A Dance in Blood Velvet

by Freda Warrington

  “Is he so terrible, your brother?”

  “He was everything to me. I couldn’t believe it when I learned how he was abusing his powers. He’s utterly depraved, immoral; he effectively killed two of our friends! I have to seize the Order from him. He says he won’t hurt Holly, but I don’t trust him any more. I love her; I’d rather die than let her come to any harm. Can’t you understand why I must defend myself?”

  Karl regarded the earnest face under the blond hair, and felt sympathy for Ben. He was not a bad man... misguided, perhaps, but Karl was in no position to judge him.

  “Assuming you wrest the Order from him, what then?”

  “I’ll guide us back to our proper course: the search for Wisdom. Lancelyn - before he took the wrong path - personified wisdom as a hidden goddess whom we must unveil.”

  “Do you believe in God?”

  “I believe in higher powers that are concealed from most mortals. If that is God, yes. That’s what we’re looking for: complete knowledge. Enlightenment. And by the way, our quest is nothing to do with Satanism. Only the ignorant paint occultists with that brush! We are Gnostics of a sort. That’s why I can’t stand what Lancelyn’s done with his bloody ‘Hidden Temple’, because it panders to all society’s misconceptions.”

  “Very pure, your motives sound,” said Karl. “But aren’t you fighting evil with evil? You condemn him for murdering your friends, and yet you’re happy to unleash vampires in pursuit of your goal.”

  Ben’s eyes narrowed. Pointless to ask, Karl thought. His ideals and his actions operate on different moral levels, as with most men.

  “I have no choice! Who are you to condemn me?”

  “I don’t condemn you,” said Karl, smiling. “I was only asking.”

  Ben stared down at his hands. “Well, I don’t know what my quest is now. Everything’s changed. Raqia is real, and inhabited by...” He looked up, his eyes alight. “How did this happen to you?”

  Karl didn’t answer.

  “Could you make me like you?” No inflexion in Ben’s voice. His gaze was candid and steady.

  “No. And I wouldn’t if I could.”

  Surprisingly, Ben said, “Well, I don’t want it. I might change too much. I need to understand this from a human perspective before I move on to anything... higher.”

  “You seem sanguine about the idea of becoming unhuman.”

  “Lancelyn convinced me that if we follow the path to Wisdom, we can and will become gods.”

  “Do you believe him?” Karl, to his own surprise, found himself enjoying Ben’s company.

  “Not quite. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

  “What do you think Lancelyn is trying to do, if he’s abandoned Wisdom?”

  “God knows. He’s shut me out. Offering drugs, sex, occult thrills and blackmail to the rich - well, there’s only one crude goal, power and wealth,” Ben said with contempt. “But I don’t underestimate him. I don’t believe he’s found vampires of his own; I think it’s another mind trick. However, if he has got something real, some entity that attacked Andreas - I take the danger seriously.”

  “And you want us to protect you.”

  “More than that; to help me defeat him. I can’t sit and wait for his next move. I’m seizing the initiative. First, we retrieve the Book. I can’t let him use it against us.”

  Karl stood and placed his cold hand over Benedict’s. Ben gave a start.

  “Very well, let us find the Book,” he said. “And we’ll help you, for the time being - but it can’t go on forever. You cannot keep a coven of vampires, Benedict.”

  * * *

  “I’m sorry,” Ben whispered in the darkness of their bed. “So sorry, Holly. Can you forgive me?”

  As he gathered her in his arms and held her warm and safe, in absolute, unconditional tenderness, Holly forgave him. They made love with intensity, a crucible to melt every angry word. Afterwards they lay at peace together, healed.

  “I’m staying,” she said firmly. “You need me.”

  “I know.”

  “I only want to help.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m being practical. You can’t leave Maud to run the shop, not after she gave Lancelyn our house key. You need me to keep an eye on her.”

  “Yes. You’re absolutely right...” He was quiet, then added, “And, of course, I need you to keep an eye on Lancelyn.”

  She stiffened. “No, don’t ask that! I took an oath not to use my psychic gift against him. If I tried, he’d know. I can’t, any more than I could spy on you for him.”

