Authors: Berni Stevens
‘Finish this while I tidy things up,’ he said. ‘I shall be back soon.’
‘But you will come back?’ I felt suddenly and inexplicably afraid of being left alone.
‘Of course.’
I was continuing to sip at the warm contents of the mug, when memories began to flood my head noisily and colourfully, each jostling for prior position. I almost fainted at the onslaught. Fragmented pictures swam luridly around, as conversations from previous days resounded, jangling and harsh. I saw a bizarre image of myself, fighting desperately to get out of a closed coffin deep beneath the earth. Images that caused my eyes to fly open in an attempt to break free of them.
What world of madness was this?
‘Let us go little vampire.’ Will’s voice, deep and commanding. When?
Where?
Other memories continued to assault my brain, most of them jumbled and confused. I couldn’t separate what was grim reality from what appeared to be horrifying dreams. Perhaps this revolting cellar was, in fact, the dream? Although sadly, that seemed much more likely to be wishful thinking on my part.
Strangely, I found I could now remember more of my previous human life, although events were somewhat haphazard and in no particular order.
Where
had
I first met Will? How had I ended up here in this predicament?
Drinking blood?
I stared down at the nearly empty mug. There was a little of the warm liquid left at the bottom and my stomach suddenly churned violently.
In a fit of violent remorse, I stood and hurled the mug across the room, just as Will reappeared. He caught it deftly with a movement that was preternaturally swift and almost too fast to see.
‘Trying to save on the washing up?’
‘Did you kill him?’ I had to know.
‘No need. I merely called the police, and had him arrested for attempted breaking and entering. His various bruises were obviously my pathetic attempts at self-defence.’
‘What about his lack of blood or holes in his neck?’ I persisted.
‘By the time he appears in the Magistrates’ Court his blood will have replenished itself and there are no marks on his neck.’
I wanted to ask how the blood had been taken but felt afraid to.
‘I extracted the blood straight from a vein, by means of tubes and machinery, in much the same way as a nurse would, from a blood donor. Which, in fact, he was.’ Will smiled at his own joke.
‘Where the hell did you get that kind of equipment? And stop taking questions out of my head.’
‘Money buys most things,’ was the reply. ‘Your questions are bombarding me somewhat at the moment and it is a little difficult to differentiate the ones spoken aloud to the ones you are thinking.’
That could be a problem if I was thinking about escaping at any time.
‘I would not advise that,’ Will said, proving my point. ‘You would never survive without my guidance.’
‘Who guided you?’
His face became impassive again, his eyes unfathomable, although they glittered like angry emeralds. ‘It is a long and extremely unpleasant story.’
I decided to change the subject fast.
‘Will I get better?’
‘Better?’ He threw me a quizzical look. ‘What
do
you mean, child?’
‘Better at being a vampire,’ I replied, frowning at him. ‘I seem to be pretty useless at it so far.’
He moved closer and I stared up at him.
‘Now that you are beginning to feed, you will be fine. I am the best teacher you could have, after all.’
I searched his face for sarcasm and found none. He seemed so confident, who was I to burst his bubble?
I decided, however, not to tell him about my returning memories, I wasn’t ready to confide in him. He was too arrogant … too controlling … too … too bloody everything actually. If he could pick up on my thoughts, he was welcome to the memories as well. If I couldn’t make any sense out of them yet, then he sure as hell wouldn’t be able to.
‘Would you care to take a walk?’
I looked at him in amazement. Anywhere away from this dank cellar would be sublime. ‘Walk? Where?’
‘Outside, of course.’
Outside? In the open air? That had to be his best idea yet.
I wondered whether it was day or night. ‘Is it sunny?’
He favoured me with a mocking glance. ‘I sincerely hope not.’
I just stared at him again.
‘Vampires are unable to go out in the sun, little fledgling,’ he said. ‘We are creatures of the night. Surely you knew that?’
Yes, of course I had known that, I’d watched loads of
Buffy
reruns with everyone else, and I’ve often ogled Eric Northman from
True Blood
too, but somehow I hadn’t likened any of it to my own state. Fiction was fiction. But now the realisation hit me like a sledgehammer: it would mean living in darkness for eternity.
