Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series)

by Catherine Mesick

  We reached the airport and checked in early, and this time, Anton was able to smooth over my visa issues quickly. Then we settled in to wait.

  Eventually, I went to get lunch—a sandwich and a drink—and then I returned to wait with Anton. As I sat down, I glanced over at him. Once again he was checking his phone.

  "Are you worried about Emmanuel?" I asked.

  "I'd feel better if we had some news about him," Anton said. "No one seems to be able to find him. I'm not worried while we're here, but I don't want to find out that he's waiting for us in Moscow when we land."

  "Do you have people on the lookout in Moscow?" I asked.

  "Yes, we do—and that's what's so worrying. No one has seen him back in Elspeth's Grove, or here in London, or in Moscow. But he's got to be somewhere."

  "Maybe someone will spot him before we get on the plane," I said.

  "Maybe."

  "What happens if Emmanuel does attack us when we land?"

  "He's a powerful vampire," Anton said. "But he's not unbeatable—he's not like the Hunter. All the same, I'd rather not have to take him on alone. I'd feel much better if we got you to the house first. Then he can show up if he likes—at that point, he'll have a whole pack of us to deal with. I like to have the odds in my favor as much as possible."

  The afternoon wore on slowly, and Anton continued to check his phone. But the hours did move eventually, and soon we were within forty-five minutes of our flight time. I glanced up at the monitor overhead, wondering when boarding would begin. But as I watched, our status changed from 'on time' to 'delayed.'

  I nudged Anton. "Anton, look."

  He'd been staring out the window into the darkness, and he seemed pleased as he looked over at me.

  "That's our plane over there," he said, pointing. "I've been watching the ground crew for a little while now. Looks like everything's good."

  "Anton, our flight status has changed."

  He looked up at the monitor and frowned. "Maybe it's something minor. I'll see what I can find out."

  Anton left his seat and came back a few minutes later. "Okay. Well, I guess this isn't so dire. According to the airline rep there's a colossal thunderstorm."

  "A storm?" I said, glancing out the window.

  "Not here. In Moscow—all three major airports are closed to flights right now. With any luck it should blow over soon."

  "Can't we get started anyway?" I asked. "Surely the storm will be gone by the time we get to Moscow."

  "I don't know about that," Anton replied. "The storm does seem to be moving east, but Moscow's only about three and a half hours from here. We'd be cutting it pretty close if we tried to fly in behind it. I have to say I'm with the airports on this one. I'd really rather not get smashed into the ground while traveling in a great big metal cylinder—especially not since it's very likely to catch on fire afterward."

  "How long is the delay going to last?" I asked.

  "Maybe two hours. Maybe even a little more," Anton said. "It's just a guess."

  "Two hours?" I said.

  "Don't worry," Anton said. "They know what they're doing. In the meantime, you could try to take a nap. You can rest your head on my shoulder again, if you like."

  "No, thanks," I said.

  "But I got a smile, though, didn't I?" Anton said.

  He had indeed made me smile. "You're horrible," I said.

  "Horrible and handsome. You should count your lucky stars."

  A loudspeaker crackled to life then, and an airline official made an announcement that confirmed much of what Anton had said—our flight was going to be delayed several hours until the storm in Moscow moved to a safe distance.

  A collective groan arose from our fellow travelers.

  "Am I good, or am I good?" Anton said.

  I settled back in my chair to wait once again.

  I was just starting to drift into a light sleep, when a sudden chill ran through me, and I sat up quickly.

  "Everything all right?" Anton asked, looking up from his phone.

  "Yes," I said, running my hands over my arms. "I'm just a little cold."

  "Airports aren't exactly ideal places for sleeping," Anton said.

  I stood up. "I think I'm going to get some coffee."

  "Coffee?" Anton said. "I wouldn't have pegged you as a coffee drinker somehow."

  "I was speaking kind of generally," I said. "Coffee, tea—just something hot. I really need to warm up."

