The Four Realms (50 page)

Cassidy ignored him, instead catching sight of Maureen.

"Hello," she said cheerily. "And who might you be?"

The girl seemed different to the others, but still Maureen was wary.

"No time for chat," Darwin interrupted.
 
"Everyone downstairs.
 
We're leaving."

They all filed down the stairs: Monk and Honest Tom with D'Toeni first, Brian with Stevens, then Maureen, Cassidy and finally Darwin.

"Is that it?" asked Stevens looking at the big oak door.

Honest Tom laughed.
 
"Yeah, it's not what I expected."

"I expected something... bigger."

"Who cares so long as it's big enough for us to go through," said Monk taking the key off the hook.

There was silence as Monk unlocked and opened the door.
 
Everyone looked down the corridor toward the far door.
 
"Guess I'll go," he muttered.

Maureen had anticipated what would happen next.
 
Monk reached the end and tried the handle.

"It's locked," he said.

"Find a key," D'Toeni shouted back.

"There isn't one."

D'Toeni pushed aside Honest Tom and rounded on Maureen, his hand going to her throat.
 
"My dear, I am in a lot of pain, so I'm only going to ask this once.
 
Where's the fucking key?"

Rage boiled inside of Maureen.
 
These people had barged into her home, had taken her hostage, and if the demands weren't bad enough, now one of them was swearing at her.

"You genuinely find people are more helpful if you ask nicely," she shot back.

D'Toeni laughed, glancing back at the other vampires, before moving just inches from her face, his expression changing.
 
"I'm going to assume you're not fucking stupid.
 
So you know what I am, and what I'm capable of.
 
Now, open that fucking door or I will cause you pain like you've never suffered before."

If only she had been in Venefasia.
 
Then she could have taught that vampire a lesson.
 
But she wasn't.
 
She had no mana, no plants and as a result felt utterly helpless.

"I can't," she replied.
 
"It's locked from the other side."

The vampires all looked at each other.
 
D'Toeni maintained his grip around her neck.
 
It was starting to hurt.

"She's lying," said Stevens.
 
"Why would they lock a gateway?"

Maureen nearly tried to explain that they regularly locked the gateways, specifically to avoid such situations as she was in now.
 
But that would just cause too many questions.
 
So instead she said, “They've closed the gateway."

"Closed?" D'Toeni spat.
 
"What do you mean, closed?"

Maureen struggled against his grip.
 
"I mean, closed.
 
As in shut; no longer open."

D'Toeni let go of her neck.
 
Maureen found herself rubbing where the hand had been.

The vampire paced the cellar.
 
"I don't believe it.
 
I do not fucking believe it!"

He walked over to Darwin and pointed a finger at him, though Maureen noticed he kept some distance between them.
 
"This is all your fault," he said.
 
"Another Darwin screw up!"

Brian sank to his haunches and put his head in his hands.
 
"We're fucked.
 
We're fucked.
 
Those things are going to catch up with us."

"No-one's dead yet," Darwin protested.

Brian narrowed his eyes at him.
 
"Tell that to Jules."

"I vote we make a run for it," said Stevens.

"And go where?" Monk asked.

"Back to the factory.
 
We were safe there."

"And how much longer do you think we'll continue to be safe there?
 
A week?
 
A month?"

"I say we cut our losses and run," D'Toeni commented.
 
"Every vampire for himself."

"My, D'Toeni," Darwin sniped.
 
"What a cowardly thing to do?"

"Perhaps we could force open the door," Monk suggested.
 
"Darwin, hand me Metzger's sword."

D'Toeni beamed as Darwin took a step back.
 
"Yes, why don't you do that, Darwin?
 
Then maybe we can finish our little discussion from earlier."

"What about Luton?" Honest Tom suggested.
 
"We could go to Luton."

Darwin shook his head.
 
"Well unfortunately, D'Toeni saw to it that the minibus is as good as useless."

"Me?
 
I wasn't the one with the sword, dear boy."

"I think we have another problem," Monk called out.

Everyone looked down the passageway toward him.
 
He was on all fours, ear to the floor, trying to look under the door.
 
"It's daylight."

"It can't be," said Honest Tom, pushing through everyone to join Monk at the door.

"I tell you, it's daylight."

Stevens turned round to face Maureen.
 
"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded.

Whereas the one with the bleeding face frightened her, Stevens held as much fear as an accountant.

"It means it's still daylight in Venefasia.
 
And it will be for another hour or so."

Brian looked to the ceiling, his hands fists behind his head.
 
"We're doomed."

"So we wait an hour, wait until it gets dark and then try and force open the door?"
 
Honest Tom suggested.

D'Toeni huffed.
 
"You can wait.
 
I'm feasting."
 
He walked over and gripped Maureen firmly by the arm.

Maureen tried to pull away from him but D'Toeni just strengthened his grip until it hurt.

Monk stood up.
 
"Hey.
 
There are others of us that are hungry as well.
 
You going to share her around?"

"Find your own meal," D'Toeni bit back.

Maureen wondered what she could do.
 
Maybe if she screamed Sally or Simon would hear.

"Help!" she yelled.
 

D'Toeni responded by clamping a hand over her mouth.
 
"If you're going to cause trouble, I'll make sure it hurts."
 
As if to re-enforce the point, he squeezed her arm so tight, Maureen thought it might snap.
 
Tears came to her eyes.

Cassidy jumped to her aid.
 
"Leave her alone, D'Toeni.
 
This has nothing to do with her."

