Chapter 39
Sadie | Highlands, present day
Elliott returns at dusk. I almost collapse with relief when he saunters into the lounge, having been on tenterhooks ever since he left.
Poor Hester had to put up with a very distracted performance from me.
I’m sure she’ll do fine. She was born to be an actress, even if she doesn’t have complete confidence in herself going into the audition.
The desire to act alongside Will is making her extra determined to overcome her stage fright, which is admirable.
But I could hardly focus on what she was saying. All I heard were the lines:
Lady, you are the cruell’st she alive,
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy…
And I immediately sunk into despair about Elliott.
If I’d released him from his enthrallment earlier, at least he would have had a somewhat normal life.
But he’s a 63 year-old in a 23-year-old’s body because my venom has kept him young, and now that he’s a vampire he can’t even have kids!
How shit is that? And it’s obvious he’s regained his sense of identity.
It was written all over his face: She can’t tell me what to do. I’m a vampire now.
I could have, but I didn’t dare try to stop him. He needs time and space to reconcile with this new vampiric form. If it turns out that he doesn’t want to be with me, then I have to be OK with that. But oh, I’m a selfish bitch, I want him to choose to be with me forever!
Lucy is the catalyst of all my angst, and I could hate her. I want to hate her. But what’s the point? It’s not her fault. It’s mine.
Silently, I hand Elliott a glass of blood, poured from our emergency stock; and he sips it.
I know he has blood in his ‘revitalising’ coffee, but seeing him drinking it straight is so weird.
But then everyone is. Even Tim, who’s sitting there on the couch, is looking sprightly, if paler than usual. Vampirism will do that to you.
There’s a slate board filled with cubes of raw meat on the coffee table. An amuse-bouche to feed seven hungry vampires.
‘Dig in,’ Tim says, gesturing to it. ‘It’s still fresh. I put it in the fridge last night before I answered the door and invited in your friend Alexander Dryden.’
‘No friend of mine,’ Lucy murmurs, and he puts a comforting arm around her. She nestles into his chest.
I’m kind of surprised they’re a couple. But I suppose a bond has formed from all those hours they spent fucking, and I kind of figured his feelings for me weren’t that deep. It must’ve been more desperation for me to turn him than anything else.
Their snuggling makes me miss Elliott. He’s not too far away, only over on the other couch, but it feels like a deep dark chasm stretches between us. I studiously drink my blood and try not to look at him.
Tim clears his throat. ‘I have a little speech to make. Firstly, I want to apologise for my appalling behaviour in the kitchen this morning. I don’t typically jerk off in front of my guests.’
Everyone smiles politely, and there’s an awkward silence.
Hester: For the love of God, someone please make a joke!
I sigh. ‘Tim, I know you wanted to make us pancakes for breakfast, but there are more subtle ways to serve the cream.’
Tim guffaws, and it effectively breaks the tension.
Damian cracks up, and Floss and Hester giggle together.
Elliott throws me a grin, as if to say ‘There she is’.
I huff a laugh. It does feel good to let my sense of humour loose.
I’ve had a few good quips up my sleeve today, but I held back due to the seriousness of everything that’s been happening.
Lucy smiles thinly, as if she doesn’t like me being the centre of attention, but she can get over herself.
‘Excellent!’ says Tim with a cackle. ‘Thank you, Sadie.’
I incline my head.
‘Secondly’, he continues, ‘I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me.
Sadie already knows this, but I wanted to be turned.
I made up my mind as soon as I saw her standing on my front doorstep last night.
And I asked her to. If she hadn’t done it, I was going to ask someone else. ’ His eyes slide to Hester, then Floss.
‘Really?’ says Damian, sounding confused. ‘But why?’
Uh-oh. I shift uncomfortably on the couch, the leather sticking to the back of my thighs since I’ve changed into a miniskirt. But Tim doesn’t mention the other part of the conversation about still being in love with me. He says something quite different.
‘I had stage 4 terminal cancer.’
‘Bullshit!’ It pops out of my mouth before I can help it. All eyes swing to me.
‘Sorry, but ...’ I wave a hand at Tim’s muscular physique. ‘He looks so healthy.’
‘It was a fast-growing brain tumour,’ he says quietly. ‘But now I’m healed, and I don’t have to be afraid of dying alone anymore.’
He tightens his arm around Lucy and kisses the side of her head. ‘This whole day has felt like a rebirth. And I’m so grateful to my new girlfriend, Lucy, for turning me. For giving me the gift of immortality.’
Lucy beams at that while Elliott gazes enquiringly at me. I’m not sure what he’s getting at.
