The Vexation of Vampires (Penny White Book 5)

by Chrys Cymri

  ‘But there’s a reason why it’s called the United Kingdom--’

  ‘And I don’t want to have anything to do with them anyway. Why should I? My colony abandoned me when I was pup. Dragons attacked the colony after a feeding raid, and killed a lot of vampires. So I was left to die, just because there wasn’t another Grey in the colony to take me in.’ Her voice sounded close to breaking. ‘The Winnowing Tree, they called it. Because the weak were sorted out from the strong. Only the strong could survive until they could either feed themselves or someone found them and took them in. And that’s what nearly happened to me. I nearly died at that tree.’

  ‘But you were adopted,’ I said softly, desperately trying to remember the names of the elf couple.

  ‘The only one who was,’ she snapped. ‘There were three of us, three of us who didn’t have kin or blood type to take us in. “Don’t leave the Tree,” we were told. “Stay with the Tree. That’s the only way someone will find you.” Well, Elphrick crawled away, and died in a ditch. Monarth tried to fly, but her wings weren’t strong enough, so she fell back down and hit the ground hard. Too hard. So there was only me, only me when Cynwrig came.’

  ‘He sounds like a good man.’

  ‘They all fed me.’ I passed a tissue over, and Skylar paused to blow her nose. ‘From their own blood. My mam and tad, and my brothers. They’re my people. Not any colony. Not vampires. Elves are my people.’

  ‘So don’t help them because they’re vampires,’ I said. ‘Help them because they need help. Because they have children who might get hurt. What would’ve happened if Cynwrig had left you at that tree? Skylar, they need to know that England isn’t the paradise they’re looking for.’

  ‘Of course England is.’ Skylar brushed away her tears and glared at me. ‘What makes you think it isn’t?’

  ‘I’ve shown you around the parish,’ I reminded her. ‘The food banks, the families who rely on free school meals, the homeless, the lack of social housing--’

  ‘Exactly. Your country is full of people who care about those sorts of things. What do we have in Lloegyr? Every species only looks out for themselves. And Cadw ar Wahân attacks anyone who dares to date outside their own species. Britain isn’t perfect. But, for many people in Lloegyr, and for any vampire colony, this is paradise. No one will attack them here. They’ll be safe. Their pups will be safe.’

  ‘You visited Caer-grawnt,’ I said. ‘You saw for yourself that different races can come together.’

  ‘The exception.’

  ‘Or maybe the future?’ I leaned forward. ‘Prejudice still exists on Earth, based on stupid things like skin colour, or your accent, or if you’re attracted to people of the same sex. But we’re getting better at that. When I was in Caer-grawnt, I saw what could be. That’s what Lloegyr could become. But people have to want it, and they have to work for it.’

  Skylar gave me a stiff nod. ‘Okay, maybe it’ll happen one day. But I’m not counting on it. And I’m not going.’

  ‘That’s where the Church can help,’ I said quietly. ‘In St Wulfram’s, we have people who rent council houses sitting in pews next to people who own a mansion. We have different skin colours and sexual orientations. When the Church is working at her best, she breaks down barriers. That’s what I hope for the Church of England. It’s what I hope for with your own Church, Eglwys Loegyr.’

  Skylar’s eyes slid from mine. ‘I’m not sure Bishop Aeron sees it that way. Or the senior staff.’

  ‘Then maybe someone needs to tell them.’ I glanced down at my mug. ‘Another cup of tea?’

  ‘Whisky?’

  I glanced at the wall clock. ‘Why not. Be careful, though. They say a curate always picks up the bad habits of her training incumbent.’

  ‘I’d be very happy with that.’

  And I busied myself with the liquor cabinet, not quite sure how to respond.

  <><><><><><>

  Saturday morning passed in an agonised blur of waiting. I actually found myself searching eBay for watches which a dragon could wear. Waterproof, shock proof, with a strap at least two feet long. The latter always stumped me.

  Raven landed in the garden just after 2pm. I shoved my feet into hiking boots, grabbed my coat, and hurried outside. Morey and the dragon were discussing the weather as I came to their side. For a moment I simply stared at them, wondering when they’d both become so British.

