Thicker Than Blood (Marchwood Vampire Series #2) (2 page)

Now, Alexandre glided up to her and held out
his hand. Maddy gave him a fake glare, took his hand and let
herself be helped up.

‘
That was quite
something,’ he said.

‘
I do all my own stunts,’
she replied.

He held her face and kissed her lightly on
the lips.

‘
Are you alright? Did you
hurt yourself?’

‘
Bruised, but I’ll
live.’

‘
Hey, Maddy!’ Ben shouted
across the rink. ‘That was awesome!’ He shuffled towards her,
holding onto Isobel to steady himself. ‘Wish I’d videoed it.
Could’ve got loads of Youtube hits with footage like that.’ He
broke down into fits of laughter.

‘
Yeah and the Youtube
sequel would’ve been ‘Sister murders her brat of a brother’,’ Maddy
retorted.

‘
Are you alright,
Madison?’ Isobel asked. ‘I have never seen anything quite like that
before.’

The others skated over to see if Maddy was
okay and to laugh some more.

‘
That girl looks very
angry,’ Leonora said.

They all turned to see the girl in question
skating towards them, her glare fierce enough to melt the ice.

‘
You shouldn’t be on here,
if you can’t keep yourself under control,’ the girl snapped as she
spun to a halt.

‘
I’m really sorry,’ Maddy
said with an ill-concealed smirk.

‘
It’s not funny. You
could’ve killed someone.’

‘
Sorry,’ Maddy
repeated.

‘
Calm down, it was an
accident,’ Ben said.

The girl gave them all a dirty look and
skated off.

‘
Say cheese,’ Isobel said,
holding out her phone to take a photo. They all tilted their heads
together and pulled silly grins.

‘
Will you show up on
there?’ Ben asked.

‘
What do you mean?’
Freddie replied.

‘
Well, I didn’t think
vampires could show up on photos.’

‘
Yeah,’ Freddie said, ‘and
we’re also allergic to garlic, crosses and daytime TV.’

‘
Okay, okay,’ Ben replied.
‘I didn’t know. Just asking. You always see it in films don’t you –
no reflections in mirrors and stuff.’

‘
Don’t scare Isobel like
that,’ Jacques said. ‘She’d die if she couldn’t see herself in a
mirror. She wouldn’t be able to do her hair properly.’

‘
Oh, Jacques,’ Isobel
replied. ‘You’re so funny, you should be a comedian.’

‘
I know. I crack myself
up.’

‘
No, really, you should.’
She pushed him off balance, so he skidded across the rink. Isobel
smirked.

‘
Anyone want a hot
chocolate? Ben?’ Maddy said, knowing the others wouldn’t be
interested. ‘I need something sweet to take the edge of my
humiliation.’

‘
Yeah, Mads. Can I have
whipped cream and marshmallows on mine? And a chocolate
flake?’

Maddy raised her eyebrows. ‘Shall I see if
they can fit a jacket potato and a tub of ice cream on there too?’
She turned away from her brother, wrapped her arms around Alexandre
and kissed him again.

‘
Urgh, you two are so
gross,’ Ben said, pretending to throw up. ‘Don’t forget the flake.’
He shouted, attempting to skate off.

‘
I won’t be long,’ Maddy
murmured into Alexandre’s ear.

‘
I’ll come with you,’ he
replied.

‘
No, stay and skate. I’ll
only be a few minutes.’

‘
Make sure you are.’ He
held her mittened hand and kissed it before letting her
go.

Maddy skate-walked to the edge of the rink
where she sat on a bench, stuffed her mittens in her pocket and
began to unlace her boots. God, Alex was so amazing. Life was so
amazing. She smiled to herself and gave a small snort of laughter
as she pictured herself flying into that girl.

‘
I’m such an idiot,’ she
said out loud.

A man standing nearby raised his eyebrows
and gave her a friendly smile.

She smiled back and carried on unlacing her
boots.

‘
Very impressive,’ he
said.

‘
Huh?’

‘
Your skating manoeuvre
out there – very impressive.’

