“Not like a pet,” I said with a frustrated sigh. “I have a theory but my partner...” I glanced in Victoria’s direction, “thinks I’m way off base with it.”
“Well spit it out,” he said, “we don’t have time for silly games around here.”
“I think someone is using the fear the Night-Wing creates to drive down the price of property and push the townsfolk out of Fortune.”
“You think Alan Rikerson is doing it,” he said, flatly, “because I told you he was buying up property on the other side of the river.”
“I’ve got no proof,” I said, “but these creatures don’t just come and hang out in towns. They don’t like being around people and they prefer preternaturals as a food source over humans.”
“And where would Alan have gotten himself one of these things from? Last time I checked, Petsmart wasn’t selling them.”
I pointed out the window to the forest beyond. “My guess,” I said, “and that’s all it is, is he got it in the forest. Probably just stumbled across it accidentally when they were logging.”
The sheriff shook his head. “I can’t condone rumours like these,” he said, “if you could bring me proof then I’d be the first one in line to arrest Alan but without it...” He spread his hands wide. “There’s not much I can do.”
“You can loan us some of your guns,” I said again, “full compensation package from the Elite for any loss or damage done while we have them.”
“How dangerous are these things,” he said. “Do we need to evacuate the town?”
I shook my head. “One Night-Wing won’t be a problem, we’ll trap it and call down a containment team to take it away. It’ll be over in no time.” I cringed inwardly. I sounded way too chipper about the whole scenario. We still weren’t one hundred percent sure we were dealing with a Night-Wing and until we laid eyes on it, we wouldn’t know.
But I needed to sound like I knew what I was doing, that I had everything under control. Telling the Sheriff we didn’t need to evacuate the town was definitely a risk but so long as the curfew stayed in play, we would be fine.
He nodded. “Fine, you can borrow some guns... Still don’t know why you couldn’t come down here with enough of your own. Seems a little silly that you need to borrow them from the local police force.”
“Couldn’t agree with you more,” I said, with a smile.
“The sooner we do this,” Victoria said from her vantage point at the window, “the safer it’ll be for all involved.”
“Why?” I wasn’t trying to be deliberately awkward with her but it definitely sounded that way. Perhaps my subconscious was retaliating against her for what she had done. If it weren’t for Alastor’s last minute intervention I would have died, there was no doubt in my mind about it.
“The sun will go down in a couple of hours,” she said, “it’ll be more active at night. At least this way we stand a chance of sneaking up on it while it’s still sleeping.”
It was a valid point. I’d never seen a real Night-Wing in close quarters but I’d read enough about them to know they were deadly. Like giant bats but they had arms to grab and claw at the their prey.
“I’ll call Nic,” I said. “You get what you think we’ll need.” She nodded and I stepped out of the room, drawing my cell phone from my pocket.
I’d expected him to call me, I had after all asked him to keep an eye on Graham’s case for me but since we’d arrived in Fortune I hadn’t heard a thing from him. And I missed him.
Hitting the call button, I listened to the call as it rang and finally rang out. It wasn’t like him not to answer his phone, then again, I couldn’t expect him to wait next to it for my call.
Pulling up Jason’s number, I contemplated calling him. We hadn’t exactly left things on good terms but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the centre of my gut that there was something wrong, something I wasn’t seeing.
I hit the call button and pressed the phone to my ear. He answered after the second ring.
“Amber,” he said, sounding more than a little out of breath, “is there something wrong?”
“I tried to call, Nic,” I said, taking note of the sharp intake of breath from Jason’s end. “But he isn’t answering.”
“He’s a little tied up at the minute.” Jason’s frustration travelled down the line. “I’m not my brother’s keeper, Amber. I’d appreciate it in future if didn’t call me to keep him in check.”
“That’s not why I’m calling,” I said, “I was worried and...”
“And you thought calling me would make you feel better?” he said scathingly.
“I can see it’s a bad time,” I said, preparing to hang up.
“No,” he said, “I wasn’t doing anything important.” The sound of feminine giggling in the background caused my stomach to churn uncomfortably. It didn’t bother me that he was with another woman, in fact, the sooner he moved away from the crazy ideas he had about the two of us and found himself someone else, the better. It was the hitch in his voice as he spoke to me, making me think I had definitely got him at an intimate moment.
“How’s the case going there?” he asked, practically tripping over the words as he forced them out.
“We’ve got a Night-Wing situation,” I said, “we’re going to need a containment team to come down and pick it up.”
Jason shifted on the other end of the line and the feminine giggling stopped abruptly. “Back off,” he growled.
“Excuse me?”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said, his tone once more even. “You said you had a Night-Wing?”
“Yeah, we’re going to contain it here but I’d really appreciate it if you could have the Elite send a team down here to do the rest. I’d call them myself but I’m pretty sure Jon would forget to send in the back-up as a way of punishing me.”
“You’re not the only one on his shit-list,” he said. “He’s got it in for us all.”
“How is Graham’s case going?” I was pleased to find my voice remained steady despite the painful ball of emotion lodged in my chest.
