Raven (30 page)

“
I'm
sorry I wasn't able to come down to help today. I have literally
only just arrived back home. I have been away for a few days. But I
have been told of the news and I know of your bravery… and yours
Jo, too. Remarkable. Absolutely remarkable. So young and so brave.
Excellent.” We smiled shyly and wondered who this man
was.

“
Forgive my manners. I haven't introduced myself, have I? I
am Carmelo. I founded the Elders many hundreds of years ago. It is
a pleasure to meet you both,” he said.

“
It's
an honour to meet you, Carmelo, but it's a little difficult to
understand how you can be hundreds of years old,” I
said.

“
I am
surprised you do not know about me, but yes, I am 435 years old. I
am what people call, a vampire,” he smiled.

It made
sense. From the research I had done, I understood that vampires
were usually beautiful people and Carmelo certainly was that. As I
looked at my surroundings, I wondered how many other vampires lived
in the caves and I shivered involuntarily.

“
Please do not be afraid of us here, Lilly. We are not the
kind of vampires you should be frightened of. In fact you should
not be afraid of anyone that lives in these caves. You can trust
everybody here. Although they are not all Elders, some live here
because they have nowhere else to go. You can probably imagine how
difficult it is to blend into the crowds when you look like
Theodore over there,” and he pointed to the ape man, “or Carla,”
and he pointed to the lady with the webbed fingers.

I nodded
and asked why he had created the Elders in the first
place.

“
After
two hundred years of having nobody to go to for advice, or nowhere
truly safe to go to when I needed to hide, I decided to create
somewhere myself. I searched for a few years to find the right
place and the right kind of people and creatures and we slowly
built this place here in these caves. Our kind know this is a safe
haven of peace.”

“
Wow... that's impressive,” I uttered as I took in more of
the surroundings, amazed that this was created because of one
man's, or should I say one vampire's, dream.

“
That's absolutely amazing,” said Jo dreamily.

“
Thank
you, Jo,” he said, smiling as she sat staring at him.

“
Perhaps I can show you around when we have finished
dining,” and he looked deep into her eyes as if he was looking
right into her subconscious mind. Jo nodded gently and that was the
moment I realised that Jo had fallen head over heels in love with a
435-year-old vampire.

A
vampire and a raven? Anything could happen in this
world.

After
the majority of us had eaten (the vampires just kept us company),
Carmelo and Jo headed off for a walk together and I went to check
on Gabriel. As he was still fast asleep, I quietly tiptoed out and
went to explore a little bit.

“
Oops,
sorry Tabitha. I was just having a wander around,” I said as we had
rounded a corner and, both deep in thought, had bumped straight
into each other.

“
Sorry, I was in another world there for a minute. I was
actually looking for you. I wanted to talk to you about something,”
she said as we found a comfy old leather sofa to sink
into.

“
What
is it?” I asked, seeing that she was preoccupied.

“
I was
thinking about what you mentioned on our way up here. When you
spoke about your transformation you said that it had all started
happening with the strange dreams.”

I
nodded, wondering what was bothering her.

“
Well,
it's just that a few weeks ago I started having really bizarre
dreams, a bit like yours.”

“
Everyone can have strange dreams and nightmares. Mine were
only significant because of my blood relatives. Well, my genes I
guess. Why are you worried?”

“
I've
been dreaming that I am an animal too, a lynx, actually. Oh, it's
probably silly. It's probably nothing.”

“
No,
go on, what else?” I asked.

“
Do
you remember Zoltan's reaction to you when he touched your
hand?”

I
nodded.

“
When
he first touched me he had the same reaction. Apparently that only
ever happens whenever he is very close to cats. He didn't tell me
before because he didn't think it was relevant but after having met
you, I just wondered whether, somehow, I have the same
ability.”

I was
intrigued so we decided that we would speak to Gabriel the
following day. It sounded like something important was going on
deep within her.

I told
her about what Charlie had seen at Christmas – that he had thought
she was a witch.

“
Charlie was there?” she whispered and I nodded. “And he saw
our fight?” She laughed. “Zoltan and I are always at each other's
throats. We fight like cat and dog... oh...” as she said it, she
realised what she was saying and we both began laughing. “Maybe you
really are then,” I giggled.

“
But a
witch? He got that wrong,” she insisted.

“
He
said you appeared to be casting spells,” I said and this time she
nodded.

“
Yes,
that's right. I always try to do the right thing and then find out
that it wasn't the right thing. That's why I've come back to the
Elders now. I want them to teach me where I'm going
wrong.”

I didn't
have a clue what she meant and so she tried again, “I want to help
fight evil, basically. But there have been times when it might have
looked like I was evil, when I was just trying to go 'undercover'
if you know what I mean. But it never worked and the Elders ended
up having to rescue me.”

When I
understood, I felt like I had met a kindred spirit in
Tabitha.

Later
that night as I lay down in a warm and comfortable bed, with Jo
gently breathing as she slept peacefully in the bed next to mine, I
came to the conclusion that Tabitha was truly a good person, she
just needed some guidance. I fell asleep with the most minimal of
fuss after such a hard and gruelling few days. Content that we had
finally caught the woman responsible for so much pain, but sad that
my father was still lost.

Jo woke
me up the following morning. She was still in bed but she was
desperate to talk to me.

