Thicker Than Blood (Marchwood Vampire Series #2) (20 page)

‘
I’m not an invader. I
live here,’ the man said. ‘You’re free to leave. I mean you no
harm.’

‘
Who are you?’

‘
You first,’ he
replied.

She hesitated, but could think of no reason
why she shouldn’t give her name. ‘Aelia. My name is Aelia.’

‘
Pretty name.’ He took
another step forward. ‘I am Mislav.’

Mislav
. The name hung in the air like a
whispered promise. Her horse whinnied again and Aelia slowly began
to untether him, just in case.

‘
Why are you out here?’ he
asked. ‘Are you in trouble?’

Was she in trouble? Yes. She was in a
mountain of trouble. ‘No,’ she replied. She didn’t want to mention
the underground city in case he was an invader.

‘
Did you miss the
descent?’ he asked.

She didn’t reply.

‘
Everyone has descended
into the city, but you alone remain above ground. Do you want to
descend?’

Not an invader then. ‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘Yes please. I missed the descent. I was ill.’

He smiled. A beautiful smile which filled
her with lightness and joy. He was so mesmerising, his hair like a
golden crown above noble features. Her horse was untethered now and
she held the reins loosely in her hand. Suddenly the creature
neighed, reared up and cantered away into the night.

‘
My horse!’ she
cried.

‘
Ah, let him go. He looked
like a fine steed, but you cannot bring him with you. There’s no
room for any more beasts below.’

‘
But …’

‘
Let him go.’

She clutched her bag, feeling more alone
than ever.

‘
I …’ She didn’t know what
she wanted to say.

‘
Come.’ The man smiled his
glorious smile again.

Aelia took a breath and stepped towards him.
She would go with him. This was why she had come here - for her
family. She would see them soon.

Chapter Twenty Four

Present Day

*

‘
Been Christmas shopping
have you?’

‘
What? Er,
yeah.’

‘
Get something nice for
your girlfriend?’

‘
I haven’t got a
…’

‘
Here’s a tip for you –
You’ve always gotta get ‘em something nice for birthdays and
Christmases. Keeps ‘em sweet.’

‘
Right.
Thanks.’

The last thing Ben felt like
doing was making small talk with the taxi driver. He seemed like a
nice bloke, but Ben’s mind was locked in a downward spiral of
doom.
Not
Morris. Not Morris
. The words repeated over and over again in his head.
Surely it just had to be a coincidence. But it all added up too
conveniently.

‘
Terrible weather,’ the
driver said. ‘I’ve got the wipers on top speed.’

‘
Sorry?’

‘
The windscreen wipers –
I’ve had to put ‘em on top speed but they’re not making a blind bit
of difference. It’s chucking it down out there.’

‘
Yeah,’ Ben replied,
staring at the torrents of rain streaming down the windscreen. A
snowflake air freshener swung from the rear view mirror, wafting
the scent of fake pine needles under Ben’s nose and making him feel
nauseous.

‘
I’m only doing twenty
miles an hour. Can’t go any faster; not on these bends.’

Stuck to the dashboard, a gilt framed photo
of a woman and two teenage girls smiled up at Ben. The driver’s
family he supposed.

‘
Look at that
idiot!’

Ben looked up from the dashboard to see a
car overtaking them.

‘
He’ll get himself
killed,’ the driver said, shaking his head. ‘And he won’t get there
any faster.’

Ben suddenly realised that finding the
notepaper in the recycling bin now made perfect sense. If it was
Ben, he would’ve burned the paper, got rid of the evidence. Morris
obviously didn’t watch many crime movies. But why would he do it?
What would he get out of betraying them? Money? Did Esther know?
Ben felt sick and shaky and weird. How could he face her now,
knowing what he knew? He didn’t know what would be worse – Esther
being in on the whole thing, or Esther being devastated to find out
what Morris was up to. Ben realised he actually felt afraid to go
home.

‘
Stop the car,’ he
said.

‘
What’s that?’

‘
Stop the car!’ he almost
yelled the words.

