by Mia James
‘What do you mean?’
‘The Romans built their empire by military force. Their soldiers weren’t any braver or more fearsome than their opponents, but their generals were smarter. The barbarians would always fight in a certain way, but the Romans kept changing their tactics, searching for the enemy’s weakness.’
‘But where are they now?’
‘You’re looking at them. We are the Romans, April. They forgot what made them great. They became bloated and arrogant and failed to move with the times. All those people walking down the high street to get their paper or getting the bus to work, they have no idea how close they are to total destruction.’
‘Well, I can’t imagine they want to, either …’
‘The truth is humans are creatures of habit and have a huge capacity for self-delusion. We deliberately limit ourselves. Shop in the same place, wear the same clothes, have the same job for life, go on holiday to the same place every year. It’s as if people think they have for ever – oh, I’ll go to China when I retire.’
April was shocked at her tone.
‘But that’s just the way people are,’ frowned April. ‘You can’t blame them for that. They’re just getting on with their lives.’
‘But they are lives which are hanging by a thread,’ said Miss Holden. ‘They have no idea how easily all that cosy ordinariness could just disappear and their lives – if they manage to stay alive – will become a living hell.’
April didn’t like what she was hearing.
‘Do you really think that? Are the vampires really planning to take over the world?’
‘That’s one of the things you need to find out, April. We know they’re on the move. We know they’re starting to surface. Yes, maybe Marcus had gone rogue when he acted, but the rest of them are behaving differently too.
‘It’s as if they’re preparing to come out, to go public.’
‘What? So everyone will know they’re real?’ said April, thinking of Fiona’s discovery about the camera technology developed at Ravenwood: making things which were invisible visible, that’s what she had said wasn’t it?
‘I don’t know what they’re planning, April,’ said the teacher. ‘It’s just a feeling. They used to be so careful about staying hidden, but now it’s like they almost want to get caught.’
‘What happens then?’
‘I wish I knew.’
April stood up and walked to the door. ‘Thanks for doing this, Miss. I know it breaks the rules, but it means a lot to me.’
‘Just make sure he understands how important it is.’
‘Oh, I’ll tell him, don’t you worry.’
Chapter Fifteen
It was a lovely sunny morning, but it was cold. April and Miss Holden had worked through the night and well into the morning but the temperature didn’t seem to have risen since dawn. Gabriel was wearing his navy peacoat with the collar up and a green scarf wrapped around his neck. The pink spots in his cheeks only highlighted how pale his skin had become – almost translucent. He walked slowly as if it gave him pain and occasionally he would cough. If April hadn’t known better, she would have thought he just had a bad cold. But she did know better. She was killing him. The man she loved had kissed her and given up his life for her. She had infected him with something, something that was eating him from the inside. Normally, that thought would have made her gloomy and depressed, but this morning she felt happy and light. This morning she had a cure, right there in her pocket. She curled her fingers around the bottle. It was a bittersweet victory of course. Right now they could be together but Gabriel was dying. Once he took the elixir he’d live, but they wouldn’t be able to kiss, maybe not even be close to each other again for – well, she didn’t for how long. She glanced up at him, wondering if they would ever be as close as they were right now, walking through Regent’s Park. She hooked her arm through his, gently tugged him to a stop and snuggled closer, giving him a long kiss.
‘What was that for?’ he said with a smile.
‘Just because.’
They walked on, passing the sign with the monkeys, following the arrows towards the zoo. It had been Gabriel’s idea that they had a last date before he took the potion. She had wanted him to drink it straight away, but he said he wanted to savour the moment and take this final morning to be together. April wondered if he really wanted to savour being human just for one more day. Everything would be different after this. But there would be hope. Yes, he would be a vampire again, but he would have a chance. If – when – they found the Regent, he could be free. They could be together again, without worrying about his health, without any fear that other people would discover his secret. Their secret.
Paying at the booth, they pushed through the turnstiles and went inside. They were in a large open space, a sort of crossroads with signposts pointing in every direction. In the distance, they could hear the calls of the birds and apes and there were strange scents in the air. It was still early, but April didn’t imagine that the zoo got very busy this time of year. Just a few elderly tourists and a few families with children in buggies.
‘What do you want to see first?’ asked Gabriel.
‘The lions,’ said April decisively. They followed the signs along the path, passing the otters, the rhinos, strange birds with crazy hair-like feathers, at least that was what it said on the cages. Most of the enclosures were empty, or seemed to be. Perhaps the creatures liked their privacy.
‘I hope the lions are there,’ said April, cuddling closer to Gabriel as they walked. ‘I was obsessed with lions when I was little, I had loads of books about them.’
‘Did you have a cuddly lion?’
April nodded.
‘Leo. Not terribly original, I know, but I took him everywhere with me. My mum was always complaining about how filthy he was.’
‘And where’s Leo now?’
April frowned.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t actually know. I assumed he had been put in a suitcase in the loft. But then, we don’t have the same loft any more …’
For some reason, this made April more sad than it should.
‘Poor Leo, I hope he’s okay.’
‘I’m sure he’s having a party with all the other lions,’ said Gabriel. ‘Come on, let’s go and see.’
