He shook his head. He wasn’t going to give in. He wasn’t going to tell me a thing. Instead of asking me to leave again he turned to the door to go.
“Don’t you dare call me for help again Paris. I won’t come. I won’t. Not until you’re honest with me. Not until you tell me the truth.” My threat only seemed to bounce off his back as he walked out on me.
Chapter Thirty-One
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there and cried. No one came in and Hamilton didn’t come back. I would stick to my guns, I told myself. Until he told me the truth, I wouldn’t come if he called. He could fix his own mystical messes. I’m sure he knew how. When I’d managed to compose myself I got up and walked out. Several of the faces in the room were studiously not looking at me. I bet it sounded to them like we’d just broken up or something. I didn’t care. I was passed caring.
I wandered the streets wearily. Only after walking almost the whole way there did I realize I was heading to Dante’s. I knew that seeing Aram and maybe getting a few sympathy kisses would make me feel better. Shallow but true. Of course the queue outside was huge as it always was. Which meant Aram would be working till the club closed at 2:00 a.m. I grumped my way past those queuing, some of whom gave me a wide berth. I smiled a little when I saw the new side door. This one was a vast, heavy-duty metal affair, with a lock that looked very sci-fi. On closer inspection it appeared to be a finger print lock. I didn’t know what made me sure my prints would be in the system, but I placed my hand to the pad like I’d done before. The light under my hand flashed from red to green and the door opened. I was going to have to ask Jareth how he got my prints without asking me. I went inside, making sure to pull it closed behind me. I started up the stairs.
“Cassandra? Is that you?” called a familiar voice from somewhere above me.
“Um yes, mysterious disembodied voice.” I heard a chuckle and identified the speaker as Vincent. “Where are you?”
“Follow the stairs round and keep going up. I’m on the roof.”
I gave a small sigh. Aram was going to be busy for a while and Vincent would be a better distraction than sitting alone in his room right now. I followed the stairs never realizing that they continued around the corner from the door I usually exited through. The roof door opened with a clang and I found Vincent sitting in the curve of the ‘O’ in the Dante’s Inferno sign, swigging from a beer. A couple of empties littered the ground.
“Hey! How’d you know it was me?”
“I could smell you,” he said with a strained expression. “I can smell so much. All the people down there, but not one of them smells anywhere close to as good as you do. Like fresh baked brownies, summer sunshine and all those good things I remember about being alive.”
“Thanks,” I said, “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He gave me a very brief smile. I walked over to join him, sitting down on top of an air vent. He offered me an unopened bottle from a six pack I could now see balanced on the lip of the building. He tossed it to me and I caught it one-handed.
“Nice catch.”
“Cheers,” I said taking it and popping the cap off on a metal rivet. “What are you doing up here?” I took a swig of the beer. It was icy cold sliding down my throat.
“Chilling,” he said, crossing his legs at the ankle. “Jareth says he’ll put me on the schedule when I’m ready.”
“Is that a good thing?” I asked conversationally, resting the beer on my thigh.
“It means a pay rise and access to my own set of willing donors.” I tapped my fingers softly against the side of the bottle and looked down at it.
“You don’t sound like you’re completely happy about that.” When I looked over to him he’d closed his eyes.
“Not completely,” he said then slowly opened them again to look at me. “Don’t get me wrong there are some parts about being a vamp now that I really like and if I think about it, wasn’t this where my life was heading?” He closed his eyes again.
“But…” I said encouraging him to keep going. He did, but kept his eyes closed this time.
“But I did technically die, Cassandra. That’s a heady thing. Also I’m going to miss a lot, sunshine, tanning, solid food. There’s a lot to be said for a completely liquid diet. Also sex.”
“You can’t have sex?” I asked confused. His eyes flashed open and he smiled at me. A smile that was very much rueful.
“Yup, you’ve spoiled me for other women.” I felt the heat in my cheeks and Vincent sighed. “It’s amazing how much more appealing that is, to watch the blood race into your face. It makes me thirsty.” I took a couple of deep breathes, not only trying to stop being embarrassed, but trying to quash the guilt I felt. It was after all, my fault he was like this now. Not in the sense that I’d turned him, but I had made it necessary.
“Do you remember much?” I waved the neck of the bottle between him and myself. He shook his head.
“Barely anything.” His eyes dropped to my chest so it was clear to me which bit he did remember. “But sex is out till I can control my strength properly. I could kill my partner by accident.”
“Bet that’s got to be hard.”
“You have no idea,” he said with a salacious little grin. I couldn’t help but smile back at him. I took another sip of my drink.
“How have your family taken it?”
“My dad died when I was a kid and I haven’t spoken to my mom since she disowned me and kicked me and Tarquin out.”
“Why?”
“My mother was, is, very god squad. She couldn’t abide having one son who liked to work and hang with vamps and another who was a homosexual. She tells people we’re dead anyway.” I hunched over. It was so strange that I felt relieved that he had been on bad terms with his family. It was horrible, but it lessened my guilt just a little bit.
“I can’t imagine how hard that must have been on you.”
