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Authors: Nicola Rhodes
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greeted by a wall of flames. Hurriedly she slammed the door.
‘Oh hell!’ They were trapped.
~ Chapter Twelve ~
D enny’s first problem was what to do with the Athame. It fell straight through the pocket of his jeans spilling loose change on the floor, some of it severed in half. It sliced through his belt, and he was unwilling to carry it between his teeth, since he still needed his tongue for the time being. But he did not want to leave it behind; it would be too useful. There must be something he could sheath it with, but it seemed that it could cut through anything. He settled for carrying it, which was awkward, but Denny was nothing if not dogged.
The second problem was that he had no idea where he was. After he had climbed out of the window, he found himself in a field. It was dark, but he could just make out, behind him, a large country house. That is to say, it was a large house, and it was in the countryside. Funny really, he thought. He would have expected a crypt in a graveyard; he glanced around nervously, no there were no graves. Thank God, the last thing he needed right now was a horde of zombies. Tamar had once told him that there were no such things as zombies, right around the time she had told him that there were no such things as vampires, ha! Although to be fair, she had not said that there were definitely no such things, just that she had never seen one, and that the idea was ludicrous, he had just taken it as read that her opinion was more reliable than most people’s facts. She was, after all, over 5000 years old.
So, no graves; still this was not much better. Denny was not at home in fields, or woods, or copses or,in fact, anywhere without plenty of concrete and streetlights. Denny liked pavements and shop fronts. He was afraid of cows and terrified of horses, and there was a strange sound, which he eventually identified as complete and utter silence. Something, he realised, he had never actually heard before.
Well, he could not stand around here all night; they would realise he was gone soon. As long as it was still dark, no amount of head start would be enough to escape vampires, who could fly after all.
He headed for a fence that he could just make out in the distance, although there was no moon. It was some time later before he realised that there were no stars either, and yet it did not look cloudy; it was just that the world was covered in inky blackness. He was getting that nightmarish feeling again.
He was so sunk in fear and depression that it took him nearly ten minutes to register a dreary streak of light in the sky ahead. He had crossed the field and half of another by now; he felt a fool when he finally noticed it. Dawn; thank God, of course. He had heard it was darker in the countryside, he should have realised. He kept on walking until he burst out into bright sunlight, as if he had walked through a door. That did not seem right; he looked back, and behind him it was still dark, like a large dark cloud, blotting out a large portion of the countryside. Beyond it, he could see light again, like a corona around the sun. “Vampire City”, he thought. Still it was behind him now.
He relaxed and realised that he was hungry, thirsty and tired – not to mention, lost.
As if in response to his unspoken wish, he saw a road not far to his right; and on that road was a café. It looked remarkably familiar, until he realised that this was because it was a “Little Chef”. Nothing particularly remarkable about that, except that it did seem to have appeared out of nowhere, just as he was feeling a yen for a full English Breakfast and maybe a pancake or two, or three … (like many skinny people Denny could eat enough at one sitting to feed a football stadium of sumo wrestlers). He checked his wallet, a difficult manoeuvre with only one free hand; he fumbled and dropped it twice.
Cursing loudly, he scouted around for
‘Oh hell!’ They were trapped.
~ Chapter Twelve ~
D enny’s first problem was what to do with the Athame. It fell straight through the pocket of his jeans spilling loose change on the floor, some of it severed in half. It sliced through his belt, and he was unwilling to carry it between his teeth, since he still needed his tongue for the time being. But he did not want to leave it behind; it would be too useful. There must be something he could sheath it with, but it seemed that it could cut through anything. He settled for carrying it, which was awkward, but Denny was nothing if not dogged.
The second problem was that he had no idea where he was. After he had climbed out of the window, he found himself in a field. It was dark, but he could just make out, behind him, a large country house. That is to say, it was a large house, and it was in the countryside. Funny really, he thought. He would have expected a crypt in a graveyard; he glanced around nervously, no there were no graves. Thank God, the last thing he needed right now was a horde of zombies. Tamar had once told him that there were no such things as zombies, right around the time she had told him that there were no such things as vampires, ha! Although to be fair, she had not said that there were definitely no such things, just that she had never seen one, and that the idea was ludicrous, he had just taken it as read that her opinion was more reliable than most people’s facts. She was, after all, over 5000 years old.
So, no graves; still this was not much better. Denny was not at home in fields, or woods, or copses or,in fact, anywhere without plenty of concrete and streetlights. Denny liked pavements and shop fronts. He was afraid of cows and terrified of horses, and there was a strange sound, which he eventually identified as complete and utter silence. Something, he realised, he had never actually heard before.
Well, he could not stand around here all night; they would realise he was gone soon. As long as it was still dark, no amount of head start would be enough to escape vampires, who could fly after all.
He headed for a fence that he could just make out in the distance, although there was no moon. It was some time later before he realised that there were no stars either, and yet it did not look cloudy; it was just that the world was covered in inky blackness. He was getting that nightmarish feeling again.
He was so sunk in fear and depression that it took him nearly ten minutes to register a dreary streak of light in the sky ahead. He had crossed the field and half of another by now; he felt a fool when he finally noticed it. Dawn; thank God, of course. He had heard it was darker in the countryside, he should have realised. He kept on walking until he burst out into bright sunlight, as if he had walked through a door. That did not seem right; he looked back, and behind him it was still dark, like a large dark cloud, blotting out a large portion of the countryside. Beyond it, he could see light again, like a corona around the sun. “Vampire City”, he thought. Still it was behind him now.
He relaxed and realised that he was hungry, thirsty and tired – not to mention, lost.
As if in response to his unspoken wish, he saw a road not far to his right; and on that road was a café. It looked remarkably familiar, until he realised that this was because it was a “Little Chef”. Nothing particularly remarkable about that, except that it did seem to have appeared out of nowhere, just as he was feeling a yen for a full English Breakfast and maybe a pancake or two, or three … (like many skinny people Denny could eat enough at one sitting to feed a football stadium of sumo wrestlers). He checked his wallet, a difficult manoeuvre with only one free hand; he fumbled and dropped it twice.
Cursing loudly, he scouted around for
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