Part 15 (1/2)

'Yep.'

'So ravenous we wanted to eat dirt, tree bark, anything? We watched how those Berserkers attacked the Misfires and tried to eat them. But there was something missing, so they couldn't find satisfaction in what they were eating.'

'Surea Can we go now?'

'Just a minute; I haven't made my point yet.' He licked his lips. 'The reason that nothing else satisfied their appet.i.te was because it didn't contain blood. The Misfires are bloodless. That's why they hardly move. They're nine tenths corpse.'

'But you found a way, because you're smart. You showed me how to drink water that had been left behind by the tide. Come on, time to find my writer.'

'Wait, this is important. We drank estuary water left in the beach pools. Because it had been evaporating there was more salt, right?'

'Right!' Her full stomach engendered a sense of glee.

'I read somewhere that seawater with all the salt and minerals and stuff is similar to blood.'

'Our ancestors came from the ocean. We're basically a walking, talking bag full of seawater.'

'So, we managed to find something that was almost a subst.i.tute for what we craved. The salty water knocked the edge off our hunger.'

'Absolutely, Carter. Absolutely. Now get moving before the sun comes up.' She walked away.

Carter held out his hands in a desperate gesture, as he tried to make her understand. 'What we were drinking, April, was a subst.i.tute for blood.'

'So?' She twirled as she crossed the bridge.

'So why do we have this craving for blood? Why is it so strong that we end up acting crazy?'

'We'll learn to deal with it.'

'Will we? Or are we doomed to repeat the cycle? Where we tear some poor devil apart, suck out his blood, get high on it like we are nowa and then we make all these plans about sharing it with the world. Only we get so far, then the craving starts again, the hunger drives us into a frenzy, and all that's important is ripping open another victim. April! Wait for mea where are you going?'

April started to run. 'It's getting light. We can't be outside when the sun rises.'

'There's a ditch down there that runs into a tunnel.'

'I'm not sleeping in a ditch, Carter.'

'Where, then?'

'I've got somewhere far better. You come with me.' Barefoot she raced along the path, her giddy laughter rang out on the night air.

Raj lifted the phone from its bracket. The cat nibbled delicately at its prey on the kitchen floor so Raj averted his eyes as he dialed. He had a dilemma. Should he call the police or not?

I mean, what is it that I'm reporting? he wondered. If I announce that April Connor, a missing person, turned up at my house they're going to say 'thanks for letting us know', then cross her off the list. If I add that she and her companion tried to bite me, then they'll arrest her for a.s.sault. And April isn't a stranger. I've known her years. Okay, she looked strange tonight but you don't report friends to the police, do you? So when Raj dialed, it was Ben Ashton's number he called.

Only when the red glare of the sun burst above the city's skyline did the three men climb down from the boat on its pole. As Elmo Kigoma's boat wasn't even built to float on water it had just weathered a h.e.l.l of a storm. Albeit a storm of an entirely different kind. Ben noticed rust-coloured smears on the gra.s.s that marked where the gang of thugs had bled.

'You first, Ben.' Elmo indicated the rope ladder.

Ben complied. Even so, he shot glances at the riverbank. That's where the creatures had dumped the bodies of the men into the water before joining them in the depths of the Thames. Vampire Sharkza Those were the things the graffiti artist had seen, and had devoted his life to warning the city about. Vampire Sharkz. A bizarre term - yet uncannily apt. As Ben descended the rungs the Vampire Sharkz phrase echoed in his head. When he reached the ground he examined the blood stains on the gra.s.s, what there were of them. Either those creatures were fastidious in their tidying up or it had simply been a brutal hunger that compelled them to lick spilt gore from each blade of gra.s.s. The end result was that there was little evidence of a battle taking place. If anything, the debris consisted of watches torn from wrists, along with coins, keys and phones that had fallen from the victims' pockets together with a couple of knives. Ben noted that the blades were bent, so they'd been used during the fight. Clearly to little effect. From what he'd witnessed of the battle, the creatures - these Vampire Sharkz - hadn't suffered any visible injury. The orgiastic feeding on the men's blood had been nothing less than a b.l.o.o.d.y carnival for them.

Ben glanced up as Elmo descended the ladder. The old African moved with athletic ease; the guy's wiry body could have been that of a youth rather than an octogenarian. Above him, Trajan's blond head appeared over the boat's side as he waited for his turn to descend. 'Well, we know what happened to April. One of those things attacked her.'

'You were fortunate that they didn't do to you what they did to those men last night,' Elmo responded.

Ben asked, 'So you weren't bitten?'

'No, just thrown aside like a piece of trash.'

'Then you were lucky.'

'Lucky? I lost my fiancee. How lucky is that?'

As Elmo reached the ground Ben heard his phone. He checked his pockets but it wasn't there. Then he remembered. 'Trajan, I gave you my phone.'

Trajan picked it up from the bottom of the boat and checked the screen. 'Someone called Raj calling.'

Ben held out his hand as Trajan dropped it down to him. He thumbed the b.u.t.ton. 'h.e.l.lo, Raj, what's wrong?' Raj's voice was breathless in his ear. 'April Connor?' Ben echoed.

Trajan clambered down the ladder. 'April? There's some news?' He jumped to the ground. 'Ben, what is it? Have the police found her?'

Ben concentrated on listening to Raj. The man sounded traumatized. 'Okay,' Ben told him. 'Take it easy. I'll call you later.'

'Well?'

It was Elmo who spoke first. 'You should brace yourself for bad news.'

Trajan ran his fingers through his hair. 'Ben, tell me. Now!'

'Okay. But as Elmo says: it's not exactly what you've been wanting to hear.'

'What do you mean?'

'That was a friend of mine. He's had a visit from April.'

'Tonight?'

'About an hour ago.'

'Is she still there?'

'Trajan, listen.'

'Don't prevaricate, Ben. Is she hurt?'