Dougie switched his focus to me. I saw the calculation in his eyes.
“The thing is people keep hearing that the most eligible bachelor in the room is getting engaged and, instantly, they think of me. I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve come up to congratulate me and I have to say…”
“We’ve heard quite enough of what you have to say,” Silas pulled his wheelchair right up to Dougie’s knees.
Dougie stood his ground, only lowering his plate to acknowledge Silas’ presence. I looked from one to the other trying to work out what Dougie was talking about. Why did he think that it would embarrass Silas to suggest that we were getting engaged? It all felt rather childish. Unless…
My head snapped around, my Spectral Vision flaring into life. I didn’t need to direct it; instinct took over. I tried to control my feelings as my vision made a series of potentially dis-orientating jump-cuts before it settled on a small table right at the back to the right of the stage.
Modena was sitting with her family. Her father was distracted, talking to someone on the next table. The woman I took to be his wife was sitting across from him. Though in her forties, she was nearly as attractive as her daughter. Both women were looking over at Silas. Modena smiled. She had a beautiful smile.
That was why Silas didn’t see Gordon as a threat: because he wasn’t. A deal had already been made which effectively took him out of the equation.
Modena is the one to watch.
If Silas married Modena then two of the most powerful houses in the lycan world would be joined together. Making Dougie’s bid for power untenable.
Dougie took his time putting his plate down on the table, a bitter grin playing over his lips.
“Sorry if I’ve spoken out of turn,” he said. “I suppose that’s how rumours start.”
He turned to me. “Been a real pleasure meeting you, Bronte. I’d ask you for a dance but I’m sure you’ve got one or two things you’d like to discuss with Silas.”
Silas’ big hands gripped the arms of his wheelchair and for a moment I thought that he was going to stand up but, fortunately, he didn’t. It was a bizarre impression that he created: a mixture of immobility matched with great power. Neither one of us could bear to look at the other. Instead, I wiped my mouth with my napkin and returned my plate to the table.
Carlotta came over and stood with her brother.
“So what did he have to say for himself?” she looked straight at me. “Whatever it was you’d do well to ignore it.”
I just said, “Is it true? What he was saying about the engagement? Is there any truth in it?”
“Bronte, I…” Silas’ eyes betrayed him, flitting across to the other side of the room. I didn’t need to see who it was that he was looking at.
I didn’t hang around. I cut across the dance floor, my eyes fixed on the balloon display.
It felt as though I’d been wounded, as though I was losing a great deal of blood and all that mattered was for me to keep moving just long enough to get through that door. And then I could collapse.
*
At that moment the house lights came on.
I shrank away from the brightness, raising a hand instinctively. The musicians immediately stopped playing, the notes dwindling away to nothing. With one eye closed, I turned to survey the dance floor. People were standing around awkwardly, looking for some kind of guidance.
Dougie Hamilton crossed the floor and went straight across to where the Anderson family were sitting. Modena stood up. His lordship took a moment to finish his drink then got to his feet also, buttoning his jacket. His eyes were bright, alert to everything around him.
On the other side of the room, Carlotta and Silas started to make their way over to the stage where their mother was standing. A member of the orchestra had handed her a microphone. Sebastian had appeared talking on a walkie-talkie. Lady Antonia had to stoop down to hear what he had to say. The noise level had risen sharply. As he spoke, his eyes searched the room.
Then there were two sharp retorts from outside, muted but unmistakeable.
Gunfire.
I grabbed the hem of my dress and started over to head off Silas and Carlotta. I had a difficult time of it as everyone else was moving towards the exits.
“If you could all just stay where you are,” Lady Antonia was saying. “We’ve been having a few problems with poachers lately…”
But no one was listening. A bottle-neck was forming around the main entrance as one group of people who were queuing calmly to leave were caught from behind by a fresh surge of bodies. I was nearly knocked off my feet as a couple bundled into me, the man holding his wife’s arm while she appeared to be missing a shoe. Someone released a party popper right next to my ear. The paper streamers trailing through the air.
A group of waitresses moving in my direction eyed me with apprehension. They must have known about the service door and were frightened that I might try and stop them. Next thing, my path was blocked by a group of young men coming from my right laughing and slopping their drinks everywhere. One of them winked at me as he went past, revelling in the confusion. Then someone grabbed my arm and I turned to come face to face with Sebastian.
“Over here,” he said and led me over to an alcove where I found Silas and Carlotta.
“What’s going on?” I demanded. “What’s wrong?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The four of us followed the waitresses heading for the service door.
“But where did these intruders come from?” Silas was asking. “Did they just walk up the main drive?”
“The gatehouse on the main drive is secure,” Sebastian held up the walkie-talkie. “I’ve just been talking to them, so they didn’t come in that way. We had some vandalism reported this morning on the south side of the estate. It backs out onto one of the B-roads. We’ve had problems there before. They might have come in that way, though it’s too early to be sure.”
