by Sue Tingey
I suddenly realised that it was so dark, I could walk straight past Jinx’s unconscious body without even knowing it – there were no landmarks; it’d been just one large tree amongst many other large trees. And if I used the phone, I would be lit up like a Christmas tree for anyone to spot; worse still, I might walk straight into the abomination that had been stalking me.
I slowed down to a trudge. If I didn’t come across his body soon, I’d go and find Jamie. As I plodded along, peering through the tree trunks, I realised I was seeing a bit more: in fact, there was a soft glow of light creeping through the trees, although I knew it couldn’t yet be dawn – Persephone and her guests had only just been getting ready for dinner.
I stared across the grounds to the house in the distance and felt the hair stand up on my arms and legs.
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Oh wow—’
The house was bathed in a pale golden light: it looked too soft and warm and comforting to be a bad kind of light. Then I saw my angel walking out of the glowing haze, my other guards behind him, and I felt my lips curl up into a smile. They were safe. Oh my God, they were safe …
I was about to raise my hand and cry out when more people stepped out of the light: Guardian angels.
Jamie had called in the cavalry.
*
Any pleasure I felt at seeing Jamie was gone: he had promised he would help me find Jinx and protect him as long as he hadn’t started killing people and now he had reneged on that promise.
‘Jamie, how could you?’ I muttered to myself. ‘How bloody could you?’
Now I had no choice; I would have to find Jinx myself, and keep him safe – and hope that I could do so without him killing me first. Maybe without Persephone there and pulling his strings, I would have a chance.
I swung around and hurried back among the trees. I couldn’t have been seen, or someone would have waved or shouted out.
One thing about the appearance of the angels did help: I now had light to see by. I knew I had to make the most of it, as I had no idea how long it would last – I didn’t even know what was causing it. If I hadn’t known differently, I’d have thought it was celestial light sent down from above to assist His heavenly angels.
I picked up speed, muttering, ‘Jinx, where the Hell are you?’
Then I saw a strip of colour on the ground directly ahead of me: the umbrella. I dropped it when he first grabbed me from behind, so if he hadn’t been found, he should’ve been somewhere around here. A snapped branch hung limply ahead of me, and there were more broken-off branches a few feet beyond that. I cautiously followed the arboreal carnage, but still there was no Jinx.
They must have found him and stashed him in one of their cars … perhaps they’d realised Jamie’s reinforcements were coming; that’s why they’d been in such a hurry to get away. I didn’t know what the Guardians would do to the humans, but Amaliel and his Sicarii would be in for a rough ride.
I heard voices, now calling – ‘Lucky—!’ That was Jamie.
‘Mistress, where are you?’ Shenanigans, I guessed.
‘Soulseer?’ That chorus could only have come from Jamie’s Guardians.
I glanced at the pile of broken branches and my shoulders sagged. Amaliel and Persephone must have found Jinx so there wasn’t any point in me hiding. But I still didn’t know what to do; help from the Guardians was help I could well do without.
There was only one thing for it: I would have to find my guard and regroup, see if they would still support me in my search for Jinx. If Jamie wasn’t willing to help me, well, I’d have to go it alone. Was this a rift that could ever be healed? I wasn’t sure.
I trudged back towards the lawn, and now I could see them stretched out in a line against the glowing backdrop, Jamie slightly in front of the others, with my guard on his right and the Guardians on his left. I was about to step out and call his name when a figure glided to his side and rested a hand on his arm. She tilted her head to smile up at him, and when he glanced down at her I saw her lips move, and whatever she said eased his worried frown.
Even from a distance I could see she was stunning; from her golden-haired beauty I guessed she must be from the same gene pool as the Guardians, although if she had wings, I couldn’t see them. She was tall and slim, her long hair swept to one side and flowing over her right shoulder almost to her waist. Her white dress was straight out of a Greek tragedy: soft material draping her body and falling to her ankles, clinging in all the right places and cinched around her narrow waist with a belt of gold.