  "Do you want me to come with you?"

  "No," I said. "That's okay. I'll be fine."

  I walked away from our little waiting area. Though I knew it was late, I was also sure that some of the shops and kiosks would be open—it seemed like someone was always selling coffee in an airport.

  But as I walked, I began to get colder and colder, and I looked down at my hands—my fingers were beginning to turn white. I decided that I really needed to warm up before I went any further, and I turned to look for the ladies' room—I would warm up my hands under the hot water tap. I just hoped that the hot water would actually be hot. Public restrooms could be notoriously unreliable.

  But as I walked, I found myself wandering—and somehow unable to locate a ladies' room. Past experience had taught me that large airports had restrooms around just about every corner. But no matter how I looked, I couldn't find a restroom—or even a sign for one. As I continued on, the sound of people and conversation grew distant, and I found myself wandering down a deserted hall—all the businesses in this part of the airport were closed and shuttered for the night. But I did spot a sign for the ladies' room, and I hurried toward it.

  I pushed the restroom door open, and it creaked loudly—both as it opened, and as it closed. I hurried to the sink and turned on the hot water tap. Luckily, the water was actually very warm, and I ran my hands together under the steady stream. As I watched, patches of red began to creep into my fingers and spread into the white. Before long, my fingers were entirely red, and I began to feel warmer. My mind also began to clear—I hadn't actually realized that my thoughts were foggy until the haze began to lift.

  I looked up into the mirror and saw that my lips had a slightly purple hue—no doubt due to the chill that had spread through my body. I pressed my warm hands against my face, and as I did so, the fluorescent lights overhead flickered once.

  Then they went out. I was standing in total darkness.

  My first instinct was to run for the door, but I forced myself to stay still—I didn't want to fall or get turned around in the dark. And I knew that if I remained still, my eyes would adjust to the lower levels of light—there might be light coming out from under the door if I just gave myself a moment to look for it.

  As I waited, staring straight ahead, I saw two bright red lights suddenly appear in the darkness behind me. I was still looking into the mirror, and I turned slowly, keeping my hands on the sink.

  There were indeed two red lights just behind me, and I knew they weren't coming from anything mechanical that might be in the room. The lights were at just the right height to be resting in a man's head.

  I was looking at a pair of eyes.

  Before I could react, something cold and hard, like a band of iron, fastened around my throat. I clawed at my neck frantically and found a set of icy fingers wrapped around it. But no matter how I scratched at the hard, cold hand, I couldn't force it to move.

  "Shhh," hissed a voice in the darkness. "You'll wear yourself out, my pretty little bird."

  I felt myself being dragged forward, and though I tried to dig my feet into the ground, the smooth tiles on the floor gave me very little purchase.

  The hand around my neck shifted, and I felt a thumb being pressed against my throat. My vision began to swim, and the red lights before my eyes began to dim and grow hazy.

  "That's right, my little bird," the voice whispered. "Go to sleep now."

  Suddenly, there was a loud bang, as the door to the ladies' room flew open and hit the wall, and light from the hallway pou
red into the room. For just a moment, I could see a tall, dark shape silhouetted in the doorway. Then the shape blurred, and I felt myself being wrenched from my attacker's grasp. I was thrown to the floor, and the door to the restroom slammed shut again, leaving us all in darkness.

  I heard the sound of a brief struggle, and then a heavy body crashed into one of the stalls with such force that I could hear the metal buckle.

  There was a familiar clanking sound then, and a ball of flame suddenly burst into life and flew around the room. I could see one of William's flaming discs reflected back multiple times in the bank of mirrors over the sinks, and then the disc smashed into one of the mirrors, sending out a shower of sparks and shattered glass.

  A cold hand gripped mine and pulled me to my feet.

  "Come on."

  I was pulled out into the brightly lit hall, and I saw that Anton had me by the hand and was dragging me along. I glanced back at the door of the ladies' room and saw Emmanuel emerging from it, his eyes blazing. In his hands he held William's crossbow, and he raised it and fired at us.

