Bloodfire (Blood Destiny) (31 page)

I emptied out the contents of my bag,
anyway, just to be sure.
 
I’d put
the empty Coke cans that I’d shared with Alex on the beach back inside but they
were made of aluminium, which was next to useless against anything other than a
recycling plant.
 
There was the half
empty canister or hydrogen peroxide that reminded me painfully of John for a
second, but which offered no help in terms of usable iron.
 
There was a small first aid kit, a
couple of energy bars, a tatty book that I’d been reading when routing out the
rabbits had become just too unspeakably dull for words, but absolutely nothing
that would help me get out of the ring.
 
Even my daggers were made of an alloy that wouldn’t contain enough iron
to work.
 
Sometimes modern
technology was a curse.
 
I tried
anyway, stabbing randomly at the invisible wall.
 
Of course nothing happened.

I flung the contents of my bag to the
ground and moved around the entire circle, checking it for any vulnerable
points.
 
Nothing.
 
I felt rage and frustration shivering
all over me.
 
It wasn’t fair!
 
I knew that someone would find me long
before I’d ever have to persuade any of the Fae to let me go, but I needed to
get out now and get into the portal.

I thumped myself down, cross-legged, in
the centre and slammed my palms against the mossy ground, stirring up a fine
dust as I did so.
 
I kicked out
uselessly at the edges of the ring.
 
It was no good; I’d just have to wait till someone came and rescued me.

*

Several hours later, dusk was beginning to
settle.
 
I was curled up, dozing,
and waiting.

Where
the
fuck are
you?
 

Corrigan!
 
I sat up with a snap.
 
Finally.
 
I didn’t think I’d ever be pleased to
have his Voice inside my head.
 
I
was about to answer when Julia spoke to me, with a high note of panic.

Mackenzie!
 
We need you!

Oh shit.
 
What’s
going on?
 
What’s the matter?
 
I had no idea whether both Julia and
Corrigan could hear me at the same time, but it didn’t matter.
 
Something thing was clearly very wrong.

It was Julia who answered, and her words
made the bottom drop out of my world.
 
The keep is under attack.
 
We need you.
 
Now.
 

I…Julia…I’m
stuck.
 
I’m in a faerie ring and I
can’t get out.

There was silence on the other end.
 
Julia?
 
JULIA?
 
CORRIGAN?

They’d gone.
 
What did that mean?
 
Who was attacking them?
 
If it was Iabartu and I was stuck here, if
the pack got hurt, or worse…
 
I
stood up and began flinging my clenched fists against the edge of the ring,
over and over again, screaming at it to let me out.
 
I pummelled the invisible wall with fury
and felt my whole body on fire with an intense heat.
 
I kicked and punched and threw myself at
it with every iota of strength I had.
 
Hot tears of frustration pricked at my eyes as images of the pack and
the Brethren’s bodies lying broken inside the keep whilst faceless monsters
prowled through the rooms attacked me.

I hit the wall harder, and cried out in
pain as my knuckles slammed against it.
 
But I didn’t stop.
 
My fists
were red raw from the repeated impact.
 
I kicked again and punched again.
 
What was I going to do?
 
My
vision was blurry with tears as I continued to attack the ring’s outer
edges.
 
Come on
,
come on
!
 
I
kept a furious battery of assault with my fists whilst my bloodfire screamed at
me to continue.

And then, all of a sudden, I was falling
through the circle to the outside world and to the hard ground.
 
The momentum carried me through till I
banged into a tree and looked up, dazed.
 
I’d actually punched my way through a faerie ring.
 
Feeling a moment of utter befuddlement,
I looked down at my hands.
 
My
knuckles were smeared with blood.
 
I
stared back at the ring in confusion then shook myself and got up, running in
the direction of the keep.
 
I was
free, that was all that mattered.
 
And now I had to go help my people.

I flew through the woods, feeling branches
whip at my face and thorns catch my trousers.
 
This time I made sure I looked at where
I was going so I didn’t foolishly fall into any other traps.
 
I ran and ran, heart pounding in my ears
praying to whatever was out there that my friends were okay.
 
I couldn’t handle more bloodshed and
death, not now.
 
Not when I could
have prevented it by looking where I was going and avoiding getting trapped by
a stupid faerie ring.

When I emerged from the woods and saw the
keep, I was horrified.
 
I couldn’t
see anyone outside, friend or foe, but one of the great oak doors was hanging
off its hinges.
 
I stumbled for a
second and then ran faster, clutching my daggers.
 
No
no no no no no no.
 
Not my home and the rest of my family as
well as John.
 
I couldn’t let that
happen.

My feet crunched into the gravel as I
reached the driveway, and I started to slow.
 
I still couldn’t see any signs of
life.
 
I felt very hot, and very
sick.
 
Gripping the hilt of both
daggers I stepped into the keep.
 
The lighting was dim, and there were signs of utter devastation
everywhere.
 
The corpse of some kind
of hideous creature lay face down on the shabby red carpet.
 
Lamps had been overturned and, as I
walked further into the hall, I could feel shards of glass snapping under my feet.

I resisted the urge to call out, not
knowing what might decide to answer.
 
