by Zandria West
I click the keys to unlock the car and go to open the trunk, but Reuben pauses, puts a hand on my arm to stop me. He’s sniffing the air, or sniffing my car, or something. I’m hoping it’s just because he’s part-wolf and is encountering an object he hasn’t peed on recently, but when I see his expression, I freeze. He’s gone fierce and silent. He indicates with his eyes where I should look and then I see what he’s seeing, and my spine turns to ice. The car looks like it’s just as I left it but it’s not. There’s something inside. Something alive. A lot of somethings, actually.
‘What are they?’ I whisper.
‘Bloodblights,’ Reuben responds.
Well. That’s fucking inconvenient. I’ve heard of them before, of course; even demons have scary bedtime stories. They’re like the piranha of the insect world. The size of a tarantula but with wings and a taste for flesh. When disturbed, they’ll home in on their prey and won’t stop attacking until there’s barely anything left but bones. They’re tough as cockroaches, fast as wasps, and creepy as fuck.
And there are dozens and dozens of them resting peacefully inside my car. If Reuben hadn’t spotted them, if I’d just walked up and opened the door, I’d be rolling on the fucking ground swatting uselessly and being rapidly turned into a bloody, skeletal version of myself. Rumour is they can even kill vampires – they eat all the soft organs including the heart – but it’s not a rumour I want to test.
‘What do we do?’ I whisper.
He narrows his eyes and then shakes his head. ‘We walk,’ he says.
‘What?’
We’re a few hours’ drive from the safe house. My bond with Lana is complaining about the distance more by the minute. My car is right here in front of me. I’m not fucking walking.
I shake my head. ‘There must be a way to clear them out.’
‘None that I know of. That door opens and we’re dinner.’
I sigh and look up at the heavens. Defeated by bugs? At the very first step of the journey? I mean, that’s just embarrassing.
‘How did they get in there…?’ Reuben murmurs.
‘How do you think they got there? Someone put them there,’ I snap, looking around. I can’t see any sign of anyone now. I haven’t heard a car engine or caught the scent of another living being except for Reuben since I arrived, but clearly someone wanted to kill us and leave very few traces, or at least slow us down significantly. There’s a fairly broad field of contenders.
I have to think. ‘What’s the lifespan of these things?’ I ask.
‘Only a few days, even less if they don’t feed. Once they’ve fed, they mate and lay eggs and die.’
A few days – we can’t wait that long. If that’s our only option, we would be better off walking.
‘So, if we opened the door without them seeing us, they’d go off and look for something else to bite?’ I say, an idea forming in my head.
‘That’s a big if. They’ve got incredible senses – not just sight and smell, they sense vibrations and warmth. If we’re anywhere nearby they’ll find us and that’ll be it.’
I feel another tug on the bond. The urgency level is increasing from a kind of eager need to something mind-shatteringly desperate. Lana needs us. Now.
‘Okay, let’s maximise our chances then. You go find us something warm-blooded that moves and bleats. Keep it alive. I’ll find a spot to break a window from. Go!’
Reuben gives me a look like he thinks I’m crazy, then lopes off into the bushes without asking any more questions, for which I’m grateful. I start scouting the area surrounding the car. When I catch whoever the fuck set this trap for us…
I find what I’m after pretty quickly, then I sit a little distance from the car and watch. The creatures inside act like a school of fish or a flock of birds. They all move together, almost as though they’ve got a single intelligence. It will only take one of them to spot one of us, and the whole lot will follow. Fucking excellent odds, given there look to be a few thousand of them.
I contemplate just giving up and walking, hoping we can hitch a ride with a not-too-homicidal demon or steal a car from a parking lot or something. But that will all take too long. We need to be out of here, and back to Lana. The need is like a desperate thudding inside me, a second heart pounding, an urgent pulsing through my blood. I have to focus. I can’t let my desperation for Lana take over to the point that I’m unable to do what I need to do to get to her.
