‘Miss Holden?’ she said, peering around the door.
‘Oh no!’ she gasped as she saw what was happening inside. April moved fast, but not quite fast enough. A hand shot out and grabbed her hair, pulling her sideways into the room. She fell to her knees, grazing them on the carpet, then someone kicked her over and she felt a foot on her neck, pinning her to the floor.
A trap!
her mind screamed. It was a trap!
So stupid
. Anyone could have sent that message using Miss Holden’s phone. And, from her position on the floor she could see exactly who had done it.
‘Good evening, April,’ said Benjamin, bending down so she could see his smiling face. ‘I’m sorry to have deceived you, but I thought it was time we finally had that date we’ve been talking about. It’s a sort of double-date actually.’
Suddenly she was jerked up off the floor and her arms were twisted up behind her back.
‘I think you’ve heard of my associate, Teddy the Toad,’ he said, nodding to the giant holding her.
Oh please no
, thought April. Had they caught Gabriel too?
April tried to twist around, but she was held in a cruel grip.
‘Let me go,’ she said, trying not to show her pain.
‘Oh, is he pinching you a little?’ mocked Ben. ‘I’m so sorry, Teddy
can
get a little zealous. Seems to enjoy inflicting pain for some reason. Ask Miss Holden if you don’t believe me.’
Teddy spun April around to face Mr Sheldon’s desk. The table top had been swept clear and Miss Holden had been tied over it, facing the ceiling. Her face was covered in blood.
‘What have you done to her?’ screamed April.
‘Isn’t it obvious?’ said Benjamin. ‘We’ve been torturing her. I thought she’d appreciate the irony,’ said Ben. ‘It’s long been a tradition of the Guardians to put people “to the question” – to torture them until they confessed to their crimes. So far, she hasn’t said much except your name. Now why do you think that was? Hmm?’
He walked over and flicked a Zippo lighter open, the orange flame jumping out. Then he held it to Miss Holden’s feet. She screamed, jerking against her ropes.
Benjamin leant in close to the teacher’s ear. ‘Where is the White Book?’ he whispered. ‘Tell us where you’ve put the
Albus Libre
and it will all stop.’
She looked at April, then shook her head.
‘Have it your way,’ said Benjamin, his voice heavy with regret as he applied the flame to her feet again.
‘Stop! For God’s sake stop it!’ shouted April, struggling against Teddy. ‘Ask me, I’ll tell you!’
Benjamin was across the room in a flash, his face right up against hers. ‘Yes you will, April Dunne,’ he hissed. ‘By the time I’ve finished with you, you will beg to tell me every last little secret in your tiny head.’ He pressed the lighter against her cheek and she flinched at the touch of the hot metal.
‘Now tell me what you know about the White Book.’
‘What white book?’
Benjamin curled his fist around the lighter and punched
April hard on the jaw. Pain exploded in her mouth and spots danced in front of her eyes.
‘I’m getting impatient, April. I know you’ve seen that book. I know
everything
.’
How? How did he know? Had Miss Holden told him? April had a feeling she hadn’t told him very much at all, otherwise why would he have summoned her?
‘What do you need it for?’ she asked, trying to stall him.
‘There’s a revolting little virus going around, I don’t know if you’ve heard? This book contains a cure. But then you know that, don’t you, because you used the Dragon’s Breath to save your hero boyfriend. Not that it’ll do him any good now.’
‘Where is he?’ she shouted. ‘If you’ve hurt him I’ll kill you!’
‘Oh, now, that’s not very nice, April. I thought you liked me.’
In the blink of an eye, Ben’s handsome face twisted into a horrific leer, his sharp teeth bared, his eyes yellow, like a wolf standing over a wounded deer. It was the same face she had seen on Gabriel when the Dragon’s Breath had taken hold, the same hellish mask she’d seen on Marcus that night in the cemetery, his pale skin spattered with her blood. April closed her eyes and turned away.
‘What’s the matter?’ he whispered, his words dripping with spite. ‘Don’t you fancy me any more?’
‘You’re disgusting,’ she said.