  A disc smashed into the wall just over Anton's head and burst into flame. Anton gripped my hand more tightly and sped up until the airport around us became nothing more than a blur.

  Distantly, I could hear screams and shattering glass. Several times, flames streaked past my head, once singeing my hair, and once grazing my cheek. I could have sworn that Anton was hit once, too, but he ran on.

  Soon we were out of the airport and into the open night air. Anton and I were streaking along the curb in front of one of the terminals, and we came to a sudden, jarring stop in front of a moving car. The driver slammed on the brakes just in time to avoid hitting us, and Anton ran around to the driver's side and wrenched the door open.

  He pulled a very surprised-looking man out of the car and threw him onto the road.

  "Sorry, pal," Anton said. "But we need this car more than you do at the moment."

  He jumped in the car and threw the opposite door open. I rushed to get in and slam the door shut.

  Anton took off then, and I scrambled to put on my seat belt—I was definitely going to need it. I could hear the engine straining as Anton pushed the accelerator to the floor and drove through the airport without regard to roads or traffic. We left a number of smashed cars and furious drivers in our wake.

  Anton's dark eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.

  "He's following us," he said.

  Anton drove on through the airport until we hit the highway, and then he continued on with the same disregard for traffic lights and other cars that he had shown before.

  "Where are we going?" I shouted.

  "Stonehenge."

  "Stonehenge?" I said. "Is this really the time for sightseeing?"

  "Remember what I told you about stone circles?" Anton said. "They're protected. You'll be safe in there—if I can get you there before he catches us."

  "What about the crossbow?" I said. "I don't think the stone circle can protect me from that."

  "Let's hope he runs out of ammunition before we get there," Anton said grimly.

  As if in response, a flaming disc shattered the rear window and landed on the backseat. I scrambled to put out the flames with my jacket.

  "Leave it!" Anton said.

  "But the flames—"

  "Leave it! Sit back in your seat and keep your head down! It'll be easier for him to hit you if you're fumbling around back there."

  I quickly sat back down.

  Another flaming disc streaked past my window, and a moment later, I could hear the sound of police sirens.

  "Good," Anton said, glancing in the rearview mirror. "With any luck they'll slow him down."

  "But they're trying to stop us, too," I said.

  "Notice how I said 'slow,' not 'stop,'" Anton replied. "They won't actually be able to stop either one of us. But I picked the faster car—the cops will be able to catch up with him. That should give us the time we need."

  Somehow, magically, Anton coaxed even more speed from the car, and I did all I could to avoid looking out the window and watching the dangerous path we were cutting across the landscape. But soon I heard a terrific crash, and I couldn't help twisting around in my seat. All I could make out was a pileup of cars disappearing behind us.

  "They got him," Anton said. "Let's hope I was right that this buys us enough time. We've got about seventy miles to go."

  We sped on through the night, and eventually, Anton slowed the breakneck pace of the car. As we drove on over a bumpy, grassy surface, the car's headlights picked out a ring of standing stones up ahead of us. We were on Salisbury Plain.

  Anton stopped the car just outside the ring and then jumped out and hurried around to my side of the car. He wrenched me out and then quickly shoved me between two of the standing stones. The action was so abrupt that I couldn't find my footing, and I stumbled and fell.

  I stood up, brushing myself off. "Was that really necessary?"

  "Sorry to be so unceremonious about it," Anton said, "but I didn't want to take any chances. For all I knew, Emmanuel was somehow hiding in the trunk—he's a tricky one. In fact—"

  Anton hurried over to the trunk and opened it. "Luckily, it's empty."

  He walked back around the car and stood next to one of the tall stones. "So there you are. Safe in the embrace of the stones."

  "Unless he shoots me, of course."

  Anton waved a dismissive hand. "One problem at a time. At least he can't touch you while you're in there. Actually, if he shoots you, he might have a hard time getting you out, since he can't go in himself to retrieve you. And that reminds me, try to ignore him if he calls to you again. It won't do us any good if you simply walk out of the protective circle."

