Alison did another button and shoved her hands deep into her pockets. The autumn was going through a cold spell; the wind was biting into her skin and whipping her hair around her face. But nothing cut into her skin as sharply as the slim black card that had been left discarded in her pocket. Although it wasn't discarded, Alison had known that it was there. Every time she put on her coat for the last week she had been reminded that that little black card was sitting there, even though she hadn't once pulled it out it was still a betrayal. Although she didn't really know what it would mean if she gave the mysterious Mr Grey a call she knew it would be a betrayal.
Her head bent low against the battling wind Ali rushed across the car park towards the shopping centre. Ruffling her hair to try and tame and master the windswept look she walked briskly towards the coffee shop, smiling the moment she saw Max seated in the corner with two steaming mugs in front of him. It was just going to be the two of them, having coffee and talking. The rest of the family were going out and Max had been the one to volunteer to stay behind with Alison. As much as it annoyed her that they thought she still needed babysitting she was pleased it was Max staying with her.
Kirsty’s mum had dropped her off at the shopping centre; the two girls had been in school doing a project for English together which was why Max was already here. He was dressed in jeans which meant he had gone home after school and then come back out. Ali felt out of place in her uniform now as she headed towards the table in the far corner. But as she crossed the shop floor something caught her eye and she stopped. Turning her head slowly she glanced out of the window, standing at the corner was a man dressed completely in black: Mr Grey. He was staring straight at Alison, seeing her looking at him he smiled and nodded his head in her direction before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
It had been just for a moment and it had seemed so surreal but he had definitely been there. He had been watching her, keeping an eye on her. Just like he said that he would. Once again Alison ran her finger along the sharp edge of the card and was reminded of the threat he seemed to think that she was under. She took a breath and pulled her hand out of her pocket. She said she was never going to contemplate his offer as she knew her family had never done anything to hurt her and they never would.
Alison went to head back towards Max who had had his back to her, although he probably would have heard or smelt her come in. But now he wasn’t alone. Sitting across from him, in the seat that was meant to be for Alison was the stunning brunette with the smile of an angel and the heart of the devil. Maisie had one hand lying on top of Max’s and was running a finger of the other around the rim of the coffee mug. Alison’s coffee mug!
She couldn’t see Max’s face from this angle and had no idea how he was responding to having Maisie fawning all over him. But Alison was not happy, something spiteful spiked within her chest, it might have been jealousy but it was mixed with annoyance at little miss popular interfering again and so Alison didn’t recognise the other emotion. She just wanted Maisie out of her seat and away from her cousin.
She walked briskly over to the table, and put on a fake smile. “Hey Max, I didn’t realise we were having company,” She said too cheerfully. Max pulled his hand back from Maisie’s like he’d been burnt as he turned to look up at Alison. He smiled as soon as their eyes connected.
“Maisie just wanted to chat, but she’s leaving now because I know she wouldn’t want to be rude and encroach on our time together… isn’t that right Maisie?” He turned to face the pretty girl and smiled. A look of hurt crossed her face followed by disgust before it was masked with her usual pleasantly fake smile. She pushed back from the table with a screech.
As she passed Alison she lent over and whispered into her ear, “You know, the way you act so jealous people might get the wrong idea,” her voice was more of a sneer and Alison recoiled from her in disgust. “I’ll see you around sweetie,” she chimed as she bounced out of the coffee shop, hips and hair swaying in unison.
Alison dumped her bag and sunk into the chair that Maisie had been occupying. “I can’t believe she said that to you Ali, it’s com-” Max began, but Alison held her hand to stop him.
“Don’t worry about it Max, let her think what she wants… she just hates me because you’re my best friend and would rather spend time with me then go out with her. She’s the jealous one, trust me.”
“How do I get rid of her? I mean she’s always following me!” Max asked, smiling mischievously. Alison laughed.
“Well you could tell her to get lost, or there are more drastic things that you could do that would mean she was gone… permanently.” Alison teased which resulted in Max throwing a napkin at her head.
