At some point she must have passed out. When she was next aware of anything she realised she was alone. The heavy weight had gone from her back. Tentatively, almost experimentally, she tried to sit up. The ground was warm and wet beneath her but it didn’t seem to matter.
She raised a hand to her neck and felt two small lumps but the skin was unbroken
(already healed)
and her hands came away clean. She wondered if she had somehow survived the attack. Maybe something had come along and scared the vamp away. She wondered what terrible thing could possibly scare a vamp. The only thing she came up with was a bigger, badder vamp.
The idea of going back to the river no longer seemed appealing. She was thirsty but the idea of jumping in the water wasn’t just unappealing, it felt akin to jumping into a fire. She stood up and turned back towards the little cluster of trees. It no longer scared her to go back that way but she didn’t think she would stop there. There was no need to go back to the village now, there were better things to do with her time than waiting on an abusive father.
All of the aches and pains that she had felt were gone. If anything she felt better than she ever had before. She seemed to float above the land which she could see more clearly now. Each blade of the long grass shone like a lamp, each tree stood alone and independent. There was a new sound as well, a throbbing and gushing sound that made her thirst greater.
Kirsty Louise Lorimer passed through the cluster of trees and into her new life.
2
Old Groche stood with his head in his hands. His sons either side of him. He’d already lost a daughter and now a grandchild too. Ben felt sorry for him, even if he was a miserable wretch most of the time. He turned away from the scene as more people arrived and went into the Village Hall.
Nicholas’s door was closed but he could hear shouting. He opened the door and found Nicholas sitting calmly behind his desk talking to three girls who couldn’t have been much older than thirteen. Nicholas broke off from what he was saying and looked up when Ben walked through the door.
“Cora…” he said and the room seemed to freeze. Why had his sisters name come to his lips and right then? It seemed as if everyone was looking at him. He wet his lips. “You wanted to see me?”
Nicholas nodded. “Sit down Ben. I want you to hear what these young ladies have to say.”
He looked around but couldn’t see a seat so he crossed his arms and nodded for them to continue.
“Okay Margaret,” said Nicholas, his voice calm and level but his fingers jiving on the table giving those who knew him a deeper insight into his thought process. “Lets go through this again.”
The girl with short dark hair looked up at him, her cheeks were wet but her face set in a scowl. “Who’s he?”
“This is Ben,” said Nicholas. “He’s going to help me find your friend.”
Her face broke into a relieved smile and she tilted her head up to look at him, “are you? Really?”
Ben felt a little uncomfortable, not about what was being said exactly, more at the way she was saying it. But her friend was missing, he supposed, she probably didn’t know how to react. “I’m going to do my best,” he said because over the years he’d found that not only wouldn’t he lie to his wife but that he wouldn’t lie to children either.
“Fuck you,” she said and then leaned back in her seat with her arms folded across her chest.
Ben was shocked by her attitude. He was there because Nicholas had sent for him, because there was a little girl missing and because he thought he could help. He turned and looked at Nicholas.
“Margaret please,” said Nicholas. His hands were squeezed together in tight fists. “We’re trying to help Kirsty.”
Margaret looked away from him and for a while Ben thought that the meeting would end there. Then one of the other girls leaned towards Margaret. Ben couldn’t hear what she was saying but when she had finished Margaret said, “fine, I’ll tell him.”
He waited while she turned herself towards him, sat up and brushed strands of dark hair out of her face. The other girls could have told him what had happened but he hadn’t been in the room for five seconds before he’d realised that there was a strict hierarchy within the group.
“She’s on Back Field,” said Margaret and was apparently happy to leave it at that.
Ben took a breath and tried to remain calm
(it’s happening again)
while he spoke. “What’s she doing there?”
Margaret turned and looked at the girl who had gotten her to speak. She nodded then Margaret turned back to Ben. He realised that whatever she told him now was unlikely to be the whole truth. “She wanted to go. We tried to stop her but she said we were just scared. She took the boat but we, I, thought she would come back as soon as she saw what it was like. She just ran off onto the field.”
Ben looked at Nicholas who shrugged. Then back to Margaret. “What did you do then?”
“We waited for her but it was late. We were going to go back and look for her this morning but I guess her dad realised she was gone already.”
“Why didn’t you come and tell someone last night?” said Nicholas. “You know where I live, you could have woken me.”
“We didn’t want to get her in trouble,” said Margaret. Then she seemed to change her whole demeanour in a way that seemed forced to Ben. She started to sniff as if she was crying but there were no tears. “I’m really sorry,” she said, shaking her head. The words became almost impossible to understand. “We shouldn’t have let her go and we should have told someone straight away. We didn’t think she would do it.”
“What was she wearing?” said Ben.
Margaret shook her head. “I don’t know. A t-shirt and jeans, I think.”
“Do you remember the colour?”
She shook her head and he turned to look at the other girls. The one who had spoken to Margaret answered. “It was a white t-shirt.”
Ben nodded and turned to Nicholas who returned the gesture.
“Thank you girls,” said Nicholas. “I think that’s everything we need from you.”
They looked at him as if they were in school and he was a teacher.
“You may leave now.”
The three girls stood up and the one who had spoken to Margaret held open the door so the other two could go through. Ben expected her to follow them out and she did, but first she turned back to them and said, “please find her. I’m so worried.”
It was, Ben thought, the first honest thing that had been said in the room and he refused to meet it with a lie. “If she’s still there I’ll find her.”
The girl looked confused. “Where else could she be?”
Ben found that he couldn’t answer her. The truth was that she was probably dead. He didn’t know if there were still vamps on the Back Field but he knew a thirteen year old girl couldn’t last long by herself on a field at night wearing summer clothes. If he didn’t find her there then she was probably at the bottom of the river.
Without getting an answer from him the girl left the room and closed the door behind her. Ben stood and turned to Nicholas. “What do you think?”
“She’s lying,” said Nicholas. His face had gone red now and he was gripping the edge of his desk.
“About the Back Field?” he said.
“About the rest of it. What little girl would go off and do such a thing?”