Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) (24 page)

“Great,” I muttered.

“Trippy,” grinned Alex, helping me onto
Tom’s furry back.
 

I curled my fingers into his fur to
prepare myself.
 
“Thank you, Alex.”
I said quietly, looking at him.
 
“Not just for getting Julia.
 
For…”

He ruffled my hair and shushed me.
 
“You gave me a scare there, dude.
 
Glad you’re okay though.”

I smiled at him weakly and Tom took off.

*

When we arrived back at the keep, the sun
was reaching higher into the sky and the sunny daylight made the darkness of
the night before fade away into a bad memory.
 
I was in desperate need of a good night –
or day’s – sleep, however.
 
I
slid off Tom’s back.

“I’m going to owe a lot of people a lot of
favours by the time all this is over,” I murmured, half to him and half to
myself.

He whined softly in return.
 
In front of the oak doors, a gleaming
limousine sat waiting.
 
The
scratched car from the other day seemed to have disappeared.
 
Perhaps it offended his sensibilities to
be seen in anything less than perfect.
 
Nothing but the best for the Lord of all Alphas, I thought
sardonically.
 
From within the keep
itself, I could hear his raised voice barking out indistinct orders.
 
I briefly considered trying to enter
through a back door and slipping up to the dorm unnoticed when Lucy wandered
outside.

She waved enthusiastically.
 
“Hey!
 
Can you believe how freaky that thing
was last night?”

For a stupid moment I thought that she was
referring to the wichtlein and wondered how on earth she knew about it, before
I realised that she meant the earthquake monster instead.

“Yeah,” I nodded fervently in
response.
 
“Freaky.”

“You were kind of freaky yourself too,”
she added.
 
“I’ve never seen Lord
Corrigan so mad at anyone before.”

Next to Lucy, a giant
four
poster
bed, draped with satin covers and plumped up pillows, hovered in
the sky.
 
I looked down at Tom.

“I don’t suppose you can see a bed
floating in the air next to her, can you?”

Tom looked about as concerned as a wolf
can possibly ever look and shook his head.
 
Okay then, I guess the hallucinations were starting to kick in.

“It must be a gift I have,” I said to Lucy,
trying to ignore the allure of the bed.
 
I guessed that taking a running leap and diving on top of it would look
pretty dumb when what I’d end up doing was a face plant onto the gravel.

She smiled at me.
 
“I’m going to be sticking around and
helping you guys out with all this.”

I bit back my retort that we didn’t need
her aid and tried to look gracious.
 
“That’s…um…great.”

Anton came round the corner at that point,
noted Lucy, and smoothly greeted her with a kiss.
 
Mr Charm himself.
 
He completely ignored me and began chatting
to her.
 
Little forked devils danced
around on his shoulders, poking him in his ears and blowing kisses at me.
 
I really needed to go and sleep this
off.
 
Then I could start working out
what on earth a Draco Wyr was and why the wichtlein thought all this was my
fault.
 
I swallowed hard and bit my
lip.

Leaving Tom in the courtyard, I walked
past Lucy and Anton and into the keep.
 
Not far to go now.
 
My legs
were starting to feel like leaden weights as I dragged myself up the stone
stairs, keeping my eyes fixed on the ground lest any other unexpected visions
decided to crop up and surprise me.
 
I was fairly certain that a few of the old portraits on the walls were
making faces at me, but I refused to look at them directly just in case.
 
I finally reached the dorm room and was
about to turn the doorknob when I heard a voice behind me.

“In the doghouse, Miss Mackenzie?”

I supposed it really had been too much to
hope that I’d manage to completely avoid Corrigan.
 
“Whatever do you mean, my lord?” I
asked, turning but keeping my eyes downcast.
 
Let him think he’d beaten me into meek
submission.

“This, if I’m not mistaken, is the girls’
dorm.
 
Not the room you share with
the wolf.”

Oh, yeah.
 
“We’re, uh, re-assessing our
relationship in light of recent revelations.”

He stepped closer.
 
I just hoped that the last remnants of
the shifter lotion were going to hold.
 
“I just bet you are,” he said smoothly, “especially given that you are
clearly only just arriving home.
 
Who was it this time?
 
The
human?
 
Or perhaps a new conquest
with the mage?”

“I spent all night self-flagellating
myself for my behavior towards you, my lord,” I answered sarcastically.
 
Shut up, Mack, just shut up.
 
I raised my eyes to meet his.
 
They were so green, with those little
flashes of gold that sparkled.
 
And
the way his dark hair hung over his brow in gentle waves - he was actually
really very good-looking.
   
I realised that I was surely still hallucinating all this of course when
a little winged baby carrying a golden bow and arrow floated past him.

“That mouth of yours does get you into a
lot of trouble, doesn’t it?”
 
He
looked at my face for what seemed like a very long time.
 
“Just because I’m leaving, doesn’t mean
that I won’t forget that you need to be punished for your infantile behavior.”

“Infantile?
 
Why you fu
..,
”
Shut UP, Mackenzie, whispered the voice.
 
“Yes, my lord,” I finished.

Deep amusement sparked in his eyes.
 
Bastard.
 
He was clearly enjoying himself.
 
“I thought you should know,” his deep
voice drawled, “that I was impressed with the wolf’s fighting skills last
night.
 
And yours.
 
You should consider the possibility that
both of you would do well to join our ranks in the Brethren.
 
Assuming that you can learn some
manners, of course.”

In your dreams, catboy.
 
“How thoughtful of your
lordship to think of us.
 
