by Mia James
There were indulgent smiles from the table and Dr Tame sat forward.
‘There will be no war, April, no revolution; there is no army waiting to storm the palace gates. This is a peaceful alliance of like-minded individuals who only wish the nation to benefit from our mutual gifts.’
‘NO!’ shouted April, slamming her hand on the table. Couldn’t they see? ‘You can’t negotiate with them. They will slaughter you like cattle!’
Thomas stood up, raising his hands.
‘I think this seems a good point to call for a break,’ he said. ‘You’ll find drinks laid out in the refectory; we’ll reconvene at –’ he checked the clock above the stage ‘– shall we say eight?’
It was all so genteel, all so polite and calm, as if they were a group of regional sales managers who’d come for a team-building conference, not some of the most powerful figures in the country here to plan the entire destruction of the society they knew. Dr Tame ushered the council through the double doors and closed them behind him, leaving April and her grandfather alone. April looked at Thomas, then moved towards the doors.
‘April, stay. Please.’
‘I’m going to find Gabriel,’ said April. ‘He needs me.’
But Thomas caught her arm. ‘I need you, Prilly,’ he said. Something in the way he said it made April stop.
‘What do you mean, you need me?’
‘I’m dying, April,’ he said.
Despite her anger, April’s heart lurched. At that moment this wasn’t the King Vampire, this was her Gramps, the man who had bounced her on his knee, the solid immovable rock at the centre of her life, the one thing she could always rely on.
‘You’re dying ... What’s wrong, Grampa?’
Thomas gave a sad smile.
‘I am old, darling, worn out. Even purebred vampires age eventually and I am very, very old now. I feel it in my bones. Don’t worry, I have time to do what I set out to do, but I need your help.’
April wanted to throw her arms around her grandfather, to hold him and be held, reassured. But she was still too angry, too confused.
‘Why didn’t you tell me, Gramps?’
‘Your mother. She said I should wait. I wanted to tell you about our family and our legacy – I tried – but Silvia insisted she wanted to raise you as a normal child.’
‘I am – I was – a normal child. Just because you are ...’ she gestured helplessly.
‘A vampire?’ said Thomas. ‘Yes, I am a vampire, April. So is your mother, so are you, April. We have been the royal line for countless centuries ’
‘So all that stuff about the Black Prince? It was true? I thought it was just you trying to make our family look important.’
Thomas chuckled, his back straight with pride.
‘You are a true princess, darling. Some believe we ruled in the dark ages, before even the Mayans and the Aztecs, before the others –’ his mouth curled in unconscious distaste ‘– before they bred their way across Europe like rats. And now it is time for us to return to our rightful position, as Kings and Queens.’
April shook her head. ‘You sound like a mad dictator, Gramps.’
‘There is nothing mad about it, Prilly,’ he countered, bristling. ‘It is pure logic that we should rule. We are superior in every way – stronger, faster, more intelligent.’
‘You might be. I’m one of the cattle, just waiting to be tapped for blood. I’m just one of the Bleeders, remember?’
‘No, Princess, you are not. You are of royal blood, you are exceptional.’
‘Why not mum? She’s a real vampire. Why not put her on the throne?’
‘She turned away from me,’ he said, his anger plain. ‘When I reached out to her, offered her the crown, she rejected me and told me I was crazy. But I always knew you would come to me.’
He put out his hand to stroke April’s hair, but she pushed it away.
‘No, Gramps!’ she said, turning and running towards the hall’s double doors. ‘I don’t want this. I don’t want any of it!’ She had to get out of the hall, out of this trap her grandfather had set for her. She needed to find Gabriel, take his hand in hers and run far, far away – anywhere but here, away from all this craziness. She was twisting the door-handle when Thomas pushed the door shut.
‘Don’t turn your back on me, Prilly,’ he said. It was a threat. ‘I cut your mother off and I can cut you off too.’
April blinked at him, her heart torn. He was her grandfather, her family and he was sick. But she loved Gabriel too and he needed her help right now.
‘I know you need me, Gramps,’ she said, ‘But what about the people who don’t fit into your new world? What about my friends, what about the vampires who don’t want to be part of this?’
