by Helen Harper
I snorted. ‘Hardly. Listen, do you still have the number for that counsellor woman?’
‘Julia? The pneumatic kisser?’
‘That’s the one.’ Iqbal might have found her a bit overly energetic but she was damned good at her job. And I was sure I’d heard she had moved up to Scotland. ‘I could do with getting in touch with her.’
Iqbal dropped all his joking. ‘Why? Is everything alright?’
‘Like I said, it’s not for me.’
‘Hang on a minute.’ I waited a few beats before he came back on the line and reeled off a phone number.
‘Thanks.’
‘No problemo. Are you sure you’re okay?’
‘Yeah, yeah. Although…’ I paused. I’d trust Iqbal with my life but what I was about to say made me feel like an idiot.
‘What?’
‘Well, I’m with Winter on a job. Things are pretty awkward between us. I think he likes me and I know I like him. But how do I broach the subject without scaring him off? I’m not with the Order and I’m not technically his partner any more, so there’s no real reason why we can’t be together. You’re a guy. Should I wait for him to make a move? What if he doesn’t?’
‘Ivy?’
‘Yes?’
‘This is Ivy, right? Ivy Wilde? The woman who does whatever she wants when she wants?’
‘Uh…’
‘You really do like him.’ Iqbal’s voice was full of wonder. ‘When have you bothered this much about a guy before?’
I coughed. Raphael Winter had sneaked into my head and, with his typical tenacity, he wasn’t letting go. ‘Never mind.’
‘Ivy Wilde, are you in love?’
‘Let’s talk about something else.’
‘Is there anything else?’
‘No.’ I hesitated. ‘Actually, wait, there is something.’ I told him about the vial Belinda Battenapple wore around her neck. ‘Do you know what it is?’
‘No. I can look it up, if you want.’
‘I’d appreciate it.’
‘I’ll do what I can and get back to you.’ There was a beat. ‘Ivy, are you sure you’re alright? You sound … different.’
I shrugged. ‘I’m fine. I’d better go.’
‘Look after yourself.’
‘Always. Cheerio, Iqqy.’
I jabbed in the number for Julia, whose last name completely escaped me. When she answered with a purr, it was clear she’d been expecting someone very different. I hastily re-introduced myself and outlined Gareth’s problems without telling her any real specifics.
‘He needs to see someone, Ivy,’ she said. ‘Someone professional. I know someone who works up in that region. She’s brilliant. Give me your friend’s number and I’ll get her to give him a call.’
‘You’re the best.’
‘I know.’
I strode back to Gareth and passed the phone over to him so he could give her his details. He was somewhat taken aback that so many strangers seemed willing to help him out, but I knew that if I didn’t force him to get help he’d keep going on his own until he cracked completely. I could manage a few phone calls. He was the one who’d have to really work hard. Maybe sometimes we all need a bit of a nudge.
Chapter Nine
I snuggled up into my duvet feeling pretty damn pleased with myself. All in all, I reckoned it had been a good day’s work. I might have run around like a mad thing for the first part but I’d played the role of runner to perfection. I’d potentially saved two teenage boys from cancer, not to mention that I’d found Gareth the help he needed to return to a sane and normal life.
Of course, I didn’t want to have to work this hard every day. I probably ought to give myself the day off tomorrow after doing so well. It was only fair.
I stretched out, enjoying the sensation of drifting into to blissful sleep. This was what I needed. This was what it was about. Glorious, uninterrupted slumber. I sighed contentedly.
‘Ivy!’
I frowned. As much as I liked Amy, there were limits. I ignored her whisper. I was sleeping; this was not the time for girly chats. If she wanted a bedtime story, she could go and find Mazza. I was sure he’d be very happy to oblige.
Unfortunately, my room-mate wasn’t about to give up. ‘Ivy! Can you see that?’
No. I was sleeping. My eyes were closed. I couldn’t see anything. I didn’t want to see anything.
‘It’s right outside our window!’
Whatever was there, she was starting to sound alarmed. As long as it was outside, I didn’t care.
