Halton Cray (Shadows of the World Book 1) (35 page)

‘Oh, I see. Useful.’

‘Yeah, it’s cool,’ Seth continued, as he circled
the block. ‘They should really consider redesigning London in the same way.’ –
I heard Thom snigger. – ‘Your city’s so old and arbitrary. Everything is named
after some guy who died centuries ago. No offence, Thom!’

I chuckled now.

‘But listen, Alex,’ he said in earnest, ‘if you do
go wandering around here on your own, don’t go further than 100
^th
.
If you notice the streets are going over that, turn back. NYC is a dangerous
place if you’re in the wrong part of it.’

‘Thanks for the warning.’

He pulled up at the bottom of a dark street,
outside a little shop all closed up for the night.

‘Is this the street?’

‘This is it,’ sang Seth, nervously.

Thom was silent.

‘Considering the house you described him at in
Boston,’ I said, turning round in my seat. ‘It’s not what I expected.’

‘Nor I,’ Thom replied. ‘I expected to find him in
some ostentatious place, in a haughty part of town. Perhaps, unlike some things
money doesn’t last forever. He’s staying in a one-bed apartment on the third
floor, up there.’ He pointed out the windshield towards the far end of the
street, which was uphill. ‘It still costs a degree to live here, but pittance
compared to what he’s accustomed. Testament to his boldness of character, Alex,
there’s a police precinct round the corner. Not that they could do much, even
if they should discover his practices.’

‘Are we all going?’ asked Seth.

‘I’d rather you both stayed here.’ Thom turned up
the collar of his black coat and opened the door. ‘I only want a quick look.’

I unbuckled my belt and got out after him.

‘I’ll stay here then,’ Seth whispered through my
open door, before turning off the engine.

Thom frowned at me.

‘I’m glad someone takes notice of what I say,’ he
said, grabbing my hand and interlocking our fingers. ‘You’re no clodhopper,
Alex, but you’ll need to be nimbler than ever, and don’t breathe a word.’

I nodded as he led me across the road and along
the sidewalk. He stopped at length and scoped the quiet street.

‘This is where we climb. I’ll lift you up to that
wall. Stay there and then I’ll pull you onto the fire escape.’

I nodded.

No windows faced the red-rusty stairway from the
neighbouring building. It was a plain brick wall and good cover. Thom lifted me
up before climbing to the fire escape above, where he pulled me effortlessly to
the first level. It began to rain violently, perfect for collars up and eyes
down. I drew my hood up, hoping the rain would continue. It would mask the
slightest noise I couldn’t help but make, and add to the cover of darkness from
the street below.

We reached the third floor. Thom put his arm out
to keep me back. He kept low and stared through the window nearest him, past
the venetian blinds on the other side. He didn’t allow me to move beyond the
air-con unit, which served to obscure me completely. But I used the vent as a
spyhole and waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness within. A lamp came on
inside. It was a surprise; Johan had no need for artificial light. He was in his
living room and reaching into a black case, pulling from it a violin. Over his
coffee table he spread a supply of cleaning miscellanies. I saw Johan’s shape
clearly. Thom once described him as swollen looking with ruddy skin. But this
man was slender and his flesh ivory, paler even than Thom’s. I wondered if we
had the right man, but the answer formed itself in Thom’s expression. Disgust.
Hatred. Vengeance! I then saw in Johan’s angular face what perhaps others saw
in Thom’s. A fierceness that cast unaccountable feelings in me to beware. How
much of my own knowledge influenced me here, I couldn’t say. Aside from the
dark dead eyes, much like a sharks in this particular specimen, Johan’s features
were small. His pointed chin and thin sharp nose – in fact all his features – were
harsh; even his hair as a thatch of flaxen with a perfectly circular bald patch.

A faint clinical smell met my nose at the vent,
which reminded me of bleach. Despite its cleanliness, it didn’t seem to belong
to that apartment. The affluent furnishings and black sofas looked like they
might smell of new leather. A top of the range entertainment system spread
round one corner. Each wall displayed the same awful artwork: geometric
abstraction, tinted with unblended straight-from-the-tube colours, like a paint
by numbers set.

