They began to hear the chink of empty bottles. Mark was coming along the road towards them. Adam went to get back on the roof, but Maurice put his hand on the young vampire’s arm.

  ‘No wait. He’s all right,’ Maurice said simply. Mark reached them. The three vampires stood in the middle of the road. Adam squinted at Mark, taking everything in about him.

  ‘What are you doing giving them that? I saw you earlier, and I’ve seen you before,’ Adam said. ‘That is human blood, you are harvesting for them.’

  ‘It keeps them sweet,’ Mark said. ‘If I give them this, then I am some use to them. Norman leaves me alone. After this, I go home to read. I like to read.’

  ‘We need your help with the old band. Adam here, who is a friend of Bob’s is going to help too.’

  ‘How are you going to do that?’ Mark asked.

  ‘First thing is, I know where they are keeping the other two. I could help you rescue them, and maybe we could find another way to get the whole gang out to safety,’ Adam replied. ‘It’s a start, isn’t it?’

  ‘Why would you want to do that?’ Mark asked. ‘What’s in it for you?’

  ‘They might let me go with them, wherever they go. I’ve got no mum anymore. Didn’t have a dad. I just want to be with Bob and his Mum and Dad. They are my family now. However much Norman thinks we are kin, we ain’t. I will find some way of not biting him now I am not near The Master. I don’t have to do his bidding. The further you get away from him the better it is.’

  ‘You’re right there,’ Maurice said.

  ‘Yes, that is how I feel too. The closer I am to The Grange, the more I am compelled by his will. That’s why I prove I am more useful elsewhere. I don’t mind being a bloodsucker, but I don’t want to be a puppet.’

  ‘It’s obvious we are all of the same mind. Let’s go to my house for a meeting, it’s not far,’ said Maurice. ‘We might get spotted here, and that wouldn’t do. Let’s sort all this out in private. It needs proper planning. They are in more and more danger every day,’ Maurice said, leading the way.

  Unfortunately, Stephen and Vincent had not gone back with the group but had instead gone for sustenance in one of the local houses. The two injured vampires had made a new kind of friendship and understanding and were often together. They had returned to the scene of the earlier battle, for the two instruments remaining on the street and thought there was no harm grabbing a bit of refreshment on the way. Vincent spotted them first, with his one useful eye, as they turned the corner, catching Stephen and shoving him back around. They both peeked around the side of the building and watched the three vampires walking away into the distance.

  ‘What are they up to?’ Stephen asked Vincent.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Vincent, ‘but I bet it’s not for the good of The Master.’

  ‘Shall we follow them?’ Stephen asked wickedly.

  ‘I can’t be bothered, all three of them are useless. What could they be up to, really? The three of them couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag,’ Vincent said. ‘Let’s just pretend we haven’t seen them. They are more trouble than they are worth. Maybe they are the first three founder members of the vampire losers club. Who cares?’

  Maurice invited the other two vampires into his house. They came in and sat down on the edge of the sofa. This was too weird. Mark and Adam waited silently for him to start talking.

  Maurice stood at the window, he pulled back the curtain a little, then moved a small piece of newspaper that was taped to his windows. He surveyed the street. It didn’t look like they had been followed. He turned back, took his cap, coat and scarf off and laid them on the back of his chair.

  ‘We’re in here, but we aren’t safe. I suppose The Master could just walk in,’ Maurice said. He got up and checked through his curtains again. Maurice was making the other two nervous.

  ‘You could try and rescind his invitation if you’re worried about that,’ said Mark

  ‘What’s that?’ Maurice asked.

  ‘You say that he is no longer welcome in your home. No one can get into my house only me. But as The Master has never tried it, I don’t know for sure. I was taken outside Christine’s house delivering milk, so it has never come up.’

  ‘How do you do it?’ Maurice asked. ‘I invited him in when he first bit me.’

  ‘You just say, I rescind your invitation, Norman Morgan and he can’t come in.’ Mark said.

  ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘You’d never believe me if I told you,’ Mark said smiling.

  ‘Go on – try me,’ Maurice insisted.

  ‘Ernie told me,’

  ‘Ernie Cooper told you! How does he know?’