‘
Oh. Yeah. Thanks. I mean,
God, so embarrassing.’

‘
We all have to start
somewhere.’

‘
I suppose. But most
people don’t start by taking down half the population of
Gloucester.’

‘
True.’

‘
Well, see you round,’ she
said, standing up, her boots in her hand.

‘
Sure. See you round,’ he
said.

Maddy glanced around until her eyes landed
on the signpost to the café and she headed away from the cloisters
towards the alleyway.

*

Alexandre watched Madison as she slipped and
slid across the ice towards the edge of the rink. He was suddenly
overcome with a feeling of such intense happiness, it almost scared
him. He loved her so much. Too much. All those years ago, when he
and his siblings had become these creatures, he had accepted that
he would never know happiness again, that his life was effectively
over. But here, now, he felt as though he had reached the pinnacle
of everything. This was what life was about - this place, this
time, this girl.

The night air was crisp and sharp and the
scent of blood was sweet in his nostrils. He would hunt later, but
he could ignore the call for now.

‘
Come on, Alex!’ Jacques
called, skating over. ‘Stop mooning about after Maddy. You’re
embarrassing yourself.’

It was incredible how quickly his younger
brother had adapted to twenty first century life. It was as though
Jacques was made for this era. He already had a full vocabulary of
contemporary British slang and he, Freddie and Ben were a regular
little clique or, what was the word? Posse? Ugh, Alexandre cringed.
He preferred his own colloquialisms and felt foolish attempting to
use modern-day terminology; like he was trying too hard. It just
didn’t sound right.

He narrowed his eyes. Madison was sitting on
a bench removing her skates while a stranger spoke to her. A man.
He felt a rush of anger and jealousy, but squashed it down
immediately. He knew he had nothing to worry about. He and Madison
were above such petty emotions. Their love was true and steadfast.
Unbreakable.

‘
Alex, come on, bro,’
Jacques said, grabbing his arm. ‘Have some fun.’

‘
Better come on,
Alexandre.’ He heard Leonora’s soft voice behind him. ‘I think the
boys want to impress you with their tricks.’ She took his other
arm.

‘
Alright, alright, I get
the message,’ he said, shaking himself out of his reverie. ‘I bet
you can’t skate backwards without knocking anyone over.’ He moved
away from them and glided backwards, pulling stupid faces as he
went.

Leonora rolled her eyes and followed him,
graceful as ever. They skated across to the others who were jumping
and twirling on the ice with ease.

‘
That’s so not fair,’ Ben
said. ‘You vamps get to do way more cool stuff than I
can.’

‘
Yes, but when you do it,
it is much more impressive,’ said Isobel. ‘We can do these things
in our sleep, but it takes proper skill for you to master
them.’

‘
I suppose.’

Jacques and Freddie took Ben in between
them, pulling him along while weaving expertly through the other
skaters. Ben’s grin lit up the cloisters and Alexandre smiled. Ben
was such a wonderful boy and so similar to Jacques it was like
having a second brother; a third if he included Freddie.

Freddie and Leonora were Madison and Ben’s
ancestors. Like Alexandre and his siblings they had all been
transformed into these immortal creatures over one hundred years
ago during an archaeological expedition in Cappadocia, Turkey. Now
they lived here, in England, in Marchwood House to be exact, with
Madison and Ben. And life was good.

Ben had welcomed them all into his life with
eager acceptance, no drama or resentment at all – and that was
something. Not many people would welcome five vampires into their
life, into their home. And Madison … well … she was something else
– brave, beautiful, kind, funny … and stubborn. He smiled and
looked over at the bench. She’d disappeared to get the drinks.
Maybe he should go after her and check she was alright. But then
the others would moan at him.

He skated around for ten long minutes and
still Maddy hadn’t returned with the drinks. Alexandre knew he was
being irrational, but he couldn’t relax. The ice rink was busy,
town was bustling with late night shoppers and there was no reason
to worry, but…

‘
I’m going to find Maddy,’
he said to the others.

‘
She’ll be back any
minute,’ Leonora said.

‘
I’ll help her with the
drinks. She won’t be able to carry her skates and hot chocolate at
the same time.’