‘You mean I’ll never see the sun again?’
He already knew how much I hated the dark.
He looked pensive for a moment. ‘You can look at it through darkened glass, but you will never again be able to go out in direct sunlight. As a fledgling, you will not even awaken until after the sun has set. For that, I am truly sorry.’
I let this latest bombshell sink in and looked disconsolately at the floor.
‘Would you like to take a bath?’ He changed the subject swiftly.
I looked up in surprise and he gave me a wry smile. ‘I am trying to make this easier for you, but you will have to meet me halfway, as I am considerably out of practice.’
I decided to humour him. ‘A bath would be good. Different clothes would be even better.’
He nodded and motioned me to follow him back through the doorway.
Will led me back through the other cellar – the man had gone, of course, and there was no trace of him, just a lingering smell of blood, which probably only a vampire would notice.
We passed through another doorway and Will led the way up some stairs. A door at the top opened onto a small landing and he opened another door to reveal an enormous bathroom. It appeared to be almost the size of my whole flat in Crouch End, so he had to be one very wealthy vampire.
The sunken bath was huge, it looked as though it could easily accommodate four people with room to spare. I wondered idly what kind of parties vampires went in for, then decided I really didn’t want to know. An ornate hand basin against the far wall had an antique oak cupboard above it, and in the corner of the room was a large glass cubicle, housing a modern, state-of-the-art shower, which I made a mental note not to use whenever Will was around. It was just a little too see-through for my taste.
The toilet looked to be an early Victorian design, with a high cistern, an elaborate chain with enamel pull, and an oak seat.
Do vampires have normal bodily functions?
Somehow I didn’t think so. The floor was made up of large flagstones, which looked centuries old to my untrained eye. Just how old was this place again? The walls were partly tiled with plain, gleaming white tiles, and the rest of the walls were painted an ivory colour. The brass taps glinted in the soft lighting and I noticed there were no windows. This bathroom seemed to be completely vampire-friendly, and it also felt as though we were still underground.
Will turned on the gleaming taps and spun around to face me. ‘Bubbles?’ he held up two different, expensive-looking bottles. I nodded, and he unscrewed the ornate cap from one of the bottles to add some fragrant liquid to the water. Immediately, the room filled with the aromatic scent of cedar wood.
It was round about then I realised I was going to have to undress in order to have a bath, and I had a feeling he wasn’t the type to leave while I did so.
I stood uncertainly near the door, and watched him warily.
I argued silently with myself. I’d only known him a few days, and he’d already turned me into a vampire, so how much worse could it get?
The bath filled up quickly, a little too quickly for my liking, and then he was coming toward me. His mocking look was back as he stood in front of me, hands resting on his slim hips.
‘Shy Elinor?’ He asked, surprising me by using my name.
‘Where I come from, ladies have their baths alone,’ I replied.
‘Then I shall go and find you some other clothes while you get in the bath,’ he said, with a courteous gesture of hands, and I nodded again, feeling relieved.
He went out through a second door, opposite the one we had entered, and I hastily stripped off my filthy jeans, both sweatshirts, and underwear. I stepped tentatively into the warm, frothy water and sat down, making sure the bubbles covered absolutely everything from my chin down. The feel of the warm, foamy water against my cold, sensitive skin was overwhelming, and I closed my eyes as I gave myself up to the somewhat erotic sensation.
Will came back in, carrying faded blue jeans and a dark-blue jumper. I didn’t want to ask about underwear. Best not to mention underwear at this point.
‘How is the water?’
‘Wonderful,’ I wondered if he was just going to stand there and watch me. His presence seemed to fill the room and I sank lower under the water.
‘I take it you would not be too keen on company in the bath.’
‘Don’t even think about it.’
He smiled. This was all going to go to hell in a minute. I could feel it.
He squatted down beside the bath, trailing his hand lazily in the bubbles. I moved backwards carefully, away from his hand, trying not to disturb the bubbles too much, and felt suddenly grateful that the bath was so huge.
He watched me, his green eyes glinting.
