by Vance Huxley
Another opponent had arrived, a man but definitely Leech-ridden because he ignored the deep slash across his arm and a piece of wood driven into his thigh. Kelis fired off wind and an ice shard, and Rob tried to snatch his foot with the pavement, but this man shrugged them off. Whatever magical protection he had, the glyphs just bounced as he strode straight towards Abel. Ferryl cursed, trying to get past the rescued woman and back out of the cab but the man gave a sudden, startled yelp. He dropped from sight, leaving his head poking out of a neat circular hole full of dust. The dust began to solidify, tightening the hole but not completely filling it in. “I’m out.” Rob looked drained, staggering to the taxi. “There was bleddering metal down there as well.” He more or less fell in the front door as the rest crammed into the back.
“Hang on!” Shannon, dressed as a zombie nun, accelerated away with a shriek of tyres. “It’s a good job you stole a proper hackney cab, it saved us hijacking ours. If I was Mark I’d be in real trouble. His church believes in confession.” She swerved around a parked car and accelerated again. “Send up the firework.”
“Zoom!” Zephyr flew out of the window and went straight up. Although none of them could see it from inside the cab, one huge, spectacular firework blossomed above Stourton. Zephyr spun in the air, flinging off a thick shower of multi-coloured fire glyphs before diving back down to catch the cab. Abel wasn’t sure how many Taverners had turned up, but they’d certainly know when to start the diversion. Eric would be contacting Creepio if he hadn’t already done so, which should keep the Leeches occupied.
“Where are the rest?” Abel looked forward, out of the windscreen, but couldn’t see any Taverners.
“We came in the pickup with Jenny and all six of the Taverner hit squad turned up. They used everything they’d got to flatten the heavies out the front while we hopped out, then ducked while the pickup got away. Shawn came past the other way on his scooter with Una on the back, strafing anyone still standing.” Kelis laughed, sounding almost hysterical. “We didn’t get chance to try the front door, because that lot came out of the alley. Shannon and Rob smashed the side door and set fire to it then helped me finish off the men.” She stopped laughing, suddenly totally serious. “Who’s that?”
Abel twisted his head to look back at whoever Kelis had seen, careful to keep his feet off the woman laid on the floor. A young woman and two men had climbed out of a window and were piling into the sports car. “Bad guys.”
“Grab me.” Kelis lunged across him to hang out the window so Abel wrapped his arms round her waist. He could see Kelis concentrate, firing glyphs upward. She squinted back towards the sports car, paused, then pulled her hands sharply down. As Kelis struggled back in through the window a loud clang sounded behind. “Bullseye. I wanted to dump it in the driver’s seat, but they all looked human.”
“Probably not the driver.” Abel twisted to look and the Leeches had been catching up fast. Now the once beautiful, sleek vehicle screeched to a halt in a shower of sparks as the engine connected with the road and one wheel rolled off to the side. Abel stared at the cause, a giant block of ice embedded in the bonnet. “An iceberg? As Yoda might say, conspicuous it isn’t.”
“Ice is always falling out of airliners according to the internet.” Kelis elbowed him. “Now unhand me, varlet. You’ve already got one woman, and you’ve just kidnapped another.” Abel hurried to let go of her waist, conscious that he’d been enjoying the contact. That magical link must still be working.
“You did it, you did it.” Rob, sat in the front, pointed and started laughing. “All this going on and you made him blush.” The lead bar in his hand explained his sudden recovery.
Though Kelis’ and Ferryl/Claris’ humour faltered when Shannon started laughing hysterically. After all, that’s not a good thing for the driver to do. The rest joined her as eight Goblins, fully visible of course, rampaged down the footpath. A couple of them jumped on car bonnets to leer at the drivers while others scattered litter or stole any food in sight, but just seeing them created all the chaos anyone could wish for. A cloud of batlins pulled at hats and hoods, tousled hair or hovered in front of faces. The green invasion disappeared down an alley towards the next street, leaving bedlam behind them.
