Her instinct told her that he was telling the truth, but her mind protested. That strange pull that she'd felt back at the Elwood mansion was back, and all of a sudden she felt compelled to open the door for him by a force more powerful than her reason. She tried to fight it and for a while she just stood there, her hand on the doorknob, but eventually she surrendered.
When she opened the door, Dorian smiled. "Since it's the third time our paths have crossed—well, fourth, if you count the close-contact encounter the other night—I thought we should get to know each other better."
Iris took a moment to process what he'd just said and then it hit her—the dark figure that nearly crashed into her car right after she and Marion left the flower shop, and then a second time on Chestnut Road. "It was you."
He spread his arms and blew a rebel strand out of his eyes. "The one and only."
"You nearly killed us. And yourself. You have a death wish or something?"
"No need to get all dramatic now."
He took a step forward and she took a step back, out of reflex, because she knew that her house was warded and he couldn't get in.
He laughed. "Relax, love. Like I said, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sure the Elwoods have told you a lot of scary stories about me." He put his hands behind his back, leaned forward and lowered his voice down to a whisper. "They're all true." Then he straightened and continued on his natural voice. "However, I'm not here to kill you. Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you'd be long dead already." He smiled a cheeky smile but Iris didn't doubt that he'd meant every word.
"Then what do you want?"
"I want you to drive."
Pull or no pull, this time reason prevailed. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Not even if your boyfriend's life depends on it?"
Iris froze. "What happened to Connor?"
"Drive and I'll tell you on the way."
She went into the living room to get her phone and car keys.
"By the way, what's with the debacle?" he asked as she slammed the door behind her and rushed down the front steps.
"I was looking for something."
"A needle?"
He was so irritating, she thought as they got into her grandmother's old Ford.
"A statue."
"Must be an important statue if you had to turn your house into a natural disaster site to find it."
"It is. It might be the key to finding out what I am." She turned the key into ignition. "Where to?"
"The forest entrance on Liberty Road."
Iris pushed the acceleration pedal and signaled a right turn on Cedar Lane, stopping to check the traffic.
"On second thought, get out," Dorian said.
"What?"
"Get out. Your driving is better suited for a funeral and hopefully, they're not dead yet."
They got out of the car and switched places. Iris barely had time to close the car door before the tires screeched on the wet pavement and the car flew away. Dorian sped through traffic, avoiding the other vehicles with surgical precision. In the five minutes that took for them to reach their destination, he told her about the danger the Elwoods were in and how he thought she could help.
"You know, sometimes your boyfriend is too protective for his own good."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Right."
"He really isn't." Why did she feel the need to clarify that?
"Whatever. The point is, this desperate desire of his to save everyone will get him killed. If it hasn't already."
Iris shivered at the thought. "Now what?" she asked, getting out of the car. She felt lightheaded and she was struggling with a menacing feeling of nausea.
"Now we ride," he said, pointing somewhere in the woods. Iris narrowed her eyes to see what he was talking about and noticed a motorcycle hidden behind a large bush a few feet up a narrow track that led into the forest, too narrow for a car but not for a motorcycle. He got on and asked her to do the same. She sat behind him and put her hands on his hips.
"No time to be coy now, love," he said, grabbing her by the hands and wrapping her arms around his waist. Iris felt her cheeks explode and she was grateful that he couldn't see her, although she did feel his abdominal muscles contract, as if he was laughing.
The motorcycle sped up the trail for a while, then blasted through the woods. As with the car, Dorian showed his exceptional skills when he narrowly avoided the trees, crevices and mud pits with deft moves and unmatched sense of balance. Iris had her eyes closed for the most part of the ride. She opened them when she heard screams mixed with the familiar growls that sent shivers down her spine. When the motorcycle stopped, she was already paralyzed with fear.
"Time to see what you're really made of, love," Dorian said, helping her get off.
