Stakes and Stones

by Bilinda Sheehan

  I opened the passenger door of the car and paused, staring at the silent and brooding house in front of me.

  One side of the redbrick had disappeared beneath dark green ivy. It rustled and whispered in the salty breeze that whipped in from the cliffs behind us, making me think of the chatter of restless spirits clamouring for attention. Considering the season, there shouldn’t have been any leaves left on the ivy, but as we drew closer, there was no mistaking the rich earthy scent of it that carried on the air.

  From the corner of my eye, I noted the delicate white blossoms that lined the pathway and the windows surrounding the house were decorated in a climbing wild rose, the pink blooms bobbing their heads in unison.

  There was only one thing that could keep a garden alive like that… Magic. Unease knotted in my stomach. I’d thought the representative was human.

  Obviously, I was wrong.

  “Not what you were expecting?” Jack asked, the scathing note in his voice unmistakable as he stepped out onto the road.

  I followed suit, joining Alex who was already standing next to the thick thorny hedge that grew alongside the road. The tarmac beneath our feet looked black under the light of the moon, as though it were a void that had swallowed the road entirely. For a moment, I wondered if perhaps Carmine was in my head messing with me once more but I dismissed the thought as soon as I spotted a patch of ice sparkling like broken glass next to the grassy verge.

  “I wasn’t sure what to expect,” I said honestly, eyeing the darkened windows of the little house.

  Jack pushed open the comically small wooden garden gate and started up the pathway. The stones beneath his feet crunched with each step and it took me a moment to realise they weren’t stones at all but shells.

  “I feel like we’ve accidentally stumbled into a fairytale or something,” Alex whispered. “If this house is made of gingerbread, I’m out of here.”

  “Ye can pack up that attitude right now,” Jack said, pausing at the head of the path before the door. “We’re already being rude without adding insult to injury.”

  Alex opened his mouth to snap out a sharp retort but paused when I placed my hand on his arm.

  Jack turned away with a snort of disgust and rang the small bell next to the door. The noise chimed inside, reverberating and echoing through the space.

  Silence followed, the seconds dragging out as the night slowly ebbed away.

  “She’s not here,” Jack said without bothering to hide the relief in his voice.

  “Then we go to the source,” I said.

  He started, his expression of relief crumpling as though his face was made of paper and not flesh and bone.

  “Ye don’t just go to the source,” he said, finally managing to get the words out. “She needs to get you an appointment and—”

  “She’s not in and we’ve wasted enough time,” I snapped, my exhaustion finally catching up to me. I was tired of always being one step behind Carmine, of always missing out and others suffering for my mistakes. I needed to get ahead of this and fast, Grey was depending on me.

  “There’s one other place she might be,” Jack said, the tremor in his words betraying his emotions. He was honestly afraid, maybe even terrified.

  “Then we go there,” I said, “but mark my words, if the rep isn’t there, then I’m going to the source, protocol be damned.”

  Without a word, he pushed past me and started off down the path once more. Before I could follow him, Alex grabbed my arm and pulled me back to his side.

  “Do you think he’s playing us?”

  I paused, studying Jack as he climbed back in behind the steering wheel. Even from this distance, I could see the shake in his hands as he gripped the wheel tightly.

  “No. I think he’s terrified…” I said. “I think there’s something he’s not telling us, something Carmine has on him that he doesn’t want us to know about.”

  “You think she’s threatened him?”

  “Honestly,” I pushed my hand back through my hair as I spoke. “I think that’s the least of what she’s done to him.”

  The skin on my back where the tattoo sat tingled and the hairs on the backs of my arms stood at attention. Perhaps Carmine had marked him the same way she had marked me. I could still remember the way Kypherous had held me down, allowing her to leave her mark upon me. Granted, I didn’t entirely regret the tattoo now, especially as I was finally beginning to understand its purpose. In a way, Kypherous had done me a favour by giving me the tattoo in the first place. Concentrating my power wasn’t something I was particularly good at, but the viper that trailed over my spine definitely made it easier.

  That thought alone was enough to send a shudder rippling down my spine. The last thing I wanted to acknowledge was the possibility that Kypherous had done me a favour.

  Glancing back in Jack’s direction, I tried to focus in on him but his expression was almost unreadable. Well, unreadable beyond the terror I could see reflected in his dark eyes.

  What aren’t you telling me?

  I contemplated confronting him but I already knew how it would turn out, he wasn’t going to tell me anything. He didn’t trust me, especially after the threat I’d issued earlier. And I really didn’t have the time to earn it. Grey didn’t have the time it would take for me to make nice and gain Jack’s confidence. I was more a kick the door in and apologise after kind of girl, and who was I to change the habit of a lifetime?

  So long as not knowing the truth doesn’t prevent you from killing Carmine. The voice in the back of my mind piped up.

  I shrugged off Jack’s discomfort and trailed Alex over to the car.

  It was surprisingly easy to ignore Jack’s fear as I climbed into the passenger seat and I stared out the window as the engine roared to life.

  The closer we got to town, the more my unease coiled tighter in my stomach. I didn’t like unknown quantities and I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking into a trap, especially where the vampire’s representative was concerned.