‘Now you’ve hurt my feelings,’ said Benjamin. He grabbed her hand and held the naked flame to the sensitive web between her finger and thumb. She screamed.
‘Tell me where the book is or I swear you will end up like Layla!’
‘You killed Layla?’ she gasped.
‘Not technically,’ he said. ‘Okay, so I put her head in the noose, but she jumped off the ladder herself. Well, I may have wobbled the ladder a tiny bit.’
April lunged at him, but Teddy the Toad held her.
‘Bastard!’ she spat.
‘Yes.’ yelled Benjamin, ‘Yes I
am
, has it taken you this long to work it out? Now tell me about the book. I’ve already torn
her worthless little cottage apart and it’s not there. If you don’t tell me where it is, I’ll burn this shit hole school to the ground with both of you inside.’
April didn’t know why, but she sensed that she was more valuable to Benjamin alive than dead. Why else would he be so keen to get the Dragon’s Breath recipe? If he’d barbecued the Fury, there would be no need for it.
‘Screw you,’ she said.
Benjamin nodded to Teddy the Toad. ‘Bring her,’ he said.
The gorilla behind her dragged April over to the desk, holding her hair so she couldn’t look away. Miss Holden flinched as Benjamin bent down towards her.
‘So pretty …’ he said, touching her face. ‘For a witch, anyway.’
April could see the fear in Miss Holden’s eyes.
How long had he been torturing her? Longer than was necessary, that was for sure. April knew that her inbred Guardian hatred of the vampires would have allowed her to resist for a while, but what chance did a history teacher have against an undead killer?
April gasped as Benjamin pulled out a knife, twisting the blade so it caught the light. ‘Now, what do you think I’m going to do with this, Fury?’ he asked.
‘Slit your wrists?’ said April, trying to sound defiant, feeling anything but.
‘Funny,’ said Benjamin – and pushed the knife against Miss Holden’s throat.
‘Okay, I’ll make this simple,’ he said. ‘Either you tell me what I want to know or I’ll slit her from ear to ear and make you watch as I drink her dry.’
He pushed the knife down harder and April could see a thin line of blood appear.
‘All right, all right!’ said April quickly. ‘I know where the book is and I have the Dragon’s Breath recipe. I have it all, so you can let her go – please, Ben?
Please
.’
Benjamin nodded to Teddy the Toad, who immediately let go of her arms.
Surprised, April began to turn – and then suddenly it went dark. It took a moment for April to realise that a bag had been pulled over her head.
‘No!’ April screamed, but her cries were choked off by an arm around her neck.
‘Shut her up, Teddy,’ said Benjamin. ‘If she’s got the book then I have no more need for this witch.’
Suddenly, she heard Miss Holden’s voice.
‘Fight them, April,’ she said urgently, ‘fight them all the way. You have the power. Send them back into the darkness!’
‘Quiet!’ snapped Benjamin and Miss Holden’s voice was cut off.
‘NO! DON’T …’ April tried to scream, but something hit her head. And then all she saw was darkness.
It was as if April was waking from a dream she didn’t want to leave, those short seconds of cosy oblivion just before the real world seeped in. Then it came at her in a rush: Miss Holden, the flame, Benjamin, his twisted smile. April knew she wasn’t about to wake up under her duvet. She kept still, her eyes shut, her breathing even. She wanted to work out where she was before anyone knew she was conscious. She could feel the ropes holding her to a chair, could feel the wooden arms digging in to her back.
Kidnapped and tied up
? – not a good situation, especially having seen how it had turned out for Miss Holden. Her heart leapt as she thought of the teacher. ‘I have no more need for this witch,’ Ben had said. Had he
killed
her? It was more than possible. April had glimpsed the beast behind his mask: Benjamin Osbourne made Marcus Brent look like a fluffy kitten.
April became aware of raised voices; it sounded as though they were in the next room. ‘Why did you bring her
here
? Are you insane?’ shouted one, muffled through the wall. ‘As if my office wasn’t incriminating enough!’ It had to be Sheldon, thought April with a sinking stomach. ‘She wanted to see her boyfriend,’ said another voice. There was no mistaking the cruel arrogance in that one: Benjamin Osbourne.
