London Under Midnight (30 page)

    Meanwhile, April's wordless screech attained a banshee intensity.

    

    

    With her bare feet April kicked at the locked door. Why on earth couldn't she make Ben understand what she said? He merely stared at her with a mixture of bafflement and disgust. What had gone so wrong with him to make him look at her like that?

    The hunger blazed through her. More than once she found herself rolling on the floor in agony. Dear God, if only she could eat; if she could fill this searing void inside her body she'd be able to think clearly again. Desperately, she tried to hang on to her vision of helping humanity. Again and again she tried to visualize herself sitting beside Ben at the computer as they worked on her extraordinary story together. The miracle of how a vicious attack evolved into the most wonderful discovery of modern times.

    For a moment she mouthed her story as if dictating to Ben. 'I was walking beside the River Thames with my fiance when we were attacked. Who was our attacker? Oh, just some thug. It's what happened after that's important. I was washed up on an island that must possess miraculous properties…'
But it wasn't like that was it, April? The change didn't begin with your arrival on the island. The man who attacked you tore open your dress. Then he bit through the skin on your waist…

    She opened her eyes. Somehow she'd stumbled on to bare boards. In surprise she looked round. Above her, the moon shone as bright as a blow torch. The wind blew her hair. She saw a window to the salon was open wide.
My God, I climbed through it without realizing. I'd been thinking about what happened to me. The man who bit me sucked blood from me into his body then regurgitated it into the wound.

    The image came with shocking suddenness. She scrambled on to her feet then stood there on deck, clinging to the rail that ran along the flank of the boat. Open water stretched into the distance. And constantly the moon that was brighter than the sun blasted its silver light down on the world. She tried to think about her mission to make the planet a better place. But her entire mind, body and soul focused on one thing.
Hunger.
It burned inside of her. The hunger began to consume her own flesh from within. If she didn't eat soon she would die. And when she did picture food she imagined a vast wound in a living body that pumped an endless stream of crimson into her mouth.

    With her last grasp on sanity gone she raced to the stern of the boat. Carter had been strung across the doorway with his wrists tied to the frame. His head rolled from side-to-side as he howled with hunger. Beyond Carter were three living vessels filled to the brim with pure nourishment. Saliva ran from her lips as she pushed by Carter into the little pilothouse where Trajan steered the boat. With a howl of glee at having so much food for herself she leapt on the three men.

    

    

    Elmo Kigoma warded off the bite directed at Ben. April's teeth crunched through Elmo's skin on the back of his hand, ripping away a shred to expose raw flesh beneath. Ben pushed her back by the shoulders as she sucked the scrap of skin into her mouth to squeeze the traces of blood out on to her tongue. Her howl gave way to a moan of pleasure.

    Even though the pain of the bite must have been considerable Elmo Kigoma merely grimaced. 'You've got to hold her, Ben. Don't let her bite you.'

    Ben tried but her strength was uncanny. She pushed him back so hard he cannoned into Trajan. In turn, Trajan bounced against the craft's wheel; then he fell back to the floor clutching his chest. Ben struggled to keep the boat on course with one hand, while holding back April who fought him like a wild animal. Her entire body became a blurred flurry of movement. Her mouth darted at his face. Behind her, Elmo had hold of her hair, impeding her but not stopping her. And, behind the old African, Carter had succumbed to his vampire nature. He struggled against his bonds. If he should break free…

    Trajan had been badly winded. Between gasps he shouted, 'Ben! I saw the island… directly in front of the boat… try and hold a course toward it…'

    'I can't do both!' He meant he couldn't steer as well as hold back this raging typhoon of a creature, even with Elmo's help. Nevertheless, he glanced out through the window and saw a moonlit island to his right. Little more than a few acres in the vastness of the Thames estuary, it appeared alive with willow trees that shifted restlessly in the breeze as if they anticipated dangerous times ahead.