Who the hell are you?
Another Guardian pushed past the others to join her and what could have been irritation flickered across her face as he distracted her from Jamie. I watched her for a moment or two longer. I’d taken an instant dislike to her – hardly fair, but there was something about her that had my hackles rising. I’d just have to hope that when we were formally introduced she’d prove my first impression wrong.
I pulled back my shoulders and held my head high. ‘Here goes nothing,’ I muttered, but before I could take that final step a hand clamped over my mouth, a leather-covered arm snaked around my waist and as I began to struggle, I heard the word ‘sleep’ ripple through my head. All my strength slipped away and my legs gave out as darkness engulfed me.
Thirteen
I awoke to the comforting smell of fresh hay. This is nice. I was warm and cosy, and I could feel the weight of an arm wrapped around my front and a body pressed up against my back. I gave a contented sigh and snuggled back against him.
Then I began to wonder: why were we laying on a bed of hay? I opened one eye and looked down. A leather-clad arm was wrapped around me. What the fuck?
My eyes followed the line of the arm to the maroon hand holding the coat around us. Oh shit!
I was sure the sound of my racing heart would wake him, that he would feel its thudding against his chest pressed so tightly against my back. Keep calm, I told myself. Keep calm! And I willed myself to relax.
It was early morning, I could tell that much. The stable, if that was where we were, was slowly filling with the grey light of an overcast morning. Birds were singing out their dawn chorus.
To test the water, I gave a little wriggle, like I was moving in my sleep. Jinx’s response was to hug me tighter, pressing his body so close to my back it was like we were moulded together. A few days ago I would have felt like I was in Heaven; now I was more scared than I could believe.
I very carefully ran my hand down to my belt. To my surprise I still had my dagger – then again, why worry about a blade when I could quite literally blow him off his feet? It was something I was going to have to practise if I ever got out of this bloody mess.
Still, I’d wanted to find Jinx and now I had.
Despite my fear, exhaustion got the better of me and I drifted back into a dreamless sleep.
*
I woke with a start to find myself on my own and wrapped in a rough blanket pulled up to my chin. I kept my eyes closed and once again tried to calm my hammering heart. This time I was well aware of my predicament, though the lack of Jinx scared me almost as much as when he had been holding me in his tight embrace.
The blanket smelled familiar and when I took a surreptitious sniff I realised it smelled like Bob. So I was in a stable, possibly the one next to the manor.
I opened one eye a crack, then the other. Jinx was sitting with his back against the side of the stall, his arms hugging his knees. His green and gold eyes were glittering with an intensity that was almost bestial: he looked like a feral creature – but for all his glowering anger, he was also afraid; I could feel it.
He wasn’t the only one. I was too terrified to move and he looked like he was wound up so tight that if I did, he’d be on me in a moment. He’d been holding me close, and now he was keeping his distance: what on earth was going on inside his head? Was he permanently broken? He couldn’t be. My Jinx was strong and I would fix him. I would fix him. If he doesn’t kill you first, sa
id a small voice in my head that sounded remarkably like Kerfuffle.
The sound of birdsong was interrupted by the growl of an engine and the rumble of tyres on tarmac, and Jinx was instantly on his feet and pulling me up onto mine. I heard a car door opening, followed by the creak of a gate. He released my arm to take hold of my hand, then hurried me out of the stall and through the stable to a door at the back.
Horses peered at us as we passed, snuffling and snorting, and one gave a low whinny, probably wondering who we were and more importantly, why we weren’t providing breakfast. Jinx opened the door and poked his head out. Seeing the coast was clear, he ushered me outside and followed behind, but we hadn’t taken more than a few steps before he grasped hold of my hand again.
The stable yard was bounded by a tall wooden fence; he helped me over it and then started off across the open field in front of us – but I paused.
‘Jinx,’ I started, and he turned with a frown and tugged on my hand.
