‘What have you done to her?’
‘I cut her pretty little throat,’ said Benjamin casually as he walked back in carrying a heavy metal jerry can. He unscrewed the top and took a sniff.
‘Ah, I love the smell of petrol in the morning,’ he smiled.
‘It’s evening, you idiot,’ said Gabriel.
Without a word, Ben turned and poured the liquid over Gabriel’s head, making him splutter and cough. The sharp smell of fuel filled the room.
‘What are you doing?’ said April, suddenly terrified. ‘No! You can’t!’
‘Can’t I?’ asked Ben, sloshing more over Gabriel’s body and legs. ‘But I am.’
‘All right, stop. Stop! I am the Fury, okay? I’m the Fury!’
‘So it’s true.’ Sheldon laughed. ‘Now it all makes sense. Gabriel thought you had killed Marcus and that was why he took the blame for the murder. I had assumed it was simply a convenient case of mistaken identity. I really should have known.’
Sheldon walked over to April and, without warning, slapped her hard across the face, splitting her lip.
‘Your kind disgust me,’ he said.
‘I’m not too fond of you lot either,’ said April, spitting out blood.
He grabbed her hair and yanked it back so that her birthmark was exposed. April squealed from the pain, but Sheldon was oblivious.
‘Look at it,’ he said with contempt. ‘The mark of the North Star, the bringer of light. Are you the best they can do?’
‘I’ve killed two of you already,’ said April, sticking her chin out.
Sheldon snorted and pushed her away.
‘Oh yes, well done,’ he said. ‘That will make us even, then, won’t it? We killed Isabelle Davis and now we’re going to kill you.’
‘Isabelle? What’s she got to do with it?’
‘Apparently your history teacher hasn’t been doing her job,’ said Sheldon. ‘There are
three
Furies a generation. Isabelle
Davis was the first. Like you, she thought she could bring us down. Like you, she was wrong.’
‘Dead wrong, wasn’t she, Gabriel?’ giggled Benjamin. ‘You put her straight though, didn’t you?’
‘Ben,’ said Sheldon, a warning in his voice. ‘Not now. Let’s concentrate on the job in hand.’
Ben nodded. ‘All right then,’ he said, patting his pockets.
Oh God, he’s looking for his lighter
, thought April.
‘Regent!’ she shouted out suddenly, desperate for anything that would slow their executioners down.
Sheldon looked at her sharply.
‘What did you say?’
‘You’re the Vampire Regent, aren’t you?’ she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. ‘You’re the one in charge of recruitment at Ravenwood. You ordered Marcus’s death, you’re the one they all listen to.’
‘Finally,’ said Ben. ‘Finally she gets it.’
‘You?’ roared Gabriel, jerking forward in his chair. ‘
You
are the Regent? How can that be? How can you have been so close all this time … NO!’
Benjamin flicked his lighter open, waving the flame in front of Gabriel’s petrol-soaked face.
‘Be quiet, Romeo,’ he said. ‘Or I’ll turn you into charcoal.’
‘But what about the governors at Ravenwood?’ said April quickly. ‘I mean, I saw, you were bowing and scraping. You were scared of them.’
‘Once again, my so-called students disappoint me,’ said Sheldon shaking his head. ‘We are
vampires
, April. The ultimate predators. We excel at two things – the hunt and the kill. And to be a hunter you need to be able to hide in plain sight, to make your victims believe you pose no threat – until you strike.’
‘So you let the governors believe they’re in control, while lining them up as your pawns when you take the throne?’
‘Throne is right, sweetness,’ said Ben.
April frowned.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Jesus, don’t you Bleeders ever listen in school?’ said
Benjamin with irritation. ‘Doesn’t anyone read the dictionary any more? A Regent only steps in to rule while the king is absent. But soon Robert will be crowned as king,’ he said, looking over at Sheldon with something like hero-worship in his eyes. ‘And he will lead us to glory.’
‘That’s enough, Ben,’ snapped Sheldon. ‘Now is not the time.’
