Stalking Tender Prey

by Constantine, Storm

Taziel sat upright, staring at his hands. Then he glanced at Aninka. ‘I want to warn him,’ he said quickly. ‘You must stop me.’

  ‘How?’

  Taziel put his head in his hands. ‘I’ll have to get drunk, very drunk. Keep me talking. Don’t leave me on my own.’

  Aninka shuddered, as a memory of the night in London nudged her mind. The numbing cold, the watching presence. ‘Do you think he knows we’re here?’ Already a seed of that feeling was around them in the chintzy hotel lounge.

  Taziel shook his head. ‘I can’t tell. It’s possible.’ He rubbed his face. ‘This has to be over soon. It has to be.’

  By the time Lahash reappeared around six o’clock in the evening, both Aninka and Taziel were amiably intoxicated. Aninka went up to her room to freshen up. She splashed water on her face. There was a sense of imminence all around her. She felt excited. Soon. Soon.

  Lahash knocked on her door and came into her room, barely waiting for a response. ‘How has he been?’

  She was drying her face on a hand towel. ‘Fine. Well, manageable. Where is he now?’ She didn’t want to mention Taziel’s confession about alerting Othman to their presence.

  ‘In the shower.’

  ‘You should be with him.’

  Lahash raised his brows. ‘Should I?’

  ‘I think he’s unstable.’ Aninka began to drag a brush through her hair. ‘Are we eating out?’

  ‘If you want to. I’ve found a couple of places. You’re worried about Taz, aren’t you?’

  This one is too alert, Aninka thought. She shrugged. ‘It’s obvious he’s distressed. You know that. Otherwise, why did you want me to stay with him this afternoon?’

  ‘What was it he said that worried you?’

  ‘Nothing!’ Aninka answered irritably. ‘It’s just his general condition.’ She felt she ought to tell Lahash about Taziel’s fears of communicating with Othman, but shrank from doing so.

  Lahash grinned in a knowing manner. ‘Can you be ready in twenty minutes? Nothing too formal.’

  ‘I’m sure I can manage.’ She sat down in front of the mirror above the dressing-table. The quality of the reflection made her skin look yellow.

  ‘I’ll see to Taz.’ He left the room, shutting the door quietly.

  Aninka stared at herself in the mirror. I should have told him, she thought. Why didn’t I tell him? The answer was obvious. She and Levantine had a common bond; she could not bring herself to break it. It was up to her to keep Taziel out of trouble, and she could only trust he’d do the same for her.

  Tuesday October: Little Moor

  Owen looked worried as he put down the phone. ‘Everything all right?’ Lily asked him.

  ‘I don’t know. Daniel’s not there. His dad says he’s staying overnight with school friends in Patterham.’

  ‘Owen, I hope you’re not jealous!’ Lily teased.

  ‘I might have upset him this morning,’ Owen said. He’d already told Lily about Daniel’s decision to leave school.

  ‘Perhaps he just needs time away from us,’ Lily said. ‘Time to think. He’s got a lot of things to ponder about, not least the fact that we are not exactly what we seem.’

  Owen had grinned weakly. ‘True. I feel no different to how I felt a couple of weeks ago, though. Do you?’

  Lily shook her head. ‘No. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel.’ She hadn’t told Owen about the cat. It lay in the bottom of her mother’s old wardrobe, among the limp, flowered dresses with their powdery aromas of summers past.

  In the evening, Lily suggested a drink at The White House, to which reluctantly Owen agreed. He was still very worried about Daniel. Lily hoped that Othman would be at the pub, in the garden, where they’d first seen him.

  When they arrived, the garden was empty, but for a couple of tourists, who sat at a table in the light of the open door of the pub. Barbara was not around either. Lily was relieved on one count, but concerned about it on the other. Perhaps Barbara was with Othman now. Owen sat across from her, staring moodily at the lights of the pub.

  ‘Daniel will be all right, O. Don’t fret,’ Lily said. She herself was fretting quite a lot, but she couldn’t confide in her brother about it.

  ‘I feel responsible,’ Owen answered. ‘I feel like I’ve done something bad to him.’

  ‘He can make his own choices.’

  Owen pulled a rueful face. ‘I know, but...’ His expression became guarded. ‘Don’t look now, but I think Captain Eager is on his way over to us.’

  Lily resisted the urge to look round. ‘Collecting glasses,’ she said. A certain thrill passed through her body.

  ‘Hrrrmph!’ Barney Eager announced his intention to communicate.

