The female troll we’d spoken to was on her knees in front of her, Victoria’s sword pressed against the soft spot on the back of her neck. One wrong move and the troll would die.
The troll holding my head and shoulders released me and I flopped backwards, the only thing keeping me in the air was the tight grip of the troll holding me around my hips. The troll with its face buried in against my abdomen was a little slower to comply.
Its tongue slid against my skin, teeth scraping as it rolled its eyes up to meet Victoria’s.
“I could kill her quicker than you could react,” he said, his voice muffled against my body.
Gripping the machete a little more firmly in my hands, I pressed my body in against his face. Crying out as his teeth bit into me. I swung the machete and brought it down on the soft spot behind his thick neck. The blade half decapitated him, the force of the blow driving his teeth further into my stomach.
We plummeted to the ground, his dead grip holding me in place and I hit the mud hard with my back. The air whooshed out of me and for what felt like an eternity stars exploded in my vision.
“Amber!” Victoria’s voice cut through the ringing in my head. “Can you get up?”
I wriggled free of the corpse lying on top of me and pushed unsteadily to my feet.
“Mother...” A voice hissed from the darkness and I curled my hands into fists, the longing ache in the strange voice gave me the creeps.
“Amber, are you all right?” I couldn’t see Victoria’s face but there was something in the way she spoke that said she was struggling. Just how badly was she hurt?
“Yeah, I’ll be fine...”
Another hiss filled the tunnel and I suppressed the urge to shudder. Showing these creatures my weakness would not help get us out of here in one piece.
I crossed the tunnel, making it to her side unscathed.
With her free hand, she passed me another flare. “It’s the last one,” she said, “make it count.”
Nodding, I pulled the top off the flare, the bright blinding as it joined the rapidly fading glow from the one on the ground. The trolls that had drawn closer, moving in on us as the light had faded, pulled away with shrieks of pain.
I thrust the flare down into the mud in the centre of the space. The bright light illuminated the walls of the tunnel as I worked.
Victoria’s hand closed over my arm as she jerked me to my feet and began to drag me down the tunnel in the direction we’d come in from.
Victoria’s eyes met mine. “It won’t hold them for long,” she said, breathlessly. Her face was pale and I could see the strain of dragging me along after her, etched into every feature.
We reached the junction of the tunnel and the sound of feet pounding after us, drove my heart into my mouth. They were catching up.
“Do you think they’ll follow us out of the tunnel?” I asked.
“I don’t think they’ll need to,” she said, “they’ll reach us before we ever make it to the exit. You need to move faster.” She said the last with a growl of frustration.
Biting my tongue, I kept my thoughts to myself. She was right of course, I needed to move faster but my lungs were already burning from the exertion and my legs were on the verge of cramping up. I was human after all.
Victoria might be able to flit from one place to the next without so much as a thought, just as all fae could but my sorceress gifts didn’t afford me that luxury.
Pushing aside the pain rampaging through my body, I picked up my pace and drew even with Victoria. She glanced at me and I threw her a self-satisfied smile but instead of acknowledging me, she lengthened her stride and pulled easily out in front of me once more.
Thundering footsteps echoed in my ears and I resisted the urge to look back over my shoulder. Doing that would be too much like tempting fate and knowing my luck it would only lead to me face-planting in the middle of the tunnel, all so I could confirm the trolls were indeed chasing us down.
With the grate just ahead of us, I put on one last burst of speed as something tackled me from behind. I hit the ground with enough force to stun me, what little air I had in my lungs disappearing in the blink of an eye so I couldn’t even cry out as pain exploded through the front of my chest.
Instinct told me I couldn’t stay still and I rolled to the side as the troll who had grabbed me drove its fist into the place where I’d lain just seconds before. The cement pipe groaned under the blow and cracked beneath me, tilting me violently back in the direction of the troll.
It turned on me, face twisted into a snarl as I drove my booted foot into its chest sending it backwards.
“Amber, come on!” Victoria cried, her sword slicing down on the head of my attacker. The head hit the ground next to me, the hollow unseeing eyes staring up at me as I scrambled to my feet.
Victoria was already moving to the grate and I was hot on her heels when something grabbed my foot.
It clung to me as I tried to shake it off but it was no use. Victoria was already through the grate and I grabbed the twisted metal in my hands, desperately fighting to pull myself forward despite the creature trying to claw its way up my leg.
Victoria grabbed the collar of my jacket, fighting to jerk me forward into the light but the troll was stronger.
I caught her arm and met her gaze.
“Use your power,” she urged.
I searched within but I was exhausted and what little magic I’d managed to reclaim earlier slipped through my fingers as pain lanced through my leg where the troll’s teeth bit down on my calf.
“There’s nothing, I can’t do it,” I whispered, desperately clinging to her.
Victoria’s expression shifted, growing cold and distant. “Then I’m sorry for you,” she said, “at least one of us needs to get out of here and go for help.”
She released her hold on my jacket and I frantically tried to cling to her arm. Victoria slipped out of my grip.
