by Hall, Alexis
There was no way I was spilling my guts to a bunch of strangers. I didn’t know what they already knew, and I had no idea what they’d do with what I told them.
“Tell us what the vampires are doing.”
“You know the Council’s in town?”
From halfway up the table, a dark-haired woman in her early forties leaned forwards.
Tara glanced her way. “Julia?”
“Which members?” she asked.
This was the kind of information that could get people killed, but I figured they were old enough to take care of themselves, and I gambled on the idea that a half-dozen powerful vampires might encourage the werewolves to back off. I listed the names of the Council in rough order of scariness. Julia retrieved from beside her chair a book so hefty it was probably a tome and started leafing through it.
“So—” She paused about a third of the way in. “—that’s the Emperor, the High Priestess, Justice, Death, Temperance.”
Tara braced herself with both hands on the table. The whole conquering general vibe nearly stopped me noticing her breasts. “Where does that leave us?”
“Justice will represent the greatest threat. The records date her back to the first dynasty. If she comes into direct conflict with the Morrígan, there could be disastrous consequences.”
I thought back to Aeglica’s garden. If that was what happened when Kemsit and the Morrígan squared off for two seconds, I didn’t like to think where it would end if they really got into it.
Tara’s attention flicked back to me. “Why has this happened now?”
Well, Tara. The murderous con woman you’re currently fucking woke her up.
“I don’t know all the details,” I hedged, “but I’m pretty sure someone woke her up. I’m pretty sure it was Corin. And I’m pretty sure someone bust Corin out of jail so she could do it. But I don’t who or why or what the hell they hoped to get out of it.”
Tara’s eyes flashed. “If you’re playing me, Kate Kane.”
“Did I hear that correctly?” came the Dowager’s diamond-sharp tones from the other end of the table. “Are you currently bedding the mortal who woke the vampire queen?”
Tara’s lips curled back and she snarled.
The Dowager just smiled.
“May I ask,” enquired Jumbo, easing himself into the conversation and nodding in my direction, “if you know what the Morrígan’s plans might be?”
Again, I was pretty sure that information wouldn’t get anyone killed. Tara might have been a dick, but there was a part of me that weirdly respected her. Or wanted to do her. One of the two. “She’s looking for something, and she’s building an army to get it.”
“This is not to be borne,” snapped the Dowager. “The vampires have been flouting the Compact for five years, and we have done nothing about it. And see where it has led.”
“The Compact was with the Council, not the Morrígan,” said Julia softly.
“They must know what she is doing, and if they do not, they are weak and must be replaced. If they fail to keep their house in order, we shall do it for them.”
Tara came to her full height, which was pretty damn full, especially in those heels. “It is no longer your place to say what this pack does or does not do.” For a moment, things seemed to be going my way. “But I cannot let the vampires spawn unchecked.”
Or maybe not.
Jumbo looked up lazily from his coffee. “It would be inadvisable to antagonise the Council.”
“Does the Council rule here, or do you?” demanded the Dowager, glaring at Tara.
The last thing we needed was a pack of werewolves rampaging around London. It’d be just about okay in a mass murdering sort of way if they stuck to the Morrígan’s minions, but I was pretty sure their intel wasn’t that good. I’ve seen werewolves on a cull before. They think they’ve got a sacred right to control the populations of other supernatural species, and they don’t really discriminate. If they hit London, they’d probably kill anything that smelled like a corpse.
“Tara,” I tried. “Think about this.”
I realised too late it was the last thing I should have said. Tara hates taking orders, especially from me, especially in front of her family. She gave me a furious look. Some days you just shouldn’t get out of bed. Then she turned back to her family. “We hunt at dawn.”
Well, fuck.
I had to warn Julian.
