‘Stand up.’ Hugh’s booming voice echoed throughout the hall. ‘Move away from her. Now.’
‘Trolls.’ Louis spat inelegantly on the floor. ‘Not good for
fuckfuck.
’
I slid along the floor, edging away from Louis, happy to put some distance between us.
‘Ms Taylor,’ DI Crane’s words held a thread of panic. ‘Be careful.’
I bumped into something. Something soft. Louis smiled his dead fish smile.
‘Genny,’ Hugh’s tone was urgent, ‘move.
Now.
He’s coming round.’
I started to push myself to my feet—
Too late.
Steel fingers manacled my wrist, pulling me down onto my side, and I stared into Westman’s eyes. They were brown, clouded, like an old man’s and full of pain and need. Soon the hunger would take over, stripping him of whatever humanity he had left and plunging him into blood-lust. No way did I want to be this close when he fell. I punched up, catching him under the jaw. His head rocked back. I punched again. He blocked me, grabbing my arm. Jack-knifing my legs, I kicked both feet into his stomach. Stale blood-tainted air puffed out of his mouth, making me gag as he slid away from me, hands still clamped around my wrists.
‘Ms Taylor,’ DI Crane sounded in control at last, ‘I’m going to stun him. You might get a backlash from the spell.’
‘NO!’ I shouted, frantic, ‘you can’t! He’s mind-locked on Neil Banner!’
Westman started pulling me slowly towards him as though I was something large and heavy - he had to be weak from the goblin’s attack. I wriggled backwards, but he tugged, and I lost the couple of inches I’d gained. My heart pounded. Had DI Crane understood what I’d told her? Another pull and I slid closer, my shoulders protesting. Surely she had to realise that stunning Westman might kill Banner? Why didn’t she just order Hugh and the other trolls to sit on him?
The vamp yanked at me again and I slid faster towards him. Shit, it felt like he was getting stronger. I tried to shout, but my throat wouldn’t work. I twisted onto my front and tried to dig in my toes, my elbows, anything, just to get some traction. Snatches of voices stopped and started over me but I couldn’t make sense of the words.
Then Westman started coming at me, using my arms to drag himself nearer, his broken legs trailing behind him like a giant leech. Blood swirled over the whites of his eyes. His mouth opened in a snarl; saliva dripped from one pointed canine, his tiny venom fangs glistening needle-sharp below his front teeth—
He’d fallen into bloodlust.
Terror filled me; I was fourteen again. Remembered pain stabbed the back of my neck, surging through my body, and tears flooded my eyes. I didn’t want to be bitten, not like before. It hurt too much.
I banged my forehead on the floor, hard, to stop the panic before it completely overwhelmed me.
‘I vill help you.’ Louis crawled past me, lace cuffs sweeping the linoleum, and slithered to lie alongside Westman until they were touching from shoulder to hip, then he leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Westman froze.
My eyes closed, trembling muscles relaxed and I took a deep breath.
‘Now ve bargain.’
Shit
. My eyes flew open and met his flat, cold gaze. Maybe I should just climb back into the frying pan.
‘Wh—?’ Licking my lips, I tried again. ‘What bargain?’
‘I want she-witch.’
‘You want what?’ My mouth fell open in shock.
Louis stroked Westman’s hair and started speaking fast in what sounded like French - a language I didn’t understand.
I shook my head.
‘Ms Taylor, perhaps I might help?’ I jerked as the Earl’s quiet voice sounded next to my ear, even though I could clearly see him across the hall from me - he’d thrown his voice, one of the more simpler vamp tricks - if the vamp was old enough. ‘Louis wishes me to relay his request,’ the Earl continued. ‘Please be assured our conversation will be entirely private.’
I turned my head. Hugh’s worried gaze was still fixed on DI Crane. Neither of them were moving, frozen again.
‘Hugh,’ I called, but he didn’t respond. My stomach clenched.
‘He can’t hear you, Ms Taylor,’ the Earl continued. ‘Unfortunately, while you were dealing so admirably with the goblin, Mr Banner became rather violent in his need to reach Westman, and he attacked Mr Hinkley.’ He gave a small cough. ‘I took it upon myself to restrain Mr Banner. Sadly, the estimable Inspector appears to have misunderstood my reasons for holding him and I believe she feels she now has a hostage situation on her hands.’
‘Maybe you hugging Neil Banner like a long-lost teddy bear has something to do with that.’
