Witchcraft (#2 Witchblood Series) (18 page)

‘
Of course you do! I’m not sure
which method sounds worse, but as the vortex was no fun on my
stomach, I can only hope your method is easier,’ I said.

But it wasn’t. What I’d failed to
account for was the speed with which angels can both ascend and
descend when they want to, and as dawn was fast approaching, I
guess Luke was concerned about the neighbours witnessing something
they shouldn’t. After I had pulled the kitchen door closed behind
me and stepped out into the crisp cool morning, I found I barely
had time to take a breath before Luke had pulled me in to his side,
wrapped his arm around me and shot up into the air. I’m not
altogether sure that I could have counted to two, even if I had
tried, but as it was, all I did was yelp slightly, and two seconds
later I found myself, once again in the magical ley lines that
circle our planet.

‘
Umm Luke, how do you know which
way to go?’ I asked, noticing for the first time the different,
ethereal threads and wisps of glowing currents that criss-crossed
each other like a handful of colourful ribbons..

‘
You just concentrate, and think
about where you want to go. Link your mind to the stream, connect
and once your consciousness makes the connection it takes you where
you need to go.’

‘
So if I started thinking
about…’

‘
Jess I need silence, shut-up!’ He
interrupted.

‘
Oh, sorry.’ I took the hint and
instead watched the dizzying patterns unwind around me. Some lines
seemed thicker than others, some seemed frail and delicate. Some
glowed with phosphorescence, whereas some were barely wisps of
white matter floating on the breeze.

From kitchen door to London backstreet
it took no more than fifteen minutes, and as I looked at my watch,
I marvelled at the new mode of transport open to me, and wondered
why I hadn’t seen the air filled with witches and angels. If humans
ever worked out a way of using it, it would soon be overrun. I
looked over at Luke and the reason became apparent. He was slumped
back against the wall of the back street we had landed in, a sheen
of sweat on his slightly paler face.

‘
Are you okay?’ I
asked.

‘
Yeah, I’ll be fine in a moment.
It’s hard work on your own, which is why angels usually only use it
for transporting undesirables in teams, working
together.’

‘
Oh, sorry!’

‘
It’s fine. See, I’m better
already,’ he said with a weak smile.

So where are we then? I thought we’d be
going to Mayfair?’ I asked.

‘
No, I want you to stay as far
away from Cole as possible. This area is popular with the young
goth crowd…Emos, or whatever you want to call them. There are loads
of vampire fan clubs here, so now wouldn’t be a great time to
change your mind on that biting ban you’ve given yourself,’ he said
softly.

I decided not to tell him of my recent
change of heart, after all I certainly wouldn’t be putting that
particular plan into action until Daniel was safe and Eva was able
to escort me to the club. With that plan on hold, I didn’t see the
point in telling him and making him pissed at me sooner than
necessary.

‘
Fine, but what can I do here?
Especially as it’s dawn. The clubs will have closed.’

‘
I believe there’s a café round
the corner called ‘Dawnbreaker,’ which is open for the post-club
crowd. You can mingle there and make friends. See if you hear
anything interesting. Cole may behave perfectly for us in Mayfair,
but if he indulges his darker side…which let’s face it, he’s a
bloodsucker, so I can’t see him not doing… he’ll come somewhere
like this.’

‘
What if I get recognised by other
vampires?’ I asked, suddenly worrying about his impending
departure.

‘
Thanks to your new green eyes,
you don’t look like a vampire any longer, Jess…at least, not until
you get close up. They will probably be able to smell you if they
get too close, or get you on your own…so don’t let them,’ he
said.

‘
But we don’t smell. It’s you guys
that smell!’

‘
Exactly! They’ll know you aren’t
human by your lack of scent. We should have thought of it and
doused you in perfume before we came. In fact, once it gets to nine
o’clock, go and find a perfume shop and spray yourself. That will
help a little.’

‘
When will you be
back?’

‘
I’m expected on court duty
between nine and two pm. I’m going to set off now and fly back,
which should take me a couple of hours, so I have the energy to
catch a ley-line back to you at two. We can meet here at two
fifteen.’

