at the dark waters of the river Thames throughout most of the meal, hardly touching his food. Trey kept stealing glances at him, and each time he did his heart quickened and banged against its bony enclosure as he thought about the creature that he was sharing the table with. He wondered at how this had all come about. He was a normal boy living a normal, if somewhat dull, life and suddenly he was sitting around a table with a vampire, his halfling daughter and a man that looked like he would quite happily reach across the table and gut him with his dinner knife without thinking twice about it.
Keep it together, Trey, he told himself, and thought about what Alexa had said to him before dinner.
A silence descended upon the room once everyone had finished eating, and Trey couldn’t help but notice that it was Lucien who looked the most concerned and distracted of the people sitting around the table. The worry-worm wriggled and squirmed again, burrowing into the tiny island of calm he had managed to create for himself. He began to imagine what it was that Lucien had to tell him that was causing a creature like a vampire to look so worried.
‘Do you like football?’ Tom asked, cutting through the silence and speaking for the first time during the entire meal.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Trey replied, completely taken back by the question that seemed so utterly at odds with the situation.
‘Which team do you support?’
‘Tottenham Hotspur.’
‘Humph,’ snorted Tom. ‘Celtic. Now there’s a proper football team. Best bloody football team in the country.’
Trey considered backing down. He certainly didn’t want to upset the man with the ugly scar sitting opposite him, but he had been through enough already today, and something stirred inside him that made him answer back with a firmness in his voice that he had stifled until now.
‘Actually, I don’t think they’d make it in the Premiership. I think that if they ever got a chance to play in England, they’d struggle against a lot of Championship sides.’
Tom looked over at him. The hard stare that Trey faced was particularly unpleasant, and he had a tough time meeting it. Suddenly Tom’s face broke into a smile. It was a lopsided affair, the ruined side of his face lacking some of the muscles needed to complete their part of the task, so the end result was a half-smile, half-grimace that was none too appealing.
‘Maybe I’ll take you up there one day – that’s if you’re sticking around, of course – show you just how good they really are.’ He stood up and picked up his plate, reaching over for Trey’s and collecting Alexa’s and Lucien’s in turn.
‘I’d like that. But only if we get to go to Tottenham afterwards, so that you can see a proper team play.’ Trey smiled back at him and received a wink from the tall Irishman before he turned his back and stepped up into the kitchen area to load the dishes into the dishwasher.
‘Shall we move to the reading room?’ Lucien said, standing up from the table. ‘I think it’s time for me to tell you some of those things that I promised to, Trey.’ He looked over at Tom, who was on his haunches, loading crockery into the racks of the machine. ‘Will you join us, Tom?’
‘I’ll be right through, Lucien, as soon as I’ve got rid of the worst of this. You go ahead.’
They retired to a small, book-lined room that was accessed from the main living room. It was, in comparison to the other rooms in the apartment, relatively small. There were no windows in the room, but a skylight in the ceiling revealed the night sky above their heads, the light from long-dead stars winking at them. Artificial light was provided by elegant swan-necked lamps that hung from the walls. Three tall curved reading lamps – their shades hanging over the chairs, like snooping neighbours peering over the garden fence, were also in the room, but these were not turned on yet. Trey looked over at the studded leather door
Keep it together, Trey, he told himself, and thought about what Alexa had said to him before dinner.
A silence descended upon the room once everyone had finished eating, and Trey couldn’t help but notice that it was Lucien who looked the most concerned and distracted of the people sitting around the table. The worry-worm wriggled and squirmed again, burrowing into the tiny island of calm he had managed to create for himself. He began to imagine what it was that Lucien had to tell him that was causing a creature like a vampire to look so worried.
‘Do you like football?’ Tom asked, cutting through the silence and speaking for the first time during the entire meal.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Trey replied, completely taken back by the question that seemed so utterly at odds with the situation.
‘Which team do you support?’
‘Tottenham Hotspur.’
‘Humph,’ snorted Tom. ‘Celtic. Now there’s a proper football team. Best bloody football team in the country.’
Trey considered backing down. He certainly didn’t want to upset the man with the ugly scar sitting opposite him, but he had been through enough already today, and something stirred inside him that made him answer back with a firmness in his voice that he had stifled until now.
‘Actually, I don’t think they’d make it in the Premiership. I think that if they ever got a chance to play in England, they’d struggle against a lot of Championship sides.’
Tom looked over at him. The hard stare that Trey faced was particularly unpleasant, and he had a tough time meeting it. Suddenly Tom’s face broke into a smile. It was a lopsided affair, the ruined side of his face lacking some of the muscles needed to complete their part of the task, so the end result was a half-smile, half-grimace that was none too appealing.
‘Maybe I’ll take you up there one day – that’s if you’re sticking around, of course – show you just how good they really are.’ He stood up and picked up his plate, reaching over for Trey’s and collecting Alexa’s and Lucien’s in turn.
‘I’d like that. But only if we get to go to Tottenham afterwards, so that you can see a proper team play.’ Trey smiled back at him and received a wink from the tall Irishman before he turned his back and stepped up into the kitchen area to load the dishes into the dishwasher.
‘Shall we move to the reading room?’ Lucien said, standing up from the table. ‘I think it’s time for me to tell you some of those things that I promised to, Trey.’ He looked over at Tom, who was on his haunches, loading crockery into the racks of the machine. ‘Will you join us, Tom?’
‘I’ll be right through, Lucien, as soon as I’ve got rid of the worst of this. You go ahead.’
They retired to a small, book-lined room that was accessed from the main living room. It was, in comparison to the other rooms in the apartment, relatively small. There were no windows in the room, but a skylight in the ceiling revealed the night sky above their heads, the light from long-dead stars winking at them. Artificial light was provided by elegant swan-necked lamps that hung from the walls. Three tall curved reading lamps – their shades hanging over the chairs, like snooping neighbours peering over the garden fence, were also in the room, but these were not turned on yet. Trey looked over at the studded leather door
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