primepalindrome
Chapter 8
The party
‘This needs some more salt,’ Fabrizio said. He put the plate with its tiny dish down, then shrugged into his coat. It was a long-sleeved jacket, zipping up beneath his chin. All of the vampires were dressed to get as much skin underneath fabric as possible.
Ava made a face. ‘If I can’t get them out of my hair again, I’m cutting it all off.’
Fabrizio gave her a sideways glance. ‘Try the hose before you shower, it works surprisingly well.’
Ackley walked past them into the kitchen, he paused in the doorway and looked out across the dark lawn. They waited until he walked out.
‘This is my least favorite ritual so far,’ Ava sighed. Then they followed him out into the night.
It went the same way as the nights before, another slew of enemies, rotting things hauling themselves towards them. Selina screamed when a half opened deer stood up on its hind legs and charged at her. She dove sideways, letting it run into a tree where it hit itself into pieces. ‘We should find where they come from,’ she breathed, ‘exterminate them from there!’
Fabrizio dragged a lump of something behind him. ‘It’s no use, you’ll never reach it before dawn. They just keep coming.’
There might be something to that. They dragged and heaved things into the center of the space between the trees, onto a big pile. Each night it piled up high and then the next one it was gone.
‘Micah isn’t going to believe this,’ she said.
‘We’ll save him some,’ Ava said. She wiped her brow and left a dark smear. ‘I got some of it on me, didn’t I? Fabrizio, you have a cut across your cheek.’
He reached into his pocket and drew out a flask, emptying the last drops of blood from it.
A tiny gallop announced Nicks, who jumped out of a bush. Then a stifled yell cut across the clearing and Ackley wrestled a stag into view. It bucked, digging at him with its antler, the spine visible through decaying fur. The further he dragged it along the slower it got until it hung limp from his arms and he tossed onto the pile.
‘It’s getting light soon,’ Fabrizio said.
Ackley nodded, eyes empty, then turned back to the woods, and they headed home.
‘Can’t wait for tomorrow when they’re all gone again,’ Selina said. ‘If only we could come back during the day, then we could track them or something.’
Fabrizio shook his head, dislodging something from his hair. ‘Tomorrow’s the party.’
‘Can’t believe I’m actually looking forward to it,’ Ava said. ‘Even an impostor’s feast.’
Selina fought the urge to lick her lips. ‘I though tonight’s pastries were okay.’
‘Maybe she helped out in a kitchen somewhere.’ Ava shrugged. ‘But it’s nothing special. I wonder how she’ll cope when the guests call her out.’
The next evening Selina stood in front of the mirror. She wore one of Ava’s dresses, pastel pink with shoulder pads. Tamara had adjusted it in for her where needed, and now she stared at an unfamiliar version of herself.
Ava and Fabrizio stood at her sides, busy with their own reflections.
‘You have to bring attention to your face,’ Ava said, framing her head with her hands. ‘Send some energy into it. Like this.’
Ava’s eyes became a brighter blue, her features took on a trustworthy energy, making Selina gasp. The other vampire smiled with her red lips. ‘Now you do it.’
She framed her face with her hands but nothing changed.
‘Look at how I do it,’ Fabrizio said. Suddenly it was impossible to look away from his dark eyes and handsome smile. Selina shook her head. ‘How are you doing it?’
They laughed.
‘Just try it,’ Ava urged her on.
She tried to focus on her appearance. A tingling on her skin then her eyes filled with light, becoming dark pools full of stars.
Fabrizio grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. ‘Yes! that’s it. No one is going to say no to that face. Not even a hunter.’
Her smile faltered but the gleam remained in her eyes. Let’s not find out. They looked at the three of them, standing in the bathroom together, then there were voices upstairs.
Ira folded her arm, looking away across her shoulder. ‘I thought Tully was picking me up.’ Her voice sounded pinched. That old traitor.
Dave Holsen, her ex-husband, sat in his car with the passenger door open to her. He looked at his hands on the steering wheel. ‘She asked me…,’ he said, ‘and I can’t lie that I jumped at the chance.’
‘I’ll walk.’
‘It’s on my way home,’ he had a slight whine in his voice. ‘I won’t even talk to you, just let me drop you off.’
Ira sighed. Am I being unreasonable? ‘I wish you didn’t go to the trouble.’ But she got into the car and he drove her. There was no talking, as promised, and when she got out, he only gave her a wave, then drove on to their old house past the bend.
How agreeable. She punched her fist into her palm.
Jo and Tully were already ahead of her on tamara’s driveway. She called out to them, and there must’ve been something in her voice because they walked faster, banging on the door. Ira could see the relief on the old woman’s face when the light fell on it from inside.
‘Don’t think I won’t bring this up,’ she breathed, marching up to them. Why were they just standing there?
She got a look at the man in the doorway and froze. So people really could light up a room just by being in it, her arms relaxed at her sides. ‘What a nice evening,’ she said.
Tully extended her hand, and he kissed it. ‘Oh! How very nice to meet you..?.’
‘Fabrizio,’ he said.
Ira tried to shake his hand, but didn’t mind it when he kissed it.
He clapped Jo on the back and took his leather jacket, then he led them all inside.
Rick and Amanda sat on the couch, their eyes full of warmth, leaning back.
Tamara had a frown on her face, she stood by a hunched-up figure sitting in a chair. But she put up a smile when Fabrizio made everyone look at her. ‘Welcome,’ she said. ‘I’m glad you could make it. My husband isn’t feeling too well, tonight…’ The figure didn’t move, just stared off into space. She then waved at the food, splayed out on the coffee table between them. ‘Please try some of what I’ve prepared. I hope you like it.’
An uncomfortable silence seeped into the room while everyone stared at Ackley. Then Fabrizio clapped his hands. ‘It was about time we got to know each other, my good friend Tamara tells me you are on the council?’
‘The Geldingstone city council,’ Ira said. It was difficult to get the words out, why not just look at his face a little more?
A door opened, and it was only after a while that she found herself again. Somehow she was standing in the kitchen.
‘Ira?’ Tamara squeezed her hand and there was a worry line between her eyes.
‘Y- yeah?’
‘Is everything okay?’
‘It’s such a wonderful evening,’ she said and meant it. Her eyes went back to the front room but Tamara got in the way. ‘Do you like the food?’
‘Haven’t had a chance to try it.’
She frowned. ‘You’ve been eating it all evening.’
‘Thank you, it was great.’
On the couch, Tully leaned her head back. ‘It needs work, Tamara dear, did you have a bad day in the kitchen? Luckily you have time to practice, there might not be a reason for you to make anything at all.’
Tamara scowled, but she turned to face the woman with a smile. ‘Why not?’
‘We have no statue to reveal.’
‘Statue?’ Tamara crossed the room, getting in between the old woman and Fabrizio.
‘What statue?’
‘Oh, we wanted to do a reveal coming thursday. Something to cheer up our lonely square. A statue of a woodcutter. Something nice.’
‘The problem is that we haven’t got it yet,’ Rick said.
Tully nodded. ‘We paid for it, it’s supposedly ready, but nothing has been delivered.’
Tamara held out her hands, as if what she was about to say was very obvious. ‘Then we go and get it.’
Tully shook her head. ‘It’s those new-Geldian’s. Should never have worked with them.’
‘But it’s in two days?’ Tamara said.
‘One day,’ Ira corrected her. She had come over to join the conversion, now she stood by her side with a thoughtful expression.
