Furtive Dawn

by Helen Harper

  ‘I’ve seen the warehouse supplies,’ Cath interjected. ‘It’ll take a crap ton of sex and many years before we run out of condoms.’

  I smiled at her. ‘You know what I mean. I’m glad I stayed in Manchester. I’ve never once regretted leaving when the army evacuated the city. But I worry about the years to come. I wonder how we’ll cope with this isolation five years down the line. Or ten.’

  Jodie lifted up her chin. ‘I really hope someone gets hold of one of those pigeons.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘Me too.’

  ‘Me too.’

  I rubbed my neck. ‘Me too.’

  ***

  We walked the rest of the way in silence, only stopping when we reached the spot where Monroe and I had felled Lucy’s poor mother. As expected, no trace of her remained. There was a dark shadow on the road, indicating that something had happened, but there wasn’t so much as a single bone shard of the shadow beast’s body.

  Lucy remained quiet; she’d even stopped snoring. Lizzy checked on her and mouthed to me that she was awake.

  I didn’t need to take my backpack off to know that she wasn’t moving. ‘I’m sorry, little one,’ I whispered. My apology felt empty even to my own ears.

  Glancing round, I scrutinised the area and the nearby side streets. I couldn’t sense any more shadow beasts. Unlike the hell hounds, none of us actually knew where their lair was; funnily enough, it had never seemed a smart idea to follow them around the city to find out where they kipped. I was worried that we were about to be ambushed by an angry group of them – and worried that they would be fully justified in their anger. The last thing I wanted to do with Lucy in tow was to kill more of them, even if it was to save myself and my friends.

  Lizzy’s nostrils twitched. ‘My sense of scent isn’t as strong as the werewolves’,’ she admitted, ‘but it’s still pretty good. I can’t detect anything.’

  I squinted. ‘I can’t see any blue auras that might suggest there are more of them in the area.’ I was still the only person who could detect magic by sight. I had to squint and concentrate to see it, but it was a useful skill to have.

  Julie sniffed. ‘That sounds like a good thing to me. The best move is to leave the little bugger here and hope that one of them happens along and scoops her up.’

  ‘I don’t want to agree with Julie,’ Jodie said, ‘but she’s right about this. You can’t keep Lucy. She’s a wild beast. You should release her here and let Nature take its course.’

  I didn’t want to do it. It didn’t seem fair. What if the other shadow beasts stayed away from here in the wake of their kin’s death? We could be leaving Lucy to die of starvation or exposure or…

  ‘It’s summer time,’ Jodie said gently. ‘She won’t be cold. And you don’t really know what she eats. Even if you did know, I doubt we’d have the resources to feed her appetite once she gets stronger.’

  Letting my head rule my heart – except for in gambling matters – wasn’t something that came naturally to me. I squeezed my eyes shut. I had to think differently about this. The odds were that if I didn’t leave Lucy here, she would grow to the size of her mother and end up killing some of us because we didn’t have the means to feed her properly. I quashed my emotions and let my gambling brain take over. If I was going to place a bet, this would be the smart choice.

  I gently took my backpack off my shoulders and unzipped it, drawing the soft black bundle that was Lucy out of it. I could feel her quivering. She lifted her head and gazed up at me with baleful eyes. There was no reproach there, but I had the sensation that she knew what I was about to do. And she didn’t blame me for it. Somehow that made it worse.

  I bit my lip and crouched down, placing Lucy on the road. She let out a single plaintive squeak. Lizzy wrapped her arms around herself miserably while Cath turned away. Then I shook my head and picked up Lucy again. ‘No,’ I said.

  Julie frowned. ‘Darling, speaking as a monster myself…’

  ‘No,’ I repeated, more firmly. ‘I promised that I’d get rid of her by the end of the week. It’s only Tuesday and there’s still plenty of time. We’ll have to find the shadow beasts’ lair. We can’t leave Lucy here in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Technically,’ Jodie said, ‘it’s not the middle of nowhere. Marks and Spencer’s is right over there.’

