Her Vampyrrhic Heart (33 page)

They talked about the chairs in the garden. It all stemmed from the time she'd revealed a happy memory of when she was a little girl. His aunt would hold garden parties at the house not far from where she lived. Later, when everyone else had gone home, Nicola would play amongst the chairs on the lawn, pretending to be members of the audience at a fancy music recital.

A flicker of blue in her eyes. A blush of pink in her cheeks.

I'm winning
, he told himself.
I'm bringing Nicola back into the world of the truly
alive.

The cave felt warmer, almost cosily warm. That brown rock, which had seemed so dull and earthy, had acquired a pleasantly golden hue. The colour of deliciously toasted bread. They were safe down here. Nothing could hurt them. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed his back. Here they were: two lovers reunited.

Why the truth had taken so long to strike Tom he didn't know. But as the batteries in the torch started to expire, and its light drew dim, he realized they must have been trapped in the cave for two or three hours. He checked his watch.
Five hours? We've been down in this little hole for five hours!
That was when an alarm inside his head shrieked its warning.
Five hours trapped in a confined space. No access to the outside world. No ventilation.
He rested his fingers against the side of his neck. His pulse raced there – a frantic little motor behind the skin.

Lurching to his feet, he gasped. ‘Don't you feel it?'

‘Feel what?' she smiled.

‘I'm breathing faster … like I've been running. My heart's racing, too.'

‘You ran from Helsvir, remember?'

‘That was five hours ago.' He tried to take a deep breath; it felt as if a leather belt had been tightly buckled around his chest. ‘There's no ventilation down here. We're running out of oxygen.'

She stood up. ‘I never noticed anything wrong.'

‘That's because you don't need oxygen. You don't have to breathe. You're a vampire.' Purple spots bloomed in front of his eyes. ‘That means you're immortal.'

‘Tom?'

‘The irony, huh? We've found each other again … but now I'm going to suffocate.'

‘There must be a way out of here.'

‘Through those tons of rock? Not a chance.'

The tightness in his chest became a vicious pain. His heart thundered as it laboured to drive what little oxygen remained in his bloodstream through his body. A hopeless exercise, because carbon dioxide levels would be building up in this confined space. Tom knew that once the oxygen dipped below a certain level he would effectively drown, even though this was dry land.

‘What a place to die,' he panted. ‘In a ready-made grave.'

‘Stop pacing. Conserve the air.'

‘What's the point? I'd only postpone my death by a few minutes. Dear God … this feels like an elephant's standing on my chest.' He leaned against the rock wall. ‘There's no … no goodness in the air. It's gone bad.' Shadows streamed through his eyes into his brain, shutting everything down, switching off vital organs.

‘Tom, sit down.' She put her arm round his shoulders.

‘I know what'll save me. Make me into a vampire, too!'

‘I can't.'

‘All it takes is for you to bite here.' He pulled his collar away from his neck. ‘Do it.'

‘No.'

‘Don't you see? Once I'm a vampire I won't need to breathe. You'll stop me from suffocating down here.'

‘No!'

‘Nicola, it's the perfect way to save me.'

‘Tom—'

‘Listen. We'll be together. What does it matter if we're trapped down here for a hundred years? We won't age. We can't die. This is perfect!' He cupped his hand behind her head and pulled her face towards his neck. ‘Do it! We'll be the same. Not even death will keep us apart.'

‘Tom, stop it.' She broke away from his grip. ‘Listen to me, Tom, being a vampire is like being an animal. Your memories vanish. You act according to vile instincts. You don't control your life. Are you listening to me?'

He lurched across the cave. Oxygen starvation was killing him. ‘I've got no options, have I? I'm dying.'

‘Being a vampire is worse than death.'

‘Nicola, we'll be together!' He dropped to his knees. A choking sound began in his throat. ‘Make … make me into what you are.'

‘Never!'

‘Nicola,' he panted, ‘after you left me, don't you think I woke up night after night, wishing you'd transform me into a vampire? We would be together. We'd never have to part.'

