June nodded. ‘I hope so, because my father’s out there. He’s one of those things.’
Jez suddenly leaned closer to the glass as he stared out. ‘Is that your father?’
June rushed to the window. Owen joined her.
Outside the front door stood Freya; the blond Rapunzel plait hung down her back. She remained completely immobile – a statue formed from uncannily white flesh. The moonlight revealed bushes, trees and the old stone arch that marked the boundary between garden and forest. The figure of a man stood beneath the archway.
‘Is that your father?’ Owen asked.
‘No.’
Kit pointed at another figure. ‘What about him?’
‘No; besides, he seems to be wearing a suit of armour.’
Jez pointed at a man emerging from the shadows. ‘Is that him?’
‘No … none of them are.’
‘None of them are?’ Owen’s heart gave a lurch. ‘Just how many of those things are out there?’
Kit said, ‘I’ve counted six.’
‘I make it seven.’ Eden moved closer to the window. ‘No, make that eight.’
That sense of panic returned. Owen’s heart pounded. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Quickly, he made his way upstairs where he looked out of every window. Moments later he was back.
‘I’ve got some bad news,’ he said. ‘Those things have surrounded the house.’
Eden’s eyes widened. ‘Will they attack us?’
Kit spoke with plenty of force. ‘You can bet every penny of your life savings they will.’
Owen agreed. ‘Tom said that they plan on turning us into creatures like them. Vampires.’ He gazed out of the window at the pale figures. ‘We’re under siege. Whatever happens, we can’t let them get into the house. If we do, we’d be better off dead.’
SEVENTY-SEVEN
TRAPPED. That simple word radiated a formidable power. Tom Westonby shone the light on to the boulders which blocked one end of the cave. This was the area where the shaft entered through the roof. The opening was gone. No doubt the vertical shaft itself had been filled with debris during the rock fall. Helsvir hadn’t succeeded in digging Tom and Nicola out of the cave – what the creature had done instead was seal them into their tomb.
Up there on the surface was the forest. The vampires would probably still be surrounding the entrance of the shaft, although they were now denied the opportunity of feasting on Tom’s lifeblood. No doubt Helsvir still circled the opening, roaring with frustration. Both Nicola and Tom were beyond its reach.
Nicola stood there beside Tom. She didn’t move; those strange eyes remained fixed on his face.
‘We’re definitely trapped,’ he told her. ‘There’s no way out that I can see.’
Even so, he continued to examine the cave. The torch revealed that they were in a space no larger than the average domestic garage. Brown rock formed the walls and ceiling. Littering the floor were leaves, twigs and the white bones of animals. He realized that most people finding themselves trapped underground would start screaming in panic. Yet complete calm filled him. In fact, he’d have described his state of mind as serene. Because I’ve dreamt of this moment, haven’t I? He chuckled. No, not falling down a hole into a cave. I’ve dreamt of being reunited with Nicola Bekk. And here she is. We’re together again. Yes, we’re trapped. We can’t escape. The air will soon start to run out and I won’t be able to breathe, but, get this, I’m not scared. I’m not one little bit frightened. He chuckled again.
‘What’s so funny?’ she asked.
‘For the last five years, ever since you went away, I’ve imagined what it would be like when we found each other again. I never imagined it would be in a place like this.’ He slapped his hand against the brown rock. ‘But I don’t care. We’re together again – that’s all that matters.’
She stared at him in surprise. ‘Tom, you do understand what I’ve become? I’m a vampire. I might attack you … bite you.’
‘You won’t.’
‘Oh, Tom, this isn’t easy for me. Don’t you understand? I do want to taste your blood. I want your blood in my mouth and running down my throat. I’m hurting inside, I want that so much.’
‘But you’re resisting the urge, aren’t you?’
‘Only just, Tom, only just.’ She gave a shake of her blond head. ‘Being here with you reminds me what it’s like to be human … you must understand, though, I’m hanging on to that tiny scrap of humanity by my fingernails.’
