‘Most of them.’ I nodded.
Will emitted a theatrical sigh.
At sunset the following night, I awoke to find myself alone. Not that it’s exactly unusual, but it was definitely disappointing. I listened for any kind of sounds from downstairs but heard nothing. Sliding out of the large bed, I pulled on a robe, and opened the bedroom door. I could hear the murmur of voices coming from upstairs. Daniel must have woken early, he certainly did appear to be learning fast.
I ran lightly up the carpeted stairs on bare feet, and even before I entered the room, I could feel the tension emanating from within. I pushed the door open tentatively, and saw the unexpected sight of Will and Daniel confronting each other.
‘You can’t keep me locked up all the time. I want to go out,’ Daniel shouted.
‘I am not interested in what you want,’ said Will. ‘You are in my house, under my care, and you will do as you are damn well told.’
That sounded like the kind of argument every parent of every teenager has had since the dawn of time.
‘You’re not my bloody dad!’ Daniel’s face had contorted with anger.
‘No,’ said Will, his eyes sparking with angry glints. ‘Thankfully, I am not. But I am the Elder of this community, and you are an illegal fledgling with no rights whatsoever.’
Now that sounded like deja vu to me. Been there, done that. Will flicked me a look, warning me not to interfere. Like, I’d dare! I’d raised the wrath of Will against myself on more than one occasion, and it wasn’t something I cared to repeat too often. Not without a very good reason anyway.
‘Who the hell says you’re in charge of me?’ demanded Daniel.
Oh the arrogance of youth, this boy seemed to laugh in the face of danger. Probably how he ended up dead in an alleyway.
Will looked down at Daniel, his face suddenly calm. ‘I do. But should you wish to challenge me, please feel free.’
Daniel looked up at Will, maintaining his air of defiance. I’d met loads of teenagers – hell – I’d still been one four years ago, but I’d never been like this.
Will put his hands on his hips and regarded Daniel stonily. ‘Well?’
Daniel’s expression turned sulky, he knew he had to back down, but his adolescent conceit was getting in the way. ‘Why should I do everything you say?’
‘Because boy,’ said Will, ‘without my help, you will perish.’
‘Like you care,’ muttered Daniel.
Will sighed, and pushed at Daniel’s shoulder until he walked backwards, forcing him to sit down on the nearest chair. He glowered at Will from beneath dark blond eyebrows, but thankfully, for once, stayed silent.
‘I am going to explain in words of a few syllables that even you will understand,’ he said. ‘I do not intend to repeat myself, so listen … and learn.’
I sat down on the sofa, ignoring the warning first twinges of the Thirst. I could control it better now, but it wouldn’t do to ignore it for too long. Will turned to me, ‘If you go and get ready, then eat something, we can go out as soon as Jake and Roxanne get here,’ he suggested.
‘I’m good for a while,’ I said, and he raised his eyebrows. ‘Really.’
He shrugged, turning back to Daniel who opened his mouth to say something. Will quelled him with a look as usual.
‘The bastard who made you, and left you to be reborn alone, did not care how – or even if – you would fend for yourself,’ he began. ‘When a fledgling is reborn, it is confused, disorientated and sometimes does not even realise it is dead at first.’
He shot an amused glance at me. ‘The thirst of a new vampire is all-consuming, and at times, exceedingly painful – ask Elinor, she went through a much worse time than any other fledgling I have seen in several decades.’
Daniel looked at me and I nodded. ‘I was in a pretty bad way for a while,’ I admitted. ‘It wasn’t easy.’
‘The reborn need the guidance of an older, more experienced vampire, preferably its own sire or maker,’ Will continued. ‘Without them, it is possible for the fledgling to go insane driven by the Thirst, which it does not understand and cannot control. Sometimes it will cause the child to go off on a blood-fest. Humans would die.’
Daniel looked uncomfortable, obviously remembering his rampaging exit from the cellar.
‘If I were to allow you your freedom too early,’ said Will, ‘there is the very real danger you would indeed start killing humans all over London, leaving bodies everywhere. Probably you would also sire a few new vampires along the way without even realising it. This would not only put you in danger of discovery, it would put every one of my people in danger, which is unacceptable.’
