by Helen Harper
‘No,’ she said, ‘he’s not started yet. What she did was by accident. At least I think it was by accident. She’s destroyed some UnSeelie nightclub.’
‘Is she alright?’ I demanded.
Lucy shook her head. ‘I don’t know. She’s unconscious. Tom’s there now and…’
I started running. I supposed I’d made that decision then.
***
I knew the club. In fact, I’d even spent some time there when I was younger and even more rash than I appeared to be now. It was owned by a remarkably unsavoury Fae named Tarn. He was the size of a house and had an ego to match. He’d approached me a few times to work for him on the side. Naturally, I had declined. Mack wouldn’t be daft enough to have anything to do with him. She might, however, have let him wind her up to the point where she lost control. If he harmed a hair on her head, I’d kill him. Even if it meant war between ourselves and the UnSeelie Court.
When I finally made it there, and looked around, it was clear that, while the club was in a bad state, it hadn’t actually been obliterated. There was a long burn along the bar, which I could only imagine was as a result of something Mack had done, and there were spilled drinks and smashed glasses all over the place. The electricity was still working, however, and more than one person was still standing. There was, unfortunately, no sign of Mack herself. I wasn’t sure whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing. Before I could pull my head back and roar for her, however, a nearby lift pinged open and she walked out with Solus and Tom on either side of her. She was pale and her hair looked wild but she was walking. Just. She had some kind of blanket round her and it was clear she was naked underneath it. It was the final confirmation that she really had shifted.
For the first time, I let out the breath I’d been holding. I couldn’t trust myself not to start yelling at her for putting herself in danger so I ignored her completely in favour of looking at Tom. As the young werewolf bowed slightly in deference, however, I caught her mouth twist. Something else to ignore. This time I had to keep a damn rein on my emotions.
‘What happened?’
Tom threw Mack a quick look, as if in apology. ‘Red received a tip that the owner of this club knew something about Endor. She came here with Lord Solus so she could question him.’
I pursed my mouth. While I didn’t like that she had brought the damn Fae along at least she’d had the sense to not come here alone. She might not want me on her team but she was finally learning the value of teamwork.
‘I wasn’t here,’ Tom said, making sure I understood this information was second hand. Solus smirked while Mack tapped her foot. ‘However, they gained an audience with Tarn and proceeded to negotiate with him. He confirmed that he did indeed know some vital details about the necromancer prick.’
‘How the hell did that come about?’ I growled, although I had a pretty good idea. Tarn was as slimy as they came. It shouldn’t surprise me that he had all manner of villains in his back pocket.
‘I think they got drunk together or something.’ He glanced at Solus for confirmation. The Fae bobbed his head. He was still smirking. ‘He asked Red – Mack – for some blood.’
A hot ball of anger lit up in my stomach. ‘Blood? Her blood?’
Tom bit his lip and nodded. ‘It was the only way he’d give up what he knew. She was hooked up with a needle but the, uh, blood loss caused her to lose control. She shifted and, well,’ he looked round at the mess. I grunted. ‘She wasn’t in her dragon form for more than a few seconds really,’ he continued. ‘Then she passed out. Once she came round, Tarn gave them the information.’ Tom’s eyes met mine with a gravity he rarely displayed. ‘In five days time it’s Loo… Loo…’
‘Lughnasadh,’ Solus helpfully provided.
‘Some kind of harvest festival for pagans,’ Tom explained. ‘Endor is going to be at Loch Ness. We think, well,’ he gestured to Solus and Mack, ‘they think that now he’s covered the element of earth, he’s going after water.’
‘Kelpies,’ I said grimly.
Everyone nodded, even Mack. I mulled everything over. As much as I hated the idea that Endor had a new victim in his sights, it felt like we were finally getting somewhere.
‘Did he leave anything out?’ I asked, addressing Mack.
She just shook her head. Something about my attention made her uncomfortable and she tightened the blanket round herself further. That probably annoyed me more than anything else.
