Dorian spoke first. "Vincent, so glad you could join the party. Ready to put those puppies to sleep? I hear rabies is contagious."
"I guess that depends on the Guardians." He smiled and stared at Connor for a few seconds, then turned his beady eyes to Iris. "Little human, it's not too late to join me."
"I'd rather die than join a murderer," she said through her teeth, thinking of Marion and the look on her face when he admitted to killing her mother.
"Darling, you're the only one here who hasn't taken a life. Yet."
Aeryn spoke before Iris could process his words. "Get the hounds inside the circle, Vincent. It's time."
Unlike before, this time Iris could feel her power over the hounds. She wasn't sure how to describe it but it reminded her of the certainty that she would get an A at an exam when she'd learned the subject matter by heart. Unlike before, this time she knew how to control them. She suspected it was because Vincent had no hold on them anymore. With no second master to confuse them, they listened only to her and she could feel it.
They looked at her, like a sign of acknowledgement, as they slowly moved into the clearing, leaving flaming marks on the dry soil under their paws. They stopped in the middle of the circle and lay on the ground. The grass around them caught fire without actually coming into contact with their scorching bodies.
"Whatever happens, don't take your mind off of them," Aeryn advised her. They all stood outside the circle, watching, except Lorelai, who was standing on a high tree branch a few feet away.
As soon as the hounds settled, Aeryn took out her sphere and let a yellow drop fall to her feet. Three small dots lit up forming a flaming ring around it. A string of fire spread out from it on both sides. Every couple of feet, a new ring lit up, then a new one, until the entire line of the clearing was a perfect circle of flames.
As the hounds lay there waiting for their new master's next command, they didn't seem as deadly as Iris knew they were, and she almost felt sorry for them, knowing what was coming and wondering if they knew it too.
"Now, Lorelai!" she heard Connor scream, and a split second later a flaming arrow whooshed by her ear and lodged itself into the shoulder of one of the hounds. It winced and huffed, but didn't move. Neither did the other two, not even when their sibling lit up into a ball of fire as the flame from the arrow gradually spread until it swallowed its entire body. The second and third arrows hit their marks with the same precision and had the same effect.
When the fire became one giant blue flame, rising above the trees, the hounds began to howl and whine. The sounds were deafening and a hundred times more terrifying than when Iris and Marion were attacked on Chestnut Road. Iris could see them writhing inside the flames and moving towards the edge of the circle. She struggled to focus on keeping them inside. Pieces of their rocky skin were chipping away, burning the ground as they fell.
The air was filled with a putrid smell, a mixture of burnt and rotting flesh that turned her stomach. She fought the convulsions and swallowed repeatedly, which made her dry throat hurt. Despite the scorching heat, she was shaking. She had no idea how much time had passed since they'd started but she knew that they still had hours to go and she wasn't sure she would make it.
Connor put his jacket on her shoulders and took her hand. "You can do this, Iris."
Her eyes were watery from staring into the fire for so long. She blinked to clear them and looked at him. He smiled and squeezed her hand and for the first time she felt that he really didn't doubt her ability.
She looked over Connor's shoulder and saw Vincent. He was staring at Dorian, who was whispering something in Aeryn's ear, a few feet away. Suddenly, a thought took form in her mind, as the memory of Vincent's story returned to her. He'd been hunting Dorian for six years and the hounds were his only method of catching him. Why would he give it up? Unless… She remembered Vincent's words. I guess that depends on the Guardians. She turned her eyes to Connor.
"What does Vincent get in return for the hounds?"
"What?"
"What did you promise him in exchange for relinquishing control over the hounds?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he looked at his sister and grandmother, who were slowly moving away from Dorian. Then, all of a sudden, Lorelai put her sword to Raven's neck, while Vincent wrapped a black chain, thick as a crowbar, around Dorian. A loop was rolled around his neck and Dorian struggled to loosen it before it completely cut off his airways. His skin sizzled where the metal burned into it, and Iris suspected it was made of cold iron.
