“Jade, are you ok? You’re still pretty green around the gills. I don’t want to rush you, but we should probably head through the veil pretty soon. They might still catch up to us.”
I looked up at him in horror. “Surely they couldn’t catch us now. I mean, you took us straight out of there. There wouldn’t even be a trail for them to follow, right?”
He looked at me grimly. “Jade, they’re heart hounds; they’ll smell you anywhere in this forest because you’re part human. They don’t so much take notice of the leprechauns but if they’re desperate, they might and now they know they were cheated out of a meal, they’ll be on the hunt for certain. I just don’t want to risk them creeping up on us here; they’re stealthy hunters when they have to be. If you could hurry up and be better faster I’d be very grateful.”
Heeding his words, I began to pull myself to my feet, holding onto a gnarled tree for support until I felt his arms around my waist pulling me upright. I shook my head at him, indicating I didn’t want to come up too fast. If I was going to be better, then I needed to take some things a little slower and standing up was definitely one of those things. My head swam a little as I clung to the tree, praying for it to clear but hoping more that I wouldn’t be sick anymore. The world steadied and I nodded for Lorcan to lead the way to the veil.
He walked slowly ahead of me, turning back every few moments to make sure I was still following him until he eventually gave up and stopped until I caught up to him. We walked in silence for a few minutes but I had to know why he wanted to help me.
“Lorcan, why are you doing this? I mean, you are risking yourself against the vampires and against your own kind; not mentioning the fairies and my Dad, who doesn’t seem to like you at all. So with all of that, why are you helping me?”
He didn’t answer straight away but instead stared off into the darkening forest. I had almost given up hope of him answering at all when he opened his mouth. “I like you, Jade. I find you funny and strange and I feel like I should be helping you. When I was younger, I knew a girl like you – not part fairy or anything; she was entirely human, but we got on really well. She made me laugh and I think I made her laugh, too; she was great. You remind me of her a little. Not in how you look; she was quite different from you. Her hair was redder for a start.”
He laughed suddenly and I jumped. He stopped talking and even though I didn’t want to interrupt his train of thought, I wanted to know what happened between them but before I could ask him, he began to speak again.
“She was lovely to everyone; you know, one of those truly good people. I could see it in her; her soul sang and she made everyone near her happier simply by being there. You remind me of her because your soul sings, too; your goodness rolls off you in waves. It’s one of the reasons you attracted that vampire to you so quickly in the club; well, that and the way you were dressed.” He smiled at me quickly before continuing. “And then, one day she was just gone.”
“What happened to her?”
He remained silent again, as though thinking about what best to say to me. “Well, I introduced her to this world. You know, leprechauns and fairies and naturally enough, she became curious about all the others like vampires and the like. She went to the club, the one you were in the other night, ‘The Wreak-Room’. She shouldn’t have; I told her not to, to stay away, but she was always so curious about everything. She wanted to see a real vampire. She went on her own; sent me a note telling me where she had gone. I didn’t believe it at first; I should have but I thought she was just messing, you know. If I had realised, I’d have gone after her straight away, but I didn’t. I really thought she was just messing, Jade. I didn’t think; I swear I didn’t think.”
He choked on his words and stopped walking, covering his face with his hands. He coughed loudly, clearing his throat before beginning to walk again. I didn’t speak; I knew he would finish when he was ready. We walked in silence for a few minutes more.
“When I realised, it was too late, we were supposed to meet up that day and I was going to bring her back to meet my family; I was going to show her the fairy realm. I was so excited. I had never had someone of my own before and then she came along and I loved her; even though we were young, I still loved her. When she didn’t turn up, I got worried and then remembered the note. I’ll never forget that feeling, realising how wrong I had been.
“I blinked over there. The place was shut down because it was morning, but I got in there and I found her. They take all their victims to the basement bunker under the club, the ones they don’t intend on letting go. She was so frightened. Luckily, she couldn’t remember the things he did to her; or I should say, they did to her because he couldn’t resist passing her around. He destroyed her and by the time I got there, it was too late to save her; she was almost dead. They had bleed her practically dry and her other injuries were too much for her to survive. I picked her up and I held her. She was so cold and all I wanted to do was give her some of my warmth but I couldn’t.
When he had finished using her for pleasure and for food, he had discarded her and she had woken up from under his gaze. She was just so frightened. She died in my arms that morning, all because I wasn’t clever enough to realise she was being serious about going to the club. If I had thought about it more instead of being so blinded by excitement about bringing her here, I’d have known she was serious and I could have saved her. But I didn’t and I don’t think I’ll ever forget what those monsters did to her, how broken she was. It’s part of the reason I was so angry at you the other night. I never got to have that conversation with her and so I took it all out on you instead; I didn’t mean to be so harsh.”
I was glad the forest was dark and it hid my shock. I couldn’t bear to think about what they had done to her. Even though I knew what monsters some of them could be, I was lucky I had never had anything to do with that part of their breed. But Lorcan had. Catching up to him, I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him close, hiding my tear stained face from his eyes. It hurt to hear his pain about his loss; it was so raw and real to him and I could feel it inside of him. I didn’t know what I should say to him but I knew it wasn’t his fault.
