Dark Moors (THE TWO VAMPIRES, #4) (2 page)

She allowed herself a moment to look back, and saw the small army
descending the hill behind her.  She swallowed, trying to prevent herself from retching, and felt Daniel squeeze her hand.

‘We will be fine,’ he said.

She turned, as did Daniel, and they ran on.

‘They’re still coming Daniel!’ Sarah called.

Daniel did not reply as there was nothing to say; he just gave her a reassuring glance and continued to run. 

The wind changed and the smell of death hit Sarah again.  She stopped and
this time she could not stop herself, she did retch, but nothing came up as her stomach was already empty.  Daniel held on to her tightly.  She glanced up at him between heaves and saw his brow creased with worry.  He was anxiously keeping a look out.  She glanced back and saw the dead were still advancing, and quickly looked away.  She stood up straight, breathing shallowly so as not to take in anymore particles of reeking flesh, and let Daniel guide her on.  His dark hair was flying back as they moved against the wind, and she took comfort from its beauty, the mass of subtle colors reflected in the moonlight, trying to force away thoughts of what was pursuing them.

Why were
they so intent on following us?  She knew they wanted to kill her, to kill them both.  Why else would they be after them?

If the dead
were controlled by whatever had been that crow, maybe another vampire, why did he want her and Daniel dead?  And why didn’t he just fight them directly?  He, or she, must be incredibly strong to control so many bodies – God, even if they fought and survived this onslaught – they would still have to fight whoever was controlling this situation.

Sarah jumped over a slab of granite, only just seeing it at the last minute.  They were ascending another hill and their path was becoming steeper as they did.
 

She could no
t believe the speed of the dead behind them.  Daniel must be right, she thought, they must be controlled by magic – how else could they move like that?

She stumbled, gasping as she fell on her face, pulling Daniel down next to her.  He jumped straight
back up, holding her hand so tight it hurt – wrenching her shoulder back in his efforts to right her.  She jumped too and was soon running again. 

They reached the top and she allowed herself a moment to look back
– the dead were a third of the way up the hill behind them.  She and Daniel had gained a little ground.

‘Let’s look for somewhere to go Daniel,’ she said, trying to control her breathing.

Daniel nodded.  Sarah watched his eyes, for a second, as they started to scan the landscape.

She squinted into the dark herself, trying to find
somewhere defensible.  She did not really know what she was looking for – Daniel had said somewhere the dead could not surround them – so she needed to look for somewhere that had a back, maybe and bank or a stone wall, and ideally sides too.  Somewhere where no-one lived.

She looked about again.  Over to her left she saw a small hamlet of cottages, so she turned away from those and looked hard to her right. 
She and Daniel were really high up so she could see over a couple more of the hills.

‘Daniel – I think I can see some kind of hut over there, with a bank behind it,’ she whispered
, pointing into the distance. 

She did no
t know if the dead could hear her, of if what was controlling them might be able to, or if that person was even nearby.  She was, however, acutely aware that the dead were getting closer and they really needed to get moving.

‘Yes, let’s go,’ Daniel said in a rush.

Sarah did not know if he had agreed with her for lack of a better option, or whether he actually thought it was a good place.  She did not have time to ask him.

She raced on.  If she had no
t been a vampire she would not have made it, and even so her breath was really hurting her lungs.  Fortunately her legs still felt strong and it was easy to keep them moving.  They ran down towards another valley, catching the putrid scent of death as their followers mounted the hill behind them, forming a line that spanned the crest of the hill.  It was as if they were fanning out, trying to trap them, Sarah thought as she looked behind.

Daniel glanced back and this time he tripped, pulling Sarah down.  She giggled, and Daniel shot her an astonished look.

‘Sorry, hysteria kicking in,’ Sarah projected into his mind.

Daniel
quickly lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it fast, yet tenderly, making waves of love travel to her heart, easing the fear that was griping her.  It made her feel like it did not matter what pursued them, for at least they were together.  Images of her children, Megan and Bea, swam into her mind and she leapt to her feet again.  She had to stay strong for them.  She had to return to them.

Daniel was up by her side and he gave her hand another squeeze before resuming their speedy pace.

Sarah felt her feet squelch on marshy ground, and tried to be as light footed as possible so as not to get her feet stuck in the bog.  As they ran on clouds obscured the moon, and quickly the sky became darker still as the clouds too disappeared.

Sarah glanced ove
r her shoulder again.  She could not see those that followed her as they were masked by the darkness of the valley, but she could tell they were still there for she could smell them and she could hear their creaking bodies.  She shuddered and ran on, tears that fell down her cheeks quickly whipped away by the harsh wind.

She was getting impatient now, tired psychologically of running, of the building fear and tension.  She knew that soon they would need to fight,
and a part of her, the reckless part, wanted to turn and fight now, to concur her fears and to get the fight over.  But they had to be sensible; they had to make sure their chances were as strong as possible; they had to fight in the most advantageous place to defend.

‘Sarah,’ Daniel projected, ‘you see those woods to the right?’

‘Yes?’

‘Let’s take a detour that way
, through the woods - I can strengthen myself,’ he said, his words travelling through their connected hands so as not to give any clues to those that chased them.

‘OK,’ Sarah said
, a wave of panic rolling over her – was there really time?

When
Daniel communicated mind to mind she grasped a general sense of his emotions, and she could tell he was very tightly under control, trying to mask his fear and stay together; to protect her.  But she could tell that under the surface fear and doubt were there.

