“So,” said Daisy, turning to Ophelia,“have you got that medicine?”
“Yes, in here,” she said, carefullyemptying the contents of the black bag onto the bedside cabinet.
She explained as well as she could howto start up the Hex Box, and what the glass phials and needle were for. “ButI’m not sure where this plastic tube actually slots in.”
“Let Jim have a look,” said Daisy.“He’s very mechanically minded.”
Jim held the plastic tube and examinedthe Hex Box closely and from all angles. “Looks like here,” he said, pluggingthe tube into the Hex Box. Then he flicked a switch and it began to humquietly.
Arthur attached the needle to the endof the tube and poured the acrid smelling liquid from a glass phial into thebowl on top of the box. A few moments later they watched the liquid run slowlydown the plastic tube.
“So this goes into the vein?” saidArthur, looking a little confused.
“Give it here son,” said Jim. “I’m avet, remember?”
Ophelia’s breathing has suddenlybecome very erratic, she looked incredibly pale and her hands were shakingbadly. She clutched her head and began moaning.
“You alright?” said Daisy.
Ophelia nodded and went to sit down ina chair in the corner.
Rosie stirred and woke up. “Dad!” shesaid with wide frightened eyes.
Jim, Daisy, Arthur and Bill gatheredround the bed.
“It’s the voice,” she said. “It wantsme to bite you Dad. Make it go away, please!”
Rosie sat up suddenly began mumbling acurse in a strange language, then gnashed her yellow teeth at her father. Jimjumped back in shock.
“There’s nobody here but us Poppet,”said Jim grabbing the plastic tube. “It’s just your imagination. I’m going togive you some medicine. It’ll make you all better.”
Daisy and Arthur held Rosie down,pressing her to the bed. Bill helped Jim insert the needle into Rosie’sforearm. They’d never done anything like this before but Jim’s animalexperience meant they had no trouble finding a vein. Daisy watched Rosiestruggle and tried not to cry. Her daughter was surprisingly strong and it tookall their efforts to keep her on the bed. She was a slight young girl butalways been the picture of clean cut health. Now she looked bleary eyed andhaggard. And those horrid pointy teeth! She saw a tickle of blood as the needlewas inserted carefully into her arm.
“It’s saying something,” moaned Rosie,“something like, ‘Thy young blood is pure and this foul concoction will takeyou away from me.’”
Rosie suddenly broke free of Daisy andArthur’s grasp and whipped the needle out of her arm. She got up and scrambledout of bed. Arthur and Daisy tried to get her to lie back down but she shovedthem out of the way with very little effort. An instant later she was over atthe bedroom window, fumbling to get it open.
“Sis,” said Arthur, “don’t do it!”
Rosie climbed through the window andjumped.
Daisy almost screamed, “She’ll bekilled! It’s too high!”
Arthur ran to the window and lookedout onto the street below, which was bathed in the deepest of shadows. Hestruggled to see anything at all but then was sure he saw Rosie running away,down towards the square.
“She’s okay mum,” he said, “but she’srunning away.”
“I’m going after her,” said Daisy.
“Wait Love,” said Jim, “you can’t goout there, it’s not safe. You’ll end up like our little Poppet.”
Daisy looked torn for a moment,undecided about what to do, but then she put her arms around Jim and buried herhead in his chest. “Oh Jim love, what have we ever done to deserve this?”
Ophelia felt very strange. She had anoverwhelming compulsion to sink her teeth into everyone in the room. The vaguewhispering had turned into a distinctive voice.
So what you a’waiting for? I wantsthem all!
Ophelia stood up and crept slowlyforward. Bill noticed her and was shocked. Her face was waxy alabaster whiteand filled with a tangle of tiny red veins. Her ears had become long andpointed, like a bat’s, her teeth were fearsomely sharp and yellow, and thehorns were grey and gnarled. She looked like the terrible thing he’d seen inthe church. It took a great effort of will not to step back in revulsion. Herealised he loved Ophelia the girl, but hated Ophelia this foul creature. Howcould they ever be together when she had this horror buried within?
“Help me Bill please,” she murmured.“Get me onto the bed. If I can just get some of that stuff...”
It took every ounce of Bill’sself-control to stay calm. He took Ophelia by the arm and she looked at himwith those terrible features and gnashed her teeth and moved to bite him. Hejumped back with a frightened look. He could see that she was almost delirious,lost in some mental battle, sweating so much her thinning hair was lank anddamp and her hands were trembling.
“Sorry,” she said, glaring directly atBill, who couldn’t stop himself from trembling.
She held up her arm and waited. Jimstepped forward and gingerly insert the needle into her waxy white arm.
“It says it hates Vita Dantis,”she mumbled to herself, “then I must have it.”
Bill backed away and watched herterrible face, mesmerized, waiting for a miracle; for the beast to go away. Itseemed almost impossible that such gross features could just fade away butafter a few minutes he noticed her ears had shrunk back to normal, the virulentred veins had miraculously withdrawn and faded, the horrible impression ofcurled horns had faded and her skin turned from waxy white to pale anddelicate.
The eyes were still yellow andbestial, and her teeth were pointed, Bestia Marcam was still there, but thegirl he loved was back – as much as she possibly could be.
*
Earlynext morning when it was light, Jim went out into the street to see what wasgoing on. It was deserted and quiet and there was a fine low mist in the air.He walked down onto the square, around the maypole and back again, looking allaround. He was shocked to find many broken windows, smashed flower pots, wideopen front doors and sinister blood stains. He considered going into one of thehouses to see if anyone
