by Philip Henry
“We have to find somewhere to hide,” she whispered to Tom. “I know a couple of places that are hopefully still derelict, but we’re going to have to take the back streets and be very quiet. OK?”
Tom nodded. Claire picked her way through the alleys and lanes, pausing in the darkness of peoples’ gardens to let Tom rest. The night was still and the slightest sound seemed to carry far into the night. They had avoided their pursuers for nearly half an hour and Claire’s confidence was strong that they could slip through the net. They moved on. Tom was quiet and did what he was told, something else a normal nine year old wouldn’t do no matter how important his mother told him it was. They were in a section of town with old, one-storey houses that were now just used for storage. Some of them had flat roofs and some had pitched. Claire thought the safest thing to do might be to climb onto one of the roofs and wait out the men with guns. She looked around and reached up. She could reach the lip of the roof. She could pull herself up and then pull Tom up. She weighed up her choices and decided that hiding probably was the safer option. If the police had called in the Armed Response Team they were taking Claire’s attack on the roadblock personally and she didn’t like her chances of talking her way out of being shot.
“OK, Tom, we’re going up on the roof of this building. We’re going to hide here ‘til morning. I’ll go up first then you reach up and I’ll pull you up, OK?”
Tom nodded and Claire felt her heart ache at how much she loved him. She was going to make this all up to him somehow. She reached up and grabbed the lip of the roof and managed to scale the wall, pulling with her arms and scrambling with her feet. She flung her leg over the lip when she was high enough and then rolled off the edge and landed face-down on the roof. She got up quickly and went back to the edge. She looked down and saw Tom looking up and she was reminded of him when he was younger, wanting to be lifted. Claire reached down her hand as far as she could. Tom reached up. A barrage of bullets hit the wall between their hands, spitting plaster into Tom’s face. Claire jumped off the roof and landed behind Tom. She wrapped her arms around him as a shield and pushed him forward. Another spray of bullets hit the corner of the wall as they ran round. Claire dropped to the ground and held Tom as tightly as she could. She could hear the sound of boots running up the alley towards them.
Then she heard an engine at high rev. Claire turned just in time to see a silver motorcycle launch itself off one of the pitched roofs. It flew high over her head and into the alley. Claire followed the path of the bike in the air and saw it headed for her attacker. The man with the gun was momentarily frozen at the spectacle and that was all the rider needed. A leather boot shot out from the bike and caught the gunman hard under the chin. The man hit the ground about the same time as the bike. The man was instantly still when he fell but the bike bounced awkwardly and it was only the skill of the rider that kept it upright. The motorcycle got to the end of the alley and skidded around and came to a stop facing up the alley again. The biker looked up the street and then revved quickly. More gunfire followed the bike back into the alley. The bike rocketed past the unconscious gunman and skidded to a halt beside Claire and Tom.
The rider flicked up her visor and said, “Get on. There’s another one coming up the street.” Claire didn’t know who this woman was but she’d seen the alternative. She got to her feet and put Tom on behind the woman then she climbed on behind Tom.
“Hold on tight to the lady, Tom.”
The rider turned and smiled. “My name’s Chloe. Chloe Knight.” She flipped down her visor again and the bike lurched forward powerfully. Claire was holding onto Chloe as she picked her way through the streets at reckless speed. Soon they were on a main road and the wind in Claire’s face was even stronger. Claire tried to tell Chloe to let her off anywhere that was convenient but her words were lost in the wind and the scream of the motorcycle’s engine. Chloe only slowed when she got to her own driveway. It was on the outskirts of Portrush and it was palatial. Claire didn’t think anyone in Portrush was this rich.
Chloe took off her helmet and let loose a long shock of blonde hair. She was pretty and looked good in her leathers. Chloe took them inside and gave them something to eat while she made a phone call to the police to call off the Armed Response Team. It was amazing how many police matters got dropped if the phrase “It’s Ministry Business” was used. Tom was yawning the whole way through his meal. He was exhausted. When Chloe got the opportunity she told Claire to put Tom to bed in one of the guestrooms and then they could talk. Tom tried to protest that he wasn’t tired. Claire took him upstairs and put him in bed. She sat with him for a few minutes and he was asleep. She closed the door quietly and went back downstairs to Chloe. The huge house echoed her footsteps as she descended. She was amazed by the paintings on the walls, the sculptures and the antique furniture. Everything in the house was the best it could possibly be. No corners cut, no money saved. The only thing missing seemed to be a family.
Claire found Chloe in the living room sitting before a large open fireplace. The fire was burning and Claire felt its comforting warmth from the doorway. She walked over and sat beside Chloe, who was uncorking a bottle of wine. She poured two glasses and gave one to Claire. Claire was beginning to get suspicious of what this woman, who had so much, wanted from her. Why had she helped them? Why had she risked her life to save them?
“So I suppose you’re wondering who the hell I am?” Chloe said.
“Yes.”
“I’m someone who knows, Claire. Someone who knows about vampires. Someone who knows that you and Xavier used to be vampires, and someone who thinks it’s very important that Tom lives.”
Claire took a drink of her wine. “I think you better start from the beginning,” she finally said to Chloe.
