Liz had been quiet during this whole conversation. Looking back, she had been quiet for the last few weeks. Deep inside her heart she knew what was going on. Were they ready to hear it? What the hell.
‘I do know more than you think and you won't want to hear this, but I think Bob is right.’ She paused. ‘Or may be partly right. We are being slowly taken over and controlled. I have so many urges now that go beyond human comprehension. I feel low, animalistic... subhuman. I want to do things I know I shouldn't and have constantly stopped myself.’ They were all dreadfully shocked at this. ‘I'm actually, just the last couple of days, starting to feel stronger and getting myself back. Maybe this kind of infection is slowly coming out of my body. I haven't acted on any impulses but I did want to eat raw meat, which as you know for me is a terrible thing. But I have managed not to do it. I have spoken to Andy in the last couple of days, and he knows the way that I feel. What I think has happened is that someone or a group of people put something in the food and drink at The Grange. I don't know why, but since then we have been dropping like flies. I feel there are two stages to the descent. One is urges, needs and illness and a desperate cry for it to stop. It’s torture. The solution or medicine is the second stage when you act on the urges and you can become something else. The torture will stop. I do know some people who feel like this amongst our band, but it is up to them, not me, to tell you. I don't think that's fair, to out them. After all, it isn’t their fault. I also think it would hurt some people, if they knew their friends were infected. And maybe they will fight it like me. I don't know.. maybe it is some kind of germ warfare, I am so confused. But from everything I have felt, know, or sense from the last few weeks, I think that the vampire line sounds the best.’ Andy put his arm around her and Sue rubbed her hand the other side.
‘I can't believe we are talking about this!’ Danny said. ‘This is a load of old codswallop’
‘You have got to agree Danny that there is a dividing line between what we know to be fact and what we have yet to discover. Perhaps we are about to step over that line.’ Wee Renee said.
‘I suggest that we all watch each other very carefully. To protect each other and also watch for changes,’ Ernie said. He then looked Liz straight in the eye and shook his head. ‘I am sorry Liz, but I think you should tell us everything you know. I don’t care, if you think you are outing them. These are peoples lives we are playing with. So exactly who are all these band members that you have come across who we need to worry about.’
She looked around the group and knew she had no choice to tell them now. She knew she would feel better if she did anyway. Her gaze fell on Freddie.
‘You won't want to hear this but of course one of them is Maurice. He was there that night and he did not fight it. He is the only one I am sure about, as I have been in his presence. I am unsure about Keith and Diane, as I haven’t been close to them in a while. And of course Stephen and Michael’
‘In the end we need to find out as much as we can about vampires, even if it is just to rule it out,' said Tony.
‘I mean, as much as it grieves me, it seems the easiest thing to believe. The one thing that answers all these questions is the classic vampire,’ Gary said.
‘Add to all that this fact. We all have heard that vampires don't like garlic. The night that Danny had bolognese and you could smell garlic all round the bandroom, I was nearly sick. It was so hard to stave off. But did you notice that Maurice had to go home? I think that garlic is definitely something that works and it ties in with the vampire mythology,’ Liz said.
‘What is their next step?’ Ernie said. ‘How does it happen if you don’t resist it? Do you know?’
‘No. I know that it takes an outside intervention for this but obviously that hasn't happened to me. To tell you the truth I have stuck to Andy like glue and felt that I have been watched a lot of the time.’ They all turned towards the window. The curtains were shut apart from about two inches in the middle, so they could just see the snow coming down outside.
‘Did you see something then?’ Freddie asked quickly.
‘No, it is just the shadows,’ said Danny. But it wasn't and they all felt it.
‘This is making shivers run up and down my spine!’ Lynn said.
‘I think they must have run over from mine,’ said Pat.
‘The problem is, if they are coming to get us then the only thing we can do is kill them,' said Bob matter-of-factly.
'That is something we would have to be sure of, son, before we started taking that kind of approach,’ said Tony.
‘Yes, I agree Dad. What we know is that garlic repels them but does not kill them. So how do we kill them?’ Bob asked.
