Vowed (41 page)

‘Get him under control. I can’t let you into the club if he can’t act responsibly. That poor girl’s going to be sick for days.’ He scowls heavily. ‘Bloody
sirens – you have no business bringing someone who can’t control themselves to the club, Kit. What were you thinking?’ Rorke turns back to the queue and gestures for the first
five people to make their way in. The door opens and the heavy bass escapes into the air before it’s shut off again.

‘Go around the back and I’ll get Torsten sent out to you. We’ve got two DJs playing tonight. Torsten is due to be on later. Miron is seriously not going to like
this.’

I lead Dante to the narrow street next to the club. It’s dark and shadowy here but it doesn’t smell too bad. There are no overflowing bins or urine aroma, which is a relief. I find a
crate and prop Dante on it.

‘What the hell?’ I ask him, hunkering next to him. ‘Dante?’

‘I’m so sorry, Kit. I can’t think straight.’ He turns the full weight of his heavy gaze on me and I feel the incredible pull of his eyes. My magic shifts uncomfortably
under my skin and I anchor myself, concentrating on the remnants of Thorn’s lullaby still echoing in my mind. It helps, but only slightly, because a part of me is desperate to give in to the
urge inside me to just lean in and kiss Dante. The air is thick with his scent – pheromones, I know that now, but it doesn’t matter – and I remember how good it felt just being
pressed up against him, how hot his hands felt when they came to rest on the bare skin of my back.

‘You have to control this, Dante.’ I stand up with the utmost reluctance. I even manage to put a step between us. One more. I’ve got my magic running interference, but what
must that poor girl have felt when he had her up against the wall? What did he say to her? I saw the naked want on her face when her friend managed to pull her away, and had felt sympathy but also
relief that I didn’t have to witness anything further. I wonder why Rorke didn’t seem perturbed that Dante no longer seemed human. But then Rorke’s been the doorman at
Milton’s for a long time and has, no doubt, seen a great many things that would still shock little old me.

‘I thought I did,’ Dante says, watching me with shadowed eyes. ‘I thought I had a grip on it. Then I looked at that girl and could read all of her. I knew her
deepest longings and needs. It felt as if someone else had taken control and told me I just had to go and talk to her and make her smile. Then she touched me and I felt myself falling into deep
water and I couldn’t think straight.’ He scrubs his hands through his hair. ‘It was like I could only breathe when I touched her.’

His voice is raw as he speaks and I feel sorry for him, but only up to a point.

‘You felt her
need
?’ I can’t help the disbelief and annoyance in my voice. ‘Seriously? You practically maul a girl who’s been influenced by your magic and
you say it’s because you felt her need? That is seriously screwed up, Dante.’

‘Look, I’m trying to explain all of this to you. I’m scared because this is new and it’s frightening and I don’t know what’s going on with me. I walked past
those people in the line waiting to get in and I somehow knew what every single one of them wanted the most. It was as if they were whispering into my mind. That girl? She’s so lonely in a
world that scares her. She wants someone to take care of her. Every night she goes home to an empty flat and sits in the darkness feeling lost and alone. Today is her birthday. She wanted a kiss
from a hot boy, something to make her feel alive. It was like she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I had to calm her down somehow because I couldn’t think otherwise.’ He grimaces
at my heavy look of disgust and disbelief. ‘What makes it even worse is trying to explain it because I sound psycho. I see you watching me with those big eyes and can see your distaste
– I wish there was a way to make you see I’m telling the truth.’ He’s breathing as if he’s just run a marathon. ‘Do you think I want this? To know that when I
look at you, I feel inappropriate things and remember how great you smell. But mostly I remember how incredible it felt having you pressed up against me – and I have to pretend it
didn’t happen because you’re too young and I’m older and I’m not really me any more.’ His smile is savage and the look he gives me is white hot with anger and regret.
‘But you want to know what makes all of this even worse? It’s knowing you’re my friend, that the memory I have of you in my arms is a lie because you would never want me in that
way. I listen to you, that part inside you that you don’t even want to listen to and, you know who I see there? Thorn, some guy I’ve never met, and I know that he’s the one you
really want. So what happened between us really has nothing to do with me but with whatever the thing is I’m becoming. This weird hybrid thing that attracts people but repels you.’ He
clenches his hands as he slumps on the crate. ‘I’ve never been so conflicted about who I am and what I want in all my life. How could everything be okay one day and so fucked up the
next?’

