Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (42 page)

‘
Yeah,’ she replied. And then she mouthed to him. ‘Remember,
don’t mention Alex.’ She pointed down at the cellar.

Ben rolled his
eyes and zipped his mouth closed. He pulled a rude face and went
off into the kitchen. She returned to the lounge.

‘
Everything alright?’ the solicitor asked her.

‘
Yeah, he’s just always hungry when he gets back from school.
He’ll be in, in a second. He’s such a gannet.’

‘
That’s teenage boys for you. How are the Foxtons?’

‘
Oh, Esther and Morris are okay.’

‘
Good, good. Aaah, Ben! Very nice to see you again.’ He stood
up and extended his hand. Ben put some crisps in his mouth and
wiped his hands on his school trousers before shaking hands. He
finished chewing before speaking.

‘
Hello. How are you?’

‘
Very well, Ben. I just thought I’d pay you a flying visit to
see how you’re both doing. I’m glad to see you so happy and
settled. Madison tells me you like your new school.’

‘
Yeah, it’s good.’

‘
Have you made many friends?’ Mr Vasey-Smith sat back
down.

‘
Yeah, they’re all pretty sound,’ Ben nodded and sat next to
his sister.

‘
Horrible weather though isn’t it? They didn’t forecast this
thunderstorm. It’s blowing a gale out there.’

‘
Mmm,’ Madison and Ben both agreed.

‘
Well,’ the solicitor stood up again. ‘My taxi is waiting
outside and so I’d better get going. Sorry I couldn’t stay long but
I really don’t want to miss my train.’

‘
It was nice of you to come and see us,’ Madison said,
relieved he was going. She liked him but found it hard going,
trying to make small talk.

‘
So,’ he said, putting his coat on. ‘Have you had any friends
to stay with you yet? Shown off your new residence?’

‘
Umm, no, not really. We had a party when we first moved in.
But it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare.’

‘
Yes, hosting events is not for the faint hearted,’ he
smiled.

‘
Yeah. I won’t be having any more parties for a while.’ She
saw the solicitor out into the stormy afternoon. His taxi waited on
the driveway, the cab driver immersed in a newspaper.

‘
Goodbye, Madison. Thank you for the tea and
conversation.’

‘
Thanks for coming.’

He climbed
smartly into the cab and closed the door, giving Madison and Ben a
short wave through the rain-stained window. Ben went back inside to
watch TV and Madison stood in the doorway watching the taxi’s red
tail lights disappear from view as the wind whipped her hair and
the rain lashed her face.

After
Vasey-Smith’s departure, Madison went downstairs to see Alexandre.
She knocked on the new door at the bottom of the cellar stairs.

‘
Come in!’ she heard him call. She turned the knob and walked
into his lounge. He lay on his front on a rug on the floor,
watching yet another film. ‘Madison,’ he laughed. ‘You have to
watch this film with me. It is … what is your word? Hilarious.
These gentlemen are dressed as women and they are fleeing from
…’

‘
Yeah,
Some Like it
Hot
. Great movie, but can we watch it
later?’

‘
You look worried. What is it? Is it the man who was just
here? Did he do something?’ Alexandre looked suddenly fierce. ‘Do
you want me to find him?’ He turned off the television and leapt
up.

‘
Slow down, chill. No, there’s nothing wrong - I don’t think.
It was the solicitor, Vasey-Smith. You know the one I told you
about. The one whose company tracked down me and Ben, about
Harold’s will and everything.’

‘
What did he want? There is a problem with the
will?’

‘
No, nothing like that. That’s what I first thought, but he
said he just wanted to see how we were getting on.’

‘
But that is kind. That is a normal thing to do. You are young
and he was concerned.’

‘
Yeah I know. It’s just, I told him about a party I had and I
still feel like I’m this irresponsible child and he’s the
disapproving grown-up. And I’ve just had a thought, maybe Esther or
Morris mentioned you were here and now he might think you and me
are … you know.’

