The Four Realms (56 page)

Either they didn't hear him or choose to ignore him.

An arm wrapped around his.
 
A head touched against his shoulder.
 
He looked down to see Cassidy.

"It'll be OK, Darwin, I promise.
 
But we need to get away.
 
That tower is going to attract a lot of attention."

Darwin snapped his arm away from her, his self-pity turning to anger.

"This is your fault," he shouted.
 
"You've done nothing but try and turn them against me all along."

Cassidy looked shocked and slightly hurt but Darwin didn't care.
 
"Darwin... I never..."

"You kept wanting to make me more human."

"Because you are!"

"I'm not!" he yelled.
 
"I'm a vampire, Cassidy.
 
And you've turned my own people against me."

He didn't know what he was saying, didn't care. He just wanted to lash out.

She started to cry.
 
Ordinarily the sight of her tears was enough to melt any argument, but not today.
 
Today, they just felt like another ploy to manipulate him.

"I was trying to help you," she pleaded grabbing for his arm again.

He shrugged her off.
 
"Leave me," he said.
 
"You've done enough damage."

"Darwin!
 
Please."

"You've poisoned my life.
 
I never want to see you again."

Maureen put her hand on Cassidy's shoulder.
 
"We really need to be going."

Cassidy ignored her and looked to Darwin, her eyes trying to talk to him in that language only they had shared.
 
But Darwin was too angry.
 
He didn't care what she had to say.
 
Not anymore.
 
He'd not go back to a life of rats and pig's blood.
 
He was a vampire and he'd rip the very fear from his victim's necks.

He turned.
 
It felt like the world had rejected him, so he would reject it.
 
He didn't need the vampires just as he didn't need Cassidy.
 
He was better off alone.

And without looking back, he ran off into the night.

#

The woman wove a drunken path up the alleyway.
 
She was unsteady on her feet, and her high heels did nothing to aid her.
 
A set of flagstone steps had to be traversed with concentration and precision, and even then, once at the top, she nearly toppled sideways into the bay window of a boutique.

She was dressed in a blouse and smart skirt, and as he watched her totter up the alley, Darwin wondered where she had been to be wandering the city drunk at this time of night.
 
Her outfit was too plain for a night out.

No, he told himself.
 
Don’t try to understand her.
 
Ordinarily he would have worked his charms and bedded her first, but tonight, filled with rage, he just wanted to feast.

He had been made weak by caring too much; caring what Cassidy thought, caring what the vampires thought.
 
They’d all betrayed him and his tears still stung.
 
He didn’t need them, he reminded himself.
 
He was his own person and he’d go it alone, being the type of person he wanted to be, not one trying to constantly please people.

The alleyway opened up into a little courtyard, a solitary gas lamp providing the sole illumination.
 
She sat heavily on the wall of the raised flowerbed in the centre of the courtyard.
 
The shadow of the overhanging boughs of the tree behind her dappled her in shade as she unstrapped one and then the other of her shoes.
 
She let out a sigh of relief as she removed them, wiggling her painted toes in the night air.

Darwin kept to the shadows, watching as she stood, shoes in hand.
 
He went to follow, but his arm brushed something in the darkness.
 
It was only the slightest of sounds, but it was enough for the woman to turn and peer into the darkness.

“Who’s there?” she called.

Darwin froze, frightened that any movement might give him away.
 
She continued to stare into the shadows for a minute, looking directly at him but not seeing him, before turning and carrying on her way.
 
Swinging her shoes as she went, she started singing to herself.

Darwin waited longer than he otherwise would have, before following her up the alley.
 
He was quick and light footed, his hand around her mouth before she even had chance to scream.
 
He pulled her into the shadows, tilting her head to expose her neck.

He lent in for the kill, only stopping himself at the last minute.
 
He looked up and stared into the panic-stricken eyes of the woman.

“Your name,” he said.
 
“First, tell me your name.”

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The path to publication is much like those epic quest fantasies of old.
 
There is much time spent in the forests of despair and swamps of rejection.
 
Like all good stories there are moments of doubt, when hope is a fragile flame about to be snuffed out.

This has been a long quest, a decade in the making, and there have been many in my fellowship that I am indebted to.

Thanks to Nick, Simon, Pob & Mark, the most loyal of companions, who’ve had to listen every New Year as I proclaim that this would be the year the novel would get completed.
 
They’ve seen me at my worst, now I hope you can see me at my best.

Thank you to my editor Andy, who took a dream and gave life to it; a man who has let this novel be all that it could be.
 
I am eternally indebted.

Thanks also to my family, Amanda, the guildees of Casualties, Heff & Westie for all their support on this long, long journey.