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by Angela Blythe

  ’Oh yes, the vampires I’ll talk about that any time. We all know about it, it’s just the authorities who don’t want to discuss it and have tried to sweep it under the table. What do you want to know?’ Wee Renee asked. Alan relaxed a little now that the subject was out, and he hadn’t had to say it.

  ’Is it true that you led a band of vigilantes over the tops to various Villages and killed three vampire Masters and lots of other vampires?’ Alan was laughing, although not convincingly so. He really didn’t want to believe this had happened.

  ’Aye, you’re close, but that is not quite true. I only helped to kill two vampire Masters,’ Wee Renee said. ‘On the matter of the other individuals, yes I killed vampires, werewolves, wild wolves and solved a ghost mystery too.’ Alan was speechless. ‘Is there anything else you’d like to know?’

  ’Who else was involved?’ Alan asked aghast.

  ‘Most of Friarmere Band, as you know them now. Plus, Terry and Carl. In fact, Carl’s wife was a succubus. He staked her himself. Inside her were blood worms – slugs. He turned her to dust,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Carl? He doesn’t look the type to manage it, does he,’ Alan said.

  ‘None of us are. We all had to step up to the mark, though. It’s amazing what you can do if you have to. Imagine Pat, clubbing them around the head. She had to do that unbelievably,’ Wee Renee said in a shocked voice.

  ‘I can imagine that actually. What was your weapon of choice, Wee Renee?’ Alan asked.

  ‘Machete and cheese knife,’ Wee Renee said genuinely. Alan laughed loudly. ‘Plus, I devised a fantastic mistletoe spray that gave the werewolves exploding boils. You had to see it to realise how good it was. I got their eyes and everything!’

  ‘Er … well done on that one. Where did Carl off his wife? Was it up at The Grange? Am I breathing her in when I’m wagging?’ Alan asked.

  ’Don’t worry about that love, it was at the Primary School where he and Gary had been held hostage for several days. They were everywhere. There were wee vampire kids up on the roofs of the houses. We had a siege in the Church, and we had a right time in Our Doris’s house in Melden. Oh, and we stopped in a haunted house in Moorston,’ Wee Renee said. ‘More spooks than you could shake a stick at, Alan!’

  ’Oh my God so it is all true,’ Alan said. ‘I was hoping it wasn’t.’

  ’Oh, it’s true, alright. And it’s only the beginning Alan. I’m in contact with let’s say a positive supernatural force, that’s as much as you need to know, who tells me that there are loads more going on. In fact, something else has already started,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Do I have to get out of the Village right now?’ Alan asked. ‘because we’ve got the dog as well and Tilly’s getting on a bit now.’

  ’Oh no, it’s not like that. I believe it is an individual creature and we will see to it ourselves Alan. You don’t need to worry your head about it. Although I will say this, when you’re outside getting in and out of your car, just do it promptly okay. Especially when you’re up at The Grange,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Hells teeth!’ Alan said. ‘Is it also true that you burned the old Bandroom down, Wee Renee? You can tell me.’

  ’Me and some others did. Yes, that is true. But it did have a lot of monsters inside. It wasn’t a functional Bandroom anymore Alan,’ Wee Renee said. ‘If you are at all worried about breathing in bits of Carl’s wife, Kate, you would be horrified at what you would be taking in there.’

  ‘Where did you kill the head honcho? In his house? The Grange?’ Alan asked.

  ‘No, we killed and drained him, nailed up at the Wildlife Centre on the High Street. We had to so that we could save a lot of the Band, who were bloodsuckers at the time? She explained.

  ‘Eh!’ Alan exclaimed.

  ‘I won’t say who, but there were three of them. That is their secret to divulge if they so wish,’ Wee Renee said. Alan tried to quickly think about who they might be.

  ‘Was one Terry?’ Alan asked.

  ‘No, but he was infected with the werewolf hybridisation, love. The Melden Mistresses fed him her blood secretly. He was never turned though. He managed to evade her and cure himself along with several others who were afflicted,’ Wee Renee said.

  ’Oh, what have I got myself into,’ Alan said.

