Witchblood (30 page)

         ‘He led us back down the passageway and came to a brief stop by the stairs, where he turned to Daniel.

         ‘Daniel, take her up to Eva’s room. I’m going to check on Lucius and will be with you shortly,’ he said, as he carried on down the corridor without a backward glance. I found it so strange that he could be almost warm one minute and absolutely brisk and business-like the next. I shook my head quickly to dislodge the confusion and Daniel turned and grinned at me.

         ‘Well, what an exciting evening this is turning out to be,’ he said with a conspiratorial wink. ‘Come on then.’ He opened the door to the stairs and led the way to Eva’s room.

         ‘Daniel, what the hell happened in there? You didn’t look surprised, but I saw Lucius’ face and he was as shocked as I was,’ I asked, within minutes of entering the room and gratefully flopping down on the plush four-poster bed.

         ‘Oh, you noticed that did you?’ he said quickly.

         ‘Hell, yes. How could I not? The guy was turned into a gibbering wreck by some white light that shot out of Sebastian’s body!’

         ‘Sebastian has a defensive aura. It’s a magical ward that protects him. I believe he had a love affair with a witch. She gave him the magical gift.’

         I felt my mouth drop open slightly and as I digested the new information he continued.

         ‘Very few of us know about it. As he said, it’s more powerful when his enemies are unaware of it. It would be extremely unwise of you to mention it to anybody and you need to be even more persistent in gaining Sebastian’s trust from now on.’

         ‘Does Eva know about it?’ I asked.

         ‘Yes, she and I were with him the last time he used it, seventy odd years ago. I, like you, was an apprentice then, but it was much easier for Eva as she merely forbade me from mentioning it and I obeyed.’

         Our conversation was disrupted by the door swinging open and Sebastian noiselessly filling the room with his presence. I hastily sat up, and self-consciously smoothed out my hair.

         ‘Daniel, we’ll finish our conversation later, but for now I need to talk to Jessica,’ Sebastian said, as Daniel jumped up from his seated position on the bed and walked towards the door.

         ‘Jessie, I’ll be back later. I have to go and call Eva, update her.’

         He left the room as soundlessly as Sebastian had entered and I glanced warily over at the calm, contained man before me, not quite believing what I’d seen minutes earlier. He sat down on Eva’s antique velveteen chair before the dressing table. I noticed for the first time that the mirror had been replaced. The craftsmanship was immaculate, and I’d never have known it was not the original.

         Sebastian noted my glance at the mirror and smiled.

         ‘I hope you are not planning on any more witchcraft tonight, Jessica? I don’t think Eva could cope with her prize dressing table being destroyed a second time.’

         ‘No, although you know I didn’t do it on purpose. I can’t control it,’ I said, looking down at my lap and twisting my fingers together.

         ‘I know,’ he said softly. ‘Did you know what you were doing earlier, with Aaron?’ he asked just as softly.

         ‘No, I just reacted through fear and self-defence. I’m sorry.’

         ‘Don’t be sorry. Many are scared of me, and that is with good reason,’ he smiled again, ‘but as long as you are loyal, you have no need to worry, my little witchling.’ I smiled hesitantly, and he continued.

         ‘I don’t know how much Daniel has explained, but the power you witnessed earlier was a gift bestowed on me by a grateful witch.  Her spell protects me from personal attack and has lived on well past the end of her life.’

         ‘Oh! Is she dead?’ I blundered.

         ‘Yes, sadly she is. Witches and mages are the only humans of the supernatural world. They may extend their lives to an extent, but I have never known a witch to live much longer than a hundred years.’

         ‘You said mage, what is a mage?’

         ‘A mage is another word for a magician or sorcerer. A male witch if you like. They are all humans with supernatural abilities.’

         ‘Right, but you say I’m a witch?’ I quizzed, my interest piqued and my apprehension forgotten.

         ‘You undoubtedly have witch-blood in you, and creating a half vamp witch is not something the council takes lightly, but as we had no idea about you, and you were unregistered, it will be easily forgiven.’

         ‘The council?’

         ‘Yes, the supernatural council. Every supernatural being has to answer to a leader. I’m the leader of the northern vamps of the UK, but then all the leaders have to adhere to the supernatural council’s regulations. Think of them like the United Nations - they have several representatives for each supernatural type.’ He finished with a smile at my rather bewildered face.

         ‘OK, so are there no other half-witch vampires then?’ I asked.

         ‘I think there may be one or two in the US, but they are protected at all times. You have to understand how powerful you could be, and consequently how vulnerable you will be.’

        
This was not what I wanted to hear!

         ‘But I’m not at all powerful. I have no control over my actions. I had no idea of any of this until Daniel turned me, and I just don’t know how to use it.’ I sighed, hoping he would believe me.

         ‘Yet, Jessica, yet. You don’t know how to control your power
yet
, but you now have a lot longer than an average witch to work it out, and that’s part of what I have to discuss with you.’

         ‘The other part being the girl gang?’ I questioned.

         ‘I’m afraid so. You know I can’t allow you to go around acting like a vigilante, don’t you?’ he said.

         ‘Why? Daniel said you have your own laws, and other vampires sometimes end up settling disputes independently.’