‘
Eh? Stop? Hang on, I’ll
find a place to pull over. You’re not going to be sick are you? I
just cleaned the car this morning. You haven’t been drinking? How
old are you? You’re just a kid, surely.’ He clicked on the
indicator and pulled into a shallow layby.

‘
Thanks,’ Ben said. ‘Can
we just stay here for a minute? I need to think.’

‘
Well,’ the driver said,
looking a bit put out. ‘We can. But I’ll have to leave the meter
running. I can’t just sit here indefinitely all night. Not in this
weather. I was going to …’

‘
Look,’ Ben interrupted,
pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket. ‘I’ll give you …’ He
counted out the notes. ‘I’ll give you sixty quid if we can just sit
here, not talking for a few minutes.’

‘
Alright then.’

Ben clumsily handed over the money, as the
rain drummed down and cars splashed past. He felt as though he was
freefalling. And there was no one there to catch him.

*

She had wandered around in here a hundred
times before, but the layout had somehow changed. What had used to
be the exit was now blocked by another high hedge. It was almost
dark, shadows loomed large and she couldn’t find her way out. Maddy
was stuck in the Marchwood maze. She tried to shout for help, but
no sound came out of her mouth. A hand grabbed at her shoulder and
she whipped around, but there was no one there.

‘
Maddy. Maddy, quickly,
wake up.’

‘
What?’ She opened her
eyes and the dream melted away. Zoe stood by the bed holding a
small rucksack in her hands.

‘
Get up, quick,’ Zoe
hissed.

‘
What’s going on? What is
it?’ Fear eliminated all traces of sleep and Maddy got to her feet,
blinking.

‘
I’m getting you out,’ Zoe
said.

‘
What!’

‘
Well, do you want to go
or don’t you? It’s almost dawn. You’ll get a good head start before
they realise.’

‘
Oh my God. Really? You’re
helping me?’

‘
Please hurry. And keep
your voice down.’ Zoe was already halfway out of the door, but
Maddy still stood by the bed.

‘
Sorry,’ Maddy replied.
‘I’m coming. Of course I am.’ She’d slept fully clothed, with her
coat and boots on for warmth, so she had no need to
dress.

‘
This way,’ Zoe
said.

Madison didn’t give the room a
backward glance as she shadowed Zoe out of the door. The room led
out into a
tunnel
and there were no lights out here. Once the door closed
behind her, the tunnel went black.

‘
I can’t see,’ Maddy
whispered.

‘
Sshh. Here, hold my
hand.’

Maddy felt Zoe’s cold hand slip into hers.
What was this place? She had a feeling she knew the answer and the
thought made her skin crawl.

‘
Is this the underground
city? Are we in Cappadocia?’

‘
For God’s sake, shut up
please, Maddy … Yes, we are in Cappadocia.’

Zoe moved silently without a footstep, a
breath or a rustle. In comparison, Maddy’s clumsy footsteps
reverberated around the passageway, shuffling, tripping and
scraping along the floor. And her breathing was so loud, she
sounded like an asthmatic climbing Mount Everest. But that was
nothing compared to the clanging rhythm of her heartbeat. And she
could literally see nothing.

So here she was, in the darkness, in the
place of Alexandre’s nightmares. She knew the story of the
Byzantine vampires who had attacked him and his family. They were
brutal unfeeling creatures and now she was here among them. Why did
they want her? Did they plan to turn her into one of them too?

The thought of becoming a vampire had
crossed her mind before, of course it had, but she would never
willingly do it. She loved Alex, but the way he had to live was not
appealing. Never going out in the sun, never tasting food. Yes,
there were some benefits, but Maddy didn’t think she would like to
live forever. It was too scary a thought. To watch everyone else
grow old and die, to see the world change beyond all recognition.
Mortality was a good thing in her opinion. She understood
Alexandre’s occasional moments of despair – it wasn’t an easy way
to live. She knew he often tried to forget what he was.

‘
We’re coming to a flight
of stairs,’ Zoe said. ‘Narrow and steep. Be careful.’

