Morgan put the phone down and cradled his mum’s head in his lap. ‘I know what you are,’ he said to me. ‘I know. Andrew told me everything. But don’t think that being some kind of a vampire is going to protect you. I’m going to spend each and every day from now on hunting you until I destroy you. And I will destroy you.’
I swallowed hard. ‘I’m not scared of you, Morgan.’
‘Which just shows how stupid you are, ’cause if you had any sense, you would be,’ he replied in a voice that froze my blood. He turned to Andrew. ‘Andrew, I think you should make me the same as you. She wouldn’t stand a chance against both of us.’
‘No, Morgan. Jayna is my problem.’
I looked back at Andrew and his eyes narrowed.
‘So, Jayna, if this is the way you want it . . .’ he told me ominously.
I looked around. Mrs Harrison was unconscious. Morgan would stop at nothing now to get me. And as for Andrew . . . Andrew was a stranger. A dangerous stranger. Everything was closing in on me. The walls. Morgan. Andrew. What I was. What I’d become. All the things I’d given up, and for what? For nothing. For some silly, naive romantic dream that was nothing more than an illusion.
So I fled.
I bolted for the front door and flung it open and ran.
‘No, Andrew, don’t go after her. I know how we can get her to come to us . . .’ I heard Morgan say.
I kept running. A slight drizzle began to fall. The moon was hidden behind a thick blanket of dark clouds. I ran faster and faster until the people I passed in the street could only feel me as a gust of night air rushing by them.
And I was crying. I wiped my hands across my face and was surprised, then not surprised, to see blood. No more salt-water tears. Just tears of blood.
I didn’t know where I was running to. Where could I go? Back to the derelict office block? Andrew might find me there. All he’d have to do was wander around and concentrate on hearing my breathing or smelling my perfume or listening for the sound of my crying. I had to keep moving. I didn’t dare stop, at least not until I was closer to the dawn than I had yet been. Only then could I be reasonably certain that Andrew would be more concerned about finding shelter for the day than finding me. But that would still leave Morgan . . .
I kept running and walking, and hiding at every muted sound that might be Andrew. I wondered how Mrs Harrison was doing. In spite of everything I hoped she was all right. Never again would I forget how strong I was.
And what about my mum? I’d told her I would see her soon but I didn’t dare risk it. Maybe Morgan and Andrew would start watching our house, expecting me to turn up there sooner or later. I couldn’t let Mum or Teegan get involved in this. I had to find a way out of this one myself. One thing was for sure: Andrew and Morgan wouldn’t rest until they found me. Would Andrew make Morgan a blood drinker as his brother had requested? Morgan wouldn’t rest until he got his way. Would I have at least one day’s grace before I had to face them both?
I walked until I found myself outside Diane’s house. It was early morning now, an hour at most before dawn. The street was dimly lit by the street lamps, the silence around me deafening. Only two of the houses in the street still had their lights on. Diane’s house was in darkness, but I knew her bedroom was at the back. After making sure that there was no one else around, I jumped the side gate and walked up the path to the back garden. I stood there, considering.
What if I made Diane a blood drinker, the same as me? Then I wouldn’t be alone – I’d have someone else on my side. I wouldn’t wake her up, though. If I drank just enough blood to knock her out – if I could face drinking human blood, that is – then I could carry her somewhere safe and make her one of us. If Andrew could do it, why not me? I could get in through the window easily. All I had to do was jump up on the kitchen windowsill and then spring up to her open window. Diane would join me. I knew she would. We were friends.
Oh my God . . .
I hung my head.
‘How could you?’ I whispered.
Diane and I were friends. So was I really going to drag her into my miserable life sentence? Death sentence? I wouldn’t visit what I was now on my worst enemy, so how could I even think of inflicting this life on Diane? And at that moment, it struck me how totally alone I really was. This wasn’t living. I was struggling just to stay alive. God, how I missed the daylight. How I missed sunshine on my face. Did I really want this for my friend too?
