by TJ Green
“No. There’ll be six of us at the morgue.”
“Besides,” Reuben added, “if we all die, you lot will have to finish the job.”
Avery swatted his arm. “Reuben!”
He rolled his shoulders. “I’m kidding. We’re going to be just fine.”
“I should come,” Oswald said. “I’m going that way, too, and I’ve at least seen a vampire before.”
“No,” Caspian said emphatically. “You’re a powerful witch, Oswald, but you’re old and physically slow—no offence. I’ll worry more about you, and that will distract me. There’ll be enough for you to do another time.”
Reuben nodded. “Agreed. You guys strategise, and we’ll act. I think your battle with them last time means you get to sit this one out. And for now, that includes you, Genevieve, as our High Priestess.”
Oswald nodded, a mixture of relief but also disappointment on his face. “You’re right. We need to find out why it’s happening now, and if there’s a link to the last time. Knowing about this occult house may give us the advantage.”
“Agreed,” Claudia said. “We may remember something about the last time that helps us now.”
Avery had a thought. “You didn’t say where you caught up with the newly turned vampires. You mentioned you killed them all. Where?”
“We managed to track down a couple of places they’d used,” Rasmus explained. “We cornered one and it fled to a barn as day was breaking. It thought it had lost us, but we found it, covered in hay in a hole in the floor, and we staked it.”
Oswald nodded. “We found one in a cave, hidden at the back. Again, we’d tracked it one night and struck in the day.”
“And we found three in an abandoned mineshaft,” Claudia said, her gaze distant. “That was tricky. The place was a death trap—fallen beams, trapped gases, twisting passageways...” She trailed off, lost in thoughts of the past.
“Gave me nightmares for a long time,” Oswald admitted. “There were another couple, but I can’t remember where we found those. I’m sure it will come back to me.”
“Wow,” Avery said, looking at them in admiration. “You’re amazing.”
Claudia smiled. “We had no choice, and I genuinely hoped never to face them again.”
“You’ll need weapons,” Rasmus said, all business as he picked up a holdall next to the bookcase and placed it in the centre of the room. He rummaged in it for a moment and produced a stake with a flourish. It was about one foot long with a long, sharp point. “Take the bag. There are about half a dozen of these in it, and a mallet.”
Reuben took it from him, twirling it in his hands like it was a drumstick. “You’re a dark horse, Rasmus. We’ll take three. Keep the rest for yourself—just in case. We can make more later.”
Rasmus straightened his shoulders, as if squaring for a fight. “Fair enough. I’d better start practising.”
“I think we all should, and begin finding spells that could help. Our magic will give us an advantage, but...”Claudia looked intently at Avery, Caspian, and Reuben. “Do not underestimate the strength and speed of a vampire. They are superhuman, preternaturally strong, and vicious. Never forget that. I hope to see you all at the next meeting.”
Hope. The word hung on the air.
Reuben said, “I’ll get El to bring a sword, too. And besides, there’ll be plenty of knives in the morgue.”
“Be careful! Wear gloves—you may be witches, but we still leave fingerprints—and do not take risks,” Genevieve warned. “If it escapes, so be it. I’d rather have you all alive, and we’ll get our chance again. And protect your friends and family—and that applies to all of us. There are tough times ahead, and there’ll be more blood spilt before this is over.”
9
As soon as Avery and Reuben got in the car, Avery called Alex to update him on the plan, and she asked him to call El and Briar. She could hear the shock in his voice, but he didn’t hesitate. The last thing he said was, “Don’t you dare go in without us,” and then he rang off.
“I’m going to call Ben, too,” she said to Reuben, as he steered them out of Falmouth and on to the A39 to Truro. “They need to know the danger they’re in. They cannot stay at that house overnight. What if that was a vampire standing over Charlotte?”
He nodded. “Using her as a regular blood bank? Agreed. But it makes me wonder why they’re still alive, if it’s linked to this business. “
“I’ll worry about that later,” Avery said. She was relieved to find that Ben and the others were not at the house, and made them promise not to go at night until they had more information.
