Silver Banned: Book 2 of the Saddleworth Vampire Series

by Angela Blythe

  ‘That all very interesting. How's your brother?’

  ‘Still down, because The Master won’t turn him. But you can see his point. He needs someone that can wander around in the day. Michael will get it at some point. I have told him not to worry, but he does. The Master shouts at him a lot too. I said he is just a bit moody sometimes. But don't tell The Master that. He’s pretty decent really,’ Stephen laughed. ‘Michael wasn’t happy today though. The Master told him to trap all the lot from Melden in the school with a chain and padlock. Instead Andy and Liz got him and chained him up inside a car. We all stood outside and laughed for ages at him before The Master would unchain him. He was livid Maurice, especially with me for some reason.’

  ‘Alright I had better get on, Steve. See you around.’ Maurice walked off, deep in thought.

  ‘Do you want to come out with me, hunting?’ Stephen shouted after him.

  ‘No, no lad.’ Maurice had a lot to think about.

  Excerpt from Anne’s Diary.

  Thursday 15th of December

  I wanted to get them tonight. I wanted to kill all of them in revenge. I had to take a younger pack of wolves out. They have not been out with me over the past week. They do not have this groups scent. I went back to the house that we had fought in. Tonight it was empty. I could smell that. They seemed to have dragged my two victims, my children and my sweet Sophia, plus her sisters, into the house next door.

  I will wait, go take what is mine. The door was locked but later we will go there. My new pack can’t smell the Friarmere lot. (I don’t know why) The pack managed to follow a brief scent of some of them into the village and then they seemed to split up. But, what do you think? One of them is bleeding, bitten by my sweet Sophia. I think I can smell the man very slightly. Guess where? The other house with the walls. Of all the places! Now I can’t get to them until they make a mistake. And they will. I may have to involve my brother Len in this matter. (sigh) I am again outnumbered.

  At one am, Wee Renee was on duty. She looked out of the tarpaulin, to the path and saw that it was snowing. That this was great to cover their tracks but it would also cover up the meat for the wolves. She hoped that one would cancel out the other. If they couldn't smell the meat then they couldn't smell them either. Wee Renee thought about everything the faerie had said. Help would come from an unexpected source. From three of them in Moorston. Did he mean three vampires? He said this was the only way. She hoped to see him again, but would have to steer this group to their fate. Well this winter wasn’t proving to be boring. She could say that in all honesty. Wee Renee settled down to do the job she was there for and listened until her ears hurt for the sound of the howls.

  36 – Tracks

  Norman was out that night. He did not want to eat the children, but he did want to know where they were. He could then quickly pick them up after the trade with Gary was made. Children were precious to him and he would make sure that he enjoyed every last one of them, one way or another.

  It hadn't taken them long to find out where the bandsmen had taken the children. Bit of a hitch really. They could not just go in and get them, when they wanted to. The one named Sue had been a clever bitch.

  ‘What are we going to do about this Master? They have got all the children tucked away in an impossible place for us.’ Keith, Stuart and Stephen whined. Kate was very upset as this was her favourite thing of all to eat.

  ‘Why did you let them take my food. They are on consecrated ground now. We cannot get them Master,’ Kate said.

  ‘Don't worry, we will burn them out. We can easily throw some Molotov cocktails in there. Burn it all. There are ways for us to make consecrated ground, unconsecrated. I haven’t been around all this time and not learned a few things.’

  ‘Michael could go and set fires outside. He could walk right up to the door,’ Kate said. ‘He could smoke them out. But if we burn them inside, they won’t be nice to eat. We need them to come to us, alive.’

  ‘It won't be a problem. It is just a little hiccup. Turn your frown upside down. Let's go raiding some houses. We might find some more little cherubs for your tummy,’ Norman said

  ‘You are a good Master.’

  ‘You know, I have been lonely all day at the school without my trusted sentries. You at Christine's house. I have missed having you at my side. You did miss the fuss, when they came back and brought some other people with them. I reckon you will get round to conversing with them all at some point, won’t you?’ Norman said. Kate smiled and they set off walking, to pillage the village once again.

  Mark was watching them from afar. Taking it all in. He enjoyed watching everything from a distance, never close up. Mark thought he might have a wander through the streets himself and see if he could find some mischief.

  He was not hungry tonight, but still might be able to enjoy himself. As he turned into one street, there was a man standing under the lamplight. The man in the street noticed the vampire, turning towards him. Mark started to walk up to him thinking that this was his lucky night for a bit of tea, he might get his appetite back. When he got closer he noticed that it was one of his old friends from band. Maurice looked up at him.

  ‘I thought you might come past. Can I have a word?’

  The group in the den, woke up refreshed the following morning. They were ready to get on with the job. After having a small breakfast consisting of fruitcake and sandwiches, they packed up and set off. Their arrival in Friarmere was not expected. They did not know where to aim for. The snow that had fallen last night was powdery, lying on top of compacted glacial layers. It was chilly and the sun kept trying to come out for them. As they walked down the road, past The Grange, they looked for movement of any kind. Wee Renee wanted to check on a lady called Mary, who she feared might have been attacked. She took Pat up the drive to investigate.

