Hell And High Water

by Angela Blythe

  ’It’s about what you’ve let yourself in for, now that you’ve been stationed here,’ Gary said. ‘This might be too hard for someone as level-headed as you to believe, but last year we actually had Vampires here. That time when the Village was cut off and people went missing.’

  ‘They didn’t get frozen or starve if that’s what you’ve heard. They were eaten,’ Pat said.

  ‘Or turned into bloodsuckers themselves,’ Wee Renee explained.

  ‘Me and Rene had a particularly bad time of it because The Head Vampire, Norman Morgan wanted us. He wanted us very badly … sexually. I suppose it’s only natural,’ Pat informed him.

  ‘No one could help us, and so we got rid of them all. By we, I mean Friarmere Band, with some help from the people of Moorston and Melden. We killed all the baddies - us! Can you believe that? Then we had another occurrence of craziness in the spring, something totally different. We had to sort that ourselves too,’ Wee Renee stated bravely.

  Martyn didn’t say anything to this, which worried them. They walked a few steps further.

  ’The thing is,’ Wee Renee said, ‘so many supernatural occurrence’s go on here. We couldn’t trust the Police before because they were part of it, but now we trust you. We are letting you know, just so that you can keep yourself out of danger really and also because … that Wedding next week … well, that’s how we met Miles. He was part of it. He was what you might call a vigilante. We all were then. We had to be to survive, love.’

  ’If you need any more details, we can tell you,’ Pat said. ‘Just expect the unexpected, and if you do hear something that doesn’t run with normal Police business, you can tell us, and we’ll deal with it so you don’t have to.’

  They expected Martyn to be quite shocked about this, but he didn’t look it. His expression was blank, and he continued to listen, but not speak.

  ‘What do you think?’ Jackie asked. ‘It was a shock for me when I first found out. I heard about it when I moved in with Pat in the Spring, and I’ve ended up experiencing quite a lot of strange things since then. There is no doubt about it. We aren’t kidding you, Martyn.’

  From anyone else, Martyn would have thought this was a joke. He had known these people for a few months, and considered all of them trustworthy, truthful and honourable, but it was a hard story to swallow. In the whole scheme of things, it made sense, and it was the only explanation for certain questionable evidence in Police files. He decided to believe them for now. He would need to see how it all tied in. Revisit the files that had been locked away.

  ’I knew there was a lot of talk about mystery and cover-ups surrounding this area,’ Martyn said. ‘Before I came here though, I thought it was just idle gossip. It did seem strange that there weren’t any local volunteers and two Police Officers from so far away had ended up here. Apart from everything you have told me, this should be the ideal place to be stationed. A dream posting. I think we must have been the only two people who didn’t know about Friarmere!’

  ‘I could tell you were a sharp one,’ Gary said.

  ‘As for what you have seen before, I don’t know any details of that, and I’ve not read anything specifically about Vampires in the Police files. I can tell you that whole portions are missing from some reports of that winter,’ Martyn advised them.

  ‘That doesn’t surprise me. There were no Police here for weeks. Not live ones. Who would have written it? Only we know. Afterwards, the Police weren’t interested in what we said. Not one knock came at my door,’ Pat grunted.

  ‘I’m sorry about that Pat. Rest assured, I have seen strange things myself in London, so I’m quite open-minded. I know there is more in Heaven and Earth than meets the eye. Thank you for telling me and trusting me,’ Martyn said.

  ‘You have shown us you are a good man. We may need your services at some point. Although I hope that we don’t,’ Wee Renee said.

  ‘Am I allowed to tell Officer Silverwood about this?’ Martyn asked.

  The three friends hadn’t bargained on him asking this and didn’t have an answer immediately.

  ‘Is she as trustworthy as you, Martyn?’ Pat asked.

  ‘I trust her very much. She is a good friend, and nothing is too much trouble for her. I believe Officer Silverwood has Friarmere’s interests at heart. I wouldn’t like her to run into danger if I had information that could have saved her,’ Martyn said.

  ‘Then tell her. But advise her to not tell anyone else outside of the community. Nearly everyone in the Village knows half the story, but only we know all of it,’ Wee Renee said.

  6 Cry

  Alan waited until Jim had a pint in his hands before he brought up the subject that he had got Jim there to discuss.

  Jim was saying how much he liked the Band and how he thought different sections were great and that the Band Room was brilliant. Alan nodded at all the right points and smiled. Mostly Alan’s mind was on breaking the bad news to him. Jim sounded excited, and Alan was pleased to hear this. There was a natural break as Jim took a drink of his pint and Alan decided that this was the right time.

  ’Listen Jim, I’ve kind of got you here under false pretences,’ Alan said.

  ’What you mean?’ Jim asked. ‘About Band? I’ve not been sacked already have I?’

  ’No, not at all. The thing is I’ve got to tell you some plain facts. Dark ones. About this place you're moored in,’ Alan said.

  ’What?’ Jim asked, starting to get worried. ‘Alan, you are giving me a bad feeling. Tell me quick. You’ve made my stress levels go through the roof!’

