It took me a while to fall asleep after William left. What he last said echoed in my head in a loop of nonsense.
'You're gonna have to do much better to keep her safe when they find out what she is'
What could he have possibly meant by 'what she is'? Was he scared of what creatures would do to me when they found out I was a Hunter? Well, I was perfectly capable of handling myself. But it wasn't just what he had last said that kept me awake. It was our entire conversation, from his insistence for me to leave the country to the vague comments he made about my lack of knowledge about where I was or what was 'under the city'. Of course, as curious as I was, I spent a bunch of hours searching the internet for anything I could find on Bath and what was supposedly under the city. Apart from maps of the underground tunnels I was roaming the night before, I hadn't found anything. My guts were screaming at me that there was something off about the whole situation. About William, about the case, about the very reason I was in Bath. And I needed to find out what.
When the sun was up and high in the afternoon sky, I decided then was the perfect time to pay Dr. Stoker a visit. Well, not him personally but his place. Whatever he was hiding was most likely there. Or at least I was hoping to find something that would lead me to it. It was past two in the afternoon, he had to be at the hospital at this time.
"Come on Deedee, we're going on a little adventure," I told her as I grabbed my car keys from the table.
By the time we arrived at William's manor, I was covered in sweat. Wearing black leggings in 30° weather was not a good idea. I thought it was supposed to be cold and rainy in the UK? I parked a few streets down, and Dee and I made our way to the gates on foot. I let out a frustrated sigh at the sight of the giant gates. There was no way I could climb them.
"On to plan B," I told Dee as I started walking around the block. Fences twice my height circled the property, and there wasn't one crack in the brick walls. I had to make a decision, and I knew Dee wasn't going to like it.
I crouched in front of her and she looked at me with her big blue eyes.
"I'm going to climb," I said and she barked in discontent. "I know, and I'm sorry you can't come, but I can't carry you."
She barked again, louder this time.
"I'll be very careful, I promise— and I won't be long. I'll be out before you've noticed I'm gone. I just need to find what he's hiding, okay?"
The deep growl that escaped her throat indicated that she wasn't happy with my plan. But I had no other choice. Rick was soon going to lose it, and I needed to get out of the city before he came and got me himself. But first I needed to know what William was hiding, and I also needed to take care of the creature. And something was telling me that the two were interconnected.
"I'll be quick— stay out of trouble while I'm gone."
I gave her a kiss on the nose and turned to face the ten feet tall brick wall in front of me. I swallowed as I looked up.
"Don't let me fall to my death," I prayed to the Heavens.
My blade tucked into the waistband of my leggings against my lower back where it always was, I started the climb. It was a lot harder than I had anticipated, and by the time I made it to the top, my arms were shaking, pearls of sweat dripping from my forehead. And as I passed one leg over the wall to start my climb down, I felt the blade move and didn't have time to catch it before it fell, barely missing Dee in its fall. A string of swear words left my lips. I was weapon-less, and I had almost killed Dee. I drew in a deep breath to gather my focus, and climbed down with the grace and agility of a rhinoceros.
I made it in. The property looked even bigger from within the high fences. The garden seemed to extend for miles, the grass a fresh and healthy shade of green. The bushes were trimmed perfectly and the plants and flowers all around the garden were blooming. It looked like a lush oasis, and I couldn't help myself but feel a little jealous. I'd kill to wake up to such a beautiful and peaceful view.
Now, the hardest part was going to be getting inside the mansion. Such a big house wouldn't be left without a high tech security system. I made my way around the property, trying to open the front door first. Of course, it was closed, so I tried every single window I found, and there were a lot. When one suddenly opened with ease, my heart skipped a beat. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. My heart was hammering in my chest as I sneaked through the window and landed in a bathroom. The room was simple, bare of any fancy decor. A toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste on the sink, a single bottle of shampoo in the shower and a towel hanging on a rack. Nothing suspicious so far. I left the room to explore the rest of the house. The beats of my heart were so loud as I made my way down the corridor that I could barely hear my own thoughts. Spying on people and breaking-in wasn't exactly something I did on a regular basis, and the rush of adrenaline that came with it never faded.