“Those are the ones Eric brought in Jenny’s pickup truck. They’ll be garden ornaments again in five minutes. Laurence brought a Land Rover and took most of the goblins from Frederick’s house. He’s set up a diversion the other way.” Kelis smiled happily. She’d been wary about asking a favour, but Laurence had come good. The traffic slowed down as more odd things happened all around them. A big luminous yellow balloon wobbled across the road, then burst into a half dozen that hurtled off in all directions. An isolated cloud spilled a tiny purple downpour onto one car which screeched to a halt, and horns sounded.
The rest of the Taverners had come to help, as promised. A white, billowy shape drifted out of a grating in the road, slowly wafting through a group coming out of a pub. They tried to beat it off, shouting and screaming, but cold water vapour isn’t easy to remove with a glyph directing it. Zooming or drifting eerie lights, invisible hand claps, smoky shapes, dancing sparks, hovering handbags and a plethora of other noisy or strange-looking glyphs spread out ahead of them. The traffic ground to a halt. “Come on.” The group abandoned the cab, while Rob opened the boot so the driver would be all right. Shannon pointed. “Your transport is this way but we’ll have to walk.” She let a glyph go and the group ahead scattered as the lad in the centre began frantically scrubbing frost from his hair.
Ferryl/Claris touched the driver as they left. “Wake.” A very small glyph drifted back as she walked away. “Just a bit of mazzlement so he doesn’t remember the last trip or two very well.” At the other side of the road a cloud of sickly green vapour with two glowing fire glyphs like eyes chased people along the pavement.
“Make way, make way please. She’s drunk.” Kelis parted the pedestrians for Abel and Rob to bring through the ex-host, still out for the count. At least her vampire costume helped explain the red around her mouth. “Crikey, she’s as tall as me.” A few minutes’ walk, a couple of turns and Shannon headed for her mum’s car as Frederick waved them over to the BMW. His face fell when he saw the ex-host, but he waited for explanations until they were on the way back to Brinsford. As soon as the car reached Stourton town limits, Zephyr flew out and up to let off a giant blue firework. The Taverners would know the mission had finished, though some might be having too much fun to stop yet.
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Frederick promptly started worrying about the rescued woman. He wasn’t the only one. The rest of them knew that a seed would need blood, lots of it and quickly.
A text to Jenny, “Big b-bank withdrawal tomorrow, please” followed by the reply “Really? ok,” dealt with getting enough for tomorrow. None of them were going for long-term feeding this time, though this host might not survive the night anyway. On the way back to Brinsford Zephyr flew parallel to the car but out over the fields. Four times the BMW stopped for Abel and Ferryl/Claris to follow spooky-phone and collect the stunned rabbits. Each time the four humans looked away while Ferryl/Claris drained them down the woman’s throat. Asleep or not, she greedily gulped down every drop.
By the time the BMW had pulled up in Brinsford, everyone had their story straight. A group of idiots, throwing fireworks and probably drunk, had stampeded along the street and run their group down. That should cover the bruises, small cuts, burns and grazes. Stripping off the charred bandages and asking Zephyr to become a magical blood-vacuum sorted out the clothes, sort of, leaving a few burns and a couple of tears. Abel, Kelis and Rob gave up on Guy Fawkes this year. They’d be grounded for at least five days.
When he found out where she’d sleep, Frederick almost insisted on taking the rescued woman back to his house in Stourton. Instead he accepted that Ferryl was the best jailor until tomorrow, when the woman’s fate would be decided. The BMW sat inside a veil until Shawn arrived on his scooter t
o take Frederick home, by which time another veil had hidden the ex-host being carried into the church. Kelis and Ferryl/Claris, also veiled, raided Kelis’ house for a quilt to wrap up the sleeping woman and bribes for the Goblins. Not because the seed would escape, Ferryl didn’t think it would be capable yet, but so they could warn her if the woman woke up.
