Sleeping Angel (Ravenwood Series) (5 page)

‘Look, I think I’d better go,’ said April, reaching for her coat. ‘Besides, grandad will be worrying.’

‘April, can’t we talk about it like adults?’ said Silvia, turning back to her, a note of pleading in her voice. ‘I want you to understand what happened with your father and what happened with Robert and ...’

‘No, mum!’ shouted April, ‘I won’t discuss this. I didn’t come here to help you work through your issues. I came to hear what Inspector Reece had to say. Seriously, I’m done with this.’

‘And you’re done with me too?’ said Silvia quietly. April’s heart sank as she watched her mother’s face crumple. Silvia covered her face with her hands and April could only watch as her shoulders heaved with sobs. Suddenly she felt horribly guilty: she had left Silvia to stew, probably drinking herself to sleep every night – and there was no question she deserved it – but Silvia wasn’t exactly surrounded by a support network. What friends she had in Highgate were from her snooty dinner party circuit, and hardly the sort who rallied around when tragedy entered your life.

‘No, Mum, I’m not done with you,’ she said, walking over and putting her hands on Silvia’s shoulders. ‘It’s just that I need a bit of time alone. You can see that, surely?’

Silvia sniffled. ‘I suppose... it’s just that I’m so worried about you being so far away. I want to ...’ she let out another sob. ‘How can they take him a second time?’

April rubbed her mother’s arm. ‘We’ll get him back, I promise,’ said April.

Silvia pulled away and grabbed a tissue, loudly blowing her nose. ‘Sorry, darling. It’s just I feel so alone in this big house at night, all the noises, the creaking. And I keep seeing people looking in the windows ...’ She shook her head. ‘No, that’s stupid.’

April looked at her sharply. ‘People at the windows? Why didn’t you tell Inspector Reece?’

‘It’s probably nothing, just paranoia. It’s probably just people in the square walking their dogs or whatever. Being on your own, it makes you see things.’

Was Silvia imagining it, or was the house being watched? Was her mother a target? Again April felt a pang of guilt. She was angry with Silvia, yes, but not so angry that she wanted her in danger. The very thought made her feel sick – April had lost enough already.

‘Listen mum, this is getting us nowhere. I’m fine at gramps’ place – he can look after me. Just give me some space, okay?’

‘Space to be with your boyfriend, I suppose?’ Silvia said bitterly.

April glared at her. ‘See? This is why I need to get away. Gabriel is a good guy, you know that. He’s looked after me. I thought you appreciated that.’

Silvia looked at her. ‘All men are after something, and I should know.’

‘Maybe the men you chase after aren’t the same as Gabriel.’

Just as April had been softening, thinking that she might actually move back into the house, Silvia went and showed her true colours again.

April realised as she snatched up her coat that perhaps she was getting this the wrong way around. If the Suckers were searching for the Fury – and much as she hated to admit it, if Benjamin and Marcus had worked out her identity, it was only a matter of time before someone else joined the dots – her presence in Highgate was only putting Silvia in more danger. Her mother could be ferocious when roused, but – seriously – what could a sharp-tongued widow do against the army of darkness gathering outside her door? However fearsome Silvia Dunne could be, however strong her instinct to protect her only child, the vampires would squash her like a fly.

‘Look mum, I’ve got to get back.’

‘You go then,’ said Silvia, waving her hand dramatically. ‘I’ll be fine.’

‘You know what? I think you will.’

April went out through the front door, slamming it behind her.
That’s getting to be a habit too,
she thought
as she pushed past the creaky gate and across the square.

April was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the slight figure sitting on a bench facing away from the road.

‘Hello,’ she said, stopping April in her tracks. Davina Osbourne. Queen of the Ravenwood mean girls, top dog in the school Suckers and head of the vampire recruitment team. What was she doing sitting outside her house?

‘Davina, you frightened the life out of me.’