  ‘He’s read it in a book, or something.’

  ‘There’s a book on it? Where?’

  ‘Wee Renee’s house. He’s been in there with Lynn, looking for people. Luckily, they didn’t find any because Lynn is a right little devil now. Taken to it like a duck to water. What’s worse is, it was me that bit her in the first place! She has ended up more vicious than me. Who would have thought it?’

  ‘How interesting.’

  ‘Yes, she’s at it every night.’

  ‘I didn’t mean her. I meant what Ernie found out.’

  ‘Oh. He went in and saw some books and all this stuff stuck on her living room walls. Lynn wasn’t bothered about it, but Ernie remembered it was important before he was turned. He went back. And he keeps going back.’

  ‘Cheeky devil. Wee Renee wouldn’t like him nosing in her particulars, in his condition.’

  ‘No, and he keeps going on about her triangle, or something.’

  Adam’s eyes widened. Wee Renee’s triangle. This conversation was getting a bit sexy. He swallowed.

  ‘He’s what? Maybe that’s how the bloodlust has taken him. I must say, I am surprised at Ernie. Apart from that, what’s he up to?’

  ‘I don’t know. But he told me how to rescind invitations. You know as much as I know.’

  ‘I wish I had somewhere I could make safe, and rescind The Master,’ Adam said sadly. The two other vampires didn’t know what to say to this, so Maurice continued.

  ‘Well, I’ll do that then. I rescind your invitation, Norman Morgan. Right we’re safe, apart from Michael Thompson, I suppose. I have the option to bite him, but I would have to give in then,’ Maurice said sadly.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Mark asked. ‘You would have to give in then?’

  ‘Well, I’ve never bitten anyone yet. I’ve been surviving on liver out of the freezer. After all these weeks abstaining, it would be a damn shame.’

  ‘You are kidding me,’ Mark said laughing. ‘Bloody hell, Maurice. You don’t know what you are missing.’

  ‘I haven’t bit anyone either,’ Adam said, ‘what’s so bad about that?’

  ‘How’s that happened?’ Mark asked. ‘You have been with him and all those tasty kids. How did you resist that?’

  ‘It suited him and me,’ Adam advised him. ‘For a start, he wanted me to look after all the kids inside the school and temptation was a lot easier to resist if I hadn’t tasted human blood. I wanted to do it because I knew that it would be more difficult to be friends with Bob if I succumbed to it. So I have been living on animals. It wasn’t a problem for me to do it either.’

  ‘We are going to have to approach the others you know. The living remains of the band,’ Maurice said, ‘and tell them we are on their side.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said Mark’, I’m not declaring for any side.’

  ‘What are you doing listening to our plans and sitting on Maurice’s sofa then?’ Adam asked, crossly.

  ‘All the more fun I can have, the better,’ Mark answered, ‘and letting them win all the time means I can’t watch the fun. It’s all a game to me, I enjoy it. I especially like watching Michael Thompson being pissed off, to be quite frank.’

  ‘Okay, so we will go to them with a plan,’ Adam said. ‘But as we haven’t got a plan, we are going to have to think of one fast. How about we distract the other vampires, say we want to join them or something like that. Call a big meeting in one area of the school, with Norman and all the vampire bigwigs, so that the people could get the two hostages out while we were doing it. But we would all have to do it in the dark or else they would know it was a trap.’

  ‘I can’t see The Master or the humans falling for that,’ Maurice said, shaking his head. ‘They will think we just want them out in the open to eat them.’

  ‘There has to be some kind of a compromise from the humans. Some middle ground and a little trust, for that to work,’ Mark said.

  ‘What about if we do it when it’s still dark? We have to then, let’s face it. But what if we say we will provide a distraction on this day at this particular time. Then they can come along, with their own plan, just knowing that they will be safe. They don’t have to tell us the how, when and where. Or they can leave it if they don’t trust us. We can’t trap them if we don’t know the plan,’ Maurice offered.

  ‘Yes, I can see that would work. We will then have to nobble the vampires as soon as they twig on that we are in cahoots though,’ said Adam.

