Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series #1) (19 page)

But there were more, and they lept and bounded over the gravestones as they charged at me. Chucking the empty bottles away, I fumbled for two more.

“Come on!” I screamed, willing myself on.

“Hungry!” one of the vampires cried, pouncing off a nearby gravestone at me. With its arms outstretched, its long ivory nails slashed at my face. But then they were gone. I looked up to see the vampire cartwheeling through the air. My rescuer swooped in, and hovering just feet above me, Potter yelled, “Get out of here or you’re gonna die, Kiera!” Then he was snatched away by Phillips as he swooped in and almost seemed to rugby tackle Potter in mid-air.

I raced across the graveyard, weaving myself amongst the gravestones. But the vampires were relentless, and once again started to hunt me down. I could hear their screeching and shrieking just feet away, but then I took a wrong turn and was heading towards the back of the graveyard and the stone wall that reached up into the night.

With my heart racing, I started to panic.

“There must be a gate…a door…
anything
,” I mumbled, but I knew I had nowhere to go. Looking back I could see several of them striding towards me, their speed and agility terrifying. They were gaining on me with such speed that I knew I wouldn’t have time to get a crucifix or bottle from my pocket. They were within touching distance, so close that the spit from their fangs spattered my face. I closed my eyes, then my stomach lurched and I felt the sensation of rising upwards off the ground. I opened my eyes, looked down and already the church was just a pinprick below. Glancing upwards, expecting to see either Murphy or Potter but hoping for Luke, I screamed as Father Taylor grinned down at me.

Chapter Twenty-One

I was struck by how bony and repulsive the priest looked. His body was sickly white and sinewy looking. The skin that held his bones together looked waxy and taut. The wings that arched from his back were black and leathery. They looked torn in places and the membrane was tattered and frayed. With his arms around me, he dragged me upwards, through the freezing night air. Snow pelted my face like ice cold pellets.

“What do you want from me!” I screamed over the howl of the wind.

“You’re unique,” he roared, his eyes, bright and knowing.

“How?” I yelled, as we swooped left and right.

“Like your mother!”

“Where is she?”

Father Taylor grinned, opened his mouth as if to answer, then screamed in anger. Before I’d realised what was happening, I was falling, rushing down through the night, my clothes rippling and my hair fluttering wildly. Spinning over and over, I caught a glimpse of what had caused the priest to release me. Murphy had dived in towards Taylor, and punched through his wings. Losing control and altitude, the priest spiralled back towards the graveyard, his wings looking broken and limp.

Screaming, I fell behind him, the pressure of the wind crushing my chest. The church’s steeple came into view and I raced towards it. With every second it got bigger and bigger until at the very last minute, I felt two powerful arms snaking around my waist. Looking round, I could see that it was Luke who had me. Soaring away from the steeple, Luke smiled down into my face, his fangs gleaming.

“Okay?” he asked, holding me tight, making me feel safe at last.

“I’ve been better,” I said, looking into his face. “I thought you’d been banished?”

“Not exactly,” he said, banking right, sending my stomach into a series of somersaults. “We knew that if I went away, it would flush Phillips out. He wouldn’t have come for you with me hanging around.”

“Why does everyone keep using me as bait?” I shouted over the wind.

“It must be those pretty eyes,” he smiled back at me.

“So where did you go that night,” I asked. “when I was calling for back-up?”

“At the graveyard?”

“Yeah.”

“I saw Taylor fall on the way back to the church,” he explained. “I was just about to go and help, when I saw Phillips step from the dark. Not believing that it could be him, I went to take a closer look. Then I heard all hell breaking loose, so I came back to help and that’s when I found you in the car wreck.”

Pressing my face against his chest, I felt safe, and those intense feelings that I’d experienced the night we had shared together came flooding back. My whole being seemed to tingle. I felt this sudden urge to tell him that I loved him, but I couldn’t, it would have sounded stupid right? No one falls in love so quickly, especially not me. But deep down, in that place where you go at night – the place where you keep your inner most feelings, I knew that I did.

Swooping to a sudden stop, Luke hovered by the branches of a tall tree. Lifting me gently into them, he said, “Stay here, you’ll be safe.”