  ‘No Skylar?’ Morey asked me as I prepared to climb up Raven’s side.

  ‘No Skylar,’ I said. ‘She doesn’t see this as having anything to do with her.’

  Raven snorted. ‘So we could all say.’

  No sign of any neighbours as I swung myself into place between his spines. ‘We could. But we’re not.’

  Morey peered down at the dragon from his own place on the scaly neck. ‘Black and I are going out of Christian compassion and duty. What about you?’

  ‘Penny cares,’ Raven answered. ‘And therefore so do I.’

  We were thrust backwards as he leapt into the sky, cutting off any response I might have made.

  Raven took us through several crossings, following connections which only he could sense. I was pleased to be wearing my jacket as we ducked briefly through rain, and when we flew for several minutes over a snowy landscape. A prolonged glide over a desert, however, left me sweating by the time we cut back through to cooler Lloegyr.

  The timber and brick buildings of Llanbedr stretched out below us. A heddlu dragon came alongside us, and she and Raven swapped gossip and good-natured insults for several wingbeats.

  Then we continued alone to the edge of the city. A river formed a natural barrier between the last of the buildings and the flat meadowland on the other side. The colony was setting up camp on the grass near the riverbank. I glanced down at the flowing water which the vampires had yet to cross.

  To my great relief, Raven landed well away from the huddle of not-weres. I dropped to the soft ground, and Morey hopped onto my right shoulder.

  ‘Warm sun,’ Raven said approvingly as he lifted his snout and shut his eyes. ‘Take your time, benevolent Penny. I’m in no rush to return to those damp cloisters.’

  I set off towards the tents. The warm smell of roasting meat made Morey protest. ‘Not everyone prefers their meals to be live and kicking,’ I reminded him. ‘Perhaps not even your own son.’

  ‘Carrots,’ the gryphon muttered. ‘Cabbages.’

  Nods and smiles greeted me as I entered the camp. Several children ran over, and I had to pause to let them hug my legs. By the time I came to Elthan’s tent, the news of my arrival had already reached him. ‘And another visit from you,’ he said, steam curling from the mug in his hand. ‘Come and celebrate with us, Penny. As you can see, we be near to our goal. By this time on the morrow, we come to enter your own blessed country.’

  ‘“This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,”’ Morey quoted in my ear.

  Geffrai came out of the tent and handed me a mug of my own. The thick red liquid smelled of wine and cinnamon. ‘Thank you,’ I said, wondering how I might be able to dispose of it without causing offence. I wanted to keep a clear head. ‘But I’ve come to warn you, Magister. Your colony won’t be allowed to enter Llanbedr.’

  ‘We be told that Llanbedr bars no one,’ Geffrai retorted. ‘Why be we any different?’

  ‘It’s not because you want to enter the city,’ Morey said. ‘It’s because you want to cross over to England.’

  ‘I’ve tried to talk to my government,’ I added. ‘But they’re worried that we already have enough challenges in our own country. They don’t feel they can take on a vampire colony as well.’

  Elthan looked away. There were new stains in his black waistcoat, and some of the intricate stitching had become undone. ‘We hoped to enter openly, and so to be welcomed. We will instead enter by darkness, and we will hide.’

  I bit my lip. ‘You’ll be stopped.’

  ‘There be nothing for us here.’ There was a deep weariness
in his voice. Geffrai reached out and put an arm around the older man’s shoulders. ‘So we must try.’

  ‘And it be only a river,’ Geffrai added. ‘Shallow from this bank. We will cross over at nightfall.’

  Morey straightened, his claws digging deeper into my shoulder. ‘Raven’s coming.’

  Tent flaps rattled as the dragon pulled up into a hover over our heads. His head darted around, but there wasn’t enough room for him to land. So he called down, ‘There’s activity on the opposite bank. I can see metal, and a number of heddlu.’

  ‘I’ll go with him to have a look,’ Morey said, spreading his wings. I caught a flash of envy in the vampires’ eyes as the gryphon joined the dragon. Maybe, once they had found a new home, they’d be able to return to a diet which allowed them to fly? If they ever found a new home. And a willing source of blood.

  ‘Let’s see for ourselves what be planned,’ Elthan said grimly. To my relief, he held out his hand for my mug, and I was able to pass it back over. The drinks were deposited inside the tent, and then we headed towards the river.

