Knowing Khiara, I felt sure she would also resort to using holy items fairly soon.
We all know they leave scars.
I opened my mind to Elinor again. I needed to open the channel between us, which I knew would be there. It was early in our relationship for such a connection, but I hoped the ring she wore would assist us both. I called to her, mind to mind, hoping the prophecy had been right about the ring … and about her. Elinor …
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Decisions
‘Elinor.’
It was Will’s voice.
I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him. I knew this was a dream, of course I did, but his voice sounded so real – so very close.
‘Elinor.’
The voice sounded louder, in my head.
‘Will? Where are you?’
‘Listen to me,’ his voice came again. ‘Tell Luke I am in the third house. You must not come with him Elinor. I want you safe.’
‘What good is safe if it’s not with you?’ I shouted. ‘I don’t care about me.’
I was crying again., Huge, heartfelt sobs. ‘Will—’
‘Luke will keep you safe. Trust no one else, Elinor. No one.’
The voice was fainter and I could hear someone else calling me now.
The other voice was nearer. I opened my eyes with a start and felt my body shudder awake.
I sat up in bed. So it had been real. I was alone.
There was a soft tap at the door and Luke’s voice called, ‘Ellie, are you awake?’
‘Yes. I’ll open the door,’ I said, getting out of bed.
I struggled into my robe, a beautiful, green robe that Will had bought for me. I pulled it around my body fiercely, and went to unlock the door.
Luke stood there, a plastic bag of blood in his hand. He handed it to me. ‘Breakfast.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’ve fed. Have you heard from Will yet?’
‘How did you know?’
Luke shrugged. ‘I would have been surprised if he had not been able to communicate with you telepathically.’
‘Luke, he told me to trust no one but you.’
He frowned. ‘That’s odd, I wonder why. Did he say where they are holding him?’
‘The third house. He said you’d know.’
‘Hampstead, that’s also odd. I’d have thought Khiara would have taken him out of London.’
‘We can’t take the others with us.’
‘We may have no choice, those who know of this will insist on coming with us.’
I shook my head violently. ‘He was adamant, Luke. He—he doesn’t even want me to go with you.’
I pushed my hair out of my eyes with hands that trembled, and looked up at the tall blond vampire standing before me.
‘But you’re going to come anyway,’ he said with a slight smile.
‘Of course,’ I agreed. ‘Nothing would ever stop me coming, not even Will.’
‘Good for you. The phone’s ringing.’
His hearing had to be even more acute than mine. I hadn’t heard the phone at all. Clutching the bag of blood, I hurried up the stairs and into the drawing room. I plucked the phone from its hub. ‘Yes?’
‘Fledgling,’ came a cold, bitchy voice I hadn’t wanted to hear again this side of Hell.
Katarina.
Wonderful. My night was already perfect.
‘Yes.’
‘You really should have destroyed me when you had the chance. Silly little girl.’
‘Not a mistake I’m likely to make again.’
‘We’re torturing your master, although he has yet to call your name as he suffers.’
‘Why should he?’ I tried to stay calm and not allow the despair I felt sound in my voice.
Luke moved nearer, in order to listen to Katarina’s side of the conversation.
‘It is customary on these occasions for the tortured one to call for their most beloved when the pain is at its greatest. Maybe you are not his most beloved.’ Katarina’s smug tones continued to grate down the line, and I resisted the urge to scream at her.
I dug my nails into the palms of my hands to enable me to gain some control over my emotions, but looked up when Luke touched my arm gently. His blue eyes were warning me about something. But what? I waited a heartbeat before I replied in a relatively calm voice.
‘Should I be concerned?’
Luke nodded, and then I understood. I shouldn’t rise to any bait the poisonous gnome might throw down the phone at me.
‘Are you not concerned that your master is so hurt and badly disfigured, you will never want to look upon him again?’ Katarina had warmed up to her subject now. ‘No one will be able to look at him again without feeling disgust.’
‘What possible gratification could you gain from that?’ My thoughts thrashed around my head in turmoil. Just how badly hurt was he?
There was a short silence, possibly while Katarina looked up ‘gratification’ in an English dictionary.
‘I shall be gratified when your happiness is in shreds.’ she spat at last.
I didn’t reply, just looked at Luke who shrugged and stayed silent.
I heard an exchange of voices in the background, and then Khiara’s cold, clear voice came on the line. ‘You have until dawn to find and claim your master, fledgling. Should you fail, you will lose him forever.’
‘You yourself said these Trials were not about me, so why are you involving me?’
‘Breaking you is the surest way to break him. I am adept at breaking fledglings, and he will soon be on his knees, begging my forgiveness.’
The line went dead.
I looked at Luke. ‘Breaking me? What the hell does that mean?’
Luke took the phone from me and put it back. ‘Khiara believes your failure is a certainty and you cannot survive without Will.’
‘But she must know you’ll help me?’
I was having a few problems following the Machiavellian thoughts of a master vampire’s complex mind.
