Twiceborn (24 page)

I looked back at Alicia’s burning house. Through gaps in the smoke I saw flames licking hungrily along bare framework, the skeleton of the house exposed. “They must think Alicia’s place is a lost cause.”

Garth’s insistent hand tugged me into motion again. “They’ll put everything into trying to save places that still have a chance. Just as well—nothing they’ve got would put out dragonfire. That’s gonna keep burning till there’s nothing left.”

A branch crashed down onto the road as we passed, so close the scorching heat beat against my back. My blistered arms stung and my eyes burned from the smoke. I bent low, trying to find cleaner air, but the smoke hung everywhere, and my lungs felt clogged with it. So much for the air being clearer on the road.

We were staggering like a pair of drunks by the time we passed beyond the immediate fire zone. Smoke still filled the air, but the trees either side of the road remained green, untouched by flame. A little further on we came to the original roadblock, the big old gum Valeria’s men had felled, and there, on the other side of it, was our car. I scrambled over the rough tree trunk and collapsed gratefully against the white sedan.

“You got the keys?”

Garth just looked at me. Right. No clothes. Where exactly would he be hiding a key?

He bent down and pulled something from under the car, behind the back wheel. “We keep a spare back here.”

Good idea. “What holds it on? Magic?”

“Blu Tack.”

He grinned at the look on my face, the first real smile I’d ever seen on him. If it weren’t for all the blood and grime it might have been an improvement. As it was he just looked feral. His clothes still lay scattered where he’d dropped them; now he picked them up and got dressed. I sagged over the bonnet, coughing, while I waited for him to unlock the car.

“Let’s go.” He dropped heavily into the driver’s seat.

Holding a conversation was much easier now that he had the familiar Star Wars T-shirt and jeans back on. Not that he’d seemed to care, but casual nudity wasn’t my thing. Particularly blood-soaked nudity. Sadly the clothes didn’t do much for his overall appearance. He still looked awful. A gash on his cheek bled sluggishly, and one of his ears …

“What is
that
?”

“What?” A shiny pink knob of flesh sat where his left ear should be. He touched it, then shrugged. “Must have lost an ear in the fighting. It’ll grow back.”

“Really?” That pink growth was a new ear? “You can regenerate body parts?”

Panicked laughter welled up, and I forced it back down. There was nothing to laugh about
. I had a dragon inside me.

“Neat trick, huh? Shifting fixes pretty much anything. Except for silver, of course.”

Oh, of course. I eyed his face, pale beneath the blood. “Does it hurt?”

“Like the devil.” He hesitated. “Beats being dead though. You saved my arse with that shovel.”

He looked away, as if expressing gratitude was difficult. Guess he didn’t get much practice at it.

“After I tried to kill you, too.”

This was the longest conversation we’d ever had—and probably the only one that hadn’t ended with him threatening me. As an apology it needed work, but I’d take what I could get.

“Well, we all make mistakes. So you don’t think I killed Leandra any more?”

“I know I took a knock to the head back there. Maybe I dreamed the whole thing.” His battered gaze never wavered from my face. “But I think we both know Leandra’s not dead.”

I drew in a sharp breath—and nearly coughed up a lung. But I was glad of the diversion. He’d said it, and now it hung in the smoky air between us. I didn’t know what to say, so I took refuge in practicalities.

He had blood matted all through his hair. I recalled the sound of his head slamming against the water tank. Could be concussion. And the way Micah had kicked him too—maybe internal injuries.

“Get out of there. You’re not driving.”

“I’m fine.” He squinted up at me with his one working eye.

“You can hardly see where you’re going.” I took his head and felt all over for bumps, as gently as I could. One on the back of his head was the size of an egg.

“I can see the two of you. You both look like shit.”

“Nice. You don’t look so hot yourself, you know.”

“When fighting werewolves you have been, look as hot you will not.”

I glanced down at the Darth Vader T-shirt. “Thanks, Yoda. You’re a big Star Wars fan, huh?”

“Absolutely. Han shot first, you know.”

I shook my head. How much weirder could this day get?

