Her Vampyrrhic Heart (28 page)

Owen nodded, digesting what Eden had just told him. ‘OK. Here goes.' He stood up and went to find Kit.

Kit Bolter was in a back room that served as the farm office. Slowly, he moved his feet as he sat on a swivel chair, turning himself round and round. He studied the phone in his hand. Owen noticed that most of the dressings had fallen off during the ruckus. The pellet wounds in his face were red and wet.

‘Kit?'

His friend didn't answer. Gently, he wiped the screen with a tissue.

‘Is the phone alright, Kit?'

‘It'll live.'

‘How's your face?'

‘It's the one I was born with … I'm stuck with it.'

‘The cuts, they're still bleeding.'

Instead of looking up, he studied the phone. ‘Go on, Owen, spit it out.'

‘Spit what out?'

‘What I need to hear.' He didn't look up, neither did he smile.

‘The video isn't fake. The monster's real. The girl is real.'

‘Freya.' Still, he didn't make eye contact with Owen. ‘Say her name.'

‘Freya's real.'

‘Excellent.'

‘I'm sorry about nearly busting your phone, and I'm sorry if I hurt you.'

‘Doubly excellent.'

‘Do you always have to speak like Professor Bullshit?'

Kit raised his eyes, grinning as he did so. ‘Now I've successfully concluded my sulk I'll say that your apology is officially accepted.'

‘I didn't mean to go crazy like that; it's just all this—'

Kit held up his hand to silence Owen. ‘Pal, mate, buddy, friend. We've gone through emotional hell this weekend. Is it any wonder that we've got so cranky? Listen, I've been running complicated equations. I've calculated with complete accuracy that the friendship that you, Jez and me have has the tensile strength of nine point six billion tons.'

Owen stared at Kit as he twirled round on the swivel chair.

‘Owen, you can laugh now, that's supposed to be a joke.'

Owen laughed with relief, rather than at the typically idiosyncratic Kit Bolter joke. He held out his hand for Kit to shake. Before Kit's hand made contact, Owen playfully ruffled the kook's hair.

Kit laughed, too. ‘Now go and smooth things over with Jez.'

‘Will do.'

‘Oh … Owen. I shouldn't have called Eden a bitch. I'm sorry.'

‘You best tell her that yourself. But I'm sure everything will be OK. In the meantime, I'll ask her to put more dressings on those war wounds you've got there.'

‘Eden's alright. If anything, I got frightened that you'd stop wanting to hang out with Jez and yours truly.'

‘There might be plenty to be frightened of out there in the world, but never get frightened about the Three Musketeers splitting up.'

After having a quick word with Eden, Owen headed upstairs.

Jez stood at the window. His eyes were fixed on the landscape outside. The fields glittered under a blanket of snow in the moonlight. The familiar world now resembled an alien landscape.

‘Jez,' began Owen.

‘You don't have to apologize. I'm the one who's gone berserk this weekend. Ramming the truck. Shooting my friend. If things come in threes, you better start running now. I'll probably blow you up or something.'

‘I shouldn't have yelled at you. And I shouldn't have said that Kit's video was fake.'

‘Takes some swallowing though, doesn't it? How many other places in Yorkshire have dinosaurs, or whatever the hell it is?'

‘We'll take the phone to the police. Let them work out what the beastie is.'

Jez held the broken arm to his chest as if nursing it. ‘I do remember driving the truck at an animal. Huge it was. I rammed it, because I knew that thing was going to attack the woman lying in the road.'

‘In which case, it might already have attacked the minibus passengers.'

‘If it did, I'm in the clear, aren't I?'

Owen nodded. Jez sat down on the bed. All the strength had been sucked from him; he looked absolutely exhausted.

Owen asked, ‘And you saw Freya, too?'

‘Yup. Blasted her with the shotgun from that window. I thought she was going to pounce on Kit. Of course, my aim's crap.'

‘Kit's going to be alright.'

‘So we're all friends again?'

‘Definitely.'

Jez held out his hand for Owen to shake. When Owen shook it Jez started to speak.

‘Owen, I've been thinking. Remember in physics when we were told about when the universe was formed?'

‘Sure. Big Bang and all that stuff.'

