Sadie takes a cautious step forward. ‘Tim? Are you—’
Before she can finish, Tim lets out a snarl, pushes up from the floor, and leaps onto the kitchen island. Dropping to a crouch, he rips away the front of his corduroy trousers and palms his erect cock through the gaping hole. Huge fangs extend from his mouth, and venom drips down his chin. He whines and growls and pants as he jerks off frantically in front of us, seemingly unable to control himself.
Oh dear. I cover Sadie’s eyes again and Hester’s!
‘See,’ says Lucy proudly, gesturing at the horny slavering beast that was Uncle Tim. ‘Itoldyou it was potent.’
Chapter 36
Sadie | London, 1758
So this is my life now, for better or worse. I’m a bloodsucker, an abhorrence to nature, a vampire. How it happened, I don’t know. Sometime during the night at Darius’s house, Anya must’ve bitten me, but the memory is lost. And it never returns in the days and weeks following when I’m in a bloodlust frenzy.
Things get to the point where I know I have to confess to Mother Swift—I have to tell her that I’m not ‘normal’ because a gentleman is going to complain about me at some point. I shoo the other girls out of the parlour, so it’s just the two of us. From her tense jaw and the clear thoughts I’m picking up (I can read people’s minds!), I know what she’s assuming.
‘I’m not pregnant,’ I tell her.
Her elegant features relax under the mask of make-up, and she lets out a breath. ‘Thank the Lord. You’re my best girl, Sadie. That would be acalamity.’
‘You have nothing to worry about there,’ I say pleasantly, smoothing my silk dress (a new blue one I’ve purchased of late). ‘But there is something you should know about me.’
‘If it’s a gin habit, do not trouble yourself. I’m happy to turn a blind eye to the odd tipple. Don’t mind if I join you.’ Her red-lipsticked mouth stretches into a wide grin.
‘It’s not a gin habit.’
‘Oh. What then?’
I pause, trying to find the right words. ‘Something has happened to make me ... otherworldly.’
Mother Swift’s forehead wrinkles. ‘Pardon?’
‘Perhaps it’s better if I show you.’ I pull a sharp kitchen knife out of my pocket, for I have come prepared to demonstrate. I draw the knife across my forearm, and Mother Swift gasps in horror and leaps off the moth-eaten pink velvet couch to halt me.
‘Wait! Look!’ I command, brandishing the knife to stop her coming any closer.
Her wide kohled eyes lock on to my arm, watching the red gash. Her jaw sags when it slowly but surely heals until there’s nothing there. It’s as if I never cut myself.
Mother Swift falls back onto the couch, gaping at me in shock. She makes the sign of the cross. ‘Are you undead?’
‘Yes,’ I say solemnly. ‘But I feel quite all right about it.’
Mother Swift lets out a small cry of alarm. ‘Silly girl, Itoldyou not to go off to strange gentlemen’s houses! It was the night of the raid, wasn’t it? When you came back the next morning feeling poorly?’
I nod, wondering if this was a good idea after all. What if she insists that I leave the brothel? Where would I go?
But I don’t need to worry. Her initial fear slides away, and her eyes take on a bright, cunning look.
‘This is excellent news, Sadie,’ she says with a sly smile.
‘It is?’
‘Yes, I will tell you why in a minute. But firstly, have youbittenany customers?’
‘Yeeess,’ I say slowly. ‘I am sorry, but I was thirsty, and I needed sustenance ... and physical release.’
‘How many gentlemen?’
I tilt my head to one side, calculating. ‘I would say a dozen in the last month. But they knew nothing when it was happening, and I seemed able to compel them to forget about it afterwards. They paid and went off home happily enough. But they no doubt wondered at their tired cocks and sore necks the next morning.’ I smirk, remembering all the lovely fucking and feasting I’ve been doing.
