The Vampire (THE VAMPIRE Book 1) (37 page)

Chapter 18

Highgate

Just outside of the hotel’s restaurant Augere was seated in a plush high back chair talking on his cell phone. Jason had awakened by 8:00 a.m. but had lazily lain in bed. Fatigue won out over hunger for a while but he made it down to the lobby by 9:00. He and Augere had not fixed a time to meet but Jason was glad to see him and waved as he went off to get some coffee. Augere nodded acknowledgement.

Augere was calling Allen Genier at his home in London.

“Hello, Mr. Augere. How are you?”

Augere paused briefly before answering. “Exactly the same as always.”

“Oh…okay. What can I do for you?”

“I am asking you to be available to me. I may need your assistance.”

“Oh…is there trouble?”

“Not yet. But I suspect there could be. We are planning on leaving tomorrow evening. I will be spending the day with the assistant. I do not believe he is well.”

“Is he—ill? Do you need to delay the trip?”

“No. Not ill. The departure should go as planned.”

“Is there a problem? Is he being difficult…? Oh…does…does he know now?”

“I am not certain of it. But something has changed. He is behaving differently. His is a strong character, but I think he may be having some difficulty with this.”

“I see. What can I do to help?”

“Remain available if I need to call for assistance.”

“I will do that. In fact, I will take a room at the hotel in Richmond, or at least be somewhere close by, no more than a few minutes away at most. I want to be as immediately present as possible if needed.”

“That seems a good plan.”

“And—if there is even a chance, a slight possibility of him creating a problem, I don’t want him on a six hour flight over the Atlantic with you. You may need to fly alone tomorrow. I will run this by James too. If it comes to that then, I will see to Mr. Sterling. It will be just as a precaution, and the best way to protect you.”

Augere sighed. “I guess.” There was a slight pause. “We will see how things progress. Perhaps all will go well.”

“Of course. It is just better to have an alternate plan in place. I will make other arrangements too, on a standby basis. I’ll call James a little later as it is only about 2 a.m. there. What is first on your agenda today?”

“I do not know yet.”

“Okay. Well call me when you get to your next location. It would be helpful to know where you are throughout the day.”

“Yes,” Augere replied. “I will secure his passport, and leave it for you at reception.”

“I think that is a good precaution also.”

The call concluded as Jason approached.

“Did you have breakfast already?” Jason asked, fully anticipating the negative answer.

“Yes,” Augere replied. Then, a surprise question, “Do you have your passport with you?”

“No.” Jason shrugged. “Why?”

“We will need to leave both of our passports at the desk. The Genier representative in London will need them to verify our return flight information. Bring yours to the desk before we leave.”

Jason nodded. “Sure.” He wasn’t used to foreign travel requirements, but it sounded logical to him. He didn’t give it a second thought and retrieved his passport from his room. Augere was waiting at the desk with a tan envelope with the name Allen Genier on it; he placed Jason’s passport inside, pressed the seal closed and handed it to the desk clerk to be given to Genier. Jason assumed Augere’s passport was in the envelope as well. Then they set off by taxi to the British Museum.

They split up briefly, but reconnected in the Egypt section. Jason saw things he had never seen in his life. The museum held wonders he could not even have imagined. He saw sculptures from ancient Greece; he put on white cotton gloves and through glass came face to face with drawings done by Michelangelo. He viewed the Rosetta Stone, and an intact 3,000-year-old mummy, his body made visible to the modern world through his still sealed coffin via the technology of CT Scanning. Jason indulged himself freely in the gift shop, buying things for himself mostly, and for his sister Carrie. After the museum they stopped for tea and a small meal. Augere had only clear fruit juice and ice water.
No wonder he stays so thin,
Jason thought.
I need to think about getting on that diet
. Though he was slender and well proportioned, Jason sometimes felt heavy and overfed compared to Augere.

Augere suggested they go to go to the Tate Modern next though not much time had been allotted for it. Jason was glad to accompany Augere to see what they could, and found the experience well worth it. Augere’s vast knowledge of much of the art on view continued to impress Jason almost as much as the collections themselves.

