Chapter Twenty-Four

Recreation

Exactly an hour after sunset the next night, Luke arrived to collect the poisonous gnome. Will went downstairs to let him in the cellar door, and said I should go with him. It wasn’t a request.

The livid, red scars on Katarina’s face stood out violently against the pale beauty of her face. I still felt wholly responsible for her ordeal and, judging by her curses and threats, so did she. From what little I did understand of her ravings, both my human parentage and my siring were extremely questionable. Many of her screamed threats were in Italian of course, but I still had the feeling most of them were directed at me. Will, I knew, spoke fluent Italian, but he didn’t seem inclined to translate the threats for me.

‘Well if she meant only half of the threats I vaguely understood, I’m in big trouble,’ I said wryly as Will closed the cellar door behind them.

He smiled. ‘I think you would be more than a match for her now.’

‘You think so?’

‘I know so. You are, after all, descended from an exceedingly superior line.’

‘Wasn’t she sired by Khiara?’

‘No. A renegade attacked her and I believe Grigori dusted him some eighty years ago. Josephine took her in as a servant for Khiara.’

Once again I almost felt sympathy for her. ‘That’s revolting. No wonder she hated me from the word go.’

Will rested his hand on my back as he guided me upstairs. ‘You are indeed most privileged.’

‘To be hated?’

‘To be so adored by me.’

‘No less arrogant tonight then.’

‘Mind your manners, young lady.’

Once upstairs, I automatically headed for the drawing room and sat on the sofa. Will came and sat next to me. ‘How are you feeling tonight Elinor? Would you like to go out?’

I thought about leaving the safety of the house for a moment. Part of me felt safer inside with everything that had happened over the previous few weeks, but another part of me wanted to simply escape its four walls and do something completely different.

‘I’m not sure. What do you have in mind? What did you do before I came here? Have a few beers with the boys, watch a football match and chat up some girls?’

That did make Will laugh. ‘Sounds too indescribably dull for words.’

‘So what did you do?’

He regarded me thoughtfully for a moment. ‘Hunted, fed, slept. Come to think of it, that sounds too indescribably dull for words too.’

I smiled. ‘Somehow, I can’t imagine you suffering anything dull.’

‘I happen to know there is a large rock concert at Wembley tonight. Do you fancy that?’

‘Who’s playing?’

‘I believe the collective age of the band almost totals my own.’

I laughed. ‘You have to be talking about the Stones. But their tickets get sold out months before a gig, unless you pay the exorbitant prices the ticket touts charge of course.’

Will merely put a hand in his inside jacket pocket and produced two concert tickets with a flourish.

‘How?’

His lips quirked upwards. ‘Oh, I know a man, who knows a man, who ate a ticket tout.’

I shook my head at him. He was completely incorrigible. ‘I’d love it.’

‘Good. I have a cab coming in half an hour.’

I raised my eyebrows. ‘Pretty sure of my answer, huh?’

‘I know you are a dedicated rock chick.’

I wondered how he had ever discovered the Stones were playing at Wembley. Perhaps Stevie had told him. Although I supposed he kept his eye on the music press because of the nightclub. Will struck me as far too sharp a businessman not to take his own business seriously.

About an hour later, the taxi dropped us as close to the main entrance of the Arena as it could. After we’d got out, Will leant back in to pay and have a short conversation with the driver. I watched the throng of music fans making their way to the various entrances. The familiar thrill of a prospective live rock concert ran through me, and it was as much as I could do not to grab Will’s hand and run for the nearest entrance. There were so many people. More humans in one place than I’d seen since being turned.

I looked around to drink in the atmosphere, loving every moment already. One of my favourite things had always been to go to as many concerts as I could afford, when I wasn’t working of course. As Will had been stalking – sorry – observing me for a year, he would have been very aware of that.