‘It looks like you’ve missed all the action,’ commented Solus. He had an amused tone but I had the distinct feeling he’d seen the flash in my eyes and was drawing attention away from Mack and towards himself. ‘That’s okay though. Us faeries and dragons can take care of everything.’
‘The council should have been informed before you came here,’ I said. With their help, she could have avoided bargaining away her own blood – something Solus should have stopped her from doing anyway.
‘How do you know they weren’t?’ she sniped.
‘Because I’m taking Staines’ place as the highest ranking shifter representative,’ I said. ‘If you’d told anyone, I would have known.’
She raised her eyebrows, mocking me. ‘Oh yeah? Just like you’d have known if any of your little minions were off torturing any innocent victims?’
Tom sucked in a breath. I simply snarled. ‘Watch your place.’
Her lip curled. ‘Actually, my Lord, now that you’ve rejoined the council – of which I believe I am the head – you’re the one who’ll have to watch your place. It’s my orders you’ll be following. Not the other way around.’
She’d be surprised. I had no problem doing what she instructed. It was only going to work if she was going to act like a petulant child, however. I opened my mouth to answer her with the same kind of sarcasm that she was always giving me when my eye caught the television hanging overhead. I froze. It was flickering with images of Mack and Solus engaged in what could only be described as hot, sexy, dirty dancing. She had her body pressed against his, her arms round his back and an expression of delight on her face. My efforts at making her jealous had been pathetic. She’d already moved on and she was doing it with gusto. I felt sick.
‘We’re thinking of trying out for Strictly Come Dancing,’ said Solus. ‘I’m not sure they’ll be able to show us before the watershed though. There’s just no stopping a passion as deep as ours, is there, dragonlette?’
He was being pointedly flippant but I didn’t care. He was another one who’d told me that Mack was in love with me just as I was with her. More lies.
I struggled to keep my expression calm, giving myself a moment to act rationally. Lord Alpha, I reminded myself. For what was possibly the first time in my life, I felt the sort of incandescent rage that could consume a person. It took considerable force of will not to shift. Or punch something. Work, I decided. I had to focus on work.
‘If you’re really going to lead the council,’ I said to Mack, ‘then you’re going to have to start acting a damn sight more responsibly. Especially now that the entire Otherworld clearly knows that you’re a Draco Wyr. So much for all that effort you put into keeping it a secret. I guess you just wanted to make sure that everyone was fully aware of your power. Well, congratulations. Because now you can bet that it’s all over the Othernet and that Endor knows too. Thanks to your stupidity, we’ve lost just about the only element of surprise and real advantage that we had.’
I didn’t mention that the cat was probably already out of the bag as far as that little tidbit was concerned. It appeared that I didn’t have to though.
‘Oh yeah? I think that thanks to your presence on the fucking gossip pages, he was probably pretty much already aware of that. So don’t coming knocking on my door to lay the blame.’
Apparently neither of us knew when to quit. I took an angry step towards her. Mack did the same towards me. This was about to become a full blown fistfight. It wouldn’t be pretty. Then Mack’s eyes widened fractionally and she turned even
paler than she already had been. She started to collapse and, like an idiot, I lunged forward to catch her. The sensation of having her in my arms again made my stomach swirl. That was before she yanked herself away and forced her body upright.
‘We need to go,’ she muttered. ‘There’ll be another council meeting tomorrow. I’ll call everyone in the morning.’ She sniffed. ‘And tell Staines I still want to see him.’
Tom and Solus moved to either side of her. Tom threw me an apologetic look while Solus shrugged then stuck his tongue out. All I could do was watch them leave. I should be thankful for small mercies. She was still alive and she had two of the strongest people I knew with her. It would have to be enough. It was clear I wasn’t going to get anything else. For my own sanity’s sake, I had to stay away from her, no matter what else happened.
