Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (17 page)

The house was
more or less tidy again. The damage minimal - a few broken panes of
glass, some stains on the carpets, a broken coffee table, the
kitchen TV had been nicked and the front lawn was wrecked. But
Maddy thought they’d got off lightly. Tomorrow she’d get the
windows and orangery fixed, but tonight she just wanted to curl up
on the sofa and watch some rubbishy movie on the TV.

Ben wasn’t saying a lot today. He’d puked this morning and
had sworn he’d never again let alcohol pass his lips. Maddy had
said
she
was
never going to let alcohol pass his lips again either.

‘
You’re twelve years old, Ben. What did you think you were
doing, drinking alcohol?’

‘
You’re under age too,’ Ben huffed.

‘
Yeah you’re right, mate. Let’s make a pact. No more getting
wasted, okay?’

He
scowled.

‘
Oh dear, someone’s hung over,’ Maddy said, pretending to
throw up.

‘
Shut up, Maddy,’ he said, trying to be annoyed with her, but
laughing at the same time.

‘
And they called him ‘Puke Boy’!’

‘
Maddy, shut up.’

*

If Esther and
Morris thought anything about Madison’s party, or the state of the
place, they kept it to themselves, for which Maddy was grateful.
She’d never liked explaining herself and was relieved she didn’t
have to actually have any of the conversations she’d practiced in
her head.

Travis paid
her a visit on the Thursday after the party and they wandered
across to the deer park together. Maddy got the feeling Travis had
a bit of a crush on her.

‘
Your parents still away then?’

She didn’t
know why, but she didn’t want to tell him she had no parents. That
it was just her and Ben living in the house.

‘
Mmm,’ she answered. ‘Did you have a good time on
Saturday?’

‘
Definitely. Everyone’s talking about it.’

‘
Well, it was your tunes that got the place going.’

‘
I was alright wasn’t I?’

‘
Yeah and modest too.’

‘
No. I just meant ...’ He blushed.

‘
Relax, I’m taking the Michael.’

‘
It’s just, I mean, I haven’t played in front of a crowd
before and I’m glad I didn’t corpse or anything. I didn’t see much
of
you
though.’

‘
Yeah well, I was too busy being the hostess with the mostess
wasn’t I,’ she lied.
Too busy freaking
out, more like
.

‘
If you want to make it a regular thing, I could DJ for you
any time.’

‘
I’ll think about it
.’ Thought about
it – answer’s no
.

Travis stayed
for supper and then played a few games of pool with her and Ben.
When it got to ten o’clock, with Travis showing no signs of
leaving, Maddy stretched and yawned.

‘
Right then. I’m gonna go to bed now, so ...’ She felt mean,
kicking him out, but she could do without any complications in her
life right now. She was still adjusting to everything and although
Travis seemed like a sweet guy, she didn’t want to give him the
wrong impression.

‘
Cool, cool,’ he said. ‘Cheers for the food. I’ll come and see
you again. Maybe we could go out sometime?’

‘
Yeah, that would be nice. It’s good to have made a friend
already.’

‘
A friend, yeah.’

She stepped
outside with him. He hopped up into his yellow transit and
waved.

‘
Travis, wait!’ Maddy called out to him over the rumbling
engine, before he drove away. ‘Are you around tomorrow?’

Travis gave
her a big smile. ‘I can be.’

‘
I’ve just had an idea. But I need your help. It might take
all day if that’s okay?’

‘
Shall I come round about nine?’

‘
Ten?’

‘
Ten’s cool. See you tomorrow, Maddy.’

‘
See you tomorrow, Travis.’ Maddy hugged herself in
excitement. She’d just had a brilliant brainwave and didn’t know
why she hadn’t thought of it before.

Chapter
Ten

1881

*

Havva Sahin
stared at Alexandre and chuckled, a wheezing sound that broke down
into a wracking cough.

‘
Are you alright, Great Grandmother?’ Asil
Rais
asked.

She managed to
stop coughing and carried on speaking to Alexandre, ignoring her
great grandson’s concern.

‘
You are not merely passing through our village.’ She smiled
at him in a most unnerving manner, gazing into his eyes as if
challenging him to disagree. It felt to Alexandre as though she
could see through to the very essence of him. Finally she spoke
again.

‘
Aah, you are a good man. But alas you are mistaken in your
beliefs, or should I say your non-beliefs. Ha!’ She broke down into
more wheezing laughter at this last statement.

Alexandre
looked back at the woman, at her clear, bright eyes, not rheumy and
clouded like an old person’s. Could this well-to-do great
grandmother be the old woman in the village they were searching
for? He had expected to find a wizened old crone in a stone shack.
Had they stumbled across the right person so quickly? What luck if
they had.

She seemed to
know why he had come and it amused her. Maybe word had already
reached her of the archaeologists and their discoveries. He looked
sideways at Isik and the guard shrugged.

‘
Great Grandmother?’ Asil Rais asked with worry in his voice.
Everybody looked from her to Alexandre, with puzzlement. ‘Are you
well? Do you know this man? Do you know Monsieur Chevalier?’ She
batted away his questions with her wrinkled hand. He turned to
Alexandre. ‘Does she know you?’ he asked sharply.

‘
Why is Great Grandmother laughing like that?’ asked Aysun.
‘Did she make a joke?’

‘
Hush, Aysun,’ her mother chided.

Alexandre
started to feel uncomfortable. These people were now looking at him
with suspicion.

‘
I repeat,’ said Asil Rais to Alexandre. ‘Do you know my Great
Grandmother?’

‘
No, Sir. We have never met before.’

