Her Vampyrrhic Heart by Simon Clark Page B

river.
    â€˜This is where I found the pod.’ He pointed under a tree. For Eden’s benefit he added, ‘It was a metal cylinder about this big.’ He held his hands about eighteen inches apart. ‘The metal casing had been crushed. Look, you can still see the hole where it had been squashed into the ground.’
    Kit pulled a camera out of his rucksack and began taking photographs of the hole, and of scuffs and gouges in the dirt where something looked to have been dragged. Eden appeared surprised that Kit took this seriously enough to photograph the area. Owen smiled and gave a little shake of his head as if to say,
It’s OK, humour the kid
.
    Kit noticed the gesture and reacted defensively. ‘I’m planning to study forensic science at university. This is a useful exercise. I’m assessing what would be normal in a forest – things like the state of tree bark, branches, undergrowth and the condition of the ground, then I look for anomalies.’ He pointed at a tree. ‘See there? An area of bark the size of my hand has been scraped off. Where you’re standing the soil has been disturbed as if large animals have been tearing at it with their paws or hooves.’
    Eden politely examined the scuffed up earth.
    Owen called across to Kit, ‘You might want to photograph these.’
    â€˜What are they?’
    â€˜Huge paw prints, about a foot across.’
    Kit’s eyes burned with excitement. ‘
Where?
’
    â€˜All around here. Look.’
    Then Kit noticed the expression on Owen’s face. ‘Yeah, very funny, Owen. One day I’m going to split my sides laughing at one of your jokes, and you’ll get blood all over your shoes.’
    Kit resumed his investigation, going from tree to tree. Meanwhile, Owen and Eden casually mooched along the path; soon they stood on the river bank watching the water dash by.
    â€˜When I was a boy,’ Owen said, ‘I wanted to ride a canoe from here all the way down to Whitby.’
    â€˜That’s too adventurous for me,’ she laughed. ‘I can get panicky in a swimming pool.’ The force of the river sent droplets of water soaring into the air. Soon her nose and forehead twinkled with silvery specks. More glinted in her hair.
    â€˜Instead of a canoe, we could ride down to Whitby on the bus?’
    â€˜That sounds a lot safer than shooting the rapids.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘I’ve just been thinking it would be nice to spend more time together.’
    Kit shouted, ‘Hey …’
    â€˜By ourselves,’ she added.
    â€˜Hey,’ Kit shouted from amongst some bushes. ‘I’ve found where the camera pod had been fixed to the tree. Something ripped the bolts right out of the trunk.’
    Owen wasn’t listening to Kit. No, he heard his heart again, pounding away. This time he was certain Eden would hear it.
    â€˜How about tomorrow?’ He spoke in what he hoped was a laid-back way, but was absolutely terrified she’d say ‘No’. ‘There’s a bus at twelve. We could get something to eat down by the harbour.’
    â€˜Yes … that sounds nice.’
    His heart whooshed into overdrive. Those blue eyes of hers seemed to light up the whole forest … no … the whole world.
    â€˜Hey, guys, did you hear me?’ Kit’s voice was getting lost in the forest, receding, becoming less important – that’s what it seemed like to Owen Westonby. Because right at that special moment Owen stood there with the amazing Eden Taylor, and she’d just said ‘Yes’ to a date. Kit tried shouting even louder to get himself noticed: ‘The camera pod was torn off its mounting. Something big came through here. Something huge!’

TWENTY-SIX
    T om Westonby peeled himself out of the diver’s suit in a bathroom at the angler’s club house. He’d finished the inspection dive at the jetty and had been able to report