Blood Exposed Read online

  The three vampires disappeared silently down the corridor towards the staff exit while Caleb, with an apology for leaving, took Anita’s flute from her and headed upstairs with the instruments, fending off questions from the drummer that he didn’t want to answer.

  I steered Anita towards the coffee urn in the foyer to fortify ourselves before we were pounced on by the policewoman, which didn’t take long as she was hovering near the reception desk, obviously waiting for Anita to finish her music set. She didn’t seem too happy that I was there too, but I made it quite clear that I wasn’t going anywhere and she could like it or lump it, so she settled for glaring at me as we made ourselves comfortable in the foyer’s armchairs.

  I made sure Anita wasn’t pressured by the stern uniform and the poised notebook, reminding her to stay calm and answer the questions with just the facts and no guesswork. Anita’s hands were shaking as she held her coffee cup but, once she lost her initial nervousness and started recalling our evening, it didn’t take long for her to give a statement very similar to my own. She was also able to fill in a bit more information about Abigail, telling the policewoman what she knew about Abigail’s membership of the medieval society and her specific tasks for the weekend.

  “I saw her about an hour before the jousting tournament,” she said. “She was upstairs in the committee suite, putting on her costume. She said she had something to check over at the park, then she rushed off. I didn’t see her again until Riley fell over her, but Caleb wondered why she wasn’t in her place beside Gerald for the tournament. She was supposed to give her scarf to one of the knights as a favour – to show he was her favourite so the crowd would barrack for him.”

  “When you say ‘rushed off’, what did you mean exactly?” the policewoman asked. “What sort of a mood was she in?”

  Anita didn’t answer right away. I could see she was replaying the scene in her head, imagining Abigail’s movements and mood. Just when I thought the policewoman was going to ask the question again, Anita finally answered.

  “I thought she was just under the same stress as the rest of us who are organising this event. She got frustrated with her petticoat and I had to help her with it, and she kept pulling up her sleeve to look at her watch. We’re not supposed to wear modern watches with our costumes but we all do, we just make sure they can’t be seen. She kept asking me to hurry, so I figured she was worried about running out of time before the jousting, although we still had an hour before it started.”

  “So she was what?” the policewoman coaxed. “Anxious? Angry? Excited?”

  Anita shrugged the question away. “In a hurry. That’s all. She was busy, same as the rest of us.”

  It didn’t take the policewoman long to realise Anita had nothing more to give her, turning us loose when Anita told her where to find Caleb. He could probably tell her more about Abigail, but I didn’t think he would volunteer anything about the missing money. As the policewoman walked away Anita subsided back into the oversized armchair, expelling a long, whistling sigh of relief.

  “Wow, that was intense.”

  “Yeah, but she wasn’t as bad as the guy. When they questioned us all after Tasha’s death, he kept us for so long I lost the plot and started to give rude answers, which made it worse and he kept me even longer.”

  “Who do you think killed her? Do you think it’s the same person who took the money? Should we have told the police about the money? Do you think it’s connected?”

  “I don’t think anything. I mean, I guess maybe Abigail knew who took the money and was going to tell, or maybe she took the money with someone else and they didn’t want to share. I don’t know. You know them better than I do. What do you think?”

  “I wish I had taken more notice of what she was talking about before she went over to the park. She’s one of those people who talks flat out in a sing-songy voice, and it’s all about them, so I wasn’t really listening. I need to sit quietly and replay it all in my head. I’ve got a funny feeling she said something important but I don’t know what it was. Anyway, I’m not going to think about it right now. I’m just going to sit here until Mum comes to collect us.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  While we waited, I filled Anita in on the gossip about the Goth Ks.

  “I wondered why they weren’t in the audience tonight,” she said as I completed my tale.

  “Kyle was. Sitting between Queen Elizabeth the First and the Sherriff of Nottingham. But Kristi didn’t show up. Kyle reckons she will have gone out walking through the cemeteries.”