“You do realise it wasn’t your fault, don’t you?”
He looked down at me, his luminous green eyes glowing slightly in the dark. “Jade, if you couldn’t get to Sam in time to save him, would you believe someone if they told you it wasn’t your fault?”
I stepped away from him but held onto his arm. “That’s different and you know it. If I don’t save Sam, it really will be my fault. What happened to her wasn’t yours. You have to accept that.”
He shook his head. “Jade, it’s no different. You know where Sam is and who has him; she sent me a note telling me where she was. The vampires want you and that is why they have taken Sam. I introduced her to this world, making her curious about them. If I hadn’t, she would never have known and she’d still be alive now. I could have saved her but I didn’t because I was too stupid. I want to help you because I don’t want you to know what that feels like and also because I don’t want anything to happen to you. The fairies have this over the top sense of honour. I mean really, you’re his daughter; he could help you if he really wanted to, but they have a truce to think of. I think that is complete rubbish. You’re his blood; he made you. How would he feel if something happened to you because he was too afraid of the repercussions?”
I didn’t speak. On one hand, I knew what he was saying was completely true, but I also didn’t want anything to happen to either him or Emily. So I could understand why he wasn’t helping me, but it didn’t make it any less painful. Lorcan grinned at me, once more returning to his cheerful self.
“Come on; we need to get a wriggle on. You still have to go through the veil and after the way you freaked out last time, I’m kind of looking forward to seeing how you react this time. I’m hoping it’s going to be less dramatic but hey, I’m good at carrying damsels in distress around the place.”
>
I punched him playfully in the arm and he jogged just out of reach of my foot that I attempted to kick him with. Laughingly, I jogged after him and we passed the time until we reached the veil in a lighter mood.
He stopped and placed his hand out in front of me, urging me to stop. Pausing, I looked carefully at the path ahead of me. It looked no different than the rest of the road, but I knew we had reached the veil. I could feel its power creeping along my skin and lifting the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Well, come on then, half-breed; it’s now or never, I suppose,” Lorcan jokingly told me, reaching his hand out towards me. I slapped it away.
“Well, at least I’m not a leprechaun!” I hit back at him.
Playfully, he held his hands over his heart as though I had wounded him and he grunted to emphasise the point. He suddenly lunged forwards and skipped over the veil. I paused for a moment before I followed him.
It felt different to how it had been last time. It didn’t pour down my throat in the manner it had done previously, but instead clung to my skin and tangled in my hair as I walked through it. I felt as though I was walking through deep water or sticky toffee; it slowed all my movements and I began to struggle to lift my feet from the forest floor. Lorcan, on the other hand, simply skipped unimpeded around me and it wasn’t until I found my arms becoming harder to lift that he intervened.
“Stop fighting it, Jade; you’re making it harder on yourself,” he whispered as he pushed me forwards. I felt as though I was slowly being torn apart, that part of me was stuck back further and with Lorcan pushing me, he was separating me from the rest of my body. I tried to cry out to tell him how much it hurt, but the words wouldn’t form in my mouth. He scooped me up and lifted me forward. I could feel my skin sliding away from my bones, or at least that was how it felt. He ran through the veil carrying me against his chest. The pain of the veil slowly tearing me up caused me to pass out.
I awoke to the sun on my face and birds singing in the trees. I sat up gingerly, feeling to make sure that all of me had survived my trip through the boundary. It seemed like it had; I didn’t feel any pain anymore and I didn’t think any part of me had broken off in the crossing. I wriggled my fingers and toes and adjusted my neck. I felt stiff, as though I had sat in the one cramped position for too long. Sitting up, I looked around. I could see Lorcan sitting across from me, lying back against the bark of a large oak tree with his eyes closed. I could see my car parked away from the road and behind the ditch, hidden from the view of the road by the bushes and trees surrounding it. I don’t remember parking it there, I thought; I was sure I had left it closer to the entrance and definitely visible from the road. Standing, I walked towards where Lorcan sat. He looked asleep and I didn’t want to startle him but just as I stood over him, his eyes popped open and he smirked lazily.
“Have a nice sleep, did you?”
I blushed furiously. “No, actually; well I don’t think so. Was I really asleep that long? I mean, it’s daytime here.”
His smirk grew wider. “Nah, you’re fine. It’s simply the time difference between here and there; time passes much faster here than there so you’re back here about five days later than you should be and you only spent a few hours there.”
My mouth gaped open in shock; he couldn’t be serious. I’d been gone from here for five days and no one had tried to contact me? I didn’t believe him; he had to joking. I searched in my pockets until I found my phone but it was switched off. Quickly pressing the button, I keyed in the pin number as Lorcan lazily stretched his long legs out in front of him, causing me to take a few steps away from him as I anxiously waited for my phone to come back to life. It blinked on and he was right; on the calendar on the phone, it registered as five days later than I had thought. Suddenly, my phone began bleeping furiously as text after text poured into my inbox until it displayed the full symbol. They all seemed to be either from Annie or Aidan but some of them were from the girls at work; I was in big trouble. I groaned. How had I not realised this might happen? Emily had warned me of the time difference, but it hadn’t registered in my brain.
