Night Feast (20 page)

Herb Clayton could hardly believe that a child of his could go to such great lengths to destroy someone else's life.  He blamed Alexis, her mother was a woman who would climb over dead bodies to get what she wanted.  He felt a great pity for the poor, misguided girl who sat next to him in his truck.

''When you have sorted everything out you must come back here.''

''Really daddy?  Oh thank you and I promise I will never lie to you or let you down again.''

Herb knew that she had just made a promise that she couldn't possible keep, but he loved her and felt that if she was ever going to change she needed to be away from her mother.

Lia was certain that Amberlee had received her message loud and clear. She had gone straight back to Westport, and landed in the woodland surrounding her house.  Lia had felt ravenous. Her encounter with Amberlee Robinson had awakened her appetite for human blood.  The vampire had felt that there was a beast that was raging inside her, one that had been caged for around a thousand years.  Her natural instincts had made her want to go straight back to Philadelphia and tear at Amberlee's body with her hands, and her teeth until her blood had dripped down her throat, her chin, her neck her clothes. However she knew that she couldn't do that.  Lia had started to realise that her love for Jay Patterson was much stronger, than her desire for the exquisite taste of warm human blood.  The touch of his lips pressed against hers was much more exciting than chasing, and catching and procuring the blood from her prey.  Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a young white-tailed deer in the distance.  She looked at the animal with interest, it had a beautiful coat, and its face was pretty with an innocent grace. She had, of course seen deer before, but her tunnel vision for human blood had always prevented her from seeking alternative refreshment. It did not know that it was being watched by the vampire.  The young deer did not hear, or see her approach, because she floated towards it in mid air. And when Lia sank her teeth into its throat, it did not struggle but died instantly.  The blood from the pretty little animal was moderately appetising.  To Lia it felt more like a snack than a meal.  However she was pleased that she had discovered another way to keep her hunger at bay.  She returned to her house, and was really looking forward to seeing Jay in the morning. 

Alexis Robinson was surprised to have heard a key turn in the lock at that particular hour of the day.  She assumed that for some reason, her husband had come home from work, having forgotten some legal document or something or other.  When she saw that it was Amberlee who had entered the house she put her hand to her mouth in disbelief, then rushed to her daughter to hug her.

''Don't touch me'' Amberlee snapped and backed away.

Alexis reeled from the venom in her words.  ''Amberlee we have all been so worried about you, where have you been? the police have been searching everywhere for you.''

''I've been in Philadelphia with daddy'' said Amberlee flatly.  She knew that her mother wouldn't like this news, she had always tried to pretend that he real father did not exist.

''With Herb, you were with Herb all this time? But the police questioned him, and he told them that he hadn't seen you since the divorce!'' Alexis was outraged.  ''That's perjury or something isn't it? I'm going to call the police right now and....'

''If you touch that phone mother I will go out of here and you will never see me again'' said Amberlee, with a finality that Alexis had never witnessed in her before.  When she saw that she had her full attention ,Amberlee told her shocked and confused mother that they needed to talk.  They sat opposite each other, as Amberlee stated all her grievances, and it was like water bursting from a dam.  Alexis listened without interrupting, while she explained how she felt that she did not fit in with the three of them.  She complained how her mother would always jump to her stepbrother's defence, especially when he was the one who was being obnoxious.  Amberlee was also hurt about her mother's continuous jibes about her having the 'Clayton' chin, and her frequent statements of how she was disappointed in her. It may have been the first time in her life, but Alexis felt really ashamed.  She tried to defend herself by saying Amberlee was a difficult child, who would constantly disrespect her.  She mentioned the stolen money and credit card, and the disruption that Amberlee had caused in the house whenever she couldn't get her own way.  However she did finish by saying that she loved her, and she knew that it had not always been easy for her, and that she knew that she was to blame, for a lot of the things that had happened.

