‘Yes, I made sure I spoke to Stuart and not to Keith though.’
‘You never usually see them together do you?' asked Tony.
‘Are you saying they are the same person, Tony,’ Wee Renee said, ‘I never considered that possibility.’
‘No. I’m just saying you never see them together, Wee Renee,’ Tony replied bemused. Laura laughed.
‘You are right, Tony, you don’t. But tonight I have. I don’t think they are friends usually. I know Keith better than Stuart, and I would say in all honesty, who would want to be friends with Keith, if you didn’t have to. But one thing was, the look on Keith and Stuart’s face, it gave me the willies. I thought Keith said he was ill and wasn't at work. Well he is obviously one of them, isn’t he?’ Laura rambled on. ’He can forget saying he is ill now. He has been lying to you, Ernie. The worst thing is, Stuart looked exactly the same as him. They were pale and looked like they were on an angry mission. It also explains why I haven’t heard anything back from Stuart about Teresa going missing.’
‘I think there is a strong possibility, that we will have bugger all help from the police then,' said Ernie matter-of-factly.
‘What were they doing?’ asked Gary.
‘They were walking into the park. I had just come past the gates to the park and know that there is a gang of teenagers having a snowball fight.’
‘God help them,' said Gary, ‘Let's get going, Ernie. Push on up. The quicker we start, the quicker we will be finished and further away from them two.'
They started trudging upwards. The non-players knocked on the doors. The band would stop every so often and play a carol. First came Good King Wenceslas, next O’ Come All Ye Faithful. They would rotate their way through the Christmas Carol book. All the way around each one picking their favourite or doing requests. If a person would make a request, they would generally get themselves outside with their family, and stand next to the band to listen and give a little applause after.
This happened less tonight. And what was also apparent was that on a standard caroling night, they would get someone not answering their door, maybe one in every ten doors. Today was quite different, as only about one out of ten doors actually opened. Some people's houses looked dark. Other villagers looked through the windows, shut their curtains and would not answer the door. Previous to this, they knew that they never had this many people not wanting to part with their cash. There was always the odd one every year, usually the same culprits, they found. But as there were so many tonight who would not open their doors, they thought that they were not the only ones who were cottoning on to the goings on in Friarmere.
As they walked around they chatted about this, the cold, and Christmas.
‘What about this concert? Do you think we should cancel it?’ asked Gary.
‘There’s not a cat in hell's chance of that, Gary,’ Pat said, ‘you know Ernie never cancels a concert. He never misses a chance to make cash for the band.’
‘You are right there. It’s not getting cancelled. I am sure everything will be tickety-boo by then,’ said Ernie to Pat.
Stuart and Keith had been busy in the park. Of course they knew that when they walked in through the gates, that the kids would start throwing snowballs at them and this would give them ample opportunity to vent their anger out on the teenagers. During what looked like the defence of their honour, Keith was far more vicious than Stuart. This really was an attack on the teenagers, not as the boys knew it. It was amazing how hard you could hit a body with a ball of snow. It helped that there was a stone inside each snowball. Their eyes were made for the game, as there was no lighting in the park. They both thoroughly enjoyed it and had a wild old time there. Those lads would be telling no tales on them.
Stuart and Keith had been given a mission tonight. They knew from the weather reports and from The Master that an enormous amount of snow was coming tomorrow at some point. So what they had to do, needed to be done before that. They were to go to the top of the Moors in their police car with a bag of tools including wire cutters. The Master had given them specific technical instructions on how to take out the mobile phone masts. This was the most important action of any vampire that night and Norman had entrusted it to these two policemen. By all accounts tomorrow, they would have to do it by foot with no transport, if they waited. The snow would put pay to the roads and also maybe to the train lines. But they had instructions for that too.
Wee Renee's house was small and cosy, but as she would say, just enough for her wee soul. When they entered tonight, the usual smells of lavender, bleach and herbs, had been overtaken by the smell of mulled wine and mince pies. Everyone had a bit of a shock as they walked into her living room when they saw that one wall had been taken over by some kind of a CSI police crime board.
