Authors: Berni Stevens
‘Wow,’ I whispered. ‘I see what you mean.’
He took the glass from my suddenly nerveless fingers, and put it back on the table. Looking up at Luke, he said, ‘Any sign?’
Luke shook his head. ‘Shall I call her?’
Will stood up. ‘Perhaps I should do that.’ He looked back at me. ‘Please stay here, I shall not be too long.’
He strode toward the stairs, and left me feeling just a touch desperate. Luke sat down next to me, and I felt better with him there, but with Honyauti sitting opposite in an armchair, staring at me with his dead eyes, I felt scared and very intimidated. I really hoped Will wouldn’t be long.
Aimee-Li suddenly leaned across and, taking my left hand in her tiny one, stared at my ring. After a few minutes, she looked at me with a strange smile. ‘The Ring of Porphyry, it means you are Will’s chosen one for all eternity,’ she said. ‘He is wise in some ways to give you the ring tonight, but in other ways very foolish.’
‘Why?’ I asked, although I could probably guess the answer.
‘Khiara will be so angry. Never in all her centuries has any one of her men found a love they preferred to hers.’
‘Would she know the ring?’
‘Every vampire will know the ring,’ replied Aimee-Li. ‘It is well known among us for its magical properties.’
I looked down at the beautiful emerald, and watched it shine with the same green lights that shone in Will’s eyes. It glowed on my hand as though it were truly alive, and I wondered what magical properties it contained. Will had said it would keep me safe, whatever that meant.
‘Porphyry was a magician, devoted to magical practices in both the white and black arts,’ she continued. ‘It is many centuries old.’
‘How did Will come to have it?’
‘His family was aristocratic and the ring has been in his family for centuries, but I do not know how it came to be there. Although I do know that Khiara expected it to be hers, yet it is now yours.’
‘Should get the evening off to a good start then,’ I said. Aristocrats, eh? That explained a lot. One day Mr William Whatever-His-Full-Name-Happened-To-Be and I were going to have a really long chat about his family. He knew all about me after all, so it was only fair.
I picked up my glass in an attempt at nonchalance and sipped the champagne carefully.
My head spun again. I blinked trying to clear the dizziness, and was left with the warm fuzzy glow you normally only get after several glasses of the stuff, not just a few sips. Rather shakily, I put the glass back on the table, and was relieved to feel Will close again. I looked up as he emerged at the top of the stairs and flashed a dazzling smile at me.
Luke stood up as he approached.
‘Khiara is not at the house,’ Will said without preamble. ‘Neither is anyone else. Most of her people are downstairs, except for Vincente.’
‘What should we do?’ Luke looked perturbed.
‘Wait another hour or so.’
Aimee-Li was chatting with Jake and Roxy now, and didn’t appear to be listening to Will. I stood up, needing to be close to him, and he held a hand out to me as if he knew. Which I’m sure he did.
‘Downstairs I think,’ he said half to himself. He pulled my arm through his and began striding back toward the stairs.
‘Slow down,’ I pleaded as we reached the top of the stairs. ‘I’m wearing a dress.’
He turned to look back at me with a wicked grin. ‘Oh, believe me, I noticed.’
Will and I stood at the top of the stairs like a royal couple making an entrance. I looked down at the assembled throng of vampires below. Sure enough, there was no sign of Khiara. She was exceptionally beautiful enough to stand out in any crowd, even one such as this – where absolutely everyone assembled appeared incredibly attractive. A quick sweep of the people below assured us she was, indeed, conspicuous by her absence.
‘Where do you think she is?’ I asked.
‘Playing one of her many mind games, no doubt.’
‘Does this mean we win if she’s a no show?’
‘Oh, she will show at some point, I have no doubt. But not necessarily this evening.’
I still didn’t understand what was going on, but then I didn’t think I was expected to. I refrained from asking Will interminable questions, because they tended to irritate the hell out of him. A fact I’d discovered to my cost a few times.
We descended the stairs and all vampiric eyes suddenly focused on us. Everyone gathered below fell silent.