‘I could, however, wash your hair for you,’ he offered.
I looked at him suspiciously then, and he laughed.
‘I would like to say I do not bite,’ he said, ‘however, you definitely know it is not the case.’
I desperately wanted my hair to feel clean and tangle-free again, but I didn’t trust him an inch. He leaned his arms on the side of the bath and looked at me, as he raised his eyebrows.
‘So … little Elinor … do you trust me with your lovely red hair?’
‘I would love clean hair,’ I said. ‘Just don’t try anything.’
His lips quirked upwards.
It was all going to go horribly wrong if he attempted any kind of seduction routine on me. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to tolerate his hands in my hair, let alone anywhere else. He moved behind me and my whole body tensed as his fingers touched my hair. I felt his palms gently cupping water over the tangled mass, and then those strong, sure fingers began to massage shampoo into my hair and scalp. My body gradually began to unwind as the tension left it, and I closed my eyes, allowing myself to relax properly for the first time in what felt like months. He rinsed off the shampoo thoroughly, and ran his fingers through my hair, gently straightening out the tangles.
Lightly, teasingly, his hands suddenly slid down my bare shoulders. His touch made me gasp, and my skin tingled like ice and fire together where his fingers had been. He softly kissed the back of my neck – a gentle, fluttering kiss like a velvet butterfly winging its way down my body.
I moved away from him, with one violent shove that sent the water sloshing around to reveal more of my upper body than I was happy with.
‘How did I know you would take advantage?’ I said scathingly. ‘Dead or alive, men are all the same.’
‘So call me predictable.’ He held up his hands in mock surrender as he stood. His t-shirt was soaked, and clung rather distractingly to his muscular body. I averted my gaze quickly and for once felt safer with him standing.
‘You enjoyed my company once,’ he sighed.
As I couldn’t even remember where I’d even met him, I found his remark somewhat confusing.
‘Even if we’d met under different circumstances, I very much doubt I’d have found you even passably attractive,’ I lied.
He arched an eyebrow at that. ‘We did, and I can assure you, I was not found wanting.’
So why can’t I remember?
I had sunk right down in the water again to ensure the bubbles came right up to my neck. There was no way on this earth I would get out of the bath with him still in the room.
‘Let me show you my world,’ he said, once again changing the subject. ‘
Our
world.’
‘I want to get dry and dressed first. In private.’
‘So shy,’ he mocked me again. ‘How very refreshing.’
He inclined his head at me before he left through the opposite door again, closing it firmly behind him. I waited for a few minutes, half-expecting him to return at any moment. When he didn’t, I got out of the bath, and hurriedly wrapped myself in a towel. I dried and dressed quickly with shaking hands. The clothes he’d chosen were my own, and I was glad of the familiarity, although how he’d come by them I couldn’t remember. I was glad he had supplied underwear too, although I wasn’t sure how I felt about him actually handling it. A strange feeling clenched at my lower body at the thought, and I tried to ignore it in a wave of foreboding.
‘Do you want to bring the rest of your clothes?’
I was sitting on the floor in my flat, leaning against my wardrobe door. Will had pulled a holdall from the top of the wardrobe and was stuffing clothes into it. I watched him put my life into a bag and still I did nothing. Why wasn’t I running away?
‘Let us go, little vampire’
A brief baring of his white teeth in a semblance of a smile and I began to shake my head again and again, no
…
no
…
I would not go anywhere with this man.
I blinked several times and the elegant bathroom swam back into focus. Where had that memory come from? When had Will been in my flat packing my clothes? That he had, in fact, packed my clothes was evident because I was wearing them. God I wanted my brain back. I was beginning to accept I couldn’t ever have my old life back, but surely recovering more of my memories would help me get through this bizarre time. Although now that I had bathed, my hair was clean and I wore clean clothes, I actually felt better for the first time in … How long had it been?
My body felt strong, athletic. Coiled and ready for … For what? I usually felt like this when I’d had a good rehearsal and the adrenaline was pumping around my body in anticipation of the next performance. I towelled my hair as dry as possible and looked around for a comb or a brush.