Witchblood

  Chapter Three

  I looked up and into his dark, almost black eyes. This man who said I’d called to him, this man who had given me another chance at life. He looked young, maybe only a couple of years older than me, yet his eyes were full of history, knowledge and experience.

  ‘Daniel, how old are you?’

  ‘I was born in 1891 in India. My father worked in the Indian Civil Service for the British Raj. So I suppose I’m 118,’ he said with a grin.

  ‘What happened to you? Did Eva turn you into a vampire in India?’ I asked.

  ‘No. I left India when I was packed off to boarding school at eight. I only went back to India once and even when my parents came back to England, I rarely saw them.’ The lack of emotion in his voice both surprised and disturbed me. I could see no glimmer of sadness in his eyes. Why? Was it a vampire thing or was it just so long ago that his memories meant nothing?

  ‘So how old were you when Eva turned you? You don’t look that much older than me.’

  He contemplated it for a moment and then replied.

  ‘I was twenty-four. It was 1915. I left my new wife at home in Brighton, pregnant with our first child and enlisted for the war. I never saw Ellie again, and my last year as a human was spent surrounded by the filth and death of the trenches.’ He got up from the sofa and left the room.

  Whoa! He was married and he had a child. How could he not see her again? Why didn’t he feel the pull I did with Luke. I couldn’t leave it alone, so I followed him into the kitchen.

  ‘You say you never saw your wife again, ever? How could you not go back? At least to see her, to check she was alright? Didn’t you want to see your baby?’ I accused, the words tumbling out in one long string, my voice getting higher as I ran out of air.

  His voice turned cold, steely, and he glared at me.

  ‘Do not presume you know me or what I may have felt for Ellie. I could never have gone back to her. I promised myself I would never endanger her or our child. I loved her and I knew I was only too capable of killing them both. Her scent would have been irresistible, all the more so because of our bond. I would never have risked their lives to satisfy my own curiosity.’

  ‘I’m sorry. You're right I don't understand. I'm not like you,’ I said, worrying I’d gone too far and feeling a strange invisible barrier spring out of him, pushing me away with powerful energy blasts that felt like pins and needles. Our connection was crushed and disintegrated as he marched past me. It had all happened so fast. I hadn’t even been aware that we had such a strong connection, until he tore it down. I felt torn. There was a gaping hole which I hadn’t even realised had been filled by him, and what was with the needle thing? It suddenly occurred to me that he was a lot more powerful than I initially imagined.

  He left me mulling his words over, as I applied them to my own circumstances. I didn’t feel as convinced that I would kill Luke, as he seemed to have done with his wife. I had drunk the blood he’d been giving me, but it wasn’t like there were any other options, as there were no normal foodstuffs in the house. I’d checked the cupboards already, much to his amusement. I didn’t have this mad craving to go out killing people that they kept talking about. Yet he assured me that if I put a slice of toast to my lips, it would make me retch, and if I saw a human pass by the cottage, I would pounce and kill. Interestingly, he also said that after a year or so I’d be able to eat regular human food, if I had to, without giving myself away. Why then, if what Daniel said was true, was I wondering what it would be like to eat toast, and not wondering when I could get my teeth around a juicy human!

  Maybe I was different to him after all. Maybe I’d be able to see Luke and resist killing him. I needed to test myself; I needed to get out of this house and test my resolve, and to do that I needed to get Daniel back onside and convince him I was ready for the next step - the move back to Manchester.

  The night was a long one, especially as Daniel was keeping his distance, with the excuse of business emailing. What business, I wondered, but I got no details or even any conversation, so I went to bed early with a pile of books.

  I heard Eva before I saw her. It was early in the morning and I’d slept all night, which I think was another point of consternation with Daniel, who seemed to think I slept too much for a vampire’s requirements. I heard their voices murmuring below my room, so I crept out of bed and down the stairs. I loved the way I could move now, sinuously and totally soundless, and I smiled a sad smile as imagined my mum’s shock if she could see me now. Her words ringing in my ears, ‘Jessie love, do you think you could try to be a little quieter? It’s like a herd of baby elephants coming down the stairs!’

