BloodGifted (10 page)

‘You’re lucky I don’t take a bite out of you now,’ I growled and the new sound that came out of me was truly menacing.

Luc barked out a laugh. ‘Owen, for once this is your problem. You wanted me to save your life from a court martial and a hangma
n’s noose. I’ve done that, here’s what you can do. Make it look like Alec took an ambulance out. Walk past the main building with him. Talk loud, make sure everyone can hear Alec, see him get into the vehicle and drive off towards the front lines. They’re your witnesses. I did this for you,’ he stubbed his finger into Owen’s chest. ‘Now you deal with the rest of it!’

To give him c
redit, Owen managed to concoct a believable story about my disappearance. We made sure several of the staff saw me climb into the ambulance and head out to the lines. I deliberately kept my cap low to avoid them seeing my eyes. He later told them he’d tried to stop me.

I was officially listed as Missing In Action, presumed dead. Thankfully there was no one alive back home in Australia who would miss me. I had been an only child
and both my parents were dead. No, I would not be missed.

Luc met me at a rendezvous point and that same night brought me to Paris. The next day the Armistice was declared and the war was over
, but mine was just beginning—I battled my new nature. I tried eating ordinary food, which my stomach rejected, while a gnawing desire for human blood grew daily. It wasn’t a matter of denial but defeating this monster that had taken up residence in my body.

I avoided human contact, ignored Luc’s warnings and tried
to satisfy my craving by feeding from animals, particularly from nearby farms. I drained several and unintentionally deprived local farmers of some of their livestock. But it never satisfied and I grew weaker.

Luc disapproved. ‘Alec, you can’t go on like this!’

‘I won’t take from humans,’ I said weakly.

‘Your stubbornness angers me. You know there are many here who willingly share their blood with us. Let them and stop doing this to yourself… and destroying the local economy,’ he said as an afterthought.

I gave in.

Luc owned a large three-story house in the suburb of Le
Vesinet in Paris. With its many bedrooms and beautiful landscaped gardens screening it from the street, it was a home as well as a gathering centre for most of the blood drinkers in that city. It was also frequented by humans who knew our secret and who allowed us to feed from them whenever necessary. They were known as
Donneur de Sang
or Donsang—Bloodgivers.

Many had blood
drinkers in the family and their kindness and sympathy enabled me to accept what I had become. Others simply came to enjoy the thrill of being bitten and the excitement that came with a sexual encounter with a vampire. Apparently this was nothing new in Paris.

Eventually my cravings were brought under control and I learnt to
feed from several individuals—preferably women—every few days. Luc became my mentor and master for the next one hundred years. Everything I needed to survive as a blood drinker—I still hadn’t come to grips with the term “vampire” yet—I learnt from him, including shutting my mind off from the myriad sounds and voices around me to concentrate on one alone.

‘Otherwise you’d go mad,’ he explained.

My new sense of hearing picked up everything within a six-and-half mile radius. Silence became a luxury, as did sunlight. Unlike Luc, I wasn’t able to walk around during the day. My skin burned and my retinas felt like they were being scalded. I was restricted to the night.

Winter was the best time. In the northern hemisphere, the days were shorter and darker and they were a welcome relief. I could venture outside f
or longer periods without pain—no hiding in the shadows.

He later revealed the reason for his ability to walk unhindered during the day. That’s how I learned about the Bloodgifted or
Ingenii
, as they were known, and the special relationship that existed between them and Luc, and the rest of the Brethren community.

All the thin
gs I once believed impossible—vampires and the power of ancient curses—were now a part of my existence.

That memory brought me back to the present.

I stared at the lights of the city and wondered whether Owen’s granddaughter, Laura Dantonville, would ever want to set eyes on me again. Yet, I needed—wanted—to see her again and prepare her for the most frightening experience of her life.

Invitation to coffee perhaps
and a bunch of flowers?

Chapter 6

A Secret Shared

LAURA

‘Laura?’ Matt poked his head into the small alcove along with several other people. My scream must have brought everyone in the cathedral running to see what had happened. He barged his way through to my side and wrapped his arms around me. ‘What happened?’ His voice sounded curt, concerned.

For a moment I simply couldn’t speak. Part shock, part guilt tied my tongue. After all
, I’d persuaded Alec to prove to me he was a vampire and now I’d have to explain it to Matt. I was working out just how much to tell him when he lifted me up off the stone floor and held me close till my body calmed.

‘Did someone hurt you?’ he demanded, his voice soft.

I shook my head, wrapped my arms around his neck and just clung to him.

‘Give—me—
a minute,’ I managed to say between hiccups. It didn’t happen very often, but when I become upset or if I attempted to tell a lie, I hiccupped.

Matt took a handkerchief out of his trouser pocket and
wiped the tears from my cheeks before offering it to me. ‘Laura, look at me, Babe, tell me what happened.’

I glanced
at him and then at the sea of curious faces behind him. ‘Shall we call the police?’ Someone suggested.

‘I am the police,’ Matt said over his shoulder to them.

‘I’ll bring the young lady a glass of water,’ another voice said.