‘It’s about time we got home,’ Tully said, ‘Johan? Ira?’
Ira glared at her while the others got up. ‘I supposed you’d call Dave to come get me?’
‘We only got to talking the other day and he offered.’
Ira lingered in the door. Tamara sighed. ‘I can drive you, if you want.’
When the others had gone, Ira stopped on their way to the van. Above them the sky darkened to take away the stars. ‘Were you serious?’
Tamara held the car keys, a hand on her hip. ‘About what?’
‘Getting the statue?’
‘Of course.’ She shrugged. ‘Why not?’
Ira took a deep breath, but there was something about how Tamara had offered that made it all seem less crazy. ‘Then let’s go get it? Your efforts won’t be for nothing and we won’t look like idiots this thursday.’
There was a shadow over Tamara’s face but she turned on her heels and went back to the house.
‘Husband, dear?’
Ackley looked up from his chair where he’d sat unmoving all evening. ‘…dear?’
Tamara drove with Ackley sitting next to her. Ira sat by the passenger seat by the window, she sat with her hands in her lap. ‘Just head towards the supermarket, then drive towards the gas station to find the exit.’ Everyone is just going along with this. It must be okay.
‘Are they really that bad,’ Tamara asked. ‘They sabotage the event by not giving you the statue?’
‘We don’t know what’s going on. It’s done, then it isn’t, then they won’t answer my calls.’ She chewed her thumb. ‘It’s weird. I thought he was a real artist, and he wasn’t cheap either. Sorry, I know I’m always rambling about city matters. So,’ she rubbed at her nose. ‘How did you two meet?’
‘The woods,’ Ackley said at the same time Tamara said: ‘A cave.’
Ira nodded. ‘Spelunking, that’s a cool hobby.’
‘I didn’t even want to go,’ Tamara said. ‘But I was convinced at the last minute to come anyway. It’s the little decisions. We wouldn’t have met, otherwise.’
Ackley wiped his hands across his pants. ‘You struck me as someone I needed to keep around.’ He chuckled, after which Tamara shook her head.
Ira shifted in her seat. ‘Yeah, we haven’t been keeping up with the routes. We used to have a big team for that but it somehow whittled down over the years to Jo and he’s… he has a lot on his plate.’
In the back, Fabrizio sat on the spare tire listening in, Ava had the little bench and Selina sat on the floor. ‘This is just perfect,’ he said with a sneer.
Selina massaged her temples. ‘I got a headache.’
‘You need more blood,’ Ava said. ‘I should just go back and get us a new supply. I wouldn’t even need that much, since the king never drinks anything we offer him, and Micah is …having his nap.’
‘Micah will rise soon,’ Fabrizio said.
‘All the more reason to go,’ Ava said.
‘It’s dangerous, this far into the plan. He might catch you.’
‘I got the first batches,’ she said, ‘it was no problem.’
‘Where are you getting the blood?’ Selina asked.
Ava smiled. ‘From my workplace, you’ve been there. Thought you might not remember it, do you remember it?’ Her smile didn’t falter. ‘You might remember the logo, it was on this van.’
‘I swear I got most of it off,’ Fabrizio said.
‘It made the locals snag Tamara,’ Ava smiled. ‘It sure was visible enough for them. And now here we are, having dinner parties and sitting in the back of the van getting a statue?’
Selina tuned out while they talked it over. The logo on the van didn’t mean anything to her and the time after they escaped was a blur. She remembered ambling across empty streets, dragging Micah along by the hand. They hid in dumpsters during the day and then someone had found them. Just a man that revealed his fangs to them. He’d offered them clothes that weren’t full of holes and covered in blood. Then the next night he’d driven them to a tall building.
There had been a meeting, but the walls had pressed in and Micah had never stopped fidgeting. All she saw was a silhouette in a chair. The outcome had been that they should just go.
‘He kicked us out,’ she said with a frown.
They stopped talking to look at her.
‘Yes,’ Ava said. ‘He decided you were too much of risk, with you being ex-hunters.’
She sat back. ‘He let us go out to be killed, basically.’
‘But lucky for you, we needed you to complete the ritual,’ Ava went on. ‘I let Fabrizio pick you two up and now we’re here.’
Fabrizio stretched. ‘This is it, after this, no more visits. We overdid it with the charm, should have just let them have the food and be done with it.’
‘He sent us out there to die.’
Ava pointed a finger. ‘But you didn’t.’
The van stopped and the door opened.
‘We’re rolling the van the rest of the way,’ Tamara said.
Ira had only been here during the day, now the treeline on the distant hill looked jagged and strange in the dark. There were some houses in the distance, but the workshop stood at the end of an empty street. Orange lights had come on at their approach, still the windows of the work hall remained black. They stood by the tall metal fence around the terrain. Tamara knelt by the chain around the fence, fiddling with the lock.
Ira looked back at the van. ‘Aren’t they coming?’
Tamara shrugged. ‘We’ll be fine if it’s just us.’
Ira balanced from one foot on the other. How can you sound so sure about all this? But the lock clicked and Tamara walked inside.
Another light came on, but they ran across the tarmac to two heavy looking doors, after a second they were inside and Tamara closed the doors behind them. They breathed in silence, waiting for something.
Ira shuddered. ‘Okay, this does actually feel very illegal. I’m sorry, we should—’
‘You paid for it,’ Tamara said. She clicked on a flashlight and scanned the area. ‘Where is it?’
Ira looked at her, then read the labels on shelves and next to racks. Most of it was pottery, with some garden statues mixed in.
‘It’s supposed to be around here somewhere,’ she whispered.
‘Look,’ Tamara shone her light on a headless statue. ‘It’s broken.’
Ira brushed her hand over the checkered line work of the stone shirt. ‘That’s our lumberjack.’ Her fingers made a fist. ‘They broke it?’
‘Here’s another one.’
They walked past a scrapped statue, a half finished man, cut off mid-torso. ‘This is us,’ she bit her lip. ‘He really just made and destroyed them.’ Why?
‘Geldingstone square,’ Tamara said, holding up another label. ‘This one’s broken too.’
They froze. ‘Did you hear something?’
Tamara shook her head. She stood very straight, the light in her hand unwavering. ‘This one’s wrapped up. Let’s take it.’
It had their name on it, Ira noticed. ‘Guess he didn’t have time to destroy it yet.’ They struggled with it, then let go. ‘No way, it’s too heavy.’
Tamara pointed at a hand-truck.
The lights came on while they struggled to get the thing back to the doors.
‘Keep going!’
Panting, they made it back outside when someone shouted at them. ‘Hey!’
The others stood by the fence as if on an invisible line. Ava waved her hands, Selina jumped up and down.
Ira felt her face redden with the effort, the sting on the back of her neck of getting caught. ‘Can’t we go any faster!’
They were at the fence when running footsteps came their way. That’s when Ackley grabbed the statue, lifted it by the sides, and carried it to the van. The vehicle sagged when he got into the back. Fabrizio jumped into the driver’s seat, yelling: ‘Go, go go!’
Tamara and ira got into the back and Selina slammed the doors on them.
They sped off into the night, leaving a man standing by the fence.
Fabrizio drove into a by-road next to some trees and cut the engine. Sirens blared in the background, then a little later a red and blue light sped by. He hit the wheel and laughed.