“It’s ok. She’d never been much of a mother. Losing dad unhinged something in her. I looked after Tarquin and stayed out of her way.”
“How’s Tarquin doing?” Vincent rubbed the lip of his bottle against his temple.
“Driving me and Sienna insane. He wants to be turned now too. He doesn’t want to end up looking older than me. He wants us to be the same, equal. He’s always been far more hung up on the twin thing than me.”
“Sienna’s reluctant?” He nodded his head.
“It’s not because he doesn’t love my brother. I’m sure he loves him enough to want to keep him forever, but he likes him as he is, warm and breathing. Sienna knows that vamp on vamp relationships, only about fifty percent of them work out.”
“Only about fifty percent of human on human relationships work out. Doesn’t mean that people don’t risk it.” He smiled at me again, a very soft smile.
“If Sienna won’t before his next birthday then he wants me to. He’s pretty sure I won’t tell him no.”
“Will you change him?”
“Maybe. If I have enough control by then to do it. Right now all my feedings are supervised. I mean if push comes to shove. I don’t want to live an eternity without my brother. Surely you and Aram have had to think about it yourselves.”
“It’s not an issue with us.” I took a long pull of the beer and steeled myself to ask the really tough questions. “Do you blame me?”
“What?” he asked and I could tell he was genuine surprised.
“Do you blame me? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have been in that room. This wouldn’t have happened to you. Surely you’ve worked that out.”
He was suddenly in front of me gripping my shoulders. His grip would probably have broken something in a human.
“No, no please don’t think that. Didn’t I tell you my life was heading this way anyway? It would have only been a few more years before I would have asked to be turned. It just happened a little sooner than I thought. I’d planned to have a couple more wild years and I’m just moaning because I don’t get to have them. Please don’t th
ink that’s got anything to do with you.” I nodded slowly until the panic in his face vanished and his grip lessened on my arms. I winced a little.
“Oh god,” he said correctly reading my wince. “Did I hurt you?” I shook my head.
“I’m fine. I don’t damage so easily.”
“Sorry,” he said with a chuckle, running his hand back through his hair. “Don’t know my own strength.”
“You get used to it. Trust me.”
“Sure I will.” He tapped his pocket till he found his cigarettes and lit up. I watched him take a long drag. He studied my face.
“You look like you would have felt better if I had been mad at you.”
“I think I would have been. I wish one of you would blame me. You’re not the first person one of my messes got someone normal changed in a permanent way.”
“Sorry!” He said with a shrug and blew out a long trail of smoke. “Not your fault.”
“Still smoking I see?”
“Well, it’s not like it’s going to kill me now is it?” he said with a grin. I shook my head in mock horror. We hung out for most of the evening talking, having a few brews (of which Vincent had to fetch more as neither of us got drunk easily anymore) and him showing off his new vampire skills. And this was how Aram found us. Me with a drink in hand staring up as Vincent balanced on only one hand on top of the ‘O’.
“Here you are, pet,” he said announcing his presence. I spun, letting my braid whip behind me and placing my bottle to my lips.
“Here I am!” I grinned amused and took a long swig. Aram assessed his young protégé and gave a martyr’s sigh.
“Well done, now come down from there.”
Vincent did a lithe jump, doing a one eighty in the air to land on his feet. He grinned at me when I giggled. Aram looked perturbed, so I wormed my way into his arms and snuggled against his chest. He held me close.
“Vincent, go help close up.” Vincent gave him the full Arnold J Rimmer salute.
“Yes Sir Boss.” He collected up his empties with lightning speed before disappearing like a blur of white down the stairs. Aram turned my face to his.
“You should not encourage him to flaunt himself.” I smiled up at him.
“He doesn’t need any encouragement. You’re lucky I wasn’t up there with him. But I bet you’d rather he found joy in his new abilities than be melancholy about what he’s given up.”
“True.”
Aram walked me inside down to his room, his arm tight around my waist. I was very pleased to see the room was put right. The rug had been replaced and the bed was draped in rich chocolate brown and gold. I put my beer down on the nightstand and sat on the bed to pull off my shoes.
“Do you intend to spend the night?” he asked amused. I pulled my locket from my jeans pocket and clipped it around my neck.
“I do.” He smiled darting to stand in front of me, pulling the band from my hair and unwinding the braid. He kissed me slowly, lingeringly and stroked his fingers through my curls.
“You’ve come back to me?” I turned and crawled into the big, old bed.
“Perhaps,” I said giving him a teasing wink. I wriggled out of my jeans and sweater then got warm under the covers. Aram as usual climbed in naked next to me. I rolled over and pulled his arm around my waist.
“Are we sleeping?” he asked a tiny tread of disappointment or vexation in his voice.
“For now,” I replied turning to face him. I kissed his lips softly and tapped his nose. “I’m not going to make this easy for you. You should know that by now. I expect dinner and a movie before I put out again.” He smiled at me. His one complaint in our relationship had been to want to do other things together and occasionally leave the bed.
“I knew you were truly a romantic under it all.”
