Thrill of the Chase (Hunters & Heartbreakers 1)

III - Langdon

^^Above: Tobias Menzies (pictured here in Outlander) as Trenton Wilkes.^^

To my dear darling boy Langdon on his twelfth birthday,

If you are ever missing me, read these words,

And know I am not far away. I love you.

—Mother.

25 March. — I know now that my mother had written that inscription with the intention of always being there to protect me. And at twelve, I believed them. Neither of us could have known, two years later, that she would be the furthest she'd ever been from me, and could never come back.

Now, on the day of Giff's funeral service, it occurs to me that this is only the second time in my life I've had to wear mourning. He may as well be dead, even though every time I see a vampire I'll think of him. As far as his family is concerned, anyhow, he's no longer one of them.

"I was sorry to hear of your friend's fate, Langdon," says Father on the way to the Institute. There'll be a service there before the wake at the Gifford house in Mayfair, and although the coffin is empty, we all know what it symbolises. "If I'd known..."

"I know, Father," I say, although I want to ask him point-blank if he'd ever wished we were rid of Giff. I'd seen his frown of disapproval every time I'd mentioned him after befriending him. "You couldn't have."

"Intelligence on the vampires has much improved since I first began hunting," he says, with his knack for bringing up the wrong subject at the wrong time. "The King's Bench vampire Family is one of the oldest in London, if not all of England."

"Is that why you sent us there, then?" I hear a note of bitterness in my tone. "A small group of hunters in training against the oldest vampire Family in England?"

"Like I said, son. I had no idea such a thing was going to happen."

"They're vampires, Father. We're human. What did you think would happen?"

His hand comes down hard on my shoulder and spins me around to face him. His eyes burn with a simmering anger. "Do you not think I want answers as much as you do? I do not believe vampires mean us any harm, they simply hunt their prey like any other living creature. And yet you've given me the impression that you believe I somehow premeditated Byron's capture."

Didn't you? I want to say, but I've pushed Father enough for the moment. Instead I mumble, "That's not what I was thinking."

"Speak up, boy. You know how I feel about your mumbling."

"That's not what I was thinking, Father," I say, clearer.

"Good," says Father, the anger fading from his eyes. I feel his hand tighten on my shoulder, a warning to control myself in the future. "Now we are almost there. Have you thought of what you're going to say for Mr Gifford's eulogy?"

—

Later, afternoon. — Following Gifford's service and the wake, Seaton, Isham and I slip out of the house and walk up to Hyde Park without speaking. It feels strange to be here and he isn't, and I'm sure the other two are thinking the same thing.