After a while, the van rolled into the square. Ira looked at her hands and felt an angry burn along the side of her left leg. When she looked up the statue was in place, wrapped and waiting on its pedestal between the empty flowerbeds. Tamara stood against the van, also breathing hard but with a smile on her face. He just lifted it like it was nothing.
‘We did it,’ she said. Why do you help so much? ‘Thank you.’
Tamara waved her words away. ‘It was nothing.’
Now we’ll have something to show for the reveal… Doesn’t matter what it looks like.
On the day itself it rained in the morning, this made Ira’s stress rash show up on her neck. But the sun came out enough during the afternoon that it wasn’t a disaster after all.
A stall had been put up for Tamara’s food, along with Tully’s cakes, and there were even a decent amount of people there. Word had gotten around about a caterer from Chimelio’s and people were walking around, tasting the food and looking at the covered-up statue.
The mayor was there, dressed to impress, and for once she didn’t resent him, he had shown up for once, and everything was going according to plan.
She put another beer into Jo’s hand, keeping him at her side.
Dave was there, she nodded at him and he nodded back. Nothing too bad. Then it was time for the reveal. The mayor said some words about their past and a bright future and the Geldingstone square had a statue.
Ira’s mouth dropped open. Jo choked on his beer.
A violently old man, his back bent under a large sack, pickaxe on his belt, stood squinting at the crowd.
‘Oh wow,’ Amanda said. She had four children of various ages around her and they stared up at the thing with fear in their eyes.
Jo wiped his mouth. ‘I thought we wanted a woodcutter? This is, it’s a prospector?’
‘I can see that,’ Ira said through gritted teeth. People applauded, after the first shock had worn off, pictures were taken and the event moved to a close.
The mayor came up to them. ‘He’s… quite something,’
‘We’re going back to the roots,’ Ira said, hoping to sound sure of herself. ‘The gold mining roots.’
‘I don’t like him,’ one of Amanda’s kids said. ‘He looks mean.’
Rick grinned. ‘Better not speak too loud, or he’ll come take you away at night.’
Amanda glared at him. ‘Don’t listen to Rick. He’s a kind old grandfather, being old isn’t a sin.’
But Rick was on a roll. ‘He goes into his goldmine at night, where he keeps all the other naughty children.’ Amanda ushered them away.
Tamara stared at the old face, a glimmer of something in her eyes. Then she looked away and prepared to clean up her stall.
Chapter 9
The race
The day Selina would die was the day of the big race. Groups of young hunters gathered on a bare plot of land on the outskirts of the harbor city Deon. They stood separate from their bicycles behind a line drawn in the gravel.
‘Keep an eye on your bike,’ Gabbie said over the general noise of excitement. Gabbie was their team leader and stood a head above them all. Selina nodded.
‘Stick close to Owl,’ Gabbie went on. ‘He’ll have the best chance of picking something up.’
‘I got his,’ Owl said. He was slim, dressed in black. Most of them were in their late teens, with some in their early twenties. A group of older men and women stood by a collection of burning vats against the cold.
Selina looked at the competing teams around them. She’d seen some of them during her training months, but recognized no direct faces. One of them, a boy with blond hair, winked at her.
She looked away and busied herself with something on her fingerless glove.
A man dressed in a gray detached himself from the adult and raised his arms. ‘Everyone listen up!’
Selina cringed, Guermsey's shouting was drilled into her through his training, she was transported back to running laps through the rain and spending nights outside in the cold.
‘Old Germsey,’ Owl said, ‘doesn’t he ever just take a day off?’
‘The vampire Fabrizio has been spotted in this city!’ Guermsey went on. All heads turned his way and the noise died down. ‘The first team to find the building he resides in—and marks it with their team's tag— gets to win!’ Cheers and some whistles filled the air, Selina shouted along.
‘You have until sundown! Get ready…’
Selina bunched her fists, eyes on her red bicycle.
‘Get set…’ Shoes shuffled on the gravel, someone spat out a piece of gum.
‘Go!’
A desperate scramble between everyone for their bikes marked the start of the race. Selina elbowed her way through and grabbed hers, she ran, jumping onto the saddle.
She swerved off the gravel and onto the smooth feeling of the road, her team caught up with her. Practiced from years of messenger biking, they sped toward the populated area. Selina breathed in the rush of sudden speed and wind, the street shot by underneath.
They made their way past slow driving cars, weaving through pedestrians on crosswalks. Selina gave a whistle to warn them.
Gabbie just swore. ‘Focus!’ she yelled, ‘everyone stay alert!’
Owl’s voice carried over the hum of traffic. ‘I’m not getting anything.’ He looked at something small and round in his hand, then back to the road.
‘She means you, Terri!’ Selina called to the back of the group.
A girl with dark pigtails held up her hand. ‘Yeah, yeah.’
It was a cloudless day. Buildings cast shadows of cold they sped through, the smell of exhaust painted the air.
They rolled underneath a tunnel, the sounds echoing around them like in a cocoon.
Owl sped up, taking a fast left past a donut shop and into a side alley.
Gabbie whistled. ‘He got something!’
Owl lost whatever he’d gotten, so they stopped on a bridge for lunch where they ate burgers and fries. Posters were plastered around them on the sides of the bridge, cars ambled by down below. Selina took a deep gulp from her soda. I should be able to sense something, I’m a hunter, too.
She was waiting for the pull as the older hunters called it. Owl had closed his eyes and held his guide; a silver compass with eight arrows pointing outwards like a star. The red arrow inside it swished left and right, then in a circle. Focus, she thought at him. Or just give me the a chance with that thing. She leaned her head back and sighed.
‘We’ll get him,’ Gabbie patted her shoulder. ‘I want that prize money.’
‘You do know there is no actual prize,’ Terri said. She looked at her from across his lowered sunglasses.
‘There’ s no money,’ Selina said. ‘But there is a mystery prize.’
‘How do you know?’ Terri asked.
‘I actually paid attention during the briefing?’
The bulk of a truck rambled by, dousing them with a cold flush of air. Selina shivered and pulled her shawl up round her face.
‘Let’s get back on the road,’ Gabbie said. ‘We got this.’
She’d said it and one of the other team whizzed by. ‘Yo yo yo!’ One of them yelled.
Gabbie clapped her hands while everyone made for their bikes. ‘Go go go!’
Selina jumped back on the saddle, scowling at the other team.
The afternoon wore on with more false trails. Selina chewed a fresh piece of gum, while the street markings sped by beside her. Then she felt something jerk inside her chest as her bike went over an invisible line. She gasped, almost letting go of the wheel. She righter herself with a couple of swift zigzags. Her right elbow squeezed at the memory of sliding into the street last summer, there was still some of it in there, the road embedded in her skin.
She was halfway down an alley when she heard her name. ‘Selina!’
Shit. ‘Selina!’
When Gabbie caught up with her Selina put up a smile. ‘I got something.’
Gabbie took a hold of her steering wheel, slightly out of breath. ‘Don’t rush off, we’re a team.’
‘Sorry, I know.’
‘This is dangerous, remember?’
‘I know, I know’
When the others had caught up, the feeling had gone away. Selina kicked a rock against the wall. Other teams passed them by, full of purpose. ‘I know I felt something.’ She heard the frustration in her own voice. ‘Are you getting anything, Owl?’
He nodded, a glint in his eyes. ‘Definitely that way.’
They stood underneath the trees of a broad street. The horizon had an orange fire in it, blue dusk shimmered overhead.
