Damian rings the doorbell, and we wait. But there’s no sound of footsteps heading our way.
‘Perhaps he went out?’ suggests Hester.
Or ran for the hills,I think privately.
‘His car’s still there.’ Damian tries the door handle, and it swings open to an ominous silence. ‘This should be locked,’ he says, sounding worried.
The familiar scents of roses and expensive aftershave flow to my sensitive nostrils. I sniff them warily. Oh no, should I say something?
Floss beats me to it. ‘Alexander was here,’ she says flatly.
Everyone freezes.
‘Oh dear,’ whispers Lucy to me. ‘Poor Uncle Tim. He’s a goner.’
Before I can grab her, Sadie slips around Damian andraces into the house.
‘Wait, he might still be—’
But she doesn’t listen.Goddammit!My legs take off after her like we’re joined by an invisible thread. Where she goes, I go. I just wish I had a weapon. My tongue inadvertently touches my fangs—oh right, haha, I do! Alexander is going to feel these sharp puppies in his neck if he lays a hand on my girl.
A quick head poke into an airy lounge of muted brown and stone decor shows me it’s empty. But then there’s a loud cry from the adjoining room, and I quail.No you don’t, motherfucker!
I burst through the door into a state-of-the-art kitchen, fangs bared and fists clenched. But there’s only Sadie, crouched over a middle-aged man lying on the floor. He’s wearing a blue-and-white striped apron; and I assume, with a sinking feeling, that it’s Tim.
He doesn’t look good: eyes closed, face grey, and two fang marks in his neck weeping bright red blood. Strangely, he’s grasping a plastic spatula in one hand, as if he was using it as a weapon.
Sadie looks up, wild-eyed.
‘Quick, get me a sharp knife!’ she hisses, and I head towards the knife block on the counter. But she changes her mind before I get there, muttering, ‘There’s no time.’She rips into her wrist and holds it over Tim’s lips. ‘Drink, please drink,’ she moans.
The others quietly enter the kitchen and gather round. There’s a hushed silence as we watch Sadie’s blood dribble uselessly out of Tim’s mouth and form a puddle on the floor beside his head.
Hester bends and places a hand on her shoulder. ‘I think he’s gone ... We’re too late.’ It’s what we’re all thinking. It looks like he’s been dead for hours. Alexander must’ve tracked Floss’s scent to the house and decided to have a midnight feast when he discovered Tim alone.
Sadie lets out a choked cry. ‘No!’ She opens Tim’s lips and rubs her blood over his lips and teeth, making sure it drips into his mouth, but it doesn’t do anything. She tips her head back and lets out a screech of fury.
Damian is as white as a ghost. He rakes a hand through his purple-streaked hair and it stands on end. ‘Fuck,fuck! This is all my fault. What am I going to tell Dad?’
Not only that,I think.But you’ll have to explain to your dad why you’ve now got glowing green eyes and fangs … not an easy conversation!
Floss hugs him, muttering that it’s not his fault. That it’s her scumsucker of a sire’s fault, and even more, that it’sherfault—she should’ve staked him in 1921.
I lean against the counter and dragmy hand over my face, knowing that Tim’s fate would have most certainly been mine if Lucy hadn’t turned me last night.
Speaking of which, Lucy is the only one who doesn’t seem too concerned. She steps forward, reaches into her pocket, and hands Hester a syringe filled with red fluid. ‘It’s a long shot, but try this. In his heart. It’s potent.’
Hester doesn’t hesitate. She rips open Tim’s shirt, plunges the needle into his hairy chest, and pumps in the lot à laPulp Fiction.
Sadie comes over to me, and I put my arm around her. We all stare at Tim sprawled on the floor. The only sound in the room is the creak of the window frames as the breeze picks up outside. Sadie’s fingers find mine, and she buries her head in my chest. ‘I can’t look,’ she whispers.
For a minute, nothing happens. But then the spatula twitches. Once. Then again. Then Tim’s left foot.
‘Look, I think something’s happening,’ I whisper to her.
Sadie turns around and gasps as both of Tim’s feet, his legs, his arms, and then his entire body starts twitching. Even his crotch. I cover Sadie’s eyes when that starts happening, but she pushes my hand away impatiently. He jerks and writhes around on the floor like an electric eel, bloody froth oozing from his lips.
Astonished, we all stare, not wanting to go near him. Eventually, the juddering stops, and Tim’s eyes fly open. Helies there, looking up at the ceiling fan, blinking.
