by Stead, Nick
“There is,” Vince said, his attention back on us. “And she’s standing in front of you.”
I frowned, confused. “What? You can raise zombies? Why the hell didn’t you tell me before?”
“It is not a power I wish to brag about. Some vampires have the power, as do some humans. Vincent is jealous, because we are descended from the same line, yet I was granted this particular power and he was not.”
“I’m not jealous,” he interjected, his voice turning sullen.
She glanced at him but continued as though there’d been no interruption. “Zombies are bound by the power that raised them. They are forced to obey the one who brought them back, so long as the necromancer is strong enough to keep them under control. Some have the power to bring back the dead but not to bend them to their will. Sometimes the zombies fall back into their graves, dead once more, but sometimes they have been given enough power to cling to their new life. I could raise the entire graveyard but that does not mean I could control them. They could turn on us. They would overwhelm us through sheer numbers and there would be nothing we could do to stop them from ripping us apart.”
“It’s a risk we have to take,” I said.
She looked unhappy at the prospect, her eyes shifting from me to Vince, then bowed her head, admitting defeat. “Very well, I will do what I can.”
Vince stood. “It’s decided then. We’ll call a meeting for other vampires and together we convince them to fight. I’ll see what I can do about ghouls and wraiths. For ghosts we need a psychic who can speak with the dead. Give us some time; I’ll send word to you when we’re ready to meet again.”
“If we have time. If the Slayers decide to strike sooner we’re screwed,” I said.
A flash of alarm passed across Lady Sarah’s features as a thought occurred to her. “Are you sure you were not followed here?”
Vince was relaxed again, the rings he wore glinting as he waved away that notion. “Nah, we would have heard others coming. They’re only human.”
“You are right; I am growing paranoid.” She nodded to me. “Until the next time we meet.”
“Until the next time,” I echoed. Now I knew I could avenge Lizzy’s death, it was time to worry about my next trial: Saturday night.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Heed This Warning
“No arguments while we’re out. I want you both on best behaviour,” Mum said, the sentence punctuated by a roll of thunder. I could hear rain pounding the ground outside.
“Mum, we’re teenagers now, not kids anymore. We’ll be fine. Just go and enjoy yourselves.”
“Don’t be staying up too late and don’t wait up for us,” Dad ordered.
I rolled my eyes. Would they ever leave?
“Okay, well have fun while we’re out,” Mum said. “We’ll be back around midnight.”
She gave us both a kiss and finally they were braving the weather and darting for the car. I locked the door behind them, then moved to the window and watched with Amy as they drove off, wondering whether their meal would help repair any of the damage to their marriage or if it might be one of the last evenings they spent together as a couple. A flash of lightning lit up the night and we were given a glimpse of them waving goodbye, then the darkness returned and they were gone.
I turned to Amy. “I’ll be down here. Go please yourself and go to bed when you’re ready.”
“I’ll be down here too.” There was a brief pause, but she was quick to add “And I get the big screen!”
“No fair, you always get the big screen. I’m the oldest – that means I’m in charge. So I say I get the big screen.”
“Says who?”
“Says Mum and Dad.”
She turned on the cute act. It really was an Oscar-winning performance, but it didn’t work on me. I gave in only because I knew if I didn’t she’d annoy me all night, and I’d never get through any of the films I planned to watch. Besides, after a month or so, depending how quickly the vampires spread the word and which way the battle went, I might never see her again. And it wasn’t far off nine thirty already; I wouldn’t have time for even just one film if I didn’t start soon.
“Okay, you can have the big screen,” I sighed.
A smug look spread across her face as she strutted into the lounge. I shook my head and went into the dining room.
Another lightning strike drew me to the patio door. I pulled back the curtain to look out for a moment, though even with my superior night vision I couldn’t see much. The only light came from those flashes of lightning, followed by the rumbles of thunder over the ever constant sounds of the rain pounding against the glass and the howling wind, driving the storm onwards.
I let the curtain fall back over the door and turned to the DVD I’d bought. Amy insisted on having the lights on throughout the house, but it just wasn’t the same for watching horror movies. So I closed the door separating the dining room from the hall, shutting out the light and making the room as dark as the night outside, until the film started, the screen illuminating the area around the TV.
Amy came in after a while, afraid of the storm. I sighed in frustration as she flicked on the light switch, wishing that she’d slept over at a friend’s house. When I realised there was no chance of watching the film in peace I sought to comfort her, though I’m not sure I did a particularly good job. I had little comfort left to give, and I found it hard to act human. It was something of a relief when it reached ten thirty and she was ready for bed. She wouldn’t go up on her own, so I went with her and tucked her in, wondering if it was the last time I’d ever play the role of the protective big brother. It was a role I was no longer suited for, and perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing that it was one I might not have to play for much longer.
She was already drifting into sleep as I started down the stairs, her breathing growing heavier and bringing a smile to my lips. The house was mine.
