‘It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?’
Silvia sighed.
‘You’re going to have to speak to me sometime, you know.’
‘Am I?’ said April.
‘Darling, I know you’re upset, but—’
‘Upset? Is that what you think? I’m furious! No, furious doesn’t even begin to cover it. All those years I watched you giving Dad such a hard time about everything, sniping at everything he did, belittling his whole life, and now I find out the reason. You’d been having an affair … and with a man who tried to kill me! I don’t know how you can live with yourself.’
‘It wasn’t all one way, April,’ said Silvia. ‘Marriage is a complex thing, when you’re older you’ll understand.’
‘Don’t patronise me! I might only be a child,’ she said sarcastically, ‘maybe my brain isn’t fully developed, but it seems pretty simple to me: keep your hands to yourself. And you couldn’t even manage that, could you?’
‘I’m still your mother, April.’
‘No!’ she yelled, ‘No, you’re not. A mother is supposed to
guide, nurture and support her child. You’re supposed to give me affection and love. When have you ever given me any of those things?’
Silvia pulled out a handkerchief and began to sob into it.
‘If you only knew …’ she said.
‘Oh, don’t give me those crocodile tears, I’m sick of your lies. Why can’t you just look me in the eye and tell me the truth? You and Sheldon were always together behind Dad’s back. Your tears are for him, not for Dad.’
Silvia said nothing, standing up and smoothing her skirt down.
‘Aren’t you even going to deny it?’ said April with a sinking feeling. Even if it had been true, April wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know. She didn’t think she could stomach the thought of Silvia carrying on with Hawk while her dad was alive – the truth was, April was desperate for her to deny it.
‘You’ve obviously made up your mind, April. Nothing I say is going to change that. I wish I could explain why I kept it from you, but …’
‘You don’t have to explain, I already know – because you’re selfish and you always have been. You think about no one except yourself.’
Silvia pressed her lips together.
‘Whatever you think, April, I do care. I care deeply about you and I always will.’
April looked out of the window.
‘I think you should go.’
Silvia nodded.
‘Do me one favour? Stay close to your Grandfather. I know you hate me, but it’s dangerous out there. I want you to be safe.’
April glared at her.
‘Maybe you should have thought of that a little sooner.’
She struggled out of her bed and crossed to the door, holding it open.
‘Just leave me alone,’ she said.
‘April …’
‘No. Just go.
Go!
’
When Silvia had gone, April quietly closed the door, pulled down the blinds, then slid down the wall, curling up on the floor, her shoulders heaving with sobs.
April sat down on the cold steps and hugged her knees.
‘Hi, Daddy,’ she said. ‘You okay in there? I’m fine. Well … I’m not so fine, actually. I’ve left home. It’s not going well with Mum, and I’ve moved in with Gramps. So I guess I won’t be seeing you quite as often.’
She shook her head. Here she was, worrying that a cadaver behind an iron door would be upset by a change in her routine.
He’s dead, April
, she said to herself.
Let him go
.
April blew on her hands and shifted her bum, hoping she wasn’t getting chilblains or haemorrhoids or something from sitting on the cold steps.
‘I think Gramps will be able to protect me from the police, too. They seem to have it in for me now. Not that I can blame them really.’
If she was investigating this, April had to admit she would have been hugely suspicious of April Dunne. A witness to four murders and one suicide, victim of three murder attempts herself, and now discovered in a burning house which contained the bodies of one of her teachers and one of her supposed school friends. She seemed to be a death magnet.
Even so, April wasn’t all that worried about the police. She was worried about the vampires. Two of them had worked out she was a Fury. How long was it before the others realised? And, crucially, would April manage to solve the Ravenwood mystery before that happened?
She saw the vicar long before he spotted her. He was wandering up the main path, his cheeks pink, stopping every now and then for a breather. April decided to walk down to meet him.
‘Is there a funeral today?’ she asked.
‘Ah, April,’ said the vicar, a little flustered to see her
. ‘No, no. They don’t have many funerals in the West Cemetery any more – but then I suppose you know that. No, I come here to walk sometimes. I like being among the graves, I find all the faith and love soothing. Does that sound strange?’
‘No, not at all.’
They carried on walking up the hill together.
‘So how are you, my dear?’ he asked. ‘I heard you were in the hospital again.’
‘Nothing too bad this time, just a bit of smoke inhalation. But you’re right, the nurses all know me by name now.’
The vicar smiled.
‘Trouble does seem to follow you, doesn’t it? I suppose you wouldn’t be your father’s daughter if it didn’t.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘He could never let anything lie either. He had to know the answer to whatever story he was working on, however much danger it put him in.’ He stopped, his hand on his hip, catching his breath. ‘Maybe he was too curious.’
‘Do you think I should stop looking for answers, Mr Gibson?’
He shook his head.
‘I fear that would be like asking a fox to stop trying to steal chickens. If it’s in your nature, you’ll never be happy until you find what you’re looking for. The trouble is, when you lift up a rock, you often find more than you bargained for underneath.’
April gave a thin smile. She thought of her mother and what she’d done. She thought of Benjamin, clutching at his neck. And then she thought of Layla, so alone.
‘I think I’ve already lifted that rock,’ she said. ‘And you’re right, I didn’t much like what I saw.’
The vicar fixed her with a serious look.
‘The darkness is rising, April, and I think it’s only going to get worse.’
‘Then we’ve all got to do what we can, haven’t we?’ she said.
‘I mean, even if you know it’s going to hurt you and the people around you? You’ve got to follow the path you think is right, don’t you?’