Taking hold of my hand, he strode confidently toward the nearest entrance. As usual, a great many women turned to look at him, and, as usual, he didn’t appear to notice. He had dressed in blue jeans, t-shirt and his favourite black leather jacket, but he still stood out from the masses. The old vampire charisma again perhaps. He showed the tickets to a security person at one of the turnstiles who scanned them and waved us through.

Once in the outer ring of the arena, I became instantly aware of the noise, both of the crowd, and of the support band who were already on stage. The place seethed with a mass of people, all ages, shapes and creeds, buying t-shirts, programmes, badges, alcohol and the rather dubious greasy fast food on offer.

An overwhelming smell of hot dogs and hamburgers hung on the air, so heavy it was almost visible. I saw everything through different eyes now, with sight I now knew had become enhanced since my rebirth as a vampire. I felt as if I’d been somehow starved of life before, missing the many scents, sights and sounds which were so very clear to me now.

I’d always loved people watching, and I stood still to soak in the excitement and the electric atmosphere that pulsated through the stadium. Will stood very close to me and took hold of my arm, so as to speak quietly in my ear. ‘How is your control?’

I looked up at him, and smiled at his concern. ‘I’m fine. Really.’

He nodded, satisfied, and led the way to the Arena’s inner sanctum, turning back to me just before going in. ‘Do I have to buy you a T-shirt?’

‘I only ever buy Bowie t-shirts.’

He raised a dark brow. ‘Should I be worried?’

‘You can hold your own. Anyway, the man may be a legend, but he’s almost retired these days.’

‘And still only in his sixties,’ murmured Will. ‘So young.’

And he thought I always had an answer.

When we were in our seats, I continued to watch everyone around me. The age range at a Stones’ concert is always incredible. The youngest fan I saw looked about six years old, but the oldest could easily have been seventy, or maybe even more. Obviously, Will remained senior to everyone in the audience, by quite a few centuries, but without looking it, of course. He leaned back in his seat, perfectly at ease, his arm resting across the back of my seat. I could feel his eyes on me and turned to face him. ‘OK—what?’

He smiled, and raised his hand lazily to touch my hair. ‘You are just like a child in a sweet shop. I really should have thought of this before.’

‘You thought of it tonight, and that’s good enough for me.’

A huge roar suddenly erupted from the crowd as vibrant lights flooded the stage, and Ronnie and Keith stormed into the opening riff of their usual opening number.

The audience rose to its feet as one and the cheers were deafening. The familiar music pulsed louder than anything at any concert I could ever remember. I found myself on my feet swaying in time to it along with everyone else.

Will remained sitting, looking cool and often watching me more than the band.

I could feel his amused gaze like a weight, and turned to glance at him several times. His eyes glowed in the dark as he watched me, a half-smile playing on his lips. Too sexy for his own good.

When the Stones had played most of their back catalogue, Mick had strutted his last strut and the final throbbing notes had died away, Will rose slowly to his feet.

I tilted my head up at him. ‘So now you stand up?’

‘I needed to conserve my energy.’

I had a fairly good idea why. Even vampire elders can be predictable sometimes.

We made our way to one of the exits along with hundreds of other people. I looked at Will as he slipped a proprietary arm around my waist. ‘Thank you for this.’

‘The pleasure is mine.’ Seventeenth-century manners were certainly endearing. A smile lit his face briefly. ‘Do you have any idea how many concerts you have attended over the last twelve months?’

I thought for a moment. I’d been dancing in the chorus of Chicago for three months, and I frowned as I mentally counted the gigs I could remember. ‘Not the exact amount, no.’

‘Well it has been quite a few. Including Glastonbury.’

‘You aren’t telling me you were at all of them too?’

‘Not all of them, no.’

I stopped walking and turned to face him. ‘I remember now. I talked to you at Glastonbury.’ I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten.

He traced his fingers down my cheek. ‘Memories cannot always be recalled for some time after rebirth, Elinor.’

I nodded slowly. ‘But Glastonbury’s on for three days. What did you do during the day?’

