Trajan impatiently tapped the handrail. 'Ben, leave him. This is getting us nowhere.'
'Just give me another minute. I'm on to something.'
Spiro Akinedes muttered as he painted. 'OCD has a neurological basis, can respond to medication. OCD can run in tandem with other conditions. Tourette's syndrome. And trichotillomania - this is the urge to pull out hair, eyelashes and body hair.' He glanced up. Ben noticed the man had no eyebrows. 'Pluck, pluck. Please, don't come any closer. It's your shoes. Shoes bother me. They always have. They go tramping through all that dirt; it's a feeding ground for rats; dogs use the streets as a lavatory; not all excrement you see on a pavement is canine; people, too. All shoes are magnets for microbes. Disease of the sole… get it?' The joke might have been part defence mechanism, but the man wasn't amused by his own witticism, he merely returned to carefully drawing the smiling faces that flanked the words 'They're coming to get you'.
Ben crouched down to watch the man work, but kept his distance… or rather made sure his shoes were far enough away from Spiro's arm as it made long sweeps to aerosol the red circles that would become the ☺.
Ben said, 'If you have OCD you repeat the same compulsive actions.'
'Yes. I shouldn't be ashamed, but I am.' The man blushed.
'Since childhood?'
The man nodded as he worked.
Ben rubbed his jaw. 'But this Vampire Sharkz graffiti is new.'
The artist paused for a second before adding the grinning mouth and eyes inside the circle.
Ben continued. 'People with OCD often believe that their rituals protect themselves from danger.'
'Or the people they love.'
Trajan said urgently, 'Hurry up. This is getting you nowhere.'
'On the contrary.' Then he addressed Spiro Akinedes, who compulsively repeated this graffiti across London. 'Who are you protecting with this message?'
'It's not a message. It's a warning. The faces are the protective element. That's what it means to me.'
'So who are you protecting? Yourself?'
Spiro shook his head. 'People look at me and they think I'm a piece of walking crap. They say that what I paint here is meaningless. But the truth is I love people. I love this city. Look at that.' He held up his hand. The fingers and palm were covered in blood red blisters. 'I get blisters because I paint this night and day. It's crucifying me but I've got to do it.'
'But you've not always painted the Vampire Sharkz message.'
'You're right. I used to be preoccupied with shoes. Every morning I'd put on rubber gloves then rub the soles clean with toilet paper. It took ten minutes to do each shoe. I had eight pairs in all. When I finished I locked them in a cupboard lined with clean newspaper. I'd go into another room but I'd be filled with this overwhelming anxiety that I'd missed a speck of dirt. I was terrified that my wife or kids would somehow swallow it and they'd be infected with disease.' He began gulping again as if the idea of dirty soles nearly made him vomit.
'So what happened, Mr Akinedes? Why aren't shoes your main concern now?'
'You're an insightful man.' He stopped painting and held out his hand. 'Lift your foot.'
Ben obeyed and the man touched his shoe. 'No, shoes don't bother me like they did. I couldn't have done that six months ago.'
'Instead of shoes it's now Vampire Sharkz graffiti. Why?'
'Because…' The man finished the motto. 'Six months ago I stood in my bedroom that overlooks a canal in Teddington. I saw shapes moving through the water like sharks. And just as I can see you they came out of the canal. They just burst out on to the bank in a mass of spray. There were some fishermen standing there. Only those things weren't sharks, they were people. They killed the fishermen by biting their throats and faces. Then I watched them drink the men's blood. After that they returned to the water. They swam like sharks.'
'Vampire Sharkz.'
'That's how I think of them, and if you know anything about OCD you know once a phrase gets stuck in the sufferer's head it stays there.'
Trajan became interested. 'You say there were people in the river that bit the fishermen?'
'Yes, go on, mister. Feel free to mock me. Call me mad.'
Trajan rubbed his face as if he'd woken from a trance. 'Then I must be mad, because I watched a man biting April.' He touched his side. 'Just here, above the hip.' His eyes were troubled and his entire body trembled.