“Not to people we know, you know that Ali,” He retorted, “although I guess we could make an exception for her... we’d do it to anyone that hurt you, you know that don’t you?” Alison tried to reign in a sigh as the conversation turned serious. She hated them thinking of her as so fragile but they did and they always would.
“I know, don’t worry … but I can look after myself too,” She said quietly, it would fall on deaf ears. They never seemed to accept that she was capable of surviving. But one day she would be like them and they would have to accept her as being strong enough, although she had a funny feeling that even then they would still treat her as fragile. There would be no escape. Alison glanced down at her coffee, the one Maisie had been drinking from it seemed. She sighed.
“Well seeing as I’m not touching that coffee should we head out... there’s something I have to show you!” Her voice seemed brighter and she smiled at what she had in mind.
Max quickly downed the rest of his drink and stood up; putting his coat back on for appearances sake as he never felt the cold and taking Ali’s bag from the floor. “Should I be worried?” He asked with a grin on his face.
Ali crossed her arms and glared at him. “One, I can carry my own bag, and two, why do you always think that what I have planned will be bad? This is awesome, trust me. You’re going to love it!” Max just laughed and pushed her bag higher up his shoulder.
Ali shook her head and followed him out of the shop. She steered them through the shopping centre towards the shop where her surprise was. As they were approaching the shop her smile grew. “Max?” She said sweetly, dragging out his name.
He stopped and looked down at her, “Yes Ali?” his voice clearly betrayed him as worried about what she was going to ask of him.
“You know that James King is having that party next weekend?”
“Yes? What about it?”
“Well you know that the whole year is invited?”
“And Amy, what of it?” Max could tell that Alison was dragging this out, trying to build up the tension of what she was going to show him.
“Exactly, well it’s a costume party.” An excited smile lit up her face.
“Oh great.” Max did not sound happy, “I take it you have some hilarious outfit you want me to wear?”
“What? No! I have something better; I’ve found something that me, you and Amy can wear!”
“Right that makes me even more worried!” He declared as Alison guided them into the fancy dress shop. She and Kirsty had been in here the other day, looking for outfits that they could wear to the party.
“It’s a Halloween party… and I think we should all go as… vampires!” Alison suddenly announced, pulling Max into the Halloween section and giggling as he took in the vast array of costumes. Max burst out laughing at her suggestion.
“Are you serious?! Oh the irony. ” He asked, moving closer to a vampire costume. One of many different types.
“Completely! See… you could go as Count Dracula and me and Amy as regular vampires?” She suggested, still giggling. Max shook his head and began to flick through the costumes. Alison did the same trying to find a vampire one that she and Amy could both wear. Max stopped and looked at the costume in front of him, smiling.
“Alison I have a better idea!” His voice genuinely seemed excited this time. He knew that the others would find this hilarious and it would be great.
“If it’s not amazing then we’re doing vampires still!” Alison declared, pulling away from her rack to go look at what Max had found. On seeing it she began to laugh.
“This is so much better! I’ll be Van Helsing, Amy can be Mina and then you can be a vampire!” Max declared, pulling the long leather coat with the plastic stake attached off of the rack.
“I love it!” Alison declared, “But I don’t think they do a Mina costume Max… so what’s Amy going to wear?” The smile slowly fading from her face, the female vampire costume in her hand looking rather limp now the idea was fading.
“Well you’ve read the book right?” Max said, he was still smiling, “What era is it set in?”
“Umm eighteenth century? Or is it nineteenth?” She thought back to the time that Charles had brought the dusty first edition out of his office library and given the book to her; it was the first in a long line of gothic novels they had insisted she read.
“Doesn’t really matter which, no one else will know the difference… we just need to get Amy a Victorian dress and we’re set!” Max said with a grin, Alison’s own smile reforming.
“Hey? Do you think Emma would have one in the attic?”
“Probably, Amy might even have one herself… I can’t remember if she threw all that stuff out or not.”
“Lets go home and look!” Alison said, laughing as she dragged Max over to the checkout.
