Bloodlust (2 page)

“You can say what you need to here.”

She lifted an elegant shoulder in a half shrug and a ghost of a smile traced over her lips. “Very well. We wish to procure your services.”

“They’re not for sale.”

“We will pay you handsomely. You may not be able to hide your disgust at what we are, Miss Smith, but you would be surprised at what we can offer you in return for one little favour.”

“In which case I’m sure there will be many others who will be more keen than I to help you out.”

“Perhaps. But word of your exploits has reached our ears, and it seems that you have the necessary skills to solve our little problem.”

I wasn’t going to be able to wriggle my way out of this without threatening violence. Except I didn’t think that would go down too well within the sleek environ of Alcazon. The trouble was, I thought I knew what she was going to say next. I played dumb though - there really wasn’t much choice.

“What problem would that be?”

She blinked at me languidly. “A small matter of a missing vampire.”

I knew it. Fuck. “Maybe they’re dead.” I paused. “Oh, sorry, you’re all already dead,” I said sarcastically. “Maybe they’re no longer undead.” Funnily enough, that was actually true.

“This vampire is a particularly strong one. There are few who would be able to take him down and we do not believe that he has passed. He is an important member of our little group and we would like to have him back. You will track him down for us.” It wasn’t a request.

“I’m pretty busy right now. I don’t have time to go looking for one lost bloodsucker.”

“You have met him before, I believe. When you came to our house and stole from us.”

“I didn’t fucking steal from you,” I hissed. “Besides, I think you came off slightly better from that occasion anyway.” The thought of Thomas and Brock still made my heart tighten in pain. “Why would I want to help find the guy who is responsible for my friends’ deaths?”

“So you know to whom I am referring then?”

Uh oh. “I can only think of one vamp who I spoke to that night. The same one who appeared at the mages’ academy soon after. Believe me, I have no desire to help you locate that prick.”

And I didn’t actually know where Aubrey was anyway. I’d not seen him since the last time I was here at Alcazon three days ago and he’d scarpered off. Goodness only knew where he was hiding now.

“As you have already mentioned, we are undead, Miss Smith. That provides us more than a little insight into the world of the deceased and all those who barter with it. Including say,” she paused for a moment, blood red fingernails tapping the side of her mouth, and a malicious gleam lighting up her eyes, “necromancers.”

Fucking hell. How did the vamps get hold of that piece of information? “So what you’re saying is if I find your friend, you will find my necromancer.”

“I think that is exactly what I’m saying.”

I stared at her suspiciously. Did she know what had happened to Aubrey? It could hardly be a coincidence that it was me she had approached. There had certainly been enough Otherworlders who’d become aware of his transformation to the world of the living to have let that little tidbit slip out. I sighed inwardly.  My head was still hurting far too much to deal with this right now.

“I’ll think about it,” I grunted. Not.

“Excellent,” she said, as if I’d already agreed to bring him to her immediately. “His name is Aubrey. He can be…dangerous if you get on his wrong side, but I’m sure you will manage it.”

“I said I’ll think about it.”

She smiled at me coldly. “Here is my card. Contact me any time.”

I stared down at the object she was holding out. Unsurprisingly, it was crimson in colour, with just a single telephone number etched into it in black. I took it from her, being careful just to pinch it at the edges. Who knew what nasty stuff it might have on it? I stuck it into my back pocket along with Tom’s note.

“Great.” I pasted on a very fake smile. “I have to go now.”

“I will look forward to hearing from you.”

Yeah, yeah. I stepped around her, careful this time to avoid touching her in any way. The two vamps up ahead had their arms folded and were staring at me expressionlessly. I was tempted to just shove them out of the way, but they moved to the side at the last second and allowed me to pass by without comment. Knowing that they, along with rest of the restaurant, were watching my departure, I forced a casually confident swagger into my step. I reminded myself not to forget to breathe and reached out for the door handle leading back to the outside world. Unfortunately for me, just before I could wrench it open, someone pushed it from the other side, and the edge of the door smacked right into my face, scraping against my nose and cheekbone, and sending involuntary tears springing into my eyes.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry!” The blurry image of a waiter began to come into focus. Judging by the panic in his voice, he was worried about exactly what I was going to do to him for daring to try to open the door at the same time as me. Mack Smith, more monster than the monsters.