‘For those of you who have not yet met her, this is Elinor, my chosen consort,’ said Will, his deep voice strong and authoritative.
Consort?
No one spoke. He continued, holding my left hand up for everyone to see. ‘She wears the Ring of Porphyry and no doubt you all recognise its significance.’ There were a few mutters and nods amongst the throng. I spotted the hateful Katarina who was glaring daggers at me. The sooner she went back to Italy, the better. Luke appeared behind us on the stairs.
‘Do you wish to make an announcement about Trials?’ He asked Will.
‘Not yet. My suggestion is that we stay here for an hour or so, and if Khiara does not arrive within the time we set, we will call Trials off for tonight.’
Luke nodded, and wandered off towards the bar and a rather attractive brunette. Will turned me to face him, his arms encircling my waist.
‘Do you have regrets Elinor?’ he asked softly. ‘Do you still miss being human perhaps?’
‘It’s been hard to come to terms with,’ I said. ‘But you know that. I miss the theatre sometimes … even rehearsals …’
He stared down at me, his beautiful eyes shining with the emerald fire I loved so much. ‘I am so sorry for the things you miss, but there really was no other way my love,’ he said softly. ‘I could not let you die, not once I had found you. I could not lose you. I
would
not lose you.’
‘There’s one thing I am sure of, there is no way on this earth I’ll ever regret meeting you.’
His eyes sparkled as he smiled, and, bending his head, he kissed me. Just the scent of him made me shiver and want him again; the mixture of expensive cologne and the underlying masculine, exotically dangerous smell that was just him.
Holding me away again, he looked at me with a mixture of emotions. ‘
Ti amo
, I love you Elinor,’ he said. ‘I love everything about you, your hair, your eyes, your spirit’—he laughed softly—‘even your reluctance, to a point.’
‘As touching as these little declarations are, some of us would like to find Khiara,’ said a cold, spiteful voice to my right.
Will and I turned as one, and came face to face with Katarina.
‘Katarina, as unwelcome as ever.’ Will’s voice was cold. ‘You are interrupting.’
‘Perhaps so,’ she continued viciously. ‘But it is difficult to speak to you alone these days. Is the little fledgling permanently affixed to your side now, Will?’
‘If you cannot keep a civil tongue in your head, Katarina,’ said Will mildly, ‘perhaps it should be permanently removed?’
Katarina took a step back from Will. Very wise. I knew that tone of his, and I was sure she did too.
‘I meant no offence,’ she repeated her phrase of a few nights ago, her voice meaning completely the opposite.
I drew a breath to speak, but somehow Will’s voice sounded instantly in my head, ‘
No
.’
‘Luckily for you, none has been taken,’ said Will, and then, in a louder voice for all to hear, ‘If Khiara does not arrive within the hour, we shall call it a night.’
Katarina stalked off towards Josephine.
I frowned at him. ‘How did you speak in my head?’
‘Do not frown, it mars your beauty.’
‘You’re enjoying all this aren’t you?’
Laughing, he turned to watch Katarina and Josephine talking together.
He put a hand on my bare back, which was somehow both reassuring and erotic at the same time. ‘Shall we go back upstairs and find a private corner?’
‘I’ve met people like you before in clubs.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’
A loud knocking on the club’s front door made us both turn back. Will signalled to Luke to answer. Obediently he went over, closely followed by Honyauti. As he pulled open the heavy doors, something crashed in, causing Luke to stagger back. I heard Honyauti curse in his own language and Will moved with lightning speed to investigate. I followed him merely because I didn’t want to stay alone. I had a very bad feeling about what we’d find.
On the floor was a body, a decapitated body, half-naked and covered with burns and abrasions such as I’d never seen in my life before. The wounds were filled with yellow pus and still weeping. Bile filled my mouth as I covered it with my hand. Just as we were taking in the grisly sight, a canvas bag was thrown through the open doorway, and I didn’t need to see inside to know what it held. Luke turned it upside down and a head rolled out. The eyes had been gouged out and the mouth stuffed with garlic.
‘Well,’ said Will dryly, ‘at least we know where Vincente is now.’
