Chapter Twenty-Five

Will threw the mobile onto the bed with a muttered oath. We’d obviously panicked unnecessarily because everyone seemed fine. I sighed with relief. Perhaps Thomas hadn’t planned to use Sarah after all. Yet I still couldn’t shake my feeling of foreboding.

My thoughts were filled with various horrific possibilities. He had allowed us to take Sarah, and he’d allowed Will to rescue me with apparent ease. Allowed. Something just wasn’t right about any of this. There had to be a reason.

Will paced up and down the room, a frown of concentration on his face. Suddenly he spun on his heel and flung open the door to the cellars.

‘What do you hear Elinor?’

I shrugged. ‘Nothing.’

‘Is that not strange?’

At first I didn’t realise what he was getting at … and then … horribly, I did.

‘Danny!’

Will had already gone and I disentangled myself from the duvet and ran downstairs after him. Why hadn’t we realised before? We should know by now that Danny in the house meant noise. Somehow I knew what we’d find, before we even went in to Danny’s room. No Danny. I couldn’t believe we’d been so stupid. Again.

‘He might be in the garden,’ I said, but without much hope.

‘How I wish I had changed the codes on the doors.’ Will’s deep voice held a tinge of bitterness.

‘We should still look outside.’

He gave me a sympathetic look. ‘If you wish.’

He strode from the room and I followed him, running to keep up.

Of course the garden was empty; its serene beauty mocked us whilst we walked its perimeters. Both the garden door and the front gates were still firmly closed.

‘He saw you vault over the wall,’ I said, my voice quiet and shocked. ‘He climbed the wall on the night you came to rescue me.’

‘Yet if I had changed the codes on the house doors, he would never have gained access to the outside.’

‘You couldn’t have known this would happen …’ I began, but Will interrupted me.

‘I should have been more aware of the boy and his importance.’

‘Why is Danny more important than Sarah?’

‘I believe Sarah lied about Thomas being her maker. If that is so, then only the boy is his true fledgling.’

‘But there have been so many …’

‘The others have all been destroyed – as far as we know – but the boy has been close to us – to you especially – and his knowledge will be invaluable.’

The horror of Will’s words hit me like stones.

‘I need to change all of our security.’ He turned and headed back to the house with me scurrying behind him again.

The thought of Thomas taking me from Will again, was enough to make me even more paranoid than usual. Certainly paranoid enough to make me run for the house with more speed than an Olympic sprinter.

Will slammed the door shut with unusual force, and leaned against it for a moment. He stared into my eyes. ‘The bastard has been several steps ahead of us at every turn,’ he said bitterly. ‘He must have been planning this all for years.’

‘He hates you that much?’

‘Evidently.’

I watched as Will re-programmed the code for the garden door, and followed him upstairs to the front door where he did the same. Luke knocked on the door just as he was finishing. Will opened the door and motioned him inside.

‘The boy’s gone,’ he said.

Luke swore quietly. ‘We really should have realised that might happen.’

‘But why did he let us take Sarah? Is she dispensable?’ I looked from Luke to Will but saw no immediate answers in their eyes.

‘I believe Sarah to be somewhat of a red herring,’ Will said finally. ‘Something to keep our attention and successfully leave the boy to his own devices.’

‘Would he be able to speak to Danny telepathically?’

‘Almost certainly, if you remember, he did so before.’

I did remember. I remembered Danny saying he could hear Thomas laughing on the terrible night Jez was killed, also the night Danny had tried to open the garden door to get to him, and his terrible anguish when Will prevented it.

‘He would always have found a way to get to him,’ I said slowly, and Luke nodded.

‘I’m afraid so,’ he said.

‘I think Sarah has always been infatuated by him, but I believe Thomas has actually taken over her mind now, to make her – and us – believe she is his fledgling.’ Will had started to pace up and down the large reception area. ‘Obviously we would have spent all our time attempting to extract information from her.’

‘How can we get Danny back?’

‘Let us see what his demands are at the meeting tomorrow.’

I had a horrible feeling his demands would include a lot of things we weren’t prepared to agree to, but dawn was close now, and I felt too tired, both emotionally and physically, to voice my fears.

‘You need to rest Elinor.’ Will’s voice sounded concerned. ‘Go to bed. I shall join you shortly.’

I knew he wanted a private word with Luke, so I just nodded and made my way downstairs to the bedroom.

The beautiful room offered solace. I always felt safe here, and stripping off my clothes, I climbed gratefully into the huge bed.

I could feel the dawn’s approach pressing against my brain and the gradual loss of movement from my limbs. I hated being awake when this happened. It felt like dying … again. Each dawn we, as vampires, die again. It’s the curse of our kind. Elders like Will are more able to control their waking hours, but newer vampires can’t.

I closed my eyes and tried to make my mind go blank. There was no life in my body now, a coldness had infiltrated every limb and even after almost a year, I still tried to fight for a life which I no longer had.

‘Relax Elinor, I am here now.’ Will’s voice sounded close and soft lips brushed my cheek just before the sleeping death claimed me for the day.

Will’s Journal, 12th June

The disappearance of the boy did not exactly come as a surprise, although I had hoped Thomas’s hold over him would have waned by now. I fear for his safety, because once he has served his purpose, I have no doubt Thomas will destroy him. To what ends he will use him, I am not sure, and in fact I wonder whether he will even attend our meeting tomorrow night. I am convinced it was the boy he wanted all along, and Sarah has already served her purpose. He would never have taken control of her mind had he intended to reclaim her.

I have not discussed the meeting further with Elinor, but I have already decided she should not be present. I know this will cause upset and heated arguments, but I cannot risk her being anywhere near Thomas again. He is cunning, very clever and he has proved time and time again to be ahead of the game. Now he has the boy, he has the lure, which Elinor cannot – and will not – ignore. I am convinced it is Elinor he wishes to ultimately destroy in order to punish me, yet still I am bewildered as to why he allowed her to escape so easily before. If I am going to be melodramatic, then I think he is going for a big finish.

Luke and Roxanne will stay in the house with Elinor tomorrow, I dare not leave her unattended, and I shall go to the Cemetery with Jake and Stevie.

Once I was sure Elinor had fallen into the deep death sleep of the young vampire, I broke every rule in my own book, and went back upstairs to phone Khiara at her home in Italy. I am her least favourite person these days, especially after our confrontation last year, but she sounded gracious enough. Slightly amused perhaps, which bothered me more than I would like. Elders always remember their fledglings, certainly the ones they sire intentionally, and she confirmed she had indeed sired Thomas. She said he had been devoted to her, and again I noted the amusement in her voice.

Clearly Thomas expected to stay with her, but once again found himself cuckolded when Khiara chose me. Had he not behaved so odiously since, I could almost feel some sympathy, but the fact remains he has murdered humans in my own city, many innocent children amongst them – little more than babes, he killed two of my men, and he tortured my beloved Elinor. And who could forget his aggravating cash point raids? I shall enjoy watching the bastard suffer, and suffer he will.

I cannot help but wonder whether he has been watching and waiting all these centuries, until I found true love. How did he know? He wasn’t in London, because his presence would have been discovered decades ago. So someone, somewhere, had to have been feeding him information. Luke thinks the informant is Khiara herself, and it does make sense. She would never be a good loser. ‘Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer’, is an adage I really should have heeded.