by R K Dreaming
“It got really bad really fast,” said Paolo. “Oberon is crazy strong, but Willie was an incubus. He started using his Hunger on Oberon. We were all shocked when he did it. I mean, you can’t use Hunger in that sort of fight. It’s not right.”
Paolo looked at Jasper as if Jasper would understand.
Jasper nodded. He looked disgusted, as if what Willie had done was against the baena code of honour. The baena had their own unspoken rules and customs for how and when to use their Allure or Hunger. Or the law-abiding ones did anyway.
I shuddered. I had heard of what it felt like for the victim when an incubus or succubus used their Hunger in anger. These days doing such a thing was considered at the least extremely anti-social in polite circles, and at its worst verging on psychotic. Bringing Hunger to a fist fight was like bringing a gun.
“What happened?” I said. “Did you intervene?”
Paolo shook his head regretfully. “Before we could, Oberon realised what was happening. Willie was draining Oberon’s life-force too fast, and Oberon panicked. He must’ve known that he’d be unconscious soon, so he hit Willie really hard on the head. It killed Willie.”
“Then Oberon went mad!” said Petra in a high voice. She was wild-eyed at the memory, and shaking her head in bewilderment. “He just went crazy. I think nearly dying like that must’ve been such a shock. And he was raging about it, and he turned on Lily. He said it was her fault. That she shouldn’t have flirted with Willie. Even though she wasn’t, we knew that she wasn’t.”
“He wasn’t thinking straight,” said Lorcan quickly.
“It all got too much for him,” said Paolo. “He knew deep down that she’d been with his dad. He just snapped.”
“Exactly!” Petra wailed. “And Lily made it worse. She said we had to go to the police. Why did she have to say that? Why should Oberon get into trouble because of a horrid loser like Willie? Oberon had been defending Lily, and she should have been defending him. But she didn’t. I guess because she didn’t grow up here, she didn’t know what it would have been like for him. He was a vampire, and he’d killed an incubus. The baena community would have been furious about it. They wouldn’t have cared that Willie was a loser. We know what our own community is like. Oberon’s whole life would have been ruined just for that!”
“He didn’t mean to kill him,” said Paolo. “It was an accident.”
“And Oberon had already shoved Willie’s body into the wet cement in the pool,” said Petra. “He’d already been trying to cover up what he’d done. So it was too late to go to the police and say it was an accident. But Lily wouldn’t listen…”
Her voice trailed off. We were all silent for a long moment.
My heart was thudding. I hated what I was hearing. “Go on,” I said.
“Lily was screaming at him,” said Petra. “And Oberon went mad. I don’t think he knew what he was doing. He went mad and he grabbed that weapon thing and started attacking her. He was so strong. We couldn’t stop him, and we were too scared to even try. And poor Lily was helpless against his strength. And it was over so quickly. She was dead.”
“It was too late,” said Lorcan angrily. “What were we supposed to do? Oberon is a good guy. Anyone will tell you. We’re his friends. Were we supposed to let him go to jail because of things getting out of control for one night? His whole life ruined for one night?”
He finally went to sit beside Petra and Paolo, his knees seeming to give way all at once.
“We had to cover it up,” said Petra. “We love Oberon. And anyway, none of us wanted to face his dad after that. If Oberon Senior found out what had happened, he would have been so furious. You don’t understand. He doesn’t really care about Oberon Junior. All he cares about is prestige and power. And how what Oberon Junior did would affect his money and his reputation and his business. We were too scared to say anything. All of us. Even Oberon Junior.”
There was a long moment of silence as we all absorbed what they had said.
Finally it was Jasper who spoke. He said calmly, “You have to go to the police and give a statement about what really happened.”
Petra nodded tiredly. She sniffed, and wiped her nose angrily with the back of her hand. She sighed deeply like she wished she could undo it all.
“We’ll go now,” she said.
20. The Best Cousin In The World
“We’ll call the police now,” said Jasper.
Lorcan, Petra and Paolo did not object.
“Actually Jasper,” I said. “Maybe we should get them something to eat first from Aunt Adele? It is lunchtime after all.
Jasper looked at me in confusion, but he willingly followed me out of the lounge.
We left Allegra in there guarding our three witnesses.
As we headed towards the kitchens I quietly told Jasper, “Actually, I’m a bit worried that if Agent Constantine comes to the castle that he’ll want to take statements from all of us and he might ask us to go down to the station with him.”
Jasper nodded. “Probably.”
“But I’ve got this, er, thing I need to do urgently first,” I told him. “Do you think you could escort the three of them to the police station instead? Just to make sure they actually go, and maybe to keep an ear out for what happens? Allegra and I will come and join you later.”
Jasper looked confused.
“It’s family stuff,” I explained to him.
He nodded. “Westbrim family secrets, huh? Sure, I can do that.”
In the kitchen, Aunt Adele loaded up a huge tray of cakes and sandwiches for us, which we took back into the lounge.
Petra didn’t seem to have much of an appetite, but Lorcan and Paolo made enough of a healthy dent in the sandwiches and desserts to please Aunt Adele.
