Three Nights of the Vampire- The Complete Trilogy

by Amy Cross

  Not that this stopped me screaming, of course.

  I screamed until my lungs hurt.

  We slammed into tree after tree as we hurtled to the ground. A moment later, there was the sound of a huge explosion and I saw flames roaring high above the forest. There was no time to react to that, however, because Matthias was already grunting as we hit yet more trees. And then, just as I began to think that this nightmare fall would never end, I saw the ground coming straight toward us. I squeezed my eyes tight shut and continued to scream, and finally Matthias made sure that I landed on him as we bumped across the ground and came to rest in a small, moonlit clearing.

  For a few seconds, I didn't dare to move.

  “Chloe?” Matthias said eventually, his voice tense with pain. “Are you alright?”

  “I...”

  I was still terrified, and in truth I wasn't entirely sure how Matthias had managed to save me. Finally, however, I climbed off him and looked around, and I realized that we'd made it down to terra firma. A fierce forest fire was raging not too far away, no doubt marking the spot where the plane had crashed, but we were alive.

  “We made it,” I stammered, still not quite able to believe that we'd survived plummeting from a plane. Some crazy things had already happened to me since I'd first met Matthias, but this seemed to be on a whole new level. “We're actually on the ground.”

  “Yes,” Matthias said stiffly.

  “I thought...”

  My voice trailed off for a moment.

  “I thought we were going to die,” I continued finally. “I mean, I thought I was going to die. I thought there was no way...”

  “Chloe...”

  “Those were the most terrifying few seconds of my life,” I told him. “I mean, they were even more terrifying than the time the tank was firing in the village.”

  “Chloe...”

  “Even with Zieghoff, and the torture, I was able to tell myself that somehow I'd find a way to escape. But as you threw us out of that plane -”

  “Chloe.”

  “I really thought it was over. I thought there was no way I'd -”

  “Chloe, would you mind?”

  I turned to him, and I suddenly realized that he'd remained in the same supine position since we'd landed. He was flat on his back, and he looked a little uncomfortable.

  “Chloe,” he continued cautiously, “when we landed, I happened to land on a rather unfortunately placed tree stump that was sticking up from the ground. It's quite small, but in some ways that's the problem. I need to get up now.”

  “Let me help you.”

  “No,” he said quickly, “I can do that part. It's just that I would... prefer some... privacy.”

  “Oh?”

  “Please look away for a moment.”

  “Oh.”

  I hesitated, and then I looked over toward the flaming wreckage in the distance.

  Behind me, Matthias let out a pained groan.

  “Can I turn back now?” I asked.

  “If you must.”

  Turning, I saw that he was now standing tall, although he still looking a little awkward.

  “It's one thing to be able to survive a fall from that height,” he muttered, “but it's another thing entirely to do it while maintaining one's dignity. Especially if one lands on a stump.”

  Looking down, I saw a small tree stump poking up from the grass. Barely ten inches tall, it was about the same again in diameter.

  “That bad, huh?” I asked, turning to Matthias again.

  “At least we salvaged this,” he replied, holding up the small bag containing the ring, which he'd rather impressively managed to hold onto even as we fell from the sky. “I saw some maps in the plane, as well. I'd assumed that the ring was being taken to Germany or France, but that wasn't the case.”

  “Where was it being taken?” I asked.

  He stared at me for a moment, as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd seen. And then, before he could say anything more, I heard voices shouting in the distance.

  “Hugo and Judith are coming to look for us,” Matthias said darkly. “We should go and let them know that we're okay. Well, that you are, at least. They'll already know that I'm absolutely fine.”

  With that, he began to make his way past me, although it was evident that he seemed to be walking very strangely, as if he was in a degree of pain.

  “Matthias!” Judith was shouting somewhere far off in the forest. “Chloe! Where are you?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hugo

  “Murhenge is an ancient site in the south of England,” I muttered as I pondered the implications of what Matthias had told me. “It's central to certain pre-Christian religions, but I fail to understand why anyone would want to take the ring there. There are plenty of other, more obvious sites across Europe.”

  “I'm just telling you what I saw,” Matthias replied stonily. “The pilot had plotted a course that would have taken him straight to Murhenge. He was going to land on an old airstrip about twenty miles from the site.”

  “There must be someone waiting there for him,” I pointed out. “Someone who, very soon, is going to realize that the ring has been intercepted. When that happens...”

  I turned and looked past the car. Nearby, flames were still roaring through the forest, and I knew that sooner rather than later we'd have company. The British military would arrive to investigate the crash, and I most certainly did not want to deal with yet another group of officious humans. There were some days when I simply struggled to muster the interest in a good old-fashioned slaughtering session.

  “This couldn't be anything to do with Klaus Zieghoff, could it?” Chloe asked.

  I glanced at her.

  “I know we all assumed that he was dead,” she continued, “but we didn't actually see the body. I mean, that's kind of suspicious, isn't it?”

  “There would have been no body,” I reminded her. “He was incinerated. And an entire building collapsed on top of him.”

