by Helen Harper
Solus crooked an eyebrow at me. “If you have access to the mages’ library, then why is the old woman still asleep?”
Puzzled, I just frowned at the mage.
“Honestly, dragonlette, for an apparently smart girl sometimes you can be incredibly dim. The spell they put on her had to come from somewhere. And it will be written down somewhere. Just find the book that it’s written in and then you can find out how to free her.”
I stared at him, completely nonplussed. A vision of the off-limits catalogue cabinet swam into my head, along with the fact that Slim was constantly reminding me to stay on the ground floor. I smacked my palm against my forehead. I was a fucking idiot.
“And so turns on the lightbulb,” drawled Solus.
The cogs in my brain geared up. “I was told that only the Ministry Council could actually remove the spell.”
“Well, of course you were told that. If every mage had access to it then it would never work, would it?”
I thought about it. Assuming that I could find a book with details about how to remove the spell, and that I was able to do it myself, not only would I be breaking my word to the Arch-Mage, but I’d be pretty much damning myself and potentially Mrs. Alcoon forever. I already knew that there were few places to hide from the reach of the mages. And yet if I could free her now...I pondered carefully. It wouldn’t hurt to have a back up plan in case everything fell to shit at the academy.
Solus was watching me carefully. “You could always come and live in Tir-na-nog. You’d be safe there.”
I snapped my head up at him. He sighed. “I’m not a mindreader, dragonlette. It’s just not hard to work out what you might be thinking.”
“I don’t want to go to Fae-land.”
He shrugged. “Think about it.”
I breathed out. I didn’t like the lack of honour that those kind of actions would highlight. But I would have to think about it, and seriously. In the meantime, however I had to concentrate on the matter in hand. I raised my eyebrows pointedly at the Fae.
He sighed. “Give me a minute to put things into place.”
“Wait!” I stopped him and reached down to my shoes and began undoing the complicated straps.
I could feel Tom staring at me from the other side of the room. I mimed that my feet were hurting, which was actually true, and yanked the offending things off. Suddenly I felt about two feet shorter. I handed the Fae the shoes and he looked at them in disgust, as if I’d given him a pair of live snakes.
“Now you can begin,” I said.
Solus closed his eyes briefly and muttered something inaudible. Then he opened them and grinned at me. “Get ready.”
I stood there for a moment. Everyone around me continued on as before. Irritated, I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could there was an almighty roar of rage from right outside the window. The ground shook and half the guests ducked down, covering their ears.
“It’s a wendigo.” The Fae was looking incredibly smug.
“Huh?” I gaped at him.
“A wendigo. A cannibalistic nightmare of a beast. I’ve summoned it. It’s not happy.”
The thing roared again. People began running for the door – whether to get away or to try to kill the thing, I had no idea.
“Is it dangerous?” Bloody hell, I certainly didn’t want anyone’s blood on my hands for this.
Solus shrugged. “Only if it eats you.” He gave me a little nudge. “You’d better go now.”
I looked around, realising that the shifters were transforming in an explosion of fur and cloth, ready to do what shifters did best and save the proverbial day. Tom was already in wolf shape and leaping out of the door. I reached up and pecked Solus on the cheek, then ran.
Floods of different people were pushing past me in a rush to get outside. Even the vamps seemed to be taking heed of Solus’ wendigo creature, and were pelting out the front door, fangs elongating. It would take their combined efforts virtually no time at all to dispatch the thing. I hoped for its sake that Solus would transport it back to wherever it came from before they managed to do so.
Ducking underneath, and shoving my way through, I hiked up my dress so that I could actually move freely. Satisfied that everyone’s attention was on what was outside rather than in, I quickly leapt up the stairs, my bare feet hardly even touching the ground as I flew up. As soon as I reached the first floor, I curved round again and continued upwards. The trophy room was, according to my potentially defunct research, on the second floor towards the back of the house. I could still hear shouts from the different denizens of the Otherworld as they rushed to meet the wendigo outside. It roared again, and the foundations shook, but I ignored it as I completed my ascent, one sweaty palm clutching the banister and the other gripping onto my clutch with the Palladium inside.