The Master had crawled down from the roof of the pub. His head faced downwards, looking through a chink in curtains. They couldn’t see him. His legs were splayed above him either side the upstairs window of the pub. He had slithered down from the roof. It was harder to night-crawl in the snow, but not impossible. Thankfully for him, he could still manage to slyly watch them. These people were cleverer than he thought. They were piecing it together and his plan would have to move along a little quicker than he thought. He had someone to visit tonight and that would be another one in his clutch. Norman wouldn’t learn much more here. Now to the escalation of the game.
In a moment he crawled backwards up to the roof, his head low, smoothly retreating last from the street. He had disappeared into the snow. But outside the pub, the malevolent atmosphere remained.
15 - Police
There was a chalk dusting of snow on the ground for band practice on Monday. It was dry snow, with a mixture of ice crystals. The ground was ice cold, the air frigid too. Ernie sat in his sitting room, listening to the odd car go past, crunching on the crispy snow and cracking the ice on the odd puddle. There was nothing to prevent anyone from coming to band tonight, it wasn’t slippy and it wasn’t deep. He was expecting a good turnout.
Ernie sighed and took a drink of his tea. He looked out of the window from his seat and was miles away in thought. He picked up the phone and called the police station, hoping not to get Keith but to get Stuart, the only other local policeman. There were only two police officers in Friarmere. Ernie did not trust Keith. He wasn’t his favourite person at the best of times, but he just knew that Keith was involved in all this. He spoke to Stuart who was quite shocked and dumbfounded by Ernie’s story. Keith wasn’t mentioned. He hadn’t ever been called about missing sheep or a rash of illnesses in the village. He would have thought that the local doctor would be the first to know about this, not him. Stuart also wondered what Ernie expected him to do about it.
‘Do you think that there are any suspicious circumstances regarding these absences?’ He asked.
‘Well, I don’t know,’ he swallowed, ‘I thought that would be a matter for you, not me.’
‘I’ll give it my full attention,' Stuart said, winding up the conversation. He put the phone down, smiled and shook his head. There certainly were some funny folk in Friarmere. He carried on writing his report.
Ernie wouldn’t tell him about the band suspicions. Why or what was making this happen? He thought he would leave that to Stuart to find out. He also neglected to say that he thought Keith was involved because he thought that Stuart might not believe him. He would probably think he was going mad and if he did find any clues it might put all the other evidence in jeopardy. Let him sort it out with an open mind. Stuart should have a more investigative brain than him so he would let him put it together piece by piece. Turn it over to the professionals. Get it off his plate.
Sue had made a list over the weekend of all the players in the band. Then marked off people that went to the play at The Grange that night in green highlighter pen. After that, she had taken her red pen and marked off those that were not coming at all, or those that had come and now weren’t and it was very worrying. It was all of them except Liz. She tapped her pen on her lip, forgetting that she hadn’t put the top back on.
What had happened that night? Could they be right?
That night Liz was in attendance as usual and felt slightly better than she had even on Saturday. In fact, a little bit of colour was in her cheeks and they didn’t look as hollow as they had. As if to make things worse, there was a bad cold going around at the moment and a couple of them had come down with this. Danny had decided not to come to Band that night. He had taken a look at the freezing cold day and put his head back under his quilt, telling Ernie that he was concerned about spreading it around. However, Barry did have it and had picked up a pretty bad case of it. Luckily, as he didn't have to blow down an instrument he had turned up anyway, and was back on his stool with his conductors baton poised and ready. The last band job they had done had been for Armistice Sunday, which was particularly cold this year. Never to be put off, they had still played and placed the Wreath of Remembrance. It was wicked cold that day though, and had got them deep in their bones. Everyone was sniffling in the band.