Satisfied that he was still here, Thom motioned
for me to retreat. I obeyed, descending the stairway as quietly as when I came
up. As we gained on the ground the smell of rain washing dirt from the streets
increased.

We were drenched on entering Seth’s car. I sat
there like I’d just climbed out of a pool. Thom dried off slowly before my
eyes.

‘He’ll never venture out in this,’ he said
confidently. ‘He hates the rain. And on that subject of venturing out, I need
to get going myself; once I see you back to the hotel.’

Seth started the car.

‘How did it feel,’ I asked Thom, ‘to have him
within your reach again?’

‘The sight of
him
, Alex, had rage coursing
my veins like a fresh supply of blood. He’s changed a little from how I
remember him, never so thin and pale. He’s been less successful in finding his
meals for some reason. This convinces me he still hunts credulous people,
attempting to lure them back to that apartment. Probably so he can take his
time and enjoy the kill. It wouldn’t be easy, though, to convince just anyone
to return with him.’

‘I don’t get why he doesn’t just order a takeaway,
and, you know, there’s someone at his door.’

Thom gave me a confused smirk. ‘Who are you and
what have you done with Alex?’

‘I’m not saying that’s what he
should
do.
I’m just wondering why he wouldn’t do that. If he’s hungry, I mean, and can’t
lure anyone in.’

‘Thom, she’s got a point.’

‘If someone went missing having just delivered
food to apartment 3b, well – Seth, what would happen?’

‘Alex, he’s got a point. The cops would be all
over that place. Johan would have to move on. If he wants to stay there, he’s
gotta be careful.’

Seth dropped us outside The Poole, before driving
off, saying he would run a few of his errands now.

Thom walked me to the entrance canopy.

‘Now hurry upstairs and out of those wet things,’
he said, kissing me several times before shooing me inside. ‘Please don’t catch
pneumonia. I’ll be back in a short while.’ He turned away.

‘Where is he?’ I asked quickly. ‘Do you have a fix
on him, or a target?’

‘It’s not difficult to find Death in NYC, Alex.’

‘Do you know what’s going to happen, I mean, how
they’ll… die?’

‘Alex, are you seriously asking me about this?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘I can’t explain it. I want – I
need
– to
know things. It feels like curiosity, but it’s beyond that.’

He looked down the street, sighed, and back to me.

‘I’ve sensed Death, yes. There are a few choices
to go with, but I won’t know what’s practical until I’m in plain sight of them.
The strongest fix is the one I’ll go for, because it will probably be in the
next hour or so. – I’m hungry, Alex, and that means I have to go and kill
someone – and yes, you knowing that makes me wonder when you’ll take flight of
me again.’

‘I’m not going anywhere, Thom. I’m dealing with
it. Even if I’m half in denial and half losing my mind, I
am
dealing with
it. I just feel like I need to know things. I should know them.’

‘I have to go.’ He kissed me again, opening the
hotel door. I went inside and watched him through the glass as he crossed the
road with his hands in his pockets. I saw him get to the end of the road. Then,
without much thought, I hurried after him, silently as I could manage.

Thirty-two

‘Father, I firmly do believe – I know – for Death, who comes for me,
from regions of the blest afar, where there is nothing to deceive, hath left
his iron gate ajar, and rays of truth you cannot see, are flashing thro’
Eternity.’

– Edgar Allan Poe,
Tamerlane

How exactly did all this work?
Would Thom feed too quickly for my eyes to grasp? Would I see Death again?

I knew the likelihood of seeing anything was next
to zero, even if I managed to keep up and elude Thom’s sharp sense to anyone’s
presence.

On turning the corner, I saw him ambling through
the mist. He didn’t disappear into the night yet. I continued after him, trying
to keep close to parked up cars, phone boxes – anything I could use for cover. As
I crossed at the next set of lights, I noticed I had now passed 103
^rd
Street. I followed him round another corner, then another, where – late as it
was – people hung around in doorways and shelters. A few of them looked at me,
but I felt safe, so long as Thom was still up ahead. I followed him to the next
corner and I should have predicted what would happen. On turning it after him,
I entered a narrow and completely deserted street. I shielded my eyes from the
rain and looked far up the road. He wasn’t there. He’d gone. I suddenly felt very
stupid and quickly turned to go back.