I swung round, hitting the second floor. There were several doors to choose from. Fuck. Which one would it be? I launched myself towards the end of the landing and tried the very last door. It was locked. Not wanting to leaving a trace of myself if I didn’t need to, I didn’t try kicking it open for now. Instead, my hand twisted the knob on the second door. This one opened easily. However, inside all there seemed to be was a full size snooker table and a dartboard. I guessed the vamps enjoyed their indoor sports.
Shutting the door again, I sprang to my right and tried again. The catch on this one was a bit stiff and I ended up having to put my shoulder to it to force it open. I felt around for a light switch on the wall, finding it quickly and then flicking it on, illuminating the entire room. This was it. Heat rippled through my veins, snaking its way out from my heart and down to the tips of my extremities. I sucked it up, for once enjoying the focus the bloodfire gave me. Then I ducked inside the room and shut the door.
The entire room was covered in wall to wall glass shelving. I scanned each one quickly, hoping that I’d find the Ancile. There was a dizzying array of purloined gold plates, jade carvings, and stunningly opulent and heavy looking jewellery. There was even a mummified head that made me grimace as I shot by it. Still no wooden statue, however. I moved to the other wall and began side-stepping along, skimming each section. No. No. No. No. Maybe? No. I jerked my head each time in a tiny motion of negative affirmation. Another distant roar rumbled through. Damnit, I was running out of time.
And then I saw it. It was sandwiched between two dusty looking pieces of armour, and backlit by a green bulb. My bloodfire flared in approval. I felt along the glass, trying to get hold of the catch that would open the unit and let me swap the objects. Cursing, I realised I couldn’t feel or spot anything that might open it up. From somewhere an alarm bell starting ringing. I jumped for a moment, before working out that it was from too far away to be as a result of my actions, so I continued, moving my fingers along to try to find the secret. I could almost hear my bloodfire screaming at me to hurry up, to just punch through the sodding glass: come on, come on, you’ve done it before.
I shook my head. No, there had to be another way. If I smashed the glass then the vampires would know that someone had been here, and that could ruin everything. But it was to no avail. I just couldn’t find the damn switch to give me access to the Ancile.
I took a step and inhaled deeply, sucking the air into my lungs. Then almost without thinking, I raised up my left hand. The familiar glow of green flame twinkled at me. Using just the very edge of my pinky, I shot out a tiny stream of fire. As soon as it hit the glass, I had the horrible feeling that it was just going to bounce back, but instead it sizzled and spat for a moment before disappearing. The glass front stayed stubbornly closed. Fuck, there had to be a way to make it open without destroying the whole thing.
Staring down at my other hand, a thought hit me. I quickly reached over and began to pick at the freshest scab, pulling it away from skin, until a single drop of blood oozed from underneath. I dabbed it onto the tip of my index finger, then leaned forward to the glass, smearing the drop onto the flawless surface. Something clicked and buzze
d, and, my bloodfire singing as I watched, the gigantic pane slid to the side, revealing the bare shelf underneath. Without thinking further, I scrabbled in my purse and opened the second compartment, squeezing out the Palladium and gripping it hard.
I was just about to reach over to swap it with the Ancile when Corrigan interrupted, making me drop the small statue. It bounced onto the floor and underneath an embroidered and uncomfortable looking chair.
Where the fuck are you, Mackenzie?
I noted dispassionately that he was now omitting his stupid nickname for me. So that was the key, I thought. Just defy his orders and run away from his shifters, and then he’d call me something at least vaguely sensible. It wasn’t quite my preferred name, but it was close enough.
In the bathroom, I answered back. Powdering my nose.