  “That’s creepy. And dangerous by herself. At least with Kyle she had someone to protect her. What is she really did run into a vampire?”

  “Umm. I don’t think there are a lot of vampires hanging around Addington Cemetery, although I bet there are a few goths like her. She’s in more danger from street kids and junkies than from vampires. Anyway, she wants to find a vampire. Haven’t you heard her rave on about ‘her people’? She’s so desperate to be bitten she’s got fake bite marks tattooed on her neck.”

  “She hasn’t got Kyle trained to bite her then?”

  “I bet she’s tried to.”

  “I heard he told everyone that Severn and the other guys are vampires. Reckoned they had pointed teeth. Do they?’

  “What if I said he’s right, and they are vampires. Would you believe me?”

  Anita laughed, then stopped and stared at me, then laughed again not quite so convincingly. She shut one eye, put her head on the side and squinted as if she was trying to look inside my brain to see if I was joking or not.

  “If you had asked me that yesterday I would have said no, I wouldn’t believe you, but there’s something odd about those three, including your precious boyfriend, that I can’t figure out. For starters, the Rev. How can he be an ordained priest when he’s only what – seventeen or eighteen years old? And where did he learn to play the shawm like that? He must have been practising every day since he was a baby to get that good.”

  I didn’t attempt to offer any explanation.

  “If you told me Kyle was right and your boyfriend and his mates were vampires,” Anita continued, “right now I would believe you. It would explain a lot.”

  “Mum knows,” I said.

  “Knows what? That they are vampires?”

  “Yep.”

  “This is getting ridiculous. You expect me to believe that Severn is a vampire and your mother is happy about it?”

  “Yep, crazy isn’t it. I’m glad you know now. It was getting difficult keeping it a secret.”

  Anita wriggled in her chair and shook her head in exasperation.

  “You’ve gone nuts. This fantasy convention had gone to your head. Would you believe me if I said Caleb is a werewolf?”

  “Nope. He just wants to be one.”

  “I give up. Okay, I’ll play your game. If your guys are vampires and Kristi wants to be bitten by a vampire, why haven’t they done it yet?”

  “Aiden wanted to, last night, but Severn and the Rev wouldn’t let him. But I reckon he will hunt her down tonight. Severn won’t, he doesn’t think she’s a good target, but Aiden’s not so fussy.”

  “I am falling more and more into this fantasy but okay, I’m asking ... where will Severn go instead?”

  “Down the Strip, around the nightclubs, or down at the skate park. Anywhere people hang out after midnight.”

  Anita sat quietly for a moment, absorbing what I had said but still not sure if I was telling the truth or spinning her a story. She closed her eyes, rubbed her hands over her face then waggled one finger at me.

  “What about you? In this little saga, are you still Riley or have you turned into a vampire too?”

  I leant forwards so I could look her straight in the eye.

  “Not yet. I thought I might have been turned during the whole Tasha thing, where stuff happened that you don’t know about, but I didn’t and now I have to decide. But I’ve got a couple of years to make up my mind. Severn still looks a bit older than me, so we will still look right together for a few more years. I will just have to make up my mind before I look way too old to be with him.”

  “Wow! And I thought Kristi was crazy. Okay, last bit of the plot, how old is he then?”

  “A hundred and twenty nine. The Rev’s way older. That’s why he’s a priest and why he’s so good on the shawm. Why do you think he knew that Dead Can Dance thing so well? He learned to play it when it was on the Medieval Top Ten. Aiden’s somewhere in the middle. I’m not exactly sure, I haven’t asked him, but his father, Finn, is a deadly shot with a bow and arrow.”

  Anita sat back and burst out laughing. “You win! I am beaten. Best story I’ve heard all weekend, and I’ve heard some pretty good persona back-stories from some very odd characters. Let’s see if I’ve got this story straight. If the Rev is a vampire and a priest, and your robes are supposed to be the real thing from an actual monastery, does that mean all the monks there are vampires? Or just the Rev?”