She held his hand firmly as they ran towards the woods, aware that she would soon need to let him go if he was to feed.  Would she have time to feed too?  Could she risk it?  If she could it would make her stronger, and she would feel more confident – but would it make her more reckless?

She knew that she and Daniel were ahead of the dead, but they were quickly advancing on them.  She really could not believe how fast they were moving.  And what about whoever was controlling them?  She should keep a lookout for that crow while Daniel’s feeding.  She should protect Daniel – then he could strengthen himself enough, and he will be more able to protect them both – because – let’s face it – he’s the best fighter.  He’s more experienced, and he can use magic.

As they neared
the woods Sarah nodded to herself.  That was what she would do; she would watch and stay alert and make sure she was able to warn Daniel if the dead, or that crow, were about to catch up with them whilst he was mid-feed.

Sa
rah glanced back one final time to see how far back the dead were now, before they entered the woods and their view would be obscured.  They were not far back at all, but about half way down the hill and rapidly getting closer.

‘Quick Daniel,’ Sarah said.

She loosed his hand, and he exchanged one look with her that said, ‘Stay close,’ before stalking ahead.

Sarah listened to the sounds of the woodland.  It was unusually quite within
, and any sounds there were muted by the approaching mass.  Sarah followed Daniel closely, her heart doing things she did not know it could – it felt like it had moved into her throat.  She could not let Daniel out of her sight.  She felt exposed and at risk without him holding her, and she kept glancing around making sure they were still safe, or as safe as they could be under the circumstances.

Daniel was moving stealthily, slowing, so she stopped, not wanting to scare away his prey.  She watched as he leapt and landed on a bl
ack and white mammal; a badger.

She heard him gulping blood, and
she scanned the trees and woods in the darkness, not sure she would see danger even if it approached.  She heard the animals’ pulse slow, and this time it stopped.  Daniel had killed it.

He was back at her side in an instant and holding her hand.  Relief swept over her and she started to run again, this time dodging trees instead of rocks.
 

She wanted to feed too, but now knew that she definitely did not have time.  The dead were in the forest.

The wind hit her face as they left the final trees behind.  She took a deep breath, and ran on.  She had been worried the dead would have surrounded them during their time undercover, but she and Daniel had kept a little ahead. 

She let out a strangled cry as the first one of the dead came out from between the trees, and
she pushed ahead as fast as she could.  They needed to get to that hut.  It could not be that far now – over this hill they were ascending, down into one more valley, and then near the top of the next – nestled somewhere on that hillside.  Then they would stop running.  They would stand and face their enemy.

They reached the top and Sarah spotted the plac
e.  It looked more like an old fashioned war time bunker than a hut.  Perfect.  She refused to look back.  She could tell the dead were not far behind by the sounds of their movement, but she and Daniel continued to be that little bit faster.

The temptation to run forever hit her. 
But no.  That would lead other people into danger, and the whole reason they had come to Dartmoor was to try and help people.  They needed to deal with this problem themselves.

Sarah leapt over more rocks and pushed herself for a final burst of speed.  She wanted
to gain time for a breather when they arrived at the hut; to gather her thoughts, and sanity, before they stood to fight.

As she ran she glanced up at the
stars as clouds moved aside.  She took reassurance from their beauty, letting the sensation strengthen her, drawing energy into her from the sight. 

She glanced
at Daniel beside her.  He was moving with ease over the rugged terrain.  She wanted to know what he was thinking, how worried he was about what they faced.  Yet another part of her feared the answer to that question, so even had she time to ask it, she would not.

Daniel caught her eye and she tried to smile, but failed.
 

Then they were there, they had reached the hut, and Sarah glanced back to see how much time they had left
.  The dead were moving so fast her heart pounded painfully. 

S
he estimated they had three minutes.

The sorcerer
watched the scene before him while blending into the night. 

The two vampires had found a post
to defend and it looked like they planned to fight. 

L
ike that would do them any good, he thought.

He
focused his will on providing extra strength to the dead, strength that would prevail through damage or injury.  He turned his attention to himself, and focused on remaining under radar; on not being seen, not attracting the dead and not being noticed by the two vampires. 

He did no
t want to reveal his presence until he knew that he could take them on and that he was sure to win.

The sorcerer
was ready to attack at the first sign that the vampires were weakening.

He waited for them to fail
his test.

Sarah was amazed to see that the hut really was a wartime bunker.  It was set into the hill and
backed by barbed wire, made of stone and covered in earth and grass.  It had windows but they were tiny, blacked out and broken. 

Daniel grasped the door handle and yanked it open
, its hinges creaking and the lock snapping, then he grabbed her and quickly kissed her hard on the lips.

‘Don’t worry, we will survive this,’ he said, looking intently into her eyes.  ‘We can stand out the front here, and if thing
s become too much we can retreat inside, and tackle them one at a time as they come in.’ 

Daniel spoke in a hurry, and Sarah just nodded to show she understood, her throat too constricted to speak.

Daniel continued – ‘When they arrive let’s try violence first, I’m guessing kicking their heads off might stop them, but we don’t know how the magic that’s controlling them works.  If fighting doesn’t work I will try and use magic to cremate them, but this will take more power so we should try to see if we can stop them without resorting to that first.  Remember that they can’t kill you unless they stake you in the heart or cut off your head, and I don’t think they have weapons.  If they hurt you you will heal.  If I need to use magic I will shout to you and you should try to get behind me, so I don’t hurt you.’