‘I
’m all right—really—just shock. Please—tell them—to go—away,’ I hiccupped and looked imploringly at Matt.

Matt turned his head toward the curious onlookers.
‘Thank you for coming, but the young lady will be all right now.’ He waited for them to disperse.

Only one elderly gent came back with a glass of water and handed it to Matt who passed it to me. ‘Drink, Babe.’ He nodded his thanks to the man.

As I drank, Matt reached for a nearby chair and placed it opposite me so that our knees touched. He waited till I’d finished it all before placing the empty glass on the seat of another chair. He then took my hands and turned them so my palms faced upwards and stared down at them. When his gaze returned to me, they were glacial. Matt’s eyes were normally the colour of an overcast sky, a light grey-blue, but when angry they turned icy-blue. I looked down as well and saw red blotches covering my wrists. By tomorrow they’d be blue.

‘
Okay to talk now?’

‘Yeah.’ The hiccups had stopped and I felt more composed.

‘I want to know what frightened you and how you got these red marks on your wrists, Laura.’

‘Is this Matt my boyfriend or D.I. Sommers asking?’

‘Both!’

I was silent for a while as Matt waited. Unless I gave him an answer we could be here all night. No pressure!

‘Laura!’

‘Okay.
Let me ask you something first.’

His eyes narrowed.
‘Go ahead.’

‘In the time you’ve known me, have I ever lied to you?’

He rais
ed one eyebrow. ‘No, because you’re a lousy liar—you hiccup.’

F
or once it was going to work to my advantage. ‘If I tell you what happened, you’ll know whether I’m lying or not?’

‘For sure
,’ he answered confidently.

‘Good.’

I took another deep breath. Matt hadn’t yet released my hands and his thumbs stroked the inside of my wrists. This was going to be interesting. ‘I was sent here to meet a man named Alec Munro. He’s a… vampire’—I winced—‘and closely connected to my family. Aunt Judy knows all about it and she told me when we went for our walk. Like her and Grandpa Owen, I carry something in my blood that keeps me young and gives long life. It’s what makes these creatures stronger and able to walk around in the daylight. But only one of them is allowed to feed from us and he’s the Guardian. Aunt Judy is getting old, so now it’s my turn to take over. She gave me her ring.’

I turned my right
hand over in his so the serpent was visible. ‘It… um, kind of… slithered off her hand onto mine, like it was alive. Alec Munro has one exactly the same. It’s only worn by the Bloodgifted and their vampire guardian and passed on every fifty years to the next in line. And that’s me.’

I stopped and waited for the reaction.

Matt hadn’t said a word. Except for a slight lift of both eyebrows when I explained how I got the ring and then at the mention of the word “vampire,” his expression remained neutral. I noticed his thumbs no longer stroked my wrists.

‘The red marks
?’ he quietly insisted.

I recounted my meeting with Alec till the moment he transformed so dra
matically in front of me, grabbed my wrists and pinned me up against the wall. ‘That was my fault. I asked him to show me; he was reluctant but I needed to see the truth for myself… and I did.’

Matt released
my hands, sat back in his chair and in silence, regarded me. I had no idea if he really believed me, or whether he was thinking of having me committed. ‘Laura, there’s no way you could have made up a story like that without hiccupping all the way through it, so you obviously believe it. But vampires don’t exist, Babe. Someone’s playing you for the fool.’

I
tore my hands from his grip. ‘I’m no fool, Matthew Sommers! And this was definitely no trick. I know what I saw, and I’m not given to hysterics. This was not natural. His fangs slid out, like a snake, and no contacts I know of change your eyes like that. It was real. And why would my aunt lie to me about all this? What reason could she possibly have? Besides, Mum backed her up. She said it’s all true.’

‘
Your mum as well?’ He frowned. Matt had met my mum and knew her to be a level-headed woman. ‘Look, Laura,’ he said gently. ‘This guy terrified you and hurt you and that makes me angry enough to bring him in.’ He shook his head. ‘I should never have let you come here alone tonight. You said he fled after hearing my voice?’

‘I’m a grown woman, Matt. I can go wherever and whenever I please!’

‘I know, Babe, normally I’d agree with you, but this incident kind of changes things. What if I’d been late?’ He didn’t need to add more as the implication hung there. ‘Tell me which way he fled.’

I
pointed to the ramp that led to George Street.

‘Laura, if t
his Munro thinks he’s some kind of vampire it explains those kids’ bodies we’re finding, drained of all their blood and covered with puncture marks. He could be our killer and using some kind of syringe to suck out their blood.’

I felt myself go pale. Alec Munro was a doctor, so h
e’d have syringes galore. That still didn’t explain what I saw. ‘No Matt, I can’t believe it’s him. It just doesn’t make sense.’

‘Why’s
that?’

‘He’s been living here for decades.
According to my aunt, my grandfather knew him and she knows him and surely she would have noticed something after all this time. She’d never have sent me to meet a killer. And why now, after all this time, should he suddenly start to kill?’

