The Strangers at St Stephens. The Vampire Across the Hall 4

  Cloud paused as the seated people giggled

  'He agreed to evict the evil ones and instead rent the hall to us for our..ahem...bingo nights.'

  The audience laughed.

  'Ladies and Gentlemen This is our greatest success. This 'Juggling Club' was a den of thieves who I am convinced were responsible for the outrageous display of shoes on our streets some days ago. I am sure they were responsible and were intending to juggle these shoes as a protest against the clean living people in our society.

  Ladies and gentlemen, I now invite you to join myself and Louisa, who has been of invaluable help to me in this campaign, in tea and cupcakes available at the back of the hall.'

  The audience applauded loudly and with a scraping of chairs, moved as one towards the back of the hall.

  I could hear Madden snarling and Mark cursing quietly behind me as this went on. Eliza took each man by the arm and led them away from the side door. She beckoned for myself and Aaron to follow and led us towards the cemetery.

  As soon as we were out of ear shot, Aaron said

  'So you see my problem'

  Eliza nodded, 'We can discuss this later. Now you have work to do.'

  Aaron nodded

  I opened my mouth to ask a question but Eliza, Aaron, Mark and Madden had melted into the shadows. I looked around frantically before a long white arm reached out and grabbed me.

  'So Daisi, are you coming or not?' Asked Madden and I followed him further into the blackness of the graveyard.

  Standing at the main gates beside the old church was a gigantic Moreton Bay fig tree, its shadows loomed eerily above us as we walked quickly towards the bowels of the cemetery.

  The headstones loomed black and harsh in the moonlight. They were jumbled and slanted as if they had been moved by invisible hands. In the shadows of the giant fig they bobbed and weaved like large disembodied heads floating above the mist which now covered the ground on which we walked.

  And in the shades I thought I could see movement, a glimpse of arms and legs and a peculiar shuffling sound through the leaves which were scattered on the dirt paths between the headstones.

  And as the foggy clouds parted for an instant under the lights, I saw walking towards us...

  I couldn't believe my eyes....

  I stood still in shock, but the others moved swiftly as if the figures ahead of us were non existent.

  'C'mon Daisi.' Urged Madden as he dragged me by the arm.

  I shook my head as the mists shrouded the forms

  'Here, here is good.' said Aaron, as we neared a place where two winding paths crossed.

  'Yes' agreed Eliza, 'a crossroads. A very good choice.'

  'Gentlemen ..' she paused, ' and Daisi start juggling.'

  'What?' I was truly astounded, had Eliza finally lost the plot, gone crazy? What on earth had juggling to do with anything?

  'What has juggling got to do with anything?' I asked

  Aaron was already throwing his clubs in the air and juggling four of them. Eliza was digging in his bag and removing juggling balls and throwing them to Mark.

  'Is anybody going to answer me?'

  Nobody replied, so I bowed to the pressure, and took out my beautiful blue juggling clubs and threw them in the air.

  Soon we were juggling rapidly. Eliza gracefully threw five balls in the air and deftly caught them, Mark juggled three and Aaron threw four clubs in a beautiful pattern which seemed to slice through the clouds and foggy air.

  However, when Madden made a move to join us, Eliza snarled at him,

  'Not you. you have to pick off the wanderers.'

  His sigh echoed through the night.

  So the four of us juggled,. the balls and clubs carved intricate patterns in the air and the shuffling that I had heard earlier seemed to fade into the distance. It was a perfect still night for juggling despite the humidity and the mist. The rhythmic catches and circular paths of the clubs and balls seemed to create light, I fell into a meditative state, and the clubs seemed to have a life of their own, rising and falling, twirling and twisting under the trees , before the gravestones in St Stephen's cemetery.

  I heard Madden grunt and vaguely saw him move quickly ,running towards what seemed to be a dilapidated doll stumbling clumsily to our left.

  I couldn't see exactly what he did but spied from the corner of my eye an object flying into the middle of the cemetery. Then there was another, there seemed to be about ten objects soaring through the sky. In my peripheral vision they looked like mannequins which had escaped from a shop floor. Stray bits of cloth and another substance seemed to fall from the sky like snow, and occasionally I glimpsed what seemed to be a foot flying above my head, unshod and dirty soled.

