04 Silence Read online

  “Yes, well, he doesn’t have his own.” Maisy looked thoughtful for a moment. “All right, I’ll admit it. The whole idea does sound pretty interesting.”

  “Like something out of a game,” Steve insisted.

  Maisy sighed. “All right, like something out of a game. Only it isn’t. A game, I mean.”

  Kevin nodded. He knew that it was Maisy he had to convince. With Maisy on board, Steve would probably do just about anything. “That’s why I’m here. I just don’t know enough about what’s going on, and I figured that, as regular gamers-”

  “As geeks, you mean?” Maisy said.

  “-you might at least have a vague idea about how things were supposed to go.”

  Steve looked pleased by that, but Maisy looked a little more doubtful.

  “I don’t know, Kevin,” she said. “Getting information from games isn’t going to be that accurate, is it? I mean, just look at how different vampires are.”

  Kevin nodded. “I know, but there are some similarities, right? It’s all based on the original legends somewhere down the line. And that’s all I need. Any information is better than none right now, believe me.”

  Maisy nodded, and ate a mouthful of her lunch.

  “I guess so. So what exactly do you want to know?”

  “What do you know about the fey?”

  Maisy and Steve looked at one another. Maisy gestured with her fork as though trying to give shape to an idea. “That’s… kind of a big area, Kevin. These days, people use the word ‘fey’ to cover all kinds of things. Practically everything out of Northern European and Celtic mythology, for a start. You’re going to have to narrow things down a little.”

  “Well,” Kevin said. He wasn’t sure for a second if he should tell the two of them everything, but then he realized that if anyone had a right to know, it was probably Briony’s two closest friends. “What kind of fey might resemble a vampire?”

  “Um…” The two geeks looked at one another for a while, as though it might help them think. As much as he liked them, Kevin couldn’t help the thought that they were probably attempting some kind of sci-fi nerd mind meld.

  Steve came out of it first. “I guess there’s one thing. It’s not one of the Irish sidhe though, but it’s kind of broadly good, and it has fangs.”

  “Fangs sound about right,” Kevin said. “What are these things called?”

  Steve shrugged. “I forget what the word is. It’s Norwegian or something.”

  “Danish,” Maisy said, “and it’s ‘hugtandalf’. What? Nicky wanted me to come up with rules for playing one a couple of months back.”

  “So these…”

  “It just translates as ‘fanged elves’,” Steve said.

  Kevin couldn’t believe it. It sounded like he’d gotten luckier than he could have hoped for. Thank goodness for geeks. “Do you know anything about them?”

  Maisy nodded. “Well, assuming that we can take a Faeries, Fey and Sidhe rules supplement as accurate. They’re actually pretty cool. They have fangs, like vampires, which come down whenever their emotions are running high, and they have these amazing powers…” Suddenly Maisy stopped. “Kevin, why are you so interested in this?”

  Kevin ignored the question. “Do you know where they live? Where they come from? Please, Maisy, it’s important.”

  Maisy shrugged. “They’re supposed to live on a special world full of magic…”

  “Which could be on the other side of a portal,” Steve finished for her.

  Maisy looked at Kevin expectantly. “Is that where Briony went? Hang on… she’s one of them, isn’t she? That’s why you’re asking. Briony’s a fanged elf.” Maisy practically jumped out of her seat. “That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard! And it explains so much. No one human has skin and hair that nice.”

  “Shh.” Kevin put a finger to his lips. “Not so loud. I’m sure Briony and Aunt Sophie wouldn’t want the whole school to know.”

  “Sorry.”

  Kevin took a breath. “So, if I wanted to find this fey world, how would I do it? I know, I know, it’s just a game, but pretend for a moment that I really needed to get in there to reach level twenty or something.”

  Maisy thought a little more. “The fey like nature,” she said, “so maybe the more natural a place, the more likely it will be to hold the gate. They’d put it in the woods, obviously. Maybe near streams or certain types of trees and flowers. In a lot of things, fey have affinities for particular types of natural settings, and don’t like to stray into other ones.”