  ’A whole lot of fun, if you want to. Rest assured, some people have a lot of experience to deal with all this. You have moved you and your family into the Melden Triangle, the worst place to live in the whole of England for stuff like this. Better get used to it. Is there anything else?’ Wee Renee asked.

  ’Er, no. Thanks for that Wee Renee,’ Alan said.

  ’Good evening then,’ Wee Renee said and put the phone down.

  9. The Date

  Tonight, was the night of Bob and Adam’s big date with Zoe and Emily. They hadn’t told their mother about the sighting at the School. They thought that would come out in due time. If Sue knew about that tonight, she would probably stop them from going out.

  They both thought that Wee Renee might find out something else before it came out. Something to trump it. What was Sue going to do anyway if she considered it dangerous - stop them going into School? They didn’t think so. That would be great if she did, but both of them knew they weren’t that lucky. Tonight, they planned to go into the Village, to the centre of Friarmere. They and the girls would be perfectly safe there.

  They were just going to go out and entertain a couple of ladies - two capable lads who could look after each other. Past experiences meant they wouldn’t put themselves into any danger.

  Their curfew was 11pm, which Bob thought was very generous. He was expecting 10pm when he had first asked, so would make sure to observe it and be in on time. Maybe they would say 11 pm again another time if they showed they could be trusted.

  The two boys were to meet Zoe and Emily outside the Civic Hall. This was halfway between all their houses. The Civic Hall was still closed for refurbishment, and Bob and Adam knew why. They tried to play it cool and arrive a couple of minutes late but instead got talking about their new mystery and walked quickly to their destination.

  Zoe and Emily weren’t there yet. After a few minutes they thought they were going to get stood up, but then they arrived looking all done-up, with a touch of make-up on. Zoe even has a little bit of glitter on her cheeks. Bob was very impressed.

  ‘You two are keen. Here early and everything,’ Emily said. The two boys said nothing, they knew they should have been a bit late.

  They walked down to the shop and stood outside there for a moment. Unfortunately, some other kids from their School were hanging around outside, and people started to catch on that they were on a date, so they moved from the shop and walked to the chippy. That was making Bob hungry, and he didn’t have any money left, so they asked the girls what they would like to do.

  ’Can we do anything?’ The girls asked.

  ’Anything you like,’ Adam said. He would regret saying that later.

  ’Well we know that you two aren’t scared of anything are you, and we know you go up to that Grange and play in a Band,’ Zoe said.

  ‘Yeah that’s right,’ Bob said. ‘We’re up there all the time these days. But it’s just a Bandroom, you know?’

  ’I know. Well let’s start by going up there then,’ Emily said.

  ’All right then,’ Adam said. They started walking up the bank, the two girls walked in front of them whispering.

  ’Why did you agree to that?’ Bob asked Adam. ‘You know what’s up there.’

  ‘Well we don’t know anything, yet do we?’ Adam said. ‘Listen though, there is often one or another of Band up there practising. It will be fine.’

  ’It had better be,’ Bob said.

  Bob was glad to get past Wellmeadow Lane. He thought he might see his Mum and Dad driving down in the car and that would be very embarrassing. When that didn’t happen, the boys speeded up and started walking as a foursome.

  Now they were all together a
nd not at School, the girls started questioning Bob and Adam about what had happened over the winter months.

  ‘We don’t want to go into it too much,’ Adam said, ‘it was very dangerous. We have got a touch of PTSD.’

  ’Is that why you live with Bob’s family now?’ Emily asked carefully.

  ’Yes, that’s right. My Mum was one of the … er … victims, you know,’ Adams said.

  ’Harry at School said that you were dead for a while Adam. Is that true?’ Emily asked, not really wanting to know the answer. Adam caught his breath and looked at Bob quickly, who was already looking at him. How did Harry find that out?

  ’Does it look like he’s dead?’ Bob said.

  ’I’ll show you how dead I am,’ Adam said and started to tickle Emily, who screeched with laughter.

  ’Honestly though, what went on?’ Emily said. ‘Everyone wants to know.’

