The Party Girl's Invitation (19 page)

She glanced from one to the other and back again, resting with the vampire.

Reginald, She surmised.

She was about to walk over and introduce herself, when something about the timbre of the voice caused her to stop. She knew that voice. She’d recognise it anywhere. Simultaneously, she recognised the irate yelling of her twin and Verity’s whining tones. Oh no, not now.

Dinner at the table was a subdued affair. By the time Olivia had been coerced into extricating herself from the bathroom and Verity had stopped throwing things at Jeremy long enough for some sort of order to be maintained, there had barely been time to scramble into their seats, before the leader of the Hunt began his customary speeches. Crystal had slunk into her seat with seconds to spare and received a very nasty surprise.

“Hello, Crystal. We missed you,” Saskia had crowed, as she whipped off her ears and someone on the table behind flashed a shot of a very surprised Crystal being wrapped in her employer’s hearty embrace.

Jazz, on the other side of the table, seated beside a watery Olivia had narrowed his gaze.

“Saskia.” Crystal shrieked, before she had a chance to regulate her volume.

All eyes swivelled in their direction.

Where one goes, the other follows, Crystal registered, as she realised that the guy who looked like Jeremy and was dressed as an ugly sister, was actually not her brother. She knew that he was sitting right next to Verity and wearing a pirate suit, cutlass and all.

Amid various cat calls and loud shushing gestures, an uneasy calm was restored.

Crystal pointedly turned her back on Phil, Saskia and Carrie and attempted to hold a conversation of her own with Brad.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be wrapped up in a tearful Verity and Jeremy was pointedly talking to Olivia, ignoring his girlfriend with studied ease. Crystal felt the abject desolation of weeks of trauma and outright despair, roll over her in sickening waves. She had to get out of here, she couldn’t cope with this right now. She stared at her plate in vexation. She was slowly going right out of her mind. A single tear rolled down her face and landed, plop, on her plate.

Without a word, Jazz pushed back his seat and eased his way around the table.

To the utter fascination of several members of the assembled crowd, the un-named vampire placed two hands on Crystal’s shoulders. She simply took one glance at his face and then without a word, she stood up and followed him from the room, like a well-trained puppy.

Within seconds, there followed a mass scramble, where most of the front table leapt to their feet, all at the same time and began trying to exit the room. One of the ugly sisters and the cat tried to leave first, and they would have succeeded, but for the mermaid, who in trying to restrain one of the pirates, managed to get one of her oversized flippers caught in the retreating cat’s long furry tail. The pink ugly sister tripped over the now conjoined cat and mermaid’s tails, giving the vicar’s wife, who was seated behind him, rather a striking view of his bare backside. The ice queen began howling and ran off to resume her place in the downstairs loo. There was a considerable amount of yelling and screaming, until the fairy godmother picked up the ice bucket and bashed it so hard with her magic wand that the glass shattered and rained down over the elf who was trying to pacify a now hysterical cat.

The resulting hullaballoo caused even the toastmaster to stop in his tracks, mid speech.

Mark and Ruth were so busy, playing a game of you touch mine and I’ll touch yours under the table, that they barely noticed the commotion. This party had put some spice back in their marriage, for sure.

Crystal and Jazz quite simply disappeared without a trace. It was a mere matter of steps down the ice covered path to the big black barn, which housed the generator and the tractor that her uncle used on the farm. The large, rusty old padlock gave all impressions of securing the shed, but all they’d needed to do was slip the bolt at the top of the door and shimmy inside, long before anyone else made it out of the tent in their wake. In the pitch black of the barn, surrounded by the smell of diesel, the noise of the generator and the ancient assortment of farmyard equipment, Crystal led Jazz surely and decisively to the large dry hayloft, where she’d played so many times in her youth. As she ascended the tiny rope ladder stairs, she held his hand firmly, there was no way she was letting him back out now, she knew exactly what she was doing tonight. This was something she’d wanted for a very long time.

Their feet made barely a sound on the hay covered planks of the rough loft floor, and Crystal drew him over to the corner, where the last dredges of the winter hay was stored. He didn’t say a word, as she slipped out of the frayed stockings and almost non-existent chemise. She stood there, naked, and trembling except for a scrap of pure white lace which covered her most intimate soul. Her flesh quivered in the moonlight.

Jazz didn’t move. If she wanted him tonight, she had to take the first step. He had some idea what was going on there, back in the tent, but she had to take responsibility for her actions right now. He wasn’t a substitute for her some playboy lover, she wouldn’t be able to cast him off when the going got rough.

He could smell her perfume, mixed with the other more earthy scents of the barn. He cupped her face in the palm of his hand and tipped her chin up so that her eyes met his own.

