by Steve Feasey
‘You need to let more of those people in!’ Jake said, not understanding what the old man was going on about. ‘They’re in danger!’
‘No!’ the old man said. ‘If they want to beat each other senseless, let them. I just didn’t want a youngster like you caught up in it.’
‘It’s not hooliganism,’ Robert said, surprised at the calm in his own voice.
‘What?’
‘Didn’t you see the thing?’ Jake said. ‘The tower?’
‘Tower? What tower?’
Robert realized that the shop must have been shut, the man working behind his curtained window when the black citadel had arrived. He quickly took stock of their situation, glancing down with concern at his son who kept looking towards the door every time he heard a scream or shout outside.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘We should keep the door shut—’
‘But, Dad! Those people out there—’
‘Sit down, Jake,’ his father said, nodding towards a red leather sofa by the far wall. The boy reluctantly did so.
‘Mr – ?’ Robert nodded at the old man, offering his hand.
‘Lipman. Benjamin Lipman.’
‘Thank you for letting us in, Mr Lipman. Now I think you should sit down too.’ He gestured for the old man to join his son on the sofa. ‘I need to tell you what’s really going on out there.’
19
Caliban stood looking out at the scenes of chaos unravelling before him, the sounds of terrified screams reaching him from the streets below. The death toll was already more than satisfactory, and he’d been surprised at the carnage just two of Helde’s creatures had caused in such a short period of time. He’d watched as the zombies charged into the crowd, killing and maiming everything before them. They were insatiable and moved with incredible speed over short distances. The immediate area in front of the tower was now littered with dead bodies. Bodies which would not stay dead for long.
He’d been amused at the ineffectual attempts of the police to deal with the situation. Cut off from all communications outside the dome, they’d had to act on their own initiative. A mounted officer had charged at one of the revenants, the horse smashing the zombie to the ground where its hoofs had crushed the creature. Caliban had watched, a smile on his face, as the police officer had first reined the horse to a halt, then wheeled it about, only to shout out in horror at the sight of the mangled zombie getting back to its feet. He spurred the horse forward again, but this time the undead creature was ready for him. It leaped up, hooked an arm round the officer’s waist and dragged him out of the saddle. Moments later, the policeman’s screams were abruptly cut short.
The sight of all the blood was igniting the vampire’s own desires, and he could feel the irresistible urge to go out and hunt.
Trying to take his mind off his own hunger, he gazed out at those humans he could see gathered at the limits of the impenetrable Shield that Helde was maintaining around them. Many of them still flung themselves against the invisible wall, despite having seen others’ excruciating attempts to escape in the same way.
The dome of protection was not as big as he’d wanted; Helde had felt it prudent to keep the radius much shorter than they’d originally planned, arguing with him that it was better to have a smaller, stronger Shield than one which extended further but was less stable and prone to breaches from the outside.
‘And the zombies will find it easier to track down prey that escape the initial attacks,’ she also pointed out.
The plan was to wait until the zombies’ victims started to reanimate, recapture the nearest few, and then simply move the tower on, leaving his brother to deal with the carnage left in their wake. Helde would need a short period in which to recuperate, but there were many places they could move Leroth to that were far enough away from his brother’s forces to give them the time they needed. Then they could repeat the process over and over again in different locations, moving in and out quickly, and wreaking havoc anywhere and everywhere without the need to endanger themselves too much.
He had to admit, it was a brilliant plan. The zombie plague would spread like wildfire. Merely releasing two revenants had resulted in the wounding or death of at least fifty humans so far, and soon these would reawaken and begin to attack for themselves. When that happened, the Shield would not be here to contain them any longer and the spread would be fantastic: fifty would quickly turn into hundreds, hundreds into thousands, until in no time there would be a zombie army on the march with no one left to stop it. Even his brother – and his werewolf sidekick – could not fight a whole zombie army, legend or no legend. Then he would put into place the second part of his plan: setting up prison camps of captured surviving humans that he and his kind could feed from – battery farms in which the vampires would breed an inexhaustible supply of food.
He turned to look at Helde who was slumped on his throne, her eyes closed, mouth moving silently.
He’d assured the sorceress that he would not leave her while she was in this state. The concentration and effort needed to perform the magic was immense, requiring her to take her mind into another plane, leaving her weak and wholly vulnerable to attack.
But the smell of blood wafting up from below was too much. The vampire closed his eyes, imagining how quick and easy the hunt would be right now. He’d only be gone a matter of moments, and if necessary he could bring his victim back here to feed – a takeaway. Besides, no one could penetrate the Shield or would dare to enter Leroth!
He nodded to himself, having made up his mind.
‘Back soon,’ he said to the sorceress, blowing her a kiss.
He turned and went out of the room, leaving her alone with the lengthening shadows.
20
Alexa took the elevator all the way down to the underground car park beneath her father’s building. As she stepped out of the lift doors, she looked about her to check that there was nobody around. There were closed-circuit TV cameras trained on every inch of the space, but she’d prepared a little diversion in the security guards’ office that monitored the feed, so that right now they should be more concerned with the foul-smelling black sludge rising up from the floor. She only needed them to be distracted for a minute or so.
