Changeling (2 page)

‘Except he’s
not
a man, is he?’ Her voice was becoming louder and higher in pitch, and she recognized the hysteria in it. ‘He’s not … he’s
…’ She sucked in a deep breath, willing herself to say the words. ‘He’s a—’

‘A vampire?’Alexa frowned, lips pursed as though considering how best to continue. ‘Yes, he is.’ She glanced at the door, as if expecting someone. ‘You are not
insane, Philippa. I know that right now you must believe that you are, but you are not. Lucien is as real as the Necrotroph demon that inhabited your body when you were in the Seychelles with your
father.’ The young sorceress looked at her with pity. ‘Everything that you remember was real. And yes, I’m afraid your father is dead.’

Philippa nodded, unable to speak. Hearing someone else say those words caused a wave of sadness and grief to break inside her. Everything was too much for her: her father was dead, a vampire had
been in this very room with her, and a demon had been living inside her body. She looked away and let the tears soak into the pillow, filling the room with the sound of her muffled sobbing.

Alexa stayed by the girl’s side, her hand still resting on Philippa’s arm, allowing her to grieve and let out some of the emotions that had built up inside her.

Eventually Philippa looked back at her visitor. ‘That
thing
was really inside me, wasn’t it? I didn’t imagine it all.’

‘No, you didn’t imagine it. The Necrotroph left your body and inhabited your father in order to find out what he knew about a mission that some of my colleagues and I were on. The
demon used you to get to your dad. Your father leaped from the boat that you were on and drowned himself in an effort to try and kill the creature. It was an incredibly brave thing to
do.’

Philippa Tipsbury stared down at the white sheets that covered her.

Alexa studied the girl, trying to gauge how much more she should reveal to her, and knowing that it must already be too much for the teenager to take in.

‘You still haven’t told me who you are,’ Philippa said in a small voice. ‘Who you are and what you want.’

‘Your father worked for my father. He was part of a worldwide organization that seeks to keep creatures like the demon you encountered from entering this realm from the Netherworld.
We’re the good guys, Philippa. Your dad was one of the good guys.’

She studied the girl’s face as fresh rivulets of tears tracked down her cheeks. Philippa continued to stare at the white bedclothes.

‘Your encounter with a Necrotroph is quite … unique,’ she said, choosing her words with care. ‘The demon usually kills the former host upon transfer. Before you, any
hosts that were unlucky enough to survive were left completely insane. But you have survived. And as I’ve said, you are not mad.’ She nodded at her as if to emphasize this last
point.

Philippa remained silent.

‘We need your help. We think that the Necrotroph somehow survived your father’s attempt to kill it. It—’

‘No. It’s dead. You said yourself that my father jumped over the side of that boat. He killed it at the bottom of that ocean. It’s dead, I know it is.’

Alexa continued, trying to ignore the feral, frightened look on the other girl’s face. ‘We don’t know how it escaped, but we think that you might be able to help us find
it.’

Philippa turned her head and stared at Alexa, her features set in a wide-eyed look of disbelief.

‘There is a special bond between you and that creature, Philippa. The dark magic that it used to control your mind and body is still a part of you. The Necrotroph left a part of itself
behind – in you.’ She looked back at the girl, their eyes locked and unblinking. ‘You’ve felt it, haven’t you? You
know
that it’s still alive.’

‘I have no idea what you are talking about,’ Philippa said, but her eyes wouldn’t meet Alexa’s.

There was a knock on the door and a nurse put her head around the opening. Upon seeing her patient sitting up in bed, she smiled at Philippa with such warmth that the girl could do little but
respond in kind. The hospital worker turned to Alexa. ‘Your father is here and he wonders if it would be OK for him to come in and talk to you both?’

‘Thank you, Greta. Please tell him that I’ll be out in a moment.’

