Dance Until Dawn (13 page)

Thoughts

When the first breath of night woke me, I soon realised where I was, but that didn’t reassure me in any way. As usual, my thoughts were a little jumbled at first, but I knew beyond any doubt I was in Will’s bed. The fact I’d woken there at all disturbed me; the fact that I couldn’t remember
why
or even
how
I came to be there filled me with horror. I looked up at the dark blue canopy of the four poster, and then, in a moment of abject panic, looked to my right in case Will still slept there, but thankfully there was no sign of him. The other half of the bed still looked pristine, and the pillow hadn’t been marred by an indent of a dark head. I turned to look around the other side of me. The man in question sat in a chair by the bed, mercifully fully dressed in black jeans and a dark blue long-sleeved sweatshirt. He looked cool, calm, and good enough to eat – and I didn’t even like him. Much. He was reading a copy of the
Ham & High
, which, to the uninitiated, is the
Hampstead and Highgate Express
, the local paper for people privileged enough to live in this exclusive area. He glanced up the moment I looked at him.

‘Good evening Elinor,’ he said. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘What the hell am I doing here?’ I asked without preamble.

He made a wry face. ‘Somehow I knew that would be your first question.’

‘So what’s the answer?’

He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back in the chair. ‘You do not remember?’

‘If I remembered I wouldn’t be asking.’

‘Good point,’ he agreed. ‘You had a problem with a silver bolt through your belly and I had to remove it. You were in agony.’

Ah
. I immediately wanted to look under the duvet to see whether I was naked, but my pride wouldn’t let me.

‘I had to remove your skirt, and, yes, you were awake at the time,’ he said helpfully, ‘and, yes, all your other clothes are still in place. Untouched by vampire hand.’ He held up both hands, palms out, and wriggled long fingers at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him, not altogether sure whether he was teasing.

He gave me a patient, almost condescending look. ‘You tend to keel over just before dawn, wherever you are. You had been in considerable pain, and I decided to leave you where you were – with, I hasten to add, no ulterior motive.’ He smiled.

I favoured him with a contemptuous snort.

‘Nothing happened,’ he continued. ‘Nothing intimate will ever happen without your consent. When will you learn to trust me?’

‘After yesterday? Probably never.’

‘How unfortunate.’

‘So there was no more pouncing of any kind?’

‘Call me old-fashioned, but I always think it more fun to have a reciprocating partner.’

‘So all your previous pouncing was—?’

He sighed. ‘A grave mistake on my part, for which, I have apologised. At least twice.’

I gave him a withering look and his lips twitched. ‘I meant what I said the other night, Elinor.’

‘To which particular bit of poetic nonsense are you referring?’

‘I truly want you to feel safe with me.’

Safe? What a joke. The only time I felt safe was when I was unconscious and that was only because I couldn’t feel anything at all.
I surreptitiously checked under the duvet to make sure I still wore my jumper before I sat up.

Will gave a knowing smile. ‘Now that you are awake, I shall go and get you some nourishment.’

‘Room service now, huh?’

He gave a slight nod and left the room. I waited until the door closed behind him and then slid out of bed to retrieve his newspaper. It seemed an age since I’d looked at any news, and although this would be mainly local news, at least it would give me some insight to the outside world. I scrambled back into bed and glanced at the headline. Oh. It wasn’t going to help. The large newsprint virtually screamed out at me.

BODY FOUND IN WATERLOW PARK IDENTIFIED.

I read on. Apparently, the murdered girl had been a barmaid called Angie Wilson, and she had been on her way home from work. What she’d been thinking of walking alone in the park at night, I had no idea. Still, no one deserves to be drained of blood and left in the park like a piece of discarded rubbish. Will came back in at that point, carrying the inevitable mug of ‘nourishment’. He frowned when he saw me reading the paper.

‘You do not need to read that.’

‘What am I? Twelve?’ I retorted. ‘It sort of concerns me, so I think I should be allowed to read it.’

He handed me the mug. ‘Always the feisty one,’ he murmured. ‘Be my guest.’

I sipped at the mug’s revolting contents, trying to forget what I was actually drinking. I wondered why the blood was warm, when I knew for a fact that Will had said he wouldn’t be bringing any more ‘donors’ back for a while. I gave him a look of surprise.

‘Microwave,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘You were wondering how I managed to get the blood to body temperature,’ he said. ‘I may not have reason to cook but I am adept at using a microwave.’

I spluttered into the mug. Against all the odds I had found something amusing. Who’d have thought?

Will grinned. A real, natural, knock ’em-dead grin. When he wasn’t being scary Mr Spooky or trying to be the big seducer, he really was quite something.

