Cry of the Firebird (The Firebird Fairytales Book 1)

by Amy Kuivalainen

  “I’ll go get it,” Anya said before standing on tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Trajan watched her go and wished he could go after her. Hamish was grinning at him.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t say anything. It just surprised me.”

  “Why? I told you about her.” Trajan hung their coats and led Hamish to the kitchen.

  “I’m surprised that after all this time reading all of those books you have turned into an idiot.”

  “How am I? I know it’s dangerous touching a human but we have been testing it and I haven’t hurt her, yet. I am still worried that I will one day,” Trajan said as he switched on the hot water jug.

  “The risk of killing her would be the only explanation as to why you haven’t jumped her fragile, human bones.”

  “What do you mean by ‘jumped her’?”

  “You really are clueless.” Hamish shook his head.

  “Don’t talk to Trajan like that,” said Anya as she walked into the kitchen, wrapped in a plush dressing gown.

  “Tea?” Trajan asked her.

  “Yes please.” Anya yawned as she bent down to retrieve three cups from a cupboard. To Trajan’s surprise the sugar bowl floated over to him from the opposite side of the bench. A drawer opened and a teaspoon appeared and stuck itself into the granules.

  “One or two?” Trajan asked.

  “Two please,” answered Hamish and the spoon obeyed. “Am I going to have singing birds doing my laundry while I am here with the floating sugar bowls?”

  “I hate to disappoint you but my skills aren’t quite there yet. Though some of those birds would be handy to have when you think about it,” Anya replied.

  “I see your lessons with the Twins have been going well.” Trajan smiled at her.

  “They are. I am moving objects around really easily now,” Anya passed Hamish his cup of tea. “And I don’t feel like my head is full of static because some of the magic is finally being released. How was your flight?”

  “Really long. I’m kind of buzzed up now which is the problem,” Hamish answered.

  “You should keep Trajan company. I would stay up all night with him talking but I am in desperate need of some beauty sleep.”

  “Give the guy a break. He wasn’t allowed to talk to you for years,” Hamish came to his defence unexpectedly.

  “That is his fault,” Anya said stubbornly. “I was right there in front of him.” Hamish was smiling at her and Trajan could tell that he liked her. “I’m going back to bed.” She snaked her arms around Trajan’s neck and kissed his cheek.

  “Where’s mine?” Hamish looked at her expectantly.

  “Sorry Hamish, you’re just not as handsome.” She smiled cheekily before wandering out of the kitchen door with her steaming cup. Hamish gave a snort of disbelief.

  “She is just saying that to make you feel better. I’m way better looking than you.”

  “She said it, not I.”

  “I still can’t believe you haven’t bedded her. She a virgin or something?”

  “No, she’s not and I am too afraid to hurt her.” Trajan realised he was blushing.

  “Yeah but your self-control won’t always be this good. I think sex will make you question every assumption you have ever made about humanity.”

  “You’re an animal.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.”

  “We do not have what one could consider a normal courtship. I don’t even know if that physical aspect would be possible.”

  “That’s all well and good but Anya doesn’t strike me as the type who couldn’t handle you or your quirks. She knew what you were when she first kissed you. You need to get over your hang ups. I’m sure Yvan would kill you if you hurt her anyway so your remorse would be short lived.” Hamish stopped laughing. His nose went up into the air just as Trajan heard a woman scream.

  “Anya…” He bolted up the stairs with Hamish close behind him. The tall windows in Anya’s room were shattered. Blood was on the floor, the curtains were slashed and Anya was gone.

  Chapter Twenty Four- Taken

  Katya woke to a frightened scream echoing through the walls. She flew out of bed, grabbed her gun, charged into the hallway and followed the voices coming from Anya’s room. Trajan was crouched on the ground next to a massive golden dingo. It looked as if it had been crossed with a mastiff. There was no sign of Anya.

  “Trajan, what the hell?” Katya pointed her gun at the creature. It let out a low threatening growl. It was answered by the large black wolf which moved in from behind her.