As we passed through the service door the corridor was very narrow. Too narrow for Silas to effectively propel himself along but, when I took hold of the handles, he braced his hands against both walls, effectively blocking the way.
It was only when he saw me standing behind him that he relented and allowed me to push him forward.
Silas said, “What are we dealing with?”
“We think around five four-wheel drive vehicles and at least two vans but it could be more.”
“But what are they shooting at?”
“Anything that moves.”
As we emerged out of the corridor I caught Sebastian’s arm.
“What about the Novices?” I said. “Have you checked the cabins?”
Sebastian said, “I’ve not had time. Everyone’s been too busy trying to cordon off the main house.”
The place was in uproar with countless members of staff rushing about.
I turned to Carlotta. “We have to check that the women are safe. Will you drive me?”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Silas retorted. “Not until we know what’s happening.”
“It’s Kohl,” I said. “He’s here for the girls.”
“You can’t know that.”
“If they were going to attack the main house they’d have done it by now. They’re trying to create a diversion. They want to keep us penned in here.”
Silas looked from me to his sister. He looked drawn and tired.
“I can take her,” Sebastian said holding up his walkie-talkie. “Let you know what’s happening.”
Silas took my hands and squeezed them. “You don’t need to go you know.”
I thought about kissing him then and, if we’d been on our own perhaps I might have. But then the moment was gone.
*
Sebastian took me to a small anteroom which had a hardboard panel mounted on one wall. Set into the panel were a series of hooks with sets of car keys dangling from them. Sebastian selected a set and I followed him outside. There were two Land Rovers parked opposite and he
went over to the one on the right. I clambered in beside him.
Sebastian turned left out of the gate and then headed south west. I had expected him to drive fast but he infuriated me by never exceeding twenty miles an hour.
“Can’t you go a bit quicker?”
“It’s night time. No one knows what’s going on. The last thing I want to do is to run someone over.”
I sucked on my teeth in frustration knowing that even I could have driven faster
The road narrowed to a stripe. In the headlights you could see where the surface rose and buckled and Sebastian slowed the vehicle even further. “Are you wearing a seat belt?”
“Will you just drive!”
Sebastian applied the brakes, bringing us to a complete halt. Then flicked the gear-stick into neutral. He didn’t say anything, just sat looking ahead.
When I realised that I wasn’t going to win this particular argument I yanked on my belt strap and secured it.
“Satisfied?”
“No point taking unnecessary risks.”
“Can I ask you a personal question, Seb? Are you a werewolf?”
He put the vehicle into gear and eased us forward.
“That’s not the sort of thing you ask people round here.”
“Okay. But is that a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’?”
“That’s a no.”
“Thought not.”
*
The other vehicle was on us before either of us had time to react.
We both saw the headlights in the rear-view mirror and then it was coming up alongside, trying to over-take.
Sebastian said, “On the back seat. Can you see it?”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. It was too dark to see but when I reached out I could feel a slim wooden box. When my fingers came away they felt greasy.
“Got it,” I said.
“Not yet, but if we have to stop I want you to hand it to me.”
I touched the box again, trying to get a sense of its dimensions.
The other vehicle had drawn level, bouncing crazily over the uneven ground. Then it started to accelerate, edging all the time closer to us.
“They’re trying to ram us,” I screamed.
“I don’t think so.”
At such a close distance it became obvious that it was another Land Rover lurching along making hellish jarring noises. The interior light came on and we found ourselves looking at Carlotta, grinning like a loon as she was thrown around by the uneven ground.
“What the hell is she doing?”
“Trying to get herself killed.”
Sebastian’s foot hesitated between the brake and the accelerator and that decided it, allowing Carlotta’s vehicle to swerve ahead of us, it’s back wheels yawing from side to side as it struggled to find traction on the road. For a heartbeat I thought that the whole thing was going to flip over but then she somehow managed to steady herself before accelerating away in a shower of stones.
*
Sebastian started to speed up then in an effort to keep up with her but his heart wasn’t in it. She was throwing her vehicle all over the road in an effort to get to the cabins ahead of us.
“What’s going to happen when we get there?” I asked.
“That depends on who’s there.”
I indicated the rifle-case on the back seat. “You’re not seriously thinking about using that are you?”
Seb narrowed his eyes. “It’s an option. I’d rather have it than not.”
“But there’s going to be a lot of women about. You can’t go firing indiscriminately. What if you shoot one of them by accident?”
“It probably won’t come to that.”
*
It was very dark that night, what little moon there was had been largely hidden by low cloud. Carlotta accelerated hard up the incline and then appeared to pause for a second on the brow of the hill before disappearing down the other side. I looked over at Sebastian in an effort to get him to speed up but he ignored me, keeping his eyes resolutely fixed on the road. If anything we were decelerating.
