The Dark Blood of Poppies (6 page)

Charlotte’s anger was fuelled by guilt. She feared Rachel was right, but couldn’t accept it. “You don’t even know her! At least give her a chance before condemning her.”

“Oh, we gave her a chance,” said Rachel. “We went to see her. We asked her politely to stop dancing, to stay well away from humans and vampires alike.”

“Well, I can imagine how she reacted to that. Who went, exactly?”

Stefan answered uneasily, “Niklas and myself, Rachel, John and Matthew.” Cautiously he met Charlotte’s eyes. She glared, but he held her gaze.

“Not Ilona and Pierre?”

They shook their heads. Ilona said, “We’re only here now because Stefan seems to think it’s so important.”

“Much ado about nothing,” Pierre added, “but amusing.”

“Nothing?” Rachel’s chalky face lengthened. “I tried to set aside the fact that she murdered my friend Katerina –”

“Katerina could be
very
provoking,” Ilona put in flippantly. Charlotte could have struck her for saying this in front of Karl, who had loved Katerina.

“I tried to be fair,” Rachel continued, “but she wouldn’t listen. John, you tell them. I can’t.”

John leaned forward, his eyes black with hatred. His modern but shabby suit hung on him like a stage costume. “Matthew is dead. She killed him. He was the dearest companion of my heart, my only refuge from the madness of this century, and she slew him. She tore off his head with her hands.”

Charlotte gaped. “How?
Why
? What did he do?”

“Nothing!” John flared. “She flew into a rage and attacked him for no reason!”

Stefan added quietly, “Actually, Matthew suggested that unless she took our advice, her ballet dancers might be in danger.”

“Oh, God,” Charlotte gasped. “He threatened their lives, and you’re surprised that she reacted? She would give her life to protect them!”

“But it was only a threat, mere words,” said Rachel. “She didn’t argue, she
tore off his head
. And that proves my point. She’s insane, capricious, a danger to all vampires.” Again she rubbed her neck, fingers tangling in her flame-red hair. “She attacked me, too… and I’ve lost myself. I’m so afraid.”

A long, heavy silence. Charlotte watched Rachel in dismay, realising she was not merely agitated but in torment. She thought,
Violette has done this
.

Controlling her emotions, she said, “What do you expect us to do?”

“You made her immortal,” said John.

“But I didn’t act alone.” She willed Stefan to come to her defence, but he only shook his head, looking helpless.

“It’s no good appealing to him,” Ilona said tartly. “Stefan may have helped in the transformation, but we all know you initiated it. And the fact that Katerina also took part did not inhibit Violette from slicing off her head.”

Charlotte couldn’t look at Karl. “She acted to save my life. And I can’t know the truth about Matthew unless I hear Violette’s side of the story. Why are you trying to turn me against her?”

“We don’t want another Kristian!” said Rachel.

“Don’t be ridiculous. She’s not seeking to rule you.” As Charlotte spoke, a ghastly memory rose of the way they’d banded together to assassinate Kristian. She felt Karl’s hand on her shoulder and knew he was sharing her memories. Gods, were they proposing a similar lynch mob to destroy Violette?

John said, “We need to know why you transformed her.”

“What business is it of yours?” Charlotte said indignantly, but Karl’s hand grew heavier.

“Tell them,” said Karl. “We have nothing to hide.”

“All right.” Charlotte composed herself, determined to outface them. “It was my fault. I forced her. I can’t justify what I did. As a human she was beautiful and I was drawn to her… you know how it can be. But I never planned to change her – until I learned she had arthritis that would eventually stop her dancing. I couldn’t bear her talent to be lost, or to see her grow old and crippled. Was I selfish? I wanted her to stay perfect forever.”

Karl’s fingers were now so tight that they hurt like the kiss of fangs.

“And then she went crazy,” said Pierre. “Stefan told us.”

Charlotte felt betrayed that Stefan had told others about such intimate and painful events.

“Which of you didn’t go mad in the first moment of becoming undead?” she said. “Who wasn’t horrified by the blood thirst, who didn’t believe themselves damned?”

“Damned, yes,” John said thinly, “but none of us became Lilith, the queen of vampires.”

Charlotte said helplessly, “I can’t explain. It’s too complicated. I could theorise all night, but I have no answers.”