Owl spun his wheel and stopped it with a gloved hand. ‘We’re close, I can feel it. It’s right here somewhere, these couple of blocks. But it’s getting dark.’
Selina bounced her leg. ‘It’s not sundown yet.’.
Gabbie bumped her shoulder. ‘We got tomorrow, if no-one else gets him.’
Micah sighed. ‘I don’t think anyone’s going to get him today. Can’t we head back? They’re ordering pizza.’ He checked behind him.
‘Calm your stomach,’ Espen said, ‘it’s around here somewhere.’
They walked past alley entrances, bikes beside them.
Micah looked at the buildings up front; web of lights, tiles that were people’s homes or offices. The blair of a car horn turning to one howl of vehicle outrage behind them.
Espen swore. ‘It’s that other team again. Quick!’ They took a left and dodged into a sidestreet; shops full of people, warm food smells wafted by.
‘Can’t we grab something?’
Espen rolled his eyes. ‘Almost there.’
They left the shops behind and the sounds died down, until they were beside the wide open space that was a public park. ‘This is more like it,’ Espen said. ‘A place for him to hunt. It’s going to be one of these buildings.’
Back by the drums an impromptu BBQ was on the way. Beers were out, people were talking. Some teams were coming back, the sun was almost down.
Owl stopped, making the people behind him walk into him with their bikes. ‘Something’s off.’
‘What is?,’ Gabbie asked.
Terri sighed. ‘Do you smell vampire of not?’
‘Ha. Ha. In fact, I do sense something. But… it’s different from what I was tracking.’
‘Where’s Selina?’
Selina scaled the fence, jumped down into a roll, and knocked the can out of the blond boy’s hand.
‘Hey!’
She pushed him back and got in the way. ‘I saw it first.’
‘We got here first.’
Another boy stood by a big dumpster, catching his breath. The fence marked a patch of dirt between three adjoined buildings. The one they both wanted to tag was old, three stories high with dark windows. Selina felt a chill by just looking at it. This is it.
She got her spray can from her backpack just as the sun went down. The boy lunged for it, grabbing her shoulder. She kept it out of his reach.
‘You’re kidding yourself if you think I’ll let you have this. I’m Micah, by the way.’
‘I’m going to tag it first,’ she said, then kicked his legs from underneath him.
Micah hit the ground, he glared into the direction of the dumpster.
‘Espen? You have anything to say about this?’
Espen leaned on the corroded metal, his face pale. ‘There’s blood and… rot,’ his voice became a whisper. ‘So many bodies.’
The rattle of a spray paint can brought Micah back to his feet. He wrestled the can from the girl’s grip. ‘Yeah, he’s an old vampire. Probably had a lot of victims. Stop it!’
‘… mountains of them.’
Micah got control of the can and took a step towards him. ‘Are you okay?’
Selina took the time to get another spare from her pack. Without anyone noticing a door had opened in the building, then someone whistled in the dark.
They turned to see a cold, blue light fall on the wall opposite the door, it showed a peculiar shadow in the shape of a woman; a slim torso with long and slender arms. The shadow hunched then jumped up, gliding over the wall and up to the roof. Selina blinked, Micah dropped the can he’d snatched. By the dumpster, Espen collapsed to his knees.
While they stared, a woman peeked around the door and smiled at them.
She matched the shadow, and her smile revealed rows of sharp teeth. She had a limp while she walked up to them.
Selina stood there frozen. Why can’t I run?
The creature grabbed Micah by the throat and pressed her mouth to his neck. .
Now! Run! Selina managed a step backwards but then the two dark holes in the vampire’s face stared her down, the world turned around her but she couldn’t move, while the creature drank from the struggling figure. You’re beautiful, she heard herself think. Or was it the creature?
Then the woman dropped Micah and walked toward her, a dark blood smeared face peeling open to reveal many fangs.
I was so stupid. Then her head was bent back in an uncomfortable angle and a tearing noise became loud in her ears, there was a kind of snap, then all the warmth drained from her face and the sky exploded into a black void.
‘Selina!’
Darkness, she knew her eyes were open but there was only darkness. Then the pain got through and she was sliding down a wall. I’m dying. She saw the empty face of the boy lying next to her. I’m going to die.
Gabbie’s voice was shrill, she pressed her hands to her torn throat and yelled for help.
Selina curled her hands into a fist and then her heart stopped.
She shook herself.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Fabrizio asked.
She stared at the dishtowel in her hand.
They had a dishwasher. But he’d insisted on having something to do. The king was having a rest, Tamara had been picked up by Ira in the afternoon, and Ava sat downstairs on her bed answering emails.
‘I was hunting you for sport,’ she said.
‘So that’s on your mind. I’m very aware of the practice to send some of you onto me like a pack of dogs. You mark my building of residence, then the big dogs come to mess it up.’
‘Why?’ her voice was careful. ‘That was dangerous.’
He shrugged. ‘I never stick around to ask.’
‘You’re not like the vampires we hunt, the one that killed me.’
‘We’re not all the same. Almost like we’re people, Selina.’
She dried the cup and put it away. ‘I— It’s weird that we hunted you to let you go. They say they don’t bother killing you, when they catch you.’
‘They never catch me. But they do trash my apartment when they find it.’ He leaned back, getting a catch out of his neck. ‘It’s gotten real old a real long time ago.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Is it weird that I am?
He shrugged.
The cat jumped onto the counter, upsetting a glass. He righted it. ‘Get off the counter.’
Selina went to get the animal and picked him up. ‘He never listens.’
Nicks rubbed his face against her cheek while she put him down, then he went to his food bowl to eat.
‘He only eats when she’s not around,’ she said.
‘She’s probably potting her next scheme.’ He held out a wet plate for her to dry.
Selina took it. She should be back by now. After a while, she asked: ‘Will they find this place?’
He was silent for a moment, then nodded. ‘Eventually, everywhere in the Tromalda region. But this place is one of the remote one’s, so we have time.’
‘Time for the king to become powerful?’
Fabrizio nodded. ‘There is power in him like nothing you can imagine. But it’s scattered. They divided him up around these parts, scattered his remains countless times. It’s up to him to… find himself, get back to his former power. He seems to know how.’
‘Countless times?’ Her eyebrows drew together.
‘It’s the reason they don’t want me here. Because I keep bringing him back. They hunt me down and whenever I almost succeed in getting him back together, they come and tear my efforts apart.’
‘Does he know that?’
‘Like many things concerning him, I’m not sure.’ He dunked a wineglass into the suds.
Selina looked at her hands. ‘What happens to anyone helping you?’
‘I believe you already found out what they do when they catch you.’
Her breathing sped up. ‘Shouldn’t we get back to the ritual with those rotting deer animals? If it helps him it helps us.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll get Ava.’
Chapter 10
Hunters
Inside a large greenhouse, the smell of plants hung in the warm, sunlit air. An old woman snipped at a leaf, then another. She wore faded sweatpants and had her hair up in a gray bun. A large scar went the length of her face, closing one eye permanently, her remaining eye was dark and mono-lidded. She snipped another leaf, humming a peaceful song.
A younger woman sat by a desk nearby, working on a laptop. She looked like a younger version of the old woman, her hair still dark, her face with only a few lines. She rubbed her brow and looked up at a creaking sound.
The door opened and a dark clad man walked over to her table. After listening to the whispered words, she nodded.