  We seemed to juggle for hours, and the number of flying objects reached a climax and then slowly grew less as time passed.

  My arms and shoulders grew tired and I could see Mark struggling to continue his three ball cascade. Aaron and Eliza seemed tireless, both wore beatific smiles as they juggled.

  Suddenly Aaron stopped. 'Enough'

  Mark and I stopped with sighs of relief, but Eliza continued. In a flash of black hair and white skin, Madden returned. He looked at her.

  'Where did you learn that?'

  She grinned, ' I worked in vaudeville for some time, a very famous man called Cinquevalli taught me the rudiments of juggling.'

  Madden returned her smile. My heart skipped a beat as I wished that somebody, anybody would smile at me like that.

  'Seriously Eliza' He said, 'I cant do this every night, and Mark and Daisi can't either.'

  He turned to Aaron, 'Where is your fellowship? Where are the rest of the jugglers?'

  'This is not the place' retorted Aaron, 'is there somewhere we can talk?"

  Mark and I had slumped exhausted to the wet ground. Mark looked up at Madden

  'My apartment. I need a drink and a rest after all that.'

  Chapter 8

  Anna opened the door with her usual grace, and to our surprise, little Ima was still awake.

  Aaron looked at her closely as we entered

  'This is Aaron, Anna'

  'Hello Aaron' Anna nodded ,' tea everybody?'

  We were snugly settled on the deep sofas in Anna and Marks apartment clutching steaming cups of tea when Madden and Mark turned seriously towards Aaron.

  'Explain.'

  Aaron sipped slowly, and stole a quick glance at Eliza. 'How did you find out?'

  She shook her head, 'The shoes.'

  'Ahhh yes the shoes. Well it's simple really, St Stephens got a new Pastor, Gavin Cloud told him we were devil worshippers or something and offered him a large fee for rent. When we arrived last Wednesday night we found the exspellers there. They.... ummm..well they said some horrible things to the other jugglers, accused them of all sorts of things...you heard the way he was talking tonight. Jugglers are generally a very sensitive lot and everybody sort of.....well....they left....'

  'They left?' What do you mean they LEFT?" Madden almost shouted the last word. 'Don't they know how important they are?'

  Aaron looked down at the teacup in his hand. 'Actually No. They don't. They think we do it just for fun, not for any other reason.'

  'FOR FUN! FOR FUN?' Now Mark's voice was raised. Anna stroked his arm calmly, ' Mark'

  'Well what do you want me to tell them?'

  'You could try the truth.' Snarled Madden.

  Eliza took the vampire's arm to calm him, 'Madden, it has always been so. It is tradition for only the chief Jongleur to know the truth.'

  I was tired, dirty and fed up by now, and frankly all the talk of sensitive jugglers and shoes seemed stupid to me

  'So you lost the hall, why not get another one?' I asked

  'Ahhh Daisi, you do not comprehend.' Answered Eliza

  She looked at Aaron, ' we must dispose of these expellers'

  'Well I'd like to comprehend.' I answered, but Eliza had moved on and was ignoring me.

&
nbsp; 'What do you mean by 'dispose of'?' Asked Mark

  'You know what I mean' Eliza's pale eyes stared at Mark and he glared at her defiantly, 'NO' No Eliza.'

  'Why not? These people are a great inconvenience. It would be a painless solution.'

  'No!' repeated Mark, 'Madden tell her she cant do that.'

  'You can't do that Eliza.' repeated Madden obediently.

  I stood up, and the cup in my lap smashed to the floor, all eyes swivelled towards me.

  'OK you guys, I'm sick of this. Will you please tell me what's going on here? I'm not a kid you know, and I was juggling tonight, and Louisa is my cousin, so, basically tell me what's going on, or I'll...'

  'You'll what?' Madden smirked

  'I'll call the police.'

  Everybody laughed. Anna smiled at me, 'sit down Daisi. Madden, tell her what's going on.'

  'Haven't you worked it out yet little Daisi chain? When jugglers juggle they create a spell that keeps the zombies in their tombs.'

  'What? ZOMBIES? you're telling me that there are ZOMBIES? In Newtown? '

  'Is that so hard to believe?' He looked at me, his brown eyes glowing in the dim lit room and his skin pure, clean ,white, glistening with a slight sheen of sweat.

