‘That’s it,’ murmured Sir Alric.
Now Cassie could feel a prickling sensation all over her skin, a humming inside her head, a bright glow behind her eyelids. She was at once both light-headed and totally, completely alert, and she realised she was still inhaling, her lungs seemingly no nearer to being filled.
‘Concentrate,’ came Sir Alric’s voice once more, over the buzzing in her head. Cassie slowly opened her eyes, still breathing in, her fingers coiled tightly around Isabella’s slender wrists. Blinking, she noticed Isabella’s own eyes were squeezed shut, her mouth hanging slightly open, a barely perceptible sigh emitting from her lips, and Cassie instinctively knew that the endless breath coming out of her friend and into her was the life-energy she needed. Filling her with power …
Yes, my dear! That’s it! Feed me, Cassandra!
With a choking noise, Cassie dropped Isabella’s wrists and took a pace backward. Isabella’s eyes opened lazily, and she coughed, rubbing her eyelids as though she was trying to wake up from a deep slumber. Cassie’s heart was racing, not just out of alarm at what she had been doing, or the reappearance of Estelle’s voice, but from the huge, almost overwhelming rush of vitality. She’d never felt more alive. It was as though her senses were all snapped into hyper-focus.
‘Yes. Good control, Cassandra,’ said Sir Alric. Cassie jumped, almost surprised to find he was still standing beside them. ‘Well done, both of you.’
Cassie turned to Isabella tentatively. ‘Are you OK?’
Isabella paused, then let out a short laugh.
‘That’s it?’ Incredulity flooded her voice.
‘Isabella? Are you sure you’re—’
‘I’m absolutely fine,’ Isabella said. She looked up at Cassie and grinned, then threw her arms around her friend in a tight hug. ‘See, I told you, Cassie Bell. There was no need for all that build-up! No sweat.’
Cassie nodded, still a hint of doubt lingering in her mind.
‘Yeah. That was … I guess it was less involved than I expected. Still, I don’t know if it’s something I want to do on a regular basis.’ Her head was spinning.
‘Regular feeding is a must, Cassie,’ said Sir Alric seriously. ‘As you have seen, if done properly, it is a simple and harmless procedure. But if you leave it too long – if you let yourself become too hungry – that is when you make mistakes and lose control. And that is when people get hurt.’
He walked to the door and placed a hand on the doorknob. ‘For the moment, the Tears of the Few will help to sustain you. As long as their effect lingers, you will not need to feed as regularly as the other Few. You have done well today, but as soon as you feel the hunger growing, Cassandra, you must let me know, and we will meet again.’
Sir Alric Darke opened the door. ‘Until then …’
CHAPTER TEN
‘I look ridiculous.’
‘You do not. You look gorgeous!’
Cassie and Isabella stood together in front of the mirrored wardrobe, Isabella impossibly elegant in jeans, leather boots and red cashmere, Cassie obsessively smoothing and tugging at the dark-green silk of her borrowed dress.
‘You don’t like it? You don’t like my dress!’
‘Isabella, I love your dress. It’s what’s inside it that looks like an idiot.’
‘Tchah! You are blind as well as stupid.’ Isabella tossed her hair. ‘I’m looking stunning, darling, and you look twice as good as me. Of course, I’d like to think I am at least a little bit responsible for that.’
Cassie grinned. Things between her and Isabella had been surprisingly normal since the feeding tutorial, much to Cassie’s relief. Even so, whatever Sir Alric said, she was planning to stretch things out as long as she possibly could before putting her friend – and herself – through the strange experience again.
She blinked at her reflection in the mirror. Her light-brown hair had had a proper cut – courtesy of Isabella again: how was she ever going to pay the girl back for this kindness as well as all the others? Now styled and smoothed, it had a satiny gleam. Isabella had chucked all Cassie’s congealed and broken old lipsticks and eyeshadows into the bin, and worked some kind of magic with her own vastly expensive make-up kit. Staring into the mirror was like looking at a different person – a new, way-better-looking version of herself. She chuckled sardonically at her reflection and again pulled at her dress uncomfortably.
Isabella was right about one thing: she’d let herself get too thin – an invading spirit and the subsequent trauma would do that to a girl – but the colour of the fabric did bring out her eyes. The contrast with the rich, dark green made her yellow-green irises look brilliantly pale and piercing.
Her friend gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘Trust me, you look fabulous, OK? Now get your Jimmy Choos on. You’re going to party with your beau!’
‘Get your Jimmy Choos on, you mean,’ remarked Cassie under her breath, but she felt a thrill of glamour as she slipped into the gorgeous stilettos. ‘Am I going to be able to walk?’
‘In these shoes you do not walk, Cassie, you stalk.’
‘Sure, whatever you say. I just wonder where I’m going dressed like this. I wish we were going to Coney Island with you guys.’
Perhaps she might even have had a chance to talk to Jake about his extra-curricular activities. Jake was still avoiding being alone with Cassie, and she was certain it was so that she couldn’t pressure him to give up the hunt for Katerina.