by Sue Tingey
The sound of running feet echoed through the entrance and several brown-and grey-robed figures appeared at the far end of the church, followed by some men in suits: humans.
Jamie and my guards stepped forward to put themselves between the Sicarii and me. The air shimmered, and they all reverted to daemons. Pyrites gave a roar and in an instant was all drakon and the size of an elephant. The Sicarii came to an abrupt halt and Jamie began to laugh.
‘We don’t need weapons: we have real fire power!’
And with that Pyrites let out a blast of flame that set two rows of pews alight.
The Sicarii stood their ground, but the men in suits didn’t look so sure; two of them pulled out guns, but Pyrites gave another blast, setting fire to more pews, and they started backing away.
A grey-robed figure glided to the front. ‘Give us the woman and we will let you leave unharmed.’
‘Leave now and you won’t end up as drakon chow,’ Jamie said.
‘Roasted drakon chow,’ Kerfuffle added.
‘Bringing a drakon into the world of humans is breaking the law,’ the Sicarii hissed.
‘And capturing and torturing the Deathbringer for personal gain isn’t?’
‘Match-point,’ Kayla said with a smirk.
‘We will have the woman.’
Pyrites let out a low, deep growl that rumbled in his chest and made the ground beneath our feet vibrate.
‘Willing to try and take her?’ Jamie said, laying a hand on Pyrites’ flank.
My drakon puffed black smoke. He, Vaybian and I had been attacked by the Sicarii once before: they had shot him with arrows covered in Drakon Bane, rendering him unconscious and allowing them to abduct me and Vaybian. Judging by the black smoke and rumbling, he wasn’t about to forgive and forget; I was betting his growling would translate as, ‘Come on, make my day.’
‘We will have her: maybe not this time, but she will be ours,’ the Sicarii said, and with a jerk of his head indicated to the others that they should leave.
They began to back away, not wanting to take their eyes off my drakon, who sat down on his haunches, threw back his head and let out a roar that shook the building. The men in suits lost their nerve and made a run for it.
‘Don’t for one minute think this is over,’ the Sicarii in grey said, as he too backed down the aisle.
Pyrites dropped down onto his front claws and gave another long low rumble; the end of his tail was twitching back and forth. He took a step forward. Suddenly the Sicarii started to hurry, but he stumbled – and even I was taken by surprise when Pyrites suddenly let loose a prolonged stream of flame which engulfed the retreating figure, turning him into a heap of hissing and popping fat within a moment. The rest of the brown-robed minions ran for their lives.
‘Game, set and match, methinks,’ Kayla quipped with a smile.
I didn’t quite know what to say. Pyrites was usually so calm and gentle that his actions had shocked me somewhat – although he was only doing his job, protecting me.
‘Good lad,’ Kerfuffle told him, slapping him on the front leg.
Pyrites gave a snort and with a shimmer was once again a small, hairy Jack Russell. I crouched down and scooped him up. As soon as he was in my arms he was all wagging tail and licky tongue.
‘Yes,’ I told him, ‘you are a good boy.’
Eight
By the time we got outside, the other vehicles had gone. Kayla had disappeared with the Sicarii and their human friends, and we could only hope they would take her to wherever Amaliel was keeping Jinx. She was our best chance; if we gave chase they’d probably stay well away from Amaliel’s latest hideout. I had hoped we would find some clue at the church, but there was nothing and I was rapidly becoming more agitated. That I’d changed back to my human form without even trying was telling.
‘Even if they don’t take Kayla to Amaliel, she may learn something from them that’ll help,’ Jamie said, but I could tell the lack of progress was getting to him, too.
‘Maybe if the drakon had only roasted the Sicarii a bit we could have questioned him,’ Vaybian said.
Kerfuffle was shaking his head. ‘He wouldn’t have told us anything we wanted to hear. He would have been like the other one. Anyway, it does them good to know we’re not frightened to end their miserable lives.’
‘We don’t even know what direction they went in,’ I said.