  I sighed, 'No I guess it isn't....but what have the shoes got to do with anything?

  Madden smiled, 'Have you ever seen a Zombie drive?'

  'Drive? No I guess not.'

  'So how do they travel?'

  'They walk? I guess'

  Mark butted in, 'stop with the q and a Madden. Look Daisi, here's the story. Zombies at St Stephens Cemetery, Jugglers create spells to keep them there and harmless. No jugglers means no spells so Zombies escape and need shoes to stop their feet falling into fleshy pieces. They can't buy them, so they steal them. So as soon as we saw the shoes, we knew that zombies were on the loose. Basic zombie lore actually.'

  I sat back down on the couch stunned..'Basic zombie lore?'

  I think I was finally convinced that these people were absolutely insane. Anna seemed to be reading my mind.. she got up and sat in front of me.

  'Don't worry Daisi, you know the old saying, 'there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'

  'ummm yeah..'

  'Just keep an open mind dear, we won't let anything hurt you.'

  I just shook my head in response.

  Anna stood in the centre of the group , 'so ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem, and we need to solve it. Does anybody but Eliza have a suggestion?'

  It took the rest of the night, and well into the early morning, but finally we agreed on a plan. The exspellers had to be chased away from St Stephens hall and the jugglers returned to their rightful place, at the front of the cemetery, as a barrier to keep the zombies in their tombs and the shoes of Sydney safe.

  As the tips of the trees began to take shape in dazzling limes and light greens, Madden and Eliza headed to the safety of their apartment, Aaron left to find his juggling fellowship and tell them the truth and Mark, Anna and I were left to collect some of the tools we needed for the plan.

  First stop was the garbage room. Mark and I entered the lift, hit the button for the basement and as we descended a British voice boomed, 'ahhh you're early Daisi.'

  I jumped, then realised it was only the ghosts of some British backpackers.

  'Ahhh yeah' I replied, ' doing some zombie hunting.'

  The doors opened at the basement and the voices sang in a football chant, 'zom-bies. zom-bies'It was a little creepy.

  I held the door of the rubbish room open for Mark as he switched on the light and looked around for the large bags I had seen a couple of days before.

  'Lucky they're still here.' He pointed to the floor, 'pick those up will you Daisi.?'

  I ran around and picked up the shoes which had spilled to the floor. Some were covered in sticky oily grease and others had the smell of rotten food on them. In fact rummaging around the rubbish trying to find shoes was overall rather disgusting

  I gagged a little and Mark looked at me with raised eyebrows,

  'I know it's not pleasant , but it's necessary.'

  'Why? Mark I just don't get the whole shoe thing.'

  'Ahh Daisi, think. Zombies are dead, their flesh is not....well....ummm..firmly connected.'

  'Firmly connected?'

  'It falls off easily...umm..off their bones easily.'

  'ewwwww'

  Mark sighed, 'do you want to know this or not?" He grabbed the two bags and continued as we returned upstairs.

  'Zombies travel by walking or shuffling, it's hard on their feet...so they need shoes to help keep the flesh attached, to protect their feet.'

  'And that's why there were shoes all over King street?'

  'Yep, zombies are also very clumsy.'

  I was confused. 'But.... Madden..' I paused, ' and Eliza.' I paused again, ' are both, well they're dead, right? and their flesh seems to be well...you know....ummm connected.'

  I was curious about Eliza and was trying to be subtle. I wasn't very good at subtlety.

  Mark stopped and dropped the bags on the ground with a thud, he peered at me very closely, 'Madden and Eliza are a little different aren't they Daisi?'

  I shrugged. At least he seemed to confirm what I suspected. Eliza was a vampire too.

  We entered the apartment and Anna greeted us, as Mark dragged the bags of shoes inside.

  'Why don't you get some sleep Daisi?' she suggested.

  I yawned, and nodded. 'OK but remember to wake me. I don't wanna miss this'

  She smiled, a small shaft of light escaped through the window behind her and encircled her face like a halo.

  'I'll make sure that you don't miss a thing. I promise.'

  Chapter 9

  It was hard to sleep but I curled up in my blue bed and to the sounds of a lovebird lullaby drifted off.