‘Hmm. Regrettably her various protection spells do not allow me to discuss the misconception with her. I have attempted to communicate with the sergeant, but our abilities are rather ineffectual against trolls.’ He sighed. ‘They are such
dense
creatures. So I have elected to contain the situation and buy us all a small amount of time, as they say.’
I frowned at Hugh. He still hadn’t moved. Was the Earl saying what I thought he was? Was he actually able to selectively stop time and hold individuals in some sort of stasis? Damn, that was some trick - not that I wanted to be impressed - but it wasn’t helping me much.
‘Okay, I get it. So what’s the deal that your
friend
here wants?’
‘It is quite simple: Louis wishes you to remove DI Crane’s protection spell, the one in her sapphire, without alerting her to the fact.’ The Earl’s voice was as calm as if he were discussing a walk in the park, instead of doing something that would go against every tenet that both the witches and vampires held dear. ‘Obviously,’ he continued, ‘this is a difficult, possibly even distasteful option for you to consider, but I believe it is a task that is well within your capabilities.’
‘Witches good
fuckfuck
,’ Louis said with a grin that never reached his eyes. ‘Good blood.’
‘So, if I’ve got this right,’ I said slowly, ‘I can play matchmaker for Psycho vamp Louis and Inspector Crane, or I can let the other sucker here pump me full of venom whilst he attempts to suck me dry.’ I’d already been there and burnt the T-shirt on option two, and was
not
looking for a replay. Never again would be too soon for that.
‘Eloquently put, my dear.’ The Earl paused. ‘Westman needs blood, and without it, he will be unable to withdraw his hold on Mr Banner, and thus avert the unpleasant situation in which we find ourselves.’
‘Stop playing games with me,’ I snapped. ‘Just order Louis to feed the sucker; I’m quite sure that would also avert the situation.’
A pink bead of sweat rolled down Westman’s face. Louis leaned in and caught it with his tongue.
Nice.
‘Sadly, that is not a possibility.’ The Earl didn’t sound quite so unruffled now. ‘Louis does not bow to my hand. He owes his fealty to another.’
I didn’t try and keep the surprise out of my voice. ‘I thought you were the main man around here?’
‘Ms Taylor, Westman needs blood soon.’ He sounded tired. ‘Please make your decision: who will make the necessary donation? ’
‘Decision made. I nominate you.’
The Earl sighed. ‘In Westman’s present state, blood from a vampire not of his family would devastate his mind.’
Damn. ‘And destroy Neil Banner’s along with it.’ I finished the unspoken part of the sentence.
‘Yes.’ Regret tinged his voice. ‘I see you understand the situation.’
Westman tugged at my arms again and I slid another inch nearer. I let out a startled yelp, then clamped my lips firmly together.
Louis grinned, showcasing his sharp fangs.
My heart thudded faster against my ribs.
‘Even now, Louis is still trying to save you. Whether he succeeds is up to you. Westman is young and horribly injured. Should he attack you, it would hardly be unprovoked, for the goblin did offer the first blow, and you are sidhe fae, Ms Taylor, not human. The penalties are not so severe.’
Different races, different rules.
Damn.
He had it all worked out.
I looked at DI Crane, standing next to Hugh. One hand was still wrapped around her sapphire pendant, but her other hand was now held up, fingers frozen halfway through casting a spell. Had she moved? Then as I watched, her arm jerked, then stilled again. It looked like the Earl had to keep pressing the ‘pause’ button to keep them in stasis. Another yank on my arms brought my attention back to the vampires.
‘I am afraid you really do need to decide, Ms Taylor.’ The Earl’s voice sounded fainter, as though he was further away.
‘I’m thinking,’ I snapped. Not that I had a lot of choices. Someone holds a gun - or a vampire in bloodlust - to your head, and what can you do? Give them what they want? That was a no-brainer. Call their bluff? That one only worked if they actually were bluffing, and somehow I didn’t think they were. The only other option was to try and get control of the gun?
Shit.
Would that even work?
‘There is no more time, Ms Taylor.’ A pressure in my head that I hadn’t even noticed dissolved and noise burst over me like an oncoming wave: Hugh’s voice, yelling, growls from the other troll, moans that I guessed were either Banner’s or Hinkley’s.
Louis shot me a fang-filled grin and crooked his finger. The pull on my arms increased and I started to slide towards him and Westman again.
