Worlds Apart (35 page)

Taylor leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “If they gave you a year or six months or whatever, they know you’re here, so why are you hiding? See how lies come back and bite you?”

“I’m not hiding from faeries. I’m hiding from other supernaturals who’d like to get their hands on a faery. There’s a werewolf pack not far from here, and vamps love faery blood.”

Taylor snorted.

Niall’s cheek twitched. “I had to give up some of my power in order to live on this side. The orangery keeps me safe.
Did
keep me safe, but it’s dying because I’m dying. That and the garden are my lifeblood, my links to Faeryland. When I went with you to Leeds, you remember I was ill? The pub in Ilkley? I can’t stray far from this place without consequence.”

Taylor leaned back again. “If you’re a faery, prove it. Show me your wings.”

The atmosphere between them set like cement.

Niall gave him a sad smile. “If my words aren’t enough, what’s the point in actions? I wanted to win you with love not magic.” Though he suspected he was now too weak to make his wings come out this side of the wall. In this instance, better not to try than try and fail.

“Stop this, Niall. You’re talking nonsense.”

Niall trembled with the effort of keeping the pain at bay. “Call Jonas. Ask him to come here and tell you the truth. Watch his face and say the word moon-gold.”

The doorbell rang.

“That will be the police,” Taylor said. “Stay there. Try telling them the truth instead of a fairy story.”

Taylor walked out of his life and Niall’s heart shattered.

Dan bloody Newlyn.
Of course it was, Taylor thought as he opened the door.

“Taylor.” Newlyn nodded and gestured at the short guy next to him. “DC Whitby.”

“Come in.” Taylor led them to the drawing room.

Niall had gone.

“Oh shit,” Taylor muttered. He turned and pushed past the two policemen as he ran back into the hall. “Niall!”

There was no answer. Taylor couldn’t figure out how Niall had gotten past without him seeing, but no point dwelling on that.

“Who’s Niall?” Newlyn asked.

“The guy I suspect was involved in the abduction of my sister. I was talking to him a minute ago. My parents employed him to look after the garden. He’s been living here for close to seven months.”

Newlyn pointed to the back door and the other detective hurried toward it.

“Description?” Newlyn asked.

“My height and build. Blond hair, green eyes. Jeans, no shirt, barefoot. Tattoo from his neck to his ankle, diagonally crossing his back. Like some sort of barbed vine. He’s—he’s not well.”

“And the girl who’s just gone missing?” Newlyn asked as he began to search the downstairs rooms, Taylor on his heels.

“Roo Smith. You saw her with me. Five nine, slender, short dark hair. Mid- to late-twenties. Last time I saw her she was only wearing a guy’s shirt. Niall’s shirt.”

Newlyn turned and looked at him and then gestured toward the stairs.

“Yes, look anywhere, everywhere.”

When Newlyn took his time looking around Taylor’s bedroom, Taylor regretted not tidying first. Condom wrappers and lube told their own story. The raised eyebrows when Newlyn opened the door on Roo’s suitcase and makeshift bed made Taylor cringe.

“You sleeping with her?” Newlyn asked.

“Yes.”

“Both of you?”

Oh shit.
“Yes.”

Newlyn came back out onto the landing. “Another floor?”

“Niall’s room. The stairs are there.”

“So what happened? Fall out over her?” Newlyn asked as he walked up.

“No. We…share.”
Oh God, don’t go there.
“Niall told me he was here when my sister went missing. I must have blanked it from my mind. I didn’t remember, but I do now. We were friends. After Stephanie disappeared, he did too.”

Newlyn pushed open the door to the attic room. All that was in there was a pile of blankets and a blue cushion. Taylor rubbed his eyes but it made no difference.
What the fuck?

“I’m surprised you have any guests let alone lovers if you make them sleep on the floor.” Newlyn smirked. “If he’s been here seven months, where are his things?”

“I don’t know,” Taylor whispered.

He staggered and hit the wall. This was impossible.

“You sure this guy exists? I had a quick look at the file before we came out. There was no mention of a boy disappearing at the time.”

Taylor’s knees gave way and he slipped to the floor. He felt like he’d been sucker-punched by a wrecking ball. Breathing was as much as he could manage. Newlyn knelt beside him.

“You okay, Taylor? Need a doctor?”

“No, I— Where’s Roo? She was here. She was in the garden.”

Newlyn patted him on the shoulder. “Maybe this got too much for her and she split.”

“Without her stuff?”
With Niall?

Newlyn shrugged. “She’ll come back for it. If I didn’t know you better, I’d worry you might have done something to her. If she’s not been in touch by Monday, I’ll open a file.”

“What if Niall’s hurt her?” Only Niall wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t have hurt Stephanie. Taylor thought his head was going to explode.

“Like I said, let’s wait until Monday. And I think you need medical help.”

Newlyn made his way downstairs and Taylor spotted the other cop shake his head.

In the hall, Newlyn turned to Taylor. “Make an appointment to see a doctor and get some sleep. You look terrible.”

The door opened and Jonas walked in.

Taylor sighed. “They think I’m making Niall up.”

“Who’s Niall?” Jonas asked.

Roo stared at the horse and the horse stared back.

“Get on,” said the silver-haired faery with one arm. She’d heard the others call him Oisin.

The other two were already mounted.

“I’m not dressed for riding,” Roo muttered, wondering if she had any other options.

She shrieked as she suddenly found herself wearing umpteen petticoats, a thick skirt, matching jacket and a top hat.

“Stop it, Ardal,” Oisin snapped.

“Too hot,” Roo gasped as more layers were added.

“Tell me when to stop,” said Ardal, the dark-haired one.

Stop what?
But one by one her clothes began to disappear. Roo shouted, “Stop,” but the corset and pantaloons vanished and she stood there naked. She was too annoyed to be embarrassed.