  “Easy Katya, he is a friend,” Trajan said. He was fingering a small piece of torn red material while studying a trail of blood along the carpet.

  “Where’s Anya?” she demanded.

  “They have taken her,” Yvan said as he came through the doorway, his eyes burning like flames. “How did they get past your security systems to begin with?” His eyes didn’t change back and they were unnerving her. Izrayl let out a small whine when he sniffed the blood trail.

  “I don’t know.” Trajan’s voice betrayed no emotion.

  “Settle down, Yvan. Blaming others won’t help get her back,” Katya said before turning to Izrayl. “What can you smell?” Izrayl continued to track around the room before he morphed back.

  “It’s strange. There isn’t much of a scent. It just smells like death and it’s dark.” He shook his head. “It’s unlike anything I have encountered before. It smells of despair.” Katya passed him a towel from Anya’s bathroom.

  “Cover up.”

  “I could say the same to you,” he retorted, eyeing up her singlet and black panties. The big golden dingo morphed into a strapping golden man.

  “There’s nothing hotter than a half-naked girl with a gun,” the stranger said with an appreciative smile.

  “Dream on, Goldie,” she replied as she lowered her gun.

  “Nice to see you again Izrayl,” the stranger smiled.

  “You too Hamish,” Izrayl shook his hand. Trajan looked up from the smashed glass of the window. He ran his fingertips along the sill. Something feral passed over his normally placid face and Katya’s hand tightened instinctively on her gun.

  “So, what the hell are you? Some kind of were-dingo?”

  “I am just plain old cursed. I was an Irish convict sent from England to Australia. I made the stupid mistake of killing an aboriginal elder in a brawl one night. As a result I was kidnapped and their kurdaitcha man cursed me as apart of their tribal laws. I have been this way ever since.”

  “Nice to meet you. I am going to ring Isabelle and tell her to get her ass over here to help us. She might be able to pick up something from the room that we can’t.”

  “You might want to get dressed,” Izrayl suggested.

  “I might not.” Katya went back to her room and rummaged around for her phone and hit the speed dial.

  “Isabelle,” came the blunt response.

  “Belle, I need you over here now. They took her.”

  “Who?”

  “Anya.”

  “No, who took her?”

  “I don’t know. The Darkness I am guessing. Izrayl said there was no scent but that of old death and despair if that’s anything to go off.” There was a long silence.

  “I’ll be there soon.”

  Isabelle arrived at Trajan’s within the hour. Katya was waiting for her in a pair of faded jeans and shirt, looking tousled and wired.

  “Morning Belle, welcome to my nightmare.” Katya led her to the lounge room where everyone had gathered. Trajan stood with Izrayl and the Twins while Yvan was filling Cerise in on what had happened. Isabelle’s eyes found a tall man standing in the shadows. He leant forward into the light and her gun was in her hand in the blink of an eye.

  “What are you doing here?” she yelled at him. The room fell silent.

  “I could say the same to you. You’re the one who fucking disappeared off the face of the earth.” Hamish was moving in on her quickly. Isabelle didn’t lower
her gun.

  “I thought you were dead.”

  “Likewise” Hamish let out a long growl.

  “What’s going on?” asked Trajan, “You are both being incredibly rude to each other.”

  “This is Belle Holland,” Hamish all but spat at her.

  “Isabelle Blackwood, actually.” She dropped her gun but didn’t holster it.

  “Just what we need,” Trajan muttered.

  “You didn’t even tell me your real name?” Hamish demanded. “You are such a bitch.”

  “Now is not the time for this fight Hamish.”

  “This conversation is not over,” he promised.

  “This conversation hasn’t even begun,” she snapped and turned away from him. Everyone was looking at them but she wasn’t going to elaborate. Not tonight.

  “You said something about death and despair?” she looked pointedly at Izrayl.

  “It’s close to that. I can’t describe it any better, I am sorry.”

  “It’s all good news tonight,” she sighed. Trajan was calm on the outside but Isabelle could feel the anger pouring off him. “I can’t be sure but I think, by what you are describing, a Nehemoth took her.”

