Instrument of Chaos

by Rebecca Hall

  “Let go of me.”

  “Where’s the curse Mitchell?” Hayley asked, her eyes shining white. Mitch shuddered, he’d always hated the way that her irises shifted colour from bright blue to luminescent white.

  “I don’t know ok,” he said, his voice rising. He still couldn’t free his arm.

  “But he does,” Hayley said firmly. “The Host kills every demon that they find for possessing that knowledge, they’ll kill Nikola as well… Unless we find the heart of the curse first. Unless we break it and end the war.”

  “Nikola said that the curse was faerie,” Mitch sighed. “Will you let me go now?”

  “Where is Faerie, Mitchell?”

  “It’s… I don’t know.” She might as well ask where the universe was, it wasn’t as if he could point to it on a map. “It’s Faerie.” As far as he could tell it was everywhere. “Can’t you just open a gate or something?” Maybe he could show her the storymap he’d had made for Amelie if she needed coordinates or something.

  Hayley shook her head. “Angels cannot perceive Faerie, we were not even aware of its existence until humans discovered it.”

  “But you’re angels,” Mitch said. Angels were the next thing to omniscient, how could they be unaware of an entire realm?

  Hayley released his arm. “The curse was meant to remain hidden from us. We’ll just have to find a way… Did Nikola learn anything else that might help us?”

  “Go back to hell,” Mitch spat. This time she didn’t stop him stepping past her and opening the Nethergate. Perhaps Nikola did know a way for angels to access Faerie but Mitch wasn’t going to ask him to risk his sanity to find it. He’d rather live with the Twisted Curse hanging over his head.

  “Mitchell,” she called as he fished out his medallion to open the Nethergate.

  “You should have stayed human,” he spat. The door opened and he slammed it shut behind him.

  “Fucking angels,” he muttered to himself as he stomped over to the bloodbank and yanked out the tote bag with its empty bloodbags in it. He shoved them through the metal slot and handed the bag to the twitchy looking damphir on duty, still muttering curses under his breath.

  He snatched the bag up as soon as the damphir returned it and left only to walk right into Sieg.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” Mitch asked. Sieg raised an eyebrow. “Sorry,” Mitch mumbled, running a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

  “Clearly,” Sieg drawled. “How are you Mitchell?”

  “Fine.”

  Sieg called him every other week for an update, not that he called it that. Maybe he’d just thought that he’d do it in person while he was here.

  Sieg raised an eyebrow again.

  “Bad day,” Mitch grunted. He hoped that Hayley had left instead of waiting to ambush him. There were other exits but then he’d be late getting home and Nikola would worry.

  “Well I can’t argue with that,” Sieg said. “Rana has disappeared.”

  “Good riddance,” Mitch said.

  “I know you had your differences–”

  “She blackmailed us into capturing a demon and then forced Nikola to read its mind,” Mitch snapped, cutting him off. “If she’s really gone I’ll throw a fucking party.”

  “This is bigger than just your friend, Mitchell. Rana is the queen here. It shouldn’t be possible for her to just disappear.”

  “Maybe the bitch tried blackmailing someone who decided to bite back,” Mitch said. “I bet Verdandi wouldn’t have hesitated for a second.”

  “Verdandi has returned to Faerie but she’s not the only Fae here is she? I’ve heard whispers that Gawain is about and you are dating his sister.”

  “So?” Mitch asked. Gawain was here for Nikola not Amelie.

  “He’s here isn’t he? Even though it’s winter.”

  “So?” Mitch repeated. He knew that the Seelie and Unseelie courts avoided each other but Gawain was just one man and Nikola needed him.

  “The Seelie Court is not forgiving Mitchell. If they believed that one of their blood was being threatened… Healers can inflict a great deal of pain.”

  Mitch shifted uneasily. He wanted to celebrate the fact that Rana was gone, not worry about what Gawain might have done to her. She deserved it anyway.

  “How long are you here for?” he asked, wanting desperately to change the topic.

  Sieg sighed, “Until Rana or a suitable replacement is found.”

  “Does that make you king of the Netherworld?”

