Her Vampyrrhic Heart

  Tom listened as his sixteen-year-old brother explained how he’d found the metal cylinder in the forest (Tom already knew about that), and how Kit had discovered that it was an automatic camera designed to observe wildlife. On Friday evening Owen, Kit and Jez had watched the footage filmed by the camera. Tom’s scalp prickled as he heard that the camera appeared to have captured images of a large animal – in fact, a HUGE animal – passing by at the dead of night.

  Helsvir? Could that have been Helsvir that the camera filmed? Owen would have heard rumours about a mythical creature that supposedly roamed the valley, but he no doubt dismissed it as some laughable story. Tom began to wonder how much he should reveal to his brother regarding the vampires and Helsvir, and how much he ran the risk of appearing like an out-and-out lunatic. Dear God, life’s been getting a lot more complicated in the last twenty-four hours.

  Meanwhile, Owen spoke about visiting Jez in hospital, and how his friend’s face had been so bruised that he hadn’t recognized him. Owen repeated what Jez had told him about the accident, including finding the only survivor of the minibus in the road.

  ‘Can Jez remember what caused the accident?’ Tom asked.

  ‘This is where the story gets really strange. Jez said he saw a big animal moving towards the woman … getting ready to attack her. So Jez drove flat out and rammed the truck into this –’ he shrugged – ‘whatever it was.’

  ‘Did he get a good look at it?’

  ‘Good enough. He said it was the animal we’d seen in the video shot by the wildlife camera.’ He sighed. ‘Of course, it might be shock that affected his memory. Or even all those painkillers they’d given him. He was, like, gaga – completely stoned.’

  ‘So he might have dreamt all this about driving into the monster?’

  ‘Monster? I never used the word “monster”.’

  ‘Sounds to me like he was describing a monster.’ Tom glanced at the window. Night had fallen. The world outside had vanished into sinister blackness. ‘I hope the police aren’t too hard on Jez.’

  ‘But Jez has got a witness. Someone backs up his story. The woman he saved – she said the monster chased her. She told the cops that Jez deliberately crashed into the monster that attacked the others on the bus.’

  June walked into the lounge, rubbing her head with a towel. ‘I hope you don’t mind, Tom, I used your shower. Oh? Sorry, I thought Owen had gone.’

  ‘You don’t get rid of me that easily.’ Owen laughed, pretending he was joking.

  Tom knew that he was annoyed. The kid must have thought they both wanted him out of their love nest. Of course, that wasn’t true. Owen was misunderstanding the situation.

  Owen stood up. ‘I’ll head off now. I don’t want to spoil your evening.’

  Tom shook his head. ‘You can’t go now. It’s dark.’

  ‘I’m not scared of the dark, Tom. I’m a big boy now in case you hadn’t noticed.’

  Owen stood at nearly six feet tall. On the other hand, Tom knew that he wouldn’t have a chance if a vampire attacked him on the way back to Mull-Rigg Hall. But was he safe there? Previously the vampires had never left the forest. Perhaps that had changed? After all, one had tried to drown Tom just a couple of nights ago.

  ‘Owen, I really do want you to stay here.’

  ‘No. I’m going home.’

  ‘Owen—’

  Something snapped in the sixteen-year-old. Suddenly he dashed for the door, flung it open and vanished into the dangerous night.

  FORTY-SIX

  ‘June! Shut and bolt this door, I’ll be right back!’

  Just a moment ago, Owen had run out of the house. He’d obviously believed that Tom had been more interested in getting all hot and intimate with the woman, rather than hearing about Jez’s accident. By this time night had fallen. Owen, no doubt, intended to walk, or run, home through the forest.

  Tom couldn’t let him. If the vampires pounced he wouldn’t stand a chance. He caught the pale flash of Owen’s face as he ran. Sheer terror of what might happen to the kid made Tom’s legs move with explosive power. He caught up with Owen as he raced through the trees.

  ‘Let go of me!’ Owen yelled as Tom grabbed hold.

  ‘Come back to the house.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s dark.’

  ‘Why are you so worried about the dark?’

  ‘Come back inside.’

  Owen snarled. ‘Why? Do you want me to watch?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Watch you and your girlfriend playing wrestling tournaments on the couch.’