  The door was ajar, propped open with a rock and all the curtains were open. They looked into the front room. Wee Renee gasped from the shock of the scene. Mary, now a vampire, was nailed to the floor at the hands. She didn’t have to think for long to imagine the scene.

  ‘Come on everyone,’ Pat said. The two Friarmere ladies, didn’t tell the others what they had seen. It was just a scene from a horror movie. That was all over with now. Nothing to see here. Move along. They were even more vigilant now. Their eyes darting from windows to gardens and further into the village. They hoped to find the group quite quickly, as they really had no idea where they would be. Wee Renee walked to her house. She encouraged everyone to come in and look at her tinsel triangle, and they started to walk up her drive. The back door was open and items were strewn about. But other than that it was fine. She had hoped that yesterday’s group would have left a note. She found nothing. Wee Renee introduced them to her CSI board and local map, enhanced by three pieces of red tinsel. They were amazed that so much had happened in such a small area and no one had picked it up previously. Especially the police. Wee Renee had wanted to check on something and searched on her walls for a particular piece of paper. She read it quietly to herself, muttering, so no one could hear her.

  ‘Well, I knew there was something, but well, what do you think about that? Especially now, in the season. How lucky are we?’

  ‘What’s up?’ asked Pat.

  ‘Nothing, just a teeny chance of something wonderful. Ignore me.’ She looked very contented.

  They next visited Sue and Tony's house, which was only a couple of houses down from hers, on the other side of the road. It was quite clear that the group had been there yesterday. They had picked up supplies and had a meal. Would they have maybe tried the school? That could have been a bit too obvious. It had only lightly snowed in the night. They were still able to see the faint footprints in the snow. The group discovered that they did lead up to the school. They were uncertain as to whether to go up, as this could be where the trap was. There were lots of footprints coming in and out of the school. There were footprints that were quite clearly made after the snow had falle
n last night. These were probably vampires footprints. Wee Renee didn’t think the others were stupid enough to be running around at night.

  There was also a faint group of footprints that led away down to the village. Mostly these were quite small, mixed in with big ones.

  ‘Do you know what?’ said Wee Renee, ‘I think they did it. I think they got the kids away.’ The looked at the evidence and could only come up with the same conclusion. Walking down towards the village, following the footprints, Wee Renee said that she would be calling at the shops to try and get some food for the kiddies. ‘Those nightwalkers won’t have fed them. Who knows how long they have gone without. Kids still like bread and jam don’t they? I know I did.’ She spoke to the others, but just as much she was talking to herself.

  When they got into the centre of Friarmere, the main food shop had the shutters down. They walked round to the side and were startled to see the door was open inside.

  Wee Renee looked at the others as if to say what she what should we do? They had no answers so she shrugged, beckoning them to come with her to the rear door.

  Just around the corner, in the dark, there were two vampires lying on the floor. It was hard to decide whether vampires are dead or alive in the daytime, because they were always dead really. Terry, Kathy, Nigel and Our Doris took a good look at their first pure vampires. They were quite surprised at how perfect they looked. They were very unlike the creatures in Melden.

  ‘What shall we do? Drag them out into the light?’ Our Doris asked.

  ‘Yes. But we have to drag them through some of the dark before that. They might wake up.’

  ‘So what's to be done?’

  ‘Hmmm, why are they here? They don’t eat our food,’ Pat said.

  Our Doris and Wee Renee looked at each other. They could work this out. They both said it together.

  ‘Because they are guarding our food, so we can’t eat it. It’s a trap!’

  ‘What about if we come here,’ Our Doris said and moved to the other side of the vampire. ‘Whack them both at the same time.’

  ‘Yes,’ Wee Renee said, stepping over the vampire. ‘Get ready, you lot. You are our back up if we fail.’ Our Doris raised her sword, Wee Renee her machete.

  ‘Are you sure you want to do this, ladies? I am sure me and Terry can do this for you,’ Nigel said. Terry cleared his throat.

  ‘Er..yes. I’m willing,’ he said.

  ‘Not on your Nellie!’ said Our Doris. They brought their weapons down in unison.

  There was a strange smell, like mould but also a whiff of the dead, like spoiled meat. The two vampires slightly screamed in their sleep, as they departed. The party looked closely at their faces. Wee Renee and Pat did not recognise the corpses. The two vampires were obviously guarding the food store and for all intents and purposes, it looked well stocked.

  ‘Wait a minute, they were lying in front of that door, rather than the open archway into the shop,’ Pat said. ‘What are they really guarding? What is so important in that room?’ She was worried that there was something more sinister in this shop. Maybe Norman had been out on a jolly and forgot what time it was. Maybe he was lying in there, looking at the ceiling with his dead eyes. Waiting for them.

  Before they embarked on a mission that they might quickly run away from they decided to check the shop. Terry and Nigel dragged the two vampires outside by their feet one by one. They put them in a pile in an alley.

  The shop had a few empty shelves especially items like bakery and fresh milk. However, there was plenty of other food available for the children.

  ‘Lets see this room then.’ Pat said. The little army all got their weapons out.