The old woman was still pruning the plants, now half-hidden by the lush white flowers of a rosebush.
Geurmsey came in, accompanied by the same dark clad figure. A chair was placed at the other end of the desk for him. He took a moment to breathe while the woman typed.
She had only gotten in charge recently, he’d know her from a distance since he joined the hunters years ago. It meant her mother was nearby.
Emiko looked at him from across her screen. ‘Have you divided the team-members?’
He nodded, a hand going over the stubble on his chin. ‘What was left of them.’
After a short hesitation, he looked her in the eyes. ‘What about Gabbie? Will she be sent to another team as well?’
Emiko shook her head. ‘She brought a monster home and had most of her team slaughtered by it. She will be disciplined, as is tradition.’
Geurmsey kept silent.
‘I want their old placer on Ben’s team,’ she said.
His eyebrows rose.
‘There is a situation you will now be made aware of. The vampires we were about to execute have escaped, and their whereabouts are as of yet unknown.’
‘They escaped the facility?’
‘There was a delay before things could be arranged and they saw an opportunity.’
Guermsey sat back. ‘Nobody has ever escaped before.’
‘The girl showed some remarkable power. She will be hard to catch.’
The old woman, or retired matriarch, ambled over, her face all smiles. ‘Show him the footage.’ Geurmsey got up from his chair to offer it, but she urged him to sit back down.
‘Little Geurmsey,’ she said, ‘still afraid of the dark?’
He smiled. ‘Not since a long while, Yama.’
Emiko turned the screen his way, and it showed a figure, face to the floor, impaled on a stake. A muscle tightened in his jaw. Selina lay with her arms and legs slouched to the floor, suspended by two prongs in the pole that went up through her lower abdomen. Her body jerked and then she rose in the air and off the stake.
He took a sharp breath. ‘Did she levitate?’
‘Wait for it,’ the old woman said. The screen glitched and for a moment something ran across the cell.
A chill stiffened his back. It’s a dog. But he knew the thought wasn’t right.
The creature had too many legs to be a dog, too disjointed to be a cat, but his mind had to say something. Anything to quell the unease.
‘It comes in the guise of an animal,’ Yama said. ‘It might have made a deal with her.’
‘You’ve dealt with them before,’ Emiko said.
Geurmsey nodded. ‘We can handle it.’
‘Get your best teams ready,’ she said. ‘It is likely she and the boy will try to reach their old teammates.’
The old woman held up a finger. ‘They call to their relatives, to their friends, calling for them to join them. All you have to do is wait.’
He nodded.
‘Give them the recurring cases to work on,’ Emiko said. ‘That’ll keep them distracted.’
The old woman stretched her hands behind her back with a sigh. ‘Any sign of Fabrizio?’
‘None yet,’ he said. ‘We probably scared him off.’
‘Good,’ Emiko said. ‘We can’t have him to deal with on top of this.’
When Geurmsey left the greenhouse his mind was full of thoughts. People worked in the building surrounding the glass dome, it was the center of the facility. He walked past the forge and glassblowers, then past the cellars. The place was well-guarded, how did they get past the guards? But with a dark passenger, it could of course be done.
During his years as a hunter he’d only met one of them, and he crammed the thought back in ti his mind before it could become a memory. It still felt tainted. Like opening a door that should remain shut. Anything demonic complicated a mission to the extreme, in combination with a strong vampire...
Selina. He knew her face from the crowd. She’d never excelled at anything enough to take note of, definitely not a placer. And now he was hunting her. Micah was a different matter, the boy had stood out, making it to the discussion table a few times with his antics during training. Such a waste.
The young hunters were on the training grounds close to their residence, doing laps in the cold. Guermsey remembered the walls and obstacles from his own training days. The kid following him kept silent; as a placer he was remarkably susceptible to the supernatural, and now this team had two of them.
Espen tripped and fell against the wooden wall, sliding back down the rope and into the frozen mud. He heard a chuckle behind him and felt a stab of excitement in his heart.
It was only Gina, ready to help him up. He shook his head at her, going back to make the jump.
He finished his laps with the rest of them and went to wash up in the shower room. He steeled himself to head to dinner, Micah’s favorite time of day. Then he saw people stand by Micah’s bedroom.
Ben, Geurmsey, and a tall kid dressed in black. Before he could think he stood into the doorway, blocking the view of the unmade bed. ‘No.’
Ben’s face reddened. ‘We need the room, Espen.’
Geurmsey looked unimpressed.
Espen shook his head. ‘You can’t take his room,’ he said, his voice higher than he could stand. it’s… it’s his room.
The new kid held up his hands. ‘Should I go somewhere else?’
‘Yes, you can go to hell.’ He then faced Ben. ‘You’re already replacing him?’
‘Espen!’
He stormed off.
Ben held up his own hands. ‘I’m sorry. You get settled in.’ He eyed Geurmsey. ‘I’ll talk to him. He’s been on edge, it was his best friend…’
Geurmsey just nodded.
Alone in the room, Owl stared at the bed and pushed his back against the wall, sliding down. Rain washed the snow into a thin layer of sludge.
The next day Ben carried a large stack of archive folders into the meeting room, he plunked them down onto the round table that stood there, and let them slide out across the surface.
Espen had showed up, so had Owl.
He let out a breath.
‘Here are some of the recurring cases of the Tromalda region, mostly our city, Deon.’
‘I know how this works,’ Espen said.
‘Here’s how we’re going to handle this,’ Ben went on. ‘Try to get as many of these solved during the upcoming weeks, some of them are urgent.’
Someone coughed, it was the new kid. He held up his hand. ‘You’re letting us pick them for ourselves? Usually the team supervisor does that.’
‘I went over them, there’s nothing dangerous in there, per se.’
Espen smirked. ‘Just some blue stickers, nothing to get worried about.’
‘I’m not worried, it’s just different.’
‘You can always stay in your room,’ Espen muttered.
This earned him a scowl from Ben. ‘Espen.’
Espen looked away but the smirk remained on his face.
‘Can I leave you to this, or do I have to babysit you?’
The boy sighed. ‘You only really need one of us to sort them.’
‘Then you can stand in the corner over there until you learn how to behave.’
Owl stepped up to the table, his hand going over the various folders. Then he picked one up at random and stacked it on top of another.
‘See,’ Espen held up his hand, then he went to stand in the corner.
Ben left the room shaking his head and soon the shuffle of folders was the only sound in the gloom. Espen crossed his arms.
‘You’re being a brat,’ Owl said after a while.
Espen ignored the remark.
‘It’s not my choice to come here and—’ he gasped, dropping the file he’d just picked up.
‘What?’
‘Nothing, a red one found its way in here.’ He put the folder on a chair. ‘Look, we can switch rooms, okay?’
Espen rubbed his face. ‘I don’t actually want it. It’s just…’
‘I know. And I’m sorry.’
He made his way over to the table. There was a faint pull from the pile, his hand wanted to go to it. It went to the chair instead, picking up the file marked with a red square.
‘Don’t open it— you opened it.’
Espen snapped it back shut. ‘It’s just a file.’
‘You know that’s not true.’
‘Just don’t talk to me.’
‘Fine.’
They sorted through the pile, making small stacks independently.
Over the next few days, teams of young hunters roamed the streets and parks of Deon and on one occasion, its neighbor Taton. They stood on the beach at nightfall, in a line close to the shore, when dark figures emerged from the waves. The moon lit up the waves but not the figures, that seemed larger than human, and covered in a kelp-like growth. The young hunters held the line, even when the shapes stepped closer, going knee-deep into the water to drive them back.
