by Tim O'Rourke
My thoughts were broken by the sound of gentle applause. Looking towards the sound I could see that someone had appeared on the porch of the summerhouse. I’d been so caught-up in the spectacle of Kayla that I hadn’t noticed him arrive and neither had Kayla. Hearing the sound, she fluttered the few feet back to the ground and went racing towards him, her wings glinting in the moonlight behind her. Racing up the steps, she threw her arms around this man and they held each other. Even though it wasn’t a lover’s embrace, I could tell that Kayla felt deeply for him. From my hiding place, I watched the man plant a soft kiss on her forehead and she ran her hand gently down the length of one side of his face. The overhang of the porch cast such deep shadows that it was impossible for me to see the identity of this man. Letting go of each other, the male led Kayla by the hand into the summerhouse and closed the door behind them.
I waited several minutes, and when I was sure that they weren’t coming out again, I tiptoed from beneath the shelter of the trees and made my way across the open area towards the summerhouse. Passing the porch, I crept around the side of the tiny structure. Set in the side of it, there was a window. Drooping low so I was almost crawling, I positioned myself below the window. Holding my breath and trying to calm my racing heart – I didn’t want Kayla to hear it – I slowly pulled myself up and peered through the window.
Chapter Fifteen
The inside of the summerhouse was in semi-darkness. There was an oil lamp on the table and it cast an orange glow. There was a small wooden table in the centre of the room and Kayla and the male sat at it on two white-washed chairs. Kayla was sitting to one side, and I had to strain my neck to see her. That was good though, because if I couldn’t see her without making some effort, then she wouldn’t be able to see me. But the male was who I really wanted to get a good look at, but he had his back to me. What little I could see of him was cast in shadow. I could hear them talking, but their voices were low and muffled as if they were speaking in whisper, not wanting anyone else to hear what it was they were saying to one another.
Lowering my head, I pressed my ear against the thin wooden wall of the summerhouse and listened.
“I think I’m close,” the male said, but that was all I got as his voice faded.
“How long now?” I heard Kayla ask, and from what I could tell, her voice had an urgency to it.
The male replied but the first part of what he said was incomprehensible. All I heard him say was, “…if all goes well.”
“That soon?” Kayla gasped, her voice rising as if excited in some way.
“Shhh,” I heard the male gesture. “You need to be ready, Kayla,” he said, his voice just a little clearer.
“I’m practicing – but it’s difficult now that…” and her voice faded again.
“Do you think she knows?” I heard the male say.
“…don’t know,” was all I got of Kayla’s reply.
“She didn’t miss a trick in The Ragged Cove,” he said, and my stomach somersaulted as I suspected the male was referring to me.
The first part of Kayla’s response was missing but I caught the last few words, “…don’t like Marshal.”
You’re not the only one, I thought to myself.
“…not long now,” the male said and I sensed he was trying to be reassuring. “Be ready.”
“I’ll try and….” her voice trailed away again.
“…got to be ready for what’s coming,” the male said. “We’ve all got to be ready.”
Then I heard the sound of chairs scrapping against the wooden floor boards of the summerhouse as they stood up from the table, their secret meeting over. With my heart in my mouth, I crawled away, back towards the trees. I didn’t look back until I was hidden once again out of the moonlight, and in the shadows. Tucking myself behind the trunk of a tree, I watched as Kayla and the man left the summerhouse. Leaning over her, he kissed Kayla softly on the cheek and silently walked towards the trees on the opposite side of the open area to where I was hiding. I watched Kayla pick her jacket up off the ground and put it on, concealing her wings beneath it. Unwinding the headphones, she placed them in her ears and switched on the iPod. With the sound of ‘Rocket Man’ by Elton John hissing away in the darkness, I turned and raced back towards the manor house. Several times I stumbled in the darkness, tripping and falling over bracken and broken branches. I came to realise that lending Kayla my iPod was one of my better moves. With the noise I’d been making, I was surprised that I hadn’t woken the whole manor. Reaching the tree line, I raced towards the front door, hoping that I could get inside and out of view before Kayla reached the clearing and saw me. With my feet crunching on the gravel path, I reached the door. Just as I was about to sneak inside someone said from behind me, “Did you enjoy your evening walk?”