It feels like an hour but I’m pretty sure it’s only about twenty minutes before there’s movement in the undergrowth, accompanied by some grunting.
‘Good work, bro,’ I say with a grin. Reuben’s come up with the goods: a young, long-limbed deer that he’s bound and is dragging on its side. It’s twisting and fighting, desperately trying to free itself and run. As well as being furious at being tied up, it can sense Reuben’s predatory nature. I feel the fluttering of its heart beating at triple speed, smell the sweet heat of its blood. For a moment, my appetite rises. I ignore it.
‘Where do you want it?’ Reuben asks, frowning at me.
‘Near the car. And make sure it can’t escape.’
He raises an eyebrow.
‘Yeah, alright, I know you know your knots, Reuben. I’m not doubting, I’m just saying. We don’t want anything to go wrong, okay?’
He nods and growls, then lays the deer down. It shivers and jerks, but it can’t get away.
‘Sorry, today’s just not your day,’ I murmur to the terrified creature. And then, on an impulse that I don’t quite understand, I kneel beside it and look into its eyes. I gaze until I feel its heartbeat slow and its panic subside. I promise it sweet green grass and gentle sunlight.
‘Getting soft in your old age, Alex?’ I hear the grin in Reuben’s voice.
And he’s right – what the fuck am I doing? Compelling a deer so that it won’t know it’s being eaten? The animal is prey. Born to be hunted and torn apart. Why do I care whether it feels fear or pain? But somehow, I do. It’s an unfamiliar feeling but one that I can’t fight. It’s almost like it comes from outside of me… I frown. Maybe it’s the bond? Could the compassion I’m feeling be something I’m picking up from Lana?
That could get bloody awkward very quickly. There’s not a lot of room for compassion in our line of work. I’ll have to talk to Gabriel about it when I see him.
I straighten. ‘Alright. I’m going to break the window. Before I do, Reuben, you’re going to run. Get as far away as you can. Don’t come back until I signal.’
Reuben stands up. I recognise that posture – his chest is puffed out, he seems suddenly taller than his already considerable height. If he had hackles, they’d be rising about now.
‘And don’t fucking argue,’ I say.
‘You think I’m too much of a coward to face this with you?’ His voice is deadly quiet.
‘I think it improves the chances of one of us surviving to help Lana if we’re not both in range of the bloodblights when they emerge from my car.’ I meet his gaze. For a moment there’s silence. A kind of intense, ominous silence. Then he shakes his head and lowers his gaze.
‘Alright brother,’ he grumbles. ‘Just don’t fuck this up.’
20
LANA
I spend the first half hour after Gabriel leaves feeling strung out and terrified. I’m alone in the middle of Darktown. I’m being hunted by demons. My apartment is wrecked and my cat is dead. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but going on the pattern of recent events I can’t imagine it will be anything good. And I’m meant to be in possession of a key to restoring the Barrier between worlds? I don’t know what it is and even if I did, I’d have no idea what to do with it. I can’t even conceive of what it means. The whole thing turns my stomach.
Then after half an hour or so sitting alone in the safehouse, I start to feel bored. That’s how bad my attention span is these days. I can’t manage to stay scared for more than a half an hour, even when facing mortal danger. I’m almost bored enough
to sit down and look at the jigsaw puzzle. Almost.
I have no idea if it’s daytime or night-time, given the lack of windows. My internal clock, which is set to working nights and sleeping days, is all screwy. I’m exhausted but I can’t sleep. I’m restless, but not hungry. When I try to relax, I keep seeing images of Meow-Meow, my poor beautiful friend. Whoever hurt him like that, whoever this sorceress is that Gabriel’s so frightened of, I will find a way to make her suffer for what she did.
But first, I need to get Dad back.
How can he not have told me all this? How can he have arranged to have a binding cast on me by a warlock he met before I was born, and not even mention it – not warn me what was coming?