She glanced over to the back seat and pulled a wooden stake out of the bag, feeling its weight. “You need a lot of strength to drive this into someone’s heart.”
“Hence the mallet.”
“But they’d need to be sleeping for that to happen—in the day. It would be tough if you were fighting one.”
“Buffy managed it,” he said, grinning.
“Yeah, well, I’m not Buffy. She was a Slayer.”
“But you’re a witch. You can punch it in with a well-timed blast of wind.”
She considered his suggestion. “That might actually be possible.”
“Of course it is. You just need practice. “
“There are many things I need right now. Maybe I should ask for a mannequin for Christmas.”
“What I need right now are directions to the morgue. Can you look it up?”
“Of course,” Avery said, reaching for her phone again. “All I can think about is what to do when we get there. I can’t believe we’re actually going to face a vampire—tonight!”
“Hopefully we won’t. Hopefully all we’ll encounter is a dead girl that needs beheading. Maybe three dead girls that need beheading.”
“We should tell Newton.”
Reuben sounded alarmed. “Not bloody now, we shouldn’t! And I hope Briar doesn’t, either.”
Avery quickly found the directions to the Cornwall Coroner. “Bollocks. It’s not in Truro. It’s just outside, off the A39. And there are a few buildings onsite, including a crematorium. I’ll tell the others.” Behind them she could see the lights of Caspian’s Audi, so she phoned him first before telling Alex. “My hands are shaking,” she confessed to Reuben.
“It’s the adrenalin,” he reassured her. “You’ll be glad of it when we get there.”
They arrived at the Coroner’s office all too quickly. It was in a secluded area of countryside, surrounded by fields, and it was bigger than Avery expected. The place was in darkness, apart from some security lights, but Reuben pulled into the rear of the car park and killed the lights, and Caspian pulled next to them.
A heavy frost covered the ground, and rather than wait outside, Caspian joined them, getting in the back of Reuben’s car. “I don’t like it. It’s isolated, and the vampire could be out there, watching us right now.”
“On the plus side,” Reuben said, twisting to speak to him. “It’s well away from public places and from where people could get hurt. Although, if the girl rises and gets away, there’s no way we’ll find her out here.”
Caspian grabbed a stake, hefting it much as Avery had done. “I've done many things, but I’ve never encountered a vampire before.”
“Did your father ever tell you what happened all those years ago?”
“Never.” His eyes glinted in the dim lights of the car. “And I have no idea why he never spoke of it, either.”
“Maybe,” Avery suggested, “it was such a nightmare that none of them ever wanted to think of it again. Rasmus lost his wife!”
“We should work in pairs tonight,” Reuben said. “No one should be alone.”
Caspian and Avery nodded, and then they fell into an uneasy silence, waiting for the others to arrive.
It was another fifteen minutes before they saw the headlights approach in the distance, and Alex phoned to check where they were. A minute later, El pulled up in her Land Rover, and they all piled
out of their cars, stomping their feet for warmth, their breath billowing around them in clouds.
Alex leaned back against El’s Land Rover, arms crossed in front of him, leather gloves on his hands. “What the hell happened today? Avery’s given me some details, but why are we at the morgue?”
Reuben twirled the stake. “We have a vampire to kill.”
Briar’s eyes were wide with surprise. “Really? Because when Alex called, I thought he was joking. The whole journey here, we’ve been debating what you found out at the meeting.”
“It’s not a joke,” Avery reassured her. “I’m going to make this quick, because it’s freezing and I don’t want to stand in the dark, knowing we could be attacked at any moment. Claudia and the others are sure that this is a vampire, because it’s happened before. We think that the first girl who was attacked and killed will turn into a vampire too, tonight, and we need to stop it happening.”
El, Alex, and Briar regarded them silently, looked at each other, and then back at the other three. El gave a dry laugh. “You know you sound nuts, right?”