“No one knows,” Jason said. “The bastard won’t let us anywhere near it. Says we can’t be trusted and the top brass are supporting him on this.”
Groaning inwardly, I sucked in a deep breath. “When I get back, we’ll figure something out...”
“You sure just the two of you can handle your Night-Wing?”
“We just dealt with a nest of trolls,” I said, keeping my tone deliberately light. “I think we can deal with one Night-Wing...”
“Amber, they’re extremely dangerous. Second only to dragons...” he lowered his voice, “I don’t think you need me to tell you to be careful.”
“We’re just going to secure it,” I said, “I’ve had my share of action for the day.”
“You sound tired...” his voice had dropped to a husky whisper. “I wish I was there with you.”
“Will you contact the Elite, Jason?”
He sighed. “Fine, I’ll get onto them as soon as I’m off the phone. Do you need me to come down?”
I opened my mouth to ask him to send Nic and then bit the words back. We were actually managing to converse over the phone without him swearing to end me and everyone I cared about. If I pushed my luck too far, I was afraid I would only alienate him once more.
“No,” I said, “we can manage and we’ll be back sometime tomorrow if we get this wrapped up tonight.”
“Fine.” His tone was business as usual, and for that I was grateful. “I’ll call them now.” He paused, the only sound passing over the line was his breathing.
“Please be careful.”
“I’m always careful...”
He laughed then, the sound wrapping me in warmth so that it drew a smile to my own lips. Why couldn’t he be like this all the time? He wasn’t a bad guy per se, but with whatever obsessional curse was in action between us, he was definitely bad for me.
I ended the call before he could say anything else.
The last thing I needed was for him to pledge his undying loyalty to me once more. As soon as I was back, I was going to have to find a way to break whatever it was that was going on between us before we hurt each other. Of course, doing that meant I ran the risk of him turning on me completely, he was a witch hunter after all. But it was a risk I was going to have to take.
Victoria appeared in the doorway a moment later. “Did you speak to him?”
“I spoke to Jason,” I said, “he’s going to get us a team down here ASAP.”
She nodded. “So how are we going to contain it until they get here?”
“We still have the tranq-gun in the car?”
“You think we can knock it out?”
I shrugged. “Have you got a better idea?”
Victoria met my gaze. “Not really...” she sighed. “I hate Night-Wings...”
I grinned. “Scared of them?”
“No,” she said, “I enjoy the kinds of hunts that result in my killing things, it’s why I joined the Elite. This is simply a glorified babysitting job.”
I couldn’t argue with her there. Catch and release jobs were definitely not my idea of a fun-time but they were also necessary. Screwing this up would only result in all out war with Faerie and things were bad enough already without that little added bonus.
20
“You sure this is the place?” Victoria asked, glancing up at the church. The large stained glass window in the front caught the light from the evening sun. From here it was beautiful. I could only imagine what it would look like from the inside, the brilliant blues and reds, cast across the hallowed space. It reminded me of the churches back in Ireland, making me homesick for a place I had long thought myself separated from. Part of me wanted to slip inside and just soak up the atmosphere but we really didn’t have time for side trips.
The front of the church was dominated by a large fountain, the water splashing out from the top and then pouring down through the levels before lapping against the side of the large basin at the bottom invitingly.
Not that I had time to be admiring a fountain. Refocusing my attention once more, I studied the building with a more critical eye.
“The spire.” I pointed up the tall thin towered structure alongside the church. “It’s the highest point in town. Where better to place something like a Night-Wing than there?”
“I suppose,” she said. I could practically see the cogs turning in her mind.
“They’re territorial,” I said. “They don’t like to go far from their base and the town is too far from the forest. Don’t you find it a little suspect how there were no Night-Wing attacks in all the years the town has existed alongside the woods. Until the loggers moved in and started cutting everything down?”
“Let’s just get this over with,” she said. “We’ll find out soon enough if you’re right.”
Moving around to the side of the church, I searched for the door the Sheriff had told me led to the stairs inside the Spire.
The door when I found it was locked, the bright and shiny new padlock sitting on the iron bolt making me all the more suspicious. Somebody didn’t want anyone getting inside and that was for certain.
Victoria wasted no time and kicked the door on the side near the hinges. The wood splintered inwards, the sound of the door smashing off the stone wall inside the spire echoing upwards through the building.
I hesitated, straining to listen to any sound of movement from within but there was nothing.
“You could have woken it up,” I said.
“It’s still daylight, it’ll be dead to the world until dusk.”
Carrying the tranquilliser gun over my shoulder, I stepped into the base of the spire first and found myself staring up at a ladder that climbed all the way to a platform near the top. Just like the lock, the ladder looked suspiciously new.
“Why couldn’t it have been stairs?” I muttered. “I mean, would it have killed them?”
Victoria shrugged. “Ladders don’t bother me,” she said.
Biting back the words that hovered on the tip of my tongue, I grabbed the rung above my head and stepped onto the ladder, testing its strength against my weight before beginning to climb. By the time I reached the hatch that opened onto the platform near the top, I was breathing hard, the gun across my back weighing me down.
