Vampire Shift - By Tim O'Rourke Page 0,70

hand, his eyes shone black with hate for her. Launching himself from the floor, he smashed into her, sending her spinning across the room. Again she crashed into the wall, lumps of plaster spraying up from all around her. But this time, she looked dazed and stunned. Seizing his chance, he was upon her. Taking her head in his bulky hands, he twisted it sharply to the right.

“Sorry, mother,” he said, which was followed by a cracking sound. She fell limp in his arms, her neck broken as easily as a stick of chalk.

Letting her drop to the floor as if she had meant nothing to him, Roland got up. Turning to face me he smiled, and said, “Where were we? Oh yes, I remember,” and he threw himself at me. Crashing to the floor, Roland sat on top of me, his colossal weight, squeezing the air from my lungs.

“Don’t kill me,” I gasped, looking into his bloated face. “I don’t want to kill you, Kiera,” he said. “You’re far too precious for that.” “What do you mean?” I croaked. “You really have no idea, do you?” he said. “Didn’t your mother tell you anything?” “About what?” I mumbled beneath him, the last of the air leaving my lungs. Everything around me started to turn black and I fought to stay conscious. Just as I was about to pass out, the bedroom window exploded inwards in a shower of broken glass. I looked up in time to see Luke perched on the window ledge like a giant bird of prey.

“Get off her,” Luke said, and I had never heard such anger in his voice before.

Glancing back over his shoulder, Roland said, “If I were you, I’d disappear back into The Hollows, boy. After all, that’s what you’re best at.”

Without asking him a second time, Luke reached out with one hand, gripped the back of Roland’s neck, and tossed him across the room as if he were nothing more than a paper kite. At once, I could breathe again and I sucked in deep lungfuls of air. Sitting up, I watched Roland crash through the wall that separated the bedroom and the bathroom. The wall crumpled into a pile of brick and plaster onto the threadbare carpet, and the ceiling above it sagged inwards as if it was going to collapse. Within seconds, Roland had sprung back into the room, brandishing his teeth.

Leaping from the window ledge, Luke snarled back and slammed into Roland. They locked arms, and threw each other back and forth across the room. Like wild animals they snapped at one other, their fangs ripping and tearing at each other’s flesh. Scrambling out of their way, I huddled myself into the far corner of the room. Roland ducked under Luke’s arm as he swung for him. Then with both hands, he thrust out at Luke, sending him crashing through the doorway into the hall outside. The door came away from its frame in an explosion of jagged splinters. Brushing himself off, Luke got up and raced back into the room. Jumping into the air, he shoulder-barged into Roland’s chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him smashing through the window from which he had come. Pouncing onto the window ledge, Luke peered out into the dark.

Scrambling from the corner, I ran towards Luke. “Can you see him?” I asked.

Without answering me, Luke curled his arm around my waist and said, “Hold tight!”

Within moments, we were high above The Ragged Cove again, the howling wind and swirling snow all around us. Wrapping my bathrobe around me, I wished I’d had time to change. I looked at Luke’s face and it was a mask of grim determination, as we flew upwards. Looking down, I saw Roland racing after us, his wings folded by his sides to give him greater propulsion.

“He’s right behind us!” I shouted.

Tucking me beneath him, and arching his wings, Luke thrust forward. And then that sound came again – the thunderclap – which I’d heard so often before.

“What is that noise?” I asked, terrified of its deafening rumble and the vibrations it sent through me.

“It’s a sonic boom,” he shouted back.

A sonic boom? I asked myself. Could we really be travelling so fast?

Banking hard to the right, I clung to Luke, my arms and legs wrapped around him, as we dived away from Roland and out to sea. Then plummeting down, we rushed towards the black heaving waves of the ocean. Racing just feet from its