Sleeping Angel (Ravenwood Series) (10 page)

April could feel all the blood draining from her face. She was frightened for Gabriel, for what he was going through, but she was frightened for herself too. Was Gabriel truly a killer? Was he out of control like Marcus had been? Like Benjamin? She had seen that up close, and April wasn’t sure she could stand it if Gabriel turned into a monster like that.

She flinched as she felt Jessica’s hand on top of hers.

‘Hey,’ said the woman softly, kneeling down next to April’s chair. ‘Gabriel’s one of the good ones, remember? And so are you – and you wouldn’t have fallen in love with anyone bad, would you? But he
is
a vampire and I’m sure you’ve seen enough of that to understand what he’s going through.’

April nodded. She could still close her eyes and see his face that morning at the top of Primrose Hill, just after he’d taken the Dragon’s Breath and changed back into a vampire – his eyes red slits, his gums pulled back like a snarling dog’s. He wasn’t human at that moment, he wasn’t Gabriel, not the man she knew. But somehow ... he
had
been. Inside, he was still the man she loved.

‘Jessica, please,’ she said, ‘What’s happening to him?’

‘I wish I could tell you, April. All I know is that when he starts forgetting things, it always happens at times of increased darkness, times when the vampires are on the rise again. It could be coincidence, but I suppose that’s something you’re going to have to find out.’

‘But you’re worried, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, I am. Not for his physical self – he’s about as tough as they come.’ She smiled sadly. ‘No, I’m worried about what it does to Gabriel’s mind. I’ve known him a long time, April, and he’s too sensitive – too fragile emotionally. He may not be able to remember, but he suspects what he might have done and it’s been eating away at him. That might be why he pulls away from you at times. He scared of who he is.’

April wanted to cry, but knew she mustn’t. Gabriel was the one in pain and he needed her support. ‘Can’t we help him? I mean, if it’s happened before, you must know what to do.’ She hated the desperation in her own voice, but that was how she felt. She would do anything to help him, anything.

‘People have to want to be helped, April,’ said Jessica. ‘Gabriel’s too proud, that’s always been his problem. He’s a lone wolf – thinks he has to do it all himself.’ She gave a smile. ‘That’s men for you. They’d rather plough into the sea than ask for directions. But the same applies to you too.’

‘Me?’

‘You can’t do this on your own either,’ said Jessica. ‘Yes, you’re a Fury and yes, I imagine it feels like a huge burden, but remember that you’re not on your own. You have people you can talk to – friends you can trust – so lean on them. That’s what they’re there for.’

April looked at her. ‘Why do I feel there’s a “but”?’

‘But ... be careful whom you choose as your friends. What you have inside you is incredibly powerful. Don’t underestimate it. A lot of people would love to be able to control what you have. Question everyone, question their motives – even question mine.’

‘Yours? But I came to you. And what would you want the Fury thing for anyway?’

‘Everyone loves power, April, everyone, even if they think they do not. That’s why I didn’t tell Isabelle about the White Book.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Isabelle didn’t want the
Albus Libre
for someone else, as you did. She wanted it for herself.’

Suddenly, April understood why Benjamin had wanted the Dragon’s Breath that night at Ravenwood, and why Sheldon had tried to drain her blood. If someone had control of both the disease and the cure, they could create an army of vampires at will – and destroy any other nests or clans who might try to question their authority. You’d be a vampire super-power with the power of life and death over everyone.

‘So Isabelle was ... she was working for the other side?’

Jessica’s smile was ironic. ‘I don’t know who she was working for, or whether it was all her own idea, but that’s what I mean about power. It can corrupt, April. You are frightened of your power and that’s the best way to be – because you will agonise over your choices, wondering if you’re doing the right thing. For Isabelle, I think the answers were all too clear – whatever was best for Isabelle.’

April couldn’t think what to say. She felt knotted up with questions, none of which had easy answers. April had always assumed Isabelle was like her, someone struggling with her “gift”, stumbling around in the dark, looking for clues. But April supposed whatever she had in her blood was as random as any disease – cancer didn’t only go for bad people, it took plenty of good people too – and there was no reason why a Fury couldn’t be as ambitious and self-serving as a vampire.

‘So what happened to her? Was she involved in something that  got her killed?’ April suddenly felt sick again. ‘Was it something to do with Gabriel? I mean, he was there the night she died – and he doesn’t seem to be able to remember it.’

Jessica shook her head. ‘Don’t go jumping to conclusions – and no, before you ask, I don’t know what happened to Isabelle. But if Gabriel has suppressed his memories of that night, pushed it to the back of his mind for some reason, that suggests to me that it was traumatic in some way, though I can’t say for sure. I think that’s something you’re going to have to take up with him. If he’ll open up to anyone, it’s you.’

‘Thanks, Jessica,’ said April, getting up. ‘I actually thought I was going to get a telling off coming in here.’

‘Well you have, sort of. It’s time to stop pretending all this isn’t happening. When you’re lost in the darkness, the only way out is to keep moving forward. It’s a bitch, but there’s no way back now. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.’

April nodded and picked up her bag. ‘Sorry for disturbing you so early.’

Jessica shrugged and pointed towards the desk. ‘You were only keeping me from my admin. Talking of which, I’d better get back to it.’

April winced at the light as she closed the shop’s little purple door. She looked down at her phone: still only eight-thirty. She sighed and turned towards the tube. She didn’t feel much like going to school, but Jessica was right – she needed to keep moving forward.

‘April!’

             
She turned; Jessica was standing in the doorway of the shop, beckoning. ‘I think you’d better come and  see this,’ she said, her face serious.

Back inside the shop, Jessica carefully locked the door, then led April back to the desk and picked up a white padded envelope from the pile of post.