  ‘That depends on how we do it. Maybe we don’t jeopardise ourselves. Life is hard enough as it is. It’s not an easy existence being a lone vampire, is it?’ Mark commented.

  ‘No, we will act as shocked as them. If we are with the Master's gang, they can’t exactly blame us. It could be any vampire. It is better if we can all save ourselves. It leaves us free to help again if we have to,’ Maurice mused.

  ‘Okay, we will work that bit out. That is the only part we can plan for. We’ve got a few hours until daylight, and then we need to sort this, and quick. From what I can see, those two aren’t looking good up at the school,’ said Adam.

  ‘How do you know?’ Mark asked.

  ‘What I do have, at least, is free access to them.’

  ‘Maybe we could warn them, to be ready. That would be a help too,’ Maurice added. Adam nodded.

  ‘Good idea. The problem is, if they have already decided to rescue the two of them this morning we won’t be able to help anyone. I know – I’ve got it!’ Adam looked very pleased with himself and looked at the others. ‘What about if we go up to the school now, and make our plan up there in one of the classroom’s as quiet as we can. It must be a plan that we can activate when we see them make their move. So, we hide where we can see access to the two men. When we see them arrive, we activate the distraction plan. The living guys don’t have to know about our plan, they just need to benefit from it. Then if it happens today, we are already in situ to help them. We aren’t doing anything else today are we?’

  ‘You’re a clever lad,’ Maurice said.

  ‘Well I do have to do my blood supply round,’ Mark said agitatedly.

  ‘If it happens soon, that is the last thing they will be thinking about. The vampires will be trying to chase after our guys, not waiting around for you to turn up with your crate. Anyway, as soon as we have done the distraction, you can run off. Do what you have to do, they will be busy. By the time the dust is settled, you will be sorted. Are you all with me?’ Adam asked.

  The other two vampires nodded, and without further discussion, the three of them walked up to the school in the darkness. No other vampire saw them, even though they were roaming around feeding.

  Mark and Maurice were a little nervous as they arrived. It was normal for Adam to be here, but they would be questioned. The trio went through the front entrance and into the first classroom that used to hold the reception class. Adam left them there. He didn’t have to remind them to be absolutely still and silent.

  Adam wandered around the school, to see what was going on. The two men were still alive but dozing, the only vampire on duty was Kate, who sat in the Headmasters Office, filing her nails.

  ‘Everything okay?’ Adam asked. Kate stopped filing and looked up at him. She rolled her eyes, then returned to her nail filing. Adam knew she would be there for a while. This was his best chance to complete part of the plan. He returned to the two living hostages in the classroom, gently knocking on the door, they awoke, rubbing their eyes and Adam entered.

  ‘Have you brought tea? Gary asked.

  ‘Shhh!! No. It’s better than tea.’

  ‘At the moment nothing could be,’ Gary said.

  ‘How about getting out of here?’ Adam asked.

  ‘What?’ Gary said astonished. It was the last words he thought he would hear from Adams’s mouth.

  ‘I don’t know how or when your rescue will come, but it will. Just know you have friends on the inside too. There are three of us. Me and two of the people from your band.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Maurice and Mark. No-one else can be trusted though. No-one. When we know the rescue is happening, we are going to provide a distraction. Just be ready and be comforted with that knowledge. We will do all we can.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Carl asked.

  ‘Various reasons for all of us,’ Adam replied. ‘But now is not the time for that. Don’t tell anyone about this conversation. Only your living friends when you see them again.’ With that, he smiled and exited. Kate had still not moved, so Adam returned to the reception class.

  He advised them of what he had just done. They whispered in there for about twenty minutes, going over various scenarios before deciding on one.

  Adam went back into the school and prepared for their plan. Just as he finished he saw Kate drifting around the school a little, she seemed to be bored, but would never condescend to have a conversation with him. He slipped back to the reception class quietly, knowing that she wouldn’t care where the hell he was.

  ‘It’s done,’ he said. Mark took the first watch, while it was still dark. Maurice said he would sit behind the blackout curtains and listen all through the day. He was used to sitting in his living room watching daytime television, behind the newspaper and the curtains of his own terrace house. There was no more to say.

