Vampire's Key
Chapter Nine
“I’m sorry,” Sophie apologised, leading Lilly down a series of steep stone steps. It was already late into the evening and Lilly felt exhausted.
“It’s not your fault,” Lilly replied, shifting her bag onto her other shoulder. It made little difference, they both hurt equally.
“My landlady’s a bitch,” Sophie declared. “It’s okay. I know someone who I’m sure will help.”
Gradually the path sloped downwards, its angle increasing as they moved further and further away from the outside world. “It’s a bit steep,” Lilly said, forcing herself to slow. The ground was slippery and she rested her hand against the cold, damp brick to aid her balance.
“Along here,” Sophie directed, turning right and descending another flight of steps. “It’s a bit of a trek, but it’s okay. Don’t worry, it’ll be worth it. Anyway, better than being at home right?”
Lilly nodded and clutched her bag tightly. *My world in a bag,* she thought. Images and memories rose of her last day with Carl. She pushed them back, like shoving clothes into a holdall. *Not now,* she thought, *not now.* “It smells damp,” she noted, following Sophie along a narrow, arched passageway. Its brick ceiling was darkened by patches of damp. Islands of green moss expanded over the aged bricks, nourished by the bland workman lamps that illumined the corridor.
“Yeah,” Sophie agreed and rubbed her arms. “Cold as well.” She smiled. “Almost there.”
“Okay,” Lilly said, spying a shiny, silver door at the far end.
Sophie stopped at the door and turned to Lilly. “Here we are. Now, it is a little weird,” she admitted, rolling her eyes.
“What’s weird? How?” Lilly asked.
“It’s okay,” Sophie comforted. “I, just, well,” Sophie grinned. “You know.”
Lilly frowned. “What?”
Sophie shook her head and turned away from Lilly. “You’ll see,” she said, and knocked on the large metal door.
Bolts slid back, the door opened and a large bouncer appeared. Perfectly fitting the stereotype, he had a shaved head and thick tattooed arms. Beside him, a young woman sat in front of a laptop. She looked up, but didn’t smile. Another door, of aged, dark oak, remained closed.
“I’m here for Katie,” Sophie said.
The bouncer offered a gruff smile. “Names?”
“Sophie Miles.”
The bouncer frowned, studying her.
“Like the actress, only spelled different,” Sophie added. “And Lilly Armitage.”
“I thought that sounded familiar,” he replied.
Lilly watched the woman enter their names into her laptop. “She’s on Katie’s guest list,” she noted, and glared at Lilly.
“Enjoy your evening, ladies,” the bouncer said, opening the second door.
“Thank you,” Lilly replied, ignoring the woman’s reaction. “I’m on Katie’s guest list,” she whispered to Sophie.
Sophie grinned. “After you,” she said, stepping aside.
Lilly’s foot didn’t touch the ground and, for a moment, she wasn’t sure if she’d slipped. Everything around her was black — as black as that night in the car park. In that light-absorbing darkness, that void of life, there was another. A cold, life-stealing presence. Despite her eyes having failed her, she could sense it. It was there, a power that was different to everything she had ever known. Untamed, yet contained in itself. Unloving, yet so close to her that it nourished the parts of her soul she had thought lost forever. Unwanted by humanity, yet Lilly wanted it, needed it to answer her cry for help.
“Lilly,” a female voice whispered. “Submit to me now, accept my hunger and you shall be full throughout time.” Her voice possessed an archaic resonance that soothed away Lilly’s fears, leaving her desperate to surrender to this unknown power. “Will you say yes?” she asked.
An internal conflict arose in Lilly. Fear of the creature that held her in its grip was matched by the desperation to flee the inhumanity of her boyfriend. The battle raged within as both sides struggled for supremacy until Lilly was overcome with an uplifting sense of freedom. Her answer was simultaneously a whispered agreement and a resignation of her own power. In that wordless submission there came an even greater sensation; a deep knowledge that as the creature punched through a thin layer of outer skin, it came to give equally, to replace that which it took with something far greater. A connection to a source beyond life itself.
Lilly gasped as she tasted the blood of the creature. It’s wrist forced against her mouth; warm nectar alleviating her hunger. The feeling struck her to the core. Her neck felt aflame as the creature’s teeth pushed deeper, effortlessly cutting through obstructions until it pierced her vein. Lilly’s blood saturated the creature’s mouth, filling and nurturing it like a mother feeding her child. As Lilly’s body convulsed beneath the amorphous creature that solidified around her, Lilly touched the primal source. A darkness that lurked behind the soul of the world. A truth that even light could not overcome. A world that was neither world nor cosmos, neither night nor day, warmth nor cold. Here everything was held in check. Here was the source of the physical universe.
“Welcome,” the vampire said, resting Lilly gently on the ground. “I am Amy. I am your Clan Mother.”
Above Lilly stood a young woman. Her jet black hair matched in intensity by the long, dark gown that hugged her small figure. Her face was flushed red from the blood she had absorbed and she knelt down and stroked Lilly’s hand. Her wrist had already healed. “You will have many questions, Lilly, and you will soon be hungry.”
“Am I dead?” Lilly asked, straining to lift her hand to her neck.
Amy shook her head. “Soon. We should go. The Countess can wait.”
“Sophie—” Lilly whispered, her eyelids closing.
“Sophie is fine.”
“I should tell her,” Lilly stated, welcoming the darkness.
“Later. Come, let us go,” Amy replied, gently placing an arm under Lilly’s waist.
“You’re warm,” Lilly noted, curling up into Amy’s arms.
“Rest. It won’t be long until we’re home,” Amy soothed, lifting the sleepy woman.
“Where are we going?” Lilly murmured.
“Away from this life,” Amy said. “To my home.”
Vampire’s Key
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