‘She thinks Honyauti will work against you and try to turn others against you,’ said Luke. ‘She is very well aware of the jealousies and anger your arrival has caused.’
‘That’s more than I am,’ I admitted. ‘Poor Will, he tried so hard to keep me from finding any of this out and now it’s working against him.’ My voice broke and I pressed my hand to my mouth to stop from breaking down again.
‘Hey, Ellie,’ said Luke, gripping my arms. ‘You’re stronger than this.’
I stared up into his blue eyes, and felt a steely determination flow through me.
‘I can’t bear being without him, but there is nothing and no one on this earth that will ever stop me from finding him. If Khiara thinks otherwise then she really has no idea who she’s dealing with.’
Luke smiled then, and his eyes filled with admiration. ‘Will’s right, you are brave for one so young. His judgement, as always, is impeccable.’
Flustered by the praise, I went and sat on the sofa. Luke sat opposite me in the armchair, as he had the previous night. I knew that I needed to tell him more about Will’s voice in my dreams.
When I’d gone through everything, he looked astounded. ‘It’s so early for all this to be possible, telepathy is one thing, but you are actually conversing. Tell me, Ellie, do you wear the Ring of Porphyry even as you rest?’
I looked at the ring sparkling on my finger and touched the glittering emerald reverently. ‘I have never taken it off from the moment Will gave it to me.’
‘Then it is true.’
‘Aimee-Li said the ring has magical properties, but she didn’t say what they were.’
‘If the wearer of the ring is truly loved by the donor of t
he ring, and it is a reciprocal love, then the magical properties know no bounds. Or at least so it has always been believed amongst us,’ said Luke as he continued to stare at the ring. ‘If the love is true for you both, then the ring makes it possible for communication such as you have already experienced. It also enables you to find Will, or he, in turn, to find you, should you ever be separated.’
‘That explains the communication through dreams.’
‘It is a combination of Will’s own powers and the powers of the ring. Also there is the fact that he’s your sire, which, of course, means you already have a bond.’
‘Which Khiara wants to destroy?’
‘More than anything.’
‘But she’s Will’s sire, don’t they have a bond too?’ This was all very confusing.
‘Will was able to break free, he has been apart from her now for two centuries,’ said Luke. ‘I suspect she wants to try and re-establish her power over him by terminating you.’
Great. Now I feel a hundred percent better about this whole mess. Not.
‘How can any of this work if Will doesn’t love her?’
Luke gave a bitter laugh. ‘Khiara cares nothing for love. She likes to own – to possess.’
I remembered Khiara greeting Luke. ‘Did she ever possess you?’
‘She possessed most of us who are now with Will,’ said Luke. ‘We who are now free stay with Will through choice.’
I took that information on board, and it certainly explained many things.
‘So, what aren’t you telling me?’
Luke didn’t answer that. ‘We need to go to the third house.’
‘Surely Khiara will be expecting us? Can’t she read his mind?’
‘Not anymore,’ replied Luke. ‘He has no love for her and they have been apart for a very long time. He is able to block her from entering his mind.’
‘Bet she loves that.’
Bizarre thoughts flitted manically around inside my head again, as I absent-mindedly opened the container of blood and sucked at it. A first for me, not drinking from a cup.
‘Luke, do you think she’ll kill him?’
Luke shook his head. ‘She wants him too much.’
‘But they are torturing him aren’t they?’
‘Possibly. Ellie we will be in time, please don’t worry.’ Luke gave me a sympathetic smile. ‘Jake is bringing the others and when they arrive we’ll leave.’
‘Can’t we go now?’ I insisted. ‘They can catch us up. We might be too late—please Luke, please let’s go now.’
I stood up suddenly and realised I was wearing nothing but a satin robe. ‘But I probably should get dressed first.’
‘Not on Will’s account I’m sure.’
‘I’m not wandering around London like this, even for him,’ I said. ‘Give me a few minutes.’
Luke inclined his head and I hurried downstairs to the bedroom.
I pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt, then hurriedly tugged on my trainers. Not exactly the epitome of elegance, but very practical.
When I went back upstairs, I found the drawing room full of vampires. Honyauti, Jake and Aimee-Li had joined Luke. They had been fast.
Luke stood up as I entered the room. ‘Ready?’
I nodded. ‘As ready as I can be. Do we need weapons?’
Honyauti snorted. ‘You may well need weapons.’
For once I was in complete agreement with him. I merely nodded. It tends to take the wind out of people’s sails when you agree with them, and I did so enjoy deflating Honyauti. Everyone needs a hobby.
They all filed out into the hall, and once they were out of sight I opened the chest and took out the phial of holy water. It looked slightly depleted since the Katarina incident, but it might just have made the difference between undead life and absolute death.
I came across the box with the silver cross in it, and pocketed that along with the holy water. I hoped the stopper on the holy water stayed stopped, otherwise my legs were going to sizzle.
‘Ellie?’ Luke called from the front door.
