The String Diaries Part 38

'A terrible thing happened at Llyn Gwyr. I don't think atrocity is too stark a word for it. I saw the aftermath your husband's grave by the lake, not even a headstone to honour his memory. We buried your father next to him. Very sad.' He leaned forwards. 'Do you know something? The entire time I was there I had this crazy feeling I was being watched. Sixth sense, perhaps. I'd bet my grandmother's bones that Jakab descended out of those hills the moment we left. Which is why I left him an invitation to this cosy house-warming, with clear instructions how to find it. And which is why, Hannah Wilde, we have a wonderful opportunity to help each other. I want Jakab Balazs, and I imagine you want him to stop murdering members of your immediate family. I'd venture to suggest that places us in partnership.'

'You think he's going to walk in here and let you grab him?'

'I'm confident I'm capable of dealing with Jakab.'

'You're using us as bait.'

Va.s.s considered this, and then his smile broadened. 'Yes, I suppose that's exactly what I'm doing. But please don't feel demeaned by it. You can consider yourself the very finest bait, used to catch the most elusive of fish. We hunt Moby d.i.c.k, no less, and I offer you my services as Captain Ahab.'

'Ahab died,' she spat, outraged by his casual mockery, unsettled by the lifelessness in his eyes when he smiled at her.

'Then I beseech you, Hannah. Help me craft a more satisfying conclusion for us both.' He walked back to the french windows. 'I think now would be a good time to bring in the dogs.'

Va.s.s tapped on the gla.s.s and motioned for the stranger with the two Vizslas to come inside. While he waited he pulled a phone from his pocket. He dialled a number and held it to his ear, his gaze moving among the faces that watched him. 'Get everyone out of sight and into cover. Far away from the house. I want the cars off the drive and away from the entrance road. Get the helicopter out of here. This place needs to look like a morgue in exactly one minute.'

He terminated the call and looked at Hannah. 'Morgue. Hardly the most sensitive of metaphors, considering recent events.' Feigning sheepishness, Va.s.s turned his attention to eva and Gabriel. 'Now that I've finally had the pleasure of meeting Hannah Wilde, and I've reacquainted myself with the irascible Sebastien, I'm extraordinarily keen to find out who you good people are.'

'They're just friends of hers, Benjamin,' said Sebastien. 'No need to drag them into this.'

'I see. Just friends. Still, I'm curious nonetheless.'

'The devil take your curiosity.'

'I'm impressed by your protectiveness over them, but I'm only asking for an introduction. Are they so fragile they need an old man as chaperone? Do they have no tongues?'

The signeur lurched upright in his wheelchair, breath rattling in his throat. 'Benjamin, enough of the theatrics! We're here to do a job. That's all. There's no need to add to the growing list of people who find you offensive.'

Va.s.s had turned to face the signeur, but now he returned his attention to Hannah. Rather than showing any resentment at his rebuke, he looked amused. He held up his hands and sighed. 'He's right, you know. Despite my best efforts, sometimes I just . . . trample on people. I really don't mean to. But even the best of us have our failings.'

Behind Va.s.s, the stranger with the two Vizslas appeared by the french windows, the end of each chain wrapped around his fist. The first dog was the more powerfully built, with a ragged coat and a muzzle scarred from fighting. The second was younger, with clear eyes and a sleeker coat. It froze the instant it saw the two hosszu eletek, one front paw suspended above the ground. When its companion noticed them it also paused mid-stride, back leg held aloft and absolutely still.

Hannah's chest grew tight. She found she was holding her breath. She remembered Sebastien warning Gabriel and eva not to reveal themselves. Would Va.s.s understand what he was seeing? She burned to see his expression, but wouldn't give in to the temptation of looking at him.

The larger Vizsla took a half-step into the room. Lips curled back from its teeth, ears flat against its head, it began to growl, low and menacing. Suddenly the younger dog lunged towards eva, jaws snapping at the air. The animal almost pulled its handler off his feet. Swearing, the man hauled back on the chain.

Hannah risked a glance at Va.s.s. He had been watching the Vizslas' display, and now he returned his attention to Gabriel and eva. The hoods of his eyes retracted. He licked his lips.

He knows.

Va.s.s smiled. 'Well . . . well . . . well. I really should have worn a dinner suit. Such esteemed company.' He put a hand into his pocket and drew out a revolver. It was an ugly thing a gruesome black lump of metal. With the Vizslas growling behind him, loops of saliva dangling from their jaws, Va.s.s took a careful step towards the hosszu eletek. He examined their faces. 'Just like us,' he said. 'Just like us. Please, sit down. All of you.'

