CHAPTER Eleven
By the time we reached the nearest village, a small place called Uffington, the sun was most definitely up. Aubrey continually attempted to shield himself from its gentle rays, darting from one side of the road to the other depending on where the most shade was to be had. He kept muttering away to himself. Occasionally I caught the odd word, which seemed to be focused around burning and pain. At one point, as he sprinted for a half derelict bus shelter to cower for half a minute, I called out that the sun was doing his pasty white vamp skin good, and extolled the virtues of vitamin B, but he paid me little attention. At least he’d given up on the hallucination of being squatted on by some obese naked lady though. The images running through my head had not been entirely conducive to keeping a straight face every time I looked at him.
Fortunately, the pretty little village seemed to cater for early risers and we came across a small coffee shop that was already open for business. The gratitude on Aubrey’s face that we were finally getting out of the sunlight was momentarily diverting, even if I didn’t quite have the heart to tell him that it wasn’t even 8am yet and the sun was only going to get stronger. Once inside we sat ourselves down at a small linen covered table towards the back. It suited Aubrey as it was about as far away from the wide window and the golden slanting rays as he could possibly get; it suited me as it meant I had a perfect vantage point in case anyone or anything passed by. Whatever it was that had decided that brutally slaughtering one of the most passive creatures of the Otherworld was a good idea had used the ward for a reason. It was definitely coming back, and I was going to be ready for it when it did.
A beaming cottage loaf of a woman bustled over. “What’ll be, duckies?”
Duckies? She had to be kidding me. I had to bite back the urge to quack nonsensically at her and instead ordered the full breakfast and two pots of coffee. I was bloody starving, and if I didn’t get some decent caffeine down me soon I reckoned I was liable to do something I’d end up regretting. Aubrey pointlessly asked for a plate of nothing but black pudding.. Once the woman had wandered back into the kitchen I gave him a glare that would have withered a lesser creature.
“What?” He exclaimed, a tad too loudly for my liking. The waitress might not be in the room, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be able to hear him. “It’s made of blood. It’s about the only bloody blood I’m going to ever be able to get to eat again.” He started to snigger. “Bloody blood.” He snorted. “Did you see what I did there?”
I stared at him, completely unamused. He punched me on the arm. “Come on, Mack, lighten up. I know my joke sucked but it doesn’t need to create any bad blood between us.” He sniggered again.
Oh joy of abundant joys. I looked out of the window instead, and gritted my teeth. Thirty seconds away from the sun and he was already acting like an idiot again. I was tempted to call out to the woman and see whether she’d let me move a table and chair outside onto the sunny pavement. Perhaps then I might get some peace. Unfortunately, just as I thought that, a flicker of movement on the other side of the road caught my eye, and four figures moved into sight. I scowled as I recognised them. Beltran the Fae, Lucy the shifter, and two mages I’d seen lurking around the Arch-Mage on a previous occasion. No doubt one of the mages had cast the Divination spell to locate me, while the other was more adept at Protection and followed behind, faerie and shifter in their wake. I’d known that it wasn’t going to be long before they caught up to me, but I’d kind of been hoping that I’d have at least a day. The two mages stood together, directly opposite the coffee shop front door, with Lucy a few metres away on one side, and Beltran the same on the other. They didn’t look as if they were getting on along very well. All three of them were standing stiffly and awkwardly, mouths shut in grim lines and arms folded. In this small village they looked about as unobtrusive as a sodding fire breathing dragon would.
Aubrey’s eyes followed my gaze. When he saw who was out there he moved faster than I would have thought possible, ducking his head under the table and curling into a small ball. Okay then.
The woman walked back in, carrying two steaming plates of food. She clocked Aubrey immediately. To be fair, it wasn’t hard to do. His arse was jutting out from under the table cloth in a most peculiar fashion. Shooting him a bemused look, she edged over and put the plates down. I looked at her and she looked at me. Then I shrugged as if to say ‘what can you do?’ She nodded slowly.