‘Sorry, Diane.’ I spoke up to her window.
I walked down the side path and, once out in the street, I started to run.
Again.
35
IT TOOK ME over half an hour of walking to decide what to do next. It was so logical I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I dug into the pocket of my jeans for my phone, but it wasn’t there. A moment’s pause, then I started digging through all my pockets, the ones in my jeans, the ones in my jacket. Where the hell was my mobile? Damn it! I wanted to send Andrew a text message, but how could I do that with no phone? Now what?
How did people send messages before phones? It finally occurred to me what I had to do, but I needed some things first. I travelled all the way into town to find a twenty-four-hour supermarket that sold writing pads and envelopes. Glancing down at my watch, I realized that I didn’t have much time left before the sun rose. The minutes were running faster than I was. And I was getting dizzy.
I knew I needed to feed some more but I simply couldn’t face it. Not tonight. Not after so much blood had already been spilled. What I was doing was dangerous – I might not wake up the next evening – but the thought of feeding again that night . . .
Hopping onto a night bus, I sat in the rear seat upstairs, as far away from the other two people on the bus as I could get. For the first time I wasn’t sure if I trusted myself. The need to feed was getting worse. And lone people were easier to find than stray animals. The fact that I could even think like that sickened me. How long would it be before I had no choice but to feed on people? Or maybe I would have a choice and just wouldn’t care any more. Was that how Andrew had felt when feeding on Pete? And was Pete only his first victim? I felt sure now that he had killed others. Perhaps it was just a matter of time before I would too . . .
‘Never,’ I told myself fiercely. ‘Don’t ever do that.’
As I sat back in my seat, I forced myself to calm down and think properly. When Mrs Harrison had been knocked out . . . when I’d knocked her out, she’d been badly injured. I saw that at once. So the chances were that Morgan and Andrew hadn’t been out looking for me at all. They were probably both at the local hospital with their mother still. I hoped fervently that they were, as I couldn’t deliver my letter otherwise. I felt sure I was right. Morgan and Andrew would be too busy with their mother to think about me. There was always tomorrow for that . . . and the next day, and the day after that.
I dug a pen out of my pocket and started to write:
Dear Andrew,
I’ve decided that
I scrunched up the piece of paper and threw it on the floor. I started again.
* * *
Andrew,
I’ve decided that the best thing for both of us is for me to go away, far away. Please believe me, I didn’t mean to hurt your mum. We had an argument a quarrel and I lost my temper and slapped her. I forgot how strong I am we are. That’s the truth, I swear it is. I hope with all my heart she gets better.
You had no reason to do what you did to Pete. He hadn’t split us up. I was trying to find you to tell you that. I wanted you to know that I loved you and I’d finally accepted who and what we are, but I always did have lousy timing.
Jayna
* * *
I folded up the letter and put it in an envelope.
Ten minutes later the bus stopped as close to Andrew’s house as it was ever going to get. I got off and stood still for a few moments. Even being this near his house made me nervous. What if I was wrong and he was at home?
&nb
sp; ‘Come on, Jayna. You’re not a coward,’ I whispered to myself, then immediately wished I hadn’t. If Andrew was anywhere within the next few streets, with his hearing he was bound to have heard that. I stood still and listened. I could hear nothing out of the ordinary – this early in the morning there was barely anything to hear. I started walking.
Once I reached Andrew’s street, I entered the back gardens via the side gate of the first house. I’d have more cover if I approached his house from behind rather than from the road. When I reached the Harrison garden I was perspiring, not from exertion but from fear. I jumped onto the conservatory roof as quietly as I could, but still I made a slight noise. I waited for countless seconds. Nothing. Shaking, I jumped up onto the roof and froze. If Andrew were in the attic he must surely have heard me.