Then the room phone rang. Amy yelped. I heard her pick up the receiver and answer cautiously. ‘Hello?’
Didn’t she know anything? You should never pick up the phone at night time. It only invited problems that could almost always wait until daylight. Preferably after noon.
‘She’s sleeping.’
Uh-oh. I felt an unpleasant squirm deep in the pit of my stomach.
‘What? I can’t throw water over her!’
Arse. I sighed and sat up. ‘Give it here,’ I said reluctantly. Wide-eyed, she passed over the phone. ‘Winter,’ I said. ‘I love you to bits but it’s the middle of the night. I need to sleep.’
‘How did you know it was me?’ he asked.
Because I’m not a complete idiot; no one else would be rash enough to try and phone me at this hour. I tutted into the phone.
‘Never mind,’ he said. ‘I need to know what your new friend told you. The one who found the body. I waited ages for you to show up.’
‘Really?’ I grinned.
His response was terse. ‘Of course. We’re here on serious business, Ivy.’
As if I’d forget. ‘I know that. That’s why it’s very important that I get enough sleep to function like a human being instead of a zombie tomorrow. He didn’t say anything you wouldn’t expect.’
I shot a glance at Amy. She was watching me with her arms wrapped round her knees, apparently concerned that this was some type of family emergency. I had to be careful how much I said on the phone; I didn’t want to give the poor girl nightmares that might interrupt my sleep even more. ‘What he saw was very nasty.’
‘Did he give you a location?’
Hang on a minute. There was a business-like tone to Winter’s voice that had me worried. He’d better not be planning what I thought he was. ‘Yes.’
‘Good. That’s what I was hoping for. Meet me downstairs in five minutes and we can go and check it out.’
Before I even began to tell him what a plonker he was, he hung up. I stared at the silent phone, half-expecting Winter to start speaking again and tell me he was joking. Of course, that didn’t happen.
I replaced the handset and lay down. There was no way I was going out at this hour to meet him. Midnight trysts were not my thing, even with Winter.
‘Is everything okay?’ Amy asked tentatively.
‘Fine.’ Hopefully my terse response would encourage her to lie down and go back to sleep. I closed my eyes. Back to dreamland.
A moment later, I sat back up again. Huffing, I swung my legs out of bed and scrabbled around for my clothes. All I was going to do was to tell him what an idiot he was and that tramping around the Scottish Highlands at this hour was a stupid idea. Then I was going back to sleep.
It might have been close to summertime but this was Scotland. My breath clouded in the air and the shock of the cold was almost enough to wake me up. Almost.
Winter was waiting for me underneath a street lamp, looking for all the world like some kind of old-school detective. Or crazed stalker. Frankly, it could have gone either way. I yawned in his direction.
‘I really don’t think this is a good time to go wandering about a great big hill,’ I told him in no uncertain terms.
He didn’t acknowledge my complaint; instead, he cast a critical eye up and down. ‘You can’t wear your pyjamas. Even with that coat on, you’ll still get cold.’
‘I’m wearing my pyjamas because I’m going back to bed. W
inter, even you can’t think this is a good idea.’
His expression was blank. ‘There’s no other time. You’ll be busy working during the day. In fact, now there’s been a bloody pentagram, I will be too. If we want to check out the murder site, this is the only time we can do it.’
Except I didn’t want to check out the murder site, I wanted to go back to bed. ‘The police will have been all over it with a fine toothcomb. There won’t be anything to see. Not any more.’
Winter arched an eyebrow. ‘No witches have been permitted access, Ivy. Do you really think that the police, regardless of how competent they are, will be able to recognise spell traces? Do you think they’d notice if there were some stray herb sprinkles amongst the grass? Would they…’
Bloody hell. ‘Enough,’ I said. ‘Give me five minutes and I’ll change my clothes.’ This was an argument I wasn’t going to win.