Jamie glanced at me as he buckled up his seatbelt. ‘I didn’t hear them turn around, so straight ahead, I suspect.’ He reached over and put his hand on mine. ‘We will find him, Lucky.’
‘It’s taking too long.’
‘Check online for natural disasters – if there haven’t been any, I’m betting it’s because Jinx isn’t as bound as Amaliel would like him to be.’
‘I guess,’ I said with a sigh.
I checked the internet and Twitter, but there was no breaking news – at least, not the sort that could be anything to do with Jinx. A US senator had been caught with his trousers down and a minister had resigned from the cabinet over similar allegations, but no plagues, hurricanes or tsunamis had occurred, and I thanked the Lord for that at least. Then something occurred to me.
‘Why do you think Amaliel’s pet daemons were at Philip’s apartment?’
Jamie took his eyes off the road ahead and glanced at me. ‘And the Sicarii, too.’
‘Do you think they came to search for something?’ Vaybian asked.
‘I’m hungry,’ Shenanigans piped up. ‘Is anyone else hungry?’
‘How can you eat at a time like this?’ I snapped.
‘Sorry, mistress.’
I screwed my eyes shut for a second. Damn. ‘No, it’s me who should be sorry. Of course we should eat. I’m just …’ I trailed off, too miserable to put what I was feeling into words.
‘We understand, mistress,’ Shenanigans said, to a chorus of agreement – although I noticed that Vaybian kept quiet.
As Jamie drove my mind kept returning to Jinx, where he might be and what Amaliel might be doing to him. I tried to push him out of my head and think of other things – like, why had Pigface and Hawkman been at Philip’s flat? It was clear they hadn’t been expecting to find us there; even from the bedroom I’d heard one of them cursing in surprise when my guards showed themselves. I’d heard it from the bedroom … where I had just made a discovery, something I’d completely forgotten about in all the drama.
As I reached for my jacket, Jamie asked, ‘Are you cold? I can turn up the heating—’
‘No, I found something back at Philip’s apartment – I’d completely forgotten until now.’ I pulled the slim leather-bound book out of my inside pocket.
‘What is it?’ Jamie asked, and Pyrites sat up on my lap as Vaybian and Kubeck moved forward in their seats to peer over my shoulder.
‘It could just be a diary,’ I said, hoping against all hope that it might be something more. I flicked open the cover.
It wasn’t a diary but a faint-lined notebook, and each page was headed with a date in what I assumed was Philip’s neat handwriting in navy ink – not ballpoint or rollerball, but proper fountain pen ink.
It started eighteen months ago, and Philip was so excited he’d started the journal the very next day.
OMG what a night! And to think I very nearly stayed at home.
He wrote about what started off as a very boring party – until he met a slim young man who called himself Joseph; the way he wrote was almost word for word how he had told me the story: an exchange shared between two men idly waiting for their coats, which rapidly became something else entirely. That Joseph was charismatic fairly leaped off the page; the Philip I’d met wasn’t the type to get star-struck, but that’s the way he came across.
They exchanged business cards before parting, and Joseph promised Philip he would be in touch. I think we can do business together, he had said. Gabriel Derne was mentioned – an afterthought at the end of the first two pages: a weaselly, little man who was totally outclasse
d by someone like Joseph Babel. Philip had taken his card, but in his journal it was clear he wouldn’t be calling him anytime soon.
Joseph had waited three days before he’d phoned; they’d met for lunch and reading the journal, I could see how Joseph had reeled him in, oh so slowly, teasing him with talk about important contacts and big players and billion-dollar deals like most people talked about a normal day at the office. They had lunch again a few days later, then dinner a day or so after that.
Joseph left Philip to stew for almost a week before inviting him to a cocktail party; Philip probably hadn’t realised it then, but this was the turning point. He was introduced to a woman called Persephone Kore – and just as he’d banged on and on about Joseph, now he started raving about another new friend: she was beautiful, she was classy, she was funny, interesting, blah de blah de blah.
Almost as an afterthought, Philip mentioned Gabriel Derne again, and this bit made me sit up: he too had been a guest at this party, and he appeared to be a close friend of Ms Kore. So maybe this Gabriel wasn’t quite so far down the food chain as we’d thought. Surprisingly enough, there was no mention of a bokor – maybe he was another of Philip’s lies?