“Out.” I got hold of one muscled arm and hauled. Reluctantly he allowed me to help him out. “Are you really seeing double or are you just being a smart-arse?”

“Bit of both.”

I got him settled in the passenger seat and started the engine. Then I sat, staring out at the smoke and the eerie yellow light. I heard the wail of a siren in the distance. The fire brigade was on its way. The massive tree blocking the road behind us was going to be a problem for them.

“What are you waiting for?” said Garth. “Let’s go.”

“We have to go back. We can’t just leave them.”

Ben would never abandon me—and I’d run out without even knowing if he was still alive.

“We can’t go back.” He leaned closer, the expression in his one good eye fierce. “Luce would be the first to tell you—your safety’s more important.”

“I don’t care.” I grabbed the door handle. “I can’t leave Ben.”

He reached across and stopped me with one big hand over mine. “He’s got Luce. She’s worth any five others in a fight. She’ll keep him safe if anyone can. You’re more important.” A look almost of wonder came over his battered face. “When Valeria finds out about you …”

Adrenalin rushed through me at the thought, and something more—a confused welter of fear, hatred and exultation. Yes, when Valeria found out, I’d better be miles away. I had only a battered wolf for protection until I found the stone.

He was right. The human would be safe enough. It was more important to go after the stone. What was that bitch Nada doing with it? I clenched the steering wheel, knuckles white. Jason’s fear had infected me. What was he afraid of?

“Stop her”—had he meant Nada? Stop her destroying the stone? Or had he been addressing his human female, telling her to stop
me
? Either way, why would he care?

I frowned at Garth, mind racing. In the end, it came back to the channel stone. I felt its lack as a pain beneath my breastbone. I had no choice, compelled like a common thrall to seek it out.

“Mistress?” Garth whispered, eyes wide. “We have to get you to safety.”

I started the car. The wolf laid his head back and closed his eyes. He was injured—I should get him to hospital. Concussion could be nasty.

No. Ridiculous. The wolf would heal, or not. It didn’t matter. The channel stone was more important.

I huffed out a breath, shaking my head to clear it.
Get out!

“Garth! Don’t go to sleep.” His face was pale, almost grey under the dirt and ash and blood.

“Not sleeping,” he grunted. “Thinking.”

“Must be a new experience for you.”

Best to keep him talking. If he lapsed into unconsciousness I wanted to know about it. My body trembled as if I’d just run a marathon, but at least it felt like mine again. I kept sneaking looks at Garth as I drove, torn between my inner struggles and a growing concern for him. I’d seen him heal unnaturally quickly before, but so far he didn’t seem to be improving.

“I heard Jason call you Leandra.” He rolled his head toward me and opened his eyes. Well, the one eye that would still open. “And I … I felt her … I don’t know how to explain it. The way she stands. Even her voice—it’s deeper than yours, you know. And the way you compelled Micah—only a dragon can do that.

“But I know she’s dead. I saw the body. And I thought you killed her—but Jason said he did … and now … Shit, my head hurts. I don’t know what to think.”

Well, that made two of us. I couldn’t even be sure it was
me
doing the thinking. A stranger kept looking out of my eyes, a ruthless stranger whose coldness was alien to me. My whole body tensed, as if I could keep her out by sheer willpower.

I drove a little way in silence. It was the most god-awful mess, and I was pretty sure if Garth was picking sides between me and Leandra I wouldn’t be coming out on top. But he was all I had right now.

And if all else failed I could probably take down a concussed werewolf.

“Ben got a call for a courier job. It was urgent, and they asked for me by name.” Ben had been pleased—said it showed I was building up a reputation for a quality job. Ha! How wrong could you be? That Leandra was a stone-hearted bitch. “The pick-up point was right across the other side of Sydney, and it took me nearly an hour to get there. The place was a mansion, but I’d been told not to go to the house but to let myself in through the side gate. There was a beautiful garden around the back.”

Garth nodded, eyes shut again. No need to tell me he knew the place well. The scent of roses came to me again, their glorious reds and pinks glowing in the sun as I walked past on the sandstone path. I’d followed the path as it meandered under the trees and past the pond with the red Japanese bridge. And there she was.

