Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (30 page)

‘
There you go, Ben,’ Esther said. ‘She’s awake. No need for
hospitals.’

‘
Maddy, how are you? We was so worried.’ Ben leant over his
sister, examining her face for any further signs of
illness.

Madison opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She
mouthed the word
water
and Esther helped her to sit up, passed her a glass and
helped her to drink.

‘
You’ve been so ill, Mads. Talking in your sleep and
everything. You’ve been asleep for three days. Three days! I mean,
is that a record or something?’

Maddy tried to
take it all in. Three days? It only felt like this morning that she
had crawled out of the cellar … The cellar! She had left the cellar
door open and the halogen light on. The entrance to the secret room
was uncovered. Had Esther been down there and seen the room? Worse
still, had she seen what was in there?

That statue was alive and dangerous. It hadn’t killed her,
but she was sure it could easily have done so. She thought of all
the times she had sat millimetres away from it and she shivered.
But it
had
felt
incredible when her wrist was in its mouth … No, don’t even go
there.

‘…
Maddy. Mads? Are you listening? I was just saying
...’

‘
Leave her be now, Ben. She needs rest.’ Esther led Ben out of
the room.

‘
Sleeping again? She will be okay won’t she?’

Maddy tuned
out and fell back into a deep dreamless sleep.

Chapter
Eighteen

1881

*

Harold awoke
in his tent. His throat burned and his head felt as though someone
had sawed through it with a rusty blade. He opened his dry, swollen
eyes and looked up, expecting to see Victoria. Then he remembered.
Could it have happened? Please God, let it have been a
nightmare.

Refet walked
into the tent. The young guard sat cross-legged next to Harold and
held a tin cup of water to his cracked lips.

‘
Did it happen?’ Harold croaked, sipping at the deliciously
cool liquid.

Refet nodded
twice and lowered his eyes. ‘I am sorry.’

His wife was
dead. She had been stolen from him. But his children … ‘Leonora!
Freddie,’ Harold cried. He suddenly remembered the rest - what his
children had become. He felt Refet’s hand on his shoulder. Thoughts
came to him of the legend of the demons. But it was impossible.

He had to know
where his children were. Did Refet know of their strange awakening?
Or had they remained unconscious, their condition undetected?

‘
We have put all bodies into wood ... uh how you call
them?’

‘
Wooden coffins,’ Harold said quietly.’

‘
Yes, cor-fins.’ Refet lowered his eyes. ‘They all in first
cave near the ground. You take home.’

Harold nodded
and breathed a long sigh of relief. Refet did not realise all was
not as it seemed. The dim light must have prevented the guards from
seeing the changed nature of the children. They should all be safe
below ground. He would go down and see if they still lived.

He hoped they were
all
risen from the dead and that he would be able to
hold his dear wife once more. He tried to sit up, but to move his
body, was to feel sharp needles piercing his skin and bones. He
groaned with the shock of pain.

‘
Stay, stay,’ Refet said. You must get well. You have been ill
with fever.’

‘
I must see my family,’ he wheezed.

‘
They not go anywhere. You must stay. Rest.’

‘
But you do not understand …’ Harold tried to sit up again,
but this time he almost passed out.

‘
I know you want see, but first you rest,’ Refet said. ‘You
sleeping three days, but maybe you need more.’

‘
Three days!’ Harold ignored the shards of pain in his head
and pushed himself up. ‘But they need me, I must go to them!’ He
tried to stand and instantly fainted.

Harold drifted
in and out of consciousness for two more days before waking again
in the middle of the night. This time, the pain was a dull ache
throughout his body. Refet slept at the foot of his bed, his deep,
regular breaths filling the tent. He was a good man, Harold thought
as he pulled on a pair of crumpled breeches and crept past him.

He walked
shakily to the ventilation shaft. Two guards sat at its mouth and
he motioned to them to lower him down. They looked at each other
with worried expressions, but Harold insisted and they eventually
complied. The rope cut into his chest and he felt dizzy and sick.
He forced himself to continue and not shout to the men to pull him
back up. Once at the bottom he had to sit for a minute until he
felt strong enough to stand.

The coffins
lay in the small chamber. Eight of them. Harold guessed the three
containing the guards’ bodies had already been transported back to
their families, unless they too were changed.

He prised open
the lid to the first one. In it lay the five-day-old corpse of his
beloved Victoria. She was quite, quite dead and Harold felt the hot
sweat of nausea sweep up from his gut to his scalp. He staggered
over to the corner of the room and dry-retched. He did not vomit,
but his body shuddered and heaved and his hands shook
uncontrollably.

He pulled
himself together and tried not to think of the body as anything to
do with the vibrant, wonderful woman who used to be his wife. He
replaced the lid and sat in the slimy darkness. All hope of being
reunited with his beloved was gone forever. He had lost her. But he
could not afford to give into his misery now. He had to check if
there was still a possibility his children were … if they were …
alive?

Harold got to
his feet and opened the next box, preparing himself for another
awful sight. In it, he saw Alexandre. But this was Alexandre as he
had never seen him before and not in a stomach-churning,
decaying-corpse way. Before he died, Alexandre had undoubtedly been
a handsome youth, but now … now he appeared almost luminescent in
his beauty. Pale and flawless.

Harold was
transfixed. He nervously put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and
tried to shake him awake, but his body felt rigid and hard, like
stone. Alexandre did not move a millimetre. He did not even appear
to be breathing. There was no doubt then. Something supernatural
had occurred and the only explanation was that he had become one of
the demons. But surely these kind vibrant children could not have
become demonic.

‘
My children,’ he whispered. ‘Are you too like
this?’