Chloe told her everything she knew. How she had stumbled upon the tomb of a dead Knight of the Round Table. She had somehow been imbued with special powers by putting on an enchanted amulet. It had led her to two vampires: Kaaliz and George. She had managed to kill George but Kaaliz had dropped her from a great height and she had broken her leg very badly. In hospital she had met a girl called Lynda, a dhampir, and they had worked out the location of the vampires’ lair – or Claire and Xavier’s house – and Lynda had gone off to deal with the threat. She didn’t know exactly what had happened that night. She never saw Lynda again. She was in hospital for a long time but when she got out the vampire problem seemed to be over so she had put the amulet on the market. When word got around of what it was, interested parties appeared from all over the world to authenticate the item. It went to auction in London. No one knew what such an unusual and historic piece would be worth. The agent that handled the sale for Chloe told her it might go as high as £500,000. When the bidding was over that day the item had been sold to an anonymous buyer (on the telephone) and Chloe was £7.9m richer.
She still had the sword that she found with the body of the knight – it was jewel encrusted and she was advised to sell it, too. Chloe said she wouldn’t know what to do with any more money and held onto it just in case she might need it again someday. She also still had the knight’s armour. It had been polished to a high shine and stood, assembled, in her entrance hall. Her donations to the local branch of the Ministry had helped with her quest to know more about the vampires of the area. She knew Kaaliz had been locked up. She had even offered to pay to keep the local Ministry office open but HQ had told her it was a waste of money and manpower that could be better employed elsewhere. So she had let the Ministry close, but kept enough gadgets, monitors and police scanners around just in case anything ever happened and voila! Tonight it had.
She said she had intercepted the report of the fracas at the hospital but by the time she got there it was all over. She had heard the report of the car stolen from outside the hospital and had put two and two together. She had heard of the roadblock being ran and had followed the trail into town. It was just pure luck that Chloe found Claire before the Armed Response Team di
d.
Claire was fascinated. Not just because of the blanks it was filling in for her, but because she was hearing the other side of the story. She was hearing the motivations and clues that led the Ministry to them all those years ago. Chloe had been granted access to Christian Warke’s case files and was able to tell Claire why he had come after them with such vengeance, and Claire was able to put all the conjecture to rest by telling Chloe what had actually happened to Christian Warke that night.
One thing was still niggling Claire. It was something that Chloe had said earlier and nothing she said so far had explained it. “Why did you say it’s very important that Tom lives?”
Chloe got up and went to her bookshelves, which seemed to be crammed with antique books and first editions. She took out a volume and brought it back to the sofa. As Chloe flipped through the pages Claire saw it was the Vampyre Corpora. Chloe stopped when she had found the passage she was looking for. She handed the book to Claire and pointed at the section. Claire looked at the top of the page and saw it was the Book of Days to Come. The passage had chilled her bones. Could it be that Tom was the chosen one? That Tom was going to bring about the end of vampires?
Chloe and Claire had got off the subject of vampires eventually and talked into the wee small hours. Chloe was sad that she had never found anyone to start a family with. After she became rich she felt that men seemed to fall into two categories: those who had money of their own and looked down on her for her lack of refinement; or those that didn’t have money and wanted to spend hers. She had tried and given up searching for Mr Right more than once, and still tried every once in a while. She had even had a fling with one of the Daves (or possibly both) when her self-esteem was at its lowest and her inebriation was at its highest. Chloe told stories of the two Daves’ ability to turn the simplest chore into the most challenging duty. She kept them around because she liked them, loved them even, and they both had good hearts – if not good lungs anymore. They were her company through good times and bad and didn’t treat her any different when she was a multi-millionaire than they did when she was on the dole, though Chloe suspected that maybe they hadn’t noticed or had forgotten.
It was too late or too early so Chloe suggested that Claire go upstairs and get some sleep. Claire objected at first, saying that it was too close to dawn and they shouldn’t waste any sunlight; they should get as far away as possible. Chloe had convinced her that she wouldn’t get far. She was right. Claire was exhausted and if challenged she would be physically and mentally incapable of escaping. She needed to sleep. She went to bed saying that she wouldn’t sleep long. November days were short enough without her sleeping through most of it.
But she had slept. She had snuggled up close to Tom and they had both slept soundly. Now she was awake she could see just how much of the day was gone. She didn’t want to wake Tom but she had to. The door edged open and Chloe looked in. She saw Tom sleeping and smiled. She turned to Claire and beckoned her to come to the hall. When Claire came out Chloe shut the door lightly.
“Do you know what you want to do?” Chloe asked.
“We have to get moving, get out of town, as far away as possible.”
“You’re not going to get far before sunset. We lose the sun around four, that gives you less than ninety minutes. I can’t even give you a car because I just ordered a new one and my old one has been taken away already. You could take the bike…”
“I can’t ride.”
Chloe was hesitant, not because she was scared, but because she knew Claire wouldn’t go for it. “I could take you…”
“No,” Claire said firmly. “Thanks, but no. I don’t want to risk it.” Claire was bashful about asking but got it out eventually. “Listen, could you maybe give us some money? Just enough to…”
“Oh, of course, already done that. It’s downstairs waiting for you with some food and drink and a phone with my number programmed into it – if you need anything you call me.” Chloe’s face brightened. “Oh, I know! You could take the Daves’ car! It’s a bit beat up, but that’s just because of their driving, I bought it to them new a year ago.”
