Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) (40 page)

‘
I apologise,’ Alexandre said. ‘You know, you and my brother
would get on like a house on fire.’ He turned to Madison. ‘When
Jacques and Freddie wake up, I fear we will not get a moment’s
peace.’

‘
Do you eat?’

‘
No. I do not require food.’

Ben accepted Alexandre’s existence with eagerness and an
endless stream of questions.
How fast can
you run? Can you feel pain? How long will you live for? Do you
bleed? What sort of stuff did you do in the nineteenth century? Was
it really boring?
He asked absolutely
everything that came into his head and he, Maddy and Alexandre
spent the whole evening talking, laughing and being amazed by the
bizarre circumstances which had brought them all
together.

*

The following
day, Madison decided that if Alexandre was serious about embracing
the twenty first century, he would have to look the part. So, as
soon as the sun had set, she ventured down into the cellar and
knocked on the door to his room.

‘
Welcome to my beautiful home,’ Alexandre said.

‘
Ooh, twenty first century sarcasm,’ said Madison. ‘You’re
learning. But I agree,’ she said looking around her. ‘It’s pretty
gross down here. We’ll have to bling it up a bit ... um, I mean
make it a bit more comfortable.’

‘
I would be very grateful. I may be a vampire, but it is not
the cheeriest place to spend the day.’

‘
We’ll get to it. But right now we’ve got something much more
important to do. Follow me.’ She walked up the stairs into the
kitchen, put on her coat and picked up her bag. ‘You haven’t been
in a car yet have you?’

‘
No.’

‘
I found these in the shed. I think they belong to Morris and
I’m really sorry but you’ll have to put them on.’ She handed him
some old gardening clothes. ‘It’s just … I can’t take you out in
that suit you’re wearing. People will think you’re in fancy dress
and you don’t want to draw any more attention to
yourself.’

Alexandre held
out the scruffy cords and faded blue sweatshirt she’d given him. He
wrinkled his nose in distaste. ‘Now, Madison. I know you do not
expect me to put on these ... these revolting garments.’

‘
I’m feeling your pain, but yes, Alex, I’m afraid I do expect
you to put them on. But only so we don’t get stared at, which we
will if you go out wearing your nineteenth century stuff. Because,
Alex, my friend, the sales are on and we are going late night
shopping.’

A car horn
sounded outside.

‘
And that’s our taxi. Quick, I won’t look. Put them on and we
can go.’

Alexandre
sighed and got changed. Maddy looked him up and down, liking what
she saw.

‘
Nice. Let’s go.’ He followed her out into the icy night and
then into the dieselly warmth of the yellow taxi. Maddy stole a
glance at him. Even with Morris’ hideous work clothes on, he still
looked like something out of a film set.

‘
You going into Bath then?’ the taxi driver asked.

‘
Yeah, please,’ Maddy replied.

‘
Nice house you got.’

‘
Thanks.’

The driver
started talking into his radio and Alexandre looked at Madison for
an explanation.

‘
I’ll tell you later,’ she mouthed at him.

‘
Very well,’ he replied.

Maddy wore a
short denim skirt and she caught him looking down at her legs. He
looked away quickly into the darkness outside his window. Maddy
smiled.

*

‘
We’ll keep it simple. I wouldn’t normally shop here because
it’s a bit vanilla for my taste, but I’m pretty sure you’ll look
amazing in everything.’

They walked
down the crowded high street with all the other late night shoppers
until they reached the white painted façade of Gap. She held his
arm and steered him into the brightly lit store. He winced under
the hot lights.

‘
You okay?’ she asked.

‘
I am well. It is merely that these lights are insufferably
bright.’

She looked at
Alexandre, trying to work out if he blended in with the other
shoppers. The answer to that question was most definitely, ‘no’.
But not because he was a vampire. It was because he was the most
stunning being she had ever laid eyes on.

