Sanctifying Grace (Resurrection) (4 page)

I
opened my mouth to suggest he come back to bed when a door slammed loudly downstairs and a male voice shouted Roman’s name.

I sat up quickly, pulling the sheet around me and my eyes shot to Roman in consternation.

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘That is Wil, Wilfred Burnell. He is staying here.’

‘Staying here? Is he a vampire?’

‘Not as such, no.’ Roman was looking at me strangely.

‘What do you mean,
not as such
?’ I asked. Something was amiss, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. ‘Either he is, or he isn’t. There’s no half-way house.’ I stopped and then asked, ‘Is there?’

‘No, he is not vampire. He is human, but he wants to become vampire.’

‘So he knows what you are!’ I cried. ‘I thought no human could know what you are.’ Except me – apparently I was the exception to the rule.

‘Most vampires would not consider resurrecting an unwilling or unknowing human. So yes, there are occasions when we have to reveal our secret.’

‘And if said human decides he doesn’t want to be resurrected after all, or he runs screaming...?’

Roman smiled his vampire smile, all teeth and no heart. ‘Then he dies.’

It was the answer I was goading him into revealing, but, even then, all I could manage was an ‘Oh.’

Without warning
, another man burst into the room and juddered to a stop when he saw me. I hastily made sure I was covered by the sheets. Wilfred Burnell, I assumed.

Roman introduced us. ‘Grace, this is Wil. Wil, I told you all about Grace.’

‘Yes but –’ Wil began, but Roman didn’t let him finish.

‘I do not know how long she is with us
, but I am glad that she is.’ It was a clear warning but of what I wasn’t sure.

Wil obviously wasn’t glad about my being here, I could tell. And I wasn’t particularly pleased to see him, either. Neither of us was happy with the other. In fact, it could be called dislike at first sight. I knew my reasons; I wanted Roman all to myself and I resented sharing him. And as I studied the other man
, something became rather obvious – Wil wanted Roman all to himself, too, and he wasn't partial to sharing, either. I had a niggling little suspicion Wil was in love with Roman and it was not the brotherly kind of love that two men sometimes had for each other: he fancied the pants off my lover.

I shot a quick look at Roman and let out a huff of disbelief
; Roman was oblivious. This man who was so good at reading human emotion, who could tell what a human was thinking almost before that human had thought it, had no idea his protégé had the hots for him.

Wil reddened and refused to meet my eyes.

‘Did you want something in particular, Wil?’ Roman enquired politely.

‘Uh, no. It will keep.’ His voice was full of a quiet resentment.

‘Good. We will talk later.’ A clear dismissal from Roman, but Wil seemed reluctant to leave. I watched the play of emotions across his face and realised what it reminded me of: a mistress who had just caught sight of her lover with his wife! He wanted to say something, he wanted to say
a lot
, but he couldn’t, and envy, embarrassment, longing, jealousy, and hate vied for supremacy on his face. I thought the hate might be as much for Roman as for me, and maybe a little for himself, too, and underlying it all was a hopeless sadness.

I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

I watched him leave; about five foot eight or nine, slim, closer to forty than thirty, with short hair parted in the middle and slicked down with oil, the grey showing through the brown. His eyes were such a light hazel they were almost yellow and he was clean shaven, with a small mouth and a weak chin. He was also dressed like a dandy and he spoke with an American accent, as though he resented using valuable air on his words.

For all his apparent softness there was nothing effeminate about him: he was as hard as nails.

I wondered what qualities Roman saw in him that would make him think Wil was suitable vampire material. When the other man closed the door petulantly behind him, I asked Roman.

‘He is a new breed – a scientist. He has a phenomenal mind,’ Roman enthused. ‘It would be such a shame for it to be snuffed out before it has reached its full potential. I can help him do that.’

‘Wilfred Burnell,’ I murmured. ‘I don’t think he becomes famous.’

‘If he becomes vampire then he certainly will not,’ Roman retorted. ‘You forget that we exist outside of human society, not part of it.’ The rebuke was a gentle one, yet it was a rebuke nevertheless. How often had he told me this? Perhaps I deliberately forgot in my need to see the human qualities in him.

‘If you had heard of him, then it would mean he does not become vampire. He would not have even been given the chance. As things stand now, Wil is destined to die tragically young, one way or another.’

‘Tell me about him,’ I urged, working on the principle that it is better to know one’s enemies than not.

‘I have to feed soon,’ Roman declared. ‘There are a couple of ladies down the lane, sisters who thoroughly enjoy my little visits.’

I glared at him and he laughed. ‘Don’t worry, Eryres, they are elderly spinsters. There is no need for your jealousy.’

‘I wasn't jealous!’ I retorted, shoving the green-eyed monster firmly back in its box.

He got out of bed and reached for his clothes. ‘Wil is American,’ he began.

‘One of the souvenirs you brought back with you?’ I quipped.

He raised his eyebrows and I shut my mouth.

‘He has been researching blood,’ Roman continued and I realised where the attraction for Wil came from. Blood was a subject very close to Roman’s heart. ‘He has been working with a man called Karl Landsteiner, who has discovered that human blood is not all the same. Vampires have known this for millennia but we have not known the reasons why.

Landsteiner found that human blood can be divided into types and Wil has been doing some of the research on this. In fact, Wil has been doing
most
of the research, but when I revealed to him what I am and my kind’s relationship with blood, he vowed to become vampire and carry on his research without the inevitability of death ending it prematurely.’

Fully dressed, he ben
t to kiss me. His lips were chill and so was his pale skin.

‘I have built a laboratory for him in London and another here, near Brecon. You know I cannot stay away too long, and if I am to become Wil’s sanguinisto
, then he must be wherever I am. Therefore, he will work here until I feel he can be trusted not to bite the wrong person.’