“The Daves are here?”
“No, they’re not, but they live in the little cottage that I built them on my land. They won’t mind.”
“Won’t they need the car?”
“No, they’re on a little stakeout for me at the moment.”
super detective squad z-100
Kaaliz was not in a good mood. He was furious to be caged again. The back of the lorry was reinforced steel for some unknown reason and it had resisted all his attempts to break through it. The lorry was only carrying stationary supplies so why the hell did it need to be so impenetrable? By the time the driver stopped it was daylight and though they could have, Sin convinced him that they shouldn’t kill the driver when he came in the back to unload. There were no windows in the back of the lorry so killing the driver without knowing where they were was stupid. What if he had parked in the middle of main street or outside a police station? It wouldn’t take the authorities long to become suspicious of an abandoned vehicle and they would have nowhere to go. So they hid. The driver came into the back, looked at his clipboard and took out a box. Then the back doors locked again. The driver made several stops that day while Kaaliz and Sin rested behind some larger boxes that they hoped wouldn’t be delivered before the sun went down. Kaaliz kept a check on the day by putting his hand on the wall of his cage. He could feel when the sun was at its peak – even on these winter days – and then it began to weaken and he knew it was heading rapidly for the horizon. When it finally sank behind the horizon he felt a huge change, barely noticeable to the human senses, but a necessary survival trait of the vampire. They could get out now. The next stop would be the driver’s last.
They had to wait a long time for the doors to open. They weren’t moving very fast and it was noisy outside. They must have been caught in traffic. Kaaliz was impatient and paced, longing for his liberation. Sin, who had been quiet and had spent the day dozing and getting as much rest as she could, decided to tell Kaaliz what she had been thinking about. “There seems to be a lot more people willing to put up a fight than we counted on.”
Kaaliz spun and faced her as if she had directly insulted him. “So what? I’ll fucking kill them all!”
“We’ll kill them all, baby,” Sin answered calmly. “But I don’t think we can take them all head on. I think we need a distraction.”
Kaaliz could see the evil blossoming in Sin’s eyes and it made him smile. “What have you got in mind?”
“Last night when you took Risk out, I stayed in and did my homework like a good little student. My plan has two parts. First, we…” The lorry jerked to a stop and the driver switched off the engine. “I’ll tell you later. Let’s feed on this guy and get home.” The driver unlocked the door and swung it open. He put one foot on the ramp to boost himself up and Kaaliz grabbed him by the throat and pulled him inside. Kaaliz bit into the man’s throat and silenced him before his scream made it out his mouth. Sin ripped the leg of his trousers open, exposing his upper thigh, and bit into his femoral artery. When they had drained the delivery driver they stepped out of the back of the lorry and locked the doors.
They were standing in the playground of a school. About thirty feet away a young girl of about ten sat on the perimeter wall reading a book. Sin approached the girl silently. “What are you reading?”
The girl had not seen or heard Sin approach and the question made her jump. She slid off the wall and faced the extremely pale but pretty woman. She held up the book cover to Sin. Sin looked at it: Ulterior by Darryl Sloan.
“Do you like it?” Sin asked.
The girl nodded her head quickly and Sin could sense the fear in her.
“Is this your school?”
The girl nodded again and took a slight step back. Sin looked at the badge on the girl’s blazer: Clounagh Junior High School, Portadown. Sin could hear the girl’s heart beating now. She
saw the sweat ooze from the girl’s pours. Sin took a step forward just as a car pulled up. The girl turned quickly, saw the car and picked up her bag.
“That’s my mum. Bye.” She said, turning and running to the family saloon by the kerb. Sin was tempted to go after her, to kill them both if need be, but Kaaliz put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her.
“Let’s get out of here,” Kaaliz said, turning his gaze back to the school. “I can sense something in there that makes me uneasy. Something…I don’t know. I don’t like it here…wherever here is.”
“Portadown,” Sin said, pronouncing the three syllables like three separate words.
“Portadown?” he repeated. “Damn. Come on, let’s go. We’re a fair way from the north coast.” Sin shot straight up into the night and after giving the school one more dubious look, Kaaliz joined her.
The four children rode into Tom’s yard like they had done a hundred times before, except this time their faces were serious. They weren’t over here to play cowboys & Indians in the trees next to Tom’s house, they weren’t here to launch a rebel assault on a home-made Death Star that they could burn later, they were here to be cops. Sarah had made them all paper wallets with tin-foil badges on one side and the officer’s name and other details (age, hair colour, favourite food, etc.) on the other side. If anyone tried to stop them from solving this case they would show them the ID and tell them to take it up with the mayor. They laid their bikes against the fence and walked over to the crime scene. Tim lived closest and had been keeping an eye on the place. He was able to tell the other three when the police (the uniformed boys) had finished and when they could begin their investigation. Today, as soon as they finished school, they had all met at Hal’s house.