“Hush up pretty boy. Just hold me. Tell me everything’s going to be all right and try to think non-lusty thoughts.”
“You are back in my arms. Everything’s going to be all right.” He pressed against me with a smirk and my cheeks flamed.
“I said non-lusty.” Burying my head, I drifted off to the gentle sound of his amused chuckle.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I don’t know how I knew I was dreaming but I knew that’s all it was, a dream. Although I had never had this dream before there was something familiar about it. It was like sitting in an old movie house. If the room hadn’t been dark, I assume I would’ve seen the rich, red velvet rows of seats, each a step below the other so no one’s view was blocked. I imagined a buttoned-up usher roaming the aisles to make sure no one was making out in the back row. But in the pitch black darkness I could see none of these things and felt completely alone there.
The screen flickered to life, a glowing square. The light faded to the edges and an old, silent movie began playing its sepia-toned story. Three figures were hunched over a candle using its weak light to read a map. It was spread out over what looked like a crate that jostled from side to side like the room they were in was swaying. It took me a minute of trying to focus on the background to realize they were on an old, steam train, in a box car. The kind used for transporting large cargo across land cheaply. I could see the corrugation on the metal sides. The map appeared to be of the most western part of Europe. I could make out the underside of Spain and the boot shape of Italy.
One of them brought forward an object I recognized immediately, a scrying crystal. It swung in slow circles, lightly skimming the map with each rotation, only to come crashing down point first on England.
Their whispered conversation was lost to me, but from their body language I understood that my home country was their new destination. It shocked me when one of them looked up and stared at me, like he could see me in my private dream theater. His face was wizened, but his eyes were so full of intelligence and life it was like looking at a man my own age. He continued to stare, his lip curling into an expression half covered by shadow that I couldn’t understand. The one to the left of him put his hand on his shoulder, a gesture of concern. One word, and the second man turned to look directly at me too. I felt frozen, like I’d been caught, some voyeur peeking in someone else’s window.
When the third man caught on and turned his eyes to me, something shoved and I came crashing back to consciousness. I felt evicted from my own dream.
I jolted sitting up right. I was still in the bed with Aram who lay very still on his side of the bed. It had to be sometime during the day then. I reached out stroking a lock of his tussled hair back from his face and tried to calm my racing pulse. But I couldn’t fight the foreboding feeling the dream had left me with.
I understood now the distinct quality of the dream that had made it seem so familiar. It was only a few moments ahead this time, but I knew without a doubt what it had been. A premonition.
Something was coming and it was coming for me.
About the Author:
Sonnet was born at the John Radcliffe in Oxford and spent the first six years of her life living in the town of Abingdon close to both her grandparents and most of the rest of her family.
She moved after that to Cornwall for three years and then to Devon for another three before moving to where she has lived for the last fourteen or so years. Sonnet now lives in Worcester, Worcestershire, famous for Lea & Perrin’s Sauce and as the site for the last battle of the Civil War.
Sonnet has had a passion for the written word from a very young age and enjoys nothing more than to read a good book. The worlds created by words.
Please visit her at:
http://www.sonnetodell.com
http://sonnetodelldustypages.blogspot.co.uk
or email [email protected]
More Awesome Books by Sonnet O’Dell:
Soul Market—A Cassandra Farbanks Novel (#1)
Lost Innocents—A Cassandra Farbanks Novel (#2)
Skin Thief —A Cassandra Farbanks Novel (#3)
Inhuman Heritage —A Cassandra Farbanks Novel (#4)
S
ilent Doll —A Cassandra Farbanks Novel (#5)
Triton Rising
The Morning Afterlife
Mistakenly Mated
Also from Eternal Press:
Mistakenly Mated
by Sonnet O’Dell
eBook ISBN: 9781615728442
Print ISBN: 9781615728459
Paranormal Romance
Novel of 36,786 words
Kerry never expected to have a mate among her own kind. White wolves, like her, are considered cursed.
When curiosity gets the better of Kerry, she becomes the mate of the handsome Caleb and her future takes a dramatic turn. They crave each other through a bond that after a month will be unbreakable and they have till then to get to know each other.
Surviving that month is the only problem! Someone is out to kill Kerry, but who and why?
Also from Eternal Press:
Heart and Fire
by Wendy L. Callahan
eBook ISBN: 9781615726608
Print ISBN: 9781615726615
Steampunk Fantasy
Novel of 71,078 words
Courtesan and gunslinging government agent, Saville Cantall has just been thrust into an untenable position. She has been ordered to work as bodyguard to the woman who just replaced her as the king’s mistress.
Frustrated by, not just the situation, but her own tenuous place in society, Saville finds her problems compounded by the question of who would want to harm the king’s new mistress.
Over the course of the summer, she learns that time is running out to stop a war, learn the secret of her magickal abilities, and fend off two persistent suitors…while somehow still finding the time to sit down for afternoon tea.
Eternal Press
Official Website:
http://www.eternalpress.biz
Deadly Sin (Cassandra Farbanks) Page 26