“This is it, Crystal. No more games,” he insisted. “If we do this now, then you’re mine,” he ran the tip of his finger softly, down her tear stained face. “I’m not a monk and I’m not a pushover, there’s no going back. You will belong to me.”

Crystal nodded slowly.

Jazz felt reality slipping away. It would take little effort, to move to a place where coherent thought would be replaced by passion and power. Recrimination and questions could wait for the morning, this was their time, their place and there would be no holding back. Heat radiated through his belly.

His vampire’s cape landed in a heap of crimson satin, against the pale covering of hay on the floor. Without any kindness or any moderation he pulled her down with him, onto to the cold hard timbers of the hayloft, his body yielding as he took Crystal’s weight on the rough planks of the decking. The time for words was done.

Outside several voices could be heard calling Crystal’s name, but she rapidly straddled his body and smothered his mouth with her own, boldly thrusting her tongue deep into his mouth and inviting his possession so that no sound could possibly escape.

He liked the feel of her naked skin, soft against his palm, as he investigated her body, tasting her mouth slowly and savouring each kiss. There was no rush, everyone else was busy, occupied elsewhere. This could take all night, they were creatures of darkness, they inhabited their own personal realm.

Chapter13

Post Party Blues

Jazz had the vague feeling that something was wrong, only he couldn’t quite place it. He recalled the sound of someone daintily tiptoeing around the room, before he drifted back off to sleep again, utterly exhausted. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d felt quite so tired, mentally or physically.

An hour later he woke with a start. Crystal, where was Crystal? They’d finally made it into his bed last night and he’d drifted off to sleep, with her in his arms.

Only now he knew that she was gone.

They had finally sneaked out of the barn long after the last of the revellers had gone. All but the caterers had packed up and left for the night. Some guy called Chris had been stacking the last of the catering equipment in some cardboard boxes and he’d glanced up as they’d tiptoed lightly past the catering tent. ‘Ah, so that’s where you got to, is it?’ he’d asked as they glanced in his direction.

“Shhh,” Crystal had replied, and Jazz had responded with a wink.

Chris had mimed zipping his lips and they’d both laughed as they sneaked off to Jazz’s car, giggling, hand in hand.

The clock had registered five o’clock, by the time they’d fallen into his bed together, satiated and content.

Now he’d woken up and Crystal was gone. He padded over to the en-suite shower, but he knew she wasn’t here. She wasn’t in the kitchen either. He wondered why she’d run. He ran a hand through his hair and slipped into a spare pair of pyjama bottoms, he’d taken to wearing them recently since the episode with Maisie, in the hallway. He shuddered even now, to think about it. She had that gleam in her eye these days, the ‘I know a secret’ look, which technically speaking, he supposed that she did.

Back in the village, Crystal let herself into an empty house. Gran was staying at the farm after the party, she wouldn’t be home for hours, yet.

She needed to do some thinking. She had some decisions to make and she needed the peace and quiet of her own bed for that. She couldn’t think with Jazz around, the sight and the smell of him was enough to send her radar off the scale. Her every thought trailed off in one direction…

Brad awoke with cramp in his leg. He slid to one side, and pushed Verity’s hair out of his face. It was bloody freezing in here. The windows had steamed up and the steam had frozen solid, whilst they had been asleep. It was just starting to get light. He had no idea where they’d parked up, but he thought he could hear a bull bellowing in the field outside.

A farm tractor ran past the hedge on the other side of the track.

The noise was enough to disturb Verity, she stirred in her sleep and pulled him closer, she was cold and she needed his body warmth.

Brad thought briefly about finding the car keys and driving her home, but she was still only half dressed and he could see the tips of her nipples sticking out through the thin fabric of her mermaid suit. The tail was still unzipped.

He pulled her closer and his hand slid up under the shiny flipper. They could always warm up together, and it would be so much more fun.

Phil opened his eyes and focussed blearily on the bottle of champagne still sitting unopened in the enormous ice bucket strategically placed next to the bed. It felt like a herd of elephants were rampaging around inside of his skull. He closed his eyes quickly, and groaned. How much, exactly, had he drunk last night?

Once Saskia had realised that Crystal was well and truly gone, she’d shown some remorse, and had plied him with drink until he’d been so blind drunk that he couldn’t stand up. Luckily he’d hired a limo, so for the requisite bundle of cash, the driver had been more than happy to drop them all off en-route, anywhere that they pleased. Crystal’s brother Jeremy really wasn’t such a bad guy at all, he decided as he turned over and attempted to go back to sleep.

He’d spent half of the night with him under the table in a drunken stupor, commiserating the fact that the beautiful mermaid had run off with the other pirate, until he’d noticed that Saskia was really quite hot. The idiot had then decided that he liked kittens and Jeremy had decided to go off and play with the cat. Now there was a recipe for disaster. Phil had tried to dissuade him, but once a few glasses of champagne and a couple of beers had woven their magic, poor Jeremy had been convinced that Saskia was the girl for him. Phil knew that she ate nice guys like him for breakfast, but he supposed that he couldn’t fault the guy, for giving it a go. He’d been tempted himself, just once, a long time ago.