  There they sat, as vampires do, in stasis waiting for their trigger.

  18 - Familiar

  Below the Hardware Store in the cellar, the survivors started to stir. They had not heard any noise since all the vampires had left last night, so apart from being quite cold, they had enjoyed a restful sleep.

  The children seemed to feel a little better, and one by one the adults woke. There was a moment where everyone noticed that Rick and Lauren had slept with their arms around each other. Sue and Liz had seen he had been talking to her a lot last night and it looked like something special was starting between them. A small glimmer of normality and hope. There was also a moment of shock when Wee Renee and Our Doris saw the condition of Pat in the morning.

  She was lying on her back, snoring loudly, her mouth open. Around her nose and mouth, there was a thick yellow mucus. Wee Renee shook her shoulder gently, but she just continued to snore, muttered the word ‘Dido’ and remained asleep.

  ‘We’ve got a problem,’ Our Doris told the group as Pat lay snoring. ‘Pat seems to have come down with a severe cold. There’s snot all over her, and she seems to be in a deep feverish sleep.’ A few of them scrawled over the others to take a look.

  ‘Poor bastard,’ Andy said. ‘She is going to struggle now with all this.’

  ‘Not to mention, we are all going to get it. This probably means a trip back to the chemist’s shop,’ Terry said miserably.

  ‘I’m going to try waking her again, bless her,’ Wee Renee said. She knelt over Pat and started to jiggle Pat’s body with one of her hands. ‘Pat, Pat, wake up love. It’s Wee Renee,’ Pat's eyes started to open almost immediately this time, and Sue’s hand came over Wee Renee’s shoulder, holding an individual pack of tissues.

  ‘What’s wrong, Rene? Are they back?’ Pat said suddenly with a start. Her eyes were wide open, and she tried to raise herself up on her elbows.

  ‘No, no. You rest easy for a moment. We can see your condition, and we just want to help you.’

  ‘My condition? Am I pregnant? Am I dreaming?’ Pat asked, clearly horrified and confused. The rest of the group were laughing now, which was making Pat angry. She was the only one not in on the joke. Then she realised what was wrong and sank back down closing her eyes. ‘Oh god no. I’ve been turned into one of them, haven’t I? Kill me, Rene. Don’t risk yourself. Quick before I realise what I am and start wanting to drink blood. In fact, I’ll kill myself. Oh no,’ Pat said sadly. She actually believed she was now a vampire. This made the rest of them laugh even more, which they knew they shouldn’t do, but they couldn’t help it.

  ‘Pat, no. You’re not one of them. You just have a heavy case of the flu, love’ Our Doris informed her. Pat lay for a moment considering how she felt.

  ‘No, I don’t. I feel right as rain,’ Pat announced.

  ‘Well, how do you explain the snoring and the sheer amount of mucous over your nose, and mouth? It’s everywhere,’ Terry said clinically.

  Pat sat up and wiped the back of her hand across her upper lip. Sure enough, it came back yellow and slimy. They were right. She looked at her hand again forlornly. Then Pat burst out laughing. They were the ones not in on the joke now.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ Wee Renee asked. Pat lifted her Russian fur hat, which was on the cellar floor beside her. Underneath was an empty jar of lemon curd.

  ‘I scoffed it when everyone had dropped off. It was dark,’ She still laughed as everyone else drifted off and prepared to leave the cellar. Pat still sat, trying to wipe the sticky lemon curd of her face with Sue’s tissues. She would need wet wipes, she thought. The tissues were sticking to the curd and leaving a powdery residue on her face. The clean-up was further hampered by the fact that Pat had quite a hairy face for a woman. All the time she was muttering under her breath.

  ‘They moan when I have tripe, now they moan when I have lemon curd. You can’t bloody win with these lot.’

  Joe popped his head out of the cellar hatch mole- like and instantly knew that they were alone, by the sound of the shop. He could see the generator still in situ, on the rim of the shutter door. Just as a belt and braces approach, Joe and his three vigilante friends checked out the shop from top to bottom. They announced it was clear. Everyone came out of the cellar, blinking in the daylight.

 

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