Authors: Berni Stevens
‘Yes, someone called Hon-y-owtee or something.’
He smiled and headed for the door to his right. I followed, not wanting to miss the chance of seeing another room.
We went into a large drawing room, where a magnificent fireplace dominated part of one wall. It looked like an original Georgian fireplace to me, but I’m no expert. All the walls were plain ivory in colour, and unadorned by any pictures. The large windows were concealed behind heavy wooden shutters, and deep red velvet curtains were draped in front of them. A double safety measure, I supposed, in case Will strolled in during the afternoon. I’d already discovered that he ‘slept’ less than I did.
A large dark-red leather chesterfield stretched along one wall, with an old pine chest in front of it, which was clearly being used as a table, seeing as it had cigarettes, matches, and a pile of newspapers on it. Both recesses on either side of the fireplace contained bookshelves stuffed to overflowing with books of all shapes, sizes, and ages; so it appeared even centuries-old vampires read books.
There was a huge state-of-the-art, flat-screen television on the opposite wall, with a small table underneath on which a DVD player sat. I felt surprised at seeing them; somehow I’d imagined Will would be a complete technophobe. But I suppose time weighs heavily when one has an eternity to find amusement.
Several red leather armchairs, which matched the colour of the sofa, were scattered around the room, and beautiful oriental rugs graced the polished wooden floorboards.
The telephone rested on top of a carved antique cabinet and the answer machine was indeed flashing. Will pressed a button and played the message.
‘Good,’ was all he said. He reached for the cigarettes and, putting one between his teeth, picked up the box of matches. As he struck a match, the light from the flame illuminated his face briefly, accentuating his chiselled features, and I had a flashback again to the fight I’d had to get free from the grave, and how I came face to face with him. He flicked the match into the fireplace and regarded me with his steady gaze. ‘What is it?’
‘Just remembering.’
‘What are you remembering?’ Interest suddenly sparked in his eyes.
‘Fighting my way out of a coffin and coming face to face with you.’
‘What about before that?’ he persisted. ‘Do you remember anything about before?’
I tried to remember my last few days as a human, but the memories were still missing, and all I could recall was feeling sick and afraid. ‘You killed me.’
Will flung his cigarette into the fireplace with an angry gesture and spun around to face me. His eyes flashed and he looked more dangerous than I’d ever seen him. I stepped back.
‘And you seem determined to make me pay for that for all eternity,’ he said scathingly, ‘unless we talk about it, right here, right now.’
‘I—’
‘Sit down.’ His voice was harsh and uncompromising, a tone he’d never used with me before. I backed away from him, suddenly afraid, and he swore savagely and colourfully under his breath.
‘Did you hear me? I said, sit the fuck
down
, Elinor!’
His anger was palpable and it turned my spine to ice.
I sat.
I was shocked to hear him resort to profanities. That alone was enough to scare the hell out of me.
He stared at me, his eyes glinting dangerously, and I resisted the urge to gulp. I watched him warily, and wondered why he’d suddenly become so angry.
He began to pace the room like a caged panther, every bit as graceful, but infinitely more dangerous.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he turned back to me, and the look in his eyes shut me up. I really wished he would stop pacing, it made me nervous.
He stopped suddenly and looked at me. I met those livid eyes without a flinch, although it wasn’t easy. He bent to pick up his cigarettes and matches again, and I watched him light one, then toss the packs back onto the pine chest. He looked at me without a trace of his usual humour, and that bothered me more than I felt prepared to admit.
‘I am one of the most patient men you will ever meet,’ he said at last, ‘and probably
the
most patient vampire.’
I said nothing. I do occasionally know when to keep quiet.
‘But even my patience is not endless. I am doing everything I can to help you come to terms with what you are. Not just because it is my duty, but because I want to. It is about time you realised that resenting me for your death and rebirth is not helping either one of us. It certainly prevents you from moving on.’ He paused to drag on his cigarette. ‘I have not sired a fledgling for centuries, yet I chose to give you eternal life, Elinor. Do you not yet realise what a compliment it is? What it tells you about my feelings for you?’
I fiddled with my fingers, an old childhood habit I’d developed after my parents’ deaths – usually when confronted by angry foster parents, who were unable to cope with my grief. I’d never been good at discussing anything personal, having had to hide my feelings for so many years. So I didn’t speak, I just watched him, and hoped his anger would subside soon.
‘I was hoping you would remember your last day as a human on your own, but for some reason the events have evaded your memory. I can only assume the reason for that is because it was so traumatic.’