“So, er, where’s your friend gone?”
“He’s popped out to the little boy’s room,” I answered, slowly, raising my eyebrows at her.
“Hmm, well, I hope he comes back before his food gets cold.” She said this last part loudly and pointedly.
I forced my lips to curve up in a smile and replied in the same manner. “Yes. It would be foolish of him if he were to miss all this lovely black pudding. Tell me, is it true that it’s made of blood?”
There was a distinct moan from under the table.
Her eyes darted underneath and then met mine again. “Why, yes. It’s really rather delicious though, you should try some.”
“Well, there’s a whole plate here. I could always try some of my, erm, companion’s. I’m sure he’d never notice if any was missing.”
There was a sudden thump and the gleaming cutlery on the table jumped and clattered. Aubrey’s head had clearly just connected with the underside of the wood. The waitress put her hand over her mouth and choked back what was apparently threatening to be quite a guffaw.
“I’ll just go back to the kitchen now,” she said, rather obviously, moving backwards while keeping a perhaps too attentive eye on Aubrey’s backside.
I leaned back in my chair as she left. This was suddenly proving a more entertaining breakfast than I could have possibly envisaged. I reached over and took a sip of my coffee. It was a darn sight better than the muck I’d had on the train. I closed my eyes momentarily in simple happiness as the woman left us in peace. What she thought was going on, I had absolutely no idea. I guessed I just had to be grateful that she wasn’t going to pry too closely into the reasons why Aubrey had decided to lurk under one of her pretty tables.
A hand grabbed my ankle. “Mack,” he hissed.
I ignored him and took another sip, watching my trackers who were still standing stiffly on the other side of the street and idly wondering whether it would be worth my while to try and give them the slip.
The hand tightened. “Mack!” Aubrey repeated.
“Mmm?” I eventually answered.
“Pass me my plate. I can eat from under here.”
“Well,” I drawled, “I could do that. But won’t our little group outside wonder why I’m chucking an entire plate of food under the table? I’ll have you know that I am generally thought of as having rather good table manners.” I grinned to myself. This was just too much fun.
“Mack,” he whined, “I’m hungry.”
“So stop acting like a weirdo and come out.”
“I can’t.” There was a plaintive note in his voice.
I began to dig into my breakfast, spearing a bite of bacon and chewing loudly. “Why not?”
“I’m a master f*cking vampire that’s why not.”
“I hate to break it to you, Aubrey, but you’re not a vamp any longer. Now you’re just a strange little man who is hiding rather ineffectively under a table.” I took another bite, and deliberately moaned in pleasure. “This food is really very good, you know. You should try some.”
Aubrey groaned. “Mack…,”
“Mmmm?” From across the road I watched as Beltran edged closer to the mages to try to get a better a vantage point. The one nearest him shot him a filthy look and turned towards him, saying something that, by the expression on his face, wasn’t particularly nice.
“I can’t let anyone know what’s happened! I’ve got a reputation to maintain.” Aubrey’s fingers were beginning to dig uncomfortably into my skin.
“Aubrey,” I said, sighing, “sooner or later everyone is going to find out. It’s a done deal. You’re human.”
“Not if I can find someone to turn me back again.”
Now Lucy appeared to be getting involved. Her arms were tight by her sides as if she was afraid that she might launch into fisticuffs at any moment. The other mage was facing her, a snarl across his dark features.
“For that to happen,” I responded mildly, “you need to find someone to turn you back. A vamp. That means you need to tell someone that you’re no longer a creature of the night. Then everyone will know your secret anyway.”
“There are a few I can trust,” he huffed. “I just have to find a way to contact them without anyone else finding out.”
The mage on the right was reaching out towards Beltran with an extended index finger, pointing at him rudely. Lucy’s body language radiated the threat of potential violence in the way that only a shifter could.
“What if you find out that being a human isn’t so bad?”
