Changeling (3 page)

In the end it had been too much for the teenager, who rolled his eyes when Tom started to talk about the weather again. ‘Oh for goodness sake. Will somebody
please
say something
– anything – about my trip. You all avoiding the subject isn’t going to change anything – I’m still going. Jeez, anyone would think that I was planning a trip to the
Netherworld on my own.’

‘Have you contacted your uncle as I suggested, to let him know that you are intending to visit?’ Lucien asked.

‘No. I know that you think I should, but I don’t want him getting scared and doing a disappearing act on me. He hasn’t ever tried to contact me, so I’m guessing that he
doesn’t really want me in his life. I’m planning on just turning up and seeing what he has to say for himself.’

Lucien inclined his head to one side and arched his eyebrows in a way that Trey took as a signal that he thought the teenager’s reasoning was flawed. However, the vampire kept any further
views he had on the subject to himself.

When Lucien next spoke, it was to Alexa. ‘Tom and I have arranged for somebody to meet Trey when he arrives in Canada.’ His voice was like polished mahogany, and Trey smiled as he
remembered the fascinating draw the voice had had on him when he had first met the vampire in the care home. The vampire looked as enigmatic as ever: he was handsome, in a dangerous looking way,
and he exuded an aura of confidence that was difficult to resist. It was this certainty and authority that had made Trey trust Lucien that day. The tall, mysterious stranger had taken him away from
his dull and sad life, and introduced him to one which was filled with demons and vampires and djinn. It was Lucien who had revealed to Trey the terrible truth about his lycan-thropy, and about the
legend that the vampire believed the boy was to fulfil: to overthrow the evil vampire Caliban, who was building a powerful army in the Netherworld, and to restore peace between the human and demon
realms.

Lucien caught Trey’s look, smiling back at his young ward. ‘After much … negotiation, Trey has finally agreed to allow me to have somebody escort him until he manages to make
contact with his uncle. Much against my will, our representatives over there will leave Trey to his own devices as soon as that contact is made.’

‘I still say that it’s madness!’ Tom said, turning to Trey. ‘What exactly is your problem with having somebody with you over there to keep an eye out for you?’

‘We’ve been over this again and again, Tom,’ Trey said with a sigh. ‘I want to meet up with my uncle alone. I don’t want to be followed around the country by a
demon acting as a bodyguard, and I certainly don’t want you or Lucien clucking around me like a couple of mother hens.’ He looked over at Lucien and held his gaze. ‘I’ll
never get a better chance than this. Since Gwendolin’s death Caliban has been almost powerless. Without his sorceress he can’t open portals into this realm from the Netherworld as
easily as he used to. You said yourself, Lucien, that he is extremely quiet right now. I want to do this, and this is the best opportunity that I’ll have.’ He realized that his voice
had increased in volume, and he shook his head apologetically. ‘As much as I really appreciate your concern, you are going to have to trust me.’ He looked back over at Tom.
‘I’ll be careful. I promise. I’ll call you and Lucien every day so that you can have a good cluck at me on the phone.’

‘Madness,’ Tom said one last time before reaching out for his wine glass.

Lucien smiled over at his friend before returning his attention to Trey. ‘We have to respect Trey’s wishes, Tom. Besides, my understanding is that the area in which Frank Laporte
lives is heavily protected from the likes of me and my kind – an arrangement that Trey’s uncle struck up with a demon lord some time ago. Once Trey is with his uncle, he should be as
safe as if he were here with us.’ He paused, his stare intensifying. ‘Safe from vampires, at least.’ He ran his fingers around the edge of his wine glass, and smiled at the
ringing sound it produced. ‘Trey knows that we can get our people over in Canada to assist him if he should find himself in any trouble. Trey has made his mind up, and we, his friends, have
to go along with his request.’

They had all finished eating, and as if some silent signal had been passed to them, Alexa and Tom stood up to leave.

Trey looked between the two of them and Lucien, aware that this had been planned beforehand.

‘I’d welcome the chance to have a few words with you before you leave us,’ Lucien said by way of an answer to Trey’s quizzical expression.

Tom and Alexa left the room without another word.

‘Well,’ Lucien said once he was sure that they were alone.