You would
do better to engage your attentions elsewhere however, I fear.”

“Indeed,” he said.
 
He moved even closer to me until the
distance between us was bare inches.
 
It was a definite struggle not to step back.
 
“Well, till next time then, kitten.
 
Perhaps then your hair will be back to
its normal colour.
 
I am a fan of
Celtic red hair.”

I tried not to too obviously tense in
annoyance, inclining my head just in time to see a spotted snake with an apple
in its mouth slither past me into the dorm.
 
How strange.
 
“My lord.”
 
I made my escape and shut the dorm room
door firmly behind me.
 
He was
leaving and that was all that mattered.
 
The rest of the Brethren at least didn’t seem so circumspect in their
attentions.

I looked at my bed and almost ran to it,
sinking down into the mattress and stretching out my toes to curl off the
end.
 
Sleep.

Chapter Fifteen

When I woke up, the dorm room was
dark.
 
I was aware of the sounds of
others sleeping around me and hoped that I’d only lost a day.
 
I had a lot to do.
 
Swinging my legs over the side of the
bed, I glanced at the green glow of the clock on my bedside table.
 
It flashed 3.20am.
 
At least that meant that I’d have some
peace
as everyone else would be in the land of nod.
 
I was still wearing my clothes from the
day before so I lifted up my t-shirt and gingerly prodded my side.
 
It was sore and tender but nothing more.
 
Even better.
 
Pushing myself until I passed out had
not been my smartest move ever – at least the green gloop from Julia had
put the kibosh on that happening again.
 
And with Lord Shifty
himself
gone from the
keep, I’d have more freedom to arrange my thoughts and continue my
investigations properly.
 
The other
Brethren members didn’t seem capable of jumping without his say so, meaning
that it would be a lot easier for me to stay out of the way of those remaining.

I pulled out the shifter lotion from the
drawer in the table and padded into the bathroom.
 
I undressed and surveyed the
damage.
 
I was covered in scratches
and bruises, a mesh of different rainbow colours from angry purple to fading
yellow.
 
Lovely.
 
I’d have killed for a long soak in the
tub but was mindful of Julia’s warning about bathing.
 
Sniffing my skin experimentally, I
wrinkled my nose.
 
I was normally a
bit of a stickler for good personal hygiene and the stale smell wafting off me
was not pleasant.
 
There was nothing
I could do about it, however.
 
If
the remaining Brethren stayed away from me because of my unwashed reek then it
was probably all for the better.
 
I
gently rubbed the lotion all over, taking care to cover every inch of my
skin.
 
I’d been lucky with it so
far, but didn’t want to leave any part of me uncovered.
 
Even with Corrigan gone, there was still
the danger that the remaining Brethren would work out what I was, and the
longer they stayed, the more real that danger became.
 
I could leave nothing to chance.

With that done, I pulled on a clean pair
of black leggings and a snug dark button up shirt.
 
I turned up the sleeves and ran a brush
through my hair before tying it back into a high ponytail.
 
It was still strange to see myself in
the mirror without my usual shiny red.
 
At least I could let the dye grow out quickly now that the truth about
that part of me was out.
 
I tried not
to think about Corrigan’s comment that he wanted to see my natural colour.

I cleaned up behind myself then tiptoed
out of the dorm.
 
I had several
avenues to cover.
 
I now knew who
had killed John, but didn’t know
who
or what Iabartu
actually was.
 
And then there was
the wichtlein’s assertion that it had been my fault, along with the Draco Wyr
details, and a few loose ends such as the black cloth I’d found next to the
clearing and the mystery of the electric screwdriver.
 
I also had no idea what had happened
over the last twelve hours that I’d been asleep for, although there wasn’t much
I could do about that until the rest of the keep awoke.

I weighed up my options and decided that I
could worry about motives later – Iabartu and her whereabouts had to take
priority.
 
With that resolve, I
headed for the library and the communal computer.
 
It was high time I saw what the Othernet
could offer.

The silence that hung around the keep was
a pleasant welcome after the incessant buzz that the Brethren’s presence had
caused over the last few days.
 
I
made a quick detour for the kitchen to make myself some strong coffee and then I
let myself into the library and stood for a quiet moment, inhaling the musty
scent of the books that surrounded the walls.
 
It was possible that I could try
researching the old fashioned way, using the library’s offerings to find any
mentions of Iabartu in the books, but I was pretty sure that the Othernet would
allow me to do the same but quicker.

Moving over to the computer, I turned it
on and waited for it to boot up.
 
The Othernet was an electronic gateway to the otherworld.
 
The human
internet
was great, but the Othernet was our very own specialised version and covered
discussions, forums and websites on every conceivable magical aspect of the
world that was kept hidden from most people.
 
When the computer was ready, I clicked
onto the search engine and typed in Iabartu.
 
Instantly, several answers appeared.

I clicked on the first one and started
reading.
 
It turned out that the
bitch was one of seven daughters of Anu, a Messopotanian sky god, and his human
consort.
 
I frowned.
 
There was that number again –
seven.
 
Not only that but a
half breed
goddess would be difficult to beat.
 
It did explain the floating above the
dunes part, however.
 
If Anu
was
her father, then she’d possess the ability to control
the air currents and appear as if she was flying – or hovering.
 
According to the Othernet page, she
lived in an otherworld realm and didn’t bother herself with our earthly
plane.
 
Well that information was
certainly out of date.
 
I opened up
several other sites but couldn’t find any details on how to defeat her or
disable her.
 
No matter.
 
I’d work it out.