Well over six
feet tall and broad shouldered, Alexandre was a study in beauty. He
gave off an aura that drew all eyes his way. The female shop staff
were already making a beeline for him and she pulled him over to a
quiet corner.

‘
I think we need to get this done as quickly as possible or
you’re gonna get mobbed.’

Alexandre
looked at her with incomprehension.

‘
Right,’ she continued. ‘Jeans.’ She grabbed a pair and held
them out in front of him. ‘Too short.’ She flicked through the
denim stack and found a longer length. ‘Take those, and those.’ She
grabbed a couple of inoffensive hoodies, a cable knit jumper, some
long-sleeved and short-sleeved t-shirts and bundled them into his
arms.

He followed
her to the changing rooms, where one of the female sales staff
pointed him to a free cubicle, her jaw almost hanging off its
hinges in admiration. She narrowed her eyes at Madison who made to
follow him in.

‘
How many items have you got?’ she asked.

‘
None,’ replied Maddy. ‘I’m with him.’

‘
You can’t go in unless you’ve got something to try
on.’

Maddy grabbed
a pair of men’s jeans off the rack in front of her.

‘
One item,’ she said to the girl.

Maddy stood
outside Alexandre’s cubicle.

‘
How’s it going? Do they fit okay?’

He pulled back
the curtain and stood there looking as miserable as it was possible
to look.

‘
I loathe these clothes. They are labourers’ clothes. Am I
going to work in the fields?’

‘
Alex, take my word for it. You look good.’

‘
I fear you are mocking me again, Mademoiselle.’

‘
You don’t need to fear anything. You look hot.’ The dark blue
jeans and grey hoodie were perfection. His black tousled hair and
nineteenth century sideburns suddenly looked bang up to date.
‘Don’t bother trying on the rest. They’ll fit you no problem. Let’s
just grab some underwear and socks. Keep that stuff on.’

She picked out
a navy military style coat in wool and a couple of beanies, just
because she liked them. She knew he didn’t feel the cold, but he
had to look the part.

He stood
morosely by the till while she paid.

‘
Trainers next and I think you’d look cool in a pair of biker
boots.’ He trailed round with her while she made him try on
Converse baseball boots, a pair of Vans and some grungy black biker
boots.

‘
Oh this is tedious,’ he groaned. ‘Can we please do something
more interesting? Everybody looks as though they are in a trance,
going in and out of these over-illuminated buildings, trying on
hideous garments.’

Madison stared at him and laughed. ‘Oh, you are
so
the typical bloke.
What a surprise. Who would have thought it? ‘Alex hates shopping’.
Well join the rest of the male population. Anyway, you’ll be
pleased to know, we’re almost done.’

‘
Almost! But we have bought up the entire street. What could
possibly be left for us to purchase?’

‘
Just a couple more things.’

He followed
her into a crowded bookshop.

‘
Wait here,’ she said, pointing to a faded blue sofa. He sat
down - an island in an ocean of shopping bags. Madison went
straight to the History section. She picked out several hardbacks
detailing European history over the past couple of centuries,
including one of purely French history and one of English
history.

‘
You might find these interesting,’ she said.

He took them
from her and examined the covers. ‘You are a very thoughtful
person,’ he said. ‘I am sorry I have been such a ...’

‘…
such a moody git,’ she finished.

‘
Yes, a ‘moody git’. Do you forgive me?’

‘
Nothing to forgive. Come on, let’s pay for these and go
home.’

*

Maddy
remembered what Alexandre had said about Harold using the shutters
during the day to keep the daylight out and so she reinstated them.
She told Esther they must remain closed at all times and she also
told her that a friend would be staying indefinitely. To Madison’s
surprise, this elicited nothing more than a nod. Funny, as Esther
usually had something to say about everything.

Madison hired
a team of builders to completely gut and transform the cellar into
a luxurious suite of windowless rooms with a lounge, five bedrooms
and two bathrooms. They would also put in a separate entrance, so
when the others awoke, they would be able to come and go as they
pleased.