I pushed a heavy wooden door and entered the next room— a bedroom that looked like it hadn't been visited in years. It smelled old and dusty, and looked the part too. The bed had a heavy frame of dark wood, like the ones they made in the XVIth century. It looked handmade and was beautiful. The bed was made perfectly, a dark burgundy comforter neatly tucked underneath the mattress. A heavy wardrobe made in the same wood as the bedframe sat on the opposite wall. Considering how empty the room looked with the exception of the two pieces of furniture, I gathered that it was a guest room that hadn't been used in a while and moved on to the next room.
Another bedroom.
Similar to the last one, the bedroom seemed unoccupied. Everything looked too perfect and impersonal. I continued my exploration, opening the last door at the end of the hallway. Yet another bedroom. I was about to turn around without paying too much attention to it thinking it was an unoccupied one again when my eyes caught a glimpse of something. A book lay on the nightstand. That was the first personal item I had found in all three bedrooms. This one had to be his. It looked different from the other two bedrooms— more modern. A king size canopy bed sat against the wall underneath the window, its sheets perfectly tucked under the mattress exactly like the other two beds. Not one wrinkle was to be seen on the duvet, and I wondered where he found the time to make his bed to such perfection before going to work. I walked to the nightstand and grabbed the book.
The Holy Bible.
My eyebrows arched. I hadn't taken him for a religious guy. I put the book back and started looking in the walk-in closet adjacent to the bedroom. Dozens of shirts and trousers neatly hung on velvet hangers, all looking freshly ironed. I suddenly felt uncomfortable looking through William's belongings, and questioned my decision to come here. But it didn't take long to remember our conversation from yesterday, and for reason to come back to me. I needed to find what he was hiding. I quickly made my way out of his room and down the stairs. There weren't any more doors on the second floor, so his office had to be downstairs. I walked through the vast entryway and into the living room where a giant table that could sit at least twelve people sat underneath a chandelier. It was when I reached the kitchen that I realized something. The house looked too clean and neat. There was nothing out of place, not one crumb covered the wooden floors, not one dirty dish in the sink. It looked like a showroom, a picture-perfect, AD front page worthy interior. It simply looked like no one lived there.
I stopped a little longer in the kitchen than I had in all the other rooms. It looked brand new, as if no one had ever cooked in it. Brand new pots and pans were displayed on the shelves, tags still attached to them. Before I could think twice about it, I was opening the fridge, maybe out of curiosity. When I saw what was inside, my heart stopped. It was empty of any food. That was not true. It was empty of human food. I swallowed hard at the realization, my heart thumping in my chest as I looked at the bags of blood.
How did I miss that—
"Good afternoon, Charlotte."
The unexpected sound of his voice made me spin around in a jump and a loud gasp escaped my lips. My hands reached to cover my mouth instinctively as the fridge door quietly shut behind me.
William was standing in front of me, on the other side of the kitchen island.
Shit. Double shit.
"Finding anything of interest?" He asked, his gaze narrowed on me. To my surprise he didn't look angry. In fact, his tone was so calm that it made me shiver. I was probably such a fragile and powerless thing to him that my breaking into his home wasn't something worth getting upset about. Because we both knew he could kill me in the blink of an eye.
"You-You're a vampire," I stammered between two jerky breaths, realizing how blind and ignorant I had been. There had been so many signs, they were literally screaming at me, and I had ignored them. How he looked like he didn't blink, or how fast and graciously he moved, or how insanely attractive he was. But he wasn't like any vampires I had met before. He wasn't as pale as the moon, he could eat— we had dined together and he hadn't seemed the least bothered by human food and he wasn't the bloodthirsty creature the vampires I killed in the past were. He was a surgeon, how could he control his hunger? It didn't make any sense.