The party broke up for brandy and cigars, and I took the opportunity to slip away. I ducked into one of Safernoc’s endless supply of posh person rooms and pulled out my phone. The reception was terrible so I stood by the window and hoped. Since I knew dialling Julian’s personal number would be a waste of time, I decided to ring the Velvet. I’d barely opened my contacts list when Tara’s hand closed hard over my wrist, and she yanked away my phone. She dropped it onto the floor and drove one of her six-inch heels through the screen. I lose more handsets that way. Okay, that’s not really true.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.”
I glared at her. “You could have just said.”
“I’m still very angry with you, Kate Kane.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a threat or a come-on. “Look—” I held my hands up in that surrendery gesture she seemed to like. “—it’s not too late. You can stop this.”
“We have a duty.”
“What, to ride into London and slaughter everyone?”
“To protect the land and its people. I will not stop this, and neither will you.”
I didn’t like where this was going. I didn’t have my silver dagger on me, and I couldn’t have taken Tara even if I had.
Here lies Kate Kane. Eaten by a lingerie model and not in a good way. Beloved daughter. Sorely missed.
But all Tara did was drag me off. When people are manhandling you, you’ve basically got two choices: fight them or go with it, otherwise you just look like an idiot. I’d already ruled out fighting, so I went with it.
She whisked me through the corridors of Safernoc, down a flight of honest-to-God stone steps, and into an actual motherfucking dungeon.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
She gazed at me with a mixture of frustration and affection. “I don’t trust you.”
She had a point.
She pulled me into a cell and snapped a pair of manacles onto my wrists. And we weren’t talking Ann Summers fluffy handcuffs here. We were talking good old-fashioned cold iron as thick as your thumb.
“Can’t we talk about this?” I asked.
“I’ll be back for you, Kate Kane, when it’s done.”
“Just so you know, I’ll be pretty bloody angry.”
She leaned in close, her hair tickling my neck. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“You really fucking won’t.” I twisted away from her, and she backed off.
“Well, what am I supposed to think? You don’t answer my calls, you return all my gifts, and then you walk into my bedroom when I’m fucking another woman.”
“What? And you took that as an invitation to lock me up in your authentic medieval dungeon and then do me?”
“I’ve seen the way you look at me, Kate Kane.”
I tried to fold my arms and realised I couldn’t. “And how’s that?”
“Like you’re not sure if you want to stab me or fuck me.”
“Right now, I’m leaning towards stab.”
Tara laughed.
I didn’t. “You don’t get to laugh. You’re locking me up.”
“All’s fair in love and war, Kate Kane.”
With that, she left in a swirl of gold and locked the door behind her. I gave my bonds an experimental yank, hoping they’d be old and rusted through. They weren’t. Clearly, the Vane-Tempests were the hot pick for this year’s Ideal Dungeon exhibition. I tried to call on my mother’s strength, but I got nothing. I knew iron chains could hold faeries, and it looked like they could hold me too. Since I couldn’t brute force my way out, I gave the se
tup a once-over in case there was an obvious weakness or a convenient spare key. I was manacled on a long chain that ran through a thick iron ring bolted to the floor. I was basically fucked.
The last time I’d been in a mess like this, Elise had bailed me out, but there was no way she’d be able to track me through a faery realm to Oxfordshire. She was good, but she wasn’t that good. I should have texted her, but I’d forgotten what it was like to work with a partner, and once again, Corin had put me off my game.
I sighed and plonked myself down on the floor. They’d have to feed me eventually. Maybe I could knock someone out and steal their uniform or whatever. Of course, I’d still be chained up.
There was nothing for it but to wait. Being imprisoned is a real bummer, and since Tara had smashed my phone, I couldn’t even play Angry Birds.
Time passed. Then some more time passed. Then some more time passed.
Her lies Kate Kane. Died of boredom. Beloved daughter. Sorely missed.
I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes. Sleeping would pass a good few hours, and if I was really lucky I’d be able to get through to Nim in my dreams.
“Kate?”
Wow, that’d worked quicker than I expected. Then I realised it wasn’t in my head, it was outside the door.
“Kate?”
