The Violet Line (34 page)

“
Don’t worry, darling; I won’t eat you. I’m here as your escort. Oskaar sent us to accompany you to the rendezvous. Well, actually, he had a vision of Graham trying to kill you here and so he sent us. My name is Marianne and this is Raphael.” She gestured toward the large vampire that held Graham. I watched, frozen as she turned back towards Graham and the vampire she had called Raphael.

“
Tut-tut-tut, Graham; you knew Oskaar wanted her. You knew where she was all along and you didn’t tell him; he’s not very happy. But for leading us to her now, he wants to give you a pardon. So I want you to run from here as fast as your little legs will carry you and if Oskaar hears so much as a peep of trouble from you, he’ll let Raphael kill you because, really, you’re not worth Oskaar getting his hands dirty.”

She smiled and nodded for Raphael to release him. He did and Graham dropped to the floor like a cat landing. Turning to look at me across the space, I knew he was judging whether he could make it but a nudge from Raphael’s boot sent him scurrying for the door. He turned to look at me once before he fled from the building, leaving me alone in the company of two very bad vampires who had just saved my life.

I winced as I tried to put my hand on the floor only to be reminded of the probable broken bones in it. Marianne watched me as a cat might watch a mouse, as I slowly and delicately inched my way to my feet. Over her shoulder, I could see Raphael slowly licking his lips as I held my arm carefully against my stomach. I knew I was little more than prey to them but Oskaar had sent them, so for now I was probably safe. Marianne pretended concern as she hurried over to my side.

“
Come on, now let me help you; I said I wouldn’t eat you. We just saved you. Now you have your very own personal escort to the docks so you know for certain you will make it there safely. Come on, dear; you don’t need anything in your room and you look fine as you are. Oskaar won’t mind you being informal.”

She smiled as she towed me towards the door and I had no choice but to go with her. I could feel the strength in her thin, frail looking arms and even though she didn’t look it, I knew she was far stronger than me. Raphael brought up the rear as we walked out through the front doors.

Although it had started out as a sunny day when Lorcan and I crossed through the veil out in the country, the sky was a nasty murky grey here in the city, which promised rain and not a hint of sunshine. I zoned out as Marianne chattered on beside me, leading me towards a black sleek car pulled up at the curb. Lorcan hadn’t come when I had called him and there was no sign of him now at my car. It stood abandoned and forlorn in its car space. I didn’t want to mention Lorcan to them in case he had seen them and hidden from them, but I really hoped they hadn’t found him first. Raphael opened the back door of the car and Marianne stood aside to let me slide in. I didn’t want to; I knew this was probably it for me. As I looked around at the apartment block, I swore I would come back here. I would come back as me, not some sort of monster.

I climbed in careful to keep my damaged arm in close against my body and as I settled down, Marianne climbed in beside me. She slid as close to me as she possibly could; I felt she might want to climb onto my lap, but she didn’t. Sitting there pressed against the door, I could feel her cold form pressed against me. The chill from her seeped in through my jeans and hoodie and I did everything I could to suppress a shudder. Raphael climbed in behind the wheel and the car glided away from the curb.

I stared out the window as we drove through the city. He drove effortlessly and slipped through the traffic seamlessly. Marianne didn’t speak for the entire journey but kept herself pressed firmly against me as though I might simply melt into the seat. I gazed out the window as we drove through the back streets on the way to the docks. I could see glimpses of the water as it shone dully in the grey light.

We pulled into an area I hadn’t seen the last time. I had been down here but I’d had other things on my mind, I thought. I had been too busy to notice all of my surroundings. The wheels crunched on the gravel near the entrance to one of the open fronted warehouses. Raphael stepped out, skipped around the car and opened the door for Marianne and myself. She pushed in closely against me as I turned to get out and her breath tickled my neck as she inhaled my scent and murmured her appreciation.