He snarled in my head, Voice reverberating around my skull. I ignored it and scrabbled round on the floor, managing to grab hold back of the Palladium. Then I sprang back up, scooped up the Ancile, taking very great care not to let any of my blood touch it, and carefully stood the Palladium in its place. The wise carving of Athena stared compassionately out at me. I gave her head a little rub for luck, and then quickly ran back over to the edge of the glass and gave it a push, hoping it would close again.
Luckily for me, it did, sliding shut with another click. I wetted my fingers with saliva and rubbed away at the spot of the blood. It left a tiny smear on the glass, but there was little I could do about it now. I crammed the Ancile into my purse, zipped up the compartment, and then ran back out the door, only just remembering to flip the switch to turn the lights back off again as I did so. I made it to the stairs and leapt down, clearing them in one jump. Landing at the bottom, I bent my knees just enough to spring back up again and dart around in order to be able to descend to the ground floor. People were starting to wander back again, a few looking somewhat stunned and others looking pleased with themselves. I jogged down the last few stairs, disbelief and relief mingling together with the retreating bloodfire in my system.
And then I banged straight into a vampire.
Chapter Seventeen
I recoiled sharply, realising almost straightaway that it was the bloodsucker who’d welcomed everyone in. The one that Corrigan hadn’t seemed to like very much.
He stared at me expressionlessly. “What were you doing upstairs?”
My mouth dried. Every molecule of my body was screaming at me to take a step backwards, but there was no way I was going to give this guy the satisfaction.
“I…er…,” I was lost for words. The vamp’s red eyes were utterly mesmerising.
“Honey! There you are! Did you find the bathroom?” The dulcet tones of the Lord Alpha were, for once, music to my ears.
He wandered up, and placed an arm in a laidback manner around my shoulders. At least, to a casual observer it would have looked laidback. Personally I could feel the coiled tension ready to burst through at any moment. It was a miracle that he’d not inadvertently shifted in fact. I glanced down at his clothes. He was still wearing his tux, so had either taken the time to carefully undress and fold it up somewhere before joining the wendigo attack, or hadn’t bothered getting involved. I voted for the latter somehow.
I injected an appropriately whiny tone into my voice. “No, it’s not up there. That creature out there has almost made me wet myself.”
I flicked a glance back up at the vampire who was still standing in front of me, almost preternaturally still. Uh oh. Probably too much information. He watched me unblinkingly for a moment, then looked down at the oozing scab on my hand. He sniffed delicately. And licked his lips. I was pretty sure that at that point my heart stopped beating. The faintest furrow traced across his forehead and I felt a flicker of dread. Could he sense that my blood was different even from scenting just that small amount?
“Aubrey, this is Mackenzie.” Corrigan’s arm tightened infinitesimally across my shoulders. “Say hello.”
I flapped my eyelashes and aimed for vapid. “Hello, Aubrey. I love your eyes. They’re so…red.”
“You’re not human,” said the vampire, slowly.
I smiled brightly. “No, no, I’m not.”
“She’s a werehamster,” Corrigan casually interjected.
Aubrey’s lip pursed thoughtfully. “Fascinating. I’ve never come across one of those before.” He pronounced the word ‘those’ as if he were discussing a vaguely interesting species of insect.
“Aubrey, do you know where the bathroom is?”
He lifted a long white elegant arm and pointed down the corridor. I registered with a kind of sick absorption that the colour of his fingernails perfectly matched that of his eyes. Ugh. Painting on a smile that was about as genuine as that of a photo-shopped model, I slipped out from under Corrigan’s ever tightening arm and temporarily escaped, heart pounding.
Once inside the restroom, I closed the door and twisted the lock, then leaned against the wall for a second, trying to breathe deeply and stay calm. I’d done it. Aubrey might be suspicious, but if he looked around, he would notice nothing out of the ordinary. For a moment, I wished that I could use the Voice on Alex and let him know that it was mission accomplished. When I got out of the academy, I’d really have to think about investing in a mobile phone.
I pushed myself off the wall and stepped over to the sink, turning on the tap before splashing cool water on my face to calm myself down completely. The I stared into the mirror. And realised that all I’d really managed to succeed in doing was to smudge Deborah and Mary’s carefully applied make-up, so I pulled out a paper towel, and began to dab carefully, trying to get the worst of it off.