Chapter Eight
I made it my mission to do just about anything to keep Mack out of my mind. She’d made her position clear, more than once. I had to stop hankering after her. Sooner or later it would stop hurting quite so much. There were plenty more fish in the sea. In fact, there were plenty more women who would be far more suitable and cause me far less angst. The sooner I could start really believing that, the better.
It helped that the entire Brethren was extraordinarily busy. Everyone was under alert to look out for strange portals opening. Patrols up and down the country had been tripled and hardly anyone was getting any sleep. A lot of people were very jumpy. More than once I’d received urgent reports from various Packs about Endor’s reappearance, only for them to turn out to be false alarms. He would show his face eventually though. He might be surprised at the army that was facing him when he did.
Lucy had tracked down an expert in necromancy, a wizened old man who looked as if he was older than Methuselah himself. There was a hardness in his eyes. This was someone who I instinctively knew was responsible for killing. He wasn’t exactly a mage, although how he’d kept out of the Ministry’s iron-clad grasp was a mystery. When I quizzed him about his credentials, I had to admit I was rather taken aback.
‘I dabbled in necromancy in my younger years,’ he creaked.
My eyebrows flew up to my forehead. That was a hell of a thing to admit to. ‘How?’ I asked, leaning forward. ‘And why?’
He held his arms loosely at his sides as if he wasn’t bothered in the slightest at openly discussing such illegal activities. ‘The how was easy. I had studied history. Cambridge, of course. I always felt that there was a limit to what the dusty books could tell me. I wanted more. I had wanted to live it.’ He shrugged. ‘Short of time travel though, there was little I could do.’
‘So you decided to wake the dead to ask them?’
‘I had no interest in controlling them.’ He wrinkled his nose at the very idea of doing something so crass. ‘I didn’t want power. I wanted knowledge.’
I found it hard not to laugh in his face. Regardless of his age, this wasn’t some weak academic. And knowledge is all about power. Even Adam and Eve learned that.
‘What happened?’
‘It went … badly. There were a few deaths. It turns out the dead don’t appreciate their rest being disturbed.’
‘There are plenty of ghosts and spirits you could have contacted,’ I pointed out. ‘You didn’t need to go around digging up corpses.’
‘I tried that,’ he dismissed. ‘They didn’t want to talk to me.’ There was a sudden nasty gleam in his eyes. ‘I could make the dead talk to me though.’
I repressed a shudder. He smiled and leaned forward, placing both his hands on the armrests. ‘It’s like nothing else. When you raise the dead, you are locking into some dark part of yourself. It’s not just me. Everyone has that inside them. Some people are just better at hiding it than others. Necromancy helps to bring it out.’
I could attest to that. There was certainly a deep wellspring of darkness inside Endor. He was all about himself and he’d happily kill whoever got in his way.
‘Why did you stop?’
‘Who says I did?’ he shot back. I stiffened and he laughed, although it was more a wheezing croak than anything else. ‘The Ministry caught up with me,’ he finally admitted. ‘Twenty five years I spent in one of their magic prisons. They ripped me of everything.’ He lifted up one hand. It was bony and covered in scars. ‘I still bear the evidence.’
‘They still released you.’
‘Because they took so much from me that I’m no more danger to another person now than a cockroach would be.’
‘Cockroaches spread disease.’
His mouth twitched in amusement. ‘Yes, I suppose they do. Bad analogy. The truth is I couldn’t do anything now, even if I wanted to. This man you’re looking for though – he’s far more powerful than I ever was. I would never have been able to manage what he did with those dryads.’ He sounded as if he admired Endor. ‘You should be careful, Lord Alpha. Death magic eats away at a person until often there’s little more than a shell left. I doubt your friend is of this world. He wouldn’t be able to contain himself if he were and he wouldn’t be able to survive. He needs to draw power from somewhere to do what he does.’
I pressed my fingers together and watched him carefully.
Lord Alpha? Mack’s Voice popped into my head without a single warning. The old necromancer looked interested at my expression so I quickly propelled him out of the door and told Lucy outside to keep an eye on him.
What the hell do you want? I shot back.