‘Anything interesting?’ Jamie asked.
I shut the journal and leaned back in my seat; I was feeling decidedly queasy.
‘Are you all right? You look rather pale.’
‘I get carsick if I read for too long,’ I mumbled, winding the window down.
‘Perhaps we should stop and get something to eat,’ Jamie suggested.
‘Urgh …’ I didn’t want to think about food or drink, or anything else, for that matter, but Jamie pulled up outside a pub in a village not too far from the coast.
The pub was an old inn complete with smoke-darkened oak beams and an inglenook fireplace. The ceiling was low enough that even in their human guise, Shenanigans and Kubeck had to bow their heads; Jamie’s curls skimmed the beams by a whisper. The only other customers were two old boys sitting at a corner table playing draughts, and two burly guys propping up the copper-covered bar and making small talk with the barmaid, a tall, curvy blonde with a slight West Country burr to her accent.
‘And what can I do for you, my lovelies?’ I heard her say to Jamie and Vaybian as the rest of us took up position around a long table by the window.
Jamie obviously said something she found amusing as she started to laugh, and Jamie and Vaybian joined in. She may have been enjoying their company, but her other companions were giving Jamie and Vaybian very dark looks indeed. I wasn’t surprised; my angel and Kayla’s daemon were very handsome in human form – which made me wonder what Jinx would look like without his horns and tail and distinctive maroon skin. Maybe he’d be like Vaybian, have a Native American appearance. I looked away; thinking about Jinx wasn’t improving my appetite.
‘Go and sit down. I’ll come over and take your drinks order while you decide what you want to eat,’ the barmaid told Vaybian.
Jamie sank down on the bench next to me and handed out the menus. ‘I think you could probably do with a brandy,’ he said, and I guessed I must be looking a little green about the gills, although I was beginning to feel a bit better.
‘A sparkling water will be fine,’ I told him, so he proceeded to order me a dry white wine, which was irritating beyond words. Even if he sometimes knew what I wanted better than I did myself, I didn’t need him making my decisions for me.
Kerfuffle convinced the rest of my guards that they would probably like a pint of cider or one of the various beers they had on offer, and happily ordered for them all.
‘So, what have you discovered in Philip’s journal?’ Jamie asked as soon as the barmaid disappeared to get our drinks.
‘I’m beginning to think our perception of Joseph’s and Gabriel’s roles in all of this may be slightly off-kilter. There’s a woman involved.’
‘Isn’t there always,’ Vaybian muttered.
I ignored him. ‘Joseph strung Philip along, whetted his appetite with tales of mega-deals and “players”, then invited him to a party where he was introduced to a woman called Persephone Kore.’
‘Whoa,’ Jamie said.
‘Persephone Kore?’ Kerfuffle wrinkled his nose, as though there was a rather nasty smell in the air. ‘Oh, please.’
‘Humans aren’t always the most inventive of creatures,’ Shenanigans said.
‘Explain?’ I said.
‘In human mythology—’ Jamie started.
‘Greek,’ Kerfuffle interrupted.
‘Yes, Greek,’ Jamie agreed. ‘Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld; she was also known as Kore.’
‘So it’s an alias,’ I said.
Jamie nodded. ‘I would guess that she’s Amaliel’s human contact here: some sort of witch or Satanist, probably, or maybe even the bokor, although I thought they were usually male.’
‘How would she have hooked up with Amaliel and his schemes?’
‘She and her Satanist buddies probably tried to call up a daemon and Amaliel slipped into this world at their invitation.’
‘Wonderful,’ I said.
‘Here you go, my lovelies,’ the barmaid said as she handed out the drinks. ‘Ready to order?’
The others went for full-blown meals, but I stuck to a chicken Caesar salad – at least I could surreptitiously feed Pyrites the meat. As soon as she walked off again, we got straight back to business.