‘But surely they make other vampires sometimes,’ said Daniel, ‘don’t they?’
‘They know the rules,’ said Will. ‘You do not. It is possible to feed without killing, most of us do it all the time.’
‘I don’t feed from humans even now,’ I said, ‘not that I really want to.’
Will lit a cigarette and leaned back against the impressive fireplace, smoking silently for a while. When the silence seemed to have gone on for too long, I turned to look at him. ‘Will?’
He emerged from his reverie, and extinguished his cigarette. He began to pace the room, turning eventually to face Daniel again. ‘If we killed too often, the human police would investigate the murders, and ultimately they would hunt for us.’ He said. ‘Someone, somewhere, would begin to talk about vampires, and eventually someone would listen.’
‘Like a slayer?’ I said. I really did watch far too much television.
‘If you like,’ said Will. ‘I cannot, or rather, I will not allow that to happen in my city.’
Daniel nodded slowly, and I felt relief flood through me.
‘Please would you teach me how to feed properly?’ he asked.
‘In good time, yes,’ said Will. ‘You need to practise feeding without killing first, and that you have to do here under controlled circumstances.’
‘How?’ asked Daniel.
Oh I remembered how that went too… the nights when I had been taken through to the second cellar to find an unconscious human chained to the wall. I remembered the revulsion at the thought of feeding on human blood directly from a person, the revulsion I still felt, in fact.
I can even remember the nausea I suffered in the beginning. Strange how you can get used to anything after a while. It’s called survival. We were predators after all, no better or worse than a fox or lion, just a different kind of predator. Maybe one day there will be equal rights for vampires. Wouldn’t that be good? Although before that happened, people would have to actually believe in us, and I knew Will wasn’t keen on encouraging that, because he preferred anonymity.
‘I can bring you back some tasty snacks to practise on,’ said Will.
‘Thank you … for explaining things to me,’ said Daniel. ‘Sir.’ He added.
Will laughed then, his stern features softening instantly, and his wonderful eyes shining with humour. How I loved this man; charismatic, sexy and downright bloody confusing though he was.
‘It has been my somewhat dubious pleasure Daniel,’ he said, ‘and you do not need to call me Sir –Will is fine.’
‘Can I ask something else?’ said Daniel.
Will raised a dark eyebrow in his direction, and made an elegant gesture with his hand for him to continue.
‘Do you know who sired Ellie?’
I felt instinctively that question was too personal to be asked of an Elder, and I knew it shouldn’t have been asked at all. I really didn’t think Will would answer, but to my surprise, he said, ‘I did – and do not think she has not tried to make me pay for it every night since.’
Daniel clearly wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not, and looked from one to the other of us to gauge the situation.
At that moment the phone rang and I jumped. Who says vampires are fearless? Will crossed the room and plucked the phone from its hub. ‘Yes?’
I recognise
d Luke’s voice, my hearing is now extremely acute, but I couldn’t hear what he was actually saying. Although I gathered the news wasn’t great by the look on Will’s face.
‘We will meet you at the club in about half an hour,’ he said, putting the receiver down.
‘Club?’ Daniel immediately perked up ‘Cool. Can I come?’
‘Sorry, but no,’ said Will. ‘There is an age restriction.’
‘But I’m always going to look this young,’ said Daniel. ‘Does that mean I’ll never be able to come?’
‘We will work something out at some point. But we have other problems to sort out first.’
There was a knock at the front door and I went to let in Jake and Roxy. I loved to see what ever Roxy had chosen to wear; she always looked so effortlessly trendy, whilst still being chic and sophisticated. Tonight she wore deceptively simple black trousers that clung to her slim frame and a strappy black top which left her back almost bare. Her dark brown hair was cut in a shining bob, and swung around her jaw, causing the chestnut highlights to gleam every time she moved. Jake followed her in, looking like an out of work rock star. His faded jeans had holes in the knees, yet had probably cost a fortune, and his black T-shirt accentuated the muscular shape of his body.