    Fingernails raked his cheek forcing him to exert more strength to try and push April away from him. The vampire's strength was formidable. He couldn't hold her back much longer. How close were they to the island? It couldn't be far now. He risked a glance back. From the willows that formed a swarming mass of shadows he glimpsed the roof of a house.

    'Carter,' he called, 'is that the island?'

    Carter howled, 'Let me go!' His eyes rolled as saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth. The velvet cords had begun to fray. How long before they snapped? The pair of vampires would tear the mortal men apart in seconds.

    As April opened her mouth and jutted her face forward an object slipped between them. Ben realized that Elmo had managed to remove his belt and had dragged the leather strap into April's mouth like a bridle. Insanely, eyes blazing, she tried to gnaw through it. Elmo tugged her back with the looped belt.

    Trajan struggled to his feet. 'Knock off the power!' he directed. 'You're heading straight for it!'

    Ben turned away from Elmo battling with the crazed woman to see the island directly in front of him. One moment the boat skimmed across the water, plumes of spray jetting up into the air, the next a series of collisions threw Ben back against the wall. Beneath the keel came a deafening scraping sound. When he managed to look out of the window again he saw the mass of trees. Then there came a tremendous jolt. Instead of water being hurled up by the prow suddenly there was a geyser of yellow material that could only be sand. The nose of the boat flipped up until it seemed as if the boat stood on its stern then it crashed back down on to solid ground.

    

    

    The silence following after the boat crashed ashore was profound; for Ben it possessed a menacing resonance all of its own. Even April and Carter were stunned by the impact. At the third attempt Ben managed to scramble to his feet. Beyond the windows lay a beach of sand that was a mixture of greys and yellows in the moonlight. Willow trees formed black, beastlike shapes at this time of night. As the breeze passed through them they wriggled as if they were primeval animals that shook their backs as they began to wake.

    In the doorway, Carter struggled to break the velvet cords that held his arms out straight in that crucifixion pose. His jaws worked as if he tried to chew lumps out of the very air around him. He'd lost all self-control now; his eyes had become two fiery orbs of pure insanity. Ben turned his attention to April who'd fallen to her knees. Elmo Kigoma still managed to keep the leather belt in her mouth so it held her jaws apart. Trajan had recovered enough to help restrain her threshing limbs. Even so, the men were weakening. Exhaustion obliterated all expression on their faces. Soon April would break free.

    Ben pulled a penknife from his pocket. 'Hold her still!'

    Trajan recoiled in shock. 'No, Ben. We can hold her.'

    'You can't.' He eased out the small blade that was sharp as a razor.

    Trajan's stared at the glittering blade. 'What are you going to do?'

    'Give her what she wants.'

    Trajan turned to Elmo as if expecting the man to stop Ben.

    Instead, he merely refreshed his grip on that sticky hair of April's in order to hold her head still. Ben turned his arm so he could choose a place on his bare forearm. Do it quickly, he told himself, before you change your mind.

    Human skin is tougher than it looks. He pressed the edge of the blade into his arm as firmly as he could. Then he made a sawing motion. The keen steel edge generated a prickling sensation as if a dozen needles had been forced into his flesh. At last the mouth of the wound opened to release a rush of blood.

    'Don't go too deep,' Elmo told him. 'That's enough.'

    'Hold her tight.' Ben moved to where they held April in the kneeling position in the centre of the cabin. By now she'd stopped struggling. Her eyes had become vast shining disks as she stared at the blood running from the inch long cut. Ben stood so that his arm was directly above her.

    'Don't let go of her, but take away the belt.'

    When the belt was removed she tried to rise to her feet. With a supreme effort Trajan and Elmo managed to keep her kneeling. As the blood coursed down Ben's forearm in a thick rivulet of crimson he allowed his arm to dangle so his fingertips hung just inches above her face. The bloody tide sped down his wrist then followed the line of his extended fingers. A moment later his life-blood trickled from his fingertips as she opened her mouth wide to receive the nourishment. Ben could tell she wanted to clamp her mouth to the wound but the men held her down to prevent her drawing off more than he could safely give her.