  I gave her a look and noted the small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. ‘M&S has a fine selection of underwear, although I’m sure it’s now hopelessly out of fashion compared to the rest of the world. But I’m not convinced that’s what Lucy needs. We can do better than abandoning her here.’

  Cath beamed. ‘Great. That means we can stick together for longer and continue our mission. One for all!’

  Julie tutted. ‘All for one.’ She raised her eyes heavenward. ‘I suppose. I’ll need to get some blood off at least one of you if this keeps going.’

  ‘We’ve barely been out for a couple of hours, you blood-guzzling moron,’ Jodie muttered.

  ‘We could do with a break though,’ I suggested. I frowned at Julie. ‘Not a blood break.’

  Cath clapped her hands. ‘The Travotel is near here! We can pop in to see Timmons.’

  ‘Great,’ Jodie said sarcastically. ‘A faery. That’s all we need.’

  She grinned. ‘Technically, he’s the faery now. He’s the only one.’

  ‘Just as well.’ Jodie turned away and folded her arms. I knew that despite her tough, uncaring stance she missed the faeries she used to know, even if they had inadvertently caused the apocalypse and left this world for their own without so much as a backward glance.

  ‘He might have insights into Lucy,’ I said gently. ‘And he does have coffee. Besides, Anna is there.’ I missed the police officer’s pragmatic approach to life.

  Lizzy brightened. ‘That’s decided then.’ Her head snapped to the left. ‘Pigeon!’ she shrieked. She took off after it without a moment’s hesitation.

  ‘Come on,’ I said to my other reluctant travellers. ‘Let’s go put our feet up for half an hour.’

  In my hands, Lucy chirruped. That was a plan, then.

  Chapter Six

  It didn’t matter how many times I strolled through the front doors of Timmons’ hotel. I was continually amazed at how spick, span and downright well-kept he managed to keep the place. There were always fresh flowers in the lobby. The marble floor was always sparkling. The Travotel might be suffering under the same rationing privations as the rest of us but you wouldn’t know it from wandering inside and taking a look around. Perhaps it was because he was a faery. Or perhaps he was simply a very good hotel manager.

  Unfortunately, the sense of peaceful equilibrium lasted all of about ten seconds. We’d barely made it five steps inside when Timmons’ magical alarm began to shriek. The last time that had happened, a string of horrific deaths had followed.

  I froze, the desperate sinking sensation I suddenly felt making my earlier cup of cold tea lurch nauseatingly around the pit of my belly. Timmons’ alarm was set off when there was a perceived threat to the hotel or the people within it. I knew that he’d made considerable alterations to the spell in recent months to make it more effective.

  Both Anna and Timmons appeared in a heartbeat with matching expressions of grim trepidation.

  ‘What is it?’ Anna snapped. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I’ll check the rooms,’ Timmons said. I knew what he was thinking; if another dead body showed up, the hotel guests would have his guts for garters.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ Jodie said. I turned to look at her. She pointed at my backpack. ‘It’s Lucy.’

  Not only did I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that sooner, I was also affronted on Lucy’s behalf. ‘She’s not a threat!’ I blurted out.

  Anna and Timmons exchanged glances before the policewoman stalked over to examine Lucy for herself. Her immediate response was to recoil with her hands raised in a defensive stance. Then she looked again. ‘Wow,’ she said fin
ally. ‘It’s kind of cute. But did you seriously bring a shadow beast in here?’

  ‘It’s a baby shadow beast,’ I said defensively.

  Timmons edged over and peered. Lucy squeaked to say hello. ‘Your baby monster is hungry,’ he remarked as the door to the hotel staircase banged open and several fearful people appeared. He cleared his throat. ‘But you have to leave her outside.’

  ‘I…’ I bit my lip. He was right. The people here had dealt with enough. Whether Lucy was a threat or not, her presence would only amplify their fear. The expressions on the collection of people who now stood in the lobby and stared at me was enough to tell me that. ‘Do you have somewhere safe outside where I can leave her?’ I asked.

  ‘Use one of the old cars,’ Anna told me.

  Timmons seemed relieved that she was taking charge. ‘Yes.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘Good plan. You do that and I’ll check on the rest of the guests. You know, just in case.’

