Vampire Trilogy Series (Book 3): Vampire Equinox

by Philip Henry

  ‘Why have we stopped?’ Fenton screamed at his second-in-command. The pilot spoke slowly and clearly.

  ‘He says airport is restricted airspace. He cannot fly in there.’

  ‘I don’t give a fuck! You tell him to follow her.’

  The second-in-command relayed this to the pilot and came back with: ‘He says he’s not losing his licence over this. He’ll put us down outside the gate.’

  The helicopter started to lower and Fenton punched his seat.

  Rek watched as the back of the plane closed. He looked out the window. The loud roar of the engines meant he could pretend not to hear the co-pilot the first time he spoke. The co-pilot took Rek by the shoulder, turned him around and repeated himself. ‘We must go now. We cannot wait any more. We have only small window to take off. We must go!’

  Rek took one last look through the window at the terminal then gave the co-pilot a small nod. He rushed up to the cockpit. Rek dropped into his seat.

  Three airport security cars were now chasing Nicholl through the grounds of the airport. Luckily they had scouted the airport the day before, so she knew where she was going and she knew she was close, but there were ten feet wire fences all around the runways. She couldn’t see a way through.

  She spotted her plane. It was the one the pilot had pointed out to them yesterday. She was sure of it. It was moving. She raced towards the wire, the sirens and flashing lights of three cars following her. Then she saw her chance. Someone was driving a mobile set of stairs, the kind used for boarding passengers, around the perimeter of the wire fence. The stairs were higher then the fence. Nicholl twisted her right hand down and raced towards the trundling vehicle.

  Rek had failed her. He should have went with her. He touched the Fist in his pocket again. She was right of course. This was more important. Didn’t mean he had to like it. He looked out the window and saw a motorcycle fly over the fence. It must have shot twenty feet into the air before landing on the runway and chasing after the plane. The pursuing cars screeched to a stop on the other side of the fence.

  Rek ran to the back window and looked out at the motorcycle. Nicholl waved at him casually. He laughed out loud. The co-pilot appeared beside him. ‘What do we do? We stop?’ Rek looked out the back window and saw that airport security had found a way onto the runway and were now chasing Nicholl again.

  ‘No. Tell the pilot to keep going but don’t take off.’ The co-pilot ran towards the cockpit. Rek pulled the lever on his left hand side. Alarms started to sound and wind rushed in. The loading ramp of the plane started to lower.

  Nicholl looked over her shoulder and noticed there were now five cars chasing her and they were closing. From her left, a refuelling truck crashed through the wire fence and raced towards her. Fenton was driving. He pulled out a machine gun and opened fire. Sparks jumped off the ground around Nicholl. Fenton fired again and sparks jumped of the back of the plane. Two of the pursuing cars now broke off and were moving to intercept Fenton. They screeched to a halt in front of him and he had to hit the brakes to avoid crashing. Airport security pulled Fenton out of the truck and cuffed his hands roughly behind his back as he tried to explain his importance to them in a language none of them understood. He watched over the roof of the security car as Nicholl’s motorcycle flew up the back ramp of the plane. He watched the back of the plane close again as it gathered speed and left the pursuing cars behind. Eventually the security cars just stopped and watched the plane take off. Fenton dropped his head onto the roof of the car.

  Rek ran forward to the heap of smoking metal. Nicholl had come in at such speed it took her a few seconds to slow down and she had shot right past him and crashed into a heap of tarpaulin. The motorcycle’s engine ticked as it cooled. Rek lifted the bike off her and set it aside. He looked down at Nicholl lying in the tarpaulin, still trying to get her breath. She smiled at him. ‘Please tell me after all that, you got it.’

  Rek took out The Fist of Merlin and dropped it in her lap. She looked at it and smiled at him.

  The co-pilot stepped out of the cockpit. ‘Narita is ordering us to return to airport immediately.’

  Rek took out a wad of rolled notes and held them out to the co-pilot. ‘Are you still experiencing communication problems?’

  The co-pilot looked at the cash, then took it from Rek. ‘Yes. Unfortunately our radio is still down.’ The co-pilot bowed to them both and went back to the cockpit.

