He stopped.
His mouth was left slightly agape and I was sure mine matched his. He didn’t move. Neither did I. We were totally frozen for a full minute, the clock counting down the seconds. Sixty-three had passed before he finally moved, springing away as I scampered up to see him standing beside the window, his hands resting against the ledge, his eyes fixed on the glass. He didn’t look at me as he spoke.
‘Go get a shower. I’ll tell the others to wait.’
This time I didn’t argue. I scrambled up, grabbed the clothes and dashed from the room. I didn’t turn back. In seconds I was in the shower, thousands of cold water droplets cascading around me, not knowing whether I should let my heart leap because he had started that sentence, or fall, because he never finished it.
Barely ten minutes later, I stepped out of the bathroom to find clothes laid out for me: a thick black T-shirt, polo neck jumper and tight-fitting dark jeans for me to wear, as well as a pair of woolly socks and old battered converse. Next to them was a scarf and long, black coat – the latter mine from the night of the London Bloodbath.
When I was dressed, I met Kaspar at the bottom of the stairs.
‘How am I going to keep up with you? I’m nowhere near as fast.’
‘We’re walking. It’s a chance for us to show you what we really are.’
I scoffed. ‘Maybe I don’t want to see that.’
‘And,’ he continued. ‘It’s a chance for me to show that you don’t have to kill every time you feed.’
I stopped for a fleeting moment. ‘That’s possible?’ I breathed, more to myself than him.
He slowed so I could catch him, glancing down at me, his expression scolding, but his eyes twinkled and I felt my tense shoulders lower, realizing he wasn’t that angry with me. ‘Of course it is. Do you die every time I’ve taken blood from you?’
‘Well, no—’
‘Do you feel excruciating, crippling, heart-stopping pain when I bite you?’
‘Well, it’s a little painful—’
‘Do you walk away with only a tiny scar and an aching neck?’
‘Well, yes—’
‘Precisely,’ he finished. ‘Perfectly possible.’
I stuffed my hands into my pockets and pouted, eyes downturned but a small bubble of hope forming somewhere around my breastbone. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him watching me, gauging my reaction. ‘Because I didn’t want you thinking that you’ll never have to kill an animal, or never have to hunt humans. You will have to, at some point.’
Watch me, I thought, but didn’t press the matter, knowing he would only insist the opposite.
Kaspar had been right about how cold it was: even sprinting flat out I could feel the chill of the early morning air battering my cheeks in waves, and hear the sound of frost crunching underfoot. I heard the sound of quickening footsteps behind me and stole a glance. The others were gaining on us as we raced on towards the forest, but they kept their word. They weren’t running any faster than a fit human would.
It took no time to reach the forest and a few metres in, after leaping over several logs and leaving brambles to whip back in my face, Kaspar came to an abrupt halt. I wasn’t expecting it – I grabbed a nearby tree to stop myself tumbling into him and inevitably touching, shrieking as I seized a handful of moss, bark, and thankfully, trunk.
‘So graceful,’ he said with mock wistfulness, turning towards me. I was about to reply when the others stopped just as abruptly behind me.
‘So where shall we camp tonight?’ Cain asked, gesturing vaguely about at the trees. ‘The clearing near the catacombs?’
Kaspar inhaled steadily. ‘I don’t think the catacombs are such a good idea.’
The circle that had formed went silent as Kaspar jerked his head towards me. I looked away, pretending I hadn’t seen.
Again there was more murmuring, more jerking of heads and a final nod of agreement, at which point they turned, the chinking of bottles heard from the bags they carried around their shoulders. I trailed behind a little, following the winding path as it weaved its way deeper into the trees. The ground underfoot was damp and littered with leaves, as the natural debris of autumn was churned to a faintly red mud – I had to watch where I put my feet, nearly slipping several times where others had already trodden. Behind, the pale walls of the mansion became less and less visible as trunks encroached and as we gradually descended – the ground sloped slightly – it became difficult to even spot the uppermost spires through the pine trees, which had replaced the fiery foliage. With the pines came a more unkempt landscape, beyond the care of the gardeners, where brambles teased my skin and the juice of rotting blackberries smeared across my hands as I pushed the chains aside, snagged and strung between the lowest hanging branches.
Kaspar dropped back, waiting for me on the path. He fell in step with me; Alex was not far ahead, a guitar case strapped to his back.
We moved further and further into the forest. I had no idea how large the estate or forest actually was, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it went on for miles. Yet the trees around us weren’t that thick, the trunks stripped of all needles until about halfway up, two or three times my height above our heads. The spindly poles and sparse canopy meant plenty of light was still able to filter through – this didn’t seem like the forest I had first encountered when I tried to escape, or the forest of my dreams.
Suddenly, we broke into a clearing, the winter sun glaring down on a glassy surface and I immediately retracted my previous thought.
‘Recognize it?’ Kaspar asked with a smirk.
Oh, I recognize it all right. I had seen the glossy, oiled surface of the lake before, seen the rainbow palate along the banks and felt the mist rising between my fingers. Moreover, I recognized the slimy, slippery tentacle draped over the banks of the lake.
I paled, but laughed. ‘You know, you never did tell me why you have a giant squid in your lake.’
Alex turned to me, puzzled. ‘You’ve met Inky before?’
‘It has a name?’
He nodded his head, quite serious. Kaspar grinned. ‘Violet decided it would be a good idea to run away and fall in on her first morning here. I had to ruin a pair of trousers to save her.’ He clicked his tongue disapprovingly, rolling his eyes at me.
‘You didn’t have to,’ I grumbled.
‘Save you? Yes, I did. You can’t swim, can you?’