by Helen Harper
‘She’s not dead, Stephen.’
He stares at me balefully. ‘She may as well be.’
I have nothing to say to that, nothing that wouldn’t sound trite. Somehow I don’t think Medici will be jumping on the ‘fledglings flying the Family coop early’ bandwagon.
‘If you want to take anything with you, I can help you pack,’ I offer.
‘No. I need to start afresh.’ He picks the glass out of the frame, removes the photo and places it in his wallet. It’s too big to fit; it’ll be creased and ruined but I don’t stop him. ‘I’ll just keep this,’ he says. ‘A reminder.’
‘Why did you do it?’
‘What?’
‘Betray Arzo like that. He was your best friend.’
‘He was a naïve fool.’ Templeton’s tone is so dismissive it takes my breath away. I’d like to think that his callousness is the result of his grief but, sadly, I know it’s not true.
‘Come on,’ I say finally, desperate to get away from here. ‘I’ll give you a lift back to the hotel.’
‘No. I’ll drive myself.’
I don’t argue. We walk outside. Templeton lifts up the garage door. I shake my head: he should have learned to lock up by now. I cross the street, get onto my bike and start the engine. From inside the garage, I can hear Templeton revving his car. I guess it’s been dormant for too long as he seems to be having some trouble. The engine turns over several times.
I’m about to take off when my eyes drift down the quiet suburban street. There’s a gleaming black car parked not too far away. The driver gets out and opens the passenger door. The moment I recognise Cheung’s face, I realise what’s going on.
Dropping the bike, I run towards the garage, shouting at Templeton to stop. I’m still several metres away when there’s an explosion and I’m thrown back by a wall of intense heat. My eyes are streaming. I scramble to my feet, using my arm to shield my exposed face. There are distressed shouts and calls as people are jolted awake in the neighbouring houses. An alarm shrieks. Templeton’s garage is ablaze, flames starkly silhouetted against the dark night sky and billows of dirty smoke streaking away in every direction.
I can’t watch.
Cheung strides towards me. ‘I must thank you, Ms Blackman. Were it not for your visit, the accountant would probably have got away with it. You encouraged me to look a little closer.’ He shrugs. ‘I suppose that’s what I get for out-sourcing.’
He pats me on the shoulder and turns back to his car. As he climbs inside and the chauffeur drives off, I think that it doesn’t matter who you are or what ethnicity or triber faction you hail from: every group has its monsters. We might kid ourselves and think we’re better, that our group is ethically and morally superior to everyone else, but there will always be daemons or witches or vampires or humans who seek to unbalance the blade. Mother is right.
I watch the flames for another moment or two and wonder whether Dahlia will be informed. Then I zip up my jacket, pick up my bike and accelerate away.
* * *
It’s quiet when I pull up outside Crossbones. There’s a light drizzle, as if to tell me that I’ll never venture anywhere near this place without suffering the effects of English weather. The walls and rusty gates are shrouded in a thin mist and I feel like I’m walking onto the set of a music video. Except I doubt that Maisie knows what a video is.
When I turn off the bike’s engine, she’s already there, waiting with a lopsided smile. ‘Hey,’ I say awkwardly.
‘Good evening, Bo.’ She dips a curtsey and looks at me curiously. ‘You still walk in the night.’
‘I do.’ I swallow and meet her eyes. ‘I’ve found a cure.’
If she’s surprised, she doesn’t show it. ‘The allure of your new power is too strong.’
I shake my head vehemently. ‘No. It’s not that. There’s trouble,’ I explain. ‘We’re setting up a new agency. It’s going to help the vampires, I mean, the nightwalkers. It’ll help the humans too.’ I think of Templeton’s untimely end. ‘Some of them, anyway. It’s going to change things. Big things. I need to stay like this. To make it work.’ I trip over my words; my staccato sentences sound thoroughly implausible.
Maisie’s not fooled for a second. She cocks her head knowingly. ‘That’s not the real reason.’
