by Mia James
‘I’ll get some frames tomorrow,’ said Silvia. ‘I’m never going to hide them away again.’
They walked through to the kitchen and Silvia began to fill the kettle, humming a tune that April remembered was one of her dad’s favourites. April sat at the breakfast bar and watched her mother. It was almost as if nothing had happened. No vampires, no murders, no blood on the floor. But it had happened and April hoped she could learn to live with it, because she was tired of secrets.
‘Mum,’ she said, ‘There’s one more thing we haven’t talked about. Don’t be mad.’ Unconsciously, April’s hand moved up to touch the star birthmark behind her ear. Silvia caught the gesture and smiled.
‘You mean the Fury thing?’ Silvia burst out laughing at the look of fear and surprise on April’s face. ‘Of course I knew, April. I couldn’t really miss it: you almost killed me.’
‘How?’
‘Breast-feeding, honey. Luckily, the Fury part of you didn’t fully develop until puberty, but wherever your little mouth touched me as a baby, I came out in a violent rash. I think your dad understood what was happening before I did. You know what he was like – he researched everything to death – so he knew about the Fury legend. We switched to formula pretty quickly.’
‘Is that why you never wanted me close?’ asked April. ‘Why you never kissed me?’
‘I so wanted to, baby. But I couldn’t.’
‘Mum, you could have hugged me. You were always so cold.’
‘I know ... I’m sorry. I think it was self preservation. You know, if I don’t get too close, maybe I thought it wouldn’t hurt so much when ...’
‘When what?’
Silvia sighed and passed April a mug of tea.
‘You were always in danger, April. It was just a reality of our lives. That’s why we moved around so much when you were little. In the early years, we were almost gypsies, always on the move. Rural Surrey, West Sussex, the Cotswolds, we had a farmhouse in the Wye Valley for a while. It was quite romantic, actually.’
‘But why? I mean, why did we have to keep moving?’
Silvia looked serious. ‘Because we thought the vampires would find out who you were and try to kill you.’
‘And did they? I mean did they find out?’
Silvia hesitated for a moment. ‘The truth? I never knew for sure. I suspected your Grandfather had worked it out – I was sure he had spies following us – but no one ever made a move. But then the fact that you were part of your grandfather’s precious Royal line meant that there was always a chance someone might try to eliminate you.’
Eliminate. April felt herself go cold. She had always thought of her childhood as idyllic, hazy days spent playing in woods and fields and streams, climbing trees and messing about making dens. But all the time she was being stalked, hunted. Silvia saw April’s troubled expression.
‘Don’t look so sad,’ she said. ‘They didn’t find us, remember? Or perhaps they just didn’t think we were a threat. So we eventually moved up to Edinburgh and your father made a decent career with journalism and the books.’
‘Was that why dad was so obsessed with the yeti and mermaids and stuff? Because he knew they were real?’
Silvia shook her head ruefully. ‘They weren’t. I can’t count the times I told him “just because vampires are flesh and blood, doesn’t mean there are unicorns hiding in the Cheshire hills”. But I suppose it could have been worse – he could have been into golf.’
‘If everything was so sweet in Edinburgh, why did we move down here?’
Silvia looked down at her tea. ‘Because of Ravenwood.’
‘The school? Why?’
‘Your grandfather wasn’t the only one with spies. I had always kept my ear to the ground and when I heard about Ravenwood and it’s links with Agropharm, I just knew that Thomas would be behind it all: he was making his move. And I knew that would put us in terrible danger.’
April frowned.
‘But why? Why would Gramps want to harm us?’
A cloud passed over Silvia’s face.
‘You saw him that night, April. He was paranoid, insane; he wasn’t a man you could reason with. And besides, we were in danger from anyone who chose to oppose him: holding his two heirs hostage would be a pretty solid bargaining chip.’
Silvia sighed.