They went to the police together, and asked to speak to the officers in charge of the case of the missing girl Amberlee Robinson.  The officers were surprised but pleased to see her.  Another teenage girl, placed in a body bag within such a short space of time, would have sent Portland into a real spin.  However, they made sure that they gave Amberlee a long, stern lecture for wasting police time and resources.  Amberlee was tired of all her scheming.  She didn't tell the police that she had made Tori Martin plant her shoe, but said that she had done it herself before she had left for the airport.  She said that she had wanted to teach Jay Patterson a lesson, for dumping her for another girl.  When they asked why her father had not told them that she was with him, she lied and said that when she first arrived in Philadelphia, she had slept rough for a few nights, before going to her father's house.  Then she added that she had told him that she'd contacted her mother, and there was no need to inform the Portland police of her whereabouts.  The police accepted her story and let her off with a warning.  The charges were dropped against Jay Patterson immediately, and the one million dollar bail was returned to its rightful owner.  

Meanwhile Jay had called Lia, and after asking her if she had managed to do the errand for her father in New Hampshire, he invited her to come to his house and meet his mother.  Lia said yes, and told him not to worry about her transportation to Portland.  When Jay had been arrested he'd had to leave his mother's car behind at Lia's house.  Lia waited for an hour before she travelled in vampire style to Portland.  She did not of course land straight in front of Jay's front door, but hailed a cab from about three miles away.  The vampire was very prettily dressed, when she knocked on the door of the Patterson house, but Cora had not been prepared for such a ravishing beauty.  Jay invited her in and introduced her to his mother.  Lia said a polite hello while Cora gazed at her in amazement.  She was quite unlike anyone that she had seen before, and she told her just how lovely she looked.  Lia accepted a glass of warm milk, she was relieved to be able to take something.  Cora told her how grateful she was for arranging the bail to be posted for Jay.

''He would have had to stay in police custody if it hadn't been for your kindness Lia I can't thank you enough'' she said emotionally.  ''I dread to think what will happen though, if that dreadful Robinson girl doesn't turn up soon.''

''Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that'' Lia replied with an air of confidence of someone who was sure of the outcome.  ''I'm sure everything is going to turn out just fine.''

Cora had wandered why this lovely young girl seemed so sure.  There was a rarity about her, which she couldn't quite put her finger on.  She watched Lia out of the corner of her eye, as she delicately sipped her glass of milk.  Jay took Lia up to his bedroom.  It was unusually tidy because his mother, when she found out that they were getting a visitor, had cleaned it and changed his bedding.  His clothes, that were usually strewn everywhere, and been hung up and put away, and Cora had run the Hoover over the carpet. Jay laughed and told Lia that he thought they were in the wrong room.  They sat and listened to some music from his iTunes collection.  Lia had started to enjoy hearing the strange songs and tunes of the 21st century, so much different from the music that her mother played on the piano at home.  The songs reminded her of the dance, and when she and Jay had first met, and their bodies had been pressed together in a passionate embrace as they swayed to the music. Suddenly they heard Cora's voice call Jay, to tell him that the police were on the phone, and they wanted to talk to him.  A feeling of dread enveloped him, but Lia assured him that if it was bad news they would have come to the house to see him.  They both went down the stairs, and Jay took the telephone from Cora.

''Jay Patterson speaking.  Yes okay, thank you for calling to let me know.''  Then he replaced the receiver.

''What did they want,  as something else happened?'' asked Cora, her face was stricken with fear.

''You could say that mom'' replied Jay smiling.  ''Amberlee Robinson has come back,  it looks like I'm off the hook.''

Lia smiled knowingly to herself as Cora Patterson held her son in her protective arms, for the longest time, as if she was never going to let him go.

They sat on the back seat of the taxi together, holding hands, each in their own bubble of happiness.  Jay needed to pick up Cora's Chevy, she wanted it for work so he promised that he would be back later on.  As she had waved the two teenagers goodbye a warm contentment had swept over her.  There was an art programme on the television that she intended to watch, so she switched on the set and settled down in front of it with a glass of  red wine.