I
focused
my own magic and shoved it into Westman. Power like a thin steel wire coiled from him to Louis, binding them together, but I ignored it and reached instead for the fat rope of
mesma
that emanated from Westman and stretched towards Banner. I needed to separate the convulsing red and white strands, but there wasn’t time ... instead I wrapped the rope in my own magic, encasing it in a tube of golden light and sealing it tight.
‘
Putain!
’ Louis hissed, almost breaking my concentration. He tried to prise Westman’s fingers from my wrists, but I poured more magic around the rope, locking Westman in my Glamour, his own hands on my bare skin melding the connection. If Louis wanted Westman free, he’d have to break his fingers one by one; that was the only way he’d get Westman to let go of me.
Sweat trickled into my left eye and I blinked it away.
The scent of honeysuckle permeated the air. Tendrils of magic sprouted out like golden shoots from the rope.
Shit
, that wasn’t supposed to happen! The shoots twined around the coiled wire between Westman and Louis like some quick-growing vine.
‘
Merde!
’ Louis leapt up and stumbled backwards, hands slicing the air between us.
Damn
... slapping a Glamour on one vamp was probably about my limit. I was operating blind; I’d only ever done this with a human before, so no way did I want to try Glamouring two of the suckers.
Heart pounding, I tried to pull the magic back, but it kept rushing out, the beautiful golden light twisting up the steel wire, stretching like elastic, getting thinner and thinner.
Wordless shouts ricocheted above me: Hugh’s urgent; DI Crane’s sharp with warning—
—then green lightening hit Louis in the chest, arcing along the wire, lashing back at Westman and me ...
... and the world exploded into burning green flames.
Chapter Ten
D
ust was getting up my nose. I fought the urge to sneeze, and shivered: catching the backlash of a stun-spell twice in quick succession is so not something I would recommend. I tried to snuggle into the warmth surrounding me, but the dust kept choking me, making me cough.
‘Genny,’ Hugh’s voice rumbled through me, ‘Genny, are you awake?’
Opening my eyes didn’t feel like a good idea.
‘Is she coming round?’ A woman’s voice, impatient.
‘I think so.’ Heat breathed over the top of my head as Hugh spoke.
‘Perhaps you could put her down then, Sergeant Munro.’
‘In a minute, ma’am.’
Ma’am? Oh yes, the new DI.
Hugh gently patted my arm. ‘Genny, you have to wake up now.’
I didn’t want to; I wanted to stay where I was. I buried my face in Hugh’s shoulder, feeling the warmth rising off him like sun-baked stone. If I could just go back to sleep ... But there was something I had to know first.
‘Neil Banner - the Souler,’ I mumbled. ‘Is he all right?’
‘Yes, the stun-spell missed him,’ Hugh said quietly, ‘but they’re taking him off to HOPE to make sure.’
I sighed and snuggled back up to Hugh, then remembered something else. ‘What about Alan Hinkley?’
‘He hit his head on a chair when Banner pushed him.’ Hugh patted my back this time. ‘The ambulance crew are just waiting to make sure you’re okay.’
Frowning, I opened my eyes.
We were on the floor in the Hall, a forest of legs around us. I looked up, half-smiling as I recognised two of the crew from HOPE. Next to them stood Constable Lamber, jagged age cracks marring his speckled troll face. Then I followed the smartest pair of black-trousered legs upwards until I found DI Crane. Her expression made me wish I could just close my eyes again.
‘What exactly did you think you were doing, Ms Taylor?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘I appreciate the backlash from a stun-spell isn’t pleasant, but I am sure it’s better than the alternative.’ Her hands clenched, and her expensive knuckleduster rings glinted as they caught the overhead lights.
‘Your—’ Another of Hugh’s mini dust clouds drifted over me and I realised that’s what had been getting up my nose and in my throat. I blew it away. ‘You’d have hit Neil Banner with your spell too: automatic vamp defence.’ I rubbed my nose, sneezed and Constable Lamber handed me a troll-sized tissue.
‘Ms Taylor is correct.’ I twisted my head towards the Earl’s voice. He sat on one of the plastic chairs, a bone-china cup and saucer balanced in his hand, looking calm and relaxed. ‘If your spell had hit Westman, my dear Inspector, Mr Banner would most certainly have suffered along with him, and being human, it is quite possible the damage would have been fatal.’
DI Crane’s lips thinned. ‘Thank you,’ she snapped. ‘Ms Taylor, I understand you were concerned about Mr Banner, but perhaps next time you could cast a simple barrier-spell?’ She twisted a turquoise-stoned ring. ‘Catching a vampire in a Glamour seems extreme to me.’