18
The Little Human That Could
They headed in the direction the screams were coming from. The trees were in flames and the air smelled like burning meat. The forest sizzled as the rain drops fell on the burning trees and turned into a thick fog that flooded the space around them. Three black shapes with glowing red eyes flew around, their bloody jaws open, ready to tear into the flesh of their enemies. Now and then, light blue flashes collided with them, sending them back and leaving silver clouds of vapor in their wake.
The closer Iris got, the clearer the horrifying scene. The black shapes took form and she was back in her car on Chestnut Road, with a hellish beast hitting her windshield. Now there were three of them. She could see Aeryn on the ground, her back against a tree, throwing flaming stars towards the hounds. Lorelai was jumping on and off the ground, trying to fight off one of the monsters with two long swords on fire. The left leg of her tight pants was soaked in blood and she had a tourniquet around her thigh made of a piece of cloth ripped from her jacket. Iris could tell from the way the girl moved that she was in a lot of pain and she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.
A tall man, dressed in black, had his arms up. Iris' mind needed a moment to process what he was doing. His palms lit up dark blue as he gathered the rain drops and turned them into massive balls of water that he then threw at the hounds. The beasts backed up as the balls hit them, causing the vapor clouds she'd seen before, but the effects lasted only a short while before the hounds howled and attacked again. For a moment she thought she was looking at Dorian, but then the man turned around and she realized she was wrong. Also, he wasn't a man—he was a teenage boy around her age. His wet ebony hair was pasted to his forehead and neck and his eyes glowed neon blue and his gaze was fearless, despite the terrifying danger he was facing.
In the distance she could hear the screams and moans of what was left of the human search party.
Iris didn't think her heart could beat any faster until she realized that she couldn't see Connor. She looked around and spotted him lying on the ground in a circle of fire. She barely recognized him under the burnt clothes and the blood covering his entire body. A man was standing over him, his sword to Connor's neck. He was tall, well-built, and looked around forty, but he was Fae, which meant that he was probably a lot older than that. He glared at Connor, unblinking. A thick vein was pulsing in his temple, almost in tandem with the constant twitch in the corner of his mouth. Iris noticed the edge of a tattoo emerging from underneath his sleeve, just above his wrist. Satune's Seal. Vincent! Connor's lips were moving, but his eyes were half closed and Iris couldn't tell if he was talking to the man or to himself.
"Stop!" she cried and ran towards him. Her voice had a pause effect, and all of a sudden everyone stopped moving. All eyes were on her, including those of the three beasts, staring at her, waiting for a command.
Dorian joined the tall boy. They nodded in agreement although Iris had no idea what they were agreeing on.
"Iris, get out of here," Connor yelled at her. His voice was trembling and weak.
"Well, well, well," said Vincent. "What do we have here? Come closer, little girl."
Iris shifted her gaze
from the man to the hounds and back. The moment her eyes left them, they moved towards their targets.
"Down, boys," Vincent commanded. "Let's see who this interesting creature is first. Then you can have your feast." The hounds growled but obeyed their master. He turned his narrow eyes to Iris. "Come."
Iris walked towards him with small, careful steps. She could barely see Connor behind the flames that surrounded him and the man, but the sword hadn't shifted and she knew that he was still in danger. They all were. She stopped a few yards away.
"Closer," Vincent demanded. Iris advanced one step. "Closer still."
"Don't do it, Iris!" Lorelai's voice was faded against the crackling sound of the burning threes around them. Iris ignored it and walked until she could feel the fire heating up her face.
"What are you?" Vincent looked at her, fascinated, but his hand kept holding the sword in a tight grip.
"She's human," Connor answered. "Let her go."
"No, there's something about her." Vincent tilted his head, staring at Iris, smiling.
"I'm telling you, she has nothing to do with any of this," Connor insisted.
Vincent's smile disappeared as he shifted his eyes from Iris to Connor. "Well, then, you wouldn't mind if we put her to a test now, would you?"
"No!"