‘
Then I must apologise to you. She must be unwell. Would you
like to rest, Great Grandmother?’ He turned to his eldest daughter.
‘Take her to her room, Ayla.’

Havva Sahin
stopped laughing abruptly and looked again at Alexandre. She spoke
to him in a chilling tone.

‘
I will warn you once again. Do not ask me your questions, for
it will be your greatest misfortune that I will answer every one of
them.’

‘
Grandmother? Grandmother, what are you speaking about?’
Asil
Rais
looked
more and more alarmed. ‘Are you ill?’

‘
I am perfectly fine,’ the old lady snapped at him. She
appeared to have shaken herself out of her trance-like state and
had stopped staring at Alexandre. Instead, she had transferred her
gaze to the large plate of mezze on the table. ‘Let us eat, I am
hungry.’

*

Alexandre was
unable to believe his good fortune. Havva Sahin knew the ancient
legends as if she had lived them herself.

‘
It is an old tale. Passed down through generation after
generation as a warning not to undo what has been done.’

Her eyes
glazed and she smiled as if remembering something good.

‘
There was a glorious time in our ancient history where peace
reigned for centuries. Our people lived in harmony. All beliefs
were tolerated, embraced even, and our culture flourished and
bloomed. Art, science, philosophy … we could revel in these
pursuits for there were no invaders and no warfare. We accepted
life would be like this for eternity, for what could happen to
disrupt such a paradise? Who would want to destroy
perfection?

‘
But it is just when such acceptance occurs, that things begin
to go wrong. We must
never
assume. We must be merely be grateful and give
thanks for the minutes we are allowed.

‘
And so the corruption of our lands began. A group of weary
travellers came by night to our region, to the small village of
Zelmat - a half day’s ride from here. They were beautiful but
strange and the local people feared they carried a plague. But they
begged for shelter and it was offered – a small cave with a well
spring in the valley, just south of the village. It was a quiet
place with five stone columns ranged around its entrance like
guardians.

‘
A local physician heard of their arrival and wondered about
the condition that ailed them and so he paid them a visit. They
said that the light hurt their eyes and the heat of the day was
uncomfortable. That they preferred to make their appearances by
night. The physician did not recognise such a disease and was
unable to treat them.

‘
They told him they came with disturbing news of a planned
invasion from a warfaring tribe who lived across the sea. That
these foreigners were arming and preparing to come, for they
coveted our land for themselves. The village elders dismissed the
travellers’ claims, but many of the villagers grew uneasy and word
soon spread of the impending invasion.

‘
What could they do? The art of warfare had been lost to them,
for there had been no need to take up arms for centuries. They
would all be slaughtered or enslaved or worse. Our people began to
feel fear.

‘
The travellers settled in well to the community, apart from
their odd habit of sleeping by day and waking by night. In response
to the panic at the threat of invasion, they came to see the
village elders and put forward an ingenious suggestion. Why not
build hidden underground shelters for everybody to hide in?
Shelters which could not be seen from above ground. They could fill
them with enough provisions to see them through any raid that might
occur.

‘
This suggestion took root and the idea grew and grew until
plans were drawn up for the construction of a vast underground city
that would support every one indefinitely. There would be stables
and kitchens, churches, a well spring. In short, everything vital
to life.

‘
Work commenced in earnest. It was as if a line had been drawn
on their old contented ways. Everybody ceased their idyllic
pursuits and began, instead, to chip away at the rock - tunnelling,
burrowing, hacking and scraping. It was exhausting, back-breaking
work, but vital to their survival and they toiled as if the devil
himself was whipping their aching bent bodies.’

‘
Where did they build the entrance to this underground city?’
Isik interrupted.

‘
Many people have asked this question over the years. The
answer has been lost in history.’

‘
What about the cave with the well spring?’ Alexandre asked.
‘In the village where the strangers were housed?’

‘
There is no trace of such a place near Zelmat. People have
searched but have never found the cave with its pillars.’ Havva
shrugged her shoulders. ‘It is a lost city. And once you have heard
the tale in its entirety, perhaps you will agree that it is a good
thing.’

Alexandre
tried to hide his dismay at this news. His father would be sorely
disappointed. ‘I apologise for the interruption. Please do continue
with the story. It is a fascinating tale.’

The other
diners were also transfixed.

‘
I never tire of hearing the legends,’ Asil
Rais
said. ‘Grandmother
has been telling us these tales since we were children. She has a
wonderful memory for stories. It is a gift she has.’

‘
Flatterer,’ she laughed. ‘So, I will continue.

‘
The city took years to build. Nobody thought it odd that they
had not seen one single invader in all that time. They were too
consumed with their task of building, tunnelling and scooping out
the earth and rock.

‘
The city was vast with many levels and stretched for miles
but, best of all, there was no trace of it above ground and no
invader would imagine there was such a world beneath their
marauding feet. The local people stockpiled supplies. They carried
down mountains of grains, pulses, animal feed, dried fruit, herbs
and spices. Barrels of wine, strong liquor and olive oil were
rolled into the underground storehouses. They mined copper ore to
take down for melting and linseed was to be used for lamp
oil.

‘
They rounded up the livestock and herded it down into dark
rock-hewn stables. Lastly, the villagers harvested all the fresh
produce they could, in preparation for moving every trace of their
lives below ground. They did not even sow seeds for the coming
seasons for they did not want to give any clue of the civilisation
who once lived there.

‘
And so, late one night, under cover of darkness, the
inhabitants from Zelmat and from the other villages in the region
gathered in front of the five white pillars at the cave entrance to
their new city, to make their way below ground. They did not know
how long they would have to live there, but as long as the threat
from invasion remained, they would be safe, hidden away from the
world.