  Raven circled high above, unchallenged by the people on the ground. I searched for Morey’s much smaller figure, and finally located him standing near a purple heddlu dragon. The elves were driving tall metal poles into the ground. Dragons flew from the city, balls of wire gleaming in their claws. The scene looked familiar, as if I’d seen it before. Then I realised I had, but only on a television screen.

  ‘What be they doing?’ Geffrai asked as the elves began to unwind smooth wire and weave it around the poles.

  ‘They’re setting up a fence.’ I pointed at the second wave of balls, hanging from ropes several feet below the dragons’ chests. ‘That’s razor wire. Once that’s in place, no one will be able to get through.’

  Elthan shook his head. ‘I be unawares that dwarves had such fine metalsmithing’

  ‘I don’t think it was made on your world,’ I said grimly. ‘I’m pretty sure it comes from mine.’

  Morey gave the purple dragon a final nod and darted back across the river. ‘They’re going to put a barrier up all along this stretch,’ he puffed after landing on my shoulder. ‘Their orders are to stop any of you getting through.’

  ‘Very good of them,’ I said. ‘To tell you so much about their plans.’

  ‘Their captain wanted me to tell you. She hopes it’ll convince the colony to turn back.’

  ‘Turn back where?’ Geffrai snapped. ‘There be nowhere for us.’

  ‘I put that to her,’ Morey said. ‘She was sympathetic, but she has her orders. No one from your colony will be allowed to enter the city.’

  ‘We be needing a council,’ Elthan told the younger vampire. ‘Call all the colony together.’

  Geffrai jogged away, the magister following at a more sedate pace. I hesitated, wondering what to do next. Go with them? Return home? The vampires no longer needed my warning. The magister had seen with his own eyes how unwelcome they were.

  Morey leapt off my shoulder. I tipped my head back, puzzled as he made several sweeping circles above the meadow. Then he landed on a nearby rock, and I wandered over. ‘Morey? Are you okay?’

  ‘This is all wrong,’ he said furiously. His back was arched and his tail curled and uncurled behind him. ‘We’ve never had barriers up in Lloegyr before. Never. There were territories, and borders, but never this. This is all your fault.’

  ‘Really? How?’

  ‘Who sent that fence over?’ He stabbed his beak at me. ‘Who gave the heddlu the idea in the first place? Someone from Earth. Must have been.’

  I took a deep breath. One of us had to keep calm. ‘And now it’s all my fault, because I can control what every human decides to do? I had no idea of the extent of my superpowers. Thanks for pointing that out to me.’

  Morey cocked his head. Then his tailed slowed. ‘Okay. Yes. You have a point.’

  ‘As do you.’ I looked back across the river. The fence was quickly taking shape. ‘I wonder how much of this was arranged by Sue Harkness. Could the colony just try to cross further down the river?’

  ‘This is the only safe place for several miles,’ Morey said. ‘By the time the camp moved on, no doubt the heddlu would as well.’

  ‘The gryphon is right.’ Raven’s voice made me jump. I hadn’t seen the dragon land. ‘The only way they can reach the cathedral is to fly.’

  ‘And none of the adults can do that. At least not at the moment.’ I rubbed my forehead. ‘Let’s go back to the camp and see if they’ve come up with any ideas.’

  ‘I’ll stay here,’ Raven said. ‘Keep my eyes and ears on the heddlu.’

  Raised voices drew us to the far edge of the camp. My steps slowed as we left the tents behind. The not-weres stood in a huddle near the magister. I counted at least twenty of the human-faced horses. Several had hands instead of hooves, and one looked like a man who had been clothed in hide rather than skin. He shuffled on hands and knees to one side of the group.

  The vampire currently addressing the colony was doing so in Welsh. Her accent was broader than I was used to, and I turned to Morey for help. The gryphon fluffed his feathers. ‘She’s saying that leaving here isn’t an option. It’s England or die.’

  ‘That seems a bit over the top.’

  ‘They’re very tired.’ Morey pointed his beak at the children gathered around the speaker. ‘Do you think they can really bear to go on? And to what? Lloegyr is changing. And they haven’t found how to live within that change.’