There was no sound, no movement from within. Ducking low, I ran across the sloping roof to the skylight. It was open. That usually meant that Andrew wasn’t home. When I’d been in the attic, Andrew closed it only when we were ready to settle down for the day. He’d covered the skylight from the inside with a thick, midnight-blue, velvet curtain that his mum used to keep in a drawer. No light could penetrate that but, as a precaution, Andrew and I still had placed our sleeping bags in the darkest corner of the attic, as far away from the skylight as we could get.
So this was it. If the open skylight was a trick to get me into the attic then I was about to fall for it. Opening it slightly wider, I took a deep breath and jumped down. I immediately expected Andrew to grab my arms, with Morgan there to help him.
Silence. I was alone.
Almost crying with relief, I went over to Andrew’s sleeping bag. I wasn’t going to hang around waiting for him to come back. Placing the letter where he couldn’t help but see it, I headed back for the skylight. I jumped out, then paused on the roof. Apart from a cat mewing, several houses away, and the breath of the wind, there was no sound. I leaped down from the roof, straight into the garden. I was winded slightly on impact but that was all. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to drift away for a few moments as I tried to decide what to do next, but my mind was blank. First things first. I needed to find shelter out of the sun and sunrise was mere minutes away. With a sigh I opened my eyes and jumped over the fence into the next house’s garden. Then I heard it, the sound of footsteps. One set almost indiscernible, the other heavy. I froze.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll find her,’ said Morgan.
‘Morgan, you’re not to do anything without me.’
‘You think I’m afraid of her? I don’t care if she is a vampire. She could be a vampire and a werewolf combined and I’d still get her!’
‘No, you wouldn’t. She is far stronger than you and she could rip your head off in one move without breaking a sweat. She’s almost as strong as me now. My only threat.’
‘Then why don’t you make me a vampire too?’
‘We’ve been over this before.’ Andrew sighed. ‘Making Jayna the same as me was a mistake. And I don’t repeat my mistakes.’
‘But I want you to—’
‘No! That’s final.’
There was a moment’s pause as they opened the side gate, closing it behind them. I crouched down lower, barely daring to breathe, willing my heart to slow its beat.
‘I wouldn’t have believed any of this if I hadn’t seen what you did to that black guy,’ Morgan said.
‘I’m sorry I did that. I shouldn’t have lost my temper and hit him. Oh hell! I . . . I heard his neck snap. He didn’t stand a chance. And then the smell of his blood . . .’ I heard Andrew shake his head.
‘What’s done is done,’ Morgan dismissed. ‘The point is, what are you going to do now?’
‘I’ll find Jayna. Don’t worry.’ Andrew’s tone chilled my blood. And still I didn’t dare breathe.
‘And when you find her?’
There was no reply.
‘Just don’t forget, little brother, that she tried to kill our mother. You know how we found her, bent over Mum’s wrist, ready to drink her blood.’
‘I’m not likely to forget, am I?’
‘And you know what the doctor at the hospital said . . .’
‘Morgan, I heard him. My ears do work, thank you.’
‘Well, I know you. All Jayna has to do is tell you some cock and bull story about it being an accident and you’d believe her.’
‘Not this time. Don’t worry, Morgan, I know better now,’ Andrew said softly. ‘Jayna is my immortal enemy.’
‘Too right. We’ve got to make sure that she doesn’t get to Mum or any of us ever again.’
Andrew took a deep breath. ‘I know . . . I shouldn’t have made her the same as me. It was a mistake. I had no right.’
‘You didn’t hold a gun to her head,’ Morgan scoffed. ‘It was her choice. I bet she couldn’t wait. It was her chance to get back at Mum and Dad and me.’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘There you go again, defending her,’ Morgan said furiously.
‘Drop it, Morgan. And I mean it. You’re not to do anything until I wake up later this evening. We’ll find her together.’
‘And make her pay.’
Andrew didn’t answer. He didn’t have to.
I listened as he sprang up onto the conservatory roof. I drew back into the shadow of the fence, praying that he wouldn’t turn round and see me. Morgan lifted up the loose brick that covered the spare key to the conservatory door and let himself into the house. Even then I only dared to let out my breath a very little at a time. I had to get out of here. Fast. The sunrise was less than ten minutes away.
