Dance Until Dawn

by Berni Stevens

  I answered her at once.

  I managed, I think, to allay some of her fears until Khiara’s flunkeys returned with more of their torture implements. My newly returned strength ebbed almost instantly, and I lost contact with her.

  Khiara erupted into the cellar like a raven-haired maelstrom and ordered the two men to go upstairs. She looked at me, her face twisted in fury. ‘Your Indian friend is here. Along with the English boy and Aimee-Li.’

  I said nothing.

  She knelt in front of me and took hold of my chin to force my head up to look at her. Her eyes were wondrous, yet empty and cold. How wasteful that someone so beautiful could be that cruel and corrupt.

  ‘Where is the oh-so-handsome and faithful Luke I wonder?’ She raked her long nails through my hair and I suppressed a shudder at her touch. ‘I feel sure I can persuade him to join us. It would be a shame to leave such male beauty behind in this pitiful city.’

  Again, I said nothing.

  She stood in one lithe move and walked away. Halfway up the stairs she paused to look back at me. ‘I look forward to your return to my bed. You were always so … adventurous.’

  She laughed then. The same cold, pitiless laugh that I remembered from the night of my initiation. Some memories, unfortunately, stay fresh for eternity. As she opened the door at the top of the stairs I could hear sounds of a skirmish. I knew Khiara would keep out of the way until the fighting had finished. She had plenty of minions prepared to die on her behalf, after all – more’s the pity.

  I closed my eyes trying to sense Elinor’s location. She felt close. Far too close.

  I hoped Luke was keeping her safe. I would have his head if anything happened to her.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Nemesis

  Luke took hold of my arm and led me back to the others. They stood in an uncomfortable, ill-assorted group by Jake’s car. Talk about drawing attention to themselves. The only one who looked anywhere near normal was Jake, who had dressed casually in faded jeans and a black t-shirt.

  Aimee-Li wore some kind of black martial arts suit, which I felt sure would be sporting an embroidered dragon on the back of it somewhere.

  Honyauti didn’t have a hope in hell of blending in anywhere in Europe, let alone in London. He was too striking and actually just too Native American. He could have stepped straight out of a Hollywood B-movie. At least tonight he wore an ordinary t-shirt and jeans, but he had ropes of turquoise beads strung around his broad neck, and the bangles, which he always wore, jangled as he moved. His long, black hair hung loose, almost to his waist. He looked completely amazing, but European – never.

  Not exactly an everyday sight, even for colourful North London. In fact, they looked as though they could be members of a really embarrassing Seventies’ pop group, whose name I forget, save to say one of them always dressed like a Native American.

  ‘Elinor has consulted with Will,’ Luke announced without preamble.

  Three pairs of eyes stared at me in disbelief.

  ‘She is too young for that.’ Honyauti folded his arms with a jangle of bracelets and stared coldly at me.

  Ageism amongst vampires. Interesting.

  ‘She’s done it just the same.’

  ‘Very advanced for a fledgling,’ said Aimee-Li, a thoughtful gleam in her almond-shaped eyes.

  ‘Perhaps I can graduate now then,’ I said.

  Aimee-Li smiled. ‘Patience,’ she said, touching my arm. ‘Graduation comes at a price.’

  ‘Price?’

  Now what?

  ‘Responsibilities, duties,’ said Luke. ‘Take my advice and stay as you are for as long as you can. Leave the hard work to us.’

  ‘So, what’s the deal?’ Jake joined in the conversation for the first time.

  ‘Deal?’ Honyauti frowned.

  Clearly he wasn’t too well-versed in modern idioms.

  I looked at Luke, hoping he would do the talking, and luckily he took the hint.

  ‘Will thinks you three should take care of the guards,’ he said. ‘There are six apparently.’

  ‘Where will you be?’ asked Jake suspiciously. ‘If there are six guards we need all the help we can get.’

  ‘I’m thinking diversion tactics,’ said Luke. ‘All six guards won’t be together, and Honyauti could probably take them out two at a time on his own if he had to.’