“
Lilly
are you awake? Lilly? Lilly?”

“
No
I'm still asleep,” I grumbled and turned away from her.

“
Lilly. Wake up.”

I was
awake and I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again and
so I turned to face her. Her face was bright, as if she'd been
awake for hours and she looked excited. I knew why, of
course.

I shook
my head and chuckled to myself.

“
What?
What's so funny?” she said, frowning.

“
Jo...
you're glowing.”

“
I
am?”

“
One
word, Jo”

“
What's that?”

“
Carmelo.” The second I said it, she glowed even more and
her eyes lit up. “I can't believe you're falling for a man who is
hundreds of years older than you,” I said as I lifted myself up in
bed.

“
He's
25... he just happens to have been 25 for a very long time. And...
I'm not falling for him. Don't be ridiculous,” she said, trying not
to giggle.

“
It's
written all over your face, Jo. I could tell the second it happened
last night at the dinner table.”

“
It
is? And you could? Oh, Lilly... I've never had this feeling about
anyone before.”

“
How
long did you stay up with him last night?”

“
For
hours and hours. We talked for ages and then he walked me here. He
was such a gentleman, Lilly. I can't stop thinking about him,” she
said almost to herself as she peered up at the cave's
ceiling.

The
dreamy look on her face reminded me of how I had felt when I was
with Oliver. I missed him and I still had that horrible feeling of
emptiness in the pit of my stomach whenever I thought of him. I
wished things had happened differently and that he had accepted who
I was. Perhaps we would still be together if he had. But I couldn't
think about him. He hadn't accepted me and I wouldn't dwell on it.
I had moved on. At least I'd thought I'd moved on.

“
But
doesn't it bother you that he's a vampire, Jo? He survives by
drinking people's blood,” I asked.

“
Technically, he survives by drinking the blood of animals.
He hasn't drunk human blood for a long, long time,” she answered
and I knew that she had already made up her mind about him. Deep
down, I doubt that it would have bothered her even if he drank
human blood. She was in love and when love hit you like that,
nothing else seemed to matter.

Later
that day, when Gabriel was feeling a little stronger, I took
Tabitha to see him. For a split second, he'd looked at her as if he
knew her. When I asked him about it, he just said that she looked
familiar, that's all.

And then
we told him about her dreams and her concerns. He was quiet for
some time and Tabitha and I exchanged glances.

“
Tabitha, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your family,
where you have come from, how you ended up here.” And so we made
ourselves more comfortable and she began to tell him all about her
upbringing, everything that she had told me the day
before.

After
about an hour, Gabriel turned to me and asked if I would mind
making some tea for us all, “I'm quite thirsty and you must be too,
Tabitha, after all that talking,” he laughed. I did as I was asked
and went in search of some tea.

On my
way, I noticed Carmelo and Jo laughing and talking together as they
walked through the maze of the caves. They were holding hands like
lovestruck teenagers and I could easily see that he had fallen for
her in just the same way she had fallen for him. She glimpsed at me
and winked when he wasn't looking. I laughed and carried on looking
for the cave's main kitchen.

I
followed the sounds of voices and the clanking of pans and sure
enough, found a large room containing everything necessary for the
preparation of food and drink.

Two
elderly women were gossiping while they prepared what looked like
soup over a large open flame. Before I could introduce myself I
heard them talking about Carmelo. “I've never seen him act this way
before. This young girl seems to have bewitched him,” said
one.

“
But
don't they make a lovely couple. It's about time he found true
love. It's been a long long time since Dharma died,” said the
other.

I
cleared my throat to make myself known and they both turned and
smiled widely at me.

“
Hello, dear. You probably heard that,” chuckled
one.

I nodded
and she continued “But it's true. That cousin of yours, Jo, seems
to be brightening Carmelo's day. He's quite smitten. It's been an
awfully long time since he knew love. What can we do for you,
dear?”

We spoke
for a little while longer before I thanked them and left the room
carrying a tray with tea for the three of us.

When I
eventually found my way back to Gabriel's room, he was alone.
Tabitha was nowhere to be seen.

“
Where's Tabitha?” I asked, noticing that he was smiling
more than he had been before.

“
I
sent her to find Carmelo.”

“
What
for?” I asked, and he told me that there was something important he
needed to speak to him, and us, about.

As I set
the tray down I asked Gabriel what he thought about
Carmelo.

“
He is
perhaps the most remarkable man I have met, the most remarkable
vampire anyway,” he chuckled, “why do you ask?”

Not sure
whether to say anything or not, I decided that rumours were already
doing the rounds so he should know.

“
Because it seems that Cupid has shot him with his arrows,”
I grinned.

“
Cupid
is here? When did he arrive?” he asked seriously.

I shook
my head in disbelief, “Cupid is actually real?”

Gabriel
began to laugh and I grinned.

“
Very
funny,” I said, gently punching him on his good shoulder. “What I
meant to say was, it appears that Jo and Carmelo have
bonded.”

Gabriel
smiled and relief flooded through me. “You're okay with it?” I
asked.

He
nodded, “Since you arrived Lilly, my outlook on life has changed
quite a lot. You have helped me become more open minded,” he
whispered gently, stroking my face as he spoke. “Especially since
you brought Sammy back into our lives.”