The painter stared at Trajan. 'You've seen them, too?'
Trajan stepped on to the jetty to pore over the graffiti with a sudden fascination. He saw in that slogan the key to April's disappearance.
VAMPIRE SHARKZ
☺ They're coming to get you ☺
Trajan took a deep breath. 'So now you paint this warning all over the city?'
'Nobody else believes me but you.'
'Does anyone else understand the meaning of it?'
'You have to know this fact, mister. Not only do I think it's the right thing to do, my OCD means I can't stop painting it. This is my new compulsion. Before, I could almost control my condition because I knew the incessant shoe cleaning was irrational. But this is essential. I have to warn everyone.' His voice cracked with emotion. 'It blisters my hands. I'm exhausted, and do you know how much I spend on this stuff?' He brandished the aerosol can. 'I'm selling everything I own to buy more. My family can't take it. Sophie's taken the kids back to her mother.' He rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. 'But it's not a disease anymore. This is vital! I don't want anyone else to die, only I can't have painted it enough because your friend was bitten by these monsters; that means I've failed you and I've failed her; if-'
'It's okay,' Ben said gently. 'Now we know what's happening it's not a battle you have to fight by yourself.'
This seemed to relieve the man of his burden. His voice became calmer. 'Vampire Sharkz. It seems crazy but that's what they are. I know they appear to be human but they swim in the rivers and canals. I see them all the time. If you looked in here right now you might see one just under the surface. Fast, like pale sharks zipping through the water.'
Ben eyed the brown swirl of the Thames in the street light. It was closer to the decking as the tide continued to rise. Close enough, in fact, for a hand to dart from the waters and grab him by the ankle.
The man still talked. 'As well as the warning I knew I had to add a symbol of protection. The smiling face is just that. It's a happy human face. That has to count for something, doesn't it? It might help counter the evil that's in that water.' He nodded at the chocolate-brown liquid that swept its bobbing flotsam upstream. 'OCD doesn't fine-tune your obsessions.'
Trajan frowned. 'Are you saying that something that you call a vampire shark attacked my fiancee?'
Spiro said, 'I get obsessive about facts. I know that more people suffer from OCD than schizophrenia. I know it's caused by abnormal neurochemical activity. I can name every street in London. But I don't know the biology of those creatures in the water. But I paint my warning everywhere I can. That's the best I can do.'
Ben nodded. 'Thanks for talking to us, Mr Akinedes.' He held out his hand.
The artist shook it, then shook Trajan's with the words, 'I hope you find who you're looking for.'
As the pair left the pier, Trajan said quietly to Ben, 'Does he mean there's some kind of animal in the water?'
Ben eyed the river with distaste. 'That's exactly what he meant, but what the animal is he couldn't explain.'
'But who can?'
'A man said something very similar to Mr Akinedes yesterday. We should head downriver and talk to him.' Ben paused and looked back at the graffiti artist. 'Mr Akinedes. Do you know there's someone else who's been warning about a danger in the river?'
'Then I'm not alone.' The man was relieved. 'There's a chance we can save more people.'
'Do you want to come with us and speak to him?'
'Thanks. But I need to…' He hoisted the can into the air like it was the sword of truth. 'There's still some paint left.'
>
Ben waved a farewell as they headed out towards the road to find a taxi. Okay, the notion that something called a Vampire Shark lurked in the Thames was eccentric, if not downright delusional, but so far they had few clues to April's disappearance. At this moment every lead had to be followed up.
On the pier the man starting spraying the letters in bright red paint. V-A-M-P.
He'd just begun drawing the I when an arm reached out from the river and swept him into the water with barely a splash.
NINETEEN
April pointed down a night-time suburban street. 'Raj's house.'
'Raj's house?' Carter grinned; that glow of intoxication hadn't left him yet. 'Why Raj's house? Who is Raj? I thought we were looking for Ben Ashton?'
