Walking Shadow (The Darkworld Series Book 2) (7 page)

“So is he free?”

“Yes. You, however, might not be so lucky.” And the knowing expression in her eyes said it all. Would they know I was part demon if they ran tests on me to see if I was guilty? The thought made my blood turn to ice. It wasn’t as though I could run away. They no doubt had ways of tracking people. They seemed all-knowing, like they had eyes everywhere.

“What do we do?” said Claudia, who wore a puzzled expression; clearly she hadn’t missed our silent exchange.

“For a start, you’ll have to remove your shield. They’ll see right through it anyway. It’ll only get you into more trouble. Ash, you’ll have to tell them that you don’t know who your ancestors are. Tell them you discovered your connection to the Darkworld independently, and that Miss Delaney and Master Blake helped you.”

“Isn’t that the truth anyway?” said Claudia.

“Of course,” I said―well, it was
part
of the truth. “So you think I should be honest?”

“As honest as you can be. Tell them what happened the night you encountered Mr Melmoth, as accurately as you remember. Leave nothing out.”

“They’ve got no evidence against us, right?” said Claudia.

“No, but you’ll come under suspicion as an unregistered magic-user all the same. Just relax, tell them what happened, and hope that the truth’s enough.”

“Very encouraging,” I muttered. “And if they lock me up?”

“They won’t. The worst is that they’ll do a full magic scan on you, which is less scary than it sounds, and won’t hurt you.”

“So what’s the fuss about?” said Claudia.

“Nothing. I don’t want to be arrested,” I said. “Criminal records count against you for life.”

“It’s not quite like that with the Venantium,” said the fortune-teller.

“Please don’t tell me it’s worse,” I said, swallowing.

Her expression softened. The effect was surprising, like an ice mask had cracked.

“You’ll be fine,” she said. “Is there anything else you wanted to say?”

“Just that I got a weird text message last night,” I said. “It said, ‘A shadow has your face.’ It was from a private number.”

“Indeed.” The fortune-teller looked troubled. “I would guess that it was a practical joke. The important thing is to focus on the present.”

And that was the end of our discussion. There were a fair few more things I wanted to say, but with Claudia there, I couldn’t.

So we left.

There were still two hours before our appointment, so for lack of anything better to do, we went and sat in the Coach and Horses. I kept glancing at my watch every few minutes. The seconds seemed to drag by, yet at the same time a jolt of fear went through my veins every time another five minutes of freedom passed.

Leo arrived with half an hour to go. He looked pale and tired.

Stupidly, the first words that came out of my mouth were, “Are you okay?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been worse.”

His apparent nonchalance surprised me. I mean, his guardian had been killed, he’d been interrogated about it, and now we were facing the same. He had none of his usual bravado, but didn’t look to be in the depths of grief either.

“Melmoth was going to die anyway,” he said, as if feeling the need to explain himself. “The vampire’s curse was killing him. It kills most of them in the end. It burns up your life energy, makes you age way faster than normal people do. It was a matter of time.”

“But… someone
murdered
him,” said Claudia. “If he was dying anyway, why would they do that? Did he have something to hide?”

“You could say that,” said Leo. “I found out today he was still working for the Venantium after all, for their medical division. People are saying he was developing a cure for the Vampire’s Curse.”

“Seriously?” said Claudia. “Is that even possible? I thought it was incurable.”

“Melmoth always insisted it wasn’t,” said Leo. “After he left the Venantium, he went into research. He was adamant that there was a way of controlling the killer instinct, and he’s been helping loads of people who had it really bad. I didn’t know he’d actually found a cure, but there are rumours. They’ve pretty much torn our house to pieces.”

“Oh, Leo,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It could have been worse for me, but now it looks like they’ve got a bunch of new clues to help them catch the killer. They’re looking into whether any of the other victims had anything to do with Melmoth.”

“And do you… do you have any idea who it could have been?”

“No. There was a hell of a lot of shit Melmoth didn’t tell me, evidently. I’ll find out somehow.” He glanced at his watch. “I think we ought to leave now. I’ll come with, but I don’t think they’ll let me back in.”

“Is the entrance still in that old crypt?” said Claudia.

“Where else would it be?”

“I dunno. They’re paranoid these days. I thought they might have switched back to using the tunnels.”

“Yeah, I guess the higher-ups didn’t fancy getting their feet dirty.”

“It’s underground, isn’t it?” I said.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t think it if you saw it from the inside,” said Claudia. “We’d better get going, anyway.”

I trembled all over as we made our way to the graveyard. Dusk brought with it a low, heavy fog that hung over the buildings like a wreath of cobwebs. The streetlamps spilled butter-yellow light across the cobblestones. Above, the towering spires of the cathedral loomed ever closer. We climbed over the wall to the cemetery.
Second time in two days. People are going to think I’m a graveyard junkie.

