Her Vampyrrhic Heart by Simon Clark Read Free Book Online Page B

truth?’
    Tom held open the door. ‘We have to go now. I mean this very second.’
    She hesitated.
    He said, ‘I promise to phone you tomorrow.’
    â€˜Alright, but please,
please
come and see me as soon as you possibly can. OK?’
    â€˜OK.’ He looked her in the eye. ‘What I’m going to say next will seem strange … it’ll even sound worrying … but when we walk through the wood stick close to me. You might see things that seem odd, but don’t stop. Keep walking. Don’t look at them. Don’t look back. Just keep moving forward, and I’ll get you back to your car.’
    â€˜What kind of things?’
    â€˜I’ll explain when I see you again. Now, are you ready?’
    When she nodded, Tom Westonby led the way. He hoped that the path ahead would be clear.

FOURTEEN
    T hey walked away from the cottage. Out here in the remote part of the forest an absolute darkness engulfed them. June Valko stuck close by Tom’s side as he’d asked. That distinctive forest-in-winter aroma filled his nostrils – the scent of damp earth, the mustiness of vegetation and sharper tang of dead leaves. Their breath billowed from their mouths. The brilliant light from Tom’s torch made those bursts of breath look like clouds of white steam.
    June Valko scanned her surroundings. ‘I passed through an impressive stone arch when I came into the garden. The arch looks a lot older than the cottage.’
    â€˜It is.’
    â€˜Something had been carved on it. Is it an animal?’
    â€˜I’ll explain when we meet up.’ He walked faster, intending to get her back to the car as soon as possible. ‘You say you parked near a large house on the main road?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜That’s Mull-Rigg Hall. My parents live there.’
    â€˜Oh.’ June’s expression became thoughtful, as if she’d picked up some inflection in his voice when he’d mentioned his parents. June carried the little electric lantern. ‘I tried to buy a flashlight,’ she explained, ‘but this is all they had at the village store. I think it’s just a toy lamp they had left over from Hallowe’en.’
    â€˜Watch where you put your feet. It’ll get slippery down by the river.’
    June Valko continued to talk. He guessed she’d picked up on his tension, and talking was a way to try and disguise her nervousness. ‘I wouldn’t have thought a forest in England would be dangerous. But then what do I know? I’m a city girl. I work for a freight company. So, why is it dangerous out here? They don’t have bears and wolves in Yorkshire, do they?’
    â€˜There are wild boar. They were reintroduced ten years ago.’
    â€˜They’re just fluffy pigs, aren’t they?’
    â€˜You wouldn’t want to bump into one. They’re big animals, and they’ve got tusks. They can also be vicious.’
    â€˜Oh. I hadn’t realized that it could be so risky coming to see you.’
    He glanced at her. Even though this pretty woman was slightly built – she could even be described as dainty – there was real strength there. What’s more, he sensed that June Valko possessed intelligence and determination.
This woman’s smart – and she’s a fighter.
    The nerves kept her talking. She would be used to the constant background noise of the city. She must find this kind of silence unsettling, even frightening. ‘So my mother married Nicola’s brother,’ she said. ‘All I know of my grandmother is that she lived at Skanderberg, and had of lots of children. The first came along when she was seventeen, and the last when she was in her late forties, which is why my father is so much older than Nicola.’
    â€˜She was reclusive. And even though I might be speaking ill of the dead – she died last year – your grandmother was downright strange.’
    â€˜I