They crowded up the steps which led to the gallery and as Alexandre approached the door, someone opened it and ran straight into him. Vasey-Smith.
The solicitor looked shocked, like he was running away from something, but when he saw Alexandre’s furious expression, his shoulders sagged. Alexandre grabbed him by the arm and dragged him back into the gallery.
The room was a mess. Smoke billowed and an enormous great hole had been blasted into the control console. Mini fires burned and electrical sparks showered and fizzed. Alexandre heard a woman coughing. Some of the smoke cleared and he saw Winston Blythe standing stock still, with the muzzle of a twelve bore shotgun pointed at his head.
Holding the weapon, Alexandre recognised the ruddy-cheeked countenance of Morris Foxton, wearing his usual attire of checked shirt and worn tweed jacket. Esther stood next to him, brandishing another shotgun. Her bobbed hair swayed manically around her face.
‘Hello, Alexandre, love,’ she said. ‘You alright?’
‘Yes thank you, Esther. I am now. And may I say it is quite wonderful to see you both.’
‘Did we do alright then?’ Esther asked her young boss, who had just walked in with the others.
‘Esther,’ Madison replied, her heart filling with gratitude. ‘You and Morris are a couple of life savers. Thank you.’
‘What d’you want us to do with this one?’ Morris asked Alexandre.
‘I will deal with both these gentlemen.’
The other vampires were rapidly gathering their strength and their wits and suddenly didn’t look quite so weak and shocked anymore. Their other-worldly beauty was evident and Madison’s attention was being pulled in all directions. Her eyes flitted from them, to Blythe and Vasey-Smith, then back to her beloved amazing Alexandre.
‘Take a seat, gentlemen,’ Alexandre said, pointing to two swivel chairs. They did as they were told, remarkably cool, considering the dangerous predicament they now found themselves in. ‘Talk to me,’ Alexandre continued. ‘I wish to know all about this evening. Why you found it necessary to revive my companions and then attempt to kill us. And I would also like to know why you have a room full of sleeping vampires downstairs.’
‘Very well,’ Blythe replied. ‘Robert, why don’t you tell Alexandre what he wants to know.’
Vasey-Smith turned from Blythe to Alexandre.
‘Well?’ Alexandre prompted.
‘We are a specialised firm of solicitors,’ Vasey-Smith began. ‘Most of our clients are like you.’
Alexandre looked perplexed.
‘Most of our clients are vampires,’ said Vasey-Smith.
‘You are a firm of solicitors who work for vampires? Why would they need solicitors?’
‘Why not? You still live in this predominantly human world. You want to live in houses and ensure your interests are looked after. You need to rely on people you can trust. Our clients trust us. We can do things for them they can’t do themselves. We can ensure their needs are met.’
Alexandre gave a short laugh. ‘Trust!’ he said. ‘You are the least trustworthy miserable excuses for human beings I have ever come across.’
‘I beg to differ. Our clients did well to place their trust in us. It is because we are safeguarding their interests that we had to eliminate you. They are extremely powerful; wealthy beyond anything you can imagine. They do not tolerate fledgling vampires.
‘But there is a problem - They’ve been unconscious for over two hundred years. They have the sleeping disease. Their systems have shut down. We don’t know what caused it, but we’ve been trying to find a cure for the past two centuries, to no avail. All we know is it doesn’t affect humans, but is highly contagious to all vampires. Up until tonight, you were the only one to come out of it.’
‘So now you want to wake all the others?’ Alexandre asked.
‘Yes, we will revive them.’
‘And then what?’
‘And then we will continue to look after their interests.’
‘And what about those in the storage room downstairs? Why do you have them here? I know the one on the table and I know he cannot possibly be a client of yours.’
‘You know him?’ Blythe said, surprised. But we have only just had him and his companions transported here. They were discovered very recently.’
