Chapter 22
Will | London, present day
Hester’s furry tail brushes my pointy face as she wiggles through the crack in the door.
I lunge but receive a kick in the face from her back leg for my efforts.
The door snaps shut, and I’m alone. From experience, I know I have to rest in the dark for a short period of time in order to change back to my human form.
In the past, I was always afraid that it wouldn’t work, that I’d stay as a snake forever.
But then Grace locked me in the basement one day in a fit of despair, and that seemed to work quicker.
But I wish I could change back any time I want to, like Hester does.
And why the hell do I have to shapeshift into a snake?
Why not a bat or even a rat? A snake is fucking inconvenient.
Apart from Hester turning me into a vampire, this is the other reason I hate her guts.
I’m cursed to spend eternity never getting close to anyone because this happens when I do.
Slithering under the bed mournfully, I close my eyes, flick out my tongue, and wait until I’m Will again.
***
Of course, I change back a short time later.
I always do, and I shouldn’t take any notice of my reptilian thoughts.
They’re usually morbidly depressing and all kill, kill, kill.
I’m in a much better frame of mind when I haul myself out from under the bed, spitting dust bunnies.
Any lingering sense of self-pity is nothing that can’t be cured by a couple of quick swallows of the emergency blood that I purchased from The Pale Heart and stashed in the mini fridge.
I take a quick shower, where I relieve my hard-on from kissing Hester, and give my skull a good scrubbing with my special tea tree shampoo. I can’t seem to stop humming to myself. Maybe that’s what Shakespeare was going on about when he wrote: If music be the food of love, play on!
I feel exuberant for some reason. Perhaps it’s because Hester now knows of my existence.
She seemed genuinely shocked and confused, rather than being semi-aware and not giving a damn.
As I pull on a fresh T-shirt, boxers, and jeans, I try to summon my previous homicidal state of mind.
But all I can think about is making sure Hester’s OK and that I didn’t scare her too much.
I’m putting on my shoes when there’s a knock at the door. Slowly, I stand, listening. Is it her? But it’s not one vampire I sense out there; it’s a whole load of them.
The knock comes again, louder this time, and a female voice that isn’t Hester calls out, ‘We know you’re in there, Will! We want to talk to you. Can you open the door? Or is that going to be difficult in your current snaky shape?’
Oh shit, it’s the coven; they’re protecting their own. I shouldn’t have chased Hester round the room, but I couldn’t help it; it’s not my fault. Surely they’ll understand if I explain?
Hesitantly, I open the door; and Sadie pushes into the room like an avenging angel, trailed by Elliott, Florence, and Damian. Hester is last, and she gives me a wide berth, but a curious once-over. She doesn’t look afraid of me, at least.
‘Make yourselves at home,’ I mutter as Floss and Damian sit on the sofa, and Elliott pulls out a chair at the kitchen table. Sadie sits on my bed against the headboard, crossing her legs at the ankles, while Hester perches in the chair she almost shredded to bits an hour ago.
She picks up a piece of foam stuffing and looks at me contritely. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll—’
‘Right, snake boy. Spill the beans,’ Sadie interrupts. ‘Hester has given us the basics of what happened in 1560.’
Her piercing gaze skewers me, and the others look ... knowing. If vampires could blush, I’d be beetroot right now. I glance at Hester, and she avoids my eyes.
‘So ... so you know about the night she turned me?’
Sadie waves a hand. ‘Cock sucking, neck biting—the usual. I’m surprised you got off that easily in the 1500s.’
I cringe. Looks like Hester has indeed given them a brief rundown of events. Did she mention Darius? He was involved after all ...
‘This isn’t an ambush, Will,’ Elliott says pleasantly from the kitchen table. ‘We’re just surprised to find out about you and understandably curious to know more about your history.’
‘What do you want to know?’ Shit, maybe I should have slithered out the window rather than staying here for an inquisition!
‘Like why you’ve been shielding that you’re a vampire from Hester, for starters,’ says Sadie. ‘Why not introduce yourself, like I did with Floss in 1921?’ She juts her chin forwards and points at Floss. ‘Hey, vamp girl. I see you there, shaking that ass.’
Floss giggles. ‘You are so ridiculous.’
Sadie shrugs. ‘I’m not shy. We hung out and had a lot of fun...’
‘Yes, well, we don’t need to go into that,’ says Floss hurriedly. ‘Will might not have felt as comfortable as you did making himself known. Especially if Hester is his sire. Is that the case, Will? Did it feel a bit weird bumping into her again?’
I nod, thinking it best to agree and go along with it. ‘Yeah, really weird. I thought she might not want to be reminded of me. Especially as she’d been told I’d been taken care of.’
Yes, Darius certainly took care of me. He dragged me to his chamber; and when I’d fully transitioned, he let me drink his blood, then gave me clothes and a warning: he would allow my vampiric existence as long as I left Hester alone.
From that, I assumed he had made his claim on her.
So I promised I would and slowly made my way back to Cumbria, leaving a trail of destruction behind me.
‘But what have you been doing since you were turned?’ asks Damian, sliding his arm along the top of the couch and twirling a finger in Floss’s hair. ‘It’s a hell of a long time.’
No kidding! If he only knew. I tried my best to keep my promise to Darius, I really did, since we ended up becoming friends when I returned to court forty years later.
I kept my stalking of Hester to a minimum and only went to one of her plays (that fateful one in 1752).
