Cast in Stone

by Bilinda Sheehan

  I studied the house, my heart sinking as I caught sight of the front door. It was wide open, and though the eerie green glow from the wards spilled out onto the front steps, I couldn’t see anything moving within.

  My body protested as I twisted awkwardly in the seat and slipped my karambit from its place on my thigh. My wrist still ached; the healing process was still going on, and the arm would be weaker until it was fully cured, but I didn’t have time to worry about that now. So long as I could hold the blade in that hand and still have enough strength to drive it into the heart of anyone that attacked, everything would be fine.

  I kept telling myself that as I checked the small throwing knives I had placed in the cuffs at my wrists. Then I reached up and turned off the automatic interior lights.

  Grey’s hand caught mine in the darkness as I pushed open the car door. The wind was beginning to pick up, but that was the only sound I could hear. The silence alone made me nervous. Where was the noise, the sounds of the creature as he fruitlessly attacked the house? Hell, where was the sound of anyone…?

  Maybe they’re all dead. I pushed the thought away as soon as it slipped into my head. They weren’t dead. They couldn’t be. I’d know if they were… wouldn’t I? Wasn’t that how it worked in the movies?

  “What’s your plan?” Grey whispered, so low that even if the vamps had been nearby they wouldn’t have heard him over the whistling of the wind.

  “Go in, figure out what’s going on, and kill the thing, or things, that set off the wards,” I said.

  “You need a better plan than that. Running in blind is going to get you killed,” Grey said furiously.

  “Yeah, well, I was hoping to soak in the tub tonight with a beer, but I guess we don’t always get what we want.”

  “Jenna, don’t be so bloody stubborn…”

  “Look, while we’re out here gossiping like old ladies, Carolyn, Merry, and Triskel could be in there dying. I’m not going to sit around here and wait for a plan to come to me, knowing that every minute they’re alone with that thing, it’s probably torturing them. Knowing that I could stop it if I’d just get off my ass and do something.”

  Grey’s hand slid away from mine. It wasn’t until it was gone that I realised just how much I missed the warm comfort his touch had brought me. Don’t think about it, just move.

  I slid from the car soundlessly, staying as light on my feet as I possibly could, considering the terrain. As I tiptoed toward the front door, I was suddenly glad that I hadn’t yet had time to get rid of the weeds; their thick, glossy leaves cushioned at least some of the noise of my boots on the gravel.

  I made it to the front door and peered inside, but the hall was empty and I couldn’t hear anything moving. Drawing my magic up, I let my senses heighten as my power slipped away from me and spread out through the house. I knew every inch of the place, and my power quickly found what I was looking for.

  Darting down the hall, I slipped into the kitchen and pressed my back to the wall. The cold breeze that wound its way in through the splintered back door caught my eye the moment I entered the room. The chairs were overturned and the table was pushed back to the wall, but it was the dark puddle on the floor that really caught my attention.

  It lay near a particularly large piece of splintered wood from the door, and part of it was streaked on the tiles, leading me out of the house to the night beyond.

  “Blood,” Grey said, catching up to me.

  I nodded grimly, peeling my eyes away from the pool that appeared black in the moonlight.

  “Not enough to kill,” Grey said, answering the question that pounded in my head.

  “There’s no one in the house,” I said quietly, “and the tracks lead out of the house anyway.”

  “This place is warded, so how did someone get in here without getting fried first?”

  I shrugged. I’d paid enough that the wards should have kept everything out, even an immortal wight. And yet…

  A strangled sob cut the air, and I ran through the broken remnants of the back door before the sound cut off. The garden was empty, as was the place where Merry and her mother had been digging just yesterday. I scanned the area, searching for whoever had made the sound.

  The vampire caught my eye first. His body had been thrust down through one of the wooden fence posts. Judging by the way his legs and arms were flailing about, the wood had clearly missed his heart.

  I watched him hiss and kick, but his movements only succeeded in causing his body to slide further down the post. I felt no pity, only a silent wish that the sun would rise a little faster so he could meet his true end before he escaped.