Alexa waited until the nurse had left the room before turning to look at Philippa again. ‘It’s up to you. You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to. But you need to
know that my father is not the only nether-creature living among us in the human realm – far from it. And unlike my father, the majority of them are dedicated to bringing death and
destruction to this world.’ She paused, pursing her lips before continuing. ‘I think the Necrotroph has irrevocably changed something in your make-up, Philippa. And I think you already
know that.’ She waited until the girl looked at her. ‘You can see them, can’t you? See the nether-creatures through their disguises? How else would you have known that my father
was not what he appears to be?’ She let that sink in with the girl before adding, ‘We want to help you, Philippa.’

‘What does your father want?’

‘We think that you may have also acquired a skill that is unique to the Necrotrophs: the ability to locate their own kind wherever they are. Now you may not be able to use this ability
yet, but given some help we think that you could. The bad news is that if we’re right, the demon will also be able to sense you: it will know that you are alive, and that is a situation it
will want to do something about.’ She smiled kindly at the other girl. ‘You might be our only hope of locating and destroying it.’

Philippa closed her eyes, wishing that all of this would simply stop. She wanted nothing more than for the nurse to come in again and inject something into the tube in her arm that would allow
her to sink back into unconsciousness – maybe forever.

Alexa waited, knowing that she had to give the girl as much time as she needed.

‘What makes you so sure that I have these … powers?’

‘We’re not. Right now it is just a guess. But you
can
see nether-creatures.’

‘I don’t think I can,’ the girl said, frowning. ‘At least not in the way that you suggest. It’s more a …
feeling.
’

Philippa thought back to the moment that she’d woken up with the vampire next to her. Nothing about the creature’s outward appearance – except his freaky eyes – would
suggest that he was anything but human, but she’d
known.
She concentrated her attention on the wall opposite her, relishing the blandness of it. ‘And if I
can
locate this
… Necrotroph for you, your father is going to destroy it?’ she said eventually.

‘Yes, you have my word on that.’

Philippa took a deep, shuddery breath, unable to believe what she was about to say. ‘OK,’ she nodded. ‘If you promise to stay with me, I’ll talk to your
father.’

She watched as Alexa left the room and went to fetch the vampire.

Trey Laporte sat on the edge of his bed, staring around him at the high-tech gadgetry and equipment that furnished his room. Like all of the rooms in the penthouse apartment in
Docklands, it was kitted out with enough electronic gizmos to leave your average techno-nerd drooling with desire, and he was feeling slightly reluctant to be leaving it all behind him.

A light knock on the door shook him out of his reverie and he called out for whoever it was to enter.

Alexa pushed the door open and stepped inside. She pushed her hair back over her ear and smiled at him in a way that always totally disarmed him. He nodded back at her, feeling his pulse quicken
as she came and sat down by his side on the bed.

There was a short silence while each of them considered what to say.

‘So you’re all packed and ready to go?’Alexa said eventually, staring down at the large holdall on the floor.

Trey nodded. ‘Yep. My flight to Vancouver is at seven o’clock. Tom’s kindly offered to drop me off at the airport.’ Trey turned to his friend and smiled. ‘No doubt
I’ll get the full safety lecture from him on the way: the one about not taking unnecessary risks and demanding that I call Lucien at the first sign of any trouble. I’ve already had it
in one form or another from your father on at least three occasions.’

‘Dad’s just worried, Trey. He still hopes that you’ll change your mind and agree to let one of us go along with you.’

‘No, Alexa. Don’t
you
start. I’m going on my own. It’s something that I feel I have to do–’ He held up his hand to stop her from interrupting him.
‘Please, don’t let’s go over it all again. I’ll be fine.’

She nodded, a sad smile playing at her lips. She pointed at something in his luggage. ‘Is that that manky old sweatshirt? I told you to chuck that out; it’s awful!’ She leaned
forward to try and grab it, but Trey caught her arm at the elbow and playfully pulled her back.

‘And I told you to mind your own business, Alexa. If I let you have your own way, I’d be changing my entire wardrobe every two months, regardless of whether I’d worn half of
the stuff or not.’

‘Some people have no idea about fashion.’

‘And some people have no idea about not spending money as if it’s a race to see who can swipeout their credit cards first.’

‘Nobody would ever guess that you were rich.’

‘Nobody would ever guess that you were clever.’

