Sanctifying Grace (Resurrection) (15 page)

‘You
will
talk,’ Smith promised, and I knew he was right. If it were closer to dark then I might have tried to hold out until Roman rose, but eight hours was too long to endure pain like this, and I had the horrible feeling this was only the start. God knows what else this man was planning if I didn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.

He dropped back onto his heels, grasped my jaw in one hand, and flicked the lighter with the o
ther. My eyes were drawn to the flickering flame and I let out a choked cry.

‘Had enough yet?’

I snivelled loudly, wiping my nose with the back of my hand and nodded. Smith looked positively disappointed.

‘I will ask again – what are you to this vampire?’

‘He’s fascinated by me.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m from the future.’

He slapped me hard across the face and I slumped to my side, ears ringing.

‘Don’t take me for a fool,’ he warned.

I sat back up, slowly and painfully, fear and despair in my heart, blood in my mouth. Of course he didn’t believe me, and now he was going to hurt me. A lot.

He didn’t get the chance.

Roman was here. I heard him before I saw him, and so did my captors. A gurgling scream, cut off almost before it began, signalled the death of the man by the front door. One down, four to go. This time, I had no compunction about him killing humans.

Smith swore and hissed, ‘Cover her.’

‘How
–?’ Powell yelled.

‘Shut up. I don’t know!’

I saw a flare of fear on Smith’s face: there was no way he had expected to meet a vampire now, not in daylight, yet he composed himself quickly, and determination and resolve lay heavily on him. He had his gun in his hand and the other two stepped closer until the barrels of both pistols touched my temples. Smith’s gun was also trained on me. Only Smith glanced quickly at the door, the other two kept their attention firmly on me. I would die before Roman was able to kill all three, and Roman knew it.

I stared at him, willing him not to try anything.

His skin was whiter than usual, his eyes ink black and he was furious, barely controlling his impulse to attack, but his voice was mild as he said, ‘Let her go. Please.’

‘I don’t think so.’ Smith didn’t turn to look at him again. His focus was all on me, but I had no doubt he was as aware as I of the vampire’s slightest move. ‘Stay still, or she dies.’

‘If she dies, then there is no reason for me not to kill you. And I
will
kill you, before you can turn those guns on me.’

‘The woman will still be dead,’ Smith pointed out. ‘Are you willing to risk that?’

Smith was tense: he was gambling mightily, not knowing whether the threat of my death was enough to hold the vampire at bay.

It was.

Some of the fight leeched out of Roman and his shoulders slumped minutely in defeat. He wasn’t willing to put my life in any more danger and that concerned me; I was making Roman vulnerable. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Smith, but now he switched his gaze to me, briefly, and there was the merest hint of a smile on his lips. The giving-in was all for show. No doubt he had a plan: I just hoped it would work without either one of us getting hurt.

‘What do you want?’ he asked, subdued, and Smith shot him another quick look.

‘You.’

‘Me? What can you possibly want with me?’

‘Don’t play coy. We know what you are.’

‘And what is that?’

‘Vampire.’ It was said in a hushed voice, a mixture of reverence and revulsion.

Roman laughed. ‘Vampire? You are crazy! Do I look like a vampire? It’s daytime, for goodness’ sake. Would you like me to enter a church, eat some garlic, wrap myself in silver? Let her go. This is ridiculous.’

‘No.’ Smith grimaced. ‘I don’t know how you are walking in daylight, but I know what I know. We have been watching you, studying you. Your denials are futile. We have seen what you have done to the women you drink from. Men, too. The marks on their necks. You have been seen in this area for decades, unchanged and unchanging. We know,’ he repeated.

The vampire shrugged and inched infinitesimally closer.

‘Take her back outside, but keep me in sight. If he makes a move towards me, kill her.’

Smith was trying to cover all his bases and all the while he was careful not to meet Roman’s eyes. I wondered whether there had to be eye contact in order for someone to be enthralled.

I felt Roman’s eyes on me, burning into my skin, as I was pushed out through the kitchen and towards the back door.

‘So now you have me, what do you intend to do with me?’ I heard Roman ask. He was just out of my line of sight and I prayed for both our sak
es he was behaving himself.

‘There are some people who would very much like to meet you,’ Smith replied.

‘And then what? Do they want to become vampire? Is this what it is all about?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘Would you like me to turn
you
?’

‘God, no!’ The fear and hatred in Smith’s voice was plain, but I couldn’t fail to notice the flare in Powell’s eyes. He met my stare unemotionally, but I knew what he wanted: he wanted to be resurrected. If there was some way I could use this knowledge…

‘What now?’ Roman asked.

‘Now I take you to London. You and your lady friend.’

I breathed a tiny sigh of relief. The minute we left Brecon I would disappear, giving Roman the opportunity to either flee or eliminate our captors. I didn’t care which option he chose, as long as he was safe.

Smith indicated that Roman should go ahead of him, whilst I trailed along behind, the two men with their weapons still trained on me at my back. We made for an interesting procession through the streets of Brecon.

‘The vampire and I will travel in the front car,’ Smith ordered. ‘Powell and Scott, take the woman with you. If there is any suggestion the vampire is trying to escape, or if he attacks me, kill her.’

Smith ensured I was kept well back from him and Roman, so there was no chance of my lover taking out all three men at once, not without running the risk of one of them shooting me first.

Smith turned to Roman. ‘Do you understand? You try to escape, she dies. You kill me, she dies.’

Roman shrugged and nodded. He was biding his time.

‘Can you drive?’

‘Yes.’