‘Ha! Not as recently as you would think,’ Alexandre gave a bitter laugh and continued talking. ‘Gentlemen, you have no idea what you are dealing with. Those creatures you have stored downstairs are nothing like me or my family. They are cold, passionless killing machines. Ancient beings who do not care for argument or reason. They are beyond humanity; it is dead to them. Perhaps they never even were human. All they understand is blood and their need to survive at any cost. Even though they lie on their sickbeds, they are still so dangerous you cannot fathom it and if you revive them, I promise you it will be the last thing you ever do.’
‘That’s very dramatic, Alexandre,’ said Blythe who looked as though he was enjoying himself.
‘No, not dramatic, just honest.’
‘I think we have it under control. You have seen our security system. It runs throughout the facility.’
‘It did not stop us and it certainly will not stop them.’
‘Well, you can let us worry about that.’
‘Tell me something else,’ said Alexandre. ‘Your great grandfather, I suppose he was fictional?’
‘Oh, Alexandre,’ the old man said. ‘I am afraid so. And I am truly sorry to have lied. I am also sorry it was necessary to eliminate you. But even if we don’t manage to do it, you can be certain our clients will finish the job when they wake.’
‘The only thing you should be sorry about, is that you are about to die a horrible death and I shall enjoy being the cause of it,’ Alexandre said.
‘No, Alexandre,’ Blythe said calmly. ‘That is not going to happen.’
As Blythe had been speaking, Vasey-Smith had leant across and put a small black revolver to Madison’s temple. He stood up, pulling Madison to her feet.
‘Go,’ Vasey-Smith said to Blythe. The old man nodded, stood up and left the room unimpeded. Once Blythe had escaped, Vasey-Smith spoke again:
‘We all know you are powerful creatures, but are you really willing to risk a bullet in her brain?’
The Marchwood vampires stood and began to walk towards the solicitor.
‘Tell your family to back off, Alexandre.’ Vasey-Smith stood and jerked Madison up off her chair.
Alexandre felt an icy rage. This man had dared to threaten his beloved. He had sealed his fate. He looked into Madison’s terror-filled eyes, willing her not to be afraid, wanting her to know he would never let anything harm her.
She stared back, momentarily losing herself in his gaze. He kept his eyes on her pale face as he spoke to Vasey-Smith with cold hatred in his voice.
‘The thing you have to ask yourself is, am I fast enough to reach her before you pull the trigger? Am I quicker than the speed of that bullet as it travels down the barrel? Can I stop it before it so much as warms her skin?’
Madison suddenly felt fear and the imminence of death. Her head swam and her knees buckled. Vasey-Smith jerked her upright, tightened his grip on the revolver and pressed it harder into her skull. ‘If you were quicker than that, then you would already …’
As the solicitor spoke, Alexandre moved so fast, only the other vampires could track his trajectory. He was between Madison and the revolver before Vasey-Smith had finished his sentence. Before the solicitor had even thought about pulling the trigger, he was dead. His neck snapped like a wishbone. Alexandre dropped him onto the floor without a twinge of remorse.
He held Madison’s face in his hands. ‘Maddy, you are safe. I would never allow you to come to harm. Not ever. I love you. You are my life now, Madison.’
She was too shaken up to answer.
He sat her down on a chair and motioned to Esther to come over. ‘Please take care of her. I have to get Blythe. Wait here.’
/> *
Winston Blythe left the room and jogged to the lift. When Alexandre had first met him on Stinchcombe Hill, Blythe had carried a walking stick, but that was also part of the fiction like everything else. For Blythe was fit and healthy with no need of a walking aid. The corridor was deserted and when he reached the lift, he pressed the button several times, looking over his shoulder. He was under no illusions. If Alexandre caught up with him, he would kill him. In fact, Blythe was convinced Vasey-Smith was already dead.
Finally the lift door opened and he stepped in, pressing the button. As the doors closed, he felt a sudden presence. Blythe looked behind him and saw Alexandre. The vampire had caught him up and entered the lift without him noticing. He had vengeful fire in his eyes and he stepped closer towards the solicitor. Their faces were only millimetres apart.
