***
The next morning, Harriet remembered every word of the dream. She forced herself to calm down and have fun, but vowed that she’d visit her mother as soon as possible to get answers.
When she discussed it with her aunt on Boxing Day, Kate displayed about as much enthusiasm as if she’d suggested a career as a lapdancer.
“You can’t just turn up at her house, love, you know what she’s like,” she said, gripping the table as she spoke.
Harriet assured her that she’d be fine and that she could combine it with seeing some university friends and a bit of sales shopping.
She travelled down late in the afternoon so that it would be dark by the time she arrived. Even so, the train heaved with people.
Despite the difficulty of navigating the tube and the unfamiliar streets, she made it to the right place. Harriet had often wondered where her mother lived, imagining somewhere grand and imposing. The reality didn’t disappoint. She stared in wonder at the late Georgian building, admiring its glowing whiteness and the pillars around the door that supported the balcony above. It appeared to have around five floors.
She stood outside the house for several minutes, unsure exactly what to say to her mother and not quite daring to ring the bell. When she finally found her nerve, the door opened almost immediately. Arriving unannounced, she’d half expected to find Adelaide in an old tracksuit with her hair in a ponytail, but no. Despite the fact that she seemed to be alone and having a quiet night in, she was dressed to the nines in a little scarlet dress and matching leather boots. Her startling, inhuman beauty and poise made Harriet wonder how she could have failed to realise the truth earlier.
“Harriet! What a lovely surprise. Come inside before you freeze, sweetheart.”
The warm reception almost caught her off guard. She hadn’t known what to expect.
They ascended a marble staircase. The stairs carried on for several stories, but after one flight, Adelaide gestured for her to stop and led her into a drawing room. “Take a seat,” she said, pointing to a huge armchair by a carved fireplace with a real log fire burning in it. “I’ll just speak to the kitchen and have them bring us some hot chocolate.”
Whilst she waited, Harriet glanced around the impressive room. Flagstone floors, half covered with soft rugs, half artfully exposed. Portraits from centuries ago that appeared to be of Gus’ ancestors but which she realised were probably actually of her stepfather himself during different periods of history that he’d lived through.
After a few moments, her mother came into the room and sat down on the chair opposite her.
“I know,” Harriet said, before Adelaide could speak and make her lose her nerve. “I know everything.”
“I hoped that you would by now,” her mother replied calmly. “I’ve wanted you to know for years, but you’d never have believed it coming from me. You’d never have understood.”
“I’m not sure I really understand now. When did this happen? How? Why?”
“Oh Harriet, it’s a long story, and it’s your future we should be talking about, not my past.”
Before she could answer, a man bearing hot chocolate and shortbread biscuits entered the room. Harriet took plenty of each to calm her nerves.
“I need you to tell me everything, Mum. I mean it.”
“Well if you insist. You’ve come across the Cavaliers. In essence, I once went to one of their parties. Your stepfather saw me there and decided that I was a reincarnation of his long dead wife. As this meant he stopped the others from harming me, I didn’t argue. A few years later, I crashed my car. Somehow, Augustine found me. He turned me to save my life. Your father had died on impact. Thanks to Augustine’s power and age and my natural aptitude, I quickly became a major player in our world.”
Harriet listened in amazement and made her mother go over everything again in more detail until she almost understood.
“The downside, of course, was having to leave you with your aunt,” Adelaide said finally, moving the conversation on.
“There’s a room on the next floor that I’ve always designated as your room. I’ve had it redecorated every few years as your tastes have changed and I’m always stocking it with things I think you’d like. So now, it’s Mac lipsticks and biographies of great historical women. When you were very young, I filled it with those giant toy animals you can buy at Hamleys, and when you were about eight, I decorated it entirely in pink with a bed in the shape of a fairytale castle. Perhaps you could stay there tonight.
“Every so often, I thought I’d bring you to live with us, or at least have you to stay. But every time, I lost my nerve. I couldn’t have brought you up only seeing darkness. Besides, your aunt always hated me from the moment she met me, and after the crash, she blamed me for your father’s death. I even had to fight to be allowed my little visits.”
Adelaide hugged Harriet and spoke in the most serious tones she’d ever heard her use. “Please don’t ever think that either Gus or I didn’t want you. I love you more than anyone or anything, I always have, and Gus would have liked a child around the house. Perhaps now you’ll realise that I didn’t abandon you, I truly had no choice.”
The love, longing, and regret radiated off Adelaide. She finished her little speech and said nothing more, clearly waiting for Harriet’s reaction.
“I see,” Harriet finally managed, unable to formulate a more profound response. “I suppose that does explain a lot.”
Harriet wanted to ask so much more. Whether Adelaide loved Augustine. Whether she missed her father. Whether she ever regretted the choice she’d made. Instead, she stayed silent, unsure whether she’d be able to cope with the answers.