‘Argh!’ I screamed, bumping straight into a man.
‘Jesus!’

‘Guess again, you nut!’

‘What the hell, Thom! You scared the life out of
me!’ I smacked him instinctively on the chest. ‘Don’t sneak up on me like
that.’

‘You little hypocrite! Why are you following me?
And didn’t you listen to Seth about the streets?’

‘I wanted to see you–’ I cut off.

‘Clearly you can’t do without me!’ he boasted.

‘I wanted to see you…
eat
!’ I admitted,
without much thought or constructiveness to the sentence.

‘What on earth for?’ He frowned. ‘It’s nothing
glamorous, Alex! Quite the opposite in fact. It’ll probably be some half-naked
drug addict behind a dumpster, if I’m lucky, – there are many worse things,
believe me, I’ve seen them and run!’ He almost shuddered. ‘You’re going to
catch pneumonia and–
what
? You think because you can refuse to die, it’s
okay to run the risk of debilitating yourself with crippling illnesses. There
are
such things as fates worse than death, Alex. I’m proof!’

‘Oh, stop it. It’s just a bit of rain. Look– I
can’t explain it. But bearing in mind the role I’m going to play, I want to see
more – I need to come face to face with the darkness of it.’

‘You do realise that the one I feed off is going
to die and I don’t know in what way yet. Do you see what I’m getting at?’ He
grabbed my shoulders. ‘I’m not going to save them, Alex. I’m going to capitalise
on their death! I might even do nothing, determining it a useless sacrifice – from
my own perspective. My victim needs to lose a lot of blood in their chosen departure;
otherwise, they’re unpractical to me. Then I’ll have to select another. But my
point is it’ll be upsetting, probably scarring to you witnessing it.’

I lowered my head. I hadn’t thought of all the
possibilities, because I couldn’t know them. It was precisely why I wanted to
go and learn more.

‘Thom, since surviving death, I’m not exactly the
same person. I know where these people are going.’

‘Alex, there might be violence!’

‘A violent end is upsetting. But knowing what’s
coming afterwards and how quickly they’ll forget it, I feel I can take a
different view.’

He thought a moment in silence.

‘I won’t say you didn’t warn me, Thom.’

He ran his eye over me and sighed, ‘Since you’re
already drenched and we’re close by – this way.’

I walked by his side, looking over to him
occasionally. He didn’t say a word, just stared forwards. I wasn’t going to
change my mind about this.

We approached a small unloved parking lot, or
loading area, with a tattered wire fence and numerous signs. It contained two
cars and the back entrance to some shady establishment, possibly a bar.
Dumpsters flanked the darkened doorway at the top of half a dozen steps.

‘
Its
already lurking nearby,’ said Thom.
‘Here –’ He pulled me down behind one of the cars, which aligned with a brick
wall. ‘Stay low. Don’t bother looking for Death; you won’t see it this time.
Its not coming for you. Its coming for–’ He pointed through the car window
above us, to the doorway, where a young woman hurried through the rain in a red
coat and jeans.

She was perhaps mid-twenties, and rummaged through
her handbag as she ran to dodge the downpour. I hoped she didn’t head for the
car that hid us. Thom sat on the flooded ground next to me, with his forearms
on his knees. He barely looked round – I believe, until he felt Death take
shape.

I shook at the thought of witnessing whatever Fate
had in store for the woman. I saw my reflection in the hubcap. Who had I
become? Could I sit here, listen, and do nothing?

‘Hey!’ a man’s voice yelled from the doorway where
she’d emerged. ‘Wait up!’ His feet sounded down the wet steps. ‘You can’t walk
out now, Marnie, c’mon! Don’t make me drag you back. We had a deal.’

‘Just leave me alone, Dwayne. I’m finished with
you and this place.’

‘You’re finished when I say you’re finished.’

‘Hey– get off me!
Get
off me!’

