by Amy Cross
“Yep. Every last one of them.”
“You can't write off a whole species like that.”
“Typical human,” Madeleine said with a grin. “Trying to find the good in everything. Trust me, cold-blooded vampires bring nothing but pain and misery to any world they reach. Warm-blooded vampires, on the other hand, are cool and fun and sexy. It's a whole different ballgame.”
“Great,” Kate muttered, glancing over at her. “You and Edgar really -”
Stopping suddenly, she saw that the woman from earlier was making her way toward them.
“Do we have company?” Madeleine said, tilting her head. “I hear footsteps.”
“It's for me,” Kate replied, getting to her feet and heading over to meet the woman.
“Can we talk?” the woman asked, with a hint of fear in her eyes. “Please, it's important. I'm sorry about earlier, but... Please?”
“Let's go inside,” Kate told her, leading her to the door, “and get some privacy.”
“Don't mind me,” Madeleine called after them, taking another sip from her drink. “I'm just fine and dandy out here. If you see the waiter, though, tell him to bring another mojito out!”
“You said you saw my daughter earlier,” the woman continued as they entered the shade of the guest-house's stone-walled reception room. “You mentioned her by name.”
“Emily,” Kate replied. “Yeah, I... I'm not exactly sure what happened, but she wanted to get my attention and then I followed her until I reached your orchard. I'm sorry, but she was trying to get me to go with her. She said she wanted me to deliver a message to you.”
“My name is Alicia Bernotti,” the woman told her. “Emily is... Emily was my daughter. She was lost several years ago.”
“I'm sorry,” Kate replied. “What happened?”
“She drowned off the shore,” Alicia explained. “She went out swimming with a friend, and she got into trouble. By the time she was brought back onto dry land, it was too late.” She paused, with tears in her eyes. “She was buried in the local churchyard, at least at first, but... Are you sure you saw her today? I mean, are you really sure?”
“She had blonde hair and blue eyes,” Kate replied, “and she was wearing a beautiful white linen dress with orange patches on the arms.”
“That's her,” Alicia said, “but... What did she say to you?”
“She told me that no-one else could see her,” Kate continued, “and that I was the only one. She wanted me to give you a message. She said that she loves you.”
“Is that all?”
“I think she was going to say more, but then you opened the door and she vanished.”
“I always felt she was around,” Alicia replied. “I know this probably sounds crazy, but I could sense her. My father and husband told me I was imagining things, they told me I was just refusing to let go, but I knew it was her! A mother can always sense these things!”
“You said she was buried in the churchyard at first,” Kate continued. “Does that mean something happened later?”
“She -” Turning, Alicia looked back toward the door, as if she was worried about being overheard. “Of course something happened,” she continued, turning back to Kate. “The same thing that happens to every child who dies in this part of the country, even if no-one wants to admit it!”
“And what's that?”
“Their bodies...” She paused again, as if she was on the verge of breaking down. “Their bodies go missing. Either from the funeral homes, or sometimes they're dug up from their graves and spirited away. The children are safe while they're alive, but if they die, their bodies are always taken.”
“Who would do something like that?” Kate asked, before realizing that the whole situation seemed like too much of a coincidence. “Wait... Have you ever heard of a place called Raven's Briar?”
“Quiet!” Alicia hissed. “Don't say that name out loud!”
“Why not?”
“People might hear you!” She paused. “Half the people in this town live in fear of the orphanage, and the other half are in denial, as if they've convinced themselves it doesn't exist. But everyone knows, deep down, what happens there, and that they're the people who take the bodies.”
“What for?” Kate asked.
“No-one knows. I first heard the story when I was a girl myself, and it was an old story, even then, passed down from generation to generation. Every year, they get another body or two. Whatever's going on at that place, they're protected. The police won't go near them, and the local council refuses to even discuss the issue. The priests just prefer to deny the evidence that's right in front of everyone's eyes. The rest of us are expected to just make our peace and pretend it isn't happening, but I can't do that! They took Emily's body, and I can't even...” More tears ran down her face as she paused for a moment. “I can't ignore it. I've tried, but I can't!”
“My friends and I came here to find Raven's Briar,” Kate told her. “We've been here for a week now, but we've had no luck. Do you know where it is?”
Alicia paused for a moment, with fear in her eyes. “I think I could find it. Over the years, I've heard enough stories about its location. There's an area in the hills, to the north of the town, and everyone knows not to go there. People who get too close... They're usually never seen again.”
“I have a map,” Kate replied. “If you can show me -”
“I'm not showing you anything on a map,” Alicia told her. “I'm coming with you.”
“I don't think -”
“I'm coming!” she said firmly. “If there's even a chance that they took Emily's body, I have to get her back.”
“The thing is...” Kate paused, aware that she'd have trouble trying to explain the severity of the situation. “There's something going on here that you might find difficult to believe. It's not that I don't understand why you want to come, but there are things going on at Raven's Briar that might shock you. Scratch that, they will shock you.”
“So why are you going?”