‘I don’t care,’ I mouth at him, and he flicks his eyebrows and turns away again. Surely, he doesn’t think I still have feelings for Tim? Grrr, I feel like jumping on him and pounding his thick skull into the concrete floor. It’s you. I just want you!
I drag my attention back to Tim.
‘Thirdly, even though my story has a happy ending, that doesn’t excuse Alexander Dryden for making me his dinner.
I understand from Lucy that he’s keeping a bunch of women captive in an Airbnb castle nearby, and that he probably ventured to my house because he detected Floss was here and he wants to kill her. But I find that unbelievable—’
‘He does want to kill Floss!’ Lucy pipes up before I can get a word in edgeways. God, I don’t hate her anymore, but she’s still annoying. ‘He wrote in his journal when he came back from Edinburgh and I sneaked a peek when he was having a thrall orgy with a few of the girls,’ she tells us.
‘A thrall orgy! Jesus!’ Tim looks thoroughly shocked. But sounds slightly turned on again. To my ears anyway.
‘Forget the thrall orgy. What did the journal say?’ asks Damian impatiently.
‘It was along the lines of: “Maybe not next week, or next month, but rest assured Florence is going to be eliminated for stealing my money, and that human dentist she’s hooked up with can die too. It is her fault that I have to resort to such extreme measures to keep the wolf from the door in the modern world.” Something like that anyway. ’
Floss lets out a whimper. ‘We’re going to be toast!’
‘Don’t worry, babe. I won’t let him hurt you,’ Damian mutters looking furious.
‘What does he mean by “extreme measures”?’ Tim asks.
Lucy shrugs. ‘I don’t know. The entry ended there.’
‘But why does he want to kill Floss? I’m confused …’
‘It’s like this, Tim. Sadie, Hester, and Floss have been on the run from Alexander for over a century,’ explains Damian. ‘Floss took half of his money back in 1921. And he’s been holding a grudge ever since.’
‘Oh. Right.’ Tim raises his eyebrows and stares at Floss.
‘I know stealing his money wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made,’ says Floss sounding tired. ‘But after thirty-three years of being held captive by him, I was desperate.’
‘She was,’ I agree, ‘You should have seen her. She spent a solid month trying to get his safe open.’
‘We’ve done our best to hide and keep out of his way, but I’m well over that now. I just want to be free of him,’ says Floss more staunchly.
‘Hear hear,’ I add, and Hester murmurs her agreement. Not surprising as she’s done a lot of shielding over the years.
Damian kisses Floss’s cheek. ‘You don’t deserve his wrath, babe. He’s a vicious old vampire who’s jealous that you’re happy.’
She smiles at him gratefully and gives him a smooch on the lips.
‘Awww,’ simpers Lucy and I roll my eyes.
Tim surveys our group with a grave face. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but what I’m hearing is that Alexander Dryden is a fucking menace. And that everyone wants him dead.’
We all nod.
‘So killing him effectively rescues Lucy’s thrall friends, plus removes the target from Floss and Damian’s backs.’
We all nod again.
‘There are seven of us now,’ confirms Hester. ‘With a range of powers. Surely, that’s enough to take him down? I mean, the odds are in our favour. We’d have to be pretty unlucky if he killed even one of us.’
My blood runs cold as I contemplate Elliott’s handsome profile and his golden locks. Alexander will not be touching a hair on this man’s beloved head. He’ll have to get through me first.
‘You’re all forgetting one thing,’ says Floss.
‘What’s that, babe?’ replies Damian fondly.
‘We can’t get into the castle.’
‘Floss has a point,’ I say. ‘It’s not like he’s going to invite us in.’
‘No,’ pipes up Lucy. ‘But I can. I was “born” there, so it’s my house. Technically, it’s Elliott’s too.’ She smiles at him. ‘Since I’m his sire.’
I take two cubes of meat and masticate them viciously, imagining they’re her flesh. So much for not hating her.
Lucy claps excitedly. ‘So that’s settled. We’re going to kill Alexander and rescue my friends!’
‘Who’s going to kill him exactly?’ asks Elliott. ‘Any volunteers?’
No one raises their hand.
‘We’ll all take wooden stakes,’ I say after swallowing my mouthful of raw meat. ‘Whoever gets to him first will be the lucky one.’
***
We all pile into Damian’s dad’s car, ready to head to the castle via the road with our motley pile of weapons, including an old rake, a broom broken in two, the handle of a gardening fork, and a pair of wooden knitting needles. It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do.
Tim offered to drive but said he was worried that he might have a bloodlust surge if he smelled a deer and go careening off the road. So he’s out. I offered too, but Elliott quickly shot that down in flames. He obviously hasn’t recovered from me driving his van in 1983.