"Sparky?" I said, believing that I must have misheard him.
"Yeah, some lanky dude, with a face like a pizza,"
Isidor groaned. "Why, do you know him?"
"Yeah maybe," I whispered, trying to make sense of what he had just told me. "Why did he ask you to come and get Kayla for him?"
"Because, he said if I didn't he was gonna kil my mother," Isidor said. "She went missing a few months ago - then this Sparky showed up out of the blue a few days ago and said that he had her - but I could save her life if I did this one thing for him. Now you can see why I'm so desperate to get this Kayla back for him."
With my knees feeling as if they were going to give way beneath me, I tried to suck in breath. Then as if being hit by a freight train my head rocked back and there was a briliant flash of white light and al I could see was those half-breed children lying in their beds clutching at the air as their breathing apparatus was unplugged. I could see broken images of Doctor Ravenwood as if he was being reflected back at me in a thousand broken pieces of glass. He looked asleep - unconscious - dead? These were folowed with crystal- clear memories of sitting in my flat with Sparky, as he listened intently to what had happened to me in The Ragged Cove. And in my heart I now realised why he was the only one who had believed me - because he was one of them - sent to befriend me, hoping that I would lead him to my friends. That's how Philips and Taylor knew who I'd had contact with since returning from the Cove. Their names and addresses. And the phone cal - what were the chances of me ringing on the very same day and time that Philips was sent to capture Sparky? Taylor and Philips had wanted me to fear for his safety so Sparky could use himself as a bargaining tool when the time was right. I had seen everything but had seen nothing at al. While my friends and me were fighting for our lives at the summerhouse, Sparky was to sneak away back to the manor and....those images of the half-breed children swam before my eyes again...I could see myself pointing Sparky in the direction of the manor and teling him to go and hide there. But what was it Sparky wanted...?
"Are you okay?" someone said in my ear. "Kiera, wake up!" Opening my eyes, I could see Luke, Potter, Murphy, and Isidor looking down at me. "Kiera, what's wrong?" Luke asked, kneeling beside me. "Her eye's doing that bleeding-thing again," Potter pointed out.
"He just wants a way inside the manor," I mumbled.
"Who does?" Murphy said. "Who are you talking about?" "Sparky," I said, trying to get up. "Who in the hel is Sparky?" Potter grumbled. "I thought he was my friend!" I cried and ran towards the manor. "Kiera!"
Luke shouted behind me. "Kiera, what's going on?"
Pushing against the big oak door, I stumbled into the great hal. "Sparky!" I screamed. Then looking to my right I could see that the door to the drawing room was open. "What have you done?" I whispered, seeing the crumpled body of Mrs. Lovelace lying on the floor.
Racing into the room, I dropped to my knees and roled her over.
"Mrs. Lovelace," I said, my voice trembling.
Feeling something warm and sticky covering my fingers, I puled them free of Mrs. Lovelace and winced at the blood that covered them. Her eyes stared blankly up at me, but it wasn't her eyes that made my heart almost stop, but the look of sheer horror engraved into her face and the opening that ran from just beneath her wrinkled chin to her chest bone. From behind me, I could hear the sound of footsteps as the others came running into the halway. Holding Mrs. Lovelace's cold hand in mine, I stroked the tissue-thin skin that covered it.
"I'm so sorry," I sobbed. "I'm so sorry." Feeling a hand fal upon my shoulder, I looked up to find Luke next to me. "What's going on here?" "I was tricked, Luke," I cried. "I thought he was my friend - but al he realy wanted was to get..." "You," he said, helping me to stand and taking me in his arms while the others looked from the doorway. "No, not me," I said. "If it was me that he wanted then he had plenty of opportunities. He wanted something else." "But what?"
Luke asked, wiping away my tears. "The half-breeds on the ward," Murphy said, his voice low and grim.
Then turning in the doorway, he limped as fast as he could towards the stairs.
Letting go of me, Luke ran towards the door, his wings trailing behind him like a torn cape. Looking at Potter, he said, "How you feeling, my friend?"
"Pissed off! I was ready to die for that loser." Then glaring at me, he added, "Some friend he turned out to be." "It's not my fault!" I hissed and raced up the stairs after Luke and Murphy. "Can someone tel me what in the hel is going on here?" I heard Isidor shout as he stood alone at the foot of the stairs. "Why not tag along and you might find out!" Potter holered back at him.