  I paused and frowned. My mother was gone and I still missed her. I started to wonder if I’d be with her now, if Daniel and Eva hadn’t found me in that alley, or if I’d just be rotting away in a church graveyard. My knowledge of the universe may have recently expanded to include vampires, but I was no nearer answering my questions on Christianity.

  I stopped, as Eva’s words re-focused my attention on the task in hand.

  ‘…..toast? Ugh! I don’t think I even considered a human diet after I changed. All I wanted was my next kill,’ Eva was saying.

  ‘I know. I don’t understand her. She sleeps every night for at least seven hours and she's only drunk about two thirds of the blood we stored for her. In fact I’m not convinced she needed that even, or maybe she did it to pacify me,’ Daniel went on.

  ‘Do you think she could have witches in her bloodline? Has she mentioned anything to you yet? Surely she’d know if she had witch blood in her family, but it might explain why she isn’t letting go.’

  ‘She’s here….Jessica, come in.’ Daniel raised his voice to include me. I entered the room as nonchalantly as I could, after hearing that they thought I might be a witch, but I couldn’t hold it together for more than a moment.

  ‘How did you know I was there?’ I asked him.

  ‘Hasn’t she even worked out your blood link yet?’ Eva said to Daniel. Then she turned to me. ‘You share blood, honey. He can read you - know what you want, how you feel and if you are close by, he’ll know where you are. Surely you must have known that by now?’

  ‘…of course. I guess I knew there was a connection of sorts, but I wasn’t exactly given a ‘vampire manual’ you know.’ Why should she just waltz back in and have a go at me? I wondered.

  ‘Daniel, you should have warned her, tested her, commanded her a little, so it wasn’t such a shock.’

  ‘What do you mean, commanded?’ I asked, my eyes blazing.

  ‘You should have felt it by now, but Daniel isn’t as pushy as some out there. Me, for instance. You’re lucky. He doesn’t agree with breaking his subordinates’ wills unless necessary,’ she went on.

  ‘Eva, stop this. You're worrying her unnecessarily,’ Daniel interrupted.

  ‘It’s not like she has a choice. She needs to know how things work. I’m your master and you’re hers. I’m in your head and you’re in hers. The sooner she stops with her silly girlish memories and takes on our world, her new life, her improved life, the sooner she’ll settle.’

  ‘My memories aren’t silly. Luke isn’t a silly girlish memory. I’m going to see him again and no one will stop me. What if I don’t want to take on your world?’

  Eva’s eyes hardened and she coolly considered me before answering with her final blow.

  ‘You have no choice Jessica. You will do as Daniel says. He controls you now. You will bend to his will, and not if, but when he orders you to forget Luke, you will. He made you, you belong to him, and with his blood running in your veins you have no choice but to follow his orders. And if I tell him that it’s time you forget your human friends, then he’ll do as I say.’

  ‘You mean to say if he shouts ‘sit’ I’ll sit, and if he orders me to get naked, I’ll remove all my clothes and say ‘ok’ as I jump into bed? I don’t think so! That’s completely ridiculous!’

  ‘Eva, I do
n’t think it’s that simple with Jessica; that’s what I was trying to explain. I can read her thoughts and feelings to an extent, but so far her will is elastic. I feel it bending towards me, then it suddenly snaps back into place. She’s her own person.’

  ‘Right, well if she’s a witch, she’ll need to see Sebastian. It complicates things for everyone concerned. We all will…’

  ‘A witch? This is getting more surreal by the minute. I’m not a witch and have never practised witchcraft, or Wicca, or whatever it is. Well, apart from dabbling in teenage spell books to try and get the boy I fancied to go out with me when I was fifteen, and that didn’t work at all,’ I argued, trying to keep my face a calm mask to cover the confusion of emotions bubbling under the surface.

  ‘Ahh, so you have had an interest in witchcraft. It seems likely then. I’ll get Sebastian to check her bloodline.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness sake, all my friends had an interest in it. But as I said, the spells didn’t work. Nothing did. We tried tarot and that was no good either. I’m not a witch. There’s no such thing, I thought Wicca was just a religion celebrating nature and paganism?’ I replied, trying to ignore the fact that a month ago I would have laughed in the face of anyone who tried to tell me that vampires were real.

