Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series #3) (7 page)

Without pausing to take a breath, Murphy was charging across the remote field we now found ourselves in. He headed towards a line of trees that stood in the distance. We raced behind him as he shouted over his shoulder, “This way! This way!”

Reaching the knot of trees, we found ourselves in a deeply wooded area. The trees stretched up tall around us, and the moon cast silver streams of light through the branches. Leaning against a tree, Murphy caught his breath.

“Take two minutes,” he said, “but that’s all. It won’t take long for them to smash through that well.”

Dropping to my knees, I sucked in mouthfuls of cold night air. Then I noticed those streaks of black blood on my hand. Almost gagging at the sight of it, I snatched up handfuls of fallen leaves and begin to wipe my hand clean.

Luke crouched beside me and said, “Are you okay?’”

“No, not really,” I told him, wiping the last of the blood from my fingers.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked, gently knocking the fringe from my brow.

Standing, I folded my arms around him. Then kissing him softly on the cheek that still showed the scars from The Ragged Cove, I whispered, “Later.”

As he stood and held me, I noticed Isidor tear a piece of cloth from the inside of his coat and tie it around his hand which was bleeding. He had a large scratch across his forehead, which bled into his eye. Wiping the blood away with his sleeve, he went to Potter who was slouching against a tree and smoking.

Holding out his good hand towards Potter, Isidor said, “I just wanted to say thanks for what you did back there.”

Looking down at the hand of friendship that had been offered to him, Potter said, “What did I do?”

“Saving me like that,” Isidor said, his hand still held out before him. “I was hoping, you know…perhaps we could just get along with each other from now on?”

Drawing deeply on the cigarette that dangled from the corner of his mouth, Potter said, “Don’t go getting any funny ideas, kid.” Then, blowing smoke in Isidor’s face, he added, “I didn’t do it for you, I did it for somebody else.” Then glancing over at me, Potter flicked the cigarette away, barged past Isidor and headed towards Murphy.

Chapter Ten

We ran all night, Murphy our guide in the dark. Occasionally, he would find another path, one which led away from towns and main roads. Most of our escape was spent clawing our way through undergrowth, snaking between trees. At one point, we walked for miles upstream to hide our tracks from any of the vampires that may still be hunting us.

Most of our journey was spent in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. My own mind was filled with doubt and feelings of betrayal.

Why had my mum been with Phillips and Sparky on the T.V.? Was she working for this invisible man? She couldn’t be!

But if she were aligned to him, what part did my mum play in all of this? Then I remembered the tiny body of the boy lying in the woods at The Ragged Cove, his tiny hand clutching hairs from my mum’s head. Had she killed that boy? Never! Knowing my mum like I remembered her – she would never get involved in anything that would harm another person. Maybe she was pretending to be a part of it – perhaps to save her own life. That had to be it – or perhaps she didn’t realise the danger she was in.

My head throbbed and I felt sick. I felt as if I no longer knew myself, either. In my mind’s eye, I saw that vampire flying backwards down the tunnel beneath the well. I knew I had done that, but how? Was this the Vampyrus coming out in me? Was I at last changing? But what did that mean? Would I, too, grow fangs like the others? Would those wings with their wriggling black fingers work their way out of my back? I shuddered just thinking about it. And then a thought hit me like a freight train.
Would I start thirsting for blood?

I desperately needed to know. So as we waded up stream, the icy cold water numbing my toes through my boots, I caught up with Luke.

“Do you think my mum is a part of all of this?”

“I don’t know, Kiera. I really don’t know what to think,” he said gently.

“But how would that be possible?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said again.

“But you were one of the last people to have seen her the night she disappeared back at the Cove,” I pushed.

“She had gone by the time I got back to her,” he said, and I could see that he was struggling to find the right words to comfort me. “Phillips and Taylor took her. They told you as much themselves.”

We kept moving upstream towards a large hill that loomed against the night sky like some giant ogre. The water sloshed about our shins, and the cold wind snatched at my long hair that bellowed about my shoulders.

