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IT WAS aluard earlier in the night) Everyone crammed into the two hotel rooms Harkat, Vancha and I slept on the floor, Mr Crepsley in his bed, Steve on the couch, and Debbie in the bed in the other room Vancha had offered to share Debbie’s bed if she wanted someone to keep her warm

"Thanks," she’d said coyly, "but I’d rather sleep with an orangutan"

"She likes et when they like me!"

At dusk, Mr Crepsley and I checked out of the hotel Now that Vancha, Steve and Debbie had joined us, we needed to find somewhere quieter Steve’s almost deserted apartment block was ideal We took over the two apartht in A quick spot of tidying-up and the rooms were ready to inhabit They weren’t comfortable - they were cold and dao va

We paired off into three teao with Debbie, but Mr Crepsley said it would be better if she accompanied one of the full-vampires Vancha immediately offered to be her partner, but I put a quick stop to that idea In the end we agreed that Debbie would go with Mr Crepsley, Steve with Vancha, and Harkat withwith our weapons, each of us carried a mobile phone Vancha didn’t like phones - a toot to modern telecommunications - but we convinced him that it made sense - this way, if one of us found the vampaneze, we’d be able to su the tunnels we’d already exaularly by huround terrain into three sectors, assigned one per teaht lay ahead of us Nobody found any trace of the vah Vancha and Steve discovered a human corpse that had been stashed away by the blood-suckers many weeks earlier They made a note of where it was, and Steve said he’d infor, so the body could be claihost eHer hair et and scraggly, her clothes torn, her cheeks scratched, her hands cut by sharp stones and old pipes While I cleaned out her cuts and bandaged her hands, she stared ahead at the wall, dark riht?" she asked in a weak voice

"We’re stronger than hu you that before, but you wouldn’t listen"

"But Steve isn’t a vampire"

"He works out And he’s had years of practice" I paused and studied her weary brown eyes "You don’t have to come with us," I said "You could co-ordinate the search from here You’d be more use up here than-"

"No," she interrupted firhed I finished dressing her wounds and helped her hobble to bed We’d said nothing about our argument on Friday - this wasn’t the ti when I returned "She will make it," he said

"You think so?" I asked

He nodded "I made no allowances I held to a steady pace Yet she kept up and did not complain It has taken its toll - that is natural - but she will be stronger after a good day’s sleep She will not let us down"

Debbie looked no better when she woke late that evening, but perked up after a hotdown to the shops to buy a strong pair of gloves, water-resistant boots and new clothes She also tied her hair back and wore a baseball cap, and e parted that night, I couldn’t help adlad it wasn’t un she’d borrowed from Steve!

Wednesday was another wash-out, as was Thursday We knew the vampaneze were down here, but the syste to find the our way back to base, I stopped at a newspaper stand to buy some papers and catch up with the news This was the first time since the weekend that I’d paused to check on the state of the world, and as I thuht ?" Harkat asked

I didn’t answer I was too busy reading The article was about a boy the police were looking for He was ain on Tuesday, irl The wanted boy’s name? Darren Horston!

I discussed the article with Mr Crepsley and Vancha after Debbie had gone to bed (I didn’t want to alarm her) It said simply that I’d been at school on Monday and hadn’t been seen since The police had checked up on one absent without contacting their schools (I forgot to phone in to say that I was sick) When they couldn’t find eneral description and a plea for anyone who knew anything aboutto’Mahler’s to say I was OK, but Mr Crepsley thought it would be better if I went in personally "If you call, they nore the problereed I should go in, pretend I’d been sick and that ood of h to assure everyone that I was OK - then say I felt sick again and ask one of my teachers to call my ’uncle’ Steve to collect one for a job interviehich would be the excuse we’d use on Monday - htaway, and had sent for me to join him in another city