They all did as she asked, except Leonora who still looked as though she might go for Morris at any second.
‘Leonora,’ Alexandre warned.
‘Very well.’ She sat, leaning back against the rock wall, arms crossed, legs stretched out in front of her. ‘But what that man said is ridiculous. As if I would betray my own family.’
‘I thought Leonora locked you in the van,’ Alexandre said to Morris.
‘You can get out of a van easy enough,’ he replied. ‘Now will you hear me out without attacking me again? I’m a bit old for all this rough and tumble.’
‘We’re listening,’ Alexandre said.
‘If you let me, I can show you something that might interest you.’ He put his hand into his coat pocket and the vampires immediately leapt to their feet again. ‘Easy does it,’ Morris said. ‘You lot are as jumpy as a bucket of grasshoppers. I’m a feeble old man – no match for the likes of you. It’s just my phone, that’s all.’ He held out his mobile for them to see. ‘There’s a video on here you need to watch.’
‘Pass it to me,’ Alexandre said, coming over to take it from him.
Morris handed him the phone.
‘I spoke to Ben,’ Morris said. ‘And he told me about the notepaper which came from The Bell.’
‘Is Ben alright?’ Maddy asked.
‘He’s fine. Press play on the phone screen,’ Morris said to Alexandre.
He did so and the others got up and crowded round to watch. They saw an image of Leonora walking into what appeared to be a hotel lobby. She sat next to two men and began talking to them. There was no sound on the video, so they couldn’t hear the content of their conversation.
‘It’s CCTV footage from The Old Bell Hotel in Tetbury,’ Morris explained. ‘Esther got it for me. Look at the date on the bottom of the screen.’
‘December 13th,’ Isobel said. ‘That’s the evening before we went ice skating and Maddy disappeared.’
‘I recognise one of those men,’ Alexandre said, shaking his head in disbelief.
‘They’re vampires,’ said Jacques. ‘Cappadocians. We fought with them tonight.’
‘But why would you be talking to them?’ Maddy turned to Leonora.
‘No!’ Freddie shouted. ‘I don’t believe it. You must have doctored the footage … faked it somehow!’
‘I’m sorry, lad,’ Morris said. ‘Esther took a copy from the CCTV cameras at the hotel. You can go there and see the original files if you like.’
‘Well I still don’t believe it,’ Freddie said. ‘I know my sister and she would never …’ He turned to her, wiping away an angry red tear. ‘… Leonora?’
‘I know it looks bad,’ Leonora said. ‘But I can explain why I was there. There’s a perfectly good reason for it.’
Leonora’s anger had disappeared and now she was flustered again. Alexandre had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He really didn’t want to hear the explanation. He had a horrible feeling he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
Chapter Forty Six
Present Day
*
Leonora bowed her head.
‘I know what you’re all thinking but you’re wrong.’
No one spoke
‘I’m not a traitor. I swear it.’
‘I know you’re not,’ Freddie said. ‘It’s all just a mistake. Tell them, Leonora. Put them straight.’ He gave his sister an encouraging smile.
‘Wait a minute, Freds,’ Leonora said.
‘What?’
She sighed. ‘They’re wrong to say I betrayed you. But I did go to see the Cappadocians.’ She paused.
‘Go on …’ he said, his smile faltering.
‘I thought … I think that if we join them …’
‘What!’ Jacques said. ‘What do you mean, ‘join them’?’
‘Are you mad?’ Isobel hissed.
Disbelief clouded Freddie’s cherubic features.
‘Just listen for a minute,’ Leonora said, getting into her stride. ‘If we join them, we’ll be safe from them. We can live without looking over our shoulders all the time. We can finally be what we are – vampires.’
They stared at her like they didn’t know who she was anymore.
‘I’ll be back later,’ Zoe whispered to Madison. ‘I won’t go far. I’ll just give you all some space … to sort things out.’
‘Okay,’ Maddy replied and squeezed her hand.
‘Leonora,’ Alexandre said. ‘Have you lost your mind? ‘Join them’? You would really consider living like that? Killing mortals and striking terror into everyone you meet?’