I started. Thom flung his arm out to keep me
steady, shaking his head doggedly. I obstinately believed in the natural way of
things. But not preventing a murder seemed unnatural, even with all I knew. I
wrestled with it mentally. Clenched my jaw. Sealed my eyes tight.

I barely heard anything more from Marnie or
Dwayne, due perhaps to the downpour. I used that peace to imagine the place I’d
been, where she’d be going. I remembered how at first she would forget.

Thom’s arm had gone when I opened my eyes. I
turned and slowly raised my head to look through the car’s windows. I heard
someone running away, but couldn’t see anyone on the move. For a moment I
thought Thom had intervened because he held Dwayne in his arms. In fact, his
mouth was at his throat and he drank steadily from a wound inflicted there. I’d
assumed Marnie was the victim, when in reality she’d taken no prisoners in self-defence.

Something in me had changed since I met Death and
returned from limbo, on account of wanting to see this. But I was glad I hadn’t
been so desensitised for what I now witnessed. It was gruesome, but necessary
for Thom to do.

I watched through the rain until Thom pulled his
head back. There I noticed his extended eyeteeth exiting the man’s flesh. The
sight of them, strangely, brought upon me a strong feeling of possessiveness
over him. He carefully laid the man on the ground. Walking round the car, I saw
a knife on the concrete, which the rain was washing clean. He approached me,
wiping his mouth.

Grasping my arm, he turned me about and led me
away quickly. He didn’t look at me or speak until we were halfway back to the
hotel, by which time the rain had stopped.

‘You’ll think differently of me now you’ve seen
that. I regret letting you. I should’ve raced on ahead from the hotel.’

I didn’t think differently of him, but for the present
I couldn’t talk. He saw this and wrapped me in his coat, before carrying me the
rest of the way. Then up to my room.

He ran me a warm bath and placed me in it fully
dressed. I needed it; the shock numbed me as much as the cold. He gave me a
brandy from the minibar.

After perhaps an hour he coaxed me out. I dried
myself off and got into bed with my hair wrapped up in a towel.

‘Try to sleep, Alex.’

‘Stay,’ I said. ‘Your scent is about the only
thing that could help me close my eyes tonight. The drink was good, but anymore
and I might vomit.’

‘Okay.’ He seemed relieved, and in his shirt and slacks,
he climbed on the bed to lay next to me. He stroked my arm soothingly until I
soon fell asleep.

I woke to an image of Dwayne
vanishing. I sat up. It was early morning. I looked round and saw Thom asleep next
to me on the bed.

He roused merely because I had.

‘You were sleeping, Thom.’

‘First time since you left me that Sunday morning.’

‘Really?’

‘Going without sleep became easier than trying to
close my eyes.’ He sat up. ‘It’s not necessary to me, Alex, for strength or
otherwise, but it can improve my mood. How are
you
feeling?’

‘I’m okay. I needed to see that. Do you understand
why?’

‘Yes. I had all night to think about it. When it
comes to the dark work ahead, you needed some of the shock and horror to have
already passed over you. I get it. I have to wake Seth, find out how far he got
with our preparations. Last week when we came, very little was done. – Order
yourself some breakfast. I’ll be back in a moment.’

I wasn’t at all hungry, but I forced myself to eat
something knowing that later I would rely on the energy. When Thom returned he sat
down next to the window, which had a view of a busy four-lane road.

‘Seth made progress last night,’ he told me, with
a pained grin. ‘It is falling into place, and you will very soon, quite
literally, be putting your lovely neck on the line for me.’

‘That is the plan, Thom.’

‘Yes, but I am now the one having second
thoughts.’

‘I’m not even going to entertain them. This is
happening. What can I do to help today?’

‘You don’t need to do anything. I must return to
Johan’s apartment, to watch him. Seth has other things to do.’

‘Well, I can’t come with you in the daytime,
right?’

‘Right.’

‘So can I go with Seth and help him?’

‘If you like. He’s gone out already to get some
things, but later he has a job that’s not dangerous. In fact, knowing you, you’ll
probably enjoy it.’

‘What is it?’

‘I’m not going to spoil the surprise. Wear
something you don’t mind ruining and I’ll tell Seth to come back for you.’