  ’Right I’ll just say it then,’ Alan said. ‘Last year before I took over the Band … in that house, which is now the Bandroom, there lived an evil man. And guess what? He was a Vampire as well. A real blood-sucking vampire, Jim. A dead man, who walked and talked. He infected loads of people. Killed some, turned others into vampires too. Made them do his bidding. He even had his own Vampire Brass Band. For weeks he ruled Friarmere. The few normal people that were left hid!’ Alan said.

  Jim’s mouth dropped open, the pint still six inches in front of his mouth. He dry swallowed.

  ’Alan, are you drunk?’ Jim asked.

  ’Far from it Jim, if only it were that easy. In fact, I wish I was drunk, so this story might come out easier. I was told the same thing when I joined and honestly, I thought what a load of bloody rubbish. I probably felt like you do now. But I’ve found out, that every word is true, no question about it. In the Spring, while I’ve been here, even more strange stuff has happened, and we’ve had to deal with it, no one else!’ Alan said.

  ’Does everyone know about this?’ Jim asked.

  ’Everyone has been involved apart from Martyn. He hasn’t been living here long, and he’s going to get told tonight as well as you. The thing is, we’ve had a good spell and good spells don’t last long. We’ve got that Wedding in Moorston too,’ Alan said.

  ’Oh yes, Miles. I know him from another band. He’s invited me and Jue,’ Jim informed Alan.

  ‘Okay. Well, stuff went on there that is really bad apparently, and there are still some critters in Moorston knocking about. You two had better watch your p’s and q’s Jim,’ Alan said.

  ’But … wait … they got rid of the one in The Grange, didn’t they? I thought you said there used to be. He isn’t still up there in his coffin, is he?’ Jim asked.

  ‘One! I told you, there was a whole community of them. They took over the Village! Didn’t you hear me?’ Alan asked him. ‘But yes, that bastard from The Grange got slashed and bled out at the Wildlife Centre on the High Street.’ Jim puffed his cheeks out, then slowly blew the air out of his mouth. This was a lot to digest.

  ‘They must be a mean motherhumper! Scary,’ Jim mock shivered. ‘Who managed to do that? Do you know who got him?’ Jim asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Alan answered, but didn’t pass on the name.

  ‘Okay. They’re all gone, am I right? There’s nothing left in Friarmere, but there is something in Moorston?’ Jim
asked.

  ’No Jim, you are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. It’s everywhere. There’s always something going on. For instance, you see that seat that you’re sitting on?’ Alan asked.

  Jim quickly looked down at his own bottom, thinking that there would be a Vampire looking up at him. He was pleased to see it was just a wooden bench with a long cushion. The young barmaid saw him do it, and seeing who he was with, knew what the conversation was about. She grinned widely and put both her thumbs up at him.

  ‘For a few years, inside that seat was the skin of a mythical beast. No one knew. I saw it laid out on the tables right here. I even saw its mate, walking tall outside the Bandroom! There was an ancient sacrificial knife buried up at the Primary School, and I tell you, there is some weird stuff stored upstairs at The Grange.’ Alan said. Jim looked back at him, his eyes round and watery.

  ‘As for Moorston, if you want to know. Hundreds of Vampires and Werewolves and stuff got killed there, and apparently there are still loads of ghosts drifting around,’ Alan said, shrugging.

  ’And Miles wants his Wedding there?’ Jim asked in amazement.

  ’They live amongst them, Jim. Some are their mates, and it just seems natural for them. But as I say … don’t think that it is exclusive to Moorston. There’s here, the stuff in Melden and the places in between, the Moors. There’s this kind of weird triangle thing. You ask that woman who plays front row cornet, Wee Renee. She’s the authority about it all,’ Alan said.

  ’The authority?’ Jim asked.

  ‘Yes. And she’s the one who bled that Vampire out at the Wildlife Centre!’ Alan told him.

  ‘That little woman with the long white plait, Wee Renee? Are we talking about the same person?’ Jim asked.

  ‘Yes. What do you think about that?’ Alan asked. Jim was flabbergasted. He didn’t know what to think.

  ‘Can I tell Jue about all this Alan? Or is it a secret? Band members only and such?’ Jim asked.

  ’I would say,’ Alan said, solemnly, ‘that her survival depends on it, Jim.’

  Later that evening, Bob’s friend Callum was looking at the progress of his river eggs and noting how much they had grown.

  In her house, Wee Renee sat sewing the sequins onto a white jumpsuit. At another location in the Village, Gary was trying out his idea of making a crocodile out of egg boxes. In the Police Station, Martyn was speaking to Ivy.

  ‘Listen, I have been told something tonight that you need to know.’ Martyn began.

  ‘Official business?’ Ivy asked.

  ‘No. Stuff I’ve been told at Band. I haven’t been asked to keep it a secret, so I won’t. Not from you anyway,’ he continued. ‘But you can’t tell anyone else.’

  ‘Go on, I’m interested,’ Ivy said.

  ‘I don’t have details. I have been told if I want them, I can have them. The story seems improbable, but it fits in with what we read … in the black files. You know,’ Martyn said.