  There were strange images in my dreams, shoes falling from a darkened sky, Eliza's pale eyes emerging from a thick grey fog, the shuffling sounds of feet moving in time to a drumbeat which sounded like Gavin Cloud's voice, 'freaks, freaks freaks.'

  Drums,... banging woke me. Somebody was beating a rhythm on my front door..I popped out of bed and ran towards it, a juggling club in my hand, ready to defend myself against whatever confronted me on the other side.

  Carefully and slowly I opened it, and there in the hallway, stood a smiling Madden and a stern Eliza.

  'Time to go Daisi chain.' Madden's grin glowed in the artificial light.

  'Just a sec..come in...just let me get changed.'

  I dressed in black, thinking it was appropriate for our secret mission. Eliza however, was clothed in brilliant red, her lips the colour of blood and her dress the colour of rubies.

  Meeting Mark downstairs we walked along King Street dodging the crowds on the footpath. It was Six O Clock in the evening. People were gathered outside the coffee shops, waiting inside the restaurants for a table, browsing the knick knack shops, buying flowers for their loved ones, ordering take aways from the bottle shops and having evening beers with friends in the pubs. The shoe shops were open with boarded windows, the damage from the zombies still apparent.

  At the corner of Church Street we met Aaron and some jugglers carrying heavy black bags full of clubs, balls and other equipment. We exchanged nods and turned into the street.

  It was quieter there. A couple walked slowly home with plastic shopping bags and the windows of the federation terrace houses, glowing with comfort and warmth, peered into the dimly lit street.

  The modern brick of St Stephens Hall loomed to our left and Mark updated us on his progress.

  'Anna and I were here earlier as agreed. '

  We walked on .The old Victorian St Stephens church with its sandstone walls and spire reaching to the heavens emerged from the dark and Madden and Mark stopped.

  'Quiet everybody, watch your feet.'

  Walking into the cemetery we passed the ancient Moreton Ba
y Fig and I spied some shoes on the ground. I raised my eyes to Madden who put a finger to his lips, we continued and I noticed that there were shoes everywhere. They were strewn in a straight line, a trail which we followed. It took us behind the church, through part of the graveyard to the back entrance of St Stephens Hall.

  On reaching the back door, we split into two groups. Mark, Madden Eliza and I sat behind the hall, concealed from sight by a wall, whilst the jugglers with Aaron hid behind a large eucalyptus tree on the right hand side. Both positions had a good view of the front door and a small parking area attached to the building.

  Around 7pm cars began to arrive and human figures dressed in conservative clothes emerged from them. I recognised my cousin, Louisa, Maychild, dressed in a mid length skirt and light high buttoned blouse walk into the auditorium. Light glowed from within and voices echoed in the still night. Soon the smell of food wafted towards us through the open windows, and my stomach rumbled.

  'Daisi, shhhhh' Mark whispered

  Then a larger car made its way slowly through the parking area and from it, Gavin Cloud stepped out dressed in a business suit with his bald head shining under the moon.

  Beside me, Eliza made a forward motion and hissed, Madden held her arm tightly as she snarled, 'suddenly I'm feeling very very hungry.'

  'Me too' I replied automatically, and a puzzled frown crossed her perfect face.

  As Cloud entered the hall, he casually kicked a couple of shoes from his path and we could hear a burst of applause and a hubbub of voices rising to meet him.

  About 10 minutes later ,after the sound of chairs scraping on the floor stopped, Gavin Cloud's tones could be heard rising and falling through the windows in front of us. His words were indistinct but the tone was unmistakably vicious and unforgiving.

  Suddenly there was a change in the air, the stillness of the night was disturbed by soft sounds of rustling leaves, the long grass swayed and danced in the moonlight and long shadows which resembled tall trees with odd shaped protuberances moved close to our location.

  They weren't trees. They were tall, short, fat and thin, clad in rags and with awkwardly placed limbs. Those that could walk, dragged their feet painfully , whilst others, footless, crawled or limped behind. They were human like, but not human. Even in the darkness the stark white of exposed bones could be clearly seen through their putrid flesh. Skulls poked through the place where eyes and noses once were, and the smell, the stench was overpowering and getting ever nearer to our position.