  “I thought Nehemoth were just some Jewish fable,” Katya whispered.

  “They exist,” Isabelle said bluntly. “Although I’ve never gone up against one. If I can have a look in her room I might be able to get a clearer picture of what happened.” Katya led her quickly to the trashed room. Isabelle felt the presence of the thing that had been there as soon as she stepped in the room.

  “Definitely corporeal,” she said as touched the broken window and shuddered. “You won’t find any prints.”

  “But how can a ghost be strong enough to do that.”

  “Nehemoth aren’t technically ghosts. They could be classed as demon if you wanted to get down to the nitty-gritty. But this one was definitely under someone’s control. If Vasilli has enough power to control one we are in deeper trouble than what I initially thought.”

  “Do you know of any other buildings that belong to the Darkness in the city?”

  “I have found three that could be used for their operations. After what we found a few nights ago I know they will still be in the city somewhere. Just because they had temporarily abandoned that mansion doesn’t mean they don’t have another lab set up elsewhere.”

  “We will have to attack all of them. It will be the only way to find her in time. I don’t think they will kill her but she will be made to suffer.”

  “I would hate to see what that Thanatos would do if they harm her,” Isabelle commented, “That creature could decimate a city block if he lost his temper.”

  “Speaking of creatures, what is going on with you and Hamish?”

  “Our paths crossed a long time ago.”

  “Care to elaborate?” Katya asked, her smile crooked and cheeky. Isabelle didn’t smile back.

  “I tried to kill him.”

  ***

  Hamish stormed into his room and tried not punch one of Trajan’s perfect walls. The room was clean but otherwise the way he had left it two years ago. He pulled on a white t-shirt and boots and opened up his gun cabinet. He had missed these particular weapons when he was back in Australia. He had left Europe on a drunken whim last time but knew one day he would come back for them.

  Hamish put on his gun belt and holstered his pearl handled revolvers before reaching for his Winchester rifles. He slung their leather holsters on his back and slid them in position. They were long rifles but Hamish was a tall man so they fit snugly between his shoulder blades. Trajan had kept them well maintained for which he was thankful.

  Pulling on his Driza-Bone coat he started to swear long and inarticulately. Bloody Belle was alive to screw him over all over again. Be damned if he would let her get the better of him. The top of his left butt cheek started to ache where he wore the scar of a bullet she had put in him.

  “How are you holding up, Hamish?” Trajan appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in his black trench coat, his face twitching slightly from holding in his own anger.

  “Tip fucking top, mate. I’m more concerned about your mental well-being. You can’t hide it from me. I know you’re fucking fuming. Best keep it in check before that pretty human coating you have goes to shit.”

  “I am doing my best. I am angry, but so are you. Isabelle was the girl wasn’t she? The one who messed you up?”

  “Yeah, I thought she was dead.”

  “There are very few true immortals in this world. It is no surprise that she would turn up.”

  “It’s a pretty big surprise seeing how I watched her building blow up minutes after she walked into it. Christ, I found her bloody clothes. But don’t worry yourself over what’s happening with me; getting Anya back is more important.”

  ***

  In the 18th arrondissement of the city a tall man in a navy leather trench watched as a team of investigators combed through the ashes of a destroyed mansion. Fire, deliberately lit, had been the overall cause but that was not what he was here to determine.

  “Excuse me, Aramis, sir?” a nervous, sweating young man pulled him out of his thoughts.

  “What is it?”

  “The team have uncovered some peculiar remains that could confirm this building was used by the Darkness.”

  “Show me.” Stepping carefully over fallen beams and piles of ash they came to a neatly pegged area.

  “You see sir, that’s definitely a humanoid skeleton but see this section here? Well that’s a wing.” Aramis leant down for a closer look. One pale finger touched the fan of bones. Images bombarded him and he pulled his hand back quickly.

  “It was a site used by the Darkness. This was a failed experiment. Were there any other bodies?”