I tried not to show I was in pain and exhaled audibly in annoyance. “Don’t worry about it.” Then I stepped past him, and back out into the real world.

Chapter Two

My eyes were still smarting by the time I emerged into the daylight. A small hard knot of frustration had settled deep into my stomach. Talking about what everyone else was doing was all very well and good, but it was about time
I
actually starting
doing
something. However, until there was some kind of concrete information to work with, it appeared there was very little for me to actually do. I’d given everyone on the council tasks to undertake; it appeared that all I had to do was to wait until something came out from the fruits of their labour. It didn’t suit me. I didn’t want to spend too much time dwelling on what the vamp had offered, nor did I have any desire to wallow in misery about the things I couldn’t change, such as my utter failure with Corrigan. And hanging around waiting for the inevitable problems that my transformation lesson with Tom was going to highlight wasn’t particularly appealing either. Patience was clearly not my forte.

I could go back to Clava Books and help out there for a few hours. Certainly the ongoing bickering between Mrs. Alcoon and Slim would provide some entertainment, but after having to listen to the mages, shifters and faeries argue for the last hour or so, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope with any more of that. I’d asked the pair of them to see what they could dig up about necromancers, on the off-chance any of the books the pair of them had access to could provide some clues as to Endor’s whereabouts. After what was already two full days of digging, however, they’d not found anything yet, and I didn’t really expect much would have changed in the last twenty-four hours.

I decided instead to try and clear the cobwebs from my head and go for a wander around to Balud’s little shop. He’d been tasked with trying to find a weapon that might help defeat Endor. I could surmise by his absence at this morning’s meeting that he’d come up short thus far, but at least it gave me some sort of vague purpose.

The sun was high in the sky and blazing down with the full heat of summer. Dappled shadows danced across the pavement with each passerby, and the streets were busy with the glowing faces of contented tourists. None of it was making me feel particularly happy. I strode along, taking elongated steps in order to reach my destination as quickly as possible. I resolutely refused to get out of anyone’s way. The determination must have been visible on my face because virtually everyone maneuvered themselves out of my path. At one point, a sullen looking teenager seemed intent on playing chicken, heading straight for me and clearly refusing to get out of my way. When he was barely two feet from me, however, something in my face made him change his mind, and he hopped to my left with an elaborately heavy sigh. I knew I was being an idiot, but if I could control nothing else in my life then I was damn well going to control where I chose to walk. It was probably just as well that I arrived at the alleyway where Balud’s shop was located before anyone decided to take me on.

As per usual, the little street was deserted. I stalked down to the door and rapped on it sharply. When there was no immediate answer, I knocked again. From within came a sound of clattering and muttered expletives. Well, at least the little troll was in.

When the door eventually opened, and Balud peered out, I remained standing on the doorstep, hands on my hips. “Didn’t you get the memo?”

He stared at me, unblinking.

“Hello? Balud? There was a council meeting just now. Why weren’t you there?”

He slammed the door shut. I only just had enough time to jump out of the way to avoid being thwacked yet again in the face. Okay. Perhaps I needed to calm down a little and be nicer. I knocked again, albeit more gently this time.

The door opened half an inch. “I’m sorry,” I called in through the gap. “I’ve been having a bad day. Well, a bad week. More like a bad year. I didn’t mean to sound so tetchy.”

Silence answered me. I tried again. “I was just wondering if maybe you’d made any headway in finding something to defeat Endor. You know, the necromancer chappie? The one who might kill us all if we don’t stop him?”

The door opened a fraction more.

“You did say that you were going to look for some kind of materials that might help us,” I coaxed, “you know, being the best Otherworld weapons shop that the country has to offer, and all.”