“I don’t want to be a f*cking human! I’m a vampire! Other vampires are afraid of me. You were afraid of me! Now you treat me no better than an animal. Give me some food!”
“You didn’t say the magic word.”
The mage next to Beltran had taken the rather foolish step of jabbing him in the chest with his finger.
“Mack…” Aubrey was starting to sound desperate.
“You do realise that I could just compel you to come out?”
“You wouldn’t that.” His voice drifted up towards me confidently.
“And why not? You got my friends killed, Aubrey, why should I care what happens to you?”
A car drove past the posturing Otherworlders. I noted white faces staring at them. That probably wasn’t good.
“Because you’re nice.”
“No, I’m not.”
Aubrey sniffed loudly and gulped. “I’m so hungry. I’ve never felt a sensation like this before. How long does it take for starvation to set in for humans? I’m already feeling weak.” His grasp around my ankle loosened. “See? I can barely even use my hands any more. I’m getting fainter by the second. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stand up again. So dizzy…”
I watched in growing alarm as both mages clenched their fists, a sure sign that they were about to raise up some Protection magic. Lucy’s tanned skin was starting to darken, and Beltran was murmuring something to himself. Okay, this had gone far enough. I yanked my leg away from the rest of Aubrey’s grip and pushed the chair back.
“Mack? What are you doing?”
I rolled my eyes, and picked up his plate of black pudding, practically throwing it down towards him. “There. If you think I’m treating you like an animal then stay there and eat like an animal. I’ll be back shortly.”
I stood up and marched over to the café door, flinging it open. My so-called trackers on the other side of the street paid me absolutely no attention whatsoever. It’d serve them right if they had to go and explain to all their respective lords and masters why a monster had suddenly appeared and killed me on the spot while they were kicking metaphorical sand in each other’s faces. I stomped over the road and put my hands on my hips, facing all four of them.
“What the f*ck are the lot of you doing?”
As one, they all turned towards me, suddenly guilty expressions on all of their faces.
I continued. “Do you see where you are? This is a village! You don’t think that someone is going to notice you lot about to get into some kind of stupid brawl?” I pointed to the mages. “You are about to use magic to attack. It’s broad daylight! How f*cking thick are you? Do you want to spend the rest of the day going around and casting memory spells on this entire place so they forget that they saw blue freaking flame spouting from your fingers?”
Both mages stared at me, like schoolboys caught in the act of leaving a frog on their teacher’s chair. Lucy was looking a bit too smug. I flicked my eyes over to her.
“And you! You were about to f*cking shift! In the middle of the street, no less. I wonder how your Mighty Lord Corrigan would react to that?” Her face went pale and she looked down at the ground.
I turned my attention to Beltran and jabbed a finger in his direction. “Don’t think that you’re any better than the rest of them either. You were obviously about to try something too. The whole lot of you should be ashamed of yourselves.” I scowled at each and every one of them in disapproval.
The Fae recovered first. “Perhaps, Miss Mackenzie, if you didn’t make it quite so hard for us to keep track of you, then we would be feeling less stressed and less inclined to do something all of us might regret.”
“So this is my fault? The four of you almost exposing the secrets of the entire f*cking Otherworld to a village of humans is because I decided I wanted to get away for a few days?”
Lucy chimed in. “To be fair, Mack, you’re not making our lives very easy.”
I spluttered. “Easy? What do you think it’s like for me having idiots like you follow me round all the time?” I gazed at them all in exasperation. “My life does not belong to your f*cking supernatural organisations, no matter what you might think.”
The mage on the right stepped forward. When I glared at him, he swallowed and stepped back, but cleared his throat and found his voice. “We’re just doing our jobs. We’ve been told not to let you out of our sight. Less than two days ago you almost died thanks to a bunch of bloodsuckers. If that happens again then our lives won’t be worth living.”
