Chapter 4
Florence | Edinburgh, present day
Damian insists on popping to the supermarket beforehand, so I give him our Ramsay Garden address and instructions to knock on the black downstairs door when he arrives—not the red one at the top of the stairs.
I almost told him that he didn’t need to buy condoms, that I can’t get pregnant, but I’m not supposed to know that he’s buying them.
It was cool, but a little disconcerting, to discover that I could hear his thoughts and project mine to him too at The Brief Encounter.
Apparently, vampire mental powers improve with age, but I’ve never been able to use telepathy until tonight.
And it’s odd that it occurred at the bar and not at my dentist appointment.
Damian did have a couple of glasses of whisky, though. Perhaps it loosened his brain cells?
Anyway, it suits my purposes to have him turn up later as I need to check Sadie’s not lurking around like the fun police.
She’ll get all unholier-than-thou and remind me that I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile.
But I’ve been doing that for decades, and I’m sick of it.
Why shouldn’t I enjoy myself a little? Besides, Sadie is a hypocrite—she gets lots of action on a regular basis from her thrall.
It’s safe to say that after a century, our friendship is well out of its honeymoon phase.
Inserting my key in the lock, I gently ease open the front door. In the hallway, I shrug off my fur coat. I didn’t need to wear it for warmth, but Damian would have been overly curious as to why I was wearing a thin blouse in November.
Removing my boots, I zoom off to the lounge in my stockings.
I tend to fly around the flat when I’m in a hurry as it’s faster than walking.
And I want to create a candlelit ambiance in my lair for my rendezvous with Damian.
The lounge is almost in total darkness, apart from the soft glow of city lights through the double bay windows.
But with my night vision, I can see at a glance that it’s empty without needing to switch on the main light.
Good, no Sadie on patrol; she must be in her room.
I’m about to glide back into the hallway when the black leather chair in the corner swings around slowly in a rather dramatic fashion, and I’m caught midhover. ‘Hello, witch,’ drawls Sadie in her smoky voice.
Shit, caught. I lower gently to the carpet and stand there guiltily, like a schoolgirl called to the headmistress’s office.
Sadie crosses her Adidas-tracksuited legs and taps out a red-varnished staccato on the arm of the chair. Her matching red crop top rides up slightly to reveal a pierced belly button.
‘And where have you been, Miss Hughes?’
‘I had an appointment,’ I say sulkily. I turn to walk away but am gently pulled into the room, my body submitting to her will. Dammit, I hate it when she does that.
Sadie leans forward, the ends of her blonde bob swinging, and picks up a glass tumbler filled with liquid from the coffee table. She takes a sip and licks her lips. It swirls like alcohol. But from the luminescence and the scent, I know it isn’t.
‘This late? An appointment with whom?’
‘No business of yours.’
Unlike Hester, who respects my privacy, Sadie gleefully sifts through my memories and I have no choice in the matter. Even more annoying is the fact that I can’t block her. Her mental abilities are too strong.
‘Pretty little liar,’ she purrs. ‘You were on a date.’ She takes another sip, swishes it around her mouth, and swallows, watching my reaction.
That had better not be the last of the blood. I was going to drink that before Damian arrived. But I’m not going to ask for some ... I’m. Not. Going. To. Ask.
‘Where’s Hester?’ I say weakly, changing the subject before I cave like she wants me to.
‘At her method acting class.’ Sadie and I exchange a smirk.
No matter how much animosity there is between us lately, we do agree on one thing: Hester’s acting hobby is hilarious.
She’s obsessed with the theatre, but afraid of being in the spotlight.
If there’s even a whiff of her having to read aloud or perform a scene with another actor, she diverts the teacher’s attention to someone else.
She seems more interested in listening and taking notes.
Apparently feeling friendlier towards me, Sadie extends the tumbler, and I’m allowed to clutch it and take a desperate gulp. The lukewarm blood caresses my throat, and I let out a sigh. ‘Thanks, I needed that.’
‘So this Damian Rhodes is your dentist?’ Sadie takes the glass from my hand and leans back in the chair, her eyes boring into mine, looking amused.
I shrug nonchalantly. ‘Yes, so what? He’s hot.’
Sadie narrows her eyes. ‘You’re not seriously thinking of seeing him again?’
‘Uh ...’ I stare up at the ceiling, desperate for her not to find out he’s actually on his way to the flat. Luckily, she’s more interested in telling me off.
‘Floss, you know you can’t get involved with a human—’
‘What about you and Elliott?’ I interrupt with a scoff.
Sadie met her thrall in 1983. He was head over heels the moment she sank her fangs into him—Sadie’s feelings, however, remain a well-guarded mystery, possibly even to her.
She frowns. ‘Elliott doesn’t count,’ she says quickly. ‘Fine, have your little fun tonight. But you’ll have to get me or Hester to memory-wipe him afterwards.’
I don’t reply.
‘You have to, Floss. For his own safety.’
I grind my teeth together and can’t resist thinking, So explain to me again why you’re allowed to be with Elliott.
She rolls her eyes and projects her stock answer into my mind: It’s a business relationship, you know that. Elliott supplies us with blood from student donors. Without him, we’d have to resort to feeding on humans, and none of us want to do that anymore.
I personally think we’ve become too reliant on Elliott as our blood supplier.
But as much as I hate to admit it, Sadie is right.
My life is too complicated to get involved with a human.
I should have left Damian alone and not encouraged him to ask me out.
And I definitely shouldn’t have invited fresh blood around to our flat; it’s risky for him.
But he’s got me aroused and itching to play with him a little, and he’ll be safe with me.
I’m not going to hurt him. It’s also fun that I can read his mind, and I want to do it again.
And who knows, he might be up for some bite action.
After all, he yanked a tooth out of that guy the other day without anaesthetic and hardly batted an eyelid . ..
‘Anyway, enough about hot human dentists. There’s something more important to discuss,’ Sadie continues out loud as though my love life is now satisfactorily resolved. ‘We need to have a flat meeting.’
‘Why?’
She takes a sip of blood, and her eyes rest steadily on mine. ‘Because I had a disturbing report from Elliott today. One of his regular male donors was bitten last night in Bonnington after leaving a party. So it seems a certain Victorian gentleman may be visiting the city.’
A finger of fear worms its way into my ribcage and curls around my cold, dead heart. Bonnington is on the other side of town but not that far away.
‘W-was he drained?’
‘No, but the gentleman took a big, long drink. Luckily, someone found the student lying in an alleyway and called an ambulance. He was given a blood transfusion at the hospital. Elliott visited this morning and the student told him what happened. The description he gave matches.’
‘Fuck.’
‘Yeah, it’s a bit too close for comfort. So we need to discuss it with Hester, to make sure she shields you. I don’t want to take any chances.’
‘It may not be him ...’ I can’t say his name. It’s like Shakespeare’s Macbeth; if I say it, something bad will happen.
‘No, it may not be. But if it is ...’
‘Don’t say it,’ I warn her. ‘Don’t say his name.’
‘Alexander,’ she intones, and I groan. Shit, she said it. Now we’re all doomed!
A knock sounds from downstairs, and Sadie angles her head sharply towards the noise. Who’s that?
I start backing away from her one step at a time while she’s distracted.
Ah, gotta go. My dentist has arrived. Thanks for the drink.
Sadie scowls. But before she has a chance to remind me again of my vampiric responsibilities, I’m flying down the staircase that leads to my lair.
As soon as I’m out of her presence, my mood picks up, and anticipation skitters down my spine.
Carpe diem. If my vengeful sire is close to discovering my whereabouts, I may as well have some fun before he does.