  ‘Good evening, Mr Eager,’ Lily chirruped, smiling.

  Barney looked very uncomfortable, miserable, in fact. ‘Is everything OK?’ Owen asked.

  ‘Have you seen Barbara today?’ Barney asked Lily. It was clear this question, spoken aloud, was causing him great discomfort.

  ‘No,’ Lily answered, suppressing the urge to add. ‘Have you lost her?’

  ‘She went out with your friend, this morning,’ Barney said.

  Lily went cold. ‘Pev?’

  Barney nodded. ‘That’s the one.’ Disapproval filled his voice.

  ‘And she’s not come back?’ Lily demanded. ‘Where’s Pev now? Has he come back?’

  Barney looked as if he wished he hadn’t begun the conversation. ‘She’s probably been in and out again. It’s her ‘do’ on Friday night, you know. Busy making preparations.’

  Lily stood up, glanced at Owen. ‘I’m going up to his room.’

  Owen reached out to grab her arm. ‘No! Sit down, Lil.’

  ‘What’s going on? Where is he?’

  ‘He’s not in his room,’ Barney said. He eyed their glasses, half full. ‘Well... hrrmph!’ He wandered off.

  Lily stood, uncertain, by the table. ‘Sit down,’ Owen said again. ‘You heard: he’s not in.’

  Lily threw herself down again, took a drink. ‘Do you think he’s with Barbara Eager?’

  ‘Who cares!’ Owen snapped, and then paused before adding, ‘Well, you obviously do.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily admitted. ‘I do. You can think what you like.’

  Owen reached out to squeeze her hands, which were clasped on the tabletop. ‘Lil, I understand. I might not like it, but I understand.’

  She smiled gratefully. ‘Thanks O. We’re both in a bit of a state, aren’t we?’

  He grinned. ‘We’ll survive, I’m sure.’

  Lily went back into the pub to refill their glasses. She was surprised to see Barbara Eager behind the bar. ‘Oh, hi!’ she said, ‘Um, Barney was looking for you earlier.’

  Barbara’s normally open, cheerful face was guarded. Lily felt a chill looking at the woman. Something had happened. ‘I’ve been busy,’ she said. ‘How are you, dear?’ It sounded as if nothing interested her less than Lily’s condition.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Lily said. ‘Did you go out with Pev today?’

  Barbara picked up a glass, already spotless, and began to polish it with a towel. ‘Yes. We went to see some paintings from Long Eden.’

  ‘Was it a long way away?’ Lily persisted.

  Barbara gave her a penetrating glance. ‘No. Very close, in fact. Larkington.’

  ‘Oh. What were they like?’

  ‘Interesting,’ Barbara said. ‘I think you’d have liked them. Now, what are you having? Two ciders. On the house, dear.’

  ‘Is Pev in now?’ Lily asked. She knew she was battering Barbara with her questions, but refused to give up.

  Barbara looked up from pouring the cider. She appeared to be wearing a quizzical expression. ‘I really don’t know, Lily! Why should I?’

  ‘Well, you’ve been with him all day.’

  Barbara laughed. ‘Dear, dear! Don’t let it bother you, child. In fact, I’ve been at Low Mede since lunchtime.’ She put the glasses on the plastic drainer in front of her. ‘Enjoy your d
rinks.’ Her attitude was smug in the extreme. Furious, Lily took the drinks back out into the garden.

  ‘Babs is back,’ she told Owen. ‘She’s been at Low Mede.’

  Owen raised his brows. ‘And didn’t tell her husband. Well, well. I’ve a feeling she’s got a bit of a thing about Daniel’s dad.’

  Lily giggled. It made her feel better to think Barbara had been with Louis Cranton for most of the day, rather than Peverel Othman.

  Chapter Thirty

  Wednesday, October 28th: Little Moor

  Lily and Owen were eating breakfast when Emma knocked at the kitchen door. For whatever reason, she had decided to bring Ray Perks with her. He skulked behind her as Lily guardedly invited them in. Owen did not look pleased to see Ray, Lily noted. She wondered whether Perks knew about her brother’s relationship with Daniel Cranton. Somehow, she couldn’t imagine him approving of that. Owen had clearly been avoiding Ray and the others for over a week now.

  Emma breezed in, as if she took Ray Perks with her on visits to the Winters regularly. ‘Any tea?’ she asked brightly, sitting down at the table, and taking her cigarettes from her skirt pocket.

