Mrs. Payne's wings fluttered in the wind, which made the fog swirl around her as if she were a magician stepping onto a grand stage. Stil dressed in her grey frumpy dress, thick woolen tights and uncomfortable black shoes, she came towards me and said, "Surprised that I'm one of them?"
"Not realy," I said, there didn't seem to be much that would surprise me any longer. Then my head rocked back as images of her hair flecked with white raced to the forefront of my mind. And again I was standing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the 'forbidden' wing. In my mind's eye, I could see that her hair was coated in tiny white flecks of... paint. It was then that I knew it had been her that had repainted the summerhouse to cover up the sticky coating of garlic and queets. It had been Mrs. Payne that had removed the crucifix from the wal and it had been her who had been paving the way for Taylor and his vampires.
"Would you like your phone?" Mrs. Payne smiled, her tone was insincere and ful of loathing.
"Just give it to me," I said opening my eyes and holding out my hand.
Placing the phone in my palm, she let her long, ivory nails scrape across my flesh. Yanking my hand away, Mrs. Payne smiled and looked at Kayla.
"Sweet little Kayla," she said, and brushed the girl's hair with her fingernails.
Kayla knocked the old woman's hand away and said, "How come you had Kiera's phone?"
"I found it, that's al," she said.
Searching through my sent messages, I found two that had been sent to Sparky. Both had been sent after I'd falen from the wal. The first read: Remind me of your home address Sparky, I have a surprise that I want to send to you.
Kiera x The second read: Thanks Sparky. I've changed my mind, I'll bring the surprise to you myself.
Be home tomorrow, but make sure you are alone ;) Kiera x Reading those texts, I realised how easily they had tricked my friend into disclosing his home address and arranging for him to be alone. Sparky wouldn't have had any reason to suspect that those text messages hadn't come from anyone else but me. Poor Sparky, what had they done to him? I prayed that he hadn't suffered because of me. With rage beginning to swel inside of me, I turned to Kayla, and shoving the phone under her nose, I said, "Go on, take a look, Kayla. See what your precious friend has been up to." Kayla looked down at the screen and read what was written there.
"But Mrs. Payne had your phone - it was her who sent those texts," she said shaking her head as if not wanting to believe that she had been deceived by Philips.
"And who do you think it was you heard at my friend's address?" I snapped. "It wasn't the old-woman - it was your friend over there," and I pointed in the direction of Philips who was stil hanging from the end of Potter's fist.
Looking over at Philips, her eyes wide, Kayla said, "Luke, is this true?"
But before he could fil her head with more lies, Potter was tightening his grip around Philips' throat.
Even if he'd wanted to reply to Kayla, I doubted if he would've been able to squeeze any words out.
"Oh god, this is al just so tiresome," Mrs. Payne said as she walked across the clearing and went to join Taylor. The two of them stood, half hidden by the fog, their wrinkled skin giving the appearance of two mummified statues. "Can't we just get this over and done with," she said, sounding bored. Then turning to Taylor, she added, "Let's just keep to the plan. You kil Potter, Murphy, and Bishop, and I'l take the two girls."
Hearing this, Kayla inched closer to me.
Then slowly unbuttoning his shirt and stepping forward, Murphy said in a calm voice, "Oh I'm sorry, I thought the plan was for me and the two boys here to rip your throat out, old woman, then feed you in tiny pieces to Taylor and Philips. And if I'm feeling in a good mood, I'l let them die before Potter starts feeding them smal chunks of your brains. Now that sounds like a plan."
"Jim Murphy," Taylor smiled, "You never change, do you? The only people that are going to die tonight are you and your two sidekicks, Potter and Bishop."
"How do you figure that?" Luke said, moving forward to stand next to Murphy.
"Because your friend Kiera won't let us die,"
Taylor smiled. Then looking at me, he said, "Isn't that correct, Kiera?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," I hissed at him.
"I have some people here that want to say helo to you, Kiera," Taylor smiled, flashing his yelow-stained fangs.
"What are you talking about?" I murmured, my stomach tying itself into knots.
Then looking back over his shoulder into the woods, he said, "You can come out now."
With Kayla standing beside me, I watched as the shadows between the trees on the opposite of the clearing appeared to move. Then I gasped as Doctor Keats stumbled forward out of the fog. The last time I'd seen her she'd looked like a headmistress, now she resembled a bag lady. Her hair was disheveled and clumps of it stuck out in thick wisps from each side of her head. Her smart tweed suit was covered in dirt and grime, her tights were torn at the knees and her shoes were missing. With her hands secured behind her back, she wandered into the clearing. She was sobbing and her cheeks were covered in thick, black lines where her mascara had run down her face.
"Doctor Keats?" I whispered in disbelief.
"Yes that's right, Kiera," Taylor smiled, "Your doctor."
"What's she doing here?" I said, unable to take my eyes from her. "She has nothing to do with this!"
"Kiera? Kiera, is that you?" Keats croaked as she fought back her tears.
"Yes it's me," I said. I'd never realy liked the woman, but I'd never wished her any harm. Stepping through the fog, I moved closer so that she could see me, I didn't want her to feel alone.
"Taylor, let her go," I said.
"Oh you want to bargain?" and he flashed his smashed-looking teeth at me again. "Okay. How about your friend Potter releases Philips? That would be a start."
With his hands stil fixed around Philips' throat, Potter looked over at Taylor and said, "The doctor means nothing to me."
"But she does to me," I told him. "I can't just let her die."
"She's gonna die anyway," Potter said, looking at me.
