Dark Season: The Complete Third Series (All 8 books) (20 page)

"It's not important," I say. "I need to..." I don't complete the sentence. I don't know
what
I need to do, but it's important that I come up with some kind of plan soon. When the sun comes up, I'll have to get out of here, and I'll be forced to make a decision about Donna. Leaving her here isn't an option, and I can't exactly take her with me. Also, there's the question of where I'm going to go. Callerton is my home. I need to come up with a plan. "Wait here," I say eventually, turning and walking away.

Once I'm far enough away, I sit on the forest floor. What's wrong with me? If I want to kill Donna, I should just do it. Sure, a human would struggle to do something like this, but I'm not human. It's as if I'm filled with my father's need for blood, but also my mother's humanity. Of course, I don't
really
know what my parents were like at all. Patrick killed Sophie, so I'm pretty sure my darker side comes from him. But I know so little about Sophie, and there's a danger that I'll start to think she was perfect. I'm sure she had plenty of faults. I should have spent more time with Shelley, asking her what my mother was like. Now I'm stuck out here on my own, trying to work out who I really am. Looking at my hands, I try to imagine what it would be like to rip Donna apart: the though simultaneously excites and horrifies me. I can't be like both Patrick and Sophie at the same time. I have to choose one side.

Looking up, I see the first light of dawn. I've spent the whole night trying to build up the courage to kill Donna, and now I've got to make a decision. If I'm going to let her go, now's the time to do it. Even if she tells people what I did, who's going to believe her and what exactly could they do about it? By the time Donna speaks to anyone, I'll be miles from here. I quite like the idea of Donna telling everyone that I've changed. At school, everyone thought I was this weird, pathetic girl; why shouldn't they find out that I'm so much more? Sending Donna back alive, with a few injuries, would be like sending them all a message. I mean, maybe Patrick lived in the shadows and tried not to be seen, but do I have to do the same? With my abilities, I could be hugely famous around the world. I could be a legend, a myth. People could talk about me. Some people would believe in me, and some wouldn't. But then I'd be hunted, and although I could certainly keep myself safe, I'd never be able to rest. So maybe sending a message wouldn't be such a good idea. I need to stay hidden, which means Donna has to die.

When I walk back to where I left her, I find that she's gone. At first, I'm not too worried. After all, she's injured and she can't move too fast. But as I look around, I realize that she's nowhere to be seen. I sniff the air, hoping to pick up a scent, but there's nothing. Did I underestimate her? I hurry first in one direction and than another, determined to find her. There's simply no way she could have got more than half a mile, yet I can't find her anywhere. Growing frustrated, I start to wonder if the decision has been taken out of my hands. Donna was my first victim, and she's got away from me. Finally, becoming a little desperate, I return to the spot where I left her, and I search around for any kind of tracks that might help me work out which way she went; just as I start to lose hope of ever finding her, I realize I've been tricked. Looking up, I scan the trees and quickly spot her hiding in the branches.

"Clever," I say, smiling.

She stares down at me, a look of absolute terror in her eyes. To her credit, she'd done pretty well: she's five or six meters up off the ground, which isn't bad going for someone with a broken arm.

"Come down," I tell her.

"You're going to kill me," she replies. "There's no way you're ever going to let me go. I know that now".

"I'm not going to kill you," I say, surprising even myself. Is that true? Am I really
not
going to kill her? That's a decision I still have to make. "Come down, and we can talk," I continue.

She shakes her head. "I'm never coming down".

I stare at her. "So what, exactly, do you think I'm going to do? Just walk away and leave you up there?"

She pauses. "I..." She starts to say, but it's clear she doesn't have a plan.

"Do you think I can't climb a tree?" I ask. "Do you think I'm just going to wander off and forget about this whole thing?" I reach up and grab one of the lower branches, hauling myself up to the first level. "You see, Donna? I can still reach you". I move across to the next branch, and now I'm so close, I could reach out and touch her. "I'm impressed that you decided to try running from me," I tell her, "and I'm impressed that despite a broken arm, you got yourself up here. But, really, there's nowhere left for you to go. Let me help you down".

"No!" she says, turning and trying to cross over to another branch. Missing her footing, she tries to steady herself with her bad arm. Before I realize what's happening, she tumbles from the tree and lands with a sickening thud on the forest floor below.

"See?" I call down to her. "It was a stupid plan!" I smile, waiting for a response, but she doesn't move. "Have you hurt yourself again?" I say, as a slow realization sinks in. I stare at her crumpled body. Before, I could sense her heartbeat, but now there's nothing around me but silence. "Donna?" I say. "Are you okay?" I wait for her to answer, but deep down I think I already know the truth.

Chapter Six

Callerton, New Mexico.

"So what do we tell them?" I ask as Todd and I park outside the Parlours' house. Checking my watch, I see that it's barely 8am. I really, really need a coffee. It's been less than a week since we were last here, and I'm not sure they'll be overly happy to hear that we've managed to lose Abby so quickly. After all, Benjamin told them that he was going to take her somewhere safe. "What are we? Like, the Bureau of Lost Vampires or something?"

"We tell them the truth," he replies humorlessly. "We tell them that managing Abby is far more difficult than anyone could have imagined. We tell them that she escaped and that we urgently need to find her. If she's come back and they're hiding her, we need to make sure they understand the dangers involved. This isn't a game".

"I don't think she's here," I say as we get out of the car and walk up the driveway. "If I was her, I'd come back to Callerton but I wouldn't come
here
. It's too obvious". I glance around, wondering if Abby might be watching us from afar. "Is there any kind of wasteland nearby?" I ask. "Patrick always used to hang out in the forest around Dedston".

"There's a large forested area to the north," Todd replies as we reach the door. He rings the bell and we wait. "We'll check it out later".