  She felt a jolt go through Ben’s body, as if she’d speared a nerve. “Ben, I told you I would never contemplate it. Trust me.”

  “I do,” he said. “We can trust each other.”

  “Maud, I’ll watch happily. Not Lancelyn.”

  He kissed her, conciliatory. “Not Lancelyn,” he agreed. “You’re right, it would be unfair.”

  She relaxed, relieved of a horrible burden. “Thank you.”

  “No.” His mouth was by her ear, yet his voice sounded distant and hard in the darkness. “Lancelyn is mine to deal with.”

  * * *

  The next day, Holly went to the bookshop with a sense of purpose; to purge Maud’s muddy swirl of lies. There would be a new start.

  Holly wasn’t looking forward to the task. Maud was difficult; not stupid, exactly, but somehow on a different plane, naive yet cunning, like a shell inhabited by different personalities that she presented to suit the occasion. With customers she was efficient, over-friendly and gossipy, but normal. With those she envied, such as Ben and Holly, she was a compulsive actress. A breathless admirer, or a wheedling child, but never natural. Holly also had to suffer her bouts of holier-than-thou superiority. Today, though, Maud’s fakery would end.

  As Maud arrived and hung up her coat, Holly marched her into the small, dark office.

  “Tell me the truth,” said Holly. “You entered our cottage and stole the Book yourself, didn’t you? You didn’t innocently lend Lancelyn a key; you knew what you were doing!”

  The girl’s face dropped; she looked indignant, then frightened. Hugging herself defensively, she tilted her head, her protuberant eyes glazed with wronged innocence. Then her manner changed, lips pouting. “Yes,” she said defiantly. “Yes, I did it.”

  “Why? What did Lancelyn say to you?”

  Behind the wide orbs, Holly saw a prickly ego that distinguished between right and wrong only as they affected Maud herself.

  “He told me my psychic abilities were the most remarkable he’d ever seen, and that if I helped him, I could join the Order.”

  Holly bit back the obvious retort: You idiot, can’t you see Lancelyn was using you? She kept her tone neutral. “My husband seems to think you barely know him.”

  “Oh, I’ve known him a long time,” Maud said smugly. “He often comes into the shop when Mr Grey isn’t here. He says you want to keep me out of the Order because you are jealous of my spiritual talents.”

  Holly gasped, almost laughing. “He said that?”

  “Lancelyn said Mr Grey had stolen a certain Book, and that if I returned it to him, he’d reward me. I’ve been in Lancelyn’s house. He told me about a secret Temple that you and Mr Grey know nothing about. He said he’d make me a special disciple.”

  “Good God, Maud, you believed him?” Holly shook her head. “Don’t you know what they do at the Hidden Temple?”

  “It’s secret until you join,” the girl said archly.

  “It isn’t like the real Order, it’s -” Awful images surged up of naive Maud being abused. “When you met Lancelyn, did he ever try to - touch you?”

  She dreaded the answer. Holly had thought Lancelyn so pure and honest when he preached unrestrained sexuality to his followers. His teachings had seemed natural, not sinful. But after Deirdre’s ugly revelations about the Hidden Temple, Holly no longer knew what to think. His noble philosophy was no more than a lace cloth over a swirling, sor
did pit.

  Maud responded with a doll-blank stare, as if she had no idea what Holly meant. “He said it’s your fault people make fun of me for saying I’m psychic. Why is it all right for you, and not for me? Why do you hate me, Mrs Grey?”

  “I don’t hate you,” Holly said, dismayed. “Lancelyn can be very persuasive. I should know. I don’t blame you for being taken in; I’m angry because you were disloyal on purpose, and now you stand here telling me how clever you are!”

  Maud stubbornly refused to acknowledge Holly’s words. “You’re jealous of me, Mrs Grey.”

  “No,” Holly said, infuriated. “You couldn’t join the Order because you were unsuitable.”

  “Unsuitable, how? Because I happen to be a good Christian? Lancelyn said my gifts bring me closer to God. There’s no conflict between the Church and the Order.”

  “No. It’s because you’re too empty-headed and devious to see the Order as anything but a status symbol to boast about!” Holly knew insulting Maud was not going to help, but she was too angry to stop. “You flaunt your piety in the same way, because you’ll simply do anything to be noticed. I feel a little sorry for you, but the fact remains you broke into our house, and lied. Ben should have dismissed you.”