  It seemed like such a trivial matter but I knew better. Anyone who had enough power to keep a garden alive like that through winter wasn’t someone you wanted to underestimate. It was a kind of wild magic and the moment I thought of it I was reminded of what Jack had said to me earlier in the evening. There were old things living here, the kinds of things other monsters had nightmares about. And creatures like that didn’t just gather in a place because they liked the view. No, when that happened it usually meant there was some kind of ancient power at play, something that would make every bone in my body ache if I ran into it. Something that would crush me beneath the weight of its power if I opposed it. Something as old, maybe older than the wight… And that son-of-a-bitch had very nearly ended me.

  My heart sank in my chest as I stared out the window at the darkness that pressed against the glass like a great black cat intent on brushing against your legs. Adrian wouldn’t call unless whatever he’d seen was bad… and now that I thought about it, the edge of frustration I’d heard in his voice had been fear.

  Shit… I stared out the window as the houses grew closer together. Old wild magic had the tendency to bite you in the ass and I had a feeling that whatever Carmine was playing with would do an awful lot more than just bite me in the ass.

  Chapter 33

  When Jack pulled the car to a halt next to the cliff, I found myself staring out at the darkness in surprise.

  “Where are we?”

  “As part of the weekend festivities…” Jack started to speak and then trailed off, staring out the windscreen at something only he could see.

  “What is it?” I asked, following his gaze, but the street appeared to be deserted.

  “Nothing.”

  Alex leaned forward between the seats and levelled a hard stare at Jack.

  “You smell of fear.” He spoke carefully, deliberately, as though keeping himself on a very tight leash.

  “He’s smelled of fear the whole way here.” I watch
ed the colour drain from Jack’s face as Alex leaned in toward his neck and drew in a deep breath.

  “No, I mean this is new,” Alex said quietly, burying his face in against the other man’s black coat. It looked like a tender gesture, one shared between intimate lovers, and to an outsider it might have appeared that way. But from where I sat, I could see the way Jack stiffened in his seat, the tension that suddenly tightened his jaw, the way his fingers spasmed against the steering wheel.

  “God, I’ve missed this,” Alex’s voice was muffled.

  Grabbing the collar of Alex’s navy coat, I jerked him backwards and away from Jack.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked, my gaze darting between the two men. Despite me pulling Alex away, Jack continued to stare dead ahead out the window.

  “I’m not doing anything,” Alex said, shrugging out of my grip, “well, nothing more than drinking in his new perfume.” He smirked and slid into the darkness of the backseat once more.

  “Jack,” I said, turning my attention to the still frozen man in the front seat. He didn’t move, he didn’t even register my calling his name.

  “Jack,” I said again, this time a little more forcefully. I reached out toward him.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Alex’s voice came from the well of darkness that was the backseat.

  “Why not?”

  “Because something has a hold on him and I’ve got a feeling she’ll get her hooks on you just like she did that day back in the hospital with Simon.”

  Simply mentioning his name was enough to break me out in a cold sweat. I could hear his voice screaming for help every time I tried to close my eyes and even now, as the wind swept up and over the cliff to buffet the car, I could have sworn I could hear his pleas.

  Jack turned to face me then, mouth slack, face drawn and more gaunt than usual. His eyes had a blank unseeing stare but something lurked behind them, an intelligence that caused the breath to catch in the back of my throat.

  “You’re determined, I’ll give you that,” Carmine’s voice twisted from Jack’s mouth, his lips developing an almost rubbery appearance as they slid over the unnatural voice that poured forth. “I always admired that about you.”

  Jack’s hand came up, his fingers seeking to brush over a loose tendril of my hair. Despite the horror that had me pinned in the seat, I slapped him away. Watching Carmine control the vampire had been bad but this… this was so much worse.

  Vampires were already a kind of empty vessel, the creature that took hold of them when they changed was all hunger and desire. They lacked the finer emotions that made someone truly human, truly alive. But this…

  “Jack can you hear me?” My voice sounded oddly hollow as though it was coming from far away, but it was steady and for that I was grateful. Right now, I just wanted to get my victories where I could.

  “Oh, he’s here with me all right.” Carmine’s sickly sweet tone made my skin crawl.

  Jack turned and shoved the car door open, the sudden blast of cool air that filled the car sealed the air in my lungs. The temperature had dropped since we’d been to the representative’s house.

  Glancing out the windscreen, I caught sight of the clouds gathering out across what I assumed was the inky black of the sea.

  “Shit,” I muttered more to myself than anyone else.

  “What is it?” Alex said, catching the note of distress in that one word.

  “We’re about to buried in another snow storm,” I said, nodding in the direction of the abnormally coloured storm clouds that boiled and writhed in the sky ahead.

  “Yeah, what the hell is that about?”

  “The fae,” I said, “more specifically Jack Frost.”

  “Oh,” Alex said, “wait, what?”

  “You know, Jack Frost, like from the kid’s story, except he’s not so much a story and more an ancient god the Vikings brought with them.”

  “Of course,” Alex grumbled, climbing from the backseat. “Just remind me when this is done to never complain about home again and the amount of rain we get.”

