Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (37 page)

He wondered
how exactly he had come to be outside in the daylight. He
remembered the agony of it and his undignified struggle to find his
way back to the darkness and then seeing her with the axe poised
above his cowering head, ready to strike. He did not really blame
her for that. She had quite understandably thought him dangerous.
But he needed to know the details. Had the daylight woken him up?
Had it jolted him out of his coma? Would it work on the others?

Last night,
after his hunting trip, he had hoped to speak with Madison, but she
had retired to bed and so instead he had slowly wandered through
the sleeping house, remembering his bygone era as if it were
yesterday. He now saw strange machines and objects in the rooms.
Alien things - boxes and flashing coloured lights, large square
units and small shiny intricate devices.

He had sat for
a while in the drawing room until he felt the creeping approach of
dawn and then reluctantly he had taken himself back down to the
room in the cellar.

Now he looked
miserably at his grey surroundings and sat on the edge of Isobel’s
crate. When Harold had been alive, the house had been fitted with
shutters to keep out the daylight. In this way, they’d had the run
of the place at any time of day. Harold must have brought their
sleeping bodies down into the cellar some time before he died and
sealed them away.

It was just
all too depressing to contemplate. He could feel despair washing
over him again. No friends, no family, no freedom. And the last
thing he felt like doing was sleeping. Thoughts and questions
whirred through his mind. His body felt strong and full of energy,
but the daylight made him a prisoner.

The room
appeared clean, but had an unusual feel about it. There was none of
the comfort and luxury he remembered. Just bare walls and floor and
the hospital stench of chlorine. He wondered at the empty bed and
then noticed a black leather-bound book on the bedside table. A
bible?

The pages were
yellowed with age. Not a bible, but someone’s handwriting.
Alexandre began to read. It was a journal of some sort ...

…
and so I watch them, unable to help. I miss Victoria and feel
sure she would have known what to do for the best. She was always
more practical than I …

Harold’s
journal! Alexandre skipped ahead to the last entry:

…
I am ninety two years of age. The pen shakes in my hand and
my eyes are almost useless in this dim candlelight, but I must
write of the __

And here the
entry ended. Alexandre closed the book. Harold was dead. He would
never see his parents’ friend again. The man who had cared for him
and his siblings as though they were his own. Poor Harold. He must
have watched over them for the rest of his lonely days.

Were he and
the others now immortal? In all these years they had not aged a
day. Would they live forever? It was a frightening thought. Please
God, let the others wake up. He felt a creeping loneliness slide
between his ribs. He climbed into his crate and closed his eyes,
willing sleep to blot out the panic. He might be immortal, but
human emotion now threatened to overpower him.

*

Madison did
not go down into the cellar. She tried to keep her thoughts on her
brother and his recovery, but Alexandre ran through her mind
constantly, like a backing track on a continuous loop. Of course,
Ben wanted to take his motorbike out straight away, but both
Madison and Doctor Wilson expressly forbade it and, to Ben’s
disgust, he was forced to delay his desires for at least a week -
Madison hid the keys.

Esther still
hung about the place and she and Maddy sniped constantly at each
other, in subtle competition with each other over who was the best
qualified to care for Ben during his grouchy recovery stage. All in
all, tensions ran high throughout the house and in the end Madison
couldn’t stand the atmosphere any more. By mid afternoon she
conceded defeat and left Ben in Esther’s grumbling care, deciding
to go out despite the bitterly cold weather.

She shrugged
on her thick puffa coat, a woolly hat, gloves and a scarf to cover
her mouth and nose. The lemon bright sunshine gave no heat and the
wind spat out an icy northern blast. Madison walked for fifteen
minutes and then gave up, turning back and making her way over to
the Land Rover.

She decided to
drive slowly around the estate and listen to some tunes on her
iPod. She needed something to drown out the jumble of thoughts that
refused to order themselves. If only she had somebody to talk to
about all this. She couldn’t make sense of anything by herself and
didn’t know what to do for the best.