  ‘I will open the door after a countdown of three,’ Nigel said. He grasped the storeroom door handle. He got a feeling like there was another hand on the other side of the handle, ready to turn it faster than him. He took a big breath mouthing the words three, two, one. Nigel flung the storeroom door open. Surprisingly it was quite empty apart from three large wholesale boxes of Weetabix and a plastic, waist high, white barrel with a fitted lid. Wee Renee walked into the room and over to the barrel. She could see that there was a label on the back.

  ‘Mayonnaise!’ She raised her eyebrows at them. ‘What do they need with a load of Weetabix and a vat of mayonnaise?’

  ‘The mind boggles with them bastards,’ Pat grunted. Wee Renee had the idea that she would have a look inside the catering vat of mayonnaise as she noticed the seal was broken. Was it still fresh? She pulled the lid up carefully which made a cracking sound as she opened it. She saw what was inside and quickly banged the lid back down, shaking her head.

  ‘I think we'll leave that there!’ she said.

  ‘What is it?’ Kathy asked.

  ‘Not mayonnaise.’

  ‘What the hell is in there?’ Our Doris asked.

  ‘From what I could see, human eyes. Complete with long tendrils. Floating in a thick clear fluid!’ she said matter-of-factly.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Pat exclaimed.

  ‘I can assure you Pat, I aren’t.’

  ‘They might have been sheep’s eyes,’ Pat said.

  ‘They are not. I had a wee lamb as a pet when I was a bairn. They have yellow and brown eyes, and their pupils are crossways. I saw blue and brown and hazel eyes in there. Round human adult eyes. All mixed up in the blood and goo. Do you want to check?’ She asked.

  ‘No you're all right. I’ll take your word for it?’

  ‘I will never un-see that sight,’ Wee Renee said and shivered.

  ‘I don't think there's much food in here for the kids,’ Our Doris stated.

  ‘No, I think we'll leave it,’ Wee Renee said flatly. They were just about to walk out of the door when Terry had a thought.

  ‘I wonder if that really is boxes of Weetabix.’

  ‘I’ll do this one,’ Nigel said.

  ‘Thanks,’ Wee Renee said, ‘I don’t think I could face what's in a big box after what I have just seen in that barrel.’ Nigel walked over to the boxes and went to pick one up. He picked it up easily shook it, then opened the cardboard flap to look inside.

  ‘That’s Weetabix mate.’ He said, walking back out into the shop.

  ‘Wasn’t I just the lucky one?’ Wee Renee said.

  ‘What shall we get?’ Kathy asked.

  ‘Some biscuits. Kids like them. Chocolate ones. Some skimmed longlife milk and a few of them little boxes of cereal. They can have what they want then.’ Our Doris said helpfully. There were only the little boxes of cereal left. All the other boxes had been taken. They did not know how many children they would find. They might get a chance for another trip to the shop today, if they found them in time. Now that these two had been dispatched they couldn't see any more coming before tonight. They lashed the food that they had taken to Our Doris's sledge and off they went. Our Doris had wiped all the vampire blood off her sword on the snow outside.

  ‘You know, I might want to put this back up one time, in the same place on my wall. As a memory of how brave I have been,’ she said.

  ‘When this is all over, you could probably sell it for hundreds of pounds on Ebay,’ Pat commented.

  ‘Try thousands,’ Nigel said. They followed the steps as best they could, hoping that they were still on the right track. A few children’s steps had been trampled over from the previous night’s vampire activity. As they made their way through the village, on occasion they would see an area of scorched earth in the snow. Pat wondered what had been going on. Wee Renee thought she might see a very different Friarmere at night than she had previously, when it was her old sleepy village.

  ‘I am a bit worried,’ said Kathy. ‘These prints seem to be going the length of Friarmere. You have told me how they trick people. After all they tricked us to come here. I wondered if the vampires are trying to trick us using little shoeprints.’

  ‘I don't think so,’ said Wee Renee. ‘But you never know. He didn’t know we would be coming today. We have a few hour
s anyway before dark. We will sort it.’ When they turned the corner and saw what was in front of them, a massive grin spread across Wee Renee’s face. She knew exactly where they had taken the kids and she couldn't think of a better place. It had big doors and was surrounded by a huge impenetrable holy moat.

  ‘They are safe,’ she said. ‘They are all safe.’

  Michael was standing fifty feet behind Wee Renee and her group. The Master had sent him on an errand to the shop. He was to bring a scoop of the imported Eastern European eyes from the guarded tub in the storeroom. The Master didn’t let anyone else touch them only Michael. Apparently they were much too tempting for a vampire to pick up. Even the guards didn’t know what was in there. He had a plastic food bag in his pocket and the ladle from Bonfire Night. He was going to pick up a couple of things up for himself, out of the main shop too. Ten minutes earlier and he would have been trapped. Grabbed again by his old band mates. Now he felt wonderful. What a chance sighting. He would be in The Master’s favour now. Definitely no sign of Freddie, but Wee Renee and Pat were back in Friarmere, with a few new people. The Master would be pleased. Michael kept his distance. He walked from doorway to doorway until he saw them go in – He would deliver them to The Master on a plate.

  THE END

  Until Book 3