20 March
I gave Elinor the ring of Porphyry tonight. I had intended to wait a little longer, at least until she was sure of her feelings towards me, but a strange premonition made me give it to her tonight. The ring should ensure that if we were ever separated for any reason, I would always be able to find her, and hopefully it should also work in reverse. The very thought of a separation fills me with an unbearable pain, but with Khiara in town, I cannot rule out the possibility of a kidnap attempt. Khiara is many things, but she is, above all else, ruthless and completely without conscience. I shudder to even imagine how she would make Elinor suffer, were she to ever get the opportunity.
The ring has protective abilities; an ancient spell was cast upon it centuries ago. The magician Porphyry had studied vampirism along with the black and white magicks of the time. According to legend, his spell was a strong and effective one. The ring enables the wearer to have a certain amount of invincibility against holy items, such as holy water, the wafer and the sign of a blessed cross. It will not, however, protect the wearer from a finely sharpened wooden stake. But what could protect one from that? A stake through the heart will kill anyone, vampire or human.
I discovered these facts when the ring first passed into my family in the seventeenth century. With the ring was an ancient parchment, which listed its attributes. This was long before I met Emily and even longer before I, myself, became a vampire.
Some coincidences are just too strange to contemplate.
The parchment told of the rebirth of a red-haired night creature, a fledgling sired by a powerful vampire, an Elder, and this would precipitate the birth of a partnership that would make both vampires exceptionally powerful.
At the time I thought it all a fairy tale, and in latter years I thought the red-haired fledgling was Emily, as I had no belief in vampires. How wrong I was.
I can only surmise that one of my ancestors had been studying vampirism and then somehow acquired the ring as part of his studies.
I often wondered whether Khiara had known of the existence of the ring all along, and it was perhaps her reason for pursuing and eventually siring me. Not that she is flame-haired, but she would not have read the parchment, so it is possible she thought the powers would be attainable to whomever held the ring. It most definitely explains why she wants to destroy Elinor.
Whatever the reasons for events, which happened during my long existence, the fates surely led Elinor across my path on that wonderful day over a year ago. I know she sometimes wonders about Khiara, but one day soon, when the Trials are over, I will sit her down and tell her everything, just like I promised I would months ago.
She needs to know she is the only woman who holds my heart.
Truly, I never loved Khiara, nor she me, although I once believed I was in love with Emily. It would have been difficult not to care for her. She was beautiful, sweet-natured, acquiescent and she loved me with all her soul. But Elinor is different, certainly not acquiescent, even the thought makes me smile.
Gentlewomen in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were taught to defer to their husbands at all times. I have grown with the centuries, and as women have changed, so have I.
Men have to be stronger now, in some ways, more than ever before. It takes a strength of character and a certain amount of confidence to be acceptable to this century’s women.
I have seen firsthand the emancipation of women, I have witnessed the suffragette movement and I have watched as women became ever more independent and self-sufficient.
In more recent times, I watched history being made again, with Britain’s first female prime minister.
Now we are in ever changing times, some good, a lot of them bad, but time marches ever relentlessly on and we are powerless to stop it.
I am well aware that in the twenty-first century any true, loving relationship is first and foremost a partnership. When Elinor is stronger and more well-versed with our way of life, I know she will be the perfect partner. That she is strong-willed is evident, but she is also extremely intelligent, caring and, of course, heart-breakingly beautiful. It is terrifying how quickly she has become an integral part of me, and a necessity to my well-being. I cannot be without her.
It is this very fact that makes me so very vulnerable, and vulnerable is something I have not been for centuries.
Threats
Will’s eyes met mine briefly. ‘Get her away from here,’ he snapped at Jake, who was standing behind me with Roxy. She took hold of my arm and began to pull me back further into the club. I was too shocked, too dazed, to protest, even though I desperately wanted to stay near Will. Things had happened too fast, and I didn’t want to lose sight of him. Supposing the next time I saw him, he was without his head?
‘Let’s go upstairs.’ Roxy continued to drag me away from the grisly scene by the doorway.