As Jasper called a taxi, I explained to Lorcan, Petra and Paolo that it would look better if they went to the police themselves rather than if the police came to pick them up. They did not object to this.
“I’ll go with them,” said Allegra. She probably thought they couldn’t be trusted to go on their own.
“Jasper said he’d go,” I said.
I added for the benefit of Lorcan, Petra and Paolo, “Agent Constantine will want to take a statement from one of us as well so Jasper volunteered.”
They nodded. It was like they didn’t care anymore. They looked very miserable at the thought of handing their friend over to the police, but a little bit defiant too. By now it was clear that as far as they were concerned, Oberon had dragged them into something that they didn’t want to be involved with. And they had reached the conclusion that they wanted to wash their hands of him.
Allegra looked like she wasn’t happy about the idea of Jasper going alone with the three of them.
“I’ll go too,” she said.
“Actually Allegra,” I said. “I was thinking maybe you could drop me off at Healer Haldi’s first?”
She looked surprised, but readily agreed.
After Jasper had departed with Petra, Lorcan and Paolo in the taxi, Allegra turned to me.
“Do you want me to etherhop over and see if Healer Haldi is free? She might not mind coming to see you instead of you having to go out to see her. Especially if you’re feeling under the weather.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t really want you to take me to Healer Haldi,” I admitted.
Allegra opened her mouth to protest.
I put my finger on her lips to shut her up, and shook my head.
“Allegra, there’s some stuff I need to tell you. But I just need you to listen and hear me out, okay?”
Now she looked even more worried.
“What is it?” she said anxiously, her brows drawing together in dismay.
I rubbed my temples. Now that the moment was here, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know how to tell her something that she was going to hate having to hear. So I decided to start with Oberon instead.
I took a deep breath. “I don’t think Oberon Junior did it,” I said.
She stared at me. “But you heard what they all said.”
I held up my hand to stop her mid-flow.
I nodded. “I heard exactly what they said, but I still don’t think he did it. We haven’t heard his side of the story, and it’s three against one.”
“Is this why you asked me to stay behind?” she said. “You want me to find Oberon?” She looked a little bit angry.
I shook my head. “I don’t need you to help me find Oberon. I need your help with something else.”
“What?” she said.
“Er, well… It’s just…” My voice trailed off as I got cold feet.
She must have seen the look on my face.
“Are you going to tell me or not?” she said with frustration. “You’ve been really secretive since you’ve got back. And with the whole Lily murder stuff happening, I’ve been really worried about what you’ve been hiding. But you’re my cousin, and…”
“You can’t have believed that I hurt Lily?” I said in shock and dismay.
“Of course not,” she said. “It’s just that you’re keeping something from me. I can tell. And it actually really hurts that you haven’t told me whatever it is, because I know it’s important. You’ve been making yourself sick with worry over it, and even now you still won’t tell me what it is!”
She was glaring at me accusingly.
I nodded guiltily. “I have been keeping a secret.”
I blurted out what it was. The whole story came out in one long babble.
She listened to it all without saying anything. She stared at me in shock. When I was finished, her mouth was trembling, and she looked like she was going to cry.
I expected her to take a horrified step away from me. Instead she flung her arms around me and burst into tears.
“Oh Esme, this is awful! No wonder you’re so desperate to save Oberon,” she wailed. “You feel sorry for him because of what happened to you!”
I patted her back.
She pulled away from me, and wiped her tears. “I should be comforting you. Not you comforting me,” she said.
We had both been standing, but now I sat down heavily on the couch and she came and sat down beside me. She put her arm around me and leaned her head against mine.
“The sensitivity to light after a prolonged fever,” she said. “You being so vague about what kind of virus it was. I can’t believe I never saw it before.”
And then she looked at me angrily. “How have you managed? How have you not told me this before? You should’ve called me immediately!”
I nodded. “I couldn’t. I was in denial about what was happening to me. I was sick that whole week, and when I felt better I couldn’t bear to tell you. It was just too awful. So I went for a walk to clear my head and then I thought I would go and see Sarah, and then I found out about her and Drew, and then… Well, you know what happened after that.”
“I knew it!” she said angrily. “You’re always going for night-time walks to help you think so that you could write your stupid blog.”
“Hey, my blog wasn’t stupid. It was my job!”
She continued as if I had not spoken. “Just because you left Brimstone Bay didn’t stop you being a Westbrim. I was always worried about those walks. It was the perfect chance for someone to attack you. And now look what’s happened!”
“It wasn’t a conspiracy,” I said. “It’s not like some Hardwick tried to kibosh me in the darkness!”
“How do you know?” she demanded. “They could have sent that vampire!”
“No! It was completely random,” I said in a small voice.
The thought of anything else was just too scary. It opened up a whole can of worms I did not even want to think about. It meant someone out there might know what had happened to me. Someone who was an enemy.
“Esme, we need to think about this,” she said, looking grim as if she was thinking the same thing. “If someone knows… If someone tells on you…” She looked horror struck at the thought.
