by Tim O'Rourke
“No more!” she screamed.
Flitting all around him, her delicate and fragile looking wings humming up and down, she struck out at him, a diagonal gash appearing across his face. Wiping the blood away with the back of his hand, his eyes shone black with hate for her. Launching himself from the floor, he smashed into her, sending her spinning across the room. Again she crashed into the wall, lumps of plaster spraying up from all around her. But this time, she looked dazed and stunned. Seizing his chance, he was upon her. Taking her head in his bulky hands, he twisted it sharply to the right.
“Sorry, mother,” he said, which was followed by a cracking sound. She fell limp in his arms, her neck broken as easily as a stick of chalk.
Letting her drop to the floor as if she had meant nothing to him, Roland got up. Turning to face me he smiled, and said, “Where were we? Oh yes, I remember,” and he threw himself at me. Crashing to the floor, Roland sat on top of me, his colossal weight, squeezing the air from my lungs.
“Don’t kill me,” I gasped, looking into his bloated face. “I don’t want to kill you, Kiera,” he said. “You’re far too precious for that.” “What do you mean?” I croaked. “You really have no idea, do you?” he said. “Didn’t your mother tell you anything?” “About what?” I mumbled beneath him, the last of the air leaving my lungs. Everything around me started to turn black and I fought to stay conscious. Just as I was about to pass out, the bedroom window exploded inwards in a shower of broken glass. I looked up in time to see Luke perched on the window ledge like a giant bird of prey.
“Get off her,” Luke said, and I had never heard such anger in his voice before.
Glancing back over his shoulder, Roland said, “If I were you, I’d disappear back into The Hollows, boy. After all, that’s what you’re best at.”
Without asking him a second time, Luke reached out with one hand, gripped the back of Roland’s neck, and tossed him across the room as if he were nothing more than a paper kite. At once, I could breathe again and I sucked in deep lungfuls of air. Sitting up, I watched Roland crash through the wall that separated the bedroom and the bathroom. The wall crumpled into a pile of brick and plaster onto the threadbare carpet, and the ceiling above it sagged inwards as if it was going to collapse. Within seconds, Roland had sprung back into the room, brandishing his teeth.
Leaping from the window ledge, Luke snarled back and slammed into Roland. They locked arms, and threw each other back and forth across the room. Like wild animals they snapped at one other, their fangs ripping and tearing at each other’s flesh. Scrambling out of their way, I huddled myself into the far corner of the room. Roland ducked under Luke’s arm as he swung for him. Then with both hands, he thrust out at Luke, sending him crashing through the doorway into the hall outside. The door came away from its frame in an explosion of jagged splinters. Brushing himself off, Luke got up and raced back into the room. Jumping into the air, he shoulder-barged into Roland’s chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him smashing through the window from which he had come. Pouncing onto the window ledge, Luke peered out into the dark.
Scrambling from the corner, I ran towards Luke. “Can you see him?” I asked.
Without answering me, Luke curled his arm around my waist and said, “Hold tight!”
Within moments, we were high above The Ragged Cove again, the howling wind and swirling snow all around us. Wrapping my bathrobe around me, I wished I’d had time to change. I looked at Luke’s face and it was a mask of grim determination, as we flew upwards. Looking down, I saw Roland racing after us, his wings folded by his sides to give him greater propulsion.
“He’s right behind us!” I shouted.
Tucking me beneath him, and arching his wings, Luke thrust forward. And then that sound came again – the thunderclap – which I’d heard so often before.
“What is that noise?” I asked, terrified of its deafening rumble and the vibrations it sent through me.
“It’s a sonic boom,” he shouted back.
A sonic boom? I asked myself. Could we really be travelling so fast?