  I stared past him to the open paddock next to the house. Carolyn, her face bloodied and her clothes torn and dirty, was clutching Merry in her arms. Her expression was one of pure terror as the wight closed in on them.

  Triskel stood between them. Her glamour had completely fallen away, and her huge gold and scarlet wings were unfurled behind her. The moonlight glinted across her body, causing the blue and violet veins to sparkle against the black backdrop of her skin. Magic shimmered just above the surface of her body, and where her feet touched the grass, it was scorched black.

  The creature ducked in toward her, and she grabbed it with her hands, fire spreading across its chest and up toward its face.

  But the creature didn’t seem to care. As it reached for her again, I started to run.

  “Don’t let it touch you!” I screamed hoarsely. I could still remember the music that had filled my head when the creature had captured me inside the burial chamber.

  It had been the Pied Piper all right, and it had earned its name. To be caught in its grip was to become ensnared by its magic.

  She batted at its hands, but her gaze swivelled toward me automatically, breaking her concentration. It was the opening the creature needed.

  “No!” My voice cracked out like the whip that was wound around my arm, but I was too far away to do anything.

  The Pied Piper closed its hands on one of Triskel’s wings, ripping it sideways, separating the wing almost completely from her body as it dragged her back in against its barrel-shaped chest. Triskel screamed, her pain palpable, and Merry screamed alongside her. The sound echoed through the surrounding fields.

  The Pied Piper’s blue eyes met mine as it wrapped its hands around her throat.

  Something slammed into me, driving me to the ground. A grunt of pain slipped out of me as I struggled to escape the weight pinning me down.

  Cold air fanned down the side of my neck, and I jabbed my arm up into the vamp’s ribs, driving him backwards but not before his sharp fangs grazed the skin of my shoulder.

  Pain sizzled where his teeth had broken the skin, and I tried to roll away as he scuttled after me. His eyes were dark, filled with longing and hunger, and blood so dark it was black covered the lower portion of his mouth. Was it the Piper’s blood? The vamp lunged for me again. I waited until the last second before I rolled to the side, bringing my blade up so that the sharp edge sliced through the muscle and sinew of his neck.

  Blood sprayed across me but I kept moving, using the vamp’s jump to ride his body to the ground. I hacked at his neck, severing the arteries and muscles.

  His body twitched, but I knew it would take time and blood for him to heal, two things he didn’t have a whole lot of. Crouching over the vamp’s spasming body, I met the Piper’s blue-eyed gaze as it stroked its thick fingers across Triskel’s terrified face.

  “Let her go!” I screamed, but the only response I got was the smile that slid across the creature’s face. It was toying with me.

  Pushing off from my crouched position, I ran faster, my lungs burning, muscles aching. But it didn’t seem to matter how much power I allowed to flood my veins as time slowed to a crawl. Triskel fought against the Piper’s hold, and I saw its fingers tighten on her as I closed in on them.

  It jerked her head roughly and the light in her eyes went out, her movements ceasing as she
hung limply in his arms.

  “No!” The air rushed from my lungs in a hollow scream as the Piper let her fall.

  Triskel’s body landed in a tangle of limbs and wings, as though nothing was left inside her. It wasn’t possible. She was a fae, and they were notoriously hard to kill.

  Yet as I reached her side and dropped onto the grass next to her, I couldn’t deny that there was no heartbeat. I pressed my fingers against her neck, searching for a sign that the creature hadn’t snuffed out her life, but though her body was warm it was completely still.

  “Jenna!” Carolyn screamed my name, and I looked up as the creature closed in on her.

  She’d pushed Merry behind her, but if the Piper could kill Triskel, one of the fae, then Carolyn stood no chance.

  Drawing one of my throwing blades from my wrist sheath, I flicked it through the air, putting every ounce of my strength into the throw. The Piper moved, a mere roll of its shoulders, but it was enough for the blade to miss its target. Instead of landing in the base of the creature’s neck, it landed harmlessly in the thick muscle that covered its shoulder.