‘You mean this boy, Gabriel, don’t you?’
‘Yes! I love him, Gramps. I know you can’t understand that, but I do.’
Thomas’s expression hardened. ‘Forget him, Prilly. He is no good for you.’
April felt a rush of anger. She had been lied to, manipulated and pushed around – and now Gabriel was being ... what? Experimented on? She had no idea what had been going on in the basement, but it had hurt him badly, she could tell that. And no one hurt the man she loved.
‘I will decide who and what is good for me,’ she said, holding Thomas’s gaze. ‘You can forget all about this “Princess April” rubbish until I’m sure he’s all right.’
‘Very well,’ said Thomas. ‘If that’s your decision.’
He stepped into the corridor and April could hear him speaking with Dr Tame.
There was a pause, then the doors opened and Gabriel was brought in, half-supported by the headmaster. Tame dragged him to one of the high-backed chairs and stood back as Gabriel’s head rolled backwards, his eyes fluttering, half open. ‘What have you done to him?’ said April, kneeling down next to her boyfriend, touching his forehead. His skin was burning hot, as if he was gripped by a fever.
‘Tell me!’ she shouted at Tame. ‘What’s wrong with him?’
‘Everything,’ smiled Tame, looking over at Thomas. ‘He is a failure, April. An experiment gone wrong. Gabriel was supposed to be a soldier, but soldiers are supposed to follow orders, aren’t they? Your boyfriend – he wouldn’t follow orders.’
April looked up sharply as her mind joined the dots. This was the final part of the puzzle – of course. Grampa Thomas was the King, Gabriel’s mysterious master, the one who had turned him from lovelorn student into a creature of the night. As the pieces fell into place, it was as if April had been kicked in the stomach. Because if that were true, it meant that Gabriel would never be free.
‘You turned him? You?’
Thomas laughed bitterly. ‘He’s been a thorn in my side ever since. I should have killed him the moment I set eyes on him.’
‘Then why didn’t you?’
‘Because I wanted an army. I planned to create a battalion of perfect killing machines to take this Godforsaken country by force.’
‘You used Gabriel as a ... guinea pig?’
Thomas looked away, as if he was remembering and his voice softened.
‘It was a golden time, Prilly. Science was taming the planet. With electricity, navigation and munitions, Victoria had the greatest Empire the world has ever seen. With the advances in drugs, surgery, even psychology, I knew we had an opportunity to change the course of history, swing the pendulum back our way.’
‘What did you do to him in that basement?’
‘Neuroendocrine disassociation,’ said Tame proudly. ‘I’ve been working on it for some time. We want to get inside the subject’s head, rewire him, take away all fear and remorse. Over the years, your grandfather’s so-called advisers have tried everything: hallucinogens, deep hypnosis – and with the greatest respect, none of them worked. In fact, the earliest experiments were a disaster. They turned Whitechapel into a blood bath.’
‘Whitechapel?’ said April. ‘You mean ... Gabriel was Jack the Ripper?’
&
nbsp; Tame let out a high-pitched giggle. ‘Not quite. Those murders were carried out by other vampires, early prototypes for the army. They were being field-tested if you like. But your friend there, well ...’
‘He tried to make a fool of me!’ snapped Thomas. ‘Some sort of petty revenge for the death of his whore. He killed my soldiers one by one, left the bodies out for everyone to see. That was why I have never let him out of my sight, why I will never let him rest. That is his punishment for defying me.’
‘You call him petty?’ snapped April. ‘You have been holding a grudge for a hundred bloody years just because he wouldn’t do what he said?’
‘I have done worse to people who refused to see my point of view,’ said Thomas, his mouth curled into a sneer.
‘Like my father?’ said April quietly.
It was the one thing she hadn’t allowed herself to think about until now. How could she? It was unthinkable. But then it seemed almost everything that had seemed impossible, grotesque and horrific was coming true tonight. Why not face this one too?
‘Your father?’ For a moment, Thomas’ arrogance seemed to desert him.