Spinning round on my heels, I looked back to see the chauffeur sitting in his wheelchair just feet behind me.
Where in the hell did you spring from? I wanted to ask him, but I bit my tongue instead. How had I not heard him? I mean his wheelchair wailed like a set of fingernails being dragged across ice.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, looking at me from beneath the rim of his peaked cap. His unkempt sideburns glistened silver in the darkness and covered both sides of his face like wire wool.
“No worries,” I said, just wanting to be back inside the house. I knew that if Kayla saw James and me she wouldn’t come out from beneath the trees, but I didn’t want her to see me at all. If she asked me tomorrow where I’d been, I really didn’t want to have to lie to her or tell her the truth.
“What did you say?” the chauffeur said, raising a hand to his ear. “I’m a bit deaf.”
“I said it doesn’t matter,” I told him. “You didn’t scare me.”
“What was that?” he asked again.
“It’s ok – you didn’t scare me!” I said, raising my voice but not wanting to shout.
“Where you been?” he asked.
Trying to be as casual as I could, I ignored his question and asked one of my own. “What happened to the squeak?”
“The what?” he asked, holding his hand to his ear again.
“Your wheelchair was making an awful squeaking noise earlier,” I said in a raised voice which sounded more like a stage whisper.
“Oh, that,” he said. “Went down to see Marshal at the gatehouse, I did. He put a bit of oil on it for me. As good as new now!” then he rolled the chair backwards a few inches as if to prove the point. The squeaking had gone.
“Oh, well that’s good,” I smiled. “If you don’t mind, I should really be getting to bed now.”
“What was that you said?” he asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“Goodnight,” I said, stepping inside the manor.
“So long,” he said, and I looked back to see him trundling away down the gravel path.
Then, just before I closed the door, I said just above a whisper, “vampires.” If I’d blinked, I would have missed it, but as that word left my lips, the chauffeur seemed to falter as if suddenly stung. But then he was off again, wheeling himself down the path.
Shutting the door behind me, I wondered if the chauffeur was really as deaf as he claimed to be. After all, I could see that he didn’t need the wheelchair. He could walk.
Taking two of the stairs at a time, I raced up them, wanting to be in my room before Kayla returned. As I passed the landing and the stairs leading to the ‘forbidden’ wing, I couldn’t help but wonder if Marshal was up there in the darkness. Leaping up the next flight of stairs, I ran down the corridor, through that musty-sweet smell and back to my room. Closing my door, and in the darkness, I went to the windows. Peeling back the curtain I peered out to see Kayla suddenly appear from beneath the trees. Jerking her head left and right to make sure the coast was clear, she snuck back across the lawns and to the house.
Closing the curtain, I flopped onto my bed. I didn’t even bother to light a candle; all I wanted to do was sleep. And as I
closed my eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on at Hallowed Manor. Why was Marshal creeping around at night, staring at me through my window? Why was the chauffeur pretending to be deaf and wheelchair bound? Who was the man Kayla was secretly meeting? But what troubled me most of all was what I’d overheard him telling Kayla.
“…got to be ready for what’s coming,” the male had said. “We’ve all got to be ready.”
Ready for what? I wondered, as I drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Sixteen
My heart was racing and the smell of smoke was suffocating. Everywhere I looked there was chaos. People ran screaming in fear, but I didn’t know from what. My heart raced inside me and every one of my senses was telling me that I should run – but run where and why?
The smoke cleared and I could see that I was standing in a deserted street. Where had everyone else gone? It was dusk, and for as far as I could see, the streets were lined with burning buildings and cars. Had there been some kind of riot while I’d been sleeping? What had happened to the world?