  ‘I should have brought Clyde,’ I said miserably. ‘He could have made a crossing. Why didn’t I think of that earlier?’

  ‘You could always try now.’

  I pressed through the tangle of vampires, many deep in their own conversations. When I reached Elthan’s side, I waved my hands and called out in Welsh, ‘Everyone, please! Stop! I have a solution!’

  Vampires and not-weres turned to face me. I cleared my throat and quickly worked through my Welsh. ‘I know of a way to make a new crossing. You won’t have to go into Llanbedr.’

  ‘Really?’ Elthan asked. ‘How?’

  ‘It’s a bit complicated,’ I said slowly. It still seemed best to keep Clyde’s ability a secret. ‘I’d have to leave you and come back. I won’t be that long--’

  ‘No.’ Geffrai glared at me, then swept his gaze around the gathering. ‘She said it herself, those fences are not from our own world. How do we know she hasn’t been telling her own people about us? Maybe the barrier’s been erected at her advice. We can’t trust her!’

  ‘Now, now, Geffrai,’ Elthan said in English. ‘That be somewhat hasty. Penny has been naught but friendly to us all. I cannot think she be deliberately ‘gainst us now.’

  ‘I’m not,’ I protested, stress causing me to revert to English as well. ‘I would never deliberately work against you.’

  ‘Deliberate or not, this be where we now are,’ Geffrai retorted. ‘And I say this be where we cross. And we go now.’

  ‘Don’t be hasty,’ Morey warned. ‘You need time to think this over, to plan--’

  ‘Feed your pups,’ Elthan commanded. ‘Gather only what you need. And then we go to the river.’

  ‘This is not going to end well,’ I told Morey as the vampires hurried away.

  ‘I’ll go to Bishop Aeron,’ Morey said. ‘The Church does have some influence in Llanbedr. Maybe I can convince the senior staff that the Church needs to talk to the heddlu.’

  He took off, leaving me alone with the not-weres. I swallowed my near-revulsion, and forced myself to speak to them, picking my way carefully in Welsh. ‘And what will you do, when the vampires have left?’

  ‘There’s no bar to our entry,’ said one nearby mare. ‘When they’re gone, we will find our way to St Raphael’s.’

  ‘We’ll be welcome,’ said a colt. ‘But the vampires, where can they go?’As I turned away to head back into the camp, I could only wish that I had the answer to that vexing question.

  Chapter Twenty-Four


  Pups flew past as I strode back to the magister’s tent. A number of them were heading towards the not-weres, and I found myself torn. Should I be offering my own blood? I didn’t know how much a vampire needed for a full meal, but no doubt I could at least help out a few. However, the very idea made my skin prickle, and I knew there was no way I could bring myself to volunteer. So my feet dragged as I approached Elthan. I was no better than all the others who had turned their backs on the vampires.

  ‘Sun be lowering,’ Elthan said to me as I stopped beside him. ‘That be good for us.’

  I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

  Geffrai came out of the tent, a rucksack in each hand. ‘Essentials,’ he told Elthan. ‘And the letherum?’

  ‘Leave it. The not-weres will soon be free of us. And then they can find their healing.’

  The two men shouldered their packs and started walking. As they moved through the camp, the other vampires joined them. Their faces were all turned eastwards, to the river and the city beyond. And I kept pace with the magister, although I felt my spirits dropping further with every step.

  Late afternoon sun touched the bright colours of the meadow flowers, flickered in the slow-moving water, and danced around the cruel edges of the razor-wire. I felt the long grasses catch around my boots as we continued our relentless march to the natural and artificial barriers.

  An elf climbed into the saddle of the purple dragon, and she flew across the river to circle over us. ‘You cannot pass,’ the elf shouted down at us. ‘We have orders to stop you.’

  ‘Please don't try,’ the dragon added in Welsh. ‘If you try to cross the river, we will stop you.’

  ‘Think of your families,’ the elf urged.

  The dragon circled once more, her eyes sweeping our group. ‘Think of your children!’ Then they crossed back over to re-join the other heddlu.

  A much smaller form dropped out of the sky. I braced myself as Morey landed heavily on my shoulder. ‘And?’