Bloodrage (Blood Destiny 3)

by Helen Harper

  A knock at the door startled me out of my reverie. I reached over and twisted the doorknob, swinging it open to see who it was.

  “Hey! Baldi…I mean, Mack! How’s it going? Ready for the big date?” It was Mary, with Deborah in tow. Naturally, they’d gotten wind of my impending evening.

  I forced myself up to a sitting position. “I can’t wait.”

  Mary shot me a look of suspicion at my unenthusiastic comment. “You know, the reason why you are feeling like this, Mack, is because you haven’t yet been beautified.”

  Uh, say what?

  Deborah grinned at me. “We’ve spoken to the boys and they’ve agreed that it’s fine to put off today’s training session till tomorrow. So we have all day to help you get ready for this evening.” Her eyes gleamed in anticipation.

  “All day?” My mouth hung half-open. Really? How long did it take to have a bloody shower? It wasn’t exactly as if I had any fucking hair that needed doing. “I don’t think…,” I began, before Mary placed her finger on my lips, shushing me.

  “That’s enough. You can thank us later.”

  I tried to think quickly. If I could hunt down and defeat the various nasties that the Otherworld had to offer, then surely I could find a way to extricate myself from two girls. “I can’t get ready yet,” I said triumphantly, seizing upon a reason. “I don’t have anything to wear.”

  “Don’t you worry your pretty little head,” tutted Deborah. “I’ve spoken to Mage Florides and it’s all in hand.”

  I might have to kill Alex for not putting a stop to this, I thought grimly, as the pair of them pulled me out of bed and down to the communal shower room.

  Several hours later, I’d been plucked and waxed and prettified half to death. I was sitting grumpily in a swivel chair in the girls’ dorm room, feeling none too impressed. Deborah wandered back in with a cup of coffee in one hand and a dress in the other. The aroma of the rich coffee cheered me up no end. I tried to avoid looking at the dress.

  “Here we go,” she trilled happily. “Coffee and party wear!”

  I reached out for the steaming mug but Deborah snatched it away out of my reach. I growled at her.

  “No, no, no,” she said, with a saucy wink, “you get the coffee after you’ve put on the dress.”

  “But I’m naturally a very clumsy person,” I pointed out, reasonably. “I might spill the coffee down the dress.”

  “Hmm, you’re right,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll drink the coffee, you put the dress on.”

  Cursing the world under my breath, I stood up and snatched it out of her hands then stomped off to the bathroom to change. Pulling it off its hanger, I had to admit that it was an arresting colour. Pillarbox red, it screamed ‘look at me!’. That was all very well, I thought, if I wanted to attract attention. However, it didn’t strike me as the sort of garment that you’d wear if you wanted to sneak around undetected. Some sort of black ninja combo would surely be more suitable. I knew that the girls were only trying to be nice, and thought that they were helping me snag Corrigan’s attentions, but Alex at the very least could have gone for something a bit less obtrusive.

  Squeezing into it, I performed some extraordinary calisthenics to reach around and do up the zip, forced to breathe in deeply as I did so just so that it would go all the way up. I smoothed it down and scowled. It was too low and too short and I looked absolutely bloody ridiculous. A seventeen year old might be able to get away with this, but a woman in her mid twenties just looked as if she was trying far too hard. And how in the hell was I supposed to manage running, if I needed to get away fast? It was so tight, I’d be lucky if I managed to even sodding walk.

  “Coooeee!” called Deborah. “How does it look?”

  I yanked open in the bathroom door and stalked out. “It looks fucking …”

  “Amazing,” breathed Mary.

  “Drop-dead gorgeous,” sighed Deborah. “You’re so lucky. If I had a dress like that to put on, then Mage Thomas would definitely notice me.”