‘Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Alexandre.’
‘I’m not being dramatic. I’m downplaying it if anything. You would be agreeing to become a monster.’
‘I would be no such thing! But I wouldn’t be agreeing to become anything if it wasn’t for her!’ Leonora turned and pointed a finger at Madison.
Maddy looked shocked, like she’d been hit. She took a step backwards. Alexandre looked from Leonora to Madison and back again. He didn’t understand what Leonora was talking about.
‘What do you mean?’ Maddy stuttered. ‘What did I do? How is this my fault?’
Leonora looked away from Madison and stared at the others. ‘I always seem to be the villain,’ she said. ‘I’m only trying to look out for all of us. I want us to be safe and my name has been sullied before I’ve even had a chance to put forward my side of the story. That video condemned me before I had a chance to speak.’
‘We’re listening to you now,’ Alexandre said.
‘I know, but it’s all coming out wrong. And it looks like I’m conspiring against you but I’m not. I’m really not.’
‘You said it was my fault,’ Maddy said. ‘I’d like to know why.’
‘Alright,’ she fixed her eyes on Madison again. ‘If you must know, I was looking for a way out. And I thought that by contacting the Cappadocians, I could negotiate a place for us in the underground city.’
‘A way out of what?’ Alexandre asked.
‘A way out of Marchwood.’
‘But Marchwood is our home,’ Freddie said.
‘It doesn’t feel like my home anymore,’ Leonora replied. ‘That was our home, Freddie. Ours. We grew up there with mother and father. But now I feel like some kind of interloper. Shoved down in the basement, like a … like a … refugee, or a servant. And she,’ Leonora pointed at Madison, ‘she is sleeping in our parents’ bedroom like she has the right. It is outrageous.’
‘So why didn’t you say anything?’ Freddie said.
‘But what could I possibly have said that would sound reasonable? Could I have asked Madison to move out of that bedroom? Could I have spoken to you, Alexandre? Or you, Isobel? Would you have listened? No. you would have thought I was being petty and small-minded. And all the while my guts were churning with the wrongness of it. Having to watch while Madison Greene played at being queen of all she surveyed.’
‘Shut up, Leonora!’ Isobel said. ‘How can you say such hateful things?’
‘Exactly,’ Leonora replied. ‘I knew you wouldn’t understand.’
Maddy’s expression had gone from anger to shock to something else – humiliation? Alexandre put his arm around her.
‘She is crazy,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘Do not listen. She doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t know what she is saying.’
But Leonora had not finished talking:
‘No. If I said those things, it would not go down well at all. You would think I was being unreasonable. Freddie, why do you not mind that she has taken over our house? Why can none of you see how wrong it is?’ She turned to face Madison again. ‘How can you not see how selfish you are … with your whoreish behaviour.’
Maddy felt a tear slide down her face. She’d had no idea Leonora felt this way. And how could she have known she had chosen Leonora and Freddie’s parents’ bedroom as her own. She would never have been so insensitive if she’d realised. Why hadn’t the others said
anything? She felt like an idiot.
‘I’m so sorry, Leonora,’ Maddy said. ‘I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I never wanted to make …’
‘Do not apologise for her rudeness, Madison,’ Alexandre said. ‘She has no right to talk to you that way.’
‘Don’t you feel claustrophobic at Marchwood?’ Leonora asked her brother. ‘Like it isn’t ours anymore? Doesn’t it feel just a bit stifling to you? As though we’re guests in our own house?’
‘No.’
‘Really? You’re happy having the Greenes take over our home?’
‘They haven’t taken over,’ Freddie said. ‘And it is their house. Madison and Ben are family. The only family we have left. They own it. Legitimately.’
‘And morally?’
‘Look, Leonora. I love it there with them and with you. And I thought you did too. And anyway, it’s a big enough place for all of us.’
‘I’m not talking about square footage! All I know is I can’t stay there anymore. If I go back, I might do something I regret.’
‘I think you already have,’ Isobel said.