  ‘Sit down, Ray,’ Lily said, getting up to refill the kettle. She felt slightly sorry for him, he looked so out of place.

  ‘Hi,’ Owen said without enthusiasm.

  Ray brushed his hair out of his eyes in a self-conscious manner, and sat down.

  ‘I’ve been explaining a few things to Ray,’ Emma said, lighting up. She pushed her cigarette packet towards Perks across the table, and he fumbled to help himself from it. ‘You don’t have to worry, Owen. Ray knows all about you now. Don’t you, Ray?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Perks eyes moved furtively from side to side.

  Owen stared at him coldly. He dared not guess how much Emma had told him. ‘Seems we have no privacy, any more.’

  Emma laughed sweetly. ‘Well, sometimes it helps if more than just a few people know your business. Look on it as insurance against unwelcome possibilities.’

  ‘How comforting,’ said Lily, pouring some milk into two mugs.

  ‘I take it our friend Mr Othman hasn’t called yet?’ Emma said.

  Lily shook her head. ‘No.’

  Emma exhaled smoke. ‘Hmm. I couldn’t locate him last night. I’ve a feeling he might have been at Low Mede. He’s ‘healed’ the Cranton fellow. That means Cranton will have developed a dependency.’

  Owen and Lily exchanged a shocked glance. ‘Daniel doesn’t know about that,’ Owen said.

  ‘Perhaps not,’ Emma replied. ‘He will soon, though. The evidence will be apparent to all. Anyway, let’s leave Pev to his dalliances for now. Our main priority is still for you two to gain access to Long Eden.’

  ‘We need the key,’ Lily said.

  ‘Yes, I’ve been thinking about that,’ Emma said. ‘Obviously it’s not an ordinary key. Perhaps it’s a sequence of words or thoughts. That seems most likely to me.’

  Lily leaned against the cooking range. ‘And how do we guess them?’

  ‘You can’t. It would take for ever. No, you’ll have to try and learn them through psychic means.’ She smiled at Ray Perks. ‘I’ve already discussed the matter with Ray. He put it quite nicely: you need the services of a ‘psychic hacker’, and if what you say about Daniel Cranton is true, perhaps you’ve already found one.’

  ‘Except Daniel isn’t around,’ Owen said.

  ‘He’ll probably be back tonight,’ Lily said.

  ‘Well, that should be soon enough,’ Emma beamed. ‘Now, Ray and I have business in Cresterfield today, but as from tomorrow, I want him to stay close to you both. Now, now! Don’t pull those faces. Trust me when I say you need the protection.’

  Emma and Ray Perks stayed for only half an hour. He seemed to have fallen under Ms Manden’s spell. When she told him to drink up his tea, he did so. As she left the house, she called to him and he followed her out like a puppy.

  ‘There goes our bodyguard,’ Owen said, once the door had shut. ‘Who now probably thinks I’m a fucking queer.’

  ‘Well, aren’t you?’ Lily enquired archly.

  Owen glared at her. ‘Thanks, Lil.’

  She laughed and went to hug him. ‘That was a joke. Do I have to pussy-foot round you now?’

  He reached up to hold her arm, sighing. ‘No.’ There was a silence, while Lily swayed behind Owen’s chair, still holding his shoulders, her cheek resting on his head. Then he said, ‘Lil?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m worried about Daniel. If what Emma suspects is true, and Othman was at Low Mede last night...’

  ‘Daniel wasn’t there. There’s nothing to worry about.’

  ‘If Louis was telling the truth. You know Othman was interested in talking to Daniel.’

  ‘Owen, you’re paranoid!’ Lily said. ‘What are you afraid of? That Pev has seduced your beloved? Daniel’s staying with a friend. Stop worrying about nothing. Why don’t you go and meet him from school today?’

  ‘Yeah, I will.’ He took one of Lily’s hands and kissed it. ‘I’ll just go and look the car over.’

  After Owen had gone outside, Lily took some food and water up to the invalid cat, who was still secreted in the bottom of the wardrobe in Helen’s old room. He had pulled some of the faded dresses down off their hangers to make a nest, and greeted Lily with a musical meow as she opened the wardrobe door. ‘And how are you today?’ Lily stroked his broad head. The cat got to his feet and lumbered stiffly out onto the carpet. He seemed a lot better, even though he was limping. Lily watched in satisfaction as he devoured the food, then daintily lapped the water. She thought she should bathe his leg again, and was just standing up to fetch some salt water, when she heard the kitchen door open. Owen! she thought, and wheeled around to put the cat back in the wardrobe, but the cat backed away, his mouth wide and red in a violent snarl. He was looking at the door, with his ears flat against his head. ‘In the wardrobe,’ Lily whispered hoarsely. The cat seemed to understand her and leapt back in so quickly, it must have hurt his injured leg badly. Lily pushed the wardrobe door to, then went downstairs. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw Peverel Othman standing in the kitchen.