I went out into the hall. ‘I haven’t got any keys.’ I wondered how we would make the house secure and, more importantly, how I would get back in later. If I needed to.
‘I have keys.’
Of course. I remembered Will telling me that Luke had copies of all of his keys.
Two gleaming cars waited in the road on the other side of the gates. Luke’s I recognised, and I presumed the other belonged to Jake. Honyauti and Aimee-Li got into Jake’s car, whilst Luke motioned me to get into his. So there I was, ready for battle, backed up by four very powerful vampires, two of them extremely ancient and scary. I just hoped it would be enough. I wondered why Will had insisted I shouldn’t trust any of the others. It worried me. Luke and I fell silent in the car, each lost in our own thoughts. Jake drove off in the direction of Hampstead and we followed.
‘What’s the plan?’ I asked eventually. ‘Is there a plan?’
‘I told Jake to park in the road parallel to the street where the house is, and once we’ve parked, I suggest you see whether you can contact Will.’ Luke deftly negotiated his car down the narrow road. Some parked cars on both sides of the street had already lost their wing mirrors, but he managed to avoid hitting any of them.
I had never wanted to drive in London, although I’d passed my driving test at eighteen. I certainly could never have afforded to run a car anyway. It felt really ironic I’d been almost killed by one.
All too soon, Jake turned into a leafy, residential road in Hampstead and parked his car. Luke pulled in smoothly behind him, and we sat in silence for a while.
I remembered Will’s warning again. Trust no one but Luke.
Surely he must have meant at least one of the others was not on our side.
I touched Luke’s arm. ‘I need to talk to you alone.’
He turned to face me. ‘What is it?’
‘Remember Will said to trust no one but you,’ I said. ‘There has to be someone with us he doesn’t trust.’
Luke looked grave. ‘I fear that is so. Try to contact Will now. Clear your mind and think only of him. I will watch over you.’
I nodded. Getting out of the car, I went to sit on a low garden wall.
I cleared my mind, closed my eyes and thought of Will. I pictured his face and tried to call him with my mind. Will. I felt rather ridiculous sitting on a wall with my eyes closed. Will! At first nothing happened at all, and a cold dread filled me.
Supposing they’d killed him anyway? Vampires aren’t exactly renowned for fair play after all, that much I had learnt.
Will … can you hear me? Where are you? Please answer me.
After what seemed like an eternity, I felt Will’s presence inside my head like a touch of soft velvet, and relief flooded through me.
‘I am in the basement.’
Are you hurt?
‘Hungry.’
I had to smile. Even in such a predicament, he still made feeble jokes.
How many are guarding the house?
‘Who is with you?’
I told him who was with me, and there was no answer for so long that I felt sure something terrible had happened. At last, his warm voice spoke again.
‘Send the others to kill the guards. Only Luke must come to the basement.’
But—
‘Safer.’
I miss you.
I felt his warm laughter fill my head.
‘So you should.’
Are you sure you’re not hurt?
‘I am … fine.’
His voice faded slightly and I didn’t want him to leave me.
‘Elinor?’
Yes?
‘I want you to stay in Luk
e’s car. Lock the doors and remember your homework. I have … to … go …’
I felt the void immediately as his presence left, followed by such anguish I didn’t think I could bear it. I slid from the wall, and sat on the pavement. Tears ran down my cheeks as Luke came over and lifted me to my feet.
‘What is it?’
‘They’re torturing him. I can feel it.’
‘He’s strong, Ellie, more powerful than you could ever imagine.’
‘He’s hurt …’
‘Did he say where he is?’
‘In the basement. He said only you should go to him. The others should go in first to deal with the guards.’
Luke nodded. ‘Makes sense.’
‘I have to remember my homework too.’ I deliberately didn’t tell Luke that Will had told me to stay out of the house. As if I would hide while everyone else went in like the cavalry.
‘What?’
‘We need some wooden stakes.’
Khiara’s torturers had been having a fine old time, alternately beating me and slashing silver swords dipped in holy water across my back. I did not add to their enjoyment by making any kind of sound.
I had endured much torture when I was with Khiara. It was almost a daily routine with her. Some vampires have a strange way of procuring loyalty. I kept a picture of Elinor in my head all the time: it helped to alleviate the pain when I concentrated on her lovely face. I knew Luke would arrive with help, and felt sure my rescue was imminent. But I had to believe Khiara would not actually destroy me. I did not think she would, but she has become ever more warped since last I saw her, and she seemed to be sinking into the madness that some ancient beings succumb to.
I hoped with every fibre of my being that Elinor would stay out of harm’s way, but somehow I doubted it.
Khiara called for a halt, at long last, and they left me hanging from the wall, supported only by the chains.
I drifted in and out of consciousness, but eventually, mercifully, some of my strength began to return.
Then I felt Elinor trying to contact me. She has had no practice at telepathy between us, yet I could still feel her attempting it. Clever, clever girl.
Dance Until Dawn Page 30