Vampire Shift

Chapter Twenty-Three


We never did get to spend that night together. Luke was seriously injured and close to death. Murphy said that he would only heal if Luke were taken back down into The Hollows. So carrying him in his arms, Murphy flew him back to the station. Potter took me, and for once, there were no wisecracks or cocky remarks. Stopping to collect my belongings from the Inn, Potter was silent, almost sombre. While I changed out of my bathrobe and into some warm clothes, Potter took the body of the old woman and placed her in the fire that was still raging at St. Mary’s church.

By the time Potter had returned, I’d gathered together all of my belongings and it was like I’d never been there. Sweeping up into the night, Potter raced us back to the station.

Luke had been laid on a cot in one of the cells, and I found Murphy leaning over him.

“Is he okay?” I asked, stepping into the cell.

“For now,” he said, turning to look at me. “But we need to get him underground soon.”

Moving towards the cot, I knelt down beside it. Luke was pale all over, blisters covered his face, and it looked raw in places. His wings had folded away, and he lay with his hands across his chest. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up. “I’ll leave you with him, while me and Potter clear this place out,” Murphy said.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Are you all going back?”

“Our work is done here,” he said. “It’s time that we moved on. Taylor and Phillips, if still alive, are dangerous. They will go someplace else – another town or city and start all over.”

“But -” I started.

“There can be no buts, Kiera. We have to go after them. Taylor and any others that join him can’t be reasoned with and they can’t be cured now that they’ve fed off humans. Like Rom, the only way of putting an end to this is…well you know the rest,” he said, turning away. Then at the door, he turned to me and said, “You’ve got five minutes to say your goodbyes.” Then he was gone, shouting orders at Potter to destroy any evidence that they had ever been at the station.

Turning back to Luke, I stroked his hair from his brow and kissed him. With a flutter of his eyelids, he opened his eyes and looked at me. He half-smiled and said my name.

“Shhh,” I told him.

“Kiera,” he said again. “I’ve got to go back,” he whispered.

“I know,” I told him. “I’ll wait here for you.”

Then momentarily closing his eyes in pain, he opened them again and said, “I won’t be coming back here. When I’m better, I’ll be going with Murphy and Potter to track down the others.”

“Where will you go?” I asked him, scared at the prospect of never seeing him again.

“Wherever they go, so will we, until it’s over,” he whispered. “I don’t know how long that will take or where it will lead us.”

Tears fell onto my cheeks, and raising an unsteady hand he wiped them away. Then taking my hand in his, Luke said, “Come with us. You’re a great investigator and you can see things that we can’t. You could help us.”

All of my instincts urged me to agree – to say yes. Not to help hunt Taylor and Phillips – but so I could be with Luke and not to be parted from him. The thought of not being with him, not to ever be held by him again scared me more than any vampire.

Leaning in close, and kissing him on the mouth, I whispered, “No.”

“No?” he said, looking confused and hurt.

“However much I want to come with you – to be with you Luke, I can’t,” I told him, my heart aching as I said those words.

“Why?”

“I have a promise to keep,” I said, thinking of my father.

“To who?” he asked, closing his eyes again.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. Then picturing Henry Blake’s tiny dead hand clutching those hairs, I added, “I need to find my mother.”

“But she could be dead,” Luke said, his eyes still closed as if trying to control the pain that he was in.

“I don’t think she is,” I told him.

“But how can you be sure?”

“It was something I saw,” I whispered.

Murphy appeared in the cell doorway. “It’s time,” he said, coming over and scooping Luke up into his arms. He carried him out into the corridor and I followed. The hatch was open, and the filing cabinets, lockers and desk drawers lay open and empty.

“Where’s Potter?” I asked.

“He had to do one last thing before he could leave,” Murphy said, glancing back over his shoulder at me. Then laying Luke on the floor by the open grate, he looked at me and said, “Take good care of yourself, Constable Hudson. It’s been a pleasure working with you.” Then taking me by surprise, he threw his arms around me and held me tight. I hugged him back.

“None of you are real cops, are you?” I asked him.

“Not the way you think,” he whispered in my ear. “But in The Hollows we are – kind of. We want to stop the bad guys just like you do.”

Letting go of me, he pulled his pipe from his back pocket and popped the end of it between his lips. Then patting down his pockets, in search of his matches, he said, “Where has Potter gone to? We should be gone already.”

“Stop panicking, sarge,” someone said, and I looked up to see Potter coming down the corridor from the direction of the police station door. Shaking snow from his hair and bare shoulders, he shuddered, but not with the cold, it was his wings folding away.

Murphy climbed into the hole. Then holding out his hands, he said to Potter, “Pass Luke down to me.”

I watched as Potter scooped Luke up and lowered him into the hole. With my heart feeling like it was being crushed in my chest, Luke opened his eyes and looked back at me. “I love you,” he said.

“I know,” I smiled, and he was gone.

Potter climbed into the hole.

“What about me?” I said.

“What about you?” he asked, looking back at me.

“How do I get out of this town? The phones don’t work, my car is stuck up that road and -”

Cutting over me, Potter said, “That’s your problem, Hudson. You figure it out.” Pulling the grate closed over him, he swung it shut. Then poking his hand up through the grating, he locked it with the padlock, taking the key with him.

Standing over the grate and looking down, I could hear a rumbling sound as the walls of the tunnel collapsed, hiding any evidence that it had ever been there.

Turning away, I walked back into the office, picking up knocked-over chairs and straightening disarranged cabinets and drawers. With no idea as to what to do next, I knew that until the weather changed, I was trapped in The Ragged Cove. Crossing to the window, I looked up into the dawn sky and to my relief I could see that the snow had stopped falling at last. Then I saw something that raised my hopes even more. Rushing from the police station, I went to my battered old Mini which now sat by the curb. Who had brought it here for me? I wondered. Then spying a folded piece of paper tucked beneath one of the wipers, I reached for it. Pulling it free, I unfolded the piece of paper and read what had been scribbled on it.

You really need to get yourself a new car – this is a piece of junk! Potter

Smiling to myself, I screwed up the piece of paper and went back into the station, locking the door behind me.