‘What if we sit here side-by-side and keep talking? If I remind you about the time we met, and how much we liked one another?’
‘Tom, you are in danger from me. I might not be able to stop myself hurting you.’
Sitting down on a boulder, he patted the space beside him. ‘Sit down. We’ll talk about when we met.’
For a moment, she stared at him – the fierce black pupils were intense points of darkness. At last she nodded before sitting beside him on the boulder.
He rested his hand on her hand. ‘Do you remember when we first met?’
‘Ah …’ A sigh fell from her lips, as if there was pain in remembering, yet happiness, too. ‘The freshwater pool in your parents’ garden.’
‘You were doing such a crazy thing.’ He smiled. ‘Imagine – standing in a pond at midnight?’
‘I remember how the water felt … cool, silky, sensuous … after a hot summer’s day that pool was so refreshing.’
‘When you were a little girl you used to walk all the way from your cottage in the woods to paddle in the water.’
‘Did I?’
‘That’s what you told me.’
‘Ah …’ That sigh again. Happiness and sorrow. ‘I remember now … the lady who owned the house before your parents invited my mother and me there.’
‘That was my aunt. She died, and our family moved into the house until her son was old enough to inherit it.’
‘Her son? Yes …’ Nicola’s voice rose. ‘I remember him, a little boy with blond hair.’
‘He’s sixteen now.’
‘Is he?’
‘He says that he’d like to be a professional diver like me.’
‘I’m sure I’ll remember his name …’ She rested her fingertips against her smooth forehead. ‘I should be able to remember … I must.’
‘My parents adopted him. I think of him as my brother now.’
She closed her eyes. ‘Please let me remember his name.’
Something cold squirmed inside Tom’s stomach. He realized that Nicola had lost more than her humanity when she became a vampire. The curse had erased many of her memories, too – all part of the dehumanizing transformation.
‘I want to remember his name,’ she murmured as she sat there with her eyes closed. ‘Please let me remember.’
Tom didn’t reveal the name of his brother. He realized that this was a vital part of the battle Nicola was fighting to regain her humanity. What if she remembered more? Was there a chance it might break the curse? If she could remember her past life in greater detail, would that be enough to resurrect the beautiful, mortal woman that he’d fallen in love with?
Her hand suddenly tightened around his with awesome strength. ‘Owen. Yes, I remember. That’s the boy’s name: Owen.’ Nicola opened her eyes again.
Her eyes were blue. That beautiful, clear blue that he remembered so well. Blue as the sky. Yet they were blue for only a moment. Quickly, the colour bleached out of them. Once more, they possessed the glistening whiteness of boiled eggs. The pupils resumed their intense blackness. But for an instant those eyes had been mortal again. They were just as he remembered them when he’d seen Nicola for the first time: when she had dipped her bare feet in the freshwater pond. After that had come a turbulent, sometimes violent time. They fell in love, and he discovered the existence of Helsvir. The monster acted as protector of the girl and her family. The downside was that Helsvir saw Tom Westonby as a threat. The monster had tried to destroy him. Then came
the night of the flood, which engulfed the village. What followed led to the horrific moment when he’d triggered an ancient Viking curse. This resulted in Nicola transforming into the creature that she was now. For the want of a more accurate description she was a vampire. A blood-eater. A thing of the night. More than anything in the world, he longed with all his heart to reverse the process. Once again, he wondered if the cure would be to encourage Nicola to relive her past. The more she remembered of her upbringing as a human, the more the vampire elements of her nature might fade away.
For a while, they reminisced about happy times together. Those precious summer days half a decade ago were magical. Sometimes they found themselves laughing over a funny incident from the past. At that moment, it didn’t even seem they were trapped in a cave. The place didn’t smell bad, it felt warm, there was no noise from outside. Helsvir and the vampires were safely on the other side of tons of rock.
