Shrill Dusk (City of Magic Book 1)

by Helen Harper

  I took my eyes off briefly the road to stare at her. ‘I never had you pegged as a philosopher.’

  Anna laughed. ‘I was too busy being a hard-nosed copper to indulge my other interests. Now all that’s been taken from me.’ Her smile disappeared. ‘I really loved my job. And this city.’

  I reached over and squeezed her hand. ‘The city is still here.’

  Her answer was abrupt. ‘For now.’

  We drove in silence for the rest of the journey, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I was looking forward to a hot drink followed by several hours of sleep; I imagined myself stretched out in my bed with my head on my pillow. I stifled several yawns. Yes, I decided. A good long snooze would do me the world of good. I’d been ignoring the joys of my duvet far too much lately.

  Unfortunately, when I pulled up to Monroe’s daft barricade and saw numerous people on the street congregating in small groups and holding items aloft as weapons, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wasn’t going to be catching any proper zeds any time soon.

  I screeched the van to a halt and leapt out. As I started to push at the barricade to gain access, several people shouted and brandished their baseball bats and heavy-based saucepans at me.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Anna asked by my side.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I muttered. ‘But it doesn’t look good.’ I squared my shoulders. ‘It’s me!’ I yelled. ‘It’s Charley! What’s going on?’

  Cath’s face appeared from the centre of the crowd. She was flanked by Jodie and Julie. ‘Let her in!’ Cath shrieked. ‘Let Charley in!’

  Nobody moved. Screw this. I tutted under my breath and raised my hands, forcing out a shot of magic to move the barricade and let me past.

  ‘See?’ Anna murmured. ‘Endless possibilities.’

  I didn’t answer. I ran towards my friends. ‘What’s happened?’ I demanded.

  Cath’s whole body was shaking. ‘Max,’ she whispered. ‘It was Max.’

  My blood froze. ‘He was here?’

  She bit her lip and nodded. I turned to Jodie and Julie. Jodie’s expression was tight while Julie looked furious; she also had a deep gash on the side of her head. Dark, almost black blood was trickling down her cheek, but she made no attempt to wipe it away.

  ‘There was nothing we could do,’ she spat, her voice vibrating with rage. ‘He left us with no option.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ I balled my hands up into tight fists. ‘What did he do?’ Then I realised who was conspicuous by their absence and my dread deepened. ‘Where is Lizzy?’ Nobody answered. I raised my voice, repeating my question. ‘Where is Lizzy?’

  I already knew the answer. Of course I already knew it, but I needed to hear one of them say it. Until then, part of me could believe it wasn’t true.

  Jodie met my eyes full on. ‘That Max guy took her. We tried to stop him.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘Julie tried in particular. He had hold of Lizzy before we realised what was going on. He threatened to break her neck if we got too close.’

  Cath shrank into herself. ‘He had lots of others with him,’ she whispered. ‘Even more than before. They had knives and hammers and shit like that.’

  She was trying to explain. She didn’t have to absolve herself of this, however; none of them did. This was down to Max and Max alone. A hard knot of fury mixed with fear tightened in my bowels. I was going to fucking kill him.

  Julie, who’d been watching my face with hawk-like eyes, seemed to brighten. ‘I assume this means you’ll grant me permission to drink his blood?’

  I didn’t answer her. Instead, I narrowed in on Cath. ‘Where will he have taken her?’

  She swallowed. ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t with him for long and he moved around a lot. For each of the three nights, he stayed somewhere different. He was looking for the “perfect pad”.’ She drew speech marks in the air. ‘I think he wanted a mansion or something.’

  I growled under my breath. A mansion. Of course he wanted a bloody mansion. The trouble was that several areas that boasted such super-houses. Finding Max before he moved on somewhere else would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

  I rubbed my temples. I needed to think. There had to be a way to find him. If I could clear the tired fog from my brain, I’d work it out.

  ‘There’s a man in a suit at the barrier,’ Anna said, striding over. ‘He wants to talk you.’ Her expression was like granite. ‘He has very green eyes.’