“Leandra was waiting for me in the garden. As soon as I saw her I knew something was wrong.” She’d been so pale, her beautiful face grey and sweating, her body shaking as she fought the urge to hunch over in agony. God, I could feel that pain now, like an animal tearing at my intestines. I shuddered, hatred for Jason welling up inside. I would rip him apart, feed on his organs while he screamed for mercy.

“That filthy traitor poisoned me. He contacted me and begged for a meeting. He swore he wanted to come back to me.” The steering wheel creaked ominously as my hands tightened on it. “Why didn’t I kill him then? I didn’t trust him for a moment, but I made myself vulnerable to him, like a fool.”

There was a distinct crunch under my hands, and a crack appeared in the steering wheel. The wail of the siren was closer now. As we rounded the next bend a fire engine roared past in the other direction, lights flashing.

“I met him in a public place. I took the thralls. Every precaution! And still he managed to poison me.”

Garth cast an uneasy glance at the speedo. “Slow down, mistress. Why didn’t you tell us you’d been poisoned?”

I waved an impatient hand, still fuming at my remembered stupidity. “You could have been in on it. Luce called while I was with him, and he used the distraction to slip the poison into my drink. I didn’t know who I could trust. So I told the thralls to get me a herald and make sure it was Jason’s woman.”

“Why her?”

“There was a chance Jason still cared for her. The only thing better than killing him would be doing it in her stolen body.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I sat on the bench beneath the graceful boughs of the jacaranda, arms wrapped round my stomach. Its green-dappled shade couldn’t cool the fire in my veins as the bane leaf burned its way through my system. Swaying leaves faded in and out of focus as I shook, each breath harder to draw in than the last.

Where had he found it? Such a rare plant. So feared by dragons it had been all but exterminated from the world. It had been long years since one of our kind had succumbed to its deadly toxin, but the memories were still fresh, handed down through the generations. Tasteless. Colourless. Odourless.

But not painless, as I could now attest.

Sweat broke out all over me and ran in undignified trickles down my face. I hunched over as another agonising cramp racked me. They were coming closer together now. Time from ingestion to death was rarely more than three hours, and there was no known antidote.

At best, I had another hour.

Where was the damn herald?

Alone in the garden, I sat my own death watch. I’d forbidden the thralls to leave the house, cutting off their panicked pleas with orders to make sure no one disturbed us once the herald arrived. Orders gave them a way to serve, which always made them feel better, though the panic was barely contained. They wanted Luce, or even Garth, to relieve them of the burden of responsibility. I couldn’t trust anyone, so I had forbidden the thralls to call them.

I heard the click as the side gate opened. At last! I forced myself to stand, though my legs trembled. I would not be found languishing on a seat.

Pretending to gaze at the roses, I watched her approach out of the corner of my eye. She was dark-haired and apparently heavily pregnant, pretty in an unremarkable sort of way. There were a hundred such as her on the street every day; I couldn’t see what Jason had found so alluring. I felt a sudden misgiving—perhaps there was nothing here to work with.

But I had no other options, so she would have to do. She stopped a few paces away, and I turned to meet her gaze fully. There was a hardness there I liked, a tilt to the chin that said she didn’t care what the world thought, lines that spoke of suffering and lessons learned. She was more than she’d first appeared.

Another spasm seized me and I shifted unsteadily.

“Are you all right?” she asked, a little warmth creeping into her businesslike mask. Human females couldn’t seem to resist the urge to nurture and defend. So unlike dragons. She stepped closer, one hand outstretched as that urge warred with the need to remain aloof and professional. Silver glinted at her throat as she shifted—a chain that no doubt held the symbol of her office.

“Help me, Kate,” I whispered, allowing fear to show in my eyes, pouring every ounce of the terror that swelled in me into that look. Less than an hour left. I couldn’t compel her while she wore that charm but normal human decency would serve for the moment. They did so love to play Good Samaritan.

“What’s wrong?” She started forward and helped me to the bench. Her grip on my arm was strong and capable. “Are you ill?”