Banking hard to the right, I clung to Luke, my arms and legs wrapped around him, as we dived away from Roland and out to sea. Then plummeting down, we rushed towards the black heaving waves of the ocean. Racing just feet from its surface, sea water sprayed out behind us like the waves caused by a speedboat, soaking my bathrobe and hair. Glancing back over my shoulder, I could see that Roland was just feet away from us. He snatched at the air, trying to take hold of me, but Luke twisted and rolled to the left and headed back towards land. Within seconds, jagged cliff faces were sweeping towards us. Believing that we didn’t have enough time to change direction, I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth, readying myself for the impact. But it never came. Opening my eyes, I could see the jagged cliff face as were soared vertically up it.
Swooping over the top of it, I could see the burning steeple of St. Mary’s in the distance. It was at least three or four miles away, but we were soaring above it in just seconds. We shot into the smoke and came to a sudden stop. The smoke was so thick and dark that I couldn’t see more than a foot or two ahead of me. It was hot and choking. It filled my nose and made my eyes sting and water.
“Why have we stopped?” I sputtered.
“Shhh!” Luke hissed, looking quickly from left to right. “Here he comes,” he said. Roland appeared in the smoke ahead of us, and he just seemed to hover.
“Give me the girl,” he said, “and this will all be over.”
“You want her?” Luke roared. “Come and get her!” Then he let go of me.
Screaming, I dropped like deadweight through the blistering hot smoke. “Luke!” I cried, unable to believe that he had let go of me. Looking down, I could see the seething flames of the burning steeple racing towards me. Glancing up one last time in the hope that it had been a mistake and I would see Luke coming to my rescue, all I saw was the gleaming yellow fangs of Roland as he lunged for me. Hoping that the flames would take me before he did, I closed my eyes and felt myself being suddenly yanked sideways, away from the fire. Snapping open my eyes, I was staring into the face of Luke. He kissed me, then threw me away like a rag doll.
“Catch her!” he roared, as Potter appeared from nowhere and caught hold of me.
Glancing back, I briefly saw the look of horror on Roland’s face as he realised how he had been tricked. Having me snatched from his clutches at the very last moment, he had no time to slow his descent and he shot into the seething flames like a bullet. But to my horror, he grabbed hold of Luke and pulled him down into the raging inferno with him.
“No!” I screamed, kicking against Potter.
Holding me tight, Potter plunged towards the graveyard. Setting me down, I looked at him and shouted, “You’ve got to save Luke!” But he didn’t seem to be listening to me. Instead he was looking up at the top of the burning steeple. With tears flowing down my cheeks, I followed his stare to see Roland shoot from the flames high above us. His wings glowed orange with fire and he spun over and over in the air as the flames consumed him. From the ground, I could hear his agonising shrieks, as he fought to put himself out. He fluttered left and right, until he finally fell still and dropped out of the sky like a blazing meteorite.
Pulling my robe about me against the freezing cold, I took hold of Potter’s arm and shook it. I looked into his eyes and pleaded with him. “You’ve got to save Luke. He’s in there!”
Then looking back at me, Potter said, “For someone who doesn’t get excited, you’re doing a pretty good impression.” Stunned by what he’d said, I shook him again and screamed, “That’s your friend in there!” Popping a cigarette between his lips, he smiled at me and said, “Easy tiger, we’ve got everything under control.” “Who’s we?” I asked as Potter pointed over my shoulder. Spinning round, I saw Murphy sweep from the burning doorway of the church, carrying Luke in his arms. Racing towards me, Murphy landed and gently laid Luke in the snow at my feet. His wings were folded
over him like a blanket. Tendrils of smoke rose from them as they smouldered.
“Will he be okay?” I asked Murphy.
“I don’t know,” he said, staring down at his friend. “I was in there as soon as I saw him fall into the flames. But the smoke and heat were so intense; it was hard to see him.”
Kneeling down, I gently peeled back the edge of Luke’s wings so I could look at him. His face was black with smoke and soot. With my lower lip trembling and tears running down my cheeks, I brushed his thick hair from his brow and kissed him.
“Wake up!” I pleaded with him.
Nothing.