“Because...” She paused again. “The truth is, my friend's daughter was kidnapped and taken there. We're trying to get her back before it's too late.”
“Was she alive when she was taken?”
Kate nodded.
“I've heard rumors about Raven's Briar,” Alicia continued. “People talk about that place, about the kind of people who run it. Some even say that there are vampires around, that it's a little like Thaxos.”
“You've heard of Thaxos?”
“Everyone here has heard of Thaxos. The Le Comptes, and the other things that happen out there... People don't usually like talking about it, but we all know roughly what's going on. Again, the people in charge prefer to ignore it all.” She paused. “How did you get mixed up in this?”
“We arrived from Thaxos last week.”
“Are you one of them?” Alicia asked, taking a step back. “Are you a Le Compte?”
“No, I'm like you,” Kate replied, “but my friend out there, the one who's sunning herself and downing mojitos like they're going out of fashion... Her name is Madeleine Le Compte.”
“Baron Le Compte's sister?”
“She's harmless. Well, not harmless, but she won't hurt you. I don't know what you've heard about her family, but they're not all bad.”
“I've heard about the Impaler of Thaxos. They say Baron Le Compte is a cruel man who tortures his enemies.”
“He has his dark side.”
“And they say his sister is a lunatic.”
“Sounds about right.”
“All I care about is getting Emily's body back,” Alicia continued. “My daughter deserves to be buried in consecrated ground, not kept at the orphanage. I don't know exactly what's going on at Raven's Briar, but I'm sure it's ungodly. Please, you have to let me come with you. If you don't, I'm not going to help you. I won't even tell you where the place is.”
“It'll be dangerous,” Kate warned her.
“I don't care.”
“I know you can't, but I have to try.” She paused. “Please? Are you a mother?”
Kate shook her head.
“Then maybe you don't understand what it's like,” Alicia continued, “to lose a child. Even though she'd dead, I still want to have Emily's body in the churchyard again, so I know she's at peace and so I can visit her.”
“I guess I can't argue with that,” Kate replied. “Jennifer should be back around sunset, so we'll set out as soon as it gets dark. How long do you think it'll take us to walk there?”
“It'd take a few hours to walk,” Alicia told her, “but don't worry about that. I can provide transportation.”
***
“Come on, Balthazar,” Madeleine called out as the cart bounced along the moonlit, uneven road, several hours after they'd set out from Parios, “can't you get a move on?”
“He's doing the best he can,” Alicia replied, sitting on the front of the cart as the donkey pulled them forward. “In case you haven't noticed, this is a very steep hill. He's used to turning a water wheel, not pulling four people along like this.”
“Yeah, but still...” Falling silent for a moment, Madeleine sniffed the air. “Can you at least try to get him to smell better? I've never been around a donkey before, I had no idea how much they stink! God, to think that when I was younger, I wanted father to buy me a pony.”
“What are we going to do when we get there?” Jennifer asked, turning to Kate as they sat at the rear of the cart. “There are only four of us, but we've got no idea how many of them there might be.”
“We'll figure something out once we've got an idea of the layout,” Kate replied. “So far, we know pretty much nothing about Raven's Briar, so we need to proceed with caution.”
“Didn't Edgar tell you anything useful?”
“Edgar refused to help at all,” she continued. “We're on our own.”
“But Madeleine knows a little, doesn't she?”
“Madeleine's plan was to sit around waiting for something to come and attack us,” Kate pointed out. “I think she'll be useful if our backs are against a wall, but when it comes to planning, she might be better off taking a back seat.”
“There it is!” Alicia called out from the front, as she pulled on the harness and brought Balthazar to a halt. “Raven's Briar, down there in the valley!”
Jumping down from the cart, Kate and Jennifer made their way forward through the night air before stopping as they saw a dark building a few miles further on, nestled at the bottom of the hill. The place was barely visible, with no lights at all, but the moon was casting just enough of a glow for them to be able to make out the roof and a surrounding wall.
“What does it look like?” Madeleine asked. “Come on, someone has to remember to describe things for me. It's no fun being blind!”
“It's pretty much exactly how you'd expect a vampire orphanage to look in the middle of the night,” Kate told her. “Spooky as hell. There looks to be a main building and a kind of yard one one side with various sheds. I don't see any signs of movement, hopefully they stay within the walls of the place at all times.” She turned to Jennifer. “I know I said we'd figure something out once we got closer, but now that we are closer, I'm really not sure what we should do next.”
“We're going to take a look,” Jennifer replied, “and then we're going to go in there and find Anna.”
“Alicia,” Kate said, turning to look back at the cart, “maybe you shouldn't come any further. I mean it, the whole thing is too dangerous.”
“Let's not have that argument again,” Alicia replied, climbing off the cart and then helping Madeleine down. “I'm coming with you, every step of the way.”
“This one sounds feisty,” Madeleine said, accepting her help but stepping away as soon as she could. “I like feisty. Feisty's good, feisty's useful. But it can also get people killed, so let's try to slow down and -” Stopping suddenly, she stepped forward, as if she could sense the distant orphanage even though she couldn't see a thing. “Heartbeats,” she said after a moment. “Hundreds of heartbeats.”