The door to the office was open, and I glanced in, seeing paper strewn
all over the place as if a miniature hurricane had swept in, caused utter
havoc, and then immediately faded away.
 
I continued forward, holding my breath.
 
Where the
fuck were
they all?

I jogged to the gym and checked
inside.
 
Nothing.
 
My chest felt tight and I was getting
more and more panicked.
 
Those fucking
faeries!
 
If I’d been here then I
could have helped.
 
A sound came
from deeper in the bowels of the keep.
 
I froze.
 
It had sounded as
if it was coming from the kitchen.
 
A quick clatter of something falling to the ground.
 
I tightened my jaw and tiptoed in that
direction.

Pressing my back against the wall, I
pushed open the door with one hand then peered around.
 
The table was on its side, but I
couldn’t make out anything else.
 
I
was about to move into the doorway when something launched itself at me, biting
and into my arm with sharp teeth and growling viciously.
 
Despite the pain, I felt a wave of
relief.

“Tom! It’s me!”
 
The growling continued and his fangs
sank deeper into my flesh.
 
It was
as if he’d not heard me.
 
“Tom!
 
It’s Mack.
 
Look at me!”

The rumble in his throat died and a pair
of pale yellow eyes gazed up at me balefully.
 
He immediately released my arm.
 
Blood was streaming down it, and I could
see a smear of red on his teeth.
 
His
huge tongue lapped at his lips for a second and he looked briefly puzzled.
 
Then, he turned back into the kitchen
and I followed, grabbing a
dish towel
hanging on a
hook and wrapping it around the wounds.

“Tom, what the fuck is going on?
 
Where is everyone?”

He whined, but didn’t turn back to look at
me.
 
Instead he padded out of the
kitchen and through the small door that led into Julia’s herb garden.
 
I had no choice but to follow.
 
What met my eyes when we emerged back
into the cool night air was a scene of controlled chaos.
 
Limp
bodies
lay
around the space, with shifters in various stages of transformation tending to
them.
 
Part of me noted the squashed
herbs underfoot and thought of how angry Julia would be when she saw what had
happened to her precious plants.
 
But then I saw Julia.

She was lying in a corner, face turned
away from me.
 
Her arm was broken,
and spread at an awkward angle.
 
A
man I’d never seen before was crouched down beside her.
 
It looked like her right leg had been
ripped off at the knee.
 
Corrigan
was stood, naked from the waist up but wearing jogging bottoms below, with his
arms folded.
 
He was staring down at
her with a look of intense worry and concentration.
 
Several members of the pack were doing
the same.
 
I spotted Lynda, with
tears running down her face, clinging onto Anton for support.
 
Betsy was there too, and Johannes, both
covered in blood.

I was rooted to the spot with fear and
felt my tongue cleave its way to the roof of my mouth.
 
Was she…?

“She’s not dead,” a soft voice said beside
me.
 
It was Lucy.
 
I ripped my eyes away from
Julia,
even the image of her broken body was still seared
into my eyeballs, and looked at her blankly.
 
She was pale and clearly still in a lot
of pain after the ispolin’s attack. No doubt the Brethren doctor had helped her
already impressive regenerative powers, but she still would need a considerable
amount of time to heal.
 
I wondered
if she’d been involved in the fighting despite that fact and felt frustration
that even a shockingly wounded shifter had been there to help when I
hadn’t.
 
She continued,
 
“She’s not far off though.
 
The Doc will do what he can for her,
make her comfortable, but…” her voice trailed off.

I found my voice.
 
“What happened?”

“We were attacked.
 
I don’t know by what.
 
The mage is trying to work out what they
are. They came completely without warning, from the front and the back.
 
A few got in through the doors,” she
nodded towards the other side of the keep, “and others came here.
 
Your alpha was in the garden.
 
I don’t think she had time to even
shift.
 
We’ve lost three other
shifters altogether.”

I wanted to ask if they were Brethren or
pack but I didn’t dare.
 
Lucy
understood though and her gaze hardened slightly.
 
“They were ours, not yours.”

She limped away inside, back ramrod
straight.
 
I couldn’t worry about
her hurt feelings right now though so I turned back to Julia but caught
Corrigan’s eyes blazing angry gold at me instead.

“I called you.
 
Why weren’t you here?” he snarled.

The other shifters looked at me.
 
I could the weight of their accusing
glares and my whole body tensed.
 
I’d failed them, and Julia.
 
Again.

“I…was trapped. There was a faerie ring,”
I stuttered.

He took a step closer, and his eyes seared
into me.
 
“Then how did you escape?”

“I don’t know.
 
After I heard your Voice – and
Julia’s – I hit the edge of the ring.
 
A lot.
 
And then it gave way.
 
I don’t know why.”
 
I was aware that my voice was
high-pitched with stress, trying to justify to everyone listening that my
reasons for not being present to protect the keep were genuine.

“That’s not possible.
 
Did you have iron?”

I shook my head, mutely.
 

He towered over me.
 
“Seems awfully convenient, that this is
the time you chose to suddenly get yourself trapped by the Fae.
 
And then miraculously escape.”