Reality Bites (25 page)

‘Even vampires are afraid of him,’ said Eugene, with a hint of wistful admiration in his voice.

Peirce looked around him.  ‘So, who are these two?’ he asked. ‘Are they coming too?’

Cindy and Eugene looked at each other.  ‘Yes,’ they said, decisively.

Denny suppressed a groan.

~ Chapter Thirty ~

I
t was becoming increasingly clear that Cindy and Eugene were becoming something of an item, and Stiles felt that he had gone from being a third wheel to a fifth wheel, despite the fact that Peirce was back in the mix, he did not count, he was dead.

Not that he minded. He was glad that Cindy had someone; many someone’s really.  Eugene could be any man who took her fancy; he was perfect for Cindy.  And he no longer wanted Tamar, but – all this coupledom was making him feel out of place or in the way or something.

Peirce had led them a merry dance so far, in and out the mulberry bush, so to speak.  At least that was how it seemed.  He said he was looking for something, but declined to explain what. When pressed (round the windpipe) by Denny, all he would say was ‘It’s complicated, but I’ll know it when I find it.’

Denny suggested that t
hey go back to the train tunnel
, where he had been taken from, but Peirce said that it didn’t work like that.  So far he had taken them to a park, a field and a football stadium. There was a pattern beginning to emerge here. Either they had to be in an open space, or Peirce had a yen for the smell of freshly mown grass.

On the third day (cricket pitch), Peirce finally announced.  ‘I think this is it.’

‘What?’ said Denny, now thoroughly sick and tired of Peirce and his magical mystery tour.

‘The place, the portal the vampires use to get to the house.’

‘Portal?’ said Tamar. ‘You never mentioned a portal.’

‘Does this mean it’s in the other dimension?’ asked Stiles.

‘Oh no,’ said Peirce.  ‘It’s just a transportation device, technically we could walk or drive there or even teleport, if I knew where it was, but I don’t, none of us do. It’s a secret; I don’t reckon the “Master” trusts anyone.’

‘I wonder why?’ said Tamar, sarcastically.

‘Okay, so this portal, how come you didn’t know where it was.’ asked Stiles, suspiciously.

‘They move it,’ Peirce explained, ‘and I’m out of the loop, due to the fact that I spent the last few months in a
bottle!

‘It wasn’t that long,’ muttered Denny.

‘What are you complaining about?’ Peirce continued.  ‘I found it, didn’t I?’

‘So, how does it work?’ asked Tamar.

‘Well, we just walk through it of course,’ said Peirce as if explaining to a small child, how to use a door.

‘I
meant
where the hell is it?’ she retorted. ‘How do we access it?’

‘It’s right there,’ said Peirce, slowly, pointing at a patch of empty air.  He frowned. ‘Can’t you see it?’

Tamar peered. ‘Nope, can’t see a thing.’

The others concurred.

‘Oh,’ said Peirce, clearly nonplussed.  ‘That’s – unexpected. Um, well I guess it doesn’t matter, just follow me.’

They made to step forward after him, when their path was blocked by a phalanx of vampires, looking like a gang of rejects from the cast of “Grease” (rejected presumably for being
too
greasy) grinning evilly and swinging baseball bats. They leered at Peirce.  ‘We thought you might try this sooner or later – traitor.’  The front man, in a studded leather jacket, and with longish oily hair, said.

‘You can’t kill me,’ said Peirce with quavering bravado.

‘No, but it’s amazing what you can live through.’

Denny was counting under his breath. ‘Nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty two, three, four, twenty five.’ He turned to Tamar. ‘I think we can take them,’ he said. ‘There’s only twenty five of them.’

The vampires advanced. ‘First we deal with you,’ said the front man. ‘Then we’ll have dinner.’  He leered at Tamar. ‘I call that one.’

Denny exploded (not literally of course) and a pitched battle began.

‘Denny!’ called Tamar, ‘stop pounding that vampire’s head and just stake the damn thing. Cindy needs help, and I’m kind of busy.’ She had two of them at arm’s length, while they tried futilely to hit her.

A vicious vampire with one eye had Cindy on the ground.  Denny dusted his vampire and ran forward; he staked the vampire through the back and landed on top of Cindy.  It was possibly the first time she was glad to see him, although this was a view of him she had never expected to experience. Before they had time to feel embarrassed, he was yanked to his feet.