‘Wee Renee! I’m impressed!’ exclaimed Gary.
‘Aye, I’ve been busy,' she said gleefully and winked at him.
They all walked up to it and started reading all the pieces of paper that she had printed off about vampires or missing animals and things going on in the village. There were lengths of red wool pinned between each one, going this way and that. On the small amount of wall that was left by the window, there was a map covered in pins. Around the pins there were three pieces of red tinsel that Wee Renee had pinned into a triangle shape. There was a note and arrow to the tinsel triangle which said ‘very important.’
‘What’s this tinsel triangle?’ Gary said, pointed and tapping the wall.
‘It signifies the Melden Triangle.’ She replied in awe.
‘What?’ Ernie asked.
‘You’ve heard of the Bermuda Triangle haven’t you?’ They all nodded. ‘Aye, well this is the same thing. The Melden Triangle. All the weird happenings have occurred in that triangle. Not just over the past couple of weeks but for years. People going missing, never to be seen again, the wolves, wee faeries sighted and strange lights up above. You can see it cuts into the top of Friarmere, at its highest point, and covers Melden and Moorston. That’s why I didn’t do the band job at The Grange. That is situated within the Triangle.’
‘There are a lot of pins in that triangle, Wee Renee.’ Tony said frowning.
‘Aye, there is, and that’s why I didn’t go. I was right not to wasn’t I?’
‘You can’t argue with that. Everyone check out the map.’ Ernie said.
When they turned around to the other wall, they noticed the prolific amount of crosses, she had put up. She saw the looks on their faces and said
‘My theory is don't die of ignorance. This is the central hub of all the information we have gathered. They would love to get in here and know how much we are tracking them. I have tried to find out as much as I can about vampires too. We don't want to go about this unprepared.’ Lynn was reading some of the printouts that Wee Renee had pinned up. Renee had highlighted, what Lynn thought, were all the gruesome bits and the ways to kill them. She was still not ready to accept the reality and her palms were sweating. She was in shock at the horror of it. Lynn seemed to not be able to breathe, all of sudden feeling hot inside, with her coat on. She pulled away at her coat and her vision was getting blurred. Pat was laughing.
‘You've never mentioned that you had been up to this, Rene,’ Pat said in between laughs.
‘Ernie, I feel a bit faint,’ Lynn said quietly and flopped down in the chair.
‘It might have been the walk around in the cold,’ said Laura, concerned.
‘It’s more likely this room and it's hitting her square on. You know Lynn can’t even look at blood or have an injection,' Gary said. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. They thought it was the shock of Wee Renee’s CSI room as well. Ernie was not in a panic and told them she often went like this. He went into the kitchen and came back with one of Wee Renee’s tea towels. Laura noticed it was a souvenir one from Gretna Green, and started wafting it over Lynn's face. Lynn sat there, dazily, her curls wafting this way and that. She was obviously used to this treatment.
<
br /> ‘Carry on regardless,’ Ernie said. He stopped, looked at the tea towel, read it, then said, ‘Very nice.’ He continued wafting.
Wee Renee carried on relaying what she had found out about the area. Apparently a bag of cats' heads had been found, which they all had rather not known about, particularly Sue. Ernie carried on talking loudly and wafting and then laid the tea towel down over Lynn’s face. She seemed quite happy to sit with it like that.
‘Me and Rene have been thinking that it is not safe to sleep on your own anymore,’ Pat said.
‘Now that is what I am talking about, right up my alley,’ said Gary with a cheeky grin, ‘I think I'm going to like this next bit.’
‘No you dirty bugger.’ Pat laughed throatily. ‘What I meant to say was we need to be stopping in groups. Taking it in turns at each others' houses or something, but we don't want to be picked off one by one.’
‘I am sorry about that,’ said Lynn said, taking the tea towel off her face. ‘Wee Renee, I know you have put out the mulled wine but actually, after all this, I think I would like to have a nice cup of tea.’ Everyone agreed.
