by Steve Feasey
‘I wonder if you could all please leave me alone for a while? I need some time to think.’
7
‘I’ve found it!’ Helde shouted, throwing the doors open and bursting into the room at the top of the tower.
The silence she met reminded her that she ought to have knocked, but if Caliban was annoyed about her sudden entrance he didn’t show it. Indeed, there was no reaction at all from the vampire. He remained sitting motionless on his throne, staring straight ahead of him, as if unaware that she’d even come in. The two zombies were in the room, the female sitting on the stone floor, hunched over, her back to the sorceress. The other, the man, was standing by the window. He briefly flicked his eyes at Helde and let out a low moan before staring blankly ahead again.
‘Did you hear me?’ she said. ‘I’ve found the source of the Shield.’
The vampire cast his eyes towards her. He frowned as if confused as to who she was and what she might be doing here.
Helde looked about her, trying to locate the source of whatever had caused this strange impassivity in the vampire.
‘My brother,’ Caliban said. ‘He knows where we are.’
‘What? How?’
‘It would appear that he really can see through my eyes when I am least expecting it.’ He threw his hands into the air and spat.
‘When did this happen?’ she asked.
‘A short while ago. I was awoken from my rest by something. I got up and looked around, but there was nothing, at least no threat that I could make out. Then very slowly I felt him. He was inside me, looking out through my eyes and sharing my thoughts. It’s the same thing I felt just before we left the Netherworld.’ His voice was getting louder now. ‘What is happening to me, sorceress? How can he be capable of this thing?’ He brought his fist down on to the stone arm of the throne with such force that the obsidian broke beneath the impact, a large piece of the polished black stone falling to the floor with a thunk. The vampire was on his feet and glaring down at her from the raised dais, as if the incident were somehow her fault.
She held out her hands in a pacifying gesturing, nodding with her head for him to sit again. She had already been a victim of the vampire’s brutality, and she was keen to have him calm down as soon as possible lest he should take his frustrations out on her.
‘Why didn’t you call me?’ she asked.
‘I … don’t know. At first I thought that I might have imagined the whole affair, but now I’m certain that that is not the case. He was here,’ he tapped at his temple with a bony finger, ‘inside my head!’
‘Before the incident in the Netherworld, had either of you experienced any psychic or telepathic exchanges between each other?’
‘Never.’
‘You’re sure?’
The vampire hissed and glared at her. ‘That is not how it works between vampires. Humans, yes.’ He took a deep breath and carried on. ‘We have the ability to briefly “look inside” a human’s thoughts and memories, but that power does not extend to our own kind.’ He paused. ‘And this was not like that. This was an altogether different thing. It was like he’d crawled inside me, like we were sharing the same body.’
The sorceress was quiet for a while as she considered what she’d just been told. ‘I’ll consult the ancient texts in the libraries here, to see if I can find any mention of such a thing.’ She looked towards the zombies, another thought striking her. ‘It puts a new light on our plans.’
‘We will have to move the tower, take it to a new location where we can harvest humans and—’
‘And what if your brother visits you again? And again? How much time will we waste moving here and there, achieving nothing?’
The vampire bellowed in frustration, the zombies briefly raising their heads at the sound.
The sorceress had never seen him so volatile. She watched him pace back and forth on the raised dais, muttering to himself in a low voice. It was odd to witness this ancient creature, normally so sure of his powers and ability, battling with these new, unwelcome emotions.
‘We must alter our plans. Act faster.’ She looked at him and nodded her head. ‘Now perhaps you will understand why I have spent so much effort searching for the Shield. My search could not have ended at a more opportune time.’
‘You have found it?’
‘That is what I came here to tell you.’
‘How must we change our plans?’
‘We have no idea if it is only our position that has been discovered. How do we know that your brother is not also aware of our scheme to capture humans and turn them into the undead here at Leroth? No, we have to act now while we can still have some small element of surprise. We have to change the way we go about spreading our zombie horde.’ She looked down at her own body, lost in thought. Using her forefinger and thumb she plucked a large beetle from her abdomen, holding the thing in front of her face and examining it, before dropping it to the floor, where it scuttled back into the mass of insects that was her foot. ‘Instead of harvesting humans here or anywhere else, we must use what we have already to maximum effect. We need to transport Leroth into an area full of humans, and let these two,’ she nodded towards the zombies, ‘wreak havoc.’