‘Yes, my father. William Dunne. The man whose murder you ordered.’
Thomas shook his head. ‘No Princess, I never ordered his death.’
It was April’s turn to sneer. ‘And I suppose you never knew anything about it, either? You’re the King Vampire, who would kill your son-in-law without your say-so?’
‘Believe it or not, I did not send anyone to your house,’ said Thomas.
‘Then why is he dead?’ April held her Grandfather’s gaze, until he finally looked away.
‘Yeah, that’s what I thought,’ said April, turning back to Gabriel.
‘Come on, Gabe, I’m taking you out of here,’ She said, grabbing his shirt and trying to lift him, but it was hopeless, like trying to lift a dead body.
‘Please, Gabe,’ she said, looking into his half-closed eyes. ‘Help me out here. I can’t do it on my own.’
Thomas walked over. ‘Gabriel,’ he said quietly.
Immediately, Gabriel’s eyes opened and he looked towards Thomas.
‘Stand up, Gabriel.’
Gabriel jumped to his feet. April could only stare, her mouth open.
‘Gramps, what are you doing?’ she said, but Thomas ignored her.
‘Now lift your hands.’
Gabriel did as he was told.
‘Now strangle Dr Tame.’
‘What? No!’ said the headmaster, but Gabriel’s hands were already around his neck, his fingers pressing into the pale flesh. Tame’s mouth opened, his tongue protruding and he began to make sharp gagging noises at the back of his throat.
‘Gabriel, stop!’ shouted April. She stepped forward and grabbed his hands, but he was too strong. Tame’s eyes were rolling up in his head now and April turned to Thomas. She had no great love of Ravenwood’s headmaster, but she couldn’t stand by and watch him die.
‘Stop him!’ she shouted at Thomas. ‘I’m warning you, Gramps—’
Thomas’s hand shot out and grabbed April’s arm, twisting.
‘You’re warning me?’ he hissed, pulling her face close to his. ‘You dare to threaten the King? Just like your mother. Neither of you are fit to wear a crown.’
He threw her to the ground and stood over her. ‘Choose,’ he said. His voice was hard, cold. Terrifying.
April looked up at him, her eyes wide. ‘Choose?’
‘Choose between him and me. Between this worthless slave and the glory of ruling over the eternal kingdom. I’ll give you three seconds.’
‘Gramps, no!’ cried April, her heart hammering. He couldn’t be serious, could he?
‘Two ...’
‘PLEASE!’
‘Three. Very well. If you want him, you can have him.’
He turned to Gabriel. Tame’s face was now almost blue.
‘Gabriel, strangle April.’
April barely had time to gasp before Gabriel dropped Tame and switched to her, his hands around her throat, squeezing, crushing, closing her windpipe. Her head began to pound, the blood rushing in her ears. She grasped Gabriel’s wrists, vainly trying to pry them apart, but she was nowhere near strong enough.
‘I’m sorry, Princess,’ said Thomas calmly. ‘I had such high hopes for you.’
‘Stop,’ she croaked. ‘Gabriel ... please. I love ... you.’
For a moment April could see the fog clear from Gabriel’s eyes and his grip released a little. It was as if he were looking at her from a long way away, trying to recognise someone in a vast crowd.
‘April?’ he whispered.
‘Yes! It’s me,’ she said, reaching a hand up towards him.
‘Yes, Gabriel,’ said Thomas, his voice cutting in. ‘It’s April. Now please continue. I turned you, Gabriel, I am your master. Now do as I command and kill her.’
It was like the jaws of a vice locking on her throat. The words she wanted to say were choked, frozen. She could feel the pain in her chest swelling to the size of a fist. Soon it would spread to the rest of her body. And yet still she was staring into Gabriel’s eyes, searching for some sign of recognition, but there was nothing of her boyfriend there, only vampire, pure obedient killer. It’s not your fault, my love, she thought, her head swimming. It’s not you.
