A Taste of Blood Wine

by Freda Warrington

***

  The eerie being outside the window had vanished. Anne sensed a cautious relaxing of tension in the room, but she was thinking, What if it's come inside?

  David looked at her as if he'd had the same thought. He said, "Charlotte's a long time… "

  The next moment they were all searching the house for Charlotte, calmly at first, then with increasing panic as it became clear she was nowhere to be found.

  "She can't have gone outside!" said Dr Neville.

  "Even she wouldn't be that reckless," said Elizabeth.

  "Well, she's not inside," David retorted. "Come on, Henry, we'll check the garden."

  He unlocked the door that led from the morning room into the garden, while Henry hung back in apprehension. Anne saw Charlotte crossing the edge of the lawn, her light-coloured dress clinging to her with the rain. No sign of the vampire.

  "Charli!" David shouted, though she was only a few yards away. "What in heaven's name are you playing at? Come back inside now!"

  Charlotte walked unhurriedly to the door and paused in the doorway, her hair sparkling with the rain, her expression radiant. Her skin shone, her eyes were wide and full of light; she seemed luminous against the darkness outside. Anne felt a rush of relief; David, Henry and Dr Neville all began scolding her at once.

  "There you are, thank God! We were worried sick!"

  "It's gone," said Charlotte. "I told you it wasn't Karl." She moved into the room; two heartbeats and someone slid out of the shadows after her. A tall slender man, dark hair strewn with ruby points of rain, eyes not blank but full of life and intelligence under the dark brows. Charlotte took his arm and drew him fully into the light.

  "This is Karl," she said.

  * * *

  Chapter Nineteen

  Who is the Beauty, who the Beast?

  Karl.

  Anne had seen him die—yet now he stood in the doorway as if the night at Fleur's had been a crazed dream.

  Karl moved into the room, while Charlotte shut the door behind them. David, Henry, Elizabeth and Dr Neville backed away; Anne found herself retreating with them, unable to help herself. The power of Karl's presence was a tangible darkness, radiating fear into the room. Yet Charlotte remained by his side, her eyes alight, anything but afraid.

  Has he hypnotised her in some way? Anne thought—not doubting he had the power to do so. She was desperately trying to make sense of the confusion. Was it him staring through the window at us? His eyes do look different now. What on earth is going on?

  It was David who broke the silence. "Charlotte," he said tightly. "You had better come over here."

  Charlotte did not move. She was very composed, almost defiant.

  Then Karl spoke. "I realise what a shock it is for you to see me alive." His voice; so gentle, so sinister. Shivers ran over Anne's skin. "But don't be afraid. I've no wish to alarm you more than is necessary."

  "How the hell have you come back?" David demanded. He was outraged, powerless.

  "We are very hard to kill, David," said Karl. "Rather like trying to cut the heads from the Hydra; strike us down and more of us come back."

  "What do you want? Aren't you satisfied with the harm you've done us already?"

  "Your anger is justified," Karl said dispassionately.

  Dr Neville found his voice at last, hoarse with rage. "You've got the cheek of the Devil, coming back here!"

  "Hardly that." Karl's dark gaze moved over them each in turn, coming to rest on Dr Neville. "I did not kill your older daughter nor her husband; on the contrary, I regretted their deaths deeply. However, I cannot be absolved from responsibility for what happened. And I know it is equally useless to protest that I never intended you any harm; the harm is done. I have not come to ask for forgiveness or even understanding. However, I have something to say and I must insist that you listen."

  Karl spoke in the courteous way Anne remembered, yet now there was a sinister edge to it. He simply doesn't care what we think or how we feel, she thought, yet he does seem to care about Charlotte…

  They all listened, transfixed, without choice. He went on, "Another vampire with my face and form has been watching you. You may be in great danger from it. I mean to protect you and help you destroy it—but if I am to do so, I must have your cooperation. Do you understand?"

  Elizabeth exclaimed, "I don't understand any of this!" She moved away to the edge of the room, looking in the glass-fronted cupboards. "George, where d'you keep the brandy?"