  "He called to me," I said. "That's why I got cold all of a sudden. And that's why I wandered so far away in search of something that was probably right there in front of me."

  "Yep. It's lucky for you that I went looking for you and came to your rescue just in time."

  "Thanks, Anton," I said.

  "You don't need to mention it."

  "I think I do," I said.

  "Actually, I think you do, too," Anton said. "That's why I brought it up."

  A gentle breeze brushed past me then, and I turned around quickly. But no one was behind me, and as I continued to look around, I realized that the night was actually quite beautiful. The moon and the stars were shining brightly overhead, and there was something majestic about the tall, silent stones that surrounded me—the entire atmosphere was one of peace and tranquility. As the quiet stretched on, I began to feel as if I really was safe.

  I glanced over at Anton. "So, you really can't enter the stone circle?"

  "I really can't."

  "Show me," I said.

  "As you wish." Anton walked up to a gap between two of the stones and then began to walk forward. He stopped abruptly and then began to push as if he were struggling against a barrier. But no matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't move forward even a single step. After a moment, he stepped back and tried again. The result was the same.

  "What did I tell you?" Anton said. "No vampires can get in."

  "So I'm safe in here from you, too," I said. "I wish I'd had one of these back in Elspeth's Grove."

  Whatever reply Anton was going to make was lost, as the air was suddenly split by the sound of a siren. Anton looked around sharply.

  "Emmanuel?" I said.

  "I'm afraid so," Anton replied.

  Moments later, a police car came careening across Salisbury Plain toward us.

  "Whatever you do," Anton said. "Do not leave that circle."

  The car came straight toward me and then veered off to the side at the last second like a horse shying away from a fence. The car came to an abrupt halt, and the door flew open. Emmanuel stepped out, and his blazing red eyes oriented on me.

  "Thought you'd fly away, didn't you, my pretty little bird?"

  "Listen, pal," Anton said. "We have
a flight to catch tonight. So let's make this quick, shall we?"

  Anton lunged for Emmanuel, and Emmanuel raised his crossbow and shot him.

  A metal disc lodged in Anton's shoulder and burst into flame. Anton cried out and fell to the ground.

  "I quite agree with you," Emmanuel said. "We should make this quick. That's why I saved my last shot for you."

  Emmanuel dropped the crossbow on the ground, where it landed with a clatter. Then he turned toward me.

  He walked right up to the gap between two stones and stood staring at me, his red eyes burning in the darkness.

  "You can't come in here," I said. "I know you can't."

  Emmanuel did not reply.

  He walked on to the next gap, and he lunged for it suddenly. Despite the fact that I knew I was safe, I stumbled backward involuntarily.

  Emmanuel smiled. He moved on to the next gap, and I saw his red eyes dance as he lunged forward yet again.

  "What are you doing?" I said.

  "You think you are safe," Emmanuel said, and I could see his red eyes moving on through the darkness to the next set of stones. "But the charm on this stone circle is an old one. And though it's powerful, that power can fade. More often than not, a big circle like this has a weak spot. And there's been no one in a very long time who has the knowledge or the skill to shore up that weak spot. I intend to find it and get through."

  I could hear, rather than see, the smile in Emmanuel's voice.

  "Don't worry, my pretty bird. I'll get to you."

  He lunged toward me once again, and then moved on.

  The blazing red eyes continued to move around the perimeter of the stones, and I felt compelled to watch them. The eyes would appear in the darkness and then disappear as they moved behind the solid mass of a stone, only to reappear on the other side. The eyes moved on and on through the night, lunging for me, then subsiding.

  Then lunging for me again.

  The red eyes eventually came to a stop between two stones across the ring from me, and I heard a soft chuckle.

  "What have we here?" Emmanuel said. "I believe I've found the weak spot. Stay right where you are. I'll be with you in a moment."