Revenge is Sweet

by Berni Stevens

  ‘An excuse which grows tired and old.’

  ‘You dare not do anything to me.’

  ‘As is that assumption.’

  For once her arrogance faltered and she looked uncertain. Will released his hold and continued. ‘You assisted Thomas in murdering one of my men, and severely beating another. The penalty for that is death by fire.’

  ‘I didn’t kill anyone, and if you kill me you’ll never know what he’s planning.’

  ‘I’m listening.’

  ‘Only if you guarantee me safe passage.’

  ‘I do not make deals with murderers.’

  She struggled, trying to free herself now from Luke and Jake. Will looked around at the rest of the assembled vampires.

  ‘Her fate lies in your hands,’ he said. ‘If you would like her torched, please raise your hands now.’

  It was unanimous. All hands were raised.

  Will turned back to the girl. ‘It would appear your fate is sealed.’

  ‘He plans to take your woman.’ The girl’s voice sounded shrill with fear now, as she gestured towards me with her head. A pit of dread formed inside me as I remembered Thomas’s words to me the other night, “… it will be my pleasure to teach you a lesson.”

  Will glanced back at me, almost as though to reassure himself that I still stood on the stairs.

  ‘Is that the best you can offer?’

  ‘He wants to expose us to the humans.’

  ‘Indulge me by explaining why the hell he would want to do that.’

  ‘So he can start a community of his own when you’re all dead.’ She spat the words, in an attempt at defiance, even though her voice still shook.

  To my surprise Will laughed. ‘A really well-thought out plan. Exposing vampires to humans would sound a death knell for any vampire community, both now and in the future.’

  The girl began to struggle again, realising she had lost. ‘He wants his fledgling back too.’

  Murmurs started up amongst the watching vampires. I realised now why Daniel had been told to stay upstairs. He could hear what was going on without showing himself to the others.

  Will came up the stairs to speak quietly to me. ‘Elinor, please ask Jez to join us. But tell the boy to stay put.’ I nodded, and went upstairs to deliver the message. Daniel wasn’t happy staying upstairs on his own, until I explained that the other vampires might insist that he be ejected from our community, in order to stop Thomas from committing any more murders. He had to remain hidden. Jez followed me downstairs, and a silence fell on the throng as they caught sight of his injuries.

  ‘Jeremy, is this the supposed fledgling who led you into the trap which cost Jonathan his life?’ Will sounded like a barrister in a court of law.

  Jez looked at the girl and nodded. ‘Yes it is.’

  ‘Then the penalty is death by fire – which has already been a unanimous vote.’

  The girl started to struggle in earnest at that, screaming obscenities at Will. The burly, shaven-headed vampire came to the fore, carrying silver chains and handcuffs in his heavily gloved hands.

  I wondered whether the chains were kept in the club as a matter of course. A very disturbing thought.

  The big man put the handcuffs on her and she screamed as silver touched her flesh. I averted my eyes as she was bound in the chains. I knew her agonised screams would stay with me for eternity.

  I couldn’t believe they intended to kill her here in the club.

  Will came to stand next to me, and wrapping a protective arm around my waist, leaned down to speak. ‘I apologise for this somewhat barbaric execution, but sometimes we have to fight like with like. Unfortunately, as my partner, you need to stay with me in order to show a united front. I wish I could change the rules for you, but I dare not do so. You do not need to watch, however, so I suggest you look down at the floor.’

  ‘I will hear her screams forever.’ My voice was barely above a whisper. I leaned against him, and his arm tightened around me. I saw him nod to someone I couldn’t see. At his nod, a shaft of flame shot up, highlighting the faces of the vampires like a grisly audience on Bonfire Night. Luke strode forward, carrying a huge flaming torch. Following him, came Jake with another torch. They stood either side of the sobbing girl on the ground, and at Will’s signal they dropped the torches onto her writhing body. The greedy flames licked at her white flesh, eating their way through to her bones with terrifying swiftness. I averted my gaze to the floor, although the macabre scene would be imprinted on my memory.

