Vampire Hollows (3 page)

“So what you’re saying, Kiera, is that we take him back to The Hollows with us and hand him over to the elders?” Isidor asked, still aiming his crossbow at Sparky.

“Yes,” I replied.

“You’re wrong, Kiera,” Kayla hissed. “He can’t be trusted. He’ll trick us, deceive us, and kill us as we sleep.”

“No…” a feeble voice murmured and we all looked down to see that it was Sparky who had spoken. With one blood-stained hand, he reached up to us, his face a mask of pain and fear. “Please don’t kill me…show me some mercy.”

“Like the mercy you showed my mother!” Kayla roared, and before I had the chance to stop her, she sprung forward and was tightening the rope about Sparky’s throat. His eyes bulged again and he clawed at the noose with his fingers, trying to wedge them between his neck and the rope.

“Kayla!” I shouted. “Stop it!”

“No, Kiera!” she roared back. “He killed my mum, he murdered those half-breed children in their beds back at the Manor, he killed Murphy’s daughters, and was partly responsible for his death. And he killed Isidor’s auntie – he deserves to die!”

Kayla yanked on the rope, and springing forward, I brushed her away, not too hard; just enough for her to lose her balance and release the rope. Seeing the discontentment growing between me and my friends, Seth chuckled.

I looked at him and said for the benefit of everyone, “We’re not cold-bloodied killers, we’re better than that. I understand all of your reasons for wanting Sparky dead, I have enough of my own, but if we kill him, we become him.”

“And how do you figure that?” Isidor said, crossbow still aimed at Sparky.

“Because Sparky kills in cold blood. He shows his victims no mercy. He kills out of hatred and fear,” I told them. “You kill him now and you’ll be doing it for all the same reasons. You’ll be a mindless killer just like him,” then glancing at Seth, I added, “and him.”

Seth smiled at me, his black, broken teeth festering in his shrunken gums. Looking back at Kayla and Isidor, I said, “Do you really want to turn out like Seth and Sparky? Is that what you really want? Because if it is, I won’t stop you,” Then, releasing the rope, I walked away, giving Kayla and Isidor enough time and room to attack Sparky who still lay on the ground whimpering like a baby.

I looked back at them and saw Kayla step towards him, her claws out and raised up before her. Isidor stood as if frozen to the spot, then slowly, he lowered his crossbow and aimed it not at Sparky but at the ground. Sparky looked up and could see Kayla coming towards him, her long, black fingernails and fangs gleaming in the dark.

“Please,” Sparky cried out, lacing his fingers before him as if he were about to say his prayers. “Don’t kill me. I can help you.”

As if deaf to his pleas, Kayla continued forward, and when just inches from him, she dived forward and snatched up the rope.

“No!” Sparky begged.

“Oh quit complaining,” Kayla snapped at him. “I’m not going to kill you – not yet anyhow. But if we’re to take you with us into The Hollows, then you’re staying on the end of this rope where I can see you. But I promise you this, if for just one second I think you are going to harm me or my friends then I will take your head off in a heartbeat. Do you understand?”

Sparky looked at her, nodded and licked his lips.

“I said, do you understand?” she roared into his face, her claws just inches from his throat.

“Yes! Yes!” Sparky screeched and cowered back as far away from her as his leash would allow him.

Yanking on the rope, Kayla pulled him back close to her. “Don’t screw around, Sparky. I promise you, I’m not that scared little girl anymore. I couldn’t give a shit if you died, and in fact I hope and pray that you do break your promise, because that’s all the reason I’ll need to rip your fucking lungs out.”

“I won’t, I promise,” he snivelled. Then looking at me, he added, “Thank you, Kiera.”

Without saying anything, I looked away in disgust. I wasn’t helping him, I was helping Kayla and Isidor to not become like him. Seth then strode forward, and grinding the heel of his boot into Sparky’s open wound again, he shouted over the screams of pain, “The martyr might have saved you for now, but watch your back. You’re a disgrace to the Lycanthrope.”

“We’re no different, Seth,” Sparky wailed. “You’re a killer just like me.”

Ignoring him, Seth said, “You said you could help us. How?”

“I didn’t say that,” Sparky cried out as Seth drove down harder with his foot.

“Yeah, you did,” Kayla cut in.

“What do you know?” Isidor asked.

“Nothing!” Sparky sobbed in pain.

Going to him, I pushed Seth aside, and Sparky cradled his wounded leg. “It hurts doesn’t it?” I said looking down at him. “Remember how you treated me back in the zoo when my leg was wounded?”

“That wasn’t me,” he said, staring up at me. “It was Phillips.”

“You licked my goddamn leg, you animal!” I hissed at him. “You threw me around the room and hosed me down with freezing cold water.”

“It was Phillips,” Sparky groaned.

Hunkering down, I looked in to his bloodshot eyes and whispered, “Sparky, this lot only needs one little excuse to rip you in half. I can only hold them off for so long. So tell me what you know.”

“I don’t know anything!” he cried.

“Liar,” I hissed and punched his wounded leg.

Sparky’s leg jerked and went rigid and I could see the pain in his eyes. They seemed to spin in their sockets. “Tell me, Sparky.”

“I don’t…” he started, but I hit him again, this time harder.

“Okay!” he screeched, phlegm spraying from his lips as he gripped his leg. “I know where you can find this invisible man, Elias Munn!”

“Who is he?” I demanded my heart racing.

“I didn’t say I knew who he was,” Sparky wailed in pain. “I said I know where he is heading – where you can find him.”