  I bit back the comment that was already on my tongue and forced a smile onto my face, stomping over to the mirror to take a look. Then I had to admit that it did look pretty amazing. They’d shaped my eyebrows so that instead of giving the impression that I was permanently in a bad mood, I looked groomed and sophisticated. The make-up they’d trowelled on had evened out my complexion and made my eyes look wide and sultry all at the same time, while the dress fit snugly in all the right places. I swiveled my hips around for a couple of admiring seconds. Okay, maybe it looked alright after all.

  “Something’s missing,” stated Mary firmly from behind me.

  Deborah jumped right in. “Accessories, darling, accessories!”

  “Yeah! If you take off that necklace, then I’m sure I can find something else that’ll match much better.”

  I touched my hands to my neck. I’d almost forgotten all about the thing that hung round there. In the ensuing mess of discovering that I hadn’t needed to shave my head off after all, it had completely slipped my mind to tell Thomas that he’d have to work out a way to get it off me. Now didn’t seem like the right time to tell either Deborah or Mary that it was stuck there.

  “No,” I said emphatically. “The necklace will have to stay.”

  There must have been something in my facial expression that brooked no argument because for once the pair of them backed down. That was until Deborah produced a pair of shoes from behind her back.

  “Well, if you won’t change your jewellery, then the least you can do is change your shoes.”

  Absolutely no way. I would not be able to walk half a yard in those things. Unfortunately for me, the pair of them were already at my feet, forcing them on and strapping them up with some kind of complicated intricate leather bands. I felt about half a foot taller, and already felt like they were starting to pinch. I took a couple of steps and almost tottered over. Oh great. Mack, the killer cat burglar who crawls to every destination. Brilliant. I was about to start pulling them right back off again when there was a quick knock at the door and I looked up to see Alex.

  He looked mildly astonished at my appearance, but recovered quickly and tapped his watch. “We need to vamoose, Mack, er, Initiate Smith, I mean.”

  Sighing heavily, I wavered my way over to him, much in the same manner that Brock had walked when he’d been falling down drunk. I could see the corners of Alex’s mouth tipping up as he tried not to laugh and I had to resist the urge to not punch him. I could do this, I thought defiantly. It was only a dress and a pair of shoes, for fuck’s sake. Saying goodbye to Mary and Deborah, and thanking them as graciously as I could for their ministrations, we headed out the door and down to the waiting portal. Ruefully eyeing the shimmering gateway, I felt slightly sick. So much for the perfectly applied make-up.

  I’d been concentrating so hard on not falling over, that I hadn’t even noticed that the Dean was also outside, standing there waiting. He glanced at me up and down, a sneer on his face. “Trying to impress someone?”

  “No.” I didn’t even bother reacting further. He just wasn’t worth it.

  “I expect you to remember that you’re a representative of this institution. I know most of the people who you will be socialising with and, believe me, I will hear about it if you do anything that even hints at tarnishing our reputation.”

  I stared at the mage. One good thing about the stupidly high heels was that I was now taller than him and able literally to look down upon him. It was a nice feeling. “Oh, if you know so many of them then it’s a real shame that you weren’t invited, Dean Michaels,” I said sweetly.

  His eyes shot daggers at me. “The responsibility of running this academy mean that I cannot afford the opportunity to go out hobnobbing at will.”

  “Of course,” I murmured, trying so very hard not to laugh. I glanced over at Alex, who was stood beside me, a ball of visible tension. “We’d better go, Mage Florides.”

  He nodded and took a step forward, vanishing
through the portal. I followed, hoping that I wouldn’t trip over after finally managing to get one over on the Dean.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I threw up as soon as we arrived in front of the Ministry headquarters. Alex was good enough to look pointedly away until the contents of my stomach had been completely purged, then he helped me back up to my feet.

  “You know, Mack Attack, antagonising the Dean is not going to help your cause.”

  “He started it,” I said sullenly, all too aware that I sounded just like a petulant child.

  Alex shook his head. “You’re going to need to learn to bite your tongue more.”

  I nodded briefly, not wanting to acknowledge the truth of his words, and he handed me over two slim short daggers. They weren’t silver, which was probably just as well considering who my date was, but they still looked happily lethal.