The entire walk back to the house Alison was excitedly talking about the Halloween party now. Kirsty had wanted them all to go as a group of Zombie cheerleaders so it wouldn’t matter if Alison dropped out. She’d bought a rather generic vampire outfit which she was going to ask Emma or Amy to help make look more authentic. Max’s outfit had come with a plastic stake and ring of garlic but he reckoned that Charles had collected a few genuine stakes through his travels.
As Max unlocked the front door he turned to Alison, “You know I have no idea how Charles and Emma will respond to this idea… they might laugh at the irony of it but they might also get offended or also think that we are being careless. So if I were you I'd be prepared for the worst." He warned although Alison could see the excited glint in his eye at the prospect of dressing up.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. It's just a teenagers party, I highly doubt there'll be anyone paying attention. It'll be odd if we didn't dress up, don't you think?" She smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him up the stairs. "Come on, we've got costumes to make and I can't get into the attic by myself, the door's too heavy."
Max chuckled as he followed her up the stairs and down the corridor. The door to the attic was above the coving at the end of the upstairs hall, the door led into the roof space above the end bedroom (Phillip's room). Max climbed up onto the landing table and pulled the door open before helping Alison onto the table as well. She wasn't allowed in the attic often because it was so difficult, and dangerous, to get into. But Max didn't mind helping, he was protective, but not as much as the others.
Max hauled himself up and through the gap in the wall to allow himself to reach the attic. Once inside he turned and reached out to take Ali's hands, she braced her feet against the wall and allowed him to take her weight as she clambered rather ungracefully into the roof. She didn't have Max's agility.
The roof of the old house was large which meant that the attic space was high enough for even Max's 6ft frame to stand up comfortably in. Alison smiled as she glanced around the dust filled space. Clapping her hands together she turned to Max. "Where do we start?!"
"Well to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where Emma or Amy would have kept their old clothes. So if you try the wardrobe over there, I'll take the chests and see what we can find?"
Alison smiled and headed for the large and ornately carved wooden antique. There was crest carved onto the doors and she ran her hand over the wood, feeling its smoothness and marvelling at the pattern. "Max? Is this Charles' crest?"
A chest thudded shut as he turned to look at the wardrobe. "Yeah, it's the Caravel shield, from what I remember it's medieval, from when Lord Caravel owned a large amount of the South East." He turned back to rummaging through the chest. Ali pulled open the ornate doors and began to inspect the garments, they were all old and the wardrobe had a musty smell but despite this some of the coats and dresses she was rifling through were like stepping back in time. They were exquisite. The dresses spoke of a time of balls where young girls were paraded around high ceiling rooms while elegantly dressed young men watched for potential wives. She could see Amy among the throng drawing many a potential suitors’ eye.
At one end of the wardrobe she came across what appeared to be military uniform from some past time. She pulled it out to have a closer look. "Who’s is this?"
Max glanced up from some piece of fabric that he was clutching to see what Ali was referring to. "Oh that's Phillip's." But Max didn't say anything else, turning back to his chest. Alison knew better then to push the question further. There were a lot of things Phillip wouldn't talk about.
"Hey, Ali what do you think of this for Amy?" Max suddenly questioned. Alison put the uniform back into the wardrobe and knelt down beside him. He was clutching material that looked like chiffon in a deep purple colour, almost black. She reached out and held it up, the gown unravelled from its creased and neglected bundle. It was beautiful, the material was so dark that it appeared to absorb the light around it, but it was smooth and soft to the touch with a tight fitting bodice. As she examined the dress further Ali noticed that there was fine black lace over the bodice which thinned out as the full skirt flared out, it was this that made the dress so dark. As she ran her hands over the top of the dress she realised that the bodice wasn't as tightly fitting as she had thought, the rigid material was actually flexible, as if made for someone who moved around a lot but wanted to fit in with the rest of society. The skirts were similar in that they appeared fuller and looked heavier then they actually were, all suggesting that the owner needed room for movement.
"It's beautiful. Is it Amy's?" Ali asked Max, marvelling at the dress which was clearly an antique.