Alexandre
looked taken aback. ‘I find I still cannot get used to your
straight talking.’

‘
Believe me Alex, that ain’t straight talking. If you wanna
hear straight talking you should meet my mate, Lois.’

‘
Maybe in a few years when I am more acclimatised. But if this
Vasey-Smith thinks these things, there is nothing you can do about
it. Are you worried for your reputation?’

She laughed.
‘No, not really. It’s better he thinks I’m a slut than I’m living
with a vampire, right?’

‘
Uh, a little less straight talking if you please. Come. Watch
the rest of this film with me.’

‘
I think you’ve already watched a century’s worth of films.
Your eyes’ll go square.’

‘
Really? Square? This can happen? He put his hands to his eyes
and looked doubtfully at Madison.’

‘
Really. Too much telly equals square eyes. Everyone knows
that.’

His frowned
for a moment until he saw the smirk on her face.

‘
Yes and too much lying equals death by tickling. Everyone
knows that.’ He grabbed her around the waist and began tickling her
under her arms until she squealed for mercy. He ignored her cries.
‘
Sorry, Alexandre
, are the words I am looking for,’ he said, unrelenting in
his tickles.

‘
Sorry, sorry! Alex, I’m sorry. Stop, please.’

‘
Now, will you please watch this film with me? He lay back
down on the floor and beckoned her over. As she lay down, he hit
the remote and Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis resumed their antics on
screen. Alexandre smiled at Madison. Her heart did a front flip
followed by a back flip and she forgot all about
Vasey-Smith. 

*

‘
I can’t believe I haven’t brought you here before,’ Madison
said as they queued to get into the large grey building. A blue
neon sign glowed above their heads, couples held hands and groups
of youths jostled each other and joked as they waited to get
tickets for the fairly tame action movie that Madison had decided
wouldn’t be too hardcore for Alexandre’s nineteenth century
tastes.

‘
So this will be like watching it at home, but on a bigger
screen?’ he asked. ‘What is the point of that? What difference does
a bigger screen make? Why would you watch with a group strangers?
If you have the choice, surely it is better to watch in the comfort
of your own home?’

Two and a half
hours later Alexandre emerged from the cinema with a look of
wondrous rapture on his face.

‘
Enjoy that did ya?’ Madison asked, knowing it had probably
been the most amazing sensory experience of his life.

‘
But I had no idea you could experience something so … so
...’

‘
Intense?’ she offered.

‘
Yes, yes. Intense. Unbelievable! It was completely thrilling,
as if I were there myself.’

‘
It wasn’t that good, mate,’ a young lad called out. He and
his mates laughed at the awestruck Alexandre. Maddy stuck the Vs up
at them and led Alexandre out of the cinema by his arm.

‘
But that plane journey at the end was terrifying. I do not
think I am so keen to travel on an aeroplane anymore.’

Madison
laughed. ‘It’s just a film. Apparently flying is the safest way to
travel.’

‘
Hmmm,’ Alexandre didn’t sound convinced.

*

When does day
turn into night? And when does night turn into day? Is there a
single severed second where it switches from one to the other? Or
does it just shift gradually by degrees? Alexandre knew the answer
to all of these questions. His body knew just when shimmering
daylight would fade into black sanctuary and when the cool darkness
would again be shot through with bright danger. He knew these
things. They defined him.

The days grew
longer and this meant more confinement. His patience became as
short as the nights, and his temper bubbled beneath a surface of
forced calm. As soon as the sun set each night, he came slamming
out of the cellar and out of the house, before returning to see
her. He needed to be in the open air for at least an hour, to shake
off the claustrophobia that pressed in on him.

Madison tried
to think of things to amuse him during the day, as he hardly ever
slept, but it was difficult. After his initial love affair with
films, he grew fed up watching television. The internet gave some
kind of distraction and ate up the hours, but he found the sheer
volume of information could be quite overwhelming. Reading books
was always pleasant, but no substitute for living a life.