‘Right – get in the driver’s seat. Me and Flynn will sit in the back.’

Flynn was the man that had handled the dogs, I saw, as he came out of a house bearing a couple of guns and a suitcase.

‘I packed all our stuff,’ Flynn said, putting the case in the boot of the lead car.

Smith said nothing, just shook his head slightly in annoyance. I could guess what he was thinking: they’d caught a vampire and all Flynn was worried about was spare socks.

Roman slid into the driver’s seat and the two men got in the back, both guns only inches from his head. Even when I had transported back to my own time, I feared to think how Roman would extricate himself from this situation. I knew he was quick, but was he fast enough to dodge two bullets aimed at his skull? I sincerely hoped so.

‘I don’t suppose you can drive?’

That query was for me and Powell thought he was asking a rhetorical question, so I surprised him when I admitted that I could. It was better if I drove because when I vanished the car would be out of control and the two men holding me captive would be more concerned with not crashing than dealing with the extremely pissed off vampire in the vehicle ahead. If nothing else, it evened the odds a little. Four humans was no problem for Roman, but four humans with guns was another matter.

I clambered into the driving seat and Scott got in next to me, with Powell in the back. I would have preferred it to be the other way round: I hadn’t failed to notice Powell’s reaction when Roman offered to resurrect Smith. He wanted it.

It took me some time to get used to the controls, even though they were rather on the basic side. The gear stick was at a strange angle and it took me forever to ram it into gear. Once we started moving, though, the boxy car did as it was told, and I managed to keep up with the vehicle in front.

Every so often
, I met Roman’s eyes as he checked the side mirror. He was waiting for me to disappear, and as the cars travelled closer to the outskirts of Brecon I mentally braced myself. I didn’t particularly recognise the road, so much has changed in my world, but I did realise that we were heading in the direction of Abergavenny.

Any time now… Any time…

We passed The Old Ford Inn on the right and I began to worry: we were at least three miles or more outside Brecon. Nothing was happening. I caught Roman’s eye in his rear view mirror and raised my eyebrows at him, confused.

Another two miles further on and I began to doubt whether I was going to vanish at all. I don’t think I had ever been this far from Brecon and not been in my own time. Perhaps Roman and I had got it wrong? I remembered vanishing when we had been forced to flee from Bernard de Neufmarche’s castle and because I had only ever appeared to Roman when we were either in, or very near to, my hometown, we had both assumed I was tied to the place. What if I wasn’t?

This was one hell of a time to realise I may be able to travel more widely than either of us had thought, especially considering neither of us wanted me to be able to leave the confines of Brecon at this particular moment without returning to my own world.

I drove steadily on, watching for brief glimpses of Roman’s pale face in the tiny disc of the mirror. From what I could see, he appeared unperturbed, but then he was always good at hiding emotion. Me? I was petrified. These men had guns, for God’s sake! And they were aimed at me. I hoped they would be reluctant to pull the trigger when (and it was most definitely
when
and not
if
) Roman lost patience and decided to put an end to the situation. After all, if they killed me then they would have no leverage over the vampire whatsoever. But then, there was always the chance that a bullet would get him before he got them.

Then another thought struck me: it was about five hours ‘til dark, and Roman had not rested last night
. Plus, it was still daylight, and a vampire awake during the hours the sun was up was a very hungry vampire, indeed. At what point was his need for blood going to outweigh caution? Today? Tonight? Would they even let him feed, because if they didn’t…

The cars ate the miles, slowly and surely, and the little convoy passed through Abergavenny and on towards Monmouth, and I was still here.

‘We’ll probably stop in Ross-on-Wye,’ Powell said. Scott grunted.

‘I hope we’ll stop there ‘cause we can’t go on all night. We’ll need to rest. Take it in turns, like.’

Scott grunted again.

‘
He
doesn’t,’ I said.

‘Doesn’t what?’

‘Need to rest.’ Actually, he probably did, but not tonight. All he needed tonight was blood. And now that they had seen him walking in daylight, perhaps they would assume that he never slept, that the tales of coffins and hiding under ground were just tales. They would be partly right.

‘We brought a coffin with us,’ Powell said. ‘In case.’

‘He doesn’t need one,’ I pointed out.

‘I can see that.’

‘It’s not like you think,’ I said. ‘He’s not evil or anything. Just different.’ If I could get them off guard enough to make a mistake… if they could see him as a person and not an evil entity, then it might give him a slight advantage.

‘Shut up.’ Scott clunked me across the back of my head with the barrel of the gun. I flinched and the car swerved into the opposite lane before I managed to steer it back.

‘Don’t hit her.’

‘She’s nothing but a dirty vampire-lover.’ Scott really didn’t like me much.

I ignored him and talked to Powell. ‘How did you think you were going to catch him? After all, you didn’t know I was going to be around.’

‘Smith had it all worked out. He was going to track where he went to ground, then chain him and put in him this coffin we got. It’s solid lead and a bitch to lift, excuse my French. Smith thought that would hold him ‘til we got him to – Ow! What did you do that for?’

‘You talk too much.’

I glanced back to see Powell rubbing his arm. Scott’s gun was still unwaveringly trained on the side of my head, but Powell had seriously lost concentration. Things were going so smoothly
, he had let his guard down a little.

‘I need the toilet,’ I said.

‘You can wait.’

The cars were nearing Raglan
, but we were still a few miles away from the town.

‘My arm hurts. I need some antiseptic on it.’

‘You can wait for that, too.’

‘If it gets infected and I get sick –’ I let the rest of the sentence hang.

Powell was all for stopping, but Scott was having none of it.