  ‘Pev!’

  He smiled at her widely. ‘Lily, I’ve been neglecting you. I’m sorry.’

  He looked terrible, his face drawn and grey, his hair lank. He leaned against the table for support.

  Lily went up to him, touched his face with a nervous hand. ‘Are you all right? You look ill.’ She pushed back his hair and saw the livid scratch marks. ‘My God, your face! What happened?’ She wondered whether Barbara had done this to him.

  Othman’s hand flew up to his cheek. ‘A cat scratch.’

  ‘Some cat!’ Lily said, then something clicked into place in her mind. Verity’s cat had done this, and Othman had retaliated. Why? No wonder the cat had hissed when he’d sensed Othman come into the cottage. ‘Pev, what is wrong with you?’

  He sat down at the table, ran his hands through his hair. ‘Too many late nights.’

  ‘With Barbara Eager, with Emma Manden?’ Lily couldn’t help the accusation. ‘Perhaps even with Louis and Daniel Cranton? How about Verity? I doubt you’ve left her out.’

  Othman’s face had assumed a guarded expression. A smile hovered uncertainly around his mouth. ‘That sounds like jealousy, Lily. I hope it isn’t.’

  ‘Then it’s true?’

  ‘Some of it. Please don’t upset yourself about it. Now, how about a drink. Something strong.’

  Lily folded her arms. ‘Not before I get an explanation, Pev. What do you really want with us?’

  Othman rubbed his face, yawned. ‘OK, if that’s the way you want it. You know about me, and I know about you. Me Grigori, you half-breed. I want the flame, Lily, I need its power. Look at me. Something’s happening. I wasn’t drawn here by coincidence.’ He held out his hands to her in a gesture of appeal. ‘Help me, Lily. Please.’

  She wanted to remain cold and aloof, but her heart would
n’t allow it. Her feet carried her to him, even as her mind debated how to react to his plea. ‘Pev.’ She pulled his head against her breast, bent to kiss his hair. ‘What can I do?’

  ‘We woke the flame,’ he murmured. ‘We need to stoke it, call it forth. It is Grigori power, taken from the earth. Lily, something is happening to me, to my mind. I feel weak and afraid. We are kin, you and Owen and I. You must not turn away from me.’

  Even as Lily held him, murmured reassurance, some icy part of her wondered whether Othman was simply acting, manipulating her feelings. Still, he looked dreadful, and his words seemed sincere enough. ‘Have you seen Owen? He’s outside, working on the car.’

  ‘I noticed. I slipped past him. Wanted to talk to you first.’ Othman pulled away from her a little and looked up at her face. ‘Owen doesn’t trust me, Lily. I don’t think you do either, not completely, but I feel I can trust you.’

  ‘Owen is probably wiser than me,’ Lily said. ‘So, tell me what will happen if I help you, if we both help you.’

  ‘Give me a drink,’ Othman answered. ‘Then we’ll talk.’

  Lily fetched a bottle of wine from the pantry, which she opened and set before Othman, along with a tumbler. The wine was a bit cloudy, but Othman didn’t seem to notice, or didn’t care. Lily sat down opposite him, folded her arms on the table, and watched him pour a full glass, drain it in one swallow, then pour another. He gasped and sighed, throwing back his head, blinking at the ceiling.

  ‘Well?’ said Lily.

  ‘I gather that Emma’s told you about the special relationship people here in the village had with the Murkasters?’

  ‘Yes. She wants us to reclaim our birthright, for obvious reasons.’ Lily paused. ‘When did she tell you this? We understood she didn’t want you to know how much she’d revealed to us.’

  Othman laughed uncertainly, took another drink. ‘Emma doesn’t have to tell me things, Lily. I can read her like a comic strip.’

  Lily wasn’t sure she believed that entirely. ‘So, do you agree with her? Do you think we should find a way to make Long Eden ours?’

  He nodded slowly, watching her carefully. ‘Yes. Why not?’

  ‘But the Murkasters were driven out. The same thing could happen to us.’