The Cold Road (Book 1)

Chapter Thirty.

'Now Franks knows!' shouted Paul as he marched in a steady circle around Belberra's dining room table. 'He came by this morning, demanding to see Lindsey's room. He kept looking at me funny all morning. I had to get out.' He wrung his hands as he came to a stop behind his father.

'You're a fool,' said Belberra. He sat stretched out, a cigarette hanging limply from the corner of his mouth. His teeth clenched it in place and his speech was muffled. 'And you left him alone?'

'No,' commented Paul, dryly. 'I left Irene there. She'll take care of him. Crying always freaks men out. But Franks still knows!'

'The only thing Franks has to go on is the inexperienced ramblings of detective Holland, who we all know is incompetent and his theoriesunfounded,' replied Belberra. 'Did you know Plant attempted to undermine me?' he asked, puffing on the bud.

'What?' Paul's head snapped down to look at Belberra. 'What do you mean?'

'He filed a report to have James removed from Damascus. James may be a tough nut, but once cracked he'll be invaluable. If we send him away now, all work'll be worthless. We can live without him, but I'd prefer him to be on the sidelines as a possibility. It'd be a shame to waste him.'

'You said he's incompetent!' Wringing his hands again, Paul collapsed into a seat and stared angrily at the wall. 'He's a real bastard.'

'So are you. I never said he was incompetent, I said we proved him to be.'

'No you didn't! You said we all know he's incompetent and his theories unfounded,' said Paul, snarling across the table.'

'Don't be stupid,' retorted Belberra. 'If he was he'd never have saw through our entiresecretthe moment he laid eyes on us. He's known our plan from the very start and we have exhausted ourselves trying to prevent him. Now, did you know about Plant?'

'What?' Paul looked up, distracted. 'No,' he shook his head. 'It makes sense. The other day was close. If Jeb hadn't been sent out to recover the evidence left lying around at the barn we would never have been able to destroy it so easily. By the way, why was it left lying around?'

Belberra sank into silence as Paul judged him. 'Well?' asked Paul. 'Was it part of some plan or just a mistake?'

'An underestimation of James's determination,' Belberra replied, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and throwing it into the sink. He lit another one and puffed on it quietly. 'The barn's always been used as storage until we move the bodies. In review, it's time to move. It was useful to begin with, being so close, but now,' he trailed off.

'What are we going to do about Plant?'

'Watch him. We rely on his co-operation, in return we satisfy his needs by lettin' him screw the warm sacrifices. But we need to reassert dominance.'

'And Franks? The rest of the police department not under our wing? Plant has a point; we can't just let James run loose. He has come close so many times before, we can't continue to risk outing ourselves in order to prevent him.'

'Maybe it's what we need. He already knows who we are. We planned to have ourselves revealed to him last night, but both members failed in their tasks to open up to him. They're inexperienced, despite pledging themselves to the cold. But if one of us,' Belberra flicked a finger between him and Paul, 'reveal ourselves to James with a threat, an ultimatum, somethin' to show we're serious and what'll happen if he messes with us. Maybe,' Belberra fell silent again as he thought it through.

'The moment we confess ourselves to him, he will arrest us,' said Paul.

'That's why we give an ultimatum. But that's for later, it's already too late here. We need to move forwards with tonight. We'll not gather at the farm. Go and gather the group.'

Rising to his feet, Belberra stuffed out his cigarette and stretched. 'It's good to be out of the cell. For appearances sake it was worth it, but not,' he rubbed his back, 'good for me.'

'Are you sure about holding it here?' asked Paul, standing as well. 'If we all converge out here, well, what if Franks or Holland sees?'

'We've not been caught yet, we will not start tonight. We sacrifice to the Cold in at dusk!'

As Paul left the room, Belberra adjusted his dressing gown to his body. Once he was sure Paul was out of the room, he moved to the door at the end of the kitchen thatled down to a sub-basement.

Illuminated only by the light of the kitchen, Belberra descended, his feet stomping on the stairs,sending rhythmic pulses through the air. He reached the bottom and flicked a switch on the wall. A generator hummed low. Pale light flickered from the ceiling and steadily grew brighter. The room was sparse. A metal bed frame sat in the middle, shiny under the light, planks of wood crisscrossed the bottom to give a mattress something to rest on. The mattress was gone, propped against the wall. Shackles had been welded to the sides of the beds.

The light from the ceiling failed to reach the corners of the back of the basement. Two bodies moved in the dark, shuffling quietly, backing into the dark. Belberra caught sight of them and his eyes narrowed in a grim smile. He strode forwards, his dressing gown flowing open revealing his naked body. The forms in the dark corners shuffled more, whimpering softly. Squatting, his limp genitals hangingdown, Belberra stared into the dark, just able to makeout the shapes of two people. He focused on the smaller one.

'Soon,' he began, whispering quietly, his hand reaching into the dark and gently stroking the dirty cheek of Lindsey. 'In a couple of hours you will live for the greatest moment of your life. A moment none of us that will be attending could achieve. You are our shining star, little baby, our hope and saviour. Without your volunteering, the world would crystalliseinto ice and we would die. Your blood will ensure our survival. Warm, warm blood.'

The dark form backed away, quaking from his touch and Belberra's eyes flashed angrily. 'Ungrateful,' he muttered, slapping her cheek. 'We give you a chance to live for the world but all you want to do is cry!' He stood up, turning back to the door.

'Animal...' a hoarse voice from behind him called.

Belberra snapped around, body shaking as he snarled at the dark. 'Animal,' he grunted, striding forwards and dropping to his knees in front of the two shaking bodies. He grabbed the larger one by the arm and pulled it into the light. 'Animal,' he snarled again. 'An animal is one that acts only for desire, that focuses on its immediate survival. Me? I do this for everyone! For the worlds survival we must make sacrifices. This is not for me, this is for you, and everyone else!'

The body he held shook as it cried. In disgust Belberra released her and watched as she crawled quickly back to the crying Lindsey. 'You, Catherine White, will be one of those sacrifices, you should be happy to offer yourself forthe good of the Cold. Your time will come soon enough.'

Belberra stormed away, hitting the light switch as he passed and slamming the door to the basement shut behind him. He returned to his comfortably warm kitchen, the sub-basement was always cold and he felt relief to be back in the warmth. He hated the cold. Winter, with all the festivities people used to tryto conjure up feelings of warmth inside themselves by helping others. Warmth was not created by good deeds, but by the sun. And the only way the sun would return was to appease the cold enough to leave early. Lindsey would do that for them. She would speak to the god of Winter, offer him her warm blood in exchange for the sun's return.