‘I thought that if I helped the Cappadocians to get us all to come over here, we could see how they lived and what sort of life we could have with them.’
‘What sort of life?’ Freddie almost choked. ‘Leonora, I think you’ve lost your mind. And how could you plan all that without telling us? Without telling me? I’m your brother. We could have talked about it.’
‘You would have tried to change my mind.’
‘Yes I would, because it’s a terrible idea … And please tell me it wasn’t you who arranged to have Madison kidnapped.’
‘That was not my suggestion.’
‘But you didn’t speak out against it. You helped them plan it?’
Leonora didn’t reply.
‘My God, you have become a monster.’ Freddie ran his hands through his hair, a look of horror etched into his face.
‘You put me … us through all this?’ Alexandre said. ‘… Taking Madison away from me. Letting me worry myself sick about it and you knew all along. You planned it!’
‘Leonora,’ Jacques said. ‘You do realise none of us would even be alive if it wasn’t for Madison.’
‘And Maddy is your blood,’ Alexandre said. Have you any idea what you’ve put her through? No matter what you say, she is your family.’
‘Madison is nothing to me,’ Leonora spat. ‘She is a common child with no breeding or class.’ She took a step toward Maddy who was now crying freely. ‘You had the good fortune to be sired by a distant relation, but there is nothing of the Swinton family in you. Nothing.’
‘That’s enough, Leonora!’ Alexandre shouted. ‘You have gone too far! Listen to yourself! I think you’d better leave.’
‘So you would send me away?’
‘God, Leonora! No one wants this, but you’ve gone too far. You said yourself you do not want to stay at Marchwood. And as for blaming all this on Madison, you are too harsh. You have let things become distorted in your mind. Maddy loves you like a sister. She is always telling me how happy she is to have found you and Freddie. She is the image of you. She has your spirit.’
‘She is obviously a more worthy image than I am,’ Leonora said. ‘She won your heart – something I was never able to do.’
‘That is because you kept your heart hidden from me.’ Alexandre had no wish to talk about this in front of everyone. He and Leonora had never discussed their ‘almost’ relationship before and he had not realised she still even thought of it.
‘You must have known that I loved you,’ Leonora said, stiffly.
‘I did not,’ Alexandre replied.
Maddy stopped crying. Leonora was in love with Alexandre?
‘Back then,’ he continued, ‘when we first met, I was enchanted by you, Leonora. I had sleepless nights with thoughts of you.’
Leonora shook her head and bit her lip.
‘But you were cold to me,’ he continued. ‘You spurned my advances time and time again. I could say nothing. Do nothing.’
‘That is not true.’
‘You know it is, Leonora. And then, after we were turned, things went beyond that. We became friends, like brother and sister. That is why this betrayal is so shocking to me.’
‘I did not betray you. I made a hard decision. You would never have agreed to come here willingly. We would have had to fight them. This way, no one gets hurt.’
‘Except we did get hurt.’
‘You are fine.’
‘And do not pretend you did this for us. You did it for yourself. Anyway, it was not your decision to make.’
‘Well, Alexandre, you are not the head of our household. In fact, Marchwood is my house. You are there as a guest.’
‘So it is to be like that,’ Alexandre replied. ‘Very well, I can see our friendship has come to nothing. I will leave Marchwood House if that is what you wish.’
‘No … No, I didn’t mean … I’m sorry. Of course you must stay at Marchwood. I am leaving anyway. I hoped you would all join me here willingly, but I can see I expected too much. Freddie is my brother and I hope he at least will change his mind and come and join me.’ She turned to look at him. ‘Come with me, Freddie and I’ll prove I’m right. Come to the city and see for yourself. It’s going to be amazing. They’re restoring it to its former beauty. It’ll be an adventure. A new life for us.’
‘I know this is nothing to do with me,’ Aelia interjected, ‘but you will find nothing but pain and misery in that city.’
‘You are right,’ Leonora replied. ‘It is nothing to do with you.’