Caspian huffed with impatience. “I can assure you, if you heard what we did, you wouldn’t question this. And when Avery tells you everything later, you’ll understand. In the meantime, let’s get on with this. If she turns tonight, that big ol’ vamp that turned her could be waiting for her. Out there!” he jerked his head to indicate the surrounding fields.
“Right,” Alex said decisively. “Do we know where her body is being kept?”
“No idea,” Reuben said, shaking his head. “Mr Google does not provide online maps of the facility.”
Briar was clearly struggling with their plan. “Hold on. How will we know which girl is which? It’s the Cornwall morgue. There could be dozens of dead bodies in there. And when we do find her, what if she’s lying there, looking completely normal? Are you actually suggesting we desecrate her dead body? That’s appalling!”
“Can we address this issue once we’re inside?” Caspian asked, growing impatient, and he turned and led the way across the car park.
“Brought your sword, El?” Reuben asked, as they followed him.
She patted the scabbard strapped to her left side. “Two swords. One for me, and Alex is carrying the other one. Briar declined. Why do I need it?”
“You may have to behead her.”
El stopped dead, and Briar walked into the back of her. “I might what?”
Reuben paused, too. “I only said might.”
El sighed and started walking again. “Maybe you should carry the sword, because I’m not sure I can do that.”
Reuben nodded. “I’ll do it if we need to.”
As they closed in on the main building a security light activated, but within seconds it was off, shorted out by Caspian’s magic. He quickly turned to the other lights over the entrance and on the far corner and spelled them off, too. Avery noted the security cameras and quickly deactivated them, and then the group huddled together in front of the glass doors.
Caspian suggested, “Before we go in, I want to scope the perimeter.”
“Agreed,” Reuben said. “I want to know our exits, and the general layout.”
Avery nodded. “The only thing I could make out on the map is that the crematorium is to the right.” She pointed to a square building with a separate entrance a short distance away.
“This place is bigger than I thought,” Briar said, hugging herself for warmth. “I’ll come with you, Caspian. Are we sure her body won’t be in the hospital morgue?”
“Very. I checked,” Caspian answered. “Only those who die in hospital will be in the hospital’s morgue, and that’s just a holding place. She’ll be here. They all should be. Reuben, if we go right, you go left. We’ll meet around the back. There’ll be a rear entrance, and we’ll get in that way. Alex and Avery, are you happy to go in through the front?”
“Anything to get out of the cold,” Avery said, starting to shiver.
“It’ll be just like the museum, Avery,” Alex said softly.
“Let’s hope there aren’t security guards here.” She remembered when they shorted out the security system at the Truro museum, and guards had arrived to investigate.
Alex nodded. “With a bit of luck, there won’t be.”
Caspian checked his watch. “Ten minutes should cover us. We’ll see you inside. Phone us if you need to explain where the morgue is. And don’t do anything rash.”
“Nor you,” Alex said, resentment creeping into his voice.
Within seconds, the other four had disappeared, leaving Avery and Alex alone. Alex deftly released the lock on the door, and they slipped inside, the heated air warming their chilled skin.
The silence surrounded them like a blanket, and it was completely dark, other than the alarm system blinking to their left on the wall. Alex took care of it, and the lights winked out.
“Where now?” he asked, his voice low.
Avery could just make out a reception desk on the left, a long corridor leading to the back of the building, and doorways to the left and right, but she was reluctant to send up a witch light because the door behind them was made of glass.
“I’m sure the morgue must be toward the rear of the building, but we should check every room as we go,” Avery suggested.
“Agreed.” Alex quickly checked the door to the right, and Avery to the left. “It’s an office,” he called, softly.
“Here, too,” Avery answered.
Alex moved down the corridor, past the reception desk, and Avery sent up a witch-light as soon as they were out of sight of the entrance. The corridor arrived at a T-junction, with another corridor running from left to right.
Avery whispered, “It would be logical for the morgue to be close to the crematorium, in which case we should try right first.”