  Kevin nodded. “That fits with where the gate came up before. But I don’t know if that’s enough. You both know how big the woods are. Hundreds of acres.

  Thousands. How am I going to find the right kind of clearing in all that?”

  Maisy smiled like she knew something that Kevin didn’t. “You just look for it.”

  That wasn’t exactly the kind of answer Kevin had been hoping for. He got up to leave. “You’ve both been very helpful. At least now we know what Briony could be. I have to go, though. I need to start looking for a way in. Fallon can’t go, Jake can’t go, so that leaves me.”

  “Settle down,” Maisy said. “I didn’t mean looking by physically combing the woods. I meant looking electronically. Ever since we joined the Preservation Society, Steve and I have been looking at ways to use technology to keep track of supernatural activity.”

  That caught Kevin’s interest. He’d done enough science to understand the possibilities of well - constructed search algorithms. The way they could show up patterns that people often couldn’t pick out on their own. “You have something that works?”

  “Of course,” Steve said. “Well, sometimes, anyway. And this time, it should be simple. You just tell me everything you remember about the clearings where the gate opened, and then I take satellite maps of the forest, and I set a program looking for those characteristics. Easy.”

  Kevin could see the possibilities at once.

  “You’re right. It will still leave us with a lot of possibilities, but I’ll know where they are, and I can check on them.”

  “Of course,” Steve said, “if you could give me enough data on when and where gates had opened in the past, we might be able to do more to predict what will happen.”

  Kevin thought about the journals of the werewolf kings. Would they have enough information? He didn’t know.

  “For now,” he said, “concentrate on the basic search. If we can do more later, we will.” Kevin’s eyes lit up as another thought came to him. “If you knew what to look for, you could also find Pietre and the vampires this way, couldn’t you?”

  “Maybe,” Steve admitted.

  Kevin got up right as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang. He patted Steve on the shoulder and grinned at Maisy. “I was beginning to think it was hopeless, but now I think we may have something.”

  Maisy and Steve both smiled, and Maisy leaned across to kiss Steve. “Finally, we do something for the society that’s helpful.”

  She moved over to Kevin, looking up at him with serious eyes. “Look Kevin, I know how you’re worried about Briony. So am I. We’ll get her back. We need her, she’s a big part of Wicked now, and we won’t lose her. We can’t.”

  Kevin nodded. He hoped that Maisy was right.

  He really did. The thought of losing Briony weighed on him like a pocketful of lead. “Let me know when you find something,” he said. “Until then, I’ll be out trying to see if I can come up with anything else that might help.

  And be careful.” Already a couple of the goth students were looking across at the three of them. “If Pietre learns that you might be able to track him down…”

  “Don’t worry,” Steve said, “we’ll be careful.”

  “Or I will be anyway,” Maisy added. “And I’ll try to make sure that Steve is, too.”

  Chapter 9

  Abandoning the banqueting hall, Briony ran with her great-a
unt through the halls and corridors of the castle. They stopped at each room, searching for signs of the Hugtandalfer servants and nobles who should have been there. Yet there continued to be no sign of them. Had the sudden threat of vampires driven them into hiding, or was something else going on?

  “We’ll need weapons,” Aunt Sophie said.

  Briony hadn’t even thought of that. Back home, she would have had ready access to weapons designed specifically with vampires in mind. Here though, what was there that they could use?

  Aunt Sophie grabbed a chair in the next room they came to. It was a beautiful thing, almost a work of art, but Aunt Sophie broke it without any hesitation, handing one of the legs to Briony to use as a stake.

  Briony guessed that killing vampires came before having nice furniture. Now, they just had to work out what was going on.

  “Where are King Waltham, Archer, and the rest of them?” Briony asked. “I mean, if there are vampires here, shouldn’t there be knights or something to defend the place?”

