When Venus arrived she emptied the bowl onto the outside of the windowsill. Puca Beag sighed, knowing it was pigeon time.
“Puca Beag reports that some parties following Oengus home,” Maedbh explained.
“Outside Beag and keep watch,” Venus instructed.
Puca Beag was conflicted as he pecked away at the Muesli. He felt unhappy, it was so much warmer inside at night. But he had his duty to do. With a flap of wings he headed to a corner of the roof that gave a good view of the street whilst not being too draughty.
Maedbh changed into her house clothes while Venus filled her in on Oengus’s day
“And she’ll stay the night?” Maedbh checked.
“Getting clearance from her mother.”
“Right.”
“Hi Mom,” Nina said in a cheerful voice.
“What?” Hugo replied.
“I’m staying the night with a friend. We have to be at Grand Central Station tomorrow from nine a.m.”
“I hate early mornings,” Hugo said.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow Mom,” Nina replied.
“Hmmp,” Hugo said and hung up. Then he dialed Morag at Live Corp.
“Fine, you be there early,” Morag instructed.
“We can pull out,” Leanan said as she hung up from Morag’s call.
The Greyman raised an eyebrow, seeking further information.
“Dearg Due has arrived somewhere near and will take over, we can get back to our day jobs. You’ll be just in time for the night shift at MacDonald’s,” Leanan said with a smile.
“Never a dull moment,” the Greyman said with a grin.
Puca Beag watched as the black limousine pulled away. He did a quick fly by and surmised that there was no immediate danger. Then he had a cheerful idea. If he reported back they might let him indoors for the night. The top of the wardrobe was better than the top of the roof.
Dearg Due watched as a pigeon swooped down and tapped at the apartment window and then be admitted. Then the window was closed.
She was content that darkness was closing in. She wasn’t particularly hungry. She hardly needed more than one good meal a month and the large fireman had been a filler-upper. Daylight didn’t hurt her skin. That only happened to fictional vampire, but she preferred to operate in the dark. It gave her a sense of warmth and security lacking in bright daylight.
She settled in for the night. Being able to transform to a bat was useful as she could hang about with ease.
It was past midnight and into early morning when Nina awoke to the sound of a tip-tap on the window. She sat up and remembered that she was on a couch in the same room as Oengus.
Oengus was fast asleep on the floor beside the couch. She heard the tip tap again. She wondered had Hugo climbed up to the window. She checked out the room.
The pigeon was asleep on top of the wardrobe and the cat was in her basket.
Tip tap again at the window. Nina slipped off the couch being careful not to awaken Oengus.
When Nina got to the window she swallowed a gasp of surprise. There was a beautiful red-haired woman on the fire escape, framing the window and smiling at her.
The red haired woman, Dearg Due, mimed a signal to Nina to open the window all the while smiling a warm smile.
“You have to invite me in,” Dearg Due said making gestures to convey her meaning. She made eye contact with Nina and smiled.
Nina understood and began to lift the window catch. Then she stopped. She remembered the blood-drained fireman in her block. And she remembered the vampire movies.
She had to invite her in. But as she looked into the red-haired woman’s eyes she began to unfasten the window catch.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Venus said, hopping onto the windowsill.
Nina stared in shock. The cat seemed to have spoken, albeit in a very strange accent.
Dearg Due made a face at the cat. She had being hoping for a sneaky snack. But somehow the cat had broken the spell.
In a swift fluid movement she changed into a bat and flew away. Of course nice fresh young blood was best but she wasn’t really hungry, just in the mood for a snack after the cold night air on the roof.
Nina screamed in terror at the sight of the bat. Puca woke with a start and fell off the wardrobe, turning into a naked ugly little man as he hit the floor.
Oengus sat up in alarm.
At the sight of Puca Beag Nina screamed again and ran into Maedbh’s room.
Startled to be awakened Maedbh threw a ‘freeze’ spell but missed and hit the door. Nina froze on the spot anyway, startled at the flash of something thrown from Maedbh’s hands.
“Sorry,” Maedbh said, “I’m still an apprentice. That spells is straightforward, easy even, but sometimes I’m a bit directionally challenged.”
Oengus came behind Nina and took her in his arms.
“There, there,” he said as Nina sobbed her distress into his chest.
Chapter Thirteen
Nina felt her anger grow. Oengus had taken her back to the couch and wrapped her in a blanket, saying he would explain everything in the morning. But he had refused to get into the blanket and beside her, saying the cat and the pigeon were watching.
And Maedbh, so beautiful and wearing so little in bed, just that nightdress. And now Oengus was in Maedbh’s room and she could hear them discussing something, probably her.
Of course she’d been blind. They had to be an item, Maedbh and Oengus, sharing a one-bedroom apartment with a variety of domestic animals.
Her anger was awakening a knot of jealousy. But she reminded herself. She was Hugo’s boyfriend. But it annoyed her that her attractiveness seemed only to confuse Oengus. She sighed and turned to sleep, hoping it would make sense in the morning.