  “All of them.”

  “And just how did a whole monastery full of monks become vampires in the first place?”

  “Two or three of them were already vampires and they turned all the rest to stop them dying of the plague.”

  “Of course they did. And Severn? Did he just wander into the monastery one day?”

  “No. The Rev, Aiden and some others were out in the world, away from the monastery, working in a circus. Severn got a job there when he left home. They turned him when he discovered what they were.”

  Anita pushed herself out of the chair to pace around the foyer, staring through the windows out into the dark before returning to her seat.

  “But Severn doesn’t have pointed teeth. Get around that one.”

  “They exten
d when they are in hunting mode. I’ll get him to show you.”

  “Anything else I should know? Like that they actually sleep in coffins. Or do they hang upside down from the ceiling like bats?”

  “They sleep in beds the same as we do. But ... they’ve got wings. Huge, creamy, leather wings.”

  Anita opened her mouth but no words came out, just a good impression of a dying fish. I threw her my final curveball.

  “You remember those demons flying over the Cathedral?” She nodded. “That was them. Well, not Severn or the Rev. It was Aiden’s sister, Meredith, and her friend, Olivia. And Aiden. He was in one of the videos.”

  “Enough! Enough. My head was spinning before. This is too much crazy all at once. Let’s go back to talking about Abigail’s murder. It’s way easier to deal with.”

  “What’s easier to deal with?” Caleb said as he strode across the foyer and slid into the chair next to Anita. “Sorry I took so long. That policewoman wanted the life history of everyone on the committee.”

  “Murder. Easier to deal with than vampires,” Anita answered with a wink at me.

  “Okay. Sounds complicated. Not following,” Caleb said. “That was pretty horrible though, falling over her body like that. Are you okay, Riley?”

  “Yeah. I’m fine. But I have a question for you. Did you get a look at the sword sticking out of her? Have you seen it before?”

  “I didn’t get a decent look. Did you? Can you describe it to me?”

  “Yeah. Not as long as the ones the knights were using but just as heavy looking. Really solid hilt like it was made for big hands. The end of the hilt had a big circle-shaped knob with something engraved on it. I think it was a lizard, or a dragon.”

  “I know exactly which sword that is. I guess the police won’t take long to figure it out either, especially considering where she was killed. Someone must have been waiting for her inside the tent because that’s where the sword would have been.”

  I looked at him, urging him to get to the point, which he was drawing out purposefully to keep us in suspense.

  “Well,” I urged. “Whose sword is it?”

  Caleb looked at Anita as if she should already know the answer.

  “It’s the bastard sword,” he said. “The one I told you about, Annie, the one with the dragon hilt. It was going to be auctioned tomorrow to raise funds. Rhys made it.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Anita’s mum had to detour halfway across town to deliver me home, so it only seemed fair to invite them in for coffee, which also gave us the chance to fill both our mothers in on Abigail’s murder at the same time. I took the lead, then Anita added the extra bits about seeing Abigail before we went to the jousting. Mum was not as shocked as Anita’s mother, but Mum had dealt with murder, kidnapping and vampires in the last few months and was getting harder to surprise. She did seem rather quick to suggest Anita needed to get home to rest and to politely hustle them out the door, but her reasons became obvious when she shut the door behind them and rounded on me.

  “What about the boys? Are they safe? Please tell me the police have got no reason to question any of them.”

  I held my hands up to fend her off and waved them like windscreen wipers in that gesture that says ‘calm down, everything’s fine’.

  “Settle, Gretel.” I ushered Mum back into the lounge. “They weren’t there. They had gone back to the motel for a break and I texted Severn to stay away from Hagley Park when they got back. The cops have got plenty of suspects from people who were at the jousting. I don’t think they will be looking too hard at people who couldn’t possibly have stabbed Abigail because they weren’t there. Don’t panic, the guys know to keep their heads down.”