“Don’t leave me,” I said, not wanting to let go of him.

“I’ll be back for you,” he smiled, then leaned in and kissed me.

Reaching for him, I ran my fingers through his hair, and pressed my lips tight against his.

Easing himself away, he said, “I’ve got to go and help my friends.” Then looking into my eyes, he said, “Wait for me.” Then he was gone, corkscrewing up into the night like a jetfighter.

“I’ve got nowhere to go,” I breathed as I watched him speed towards Murphy, who was soaring after Rom.

From the treetop, I saw Luke and Murphy race after Rom in a flicker of black shadows. Like the night that Luke had first saved my life, the both of them moved so fast through the sky that they seemed to blur out of existence. Looking ahead, I could see Potter and Phillips tumbling over and over through the air as they fought with each other. Holding my breath, I watched as they plummeted towards the church roof, then through it. Roof slates, chunks of masonry and stone exploded up into the night. Within seconds, the door of the church burst outwards in a spray of splinters as Phillips came crashing through it and into a nearby gravestone, which cracked in half under the force of him colliding into it.

Potter appeared in the church doorway, and wasting no time, he launched himself at Phillips who lay momentarily stunned in the snow. Just as he was about to get up, Potter was on him, his wings shimmering in the candlelight shining from within the church. Potter thrust his head forward and I could hear his teeth tearing and biting at Phillips who lay screaming beneath him. Potter’s attack was frenzied, black jets of blood pumping from wounds on Phillips’ face and neck. The snow all around them started to turn crimson and I looked away. Even though Phillips had lied to me and had something to do with my mother’s disappearance, I still didn’t want to watch him die, being ripped to shreds in a bleak and barren graveyard.

Then, I saw them, the remaining vampires, speeding amongst the gravestones towards Potter who had his back turned to them. Knowing that they were only seconds from him, I screamed, “Potter! Get out of there!”

Potter drew away from Phillips and looked up, the lower half of his face dripping with blood. Seeing the approaching vampires, he sprang into the air, leaving Phillips lying lifeless in a crimson mound of snow. Potter looped in the air, then came racing back towards the vampires. But like Potter, some of the vampires had heard my scream from up in the tree and this had drawn their attention to me. Splitting, three of them raced towards the foot of the tree and started scrambling up the trunk towards me. They climbed like spiders, the sound of their long fingernails scratching against the rough bark. Within seconds they were clawing their way over the snow laden branches and scuttling towards me. Reaching into my pocket for the crucifixes and bottles of holy water, I nearly fell from the tree, when I realised that they had gone.

“Where are they?” I cried. “Please, please, please, let me find them!”

I patted both pockets to make sure, but both were empty. Realising they must have fallen out while falling through the sky, I frantically backed away up the branch from the approaching vampires.

Hissing and spitting, they came forward, their eyes glowing red and orange. Leaning back, I kicked out at one of them.

“Get the fuck off me!” I screamed.

The heel of my boot smashed into the jaw of the lead vampire. There was a cracking sound as his jaw broke and stuck out at an odd angle. With a crooked smile, he snapped his jaw back into place.

“Is that the best you can do?” he screeched and continued forward, sniffing the air like an animal on the scent of its prey.

With nowhere left to go, I prayed that perhaps one of the Vampyrus would come and save me. But as I said my silent prayer, I heard the roar of Luke and Murphy’s wings as they screamed past me in pursuit of Rom. I glanced down, and through the branches of the tree, I could see that Potter was enthusiastically ripping to pieces the vampires that had gone after him.

Knowing that if I were to survive, it would be down to my own wits and courage, I had an idea. Reaching out, I ripped two solid-looking branches away from the trunk. Both were about twelve inches in length and were splintered and ragged at each end. Placing one over the other, I made a cross. Holding it out, I waved the makeshift crucifix desperately in front of the vampire’s face. It recoiled as if in fear, its lips rolling back and revealing its fangs.

“It works,” I whispered with relief.

Then the vampire looked at me and gave a knowing smile as if it had been tricking me all along. “It hasn’t been blessed,” the vampire spat and lunged at me.

Recoiling in horror, I pulled my arms against my chest to protect myself, the branches jutting out from my hands. The vampire landed on top of me, its teeth snapping inches from my neck, its breath hot against my flesh. It jerked violently against me.

