Immortal Warriors 02 - Secrets of the Highwayman

by Sara Mackenzie

  “Suzie,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering shut. “He has Suzie.”

  He felt a pang. If Pengorren had Suzie, then she was probably dead. Eddie, too. But Melanie looked so ill lying there, so different from the bedazzling woman he was used to, he couldn’t tell her the truth.

  “I’ll find her,” he said, and touched her cheek. “Stay here.”

  She managed a smile, her eyes fluttering closed. She trusted him. Leaving her was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do.

  Out on the landing, Pengorren was still shouting and cursing. Teth had drawn blood and torn a long strip from his coat. The locket was dangling outside his clothing. Nathaniel edged in closer and grabbed hold of it.

  Pengorren, realizing what Raven was up to, snatched for his hand, but it was too late. Nathaniel gave the chain a hard tug, and it snapped. The locket was his.

  Pengorren threw back his head in a shriek of rage, and at the same time Teth saw his chance and dived in to bite his cheek. The flesh tore. Pengorren roared and lashed out with his fist, knocking Teth off-balance. The hound gave a bloodcurdling howl as he struck the banisters. He rolled down several of the stairs and sprawled there, stunned.

  That gave Pengorren enough time to get to his feet and stagger backward until he was hard up against the wall. His clothing was ripped, he was disheveled and hurt, with blood dripping from his hands and his face; but when he turned his gaze to Nathaniel, his eyes were the same gleaming, savage blue they’d always been.

  “Call off your mongrel!” he shouted.

  Teth was back on his feet again, growling, but he was limping badly. He made a feint at Pengorren, forcing him to take a step sideways down the corridor. Immediately Nathaniel thought of Melanie, lying defenseless in the bedchamber, and took a step of his own, toward the stairs. He held up the locket, letting it dangle from the broken chain, and Pengorren’s gaze swiveled to him and narrowed.

  “Want this, Hew?”

  Pengorren swallowed, and pushed a swath of fair hair out of his eyes. The gash on his cheek was deep and brutal, and there was a long scratch on his neck. It was comforting to see he bled red, like ordinary mortals.

  “Nathaniel,” he said with soft menace, “you’re making a terrible mistake. Give it to me now, and I might let you go.”

  Nathaniel laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  He was moving away, down the stairs, and Teth came with him, hobbling on three paws. Pengorren hesitated and glanced behind him, looking for Melanie, but there was no sign of her. Nathaniel could see his indecision, but he hoped Pengorren would think she’d escaped down the back stairs.

  “How does this thing work, Hew?” he said, twirling the locket chain so that the locket spun crazily.

  To his relief, Pengorren turned to him at last and began to follow. He showed Nathaniel his teeth in what was meant to be a smile. “I’m going to enjoy killing you,” he said.

  The lights went out.

  Melanie didn’t know how long she’d been lying on the narrow bed with the worn, patchwork cover, only that it was dark and she was freezing and so very tired. Her bones seemed to ache, even her fingernails, and when she moved, she felt as if she’d aged a hundred years.

  Gradually it came to her that she must get up, that it was extremely urgent she move. Pengorren was here—he could be standing outside the door right now—and both she and Nathaniel were in terrible danger. She didn’t let herself think about Suzie and Eddie. Not yet, not now. Blame and grief would come later.

  Slowly, she eased her legs off the bed to the floor and, gripping the iron railings on the bedhead, dragged herself upright into a sitting position. At once the darkness started to swim, and she dropped her head into her hands with a groan. It seemed to take ages for her vision to clear, and longer again for her to feel it was safe to get to her feet. The first step was the worst, but the next was better.

  Her strength was returning. Slowly but surely, it was coming back. She really was powerful. She hadn’t understood until now just how strong she was. As powerful as Pengorren? Perhaps. One thing was for certain, she wasn’t going to let him destroy her without a fight. He’d had his way for far too long.

  The corridor was so dark she had to stand a moment and let her eyes adjust. The whole house seemed to be blacked out, and she wondered if someone had done that on purpose or if it was an electrical fault. Maybe Nathaniel was trying to confuse Pengorren, or vice versa.

