Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) (26 page)

I had seen a few portals before –
not usually out in the open like this – and they were pretty much the
only way that otherworld creatures could travel from one
demesnes
to another.
 
The friendly ones would
usually give us warning that they were coming, and would establish their
gateways out of the way.
 
The unfriendly
ones would materialise anywhere and start attacking anything that came
near.
 
There had even been one in
Julia’s herb garden once when a particularly ugly gnome had decided that it
would be far easier to nab some of her plants, rather than take the time to
grow them himself.
 
She had not been
impressed and had dispatched him to the underworld before he could pick even
one delicate primrose.

Mackenzie?
 
How’s the pain?

I started and almost tripped over my own
feet.
 
It was Julia, at least, not
Corrigan.
 
His Voice wouldn’t work
from great distances;
no-one
’s did.
 
I relaxed minutely.
It’s fine,
I sent back silently.
 
The
green stuff worked a treat and I enjoyed seeing pixies and flying babies.
 
Did Betsy tell you about Anton?

She
did.
 
He is on his way to talk to me.
 

I didn’t fancy being in Anton’s shoes
right about now.
 
Served him
right.
  
I’m almost at the portal,
I thought at her.
 
I’m
going to stay here and see what happens.

Be
careful dear.
 
Mr Floride updated me
with what you had found out.
 
There
may be more to all this than meets the eye.

There
is.
 
I
flashed up an image for her of what I’d uncovered on the Othernet.
 

She was silent for a second,
then
spoke in my mind again.
 
A
demi-god will not be easy to defeat.
 
I should inform the Brethren.

It
won’t make any difference,
I urged.
 
If
nothing happens for a day or two then maybe they’ll leave.
 
You know that I’m strong.
 
I can deal with her myself.

I
don’t like this.
 
I had a sudden vision of Julia pacing around the office.

Julia,
trust me.
 
I wasn’t trying to inflate my own skills.
 
I had as much physical power as any of
the pack shifters, and I didn’t doubt that I couldn’t match most of the
Brethren either.
 
If all this did
have something to do with me – if it was my fault that John had died
– then it was probably related somehow to my humanity.
 
And that meant that the less the
Brethren knew, the better.

She sighed mentally,
then
agreed.
 
Fine.
 
But be careful.
 
Remember that we need you,
Mackenzie.
 
I don’t have any more trieswater
to bring you back from the brink again.

I
will.

I sensed her pulling back and moving
away.
 
I walked up behind the two
Brethren.
 

“Hi!”
 
I said with forced cheeriness.

Neither one turned.
 
Corrigan had them well trained.
 
I moved round so I could see their faces
although they kept their stony eyes trained on the portal.
 
At least they took their sentinel posts
seriously.
 
There was one time that
Tom had been sent out to guard a newly opened portal that opened up near
Penzance.
 
He’d fallen asleep and
missed several faeries emerging.
 
They’d caused particular havoc that night, and the local police were
kept extraordinarily busy stepping in between several faerie induced street
brawls.
 
Nick had even been called
in from the sticks to provide support.
 
He’d later told me that he’d never seen anything like it before and that
the superintendent suspected that some city based drug dealers had infiltrated
the town and spiked drinks in pubs and clubs from one end of Penzance to the
other.
 
John had put Tom on kitchen
duty for a month as punishment, which ended up being punishment for everyone.
 
The food had tasted even worse than it
usually did and we were all glad when his penance was up.

“I thought I’d keep you company out here,”
I said, again with the cheeriness in my voice.

One of them flicked their eyes at me for
just a second then focused back on the purple portal.
 
“Whatever.”

Friendly talkative pair.
 
Deciding that there was
no point trying to engage them further, and as they obviously weren’t going to
make me leave, I moved a few feet away from them and sat cross-legged on the
sand.
 
I stared at the gateway.
 
If I strained my ears, I could just make
out a low humming sound emanating from it, like the buzz of electricity.
 
That probably meant that it was still
very active.
 
Good.
 
Hopefully I wouldn’t have to wait too
long until Iabartu or more of her minions decided to appear again.
 
I planned out defensive and attacking
strategies in my mind.
 
I had my
throwing daggers attached to my arms, as always, and my curved knife in my
backpack.
 
It was a shame that again
I’d been forced to leave the silver back at the keep, but wielding it would
raise far too many awkward questions.
 
It was still annoying though.

With no information from the Othernet to
go on for how to kill Iabartu, I’d just have to settle for good old-fashioned
brute strength.
 
The ‘daughter of a
sky god’ part might prove tricky, given that if she could fly it would be
difficult to catch her.
 
The only
way would be to get her unaware when she stepped through the portal.

I looked around.
 
The Brethren guards were in a good
position to see the portal opening but it did mean that she herself would be
able to see them as soon as she materialized as well.
 
It would make more sense to cut around
so I could flank her.
 
When her
attention was taken by the Brethren, I’d be able to sneak up behind and slit
her throat.
 
And that would mean
that I would get my revenge personally.
 
Sweet.

Standing back up, I started to move for
the rear of the portal.
 