‘Not like that. Not by becoming a vampire.'

‘I love you.'

‘But we wouldn't be in love any more. How can a monster like me love anyone? Or be loved?'

‘For five years I've dreamt of being with you again.'

‘I saw you, Tom. You became a recluse. You turned your back on the world.'

‘I WAS WAITING FOR YOU!' The cry robbed him of the last of his strength. He slumped forward, gasping.

She knelt beside him and gently eased his head on to her lap. ‘You can't die.'

‘No air …'

‘You won't die, because you've got to save lives.'

‘I can't even save my own.'

‘Listen to me, Tom Westonby. I remember you kissing me for the first time. I remember when we first made love.' The blue returned to her eyes. The vampire heart inside of her had just become a few degrees more human. ‘You came to this valley and I started to live like a human being.' A flush of pink reached her cheeks. ‘Now I remember what it's like to be human. It might not last for long … but you made it happen.'

‘Thank you.' He smiled. ‘Then maybe this is our destiny. Me, dying here. You being almost human again. Perhaps that's all we can ask for.'

‘No, don't you see? You've got to get out of here.'

‘I can't.'

‘Tom, you must kill Helsvir.'

He shook his head. ‘Can't …'

‘You saw that he's injured. He's going to need to replace those parts of himself that are damaged. He'll need human victims to do that.'

‘That's not fair, Nicola. Helsvir can't be my problem any more. Don't you see what's happening to me? In a few minutes I'll be dead.'

‘Tom, before I found you I saw a group of young people go into the cottage. Now where do you think Helsvir will go first for victims? His legs have been damaged, so he'll find people that are close by. Those people in your cottage will be taken first. He'll rip them apart and embed the limbs and heads into his body. Remember, he's like a Frankenstein. He uses body parts to rebuild himself.'

Tom stirred. ‘My brother's in the cottage. I sent him there.'

‘You mean Owen?'

He nodded, groggy.

She pulled him to his feet. ‘Wake up!'

‘Can't.'

‘You will wake up. And you will kill Helsvir.'

‘Kill him? How?'

‘I don't know, but
I know you
, Tom. You'll find a way.'

His legs gave way under him. ‘Still trapped down here … no way out.'

Her savage glare scanned the cave walls. Though the flashlight had almost died, he could still make out the brown walls of his tomb. With a sudden movement she pointed at water dribbling through a fissure.

‘If water's coming in here, there must be a way out.'

Even though Tom had almost lost consciousness, he still flinched with surprise when Nicola attacked the wall. The power of her arms was uncanny. She ripped away an entire slab of rock with her bare hands. As it fell, a surge of water entered the cave.

‘There's an opening here,' she shouted.

‘But does it lead to the outside?'

‘You're going to find out.' She caught hold of him and half-carried him to the void in the rock. ‘Then you will find a way to kill Helsvir. I know you can do it.'

He leaned into the opening. Cool air washed his face. So there must be a route to the surface after all. He breathed deeply. The numbness in his body seemed to vanish in seconds. His chest hurt, his head ached like fury, but he realized he had life-giving oxygen again.

‘Kill Helsvir?' he asked. ‘I didn't just imagine you saying that?'

‘You've got to kill him, because he needs new victims, and he'll know the cottage is the nearest place to find them.'

‘Then that's what I'll do, Nicola. I'll kill the monster.'

Tom didn't think twice about the potentially fatal consequences of dead-end tunnels or flooded caverns. He crawled into the narrow passageway that the underground stream had eroded from solid bedrock. The way was dark, slimy and wet. This felt like wriggling through the moist gut of a gigantic animal. Not that it would stop him, Tom Westonby. Nicola was right. He had to reach the cottage before Helsvir. The lives of his brother and his brother's friends depended on him now.
So: no hesitation; no turning back.

A
t the very same moment that Tom Westonby struggled through the narrow cave beneath the forest, Kit Bolter stared out of the window in horror. A cold, hard moon illuminated the scene. Kit watched as Freya tried to prevent the vampires approaching the front door of the cottage. When the creatures found their way blocked, they reacted with shocking ferocity.

