30. Memories
MEMORIES
Irene
Myrtha had lent me another one of her frocks, a beautiful brown velvet gown, simple but elegant. In my past life, I would have worn it for a walk in Hyde Park. Now I put it on to kill people.
I wrung my hands during the drive to London. Instead, Alex remained calm and stoic as if this were just another evening in the city.
“What if I’m not able to detect anyone’s deep aura?” I asked.
“Evil men are easy to find. I have to agree with Myrtha on this.”
My energy was dwindling, and the sensation of my strength diminishing raised a wave of panic. But killing was another matter.
“I’ll do everything.” Alex tilted his head to catch my gaze. “Trust me.”
Strands of his inky hair fell over his cheeks, and the contrast between his exceptionally pale skin and black hair was striking. A vision of his lips around Fiona’s arm came unbidden.
“Is Fiona your only provider?” I was a little obsessed.
“No. Sometimes I drink from Darius, but wizards and witches are different. They find the bite extremely painful. I guess magic fights my vampire powers, causing pain. I drank from Graves once, but a werewolf’s blood is too tangy for me.”
“What does my blood taste like?”
The tip of his tongue slowly stroked his bottom lip. “It tastes of oranges and smells of jasmine. It’s rich and spicy at the same time. Strong and velvety. Like you. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tried.”
The intensity with which he said that made me part my lips. My mind cleared, and a memory resurfaced.
“You visited me.” I stroked the arm he’d healed. “It was you that night.”
“I wanted to make sure you were safe after I’d drunk from you, but I was worried that, if I’d got too close, I might have hurt you. Even now, your scent makes me want to drink your blood.”
“That frightens me a little.” And it also excited me.
“It should. But I won’t drink from you.”
“Why?” I sounded too alarmed by the thought of not being bitten for someone who had just admitted to being frightened.
“Because you don’t trust me.”
“I do.” And I wanted to be bitten and feel that overwhelming pleasure, but that sounded selfish.
The carriage rolled to a stop, interrupting the conversation.
I climbed out slowly, trying to procrastinate on the inevitable. Alex didn’t offer me his hand, and I didn’t mind.
I jolted at every noise as we walked through Whitechapel. “Won’t Knight be angry at our presence here?”
“Not as long as we don’t interfere with his pack. Don’t believe everything Graves says. Knight isn’t a deranged werewolf, and he’s a good duke for the Moon Court.”
Drunk people sang at the top of their lungs. Others ran down the pavement as if chased by the police. The stench of urine and blood thickened the air and added tension to my shoulders.
I moved closer to Alex instinctively, almost grabbing his arm, but I stopped myself. “I’m nervous.”
Pain tightened his features for a moment. “It’ll be over soon.”
From a dark corner at a junction, we had a good view of a club. Loud, cheerful music blasted from it. Men came and went, rowdy and boisterous, making lewd jokes.
“What club is that?”
He cocked an eyebrow. “That’s not a club. It’s a brothel.”
Tarnation. Could I look more na?ve than that? “Not every man who goes to a disorderly house is evil.”
“No, but it’s a place like any other to start, and it was the favourite of Riley and his men. Focus on someone and tell me what deep colours you see.”
The life of a man depended on my ability to see deep auras. “What if I make a mistake?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Bad luck for the unfortunate man.”
“Alex!”
“Has your power ever been wrong? Trust it. Besides, if you accidentally kill a good man, you won’t get stronger but weaker.”
I took a deep breath and focused on a particularly loud man.
He was laughing with another man while buttoning up the fly-front of his trousers.
I stared until a dark halo formed around him and didn’t change colour, not even when I dug deeper.
The dark aura had the shape of an octopus with smoky tendrils writhing in the air.
Superficial feelings of excitement and laughter sparked brightly outside the smoky core.
“The outer layer is normal,” I said. “The inner one is dark with smoky tendrils.”
“We’ve found tonight’s winner.” He clicked his tongue. “I smell tobacco. He’s a smoker. His blood is going to taste horrible.”
“Would you please stop joking?”
“I’m not joking.” He looked affronted. “I avoid biting smokers. Their blood is so bitter it makes chicory taste like honey.”
We followed the man down a dark alley. He walked past an old man begging for a shilling and kicked him hard when the old man stretched out his arm. The old man whimpered, putting a hand on his ribs.
“Awful man.” My determination strengthened.
Alex dropped a few sovereigns into the old man’s hat, and I beamed at him as the old man gasped in surprise.
“That was generous.”
“I was a beggar once.” Alex handed me the dagger. “Be ready.”
“What…?”
He shot forwards at an impossible speed. The next moment, the man was on the cobbles, unconscious, and Alex’s mouth was on his neck. I supposed he had to knock out the man, not to touch him more than necessary. The man wouldn’t have stayed still otherwise.
I approached them slowly, wielding the dagger with a trembling hand. The blade grew heavier the closer I got. What had Darius said about the position of my thumb on the hilt?
Alex lifted his head, blood trickling down his chin. “Come.”
When his eyes were obsidian and his fangs fully extended, his voice sounded resonant and deep.
I raised the dagger over the man’s body. Alex’s fangs had left two wounds on the man’s neck, and a small amount of blood oozed out.
His head was tilted to the side as if he’d fallen asleep, but his open mouth showed yellowed teeth, and his crooked nose looked familiar.
“I’ll do it. You just keep your hand around the hilt.” Alex put his palm on the pommel of the hilt. “You can close your eyes if you want.”
But a vision of the night of the attack flashed across my mind. This man had been with Sean. He’d entered the dining room and drunk Papa’s wine.
“Wait!”
Alex stopped the blade an inch from the man’s chest. “Irene, it has to be done.”
“This man was with Sean the night he attacked me.”
A low hiss came out of him. “That changes everything.” He took the dagger, careful not to touch my hand. “We’ll take him with us and ask him a few questions.”