The Pale Horse
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, "Come and see." And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:7
The character of Bill Compton belongs to Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball, all other characters are my own.
Bill and I didn't really have much of a chance to announce our engagement as the entire Vampire authority was thrown into total chaos by Lilith's emergence as a separate personality. There was some disappointment from some of the more senior members when they discovered that, although they were no longer required to revere Bill as the vessel of the Goddess, Lilith clearly intended him to be her right hand man and took it upon herself to appoint him as High Chancellor without any consultation. Apparently there were quite a few complaints over this and one Chancellor even tried to tell her that she couldn't do it.
After the others had cleaned his remains off the carpet there was no further argument and Bill was confirmed as High Chancellor and Lilith's personal representative. She made it very clear that he was to be treated with the same reverence as herself.
We had returned to New York as The Authority had premises there and were back in the suite at the Lord Ruthven Hotel. I was sitting on the couch by the window looking out over the lights in Central Park.
"I hate to do this to you" said Bill. "You know how proud I am of you and it's not that I want to hide it, but I really think it would be better if we kept it quiet for now. There's so much going on at the moment and I'm going to be in the thick of it."
"And you don't know how Lilith will react to the news!" I replied.
There was a pause. Yes, I was right!
"Well, no…..I don't" he came over and sat down beside me. "I'm not sure that she even understands the concept of marriage" he said. "I'll have to talk to her, alone" he put a gentle hand on my arm. "You know that I would never risk any harm to you, and I really don't know how she might react. I told you what she did to Rodrigo!"
Rodrigo had been the argumentative Chancellor. She had reduced him to a pile of bloody chunks of flesh with a snap of her fingers.
"You know, I really don't think that she'd harm me directly" I said thoughtfully. "She knows that you would never forgive her for that."
"I still don't like to take the risk" said Bill, bending his head to kiss my fingers. "You don't mind very much do you?"
I leaned against him and put my head on his shoulder. "Of course not! I'm so relieved to have you back, that'll do me for now!"
Bill stared blankly out of the window for a moment. "I think I could have stopped her you know." he said suddenly. "At the museum. In that moment when she had driven out Lucilla, I might have been able to prevent her from leaving me. To keep her strength and her power." He looked up at me. "Did I do the right thing Alex? Should I have tried to keep her power? I've always been the weaker among vampires, I've always worried about you, your vulnerability. Should I have kept her strength, to protect you?"
I sighed and curled up against him. "Is that what you want? Strength and power?It's not all it's cracked up to be you know! You start out by thinking you're doing good, but people don't agree with you, so what do you do? Do you allow dissent in the ranks or do you carry on because you know you're right? And then one night you wake up and realise that you're so far over the line you can't remember where it was!" I paused and looked up at him, his pale skin reflecting the moonlight coming in through the window. "No. You did the right thing. The right thing for you, for us. But also for her."
I felt Bill's lips brush my hair. "Yes, you're right as usual. She needed to leave as much as I needed to be free of her. It was time..."
"How's she doing?"
"Well, apart from the occasional slip up like Rodrigo, she's coping remarkably well. Of course, if she wasn't, she'd never let anyone else know but I'm sure she would tell me. She asks for my advice, but generally when no one else is around, she can't afford to appear to rely too much on any one counsellor, even me!"
"So you're sort of, her Éminence grise, the power behind the throne?"
He laughed. "Yes, I suppose you could say that."
We had been living in the Hotel for about a month when Ulrich decided it was time to shake us up again.
I had been exploring New York with Susie by day and Bill had been closeted with Lilith and her advisors in meetings by night. We made the most of what overlap there was but I was beginning to wonder if our lives would ever be normal again. Well, what passed for 'normal' for us anyway.
I had got up just before dusk and was in the shower when I heard a knock at the door. Oops! I'd forgotten that I'd ordered food from room service! I turned off the shower and heard footsteps coming into the suite. They must have a master key! And he'd want a tip! I grabbed a towel as I heard the door close. I paused and listened at the door as the footsteps came closer.
