She Danced under the Stars ✔

15

Once outside, I look up at the starry sky. Night is still just as gorgeous. A few streets away, I can hear the siren of an ambulance. The wind carries my murmur. 'Master, guide me.'

I can hear a rustling of cloth on my right; his cloaked figure vanishes around the corner of an all-night pharmacy. The neon green sign says that it's eight to three in the morning.

I stride off towards the hills after him. From time to time, I catch a glimpse of him waving at me on the corner of an alley. I still don't understand why he leaves me behind. Is he worried that we will be spotted, or more easily suspected, if we keep together? Where will he take me now? Maybe I'll see Lily again. The local vampires must have a lair. He was waiting for me to learn a thing or two before taking me there.

When I see him walking through a gate on the left, I slow down. I soon stop before the Saint Lazarus church—he's just gone in there.

Churches, like roofs, have always fascinated me. I look up at the building: the Romanesque facade has an imposing wooden door topped by a rose window. I walk through the gate then around the square to the garden. I can't help trembling in anticipation: if he's waiting for me under the trees, what's going to happen? Is he going to lead me down to the crypt and introduce me to his peers? Is he going to take me to a rooftop and undress me and bite me as passionately as he did the first time?

I find the back door of the church. Locked. And yet I know that he's in there. I knock loud. 'Nathaniel, open the door! You didn't leave me the key.'

No answer. I breathe a deep sigh.

'Open the door, please. If this is another part of my learning, well this is not funny.' I wait a few more seconds in the dark. Still no one. I feel a surge of anger. 'You don't really want me to play ram, do you?'

Out of the corner of my ear, I catch a little laugh. Impish enough to arouse the last bit of desire in me. I take a few steps back and, shoulder first, I throw myself against the door with all my strength. The wood creaks as a protest.

'Let me in, you cheat!' I yell. 'That's not fair! Do you hear me? Let me in!'

I move back and charge at the door. I won't give up. The loud thud of my body against the wood pounds the silence, over and over again. That door is going to give way. I can feel it. I'm strong enough to break the lock.

With each of my tries, I roar louder. Time freezes. My shoulder rams the wood, powerfully, without me feeling the slightest pain. My ears are ringing. After a while, I realize that someone's calling out to me in the distance.

'Young lady! What on earth are you doing? Calm down! Calm down!'

I lean against the door. A priest rushes over to me with a flashlight in his hand. He comes from the small house at the back of the garden. I shake my fist at him. 'Open that door.'

'What do you want? Sacred objects? The offertory box?'

'Just you to open that door.' I glance at the bunch of keys in his hand. 'I don't care about money. I'm looking for someone. That's all.'

After hesitating for a few seconds, he comes closer. I step aside so that he can unlock the door, but I stay within his field of vision. I have no intention of attacking him by surprise. The look in my eyes must have told him that I wasn't lying. Or maybe he thought I was looking for Jesus . . .

He pushes the wooden door damaged by my assaults. A long creaking can be heard, echoing inside. I enter the church behind the priest as he sweeps the aisles with the beam of his flashlight. My footsteps clack on the stone floor. I don't dare call to my master out loud, but all my senses are quivering in wait for him.