"Stop!" Iris begged. She took a few steps towards them. Behind her, the pyre shifted.
Connor caught her before she could reach Dorian and held her in place with iron arms. "It's the only way to save the town and our mission."
"By throwing one of our own under the bus?"
"He's not one of us, Iris."
"He saved us—me—countless times. He's one of us. Why else would Cyrus save his life?"
She noticed Dorian's eyes widen as she mentioned Cyrus' name. Clearly, he had no idea that the Guardians and the man knew each other.
"Iris!" She turned to Aeryn, who was pointing at the fire. Two of the hounds were nothing but a pile of burning ashes in the middle of the clearing. The third one, its deformed body now a mass of molten lava inside a ball of flames, was banging against the burning wall of the circle. A wave of electricity ran through the wall every time the beast made contact with it. With every hit, the wave got bigger, wider. Iris didn't know much about magic and Guardian devices, but she suspected that it wasn't a good sign. If it kept going, the hound would eventually break free.
"Do something!" Lorelai yelled. She'd withdrawn her sword from Raven's neck and was now heading towards Iris.
Iris turned to Connor. "No."
Shock flashed over his eyes. "Iris—"
"It's okay, love. This is not my first pretty pickle." Dorian looked at Connor, then back at Iris. "Just do your thing. I'm not gonna die tonight."
Iris shifted her eyes from one member of the party to the next. What was she doing? Was she crazy, risking the lives of everyone in town for one person? Then again, that one person was the reason she was still alive. She kept trying to decide what the right thing to do was when that inexplicable compulsion to save him hit her like a tidal wave again and made the decision for her. "No! Either you get Vincent to release Dorian or we all die here tonight."
"Have you lost your mind already?" Lorelai's eyes were shooting arrows.
Vincent took advantage of the situation and turned it into his favor. Iris felt that she was gradually losing control over the hounds and suddenly it was clear to her that, when he made a deal with Connor, he knew exactly how he planned to escape from a battle against the Guardians. She looked at him with horror, already picturing the terrible outcome.
Dorian fell to the ground under the weight of the chains. Blood was seeping from the wound on his neck, where the metal had cut into his flesh. He grabbed the chains, trying to free himself, but they were wrapped tight around his torso, blocking his arms above his elbows, and instead he only got weaker.
The hound kept growling and hitting the protective wall of fire formed by the circle that Aeryn and Lorelai had built with drops from their spheres. With every blow, the shield was getting thinner. Iris realized that it would break in a matter of seconds and tried to get the hound to back down but it was pointless. Either Vincent was getting stronger or she was getting weaker, or tired, or distracted. The point was that she was useless.
"Iris!" Connor begged.
"I can't. I can't control them anymore."
The hound broke the shield and stood there, waiting for instructions. Pieces of flesh were missing from its body and it looked even more horrifying than before. It slowly placed himself between Vincent and the rest of the group, ensuring his master's safe escape. Inside the circle, two piles of burnt remains were slowly reassembling themselves.
Vincent pulled Dorian to his feet and started draggi
ng him towards the woods. "If everyone stands still for the next ten minutes, we all get to keep our lives tonight."
Iris looked at Dorian. He smiled at her. "It will be alright, love."
"No. I can't let you die."
"I'm not going to die. Trust me. You just focus on putting that beast back into the cage."
"I can't." Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Yes, you can." He looked at her for a few moments as if there was no one else around them. The flames of the pyre behind her danced in his dark eyes. He nodded, so slightly that she barely noticed, like he was giving her a signal to get ready, and then he moved.
Everything that followed happened in flashes, like a movie on fast forward. Dorian took out a throwing star, very familiar to the ones that Aeryn had—or was it one of hers? Iris remembered him whispering something in the woman's ear a little earlier. He cut the chain around his neck and freed himself, then jumped on his feet and to the side, facing both Vincent and the hound. The Elwoods fanned out around him, leaving Iris alone, a few feet away from the flaming beast, which was now in a position of attack, waiting for its master to point out the target. Raven instinctively put his arms out, ready to intervene, and cursed, realizing there was no water to use.