"Um no, I think it's actually Emma's." He responded nonchalantly. Ali looked at him for a moment and then back at the dress. She could not imagine sweet, kind, bubbly Emma wearing a dress that gave of such a dark vibe. It was beautiful, yes. But you could just sense that the wearer would be mysterious and possibly deadly. As much as she loved Amy she could see this dress belonging to the petite blonde, she had a killer streak if you crossed her, or attempted to. But not Emma, or at least the Emma she had known all her life.
"Emma's?! Why would she need a dress like this?" Ali said more to herself then as a genuine question.
"There's a lot you don't know about her Ali, about all of us, stuff not even your mum knew. There was a time when Charles was bitter towards others, when he was under the influence of the Authorities. But then so was everyone within our circle."
Alison didn't say anything in return; Max had just reminded her that she didn't really fit in with them. That she hadn't been a part of the family in the same way as the rest. She wanted to but until Charles fulfilled his debt they would be outcasts of society and she would be a complete outsider.
"I think Amy's going to love this Max, she'll make a perfect Mina. Why wasn't it in the wardrobe with all the others though? A dress this beautiful should be looked after."
"Like I said those were dark times, I don't think Emma thought that the dress deserved a place but she couldn't throw it out. She wore it to such a magnificent ball." Max said quietly, his thoughts wandering back to some past memory. He turned away from Alison and towards a pile of what appeared to be random objects. "Ah I think this is the right box," he muttered.
She got sat up and looked towards him; in his hands was a carved mahogany box with a brass hinge and lock. She watched as Max undid the clasp and opened. "Or maybe not," he muttered.
"What's in it?" Ali asked. She was curious to know what he had found. Max tilted the box towards her to show, seated on a bed of velvet fabric, an antique looking revolver. "Is that real?" she asked, a little astonished that it had just been left up here unlocked. It must have been worth a fortune.
"Yeah, it's Philip's"
"Why would Philip need a gun?" Ali asked cautiously.
"Collectors item." Max said before putting it down and continuing to rummage through the collection of antiques mixed among the bric a brac. "Ahah! This has to be it." He suddenly declared, holding another wooden box which seemed even older then the one holding the revolver. He walked over to Ali and sat next to her, the box was lighter then the previous and he was holding it with some trepidation. Slowly he opened it, there was something shrouded in blood red material and it was this that Max lifted out carefully. Gently he unwrapped it and handed the object within to Ali.
"Is this genuine?" She replied her voice barely a whisper as she tentatively held the object. She could feel how delicate it was. The wood was warm which was odd and in a stark contrast to the coldness of the silver band that joined the handle to the thinner point.
"Yeah," Max responded, "genuine sixteenth century vampire hunting stake. I remember Charles telling me he collected it when he travelled around Eastern Europe, Romania I think." He took the stake off of her and wrapped it back up again.
"That's Transylvania right? Like in the legends and stuff."
"Yeah, Charles lived out there for a while. When you're older, once Charles has repaid the debt that's where we're going to go, to deliver the serum."
Alison nodded her head slowly, watching as Max put it away again. "Maybe we won't use this for Halloween. If some drunken idiot got a hold of it there would be serious trouble."
"I guess. It’s a shame as it would have looked great. But you have your plastic one."
"We'll make do, don't worry we're going to look awesome." Max said before grinning at her, Ali giggled.
She was looking at the dress again when they heard the front door go. Was it really that late? Or were the others back earlier than expected?
"Max?! Ali?! Are you home?" They could hear Emma call out.
"We're coming now Emma." Max called down through the hatch before taking the dress and making his way out of the attic. Ali dangled her feet through the door as Max took hold of her waist and lifted her down and out.
"Max come down to the kitchen we have something for you. Ali dearest I'll call you when your tea is ready." Emma called again. Max smiled and took the dress off of the side.
"I'll ask about the costumes." He volunteered.
"OK, well I'll be in my room if any of you need me," Alison responded before turning and walking down the corridor towards her room. Inside she closed the door and settled down to do her homework, aka watching crime drama illegally online.