‘So I tried to make a move, a pre-emptive strike if you like. I went to your grandfather and told him I wanted to be part of the family again, that I wanted to help him. I wasn’t sure if he would believe me, but at least that way we would be under his protection. And if we could get close to your Grampa and Robert Sheldon, find out what they were planning, we’d have a better idea of how to protect you.’
Robert Sheldon. Silvia had finally named the big, fat elephant in the room. April felt her stomach clench. She had come so far with her mother – it was as if Thomas’s death had closed the yawning gap that had been between them – and April had no real desire to ruin the mood. And yet still, she had to know.
‘Mum, I know you loved dad, I totally do. But ... why did you go off with another man?’
Silvia closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
‘I never cheated on him, April. I told you I had because it was easier for you to understand that way. And it was easier if you hated me. But now you know about us, about the vampires, I can tell you the truth.’
April’s head was spinning as Silvia got up and left the room. She was pin-balling between relief that her mother had lied about the affair and utter disbelief: she’s a vampire, April, she reminded herself. Vampires lie. A vampire would say anything to get their way. But why would Silvia want April to hate her? How would that make anything easier?
Silvia returned carrying a box-file, the sort that opened out like an accordion. She opened it and pulled out a large photograph. It was black and white, slightly yellowed at the edges, one of those formal shots of a whole school lined up in rows. In this case, it was a University graduation class, where everyone was wearing long black gowns and those funny flat hats with the tassels. The names of the class were written underneath in tiny writing.
‘Recognise anyone on there?’ said Silvia. ‘Back row, third from the left.’
‘It’s ... it’s you,’ said April, checking the name against the face. It looked like Silvia, but she was indistinct, her wide hat tilted downwards, casting a shadow over her face. ‘But how?’
‘Retouching,’ said her mother. ‘That was the way they did it before Photoshop and digital manipulation. We’d find a friendly snapper and pay him to paint the missing parts back in. You could only do it on long shots like this though. Anyway, I’m not showing it to you for that. Look at the date.’
April’s eyes opened wide. It read: ‘Trinity College, Oxford, Class of 1957’.
‘But you went to college in the seventies,’ she said.
‘Fifties, sixties and seventies,’ said Silvia. ‘I was the perpetual student. We age slowly, remember? It’s the perfect cover for a vampire, to start as a freshman at a new university every few years, where everyone accepts you at face value.’
She pulled out a small pamphlet; April could see it had some sort of regal-looking crest on the cover and the name of another university. Silvia turned to a particular page and held it open for her. April frowned as she read: “Faculty of Classics and Ancient Languages. Lecturer in Greek and Latin: Dr Silvia Hamilton.”
She looked at her mother, eyes wide.
‘Doctor? You worked at the University? I don’t understand.’
‘Eventually I began to look too old to be a student, so I changed tack – become a teacher. It was easy enough after all the lectures I’d sat through, not to mention the degrees I’d sailed through. And that’s where I met this guy.’
She reached into the file and pulled out another photo, this one of her dad, standing next to a motorbike wearing a beaten-up looking leather jacket.
‘He thought he looked like Marlon Brando in that thing,’ said Silvia, ‘
But it stank.’
‘You were his lecturer?’
Silvia smiled. ‘My little toy boy.’
April shook her head. It was all too much information to take on board at once. She frowned. ‘But what’s all this got to do with you and Mr Sheldon?’
Silvia pointed down at the staff list again. There at the bottom was listed “Head of Faculty, Professor Robert Sheldon”.
‘It was the beginning and the end for me, I suppose. Sheldon knew who I was, and what I was; he suspected about your grandfather too. This was when he had gone back to the Old Country, when your grandmother disappeared – I think Robert saw there was a power-vacuum and wanted to seize it for himself, using me as a pawn. Unfortunately for him and for his plan, I fell in love with your father.’
‘What happened?’
