by Mia James
‘Do I make you uncomfortable, April?’ he asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.
‘No, not at all. It’s just after all that’s happened …’
Ben shook his head. ‘Nah, I don’t think so. I think you’re the sort of girl who can take anything in her stride.’
She shrugged and looked at him sideways. He was interesting, that was for sure. Oh, and handsome. And nice. But there was something about him she just couldn’t put her finger on.
‘You look quizzical, April,’ said Ben. ‘Like you’re trying to work out a difficult problem. Is it me?’
‘No, you’re easy to work out. You’re a predator.’
Ben laughed.
‘How have you come to this shocking conclusion?’
‘It’s like watching one of those nature programmes. Sitting in your cave, waiting for the prey to come to you. Let them get close and snap! You’ve got them.’
Ben looked down to where April’s leg was pushed right up against his.
‘Aren’t you sitting dangerously close, then?’
‘I probably am,’ said April. ‘But I’ll take the risk.’
Slowly, wonderfully slowly, Ben turned to her and kissed her on her neck.
‘Oh,’ she said as his warm lips trailed down over her bare shoulder. His hands circled her waist and stroked down her thigh. Oh, yes, she thought, instinctively moving her own lips down towards his.
You can’t kiss him, said a voice inside her head, he’s a vampire. But it was a quiet voice and she was enjoying the moment too much to listen too hard. Then suddenly, Ben stopped and pulled back.
‘Hey! What’s the matter?’ she protested. ‘Don’t you want to kiss me?’
‘Of course. It’s just … I don’t want to take advantage of you. Not while you’re confused about Gabriel. I’d feel bad.’
‘I don’t mind things which are bad for me,’ she said, raising one eyebrow. Ben laughed.
‘Okay, here’s the deal. You get home tomorrow. If you decide you still want nothing to do with Gabriel Swift – and you’re still interested in me when you’re sober – then give me a call. I will be there in three minutes flat, okay?’
‘Three minutes?’
‘Two minutes then. But do call me, okay?’
‘Oh I’ll do that all right,’ said April. ‘Just you wait.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
It wasn’t until the moment she put the key in her front door that April remembered she’d played truant all day. She’d been so swept up in her perfect day that she’d forgotten all about her mundane, everyday life. She knew it was past midnight, and she’d been out since morning. Surely her mother would be passed out, star-shaped by now? She winced at the clunk-click as the door closed, then tiptoed into the hall, hanging up her coat as quietly as she could. She paused, cocking her head. The house was silent and there were no lights coming from the kitchen. Maybe she’d got lucky. She gingerly pulled off Davina’s borrowed heels and put a bare foot on the first step, bracing herself for a creak.
‘It’s past midnight, April.’
April nearly hit the roof.
‘God, Mum,’ she breathed, clutching her chest. ‘Don’t scare me like that.’
Her mother walked out of the shadows. There were bags under her eyes and her face was drawn, as if she’d been given some bad news.
‘What’s up?’ said April, suddenly concerned.
‘What the hell do you think is “up”?’ snapped her mother. ‘You walked out of school this morning and disappeared off the face of the earth. Where the hell have you been?’
‘I … I went into town with Davina.’
‘Putting aside your truancy for a moment, why haven’t you answered your phone all day?’
‘It didn’t ring.’ She pulled out her phone and looked down at the screen: she had left it on silent. There were twelve voice messages, and twice as many texts, all from Caro and her mother. April felt a sudden rush of guilt. Of course they would be worried, especially after Marcus and Layla.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, looking at the floor, ‘I just wanted a bit of time to myself.’
‘After all that’s happened? How could you be so thoughtless? We’ve been sitting here thinking the worst.’
‘What do you mean “we”?’
There was an awkward cough and Mr Sheldon walked out from the living room.
‘What’s he doing here?’ said April.
‘Don’t talk about Mr Sheldon like that!’ snapped Silvia. ‘In this house you will show him some respect. Mr Sheldon was concerned about your sudden disappearance and he came to me.’
April glanced at the teacher and noticed that his tie was undone and his shirt untucked..
‘Oh yeah, I’ll bet he was concerned,’ she said sarcastically. The alcohol had loosened her tongue and, more than anything, she hated the way her mother felt the need to ruin her brilliant day out by shouting at her, especially when she appeared to have been cosying up to her headmaster!
‘April!’ shouted Silvia. ‘How dare you?’
‘How dare I? Dad’s hardly cold in his grave and you’re inviting fancy men around for a cosy chat? How’s that meant to make me feel?’
‘I don’t like that tone, young lady,’ said her mother, but Mr Sheldon stepped forward and touched her arm.
‘It’s okay, Silvia, April’s right. I should be going. I just wanted to make sure she was all right.’
April snorted, glaring at them both, swaying slightly so that she had to reach out to hold on to the banister.
‘Don’t move,’ said Silvia coldly. ‘We haven’t finished, not by a long chalk.’
April sat down on the stairs while Silvia saw Hawk to the door. When their backs were turned, she surreptitiously took a picture with her phone, making a mental note to look at it later.