"Would madam require any help in there?" came a slightly muffled voice.
"What?" I pulled the towel tightly around me and peeped out from behind the bathroom door.
Bill stood next to the trolley wearing his soft grey sleep pants, his hair slightly tousled.
I relaxed. "Oh you...!" He just stood there grinning at me. "For a moment there room service took on a whole new meaning!"
He blinked at me, a familiar gleam in his eye. "And what service would madam require?" he inquired politely.
"Well, you could scrub my back if you like?" I suggested.
His eyes shone in the dim light and I saw his fangs extend just a little. "Believe me there's nothing I'd like more, but sadly Ulrich has summoned us!"
"Oh not again!" I flung myself down on the bed, Bill's eyes widening as the towel slipped. "What am I supposed to do? Susie's off having her hair done!"
"I didn't make myself clear" he said sitting down on the bed beside me and leaning over to plant a delicate kiss on my stomach. "He wants both of us!"
"What?" I sat up and Bill gave a little moan as the towel slipped off completely. "He wants to see me as well? That can't be good!"
"That's what he said, so I suggest you put some clothes on before I lose control completely..." his hand slid around me and pulled me closer, his lips exploring my shoulder and heading up my neck. I turned my head to him and his mouth captured mine, his lips parted invitingly. I slipped my tongue between his lips and licked gently around the base of his fangs which were by now fully extended, something which I knew drove him wild... he gave another little moan and said "We really should be getting dressed!"
What with one thing and another, by the time we arrived at the Authority's conference room on the next floor down everyone else had already arrived. Lilith sat silent and regal in an elaborate chair at the head of the table. She was dressed casually in a pair of loose cotton trousers and a silk shirt. Susie and I had assisted in the acquisition of a suitable wardrobe which included several Egyptian style linen gowns for formal occasions. I was beginning to feel like some kind of handmaiden and I wasn't too happy about it!
"Ah! At last!" muttered Ulrich impatiently. "Well now that you're here I have something to tell you all."
He leaned forward with his elbows on the conference table and regarded us seriously. "As you all know there are groups of influential people, humans, both here and in Europe, who support our cause, who have assisted us in our fight for equal rights. Tonight I have received some rather disturbing news from our colleagues in England. The daughter of one of our more vampire-friendly politicians has gone missing. It appears that she was the one who persuaded her father to meet with representatives of the Authority. She seems to feel confortable with us" he glared around at us. "No-one is to mention the word "fangbanger" is that clearly understood?"
"Why is this disturbing?" asked Gerry. "What has it to do with us at all?"
Ulrich sat back in his chair. "It appears that she was friendly with a vampire who in his turn became friendly with a new nest. He took her to the village where they had their lair and introduced her to them..."
"Let me guess?" Bill said with a sigh. "They were Sanguinistas?"
"Right!"
"And what has this to do with us?" he asked.
"I want you to go back to England and see if you can find out what happened to her" said Ulrich bluntly.
Bill sat up sharply. "Oh no...not this time! I'm not going on any more reconnaissance missions for you Ulrich! I promised Alex." He glanced over at me. "Besides the likelihood is that the poor girl is dead!"
"We don't think so" answered Ulrich leaning forward and putting his elbows on the table. "All the nest have been arrested and questioned. In fact I supervised the questioning myself when I was in England last week. They all deny having seen her, and we think they're telling the truth."
"What makes you think that?" asked Gerry.
"They were questioned...thoroughly."
"Oh...I see!" Gerry looked down at his hands.
Ulrich turned back to Bill. "Well, what do you think? You can take all the security you need, it'll be perfectly safe and besides, you might find it interesting."
Bill's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?" he asked.
"Well, the village is close to Oxford, so you could spend some time at home. It's a fairly small village on the border of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. It's called Long Compton."
There was silence as everyone stared at Bill. "Hmm...might be interesting..."
"Bill!" I said warningly. "You promised me!"
He turned to me and took my hand. "Ulrich just said I can take all the security I need. It will all be open and above board, I won't be going in undercover like the last time. I'll be perfectly safe!"