I look away. ‘It’s one of them.’
‘Is he terribly handsome?’
‘Terribly,’ I mutter.
‘Is he good?’
‘I think so.’ My words are almost inaudible.
‘You’re not sure?’
I bite my lip. ‘He’s been good to me.’
‘For some, that would be enough.’
‘Yes,’ I reply softly, ‘for some it would.’
Maisie clasps her hands together and turns, vanishing through the walls. Being made of more solid atoms, I’m forced to take the long way round. She’s still waiting inside, however. We walk down the gravelled path, past the stone circle and Mother’s wraith-like figure. He raises his eyes to mine and I’m sure I see a glimmer of welcome before he turns away. Maisie breaks into a little skip. Her soul may be hundreds of years old but there will always be something of a little girl about her. I smile fondly until it occurs to me I’m being patronising. I’m not here for that.
She turns a corner and gestures towards a rickety wooden bench covered with crude graffiti. I trace over the sharp edges of a name.
‘He was a sad man,’ Maisie tells me.
I glance at the letters. ‘Boomer?’
‘I don’t know his name.’
I forget that she’s illiterate. ‘I can teach you if you like.’ I make the offer tentatively. I don’t want to belabour the fact that my life in the twenty-first century is worlds away from hers.
Her face, however, breaks into a radiant smile. ‘Really?’
I grin, relieved. ‘Really.’ I point to the first letter. ‘This is a B.’
‘B,’ she whispers. ‘Like b for blood.’
‘Yes. Like b for blood.’ I think for a minute. ‘Or beauty.’
Maisie’s eyes light up. ‘Beginning?’
I lift my face up to the drizzle and gaze at the velvet black night and twinkling diamond stars. And I smile.
Press Release
We are proud to announce the opening today of New Order, a special venture to improve relations between vampires and humans. Any human who has a grievance against a vampire can be assured that their complaint will be dealt with swiftly and with the utmost professionalism. Every issue brought to our attention will be thoroughly examined and investigated by our dedicated team of vampires and humans. We will work together to provide you with the answers you seek.
Headed by former MI7 intelligence chief, Arbuthnot Blackman, New Order is striving to create a better world whereby tribers and humans can live together in harmony. We will meet the demands of the new millennium and create a more positive future for us all.
Thank you for reading New Order. It’s been a genuine joy to create and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about Bo as much as I have writing about her. If you liked the book, or even if you didn’t, I’ll be extraordinarily grateful if you left your thoughts and opinions with Amazon. There will be more Bo Blackman adventures to come!
Best wishes,
Helen x
About the author
Helen Harper is an English teacher currently living abroad in Malaysia. As a long time reader of urban fantasy, she finally bit the bullet and began to develop her own series of novels.
Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland. "I always loved the escapism provided by those genres," states Helen. "No matter how bad life gets, you can always find a route out, even if only temporarily, in the pages of a good book."
The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her - the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own.
/> Other titles by Helen Harper
The Bo Blackman series
- Dire Straits
The Blood Destiny series
- Bloodfire
- Bloodmagic
- Bloodrage
- Blood Politics
- Bloodlust
The Olympiana series
- Eros
Chapter One: Fingertips & Frolics
Chapter Two: Rooftops
Chapter Three: Friends and Foes
Chapter Four: Trauma
Chapter Five: Crime Scene
Chapter Six: Paying for it
Chapter Seven: Reality TV
Chapter Eight: Poker Face
Chapter Nine: Mother
Chapter Ten: Streets of Fire
Chapter Eleven: X
Chapter Twelve: Playing with Fire
Chapter Thirteen: Fingertip’s Deid
Chapter Fourteen: Playing Dirty
Chapter Fifteen: Cuffed
Chapter Sixteen: Tattoo Tales
Chapter Seventeen: Life and Death
Chapter Eighteen: Rivers of Blood
Chapter Nineteen: Epiphany
Chapter Twenty: Plant
Epilogue