  ‘Those spells you tried as a teenager would never work. They’re dreamed up by human writers, who daydream about controlling the minds of the men they cannot have. I bet it was bound in a beautiful velvety cover with a ribbon to tie it up,’ she said as she smiled condescendingly. ‘Do you have a familiar?’ she asked.

  ‘A familiar? What? You mean like a witch’s pet? No!’

  ‘So you’ve never had a pet you felt very close to? Or felt an affinity with animals?’

  ‘Well, yes, I’ve always had pets. I love animals, but that hardly makes me a witch. I grew up with a cat, but it wasn’t a witch’s cat, just a fat, fluffy, tabby cat with very little brain,’ I said grinning as I remembered my childhood pet.

  ‘And more recently?’ she probed.

  ‘Hmm, well yes, I suppose so. I had a beautiful Siamese cat, but I didn’t buy him. He just turned up on my doorstep one day and wouldn’t leave me alone. But that doesn’t mean anything either. Cats often find themselves new homes.’ I suddenly felt myself pulled towards the black hole of information overload and badly needed to sit down.

  Ignoring me, Eva turned back to Daniel. ‘There you go, maybe we can find her cat. I’ll get onto Sebastian. He’ll want to know,’ and with that Eva once again left the house as soundlessly as she entered.

  ‘He’s just a normal cat, Daniel. I loved him like a pet, but that is it. There’s nothing else to it,’ I explained.

  ‘Maybe,’ he said, sounding unconvinced.

  Ten minutes later, Eva walked back into the room. Her bossy, pushy attitude seemed to have abruptly disappeared and she was all smiles.

  ‘Right Jessica, you get your wish. We’re heading back to Manchester. Sebastian wants to meet you, and we can test out these allegations for you. I think it must be very unsettling for you and we realise that you’ve no idea about your past, so try not to worry about it and we’ll sort it all out.’

  I smiled warily at her, suspicious of what the ‘testing out’ may mean and what Sebastian, who was no doubt very powerful, meant to do with me. Me - a newborn vampire, who seemingly didn’t want to tow the line, and didn’t quite fit into the neat little newborn vampire boxes they had laid out for me.

  During the day, Eva carried on with the best friend routine and after a while my guard dropped and I found myself chatting away, happy to have some female company after a quiet week spent with the brooding Daniel. She brought me a suitcase filled with new clothes, everything from nice new undies to jeans, t-shirts, jumpers, a couple of skirts, a dress and even a coat. She must have noticed that her wellies had been too large for me and had even got me a couple of pairs of shoes in both a size four and a five. For the first time all week, a true smile lit my face as I thanked her profusely. The knowledge that I could riffle through my own clothes each day, helped lift some of the depressive cloud that had been shadowing me.

  I gladly told her about my childhood, how my mother had died from breast cancer and how my father had shied away from me ever since. I knew he loved me, but he’d turned to alcohol since my mother’s death and had never been the same. I’d no extended family living anywhere near me, as my father’s parents had both died in their seventies, and my mother’s family lived in the south. My recent ‘family’ had been my two best friends. Luke, whom I’d known since I was fourteen, had a massive crush on and more recently had followed to university after he’d finally kissed me some six months earlier. Then of course there was my best friend Alex, whom I’d met at university and shared a student flat with. She was my rock, and I missed her easy-going lightness. Eva made a note of my family names and emailed them on to Sebastian, who was already looking into my family history.

  Some hours later, we were in Daniel’s blacked out MPV, speeding down the fast lane of the M6. Eva was chatting away about a vampire called Amy, who was clearly not her favourite person in the world, and Daniel hardly spoke a word. His brow was furrowed and his eyes fixed permanently on the road. I felt a new excitement welling in the pit of my stomach - nerves about meeting Sebastian mixed with happiness to be returning home, and a secret hope that I’d overcome all hurdles and somehow get to see my friends again.