‘I remember what amazed me was that after the Big Bang scientists say that there might have been thousands of universes created within a matter of seconds. For some reason, we can only see one now, and that's our universe. So where did all the others go?'

‘Nobody knows.'

‘What if they continue to exist? You know, like pages side-by-side in a book? What if creatures can come from those universes into ours?'

‘You think that animal might have come through some kind of portal?'

‘Maybe. Think about what happens in history. Every few hundred years really amazing things happen. You know, like monsters and miracles and gods that human beings see, but then these amazing things vanish again and they become myths.' Jez spoke with complete seriousness. ‘What if in different parts of the world a portal or doorway opens to one of these universes and strange creatures come through? We wouldn't be able to understand what they are. I mean, they'd be inexplicable, wouldn't they? What if they're watching this world and plan to invade us?'

‘I don't know, Jez. What we should do is get that phone of Kit's to the police as quickly as we can.'

‘They'll have to believe that kind of evidence, won't they? They'll bring in the army and scientists and all kinds of—'

Jez didn't get any further, because a sudden concussion shook the house. This was followed by a terrifying scream. Owen knew that scream had come from Eden. She sounded as if she knew she was going to die.

S
creams echoed through the farmhouse. Owen Westonby hurtled out of Jez's bedroom and down the stairs.

Kit emerged from the back room, his face white with shock. ‘What's happening? Who's that screaming?'

Eden's screams of terror grew louder, more desperate.

Following the sound, Owen sped along the corridor to the kitchen at the back of the house. He burst through the door where an incredible sight met his eyes. Eden yelled as she tried to shut the back door. The reason she couldn't close it was because a dozen naked arms, resembling pale tentacles, had forced themselves between the door and the door frame. A hand curled around the door from outside to grab Eden's hair.

Owen ran across the kitchen where he tried to peel back the fingers that clutched Eden's blond strands.

‘Forget my hair!' she yelled. ‘Just help me shut these out!'

Owen tried to push the door shut. However, the arms writhing through the five-inch gap made it impossible.

‘Who are they?' Owen shouted.

‘It's that animal! The one Kit filmed!'

An arm pushed through the gap, revealing bulging muscle. Fingers tried to rake Owen's face.

He flicked his head back to avoid being scratched. ‘We'll have to open the door!'

‘No way! We can't let it into the house!'

‘Are you sure it's—'

‘It's the monster, Owen! Believe me, it's the monster! And it's a lot bigger in real life than the video!'

Kit helped, too, as they tried to close the door. Just then, Jez clattered into the kitchen. He possessed real muscle and soon they managed to trap the arms between the door and the frame. The naked limbs swayed from side to side with a snake-like motion. What reinforced the serpentine effect was the hissing sound from outside.

Kit panted, ‘I told you it was real.'

‘OK.' Jez nodded, ‘We believe you.'

‘We won't be able to shut the door,' Owen told them, ‘unless we can get these arms out of the way.' A hand swayed close to his face, fingers grasping blindly. All too clearly, he saw the bluish fingernails. One thumbnail had been ripped off in the struggle. Beneath the nail the raw flesh was grey and wet.

‘What do you suggest?' shouted Eden. ‘Because when I opened this door that thing out there rushed the house like a mad bull.'

Jez leaned sideways to pull open a drawer. ‘Let me try something … I'm starting to learn a thing or two about pain.' From a clutter of tools he pulled out a hammer.

Eden gave a grim nod. ‘Do it, Jez! Give it hell!'

Jez used his good arm to deliver the punishment. The hammer struck one limb, bristling with red hairs. At the second blow the arm went into spasm, the fingers stretched out, quivering. With amazing ferocity, he beat the arms that protruded through the gap. One of the blows shattered fingers, the next cracked the bone in a forearm. The arms went frantic.

Owen called out, ‘Get ready to open the door on my command. OK? We want that thing to yank its arms out – that way we can shut the door.'

‘Just a couple more swipes.' Jez grinned as he aimed the hammer at a bare elbow. The impact of the steel on the elbow opened up the skin. Owen saw dirty white bone. No blood, though. Meanwhile, Eden dealt with the hand gripping those strands of hair by simply jerking her head back.

‘Let it keep a souvenir!' she yelled.

The hand began a cobra-like sway with strands of blond hair clutched in its fist.

