‘Why is it picking us off one at a time?’ said Penny. ‘Why not just … wipe us all out?’
‘Probably because it isn’t nearly as powerful as it would like us to think,’ I said.
‘That’s the first reassuring thing you’ve said so far,’ said Penny.
Nine
I glanced thoughtfully at Penny as we made our way down the long curving stairs to join the others in the drawing room. I thought she was taking things rather well, all things considered. In all my time on planet Earth, I’d only revealed my true nature to five people. And four of those hadn’t gone at all well. So when we got to the foot of the stairs I stopped Penny and looked at her steadily.
‘We can’t tell the others about me,’ I said.
‘Oh good,’ said Penny. ‘Because I wouldn’t know where to start.’
‘But,’ I said. ‘We do have to tell them about the vampire.’
‘Let’s think about that for a moment,’ said Penny. ‘It’s all right to tell them our killer is a supernatural creature of the night, but not that you’re a little green man from outer space? Why?’
‘Because I don’t want them getting distracted,’ I said. ‘They’re going to have a hard enough time believing there’s a vampire in their midst, without adding me to the mix.’
‘I do get that,’ said Penny. ‘I’m still having problems accepting what you are, and I saw the evidence.’
‘The others have a right to know what’s really threatening them,’ I said. ‘If only so we can work out how best to defend ourselves.’
‘I’m not arguing,’ said Penny. ‘It’s just … how are we going to explain the whole vampire thing to them?’
‘With our mouths,’ I said.
‘Ho ho ho,’ said Penny. ‘Alien humour.’
‘One of them already knows,’ I said. ‘So the one who objects most …’
‘Is almost certainly the vampire!’ said Penny.
‘See how easy this is?’ I said.
Penny smiled widely. ‘I can hit you from here.’
I looked at the closed door to the drawing room, halfway down the long hallway. Inside, people were arguing loudly and angrily and borderline hysterically. None of them seemed sure what to do for the best, but that didn’t stop them arguing about it. So I stayed where I was and listened in.
‘We should just get the hell out of here!’ Sylvia said tearfully. ‘Leave the house and make a run for it. I don’t like it here, and I want to go!’
‘Then go,’ Melanie said coldly. ‘No one’s stopping you.’
‘I don’t want to go on my own,’ said Sylvia. ‘I’m scared of the storm. Of getting lost. Won’t anybody come with me?’
‘It’s not safe, Sylvia,’ said Khan, clearly struggling to sound sympathetic. ‘We all understand how scary this situation is, but the storm is far more dangerous. Leaving the house now would be suicide.’
‘Melanie?’ said Sylvia.
‘Don’t be silly,’ Melanie said immediately. ‘I can’t leave Walter. And he wouldn’t last ten minutes, out in the cold.’
‘Nobody would,’ said Jeeves. ‘I took a look out the front door a few minutes ago, and the storm’s cold enough to kill any of us, long before we could reach safety or shelter.’
‘I still say we should all barricade ourselves in our rooms!’ said Melanie. She was trying hard for self-control, but only hanging on by her fingernails. ‘Why won’t anyone listen to me? It’s the only way to stay safe until help arrives!’
‘Help is on its way,’ said Jeeves. ‘My people are coming, but there’s no way they can get here before morning. At the earliest.’
‘Locking himself in his room didn’t work out too well for Roger,’ said Leilah. ‘Did it?’
‘We should all stay together,’ said Khan. ‘Stay in one place, watch each other’s backs. Safety in numbers. Ishmael was right. He may be irritating, and overbearing, but he was right. If we’d listened to him, Roger might still be alive.’
‘Ishmael, darling,’ said Penny. ‘Please tell me what you’re doing, because you haven’t moved a muscle in quite a while, your face is entirely empty, and I am starting to freak out big time.’
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I was listening to the others talking in the drawing room.’ I gave her the gist of what I’d just overheard.
Penny looked down the hall to the drawing room. ‘You can hear everything they’re saying? All the way down there? Through a closed door?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s a gift.’
I threw open the door to the drawing room, and everyone immediately froze where they were and fell silent. They relaxed, just a little, when they saw it was only me, and Penny, but they only had to look at our faces to know something had happened. And that whatever it was, they really weren’t going to like it.
I looked at Jeeves. ‘You should have locked the door.’
‘I did,’ he said. ‘But then I had to unlock it, because people insisted on coming and going, so …’
‘Not a good idea,’ I said.
‘I will not be held prisoner in my own house!’ Melanie said loudly.
‘Would you rather be dead?’ I said.
‘Well, really …’ said Melanie.
‘What’s happened?’ said Leilah, looking at me narrowly.
‘Diana is dead,’ I said, as kindly as I could. ‘Murdered, in her room.’
‘No!’ said Sylvia. She had both hands at her mouth again. ‘She was sleeping, so I locked the door behind me when I left. And then, after Roger, I came down here … How could I have left her up there, on her own? What was I thinking?’
Penny shot me a meaningful glance. I’d already had the same thought. Could Sylvia’s mind have been affected by the vampire? To make her abandon her friend, and then forget about her? Like we all had, outside Roger’s room?
Sylvia turned to Khan, looking for him to comfort her, as he had before. Only to find he wasn’t ready to do that, this time. He just stood there and looked at her. Not actually suspicious, but not ready to trust her, either. Sylvia turned away, crushed by his rejection, and hugged herself tightly, as though to stop herself falling apart.
‘You’re the only one here we don’t know, Sylvia,’ Khan said slowly. ‘Diana brought you here. We knew nothing about you before this weekend.’
‘You bastard!’ said Sylvia, rounding on him. ‘You’re the one with motives for murder! James is dead, and Roger is dead, and you had arguments with both of them! We all saw you! We all heard you! What did you have against Diana? Did she get in the way, when you were trying to pressure Walter?’
Melanie glared coldly at Sylvia. ‘I never wanted you here. Never wanted Diana here. Conniving little bitch. If you’d both stayed away … I only let Diana come because Walter insisted. He thought we could all be good friends together … He’s always been too sentimental for his own good.’
‘Where is Walter?’ I said.
Everyone stopped and looked around the room, only now waking up to the fact that Walter wasn’t there with them.
‘No …’ said Penny. ‘Please, Ishmael, no; not Daddy …’
‘He popped out, just a minute ago,’ said Khan. ‘Didn’t he?’
‘He went back to our room,’ said Melanie. ‘To take his pills. He hasn’t been gone long …’
‘Hasn’t he?’ said Khan.
‘How long?’ Penny said fiercely. ‘How long has Daddy been gone?’
They all just looked at each other, not knowing what to say, surprised they hadn’t noticed Walter was gone and confused they hadn’t noticed before.
‘It’s been some time now,’ said Khan. ‘Hasn’t it?’
‘He promised me he’d only be a minute,’ said Melanie, looking around her for reassurance and not finding any. ‘He didn’t even take his walking stick.’
She gestured at it, still leaning against the wall. There was something very significant, and very sad, about the abandoned wooden stick.
‘The client,’ said Jeeves. ‘We have to check on the client, Leilah.’
But I was already out the door.
Only to come crashing to a halt, as I realized I wasn’t sure which room belonged to Walter and Melanie. I sniffed at the air, ready to follow my nose.