“When you made her,” said John, “every vampire felt a darkening of the ether. Everyone knew! She’s sown a seed of darkness in the Crystal Ring that will destroy us all.”

Charlotte didn’t reply. She had noticed changes in the Crystal Ring but couldn’t talk about them, even to Karl.

“And what of you, Karl?” said John. “Have you nothing to say?”

“Like Charlotte, I prefer to reserve judgement until I’ve spoken to Violette,” Karl said like the diplomat he was. Charlotte wished he would defend her wholeheartedly. She understood his distrust of Violette, but all the same, she hated it. He added, “Violette may present danger. However, I trust that you are proposing caution rather than assassination. We are not extremists, and like Rachel we all prefer a quiet existence. That is why we opposed Kristian. Let’s remember that we’re all on the same side.”

“Of course we are!” said Stefan. John’s expression remained closed.

Charlotte decided to speak plainly. “Yes, it’s my fault Violette was initiated, and I take full responsibility. You don’t know her! Until you understand her reasons, don’t pass judgement on her. All she cares about is dancing; why should she be remotely interested in any of you? Don’t pester her, and she won’t touch you. But if you approach her with threats, what do you expect? Leave her in peace and you’ll be safe. You have my word.”

“You must be very sure of your influence over her,” Rachel said acidly.

“I cannot forget Matthew,” said John. “An eye for an eye…”

“If you go anywhere near her –” Charlotte flared, close to losing control.

“I support Charlotte,” Pierre broke in. “The whole thing is ludicrous. What’s become of us, that one neurotic fledgling sends us screaming for
maman
? Grow up and leave Violette alone.”

Charlotte ignored him. Why was it callous, sarcastic Pierre who came to her defence, not the ones she really cared about, Stefan and Karl?

“Do whatever you like,” Rachel said, her voice faint. She leaned against the windows, ghostly pale against the night. “I want nothing more to do with Violette. I want…”

“Where are you going?” John cried.

“I don’t know. Away.”

And she vanished into the Crystal Ring.

“It appears the case for the prosecution is collapsing,” said Charlotte, looking pointedly at Stefan. “I think you’d all better leave.”

Karl, expressionless, brought their coats and distributed them without ceremony.

John left without a word, but the look he gave Charlotte was sourly threatening, almost deranged. He seemed entrenched in age-old dogma of God and Satan, as Kristian had been.
I don’t know you
, she thought.
I don’t care what you believe, just get out of our house and leave us alone!

Ilona, unperturbed, presented herself to Karl. He kissed her forehead. Charlotte was learning to read his feelings, for all his skill at hiding them. She saw his ancient sorrow and the bittersweet love he felt for his daughter.

Charlotte said, “Ilona, you don’t agree with them, do you?”

Ilona turned to her with a cool smile. “Very little frightens me, dear, except Violette. For some reason she scares me to death. But I won’t give in to her.”

The admission floored Charlotte. Before she could respond, Ilona melted into the Crystal Ring. Pierre gave a sardonic bow and followed.

Stefan glanced at Charlotte, as if intending to leave without saying anything. She said, “Wait a moment.”

He came to her, Niklas a silent mirror image at his side. His hair was a white-gold nimbus, his eyes angelic. His was a teasing cruelty: he loved to rouse affection before he stole blood.

“Are you angry with me?” Stefan said. “H’m, silly question.”

“How could you turn against Violette, when you know what she is to me? You helped to transform her!”

“Charlotte.” He touched her arm lightly. “I haven’t turned against her. I only said what I believe.”

“And so did I.” She looked sideways at Karl. He was watching her, one side of his face lit by fire, the other in shadow.

“You know my feelings,” said Karl. “I don’t trust Violette, but there are very few whom I
do
trust.”

“When I came into the Crystal Ring,” said Charlotte, “I signed no agreement that I must answer to other immortals.”

“We answer to no one.”

“Then why do I have to suffer crowds of them coming here and threatening my friend?”

“I didn’t threaten her,” said Stefan. “I’m truly concerned about her, and have been since the moment of her transformation, as you know perfectly well. If anything, I was trying to protect her. I went to her in friendship; unfortunately, the others had different ideas and things got out of hand. It was meant to be a friendly warning, because if she doesn’t take herself out of the public eye and live a quiet life, she is going to make enemies far worse than John and Rachel.”

