Chapter 21
Hester | London, present day
Will’s lips devour mine, and my knees buckle as pleasure shoots through my body. He eases me backwards slowly until I’m lying on the bed, and he’s on top of me, dipping his tongue into my mouth. I open to him eagerly, welcoming it.
I’m vaguely aware that I should be fighting this a little more.
Will’s a vampire—a vampire that I created, for fuck’s sake.
But he doesn’t seem to want to harm me like I initially thought, and I can’t help myself.
Two years of lusting after him and the arousal he flooded my system with at the rehearsal have weakened my defences.
If he does kill me, it will be poetic justice for what I did to him.
But damn, he’s a good kisser; desire is skittering up and down my spine like sensual spidery fingers.
I slide my tongue around the tips of his fangs and slip both hands down the back of his jeans.
Will grunts in my mouth as I grasp smooth buttocks, rocking his hips into mine.
This feels so right ... But a bit weird.
OK, it’s very weird ... I’ve felt his ass before.
I even slapped it ... Oh god, I can’t do this.
It’s reminding me of what happened. I yank my hands out like he’s got a mousetrap in there.
‘I’m sorry,’ I gasp, turning my head away in shame. ‘I’m so sorry. I was a new vampire. I couldn’t control my urges ... and you were so mouth-watering.’
‘What’s done is done,’ Will says in a strained voice. ‘You can’t change the past.’
I turn back and look at him. His face seems odd; the skin is leathery and puckered at his temples. ‘Are you OK...?’ I stroke his cheek, worried that he’s having a mental meltdown from having kissed his sire. His cool hand grasps my wrist.
‘Don’t ... touch ... me. Just ... get out.’
‘What?’
‘I ... mean it ... I—’
Before I can move, his face collapses in on itself, and a green snake’s head punches through.
Glittering brown eyes stare at me, and its mouth grins wide, baring white needle-like fangs.
I’m too shocked to cry out. There’s no human-like body lying next to me anymore, only a slithering scaled form that begins to wind itself round me, squeezing tightly.
Will! I cry out to the mind inside the serpent.
Change. Now. Or I’m going to crush your windpipe!
he warns. The snake’s tail wraps around my throat, and I choke out the spell.
The room warps; and I’m four-pawed, black, and furry, wriggling out of the snake’s grasp.
With a yowl, I sink my claws into its scales and bound off the bed, looking around frantically for an escape.
The snake slithers off the bed onto the floor with a soft hiss.
If I catch you, kitty, you’re going to be a bulge in my belly!
In desperation, I leap onto the desk, scrabbling for purchase on the veneer surface, then awkwardly leap onto the chair and scramble up its back, ripping the material to shreds in the process with my claws.
Shit, Will’s going to be pissed if he has to pay for the repair work.
But too bad, my only thought right now is to escape the coil of scales below, the flicking tongue, and the knowing eyes.
I miaow pitifully. How am I going to get out?
The door! Will instructs. Leap onto the handle, and it should open. But you have only one chance, or I’ll get you!
The snake gives a hissing chuckle below the chair. This is so fucking weird. Will’s trying to kill me and save me at the same time.
Can’t you change back?
No, it doesn’t work like that. I can’t control it.
Fucking hell! Narrowing my eyes, I judge the distance between the chair and metal door handle.
If he’s right, I can hang on to it with my paws, and my weight should turn it.
If I miss, I’m going to fall right onto the snake, and I’m not willing to trust that it won’t squeeze my little kitty body to death.
Quick! I’m going to spring.
Shit. I look down to see the snake rearing up beside me, its fangs glistening. I leap wildly off the chair, paws outstretched towards the door handle. I’m going to make it, I’m going to make it ...
I hit the door with a thump, the pads of all four paws clinging to the smooth metal, while the snake snaps at my dangling tail. This is not how I envisioned my afternoon going!
I start to slide down the door handle, inching closer to the snake. Squeezing my eyes shut, I pray fervently: Please, God, let me escape this nightmare, and I’ll be a good vampire. Please, God, help Will not to eat me ...
My praying isn’t what it used to be. I’ve forgotten a lot of the nonsense I used to jabber back in 1560. Probably because He didn’t help me.
Suddenly, the door clicks open, and I open my eyes to find I’m not going to kitty hell just yet.
Dropping lightly onto all fours, I insert my head in the gap and wriggle frantically.
The snake grazes my back leg with its fangs, but I kick at its face, and I’m through.
The door must have an overhead closer on it as it snaps shut again before the snake can slither through.
And snakes don’t have hands, so there’s that.