I folded my arms. “Well, I’m sorry if my death could potentially inconvenience you. But your antics out here are f*cking inconveniencing every single member of the Otherworld. Besides which, the vamps are not going to bother me again.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Did you kill them all?”
I stared at her. “No. You know why? Because there was only one.”
They gaped at me.
A furrow creased Beltran’s brow. “But I thought…”
“That I was a great almighty being of power who lets nothing stand in my way? Well, everyone has off days. Besides, said vampire is currently cowering under a table in there.” I pointed back towards the café.
Lucy drew herself up. “I will destroy him.”
I moved in front of her. “No, you f*cking will not.”
“Lord Corrigan…”
“Screw Lord Corrigan. You know why?” And it’s not because he makes me go weak at the knees and literally want to fulfill those crude words, I added to myself.
A gleam lit the mages’ eyes. “Why?” They asked together, eagerly.
“Because that vamp over there is no longer a vamp.”
Even Beltran looked shocked at that. He opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again with a snap.
I glared at them all. “But you can’t tell anyone. He is having some readjustment issues and needs some time. All you need to know is that I am in no danger.” Not from vampires anyway. From trying to help out a bunch of tree nymphs, then perhaps the opposite was true. Which gave me a sudden idea. I pursed my lips. “So, this is what is going to happen. I will not run away. You will not do something earth-shatteringly stupid like give away all your identities because you’re a bit pissed off at each other.”
I received petulantly sullen looks from them all. I sighed. “I can’t have four people trailing me round all the time. Not here where any strangers already stick out like sore thumbs. Lucy, you can stay with me.”
A smile spread across her face and the other three began to protest.
“That’s giving favouritism to the f*cking shifters yet again!” spat one of the mages.
Lucy turned to him. “Well she did grow up with us, you prat,” she shot back in return. “She’s virtually family.”
“Enough!” I shouted. “Lucy will stay with me because the rest of you can help me with something else. Then you can all toddle back to your little organisations and tell everyone what a grand job you did getting into the good books of the Draco Wyr.” I pointed at the mages. “A couple of miles away from here is an area called Haughmond Hill. There’s a warded area that’s been concealed by magic. Inside is a crucified dryad.” Both of them blinked. “I need you to find out what you can about the ward. Will breaking it trigger off any alarms? Who might have cast it in the first place? That kind of thing. I will be back there later this afternoon and I will see you then.”
The pair of them grumbled. “How do we know that you’re not just trying to get rid of us?”
“Frankly, I am trying to get rid of you. But I give you my word that I will see you there later. And I do need to know as much about it as possible. You know that if you need to find me all you have to do is set up one tiny Divination spell. It’s not like you can’t track me down if you want to.”
They looked at each other for a moment, then at me. They nodded slowly. “Okay then.”
“What are your names?” I asked.
“Larkin,” muttered the one on the right. He pointed at his companion. “He’s Max.”
“Well, Larkin and Max, off you go then.”
They didn’t move. I stared at them warningly.
“What about him?” Max jerked his head towards Beltran who was eyeing me with an appraising air.
“He’s going to go to Cardiff and persuade some environmental activists that they need to pack up sticks and head here to save the trees of Haughmond Hill. If anyone can encourage a bunch of people to come and save the natural world, then it’s got to be a faerie.”
The Fae watched me impassively for a moment, and I thought he was going to flat out refuse, but then he eventually nodded. A flicker of relief ran through me.
“What are you going to do?” Lucy asked.
“I’m going to finish my f*cking breakfast. You can stay out here and look busy.”
She looked faintly sad for a moment. Remembering her voracious appetite from our previous encounter in Cornwall, I felt a twinge of guilt but I firmly pushed it away. It wasn’t my job to entertain her stomach or my fault that she had elected to follow me around.
I gestured at them all. “Well?”
There was a frozen silent heartbeat then, thank goodness, they all nodded and moved off, apart from Lucy who took a step back and bowed her head. I watched their departures for a brief moment and then turned and went back across the road and into the café.