"I'm surprised it took you so long to figure it out," he mocked, his lips curling into a half-grin, putting his dimple on display.
I swallowed hard, my chest heaving at the realization that I was here with a vampire, alone and defenseless. Again. The memories of that night came back to me in a flash. The fangs, the feeling of my blood rushing to its mouth as the creature drank from my neck. I was sixteen, and felt so powerless and insignificant as it sucked on my blood, unable to control itself and with a need so strong that even the bullets that Richard had shot into his back hadn't made him flinch. It had kept on drinking until I passed out. If Rick hadn't cut his head off I would be dead and I had promised myself then to never let myself be in that position ever again. I shuddered at the thought, goosebumps breaking out across my skin.
"You're scared," he said, almost amused with a hint of surprise.
"Am not," I answered assertively as I pushed the thoughts away to focus on the current mess I was in.
"You know I can hear every single beat of your heart. There is no reason to lie to me, Charlotte."
He took a step forward and walked around the kitchen island, his eyes not moving from mine. He could have reached me in a nanosecond, and yet he had walked here with an extreme slowness, as if savouring the fear he generated from me. I knew better than to move. Vampire reflexes were a lot faster than human's and if I started to run now, it would only awaken his predator instincts and it would be a matter of seconds before his teeth were deep inside my neck. And I wasn't going to let that happen again.
"I'm gonna have to ask you to relax," he said, his eyes as dark as the night sky. The golden cues usually shining in his irises were completely gone, and replaced by icy black. His lips were sealed tight as he stood in front of me, his eyes narrowed. He was so still, almost frozen in time, that I looked like a shaking mess in comparison. Then I realized he wasn't breathing.
"Why?" I asked, standing my ground, determined to hide how scared I was. "You don't like the taste of scared meat?"
His tight lips suddenly relaxed and a laugh escaped them. It was a spontaneous and sincere laugh that I wasn't expecting.
"You think I'm going to kill you?" He asked, his grin back on his lips as he looked at me, an eyebrow arched.
That dimple. God, why did he have to be so attractive?
His stare was so intense that it felt like he was inside my head again. Could he do that? Could he read my thoughts? He couldn't possibly.
"Why wouldn't you? That's what your kind does. Hunt and kill. Why would it be any different with me?"
My question seemed to have picked his curiosity. His head tilted slightly, his eyes narrowed again. The way he was looking at me as if he were trying to read me, to understand me, made me doubt he could actually read my thoughts.
"But isn't that exactly what your kind does too? You hunt us down and slaughter us without trying to understand us."
His smile dropped as he took a step back and he turned his back to me. My head instinctively turned towards the door, even though I knew it would be near impossible for me to escape. I would need to kill him first, and that was very unlikely to happen without my blade.
"What makes you think you are any different? What makes you Hunters feel so— so superior to us?" He continued, turning around once more to face me. His expression had changed, anger and revulsion now sitting on his face. "You're an entitled species, you know that? Humans are bad enough, but Hunters, don't get me started."
Him being so close to me awakened the tingling sensation in my skin, and I realized now that my body had tried to warn me to stay away from him from the beginning, and I hadn't listened. A million thoughts popped through my mind as the pieces finally came together— why he wanted me out of the city so badly, why I couldn't find anything about him on the internet, why his kitchen looked so perfect— he never used it. And even his last name— Stoker. I shook my head as I remembered my 10th grade English class and our study of Dracula. Bram Stoker was its author. It was right in front of my eyes and I missed it. Or I didn't want to see it.
"You force me to ask again." His lips were tight again and his jaw clenched. "Please relax."
My eyebrows furrowed at his words. I knew a lot about vampires and their love to play with their prey, but this was a first. There was something different about him, something I couldn't quite put a finger on.
"I don't intend on killing you today, but if you don't bring your heart rate down I can't vouch for my future actions," he added when I stayed silent.