Jez swung the hammer – the man had become a born-again warrior. The hammerhead ripped away fingernails, which pitter-pattered on to the kitchen floor, where they resembled delicate seashells.

‘It's hurting,' Kit whooped. ‘Jez, you hurt the bastard!'

‘Alright,' Owen hissed. ‘On the word
Go
. Let the door open – just by a couple more inches.'

‘Not an inch more!' Eden warned.

‘We don't want that sucker in here,' Kit said with feeling.

‘GO!'

They allowed the door to move towards them a couple of inches. Whoever – whatever – was out there withdrew its wounded arms in a flash. Immediately, Owen and the others slammed the door shut. Eden turned the key in the lock. Owen and Kit took care of the bolts, snapping them across.

Jez wiped sweat from his eyes. ‘That's a good door. It'll keep out plenty of bad guys.'

Kit raised his eyebrows. ‘Will it keep out a monster? I don't think so.'

Eden darted to the window. ‘I can't see it.'

‘Maybe it's gone?' Jez sounded hopeful.

At that moment, they heard a loud scraping.

Owen's heart thudded as a sense of dread replaced the exhilaration he felt on successfully closing the door. ‘It's climbing up the outside of the house.'

‘We could run for it?' Eden suggested.

Kit shook his head. ‘I've seen that thing before, remember? It moves fast. Just picture someone trying to out-swim a man-eating shark. We wouldn't stand a chance on foot.'

What Eden said next sounded so matter-of-fact, yet so profoundly shocking, that they gawped at her. ‘If we can't run away from that thing, then we've got to kill it.'

Kit's eyes bulged. ‘Holy Mother of God. How?'

Owen thought fast. ‘Jez, where's the gun?'

‘Outside.'

‘Really?'

‘Kit's friend knocked it clean out of my hands.' Jez grimaced. ‘She didn't want shooting a second time.'

‘Where is it?'

‘The front yard.'

Owen nodded, knowing what he'd got to do.

Kit grabbed his arm. ‘Hey, Owen, don't go out there. That thing will pounce on you in one second flat.'

‘Smack pans on the kitchen walls,' Owen told them. ‘Make some noise for me.'

Eden kissed him. ‘Get the gun. But come back safe.'

Kit's eyes were wide – just bulging right out with horror. ‘You can't. You'll be killed.' He turned to Jez. ‘Your Dad's got another gun, hasn't he?'

‘Sorry, guys. That's the only shooting iron we've got.'

Owen grabbed a wok from where it hung on the wall and shoved it into Kit's hands. ‘Hard as you can. Bash the walls. Keep the big guy distracted.'

Owen ran for the front door. He felt a mixture of dread and total excitement as he thought:
it's true what they say, the closer you get to death, the more you feel alive
.

Behind him, the three made an enormous clatter, striking the walls and the kitchen stove with heavy iron pans. It sounded like metal thunder. Cautiously, he opened the door on to a moonlit yard. Snow glinted. He saw drops of blood. Probably Kit's. But no gun. From the house came clanging, crashing, an immense din. Those three drummed with those pans as if his life depended on it.
Which, when it came down to it
, he admitted,
was absolutely
the case.

Owen crossed the yard, searching, hoping the creature's attention had been drawn to the hullabaloo. When he ran through deep shadow he found the shotgun by kicking it, rather than seeing it. Seizing the weapon, he ran back into the house. He closed the front door, locked it, bolted it. No sooner had he done that than there were sudden yells of panic. This time they came from the back room where, earlier, Kit had flounced away to sulk.

Eden stood at the doorway to the back parlour that served as the farm's office.

She pointed into the room. ‘Look!' she cried. ‘It's trying to find a way in.'

Owen ran along the corridor. ‘Jez, where are the shells?'

‘You've got four in the magazine. I'll get more.' Jez ducked into another room where his father kept the ammo.

Owen just didn't know what to expect when he entered the back parlour. Eden followed, even though he waved his hand behind him: a stay-back gesture. He'd fired pump-action shotguns like this before, so he knew how to chamber the round. That done, he slid his finger around the trigger. The parlour extended out at the back of the house. An archway in the wall led to a conservatory made from a plastic frame and large window panes. The light in the conservatory remained off.
That's odd
, he thought,
there's moonlight
…
so why is the conservatory so dark?