‘Only two?’
‘If we can put them among a big enough crowd, it should be enough.’
‘And the Shield? What will its role be?’
‘If I can maximize the Shield’s operable distance, it will provide a wide arc of protection, stopping anything getting in or out.’
‘How large can you make it?’
‘The greater the distance, the weaker the barrier gets, so I will have to be careful not to stretch it too far. I would guess that a radius of a few hundred metres will be sustainable. It will also require all of my efforts and skill to keep it operational for any length of time.’ She gave him a strange look. ‘I will be vulnerable while I’m doing this, and will need you to look out for me.’
‘It will have to be done at night. I shall be of no use to you if—’
‘Not necessarily. The barrier will stop the sun’s hurtful rays from destroying you. It will be like being under a glass dome.’
‘But this Shield is not impenetrable? Could my brother gain access using sorcery?’
‘Not easily. It would take a skilled practitioner of sorcery to even attempt such a thing.’
‘There’s the daughter – the dhampir.’ The vampire frowned for a moment as he tried to recall the name of the half-human, half-vampire monstrosity that was his niece. ‘Alexa. She has studied the dark arts.’
Helde waved this notion away. ‘That child would not have the skill or power to attempt such a thing.’
She paused, then took a step towards him and continued in a low voice. ‘We should strike at the heart of your brother’s power base. We should show him what we are capable of, and that we are not cowed by this new ability of his!’
‘London?’
‘Why not? It will be the last thing he’d expect. Can you think of a suitable event that the humans might attend in great numbers?’
A terrible smile crept on to Caliban’s face. His eyes narrowed. ‘Yes, I think I know just the thing.’
8
Lucien closed his eyes behind his sunglasses and tipped his head back to let the sun bathe his face with its warmth and light. He was still unable to relax fully, his hands tightly gripping the balcony rail as he waited for the searing pain to begin, but it did not. It would not. The old witch was right. After Hag had pulled her little stunt he had come out on to the balcony alone to reflect. Though he realized he should probably be careful this first time, after so many centuries, he was finding it hard to tear himself away and return indoors. He looked down at the back of his hand. His skin had changed colour even in this short period – not exactly a tan, but not the pale coloration he was used to seeing either. In truth, he was probably a little burned – but his skin would rejuvenate at vampire speed once he was inside. Reluctantly, he headed for the door
to let it do just that.
‘I can’t go back there,’ Trey said to Lucien.
They were sitting in the vampire’s office, Lucien behind his desk and Trey in a chair opposite him, having come at the vampire’s request. Despite having been warned by Tom about Lucien’s experience in the sun earlier, Trey had not been prepared for the slight tan that the vampire sported on his face and hands. The teenager had never seen Lucien looking anything but deathly pale. He couldn’t imagine what Alexa, his own daughter, would make of it. There was something else about the vampire too, Trey thought – an air of contentment almost. But the topic of conversation had soon put such lighter thoughts far from his mind.
‘I understand the turmoil you must feel at the prospect of returning to Leroth, but—’
‘No, Lucien, you don’t understand.’ Trey looked across at his guardian. ‘Charles was killed in that place. I carried him out on my shoulders.’
Lucien met the teenager’s look with his own, as if waiting for Trey to go on. When he didn’t, Lucien aired what he thought was the real reason behind Trey’s reluctance to revisit the place.
‘You were almost killed in that place too.’
Trey shrugged. ‘That’s becoming a bit of an occupational hazard.’
‘And in defending yourself,’ the vampire went on as if he hadn’t heard this last comment, ‘you killed Gwendolin.’ He raised a hand to stop his ward interrupting again. ‘Let’s not pretend the memory of that isn’t bothering you every bit as much as what happened to your friend. I saw how you refused to meet Alexa’s eyes when I revealed where my brother was.’