‘Where are we going? I have no intention of becoming a rotting corpse, or being trapped in Blue Fire, or in one of Amaliel’s horrible little glass jars.’
‘Hunt us,’ he said.
‘Who’s hunting us?’ Stupid question really; everyone was bloody hunting us, but I wanted to know who he was worried about.
‘Come,’ he said, pulling on my hand again.
I didn’t want to lose him, but I did want to know his intentions – especially after Amaliel had made it quite clear I was no longer needed. ‘Where are you taking me?’ I repeated.
He grabbed hold of my hand again. ‘Somewhere safe.’ A confused expression passed over his face and he stared at me. ‘I … I will recognise the place when we get there,’ he said at last.
‘Jinx, do you know who I am? Do you recognise me?’
‘I …’ His voice trailed off. ‘I don’t remember.’
I really wanted to find out what was going on in his head, but we didn’t have time for this; we had to get away. Although the day was damp and overcast, at least it wasn’t raining – but the ground underfoot was still sodden, and in no time at all my boots and the bottoms of my jeans were soaked through.
Wherever possible, Jinx kept close to the hedgerows or within the tree line, which was just as well as we had one more problem to deal with: I was hiding behind my human persona, but Jinx was just about as daemonic a daemon as he could possibly be – being maroon was one thing, but horns and a tail? I had no idea how I’d explain them away if we met anyone. I supposed I should be grateful his tail at least was covered by the coat.
After a couple of grim hours – my feet were sore and soaking wet, and any attempts to talk had been rebuffed – we reached a road to a village, and judging by the number of cars I’d been hearing in the distance, it was fairly busy.
‘We have to find somewhere to lay low until it gets dark,’ I told Jinx.
‘Why?’
I looked at him in open-mouthed amazement. ‘What do you mean, “why”? It’s pretty damn obvious, I’d have thought.’
He gave me a puzzled look.
‘Have you looked in a mirror recently?’
He looked down at himself.
‘Jinx, you have horns and a tail and your skin is a rather fetching maroon.’
‘So?’
‘You’ll scare people.’
‘Good.’
‘No, not good: you scare people and they’ll phone the police and then we’ll get arrested.’
‘I’ll be arrested for being a different colour?’
‘You’ll be arrested because no one will know what else to do with you.’
‘I’ll not let them arrest us.’
‘That’s actually sort of what I’m afraid of,’ I muttered to myself.
‘Come.’
‘Jinx.’
‘Now,’ he said, holding out his hand to me. This wasn’t a request; it was an order.
I let him take my hand; I was too scared not to. I had seen Jinx look at others this way, and I’d prayed he would never look at me with these cold, dangerous eyes. And now he was, and his expression made me fear for my life.
It had started to rain again, and despite the discomfort, I was relieved: anyone we met would be hurrying to get out of the weather, not be paying us any attention. Jinx pulled up his collar and walked with his head down, his long hair veiling his face.
Of course, he could do nothing about the horns, but from experience I knew often people only saw what they expected to see. And I was proven correct, as we walked the entire length of the village and out the other side without anyone paying us the slightest attention.
My relief evaporated about a mile further along the road, when I heard a vehicle coming behind us that was travelling far too slowly, even for a winding country lane. Some kind of sixth sense kicked in, and I was immediately wary.
I wasn’t the only one.
‘Come,’ Jinx said. Throwing his arm around my waist, he leaped effortlessly up and over the tall hedge. We crouched down on the other side and peered through the tangle of branches. I could see two men in grey suits sitting in the front of the SUV that drove past at a snail’s pace, and four or five other men dressed in brown sitting in the back.
Jinx let out a hiss and his lips twisted into a snarl, which answered one of my questions: he clearly didn’t want to be taken by them either. I wondered whether it would have been a different matter if the beautiful but loathsome Persephone had been with them? I hoped not, but I wasn’t counting any chickens; she had certainly had him in her thrall back at the mansion – although I still didn’t know why I wasn’t a rotting corpse yet.