  ‘Owen, it’s not like that. We’re—’

  ‘Friends?’

  ‘She’s related to Nicola.’

  ‘Oh.’

  Even in the gloom Tom saw Owen’s eyes widen. ‘Jesus, Tom. I didn’t think Nicola had any living relatives.’

  ‘Come back inside, Owen.’ He shot anxious glances into the darkness that engulfed the forest. The night had the same intensity of black that permeated a tomb. ‘Please, Owen. I don’t want you walking through the wood at night.’

  ‘Why ever not? I’ve done it loads of times before.’

  ‘Well, I was too stupid to warn you. It’s not safe out there after dark.’

  Owen paused. ‘You know something? Kit Bolter told me that you killed his uncle.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Did you? Because today was the first time I’d ever heard anything about that.’ Owen sounded angry and confused. ‘What made my friend say that?’

  ‘We need to get back to the house, Owen, we really do. It isn’t safe out here.’

  ‘You’re scared, aren’t you?’

  ‘Come back inside. We can get something to eat.’

  ‘And talk?’

  ‘And talk,’ Tom agreed.

  They walked back to the house. June unbolted the door and let them in. After that, Tom closed the door, turned the key in the lock, and shot the bolts across. For now they were safe.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  In the kitchen, Tom Westonby and June Valko put a meal together. Owen sat by the living room fire, sending texts. This could be a cosy scene of a happy family in their warm, snug cottage on a Sunday evening.

  Tom knew that the situation might flip from cosy to horrific in a second. Night had fallen. June Valko was here, the last of the Bekk bloodline. The Bekks had lived in this Yorkshire valley for more than a thousand years, ever since their Viking ancestors had crossed the North Sea from Denmark.

  June had consented to be bait. Their plan had more holes in it than a mesh screen, but the basic idea was that June would draw the vampires to the house, so that they might begin a dialogue with them. That’s a long shot, Tom thought, an insanely long shot. The vampires might not talk. They might kill instead. There are bars on the windows, the doors are locked, but there’s that lift-shaft of a chimney. Damn it, the chimney flue’s so wide a whole platoon of vampires could climb down there in forty seconds tops. So this plan to draw the vampires close to the house, yet keep them outside, could be fatally flawed. Fatal for him and Owen, that is. June has Bekk blood in her veins; she’s going to be safe as houses.

  June checked the oven. ‘Does the orange light go out when it’s hot enough?’

  Tom nodded as he tipped frozen drumsticks out of a bag on to a tray. ‘It’ll be good to go in a minute. Would you chop those tomatoes for me? I’m going to brew coffee. We’ll need plenty of caffeine.’

  June whispered, ‘How much does your brother know?’

  ‘About Helsvir and the vampires? Nothing.’

  ‘Are you going to tell him?’

  ‘Would he believe me? Or would he think I’m insane?’

  ‘I believe there are vampires in the forest.’

  ‘That’s because you saw them with your own eyes. Heck, you even fought one of them and saved my life.’

  ‘So you plan to wait until the vampires come to the house, so Owen can see them?’

  ‘We don’t know for certain they’ll come.?
??

  ‘You said I’d be the bait to draw them.’

  ‘That’s the plan.’ He lifted three mugs from a shelf. ‘But whether any vampires are going to turn up tonight isn’t certain. What if the vampire we suspect is your father is satisfied with seeing you? That might be enough for him. He might have gone back to haunting the forest like he’s done in the past.’

  ‘If my mother did come here, perhaps—’

  ‘No, June, there’s no way you can haul a critically sick woman through that kind of terrain out there.’

  ‘Tom, I know it sounds insane, only I’ve got this gut feeling that if somehow my mother can see my father, then …’

  ‘A miracle will happen? She’ll realize that he hadn’t deliberately abandoned her after all.’

  ‘She loved him so much, Tom. After he left that love became toxic – it poisoned her mind to the extent that she no longer wanted to live.’

  He shook his head. ‘Bringing your mother here will kill her. The shock of seeing those monsters out there will be enough to do that.’

  With a steely expression, she said, ‘The oven’s hot enough.’ She picked up the tray of chicken drumsticks, opened the oven and slotted them on to the shelf.

  ‘I’m sorry, June. It’s just that bringing your mother here is such a bad idea.’

