Her Vampyrrhic Heart
Read Her Vampyrrhic Heart Online
Authors: Simon Clark
Table of Contents
Recent Titles by Simon Clark from Severn House
Nicola and Tom: The Story so Far
LONDON UNDER MIDNIGHT
THE MIDNIGHT MAN
VENGEANCE CHILD
WHITBY VAMPYRRHIC
HIS VAMPYRRHIC BRIDE
HER VAMPYRRHIC HEART
Simon Clark
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First published in Great Britain 2013 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
9â15 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM1 1DF.
First published in USA 2014 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
110 East 59th Street New York, N. Y. 10022
eBook edition first published in 2013 by Severn House Digital
an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited
Copyright © 2013 by Simon Clark.
The right of Simon Clark to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Clark, Simon, 1958- author.
Her Vampyrrhic Heart.
1. VampiresâFiction. 2. Horror tales.
I. Title
823.9'2-dc23
ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8319-3 (cased)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-464-5 (ePub)
Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
This ebook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
H
er Vampyrrhic Heart
is a direct sequel to
His Vampyrrhic Bride
. It's not essential to have read
His Vampyrrhic Bride
in order to understand and enjoy the novel that you now hold in your hand. Having said that, it might help if I give you an idea of the story so far.
In
His Vampyrrhic Bride
,
twenty-three-year-old Tom Westonby falls in love with Nicola Bekk. Nicola lives a solitary life with her mother in a remote cottage in the woods. Nicola's mother tells them both that the relationship is doomed from the start, and if they continue to see one another an ancient curse will be triggered. This will lead to Nicola being transformed into an inhuman, vampire-like creature. Of course, when two young people are in love that's a powerful magic in its own right. They'll move heaven and earth to be together. If they're told they must not continue the relationship they will steadfastly ignore such warnings. Love conquers all, or so they believe.
However, the curse is a powerful one. To Tom Westonby's horror Nicola is transformed into a vampire and vanishes from his life. Tom refuses to believe that the woman he loves has gone for ever. He moves into Nicola's family home in the forest.
She will
come back to me
, he tells himself.
We'll be reunited.
Living alone in the cottage, Tom patiently waits for the return of his vampire bride. And, five years later, this is where we pick up Tom's story in
Her Vampyrrhic Heart
.
So, my friends, it's time to invite you warmly into the pages of this novel where there'll be plenty of surprises and excitement â not to mention cold, shivery touches of fear and âVampyrrhic' horror. Get ready. We're just about to enter the loneliest and darkest part of the forest.
Simon Clark,
Yorkshire, England
â
The human heart is like Indian rubber.
'
From
Agnes Grey
by Anne Brontë
D
ARKNESS ⦠The word
darkness
didn't adequately describe that absolute absence of light in the forest.
This is the darkness of the grave.
The man turned the key in the ignition. Nothing happened.
âDon't worry,' said the woman sitting beside him in the passenger seat. âThe car's electrics are just a bit temperamental, that's all. Come on, sweetheart, I know you won't let us down.'
Even though the darkness meant he couldn't see his girlfriend, he knew she'd gently patted the dashboard when she'd coaxed the car. After all, Rose had done this plenty of times before, because the fact of the matter was the car had clocked up a hundred thousand miles over the last ten years, and however much they did love every inch of the old girl's dented body that didn't guarantee that the dicky electrics and worn-out motor wouldn't let them down one day. Or, rather, one night â when the darkness inside the car seamlessly merged with the darkness outside.
He found her hand and gave it a loving squeeze. âI'm going to have to call out someone to help us.'
âThe old girl's had a rest. Try again.'
Without so much as a shred of optimism he turned the key.
âThere is a God!' He laughed with relief as the engine started.
Straight away, the headlights came on, too, lighting up the track through the trees. The man could now clearly see his girlfriend's sparkling eyes and smiling face in the dashboard lights. He also glimpsed the cast on her right leg. A nasty slip when she was rock climbing had left her with a cracked bone. The cast had scraped his back when they made love tonight. Although he wished they were doing exactly that back in their apartment. It had required real willpower to climb out of their warm bed for the twenty-mile drive across the moors to this remote valley â all in order to replace a battery in a camera that was fixed to a tree. But this was part of the job. One of their many duties as park rangers required them to try and capture footage of woodland animals. Motion sensors attached to the cameras would trigger them when a creature had been detected.
However, driving into this wilderness in a car that creaked and clattered towards the end of its mechanical life hadn't been at all straightforward. But at least they were now making progress again.
He glanced at Rose. âWhen we get there, I'll leave the engine running, dash down to the river, swap the battery, then get back as fast as I can. With luck, the engine won't die on us if I don't switch it off.'
Rose smiled. âI thought we could continue what we had to interrupt earlier.'
âYou mean engage in wild, outrageous sex out here?'
Her eyes held a mischievous twinkle. âWhy not? Sex in wilderness places is invigorating.'
âSays the voice of experience?'
âOh, I'm experienced, John. I can show you not only paradise, but what lies beyond paradise.'
She stroked his leg as he drove between lines of massive tree trunks.
âIf we do erotic stuff in this car,' he told her, âit will kill off the old girl once and for all.'
Rose laughed. âYou switch that battery in record time, and when you get back to the car I'll show you something that you'll remember for the rest of your life.' She ran her fingers up his thigh.
âOK. I'm going to break records. I'll be back in five minutes.'
John stopped the car, kissed her on the mouth and opened the door.
âMake it four minutes.' Teasingly, she pulled the fleece zip down as far as her full breasts. âDo you hear? Four minutes max.'
After kissing her again he stepped out of the car and closed the door. Quickly, he checked that the replacement battery was in his pocket.
Good, all present and correct.
That done, he switched on the flashlight. The distinctive musty, damp smell of a forest in winter struck him â the aroma of fallen leaves, wet bark and earth. He smiled at Rose as she switched on the interior light. Pursing her full, red lips, she blew him a kiss.
Damn it, she's hot. Sex on legs.
John Cantley hurried along the woodland path, the light from the torch glaring against trees. His breath came in billowing, white gusts. Already he could hear the River Lepping as it flowed down the valley towards the nearest village five miles away. Apart from a cottage and a few farms nothing much in the way of human life existed between here and Danby-Mask.
Eager for his erotic surprise, just minutes from now, he moved quickly. Within seconds he'd reached the river. The specialized camera, inside its protective box, had been fixed to a tree trunk at head height. Earlier in the week he'd angled the camera to film whatever scuttled down the river bank to take a drink. In a few days he'd collect the camera and review the footage.
Gripping one end of the flashlight in his teeth, he slipped the device out of its waterproof casing in order to switch the dead battery with a fresh one. He focused on the fiddly job â especially fiddly when his fingers were as cold as this.