‘It is a great relief to me that you are rediscovering your sense of humour,’ he said.

‘Don’t push it,’ I said.

‘I think we should go out tonight,’ he changed the subject with his usual swiftness. ‘But clearly you need to get dressed first.’

‘Clearly,’ I agreed, ‘and I’d like a shower.’

Will made an expansive gesture with his hands, ‘
La mia casa e la tua casa
,’ he said.

Sounded Italian to me, and very sexy when he said it.

‘Well, I got
house
.’

‘My house is your house.’

‘Somehow it sounded better in Italian.’

‘The language of lovers,’ Will smiled.

‘Give it a rest, Mr Spooky.’ I pulled a face at him. ‘Can you just be somewhere else for half an hour so I can get that shower?’

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘I shall be in the drawing room and honoured if you would join me when you are ready.’

‘Definitely far too much time with Byron,’ I muttered as he left the room.

18 February

I write this entry whilst I wait for Elinor. I know she will not be too long, so I must be swift.

The arrival of the Italian vampires has not come at a good time, if indeed there ever could be a good time for such a thing. I cannot – dare not – leave Elinor alone for a second, however, I do need to show myself at the club soon. I need to be visible around town, in order to convince the enemy that I am a force to be reckoned with. I may have to take her with me, which is a worrying prospect. Perhaps I should instead leave her in the house guarded by Luke, but I am reluctant to let her out of my sight. I need to make a decision soon.

I had planned to take Elinor to Camden tonight, but perhaps we should stay closer to home.

I need to think.

Camden

Several nights after the belly bar incident, I was still spending my days in Will’s bed, and still without him too, which had been my choice. He seemed preoccupied and more than a little distant. Part of me felt relief at the distance, but a niggling part of me missed our verbal wrangles.

Nothing had been seen or heard of the intruders and there had been no more murders. I hoped they’d gone back to Italy, but that was almost certainly wishful thinking.

On this particular night I sat up, clutched the duvet to me, and waited for my senses to catch up with my body. Will lounged at the end of the bed, wearing only a pair of snug-fitting black jeans, his long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles, his bare feet relaxed. His dark hair looked damp and smelt newly washed. His torso gleamed like living marble in the soft lighting and he looked like an erotic dream – or would that be
nightmare
? He rested his back against one of the carved bed posts as he wrote busily in a leather bound book.

He stopped writing as I sat up, and smiled at me, his eyes shining. ‘Are you hungry?’

I shrugged. ‘I suppose so.’ I never seemed able to muster up any enthusiasm for obligatory vampire food. God, if only I’d been a vampire when I was a dancer, I’d never have had any weight issues at all.

Will swung his legs off the bed and stood up, treating me to the full glory of his muscled upper body, so pale in stark contrast to his black jeans.

‘Then I shall go and perform my nightly magic with the microwave,’ he said, picking up his book and pen, and moving toward the door. I didn’t answer. He knew my revulsion for blood hadn’t gone away and he also knew how difficult it was for me to force some down each night. Thankfully the pain of the Thirst seemed to have abated with the regular feeding, and Will had said that there might be a possibility I would only need to feed three or four times a week. Apparently not all vampires need to feed every night, and those who do so are either motivated by greed, or are just new and filled with blood-lust.
I am still one of life’s mysteries it seems. Or death’s mysteries
 …
whatever.

Will came back in the room carrying a china mug and handed it to me. ‘Drink without looking,’ he advised. I sighed and drank the foul contents whilst watching him take a long-sleeved black sweatshirt from a drawer. He pulled it on, covering his tempting body. Turning to look at me, he said, ‘I thought we might go to Camden tonight.’

‘Goth Central?’ I asked. ‘Why?’

‘To make a change from the cemetery, and to see how you react when surrounded by people.’

I didn’t like the sound of that. ‘React?’

‘Do not panic,’ he reassured me. ‘If I thought for one moment you could not cope, I would never risk taking you.’

‘Well, that makes me feel a lot better.’

‘It is time for you to get up.’

I was well aware of what I was wearing under the duvet, and it wasn’t an awful lot, and somehow I didn’t feel ready to give Will another peep show. I had never been particularly comfortable parading around half-naked in front of a boyfriend; although Will wasn’t in the boyfriend category, and let’s face it, he wasn’t exactly a boy either.

‘Can you pass me my jeans?’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Why the demure school girl act? I believe I have seen you in your underwear before.’

‘When I was in agony and nearly unconscious,’ I retorted. ‘I thought you men from yesteryear were supposed to be gallant.’