‘Her mother’s dead because of me.’
‘No.’ The vampire shook his head. ‘The creature you defended both yourself and Charles from was no longer Alexa’s mother, any more than you are the boy I first met at the care home. You forget I once loved Gwendolin, and I can tell you that that woman ceased to exist a long, long time ago.’ He sighed and raised an eyebrow at Trey. ‘Alexa no more holds you responsible for her mother’s death than I do. Besides, if you had not done what you did, I would not be here speaking to you today. Your stealing of Mynor’s Globe from Leroth revived me.’ He frowned, as if considering what he’d just said. He looked up at his young ward, a sad smile on his face. ‘I wish there was some way that I could turn back the clock for you, Trey. To return you to a time when your world was not full of danger as it is now.’
Trey snorted. ‘And how far would you turn the clock back?’ He felt beneath his T-shirt for the amulet that hung there, remembering how Lucien had given it to him that first time they’d met, telling him to put it on and revealing that it had been his father’s. It was this that enabled Trey to take on the upright, bipedal werewolf form he’d become accustomed to – a powerful, thinking creature rather than the terrifying four-legged nether-creature known as the Wolfen. He’d experienced what it was like to be in that particular werewolf form before when he’d Changed with the Pack in the Canadian forest, and he knew that as a Wolfen he could be a danger to the world and himself.
‘It isn’t as if my life changed the moment you walked into that care home, Lucien. Caliban had already murdered my parents and tried to have me killed when I was a baby, and he isn’t going to stop until either he or I are dead. I’m lucky to have made it this far.’ He shrugged in his guardian’s direction. ‘Besides, you saved me too, remember? If you hadn’t come that day, I’d have been killed in the fire. I figure we’re quits on that score.’
Trey realized that he hadn’t had a chance to talk like this with his guardian for some time. It was strange, but Lucien always had a way of making Trey feel OK about whatever lay ahead, as if the teenager were able to draw from the vampire’s own power and confidence. He smiled at the thought that his world was a less scary place with a vampire around, and the smile slipped from his face as Lucien’s face was replaced by Caliban’s in his mind.
‘Tom tells me that you were considering leaving us.’
‘That’s not quite what I said.’ Trey couldn’t shake the mental image of Lucien’s evil brother out of his head.
As if reading the young man’s thoughts, his guardian nodded. ‘You are more formidable than you think, and soon you will have a chance to unleash your powers and fulfil your destiny, Trey.’
There was a pause and Trey looked into Lucien’s eyes, something that was never easy to do. ‘You’re talking about the legend again, aren’t you?’
‘I’m merely suggesting that not going to Leroth will do nothing to remove the threat against you. You can choose not to go, but sooner or later Caliban will catch up with you, maybe in Leroth and maybe not. Your destinies are linked, like the twisted strands of your own DNA, and you can either meet that destiny head-on or wait for it to find you.’
Trey considered this. ‘I can run but I can’t hide, is that it?’
‘Something like that, yes.’
‘That’s what I thought.’
‘I want you to know that I will not allow anything to happen to you, Trey. I will protect you like my own son. You must believe that.’
Trey studied the creature before him. He nodded his head. ‘I do believe that, Lucien.’
The teenager stood up and turned to go, stopping at the door to face his guardian one more time. ‘Thanks,’ he said. A grin slowly crept on to his face. ‘Oh, and by the way, the suntan thing,’ he said, pointing. ‘It suits you. Makes you look less … dead.’
‘I shall bear that in mind.’ Lucien looked down at the papers on his desk, but Trey caught the amused expression on his face as he did so.
He stepped out, closing the door behind him.
Now all he needed to do was straighten things out with Alexa.
9
The communication console next to the door beeped three times, and Alexa tapped the touch screen to answer it, noting that it was the front desk calling. She glanced across at the grill where the ham and cheese sandwich she was making for her breakfast was cooking.
‘Hello?’
One of the guards on duty that morning spoke. ‘Excuse me, Miss Charron, but there’s a young lady in reception asking to see Mr Laporte. She says she’s a friend of his.’