Vincent took a few steps back, shifting his eyes from one enemy to the next, and then stopping at the hound. The beast roared, a deathly sound that made Iris' blood run cold, and launched itself at the Elwoods. Pieces of ashes and burnt flesh fell from its body as it writhed and swerved. The Elwoods moved swiftly, wielding their weapons with surgical precision and attacking it from all sides, but, even wounded as it was, the beast was still stronger than them. It swung its flaming paw and disarmed Aeryn, leaving a long, deep, burnt gash in her right forearm. The woman backed a few steps, covering the wound with her left hand. Streaks of blood sparkled against the black leather as they flooded through the woman's gloved fingers. Lorelai ran to her and dragged her behind the tree line.
Raven rushed to Lorelai and grabbed her bow and arrows. A second later, the hound looked like a bull towards the final stages of a fight. When he realized the arrows had almost no effect on the hound, Raven grabbed Lorelai's twin swords and joined Connor. Iris stared at the scene, paralyzed. She wanted to stop the hound but what once came naturally to her now seemed like a sci-fi concept that her mind couldn't make sense of. For the millionth time in the past couple of weeks, she thought that they were all going to die and this time there seemed to be no way to prevent it.
A few feet away from Connor and Raven, Vincent was trying to get what he'd come for. Dorian had picked up Aeryn's sword and was using it to block Vincent's attack. The chains clinked as they touched the blue burning metal of the Guardian blade. Dorian moved with the ability of a cat, jumping and swerving in mid-air to avoid them, until one of them wrapped around his wrist like a snake, forcing him to drop his weapon. A moment later, the second chain wrapped around his neck again, throwing him to the ground and dragging him towards his captor.
Iris gasped. She looked around, shifting her eyes from one friend to the next. Tears blurred her vision but not enough to hide the horrifying scenes in front of her. Lorelai had taken out the sphere and she was struggling to hold it steady in her bloody palm. She'd taken off her gloves but her hands were still covered—in Aeryn's blood.
Connor and Raven, both dirty and bleeding, were jumping in tandem, attacking the hound from all sides. Black streaks were flooding from dozens of cuts all over its body, yet that didn't seem to slow it down. On the contrary, the more they attacked it, the more aggressive it got. The boys were wounded and tired and Iris wondered how much longer they would be able to go on like that.
Dorian was struggling to break free as Vincent dragged him towards the darkness of the forest.
When her eyes shifted to the middle of the fire ring, Iris went pale. The other two hounds, nothing but a pile of burning flesh just a few moments before, were now rising and slowly heading towards the damaged part of the ring. In a minute they would be right next to their brother and then even the slightest chance of survival would be gone.
She looked at every one of her friends and saw her terror mirrored in their eyes. All but Dorian's. He'd managed to get back on his feet and was holding on to the chains with both hands, dragging Vincent back into the clearing.
"Iris!" Somehow, every sound around her seemed muffled, like she was underwater. For a moment, she didn't even realize that he was calling her name. "Iris!"
She jerked and all of a sudden her hearing was back—the crackling of the fire, the paralyzing howls, the clinking of the weapons. She looked at Dorian. He was staring at her in the same way he had before, like he was trying to tell her something.
Behind her, the other two hounds were crossing the damaged fire line of the circle. She didn't even try to get them to back off. What was the point? She'd lost her control over them. The Elwoods, Vincent, Cyrus—everyone had been right. She wasn't strong enough. Her grandmother had been right too. When the world tells you you're wrong about something, it's probably because you are.
"Iris!" Dorian was on the ground again, trying to get hold of Aeryn's sword with his free hand. Vincent was pulling at the chains forcing Dorian's arm and neck to twist backwards in an unnatural position. Still, Dorian's fingers were now just inches away from the sword.