Nicola laughed pleasantly. ‘Do you remember when you set out all those chairs in the garden?’
She is remembering, he thought. The past is coming back to her. Once again, flashes of blue returned to her eyes. What was more, the black veins in her throat had faded. It’s working. She’s becoming human. Even though his heart surged, and he wanted to jump up and shout and dance happily around the cave, he remained calm. Don’t rush this. Nice and easy does it. Keep encouraging her to remember. Memory is the magic spell. It’s turning her from a vampire into a human being. Whatever you do, don’t blow this chance.
They talked about the chairs in the garden. It all stemmed from the time she’d revealed a happy memory of when she was a little girl. His aunt would hold garden parties at the house not far from where she lived. Later, when everyone else had gone home, Nicola would play amongst the chairs on the lawn, pretending to be members of the audience at a fancy music recital.
A flicker of blue in her eyes. A blush of pink in her cheeks.
I’m winning, he told himself. I’m bringing Nicola back into the world of the truly alive.
The cave felt warmer, almost cosily warm. That brown rock, which had seemed so dull and earthy, had acquired a pleasantly golden hue. The colour of deliciously toasted bread. They were safe down here. Nothing could hurt them. He squeezed her hand and she squeezed his back. Here they were: two lovers reunited.
Why the truth had taken so long to strike Tom he didn’t know. But as the batteries in the torch started to expire, and its light drew dim, he realized they must have been trapped in the cave for two or three hours. He checked his watch. Five hours? We’ve been down in this little hole for five hours! That was when an alarm inside his head shrieked its warning. Five hours trapped in a confined space. No access to the outside world. No ventilation. He rested his fingers against the side of his neck. His pulse raced there – a frantic little motor behind the skin.
Lurching to his feet, he gasped. ‘Don’t you feel it?’
‘Feel what?’ she smiled.
‘I’m breathing faster … like I’ve been running. My heart’s racing, too.’
‘You ran from Helsvir, remember?’
‘That was five hours ago.’ He tried to take a deep breath; it felt as if a leather belt had been tightly buckled around his chest. ‘There’s no ventilation down here. We’re running out of oxygen.’
She stood up. ‘I never noticed anything wrong.’
‘That’s because you don’t need oxygen. You don’t have to breathe. You’re a vampire.’ Purple spots bloomed in front of his eyes. ‘That means you’re immortal.’
‘Tom?’
‘The irony, huh? We’ve found each other again … but now I’m going to suffocate.’
‘There must be a way out of here.’
‘Through those tons of rock? Not a chance.’
The tightness in his chest became a vicious pain. His heart thundered as it laboured to drive what little oxygen remained in his bloodstream through his body. A hopeless exercise, because carbon dioxide levels would be building up in this confined space. Tom knew that once the oxygen dipped below a certain level he would effectively drown, even though this was dry land.
‘What a place to die,’ he panted. ‘In a ready-made grave.’
‘Stop pacing. Conserve the air.’
‘What’s the point? I’d only postpone my death by a few minutes. Dear God … this feels like an elephant’s standing on my chest.’ He leaned against the rock wall. ‘There’s no … no goodness in the air. It’s gone bad.’ Shadows streamed through his eyes into his brain, shutting everything down, switching off vital organs.
‘Tom, sit down.’ She put her arm round his shoulders.
‘I know what’ll save me. Make me into a vampire, too!’
‘I can’t.’
‘All it takes is for you to bite here.’ He pulled his collar away from his neck. ‘Do it.’
‘No.’
‘Don’t you see? Once I’m a vampire I won’t need to breathe. You’ll stop me from suffocating down here.’
‘No!’
‘Nicola, it’s the perfect way to save me.’
‘Tom—’
‘Listen. We’ll be together. What does it matter if we’re trapped down here for a hundred years? We won’t age. We can’t die. This is perfect!’ He cupped his hand behind her head and pulled her face towards his neck. ‘Do it! We’ll be the same. Not even death will keep us apart.’
