Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (11 page)

‘
Hey, what’s up?’ Eva said,
pulling me off the dance floor.

‘
Nothing. I’m fine…I err.. just
thought I saw someone from Uni,’ I said, quickly thinking of an
excuse. If Eva knew what I’d been thinking, she’d have me upstairs
in her room with a tasty boy before I could shout
‘
vampire
’! She’d already
tried, unsuccessfully, to tempt me with a hot, young hypnotised lad
once before, and I knew if I showed the slightest bit of interest
she’d do it again. Both she and Sebastian were desperate to get me
off bottled blood, and I could see it wasn’t fair –and maybe it
wasn’t safe – to feed too much from Daniel either. I needed to sort
out my diet. Franny had thought it possible that becoming a
stronger witch would allow me to eat normal food, so why was I now
having strong cravings for human blood?

As we moved away from the dance floor
and pushed our way through the crowds of students, my eyes
constantly searched the area. I’d already spotted Gemma, Lucy and
Tom here on a previous occasion. Gemma had locked eyes with me, and
I wondered if she’d recognised me in that split second before I
blew the lights, but I’d never seen Alex, and now I wanted to. Now
I was ready.

Not that she’d believe me. She’d
probably think I was a crazy girl. After all she’d been to my
funeral, and she’d seen the horrific pictures of the blood stained
alleyway in the papers…but then again, Alex was my best friend, and
if anyone could see past the new eye colour, skinny frame and dyed
hair it would be her.

A couple of hours later, I decided
I needed a new plan. We were on our way home, Daniel and Eva
chatting easily in the front and I was relieved to see that Daniel
had relaxed and appeared to be much happier again. In contrast, I
felt a strange sense of foreboding, and stared out of the window,
watching the dark empty streets roll by, wondering what Alex was
doing. I’d scoured the club for her, sure she’d be there, and after
all it
was
student night, and
it was long enough after my death for her to be out again. I told
myself I was stupid. It was three in the morning, she’d probably be
sleeping, and after all it must be getting near exam time. There
were loads of reasons for her
not
to be out.

If I wanted to see her, I was going to
have to start doing things on my own. I was a witch now. I was
powerful, more powerful than Daniel and Eva probably and they would
have to learn to give me independence and trust. Trust I would have
to break, if I wanted to see Alex again.

However, when we got home someone
else was waiting for us, for
me
.

As Daniel opened the front door, both
vampires stood immobile for a second before launching themselves
down the corridor, slamming open the kitchen door and coming to a
comical halt before a figure who was seated at the table, a glass
of water in his hand.

‘
What the hell do you want, and
what made you think you could enter our house without being asked?’
Eva demanded.

I had of course closed the door and
sprinted up the hallway after them, entering the kitchen only
seconds after they had. I stood and stared. Luke was sitting at the
table, his face arrogant and unapologetic, his wings thankfully
hidden beneath his clothes.

‘
I came to speak to Jess. I didn’t
think you’d want me hanging around outside and raising suspicion,
but then again, I forgot how jealous you vampires can be about the
whole ‘entering a house’ rule.’

‘
Oh shut up! Don’t be ridiculous.
It’s nothing to do with that. Just common decency, which you
angelic ones seem to think is an outdated commodity,’ Eva
said.

‘
What are you talking about?’ I
asked, pushing my way into the kitchen and standing opposite
Luke.

‘
So, it’s true? The initiation
worked then?’ Luke said.

‘
Well it’s made my eyes green, if
that’s what you mean, but I’m still a vampire. That’s not changed,’
I said, thinking back to the scene in the club, and my thirst for
the boy’s blood.

‘
What do you want?’ I asked,
looking at his arrogant features and wondering what had happened to
the boy I once knew.

‘
Alex has gone missing. I saw her
a couple of weeks ago, after she came back from her parent’s house
at Easter break. She missed most of the previous term because of
you, as she’d gone back home after your father’s funeral. I wanted
her to change universities, but she said she was coming back,’ Luke
said.