  “Oh, he wouldn’t do that.” Chilling nastiness entered Maud’s tone. “He needs me. He says he needs a real woman. No, if anyone desired to touch me, it wasn’t Lancelyn but the younger Mr Grey. He always said nice things when he brought me into the office and locked the door...”

  “Stop it!” Holly cried. She felt blood rush from her head in a wave of sickness. It couldn’t be true - but the insinuation was a stab of doubt, like poison. “How dare you insult Ben with such an accusation?”

  “It’s easy to call someone a liar, Mrs Grey, but it doesn’t prove I am one,” Maud said blandly. She was right - and that gave her undeserved, terrible power. Suddenly she looked utterly malevolent.

  “My husband would never touch a creature like you,” Holly said with icy disdain.

  “Why don’t you telephone and ask him, Mrs Grey?”

  Yes, prove her wrong now - but Holly stared at the black mouthpiece sitting on its stalk on the desk, and knew she couldn’t. She had a brief vision of slapping Maud, hard, and sacking her on the spot - but wasn’t that what Maud wanted, to be centre stage in a melodrama?

  Holly would not give her the satisfaction.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Her heart was lurching, but she spoke sternly to put Maud back in her place. “Do you like your job?”

  “Yes, Mrs Grey.”

  “Well, then, I suggest you get on with it. And if you’re thinking of crying to Lancelyn - remember that I know him far better than you. You might actually be in danger from him. Don’t you realise that?”

  Maud had the grace to look scared then, and spent the rest of the day in sulky silence. Superficially, Holly had won.

  The next day, Maud was bright and over-eager to please, as if nothing had happened.

  But... she’d forced the toxic needle of doubt under Holly’s skin. Ludicrous, obscene, the idea that Ben would ever touch Maud. Holly trusted him. The trouble was that she could never be entirely certain... there would always be a tiny seed of suspicion, whispering What if...?

  And Maud knew it. Hence her breezy good cheer.

  All I have to do is ask Ben for the truth, Holly told herself. But I can’t. I will not dignify Maud’s spiteful allegations by asking!

  And he’d deny everything, of course. That was the point. Whatever he said, doubt would remain. So she kept silent, and if Ben noticed any change in her, he made no comment. But the secret spectre of infidelity fed on her. She remembered their love-making after the argument as the last time she’d felt absolutely sure of his integrity and love.

  The loss felt like death.

  Without hope of ever knowing the actual truth, she passed her days in slow-burning agony, dangling by a wire over a cold silver sea.

  And Maud, after all, had won.

  * * *

  Lancelyn’s house was a double-fronted red-brick villa set behind a wall in a mature but neglected garden. Tall sycamores, ashes and Scots pines loomed around the dwelling. Karl went in first, entering the Crystal Ring to melt through a wall, then letting Benedict in by the back door. The darkness felt cold, stark, deserted.

  Ben entered stealthily, the whites of his eyes gleaming.

  “There’s no need to creep about,” Karl said at normal volume. “There’s no one here.”

  Ben started. “Are you sure? He isn’t one for lots of staff, but he has a couple of servants.”

  “I know when there are humans nearby,” said Karl. “If anyone challenges us, I’ll deal with them.”

  Ben swallowed, as if suddenly aware he was alone with a vampire. “Well, we can’t risk putting lights on,” he said. “I’ll use the torch.”

  “As you wish. I don’t need it.”

  Ben glared, his lips thinning. “Of course you don’t.”

  “Where do you wish to begin?”

  “The study’s the obvious place, I suppose.” Ben directed a thin light-beam into the front hall.

  Karl took a dislike to the house. It felt hollow and musty, unclean. The ceilings were too high, the floors bare. A faint leathery stink of damp hung about the place, which seemed not to have been decorated in fifty years. Dead animals stood frozen in glass cases.

  A tunnel of bookshelves led into the study. As they emerged, Karl saw a grotesque face staring at him. He froze, thinking, Why didn’t I sense this? Then he saw that it was a torso resting on the desk. A dummy, he realised. God, what an ugly thing!