‘And I thought dancers ran around half-naked a lot of the time.’

‘You’ve been mixing with the wrong kind of dancers. We tend not to run around half-dressed in front of strangers. Especially male strangers.’

‘So, suddenly I am a stranger again,’ he sighed as he turned away. Going over to the farthest chair, he picked up my jeans where I’d left them just before dawn, and threw them across to me. ‘I shall be upstairs.’ With that parting shot, he left the room.

It was unlike Will to take offence quite so quickly – if at all. Perhaps he had grown tired of me, and I wondered what would happen if he had. Supposing he threw me out onto the streets to fend for myself? I shuddered – that was not a good thought.

I got out of bed and grabbed some clothes from the dressing room before collecting my jeans where he’d thrown them. Then I went downstairs to take a quick shower.

When I went upstairs I found Will talking on the phone. He glanced at me as I entered the room, waving me to the sofa. He was clearly not a happy vampire. I hoped it wasn’t my fault.
Paranoid? Me?

‘I shall be there. Goodnight Luke.’ Will replaced the phone on its dock and faced me.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.

‘Nothing that need concern you.’

‘Great. So why don’t you just open the front door and boot me out, it’ll probably solve all your problems.’ My tone was acerbic.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘From where did that little diatribe emerge?’

‘Your off-hand behaviour, your patronising refusal to include me in recent events and all this bloody secret squirrel rubbish.’

‘Secret squirrel?’ He looked genuinely puzzled.

‘If you don’t want me to either treat you like a stranger or to feel like one myself, then try including me,’ I said. ‘If you are genuine in wanting a relationship with me, then I can tell you now, you’re going about it all the wrong way.’

‘I have formed that opinion myself,’ he said with a wry grimace. ‘I apologise if you have felt somewhat superfluous to various discussions. I suppose I am just a three-hundred-year-old man trying to relate to a twenty-five-year-old woman. Men from my century did not discuss battle strategies with their women, in fact they did not discuss much at all with their women.’ He shrugged and leaned back against the carved cabinet. ‘I am trying—’

‘You got that right,’ I agreed. ‘Very bloody trying.’

I was rewarded with a wicked grin.

‘You always have an answer,’ he said. He moved to sit in the armchair opposite me. Leaning back, he crossed one leg over the other whilst resting his arms on the arms of the chair. He appeared as relaxed as usual, although there was an air of apprehension about him that I’d never felt before.

‘Elinor, I am going to have to become more visible for a while.’

‘You look pretty visible to me.’

He ignored my pathetic attempt at humour, merely lit a cigarette and looked at me through the plume of smoke that curled upward. ‘How well known are you in North London?’

I was surprised at the question. ‘You know I was never famous.’

‘No, you misunderstand,’ he corrected me. ‘I simply want to know if you have many friends and acquaintances in this part of London.’

‘Well there’s Greg and Fliss, the couple who lived downstairs in my old place,’ I replied. ‘Then there’s Caroline, Joe and the rest of the gang in Crouch End. Some of the chorus live in the Wood Green and Turnpike Lane areas. I don’t know anyone in this part of Highgate though, I never mixed in those kind of circles.’

He nodded, frowning again. ‘What I need to know is, if we go to Camden, are you likely to bump into any of your old friends?’

Ah, the penny finally dropped. Of course, anyone from my old life would probably have a heart attack to see me wondering around Camden supposedly alive and well.

‘It’s possible I suppose,’ I said.

‘Perhaps we should change your appearance?’

‘You can forget either cutting or dying my hair.’

‘Changing your hair is the very last thing I would ever suggest,’ Will looked horrified. ‘I thought perhaps different clothes to the kind you normally wear, just for a while at least.’

I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘Do not even presume to make me wear some Laura Ashley floral creation or a taffeta ball gown.’

Will laughed, and I realised I had actually missed his laugh over the last few days. He did seem to be growing on me lately, which was potentially not good. He stood up, and threw his cigarette butt into the fireplace.

‘Well, that would be rather extreme,’ he agreed. ‘The thing is, I need to make an appearance at my club fairly soon, and I do not want to leave you here alone.’

I didn’t want to be left alone either.

‘So who’s coming after you, or us, exactly?’

‘I am pretty certain now that it is Khiara. Which is why I need to visit my club. She or her people will certainly go to my club at some point, and if someone informs her that I have been absent for some months, she will come here.’

‘Who would tell her?’

‘Anyone with whom she comes in contact. A vampire of Khiara’s age is highly skilled at extracting information.’

I really didn’t like the sound of that. ‘I thought you would be able to sense her if she came near here.’