‘What the hell has got into you, April?’ said Silvia as she walked back, her tone more weary than angry now. ‘You used to be such a lovely straightforward girl, now look at you. Drunk, disrespectful – and what are you wearing?’
April pulled a face. She couldn’t be bothered with arguing any more. All she wanted was to get to bed. ‘It’s Davina’s.’
‘Well I don’t want you seeing that girl any more. She’s obviously a bad influence.’
‘I thought you liked me hanging out at the Osbournes’,’ said April defiantly. ‘I thought it helped your pathetic plan for social climbing.’
In a flash, Silvia darted forward, her face inches from April’s. Her eyes were narrow, her teeth clenched. April jerked backwards, thunking her head on the banister. She’d seen her mother turn her fury on other people, but she’d never seen it this close, or turned on her. It was terrifying.
‘Do not speak to me like that,’ Silvia whispered. Her eyes bore into April’s, cold and vicious. Good God, thought April. I’d rather face that loony Marcus than this.
‘No more Davina Osbourne, no more nightclubs, and you are grounded until you are thirty. Are we clear?’
April nodded, quickly.
‘Get. To. Bed,’ said Silvia. April didn’t need telling twice. She turned and ran up the stairs.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
At about eight in the morning, roughly three seconds after her bedside alarm clock began to squawk, April decided that she would never drink again. Her mouth was as dry as the inside of a vacuum cleaner and every time she moved, her head felt like it was being pushed on a swing. That was without the pain behind her eyes, which was like kebab skewers being pushed through her brain.
‘Feeling good?’ said Silvia, yanking back the curtains. It was only a murky grey morning but the dull light was enough to give her another stab of pain through her head.
‘Not especially.’
‘Well I’ve made you eggs, that should make you feel better. Downstairs in five minutes.’
April groaned and pulled her duvet over her head, but she knew she had no choice. She crawled out of bed, jumped in the shower and threw on some clothes, all
the while doing her best not to make any sudden movements.
She could smell frying fat as she came down the stairs and it almost made her retch. She sat carefully at the breakfast bar and watched as her mother bustled about, popping brown toast from the silver toaster and spreading butter over it, making tea in a teapot, a picture of domesticity. April couldn’t remember ever seeing her mother make anything in the kitchen apart from a gin and tonic. And even then, she’d made April slice the lemon.
‘Is this supposed to be some sort of bizarre punishment?’ croaked April. ‘Because if it is, it’s definitely working.’
Silvia pushed a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of her. ‘Eat,’ she said. ‘It will make you feel better. Believe me, I’m an expert at this sort of thing.’
Reluctantly, April shovelled a few forkfuls of egg into her mouth with a shaking hand and washed it down with some fresh orange juice. For one horrible moment she thought her stomach was going to rebel and throw it all up, but slowly it stopped grumbling and April even managed to force down a slice of toast. To her annoyance, she did feel a little better.
‘I’ll give you some water and a banana to take to school,’ said Silvia. ‘Potassium and hydration, works wonders on a hangover.’
‘Oh no, do I really have to go to school?’ moaned April, putting her head down on the bar.
‘Yes, April, you do. Just because you’ve behaved like a spoilt brat doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to stop.’
‘A spoilt brat?’ said April. ‘Mum, some maniac tried to kill me – twice! I thought I was entitled to let off a little steam.’
‘You are, April, but not at the expense of everyone else. If you were feeling shaky, you should have come to see me or one of your teachers. Disappearing isn’t going to solve anything. I was terrified something had happened to you.’
‘I was only getting my nails done!’
‘Maybe so, April, but you could have sent me a text. I know you’re never more than three feet away from your phone, so when you didn’t answer – when you were almost killed two nights ago – you’ll excuse me if I’m worried you were lying bleeding in a ditch somewhere.’
‘Mum, I was fine,’ said April, knowing she’d screwed up.
‘I’m glad. But I was so scared, darling.’
Tears appeared in her eyes.
‘There’s been enough trauma around here, with your dad and then with you in hospital. God knows how the police can live with themselves letting that bloody maniac get into the party …’
‘Mum, I’m okay.’
She went over and hugged her mother.
‘I couldn’t stand to lose you. Not now.’ She took a long ragged breath. ‘But you understand why I was so angry?’
April nodded, feeling terrible. She’d been so angry herself, felt so isolated and alone, she just had to get away. And it had been fun, one of the best days she’d had since she’d arrived in London. But she hadn’t for one moment considered how her mother would have taken it. Of course she would assume something bad had happened – no wonder she had called Mr Sheldon. Trouble just seemed to follow her around.
‘Sorry, Mum,’ she whispered.
‘Okay. It’s over now. Don’t do it again. It wasn’t just me worried either, your friend Caro was calling every half-hour.’
‘And Mr Sheldon, apparently.’
Silvia gave her a severe look.
‘Don’t take that attitude. Robert – Mr Sheldon – was concerned for you.’
‘Concerned for his job, more like.’
‘April,’ she said in a warning tone. ‘You may not like Mr Sheldon, but he is the headmaster of your school.’
‘I doubt most headmasters would show up at a pupil’s house at midnight just because she’d skipped class.’
Silvia pursed her lips and looked away.