‘Sorry,’ the girl said, but there was something odd about the way she said it. April looked at her more closely and was shocked by what she saw: Davina’s usual super-groomed poise was gone. She looked crumpled, exhausted, her normally blemish-free skin looked mottled and there were frown-lines on her forehead. If she hadn’t felt it was impossible, she would have said Davina had forgotten to wash her hair.

‘I heard about your dad,’ said Davina, wiping her nose with a rag of tissue. ‘Must be pretty freaky.’

April just nodded. She had no idea how to react. Davina looked up and April could see her eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed. ‘Want to go for a coffee?’

Davina smiled. ‘Thanks, that’d be nice.’

Sitting across from April at a table in the Americano coffee bar, trapped under the unforgiving fluorescent lighting, Davina looked even worse. She looked as you’d expect someone to whose close relative had recently died: washed out, raw and broken. Somehow you didn’t expect vampires to react in the same way as “real” people.

‘So ... how was the funeral?’ asked Davina, running a nail around the rim of her mocha.

‘You knew about it?’

Davina nodded and looked up at April. ‘I wanted to go, you know.’

‘Really?’ said April, taken aback. ‘I thought you hated Miss Holden.’

Davina gave a ghost of a smile. ‘Hate is a strong word. She did annoy me, that’s true, but I ... well, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. Not the way it did, anyway,’  she finished lamely.

Was that true? Did vampires like Davina Osbourne actually regret things? Did Davina really care that her little brother had tortured and killed their teacher? Then again, Davina was not naturally the caring sharing type – her idea of intimacy was air-kissing – so perhaps her crying meant she was genuinely in pain. Yes, Davina was a Sucker, and yes, her brother had been a psychotic killer – but he had still been her brother. She had to be hurting right now.

‘Listen, Davina, no one blames you for what happened,’ said April.

‘It’s kind of you to say so, but that’s not true. Everyone blames me. I can see it on their faces. Our family has some faults, God knows and I know the things people say about us, but we’re not all ... killers.’ She began to sob.

‘Come on,’ said April, glancing around the café. ‘Let’s get away from here.’

Davina wasn’t herself at all.
The girl April had known up till now, and was surely only lurking a few millimetres under the surface, would rather die than be spotted weeping in a coffee shop. They walked out of Americano and crossed the road into Waterlow Park.

‘How’s your mum doing?’ asked April.

‘It’s hit mummy and daddy pretty hard. This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to us.’

Did she mean vampires weren’t supposed to die and therefore it was more of a shock when they did? Davina saw April’s confused expression.

‘I mean, a death in the family is something that happens on TV shows or to other people, isn’t it? My mum barely managed when Milo died. God knows how she’s going to cope with this.’

They stopped at the edge of the lake. They were alone apart from a pair of ducks which began to paddle over, presumably hoping for some bread from the nice humans.

‘And how are you doing?’

‘Oh, I’m okay,’ said Davina waving a hand airily. ‘People keep asking me that and the thing is ... they just have no idea what it’s like.’

‘I do.’

She stopped and grabbed April’s hand. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry. That police inspector, what’s his name? Reece? He told us what Ben tried to do to you. You probably don’t want to hear this, do you?’

‘It’s okay. Honestly.’

Davina pulled some berries off a bush and began to throw them to the uninterested mallards. ‘It’s funny,’ she said quietly. ‘You take your family for granted, don’t you? Most of the time you’re living under the same roof, and they’re just so annoying. “Do this”; “do that”; “clear up your bedroom” – it’s a nightmare.’

April smiled inwardly. She had seen Davina’s bedroom – it wouldn’t have looked out of place in the interiors section of
Vogue
, all spotless white carpets and beautiful furniture – and she couldn’t imagine anyone complaining about Davina leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor.

‘But even so, you just assume they’re always going to be there, don’t you? Ben was always teasing me, calling me an airhead or a diva, all those things little brothers say to you – and the amount of times I told him that I wished he’d just drop dead ...’ She gulped back a sob, pulling out another tissue. ‘And then he did.’ She turned to April, tears in her eyes. ‘And then he
did
drop dead.’

