Chapter Nine

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.’

‘She’s born a grudge for two hundred years?’ I asked. ‘She must be a Scorpio.’

Will’s lips twitched. ‘I could not say,’ he said. ‘All I know is that my life has been uncomplicated in the extreme for very many years, but the moment I bring another woman to my house, someone begins to sully my territory. She is the only creature on this earth who is vindictive enough to instigate revenge two centuries on.’

‘She needs to get a life.’ I muttered. ‘Or another death.’

Luke laughed. ‘I like her.’

‘I knew you would,’ said Will.

‘So what do we do?’ I asked, as I sat back down.

‘You will do nothing,’ he said. ‘I, too, shall do nothing at this stage either.’

‘Oh, good plan,’ I said sarcastically. ‘So when the angry villagers torch your house, will you do something then?’

‘You have seen far too many cheap horror films,’ he replied.

‘Does this woman know where you live?’ I asked. ‘I mean if you can sense her, surely she would be able to sense you too, and find you here eventually?’

Will looked impressed. ‘Beauty and brains,’ he said.

‘Don’t patronise me,’ I said, annoyed.

‘It was a compliment.’

‘Trust me, it wasn’t.’

Will turned to Luke. ‘You are younger than I, do you understand her?’

Luke looked thoughtful. ‘I think she is inferring that you think it unusual for a woman to be beautiful, yet intelligent, and that generally it is not possible to be both.’

Will looked back at me and raised his eyebrows.

‘What he said,’ I agreed.

‘Elinor, I am well aware that you have considerable intelligence; as far as I am concerned that has never been in question. Plus your appearance speaks for itself.’

‘You definitely spent too long with Byron,’ I said.

At that moment the phone rang and Will rose to answer it.

‘Yes?’ Not one for bothering with a good telephone manner obviously. He listened for a while, and nodded his head every now and again. ‘I appreciate that Jake, thank you.’

He came back and sat down. ‘Jake has come across some unknown vampires in the Camden area. One very large male, who could be Grigori, plus a blonde woman who could very well be Josephine. When he challenged them, they got into a car and drove off. He says they went towards Chalk Farm.’

‘So if it is Grigori and Josephine, Khiara is almost certainly in London too,’ said Luke. ‘What would you like me to do?’

‘Contact all of our people and tell them everything, and also tell them about Elinor. You need to assure them the renegade is not ours. Everyone should be very alert and security conscious. Especially when going out to feed, I do not want to lose anyone.’

‘Consider it done.’

Luke stood up and Will stood too. They clasped hands like two ancient warriors, and Will gripped Luke’s shoulder. ‘Take care my friend.’

Luke nodded and turned to me. ‘It was good to meet you Elinor.’

‘You too.’ I said.

The door closed behind him, and after a few seconds I heard the front door close too. I stared into space thinking about this latest development. ‘Will your people think it was me anyway?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Will said firmly. ‘I trust Luke implicitly to say the right things where you are concerned.’

‘What can we do?’ I asked. ‘There must be something.’

‘We keep a very low profile and let Luke handle things for the moment.’

‘If my profile was any lower, I’d be back in the grave.’

‘Feeding could be a potential problem too …’ He was obviously thinking aloud. ‘I cannot risk bringing anyone here for a while.’

Great, just when I was getting accustomed to room service and drinking the revolting stuff from a mug, it all goes to pot again.

Will crossed back to the phone and, picking it up, keyed in a few numbers.

‘I need a favour,’ he said. ‘Yes. That would be plenty, many thanks. If you deliver to the usual place, I shall leave payment for you there.’

He replaced the phone.

I looked questioningly at him.

‘I have made arrangements for some blood to be delivered from the hospital.’

‘Someone could die if we take the hospital’s blood.’

Will shook his head. ‘I very much doubt that,’ he said. ‘We only take the more common blood groups. You would do well to worry more about your own well-being at this moment in time.’

That made me feel so much better. Not.

Will sat back down on the sofa and watched me for a while. I knew he was about to ask me something personal, so I mentally braced myself.

‘I would still like to know who destroyed your faith in men.’

I said nothing at first, just looked at him. Eventually I shook my head.

‘Tell me.’

‘Why does it matter to you? It all happened a long time ago, and you don’t have any right to ask me about it.’

‘You are quite correct of course, I do not have the right to ask you such a personal question,’ said Will. ‘But I think your past is still playing a part now. It stands between us like an ugly spectre and I would very much like to exorcise it.’

I thought about whether to trust Will with the information. I didn’t know him well enough to know how he would take the knowledge of my hideous abuse at the hands of the one person I should have been able to trust. Deciding there was nothing to lose, I closed my eyes against the painful memories.

‘Foster father.’ I whispered, reluctantly remembering events I’d buried deep in my memory for years – revolting things I had never wanted to surface again. I watched his face anxiously, expecting to see it show disgust with me, the dirty child, problem child, lying child. But his gaze was sympathetic, almost kind.

‘How old were you?’

‘Twelve,’ I replied. ‘My parents died in a car accident when I was eleven.’

