CHAPTER Fifteen
I threw up as soon as we arrived in front of the Ministry headquarters. Alex was good enough to look pointedly away until the contents of my stomach had been completely purged, then he helped me back up to my feet.
“You know, Mack Attack, antagonising the Dean is not going to help your cause.”
“He started it,” I said sullenly, all too aware that I sounded just like a petulant child.
Alex shook his head. “You’re going to need to learn to bite your tongue more.”
I nodded briefly, not wanting to acknowledge the truth of his words, and he handed me over two slim short daggers. They weren’t silver, which was probably just as well considering who my date was, but they still looked happily lethal.
“Here,” he said. “I picked these up because they’ll fit perfectly with this dress.”
He moved over to me, instructing me to lift my arms. Then he slid one under each armpit. “There’s a specially made sheath built into the fabric,” he explained. “If you need to use them, and I would urge that you do so only as a very last resort, then you can slide them out within a heartbeat.” He looked terribly unsure of himself. “I know very little about weapons, but I’ve been assured that these are of the highest quality. I had to hock my favourite surfboard to get them, although goodness knows why a troll would want to go surfing.”
Startled, I peered up at him thinking that I had a pretty good idea about which troll he was referring to. Before I could ask him about it, however, a lazy arrogant voice from across the other side of the street called over. “Are you ready to go yet or are you bringing the wizard with you?”
Corrigan. Dressed to the nines in a perfectly tailored tuxedo, it was still more than possible to see the effects of his lifestyle from the ripped muscular bulges under the expensive material, even from the other side of the darkened street. Realising that he’d have noted Alex’s proximity to me when he slipped the knives under my dress, and probably mistaken it for something else entirely, a faint twist went through me. He always seemed to think the worst of me with men. Or maybe it was the best of me that he thought I had so many apparent admirers. Regardless, it was wrong. I shouted over that I’d just be a second then I turned back to Alex.
He was shaking where he stood and I knew it wasn’t from the cold. “It’ll be alright,” I said softly, sounding a hell of a lot more confident than I actually was. “This will be easy.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if you end up getting hurt, Mack Attack.”
I smiled at the mage. “Hey, this is a good plan. I’ll get the Ancile, replace it with the Palladium and no-one will ever be any the wiser.”
He passed me over a smallish clutch that contained Athena’s little statue. “Be safe.”
“I will.” I leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek, gripping tightly onto the purse. Then I turned back to face Corrigan and the music.
The Lord Alpha was leaning against a shiny black limo, arms folded, looking rather bored. I took a nervous step forward and felt myself waver ever so slightly, then I picked up confidence and managed to move a little faster. Halfway across the road, however, I felt my left heel start to wobble. I pushed out my arms to try to balance myself, but it was too late and I ended up careering onto the cold hard tarmac with a loud ooph of exhaled air.
Corrigan began laughing. I picked myself up and glared at him.
“Yeah, lap it up, fuzzball,” I hissed, annoyed with myself.
“Striking fear into the hearts of all who cross her, ladies and gentleman, I give you Mackenzie Smith,” he intoned dramatically.
“F*ck off.”
He shrugged. “Okay, then,” and began pulling open the door to his ‘look at me, I’m a rich bastard’ car, as if to clamber in and leave me stranded.
I scowled at him. “Very funny.”
Corrigan smirked. “Just remember that you’re the one who invited me out on a date. You might want to show a little more humility and gratitude.”
“This is not a date,” I stated firmly. “It’s merely an opportunity to smooth things over in order to avoid any future confrontations.” And to steal a thousand year old statue to prevent a civil war in the Ministry, and death and destruction everywhere else, but I wasn’t going to go into that at this particular moment in time.
He licked his lips predatorily, as if promising future ‘confrontations’ that I had no desire right now to think about. I swallowed, hard, then shakily tottered my way across the final few feet to him. Holding open the door, he gestured me inside with a flourish. I took one quick glance back at Alex, standing forlornly in front of the Ministry and then got inside.
Once we were both ensconced within the limo’s interior, it smoothly took off. It had the unmistakable smell of new car lingering about it. Despite myself, I was impressed.
“So things are going well in shifter-land, then?” I commented.
Corrigan didn’t answer, instead reaching over into a small cabinet and pulling out a bottle of champagne and two chilled glasses. What the hell, I figured, I needed something to calm my nerves. He poured me a glass, which I gulped down and drained, then set aside.
He blinked at me, a streak of gold flashing its way across his jade chipped eyes. “Thirsty?”