I scrambled out as quickly as I could, anything to be away from her closely clinging form and her creepy scenting of my blood. She smirked as she stepped out beside me, fixing her little bottle green dress and smoothing out its skirt. Flicking her long hair over her shoulder, she sauntered forward into the gloomy building. Raphael swept his hand out in front of himself in a gesture of gentlemanly politeness from an era that had long since past. Nervously, I crept after her, sandwiched between the two vampire guards. I entered the warehouse and the first thing to catch my eyes was Sam’s chained form lying on the cement floor.

I couldn’t see any signs of life but then he was a vampire; he didn’t need to breath and they could remain perfectly still for indefinite amounts of time, but something about the way he was lying didn’t feel right. I sprinted forward only to be jerked backwards with a quick flick of Marianne’s arm.

“
Patience, child.” He melted out of the shadows at the back of the room and glided forwards to stand over Sam’s body. “We haven’t been formally introduced yet and it would be impolite to not greet me before I let you heal your lover. I am Oskaar and you must be Jade. You truly are as beautiful as he imagined.”

I recognised his voice as that of the vampire from my visions but meeting him in the flesh was much more chilling than anything I might have imagined him to be. Tall and thin, his hair was black and streaked with silver. He seemed older than the others, both at the age he had been turned but also older in the years he had seen as a vampire. His skin was paper thin and translucent and it stretched across his gaunt cheek bones. Although he seemed beautiful and carried an impressive presence, he filled me more with dread than with a longing like all the others normally did. He was too creepy and I could feel my stomach churning in fear and revulsion at being in his presence. My heart thumped against my rib cage and although I knew they could hear it, I prayed irrationally that they wouldn’t notice how much faster it beat in fear.

“
Umm, ok. Now can I go to Sam?” I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible. I didn’t want to betray too much emotion to them because I knew they would use it against me if I did.

“
Always so impatient, aren’t you; eager to be doing other things even though you are stuck doing the first thing. I like that about you. I enjoy eager people; they always lead to more excitement, don’t you think?”

I didn’t answer him, hoping that my prolonged silence would make him get on with his sermon faster. I only wanted to know if Sam was going to be alright. I stepped forward and once again met with Marianne’s restraining hand. I contemplated using my power on her but I knew if I did, they would make it worse for Sam. Oskaar sighed, a motion I knew to be for show rather than necessity. He was dead and vampires had no use for breath aside from the obvious of needing it to be able to talk; they didn’t need it to survive. He beckoned me forward.

“
Come along then, child; come and heal your fallen lover. I will have plenty of time with you later. I can wait; unlike youth, I am patient.”

I darted forward and fell on my knees beside Sam. My hand automatically reached out to touch his pale icy skin. He felt colder than he normally did and he didn’t stir when I brushed over his marble skin. Even when I whispered in his ear, he still remained statue like. I looked up at Oskaar imploringly.

“
How do I heal him? What have you done to him?”

He smiled. “Jade, I’m afraid you shall have to figure that out for yourself. Only you can bring him back; not even I have control at this point.”

I looked back at Sam and carefully rolled him onto his back. The chains and shackles clinked together as I moved him, making me jump. Sitting over him lying there, his eyelashes looked like dark smudges against his cheeks. If I didn’t know about vampires and Sam, I would have said he was nothing more than a beautiful corpse. But I knew what Sam was and I knew that even though he seemed gone, his heart belonged to me and that if I wanted I could bring him back.

I draped myself over him, my salty tears dropping onto his face and rolling over the edges of his sculpted cheek bones. Wrapping my arms around him, I held him close as I called him. I felt my power rise through me, searching for the wound that needed to be healed. I fed it into him where my hands touched his skin; every part of me that made contact with his skin I fed power in through. I felt him stir; it didn’t take much. Sam wasn’t as far gone as Oskaar had hoped. I knew that with my powers not completely online, if he was too far gone, I wouldn’t have been able to call him back.

Lying over him, I felt him stirring beneath me. I lifted my face that was pressed against his chest and gazed into his smouldering blazing green eyes. I couldn’t help the smile of triumph and love that spread across my face. I heard Raphael behind me making vomiting noises into his hand, but I didn’t care. I had Sam back but I needed to make him understand that he needed to escape, that I could only distract them for so long. If he was lucky, it would give him the opportunity he required to run and never look back. I knew I would probably die, but as long as he was safe, then that was all that mattered.