“Do you think I would have gone out for those night-time walks if I’d felt like I was in danger?” I said. “I never got a clue that anyone was ever out to get me. I was careful. And where we live in London is so safe! You don’t expect feral vampires to be roaming the streets.”
She closed her eyes briefly. “Gosh, I hope it was just some random vampire.”
“Me too.”
She cuddled me again. “Oh my poor, poor Esme.”
“It’s okay Allegra,” I said softly.
“Is not okay,” she said vehemently. “But it will be. We’re going to find a way to stop it before it takes over. And before anyone finds out.”
I was utterly relieved. I had been so afraid that she would be horrified and disgusted and frightened. But here she was cuddling me on the couch, desperate to comfort me. Trying to find a way to make this problem go away like she always had tried to make my problems go away.
“Tell me what your symptoms are again,” she demanded. She reeled off the ones she could remember. “You burn in the sunlight, and you’ve been feeling some bloodthirst but nothing overwhelming yet. But you’ve still got your reflection, and you haven’t noticed a sudden increase in strength.”
“And my heartbeat is still normal.”
“Thank goodness,” she said.
“And no fangs,” I added lightly. I opened my mouth to show her. “See?”
“That’s good,” she said. “That’s really, really good.”
She got up from the couch and started pacing, her arms crossed tightly over her chest and her brows furrowed with concentration.
“And you think that it was a flare of magic that stopped it? You felt your magic come out to protect you?” She looked at me to confirm this.
I nodded. “It was the last thing I remember before I passed out after the attack. My magic just started burning inside me and then it burst out of me so strongly. It felt like an explosion. A fireball. I passed out. I don’t remember the rest of it. I don’t even know what happened to the vampire. It wasn’t there when I regained consciousness. Somehow I managed to get home.”
“And then you were sick for a week?”
I nodded. “It felt like a fever. I slept for days and I woke up only for moments in between and was so thirsty. I drank so much water.”
“And the bite mark?” she said tentatively.
I touched the side of my neck hesitantly. “It must have healed right away. It hasn’t even left a scar. I think my magic did it.”
She came over to take a look, and she touched my neck gently. She didn’t have to tell me that she couldn’t see anything there because I had already looked in the mirror about a thousand times just to make sure.
“Your skin is cold,” she said. “Colder than it should be.”
I grimaced. “Cold and clammy, that’s me.”
She shook her head. “No, not that cold. Not undead cold. It just feels like you’ve been out in the cold weather for too long and you haven’t warmed up yet.”
“Tell me about it,” I mumbled. “It feels like it’s radiating from the inside out. I just wish I could sit in the warm sunshine and heat myself up.
She giggled. “Like a lizard?”
I shot her a dirty look. “It’s not funny.”
She sobered up immediately. “So what are we going to do? There has to be some kind of magic to stop it in its tracks and reverse it. After all, your own magic did flare up and start the process. Which is incredible. I’ve never heard anything like it. This is amazing. We have to do some research. There must be something.”
She was so excited with her train of thinking that she was shaking with impatience to get started.
I shook my head. “I’ve already been to the library. I know that there’s loads more books in there, but the ones that I found didn’t have anything useful in them at all.”
She looked crestfallen. “There has to be,” she insisted. “We can’t give up until we’ve read every single one from back to
front. And I wonder if I can make some discreet enquiries with people who might know things. Very discreet.”
The intense determination on her face was such a distinctive Allegra-look that it made me giggle.
“It’s not funny,” she said angrily. “Esme, this is really, really bad. This is so bad!”
She looked horrified as she allowed her mind to dwell on how bad it was.
“You don’t need to tell me,” I said seriously. “You think I don’t know? Nosferatu is all I’ve been thinking about since it happened.”
Her face went pale. “Don’t say that word,” she said. “That prophecy has nothing to do with you. Nothing. If anything, you’re the anti-Nosferatu. You’re not an evil, super-powerful vampire-witch. You’re not undead and you don’t even have much magic. Sorry,” she added. The topic of my lack of magic had always been such a sore point.
“Well I can finally say thank goodness for that,” I observed.
She took a deep breath. And then she asked a bit hesitantly, “I know that it might be tempting to think that Oberon can help you because he’s a damphire and a daywalker but—”
“No, that’s not it,” I said. “I want to help him because I think he didn’t do it. I don’t see how it’s possible for him to help me anyway.”
She came to sit down beside me again. “I suppose that if we were scholars of magic we could theorise about why daywalkers are unaffected by sunlight, and why dhampires aren’t undead, and what magic makes them so, and then see how it applies to you. But if it was possible to unravel, surely it would have been done by now? How eldritch ambient magic works has always been a mystery. They’re just born that way.”
It was true. Eldritch beings were born with magic infused in their DNA that gave them their various different kinds of special powers. This was not the same as wand-magic — the kind of magic that could be shaped and amplified and directed through a wand. Wand-magic was what made a person a witch or wizard. Admittedly some eldritch beings were born with wand-magic too, but that was entirely different from their ambient eldritch magic.