They walked up to the lion enclosure, but it too seemed empty. Just a wide open space of flat-topped rocks and bare vegetation.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Gabriel, ‘they’re here.’ They walked down a ramp through a concrete archway into a large room. In front of them, behind a thick Plexiglas window, was the lions’ winter shelter. It was much like the outdoor one: just rocks with a few plants, but at least it was covered over. There was one male with a shaggy mane lying on a rock and a female pacing up and down right behind the glass. As they walked in, the male lifted his head, as if to say ‘What are you doing in my room?’, while the female began to pace faster. She seemed agitated, peering at them through the glass.
‘What’s the matter with her?’
Gabriel frowned, shook his head slightly as a couple walked in pushing a baby in a pram.
‘Hey, look at the big lion, Max!’ cried the mother. ‘She’s looking for food.’
It didn’t look to April as if the lion was hungry. She was growling now, her head dipping back and forth. She seemed to be searching for something. Suddenly the male stood up and roared.
‘Gosh!’ said the father, looking slightly concerned. ‘He’s feisty, isn’t he?’
‘I think we’d better go,’ said Gabriel quietly, backing towards the door.
The male had moved to the edge of the platform and was shaking his head violently. He roared again and the baby began to howl.
‘Christ,’ muttered the mother, pulling the buggy backwards and heading towards the exit, glancing at April and Gabriel as she went.
‘Come on,’ said Gabriel, but April hung back. The female was growling now, whipping her head from side to side, bashing it against t
he glass.
‘Come on,’ said Gabriel, taking her arm.
‘What the hell was that all about?’ she asked when they were a safe distance from the enclosure. She could see the young couple standing with a keeper, pointing towards the lions. April didn’t want to be accused of anything, so they kept moving.
‘What was wrong with them?’
‘Take a guess,’ snapped Gabriel.
‘Hey, don’t take it out on me.’
‘I’m sorry. I thought it would be different. I shouldn’t have come here. I’ve been fooling myself.’
‘Fooling yourself? What about?’
‘That I was becoming human again. I’d hoped, against all the evidence, but the truth is I’m just a sick vampire.’
‘You think they knew what you are?’
Gabriel nodded, sitting on a bench, hands thrust in pockets.
‘If there’s one thing that will upset a predator, it’s having another predator on their territory. It’s only natural. They must have caught my scent.’
She reached out and stroked his forehead. He was burning hot, soaked with sweat.
‘Don’t take it so hard. It’s not your fault.’
‘Why shouldn’t I take it hard?’ he replied. ‘If you really think this magic potion is going to save me, you don’t know anything.’
He jumped up and strode towards the exit. April ran to catch up with him. As Gabriel passed the zebras, they shied and ran and as he crossed the path in front of the spider monkey enclosure, all hell broke loose. They all began to screech at once, running back and forth along their branches, rattling the bars of their cages. It was as if an entire street of car alarms had been triggered at once. Keepers and public alike came running and shouting, bewildered at this sudden cacophony, but no one was looking beyond the cage to see what had startled them in the first place. April covered her ears, but Gabriel just kept walking, his head down, his eyes dark. They pushed through the exit and across the road, into the park.
‘Gabriel,’ called April, catching his arm, trying to slow his pace. ‘Stop. Talk to me.’
As he turned, she could see he was beyond exhaustion. His face was white and his lips were pressed together in a thin blue line. Sweat was beading on his forehead and running down his temple.
‘I don’t want this any more, April,’ he said, his voice barely a croak. ‘I know you’re doing what you can to save me, but I’m not sure I can go back. I know it sounds insane to you that death is preferable, but you saw how those other creatures reacted to me.’
‘They were only animals, they didn’t know what they were doing.’
‘But they do! And they’re just the tip of the iceberg!’ said Gabriel, his cheeks flaring a dull pink. ‘They were right to be scared – I’m a killer. And … and God knows, I don’t want to be.’
‘Listen to me, Gabriel,’ she said, taking his hands in hers. ‘You’re not a killer. Not to me. You know what I see when I look in your face? Gabriel. My Gabriel, the man I love. And that’s who I’m trying to save. No one else. Forget all this “save the world” stuff, forget the Fury thing, forget being a vampire for the moment. None of this is about that. This is about making my boyfriend better. This is about saving your life. And it’s about you choosing to live so you can protect mine.’
She pulled out the bottle and held it up to him.
‘Here, take it. Please. For me?’
Reluctantly, he took it from her. Seeing it there in his big hand, it looked terribly amateur and ineffectual, like the tiny bottle Alice drank from in Wonderland. Would it make Gabriel shrink or grow? Would it do anything at all? Maybe this was the Guardians’ idea of a joke: give the hated vampire some hope, then laugh as he died in agony. But April didn’t think so. For some reason, she was convinced it was going to work. Gabriel looked at the murky liquid inside and smiled wryly. ‘You’re sure there’re no side effects?’
‘None. Well, it might turn you into one of the living dead. Oh, and it smells like poo.’
‘Ah. Well that’s okay, then.’