“A bit,” I sniffed. “Maybe I just need some Dutch courage to get through this evening.” Then it occurred to me that was probably a stupid thing to say, so I backtracked hastily. “Just because until very recently I thought that you were going to slaughter me and all my friends once you worked out that I wasn’t a shifter of course.”
“Yes,” he murmured. “We’ll need to talk about that one day.” He poured me another glass, but this time I ignored it. Taking the edge off was one thing, but getting drunk was most definitely not a good idea. “So, the mage. He’s the one from Cornwall, right? The one who sneaked you through the portal.”
And there we had it. I was just surprised that it had taken him this long. “He didn’t sneak me through the portal. I asked him to help me get through it and he obliged. Because he’s nice. And that’s what friends do for other friends.”
“Put them into life and death situations?” There was an edge to his voice.
“Help them in their time of need.”
“It may have been more helpful if he’d gone through with you. But you didn’t want that, did you? You were seeking glory and wanted the spotlight all to yourself.”
I felt the heat rise up inside me at his baiting. “Glory? I was trying to stop Iabartu from murdering anyone else.”
“We still haven’t really established why she was trying to murder anyone at all.” He leaned back against his seat, and eyed me.
Okay, I saw where this was going. He was still trying to glean from me what I really was, and he thought that he could manipulate me into getting annoyed and blurting it out. Not gonna happen. I concentrated on letting the bloodfire dampen back down, and then smiled calmly back. “Instead of annoying each other, why don’t we see if we can get along?”
Corrigan grinned, baring his teeth. I shivered.
“Okay then,” he purred. “You look nice in that dress. It was…thoughtful of you to dress up.”
I could play this game. “You look well turned out yourself.”
Mutual appreciation society now in full swing, I felt brave enough to pump him for a little information. “So,” I said casually, “where is it we are actually going?”
Corrigan laughed humourlessly. “You know exactly where we’re heading to.”
Oh, shit. I thought quickly, trying to remember what he’d said before, sure that he’d not mentioned himself where we were specifically going. Play dumb, Mack, play dumb. “Um, no. You just said that it was a gathering for the Otherworld leaders, that’s all.”
“And you just happened to be free to go out only this night. After almost biting my head off less than twenty four hours before.” His eyes narrowed. “Let’s quit the play-acting, kitten. For some reason, you are desperate to get into this party and you’re prepared to use me to do it.”
My stomach dropped. Was I really that obvious? Corrigan shrugged, but there was a lack of insouciance about it, and instead the appearance of barely controlled tension that was frightening. He leaned back towards me and whispered, “So don’t think that I am for one moment going to let you out of my sight to go off and do something stupidly reckless.”
I hesitated for too long, before squeaking, “I don’t have any ulterior motives, Corrigan. You’re just determined to think the worst of me.”
“Hmm, we’ll see about that, shall we?”
Insides churning, I stared at him, wide-eyed and nervous. Of course it had been too easy getting him to agree to bring me to this party. He was just toying with me, much in the same way a cat does with a mouse. Realising that I was that mouse pretty much terrified me.
Fortunately, before I could say anything else that would just dig my own grave deeper, the car pulled up to a stop. Corrigan got out, not waiting for the driver to open the door for him. I did the same. The street we were on was brightly lit with lamp-posts, but I still felt that I could imagine all manner of nasty things hiding in the shadows, ready to jump out and attack. The building itself looked exactly as it had in the old book I’d found in the mages’ library, although now that I was here in person it felt considerably more imposing. The bricked out windows in particular gave the whole place a sinister edge. Corrigan moved round to my side and held out his arm. I stared down at it for a moment, feeling pointlessly furious that he’d suggested he didn’t believe that I was here just for him. I wasn’t, of course, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t still be annoyed that he didn’t trust me. Forcing myself to remain calm, I placed my hand on his outstretched arm, noting the rock hard steel of the muscles beneath. Then we walked up to the entrance of the vampires’ lair.
The door to the house was lacquered black and so shiny that I could practically see my face reflected in it. I was half tempted to breathe onto it and write my name in the ensuing condensation, but I managed to resist. I was all too aware of Corrigan next to me, all spicy citrus hardness. His knowledge that I wasn’t here to chew the fat with him was going to cause considerable complications to my plan. I’d need to hope that once I was inside I could find some way of getting separated from him as somehow I didn’t think that he’d help me retrieve the Ancile. The weight of the Palladium itself felt heavy and cumbersome in my purse as I clutched it tightly in my free hand.