Gripping Leah's hand, Hannah moved to the table and sat, tugging her daughter on to a chair beside her. Gabriel and eva took the empty seats.

Drops of perspiration clung to Va.s.s's forehead. A single bead dribbled down his temple. He glanced over at the signeur. 'How long have I promised to deliver you a single hosszu elet?' he asked. 'And now I find us two.'

The old man leaned forward, eyes glittering. 'Are you sure?'

eva surprised Hannah then by rising to her feet. The woman's lavender eyes had darkened to crimson as she regarded Va.s.s. When she spoke, her voice rang with power. 'My name is eva Maria-Magdalena Szollosi. I'm honoured to be named as orokos Fnok to the hosszu eletek. I'm likely to serve as the last. You're Eleni, which makes you responsible for the ma.s.sacre of our children and the genocide of our race.'

Va.s.s held her gaze. He shook his head. 'Oh, no, I'm not responsible for the ma.s.sacre of anyone, eva. The cull you speak of occurred nearly a hundred years before I was born. But I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.' To the signeur, he said, 'This changes everything. We don't even need to wait for Jakab.'

'Then let's do it,' spat the old man. 'And get out of here before he arrives.'

Va.s.s raised his eyebrows at Gabriel, who had risen to stand alongside his mother. 'This is, I presume, where you introduce yourself?'

Gabriel's voice was flat, dangerous. 'I'm Gabriel Mounir Szollosi. I'll give you this warning, Benjamin. You think you're prepared for what's coming. You're not. You think you understand the nature of your adversary. You don't. You think you'll prevail here today because you command greater manpower, greater firepower. You won't. I promise you this: the way you conduct yourself over the course of this day will have great bearing on how you complete it.'

Va.s.s rolled his eyes. He pointed out Hannah and Gabriel to the Eleni lieutenant who had accompanied him from the helicopter. 'Rope these two to chairs. Take the girl and the woman upstairs. Secure them. Separate rooms.'

Hannah stared at the gun Va.s.s dangled so casually from his fingers. How had it come to this? The monster that had destroyed her mother, her father and her husband was on his way here, to this place she had managed to keep secret for so long. And before she could even focus on that, she had to confront this far more immediate threat.

Your only concern is Leah. Va.s.s is unpredictable, unhinged, and he's armed. Don't antagonise him. Don't fight, not yet. Choose your moment. You may have only one. Let Leah go. Let go of her hand and get her out of this room safely.

As Hannah tried to extricate herself from her daughter's grip the girl cried out, and the sound of it nearly broke her. Ruthlessly she peeled back Leah's fingers. 'Go with the man, Leah. I promise you, it'll be OK.'

'Mummy, no!'

'Scamp, listen to me. Remember all the things I ever taught you. Think about everything I've said. Keep your eyes open, OK? Be brave. Trust your instincts. Everything will be all right if you do that, I promise. Now go.'

Eyes as wide and scared as Hannah had ever seen them, Leah rose to her feet. Va.s.s's a.s.sociate approached Gabriel with a length of rope and bound him to the chair.

When he advanced on Hannah, Sebastien shouted, 'Benjamin, this is barbaric! Karoly, surely you can see there is absolutely no need-'

'Sebastien, please,' Hannah pleaded, terrified that the old man would risk his life for her. She could not bear to lose him too. 'Don't make this any harder. Don't do anything rash.' Sitting back in the chair, she allowed the stranger to bind her. His rope bit into the flesh of her wrists but she refused to let Leah see her pain.

After testing his handiwork, the man led Leah and eva from the room.

Va.s.s clapped his hands. 'Good. Excellent. We're getting somewhere. I hope we're all still friends?'

His voice low, Gabriel asked, 'What is it you want?'

Va.s.s beamed at him. 'Oh, come come, Gabriel! Feigning ignorance at a time like this? You hosszu eletek! You're like the spoilt children who get all the best toys but steadfastly refuse to share. Now, I can understand why you're suspicious of us. The actions of my antiquated predecessors were really rather crude, even if they were acting on the orders of the Crown. But they envied you, you see. All of them. They envied you your long lives, and they grew distrustful of your ability to conceal yourselves among them. To make matters worse, you just wouldn't share.'

'Share what?'

'Why, the secret, of course.'

'Secret?'

'Someone's going to tell me I'm being too theatrical again if I'm not careful. I'm talking about the thing you've been unwilling to share with us since before the Eleni came into existence. I'm talking about the secret of your longevity.'