  Karl said, "Please, why don't you all sit down and have a drink? This has been a shock for you, but there is no reason for you not to be more comfortable."

  "You're damned right it's a shock!" said David, not moving. "You're trying to tell us that that thing we saw outside wasn't you?"

  "Yes. You have heard the expression doppelgänger? It will take some time to explain, but I shall do so—if you will be calm and listen."

  "You're lying!"

  Anne said, "I don't think he is, David. The creature wouldn't respond when we spoke to it and its eyes were the wrong colour. It seemed mindless." The memory made her shudder. "Elizabeth and I both said so. And you knew, didn't you, Charli?"

  As Anne spoke, she was watching Charlotte for signs that she was under Karl's power in some way. But she sounded normal, even matter-of-fact. "I tried to tell you," Charlotte said. "I know it was stupid of me to go outside but I had to be sure. The double nearly attacked me. Karl came to save me and it disappeared."

  "But it will come back," said Karl. "You have a choice; you can tolerate me until it has been destroyed, or I can leave you to its whims, whatever they may be."

  "Are you telling us that we're powerless against this creature?" David said angrily. "That only you have the strength to defeat it, or some secret knowledge of how to destroy vampires?" He imbued the last word with contempt.

  "It could be suicidally foolish of you to refuse my help, yes," Karl answered quietly.

  Anne seemed to see everything very clearly. Karl's beauty, which had bewitched Charlotte, had never affected her because she was too down-to-earth, too much in love with David. Now Anne saw the enthralling quality that Karl unfurled effortlessly like threads of light. Yet still she wasn't drawn in—because at the same time he scared her to death. The veil had gone; the protective veneer created partly by Karl's deceptive charm, partly by their innate assumption that he was human. Only Edward had seen through it. Now they all saw and the stark truth was terrifying—if only because it was so difficult to accept. Karl was using their fear to dominate them. She remembered the first time she had seen that menace in his eyes—the night she had spied on him and Pierre through the library window—and how she had feared for Charlotte. Now she thought, He could have used this power on us at any time and yet he didn't. We never saw it—but it was always there!

  Dr Neville was shaking a little, upset but in control. "You're asking us to trust you?" he said.

  Karl looked at him with a touch of sadness. "You used to trust me, Dr Neville. I appreciate that it is difficult for you to do so again—but it would be in your best interests to try."

  "Talk about the Devil and the deep blue sea." George Neville sighed heavily. "David, what in God's name are we going to do?"

  "Von Wultendorf could start by giving us a sign that we can trust him," David said grimly, "by letting Charlotte come over to us."

  Karl opened his hands. "I am not stopping her."

  Charlotte still did not move.

  "Charli!" David exclaimed.

  She looked at Karl. His voice low and tender, he said, "You had better do as your brother suggests. For now."

  What does he mean by that? Anne wondered. Expressionless, Charlotte walked over to David. And it was he who put a protective arm around her—not Henry, who hovered in nervous silence behind Dr Neville.

  "Charli, you're soaked through," said David. 'You'd better go and change. Anne, will you go with her?"

  "Of course," said Anne. She went to Charlotte, never taking her eyes off
Karl, as if he were a snake liable to strike at any second. She thought Charlotte would object, but she went with Anne quietly, only exchanging a single long glance with Karl as they left the room.

  Upstairs, Anne fetched a large fluffy towel and sat on the edge of the bed while Charlotte dried herself and put on a dressing gown, moving as if in a daydream. Anne waited for her to speak; eventually she gave up. "Aren't you going to say something?"

  Charlotte turned to her, towelling skeins of rain-darkened hair. "I wouldn't know where to start."

  "Try starting with what possessed you to go outside!"

  Violet flames of anger in her eyes. "Possessed, you said possessed! I decided to go out. I explained downstairs, I had to know the truth!"

  "And you just happened to bump into Karl in the garden?"

  "Haven't you worked it out? The friend of Karl's I telephoned, Stefan, knew Karl was alive and he went and told him that this doppelgänger was watching us. So Karl came to find out what was happening. Because he—he cares about us, don't you see?"