‘Your vampire clients will shortly be following you to hell,’ Alexandre said, his hand approaching his neck. Blythe cringed backwards, but there was nowhere for him to go.
Then, with a ping, the lift doors opened and Blythe’s fear instantly evaporated, for just outside the doors stood more than half a dozen men with guns and UV lamps which they shone into the small space. Alexandre sank to his knees, his hands in front of his face to ward off the rays. Blythe dusted himself down, squared his shoulders and stepped into the corridor which led out to the car park.
‘Finish him off,’ Blythe said to the men and walked into the safety of the car park without a backward glance.
Four of the men entered the lift which contained the cringing hunched form of Alexandre. They held the lamps out in front of them and moved in closer as his hair singed and his flesh charred. The lift door closed and they descended. Alexandre doubled up in pain, but his anger overrode everything. Expanding and hardening, it bubbled up from his core and he felt as though his hatred would explode out of every burning pore.
He gave a roar and jumped up onto the elevator ceiling. He kicked downwards into two faces at once and then smashed the other two heads together. The lamps banged to the floor and the lift door opened. Alexandre’s body was already healing itself. But the UV had taken its toll. He was mentally exhausted and needed a few moments to gather his strength.
Alexandre ground his teeth and shook his head. He would have to let Blythe go. There was no time to pursue him now. But one day soon, he would track and destroy him. He had no doubt in his mind about that.
As he stepped out of the lift, the ultraviolet in the corridor flickered on and off erratically. This place was not safe for him and his family. He had to get them out. He went straight to the viewing gallery where the others waited.
‘Alexandre, you’re okay.’ Madison said. ‘Did you stop him?’
‘No. But there is no time. We have to get out of here. The UV lights could come on at any minute.’
‘I know,’ Madison said. ‘They were flickering down there a few seconds ago.’ She pointed into the operating theatre.
Alexandre checked on the others. Still dressed in their robes, they seemed less dazed.
‘How are you?’ he asked. ‘Do you feel strong?’
‘Yes.’ Leonora replied. ‘But we are ignorant about so much. When will you tell us what is going on? Madison has told us some of it and that much is a shock. I am finding it hard to take it all in. And my father … my father is ...’
‘I am sorry,’ Alexandre said. ‘I am truly sorry and I will tell you everything very soon. But for now, we must leave this place. It is not safe. There are men with UV lamps and guns in the car park. They may come after us.’
‘Don’t worry. We’ve got another way out,’ Maddy replied. ‘Esther and Morris didn’t drive to London. We planned a different sort of exit.’ She turned to Morris. ‘We need to leave now.’
‘Right,’ he said. ‘Follow me.’
Morris took them a different way. Down hallways, through a large conference room and past laboratories until they reached a huge service elevator. As they made their way along, the UV lights flickered, threatening to come on at any moment. Their intermittent rays randomly scorched the vampires like vicious spluttering lasers, uncaring of their aim.
‘Right then,’ said Morris as the lift doors opened. ‘Everybody in.’ Morris pressed the button and the lift began to climb.
‘We’ve got about two hours till sunrise,’ Madison said. ‘Are we gonna make it?’
‘Two hours?’ Morris said. ‘Plenty of time.’
The elevator doors opened onto a grim concrete hallway. They exited and followed the two caretakers to a set of fire doors. Esther grabbed the push bar and rattled the doors.
‘Blimin’ things are locked.’
Alexandre walked up to the door and pulled hard on one of the handles. The door opened with a crunch, splintering off its hinges. The fresh night air hit him, a welcome change from the stuffy antiseptic smell of the underground offices.
‘We are on the roof?’ Alexandre asked.
‘Yeah,’ Maddy replied. ‘We need to follow Morris.’
The caretaker was already several paces ahead. As they rounded a corner, there against the inky sky, sat a blue and white helicopter. As soon as the pilot saw them, he started up the rotors.
‘What is that machine?’ Isobel shrieked.