‘Come on, Mum, what’s going on?’
She turned towards the fridge. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Yes you do. Why is “Robert” always round here? I know it’s your house and everything, but I … well, I don’t like it.’
‘He’s an old friend of mine and your dad’s.’
‘So how come you never mentioned him to me before? I’d never heard of him before I got to Ravenwood. Surely that would have been the first thing you said to me in Edinburgh: “Don’t worry darling, at least you’re going to Uncle Robert’s school”?’
Silvia sighed.
‘Your dad didn’t really like him.’
‘Well Dad always did have better taste than you.’
Silvia pulled a face. ‘April, I’ve told you …’
‘All right, so tell me the story then! Tell me about “Robert”. How do you know him? Was it at Uni? I asked Hawk about it …’
‘Hawk?’
‘Oh … that’s what the kids at school all call him. Because of his eyes.’
Her mother gave her a curious look, as if she were searching her face for more information, then seemed to change her mind.
‘Yes, we met at Oxford.’
‘Well, I asked him about that and he didn’t seem to know Dad very well.’
‘Oh, they knew each other, but they weren’t in the same social group. We were at different colleges, you see.’
‘So why didn’t you ever mention him?’
‘You know how it is, you have friends at a certain time, then you drift apart.’
April thought of Caro. She didn’t think that you gave up friends without a really good reason.
‘Why didn’t Dad like him?’
‘If you must know,’ Silvia said reluctantly, ‘Robert was a little more than a friend. We went out before I met your dad.’
April pushed away from the table, pain flashing in her head at the sudden movement.
‘Urgh! No! But he’s horrible!’
‘April! Don’t be so mean. He was a lot younger then.’
‘Eww, Mum! That’s …’ she shivered. ‘How could you?’
Silvia laughed.
‘He had a car. I was easily impressed.’
‘God,’ said April, letting it sink in. ‘So what happened? Did you dump him for Dad?’
‘No, it was all over by the time your dad arrived. But you can imagine that they were never going to be best friends. No one likes to be confronted with their partner’s ex, do they?’
No, they don’t, thought April, her mind drifting back to the horrible moment she’d seen Gabriel with that Jessica woman. She’d thought around it, hoping for some other explanation: perhaps she was coming on to him and he was pushing her away? Perhaps she was she his long-lost sister? No, that only happened in romantic comedies starring Jennifer Aniston.
‘But I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me when I came to the school. You must have known I’d have found out eventually.’
Silvia shrugged.
‘I know you assume adults all have some kind of secret handbook on how to behave in the proper manner, but we don’t. We make bad decisions, just like everyone else. In hindsight, we should have mentioned it, but you’ll remember that your dad and I were preoccupied with the move and his new job.’
‘You were arguing all the time, you mean.’
Her mother nodded.
‘That too. I suppose we both knew it would just trigger more rows and just avoided the subject. I’m sorry.’
April got up, feeling that some of the jellyness had left her legs. She hated to admit it, but her mother had been right about breakfast. She still felt sick, but nowhere near as bad as before.
‘It doesn’t matter now. But I don’t like having him in the house. Honestly, I know he’s my teacher and everything, but he gives me the creeps.’
Silvia smirked.
‘That’s exactly what your father used to say.’
Suddenly April had a horrible thought.
‘Oh God, I’ve got Philosophy with Mr Sheldon today!’
‘I’m sure he’ll be discreet.’
‘But even so, it’s goin
g to be awful seeing him there. Do I really have to go?’
‘Yes. In fact I’m going to drive you there.’
‘Aww, Mum.’
‘No arguments, April.’
She looked at her seriously.
‘Listen to me, April. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really worried. It doesn’t look like the police have a clue what they’re doing, and after everything that’s happened, I don’t want you wandering around. I was serious about no more nightclubs and I mean it about the grounding. I want to know where you are.’
‘I can look after myself, Mum.’
‘I’m not asking! Just humour me, okay? Come straight home after school. And no more disappearing acts.’
April’s mother was right, Mr Sheldon didn’t say anything. In fact, he barely looked in April’s direction throughout the entire hour he was standing in front of the class. The only person who looked her way was Benjamin Osbourne, who gave her a secret smile, but April was too preoccupied with her thoughts to pay much attention.
It was nice that her mother was concerned, of course. And April had to admit it had been selfish to run off like that without telling anyone. But there was something bothering her about her mother’s sudden protectiveness and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Obviously, her woolly head wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders today, but something didn’t ring true. Yes, April had been attacked twice and yes, anyone could see that there was an escalating level of violence in Highgate, but that had been going on for months and Silvia had never so much as raised an eyebrow before. So why was she suddenly talking about curfews and driving her to school? Was it something Hawk had said to her? Did he know something about the vampire activity? Maybe he wasn’t top dog at Ravenwood – Davina had made that pretty clear the day before, and otherwise there was no way he would let her walk in and out of school whenever she felt like it – but there was a good chance he had a hotline to whoever was in charge. So had he given Silvia some inside information about the vampire threat? Were they on the rise, as Mr Gill had said? And how did Hawk know, anyway? God, there were so many things she didn’t know she felt like her head was spinning.