He gave me a wicked look. ‘Kept out of the sodding sun.’

‘How?’

‘Camper van.’

Oh. Simple then.

We emerged from the Arena, and I started to follow the masses towards the tube station, when Will grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction. ‘We need to find our cab.’

I snorted with derision. ‘Fat chance around Wembley after a concert.’

He made no reply, just continued walking away from the station. He turned suddenly into one of the small side roads. Sure enough, a black cab idled there, with the yellow ‘for hire’ sign turned off. I really shouldn’t have been surprised to see the same man who’d driven us here earlier, but I gave Will a questioning look anyway.

He shrugged. ‘Everyone has a price.’

We got into the back of the cab, and it pulled away almost immediately.

‘Good night mate?’

‘Very good, thank you.’

‘Can’t believe they’re still goin’ at their age.’ The driver shook his head. ‘Bleedin’ mad if you ask me.’

Will draped an arm around my shoulders, a roguish smile lighting his face. He relaxed back into the seat, crossing his long legs. It seemed just as I’d begun to enjoy the dark intimacy of the cab, we drew up at the back gate of the house. Will leaned forward to pay the driver with, I noticed, several twenty pound notes.

‘Cheers mate, you’re a gent.’ The driver stuffed the notes into his pocket, and the cab shot off the minute we’d got out, presumably in case Will changed his mind.

‘Generous.’ I commented.

‘I had no desire to travel home by tube, so I bribed him to come back for us.’

‘Have you ever wondered what a taxi driver sees – or rather doesn’t see, when he looks in his mirror at us?’ The thought had been bothering me more than a bit on the journey home.

Will threw his head back and laughed. ‘You are fantastic! Just fantastic.’

I tried not to laugh. ‘Stop laughing at me. You’re always laughing at me.’

He held me around the waist, still laughing. ‘I apologise, Elinor. I have spent so long covering my tracks around humans, and now everything is second nature. I sometimes forget that you do not know some of our more fundamental parlour tricks.’

‘Parlour tricks?’

‘How do you think I persuaded the driver to come back for us?’

I shrugged. ‘Money?’

‘Money certainly assisted, yes. We have hypnotic qualities to our gaze, Elinor, it is extremely helpful.’

Of course. Silly me.

Will stopped laughing suddenly, and raising his head, sniffed the air. His eyes flashed dangerously, as he motioned me to be quiet. His voice whispered through my head. We have visitors.

He walked to the entry panel on the wall and quickly punched in the code. Opening the gate, he pulled me through and shut the gate behind us. Two shadowy figures loomed into sight immediately.

‘Waiting for me, girls?’ Will’s quiet voice sounded amused.

The nearest man snarled, but it was the last thing he ever did, as Will plunged a hand through his ribcage and relieved him of his heart. The second man launched himself at Will only to have his head wrenched violently around and I heard a sickening crunch as bones splintered.

My legs suddenly gave way, and I crumpled to the ground. I pressed a trembling hand to my mouth to prevent the scream in my throat from escaping. I stared dumbfounded at the results of Will’s mini massacre. Everything had happened incredibly fast and so silently, I wasn’t even sure I’d seen it happen at all. I crouched against the wall, not trusting my legs to support me yet.

Will drew an evil-looking silver dagger from an inside pocket and plunged it through the disembodied heart. Without any hesitation he suddenly thrust it into the other vampire’s body. Both bodies disintegrated immediately. A small sound escaped my mouth, and Will turned to me. Leaning down, he grabbed my arm and brought me to my feet. I pressed my hands against his chest, and just stared at him. He hoisted me up into his arms and made for the cellar door. ‘We need to get inside.’ His voice sounded quiet but urgent.

He got us both to the cellar door and inside in seconds. Once inside, I turned to him in panic. ‘Who else is here?’

‘The lovely Khiara is by the front gates, and she is not alone.’