  ’Look we were in a situation. We had to do certain things. Kill certain things, and it was for survival. It wasn’t a TV show, and it wasn’t great. It was cold, it was lonely, and it was horrible. The whole shebang. We didn’t know if we would ever get back to this,’ Adam said.

  ’It doesn’t half make you both a lot more attractive,’ Zoe said.

  ’Thanks for that,’ Bob commented sarcastically.

  ’Come on you know it does,’ Emily said. ‘Who wants to go out with a couple of cowards when they can go out with two brave lads? Me and Zoe aren’t daft.’

  ’Me macho man,’ Bob said, laughing. They got to the top of the dirt track by Christine’s old house that would take them down to The Grange.

  ’Well we’re here now,’ Bob said. ‘What do you want to do now we’re here. It doesn’t look like it’s open and I haven’t got any keys.’

  ’Well it wasn’t exactly The Grange that I was thinking of,’ Emily said.

  ’Well there’s nothing else here,’ Bob said.

  ’Yes, there is. A little gateway at the back of The Grange,’ Emily said.

  ’You mean the old graveyard?’ Adam asked, astonished. ‘You didn’t say we were going there.’

  ’You’re not scared, are you?’ Zoe asked.

  ’No of course not,’ Adam said. ‘What about you?’

  ’We would be scared if we weren’t with you two,’ Emily said.

  ’Oh, is that right?’ Bob commented.

  ’We thought it would be atmospheric,’ Emily said.

  ’And secluded,’ Zoe said taking hold of Bob’s hand. That was it. They were going to the graveyard.

  Around the back of The Grange was a bit of a mess really. The Band had been dumping some of Norman’s old stuff there, plus making room at the front, so there were more car parking spaces.

  Ernie decided until they knew where to put it, they should dump everything around the back, where no-one could see it.

  There was indeed a person shaped brick archway there, with metal railings and lots of curly swirls in a pattern on it. Through the gate, all that could be seen were dead winter weeds and just the odd hint of stone.

  ’Oooohhhh!’ Emily said, pretending to be a ghost.

  ‘Oh Bob,’ Zoe said quietly, ‘the place where all of Friarmere’s dead are.’

  ‘Yeah, only a few of them,’ Bob said under his breath. ‘The rest are probably still strolling around!’

  Bob took a deep breath. There was nothing in there that was going to be worse than anything they had faced. He clicked open the metal gate, it squeaked and opened stiffly. They began walking.

  ’It’s getting a bit foggy,’ Emily said.

  ‘You wanted atmospheric,’ Adam said.

  ‘Can I just say, I’m not going to lie on anyone’s gravestone. That’s not right,’ Bob said.

  ’Who would? Neither would I,’ said Zoe. All four of them walked through the gate. They left it open, there was no need to shut it.

  Carefully they started to walk through the graveyard, in boy-girl pairs. It wasn’t a large graveyard but was very old and had not been used for over a hundred years.

  Bob looked down at one of the graves. The soil had started to come away at one of the sides, and there was a big hole. Around the edges, it looked even more fragile. If that was stepped on, more would come away. It would even be possible to fall down on top of the old rotten coffin beneath. He swallowed. Bob didn’t fancy that tonight. He was hoping to have a live body as company, not a dead one.

  ’Watch where you put your feet. These graves are caving in,’ Bob said. It was at that very second that he knew it was a bad idea to be in here. He just didn’t know why yet.

  Soon they found a patch near the bottom of the graveyard furthest away from The Grange. This place had no graves, or they thought it didn’t anyway. A lot of these graves were not gravestones that stood up, but flat slabs with an enormous amount of writing on them. Old graves like that were not unusual around here.

  Bob had a sudden thought. He wondered that even though it looked like grass, whether there were ancient graves underneath there. The oldest perhaps.

  He thought that these graves were probably the ones that people would want the most as they would have the best view. They would look straight over the hedge into the valley of Friarmere, and not have to look past the other dead people. They only had people to one side and weren’t as crowded. These were the ones that Bob would pick if he had to.

  It didn’t look like there was anything there, so they lay on the grass. They were only about six feet apart, with tall grass in between them. A natural privacy curtain.