  Anne breathed in and out slowly, trying to be objective. Failing. "But how can Karl still be alive? I'm sorry, Charlotte. You will have to help me with this. Anything else I can cope with—but dark cellars, and people coming back from the dead—"

  Charlotte sat down beside her and hugged her. "Isn't this strange? Here I am comforting you for a change."

  "Aren't you scared? Aren't you terrified?"

  "I don't know," Charlotte said distantly. "I suppose I should be, but… Karl's come back. I can't think about anything else."

  "The same goes for the rest of us! The difference is, we are not all starry-eyed about it like children on Christmas Eve!"

  Charlotte clutched Anne's arms. "But how do you think I felt when I realised that I was looking—not at some moving waxwork of him—but actually at him? I thought I should die—but when I got over the shock—Anne, what do you expect me to feel, but glad?"

  Anne held herself still, trying to understand, not to judge. "Do you still love him?"

  "I never stopped."

  "Have you thought that you might just be in love with an image? Can't you see anything in him that's… pitiless? Evil?"

  To her surprise, Charlotte did not leap to defend him. "He can be, I know," she said thoughtfully. "But it's not all he is. In David, it's called heroic."

  "Don't you dare compare—No, I won't get angry. I just want to understand."

  "Degrees, Anne! You don't know Karl. I do!"

  "You think you do—but how do you know it's not some spell he's cast on you?"

  "Why would he bother to cast a spell on me unless I meant something to him?" Charlotte retorted. "I am too saintly to have a mind of my own, is that it? You know what contempt I feel for that idea. And you know it's not true! I am not under any illusions about him. Tell me, Anne, do I look hypnotised?"

  "No. You certainly don't sound it."

  "And does Karl look as if he's deceiving me, trying to play some game with me?"

  Anne had seen the depth of feeling in every glance Karl had given Charlotte, the secret communication in the way they moved, even when they weren't touching. She had been trying to find some fault in her own observation, but she could not. Now she felt strangely defenceless, backed into a corner. "No. As far as I can tell he appears as fond of you as before—if not more so. I know that I'd still love David whatever he did; if he'd had to stand trial for killing Karl, I would have stuck by him. I understand that you can't just stop loving someone. But Charli—what do you think is going to come of it?"

  Charlotte drew away, eyelids sweeping down to veil her thoughts. She could not or would not answer. Anne asked herself, Now, do I force the issue or just leave it? Because she doesn't know, she can't know, any more than I do. And I think she's going to be very badly hurt again. Dear God, what has she done to deserve this?

  A brisk knock at the door interrupted Anne's thoughts. Charlotte called, "Come in," and David put his head round the door.

  "Everything all right?" he said.

  "Yes," said Anne. "What's happening?"

  David crossed the room and sat on the small sofa that stood between the bed and the dressing-table. He looked grim but business-like. "Von Wultendorf—" he spoke the name with distaste—"doesn't think the 'apparition' will come back until tomorrow night. He's going to keep watch in case it does. He suggested—we decided that we might as well all go to bed and talk properly in the morning when we're fresh. He also said that any of us who wish to leave are free to do so."

  He looked at Anne with eyebrows slightly raised, lips compressed. "Very magnanimous," she said.

  "I thought it would be best if you, Charli and Aunt Lizzie went over to your parents—wait, before you start arguing! I knew you'd refuse to go, and Karl says the damned thing is probably going to follow Charlotte wherever she goes… Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, Sis. We're all here to look after you."

  "I'm not afraid," said Charlotte.

  "That's the spirit," he said without conviction. "Aunt Lizzie has decided to go up to London to make sure Madeleine's all right." Anne looked questioningly at him and he said, "Well, we thought Fleur was safe, didn't we? Anyway, Maple's going to come along and take her. I think Henry was pretty keen on the idea of saving his own skin… "

  "Has he left?" Charlotte asked quickly.

  David gave her a quizzical look. "No. Didn't want to look a coward, I suppose. I shall have to have words with him. He's been worse than useless, giving Charli no support at all."

  "Don't blame him," said Charlotte. "No one ever really explained to him what happened."