Although it
was virtually transparent from the front, despite the purple shimmers, it was
obvious which was
front
and which was back because
from the rear there was nothing to be seen at all.
 
In fact it was as if there was nothing
there at all.
 
Before I’d taken more
than three steps, however, I heard voices coming from the direction of the
trees, the words becoming more distinct as they drew closer.

“What you have to understand, Lucy, is
that humans don’t think like us or act like us.
 
Effectively they’re cattle who get in
the way and mess things up.”

I immediately stiffened.

“Yeah but the mage is human, isn’t
he?
 
And we’re half human.”

“The mage has skills.
 
He’s part of the otherworld.
 
And we might have a human side but we’ll
never be that stupid or that vulnerable.
 
You know that joke, right?
 
What do you call a human with a half brain?”

“Errr…”

“Gifted.”
   
The Brethren arsehole began
to snort with laughter.
  

Heat swirled around me.
 
I turned in their direction and assessed
them carefully.
 
Lucy’s petite frame
was dwarfed by the fuckwit who’d decided that he was superior to the whole of
humanity.
 
He looked strong, with ripped
biceps and a chunky neck - no doubt I’d discover it was red if I had the
wherewithal to check under his collar.
 
I could take him easily.
 
I
took a step towards him and dug my fingernails into my palms.

Lucy shouted down to the two stoic
sentinels who hadn’t budged a millimeter.
 
“Hey guys, we’re here to relieve you of your duties.
 
Any activity yet?”

I took another step.

One of the waiting guards said something
back to her, but I didn’t hear what his actual words were.
 
I could already visualise myself
breaking the idiot’s nose with a satisfying crunch.
 
I didn’t even care that he’d shift and
immediately regenerate.
 
It would
still be worth it.

At that moment, Alex stepped onto the
beach from the trees.
 
He took one
look at me and his eyes widened, although I barely registered the movement; I
was already shifting into an attack stance.
 
I was vaguely aware that he had quickened
his step but my focus was on the Brethren shifter.
 
 
Then he stepped into my direct line of
sight, blocking my attack route.
 

“Hey Mack Attack!” he called over, with
emphasis on the Attack part of my latest irritating nickname.

Lucy craned her neck round his body.
“Mackenzie!
 
I didn’t see you
there.
 
Are you joining us for the
stake-out?”

“This’ll be good,” said the arsehole,
stepping out from behind Alex’s protective shield.
 
“This girl is what I meant.
 
Smart, strong and a million times more
useful than a human.”

Hah!
 
The irony of his statement wasn’t lost on me.
 
I forced myself to breathe and tried to
calm my boiling blood.
 
Alex came
closer and wrapped his arms around me.

“What the feck are you doing, dude?” he
whispered in my ear.

“You heard what he said,” I growled.

“I’m starting to see why the wolf calls
you Red.
 
That temper of yours is
seriously scary.
 
If you attack him
because he’s an ignorant idiot, all that will happen is the other Brethren will
be forced to take his side.
 
Which
will make you mincemeat.
 
Now, given
all the trouble I went to save your sorry hide last night, I will be very
pissed off if that happens.”

I pulled free and looked away.
 
“Fine,” I muttered.

The arsehole came up and stuck out his
hand.
 
“Pleasure to finally make
your acquaintance.
 
There’s been a
lot of discussion about you since we arrived.
 
I do hope that you decide to leave this
rural hell-hole when all this is done and come with us to London.”

I reluctantly took his greasy palm, and
shook it.
 
I will admit that I tried
to crush the bones in his fingers at the same time.
 
He pulled his hand away and shook it in
mock, or (as I hoped) real, pain.

“Wow, that’s a strong grip you’ve got
there, tiger.” What was with all of the cat nicknames I seemed to be garnering
recently?
 
My lips tightened and he
eyed me curiously.
 
“What’s your
were, anyway?
 
You smell kind of
funny.”

“Hamster.”
 
It took some force of will to get the
word out.

He looked surprised. “Uh, really?”

I shrugged, not trusting myself to say
anything else, and walked back to the other side of the portal.
 
He remained there for a second or two,
still looking puzzled, until the two other Brethren moved impatiently and he
shook himself and took up their positions, along with Lucy.
 
As the first two guards walked towards
the trees and back to the keep, he continued to stare at me through the portal.
 
I felt my ire rising again, but Alex put
a hand on my arm and made a face.
 
I
rolled my eyes at him.
 
Whatever.
 
I sat back down on the sand and started
to wait.

Chapter Seventeen

Lucy and the human hater took up the same
positions as the previous two Brethren had, and maintained the same
stoicism.
 
I was faintly surprised
that Lucy was as strict about her vigil as the others had been but guessed that
Corrigan’s stranglehold on the Brethren was viciously strong.
 
I, meanwhile, was going to preserve my
strength and energy for when something – hopefully Iabartu –
finally appeared.
 
I was confident
that I’d hear the change in tone as the portal prepared to eject someone long
before they actually arrived.
 
Keeping an upright, straight backed, military style stance was a waste
of time.