Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (53 page)

‘
Right then,’ said Morris as the lift doors opened. ‘Everybody
in.’ Morris pressed the button and the lift began to
climb.

‘
We’ve got about two hours till sunrise,’ Madison said. ‘Are
we gonna make it?’

‘
Two hours?’ Morris said. ‘Plenty of time.’

The elevator
doors opened onto a grim concrete hallway. They exited and followed
the two caretakers to a set of fire doors. Esther grabbed the push
bar and rattled the doors.

‘
Blimin’ things are locked.’

Alexandre
walked up to the door and pulled hard on one of the handles. The
door opened with a crunch, splintering off its hinges. The fresh
night air hit him, a welcome change from the stuffy antiseptic
smell of the underground offices.

‘
We are on the roof?’ Alexandre asked.

‘
Yeah,’ Maddy replied. ‘We need to follow Morris.’

The caretaker
was already several paces ahead. As they rounded a corner, there
against the inky sky, sat a blue and white helicopter. As soon as
the pilot saw them, he started up the rotors.

‘
What is that machine?’ Isobel shrieked.

‘
It is called a helicopter,’ said Alexandre. ‘‘And it is going
to save our lives. It flies in the air like a bird,’ he explained
to them. It is quite safe.’

‘
What an incredible contraption!’ Freddie exclaimed. ‘So we
really are in the future. I did not quite believe it until
now.’

The noise from
the whirring blades made further conversation impossible. Alexandre
waited until everyone had climbed in and then he shouted across to
Madison.

‘
I need you to wait here for ten minutes. If I do not return
within that time, leave without me and I will find my own way
back.’

‘
What? Why? What are you talking about? Where are you
going?’

‘
I will explain later.’ He leant into the helicopter, kissed
her and gave his family a lingering glance. ‘Ten minutes, no
more!’

Alexandre
returned to the building. He had to do this now, or he and his
family would most certainly face further danger later on. He only
hoped that what he had planned would work.

In seconds, he
reached the office he had destroyed earlier. With nervous resolve,
he opened the door to the storage facility. But Alexandre’s nerves
were for nothing - the table was empty, the white sheet discarded
on the floor. The Cappadocian vampire had gone.

Alexandre
could not afford to dwell on this setback for he still had work to
do. He began pulling open the drawers. Grabbing at the metal
handles and sliding them open to reveal the marble faces and bodies
of a multitude of sleeping vampires. He started at one end and
worked his way swiftly along the wall until every single drawer was
fully open and every solitary creature exposed.

The rows of
black tubes ran the length of the ceiling. There must be a switch
somewhere. Hopefully near the exit. He scanned the wall and saw a
row of switches close to the door. Good. He braced himself for pain
as he pressed them all down at once.

Eight banks of
UV rays pierced down from the ceiling and Alexandre felt the
agonising burn through his body. Screams and hisses slithered from
the drawers. But something was wrong. Not all of the lights had
come on. He spotted several grids further down that must be linked
to a different set of switches. He saw them - two more sets halfway
down the room. He had to try and reach them as quickly as possible,
before the rays destroyed him.

He ran but the
pain was intolerable. His skin melted and blistered. He heard
screams and metal drawers banging and breaking. Some of the
creatures now writhed on the floor. Others clutched at their skin
in agony. If he did not do something quickly, he too would die in
this room.

He bent down
and lifted one of the burning creatures above his head, using it as
a shield. It fought and squirmed, but Alexandre gripped it tightly
and moved as fast as he could. As he reached the next set of
switches, he threw the creature down against the wall where it
exploded in a screaming ball of fire. He banged down the switches.
More banks of ultraviolet hummed to life.

Alexandre
grabbed another burning vampire aloft to shield him, but it
disintegrated into floating embers and so he picked up another,
only to throw it down again before smashing his fist into the last
set of switches. Finally, the whole room was bathed in the deadly
purple haze.

He lifted
another vampire shield and through the knives of pain, he realised
one of the creatures had jumped onto his back and had its arms
around his face, scratching and clawing at him.

In one fluid motion he threw down the vampire shield he had
above his head, spun around on one foot and smashed backwards twice
into the bank of metal drawers, to try to weaken the attacking
creature’s hold. Then he reached up behind him and pulled it off
his back, sliding it over his head so now
it
became his new protection from
the overhead onslaught.

He kicked away
another howling vampire who clutched at his ankle and pushed and
punched away yet more who ran and crawled towards him. Alexandre
managed to fumble and fight his way out of that chamber of torture
and at last he closed the door behind him. His face was melting off
his bones and, on top of the agony, he felt like he was
suffocating. He could not believe he was still capable of
standing.

He hoped and
prayed the vampires would all be too confused and weak to find
their way out of the room. He piled everything he could lay his
hands on against the door, knowing it would do little to keep them
at bay if they survived the UV. Their screams blended with the
crashing of metal.

Alexandre
realised he had probably been gone for more than ten minutes and
so, almost healed, he moved as fast as he could to get back up to
the roof.

*

‘
That’s ten minutes gone,’ said Morris.

‘
Don’t care how many minutes have gone,’ replied Madison.
‘We’re not going anywhere till Alex gets back.’

‘
Thought as much,’ Morris replied.

‘
So this machine actually lifts up into the air with us in
it?’ Jacques asked.

‘
That’s right,’ Madison replied, looking at him in amazement.
He was so like his brother. His mannerisms and everything just
echoed Alexandre.

‘
And you are sure it is quite safe?’ Isobel asked for the
tenth time.