  “Interim king,” Sieg chuckled. “Tell Gawain that I want him gone by the end of the week.”

  #

  “You should be in bed,” Mitch said, coming home to find Nikola curled up on the couch.

  “Gawain won’t le–” he sneezed, “let her into my room while I’m sick,” he said. Fluffball sat on the floor by the couch, just close enough to be in scratching range.

  “And two sets of puppy eyes weren’t enough to change his mind?” Mitch asked, a smile tugging at his lips. He was impressed, he never could have turned Nikola down.

  “No.”

  “And you didn’t think that maybe you should just listen to him?” Mitch asked. He left his bags on the table and sat next to Nikola, handing him a couple of tissues so that he could blow his nose, and setting the box on the coffee table. Nikola usually used magic to get them while at home but Mitch hadn’t seen him consciously use magic once since the impressions had taken up residence in his mind.

  “Thanks.” He blew his nose. “If I just listened to him then he’d be really worried,” Nikola said, sitting up so that he could rest against Mitch’s shoulder. Mitch smiled and put an arm around him.

  “Where is he anyway?” Mitch asked. Nikola could safely be left alone in the room for short periods of time but he’d completely fallen apart when they’d tried leaving him entirely alone. Gawain had to be in the house.

  “Calling home,” he coughed.

  “Anything we need to worry about?”

  “Just checking in.”

  Mitch nodded. “I saw Sieg today,” he said after a moment. “Apparently Rana has disappeared.”

  “Oh, that’s why you feel tense.” He coughed again and Mitch got up to get him a glass of water. “What happened?”

  “Nothing really,” Mitch said, sitting next to Nikola again. “Sieg is sticking around until they find a replacement and…” he stuttered to a stop, unsure of how to continue. He actually missed Nikola’s telepathy, it would have saved him having to say it out-loud. At least he didn’t have to worry that Nikola would learn about Hayley’s visit. Nikola wouldn’t take that well and the last thing he needed now was to be upset.

  “Mitch, it’s alright,” Nikola hugged him.

  “Sieg wants Gawain to go back to Faerie,” Mitch said, wrapping his arms around Nikola and feeling him begin to tremble.

  “But–”

  “Maybe you’ll be ok by then,” Mitch said, desperately trying to sound hopeful. Nikola wouldn’t really be ok but perhaps he’d be ok enough to cope without Gawain’s presence. He could feel Nikola’s heart racing and he wasn’t surprised when he started to cough, gasping for breath as tears filled his eyes.

  “Oh, Nikola. Everything is going to be ok.” Eventually. Fluffball whined and was gently nudged out of the way by Gawain who sat on the coffee table and rested a hand on Nikola’s shoulder. He calmed slowly, slumping against Mitch’s shoulder.

  “You’re getting my shirt wet,” Mitch said. Nikola sniffed in reply and Mitch took the tissue Gawain offered him and used it to wipe Nikola’s face.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t need to be sorry about anything,” Mitch said. “Except possibly not being in bed.”

  “I can’t sleep,” Nikola croaked, “and it’s easier to shut them out when I have someone else to focus on.”

  “I know,” Mitch said, shooting Gawain a pleading look. Gawain nodded slightly and smiled. “Why don’t you sleep in my room, Fluff
ball can stay with you in there.”

  “That’s not her name.”

  “Well I’m going to keep calling her that until she gets a proper one,” Mitch retorted. “Come on,” he coaxed Nikola to his feet and snagged his bag of blood on the way.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Nikola asked, snuggling into the blankets.

  “Positive,” Mitch replied, tucking him in and making a mental note to get Nikola a glass of water and some tissues. Only to have Gawain follow them in with both before silently retreating.

  “Going to read me a bedtime story as well?” Nikola croaked.

  “Only if you like maths books,” Mitch said. He left Fluffball curled up at the foot of the bed and climbed onto the other side.

  “It really will be ok,” Mitch said as Nikola settled against him. “We’ll find a way to make it work. You can crash some of my lectures and I’ll come to yours with you. I’ll even go running with you and Fluffball in the morning if you wake me and promise to go slowly.”