         ‘Yes, that’s true, but those skirmishes are usually between vampires, not humans. I’m not overly concerned about your wish for retaliation or revenge, it’s only natural, but I cannot let them live, knowing who we are. You would have been better off killing them. Aaron and Lucius would have cleaned up the mess.’ My blood chilled and I froze as I took in his callous words.

         ‘But I didn’t want to kill them,’ I said, looking defiantly into his face as he raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

         ‘OK, so I may have wanted to kill them a little bit, but I didn’t want to become a monster, like them. I just wanted to stop them, scare them,’ I added.

         ‘I understand, I think, but I cannot allow them to live, knowing about you. It’s too risky. I am however going to give you a choice Jessica, which is not something I generally do, but I do have a soft spot for witches.’ I listened hopefully, but found my hopes were dashed.

         ‘You can choose their fate. It is they who changed your fate, so it seems only right that you get to choose theirs. Either I will have them disposed of, and personally this is my favourite choice as they were starting to wear my patience; or you can let them live. However, I will have their memories corrected, and they will have no memory of this night.’

         ‘No! They will go on being as cruel as ever,’ I said, my heart sinking to the floor, but knowing I could never have them murdered.

         ‘I can stop them Jessica. They need never hurt anybody again, no one will miss them. Your death will be avenged.’

         ‘No, I can’t. I can’t order them to be murdered. I will not stoop to their level,’ I whispered, as Sebastian shrugged and sighed.

         ‘As you wish, they will live. I will make a phone call and later I will return and we can discuss your heritage. I have some interesting information for you.’

         I nodded glumly, and he left the chair gracefully and started across the room towards the door, pausing briefly to kiss my cheek.

         ‘Rest now, my little witchling. You’ll be safe in here. Only Daniel and Eva have matching keys.’ An instant later he was gone, closing the door behind him, as I heard the scraping of a key in the lock.

         I sunk back onto the bed and curled up into a ball, closing my eyes.
Had I made the right choice?
I had no way of knowing. I knew the public out there would definitely be better off without the girl gang terrorising the locals, but at the same time was it right that I should get to take their lives away? I thought not. I couldn’t be responsible for their deaths. I wouldn’t become a monster just because I had a new strength, a new power. After all, if what Sebastian was telling me was true, I was going to grow into a pretty powerful vampire, and I instinctively knew that it would be all too easy to lose my morals and let the power rule. I would not become the monster Luke thought I’d already become.

         I was fed up of thinking of him and yet my mind refused to give up, and no-matter what I was thinking it always returned to him. Why was he so harsh with me, when he was clearly the one to blame for my resurrection? Over the course of the last few hours, I’d come to realise that those fleeting memories when I was half awake, half asleep of him standing on my window ledge, wings spread out were probably true. The memory that I thought was a hallucination of him, when I was dying was definitely true. When he turned his face to mine before my father’s cremation and the church door slamming….these memories all rose together and began to answer some questions.

         I now knew he was an angel placed to watch over my adolescence, but I also knew his growing feelings for me over the last eighteen months were authentic. He
did
love me. Maybe he loved me more than I thought? Maybe he hadn’t been able to face me dying and in a split second decision, he’d heard Daniel and Eva coming and realised there was another way for me to live? A way which he now regretted, because not only had I become the very being he’d been taught to detest, but in letting me live he had handed me over to another man. He wouldn’t know that I still had my free will. He didn’t know I
was
a witch. With his feelings about vampires being what they were, he probably felt guilty that he’d given me this life, guilty that he’d failed as an angel to let me die in peace. Guilt could easily explain his anger and sadness, the tear he hurriedly rubbed away. Then again, maybe he did just hate me. Maybe he didn’t love me as much as I thought? With these thoughts tumbling round my head I felt myself begin to drift.

         A couple of hours later I was startled out of my slumber by the sound of a key in the lock. I’d believed Sebastian when he said no-one else but himself, Eva and Daniel had a key, but I sat up, hugging my knees protectively.

         The door opened quietly and in the heavy darkness Sebastian’s figure stole into the room.

         ‘Oh, you’re awake. I thought you might be sleeping,’ he said.

         ‘I’ve been asleep. The key woke me.’

         ‘Right, well I brought you a drink. Daniel has gone for some dinner. Don’t look so glum,’ he said, pausing and taking in my expression. ‘He’s getting as pale as you. We are what we are Jessie, and you can only fight it for so long.’ I nodded and smiled, aware that it wasn’t reaching my eyes but hoping he wouldn’t notice, or care as I took the glass from his hand.

         ‘Now, we have the business of your heritage to discuss, don’t we?’ He smiled and walked over to the window, pulling the heavy curtains back on a dismal, grey dawn. Even though I didn’t necessarily need the light to see anymore, it felt easier and more normal. The dark made things, well, darker I guess, and all the connotations that went with it. Situations too easily became intimidating and creepy, or romantic and sultry. Even though strong sunlight gave me a headache and made me squint, I vastly preferred the daylight to the total blackness of a long winter’s night.

         Sebastian sat back in the chair by the dressing table and I pulled the beautiful satin throw around my shoulders and sipped the blood. I realised for the first time that I was grimacing slightly at its tasteIt was like drinking a value branded sugar-free cola instead of the full sugar real thing, and yet it seemed the real thing may have made me sick.