  I was on my feet, racing toward it, when the Piper turned to face me. But Grey beat me to it.

  The creature screamed as Grey sliced down its back, the wickedly sharp edge of his deer horn blades biting into its flesh. The Piper lunged toward Grey as he continued to slash and slice at its flesh. While each blow hurt the Piper, no sooner had one of the blades torn into it than the wound had healed.

  I reached the action as the Piper slammed into Grey, knocking him to the ground. Magic swirled in the air, tickling my nose, and I fought the urge to sneeze.

  A third vampire swooped down, but I spotted him before he could run into me. I danced out of his reach, slicing down his back with my karambit as he slid past me. He reversed his momentum, twisting back toward me as though his spine didn’t work like everyone else’s. And maybe it didn’t; he was technically dead, so perhaps that gave him the advantage of not having to move like the rest of us.

  I lashed out, kicking him square in the stomach and knocking him back on top of the Piper, who was trying to hold Grey down. It was a momentary distraction, and the Piper’s eyes glowed, the brilliant blue blinding to anyone who looked directly at them. The vamp let out a pained scream as he ducked away from the Piper.

  Grey sliced upward with his left hand, but the Piper moved out of the way as though it could anticipate Grey’s movements.

  I let my whip drop down my arm and into my hand. It whispered across the ground, and the air was filled with the sound of hissing vipers. It was enough to pull the Piper’s attention to me for a moment, but a moment was all Grey needed.

  He drove his blade up into the centre of the Piper’s body before he planted his feet and thrust the creature up and over his head. A frustrated scream escaped the Piper, and I gestured to Carolyn and Merry to run for the house.

  The Piper landed near the cowering vampire. Bile raced up my throat as the Piper thrust out a hand and grabbed the vamp by the throat, dragging the other man beneath it. The Piper fell upon the screaming vamp, cutting off his cries, swallowing them down. The entire process took only a second.

  Shock riveted me to the ground as the Piper moved like nothing I’d ever seen, as though the laws of physics didn’t apply to it. The creature was on the ground one second, and the next it was standing behind Grey as he rolled back onto his feet. What had been a vampire only a second ago was now a pile of dark grey ash that floated away on the wind.

  The Piper’s hand thrust against Grey’s back, and I watched in horror as Grey’s eyes went wide with shock and pain.

  Rage and pain roared in my ears as Grey collapsed to his knees.

  The whip cracked through the air, wrapping around the Piper’s throat. I jerked it tight, allowing the poisoned tip to embed in the creature’s throat.

  It pushed Grey away, and there was nothing I could do as Grey slumped over onto his side.

  He’s not dead, Jenna. He can’t be dead. He’s stronger than that. He’s hurt. He’s not dead. The voice in the back of my head struggled to soothe my anguish, but all I could see was the shock on Grey’s face as the Piper grabbed him.

  I felt a tug on the whip and dug my heels into the ground to stop myself from being dragged toward the Piper. I’d learned my lesson when I’d fought the ogre. Just because the Piper was bigger than I was didn’t mean I wasn’t equally strong.

  The Piper’s blue eyes met mine, and it smiled. The whip went slack, and I fell forward. The creature was gone.

  I blinked, trying to make sense of what had just happened, but my brain felt sluggish.

  Something heavy struck my shoulders, driving me to my knees and sending sparks of pain flaring through every nerve ending in my spine. I felt the air move, a split-second warning that another blow was imminent, and I rolled out of the way. The Piper growled in frustration as it followed me.

  I flicked the whip out once more, letting it curl around the creature’s leg as I jerked my arm back. With anyone else, the move would have worked, but before the whip could fully close around its leg, the Piper was gone.

  Strong hands wrapped through my hair, lifting me up from the ground. Flipping my karambit over, I stabbed it up into the arm holding me, but the Piper didn’t even react.

  It pulled me in close to its face and stared into my eyes.