  ‘OK, Tom. OK.’ Folding her arms she stared out of the window.

  ‘I’ll … uhm … check on Owen.’

  Owen sat on the arm of the sofa. He scrolled through pages on his phone.

  ‘Yo, bro.’ Owen sounded relaxed. ‘I’ve texted Dad to say I’m staying with you tonight.’

  ‘What about the other thing?’

  ‘Oh, yeah … I told him to keep windows and doors locked.’ Owen frowned. ‘But I didn’t see anything on the news about an escaped prisoner being on the run.’

  ‘They think he might be making for Danby-Mask; he has family there.’ Yes, that’s a humdinger of a white lie, Tom thought. But if the vampires were getting all predatory he wanted to make sure his parents were safe. Mull-Rigg Hall had barred windows, too, and thick doors … but, heck, nobody was safe locally from those things. Tom’s anxiety had grown by the minute tonight. He realized that everyone in the valley should be warned. But what could he do to alert people to the danger? He could hardly run through the village shouting, ‘LOCK YOUR DOORS! THE VAMPIRES ARE TURNING VIOLENT! SHUT YOUR WINDOWS! THERE’S A MONSTER ON THE PROWL!’ They’d pump me full of medication and call in the psychiatrists. He could picture the local newspaper headlines: MENTALLY DISTURBED MAN RAVES ABOUT VAMPIRES.

  ‘Tom?’

  ‘Uh?’

  ‘You’re doing it again.’

  ‘Doing what?’

  ‘Staring into space and not listening to me.’

  ‘Sorry, Owen.’

  ‘Something’s really eating you, bro. What’s on your mind?’

  ‘You can guess.’

  ‘Nicola?’

  Tom nodded. True, Nicola was always on his mind. Although tonight other worries gnawed at him. Like being cruel to June about not bringing her mother here. Cruel to be kind … that’s what I had to be. Also, he had the dilemma of somehow warning the local population that this had become a dangerous place. But how do I get people to believe me?

  ‘Damn it, Tom, you’re doing it again. You’ve got this look of dread on your face. Has someone told you that the world’s going to blow up?’

  ‘I’m just preoccupied.’

  ‘Just haunted by ghosts more like.’

  ‘What ghosts?’

  ‘Figure of speech, bro.’

  June walked in with a mug in each hand. When she spoke she snapped the word. ‘Coffee.’

  ‘June?’ Owen began. ‘How long have you known my brother?’

  ‘Since Friday.’ The woman didn’t linger and returned to the kitchen.

  ‘You’ve known her a couple of days?’ Owen watched Tom’s expression as if trying to divine what his brother was thinking. ‘You only knew Nicola a few days before you married her, didn’t you?’

  ‘Owen, I don’t want to talk about that tonight.’

  Owen sighed. ‘A text came from Jez. The police are going to question him about the accident again tomorrow.’

  ‘Maybe it’ll be a formality; you know, taking witness statements.’

  ‘It’s a pity we can’t catch the monster that caused the accident. The police would believe him then.’

  ‘The monster isn’t real.’ How many white lies is that I’ve told Owen?

  ‘I wish some big, hairy bastard out there had caused the accident. Then my best friend wouldn’t wind up in prison.’ Owen shook his head. ‘And there’s another text from Eden.’

  ‘Your girlfriend?’

  ‘I can’t call her that yet.’ Owen’s cheeks turned pink. ‘Eden’s worried about someone called Clarissa. Apparently she went missing from the village last night.’

  The news interested Tom – worried him, too. ‘Did she give any more details?’

  ‘Nope. Eden’s going to text me again when she finds out more.’

  ‘You really think Eden’s special, don’t you?’

  ‘Yeah, I hope this … you know, develops into … well.’

  ‘A relationship?’

  Owen nodded. ‘That’s what I’m hoping.’

  ‘I hope so, too, Owen. Be sure to text Eden. Tell her to keep the doors and windows locked. Stress that it’s important that she doesn’t go out after dark.’

  ‘Uh? This escaped prisoner?’

  Another white lie slipped easily from Tom’s lips. ‘He’s supposed to be dangerous. A real psycho.’

  ‘And the cops say he’s in this valley?’