  “Noted.” Following Jack, I stepped out of the car and moved into the street.

  “Jack,” I called again, “can you hear me?”

  With his back to me, Carmine’s voice floated over his shoulder in my direction.

  “Jack’s been a very naughty boy, Jenna,” she said. “You made him disobey direct orders, made him think he could save the ones he loved.” He whirled around to face me, his face twisted into a grimace. “You gave him hope that this would be over…”

  Jack’s body sagged and he dropped to the road, his knees hitting the tarmac with a dull thud. For a moment there was nothing but silence, and then he sucked in a breath and his shoulders started to shake.

  “Jack?”

  He lifted his face to mine and it was then I realised his shoulders were shaking because he was sobbing.

  “I shouldn’t have listened to you, I shouldn’t have—” He trailed off and pushed unsteadily to his feet once more.

  “What’s going on?” I tried to catch up to him but he’d started off across the grassy verge that sat between the road and the edge of the cliff. Even in the dark, I knew we were close to it.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance like the awakening of a great monster. We’d never be so lucky that something would wake up and eat Carmine.

  Jack disappeared over the edge of the cliff and my heart stuck in the back of my throat. The street lights didn’t extend this far and I crept cautiously toward the place where I’d seen Jack vanish. The grass crunched beneath my feet and I shivered as the temperature started to plummet.

  Reaching the edge, I caught sight of the pathway that wove down the side of the cliff face. Jack was already more than halfway down when I started to follow him.

  “Where are we going?” Alex asked, catching up to me easily, his breath causing little clouds of fog to form in front of his face.

  “Hell if I know,” I said. “I just hope wherever it is, it’s indoors because I really don’t fancy getting stuck outside in another snowstorm.”

  As I spoke the first large snowflake fell from the sky and hit the path in front of us.

  Jack doubled back on himself, the path still sloping downwards toward the beach. The sound of the waves hitting the shore was louder here. The silence that only the middle of the night could bring made the roar of the sea almost deafening. The falling snow was rapidly gaining momentum and the pathway beneath our feet was growing slippery.

  Ahead I could see lights shining through the ornate windows of a redbrick building that appeared to be carved from the side of the cliff itself.

  My limbs felt heavy and each breath I dragged into my lungs burned, the icy air freezing my airways.

  Jack was now little more than a silhouette. He knew the area better than we ever could and his advantage had allowed him a considerable head start. It helped that he wasn’t like me, a cold-blooded creature who struggled in the extreme weather conditions.

  “You all right?” Alex asked, slowing down to match my stride.

  “I’m fine, catch up to him, okay?” My breathing was laboured and my legs were beginning to cramp as I finally reached the flat of the promenade. From the corner of my eye, I spotted a small group of people out on the sand, making their way up towards the same building we were going to. Something about the way they were moving nagged at me and I paused, counting seven total. Even in the dark, I could tell their clothes were damp, no, more than damp, they were soaking.

  Had they just come out of the sea?

  The closest one to me, a woman barely out of her teens, stared blankly past me, her straw-like blonde hair lay plastered to her head, knotted and matted with detritus. It fell down her back and over her face in a tangled mess. As she drew level with me, I noted her pallid complexion, almost grey under the moonlight that filtered through the clouds gathering overhead. One check was flat and covered in what appeared to be sand, as though she’d spent some ti
me lying face down on the beach. Her blue lips moved back and forth as though she were reciting something only she could hear.

  I grabbed her arm, meaning to catch her attention. Pain seared through my brain, driving me to my knees as my ears were assaulted by the sound of screaming. It went on and on, the sound seemingly endless. Forcing my eyes open, I stared up into her blank expression, her eyes grey and unseeing.

  Dead… She was dead, there was no doubt in my mind.

  Let go, Jenna, just let her go. The voice urged in my head but I couldn’t bring myself to unwrap my fingers from where they’d locked onto her arm. The screaming intensified and warmth trickled down my cheeks.

  “Jenna!” Alex’s voice came from a distance. The sound of his pounding boots on the promenade barely registered above the wailing in my head.

  Alex wrenched me backwards, freeing me from whatever grip I’d fallen prey to.

  “What the fuck—” He took a step back from me, his eyes widening as he stared down at his hands.

  The screaming had stopped and silence swept in, bringing with it a ringing in my ears.

  The girl turned and carried on her trek up toward the building Jack had disappeared into. I watched as she joined the others, her steps falling into sync with theirs.

  “What was that?” Alex’s shock registered somewhere inside me and I tore my gaze away from the girl.

  “You heard it, too?”

  “When I touched you… there was screaming,” he said, his tone hushed as he let his gaze wander back up to the girl who was now making her slow lumbering way up the slope toward the building.

  “Do you know what that is?” I gestured to their destination.

  “The Pavilion,” he said, “at least, that’s what I think it is. It’s on the maps of the town Grey…” He trailed off, his lips thinning so much they practically disappeared.

  “He isn’t dead,” I said, “she needs him too much.”

  “Jenna, she can make the dead appear alive,” Alex said, his tone filled with the same concern I felt.