Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series #1) (9 page)

Keeping as low as possible, I made my way towards the wall. Peeking over it, I could just make out my car parked further down the road next to the hedgerows. I couldn’t see the cyclist. Passing through the gate, I made my way towards my car. Once I was sure that he wasn’t nearby, I ran towards it, wanting to catch up, so I could follow him from afar and see where it was he was headed.

Climbing into my car, I started the engine, and turned the car on to the road. Hitting the accelerator, I drove back towards the town, scanning the road ahead for the cyclist. After a mile or so, I’d hoped that I would have seen him ahead of me, but it was like he had vanished. Then glancing in my rear view mirror, I hit my brakes. He was tailing
me
on his bike. Not believing what I was seeing, I pulled over and stopped, but kept the engine running – just in case. I stared at him in the rearview mirror and waited for him to draw level with me, but he didn’t. Once he was within a hundred yards or so of my car, he stopped in the road.

Jumping from my car in frustration, I clenched my fists and shouted up the road at him, “What do you want from me?”

Again he said nothing, but just sat on his bike, staring at me from the shadows of his hood.

“Right, you chicken-shit,” I said under my breath. “I’ve had enough of your fun and games.” Then climbing back into my car, I spun it around in the road and raced towards him. On seeing me coming, he took something white from his coat pocket, lent over on his bike and attached whatever it was onto a branch protruding from the hedgerow. Then swooping left on his bike, he cycled away and sped down a narrow lane set between two fields.

Pulling alongside the lane, I could see that it was far too narrow for me to drive my car down. Thumping the steering wheel with my fist, I screamed in anger as I watched him disappear into the distance. Looking to my right, I tried to see what it was he had placed in the bushes. Climbing from my car, I went over to find that the male had skewered a folded piece of paper onto a branch. With the edges of the paper flapping in the breeze, I pulled it free. Unfolding the note, I read what was written upon it.

Sorry, didn’t mean to hurt you yesterday. There is more danger to come – be careful.

I looked at the piece of paper and I knew that the cyclist had been aware of my presence in the graveyard the whole time. The piece of paper had been torn from a bigger piece. In the far corner, I could just make out the word ‘Mary’s’, which suggested that he had taken it from a piece of headed note paper from St. Mary’s church. The only opportunity he would’ve had to write the message was while he’d gone to the church to collect his bike after leaving the graveyard. And if he’d written the note then, he must have been aware of my presence in the graveyard. He then hid somewhere along the road and waited for me to pass him in my car.

Whoever he was – I was certain that he meant me no real harm. He’d had a couple of opportunities to do so. But who was he? And why did he have to behave as if he were some kind of guardian angel?

Tucking the note into my jeans pocket, I got back into my car and headed back towards the Inn. As I pulled-up out front, the first specks of snow flurried past on the wind. Hurrying to my room, I pulled the bedcovers over my head and tried to get some rest before my next
vampire shift
began later that evening.

Chapter Ten

I arrived at the police station just before seven. While I’d slept the rest of the day away, it had continued to snow and was now coming down in thick flurries. The narrow streets of The Ragged Cove were covered with it, as were the fields that stretched out on either side of the country roads I’d taken to get to work. Several times, the back wheels of my car had slipped and skidded and I’d had to be careful not to drive head first into some ditch. So it was with some relief that I arrived at the station without wrecking my second car in less than twenty-four hours.

Hurrying into the station and out of the snow, I found Sergeant Murphy, Potter, and Luke all sitting at their desks behind the front counter. It was as if they were waiting for me. Coming around the front counter, I glanced at Luke and he held my gaze with his brilliant green eyes. The last time I’d seen him, we had been curled up together on my bed in my poky room. I wondered how he felt about that. Luke half-smiled and I looked away. Sometimes I found it hard to look at him, I could sense something between us, but I didn’t quite know what. If I were to be honest with myself, I knew that I found his rugged looks attractive, but there was something else – I didn’t know what – that told me I should try and keep my distance.

“How are you feeling tonight, constable?” Sergeant Murphy asked, and I noticed straight away that he hadn’t called me by my first name like he had before.