Peirce was having troubles of his own; he was tied to a tree, his head was on fire and six vampires were dancing around him jeering.  They stopped suddenly, as Denny fireballed them; he resented doing it, but without Peirce, they could not go through the portal.  Peirce burst his bonds (Denny did not intend to waste time untying him) and ran for it. 

Stiles stopped him. ‘Oh no you don’t Sonny Jim,’ he said. ‘This is your fault.

Stiles’s  fighting technique of low blows and biting back was effectively decimating the foe; he grabbed Peirce by the collar. ‘Who would you rather face, them or him?’  He indicated Denny, who was doing unspeakable things to a short vampire, who had only one arm, although he had had two before Denny got his hands on him.

Peirce nodded.  ‘I take your point,’ he gulped.

Eugene’s preferred fighting technique was to morph into a dragon, between him and Denny’s predilection for throwing fire, the cricket pitch was lit up like the town drunk.

When Denny changed tactics and started turning them to stone, the remaining vampires, who still had their legs attached, gave up and ran for it.

‘I quite enjoyed that,’ said Denny.

Tamar rolled her eyes. She turned to Peirce.  ‘I guess someone blew your cover.’  She said.

‘Well, if you defeat the Master, it won’t matter,’ he said.

‘Doesn’t it bother you that one of your “boys” turned you in?’

Peirce shrugged.  ‘Not really, vampires are not known for their loyalty.’

‘That’s what’s worrying me,’ said Tamar. ‘
You’re
a vampire.’

‘And you don’t trust me, so that’s all right.’

‘Everyone all right?’ said Denny.

There were murmurs of assent; although “all right” is a relative term. They were muddy, bruised and spattered with blood.  On the other hand, they had all their respective limbs, and nobody was feeling faint.

‘Okay, let’s go, Peirce – after you.’

Peirce stepped forward.  ‘You
really
can’t see it?’ he asked. ‘All right, stay close to me, it’s not very big.’

‘If it’s just here, how is it people don’t walk through it by accident?’ asked Cindy.

Peirce slapped his head. ‘Of course,
that’s
why you can’t see it, that’s obviously the point.’

‘What is?’

‘That people
do
walk through it by accident.’

‘Oh, eeeew.’

They all followed Peirce as closely as they could without actually getting close to him.  The portal was a disappointment.  They stepped forward and then they were in a wood. Peirce said he could see the wood from the other side.

‘I don’t remember a wood,’ said Denny.  ‘Are you sure this is the right place?’

‘The house is over that way,’ Peirce assured him, pointing.

Suddenly the air was split by a resounding horn blast, and the sky was lit up by what appeared to be searchlights.

‘What the hell was that?’ said Tamar.

‘I think we tripped an alarm or something,’ said Denny.

‘Oh no,’ said Peirce.  ‘That’s nothing to do with us; that’s just the hunt starting.’  He sounded wistful.

‘The hunt?’ asked Cindy. ‘You mean like a foxhunt?’

‘I suppose, sort of, that’s the general idea, but it’s not foxes they’re hunting.’

‘So, what
do
vampires hunt?’

Peirce gave her a sardonic look.  ‘Humans,’ he said eventually, when she failed to figure it out. ‘You see,’ he continued, to fill the stony silence that had descended, ‘vampires are predators; we hunt in the streets or the villages or whatever.  But out here, well it’s isolated, so they keep people in cages, cells, sort of like fast food.’

‘That’s disgusting,’ said Cindy.

‘Is it?’ said Peirce in surprise.  ‘Any more than battery hens?’

‘Yes, these are people, with feelings and loved ones and lives.’

‘So, what’s the hunt about?’ asked Tamar.

‘They let some people out and hunt them down, you know for the sport, like humans do with animals.  Hunting is our natural instinct. Of course, sometimes they get away, but that’s the sport you see?’

‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ said Tamar.

Cindy looked grimmer than they had ever seen her. ‘That’s it,’ she announced. She drew out some candles from her backpack and set them in a circle around her and sat cross-legged in the centre of them, with her elbows resting on her knees, her hands in the air. The candles levitated around her.  She pointed to each one and they lit as she did so. She resumed her position and closed her eyes. ‘I’m going to give this one last try,’ she said.

What?’ asked Tamar.

Cindy was not listening.  ‘
Dea Hecaté audite meus vox
,’ (Goddess Hecaté hear my cry)she said. Her eyes snapped open; they were blank, with no iris. ‘
Cursusdedecor trans divum,
’ (Course unseen across the sky) she rasped, in a strange guttural tone, the voice was not her own. ‘
Retraho id veil of infinitas infinitio nox noctis,’
(Draw back this veil of endless night)
Quod permissum sol solis fulsi videlicet quod perspicuous,’
(And let the sun shine clear and bright).

