I swallowed. ‘No.’
He tilted his head to one side. ‘An irregular rhythm in your heartbeat, Mr Clemensen. Indication of untruth.’
‘I’m nervous, that’s all.’
Lorenzo came staggering in through the front door, breaking our silence.
‘What in Jörð’s name happened to you?’ Lorenzo had changed clothes since I last saw him but they didn’t fit quite right. His face was grimy like he’d slept face down in a puddle all night. He tore off his sunglasses, eyes bright red and wild underneath.
‘I…had a long… I saw, I think, Jean-Ashley; she was walking in the park with her mum and dad… I found this…’ Lorenzo produced a large crumpled envelope from his jacket. ‘’Ere, it’s got your name on it.’
Glad Anna’s doing well. I examined the envelope, noting the dirt under Lorenzo’s nails. What in the name of the gods had he been doing? ‘In the postbox?’
Lorenzo stared blankly. ‘Yeah…’ He nodded towards Michele, who responded by wrinkling his nose.
I turned over the brown envelope. Theo Clemensen.
‘Open it,’ Michele said. ‘Could be from the Praetoriani.’
‘No, this isn’t official.’ I let him glance at it. ‘I’m taking a break. Coming Lorenzo?’
‘Nah, shower.’
‘Suit yourself. I’ll be in the attic.’
I closed my eyes, shifting my consciousness into the attic and summoning my body to join me. Perhaps a display of my abilities would remind Michele not to cross me. Like it or not, I could count on only him to get me through the trial.
His book, The Unofficial Praetoriani Code, sat half-read on my bedside table. It didn’t exactly give the institution a glowing appraisal. Does he want to destroy the Praetoriani too? If The De Laurentis vampires wanted to undermine it, and the Praefecti with it, what did that make me? A means to an end?
Unable to contain my curiosity, I didn’t wait for Lorenzo and ripped open the envelope. Ripped pages, slightly yellowed, confronted me. I detached the note attached to it. Look beyond appearances to find your true allies.
Or you’ll meet your end.
No signature.
Great, not ominous at all. I plonked my butt down on the side of the bed, resisting the urge to inhale Ava’s scent from the pillow she’d slept on. Unfolding the pages, I read:
Midsummer’s Eve, 1985
Da doesn’t like him. Well Da can stuff it. I’m not interested in his best friend’s cousin’s son, Saint Whatshisface. The newcomer is FAR more interesting. He’s shy; it took me a whole hour to get his name – Espen! I watched his eyes when he took the herb drink and danced round the fire with us; they glittered like stars. Elspeth sulked because he wouldn’t talk to her. Well, I’m the oldest, I get first pick at the ceremonies. Da said I made a show of myself, upset Saint Whatshisface who wants my hand. I’m seventeen, come on! Before sunrise Espen and I sneaked off to the secret grove and finished a bottle of mead. He seems really nice to me. Da thinks the Clemensens are up themselves but Espen HATES talking about his powers, so there, Da. He’s just bitter ‘cos Ma ran off with that Shepard fella she healed. Should’ve paid her more attention. I’m never going to settle for second rate Saint Whatshisface. Espen promised he’ll come back for me. If Da doesn’t consent, we’ll leave for England. Elspeth will follow whatever. She always does.
Yule 1985
Seems like forever since the fire-dance. It’s bone-cold here. Letters take ages. No such thing as a private phone call in the Highlands. Espen still says he’s coming. Soon as I’m eighteen, there’s nothing Da can do. Half expect Elspeth to rat me out for pixie points. I told her if she does that I’ll leave without her forever. She went pale as a lily at that. Wish Da could be civil. But you know what? I’m fed-up here, everyone knowing our business. I want to roll downhill and out into the real world. A world that isn’t all herbs and magic all the time. Espen promises me I can do what I like. We’ll find a big place to fill with my paintings – unlike Da, he thinks I have talent. I told him I want to fill it with kids too. I thought he’d run a mile but he just said he needed kids. Clemensens’ family line means something. Da would flip if he knew I intended to give up the Braec name. I want to be more than a rural healer. I want to be part of something BIG. Elspeth is happy with a small life. Espen knows I love her though. He says she can live with us if she wants, until she finds her Romeo. Secret: got a bag packed already. Stuffed it in good at the back of the dresser. Made one up for Elspeth too. We fit in the same clothes anyway. Perks of being a twin, right?