‘Well,’ repeated Trey.

‘I take it that you have everything packed?’

‘Yeah. Anything that I don’t have, I’ll buy when I’m out there.’

‘Of course.’

An uncomfortable silence filled the room. For the first time, Trey noticed the ticking of the clock on the far wall, as though the device had chosen that particular moment to start its
monotonous reckoning.

‘Thank you, Lucien,’ Trey said. ‘I know how difficult this is for you.’

The vampire nodded and picked at a fleck of material on his jacket sleeve.

‘I
was
going to tell you.’ Lucien looked over at Trey, a strange and unreadable expression on his face. ‘It was never my intention to keep the existence of your uncle
from you. I was merely waiting for the right time. It seems that you and I have had precious little time to really talk about the things that matter since we first met. That is something that we
shall have to put right upon your return.’

‘You’re certain that I will return?’ Trey said, and immediately regretted allowing the words to escape him.

Lucien paused, considering the response. ‘I hope so, Trey. I really do. This is your home – the best place for a boy with your powers to be safe.’

Trey listened to the sound of the clock’s mechanism, irked by it now that it had come to his attention. ‘They didn’t like each other, did they? My father and his
brother.’

‘And what makes you say that?’ Lucien raised a quizzical eyebrow.

‘My father’s journal,’ Trey said by way of an explanation. ‘To be honest, it was a big disappointment to me. I don’t know quite what I expected to find in it, but
it’s all a bit … cold. Facts and appointments, mostly. Some references to you and missions that you both went on. Then there’s the entry about a visit that he made to my uncle
with my mother. Shortly after that there’s a single line: “I wish that I’d killed Frank when I had the chance.” I’d say that constitutes a pretty strong dislike,
wouldn’t you?’

Lucien looked over at the boy, weighing up how best to answer him. ‘It wasn’t as simple as that, Trey. They were both werewolves. They were not the only ones. A pack of sorts began
to emerge, and in that situation there has to be a leader: an Alpha. There were only two contenders for that position. Somebody was bound to be disappointed. Disappointed and …
embittered.

‘I would tell you more, Trey, but I do not wish to sway the opinion that you will form of your uncle. It would be unfair for me to do that. You will make up your own mind about him, and
about what you want to do afterwards. People change, Trey, and he is unlikely to be the same person that he was when I knew him well.’

‘But you have kept tabs on him, Lucien. If not, how else would you have known his whereabouts?’

‘I have merely kept myself informed of his movements. Not that there have been any. I have not seen or heard from your uncle in a little over fifteen years.’

‘That’s a long time – about the time that I was born.’ He studied the vampire for any reaction.

The vampire smiled. ‘When you have been in existence for as long as I have, it’s a mere blink of an eye.’

It was Trey’s turn to smile and nod. Looking at his guardian it was impossible to imagine that he was over two hundred years old.

‘Remember, Trey, if you are at all unsure of anything that happens to you while you are in Canada, you should call me immediately. You must promise me that you will not endanger yourself
out there.’

‘I promise, Lucien. I’ll be careful. Thank you again.’

‘I’ll be around in the morning to see you off. You’ll excuse me if I don’t accompany you and Tom to the airport, but the early morning sunshine doesn’t agree with
me.’ Lucien stood up and motioned for Trey to join him. ‘Come on, let’s get back to the others. They will want to spend as much time with you as they can before you leave.’
He placed his arm over the boy’s shoulder and gently pulled him towards him in a gentle embrace ‘We are all going to miss you, Trey,’ he said, and escorted the boy out of the
room.

Trey flew first class. Lucien had insisted that he would pay for the flight despite Trey’s protests, and when the tickets arrived, he saw that he would be flying in
comfort. The ticket was open, so that he could come back whenever he wanted to, and when Trey had asked Lucien how much it had cost, the vampire had merely waved the question away.

He spent a great deal of the flight with his head stuck in books or listening to his MP3 player – anything to distract himself from what lay ahead. Every time he allowed himself to think
about meeting up with his Uncle Frank, his stomach rolled sickeningly and he was filled with doubt and worry about how the whole thing would go. Better not to think about it, he told himself.
Better not to build his hopes up too high.