  The girl’s agonised, pitiful cries caused tears to fill my eyes and trickle unheeded down my cheeks. I closed my eyes, but couldn’t blot out her anguished screams or the hideous smell of burning vampire. When the screaming eventually stopped, the silence seemed almost deafening by comparison, and if it hadn’t been for Will’s arm supporting me, I think I would have fallen.

  ‘Well done Elinor. Please hold on for a few minutes more.’ Will’s soothing voice helped to stop the trembling in my limbs but still I held onto him like a lifeline.

  The assembled vampires broke out in applause, satisfied that justice had been done.

  All that remained of the girl was a pile of black dust and the silver chains as they lay blackened by fire.

  ‘Rest assured I intend to deal with the other renegades just as ruthlessly.’ Will’s strong voice carried around the club. ‘I called this meeting originally to ensure you would all know my intentions, but as Thomas so kindly sent us his minion for cannon fodder, I feel my intentions should now be abundantly clear.’

  ‘How will you find this Thomas?’ someone called out.

  Will gave a grim smile. ‘We have a secret weapon,’ he said. ‘Thomas’s days are numbered, my friends.’

  Chapter Twelve

  Luke closed the door behind the last person, leaving just four of us in the quiet club. He discreetly took it upon himself to go and clear up, leaving Will and I alone. I turned to the safety of his arms, and wished I could just stay there forever, and for this whole nightmare to be over. He didn’t speak for a moment, just held me close, whispering soothing endearments, just as he had all those months ago when I’d been suffering from the Thirst. I clung to him like a child.

  He tilted my face up, and wiped the tears away with gentle fingers. His vivid eyes were full of sympathy as he smoothed my hair back from my face.

  ‘My beautiful Elinor, still so full of humanity.’ He gave me a rueful smile. ‘You have to realise, my love, that the creature we destroyed tonight, helped to kill Jon and torture Jez. She would not have hesitated to hurt or destroy anyone her Master decreed – even you or me.’

  I nodded without speaking.

  ‘I had to show all of my vampires that I am a force to be reckoned with and to prove to them our enemies will be dealt with just as ruthlessly.’

  ‘I understand that.’

  ‘Had I not destroyed her, some of the other vampires would have started to question my authority – perhaps even my suitability to be their Elder.’

  That was something I hadn’t thought of. But it was something I should have realised, especially after the game-playing and threats which occurred last year, courtesy of Khiara and her cronies.

  Will bent down to brush my lips with his. A discreet cough made us turn towards the sound.

  Luke looked embarrassed. ‘Sorry Will, but I do think we need to get the boy home.’

  Daniel. Crap. That didn’t sound good.

  Will frowned, and taking hold of my hand, began climbing the stairs. Whatever I’d been expecting, the sight that met our eyes wasn’t it.

  Daniel was sitting on the bar, swinging a half-empty bottle of vodka in his hand, which he’d clearly been swigging from for a while. He laughed as he spotted us, and waved the bottle in defiance at Will. ‘Whooaaah, look – it’s the scary Duke.’ He waggled his head from side to side.

  It looked like “death wish Daniel” had returned.

  ‘You don’t scare me, spooky Dukey-dude.’ He giggled.


  Will sighed. ‘This is why fledglings should not drink alcohol,’ he said to me. ‘Let alone children who should not consume it anyway.’

  Daniel scowled. ‘I am not a children.’

  ‘Put the bottle down boy,’ said Will letting go of my hand as he advanced towards him.

  Daniel shook his head so hard he very nearly toppled off the bar. ‘Nah. Still got some left.’

  Will rolled his eyes. ‘You are going to have one hell of a headache boy.’

  Daniel pulled a face. ‘I’m a vampire. Don’t get headaches.’ He jumped up to stand on the bar, wobbling dangerously as he attempted to dance to whatever music was playing in his drink-fuddled brain. He started to sing an old Oasis song, well actually, he started to murder an old Oasis song, and I exchanged a smile with Luke as Will continued to walk slowly towards him.

  ‘It is close to dawn,’ said Will. ‘We all need to get home.’