“I’m sorry, Amber, I won’t die here... Not for you, not for anyone.”
And then she was gone. My fingers slipped from the grate and the troll clinging to my leg dragged me back into the tunnel, into the darkness.
Light so bright it blinded me exploded from deep within the tunnel. I felt the heat coming and so did the troll I was holding at bay.
Its teeth snapping just inches from my face as it fought to tear into me. My arms shook with the effort of keeping it at bay.
“Please, please, no...” I whispered, fighting back the tears that stung my eyes.
The troll stopped fighting, its face twisting in surprise before it burst into flames. It scrambled up from the ground, flailing around above me as I scooted toward the grate and out of its reach.
The heat from its burning body was so intense it turned the air in the tunnel to molten lava.
Scrambling backwards, I fell out of the tunnel as the troll’s body began to break apart and disintegrate.
I hit the dirt with a thump, the panic in my mind still screaming at me to get up to move but my body refused to cooperate. Instead, I lay there, staring up at the bridge above me.
“How did you do that?” Victoria asked, I turned my head to find her standing off to one side of the tunnel mouth. And next to her were the same group of kids we’d met in the diner in town.
“That was way cool,” Keith said, his eyes wide in a combination of fear and awe.
“Can you teach me how to do that?” Paulo asked, “the guys in the yard wouldn’t mess with me if I could do that to them.”
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, struggling to sit up. Victoria held her hand tentatively out toward me and I ignored her. Pushing upright, I did a quick mental check over my body.
No broken bones was definitely a plus but my leg wasn’t in the best condition. My jeans had thankfully taken most of the damage and I pulled the fabric aside to see the wound beginning to heal. So while my magic was on the fritz, my accelerated healing was at least still in full effect. I could be thankful for small
mercies.
I climbed to my feet, grateful that I was at least steadier than I actually felt.
“We know you said we should stay away from this stuff,” Harrison said, scuffing his sand coloured boots in the mud. “But we had a hunch about the trolls.”
“You were the ones who called the sighting of the female troll into the Sheriff’s department,” I said, suddenly realised I’d been played by a bunch of school children.
“And we were right,” Keith said indignantly. “We found what we thought were bones and well...” He shrugged, managing to both look a little scared and smug at the same time. A look he carried off quite well. I couldn’t remember being quite so cool about the whole supernatural element to life when I was his age. But then again, by the time I was thirteen, I had already summoned a demon from Hell who had proceeded to rip my father apart before dragging him back to the pit. It had definitely left an unfavourable impression on my young mind.
“Anyway,” Paolo said, “are you going to teach me that magic trick or not?”
“I didn’t do it,” I said, stretching my back so that my spine popped. The wounds might heal on the outside but I was still going to feel the beating I’d taken when I woke up in the morning.
“It was probably that dude,” Harrison said knowingly.
“What ‘dude’?” I focused my full attention on the four boys, noting how Xander wouldn’t quite meet my gaze. Was he afraid of me?
“The one who’s been following you around town,” Keith said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world and I was just too dumb to have not figured it out.
“Handsome,” I said, “tall—“
“Gross,” Harrison said, joining with the others in a grimace of disgust. “He’s just some dude and we’re clearly not the ones into him.”
There was only one person it could be and he wasn’t even a person. At least, I was pretty sure demons didn’t count as people. But if Alastor was the one who had saved me then I owed him and if there was one thing I hated more than a mystery it was being in debt to those I didn’t trust.
“Who is he?” Victoria asked.
“None of your business,” I said coldly. I couldn’t forget the look in her eyes as she’d slipped free of my grip. The way she had just left me to the mercy of the trolls, the kind of mercy that would have resulted in my very agonising and slow torturous death.
“Look,” she said, “I don’t think you should take it personally, I—“
I cut her off with a shake of my head. “You don’t think I should take it personally?” I asked her, the incredulity in my words putting my voice several octaves higher.
“Somebody’s pissed,” Keith said while smothering a giggle.
“You four scram,” I said, “before I tell your parents just what kind of Scooby Doo shit you’ve been up to.”
“You wouldn’t,” Paolo said confidently.
“Really?” I folded my arms across my chest. “You want to try me, because I’m in just the kind of mood right now to go spoil your monster hunting fun by letting your parents in on the secret.”
“Dude,” Keith said, grabbing Paolo’s arm, “don’t, she’s clearly having some kind of mental breakdown. And if my parents find out, I’m grounded for the rest of my life...”
Paolo allowed himself to be dragged away by his friends but I could tell from the defiant look in his eyes that this wouldn’t be the end. He was definitely the kind of kid I needed to watch out for. The kind to go looking for trouble and find it too.
“We should talk about this,” Victoria said placatingly.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” I grabbed the machete from the mouth of the tunnel glanced inside at the ash still swirling in the air.
“Do you think they’re all dead?” she asked, joining me.
“Yes.” I sighed. “But we’re going to have to go back in there and check before we can check this box off the list.”