Together they made a striking couple. As Jake sauntered past, his amused glance took in my own scantily clad body. ‘Hey Ellie, did we interrupt something?’
‘I wish,’ I said. ‘All you’ve interrupted is Will’s latest lecture.’
Jake and Roxy went into the drawing room, and Daniel looked genuinely pleased to see them. Or was that relieved?
Jake handed Daniel a pile of DVDs. ‘You might like these.’
I noticed the top one was one of the revolting Saw series – definitely enough blood and gore there for a young vampire.
‘Cool – thanks Jake,’ said Daniel.
Will clapped a friendly hand to Jake’s shoulder. ‘A word to the wise,’ he said, ‘stay inside tonight. Luke thinks we are going to have some trouble.’
‘Meaning?’ asked Jake in surprise.
‘Not sure yet,’ replied Will. ‘I am on my way to find out – when the missus here deigns to put some clothes on, that is.’ He raised a dark brow in my direction.
‘I’m going already,’ I muttered, heading for the stairs. Will’s laugh followed me out.
I ran downstairs to the bathroom, to start getting ready. After closing the door behind me, I slipped off the robe, turned to get in the shower, and cannoned straight into Will.
‘You are so sneaky,’ I said. I hadn’t heard him enter the room, so either my hearing wasn’t as good as I thought, or he moved even quieter than I imagined.
‘Just the thought of you taking that robe off brought me here,’ he said, his fingers tracing up my naked body, making me shiver.
‘You said we were in a hurry.’
‘So we are, and I really need to feed.’ He still made no move to step away from me.
I looked up into green eyes glinting with fun, and he smiled, ‘We do have an added bonus tonight, however.’
‘Which is?’ I wondered where the hell his train of thought was going now.
‘At some point we shall be alone in an empty, and very dark, nightclub.’
‘Pervert.’
‘Get clean,’ he said, ‘I can wait.’
‘Well good for you.’
His lips curved upwards. ‘Get clean,’ he said again, ‘I shall be upstairs.’
He turned and left the room and immediately I felt bereft, just as I always did when I wasn’t with him.
After hurriedly showering, I wrapped a huge towel around me, and wandered through to the bedroom to choose something to wear. Experience told me Will wouldn’t want to wait too long. He was patient most of the time, but never when hungry.
Deciding to follow Roxy’s elegant example, I pulled out black velvet trousers and a dark green silk top. If we were going to the club, I supposed I should be dressed appropriately as the boss’s wife. Once dressed, I sighed, wishing again I could see how I looked. I wondered if it would ever get easier to cope with the lack of a reflection.
‘Elinor, I would really like to go out tonight,’ Will’s voice came from the top of the stairs.
‘Keep your fangs in,’ I muttered, pulling my shoes on.
I ran up the stairs to where Will was waiting. ‘What kept you?’
‘I’m a girl,’ I said. ‘It’s what we do.’
His approving gaze travelled up and down my body. ‘Worth the wait nevertheless,’ he said. ‘I have a cab outside.’
Daniel came out of the drawing room then. ‘Wow … you look wicked Ellie.’
‘Thanks – I think,’ I said.
Will took hold of my arm and manoeuvred me towards the front door. ‘Stay inside,’ he said to Daniel. ‘It is very important – have I made myself clear?’
‘Yes Mr Will,’ said Daniel, going back into the drawing room and closing the door.
Will and I exchanged glances, and headed out.
Chapter Four
Will got the cab to drop us a mile or so away from the club, so he could find a willing donor. As usual he was quick and efficient, and also as usual, I chose not to accompany him, preferring instead to walk slowly, people-watching the trendy Londoners who were out and about. It seemed only minutes before he caught me up, and we walked the half mile back to the club together.
Zachary, the big vampire doorman, nodded a greeting as we walked in the entrance. I was less than pleased to see Tanya at the reception desk. She was human – if eyelash-batting, predatory females can ever be called human – and I really didn’t like her. The fact she openly lusted after Will had defined my feelings the first time I met her.
‘Good evening Will,’ she purred, eyeing him from beneath those permanently batting lashes, ‘oh – hello Mrs Austen,’ she said, her derisory tone proving she didn’t believe for one moment I was really Will’s wife.