“This brush stroke here—do you see how the paint is elevated higher than the surrounding area? He had become obsessed with getting this one part just so. He must have painted it more than one hundred times. He was quite mad at that point in his life.”

Jason nodded, now quite fascinated by the work of an artist he had never even heard of before.

He had to draw Augere out; the comments did not always come voluntarily. They were in the presence of works by Picasso and Cezanne; Warhol and Lichtenstein; Matisse and Dali, and more of Waterhouse than what they had viewed before in Montreal. Augere seemed to know at least something about all of them. It was nearly like having his own personal docent. At one point, as Jason got Augere to discuss a particularly detailed painting, Augere paused suddenly in his narration and they both turned around to see a half dozen strangers at Jason’s elbow, straining with much interest to catch all Augere was saying. Augere laughed and continued.

It was already midafternoon when they left the museum.

“What is next?” Augere asked him.

“There isn’t as much time as I would like, but I was hoping to go to Highgate Cemetery today. I suppose I can manage to go early tomorrow though.”

“We were planning to visit the London Dungeon tomorrow…”

Jason thought he caught a hint of disappointment in Augere’s voice. Of course; he didn’t want to miss that either. He thought it would actually be a lot of fun to have Augere join him there.

“If we travel by taxi,” Augere offered, “you will have at least two hours. Will that be sufficient?”

“I suppose so.” Jason shrugged. “I could only visit the newer part anyway. They will not let you into the older part of the cemetery unless you are part of a tour. And I didn’t want to commit to specific arrangements. So, I guess seeing some of it is better than none.”

Soon they were entering the tall iron gates of Highgate Cemetery. A peaceful calm lay over the stones, as was to be expected in a cemetery, but a high creepiness factor surrounded them also, even in the daylight. Jason used his digital voice recorder to attempt to capture some electronic voice phenomena, even though he didn’t believe cemeteries held much in the way of that kind of contact.

“Still searching for more evidence of ghosts and spirits?” Augere asked, with some surprise. “Always, even while on vacation?”

“When would I ever get a chance like this again?” Jason replied.

“But you have had many such experiences already, have you not? Seen and studied all manner of strange things?”

“Yes, sure, some very unusual stuff.” Jason shrugged. “I am always ready to see and experience more though.”

Jason took numerous photos as he and Augere wandered leisurely through the sad and beautiful landscape, noting both Gothic and Victorian statuary. Jason felt the tour had been quite worth it, even for so short a time. They had only been inside for little more than an hour or so when a caretaker came along to usher them out.

“Damn. And it is still light out.”

“For another hour or more, at least,” Augere stated. “They always herd everyone out early. They do not want anyone to linger here after dark.”

“Well, I guess that’s it then,” Jason said. “At least I got to visit Highgate Cemetery. It’s been a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time.”

Augere appeared to be in deep contemplation. “We could still… if you wanted,” he spoke in a low voice, “spend some time in the West Cemetery.”

Jason looked at him for several moments. “But how?”

Augere shrugged one shoulder. “I used to live near here. I know how to get inside.”

“You’re suggesting we break in?”

“You say that like it would be wrong.”

Jason laughed. “Breaking into a cemetery, especially a famous one like this, could definitely get us into trouble.”

“Yes. Perhaps I should not take risks that involve you. It is not like we are vandals, however.”

“Well, wait…are you sure you could get us in and out safely? And we wouldn’t really be breaking in?”

“Not breaking in then. Trespassing.”

“I see. After hours, different rules apply.”

“Yes. Exactly. Do you always have permission, when you are searching for the spirits and strange things that you study?”

Jason eyed him warily. “Not always. But I don’t condone that. Usually.” Jason paused for several moments. “Okay.” He nodded. “Let’s do it.”

They exited the cemetery. Augere said good evening to the caretaker as they passed him and then asked the direction to the underground. They walked that direction for about two blocks; as they walked Jason glanced down to put his camera back in its case and when he looked up again, Augere was nowhere to be seen. Jason looked all around for him.

