The Dark Blood of Poppies (10 page)

John went on, “Lilith, the mother of vampires. She killed Matthew and prevented his rebirth. She, far more than Satan, is our enemy. She will destroy us all.”

Angered, Cesare wanted to silence him. He turned, only to find he couldn’t speak. He could only stare at the thin figure hunched beside the coffin.

John had pulled out half his hair, leaving his scalp a mosaic of welts and glistening red holes; and as he went on raving in the same flat voice, he tore out a handful with every other word, as if to tear out his grief by its bloody roots.

“
C
harlotte?”

The familiar, light voice sent an eerie thrill through her. Charlotte saw Violette appear in the doorway, pale in a dress of beaded ivory silk.

Violette stepped into the firelight. Her dress sparkled but her face and arms were matte, like velvet-white petals. With her black hair coiled under a bandeau, she held herself with all her natural balletic poise.

Charlotte put her book aside and stood up. “Violette, this is a lovely surprise. How are you?”

“I…” The dancer fell silent and stared into the fire. Her posture was defensive, as if to fend off any kiss or touch of greeting. Charlotte had no idea how to broach the subject of Matthew’s death, or the complaints of the other vampires.

“I waited until Karl had gone out,” Violette said finally. “I need to see you alone. Do you mind?”

“Of course not! Please, sit down.”

“Thank you, but no.” Violette clasped her hands across her waist. “I can’t sit still. I should be helping the wardrobe mistress with the costumes for the tour, but…”

Charlotte, moving closer, was shocked by her pallor. “Have you fed tonight?”

“Not yet,” Violette said brusquely.

“Are you still finding it hard to hunt?” She spoke gently, but her heart sank. Violette looked desolate. Charlotte’s gaze was arrested by a pearly mark over her breastbone. “What’s that on your chest?”

“This?” Violette smiled without humour, and drew down the front of her dress to reveal a ragged scar between her breasts. “Isn’t it wonderful, how fast we heal? Last night it was almost through to my spine.”

“Who did this?” Rage electrified her. To think that some idiot had actually tried to kill Violette! “Was it John? I’ll tear him apart!”

“I think you would.” Violette walked away into the dark library. As Charlotte followed, she added, “Something happened.”

“Tell me.”

Violette paused by a table, lowering her head. “There was a girl called Ute,” she began softly. “One of my
corps de ballet
, gifted enough to become a soloist. She told me she had family problems. Her father was putting pressure on her to return home. He thought her place was to be a
hausfrau
, not a performer. She was so upset, poor angel, and she came to me for advice. Wise counsel.” The ballerina touched her breastbone as if the wound was sore. “I am responsible for all my dancers, especially the girls. Some of them are very young and I am everything to them: parent, teacher, guardian. Ute trusted me in her distress, and I… I hadn’t tasted blood for three days.”

“Oh, Violette,” Charlotte sighed.

“It was more than thirst. I wasn’t sympathetic, I was furious with her for giving in to a selfish old man. And all the time I was sucking her blood and swooning with pleasure, I loathed myself. This thing that takes over…”

“It’s hunger. If you’d drink when you feel the need, you wouldn’t become so desperate that you lose control.”

“No, it has a name. The demon that takes me over is Lilith.”

Charlotte said nothing. Pursuing this subject never achieved anything. Violette flexed her shaking hands.

“I become Lilith, yet I don’t know what she
wants
. I wish she’d let me in on the secret. I only know that she’s driven. Like me.”

“What happened to the girl?” Charlotte asked.

Violette moved towards a stained glass window at the far end of the room.

“Ute lived. I wasn’t crazed enough to kill her. Do you remember that other young woman I attacked, Benedict’s wife, Holly? That my bite seemed to break her child-like dependence on her husband? Well, something changed in Ute too, but not for the better. She didn’t remember what I’d done, but she had nightmares. I watched her trying to sleep, her pale little face on the pillow…”

Charlotte recalled Rachel’s distress and agitation. Lilith’s judgement, it seemed, did not discriminate between vampires and mortals.

