Bloodlust (22 page)

I slumped in my seat. “What. Ever.”

He reached out and gingerly patted me on the shoulder in the same manner that you might try and comfort a rabid dog dying at the side of the road. “Now you have my weapons, you can kill Endor. He’s not a problem.” He shrugged. “And neither are the bloodsuckers. Just get them off your back by giving them this Aubrey fellow.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why the hell not? From what I heard, he’s responsible for the deaths of a bunch of others. Others who you cared about. It’s no skin off your nose if they do something to him. They’ll probably just turn him back into a vamp.”

I frowned. “It would just be wrong.”

Balud shook his head. “You’re crazy.”

“I guess I am,” I sighed. “But he’s turned into a good guy.” I looked at the troll. “I have no idea why I just told you all this. Please don’t pass it on to anyone else.”

“Girlie, if I tried to tell anyone, they would think I’m just as crazy as you. You’re a Draco Wyr. One of the most potentially powerful creatures the Otherworld has ever seen. Pull yourself together and stop acting like a baby.”

My mouth dropped open.

“You heard me. Honestly,” he said, his eyes rolling heavenwards, “Women and their bloody hormones.”

My eyes narrowed. “Hey!” I protested.

“Get over yourself, get out, get those weapons and get on with what you should be doing.”

For once I had no reply.

He reached over me and opened the passenger door. “Go on.”

Still slightly stunned, I got out and walked round to the back of the car and opened the boot, pulling out a long wooden box.

“Is this it?” I called out.

He revved the engine loudly. What the fuck? I slammed the boot shut, and the car immediately careened off, with the tyres actually smoking. I stared after it. Hormones? Fucking troll. I jutted out my bottom lip - and then realised how ridiculous I was being. He was right. I needed to get with the program and act like the council head I was supposed to be.

I hefted the box, feeling its reassuring weight, and glanced back at the keep. I could do this. I marched across the road and thumped back on the large door. After a minute or two, it creaked open, and a shifter stared at me. I pushed past him and stalked inside, following the hum of voices from beyond to get my bearings. Finding what seemed to be the right room, I banged open the door and stepped inside.

Three hundred pairs of eyes swivelled in my direction and the room hushed into silence. Spotting Corrigan at the far end, I strode over. He watched my approach, eyeing me as if I was about to completely flip out. I’d already done that in Balud’s car though. Now it was time to get down to business.

There was a table next to him, covered with white china and the remnants of finger food. Seriously? Delicately painted tea-cups and cucumber sandwiches for a bunch of shapeshifters? Give me a break. I swept one arm across the entire table, and sent it crashing to the floor. No-one in the room moved a muscle.

I shoved Balud’s box onto the table and undid the clasps, flipping open the lid. I had to admit that the troll had really outdone himself. The sword gleamed from within the purple lining of the box. It looked very heavy, and very lethal. I pulled it out, then offered it to Corrigan, hilt first. There was no indication on his face of his previous feelings of disgust, but he still didn’t look very friendly.

“Staines is dead,” I said, making sure my voice was loud and clear so that everyone could hear me. “And we know exactly who killed him. You’ve had your service and had your mourning. Now it’s time to get your revenge.”

A swell of hushed muttering rose up and died again.

“This sword is edged with palladium.” I smiled thinly. “This is a necromancer’s kryptonite. Your Lord Alpha is going to plunge this into Endor’s fucking heart, and we are going to be rid of him forever.”

I stared into Corrigan’s eyes. Something flickered within their depths and he took hold of the sword, his hands curving round the ornate hilt. Thank fuck. It was so heavy, I’d been about to drop it. He cut it through the air, first one way, and then the other and nodded at me.

I spoke again. “He gets the sword because it was his right-hand man who died. But there are also three daggers. One for the mages, one for the faeries and one for me. We are going to end this week victorious. We are going to make sure that this bastard dies a thousand deaths. We are going to win. And the reason we’re going to win is because we’re going to work together as a team to do it.” I paused, feeling momentarily carried away by my own sudden energy. Then I shouted. “What are we going to do?”