The BMW drove out of the village, unveiled and drove back in to deposit the four of them. As Frederick left Brinsford on the back of Shawn’s scooter, he could probably hear Mrs. Ventner’s alarmed voice when she saw her daughter and Claris. Rob and Abel headed for home; going through this once would be bad enough without suffering Mrs. Ventner’s version. Half an hour later the “banned from using the car until Christmas” more or less summed up the reactions of all the parents. At least nobody ended up fully grounded, just restricted to the village except for school.
Abel felt sure the other four did the same as him, staggered off to bed as soon as possible. Throwing all those glyphs had shattered him.
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Abel suffered another inspection and more earache when he staggered out of bed in the morning, though the ear-bashing wasn’t as bad. The local radio had reported a riot by a crowd of yobs, throwing fireworks and water and possibly releasing hallucinogenic gas. Abel couldn’t even be sure if that came from Creepio’s people or genuine reactions. The reports had definitely backed up his alibi, and taken the edge off mum being annoyed about the small burn holes in his jeans.
Jenny called to say she’d be over to visit Kelis for a top-up. By the time she arrived, and Abel had joined them with Rob, he had some news. “I don’t reckon Pendragon knew Elrond was there. He’s just screamed at me down the phone, but only for drawing unwanted attention. We are definitely on the agenda for the next Magical Council meeting. The Firstseed had been paying him for protection. I thought he’d burst something.”
Rob scowled. “Didn’t you tell him she’s a Leech? Or that Elrond is? Was.”
“Tell him we killed or at least seriously singed his apprentice? I think not. I told him about the Firstseed but that seems to matter less than whatever she paid him for the hexes. He set into me for causing a Leech war as well. Apparently the Firstseed will seed hundreds of people and attack every magic user in Brinsford.” Abel smiled just a little bit. “That might not happen, what with her burning in hell about now. Even if she survived the fire and drop, I’ll bet Creepio got her.”
Though Kelis’ reply wiped the smile away. “Now that’s the phone call I’m worried about.”
“If he comes here and finds that woman, she’s dead. He’ll pull out the seed and that’ll be it.” Ferryl/Claris shook her head. “A bigger Leech would keep her alive, but from Claris’ memories a seed is little more than hunger. It will finish her to feed itself.”
“Firstseed wanted her dead so she couldn’t blab.” Abel put his hand in his pocket for the key, and placed it on the table. “About that.”
Everyone inspected it for a few minutes. Kelis reached out a cautious finger but both Zephyr and Ferryl warned her to stop. A very nasty looking bulge of roiling magic had started coming to meet her. “So when do we open the door?” Kelis looked from one to the other. “Do we need backup?”
“If it works, no. If it goes in the door and doesn’t work I can’t see anyone ever getting in, so I’m hopeful.” Ferryl/Claris looked thoughtful. “We might want to deal with the woman and Creepio first. If he turns up and the door’s open?”
“He’ll want to go in.” Rob finished it off. “Then we run and hope.” He frowned in sudden thought. “Have you still got the Leech, the first one?”
“Yes, though the toad is dead. That’s a point. Why did you save the Leech, Ferryl?”
Abel didn’t expect her to look embarrassed. “I don’t know. A sort of reaction, because the Firstseed tried to kill it? I should have just laughed and given her the jar.”
“You’re stuck now.” Kelis smirked. “You’re responsible for it.”
“I am not!”
“Oh yes. If you save a life, it’s up to you to make sure the life was worth saving. Or why bother?” Kelis might have sounded totally serious but Rob started giggling and Abel grinned at Ferryl/Claris’ expression.
“I am? No I’m not. Am I?” She turned, appealing to Abel.
“It sort of makes sense?” Abel had no idea where Kelis got that from, or how she’d kept her face straight, but she’d definitely caught Ferryl.
“That’s the answer.” Though from Rob’s wicked grin Ferryl might not agree. “We need a bigger Leech to keep the woman alive, and Ferryl must find it a better life. Bingo. Then when Ferryl has wriggled out of Claris’ mind and can help the woman, we pop Leech back into a toad. Maybe a bunny for an improved life.” His face fell. “We’ll never get it out again will we?”
