“Vickie,” George whispered, “Vickie.”
I opened my eyes and retreated back as the sun from the open curtains stung my eyes. I mumbled something nonsense and moaned as he pushed me to the other side of the sofa so that he could stand.
“Jones!”
I heard Jones hurry into the room and I begrudgingly sat up. George walked around the sofa to Jones, “coffee Jones, you know what to do.”
“Will Miss Victoria be taking coffee this morning?”
I stood and walked around to George who put his hand on the small of my back to keep me upright. I smiled to Jones and nodded. “I would love coffee thank you Jones. Oh and Jones,” I said as he turned to leave. He looked back at me and I smiled softly reaching out to him. “You’re wearing your milk,” I said, wiping the thin milk moustache off of his top lip.
He blushed and thanked me quietly before he walked of rather quickly. George laughed and shook his head, “you really don’t help yourself Vickie. You really don’t.”
“Mothering the boy is hardly a cause for insult,” I said rather defensively.
George noticed the opened letter on his coffee table and ran around to grab it. He read it quickly and then met my eyes. “What do you think she wants to tell her?”
I shrugged, “Whatever it is Clarence won’t be the one finding it out for us.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Rose, George, did you have fun last night?” Levi asked as he joined us from upstairs.
“We went for a hunt and got caught up.”
George nodded and added, “We also know that there is a he leading at least one little dead crazy woman.”
“That is great.”
“How did your surveillance go?” I asked.
He shrugged, “I didn’t get back until midnight. Clarence wasn’t exaggerating. It is crazy how much security she has. Luckily for us all but two are mortals.”
“Lucky? What happens if she brings them with her to the ball?”
“We’ll have to deal with that when and if it happens.”
George agreed and excused himself. “I have some work of my own to do. You two have a good day now.”
As George and Levi swapped places I noticed that Levi’s hand was resting on the small of my back. I wasn’t sure if he had realised that he was touching me. I turned to him and crept up onto my toes. My lips parted and he rested his index finger onto them. Meeting his eyes I took in a shallow breath, I kissed the tip of his finger and closed my eyes for a second.
“I want you,” he breathed, his lips coming down onto mine. I let out a silent moan as he kissed me, all of his unspent passion and love poured from his every breath. I dropped my hands to his waist and ran, pulling him upstairs to his bedroom.
I held his wrists above my head as he knelt over me on the bed and laughed lightly as he watched me. He opened his mouth to talk, but I silenced him with my kisses and hot hands.
His appetite was insatiable and so was mine as our lips came together a century too late.
My clothes he took from me petal by petal. His kisses soothed me and his heart beating next to mine sent true happiness to my core. I pulled at his shirt and he threw it across the room holding my naked chest to his as if sharing with me his lifeblood.
I spread my hands out across his back as impossible pleasure filled me; my nails spoke my pleasure to his skin as they torturously reached his monstrous shoulders.
We both froze as my phone rang out from my pile of clothes.
I looked up at him and he shrugged. I leant over the bed, beneath his racing chest and answered my phone.
“Gabriel?”
“Jesse came over this morning, he was fine until about five minutes ago, he collapsed and I can’t wake him up.”
“I’ll be over in a minute, keep trying to wake him up.”
I pulled my legs out from under Levi and slipped into my jeans.
“I’ve got to go.”
“For the mortal boy?” he asked, annoyance ringing in his voice.
I sighed and kissing him quickly I nodded, “Yes, for the mortal boy. Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”
He handed me my shirt and watched me leave, dropping down onto the pillow with a huff.
Cautiously I pushed open Gabriel’s door which was on the latch. I kicked the door once and the golden latch shot across the floor. I checked each room as I passed it and stopped when I reached the living room.
Clarence and Gabriel were stood over Jesse. When I walked into the room they both turned to look at me, uncertainty and worry on their faces.
“What happened?” I asked.
I took off my jacket as he told me and I dropped it onto the floor as I walked over to the bed. Gabriel shook his head, “He was fine, but then he just passed out.”
“Gabriel will you get him some water, Clarence see if you can find a banana.”
“A banana?”
“That’s what I said,” I said impatiently.
When they had both left the room I picked up Gabriel’s letter opener and used it to slice across my palm. I opened his mouth and squeezed my hand, the blood dropping onto his tongue. I wiped the knife clean on my jeans and turned sharply as I heard the front door slam shut and Gabriel ran into the room holding out imposter Francis’s letter.
“Where did you get this?”
I moved to run, but he took my hand. “Gabriel let me go!”
“No, Victoria, we have to let her go now.”
“If anything happens to her…”
“It won’t, I promise. Jesse needs us more than Clarence does.”
An hour later my phone rang and I sat up and listened to Clarence’s panicked voice.
“Victoria, imposter Francis knows something. You have to get Jesse out of the house right now.”
I called her name over and over, but the line was dead. I ran to Jesse and picked him up in my arms, but I stumbled when I reached the door. Gabriel took him from me and ran from the house. I called George and told him to bring the car as soon as he could.