  “Here,” he said. “I picked these up because they’ll fit perfectly with this dress.”

  He moved over to me, instructing me to lift my arms. Then he slid one under each armpit. “There’s a specially made sheath built into the fabric,” he explained. “If you need to use them, and I would urge that you do so only as a very last resort, then you can slide them out within a heartbeat.” He looked terribly unsure of himself. “I know very little about weapons, but I’ve been assured that these are of the highest quality. I had to hock my favourite surfboard to get them, although goodness knows why a troll would want to go surfing.”

  Startled, I peered up at him thinking that I had a pretty good idea about which troll he was referring to. Before I could ask him about it, however, a lazy arrogant voice from across the other side of the street called over. “Are you ready to go yet or are you bringing the wizard with you?”

  Corrigan. Dressed to the nines in a perfectly tailored tuxedo, it was still more than possible to see the effects of his lifestyle from the ripped muscular bulges under the expensive material, even from the other side of the darkened street. Realising that he’d have noted Alex’s proximity to me when he slipped the knives under my dress, and probably mistaken it for something else entirely, a faint twist went through me. He always seemed to think the worst of me with men. Or maybe it was the best of me that he thought I had so many apparent admirers. Regardless, it was wrong. I shouted over that I’d just be a second then I turned back to Alex.

  He was shaking where he stood and I knew it wasn’t from the cold. “It’ll be alright,” I said softly, sounding a hell of a lot more confident than I actually was. “This will be easy.”

  “I’ll never forgive myself if you end up getting hurt, Mack Attack.”

  I smiled at the mage. “Hey, this is a good plan. I’ll get the Ancile, replace it with the Palladium and no-one will ever be any the wiser.”

  He passed me over a smallish clutch that contained Athena’s little statue. “Be safe.”

  “I will.” I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek, gripping tightly onto the purse. Then I turned back to face Corrigan and the music.

  The Lord Alpha was leaning against a shiny black limo, arms folded, looking rather bored. I took a nervous step forward and felt myself waver ever so slightly, then I picked up confidence and managed to move a little faster. Halfway across the road, however, I felt my left heel start to wobble. I pushed out my arms to try to balance myself, but it was too late and I ended up careering onto the cold hard tarmac with a loud ooph of exhaled air.

  Corrigan began laughing. I picked myself up and glared at him.

  “Yeah, lap it up, fuzzball,” I hissed, annoyed with myself.

  “Striking fear into the hearts of all who cross her, ladies and gentleman, I give you Mackenzie Smith,” he intoned dramatically.

  “Fuck off.”

  He shrugged. “Okay, then,” and began pulling open the door to his ‘look at me, I’m a rich bastard’ car, as if to clamber in and leave me stranded.

  I scowled at him. “Very funny.”

  Corrigan smirked. “Just remember that you’re the one who invited me out on a date. You might want to show a little more humility and gratitude.”

  “This is not a date,” I stated firmly. “It’s merely an opportunity to smooth things over in order to avoid any future confrontations.” And to steal a thousand year old statue to prevent a civil war in the Ministry, and death and destruction everywhere else, but I wasn’t going to go into that at this particular moment in time.

  He licked his lips predatorily, as if promising future ‘confrontations’ that I had no desire right now to think about. I swallowed, hard, then shakily tottered my way across the final few feet to him. Holding open the door, he gestured me inside with a flourish. I took one quick glance back at Alex, standing forlornly in front of the Ministry and then got inside.

  Once we were both ensconced within the limo’s interior, it smoothly took off. It had the unmistakable smell of new car lingering about it. Despite myself, I was impressed.

  “So things are going well in shifter-land, then?” I commented.

  Corrigan didn’t answer, instead reaching over into a small cabinet and pulling out a bottle of champagne and two chilled glasses. What the hell, I figured, I needed something to calm my nerves. He poured me a glass, which I gulped down and drained, then set aside.

  He blinked at me, a streak of gold flashing its way across his jade chipped eyes. “Thirsty?”