There was a noise above me, a high-pitched squawking. Looking up I could see great black shadows soaring across the sky. There were hundreds of them – no thousands. There were so many that they almost turned the sky black, blocking out the last rays of a dying sun. Shielding my eyes with my hands, I tried to make out what they were; in my heart, I already knew, but my head was telling me that it couldn’t be possible. Their black wings rumbled like thunder as the thousands of Vampyrus swooped above me. From street level, it looked as if I’d woken back in time and the world had been overrun with pterodactyl dinosaurs. Although they looked terrifying as they raced above me, the sound of their screaming and squawking hurting my ears, I couldn’t help but also notice their beauty. Beneath each set of prehistoric-looking wings, was the body of a god. Their bodies, male and female, toned, muscled, and as white as alabaster. They looked like perfect sculptures. Their eyes burned like stars and their sharpened teeth gleamed. Some looked old, others young and some were children, but all of them were stunning.
Humans could only dream of such perfection, I thought to myself, as I stared up at them.
They almost seemed to flock together, banking right, swooping up, down, and then banking again. Then there was a sound behind me, like a drum beating. Spinning round, I saw two of the Vampyrus land, their wings rustling in the wind like sails. They came towards me, and as they approached through the burning smoke and flames, I could just make out that it was Taylor and Phillips. Even though their faces were a blur, distorted by the ripples of heat that wafted up from the burning tarmac, I knew it was them.
They came towards me, their strides purposeful and quick. I knew that I was in danger. So turning, I ran between the burnt-out cars and busses that littered the street. My boots crunched over broken glass and my eyes stung from the smoke that billowed all around me like fog. Finding an open doorway, I ran inside. The windows of the building were frosted with cracks and splinters. I pulled at the door but it was stuck fast.
“Please!” I groaned as I banged against it with my fists.
Glancing back over my shoulder, I could see Taylor and Phillips coming closer. Running out from the doorway, I headed down an alley. Bins had been overturned, their contents rotting in the gutter, maggot-infested and being gnawed at by rats. Water ran down the walls of the buildings that loomed above me on either side and they felt as if they were closing in on me. The other end of the alley seemed as if it was miles away, just a pinprick of grey light in the distance. And however hard and fast I ran towards it, the light never got any closer.
Peering back over my shoulder, I could see that Taylor and Phillips were gaining on me. Desperate, I spun around and around looking for any place to hide. Then I saw a rusty-looking fire escape zigzagging up the side of the building. Kicking out at some scrawny looking rats that had their heads buried in a nearby bin, they scurried away. Turning the bin over, I climbed on top, reached out for the bottom of the fire escape and hoisted myself up.
Placing one hand over the other, I climbed up. I swung my legs out so they came to rest on the first step of the ladder. Then with the little energy that I had left, I raced up the fire escape to the roof of the building. Halfway up, I realised what a stupid thing I’d done. Why was I climbing up, when the sky was fall of the very creatures that I was trying to run from? But I had committed myself and had nowhere else to go. Reaching the roof of the building, I looked out across the horizon and screamed.
I was in London. In the distance I could see Big Ben; its four clock faces were broken and leaking red flames into the fast-approaching night. It looked like a giant candle lighting up the horizon. Around it swooped the black-winged Vampyrus. Looking to my right, I could see the giant dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which looked as if half of it had crumbled away onto the streets below. Clouds of black smoke pumped from the huge hole. To my left, on the opposite side of the Thames, the London Eye looked broken and bent out of shape, like a bicycle wheel that had been run over by a truck. For as far as the eye could see, tendrils of smoke poured up into the night from the buildings which had been reduced to mountains of rubble. Vampyrus swooped and soared over the devastation, their squawks drowning out the sounds of collapsing buildings and raging fires.
“Kiera,” a voice said from behind me. Whirling around, I gasped at the sight of my mother. She stood by the fire escape that I had climbed only moments before. “Kiera,” my mother said again, and this time she held out her hands towards me.
“Mum,” I stammered. “What are you doing here?”
I looked at her and she smiled. Her black hair curled around her neck and shoulders like velvet, and her blue eyes shone.
“Kiera, I’ll explain later,” she said, her voice soft and soothing, just as I remembered it to be. “We don’t have time. You have to come with me now,” and I noticed that her hands were smeared with blood.