"Silence, Guardian, or I'll cut off your vocal chords and this will have been the last word you speak." Vincent shifted the sword a bit and Connor closed his eyes in pain. Iris sighed, knowing what that meant—the tip of the blade had grazed his neck. "Now," Vincent said, his eyes fixed on Iris. "Boys, you can take the old one."
Iris felt her heart stop. She turned around and looked at Connor's grandmother. She wasn't throwing stars anymore, she was just sitting there on the ground, her back against the tree, her eyes half closed. The hounds growled and darted towards Aeryn. "No! Stop!" Iris cried and the beasts froze, their jaws a few inches from the woman's face. They turned their flaming eyes towards Iris, then Vincent.
"Fascinating," he said, smiling. "A human with the ability to control the hellhounds. How do you do it, little human?" Iris didn't answer. All she could think of was how to keep the hound from attacking them. "How do you do it?! Tell me!" His voice exploded like thunder and Iris jerked and took a step back.
"I don't know," she confessed, clenching her fists and trying to fight the swelling tears.
"Well, that's a shame. It seems we have reached an impasse."
Iris looked around. Dorian and the tall boy were in the same spot as before, watching the scene. Aeryn was now lying on the ground. Her eyes were closed and her chest was barely moving. From the corner of her eye, Iris saw Lorelai carefully walking towards her grandmother. The beasts snarled but didn't move. Either she still had control over them or Vincent didn't want them to attack.
"What do you want?" Iris asked Vincent.
"Oh, so many things. But right now, I want to get out of here."
"So go."
"If only it were that easy. You see, your friends wanted to capture me in an attempt to stop my boys from drawing the Council's attention to Forest Hills." Iris looked at the ring of fire that surrounded Vincent and Connor. "Get them to break this trap and we can resume this battle another day."
Iris looked at Lorelai. The girl shook her head. She was holding the sphere in her hand, ready to use it to heal her grandmother as soon as she got the chance—if she got the chance.
"Do it, Lorelai," Iris begged.
"I can't. If we release him now, we'll never get another chance to stop this. Plus, what's to say he won't kill us as soon as he's out of that ring?"
"You'll all die anyway if you don't. At least this way there's a chance you'll live to fight another day."
"Don't do it, Lorelai," Connor said from behind the flames.
"Please," Iris implored, but the girl was unmoved. Iris realized then that no amount of begging was going to change their minds. The only way to save themselves was if she did something. But what? She had no idea how the trap worked.
Then, without thinking, she threw herself on the ground next to Lorelai, grabbed the sphere from the girl's hand and threw it into the fire ring.
"No!" Lorelai and Connor cried at the same time. The blinding flames turned blue and rose so high that Iris couldn't see Vincent standing on the other side anymore. For a moment she thought that both he and Connor had been consumed by the fire, but then the flames subsided until there was nothing left but a circle of burnt ground surrounding them. Vincent came to the edge and slowly stepped outside.
"Impressive, little human," he said smiling at Iris. She looked at him, then at Connor, still lying on the ground in the burnt circle, and finally at Lorelai, who was leaning over Aeryn, tending to the woman's wounds. The Elwoods' expressions betrayed disappointment and anger.
"You have your freedom. Now leave," Iris said through her teeth.
"Tell me, would you be interested in joining me? Together we could accomplish great things."
"I'd rather die than join a mass murderer."
Vincent's smile disappeared but his voice remained calm. "That can most certainly be arranged. Boys, kill them all."
"No!" Iris commanded.
Vincent looked at the hounds, then at Iris. "Do you really think you have what it takes to destroy these creatures? Do you have any idea of the amount of power you'd need to really control them?" His voice became louder and louder as he went on. "You're nothing but a mere human. You may have the ability to deter them but you don't stand a chance at holding on to that enough to kill them."