When the vehicle had gone he stood up and looked around us. ‘Come,’ he said, taking my hand again and starting across the field.
‘Where are we going? Do you even know?’
‘Shut up.’
‘Jinx …’
He spun around, his hand grabbed my chin and forcing my head back so he was looking directly into my eyes, he growled, ‘I said, shut the fuck up.’
That did the trick. I pressed my lips tightly together and concentrated on not wetting myself – which immediately made me fixate on the growing pressure on my bladder.
I let him drag me a few yards further, then tried, ‘Jinx—’
He glared in my direction, but I wasn’t about to give up. ‘Look, I’m not trying to be difficult, honestly I’m not, but I really do need a piss stop.’ That was the term he always used when we travelled.
He gave me a disgusted look. ‘Go on,’ he said, indicating a nearby hedge.
‘You are joking?’
‘You want to piss or not?’
‘Can you at least turn your back?’
He shrugged, his message clear: you either do or you don’t – why should I care?
I stalked over to the hedge. ‘Turn your back.’
He folded his arms.
‘Please.’
‘You run, I’ll hurt. Understand?’
‘Yes.’
He gave a snort and turned his back on me. It was the best I could hope for, and when I had finished he still had his back to me, so I hoped he hadn’t taken any crafty peeks – and then I thought, What the hell am I bothered about? Jinx had seen every inch of me naked – and with my life in the balance, surely my modesty was the least of my worries.
When I rejoined him he gave me a sideways look before taking my hand, and we were off again.
This time we kept to the fields, and when we came to main roads, we walked with our heads down. We really had to get Jinx another coat: he looked like a maroon Alice Cooper, instantly recognisable to anyone searching for us.
We came to a main road leading to a small town, but Jinx didn’t look particularly bothered. I kept glancing up at his face: he was staring straight ahead, and after a while I began to worry; it was like he’d shut down and was working on autopilot.
‘Jinx,’ I said, touching his sleeve with my free hand, ‘Jinx, shouldn’t we get off the main road?’
His eyelids fluttered, and it looked like he had to force himself to look my way.
‘Shouldn’t we get off this road?’
He blinked a couple of times and stared at my face as though he not only didn’t recognise me, but had no idea why he was clutching onto my hand so tightly.
‘I …’ He closed his eyes, and when they opened, he was back: not my Jinx, the feral Jinx – but that was better than the vacant creature who’d been plodding along beside me.
‘Need to get off the road,’ he said, looking around us.
At last. ‘Up there,’ I pointed, ‘there’s a turning.’
We picked up pace, as from behind us there came the sound of sirens. We exchanged a look and without a word we both started to run.
I had a feeling someone had just upped the stakes.
We’d almost made it to the corner when two police cars came screaming along the road and squealed to a halt, one blocking the pathway ahead and the other the road behind us.
Policemen leaped out of both cars, all wearing protective body gear and holding guns. For Heaven’s sake: guns? This was East Sussex, not bloody Miami!
‘Put your hands on your heads and get down on your knees,’ one shouted, and when we didn’t move – I was frozen in disbelief – they all started to shout at once.
We still didn’t move, and Jinx was almost vibrating with arrogance and indignation.
‘Get down on my knees, to you?’ Jinx said, his eyes glittering. ‘You want me to get down on my knees to you?’
Oh bugger! It was all going to kick off now. ‘Jinx, keep calm,’ I whispered. ‘These men are police officers, and we don’t want any nastiness.’
‘Get down on your knees – now!’ And eight pistols pointed our way.
‘Officers,’ I said, ‘I think there’s been some kind of mistake—’
‘Move away from him, Miss!’
I frowned at the officer. ‘Excuse me?’
‘Move away from him,’ the policeman repeated.
‘Show me your ID,’ I said.
Their expressions were incredulous. ‘You cannot be serious,’ one said.