It seemed like a moment later when Oengus shook her arm and Nina opened her eyes. They were gathered around the couch where she lay. A cat, an ugly naked little man, Maedbh, now dressed in jeans and blouse with hair in a ponytail and Oengus also dressed to go and looking concerned.
Nina sat up.
“You ok?” Oengus asked in a soft concerned voice, bringing his face near to hers.
“I thought there was a vampire outside the window,” she said, feeling foolish as she said it. “Was it a dream?”
Nina was still surprised at Maedbh’s great beauty but something told her that maybe she and Oengus weren’t an item after all. Maybe it was the way they were sitting?
“There are vampires in fiction but not in New York,” Maedbh said.
Venus mewed as if in agreement.
Nina gave Venus a hard look. “Can you talk English?” she demanded.
Venus looked at Maedbh and then back at Nina.
“Well yes, if forced to,” Venus said in a meow type accent.
Nina felt faint.
And you little man, can you change into a pigeon?” she demanded, looking Puca Beag straight in the eye.
Beag turned pink all over in the embarrassment at being addressed so directly and turned into a pigeon.
Nina felt the room swim but she was made of stern stuff.
“What’s going down here, like...?” she demanded.
“Just to complete the picture, I’m a witch,” Maedbh confessed.
“You do look bewitching,” Nina agreed.
“No you don’t get it. It’s like, I’m really a witch.”
“No, no, you’re too beautiful.”
‘Not all witches are ugly Nina. It depends on the genes,” Maedbh explained.
“Can you do magic then?” Nina asked.
“No, well. Yes. But I’m an apprentice to trade. I might be able to put a wart on your nose or your bum.”
“No thanks.”
Maedbh shrugged. If Nina wante
d to take things on faith it was ok.
There was a short silence.
“What about you Oengus?” Nina asked.
“I’m apprenticed as God of Inconsequential Things,” Oengus said, feeling silly.
“Yeah like!” Nina said.
“I’m afraid so, and don’t let him kiss you,” Maedbh advised.
“He has already.”
Oengus blushed and Nina felt satisfaction at the surprise in Maedbh’s eyes.
“Oh,” Maedbh said, adding, “just for the record, any exchange of saliva?”
“Mind your own business,” Nina retorted.
“Be careful or you will fall madly in love with him, it’s like a viral thing,” Maedbh advised seriously.
“So?” Nina snapped, “What would be wrong with that?”
“Please,” Oengus interjected, “Nina and I are just good friends.”
“Hmmmm,” Venus purred.
“Apropos nothing,” Beag cooed, “pigeon is fun but can I try something else for a while?”
“Such as?” Maedbh asked.
“A male cat?” Venus interjected, but she grimaced when Maedbh gave a very disapproving look.
“My uncle in San Francisco is a poodle,” Beag suggested.
“O.K. a poodle, but don’t expect breakfast. I don’t keep dog food,” Maedbh agreed, adding, “and don’t chase the cat.”
Nina stared, not having understood the conversation, as the pigeon turned into a poodle.
Beag yapped a friendly bark.
“Go take a snooze on my basket,” Venus meowed generously. Beag liked the suggestion and went and went and made himself comfortable.
“Back to the vampire,” Venus meowed.
“What?’ Nina asked, feeling the meow was directed at her.
“She said back to the vampire,” Oengus explained.
“You understand a cat?” Nina checked.
“Magic beings,” Maedbh said, as if that explained everything.
Nina rolled her eyes.
“It was a beautiful red-haired woman,” Nina continued. “I’d say aged about thirty five, dressed in a long dress and I expect heels, but no jewelry. Oh, and she had red lipstick and painted fingernails. Her hair looked natural, a sort of copper red.”
“Where did she go?” Oengus asked.
“She changed into a bat and flew away,” Nina said and then realizing what she’d said asked, “Am I in a dream?”
“Sounds like that Vampire Dearg Due,” Venus offered.
“The original Irish vampire? “ Maedbh asked.
Venus gave a catlike smile, pleased that Maedbh’s studies were being absorbed. She was sure Maedbh would make a superb witch in time.
“Yes and a few centuries ago she was sentenced to wander the earth with the Greyman for offences against the Fairy Queen,” Venus added in a knowledgeable meow.
“What?” Nina asked.
“We think it might have been an Irish Vampire called Dearg Due,” Oengus explained.
“What I saw in that black car could have been the Greyman,” Puca Beag offered from his reclining position in Venus’s basket, in a melodious relaxed growl like bark.
“What?” Nina said, feeling spooked.
“A man with the embrace of death,” Maedbh replied. “Not a pleasant creature.”
Nina looked to Oengus hoping for clarification.
“What should we do?” Oengus asked.
“For a start, I think we should make sure all the windows are closed,” Venus suggested.
“Good thinking. If all the windows and doors are closed and I think they are, then she has to be invited in,” Maedbh agreed.
“I didn’t invite her in,” Nina said.
“Good, because magic has its rules,” Maedbh said.
“Let’s stick together until daylight?” Oengus suggested.
“I don’t think Dearg Due is much affected by daylight, that is if she shades her eyes,” Venus said.