"Please Potter," I groaned.
Looking at Keats standing in the clearing, head bowed forward and arms tied behind her, Potter released his hold on Philips. Dropping to the ground, Philips rubbed his throat with his hands and puled himself up. Potter sauntered back across the clearing and stood next to Murphy.
"Now let her go," I said to Taylor.
"Oh Kiera, I wish it was as easy as that," Taylor said, his eyes sparkling in the gloom.
"I told you," Potter said, looking at me while lighting another cigarette.
Ignoring him, I stared at Taylor and said, "Please, she has nothing to do with this."
"But she does," Taylor said. "Thanks to you, she knows way too much about us - about the Vampyrus."
"But she never believed a word that I told her," I tried to assure him. "She thought I was mad...making the whole -" but before I'd the chance to finish, Mrs.
Payne had sprung through the air as if being launched from a cannon and clung to Doctor Keats' shoulders.
Looking like a giant moth, the old woman swarmed around Doctor Keats as she buried her fangs into her neck. With her arms fastened behind her back, Keats wobbled and stumbled then tipped over onto the ground. Mrs. Payne swooped upwards, her wings shining orange in the light from the moon, then darted back towards the ground and her kil. Thrashing her legs out and screaming, Doctor Keats tried to rol away as blood pumped in a black stream from her throat. Her screams sounded as if she was gargling on a throat ful of water as blood jetted from her mouth. Smeling the blood, Mrs. Payne lunged at her again, her wings flitting back and forth behind her. Puling Kayla close to me and turning away, I couldn't help but notice the look of hunger in Murphy, Potter, and Luke's eyes as they watched the old woman feed.
Within moments, Doctor Keats had stopped kicking out. Her legs twitched once or twice more then fel stil. Climbing from her body, Mrs. Payne wiped away the black-coloured blood that swung from her chin and swooped back towards Philips and Taylor.
"I'm sure that was rather unpleasant for al concerned," Taylor said, his voice was soothing as if he actualy cared about the way we felt. "So to avoid any further unpleasantness, Kiera, offer up either Murphy, Potter, or Bishop."
"In exchange for what?" I asked, my heart racing in my chest. "For one of these," Taylor smiled, and from behind him, two figures were shoved into the clearing.
Like Doctor Keats, the hands of the two people were secured behind their back.
Screwing up my eyes and peering through the fog, I tried to make out the identity of the two people now standing in the clearing. I could see that they were both male, and at first I didn't recognise them. But as the fog cleared a little in front of them, I could see that one of the males was the owner of the pawnbrokers in Havensfield and the other was David Evans, the gardener who had stolen Mrs. Lovelace's wedding ring.
Realising who they were, I shouted across the clearing at Taylor and said, "You've got this al wrong. These people mean nothing to me, Taylor. You might as wel let them go."
Then without a moment's hesitation, Taylor said to Mrs. Payne and Philips, "You heard her, they mean nothing to her."
Then just before he fel to the floor under the weight of Philips, I heard the gardener say, "I'm sorry I took the old woman's ring." Then he was gone in a spray of red, as Philips ripped his throat almost in two.
Just like the gardener, the pawnbroker disappeared behind Mrs. Payne's wings as she brought him to his knees and began to feed on him.
As the two of them fed, Taylor looked at me and said, "Perhaps in time, we wil come to someone that you realy do care about." Then clicking his bony fingers he shouted. "Next!"
Then it was my turn to drop to my knees as I saw Mrs. Lovelace and Sparky stagger from the tree line.
Mrs. Lovelace looked tired and confused, her face drawn and gaunt looking. Sparky stumbled, then righted himself as he peered through the fog.
"You can't do this!" I screeched at the top of my voice. "Taylor, please I beg you - don't hurt them!"
"At last we have someone that you do care about, Kiera Hudson," Taylor smiled.
Almost groveling on my hands and knees, I lurched forwards, my hands held out before me as if in prayer. "Please, I beg you," I cried. "Don't hurt them.
They have done nothing to you!"
"Then perhaps you would like to nominate two of your friends to take their places," Taylor said, his voice now cold and demanding.
"But I can't do that either," I sobbed. "They're my friends, too!"
"I'm growing tired of this sentiment..." Taylor started.
"Take me," I pleaded. "Take me in place of al of them. I'm important to you, aren't I?"
Ignoring me, Taylor said again, "Which of your friends is it to be?"
"I can't!" I screeched at him, slamming my fists against my knees. "Please don't make me choose!"
Then I felt a hand against my shoulder, and looking up I could see Luke smiling down at me. "It's okay, Kiera," he whispered.
Realising what he was about to do, I puled myself up and held onto him. "No! You can't do this, Luke. I won't let you!"
Puling me tight, he whispered in my ear, 'It's okay, Kiera."
"It's not okay," I sobbed against him.
"It's the only way," he said, puling from me.
"No!" I cried and held onto his hands, refusing to let him go.
Then pitching out his cigarette, Potter stepped forward, and blowing smoke from the corner of his mouth he said to Luke, "Come on, lover-boy, let's get this over with."
Leaning forward one last time, I kissed Luke gently on the lips as he stepped away, crossing the clearing towards Taylor, Philips, and Mrs. Payne.
Looking back over my shoulder, I could see Murphy standing with his arm tucked around Kayla's shoulder. He looked suddenly haggard and old as he watched his friends hand themselves over and Kayla's eyes spilt tears onto her cheeks. Turning back, I watched as Luke and Potter knelt down before Taylor.