‘
You are immortal, Isobel,’ said Jacques. ‘You will not die
even if we do come crashing down.’

‘
Please, Jacques,’ she said. ‘Do not talk about crashing. And
what is wrong with travelling by train or by carriage?’

‘
There is nothing wrong with it, unless you are vampire and
dawn is approaching fast. This machine will take us back in double
quick time. Is that not correct, Madison?’

‘
That is correct, Jacques,’ she agreed. Madison loved the way
they spoke to one another with that easy familiarity of siblings.
She instantly missed Ben, feeling like she hadn’t seen him for days
and felt an overwhelming need to hug him.

Climbing down from the helicopter, she looked out across the
tarmac roof. Where was he?
Come on
Alexandre, come on.
She walked across the
roof, away from the chopper. Suddenly she was caught up in his arms
as he carried her swiftly back to the waiting
helicopter.

‘
Allez! Allez! Go! Go!’ Alexandre shouted. Madison sat cradled
on his lap and she felt the exhilaration of safety and the warm
sensation of relief that he was at last here with her.

The blades
whirred above their heads, beating in time with her heart. She
rested her head on his chest and he took one of her hands and
kissed the tips of her fingers. Alexandre ignored the raised
eyebrows of the others, as he bent his head to kiss her lips. She
scraped her nails gently down the side of his face and pressed her
body in towards him. He was hers and she was his. They were lost in
each other as the helicopter took off high above the city and
banked west, back towards Gloucestershire and Marchwood House.

One Month
Later

It was a late
August moonlit night and Jacques and Freddie were helping Ben to
climb to the top of the tallest tree in the wood. He was doing
pretty well on his own, but Madison had said he was not to do it
unless he was with one or other of the boys. As Ben reached the
uppermost branch he poked his head through the thick foliage and
pulled himself onto the wide bough, sitting astride it with a
daring bounce.

He gasped in
wonder at the panoramic view. He could see everything. For miles.
But these far reaching vistas were not nearly so dear to him as the
views closer to home - the rolling grounds of his beloved house. He
caught glimpses of the deer as they slept under the spreading
chestnut tree. The green spiked fruit was nearly ready to yield its
knobbly brown conkers and he couldn’t wait to bake and varnish
them, ready for the new school term.

He looked up
towards the house and his eyes rested on the stables where seven
horses slept. Next to the house he smiled at the timbered roof of
their newly constructed garage which now housed a fantastic array
of fast cars, 4x4s and motorbikes.

The nights
were finally drawing in and the air held the faintest hint of
autumn. He could make out the figures of the others, sitting on the
lawn under a perfectly round harvest moon. Isobel was plaiting
Leonora’s raven hair and Madison and Alexandre sat only inches
apart, probably chatting about everything and nothing. Ben heard
Jacques and Freddie good-naturedly insulting each other through the
boughs beneath him.

The breeze
ruffled his hair and he breathed in the sweet night-scented air.
They were a strange family, the seven of them, but they were indeed
a family and Ben had never before had such a feeling of belonging.
No more crappy care facilities, no more foster parents. This was
it. This was his life. He was finally home.

###

Thicker Than Blood
, Book 2 in the
Marchwood Vampire Series, coming soon …

OUTSIDE

a
post-apocalyptic road-trip romance

Read the first
few pages of Shalini Boland's new novel now...

*

Prologue

*

The woman swung the huge
armoured
vehicle out through the iron gates and turned left
onto the poor excuse for a dirt track that ran parallel to the
Perimeter. She remembered when Britain was open and free with real
roads, pavements even, before all the trouble started.

As she turned, the full glare
of the dying evening sun blinded her and she flicked on the
windscreen filter.
She heard a muffled thud, looked to her left and saw a dark
figure lying by the side of the fence. She didn’t stop, but glanced
in her wing mirror and made brief eye contact with him as he lifted
his head.

‘
A man,
’
she
breathed out. She
’
d been holding her breath for quite a
time and sucked in another lungful of air.
S
he
felt a lip-biting pang of concern, realising she must have hit him.
But everybody knew you didn
’
t
stop for anything outside the Perimeter.
I
’
m
sure he
’
ll be okay
. She reasoned, convinced and then
banished her conscience.

‘
Won
‘
t be
long now,
’
she said to herself, looking ahead at the
vast tract of wilderness.

Chapter One

Riley

*

Pa is a black marketeer. Nobody and
everybody knows this. Pa pays people not to rock the boat. He pays
the guards, he pays the neighbours and he even pays his friends. He
pays off just about everyone – a litre of whisky here and a bag of
sugar there, and in return we live a life of ease and comfort. Pa
believes in the carrot approach just as much as the punishing
stick. As long as he doesn’t draw too much attention to himself
from the wrong quarters, we’re safe and free.

Pa can get his hands on just
about anything from before. If you’ve got a craving for a pot
noodle he can probably magic one up from somewhere. But it’ll cost
you all you’ve got and more besides. Pa isn
’
t
swayed by threats or tears. He
’
ll
hold fast and stare you down and if you can
’
t pay
you might get a bullet in your head, or worse.

This morning, my parents are standing
together in the doorway of the sitting room. Behind me, the sun
floods in through the windows and they edge closer to avoid
squinting into the too-bright light.

Both their faces are ghost
white and Ma
’
s nose and eyes look pink and
swollen. She shivers and her teeth chatter as though she’s chilled
and it isn
’
t the warm July morning it appears to
be.

‘
Riley, can you sit
down?
’
Pa asks.

‘
Okay,
’
I
say. They’re acting weird. It’s freaking me out.