  “But what if he wasn't incinerated?” she asked. “I know it must sound crazy, but just think about it for a moment. Right before he died, Zieghoff had become a hugely powerful vampire. You've said it yourself, you don't exactly know the extent of his potential Obviously the power seems to have destroyed him pretty quickly, but what if there's something we don't know? Isn't it at least worth considering that possibility?”

  I was about to start explaining to her that there were several reasons why she was wrong, but at the last moment I realized that perhaps I was being hasty. I had no doubt that Zieghoff had perished in the inferno several years previously, but Chloe had made me start wondering whether there might be some way that his spirit had lingered. Or, if not his spirit, then perhaps some other form of influence.

  “One thing's certain,” Matthias said finally. “Standing around here is not going to solve anything. In the absence of any other ideas, I suggest that we need to go to this Murhenge place and see what we find there.”

  “Is that wise?” Judith asked. “What if we end up just taking the ring straight back to whoever wants it?”

  “They're not going to give up,” I pointed out. “We need to know why the ring is so important to them, and I'm afraid that means that we have to go to them and find out. We just need to be better prepared than we were this time. I can't believe that those idiots got the jump on us. I was staked through the heart! I want us to agree right now that we will never talk about that incident again!”

  “I second that suggestion,” Matthias said.

  “Are you guys actually embarrassed about that?” Chloe asked. “Seriously?”

  “It's considered very unfortunate for a vampire to be staked through the heart,” Matthias told her. “It's something that one tends not to live down. One tends to be found in... unfortunate positions.”

  “I don't want any more nasty surprises,” I told them all. “We blundered into this mess at the airfield and we very nearly paid with our lives. We'll get to Murhe
nge tomorrow, but right now I think we need to find somewhere to rest for the night. At least, the humans can rest. I need to think, I need to work out what Murhenge has to do with the ring, and I need to try to determine who's waiting for us there. This would all be much easier if I still had access to Doctor Russell's library, but it's too dangerous to go back to London. Besides, we don't have the time.”

  “We'll find somewhere to stop along the way,” Chloe suggested. “Right now, I think we should hit the road. It can't be much longer before someone comes to check out the cause of that fire.”

  As she and Matthias climbed into the car, I turned and saw that there was fear in Judith's eyes.

  “I'm not sure that you should accompany us,” I told her. “If you return to London -”

  “I'm not going anywhere without you,” she said, stepping closer and putting a hand on my arm. “Besides, I was pretty useful tonight. It's a shame you weren't able to see my shooting skills. I shouldn't say this, but I actually impressed myself a little.”

  “I'm constantly impressed by you,” I replied. “When this is all over, we -”

  “Let's not talk about the future just yet,” she said, putting a finger against my lips. “Talking about the future always scares me. Not only because of the war, but also because...”

  Her voice trailed off.

  “We're not the first human-vampire couple in history,” I told her. “There are ways to make it work.”

  “I hope so,” she said, “but right now we need to focus on this Murhenge place. No distractions. What do you think might be waiting for us there? Do you really think it could be Zieghoff?”

  I hesitated for a moment.

  “No,” I said finally, “I don't. I truly believe that he's dead. Which means that, whatever's behind all of this, it's something far more dangerous than Klaus Zieghoff.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chloe

  “Really?” I said cautiously a couple of hours later, as I stepped from the car in the dead of night and saw that we'd stopped outside a ramshackle, rundown old church that looked to have been left abandoned for years. “Are you sure we can't find somewhere else to stay?”

  “No, this'll be perfect,” Judith replied. “No-one will ever think to look for us here.”

  “Still -”

  “And it's only for a few hours,” she added. “Plus...”

  Her voice trailed off.

  “Well, it couldn't hurt to pray,” she continued finally. “Maybe you don't believe in that sort of thing. I'd understand that sentiment, after everything that's happened. Maybe nobody prays in the future, in the world you come from. But I'd like to pray. Can we at least stay long enough for that?”

  “We're moving on,” Matthias said firmly. “I refuse to stay the night in this place.”

  “And I refuse to leave,” Judith said, equally firmly.

  Matthias stared at her for a moment, clearly shocked by her demeanor.

  “We'll rest here until dawn,” Hugo said, for once being rather diplomatic. “I need time to think, Judith needs time to pray, Matthias probably needs time to brood, and doubtless Chloe would like to complain about something.”

  “Hey!” Matthias and I both said at the same time.

  “What's wrong?” Hugo asked, with a faint smile. “Can't the pair of you take a joke?”

  ***

  “Now this is just downright spooky,” I muttered as I made my way into another room at the rear of the church. There was just enough moonlight for me to be able to see some dusty old tables, but it was already clear that nobody had been into the building for years. “If I ever get back home, remind me to look this place up on the internet and see why it got abandoned.”

  “The internet?” Matthias asked behind me.

  “Long story. I'm not sure how to explain it really. It's like -”

  Suddenly I heard him let out a gasp of pain, and I turned to see him clutching his side as he lowered himself onto a chair.

  “What's wrong?” I asked, hurrying over and dropping to my knees. “Is it from getting staked?”

  He winced and shook his head.