  ‘Somewhere close by.’

  ‘So that’s why you’re all antsy about being outdoors at night?’

  ‘I just want people I care about to be safe.’ Tom’s eyes strayed to the fireplace. Maybe he could fix a steel grate across the chimney flue. Make the thing vampire proof.

  Meanwhile, Owen shivered.

  Tom glanced at him. ‘Feeling cold?’

  ‘It’s just a draught. June must have opened the back door.’

  Tom slammed the mug down on the coffee table, splashing its contents. He hurtled across the room in the direction of the kitchen.

  ‘June!’ he shouted. ‘June, where are you?’

  FORTY-EIGHT

  The door yawned open. Tom froze there in the middle of the kitchen. Outside, the forest lay smothered in darkness.

  ‘June!’

  Tom ran through the doorway into the back yard. He almost collided with the figure before he saw it. A face turned towards him, revealing a pair of blue eyes that were bright as electric sparks. When she exhaled a huge billow of white vapour poured from her mouth and went ghosting across the yard towards the trees … it was as if that ancient forest could steal the air from her lungs.

  ‘June? What did you see?’

  A note of astonishment filled her voice. ‘I didn’t see anything, but I heard him. He called my name.’

  ‘Who did?’

  ‘My father.’

  ‘June, you’ve never talked to your father, so how can you know his voice?’

  She seemed dazed. ‘I did hear him, Tom. He was out here, calling my name.’

  Tom glanced round the yard. He couldn’t see anyone. However, the line of trees started just thirty paces or so away. That forbidding mass of timber could have contained an army and he wouldn’t even know it was there.

  June hissed, ‘Listen.’

  Tom heard a faint breeze whisper through the branches. Nothing else.

  ‘Listen, Tom. Can you hear him? He’s calling my name.’ She began to move away from the house. ‘Wait here, I’ll go and find him.’

  He grabbed her wrist. ‘Are you crazy? They might be trying to lure you out there.’

  ‘Tom, let me find him.’

  The light falling through the kitchen door revealed her expression of rapture. She had a sharp intake of brea
th; the expression of joy intensified. Perhaps she heard her father again … or, rather, she thought she heard him, because Tom heard nothing but the breeze. The breeze blew harder. Its sheer coldness cut through his clothes, driving a chill into his skin.

  ‘Come on, June. It’s not safe out here.’

  She allowed herself to be guided back to the cottage. Once inside, Tom closed and bolted the door.

  Owen appeared. ‘You made a right crapping mess, spilling the coffee like that. But then it’s your house, Tommo.’ He used the nickname jokingly. ‘I got the worst up with tissues.’ He held up a soggy, brown pulp. ‘Have you got a cloth? I’ll mop up the rest.’ Suddenly, he noticed June’s expression. ‘What happened to her?’

  ‘He called my name.’

  Tom took one of June’s hands and rubbed hard, trying to shake her out of the trance. ‘Owen, there’s some brandy in the booze cupboard. Will you pour a glass?’

  ‘Are you sure she’s alright?’ Owen eyed her doubtfully. ‘She looks like she’s seen something …’ he grimaced. ‘Something bad.’

  ‘Brandy, Owen.’

  ‘Sure.’ Owen collected a glass and went to the cupboard.

  Guiding her into the living room, Tom stood her in front of the fire. Heat and light washed over her. Abruptly, she came out of the trance with a gasp.

  ‘Tom?’

  ‘You said you heard someone call your name?’

  She frowned. ‘Was that real? I thought I’d dropped asleep.’

  ‘You don’t remember going outside?’

  ‘No.’ She flinched back, suddenly scared. ‘I went outside?’

  ‘Someone, or something, called you.’

  ‘Tom, we’ve got to be careful. Take the keys out of the doors.’ Her anxiety increased. ‘We’ve got to keep watch on one another.’ She clutched his hands. ‘I’m sure they got inside my head. They made me go out there.’

  ‘I didn’t put any water in the brandy. Uh … sorry.’ Owen paused in the doorway. He’d seen June holding Tom’s hands. ‘Here you go.’ He put the glass down on the coffee table.

  Damn it, Tom thought, he’ll be convinced I’m desperately in love with her.

  June released Tom’s hands. ‘Thank you, Owen.’