LITMIR.BIZ

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step towards them.

      She was a teenager, roughly Jamie’s age. She had blonde hair, cut short and angular so it fell across her forehead, and was wearing jeans and a dark T-shirt. She stared at them with an expression that was not fear; rather it was caution. She took another small step forward, her eyes flicking constantly to her right and left, then there was a blur of movement above her as Larissa dropped from the sky like an eagle, and effortlessly lifted the girl into the air.

      She screamed as her feet left the ground, then she was moving through the air and into the clearing. Larissa dropped her from a couple of feet up, and she landed in a heap in front of McBride, who leapt forward and pinned her to the ground. The vampire floated down to the ground next to Jamie, and watched as the Operator wrapped his arms around her waist and held the struggling, squirming teenage girl still.

      “Let me go!” she yelled.

      She whipped her head backwards and it connected squarely with the bridge of McBride’s nose, breaking it. He grunted, pain shooting through his head, and his grip loosened. The girl shoved his arms down and pushed herself loose. She leapt to her feet, looking wildly around for an escape route, and then Larissa stepped forward, pulled her arms behind her back with one hand, and lifted her casually off the ground by the nape of her neck with the other.

      “Hold still,” she said. “I’m not going to hurt you if you hold still.”

      McBride got unsteadily to his feet. Blood was streaming from his nose and dripping steadily on to his uniform. He walked over to where the girl hung, suspended in the air by Larissa, and Jamie joined him.

      “What’s your name?” asked Jamie.

      The girl grimaced, and didn’t answer.

      “This will be easier if I know your name,” he said, calmly.

      ‘It’s Kate,” she spat. “Kate Randall.”

      “I’m Jamie,” he said. “Pleased to meet you.”

      She glared at him, and didn’t respond.

      “In a few seconds I’m going to ask my friend to put you down,” Jamie said. “Please don’t run, or attack any of us. We really do mean you no harm, but we’ll protect ourselves if we have to. OK?”

      No response.

      “I’m going to take that as a yes,” he said, and nodded to Larissa. She smiled at him, and released her grip on the girl. Kate fell to the floor in a heap, but her head came up immediately, her eyes flashing with anger.

      “Who are you?” she asked. “Are you with them?”

      “No,” said Jamie. “We’re not with them. We’re here to stop them.”

      Kate laughed. It was a dry, brittle sound, with no humour in it.

      “You’re a little bit late,” she said.

      Then she burst into tears.

      As McBride knelt down and tried to comfort the crying girl, the sound of footsteps crashed through the undergrowth, and Jamie heard his name called through the darkness. It was Morris’s voice, and he shouted in response.

      “Over here!”

      The crashing and thudding increased, then Morris and Stevenson burst into the clearing, their weapons drawn. They skidded to a halt, taking in the scene before them; Jamie standing next to Larissa, McBride kneeling beside the weeping teenage girl, the pale body of the man lying on the ground.

      “What happened?” demanded Morris, striding over to Jamie.

      Jamie explained.

      “Jesus,” said Morris, and shook his head. “What a mess this is.”

      Stevenson went to McBride and knelt down beside him. Kate was starting to compose herself, the tears drying up, her weeping diminishing to small gulps of air. She looked at the two men in their black uniforms crouching beside her, then over at Jamie.

      “What’s happening?” she asked, simply.

      Morris strode over and stood in front of her.

      “Have you read Dracula?” he asked.

      She nodded.

      “It’s not a story; it’s a history lesson.”

      Kate looked up at him, then burst out laughing.

      “Wow,” she said, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. “How many times have you practised that one?”

      Morris flushed red, and looked over to Jamie for help. A big grin had crept over the teenager’s face, and he walked over and hunkered down in front of Kate.

      “Vampires are real,” he said, softly. “They’re what attacked your island tonight. Their leader is one of the oldest vampires in the world, and he’s holding my mother captive. This had nothing to do with you, or anyone else who lived here. But you need to understand what we’re dealing with. OK?”

      Kate nodded. Her eyes were clear, and her face was remarkably calm.

      “Do you know if anyone made it off the island?” she asked. “My father…”

      She stopped, and gazed into the distance, lost for a moment in the memory of what had happened to her sleepy little village.

      “There are survivors,” Jamie said, and her eyes snapped back into focus. “I don’t know how many, and I don’t know if your father was among them. But there are definitely survivors; they ran a fishing boat aground on a beach near Fenwick.”

      Relief spilled through Kate like a warm wave. Somehow she knew her father was amongst the people who had made it to the mainland; she could not have explained to anyone how she knew, but she was certain. Her father was safe.

      I’ll see him soon. I’ll see him once the sun comes up. “What happens now?” she asked. “There’s no one else alive here. Ben was the last.”

      She motioned to the body lying on the grass. His wide eyes stared lifelessly up at the night sky.

      “We have a job to do,” said Morris. “I want you to go down into the village, lock yourself in your house and wait for morning. When the sun—”

      Kate and Jamie interrupted him at the same time.

      “You can’t leave me here!”

      “We’re not leaving her here!”

      Morris pulled off his helmet and threw it to the ground. It thudded to the wet grass, and the rest of the team jumped.

      “For Christ’s sake,” he shouted. “This is not a youth club hike or an Outward Bounds trip. This is a classified military operation, I am the senior officer here, and you will do as I tell you. Is that understood?”

      There was silence in the clearing; five faces were turned towards Morris, who had gone a deep shade of angry red.

      “That was very impressive, Tom,” said Larissa. “Really. Very forceful.”

      Kate giggled, and Jamie felt a smirk creep involuntarily across his face. Even McBride and Stevenson smiled, despite themselves, and after a moment Morris himself broke into a grin.

      “Sorry,” he said. “Got a bit carried away there for a minute.”

      Jamie stood up and clapped his friend on the shoulder.

      “We can’t leave her, Tom,” he said. “You know we can’t.”

      “I know,” replied Morris, then turned his attention to Kate. “Can you take us to the monastery from here?”

      Kate stood up.

      “What are we waiting for?” she asked.

      Chapter 43

      THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES

      The

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