‘That’s no problem. I’ll soon sup all the mulled wine in a day or so. I might even cook a brisket in it,’ she said happily. ‘I’ll go and put the kettle on. Then I’ll get out a scrapbook I’ve made up of pictures I’ve found. I’ve got a picture of that bag, and the bits of sheep. All important evidence. You know. And just a few wee ideas for killing them. Beheadings and stuff. Does everyone want tea, or do some want coffee?’ They looked up at her with wide eyes, swallowing in dry throats.
‘I hope you are all hungry.’ She got up and started to walk into the kitchen. ‘I’ve made five dozen mince pies!’ Lynn put the tea towel back over her face.
Sandra was sitting outside Tracy's house that evening in her car and she knew that Simon was inside. He said he had been going out on a caroling job but she knew he hadn't, as she had seen the band out caroling and he wasn’t with them. He didn’t realise that she would be going out tonight and would discover another lie he had told. She had been watching him closely, especially since her unexpected meeting with Keith. He hadn’t even bothered to take his instrument out with him. That is how careless he was getting. It was about nine-thirty when Simon left Tracy’s house. Shutting the front door like it was his own and parading down the front path, smirking. She would wipe that off his face, he could be sure of that. He threw up his car keys and whistled catching them, without a care in the world. Once he had driven off, Sandra quickly got out and went up the path to Tracy's front door. She could still smell Simon here and that made her even more determined to make him pay. She rang the bell and heard Tracy’s feet on the laminate floor.
‘What have you forgotten now?’ Tracy shouted from inside, giggling as she swung the door open to Sandra. She looked so shocked and it was obvious she didn’t know who Sandra was.
‘Oh, hello. Can I help you?’ Tracy asked.
‘He hasn't forgotten anything. Only neglecting to tell you that he is married.’ Tracy stood with her mouth open, a blush instantly rising to her cheeks. ‘Should I come in and we’ll talk about this?’ Tracy was still shocked, then seemed to hear Sandra’s words.
‘Yes, yes of course.’ She stood aside, pushed the front door open and in came Sandra. No more words were said as Sandra strangled them off with her bite.
Stuart and Keith got to work in more ways than one. Silent and contemptuously, they worked together. It was a lot easier than they imagined. By midnight, when the snow started to fall again, Friarmere was cut off from the world.
That night, the villagers of Friarmere lay warm in their beds and the snow began to blanket them. For some of them, this would be the last night they would ever see. In silence and muted glory, Christine prowled the streets, hungry. She walks like a queen. A queen of the snow and the dark, in her red lipstick and her red dress, snow sticking to it, up to her knees. She looks for food. She looks for love. She finds neither – there is no trace of her after. A dark cloud passing through the streets one by one. If she finds you, she will eat you.
18 - Cats
Mark had been told to carry on with his job of delivering milk, as it was the ideal job for scouting out new victims, for himself or The Master. The Master counted on the villagers having a false sense of security, just before dawn. They had slept, had their night terrors, made it through the night and now it was morning and everything was safe until tonight.
After last night Lynn Cooper had had very little sleep. She had given up trying at four am and had come downstairs to watch a cookery show she had recorded. She got up off the sofa when she heard the milk float coming down the lane. Maybe it would be the last time she would get a delivery for a while, as the snow was getting thicker. She often went to say hello to Mark, if she was awake. She thought it must be a very lonely job he had. He always seemed glad to see her too, and gave her a friendly smile. Lynn thought she needed it this morning after all the happenings of the last few days. Normality. When she knew that it was the ten-piece band that were coming down with the mystery illness, she was so happy that he had not visited The Grange that night. He was one of her favourite members of the band.
She heard him stop and heard his feet crunch on the snow, milk bottles clinking. She opened the door. Wow, that is cold, she thought.
‘Morning, Mark,’ she said cheerfully. He was very surprised to see the warm invitation from Lynn.