  He glanced at Ben, who looked back with a grim expression -as if the dummy reminded him that Karl, too, was inhuman, and far more dangerous.

  “Only a toy,” said Ben. “An automaton. Damned thing produces a cigar and lights it for you; sort of rubbish Lancelyn collects. Now, if he’s using the Book, it could be around here - or hidden anywhere.”

  As Ben searched piles of books and papers on the desk, Karl looked along the shelves. All these ancient volumes; he wished he had time to study them. There were gaps where books leaned at angles, as if many had been removed. He said softly, “Ben, I don’t think the Book is here.”

  “What?”

  “I have no sense of its presence.”

  Ben glared at him, dismayed. “Well, let’s have a damned good look, anyway. I’m not giving up! You know a lot about this Book, don’t you? Things you haven’t told me.”

  “Not as much as I’d like.” Karl wondered why he felt compelled to answer this mortal’s questions. Perhaps he possessed more power than Karl would acknowledge. “The fabric of the tunnel where you found the Book was once a vampire’s lair which had absorbed the echo of a thousand deaths. The victims were long gone, but left their pain and emptiness behind. Eventually they turned on their killer and destroyed him. They still wait to take revenge on any vampire who sets foot there.”

  “Revenge?”

  “Too strong a word, perhaps. They steal back what was taken from them, as coldness steals warmth. It was as mechanical as that.”

  “Were you afraid?”

  “Terrified.” Karl gave a ghostly smile. “It was enough to bring down Kristian, the strongest vampire I’ve ever known. That’s why the Book repels us.”

  “Could it kill you?” Ben asked quickly.

  “Do you wish to brandish it against me like a gun?”

  “No, no. I’m simply curious. Is the effect actual or psychological?”

  “I wish I knew,” said Karl. “When we returned to the tunnel and found the Book missing, I felt the wellspring had been torn out. So perhaps the Book was the source. I would dearly love to know.”

  Ben went on searching as they talked, eventually crying in exasperation. “The bloody thing’s not here!”

  “I did tell you.”

  Ben insisted on searching the whole house, and Karl helped with infinite patience. Interesting place, despite its
hostile atmosphere: an academic’s lair, frozen in the last century. They explored the temple where, Ben explained, the Neophytes of Meter Theon had met: a grey room, with the windows blacked out, symbols painted on the floor and artefacts strewn on a wooden altar. It seemed paltry and unimpressive to Karl. There was no sense of power here - and no sign of the Book.

  Finally they returned to the hall, where Ben sank onto the stairs with his head in his hands. “I’ve this horrible feeling he’s gone, and taken it with him.”

  “Where would he go?”

  “I’ve no ruddy idea!”

  “How much does he know about your vampire guests?”

  “For Christ’s sake, why all these questions?” Ben said furiously.

  “I am trying to help you,” Karl said patiently.

  Benedict sighed and stared at his hands, making fists, flexing his fingers. “Sorry. The extent of his skill is impossible to measure. Sometimes our workings are effective, sometimes they aren’t. Lancelyn and I are not psychic on an earthly level as Holly is; that’s why we’d hypnotise her to find things out. Didn’t always work, of course; sometimes worked too well. He was deadly jealous when I married her. He thought he could keep control of both of us, and he damned well couldn’t. Anyway, if he poked around my house when he took the Book, he may know everything.”

  “The deaths you say he caused,” said Karl, “are you sure they were due to a supernatural attack, and not coincidence - or Lancelyn planting suggestions in vulnerable minds?”

  “It’s the result that counts,” Ben said irritably. “Causing change in accordance with will. That is the magic.” He started to laugh.

  “What do you find so funny?” Karl asked.

  “That you can be cynical about the supernatural! For heaven’s sake, you can walk through walls! What sort of proof do you want?”

  Karl smiled. Ben looked startled, disarmed. “Gods, you look human when you smile,” he muttered.

  “Perhaps it is ridiculous for me to be cynical,” said Karl. “However, I can’t tell where the boundary lies between the tricks of clever men and the genuine occult - which is, by its nature, hidden from most mortals.”

  “Like the existence of vampires and the Crystal Ring.”