Thicker Than Blood (Marchwood Vampire Series #2) (31 page)

One day, as she searched in vain for her
family, Mislav came to her. She was startled and unnerved to see
him again. The other demons still frightened her and she kept out
of their way as much as possible.

‘
Tell me,’ he said. ‘How
do you like your new life? Is it good? Are you happy?’

Aelia didn’t reply. She didn’t want to make
him angry, but she couldn’t lie.

‘
You must feed or you will
grow weak.’ He stroked her cheek.

‘
I’ve been trying to find
my family. I know they came underground but I can’t find them
anywhere. I’m worried. I couldn’t bear it if they were
…’

‘
You must learn to leave
your old life behind. We are your family now. We are your brothers
and sisters, your mother and father, your lovers, your children. We
can be everything to you if you’ll let us. You were chosen. You are
special. Embrace your new life and you will be happier than you
ever thought possible.’

‘
How can you be happy when
all you do is kill and bring misery to thousands?’ She couldn’t
help saying the words; they tumbled from her lips.

‘
You must let all your
mortal preconceptions go. Those rules no longer apply.’

Aelia bit her lip to stop the next angry
retort.

‘
I can tell it is hard for
you, but in time you’ll see I’m right.’

Never
, Aelia said to herself.

‘
Come,’ Mislav held out
his hand. ‘We’ve been summoned.’

‘
What? Summoned
where?’

‘
His Imperial Highness has
called us to the great hall.’

‘
Why?’

‘
Let’s go and we will find
out.’

Aelia let herself be led by Mislav, towards
the hall where she had been turned. What did this boy emperor want
now?

When they reached the hall, moments later,
it was already thronged with demons. For some reason Aelia had
wrongly assumed that it was only her and Mislav the Emperor wanted
to see and she was relieved that it was not, that she could remain
in an anonymous crowd in the background. The hall was packed, but
there was no chattering, just the odd murmur or whisper and the
swish of cloaks and gowns as the creatures entered the hall. The
glittering throne on the raised dais stood empty. They were all
awaiting the arrival of the Emperor.

The last time she was here, she had been
weak and near death, but now she really had a chance to take in her
surroundings. The space was huge, the ceiling carved into smooth
arches, painted with figures and animals, oceans and countryside.
They were all night scenes with the moon and stars glowing as
though they were the real thing. As Aelia studied the paintings
more closely, she saw that most were scenes of slaughter, of
mortals meeting their end at the hand of a demon. She shifted her
gaze from the paintings to the real creatures around her. They were
so beautiful … until they fed and showed their true ugly selves.
Those teeth changing their heavenly faces into the countenances of
beasts. Was that what she had looked like when she’d fed from that
man? Aelia shuddered.

On the outer edges of the hall, Aelia noted
massive arched recesses with pillars, again lavishly ornamented
with carvings and frescoes. Standing in these arches were humans.
She caught their delicious scent and tried to block it out. These
were the humans who had been spared the pit – the village leaders,
the people of note, the praetors and judges and their families.
These humans were now slaves to their demon masters. Aelia noted
their clean, well-fed appearances. They still dressed as befitted
their human rank and most seemed settled. Her demon senses could
identify fear, and these people did not seem all that afraid.
Perhaps they had not witnessed the horrors she had seen down
here.

And then Aelia’s eyes alighted
on a face which transported her back to a different time. A face
which made her catch her breath in her throat. Anger followed shock
and she felt herself hiss like a snake, attracting the attention of
several demons around her. Mislav took her arm and looked
questioningly at her, but she paid him no mind, for she had seen
someone who demanded all of her attention. Standing to her far
right, in one of the recessed arches, next to his plump mother and
stern father, stood
Lysus
. He was older now – no longer a boy, but a grown man.
Still handsome, still confident.

Before she had a chance to react further,
she realised everyone was sinking to their knees. Aelia tore her
eyes away from her faithless lover and did the same as Mislav
pulled her down next to him. The hall fell deadly silent and she
peered up to see the boy Emperor now seated on his throne, his eyes
resting on his subjects, demanding their full attention with a
penetrating gaze.

At that moment, Aelia didn’t care about the
boy ruler. All she wanted to do was leap across the hall and sink
her teeth into Lysus’ throat. Her demon-self wanted to terrify him,
to have him at her mercy and make him pay for ruining her life. She
wanted to taste his sweet cowardly blood, to drain every drop in
his body before flinging his used body to the ground. The feelings
rising up in her were like nothing she had experienced before.

Mislav’s hand was still on her arm and he
gripped it as if he could sense her intentions. She was possessed.
She was enraged. She was ready to kill.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Present Day

*

Esther had locked Ben securely in an attic
storeroom. She’d got him up there on the pretence of helping her to
lift down some boxes. Once he’d realised what she’d done, he’d made
a bit of a fuss, hurling himself at the door and carrying on; much
good that would do him. Those old doors were solid, not like the
modern bits of cardboard that passed for doors these days. He’d
quietened down a bit now, thank goodness. She wasn’t generally a
nervy person, but it had put her quite out of sorts to hear him
like that. Shouting and swearing. Not at all like the Ben she
knew.

She put on her woollen coat and picked up
her keys from the hook in the utility room. Gloves … she’d need
gloves. It looked a bit nippy out there but at least the rain had
stopped. Esther let herself out of the back door and walked around
the side to where she’d parked her Renault Clio.

Settling herself in, she started up the
engine and swung the car around. Maybe a bit of Radio 4 would calm
her down a bit. She switched on the radio but it was some unfunny
comedy thing, so she turned it off again. Silence was better
anyway. That way, she could get her thoughts straight and
concentrate on the job in hand, on sorting things out once and for
all. This was a minor setback that was all, but luckily she knew
the people who could supply her with what she needed.