Without knocking, the gleaming door swung open as we approached. Inside I could see several guests already milling around in the hallway, the chat and buzz of your average run of the mill cocktail party reaching my ears. Just beyond the threshold of the door stood a youngish looking man. He wasn’t a vamp, his skin wasn’t pale enough and he didn’t possess the lingering smell of death that I’d registered before on my one and only previous encounter with a member of the undead. I’d just have to hope that he wasn’t a mage who’d been recruited in specially as security to sniff out anything untoward.
Corrigan stepped inside and turned, stretching out his arms so he could be frisked. He kept his eyes trained on me the entire time, a half-amused expression skittering across his face. While it seemed to me to be a pointless exercise – a shifter’s weapons were their claws and teeth that could be accessed virtually whenever they decided to transform – it didn’t stop my mouth from going dry. If they searched my bag and found the Palladium, or frisked me thoroughly enough to find the daggers, then I was done for. It probably wouldn’t reflect very well on Corrigan either.
Once he was done, he gave the Lord Alpha a brief respectful bow, and then motioned me forward. Alex and I had discussed this already. We’d considered having him place an Illusion spell on me, in order to escape any undue attention. However bloodsuckers were notoriously adept at sensing magic, and we figured it would no doubt simply send me flying back through the door. Instead we’d decided to focus on a few simple diversionary tactics. I smiled at the man, stepping inside, and praying that the times I’d practised this through already were going to be enough. I turned round, just as Corrigan had done. The man started patting me at the hem where my dress began, moving upwards with the perfunctory attitude of a professional. As soon as he reached my waist, I dropped the clutch, spilling its contents – or at least some of them on the floor. Alex had made sure that there was a second pocket built in to the purse, so it could be opened without the little statue being displayed. A tube of lipstick, comb, compact and tampon all rolled out very deliberately onto the smooth cream carpet.
“Oh my goodness,” I gasped, “I’m so sorry. How embarrassing.”
I made a move as if to kneel down to collect up my scattered belongings. Of course I couldn’t actually kneel down or I’d end up skewering myself on the concealed daggers that the doorman’s hands had been just about to reach. Fortunately, as we’d planned, or at least rather hoped when we planned, the man knelt down himself for me, scooping everything back up, then handing me the clutch. Chivalry, as it turned out, was still alive and kicking. I’d tried to tell Alex that it wouldn’t work, that any bouncer would notice the unnatural weight that would attest to the statue’s presence as soon as it was lifted. Alex told me that he’d be so embarrassed by the appearance of a tampon that he wouldn’t even begin to twig that anything was amiss. Score one to Alex: he was right.
I took the purse back off him, and smiled, as genuinely as I thought I could manage. “Thank you so much! You’re terribly kind.”
He smiled back at me, and bobbed his head, then moved aside so both Corrigan and I could enter the house properly. My heartbeat drummed a relieved tattoo against my chest, and my bloodfire relaxed back into a more gentle sear in the pit of my stomach. Alex was clearly a bloody genius and phase one of ‘breach the stronghold’ was complete.
Corrigan took my hand again and placed it on his arm. “I have to admit, I’m impressed,” he said in a smooth undertone. “However, you got lucky. My shifters would never have fallen for that.”
I blinked up at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t. I am going to find out what it is you’re really after, you know, kitten.”
“Only the pleasure of your company, oh great Lord Alpha of the awe-inspiring Brethren,” I replied without a hint of irony in my voice.
Corrigan choked. I ignored him, and we moved inside to our left. A waiter approached, carefully balancing a tray of drinks, and offered them to us. I delicately picked one up at the stem and sipped from it, surveying the crowd. It was easy to tell who the vampires were. Several stood around in little huddles, discussing what appeared to be weighty matters in low voices. There were a few black-robed mages, including, I noted, His Magnificence himself, the Arch-Mage. For a moment, I panicked, thinking that he must be here because he knew what Alex and I were up to, and he was going to put a stop to it. Then I told myself to breathe. Of course he’d be here. If there was going to be a gathering of the Otherworld’s leaders, then naturally the head of the mages would be present. Telling myself to get a grip, I continued to sweep my gaze over the assembly, attempting to judge where any potential threats might spring from.
Catching sight of one surprisingly familiar face, I grinned. I hadn’t expected my old buddy Tom to be here. He bounded over happily, bowing first to Corrigan. “My Lord Alpha,” he said formally.
Corrigan nodded. “You know Miss Smith, of course.”
Tom beamed at me. “I almost didn’t recognise you without any hair! What the hell happened, Red?”
“It’s a long story,” I muttered.
“It suits you,” he said, probably lying between his teeth. “And that dress is hot! I don’t actually think I’ve seen you wear a dress before. Sexy!”
Corrigan noticeably stiffened at my side. “Where is your fiancée?”