  I reached down and gently stroked Lucy’s head. ‘Do you have milk?’

  He pursed his lips then he walked behind the hotel counter and opened up a cupboard, drawing out a box of little UHT cartons. You know, the sort that you find in hotel rooms up and down the country which never contain enough milk for a decent cup of anything. I stared at them. ‘I don’t think…’

  ‘That’s all we’ve got,’ Timmons interrupted. He puffed out his chest. I realised it was important to him to prove to his guests that he had the situation under control and that he was dealing with matters. I took the box.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I’ll do as you have instructed.’ I pretended not to notice the look of relief on his face.

  I took Lucy and the daft milk cartons outside to the nearest car, which hadn’t been driven for so long that it had ivy growing up its wheels and snaking under its bonnet.

  By the time I returned inside Timmons, the hotel residents and guests, other than Anna, had vanished. Cath had thrown herself onto a nearby sofa and already had her boots off and her feet up. Julie was helping herself to a drink from the hotel bar and Jodie was sighing over a steaming cup of coffee. I’d only been gone a minute or two. The Travotel had that effect on people.

  I couldn’t see Lizzy anywhere. I suspected she’d already vanished into the kitchen in search of food.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said to Anna. ‘I wasn’t trying to cause trouble.’

  ‘I know,’ she replied. ‘People are just jumpy. We’ve been getting more and more incursions from the other … creatures living nearby. The alarm is enough to scare them off for the time being but sooner or later they’ll grow immune to it. We have to be careful.’

  ‘They’re looking for food?’ I asked.

  ‘Yeah.’ She sat down next to Jodie and grabbed her own mug. ‘Things are fine in here – at least for now. The hotel shelves are fairly well stocked. But it appears to be a different matter out there.’

  It was becoming an unpleasantly familiar refrain. Long before we ran out of supplies, the other magical creatures living in Manchester would make our problems insurmountable. There would be a solution – there always was; I just couldn’t see it at that particular moment.

  Unwilling to get down to all the doom-and-gloom stuff straight away, I settled into a chair and offered Anna a smile. ‘How are things going?’

  To my surprise, she blushed. Her eyes flicked momentarily to the door leading to the hotel rooms, although it was such a brief glance that I’d have missed it if I hadn’t been watching her closely. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Mike and I are getting on well.’

  I tried hard not to smile too broadly. ‘Mike?’

  Anna coughed. ‘Timmons. I mean, Timmons.’

  Enjoying the byplay, Jodie grinned. ‘Well, well, well. I thought you came here because you were feeling like a left wheel after we moved in with the werewolves and vampires. That you felt like you’d been done out of a job. Now I see that you had entirely different motives.’

  Anna’s blush only heightened. ‘He’s a nice man,’ she said somewhat stiffly.

  ‘He is,’ I agreed.

  Julie strolled over. Somehow she’d found a little paper umbrella and a flamingo-shaped cocktail stirrer. ‘Do my ears deceive me?’ she enquired. ‘Are you and the faery making the beast with two backs?’

  Anna folded her arms over her chest. ‘What if we are?’

  Julie’s eyes gleamed. ‘Good for you, darling. We all need a little romance in our lives.’

  Jodie snorted. ‘It’s just that yours is with a bottle of Mother’s Ruin.’

  ‘Well, it doesn’t answer back. Or snore,’ Julie replied. ‘What romance have you had going on lately?’

  Jodie’s lip curled and she turned away.

  I ignored them and leaned over to Anna. ‘You look happy.’

  She allowed herself a small smile. ‘I really am. I know there are plenty of people who are willing to blame him for all of this because he’s a faery, but none of it was his fault. Besides,’ she shrugged, ‘I feel like most of us have grown to really enjoy the magic.’

  From the sofa, where she’d clearly been earwigging, Cath grunted. ‘If someone could work out how to magic up some chocolate bars and a decent plate of cheesy chips then life would be perfect.’

  ‘Do you know,’ Anna said, ‘it might just be.’