‘Now
is
our time, Robert. It’s time to stop hiding, to stop cowering in the dark, always terrified of being discovered. No, when the throne is ours, we will live like kings and humans will live in the eternal darkness, begging to be our slaves.’
‘Like Alix Graves?’ said April.
‘Ah, you’re not quite as dim as I supposed, April,’ said Sheldon. ‘Alix Graves thought he could be our equal, he thought he could muscle his way to a position of power. When he found out what we really wanted, he tried to back out – he even threatened to tell the media about our little scheme.’
Sheldon wagged his finger. ‘Never try to blind-side a vampire, April. You may find someone tears your throat out.’
‘Like my father?’
Sheldon looked at his watch and shook his head. ‘Sorry, April, I wish I could stand here answering all your questions, but it’s time we got on with this.’
He gestured to Ben.
‘No!’ shouted April. ‘If you kill me, you’ll have no chance with my mother!’
Ben and Sheldon looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
‘Have a
chance
with her?’ said Sheldon. ‘Is that what she told you? Oh, she’s good.’
‘But she said … she said you’d had an affair and now you wanted her back.’
‘
She
wanted to be with
me
,’ he spat. ‘Your precious mother always was a little tart, even at university. She’d go wherever the most popular boys were. Anyone with a title, teachers, anyone cool, she had to have them. So she hooked up with me for a while, then cast me aside when her precious William
came along. Look how wrong she was about him. But now she sees I’m in charge, so she’s back, crawling after me like a dog on heat.’
‘Don’t talk about her like that.’
Sheldon looked at April with contempt.
‘I can see you don’t believe me. Why do you think your family moved to Highgate?’
‘Because my dad had to get a job. He talked her into it.’
Mr Sheldon laughed.
‘William Dunne hated me. Your
mother
persuaded your father to come to London, not the other way around. She wanted to be with me. She
begged
, April.’
Shock ran through April’s body.
‘Is that why you killed my father?’
‘He didn’t kill your father, you stupid little bitch,’ said Benjamin.
‘Don’t you speak to her like that!’ growled Gabriel. ‘I’ll kill you!’
‘You’re not going to kill anyone, Gabriel,’ said Benjamin. ‘You think it’s beneath you.’
‘I’d make an exception for you.’ He looked at Sheldon. ‘And for you too, Regent.’
Sheldon laughed.
‘I am a born vampire, Swift. You know the difference, don’t you? I would crush you like a bug.’
‘Oh really?’ said Gabriel, straining at the ropes. ‘You overestimate your power.’
‘Do I? I don’t think so, Gabriel,’ said Sheldon, a smirk on his face. ‘Ask yourself what really happened in the cemetery on the night Isabelle died.’
‘I fought off her killer,’ said Gabriel. ‘The killer you sent.’
Sheldon raised an eyebrow. ‘Half right, boy,’ he said. ‘Think harder.’
April looked at Gabriel. He had a faraway look as if he was seeing the scene in front of his eyes. ‘I know what happened,’ he said, frowning as if he was trying to remember something that had been bothering him. ‘I tried to help her—’
‘But you’re not sure, are you, Gabriel?’ said Sheldon. ‘You don’t even know why you were there, do you?’
‘I was there to visit Lily’s grave—’
Benjamin laughed, a mocking, delighted laugh.
‘And who did you fight with that night?’ sneered Ben. ‘Who were you struggling with?’
‘What do you mean?’ said Gabriel, his face a mask of confusion. ‘The vampire with the strange eyes …’
Sheldon laughed and clapped his hands in delight.
‘He really has no idea,’ he said. ‘Even after all this time. Truly amazing.’
‘You leave him alone!’ shouted April. ‘Don’t listen to them, Gabriel! You helped Isabelle and saved my life, remember?’
‘Yes, Gabriel’s such a hero isn’t he?’ mocked Sheldon. ‘If you knew the truth, I doubt you’d be so comfortable being in this room with him.’
‘Don’t think you can play your mind games with me,’ said April. ‘I know who he is.’