I wish I had one more chance to speak to him. He was the wisest person I’ve ever known, and right now my need for his wisdom feels as urgent as a toothache.
I pace the small room for a while, then realise I’m acting like an animal in a cage, so I make myself sit back down on the bed. There are no books here, no television. Nothing to distract me. I stretch my arms out and examine the signs again, more carefully than I have before. The snake, which winds around my left arm, each scale a perfect gem, those eyes so cold and calculating, the daggered teeth… I touch it, and shiver. It almost feels as though the snake responds to my touch. I know Alexander is out there somewhere, trying to find help. I hope it doesn’t take him too long. I barely know the guy and he already infuriates me to a ridiculous degree, but I’m desperate to see him again. I don’t feel complete without him.
On my right arm: my beautiful crow. Finally, I allow myself to think about what happened between Gabriel and me the night before. I don’t feel any of the things about it my mind tells me I should. I don’t feel ashamed, or guilty, or confused. It was right. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done in my life that I feel certain was right. I close my eyes, imagine Gabriel beside me – the exquisite lines of his face, the strength of his body that I’ve barely begun to explore. His tenderness and his power. I want more time with him – time like we had last night.
I lie back on the bed and close my eyes and lose myself in the memories of his touch. My breath become rougher as heat moves through me. I’m suddenly aware of every inch of my body – the warmth of my skin, the softness of my breasts, the hardness of my nipples, the tingling in my sex. My mouth waters and I run my tongue over my lips. The signs on my arms and back begin to glow, like they’re gaining energy as I’m becoming aroused. I swallow awkwardly, for a moment worried about being caught out – Gabriel, Alexander and Reuben will feel it too and know. And then I push the awkwardness away. We’re bound. I am as sure as it’s possible to be that whatever happens as a result of that bond is good. For me and for them.
I try to picture Gabriel’s face, to remember exactly how it felt when he kissed me. Oh god, I’ve been kissed before but never, ever like that. He makes every guy I’ve ever been with seem like the bumbling assholes they were. I soak in the memory of his voice, his words, his smell. I let myself go, and then – in an instant – it’s as though everything changes. Suddenly I feel something alien in my mind. It isn’t a memory, it’s a presence.
It’s not Gabriel I see, it’s… what the fuck?
I sit up, shuddering with shock. My father’s ex-girlfriend?
‘Clarissa?’
For a moment I see her turn and smile at me through the bond, occupying the place where Gabriel should be, and then, a moment later, she’s gone.
The sense of violation is like being stabbed. I find myself retching and somehow just manage to avoid throwing up. I’m shaking.
What does it mean? Why did I see Clarissa when I should have seen Gabriel?
And then, something clicks. It’s like that goddamn jigsaw puzzle and I don’t know why I didn’t see it already.
I always felt like Clarissa had some ulterior motive for her relationship with our father. I assumed it was because she thought he could help her achieve her professional goals – he was well known and well respected in his field, at least until the last few years of his life.
But what if that wasn’t what she was after at all?
I remember what Jamie said to me when I told him about the images on my arms – that they reminded him of something Clarissa had mentioned to him. That her area of expertise was the occult.
It’s her. It’s fucking her. The sorceress that Gabriel is so scared of. The one who is human and can cross between the realms, who’s been looking for the key for almost a thousand years. The one who my brother has probably rung and told all about what his flaky freak of a sister had gotten herself into this time, because of course he would.
The one my brother is fucking sleeping with.
Now, after killing his familiar, Clarissa has somehow inserted herself into the bond that should link me to Gabriel.
Whatever this means, I’m one hundred percent sure it is not good.
Every minute that passes I feel more desperate. What if the fact that I saw her means that she’s got Gabriel, that something has happened to him? What if he’s not coming back?
I try to control the panic that is rising through me by sensing my bond. I’m sure, if Gabriel was gone, I’d know. I’d know beyond a shadow of doubt. I don’t feel that he’s gone, but that she’s inserted herself somehow between us. It’s a disruption, not a destruction.
