"Right." Maureen stood fighting off the overwhelming urge to cry. No, she thought to herself, this is what you wanted. Don't be scared. "I'll be off then."
Rofen didn't look up from the pile of paperwork that now held his interest. "Shut the door on your way out," he said without as much as a glance.
Maureen tried to remain composed on the walk back to her gateway. No-one guided her, and for a second she thought she could slip off right now. But she needed to get some things first, plus the cats would be missing her dreadfully.
She made it to a lone corridor before the first tear appeared. By the time she was at the cloister, she was openly sobbing.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE - A Hero’s Welcome
By the time Darwin, Cassidy and D'Toeni found the minibus, it was long past dusk. They'd taken some time to try and find something solid enough to hook through a loop on the hatch, ensuring that if North or Magellan did somehow manage to climb up, they'd find the exit blocked.
From there they had to find their way back to the Minibus. The mental reminders Darwin had made on the way in had either been forgotten or looked different in the dark. Consequently there were many instances of following animal tracks only to turn around when Darwin felt "this was the wrong way."
"Ingenious," mocked D'Toeni. "The last place they'd look for us is twenty feet from the hatch."
Darwin ignored him.
Cassidy was still upset, though for the most part, she kept the tears to herself, and then when she didn't, it was little more than a sniff. It's no use asking her anything right now, Darwin thought.
Which meant it was down to him to get them out the wood. This resulted in finding a boundary fence, and then following it round, bushwhacking where needed to find the spot they could climb through. Evidently there were two or more of these, as when they emerged from the wood, they could see no sign of the earlier sheep.
"Well this will go down in the annuals of vampire history as one of the best rescues ever," D'Toeni quipped.
By this time, Darwin was getting a little fed up with D'Toeni's constant sniping.
"Seriously," he told the vampire, "use those big vampire eyes of yours to look for a minibus or some sheep, or anything."
It was Cassidy who spotted the sheep field in the end after they had decided to walk out to the road and walk along it. Even so, they were at least half a mile away. That final walk under moonlight was done in silence, Darwin steeling himself for a comment from D'Toeni.
"You got the keys?" Darwin asked Cassidy. The way this day was going, he wouldn't be surprised if they were laying down in the tunnel somewhere. So it was no small relief, when Cassidy reached into her pockets and pulled them out, jangling them in front of him.
The drive back was sombre and long. Darwin insisted they stay off the motorways and kept to back roads. That would make it easier to know if they were being followed. He found an old AA Map book under a seat and did his best to give Cassidy directions.
D'Toeni huffed. "You realise that if they decide to head us off, by the time we get there, I may actually be the last vampire, left."
"Shut up, D'Toeni," Darwin told him. There was truth to the vampire's words though. What if the aliens knew where they were all gathering? What if they'd headed there after they'd locked the hatch?
He still wasn't sure why he'd brought D'Toeni along. After all, he was the person responsible for his face looking like it did. One of the vampire traits he'd been blessed with was accelerated healing, but that didn't change the fact that he felt like shit. He started pulling at a scab.
"Don't pick at it," Cassidy told him, the first thing she'd muttered other than grunts for a couple of hours.
"How you doing?" Darwin asked.
She looked over the tops of her glasses at him. "How do you think I'm doing?"
"You know, those feelings... they're not yours. They're just leftovers."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better, is it?" There was an iciness to her voice that Darwin had never heard before.
"No but... I didn't mean..."
She said nothing, ignored him to focus on her driving.
Can't do right, can't do wrong, Darwin thought. If he acted human, he had the likes of D'Toeni mocking him and his compassion, but if he wanted to feed, he had Cassidy moaning that he had to eat rats. He was in no mood to start an argument, he'd had enough drama in the last few days without adding to it, but he did wonder if it was impossible to make either side truly happy. Never mind I rescued you from the tentacles, never mind that I grabbed the notebook, or grabbed your hand when you were going to be pulled back down into the tunnel, or gave you a second chance when you don't deserve one. Don't bother to even thank me.