Two burning shapes passed by her on each side. Every muscle in their deformed bodies rippled as they prepared for attack. One was staring at Connor and Raven, the other at their master.
Iris closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see what would follow.
"Iris!" She looked at Dorian. He jerked forward and moaned as the shoulder came out of its socket, giving him those few inches of length he needed to grab Aeryn's sword. He wrapped his bloody fingers around the handle and, in a swift move, he turned around towards Vincent. His arm fell with the fingers still wrapped around the chain and for a moment Vincent looked at it on the ground unable to process what had happened. Iris remembered Dorian's words from before, right after they'd left the Underground Society. The mark makes the connection between the master's mind and the hounds. The only way to take Vincent's power over them is to sever that connection.
"Iris! Now!"
As she became aware of her complete control over the hounds again, the beasts stopped in midair and fell to the ground, while a thought came to life in her mind, like the first ray of sunshine after a heavy storm—they were saved.
27
Confessions
Iris woke up to the sound of Elizabeth's voice. The woman was sitting on the bed next to her, caressing her forehead, like she would always do when her granddaughter was sick. At first, Iris thought she was in a dream. The memories of the night before were still lingering in her mind—the hounds, Vincent, the Elwoods, Dorian. She was tired and every inch of her body hurt.
"Iris."
She slowly opened her eyes. "Hey, Grandma. When did you get back?"
Elizabeth smiled, taking her hand. "This morning. I kept waiting for you to wake up. Are you sick? It's almost two pm and you've never slept in this late."
Iris sat up and closed her eyes as she remembered the events from the night before.
"What is it, honey?"
She hesitated. "It's nothing." She was frustrated and confused and, most of all, tired. Tired of the constant uncertainty, the danger, the plots, the betrayals, the lies. Tears flooded her eyes and dripped off her chin.
"Iris, what is it? What happened?"
"Oh, Grandma." She threw her head in the woman's lap and cried. She couldn't hold it in anymore. They sat like that for a while, Iris sobbing, her grandmother caressing her hair and telling her everything would be okay.
Then, when she could finally speak again, she spoke. She told her grandmother everything. The whole truth about the Elwoods, the Fae, the hellhounds, Dorian, the Underground Society, Vincent. Everything.
Elizabeth listened without interrupting her. Every once in a while she would put her hand o
n her chest or gasp when Iris got to the more dangerous parts. She remained silent long after Iris had finished her story.
"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Iris asked, looking at her grandmother through a blurry layer of tears.
Elizabeth sighed and looked down at her hands. "When your parents were alive, I once came to visit. I liked to give your mother a hand with the housework whenever I got the chance and she was grateful for the help. As I was dusting in the study, I dropped a statue on the floor. It didn't break but your father blew his top. When I asked him why he cared so much about a knick-knack, he refused to answer so I went to your mother. She told me it was for protection. Your father had never been a spiritual man so, to hear that he suddenly had that in his house made me wonder. I never brought it up again and he and your mother died shortly after, but I've always knew that he must have had a good reason for that." She raised her eyes and looked at her granddaughter. "So, no. I don't think you're crazy. I think I finally understand your father's reaction. And I also think you're brave."
"Yeah, well, my bravery stops here. I quit. Whatever I am, it doesn't matter. I can't do this anymore. Every time I try to find out, someone gets in trouble, or hurt."
"No. You can't quit."
"What?"
"You have to find out."
"But I'm a target, which makes everyone I love a target. I don't want to lose you too, Grandma."
"I'm old. If I die tomorrow, I have no regrets. But you, you have your whole life ahead of you. And by the looks of things, it's going to be one full of unimaginable wonders. I always knew you were destined for great things. Your father must have known it too, which is why he tried so hard to protect you. Be brave and face your fear. Including that of water." They laughed. "Oh, one more thing. Tell Marion the truth. She's your best friend and she deserves it. She needs to know the real reason she lost her mother, just like you need to know the real reason you lost your parents."
The Fountain of Truth (Tales of the Dark Fae Book 1) Page 25