April chuckled; the sense of well-being after gorging on the blood of the would-be muggers left her elated; it was a high that wouldn't end. 'Ben moved. I know Raj, he's Ben's editor. I can get the address from him.' Smiling, she rubbed Carter's back. 'Then we call on Ben, tell him what we know, then he writes it for all the world to know! Clever, eh?'
'Wait.' Carter stopped her. 'We haven't thought this through yet, have we?'
'What's there to think? We've discovered something marvelous.'
His grin clouded. 'But it's like we're forgetting something important.'
'Carter. The secret to eternal life and happiness - not just happiness, but pure unadulterated joy, was right there under our noses all along.'
'Just drink blood?'
'Don't you remember that first mouthful of human blood? How beautiful it tasted? It was so right on your tongue.'
Carter licked his lips, revealing his gold crowns; he remembered that taste again. That glorious, glorious taste. April found her mouth watering, too.
'When you swallowed the blood you felt the strength rush into your body.' She spoke in hushed tones; this was the voice of someone who'd witnessed a miracle. 'I've never felt so full of life.' She wanted to shout the word. 'Life…. it's like electricity inside of me. I feel as if I could lift a house or jump as high as the clouds.'
Despite feeling elated, confusion crept back into Carter's expression. 'But it's not as simple as that, April. You're forgetting something. We aren't the same as we were.'
'No, we're better. Improved. Enhanced.'
'But don't you remember your old life? Would you have wanted to swallow blood from a man's body then?'
'That's before the revelation. We're New-Life now.'
'No.' Carter wrestled with the problem. 'We know we were attacked and ended up in the river. After that we woke up on the island. Changes took place in our bodies. We were hungry all the time.' The word 'hungry' made him swallow. The man's appetite was returning. 'Now we're back in London and we've killed people, April. Surely, that isn't right?'
That evangelical zeal to tell the world about the miracle made Carter's argument trivial. 'Listen, Carter. One day a creature started walking upright and became a human being. How did those creatures feel when they first started to speak, or chipped at a stone to make the first axe? We are human beings that evolved into a new life form. Come on, we'll find Ben's address then we'll talk to him. He's clever; he'll find answers to all those questions that are bothering you.'
She tugged him by the hand along the darkened street. Carter relented, although his expression suggested he still struggled with some conundrum.
In hushed tones April continued. 'I'll ask Ben to arrange meetings with scientists. Once they see how we've been transformed they'll be convinced.'
A cat on the wall shrank back with a hiss as they passed by. For a split-second April glimpsed her reflection in a car's rear window. Her face was a lifeless grey; black rings etched deep beneath a pair of staring eyes. Lips blue, with more blue patches around the mouth; streaks of blood; a spiky mass of hair frames a deathly face. Even though she clearly saw her mirror image for some reason the truth slipped by her as if she'd glimpsed the face of a stranger. All that filled her now was the glow of certainty; that April Connor was engaged on a quest of global importance. Her mind was clear: find Ben Ashton. Then report the miraculous truth of New-Life to the entire world. Simple.
By the time she pressed the door bell button at Raj's house the first hunger pangs had begun. That's okay, she told herself, I can handle it. I'll eat later. First things first.
She needed to ask Raj for Ben's address. Come to think of it, Raj will be interested to hear about the miracle, too, and he'll want the world exclusive for his magazine. Not that the money's important. What matters is the world learns about this miracle.
When there was no answer at the door she rang again. Through a window beside the door she could see the hallway clock. Almost 2 a.m. Raj'll be asleep, she thought. Give him time to answer. He'll be fascinated by what happened to her.
'No lights, nobody's up,' Carter muttered. He rubbed his hands against his stomach. The aura of well-being had faded now. April became fidgety, too. Her mind kept flitting back to when she sucked the guy's artery. That flood of beautiful blood down her throat. Could do with a little of that now, she told herself.
'Come on, Raj.' This time she knocked on the door. 'Raj?'
'Nobody home.' Carter was losing interest now. 'We could leave it for a while.'
'No. This is important.'
'Hungry?'