  She hoped Nathaniel was okay. She didn’t remember the fight very clearly, but from what she did remember it was Pengorren, not Nathaniel or Teth, who was getting the worst of it.

  But where were they now? Everything was so quiet.

  Suddenly she realized she’d stopped breathing and was feeling dizzy again. She gulped some air, but that was worse, so she forced herself to slow it down and take even, steady breaths.

  As she grew calmer, her mind began to open up, tentatively reaching out beyond the corridor to the landing, then down the stairs and into the hall. There was nothing there, so she sought farther afield, her mind tiptoeing a little at a time, afraid of what she might find.

  Despite her caution she landed herself right in the middle of it before she could stop. Dark, gooey, and unpleasant. Pengorren. Mentally she backed away, terrified, wondering if he could sense her as she was able to sense him. But after a moment, when he hadn’t come after her mentally or in the flesh, she gave a sigh of relief.

  Next time he found her, he wouldn’t hesitate, she knew that. He’d kill her, and then spread his evil once more throughout the world.

  The corridor was dark and airless. She’d have to move, but the thought of creeping through the black house was terrifying. She took a slow, cautious step, and then another, pausing to check it was safe. Soon she’d reached the top of the stairs.

  Her eyes were adjusting to the dark now—better than they ever had, but she didn’t want to think about that, or what she was becoming. She could see that the table on the landing was upended, one of the legs smashed, signs of the struggle between Teth and Pengorren.

  Who had won? She didn’t even know that. The fact that she’d felt Pengorren’s presence meant he was still around, still alive. She could only pray that Nathaniel and Teth were, too.

  Clutching the banister with one hand, Melanie began to descend the staircase.

  Thirty-three

  Had Nathaniel taken the locket from around Pengorren’s neck? Surely he had the key by now? Melanie’s hopes and dreams were resting on that key, and the favor the queen would grant her when it was returned. She and Nathaniel had just as much riding on the outcome of this night as Pengorren. More.

  She reached the bottom of the staircase and halted. The faint echo of voices drifted from the direction of the kitchen. Melanie moved toward the sound.

  Her strength was almost fully returned. She could feel the power settling over her like a mantle. If this was how Pengorren felt all the time, then she could understand his overweening self-confidence. She could almost believe herself to be invincible if she hadn’t just received a painful lesson in her own mortality.

  The door to the kitchen was just ahead of her when she heard Teth growl. Melanie froze. She didn’t want to reach out with her mind again, in case Pengorren sensed her, but she knew he was in there anyway. Her flesh tingled, and the air sparked from his presence.

  Nathaniel raised his voice. He sounded reckless. “Do you think it will melt?”

  “You’re being very childish, my boy.” Pengorren at his most smooth and dangerous.

  Melanie crept forward and peeked around the corner and into the kitchen. The shadows were lit by a strange blue glow, and she could make out Nathaniel with Teth at his side. Pengorren was several feet away, closer to Melanie, standing very still beside the bench.

  “What will happen if you lose the key, Hew? No more traveling through time. No more escaping into the past. She’d find you, wouldn’t she, the queen of the between-worlds? That’s who you’re running from. You stole h
er key, and she wants it back.”

  “I don’t know who told you that, Nathaniel. I’m not afraid of anyone, most particularly not of you.”

  Melanie realized that Nathaniel had turned one of the gas rings on, the blue flame up as high as it could be. He was dangling the locket over it, swinging it back and forth. No wonder Pengorren wasn’t moving any nearer.

  Melanie held her breath. They needed the key to give to the queen. Surely he wasn’t really going to destroy it?

  “Why me, Pengorren?” Nathaniel sounded as if he really wanted to know. “Why Ravenswood, when you have the whole world to choose from?”

