Chapter 7: "Tears"
Gillian felt anxious, helpless and confused. She looked at the Vampaneze in the body of a teenager, and the events of the night that she had last time seen him, came suddenly back to her mind. The night in which she had become a vampire.
A flood of conflicting emotions rolled over her, and she was no longer able to control them.
To her own horror, tears sprang to her eyes.
Steve.
He had betrayed her.
She had trusted him, had believed that he understood her. That he was like her.
But he had just used her.
Gillian began to tremble all over.
Steve pushed himself away from the wall on which he had been leaning casually and came up to Gillian.
Anger and resentment that had been building up in her broke out. Gillian shot forward, raised her right arm and hit Steve with her palm so hard in the face that his head flew to the side.
Breathing heavily, she stood still, shocked at herself.
She felt again, how he had once beaten her so severely that she had been slammed to the floor of the stage of that old theater.
That was for you Darren, she thought. "If I meet Steve the next time, then I'll give him a slap that his head flies off!" Gillian remembered the oath which she had given to Darren.
Well, his head did not fly off though, but it had still felt good.
On Steves left cheek fire-red imprints of Gillian's slender fingers appeared. His mouth dropped open in surprise and indignation.
His violet eyes flashed angrily, and Gillian got scared.
What had she done?
Steve was a Vampaneze, and whatever his position was here, the others seemed to respect him and listen to him. Gannen Harst even made a point to Steve's decisions. Even back then, in the boxing ring, when she had been in Murloughs power, the Vampaneze had obeyed Steve.
If he now felt humiliated by Gillian, it could be that he gives orders to kill her.
He was unpredictable.
But Gillian was hardly capable of a clear thought. She was afraid of Steve, but at the same time felt a deep satisfaction for having given him a bitch slap. Tears flooded out of her eyes, and with trembling lips, she said: "That was something you still owed to me. "
Steve recovered from the shock, took the hand from his painful cheek and stepped menacingly towards the vampiress.
Gillian gasped and backed hastily away from him until she came with her back against a wall.
Steve hit hard with his right hand against the concrete wall, an inch away from Gillian's face, and watched with satisfaction as she jumped, startled.
He pressed himself against her.
With open mouth and big frightened eyes the petite woman looked up at him. Steve tilted his head and brought his face close to hers.
Her heartbeat and her breathing quickened, and she tried to make herself smaller.
Steve pushed his body even closer to her, grabbed her chin and pulled her head up. His face was only inches away from her, and Gillian's heart was racing. Confused, she registered that he smelled pretty darn good.
Like back then.
She looked into the depths of his fascinating violet eyes and tried to wrest from him, but he held her relentlessly. He was strong.
She gasped startled, as he pressed his lips to hers.
She tried to push him away with both hands on his chest, but he was firm as a rock. Under her hand, she felt his heartbeat and her fingers dug into his shirt.
He pressed his mouth on her and an electric flash ran through her as the tip of his tongue touched hers for the fraction of a second.
His hand went to her neck, and Gillian groaned as he pushed his leg between hers.
A giddy feeling came over her, that had its origin somewhere deep in her guts.
Whereas Steve broke away from her.
Disheveled and panting Gillian leaned against the wall.
The Vampaneze curled triumphantly his lips. With one hand he still leaned against the wall, and still close to her, he said: "That was something you owed to me."
He grinned cheekily and pushed away from the wall in order to casually stroll over to the sofa.
He left Gillian breathlessly with soft knees and in deep confusion.
How had Steve managed to make her so vulnerable?
Even when she was in great danger, even as she had been sentenced to death and taken away to the cells, she had not felt so vulnerable and weak-willed. Still she was very shaky, and her thoughts raced.
He had kissed her!
With a mighty effort of will she put everything aside, just closed the experience deep down inside her, and put on her old mask.
Keep cool, Gillian!
Steve sat on the sofa, his arms put casually over the backrest, one leg square across the other, and grinned at her. He was evidently very pleased with himself.