Lorcan hopped effortlessly to his feet beside me. “Ooh, someone’s popular.”
Sticking my tongue out at him, I hastily typed a text to Annie explaining that I was alright but I’d explain later. I scanned through Aidan’s texts. He seemed adamant that I should contact him and that it was urgent so I sent him a text in reply. I really didn’t want to talk to him right now. I needed to go home and think about what I would do next. I needed a plan of some sort in order to find Sam and get him home safely, but I just wasn’t sure what it was yet.
Pulling my keys out of my pocket, I hastily headed for the car. Lorcan followed me, his pace much more leisurely as it didn’t take much for him to keep up with me. Popping the locks, I slid in behind the wheel and switched on the engine as Lorcan slid in beside me. I felt very far away from the steering wheel and pulled the seat closer so that my feet comfortably reached the pedals.
“I don’t remember parking here; I thought I was closer to the road,” I commented as he slipped his belt on.
“You were but I couldn’t leave the car there so I moved it and glamoured it from view while you were up with your mom. I thought it was best. People might become suspicious of a car that sits on the side of a road in a gate way for five days.”
I nodded as I put the car in gear and allowed it to roll forward towards the road. At least it still worked, I thought as I lurched from the grassy curb down onto the road and pulled away.
My phone buzzed in my pocket a few times as I sped along the country road, but I couldn’t answer it and drive at the same time. It felt like a text so I dismissed it to the back of my mind. Lorcan sat beside me staring at the countryside sweeping past the window.
“Shouldn’t you put in new contacts or something?” I asked him, remembering what his eyes looked like without.
“Already done,” he answered turning to look at me, showing his now much more normal looking simple green eyes. “What are we going to do when we get back, have you thought of your first move yet?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m not sure what I should do. I mean, I could be lucky and they might contact me again, but I doubt it; although the creepy guy did promise another visit soon. He wasn’t pleased when I told him I wasn’t going to turn myself in and I’m worried now in case he decides to kill Sam as a punishment on me for not doing what he wanted in the first place.”
“Hmmm,” Lorcan sighed. “I doubt he will to be honest. I mean, all he has is Sam; that’s his only way of contacting you. If he does kill him, then it leaves them with nothing and I don’t think he’s going to want that. They’re pretty smart and your dad was right; you do need a real plan of action against them. You can’t just go running in there or you will get yourself and Sam killed and from what I can see, that is not what you want. So, how about instead of dying, we think up a really good plan that will blow them all away so you can save Sam and yourself?”
I smiled at his optimism; it felt so good to have someone completely on my side who understood the monsters and who wanted to help me come up with a plan of attack against them. “It sounds good to me. Do you have any suggestions?”
Turning onto the motorway, I eased the car from the slip road into the flow of traffic and headed back in towards the city.
“Well not really, but I suppose with a little bit of digging, we could find out where they have their old country pile. At least if we know that, we can think up a new plan of attack.”
My phone buzzed again, distracting me from what Lorcan was saying. I could feel the beginning of a blinding headache; my skull felt as though it wanted to split it open from the inside out.
“Lorcan, is it normal to get really bad migraines after either passing through the veil or blinking?”
He examined me carefully as he spoke. “No. Most have no after effects once they pass through the veil; you should be no different. All blinking does is makes
you really sick. Are you feeling sick again?”
I shook my head and the world tried to swim in funny colours. I slowed down and tried to pull over onto the hard shoulder, but the traffic seemed particularly heavy. Cars honked all around me as I slowed to a crawl and finally found enough of a break to pull over. I gripped my head in my hands. The pain was getting worse and patches of my vision were starting to fade out. Lorcan called my name but his voice had become no more than a whisper that sounded down a very long tunnel.
White exploded behind my vision once more and I understood what was happening. He stood in front of me. Well, he didn’t actually stand on his own two feet; he was simply kept upright by the chains that bound him tightly. He didn’t move, not even when I called his name; it was as though he couldn’t hear me. Then I recognised the voice that spoke up beside me.
“Pitiful, isn’t it? One that was so proud before has now been brought so low, and for what? Selfish pride. He doesn’t realise how much of a better place you could make this world, Jade; doesn’t trust that you could be an asset. He believes you will simply be a menace and I don’t believe it.”
I couldn’t turn my head to look at the one who spoke to me but I remembered him from the last vision I had been sent. Sam’s unmoving body filled my vision.
“What have you done to him?” I tried to keep my voice as level as I could. I knew he would simply enjoy my anguish if I showed it to him and I couldn’t give him the satisfaction; Sam wouldn’t want me to. His laugh cut against my skin like shards of glass.
“Oh dear. Well, you see, Sam was a very naughty boy. He had to be punished so we’ve put him into a deep slumber because, well, let us just say the girls were a little overzealous in their attentions on him and he is quite near death. We felt an induced slumber was best for now; it allows him time to heal, if he is lucky. Then we can begin the process again, but this time I fear he may not recover; he is very badly damaged. But if he had given you up like I had hoped, he could have gone free, but he was far too stubborn.”
The Violet Line Page 24
