Scenting Hallowed Blood (21 page)

Salamiel made a small noise of
surprise. ‘You are shocked by this? Why? You and Azazel have shared
far rarer pleasures.’

‘Let him go,’ Lily said. ‘He’s
ill. He doesn’t know what’s happening.’

Salamiel nodded. ‘True. It is
disappointing, but only to be expected. Azazel can restore him, and
for this reason, surely, you should want my assistance.’

‘He won’t do it,’ Lily said.
‘Everyone’s tried to persuade him. He won’t. He’s not what you
think.’

‘He is the greatest Grigori
that ever lived, or ever shall,’ Salamiel remarked. ‘The sacrifice
he became on behalf of our race made him so. Nothing is beyond him.
If he has not become aware of himself, that is only the fault of
those around him, who cannot appreciate his power.’ He reached out
to touch Lily’s hair, but she jerked away from him.

‘What are you going to do to
us?’

‘Fear not, pretty maiden. My
plans for you are all congenial.’ He sighed and walked towards his
companions. ‘We must leave now. Dress the boy.’ He turned to Lily.
‘Are there any belongings you wish to take with you?’

‘With me where?’ Lily asked in
a whisper.

‘My house,’ Salamiel answered.
‘You are to be my guests for a while. We have so much to
discuss.’

Daniel sat on the sofa in Taziel’s
living room, refusing to speak. Taziel had tried, on numerous
occasions during the last hour, to initiate a discussion, and had
explained himself in several different ways. Daniel knew that
Taziel’s explanations were all valid and without artifice, but
still felt betrayed and angry. How stupid he had been to fall for
Taziel’s seduction. He realised now that he had been the victim of
a Grigori plot since the moment he’d met ‘Eve’ in the cafe. The
presence that had come to him in the night, held him in etheric
arms, had been Taziel, paving the way for a later conquest. Daniel
knew he had been used, and no matter how much Taziel insisted he
respected and felt genuinely attracted to him, Daniel could not
bring himself to utter forgiveness. He realised this was more
because he was angry with himself, but the effect was the same.

‘We are doing the best thing
for Shemyaza,’ Taziel said, but Daniel could tell he still hated
and adored the image of Peverel Othman, and that he didn’t really
care what was best for Shem, only what was best for Taziel. He
wanted revenge, if only to speak his mind to the person he believed
had ruined him. But, no matter how much he denied it to himself,
Taziel also wanted reconciliation. Daniel could see the wistful
colours of it in Taziel’s aura as he stalked around the room,
talking quickly, his arms snaking on the air. By this time, Daniel
had heard the story of what Peverel Othman had done to Taziel at
least three times. He admitted to himself that if he’d experienced
such traumas as Taziel had, he’d probably feel the same way, but
was physically unable to commiserate. He wanted Taziel to suffer
because he had lied.

‘I tried to tell you, but you
wouldn’t let me,’ Taziel said, lighting a cigarette. ‘You were too
interested in sex.’

If that was supposed to provoke
a response, Daniel refused to rise to it. He turned his head
towards the window, then considered lying down. If he pretended to
go to sleep, that would infuriate Taziel even more. How long must
he stay here? He presumed the other two would come back once they
had persuaded or threatened Shemyaza to accompany them. He could
imagine Shem’s response. There would be no resistance, of this he
was sure. Shem didn’t care. He would find their interest in him
mildly amusing, that was all. Emma might not be so compliant, but
ultimately she would follow Shem’s lead.

Daniel stretched himself out on
the sofa and put his hands under his head. Taziel made an irritated
sound, but Daniel would not look at him. He closed his eyes,
wondering whether this would provoke Taziel enough for him to get
violent. With the room blotted out, Daniel became aware of his
body, how it still tingled with the fading rhythm of sex and
desire. It seemed obscene now, and yet part of him still wanted it.
He presumed this was because of the drug Israel had given him
earlier. How would Taziel react if Daniel just sat up now and
demanded that they make love? The thought made him smile, although
he had no intention of doing anything about it.

‘What’s so funny?’ Taziel
asked.

Daniel felt his weight as he
sat down on the end of the sofa. He considered saying something to
Taziel at last, something cruel and witty, but before he could
decide on the words, a cramp of incredible pain lanced through his
body. He cried out in shock and curled instinctively into a tight
ball.

