The Dark Blood of Poppies (60 page)

When Sebastian finally spoke again, he sounded different. He was very controlled, almost impersonal. His formality turned her cold. “When do you want to leave?”

“I should go as soon as possible. Tomorrow, I suppose.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

She thought of her intention to visit Salzburg before returning to America, but knew it was only a dream.
I might not be there
, Violette had said. Robyn had a powerful, heart-rending feeling that she would never see Violette again.

I’m on my own now. That’s the whole point.

Managing to control her voice, she said, “It’s up to you. I told you, you’re welcome in Boston, but if you don’t want to come with me now, I understand.”

“Well.” He sat beside her and took her hand. He changed again, becoming gently forgiving, but she didn’t trust the soft look in his eyes. “There’s no real hurry for you to go now, is there? Tomorrow, or the day after. Stay a little longer with me, beautiful child, for old times’ sake.”

* * *

When Violette returned, Karl told her about the would-be poisoner. He expected her to react with rage, but she became unnervingly quiet. She sat down at a table and lit a thick white candle. Behind her, curtains of watered silk in lavender and silver hung closed against darkness. In the glow, her face was a delicate white shell, her eyes lakes of violet glass overflowing with light.

Fyodor and Rasmila stood nearby in the shadows, listening. They had come for Violette, again. Karl sensed their hunger. In the dark tension of that moment, he felt they were all gathered on the edge of an abyss.

“This is the end,” said Violette, staring at the candle flame. “How could Cesare do this, when I already
know
I’m fated to surrender? One small concession was all I asked: let me finish
Witch and Maiden
, then I’ll accept my fate. But Cesare can’t wait, he must have me there
now
.”

“There’s no time for you to finish the ballet,” Rasmila said softly. “But we regret the poisoning attempt. We had no hand in it.”

Karl sat opposite Violette. He said, “I doubt that Cesare knows about your agreement with Rasmila.”

Her dark eyebrows jerked up. “No?”

“And I doubt Simon knows, either. I think it was Rasmila’s and Fyodor’s own decision to approach you. They mean to present you to Simon as a
fait accompli
, Lilith in chains. They think he’ll fall on their necks in gratitude. Meanwhile, Simon and Cesare being unaware of this plan, Cesare tries again to force the closure of your company.” Karl looked at the pair. “Is it so?”

Their expressions were rigid. They said nothing.

Violette stood up and faced them. “Come here,” she said softly, and they obeyed as if under a spell. “Tell me the truth.”

She was an ice-flame, a sorceress. Angels or not, they were in thrall to Lilith, Karl saw. He almost pitied them, struggling to master an elemental of which they were mortally afraid.

“The truth?” said Rasmila.

“Every word. What is going on?”

Rasmila looked at her companion, then turned her kohl-ringed eyes to Violette.

“Yes, we’re working for Simon, out of love, to prove ourselves worthy. He left us to do as we wished. Of course we know what he expects of us – to bring you to him as a captive. But he doesn’t know about our bargain with you. Nor where Sebastian and the woman are.”

“You will
never
tell Simon about Robyn,” Violette hissed. “And Sebastian – is he on your side too?”

“He follows no one,” said Rasmila. “Simon believes he’s as dangerous as you, Lilith.”

“Does he?” Her gaze burned into Rasmila. “And is he?”

A shadow darkened Karl’s thoughts. Sebastian might prove as icily ruthless and strong as Kristian. He’d never sought power, but what if he changed his mind?

“Simon believes so,” Rasmila said, as if this made it true.

“Cesare doesn’t,” said Fyodor, “but Simon despises Cesare, tells him nothing.”

“Does Simon mean that Sebastian could destroy me?” Violette asked, frowning.

“Perhaps,” said Rasmila. “At least overpower, weaken and imprison you.”

“Ah… So you lured me to Robyn in hope that Sebastian and I would fight over her? But if that didn’t work, you’d deliver me to Simon instead. Either way, I was caught.”

“Of course; what did you think?” Fyodor exclaimed. “We have our quarrels, but on one point we’re all agreed – even Karl, if he’d stop being too chivalrous to admit it. Lilith is the Enemy of all. We have to do this!”

“For your good,” Rasmila broke in with feeling, “because you cannot live as you are, an outcast, can you? We must bring you back to God!”