When we were seated upstairs, I ran a shaky hand through my hair, ‘Wasn’t Vincente one of Khiara’s people?’
Jake nodded. ‘Clearly a dispensable one.’
‘Why would they do that?’
‘Either to try and put the blame with us or simply to start Trials off with a bang,’ replied Jake.
Roxy still had her arm through mine and I was grateful for that. As I looked around at the various assembled vampires, I realised I still had no clue who was friendly and who wasn’t. I felt more relieved than I can say when Will emerged at the top of the stairs. He strode unerringly toward us. I felt sure he would always find me easily, and for once I found that comforting.
‘Are you all right Elinor?’ he asked when he was close to us.
‘I don’t know.’
Jake and Roxy were suddenly gone from my side, and halfway across the floor towards the stairs, before I’d even missed them. Will lowered his tall frame onto the sofa next to me. He placed cool fingers to my face and turned me to look at him. ‘I am more sorry than you could ever know for what you have just witnessed.’
Tears filled my eyes at his quiet words, and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close. ‘Khiara’s love of the macabre does not seem to have lessened much over the years.’
‘Why would she do something so terrible to one of her own people?’
‘Khiara rarely cares for anyone, she is interested only in power and control.’
‘But what can it achieve?’
‘Proof to me that she cares not whom she destroys, and if she can do this to one of her own, she is capable of far worse to one of my people.’
‘Can you keep everyone safe?’
Will released me, keeping one arm around my shoulders. ‘The truth is, I fear not. My main concern now is to keep you away from her.’
I shivered.
‘Would you like to go home?’
‘More than anything … but—’
‘The body has been removed, there is no trace.’
Will stood and helped me to my feet. ‘Luke will drive us.’
We walked slowly back toward the stairs, and Will kept his arm firmly around me. At that moment I felt as though I never wanted to let him out of my sight again. I’d never felt so insecure before in my life, if it was, in fact, insecurity I felt.
Luke appeared at the foot of the stairs, almost as though he’d materialised from thin air. ‘Do you need a ride home?’
Will nodded. ‘Please. Perhaps, afterwards, you would be good enough to oversee the securing of the club for me?’
Luke nodded, and led the way to the front doors. I stiffened as we neared the place where Vincente’s mutilated body had been, and Will’s arm tightened around me.
I tried to keep my eyes straight ahead, but couldn’t help a sidewise glance. There was nothing to see.
As we drove away from the club I began to relax slightly, and the closer we got to Highgate, the better I felt. I knew I’d feel even better once the gates and the doors were secured against the outside world.
Two more nights passed and there had still been no news of Khiara. I wondered whether I was the only one who desperately hoped she’d gone back to Italy.
Will was non-commital, slipping into his inscrutable ‘Elder’ mode.
I felt as though everything had happened too fast, and I was trapped on a rollercoaster careering madly out of control. The confrontation with Edward Oldman had been shocking enough, but with Trials following so closely, my grip on reality seemed to have slipped. The phone rang constantly, which didn’t help my shredded nerves.
After four more nights of constant phone calls and no more news, Luke arrived for a meeting with Will. I fully expected to be banished to another room, but strangely I wasn’t.
‘Katarina and Josephine are stirring up trouble amongst the ranks.’ Luke sat in one of the armchairs.
I wouldn’t say I felt overly surprised by that piece of information.
‘In what way?’ Will’s voice was mild.
‘Saying one of our people must have killed Vincente and kidnapped Khiara.’
Will gave a short laugh. ‘Yes, I have heard that amusing little ditty. In fact, I probably have the bloody t-shirt.’
‘Don’t you think Khiara could be hiding just so we can be blamed?’ I joined in the conversation. It all seemed clear as crystal to me. Scheming bitch. It was a good way to ensure Will couldn’t beat her at the Trial thingies.
Luke shrugged and looked at Will, who was busy blowing perfect smoke rings at the ceiling. Good to know he was taking everything so seriously.
‘What do you think Will?’ asked Luke.