"Okay fine! Then I'll come with you!"
"Oh now Alex...that's not a good idea!"
"Why not?" I was determined not to let him get away with this. "If it's so safe I'll be fine...right Ulrich?" I glared back at Bill. "And if it's not safe for me...then it's not safe for you either!"
Bill thought for a moment. "Okay, but you stay with me at all times all right? No wandering off on your own?"
"I'll stick to you like glue, honey" I gave him a sickly sweet little smile and he smiled back patiently.
"Glad that's sorted out" said Ulrich with only a slight touch of sarcasm.
"Mr Lucas is very helpful to our cause, and very powerful and influential. He has a very liberal outlook and has supported our fight for equal rights from the very beginning. It was his daughter who encouraged him in his liberal views. If any harm has come to her through us we're going to be in real trouble!"
"If you don't think the Sanguinistas took her then have you any ideas at all?" asked Bill.
Ulrich looked down at his hands for a moment. "Well…one of them did make a suggestion." He said looking highly embarrassed.
"And?...What was it?" asked Bill impatiently.
He sat up and took a deep breath. "He said she'd been stolen away by the faery folk!"
There was silence around the long table for a moment.
"Sheesh! What did you do to him?" sniggered Gerry.
"He was perfectly coherent!" snapped Ulrich. "Furthermore he appeared to be serious. He claimed that there had been many mysterious disappearances there over the years, that the old Inn where the lair was situated was haunted, all kinds of things. Apparently there is a ring of standing stones not far from the village which is supposed to be the home of the faery folk!"
"Every group of standing stones in England is supposed by some people to be the home of the faery folk!" I said quietly.
Bill sighed. "You do appreciate that it's far more likely that one of them killed her and disposed of the body somewhere?"
Ulrich turned his cold gaze on him. "Trust me….if any of them knew where she was, they would have told me!"
I thought of the torture device Bill had described to me. The one that injected electrolytically refined silver directly into the vampire's veins and shivered. I supposed it was possible that Bill and I, and maybe Lilith, were the only ones present who knew that the faery folk actually existed. Then suddenly I remembered the creature we had found in Queen Francesca's cells in Chicago. I looked around the table, Ulrich had been there, Gerry too. They had both seen Bill and Lilith open a portal to Faery to allow the creature to return. Was this perhaps why he was so determined that Bill should go? Admittedly the creature hadn't resembled what your average fairy was supposed to look like so maybe they hadn't appreciated what the realm on the other side of the portal actually was.
It suddenly struck me that maybe Bill wasn't, in fact, the best person to deal with this problem. Perhaps I'd be able to help him!
I glanced at Lilith to see how she was taking this since she had made no comment so far. She didn't look too pleased as far as I could tell but she remained silent. I assumed that she and Ulrich had discussed the possibility of Bill leaving before we arrived.
"May we have your thoughts on the matter my Lady?" asked Ulrich. Looking up the table to where she sat.
There was a sudden hush as everyone turned to look at her. "You know I do not wish you to leave me William" she said with a little smile. "But this is an important assignment and I am sure that you and Alex would like to visit your home in England again. I know that you have a place in your heart for humans and that you will do your best to help this man to be reunited with his daughter if this is possible. We shall return to England in a few weeks and I shall see you again then."
Ulrich stood up abruptly, evidently the meeting was over! "I'll arrange for your flights back to England and for some of the Authority's Security to meet you at the airport." He turned to the red haired vampire sitting next to him and taking notes. "Sonjia, I want them on the first flight back."
She smiled at Bill who didn't appear to react. I was annoyed nevertheless. Ulrich's new secretary never missed an opportunity to simper at Bill and it was beginning to annoy me. Suddenly a trip back to England began to look like a good idea!
"You can go back to Oxford first and make arrangements to visit Long Compton from there" advised Ulrich. "The house they were using used to be an old Coaching Inn, apparently parts of it date back to the Civil War. It's called 'The Pale Horse'."