I read it five times.
This is Mum’s diary.
Mum…had a twin?
Elspeth. That name. Mum and Father had argued on the night she’d died; Ava had shown me in a vision how Menelaus had killed her. They argued about Elspeth too but I didn’t know who that was. Elspeth and her abandoned child.
Julian, he was Elspeth’s Guardian, and Mum’s. Julian Knight. Menelaus’s father.
Adoptive Father.
No?
I racked my brains, desperate to find a contradiction to the inevitable conclusion. I knew from Ava’s vision that Menelaus’s power had been invisibility before the Praetoriani had stripped it away. Hadn’t my parents argued about warding Hellingstead Hall against Elspeth’s invisibility? More than most, I understood how magic transferred down the generations. Must be missing something. Maybe the letter is a fake. Who sent it? Father’s library contained many memoirs of our ancestors, but I’d never found Mum’s dairies. I didn’t even know she’d kept one.
Three taps on the attic door. ‘Lorenzo?’
‘Yeah, can I come in?’ He poked his head inside the room, his hair perfectly styled again. ‘I want to talk.’
I chucked the letter in his direction. He caught it between his fingers. ‘Come in,’ I said. ‘Read that.’
Lorenzo scanned the page and frowned. ‘This your mum’s writing?’
‘That or it’s a good forgery.’
‘Who sent it?’
I shrugged and held out my hand for the letter. ‘Don’t know.’
‘Never told me she had a twin.’ Lorenzo sat next to me on the bed, leaning against one of the posts. ‘Where’s she now?’
The paper felt rough. I brushed it against my nose as if I could sense Mum’s presence. It smells like lavender, I thought. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Oh.’
‘That’s not the worst bit.’ My breath shredded in my chest. I bit my nails just to smother the nausea threatening to double me over. I drew my legs up and dug my head into my knees. If the abandoned child belonged to Elspeth – my aunt – and Julian was both her guardian and the child’s adopter…then… ‘I think Menelaus is my cousin.’
Lorenzo snorted. ‘Seriously?’ His face fell as I explained Ava’s vision. ‘So wait, that means, Menelaus was your mum’s nephew? He killed his aunt?’
‘I’m pretty sure he didn’t realise. I asked him about Elspeth when I had him at sword-point. He looked confused.’ Then, another revelation hit me square on in the face. ‘Odin, Thor, and Freyr!’
‘What?’
‘In Alfheim, we got lost in the Forest of Dreams, right?’
Lorenzo shifted uncomfortably. ‘What a load of shit that was. I thought I was hunting Raphael but it was just an hallucination.’
‘And I thought I saw my mother, with a child who never made it. I thought that meant Mum had been pregnant when she died. What if I didn’t see Mum? What if I was talking to my aunt, Elspeth?’ Which would explain why Father hadn’t known about Mum’s supposed pregnancy. ‘I know she had given up her own child for some reason – Menelaus. Maybe she meant her and Menelaus never got a chance.’
‘So, you’re saying you didn’t lose a brother, you gained a cousin?’
I groaned.
‘Didn’t Ava date him?’
‘They didn’t sleep together, thank Jörð.’
‘Still weird.’
‘My whole life is weird,’ I said. ‘What d
id you want to talk about?’
Lorenzo chewed his lip. His eyes glazed over. ‘It’s nothing,’ he said. ‘Need a drink. Red Hawk?’
I thought about Michele waiting in the sitting room. ‘I’ll get my wallet.’
When the weather is bad, the English either go on holiday or to the pub. The Red Hawk took centre stage in Hellingstead, partly because, unknown to the sapiens, their ale was infused with magic. To be honest, I doubted the Praetoriani realised either. For a Gatekeeper, it was easy to detect that faint tingle on the tongue.
Lorenzo oozed into the small Thursday crowd, many busy gorging on a generous pub lunch. He headed towards the bar but I intercepted him, not wanting to be overheard. ‘Sit down,’ I said, pointing to a table – the one we first met at. ‘My round.’
I returned with two tankards of Hawk Scrumpy, and slid into the seat along the wall. Despite being June, the owners had lit the gas burner. ‘Grace is serving,’ I said, wriggling out of my cloak. Lorenzo took a swig of his cider and sighed.