‘
Um Luke, if you see Daniel… be
nice, okay. He
is
innocent, I
saw his memories. I can and
will
vouch for him once I get back,’ I said.

‘
Fine.’

‘
And don’t let anything happen to
him, promise?’

For a second he didn’t say anything, in
fact he looked pretty pissed, but then he looked up at me again and
nodded.

‘
You really care about him, don’t
you? Even when you weren’t bonded?’ he said.

‘
Yes, I do. So don’t let them kill
him. He’s a good man.’

‘
Bloodsuc… vampire you mean. He’s
not been a man for decades,’ he said with a smile.

‘
Look, just go. I’ll see what I
can find and meet you back here at two fifteen. Don’t be late, else
I’ll worry.’

‘
Ditto,’ he said, and after a
quick furtive check around us, he shot up into the air and was
gone. I was on my own, in London.

Chapter Fourteen

If only Alex was next to me, sharing a
greasy breakfast, as we planned the day ahead. If only I wasn’t a
vampire with half the supernatural community after my powers, and
if we had a wallet full of money to shop till we dropped, the hours
stretching ahead could hold so much potential. As it was, I was a
seventeen year old, in a capital city that I’d never before
visited, with a super-scary agenda to follow. I didn’t have a
single clue where to begin, so I figured I’d better find the place
Luke had mentioned.

‘
Dawnbreaker’ was a dingy café on
the corner of two main streets. Even at six o clock in the morning,
the traffic pouring round the junction formed an unbreakable
torrent. Mindful that zipping across the roads at triple speed
would be the same as wearing a neon light on my forehead, flashing
‘vampire’ to anyone glancing my way, I decided to cross at the
pedestrian crossings, which also gave me time to assess the café
before I entered it.

As I approached the café, I was
surprised to see it still half full. I pushed open the door and
ignoring the scowl from the waitress with black rings under her
eyes, I found myself a table on the edge of the crowd of
clubbers.

‘
We’re closing in half an hour,’
the waitress grumbled, as she stopped by my table, hands on
hips.

‘
That’s fine, I just wanted a
coffee,’ I replied, knowing even the sight of another milky tea
would finish me.

The waitress scowled at me, muttering
something under her breath as she walked back over to the kitchen
area and poured me a stale coffee from an old percolator, returned
and placed it down in front of me, her eyes daring me to ask her
for a fresh pot. Luckily for her I didn’t plan on drinking it, so I
said nothing and waited till she slunk away.

I warmed my hands on the lukewarm mug
and watched the groups in the room. Initially I felt
self-conscious, sure I would stick out as a teenage girl on my own,
but then I soon realised no-one was bothered. The majority age
group in the room was between seventeen and twenty-five. Half of
them were dressed in black: black hair, black eye make-up, black
dress, black boots, black nails… but the other half weren’t so
obviously goths. They were young, all of them, but some were
dressed in jeans like me. A couple of girls wore tiny dresses more
suitable for the Ibiza scene, and some girls dressed with nothing
but their own style in mind - a mish-mash of colours, textures and
prints splashed together and worn with a grace I knew I didn’t
have. A couple of girls glanced my way and smiled, but the majority
drank their drinks, ignored the ever-increasing glares from the
waitress and talked as if I wasn’t there.

I pulled out my iPod, which I’d grabbed
at the last minute before leaving the house, and put the headphones
in my ears. With the machine switched off, I was free to listen in
to the conversations around me without appearing rude. So coffee in
hand, head nodding slightly to a non-existent rhythm, I settled
back in my chair and concentrated on the group nearest me. The
group consisted of five stereotypical goths, two girls and three
boys, all dressed head to toe in black, with matching eyeliner.
They were all discussing the band they had seen at the club – the
girls discussing the varying delights of the lead guitarist and the
boys raving about how pumped it was.