The road into Tetbury was busier than usual.
But then it was only a few days till Christmas. They’d all be
getting their last minute shopping, which is what she should be
doing, but she hadn’t had a moment, what with all this carry on,
with Morris up to his neck in it. He’d be alright. He could take
care of himself. No, she didn’t have any worries on that score. Her
Morris was ex-army, hard as nails when it counted. But it was
disconcerting nonetheless and she’d be glad when it was all
over.

The last time Esther had been to The Old
Bell was months ago, on her birthday. Morris had taken her for a
half pint of bitter and they’d even stretched to a spot of lunch.
Not as good as home cooked, but nice for a change. Today, there
would be no nice lunch. Today, she had more important matters to
attend to.

Parking was going to be a problem. Long
Street was bumper to bumper and the car parks would be chocka.
She’d try round the back of The Bell although she didn’t hold out
much hope. As luck would have it, a white Mercedes was driving out
of the hotel car park just as she was driving in. Esther pulled
straight into the gaping space and turned off the engine. She got
out of the car, smoothed down her coat, patted her bobbed hair and
marched briskly across the car park and into the back entrance of
the hotel. She had a lot to get on with today. No time for
dawdling.

*

Alexandre and Zoe reached the hotel just
before dawn. Everyone jumped up as they walked into the hotel
suite. Isobel threw her arms around her older brother and Jacques
clasped his arm. Everyone eyed Zoe with suspicion.

‘
This is Zoe,’ Alexandre
said. ‘She helped Maddy to escape … And she also helped me to
escape.’

‘
Helped you to escape?’
Isobel said. ‘Escape from where? And you’re absolutely covered in
dirt! What happened to you?’

Alexandre told them a watered down version
of events, leaving out the part where he had been beaten up. The
others looked at Zoe again – this time with gratitude. Zoe stared
at her feet.

‘
But, Alex, I cannot
believe you went there on your own,’ Jacques said. ‘Don’t you trust
us?’

‘
It’s nothing to do with
trust. I thought it would look less threatening if I went on my
own. I thought I could reason with them.’

‘
It’s everything to do
with trust. And to make that decision without us was extremely
thoughtless, not to mention arrogant,’ Jacques said.

‘
I just did what I thought
was right,’ Alex replied. ‘I feel responsible for Maddy and I
didn’t want to drag you all into it.’

‘
Arrogant!’ Isobel echoed
her twin.

The room fell silent and Zoe looked down at
her boots again, embarrassed to be witnessing this family
argument.

‘
Well, at least he’s back
now,’ said Leonora.

Alexandre threw her a grateful glance. It
was odd for Leonora to be the one to stick up for him.

‘
I apologise,’ said Alex.
‘I was wrong.’

Jacques smirked. ‘Can we have that in
writing?’

Alexandre gave him a look. ‘So is Maddy on
her way here? Have you spoken to her? Is Morris out looking for
her?’

Everyone fell silent.

‘
What?’ Alexandre stared
at them. ‘What is it? Is Maddy alright?’

‘
As far as we know she’s
still on her way here,’ Isobel said.

‘
Someone give me a phone.
Do you have a number for her?’

‘
We’ve all been trying,
but it goes straight to answerphone,’ Freddie said.

‘
She probably can’t get a
good signal, that’s all,’ said Isobel.

Alexandre was swamped with feelings of
helplessness again.

‘
She was on a motorbike,
yes?’ he asked.

‘
Yes,’ Zoe replied. ‘A
dirt bike.’

‘
So she should have been
here by now, right?’

No one answered.

‘
Right?’ He shouted this
time.

‘
Don’t shout at us, Alex.
We’re on your side.’

‘
I’m sorry, Belle. You’re
right.’

‘
So is Morris searching
the route between here and Akarsuli? To see if he can find out
what’s happened?’

‘
The thing is, Alex …’
Freddie began.

‘
The thing is, Morris has
been deceiving us,’ Leonora said.

‘
What are you talking
about?’

Leonora told him what Ben had
discovered.

‘
So where is Morris now?’
Alex asked, not quite able to believe what he was hearing. Of all
the people to betray them, Morris was the last person he would’ve
predicted.

‘
I locked him up in the
van,’ said Leonora.

Alex slumped into an armchair
and ran his fingers through his dark hair, still matted with mud
from when he’d
tunnelled
into the
city.

‘
I need to take a shower,’
he said, making no move to get up.

‘
Maddy will probably walk
through that door at any moment, brother,’ Jacques said.

Alex stared up at his younger brother,
willing him to be right, because if he wasn’t there wasn’t a damn
thing he could do about it. Once again, he was stuck here until
nightfall.

*

Esther walked out of the hotel, back to the
car. She unlocked it and got in. The hotel car park was still full
and a couple of cars hovered, waiting to see if her space was about
to become free. They’d just have to wait a bit longer; she had an
important call to make.

Morris answered on the first ring.

‘
Well?’ he
said.

‘
I got it, love, but it’ll
probably take me a few hours. Maybe even days.’

‘
We haven’t got
days.’

‘
I’ll do my best,
love.’

‘
And what about the
lad?’

‘
Oh, you know - he made a
bit of a fuss at first, but he quietened down
eventually.’

‘
Good. Call me when you
get something.’

‘
You be careful,
Morris.’

‘
Don’t worry about me.
Just get what we need and I’ll be home soon.’

*

It was quiet. How strange to not hear a
thing. No wind or roaring fire. No motorcycle engine or crunching
snow underfoot. Just silence. And she wasn’t cold anymore. She
remembered falling asleep in the snow. Her eyes were still closed
and she felt afraid to open them. Was she dead?

‘
Hello,
Madison.’

Maddy blinked her eyes open and sat up. In
the dim light, an old woman stared back at her.