  Rek sat down next to Nicholl. ‘So that was your fool-proof plan, eh?’

  ‘It worked, didn’t it?’ She grinned.

  Rek took her in his arms. ‘I guess it did.’

  They kissed, The Fist of Merlin temporarily forgotten. It would take seventeen hours to reach Belfast International Airport.

  the third moon

  Sarah sat in the car, waiting. Hal had been so excited. She hoped that the surprise he had gone upstairs to prepare didn’t involve a velvet covered ring box. He wouldn’t. Surely he wouldn’t. They had only been going out for three months. Still, why else would he bring her to this strange address in Portstewart? She looked at herself; why had she got dressed up? Showing a lot of leg and cleavage was not sending out the right signals. She looked in the back seat and found Hal’s denim jacket and pulled it on. It smelled like him and she remembered the good times they had spent together. Some of the best times in that very back seat.

  Things were different now. She was different.

  Hal came running out the front of the building. Sarah pasted a smile on her face. She had never done this before but if TV and movies were anything to go by there was no good way to do it. No way that wouldn’t hurt him. Hal opened her door with a grandiose bowing gesture.

  ‘If m’lady would care to step this way.’

  Sarah got out and took his proffered hand. Hal slammed the door closed and linked her arm. He led her inside.

  They got out of the lift on the fourth floor. Hal led her quickly down the hallway and stopped at the door marked 4D.

  Sarah was starting to get a bad feeling. ‘Hal, what’s going on? Who lives here?’

  Hal smiled and took out a key. He unlocked the door. He turned back to Sarah and took both her hands in his. ‘I’m hoping that… we do.’

  ‘What?’

  Hal put his hand on the small of her back and gently pushed her inside. He closed the door behind them. The main living area was empty except for a few cushions that had been scattered in a circle on the floor. Candles were placed all around the room, bathing it in a soft orange glow. A radio sat on the fireplace. Sarah recognized the deep voice of the DJ; it was Beatmaster Burden from the Late Lounge, playing three hours of non-stop love songs. In the centre of the cushions was a bottle of wine and one glass. Hal looked at her expectantly. Sarah couldn’t find the words.

  ‘Wait, you have haven’t seen the best bit yet.’ Hal took Sarah by the arm and dragged her across to the window. He unlocked the glass doors and took Sarah out onto the balcony. ‘Just look at that view,’ Hal said, putting his arm around Sarah and taking a deep breath.

  Sarah looked out over the lights of Portstewart and heard the unceasing sound of the ocean close by. ‘Hal…’

  ‘Hey, look at the third moon.’

  Sarah looked up. The moon was full and red. ‘They call that a blood moon.’

  ‘Is it good luck? Since, you know, a red moon only happens every once in a blue moon.’ He smiled.

  She laughed. He could always make her laugh. ‘In the old days they used to regard a blood moon with dread. It was supposed to signify great change or disaster.’

  ‘Shit!’ Hal said, then laughed. ‘Do you believe that?’

  Sarah turned to him. ‘No. It’s just the earth’s atmosphere refracting and bending the light from the sun.’

  ‘Another fun fact from Sarah. I don’t know where you pick all this stuff up. Though I know something about that full moon too.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘That’s the third full moon this year.’ Hal
looked proud, so Sarah pretended to be impressed. There was a full moon every twenty-nine and a half days and this is March; it didn’t take a lot of working out.

  ‘The March full moon is also known as the Storm Moon, did you know that?’

  Hal held up his hands. ‘OK, I give up. You win. Let’s go back inside.’

  They stepped back into the living room and Hal rushed over to the cushioned area and sat down. He began uncorking the wine. ‘Come on, sit down.’

  Hesitantly, Sarah walked over and sat opposite him. She watched him fumbling with the wine bottle. Trying so hard to be suave and debonair and failing miserably. She remembered why she had been attracted to him in the first place. He tried so hard to be everything he thought she would want him to be. He finally uncorked the wine and poured a glass and handed it to her. She took the glass and set it on the ground before her.