Asshole, thought Gillian, and came of the wall.
Striving to appear unaffected, she stumbled on her bare feet to the chair and sat down to put her boots back on, which she had taken off for the performance of the shadowdance.
So she won a few more seconds, where she could gather herself and think about how she should proceed.
Why of all things does she have to negotiate with Steve?
She was dressed again and looked defiantly at the teenager. Then she got up and made her way to the door.
"Where are you going?" exclaimed Steve.
"Forget it, Steve, I do not negotiate with you!"
"You do, however, or you will never find the grave," he grinned.
Furious she looked at him. "You deceived me," she hissed.
The grin faded, and he frowned. "I didn`t! It was you who had suddenly taken the side of my ex-best friend. "
Gillian snorted. "You wanted to kill him."
Steve's eyes narrowed. "He infuriated me. He is the one who deceived me. He deserves to die! Do not act as if you never get angry."
Gillian stared at him: "You had planned it. Why else was Murlough there? "
Steve gave up his casual attitude, and leaned forward: "He was my mentor! He has watched over me. Of course he was there."
Tears came back to Gillians eyes: "We had a deal! You said you would transform me!"
Steve jumped up and came over to her: "I wanted to. But you've taken on Darren's side!"
Gillian shook her head, trying to hold back the tears. "You used me. You only wanted Darren."
You hurt me!, it screamed in Gillian, but she did not say it.
"You knew that. That was the deal. Do not act as if you had not been glad to get rid of him. " He stepped towards and raised his hand to wipe the bloody tears from her face, but she slapped his hand away.
He shrugged and turned away. "As you wish, Gillian."
Gillian chewed on her lower lip.
Helplessly, she stood in the room, and watched as Steve sat down in the chair behind the desk.
Glum she wiped over her face, wet from tears of blood.
When she made no move to leave, Steve continued: "Why don`t you listen to what I have to propose?"
"I know what you want. But I'm not going to do it", she hissed. "I will not surrender Darren Shan. Not him, and not Larten Crepsley either. Forget about it!"
"Who says I want that from you?", he grinned.
She wrinkled her nose. "Who says that you will really lead me to the grave? The last time you cheated on me. I do not trust you."
Steve sighed.
Gillian went up to the desk and leaned on the plate. "Besides, I do not know if it helps me something to find the grave. Maybe there's only dust and ancient stones. Why should I pay a high price?"
Steve looked at her seriously. "Believe me, there is more to find for you than dust and stones."
How he wanted to know?
"I'll see that when I am there. I will not buy a pig in a poke."
Steve rubbed his shaven chin. This gesture he probably got from Gannen Harst.
"Ok. I'll make a suggestion. We tell you where the grave is. You go there and have a look at it. If you find something there that is of value to you, then you owe me something."
Gillian's eyes narrowed. "And what?"
"Let's just say you're standing in my debt."
"So you can ask for what ever you want? Forget it! I'm not going to deliver Crepsley and Shan ... "
"I will not ask for something, that you cannot give me."
Gillian stopped. This was foul. "I will veto it, if you're asking the impossible."
Steve nodded. "I know. I told you, I will not ask you what you cannot give. You can still refuse."
Gillian frowned. Where was the catch?
Feverishly she wondered what it could be that he would ask of her. Would he and Harst not want her deliver up one of her friends? That she would never do, and he knew it. But one of the other vampires? Could she return to Vampire Mountain and kill one of them? Gillian thought how strong she had been in the eternal darkness there. What if Steve insisted that she went back and killed one of the princes? For example, Paris Skyle? Or Mika Ver Leth ... at the thought of the dark-haired prince of the vampires, who had been so eager to condemn her to death, hatred clenched in her stomach. Yes, thought Gillian.
Kill Mika Ver Leth. I could do that.
Gillian looked Steve in his fascinating violet eyes.
A determined expression appeared on her lips.
She needed this information. And if she once had been at the grave, she could still bargain. What does she have to lose?
The vampiress took a deep breath:
"Deal!"