  Aunt Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know any more than you do, Briony. At a guess, I would say that, the people here aren’t used to being attacked by vampires in their own court. Just the sign of a dagger was enough to scare them away from the banquet, so I don’t know if we will get any help from that quarter.”

  Aunt Sophie shook her head then. “Looks like we have our work cut out for us, Briony. I suspect that half these elves haven’t seen a vampire in so long, they’ve forgotten how to fight them.”

  That certainly explained some of the comments before, about Briony and Aunt Sophie showing up at just the right time. Though Briony wasn’t so sure about it being perfect timing from where she stood. Showing up just in time for a fight with vampires was not her idea of fun.

  “Are you sure that we’re up to this?” Briony asked. She didn’t mean to sound defeatist, but there was no way of knowing how many vampires might have managed to find a way into the castle. It could be just the two of them against an army, for all they knew.

  “Up to it?” Aunt Sophie laughed, and Briony couldn’t help reflecting again that this new, younger version of her was a little brasher than she had been.

  “I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t felt this good in… well, forever. Right now, I feel like I could take on any vampire. Now come on. We’re wasting time.”

  She set off again at a run, and Briony struggled to keep up. They were moving so fast that Briony could barely look where she was going as she ran. So fast, in fact, that when they rounded a corner and found a tall, broad-shouldered figure coming the other way, there was simply no time to stop. Briony rebounded and sat down heavily, her only consolation in her embarrassment the fact that Aunt Sophie did the same.

  Briony looked up, and even that consolation went out the window. It had to be Vigor, didn’t it? The Prince stood over them, resplendent in armor that was a mixture of steel plates and leather strips, designed to give the maximum amount of protection while still allowing the wearer freedom of movement. A sword hung at his side. The collision hadn’t moved him in the slightest, of course.

  “Why, if it isn’t my favorite statue,” Aunt Sophie said, leaping nimbly to her feet. To Briony’s surprise, Vigor flushed, and moved forward to offer Briony his assistance in regaining her feet. He even mumbled something that sounded like an apology as he lifted her, setting her on her feet as easily as he might have lifted a child.

  “What brings you out here?” Aunt Sophie asked.

  “I am here to sweep for vampire assassins,”

  Vigor said simply.

  Briony looked around at the empty corridor.

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “They have taken up defensive positions deeper in the castle. As should you both.”

  Aunt Sophie raised an eyebrow. “You’re planning on fighting whoever left that dagger on the banquet table all on your own.”

  “It is my duty,” Vigor said. “My fa… the King is not well enough to fight. Those around him, including the dragon, have moved to keep him safe. I am what remains.”

  “So you really are planning to take them on alone?” Briony asked.

  Vigor shrugged. “As I said, it is my duty. I am protector of this castle when the King cannot fight, and I will not fail him.”

  Briony could just see Prince Vigor throwing himself into the middle of a mob of vampires in the name of duty.

  “We’ll help,” she said. “Aunt Sophie and I know vampires. We know their strengths and their weaknesses.”

  Vigor shook his head. “You should go and seek out the others. Remain with them, where it is safe.”

  Briony bristled a little at that. “What? Because we’re girls? Just because you live in a castle, that’s no reason to have medieval attitudes, you know.”

  “Because you are human,” Vigor said. “Sophie here may be one of us now, but you don’t even possess supernatural strength or magic. How can you possibly hope to survive a fight against a vampire?”

  Briony wasn’t about to let that go either. “I may be human, but I’ve seen and fought more vampires than you ever have, Vigor.”

  “You should be with the courtiers,” Vigor insisted. “The King would never forgive me if I allowed you to be killed. He has made his feelings about you plain. And you… whatever you say, you are too human for this.”

  Aunt Sophie gave Vigor an annoyed look then.

  “Briony is part human, yes, but she’s also Hugtandalfer like you. Her strength and powers will be realized in time. Do not underestimate Briony, Vigor. Or me. If you want us to stay where it’s safe, you can try to make us, but I don’t like your chances.”