I gasped. Of course, my racing heart must have been rushing blood through my veins at a more intense pace than normal. He was fighting not to kill me, and apparently, it was taking all of him to do so considering how black his eyes were, how clenched his jaw was and the fact that he stopped breathing all together - not that vampires needed to breathe as often as humans. What made me wonder was the reason why he was fighting his natural instincts.
Nonetheless, I focused on my breathing, slowly bringing my heart rate down.
"Thank you," he said with a small, grateful nod.
Everything about him, everything he did and said made me question what I knew about vampires.
"You stopped breathing," I stated, noticing that even now that my heart wasn't beating so fast he still wasn't breathing.
"I did"
The way he had to stare at me silently made me uncomfortable. Not that I was comfortable to begin with, but even more so. His intrigued eyes seemed to pierce mine, leaving me feeling naked.
"You don't know much about us, do you?" He asked as he tilted his head again.
"I know a lot more than you seem to believe."
"Is that so?" He asked with a soft chuckle before breaking the distance between us again and standing still, barely a foot away from me, causing my entire body to stiffen. "Allow me to doubt that," he continued as he lifted his hand and picked up one of my curls, softly twisting it around his finger. It wasn't painful, the strand of hair simply resting in his palm as he played with it, but the close proximity of his hand with my neck made me stop breathing too. "If that were true, you'd know what the smell of you is doing to me right now."
The tone of his voice made it sound like my scent was torture to him. Like he was in agonizing pain just by being in the same room as me. Did humans hold such a strong scent to vampires? Or was it specifically mine that caused him to react like this? Was there something wrong with my scent? I knew how the smell of blood impacted them, but our body scent? That was news to me. He must have seen the confused look on my face, as he added, "See? You bear hardly any knowledge about us."
He was right. I thought I knew everything there was about vampires, their feeding habits, the way they lived, their typical behaviour. But this wasn't typical behaviour. Vampires were primitive creatures with no self-control. They seduced their prey before feeding on them and leaving only a bag of flesh and bones, their bodies sucked dry. His self-control was astonishing.
"Then please enlighten me," I answered, my curiosity picked. "Do humans really smell so intense to you? Or is it just me?"
He seemed taken aback by my question as if it was the last thing he expected me to say. His eyebrows flexed briskly as he let go of my hair.
"You really don't know, do you?"
I couldn't help the roll of my eyes. Vampire or not, his patronizing attitude was getting on my nerves.
"I believe we've established that already," I answered and he grinned.
"We did, but somehow I was certain you were pretending. I can say with confidence now that you were not."
He stared at me in silence, his black eyes focused on mine. I knew exactly what those eyes meant - he was hungry. And I was blood on tap for him. Why hadn't he made a move yet? But even with that knowledge, something was telling me that I wasn't in immediate danger with him. If he wanted to kill me, he would have done it already– he had a million opportunities to do so in the past week. But he was trying to cover his real identity back then. Did my knowing his true nature change things? Did my breaking into his home make him question his choice to let me live? I swallowed.
"Humans smell like— they smell like Sunday roast. Well, at least the majority of them. I don't recommend junky blood. But you—" he started to say but stopped in wonder.
The intensity of his stare made me shiver again, and I knew he noticed it because his lips curled up again.
"You smell like fresh bread to a starving man. You smell as sweet as honey with a note of— spice," he continued, and I felt heat warming my cheeks. "You make humans smell bland. But you're no ordinary human, are you, Charlotte?"
With an unnatural speed, he grabbed my hand and held it palm up, his thumb softly brushing the skin on my forearm where the creature's claws had dug into my flesh and bone a couple of nights ago. The contact of his fingers on my skin left me shivering again, but the sensation quickly turned into fire where our skin met.
"It is taking everything in me to refrain from breaking the thin skin of your wrist— to not press my lips on that beating vein and get a taste of you."
