Hans standing by the tree in Garway church while I danced around the tombstones in the dark. Just a little girl.
His shins as I crashed into him by accident on the church pathway, when I was staring up at the moon and not where I was going.
Him watching me singing hymns from the back of the church.
Deeper.
A woman with dark hair I didn’t recognise, but she looked like me, smiling at him.
A crowd of spinning girls on Orcop hill, chanting names I didn’t understand.
The woman again, with eyes like mine. A smile like mine. Kissing Hans like I kissed him.
Then deeper.
The trapdoor began to open…
“KATHERINE! HERE! NOW! LISTEN TO ME!”
I snapped back to myself and the vampire holding me. A fear in his eyes I hadn’t seen before.
“I’m ok,” I told him. “I’m back now.”
He tipped my face from side to side, checking out my vision.
“I’m ok,” I insisted. “I just got pulled away. Somewhere weird.”
His gaze was fierce.
“Pulled away to where? Tell me!”
I shrugged. “Nowhere that makes sense. Just some women spinning, and things from before… you in Garway church. You with a woman who looked like me. Just…things.”
I got a shudder as the trapdoor slammed shut in my subconscious. Its ripples made me cold.
“What happened there? What happened in my mind?” I asked Hans. “You know, don’t you?”
For once, he didn’t answer my question.
Chapter Eleven
“Tellme,Hans,”Ipushed. “What’s underneath that trapdoor in my head? Dark secrets, right? Something lurking?”
He stroked my cheek, his lips still bloody, dripping red.
“Let it go for the moment. Your body needs to recover, to give your mind the fuel it needs to process things. Especially levels like that one. They will take a lot of energy and faith to understand.”
My pulse was still pumping, and everything was glowing, but I was growing tired. Really, really tired.
“It’s normal to feel like this,” he told me. “You need to sleep, but first let’s get you replenished and cleaned up.”
He opened one of the antique cabinets at the side of the bed to reveal a fridge.
“Water,” he said and presented a glass. “Drink, little one.”
I drank it down gratefully, watching as he loaded a plate with cold meat. More steak, oozing with blood. I didn’t want to eat it, but I knew I had no choice.
“Replenishment,” Hans said. “Your body needs to adjust. It’ll join in rhythm with mine over time, spirit to spirit. Your flesh will learn to produce enough blood to keep on flowing, providing enough to play all the games we desire.”