Freddie was wiping his nose and was also looking to the prospect of going home to an empty house. That day his wife's sister, who lived over the hill, had called his wife to say how very poorly she was. She couldn’t even get out of bed and look after herself in a basic way. Also there was a little dog to consider. He needed feeding and walking. His wife Brenda, was very worried as this was her older sister who now had just turned seventy. She had two other sisters and the four of them were extremely close. Her eldest sister who had called her, named Doris was very close to his wife, who was the second eldest. Brenda was quite clearly worried and so Freddie had suggested that she go and maybe look after her for a few days. What had also crossed Freddie’s mind was that this meant that Brenda would be out of harms way if something was going to happen in Friarmere. Freddie would manage quite easily on tins of tomato soup and bread rolls. He enjoyed having soup with so much pepper that it looked like a black hat on the surface. It made his nose run, but that was the just the way Freddie rolled, head hanging over the soup, sneezing away. But Brenda would tell him off, saying anything that made you do that was quite clearly bad for you. Now he could have free reign with the pepper pot.
He had driven her up to her sister’s. Doris was in bed and one of her sisters was already there. Brenda had a key anyway so she got out of the car with her suitcase and some of the substantial medicine stack of theirs in a bag and went on up to the front door. Freddie was happy as she was safe and that meant he could go to Band or the pub and not worry about her being on her own. She was well out of harms way, definitely.
There was a sombre mood in Band that night. Everyone was worried but no one discussed it. Tonight they just played music to take their minds off it, which for a small time it did. They were practising their songs for the carol concert with the school choir. Mrs White, had called to say that all tickets were sold. She said she could have sold double the amount that the hall could hold. They had all been thinking about it over the weekend and called each other a few times to clarify some points. No matter what explanations they tried, really they could come up with nothing that fit the bill as accurately as vampires. Especially with the evidence of the garlic and Liz’s testimony.
Stuart was at the station front desk drinking a coffee and eating a custard tart. He was thinking about everything Ernie had told him. He had been on his rounds earlier and seen a couple of people walking around, very pale and acting suspiciously. They seemed not to want to talk or meet his gaze. Once they noticed him, they would dart up a street out of the way. He had a wander to the local shop to ask if the shopkeepers were having any problems. They said business was booming and were very happy. Indeed the place was more packed than usual for this time of day. But all the time he stood there, no one came to the counter. After he left, he doubled back on himself and looked through the window. They had all left the back of the shop where they had been lurking and went to the till in silence to pay for their baskets of shopping. He tried to see what was in their baskets from the window. Only half the till area was visible. From what he could see, apart from raw meat, there was little else in each basket. How weird. It was natural that people would want to eat protein if they were ill, but why couldn’t they pay for it in front of him. Usually, people hid things they were ashamed off. There was no possible reason to be hiding raw meat from him, was there? He put this together with what Ernie had said, on the way back to the station. Maybe he had been a little dismissive earlier. He respected Ernie and thought that he would not call him unless he was extremely worried and serious about this. Stuart thought that he would have to you discuss it with Keith and then maybe contact someone from HQ that was higher up the chain to see what could be done. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it certainly looked like a matter bigger than the two of them. He didn't look forward to discussing it with Keith who was generally a miserable sod. Another thought crossed his mind. Why Ernie had chosen to call him instead of Keith who was in the actual band that Ernie was talking about? Keith had been turning up for work so obviously he wasn't infected. Ernie hadn’t mentioned if he had been turning up for band or not. Stuart did half of the police hours allocated and Keith did the other and they were very seldom on together. Tonight Stuart had decided to stay behind and wait for Keith to check in. He took out another custard tart and began to eat it. Yes, he would wait for Keith. There was no need for twenty-four hour cover in this small village. They only sometimes had the odd drunk to contend with or a stranger speeding through the village. Most of the time their ships crossed in the night. He looked at the other custard tart left in the box and considered saving it for Keith. Sod him, he thought. Ate it quickly, throwing the box in the bin just as Keith came through the front door.
‘Keith,’ said Stuart.
‘Stuart,’ said Keith in acknowledgement. Keith looked like he was in a foul mood and Stuart did not relish this conversation at all.
‘I thought you were finishing half an hour ago!’ Said Keith rudely.
‘Yes, I was. But I need a chat. A bit of advice.’
‘Right...’ said Keith suspiciously.