  “Then what's happening?” I continued.

  “I...”

  His voice trailed off for a moment. When he finally looked at me, I could see the fear in his eyes.

  “I tried to tell you earlier,” he said after a few seconds. “My brother keeps insisting that I have to rest in order to recover from the poisoning attempt, but it's been years now and I'm not getting any better.”

  “Have you sought proper medical help?” I asked. “Is there, like, a vampire doctor somewhere?”

  “We have physicians,” he replied, “and Hugo has consulted with some of the best. The problem is that my brother sometimes refuses to accept things if he doesn't want them to be true. I think he'd bang his fists against the gates of reality itself rather than taste defeat. The problem is -”

  Suddenly he gasped again, and it was becoming increasingly clear that he was in serious pain.

  “I'll fetch Hugo,” I told him, as I began to get to my feet.

  “No, don't.” He reached out and grabbed my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “He'll just tell me again that I need to rest, and that everything will be okay, when I know full well that both those things are untrue.”

  “Then what -”

  “I'm dying, Chloe.”

  Staring at him, I realized that I was perhaps seeing the start of something that I'd already seen end.

  “The poison caused permanent damage,” he explained. “Hugo has done his best, he's most likely extended my life a little, but I can feel the deterioration getting stronger and stronger with each passing day. I might have a decade left, maybe two, but at some point I'll no longer be able to fight back. Right now, for example, I wonder whether I even have the strength to rise up from this chair.”

  “Of course you do,” I said, although I had to admit that he was looking weak.

  “What's my death really like?” he asked. “Let's not lie to one another here, Chloe. Tell me how it ends for me.”

  I swallowed hard, but my mouth felt extremely dry.

  “Obviously I manage to drag myself on for a little longer than seems possible right now,” he continued. “What fuels those extra years? Anger? Hatred?” He hesitated, still staring into my eyes. “Love?”

  “I don't know,” I replied, struggling to hold back the tears that I could already feel trying to burst out.

  “I fear that all our lives have been tied together into a great knot,” he explained. “Your life, my life, Hugo's, even Judith's. And right now, we're in the middle of that knot, searching for our way out. But the knot is constantly shifting, and as we struggle we find ourselves bound tighter and tighter, yet that tightening is also threatening to suffocate us. Perhaps, then, death truly is the only way out.”

  “No, Matthias,” I replied, and now I was helpless to keep a tear from rolling down my cheek. “There has to be another way.”

  “I know I'm right.”

  “But we can change time,” I told him. “Can't we? What if, once this is all sorted out, we go back and make sure that you're not poisoned?”

  He shook his head.

  “You don't know that we can't do that,” I said firmly. “Who poisoned you, anyway?”

  “I do not know,” he replied. “Believe me, if I did, I would not hold back. There were several occasions when it might have happened. Hugo believes that the poison was slow-acting at first, which makes it more difficult to determine where and when it was administered. One thing is certain, however. It might have taken longer than my assassin intended, but ultimately they will succeed. Immortality was just a dream, and death will come for me.”

  I shook my head, even though I knew he was right.

  “There has to be a way,” I told him. “You can't just give up!”

  I waited, but he was staring at me with a strange expression, as if he wanted to say something but was afraid of the response he'd receive.


  “There is one thing,” he said finally. “Chloe, I would never normally do this. Not in this way, at least. I had thought that maybe we would get there eventually, but now time is pressing and I'm starting to worry that I might never get a chance.”

  “What is it?” I asked. “Tell me, and I'll do it. I'll do anything for you.”

  “Perhaps not this,” he replied.

  “I'll do anything,” I said firmly, leaning closer to him.

  I waited, but again he seemed scared to tell me.

  And then, suddenly, he leaned toward me and kissed me on the lips. I felt a wave of shock that instantly changed and became relief, and I allowed the kiss to last for half a minute or so before finally Matthias pulled back. I tried to kiss him again, but this time he seemed reluctant.

  “I love you,” I said, before I even knew that those words were going to come out of my mouth.

  I could see the hesitation in his eyes, and for a moment I thought I had made a terrible mistake.

  “And I love you too,” he replied finally, as if he was astonished to have said such a thing. “Until I met you, I never thought a vampire could love a human. Not really. But...”

  His voice trailed off.

  This time, I was the one who initiated the kiss. I leaned toward him and let my lips touch his, and now he didn't turn away. This second kiss was longer, and more passionate, and I felt as if I never wanted it to end. I felt Matthias put his arms around me and hold me tight, and a shudder of anticipation ran through my body as the kiss went on and on, until finally Matthias pulled away slightly and moved his mouth to the side of my neck. I let out a gasp, wondering whether he was about to bite me, but instead he hesitated for a moment.

  We kissed again, and slowly he lowered me down to the floor and began to undress me.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Hugo

  “I'm missing something,” I said darkly, as I stood halfway along the aisle in the main part of the church and watched Judith praying at the altar. Moonlight was streaming through the stained glass windows. “I'm being a fool. Something is right in front of me, something that explains this whole mess, and I'm not seeing it at all.”