‘I know.’
‘Sorry, I guess that’s why you wanted to go to the bar.’
‘I can’t think about her right now. I saw Raphael.’
I looked up from the chalkboard menu on the table. My stomach was growling again. ‘When?’
‘Last night. Found him down in Steart Marshes. He said he was coming back to Hellingstead.’
Thank Thor for that. He still has my amulet. I waved to Grace – she was peering over the heads of the bar-drinkers at Lorenzo – and she came gliding over with a clipboard. ‘Ploughman’s please,’ I said, ‘extra on the cheese, pickle, the bread. Everything.’
Grace took the order and twirled her pencil around her ginger curls. ‘Hi, Lorenzo.’
‘Alright me’luvver?’
I tried not to smirk.
‘You want to order?’
Lorenzo shook his head. ‘Just a quiet drink, thanks. Catch up later.’
Even I felt burned by Grace’s glower. She walked away without another word. ‘If my food’s late, Lorenzo, I’m going to punch you in the face.’
‘Go for it. I won’t notice.’
Hawk Scrumpy fizzed over my palate. ‘So Raphael’s coming back.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Why are you so miserable then? Didn’t it go well?’ Lorenzo looked up from the beer mats he was currently picking. ‘Wouldn’t give you his blood, huh?’
‘Something happened I didn’t expect, that’s all.’ He paused, his intense grey eyes locked onto Grace as she marched up and down the length of the bar. ‘Can I ask you something about Nikolaj?’
Nik? What’s Nik got to do with this? ‘Okay…’
‘Is he…I mean, does he ever… Does he like men?’
‘Uncle Nik? No way!’ Lorenzo slumped back into his seat. Perhaps my denial had been too enthusiastic. ‘Well, who knows. He’s never mentioned it, but then again I’ve never seen him with anyone.’
‘In Alfheim, did you notice how many women held hands with other women – and men, they did the same.’
I shrugged. ‘Elves are pretty affectionate if my uncle is anything to go by. But I guess you’re right; I was too busy recovering from death to pay much attention. Why?’
He downed his pint as a waitress walked over with my food. Guess I don’t get to punch him then. He waited until she’d gone, and until I’d arranged my sandwich, before replying.
‘I kissed Raphael.’
I choked on a lump of pickle. ‘Erm.’ Think Theo, don’t mess up your first friendship. ‘How do you feel about that?’
‘Confused. I definitely like women.’
After another bite – thinking time – I said, ‘And Raphael.’
‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s his blood.’
‘Or maybe it’s because you’re a Dark Elf – a vampire, right?’ I kept my voice low. ‘Maybe a thirst for blood isn’t all you inherited.’
By now the pub had nearly filled up. Lorenzo perked up and smiled at me. ‘I smell Ava.’
I looked around.
‘She smells like you.’ He grinned. ‘I wasn’t the only busy one last night.’
‘Can you smell her on me?’
‘Would be rude to say.’
Swallowing another mouthful, I stood up and plucked Ava from the crowd. She started. ‘Theo?’
‘Yeah. What are you doing here?’ I had the horrible feeling Menelaus was the next to come through the door but no one did.
‘Come to talk to the managers about a gig. My student loan is dwindling fast.’ She plonked her bag down on the table. Lorenzo winked at her. ‘Alright, Lorenzo?’
‘Dandy, thanks. You?’
Ava took my hand, her cheek grazing against my shoulder. ‘Thirsty.’
‘I’ll get it,’ Lorenzo said, collecting our empty tankards. ‘My round anyway. What does the maid – or should I say Lady – want?’
‘Lady?’
‘You’re practically a Clemensen now.’ He smirked. ‘Drink? I haven’t got eternity.’
Ava dug her nails into my palm. ‘Amaretto and coke, please.’
As soon as he left the table, she turned to me. ‘You told him?’
‘No, he smelt it.’ Her upper lip pulled back. ‘Gross, I know. But I have news.’ I offered her some of my sandwich but she shook her head. ‘Someone sent me part of my mum’s old diary.’
‘What did it say?’
‘The vision we shared of the night Mum died…’ I explained to her how Elspeth, the woman my parents argued about, was my mother’s twin sister, how Julian, her Guardian, had adopted an abandoned child. ‘I don’t know what happened to Elspeth or why she gave up her baby. I don’t know when she disappeared. But they both have invisibility.’
