Blood and Gold - Anne Rice [13]
Marius filled his pockets with paper money. He offered handfuls of this to Thorne, but Thorne refused, thinking it greedy to take this from his host.
Marius said, “It’s all right. I’ll take care of you. But if we become separated somehow, simply return here. Come round to the back of the house, and you’ll find the door there open.”
Separated? How might that happen? Thorne was dazed by all that was taking place. The smallest aspect of things gave him pleasure.
They were all but ready to take their leave when the young Daniel came in and stared at both of them.
“Do you want to join us?” Marius asked. He was pulling his gloves very tight so that they showed his very knuckles.
Daniel didn’t answer. He appeared to be listening, but he said nothing. His youthful face was deceiving, but his violet eyes were truly wonderful.
“You know that you can come,” said Marius.
The younger one turned and went back, presumably to his small kingdom.
Within minutes they were on their way in the falling snow, Marius’s arm around Thorne as though Thorne needed the reassurance.
And I shall drink soon.
When they came at last to a large inn, it was into a cellar that they went where there were hundreds of mortals. Indeed the size of the room overwhelmed Thorne.
Not only did glittering noisy mortals eat and drink in this place, in dozens of little groups, they danced to the music of several diligent players. At big green tables with wheels they played at games of chance with loud raucous cries and easy laughter. The music was electric and loud; the flashing lights were horrid, the smell of food and blood was overpowering.
The two blood drinkers went utterly unnoticed, except for the tavern girl who accompanied them unquestioningly to a small table in the very midst of things. Here they could see the twisting dancers, who seemed one and all to be dancing alone rather than with anyone else, each moving to the music in a primitive way as though drunk on it.
The music hurt Thorne. He didn’t think it beautiful. It was like so much confusion. And the flashing lights were ugly.
Marius leant over to whisper in Thorne’s ear:
“Those lights are our friend, Thorne. They make it difficult to see what we are. Try to bear with them.”
Marius gave an order for hot drinks. The little tavern girl turned her bright flirtatious eyes on Thorne. She made some quick remark as to his red hair and he smiled at her. He wouldn’t drink from her, not if all the other mortals of the world were dried up and taken away from him.
He cast his eyes around the room, trying to ignore the din that pounded at his ears, and the overwhelming smells that almost sickened him.
“The women, see, near the far wall,” said Marius. “They want to dance. That’s why they’re here. They’re waiting to be asked. Can you do it as you dance?”
“I can,” said Thorne almost solemnly, as if to say, Why do you ask me? “But how do I dance?” he asked, watching the couples who crowded the designated floor. He laughed for the first time since he’d ever gone North. He laughed, and in the din he could barely hear his own laughter. “I can drink, yes, without any mortal ever knowing it, even my victim, but how can I dance in this strange way?”
He saw Marius smile broadly. Marius had thrown his cloak back over the chair. He appeared so calm amid this awful unendurable combination of illumination and music.
“What do they do but move about clumsily together?” Thorne asked.
“Do the same,” said Marius. “Move slowly as you drink. Let the music and the blood talk to you.”
Thorne laughed again. Suddenly with a wild bit of nerve he rose and made his way around the edges of the crowded dance floor to the women who were already looking eagerly towards him. He chose the dark-haired of the three, because women with dark eyes and dark hair had always fascinated him. Also she was the eldest and least likely to be chosen by a man, and he did not mean to leave her harmed by his interest.
At once she rose, and he held her small limp hands in