Then, I think of my brother. He has no idea how dangerous Clarissa is… I have to warn him. I pull my phone out and desperately try dialling his number but of course it doesn’t work. I’m out of range. I’m in a different fucking plane of reality. If I could just send him some kind of message… I can’t wait for Gabriel. I can’t wait for Alex when I don’t know how far away he is – it could be another whole day before he reaches me here. I have to do something, now.
I hunt until I find some paper and a pen and then scrawl a quick note.
Gabriel will be furious. I can almost feel his rage already, simmering in the bond, but I don’t care. He’s meant to protect me, not control me. If my brother’s in danger because of me, then it’s my responsibility to help him. I know the bond doesn’t extend to Jamie, and when it comes down to it, Gabriel doesn’t care if Jamie lives or dies, so long as I’m safe. I sure as hell won’t wait around for the guys only to have them try to stop me from helping my brother for the sake of my safety.
I drop the note on the table next to the jigsaw puzzle, look around at the small room which was my temporary haven, say a small, non-denominational prayer for protection, then push the door open and step back out into the tunnel.
21
LANA
The air smells different. Cooler. Damper. Older. I walk as quickly as I can, given how I have to take each step without being able to see what’s ahead of me. Did I mention that I’m scared of the dark? Too late to worry about that now. All I can do is trust my memory and hope it doesn’t lead me astray.
The hairs on my arms prickle and I have an uncomfortable sensation on the back of my neck, but the amulet is cool against my collarbones and I don’t feel any immediate threat, other than the risk of tripping over something and twisting an ankle.
Finding my way out of the tunnel and back into the human world is my most immediate problem. But I know that shortly after that I’ll be facing an even bigger one: Jamie. He won’t take me seriously. He’ll think I’m joking or imagining things, or that I’m bitter about Clarissa still and am making stuff up to try and turn him against her. At best he’ll laugh me off. At worst he’ll side with her against me.
As I walk, I try to figure out what I can say and how I can say it so that it might actually sink into his generously proportioned skull. The fact that he’s sleeping with her, not to mention whatever kind of creepy magic she might have ensnared him with, just makes the task even harder.
And if I do manage to get him to believe me – what then? How do I protect him from her?
I hear Dad’s voice in my head, calming and soothing me the way he always would when I came t
o him with my life in a huge mess. ‘One problem at a time, Lana,’ he’d say. ‘Just solve one, then move right on to the next one.’
Right now, solving one problem will feel like a major victory. Get me out of the dark and I’ll be fucking ecstatic. Then I hear something behind me. It’s such a faint sound that for a moment I’m not even sure if it’s real. A kind of whispering hum. I swallow and walk a bit faster. The exit can’t be much further away. I was exhausted and in shock when Gabriel dragged me in here, but I could swear it wasn’t more than twenty minutes’ walk, and there were definitely no turns required. I keep walking, my head starting to throb from the effort of concentrating so hard on all my senses, while receiving such minimal sensory input. For a few minutes I don’t hear anything, and then, I hear it. Louder and closer this time, and there’s absolutely no doubt. The noise comes from the opposite wall of the tunnel directly across from me. Something is in here with me. I grip my hands into useless fists, wishing I had a knife or any kind of weapon. I have no idea what I’m facing, but I’m sure it isn’t human.
There’s a hiss and a sudden movement and I hear a few small rocks fall to the ground, dislodged by whatever it is.
I stop and slowly press my back to the wall. I just want something solid behind me. On instinct, I find myself reaching for the signs on my forearms, touching them as if for comfort.
For an instant there’s complete silence., nothing moves. Then I hear a slow, low slithering and I finally make it out – a huge snake is lowering itself down from above me. Before I have the chance to run, its broad, sleek head is directly facing mine. As it’s tongue flickers in and out I feel the gentle movement against my skin.