Reaching the foot of the stairs that led to the 'forbidden' wing, Luke snatched up a lantern from the smal table on the landing and we ran as hard and as fast as we could along the passageway to the narrow staircase that led to the secret ward in the attic. With my heart pounding in my chest and lungs burning, I folowed my friends through the door at the top of the stairs and into the ward. The sight that Luke captured in the glow of the lantern made me want to scream.
Covering my face with my hands, I stumbled back against the wal of the attic. It was too late, the sight of those half-breeds lying half in and out of their beds would haunt me forever. Some were lying on the floor as if they had crawled after the oxygen tanks that had been taken from them. Others lay like alabaster statues, their hands clawing at their throats as they had struggled for breath, their tortured looks of pain forever engraved on their faces. These images seared themselves into my mind and I doubted I would ever be rid of them.
Isidor was last to enter the room and stumble across the devastating scene. He stood motionless, his mouth wide open in shock. Stepping over the lifeless bodies, Murphy made his way to the room at the far end of the ward where Doctor Ravenwood had examined me.
"Ravenwood?" he caled out opening the door to the examination room. Then within seconds, he was back in the ward again. "He's been taken," he informed us. "But by the mess in there, it looks as if he put up a fight."
"But why would they want Doctor Ravenwood?" I asked him.
"He was working on a cure with Lord Hunt that would have helped these half-breeds," he explained.
"They've already taken Lord Hunt so they've come for the other part of the team."
Looking about the room, I suddenly noticed something missing, but it wasn't just something - it was two of the half-breeds that Ravenwood had earlier introduced me to while they had slept- the girl, Alice, and the boy.
"Two of them are missing," I breathed.
"What?" Potter snapped.
"Alice and the boy, they're gone," I told him.
"There were ten beds and ten half-breeds. There are stil ten beds but only eight bodies."
"You're right, Kiera," Luke said. "Can someone tel me what's going on here?" Isidor asked again. "Shut it!" Potter barked at him. "They must have taken the two of them," Luke said, looking at me then at Murphy.
"But why only two?" Murphy wondered, combing his grey hair from his brow. "Perhaps they only wanted the half-breeds that might survive," I said. "After al, they would need to test this cure on a living half-breed - wouldn't they?"
"That's why they wanted Kayla," Isidor said from the doorway. Turning, we al looked at him and in the glow of the lantern that Luke held up before him, Isidor's young and boyish looks appeared to have faded and he now looked old - almost haggard.
"What did you say?' Potter asked.
"He's right,' I said, my heart feeling like a lump of stone inside of me. "Think about it. Kayla is sixteen, about the same age as the two other half-breeds who have been taken. But unlike them, she isn't il. Kayla has just started to develop her abilities. Doctor Ravenwood has already taken DNA from her and this has had some results in helping the others. That's why they wanted Kayla; they want to force Lord Hunt and Ravenwood to continue their tests on her."
"To find the cure," Luke said.
"But you and Van Helsing over there," Potter said eyeing Isidor, "are both half-breeds. Why not take you two as wel?"
I thought about this for a minute and Isidor stood and stared at me. I guessed he was surprised to learn that I was like him and Kayla.
"We need to talk," I half-smiled. "I know the reason," Isidor said. "Speak up then," Murphy grumbled. "Because they know we wil go after Kayla and try and bring her back," Isidor said. "They don't have to come looking for us any longer, as we'l go looking for them. They know we'l want to bring her back."
Stepping away from the examination room doorway, Murphy fixed us al with a cold stare. His eyes seemed to blaze beneath his eyebrows that furrowed down and almost touched the bridge of his nose. Then, in a calm but calculating voice that simmered with anger, he said, "We are going to find this man who hides in the shadows, this monster who sends his agents to kil our friends and take the people that we love. I tel you this, we won't stop searching, tracking, and hunting until we have brought him to his knees and we have brought those that we cherish home."
Never before had I seen Murphy so grave, his face so ashen and his eyes so keen. "We have learnt that we can trust no one, those we believed to be our friends and alies have betrayed us and we have no one but each other. So get some rest, because we leave tomorrow night and I believe the journey which lays ahead for each of us wil test the nerve of our very souls, take us to the brink of our sanity, and I fear not al of us wil return."
Without saying another word, Murphy limped over to one of the dead half-breeds lying on the floor, knelt, gently raised them into his arms and placed them back onto one of the beds. With his back turned to us, he whispered, "Please, I just want to be left alone."
Closing the door behind us, we made our way down the stairs, and reaching the bottom, I heard the unmistakeable sound of Murphy sobbing from above us.
I sat on the edge of the balcony which led from my room. The fog had started to clear, leaving behind a moon that shone a milky yelow. The sky was star shot and the wind crisp as it blew in off the moors.