She ran across the cold concrete floor and up the exit ramp. There was one final guard she needed to avoid, but she knew there was a good chance Harry, who sat in the small hut by the car park barrier at the top of the ramp, would be less than vigilant. Sure enough, she peered round the corner to see him with his head buried in a newspaper. She walked silently past the hut without disturbing him. Alexa allowed herself a smile; she’d slipped out in this way on a number of occasions in the past, and good old Harry had never once caught her out.
In the street above, she crossed the road, hailing down the first black taxi cab that came her way. She climbed into the back of the vehicle and sighed with relief. Her father had endorsed her mission to find and help Trey, but he’d assigned two Maug demons to go with her for protection. The last thing she wanted was a couple of great lumbering bodyguards getting in the way of what she had to do, so she’d elected to go it alone and sneak out undetected.
‘Where to, miss?’ the cabbie asked over his shoulder.
‘I’m not absolutely sure yet,’ she said. ‘If you could just head towards Tower Bridge, I’ll let you know as we go.’
The cabbie puffed out his cheeks and was about to say something when Alexa waved two twenty-pound notes at him in the rearview mirror.
‘You’re the boss,’ he said and pulled away from the curb.
Her attempts to find a listing for Caulden & Son Ltd – the name on the sign Trey had shown her – had drawn a blank, so she’d resigned herself to finding him the hard way. When she’d reached out to him before, the link between them had been metaphysical in nature – a merging of minds. But now she had an image of the physical space he was being held in to concentrate on she knew she’d be able to translate that link into an actual path. She could already sense
that they were going in the right direction. It was like water-divining with those dowsing rods that crossed when the person carrying them walked over an underground spring or well. As long as she kept her mind free of any distractions, and pictured nothing but the dilapidated building and that rusty sign, she could feel the route she had to navigate through the streets. Each time they went past a turning that she realized they should have taken she told the driver to stop and turn back, eliciting loud moans and groans from the disgruntled cabbie, who was no doubt keen to get rid of his eccentric passenger.
She realized that beyond finding Trey, she really didn’t have much of a plan. Initially she’d assumed that Ella alone had taken Trey, but the more she thought about this, the less it seemed likely. Alexa shook her head, forcing these concerns away. She’d simply have to deal with whatever and whoever was responsible for Trey’s capture when it came to it.
‘Take this left,’ she said suddenly to the driver, causing him to turn quickly and eliciting a screech of protest from the rubber tyres.
‘Look, miss. I’m not bein’ funny or nothing, but I’ve had just about—’
‘Shh!’ Alexa commanded.
She was near now, she could sense it, and she barked out the next few directions to the driver before they were even at the junctions, forcing him to navigate a series of quick turns this way and that until they finally pulled into a street in which most of the houses were boarded up, and those that were not looked as if they should be. At the end of the road was the entrance to an industrial estate, and this too had the distinct appearance of being unused and derelict.
‘Stop here,’ she said. She shoved the two twenties at the driver and climbed out. Behind her she heard the taxi turn around and quickly drive off.
The feeling that Trey was here was stronger than ever, and she knew that somewhere up ahead was a rusting old hulk of a building that had once belonged to Caulden & Son Ltd.
She strode forward, telling herself that no matter what happened she would not be leaving without Trey, and that whoever was responsible for abducting and drugging him would be sorry they ever laid eyes on the sorceress Alexa Charron.
21
Lucien, Hag and Tom got out of the car, the vampire doing so hesitantly, still fearful of the fiercely blazing sun overhead despite Hag’s reassurances that he would be fine and didn’t need the sunblock he’d smothered himself in. Nonetheless, his new ability to go out in the sun had arrived just in time for this, their biggest and potentially last great stand, and he was grateful for that. Lucien and his two colleagues stood side by side surveying the incongruity up ahead while they waited for the demons to join them from the other car. There were only a handful of them in all; Lucien had reasoned that taking a large number of demons through to the other side of the Shield could cause even greater panic and distress when they were revealed for what they truly were. For now they were still hidden behind their human disguises, but that would no longer be the case once they were inside. Besides, he needed his team back at the offices almost as much as he needed those by his side right now – if anything went wrong, they could be ready to react instantly.
The long line of traffic, coupled with the large number of people who now jammed the Fulham Road and every other street in the vicinity, made further progress by any other means than on foot impossible. But even from here, looking across the sea of heads before them, they could make out the Shield.
It looked like some kind of monstrous snow globe, but instead of tiny flakes of white plastic snow, this one was filled with a hazy fog that shifted and swirled behind the hemispherical barrier.
Tom gave a small whistle but said nothing.
The mood of the crowd seemed to be teetering between wonder, bafflement, shock and fear. It would not take much for those standing and staring in amazement to become a wild, panic-stricken stampede. Lucien could hear the speculation all about him – alien visitation, a stunt or a trick. One old man was brandishing a Bible at anyone who came within shouting distance, announcing gravely that this was the Judgement day, when they would be made to pay for their sins.