  Honyauti looked slightly mollified at that.

  ‘So where is Will?’ asked Jake.

  ‘We’re not sure,’ lied Luke. ‘He was kind of interrupted before he could tell Ellie.’

  I felt desperate to get into the house, but knew I had to let Luke do the organising. He was Will’s ‘second in command’ after all, and the others would listen to him. I already knew they didn’t take any notice of me.

  ‘Let’s get going then,’ said Jake.

  At least someone wanted to get going.

  I felt more and more anxious as time ticked by.

  ‘Ellie and I will go around the back of the house,’ said Luke. ‘I suggest you three go to the front.’ He took out his bunch of keys and, slipping one key from the ring, handed it to Honyauti. ‘Front door.’

  Honyauti nodded.

  At that moment, a burning sensation in my back caused me to cry out, and I crumpled to my knees in agony. Luke tried to help me stand, but my legs wouldn’t support me. Pain ripped through my body again and again. It felt like many red-hot pokers searing my flesh, all at the same time, over and over again. A red mist coloured my vision and I cried out again. I curled into a ball on the pavement and sobbed in agony. I heard Luke speaking to me from a great distance, but I couldn’t hear the words and my tongue felt so thick and swollen it made speech impossible.

  The pain gradually subsided, and I opened tear-filled eyes. Slowly I uncurled my body and lay shivering on the pavement, too weak to move anymore. Jake and Luke stood on either side of me. Neither spoke a word.

  ‘Torture.’ My own voice sounded strained and hoarse.

  ‘She’s chattin’ breeze.’ Jake looked to Luke for his opinion. ‘She’s much too young.’

  Luke crouched down at my side, and I clutched his arm. ‘He’s still alive, but very badly hurt. We need to hurry’

  ‘How do you know this?’ For once Honyauti spoke directly to me.

  ‘I can feel him, and I can feel everything they’re doing to him.’

  ‘This should not be happening yet,’ said Aimee-Li.

  I was beginning to get very tired of what should or should not be happening.

  ‘The fact is,’ I said through gritted teeth, ‘that it damn well is happening and if it’s hurting me, then it must be bloody well killing him.’

  To my surprise, Honyauti lifted me to my feet. ‘We waste time we do not have,’ he said abruptly.

  For the second time that night, I agreed with him wholeheartedly. Worrying. ‘Thank you,’ I muttered.

  ‘Right, let’s do it,’ said Luke. ‘Are you well enough, Ellie?’

  ‘Well you’re not leaving me here.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘Honyauti, Jake and Aimee-Li, go and sort out anyone you find in the front of the house. Ellie, you come with me.’

  He strode off, but not before he and Honyauti had exchanged glances.

  What had that meant, I wondered.

  I had to run on legs that were still shaky in order to catch him up. ‘Is there a plan?’

  ‘The others will create a diversion by attacking the guards in the front of the house,’ replied Luke, ‘which should allow us time to get to Will.’

  He went over to a small, wooden picket fence, and pulled at one of the stakes. He snapped it off from its neighbours, and pulled it from the ground.

  ‘Homework,’ I said.

  Luke no
dded, and broke it in half, handing me one half. ‘Tuck it in your belt, it’s safer.’

  The thought of falling on a wooden stake and disappearing in a cloud of dust had me tucking it into my belt with all haste, and I followed Luke into the next street.

  The expensive, suburban street looked beautiful with its elegant houses. The pristine pavements lined with leafy trees and not a scrap of litter to be seen anywhere. It looked peaceful and very upmarket, just like the previous street.

  Such a nice, classy area for a spot of torture and murder.

  The terraced houses had probably been built in the early Victorian era; they were tall, graceful houses with a hugely expensive price tag – and one of them sheltered monsters.

  Every second house had a passageway running alongside it, each with a tall wooden gate that joined onto the house itself and presumably gave access to the gardens. Luke retrieved the keys from his pocket again, chose one and held the rest in his hand to prevent them from making a noise.