  I swung round and spotted Mike Timmons straight away. Yes, I’d known that Max would find out where I lived sooner or later, but I’d been banking on it being later. What was the bet that the faery had helped speed things up by telling him the address? I’d flung out the name of my street to Timmons and his guests in a hopelessly rash move – I should have known better.

  I crossed my arms, feeling the magic surge through my skin. Monroe had been right all along. I marched over to Timmons. I wasn’t taking any more prisoners. And I wasn’t opening any doors or setting any welcome fires. Not this time.

  Clearly my body language and furious expression were doing half my work for me. The others in the street fell silent, getting out of my way before standing to the side to watch the action.

  Timmons blanched – but he didn’t move. Not even a single step.

  ‘You did this. You told him where we were,’ I growled.

  He couldn’t meet my eyes. ‘He threatened my guests.’

  ‘You shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists.’

  He sighed. ‘What else was I supposed to do?’

  ‘You’re a faery. You’ve got magic. There’s lots you could have done.’

  ‘I did what I thought was best,’ he said simply. ‘I’m not taking sides here. I’m looking after me and mine.’

  He reached inside his jacket pocket.

  I didn’t hesitate. I raised my hands and threw magic at him. With a swooshing whump, Timmons was thrown backwards several metres, colliding with a semi-destroyed brick wall. He groaned and his eyelids fluttered closed, but he wasn’t unconscious like Max and the others had been back in the supermarket. Apparently, faeries were made of sterner stuff.

  I glanced down to see what he’d been planning to attack me with. When I spotted the unmarked envelope, my heart sank.

  Timmons groaned again. ‘I’m not your enemy,’ he croaked. ‘I was told to pass this on to you. It’s only a letter, I promise. I wouldn’t do anything to harm you.’

  Words had the potential to create scars as much as daggers did. All the same, I supposed I wasn’t in any immediate danger. I knelt down and took the envelope from him. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered. I helped him to his feet. ‘I thought you were going to attack.’

  ‘I’m a hotel manager,’ he said. ‘The most I’d do is charge you extra for the minibar.’

  ‘You’re a faery too.’ I grimaced as I said it. Monroe was rubbing off on me in the most unpleasant ways.

  Timmons backed off, holding his palms in the air. ‘I’m not a bad person,’ he said. ‘I can’t help what I am or what’s happened to your city. And I meant what I said. I’m not your enemy.’

  I pressed my lips together. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Thank you.’ He met my eyes nervously. ‘You know that’s a shitload of magic you’ve got at your fingertips. Be careful with it.’

  I stiffened. ‘Am I likely to make matters worse in the city if I use magic? Is it going to release more crap into the atmosphere?’

  Timmons shook his head. ‘No. Sure, using magic will release small amounts, but there’s only one of you. Even with powers like yours, you can’t do too much damage.’

  He sounded confident, but I wondered if it was still a risk I was willing to take. I made a promise to myself not to fling out any craziness from my fingertips unless it was absolutely necessary and tightened my fingers round the envelope.

  ‘This is from Max?’ I asked.

  Timmons nodded. ‘Lord Maximillian.’

  My eyebrows flew up. ‘Lord?’

&n
bsp; He shifted his feet. ‘That’s what he told me to call him.’

  I bet he did. I sighed then I turned away and ripped open the envelope. Time to find out what Lord Bastard really wanted.

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘You can’t do this.’ We might have been back in the safety of my kitchen, but Jodie’s eyes were still wide with fear. ‘I’ve seen some pretty horrendous things happen over the last week but if you go to this place, and hand yourself over to this man, you’re going to regret it.’

  Julie nodded. ‘It’s not often that I agree with that annoying young chit,’ she said, ignoring Jodie’s scowl. ‘But, darling, on this occasion she’s right. He says that he’ll release Lizzy when you offer yourself in her place. But he’ll have no reason to keep to his word once he has you. And what does this mean?’ She jabbed at the letter. ‘Work for him? We know enough from poor Cath here that he is the last person anyone would want to work for. I’m sorry about the Australian girl, but you can’t put yourself in jeopardy. Besides, he sounds like the kind of man who has a short attention span. He’ll get tired of her soon enough and let her go. Acceding to his demands will cause problems. Lots of problems.’