‘What is it?’ Taziel asked in
an urgent voice.

Daniel could not speak, but
managed to utter a choked groan. Images flashed through his mind:
blood, terror, pale creatures dropping down in darkness to devour
and tear. He saw Lily’s white face, screaming silently, her mouth
an enormous dark oval. He saw Israel’s head hanging from his ruined
body, his open eyes filmed with blood. ‘No!’ Daniel leapt upright
and staggered across the room, only to fall down in increasing
waves of pain.

Taziel was beside him in an
instant, his hands on Daniel’s shuddering shoulders. ‘What’s
happened?’

Daniel tried to regulate his
breathing. It felt as if sharp knives were scoring his skin in
whirling patterns. He sensed his suffering was sympathetic, and
that he must take control of it; the agony was not his. He slapped
Taziel’s fluttering hands away and managed to pull himself into a
sitting position, clutching his belly. Gradually, he pushed the
sensations of pain away, calmed himself with deep breathing.
‘Something’s happened. Israel is dead. Something attacked
them.’

Taziel’s eyes grew wider. ‘Tell
me.’

Daniel shook his head. ‘I don’t
want to go back into that. It wasn’t... too pleasant.’ He rubbed
his face. ‘Lily and Owen are alive, I feel this. I think Shem and
the others are OK too, but some have died. There’s a presence, a
red hot presence, and it can sense me. I must shield myself.’ A
metallic, grinding, humming noise was beginning to fill his head,
accompanied by a shrill ache. Daniel shook his head again
vigorously. His eyes were watering.

Taziel said nothing more, but
sat back on the floor opposite Daniel. To Daniel’s intense relief,
he began to conjure a cone of white light around the room, to
protect them from any malign influences. The force of Taziel’s mind
was so great, the effect took place almost at once. Daniel felt the
hideous sensations fade away. He could do nothing but fall into
Taziel’s waiting arms, needing the reassuring, physical presence of
another body.

For a few moments they sat
there hugging one another, unable to speak. Then the phone began to
ring. Taziel leapt up and answered it. Daniel heard him say,
‘Ninka! What’s happened?’ He said nothing more, but kept nodding
and uttering small urgent sounds of encouragement. Finally he said,
‘Let me speak to Lahash.’

‘What’s happened?’ Daniel
asked, but Taziel only raised a hand for silence.

‘OK, we’ll do that.’ Taziel put
down the phone. ‘They were on the mobile, in the car. They have
Shem and the woman, Emma. You were right. There was trouble.
Another Grigori faction beat them to it, but Lahash, with his macho
weapons, managed to get them out alive.’

‘Are they coming here?’

Taziel shook his head. ‘No, too
dangerous. We’ll have to follow them to Cornwall. In view of what
you just experienced, I think we should go sooner rather than
later. We might be in danger ourselves.’

‘Do people really want Shem so
badly?’

Taziel shook his head in
disbelief. ‘Daniel, are you mad? You know what Shem’s potential is.
He is the herald of the New Age. Hell, he
is
the New Age.
But if the wrong people get hold of him, the New Age could be worse
than the old.’

‘All this, yet he is still
Peverel Othman to you, and you want to tell him how much he hurt
you.’

Taziel looked away. ‘Yeah,
well. It’s all relative. Are you OK to travel now?’

‘How? On the train?’

Taziel smiled and picked up the
phone. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll call us a hire car. Grigori money
can buy anything at any time of day or night.’

As Taziel punched in the
number, Daniel asked. ‘They got Lily and Owen out as well
then?’

Taziel flicked him a furtive
glance. ‘Er... no. They left without seeing either of them.’

Daniel leapt to his feet. ‘Taz,
we must go there! We can’t just leave them!’ Then he slumped down
to the floor again. ‘No, too late, too late.’

He put his head in his hands as
Taziel ordered the car. He sensed that Lily and Owen were alive,
but they had been seized by the same creatures that had killed
Israel. And whatever had taken them wanted him, too. It was
collecting Shem’s followers. The name ‘Azazel’ came into Daniel’s
mind. Was that who was behind the abduction? He remembered dimly
that it might be the name of one of the other Watchers, which he
and Owen had picked up when they’d been researching the Grigori in
Little Moor.

Taziel put down the phone.
‘Half an hour,’ he said. ‘I’d better get some things together.’

