"I mean that you fancy her. It's obvious. But you've been down this road many times before. You know where it leads."
"She's just coming to the event," Noah said. "What's wrong with that? Lots of other people are going and they're all punters as well."
Abby folded her arms belligerently across her chest. "I'm not stupid!"
"Give him a break, will you," Gary snapped.
Abby was not to be deterred. "She's a fan, Gary, and she's got her sights set. There's something a bit odd about her. I can just feel it."
"He's a grown man," Gary said in a tired voice. "For Christ's sake, Ab, you sound like his bloody mother."
"I'm the nearest he has to that," Abby said, getting into the front passenger seat of Noah's car.
For the next few days, Noah couldn't stop thinking about Lara Hoskins. Abby was wrong to be so suspicious. Of course, he had met Sarah at a lecture, long before he'd begun the regular meetings, and perhaps this was why Abby was so scared for him. He'd dated lots of girls since, some of them plucked from the "Enigmas of History" group, and he was the first to admit that none of them had worked out particularly well, but he was sure this was different. Lara was bright and had an enquiring mind. There were no warning signs. Her hands had been steady on her glass all evening. She'd been open and sociable.
By Sunday morning he was buzzing with anticipation, and spent more time than usual on his appearance. Lara was probably about ten years younger than him, in her mid-twenties by the look of her, but that didn't matter. He looked young for his age. All his life, women had flocked to him.
When he drew up outside her house, she came through the front door before he'd even turned off the engine. She was dressed in black jeans and T-shirt, with a black hooded fleece tied around her waist, presumably in case it got cold later. Her long black hair was caught up in a severe ponytail but swished provocatively around her head and shoulders as she ran down the short drive to the road. She was as slim as a boy and looked athletic. Noah's heart turned over. She was gorgeous.
"Hi!" she said breathlessly as she virtually threw herself into the car. She smelled strongly of an oriental yet floral scent.
"Hi," Noah echoed. "I like a woman who's ready on time."
Lara laughed. It was a bright, free sound, devoid of artifice. Of course, she'd been ready for hours.
When they arrived at the meeting point, Noah was pleased to see there was a good turnout about seven packed cars. Abby was going round collecting money and distributing maps.
At each site they visited, Noah had the group sit down and meditate to see if they could pick up any information from the past, such as what the site might have been used for in ancient times. He never did this at the indoor meetings. This was his select group, with whom he was prepared to try more "weird stuff, as some referred to it. During the meditation, Lara saw a great deal of detailed and pertinent imagery. "I think you're psychic," Noah told her privately.
"Oh, I know that ," she said.
"You couldn't be more perfect," Noah said.
Lara smiled. "When can we continue our conversation?"
"Later. How about dinner?"
"Sounds great."
Noah had to lose Abby and Gary for the evening, which was not easy. He didn't want Abby to know he was taking Lara out, sure that she would insist that she and Gary went with him. Fortunately, they'd brought their own car that day, so at the last site Noah whisked Lara off quickly, virtually without saying goodbye to anybody. He knew he'd have to pay for it later and could anticipate Abby's terse message that would be waiting on his answerphone when he got home. But for the time being, he didn't give a damn. Both he and Lara were giggling as his car skidded away in a cloud of dust and gravel.
"Why do I get the feeling we're playing truant?" Lara asked.
"Sometimes, I want a bit of privacy, that's all," Noah answered. "The trouble with these events is that people want it to carry on till all hours. Sometimes, that's fine, but tonight" He glanced at her and she smiled.
He took her to a Thai restaurant he'd never visited before, secure in the knowledge that none of the group would track him there. The food was rather lacklustre, but it didn't matter, because Lara was sitting opposite him and her smile seemed to enfold him in a hazy golden mist. They were both high on the sense of being secret conspirators. They were high on the potential of what might happen later.
Lara seemed content to listen to Noah talk about his new book, and it wasn't until the coffee arrived that she broached the subject she'd brought up after the meeting last Tuesday. "Why did you react so badly to my question?"
"I don't think I did. Some things I just steer clear of."
"So what's the story behind it?" She took a sip of coffee, smiled disarmingly. "Or is it a secret?"
Noah leaned back in his chair. "It's no secret. If you become part of the core group — and I'm sure you will — anyone would tell you about it. Basically, while I was writing Nosferatu I was involved in more than the obvious method of research. The problem came from that."
Lara put her head to one side. "What do you mean?"
"You saw what we did today. People are keen on the psychic stuff. On one level, it's harmless, and most people never go beyond that. But on another, it isn't. Sitting outside an old church and trying to visualise images of the past can't hurt anyone, because it's dead and gone. It's nothing more than a psychic photograph. But other things, well, they're more alive, still around, so to speak."
Lara laughed, lit a cigarette. "Are you trying to tell me that you contacted a vampire psychically?"
Noah hesitated for a moment. Part of him didn't want to say more, but Lara's wide eyes were fixed upon him with a bright, intelligent gaze. He felt safe with her. "I worked with a girl called Sarah. People don't realize it, but a lot of the information in my books comes from what I call 'inspired' sources, from psychics. Most of what I find out can't be used in a serious book, because it can't be checked out and verified as fact, but it gives me a feel for and understanding of the subject. Sarah was my assistant and also my partner. She was very psychic."
" Was," Lara said, her chin resting on her hands. Smoke curled around her in slow tendrils. "That sounds ominous."
"Let's just say that I was interested in the origin of the vampire myth, like you are. I'd investigated all the legends of blood-drinking demons, from medieval Europe right back to Sumerian times. Somewhere along the way, the flavour of the subject changed." He gestured with both hands. "It's difficult to describe, but the idea of the vampire as unfortunate undead — perhaps a victim of their circumstances — mutated into the idea that the original vampires were very much alive and that their vampirism was by choice, a necessary facet of their belief system."
Lara nodded enthusiastically. "That's my thought also."
"It all seemed very academic to us. We called them the vulture people, a shamanic tribe who indulged in blood drinking and sacrifice. Sarah picked up some interesting stuff that pointed us in the direction of certain ancient sites in Turkey. The imagery she saw could be verified. These places existed and there was archaeological evidence that a shamanic culture existed there, who had worshipped vultures. They believed that drinking blood gave them superhuman abilities. Whether that was true or not, we thought that other tribes would probably have regarded them as supernatural, as demons, even, because of their bloodthirsty habits. We believed that there was a diaspora and that factions of this tribe might have moved gradually into Europe, eventually giving rise to the vampire legend.
"Every evening, I'd have Sarah go into a kind of trance, guiding her further and further back into the past, seeking the true story. It seemed we were meant to discover all this, to make the link. The vulture people became more real for us: powerful shamans, who used the rites of blood to change their world. As time went on, Sarah started to get jumpy about it. She said she sensed little dark things that scuttled in the folds of these creatures' vulture wing robes, that they had begun to touch her. She wanted to stop, but I persuaded her otherwise. I thought we were getting close to something that would prove my theory incontrovertibly. We had to continue. But then, one night, Sarah brought something back with her."