Gabriel opened his mouth to respond but Va.s.s raised his revolver and waved it left and right. 'Yes, yes. I've heard the argument. If we all lived as long as you, we'd be in crisis. Population explosion. The stability of our society would fracture. Chaos. Anarchy. And perhaps there's a shred of truth in that.' Va.s.s shrugged. 'Luckily for all of us, I don't want you to share your secret with a wider audience. I just want you to share it with me.'

He paused, and a thought appeared to occur to him. He glanced at the old man in the wheelchair. 'Forgive me, signeur. And, of course, you.'

Hannah heard a sc.r.a.pe and a thud from the room above. Would Va.s.s's man tie eva first or Leah? Probably eva. Which meant Leah would be next, in a different room.

Va.s.s withdrew a slim velvet case from his pocket and took it to the kitchen counter. He placed his revolver beside it, looked sideways at Sebastien, then retrieved the weapon and thrust it into the waistband of his chinos. 'I hope you wouldn't be silly enough to try,' he said. He gestured at the Eleni lieutenant holding the leashes of the two Vizslas. The man withdrew a pistol from a holster beneath his jacket. He stared impa.s.sively at Sebastien.

Satisfied, Va.s.s returned his attention to the velvet case. He lifted the lid and withdrew a stainless steel and gla.s.s syringe. 'Consider me, Gabriel, the teacher who persuades you to share your toys.'

Va.s.s lunged. He grabbed Gabriel's arm at the bicep and plunged the needle into a vein. Teeth bared, eyes shining, he extracted a full vial of blood and yanked the syringe out of the Irishman's flesh. Gabriel roared in anger.

Ignoring him, Va.s.s held the vial up to the sunlight. The maroon liquid projected fractured rubies on to the wall. He wiped sweat from his forehead and turned to the signeur. 'Roll up your sleeve.'

Karoly scowled. 'I have no desire to be your guinea pig, Benjamin. Try it on the girl first.'

'As you wish.' Va.s.s turned towards Hannah.

Gabriel strained against his ropes. 'You're a fool!'

'Please don't interrupt,' Va.s.s replied.

'You're insane if you think it's going to be as simple as that! You can't just expect to-'

Tutting with exasperation, Va.s.s pulled the revolver from his waistband, pointed it at Gabriel's right foot and pulled the trigger. The thunder of the shot rolled through the house. Gabriel spasmed, his back arching. Hannah heard his teeth sc.r.a.pe as he tried to control the pain. The arteries in his neck pulsed, angry red cords.

'Leave him alone!' she screamed.

Calmly, Va.s.s aimed the gun at Gabriel's left foot and shot him again. The Irishman's boot burst open in a flash of blood and leather. This time he cried out. Hannah heard an answering scream from upstairs.

Oh, Leah. my poor baby. She doesn't know what's happening. Two shots; she'll a.s.sume the worst. One bullet for me, one for Gabriel.

'I know that won't kill you,' Va.s.s said. 'But I do know it hurts. I asked you not to interrupt. Please don't do it again.'

Hannah heard another thump from the floor above. She raised her eyes to the ceiling, trying to visualise the room beyond, trying to imagine what would make such a sound. She felt herself beginning to shake. Found she was unable to take a full breath.

In the wheelchair, Karoly frowned. 'I don't like this, Benjamin.'

'Then leave,' Va.s.s whispered. Silently, he placed the syringe on the countertop. He lifted his head, hooded eyes moving over the ceiling.

Near the door to the hall, one of the Vizslas turned in a circle. Its ears twitched.

In the corner, the refrigerator hummed. Coolant trickled through its pipes. Gabriel's chair squealed under his weight.

A creak from upstairs. Hannah recognised it as the floorboard on the first floor landing, a few feet from the top stair. Va.s.s turned, a half-step. Hannah closed her mouth and forced herself to be still. Something large and heavy clattered down the stairs, ripping pictures from the wall in a cacophony of splintering wood and shattering gla.s.s. She heard Leah scream again as the object continued its destructive path, culminating in a hard slap as it met the hardwood floor of the hall.

Both the Vizslas now turned in circles, uttering soft howls.

'Perhaps you might want to investigate that,' Sebastien said.

Va.s.s stared at the ex-signeur, eyes hard. He gestured at the old man to approach the door.

Sebastien met Hannah's eyes. She sensed he tried to tell her something important with that look. All her senses screamed at her that opening the door was a bad idea, that he would invite a monster into the room with them. He crossed the kitchen, placed his hand on the k.n.o.b, opened the door a fraction.