“Oh very clever. Can you pull coins out of your ears and a rabbit from up your arse as well?” she snapped.

Oisin laughed.

“Don’t make fun of magic,” her tormentor snapped back and glared at Oisin.

“Why not? You’re making fun of me. I bet you have to add a couple of inches to your dick before you strip off.”

He shifted his horse to her side and his hand shot out to grip her around the throat. “Want me to give you a dick of your own?” he snarled.

“Ardal, let her go,” Oisin said.

Roo pulled at the man’s fingers as he squeezed. Her big mouth was going to get her killed. Her vision wavered.

“Ardal!” Oisin shouted.

As his grip relaxed, Roo found herself wearing a butt-ugly shapeless brown sack of a dress that might have passed for high fashion at the time of the Vikings. He released her and she rubbed her throat.
Don’t say anything else to upset him.

“Get on my horse,” Oisin said.

Roo glared at Ardal. “No jewelry?”

So many beaded necklaces appeared around her neck that she almost collapsed under the weight, but it gave her an idea.
Thank you, God.
Roo climbed onto the horse and positioned herself behind Oisin. As they set off down the hill, following the other two, Roo broke a necklace and began to drop beads. She’d read a sexy story about a cowboy and an English dude where the latter had dropped beads and it had saved his life. It might save hers.

“Did Niall send you over here?” Oisin asked in a whisper. “Does he need help?”

Was she supposed to trust this guy? He’d behaved better than the other two, but until Roo knew for certain who was friend and who was enemy, she had to be careful.

“I told you, I fell. It was an accident. If you’d just take me back to the hole or whatever it is and push me through, I’d be grateful.”

“I can’t,” he said.

Damn.

“You don’t seem disturbed by where you find yourself.” He turned in the saddle to look at her and Roo’s fingers froze around the beads. “You think you’re dreaming? Going to wake up soon?”

“No. I can smell you. I don’t smell things in dreams.”
Careful.
“You don’t smell bad. I didn’t mean that. It’s just that I know how things are in dreams. This isn’t a dream. And what’s the point freaking out? I can’t run away. Well, I could but you’d chase me down and I’d be back where I started and you’d be pissed off. So I figure I might as well cooperate for the time being.” She might not be running, but her mouth was. Roo’s nerves had taken charge of her tongue. “It’s quite pretty here. Soft grass, blue sky. Is that water the sea or a big lake? How can there be another world like this? Is it part of the Earth or—”

Oisin sighed. “Do you ever shut up?”

“Sorry. I don’t get why the sun is so high. It’s midmorning not noon. I—”

“Stop talking.”

“Stop talking at all or stop talking about the weather? Because the weather’s such a safe topic of—”

“Not another damn word,” Oisin barked, but she heard him laugh.

Roo glanced over her shoulder and her eyes opened wide. Something galloped soundlessly through the grass toward them. It looked like a cross between a tiger and a velociraptor.
Ooh, that’s a lot of teeth. Oooooh, more than one of the things.

“Oisin,” she muttered, fear slithering down her spine while she gripped harder at his shirt.

“What did I say? Shut up.”

“One question. Are there things to avoid in the hinterland?”

“Yes. Me when I’m angry.” He turned in the saddle and gasped. “Shhhiiit. Ardal, Eoin, four stabilos behind.”

Roo clung on as he urged the horse into a gallop.
Don’t look back.
Roo couldn’t help it. The creatures were gaining on them, the one in the lead no more than twenty yards away. Why the hell had she sat
behind
Oisin? She was the one they were going to grab first. Roo peeped over her shoulder again. The stabilo sort of lollopped along baring its teeth in a strange sort of smile. If Roo hadn’t been staring at one, she wouldn’t have believed her eyes. Between the orange stripes on its back were small, sharp-looking spikes. The claws on its feet were like eagle’s talons. The whole thing was lethal.

“Go faster,” she shouted in Oisin’s ear.

The lead stabilo lunged left.

“Right,” she yelled.

Oisin swung right and the creature missed them. Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it in her head. Roo pulled at the beads around her neck and gathered them in her hand. When the lead stabilo attacked, she flung the necklaces. They wrapped around his feet and he fell.

“Woohoo,” Roo yelled.

“Duck,” Oisin said.

“Where?”

Even as Roo thought it was an odd time to be telling her about a fairly ordinary bird, she flew off the horse to land on the ground, pinned by one of the creatures. Adrenaline surged and Roo struggled to get free. It opened its mouth and roared.
Shit, a great white shark with halitosis.
Roo shot from severe panic to catastrophic organ failure in the blink of the stabilo’s indigo eye. Its jaw opened wider, its head dropped and Roo brought up her knee hard into its balls.
Thank God it was male.
Its shriek was so high pitched it made her ears ring.

The stabilo rolled off to one side and a hand reached down to wrench her up and back onto the saddle. Roo wrapped her arms around Oisin and hung on. For a guy with only one arm, he’d handled all that quite impressively.

When she risked a peek back, the creatures had gone. A glance forward showed her they were almost at the city walls. The horses slowed to a walk and Ardal and Eoin pulled round to ride at Oisin’s side.

“I said duck,” Oisin said.

“I thought you meant a flying one.”

They all laughed.

“You did well for a mortal,” Ardal said.

Oisin slipped from the saddle and held out his hand to help her down. Roo dismounted the other side. Her brown sack changed to a shimmering, short blue dress. Ardal fluttered his tongue and stroked her bum.

Uh-oh.

Taylor waited until the two detectives had driven away before he slammed the door and turned on Jonas.

“Why the fuck did you say you didn’t know Niall? You made me look a complete and utter wanker.”

“What’s happened?”

Taylor strode to the office. “Niall’s gone crazy and Roo’s just…gone.”