‘We’ll never get through this lot,’ Tom said to Lucien, nodding at the vast crowd before them.
‘We’ll get through them,’ his boss answered. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures. Come on,’ he commanded, beginning to push his way forward. He could just make out the police cordon up ahead and he headed for it. Most people moved aside as the vampire politely but authoritatively asked them to make way; those who didn’t were given a private viewing of Lucien’s fangs. The time for hiding what he was had passed. Despite the fear and tension he was feeling, Tom had to smile at the sudden change in these individuals; at first aggressive or belligerent, they shrank back in horror after a single look from his terrifying boss. It was a crude but effective means of clearing a path.
Approaching the police barrier, Lucien moved his arm so that the huge bladed weapon that hung from his hand by a wrist strap was obscured under the long black leather coat he was wearing. The vampire glanced behind him to check that Tom, Hag and the demons he’d brought along were all still together. People were pushing forward towards the metal blockade, and the police, two deep in places, were having a tough time keeping them back. Some of those at the front clearly had family or friends who were at this very moment trapped inside the thing up ahead. Their angry and frightened questions were met with placating but ineffectual words from the baffled officers behind the metal cordons. Off to one side, several reporters were gathered, making frantic notes and phone calls – one of them even had a small camera crew with her and was trying to interview an awkward-looking policeman. Tom looked up to see a police helicopter hovering in the air above them, its rotors making an angry chugging sound over the crowd noise. Lucien had made his way to the far end of the barrier where it mounted the pavement, terminating at a shop front.
‘You’ll have to get back, sir!’ a young policeman yelled in the vampire’s direction as he stepped forward.
‘I don’t think so,’ Lucien replied. ‘You see, my friends and I need to get over there.’ He nodded his bald head in the direction of the dome-shaped monstrosity in the near distance.
‘That’s impossible, sir. You’ll have to go back.’
The vampire shook his head, and the young officer glanced to his right at his colleagues. The crowd in the centre had pushed forward again, and a number of the police were concentrating on coping with the surge. Lucien was faced with only four officers.
The vampire looked into the four men’s eyes, taking in each one in turn. He felt their fear and insecurities, and he knew that they were as terrified of the thing at their backs as everyone else was. The vampire took a deep breath and blinked. For everyone in Lucien’s immediate vicinity, the world stopped. It was as if time had been placed on pause, all sound and motion ceasing to be.
‘My friends and I need to get past this barrier,’ Lucien said in a low, urgent voice. ‘You and your colleagues will allow us to do so. You will move aside long enough for us to get through, but you will not allow anyone else to pass. When we are behind you, you will forget that we were ever here. Do you understand?’
The police officers all mumbled that they did.
The vampire nodded, adding, ‘You’re doing an excellent job. Stay brave and keep these people here safe. We’ll do what we can to get this thing sorted.’
The uniformed men all nodded.
‘Good. Now move the barrier, please.’
They did as the vampire commanded, pulling it a little to one side so that Lucien’s people could squeeze, single-file, through the gap. The vampire was the last to pass. ‘That’s all of us,’ he whispered to the officer who’d first spoken to them. The policeman nodded and quickly dragged the metal barrier back in place. As soon as he did so, the world seemed to restart for the young constable. He frowned for a second before facing the angry crowd ahead of him again, yelling at them to calm down. He had the strange feeling that somethin
g or someone was behind him, and the thought sent a shiver down his spine. A large woman wearing a blue baseball cap stepped up to the barrier and began shouting in his face. He forgot his unease and concentrated on the task at hand – to keep these people away from whatever that weird dome thing was until the authorities could work out what they were going to do about it.
Lucien and his team hurried towards the Shield, leaving the worst of the noise and clamour behind them. As they drew nearer they could make out the vague figures of people on the other side. Ghostlike, they lined the perimeter, some hurrying up and down along its length looking for a means of escape, others frozen in despair. As they watched, a figure came into view, running through the others, and threw itself at the barrier. He or she – it was impossible to tell which – stuck there for a moment, jerking violently as if some huge electric current were flowing through their body, only to be forcefully flung backwards away from the wall again and into the mist behind.
It wasn’t just those people on the inside of the Shield who had tried to breach its defences. All around there were wrecked cars and vans that had been used to try to find a way through. Most of them had come to a crashing halt at the perimeter of the shimmering force field, their front ends concertinaed and crumpled with the power of the impact.
There was a shout, and Lucien turned to his right to see two uniformed officers hurrying towards them.
‘You lot! What are you doing here? This is a restricted—’
Hag mumbled something under her breath, and the men simply crumpled to the ground in an unconscious state.
‘Go,’ Lucien said, nodding to the two incubi demons he’d brought along. They hurried over to the fallen men, took one glance at them and transformed into their perfect replicas. They dragged the unconscious officers to the safety of an abandoned car where they quickly swapped into their official uniforms. This done, one of them came trotting back over to Lucien and the others.