Will stood up, cursing under his breath. He started to pace, and I felt anxious in case his temper erupted again. ‘How does a maggot like that ever become a foster father?’

‘No one believed me. He was plausible and very charming to the people who mattered. His wife didn’t believe me either, and I became branded a problem child. But he was always seen as the nice guy who had kindly taken in an orphan with problems, and given her a nice home.’

‘No wonder you “don’t do casual sex”, it makes perfect sense.’ He said. ‘How long did it go on?’

‘Until I was fifteen. Then they took in another, younger, girl. He transferred his attentions to her—I tried to help her—’ I broke off as more images flashed before my eyes. Scenes that had long been relegated to the dark recesses of my memory. Strange how they were all still there, and yet I still couldn’t recall the accident.

Will stood still and crouched down in front of me. ‘Once again I find myself wishing I could take the pain away from you,’ he rested his hands either side of me on the arms of the chair. Strangely, I didn’t feel penned in by him for once. The only emotion I could feel from him was concern. ‘I meant what I said before, Ellie, if I ever find him, he is a dead man.’ He stood slowly, and touched my hair briefly, before crossing back to the sofa and sitting down again.

‘You called me Ellie,’ was all I could find to say.

A slight smile touched his lips. ‘I believe I did. The night is yet young, would you care to take a walk?’

‘Is it safe to leave the house?’

‘We shall no doubt find out.’

I felt as though I needed some air after all the events of the night, so I stood up and nodded. ‘Let’s go then.’ I sounded braver than I felt.

Will stood too and, crossing to the door, opened it for me. He strode across the reception hall to a Victorian coat-stand, and took down my coat and his jacket, handing me mine. I slipped it on, hugging it around myself as he pulled on his jacket. His t-shirt strained across his chest as he did so, and I would have had to be made of stone not to enjoy the view. A fact that I am sure Will was well aware of. He opened the front door with a flourish, and I went out in front of him.

So this was the front of the house. The door itself was a typical Georgian door, painted in traditional black, with a glass fanlight at the top. Will flicked the hall light on as we left and locked the door behind us. Stairs led down from the door to the paved parking area in front of the house, which was surrounded by high brick walls in much the same way as the garden at the back of the house. Huge wrought iron double gates stood majestically in the centre of the walls and were firmly closed.

Will went to a key panel in the wall, and when he tapped in some numbers the gates swung quietly open. After we’d gone through, they swung closed again with a clang.

‘Not exactly a caller-friendly house is it?’ I said.

Will pointed to a mailbox set in the wall. ‘Post or deliveries go here. Luke and Stevie both know the combination for the gates at the front and back of the house but anyone else has to ring the entry phone.’

Well, he certainly took no chances with security, and at that moment in time I was pleased he didn’t. If there were unfriendly vampires in London trying to implicate me in murder for whatever reason, all precautions were good.

‘Who’s Stevie?’ I asked, suddenly realising he’d unwittingly given me another name.

‘He is the manager of my club and a good friend, you will meet him soon.’

‘You have a Georgian mansion in Highgate, a plane in Elstree and now I find you own a club.’ I was beginning to wonder how much money this man had.

‘When one has been around as long as I have, one accumulates,’ he said.

We walked to the end of the road where Will turned into Oakeshott Avenue, and from there he headed toward Swains Lane.

We were making for the cemetery.

‘Are you deliberately trying to scare me?’ I asked him.

He turned his head to look down at me. ‘Perhaps. You may need to hang on to me if you become frightened.’

‘So that’s your evil plan,’ I said.

His soft laughter ran through me as though he’d touched me.

Oh, he had plans all right.

16 February

I curse my foul temper and I curse the fact that Elinor had to hear the full story of her tragic accident from my own lips. I wanted her to remember under her own volition. I do not know why I felt it would make a difference, but somehow I believed it would.

I know she believes that I sought out and killed the driver who caused her to almost die, and she is correct in her assumption. She knows me better than I thought she did. But I could not allow that creature to live.

How could anyone drive into another person and then not stop to give assistance? Why do the human courts not have fitting punishment for a crime such as this? I would not think twice about retribution for such an appalling act. In fact, I did not.

I feel our somewhat fragile relationship, if indeed it can be called such, is more fragile than ever at the moment. I have succeeded in scaring her twice in the bathroom, even instilling the belief I would rape her. Then I terrified her further with my revolting show of temper.

In a way I am relieved that Luke came when he did, as I think his presence calmed things down a little. Although his news was nothing I really wanted to hear. I am convinced Khiara is now in London, and it is the very last thing I need to contend with, at the moment. The woman is bad news, and her entourage the main source of intrinsic evil. They will only cause problems within the City.

Protocol among us decrees that a visiting ‘kiss of vampires’ should seek the permission of the city’s Elder before arriving. The fact Khiara did not is an arrogant declaration of animosity, and a direct insult to me. To allow one of her entourage to so blatantly drain a human, and then leave the body for all and sundry to see, is tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet. I am not sure how to play this just yet, but my main objective is to keep Elinor safe, and preferably far away from Khiara.