As I stood at the door I heard a quiet ringing from inside the house. I looked up at the room which we had run from and heard it echoing from the room and out of the windows. Time seemed to slow down as if it wanted me to feel the full blow of the attack. The glass shattered out from the windows and fire exploded around me.
It wasn’t big enough to take down a whole house, but it was enough to bring back that nightmare. A nightmare where there was only fire and blood. The one in which I lost everything.
Gabriel desperately screamed, “Oliver, Oliver is still in there!”
George’s car skidded to a halt and he ran out to take Jesse from Gabriel. Gabriel darted back into the house without hesitation to drag from the smoke and debris our unconscious, heartless Oliver. Once freed of his load he ran to me and pulled me away from the falling debris and held me tightly in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
He kissed my cheek softly and held me. Gabriel had been all that I had left when it happened the first time and he was all that I had in that moment. George shouted over to us, a black figure within clouds of smoke. We ran to the car and got into the back beside Jesse.
“Where to?” George asked as he fastened the passenger seatbelt around the unconscious Oliver.
I looked to Gabriel and he closed his eyes to think. “Back to your place, we can settle our minds and rethink the plans.”
I struggled desperately with my next decision, but I had to make sure that she was safe. I searched through Jesse’s pocket and took out his phone. I found where he had stored Francis’s address and I ran out of the car faster than either of them could stop me. After I had turned the corner of the street I heard the car start and take off in the opposite direction.
My legs ached for me to stop, but it wasn’t far, I had to carry on. I ran harder than I had ever thought possible through the rain. My cuts from the glass had healed and the only
trace of my night was the dried blood on my shirt.
I came to the turn leading into Francis’s driveway and spotted Levi’s car sat hidden in foliage with the passenger door open. I walked around to it and I had to hold back a cry. Clarence’s body was lying across the seat, heartless.
I looked up at the house and then back to Clarence. Levi had gone in to get her heart.
I crept around and was grateful to find a back patio door unlocked. The lights were off in the room, but I could see perfectly.
I could hear voices in the room to my left and it was when I looked to the other side of the room that I saw a trail of blood that stopped by a small glass box. Within the box was a steadily beating heart.
To get to the box I would have to pass an open doorway. Through the doorway I could see light and hear voice. I crawled around the cabinet that sat in the centre of the lightless room and looked into the open doorway as I reached it. Imposter Francis and at least a dozen security personal were gathered in the room.
“What are you doing here?”
I jumped back, luckily not making a sound as I fell into a crouching Levi’s arms.
“Clarence. How did you know where she was?” I asked.
He made a phone gesture with his right hand and I nodded in understanding.
“How do we do this?” I asked.
“I will run around to the front and make a distraction, you grab the heart when you can,” he said slowly, and asked quietly, “You got that?”
“Be careful,” I whispered.
He kissed me silently before he crept back out into the night.
I waited for what seemed like forever. Suddenly the men in the room darted out and ran right past where I was crouching. Imposter Francis followed closely behind, however she paused when she reached the door and turned around, inhaling into the darkness. I held my breath and controlled my light as best as I could. She shook herself and ran out after the men.
I waited to make sure that she was gone before I stepped over to the table and as I took a hold of the jar. For a second I hesitated. Oliver’s heart might have been in that house, but there was no way of knowing for sure. Imposter Francis’s security also weighed heavily on my mind. I crawled to the open patio doors and ran out.
I checked around the grounds and then ran for my life, and Clarence’s. When I reached Levi’s car I took off my shirt and used it to pick up her heart, I pushed it down into her chest and dropped my shirt onto the car floor. I took out my pen knife and spilt my blood over the heart, my light fused the arteries together and my blood began to heal her. She wouldn’t wake up, not yet. My heart hadn’t been taken and such a wound took days to heal.
I fastened her body into the car and watched her for a while. I sat in the passenger seat and waited. An hour or so later Levi wandered past the bushes alone and walked right on by without even glancing at the car. A few minutes later he climbed through the foliage and into the driver’s seat.
His eyes locked with mine and he brushed my hair from my face, his eyes flickered over my topless chest and he wrapped his jacket around my bare shoulders. I wiped my hands on my jeans and gently caressed his cheek. A tear rolled onto my hand and I pulled him into my arms. In his car we sat and held each other. I pressed my lips hard against his cheek and he turned to meet my lips with his.
In that moment, our lights were forcibly intertwined by the darkness of death; we only cared for the love that we shared there and then.
I pulled my lips from our impatient kiss and hung my head against his, our noses touching. His breath was rigid and hungry, mirroring my own inner most desires. “Drive,” I whispered. “Just drive.”
He did as I said.
He didn’t say anything until we were outside of George’s house.
“Is the mortal okay?” he asked.
I nodded, “only just, if it wasn’t for Clarence…” I sighed and shook my head, “If he’d have died I would never have forgiven myself.”
He cupped my face and smiled, he dropped his hands and unbuckled my seatbelt for me, “he’s safe now, and that’s all that matters.”
“Safe,” I whispered, “Safe, right.”