‘But look at him, April!’ said Sheldon. ‘He doesn’t even know himself! Do you really think it was chance that Gabriel was there in the cemetery that night – the touching anniversary with his fiancée which just happened to fall on the night Isabelle was killed? Quite a coincidence, isn’t it?’
‘Not if you were trying to frame him for the murder,’ said April.
Sheldon shook his head. ‘It really is remarkable how much love blinds people to the truth,’ he said. ‘If we really wanted to connect him to a murder, there are plenty more bodies with his bloody fingerprints on them, believe me.’
Then, seeming to tire of the conversation, he turned to Benjamin.
‘Enough talking,’ he said. ‘Let’s get on with it.’
He pointed to April. ‘Her too.’
Benjamin frowned. ‘But I thought you wanted to keep her? If we have her blood and the White Book, we can—’
‘Do as I say,’ said Sheldon impatiently. ‘While the Fury lives, we are all in danger. It goes deeper than her blood.’ April
watched in horror as Benjamin picked up the jerry can and began soaking the furniture and walls with the petrol, moving towards her, a smile on his face.
‘Wait,’ she shouted. ‘I thought you wanted the
Albus Libre
. I know where it is.’
Ben looked at her, then over at Sheldon. ‘Where?’ he said guardedly.
‘I have it here,’ said April.
‘Where?’
She nodded downwards.
‘My inside pocket.’
Ben glanced at Sheldon for permission, then put the can down and cautiously reached inside her jacket.
‘Mind your nose,’ April whispered. Ben frowned and leant in closer. ‘What did you say?’
The moment he was close enough, April lunged towards Ben, the front legs of her chair pivoting and catapulting her forehead hard onto the bridge of his nose with a crack. Her momentum carried her forward and she landed on top of him, splintering the wood of the chair. April pulled her hands free from the ropes, expecting Ben to leap at her, but instead he stayed on the floor, clawing at his throat. As she looked on in horror, Ben’s neck began to swell and twist, the arteries beneath the skin turning black, his eyeballs bulging as if there were some great force pushing from inside his skull. What the hell was happening? April reached up and felt the wound on her forehead – and straight away she understood. Her blood had mixed with his, immediately infecting his system.
‘Help me…!’ Ben screamed, his voice rising to a wail and then a shriek as his legs thrashed uselessly against the ground. Suddenly, dark blood poured from his nose, ears and the corners of his eyes. His hands dropped from his throat and he lay still.
‘April! Behind you!’ shouted Gabriel, but he was too late.
As fast as a snake, Sheldon grabbed her around the neck and dragged her backwards out of the room.
‘Try and follow us and I’ll snap her neck like a twig,’ he
growled. As he reached the door, Sheldon kicked the petrol can over, spilling a lake of petrol towards Gabriel, still tied to his seat.
‘No!’ shouted April, trying to twist away. Sheldon slammed her against the door frame, dazing her as he opened his lighter, flicked the wheel and threw it into the fuel, instantly sending an orange-white sheet of flame across the floor.
‘Gabriel!’ April shouted, as Sheldon dragged her backwards out of the room and up the stairs.
Gabriel
, she thought desperately.
I’ve got to get to Gabriel
.
‘Let me go!’ she screamed, kicking out.
‘Oh no, I’ve got other plans for you, Fury,’ he hissed into her ear, locking his arm around April’s throat, making her struggle for breath. She clawed at his arm, but he didn’t seem to feel it as he hauled her up, step by step. Facing backwards, she could only look with despair as the door of the drawing room filled with flame, black smoke pouring up towards the ceiling.
‘No, no, no …’ she moaned. How could Gabriel have survived such an inferno?
Just as they were about to turn onto the first landing, there was a loud crash from the front of the house. April watched in amazement as the front door burst open, slamming back against the inside wall.
‘Sheldon!’ came the shout as Detective Inspector Reece charged into the hallway, then immediately fell back, throwing his arm up to shield his face from the flames.
‘Let her go, Sheldon,’ he shouted up at them. ‘We’ve got you surrounded.’
Sheldon laughed.