Vampire Shift

It was light when I woke. Dull grey sunlight seeped in through my window, making my room look like an old black and white photograph. My head felt sore, as did my nose, and my mouth felt as if I'd been sucking on sandpaper all night. I was lying on top of my bed in just a T-shirt and knickers and I wondered how I'd gotten here and who had undressed me. Then I remembered Luke had been in my room last night and a vague image of me holding him came flooding back. Blushing, I pulled the blankets over me and called his name. I couldn't see him, but the bathroom door was closed and I wondered if he might be in there.

Getting no reply, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and winced at the pain inside my head. In fact, my whole body ached and throbbed and I felt as if I'd been in a car wreck. Then as if being punched in the face, the memories of what had taken place the night before came rushing back. Like a waking nightmare, I could remember everything. Climbing into the open grave, finding the scratch marks on the underside of the coffin lid, Luke disappearing and not answering my calls on the radio, the girl Kristy Hall turning into a vampire and chasing after me as I tried to escape in the police car. Shuddering, I remembered how I had stabbed the crucifix into her tongue, then watched her explode in a pile of dust.

Had all of that really happened? In my head, I tried to tell myself that it couldn't have, but in my heart I knew that it had, and the realisation made me want to throw up. Hobbling to the bathroom, I knelt over the toilet and heaved. Once I'd been sick, I lent against the bath. What was happening to me? What was happening in The Ragged Cove?

Feeling bruised and battered, I turned on the taps and started to fill the bath with warm water. Shuffling back into my room, I searched for my mobile phone. Holding it up into the grey dawn light, I groaned at the sight of the red signal bar flashing on the screen.

"What is wrong with this place?" I hissed. "It's like it's shut off from the rest of the world."

I desperately wanted to call Sergeant Phillips and tell him what had happened to me and what I'd seen. Whether he would believe me or not, I didn't know. But I needed to let him know that not all was well in the sleepy town of The Ragged Cove.

The town seemed to exist in its own little universe. None of the telephones worked, the police radios didn't seem to transmit - even my car radio didn't want to pick up a signal. Realising that I hadn't actually listened to any music since my radio went dead in my car two days ago, I pulled my iPod from my case and took it with me into the bathroom.

Easing myself down into the water, I stretched out. Closing my eyes, I popped the earphones into my ears and turned on the iPod. Rihanna started to sing 'Only girl in the World', I did feel like the only girl in the world - the world I now found myself trapped in.

Closing my eyes, I turned the volume up and rested my head against the back of the bath. Over and over again the memories of what had happened the night before kept playing out in my mind. Could those murders have been committed by vampires? But weren't they just in movies and books? If I hadn't been attacked by one, then I would have said yes, but now I wasn't so sure. Was the boy Henry Blake killed by them? But that sort of thing just didn't happen. Like my father had been, I was only interested in facts. But I could remember him telling me that once you had studied all the evidence and had dismissed all the theories and rumours, whatever you were left with, however unlikely, was the truth.

Okay, so let's just say that the murders and disappearances were the work of vampires - who were they? Did they live among the town's folk by day and kill by night? Were they all gathered together in some secret location? And how many were there?

With so many questions racing around my mind, my head began to hurt all over again. But there was one question that just wouldn't go away: Where had Luke disappeared to last night? Where had he been when I'd needed him?

Climbing from the bath, I toweled myself dry and brushed my teeth. Pulling on a pair of jeans, T-shirt, and jumper, I tied my hair into a ponytail, and checked out the cuts and bruises on my face in the bathroom mirror. I had a green-blue bump on my temple, my top lip was spilt and I had a graze just beneath my chin. What with the gash on my wrist, I'd never had so many cuts and bruises in such a short space of time.

With my stomach aching for food, I decided to try out Roland's bacon and eggs. Toast this morning just wouldn't be enough. Opening the door to my room, I found another envelope tacked to it. As before, 'Kiera' had been scrawled across the front. Pulling it free, I opened it to find another tiny silver crucifix. Looking at the envelope, I could see that it had been left in the last couple of minutes or so. Yanking the door closed behind me, I ran down the stairs, through the lobby, and out into the road. I looked left, and then right but the road in both directions was deserted. Although I knew he had left the envelope only moments before I'd discovered it, what I didn't know, was how he knew I needed another crucifix.