  The others were still behind us, and Luke silently motioned them across the front garden, toward the front door. Honyauti went up the steps to the front door, as quiet and graceful as a cat, and unlocked it. I watched the three of them enter the dark house without a sound, and then turned to follow Luke. He walked down the short passageway at the side of the house without making a sound, and just as quietly unlocked the high wooden gate.

  We walked into the small back garden, and came face to face with a tall male vampire. I barely had time to notice that he had short blond hair, and a body Arnold Schwarzenegger could have been proud of, when Luke smashed a fist in his face and rammed the stake in his heart. It was all over so quickly and I’d barely even followed the moves.

  In seconds, the vampire had been turned to dust. How frightening was that? A being who had lived for centuries, reduced to something resembling the contents of an ashtray in the blink of an eye. A being just the same as myself and Luke.

  ‘Inside quickly,’ Luke said abruptly, breaking into my manic thoughts. He headed across the small paved garden toward the back door.

  I could hear shouts coming now from the front of the house, but when I turned back to Luke, he was already inside. More terrified than I’d ever been in my life, I followed him quickly into the house.

  ‘Stay close,’ he said softly. ‘If anything happens to you, I’m dust.’

  We found ourselves in a small utility room, and Luke went straight for the far door.

  The sounds of fighting seemed even louder now, and I wondered how long it would take before one of the worthy neighbours called the police. We ran through a deserted kitchen, and I thanked any gods who might be listening. Luke opened another door onto stairs, which led down. I felt more than a little relieved that he seemed to know his way around.

  He ran quickly and silently down the stairs, and I ran after him, pulling the phial of holy water from my jeans pocket as I ran. I just knew we’d meet some kind of opposition soon and I wanted to be ready.

  Almost as soon as the thought flitted through my head something large and incredibly heavy smacked forcefully into me from behind, making me lose my balance, and tumble head first down the remaining few steps. The holy water flew from my hands, and the bottle skidded unbroken across the stone floor and disappeared into the far shadows.

  I was momentarily stunned when my head hit the floor, and blinked several times in an effort to clear my vision. Whoever, or whatever, had landed on my back was still there, so without any further hesitation I rammed my elbow back as hard as I could. The blow connected with a solid wall of flesh, and I heard a grunt of pain.

  The weight on my back disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and I looked up with eyes still blurred to see Luke holding a male vampire by the neck.

  ‘Would you like to dispatch this one?’ He shook the unfortunate vampire like a dog would shake a rat, whilst his captive hissed and spat at him. ‘It is your turn I believe.’

  He noticed my hesitation, and waited a split second, before he staked the man himself. ‘Hesitation costs lives,’ he said. ‘This is no time to be squeamish.’

  I rubbed my head again. ‘Sorry.’

  He nodded, and turned back to the gloomy room beyond. Lucky for me the phial of holy water had been in my hand when I fell, or I would have been sizzling like bacon in a frying pan.

  For the first time, I wondered at the wisdom of going blindly down into the basement.

  Who knew what horrors lay in wait down there?

  Almost on cue, another vampire stepped out of the gloom, and Luke kicked him in the groin. As he doubled over, he dealt him a bone-crunching blow on the back of the neck with clasped hands. Before he’d even fallen to the floor Luke had staked him, and he too was history.

  ‘Good job you thought of stakes Ellie,’ he said. ‘Very useful.’

  I knew Luke wanted to make me feel better about my loss of nerve, and I smiled my appreciation.

  ‘But I think you should go back upstairs now.’ He made it sound like an order.

  I gave him a questioning look.

  ‘We’ve killed three of the six,’ he said, and I felt thankful for the ‘we’ in a weird way. ‘I’m confident Honyauti will have despatched the others by now.’

  ‘Khiara?’

  ‘She won’t do any fighting herself,’ he said. ‘Once we get to Will, everything stops. Trials are over, one way or another.’

  ‘You don’t want me there when you find him do you?’ Stark realisation washed over me.