After standing in the sound of ocean waves lapping the beach for a while, the figures sank back down into the sea. This left the group time to make a bonfire and sit around it to dry off.
Benji had brought sausages to roast. Espen was too hungry to stand at the side and pretend not to want any. He did try to sit down as far away from Owl as he could.
Gina came to sit next to him. ‘What do you think those things were?’
‘Beats me, I’m just glad they went back into the ocean again.’
‘We should be studying these things,’ someone said.
‘That’s not what the facility’s about,’ Benji said. ‘We just prevent things from escalating.’
‘Most of the time,’ Owl said. The hum of conversation that had started died back down.
Gina rotated her sausage over the flames. ‘What brought you to the facility, Owl?’
He sighed. ‘The empty streets.’
A look of recognition went across the group. Espen grit his teeth. Damn, they had the same experience. Despite himself, he saw the abandoned buildings loom up around him. He’d grown up in Taton, the place this phenomenon happened most often to those that were sensitive to it. One day everything is fine, or you think it is, then suddenly everyone is gone.
He’d come back after a week, surviving off the rainwater in puddles, half-starved. Things had never looked the same after that. Not much later he’d been spotted by hunters and taken into training.
Espen hunched up, taking a bite. There was a lot to do the upcoming week. It should keep his mind from wandering so much.
They met up in a park not long after that, not far from a path, and gathered sticky eggs from trees and bushes. The round, slightly bluish eggs were put into a basket and then smashed with rocks.
For the next mission, Ben came along. Every team member held a broom in their hand and lurked behind a row of dumpsters. They waited by the empty loading area of a factory, until a loud bang temporarily darkened the sky. The next moment a crowd of faceless people stood around.
They all wore about the same outfit, dark slacks and a non-distinct sweater.
All at once, the hunters-in-training walked up to the group, herding them together with their brooms. Gina opened the motorized doors, opening a hatch into darkness. They ushered the shuffling group inside and then closed the door. After another bang, the door was opened to reveal the strange people gone. So it went on. One afternoon was spent carrying wheelbarrows full of toasters to a garbage compressor on the facility’s premises. The next day they caught giant moths.
Espen rubbed his eyes. Why had Micah never told him there was more noise in his room from the nearby street? Though he’d never been someone to complain, except for when there wasn’t enough food around.
‘Very funny.’
Some other people had come on for breakfast, and it had been Owl to get back up from his seat and make the comment.
‘What is?’
Owl held up a file, one of the archive ones. It had a red sticker on its side. ‘This was on my chair?’
‘You have a chair now.’ Espen held out his hand but Owl refused to hand the file over.
‘Let me see if it’s the same one that I had before.’
‘I’m handing this over to Benji, he should get it back to the facility.’
‘What are you so afraid of? It’s not like it’s a black sticker one.’
Gina sat down, a cup of coffee in her hands. ‘Are you two fighting again?’
‘I found this in my chair.’
‘Just give it to Ben.’
‘I want to see if it’s the same one, that could tell us something.’
Benji looked up from the desk in his room, a cup of tea at his side. ‘Are you two fighting again?’
Owl held a file out of reach from the other boy. ‘I found this at breakfast.’
‘Let me see it, I just want to know.’
Benji looked at the label. ‘This isn’t supposed to be here.’
‘It came with the other files,’ Owl said.
‘I’ll have a look at it later, get back to breakfast, we have a long day today.’
‘But I just want to see—’
‘Breakfast, or laps, it’s what you prefer, Espen.’
They left him alone after that.
After his tea, Benji opened the file. It was labeled; “the helpful woman.” He wasn’t familiar with it. There were some old photographs of crowds, different styles of dress, different locations, but one face had been circled out in all of them. She did look helpful, in an awkward kind of way.
There was also a crude drawing of a key, crossed out with red crayon. He closed it back up and put it to the side. He’d take it back to the facility’s archives when he went to report at the end of the week.
Tamara looked over her shoulder. The house was empty, no sounds of clocks or footsteps around. She breathed in, then walked over to the living room, where she snuck out of the windows. Outside, she turned back to face the house, and climbed back inside.
The living room was different, a coating of dust covered everything not under a sheet and there was a looming darkness in every corner, the window behind her showed a stale kind of twilight.
She went around a corner that wasn’t there in the old house, and through a narrow hallway. Laundry heaped high on the sides of this hallway, cobwebs cluttered the high ceiling. She walked past abandoned toys, dolls with unblinking eyes, rusted train sets. Some broken chairs had been put to the side, chairs with their seats missing, with no backs and broken legs. Tamara walked without sound, keeping a straight face until the light of a kitchen lit up the deserted surroundings.
A tall woman stood by a stove, dressed in a chef’s white clothes. Her face was gray and her lips had a stretched out, bloodless quality. ‘You’re back.’
‘I need those treats you said you were working on.’ Tamara pressed her fingertips together. ‘If you're not too busy.’
‘I suppose I have some handy,’ the chef said. The fire from the stove lit up her legs, where old blood splatters lit up in the flames.
Tamara turned away from the sight. ‘I just don’t understand taffy.’
The chef stirred a wooden spoon into a bowl. ‘It’s all about controlling the temperature.’
‘Can you make them look festive?’
‘Anything you ask.’
‘The kids will like them more if they’re festive.’
Nicks the cat glared at them from underneath a cabinet, its ears flat on its head, tail three times the size it usually had. When tamara left with a tray it darted after her, escaping the strange place with her.
Chapter 11
The clown
Ira placed the bowls of healthy snacks underneath the banner, it read: “Kid’s day out” But since it had been snowing all day, it had to be rescheduled at the last minute to be inside. She stood in the empty mansion, the large living room that once had been hers. The house felt strange around her. Dave had jumped at the opportunity; “wouldn’t even be in the way,” Tully had said. Does he really sleep in the pool house? She frowned and closed her eyes.
‘Someone needs a smile.’ A clown waddled over in too-big shoes and a bright red wig.
She folded her arms. ‘Don’t say that when you’re dressed like that.’
Jo held up his gloved hands. ‘Sorry. Felt it was fitting.’
‘I felt an actual chill.’
‘The kids like it.’
She kneaded her brow. ‘Jo, of course they do. Thanks for doing this. Sorry, I’m being all -mean, it’s this place.’
He nodded. ‘I had the outfit lying around, didn’t see a reason not to help.’ They stood watching Tamara entertain the children. She’d put down a pair of scissors and pulled a piece of paper into a string of elves holding hands. The children reached for it, jumping in place.
‘Is it because he bought a toilet out of gold?’
Ira let out a long sigh. No. ‘It’s not real gold. It just tells you things about your health.’
Tamara was repairing another paper chain, talking to the group while her creation was passed around.
‘Sorry for prying.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’
Amanda walked over to them with her phone out. ‘The article’s up.’
‘Let’s have it.’
Amanda’s eyes scanned the post. ‘Bricklike, a thick wedge of chocolate, covered with a green glaze just below neon, the Tromalda wedge is a true slice of the region. Gleeford may have the most rainfall, but what they delivered on their cake baking competition—’
Ira bit her thumb. ‘Get to the bad part.’
