The Cross

Chapter Thirty

The Ridings

Lillith and Zachary sat in silence in the wine cellar as Gabriel paced furiously up and down, deep in thought.

‘What do we do?’ Lillith said eventually.

‘It’s simple,’ Gabriel told her. ‘We must take it back. We have to retrieve it. Such a weapon is perfect for us. Our enemies will be annihilated at a stroke. Then, once victorious, we will ensure that the cross is destroyed once and for all.’

‘Brother, you surely can’t have forgotten that we can’t go near it?’

Gabriel nodded. ‘Indeed. The sword is double-edged, so to speak. Which is why we need to enlist a human to carry out the task.’

‘Not another ghoul,’ Lillith groaned. ‘Look at the two specimens we have with us here. And remember what happened with Lonsdale.’ She spat out the name. ‘We took him in, we gave him everything he could have asked for, and he betrayed us.’

‘The motherfucker was a politician,’ Zachary said, gazing closely at the computer screen and clicking the keyboard as he spoke. His big fingers were getting more accustomed to the keys. ‘You can’t trust those guys.’

Gabriel shook his head. ‘No. No ghouls this time. This must be done properly. And evidently, the right candidate for this particular task will require a certain set of virtues. Leave that to me.’ He paused, rubbing his eyes to clear away the mental picture of the cross that was still haunting him. ‘In the meantime, we have another, very grave, problem. The Federation have agents combing the human media constantly. They only have to find this article, and they will know the location of the weapon.’

Lillith blanched. ‘What if they already have? They went after it before; they can do it again.’

Gabriel pursed his lips. ‘I believe we have the advantage in this situation. The Federation have no reason to be looking for the cross. However, it is only a very narrow advantage. We must act quickly to ensure we get to it first. Zachary, you are interrupting my train of thought with your incessant tapping. Pray leave the computer alone for now.’

‘I was going into their news sites to see if there was more on the cross story,’ Zachary rumbled.

‘Is there?’

‘I don’t know,’ Zachary said, still peering hard at the screen. ‘I’m looking at something else. The kind of guy you’d be looking for — I guess he’d have to be the meanest hard-assedest motherfucking killer that ever walked the earth? For a human, I mean.’

‘A man of little scruple, certainly,’ Gabriel said. ‘A man of physical strength and brutality. And one who is open to the sort of persuasion that we are in a position to offer.’

‘What I thought. Then I think I might have found just the guy we need,’ Zachary said, pointing at the screen as he heaved his bulk out of his chair. ‘Take a look at this.’

With the air of a person forced against all principles of good taste to come into contact with something very unsavoury indeed, Gabriel sat down at the computer. The online BBC news archive article Zachary had found was a few days old. Its headline was PRISON REFORM CALL IN WAKE OF VAMPIRE MANIAC SLAUGHTER.

Gabriel read the whole piece twice over, then sat back in his chair with a slowly spreading smile. ‘Zachary,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘I think you may very well have made an interesting discovery. Now, listen. There is not a moment to lose.’