With the last of her strength April swung her foot sideways, kicking Gabriel’s knee as hard as she could. With a cry of surprise, his legs buckled and he fell hard on his left side with a sickening crack. April rolled away, rasping air into her screaming lungs, coughing and retching. There was a terrible pain in her chest, but April forced herself to move. She knew she should probably get up and run, but instead she crawled over to Gabriel.
‘Gabe,’ she croaked, cradling his face. ‘It’s April. Don’t you recognise me? Please ... please say yes.’
There were tears running down her face as she looked into his eyes and her heart felt as if it might crack down the middle. If Gabriel had gone, if he had been turned into the killer of his dreams, then she wasn’t sure she wanted to live. For a moment, all hope seemed suspended, then she saw something – a movement, a twinkle deep in his dark eyes.
‘Hey baby,’ he smiled. ‘I think you’ve broken my elbow.’
April didn’t have time to answer. There was a terrible thud and Gabriel flew sideways, out of her grasp. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, as if in the flickering illuminations of a strobe – frozen pictures one after another, the storyboard of a living horror film: she saw her grandfather lifting a chair and the sickening crunch as he brought it down over Gabriel’s skull. She saw the splintered wood and the pool of blood spreading across the floor.
‘No!’ she screamed, snapping back into the present, flying across the room, slamming her grandfather against the wall. Her nails raked against his face, her lips pulled back in a snarl. She looked at Thomas’s throat, exposed only inches from her bared teeth and she knew she could kill him. Just sink her jaws into his neck, then sit back and watch as the poison spread through him, its black tendrils bruising the skin just as it had done with Benjamin and Chessy. It would be so easy, so right. And all this would be over.
‘Do it,’ he hissed.
April looked into her grandfather’s face. ‘Finish it,’ he said. ‘Prove you are strong, Princess. Take my life and lift the crown.’
Suddenly April’s mind was clear. Through all these months of confusion, tragedy and pain she had struggled with herself, wondering who she was, who she could trust, what she wanted – but now she knew. She was April Dunne, and she had a mind of her own. She bent her head and kissed Thomas on the cheek.
‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I will.’
And then she was flying, flung across the hall like a puppet with the strings cut, crashing against the table, sending chairs clattering to the floor.
‘NO!’ roared Thomas. ‘You WILL NOT defy me! I am the KING!’
He reached down and grabbed April by the neck and eff
ortlessly lifted her into the air, throwing her against the stage. The edge slammed into her back and she dropped, groaning, but Thomas picked her up again and pushed her back against the wall. April struggled, but he was so strong. So very strong.
‘Is that the best you can do, Fury?’ he mocked, smiling with pleasure as the shock registered on her face.
‘Oh yes, I knew,’ he crowed. ‘You think I’m that stupid? You think I didn’t know why Silvia ran? A star birthmark behind the ear is a hard thing to hide. I saw it the first time I held you.’
He paused, soaking up her terror, enjoying the impact of his words.
‘Fury,’ he said, his mouth twisting with disgust. ‘Are you really all we have to fear? I thought that you had my blood. I thought we could rule these maggots, enslave them together. But you are weak, just like your father. And that’s why I will kill you too.’
Thomas saw the look of disbelief on April’s face and laughed.
‘You?’ she gasped. ‘You killed my father? But you said…’
‘No April, I said I didn’t order his death. Oh, that one was personal, there was no way I was going to let anyone else have the pleasure.’
‘Pleasure?’ screamed April. ‘He was my dad!’
‘He was not worthy of this family,’ sneered Thomas. ‘Your precious father destroyed my dynasty, weakened my bloodline – and then had the arrogance to believe he could deprive me of my war.’
He moved his face closer to April’s. His face transformed into a hideous mask – the snarling teeth and wrinkled snout of a wolf, the true face of the vampire.
‘He had to die,’ he whispered.
April’s hand lashed out, her nails raking his face. Thomas didn’t seem to feel it. He lifted one finger to the cut and held it up to April.
‘That is what Royal blood looks like, Fury. Take a good look, because it’s the last thing you will see.’
His huge clawed hand reached for her throat and April could only watch as it came towards her. I love you, Gabriel, she thought. Sorry I got us both killed, vaguely wondering if vampires got to go to heaven.