He went into the bedroom, and
Daniel followed him. ‘Does the name ‘Azazel’ mean anything to
you?’

Taziel was pulling clothes off
a rail in the corner of the room. ‘Yeah, in some versions of our
history he was supposed to be Shemyaza’s right hand man. In others,
it’s simply another name for Shemyaza himself.’

Daniel nodded. ‘Right. Well, I
think that someone called Azazel is behind what’s happened. I
picked the name up a short while ago. It can’t be Shem... I don’t
know. It might be that someone is just using the name.’

‘I don’t want to find out just
yet,’ Taziel said, stuffing clothes into a canvas carrier. ‘Let’s
get to Cornwall as soon as we can. We’ll be safe there. It’s a
Grigori stronghold.’

Daniel raised his arms
helplessly. ‘But what about Lily and Owen? We can’t just leave
them.’

‘What else can we do? If you
think this character is looking for you too, we have to get you to
a sanctuary as soon as possible.’

Daniel shuddered. He suddenly
felt very cold, and an image flashed across his mind, of pale,
crawling creatures with long white hair swarming over the roof of
Taziel’s apartment, dropping down the chimneys, scratching their
way in through the windows. They were physical creatures and no
cone of light could keep them out.

‘I’m afraid,’ he said.

Taziel zipped up the bag and
came to take Daniel’s shaking body in his arms. He kissed the top
of Daniel’s head. ‘I want to protect you,’ he said.

The next half hour seemed to
take an age to pass. Daniel frantically paced the apartment,
checking every window, expecting to see ghostly white faces at
every one. He jumped whenever he heard a strange noise, thinking it
was something on the roof.

‘We’re fine,’ Taziel said.
‘They haven’t found us. They’re just looking.’ He shared Daniel’s
discomfort, but knew that if they both gave in to fear, it would
act like a beacon of light to those who were hunting them. Taziel
tried to shroud Daniel’s worried thoughts with a blanket of
calm.

Taziel turned out all the
lights and watched at the long front window for the car. When it
finally arrived, five minutes late, he and Daniel fled the flat.
Outside, the night seemed alive with presences, and whispered
voices seemed to hiss in Daniel’s ears as he threw himself into the
back of the car.

‘This must look very
suspicious,’ Taziel remarked to the driver, ‘but please drive us to
Cornwall as fast as you can. Drive as if the dukes of Hell were
after us.’

The driver laughed, probably
thinking they were involved in some kind of criminal activity and
put his foot down. Daniel curled against Taziel’s side, and
listened to the rapid beat of his heart.

The car hissed through the
night, filled with the sound of a late night radio station. Taziel
chain-smoked, gazing out of the window. Occasionally, the driver
tried to make conversation, but Taziel replied in monosyllables to
discourage him.

‘Say if you want to stop for
anything,’ said the driver.

‘We don’t want to stop,’ Taziel
replied.

Soon the city was left behind,
and the road stretched out ahead into darkness. The miles flickered
by; sleeping towns and dreaming fields. As they drew nearer to
Cornwall, the countryside became wilder and more empty. Fields gave
way to wilderness and moorland.

On a lonely road, a pale figure
materialised on the grass verge. ‘Hitch-hiker at this time?’ said
the driver, incredulous.

‘I don’t think so,’ Taziel
replied calmly, ‘don’t slow down.’

‘But it’s a girl! We can’t
just...’

‘Put your foot down, will you!’
Taziel could see the pale face, the dark holes of the eyes, the
long, floating white hair, the slender body leaning into the
rain.

The driver made a disgruntled
noise, but stepped on the accelerator. As they passed the pale
figure, it launched itself at the windscreen. The car lurched
violently as the driver applied the brakes in terror. The vehicle
slewed across the wet tarmac, and slid to a halt, half-facing the
direction from which they’d come. There was no sign of the strange,
leaping figure. The driver made to open his door, but Taziel barked
a command. ‘Don’t you dare! Just get going again!’

‘But, for fuck’s sake, the
kid’s probably lying half dead on the road.’

‘It’s no kid and it’s not on
the road!’ Taziel yelled. ‘It’s on the fucking roof!’

Daniel had woken up, murmuring,
‘What’s going on?’

Taziel hit the driver in the
back. ‘Just get moving will you? Are the doors all locked?’