Looking down, I watched Murphy carry one of the murdered half-breed children across the lawn and into the woods. Despite his limp, he cradled the child in his arms. He returned a short time later and carried another from the house and he didn't stop until he had carried them al into the woods. On his last journey, Murphy took a spade with him and I knew then that he was going to bury the children along with the others in the tiny graveyard I'd discovered hidden beneath the weeping wilows. From my hiding place, I saw Potter step from the shadow that fel across the lawn. Silently, Potter approached Murphy, and taking the spade from him, he wrapped an arm around Murphy's shoulders and hugged him. I watched this unusual display of tenderness by Potter, and again I felt confused by him. I then heard the unmistakeable sound of Murphy weeping again. Potter said something to his friend, but from my hiding place I couldn't hear what. Then with one arm stil wrapped around Murphy's shoulders and the spade in his free hand, Potter led him into the woods towards the graveyard.
I didn't want to be alone, so leaving the balcony, I went in search of Luke. As I'd passed Kayla's room, I saw my iPod on her pilow. Taking it, I made my way up to the room that Luke had used as his hiding place.
As I reached the landing, I saw Isidor sitting on the top stair. His back was arched, and he rested his head in his hands. Isidor's eyes were closed and swinging from between his fingers was a set of the rosary beads I'd seen him with earlier. Without saying anything, I turned away, leaving him to his prayers.
Reaching Luke's room, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. He had puled the tarpaulin away from his window, and as I'd been doing, he'd been watching Murphy take the bodies of the half-breeds into the woods. In the eerie light from the lantern, Luke looked back at me.
"I can't sleep," I told him, stepping into the room.
"Neither can I," he said.
Crossing the room, I went to the window and stood beside him.
"Why is Murphy so saddened by the death of those half-breeds?" I asked.
Turning towards me, his face wan and tired- looking, Luke said, "Two of those half-breeds were his teenage daughters." Then blowing out the lantern, Luke said, "Hold me, Kiera."
Lying together in the dark, wrapped in his wings, I knew that for the first time in my life I couldn't see anything. As Luke slept beside me, I eased my iPod from my pocket and switched it on. I was curious to know what the last song Kayla had been listening to before racing upset and angry into the arms of the person she believed she could trust. Putting in the earphones, I heard the gentle voice of Annie Lennox singing 'Why'.
Why? I wondered. Why hadn't my mother told me that she was a Vampyrus? Why had I been born able to see more than I should - more than I sometimes wanted to? Why had I been made with wings?
And as I lay in the dark, I felt scared. I was scared of what I realy was and what I might become. I wasn't human and I wasn't Vampyrus - I was what Doctor Ravenwood had caled a half-breed. But I didn't want to be a half-breed and as the darkness seemed almost to press itself against me, I knew that I no longer knew who or what I was.
Tomorrow, I would leave this place with Luke and the others; and while their mission was to find Kayla and the man who was behind the misery we al suffered, I would be searching for someone else - for my mother.
In my heart, I knew that it was my mother who had the answers to the secrets that would help me discover who and what I realy was.
Unable to sleep, I climbed from beside Luke and went and sat by the window. Looking down at the lawn, I watched Potter step from the tree line of the woods. I guessed he had finished helping Murphy bury the children. Taking a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, he lit one, the end of it winking on and off in the dark. Looking back at Luke, I heard him murmur in his sleep. Turning back towards the woods, I stifled a gasp as I saw Potter staring up at me from below. His eyes were fixed on mine and those images of us in the gatehouse flooded my mind again. Stepping back into the shadows of the room, my heart racing, I realised that there was something different about those images - something wrong.
Closing my eyes, I could see that we weren't in the gatehouse at al, but somewhere dark as if below ground. He was holding me in his arms and kissing me al over - but I didn't feel the urge to push him off in disgust like I had before. This time I could see myself clinging to him and needing him as much as he needed me.
Snapping open my eyes and forcing those images away, I peeked out of the window again at where Potter had been standing, but he had gone. Where? I didn't know. But what confused me more than his sudden disappearance was why I felt so disappointed that he had gone.
Looking out across the moors, I sat and waited for the blood-red glimmer of the sun to slowly rise up over the rugged horizon. I knew that it would bring a whole new day with it. But that's al I knew for certain...my future and the path that stretched out before me was unknown. Where would it lead me? I didn't know...but that was the excitement I craved wasn't it? Why else would I have ever come to Halowed Manor, right?
And however much the not knowing of what lay ahead scared me...I knew I just wouldn't be able to stop myself from running towards it.