ON THE BEACH

Kate realised she had cried a little. Only she and Genevieve had heard Penelope's confession.

'We're free now,' she said.

As the sun rose, Dracula dissolved. Torches were hurriedly touched to the bier. Flames rose and licked around the coffin. The corpse writhed as if galvanised. Decay, staved off for so many years, thrived in the Prince's body.

Princess Asa was restrained from throwing herself into the pyre like an Indian widow. Penelope took a broad black hat out of her bag and set it on the Princess's head, shielding her from the dawnlight.

Kate watched Dracula's coffin burn and felt no triumph.

There was a burst from the heart of the fire and a column of ashes and sparks rose from the pyre. The body caught light and burned up entirely. There was now only wood to burn.

Kate felt the heat of the fire and the chill of the morning.

Penelope passed Asa to Klove and turned away from the fire. Genevieve had walked down to the water's edge. Kate linked arms with Penny and walked with her, treading carefully on the wet sand.

An Orthodox priest  -  representing Vlad's original faith  -  droned a prayer.

Marcello, hidden behind his dark glasses, walked back toward the cliffs. Her desperate love was burned away, but she had no ill-will for him. He was as lost as everyone else. She understood he'd given up journalism and become a publicity agent for all the new Malenkas.

Charles, Dracula, Marcello. All gone.

Kate was dizzyingly free of all but the ghosts.

The three women stood by the sea.

'I'm on a flight back to London this afternoon,' Kate said. 'I'm not sorry to go. Things will have piled up. And I need to earn some money. The Guardian wants to pack me off to Cuba, to cast an eye over this Castro fellow and see what I make of him.'

'I'm going to Greece,' Genevieve said. 'Then, maybe Australia. I thought I'd look into this rocketry business. I've been staying put these last few years. It's time to travel again.'

Unspoken between them was that they all thought it best to stay away from Rome. If they met any vampires, elders or not, they'd advise them gently to give the eternal city a wide berth. There was someone there quite old enough, and jealous of her position.

Penelope paddled, letting the water into her shoes.

'I'd like to visit Pamela's grave,' Penelope said. 'It's in the hill country, in India. My cousin was important to me. I realise now how I have deliberately veered between trying to be exactly like her and trying to be nothing like her.'

Penelope explained as if asking permission.

Kate didn't know what to do. She ought to break the story. Penelope would be a heroine to many. Funds were already being raised for the defence of her fall guy.

She had only just forgiven Penelope for everything else that was between them. This latest addition to the load would take some coping with.

'I'll never tell,' Genevieve said. She still croaked a little.

Penelope thanked Genevieve and shook her hand.

Dracula's smoke poured out over the sea.

'Me neither,' Kate said. 'Probably.'

Penelope smiled coldly and kissed her.

'I only said "probably".'

'I know what you mean. I've always known what you meant. And remember that, despite everything I have told you and everything we have been through together, I am still Penny and you are still Katie.'

Kate saw the frost in Penny's eyes. She was changing again, emerging from another cast-off snakeskin.

'Tag,' Penny said, 'you're it.'

Penelope tapped her shoulder solemnly and ran off toward some rocks.

Genevieve didn't understand at all.

'It's a game, Gene,' Kate explained. 'We were children together, remember?'

The elder vampire looked solemn and seemed younger than ever.

'Tag, You're It?'

'That's right,' Kate said, tapping Genevieve's chest. And now you're it.'

She ran away, not very fast.

Genevieve caught on, and by the time Kate reached the rocks, her friend was waiting for her, to tag her back. Laughing, Kate feinted towards Genevieve  -  who eluded her with the fleetness of a vampire elder and the cunning of a sixteen-year-old French girl  -  and leaped across a pool to tag Penny, who fell over, splashing, and reached out to find Kate had darted away.

'Tag, you're it,' Kate said.

She ran past the still-burning pyre, skipping through the ashy sand, dodging between the undertaker and the attendants, furiously pursued by Penelope.

'I'll get you yet, Katie Reed,' Penny shouted, without malice. 'Just you wait...'

Kate ran along the beach, away from the fire.

P/S: Copyright -->www_novelfreereadonline_Com

***