“Please Luke,” I sobbed. “You can’t stand me up like this. We were meant to be having a date tonight, remember? I’m out here in the cold with nothing on except my bathrobe, my hair’s a mess and my feet are freezing. Just take me home so I can get ready, okay?”
Nothing.
Then looking up at Murphy and Potter, I pleaded with them, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” and for just the briefest of moments, I was sure I saw a flicker of concern in Potter’s eyes.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Murphy said, and squeezed my shoulder with his hand.
Knocking it away not wanting to be comforted by him, I lent over Luke and hugged him, my body shuddering with grief. Kissing him, my tears fell onto his blistered face. Then, planting the softest of kisses on his beautiful mouth, I whispered, “I love you.”
“I know,” he whispered back, the faintest of smiles tugging at his lips.
Chapter Twenty-Three
We never did get to spend that night together. Luke was seriously injured and close to death. Murphy said that he would only heal if Luke were taken back down into The Hollows. So carrying him in his arms, Murphy flew him back to the station. Potter took me, and for once, there were no wisecracks or cocky remarks. Stopping to collect my belongings from the Inn, Potter was silent, almost sombre. While I changed out of my bathrobe and into some warm clothes, Potter took the body of the old woman and placed her in the fire that was still raging at St. Mary’s church.
By the time Potter had returned, I’d gathered together all of my belongings and it was like I’d never been there. Sweeping up into the night, Potter raced us back to the station.
Luke had been laid on a cot in one of the cells, and I found Murphy leaning over him.
“Is he okay?” I asked, stepping into the cell.
“For now,” he said, turning to look at me. “But we need to get him underground soon.”
Moving towards the cot, I knelt down beside it. Luke was pale all over, blisters covered his face, and it looked raw in places. His wings had folded away, and he lay with his hands across his chest. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up. “I’ll leave you with him, while me and Potter clear this place out,” Murphy said.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Are you all going back?”
“Our work is done here,” he said. “It’s time that we moved on. Taylor and Phillips, if still alive, are dangerous. They will go someplace else – another town or city and start all over.”
“But -” I started.
“There can be no buts, Kiera. We have to go after them. Taylor and any others that join him can’t be reasoned with and they can’t be cured now that they’ve fed off humans. Like Rom, the only way of putting an end to this is…well you know the rest,” he said, turning away. Then at the door, he turned to me and said, “You’ve got five minutes to say your goodbyes.” Then he was gone, shouting orders at Potter to destroy any evidence that they had ever been at the station.
Turning back to Luke, I stroked his hair from his brow and kissed him. With a flutter of his eyelids, he opened his eyes and looked at me. He half-smiled and said my name.
“Shhh,” I told him.
“Kiera,” he said again. “I’ve got to go back,” he whispered.
“I know,” I told him. “I’ll wait here for you.”
Then momentarily closing his eyes in pain, he opened them again and said, “I won’t be coming back here. When I’m better, I’ll be going with Murphy and Potter to track down the others.”
“Where will you go?” I asked him, scared at the prospect of never seeing him again.
“Wherever they go, so will we, until it’s over,” he whispered. “I don’t know how long that will take or where it will lead us.”
Tears fell onto my cheeks, and raising an unsteady hand he wiped them away. Then taking my hand in his, Luke said, “Come with us. You’re a great investigator and you can see things that we can’t. You could help us.”
All of my instincts urged me to agree – to say yes. Not to help hunt Taylor and Phillips – but so I could be with Luke and not to be parted from him. The thought of not being with him, not to ever be held by him again scared me more than any vampire.
Leaning in close, and kissing him on the mouth, I whispered, “No.”
“No?” he said, looking confused and hurt.
“However much I want to come with you – to be with you Luke, I can’t,” I told him, my heart aching as I said those words.
“Why?”
“I have a promise to keep,” I said, thinking of my father.
“To who?” he asked, closing his eyes again.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. Then picturing Henry Blake’s tiny dead hand clutching those hairs, I added, “I need to find my mother.”