His words were so sensual that it took me a second to realize that I should be scared, not aroused. What was he doing to me? Why was my stomach curling at his words? Why did I suddenly feel on fire? I swallowed hard, trying to focus on my breathing once more, but the contact of his hand on me was making it extremely difficult. His thumb was leaving a trail of fire on my skin, a fire that was starting to take over my entire body. I was at his mercy, defenseless and powerless if he decided to let go of his control, and yet for a moment, the thought didn't scare me. I almost longed for it, longed to feel his lips on my skin. The thoughts were gone in a flash, as if they never even crossed my mind, but apparently, they didn't go fast enough as his lips turned into a full smile.
"But you would like that, wouldn't you?" he asked, not hiding the satisfaction in his smile.
"I would certainly not," I quickly answered as I tried to jerk my hand out of his grip.
He let go without a word, despite being strong enough to break all bones in my hand with the slightest pressure.
"You truly are one of a kind," he said before he turned around and walked towards the window. He stared at the garden for a moment, only the sound of my beating heart echoing in the room. "Now, that makes me wonder—" he continued as he turned around once more, leaning against the window frame and crossing his arms over his chest. "Why on earth did you choose to come to Bath of all places? And without protection? Diana won't be of much help if anyone finds out what you are. Surely you must know that, don't you?"
My head tilted and my eyebrows furrowed as I repeated his words in my head. 'Diana won't be of much help if anyone finds out what you are'. It was the second time he said that, and it still made no sense to me.
"Oh this keeps getting more and more interesting," he said, clearly entertained by my ignorance. "You don't know what you are– well that explains why you thought coming here was a good idea."
He left the window and walked towards the living room before stopping in front of a cabinet and he pulled a bottle and glasses out, the sound of glass on glass echoed in the room. I didn't move as he poured himself a glass of amber-coloured liquid.
"Strong liquor helps with the— cravings," he said, and even if he had his back to me, I could hear him grin. "Whisky?" He offered as he walked back towards me and handed me the glass he was holding.
I hesitated for a second before grabbing it. I was surprised at how steady my heartbeat was now, despite the situation. As if my heart knew I wasn't in immediate danger. Or maybe it had accepted the fact that I might die today. Either way, I drank it in one big gulp, wincing as the liquid burnt my throat, quickly making me regret my decision to drink it so quickly.
"What do you mean by what I am?" I asked after wiping my wet lips with the back of my hand.
He watched me carefully as I did so, his dark eyes focused on my lips. I soon felt heat burning my cheeks at his intense stare and noticed how much darker his eyes seemed to have turned suddenly. I didn't think that was even possible. When he finally broke his stare and brought his gaze up to mine, his eyes were a shade lighter. He poured himself a glass and drank it as fast as I did, only he didn't wince.
"I'm a Hunter, I'm not gonna hide that by fear of what people might do to me if they find out," I added.
He shook his head.
"Their finding out you're a Hunter is the least of your worries," he answered. He stared at me intently again, as my head started to hurt with the million questions that had popped through it. "How did you manage to stay alive for so long?" He asked in wonder. "Has no one really ever told you? I have a hard time believing that. Certainly your parents must have said something– not telling you is putting you in an even greater danger."
I could see his lips move, but his words were so empty of sense that my brain couldn't comprehend what he was saying.
I was shaking all over again.
"You must have noticed you're not like everyone else– haven't you?"
My chest was heaving at an unbelievable speed as I tried to focus my messy thoughts. I swallowed. I was just like everybody else. A boring young woman with a tragic past. Did that make me unique? I was certainly not the first girl who lost both her parents in a creature attack. But there was my odd ability to heal that I never really thought much of. I certainly wasn't the only one with that ability. I refused to believe that.
"I think you're mistaken–"
He ignored my comment, still scrutinizing me as if I was a lab rat.
"Have you ever wondered why creatures seem to find you wherever you go?"
"There are creatures everywhere, their showing up wherever I am doesn't make me special."
