Solace & Grief Read Free Page B

youthful frustrations another, but in all that time, why had nothing ever changed? Why were there foster homes for everyone but her, whose only trauma had come from being ruthlessly mired in one obscure corner of the system? Why had Mrs Plumber and Miss Daisy never let her go?
    Breathing hard, she quickened her pace, fists balled angrily by her sides. Solace was far from usual – perhaps a small part of her thought that she was also more than human – but that didn't mean she was stupid. Like a premonition made flesh, the skin at the top of her spine began to tingle. Evidentially, perhaps, there was no connection between her dream, Miss Daisy's shirt, and her unusual life in the group home, but intuitively, as she strode though the gathering dusk, Solace Morgan knew otherwise. Something weird is going on, she thought, and what's more, it's been going on for seventeen years. I've been kept here for a reason – blinded to it – only now, someone's trying to let me know. And, she added, shivering, if that's true, then they've broken into my house and my dreams on the same night. Which ought to sound crazy. Except for the fact that I can bend metal. Except for the fact that sunlight makes me weak. Except for the fact that if I sit still and concentrate on a quiet day, I can hear conversations from two streets over. Except for the fact that my teeth are wickedly sharp.
    Except that I'm a vampire.
    That last admission brought her to a dead halt. She'd been walking quickly on a kind of furious, random autopilot, so that now, jolted back into the world, she found herself in a narrow, one-way lane. There were no house-fronts here – just bins, bricks and roller-door garages facing off at the rear of two parallel streets. Night was still coming on, but the shadows fell thick and deep, like layers of mourning silk. A clammy chill started to form on Solace's pale skin, the evening cool no longer so welcoming, while overhead, a lingering streak of pink sky struggled against the oncoming wash of cobalt. From somewhere close behind her, a cat yowled. Solace jumped, whipping her head around. The base of her neck began tingling again. This time, it was a warning.
    ‘Run,’ she whispered, but her feet refused to move.
    Slowly, she turned back to face the alley, and felt her heart lurch.
    Someone was there.
    The stranger unfurled languidly from where he'd been hidden behind a brick outcrop, elegant and slow. Solace strained her eyes, but even though her vision was preternaturally acute, she couldn't tell anything about the figure except that it was a he and relatively lean: in all other respects, it was like looking at a silhouette. The man took a step forward, two, three; even as he advanced on her, his features remained hidden. Louder than before, the cat screamed. From the corner of her eye, Solace saw a streak of grey tear past her, and though she couldn't see the man's eyes, she felt the focus of his gaze alter, shifting to the cat.
    It was all she needed. Solace turned and bolted, heart thundering, not daring to stop until she was through the gate to the group home. It was like a spell had been broken. Perhaps one had. She felt weak, as if she'd been out at midday. Gasping, she clutched the fence, trying to clear her head. Had her fear been imaginary? Part of her wanted to think so, but this new voice inside, the one that named her vampire, which suspected spells and wondered at the reason for her life said: No.
    As she walked from the gate to the kitchen door, time seemed to slow. She remembered the man, the fear she'd felt at his hidden face. She considered Miss Daisy's shirt, her dream, the prospect of someone strong and sly enough to carve the same warning on both her consciousness and blended cotton. She imagined her coming birthday, the cake she knew Mrs Plumber had ordered, the planned day out with Luci, Leonie and Annamaria. She thought of her future: the normal life she was utterly unprepared to live, her strange abilities,