“Where?” I breathed, feeling nervous at the thought that I might actually be able to catch this man once and for all.

“The Hollows,” Sparky said, through gritted teeth.

“We already know that,” I told him, hoping for his sake that he wasn’t messing with me.

“But you don’t know where in The Hollows,” Sparky grimaced.

“Where?”
I shouted, raising my hand as if to strike his wounded leg again.

“The Dust Palace!” Sparky whispered as if giving away a deadly secret.

“Impossible,” someone said from behind us.

I spun round to see Potter standing beneath the shadows of a solitary tree that stood some feet away. Beside him stood someone else. Peering through the gloom, my heart lept at the sight of Luke. Potter had rescued him.

Standing slowly, I watched as both of them walked out from beneath the low-hanging branches of the tree and came towards me. As usual, a cigarette dangled from the corner of Potter’s mouth, the blue smoke trailing away into the night. He looked at me, but it was more than looking at me; it was like he was searching my eyes, looking into me.

I broke his stare and turned towards Luke. He came towards me. His jet-black hair was longer than I remembered and hung around his shoulders. The lower half of his face was covered in a scruffy-looking beard, but this only accentuated his brilliant green eyes. His rugged good looks were still visible from beneath his beard, and although he looked as if he had lost some weight, the dirty shirt he wore still showed off his muscular chest and arms.

Luke stopped just a few inches away and looked at me. His eyes seemed to glimmer. I glanced over at Potter who had his eyes fixed on me. I quickly looked away and back at Luke. I remembered the last time that I had seen him – being kicked and beaten before me as my mother offered me a fist full of the red stuff. I had eaten it to save his life. There was an uncomfortable silence, not just between Luke and me, but throughout all of us. No one said a word and I knew without even turning to face them, they were all watching me.

My heart raced in my chest like a trip hammer and those feelings that I had felt so passionately when with Luke came rushing back. But it was more than that. The feelings which were making my heart race were not of lust or desire, but guilt and betrayal. While Luke had been suffering at the hands of Phillips, Sparky, my mother, and God knows who else, I had been making love to his friend – I had fallen in love with his best friend.

Every part of me wanted to look at Potter again, but I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to look into his eyes. What would I see there? So, very slowly, I walked towards Luke and hugged him.

Brushing his bristly cheek against mine, Luke whispered in my ear and said, “I never thought I would see you again, Kiera.”

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again either,” I told him as he held me tight. I could feel his body against mine, and just as I had remembered it, it felt as hard as stone.

“What did they do to you?” I whispered, still not able to look into his face.

“It wasn’t so bad,” he said. “Potter told me that they hurt you, Kiera. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you. I’ll never be able to thank Potter enough for taking care of you for me.”

To hear those words threw images of me and Potter across my mind, our bodies entwined as we had made love. I pushed the pictures away. Opening my eyes, I looked over Luke’s shoulder as I hugged him and could see Potter watching me. His face looked hard and haggard. But it was his eyes, there was a sadness to them – something I had only ever seen once before, the day Murphy had been murdered.

Taking the cigarette from the corner of his mouth, he flicked it away. He looked away from me, crossed to where Sparky lay nursing his leg on the ground, and kicked him in the guts. Sparky howled in agony and screwed himself into a ball.

“That’s impossible,” Potter barked, and this time he did look at me. The sadness had gone from his face and was now replaced with anger.

Blowing smoke from his nostrils in two thin jets, Potter looked at Kayla and said, “Listen, sweetheart, you don’t just stroll into the Dust Palace. It’s the most sacred place in The Hollows. It’s where the Elders, or as some like to call them, the gods live. It’s their home. To me, I think it’s just a bunch of bullshit, but one thing I do know for certain is that place is a fortress and there’s only one way in.”

“That’s right,” Potter said, flicking ash from the tip of his cigarette. “But I’ve gone some way in getting even,” he added, then glanced at me.

“How could you ever possibly get even over the death of Murphy?” Luke asked, his black beard now turning white with snow.

“Just like Seth helped take Murphy’s heart, I took the heart of his lover,” Potter told him, and again he looked at me, as if trying to gauge my reaction.

Those images of Potter striding across the floor of the facility and ripping Eloisa’s heart out swam in front of my mind again and they sickened me. I broke Potter’s gaze and looked away. I still couldn’t understand why he had done that, he had confused and scared me.

“I think you’ll find that I’ve lost more than Eloisa,” Seth barked at Potter, his eyes blazing like hot coals. “I’ve lost my son, Nik too.”

“What, you mean he’s dead?” Potter asked, and for a moment I thought I could see the briefest of smirks tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Yes,” Seth spat. “He was killed in a vampire attack a few miles from here.”

“Aww,” Potter groaned. “My heart bleeds for you. Don’t tell me any more or I think I might just start crying.”

Before anyone knew what was happening, Seth launched himself at Potter and had him by the throat. “We have unfinished business, Potter, so I wouldn’t be too cocky if I were you!”

Tearing Seth’s claw from his throat, Potter stared into Seth’s eyes, blowing smoke into his face. “Bring it on anytime, wolf-man, I’ll be ready for you.”

“Oh, please.” I groaned. “What is it with you two and all this schoolyard crap? Okay, so some of us don’t like each other much – and that’s putting it mildly – but we have to find a way of getting along, because if we can’t, then we might as well die, right here, right now, and save Elias Munn the job of killing us.”

“You have to be invited in by the gods,” he shouted back over his shoulder at me. “And somehow, I can’t imagine them ever inviting Elias Munn around for tea!”