  As we arrived in Manchester early on a Friday night, I found myself looking through the darkened windows at the familiar scene of young, happy people, laughing and flirting, wearing their best clothes and heading out to the trendiest bars. I was surprised as we headed straight into the centre and onto Oxford Road and even more so when we turned down a very familiar side street and slowed down by Exodus. Yet we didn’t stop outside, but drove round the back and parked in the service alley. There was nobody about, and as it was winter it was already dark.

  ‘Exodus? Why are we here? I thought we were going to see Sebastian?’ I asked.

  ‘Sebastian owns several clubs, but Exodus is his new baby. Night clubs and bars are obvious business choices for vampires, as the work hours pose fewer problems for us, especially in the summer,’ Eva answered. ‘Come on.’

  She opened the door and I followed her out into the alley. Daniel knocked three sharp successive raps on the door and it was immediately opened by a guy I vaguely recognised. He was the barman my friends had all voted as the ‘Best Looking Bartender in Manchester’. He had dirty blonde, fashionably styled short hair and a slow, easy smile.

  ‘Hi Dan, Eva.’ He nodded to them as he held open the door. ‘Is this the new witch-girl then?’

  ‘Hello Johnny. This is Jessica. Are you going to take us through?’ Daniel replied, not waiting for an answer, as he smoothly glided past and strode down the corridor. Eva and Johnny soon caught him up and I was led through a maze of corridors until, with a stop so abrupt I nearly walked into them, we came to a halt outside a heavy wooden door.

  Three more knocks, and we entered a large room. In one corner was a large antique desk, and to the other side of the room some comfortable armchairs were grouped in a vague circle, two of them occupied by a couple who watched me intently. The man who I instantly knew to be Sebastian, as his presence immediately dominated the room, stood up from behind the desk and walked over to greet us. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with dark almost black hair, and he was exceptionally handsome.

  ‘Daniel, Eva,’ he said inclining his head slightly towards them. ‘And this must be Jessica,’ he said, his eyes roaming the full length of my body and finishing by staring straight into my eyes. ‘Mmm, I can see why you couldn’t resist this one, Daniel. I bet she was sublime. It’s a shame her blood will have lost some of its flavour; I haven’t tasted witch in a long time, it’s so potent it takes incredible strength not to drain the last drop. Oh! But then you didn’t get to drain her, did you? Such a shame! No doubt you both got a taste though?’ he said, with a qu
ick smile towards Eva, confirming he’d already been told the details. ‘Although maybe she is indeed a witch, if she’s rejecting you. So, maybe her blood would be worth a quick taste after all?’ He smiled at me, and I could see his fangs pushing through at the thought of biting me. At once I felt the danger in the air and I stepped backwards behind Eva and Daniel. Daniel stepped forward, shielding me.

  ‘Sebastian, I think Eva might be wrong. I’ve not yet had to command her, it's just a hunch, and we do have a connection. I feel her, emotionally and physically. I know where she is and what she wants.’ His stance became powerful, protective. ‘She is mine, and I don’t want her weakened unless we are sure.’

  ‘Of course, if that’s true then she will belong to you and be of no interest to me. However we do need to clarify these hunches, so I propose a test.’ He stalked past Daniel and smiled at me, and once again I felt the danger lurking behind the smile. I had a feeling this would not be a fair test.

  ‘The key here Daniel, is for her to obey your command. If you can get in her head, then I’ll leave you both alone. If she rejects you as her master, then I’ll have to take over as I cannot have a renegade newborn roaming the streets,’ he smiled slowly. ‘Obviously the order has to be an unwelcome one, otherwise we would never know if she was just choosing to follow the command to hide her true bloodline.’

  Daniel turned to look at me, worry creasing his features as he smiled tentatively. I felt him projecting his thoughts towards me, willing me to listen, and I knew there was no escape. He’d tried his best.

  ‘You know what I want Daniel; I won’t take more than a taste. Just to prove a point. You have two minutes.’ Sebastian’s eyes flashed up to meet mine as he walked slowly past, his hand brushing the back of my hip as he sauntered back to his desk and sat down.