Will leaned forward and extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray. ‘It is, of course, possible. But I must admit I do not have a clue what to do at the moment. Perhaps we should nail a “missing” poster on a lamp post in the immediate vicinity?’
I began mentally to write the copy.
Missing – one Italian female vampire.
Black hair, pointy teeth and a very nasty temper.
Answers (sometimes) to the name ‘Khiara’.
The phone rang, Will sighed heavily and got up to answer it. Plucking the phone from its hub, he spoke curtly into it. ‘Speak to me.’
I could hear a female voice chattering away, which verged on hysterical, but I couldn’t make out the actual words.
‘Preferably in English.’
There was a slight pause and then the voice continued at a slower pace.
‘Very well, we shall come over.’ Will replaced the phone and turned to face us, his expression stern. ‘It would appear Grigori has been attacked.’
‘Destroyed?’ Luke asked the question I hadn’t wanted to.
‘No, for some reason, he has been left alive. Presumably so he can tell us all a tale.’
Luke muttered a curse.
Will continued, ‘He is barely conscious and has been badly beaten, burned, and bound in silver chains with crosses.’
I shivered, remembering the pain of just one small silver belly bolt. ‘Do you think it could be a trap?’
‘It was certainly a trap for Grigori, one way or another.’
‘
If
it’s true.’
He looked at me then, and raised a dark eyebrow. ‘When did you get so cynical?’
I shrugged. ‘Around twelve years old.’
Will’s steady gaze appraised me. ‘That matter has been resolved.’
I wondered if it had. I didn’t want to think about Edward Oldman ever again. Part of me wished I’d let Will kill him, although deep down I knew I could never have lived with it. Just seeing him again, after all those years, had brought some of the old nightmares to the surface. But I knew now was not the time to talk about it.
I glanced at Luke who had been watching both of us with a strange look on his face. Suddenly, he smiled. ‘I’ve known Will for more than a hundred years, yet I’ve never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at you.’
I thought Will may well dispute Luke’s words, but he just threw me an amused glance. ‘Thanks for that Luke, you have just ruined my reputation as an incorrigible flirt.’
‘I never said you weren’t a flirt.’ Luke grinned. ‘Just that none of the other women meant anything. No one has until Ellie.’
Will’s eyes glinted. ‘I believe she knows that.’
Did I?
I’d never been very good at having any kind of personal conversations, and the fact that one had suddenly become a three-way conversation was considerably adding to my discomfort.
‘It is a good job vampires do not blush.’ Will smiled, touching my cheek gently. ‘Otherwise I have a feeling my little fledgling’s cheeks would be matching her wonderful titian hair by now.’
‘Are we going or not?’ I stalked over to the door with as much dignity as I could, which thanks to years of dance training was quite considerable.
Luke opened the drawing room door for me with an exaggerated flourish, and as I went through he said to Will, ‘Mind you, she is lovely.’
‘And I am exceedingly jealous with a very violent temper.’ Will followed me out.
‘Don’t worry, she only has eyes for you.’
‘Just stop—God—how old
are
you two? You’re like a couple of adolescent schoolboys.’ I stood by the front door with my hands on my hips, and looked back at them as they stood together outside the drawing room. Mouth-wateringly gorgeous, and definitely dangerous, they were the kind of men most women could only dream about – if their imagination stretched that far.
‘We are merely trying to lighten a distressing situation.’ Will smiled. ‘Shall we go?’
After securing the house and gates, we got into Luke’s car, and he drove smoothly away. When we neared Chalk Farm, Luke turned into Adelaide Road, one of the many residential roads that led to Camden High Street.
Just before the main road, he took a left turn onto Eton Road, and I looked out at the elegant Victorian terraced houses. Who knew what secrets lurked behind their doors? I shivered again. Even with Will and Luke beside me, I wasn’t feeling up to whatever was in there.
Luke pulled up under a Residents’ Permit Only sign and turned off the ignition. We sat in silence for a few minutes.
‘Showtime,’ Will announced into the darkness, and I jumped.
I glared at him, and he leaned in to kiss me gently on the forehead. ‘Come on, let us get this over with.’