“But she stayed with the ballet?”

“Of course not,” Violette said with contempt. “She ran home to her father the next day. I can’t blame her. Who’d stay with a madwoman like me? But how could Lilith…” Her voice became anguished, “How could
I
do that to someone in my care?”

The window was violet, with winter trees traced in lead, and a moon of thick white glass caught in the branches. Violette was an inky-haired shadow against it. She turned and opened the window, and the scene outside was the same; the violet sky, the moon.

“They are out there,” said the dancer. “Humans. Prey. All I have to do is leap over the sill and find them.”

“Yes,” Charlotte said without inflexion. “That’s all.”

Violette’s hard white fingernails scraped the sill like a bird’s claws. She released a short breath. “But I can’t.”

“Why not?” Charlotte watched her guardedly, unable to bear her pain. She wanted to soothe Violette, but daren’t try. The dancer still terrified her.

“Always the same damned reason! This demon inside me…”

“Close the window,” said Charlotte.

“I’m not cold.”

“Close it anyway.”

“Do you think I’m about to start baying at the moon and growing hair on my palms?” Violette banged the window shut. “Nothing would surprise me now.”

“But the moon influences everything, even us. Aren’t you more restless when it’s full? I don’t believe you haven’t noticed.”

“Just tell me, Charlotte, what am I to do? I swore that if ever I harmed one of my company, I’d find a way to destroy myself. It must be possible.” Abruptly she extended her left wrist, palm up, and sliced the tender flesh with a fingernail. A slit appeared, red as poppies.

Charlotte ran to her and prised her hands apart. “Don’t!”

They held each other’s gaze. Even so close, Violette was icy, remote, not human. She looked ready to attack Charlotte without a moment’s reflection. She’d certainly threatened to do so in the past.

Charlotte knew enough to dread the consequences. Lilith’s bite brought unwelcome transformation… perhaps even the death of her love for Karl.

Still, she held her ground.

“I’ve told you the answer. Stop trying to resist the thirst.”

“You don’t understand. I can’t simply give in to Lilith. I can’t feed on just anyone, Charlotte. I’m compelled to choose my victims. And choosing them is agony. So, whether I defy the hunger or not, it’s a fight that nearly kills me.”

Growing braver, Charlotte touched the scar that peeked above Violette’s neckline. “Why ask my advice when you won’t listen? This scar, who inflicted such an injury?”

A pause. “You know Pierre Lescaut?”

“Yes, I know Pierre.” Understatement.

“It was him.”

“What?” Charlotte was mortified. Pierre had been the only one to support her at the meeting. It didn’t make sense.

“You might have told me,” said Violette, “that a group of vampires came here complaining that you’d created a homicidal lunatic, and to discuss what should be done about me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how. I hoped it would blow over. I would have come to you tonight…”

“Well, you’re too late. Pierre reached me first. He suggested that, far from speaking in my defence, you supported them against me.”

“That’s a lie!” Charlotte didn’t want to argue, but mixed emotions got the better of her. “I was on your side, even after what they said about Matthew. Is it true? Did you kill him?”

Violette’s eyes betrayed no shame. Instead Charlotte saw Lilith’s soul burning behind the sapphire irises. She recoiled.

“It was a warning,” Violette said grimly. “No one threatens my ballet,
no one
.”

“And Pierre?” Charlotte almost lost her voice. Perhaps the dancer had slain him, too. Obnoxious as Pierre could be, she did not wish him dead. “What happened?”

As Violette related the story without emotion, Charlotte turned away and leaned on the table. Pierre’s behaviour left her incandescent – but Violette’s retaliation had been extreme. Charlotte thought,
Gods, what have I created?

“The worst thing,” Violette finished, barely above a whisper, “is that I felt nothing. I wasn’t angry or vengeful, I felt no pity or pleasure. I feasted on his blood, fought him and thrust him through the window, and I didn’t care about any of it.”

