‘Ishmael?’ Penny said carefully. ‘Why are you still holding that knife?’
I set the dagger against my left wrist and made a deep incision. Blood ran down my wrist, and it was golden. Penny made a sound, deep in her throat, and backed away, putting half the room between us. The golden blood stopped dripping as the wound healed. I stropped the blade clean on my sleeve and slipped the dagger back into the sheath under my sleeve.
‘Seeing,’ I said, ‘is believing.’
‘All right,’ Penny said hoarsely. ‘You have … golden blood. How about that. If I hadn’t seen it for myself I wouldn’t … There’s no way you could have faked that. So … I’m still not sure I can accept … everything you just told me, but I’ll go along, for now. And have some seriously noisy hysterics later, when I’ve got time. A Close Encounter, in the middle of a country house murder mystery … Not what I expected, this weekend. Is everyone who works for the Organization an alien?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I’d have noticed.’
‘Well, that’s something, at least. So! An alien passing for human is here to track down a vampire passing for human. Did the Colonel know about this …?’
‘Perhaps,’ I said. ‘Remember what he wrote in his letter: A horror has come to Belcourt … ’
‘Well, why didn’t he just say it was a vampire!’
‘Perhaps he wasn’t sure,’ I said. ‘Such things are rare. I’ve never encountered one before. Don’t know anyone who has. But the Colonel must have been given reason to … suspect something. That’s why he wanted me here so urgently. He needed one monster to take down another.’
‘So he knew … what you are?’
‘I never asked,’ I said. ‘I have gone to great pains to keep my true nature secret.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to end up in a cage,’ I said. ‘Or on a vivisection table. This planet is not very welcoming to illegal aliens.’
‘Do we tell the others?’ said Penny.
‘Probably not a good idea,’ I said. ‘They’ve got enough on their minds as it is. And, I have to wonder, how is it that two of the people in this small gathering know me from earlier times in my life? Diana in the sixties, and Alexander Khan in the eighties.’
‘Wait a minute!’ said Penny. ‘You mean: when Alex recognized you … it was you and not your father? That was you? And Diana really did know you from Paris? You really are that old? Holy shit …’
‘I worked beside Alex, in a Government department known as Black Heir,’ I said. ‘And Diana and I were lovers, long ago.’
‘Lovers?’ said Penny. ‘Oh, ick …’
‘She was as beautiful as you, once,’ I said.
‘You seem to have got over her death pretty quick,’ said Penny.
‘I have learned to keep my emotions inside,’ I said. ‘Because they aren’t always, entirely, human. I will avenge her. And the Colonel.’
‘And Roger?’ said Penny, pointedly.
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘But I still want to know why two people from my past are here, for the same Christmas weekend. Coincidence? Or something the Colonel arranged? He always did think he knew how to run my life better than I did. I’ll never know, now he’s gone. He hid me from the world for fifteen years. Who’s going to protect me, now he’s gone?’
I was genuinely lost for a moment, not knowing what to say or think.
Penny moved slowly forward across the room, to stand before me. ‘This isn’t the time to get lost in the past, Ishmael. Concentrate on the present, on what’s happening right now. We’re in danger here. You and I, and everyone downstairs, is in danger from a vampire. There. I said the v-word. We’re all depending on you, Ishmael.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s all right, Penny. I’m back. You’re quite right, of course. I won’t let you down.’ I stopped and looked at her for a long moment. ‘Penny … I’m still me. I haven’t changed. I’m still the person you believed you could trust.’
‘Yes,’ said Penny. ‘I do trust you. Whatever you are.’
We shared a smile. And then we left Roger’s room and went back out into the corridor, together.
We stood side by side at the top of the stairs, looking down. I could hear faint voices, from the drawing room. Just enough to know they were all there.
‘What do we know about vampires?’ I said. ‘I mean, really know? As opposed to what we think we know, from all those movies and television shows and weirdly romantic paperback novels. That always struck me as … odd. I mean, there’s nothing romantic about a leech.’
‘I know Dracula didn’t start out as an historical novel,’ said Penny. ‘I studied the book at college. We’re used to seeing it presented as a period piece. But when Bram Stoker’s novel first appeared, Count Dracula moved through the world of the reader, the world outside their windows. And the vampire is surrounded by all the latest technology of his time. Railways, motor cars, telegrams and blood transfusions. Dracula was a supernatural creature, invading a civilization based on science.’
‘I have encountered many strange things,’ I said. ‘Hell, I am a strange thing. And I’m still having trouble coming to terms with this. We need to sort out what parts of vampire lore are likely to be real, and what’s just superstitious folk lore and legend.’
‘Well,’ said Penny, ‘I know for a fact that everyone here has been outside in the daylight, at one time or another. And they certainly didn’t bring a coffin with them to sleep in. Jeeves would have noticed. We all ate and drank the same things; hell, we all had chicken kiev last night, with bags of garlic … No one’s reflection has been missing from a mirror …’
‘Crucifixes?’ I said.
‘I haven’t seen one hanging up anywhere,’ said Penny, frowning. ‘Daddy’s never been very religious. But no one’s been bothered by any of the religious elements in the Christmas celebration. What are vampires, really?’
‘A corpse that has risen from the grave,’ I said. ‘Broken out of its coffin and dug its way up out of the earth. To walk the world undead and feed on the living. A predator, hiding its true nature behind a glamour. A pleasing appearance. A telepathically-broadcast illusion. To make us see it as just another human being, instead of an undead walking corpse. Which is why I can’t see or smell anything different about them. Actually, I probably can; it’s just that I’m being prevented from noticing. Mentally compelled not to notice. That’s actually quite spooky. Like when we didn’t notice Diana was missing from the crowd outside Roger’s room.’
‘Until everyone else went downstairs!’ Penny said excitedly, bouncing up and down on the spot. ‘Does that mean the vampire’s range is limited?’
‘Could be,’ I said. ‘It must know it’s in danger now. In danger of being recognized and revealed for what it really is. It must know it’s going to have to kill all of us, to be safe. Pick us off, one at a time. Not for the blood; it must be sated by now. For the security. It can’t afford to leave any witnesses … Anyone who might spread wild stories about a vampire … People are actually more superstitious these days than they ever were. They’ll believe anything. No; it will kill us all, just to make itself feel safe, wait here for the storm to die down, and then head for the nearest village. And disappear. Nothing left behind but a house full of bodies. Or perhaps it’ll burn the Manor down. So no one will ever know what happened here. Just another unsolved mystery.’
‘Why hasn’t the vampire already left?’ said Penny. ‘Just, made a run for it? The cold wouldn’t affect the undead, would it?’
‘I don’t know!’ I said. ‘Really, I don’t know, Penny! Vampires aren’t my field. I never expected to run into one.’
‘What is your field, then?’
‘I’ll tell you later,’ I said.
‘You’d better,’ said Penny.
‘We have to identify which of the remaining people here is the vampire,’ I said. ‘And deal with it.’
‘But Ishmael, what if we’re wrong? We can’t just drive a stake through someone!’
‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘We won’t do anything until we’re sure. Beyond all reasonable doubt.’
I always was good at lying with a straight face.