  Pengorren shifted slightly, but Teth growled again and he remained where he was. “You made everything sound so inviting, dear boy. I couldn’t resist. I began as a monk, did you know that? I wasn’t a very good one, I’m afraid, but a monastery is a good place to hide. Then I founded a dynasty in France, and then another in Bavaria. To skip ahead a little, I was bored and wanted some adventure. I decided on the Napoleonic wars and changed my name and joined the British army—that was the winning side, after all. While I was in Spain I was fortunate enough to meet you. I think I’ve been in and around Cornwall ever since.”

  “So the drowning…?”

  “Just pretense. It gets embarrassing when the years pass and everyone else grows old and I don’t. I had to think of some way to escape the questions, so I died. I changed my name again, traveled a little. I came back as Trewartha early in the twentieth century. I enjoyed being him, collecting my antiques and writing my masterpiece. The Raven’s Curse. Have you read it, Nathaniel?”

  “That’s what gave you away, Hew. Only you could have written something so biased.”

  He chuckled. “Do you know, the old lady said that. I used to visit her, sipping at her essence, just enough to keep myself alive. I didn’t want to take it all at once—she might have been the last of my line—and she was going to die soon anyway, I’d take it then. We used to chat, though, and if I have one fault, then I do tend to talk too much about myself. She wheedled the truth out of me. Next I knew she’d gone. Before I could track her down she was dead, and I was left with nothing. I thought I was a goner then. Strange how one’s luck changes!”

  “Your luck hasn’t changed.”

  “Oh, I think you’ll find it has,” Pengorren said, and he half turned.

  Melanie moved quickly back, out of sight. Did he know she was here? Should she declare herself or should she run?

  Someone reached out from the darkness behind her and touched her on the arm. The only reason she didn’t scream was because her throat closed over in terror. And then her heart nearly stopped as a face loomed up in front of hers.

  “Melanie…” It was Eddie in a tremulous whisper. “What the fuck is happening?”

  “Sshh!”

  He tugged at her arm, pulling her away so they couldn’t be heard. “I’ve got Suzie outside in the car,” he said, and choked. “I swear to you, she was talking right up until the moment we got here. She told me she was all right. She promised. And she didn’t want to go to the hospital…she said if I didn’t bring her back here, she’d get out of the car and walk. But when we got here she just stopped. I think…oh God, I think she’s…”

  He caught his breath, held it, struggling not to break down. Melanie was numb, but she knew it was better that way. Numb meant she didn’t have to feel.

  “Is she still in the car?”

  “Yes. Near my cottage. I thought she’d be safer there, out of the way, if he came. I didn’t know he was already here. When I cracked open the door and saw him coming after Nathaniel, I ran to switch off the electricity, to help him get away.”

  “You did good, Eddie.”

  “What is he?” His eyes shone like marbles. “He can’t be human.”

  “Have you heard about Dracula?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then that’s him, but without the teeth.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Never mind. Let’s go and find Suzie.”

  But before they could move, there was an awful crash from the kitchen. It sounded metallic, as if it was raining spoons and forks, and it went on and on. Teth was barking hysterically.

  “What the—” Melanie spun around, but a bulky shape blocked her way. There was someone standing behind her. She sensed who it was even before he opened his mouth.

  “Hello, my dear,” Pengorren’s voice was full of menace, “fancy meeting you here.”

  This time she did scream. He grabbed her shoulder in a brutal grip.

  “Oh no you don’t…”

  Eddie gave a roar and threw himself at Pengorren, knocking him over. China smashed. She heard them struggling, and then Eddie was flung away as if he was made of papier-mâché. But by then Melanie was free. She began to run, blindly, knowing that in a moment Pengorren would be behind her.

  Something else crashed to the floor. She slipped on water from a fallen vase and cut her knee on the broken porcelain. The stumble meant she didn’t have time to get to the front door and had to turn to the stairs instead. She ran up them, feeling her way, heart beating in her ears.

  Pengorren was closing. She felt him, the oily darkness that surrounded him. The suffocating sense of evil.

  They headed down the corridor. Take the servants’ stairs, she thought, but at the same time she knew that was what Pengorren would expect her to do. At the last moment she changed her mind, fumbling along the wall until she found the door to the attic. Opening it quickly, she darted inside.