* * *

Karl was alone in the library, near dawn, when another unwelcome visitor came. Charlotte had gone to rest in the Crystal Ring; they each needed time to gather their thoughts. Karl sat looking through a large volume of mythology, searching for references to Lilith. Now and then he made notes on a writing pad.

He thought about Benedict and Lancelyn, two human occultists who’d foolishly tried to claim power over vampires. Karl, in trying to limit the chaos they caused, had almost lost Charlotte to Violette.

I understand Charlotte’s fascination with her
, he thought ruefully.
It might be easy to dismiss Violette’s belief that she is Lilith as a delusion… if it hadn’t been for the angels.

Simon, Fyodor and Rasmila had appeared to be vampires like any other, until revealing themselves as dual beings: heavenly envoys whose purpose was to tame Lilith.
So
, Karl wondered,
were they all suffering the same delusion
? Lancelyn, too, had seen extraordinary qualities in Violette. Calling her the Black Goddess, he had sought immortality and enlightenment through her.
And
, Karl reflected,
he would have made a formidable immortal…

But Violette had left Lancelyn writhing in madness. Devastated by his brother’s fate, Benedict had turned away from the occult.

And the angels?

They’d been ruthless in helping Lancelyn to control Lilith. They’d kidnapped her, tortured Karl, almost killed Charlotte and Stefan. Yet when Violette-as-Lilith rejected their authority, they had fled.

Karl recalled his last encounter with Rasmila, Fyodor and Simon in the
Weisskalt
, the highest glacial layer of the Crystal Ring. Before vanishing, they had delivered a simple warning:
“For as long as she roams free, Lilith will cause untold harm and sorrow… One day you will have to stop her.”

He wished Charlotte had never met her. But perhaps the Crystal Ring – or Raqia, as Benedict called it – had used Charlotte as a catalyst in Violette’s fate.

“That would make sense, if I believed in such things as fate,” he murmured.

An oil lamp burned; beyond its glow, the library lay in shadow. Suddenly aware of an intruder, Karl looked up and saw a gilded figure manifesting by the far window. The newcomer’s clothing was modern, unremarkable, but his appearance was striking. Golden skin, a bright halo of hair, topaz eyes. He looked like a Grecian deity, or a lion in human form.

After their last encounter, Karl had neither expected nor wanted to see him again. The intruder smiled as he approached.

“Simon,” Karl said, sitting back in his chair. “I would thank you not to walk in unannounced.”

“My dear fellow, what sort of greeting is this? You surely don’t expect me to knock at the front door like a human?”

“It would have been courteous.”

“Then I apologise for violating your privacy,” Simon said with apparent sincerity. “What are you writing?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

Simon chuckled. “Be careful what you write, Karl. It may come back to haunt you.”

“What do you want?” Karl couldn’t forget that Simon had tortured and tried to kill his friends. “I thought I’d seen the last of you.”

“I hoped so too.” Simon gave him a cool look. “But things change.”

“Where are your companions? I thought you were inseparable.”

Simon wandered to a bookshelf and chose a book at random. “After the matter of Lilith, we had a difference of opinion and went our separate ways.”

“And I thought you had ascended to heaven.”

“There is no need for sarcasm, Karl.” He flicked through the book without interest, pushed it back on the shelf. His presence was intimidating, dazzling like the sun, but Karl suspected he was troubled. “No, we returned to Earth.”

“In what sense?”

“In every sense. When we failed to tame Lilith, God had no further use for us. He abandoned us. Fyodor and Rasmila blamed me.”

“How unfair.” Karl rose and moved in front of the table, half-sitting on its edge. “So, are you still the angel Senoy, or a mere vampire?”

Simon looked away, brooding. “I don’t know. Can you imagine how it feels, having looked upon the ineffable face of God, to be cut off from the light?”

Curiosity got the better of Karl. “To be honest, I can’t. What happened?”

To his surprise, Simon was in a confiding mood. He answered, “After we left you we flew above the
Weisskalt
as if we were invincible… Perhaps euphoria made us overconfident. We became cold and lost our way. The light blinded us. We fell a long way back to Earth. Fyodor almost died. And we realised that God had forsaken us. To teach us humility, I suppose.”

“That must have been devastating,” Karl said without inflexion. “But before, how did it feel to be an angel?”