  Daniel continued to sing loudly and unpleasantly off-key, as he wobbled his strange dance. For once I felt relieved Will hadn’t ever relented and allowed me to drink neat alcohol.

  Daniel’s arms began waving around like a windmill’s sails in a hurricane, and vodka shot out of the open bottle, narrowly missing drenching Will.

  In a blur of speed, Will leapt on top of the bar, which made Daniel recoil and lose his balance. Will grabbed him before he fell off the bar, and continued holding his arm. ‘I said, put the bottle down.’

  Things went to hell very quickly after that. Daniel swung the bottle at Will’s head, his drunken good mood evaporating instantly. He swore and snarled, snapping his fangs as spittle flew from his mouth. Will simply smashed his fist into Danny’s face, sending him flying off the bar, to land in a crumpled heap on the floor. The bottle went spinning away out of his lifeless hand, and landed on the carpet, its contents spilling everywhere.

  I gave a shriek. ‘You’ve killed him!’

  Will jumped lithely down, and favoured me with a mocking look. ‘I have merely rendered him unconscious,’ he said. ‘Dawn is close and he would have fought that and me. Now, we really do need to go home.’

  Luke scooped Daniel up and slung him over his shoulder, and Will bent to retrieve the offending bottle. Offering me his arm, he gave a roguish grin, ‘Would you still like to partake of undiluted red wine?’

  ‘Would you knock me out if I misbehaved?’

  His eyes gleamed. ‘Absolutely.’

  ‘Then no.’

  We followed Luke downstairs, and Will turned off all the lights once we reached the heavy front doors. For once, I’d be pleased to get the hell out of this place and go home.

  Luke turned down a small side street, which led to the staff car park, where he’d parked his BMW, and pressed his key fob to unlock the doors. Opening one of the rear doors, he unceremoniously dumped the unconscious Daniel on the back seat and turned to give me an apologetic look. ‘He’ll be safer there Ellie. Sorry.’

  ‘I think I can sit apart from Will for half an hour,’ I said.

  ‘Then I am doing something wrong,’ said Will as he swung his frame into the front passenger seat.

  ‘Well if you hadn’t knocked him out, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’ I prodded him in the shoulder.

  His deep laugh made me smile in spite of everything.

  I don’t remember much of the drive back to Highgate, I just know I felt an overwhelming sense of relief as we turned into our road. Will got out and hauled Daniel’s limp body from the back seat. I scrambled inelegantly out, cursing the Louboutins, short dresses and low cars.

  ‘Are you quite all right Elinor?’ Will’s amused voice came back to me as he opened the gates.

  ‘Peachy.’

  Luke waited until we were all inside the garden, and the gates securely closed, before driving off. He certainly takes his duties seriously, and I’ve already lost count of the number of times I’ve been so grateful he does. Will locked the front door behind us and carried Daniel downstairs to his room. I could feel the threat of the approaching dawn, and I knew that we all needed to be downstairs soon. Kicking off my shoes, I picked one up in each hand and padded over to the stairs. Will was already on his way back up. He stopped at the top of the stairs, and looking down, smiled at my bare feet.

  ‘I apologise for making you wear high heels,’ he said, looking anything but sorry. ‘But you do look so very sexy in them.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ I knew where this was going. Even three-hundred-year-old Dukes can be as transparent as hell sometimes.

  ‘Were you on your way to the bedroom?’

  ‘No, I thought I’d go and play some Final Fantasy while Daniel’s comatose.’

  ‘I know a few games we could play.’

  ‘Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.’

  Will continued to walk towards me, and when he was close enough, he reached forward and hooked his finger down the top of my dress so he could pull me close. I slipped my arms around his waist, back to being more than twelve inches shorter, now I’d lost the heels. He leaned down and kissed his way down my neck, adding playful little nips as he went. I sighed and pressed against his body. He could always banish my morbid thoughts, once he began to kiss me. I felt him unzip my dress and slip his hand inside to caress my skin. His touch was gentle and erotic, arousing me instantly.