‘That is so, yes. But if she arrives mob-handed as it were—’

‘Which is why you don’t want to leave me here on my own,’ I understood now.

‘Exactly so.’

‘Shit.’

‘As you so colourfully say.’

The reason for Will’s distraction was now very apparent. I stood up.

‘I could go and find my incredibly attractive woolly hat if you like?’

‘If you would be so kind,’ he nodded. ‘At least by covering your glorious hair, you will not stand out quite so much.’

I went back downstairs and rummaged around in the dressing room cupboard until I found my black hat. Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to be able to see what it looked like in a mirror, so I’d just have to hope that I didn’t end up looking like a complete prat. I pulled my hair back, twisted it in a knot and then pulled the hat over it. It felt OK. Mentally shrugging, I ran back upstairs.

‘If people laugh—’ I began as I went into the room.

‘You look adorable,’ Will interrupted. ‘Shall we go?’

Fifteen minutes later we were on the platform at Highgate tube station, just as a train arrived. We squeezed ourselves into a carriage crowded with people going home from work, and I felt decidedly nervous. So many people.

Since I’d been feeding regularly, some of the pain and horrific tension had eased, and I felt calmer, more rational. But I wondered what would happen in the summer hours, would I stay asleep for longer? Sunset would be hours later after all.

My attention suddenly returned to the feel of warm bodies and their throbbing pulses all around me, which presented a very real problem. I hadn’t been this close to so many people since my rebirth. The last time we had travelled on a tube it had been after the commuters’ rush, and there were far less people. This felt … uncomfortable. I was beginning to feel a bit panicky, hemmed in on all sides by warm, living bodies.

I could hear their pulses.

I could definitely smell their warm blood.

I looked up in wide-eyed panic at Will. Never one to miss an opportunity, he slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me up against his body, almost as though he knew exactly how I was feeling – which he probably did. His touch, miraculously, calmed me down and I breathed a sigh of relief. The headlines that raged in my head thankfully evaporated, erasing, ‘
Female lunatic attacks commuters on the Northern Line
.’

We got off at Camden Town and made our way to the exit.

Camden was always busy at almost any time of the day or night, and we walked up the High Street toward the market. The stalls stood empty now, closed up for the night, but the streets were still crowded. The pavements bustled with people of all ages, colours and creeds, all busy going somewhere; home from work, out for the evening, or just for a walk.

I had always been fascinated by the huge number of Goths and vampire wannabees who congregated in the Camden area. It seemed to attract them like a magnet. Possibly because of the amount of Goth clothes and jewellery shops in Camden. I had always loved to browse in them, although I would never have been brave enough to wear any of the more outrageous outfits. The streets were full of the flamboyant and Gothic that evening – some girls carried handbags or backpacks in the shape of coffins or skulls. They stood in little clusters, preening their multi-coloured hair that had been gelled to stand up in gravity-defying spikes. Their eye makeup, lips and fingernails were all painted black, and a few of the girls wore magenta-coloured net underskirts beneath their tight-fitting black dresses. They looked oddly attractive, like an exotic tribe peculiar to North London. Will and I passed by them, and were completely ignored in our comparatively boring attire of jeans and leather coats.

How amusing to think two real vampires had just walked quietly by them and they hadn’t even spared us a glance. Although having said that, it wasn’t strictly true, as several girls had spared Will more than a glance, but I was beginning to get used to it. Strangely, he never seemed to notice the attention he attracted.

He looked down at me and, with a mischievous smile, offered his arm.

I gave him a strange look, but slipped my arm though his anyway without comment.

‘We cannot have you getting lost in the crowds can we?’

‘Apparently not.’

We went down the steps to the Regents Canal towpath and stood for a while, watching and listening. The canal itself glittered like a black ribbon, moving at a sluggish pace, its many secrets hidden in the murky depths. There were a few people walking along the canal path, mostly couples.

We passed by the Pirate’s Castle, which I thought should probably be renamed Dracula’s Castle, although the younger kids might not like it as much. We walked slowly past the moored barges in the visitors’ basin. Music blared out from a few of them, but nothing recognisable.

The night’s scents were an almost overwhelming concoction of exotic food and people. I felt full of anticipation, yet had no idea why. It was good to be out and walking about. Almost as though nothing untoward had ever happened.

As we reached Cumberland Basin, Will stopped and raised his head. His nostrils flared. I watched him, seeing him then for what he was – a very dangerous predator. He looked back at the
Feng Shang
Chinese floating restaurant and I followed his gaze, looking at the diners silhouetted against the brightly lit windows.