‘
Oh let him go,’ Isobel
said. ‘He can’t be more than two feet away from her at any given
time or he’ll turn into a pumpkin.’

Alexandre ignored their good-natured jibes
and skated over to the edge of the rink. He swiftly removed his
boots, put on his shoes and headed down the alley which led to the
café. A long queue coiled out of the door, but Maddy wasn’t part of
it. Perhaps she had seen it and decided to go to a different café.
He did a quick scan of the area, but she was nowhere. Alexandre’s
senses were sharp - if she was in the area he would have found her
straight away. Something was wrong. He cursed himself for not
trusting his initial instincts to accompany her. Then he saw the
man.

‘
You,’ Alexandre
said.

The man was just about to climb into his
car, a midnight blue Audi, when Alexandre stood in front of him,
blocking his entry to the vehicle.

‘
What the …’

‘
Where is she?’ Alex
said.

‘
Who? What are you talking
about? Who are you? You’re not getting my wallet and you’re
certainly not getting my car.’

The man was rubbing at a dirty mark on his
coat sleeve. He was broad shouldered and tall. Now he squared up to
Alexandre, not intimidated in the slightest.

‘
I don’t want your money
or your car,’ Alex replied. ‘The girl you were talking to at the
ice rink – where is she?’

‘
What girl?’

‘
I saw you talking to her
while she was unlacing her boots.’

‘
Oh that girl.’ The man
smiled.

Alexandre grabbed the man’s coat collar.

‘
Easy,’ the man said.
‘She’s
your
girl I take it.’

‘
That’s none of your
business. Where is she?’

‘
How the hell should I
know. We just spoke a couple of words and then she left. Let go of
the coat.’

Alexandre released him. ‘Did you see her
again after she left?’

‘
No.’

‘
Are you sure about
that?’

‘
Look, man, I don’t know
what your problem is, but I don’t know that girl. I spoke two words
to her and then she left. Maybe she doesn’t like possessive psycho
boyfriends, and decided to take off.’

The man was an arrogant idiot, but Madison
wasn’t here. Alexandre left the man and decided to return to the
ice rink. Maybe he had missed her somehow. He doubted it, but there
was a slim chance. The car door slammed behind him and the Audi
roared away down the street.

Alexandre remembered his phone. How could he
have been so stupid? He should have called her straightaway. But
now as he held the phone to his ear, willing her to answer, it just
went straight to voicemail.

‘
Madison, where are you?
Call me.’

He pressed redial a few times, but it was
the same message.

Back at the rink, Alexandre scanned the
crowd. Everyone was here except Maddy. It had been at least thirty
minutes since she’d gone for the drinks. Something was definitely
wrong. Leonora caught his eye and smiled. He beckoned her over.

‘
She’s missing,’ he
said.

‘
What?’

‘
Maddy. She’s nowhere to
be found. Something’s happened. Get the others and tell them what’s
happened. I’m going to search for her.’

‘
Wait a minute … what do
you mean?’

But Alexandre didn’t hang around to reply.
Something had happened to Maddy and he had to find her. All kinds
of scenarios raced around his head. Had she been mugged? Raped? Was
she ill? Had she collapsed? And then more sinister thoughts came to
him. What if this was something to do with Blythe? The lawyer for
those powerful vampires who wanted Alexandre and the others dead.
He knew he should have made more of an effort to track that
miserable solicitor down and kill him, but life had been so good
recently, so peaceful, he hadn’t wanted to go looking for trouble.
Well now it seemed trouble had come looking for him. Or perhaps he
was getting ahead of himself. Maybe there was a perfectly logical
explanation and Madison would appear any second to tease him about
his over-active imagination. Please God let that be the case.

Alexandre spent the next three hours
scouring the whole of Gloucester and beyond. Isobel had taken Ben
back home to Marchwood House in case she showed up there and
Alexandre rang his sister every fifteen minutes to check if Maddy
had arrived home yet. They had also called all the local hospitals
and the others were out searching for her too, but nothing yielded
any results. Maddy was gone.