I got a hearty kissing before he said goodbye.

Seth knocked at my door within two hours.

‘Ready?’

‘Where to?’ I followed him down the corridor to
the stairs.

He laughed. ‘Thom told me not to say. He said that
this was the kind of thing you’d really like, which is weird, but then you
Brits kinda are. So I’m not saying a word till we get there.’

We got in the car and Seth pulled away.

‘Shall I wear a blindfold?’ I joked.

‘We’re heading for route 25, east, out of Manhattan.
That’s all I’m saying for now.’

I watched out the window, looking at the immediate
differences between this city and my own. The shop names, the people, the cars
and buses. The skyline wasn’t unlike London’s, the tall buildings just spread farther.

‘What do you do for a living, Seth?’

He laughed. ‘Risk assessment, would you believe!’

‘Ironic.’

‘Yep. I never assessed anything so risky in my
life, and I’m currently unemployed!’

‘What’s this crossing?’ I asked, spying a bridge up
ahead.

‘59
^th
Street Bridge. Takes us over to Roosevelt
Island and on to Queens. The place we’re going is about seven or eight
kilometres away.’

I stared down to the roads below, before we got to
the East River. I traced up the repetitive shapes of the apartment blocks and
hotels, the square windows in their thousands. Soon my mind wandered, busy on
the events of last night. It was some time before Seth announced –

‘We’re here.’ He cruised down a residential street
and pointed out the window to a little park area. It was an odd little
greenery, behind a high fence, snugly tucked between relatively tall apartment
buildings on either side. We passed it and Seth turned at the end of the road.

‘Its rear entrance should be down here,’ he said,
turning again into another street, which ran parallel to the first. ‘There it
is.’

We circled again, arriving back at the front
entrance.

‘The law protects this place,’ he said, pulling
over. ‘That’s why developments only surround it.’

‘But what is this place?’ I asked, my eyes tracing
the diamond-wire fence along the sidewalk.

Seth put on a Yankees baseball cap and tipped it
down at the front.

‘One thing Thom asked me to find was a graveyard
like this,’ he said, climbing out the car and heading for a central gate.

‘A graveyard?’ I muttered, following him.

It was hardly recognisable as such from here, so
overgrown and buried between the apartment buildings on either side. Once we
trespassed on its soil, I saw the small crumbling tombstones hidden within the
undergrowth. Some were unmarked, but others bore dates of the mid-eighteenth century.

‘The front access looks the best,’ he said
quietly, moving through the pathless place. ‘It’s more overgrown for cover. See
across the street? That building site won’t be lit up or occupied at night. And
this thick canopy of trees above us will spoil the view from all the overlooking
windows.’

I realised something.

‘Did Thom actually tell you to find a graveyard? I
don’t mean to be funny with specifics, Seth, but knowing Thom, if he said
graveyard, he probably really meant a graveyard. This is no graveyard.’

‘Actually, he asked for a cemetery. I just said
graveyard because I thought it was the same thing. What am I missing?’

‘The church. A graveyard is adjacent to a church.
A cemetery isn’t.’

‘Wow. All the research I just did and that never
came up. I didn’t think to look at differences in the names.’

‘So you’re sure Thom said he wanted a cemetery?’

‘He definitely said cemetery. In fact, we had
quite a discussion on it. I was telling him that there’s only one remaining
active cemetery on the Isle of Manhattan, which is out of the question, because
it’s reserved for officials. I got a little carried away with everything I’d
been reading up on.’ – Here Seth deepened his voice and mimicked a British
accent. – ‘“Incidentally,” said Thom – you know how he likes to get shirty! “I
didn’t ask you for a list of active cemeteries, but I suppose that was easy to
misinterpret.” So I told him that cemeteries were no longer built here since
the nineteenth century – and this is where Thom said, “You’re getting off the
point. I don’t want just any inactive cemetery. I want an old relic of some former
gravesite. A place long forgotten where no mourner will visit to weep over a
loved one. Where no gardener will surprise us at dawn with his lawnmower and
shears! I want so ancient a place, cut off from society; completely cast out of
the minds of the twenty-first century, one overgrown and undervalued.”’