“Here,” Augere whispered and Jason attempted to follow his voice. Augere’s hand emerged from the thick hedges along the pavement and pulled at the sleeve of Jason’s jacket.

Jason had a difficult time squeezing through. How had Augere, even as thin as he was, managed it? And Jason didn’t even hear him do that.

Within the tall hedge, he could now see Augere’s back as he was walking away from him. Jason had to struggle through thick hedge growth to keep up. Suddenly the path got a little wider and easier to follow. Then Augere was out of sight again. Jason hurried in the direction he had gone. They seemed to be following the perimeter of the cemetery and now Jason could see, through the thick brush, a high fence along the path they were following. After a few anxious minutes he finally spotted Augere again, several feet ahead of him.

Augere was standing before a space in the fence, one that looked like it had been ripped open.
How on earth had he ever found this exact spot?
Jason wondered. Augere pulled at the fence, bending it upward, and Jason passed through to the other side, with Augere close behind.

They were definitely in an older part of the Cemetery now. They walked along a stone path and Jason took many photos of the beautiful statuary and tombs overgrown with ivy. It was more lush and green here than what they had seen in the East portion.

The daylight held as they walked leisurely. Jason knew this was a rare treat; even on the organized tour he believed one was not allowed to take photos. The two walked parallel to each other, each taking time to read an inscription here or admire a graceful stone image there. Augere really seemed to know his way around. As the light began to fade finally, the dimness and shadows added more interest to Jason’s photos.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped them. There was very little light anymore and it was becoming difficult even to see the path where they were walking. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, Jason thought now.

No wonder they want you out before it really gets dark
. How would they ever find that break in the fence again now?

Jason felt a few moments of panic, but he was reluctant to show any fear to Augere.

Augere appeared quite calm. “Now that it is dark, we can take the other way out.”

And it was a dark night; no moonlight. Augere walked steadily on a path where Jason could barely see to place one foot after the other. He focused on trying to keep sight of Augere instead. They must have walked about ten minutes; a very long ten minutes.

Augere paused and stood still for a few moments. Jason strained to look for any kind of landmark. He thought he saw some type of tall structure—was it a high stone wall?—several feet ahead.
Great. Now what?

Augere moved toward the left for several feet, Jason keeping up. Now he could make out a tall iron fence, made slightly more visible due to a light off in the distance; faint but definitely some sort of illumination.

Augere walked them right up to the iron gate.
How he had been able to find it at all, I do not know,
marveled Jason.
He must truly be well familiar with this area
. Now they encountered another problem. They had found the tall gate, an exit, and it was padlocked.

Augere simply reached up to the large padlock and gave what looked to Jason to be a slight tug at it. With seemingly no effort at all, the lock pulled apart, as easily as if he had used a key to open it. He then pulled the heavy chains through the bars of the fence and the next moment they were outside the gate.

“How did you do that?” Jason asked in surprise.

“It is never actually locked.” Augere left the dangling chain and the ripped apart lock hanging from the fence.

Now it seemed they were outside of the cemetery, and in a dark wooded area.
This is just as bad, if not worse
.
Where the hell are we?

“This way.” Augere confidently strode off into the darkness. Jason had to hurry to catch up to him.

“Do you really have any idea where we are?” Jason asked.

“Technically, still part of Highgate. Near Hampstead Heath.”

That really didn’t mean much to Jason.

“Okay. Well, how far from civilization are we?”

Augere stopped suddenly. “If we cut across here—which I do not prefer to do—it is probably a walk of about twenty minutes. If we go this way”—Jason could not begin to tell what directions Augere was indicating—“it is a better way to go, but it will take longer.”

Longer, in this darkness, was not sounding like the better option.

“Well, the shorter way then?” Jason suggested.

Augere sighed. “Very well.”

They walked on, with Jason just a few paces behind Augere. He was feeling a little light headed and thought it was probably the adrenaline from fear kicking in. He struggled to keep Augere in view.