  Anna reached over, took the bottle of gin from Julie, and had a long swig from it. She didn’t even flinch. ‘Max Stone is known to me. He’s known to all the police. He’s scum, Charley. The trouble is that he’s clever scum. We’ve never been able to pin anything on him to lock him up for more than a night or two, but there are plenty of stories about the sort of things he’s capable of. You can’t give yourself to him in return for Lizzy – you’ll be consigning yourself to hell. He wants you because he’s seen that magic shit you can do. There’s no chance he’s going to use you for the powers of good. I don’t think he has any good in him at all. The Manpocalypse is what he’s always dreamed of.’

  ‘Manpocalypse?’

  Cath put her hand up. ‘That was me. We need some kind of catchy name for what’s happening. We can’t keep calling it the Magical Apocalypse That Only Affects Manchester. It’s far too wordy.’

  ‘You know, Manpocalypse sounds like it’s a man’s problem. Like mansplaining or manspreading.’

  ‘Yes, but we’re all women here so it doesn’t matter. Besides, you’re changing the subject. You can’t do this. It’ll end badly.’

  I pushed myself off the counter and straightened my shoulder. ‘We can’t leave Lizzy with him. First of all because we’re not monsters, and secondly because Max is a monster. Third of all, because so is Lizzy. She won’t be able to contain her bunyip form forever. When she shifts again, he’ll want to keep her in his employ as much as me. There’s no chance that he’ll get tired of her and let her go. Not when he discovers the truth.’

  Jodie threw up her hands. ‘But if you go to him he won’t just have a bunny thing to use. He’ll have an enchantress too!’

  ‘He won’t have anything or anyone,’ I answered calmly, ‘because I won’t let him. I told Timmons not to negotiate with terrorists. I’m not going to either.’ I bared my teeth in a smile. ‘But I will play the poker game of my life and bluff like my life depends on it. Because it does. Max doesn’t win here.’

  ‘Does that mean you have a plan?’

  Not exactly; I was working on one, though. It was going to come to me at any moment. ‘Yes.’ I nodded vigorously. ‘I have an excellent plan.’

  They all stared at me. I cleared my throat.

  ‘It’s too complicated to explain right now,’ I said, with an airy wave. Then my eyes hardened. ‘But it will work.’

  Lizzy’s life might depend upon it.

  ***

  It was fortunate that one of my departed neighbours down the street was a despiser of all things technological, including satnav, and had a vast collection of A–Z street maps. I smoothed out the relevant section and grabbed a highlighter purloined from the secondary-school teacher at number fifty-eight who had appeared perpetually harassed. I could get used to this kind of ‘shopping’. Who knew what hidden gems we might find in other houses in the area?

  ‘Right,’ I said, circling the tiny park indicated by a splash of green. ‘This is where Max wants me to meet him and where we’re all expected to ante up, him with Lizzy and me with – well, me.’

  We leaned over the map. Julie hissed through her teeth. ‘I know that area, darling. I shot an advert there back in the day. The park is surrounded by tall buildings. It’s a cul-de-sac with only one way in or out.’

  I nodded. ‘You can guarantee that Max already has eyes all over it. There’s no way to sneak anyone in there before the meet in order to put the odds in our favour. But it doesn’t matter – Max might think he’s got the big hand, but he’s not holding all the cards.’ I jabbed the end of the highlighter in Cath’s direction. ‘Which houses in this area has Max already tried?’

  Cath’s face tightened. ‘None.’ She took the pen from me. ‘He was here the first night,’ she added a dab of neon pink to indicate the spot, ‘and here the second night,’ she marked the map again. ‘And we were moving here for the third night.’

  I examined her marks. The first one was in the small suburb that had been evacuated almost at the outset of the Manpocalypse. The second was to the west and in a more upmarket area. The third was one of Manchester’s wealthiest addresses. None of them were remotely close to where Max wanted me to meet him.

  ‘Hang on,’ Jodie said. ‘That means you were with him from the start, before any of us knew how bad things were going to get.’