***
Just about the only positive to this venture was that Winter had somehow managed to procure a motorbike. He muttered something about borrowing it from the proprietor of his B&B. When he initially refused to let me drive it, I pointed out that driving was what I did for a living and that I hadn’t told him where we were going yet. What I didn’t mention was that I’d never driven a motorbike before. There was a first time for everything.
‘I’d have thought,’ Winter shouted in my ear as I revved the engine, ‘that you’d take the opportunity to sit back and not do anything. If I drove, you’d be able to relax.’
True. But if he drove, we’d go at snail’s pace and he’d probably want to stop to examine random trees or pick rare herbs just in case they would come in useful in the future. With me in charge, we’d get there and back much more quickly. After all, I had to get some sleep at some point.
It was also rather nice having Winter hold my waist. When he almost fell off the back and took me with him, however, I decided I was less enamoured of the situation.
‘Slow down!’ he yelled in my ear as we careened away from the hotel.
‘I can’t hear you!’ I shouted back and sped up. This was fun. It helped that the roads were empty. Maybe I should get out and about in the Highlands of Scotland in the dead of night more often.
Nah.
From what Gareth had told me, I had an idea about how to get to Dead Man’s Hill. There were enough signposts for the cemetery and, when we reached it, I spotted a small dirt track leading up the slope behind it. That had to be what we were looking for. It looked less like a hill and more like a damn mountain that would give Everest a run for its money.
Yet again I pretended not to hear Winter when he shouted that we could walk from here and nudged the bike upwards. I was going to use horsepower to get as close as we possibly could. I kept going upwards, stopping only when I was forced to.
‘What the hell?’ Winter ground out when I turned off the engine and he slipped off the back.
‘There’s too much mud. The wheels are spinning.’
He peered at me through the darkness. ‘That was not what I meant and you know it. You drive like a demon, Ivy.’
‘Thank you.’
Winter growled, ‘You should have left the bike at the bottom of the hill.’
I blinked. ‘But then we’d have had to walk all the way.’
‘Now the bike is all dirty.’
‘So wash it when we get back.’ Preferably while wearing a white T-shirt, which would quickly get soaked, and when I was watching from a comfortable vantage point. I patted him on the arm. ‘Come on. I think it’s this way.’
‘Then let’s get going.’ With his usual gait, Winter took off at a tremendous speed, scaling the hill as if it were nothing more than a gentle incline. I followed after him, my determination to get this over and done dissipating in the face of the immediate ache in my calves.
‘Slow down,’ I called to Winter.
His response was immediate. ‘I can’t hear you!’
Ha. Ha. Ha. I gritted my teeth and ploughed upwards. Who the hell murdered someone up a mountain? It would have been far more convenient to use the cemetery – at least then it would have been a one-stop shop.
Huffing and puffing, I glanced back down. With the gravestones just visible in the moonlight, it looked more picturesque than creepy. ‘It can’t,’ I heaved, ‘be a coincidence,’ I paused again for breath, ‘that the murder took,’ I gasped, ‘here.’
Winter finally stopped and turned. ‘What on earth is wrong with you?’
I doubled over and tried to bring more air into my lungs.
He snorted. ‘If you went to the gym…’
My bottom lip curled. ‘Yeah, yeah.’ I straightened up. ‘The locals call this place Dead Man’s Hill. It’s probably got nothing to do with the graveyard and everything to do with the fact that you feel like a dead man when you climb it. In any case, it can’t be a coincidence. This spot is poetically apt.’
‘So you think our murderer is a local?’
‘Not necessarily. But I bet it’s someone with local knowledge.’
‘I think that’s a given.’
I clutched my chest. Winter peered at me. ‘Are you having a heart attack now?’
‘I might be. I’m just so shocked that you agree with me.’
His eyes fixed on mine, their brilliant blue piercing, despite the darkness. ‘Stranger things have happened.’ He held out his hand. ‘I’ll help you up the rest of the way.’
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I gladly accepted his help. His hand was warm and firm and, as we walked further up the hill avoiding the odd rabbit hole and clods of random turf, I couldn’t shake the delicious shiver that was running down my spine. ‘What kind of moisturiser do you use?’