‘What is it?’

‘Tip it out onto the desk.’

From the expression on Jessica’s face, April immediately knew that she didn’t really want to see what was inside. Gingerly, she took the envelope by one corner and upturned it.

‘Eww!’ she cried, as a small wet thing plopped onto the desk. Like a slug or a piece of meat. ‘What the hell is that?’

‘It’s a tongue,’ said Jessica simply, ‘Someone ripped it from an animal.’

‘God!’ said April, taking a step back. ‘But why?’

‘It’s a message, April. Someone doesn’t want me talking.’

‘To
me
? They don’t want you talking to me?’

‘That’d be my guess.’

‘But it’s too late,’ she said, looking towards the door.

Jessica gave a grim smile. ‘Then let’s hope no one sends you
my
tongue.’

The lesson was sending April to sleep. Something about the metaphysical poets and their role in ... God,
something
, April wasn’t sure what. Not only was it deathly dull, it was made all the more turgid because Amy Philips was taking the lesson. Amy was one of the biggest know-it-alls in Ravenwood – and there were certainly a lot of candidates for the role.

‘Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress” makes an almost self-conscious allusion to the poetic tradition,’ said Amy, clearly loving being right at the front of the class. ‘But in reality his was a wholly new approach to lyricism, with an emphasis on the freedom of expression.’

‘God, she’s boring,’ whispered Caro, ‘I really didn’t think anyone was going to take Dr Death’s idea of empowering the students so seriously.’

April stifled a giggle, drawing a glare from Amy. In actual fact, April had been in three lessons this week where the students had taken over the lecture. She didn’t mind a bit of healthy debate, but the problem was that the only people who wanted to stand at the front and drone on tended to be the creepiest spods in the school. It wasn’t until you had to listen to people like Amy Philips that you began to appreciate how hard it was to make dry subjects such as poetry sound interesting.

It wasn’t only the change to the school routine that was unsettling. There seemed to be new staff being brought in every day, plus an almost daily procession of men in white coats trooping down to the “Special Projects” laboratories on the lower levels of Ravenwood.

April flipped a new page over on her notepad and wrote:

What’s going on in the basement?

She knew Caro had been invited to a “special lecture” on biological development or something equally unfathomable. Caro had been particularly excited, not by the subject matter, but because Simon was also something of a brainbox in biology, and it meant that they could sit together, like they had done before the Suckers and Ling got hold of him. Caro picked up April’s pen and replied:

Molecular models
,
some weird stuff with hypno-TVs, loads of “practical” science.

She drew an arrow towards the word “practical” and added:

Meaning “makes money for RW”.

April wrote another note:

And what about Simon?

With an impish smile, she drew a love-heart next to his name. Caro shook her head and scribbled out the heart.

Gone total Sucker
.
Like he’s joined a cult
.

April squeezed Caro’s hand sympathetically. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed.

The bell rang to indicate the end of the lesson and April heaved a sigh of relief. Amy Philips was still glaring at them as they filed out and Caro stuck her tongue out at the girl.

‘Very mature,’ said Amy. ‘No wonder no one’s talking to you any more, Caro Jackson.’

‘What do you mean? April’s talking to me.’

‘Yes, but that’s because both of you are ...’

‘We’re what?’

‘Weird.’

Caro burst out laughing. ‘
You’re
calling
us
weird?’ she spluttered.

Amy put her hands on her hips. ‘It’s about time you grew up and realised that Charles Tame is ...’

‘Oh, it’s Charles now, is it?’ interrupted Caro. ‘Has he been offering you
special
tuition?’

Amy’s pale face turned bright red and April knew Caro had hit the bullseye; the girl had a crush on Ravenwood’s new leader. Bizarre – how anyone could find him anything other than repellent was beyond her.

‘Just because you can’t see how important his work is ...’ pouted Amy. ‘Just because you don’t have the imagination.’

‘Oh, I think I know exactly how important his work is, Amy,’ said Caro. ‘And it’s you who lacks the imagination. How about I fill you in on exactly what’s going on at Ravenwood, huh?’

April grabbed Caro’s arm and pulled her out of the classroom. ‘Shhh!’ she said urgently. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘Well, that stuck up little cow annoyed me. They all think they’re so ...’

She trailed off as they turned into the corridor. Written on the wall in fat black marker, letters a foot high, was a slogan:

EMBRACE THE DARK

‘What the hell?’ whispered Caro in her turn, and the two girls exchanged a look.

‘Isn’t it wonderful?’

They turned to see Dr Tame watching them, his eyes shining.

‘Wonderful?’ said April, ‘Shouldn’t you be getting the caretaker to scrub it off?’

‘Yeah, and tracking down the vandals?’

Tame shook his head. ‘Girls, your thinking is adorably old-fashioned. What we’re looking at here isn’t vandalism, it’s
creativity
. Free-thinking minds expressing themselves to their fullest. This shows that what I have been saying is getting through – there are no boundaries at Ravenwood anymore.’

‘So, if I wrote “Screw Ravenwood” on the front door, I’d get a pat on the back?’

‘No, Caro, that would be different,’ said Tame, ‘Because you wouldn’t be entering into the spirit of the new times. As I said to you before – open minds yes, negativity, no.’

‘And there’s nothing negative about “embracing the dark”?’ said April.

‘Nothing whatsoever, April, in fact I believe it is the only way to progress. We need both light and shade, do we not?’

Jesus, he really is off his rocker
, thought April.

Tame stepped forward and grabbed April’s arm, squeezing hard and steering her back along the corridor. ‘Actually, I’m glad I’ve bumped into you, Miss Dunne,’ he said, seemingly oblivious to the squeak of pain which came from April. ‘I wanted to talk to you about your new role.’