  ‘Oh them. The ones that only told half a story. They were weird. We knew they were fishy, didn’t we? Tell me what you have found out,’ Ivy said.

  ‘I just had a quick look at the files but what the Band said, filled in the gaps, it made sense of all of it. The blood, the bodies found, the known vigilantes unprosecuted, the orphaned children. It’s all true Ivy!

  ‘What’s true?’ Ivy asked.

  ‘Horrors beyond normal Police duties, that’s what. Vampires and monsters everywhere! I don’t know what we’ve landed ourselves with!’ Martyn shook his head in despair. ‘It sounds like we’d be safer on the streets of San Francisco!’

  Julia was on the narrowboat, sitting snugly on the bed reading a book. It was an exciting murder mystery, but sometimes she wondered whether it was wise to read it when Jim was out. Every noise she heard made her think that there was a psycho outside with an axe.

  Tonight she didn’t hear anything like a psycho, it was more like a crying baby. Julia knew that sometimes the only thing that would get a baby to sleep was to push it in its pram. Some poor woman must be at her wit's end and dreadfully tired, pushing that baby around the Park at this time of night. Its poor screaming voice carried over the stillness and the water. There seemed to be a single set of cries, then it stopped. The pram trick had either worked, or they had moved out of range.

  An hour later Julia heard precisely the same cry again. Now she wondered whether it was really a baby. Perhaps it was a cat. It was a funny old cry that was for certain.

  She waited, but again it didn’t happen a second time. Julia put down her book, opened the curtain and looked out of the window. There was nothing to be seen outside. It was dark and foggy. It didn’t help that the narrowboat was nowhere near any streetlights or headlights from the road. She hoped Jim would be back soon.

  Julia had just settled back down and opened her book when she heard the cry again. It seemed much closer and clearer. It was unlikely to have come from the Park through the fog now. The sound seemed to be the same pattern of cries repeated.

  Julia felt that she had been wrong. She picked up a torch and went out onto the deck of the boat. Julia pointed the beam towards the Park but could see nothing. The light was reflecting back at her in the fog. The fog seemed to be pulsing too, behind the torch beam.

  She listened again. All that she could hear was her blood pumping in her ears and the occasional wet slap of the water against the boat and the canal side. Julia was happy to rescue a baby if it had been abandoned, but something told her that this wasn’t a baby crying. A long-lost primordial sense told her that this was something to be scared of.

  She retreated back into the safety of the narrowboat and shut the door. The River Spirit watched her and didn’t cry again. He knew what was in there now.

  7 Knitting Needle

  Jim had been on guard since early that morning. He was listening for any noises that would alert him to the return of the frogman wanting to get an irresistible sneaky peak of Jim and Julia.

  Today wasn’t foggy at all. As soon as Jim was awake, which was well before dawn, he put a coat on over his pyjamas and sat in his chair on the deck of the boat. He drank his coffee in silence, waiting to catch any intruders.

  Julia woke to find her husband missing, and as he didn’t return after a few minutes, she knew he wasn’t just on the toilet. She took a quick peek out of the curtains and there he was, a man defending his castle. Jim looked like he was enjoying himself, so Julia decided not to disturb him and went back to bed.

  Jim was watching the canal like a hawk, his head moving from left to right. He was paying particular attention to the end where the frogman had mysteriously disappeared. He was not going to get past Jim this time.

  It took a while for him to notice the woman. At first, he didn’t know what to make of it. He had never seen a person on that little patch of land in the river.

  Perhaps she had been there a while, and he had only noticed her. It was strange for her to be on there only just after light. Jim was new to the Village; it could be the case that people got on there quite often. But he couldn’t understand how she had got there. Jim knew there wasn’t any other way apart from swimming. There was no boat, raft or stepping stones. It looked to be quite deep in the middle. She must be cold. What was she getting out of it?

  From here, he could see she was wearing a greyish green outfit that seemed to cover her body up to the neck. It looked quite shiny and shimmery in the morning light, but the sun wasn’t fully out yet, so he couldn’t pick out all the details. It must be one of those modern wetsuits, Jim thought. She had long hair, reddish-brown in colour and from here she looked quite attractive and as if she had a good figure.

  She seemed to be sitting on the island with her legs curled underneath her. Her auburn tresses were blowing dry in the slight wind. Her mouth was open, and it looked like she was singing, as he thought he could see her throat moving, but he couldn’t hear her voice.

  He wondered now, if he had been here in the Summer, he might have seen som
e women sunbathing on there. Bikini-clad and golden. That would have been all right, as long as Julia hadn’t seen him watching them. Sunglasses would have to be utilised.

  He supposed when you were on the island, you might feel like you were miles away from anyone. The sound of water and the hot sun and no one to bother you. A tiny holiday from the horrors of Friarmere.

  The woman didn’t seem to have noticed him, or if she had, she wasn’t letting on. He watched for a while longer and then realised he had taken his eye off the ball and imagined that there was a big black frogman on the end of his boat peering in at Julia, in a state of indiscretion. His head snapped to the right, but the boat was empty.

  Julia came out and asked if he wanted another coffee or if he was going to give up on the mornings watch.