Not being able to hold back my fears anymore, I said, “Luke, I think I’m changing.”

Slowing beside me, Luke looked at me and said, “How?”

“Back in the tunnel,” I started, not being able to meet his gaze, “I lashed out at one of those vampires and I threw him nearly a hundred yards or so back down the tunnel. But not only that, I think that I pushed him so hard that my hand actually broke through his skin, because I ended up with his blood all over my hand. I shouldn’t be that strong, right?”

“What else?” Luke asked.

“Well, I can pretty much see in the dark now,” I said. “It’s like I’m kinda seeing in black and white. I can distinguish shapes, faces, stuff like that. I wouldn’t need a torch in the dark to see my way, that’s for sure.”

“What about your eye and the nightmares?” he asked. “The eye doesn’t bleed anymore,” I said, “and the nightmares are less, but when they do come, they are different.” “In what way?”   “It’s like I can control them somehow,” I tried to explain to him, not that I really understood it myself. “I still have visions and when I do, it’s like I’m looking through a video camera. I can turn it around, up, and down – get a three hundred and sixty degree view.’

“What did you see in the last vision you had?” Luke asked me, stepping over a series of rocks that jutted-up out of the frothing water.

“I saw Kayla,” I told him. “She was lying in what looked like a hospital bed. She was scared and calling out to me, but…” “But what?” Luke asked, taking my hand and helping me over the rocks so I didn’t slip and fall straight on my arse. “There were these creatures,” I said lowering my voice so none of the others could hear me. “What kind of creatures?” “I’m not sure. They were huge, though, and covered in hair,” I said. Then looking into my eyes, he said, “Just like me when I changed back in that room at the manor?”   I remembered how he had looked in the dark of that room, lying on the floor, completely covered in black, bristling hair, his mouth full of jagged fangs. Then looking at him, I said, “I guess.”

“They are probably the Vampyrus that are guarding Kayla,” Luke said, turning and heading after the others.

“I guess,” I said again, but deep inside I wasn’t sure. Sloshing after him, I pulled at his arm and said, “So do you think I’m changing then – you know – the Vampyrus side is starting to come out?”

“Perhaps, perhaps not,” he said, looking at me. “I know that the other half-breeds developed their abilities during adolescence, but it’s hard to know for sure as only three of you ever lived past the age of sixteen.”

“I’m twenty,” I groaned, “Shouldn’t I have noticed something by now?”

“I guess so,” he said, and again, I got the sense that he wasn’t sure what to say.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I just don’t know the answers to your questions, Kiera,” he said, his voice soft and caring. “I know that you are confused and scared and I hate seeing you like this. I wish…I just wish I could help you.”

“You do help me,” I whispered.

“How?”

“By just listening to me,” I half-smiled. But Luke was right, I was scared and confused. How I wished that my friend Kayla was with me. I missed our girlie chats and better than anyone, she would understand what I was going through.

“Maybe…maybe…” Luke started then stopped.

“Go on…tell me what you are thinking…please,” I said.

“Isidor has been through it,” Luke said. “What I mean is, that he must have had to come to terms with being a half-breed. Maybe you could talk to him about the confusion you’re feeling.”

Looking ahead in the dark, I watched Isidor as he walked alone up the stream, his head cast down, crossbow slung across his back. He cut a lonely figure in the moonlight. Isidor seemed okay, but I knew that Potter didn’t like him, and I couldn’t understand why. Then looking back at Luke, I said, “Maybe I will try talking to him. After all, his mum went missing too.”

For the next two days and nights we followed Murphy as he led us further across the hills and the Cumbria Mountains. We slept during the day in any deserted outhouse or shed that we could find. But Murphy was always the first up at twilight, racing ahead of us, calling back into the night, “This way! This way!”

On the third day, we settled in a derelict signal box that was situated next to a disused railway line. Again, I felt exhausted and starving hungry. Using my long coat as a blanket, I lay down and listened to the sound of my stomach rumbling with hunger.