If it was possible to thumb angrily through a book, then Darwin did that with the map book. Nanny Voodoo had told him the locations of gateways in both Luton and Guildford. He pulled the addresses she’d written on a scrap of paper for him and found the locations of both.
"We're going through Guildford," he said, remembering her advice.
D'Toeni appeared at his shoulder and looked at the map. "Luton's easier. Straight up the M1."
"Yeah," Cassidy agreed. "If we head to Guildford, we've got to go round half the M25."
"If they suspect we're trying to escape to Venefasia though," Darwin said, "they'll bet on Luton."
"You know that for a fact, do you?" D'Toeni asked.
"No."
"Then I say Luton is a better option. We're already wasting too much time with these back roads."
"We might be being followed?"
D'Toeni looked in a wing mirror. "You see any cars? No, neither do I."
"We don't want to turn up there with them on our tail."
"What we want, Darwin, is to turn up there, period."
Darwin felt he was constantly being undermined by the vampire. "We're still going to Guildford."
"Maybe we should let everyone decide," Cassidy offered. "You know, take a vote?"
Oh great, Darwin thought. Now she was undermining him too.
"You know what. There's not discussion, no vote, nothing. We're going to Guildford and that's final. If you don't like it, you can walk."
He was waiting for Cassidy to make some remark about the fact that she was driving, but thankfully it never happened. If it had, he doubted he would have held back.
I'm sorry that I'm such a disappointment to both of you, he thought to himself. Not vampire enough for you, D'Toeni, not human enough for you, Cassidy. But fuck you. Yes both of you. I saved both your arses. Did you not even see the bit where I ran up one of North's tentacles?
#
They arrived back at the factory in Walthamstow just before dawn. It was light enough for D'Toeni to have to cocoon himself in Ryan's clothes. Darwin was grateful for the peace it offered him.
Once inside the complex, Darwin made Cassidy pull up outside the building and wait while he entered via a side door.
"Hello," he called out. "It's Darwin."
There was no answer. Perhaps they were being cautious, or maybe something had happened. Darwin found his stomach knotting at the thought that maybe the aliens had been here too. He groped around in the dark and found Metzger's old ornamental sword propped up by the door. Probably left there for defence, he thought. Well it was for his defence now, as he picked it up and unsheathed the broken blade.
He started making his way up the stairs, sword outstretched. He stepped lightly, yet still the stairs creaked.
A hairy figure stepped out at the top of the stairs.
"Darwin?"
"Monk?"
Darwin was engulfed in a huge bear hug. "Careful, Monk," he said, "I've got a sword in my hands"
"Ah, that old thing couldn't cut bread. Did you find him?"
"Yeah, we found him, and a bit of trouble." Darwin considered for a second telling of D'Toeni's betrayal, but decided to let it go. The surviving vampires really needed a hero right now.
"Trouble?" Monk said, his bear hug en
ding and his face turning to one of concern. "Jesus, you're not kidding. Look at the state of your face."
"Yeah, we're gonna have to leave pretty much straight away."
"I'll tell the others, you bring the minibus in."
Darwin sheathed the sword, slung it over his back and went down to the loading bay. The chains rattled as he raised and lowered the shutter to let Cassidy drive the Minibus in. By the time it was lowered, Monk had rounded up all the vampires. Despite it being close to Dawn and the skylights starting to let in the morning, they still gathered at the edge of the cargo bay, watching the minibus with anticipation.
"Good work, Monk," Darwin said, but the vampire wasn't listening to him. Instead they watched as the back door to the minibus opened and D'Toeni stepped out, hands raised to the sky like some triumphant homecoming. He'd removed his extra layer of Ryan's clothes, now dressed as Darwin had found him chained in the tunnel. The clothes looked dirty in the pre-morning light. Darwin noticed that both his hands and his nose were badly blistered.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen" D'Toeni said with a bow.