‘Do you think this Persephone’s the one we should be looking for?’ I asked, then tapped my finger on Philip’s journal. ‘Maybe I should get on with reading this; it might give us a few more clues.’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Jamie said.
‘I bet the human fucked her,’ Vaybian said.
‘You think?’ I asked. From what I’d read so far, Persephone hadn’t seemed the type to stoop to Philip’s level.
Vaybian gave me one of his ‘you cannot be serious’ looks and I wondered whether Kayla had used me as her excuse for staying away from him for twenty-five years. He certainly irritated the hell out of me.
I pulled the book out and flicked through the pages to where I’d left off. ‘Philip was enamoured with her at their first meeting, that’s for sure. He goes on and on about her for almost a page and a half.’
I started to read again, leaving the boys chatting amongst themselves. After the party Persephone had invited Philip to join her at her country estate the following weekend. Country estate? Now that was interesting. To Philip’s surprise, she’d suggested he bring his wife and daughter, and when he’d asked how she knew he was married, she’d replied that she made it her business to know everything she could about men who interested her and that encouraged Philip to go off on another several-paragraph rave about how fantastic this woman was, and laughably, how the feeling was possibly mutual: she had apparently held his hand longer than necessary when they parted and given him a lingering, meaningful look.
‘Oh, puh-lease,’ I muttered to myself.
Turned out, when he mentioned the weekend to his wife, to his disappointment she had agreed to go – it was obvious that if he could have put her off, he would have. Then at the last moment, Angela came down with a stomach virus and Philip got his wish.
Typical Philip: their daughter gets sick and he goes off on a jolly for the weekend.
The next few paragraphs were pretty repellent, not much better than a teenage boy’s fantasies, then he got back to what actually happened. He drove himself down to Persephone’s country residence in Sussex – now we’re getting somewhere, but where in Sussex, Philip? Tell me something useful, why don’t you? She wasn’t there to greet him when he arrived Friday evening, but he was placated by the news that it was because she was detained with a very important foreign client she was assisting on a specialist project. I knew exactly who the foreign client was; I guessed I was probably the project.
I read on, frustrated by all his wittering on about the wretched woman, and how huge the estate was, and how the h
ouse must have twenty or more bedrooms, and OMG there’s an indoor and outdoor pool, and a jacuzzi that could take a whole rugby team …
The food arrived and with some relief, I closed the journal and pushed it to one side. I was finding it a depressing read. I had refused to listen to Jamie when he’d warned me about Philip; I had insisted that his betrayal of me was all about trying to save his daughter, that although what he had done was wrong, he had done it for the best of reasons. When Amaliel slaughtered him, I’d begun to realise the truth, but even then a part of me wanted to believe that it was only because of his time in the Underlands that he had behaved so badly. The journal told me how wrong I was: the man had always been an egotistical prick who thought only of himself. He barely mentioned his wife and daughter, and when he did, it was usually to complain about them; he showed no ounce of concern for Angela; in fact, he was pleased that her illness meant he got what he’d wanted all along.
I picked at my food, slipping most of the chicken to Pyrites – he usually preferred his meat hot, of course, but he didn’t complain. If we had to stay in the Overlands for any length of time, I’d have to work out how to feed him – we really couldn’t have a fire-breathing drakon hunting above the English countryside. That would definitely scare the natives.
I pushed my lunch aside, took a slurp of wine and opened up the journal again.
Philip’s previous disappointment was more than compensated for when he found that he was one of a very select group of Persephone’s friends invited to what turned out to be an intimate dinner that Friday evening; the rest of her houseguests wouldn’t be arriving until the following day. Joseph and Gabriel were present, together with two young women he instantly dismissed as nothing more than eye-candy for the two men. Bloody man!
When Philip had asked whether her ‘business associate’ would be joining them, Persephone apparently laughed ‘like chiming bells’ – yuk! – and said he’d be meeting her client soon enough. Philip ruminated on this for several lines, thinking it strange that such an important client wouldn’t be joining them for what was obviously a private dinner, but he was soon back onto his favourite subject: himself. He was absolutely convinced Persephone was lusting after his body.