Was she stupid
to stay in this place with its secrets and dangers? But where else
could they go? This was her place as long as she lived in it. If
they moved out, they would lose everything, but maybe that would be
better than this constant strangeness.

She started up the engine and motored across the front lawn.
Morris would give her the evils, for making tracks across the
grass, but he was the least of her worries. She would head down to
the woods, see if the river had frozen and then she’d drive back.
Half an hour’s worth of loud music and beautiful scenery would help
her to relax before night fell and
he
returned.

Was he down
there in the cellar now? She hadn’t dared to go and look. The very
thought of it made her heart stand still and her stomach disappear
through the floor. She pressed play and a wall of guitars and drums
quelled her panic. She put pressure on the accelerator and shot off
down the hill towards the dark smudge of woods in the distance.
Brown rabbits bounded out of her way and birds flocked together
overhead, gloating and secure in each others company. She reached
down and felt around for the plastic shape of her sunglasses to
shield against the metallic glint of winter.

Before long,
Madison reached the river, turned off the engine and the music and
jumped down onto the slippery bank. The grey brown river still
flowed, although a few sheets of ice floated near the edges. A
couple of ducks huddled on the far bank and eyed Madison hopefully
in case she’d brought them any tasty titbits.

‘
Sorry, birdies,’ she said, as a green-necked drake stood up
and waddled towards her. ‘I forgot to bring bread today. Next time,
I promise.’

The duck
looked across at Madison. He quacked a couple of times before
realising he wasn’t in luck and waddled back to his mate, plopping
down disappointedly next to her.

As Madison cruised back up the tree-lined avenue, the sun
cast dappled shadows on the tarmac.
Bright, dark, bright, dark, bright, dark
. Maddy’s sunglasses gave everything an unreal quality, like
she was looking at an old, jerky movie reel.
Bright, dark, bright, dark
. She had
turned off her music and instead, heard the tyres hissing along the
road and the engine humming in time.
Bright, dark, bright, dark
. The
avenue of trees came to an end and she drove into brightness
again.

Back home to her house of secrets. Excitement and
anticipation overlaid a gut-clenching fear that wouldn’t be pushed
away. She stopped trying to blot out her thoughts and decided to
give in to them, to see if it lessened her anxiety. She was
undeniably besotted with Alexandre, but he also terrified her to
the point of numbness. He was a vampire for God’s sake. A mythical
being from another century. He was also heartbreakingly beautiful
and she felt sick with nerves when she was near him. But was that
because of
what
he was or because of
who
he was?

Her home, her
refuge from the world was now an unpredictable place. Alexandre had
a prior claim to the house and there was no way she could ask him
to leave. Anyway, she didn’t think she wanted him to leave.

And what about
the others? The ones still sleeping. What on earth would happen
when they woke up? Because she knew they would wake up at some
point. It was surely only a matter of time. Alexandre awoke, so it
followed they would too.

She did want
to meet her ancestors – a real family she could call her own. She
and Ben wouldn’t be alone anymore, but it would be beyond weird to
have ancestors the same age as them. She supposed it might be like
having cousins. And it would be great for Alexandre to get his
brother and sister back.

But if that
happened, Marchwood House would definitely not be hers and Ben’s
anymore. Leonora and Freddie Swinton had a much stronger right to
it than she did. Well, legally they were dead with no rights to
anything, but she wouldn’t be able to stand in their way if they
wanted to reclaim it. To have it to themselves.

She’d just
have to hope they’d all get along, like one nice big happy family.
But Madison had long passed the point of believing in fairy tales.
And what about Morris and Esther? How would she keep the existence
of five vampires a secret from them? It was going to get
ridiculously complicated.

She sat there
in the Land Rover, on the driveway. Nervous. The sun was setting
fast and she knew he’d make an appearance soon. She’d have to tell
Ben. Warn him beforehand. She took a deep breath and opened the
Land Rover door.

Chapter
Twenty Two

*

‘
Yeah, that’s hilarious, Maddy,’ her brother said.

