Page 53 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

Thanks to Gunnar’s insistence that we wait for the sun to move higher, it was now beaming down on us. It was still cool; in fact, without the cloud cover it was colder than when it was raining. I shivered. Since I’d become a vampire, cold didn’t affect me in the same way so probably it was from nerves, but I was ready to pretend it was the cold. Yup, I was just chilly, not scared out of my mind.

I wished Connor was with me.

Next to me Shadow was in his happy place, darting around, running forward, sniffing stuff, eating grass, running back. Heflopped down at one point and rolled. It was reassuring because his antics meant that the beast wasn’t near. He was being normal – well, as normal as he could be.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end; some sixth-sense told me we were being followed. I put it down to paranoia and tried to ignore it. Shadow was happy, so the beast wasn’t stalking us and contemplating ripping us apart. Absolutely not. But no matter how much I tried to convince myself, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being observed.

When the tracks finally disappeared Fluffy pressed his nose to the ground, every inch of him vibrating with alertness. Although some rain had fallen since the girls had come this way, he could still pick up their scent. After a few hundred yards, he stopped and pointed away from the path. He waited for us to reach him then he went off piste.

This wasn’t the same spot we’d gone beyond in the past so nothing looked familiar and that twisted my nerves still tighter. The waterlogged peatland was scattered with trees and thickets. Although winter had stripped bare some of the undergrowth, clumps of alder and dead grass were still thick and tangled. Every step forward was a battle that slowed our progress.

Fluffy could have pushed through much faster than us but he paused regularly, not wanting us to fall behind. Shadow was following him, though he was still mucking around. I kept my eye on him because I knew he’d sense the beast long before we would, but he continued to look unconcerned.

When we hit the swamp, low boggy ground not unlike the moors back home, Fluffy veered into another patch of alders and disappeared. My heart gave a floppy beat and I rushed forward, but he’d only gone down a bank that wasn’t visible because of the scrub. Once I approached the edge, I saw him; he had locked onto the girls’ trail and was oblivious to everything else around him.

Shadow was in full pleasure mode and bumped him with his shoulder. Fluffy, who was in full business mode, gave a little growl. My lynx was romping around like this was a great adventure; he was wholly comfortable beyond the barrier, more relaxed and playful than when he was at home. I’d found him here and clearly some part of him still identified this place as home, far more than the council house in which we resided. Had I done right by bringing him to Portlock?

I waved everyone over to the bank which Fluffy had descended. Stan, ever the gentleman, helped Anissa and me down the three-foot drop so we wouldn’t land in the mud, then jumped down after us. Gunnar jumped down as well, ignoring the younger man’s offer of assistance.

I continued to watch my animal companions – and when Shadow suddenly froze and put his ears back, my heart sank. I held up a hand and pointed to him. Gunnar knew what that meant as well as I did, and he immediately raised his shotgun and started scanning our surroundings. I undid the snap on my service pistol and gripped the handle. My mostly undead heart gave another kerthunk.

Fluffy whined as he also noticed Shadow’s tension, then he stuck his nose in the air and started sniffing. He gave me a confused look; apparently he didn’t smell anything. He’d been close to the beast before and he knew its scent, so either it wasn’t around or it was far enough away for him not to catch its smell on the air.

I could do far away, the further the better; Australia would be good. But far away or not, I knew how fast the beast could move; far away could become very close in a terrifyingly short period of time.

I caught up with Fluffy and whispered, ‘If the beast is a distance away, we have time to find the girls. Focus. Where are they?’

He flicked an ear in my direction then trotted on. We’d gone barely twenty feet when he stopped beside a hollow on the hillside and pointed with his paw. When I got close enough, I saw a hole. It looked like water had undermined the tree roots and created a space just big enough for two teenage girls to curl up and hide in.

Fluffy stood in front of the hole and whined pointedly. When I leaned down and looked inside, two terrified faces looked out at me. The girls.

Relief rushed through me. ‘Kate and Essie?’ I asked, more to reassure them that I knew who they were rather than to confirm their identity. They both resembled the photos I’d seen of them, albeit they were now pale, gaunt and a total mess. They’d been through the mill.

They nodded, still looking terrified.

‘We’re here to take you home,’ I promised. By tacit agreement, Stan and Gunnar stayed back, guns up and ready. Anissa was also scanning our surroundings, a new tension visible in her shoulders.

Essie was closest to the entrance. She whispered, ‘We can’t,it’sout there.’

I nodded. ‘I know. That’s why we have to hurry. Come out and let’s get back inside the barrier as fast as we can.’ I reached out a hand; Essie stared at it for a long time before turning to Kate and raising her eyebrows.

‘What other choice do we have?’ Kate whispered to her. ‘If we stay out here, the beast gets us. We’re just going to have to deal.’

‘All right. If you’re sure,’ Essie murmured back. The girls hugged, fear etched into every line of their bodies as they clung to each other. I grimaced; they seemed to be almost as scared of going back to Portlock as they were of staying here and facing the beast.

Essie took a couple of seconds to collect herself then crawled out. Kate followed. Both girls were grubby and wet. They looked miserable, and I couldn’t blame them, but I didn’t take the time to reassure them that everything would be okay. Time was of the essence and we were still in danger. Everything mightnotbe okay.

Fluffy took point again and we followed, first Anissa and me, then the girls and then Stan and Gunnar bringing up the rear with their shotguns.

Anissa had something in her hands that I couldn’t see. Now that the girls were with us, she started to chant. I wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing because I didn’t sense non-witch magic in thesame way, but I could feelsomething, like the pressure in the air before a storm.

Shadow bumped against my legs and I glanced down at him. His ears were pinned and he was checking the brush to my right. My tension amped up another level. Anissa’s chanting grew louder though I couldn’t make out what she was saying because it was in her own native language – Sugpiaq. Her voice rose and I heard a thread of fear in it, but though her voice warbled her chanting didn’t falter.

She moved the object in her hands in slow circles: it was bone white, maybe a tiny figure, an amulet or a stone. It didn’t matter what the fuck it was if it kept us safe.

The pressure increased and my head felt like it was being held in a vice. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation but I gritted my teeth and bore it.

‘Bunny!’ Gunnar yelled and I whirled around.

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