‘Don’t get smart with me,’ said Sheldon. ‘Don’t you think the police will be watching her, trailing her wherever she goes?’
‘I thought you could control the boys in blue?’ replied Ben.
April supposed that if they were both outside the room, she was okay to open her eyes. She squinted against the light and found that she was in a large drawing room – and she wasn’t
alone. Her heart leapt: Gabriel! He was tied to a chair to her left, and although his head was slumped forward on his chest, he seemed to be breathing.
Thank God, thank God
. It wasn’t a good situation, but at least they were together – and he was
alive
.
‘Hey there, beautiful,’ he said in a gravelly voice, opening his eyes.
‘Gabriel! Oh my God, I thought I’d lost you!’
‘You can’t get rid of me that easily,’ he said with a crooked smile. ‘I’m already dead, remember?’
‘Not yet,’ said April. ‘Not if I have anything to do with it.’ She strained against her ropes, but she was stuck tight. ‘If only I can …’
‘Quiet,’ said Gabriel urgently as the volume of the argument in the next room rose. ‘We don’t want to end up like him.’
He gestured backwards with his head and April twisted around. She gasped in horror. There was a body lying on the floor between their chairs.
‘Teddy the Toad,’ said Gabriel. ‘Outlived his usefulness, apparently.’
‘Oh God,’ whispered April, looking away. ‘How did—’
But Gabriel cut her off.
‘They’re coming,’ he hissed. ‘Stay still and play dead.’
April immediately closed her eyes and feigned unconsciousness.
‘You’ve brought danger to my house – I won’t tolerate that,’ said Sheldon, his voice moving towards them.
‘Relax,
sir
,’ said Benjamin in a mocking voice, ‘I have some information about your favourite student.’
April squealed as Benjamin grabbed her hair, yanking her head up.
‘Wakey-wakey, lover,’ he said as she opened her eyes. ‘I think it’s time for some formal introductions. You’ve met my friend Teddy, of course,’ he said, poking the body with his foot. ‘So first I’d like to introduce my master. April Dunne, meet Mr Sheldon …’ He gave her a mock-bow.
‘… and Mr Sheldon, meet the Fury.’
Sheldon snorted impatiently. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he said. ‘April is not a Fury.’
Benjamin nodded.
‘Oh yes she is. She killed Milo and Marcus.’
‘No, Ben,’ said Sheldon. ‘
You
killed Marcus. On my orders, as I recall.’
‘Well, it wasn’t the hardest kill you’ve sent me on,’ said Benjamin, staring at April. ‘He already had one foot in hell, didn’t he, Fury? He drank too much of your blood in the cemetery that night. When I got to him, he already looked like a corpse.’
‘
You
killed Marcus?’ said April incredulously.
‘You didn’t think lover boy here was up to it?’ said Benjamin. ‘I don’t think so. The poor lamb’s frightened of blood. I followed you after your little tiff at the party and I killed Marcus where he stood.’
‘And I’ll do the same to you,’ said Gabriel in a low voice.
‘Oh, you’re awake now, are you?’ said Ben, walking over to Gabriel and punching him in the side. ‘I don’t think you’ll be doing anything today except
dying
.’
‘Enough!’ said Sheldon impatiently. He walked over to April, examining her closely. ‘Is this true, April?’ he said, talking to her as if she was a naughty schoolgirl caught talking in class. ‘Speak up, girl, or would you rather the traitor spoke for you?’
‘Traitor?’
Sheldon gestured towards Gabriel.
‘You really think Gabriel was fooling anyone? He wouldn’t drink blood, wouldn’t kill, it was all very transparent. And then he comes here saying he’s desperate to work for the Regent as his assassin … such sweet irony, isn’t it, Ben?’
Benjamin chuckled. ‘Sure is, boss. Shall I …?’
Sheldon nodded and Benjamin disappeared into the corridor.
‘Are you a Fury, April?’ repeated Sheldon. ‘You’d better give me an answer or I won’t be able to stop Benjamin doing to you what he did to your beloved Miss Holden.’