Joe Coffin | Season 5 | The Final Chapter [Part 1] Read online

  Joe Coffin

  The Final Chapter Part One

  Ken Preston

  Contents

  laura

  crispy pancake

  smoking kills

  fly

  sorry shower

  cigarette packet

  expelliamus

  where do you want it?

  this is bad

  jacob

  don't be angry

  all we have to do now is wait for morning

  joe and steffanie

  allergic

  money is no object

  Coming Soon

  Please leave a review

  Get Your Bonus Book

  Get A Free Book

  The Joe Coffin Books

  Acknowledgements

  Joe Coffin

  laura

  Laura Mills struggled awake from a fitful sleep. She pulled at the tangled bedclothes, straightening them out. The damp sheet chilled her back. Even the pillowcase felt damp beneath her cheek. Laura didn’t want to wake up, she wanted to stay asleep. Even a disturbed sleep full of weird dreams was better than being awake. And her dreams were no stranger than reality these days.

  Finally she gave up attempting to slumber and sat up, turning her pillow around so she could lean her back against the dry side. She picked her mobile off the bedside cabinet and woke the screen. She navigated to the BBC news site.

  There had been more bat attacks whilst she slept. Last night Laura had sat in her tiny lounge watching the news coverage on the TV as the bats attacked the city. Jacob sat on her lap, sucking his thumb.

  Laura knew she shouldn’t have been letting Jacob watch this, but he refused to go to bed. She could have turned the television off, or switched channels, but an appalled fascination had stopped her.

  It hadn’t been just the bats. Vampires had been stalking the streets too, more of them than ever. Most of them seemed to be concentrated near Bearwood, just outside of the city centre. But it wouldn’t take long before they spread, infecting the entire city.

  Finally, unable to take any more, Laura shut the TV off. But the silence of the room, the blank stare of the dead screen, seemed more terrifying than the news footage of the bat attacks.

  Jacob wouldn't go to bed on his own and demanded that he sleep in his mother’s bed with her.

  As always since the episode in the cellar of that house on Forde Road, she could not refuse him. This was how it went most nights, Jacob sleeping with Laura in the double bed she once shared with her husband.

  As always, the routine now just a part of her life, Laura scooped Jacob up in the early hours of the morning and placed him in his own bed as he slept. She wasn’t entirely sure why she bothered, except that it seemed important somehow that her boy at least wake up in his bed, even if he had spent most of the night with his mother.

  Jacob wasn’t going in to school today, Laura would keep him at home. He hadn’t been himself lately anyway, and now with all the news about vampires roaming the city, it terrified him to set foot out of the front door.

  And who could blame him?

  After being kept prisoner in that cellar by Steffanie and her vampire boyfriend, being drained of his blood every day to feed that monster they kept in the house, it was a wonder that Jacob had returned to school at all. But he had, in the end.

  He was strong, that boy of hers. Not like his dad, that bastard Tom. He had known about Jacob. Tom might not have been the one to capture Jacob, but the boy was his son and Tom still let them keep him tied up in that cellar and bleed him every day.

  Laura wished she'd been there when Joe killed Tom.

  She would have watched.

  Maybe even helped.

  Laura didn’t know for a fact that Joe had murdered her husband. Officially, he was still classified as missing. But Laura was sure that Joe killed him and then got rid of the body.

  Laura put the mobile face down on the bedside cabinet. Closed her eyes. Why was it she spent her nights wide awake and wishing that sleep would overcome her, and then all day with heavy, drooping lids, barely able to think straight she was so exhausted?

  Because vampires roamed the night, that’s why.

  Laura could hardly believe what she was seeing when the vampires first invaded the city. It couldn't be true. Vampires didn't exist. They were monsters from fiction, from films. Vampires weren't real.

  Yet there they were on the news. And really, hadn't she always known? Laura had refused to believe Jacob at first, when he told her that Steffanie had been the one to keep him prisoner in the cellar.

  How could that be possible, when Steffanie was dead? Murdered.

  Laura had been to her funeral. Watched as they lowered Steffanie into the ground while Joe Coffin, the big hard man of Birmingham, fell to his knees weeping.

  Laura had never particularly liked Steffanie. She got on with her all right, made the effort to indulge in small talk with her mostly because she was Joe’s wife.

  Despite everything, despite Joe cheating on Laura when they were married, and then the divorce, Laura still wished nothing but happiness for Joe.

  She still loved him.

  Laura wasn't sure if she would ever stop loving him.

  She thought about lying down again and trying to get back to sleep. She was tired, but then she was permanently tired. Seemed like she was used to it now, the heavy cloak of exhaustion she carried with her everywhere she went.

  Laura knew that there was no possibility of her falling asleep again, and that she would be better off just getting up and getting on with her day. It was early, but already she could see through the window the grey light of dawn. Climbing stiffly out of bed, Laura ran her fingers through her long hair, pushing it back off her face. She needed a shower, but first she would check on Jacob.

