‘We did, thank you. It’s good to see you, Charlie,’ Floss says softly.
Charlie huffs in disdain. ‘Yeah, yeah.’ But do I detect a flicker of relief that he has some visitors?
The parlour door clicks shut, and we all turn to see thewoman who greeted us standing there.
‘This is Helena, my wife,’ says Charlie gruffly.
His wife! Well, at least he gets his leg over ...
We all murmur, ‘Nice to meet you,’ and look awkward until Helena gestures to the green velvet couch, the same one that’s been there for over a century; it’s now an antique! ‘Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable.’ She looks at Charlie. ‘Should I...?’
‘No. We’ll be fine,’ he says abruptly, taking a seat in the armchair, then adds, ‘Thank you, my dear.’
Helena nods and leaves us to it. I catch Floss’s eye as she takes a seat on the couch with the others, and have to look away before I giggle. Charlie may act like the grumpy lord of the manor, but he still has to mind his Ps and Qs with his wife.
Charlie is staring at the guys curiously and not without envy since they’re both young and good-looking.
‘Who’re you?’ He sounds none too friendly and like he wants to drink their virile blood.
‘Damian and Elliott,’ says Sadie, indicating each in turn, and they nod at Charlie. ‘They’re the newest members of our coven. Well, Elliott isn’t exactlynewas such ... It’s a long story. Elliott’s my fiancé, and Floss and Damian are together. Hester’s single.’
Great, now I’m the seventh wheel!
Charlie glances at me sitting in the other armchair and smirks, as if to say, ‘Serves you right, bitch!’ He seems to cheer up a bit after that.
Folding his arms, he says, ‘So now that we’ve got the pleasantries over with, what the hell do you want?’
Sadie’s lips peel back, revealing her fangs, and Elliott hastily takes her hand so she doesn’t do anything silly.
‘It’s about your father,’ he says. ‘We found out he’s setting up a vampire brothel in Covent Garden. He’s taken possession of around forty thralls, young innocent women, who he plans to turn into vampire whores through a potent serum he’s concocted. I, unfortunately, was part of his scheme. He kidnapped me, took me to the Scottish Highlands, kept me chained in a castle dungeon, and drew my blood to help make his serum. That was until one of his newbie vampires turned me and I escaped.’
Charlie’s thin grey eyebrows rise. ‘Fuck me. Why is Papa doing all this?’
‘It seems he’s running out of money, and this is a business venture,’ Damian says, taking up the narrative. ‘But he can’t go around ruining people’s lives. So we need to stake him before he turns the thralls. There are other more personal reasons for it too. He’s still intent on draining Floss to get his own back and, consequently, me too. Obviously, we’re keen to get him off our backs so we can exist inpeace.’
Charlie is silent for a moment. ‘I haven’t seen Papa for a long time. Not since he did this to me.’ He waves a hand at his face and body. ‘Of course I hate his guts...’ He sneers, a flash of the old Charlie emerging; then it’s gone again. ‘And I understand your concerns. He’s not a foe you want to get on the wrong side of. But I’m not sure if I can get involved. He is my father after all ... and I have Helena to think about.’
Wow, Charlie does actually have a caring bone in his body.
‘We’re not here to ask you to be involved at the staking level,’ I say. ‘We need more information about him. Something about his background that might give us an edge.’
Charlie chews his lip and considers. ‘I probably don’t know much more about him than you do. He’s a dark horse. Every time I asked him questions, he’d shut me down.’
Floss nods. ‘He did with me too. What about his basement laboratory? What’s in there?’
Charlie shrugs. ‘Dunno. It’s been locked up tight since he left for Paris in 1888 with you. But you’re welcome to break the door down. If anything’s going to shed light on that shady bastard, it will be in there.’
***
Damian and Elliott say they’ll do the honours, and the rest of us watch from the top of the stairwell, with Charlie muttering unhelpful advice that no one listens to.
‘Right,’ says Damian to Elliott. ‘On the count of three—one, two,three!’ The door is solid wood, but it’s old and no match for their strong vampire thighs. A few well-aimed kicks have it splintering and cracking. The guys tear away the broken pieces of wood and toss them aside.
Elliott sticks his head through the doorway and does a slow sweep. From this angle, I can’t detect what’s in there. But a funky odour wafts out, making my nostrils curl.
‘See anything, El?’ Sadie calls down impatiently.
‘Yeah, there’s some stuff in here!’ he calls back. ‘We’ll check it out!’