The dancer’s face was blank, crystalline. “Isn’t it time you shed the idea that you’re Semangelof, God’s messenger? It’s a delusion.”

Fyodor replied with a white-lipped smile, “Not while you remain the incarnation of Lilith. How is that a delusion, when you feel her in every cell of your being? See, you cannot answer. What we are, for now, is
real
.”

“Can you compel me to go to Simon?”

“No, but you gave your word,” said Rasmila. “You pledged to come in exchange for us telling you where Robyn was.”

“How can I keep my word, after Cesare’s despicable attack on my company?” Violette said frostily. “You claim you didn’t know, but the fact is you have no influence on Cesare or Simon at all. You’re scrambling to get back in favour and they’re using you!”

Rasmila and Fyodor stared malignly at her. Karl was coiled to intervene if they attacked her, but no one moved. He, too, was incredulous that they expected Violette to keep the bargain after they’d made such admissions.

To his astonishment, Violette said in a low voice, “However, I did promise.”

“Yes,” said Rasmila, her eyes glittering.

Violette went still, blank-faced and desolate. Looking into the abyss.

“What will Simon do to me?” Fear tinged her voice. “No, don’t tell me. I ask one favour; give me until tomorrow afternoon. Then I’ll come to the castle with you.”

Their faces, umber and pearl, brightened with amazement, triumph. They had the sinister kindness of warders about to lead her to an execution chamber.

“Tomorrow, then. And you must be ready.”

The angels bowed solemnly to her and vanished.

Violette sat down again, her shoulders drooping, ebony hair hiding her face. Karl studied her, full of grave misgivings.

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

She stiffened. “Do you care? You always play devil’s advocate, Karl. For all I know, you’re on their side!”

“Violette, I am not.” As always, her hostility saddened him.

“I’ve decided. I’m going to send away all my dancers and staff and shut the premises. They’ll only be safe with me out of the way. Don’t you agree?”

“It’s wise, but what will you achieve by surrendering?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t accept that Ballet Janacek is finished. Someone must carry on after me. Ute, perhaps, or Mikhail… I’ve been a fool, of course.” Violette stared through him, her eyes burningly desolate. “I should have seduced and flattered my way through this un-life, and had everyone at my feet instead of at my throat… but Lilith is not a hypocrite. She can’t lie.”

“So you’re putting her out of her misery?” said Karl. Her aloof chilliness made it difficult to feel compassion for her – but for a second, something caught hard at his throat, and loosed its hold reluctantly. “Can’t I persuade you not to go?”

“Too late,” she said.

“It’s the new ballet, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“
Witch and Maiden
, Violette. You could end it in any way you wished. Instead you chose to end it with your character’s entrapment and death.”

“What else is there for me?” she hissed. “This agony, this hatred all around me and the thirst – I cannot endure it any longer!”

Karl, pinioned by her will and her terrible beauty, was at a loss. Nothing he said or did would influence Violette. It wasn’t that he wanted to control her, only to help – because Charlotte loved her. But she was a bird of prey, alone, impervious to advice or compassion.

Then she gave a barbed-wire smile. “I promised to present myself to Simon. I said nothing about not ripping off Cesare’s head on my way.”

“Will that solve anything?”

She leapt to her feet and shrieked, “He killed my cat, my Magdi! If I go to hell, he’s coming with me!”

Her outburst took Karl aback. An explosion of simple outrage – and she sounded so human. Wholly, heartbreakingly human.

They stared at each other. Violette looked as shocked as Karl felt. “I suppose you’re amazed that I care about such things,” she said harshly. “So am I.”

“Well, it’s the first honest anger you’ve shown,” said Karl. He remembered her last visit to the Schloss, vampires and mortals quaking in terror beneath her sweeping wings.

“If you choose to fight,” he said, “they’ll stand no chance against you. And we may prevent the transformation of at least thirty vampires.”

“We? I don’t expect your help.”

“If you go, I’m coming with you.”

“That’s very noble,” Violette said. However, she didn’t refuse. Suddenly Karl perceived her lucent glow as fragility, not strength.

“Are you afraid?” he asked softly.

“No.”

“Then why are you shaking?”

“Because Charlotte isn’t here.” She clasped her arms hard across her waist, but her trembling grew worse. “I’m not the same without her, but we can’t wait for her. I won’t take her into danger just to feed my strength.”

“We agree on that, at least,” Karl murmured.

