Лиза Смит: The Craving

‘Did he…did he have an accent?’ she asked hesitantly, as if she already knew the answer.

‘Yes. I thought it was just part of whatever he was. But it could have been Polish or Russian. He said something about someone named Klaus?’

Lexi thumped the underside of the table with her fist and looked away.

‘Who was it, Lexi?’ I demanded. I needed to know. If he was going to be my executioner, if he was the one who had murdered the Sutherlands, at the very least I would get to know who my enemy was.

‘He mentioned Klaus?’ she asked, speaking more into her glass than to me. ‘Everyone knows about him. He was one of the first vampires.’

A hush seemed to descend over the restaurant, and the gas lamps flickered. I clutched my glass of vodka.

‘He is directly descended from Hell. Any piece of good, any sense of morality, anything at all that keeps you and me – and even Damon – from becoming a completely twisted, raving monster of pure evil – none of that is in him. There is nothing human about him. He has minions, other old ones who do his bidding. No one’s ever seen Klaus – or at least lived to tell about it!’

I digested this horrifying information, wrapping my hands around my glass. ‘This…thing said we took Katherine .’

Lexi paled. ‘If she was important to Klaus and he believes that you and your brother are responsible for what happened to her, you’re in serious trouble.’

‘He mentioned a curse. Do you know what he’s talking about?’

She drummed her fingers against the table, her brow furrowing. ‘Curse? Many vampires consider being confined to wander at night a curse, but I don’t know what Katherine had to do with that.’

‘Do you think he…did he turn her into a vampire?’ I asked.

‘That’s irrelevant,’ Lexi said. ‘It’s doesn’t matter how or why he cares about her – just that he does. You have your own fate to worry about.’

I ran my hands through my hair, frustrated. Once again Katherine had found a way to insert herself into my life and create havoc. While I felt guilty about what had happened to her, I still blamed her for destroying my family, for turning my life into the mess it was now.

Katherine had been nothing but selfish. She’d toyed with me and Damon, when Damon fell in love with her and I…well, was falling in lust with her, not once did she think about the possible dangers for us. That we would die, that our brotherhood would be severed irreparably, that her sire might eventually catch up with her, hell-bent on revenge.

‘I have to get rid of him,’ I said.

Lexi shook her head. ‘You’re not “getting rid” of anything that old and powerful, my young stripling. You’re just a babe – and on top of that, your diet of rodents and birds hasn’t exactly strengthened you. You and your brother working together couldn’t defeat him. I couldn’t take him on.’

‘Well, what do I do?’ I demanded, my voice taking on a hard, determined edge. I had been letting everything that had come along in my life control me – Damon and his stupid plans, getting married…It was time I acted.

Lexi rubbed her temples. ‘The best you can hope for right now is to figure out what his plans are – and then avoid them. You will need to live long enough to figure out a way to vanquish this old one, before he has a chance to tell Klaus where you are.’

I nodded, thinking. ‘We need to go back to the mansion.’

Lexi opened her mouth, but I put up my hand. ‘I know – but maybe he left something behind.’

She squared her jaw. ‘I’ll go with you. My senses are more finely tuned than yours.’

‘You don’t need finely tuned senses to catch the scent of Hell,’ I told her, ‘but I appreciate the help.’

We hailed a carriage heading uptown – Lexi told me I needed to save my strength for whatever came next – and got out without bothering to pay. This was what life was like for one such as Lexi, powerful and simple in her wants and desires. She didn’t need any intricate, crazy plans for amassing wealth. She could compel anyone to do anything she asked, and life was incredibly easy.

It was tempting, especially the aspect that was nonviolent. No one was hurt in any of her activities, except financially.

Lexi must have read my thoughts because she grinned at me and waggled her eyebrows. ‘You should stick with me, my friend. Life like this can be sweet, not a curse,’ she offered.

I shook my head, smiling. ‘Thanks, but as you keep saying, I have my own path.’

By the time we made it to the Sutherland mansion, its windows were dark and already draped in festoons of black crepe. In the strange half-light of the early hour, dew sparkled eerily off the matte cloth. The house was cordoned off.

I gently forced the lock. Neither Lexi nor I made any noise until we came into the living room, when she gave a gasp.

The coroners had removed the bodies but not done any clean-up work. The vast amount of blood from their ripped-up bodies had seeped into the carpet and stained the marble floors beneath. Dark black splatters of dried blood covered the walls, matching the crepe outside.

‘My god,’ Lexi whispered. ‘He massacred them.’

I fell back into a chair, overwhelmed with guilt. It hadn’t been long since I had discovered the poor family here, their bodies still warm. Backward and backward my thoughts ran, remembering the things I had done wrong, all of which had led up to this sad climax.

If I hadn’t run away from the reception…

If I hadn’t gone along with my brother’s plans to begin with…

If I hadn’t saved Bridget…

If I hadn’t fled to New York…

If I hadn’t made Damon drink blood to complete his transformation…

‘This is my fault,’ I moaned.

I put my head in my hands. The trail of blood and death that wasn’t even of my own devising followed me like a curse.

‘No, it’s Damon’s,’ Lexi corrected promptly. ‘And Klaus’s.’

‘I should never have come here…I should have stayed as far away from humans as possible.’

‘Hey.’ She walked over to me, kneeling down and looking up into my face. She put a hand on my chin, forcing me to look back at her. ‘ You didn’t do this. Klaus did – he ordered this. And you had no intention of marrying into this family. That was Damon’s idea. You told me yourself – he threatened to kill that roomful of people if you didn’t go along. I would have killed him at that point, but he’s not my brother.’

I gazed into her dark eyes. ‘I’ve done so much wrong.’

She bit her lower lip. ‘You made mistakes in the past. Bad ones. But you know that, and were doing your best to correct them, or at least avoid them in the future. That’s why I am here, Stefan. You’re worth saving.’

A pain that had nothing to do with thirst made my throat ache. ‘Lexi, please…’

‘I can see into your heart, Stefan,’ she said softly. ‘I don’t just appear out of the blue to save any vampire. You’re different. And someday, maybe, you’ll know that. And part of your curse will be over.’

She leaned forward and pressed her lips against my cheek. I could feel the soft flutter of her eyelashes as she closed her eyes against my face.

‘Come on,’ she said, backing up and chucking me under the chin. ‘We have work to do. I’ll look around down here. You go get whatever things of yours the police haven’t confiscated. I think you’re moving out of this town for a while.’

Between one breath and the next, between a trick of the light and the deepest shadow, she had changed. Sunny, friendly Lexi now had blood-red eyes and black veins around her face. Fangs glistened in what little light there was. She was in full predator mode, hunting for the slightest sign of the vampire. Even though she was just an older version of what I was, seeing her that way still sent a chill down my body. Lurking just beneath our skin, the monster was always ready to come out.