The vicar looked at his feet, scuffing at a loose rock on the path.
‘It’s at this point I’m supposed to quote a passage of scripture, I think,’ he said. ‘But I’ll be honest with you, April, I think you’re on your own now. Off the edge of the map, so to speak. Faith will only take you so far, and after that you have to trust that you’re acting for the best.’
She squinted at him.
‘I think I am,’ she said. ‘Or at least I try to.’
He reached out and squeezed her shoulder.
‘Then perhaps you’re already on the right road.’
At the bottom of the path, they could see a tall figure dressed in a dark overcoat climbing the steps and making his way up towards them. April didn’t need to see his face to know it was Gabriel. There was something in his walk, the set of his shoulders, the way her heart began to beat faster when he was nearby.
‘I can see you love him, and that’s a good thing,’ said the vicar.
‘But? I can feel a but coming on.’
‘He’s not all he seems, April.’
She began to protest. ‘You don’t know him …’
He touched her hand.
‘Oh, but I know
what
he is. They were here when I came to this parish, I’ve always known about them.’
‘Can’t you do anything? Some good versus evil thing to cure him?’
The vicar smiled.
‘As I say, I’m a great believer in the power of prayer, but there are some things it can’t deal with. Sometimes we have to rise up and do God’s work ourselves.’
‘Am I doing God’s work?’
‘Only you can say. I know you love him and that’s good, but
remember what he is. They’re never completely in control of themselves. They can’t be tamed.’
‘He’s a good man, Reverend.’
He nodded and began to walk back towards the church.
‘Just be careful.’
Gabriel looked amazing. Considering he had been scorched, cut, blackened with soot and barely breathing when she had seen him two days before, he looked perfect. His skin was flawless, his hair sleek and his eyes sparkled as he grinned at her.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, wrapping herself around him. ‘Aren’t the police watching the cemetery?’
‘I had a call from DI Reece,’ he said. ‘All charges against me are being dropped. In fact, I got the impression that the police want nothing more to do with us or the case. If they had their way, they’d prefer to pretend the whole thing never happened. They’ve managed to keep the deaths out of the papers and obviously Benjamin’s father is as keen as they are to keep his death a private matter.’
‘I’ll bet he is. Agropharm shareholders wouldn’t welcome another scandal involving the family.’
‘I think they’re drawing a line under it and hoping that’s an end to it. And DCI Johnston’s a career copper. If his bosses tell him to drop the case, he’ll do it.’
‘Do you think it will all go away now? The vampire recruitment at Ravenwood, I mean.’
Gabriel shook his head.
‘I doubt it. We may have rid the world of the Vampire Regent, but you heard what Sheldon said: there’s someone else out there, someone meaner and stronger. A vampire king. Sheldon obviously had his own agenda, but I’m convinced he was only following orders at Ravenwood. So I can’t imagine the king, or whoever’s behind it, will abandon their plans. In fact, we’ve probably made things easier for them.’
‘How?’
‘Politics, honey,’ he said, stroking her hair. ‘The way they were talking, I think Sheldon and Benjamin were planning an uprising, a sort of vampire rebellion. Sheldon was the Regent,
a stand-in for the king. Maybe he heard the king wanted his throne back.’
April felt a sinking feeling.
‘So you think we’ve actually
helped
the Ravenwood conspiracy?’
Gabriel smiled.
‘We’ve destroyed a key part of their operation and removed two ruthless killers, I’d say that’s pretty good going. But no, I don’t think it’s over, not by a long way.’
‘And it’s not over for us anyway, is it? You’re still … well, still you.’
Gabriel smiled and ran a finger down her cheek. ‘No, but I’m still here, thanks to you.’
April thought for a moment.
‘Gabriel, can I ask you something?’
‘Anything.’
‘What Sheldon was talking about that day? How you didn’t know yourself and how you were involved with Isabelle’s death and maybe even other murders? What was all that about?’
‘They are – they were – vampires, remember? They’re masters at manipulation, mind-games. None of it meant anything. I think they hoped if they framed me for Isabelle’s murder then I’d be out of the way, no more trying to infiltrate their organisation – and Isabelle and her investigations would come to an end as well. Two birds with one stone. I have to admit, I had no idea they were on to me.’
He pulled her closer.
‘I’m so sorry, April, I put you in danger, I should have seen it sooner. I was so convinced it was the Regent who turned me, I wasn’t looking at it properly. I guess we have to keep looking.’
‘We have to. I can’t stand not kissing you for much longer.’
He kissed her cheek.
‘It won’t be long.’
They walked up the hill hand in hand. As they reached a corner, April stopped.
‘Listen,’ she said nervously. ‘There was something else.
When I was angry with you over that Jessica thing, I went with the Suckers to some club and …’
‘… and Ben made a move on you. I know.’
‘What? How did you know?’
‘He boasted about it, April. Never forget, Benjamin Osbourne was a monster hiding behind this mask of charm. Don’t ever feel bad for falling for that. And anyway, I was asking for it, I should have told you about Jessica before that. I just … I was feeling guilty too, and I suppose I didn’t want anything to ruin what we had.’
‘No more secrets?’
‘Never.’
‘Although I do feel bad. I’ve been giving my mum such a hard time about her cheating on my dad when maybe I’m no better.’
‘You know, it doesn’t get any easier as you get older. All the time I’ve had on earth, and I still make mistakes. Maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on her.’
April glanced up the hill towards her father’s tomb.
‘But it’s not just the cheating and the way she treated Dad. It’s the fact she lied to me about it. That’s what I can’t forgive.’