  Cath avoided our eyes. ‘I’ve been working for him for a while.’ She shrugged awkwardly. ‘A couple of months maybe. I only did small stuff, running errands and picking things up for him. Nothing major.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘I needed the money, alright? University doesn’t come cheap and my parents certainly weren’t going to cough up the fees. I was achieving the grades to get a place but, unless I got the money too, I’d have ended up nowhere. I had to do something.’

  ‘You don’t have to explain yourself,’ I told her. ‘You did what you had to.’

  Her chin tilted up defiantly. ‘I did. And, yes,’ she added with a hint of venom, although whether it was directed at me, at Jodie or at herself I couldn’t tell, ‘I knew he was a shit from the start. I was desperate, though, and for the most part he treated me well.’ She pointed at the bruise that was still visible on her cheekbone. ‘Until I suggested that he should let the other kids evacuate if they wanted to.’

  Anna watched her carefully. ‘Snaring kids like you has always been his modus operandi. They’re easier to control, easier to brainwash and easier to blame when the shit hits the fan.’

  Cath glared. ‘I’m not a kid. I’m just not quite old enough to vote yet. I’m not a criminal either.’ The slight tremble in her voice indicated that she was lying about that last part. Not that it mattered to me. And she was still a kid, no matter how much she protested.

  ‘Let’s stick to what’s important, shall we?’ I murmured. I took the pen back and frowned at the map. ‘Here,’ I said. ‘Isn’t this where the Lord Mayors used to reside when they were in office?’

  Anna gazed over my shoulder. ‘You’re right, it is.’

  I smiled. ‘It’s very close to the park. Given that Max is now calling himself Lord Max, it would suit his ego to stay in the Mayor’s building.’ I raised my eyebrows at Cath. ‘Don’t you think?’

  ‘It fits.’

  Julie scratched her head. ‘I hate to be the fly in the ointment, but it’s not been used as an actual residence for decades. And even when it was first built, it wasn’t all that glamorous. From what you’ve told me of this Max, it won’t be grand enough for him. It’s hardly a mansion, it’s really just a large flat.’

  ‘So this isn’t going to be where he settles but I still think it’s where he’s staying tonight. There’s nowhere else nearby that fits. He won’t want to travel far.’ I tapped my mouth thoughtfully. ‘Judging from the number of people you said he’s got with him now, a lot of the nearby bui
ldings will be occupied. It’s not going to be easy to slip in and out unnoticed but I think he’ll take me there. When I go to make the exchange, that’s when you go to the Mayor’s lodgings. Find somewhere safe nearby to hide.’

  Anna nodded, although Jodie seemed less keen. ‘Don’t I get a taser to shoot?’

  Anna unclipped her baton and passed it over. ‘You can have this.’

  ‘A stick?’

  Anna grinned. ‘I call her Slayer.’ When she realised we were all staring at her as if she were crazy, her smile faded and she coughed. ‘ As a joke.’

  ‘Mmmm.’

  Julie took another large swig of gin. ‘I won’t be able to do my part until it’s night time.’

  Jodie snorted. ‘Of course you won’t.’

  The vampire was unperturbed by her disdain. ‘The sun hurts, darling. It’s a nasty side effect of all these increased powers. If you want me at my strongest, you’ll have to wait until darkness.’

  ‘That’s not a problem,’ I said hastily before Jodie started to argue.

  ‘I’m not staying here,’ Cath declared. ‘You can’t make me. I know more about Max than any of you.’ A flash of something indefinable crossed her expression. ‘I’ll reach inside and grab his intestines and pull them out and…’

  ‘Let’s avoid the intestine-pulling talk, shall we?’ I smiled at her. ‘You know Max’s team, the older ones at least. Your job is to speak to as many of them as possible. Lie, cajole, threaten, bribe, do whatever you need to. Get them to see the truth about him. We need more people on our side. It won’t be easy, and you might not get many of them on board but…’

  ‘I’ll do it.’

  ‘If you get hurt—’ I began.

  ‘I won’t get hurt.’

  ‘If you get hurt,’ I repeated, ‘or if there’s any real danger, get away to safety any way that you can. There are only so many rescue missions we can mount in one night.’