‘Robert gave me an ultimatum: either I became his or he would kill your father. I didn’t like either of those options, so ...’ Silvia gave a small smile. ‘So we eloped, ran off and got married at a registry office, jumped on a bus and headed for the hills. It was so romantic, like Bonnie and Clyde, for a while at least.’ The smile slipped from her face. ‘Of course, Sheldon tracked us down. I was working in a bar and he seized me as I left one night, repeated his threat, said he would never let me go.’ She sighed.
‘Why didn’t you ... you know, kill him?’
Silvia laughed. ‘Oh, I wanted to, believe me. But your dad pointed out that we were supposed to be in hiding and that a dead body might attract undue attention. Plus I knew your grandfather would go crazy when he heard I’d married Will, so we just kept moving.’ Silvia paused, looking at the picture of her husband. ‘Of course, as you grew older, it began to weigh more heavily on us. We knew the fact you were a Fury would come out eventually. We’d heard through friends that Sheldon had set himself up as the Vampire Regent and was running Ravenwood, so I went to see him, pretended our marriage was on the rocks, that I wanted to rekindle the embers of our romance, all that crap.’
‘And he agreed to take me as a favour?’
‘Oh, that was the idea, but I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Your grandad just had to be involved behind the scenes. It was all one massive chess game.’
She looked weary, tired. April could barely imagine how hard it would have been to play such a game with the people you loved as pawns.
‘But I don’t understand, if you knew that Highgate was full of vampires, why would you bring me there?’
‘We had no choice, April. It was either that or sit there in Edinburgh waiting for the axe to fall. Coming down here was dangerous, yes, but it was our only move while we found out everything we could about Ravenwood. We thought if your father could expose them in the press, then we could force the conspiracy back underground.’
‘But wouldn’t they have killed Daddy?’
Silvia smiled.
‘He wasn’t planning on putting his picture by-line on it, darling. No, that’s where your Uncle Peter came in. He had agreed print the story in his paper if we could get the evidence, there would be no connection to us.’
April’s mother shook her head.
‘But of course, your grandfather knew all along and…’
April leant over and held her hand.
‘‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’, isn’t that the phrase? Who would dare harm the granddaughter of the King, or the favoured student of the Regent? That’s what we thought. But we got it wrong, darling. So, so wrong.’
‘I hated what happened to you when dad died,’ said April.
Silvia nodded. ‘It was hard, I won’t deny it. Will and I, we’d engineered a few rows to make the move to Highgate believable, but after he died…that was all real. I didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t want to live really. The only thing that kept me going was you.’
‘But you were never there mum,’ said April, ‘I was hurting too. I needed you and you were out every night.’
Silvia squeezed her daughter’s hand.
‘I know darling, but…I was trying to save your life. In order to protect you, I had to find out who had killed your father; that was why I went out every night. I was flirting with Sheldon to get information, then going to the vamp haunts – clubs, drinking dens – trying to find out what I could, all the rumours, anything scrap of information I could scrape together.’
April frowned. ‘But why did you let me think you’d cheated on dad? Why did you let me hate you?’
‘I knew you’d have to move out and, well, I thought that you’d be safer with your grandad. I knew he was capable of evil, but I never for a moment thought he would ever harm you. Plus, I knew that you’d have Gabriel watching over you.’ She gave a rueful smile. ‘Got it completely wrong, didn’t I?’
‘Mum, do you think ... I really like Gabriel and ...’
Silvia smiled. ‘And ...?’
April began to blush. She was hearing the deepest secrets, things she had been desperate to know, but she still didn’t feel comfortable discussing her boyfriend with her mother. It was icky somehow. But they had talked about life and death and the future and the past, and she felt closer to Silvia than she had perhaps ever. So why couldn’t she ask? It was the one question she wanted an answer to above all the others.
‘Gramps was messing with Gabriel’s head for years – hypnosis, electro shock, pumping him full of drugs. Do you think he could have made him fall for me?’