“That’s why I must walk in barefoot with downcast eyes, like Lila of the forest going into the cottage… To set Charlotte free.”

Karl closed his eyes, couldn’t speak.
Yes
, he thought,
I want Charlotte to be free of her… Does it follow that I want Violette to sacrifice herself while I stand and watch?

“You’re afraid, aren’t you?” said Violette.

“
Natürlich
. I don’t relish the prospect of being ripped apart and beheaded. And I’m thinking of Charlotte.”

“I’m frightened, too,” Violette said very softly, “of Lilith. If she is the Mother of Vampires, it’s in her power to destroy as well as create her offspring. To take them all with her when she falls.”

And that
, Karl thought,
is what I fear
.

* * *

Sebastian stood on the slope of a hill, trees massed behind him against a wild sky, a banshee wind tearing through their branches. Below him stood Blackwater Hall; cavernous, dusty, empty-eyed. Yet magnificent. His home. A casket to contain the rarest of jewels, his blood-red diamond, Robyn.

Who no longer loved him.

He entered the Crystal Ring and the wind sliced through him like a sword. The trees turned to shivering crystal and the house leaned like some distorted cartoon. Above him, seeming close enough to touch, a mass of darkness seethed like an emanation from hell.

“Rasmila,” he whispered. The ether seemed to vibrate in response. “Kali, Semangelof, my Cailleach; can your blood hear mine?”

They came to him through the twilight, sable and gossamer, and wound around him like cats.

“We knew you’d need us,” said Rasmila. She stroked his hair, while Fyodor leaned on his shoulder. “What can we do?”

He told them.

“And if we help, will you reward us?” Her voice was a dove’s. “Because we need you, Sebastian. You are more than Simon can ever be. We love you.”

Sebastian barely heard them, or felt their feathery hands sliding over his body. In his desperation he would agree to anything.

“Help me, and I’ll sell you my soul,” he said. “Again.”

* * *

Surveying the recruits who stood like soldiers for inspection, Cesare was overwhelmed by pride. Thirty perfect humans, ripe to receive the Crystal Ring’s gift. Fit, powerful young men with blond hair and blue eyes, all soundly drilled in the discipline of obedience and loyalty. Men who worshipped their vampire leader as God.

There was Werner on the front row, one of Cesare’s favourites. An idealist, a bright star.

Another thirty had been eliminated as unworthy. Some had never recovered from John’s attentions. A few had been wilful, threatening to run away and tell the human “authorities” – for all the good that would do. Others had fallen ill from the overenthusiastic feeding of vampires. Of course, some were bound to fall by the wayside. They were only mortal, after all. The ones who’d passed were exceptional.

Cesare’s pride was tempered by sad anger. One of his best men, sent to poison Violette’s precious ballet, had not returned. Cesare suspected that either Karl or Violette had killed him. The mission had failed, but even the death of a cat was a small victory.

Their spies brought a fragment of good news, too. Charlotte was no longer with Violette.

Simon believed her absence would weaken Lilith. But Cesare did not fully trust Simon. He trusted Fyodor and Rasmila even less. They lurked on the fringes, even though no one wanted them, and who knew what schemes they had? Still, their obsession with Simon made them unlikely to cause trouble.

The humans were grouped in the centre of the chamber, flanked by immortals. Simon and John were behind his right shoulder, Pierre in the audience to Cesare’s left. Everyone waited eagerly to hear Cesare’s last speech before the transformation.

Cesare was profoundly moved. He thought,
This is too much happiness for anyone to bear. I’ve been called insane but how can I be, when they share my vision and love me for it?

Standing on the dais before Kristian’s throne, he began.

“Tonight you’ll wear the white robes of initiates, while your initiators don the red robes of immortality. Consider the symbolism of the colours; the white of innocence and the red of knowledge, of blood.”

He smelled the heat of the men’s excitement. They trembled to be elevated alongside their ruthless, jewel-eyed masters.

“Our father Kristian rejected the drinking of blood as a carnal act, asking that we deny our natural desires and exist only on life-auras. But I say that the appetite for blood is a gift to be used wisely. Use it only to subjugate your prey. Never indulge for pleasure, for that way lies ruin. Carnality is a human weakness that you will soon leave behind forever. Sin has no place here!” On these words his stare pierced Ilona, who was at the rear of the chamber with the remaining female vampires, a minority now.