While all this
was going on, Alexandre would stay on the top floor of the house.
He carried the other four upstairs, sealing their crates shut so
they would be safe from the light and from prying eyes. But first,
another matter needed to be addressed. One that really worried
Madison.

She stared out
of the lounge window and realised she couldn’t put it off any
longer. She would have to tell Alexandre about the bones she’d
found in the cellar; the skeleton she had been so terrified of when
she first discovered the hidden room. It was obviously the remains
of her ancestor, Harold Swinton, but because he was a friend of
Alexandre’s, she felt totally embarrassed about how she’d bundled
him into a crate and shoved him out of sight.

When she
finally plucked up the courage to tell him, he was immediately
sympathetic.

‘
Do not take it too much to heart,’ Alexandre said, watching
her pace around the lounge. He stood in front of her and put a hand
on her arm. ‘Your reaction was perfectly normal. Isobel would have
screamed the house down and run for her life.’

‘
Yeah, no offence to Isobel, but she’s a Victorian chick and
I’m supposed to be an enlightened street-wise hard-ass, not a
wuss.’

‘
I maybe understood about three words in that sentence,’
Alexandre replied.

‘
Translation – I’m embarrassed at being so scared of a
skeleton and ashamed I treated Harold like that.’ She covered her
face and cringed as she remembered her over-reaction to the
discovery of the skeleton.

‘
You did not know who it was. You have nothing to be
embarrassed about. You live with five vampires; you’re the bravest
girl I know.’

‘
That’s true,’ she nodded and half-heartedly smiled. ‘But at
the moment, I’m also the
only
girl you know.’

‘
Poor Harold,’ Alexandre said. ‘He does need to be given a
proper burial.’

‘
His tombstone’s already in the chapel,’ Maddy said, sitting
down. ‘It’s got his name and the dates on it. But how can that be
true when his skeleton’s here in the house?’

‘
He must have been given a false burial. Refet must have
arranged for a funeral without his body.’

‘
That makes sense.’

‘
I will go to the chapel tonight and put Harold where he
belongs - with Victoria,’ Alexandre said.

‘
Leonora and Freddie’s tombs are there too. I think their
dates of death were the same as Victoria’s. I remember thinking how
sad it was they all died so young.’

‘
Oh how Harold must have suffered,’ Alexandre said. ‘To have
buried his wife and had to pretend his children were also dead.’ He
sucked in his breath. ‘I suppose he decided death was the only
plausible explanation for their disappearance from
society.’

‘
So, can you go into churches then?’ Madison asked, changing
the subject slightly.

‘
Yes, I believe so. Why do you ask?’

‘
It’s just, with you being a vampire, all the books and stuff
say you can’t go into holy places.’

‘
Do you think I am damned?’

‘
Do I what?’

‘
Do you believe I am unholy?’

‘
No. I’m just saying in films and things, I’m pretty sure
vampires can’t go into churches.’

‘
What happens if they do?’

‘
Um, I dunno. They explode? Or crumble into dust. Something
like that.’

‘
I see. Maybe then, if you would not mind, it should be you
who takes his body into the chapel. For it may be too dangerous for
me. I have no wish to explode.’

Madison’s felt
slightly ill at the thought of taking Harold’s bones into a crypt
and opening up his sarcophagus on her own.

‘
Sorry,’ Alexandre laughed. ‘I could not resist. Your face is
so funny.’

‘
You sod! I was only trying to look out for you.’ She beat him
on the arm. It was like punching a granite wall.

‘
Sorry, sorry,’ he laughed. ‘Don’t hit me, I might crumble
into dust.’

‘
Shut up, Alex. You’re not funny.’

*

Marchwood
House had been rebuilt in the eighteenth century but the family
chapel was far older. The mellow stone building sat several hundred
metres away to the south, surrounded on three sides by a low privet
hedge. Alexandre walked up to the wooden door and turned the
circular iron lock. The door creaked open.