‘Whose fault was that?’ I muttered, and jumped violently, as Will smashed his fist on the pine chest in front of me causing the lid to crack.
‘It was not mine!’ He almost snarled.
I sat back farther in the sofa, my eyes wide with shock. This was a Will I didn’t know at all. The change in him was terrifying. Gone was the charming, elegant man I had become accustomed to, and in his place stood a demonic entity. I watched as he struggled to regain his self-control. He turned away from me to face the fireplace, and leaned his hands against the mantelpiece, with his head lowered.
‘Will—’
‘Elinor, please do not speak to me for the moment,’ his voice was deep with emotion. I stayed silent, wanting only to run from the room, anywhere away from him would have been good at that moment.
‘And stay where you are,’ he added.
The silence grew between us, stretching uncomfortably, and I knew I wouldn’t break it. I continued to watch him, wondering again why he’d lost his temper so quickly. At last, he faced me, his face stern and uncompromising. I went to speak, but he held up his hand with the authoritative gesture I’d begun to know and hate.
‘Listen to me,’ he said in quiet, even tones. ‘Four days before your death, you were knocked down outside the theatre by a drunken driver.’
I gasped in shock.
‘I was there watching the stage door, and I saw it happen. I called for an ambulance, but had to leave before it arrived. I could not risk having to give evidence in a human court in daylight.’
Honesty
I remained motionless, staring at Will in horror. I really had no memory of an accident, and although I felt sure he spoke the truth, part of me didn’t want to believe it.
Run down by a car?
Will lit yet another cigarette, and smoked for a few minutes without a word. Then he continued, holding me captive with his bright gaze. ‘The driver did not stop.’
‘They never got him?’
Will shook his head slightly. ‘
They
did not. No.’
‘What are you saying?’
‘He is of no consequence to this conversation,’ he replied firmly, and I knew without question that the driver was dead.
Will walked towards me, and I sprang up ready to run. He raised his hands in surrender.
‘Please sit back down,’ he said, returning to his place in front of the fireplace.
I sat down slowly, trying to make sense of it all.
‘Elinor, you were attached to a machine enabling you to live, and I happened to be in the room when the doctors decided to switch it off.’
I refrained from asking what the hell he was doing in the room in the first place.
‘I could not let you die,’ he said. ‘I was already in love with you, and I appreciate that is difficult for you to comprehend, because your memory has not completely returned, but it is a fact. I did the only thing I could, in order to keep you on this earth, which was to turn you. I know it was an evil act, and I am well aware that it was wrong – especially in your eyes – but I find it difficult to feel any remorse whatsoever over my actions.’
I sat in silence. All this time I had been blaming Will for my death, and he’d allowed me to continue with that train of thought. He had in some strange way saved me. I couldn’t think of a thing to say. Tears filled my eyes and trickled slowly down my cheeks. Will immediately came and knelt in front of me. His anger seemed to have abated now, and his eyes were full of nothing but concern. He took hold of both my hands and stroked one hand gently with his thumb. Just that one small gesture made me catch my breath. With his other hand he gently brushed the tears from my face.
‘Elinor, forgive me. I am so sorry you had to hear this from my lips,’ he said. ‘I should have spared you the sight of my wrath. I fear my temper over ran good sense. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten you.’
‘I was already dead?’
Will shook his head. ‘No but you were very close to death. You would not have survived the night. I hope one day you will find it within your heart to forgive me, for bringing you into this existence that you find so abhorrent.’
I looked at him kneeling there, glossy dark hair flopping over his dark eyebrows, the glorious eyes and sculpted perfection of his face.
‘I would be completely dead if it wasn’t for you?’
He nodded, his face grave. He stood up slowly, running his hand through his hair again. He walked back again to the fireplace, away from me, giving me some space. I felt grateful for that, having him too near confused the hell out of me … amongst other things.
Will leaned back against the mantelpiece. He continued to search my face with his bright gaze.
I looked at his tall lean body, and for a moment I nearly forgot what we were talking about. No matter what I did or didn’t feel for him, I could still appreciate the beauty of his face and body. Indifference was, unfortunately, impossible.
‘Do you still not remember anything at all yet about the night you died?’ he asked at length.
‘I remember that I thought I was drowning. Then I could see only complete darkness,’ I said slowly. ‘So much darkness.’ I shuddered.
‘Ah yes, the darkness,’ he gave a rueful grin that instantly made his face look boyish. ‘Only I could turn someone with a phobia about darkness and the sight of blood.’