“A bit bruised and battered,” I said, placing my uniform and utility belt on the desk in front of me.

“Not as battered as the police car you wrecked last night,” Potter chipped in, lighting a cigarette.

I looked across at Luke and he was still staring at me. Ignoring Potter’s remark, I turned to face Sergeant Murphy and said, “I don’t know if Luke has already briefed you, but there was an incident last night up at the graveyard.”

Popping his pipe into his mouth, Murphy looked straight at me and said, “I’d like to hear your account of what took place last night.”

“It’s difficult to explain without sounding -” I started.

“Without sounding like what?” Potter cut in.

“Like I’d lost my mind,” I said.

“Tell them what happened,” Luke told me. “You’re amongst friends here.”

Hearing this, I glanced at Potter and wasn’t so sure. Turning away from him, I looked at my sergeant and explained how I’d carried out an examination of the open grave.

“When I was down in the hole, I lifted up a piece of the coffin lid to find scratch marks on the underside of it,” I told him.

“So?” Potter said, putting out his cigarette and immediately lighting another.

“So,” I continued, “it suggested to me only one explanation – and I know this sounds far-fetched – but the girl Kristy Hall must have been buried alive.”

“
Buried alive!”
Potter scoffed, squirting streams of blue smoke through his nostrils.

Raising his hand as if to silence Potter, Murphy said, “Lets’ hear Constable Hudson out before we comment.” Then looking at me, he nodded, as if telling me to carry on.

“I also found claw marks on the inside of the grave, again supporting the theory that someone had climbed out rather than in,” I told them. “I tried to call Luke on my radio, but it seemed that he either didn’t receive my transmission or there wasn’t any signal. I climbed out of the grave to find Kristy Hall standing there.”

“Oh this is just such a lot of old bollocks,” Potter cut in again.

“Be quiet, Sean!” Murphy snapped, and he sounded as if he were getting angry. “Carry on, constable.”

“She looked pale, as if she were sick,” I said. “Not only that, she was covered in earth and mud. She kept asking for her mother. I asked her if I could help her, but she kept saying that she was hungry.” I stopped and again I looked at Luke, who was staring at me, his eyes keen and sharp looking. I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not. I wanted to go on with my story, but it was so bizarre that I felt I risked my professional reputation before I’d even fully started on my career.

“Go on,” Murphy said, sounding impatient.

Swallowing hard, I said, “Then she started to change.”

“Change?” Potter laughed. “What’s that supposed to mean?’”

“I won’t tell you again, Potter,” Murphy hissed. “Put a sock in it, or get out.”

Lighting another cigarette, Potter folded his arms across his chest and grinned at me.

Trying to ignore him, I carried on. “The girl began to wail as if in pain. Then I heard this awful sound – like flesh ripping. Her teeth looked as if they had grown.” Then closing my eyes, so I didn’t have to look at any of them, I added, “The girl had fangs.”

I heard a snigger come from the corner of the room and I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that it was Potter who was laughing at me.

“What happened next?” Sergeant Murphy asked.

“I ran for my life, Sarge,” I said, opening my eyes and staring straight into his. “I didn’t know what else to do. I kept calling for Luke over the radio, asking for help, but again I don’t think my messages were getting through. I managed to get to the police car, but the creature – or whatever it was – came after me. It smashed the windscreen with its face. I drove the car forward and the
thing
crashed into the graveyard wall. I drove the car at her, but…” I paused.

“But what?” Murphy persisted.

“She escaped,” I said, as Potter stifled another fit of the giggles. “She leapt away at an incredible speed. I managed to turn the car as I tried to escape. I was injured and my nose was bleeding. As I drove away from the church, the vampire-thing attacked again. She was so fast and strong. She punched her fists through the bonnet as if it were made out of paper.”

“If she were so strong and powerful, how did you manage to survive?” Potter smirked.

“I had a crucifix on me, and as she tried to bite me, I stuck it into her mouth. It was almost as if she had swallowed poison. She started to convulse on the bonnet of the car. Her mouth started to foam up and it ate through the car’s paintwork like acid. Then before I knew what was happening, she exploded into a pile of ash and dust. Realising that the threat was over, I started to lose consciousness, and before I blacked out, I saw Luke, peering in at me through the broken car window,” I finished.