I was covered in my own and Clarence’s blood, my knees were bruised, but the biggest pain was in my own chest. I sighed and closed my eyes.
Levi took my hand and squeezed it tightly. “What’s immortality without a little action every now and then?”
I leant my head on his shoulder and kissed his neck lightly, “I’ll drink to that.”
He opened the car door and walked around to let me out, “let’s get her inside, and I’ll get you that drink. This is about the only place in London imposter Francis doesn’t seem to know about.”
“It won’t be long until she notices Clarence’s heart has gone,” I said as we waited by the door.
George opened the door and stared in wonderment. We hurried in with Clarence propped up between us, his eyes betrayed him as they passed over my almost bare chest. We turned to him and asked where we could take her. He told us that Jesse was resting in my bedroom and that he had started to wake on the journey, but was incredibly weak.
With George’s directions we took the servants stairs to the quarters that were beneath the house. Jones was stood outside of the door.
“Good evening Jones,” I said as I waited for the door to be opened.
He blushed furiously as he battled his own eyes to pull them from my chest, “Good evening Miss Jewels.”
Levi laughed as we walked in and uttered, “I think you better zip that up before all of the men in this house explode.”
I pulled his jacket tighter around me and waved out to Jones before he shut the door on us. Looking across to the bed next to Clarence’s I sighed as I looked upon Oliver’s lifeless body and I asked, “They will be ok, won’t they?”
Levi put a heavy hand onto my shoulder and I moved from their bedsides as Gabriel crept into the room.
I stormed to him and whipped my fingers across his face as he had done to me. “You promised that she would be okay,” I said, fighting my pain, my tears.
He stood stock still as I beat against his chest like I had done on the day of my undoing.
“You promised! You liar, liar, liar, liar! I hate you,” I said, my words skittering to a stop as I heard myself. I turned from him and stepped back into Levi’s open arms. I rested my head against his chest and squeezed my eyes shut, my chest pulsing beneath my borrowed jacket. I let out a breath as Gabriel slammed the door behind him and I collapsed onto Clarence’s bed and wept on her shoulder, praying that she would wake.
Chapter 19
“Are you going to say it or am I?”
“You were right.” I opened my eyes and looked up to him.
He thrust his hands into his pockets and turned around. “A Pyrrhic victory,” he uttered.
“You have given up already?”
He span on his heel and frowned down to me, “What?”
“You said that you would fight for me.” I stood and walked to him, placing my hands onto his chest, “Does your heart not beat for love?”
He took my hands and shook his head. He ran his fingers through my hair and I kissed his scared arm as it graced my cheek. “You would betray Levi?”
“Would you?”
He smiled and kept his eyes on mine as he put his hot lips onto mine. “Need you ask,” he whispered, his breath taking mine.
“Roseanna.”
The closer I pulled him to me the further away he fell.
“Rose.”
I called out to him, but he couldn’t hear me.
“Roseanna.”
My arms were fixed to my side and my cries were unheard by the silent Victor.
“Rose, wake up you’re having a bad dream.”
I took a sharp breath as I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying in Levi’s bed, his hands were holding my arms to my side.
I looked up to him and stole my arms back. I pulled up the white sheet over my c
hest and held it to me. He frowned and placed his cool fingers onto my cheek for a brief second before he left his bed and walked from the room.
I closed my eyes and fell back onto my pillow.
“Leave me alone,” I whispered.
“Who, me?”
I looked across the room and a half dressed Jesse stood in the doorway.
“Are you ok? I heard you calling in your sleep.”
I sat up and patted the bed. He sat down next to me and pushed my hair from my face.
“Nightmare?”
“Something like that.”
“Who is Victor?” Jesse asked, his eyes searching in mine.
I closed my eyes and rested my head onto my knees. “Was that what I was calling?”
“Calling, shouting? Yeah. V, what am I missing?”
“Victor is the reason why Gabriel is still alive, but Victor himself is dead.”
“Oh,” he said quietly.
I laughed hopelessly and pulled my hair. “When did you wake up?”
“Not long after they brought me here. I don’t know what happened. I just felt something in my chest and keeled over. I thought that I was dead until I heard your voice and felt your blood.”
I looked around and put a finger to his lips. “Not here.” I sighed and pulled him into my arms. “Don’t ever do that to me ever again, ok?” He nodded and laughed. I rested my head onto his shoulder. “Has Levi left the house?”
He shrugged, “I haven’t heard the door. Do you want me to find him?”
“No, I’ll go after him.”
Jesse left and I prepared myself to chase after Levi.
After what he had just endured I had no idea what state I would find him in. He would be angry, I would be. He would be sharp, who could blame him? He might lash out, he would never hit me I knew that, but if I was him I certainly would.
“Levi, are you out here?” I asked, as I crept out into George’s courtyard garden.
I wrapped my arms around my body and walked further into the darkness.
“Levi, please, I…” I stopped and sighed. “I don’t know what to say, I’m not good at this. It was just a dream, a nightmare.”
“You’re in the doghouse already?”
An Immortal in London: Corruption Page 16