Corrigan popped back into my head. You’re a fucking idiot.
What do you mean? I was simply a bit scared of that incredibly loud roaring sound from outside, and needed to hide somewhere in case its owner came into the house. I continued wiping at my face, aware that I’d somehow now managed to give myself two large black eyes. Fucking hell.
Funnily enough, I know enough about you to know that you are not the type to run away from a fight. You’re far more likely to run headlong into one and get yourself killed.
I stopped my dabbing for a moment, hand frozen in midair. Did anyone get killed?
No. The thing vanished into thin air before anyone could do anything.
Relieved, I continued my self-ministrations. Well, I guess it’s just lucky that all you big strong shifters were around to keep everyone safe.
Mackenzie, have you done something that I need to know about? Something that is going to cause problems with the vampires?
I pondered that for a moment, then decided that I was in the clear and he didn’t need to know. Nope.
I’m not sure that Aubrey bought that story about the were-hamster.
I appreciate you doing that. Sticking up for me, I mean. I know it might have potentially made things difficult between you and him. I meant it. I did appreciate what he’d done. He could easily have thrown me to the wolves. Or the vampires at least anyway.
Corrigan was silent for a moment. You’re welcome. Now get the fuck out of there so that we can leave.
I’m actually a little bit busy.
Now, kitten.
His tone suggested that if I didn’t do what he asked, then he might quite possibly feed me to Aubrey himself, morsel by fleshy morsel. I stared at my now entirely make-up smeared face and shrugged. It wasn’t as if I’d be hanging out with this crowd again any time soon. Or ever.
Leaving the restroom, I received a couple of very odd glances. I grinned happily back, and then wandered up to Corrigan and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned round and took one look at my face and cast his gaze heavenwards as if to say ‘why me?’ I smiled at him brilliantly and took his arm.
“Hello gorgeous.”
You are not funny.
Suit yourself, my Lord.
You look better without that stuff anyway.
I tried to ignore the little thrill that h
is words sent through me. Then Corrigan jerked his head towards a couple of shifters who were leaning against the wall. They immediately sprang to attention and fell into step behind us. I rolled my eyes.
“Where are the rest of your obedient servants?”
“Strangely enough, there was a rather large angry bellowing creature outside that conveniently appeared out of nowhere. They felt the need to shift so they could attack it and protect the likes of you. Now they’re a bit too naked for this crowd.”
Ah, of course. That would include Tom as well then. “Thanks for the reminder. Although you’d think that you lot would learn to come better prepared and bring a change of clothes.”
A flash of hot angry gold passed through his eyes. “You’d think that us lot could attend a party without being attacked by a suddenly materialising monster.”
We passed Solus, who doffed an imaginary hat to me and smiled, displaying very white and very sharp teeth. Of my shoes there appeared to be no sign. Oh well. Missing nothing, Corrigan let out a low rumble of a growl.
“He’s a fairy.”
Yes, yes, he is.
“I’ve seen him before.”
Yes, yes, you have.
“In my bedroom.”
That’s right.
“Right after I kissed you.”
Oh. Yes. Okay. After that.
“Why is he here?”
I gave in. “It’s a party, Corrigan. Why is anyone here?”
We emerged out into the night air. I was feeling very proud of myself. I had resisted the appeal of the Lord Alpha admirably, despite the way he fitted so snugly into his tuxedo. I’d not lost my temper at all. I’d even been able to think clearly and use my bloodfire to good effect when raiding the vamps’ trophies. I had the Ancile in my purse and the Palladium was safely where it should be. I wriggled my bare toes against the cool hard tarmac. All was right with the world.
Corrigan halted in the middle of the road and turned to face me. He had clearly used his Voice to say something to our two followers, because I just caught them out of the corner of my eye melting away into the night. They wouldn’t have done that unless he’d ordered them to.