‘For
all we know this guy could be conning her. After all, she’s a rich woman. She’s got her own house in Milsons Point.’ Matt knew Aunt Judy and I shared the same genetic anomaly.

‘That’s insulting!
’

‘Babe,
after everything’s that’s happened here my instincts are screaming at me to examine all possibilities and check this out.’

‘Always the cop, huh?’

‘Do I have to apologise for that?’ He looked at me with tender eyes.

I
shook my head. ‘No.’

He kissed the inside of my palm.
‘I’m going to make a suggestion. Either I can take you home and I’ll go to your aunt’s from there, or you can come with me. Think about it.’

I took a deep breath and considered it from Matt’s perspective. He got a shock seeing me in a heap on the floor, and
thought, perhaps I may have been raped. Could I blame him for playing the knight in shining armour and wanting to go after the dragon? There was no way I’d let him go to Aunt Judy’s without me. How could I face her afterwards?

‘I’ll come
with you.’

‘Okay then.’
He got up and pulled me to my feet.

‘You’re really convinced he’s the killer, aren’t you?’

He ran his hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know, that’s why I need to chase this up. Laura, for all I know you may have met a serial killer. What if you’d ended up his next victim and I had to identify your body on the autopsy slab?’ He shivered and drew me into his arms. Then he swore. ‘To think you were alone with him while I was watching the bloody cricket. If I’d lost you…’ He spoke into my hair, his voice thick with emotion. ‘Damn! If we’d only gone back to my place as we originally planned…’

‘Matt, I’m all right and I honestly
don’t believe Alec Munro is the one you’re looking for. I can’t explain it, but I just know it’s not him. Logically, if he were the killer, wouldn’t he try to hide that fact? Why reveal it to me tonight?’
Even though I asked him.
I moved my hands from his chest to circle his broad back and pressed myself closer to his chest.

Matt looked anxiously
down at me with a doubtful air.

‘
I remembered what you said tonight about those kids and I asked him—’ I quickly placed a finger over his lips as I could see he was about to protest. ‘Wait. I didn’t mention anything about your investigation or the bodies. I simply asked him about… feeding, and if he needs to empty a person of all their blood.’

I
waited for his breathing to slow before removing my finger.

‘And?’

‘They don’t. It’s forbidden.’

I hesitated
, wondering how much more I should tell him. What was the point, when by the sceptical expression on his face he refused to believe in the possibility of the supernatural? Till this evening, so had I. The slithering Serpent Ring was partially responsible, and the fact that the two most important women in my life—Aunt Judy and my mum—were neither liars nor loopy.

‘He could
be part of some sort of goth organisation. They believe in this vampire stuff, even put luminescent contacts into their eyes to simulate a vampire glow and have their teeth sharpened,’ he said.

‘How do you know?’

‘You wouldn’t believe some of case files that come across my desk. There’s a place in Surry Hills, a nightclub they frequent. We’ve been making enquiries there, but so far nothing connects them to the murders.’

‘
I don’t want to believe Alec Munro killed those kids, Matt.’
Could he be that good a liar that I was taken in? And has he been lying to my aunt all these years?

‘Well
he’s not going to get another chance. The name sounds familiar.’

I was sure Matt was going through the police Wanted File in his head. Then I re
membered the card Alec handed me. I pulled out of his embrace, fished it out of my bag and passed it to him.

Matt
took a long hard look. ‘Munro Research Labs. So what are they using the blood for? Some sort of illegal experiments or something?’ He removed a notebook from his pocket and copied the card’s details before handing it back to me. He then looked earnestly into my eyes again. ‘Still okay to go to your aunt’s?’

‘No, not really, but there’s no wa
y I’m letting you go there without me.’

He leaned down and kissed me, then took my hand as we walked to his parked car
in the Restricted for Cathedral Staff Only area. At this time of night his was the only vehicle there.

We drove down
George Street and turning down Kent joined the Bradfield Highway leading to the Harbour Bridge. My aunt lived at Milsons Point, in a quiet tree-lined street that sloped down to the harbour. Like the majority of properties in this area, hers was an old Federation house that, somehow, had escaped the modernisation trend of the seventies. Its beautiful interior features were still intact when she first saw it, fell in love and bought it. She’s been lovingly restoring it ever since.

As we drove up, I noticed
a champagne-coloured BMW parked in her driveway directly behind her own small Hyundai. Visitors?

‘I don’t recognise that car,’ I said.
‘This could be awkward if she has visitors.’

‘Point. But we’ve come this far. Want to play it by ear?’ He turned to me.

‘You do the talking!’

He smiled. ‘That I can do.’

We walked hand-in-hand the short distance to her front door where Matt pressed the brass doorbell. I angled myself slightly behind him on hearing the light pad of her footsteps on the hallway rug. ‘You’re doing the talking, remember?’ I whispered.

Matt squeezed my hand.

‘Laura, Matthew what brings you here this late?’ she asked as she slowly opened the door, her green silk wrap-around slightly fanning in the breeze.

‘We need to spe
ak to you about Laura’s meeting tonight. Something happened which distressed her.’ Matt knew how to come straight to the point.