Maddy stumbled upwards, half pulled by Zoe.
She used her free hand to try to steady herself against the
wall.

‘
This is no good,’ Zoe
whispered. ‘We need to move quicker.’

‘
But I can’t see where I’m
going,’ Maddy said, blinking furiously and trying hard to focus on
anything at all.

Zoe sighed. ‘I wish we had a torch.’

‘
Do they know I’m missing
yet? Can you tell if we’re being followed?’

‘
No, they’re not
following, but it’s almost dawn and we only have a short time to
get you out. I can’t move the stone after sunrise.’

‘
Stone?’

‘
You’ll see. Come
on.’

They eventually reached the top of the
staircase and Maddy bumped into Zoe’s back as she stopped
abruptly.

‘
This next passageway is
pretty straight and even,’ Zoe said. ‘Do you think you can
run?’

‘
In the dark? I’ll give it
a go.’

‘
Good, keep hold of my
hand.’

Maddy put one foot in front of another and
ran. Zoe matched her speed. It was an odd feeling to move so
quickly in total darkness. She kept imagining herself running
directly into a brick wall and knocking herself out. Eventually Zoe
slowed down.

‘
Going round to the right,
now,’ Zoe whispered.

They carried on like this for several more
minutes – running and slowing, running and slowing. It was
disorientating and strange. Maddy had thought her eyes would get
used to the dark, but she was wrong. This must be what it was like
to be blind.

‘
We’re here,’ Zoe
said.

‘
Where?’

‘
Hold onto my hand tight
with both hands. We’re going up quite high and you’ll get hurt if
you fall.’

‘
Going high? What do you
mean?’ She grasped Zoe’s hand with both of hers.

‘
Ready?’ Zoe
asked.

‘
I think so.’ Maddy
tightened her grip as she felt Zoe clamber skywards, nimbly, like a
spider up a wall. Maddy was literally dangling in midair, hanging
by her arms. She was too shocked to make a noise. Then there was a
loud scrape and a bang and a sudden freezing blast of air. In less
than a second, they were outside.

Maddy slid her fingers from Zoe’s hand, more
than slightly shaken up from her midair flight. They both stood in
the dark pre-dawn air, nervous and alert.

‘
I found that exit a few weeks
ago,’ Zoe said. ‘I think it’s an old
chute
or air vent or something.’

Maddy peered down into the blackness and
shivered. The square hole was hidden from plain view in between
several rocky outcrops.

‘
When I first found it,’
Zoe continued, ‘it was uncovered and sunlight was streaming into
the passage. I was pretty terrified. But I came back at night and
covered it over with that huge rock.’

‘
So the other vamps don’t
know about it?’

‘
I’m sure they don’t. If
they did it wouldn’t have been left uncovered. They’ve blocked up
all the other vents down there and every known exit is guarded. I’m
not allowed out without an escort.’

‘
But now you’ve found this
exit, surely you can leave?’

‘
Look, Maddy. Don’t start
lecturing me again, please.’

‘
Sorry. I’m so sorry. I
should be thanking you, not having a go. I just want you to be
happy.’

Zoe touched her arm and smiled. ‘Thank you,
honey.’

‘
No, thank
you
.’

‘
Sun’s coming up. I gotta go.
Here …’ She handed Maddy the rucksack she’d been carrying. ‘Food,
cash and other useful stuff. Keep heading east, towards the rising
sun. That should lead you to civilisation and away from the
underground city. Go as fast as you can. They can’t follow until
nightfall, but they might send others. Scratch that – they
will
send
others.’

‘
Won’t you … be in danger?
Now you’ve helped me?’

‘
I’ll make something
up.’

‘
Please be careful, Zoe.
You should leave too. Escape with me. We can help each other. And
then, when we’re safe from them, I can help you get back to your
family. Me and Alex and the others …’

‘
I’ve got to go. It’s
almost dawn …’ Zoe looked scared. The sun’s blush was spreading
across the horizon.