  “A bit,” I sniffed. “Maybe I just need some Dutch courage to get through this evening.” Then it occurred to me that was probably a stupid thing to say, so I backtracked hastily. “Just because until very recently I thought that you were going to slaughter me and all my friends once you worked out that I wasn’t a shifter of course.”

  “Yes,” he murmured. “We’ll need to talk about that one day.” He poured me another glass, but this time I ignored it. Taking the edge off was one thing, but getting drunk was most definitely not a good idea. “So, the mage. He’s the one from Cornwall, right? The one who sneaked you through the portal.”

  And there we had it. I was just surprised that it had taken him this long. “He didn’t sneak me through the portal. I asked him to help me get through it and he obliged. Because he’s nice. And that’s what friends do for other friends.”

  “Put them into life and death situations?” There was an edge to his voice.

  “Help them in their time of need.”

  “It may have been more helpful if he’d gone through with you. But you didn’t want that, did you? You were seeking glory and wanted the spotlight all to yourself.”

  I felt the heat rise up inside me at his baiting. “Glory? I was trying to stop Iabartu from murdering anyone else.”

  “We still haven’t really established why she was trying to murder anyone at all.” He leaned back against his seat, and eyed me.

  Okay, I saw where this was going. He was still trying to glean from me what I really was, and he thought that he could manipulate me into getting annoyed and blurting it out. Not gonna happen. I concentrated on letting the bloodfire dampen back down, and then smiled calmly back. “Instead of annoying each other, why don’t we see if we can get along?”

  Corrigan grinned, baring his teeth. I shivered.

  “Okay then,” he purred. “You look nice in that dress. It was…thoughtful of you to dress up.”

  I could play this game. “You look well turned out yourself.”

  Mutual appreciation society now in full swing, I felt brave enough to pump him for a little information. “So,” I said casually, “where is it we are actually going?”

  Corrigan laughed humourlessly. “You know exactly where we’re heading to.”

  Oh, shit. I thought quickly, trying to remember what he’d said before, sure that he’d not mentioned himself where we were specifically going. Play dumb, Mack, play dumb. “Um, no. You just said that it was a gathering for the Otherworld leaders, that’s all.”

  “And you just happened to be free to go out only this night. After almost biting my head off less than
twenty four hours before.” His eyes narrowed. “Let’s quit the play-acting, kitten. For some reason, you are desperate to get into this party and you’re prepared to use me to do it.”

  My stomach dropped. Was I really that obvious? Corrigan shrugged, but there was a lack of insouciance about it, and instead the appearance of barely controlled tension that was frightening. He leaned back towards me and whispered, “So don’t think that I am for one moment going to let you out of my sight to go off and do something stupidly reckless.”

  I hesitated for too long, before squeaking, “I don’t have any ulterior motives, Corrigan. You’re just determined to think the worst of me.”

  “Hmm, we’ll see about that, shall we?”

  Insides churning, I stared at him, wide-eyed and nervous. Of course it had been too easy getting him to agree to bring me to this party. He was just toying with me, much in the same way a cat does with a mouse. Realising that I was that mouse pretty much terrified me.

  Fortunately, before I could say anything else that would just dig my own grave deeper, the car pulled up to a stop. Corrigan got out, not waiting for the driver to open the door for him. I did the same. The street we were on was brightly lit with lamp-posts, but I still felt that I could imagine all manner of nasty things hiding in the shadows, ready to jump out and attack. The building itself looked exactly as it had in the old book I’d found in the mages’ library, although now that I was here in person it felt considerably more imposing. The bricked out windows in particular gave the whole place a sinister edge. Corrigan moved round to my side and held out his arm. I stared down at it for a moment, feeling pointlessly furious that he’d suggested he didn’t believe that I was here just for him. I wasn’t, of course, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t still be annoyed that he didn’t trust me. Forcing myself to remain calm, I placed my hand on his outstretched arm, noting the rock hard steel of the muscles beneath. Then we walked up to the entrance of the vampires’ lair.