Falling Apart Read Free Page B

my heart. ‘Do
you
think Sil has run out on me?’
    Liam stared. ‘What, you mean like “it’s not you, it’s me, no forwarding address” time? Jeez, is
that
what Zan said, that Sil’s buggered off? I know vampires sometimes have all the subtlety of an
American Pie
film but … seriously? I’m supposed to be Sil’s friend – wouldn’t he do the whole bloke thing, you know, late night calls from bars, turning up to sleep on my sofa and all that? Just to
go
?’ Liam rubbed his hands over his face. ‘No. No, sorry, Jess, I don’t see that at all. He loves you.’
    â€˜As much as a vampire can. Come on, Liam, I wrote the pamphlets – they don’t really
do
affection. It’s like keeping a cat; they love you right up until someone rattles a spoon in a bigger tin, they
have
to, they need the thrills to keep their demons happy.’ I was astounded by the calmness of my tone –
what, care, me?
‘Maybe his demon just got the better of him.’
    â€˜Jessie …’ Liam reached over as though to touch me, but I reared back. Human contact right now would have cracked my careful facade wide open. ‘Is that what you want to believe? Of
Sil
, of all people? That you mean so little to him that he’d just take off?’
    â€˜Maybe it’s not what I want’—my voice choked down the scale—‘but maybe it’s what I
have
to believe. He’s normally a stickler for keeping at least Zan in the loop. To do this he must have … Something must have happened and it wouldn’t be the first time a vampire has upped and run out on a human …’ I tailed off; then cleared my throat. ‘Look, it’s nearly six. Let’s shut up shop for today. I need some sleep and isn’t it Sarah’s yoga night? You go home and put Charlotte to bed and I’ll see you tomorrow.’
    I got up and started getting my things together. Liam didn’t move. ‘That has to be the longest self-justification sentence I’ve ever heard,’ he said.
    â€˜Do you want me to throw something at you?’
    â€˜It might help.’
    I threw the nearest thing to hand; it was the electric pencil sharpener, which trailed through the air like the world’s least aerodynamic weapon ever, hit the side of the bookshelf and took a chunk out of the MDF before crashing to the floor.
    Liam didn’t even duck. ‘Go home, Jess,’ he said gently. ‘It’s going to be all right.’
    It was at
that
point I should have realised it really, really wasn’t.

Chapter Four
    Sil opened his eyes, which made no difference at all to his ability to see, and groped forward in the darkness. His fingers brushed against rock on all sides, beneath his feet was a gritty loose surface and above his head … He stretched up, waving his arms until a fingertip touched something … More rock.
What in the seven hells has happened to me? The last thing I remember is
 …
being with Jess, talking, and then
 …
I wake up in what feels like a tomb. Please don’t let this be a tomb
 …
that’s just so clichéd and embarrassing.
He could see the headlines now: ‘York’s Vampire Chief in Accidental Dracula Duplication’.
    Deep inside him the demon that had made him vampire nearly a century ago danced and dived, feeding on the adrenaline of Sil’s rising panic. It quietened for a moment as it felt the drag deep in his solar plexus that told him Jess was thinking of him. His heart ached for a second.
Jess.
The dragging sensation came again, as though he were attached to a tugboat, pulling him to harbour.
She’s worried.
He shuffled a half-step forward and banged his head against the sloping rock ceiling.
And I’m beginning to feel a trifle perturbed myself. Where am I? How did I get here? And why?
    A faint tickle of hunger caught his throat.
So I’ve