‘Tom, stop it.’ She broke away from his grip. ‘Listen to me, Tom, being a vampire is like being an animal. Your memories vanish. You act according to vile instincts. You don’t control your life. Are you listening to me?’
He lurched across the cave. Oxygen starvation was killing him. ‘I’ve got no options, have I? I’m dying.’
‘Being a vampire is worse than death.’
‘Nicola, we’ll be together!’ He dropped to his knees. A choking sound began in his throat. ‘Make … make me into what you are.’
‘Never!’
‘Nicola,’ he panted, ‘after you left me, don’t you think I woke up night after night, wishing you’d transform me into a vampire? We would be together. We’d never have to part.’
‘Not like that. Not by becoming a vampire.’
‘I love you.’
‘But we wouldn’t be in love any more. How can a monster like me love anyone? Or be loved?’
‘For five years I’ve dreamt of being with you again.’
‘I saw you, Tom. You became a recluse. You turned your back on the world.’
‘I WAS WAITING FOR YOU!’ The cry robbed him of the last of his strength. He slumped forward, gasping.
She knelt beside him and gently eased his head on to her lap. ‘You can’t die.’
‘No air …’
‘You won’t die, because you’ve got to save lives.’
‘I can’t even save my own.’
‘Listen to me, Tom Westonby. I remember you kissing me for the first time. I remember when we first made love.’ The blue returned to her eyes. The vampire heart inside of her had just become a few degrees more human. ‘You came to this valley and I started to live like a human being.’ A flush of pink reached her cheeks. ‘Now I remember what it’s like to be human. It might not last for long … but you made it happen.’
‘Thank you.’ He smiled. ‘Then maybe this is our destiny. Me, dying here. You being almost human again. Perhaps that’s all we can ask for.’
‘No, don’t you see? You’ve got to get out of here.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Tom, you must kill Helsvir.’
He shook his head. ‘Can’t …’
‘You saw that he’s injured. He’s going to need to replace those parts of himself that are damaged. He’ll need human victims to do that.’
‘That’s not fair, Nicola. Helsvir can’t be my problem any more. Don’t you see what’s happening to me? In a few minutes I’ll be dead.’
‘Tom, before I found you I saw a group of young people go into the cottage. Now where do you think Helsvir
will go first for victims? His legs have been damaged, so he’ll find people that are close by. Those people in your cottage will be taken first. He’ll rip them apart and embed the limbs and heads into his body. Remember, he’s like a Frankenstein. He uses body parts to rebuild himself.’
Tom stirred. ‘My brother’s in the cottage. I sent him there.’
‘You mean Owen?’
He nodded, groggy.
She pulled him to his feet. ‘Wake up!’
‘Can’t.’
‘You will wake up. And you will kill Helsvir.’
‘Kill him? How?’
‘I don’t know, but I know you, Tom. You’ll find a way.’
His legs gave way under him. ‘Still trapped down here … no way out.’
Her savage glare scanned the cave walls. Though the flashlight had almost died, he could still make out the brown walls of his tomb. With a sudden movement she pointed at water dribbling through a fissure.
‘If water’s coming in here, there must be a way out.’
Even though Tom had almost lost consciousness, he still flinched with surprise when Nicola attacked the wall. The power of her arms was uncanny. She ripped away an entire slab of rock with her bare hands. As it fell, a surge of water entered the cave.
‘There’s an opening here,’ she shouted.
‘But does it lead to the outside?’
‘You’re going to find out.’ She caught hold of him and half-carried him to the void in the rock. ‘Then you will find a way to kill Helsvir. I know you can do it.’
He leaned into the opening. Cool air washed his face. So there must be a route to the surface after all. He breathed deeply. The numbness in his body seemed to vanish in seconds. His chest hurt, his head ached like fury, but he realized he had life-giving oxygen again.
‘Kill Helsvir?’ he asked. ‘I didn’t just imagine you saying that?’