‘Yes, I have had one of your friends on earlier from Friarmere Band, Ernie Cooper, telling me that he thinks there is something going on in the village.’
‘Right.’
‘He mentioned something about people being ill and also about a lot of missing sheep which I was not aware of. I had a look through the last few days paperwork, but didn’t see a report about it.’
‘Ah, yes that was me that Tommy spoke to. He said he has a few sheep missing. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about.’
‘Don't you think that you should be letting me know that. I could be looking into what is going on as well. From what I hear it was not a few but a whole flock.’
‘No, no. I’ve just told you, I don't think it's anything to worry about.’
‘Alright, so what about they all these people that are ill and not doing what they should be? They are not able to carry on with their lives as normal. I have seen some in the shop myself tonight. We should be doing something about that. We may be able to prevent some kind of epidemic.’
‘I don't agree,' said Keith.
‘So you don't agree that there is a problem with a load of sheep missing? Or that people are coming down with some mysterious illness?'
‘No,’ said Keith abruptly.
‘Well I do think there is a problem. I have a responsibility to Friarmere,’ said Stuart firmly. ‘So, I am going to call Head Office and ask for reinforcements and more investigations. There could be something going on in a few villages or maybe nationally and we haven't been informed.’
‘Just hold on for a moment,' said Keith, using his pass code to come into the office, and slowly walking around the desk towards Stuart. His eyes never left him but Stuart was picking up the telephone receiver, determined to do what he thought was right.
‘Why is that? We aren't doing our job, protecting people and their property, if we don't act on this informatio
n Keith. This is not like you. I am disappointed.’
‘I am so glad that you discussed this with me first. Because, I can't let you tell anyone else or bring any outsiders into this village.’ Stuart quickly looked up from the telephone keypad at Keith, who was on Stuart faster than he could have believed possible. He snatched the receiver out of Stuart’s hand and hit him across the side of the head with it, striking his temple. As Stuart’s head lay on the desk he aggressively tore at the side of Stuarts throat ripping away his Police uniform, with his fingernails. The Master had said when Stuart became involved, when he started to discover them, then it would be up to Keith to sort it. But that he would have to make the Police Officer one of his own. Keith did not agree with this and so badly wanted to kill this man, as he had never had much respect for Stuart. He thought that there was only room for one vampire policeman in the village. But the Master had decreed it, so Stuart was to become a vampire too. Maybe Keith would like him more as a vampire. They would protect Friarmere’s secrets and keep them well hidden whilst they multiplied.
16 - Coffee
It was quarter past six in the morning and Mark was cheerfully doing his usual job of delivering milk to the village of Friarmere. It was extremely cold on his milk float, but luckily for Mark there was no one else about so he was having a nip of rum out of a hip flask. If the police had pulled him over and breathalysed him, he was in fact still over the limit from last night. He had delivered to most of the village and was just on his last stop which was right at the top of Friarmere, at a lady's house called Christine. He did not ever go further than her house to The Grange because it was just a dirt track and his milk float would never have made it. If they asked him to start delivering milk there, he would turn them down flat. Luckily Christine’s house was on the corner of the main road and this track, or she wouldn’t have got it either. He parked at the top of the track on the main road, picked up his milk crate and walked down to her path. It was still dark and extremely cold. He put her milk and two yoghurts on her front step. As he stood up he had the feeling that someone was behind him. He knew there was. Even in his inebriated state, his hair stood on end. Every fibre of him screamed danger. He froze, holding his breath. He did not want to turn around. He couldn’t if he had wanted to. Mark was right of course. But it wasn’t someone, it was something, and there were three of them. He looked forward and gulped. The door of the house opened and Christine stood framed by a dull light behind her. He focused on her scarlet lips, so red with lipstick, that they fascinated him. He stared, forgetting the feeling of terror he had had a few seconds before and cocked his head. His breath came out like a mist in the cold morning. Hers didn’t, as she spoke directly to him, their eyes locked together.
Sticky Valves: Book 1 of the Saddleworth Vampire Series Page 13