“You can hear them from here?” Kate asked.
“Hear them. Feel them. Sense them.” Reaching down, she put a hand against the dirt. “Can't you?”
Kate and Jennifer glanced at one another.
“Children,” Madeleine continued. “There are a lot of children in that place.”
“And their hearts are beating?” Alicia asked. “Are you sure?”
“I'm certain,” Madeleine said. “They're awake, too. If they'd cold-bloods, they'll sleep during the day, so that'd be the best time to go inside. You were right, Kate, they probably don't stray too far from the walls of the orphanage. Cold-bloods are usually pack animals, they stay together when they can.”
“You want us to wait until dawn?” Jennifer replied. “That's still several hours away.”
“Relax,” Madeleine continued. “We need to case the joint, so we know what we're facing. We should split up and approach from the east and the west, along the path the sun will travel when it comes up. That's the best way to keep from getting noticed. Nobody needs to do anything that might get us caught, but we have to work out which entrance will be best. Remember, we'll only get one shot at this. In theory, though, we should be able to just walk into the place once the sun is up.”
“But -”
“Hang on,” she added, interrupting Jennifer. “Come here for a second.”
“Why?” Jennifer asked.
“Just come closer.”
Stepping toward her, Jennifer crouched next to Madeleine. “What do you want?” she asked.
Madeleine paused for a moment, before reaching out and putting a hand on the side of Jennifer's neck. “Your daughter's in there,” she said finally. “She's alive.”
“You can tell that just from heartbeats?” Jennifer asked.
“Impressed?”
“What else can you tell?”
“Not much. She's in there, though, and her heart's pounding away much faster than the rest. If we're lucky, that means she's scared, which means she hasn't become one of them yet. Not fully, anyway.”
“Do you think that's what they're doing to the children?” Kate asked. “Converting them, somehow?”
“If they've been digging up dead children in the area,” Madeleine continued, “then my bet is that they're reanimating them somehow and trying to turn them into nasty little cold-blooded vampires, scuttling around in the shadows. Remember, their species was almost completely wiped out in the vampire war, so the survivors fled to different worlds and tried to establish new pockets of survival where they could try to rebuild. Looks like we just found one of those pockets. That's why we need to keep out until dawn, 'cause they'll have to sleep once the sun comes up.”
“What about my daughter?” Alicia asked, kneeling next to her and grabbing her hand. “Can you feel Emily's heartbeat?”
Madeleine paused again. “Yeah,” she said finally. “I think so.”
“And is she... I mean, is she safe too? You said the other girl's heart was beating faster, which meant she wasn't one of them yet. What about Emily?”
“Let's just hope for the best,” Madeleine replied, getting to her feet.
“But Emily -”
“Hope for the best,” Madeleine said again, more firmly this time. “Right now, we need to work out the best way in.”
“Do you think we can do this without getting caught?” Alicia asked. “I mean, if we could just find the two girls and then get out again, surely that'd be better than having to face the people who run this place?”
“That'd be the most convenient approach,” Madeleine replied. “Not that the convenient approach usually works out for members of the Le Compte family, but sure, let's give it a go. Right now, though, we need to get a better idea of the layout. We'll split into two groups and check it out, and we'll meet back here at dawn.” She paused
, before turning to the others. “Okay, who wants to come with me?”
IV
“You need to scrub harder,” Constant said, crouching next to Anna as she and some of the other girls worked to clean the stairs in the orphanage's main hall. Leaning closer, he spat a ball of phlegm-filled saliva onto the stone and then reached down, smearing the liquid with a dirty finger. “You missed a spot,” he added with a foul-smelling grin.
Recoiling slightly, Anna scrunched her nose up, before turning and dipping her cloth into the bucket of water.
“What's up with you?” Constant asked. “You're acting like you're better than this. Do you reckon you're above a little hard work? What's wrong, did the little princess not have to do any chores back on Thaxos?”
“I work hard at home,” she whispered, trying to keep from crying.
“At where?”
“At home.”
“Where?”
Anna paused, aware that he was trying to get him to admit that Thaxos was no longer her home.
“Let's see those teeth,” he continued. “Go on, give us a quick flash.”
Pausing, she finally opened her mouth, letting him see the fangs that were slowly breaking through her gums. She hadn't let anyone know yet, but the teeth hurt so much, she often cried when she was alone.
“Beautiful,” he replied, leaning closer. “Ms. Eversham was right. You're gonna be one of the best ones yet.”
“Best what?” she asked nervously.
“Haven't you felt it yet?” he continued. “Haven't you felt the change coming over you? All the other girls have. You're the newest, so it makes sense that you're a little behind, but it'll happen soon. Honestly, don't you feel just a little different to how you felt when you first came here?”
“No,” she replied, which was a lie.
“Your old life will start to fade soon,” he told her. “The people you used to know, the places where you used to live... They'll start to fall from your memories until one day they'll be like ghosts that split through your more-important thoughts, and then eventually they won't even be that.”