I scamper down the hallway with a yowl, too freaked out to change back into my normal body.
But I do before I reach my apartment as I can’t bang on the door with paws. Plus my tote is still in Will’s room with my key, purse, and phone. Goddammit!
Floss opens the door with a bemused smile.
‘Oh, hi. Did you forget your—’
I barge in, slam the door behind me, and lock it.
Vaguely, I notice that the others are lounging on my bed. Dusty leather-bound journals are scattered all over it, there are mugs of blood on the kitchen table, and a variety of wooden implements are propped against the wall for staking an evil vampire.
Just your usual afternoon coven hang-out.
‘Are you OK?’ asks Floss. But I walk past her and grab the nearest mug of blood, which still has some dregs in the bottom, and suck it down. Then I grab another.
‘Thirsty, Hester? There’s some more blood in the fridge if you want it.’ Floss looks at me curiously.
‘Will’s a vampire,’ I mouth. Testing the words.
‘What was that? Speak up,’ says bat-eared Sadie from the bed.
‘Will’s a vampire,’ I say loudly, the blood hitting my system in a rush. Everyone stares at me.
‘What the fuck? Are you sure?’ asks Floss.
I nod and shakily lift the mug for another hit, but it’s empty. I sag against the table.
Everyone starts talking at once.
‘How old is he?’
‘What are his powers?’
‘Can he help us with Alexander?’
I shake my head rapidly, not able to deal with all the questions after my traumatic experience upstairs.
‘Guys, back off. She’s upset.’ Floss, always the most intuitive of the group, leads me to the couch; and I sit down heavily. She nestles beside me, looking concerned. ‘Just take your time.’
Elliott gets up off the bed, pours blood into a clean mug, and hands it to me. I take a grateful swallow. ‘Thanks. Changing into a pussycat always takes it out of me.’
‘You had to change?’ he asks, hovering. ‘How come?’
I lean back against the couch cushions, feeling a bit stronger after the blood. ‘Ah, things got slightly intense ... But I’ll start from the top. Will is the same vampiric age as me. He was turned in 1560.’
Sadie’s mouth drops open. ‘Fuck, he’s ancient then!’
I smile thinly at that. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’
‘So that’s why you thought he looked familiar. You must’ve known him back then,’ says Floss. I nod, waiting for her to ask the next logical question we’re inching towards: exactly how I know him. But she doesn’t, not yet.
I swallow and move on. ‘As for his powers, I can confirm he has excellent shielding ability—’
Floss snaps her fingers. ‘Of course! Otherwise, you would’ve picked up that he was a vampire before now. Crazy. So he’s been hiding it from you?’
‘You could say that.’ I take a sip of blood before continuing.
‘He’s really strong...’ I think of the way Will pressed me against the wall with ease, how I liked the firm bulk of his muscles, and the comforting weight of him when he was lying on top of me, commanding my mouth with his tongue before .
.. ‘Uh, he can also shapeshift. I’m assuming he has all the other typical vampiric abilities like us.
But yeah, shielding and shapeshifting are his two main ones. ’
There’s silence as everyone digests this.
I wait for it. Sadie takes the bait as I knew she would.
‘The only vampire I’ve ever met with shielding and shapeshifting abilities is you,’ she says suspiciously. ‘Do you want to share exactly how you and Will know each other?’
I shift uncomfortably. ‘Ah, we met at court.’
‘Queen Elizabeth I’s court, right?’ Damian confirms, leaning forward, his eyes flashing with interest.
I nod at him dully. ‘Yes, that’s right.’
OK, Floss must’ve been filling him in on my backstory.
But she doesn’t know all of it. None of them do.
I’ve kept the Tudor period well under wraps, but it looks like my skeleton might be coming out of the closet.
Especially as the skeleton has been walking around (and sometimes slithering, no doubt) for as long as I have.
‘You still haven’t said anything about how you met Will,’ says Sadie. ‘In fact, you’ve been really secretive about the Elizabethan era ever since we met. All I know is that you were turned by a vampire dude called Dimitri in a dungeon. You always clam up after that.’
She’s right; it’s a habit to keep schtum about the queen. I still think gossiping about her will get my head lopped off, even though it’s the twenty-first century.
‘However, since your blast from the past has shown up, I think we need more information. A lot more information.’ Sadie folds her arms and gives me a piercing stare.
She’s not going to let this go, I just know it.
Maybe there’s a reason for all this to come out of the woodwork.
Perhaps it’s time to come clean and confess my sin, no matter how twisted and shameful it is.
My two hours of sleep per night might be a hell of a lot more peaceful if I do.