“Mum – your hands,” I breathed. But when I looked again, I could see that she was clutching a length of blonde hair between her fingers, just like Henry Blake had been clutching a length of hers under that tree in The Ragged Cove.
“She’s one of us,” somebody answered for her. Turning, I saw Taylor and Phillips standing behind me. I looked at them and covered my mouth with my hands to stifle the scream that was racing up my throat. I couldn’t bear the sight of Phillips’ mutilated face. It looked raw and infected. Why didn’t he cover it with bandages or something?
“Mum,” I whispered, moving towards her.
Taylor came towards me, his limp worse than I had previously remembered. He was having difficulty walking. “Don’t trust her Kiera. Don’t listen to what she says.”
“But she’s my mother,” I said, feeling confused.
“Don’t listen to him,” my mother cried from over my shoulder.
Then, before I’d the chance to tell my mother how much I loved and missed her, the building began to shake like it was made out of children’s building blocks. It tilted left, then right and I swayed towards the edge. I heard a tearing noise as the fire escape came away from the side of the building. Dust and brick flew into the air and the world seemed to spin all around me.
“Help me!” I cried, clutching at the air as I teetered backwards.
My mother reached for me, panic in her eyes, but then I was falling backwards, cartwheeling through the air until I….
…sat up in bed. Shards of grey daylight cut through the gaps in the curtain, dust moats caught within them. My face felt wet and warm. Touching my cheek with the tips of my fingers, I pulled them away to see the now familiar sight of blood. I felt woozy and sick as if I’d spent the night partying and now I was paying for it with a thumping hangover.
Climbing from my bed and heading to the bathroom, I couldn’t help but notice the sense of urgency and panic my nightmare had left me feeling. Was the dream another premonition of what was going on in the world on the far side of the walls that surround the manor and its moat? W
ithout a phone and no access to newspapers or television, I had no way of knowing. I thought of how similar a situation I’d found myself in while working in The Ragged Cove.
How does the same shit happen to the same girl twice? I wondered to myself.
Flushing the toilet, I took a flannel and washed away the blood that had leaked from my eye. But things didn’t have to be like they had been for me in The Ragged Cove. The manor must have a T.V. and I wondered if Kayla had a mobile phone that I could borrow. I was no longer going to be a passive observer. The words of the man that had met up with Kayla kept going around and around in my mind and I wanted to know what it was that Kayla had to prepare herself for. But more than that, before the day was over, I was going to investigate the ‘forbidden’ wing.
So after a quick shower, I changed into some fresh clothes and I made my way from my room. And that was another thing – I am going to find out what that awful smell is! I thought to myself as I passed down the stinky passageway.
In the great hall, I looked at the door which led to the kitchen, but where did the other doors lead to? What lay behind them? There must be a T.V. set or telephone in one of them. Heading in the opposite direction to the kitchen, I came to a double set of doors. Heaving them open, I went inside. Like most of the other rooms at the manor, it was huge, with a high ceiling that towered above me in a series of criss-crossing wooden beams. The floor was tiled, but huge rugs covered much of it. Along one of the walls was the centrepiece of the room. I’d never seen such a big fireplace – it looked as if you could’ve almost walked into it. Thick stone pillars stood on either side of it and along the top ran a marble shelf. I weaved my way between the luxurious-looking sofas and armchairs that were scattered about the room and headed towards the fireplace. All along the marble shelf were pictures and photographs, ornaments and candlesticks. I looked at the photographs in their silver frames and picked up one of the Hunt family. It couldn’t have been taken that long ago because Kayla sat in the foreground in front of her parents and she looked pretty much identical to the way she looked now. Behind her and to her right was Lady Hunt and even in the picture, her beauty was startling. Then I studied the picture of her father. He was handsome, with thick jet-black hair swept back off his brow. It was longish and touching the collar of the white shirt he was wearing in the picture. He had the clearest green eyes I’d ever seen, full lips, and a square jaw line. But as I stared at the picture, there seemed something vaguely familiar about him. I was sure I’d never met him before but there was something; I just wasn’t sure what.