Silvia laughed. ‘Oh honey, don’t be an idiot. Making a vampire kill is one thing, but making them love? That’s never going to happen.’ She took April’s hand in her own. ‘This man gave up his own life for you, then he walked back into the darkness because you asked him to. No, I don’t think it’s all a conjuring trick.’ She looked at the photo of William again. ‘I’ve lived longer than most and along the way you learn a few things. One is that true love is rare. Yes, we had our ups and downs, but despite appearances, your father and I were a love match. I’ve seen the way you look at Gabriel and I know what he did for you at the Winter Ball. Don’t ever doubt it, and enjoy it for as long you can.’
April hugged her mother tightly.
‘I love you, mum,’ she said. ‘Really.’
Silvia threw her head back and laughed.
‘Darling, I never doubted it for a moment.’
Chapter Thirty-Two
The cemetery was full of flowers. At least, that’s how it seemed to April. The walk from the chapel up to the Vladescu tomb had often felt gloomy and oppressive, with every statue and shadow threatening and treacherous, but today the air was full of the smell of fresh blossom. Yellow bunches of cowslip, the red and purple of Prunella, even the tiny blue flowers of Speedwell peeping between the buttercups; to April, it was like spring and summer all at once. And it was fitting too that it had been her dad who had taught her the names of the wildflowers. April squeezed Gabriel’s hand tighter and smiled up at him. ‘I think he’s watching us,’ she said. ‘I can feel my dad – I think he’s happy we’ve come.’
Gabriel looked back as they heard laughter behind them. Silvia was following them up the steps, arm in arm with Davina and they were laughing with Fiona, down from Scotland for the day. ‘Sounds like everyone’s feeling the same way.’
April nodded. ‘Mum and Davina have been thick as thieves for the past few days. Can’t help but think they’re up to something.’
‘Your mum certainly had something up her sleeve with ... well, your dad’s grave. I wouldn’t put anything past her right now.’
At first, April had to admit she had been angry at what her mother had done, but once she had calmed down, she saw the wisdom of it; in fact, she saw it was the only thing Silvia could have done in the circumstances.
She had moved the body. Or rather, in collusion with the vicar, Mr Gordon, she’d arranged to have William Dunne’s remains quietly buried in an unmarked grave near the tomb.
Only Silvia had known who Thomas Hamilton really was and only she had suspected what he was capable of. She cer
tainly wasn’t about to let him have access to the remains of a hated enemy. If Thomas could hack his wife’s body into hunks of charred meat, there was no telling what else he was capable of. So when Chessy’s servants had battered the vault door down, they had found the coffin empty.
‘Do you think he ordered Chessy to do it?’ asked April as they walked a little further up the path.
‘I doubt it,’ said Gabriel. ‘She confessed to hanging Calvin up on that gate, didn’t she? I’m pretty sure it was her twisted attempt to impress the King, get him to notice her, show she was protecting you for him. I’d guess that was what the raid on the tomb was all about too. Trying to win his favour.’
April gave a humourless laugh. ‘Knowing what we know now, I imagine it had the opposite effect. Gramps would have gone ballistic – the last thing he wanted when he was about to launch the Council of Light was a hundred TV film crews outside his front door.’
‘Still,’ said Gabriel. ‘It does mean you get to say goodbye properly this time.’
April looked up the path towards the tomb and the grave where her dad still lay; where he had been all the time. She was glad of that. And she was glad of what her mother had done – loved her for it, in fact.
She heard another peel of Silvia’s laughter from behind.
‘It’s good that everyone’s happy,’ said Gabriel, ‘A funeral should be a joyous thing, I think – it should be a celebration of a life well lived.’
April looked at him curiously. She knew he meant it, of course, but there was something else, a sadness she could detect behind his words. She gave his arm a squeeze. ‘What’s up? You feeling okay?’
‘Fine, good,’ he said, his smile not quite meeting his eyes. ‘Arm’s as good as new, anyway.’
‘Gabe, come on. You can tell me anything, remember? After everything we’ve been through together, you don’t think anything’s going to shock me, do you?’