Thicker Than Blood (Marchwood Vampire Series #2) by Shalini Boland

before.
    ‘ My dear? Can you hear
me?’
    She felt her shoulder being roughly prodded
by something sharp and it hurt - a separate kind of hurt to the
other overwhelming ache she felt throughout the rest of her body.
She groaned.
    ‘ Aahh, alive!’ The woman
chuckled. ‘My lucky day. Come along, my dear, get up. You'll come
with me. No need to thank me today, you can do that
later.’
    Aelia turned her head and forced her eyes to
open. She saw a dark shape looming and gradually a pale wrinkled
face came into focus. The face wore a smile, but the smile was not
kindly. It was … mocking. Aelia closed her eyes again.
    ‘ Up, up. Get up,’ the
woman said. ‘I saw you open your eyes. It’s no good pretending to
be dead. Come on.’
    Aelia felt more sharp stabs of pain on her
back and shoulder. She gasped and opened her eyes again. The woman
was prodding her with a wooden cane.
    ‘ Please stop,’ Aelia
croaked. ‘You’re hurting me.’
    ‘ Good, you can talk. Now
get up, my dear, before I lose my patience.’
    Aelia didn’t know how she did it, but she
managed to struggle to her knees and then to her feet. Her head
throbbed and her throat felt as though it was being stabbed with
tiny little needles as the thirst hit once again.
    ‘ Water.
Please.’
    ‘ Come with me and I’ll see
what I can do.’
    The old woman limped ahead, using her wooden
cane to walk. Aelia staggered in her wake, almost wishing she’d
stayed on the ground to let the earth take her.
    They walked for a good long while. The old
woman did not offer to help her, nor did she even turn around to
see how she was. But Aelia kept following regardless. Vegetation
appeared around them. They passed by some low scrubby bushes and a
couple of hunched trees. Clumps of plants dotted the ground and a
sudden breeze cooled Aelia’s cheek for a blissful moment, before
melting into the heat again.
    In the distance, Aelia saw a dark shimmering
hill and as they drew nearer, it rose up as a steep, grey rock
face. The woman walked right up to the jagged wall and side-stepped
into it before disappearing from view as if by magic. Aelia
followed, too tired to be puzzled. As she came closer, she saw
there was a simple explanation - an outcrop in front of the rock
face concealed a narrow gap. The old woman had entered a hidden
cave. Aelia stopped for a second and then followed her inside, away
from the relentless sun and into the cool gloom.
    It was a relief to be out of the sun’s
glare, but Aelia felt so weak and thirsty, she barely registered
her surroundings. All she saw was darkness and all she heard were
their hushed slow footsteps. Suddenly, she felt a claw-like grip on
her arm.
    ‘ Sit here,’ the woman
squawked at her. She pulled Aelia down onto a chair-like boulder
and then shuffled off into the darkness.
    Aelia felt no curiosity; only the need to
close her eyes and block out the knives of thirst in her throat.
She was going to die here in the darkness. This was the end.
Seconds later she felt a cold sting of water trickle down her lips
and chin.
    ‘ You’re no good to me
dead,’ the woman cackled, pressing an earthenware cup into Aelia’s
hands.
    Aelia ignored the woman’s words and
concentrated on the cool liquid. Maybe she wasn’t going to die
after all.

Chapter Eight
    Present Day
    *
    Ben returned to the house at midday. Esther
and Morris were already there, sitting in the kitchen sipping tea.
None of them had seen anyone who might have been the deliverer of
the mysterious note. Esther insisted that Ben eat something and
then go to bed.
    ‘ You’ll be needed later
and you won’t be any good to anyone if you don’t get some rest.
Don’t worry, I’ll go down and tell the others we’ve had no
luck.’
    Ben glared at his empty bowl and dragged
himself up the stairs to bed. He was exhausted, but it felt wrong
sleeping while Maddy was missing. He crawled under the bed covers
in his clothes and closed his eyes. He meant to lie there and think
about