He set about
opening each of the coffins. Marie-Louise and Didier were
undoubtedly as dead as his wife, but all five children were
transformed into these amazing sculpted creatures. None of them
woke or twitched a muscle. Harold desperately tried to shake
Leonora awake, but she would not rouse.

He fumbled
around for a sharp stone and dragged it across his fingertip. His
blood dripped onto his daughter’s lips, but still she did not
stir.

He finally
replaced the lids and called up to the guards to lift him out of
the cavern.

Later that
morning, after sleeping a while longer, Harold awoke, washed and
dressed. Refet smiled to see the Englishman up and about. Over the
past few days he had made it his duty to ensure he was cared for
properly and had whatever he needed.

‘
Refet,’ Harold said as they ate lunch together. ‘I do not
believe I have thanked you properly for your part in what happened
the other night. I would surely be dead, if not for you. Thank you.
I am in your debt.’

‘
You are welcome,’ Refet said. ‘But I did nothing.’

‘
No, you are too modest. You are a brave man of excellent
character and I know Isik would have been proud of you.’

‘
He was like father to me,’ Refet said. ‘I still not know what
happened down there.’

‘
Did you not then discover anything of what occurred that
night?’

‘
No one want look there. Too frightened. They say … the blood
demons.’

‘
Do you know of this legend?’

‘
I did not know the full story which Bayan Sahin told. But
everyone here has always known of the legend of these
creatures.

‘
What did they do?’

‘
They killed people. They evil.’

‘
Did they ever transform people? Make people like
them?’

‘
Yes. They change some. Maybe to make bigger numbers of their
kind. Why you ask? You think demons kill you family?’

‘
Maybe.’

‘
I too think maybe.’

Harold looked
at Refet, trying to work out how much to tell him. He decided to
stay silent on the matter for the time being,

‘
I thank you for the part you played, my friend.’ Harold
repeated. ‘I thank you from the depths of my soul.’

‘
You too are my friend,’ Refet said, putting his clenched fist
to his heart and clasping Harold’s arm. ‘I wish could take your
sorrow and throw in river.’

‘
Yes, that would be good,’ Harold replied. ‘But I am afraid no
river will ever wash away this pain.’

*

Before leaving
Turkey, Harold approached Refet with a request.

‘
Refet, my friend, please do not feel obliged to say yes, but
I have a proposition for you.’

The young
guard listened.

‘
I may need some help on my journey back to England and then,
once home, I will have need of a trusted employee to help me with
something most sensitive and secret. I should like to offer you a
job, for life, with me in England.’

Refet said
nothing, but waited for Harold to continue.

‘
I have a large, beautiful house and there is another
decent-sized property on the edge of my land that you could have as
your own.’

Refet waited,
but then when it was clear Harold had finished talking, he
spoke.

‘
This sounds like good … chance for young man like me, but
forgive me, Harold, Sir, I not think you tell me whole truth. You
must tell me what secret you hide.’

‘
Yes, Refet, you are right. I have not told you everything,
for in truth I do not know how you will react to this news and I
need to know I can trust you not to betray my family. Do not take
that as an insult, for I know you are a trustworthy man. It is just
... well ... what I am about to tell you may cause us to
disagree.’

‘
I not understand. But I never betray you. You have my
word.’

‘
Even if what I tell you is so shocking your first instinct is
to do just that.’

‘
I try to, how you say? Think, before do anything. But I worry
now. Why you not just tell me?’

‘
Yes, I will tell you. I will tell you.’ Harold said, but then
he hesitated. If he told Refet about the children, he had to be
sure he would not try to destroy them. He knew they may be
potential killers and once he had taken them from the underground
caverns, they could be a threat to anyone. He did not know if their
human character had changed. But he also knew that, killers or no
killers, he would lay down his own life to protect them.
 

Refet waited
for Harold to decide whether or not he trusted him enough to share
his secret.

‘
My children are not dead,’ Harold finally said. ‘Come with me
and I will show you.’

Refet said
nothing but followed him down into the dark ventilation shaft to
the coffins. Harold opened one of them and on viewing its contents
Refet appeared more shocked and horrified than if he had been
looking at a stinking, rotting corpse. He found himself staring
down at Alexandre who was monstrously, supernaturally
beautiful.

‘
What is this?’ Refet whispered.

‘
Do not worry,’ Harold clasped his shoulders. ‘He will not
harm you. He has been changed but he does not stir. See? He is
still.’

Refet backed
away and took hold of the rope. He said something in his native
language and then switched to English. ‘We not safe. I know they
were you family, but they gone. These ... someone else. Not same as
you family or friends.’

‘
Please, Refet. Wait. They may have changed but they will
always be my children and I need your trust and your help. Will you
help me? My offer still stands. We can try to puzzle this out
together.’

‘
I go up now. We not safe down here.’ Refet shinned up the
rope and pulled Harold up after him.

Harold gave
Refet space to think about his proposal. He prayed he would not
tell the other guards or try to harm the children, but he did not
think he was the sort to do anything rash.

That night,
Refet came to Harold and agreed to help him. But Harold knew it was
more from a desire to keep an eye on them, than to actually protect
them from danger or from being discovered.

‘
I will come with you. I feel it my duty. If they do something
wrong I must stop them. You understand this?’

‘
Yes, Refet,’ Harold understood. ‘That is
acceptable.’

*

A few days
later, Harold had recovered enough to make the long journey home to
England. They loaded up the carts and Harold ensured the coffins
were sealed up tight. He did not know for certain if daylight was
harmful to them but, according to the legend, the ancient demons
had not come out during the day and he did not want to take any
chances with his children’s safety. He covered the wagons over with
thick sheets.