I sat back on the sofa and returned to the film, losing myself in the story unfolding on the little screen. It was just starting to get going when I heard a scratching sound at the front door and I stiffened, wondering what the hell it could be. My imagination turned against me, conjuring up images of zombies crashing through the glass panes on either side of the doorway and ripping their way through the internal door. Then I reminded myself I was the monster, so why was I worrying? I was the one who was meant to be scratching at people’s doors and breaking into houses. It was probably just a tree branch clawing in the wind, that was all.
Relaxing, I went back to the movie and thought nothing more of it, until another sound came, this time at the patio door.
My head whipped round. What was that? I listened hard, convinced I’d heard something other than the wind. And then it became more noticeable – a distinct knocking on the patio door, loud enough to be heard above the sounds of the storm. There was something out there. Something lurking in the dark, untroubled by the harsh weather. And it was waiting just on the other side of the glass.
Heart beating faster, I threw back the curtains to reveal – nothing. The night was as black as ever, impenetrable without some faint light for my eyes to work with. I might have better night vision than any human, but I still needed some kind of light to see by, and there was no moon, no stars. There was only that blackness, deep enough to drown in. We had an outside light but when I tried the switch nothing changed: the bulb had gone.
I waited a few minutes to see if anything else would happen but there was only the sounds of the storm. Had I imagined the knocking? I must have done, I decided, closing the curtains and going back to the film.
The noise came again. I froze, and the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. There was definitely something out there. And the most terrifying thing was, it could be anything. Slayer or undead, or… Something else? Were there worse things out there than the Slayers? It certainly wasn’t an animal. Animals didn’t knock on the glass like that.
I took another peek outside but still I co
uldn’t see anything, no matter how hard I strained my eyes. Was it all in my head?
The third time it was much louder.
There was a thump and I was sure the glass must have shuddered under the strain. I threw back the curtains one final time and as if on cue, a bolt of lightning tore the night asunder, revealing what lurked in our garden. A cry of horror tore from my throat and I stumbled backwards.
Darkness rushed back in, then another flash came, revealing it again. I could only stare in shock at this dread thing pressed against the glass – the mutilated corpse of what appeared to be a man.
Another flash and I began to recover, moving forward to examine the body more closely. Thank God it had waited to appear until Amy was in bed. That grisly skull would have left her scarred for life, with its muscles glistening darkly around patches of bare bone.
I stared into its mutilated face, wondering if it had been disfigured to hide the victim’s identity or whether he’d been tortured, or maybe it was purely meant to scare me. Dull eyes stared back, unnaturally wide without their lids, but what really caught my attention were those teeth.
They grinned in the space where the lips should have been, and my eyes were drawn to the long canines. He wasn’t a man after all. He was a vampire! Or rather, had been a vampire before the killer turned him into just another corpse.
All went dark again and I could hear the body sliding down the pane of glass. The next flash of lightning revealed blood smeared across the door, the corpse lying in a limp heap at the bottom. I took in more of his body then, noting how it had been stripped naked to display the horrific wounds he’d suffered.
Some were mere flesh wounds, others deeper and damaging the internal organs beneath. I could see part of his chest had been cut away to reveal his heart, and his muscles were also visible in numerous places, like partway along what remained of his arms and legs. Some of the muscle itself had been hacked off from the lower half of each of the limbs, and his feet and hands had been removed. He was also missing most of his manhood, and I knew all of this was probably done while he was still alive. He would have even survived such extensive damage, if it hadn’t been for the gaping hole in his heart where his killers had driven a stake through. The thought made me shudder.
Another flash overhead, and there came the glint of metal. My own heart stopped. There was no mistaking it – the crude engraving of a serpent coiled round a sword and yes, next to it, there was the fang, where it had always been. Vince!
Anger roared through my being. First Lizzy, and now Vince. I tried not to think about what they might have done to my human friend, but at least she was mortal; there was only so much she would have had to endure before she died. It wasn’t physically possible for her to suffer as long as Vince had.
There was no doubt in my mind who was responsible. When I first saw the body I’d thought the Slayers wanted to scare me, and they’d succeeded. But was it more than that? Was this them making a point about how they knew where I lived? A message, or a warning of some kind? And who would be next? Family? I couldn’t bear the thought of a similar fate befalling Mum or Amy. The loss of my friends was bad enough.
And what did they want from me, anyway? My life? They could have that, it was already in ruins. But why not just shoot me? Did they think I had some kind of valuable information? Maybe that’s why they’d tortured Vince so badly, but if he hadn’t given them anything they’d be looking for someone else to question. Well if they thought they could just take me, they were sorely mistaken. They would die trying.
I couldn’t leave Vince’s body there in that state – he deserved a proper burial, plus there was no way I was letting my family be exposed to such horror. A part of me refused to believe it was really him. Just days ago we’d been making our plans for battling the Slayers. Did Lady Sarah know he was missing yet? I needed to tell her, but only after I’d laid him to rest.
It occurred to me the Slayers could still be out there. What if it wasn’t a message at all, but a trap which I was about to walk right into?