  "I don't think any of us quite got the full story, did we?" David said pointedly. Charlotte didn't react, and Anne gave him a warning look. "Anyway," he said, "Henry's gone to bed."

  Anne said, "If you'd join him, Charli, David and I could have this bed."

  "I'd rather stay in my own room, if you don't mind," Charlotte said sharply.

  "You and Anne have the bed," said David. "I'll sleep on the sofa. I doubt that I'll sleep anyway."

  "There are other rooms," said Charlotte. "I don't need a bodyguard."

  "Don't you? Don't even think of leaving this room until morning, Charli. I don't trust Von Wultendorf one inch."

  Is it only Karl he doesn't trust'? Anne thought. She could sense Charlotte's resentment and frustration burning beneath her quiet surface. We're right to keep them apart—but how long is she going to tolerate it?

  ***

  When morning came, Charlotte woke with a flame of anticipation inside her. There was a moment free of thought, only the lingering sensations of a dream—Karl alive, Karl's mouth on hers—then the memories seared through her from the soles of her feet to her head. Pure joy. I didn't dream it, Karl's alive, he's here!

  When she and Anne dressed and went downstairs, there was no sign of Karl. The sense of disappointment was so extreme that Charlotte felt giddy, almost drunk with it. David said, "I expect he'll be back. We couldn't get rid of him that easily."

  Charlotte's disappointment flared into anticipation. She knew he would come back. He will have gone out… to feed, she thought with a shiver. But he will come back!

  "Well, no use wasting the day worrying," said her father. "We'll just try to carry on as normal."

  So Charlotte spent the day in the laboratory, but nothing was normal. None of them could concentrate. She could hardly bear to look at Henry. He was unusually irritable, and when they kept getting different measurements for an isotope of lead they almost came to blows over it.

  Finally her father interjected, "For goodness' sake, will you both stop this deuced bickering! I don't know what's happening to this family. I'm the only one allowed to lose my temper in this laboratory!" He leaned on the bench and breathed out heavily. "I suggest we call it a day. It's nearly four o'clock, anyway; let's have some tea. Damn, I keep forgetting the servants aren't here."

  "I'll do it, Father," said Charlotte. She slid her arm through hi
s and he clasped her hand. Henry was tidying up, his back to them, not listening.

  "I'm so sorry that you are having to go through this again, my dear," he said.

  "It's you I'm worried about," she said. Awful, being torn apart like this; wanting Karl, but seeing her father suffering. Unbearable. For a moment she leaned against him, comforted by the familiar scent of tobacco and tweed.

  "Oh, no need. I'm not in my dotage, and I've withstood worse than this." He shook his head. "It's just this feeling that we're never going to be rid of it."

  David was calling down the stairs, "Father! Charli! Von Wultendorf's reappeared."

  Charlotte's heart gave a bound that seemed to pull her up the stairs in a gliding arc. But as she reached the hall, David put a protective arm around her, and she found Henry guarding her other side, her father deliberately walking in front. She realised with a rush of indignation that there was a conspiracy to keep her away from Karl, actually to shield her from him physically. She felt like a woman in purdah and almost laughed in disbelief at the thought—then came alarm. How am I going to speak to him, touch him? They simply won't let me!

  "He wants to talk to us," said David. "I've a few things to say to him, as well."

  "Oh, Lord," said Henry. "There's not going to be any—any violence, is there?"

  "Of course not," said Dr Neville. "We're all going to be perfectly civilised. Like a war conference, eh, David?"

  "There's no need to be so afraid of him!" said Charlotte. "He wants to help us."

  David turned on her. "Like he helped Edward?"

  "He wouldn't have touched Edward, if Edward hadn't—Oh, it's hopeless to explain! But if you are so worried, let me speak to him."

  "So you aren't frightened of him?" David said, exasperated. "It doesn't mean a thing! He's deluded you into trusting him."

  "Why should he do that to me, and not to you?"

  "Charli, will you stop for one moment and ask yourself what you are defending? We can't possibly let you anywhere near him! I don't even want you to speak to him. If he says anything to you, ignore him." His tone became gentler. "Please don't fight us about this. It's for the best."