Alexa felt her insides clench. ‘Let me guess,’ she said. ‘Blonde? Tall? Scarily blue eyes with a slight “desperate” look to them?’
There was a pause at the other end, and when the guard spoke again his embarrassment was evident in his voice. ‘Er, well, she is blonde, yes. She says her name is Ella.’
Alexa was about to tell him that she had no idea if Trey was in, when she heard his bedroom door open and close, followed by the sound of his tuneless whistling as he crossed the living room in her direction. ‘Tell her to wait downstairs, please. I’ll let him know.’ She tapped the screen again to sever the connection.
Trey walked in, the whistle dying on his lips when he saw her.
‘Hi,’he said after a moment.
‘Hi.’
There was an uncomfortable silence between them, neither of them knowing what to say next. It was Trey who finally spoke. ‘Look, Lex. I’ve been meaning to talk to you since our last little … chat, and I really wanted to tell you that—’
‘Your friend is downstairs,’ she said, interrupting.
He gave her a puzzled look, and she sighed theatrically.
‘Blondie? Your werewolf friend? The girl who saved your life? You know, the one you forgot to tell me about?’
‘Don’t be like that, please,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘I didn’t invite her here. She just turned up—’
‘Well, she’s just turned up again. She’s downstairs in the lobby, waiting for you.’
He frowned. ‘I’m not expecting her.’
‘It’d be rude to leave her down there waiting,’ she said. ‘You’d better go and see what she wants.’
He nodded, considering this. ‘Why don’t you come down with me? We could all go out somewhere together. You two could get to know each other a bit.’
Alexa raised an eyebrow at him and was about to say something when she sniffed the air. She looked behind her to see wisps of smoke coming from the grill. ‘Shit!’ she said, and hurried over to remove the blackened sandwich. ‘I think I’ll give your little idea a miss, thanks, Trey. I wouldn’t want to be a gooseberry or anything like that, but be sure to give my regards to Blondie, won’t you?’
‘Ella,’ Trey said in a tight voice. ‘Her name is Ella.’ He waited for Alexa to say something. By now, he was completely confused and frustrated by her hot and cold behaviour and he almost regretted coming in to try and patch things up between the two of them. Yesterday evening, after talking to Lucien, he’d gone down to the gym for a workout and used the time alone to think things through properly. He’d decided to be honest with her and tell her how he’d been struggling with things, but that even if she didn’t feel the same way about him, he did have feelings for her.
Now all that had gone out of the window and it was as much as he could do to stop himself from telling her what a pain in the butt she was being.
Alexa swore again as she burned her finger on the grill pan. She glanced over her shoulder at him and tutted. ‘Are you still here?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘No, I’m not.’ He turned and left the apartment, heading for the lobby.
‘I wasn’t expecting you,’ Trey said to Ella as they left the building together.
‘I thought I’d surprise you,’ she said.
It was a bright, sunny day again, and Trey wished he’d brought his sunglasses with him as he squinted against the light.
There was a taxi waiting for them, and Ella headed straight for it, holding the door open for him and beckoning for him to get inside.
‘Where are we going?’ he said as he climbed in.
‘Like I said, it’s a surprise.’
The taxi pulled away, the driver clearly knowing their destination even if Trey didn’t. Ella sat close to him on the back seat, pointing out landmarks along the route, and asking him to tell her what they were. She laughed at his sketchy knowledge of the city he lived in, and when he shrugged and smiled back at her their eyes met, and her look became more serious. He could feel his face reddening, and she turned away to stare out of the window. They drove over Tower Bridge and were soon in an area of London that Trey had never visited before. The cab took a number of turns through a built-up residential area, navigating lefts and rights through mazy rat runs until it came out into a road ending in a scruffy-looking industrial estate. The place, and the houses that led up to it, had an abandoned and disused appearance. The cab headed for some old workshops on the estate, and Trey was about to suggest that the driver must have brought them to the wrong place when the vehicle pulled up outside what appeared to be a rundown car repairs garage. Ella took out her purse and paid the driver.