‘
And she did? She came back?’ I
asked.

‘
Yes. I helped her move her stuff
into a new room in Fallowfield two weeks ago. Lucy said she saw her
in lectures that week, but no-one’s seen her at all this week. I
wondered if you had anything to do with it?’ he said, his eyes
hardening and searching all our faces.

‘
You have got to be kidding? After
everything I’ve told you, and all you’ve seen, you still think we
might hurt her?’ I said, my voice beginning to tremble. ‘I’m not
allowed to see her. I haven’t seen her since Dad’s funeral. Oh God!
Is she okay?’

‘
What is
that
?’ Eva interrupted. A quiet
miaow
was suddenly heard, as we all
glared at each other.

‘
Oh yeah! So, I brought your cat.
Alex had been looking after him, but she’s not allowed pets in her
new house, so I said I’d take him. I thought you might like him?’
he said, his tone suddenly softening as he reached down to the cat
basket by his feet.

‘
No way!’ Eva said, as I
simultaneously threw myself round the table to the ground and
popped open the latch on the basket.

‘
Murphy!’ I crooned, as I pulled
the sleek, beautiful Siamese stray out of the basket and into my
lap.

Chapter Ten

‘
Err Jess, cats don’t get on with
vampires so much,’ Eva said, eyeing the cat with
suspicion.

‘
He doesn’t seem to mind Jess
though,’ Daniel said with a smile, as I rubbed under Murphy’s chin
and sent him into an ecstasy of purrs.

‘
So is this the stray you told
Sebastian about?’ Eva asked.

‘
Yes, he just kept turning up at
our flat window, and he was so skinny we started feeding him. I
called him Murphy because he must have been so thirsty that first
day we let him in, he stuck his head in this Irish lad’s glass of
stout and had a taste. It was so funny - he got all the foam on his
whiskers,’ I laughed.

‘
Hey Murphy,’ Daniel said, holding
out his hand as he approached.

But Eva was right, cats didn’t like
vampires, and he leapt from my lap, hissed at Daniel and ran from
the kitchen. into the house.

‘
Oh dear. I guess you’ll have to
choose, Jess. Daniel or Murphy, who’s it to be?’ Luke sneered, the
corners of his mouth turning up.

‘
What’s got into you lately, Luke?
You’re so mean,’ I said.

‘
You
,
dealing with you. Having to see the mistake I made every time I see
you.’

I let out an irritated sigh and hoped
Daniel would be able to restrain himself, because I was sure that
he would be visualising breaking Luke’s neck in 3D technicolour,
with every word he said.

‘
Look, Murphy will be fine. He’ll
get used to us, and thanks for bringing him, but hadn’t we better
find Alex?’ I said, my hurt feelings squashed by daggers of
irritation.

‘
She probably just went home.
Maybe she decided she couldn’t take it, being back in Manchester?’
Daniel said, helping me back onto my feet and leaving his arm
around my waist.

‘
Do you not think I would have
checked that before I came into this vampire-infested lair?’ Luke
drawled.

‘
No-one invited you angel-boy, and
you heard Jess. We haven’t seen Alex, so you can go do your
sleuthing elsewhere,’ Eva said.

‘
Do you think I could talk to Jess
alone, without her two minders, for one minute…or are you too
important for that now?’ he said, turning to look at me.

‘
Why do you need her on her own?’
Daniel asked, his arm creeping up and pulling me to him, his
fingers digging into my shoulder.

‘
It’s fine. You guys go and watch
TV. I’ll be in in a bit,’ I said.

‘
What is wrong with you?’ I
hissed, turning on him as they reluctantly left the
room.

‘
Nothing. What do you mean?’ he
said, with a quick shrug of his shoulders.

‘
I don’t know you anymore Luke.
You’re so… angry.’

I looked at him, and stepped towards
him, and suddenly he looked up, tears in his eyes. He took my hands
and stared into my eyes.