“She’s not feeling very well, my Lord. She decided to stay at home.” He suddenly looked worried. “But she wanted me to thank you for inviting us along.”
I could bet I knew exactly why Corrigan had bothered to do just that. He was trying to throw me off my game by reminding me of my old life. Well, I was stronger than that. Irritated by Tom’s subservient attitude, even though I knew it came part and parcel of the role he’d so eagerly volunteered for, I couldn’t help myself.
“So, Tom, are you enjoying serving the Brethren or do you wish that you were still back in Cornwall?”
He flicked a nervous glance at Corrigan and cleared his throat. “Well, I wouldn’t call it serving the Brethren.”
“Tom here has been promoted,” interrupted the Lord Alpha smoothly. “Because he’s a very helpful and loyal wolf.”
I pulled my arm away from him and spun round to look him in the eye. “And of course you demand abject loyalty from all your subjects, don’t you, my Lord.”
His eyes gleamed. “For someone who spent so much time living with a pack, you seem to have a remarkably weak grasp on how all this works. The hierarchy keeps the system working. It prevents discord. Not only that but it’s in our blood and in our genes. To pretend otherwise would be to deny ourselves our true nature. Without the Way Directives and the chain of command, the pack wouldn’t exist.”
I knew that Corrigan was right. I’d wholeheartedly believed in that hierarchy when I’d been part of it. It was the life-blood of the shifters; it created the sense of family that I’d been missing so much since my departure from it. It helped to prevent rogue shifters from branching out and causing chaos, and it meant that weaker members were always protected. But that still didn’t mean I had to like it at this particular point in time. “Well, it certainly makes your life more comfortable,” I snapped.
Careful, kitten. His Voice whispered brushed my mind. Remember that you’re supposed to be my ever-so willing date. If you continue to look as pissed off as you do right now, then you’ll draw attention to yourself. And I don’t imagine that will help your plans, whatever they really are.
I gritted my teeth. Tom switched his weight from foot to foot, apprehensively watching the pair of us.
I don’t have any plans, I shot firmly back. Then smiled sweetly at him, and turned to face Tom.
“I hope that Betsy isn’t very sick.”
He gave me an uneasy smile. “No, it’s nothing serious. But she’s tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle. She’s gutted that she didn’t get the chance to come and catch up with you though.”
“And Julia?”
“She’s gone back down to Cornwall. Anton needed her for some things.”
My eyes narrowed at the mention of my former nemesis. However, I was saved from making any further unpleasant comments, by the loud clinking of a glass towards the front of the room.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Otherworld,” boomed a deep voice. “Welcome to Kingsway. We encourage you to sample our humble offerings, partake in our wine and use this opportunity to mix and mingle with friends. This unique event offers much scope to forge new contacts and prevent unnecessary conflict, and we are honoured to welcome you.”
“Trumped up little shit,” commented Corrigan, drily.
I shot a surprised look at him. Then the crowds cleared and I could see the owner of the voice. It was definitely a vampire, and he reeked of power. His eyes were blood red, and his smooth unlined face gave me the creeps. He raised his glass, eyes wandering over the room with the blaze of self-satistfaction. When his gaze fell upon me, his eyebrows raised in unabashed interest and curiosity. I felt an involuntary shiver run through me and, without thinking, moved an inch closer to Corrigan. Then, irritated with myself, I moved away again.
“Don’t fret about it,” the Lord Alpha drawled. “He has that effect on most people.”
Wanting to snarl back a retort that I wasn’t afraid of a stupid vampire, I pressed my lips together forcing myself to stay quiet. I took another sip of my drink instead, looking around hopefully for some snacks. A tuxedoed waiter came up and whispered something in Corrigan’s ear.
He leaned over to me. “I need to go and do some of my jumped up arrogant Lord of the Brethren stuff now,” he said, his breath hot upon my cheek. “Be good.” He raised his eyebrows meaningfully at Tom, and then me, making it clear that I had a babysitter who would no doubt dog my every move.
I smiled unconcernedly, wondering if I could persuade my old sparring partner to give me a break and let me sneak off. The flicker of obedience that Tom returned to his alpha, however, suggested otherwise. With silent confirmation of Tom’s loyalty, Corrigan placed his empty glass onto a nearby tray and lithely sauntered off.
Tom looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry, Red, he’s my alpha, I have to…”
“I know, Tom, I understand.” I sighed and looked around the room, noting several other shifters, each of them watching me with brazen unabashed vigilance. Great.
Frustrated, my hand curled around the glass I was holding. How the f*ck was I going to manage finding the bloody Ancile now?