Jay really appreciated Lia's efforts to help him.  He suspected that she played a much bigger part in releasing him from his recent nightmare, than she was admitting to.  They paid the taxi fare, and once inside the house he grabbed her and kissed her so passionately that she became breathless.  Lia suddenly felt overwhelmed by his intoxicating, natural scent and she knew that she wanted something more from him, than the blood in his veins.  Jay looked into her beautiful green eyes that had become glazed over with desire for him.  He pulled her onto the nearby coach, and kissed her again, tenderly at first and then with more urgency.  She tore at his clothes savagely, and as she ripped his shirt her eyes devoured his lean and now naked body.  This she knew was the real moment that she had been waiting for, she had wanted this sensual, physical union much more than she had wanted to feel his blood on her lips and her tongue.  Jay slowly removed all of her clothes, and gasped at the sight of her feline and perfect body.  There was no self consciousness between them in their shared nudity, and as Lia lay back on the coach she removed Elena's handkerchief that was slipping from between her breasts.  The two virginal teenagers then explored each others' bodies with the skill of experienced, long time lovers.  Lia was enjoying the touch of his hands and lips on her cold bare skin so much, that she forgot who she was, where she had been, what she had done.  Then it came to that special time of physical union.  Neither one of them could wait any longer.  Lia put her arms around him and pulled him down so that his face was nestled into her hair, and the right side of her neck.  She could not risk him seeing her face as their bodies entwined.  When they finally joined together she emitted a deep guttural moan.  Their bodies writhed in the pure, physical harmony, that they had both hungered for.  Lia felt her fangs spring to life between her lips.  She held Jay's head against her neck with one hand, and brought her other hand to her mouth.  The vampire sank her sharp white teeth into the soft, smooth skin on the back of her hand.  She drank her own blood until they were spent, and had taken all their pleasure.

Jay saw with alarm that Lia's hand was covered in blood, when she removed it from between her teeth.  Without asking for an explanation, he picked her up and carried her to the kitchen, where he held her bloodied hand under the cold water tap.  When the blood had stopped flowing her put her injured hand to his lips, and kissed the puncture marks that remained there.  He put the whole thing down to the fact that this was Lia's first time, and she had been carried away by a strong wave of passion.  Their love was now sealed.

Cora Patterson was enjoying her glass of red wine and her art programme.  She had really been looking forward to hearing about the recovery of a stolen signed oil painting.  Cora was recording the programme as she watched it, in case of interruption from the telephone or the doorbell, or a nosy neighbour who wanted to know what was happening with Jay and his pending court trial.  The presenters on the screen, a man and a woman were talking earnestly about a signed George Romney oil painting, that had been stolen in the eighteen hundreds.  The painting had been sold at a prestigious auction house in New York city, to one of the better art museums.  Cora, who had always had an interest in art, was fascinated by the back story of the painting. Romney had been commissioned to paint a young woman called Isabel Beauchamp, back in the late seventeen hundreds.  She was a member of the English aristocracy, and the loving wife of Edward Beauchamp.  He apparently had adored his beautiful wife but seem to have lost his mind, when she died giving birth to their only daughter Arabella.  It was said that he had blamed the young mistress for her mother's death, and ignored her for most of her life.  Then he had taken up with, and married an unscrupulous woman called Cecilia, who was what the English call, someone who only wanted to feather their own nest.

''Well the plot thickens'' said the female presenter and Cora did not appreciate her interruption, her eyes were glued to the television set, as she listened to the story of the Beauchamp family.  She was very intrigued by the tale, and wanted to find out what had happened to the poor daughter.

It appeared that Cecilia and Edward Beauchamp forced his daughter to marry an American, who paid them handsomely for the privilege.  They had squandered her inheritance and were completely broke, and at the time it was rumoured that they actually sold Arabella to this man.  He was Hubert John Carrington from Boston, Massachusetts.  He was also the son of the rich industrialist John Carrington.  He had been in his late sixties when he married Arabella Beauchamp who had been just twenty seven years old.  The young wife had not been happy, and her husband had built her a house, not unlike Beauchamp Manor in Maine in an attempt to please her.  When his actions failed to change the situation between them and when no children were conceived, Hubert became very cruel.  It was said that they both went back to the United Kingdom, but no one ever heard from them again.  In the eighteen hundreds Cecilia and Edward Beauchamp were disturbed by robbers.  While their servants slept in another part of their huge mansion, these robbers caused Edward to die of shock and his wife was killed by their hands.  It was said that he body was so badly mutilated, that it looked like it had been ripped apart by a wild animal.