Silence greeted this strange pronouncement. Cindy closed her eyes, and then opened them again; they were now back to normal.

They waited; Cindy sighed. ‘Well. I tried.’  And then she was lit by a shaft of sunlight that pierced the trees. Peirce ran for cover beneath a shady oak, as the sky brightened.  The sun was out, and it was a beautiful day.

‘It worked.’  Cindy was delighted.  ‘I tried it so many times and it didn’t.’

‘How come
you
never tried that?’  Stiles asked Tamar.

‘I don’t have that kind of power,’ Tamar admitted.  ‘How did you do it?’ she asked Cindy.

‘I didn’t,’ said Cindy. ‘You are witnessing the power of Hecaté. But it’s still only a Band-Aid, a short-term fix, it won’t last, and it’s only local. But at least that poor sod who’s being hunted will get away now. The vampires out there won’t last long in this sunlight.’

‘And now we have a clear run to the house,’ said Denny. ‘Nicely done.’

Cindy smiled modestly. ‘Thank Hecaté.’ she said. ‘She answered my call.’

‘What are we going to do about
him
?’ said Stiles, indicating the shivering Peirce.

‘Oh hell,’ said Tamar. ‘Can’t we just leave him?’

Denny was in favour of this plan. But Stiles said that he might come in handy, so Tamar manifested a reflective blanket for him and they set off in the direction of the house.

‘How do we get in?’ asked Tamar.

‘Round the back,’ said Denny, anticipating Peirce. ‘The cells.’

Peirce nodded.  ‘It’s not guarded.’

The darkness was creeping back as they rounded the house. ‘Probably just as well,’ said Denny. ‘We’ll be better hidden.’

‘Are you all right, sweetie?’ Cindy asked Eugene.  ‘You’ve hardly said a word.’

Eugene was as white as a sheet and sweating; he wondered why he had come. It was not as if he was any use.  ‘I don’t seem to have much to contribute,’ he said.

‘Well,
I’m
glad you’re here,’ she said.

Eugene gave a weak smile, but he did not really feel much better.

‘In here,’ said Denny. ‘They’ve kept my room for me.’  He indicated a barred window with several of the bars severed. ‘How thoughtful.’

They had clambered in awkwardly, before they remembered that there was an easier way – for them at least. The cell door was open; they filed out; the passage was deserted. Most of the cells were occupied, but Denny said they should let them out later, after they had dealt with the “Master”.

‘Let them out now,’ he said, ‘and it’s a party. Vampires like to hunt, remember? And this place is bound to be full of them.’

‘Where are they all then?’ said Stiles.

‘Maybe they were all out hunting,’ said Eugene, hopefully.

‘We can’t count on that,’ said Denny.

‘They won’t have been,’ agreed Peirce.  ‘Only the privileged few get to hunt.’

‘So, where are all the commoners?’ said Tamar.

They wandered through one deserted passage after another.  ‘I don’t like it,’ said Tamar. ‘It’s too easy.’

Then they heard the singing.  It was beautiful. Stiles, in particular, seemed mesmerised.  It was coming from a cell further down the corridor.

‘Why the hell would anyone be singing in this awful place?’ thought Stiles, as he was drawn to the sound. He broke in the door, and there inside was – ‘
Hecaté
?’  Stiles recognised the beautiful witch’s goddess from her manifestation in Denny’s living room, but there was something different about her, the voice for one thing.

‘Have we met?’ she asked, in golden tones that made Stiles weak at the knees.

‘Don’t you remember?’ he managed.

Hecaté smiled. ‘I’m sure I would have remembered
you
,’ she said flatteringly

Tamar appeared. ‘It wasn’t you, was it,’ she said, ‘who manifested to us.’

‘No I do not think so.’  Hecaté frowned in thought.

Tamar met Denny’s eyes in a brief moment of communion. They both nodded in unison. 

‘How long have you been here?’ asked Denny glancing again at Tamar.

‘Oh a long time, I do not remember.’  She held up her wrists. ‘These chains are the only things that can hold a god,’ she said. ‘I remember when they were forged by Hephaestus.  Nothing can break them. I am his prisoner forever.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that,’ said Stiles. ‘Denny?’

Denny unsheathed the Athame and struck the chains; sparks flew, but the chain remained intact.