“List?”
“Yeah,” I said, “they weren’t the only ones hunting the people of this town. And you heard the trolls, the female leader spoke about something called ‘Leather Wings’...”
Victoria furrowed her brow. ”You said the coroner mentioned a bird-like creature had severed the arm back at the house.”
“I’m guessing they are one and the same. After all something was spooking the trolls so much they had changed their patterns to live in a community, understanding that there was safety in numbers.”
Victoria said nothing as she turned and walked away from the tunnel. “We really should talk about what happened,” she said again.
“So what kind of creature can frighten trolls into changing their evolutionary behaviour? Something big, with leather wings...”
She studied me for a moment. I could feel her gaze boring into me but I chose to ignore her. She sighed. “I guess, a Night-Wing is the only thing that fits the bill,” she said, “we used to get them back in Faerie.”
“Why would they be here?”
She shrugged. “They’re everywhere, there was a case not too long ago of Night-Wing attacks up in Algonquin Park in Canada. But in that case it was mostly picking off demons, they have a preference for preternatural snacks.”
“I thought I read they lived in wooded areas though,” I said gesturing at the scarred landscape beyond the river. “They’ve been chopping down the trees here, would it draw a Night-Wing into town?”
Victoria pondered the landscape alongside me. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “If it is a Night-Wing then just like the trolls it’s acting out of character. Something is causing it to hang around the town and attack people and trolls...”
“Didn’t the Sheriff say something about the logging company buying up properties around town super cheap?”
She nodded. “I don’t understand what that has to do with a giant bat...”
“Well stick with me a second,” I said, “just suppose you were a super rich asshole who found himself constantly under attack from the local town. You know, because your trucks drive really fast through town and the locals don’t like it. Not to mention the fact that you’ve got all that forest out there,” I gestured to the opposite side of the river that lay untouched. “And you can’t log it because people have objected to it... You’re losing money and then one of your truckers kills a local kid. What would you do?”
“Well I wouldn’t use a Night-Wing to terrorise the town,” she said.
I smiled. “But you’re not thinking like a desperate business man. With everyone in town gone, Mr Rikerson is free to do as he pleases with the forests surrounding the town.”
Victoria looked unconvinced. “I’m not sure,” she said, “it sounds a little far fetched to me.”
“It could well be,” I said, “but I’ve seen humans kill for less than money before and greed has a way of twisting the hearts of men.”
“If he were keeping a Night-Wing where would he be hiding it,” she said, “it has to be in town...”
“I know just the spot,” I said, starting up the river embankment toward the place where we’d parked the SUV.
“I think you need to have a shower and change of clothes first,” she said, following close behind me. “I’m down-wind of you here and if it really is a Night-Wing then covered in all that troll crap you’ll only smell like his favourite treat.”
Pausing next to the SUV, I sniffed at my arm. She had a fair point, I stank to high heavens. The fact that I hadn’t even noticed bothered me. You really weren’t having a good day when you managed to forget you were covered in foul smelling troll shit.
“We’ll hit the motel first and then the Sheriff’s,” I said, “we’re going to need to borrow some guns and ammo.”
“I don’t think he’s going to be too happy loaning us his weapons,” she said.
“He’s not going to have a choice, not if he wants to keep this town safe.” I climbed into the driver’s seat. “And anyway, I have a few questions for him about his pal, Rikerson a
nd I need to do it face to face. Because if I get even one whiff that the Sheriff is in on this, then I’m going to feed him to the Night-Wing along with Rikerson.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s against our job description...”
I shrugged. Sometimes you had to be a little unethical to get the job done and after the afternoon I’d just had, I was tired of playing by the rules.
19
One shower and a change of clothes later, I found myself standing in the middle of the Sheriff’s office.
“And you need to use my guns why?” he asked again for what felt like the millionth time.
“Because we think you’ve got a Night-Wing problem,” I said, “and that requires a little more fire power than we currently have with us.”
“Sounds like something from one of the ridiculous superhero movies,” he said, “what does this Night-Wing do then?”
“The arm,” I said, “in the garden, your coroner said it was severed by something with large talons, Night-Wings have talons. Not to mention something was making the trolls act out of character.”
“And just where do you think this Night-Wing creature is hanging out?”
I sucked in a deep breath. “I think it’s in the church...”
The Sheriff started to laugh until the tears trailed down his cheeks. “You think we’re hiding some big bat thing in the church? We have mass in there every Sunday, don’t you think we’d have noticed if there was something big and ugly hanging from the rafters?”
“I don’t think it’s in the main part of the church,” I said, “I think it’s being kept in the Spire...”
His expression sobered up. “You said kept... Do you mean like a pet?”
Perching on the edge of the nearest desk, I contemplated just how much to tell him. The last thing I wanted to do was alienate him. We needed access to his armoury after all and while I could pull the jurisdiction card, I liked him and wanted to keep him on side.
Embrace of Darkness Page 15
