Free Dance Until Dawn by Berni Stevens Page B

that.
    We went walking on the Heath, of course. There weren’t many people around, it was February after all. Most normal folk were indoors, snug in their centrally heated homes. Since I’d fed, some of the bone-deep coldness in my body seemed to have lessened, although my skin still felt cold to the touch.
    I looked at everything through new eyes, and heard so many different sounds with my heightened sense of hearing. It seemed as though all my senses had become enhanced, not just my hearing. I could smell the damp, cold earth. I could smell … people … and blood. A tremor shivered through me, and Will put a reassuring hand on my arm.
    I turned to look at him. ‘Is it the Thirst again so soon?’
    Suddenly, I felt more than a little worried that I might suddenly lose control, leap on an unsuspecting tourist and sink my shiny new fangs into him.
    He shook his head. ‘No, it is just your body reacting to the smell of blood. It is because you are newly fledged.’
    ‘You make me sound like a chicken.’
    He led the way towards Parliament Hill. We climbed to the top of the hill, and stood looking down at the lights of London, twinkling in the dark night. This had always been one of my favourite views, although I’d never been brave enough to venture here at night. What other secrets could possibly be lurking down there, in that teeming metropolis?
    ‘I wonder if there are any more vampires down there?’ I said aloud.
    ‘Twenty-five.’
    I looked at him in utter amazement. ‘How can you possibly know that?’
    He raised a dark brow at me as though I had no right to question him. ‘There are no vampires in London that I do not know about,’ he replied with a trace of arrogance. ‘London is my city, my
territory
, if you like.’
    ‘What
are
you then, some kind of king?’ I sounded flippant and wondered, too late, whether he’d be angry.
    ‘I am the Elder of this city.’ His reply was matter-of-fact. I had no idea what an Elder was, but it sounded important.
    ‘Why? Because you’re the oldest?’
    ‘The strongest.’
    I couldn’t think of anything to say to that, so I said nothing. Unusual for me. I wondered how come London wasn’t infested with vampires. Why wasn’t everyone a vampire?
    ‘Turning humans is against the law of this city,’ he answered my unspoken question. Again.
    ‘So how come you didn’t keep your fangs to yourself?’
    ‘There were … extenuating circumstances.’
    ‘One rule for you and another rule for the masses.’
    ‘If you like.’
    I looked unseeingly back down at the city. Of all the arrogant …
extenuating circumstances
? I fought against a rise of temper. The man was insufferable.
    To calm myself, I concentrated on the view below me, and inhaled the scents of the night.
    I could almost feel some of the pulses of the inhabitants below. I sensed their living bodies. I knew they were there. It was a most peculiar sensation. I had never realised, until now, that night smelt so very different from day. My nostrils flared, and the cold night air filled them again with its exotic, alluring scents. I dug my nails into the palms of my hands and breathed in the heady elixir of earth, people, animals and the fragrant, winter night air.
    I watched the headlights of the traffic moving far below, tiny specks of light that buzzed around the city like manic fireflies. A city literally pulsing with human life. Everyone with a purpose – except for me. I no longer had any purpose.
    I was conscious of Will’s cool presence at my back. I could see him in my mind even though I faced the other way. Weirder and weirder.
    Why had he turned me? My head buzzed with unanswered questions. I wondered if there was a more sinister reason behind Will’s actions. Although I seriously doubted there could be anything much more sinister than murder or making vampires.
    I didn’t want to go back to that dank, dark cellar and I really, really didn’t want to be locked up again. But I had begun to