“And?” Sergeant Murphy asked me.

“That’s all, Sarge.” Then glancing quickly at Luke, I added, “The next thing I was aware of was waking in my room this morning.”

Without saying a word, Sergeant Murphy sucked on the end of his pipe, not taking his eyes off me. After what seemed like an eternity, Murphy said, “So that is your statement, Constable Hudson?”

“Yes Sergeant,” I said, knowing that I had only told him what I believed to be the truth. “You don’t wish to change anything?” he asked. “No, Sergeant.”   Standing up, again he was wearing jeans and slippers, he came towards me, his right pelvis sloping to the right as if in need of a hip replacement. ‘‘I’d heard good things about you, Hudson,” he said, and he sounded almost sad. “Excellent things in fact. I was led to believe that you were the most gifted recruit at training school. That’s why you were recommended for this difficult posting. I thought you would be an asset to this station – that you would be able to assist us in tracking down those responsible for the killings in The Ragged Cove.”

“But that’s -”I started, but he spoke over me. “Instead, I’ve been sent nothing more than an immature fantasist – a know-it-all,” he barked. “But -”   “In less than twenty-four hours, you’ve clambered over two crime scenes, destroyed evidence, recklessly destroyed police property – namely one of our only two police vehicles - and have now brought into question your own honesty and integrity by coming up with a pack of lies to excuse your unruly behaviour,” he said.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I’d done nothing wrong. Every word of my statement had been true. Not prepared to stand by and have my integrity questioned, I spoke up and said, “Have you actually been up to the grave and examined it yourself?” I asked him.

“No, I sent our forensically-trained officer up there today to carry out a proper examination,” Murphy said, and looked at Potter.

“What, him?” I asked, and now it was my turn to scoff. “Yes me!” Potter said. “Got a problem with that, Columbo?” “Well, if you’d examined it properly, you would’ve seen what I had,” I said. “Sure - I found the coffin lid – what was left of it after you’d trampled all over it,” he snipped. “And the scratch marks?” I asked.   “There were scratch marks, but they’d been made by animals – foxes, rats, badgers – after the girl’s body had been removed,” he said.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Are you being serious?” I said. “What about footprints?”

“Well to be honest, after you had stomped all over it in your boots, it was hard to see anything. But after a careful and
thorough
examination, the only footprints I could find were yours and Luke’s. So if this
vampire-girl
had chased you across the graveyard, I found no footprints – only yours,” he smiled at me.

“What about the damage to the car?” I asked him.

“What about it?”

“The broken windscreen?”

“By the state of your face tonight, it looks like you’re the one who smashed through it,” he said. “As for the scratches across the bonnet and sides of the car, it is my opinion that they were caused by your reckless driving as you scraped against the stone walls up at the church and the branches and thorns from the overgrown hedgerows.”

“What about the acid burns?” I asked.

“You’ve already admitted to driving the car straight into the wall up at the graveyard, and in doing so, you crushed the battery which ruptured and sprayed the bonnet with battery acid,” he smiled.

“I don’t believe this,” I groaned.

“No, we don’t believe
you
,” Sergeant Murphy said.

Turning to Luke I said, “You were up there. You must have seen something?”

Looking at me, his eyes almost grey, Luke slowly shook his head and said, “I’m sorry Kiera, but all I saw was you driving away at a high speed from the church and crashing the car.”

“So you didn’t see the girl?” I asked, almost pleading with him.

“Sorry Kiera, I didn’t see any girl,” he said. “As soon as I saw you racing away in the police car, I came running after you.”

I glanced down at his trousers and knew that he was lying. Knowing that whatever I said wouldn’t be believed, I looked at Sergeant Murphy. “So what happens now?”

“You go back to headquarters,” he said. “I don’t have room for a liar in my station.”

“But…” I began.

“Don’t worry about your precious record, I’ll tell them that you were homesick – the climate down here didn’t agree with you. I won’t drop you in the shit. I’m not that kind of bloke.”