  Nikola laughed and sneezed.

  “There isn’t that much of the semester left. We’ll get through it and then… what do you want to do when you get better?”

  Nikola shrugged.

  “What about your dryad?”

  “My dryad?” Nikola coughed. “I haven’t seen him since Easter. It was just a one time thing.”

  “What about in Faerie? Tal?” Mitch asked.

  “You mean Taliesin? That was never more than sex.”

  “I’m beginning to notice a theme here,” Mitch said.

  “I don’t really do relationships,” Nikola said softly. “You know what a train wreck I am. Who would want to get involved with someone like me?”

  “I would,” Mitch said, hugging him tightly. “You’re sweet and understanding and I know that you’ll always be there for me.”

  “Really?” Nikola asked, his eyes filling with fresh tears.

  “Really,” Mitch promised. “I love you Nikola.”

  “I love you too,” Nikola smiled and Mitch could feel him relaxing.

  “Just don’t tell Amelie I said so,” he whispered. She’d hit the roof if she ever heard that. He’d never said those words to her. He wondered how his parents would have taken it; it probably would have been easier for them than his becoming a vampire.

  “I won’t,” Nikola murmured, his eyes closing. A couple of minutes later he was asleep and Mitch carefully disentangled himself.

  “Sleep well,” he whispered, kissing Nikola on the forehead and putting his blood away before going to talk to Gawain.

  Something Like Normality

  “Are you sure about this?” Mitch asked, towing Nikola out of the rain and towards the coffee bar.

  “No,” Nikola replied, brushing rain-soaked hair out of his face. “But I have to go back to class sooner or later.”

  “And you thought an eight am maths lecture was the way to start?” Mitch asked. The weather couldn’t decide if it wanted to rain or snow and had settled for thoroughly unpleasant instead.

  Nikola shrugged, “Gawain said that routine would help.”

  Mitch sighed, but with Gawain back in Faerie Nikola could resume going to classes or someone could skip class to stay with him. At least Gawain had healed him and done everything he could to boost Nikola’s immune system before he left. Nikola’s control over the impressions was shaky enough without adding a high fever to the mix.

  “Do you want a drink?” Mitch asked. The barista had started making his coffee as soon as he walked in the door.

  “Hot chocolate.”

  “Marshmallows?”

  Nikola shook his head.

  “Just tell me if you want to leave ok?” Mitch said, paying for their drinks. Nikola nodded and wrapped his hands around the cup, passing Mitch the chocolate fish that had come with it.

  “Your loss,” Mitch said. Vampire fangs weren’t really designed for chocolate fish, they weren’t designed for a lot of things, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him.

  Nikola shrugged. “It got you to smile, you’ve looked so worried over the last few weeks.”

  “Sorry.”

  Nikola rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to apologise to me. Amelie on the other hand…”

  “Ugh, tomorrow is supposed to be date night,” Mitch said.

  “You could try,” Nikola said. “Fluffball will be with me. Maybe I’ll be so exhausted by my classes that I’ll just sleep through the whole thing.”

  “Nikola…” Mitch sighed, “let’s just see how today goes first.”

  “Sure,” Nikola said, his voice already noticeably less chipper than it had been a minute ago and his expression falling as they approached the lecture theatre and campus became more crowded.

  “Mitch? Can… can we sit near the door?”

  “Sure.” They sat at the end of the front row, Nikola drumming his fingers on the desk while Mitch held his other hand.

  “I was beginning to think that we wouldn’t see you again,” their lecturer said.

  “Sorry,” Nikola shrunk into his seat.

  “It can’t be helped,” she said reassuringly. “Mitchell explained things to me.”

  Nikola nodded and she moved towards the centre of the room.

  “What have you been telling everyone?” Nikola asked.

  “You know…”

  “Mitch.”

  “Stress, nervous breakdown, that kind of thing.”

  Nikola laughed, “Close enough I suppose. It’ll match up with the medical certificates Gawain gave me anyway.” Gawain actually did have a degree in medicine, several of them, some of which had actually been earned in the last half century. Enough to ensure that Nikola could resit any tests he had missed and get compassionate consideration on his final grade.