For a heartbeat there was absolute silence, then one lone voice called out from somewhere at the back, “We’re going to win!”

I shouted again. ‘What are we going to do?”

More people joined in. “We’re going to win!”

“What?”

“We’re going to win! We’re going to win! We’re going to win!” The voice of the crowd swelled until even the rafters were shaking with the tumult. I turned to Corrigan and smiled grimly.

He raised an eyebrow at me with an odd mixture of surprise and approval. There was something else too, which looked a little bit like respect.

“We’ll fight him on the beaches,” he said.

Hearing the conversation, the Arch-Mage stepped up. “We’ll fight him on the landing grounds.”

I looked at the Summer Queen. She rolled her eyes, patently exasperated. “Yes, yes, we’ll fight him in the fields and in the streets.”

I grinned. “I can’t remember the rest. But you know what?”

They all looked at me.

“We’ll never fucking surrender.”

Chapter Nineteen

The trouble with Loch Ness is that, despite its obvious natural beauty, there’s a distinct lack of cover. I’d been fortunate enough to find myself a tree next to the water’s edge to sit myself behind, but I knew that some of us had ended up a few hundred feet away simply because there wasn’t anywhere to hide. We couldn’t afford to let Endor know that we were here. In that scenario no doubt he’d adjust his plans, and we’d be scuppered.

It was satisfying to know that since my impromptu speech, the mages, faeries and shifters had actually, honest-to-goodness and no-holds-barred, managed to set aside their differences and work together. I’d seen them discussing plans, considering strategies and even, once, a shifter asking a mage for advice about whether it would be better to combine their attacks or to separate out their ethereal magic and their physical brawn. Both the Summer Queen and the Arch-Mage had elected to stay away from the action, although they were still monitoring everything closely from a distance. I had to admit that it was a good idea. Their presence only caused more friction – not just amongst the other groups, but from within their own ranks also. Wild horses wouldn’t have kept Corrigan away, however.

The Lord Alpha was positioned on the north edge of the loch, closest to where the kelpies’ habitat was and therefore where we thought Endor would be most likely to attack. I was on the more westerly side, some considerable distance away. It was impressive, really, just how cordial we’d managed to keep our relations with each other over the past two days since we’d all arrived. Neither of us made any mention or even subtle reference to the kiss – instead we were entirely businesslike and focused on our goal. He’d even listened to me when I’d outlined my plans for communication, agreeing that it made the most sense to have everyone in groups of three: one shifter, one Fae and one mage in each. When Endor showed his face, whoever saw him first would use the Fae to transport straight to Corrigan no matter what was happening. That way Corrigan could then use his Voice to tell all the shifters where to vamoose their arses. Only alphas could initiate Voice contact, a fact that often made life difficult for the shifters. In this instance, however, it worked, because it meant that each and every one of us was crystal clear on just how vital it was to collaborate and communicate.

I was the only exception to the group of three rule. This was because I was the only one other than the Brethren Lord who could use the Voice to start a telepathic conversation. Admittedly, it was only Corrigan himself I could talk to, but I was just glad that no-one had questioned the reasons as to why that might be the case. According to the Fae book on my heritage, Draco Wyr could initiate Voice conversations with their soul-mate alone. As far as I was aware, only Solus and Alex knew that teeny little inconsequential fact. What Corrigan would think of it if he found out, I had no idea. It didn’t really matter because he never would. Bearing in mind the wichtlein prophecy, it was unlikely that I’d make it to the end of this day alive… and I’d decided I was okay with that. It hurt like hell to imagine him with someone else – like that blonde he’d been with in London – but there was frankly not a damn thing I could do about it. As long as Endor was dead and Corrigan was safe, along with everyone else, then I could ask for nothing more.

Fortunately, the vamps had stayed out of my way for the time being. I’d convinced Aubrey to hole up in a nearby B&B and avoid coming to the loch itself. I’d also wrenched a promise out of him that in the unsurprising event of my death, he would never ever return to London again. Instead he was to find a small little country town somewhere to settle down happily for the rest of his days. It was the best I could do.