I was starting to get frustrated. I could see Carlotta arriving at the cabins long before us and decided I didn’t like the thought of that.
I was on the brink of saying something when we heard the crash – a horrible, grinding noise.
And then the silence. Neither Sebastian nor I said anything. It was obvious what had just happened. I, for one, was just hoping that we weren’t going to come across Carlotta’s body lying in the middle of the road.
We’d all assumed that the raiders would be heading south, cutting away from the main house. Nobody expected them to be heading north, back towards us. Least of all Carlotta.
They were travelling without headlights which was probably why she didn’t see them. One minute the road ahead would have seemed clear, the next a car would have been racing towards. She’d swerved to avoid a collision, left the road and over-turned.
We saw the other vehicle, off to our left. Part of our headlight pattern shone off the rear panel. It was shrouded in smoke having ploughed into a tree. The leaves that had been thrown up by the impact still hung in the air.
Carlotta’s Land Rover was on the same side, some fifty metres further ahead. It was lying on its side but both headlights were still working and for some reason this gave me hope.
Sebastian braked hard enough to make the whole vehicle shudder, then gently manoeuvred us down onto the field before finally coming to a halt. But instead of driving over to Carlotta, he pulled in behind the other car, parked, then turned off his lights.
I felt Sebastian’s breath on my neck as he reached into the back seat. It took him a second to release the catches on the case and then he was lifting the rifle up and over my head. The smell of gun oil was very strong and I could see the light reflecting off the barrel. He carefully loaded six cartridges.
“What about Carlotta?”
“She’s going to have to wait.”
I popped my door open and the courtesy light came on.
“What are you doing?” he hissed, knocking the light off. “Stay there.”
“I need to check that she’s alright.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my seat.
“We’re going to be no use to anybody if we get shot in the back.”
I felt conflicted about just sitting there but I could see his point. Once he’d finished loading the rifle he leaned over.
“I’m going to shut this door and then I want you do me a favour. Would you lie across these seats and count to a hundred.”
“That’s two things.”
“Just do it, okay?”
*
So I did as he asked though, in the end, I counted up to two hundred.
He was trying to protect me. Trying to stop me getting my head shot off.
I just lay there listening to his footsteps as he approached the other car. It seemed to take forever.
He shouted something and I went to sit up but then the shooting started.
Six shots in all. I just lay there, tears trickling down my face, terrified that they were coming to get me.
I would have probably stayed there all night if it hadn’t been for Carlotta. But, once I’d reached two hundred I realised that that was enough. No one was coming.
I looked over the top of the seats. There was no one there so I opened the door and slid out onto the ground.
I waited like that for a while but then, when nothing happened, I crawled to the rear of the vehicle.
There were two dark shapes lying on the grass and I went over to the nearest one.
It was Sebastian lying there with his eyes open. His clothes were sticky with blood and he didn’t respond no matter how much I shook him. I lowered my ear to his mouth but he wasn’t breathing.
In the dark, I accidentally put my hand on his gun and recoiled as if I’d been bitten.
I didn’t know what to do about the other body. I felt that I should at least go over an
d check for signs of life but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was all too much.
Standing up, I brushed at my knees before walking towards Carlotta’s Land Rover. I didn’t rush because I didn’t know what I would find. The grass was littered with various car components, chief among these was the windscreen which must have popped out when the vehicle over-turned.
“Bronte? Is that you?”
I laughed - heartily relieved - before breaking into a run. The Land Rover was on its side with the engine still running. I climbed up onto the driver’s door and looked down to where Carlotta was hanging by her seat belt.
“Give me a hand then!” she said.
As I leaned in she grabbed me around the neck and almost pulled me in on top of her. I braced myself against the door frame and she clambered up and over me.
“You alright?” I said.
“Fine. Who was that doing all the shooting. Wasn’t Seb was it?”
I couldn’t look at her.
“Is it bad?”
I just nodded and she let out a noise that was truly awful to hear.
We sat in silence for a while before a noise made me turn back towards the road. Three vehicles were thundering up from the south. I had to strain to see them, all travelling with their lights out, moving at high speed.
I half expected them to slow when they saw our headlights, but no. They weren’t going to be distracted. Nothing was going to deter them.
“They’ve got the girls,” Carlotta said.
“You don’t know that.”
“I’ve got their scent.”
“I thought you said…”
“Forget what I said. You’ve got to stop them.”
The first vehicle was a long black truck followed by two white panel vans. Carlotta was right: if we didn’t do something soon we were going to miss our chance.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked.
“I don’t know - you’re the witch. Take out that truck.”
Bitter Moon Page 20