Turning my head up, I stared at the padlock that kept the trapdoor shut. Swearing violently, I pushed against the hatch but it was pointless. At the best of times, I couldn’t compete with Victoria’s preternatural strength but in this position below the trap door, I definitely couldn’t hope to use brute force to get the hatch open.
“What’s the problem?” Victoria asked from just below me.
“It’s locked,” I whispered. I glanced down. That was a mistake. The ground seemed terribly far away and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I had never been good at heights and this was definitely too high up for me.
“Can you force it?” Victoria asked.
I started to shake my head before getting an idea. I didn’t have to force it. Wrapping one hand through the rung above me on the ladder, I reached into my pocket with my free hand and pulled a tiny pouch of powder out.
It wasn’t easy to open the top and grasp a pinch between my fingers but I managed it and sprinkled the powder over the top of the lock. Gripping the lock tightly in my hand, I closed my eyes.
“Open sesame,” I whispered and the lock popped open.
“I thought that was from a story book,” Victoria said from beneath me as I pulled the padlock free and slipped it into my pocket along with the small bag of powder. “I didn’t think it would actually do anything.” The confusion in her voice drew a smile from me.
“My mom used to say it when she would use the powder,” I said. “It doesn’t actually do anything, I guess. It’s just a little bit of witchy humour.”
Victoria mumbled something to herself as I pushed the bolt across and lifted the hatch up. The platform was in almost complete darkness, only the small shaft of light that filtered through from a vent near the roof allowed light into the space.
Just what was it with monsters and their desire to hang around in dark places? Just one time, I would have liked to find myself facing a monster in full sunlight. At least then I would be able to see just what the hell was going on instead of always groping around half blind.
“Can you see it?” Victoria asked.
I craned my neck around, searching the space but I couldn’t see anything at all.
“No,” I said, “there’s nothing. I—“ The sound of something shifting above my head cut me off and I turned my face up. Peering into the gloom, my eyes struggled to focus on what was above me and it wasn’t until two red eyes the size of dinner plates opened up that I realised just what I was looking up at.
“I told you this was a waste of time. We should—“
“Victoria,” I said urgently.
“What?”
“It’s hanging directly above me and...” I trailed off as the creature blinked sleepily before opening its huge mouth. Hot air washed down over me, the smell of rotten meat making my stomach flip over as I was bathed in its breath. Trails of sinew were stuck in its rows of razor sharp teeth. I’d once watched a documentary about sharks and the Night-Wings gaping maw made me think of that. Its triangular blade-like teeth definitely wouldn’t have looked out of place in the mouth of a Great White.
Saliva dripped down onto my face and it took all of my will power to hold still beneath it.
Its eyes were still unfocused and I was almost certain it hadn’t actually seen me but if I moved or made a sound, then it would all change in the blink of an eye.
Victoria tugged at my leg and I fought the urge to kick her.
The Night-Wing blinked lazily and then closed its eyes once more, its mouth sliding shut as it finished its yawn.
I waited another few moments to ensure the creature really was once more asleep before I pushed up through the hatch. Rolling so
undlessly into the space, I scrubbed my now-free hands across my face, clearing the saliva from my cheek.
Victoria appeared a moment later and, climbed gracefully into the attic space.
She pushed to her feet and moved around the Night-Wing, her booted feet making no sound.
Sliding the gun from my back, I checked the chamber. I’d loaded it with the darts before we’d left the Sheriff’s department and for that little bit of forward thinking, I was grateful because I really didn’t fancy my chances at loading tranq-darts into an unfamiliar gun in the dark.
Beckoning Victoria over to my side, I aimed the gun and discovered I couldn’t see a god-damn thing.
“You’re going to have to shoot it,” I whispered. “I can’t see anything in here.”
She took the gun and levelled it at the creature. Her finger depressed the trigger and the crack as the dart was deployed echoed throughout the room.
I had expected the creature to wake up once we hit it with the dart. I hadn’t prepared myself for just what it would do once it woke up.
Its wings spread out, and it grabbed Victoria in its hands, picking her up as though she weighed nothing at all, it slammed her into the wall and I watched as her head smacked the stone. The look of shock in her eyes might have been comical under different circumstances. It slammed her into the wall once more and there was an audible crack that sent my body into overdrive. Victoria hit the ground, her body crumpling beneath her like she was some kind of doll and not my partner.
The Night-Wing reached for her once more, its mouth open.
“Hey!” I screamed, drawing its attention. It unfurled its wings once more and I tried fruitlessly to dive out of the way but the leathery wing caught me, the claw on its tip tearing into my shoulder as it knocked me backwards.
I hit the ground and scrambled quickly to my feet as the Night-Wing turned its full attention to me once more.
The leathery wings were huge, brushing the inside walls of the small space. In the scuffle it had knocked one of the boards covering the windows out of place and the room was filled with the dying red and pink light from the setting sun.
Embrace of Darkness Page 16