Inside the farmhouse, gran needed the loo. They’d put her in the front room, because it was easier than trying to get her and her plaster cast up the stairs. Now she’d had enough. Lolly was going to have to come out of there, or she’d be leaving a puddle all over the floor.

She bashed on the door with the end of her walking stick.“Lolly, come out of there, or else,” she demanded imperiously.“I’ve had enough of your whining girl, pull yourself together, I need the lavatory.”

To her greatest surprise, the bolt shot back on the door and Lolly slid out. Shamefaced and blotchy with her hair all awry, she threw herself into her gran’s open arms.

“Oh Gran, I’ve been such a fool,” she wailed.

“Never mind dumpling, we’ve all been there, in our time. He wasn’t the right man for you my dear,” she soothed, silently thinking ‘and he’s got his hands full, with that other granddaughter of mine’.

“I loved him so much gran, but he wasn’t the man that I thought he was,” Lolly sobbed.

Gran rummaged in her pocket for a spare tissue and handed it to Lolly to wipe her eyes on.“Now, now dear, don’t take on so. That Jazz Silver has a lot to answer for.”

Lolly blinked, hard. It wasn’t Jazz that she was complaining about. She’d already worked out that he was highly unsuitable. It was that hairy guy with the dress and the lack of underpants that she was crying about now. He’d seduced her in the rockery and then left in the limousine. When she’d begged to go with him, he’d told her that the one he wanted had ‘buggered off’ with the vampire, and he’d only settled on her because she had nice tits. She felt that she’d been let down, twice in a row.

Ruth was already online at six o’clock. She couldn’t wait for the order that she’d just placed to arrive. She returned to the master bedroom and woke a startled Mark. She’d never had much need for a computer, or a straight laced husband, until now.

The contract cleaners arrived at the farmhouse at ten minutes to eight. They’d already been given their instructions to fold the table linen, wipe down the plastic tables and hoover the carpet, ready for the hire company to collect.

The first person into the tent was Maude. Bernard had been on duty, up at the factory, late last night, so they’d not been able to attend the ‘do’. It was a bit pricey for their pocket, if she was honest anyway. So she was happy to clock a bit of overtime, it was double time on Sundays, so it made it all worthwhile. She started with the main table, the big one, right at the front. There was one single gold envelope, unopened on the table, covered in party streamers and confetti and hardly visible at all, beneath the large flower arrangement which adorned the centre of the table.

She picked it up curiously. What was this then? A booby prize, a few spare raffle tickets, you found all sorts, discarded, after a night like last night.

She pulled out a single scrap of paper. Folded once, it read, ‘Crystal, my life is incomplete without you. Just name the time and the place, and I’m yours.’ It was signed Phil, and it had a one way, open ended ticket to LA, attached.

As she cleaned the rest of the tables, her mind pondered the problem. Phil? Phil? She didn’t know anyone called Phil. It was obvious who it was aimed at, but did the recipient want it? That was the question. She knew she should hand it in, return it to its rightful owner, but she had a sister in LA that she hadn’t seen in a long time, and Crystal had left it on the table, unwanted, as such. She tucked the envelope discreetly into her apron pocket. No need to make up her mind just yet. She could decide later, what to do.

Bertie held the negative up towards the softly diffused red light. He rubbed at his eyes, they felt red and gritty, he was getting a bit old for all this. He’d not worked an all-nighter in years. However, since he’d decided to do his own legwork, it was up to him to get the results out there asap. So what had he snapped then?

There was a stunning one of Saskia looking delighted and wrapping her arms around a startled Crystal. He had several of Phil in the rockery with that posh debutante and another one of him showing his tackle to a surprised vicar’s wife.

Those were the ones he’d been paid to deliver, well, almost. They had the right people in them, just not necessarily in the right combinations, but that was life. You snapped the pictures as things happened, and then decided what to do with them afterwards, that was his game. Aside from that, there were the few shots that he’d snapped on his own account. He surveyed the prints, already pegged out and drying off. The only one he didn’t have on film was Jazz and that was because no one had actually known he was there. He’d overheard the mermaid telling one of the pirates that he was the mystery vampire who’d spirited Crystal away, right under the noses of everyone else.

It had been a bit tricky, getting the information about who was who, out of the vicar’s wife, but he thought he had it all straight now. He’d had to correct her, on the identity of the pink ugly sister and the cat, but she’d been very helpful as to the identity of the others.

He wondered which shots to pass on to Saskia, and which ones to keep for himself. He had a feeling that he had a scoop here, especially the one of her snogging that pirate in the back of the limo.