  Placated, Mum heaved a sigh of relief, but she still made me sit down and run through the whole story again. It was after midnight before I was finally able to pull off my monk’s robe and crawl into bed, mentally and physically exhausted, only to dream of knights thundering around me on massive horses, passing an impaled Abigail from one jousting pole to another.

  Anita looked as if she hadn’t slept at all, her eyes red where she had been rubbing them and her hair pulled back roughly into an untidy ponytail. I hadn’t seen her when we arrived but she burst into the conference room while I was helping set up the microphones for the first panel, begging for my help.

  “Please, please come and give me a hand. I can’t deal with Ngaire all by myself.”

  I looked over at Severn who nodded his assurance that he didn’t need me urgently, finished plugging in the microphone I was holding, and followed Anita up the stairs to the committee’s suite where she pointed to a pile of clothes dumped on one of the chairs.

  “Remember I said Abigail was getting changed in here before she went over to the park?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, the police are coming to collect everything she left up here and I have to be here to tell them which stuff is hers. But I’m not allowed to touch any of it, which is pretty dumb because anyone could have moved it last night, although it doesn’t look as if they have.”

  “So what did you need me for?” I asked.

  Anita crossed the room and checked both bedrooms before replying, her voice lowered to almost a whisper.

  “Ngaire’s in a foul mood. Caleb said Ngaire and Gerald had a dreadful argument last night, something to do with some scheme Gerald has got going with Rhys. Anyway, Caleb said Gerald stormed out and hasn’t come back and Ngaire is taking it out on everyone else. He’s trying to calm her down by helping her get the marquee set up for the day and I’m staying out of her road.” Anita paused, wrinkling her nose and rubbing her hands together as she always did when she wanted to say something she didn’t think she should say. “Can I say something awful?”

  “Yep.”

  “She might be Caleb’s mum and the grandmother of my unborn baby, but she scares the hell out of me sometimes. To begin with, I thought she was really nice. She’s so organised and helpful. But working with her this weekend has kind of changed my mind. She isn’t someone you want to cross. It’s her way or the highway. Caleb just shuts up and does as he’s told but there’ve been a few times I have had to bite my tongue and not tell her where to go. I feel a bit sorry for Gerald, he’s so meek. She’s got him well trained.”

  “Not that well trained if they had a fight.”

  “Yeah, sounds like the worm turned, as my father would say.”

  My smart remark in return was cut off by the arrival of the policewoman, carrying a large plastic bag. Anita pointed out the pile of Abigail’s clothes but the policewoman brushed off her offer of help, carefully picking the clothes up one at a time with latex-gloved hands and checking with Anita that each item belonged to Abigail before she dropped it into the bag. As the last item went in, I nudged Anita.

  “Is that Abigail’s jacket?”

  “Yeah, she wears it all the time. Why?”

  “Nothing. It just answers the question of who I saw Rhys kissing behind the tent. I didn’t see her face but she was wearing that jacket. And I saw that jacket going into Rhys’s tent earlier too, the first time you and I went over to the park.”

  ‘Yeah, but they were both on the committee, so there are plenty of reasons she would be going into his tent,” Anita argued.

  “But not plenty of reasons to be snogging him behind it.”

  “When exactly was this?” The policewoman had put down the bag and was pulling out her notebook and pen. “Are you sure it was Abigail?”

  “No, I’m not sure at all. But it was someone in an identical puffer jacket.”

  Then it was statement time all over again as I had to recall the details of what I had seen, only this time, instead of glaring at me as if I was a criminal, the policewoman smiled and thanked me before she grabbed the bag of clothes and rushed off, promising to share my revelations with Detective Hope-He-Doesn’t-Need-To-Speak-To-Me-Now.

  “You’ve just made Rhys a prime suspect,” Anita said, a tinge of reproach in her voice.