  Damn! Damn! Damn! Now what? Was I to be a light supper?

  Daniel’s face turned to stone. His eyes, which were normally a chocolaty brown, were getting darker by the second, the pupils dilating beyond normal proportion, turning his eyes a glossy black. He opened his mouth slightly, and I could see his fangs were fully protruded. I felt waves of tension firing from him. The two vampires in the corner felt the tension in the air and stood up, ready to jump in if required. Eva stepped over, and putting her hands on either side of his face whispered,

  ‘Don’t Daniel. He’s looking for an excuse to take her. You both have to do this.’

  After what seemed a long five minutes, but could have only been mere seconds, his face relaxed and his eyes returned to normal. He turned to me and gazed into my eyes. I suddenly felt his power start to wash over me again and realised I could hear his voice in my head. He was speaking to me, but his lips didn’t move. Immediately my instinct was to block him and I found I could do this easily, pushing him out bit by bit.

  ‘Jessica, No! Please listen to me or I can’t save you from him. You have to do this. You have to let me in. Let me guide you.’ I looked at the other vampires in the room to see if they’d heard him, but even Eva, who was watching intently, showed no signs of understanding. He was talking to me with his mind. Weird! I listened, intrigued.

  ‘He wants you to go to him. He wants to taste you.’ I shuddered as my worst fears were realised and immediately tried to shut him out again. ‘Jessica, listen please. It will only be for a moment. He knows you wouldn’t willingly do this. It’s the only thing you can do to make him believe I can control you…..otherwise he will find a way to.’

  Even more strangely, I found I could speak to him in return.

  ‘What if he can’t control me either?’ I thought, already knowing the answer.

  ‘Remember, he knows everyone you care about and where to find them. He can control you through them, and if that fails he could kill you,’ he answered.

  ‘Time’s up, Daniel. Is the little witch going to obey you?’ Sebastian swung round from the desk and eyed me hungrily.

  ‘Do as I ask!’ Daniel said blasting me with power.

  His voice took on a cold, forceful air as he spoke the words both out loud and psychically. I was taken by surprise and felt the full force of his command like a slap across the face. I saw Eva watch me. Her eyes seemed friendly, pleading me to do the right thing. I knew now what I had to do to stay safe, so I walked trance-like towards Sebastian.

  For a second I saw the surprise show in Sebastian’s eyes as they momentarily widened, then he smiled a slow easy smile. He turned to the vampire pair still standing in the corner.

  ‘Troy, Isabelle, you can leave the room now. I have no further need of you,’ he commanded.

  After watching the vampire couple leave the room, he turned back to me smiling. ‘Let’s make ourselves comfortable, shall we?’ He walked over to the comfortable chairs, and I followed somewhat reluctantly.

  Daniel was by my side, then suddenly in my head. ‘Jessica, let your guard down. Let him into your head. It won’t hurt that way. Let him seduce you.’ I could see the strain showing at the corners of his mouth, as his eyes flicked over to Sebastian.

  ‘Jessica, come, sit next to me.’ Sebastian patted the seat of a small sofa he was sitting on and I walked over and sat down. ‘Hmm, now which pulse point shall we go for? There is a good juicy one just in your inner thigh! Such a shame you have those tight jeans on.’ He laughed a deep, dirty laugh and Eva had to step forward to restrain a glowering Daniel.

  I knew I had to get this over with before Daniel’s restraint broke, along with my resolve. I took a deep breath, and stroking his thigh I moved closer, tilting my head so my neck was upturned to him. With my new vampire hearing, I not only heard Sebastian’s quick intake of breath, but also Eva and Daniel’s as they looked at me in shock. I kept up the part and saw it begin to work, as Sebastian’s attention was diverted from teasing Daniel, and he became fully focused on me.

  His fangs once again shot out, this time fully, and his eyes went black. My emotional wall went up as I tensed, and a second later agonising pain seared through my neck as his teeth tore into me. I felt energy scream within me and thought I saw the lighting flicker. Sebastian suddenly released me. I expected retribution, but strangely it never came.

