24 – Swede
The group in the dentist whispered well into the night. Laura wanted to know more about The Morrigan. She was sure they were on the right track with her. Wee Renee couldn’t help her anymore than earlier. More information was available, she knew. They would get to that in Friarmere. Wee Renee was full of questions for Terry. About the fanged boy, the drugs and Terry’s infection. Pat, who lay next to Carl listened to him tell her about all his wonderful experiences with Kate and how much he loved her, whilst she gently snored. Kathy and Sally played I-Spy. Occasionally Pat would come round for a second and shout out the answer. Then proceed to unwrap another chocolate, pop it in her mouth, give the wrapper to Carl and say to him. ‘Go on love, I’m listening,’ before closing her eyes again.
As the conversations dropped they sat watching the patterns of water from the fish tank on the walls, the slight noise of them flipping their tails every so often or nuzzling round in the gravel was comforting. There couldn’t be a more relaxing atmosphere and in time, all managed to fall asleep, apart from Carl. Their eyelids heavy, bodies and minds exhausted, they could not listen out for Norman any longer. Carl was listening for Kate’s return.
The following morning they woke up quite late. It was just after nine, and well and truly light. Wee Renee had a stiff neck, with no cushion, her head had flopped to one side resting on her shoulder. Pat had used the tin of chocolates as a pillow and felt great. Carl’s eyes were red and swollen from a full night’s crying. Whilst not having the worst nights sleep ever, they had certainly had better ones. At least they were alive and would fight another day. The group quickly gathered their belongings together. They had made quite a mess in the dentist’s waiting room, but Terry did not mind one bit, and said he would sort it, if life ever got back to normal. He gave Wee Renee several lots of antibiotic and said that it would be enough to last an infected person seven days. They could revisit the situation after that. The medication was the strongest one he had, but he said that they might make the patient slightly sleepy, which wouldn’t be good if the patient had to fight.
They went out into the bright cold morning. There were many pawprints and footprints outside the dentist, scattered everywhere along with the tracks of the two snowmobiles in the street.
‘I was thinking,’ Carl said. ‘Why don’t we just burn her house down now, this Anne? Then tomorrow daytime, go to Friarmere and burn his house down.’
‘It seems a good idea doesn’t it?’ Wee Renee said. ‘But she might have living people in there. Victims like us. Waiting to be rescued. Poor souls that they are feeding on, or God knows what they are using them for. Plus I am sure both of them have thought that we might attack in the day. They will have some measure against it. They are wily folk. Remember they have people they control, who are alive and could watch the house for them. There is no reason these people can’t be saved in time too.’
‘Yes, Carl. It seems a no-brainer. Very tempting. But could make you a mass murderer!’ Terry said.
No one was out, as they could see anyway.
Wee Renee definitely thought that Anne had herself an individual, like Michael Thompson. One that could go out in the daytime. Maybe they weren’t guarding the house. Perhaps they were nearby, waiting to grab them. If she did have someone, it didn't look like he was outside the dentist. Would they see them in the main street? Positioned just like Michael had been, watching in any direction to trap them.
None of them ever considered going back into the dark of the bandroom. Surely there would be at least one monster in the darkness, waiting for them at the end of the many doors and corridors. Lying amongst all the debris of Norman’s tantrum last night. Laura could picture them there. In a half state of wakefulness, ready to be activated. Grinning when they heard their voices. In the darkness, they would have the upper hand.
Terry, Carl, Sally and Kathy said they would come round to Our Doris's house the following day. Terry knew where she lived as she was one of his patients. Carl said he would ask Beverly. The group of survivors split up and made their separate ways home. It was about fifteen minutes walk to Our Doris's house. During this time, the three ladies voiced their hope that the predators were too preoccupied with them last night to be bothered about the inhabitants of the cul-de-sac. The village was empty. No sign of Anne’s spies.
Freddie had been watching the bottom of the street constantly for any signs of them. He had not moved for about an hour. He would not be shifted and was on his second cup of coffee, supplied by Brenda. He actually felt pretty wretched. Freddie figured he had dropped off about twice all night, for a full total of twenty minutes and he felt guilty about that!