Esther had
finally gone home and night had almost fallen. Madison and Ben sat
in the lounge half-watching a repeat of Only Fools and Horses. The
log fire blazed as they slouched on the sofa. Ben in his pjs with a
quilt pulled over him.

‘
Ben, I’m deadly serious.’ Madison scooched up closer to him.
She’d just told him a condensed version of what had happened
yesterday - that the five statues in the cellar were not statues,
they were vampires. One of them had woken up and they would
probably see him tonight.

‘
Mads, what are you like?’

‘
I’m not ‘like’ anything. His name is Alexandre and I don’t
think he’s dangerous. He’s French.’

‘
A French vampire?’ Ben looked at her. ‘Does he suck blood and
turn into a bat?’

‘
Ben, I promise I’m not winding you up. I just don’t want you
to freak out when you meet him. I wanted to warn you first.’ Maddy
knew she wouldn’t get him to believe her. He would only believe his
own two eyes. ‘How are you feeling now anyway? You look
tired.’

‘
I’m alright. Bit knackered though.’

He was doing
pretty well, considering he’d only just woken up properly today,
after being so ill for days. He’d slept after lunch and Esther had
wanted him to stay in bed, but he’d ignored her and had come
downstairs to watch TV.

‘
Maybe you should go back to bed. You can meet Alexandre
tomorrow.’

Ben rolled his
eyes at his big sister, then he leaned his head back onto the sofa
and closed his eyes.

‘
You know what? I know it’s early, but I am gonna go to bed. I
can’t keep my eyes open.’ He blinked and yawned loudly, dragging
himself upright. ‘Night, Mads. Do I need to take any garlic with
me?’

‘
Night, Ben. No garlic required. D’you need anything? Any
water?’

‘
Nah, see you tomorrow.’ He sloped out of the room dragging
his duvet with him and she heard the boards creaking as he walked
up the stairs.

Maddy pointed the remote at the TV and clicked it off.
Now
what should she do?
Ben didn’t believe her and she supposed she couldn’t really blame
him. She wouldn’t have believed her either. At least she didn’t
have to deal with his reaction tonight. She chewed her thumbnail.
Would Alexandre even make an appearance? Or had he gone? She should
really eat something but she didn’t feel vaguely hungry.

She stood up
and walked towards the lounge door and then changed her mind and
sank back down onto the sofa, pulling her legs up under her. She
chewed her other thumbnail and wished for the thousandth time she
had somebody to talk to about everything.

A copy of the
NME sat on the coffee table. She flicked it open and skimmed
through the articles. Her brain registered the familiar band names
without taking in the details. It was no good, she couldn’t
concentrate. This couldn’t go on. She was a nervous wreck. Vomiting
was a definite possibility. She tossed the magazine back onto the
coffee table and leaned back, stretching her arms above her head.
It was properly dark outside now and she switched on some side
lamps. They cast a warm glow around the room. The fire crackled and
spat.

Madison
jumped. What was that? It sounded like … yes. Someone was knocking
softly at the lounge door.

‘
May I come in?’

Madison’s
heart pounded but then, when she actually saw him, she relaxed a
little. He smiled enquiringly at her with soft brown eyes, not at
all scary or threatening. Just, insanely gorgeous.

‘
Um, yeah,’ she said, straightening up on the sofa. ‘Yeah,
come in. Sit down.’

‘
Thank you. I hope I did not startle you. It must feel strange
to know I am in your house.’ He sat on the sofa opposite and leaned
forward.

‘
Well, it does a bit. But it’s okay.’ She accidentally smiled
at him.

Alexandre
looked at Madison. She was quite outrageously dressed in skin-tight
blue trousers and a close-fitting woollen top. Her clothes looked
like the thick undergarments a labourer might wear and yet the
effect was very pleasing. She looked extremely becoming with her
pale skin, short dark hair and those beautiful blue, black-rimmed
eyes. Like a Russian wolf.