‘Hallo Tanya,’ said Will, his deep voice sounding amused.
I gave her a cursary nod without replying, but tightened my hold on Will’s hand, as we went through to the main part of the club. Will looked down at me, and when he was sure we were out of Tanya’s earshot he said, ‘You really should not allow her to wind you up. Try being nice to her.’
I shuddered. ‘I couldn’t. She’s far too revolting.’
Will laughed, pulling my arm into the crook of his, and headed towards the bar where Luke was waiting. He was talking to Stevie, the club manager. Stevie’s a lycanthrope – or werewolf – possibly the only one currently living in London. His pack is somewhere in deepest Hertfordshire, where they keep a very low profile. Since wolves have been extinct in England since around the reign of Henry VII, it’s fairly obvious why.
Tall, dark and devastating, Stevie has a devoted group of female fans, who hang around the bar all night, just hoping for the chance to talk to him. No doubt they hoped the talking might lead to something more interesting. Of course, the fact his T-shirt and jeans clung to a body which shouted ‘sex’ and his startling blue eyes gleamed with wicked promises, almost certainly had a lot to do with his burgeoning fan club. He and Will have been close friends for decades, which surprised me at first, because Will usually has very little time for non-vampires. Although once I came to know Stevie better, I realised how well they complement each other. Stevie is often Will’s daylight eyes, and I knew he’d do absolutely anything for him.
‘Hello Stevie, Luke,’ said Will, as he neared the two of them.
‘Hey Scary Undead,’ said Stevie, with a smile for Will, and a conspirital wink for me.
Luke nodded a greeting to both of us. ‘Shall we go upstairs?’
‘Yes,’ said Will. ‘How is everything Stevie?’
‘Business is always good,’ said Stevie, ‘Scotch?’
‘Thanks,’ said Will. ‘Elinor? I fear you will have to make do with diluted wine again.’
I sighed, remembering the effects strong alcohol stil
l had on me at the moment. Just one glass of champagne and I would be the embarrassing girl dancing on the bar. Not a good thought.
Stevie set the drinks down and Will nodded his thanks.
Luke straightened up from his position of leaning on the bar. I had the feeling that if these three men were ever left unchaperoned by women at this bar, they would be surrounded, possibly even mobbed, by every female in the place within seconds. What Luke and Stevie did was of course, up to them … but Will … well he’s definitely off limits. Especially to Tanya the Tramp.
Luke led the way upstairs, and we were soon sitting on the sofa in our favourite corner. Will took a swig from his glass and reached for his cigarettes, then obviously remembered the no-smoking ban, swore in Italian, and put them back.
Luke leaned forward. ‘We have a real problem.’
Will raised his eyebrows.
‘Jez found another fledgling.’
‘Teenager?’
‘Younger.’
Horror ran through my body. Younger?
‘How young?’
‘About nine.’
‘And?’ Will ran his hand through his hair in a distracted way.
‘Staked it,’ said Luke with an apologetic glance at me.
I gasped. ‘He killed a child?’
Will immediately took hold of one of my hands in both of his. As usual, his touch helped to calm me. ‘Elinor, the rebirth alone would have warped the child beyond all recognition. The kindest thing would be to exterminate it as soon as possible.’
‘But you’re talking about a child! Would you have done that to Daniel if I hadn’t been there to stop you?’ I asked, and Will remained silent. ‘Would you?’ I knew he would never deliberately lie to me.
‘I do not know,’ he said slowly, ‘I like to think I would have given him a chance, but the honest answer is, I do not know.’
‘Will has our community to think of first and foremost,’ said Luke. ‘It is his responsibility as Elder.’
I stared dumbly at Luke, my hand still firmly held in both of Will’s.
‘Where is Jez?’ asked Will. ‘I need to speak with him.’
‘He should be here now. I’ll get him.’ Luke stood up. He strode off towards the stairs, and I watched a number of female heads turn to watch his graceful lope. I wasn’t surprised, if I hadn’t been totally besotted with Will, I would have been watching him with interest too.
Revenge is Sweet Page 4