This time, Claudia and Leo led me to a large dome-shaped tomb, with a pair of doors made of dark wood set into it. Beside it was the Blackstone memorial, appropriately a large slab of black stone.

Without warning, the edges of the tomb’s doors blazed with a fiery light. I stared at the word carved above the doors:
Blackstone
. It seemed to come alive with the same light, like fire was contained within the wood itself.

Then the words faded, and the doors swung open.

I’d expected to see a gloomy, narrow staircase twisting down into the darkness, but instead a dark hole in the ground greeted us, like an open grave.

“You have to jump in,” said Leo. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt or anything. It’s only a mind trick.”

That didn’t make me any more prepared to jump into a freaking
grave.
It reinforced my private fear that I wasn’t going to come back.

Shit. I’m not ready for this.

Leo gave me a hug, a move that startled both Claudia and me. An unexpected rush of warmth ran through me, a brief respite from the choking fear that tightened around me.

Then he let go. “Hope you come back,” he said.

“Me too,” I said, not quite managing a smile.

Then, her face set, though her eyes told a different story, Claudia grabbed me by the arm and pulled me after her. A scream escaped my mouth as we dropped into the grave.

y own yell echoed in my ears, cut off in a squeak of surprise as we landed. The fall only lasted a second, but it was enough to completely shake me up. I lay with my face on the ground, and it took a moment to process that there wasn’t cold stone beneath me, but thick carpet.

“You okay, Ash?” said Claudia from somewhere nearby.

I got to my feet, looking around me in growing bafflement. This might have been the entrance hall to a posh hotel, not an underground organisation. The carpets were a deep blood red, and ran the length of the hall, up to a pair of heavy iron doors. Marble pillars stood at intervals, rising to support the dome-shaped ceiling. The walls were glossy black and embellished by paintings that reminded me of the religious-themed pictures at the Art Gallery above ground, depicting Miltonic scenes of sinners confronted by the monsters of the underworld. These were juxtaposed with paintings of actual demons, shadow-beasts, and harpies.

Blue flames shone from old-fashioned brackets, casting eerie reflections on the glass picture-frames and making the eyes of the demons flicker creepily. This was enough to stopper my awe and strike cold fear into my heart once again. We stood in the place where humans resisted the demons. They showed no mercy to anyone they thought might have a connection to them.

I turned on the spot, looking for a way out. Several other doors were set in the walls, beneath elaborately carved archways. Above each perched a hideous bird-crone creature with black feathers, a harpy. The memory of talons slicing through my arms made me shudder, and I hugged my arms tight to myself, resisting the urge to hold the pendant. I’d tucked it inside my jacket, and a sudden thought gripped me. What if someone recognised it as a demon heart?

Don’t think,
I told myself, as panic stoppered my throat again. I began to shake uncontrollably.

It was so quiet I’d thought we were alone, so Claudia’s sharp intake of breath gave me a start.

“You,” she said, in tones of disgust.

I turned to see a sharp-faced youth standing over us, scowling heavily. He had thick dark hair and equally thick eyebrows. The effect was that his features looked as though they had been etched on his face in black marker pen. He couldn’t be older than we were, yet he regarded us in a way that suggested we were scum beneath his feet.

“Me,” he said. “I’d be a bit more respectful of Mr Priestley when he arrives.”

“You slick bastard,” said Claudia, through gritted teeth. “Are you their front-boy now?”

“I have duties,” said the boy haughtily. “I’m supposed to make sure you don’t attempt to escape.”

“Like we’d try it.” I could almost feel the animosity coming from Claudia in waves. She and this guy clearly had some kind of history.

“Come on. I’m meant to take you
downstairs.
” He placed a delicate emphasis on the last word, and there was a twisted smile behind it.

Downstairs turned out to be through one of the arched doorways. A passageway sloped downward in a manner similar to the tunnels leading to the library, and the walls and floor were stone and seemed to exude coldness. The light had dimmed to a faint glow from the flickering blue candles in brackets along the walls, and I didn’t dare conjure my own light. I was in enough trouble as it was. A sense of suffocating claustrophobia descended on me.

“Nervous?” said the boy.

I didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure I
could
speak.

“I wouldn’t worry,” he said. “You might get lucky and miss out on the Angel Box, since it’s your first time.”

“The what?” I croaked.

His white teeth shone in the darkness as he grinned. “You’ll see.”

Asshole
, thought the part of me that wasn’t paralysed with terror. I stumbled after Claudia, feet catching on the uneven ground. A steady dripping came from somewhere up ahead, and apart from our echoing footsteps, no other sound penetrated the silence until we reached the foot of the slope, where the passageway branched off in several different directions.

A bloodcurdling scream rent the silence. I jumped sideways into Claudia, my heart leaping into my throat.

“What the hell?!” Claudia gasped. In the gloom, her face was deathly pale, a mirror of my own.

“Don’t worry. We’re not going that way.”

“I hope not,” she said. “The Venantium solicit torture now, do they?”