Sue, Bob and Tony were going to take Haggis out to see if they could find them, if they weren't back soon. Although Our Doris said that he wasn’t the best at bloodhound duties, being a westie.
Suddenly Freddie became animated shouting out. ‘They are here! Put a brew on. They’re back!’
‘All of them?’ shouted Brenda from the kitchen. ‘Yes all three.’ he said. Liz flung the front door open. They could tell by her face that she had been anxious all night. This whole few weeks had put years on her and she looked older than her mid twenties. She ran out of the house and down the drive towards them as they trudged up cul-de-sac smiling. Liz took Wee Renee’s bags off her and they looked up at the house. All the rest of their group was looking through the windows at them, safe. Everything was alright again.
The four ladies were soon inside. The three returnees were hugged and kissed within an inch of their lives. Bob who had been particularly worried about losing his two new best friends Wee Renee and Pat, was visibly relieved. His little face was anxious and his eyes will large.
‘Where did you stay last night?’ Gary asked.
‘The Dentist,’ Wee Renee replied.
‘Didn’t I tell you it would be The Dentist!’ Our Doris exclaimed.
‘You did,’ Freddie said.
‘I felt it in my water,’ she said knowingly.
‘It’s certainly an accurate barometer of any situation, is your water, Our Doris,’ Freddie replied. He was just about to turn away from the window, when he saw Jennifer and Beverly walking up the cul-de-sac. Beverly had her laptop bag over her shoulder. Freddie laughed as he saw that Jennifer looked like she was openly carrying a kitchen knife in front of her.
The door was still open and the two visitors walked straight in, Andy shutting the door behind them. Freddie gestured towards the knife.
‘What's this all about then?’ He asked.
‘I have gone past the point of caring now Freddie. They are going down, if they come near me.’ Jennifer said angrily.
‘Fair enough.’
‘We have got something to show you. More excitement!’ Beverly said, tapping her laptop bag.
‘Two ticks then, whilst I finish the drinks. What do you two want?’ Brenda asked. They both wanted coffee. They took their coats off. Jennifer laid her knife on the living room windowsill, ready for the return journey. Beverly got a cable out of her laptop bag and walked over to Our Doris’s large television. She started to fiddle around at the back of it and plugged one end of the cable in. She then knelt on the carpet attached the other end of the cable to her laptop and fired it up. Freddie watched her work, intrigued and Bob asked if she needed any help, which she didn’t.
Sue, Our Doris and Liz were helping Brenda make the drinks in the kitchen. There was a lot of clattering and in came the ladies with teas and coffees, plus two packets of biscuits. Chocolate digestives and ginger nuts. At one point Bob looked strangely at Pat’s head as she sat beside him.
‘What’s that in your hair, Pat?
‘Where?’
‘Here,’ he said plucking out a blue square of foil out of her hair.
‘Busted! Haha!’ she said laughing. ‘It’s a toffee wrapper!’
‘Have you seen Carl? He was on his way back to you. He hasn’t had a good night at all,’ Laura said.
‘Yes
, I gave him my key. He said he wanted a long sleep in safety. I’ll look after him when I get back. Give him time to have a kip,’ she said.
When everyone was sitting down Beverly started to go through what she needed to tell them.
‘Ok, some of you don’t know where I live, but I live at the north end of the village. Up the hill on the road to Friarmere. I checked on my CCTV camera from last night to see what was going on.’ She turned to her laptop and clicked it a couple of times. There was a still grainy black and white picture on the screen.
‘I didn’t know you could do that with my telly,’ Our Doris said. ‘Whatever will they think of next?’
‘First look at this.’ Beverly said. There was a shot of the main road going up to Friarmere, which the bandsmen had walked down, just four nights ago. The group was silent as she played two clips. ‘The first one is not from last night, but the night before.’ They saw Norman, Kate, Keith and Christine travelling over on the two snowmobiles.
‘So they were here the night before. Hell’s teeth!’ Andy said.