Amanda scrolled down. ‘There is no bad part. La la da, the food there was a highlight, rumored to be from a rather famous kitchen. It brought smiles to every face present… ,’ she continued with a frown; ‘but the reason we visited Geldingstone that day brought some confusion to those gathered.’
Ira groaned. Here it comes.
‘The statue reveal was an event upon itself. A rather grim specter, the “grandpa of Geldingstone,” is a man looking back on a life of toil with the attitude of someone holding a grudge. The reveal left us wanting some more of that excellent food, to stand up to that judging gaze. Like the old man way saying—’
Ira sagged, supporting herself on the counter. ‘It’s fair. I guess.’
Jo leaned back heaving a sigh and Amanda looked down at the floor.
‘There was a crowd looking at him this morning,’ Tully said. She entered the room with a tray of cookies. ‘Thanks for letting me use the oven, mine’s acting up.’
‘They were taking pictures with him,’ Amanda said.
Tully put the tray on the table. ‘I still don’t know how you managed, but I’d say the event was a success.’
Ira shrugged. Maybe.
‘I have a surprise to announce, later on,’ Tully said. Then she clapped her hands. ‘Children!’
While the old woman and clown led the children to the next room, Tamara put paper plates on the main table.
‘They loved your Taffy,’ Amanda said. ‘You really are doing a nice job.’
Tamara smiled with her eyes closed. ‘Thank you.’
Suddenly the first notes of a song, played on a piano, sounded over from the next room. Tamara dropped her paper plates and stiffened up. ‘I need to go,’ she said, and without waiting for a reply, she left the house.
Ira caught up with her on the driveway. ‘You’re leaving?’
Tamara nodded, her face was pale, and she had her eyes on the van. ‘I forgot I have somewhere else I need to be right now.’
‘Will you be at tonight’s town meeting? There’s an important vote coming up.’
‘Of course! See you then!’
Ira watched her drive away. When she got back inside the children were singing.
After a few songs, Tully shook her head. ‘She just left? That’s a little unexpected of her.’
‘She’ll be at the meeting tonight.’
‘Of course she will be. Always helping out, bless her heart.’
‘Where is everyone?’ Selina peeked into the living room.
Fabrizio looked up from his game of solitaire. ‘Tamara has that meeting thing and Ava just left.’
‘What, where to?’
‘To get blood.’
‘Is the king still resting?’
The vampire nodded, going back to his cards. ‘It’s just you and me for now. Like the good old days.’
‘When Micah was still catatonic’
‘You wouldn’t come out of the bathroom.’
‘Fun times.’
He looked over to her. ‘Let me teach you how to fly.’
‘Vampires don’t fly.’
‘They do.’
‘No, they don’t.’
He held up his hands. ‘If you know better.’
Selina stood on the roof and looked down at the frosted lawn below. A breeze whipped her hair, she dug her nails into the palm of her hands. But her sneakers had a surprising hold on the shingles. It’s like I’m lighter than I was, in a way.
She waved to Fabrizio. ‘Now what?’
‘You jump.’
‘What!’
‘Just jump! Hold out your arm and—’
His eyes widened when she did. ‘No!’ He caught her, then put her down on the grass.
Then he laughed so hard that he collapsed.
Selina stared at him; he had a high laugh, a little nasal. He clutched at his chest a few times, his face showing pain, but the laughter kept coming.
‘I am glad you think this is funny.’
‘It really wasn’t,’ tears stood out in his eyes. ‘You just—,’ he clapped a hand over his mouth, tears streaming across his face, ‘I didn’t think you’d actually go for it.’
She turned away.
He stood, heaving a sigh. ‘That was silly.’
‘Why do you do it? Not this. I mean, why go through all this trouble again and again? This vampire boss… the one that let me and Micah fend for ourselves. Why not serve him?’
‘Reinette?’ He shook his head. ‘I just can’t stand him. Never could. And if someone is going to lord over me, it might as well be my friend.’
‘He’s your friend?’
Fabrizio nodded. ‘You’ll get to know him, when he is himself again.’
‘Is he actually making progress? Compared to the other times you tried?’
‘Actually, yes. He’s more active, if you’ll believe it. I know it’s that woman, her antics worry him.’
When they got back in the house, they found Ackley in the kitchen. He sat back on his haunches and watched Nicks eat from a bowl.
‘The woman neglects her duties,’ he said, ‘he must be fed.’
‘You let her go to all these meetings,’ Fabrizio told him.
Outside, the sound of tires on gravel announced Tamara’s return. When she came in, three sets of eyes were on her.
She nodded at the cat, who was consumed by its bowl. ‘He’s eating now? He wouldn’t when I tried to feed him earlier.’
Ackley pointed a finger at her. ‘You are to keep trying until he does.’
A thin smile spread across her face. ‘It’s a cat, it either wants to eat or it doesn’t.’
He waved her words away. ‘What are the people up to now?’
‘Which people?’
‘The villagers. What have you set up for yourself next?’
She dug into her coat and held out a flier. ‘We voted to arrange a boat ride. It’s going to be a big deal for the community. We’re going to take some investors along, establish a route across the lake. It’s been—’
‘No.’
She frowned at him. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘The lake is evil. You are not to go near it.’
She tilted her head. ‘They’re counting on me.’
‘You can prepare your food for them, but you’re not to go near the lake.’ His eyes had a gleam. ‘I forbid it.’
She stood there for a moment, then strode off upstairs.
He went outside, followed by the cat.
‘That seemed harsh,’ Selina said.
Fabrizio shrugged. ‘He really hates the lake.’
The next day there was no food on the table and Tamara stayed upstairs. When later that evening Tully came to call, Ackley shut the door in her face. He glared at Fabrizio. ‘The ritual isn’t working.’
Fabrizio was about to say something but the king talked over him: ‘Someone is missing, Ava, retrieve her.’
‘We can try,’ Fabrizio said. He glanced at Selina, who had just come up from the basement.
‘I am waking up the boy,’ Ackley said. He looked about as if he were talking to more people than were present. 'I need them all to be here. You need to be here when it happens.'
Selina looked up. 'When what happens?'
He ignored her, pressing a hand to his ear and making a face. Then he whistled for the cat and went outside.
They followed him. But when they made it to the gravesite, it was as they’d left it, with no sign of their king or cat around.
Selina hung her head. ‘Where did he go?’
‘He’ll come back.’
‘This isn’t getting us anywhere. What do we do when we run out of time?'
Fabrizio held his phone to his ear, after a while with no answer he hung up. 'We'll deal with that when we get to it. First, we’ll have to try and fetch Ava.'
Jo stood by the woods like he usually did these nights. A dark presence approached him but kept walking. He rubbed his neck, grateful for the energy he'd have for the next days by not being bitten.
Ackley kept walking until the trees were thick around him. There was a rustle. A headless deer walked out from a bush. He faced it, hands into fists at his sides. The animal’s throat moved, spilling dark blood across the matted fur. Ackley grabbed the sides of his head and fell to his knees. At his side, Nicks whipped his tail and flicked his ear. Another deer came, then another. They all stood in silence, all of them headless.
After a while, Ackley staggered to his feet and stumbled back out of the woods.
The following day Tamara opened the door.
‘I thought I’d catch you during the day,’ Tully said. The old woman smiled at her. Tamara did the same.
‘You were gone so fast after the meeting, we had a little celebration and you didn’t get to hear my surprise.’
Tamara rubbed at her eyes, they looked red from crying. ‘Oh?’