Now I was paying attention, I recognised Corin. She was the only person I’ve met in real life with a transatlantic accent, and I’d know that breathless, broken voice anywhere. She always sounded like she was either terrified or having an orgasm. No wonder she and Tara got on so well. Talking to Corin is like that movie that Eve made me watch where the guy stops the computer blowing up the world by playing noughts and crosses with it. The only winning move is not to play.
“Fuck off, Corin.”
“I know you’re angry with me Kate,” she whispered.
“You murdered my partner. Angry is kind of an understatement.”
“I know what I did was wrong, but I was lost then, so lost and so afraid.”
“No, lost and afraid is what happens when you let go of your mum’s hand in a supermarket. What you did is shoot a man in the chest.”
I caught a glimpse of Corin’s face pressed against the grill in the door. Her lovely eyes had already begun to glisten with tears. I turned my back on her.
“I know you must hate me,” she continued. “I know you have no reason to be kind to me, but Tara is in such a fearful temper that I really must know what you told her about me.”
Okay, Kate. Think about this.
I wanted to say, I told her you were a lying, murdering scam artist, but the fact was I hadn’t, and Corin had something I needed. The problem was going to be getting it out of her without letting her get inside my head.
I swung round to face her. She was watching me through the bars, wide-eyed and stricken.
“I told her what I’d worked out.”
Corin said nothing but stifled a sob.
“I know someone broke you out of jail. I know you robbed Marcus Fox and Isis Fortuna, and I know what you took. I know the deal you made with the Merchant of Dreams. And I know you woke up the Morrígan.”
“Oh, Kate,” she whimpered, “I had no choice. They’d have . . . they’d have killed me.”
A tiny, irrational, and faintly horny part of me wondered why anyone would want to hurt this poor, innocent girl.
“Look, Corin,” I said. “I really need to know who hired you.”
“I can’t . . . I . . . you don’t know what they’ll do to me.”
“I’ll protect you.” Oh shit. She’d got me again.
“You’re so good to me, Kate. I know I don’t deserve it.”
“Tell me who hired you.”
“Not now. I . . . I . . . the old woman, she doesn’t trust me.” I’ll bet she didn’t. “Perhaps tomorrow, when we can be alone.”
She vanished from the window and slipped away as quietly as she’d come. And that was when I realised I’d given her everything she wanted and she’d given me fuck all.
She didn’t come back tomorrow. I was only visited by a couple of servants who brought me food and the other necessities of being stuck in a prison. Yet again, I was depressed to realise that this wasn’t the least dignified situation I’d ever been in.
I spent another day bored out of my skull. It wasn’t even as if I had a case to think about. Until Corin told me who hired her, I’d done as much as I could. At least they brought me some blankets.
I’d resigned myself to another night on a cold dungeon floor when I heard Corin’s voice.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I came as soon as I was able.”
Given I’d assumed she was leaving me to rot, I was actually pretty grateful she was there at all. “It’s fine.”
“We have to leave. I’m so terribly afraid of what will happen if the wolves return, and they find us, or they hear that I’ve been speaking to you.”
“You can get me out of here?”
“I can try. I’m not strong like you, Kate, but I do what I can.”
Almost immediately, there was a soft click, the door eased slowly open, and Corin slipped into my cell. Her eyes glistened. “Oh Kate, it’s so hard to see you like this.”
“Unchain me and you won’t have to.”
She knelt down beside me, trembling slightly, but the moment she started to work on the lock, her hands were rock steady. Within seconds, I was free. She was good, I had to give her that. Too good, that was the problem.
“You will keep me safe, won’t you, Kate?”
“Yes.” Oh shit. I kept doing that. “Right, how do we get out of here?”
Corin reached into a tatty canvas satchel and pulled out the Hand of Glory she’d nicked from Professor Fox.
Instinctively I took the Zippo out of my jacket pocket, leaned forwards, and lit the candle. Corin’s delicate face flared gold in the sudden light.
“We must go,” she said. “Quickly.”