Clearly, flattery will get you everywhere. A small gnarled hand finally snaked out and beckoned me inside. Grateful, I stepped over the threshold and the door banged loudly closed behind me. I jumped, startled.

“This might have once been the best weapons shop,” the troll grunted. “It’s not anymore.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He snatched up a glossy sheet of A5 paper and thrust it in my face. “Look.”

My eyes scanned it. It was an advert for Wold’s Weaponry. ‘THE BIGGEST RANGE AND THE BEST PRICES’ proclaimed the banner in capital letters. I smacked myself in the forehead. “The Batibat’s shop is still open,” I said, surprised.

It hadn’t even occurred to me. Endor had forced the Batibats to work for him, including through this shop, as well as up at Haughmond Hill where Corrigan and I had confronted him. I’d had Alex investigate it to find out what information he could. In fact, the only reason that we knew anything at all about Endor’s master plan had been from what the Batibat who ran the shop had told him. I’d just assumed that, by dint of our discovery, it would have been shut down. I was pretty confident Alex had already gotten all the potentially useful information there was to get out of her. And yet it wouldn’t hurt to pay another little visit and see if there was anything else that he’d missed.

“Yes, little girl,” spat Balud, “it’s still open. And undercutting me at every turn.” He waved the advert in my face. “How am I supposed to compete with these prices? It’s outrageous!”

“Do you think Endor’s still in contact with her?” I mused thoughtfully. “It’s unlikely he’d risk it, or let her into his confidence. But perhaps she’s got some clue as to where he might be holed up.” I should have gone to check on her before now. I was an idiot.

Balud looked at me as if to confirm the fact that I was crazy. “Did you hear what I said?” the troll demanded. “She’s putting me out of business!”

“Oh, yes, that,” I bobbed my head, attempting an air of brisk sobriety. “I can talk to her about it. Maybe ask her to look at her prices?”

“Or make sure she shuts up that shop and never tries to start up any kind of business ever again.”

Somehow I didn’t think that was how capitalism was supposed to work. I nodded slowly though. “Er, yes, I could maybe ask her to do that too.”

Balud’s eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. I smiled at him. “I’ll see what I can do. Honest.”

He grunted in doubtful acquiescence. “So what happened to your face?”

“Huh?” I was momentarily confused.

“Your face. You have a most arresting bruise.”

“I walked into a door.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Really,” I said, mildly protesting.

He crooked his finger towards me. “Come with me.”

“Well, actually I thought I might go now and check out Wold…”

“You’d forgotten she even existed until five minutes ago. She will keep for another half an hour.”

I supposed he was right. Now that I had a potential lead to follow, however, I was itching to get onto it as soon as possible. Balud gave me a baleful look. I sighed. “Okay then.”

He led me towards the back, then pointed into a small room off the side. “In here.”

I pushed open the door. It creaked somewhat menacingly, and I looked askance at the troll. He rolled his eyes and pushed past me to enter. Shrugging, I followed him inside, attempting not to breathe in too deeply. The air was musty with the distinct aroma of mould, and it was so dark that I could make out virtually nothing whatsoever. I could hear the sound of scrabbling, and a curse, before the room was abruptly bathed in light. I blinked rapidly to adjust to the sudden change, then Balud was thrusting something into my hands. I glanced down. It was a small, cracked hand mirror.

He gestured at it. “Go on then. Take a look.”

For once doing as I was told, I held the mirror up and stared at my reflection. Blimey. A large purple stain was making its way across the bridge of my nose and down under my right eye. It looked like I’d been punched repeatedly in the face. I poked at it gingerly, then winced.

“Wow.”

“Indeed.”

My eye seemed to be starting to swell up rather alarmingly. No wonder that teenager had veered out of my way so abruptly on the street. Even I had to admit that it made me look rather scary.

“I don’t suppose you have any ice that I could put on this?” I asked.

“No.”

“Not even any frozen peas?”

“No.”

“A steak?”

The answering look was enough. I put the mirror down. Oh well. There wasn’t much I could do about it now, I figured.