As he walked out of the arrivals gate, he paused, releasing the handle to brake his luggage trolley and scanning the groups of people at the chrome barrier. Most of them were
on tiptoes, straining to see through the crowd and eagerly scanning the face of every person who emerged through the automatic doors. Some held homemade placards with the names of the arrivals that
they were waiting for. He spotted his escort immediately. Lucien’s choice of chaperone was standing holding a large board with Trey’s name on it. The creature was so obviously out of
place that he might as well have done away with the human mantle that he wore to disguise himself in this realm and stood there in all his Netherworld glory. Trey guessed that the demon must be
almost seven foot tall, and it towered over everybody else around it. It wasn’t just tall, it was gaunt with albino-white skin stretched tightly across its features. The overall effect was
positively alarming – Lucien had sent Lurch from the Addams Family to meet him. Trey smiled when he noted that while other people jostled against each other in an effort to find a place near
the front of the barrier, the demon stood in a little island, unbothered and untouched by anyone else around it. Trey pushed his trolley through the opening in the barrier and approached the
creature.

‘Mr Galroth?’ Trey said, using the name that Tom had given him.

The creature visibly flinched at the sound of his voice, and Trey watched as it slowly turned its eyes upon him and scanned him up and down.

‘Mr Laporte?’ it said with thinly disguised disdain. It held out a hand, but from the look on its face, Trey guessed that it was hoping he would not accept the appendage.

‘Please call me Trey. ’

‘Very well … Trey. I must say, having heard of some of your recent exploits, you’re not quite what I was expecting.’ The creature had an impossibly deep voice and when
it spoke, it did so very slowly, as if it were always reaching for the next word.

‘Sorry,’ Trey said. ‘I didn’t think it prudent to walk through immigration as a seven-foot werewolf. I wasn’t sure what the Canadian authorities’ stance was
on allowing giant, hideous nether-creatures into their country.’ He looked up and met the demon’s gaze. ‘I can see I needn’t have worried.’

The demon frowned, and it occurred to Trey that it was trying to calculate whether he was being serious or not. It finally made up its mind and nodded in the direction of Trey’s bags.

‘If you’d like to follow me,’ it said and walked off in the direction of the exit without a second glance.

Trey looked between the receding back of the nether-creature and the trolley full of bags, and shook his head in disbelief.

‘Welcome to Canada,’ Trey muttered under his breath. He pushed his weight into the trolley, and set off after the creature.

The Incubus demon made its way along the hospital corridor towards the fan of light that spilt out from the nurses’ station into the gloom. The inside of the building was
hot, and the temperature exaggerated the smell of sickness and disinfectant that wafted out from the wards. The demon paused, looking across at the window set into the wall opposite. The darkness
of the night on the other side of the glass transformed the surface into an ebony mirror in which the demon checked its reflection, straightening the white doctor’s coat it was wearing, and
pushing at a strand of hair that had escaped across its forehead. It adjusted the stethoscope around its neck and cupped a palm, breathing into it to check its breath. Satisfied, it flashed a
white-toothed grin at the human reflection staring back at it.

As an Incubus demon, it had the ability to read its victims’ desires and transform its own looks to match. In this instance it had not had the opportunity to meet the person that it was
trying to seduce, so it adopted a facade that it knew would appeal to most women: a polished and refined version of Hollywood’s current biggest-grossing heartthrob. To the Incubus, the face
that stared back at it was, like all humans, utterly repulsive. But it knew that it wouldn’t be to the woman that it was about to meet.

It took a deep breath through its nose and nodded at its reflection one last time in the window before continuing along the corridor, finally coming to a stop at the desk where a young female
nurse was writing up her paperwork.

‘Hi,’ the demon said, leaning over the high counter top and feigning interest in her notes. ‘I’m Dr Cash. I’m the locum SHO for psychiatrics. I’m here to see
a Miss …’ it paused, glancing down at the clipboard that it was carrying, ‘Tipsbury … Miss Philippa Tipsbury.’

The young nurse looked down at her notes and frowned. ‘I’m afraid that I don’t seem to have a message to say that you would be coming, Dr—?’