  Timmons opened the door and came back in. ‘Everything’s fine upstairs,’ he said brusquely. ‘No corpses. All the guests feel a lot better for having DI Jones around. Her presence is reassuring. I hope you’ll allow her to continue working here for the time being.’ He pulled up a chair some distance from Anna and sat stiffly. Every single one of us, even Anna, smirked at him.

  ‘Well,’ Julie said, taking a sip of her ridiculous drink, ‘just the other day I was speaking to a few of the vamps who asked me about her. Carter, in particular, seemed to miss having her around. He so enjoyed those little têtes-à-têtes with Anna. You know,’ she added, ‘the ones with the candlelight and the roses.’

  ‘I was hoping,’ Jodie added with a sly grin, ‘that Anna would return and go on a few double dates with me. It’s summer time. Love is in the air. I know a few werewolves who are desperate for a sultry picnic in the park. Champagne. Caviar. Strawberries.’

  Timmons was starting to look more and more upset then something seemed to occur to him. He glanced at Anna. ‘You told them about us, didn’t you?’ He tutted. ‘There’s been no champagne to be had anywhere in the city since May.’

  Anna smiled softly at him before reaching across and taking his hand. She squeezed it tight. I watched them, a happy feeling settling deep inside me. They were an unlikely couple on the face of things, but opposites often attract. If I could be blissfully content with Monroe, everyone else should be too. Happiness loves company far more than misery, no matter how the saying goes.

  Lizzy reappeared holding a tray of biscuits. ‘So,’ she said, ‘does the only faery in the city have any insights into our pigeon problem, our hell-hound problem, our shadow-beast problem or, most importantly, our food problem? Because these were the only biscuits I could find anywhere and I think they’re going stale.’

  Way to bring us all back down to earth with a dull thump. Lizzy looked at us and frowned. ‘What?’ she asked. ‘Did I say something wrong?’

  ‘We were just having a moment,’ I told her.

  She put the tray of biscuits down. ‘And I missed it?’ She clicked her fingers in dismay. ‘That’s the last time I go scavenging in someone else’s kitchen.’

  ‘Thank heavens for that,’ Timmons murmured. Then he leaned in. ‘Tell me more about these problems.’

  I sighed. Well, I supposed, life couldn’t always be hearts and flowers. Not in this post-apocalyptic land. Not in any land.

  ***

  We laid it all out for Timmons and Anna. While their faces showed the same glimmer of excitement and fear that we’d all felt at the news of the carrier pigeons, they didn’t have much to offer.

  ‘I missed any flocks of pigeon
s flying overhead,’ the faery said glumly. ‘I have something of an affinity with the natural world and perhaps I could have caught a few of them. But if they’ve already flapped their way across the city, there’s not much I can do.’

  Anna nodded in agreement. ‘My dad used to keep pigeons,’ she said. ‘He raced them from time to time. If those birds are on their way home, wherever that may be, I doubt there will be any left in the skies above Manchester. They can move pretty speedily when they want to. We can go out searching, though. I can round up some of the more sprightly hotel residents on a scouting trip.’

  Every little helped but it appeared that we were already on a losing streak as far as the birds were concerned. ‘Thanks,’ I said with a sigh. ‘I appreciate that.’

  ‘As for food,’ Timmons said, ‘our situation is much the same as yours. We’ve had to post round-the-clock guards in the garden to stop the mutated rats from invading it and munching on all our hard work. I’ve not seen any hell hounds myself but I imagine it’s only a matter of time.’

  Anna grimaced. ‘Why do they have to keep bothering us?’ She looked at me. ‘What does that shadow-beast baby you’ve got out there actually eat?’

  ‘We’ve only had her for one night. So far she’s taken the milk we’ve given her but I don’t know about solids. I assume they’re carnivorous. We know they’re prepared to be cannibalistic and eat their own kind, but that might only be because circumstances demand it.’

  ‘That baby is the perfect opportunity to find out,’ Timmons said. ‘Try her on different kinds of food and see what happens. If she doesn’t die after munching on weeds, maybe we’ve found a solution to some of our gardening problems.’ He looked at Anna. ‘All those slugs are mighty irritating.’