‘It is called a helicopter,’ said Alexandre. ‘‘And it is going to save our lives. It flies in the air like a bird,’ he explained to them. It is quite safe.’
‘What an incredible contraption!’ Freddie exclaimed. ‘So we really are in the future. I did not quite believe it until now.’
The noise from the whirring blades made further conversation impossible. Alexandre waited until everyone had climbed in and then he shouted across to Madison.
‘I need you to wait here for ten minutes. If I do not return within that time, leave without me and I will find my own way back.’
‘What? Why? What are you talking about? Where are you going?’
‘I will explain later.’ He leant into the helicopter, kissed her and gave his family a lingering glance. ‘Ten minutes, no more!’
Alexandre returned to the building. He had to do this now, or he and his family would most certainly face further danger later on. He only hoped that what he had planned would work.
In seconds, he reached the office he had destroyed earlier. With nervous resolve, he opened the door to the storage facility. But Alexandre’s nerves were for nothing - the table was empty, the white sheet discarded on the floor. The Cappadocian vampire had gone.
Alexandre could not afford to dwell on this setback for he still had work to do. He began pulling open the drawers. Grabbing at the metal handles and sliding them open to reveal the marble faces and bodies of a multitude of sleeping vampires. He started at one end and worked his way swiftly along the wall until every single drawer was fully open and every solitary creature exposed.
The rows of black tubes ran the length of the ceiling. There must be a switch somewhere. Hopefully near the exit. He scanned the wall and saw a row of switches close to the door. Good. He braced himself for pain as he pressed them all down at once.
Eight banks of UV rays pierced down from the ceiling and Alexandre felt the agonising burn through his body. Screams and hisses slithered from the drawers. But something was wrong. Not all of the lights had come on. He spotted several grids further down that must be linked to a different set of switches. He saw them - two more sets halfway down the room. He had to try and reach them as quickly as possible, before the rays destroyed him.
He ran but the pain was intolerable. His skin melted and blistered. He heard screams and metal drawers banging and breaking. Some of the creatures now writhed on the floor. Others clutched at their skin in agony. If he did not do something quickly, he too would die in this room.
He bent down and lifted one of the burning creatures above his head, using it as a shield. It fought and squirmed, but Alexandre gripped it tightly and moved as fast as he could. As he reached the next set of switches, he threw the creature
down against the wall where it exploded in a screaming ball of fire. He banged down the switches. More banks of ultraviolet hummed to life.
Alexandre grabbed another burning vampire aloft to shield him, but it disintegrated into floating embers and so he picked up another, only to throw it down again before smashing his fist into the last set of switches. Finally, the whole room was bathed in the deadly purple haze.
He lifted another vampire shield and through the knives of pain, he realised one of the creatures had jumped onto his back and had its arms around his face, scratching and clawing at him.
In one fluid motion he threw down the vampire shield he had above his head, spun around on one foot and smashed backwards twice into the bank of metal drawers, to try to weaken the attacking creature’s hold. Then he reached up behind him and pulled it off his back, sliding it over his head so now it became his new protection from the overhead onslaught.
He kicked away another howling vampire who clutched at his ankle and pushed and punched away yet more who ran and crawled towards him. Alexandre managed to fumble and fight his way out of that chamber of torture and at last he closed the door behind him. His face was melting off his bones and, on top of the agony, he felt like he was suffocating. He could not believe he was still capable of standing.
He hoped and prayed the vampires would all be too confused and weak to find their way out of the room. He piled everything he could lay his hands on against the door, knowing it would do little to keep them at bay if they survived the UV. Their screams blended with the crashing of metal.
Alexandre realised he had probably been gone for more than ten minutes and so, almost healed, he moved as fast as he could to get back up to the roof.
*
‘That’s ten minutes gone,’ said Morris.
‘Don’t care how many minutes have gone,’ replied Madison. ‘We’re not going anywhere till Alex gets back.’
‘Thought as much,’ Morris replied.
‘So this machine actually lifts up into the air with us in it?’ Jacques asked.