  Luke grimaced. ‘My job is to ensure his safety at all times, and now also yours. But I need to make sure I can move him.’

  I looked away so he wouldn’t see the tears that had sprung to my eyes. But I was too late. I felt his hand touch my shoulder lightly.

  ‘Let me do this my way, for Will’s sake, and for yours.’

  I nodded without turning round, and retraced my steps quietly to the kitchen.

  There were no sounds coming from any of the other rooms upstairs, so either everyone was dead or …

  I quietly opened the kitchen door. It led out onto a high-ceilinged hall. A horrific tableau met my eyes. Honyauti lay comatose on the floor, and the tiny figure of Aimee-Li stood over him holding a sword high with both hands.

  Honyauti’s head bled profusely from a vicious looking wound, his blood pooled around him, staining the black and white tiles. A machete coated with blood lay discarded on the floor beside his body.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Finale

  Aimee-Li pressed the large silver sword against Honyauti’s heart. There wasn’t a second to lose, she’d already pierced his skin, and one wrong move on my part could have provoked her to turn him to dust.

  How Aimee-Li had overpowered the strong Indian was beyond me, although obviously a machete to the head would render most people unconscious.

  ‘Do you still intend to follow the usurper, or do you wish to join me and my glorious mistress?’ she hissed.

  ‘Traitorous bitch!’ Honyauti spat some blood from his mouth as he struggled to raise his head.

  I didn’t hesitate; this was no time to be squeamish again. I ran towards Aimee-Li and pulled the wooden stake from my belt as I neared her. She turned a split second too late, and I rammed the stake straight into her treacherous, black heart. She literally exploded into dust, and I jumped back, aghast with horror and shock at what I’d done. The silver sword clattered to the floor with a hollow, metallic ring.

  Honyauti sat up, and tentatively I held a hand down to help him stand. After a moment’s hesitation, he took it and stood easily. We both knew he hadn’t needed my help. Jake appeared in another doorway.

  ‘What’s going on?’ he asked. ‘Where’s Aimee-Li?’

  Honyauti and I exchanged swift glances. ‘Will’s woman has just saved me,’ he said
, and Jake raised his eyebrows at me.

  ‘Well, that’s not a sight you see every day,’ he said dryly.

  It took several attempts to put the stake back through my belt because my fingers trembled uncontrollably. I glanced up briefly when I finally managed it.

  ‘I have to find Will.’ I muttered, and retraced my steps towards the cellar, leaving the two men together.

  Honyauti could tell Jake whatever he wanted.

  I ran lightly through the kitchen and the utility room, and started down the cellar steps.

  Halfway down, I stopped to listen for sounds of movement.

  Big mistake.

  A spiteful voice spoke behind me, sending icy marbles of fear rolling down my spine.

  ‘You really should have let Will kill me,’ said Katarina coldly, as I turned to face her. ‘That will now be your epitaph. Pathetic little fledgling.’

  She launched herself at me, and we both tumbled down the rest of the steps. My second time that night. My head bounced from step to step, as her weight bore me down.

  Katarina’s cold hands reached for me, and when I tried to stand her hands tightened around my throat like a cold, steel vice.

  Blindly, I tried for her eyes, but missed, grabbing instead a handful of her thick hair. I pulled as hard as I could, and tore a huge clump out by the roots. She screamed like a banshee, and I pushed her away from me.

  Her fury and hatred of me made her stronger than ever, and she leaped on me again. We both went down, and she went for my throat. I brought both my hands up in the martial art defence move Will had taught me weeks beforehand. She was knocked off balance, but jumped to her feet in a second. A blur of vicious vampire, intent only on revenge. I kicked out at her with every bit of strength I had.

  I heard the splintering of a knee joint and she writhed on the ground whilst screaming obscenities at me, but this time I didn’t intend to show any mercy.

  I fumbled for the bottle of holy water in my pocket, but remembered it was still on the floor somewhere, and scrabbled instead at the stake tucked in the belt of my jeans.