I stretched out my legs and yawned. The majority of my bruises were already considerably subsiding, and my body was in full healing mode. I had a funny feeling that the transformation exercises I’d been doing with Tom had helped. I was still a long way off being sure that I could fully shift into my Draco Wyr form and retain my own consciousness, but there was definite progress being made. If I had to become a dragon to defeat Endor, then I would. I wouldn’t be happy about it, but I was more confident that I’d manage it without killing everyone else in the process. I’d not healed completely as the heavy ball of flame in my stomach was still making its presence known, but I actually felt rather glad about it. It meant that my bloodfire was simmering away, ready to spring into action as soon as it was required.

The sound of approaching voices caused me to suddenly tense. I pulled out the palladium tipped dagger, and heat rippled through me in a burgeoning flame. Twisting around, I remained crouched and camouflaged by the tree, craning my neck to see who it was. From around the curving path, a family appeared, each one wearing matching hiking boots with brightly coloured knee length socks. They were talking and laughing. I watched as the small boy with them stumbled and tripped, landing on his hands and knees. He looked surprised for a second, then his face screwed up ready to begin bawling. The father was already there, however, scooping him up and planting him on his shoulders, distracting him from the impending tears. I turned away.

There were just too many fucking tourists around. It was inevitable: it was the height of summer after all, but I was nervous that they’d end up getting in the way. Between the luxury cruises chugging up and down the loch with regular intervals, the cyclists and the walkers, it was going to be difficult for the mages to mask the signs of the upcoming battle. I chewed on my lip. I just had to trust that they’d manage it.

The glittering water in front of me rippled slightly, and a sleek dark head appeared. Kelpie. Its liquid brown eyes regarded me seriously, its almost impossibly long lashes blinking away the droplets of water. I scowled at it. Fucking thing. All of them gave me the creeps. They finally seemed to have come around to the idea that their entire existence was under threat, and agreed to do what we said, but it had been a struggle. And they were supposed to be keeping to Corrigan’s end of the sodding loch.

I opened my mind, ready to tell the Lord Alpha to make sure that the bloody water creatures stayed in one place, but he was already there, the familiar growl of his Voice echoing in my head.

Something’s happening.

My body froze.
What? Is he there?

Corrigan’s Voice sounded strained.
No, it’s the kelpies. They’re all coming up to the surface. They’re…

He broke off. I stared back at the water but the kelpie that had been there had vanished. Shit. It was starting. I sprang into action, grabbing the bike I’d hidden in a clump of bushes in case I needed to travel a long way, and tearing the leaves away from it with as much haste as I could manage. I pulled it away and jerked it up the small hill and onto the path, leaping on top of it and pedalling as fast as I could. As my legs pumped, I was aware of others emerging from their hiding places around me and doing the same. I cursed. No, that wasn’t right.

Corrigan!
I yelled with my Voice.
You have to get the faeries to stay where they are. If you don’t have eyeballs on Endor, then they need to be there in case he shows up somewhere else.

I threw my hands out as I whizzed past three of them. “The Fae!” I shouted. “She has to stay there!”

I didn’t look back to see whether they’d heard me or not, instead I threw even more energy into getting the bike to move faster. Screw this bloody loch for being so big. I’d practised getting from different spots around it as quickly as I could over the last two days, but somehow this time Corrigan’s position seemed much farther than had before. Air whipped past my cheeks and my palms felt sweaty and slippery on the handle bars. Fuck it, come on!

I swerved round a small boulder lying in the middle of the path, only just managing to keep the bike upright and myself on it. Flying over the handle bars at this speed would probably send me into a coma. I had to be careful. My heart was pounding in my ears, and adrenaline and bloodfire were zipping through every part of my body. Finally, I curved around and spotted Corrigan and several mages, faeries and shifters all at the water’s edge. More were arriving every second. Even from this distance the water seemed to be churning. The daylight was already draining from the sky, making the blue bolts of magic the mages were zipping out into the water appear bright and unmistakable. I hoped again that they were still holding the concealing glamour in place. I screeched up, slamming on the brakes, and jumping off the bike, then sprinted to join them.