

  Will immediately looked concerned, ‘What am I thinking?’ He helped me to stand, and then scooped me up in his arms. I relaxed against him immediately, and his arms tightened around me.

  ‘Dawn’s very close, it is time for all good fledglings to be in my bed.’

  ‘All of them?’

  He laughed his low, sexy laugh. ‘Only the one in my arms.’

  His voice seemed to come from a great distance and almost immediately the darkness swallowed me.

  2 May

  In almost three hundred years, I have not found administering punishment exactly difficult, at least, not until tonight. The sight of Elinor suffering along with Katarina very nearly broke my resolve. In my opinion, the little witch deserved to die for what she did to Elinor, and die very painfully. But Elinor did not want her destroyed, and the choice had to be hers to make.

  I am relieved, however, that she is as she is, it is what makes her so very different from the rest of our kind.

  I feel no guilt whatsoever at defacing the odious Katarina. It is beyond my comprehension how, or even why, Khiara has continued to tolerate and shelter her. Khiara generally does not suffer fools gladly, if at all, so Katarina must have had her uses, although I cannot imagine what they could possibly be.

  Elinor was completely exhausted, and I felt concerned and appalled for not noticing her discomfort earlier.

  The newly-fledged vampire has similar traits to those of a human child or young animal in many ways. Its strength seeps away quite dramatically with the approach of dawn and it tends to collapse wherever it may be at the time.

  Most nights I am well aware of the time and am able to make sure Elinor is safely in bed long before dawn, but tonight I was preoccupied, and I have to reproach myself for the omission.

  To the untrained eye, the fledgling would appear dead, as indeed we all do when we are at rest, which is another reason to be safely at home well before the dawn.

  I am hoping Khiara’s return is imminent, and she will take her revolting followers back to Italy. I cannot believe she has stayed away so long, but I am convinced it is all part of Trials.

  I long for my city to be back to normal. I have a relationship to nurture and, for that, I need the enemies within to be gone.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Recreation

  Exactly an hour after sunset the next night, Luke arrived to collect the poisonous gnome. Will went downstairs to let him in the cellar door, and said I should go with him. It wasn’t a request.

  The livid, red scars on Katarina’s face stood out violently against the pale beauty of her face. I still felt wholly responsible for her ordeal and, judging by her curses and threats, so did she. From what little I did understand of her ravings, both my human parentage and my siring were extremely questionable. Many of her screamed threats were in Italian of course, but I still had the feeling most of them were directed at me. Will, I knew, spoke fluent Italian, but he didn’t seem inclined to translate the threats for me.

  ‘Well if she meant only half of the threats I vaguely understood, I’m in big trouble,’ I said wryly as Will closed the cellar door behind them.

  He smiled. ‘I think you would be more than a match for her now.’

  ‘You think so?’

  ‘I know so. You are, after all, descended from an exceedingly superior line.’

  ‘Wasn’t she sired by Khiara?’

  ‘No. A renegade attacked her and I believe Grigori dusted him some eighty years ago. Josephine took her in as a servant for Khiara.’

 
Once again I almost felt sympathy for her. ‘That’s revolting. No wonder she hated me from the word go.’

  Will rested his hand on my back as he guided me upstairs. ‘You are indeed most privileged.’

  ‘To be hated?’

  ‘To be so adored by me.’

  ‘No less arrogant tonight then.’

  ‘Mind your manners, young lady.’

  Once upstairs, I automatically headed for the drawing room and sat on the sofa. Will came and sat next to me. ‘How are you feeling tonight Elinor? Would you like to go out?’

  I thought about leaving the safety of the house for a moment. Part of me felt safer inside with everything that had happened over the previous few weeks, but another part of me wanted to simply escape its four walls and do something completely different.

  ‘I’m not sure. What do you have in mind? What did you do before I came here? Have a few beers with the boys, watch a football match and chat up some girls?’

  That did make Will laugh. ‘Sounds too indescribably dull for words.’

  ‘So what did you do?’

  He regarded me thoughtfully for a moment. ‘Hunted, fed, slept. Come to think of it, that sounds too indescribably dull for words too.’

  I smiled. ‘Somehow, I can’t imagine you suffering anything dull.’

  ‘I happen to know there is a large rock concert at Wembley tonight. Do you fancy that?’

  ‘Who’s playing?’

  ‘I believe the collective age of the band almost totals my own.’

  I laughed. ‘You have to be talking about the Stones. But their tickets get sold out months before a gig, unless you pay the exorbitant prices the ticket touts charge of course.’

  Will merely put a hand in his inside jacket pocket and produced two concert tickets with a flourish.

  ‘How?’

  His lips quirked upwards. ‘Oh, I know a man, who knows a man, who ate a ticket tout.’

  I shook my head at him. He was completely incorrigible. ‘I’d love it.’

  ‘Good. I have a cab coming in half an hour.’

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘Pretty sure of my answer, huh?’