  ‘What, you not drinking?’

  Sarah shrugged, lifted the glass and took a sip.

  ‘You know you drink less now that you’re legal than you did before you turned eighteen. What’s up with that?’ Hal reached behind his cushion and brought out a bottle of beer.

  ‘Yeah. A lot of things have changed since I turned eighteen.’

  He twisted the cap off and took a long drink. ‘So what do you think of the place?’

  ‘It’s lovely, but how can you afford this? I don’t know too many hospital porters that live in penthouse apartments.’

  ‘Well, if you promise to keep it a secret…’ Hal leaned in. Sarah leaned in closer to him. ‘I have a secret benefactor and he says he has great expectations for me.’ Hal laughed. Sarah sat back and smiled. She took another sip of her wine.

  ‘So, are you going to put me out of my misery?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m asking you to move in with me. That’s what the wine and the cushions and the fire hazard are all about. So what do you say?’

  The words jammed halfway up Sarah’s throat. Hal sensed her hesitation.

  ‘I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say that we’ve only been going out together for three months. We haven’t even gone all the way yet, but…’ Hal got onto his knees and took a couple of steps towards her. He looked her in the eyes. ‘Sarah, I have loved you my whole life. Since we were kids. Since before I even knew what love was, I knew that you and I were meant to be together. You know what I mean. You’ve felt it too.’ The two second gap after that sentence was there for Sarah to agree emphatically with Hal, but instead, those two seconds were silent. Hal hung his head. He climbed back over to the other side of the circle of cushions and took another long pull on his beer. ‘Well, I hope that little speech gave you a laugh if nothing else.’

  ‘No, I’m not laughing. That was beautiful. I just… I don’t feel the same way. I’m sorry.’

  Hal finished his current beer and opened a fresh one before speaking again. ‘What changed between us, Sarah? When we first got together we were great. Things were great. We were in love. Then sometime… it was your birthday. Ever since your birthday you’ve been different. What happened to you on your birthday?’

  Sarah took another sip of wine. ‘A lot of things happened on my birthday.’

  ‘Go on.’

  Sarah took a deep breath. ‘Remember Tom from when we were kids?’

  ‘Tom? Tom Ford? Yeah. His house burned down and he moved away.’

  ‘You don’t remember what happened when we went to investigate the remains of his burnt-out house?’

  ‘Yeah. There were a couple of psychos there who tried to kidnap us but this policewoman in a wedding dress showed up and arrested them.’

  ‘They weren’t psychos, they were vampires.’

  ‘They were not vampires, Sarah.’

  ‘You saw them fly just like I did, Hal.’

  ‘That was just my imagination. My mum told me I was just remembering it wrong.’

  She could hear the anger rising in his voice but she pushed on. ‘Why would a policewoman be wearing a wedding dress?’

  ‘I don’t know! Maybe she was getting married when the call came in.’

  ‘What, they didn’t give her the day off for her wedding?’

  ‘Maybe she was undercover, then.’

  ‘Yeah, that could be it. You can’t get any more inconspicuous than a wedding dress.’

  ‘All right then, your explanation is better. Fucking vampires! Jesus Christ, Sarah. Most of us stopped believing in those stories in primary school.’

  ‘Why do you think there are so many stories about vampires in this area?’

  ‘Because they’re real?’ he said sarcastically.

  ‘That’s right. They are.’ Sarah took a bigger drink from her glass. ‘A few weeks ago I got a message through my Facebook account… from Tom.’

  Hal got to his feet. ‘I fuckin’ knew it. I knew you were cheating on me!’

  ‘I haven’t been cheating on you. We haven’t even met face to face yet. We’ve just been talking online.’

  Hal was breathing hard. He threw his beer bottle across the room and it smashed against the far wall. ‘Son of a bitch!’

  ‘Maybe I should go.’ Sarah started to get up, but Hal put a hand on her shoulder.

  He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. ‘No. Wait. Please.’ Sarah sat down again. Hal walked back to his side of the circle and dropped down onto the cushions. He grabbed himself another beer and drank half of it in one gulp. ‘I always knew you had a crush on him when we were kids. I was relieved as hell when he moved away.’