I switched groups and tuned into a group
I hadn’t noticed initially, as they were sat at a table just behind
the goth group. There were two girls dressed similarly to those I’d
seen hanging around Exodus after closing time: skinny jeans, knee
high boots, revealing tops. Their skin was a little too pale to be
healthy, their eyes bright and smiles adoring. They were sitting
with two slightly older guys, maybe in their late twenties, wearing
designer labels, their almost black eyes giving away their true
nature.

I strained to hear what they were
talking about, but without staring at them and lip reading, it was
tricky siphoning out all the surrounding conversation. The bits I
did hear were pretty meaningless, but I stayed with them, sure
they’d be my best hope of a lead.

‘
You’re not drinking that? Is it
too cold? I can make the girl get you a fresh one if you like?’ The
voice came from behind my shoulder, making me jump slightly. I
turned and found myself face to face with a vampire. He was dressed
to blend in, fashionable with a slightly gothic twist, but like the
vampires I’d been watching, it was more couture than
Camden.

‘
Oh, um thanks, I’m fine.’ I took
a tentative sip, trying not to grimace as the now cold coffee
coated my tongue. I hadn’t liked coffee before I was turned, and it
seemed the taste hadn’t improved with my change.

‘
Cold, huh?’ he said, pulling out
the seat opposite me and sitting down.

‘
Yeah, I guess, but I didn’t
really come for the coffee… I was umm... early for a meeting and so
I was just wasting some time. It’s cold outside.’ I knew I didn’t
sound convincing. I’d always been terrible at lying and this guy
had caught me off guard.

‘
Sure, so where’s this meeting
you’re going to?’ he said with a slight smile.

‘
Oh, just round the corner, not
far,’ I said, trying to sound as vague as possible.

‘
Right, well if you want any
company, come and find me,’ he said, before standing up and
sauntering over to the group I’d been watching.

I let out a sigh, not quite believing
I’d got away with it, and smiled when the group all turned to stare
at me, before turning back to their conversation. As other groups
were now breaking up and leaving the café in twos and threes, I
decided I should make a move as well. I didn’t want to hang around
and cause more suspicion with the vamps.

I followed a group of three goth girls
out of the café and onto the street. Where would I go now? I wasn’t
even sure whereabouts in London I was. I guessed I was a fair way
outside the centre, because I couldn’t see any of the landmarks,
the Thames or any of the typical brown tourist signs. I followed
the group of girls a short way along the busy road and back around
the main junction. I stopped and stared in front of me as a
gorgeous old building with a domed roof loomed ahead of me. The
sign above it said Brixton Academy. Right, so I was in Brixton
then.

I decided to hunt around and look for
the nearest tube station, where I should at least be able to find a
map and have a look at the surrounding geography. I was currently
standing at a big junction with three main roads, one of them bound
to lead to the train station, but which? Suddenly I heard a muted
giggle and whipping my head round I saw the three vampires with
their girls come around the corner, the way I’d just come. I looked
for my group of girls, but they’d gone. I needed to move, so I
picked the road to my right and started walking, listening hard to
the noises from behind.

I started to realise, as I crossed the
street that I was probably going in the wrong direction, as the
road seemed to be going away from the centre and there was no train
station in sight. The traffic was much lighter here as well, and
there were no pedestrians about at all. The good news was that the
group behind had presumably broken up and weren’t following me, as
very little sound now came from behind. I decided to take the next
right turn in the hope that it would loop back onto the parallel
road leading back to the junction.

As I crossed the road to take the narrow
residential street that ran off it, I took a quick look behind me.
The group had indeed split up and now there was just one vampire
and one girl walking towards me, but on the other side of the road.
They didn’t seem interested in me, so I shrugged it off as a fluke
and disappeared round the corner.

The street I was now on was lined with
expensive, well-maintained houses on one side and a strange mixture
of unkempt council houses on the right. Further on, there were
sparse areas of wasteland, with rubbish and industrial bins piled
up against each other. My route didn’t look hopeful, so I took the
next left and picked up speed, finding myself on a narrow alleyway.
It surely led back towards the junction as it appeared to back onto
the same street, with the backs of warehouse and commercial
buildings lining each side.