June came
along and the nights were so short, he could only venture out
between the hours of nine thirty at night and four thirty in the
morning - a mere seven hours out of every twenty four. On the
twenty first of the month, the longest day of the year, Alexandre
left the house at dusk and did not return until 1.30am Madison
paced inside, her stomach in knots, worrying about his whereabouts
and his fragile state of mind. When he finally returned they sat
together at the kitchen table. His mood was morose.

‘
You’re just on a bit of a downer,’ she said. ‘You miss your
friends and family. It’s natural to feel pissed off. The days will
start getting shorter soon and then you’ll feel better. I
promise.’

He spoke
slowly: ‘I miss my friends, I miss my family, I miss my country and
I miss my freedom.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I miss the daylight and
I want to go back.’ Despair clouded his dark eyes.

‘
Back?’

‘
Yes! Back! Back, back, back! To my time and my home. Back to
before I turned into this ... monster.’

‘
You’re not a monster.’ Madison was dismayed by his anger and
distress. She knew he felt frustrated by his circumstances, but she
had no idea how deeply his feelings cut. ‘Is there anything I can
do?’ she asked, feeling inadequate.

‘
Sometimes,’ he said. ‘I wish you had succeeded that day.’ He
clenched his fists.

Madison didn’t
want to hear this.

‘
That day when you tried to kill me. It would have been better
if you had finished the job.’

‘
You don’t mean that, Alex. Don’t ever say that. I don’t know
what I’d do if anything ever happened to you. Maybe we should think
about trying to wake up the others? Maybe … maybe if you had them
with you, they’d cheer you up. I know what it’s like to get down. I
know. But we’ll get through it. Together. Alright,
Alex?’

‘
I like it when you call me
Alex
. It reminds me of Jacques. He
always called me this. He was the only one who …’ He angrily wiped
away a tear and Madison scraped her chair closer to his and put her
arm around his hunched shoulders.

‘
We’ll work it out. Whatever’s making you feel like this,
we’ll sort it. We’ll fix it. Yeah?’

‘
If not for you, I do not think I could be responsible for my
actions. I can see how easy it would be for those like me to
eventually turn into monsters. I hope it is not
inevitable.’

‘
Nothing’s inevitable,’ she said and kissed his porcelain
cheek. He turned to her and kissed her on the mouth. Madison opened
her lips and sank into his kiss. She felt the deep pull of desire
as he lifted her off the chair and drew her close to his body. She
felt his anger and despair and passion and she knew he needed this
from her.

He lifted her
easily into his arms and took her upstairs into her bedroom. A
half-moon shone through the open window, onto the wooden floor.
Alexandre lay her down onto the unmade bed and gazed at her. She
stared back up at him, her lips parted and her breathing heavy.

‘
I love you,’ he said. ‘I have never felt this sure about
anything.’

She smiled at
him tentatively, forcing herself to be brave and say the words back
to him. She had said them to him often enough in her head, but to
say them aloud was to leave herself exposed and vulnerable, even
though he’d spoken first.

‘
I love you too,’ she finally said. ‘I really do,
Alex.’

He lay down on
his side next to her, propped up on one elbow and he kissed her
cheek.

‘
That kiss was incredible,’ he said. ‘I could kiss you like
that all night.’

‘
Please,’ she said. ‘Kiss me like that all night.’

He straddled
her and pushed her arms back above her head, lowering himself down.
She felt the weight of him as he kissed her eyelids, her nose, her
cheeks, her lips. She gently bit his bottom lip and pushed his
mouth open with her tongue to feel his deep kisses again. She
moaned and arched her body into him. But then he suddenly rolled
off her and opened his eyes, realising he had probably gone too
far.

‘
Forgive me,’ he said. ‘You are irresistible to me but that is
no excuse for my behaviour.’

‘
Forgive you? For what?’

‘
I have taken advantage. I love you and I do not wish to
disrespect you.’