I need… She paused. Her Voice was filled with tension. You need to get round to my place.
As if. Mack was clearly just exercising her earlier threat to make me dance to her tune instead of vice-versa. She was probably amusing herself with Solus and whoever else happened to be there, joking with them at how much she could yank me around to do her bidding.
Just because I’m re-joining the council, I answered through gritted teeth, does not mean you have carte-blanche to have me at your beck and call. I’ll put up with you when I have to but the rest of the time, my previous wishes still stand. I do not want to see you or speak to you. I’d appreciate it if you could respect that. Let’s face it, unless I kept away from her as much as possible, I couldn’t be trusted.
Corrigan, you have to get here.
She could look after herself. How many other times had she thrown that at me anyway? I’d run to her at Tarn’s nightclub and all I’d gotten in return was a half pornographic video of her and Solus. Screw her. If you’ve gotten yourself into trouble yet again, then get that bloody faerie to help you out.
It’s not me, Corrigan, she half-yelled, it’s Staines. You need to get here. He’s… He’s dead.
Everything around me went quiet. It was like time had stopped. I could hear my heartbeat thrumming against my ribcage. I stalked over to the window and stared out. She was lying. She had to be lying. But I knew deep down that she wouldn’t do that. Not about something like this.
I’ll be there within the hour. I immediately broke off the connection.
Staines! I sent my Voice out as loud as I ever had. There wasn’t any answer. STAINES!
Nothing.
I flung my office door and sprinted out, ignoring Lucy’s startled yelp. I was vaguely aware of the necromancer cackling something after me, but I blocked it all out. As per usual, Mara was outside in case her chauffeur services were required. This time I didn’t even stop to look at her though. I just flung open the car door and jumped in, revving the engine. Within a blink of an eye, I was halfway down the street.
***
I could smell the blood even before Mack opened the door. There was no denying it belonged to Staines. She pointed me towards the kitchen and I stalked through. My steps faltered once I reached the doorway however and saw him.
He was lying spread-eagled across Mack’s kitchen table, his head lolling backwards. He possessed the sort of stillness that only death could provide. The small room was virtually painted with his blood but it was him that I was focused on. I
half stumbled, half lurched towards him, my knees giving way when I saw the vicious wounds in his stomach. Pain spread through me like I’d never felt before. Unable to help myself, I howled with inarticulate rage and anguish.
I didn’t know how long I spent there on Mack’s floor. Staines and I had argued all the time but there was no denying he’d always had my back. I thought of the way he’d called me son the last time we spoke and the flippant manner with which I’d dismissed him when what I should have done was hug him as tightly as I could have, whether it would have embarrassed him or not. I’d failed him in every sense possible.
I staggered back up to my feet and smoothed over his hair. Then I began yanking open Mack’s drawers until I found a clean cloth. I turned on the tap, dampening it then moved back to Staines and began wiping away the blood smeared all over his torso and his face. Tears ran unchecked down my cheeks.
‘What…?’ It was Lucy. She’d obviously been alarmed by my abrupt exit and had followed. Numerous other shifters were with her and all of them were gazing at Staines with the same horror that I felt.
‘Did she do this?’ one of them snarled.
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Lucy snapped. She still looked at me though.
‘It was Endor,’ the Arch-Mage muttered grimly, joining the crowd. He pushed his way through and came to stand beside me, gazing down sadly at Staines’ body. ‘He was a good man.’
I wasn’t capable of words. I just nodded.
‘He left a note,’ he continued. ‘Like a calling card.’ He touched my arm. ‘We’ll get him, Corrigan. I promise we’ll get him.’
Promises, it appeared, were for the weak. This had happened on our own doorstep. It had happened in Mack’s fucking kitchen. Why hadn’t she stopped it? Fear slammed through me. If Endor had been here then it wasn’t Staines he’d been after. He’d wanted Mack. She could have been killed too. The thought filled me with a soul-sucking despair which almost overtook my grief. I rocked back on my heels and passed a hand over my forehead.