‘Skinflint.’

‘Spendthrift.’

‘Scrooge.’

‘Spoilt-spendaholic-wanting-whingeing-wastrel.’

Alexa narrowed her eyes at him, trying to think of a comeback.

She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder, allowing her body to rest against his. ‘When did you say you were going, Trey? Because it
really
can’t be soon
enough.’

He laughed back and leaned his own head down, breathing in the vanilla smell of her hair. He felt the familiar rush of emotions he experienced whenever he and Alexa were alone like this, and his
face flushed. A part of him wished that she were going with him. Hell, a part of him wished that they were all going with him: Lucien, Alexa and Tom. But something told him that this was a journey
that he must make alone, to try and discover for himself the truth about what he really was. And to do that he would have to leave behind the closest thing to family that he had had in a long time.
Except that wasn’t quite true any more. The reason he was making this trip was because he’d discovered that he
did
have a member of his real family that was still alive: an Uncle
Frank, who was living in Canada.

An uncle. A living relative. A werewolf, like him. He shivered at this last thought, unsure of how he felt about meeting up with another person who had to live with the terrible affliction that
had been passed on to Trey from birth. Lucien had told Trey that he was unique; that he was the last of his kind – a revelation which had had more of an impact on the teenager than he could
have imagined. Alone: an orphan who’d had to live in a care home after the death of his grandmother, he’d already lost everyone and everything when Lucien had rescued him. Lucien had
been nothing but good to Trey, taking him in and treating him like a son. But he had also lied to him, keeping the existence of his uncle from him.

As if reading his thoughts (something that he was sure that she could do if she really wanted), Alexa looked up, searching his eyes with her own. ‘Try not to get hurt over there,’
she said in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

‘Alexa, I’ve just told you. Tom and your dad have given me the—’

‘I didn’t mean like that.’ She sat up now, her gaze steady and unwavering. ‘You seem to be placing an awful lot of hope on this trip. I just want you to consider that
your uncle might not be everything you want him to be.’

Trey held her look, scanning her face for any sign that she might know more than she was telling him. ‘He’s all I’ve got,’ he said finally.

‘That’s not true.’

‘You know what I mean.’

Alexa nodded and stood up. ‘You take good care of yourself over there, Trey Laporte.’

He nodded and smiled up at her. ‘I’ve been doing that all my life, Alexa Charron.’

She grinned then, a mischievous look in her eye as she leaned forward. She lowered her voice as she spoke. ‘Tom’s organizing a farewell dinner for you tonight. He’s got the
caterers bringing the food – much to Mrs Magilton’s disgust – and he wants us all to sit round together. It was supposed to be a surprise, but I thought I’d let you know. I
know how much you hate surprises.’

Trey nodded his thanks. ‘Lucien already told me.’

‘Oh, did he now?’ She was laughing as she straightened up, shaking her head. ‘Honestly, this place. You can’t have any secrets here.’ She moved off towards the
door.

‘Thanks, Alexa,’ he said, just as she was about to leave.

She stopped at the door and turned back to face him again. ‘Whatever happens, Trey, just remember that you have a family here now. And we want you back safe.’ She hovered in the
doorway, and Trey knew that he should say something. He wanted to tell her how much they had all come to mean to him. In particular, he wanted to tell her how he felt about her: to tell her how
special she was to him. But none of the right words came, so he just nodded his head, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat.

‘Thanks,’ he repeated, and watched her turn and walk away.

The meal went well enough. They all sat around the table in the dining room to eat. Tom had arranged for the caterers to prepare all of Trey’s favourite food and he now
sat back in his seat with a belly full of steak that had been followed up with a banoffee pie that was to die for. Lucien had picked at his food, as he always did, but Trey thought that he seemed
more uncomfortable than usual tonight. Lucien kept looking over at Trey’s plate, and he thought that he detected a strange look on his guardian’s face when he caught sight of the blood
that had seeped out of the rare steak.

The conversation around the table had been stilted, with everybody skating around the subject of Trey’s departure in the morning and struggling to think of alternative things to talk
about.