April could only nod and embrace her awkwardly. Davina had no idea that it had been April’s blood which had killed her brother. She hoped to God Davina would
never
know.

Davina took a long deep breath and they began to walk again. ‘I hear you’re not living with your mum.’

‘No, I’ve moved in with my grandad.’

‘Well, that big house in Covent Garden’s far more glamorous than that poky place in Pond Square.’

It was exactly the sort of thing Davina always said: thoughtless, shallow, judgemental. But the way she said it, April could tell her heart wasn’t in it any more. She looked bleak, sagging, no trace of vampire arrogance left. If she was putting it on to get April’s sympathy, Davina was a damn good actor.

‘Don’t be too hard on her though,’ said Davina. ‘Your mum, I mean. It can’t be easy being one thing and then having to pretend you’re ...’ She trailed off.

April frowned. ‘“Being one thing?” What do you mean?’

Davina shook her head quickly. ‘Oh, I just mean you should hold onto what you’ve got, I suppose. She might drive you mental, but at least she’s still there, you know? And it can’t have been easy losing her husband.’

‘Twice,’ said April without thinking.

‘God, yes. I hadn’t thought of that.’

April had to admit she hadn’t either. She had been so wrapped up with her own problems, she hadn’t really considered how her mother would feel about  her husband’s remains being snatched away in the night.
God, I’m such a spoilt brat,
she thought. Presumably Silvia was struggling with her own guilt – the fact the recycling bin was always overflowing with wine bottles was a strong clue she was finding it hard to cope – maybe she deserved that guilt, but didn’t need her nose rubbing in it again and again. April resolved to be a little more charitable towards her mother. As Davina said, at least she was still there.

‘You’re back in school tomorrow?’ asked Davina.

April nodded. She didn’t want to go, of course, but she didn’t really have an excuse. The hospital had discharged her and she couldn’t imagine her grandfather, protective though he was, letting her stay off any longer on the grounds of just being “stressed out”.

‘It’s going to be weird,’ said April.

‘Honey, it already
is
weird.’

‘No, but without Miss Holden and Ben and everything.’

‘And the new headmaster.’

April turned to look at her. ‘What? We’re getting a new headmaster already?’

‘Didn’t you know? Daddy’s pleased about that at least. He didn’t get on with Mr Sheldon, God rest his soul. This new guy’s more in tune with the governors, apparently.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I think it means they’ll be recruiting more.’

April looked at her intently. ‘
Recruiting
?’

‘You know, getting all the geniuses to do free research for all their chums.’

April gaped at her. She couldn’t believe Davina was saying it out loud, as if it were common knowledge. Davina laughed – her bleak mood had clearly lifted.

‘Come on, sweetie, you didn’t think Ravenwood was gathering all these brain-boxes together for fun, did you?’

‘No, I suppose not. In fact I think my dad was investigating Ravenwood before he died.’

‘Very possible. That’s the sort of thing he used to do, wasn’t it? And I can see the papers getting all worked up about using kids as slave labour and all that, but it’s not illegal, just a tiny bit immoral. Or at least that’s what daddy says. Ravenwood’s a business, and the geeks are their biggest asset. I think the idea is to make them work for their keep.’

‘But don’t we pay Ravenwood to go there?’

Davina sighed dramatically. ‘So naïve, honey. I really need to work personally on your education, don’t I?’

That’s not such a bad idea
, thought April. Not a bad idea at all.

A school assembly was a big event at Ravenwood. Most schools have regular assemblies, but at Ravenwood you were expected to get straight down to work as soon as possible, so assemblies were only used for major announcements. Consequently, as the students filtered into the hall straight after registration, expectation was high, the room twittering with rumour and counter-rumour. Caro, however, had other things on her mind.