“So now let’s talk about you. How are you finding Oxford?”
Still reeling from her mother’s tale, Harriet could hardly find the words to discuss it, but she tried her best. “Oh, I love it. It’s everything you promised. The work’s hard but really interesting; the city and the college are beautiful beyond belief; I’ve met some incredibly lovely people and had some fantastic nights, out as well as fun nights in, just chatting to people. I’ve never been so exhausted, but I honestly don’t think there’s anything I dislike about it.”
“I’m so glad to hear that,” Adelaide said with a gentle smile. “And what about the Cavaliers?”
Harriet wondered how much her mother already knew. Tom had made clear that he had basically spied for her, and it seemed likely that other vampires kept an eye out and reported anything interesting.
“I went to their Christmas party, and it was very exciting,” she said slowly, watching her words. “Seeing Gus and hearing the truth about the two of you shocked me, but I got over that quickly enough.”
“I gather that you went to that party with George,” Adelaide said.
“Yes, I did. He invited me, and I went, but that’s as far as it goes. He’s very beautiful, and very charming, and from what I can gather he’s considered very eligible in your circles, but he’s not for me.”
“But your stepfather told me that you seemed very happy in his company. Perhaps this is awkward for you to discuss with your mother, but he said that the two of you tasted each other’s blood. You must have been told that there’s a great deal of significance in a vampire offering his blood to a human.”
“Plenty of people told me afterwards,” Harriet said. “A little more disclosure from all of you might have made the last few weeks easier.”
“So you accept that there is this bond between you but deny that it has any real meaning. Is that right?” Adelaide’s voice became more high-pitched.
Harriet leaned back to escape the force of her words.
“So does this mean that the latest reports I’ve heard are true? That you’ve given yourself to a vampire less than a hundred years old, one I specifically asked to watch out for you and guide you.”
Adelaide slammed her perfectly manicured hands down on the table, nearly knocking over the remaining hot chocolate.
“I refused to listen to those who told me this. I told them that no daughter of mine would be that stupid.”
Harriet didn’t say anything.
“Answer me Harriet. Do you now consider yourself to be in a relationship with Tom Flyte?”
“Yes I do.” Harriet tried to sound brave. “I’m not a baby, Mother. I know that you only want what’s best for me, but I have to be allowed to make my own decisions and if it comes to it, my own mistakes. Tom is gorgeous and lovely and hardly without power.”
“You don’t understand,” Adelaide said. “Becoming a vampire makes you hugely strong compared to any human. But as a new vampire, you’re very weak compared to the older ones and in deciding your place in the hierarchy, the age and strength of your maker is all the Council really has to go on. You don’t want to do what I say, I appreciate that, but let Tom turn you and you’ll have to do what almost all the other vampires tell you to.
“I love you, Harriet. I’m not just being some sort of Mrs Bennett figure here. I want to see you safe and in control of your own life. Obey me on this point, stick with George, and you’ll more or less be able to do what you want for all time.”
Harriet tried to give her mother the benefit of the doubt. What she said made sense on some level, but she couldn’t give up the boy she loved and give herself to someone else just for the sake of power. Looking her mother in the eye, she firmly shook her head.
“If only I’d been able to bring you up myself, perhaps you’d understand a little more,” Adelaide said wistfully. “Perhaps then I wouldn’t have to resort to these measures.”
Adelaide stepped towards Harriet and looked at her intently. “Give me the necklace.”
Harriet tried to keep her arms pressed firmly against her sides, but she couldn’t stop herself from unclasping the pendant and handing it to her mother, who put it in her handbag and locked it shut. As soon as she’d done so, Adelaide touched Harriet lightly on the forehead, and she snapped out of her trance.
“You mesmerised me,” Harriet shrieked. “I can’t believe you’d do that! Besides, how could you, when I was wearing the necklace?”
Adelaide looked at the floor, seemingly a little embarrassed. “You still have my photograph in there, don’t you? It doesn’t work on anyone whose picture is inside. I gave you this hoping that it would protect you. Now I see it’s doing more harm than good. Without it, you’ll no longer be immune to our mind control and whilst so far the Cavaliers have all been warned off, from now on I’m giving George full permission to mesmerise you until you see sense.”
Harriet put her hand gingerly to her neck. She rarely took the necklace off. Its absence felt odd but not as strange and alien as her loving mother’s cruel behaviour.
“I’m leaving,” she shouted. “I can’t believe you’d treat me like this and that you’d encourage others to mess with my mind. Aunt Kate is right about you.” Harriet ran out of the room, half expecting her mother physically to stop her from leaving.
“You’ll see that I was right in the end, darling,” Adelaide called after her. “Just give it time. Mothers are always right.”
Oxford Blood (The Cavaliers: Book One) Page 29