I hesitated, unsure what to do. Was hiding the body worth the risk of capture by the Slayers, or was it better to risk Mum’s horror and Dad’s wrath? Not to mention potentially coming under further suspicion from the police, even if the Slayers intervened. It seemed I was going to have to choose between my life or my freedom – a tough choice.
Rain lashed my skin, so hard it hurt. Within minutes I was soaked to the bone. It ran down my face and my hair, pouring off the ends of my fingers, the strings on my jacket. I squinted to protect my eyes from the rain as best I could, but they were already stinging, and wiping them with my soggy sleeves was no help.
I was blind out there. There was still no natural light to see by and none of the neighbours’ outside lights seemed to be working either. The glow from the street lights round the front was not powerful enough to reach the back. And the rain drove away any scents the wolf could have used to help us find our way around, as well as rendering my acute hearing all but useless. Even when the thunder wasn’t growling above, the other elements combined made it hard to hear anything else. I might as well have been human again. Finally there came the flash of lightning I’d been waiting for and I approached what remained of Vincent Desmodontidae.
Darkness fell once more and I was left to grope the body, which sounds somewhat perverse but there was nothing sexual about it. Even if I’d really been interested in the dead like I had so often joked about, I wouldn’t have wanted a male corpse.
I got a grip on a pair of limbs. Whether they were arms or legs it was hard to say, and the mangled flesh was cold and slimy beneath my fingers, meaning he had to have been dead for at least a day. Unless the lack of warmth was due to his vampirism.
Something wriggled beneath my fingers and I almost dropped the body in digust, knowing it was probably maggots. That spurred me into action. I dragged the corpse backwards, nearly tripping at the edge of the garden, and when I stepped up it was to find the ground turned to a quagmire. My feet slid across the mud and I slipped more than once, but somehow I kept my balance.
The night lit up again to reveal I had reached the end of the grass. It would have been easier to dig a grave in wolf form, but that would mean facing the hunger. So I kept my human shape, allowing only my claws to grow as I struggled to make a hole deep enough for the corpse, all the while trying not to think about who I was burying. I was lucky it was raining so hard, otherwise I’d have had to wash the blood away too. And it made digging easier in the soft earth. I just wished there was more light to see by.
Once the grave was deep enough, I climbed out and rolled the corpse towards it, somehow managing to snag part of it on the hedge that formed a border between our garden and the fields at the back of the house. I had to fight to pull it free and the force sent me stumbling backwards, into the hole with the body landing on top of me. The impact made me curse, but then I remembered I might not be alone.
Phantom Slayers gathered round the grave, ready to bury me with my friend. Lightning revealed them to have been no more than imaginary shapes conjured by my brain as I strained to see, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any enemies in the area. The sooner I could get back into the safety of the house the better.
I climbed out a second time, dripping things thicker than blood. The mound of dirt I’d shifted was a thick, sludgy mess as I pushed it back into the hole, landing on the corpse with wet thuds. It was gross, and it felt like a terrible end to Vince’s story. He’d been a centuries old vampire – a great predator and probably a mighty warrior as well. I wished the nature of his death and the burial I was giving him could have been more respectful.
Leaving Vince in an unmarked grave troubled me even more, but it was the best I could do for him in the circumstances. Besides, he was just as dead either way. I reminded myself he wouldn’t be giving a damn. He was beyond caring, and even if his spirit lived on in some other place, it was doubtful he’d be visiting his own grave, so what was the point
in marking it and leaving flowers? He wouldn’t appreciate them.
Back inside, I slammed the door shut and locked it. Then I stood with my back to the glass, soaked from the rain and covered in mud and gore, relieved to be in the safety of my home once more. Or at least it gave me the illusion of safety. If they really wanted to, I knew there were enough Slayers out there to force their way inside, and they’d hurt anyone who got in their way. It brought another shiver to my sodden flesh.
My thoughts turned to Vince and Lizzy and their cruel fates. A year ago I’d have been devastated to lose them. But I’d changed since then, and it seemed there was no longer room for anything beyond the anger. Maybe there was sadness somewhere inside that small part of who I used to be, but it was lost in the rage and the numbness that had taken over my soul. If I even had a soul anymore.
Mum and Dad found me slumped against the door, lost in my own thoughts. That was as close to mourning as I ever came for those two lives. Mum believed me when I said I’d been out to bury a dead animal before it upset Amy. Dad refused to talk to me. So it was Mum who helped me clean up before I went to bed. No surprises there.
The horror lay buried at the end of the garden, but I couldn’t keep the nightmares away. It was as if the corpse called to them, reaching out with its cold, bloody stumps and dragging me into the darkness of my mind. A new nightmare started, one I’d never had before, and all I could do was ride it.
I was inside a large building, walking down a corridor. I hadn’t been there before but it felt like some kind of a prison. Official looking men in military style uniforms stood outside a door, staring straight ahead. They were armed and could have stopped me if they’d wanted, but they took no notice. Even when I moved to open the door, they didn’t so much as glance my way.