However, when I found Darius lying under the bed in 1758, I muttered a quick apology as I slid him into the Thames—and immediately started stalking Hester with a vengeance since there wasn’t a reason not to anymore.
But as the years went by, it was harder to think rationally with hate and desire always warring.
One day, I would tell myself to kill her; the next, I would convince myself to wait because I liked looking at her.
I fell into a habit of watching and waiting, and before I knew it, the twenty-first century had arrived.
Then she joined my acting class, and things started getting interesting . ..
But I can’t tell Damian all that. Best to keep it vague. ‘Oh, I was ... around,’ I say. ‘I went to sea for quite a few years.’
‘What do you mean “went to sea”?’ asks Hester.
I clear my throat. ‘Ah, it was when my wife, Grace, started aging. And I didn’t.’
Hester’s shoulders slump. ‘Oh, you got married ... like afterwards?’
God, this is awkward. And so fucking long ago it doesn’t even matter anymore.
‘Yes, about a year after you turned me. By that time, I was aware of my powers, and I was managing OK to keep them hidden. I suppose I was play-acting at being normal. But I found out pretty quickly I had another ability on our wedding night. When Grace and I began to get ... intimate, I changed. As you can imagine, it was pretty terrifying, for her and for me.’
‘Not exactly her idea of a trouser snake,’ quips Damian.
Everyone sniggers, and I smile too, feeling a bit more comfortable with them. I like how they bandy jokes around. ‘Yeah, you could say that.’
‘But surely, you got to bang her at some point? I mean you’re not exactly ugly. She would have been gagging for it,’ Sadie remarks.
‘Sadie!’ Hester sounds horrified.
But I smile at her. ‘It’s OK. Grace and I didn’t exactly have a conventional marriage.
How could we? She knew I was a vampire, and we .
.. coexisted quite happily for years. And when it started becoming too obvious I was her toy boy, we parted ways, and I travelled.
When I finally returned from my fortieth sea voyage, Grace had departed this earth. ’
‘Oh, Will.’ Hester’s eyes are sad, and no one says anything. Not even Sadie.
‘So I came to London again and met up with Darius,’ I continue, looking at Hester. ‘He got me a part in Shakespeare’s newest play, as I told you this afternoon.’
‘Wait,’ says Sadie, leaning forward, her eyes wide. ‘Who did you say got you the part?’
‘Darius,’ I repeat. ‘Sir Darius of Mystras. My vampire friend.’
‘Oh my god,’ says Sadie, pressing her hands to her cheeks. ‘Is he ... Is he ... please tell me he’s still around?’
I shake my head. ‘No, unfortunately, he was murdered in 1758. I found him in his house lying under the bed.’
Sadie moans, ‘Oh god.’ Then she starts hitting her palm against her forehead. Elliott is up in a flash and talking softly to her.
I look at Hester. ‘What is this? Why is she so upset about Darius? Did she know him?’
She shakes her head, looking shocked. ‘I’m not sure. She’s never mentioned him, and I didn’t talk about him either. Oh, poor Darius. I wonder what happened to him.’
‘It was me!’ Sadie wails, overhearing us. ‘I think I drained him!’
Elliott puts his arm around her. ‘You don’t know that, sweetheart,’ he murmurs.
‘What? Were you there?’ I ask incredulously.
She nods. ‘It was the night I was turned. I thought Darius wanted a fuck, but it was this woman. I never saw her because I was blindfolded. But she was a vampire.’
‘Anya,’ I say grimly. ‘Darius used to source girls for her from the Covent Garden brothels. Rest assured it wasn’t you that drained him. I’m positive it was Anya’s doing.’
Sadie visibly sags with relief. ‘Oh my god, thank you. That’s such a weight off my mind. I can’t believe you know her.’
‘I don’t really. I haven’t seen her for centuries. Her and her brother Dimitri took off after that day, and I never saw them again.’
‘Dimitri is my sire,’ chimes in Hester. ‘I’m not sure if you know that, Will. He turned me in Windsor Castle dungeon. I thought he was a demon in a cloak.’
She purses her lips and looks so cute I want to kiss her.
‘That must have been really scary,’ I say softly, going over and sitting across from her at the table. ‘I met him a few times, and I wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alleyway, let alone a dungeon.’ I rest my hand next to hers.
Hester nods, looking at our nearly touching fingers. ‘Yes. Yes, it was,’ she whispers.
‘Anyway’, says Sadie, breaking the moment, ‘vampire networking is all well and good, and as much as I want to find that bitch Anya and give her a good biting, we’ve still got the Alexander problem to deal with.
Those journals of his were pretty useless.
Maybe now that we’ve got another shielder, Will can help us find him. ’
All faces turn to me expectantly.
‘Who’s this?’ I ask, knowing I’ve heard that name before.
‘Alexander Dryden, Floss’s evil sire,’ says Hester.
‘He’s kidnapped a bunch of innocent women, enthralled them, and he’s setting up a vampire brothel in Covent Garden.
We’re going to stake him. In between rehearsals, of course.
’ She brushes her little finger against mine, and I swear my heart gives a little jolt.
But it must be my imagination. It hasn’t pumped since 1560.
I nod slowly. ‘I heard about that brothel at the pub the other night. My friend’s mate was talking about it.’
‘Which pub?’ asks Damian. ‘And do they serve blood?’
There’s a sudden frisson in the air at the mention of the word ‘blood’, and suddenly, everyone’s looking at me intensely. It makes me want to laugh.
‘It’s called The Pale Hart,’ I tell them. ‘And yep, they sure do. By the pint.’