‘I wanted to thank you for helping us so much,’ she went on.
‘You really don’t have to do anything.’
‘So I would like us all to go to Chimelio’s for a day of rest in their spa, and a night of fun in their restaurant.’
Tamara’s smile stiffened. The old woman’s face became even more pleasant, she gripped her arm and squeezed. ‘I’m sure your boss would love to see you.’
‘I’m not sure if I have time.’
‘Then we won’t go. It’s your fabulous cooking that got us our laurels back in the chronicle. Don’t you deny it. I did already make the reservations, you must know how difficult those are to get. It’s tomorrow, I really tried to tell you earlier.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’
‘That’s all I ask, it would mean so much to me if we could all could.’
Tamara nodded, then retreated inside.
Tully grinned, then when she walked back to the fence, she stepped on a large key. After hesitating, she put it inside the ornate letterbox by the front door. She admired the box, with its intricate wooden carvings, then placed it inside.
Funny, she couldn’t remember having seen it here when she came up to the house.
‘I could look for her,’ Tamara said. Her voice was a little hoarse and she wouldn’t look up from her hands on the table. ‘If I’m allowed to go.’
Fabrizio stood next to her. ‘You want to go, even though you lied? You never worked there, remember. That old woman is setting you up.’
She bunched her fists, sitting up straight. ‘I’ll manage. Maybe Ava will be happy to see me exposed. I knew it wouldn’t last forever.’ She shook her head, smiling at herself. ‘It never does.’
‘You can go on your little trip and see Ava,’ the king said. He stood facing the dark window.
The kitchen door flung open and Selina came running inside. ‘He’s gone! The grave! It’s empty…’
Everyone except for Ackley stood around the hole in the ground, the earth had been upset from below, deep marks clawed at the sides. ‘He said he would get him… ,’ Selina said.
Fabrizio cradled his elbow, his face thoughtful. ‘Where did he go?’
‘I’ll cook him something,’ Tamara said, going back inside. ‘He must be starving.’
Back inside, Selina heard the shower. Followed by Fabrizio, she went downstairs to look, but they found an empty bathroom. They checked the one upstairs with no sign of him.
‘I swear I heard him,’ Selina said.
Tamara looked up at them from the stove. ‘Check the one next to the basement stairs.’
Selina stopped in her tracks. ‘We have a third bathroom?’
There was indeed a door where Tamara had pointed them. Fabrizio’s hand hesitated, then he opened it. Micah grinned at them from inside. He stood by the sink with a towel around his waist and an electric razor in hand. Most of his hair was already gone, cluttering up the sink.
Selina stepped back, covering her eyes.
‘How do I look?’ he said. ‘This isn’t easy without a reflection.’
The older vampires stared at the little room. It had a shower and sink, with a very ordinary-looking wastebasket. ‘We had a third bathroom all this time?’
Tamara walked in with a stack of clothes. ‘Ackley said you’d be back, so I shopped you some new clothes.’ She put them on the toilet lid and held out her hand. ‘Let me help, you missed a spot.’
Fabrizio faltered back out of the room, he made eye contact with Selina. ‘Am I going mad or wasn’t that here before?’
‘Ask Ava, she bought the house.’
‘I think I need to talk with our king.’
Selina stood at the end of the dining room table, watching Micah eat buttery baked potato. He looked different, and it wasn’t the black shirt and frayed jeans or the shaven head. There was something about his eyes, about his face. Maybe it was the smile, a slight grin that wouldn’t go away.
‘You were there,’ he said suddenly. It jolted her and she cleared her throat.
‘Where?’
‘The corpse piles.’
‘Not you too.’
He nodded, and then his face was serious. ‘We were all there.’
‘Even Tamara?’
‘All of us, except for… ,’ he tossed his fork into the air and caught it, ‘Fabrizio.’
‘Did you dream anything else?’
‘It wasn’t a dream.’
‘What, a vision? You missed some fun here, I can tell you that. But there’s plenty of them left.’
‘The deer?’
Her jaw dropped. ‘How?’
He grinned at her. ‘I missed you.’
‘You did? I thought I was there with you.’
‘Not all the time, most of the time I was alone.’
‘With the corpses.’
Tamara came in with a glass of milk. He took it from her and drained it. Then he leaned back in his chair to look at her. ‘I’m sorry I tried to drink your blood.’
She smiled at him, waving her hand. ‘That’s okay. So long as you don’t do it again.’
‘I won’t.’
Selina shifted in place. ‘We ran out of blood because of you. Ava is gone, getting us more. She hasn’t called back.’
His grin widened. ‘She’ll be okay.’
‘You know everything now?’
He just grinned at her. She made a sound and left the room.
Fabrizio caught her on her way out. ‘We’re leaving too, tomorrow night, the three of us are going on the ferry and we’re going to see if Ava will meet me out there.’
She leaned in. ‘Micah is being weird.’
‘He’ll come ‘round. We just need some distance, just for a little while.’
The following morning Tamara stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed. Three bowls of food stood at her feet. She knelt, her hands pressed against her heart. ‘Why won’t you eat?’
Nicks sat by the bowls and stared through her.
‘It’s the best food,’ she said, pointing at the bowls. ‘Will you eat when I’m gone?’
He flicked his tail.
‘Why don’t you like me?’
She glanced over her shoulder, then narrowed her eyes at him. ‘I don’t like you either.’ She stood back up. ‘I don’t have time for this, they’re going to pick me up. So I’ll wait outside in the cold and leave you to it.’
On her way to the door, she hesitated underneath the stairs. ‘I left some food in the fridge…’
There was no answer. ‘I’ll be back later at night.’ With a sigh, she left the house, prompting Nicks to devour the food from the bowls. Ackley went back to his room.
That evening Fabrizio got back into the van and drove the three of them towards the Ferry.
‘Am I the only one that noticed or did the house… change?’
‘There’s tile in the kitchen,’ Selina said. ‘I don’t think there was always tile there.’
‘That’s what I’m talking about,’ he said, slapping the steering wheel. ‘Didn’t we wash off most of the gunk outside, why would we do that if there was another bathroom? Does she renovate the house during the day? I think she’d lie about it.’
‘Micah, you should have noticed the most change.’
He sat by the window and shrugged. ‘Can’t tell if anything is different, everything seems kinda new. The van, the sky, the king, you guys.’ He stretched. ‘I think this is going to be a fun trip.’
They stared at him.
‘It has to be one of her schemes to get to us,’ Fabrizio said.
Micah chuckled. ‘Redecorating as revenge.’
‘You weren’t there,’ Selina said. ‘It happened gradually and now everything is out of place. Though I don’t think you can build a bathroom in secret.’
‘We should move when we get back,’ Fabrizio said, ‘and Micah can keep an eye on her during the day.’
In the games room of the junior hunter training ground, Espen sat up. ‘I’m bored.’
Heads turned to look at him.
He scratched the side of his neck. ‘I think we should do something.’
Gina looked up from a book. ‘Like what?’
His eyes lit up. ‘We should go out. We never go out anymore, we should do it.’ Something about the way he sat it made people sit up and listen.
‘I guess,’ Gina said.
‘Let me get ready,’ someone else said.Not before long the house was filled with activity.
Ben looked out of his room.
‘We’re going out!,’ Espen called over, a shawl half across his face.
Their team leader shrugged. Why not.
Thanks for making it this far, I'll be working on the next chapters and editing the rest as I go over everything again.