  The two couples chatted for a while, sometimes all four of them and sometimes just the two of them. Occasionally they would have a quiet spell, and Bob was really relaxing. He had almost forgotten where he was.

  He looked above him, the fog was very thick now. He had his arm around Zoe as she lay on his chest with her eyes shut.

  ‘Foggy isn’t it?’ Bob asked, and Adam didn’t answer. Zoe and Bob could vaguely hear the sounds of kissing and thought they should get down to it themselves.

  Alan had been thinking about everything that Wee Renee had said from the start. If what she actually said was right then it was horrific, it didn’t bear thinking about.

  All these tales, all the rumours of people saying it had happened, he thought they were some kind of urban myth. When Wee Renee had confirmed it, told him even more than was rumoured, he still couldn’t swallow it. It would be hard for anyone to believe it. Especially if you had never even had a sniff of that kind of thing in your own life experiences.

  Alan didn’t feel right about The Grange. There must be something in there. He thought he might like to see a bit of hard evidence of the vampire Master in there. Alan thought this might sound a bit weird to anyone else. Try and find evidence of a vampire Master? He decided not to mention it to anyone else.

  The one thing that Alan did not like was being treated like a mushroom. Even though Wee Renee had been brutally honest with him, he thought there was more to find out. He didn’t know how much he didn’t know. If he gathered as much information as he could, it might trigger other questions that Wee Renee would honestly answer.

  He would love to find out who had been a vampire in the Band. They might have a relapse, and as he was standing at the front, watching them all, he could raise the alarm quickly. Alan thought that Ernie really should have divulged that information to him before he took the job.

  ‘I’m going to take Tilly for a run out in the car Ann,’ Alan shouted to her.

  ‘Yes. Right Alan,’ Ann said. She was watching the TV and wasn’t interested in going out into the cold night. Alan picked up his torch, keys and the dog’s lead. He would take her in and then he wouldn’t feel so bad going there and back.

  He didn’t know what this new mystery was. He hoped there wasn’t something in the house, but he was sure that they wouldn’t hold rehearsals in there if there were. Alan got into the car.

  The two couples were kissing at the bottom of the graveyard when they heard the unmistakable met
al squeak of the gate.

  ’What was that?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘The gate,’ Bob said, alerted.

  ’The wind blowing the gate, do you think?’ Zoe asked.

  ’It was definitely the gate. So, we agree on that. It’s foggy now and who ever heard of wind on a foggy night. It blows the fog away,’ Bob said.

  ‘I can feel the wind. Can you feel the wind Bob?’ she said in a weak voice. Bob could tell that she was starting to panic.

  Emily and Adam could hear all this. They had also heard the gate creak. Then a light went on inside The Grange.

  ‘Ah one of the Band have come up to practice, that’s all,’ Adam said.

  ’They don’t usually come back here,’ Bob said.

  ’Well someone is in there now,’ Emily said.

  ‘Yeah, let's carry on. We have a bit of light now,’ Adam said. Silence descended on the two couples as they got back into snogging position. Within about three minutes they started to hear the moving sounds of the grass, even in the fog. To both couples, it sounded more and more like footsteps.

  ‘Is anyone there?’ Adam asked. No-one replied. Bob thought he heard breathing, but it was probably just the grass blowing in the none existent wind that Zoe had assured him there was. Then there was another sound, just the same. Clearly, a step, closer towards them.

  ‘There something in the graveyard with us,’ Emily said.

  ’Bob I’m scared,’ Zoe said.

  ’I’m sure there’s nothing there. We’re probably just imagining it. Or it could be a fox or hedgehog. It is night-time after all. Even someone’s dog. We left the gate open, it could have walked in,’ Adam said.

  ‘Let’s not shut it in, when we go back out then if that’s what it is,’ Zoe said concerned.

  ’Go and see what it is,’ Emily said to Adam, poking him. ‘I feel like someone’s watching us.’

  ’Emily it isn’t anything,’ Adam said. ‘And if you think and wiggling my fingers round in the long grass until I find a hedgehog, you’re mistaken.’