‘I’m having trouble just getting my head around all of this,’ I said. ‘You let me think that you turned me merely because you wanted me for some reason. You let me go on thinking that.’
‘Do not have any illusions about me,’ he interrupted me. ‘I am neither a hero nor some kind of reformed black knight.’ He gave me a small smile. ‘I would definitely have found a way to turn you at some point.’
‘Against my will?’ I had to know.
He shook his head. ‘Preferably not, no. I had hoped to persuade you to fall in love with me, and then I would have given you the choice.’
I looked down. It seemed as though all of this had been planned for a while, but the hit-and-run driver had inadvertently moved things on.
‘The worst thing for me about this …
existence
, is that everything I’ve ever known … everyone I’ve ever known … well, it’s all been taken away from me. Gone. My whole life has just
gone
. You
say
you care about me, yet you shut me in a dark cellar when you know I hate the dark. I’m forced to drink blood to survive, and I’ve never been able to stand the sight of the stuff. I just feel so alone, and I don’t think I will ever be any good at this – especially as I really,
really
don’t want to bite people.’
I stopped my self-pity rant to look up and find his gaze now sympathetic.
‘You are not alone,’ he said. ‘You will never be alone, that I promise. I will never leave you, and, of course, I do care for you. I certainly do not want you to be so afraid of me. That is painful to me. Every time you cry, your tears erode a part of my soul.’
‘You do have a way with words,’ I said with a small smile, ‘You weren’t friends with Shakespeare by any chance?’
‘Even I am not that old,’ he said. ‘Although I did hang out with Byron a few times.’
Will started to pace the room again, eventually coming to a halt and sitting on the pine chest in front of me. His knees nearly touched mine. I tensed. He immediately moved back.
‘Do you wonder, Elinor, why you were on my radar, so to speak?’
I nodded. ‘There are plenty of better looking girls in London. You could probably have anyone you fancied.’
‘It had to be you, and only you, from the first moment I saw you.’
‘Which was?’
‘About a year ago,’ he watched me closely.
A year?
I couldn’t hide my astonishment. ‘You stalked me for a whole
year?
’
He gave a small smile then, and the humour crept back into his eyes at last. I felt as though I could now breathe out after a long time of holding my breath, although any withholding of breath by a member of the undead fraternity would cause little discomfort if the truth be known.
‘I prefer the term
observed
,’ he said dryly.
‘That’s still a bit pervy,’ I was feeling braver, ‘and some pretty serious …
observing
.’
‘I can see why you would think that.’
I’d often suspected Will was somewhat tenacious and single-minded, but even so, a
year
?
‘I think I searched for you even before I knew of your existence,’ he continued. ‘I have been searching for my soul mate for many years. Decades actually. But when I met you, I knew I had found her.’
I was stricken into silence. How could any of this be possible? How could a several-hundred-year-old man suddenly decide I was his soul mate? Where did that come from? It was the stuff of fantasy, B-movies and cheap novels. Things like this just didn’t happen in the real world. I shook my head again, and Will reached across to take one of my hands.
‘I know you are finding this all very difficult to come to terms with. It is one of the reasons I did not want to tell you about the accident yet.’ He gave a small rueful smile. ‘But you inadvertently forced the issue and I lost my temper.’
‘That is one very scary temper you have.’
‘Elinor,’ he raised my hand to his soft lips and kissed it. ‘I apologise yet again. I do seem to be making a complete mess of everything in more ways than one. I promised no pouncing and yet I pounced, not just once, but twice. I had also promised myself that I would not tell you about the accident for a while and yet I have.’
‘Good to know you’re not perfect,’ I said. ‘Because that would just be dull.’
Will laughed, his face immediately lighting up and his eyes gleaming. What a difference.
A knock at the front door made us both stand up. A key sounded in the lock and I looked at Will in consternation.
‘Get behind me.’
I hesitated for a split second.
‘Do it now.’
If Will was worried then I was worried. I stood behind his tall frame and he put one arm behind himself to wrap around me.
There was a sharp knock on the drawing room door and I felt the tension leave Will’s body.
‘Come on in Luke,’ he said, his deep voice sounding relaxed.
The door opened and a tall blond man walked in.
‘Good evening Will,’ he said.
Will nodded, and gestured to one of the armchairs. ‘Have a seat.’
Luke loped across the room, and folded his long frame into the nearest armchair. Will still protected me with his body, and I began to feel a little foolish. I tried to remove his arm, but it was like trying to move a tree.
‘Is this the new fledgling?’ asked Luke, nodding at what little he could see of me.
