The Craving

The orchestra began to play again, another fast-paced dance. But that was noise in the background. The ball and its participants faded away. Right now, Damon and I had our eyes locked on each other.

‘If you even try something,’ I said low enough that only he could hear, squaring my shoulders and unconsciously tensing for a fight.

‘Don’t think you can best me,’ Damon said, rolling onto the balls of his feet.

The group of people we were with looked back and forth at us, clearly aware that something was going on, but unsure what exactly.

‘I’m feeling a bit thirsty,’ I finally said aloud, not moving my eyes from his, trying to think of how to get Damon away from my new friends. ‘Care to join me for a drink?’

‘Smashing, I’d love one,’ said Bram eagerly, hoping to break the tension.

‘Love to,’ Damon said, mocking Bram’s tone. ‘But duty – and the mazurka – calls.’ He turned to Hilda and bowed. ‘May I?’

‘Oh, I’d love to, but Bram…’ She started to hold up the dance card that hung around her wrist from a pink ribbon. Then her eyes widened, dilating, and she was staring – but no longer at the card. I looked at Damon. He was also staring, compelling her. Showing off, in front of everyone – in front of me – just how powerful he was.

He was sending me a message.

‘Oh, he won’t mind,’ Hilda decided and took Damon’s arm. He led her off, smiling back at me. The tips of his fangs glittered.

‘I wish I had his charm,’ Bram said a little wistfully. ‘He’s got all you ladies wrapped around his finger.’

Lydia blushed prettily. She did not look after Hilda with a worried expression. She had the calm confidence of someone who knew exactly where her lover stood in his relation to her. Damon had no doubt compelled her to act as such. He had amassed a considerable amount of Power, very quickly.

‘Where exactly did you two meet?’ I asked, trying to sound casual.

‘Oh, it was so romantic,’ Bridget answered quickly. ‘Almost as romantic as you finding me, helpless, in the park…’

‘Let your sister speak, Bridgey,’ Bram interrupted.

Lydia smiled, all of her studied politeness and mannered behaviour melting away. ‘It really was a bit like a fairy tale. It was raining, a sudden downpour. I remember very particularly that the sun had been shining just moments earlier. Unprepared for the change of weather, Mother and I became soaked. My new hat was ruined, and all my packages were dripping wet. I swear a dozen carriages must have passed us by without stopping. And then – one of them paused, and the door opened, and there he was, extending his hand to me.’

Her eyes grew soft. ‘He offered to give up his seat, but we got in with him…’

Bram made tsk-tsking noises; Lydia smiled, shrugging prettily.

‘I know, I know…“taking a ride with a strange man.” Very bad of us. But he was so polite, and charming…and we had such a lovely ride…and then the sun came out and we hardly noticed…’

My mind raced. Had Damon compelled every carriage driver in Manhattan to avoid Lydia and her mother? Was it even possible to compel that many people at once? And what about the rain? Had that been luck…or something else entirely? Damon wasn’t capable of compelling the weather. If that were a power available to vampires, I would have heard of it from Lexi or even Katherine. Right?

I studied Lydia. She wore a simple, narrow ribbon around her neck with a single pearl dangling from the front. The skin there was smooth, unblemished – and unbitten. If Damon wasn’t feeding on Lydia, then what did he want from her?

‘Someone said something about being thirsty…?’ Bram said hopefully, rubbing his hands together. ‘I have a terrible desire for more champagne.’

‘Yes, thirst is a terrible thing,’ I said, ‘but you’ll have to excuse me.’ Then I turned and cut my way through the merrily dancing crowd, determined to search out my brother before he had the chance to slit anyone’s throat.

CHAPTER 8

I found Damon dancing with Hilda, ushering her around the dance floor with the lightest touch. Wherever his fingers touched she bent, curling into him a trifle more than was acceptable and falling against him more than was necessary. Other girls looked on enviously, clearly hoping to dance with him next. He pretended to devote all his attention to the poor girl, but glanced up just long enough to shoot me a dazzling smile.

I waited impatiently for the dance to end, wishing I could compel the musicians to stop. But whatever Damon’s powers of compulsion, mine were severely lacking thanks to my meagre diet.

As soon as the last beat was played, I marched up to my brother.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, did you want to…?’ he asked, innocently, indicating Hilda. ‘Because I’m sure she will. If you’d like her to.’

Hilda studied her dance card, the picture of confusion.

‘Let’s go get a drink,’ I said, taking him by the elbow.

‘Exactly what I was thinking,’ he agreed, mock-seriously. He snapped his fingers, as if at a dog. ‘Hilda…?’

‘Leave her alone,’ I ordered.

Damon rolled his eyes. ‘Fine. A waiter will do just as well.’ But he allowed me to place an iron grip on his arm and guide him through the crowd, past the refreshment room, through a library and into a poorly lit study.

‘What the hell are you doing here?’ I demanded the moment we were alone.

‘Trying to enjoy myself,’ he said, throwing his hands up in feigned exasperation. He dropped his accent immediately. ‘Did you see the spread? The salmon’s from Scotland. And Adelina Patti is here, too – Father would have just died. Oh wait.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘He did die. You murdered him, in fact.’

‘Only after he tried to kill us,’ I pointed out, clenching my fists.

‘Correction: after he succeeded in shooting both of us. We’re dead, brother.’ Damon grinned at me.

He was circling me. Casually, as if he didn’t mean to, as if he was just walking around idly, making conversation while admiring the decor. It reminded me of how he’d paced the ring at the circus back in New Orleans, when Gallagher had forced him to fight the mountain lion. Damon picked up a small statuette and turned it over in his hands, but his eyes stayed locked on mine. I squared my shoulders, feeling the predator’s response as he challenged my personal space.

‘I’m asking you again, Damon: what are you doing here?’

‘Same thing as you, brother. Starting a new life, far from home, and war, and tragedy, and all of those other things immigrants like us are escaping. New York is where the action is. I figured if it’s good enough for my brother, it’s good enough for me, too.’

‘So you did follow me,’ I said. ‘How?’

‘You stink,’ he said. ‘Don’t act surprised! It’s not just you. Everyone stinks. We’re hunters, Stefan. About halfway up the coast, it wasn’t hard to figure out where you decided to go after New Orleans. I just made sure I got here first. There isn’t a train yet that can beat me on a horse. Well, several horses. A couple of them died of exhaustion. Like your poor, poor Mezzanotte.’

‘Why, Damon?’ I said, ignoring his casual cruelty. ‘Why follow me here?’

His eyes narrowed and a flash of rage shot through them, exploding from the hidden depths of his soul.

‘I told you I was going to torment you for the eternity you blessed me with, Stefan. Did you think I would break my promise so quickly?’

I was used to Damon’s fits of pique. His anger had always been like a summer storm, quick and violent, causing damage to anyone or anything nearby – and then it was over and he was buying a round at the tavern.

But this fury was new, and it was all because of me.

I averted my eyes so he couldn’t see the pain and guilt written there. ‘What do you want with Lydia? What