“No!”
it spat, and lurched back away from me, the glow in its dead eyes fading. Then looking down, I saw one of the branches that I’d been holding, protruding from a bloody hole in its chest. The vampire looked down at the jagged piece of wood sticking from it. Sensing its fear and revulsion at the sight of the makeshift stake, I dared to lean forward, and gripping the branch, I drove it further into the vampire’s heart.

“Away!”
it screamed, clutching frantically at the branch with its claws.

“Just die!”
I screeched, and twisted the piece of wood deeper into the red pumping wound. Almost at once, its claws began to turn grey, then crumble like the ash on the tip of one of Potter’s cigarettes. The vampire’s fingers seemed to snap and break, the wind snatching them away in small, broken particles.

Looking down at its dissolving fingers, the vampire howled, “Look what you’ve done to me!”

Then reaching out, I thrust the branch with the heel of my hand, so far into its heart, that the piece of wood disappeared.

Just like its hands, its face began to crumble away, like smashed plaster. First its jaw went and its swollen black tongue rolled down onto its chest. It made a disgusting flopping sound and I turned away. Covering my face with my hands, I peeked through the fingers that still held the second branch. Within moments the vampire had disintegrated into a pile of smoking ash that swirled away on the snow.

Undeterred, the second vampire came forward, scuttling along the branch towards me. I brandished the ragged piece of wood at it and screamed, “Come on then!”

Crazed by its lust for blood, it lept through the air at me. Steadying myself against a fork in the branches, I rammed the makeshift stake into its chest. Shrieking in pain, it shot backwards out of the tree, its claws clutching at the air. As it fell, it hooked its ivory-coloured fingernails into the hem of my jeans and dragged me out of the tree with it.

“Please don’t let me die!” I screamed, wrapping my arms around a branch, and clenching my teeth. Looking down, I could see the vampire swinging from my leg.

“LET…GO…OF…ME!” I screeched. And in between each word, I kicked out, desperate to shake the vampire loose. It wailed in agony, and with its free hand it tried to pull the stake from its chest. But as it did, the vampire’s fingers started to fall to pieces in little powdery chunks.

Bit by bit, the vampire slowly began to disintegrate like a sandcastle being swallowed up by a wave. The hand that was holding onto my leg separated from the vampire’s wrist and it fell from the tree, smashing into a powdery mess against a gravestone below. Kicking out my leg, I shook the vampire’s hand free and it blew away.

“Thank you God,” I breathed.

Hoisting myself back up into the tree, the third vampire came scuttling towards me through the branches. But my heart ached and tears welled in my eyes, when I saw it was Henry Blake looking back at me. Those flash bulbs popped behind my eyelids again, showing glimpses of that crime scene. His tiny broken body, neck and torso ripped apart. Then they were gone again, as quickly as they had come.

“Henry,” I whispered.

Ignoring me, he advanced, his eyes burning red, lips twisted up into a snarl baring his pointed teeth.

“Please, Henry,” I whispered again. I just couldn’t bring myself to destroy him. Still he came forward, and I knew in my heart that he wouldn’t show me the same compassion that I wanted to show him.

Then he was upon me, knocking me back into the branches of the tree where I became entangled. I twisted beneath him, trying to keep my neck and face away from his lunging bites.

“No, Henry!” I screamed, but he was deaf to me.

Then he was gone, flying backwards through the branches, his tiny hands snatching for anything to take hold of. He seemed to dangle in the air. Then Potter came into view. He was holding the kicking and spitting boy out at arms length.

“Going soft, Constable Hudson?” he said in his cocky manner.

“He’s just a child,” I said back.

“He’s a monster,” Potter said, this time his voice was low and serious.

“I can’t watch,” I told him.

“Don’t then,” he said.

I looked away, and even though I covered my ears, I could still hear the screams of the boy –
monster
– as Potter ended it for him.

“Are you coming or are going to play around in this tree all night?” I heard Potter say once he’d finished with the boy.

Looking back over my shoulder, I could see Potter hovering on the other side of the tree branches. His wings flapped steadily up and down, his arms down by his sides, his stomach muscles taut.