Will brought me around to the side of his body so that Luke and I could see each other. He kept a hold of my arm in a possessive grip as I stared at the newcomer. Luke’s fair hair hung in waves, almost to his broad shoulders, and his eyes were the colour of cornflowers. He was definitely a vampire, I could feel it. Casually dressed in black sweater, jeans and a brown leather jacket, he seemed completely at ease, although his eyes looked me over with frank curiosity. I didn’t know whether vampires bothered with body building exercises, but he certainly looked as though he did.
‘Elinor this is Luke,’ said Will.
‘Hallo Luke,’ I said.
Very original Ellie, and very eloquent.
‘Hallo Elinor,’ said Luke. ‘It is good to meet you at last.’
What did he mean by
at last
?
‘Luke has always been aware of your arrival,’ said Will.
‘She looks well,’ commented Luke, his eyes travelling up and down my body with interest.
‘She looks infinitely better than she did a few nights ago,’ said Will.
‘
She
is standing right here,’ I said.
‘A fact I am very well aware of,’ Will glanced at me.
Luke hid a smile, and I wondered whether he was in any way subservient to Will. Why did he have a key to Will’s house and why did he knock at both doors and come in anyway?
‘Luke is my second,’ said Will. ‘He has a key to all my properties, it is a safety precaution. He knocks out of courtesy.’
‘Stay out of my head,’ I said. ‘Believe me, there’s enough going on in there at the moment without you joining in.’
Will crossed to the sofa and sat down, gesturing for me to do the same. I sat in one of the armchairs in a deliberate act of defiance, which he chose to ignore. He turned back to Luke. ‘Is something wrong?’
Luke shrugged. ‘I believe so, yes,’ he replied. ‘There has been an odd occurrence that I thought I should make you aware of.’
Odd occurrence?
Now why didn’t I like the sound of that?
Will lit the inevitable cigarette. It was probably a good job he was dead because those things would have killed him for sure. He turned an amused glance my way.
‘But you are not going to scold me are you?’ It was a statement rather than a question.
‘I wouldn’t presume,’ I said.
‘May I say, Will,’ ventured Luke, ‘that you appear to have met your match?’
‘No, you may not,’ said Will. ‘So what appears to be the problem?’
‘A body was discovered in Waterlow Park this morning,’ said Luke. ‘Drained.’
Will swore under his breath. Even I could understand the significance of that. ‘Sounds as though someone has found out about Elinor.’
‘What the hell does that mean?’ I asked.
‘I have already explained the rules of the city to you,’ said Will. ‘Therefore the only likely candidate to drain a human would be a fledgling who lacked self-control. As it is forbidden to turn a human without my express permission, it appears the only fledgling vampire in London is you.’
I stared at him, horrified. ‘But you know it wasn’t me, I’ve been here with you since—’
‘I know that, you know that and Luke knows that,’ he replied. ‘Unfortunately no-one else knows that.’
‘Someone apparently does know of your existence and is deliberately implicating you,’ said Luke.
‘So if it
was
me—and you both know it wasn’t—what would happen?’ I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to hear the answer.
‘Under normal circumstances, the fledgling would be tracked down and staked.’ Will said. ‘However, these are not normal circumstances and, luckily for you, what I say goes.’
I had a sudden vision of enraged villagers descending on the house with flaming torches and pitchforks and stared at Will wide-eyed.
‘It must be Khiara,’ he said to Luke.
‘After all this time?’ asked Luke. ‘Why?’
‘Because she is Khiara,’ said Will. ‘It is what she does best.’
Luke shook his head slowly. ‘Surely we would know if she was in London.’
‘Not if she wished to remain undetected. As long as she kept her distance, I would not detect her presence.’
‘Waterlow Park is hardly a distance.’
‘Khiara would not do any dirty work herself.’
‘Good point.’
I followed their conversation with ever increasing horror. When I couldn’t stand it any longer I stood up in agitation.
‘Hold on just a damn minute,’ I said loudly.
Both men turned to look at me. Luke with the detached interest one would show an irritating child who wanted attention, and Will with his usual amusement. But at least I had their attention.
‘Can someone please explain what the hell is going on here? And who the hell is this Khiara person?’
Will and Luke exchanged glances.
‘You really do have your work cut out,’ said Luke.
‘Oh, you have no idea,’ agreed Will with a resigned shrug.
‘Who’s going to tell me?’ I persisted.
‘Khiara is my maker,’ said Will to me. ‘I have not seen her for nearly two hundred years.’