Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

G wil peered around the side of one of the giant Assyrian horses in the British Museum, waiting for the security guard to disappear shepherding out the stragglers. Hyax was at his back, waiting to cast the invisibility charm. They needed to be close for the shield to cover both of them so had tried to wait as long as possible before casting it to avoid falling over each other any more than they had to.

"I don't think we can leave it any longer," he said. "There'll be another sweep in a moment and then they set the alarms."

"Alarms and cameras I can deal with, it's tricking the human eye that's the issue. It's far more complex than a few lenses and sensors."

He'd heard this lecture before, Hyax could be a grandiose prat when he wanted. They were both pretending the grumpiness from the other evening hadn't occurred, Hyax almost too friendly and doubly annoying. But he could address that later, once they had the pocket watch and he could tell Tobias Flume they were done. And more importantly they could move offices. He was getting tired of living in the less fashionable part of undead London, with crap spectral connectivity. The living might love it, but he had a longing to be seen as more than just the product of his sire. Moving to a better address would be a step in the right direction, without having to date or marry his way up the food chain. He'd had the same desires before he'd been turned, wanting to advance in Victorian society. Falling for the wrong man and never finding the right woman, despite trying with Matilda, had left him at a low, so he'd chased the dragon until it had caught and destroyed him.

"Just get on with it. Or don't you think you can?" He knew which buttons to press to get this moving, Hyax was like most fae in the sense they were as vain as fuck and couldn't stand a slight to their pride.

"I know what you're doing, you pointy-toothed twat."

"Sparkly arsewipe," he muttered.

"Shush. I need to concentrate." Hyax placed his hand on Gwil's shoulder. "Let's not be seen or heard and get us kicked out."

He felt the ripple of Hyax's magic across his skin and shivered. It was a cold wave, not unpleasant but not nice either, and certainly not erotic. "We good?"

He could still see Hyax, since he was within the sphere of his casting, so he'd need to stay close or he'd become visible and Hyax would disappear.

"Yes. Let's go get the bloody watch. Then we get home, have a drink and we can stop bitching at each other." He raised a defiant eyebrow as if daring Gwil to say they weren't.

"You've been giving me the cold shoulder."

Hyax snorted. "You should have told me you had a date."

"I didn't have a date. I just went to the Dock Club and met some friends. Nothing exciting."

"Oh," Hyax said, he wrinkled his nose. "Right."

He bit back the reply that it still wasn't any of his business. "The watches are this way."

He was glad they had done a pre-visit, as otherwise he was sure he would have got lost and wasted valuable time. Hyax was close, a little too close for his nerves, and he could smell the scent he preferred that was like no human fragrance. Woody, yet sweet at the same time, and he had to try hard not to think about how Hyax would have covered his naked body with it earlier.

They entered the horology exhibition and located the cabinet and the watch. "Have you got the replacement?" Hyax asked.

It would be too obvious to leave a gap so he had procured a pocket watch from a pawnbroker, after deciding in the end not to use one of his own. He fished the watch from his inside coat pocket. Sooner or later someone would notice the difference, this was far less elaborate and worth a fraction of the price.

"Okay, I'm going to reflect an image at the camera from a metre or so away. Weaken the bonds in the glass so they separate and you can put your hand in and do the switch."

He knew he had to be quick, Hyax's magic was strong but doing all three things in parallel would need a lot of balancing.

"Ready when you are."

Hyax muttered something he didn't quite catch, which he thought might be to do with the camera, and then pressed his left palm on the glass in front of the watch they were going to liberate. He'd seen Hyax perform magic often enough not to get overwhelmed, but it was still incredible to him. Although at least these days he didn't stare mindlessly for ten minutes every time. The closest he could do was a mild thrall and, despite his best effort, the majority of people could shake it off in a few minutes. It was no wonder he didn't live-feed from humans often, and it had nothing to do with ethics and the availability of bottled blood.

The glass shimmered and there was a slight change to its surface that, if he hadn't been watching out for it, he might not have noticed.

"Should be good to go—as quick as you can."

Gwil noticed Hyax's left eye was twitching, and that wasn't usual when he cast. "Are you okay?"

"There's something not right. Just get it done, and we can worry about the weirdness after."

Most of the glass was still solid and he half expected to feel resistance as he reached through, but there was nothing. He snatched up the watch they were after and replaced it with the inferior model. Hyax dropped the charm as soon as he could and staggered slightly. Gwil grabbed his arm to steady him. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know, it's just more draining than normal. We need to get out of here now ."

"Can you portal? I know you're not technically meant to but you must have leeway in an emergency, right?"

"Yes, but whether something going wrong during breaking and entering counts is debatable. Besides, I'm not leaving you here, and you've not had great experiences when you've used them before."

"Don't worry about me, I've a decent stock of rhesus positive at home. Even some plasma shots if desperate."

He felt the crackle of magic. Hyax hissed and it was as if Hyax was flickering in front of him, as if he wasn't fully present but being distorted between realms somehow. Hyax threw out an arm and opened one of his orange portals. "Now!"

Hyax grabbed his hand, stepped into the glowing light and pulled Gwil through with him. Gwil's body sizzled as if doused in flames, but the pain itself was minimal. He collapsed forwards, fell to his knees and realised he was staring at the black and white floor tiles of his kitchen.

He gasped, struggling to breathe, and rolled onto his back. Hyax was at his side, unscrewing the valve on a pouch of blood, which he then held to Gwil's lips. He guzzled it down, and closed his eyes for a moment to stop the world from lurching from one side to the other. "Another, maybe two."

It seemed to take forever for Hyax to return, even though he knew it was probably less than a minute; the first lot of blood had begun to settle his frayed nerves, but the second was the one that brought the most relief and the third chased away the residual sparks of ice in his bones. He stared up, Hyax was leaning over him, peering into his eyes. He sighed at the brush of cool fingers at his temple. "S'nice," he slurred.

"Should I get a healer?"

"No, sleep it off. Fine now." He closed his eyes, his kitchen floor was a reasonable place for a nap.

"Let me get you into bed."

"I'm really not up to anything exciting," he said, sniggering to himself.

"Prat," Hyax muttered. He was always surprised by how strong the fae were because most of them looked as if they could be snapped like a twig and Hyax wasn't any different, but he lifted Gwil to his feet with ease and then threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

He couldn't say he cared much, and when he was dropped, none too gently onto his bed, he was asleep in seconds.