  She was about to say that it wasn’t anything to do with attraction; it was purely business, but she knew that was a lie. She had been thrilled when Tom contacted her. He was able to explain a lot of things to her. He was able to warn her what was going to happen after she turned eighteen. ‘We haven’t even discussed anything like that. I don’t know even know if he thinks about me that way. I have no idea what he looks like these days or what sort of person he is. He might be gay.’

  Hal gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Like I could be that lucky.’ Hal finished the bottle in his hand and opened another. ‘Where’s he been all these years?’

  ‘He didn’t say. We talked mostly about… vampire stuff. He’s part of it.’

  ‘Part of what?’

  ‘Something… it’s hard to explain. Something’s going to happen soon. There’s this prophecy and he’s a part of it and he thinks I’m a part of it too.’

  ‘And how do you know he’s not yanking your chain? Didn’t Tom’s dad write books or something? Maybe he’s following in his old man’s footsteps and this is all some story he working on.’

  ‘It’s true. I’ve seen a vampire.’ She took a gulp of wine. ‘I’ve killed one.’

  Hal sat forward and whispered, ‘You killed somebody?’

  ‘Not somebody, something.’ She took another sip of wine and a deep breath. ‘Tom told me some things his mum had told him, about my father.’

  ‘I thought your dad was killed in Iraq?’

  ‘That’s what my mum told me. And I believed her until a few months ago. Until Tom told me the truth. Looking back I should have realised. For months before my eighteenth birthday my mum and my Uncle Derek were always arguing about something. I only ever caught bits of what they were saying, but after Tom’s email…’

  ‘What did happen on your birthday? We were supposed to go out that night but you called me and said you were sick.’

  ‘I had a vision. Weirdest damn thing that ever happened to me.’ She took another couple of sips of wine. ‘I saw these two girls being killed on a beach by a vampire. I got in my mum’s car and took off towards Castlerock to save them.’

  ‘How did you know what beach it was?’

  ‘The vision, it was… it’s hard to explain. It’s not like watching a TV show. There’s more. It’s almost like joining the person you’re seeing. Being inside their mind. I knew everything these girls knew. From boys they fancied to their favourite song, to their shoe size. Even
though the vision only lasted a few seconds, I had all this information, including where they were.’

  ‘Did you take a weapon with you?’

  ‘No. When I got there I saw the girls in the distance on the beach and I could feel something close. I could sense danger. My heart was beating so fast. And then I was running. Almost like I wasn’t in control – a passenger in my own body. I intercepted the vampire before he got to the girls. We fought. I was so strong and I knew how to fight.’ She laughed. ‘I knocked seven types of shit out of him!’ She gulped the rest of her wine and Hal refilled her glass. ‘I finished him off with a piece of driftwood I found on the beach. Rammed it straight through his chest and out the other side. He shrivelled into a skeleton in seconds.’

  Hal finished his beer and cracked open another. ‘What did you do with the body?’

  ‘Someone had left the embers of a fire burning on the beach. I found some more wood and stoked it up again. Then I burned him.’ She took a sip of her wine. ‘Do you believe me, Hal?’ He remained silent. ‘I need you to believe me. This is really important. When Tom comes back we’re going to need all the…’

  ‘When’s he coming back?’

  ‘Tomorrow. The dates of this prophecy aren’t that accurate since they were written thousands of years ago, but he says all this stuff is supposed to happen after the third moon and before the fourth.’ Sarah’s brow furrowed.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘That’s what you called it; the third moon. Why did you put it that way?’

  Hal glared at her but didn’t answer. ‘What exactly did Tom tell you about your father?’

  Sarah felt dizzy. She had been drinking the wine too quickly. ‘He told me… he told me that my father was a vampire. With a vampire father and a human mother, I would be a natural warrior against the undead. I’m a…’ Hal nodded slowly, urging her to continue. Sarah suddenly felt scared. Something wasn’t right here. She got to her feet and swayed as dizziness hit her like waves.