“O.K. Let Beag join us and we’ll all stay together until daylight, it won’t be long, it’s nearly dawn and you have to be out early to get to Grand Central Station,” Maedbh said.
“As long as he stays a poodle,” Nina insisted.
“Absolutely Nina, you and I can take the couch and the others can make do,” Maedbh said.
“And Oengus?” Nina began.
“Don’t go there girl,” Maedbh interjected. “That man doesn’t know it but he is dangerous.”
“No I’m not.” Oengus objected, adding, “does anyone know what is going on?”
Oengus and Venus helped Beag pull the basket over to the couch and they settled in as best they could together. Oengus stretched out on the carpet.
“Right, we have an early start,” Maedbh said and turned out the light.
In the dark Maedbh put her arms around Nina and they fell asleep in the warmth of each other.
Oengus was restless, not helped by a sense of danger and the uncomfortable floor. His mind was racing in circles full of turmoil. This was a far step from his simple life on his dad’s farm with his mother and the sheep and chickens in a remote end of the world. Now he felt he was is the thick of it.
But he realized this was his adventure. In the morning he’d find his uncle and maybe be able to clarify things.
But what is going on? He asked himself over and over. Who were the strangers who followed him? What could they want? Surely if he was the God of Inconsequential Things this could hardly interest anyone.
And how could he be sure that was true. What did being a God mean anyway? His parents were devout Catholics but they also believed in the magic. And he’d been there where they called it Otherworld and talked of ‘Tir na nogh,’and so had his uncle, or had he? It seemed like a dream in this new place.
And why were women interested in kissing him especially when back in Kerry they had practically run away whenever he’d appeared?
He concentrated on Puca Beag’s doglike snore. Surely that was an inconsequential thing? He fell asleep wishing it away.
***
Morag was startled when Dearg Due rattled the window of her tenth floor apartment. It was a very secure block with a doorman and gated access at night and infrared detection systems. But it was not good for bats landing on window ledges. Morag made a mental note to have spikes placed on the small window ledge outside her bedroom window.
She pulled up the bottom part of the window and the bat cocked its head to one side.
“May I come in?” the bat asked.
“Have you eaten recently?” Morag checked.
“Yes, of course. I had a fireman a while back. I’m good.”
“Come in then. I have some chopped raw liver in the fridge?” Morag said.
“That would be nice,” Dearg Due said as she resumed human form.
Morag went to the kitchen and returned with a chilled bottle of Chablis and the liver and as she set the table she invited Dearg Due to sit.
“And to what do I owe such an early visit?” she asked. As she spoke she uncorked the wine and filled two glasses.
“Chablis,” Dearg Due said having sipped the wine. “You know it’s my favorite.”
“Only the best,” Morag said cheerfully. She liked to be hospitable but she also liked her beauty sleep. “Report please,” she said in a more formal tone.
Dearg Due smiled. She sampled the liver, using the fork provided.
“A young witch, a witches cat, a weird pigeon, a young man and a normal type teenage girl of streetwise appearance, all sharing a one bedroom apartment,” she said.
“Did you?” Morag asked.
“No. In fact she didn’t ask me in. And I would only have taken a sample, to suck her in on to our side,” Dearg
Due explained.
“No need, she is our inside man. I wouldn’t want her taken out,” Morag said frostily.
“I was only thinking, a sip, you know, so fresh and young, but no more than a sip.”
“Eat your liver and don’t take the girl, at least not yet,” Morag instructed.
“What do you make of it?” Dearg Due asked.
“Good news,” Morag said.
“What?”
“You’ve found a witches coven and if we round them up we can maybe capture some magic.”
“O.K.” Dearg Due agreed doubtfully.
“The witch, was she ugly or good looking? Could you tell?”
“Young, maybe still an apprentice. She seemed beautiful without artifice,” Dearg Due said.
“Interesting. Good-looking witches are associated with the Drimnagh Witches. Their apprentices don’t last long if they are not up to snuff.”
“The Drimnagh witches, aren’t they ugly?”
“Sure, but they are very old, ancient really,” Morag said with a laugh. “But they can come out good looking with the help of a little magic.”
“Next steps?” Dearg Due asked.
“Stay on plan. We get Oengus to lead us to his uncle. Afterwards we can decide what to do with them,” Morag said confidently.
Chapter Fourteen
Nina led Oengus towards Grand Central Station for the rendezvous with his uncle. They had decided they should walk.
“What’s going on?” Oengus asked Nina as she led him in a wide detour around a side street full of rats.
“No idea,” Nina said.
They had heard the TV news over morning coffee with reports of numerous rats in some of the subway stations and rats and frogs in cabs and occasional wandering pale skinned crocodiles, all fresh from the sewers, The infection of waters in the sewers attributed to an unknown bacterium.
“At least the drinking water is O.K.” Oengus offered.
“Drinking water is a separate system in New York,” Nina said, not breaking her fast pace.
“But the news said to boil the water?”
“Most people have coffee. Just keep up Oengus, we are nearly there.”
Puca Beag fluttered his wings and landed on Oengus’s shoulder.
The Great Fury Page 11