We crept through Safernoc Hall, the pale light of the Hand of Glory keeping us hidden, and out to the courtyard where the various members of the Vane-Tempest family had left their fleet of terrifyingly expensive vehicles.
“How’s your hot-wiring?”
Corin gave me a look of wounded innocence. “Oh Kate, I wouldn’t begin to know how to do such a thing.”
I knew she was lying, but I went with it anyway.
She reached into her bag again, and this time brought out a set of car keys. “I know I shouldn’t have. But I could see no other way.”
She led me over to a gold TVR Chimaera, which I was pretty sure had to be Tara’s. I’d have felt bad about stealing her car if I hadn’t just spent the last day pissing in a bucket. As it was, she was going to be very lucky if I didn’t drive it into a lake when I was done with it.
Corin meekly handed me the keys, blew out the Hand of Glory, and shrank into the passenger seat.
I hopped in beside her and put the pedal to the metal, and a few minutes later, we were cruising at high speed through Safernoc Forest. I thought I saw a unicorn glaring at me through the trees, but it was probably my imagination.
“Okay,” I said. “Spill.”
There was a long silence and, finally, Corin spilled. “You mustn’t be angry with me, I don’t know who they are, only what they asked me to do.”
“You must have spoken to someone.”
“I . . . I . . . I have no idea who she was. She was a vampire, I think. She came to visit me in prison. I thought she was a lawyer at first. I hardly saw anyone when I was there except lawyers and wardens. I was so very alone.”
I was not going to feel bad for Corin. I was not going to feel bad for Corin. I was not going to feel bad for Corin. “So what did this vampire lawyer lady look like?”
“Very pale and very cold. I remember that she wore glasses and had blonde hair, pulled back.”
I was pretty sure I’d killed someone who looked like that. “How did they get you out?”
&nbs
p; “I don’t really know. She told the guards to let me out and they did.”
“Is there anything else you remember? Anything at all?”
“Oh. There is one thing. The night before they came for me, I had a red flower on my pillow.”
Well, that sorted out the who. But it still left a big, steaming pile of why. I’d met Henry Percy all of twice, and he’d been trying to kill me both times. I had no idea what he wanted or why he thought waking up the Morrígan was the way to get it, and honestly I didn’t care. I just needed to stop him.
“So what happened to the pot?”
“I left it in a storage locker in Kentish Town and left the key in a dead drop in Hyde Park.”
Okay, that was a bit more to go on. Now, if I was a smug beardy vampire wizard and I’d stolen a sodding great pot from a deranged vampire queen, what would I do with it? The sensible thing would be to put it in a vault somewhere. Or maybe not. Even if you had a very good reason to wake the Morrígan, she was dangerous and unpredictable; you’d want to keep the thing that controlled her nearby. The more I thought about it, and from what I’d seen of Percy, he was the kind of guy who’d have it in his front room with a bunch of flowers in it. Like hiding a letter in a letter rack.
I needed a rest and a shower, but before that, I needed a plan. The pack had more than a day’s head start on me. There was no point trying to warn the Council because if they hadn’t noticed a full-scale werewolf attack by now, they were beyond help. So, I made for the Velvet. Julian was probably fine, but I’d feel way better knowing she hadn’t been eaten.
We arrived at Brewer Street at about seven in the morning according to the clock on the dashboard. It was also telling me it was Sunday, which meant I’d lost a whole day in Faerie. Of course, I was expecting the club to be closed, but there was usually someone around, since neither Julian nor Ashriel actually needed to sleep. But when we arrived, I found the shutters down and a sign on the door saying it was closed for refurbishment until further notice. Things must have been more serious than I thought, and I needed to find someone who could tell me what the hell was going on.
I jumped back in the car and spent the next couple of hours on a whistle-stop tour of common vampire haunts. Aeglica’s old house was completely deserted. I even tried PCM Capital, the Prince of Coins’ financial fortress, and that was in complete lockdown. They were apparently closed for business, but I could just about see the shapes of armed men lurking behind the windows.