‘Thank you, Aelia,’ Freddie said. ‘I believe you.’ He turned back to his sister. ‘There is no way on earth I would want to live there, Leonora. And if you had heard Aelia’s story you would agree with me. I can’t believe you’re even considering it. And after what I’ve just heard, I’m ashamed to call you my sister.’
‘Don’t say that, Freddie! Of course I’m your sister. I’ll always be here for you.’
He turned away from her.
‘Freddie! Don’t be like that.’
‘You need to leave, Leonora,’ Alexandre said.
‘No,’ Maddy interjected. ‘She has every right to be angry. Leonora, I’m sorry. I had no idea you were going through such a crap time. We can sort it out.’
‘No we can’t,’ Alexandre said. ‘I don’t know if I can look at your face again, Leonora. You have made me so angry and so sad.’
‘You’re not sad. You’re humiliated and disappointed because things did not go your way as usual.’
Alexandre stared at her and she had the grace to squirm slightly under his gaze.
‘Who are you?’ he said. ‘I do not know you anymore.’
‘Then come with me, Alexandre, and you can get to know me. The real me. I will not hide my heart from you any longer. It is not too late …’
‘Get out!’ Alexandre shook with rage.
Leonora looked at the other vampires, but they either shook their heads or turned their eyes away from her.’
‘Don’t send her away,’ Maddy said to Alex. ‘She’s my family.’
‘But she almost had you killed.’
‘She loves you, Alexandre. That’s why she did this; her heart is broken.’
‘I don’t need your pity,’ Leonora hissed. ‘… or your condescension.’ She cast a final look around the cavern and then was gone.
Maddy ran outside into the snow. The moon still shone brightly, but there was no trace of Leonora. She shouted for her, but her voice fell away into the night. How had she misjudged the situation at home so badly? Strangely, she didn’t feel angry at what Leonora had done to her. She felt sympathy. She understood the burn of emotions that must have been building and festering inside her, leading up to this massive outpouring. Maddy recognised the loneliness and helplessness trapped inside her ancestor. If only Maddy had realised earlier, they might have avoided all of this and reached a happier outcome.
<
br /> Had Madison been as selfish as Leonora had said? Perhaps she had. Perhaps she’d been so caught up in her own personal love story, that she hadn’t considered anyone else.
‘Stop it.’
She turned to see Alex standing behind her.
‘Stop what?’
‘Beating yourself up.’
‘But Leonora had a point,’ Maddy said. ‘She must have been keeping so much emotion bottled up.’
‘It still doesn’t excuse what she’s done.’
‘No, but it explains it.’
Alex came and put his arms around her and she leant her head against his chest.
‘Do you know,’ she said, ‘out of everything that’s happened, I think this Leonora thing has been the most shocking.’
‘I agree.’
‘I feel sick about it.’
‘Come back inside. She’s gone and I don’t think she’ll be back any time soon.’
Maddy heaved a huge sigh. They turned and made their way back into the cavern where Isobel and Jacques were trying and failing to console Freddie. Maddy took a step toward them but Alex pulled her back.
‘Leave it for a while. The others will calm him.’
She nodded. ‘I should go and apologise to Aelia for turning her home into a battleground.’
‘You go ahead. I have some apologising of my own to do.’ He nodded in the direction of Morris who lay on the mattress, resting after his ordeal.
Maddy walked over to where Aelia was busying herself by the fire, decanting some food from a pan into a deep clay dish.
‘Aelia, I’m sorry I brought so much trouble to your door.’
‘Trouble always finds me eventually,’ Aelia replied. ‘I think I was born under a star called trouble.’
Maddy gave a small smile. ‘And I haven’t thanked you properly for saving my life – twice. Thank you. I’m pretty sure you saved the rest of us too. That vampire guy, Mislav, he would’ve had me killed and taken the others if it wasn’t for you.’
‘Like me, you have aligned yourself with trouble. You do realise your life will never be straightforward as long as you remain in the company of these creatures.’
‘I know,’ Maddy said. ‘But I can’t help it. My life is tied up with them. I could never leave.’