‘Could I have a word, Lynn?’ he said in the darkness. Which was even darker as they had a carport, which made it exceptionally black, cutting out a lot of the street light. She could imagine what this was about, and opened the door for him. He came in slowly, his eyes quickly checking around the kitchen and into the living room. She looked alone. Lynn shut the door behind him. Shutting the cold morning out. Trying to recover some heat, she pulled her dressing gown closer round herself.
‘Are you well?’ she asked.
‘I feel exceptionally well.’ He turned towards her and their eyes met. She was instantly lost. She was peaceful and she never felt a thing as he turned her into one of The Master's own.
When Ernie got up two hours later, Lynn was dressed and sitting with the curtains closed saying she still had a headache. She had a load of washing on, including her nightwear that she said she had sweated through. He never had one moments doubt about it.
‘What’s for breakfast?’ he asked.
This is how Friarmere woke up that morning. The snow was deep and getting thicker all the time, soft and silent large flakes came down, cycling and whirling to the ground. The trees bent lower with the weight of this beauty. Inches upon inches of it fell as the hours went by.
You could not tell where Friarmere ended or begun. There was no definition between roads, pavements, gardens and houses. From above it was a large white mottled area. Nothing moved. There were no cars out and about, no buses. No more food would get delivered, only what was already stuck in the shops. No more trains. Friarmere would have to look after itself. The villagers were quite used to times like this and so often had freezers full of food. Long life milk and bread. They had experienced snow like this before, and were prepared. However this time, the people of Friarmere felt scared and isolated. It was not because of the snow. Many of them knew, or suspected, that they were being picked off. No-one would help them. They knew that some of their neighbours were not answering, or could not answer their doors. How many people were lying behind those doors and closed curtains, dead. Or maybe worse. They did not want to call on neighbours, in case that person was lying in wait for them. Then they would also be the ones not answering their doors. Their natural impulses caused made them hide away. Hide from the unknown and threatening. You could not fight what you could not see. So hide, until everything is back to normal. Some houses were empty because other people had come to the realisation about all this early and had got out to stay with relatives in the pretence of an early Christmas break, or shopping.
The sky was
dark, even in the day. The large flakes blocking out the light, the snowflakes themselves came out of angry grey clouds. This weather had played into The Master's hands. His new children of Friarmere were watching their next or first victims from deep inside the shadows of their houses. How absolutely wonderful.
It snowed all day. As the afternoon starts to turn into evening, the villagers’ fear increased along with the dark shadows. As night falls, the snow also still falls, covering all footprints. There is no sign of the prowling death in this virgin snow. There is no outward sign that anything is wrong in Friarmere. It is not for anyone to know. It is a secret.
Keith and Stuart were had an important job to do for The Master. They were to visit Tony, Sue and Bob. The two of them had done a good job the previous night and The Master thought that they made the ideal predators. Keith’s ferocity and Stuart’s control being their assets. They walked up the road to Sue and Tony’s house, in silence and anticipation.
Sue and Tony's cats were not impressed with the snow. Needless to say, Sue was horrified when she had heard about the cats heads in the bag. She hadn’t looked at the picture. When she got back she was pleased to see that they were safe and she was determined that they were going to stay that way. She was only letting them out for a very brief moment to go outside if they wanted to, then she was calling them in straight away. Most of the time they were happy to use the litter tray, as they were all not fond of four cold paws. Tonight though, it was as if they knew that their owners were under attack, as they had run off from Sue and had hidden themselves underneath the shrubs at the front of the house.
As the two men stepped onto the property, the cats revealed themselves. They were close to the ground, growling, spitting and hissing at the two vampires. They stepped back, for a moment shocked, at the suddenness of the attack. However, three cats were not a problem to them. Keith reached forward towards the first one, but just then a slight movement caught his eye. He had noticed the old lady that lived next door to Sue and Tony. The two vampires had been distracted by the cats and had not heard her door open. She was just staring at the two men who stood on the drive of her neighbours house. The bags of rubbish in her hands that she was taking to the bin, dropped.
Sticky Valves: Book 1 of the Saddleworth Vampire Series Page 15