  “Three human and I am pretty sure the fourth was a hag.”

  “A hag? Are you sure?”

  “I am quite sure though I won’t be able to give you full details until we are back in the lab.”

  “Very well, organise the remains to be shipped for examination.” He pulled his vibrating cell phone from his pocket and answered it.

  “Aramis, we have a problem,” a curt male voice said at the end of the line. “I’ve just received information about a powerful witch on the loose in your jurisdiction.”

  “Is she one of ours?”

  “She is a neutral at this stage but she has the potential to wreak havoc if we don’t find her. The Darkness is already onto her so be careful.”

  “Not a problem sir. I shall organise a team to search her out.”

  “Oh, and Aramis? There is something else about the girl that you should know.”

  “Yes?”

  “She is of Yanka’s blood line. That won’t be an issue for you will it?”

  “No sir.” Aramis hung up the phone quickly and tried not to drop it as he put it in his coat. His hands trembled as he tried to maintain a cool, professional façade. Yanka’s blood. He had to find her and fast.

  Chapter Twenty-Five Enemy’s Camp

  Anya woke to the smell of chemicals and decay. Her vision was blurred and scratchy; there was a low distorted murmur to her right. Her head pounded from the blow she had received from an invisible attacker. She rubbed her eyes and they grew accustomed to the darkness. She was in a large room with only one boarded up window that let in small chinks of light. Iron manacles encircled her ankles and she lay on a damp, bare wood floor.

  “Don’t move,” a voice to her right wheezed in Russian. “They will know you are awake.” Anya turned her head slowly and through the gloom made out the pale, naked figure of a woman shackled to the wall. Her long brown hair hung in ropey tendrils over her, concealing her bare figure as best as it could. Her skin was peeling rapidly and her lips were bloody and cracking. Anya tried not to seem shocked or frightened. A large bowl of water was a couple of metres from the creature.

  “What…what are you?”

  “I am a Shishiga,” she whispered, “I don’
t have a name.” Anya looked at her and then the bowl of water. “It’s their idea of a joke,” the Shishiga continued. “My chains aren’t long enough to reach the water so I can have some relief.”

  “Who are they?”

  “The Darkness of course.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “You should be afraid,” a new voice came out of the shadows. What Anya took to be a pile of rags on the floor folded out to be a small gnomish creature that wouldn’t even reach Anya’s knees.

  “She knows that, Ovinnik,” hissed the Shishiga. “She is the Shamanitsa they have been hunting for.”

  “She doesn’t look like a Shamanitsa to me.”

  “I don’t feel like one. I know what they want with me but why are you two here?” Anya asked.

  “They want what they always want. Our magic and our secrets,” the grimy Ovinnik spat. “Our blood and our souls.”

  “Do you know where we are?”

  “Paris but exactly where I do not know. I do know there is a water canal close to us. I can smell it. If I could reach it I would be free.” Tears leaked out of the Shishiga’s black eyes. Where they fell down her cheeks the pale skin healed itself. Anya hugged her knees to her chest tightly and didn’t ask any more questions.

  A scream tore through the walls a few hours later jolting Anya out of her doze. The Shishiga next to her curled into a tight ball, her hair around her as a cover. The Ovinnik began to mutter but he too tried to make himself even smaller. Anya flinched but stood to relieve her cramped legs. Her iron manacles clunked and dragged on the floor but it couldn’t be helped. The fear and despair in the room was threatening to choke her but she couldn’t allow it to. Trajan and Yvan would come for her. They all would. Her head was still sore and she felt dopey like she had been drugged. She flexed her hands and for the first time in weeks she couldn’t feel the magic running under her skin. Panic rose up through her and she pressed a hand to her chest as she nearly doubled over from a lack of air.

  The door to the room opened and she stood up, straight and defiant. The most colourless person she had ever seen walked in. He was of an average height and build, his fair hair cut short. His grey eyes were pale, almost white and completely devoid of all emotion. If eyes were the window to the soul, then no soul was home. Anya fought not to shudder under their gaze.