Kit screamed when he saw a male vampire punch Freya so hard in the face that the blond plait whipped back. She crashed to the ground.
This is vampire on vampire violence.

‘No!' Kit ran to the door. Watching Freya take that violent beating was unbearable. He'd stand by her, fight with her – to the last breath of his life, if need be.

As he grasped the key, ready to unlock the door, Owen pounced, dragging Kit back.

Owen shouted, ‘We mustn't open the door.'

‘Freya's out there! Did you see how that bastard attacked her?'

‘Kit, she's not human. She doesn't feel pain.'

‘Not human?' Tears streamed down Kit's face. ‘Not human. Jesus Christ, Owen! She's human enough to take a beating in order to save us.'

Owen shouted across to Jez who stood by the window, ‘What's happening now?'

Jez shrugged, puzzled. ‘It's weird … it's hard to explain.'

‘Damn it, Jez, try.'

‘That big bastard punched Freya half way across the garden.'

Kit gasped. ‘Is she OK?'

‘She's standing on the path again.' The cast on his arm clicked against the glass as he leaned against it to take a closer look. ‘The guy that attacked her is … well …'

Kit struggled to break out of Owen's grip. ‘
What's that thing doing to her?
'

‘It's weird … he's doing nothing. A second ago, he punched her –
whack!
– right in the face. Now he's just stood there like a statue.'

Everyone fell silent in the cottage, digesting what Jez had just told them. Jez remained by the window. Kit felt Owen's grip on his arms, preventing him from opening the door. Eden's hand covered her face in a frozen pose of horror. June Valko sat on the sofa with her arm protectively around her mother. Mrs Valko, alone, appeared unfazed by the extraordinary drama being played out both inside and outside the cottage. But then, according to June, the woman didn't speak. In fact, she seemed disconnected from reality. Mrs Valko was mentally adrift in her own world.

At last, June broke the silence. ‘I don't understand. Why are vampires fighting vampires?'

Kit at last managed to shrug himself free of Owen's grip. ‘Don't you see? Most of the vampires can't think for themselves. They're puppets … something else controls them. Freya's managed to break the control. I don't know how she's managing it, but she's almost human.' He took a step towards the window. ‘It's OK, Owen, I won't try and open the door again. I just lost it for a moment back there.'

Jez grunted. ‘Be sure that you don't. There must be twenty vampires out there. The second that door opens they'll rush in here, and then our blood will be their blood – do you follow?'

Kit nodded. ‘Listen, I've been thinking. The vampires are like remote-controlled robots. Something, whether it's an evil spirit, or the devil, or something we don't even know the name of, wants them to attack us.'

‘Tom said that they'll try and recruit us into the vampire army. Though when he says “recruit” he means …' Owen pretended that his fingers were jaws biting his throat to get the message across.

Kit lightly ran his fingertips across the pellet wounds on his face. They still stung, but not enough to distract him from using his keen intelligence to process what he'd seen and heard in the last few hours. ‘Freya is strong enough to overcome whatever's controlling her.'

‘For now,' Eden pointed out. ‘It might only be temporary.'

‘If it's temporary that means there's the potential to make it permanent,' Kit said. ‘I believe that because she's interacted with us, talked to us, and is now trying to protect us from harm, that's causing her to become more and more human.'

June shivered. ‘What if she does transform back into a human being? That means she's in danger out there. I mean, vampires are almost indestructible, aren't they? But if she becomes mortal she could be killed by those things.'

‘Let her into the house,' Kit pleaded. ‘Let her in where she'll be safe.'

‘Hardly safe,' Owen pointed out. ‘We're under siege here. The vampires have surrounded the place.'

Eden went to the window and shuddered. ‘You know what those vampires remind me of? Chess pieces … see? They're like chess pieces on a board, waiting for someone to decide what move to make next.'

June sounded scared. ‘In that case, they might make a move we don't expect.'

Owen checked the door. ‘Everything's bolted. There are bars over the windows.'