Luke lay beside me, and within moments of his head resting against the dusty floor, his eyes were closed and he was asleep. Potter sat on the other side of the signal box, his knees drawn up and his head slumped against his arms. Isidor sat away from him and was reading a book that he had taken from his rucksack. I hadn’t had the chance of speaking with him like I’d planned, I’d not found the right moment – or built-up the courage. I didn’t know what was stopping me – but there was something. Murphy had positioned himself by the door again, as if he were on guard. I decided that I would wait for him to fall asleep, and if Isidor were still awake, I would speak to him about being a half-breed.

Struggling to keep my eyes open, so as not to drift off, I looked at Potter. Although he was slumped against the wall, he looked taut and tense and I sensed that he was troubled about something. He had been quiet the last two days, barely speaking to anyone. He had either walked alone behind, or got ahead and waited for the rest of us to catch up. Sometimes, I caught him giving me a sideways stare, but when he caught me staring back, he would quickly look away. Pulling his coat about him and closing his eyes, I wondered what was going through Potter’s head.

I lay for what seemed like hours – just watching him, and my mind went back to what had happened between us at the gatehouse and then how he had kissed me in the summerhouse when we believed that we were both going to die. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about it. The passion it stirred inside of me left me feeling scared and confused – and I’d had enough of those feelings to last me a lifetime. And what of Luke? Every time those confusing feelings that I felt for Potter came to the foreground, I would feel pangs of guilt for Luke. I felt as if I were betraying him and he deserved better than that. Maybe it was a good thing that Potter had kept his distance – perhaps seeing me and Luke share that kiss beneath the tree in the woods had made him think that I wanted Luke and not him.

Trying to rid my mind of Potter, I opened my eyes again and looked at Murphy, who still sat by the door. Although his chin was slumped against his chest, I could see that his eyes were open. Isidor was still reading his book, which he held close to his face, so as to read the words in the gloom. Knowing that it would be some time before they slept, I rummaged in my coat pocket and pulled out my iPod. It seemed like forever since I’d listened to any music and I missed it – like so many other aspects of the life I’d had before. Closing my eyes for just a minute or two – it wouldn’t hurt just to close them for a second – I started to listen to Will Young sing
Jealousy
.

Chapter Eleven

…
I was underground. No, it was a cave of some sort. Huge and vast like a cavern. Water dripped from overhead and ran down the walls. drip-drip-drip…I was alone…but wait a minute, there was someone close by. Somebody was hiding in the shadows.

“Who’s there?” I called out.

Silence. Just the constant dripping.

Then I caught a glimpse of something. It was large and covered in sleek dark hair. It slinked backwards and forwards in the shadows.

“What do you want?” I shouted.

Silence.

I tried to move forward, but something was holding me back. Looking down, I could see that my arms were chained to rock..

“Hey!” I hollered. “Unchain me!”

Silence.

Yanking on the chains, they rattled like shards of broken glass in a box. Then something else rattled, no rumbled, and I knew that it was the sound of my stomach leaping with hunger.

I tried to call out again, to demand that I be freed, but my throat was dry and sore as if water hadn’t passed my lips in days. My lips felt swollen, blistered, and cracked. Looking ahead of me, the shadows moved again and out of them stepped not the hairy black shape that I’d seen, but my mother. Her black hair curled around her shoulders in long ringlets. Her lips were blood red and her eyes shone a brilliant hazel just like mine. She wore a black dress that clung to her perfectly, just like an extra layer of skin. Her hands were held out before her and they dripped blood onto the cave floor.

Drip-Drip-Drip

“Mum!” I managed to whisper.

Coming closer, she smiled at me, just like she had before disappearing three years ago. I wanted to run to her, wrap my arms around her, to be close to her. But I couldn’t because the chains held me fast.

“My poor darling,” she soothed as she came closer. “What have they done to you?”

“Help me,” I croaked.

“Why have they done this to you?” she said, her hands continuing to drip blood all over the cave floor.

“Who’s done this to me?” I asked her, my head beginning to pound and my throat feeling raw.

“Murphy and the others,” she said. “Look what they’ve done to my precious daughter.”

“But they’re my friends,” I tried to tell her.