Charlotte was trying to form a response when Violette rushed at her. She was too shocked to defend herself as the dancer gripped her shoulders and slammed her back against a bookshelf. Tears glittered on Violette’s long black lashes. “Have you some magic formula to make me
care
about anything, dearest?”

Her mouth came down on Charlotte’s collarbone, burning. She tried to side-slip into the Crystal Ring, but Violette held her in place without effort. Charlotte closed her eyes, petrified.
This is it
, she thought.
This is where she takes my blood and destroys my soul.

Stefan and the others are right. Violette is insane, a danger to us all. Why have I tried to protect her?

She felt the pressure of fang tips – then a rush of air where the mouth had been. Karl was there, gripping Violette’s shoulder. His usually calm eyes were ablaze.

Karl hadn’t stopped her, Charlotte realised. Violette had stopped herself when she felt his presence in the room.

“Get your hands off me,” she said.

“When you let go of Charlotte,” he replied softly. “Do you wonder that you’ve made so many enemies?”

Charlotte held her breath, certain Violette would attack Karl instead. But the dancer lifted her hands and stepped lightly away.

“What’s the matter?” she said with venom. “It’s only what you’ve done repeatedly, even when she was an innocent human girl. The same violation, Karl. Do you think it’s worse for me to do it? Double standards, or jealousy?”

Trembling, Charlotte peeled herself away from the bookshelf. “Violette, I think you should leave.”

The ballerina stayed where she was, glaring at Karl.

“This time, I stopped. But when the proper time comes, you won’t be able to stop me. No one will.”

“Do you imagine you can take Charlotte from me?” Karl’s expression turned shrewdly thoughtful but his eyes were auburn fire: a disturbing combination. Charlotte couldn’t bear their mutual hostility.

“What do you think?” Violette almost smiled.

“That you would try, not because you love her, but to defeat me,” Karl said levelly. “Am I right?”

“Don’t turn everything to yourself. You fear me, don’t you? I don’t know why. I only prey on the weak.”

“I know,” said Karl. “The legends say you take infants whose parents have neglected to leave an amulet in the cot with the magic names, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof.”

“And the words, ‘Out, Lilith.’ Don’t forget that.” Violette gave him a bitter look. She came back to Charlotte, rested both hands on her left shoulder, and kissed her cheek.

Charlotte tensed. Incredible to think that those gentle hands were capable of such violence. As a human, Violette had never hurt a soul.

“I’m sorry, my dear,” said the dancer, stroking her cheek. “I didn’t intend to harm you. That’s not why I – you understand, don’t you?”

Charlotte nodded, her throat thick. She understood. The desire for blood dressed up as love, lust, affection; anything but cruelty. Yet, in the end, it could only be cruel. She still adored Violette. After all, only love could make her friend’s behaviour such torment.

“We want to help you, but you’re impossible. Don’t you need any friends?”

“I need you,” Violette whispered. “Don’t desert me.”

Charlotte clasped her wrist. The self-inflicted wound had already healed. “We won’t.”

“I’d like you to come with us on our American tour.”

“Why?”

So lovely, Violette’s cloudy-crystal face; powerful, fragile, compelling. “I won’t survive without you.”

Charlotte knew Karl would not want to go. Aware of his gaze on her, she put Violette gently away from her and said, “We’ll talk about it. Now, for heaven’s sake, go and hunt. Find someone and take them. Don’t hesitate.”

“I think,” said Violette, “that I should do that.”

She vanished. The Crystal Ring received her with a faint hiss, like snow crystals vaporising. Charlotte was alone with Karl.

Shaken, she wanted to run into his arms, but a mixture of anger and shame held her back. She met his eyes, wondering,
Does he think that Violette attacked me – or that I invited her embrace?

Karl only said, “Dearest, are you all right?”

“No, I’m not.” She made to sit down at the table, but he intercepted her. One hand went around her waist, the other enfolded her head. She felt his long, delicate fingers sliding through her hair. Divine. She leaned her head into his shoulder, certain he was about to say,
I told you so.