‘The night we went to the pub, hmmm!’ Freddie said.
‘I’ve checked and they don’t go back that night.’
‘That’s one spooky sleepover at Anne’s house!’ Bob said.
‘I wonder if they were all in onesies?’ Wee Renee said. They all looked at her. ‘You’ve got to laugh about it, or you’d bloody cry wouldn’t you?’
‘They probably all had sex together,’ Pat sniffed.
‘Well, winter nights are very long aren’t they,’ Tony said.’ This is my argument with Sue!’
‘Dad, no!’ Bob said.
‘Yes. No Tony,’ Sue agreed.
She stopped the recording and moved the pointer to another place she had highlighted.
‘Ok, this is last night,’ The footage showed Norman and Kate riding past several times in a short space of time.
‘Joyriding!’ Freddie said.
‘Whilst we were shitting it!’ Pat grunted.
‘This is the other group, I particularly wanted you to see. I don't know about these though. Are they some of your lot, because they are in danger here if they are!’
The camera again showed the white moors as a backdrop. From a distance they started to see two people walking down chatting. Freddie moved forward on his chair, pointing at the screen.
‘That is Michael and Stephen Thompson, not aided by a snowmobile apparently!’ he said.
‘Looks like they have come over uninvited, if their past lives are anything to go by.’ Andy snorted. Gary got up and walked to the television. He pointed at Michael. He addressed Our Doris, Jennifer and Beverly. The three people who didn’t know anything about Friarmere Band.
‘He is the one who isn't a vampire, who met us in the middle of Friarmere. The one who threatened us. He can go out in the day. Very dangerous. That is his younger brother Stephen. He is a fully turned vampire.’
‘Okay,’ Beverly said, ‘so they are both our enemies?’
‘Yes,’ said Danny, ‘definitely enemies.’
‘So then I have this.’ The time stamp was 2.32 am. First they saw the two black snowmobiles go up the main road, back towards Friarmere. Beverly forwarded the recording on forty minutes to show Michael and Stephen Thompson walk up the road behind them.
‘Christ! they've gone.’ said Freddie, ‘They are not in Melden. That's at least six people we don't have to kill.’
‘Last night I thought I heard motorbikes which was very strange when it was snowing. At a distance though, not close.’ Our Doris said. ‘About ten o’clock though, Haggis was getting nervous and pacing up and down, so I peeked out of the curtains. I saw her wolves sniffing the length and breadth of the cul-de-sac. I thought they had gone afterwards, but two of them sat at the end on the main road. You couldn’t see them from this window, but I could from my bedroom, I got the others to take a look. They were still there at five in the morning, when I got up to use the little room.’ The rest of the group digested this fact and Our Doris had a drink before speaking again. ‘So what happened to you lot? You've not told us yet.’
Wee Renee, Laura and Pat told their tale about the band room and discovering who Carl’s wife was. Liz was amazed.
‘It’s a small world, isn’t it,’ said Gary. Bit by bit the ladies went through the evening and night events. The betrayal by Malcolm, hiding out in the dentist and the discovery of the antibiotic remedy. The rest of the group were shocked at the tale of the fanged boy.
Wee Renee also told of her plan to poison the wolves or drug them, so they were no longer a threat. She then showed them a whole bag full of tablets for Liz and Our Doris. Pat passed her a large brown box, that she had carried home. In that were lots of liquids that she had instructions to mix together for the wolves and some syringes.
‘A lot has gone on then,’ said Freddie. ‘I would love to help get rid of those dirty beasts. I think it will be very interesting, to see the results.’
‘I would like some help please, Freddie, just to check I am getting the mixture right. I don’t want to bugger it up.’ Wee Renee said. ‘Liz and Our Doris are you happy to take these tablets? It is just a regular type of antibiotics that you would be prescribed if you got a bad gum boil or something.’ Both of them agreed at once. ‘Before I give them to you Liz, Terry said I have you ask you, if you are allergic to penicillin? He knew that Our Doris wasn't, as she is his patient.’