This is a sentiment I can completely relate to, so, before I over-think it, I step closer and drop a hand on his bowed head.

‘Dante? Things are really screwed up right now. I’m worried about you but I need you to keep it together until we’ve got this thing with Torsten sorted, okay?’ I crouch
down next to him so I can look into his veiled eyes. ‘But to clear the air, let me just say this: I find you seriously hot. I wanted to kiss you even before the fever and you became a faerie
sex god.’ His lips curve attractively at my words and his breathing slows a little. ‘And you’re right. I fell for a boy a while ago when things were crazy and, although I think
you’re cute, you’re just not him. But even so, nothing can come of me having feelings for this other boy. It’s unnatural and forbidden for us to be together in a romantic way. But
he is still my friend and I worry about him a lot. What you and I have . . . I don’t know. I’m sorry I’m younger than you but that’s not my fault and it’s not yours,
so maybe we both need to just get over it till after we’ve got this all wrapped up. I don’t want to lose you as a friend and partner in this. You put up with my crap and listen to my
mad ideas without too much judgement.’ I grin. ‘Also, it helps that you can walk into a room and make people tell you stuff just by being cute.’

‘Oh, Kit . . .’ He tangles his fingers with mine and stands to face me. ‘You’re possibly one of the best things that’s happened to me in a long time.’

The sound of slow applause makes us both turn. A figure stands at the end of the alleyway and I have to squint to make him out.

‘What a cute little scene.’ Torsten steps towards us until he’s in a puddle of light. He’s dressed in super-skinny black jeans, combat boots and a T-shirt emblazoned with
a burning skull. Something moves at his feet and the sound of scurrying reaches my ears. Rats.

I recoil involuntarily and grimace as I see another three or four of them make an appearance at his feet. I’m happy to face an army of redcaps and hunt down an ogre gone rogue feasting on
decomposing cattle carcasses. But rats – man, rats freak me the hell out. It’s about how they move, with those god-awful fat tails of theirs, which seem to live as separate entities
from the rest of their bodies.

‘I would like to nominate you both for Oscars for that outstanding emotional display of true angst,’ he says, smiling the smile that I found so pretty just the other day. ‘But,
you know? I don’t really care. I gather you’ve figured out who I am.’

‘You’re the child thief,’ I say, walking towards him. My hand itches to hold my sword but I resist the urge. Something tells me that Torsten isn’t much of a fighter or
rather, not a physical I-attack-you-with-my-sword type of fighter.

Torsten’s smile fades and his expression is very serious.

‘I have been called far worse.’ He nods and there’s a trace of arrogance in his stance which suggests that he believes he’s done nothing wrong. ‘You call me a
thief, Blackhart, but think on this: if their parents have already signed contracts surrendering their progeny to my kind, am I really stealing them? Whether they thought it unlikely when they
signed or whether they were high at a festival. How am I to blame when deals have been struck, sacrifices made and oaths sworn under a full moon? Or has life and time moved on so much for humanity
that they are no longer to be taken at their sworn word?’ His expression becomes patronizing. ‘Well done for figuring it out, though. What gave it away? No! Don’t tell me, I
don’t actually care.’ He does a little dance step and moves closer to us; it is such a creepy little move, as if he’s showing off, that I step away.

My phone starts buzzing in my pocket right then and I swear under my breath at the distraction, but Dante smoothly takes over with Torsten.

It’s Kyle so I answer it without preamble. ‘Not a good time.’

‘Whatever, listen to me. That phrase you repeated? I got it translated. Say thanks to my Beowulf and Anglo-Saxon obsession, and a misspent year teaching myself the language.’

‘
Kyle
.’

‘Okay, bad time? Well, the thing you kept repeating is this:
The goddess will have her tithe; I, Brixi, do make this vow
.’

So the bearded warrior I saw at the estate was Brixi himself . . . it was good to have my hunch confirmed.

‘Okay, that makes no sense.’ Unless Brixi thought I was sent by this goddess when I gatecrashed his bonfire party. But what goddess and what tithe? Did he swear allegiance to a Fae
thinking that she was a goddess?