  The lecture was better and worse than Mitch had expected. Nikola didn’t have any trouble with the equations despite weeks of missed classes but whenever he wasn’t writing he drummed his pencil on the table. Mitch watched out of the corner of his eye as Nikola grew paler and paler, his breathing shallower and his hand cold and clammy.

  He lasted half an hour before bolting for the door. Mitch packed their books and silently followed him out, leaning against the bathroom wall while Nikola finished throwing up.

  “Thirty minutes isn’t too bad,” Mitch said while Nikola splashed water on his face. He’d expected worse.

  “Physics is larger,” Nikola shuddered. “And there will be more people on campus then.”

  “Skip it,” Mitch said. “Amelie doesn’t have anything then.”

  “Today she doesn’t,” Nikola replied, “she does tomorrow.”

  “We’re not worrying about tomorrow now,” Mitch reminded him. “You have Hebrew and Sanskrit this afternoon don’t you?”

  “Just Sanskrit,” Nikola said, drying his face on a hand towel. “The classes are smaller.”

  “And longer,” Mitch reminded him. He didn’t want to dissuade Nikola but he didn’t want him pushing himself either. “It’s at two, right? I don’t have anything then.” Nikola smiled at him. “Let’s go home,” Mitch said. “Even with Rana gone I’m not taking you back into the Netherworld.” He’d just have to get his blood after physics.

  For once Nikola didn’t argue and he curled up for a nap as soon as they got home. Mitch grabbed his books and sat on the bed next to him to study.

  #

  “That smells good,” Amelie said, closing the door behind her.

  “Nikola put it on when we got home from Sanskrit,” Mitch replied. “He left me a page of instructions too.” He waved it, silently hoping that Amelie would take over though it wasn’t anything more than a list of cooking times and temperatures. Nikola hadn’t even trusted him to slice the carrots.

  “How was it?” Amelie asked, bending over the couch to pull up the blanket Nikola was snuggled under.

  “It could have been worse,” Mitch said. “He managed an hour and the only thing he really had trouble with was the pronunciation.�
� Nikola had been able to keep up with everything else at home, Mitch suspected that he’d already read the entire textbook, but there was no one for him to practice speaking with.

  Amelie sighed, “I know Gawain said that he’d be fine if we took things slow but I can’t help wondering if he would have been better off at home.”

  “He wanted to stay,” Mitch said, ignoring the guilty voice in the back of his mind that insisted that Nikola had stayed for him. Nikola might enjoy his language classes but he was indifferent to university at best.

  “Perhaps we could convince him to drop out,” Amelie said. “I can’t babysit him the way you did, his lectures clash with my labs.”

  “He’ll get better,” Mitch said. “He just needs time. This late in the semester I don’t think he can drop out without failing all of his papers.”

  “I doubt that’s why he stayed,” Amelie said, getting up to put the vegetables on.

  “Yeah, well… it’s up to him I guess,” Mitch said weakly. Talking to Nikola about it was difficult though that hadn’t stopped Gawain from trying before he left. It hadn’t got him very far. Nikola hated that he always had to have people looking after him almost as much as he hated being told that it was for his own good.

  “I guess,” Amelie agreed. “I assume date night is off?”

  “We’ll come up with something,” Mitch said.

  “You’d better start by coming up with a way of convincing Nikola to sleep in his own bed.”

  “I’ll put Fluffball on the pillow,” Mitch said.

  “Now I just need a way to get you to stay in mine,” she smiled at him and Mitch looked away hastily. Amelie didn’t have nightmares if left alone for the night but he knew that she was jealous.

  “I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Mitch said.

  Sibling Rivalry

  Someone was shaking him awake. Mitch flailed madly, for the first time in he wasn’t sure how long he was actually sleeping alone, albeit not in his own bed. He’d given up on ever managing that again. Or getting an uninterrupted night’s sleep.

  “I’m sleeping,” he mumbled, trying to burrow a little deeper into his bed. He’d always been a firm believer that holidays and weekends were for sleeping in and today was both.