He moved stiffly and I sat up and away from him. I kept our skin to skin contact; I had missed him. It wasn’t until I had him back within touching distance that I realised the extent to which I had missed him. He watched me carefully, as though I was some type of dream he wasn’t sure could be trusted. I felt like shaking him and telling him that I was really here, but he had been used and tortured; I couldn’t blame him for his doubt now. Strong arms gripped the back of my jumper and I was lifted clean off my knees and left dangling in the air. Oskaar smiled at me again, a cruel barring of his sharp yellowed teeth that made me shudder.

“
Well done. Now that you have completed what you wanted, it is time to go. We have much to prepare.”

I watched as Sam struggled to get to his feet, but two other male vampires had appeared while I had been healing him and they grabbed the chains that bound him and yanked him off his feet. I watched as he smashed into the cement and then lightening quick dived towards where Raphael held me suspended.

I tried to shout at him, but the words wouldn’t leave my mouth; it was as though they were glued in there. The two vampires that held his chains struggled to hold him back and Sam twirled, dragging the smaller one across the floor with him. The other one had dirty blonde hair and was tall and rangy; the sinuous muscles stood out taunt in his arms as he held Sam’s weight off his friend with the chains. The smaller one had spiked blue hair and he easily rolled to his feet, wrapping the chains around his arms and pulling Sam hard. It knocked him to the side again but it only brought him closer to where Raphael stood with me in his arms. Sam made a final dive at Raphael’s legs, his teeth snapping, and they didn’t catch him in time. His mouth latched onto Raphael, biting and tearing into the muscle in his legs. Raphael yowled like an animal caught in a bear trap and I felt his grip loosen on me as he let me go.

I fell from the height he had held me at and I could see the horror in Sam’s face as I plummeted head first towards the cement floor. Sam released him and dived for me instead, only to be whipped back by the two vamps holding the chains that bound him. I put my hands up over my face to protect myself from the fall and the pain tore through my injured hand as it connected with the floor just before the rest of me slammed into it. Stars burst behind my eyelids before the world went dark.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Light filtered in through my half opened eyes and I stirred, my hand automatically going to where I had hit my head. A cold hand on my arm made my eyes fly open. I stared at a small squat vampire holding my arm down on the bed. I tried to wriggle away from him, but he simply held me a little tighter. I could feel warmth beginning to spread from where he held my arm; it tingled up through the broken bone in my wrist and I had the oddest sensation of it slowly knitting back together. Lifting his hands away, he looked down at me. His small narrow face remained impassive as he scrutinised me before nodding to himself and moving away.

I struggled to pull myself upright but I found myself impeded by the intricate corsetry of the dress I was wearing. Looking down at myself in horror, I remembered how I hadn’t been wearing this when I was in the warehouse earlier and I certainly didn’t remember dressing in it. So that meant somebody else had dressed me. I prayed that the tall vampire, Raphael, had had nothing to do with it. Come to think of it, I hoped Marianne hadn’t dressed me either; she was beyond strange.

I eventually managed to scramble to a kneeling position on the large four poster bed. The scarlet satin bedspread slipped underneath me made it even hard to maintain my balance. Settling as best I could, I looked around the room. The smaller vampire left through a door set into the far wall. I watched as the heavy dark wooden door swung back into place.

As I slid off the bed to investigate further, the door swung inwards again, revealing the small child vampire with the perfect blonde hair and the blue eyes who I had healed not hours before. She was flanked by two taller vampires, one male and one female. I could see from the way they kept their heads lowered that she was the one in charge. She flounced into the room before coming to a halt in front of me. She held the body of a broken doll in one hand and the other hand held a corner of her dress in the same way that a small child might. However, the eyes that observed me were in no way childlike. She studied me in the way one might study an insect and I could feel her gaze raking up and down my body.