‘I’ll see what else I can find, but, yeah, it’s weird. I’ll see what I can dig up about goddesses. It’s going to be a nightmare because, well, the bloody Fae have
been interfering and pretending to be deities for millennia.’

‘I’ve gotta go, Kyle. We’ve got someone we think is involved in all of this. Text me if you get something. Also, do me a favour? This is a bit of a long shot, but can you check
the land registry? Find the land where that festival is held up north and see who owns it. Also, do the same and check who owns the land where the kids have been going missing. I think we’ve
been focusing on the
who
and
why
too much, and not enough on the
where
.’ I listen to him grumble and say goodbye before I pocket my phone and turn back to Dante and
Torsten. They are having some kind of little chat and Torsten’s probably being mean to Dante, as it looks as if he wants to punch him.

Torsten grins at me as I approach. ‘So, what’re you going to do next?’ He points a finger at Dante. ‘You’re going to tie me up and take me to jail? Or you,
Blackhart, will you summon the Beast and have me dragged off to the Otherwhere?’ He holds up both hands and waves them overdramatically. ‘What will it be?’

‘Where are the children?’ I ask him, my voice leaden. I am so tired and just want this to end. Now. And, I’d like the bad guy not to posture, for once. Do they have to turn
into Bond villains when cornered?

‘Where are the children?’ He mimics my voice perfectly but spins a bit of spite into it. ‘Serious question though: why would you even care, Blackhart? You’ve found me
now, and they are nothing to you.’ He nods at Dante. ‘And especially not to you, changeling.’ He enjoys the effect of his words. ‘Oh yes, I know. I could smell the stink of
your pheromones and confusion all the way in the club. I’m surprised Rorke didn’t just send you packing. What are you? A siren or something? Can you hear the voices in the club just
calling to you? Your kind tend to cause riots, so people like Rorke are trained to deal with you.’ Torsten laughs bitterly to himself. ‘What is my life worth if a mere human child and
bastard Sidhe Fae can hunt me down after all these years of service?’

I react before Dante can get past me. My magic hits Torsten full in the chest, sending him staggering a few paces back. I’m not good at projecting energy in solid bursts like this, but
I’m good enough to make a bit of a show. The blow pushes him back into the shadows and, as he straightens, it’s a cue for more rats to pour out from the shadows behind him. I
don’t know where they’re coming from but there must easily be thirty of them. They’re all around him – one even climbs onto his shoulder and sits there wiggling its nose in
my direction.

‘Nice trick with the rats, by the way, but we still need your answer. What have you done to the kids? Where are they?’

‘If I choose not to tell you, then what?’ Torsten’s smirk at Dante sets my blood boiling but before I can do anything, Dante’s past me.

I’d completely forgotten about Dante’s taser, but suddenly he has it, black and ugly. There’s a soft
thwap
sound and I watch as Torsten staggers, but he doesn’t
drop as expected when the electrodes hit him in the chest.

The rodents chitter anxiously as I draw my sword, and let out a little sigh of relief at the feel of it in my hand. With a flick of the blade I slice clean through the rat that leaps from
Torsten’s shoulder at Dante. As it drops to the ground I shudder and fling it away from me, ignoring the squelching noise it makes as it hits the wall.

More rats are running towards us now and I have a horrible time dancing between them, impaling and flicking them away. Dante seems less squeamish, enjoying just kicking them away from him. One
makes it onto his leg and clings on for dear life. He grabs it just behind its neck then tosses it like a cricket ball, sending it flying straight towards Torsten.

Torsten easily sidesteps the flying rodent and produces a slender flute from somewhere with the flourish of a stage magician.

Dante swears under his breath and sprints past me. I follow close behind, jumping over the rats and swiping at them as I go.

The first notes from the flute are discordant and jar through me. Torsten lifts the flute from his lips, shakes his head and tries again. I throw a bolt of energy towards him and he staggers but
he doesn’t go down. What’s with this guy?

Dante reaches him first and grabs for the flute. Torsten moves like water, easily dodging Dante’s grabbing hands, and comes up a few feet away from us both, the flute back up at his
lips.