Dark Vision Read Online Free PDF

did that band look … dead?’ I asked, surprised that that was my first question. There was so much to ask, but for some reason, that was what snuck out. The image had been bothering me ever since I saw it, lying there dormant behind all my own personal identity issues. I mean, I’ve seen some odd shit in my time, but skeletons playing bass? That’s is pretty much at the top of the list.
    ‘They looked dead because they are,’ he replied, still staring disconcertingly at my mouth. ‘They’re vampires. You’d be amazed how many successful rock bands are.’
    ‘Hmm,’ I muttered, because I couldn’t think of anything else to say. I should have been totally freaked out. Should have been running for the nearest exit. Should have been surreptitiously dialling 999 on my mobile under the table. Yet somehow … it rang true. I knew what I’d seen, and while I’d never got to grips with my visions, I’d also never known them to totally lie. That’d be like fibbing to myself, wouldn’t it?
    Even that incident with the monks on the school trip had turned out to be scarily rooted in reality, when I looked into it years later. There
were
monks there, centuries ago, and they did ferry people across the Mersey. And that band last night … they
were
dead. Surprisingly good musicians for the tragically deceased, but dead all the same. As for other bands, he was right – the very best, the very biggest, they had a certain charisma, a certain appeal, that went beyond their music and their Goth-chic clothes. So. Vampire rock. Brilliant.
    ‘You don’t seem surprised,’ said Gabriel, who was now playing footsie with me, forcing me to shuffle my boots around like a demented tap dancer to avoid his touch.
    ‘Stop it!’ I snapped, stamping down on his feet with all the weight of my size-eight Doc Martens. He grimaced, issuing a small ouch. It felt surprisingly good to see him in pain.
    ‘Is that what
you
are, then, a vampire?’ I asked, struggling to believe I was having this conversation at all. Never mind in full public view, in front of Costa Coffee, with the hissing announcements about the delayed 10.20 to Newton le Willows echoing in the background. Also struggling to believe that as I asked it, I found myself checking out Gabriel’s luscious lips, imaging what it would feel like to have them pressed against my neck …
    ‘No. Don’t be stupid. I’m here, aren’t I? Haven’t you ever watched
Buffy
, for goodness’ sake? I’m not disappearing in a puff of smoke, ergo, I’m not a vampire. I’m something entirely different. I’m something like you.’
    ‘You mean you’re a socially retarded music critic with parent issues?’
    ‘No. And you’re not retarded, Lily, you’re just … waiting to blossom. As for the parent issues, isn’t that what you really want to know? About them? Your parents?’
    Ah. He’d done it. Cut to the chase. Gone to the heart of the matter. The matter I was subconsciously trying to avoid. Because while I knew that being Lily McCain, orphaned granddaughter to a cold-hearted fake nan, isn’t ideal, it’s what I know. It’s who I’ve been for most of my life, and it’s all I have. Having this conversation could change everything I’ve assumed to be true. And does anybody really like change that much? Speaking as a person who’s been wearing the same brand of eyeliner for the last twelve years, I can could safely say I don’t.
    ‘My parents,’ I repeated, looking into his eyes for … what, reassurance? He was the one who’d started all this. He was the one who’d exploded my dull but perfectly satisfactory life into chaos.
    ‘It would have happened anyway, Lily, with or without me. It’s time. People are coming for you, and you need to be ready.’
    ‘What the hell are you talking about, Gabriel? And stay out of my bloody mind, will you?’
    He smiled, and my heart thudded extra hard at the curve of his lips, the flash of white teeth. Inappropriate reaction, I told