‘Which is how Menelaus appeared that night in the woods while Isobel conducted the binding ceremony. One moment she was alone, summoning her ancestors, the next—’
‘Exactly.’
‘So Menelaus—’
‘Is my cousin. If I’m right.’
‘Why wouldn’t your father tell you who he was?’
That’s what stung the most. For all these years, did my father know about Menelaus? And my aunt, Elspeth – not even my mother told me about her. What about the photos I’d found in the abandoned cottage? How many pictures of my mother were actually Elspeth? ‘I will find out. If Elspeth is dead, it’s like I’ve lost another mother.’
Ava brushed my hair off my neck and kissed my jaw. ‘I’m sorry. Do you think we should tell Menelaus?’
I grimaced. ‘First I want to uncover why Menelaus was sent to spy on his own aunt. If Julian knew whose child he was, then why let him near my mum?’
‘Speak to your father.’
‘I won’t give him the opportunity to lie to me again.’ As I polished off my ploughman’s, Lorenzo returned with the drinks. ‘What took you so long?’ I asked.
‘Sorry. Busy getting hired.’ He slid Ava her coke. ‘Need a job. Apparently, the student bar doesn’t think becoming a vampire is an excuse for not turning up for work.’
Hoping Ava wouldn’t judge me, I said, ‘Can’t you Enthral money out of people?’
‘Sure, but how do I explain how I’m paying off Mum’s debts? I’ll end up charged with embezzlement or something. Figure Menelaus has it right – moonlighting as a professor. Except, you know, the other way round. Need to be something other than a killer.’
Ava flinched.
‘It’s not his fault,’ I said. ‘He didn’t choose this life.’
She drank her coke pretty quick after that. ‘I should go talk to the head honchos. Apparently they’re in the mood for hiring.’
While we waited for her, I figured I might as well ask Lorenzo why he had broken up with Jean-Ashley. After living in Hellingstead Hall, isolated from anyone my own age, other people’s lives interested me more than they probably should.
‘I wasn’t any good for her. I almost hurt her – I did hurt her. She deserves someone…less bloodthirsty. She’s been through e
nough with her mum.’ He looked me in the eye. ‘You understand me when I say I refuse to be my father, don’t you?’
‘Amen.’
I was considering dessert when Ava returned. ‘I’ve got to go, Theo. I have another interview in town.’ I walked her to the door and kissed her goodbye. And pulled her in by the waist. And kissed her a bit more. A man trying to enter cleared his throat and I reluctantly let Ava go. I paid for my food at the bar, not so hungry now, listening to the humdrum of conversation floating around the Red Hawk.
Lorenzo appeared behind me. ‘She just lied to you, Theo.’
12
It’s Been A While
I have had an interview, Ava thought, so it’s only partly untrue. She meandered through the crowd milling around the Old Town, the cobbled high-street slippery from the rain. When she passed the tiny Hamstone shop, where she’d just been hired for psychic readings, she slowed. Crystal Clear, the sign read.
Funny, Ava felt anything but crystal clear recently. At the top of the Old Town, she hailed a taxi. ‘Hellingstead Hall, please,’ she said, sliding into the back seat.
‘You’d be the first I’ve taken up those parts,’ said the driver, a Somerset Asian she recognised from the spice shop. ‘You’re Ava, aren’t you? Lolita’s daughter?’
‘Uh-huh. Mum cooks a mean curry when the mood strikes her.’
The driver pulled into Market Road while Ava riffled through her purse, one eye on the metre. ‘My…boyfriend lives up there.’
A raised eyebrow in the mirror. Now Theo had returned her memories, she recalled a bet between her primary school friends about whether Hellingstead Hall was haunted – whatever magic Espen had used affected Theo’s teachers and classmates too after he’d been taken out of school.
Not much had changed; the inhabitants of the medieval grand estate remained as mysterious. There is something supernatural going on there, so my friends were half right. The scenery went by faster than she’d expected, and suddenly the car stopped outside an opening in the fir trees that ran downhill towards the sea.
The Descendants of Thor Trilogy Boxset: Forged in Blood and Lightning; Norns of Fate; Wrath of Aten Page 40