‘
I’m sorry, I just... I can’t take
it. I can’t deal with it - what I did to you, what I made you.
Everything has gone wrong. It shouldn’t have been like this,’ he
said.

‘
Luke,
you
didn’t make me what I am, Daniel
did.’

‘
Yes, but it was my decision. You
know that. I left you to him…’

‘
Yes, because you didn’t want me
to die.’

‘
But you did die Jess, and what’s
worse, you’re one of
them
.’

‘
Oh, not that again! Please Luke.
I am what I am, and yes, that’s a vampire, but really I am no more
evil than you, and
you
are
apparently an angel, so I can’t be all that bad,’ I said with a
grin.

‘
I’m sorry. I guess I was taken
aback when I saw your eyes. You look so beautiful… human again,’ he
said.

‘
But Luke, I’m not. I’m still a
vampire. I just have much better control of my powers now,’ I said,
pulling my hands out of his.

‘
How do you know? Have you even
tried eating normal food? I bet they wouldn’t let you, would
they?’

‘
No, I haven’t tried yet, but I
will, I promise, and it’s not about what they will and won’t let
me. I make my own decisions, okay, but you need to know, I can
still
smell
humans. I
still
want
to bite them,’ I
said, not able to meet his eyes.

‘
So that’s it then, my final hope
destroyed.’

‘
If that’s how you see it, fine. I
love Daniel, I think. He doesn’t care whether I’m a witch or a
vampire. He’s hurting because the spell broke our bond, but I can
show him that we never needed a bond. I’d like to be friends Luke,
I really would, but more importantly I’m worried about Alex. We
need to find her,’ I said.

As I’d spoken, he looked at the floor,
and when I finished he nodded.

‘
I’ll ask around the campus again,
see if I can come up with anything new. If I haven’t seen her by
Monday, I’ll let you know.’

‘
Thanks Luke, and thanks for
bringing Murphy. I missed him. I miss you all.’

He nodded again, briefly. With a quick
duck of his head he stood, turned abruptly and exited through the
patio doors, disappearing into the garden, where the sun was just
beginning to appear on the horizon, casting out the murky shadows
of the night.

The following afternoon I was dressed
for action, running through my proposal, with Murphy purring
contentedly in my lap. The previous night, I had found him waiting
for me when I’d gone up to my room, curled up, right in the centre
of my bed, so I had to fit myself around him in order to sleep. I’d
still managed a good eight hour sleep though, and for the first
time I felt like I could put Luke behind me, filed under
‘ex-boyfriends worthy of keeping in contact’, unlike a few creeps
which were filed under the ‘biggest mistake ever/what on earth was
I thinking’ title.

As I’d slept through the morning, I woke
up to find that Daniel had gone out, apparently doing some work for
Sebastian. I still wasn’t sure what all Sebastian’s clan members
did for him. Obviously some were bodyguards and some worked in the
club, but it was unclear what other members like Eva & Daniel
did for him to pay back their ‘loans’. The loan system was the
money and new identity which Sebastian handed out to the newly
created vampires, made by him and his ‘family’. I had yet to
receive my ‘loan’ and identity, and obviously I couldn’t use any of
my old details. Officially I was now dead and buried!

After about two hundred and twenty years
Eva had paid back her loan and was now a free vampire. She had her
own investments and stayed with Sebastian’s clan through loyalty
and friendship. She’d been signed up to start a fashion design
course, until Daniel had changed me, and found he had taken on more
than they both anticipated, but now things were settling down she
spent her days lazing on our couch, watching mind-numbing
television and bossing me about. Things were going to change.

‘
Hey Eva, I’m going out in a bit.
I want to head over to some of my old university haunts, and see if
I can find anything out about Alex,’ I said, gently lifting Murphy
from my lap and standing up. I said the sentence perfectly; after
all I’d practiced it for about half an hour, practised to sound
confident, in a tone she wouldn’t question.

‘
I’m sorry, what?’ Eva said,
jumping from her seat and following me into the kitchen.