They walked up to the top of Primrose Hill silently, hand in hand. April could hear the catch and wheeze in Gabriel’s lungs by the time they reached the bench at the abandoned summit, but he didn’t complain. The time for that had passed; they were high above London, the early morning fog still lying over the buildings, the sun leaking through the clouds here and there making office windows shine like jewels. April wondered how he was feeling, if he was looking at the world through human eyes for the last time. But then, as he had said, he really wasn’t human, just a watch winding down. He was taking a lot on faith – that they would be able to find the Regent. That he wouldn’t be doomed to carry on drinking blood for another thousand years. But then belief was a very powerful thing, wasn’t that what Miss Holden had said? April looked at the boy – the man – she loved in a sideways glance, feeling warm tears running down her face.
‘You have to come back to me,’ she croaked. ‘Don’t leave me here alone.’
‘Hey,’ said Gabriel softly, brushing her tears away. ‘I couldn’t stay away from you. If I had to cross the widest desert to reach you, I’d be there.’
He paused for a moment, looking out to Big Ben and the London Eye in the distance. ‘We’ll come back here. When it’s all over? This will be our place.’
He kissed her then, holding her face, his palms wet with her tears, and as he pulled away April could still feel the kiss lingering on her lips.
‘To you,’ said Gabriel and, breaking the wax and pulling the cork out with a soft pop, he tipped the liquid down his throat. April didn’t know what to do, what to expect. Would he clutch his throat the way TV villains did when they were poisoned? Would it be slow and gentle like taking headache pills?
‘How d’you feel?’
‘I’m not sure I’ll feel anything … oh, God.’
Suddenly he doubled over. ‘Christ,’ he said through gritted teeth, hugging his stomach. ‘Urggh …’
April put her arm around him.
‘Gabe, what is it? What can I do?’
‘Nothing,’ he gasped, ‘nothing, I …’
Then he let out a terrible scream, like a wounded animal.
‘Gabriel,’ she said, trying to hold him, but he pushed her hands away.
‘You have … to … go …’ he managed.
‘I can’t leave you—’ she said.
But then he turned to her, his teeth bared, his eyes bloodshot and red. He looked like the killer she had seen that night on the Embankment. He looked like a vampire.
‘Leave!’ he growled, spittle flying from his mouth. ‘I’m not sure … not sure I can control myself, April. It’s … not safe for you here … go!’
‘Gabriel …’
‘Go!’ he roared. She stepped back and ran, running down the hill without looking back. When she turned at the bottom, he had gone.
PART TWO
Chapter Sixteen
A million pounds. It was a ridiculous amount of money. It was something you saw on a TV drama about a kidnap plot, not in real life. In her mind, April saw a forklift truck bringing her a load of gold bars and leaving them in the front garden. That was how crazy it seemed.
‘But how?’ asked April suspiciously. ‘How can there suddenly be a million pounds in my account?’
The solicitor leant back in his chair and smiled condescendingly.
‘Well, you can’t actually go to a bank and have them fill a suitcase with it, if that’s what you’re thinking.’
No, right now I’m thinking about pushing you backwards off your chair, thought April. That would wipe the smug look off your face.
April’s already short temper had been on a hair-trigger since she had watched Gabriel take the Dragon’s Breath two days ago. He hadn’t called, hadn’t texted, hadn’t replied to any of her messages, hadn’t given her any indication at all that he had even survived the process, and April was about ready to bite someone’s head off as a result. Or push them off their c
hair.
‘No, many years ago – just after you were born, in fact – your father took out a life insurance plan,’ continued the solicitor. ‘A very generous life insurance plan. He arranged that in the event of his death, your mother would never have to work again and, well, I suppose the same applies to you. I know it’s not going to bring your dad back, but it shows he was thinking of you, doesn’t it?’
‘My daughter doesn’t need a life insurance policy to prove her father loved her, Mr Jones,’ said Silvia.
‘No, no of course not. But, well, these policies aren’t cheap. It must have taken considerable sacrifices to pay the premium every month.’
‘And is that any of your business, Mr Jones?’
‘Well in actual fact, yes it is. The size of the policy is the reason I’m talking to you instead of to your family lawyer. My department specialises in questionable claims.’
‘Questionable?’ said Silvia, her eyes narrowing. ‘If you’re implying …’
He held up a hand.
‘Not at all, not at all. This simply came across my desk because it is unusual that a man should choose to pay a quarter of his wages on a life insurance policy. Yes, he was a journalist, but even so, it’s a lot of money. I wonder: was your husband a careful man?’
Silvia snorted. ‘Not really. He would hardly have spent his days investigating drug cartels if he was, would he?’
‘Then I don’t see … did he believe he had a disease we didn’t know about?’
‘Oh I see,’ said Silvia. ‘Typical insurance company, you’re trying to wriggle out of paying. Well let me tell you—’
‘No, no, you misunderstand me, Mrs Dunne. The payment has been authorised. The money is yours and your daughter’s. Your husband paid his premium to us on the dot every month and, especially given the manner of his death, we have no reason to think this is in any way suspicious. No one could have predicted that.’
‘Then what are you implying?’