  Laura padded barefoot out of her bedroom and down the hall to her son’s bedroom. She paused outside his door, open just a crack. The landing light illuminated his bedroom with a soft glow. Jacob no longer slept in the dark. It was like he was a little boy again, scared of the night. Of the monsters lurking unseen in the shadows.

  But then, the monsters were real, weren’t they?

  Laura pushed the door open a little wider and peered into the dim bedroom. Jacob’s skinny body lay beneath the tangle of bedclothes, his forehead and hair damp with sweat and his face drawn and pale.

  He had no appetite, and Laura had to nag and cajole him to eat, almost force the food down him just to keep him alive. He had little interest in anything, even his computer games. Jacob had never been a lively boy, never been confident. Tom had seen to that with his bullying ways and his lack of interest in his son. But now, what little confidence Jacob once possessed, even that faded away. Snatched away by those vampires in the house and the terrible monstrous things they did to him.

  Laura knew she would never get her little boy back again. She knew that his life was changed forever, and for that she felt a semblance of guilt.

  If only she had stood up to Tom. If only she had stopped lying to herself, telling herself that everything would be all right, that Tom would change his ways and become a better father and a better husband. She had known in her heart that this would never happen. But she had buried that truth as deep as she could, knowing that if she kicked him out, then Mortimer Craggs would no longer support her or Jacob.

  Jacob moaned and twisted in the bed, fighting at the bed sheets. Laura crept inside the bedroom and over to his bed, kneeling down beside him. She placed her hand on his damp forehead and gently whispered to him.

  ‘It’s all right, sweetheart.’

  Jacob moaned again, fighting at the
bedclothes covering him. Laura pushed his damp fringe back and shushed him.

  The guilt she felt at her part in the destruction of his life rose once more, threatening to consume her. Yes, she was guilty. But she had to shove that guilt away, to bury it deep before it consumed her and stopped her from looking after her son. She needed to be strong, she needed to be here for him.

  Laura would never let anything like this happen to him again.

  Jacob settled down, growing quieter. Laura climbed to her feet and hovered for a moment, reluctant to leave her boy.

  What were they going to do? How could she make this up to him? How could she make his life worth living once more?

  Laura left Jacob sleeping and walked down the landing to the bathroom. She switched on the shower and peeled off her damp nightwear. She waited while the spray of water warmed up and then stepped under it.

  The hot water hit her face, and she leaned in close, relishing the sting on her skin. She dipped her head and let the water soak her hair and warm her scalp.

  The chill from the damp bedclothes faded as the water warmed her through, and Laura’s spirits lifted a little.

  Today she planned on paying Joe a visit. Since Craggs’ death, the monthly support from the Slaughterhouse Mob had stopped. Laura knew that Joe wouldn’t have stopped it, that it was just a stupid mistake, but she needed to tell him before she ran out of money.

  It would be okay. Joe would always look after her, Laura knew that much.

  Her body stiffened at the faint thump, just audible beneath the sound of the shower.

  What had that been? Had Jacob fallen out of bed?

  Or was it something else?

  Laura turned the shower off.

  Listened.

  The shower head dripped water on the tray.

  Laura’s skin tingled with the cold.

  The house was silent.

  Laura reached out to turn on the shower once more, her fingers closing around the tap. She had only thought she heard something, her imagination playing tricks on her as usual.

  But still the feeling lingered that something awful was about to happen.

  Laura let go of the water control and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped her dressing gown around her wet skin and gave her hair a quick rub with a towel. She stood still and listened once more.

  Nothing.

  This was stupid. There were no intruders in the house. Jacob and Laura were on their own. She should get back in the shower and wash her hair.

  Forget about noises in the house. Forget about intruders and vampires.

  And yet…

  Laura dropped the towel on the bathroom floor and opened the door. A gentle draft of cool air tickled her wet face.

  Where had that come from?

  Laura listened again.

  A car cruised by outside.

  A door slammed shut.

  Silence.

  Laura padded softly down the landing and looked through the gap between Jacob’s door and the frame. Her boy was fast asleep, a rare expression of peace on his face.

  That cool breeze again, this time on the back of her neck.

  Laura turned.

  Someone had opened a window or a door.

  Laura and Jacob were no longer alone in the house.

  Gathering the folds of her dressing gown around her throat, Laura ran back to her bedroom. She picked up her mobile, the screen glowing bright in the darkened room. She paused, her thumb hovering over the green telephone icon.

  Another thump, downstairs.

  A crash of something hitting the floor and smashing.

  Laura’s guts twisted with anxiety.

  What to do?

  Call the police?

  No.

  Laura called up her contacts and hit the connect button.

  The phone rang out five times before it was picked up.

  ‘Hey. What’s wrong?’

  ‘Joe? There’s somebody in my house.’

  ‘I’m on my way.’

  The disconnected tone blared in Laura’s ear. She dropped the mobile on the bed.

  Joe, he hadn’t sounded himself. There was something wrong.

  But he was on his way.

  Laura padded over to the bedroom door and peeked out. From where she stood she could see the stairs, the front door, and some of the hall.

  She waited, and watched.

  Another crash.