  She could hear him coming. Melanie breathed a sigh of relief as he ran past, heading for the servants’ stairs, just as she hoped he would. She’d wait a little while and then she’d go back to the kitchen, collect Nathaniel and Eddie, then they could go to Suzie. Suzie…Maybe she should go now? There was no time to lose if her sister was as bad as Eddie thought.

  But even as she reached for the latch, she heard Pengorren returning. Stealthily. Listening between each step.

  The attic, a moment ago a place of safety, now felt like a trap. Fumbling along the edge of the door, she found the bolt, sliding it across as quietly as she could. It wouldn’t stop him, she knew that, but it might slow him down.

  Melanie climbed quickly up the stepladder into the roof space, knowing that after this there was nowhere left to go.

  The attic wasn’t just one big room. It consisted of several, built beneath the slope of the roof. And they were all full to bursting with the paraphernalia of people who had lived in the same house over several hundred years. So far Melanie hadn’t time to do more than gaze in horrified fascination into the little, crowded rooms, frightened she’d break something valuable and happy to leave it to the experts.

  Now she blundered her way past boxes and trunks and forgotten furnishings draped in dust sheets. When she knocked over a cane basket, old wooden children’s toys clattered and rolled.

  She was looking for somewhere to hide.

  Behind her a grinding, splintering sound told her that the attic door had been kicked in. A moment later Pengorren’s heavy footsteps were on the stepladder.

  Melanie bumped her shin on the corner of a box, and she bit her lip to stop a cry of pain. It was a large box, and when she felt over it with her hands, she found the lid was open and it was half-full of old clothing. And then she realized she could smell lavender…

  This must be the same box Nathaniel was talking about. It seemed like a good sign, and she needed to make a decision.

  Melanie climbed inside, tucking her knees up under her chin and reaching up to close the lid. For a moment it stuck, and she thought it wasn’t going to give, but then she gave it a sharp tug, and it closed with a muffled thud.

  Inside it was sweet and musty. A buckle dug into her neck, and she wriggled, making herself as comfortable as possible. Nathaniel had said something about a cutlass, but she couldn’t feel anything like that, no matter how her fingers probed and searched.

  And then the air
suddenly grew heavier. Oppressive. She could sense him before she could hear his steps. Melanie kept perfectly still, praying with all her heart that Pengorren wouldn’t find her.

  Thirty-four

  “I don’t understand,” Eddie wailed for the dozenth time.

  “And I don’t have time to explain,” Nathaniel retorted. After he and Teth untangled themselves from the drawers full of cutlery that Pengorren had thrown at them, they’d come across Eddie outside the door, struggling to get to his feet. There was no sign of Melanie. Eddie said that Pengorren—or Trewartha, as he knew him—had gone after her up the stairs, and there’d been a lot of noise.

  “I blacked out for a minute, but I’m sure I heard them up there. Maybe she used the back stairs?”

  Nathaniel moved forward and then tripped on something and nearly fell. He bent and picked it up. “What’s this?” he demanded.

  “Oh. I brought a flashlight from the car.” Eddie took it from him and switched it on. The light shone directly into Nathaniel’s face. “Sorry,” he said, directing it elsewhere.

  Teth growled low in his throat and showed his teeth.

  “Nice dog,” Eddie murmured.

  “We need to find Melanie. If she’s heading down the servants’ stairs, then we can get to her more quickly by going around through the side garden.”

  Eddie followed him back into the kitchen. “Who…what is that man?”

  “Trewartha. Pengorren. Whichever you like. He’s one and the same.”

  “Is he really a vampire?”

  Nathaniel opened the door to the garden. “A what?”

  “Does he suck the blood out of people so that he can live?”

  “He sucks the life from them, but he prefers those with his blood. Pengorren blood. Like you, Eddie, and Suzie and Melanie. Especially Melanie.”

  “I’m dreaming this, aren’t I?” Eddie asked plaintively.