"Wrong, they are not everywhere. They're attracted to power– to the Gates, to you."
What Gates was he talking about? And why did he use 'they' and not 'we'? He was part of them. And of course creatures were everywhere. Every single city I visited or stayed at had at least one creature crawling the streets. But that wasn't true, was it? There hadn't been a single creature attack in Blue River until the one that killed my parents. Or was I too young to remember?
"I can feel power radiating through you, and so can they. If you hadn't been trained to hunt, you'd be dead by now."
My eyebrows furrowed as what he was saying started to resonate with me. He was right, I had been trained. I had never questioned my parents' insistence on training me to use a blade or to fight. 'You need to be prepared if you face a wild animal, angel', they always said. I never thought twice about it, simply finding the skills useful when I started hunting with Rick. Could they really have been preparing me? All the stories they used to tell me did happen to be real.
My tremors doubled, my legs barely able to hold me anymore. No, it couldn't be true. If there was anything special about me, anything that put me in danger like William claimed, they would have told me. They would have done anything to protect me.
"You still don't believe me, do you?" He asked, looking almost surprised.
Before I could answer he was standing in front of me, so close that my chest almost touched his. He grabbed my hand with his unnatural speed, keeping a tight hold on it. A jolt of electricity waved through me at the contact, the way it did everytime he touched me. I held my breath.
"I'm sorry about this. I wish there was a less painful way to make you open your eyes," he said, moving his fingers around mine. My eyebrows arched as he finished his sentence just when a loud pop sound echoed in the room and an excruciating pain burst through my pinky. I screamed, instinctively jumping back from him as I held my wrist with my unharmed hand. My gaze fell on the broken finger pointing at an awkward angle that had already started to heal. Within a few seconds, it looked like nothing ever happened to my pinky. The pain had felt very real though, and I was still panting from it. I wanted to slap him for that, but I was too stunned to act on it. I couldn't believe he had just done that. How could he have been certain I would heal so easily?
"Now you're gonna tell me this is normal?"
Bastard. He broke my finger to prove a point. What kind of psychopath did that? When the shock subsidized and I gained control over my thoughts and body again, I didn't hesitate. I threw my fist at his face, hoping to cause as much pain as he had caused me. Of course, none of that happened as he anticipated the move and grabbed hold of my hand.
"I did say I was sorry," he said, amused at my reaction. "I would have put a small cut on your skin if I could have– surely that would have been less painful, but I'm afraid of what I might do to you if your blood spills. It's already painful to stand so close to you... Your scent is very strong," he explained when my eyebrows arched again and he let go of my hand.
First he broke my finger, and then he insulted me? My nails dug into my palms. I needed to get out of there before my anger drove me to do something stupid that would most likely get myself killed.
"If what you're saying is true, that I'm– special, that creatures want me dead, then why haven't you killed me yet?"
"There's no if, you are special. You still don't believe me? Should I demonstrate again?"
The thought made me shiver.
"You are no threat to me, why would I kill you?" He asked casually before I could answer anything. "The biggest threat to your life is yourself right now if you keep pretending like you're an ordinary human. What I said yesterday is still true. You need to leave."
"Why? Wherever I'll go they'll find me if we follow your logic. So why does it matter if I'm in this city or another?"
Our conversation was so absurd that all I wanted to do was to run back to the motel. What could possibly be in this city that caused such a threat to me? First my parents, then Richard had forbidden me to come to England, and now him? A vampire that seemed to know a lot more about me than I did myself?
His expression changed, his eyes darkening again.
"You're standing over the Gates of Hell, Charlotte," he said so casually again that I wondered if I heard correctly. Surely I'd misheard him. He couldn't have said Gates of 'Hell', there couldn't be such a thing. But I never really thought about where creatures came from, all I ever did was find them and kill them. Could Hell be real?
"That's why you shouldn't be here— because like I said, creatures are attracted to power, and the two biggest sources of power in the world are in the same place right now."