Iris felt every bone in her body shake despite the scorching heat coming off the burning forest all around them, and she fought not to show it. Vincent was right and he'd proven it before, when he ordered the hounds to attack Aeryn. Still, she had to try and save herself and the others at least for that night. "Leave," she told the hounds, her eyes still fixed on Vincent. "Get as far away from here as possible." The beasts disappeared into the woods, leaving scorched prints on the wet ground. She waited for a few moments, then spoke again. "Now you, too."
"We will meet again very soon, little human," he said smiling. He turned around and walked away but then in the corner of her eye Iris saw a blurry shadow dart towards him and a second later Vincent was lying on the ground. Dorian stood over the body.
"No!" Lorelai cried. "What have you done? I'll kill you!" She darted towards Dorian but he and Raven were already gone.
Iris went to Connor. His eyes were closed and his body was covered in burns and cuts. She called his name and when he didn't react she called Lorelai. She shuddered when she saw the mix of desperation and hatred in the girl's eyes as she came over. Iris handed her the sphere that she'd thrown into the ring of fire before. It was covered in mud.
"That one's broken," Lorelai said. Iris looked at it and noticed that underneath the mud the sphere was pitch black. With trembling hands Lorelai searched Connor's pockets and took out his sphere. She followed the same process she had back at the mansion when he got wounded trying to save Iris and Marion. An arrow of pain shot through Iris' heart and she couldn't help thinking that she was responsible for both situations.
After Lorelai was done, Connor opened his eyes. His sister helped him sit up. Iris grabbed his arm but he slowly pushed her hand away.
"Go home, Iris," he said.
"But—"
"One thing. I asked you one thing. To stay home tonight."
"I was just trying to help."
"Well, now we have three hellhounds with no one to control them. Thank you."
"He would have killed you all."
"We had it under control. A few more seconds and we would have transferred Satune's Seal on me. Then we would have been able to control the hounds and destroy them. Now, thanks to you, we're all going to die for sure."
Iris walked through the woods replaying the events of the night in her mind. She'd never felt more hopeless and alone. She tried to make sense of her life but it didn't seem her life anymore
. When she reached the track she noticed that Dorian's motorcycle was gone. Just as well. Given his history with the Elwoods, he wouldn't have helped them anyway. And yet, why did he take her to them?
She headed down towards town. Suddenly she remembered her father's statue and thought that maybe there was still hope for her to understand her purpose in all of this. If only she could find it. The rain had intensified again and the forest was restless. As were its dwellers, judging from the noises she could hear in the distance. Wolves howling, owls hooting, ravens croaking—they all knew about the danger menacing their homes.
She was soaking wet, dirty, and cold. And scared out of her mind. And helpless. She'd never felt so helpless before in her life. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt, yet it seemed that no matter what she did, she only made matters worse. A wolf howled in the distance and she wrapped her arms around her waist and picked up the pace. All she wanted was to get home, although the idea of being alone frightened her, even if she knew that home was the safest place for her. She wished her grandmother was there with her, telling her that everything was going to be okay. She really needed to hear that.
Lost in thought as she was, she didn't hear the footsteps behind her until a voice brought her back to reality. "Iris?"
She jerked and turned around. "Sheriff."
"What are you doing here?" He seemed agitated. A streak of blood was coming out of a gash on his left temple. He had a flashlight in one hand and his gun in the other. Iris realized that he must have been one of the few survivors in the hellhound attack.
"Nothing. I—"
"You're not safe here. Come on. I'll take you home."
"It's okay. I know the way back to town."
"Iris, there's a beast out there killing everyone in sight. There's no way I'm letting you wander the woods alone. Now come on."
They started walking side by side. Iris looked at her hands. They were covered in black ash. She realized her face must have been too and wondered why he didn't ask about it. The sheriff's radio started buzzing. Five ambulances were already at the entrance to the woods, another three were on their way. The park rangers were taking the EMTs to the place where the search party had been attacked.
The Fountain of Truth (Tales of the Dark Fae Book 1) Page 16