'No, not really.' She gulped. 'Maybe just a bit, but it can wait. Carter, we have the most important news to hit humanity in thousands of years. When everyone hears what we've discovered the world's going to be a better place - a million times better!' The final statement came out as a snarl. Her sudden appetite had an urgency about it. 'Oh, come on, Raj!' She hammered on the door. 'Raj!'
Carter ran his fingers through his hair. 'We haven't thought this through. There's something we've missed. This doesn't feel right. We shouldn't go public yet.'
'You're hungry, that's all. Once we've spoken to Ben he'll sort everything out, just you wait and see.' She pounded the door. 'Raj!'
A light blazed through the glass followed by muttering from inside; lock mechanisms clicked. As the door opened a tired voice complained, 'Don't you know what time it is?'
'Raj!'
The brown eyes in Raj's face went huge. 'April. April Connor! The police are looking for you.'
'Raj, let us in; we've got to talk to you.'
'Oh my, what happened to you?'
April gushed, 'Raj, let us in. You must give me Ben's address. My God, I've got a story for him. Ugh, my hair. I'm sorry, I look a real state. This is Carter. Oh, please let us in now!'
Raj stared at her. She saw the way he scanned her face, then his gaze traveled down her body. 'Your clothes are all ripped, April. And, my God, what happened to your shoes?'
As if for the first time April noticed she was barefoot. The rip in her dress revealed her bare waist with the bite mark of old. Then Raj regarded her companion with something more than distaste before saying, 'April, my dear, you've been hurt. I'll call an ambulance.'
'No!' It came as a shriek. 'Give me Ben's address. A miracle has happened. He's going to write the story for the press.' Her eyes traveled from Raj's horrified face to his hand that gripped the door frame. She'd never noticed the way his veins showed through the skin before. They could have been glowing with a light all of their own. Just a moment ago she knew what she'd tell the man. She'd recap what happened to her. The attack on the embankment, being thrown into the river, then washed up on the island; she'd laugh and make a joke of it. 'Can you imagine there are desert islands in the Thames? Well, I was your very own Miss Crusoe.' But all that evaporated now. The only thing she focused on was Raj's hand. The pulse throbbed in his wrist. All that blood rushing through. Although she couldn't bring herself to tear her eyes from that limb of so many wonderful veins she realized Carter stared at it, too. What had been hunger pangs in her stomach went stellar. As she'd experienced before that ravenous craving wasn't confined to her gut. It hurtled outward through her body. Even her fingertips hurt with sh
eer bloody hunger.
'April?' Raj's voice had gone far away. 'April, what's wrong? Are you in pain? Who is this man?'
'Raj,' she panted. 'Let me in.'
'I'm going to phone for the police,' he told her.
'Let me in,' she snarled. 'I'm hungry!'
Carter pushed by her to lunge at the hand that he knew would be crammed with rich, red blood. He snapped those gold-tipped teeth at his victim. Raj was just that bit faster. Carter's teeth clamped on the door frame and ripped away a foot-long splinter.
April saw her next move. It'd take only a moment. Push open the door, pin Raj against the wall then take her time to chew on that delicious wrist of his. She could open a vein then suck the goodness from his body. With all her heart she yearned to feel how she did just an hour ago when she blazed with euphoria; that was a precious time; she wanted to feel that way again when she fell in love with the whole wide world.
April pushed at the door to open it. Silvery links snapped taut in front of her eyes. A chain? Why a chain? Already the hunger was so intense she couldn't understand that Raj had automatically slipped on the security chain before opening the door. Now it was the only thing that stood between him and his destruction. Carter beat at the door, too. He wanted in. He craved the editor's blood. Their attempts to break down the door were thwarted when Raj managed to slam it shut. Bolts snapped home.
Raj was shouting, 'Try and keep calm, April. Something's happened to you. I'm calling the police…'
'Carter,' she snapped. 'Break a window. We've got to get in there. Carter?'
Her companion had raced from the garden. She saw that he chased after a drunken man - a lovely well-built man - who was tottering along beneath the blaze of street lights. She started running in that direction too, fearful that she might lose her share of nature's riches.