“But she could be dead,” Luke said, his eyes still closed as if trying to control the pain that he was in.
“I don’t think she is,” I told him.
“But how can you be sure?”
“It was something I saw,” I whispered.
Murphy appeared in the cell doorway. “It’s time,” he said, coming over and scooping Luke up into his arms. He carried him out into the corridor and I followed. The hatch was open, and the filing cabinets, lockers and desk drawers lay open and empty.
“Where’s Potter?” I asked.
“He had to do one last thing before he could leave,” Murphy said, glancing back over his shoulder at me. Then laying Luke on the floor by the open grate, he looked at me and said, “Take good care of yourself, Constable Hudson. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” Then taking me by surprise, he threw his arms around me and held me tight. I hugged him back.
“None of you are real cops, are you?” I asked him.
“Not the way you think,” he whispered in my ear. “But in The Hollows we are – kind of. We want to stop the bad guys just like you do.”
Letting go of me, he pulled his pipe from his back pocket and popped the end of it between his lips. Then patting down his pockets, in search of his matches, he said, “Where has Potter gone to? We should be gone already.”
“Stop panicking, sarge,” someone said, and I looked up to see Potter coming down the corridor from the direction of the police station door. Shaking snow from his hair and bare shoulders, he shuddered, but not with the cold, it was his wings folding away.
Murphy climbed into the hole. Then holding out his hands, he said to Potter, “Pass Luke down to me.”
I watched as Potter scooped Luke up and lowered him into the hole. With my heart feeling like it was being crushed in my chest, Luke opened his eyes and looked back at me. “I love you,” he said.
“I know,” I smiled, and he was gone.
Potter climbed into the hole.
“What about me?” I said.
“What about you?” he asked, looking back at me.
“How do I get out of this town? The phones don’t work, my car is stuck up that road and -”
Cutting over me, Potter said, “That’s your problem, Hudson. You figure it out.” Pulling the grate closed over him, he swung it shut. Then poking his hand up through the grating, he locked it with the padlock, taking the key with him.
Standing over the grate and looking down, I could hear a rumbling sound as the walls of the tunnel collapsed, hiding any evidence that it had ever been there.
&n
bsp; Turning away, I walked back into the office, picking up knocked-over chairs and straightening disarranged cabinets and drawers. With no idea as to what to do next, I knew that until the weather changed, I was trapped in The Ragged Cove. Crossing to the window, I looked up into the dawn sky and to my relief I could see that the snow had stopped falling at last. Then I saw something that raised my hopes even more. Rushing from the police station, I went to my battered old Mini which now sat by the curb. Who had brought it here for me? I wondered. Then spying a folded piece of paper tucked beneath one of the wipers, I reached for it. Pulling it free, I unfolded the piece of paper and read what had been scribbled on it.
You really need to get yourself a new car – this is a piece of junk! Potter
Smiling to myself, I screwed up the piece of paper and went back into the station, locking the door behind me.
Vampire Wake!
Book Two in The Kiera Hudson Series
Available Now
Also by Tim O’Rourke
‘Vampire Wake’ (Kiera Hudson Series Book Two)
‘Black Hill Farm’ (Book One)
‘Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary’ (Book Two)
Doorways (Book One)
About the Author:
Working away in the dead of night, Tim has written many short stories, plays and novels. His most recent book 'Vampire Wake' (book two in the Kiera Hudson series) is now available. Tim is also the author of the paranormal romance series entitled 'Black Hill Farm' and ‘Doorways’ – A book of Vampires, Werewolves & Black Magic.
Tim's interests other than writing, include watching South Park, Vampire Diaries, True Blood and listening to Pitbull, LMFAO, Jennifer Lopez, David Guetta, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Adele. Tim is never happier than when reading The Twilight Series, Vampire Diaries and writing his own Vampire series “Vampire Shift.”
Don't be shy; feel free to contact Tim at [email protected] - Tim would love to hear from you.
To contact Tim:
Email: [email protected]