  “Why are you fighting me?” Its voice surprised me. “You are not like the others; there is darkness in you, I feel it… I have tasted it.”

  “Because I have a thing about bullies,” I said, struggling against its hold. The Piper held me easily, and an amused grin crossed its face.

  “You think I enjoy what I do?”

  “You seem to,” I spat back, swinging in closer and bringing my blade up. It was a long shot, but I had to try something.

  The Piper dropped me before I could stab into its thick neck. I landed on the ground in a crouched position directly in front of it, but the creature made no move to hurt me.

  “This was not the life I chose,” it said, its voice filled with sorrow.

  “Then stop doing this,” I said. “Haven’t you hurt enough, killed enough? They were just children, and you murdered them.”

  “They created me, left me with no choice but to be the monster I have become.”

  I shook my head. “There’s always a choice.”

  The Piper smiled at me, but the expression held no happiness. “Such conviction for one so young… I will show you.”

  Before I had the chance to react, its hand wrapped around my throat and its blue eyes captured mine. I fought against its hold, but magic spread over me and my head filled with music.

  “Stop fighting and it will be easier…”

  The blue glow swallowed me, and still I fought. The music increased, and my heart fell into sync with the heavy drumbeat that echoed in my ears.

  Chapter 33

  We stood in the centre of a wide-open field, but instead of moonlight overhead, the sun beamed down, warm and inviting. But where I stood, within the confines of a circle of power, there was no light, no warmth, only sorrow and pain.

  The language spoken around me was familiar, but it was nothing I recognised, and it took a moment to make sense of the words.

  “I’m all she has,” the man on his knees pleaded. His red hair was filled with blond highlights, and there was a familiarity to his blue eyes that took me a moment to place. Then it hit me. He was the wight, the creature, the Pied Piper I’d been trying to kill. But what knelt in front of me in the soft, dewy grass was no monster; he was as human as the others gathered around us.

  A petite girl of maybe seven or eight, similar in age to Merry, stood shivering in a muddy shift. Her feet were bare and she curled her toes into the grass. Her cheeks were aflame with colour, and from where I stood I could feel the heat of her fever radiating from her in waves. Her strawberry-blonde hair was stuck to her sweaty forehead in little curls, and the rest of it was braided down
her back. But it was her eyes, the same blue eyes as the man’s, that tore at my heart.

  She had to be his daughter—the resemblance between them was uncanny.

  “She was my daughter,” the Pied Piper whispered to me, leaning in close, and I jumped. I hadn’t heard it approach, or had it been here all along? I couldn’t tell for certain.

  “Her name was Unnr,” the Piper said, and I could hear the longing in its voice.

  I tried to move away from the creature, but my legs refused to budge.

  “You cannot take me from her,” the man on the ground pleaded, grabbing the dark green robes of the man who appeared to be in charge. He had dark hair and even darker eyes, and I could feel the power that radiated from him, instantly reminding me of Grey.

  “Agilulf, there is nobody else. What we will give to you, the life we will grant you, is a great honour.”

  I glanced up at the Pied Piper. “This was you, this Agilulf?” I tried to pronounce the guttural name and failed miserably.

  The Pied Piper gave me another sorrowful smile. “Yes.”

  “Just let me stay with her until…” Agilulf trailed off as one of the men nearest his daughter grabbed her suddenly. “What are you doing? Stop!”

  The little girl screamed as the man’s rough hands tilted her head back. Her eyes were wide and terrified, and I tried again to move toward her. The stranger holding her placed a rust-coloured crude blade against her throat.

  “She’s dying, Agilulf, you see this. Think of those you can save,” the man in charge said.

  “Father, please!” The little girl’s voice was half-strangled by the knife pressed against her throat.

  “She doesn’t have to die! Please let her live!” Agilulf’s voice rose in panic.

  “If she lives, you will fight us, and we need this too badly. Our children will die…”

  The man who reeked of power nodded once, and the stranger holding the little girl drew his knife across her throat from ear to ear. She screamed, the noise cutting off suddenly as he severed her vocal chords.