  ‘We have probably around thirty minutes,’ he whispered. ‘We should make the most of them.’

  Before I could object, he’d scooped me up in his arms and turned to carry me down the stairs.

  ‘How very clichéd,’ I said. ‘If this was in a film, it would be written out.’

  ‘What a tragedy that would be,’ he murmured.

  Will’s Journal, 28th May

  The last few nights have been relatively quiet. I half expected to receive a call from Thomas or the woman after the execution of his girl. It would not have taken a genius to realise she had met her demise. That is, if he did deliberately send her to infiltrate our meeting.

  Now I know he wants his fledgling back, I am loath to actually use Daniel to track him. But I need to find his current lair. My scouts have failed to find it, and there are so many police in the Hampstead area at the moment, that I have no wish to raise any kind of profile. But one thing I do know is that Daniel must never again be left alone.

  Elinor has not said much about her discovery of the paintings or talked about my marriage to Emily. In fact, she has been positively non-committal on the subject. I have no idea whether it is a desire to simply ignore the information, or if she is deciding how best to come to terms with it. I am no better, being loathe to bring the matter up for discussion. Although, to be fair, there has been a lot going on for both of us. But hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I know now that I should have stored the paintings where Elinor would never have found them. To think I have caused her pain, albeit unwittingly, breaks my heart.

  How I would love to plan a lavish wedding with Elinor. But would she think a proposal crass at this moment? Or would she think me crass for not proposing? I confess to be floundering here. I love her more than words can say, but we have enemies in town – enemies who are murdering humans and our own people – and yet my thoughts dwell on a proposal and a wedding.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’d been standing under the shower for a really long time. Powerful jets of hot water assaulted my body as I tried to erase the scenes of the execution from my head. Will had made passionate but gentle love to me last thing yesterday, and I had automatically sunk into unconsciousness as dawn broke. But the moment I awoke tonight, the full horror came back in not so glorious technicolour. Will had already risen, so I had made a dash for the shower, merely to give myself something to do – anything to avoid thinking for too long. Vivid images of the girl screaming flashed in my head, and whenever I attempted to think of something else, Emily’s face appeared, taunting me, smug in the knowledge she had been married to the man I loved. I tried to tell myself it was three hundred years ago, and he now
loved me. At least I think he does …

  Taking a bottle of shampoo down from the shelf, I attempted to wash away the misery, self-doubt and abject horror from my memory.

  Suddenly I felt Will’s arms around me and his soft kisses caressed the back of my neck. He took the shampoo bottle from my unresisting fingers and continued washing my hair, his hands gently massaging my scalp. When he’d finished, he pulled me back against his body. He didn’t speak, just held me. Then he murmured soft words of comfort before turning me to face him. The feel of his wet, naked body, so firm and familiar against mine, aroused both passion and a sense of well-being, and I pressed closer to him. He threaded strong fingers through my wet hair and tugged until I looked up into his glorious eyes. He kissed my forehead, my eyelids, my nose, and finally my lips, feasting on them like a starving man. He began to caress my body, lingering at my breasts, before sliding over my hips and coming to rest on my bottom. Eventually he stood back and turned off the shower.

  His eyes searched my face. ‘Elinor, I am full of remorse that you had to witness the occurrences of last night, I had no idea the evening would become so … eventful.’

  ‘It’s not your fault.’

  ‘I think perhaps it is. I have tried to remember whether Thomas is someone from my past, but I cannot recall him – or the woman. Yet there has to be a reason why they came here.’

  ‘She – the girl said he’s going to take me.’

  ‘He cannot get to you.’

  ‘But supposing he does?’

  ‘He cannot get in to the house.’

  ‘What if we’re out of the house?’

  ‘We shall be well guarded at all times. Luke is going to stay here until we have – removed – both Thomas and the woman from the equation.’

  At that moment, Luke knocked and came into the bathroom. Will, ever the gentleman, shielded my naked body with his own, as Luke apologised and left the room in a hurry.

  Will, laughing at my embarrassment, pulled me from the shower, and wrapped me in a large bath towel. ‘Time for clothes I think.’