Shelter first, then I had to sort out what to do. There had to be a way.
Then it hit me. Julius. The only place to get any answers was in Fipoli. Julius was the only one who could help Andrew and me now.
He was my only hope.
36
IT TOOK SIX nights of travelling to make it to Fipoli. Having to find safe places to spend my days had slowed me right down. I didn’t take much with me, just a sleeping bag, underwear and a change of clothes. And each night I fed, I felt worse and worse about what I was doing. I was alive, but this wasn’t living.
I wasn’t going to give up. I knew what I wanted now. It was simple. I wanted to be changed back into a normal person. I wanted to be a boringly ordinary individual again. Once I’d returned to normal – and surely there was a way of changing my blood back, some kind of transfusion I could have – then maybe I could persuade Andrew to join me. Surely he had read my letter, and now that he’d had time to calm down and think, he must have realized that I wasn’t his enemy. What had he called me? A threat? What a joke!
Once I was back to normal, Andrew would remember how things used to be between us. Surely, like me, he wanted that back? Everything else was lies and talk. If he could revert to human, he would. I was convinced of it.
And if he didn’t . . .?
I shook my head, refusing to speculate in that direction. All I had to do was convince Andrew that what had happened with his mother had been an accident. A way back for both of us was something to be seized with eager open arms. But first things first.
Find Julius.
I came into Fipoli from the northern route. It felt strange to see it again, after what seemed like years rather than a few weeks. The whitewashed buildings with their coloured shutters were like something from another world.
It was almost five o’clock in the morning and the streets were deserted. Not just empty, but deserted. Not a dog, not a cat, not a homeless person. Nothing. I made my way to the main street running through Fipoli town centre. I knew my way and I didn’t have much time since the dawn was fast approaching – I’d cut the last part of my journey very fine.
Within two or three minutes of finding the main street, I was at Julius’s house. I’d fed only lightly, so all the exertion made me hungry, but I wasn’t going to feed. Not now. Not when I was so close. I strolled up to the front door and knocked. Now that I was here, I was
impatient to see him. He was my best and final hope.
After what seemed like ages, the door opened slowly and Julius stood there, shrouded in shadow. At the sight of him, my heartbeat raced. This was it. Would he remember me? Could he help me?
‘Julius, it’s Jayna. Jayna Lucas. I need to talk to you.’
His eyes narrowed, then without saying a word, he stepped aside and I walked cautiously into Julius’s house. The door shut almost silently behind me. I turned and we watched each other, warily on my part.
‘I am glad to see you again, Jayna,’ he said, speaking his strange guttural English. His voice sent a flash of lightning down my spine. There was something about the tone, the granite-hard stare of his eyes, that made me want to draw away from him. I remembered how I’d seen him with Andrew’s wrist in his hand and Andrew’s blood on his lips.
It was him. He’d started all this chaos. He was the one who brought innocent victims to his house, like a spider enticing flies into its web. But now he was the only one who could help me. Voluntarily or involuntarily. I was sure I’d read somewhere that if you killed the person who’d made you a vampire, you could return to being human as long as you hadn’t drunk human blood. Or maybe I’d seen that in a film someplace.
‘I came to ask you . . . to ask you . . .’ My voice faded and died.
Above us, in the room to the left at the top of the stairs, I could hear noises. Recognizable noises.
‘I see that Andrew made you one of us.’ Julius smiled slowly with satisfaction.
‘One of us?’
‘A vampire.’
‘How can you tell?’
He smiled. A strange, secret, horrible smile. ‘It is obvious. The way you look. The way you sound.’ He moved in closer, his nose mere millimetres away from my face as he breathed in deeply. ‘The way you smell . . . I can always tell. To me it is as obvious as your colour.’
So he could tell I wasn’t human any more. With a start I realized what I’d just thought. Human . . . Wasn’t I human still . . .?