He had only the vaguest notion of what he was doing here. His memories were all confused and mixed up. It was impossible to get comfortable on the couch; he could hardly move without getting nauseous and every twist of his body brought a sharp pain in his neck. He touched the sore spot with his fingers, then withdrew them with a wince as he felt the raised puncture marks, crusted in dried blood. What had he done to himself?
He became aware of a strange sensation in his groin, like a pulsing tingling feeling — then realised it was his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out groggily and pressed it to his ear.
His brother’s voice. ‘Where are you? Me ma’s going mad with worry and me da’s about to have a fookin’ heart attack. Why have you not come home?’
‘Hi, Cormac,’ Dec slurred into the phone.
‘What’s wrong with you, bro?’
‘I’m okay,’ Dec lied.
‘Speak up. I can hardly hear you.’
‘Tell them I’m fine. I just want to be alone for a bit.’
‘Where are you?’ Cormac said again.
‘Promise not to tell,’ Dec muttered.
‘You know I won’t clipe.’
‘I’m at Matt’s place,’ Dec said. Then there was sudden silence on the phone. He squinted at the screen and saw that the battery had gone dead. He swore weakly and let the phone tumble out of his hand. He closed his eyes.
He didn’t know how long he’d been out of it when a sound woke him.
It was the sound of something scraping against the window. With an effort, he propped himself up on his elbows and peered across the room.
The curtains were open. On the other side of the glass, standing on the window ledge, was Kate. She ran her nails down the pane and looked at him imploringly.
‘Let me in, Dec. Please.’
Dec fell off the couch and started crawling across the floor towards her. Halfway to the window, he stopped. He put one hand up to the wounds on his neck.
This isn’t Kate. Kate’s dead.
‘It’s so cold out here, Dec,’ she mewled. ‘Don’t you love me any more?’
He hesitated.
‘Let me in,’ she pleaded. ‘I want to be with you. I’ve always wanted to be with you.’
She looked so sad and pathetic and vulnerable out there. His heart went out to her. He managed to grab the backrest of a chair and haul himself unsteadily to his feet.
Staggered the rest of the way to the window. Reached out and grasped the window catch.
Chapter Sixty
The Metropole Hotel, Venice
6.23 a.m. local time
‘Where did you go?’ Joel mumbled sleepily from under the covers.
Alex froze where she stood on the balcony. Behind her, the light of dawn was breaking over the Venetian skyline. For a second she thought Joel had seen her climb over the balustrade from the street below, and her mind raced to find an explanation for the unorthodox entrance.
‘I didn’t hear the door,’ he said, rubbing his eyes and sitting up in bed, and she could breathe again.
‘I sometimes don’t sleep well at night,’ she explained nonchalantly. ‘A walk helps.
Didn’t want to wake you.’
Joel kicked his legs out from under the rumpled sheets. ‘You should have woken me. I’d have come with you.’
She smiled. ‘A girl likes to be alone sometimes.’
‘What about now?’
‘Now I want to be with you.’ She walked over to the bed and rested her hands on his shoulders.
‘I can’t believe you were just out in the cold. Your hands are toasty.’
‘I have good circulation,’ she said. Especially when her veins were filled with someone else’s fresh blood. The recent memory of last night’s two victims replayed in a flash through her mind. The first had been a young guy on his way home from a late-night bar. She’d stalked him in silence for a few hundred yards before jumping him in an alleyway.
The second had been something of an indulgence. She’d been making her way back to the hotel, crossing a bridge when a solitary gondolier had appeared like a vision through the pre-dawn mist and drifted up the canal beneath her. Too much to resist. By the time he’d realised he had an uninvited passenger, his blood was being sucked from his neck.
She’d only just had enough Vambloc left for the second one. Running out was a big worry.
But now, at least, Joel was safe with her. And that mattered a great deal.
‘Look what we did to this bed last night,’ he said, smiling as he started unbuttoning her coat. ‘It’s wrecked.’
‘Impetuous,’ she murmured. The coat slipped from her shoulders, and then his fingers were running up under her blouse. She pushed him down on the bed and clambered astride him.
After making love for the second time in a few hours, they called room service.
During breakfast in bed, he kept looking at her and wanting to clasp her hand. ‘This feels so weird to me,’ he said. ‘We’ve only just met, but it’s like I’ve known you all my life.’
‘Maybe you have,’ she replied.
It was bright, crisp and cold as they wandered the streets and squares of Venice.
Hours of discussion, of studying the notebook and racking their brains still hadn’t led them anywhere, and the day was beginning to pass them by with nothing to show for it.
By the time noon had come and gone, they were walking almost aimlessly through the old city. On their left, row after row of moored boats and gondolas drifted on the sparkling waters of the Grand Canal as they passed the Doge’s Palace and the Archaeological Museum. During high season the place would have been swarming with thousands of people, but today only a thin smattering of tourists were ambling around the spectacular sights, snapping cameras here and there as their guides pointed out sites of interest and rambled through the history of the different buildings.
‘What are you looking at?’ Alex smiled, catching Joel’s eye as they walked under the pale sun.
‘I was admiring the view,’ he said, not taking his eyes off her.
‘You’ve got to keep your mind on what we’re looking for.’ She tried to sound reprimanding, but the grin on his face was infectious, and she couldn’t stop her smile from widening. ‘Be serious.’
‘I am serious. I want to find this thing and go home. You know, that looks heavy,’ he added, pointing at the colourful backpack she was wearing. Whatever she was carrying inside, the straps were strained tight over her shoulders. ‘Want me to take it for a while?’
‘I can manage, thanks.’
‘Let me guess,’ he said. ‘More girl stuff.’
‘You said it. Plus I brought along my mallet and stakes, in case we run into any vampires.’
‘Now who isn’t being serious?’
She was about to reply when she sensed something behind them. She glanced over her shoulder at the crowds of people, scanning the faces of the tourists. They all seemed to be either gazing around them at the Venetian scenery, or perusing their guidebooks, or fiddling with the settings on their cameras.
All except two pairs of eyes. Both hidden behind sunglasses, both angled towards them. The pair of men were hanging back a hundred yards or so as Alex and Joel turned inland and emerged into the huge open space of