We got out of the car, and Will ran lightly up the steps to the front door. After unlocking the door with a key from a large bunch of keys, he motioned us to follow.
I went in, and Luke followed me, closing the door behind him.
The sound of the door closing had an ominous finality about it, and I didn’t like it one bit.
The vampire coming towards us I didn’t like one bit either.
Katarina, of course.
She was casually dressed for once, in tight-fitting blue jeans and a red velvet hooded sweatshirt. She looked almost human, but where she came from, that was probably an insult.
‘Katarina.’ Will’s voice was cold.
She took his saying her name as an invitation, and ran to him flinging her arms around his neck.
I really didn’t like her.
Will disengaged her arms none too gently, pushing her away from him at the same time. ‘Cut the theatrics. Just tell me what has happened.’
She gave him a baleful look, which would have cowed most men I’m sure. But Will is very definitely
not
most men.
‘Grigori is in there,’ she pointed at a door to my left.
OK, I very nearly felt a bit sorry for her then, but she suddenly shot me a venomous look, and all sympathy evaporated.
Will nodded and went to the left-hand door with Luke and myself following. Grigori was lying on a sofa, wearing nothing but a pair of black trousers, which were torn and filthy. His face was barely recognisable, it was horribly swollen with so many cuts, bruises and bites all over it, I doubt even his own mother would have known him. Both his eyelids were bruised and inflamed, and his eyes were partially closed. His large chest had been slashed with what could only have been a sword, because the wounds were deep and long. Cross-shaped burns covered almost every part of his flesh, whilst angry, weeping welts marred his upper body, and had almost certainly been caused by silver chains.
I couldn’t begin to guess how anyone had managed to overpower such a giant of a man. Even if he’d been human, he would still have been a force to be reckoned with. The wounds were so similar to those of Vincente that I found myself picturing that dreadful scene again.
Unfortunately for Grigori, he was still conscious, and whoever had done this had clearly intended him to remain so, which meant they knew exactly what they were doing.
‘What happened Grigori?’ Will stood close to him and stared down at his battered face.
‘They have my mistress,’ he rasped through his swollen, black lips.
‘Is that so? And “they” were?’
‘Masked.’
‘Handy.’
Grigori’s eyelids fluttered closed, and I glanced at Will’s stern face. His expression looked uncompromising. I went to speak, but he lifted a hand without looking at me, and I swallowed the words. I stared back at Grigori’s swollen, beaten and bitten face, and his scarred body; surely no one would deliberately hurt one of their own people so badly. Would they? Could it really be some kind of trap?
Will strode to the door and I looked to Luke for guidance. He nodded and gestured that I should follow Will, which for once I did reluctantly.
He went a short way down the narrow dark hall and stopped at a door on the right-hand side. Opening the door, he turned to me. ‘It would be better if you waited in here, Elinor.’
I went into the room and heard him shut the door behind me, and breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel better for long, because I found myself face to face with both Katarina and Josephine.
Josephine was seated in a large armchair, elegantly dressed in slim-fitting black trousers and a loose knitted blue jumper, perfectly flattering her pale beauty. Her blonde hair hung loose to her shoulders like a shining waterfall, and she pushed it back from her face with a languid, almost bored movement. Her cold, light blue eyes raked down my body and back up to my face, although she didn’t speak.
Katarina perched on one of the arms of the chair, looking like an evil little gnome, and she glared at me with such open hatred that I took a step back.
‘Hallo
fledgling
,’ said Josephine in her clear, cold voice. ‘How very unusual not to see you attached to your Master.’
I held my arms out to my sides and waved my fingers. ‘No strings.’
Katarina’s face twisted in a contemptuous sneer. ‘How long do you think you can hold onto Will,
fledgling
?’
Great. Just to make my week even more perfect, I was facing a confrontation with the bitchy twins of evil from Will’s chequered past. I glanced down at the beautiful emerald ring glinting on the third finger of my left hand, its fiery depths still reminded me of the green lights in his eyes. I looked back at the vampire gnome. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your damn business.’