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" the vampire spat.
 
But he let go when he caught sight of Darwin reaching behind him for his sword.

"Take her upstairs, Cassidy," Darwin said as all vampire eyes looked at him.

"You need to decide just whose side you're on, Darwin, because at the moment it sure doesn't look like you're on ours."

Maureen didn't wait to see if things would escalate.
 
She started heading up the stairs, Cassidy behind her.

"I have to feed the cats," she told the girl as she made her way into the kitchen.
 
She probably ought to be worrying about other things right now, but there was nothing she could do.
 
Better to be doing something practical, if only to take her mind off what was happening downstairs.

Cassidy watched as Maureen filled the two dishes on the floor, the cats waiting anxiously at her feet.

"What are their names?"
 
she asked.

"The big one is Neil.
 
He's generally good natured but can get grumpy at times.
 
Nicholas is the mischievous one.
 
He'll jump up on the side if you happen to leave food out."

Cassidy crouched down to stroke them.
 
"They're gorgeous."

"Well mind Neil, especially when he's eating."

But Neil showed none of his usual grumpiness, instead offering his neck and head Cassidy's outstretched hand.

Maureen smiled.
 
"He likes you."

 
"I get on with animals."

"Huh.
 
You mean like that lot downstairs," Maureen said as she put on the kettle.
 
"Tea?"

Cassidy nodded.
 
"You lived here long, Mrs...?"

"Summerglass, Maureen Summerglass, and it's Miss not Mrs."
 

Maureen opened the fridge and smelled the milk.
 
She'd not had chance to get out for days so it came as no surprise when she could tell it had gone off before she even got close.
 
Oh well, Cassidy would just have to put up with black tea.

"And in answer to your question, eighty-two years."
 
She put the milk back into the fridge and waited for the kettle to boil whilst Cassidy played with the cats.

"Let me ask you a question now," Maureen said, handing Cassidy the tea and sitting down at the kitchen table.
 
Cassidy removed her coat and sat down beside her.
 
"Why are you with them, Cassidy?"

Maureen dreaded to think what sort of enchantment the vampires might have her under.
 
Were they torturing the poor girl?
 
"Are they hurting you?
 
Making you do things you don't want?"

Cassidy raised an eyebrow at Maureen.
 
"No."

"Then why on earth is a nice girl like you hanging around with them?
 
They're dangerous people."

"Darwin's my friend.
 
He looks after me."

There was an air of calmness around the girl that Maureen took for ignorance.

"Besides, I can look after myself," she smiled, which only seemed to re-enforce Maureen's fears.

Perhaps you need to stop worrying about the girl and start worrying about yourself
, Maureen thought.
 
Cassidy might be convinced that she could handle the vampires, but Maureen couldn't say the same about herself.
 
Surely once they realised there really was no way through, they wouldn't think twice about killing her.
 
She needed to come up with her own plan of escape.

Her best bet lay with Sally and Simon.
 
If she could get word to them, maybe they could call the police.
 
There was no need to explain what they were or why they were here.
 
She could just explain it away as a gang of crooks trying to rob her.
 
There seemed to be a lot of that sort of thing going on in the papers of late.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Darwin emerging from under the stairs.

"Everything OK?" Cassidy asked as he entered the kitchen.

He shook his head.
 
"I've had better days."

Cassidy handed him her untouched tea.
 
He took it and took a big swig of it.
 
Any reaction to the lack of milk he kept concealed.

Darwin addressed Maureen.
 
"Right, we need to find a way to open that door or I won't be held responsible for what happens to you."

Maureen's eyes narrowed.
 
She didn't like threats at the best of times, least not in her own home.
 
But maybe there was opportunity in this?
 
If she did something that made a lot of noise, perhaps Sally and Simon would hear and come to her aid?
 
She sighed.
 
She was clutching at straws.

"Why should I help you?
 
You'll kill me anyways."

Darwin leaned over Cassidy knocking into her chair as he brought his face close up to Maureen's.

"I'll kill you if you don't," he said as something fell out of Cassidy's coat pocket and onto the floor.

Maureen couldn't make it out at first, but then as it bounced across the kitchen floor she realised it was a notebook.
 
It wasn't until it had completed its acrobatics, landing face up that she saw the monogrammed name on the front:
 
"E. F. McFadden".

Maureen gasped.

She stood, her emotions a mix of fear, anger and grief.
 
She'd found Ernest's killers, here in her very house.
 
She'd searched Venefasia for them only for them to turn up on her doorstep.
 
How could they?
 
How could they murder a poor, defenceless old man?
 
How cold; how very, very cold.

If she could she would have burned every single one of them.
 
Well, all of them besides the girl - naive as she might be, she was still human.
 
Maureen didn't consider herself a murderer but these things, these vampires, were worse than animals.
 
Putting them down would be no sin and leave no mark on her conscience.
 
Oh, if she could only open that door.
 
Open it and let the mana flood in.
 
Then she'd teach them the meaning of the word vengeance.

It was no good.
 
She couldn't stay here any longer.
 
She couldn't breathe, the house felt claustrophobic.
 
She had to get out.

She was half way down the hall before Darwin realised what she was doing.

"Hey," he shouted.
 
"Come back here."

She ignored him.
 
They would probably kill her before she reached the front door, but she didn't care.
 
She just wasn't going to go down without a fight.
 
Of course an eighty-two year old against a group of vampires ... what did you call a group of vampires? A colony?
 
Whatever it was, she wouldn't last long against it.