“Not a chance. The other part might work, because it had to have been growing for three or four months before we trimmed it a bit. It knows how to maintain a human.” Kelis hesitated, glancing at Ferryl/Claris. “That’s if she can’t feel anything while she’s asleep. Otherwise I vote for Claris getting a sudden wake-up call and having to live with some bad memories or a few months of total amnesia.”
“The woman might be having nightmares, but maybe not because she’s not twitching. She can feed while asleep, or the Leech can, so that’s possible.” Jenny looked hopefully at Ferryl/Claris. “Can’t you and Zephyr scare it again?”
“Not enough, now it knows the result. Wait until we see if it still lives.” Ferryl/Claris nipped out to bring the jar.
None of them liked what she brought back. “That smells, and it’ll get worse.” Rob waved a hand in front of his nose. Nobody had noticed last night with the scorched cloth and general tiredness but a whiff of blood and something unpleasant came out of the holes in the lid. Inside the Leech lay, barely moving, half submerged in dead toad and blackening blood.
“It needs blood.” Ferryl/Claris glanced at Kelis. “We should just kill it.”
“No. It liked old blood with magic put into it, so let’s try just the magic.” Abel reached out a hand and let magic spill from his palm, down through the lid. The Leech definitely strengthened, waving its tendrils. “It looks too small.”
“The magical tendrils, invisible even to you, are much longer and have suddenly strengthened.” Zephyr sounded cautious. “Perhaps it needs the blood to grow bigger, and the magic for the other part of it?”
“But we still can’t control the Leech.” Kelis sighed. “Curses. It looks scared, but we don’t know how scared.”
“Zephyr could contact it, the same way she did Bugsy?” Abel immediately found himself in a mental tussle with a frantic Zephyr. Eventually they agreed that a spooky-phone, while she stayed connected to Abel, wouldn’t threaten her sense of self. The result gave them definite food for thought. The Leech seemed utterly terrified, achingly lonely, and felt deserted. It wanted something, some sort of reassurance or belonging, but Zephyr couldn’t understand or describe it. The nearest feeling she could think of was her wanting to be in the tattoo to be safe.
“There’s only one way to find out. We take the woman and the Leech into Castle House gardens, show the Leech and give it two choices. It saves the woman or dies.” Ferryl/Claris picked up the jar. “There may be a way to make it stick to a bargain.” She wouldn’t elaborate, only pointing out they’d better get it done before Creepio turned up because he definitely would sooner or later.
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Carrying the woman up the Main Street, under a veil, seemed surreal. Once again Kelis commented on her height, while Abel wondered at how light she felt. Jenny tucked an inscribed pebble in the pocket of the tight leather catsuit and pocketed her own before opening the gate.
With the woman laid out, still sleeping, Jenny took the blood she’d brought from her backpack while Ferryl/Claris set out a jug and glass. Kelis placed the jar and Leech inside the protected cage where it could see or sense the woman and presumably the Leech seed. The four of them sat
in a half-circle while Ferryl/Claris unscrewed the jar lid. She tipped the dead toad and live Leech out, still in the cage.
“Leech? We have a bargain for you. You must know there is a seed in this woman. We are about to kill it. We want you to go into the woman and save her. There is blood to help you do so.” She leant forward, glaring at it. “I am told I owe you this chance, so take it. If you fail, you die. If you succeed, we will find you a more pleasant host when she can live without you, but not a human.” An evil smile spread over her face. “You will leave when told, because I will bind you.”
“No!”
“Yes!” Kelis caught hold of Abel’s arm. “Ferryl didn’t say kill. If it’s willing and saves the woman, we can’t have another mess like we did with Claris. This way Ferryl can order the foul thing out and we can stick it in whatever we like.” Her lip curled as she looked at the Leech. “She can even order it not to hurt the woman.”
“It can’t be in there long. We don’t want to be buying and feeding it blood all over again.” Jenny looked a little bit ill. “I remember enough of that.”
“But we don’t need lots of blood, just lots of magic. Remember?” Rob nodded as the rest realised. “Though she’ll need food to build her up.” He eyed the woman. “And clothes. There’s not much room for growth in that.”