  With that, Sophie took the lead and charged ahead down the corridor. Vigor gave an exasperated sigh and set off after her. Briony grinned at that and did her best to keep up. Aunt Sophie came to a halt in a gallery, hung with portraits of people who were undoubtedly Briony’s ancestors and relations. Briony couldn’t resist a quick glance around at them. There was so much she did not know about her family here.

  Aunt Sophie was speaking, though, so Briony did her best to listen.

  “Do you know how to fight vampires, Vigor? First thing’s first, if they’re as old as everyone says they are, they possess incredible strength and abilities. Even the ability to read minds, hear things from a long distance, and fly.” Aunt Sophie poked Vigor in his armored chest. “It takes more than strength and bravery to win against ancient vampires. It takes smarts and the element of surprise if you want to get close enough to stake one.”

  “Oh, surprises. I love surprises.”

  The voice came from above them, and a dark shadow flashed down, knocking Aunt Sophie flat, the stake spinning from her hand to clatter against the wall. She leapt back to her feet as a laugh sounded around them, echoing in ways it shouldn’t have been able to.

  Briony tightened her grip on her stake, not wanting to be caught out in the same way. She saw Vigor draw his sword and take up a fighting stance.

  Together, the three of them glanced around, but there was no sign of anyone. Only when the laugh sounded again, above them once more, did Briony look up.

  A young man was clinging to the ceiling like a spider, dressed in a dark tunic and pants, with black, almost knee-length boots and a sword at his waist.

  His long, dark hair fell around his face thanks to his current location, but even so, Briony could make out the redness of his eyes, could see the moment when his mouth opened to reveal fangs.

  Briony thought that she would have plenty of time to raise her stake as he leapt at her, but the vampire was faster even than Pietre. Before Briony could so much as blink, he was in front of her, mouth opened wide to bite her. Briony didn’t have the time to do anything.

  Vigor was faster, though. He charged the vampire, aiming a slash with his sword which forced the creature back. The vampire drew his own sword and spun, aiming a low slash at Vigor’s legs. The Hugtandalfer prince leapt, avoi
ding it neatly.

  They kept on like that, and it soon became clear that the two were both master swordsmen.

  Vigor’s style was brutal, with stroke after stroke aimed at his opponent in a continuous onslaught, but the vampire was a constantly moving target, throwing out sudden thrusts to force Vigor onto the back foot just as Briony thought the Prince might finally break through.

  Such was the quality of the swordplay on show that Briony did not dare to interfere. Instead, she found herself glued to the action taking place in front of her as counter riposte followed riposte, and the two combatants’ feet slid back and forth, looking to gain some advantage in distance or timing that might finally allow them to finish off their opponent.

  Briony was so involved, in fact, that she didn’t notice the moment when more vampires arrived. They came as the one fighting Vigor had come, scuttling along the ceiling and dropping down to attack. Aunt Sophie kicked one back, and then barely parried an attack from another.

  “Fight, Briony!”

  That was enough to break Briony’s immobility.

  She lunged for a vampire, but it twisted away easily.

  Another moved around to her side, dancing back as Briony spun to attack it. On they went, switching back and forth as Briony tried to strike at them, but never quite enough to gain a hit. They were toying with her.

  While Vigor and Aunt Sophie fought hard around Briony, the vampires were actually toying with her.

  Each one moved so fast that Briony knew it had to be true- these vampires were all at least as old as Pietre. Which meant…

  Which meant Briony, Vigor, and Aunt Sophie had a slim chance of winning. Not like this. Not in a fair fight. Maybe Vigor and Aunt Sophie could have beaten one or two of them, but not as many as this, and not with Briony there. Vigor was right. She was a liability.

  Almost as soon as she thought it, Briony found her makeshift stake knocked out of her hand like it wasn’t there. At the same time though, the two vampires attacking her took a step back. Briony turned, expecting some fresh threat. Except all there was standing before her was a sweet faced girl with jet black hair and green eyes, only a little older than her brother Jake.