  A low murmur of voices, more than one voice she was sure, but how many she couldn’t tell. Maybe just the two. They were in the kitchen. What were they doing? Raiding her fridge for food?

  ‘Mummy?’

  Jacob, standing outside his bedroom door in his pyjamas. He clutched his teddy, nicknamed Bozo, under his chin.

  Laura ran softly to him.

  ‘Quick, go back in your bedroom!’ she hissed, waving her hands at him, ushering him inside.

  Jacob’s eyes, half-closed with sleep, widened, and he pulled the soft toy tight to his chest, his fingers almost disappearing into the fur. Laura bundled him through the doorway and closed the door behind her.

  She put her finger to her lips. ‘We have to be very, very quiet.’

  Jacob stared at his mother, his eyes round and wide. ‘Is it Steffanie?’

  ‘No, no, of course not.’ Laura pulled Jacob close in a hug.

  Jacob’s question sent a chill down her back. It couldn’t be Steffanie.

  She was dead.

  Laura sat on the bed with Jacob beside her, her arms around him in a protective shield.

  More sounds of crashing downstairs. Were they throwing plates and glasses on the kitchen floor?

  Laura glanced at the bedroom window, at the curtains still closed. A dirty, grey light peeked around the edges. The intruders downstairs, they couldn’t be vampires. Not now during daylight hours.

  Laura and Jacob flinched at a high-pitched scream, followed by more crashing noises. Jacob buried his head in his mother’s lap. She stroked his hair.

  How on earth could she calm him when her own heart was thumping so hard?

  Laura swallowed, and her dry throat clicked painfully.

  Jacob sat up at the sound of movement outside the bedroom door.

  Wide-eyed, tears rolling down his cheeks, he stared up at his mother.

  The intruders were climbing the stairs.

  Laura clapped her hand over Jacob’s mouth before he screamed. ‘Stay still, don’t make a sound.’

  Jacob nodded. Laura took her hand away, her palm damp with the boy’s tears.

  She glanced around the tiny bedroom, looking for anything she could use as a weapon, something to defend herself with. In the corner below the window sat a dressing-up box. Jacob had loved playing as Indiana Jones, pirates, and superheroes when he was younger. Now the wooden box sat in the corner unused and gathering dust, one of those items that Laura had spent years meaning to sort out but never got around to.

  There were a couple of plastic swords in there, a toy gun, a light-sabre, Indy’s whip. Nothing they could use, nothing that would cause damage.

  Laura cast her eyes around the bedroom again.

  A Nerf gun, it fired plastic pellets and wouldn’t be any use.

  A bookshelf full of books.

  Boxes of Lego pieces, waiting to be sorted through and organised.

  A small pile of cuddly toys.

  A laptop on a desk.

  ‘Dammit!’ Laura hissed.

  The voices outside Jacob’s bedroom had drawn much closer. Whoever, whatever, was outside had to be standing on the landing. Right on the other side of the closed door.

  Laura stood up. Jacob whimpered. Laura stepped in front of Jacob and clenched her fists. If she could just hold them off Jacob until Joe arrived, that would be enough. He would look after her boy. Joe would protect him.

  The door handle moved, began twisting down. Laura watched it, transfixed.

  The handle reached the bottom of its movement and the door swung open.

  A small boy stood
framed in the doorway. Thin and pale, the flesh around his eyes dark and bruised, like he hadn’t slept for a week. His hair a greasy tangle, his fingernails long and sharp. His T-shirt, white once with a picture of the Power Rangers emblazoned across the front, now ripped and stained. His jeans were similarly damaged and his feet were bare.

  ‘Michael?’ Laura whispered.

  The bedroom seemed to tilt. Any moment now she would lose her balance and fall over. But still she remained upright, staring in awful wonder at Joe Coffin’s dead little boy standing in her son’s bedroom doorway.

  Michael stepped through the door.

  Cracked, red lips peeled back from elongated, pointed teeth. Dark eyes glittered with anticipation.

  Laura took one shaky step forward. ‘Get out of here, you monster!’

  Michael’s fingers twitched, his hands hanging loosely by his sides. Laura couldn’t tear her eyes away from those teeth and his lips. Looked like he'd made a clumsy attempt at applying red lipstick and smudged it across his mouth and cheeks.

  It was blood, of course.

  A shiver ran through the little boy’s body, and Laura realised he was tensing, readying himself to leap at her.

  If only she had a weapon, anything to defend herself and Jacob with.

  Michael pounced.

  And now the room did sway and tip as Laura fell onto her back. Michael landed on top of her, knocking the breath from her lungs in a sharp gasp. She threw her arms up to defend herself and Michael slashed at her with his long fingernails, tearing rips in the loose sleeves of the dressing gown.

  Laura smacked him under the chin with the heel of her hand, snapping his head back. Spittle flew from his mouth as he howled with pain.

  ‘Michael? What is it? What have you found?’

  The little boy jumped off Laura and scurried into a corner of the room, squatting on his haunches.

  Laura shoved herself upright, grimacing at the sharp pain across her abdomen from where Michael had landed on her.