As he peered through the crack, the breath rushed out of him. He turned back to Va.s.s. Shook his head. 'You thought you were being so clever, didn't you? You thought you'd send out an invitation to Jakab, offer Hannah as bait, and then you'd come here and wait for him. Your arrogance is utterly breathtaking, Benjamin. It only remains to be seen how many lives you've destroyed because of it. You didn't invite Jakab here. You haven't set a trap. You've brought him with you.'

Sebastien threw open the door to the hall. The man Va.s.s had sent to restrain Leah and eva lay on the floorboards, legs tangled on the stairs. His face was turned towards them. Both of his eyes had haemorrhaged. Dark blood leaked from his skull where it had cracked against the floor.

The pressure building in Hannah's head was unbearable, a ribbon of pain that ran from ear to ear.

He's HERE.

Jakab is HERE.

And while she was trapped in the kitchen, Leah was alone in one of the upstairs rooms. 'Have some humanity,' she moaned at Va.s.s's back, tears coursing down her cheeks. 'Don't let him take my daughter. Please. Don't let her think I abandoned her. Not again. Please not again.'

Va.s.s took a step towards the hall, inspecting the human wreckage on the floor. Then he turned and met Hannah's eyes. He smirked.

'Jakab!' he shouted. 'Jakab, listen to me! It seems you got here safely. That's good. I'm glad about that.' He laughed in delight. 'And I like a man who shares my affection for a dramatic entrance. I have what you want. What I promised you. She's a live one, I'll admit, but that makes it all the more interesting, doesn't it? I can't fault your taste. You know what, Jakab?' he asked, glancing first at Gabriel and then at the syringe that lay on the counter. 'I don't even want anything in return. I'll set her free, turn her outside, and you can just take her and go.'

He paused, listening for a reply.

Around them, the house waited.

One of the Vizslas dropped its head, snuffled the floorboards, raised it again. The second dog turned, its nose lifted high.

Beside Hannah, Gabriel whispered through gritted teeth. 'Look.'

She turned to him, shocked when she saw the paleness of his face. She recalled the moment at Llyn Gwyr when she had switched on the Discovery's interior light and discovered how much blood Nate had lost. The memory raked fresh claws at her. Gabriel indicated the windows and Hannah untangled herself from the memory, following his gaze.

Illes strode through the plum orchard towards the house, his auburn tresses flowing unbound behind him. His eyes had darkened to black, and Hannah thought she knew the significance of that. His face was a mask, an approaching death, devoid of colour or emotion. In each hand he carried a gleaming steel pistol. Beside Illes walked a second Fnok guard. He carried a pistol of his own, and his eyes were as black as coal.

'Sebastien, stand back,' Gabriel hissed.

Illes was already halfway across the orchard. He pa.s.sed in and out of sight through the trees. Hearing Gabriel's instruction, Sebastien turned and saw the Fnok's man. He threw himself against the wall as Illes raised his gun and fired off four quick shots. The gla.s.s in the french windows exploded across the kitchen floor, a tidal wash of diamonds. Two rounds slammed into the cupboard beside Va.s.s's head. Splinters of wood spun across the room. Another round punched through the door of the oven. The fourth destroyed a rack of metal cooking implements.

Va.s.s dropped to the floor. He twisted around, trying to locate his attacker. When he saw the advancing hosszu eletek, he bellowed, 'Dogs!'

Frantic, his Eleni lieutenant unclipped the chains from the Vizslas' collars. The animals surged across the kitchen and leaped through the broken windows, a fluid streak.

Illes appeared at the edge of the orchard. He raised his other pistol and fired off five more shots. Kitchen utensils and wooden cupboards exploded into shrapnel. Va.s.s pressed himself to the floor.

The younger Vizsla reached Illes first. Jaws snapping, it hurled itself at his face. The Fnok's man swatted the animal's skull with the b.u.t.t of his gun. The dog tumbled to the gra.s.s, convulsing. The second Vizsla changed direction, vaulted the orchard fence and scrambled through the trees.

'Benjamin!' The signeur, hunched in his wheelchair, sat stranded in the middle of the kitchen. His eyes were wild, chest jerking as it rose and fell. 'Get me away from the window!'

Va.s.s ignored him, slithering on his stomach across the floor. Blood flowed from his hands where broken gla.s.s had sliced them. He overturned the heavy oak table beside Hannah. Ducking behind it, he lifted his revolver over the top and fired three times into the garden.

Thunder cracked in her ears. She strained against the ropes that bound her.

You've no more time! You have to free yourself! Come on, Hannah!

ACT!.

'Shoot them!' Va.s.s roared.

'Benjamin!' The signeur was shrieking in fear. 'Benjamin, as your signeur I command you!'