‘Huh?’
‘Your skin is very soft.’
Winter paused before speaking. ‘Sometimes, Ivy Wilde, you are very strange.’
‘But you like me really.’
This time there was an even longer silence. ‘Yes,’ he said finally. ‘I do like you.’
I took in a deep breath. It was now or never. Act your age, Ivy, not your shoe size. ‘Rafe,’ I said quietly. ‘Can you stop a minute?’
He did as I asked, turning to face me. ‘What is it?’
A cloud passed in front of the moon, blocking out the last of the little light. For once, I was glad that I couldn’t see Winter’s face. This would be easier, I decided, when I couldn’t judge his immediate reaction. Not to mention that he wouldn’t be able to see how red my cheeks were, although they felt hot enough that I was probably casting my own glow.
‘I’ve been meaning to say this for some time but,’ I gulped in more air, ‘I was a bit scared. The thing is that I like you too.’ I swallowed. ‘What I mean is I…’
From out of nowhere, a huge shape emerged from the darkness to our left. It collided with Winter, throwing him to the ground. I caught the barest glimpse of dark skin, a mane of hair and long claw-like nails flashing towards him with murderous intent before I acted. Screeching like a banshee, I threw out three runes in quick succession.
The first sent out a single gust of wind strong enough to send our attacker off-balance. He swayed violently to one side as the second rune took hold and the roots of a nearby clump of heather rose up and wrapped themselves around one bony thigh and completed the job of pulling him off Winter. The third was a protective barrier, shielding both of us from the bastard’s next move.
I yanked Winter to his feet. He was breathing heavily and there were four raked cuts down his cheek, blood dripping from each one. ‘Get back, Ivy.’
I moved in front of him. He was injured; this wasn’t the time for gentlemanly heroics. There was a rustle as whoever had attacked us broke free from the heather and sprang up again to face us. I stared at him, horror reverberating through my veins. Yes, he was male. And, yes, he looked vaguely human – but the emphasis was on vaguely.
He had long straggly hair that covered his face, which was probably just as well given the state of the
skin on his hands. There were pus-filled sores and his nails were an extraordinary length. He was on all fours, like some kind of animal. A continuous guttural snarl emitted from his throat and the reek that wafted from him was almost enough to make me pass out.
None of those were the worst things about him, though. What really sent a chill through me was that he was wearing a smart double-breasted suit, complete with red-spotted tie and a matching handkerchief peeking out from his top pocket. It was like being faced with a monster from Savile Row. A real monster.
I barely had time to take in all these details before he lunged again. His body smacked against my magical barrier and I felt the magic in it waver. It wouldn’t last long.
Winter stepped up next to me. ‘Goddamnit, Ivy, get back!’ He raised his hands, drawing his own runes.
‘They won’t…’ I began. I didn’t get the chance to finish. Fire plumed upwards, singeing the ward and falling short uselessly. There was no such thing as a one-way barrier. It protected us from the monster man but it also protected the monster man from us.
Winter hissed out an expletive. ‘Release the ward spell,’ he yelled as we were subjected to another frustrated attempt at an attack.
‘If I release the spell,’ I argued, ‘then we’re dead.’ I wasn’t even sure why I was bothering to refuse. It’d probably take the bastard facing us fewer than three attempts to bring it down completely.
Winter’s jaw clenched. ‘Fine. On the count of three, you start running back down the hill. Go and get help from the town. I’ll hold him off until then.’
That was about the most nonsensical thing I’d ever heard – for many reasons. ‘You know I can’t run,’ I told him.
‘Ivy, this is not the time.’
I drew back my shoulders. ‘No, it’s not. Because if you think I’m leaving you here alone with that thing, then you’re doolally.’
‘Doo what?’
The monster man threw his head back and screamed. For a fleeting moment, his face was visible – what remained of it. I saw a swarm of maggots in the soft flesh of his cheek and little more than dark holes where his eyes should have been. I swallowed hard and tried not to vomit.