"Maybe no-one's in?" I say.

"Mrs. Parlour doesn't work," he replies.

"Then maybe she's asleep," I suggest. "After all, Benjamin said she's pregnant. Don't you have a phone number for either of them?"

"They didn't answer," he says, ringing the bell again. We wait, but there's still no sound of anyone coming to the door. "I guess we'll have to come back later," he says eventually.

I reach out and push the door; it slowly swings open. "Or we could just go inside," I say, as I see that the lounge appears to have been completely trashed. I step forward, but Todd grabs my arm and pulls me back.

"Are you serious?" he asks, sounding angry. "You can't just go wandering in. You have no idea what's in there". He reaches down and pulls a gun from the holster around his waist. "Wait here," he says.

"Why?"

"Just do what I say," he replies. "Stay by the door".

"That's a dart gun, right?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "That's why I want you to stay by the door," he says. "I'm trained for situations like this. You're not". He steps into the house, holding the gun up as he looks around. "Hello?" he calls out. "Is anyone here?" He walks over to the center of the room, still holding the gun out. "If there's anyone here," he calls out, "be aware that I'm armed with unconventional weapons".

"What's unconventional about the gun?" I whisper, hurrying over to him.

"Will you get out of here?" he hisses. "This is dangerous".

"You might need me," I reply. "Don't worry, I've got your back".

He sighs. "Stay behind me at all times," he says as we move through to the kitchen. Again, it looks like a bomb has gone off. There's debris all over the floor, and part of the breakfast bar appears to have been ripped away. As Todd moves slowly forward, I look over at the dining table and see a patch of blood smeared across the wall.

"Todd," I whisper, pointing at the blood. "This isn't just a normal home invasion, is it?"

He hurries over to the wall, pulls out a small phial from his pocket and splashes some clear liquid on the blood, which turns purple. "Human," he says. "This is human blood".

"Do you think Abby's been here?" I ask.

He heads over to the middle of the kitchen. "I don't see why she'd cause so much damage. She has no reason to hurt these people, unless she's angry at them for letting us take her away". He glances at me. "If she's anything like Patrick, she might not handle her anger very well". He walks toward the end of a corridor, which leads deeper into the house. "Remember," he whispers, "stay behind me. If you distract me, we'll both be in trouble".

"I've got your back," I tell him.

He sighs. "Stop saying that. You haven't got my back at all".

I follow as he walks toward the first bedroom. There's more blood on the floor, and he stops as he looks through the door. "Evan Parlour's dead," he says after a moment.

"How do you know?" I ask.

He stares into the room. "Because I'm looking right at him".

I hurry over and look through the door, though I instantly wish I hadn't. Evan's body is slumped on the bed, and there's blood everywhere. His eyes are staring straight at us, but it's clear he's dead. It looks as if something has sliced him open, ripping out his spine and part of his pelvis. I turn and put a hand up to my mouth, worried I might be about to vomit, but somehow I manage to pull myself together.

"There's no way Abby would do that," I say, taking a deep breath.

"We can't rule anything out," Todd replies.

"There's no way," I insist. "She's not evil".

"I didn't say she's evil," he says, stepping into the room. "I said she might be angry. She might not be in control of her actions".

"I'll wait out here," I tell him, deciding I really don't need to go into that room and see Evan's body again. I've seen dead people before, of course, but never one that's been ripped apart so violently. I guess I should have been prepared for something like this, but the truth is that I don't think I could ever get to a mental state where something like this wouldn't bother me. Todd, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be having too many problems.

"I don't think Abby did this," Todd calls out from the room.

"That's what I said," I reply. I feel my stomach tighten, and I pause for a moment, trying to make sure I don't throw up. "I think I might have to go and use the bathroom," I say. "I feel -" Suddenly I can't hold it in any more, and I vomit straight onto the floor. "Shit!" I mutter, stepping back through to the kitchen and grabbing a towel to wipe my mouth. "Fuck!" I shout. The last thing I wanted to do was make Todd think I'm weak, but the sight of that ripped-up body was too much. I don't think I'm cut out for this kind of thing.

"Are you okay?" Todd calls through from the bedroom.

"Yeah," I reply, making sure to breathe carefully. "I'm sorry".

"I can handle this," he replies. "You can go outside and get some air if you want".

"I might do that," I say. "Call out if you need me". I turn and head outside, stopping in the driveway to take several gulps of fresh air. It's hard to get the image of Evan Parlour's dead body out of my head. It looked as if something had just ripped the skin apart, spraying blood all over the opposite wall, and his dead white eyes just happened to be staring up at the doorway, almost as if he was looking straight at me. I don't understand how Todd can remain so calm when he sees something like that, but I guess he probably saw some pretty horrific things in Afghanistan, so maybe he's got a certain level of immunity. I remember asking Sophie once about all the things she saw with Patrick, and she kind of shut the conversation down pretty fast. If you see enough death, you get immune to it, but I don't want to get like that.

"They're both dead," Todd says, emerging from the house.

"You found Ruth?" I ask.

He nods.

"The same as Evan?"

He nods again. "Whatever was in there, it ransacked the whole place. It was looking for Abby". He pauses for a moment. "That's a good thing. It means Abby wasn't here. If she'd been in the house, there would have been a much bigger struggle".

I stare at him. "How do you do it?"

"How do I do what?"

"How do you look at dead bodies, and then act like nothing's happened?"

He pauses. "Death is a part of life. If you're scared of death, that means you're scared of life. I learned that a long time ago". He puts an arm around my shoulder. "Are you okay? If you want to go take some time out, I can carry on searching for Abby alone".

"No," I say. "I want to be with you, in case you find her".

"I can't promise there won't be any more bodies," he replies.