  ‘Jessica I'm so sorry. I didn’t mean to harm you. Let’s try again.’ He looked at me with something new in his eyes, something softer, and this time I knew I had to let my guard down and let him in. I stared into his eyes as he stroked my face and leaned in once more. This time was different, very different. I shivered as a warm wave of pleasure surged through my body. If I’d been human I’d have felt goose bumps play along my arms, but as it was I felt an addictive mix of sexual energy and pure joy blast through my senses. For the very first time I felt something quickly pushing through the sensitive skin in my mouth. I ran my tongue tentatively over my newly formed fangs. I felt hungry and impatient for more, as mere seconds later Sebastian was pulling away and searching my face quizzically, before gently lifting my top lip to witness my virgin fangs starting to recede. He lifted my hand to his lips briefly in an oddly old-fashioned gesture, and stepping away, turned back to Daniel.

  ‘She is yours, for as long as she wishes to be and for as long as you can control her. She is surely a witch, but I can taste your blood in her as well, and as long as she causes no trouble she may prove to be more useful than she seems.’ He added, ‘I suggest you do not enter the club yet as the police are still looking for leads, and her transformation is not complete. You can stay in the rooms here or return to the farm as you wish.’

  During this exchange I sat open-mouthed, staring at Sebastian. My fangs had disappeared, but I felt dazed and there was a persistent throbbing in my groin.

  ‘We’ll stay here tonight. Jessica has not yet encountered humans. I thought if she fed it may help disperse her human memories a little. It seems she's found her fangs finally, and I know plenty of willing donors here in the city,’ Eva said laughing. Sebastian chuckled along with her comments, but I noticed Daniel was still motionless.

  I let
my mind reach out, as if I were uncurling invisible ribbons and throwing them out towards him, and felt an onslaught of emotion in return. I recoiled as anger, jealousy and resentment battled against an animalistic excitement and relief. I wondered if he’d felt the waves of arousal that had taken over my body, as Sebastian’s fangs penetrated my skin, and suddenly his mind was joined with mine again. ‘Yes, I did. It was not your fault. You did everything I asked.' He’d silently answered my question and I looked down quickly to hide the rising blush.

  ‘Right, let’s go. Daniel, take her up to my suite. I’m going to do a little light hunting,’ Eva said, grinning wolfishly. ‘Don’t worry Jessica, it will be fully consensual. We don’t live in the dark ages anymore. Well, most of us don’t anyway!’

  As Daniel led me out of the room, Sebastian looked up from his desk and straight into my eyes. ‘Jessica, I meant what I said. Come to me anytime. I shall look forward to our next meeting and will be keeping an eye on you. I will let you know what I find with regards to your family lineage.’ With that, his eyes slowly travelled the length of my body. He finished the gesture with an easy grin and a wink as he bade me goodbye.

  I felt Daniel grip my upper arm tightly as he led me out of the room.

  ‘She’ll be just fine with me, Sebastian. Thank you for your offer of accommodation,’ he said with a snarl. Sebastian merely waved us away. Once through the door Daniel had still not let go of my arm and I was wondering if vampires could bruise.

  ‘Ehm, Daniel, could you let go of my arm please? I’m starting to lose feeling in my fingers,’ I joked. Of course I was not in any real pain, but it was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.

  ‘Sorry!’ He dropped my arm as suddenly as if it were burning his fingers and marched off down the corridor at such a pace I almost struggled to keep up.

  We hurried down a long corridor that must have run the length of the club, as I could hear the thumping music starting up in the background. It was only ten o’clock and the night was young. In fact I wondered at hearing the music, as I hadn’t thought the club would be open yet. Maybe it was open for other business, vampire business!

  At the end of the corridor was a fire exit and a flight of stairs. We ascended four flights after which I was amazed that I didn’t even catch my breath. I laughed spontaneously at the ease of it, as a month ago I would have been bent double, wheezing away, but I felt nothing. I could have done it again, twice! Daniel paused to take in my elevated mood, before turning round and marching off through the heavy door. He held it open for me briefly, before carrying on down the corridor till he reached a door marked ‘No 6’. After searching for his key ring, he unlocked the door and held it open for me.