Darwin might have been anonymous for how much he was ignored.
"Are you going to lead us through the gateway, D'Toeni?" Stevens asked.
"Did you run into any trouble?" said Jules.
"How did you escape?" asked Monk.
D'Toeni was treated like some returning hero, and Darwin began to wonder if he should have told Monk about the betrayal.
The vampire set about retelling their escape. Darwin expected that he would leave out parts relating to his capture and handing over of Darwin, but he wasn't prepared for how he would twist the tale. Ryan no longer existed, and it was instead Darwin who was picked up and slammed around by the tentacles. D'Toeni apparently had to rescue him, to which everyone laughed.
Darwin could feel his blood boil. He wanted to butt in, explain how it really was, but they were too engrossed.
"Well, as we were climbing up to the hatch, the beast grabbed hold of Darwin. Oh, you should have heard him scream. Luckily, I was able to shoot the tentacle and rescue the half-breed before too much damage was done but I honestly don't know if it was my shot, or Darwin's high pitched scream that scared it off."
"Ignore him," Cassidy said, standing beside Darwin. She'd retrieved Ryan's hoodie from the back of the minibus and was now wearing it.
"Ignore him? Cassidy, he's lying, making me out to be some form of idiot."
"You and I know the truth, that's all that matters."
Darwin felt rage explode out of him. "No, Cassidy, it's not all that matters. My reputation matters, the truth matters. It all fucking matters."
Cassidy rolled her eyes. "Sorry."
That was the problem wasn't it? Darwin told himself. She didn't care if what little credibility he'd gained over the last few days got torn to pieces. No, she was happy for him to just 'be human'. He had to be sympathetic and understanding about Ryan, yet she couldn't be bothered to understand how much respect from his fellow vampires meant to him. No, it was all one big joke. One big fucking joke.
There were times when he really hated having Cassidy around. She just distracted him, stopped him doing what his instincts told him he should be doing.
He wanted to cry, wanted desperately to cry over this. He could feel his eyes welling up. He could fight off tentacle monsters, see people being ripped asunder and dive down hatches to save people - without thought to his own safety he might add. Did he want to cry over any of that? No. Why? Because this was important to him. This was a new start. This was the acceptance he had been denied since childhood and she was just happy to pass it all off as nothing.
He took a deep breath and stopped himself, dabbing the watery eyes with a corner of his finger.
"And then the idiot didn't know where he'd left the minibus. We spent an hour walking around in the dark."
The vampires roared with laughter. Glad, I'm all such a joke to you, thought Darwin.
"Hate to break up the party, ladies," Darwin said, hiding his hurt behind a false air of confidence, "but when D'Toeni has finished bullshitting to you all, we really need to get going. Bring any clothes or anything you can use to cover yourself up. It's not going to be the most comfortable of rides."
He saw Stevens smirk at D'Toeni. Yeah, Darwin thought, you go ahead and believe him over me. Let's see if you are still laughing when he sticks the knife into your back.
Darwin was beginning to really regret ever having saved the vampire.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO - Final Words
Maureen woke to a panic attack. She wasn't often prone to them, but she did find that salty things always made her a bit anxious the next day. However, today she had good reason. Memories of yesterday's escapades came flooding back. She worried what would have happened if Rofen hadn't found them, she worried whether Joseph was OK and being treated properly. But most of all, she worried that she was going to be made homeless.
She wanted not to worry. She wanted to tell herself that she didn't care, that she would just take off into Venefasia and never be seen again. But the reality was different. What happened to her things, her clothes, her books, her cats? What would she do for money once she passed through? And what about some form of I.D? Everywhere needed I.D. These days, what was there to think that Venefasia was any different?
And so she lay in bed, not so much to escape the prospect of the icy temperature in the room, but because the knot in her stomach made her feel too frail to move.
She tried to get angry, tell herself that the Friary couldn't do this to her, but who would believe a little old lady if she said that she was being evicted by the men who lived through the door in her cellar. They'd put her in some institution, where they would drug her up and force feed her through tubes.