My lover, as was his wont, was dressed all in black; all the better to creep up on you, my dear, I thought. He was going out for his evening meal. He hadn’t taken any of my blood and I knew his craving must be nearly all-consuming, but still he lingered.

‘He will make a good vampire,’ Roman said. ‘I have need of his mind and others like him. Be nice to him.’

I smiled sweetly and didn’t fool him for a second.

Once he had left, I found something less damaged to wear and reluctantly went downstairs. Wil was seated at the kitchen table, nervously twisting his hands together. He didn’t look up, but he did speak. ‘There is coffee if you want it,’ he said. ‘I can’t stand your English custom of drinking tea.’

It was said to provoke
, but I replied mildly enough, ‘Thank you. Neither can I.’

Then I, a well-travelled cosmopolitan girl, added, ‘I’m not English, I’m Welsh.’ I don’t know where that came from, as the only time I became at all nationalistic was when Wales played England at rugby.

‘I’m American,’ he said, haughtily.

‘I know.’

‘It’s a fantastic country.’

‘I know.’

‘Have you been there?’

‘Many times.’

‘Where?’

‘New York, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, New Orleans, Orlando,’ I shrugged: there were so many places. I had been a very lucky lady.

‘Orlando?’

‘Disney World,’ I explained. ‘After your time. Or not, if you become vampire.’

He glanced quickly at me to see if I was making fun of him. I wasn’t.

‘Roman loves America. He intends to return there.

‘I don’t blame him,’ I agreed. ‘When is this?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘What year is this?’

‘1910.’ In spite of what he knew of me
, I could tell that he thought I was toying with him.

‘1910,’ I repeated, thinking. ‘It would be safer for Roman to leave Britain before 1914. War is coming.’

‘There is always a war somewhere,’ he scoffed. ‘That is hardly any kind of prediction. And we vampires are not frightened by war.’

‘It’s not a prediction. It will soon be fact and this war will be…’ I sought the right word. ‘Monstrous,’ I finished. ‘It will involve half the world and millions will die. America will be safer than Europe. And you are not a vampire. Yet.’

His yellow-brown eyes narrowed and I couldn’t help but compare him to the feline grace and indolence that is Roman. In contrast, this man reminded me of a rodent. Perhaps the leopardness I sensed in both Roman and Viktor would come to Wil after he was resurrected? Or perhaps not: I hadn’t had the same feeling with Lettuce or Jeremiah. Lettuce had been more like a purring kitten, albeit a kitten with fatal inclinations.

‘How do you travel to America?’ I asked suddenly.

‘By ship.’ He was scornful. ‘How else?’

‘I flew,’ I replied, my thoughts elsewhere. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let Roman sail on the Titanic.’

‘Titanic?’

‘Maiden voyage in 1912. Biggest, fastest ship of its time.’

‘That is good, surely? The bigger the boat, the more people on it, the more ‘food’ to choose from.’

‘It sank. Will sink,’ I amended.

‘I think you are making all this up.

‘Think what you like. I don’t care: Roman knows the truth.’

‘You must have duped him somehow,’ Wil stated confidently.

I finally lost my temper. It was bound to happen sooner or later. ‘Look, little man, do you honestly think that you are more intelligent, more adept at living, than Roman, a vampire? He has existed for hundreds of years, seen things you could never imagine, done things you can’t comprehend. Yet you come along, with a bit of learning and a smattering of science and you think you know more than him?’ I was shouting now. ‘You have been with him for a few years at the most and you think you understand him? You don’t. You can’t – not until you are vampire.’

I flounced out of the kitchen, wanting to say more, wanting to say Roman doesn’t love you, that he never will, but not knowing if it was the truth. A sanguinisto has a special bond with those he resurrects but the exact nature of the relationship was hidden from me.

For the first time since I met him
, I realised that I had real competition for Roman’s affections.

I was jealous.

I sulked in the bedroom until I heard Roman’s soft footstep on the stair, a deliberate warning of his return. He was glowing, the result of his recent meal. His skin had a pink tinge and he was glossy and polished. He was also annoyed.

‘You and Wil have had words.’

I wondered what Wil had told him. I looked away, not wanting to fight. ‘Yes, we did.’

‘I would like for you to become friends.’

‘As if
that’s
going to happen.’ I sounded about twelve.

‘Perhaps ‘friends’ is more of a wish than an expectation, but I do require you to get along. There is no reason for you to fight.’

Oh yes there is, I thought, but didn’t say. Wil wanted to usurp my place, both in Roman’s affections and in his bed. There was also the fact he was going to become a vampire. I wasn’t and never could be. I had every reason to fight. I remembered Lettuce and all her unreal beauty and how helpless I had felt. And she hadn’t been his… whatever the word was. I asked.

He was unsurprised at the apparent change of subject
; he had followed my thoughts as he so often did.

‘Sanguinisto is blood gifter, the one who gives his blood to another to make them become vampire. That was the original meaning
, but over the millennia it has also come to represent the one who teaches and guides a newly resurrected vampire. Of course, ‘blood gifter’ and ‘teacher’ is one and the same thing. The human who receives vampire blood, and is therefore resurrected, is called a ‘regalato’, the one who has been given. There is a pact, a covenant, between sanguinisto and regalato, the teacher and the taught. And yes, the relationship is a deep one.’

‘Have you resurrected anyone else?’ I was curious because
, if he had, I hadn’t met them.

‘No.’ His answer was curt, which intrigued me as he so obviously didn’t want to talk about it
; I wanted to discuss it further, curiosity sharp within me, but I knew he would close down like a blank computer screen if I did, so I tried a different tack.