Alex nodded and led the way, and Avery listened intently for any noise, but it was still silent, and that made it creepier. They passed several offices, but there was no sign of the morgue until Alex found a door leading to another corridor. Satisfied they hadn’t missed anything he headed down it, and quickly came to a door with swipe card access and a sign saying Morgue.
“Bingo,” he said, running his hands across the panel and whispering a spell. The door released with a click, and they entered a small anteroom with a desk and a large whiteboard. Numbers ran down the side and columns were next to it, listing names, investigations, time arrived, and other details. There was a door in the rear wall.
“What was the first girl’s name?” Alex asked as he searched the board and then opened the other door. The witch light illuminated another short but wide hallway with a couple of doors to the right.
Avery quickly pulled her phone out, searching for a news report. “Bethany Mason, aged eighteen.” She looked up, searching the board. “There. Number 4b.”
“That must coincide with the storage number. Come on.” He continued down the corridor, lined with stark white tiles. The first room on the right was very long and filled with stainless steel work surfaces and cupboards, and had three gurneys in the centre of the room. Various jars and stainless steel objects were laid out on the counters. “This must be the autopsy room,” Alex guessed.
The next room was also large, but on the right-hand side were rows of doors, three short doors to each row, and each numbered. There were no windows in any of these rooms, so Alex flicked the light switch on; they both blinked as a bright white light banished the shadows.
Alex pointed to a square door situated in the middle of the fourth row. “There’s 4b. She must be in there.”
“There’s no way you could get out of that on your own,” Avery said. She patted her backpack, double-checking the stake was there. “It locks from the outside. Even if she turns, she couldn’t get out.”
“Maybe you could if you had superhuman strength,” Alex said, grimly. “We should wait for the others. Let’s see if the other girls are here, too.”
Avery searched for their names i
n her phone again, while Alex headed back down the corridor. Avery followed him absently, half watching him while searching in her phone. He found a few more offices, a room lined with lockers, sinks, showers, and toilets, another wide anteroom, and a set of double doors. “That must be the rear entrance,” he murmured. He quickly checked that all the alarms and cameras were disabled, and then pulled the door wide open. The cold night rushed in from the parking bay. A couple of vans were parked out the back, but it was otherwise empty.
“Where the hell are they?” Alex muttered, and stepped out to look around. A black shape swooped past the entrance, and Alex disappeared.
Avery blinked, thinking she’d missed something. “Alex?” She ran to the back door and looked out, but nothing moved, and Alex was nowhere in sight. Shit. Avery’s heart thumped and her mouth went dry. She wanted to shout, but she bit back the urge, instead pocketing her phone, dropping the backpack, and pulling the wooden stake free. Her magic rose instinctively, surging into her hands.
An explosion of bright white light emanated from the corner of the building and Alex dropped onto the floor, landing in a crouch. Avery heard a shout, and Reuben and El ran around the corner. El had drawn her sword, and the blade flashed with white fire, the only thing illuminating them in the darkness. There was another swoop of blackness, a deeper shadow against the night sky, and Avery rocked backwards as a wave of air buffeted her, bringing the stench of death and rotten meat with it. She had barely time to look up when a figure collided with her from the left. Caspian. She landed on the floor, winded, with Caspian sprawled across her. She peered over his shoulder and saw Briar running towards them, throwing a ball of fire into the air.
Caspian rolled away and threw a jagged bolt of lightning up towards the swooping figure, and it disappeared.
“Get inside, now!” Reuben yelled, as he, El, and Alex pelted down the side of the building towards the rear entrance.
Avery jumped to her feet, stepped just inside the entrance and grabbed the door, ready to pull it closed. Caspian waited outside, searching the skies. Briar ran through the door first, followed by El, Reuben, and then Alex, and Caspian whirled in after them. Avery pulled the door shut with a resounding thud. A shudder passed through the door as something hit it from the outside. She shot all three bolts across at once with a wave of magic, and sighed with relief as she leaned against the wall.