She tried to take some deep breaths, but it didn't relieve the anxiety which sat heavy on her like a chest infection.
At last, she could bear it no more, deciding that moving might remove the malaise that seemed to hang over her. A good cup of tea and she might see things differently. The room nipped at her toes, as she put on her slippers and dressing gown and walked down to the kitchen. The hall seemed especially cold this morning, causing her to pull her dressing gown tight around her. Just a day without a fire in the living room and the house took a week to warm up. Even the walls felt cold to the touch. She still had Sally's electric heater in the bedroom but she didn't like to use it. She heard those things ate electricity like it was going out of fashion. To hell with it, she thought. It's not like I'll be here when the bill comes in.
She stopped by the cellar door, paused a minute and then walked downstairs. She wasn't sure why she was coming down here but found herself reaching for the key and unlocking the big oak door to Venefasia.
Just a peek, she told herself. Maybe the mana-filled air would calm her nerves. She opened her door and proceeded the couple of metres along the corridor to the door Joseph normally manned. She turned the handle, and found the door locked.
Her anxiety seemed to explode like a volcano inside her. She was trapped here; she had no way through, nowhere to go. She raised a hand to her mouth and held it there for a minute, as doubt and worry washed over her.
"What am I going to do?" she said to herself. "I'm eighty-two years old. I can't be homeless."
A tear welled in the corner of her eye, and despite not wanting to cry, she soon found herself sobbing at the door. She tried it every couple of minutes, just to make sure it wasn't just stiff.
Eventually, when she'd convinced herself that it really was locked, she went back out into the cellar. The room seemed grey, stripped of colour by Maureen's mood.
"Why would I want to stay here?" she asked herself.
Maybe it was time to go into a home. She'd heard stories of some very nice ones, ones where you had your own flat and a carer on call.
"It would be nice to always be warm," she told Nicholas, who purred at her feet obviously wanting to be fed.
&nbs
p; Fear of the unknown, that's what's always held you back, Maureen, she thought to herself. Oh, she liked to talk the talk, but when it came to the actual walking... well she wasn't half as brave as she made out.
"Come on, let's get you some food," she said as Nicholas was joined by his brother. She closed her gateway door, locked it and put the key back on the hook. She might as well have flushed the key down the toilet for all the use it was now.
In the kitchen, with the cats fed and the kettle boiling, she thought some more about the idea of a home. It was probably the right thing to do, and she was sure the council would probably be able to get her in somewhere fast. But still it bothered her.
She didn't want to be old yet. She didn't feel old. She didn't want to be cast aside by society and left in some home to rot and die when she felt she had life yet to live.
"I don't want to give up,” she told the cats, who ignored her for their bowls. To her at least, going into care seemed to be the end, and that scared her. Of course, for some people it was a new lease of life, but Maureen had always been so protective of her independence that to lose that now would be like her world ending.
Perhaps she could take herself down the citizen's advice bureau. Get the facts, she told herself. You might feel better once you're in the know.
She looked out the kitchen window to her back garden. The snow had melted but in its place, dark patches of ice spotted her path. Probably too dangerous to go out, she thought. Maybe she could ask Sally? Even if she wasn't able to take her into town, she might be able to find out some information on her rights. Perhaps there was a way she could fight this.
This seemed to cheer Maureen up. No longer did she feel quite so helpless, and as a result the anxiety seemed to ease. She had a bit more of a spring in her step as she went back upstairs to wash and change.
Sally was pleased to see her.
"Maureen,” she said ushering her inside. "You're back already? You weren't gone long."
Maureen stepped inside the house to be greeted with warmth that almost dried the air out of her lungs. The house had a mirror image layout as Maureen's but couldn't be more different. The hall walls were clean and freshly painted a sunflower yellow, not dirty and lined with bookcases like Maureen's house. Carpet that wasn't frayed ran up the stairs, and the door to the cellar looked new.
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