‘No, I’m fine with it,’ Liz said.
‘You can take them then.’ They both took a packet each and read the instructions.
‘You take them three times a day. They are quite strong.’ Wee Renee got out another two packets and gave them one each. ‘You have to take these alongside it. Don’t ask me why, he didn’t tell me. Let’s see how we go shall we? Don't expect miracles. Terry thinks that it has saved him. At least from the worst symptoms. Let’s face it, he has been able to carry on as normal mostly. He had exactly the same infection that Our Doris had, and was infected at the same time. He is nowhere near as ill. Hopefully it kills off all the bad and evil things that are coursing through your blood. You will know if its working won’t you?’ Wee Renee said to Our Doris, whilst pointing down below. She was trying to keep it secret, but by her actions, everyone knew now and it was in the public domain. Bob raised his eyebrows. He knew all too well.
Wee Renee said that she wanted to go to the shop again and get more meat. She also admitted to Our Doris that she had bought her some chocolates that sadly they all had to consume to survive, the previous night.
‘I am so sorry, I had bought them as a thank you for your hospitality.’
‘You are all welcome and I don’t need to have anything, as a thank you. I know you are grateful.’
Wee Renee said she was insisting, so that was that. Everyone thought that with the night they had all had, Wee Renee and the others should really be resting, so Bob, Sue, Tony, Danny and Gary said that they would get all the groceries required from the shop, and off they went.
Jennifer and Beverly, enjoying the company said they would stop for lunch. It was a simple soup and bread affair, which was served as soon as the others returned from the shop. Beverly had done some sport’s therapy when she was younger, so massaged Wee Renee’s neck as it was very painful after her crooked sleep on the dentist’s sofa.
For a couple of hours they didn't think about vampires, wolves or infections at all. They just sat together, talking, laughing, and eating cake. By mid afternoon, Jennifer and Beverly said that they had better make their way home, as in an hour or so it would be dark. It would take them half an hour to get there and they wanted to be well and truly home with the house locked up, before there was a hint of darkness. Plus, Beverly had Carl to attend to. Jennifer had decided to stop with her daughter Beverly, as the sightings in her cameras, at the back and front were very frequent. Anne kept staring up at the front camera. Jennifer thought they were unaware that they were being filmed at the back of her house too.
; Worrying, she thought it was only a matter of time before Anne’s group made a serious attack on her home. She was on her own, with no weapons and knew she could not defend herself, so Beverly had offered to have her over there.
After they had gone, Brenda said she was going into the kitchen to start preparing the evening meal, which was going to be sausage and mash. Liz, Sue and Wee Renee and went in to start peeling potatoes. Pat and Our Doris were having a long conversation about Our Doris's Haggis, because Pat used to have one a few years ago and it was remarkable how similar they were in behaviour and idiosyncrasies. After a while, a lot of noise could be heard from the kitchen. Brenda was shouting and there was a lot of banging. Pat was nearest to the kitchen, so quickly got up to see what was going on, obviously knowing that nothing too bad was happening or else Wee Renee or the others would have shouted them to come in. The men turned their heads towards the kitchen, dropping their conversation too, waiting to see what the cause of the fuss was. Pat popped her head back in, a grim look on her face.
‘I am just going to help Brenda attack a particularly hard swede. I will be back Our Doris.’ Our Doris laughed.
‘Ooh, I love swede in my mash. I am hoping for onion gravy.’ Our Doris raised her voice so that it would be heard in the kitchen.
‘You know that's what you'll be getting, Our Doris.’ Brenda shouted back. Her sister smiled appreciatively and put her head back on the armchair
‘Your Easter Egg is still nice and big,’ said Bob.
‘Thank you, Bob. That's what I like to hear,’ she replied.
They whiled away the rest of the afternoon, chatting, cooking and calming down a little. When the meal arrived, which was, sausage, mash, onion gravy, peas and Yorkshire Pudding, they ate it with gusto and didn’t leave a scrap.
Silver Banned: Book 2 of the Saddleworth Vampire Series Page 15