    In the doorway, Carter howled with envy as he watched the woman feed.

    'Just permit her enough so she regains her sanity,' Elmo told him. 'Don't give so much you become ill yourself.'

    With gasps of ecstasy April caught the ruby drops in her mouth. When she had close on a mouthful she swallowed with such an expression of gratitude. The contorted face relaxed into a smile of bliss. With the second mouthful her body became almost limp. Hunger yielded to satisfaction.

    'That's enough, Ben,' Trajan said.

    'Please,' April begged. 'Just another mouthful.'

    'Ben, no.'

    With an effort Ben remained standing. 'I need to give her just enough to stop the craving. We need her to be able to function.' Then he added grimly, 'It's either this or she'll take what she needs from us anyway.'

    With her face upturned her mouth became a cup that soon filled to the brim with what could have been a dark, red wine. This time when she closed her lips to swallow Ben moved back and clamped his hand over the wound.

    'April? Do you understand me?' Elmo gently shook her by the arm. 'We're going to let go now. You know you mustn't attack us.'

    She sighed. 'I'm fine. I won't hurt you.' Even so, her glance at Ben's bloody hand was one of infinite regret. How she craved to lick his fingers clean.

    Trajan released his hold on April with a grunt as he rubbed his aching shoulder. 'Ben,' he said, 'there's a first aid kit on the shelf behind you. Bandage the wound before you do anything else. Oh, one more thing. I need your knife.'

    Ben gave him a quizzical look.

    Trajan nodded at the man who raged against his bonds. 'Carter needs some, too.'

    As Ben handed Trajan the knife, April looked out of the pilothouse window. 'Be quick,' she warned. 'They're starting to come out of the water.'

    

    

    Trajan and Ben emerged on deck, each with a bandage around their forearms. Elmo, Carter and April followed. For now the two vampires were functioning as human beings. Although Ben saw that the blood they'd drunk had failed to give them complete satiety. Their eyes still flashed with hunger. The little blood that the two humans had been able to spare wouldn't keep these creatures satisfied for long.

    The boat had hit ground at low tide. Although the vessel leaned at an angle and most of the paint had been stripped away by its abrasive contact with the beach, at least it was intact. A mile or so across the moonlit water Ben could make out the oil refinery on the mainland. Yellow flames rose from the chimneys that burnt off excess vapours. As for the island, it didn't extend much more than a few acres. Most of it appeared to be covered by willow trees that rustled and shook; a herd of monstrous beasts that scented the arrival of fresh prey. Ben's imagination had reached a point where everything had become laced with danger.

    'April's right,' Trajan agreed. 'Here they come.'

    Emerging from the night-time river were dozens of crawling figures. While they'd been in the water the description Vampire Sharkz was apt. But now that they dragged themselves across the shore on their bellies, they adopted the same ominous manner as alligators. Their legs were limp as they pulled themselves forward with their arms. Most wore the remnants of clothes but a few were completely naked; their clothes had simply decayed from them. One factor they all shared was the way their heads were raised so they could watch the human beings on the boat with predatory eyes.

    'One thing's for sure,' Ben said. 'We can't stay here.'

    Trajan turned to Carter. 'How do you feel?'

    'I can't thank you enough. My mind's clear again. You don't know what it's like when the hunger hits.'

    'You said that when you were on the island you could maintain control of yourself. How?'

    'We drank from the salt pools on the beach,' April said. 'After the estuary water began to evaporate the mineral content and salinity must have made it resemble blood. Certainly close enough to keep ourselves under control.'

    Ben glanced at the things emerging from the river; one by one they rose slowly to their feet. 'Why are those things different to you? They've become mindless eating machines.'

    'I found that drinking from the salt pools took the edge off the craving,' Carter said. 'It must have been a crucial state of transition from human to…' He shrugged. 'Whatever we are now. I think they were damaged through lack of food. They became mindless monsters - Berserkers, I call them. April and me escaped the worst of it.'