Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

T he strange rippling magic ebbed away. I gave a shuddering breath and forced myself to my feet, ignoring my fluttering heartbeat and the sudden surge of drug-induced dizziness. I needed to face the fiend properly.

It was a male that I didn’t recognise. This wasn’t Baltar, and it wasn’t Athair. That didn’t mean I could relax, not by a long shot, but I was incredibly relieved that I wasn’t having to confront my supposed father.

I eyed him carefully. Despite the cool air, he was wearing a pair of bright purple, pink and orange Bermuda shorts, as if he were about to hit the surf on a sunny Californian beach instead of launching a full-scale attack upon a solitary elf on a chilly Scottish street. Unlike the younger fiends I’d encountered, this one had perfectly smooth, golden skin, which meant he was both old and experienced. In fact, I thought grimly, he was probably several hundred years old. Unlike an elf’s, his ears were rounded rather than pointed.

I scanned his body in all its brazen golden glory; it was lean and sinewy in a way that wasn’t wholly unfamiliar. ‘Sorcerer,’ I said aloud, without meaning to.

The fiend gave me a salacious grin. ‘Once upon a time,’ he said. ‘But I’m so much more now.’

I responded flatly, ‘I know what you are. I know exactly what you are.’

‘Not many elves do, so I find it gratifying when I meet one who is aware of my kind.’ His lip curled. ‘If there were justice in this world, I would be worshipped as a god.’

I almost laughed. ‘You’re no god.’

The fiend swept an arm to indicate the devastation that surrounded us both. ‘Who but a god can control creatures such as those?’ His voice rose. ‘One day – one day I will be recognised for what I am. There will be statues of me in every city in this land. I will be granted the respect and the love that I am owed.’ His eyes met mine. ‘But you will not be around to see it because you will not see tomorrow’s dawn.’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that,’ I said, sounding considerably calmer than I felt.

‘You are strong, but you are not a witch. You cannot banish me from this realm. And if you truly know what I am, you know that the likes of you cannot kill me.’

I smiled. ‘Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. Because you don’t know what I am.’

No sooner had the words left my mouth than I threw out the strongest blast of air magic I could muster. I’d hoped that it would knock him off his feet but unfortunately, although it made the nearby windows rattle violently and sent several large bins careening towards him, it didn’t affect the fiend himself. As he was bald, I didn’t even have the satisfaction of seeing it flatten his hair.

‘Bravo,’ he said. ‘You’re powerful, even for a high elf. But as you can see, you’re not remotely strong enough to beat me.’ His accent was odd, strangely clipped. It was possible that at some time he’d lived in some distant country, or perhaps he was simply unused to talking.

Although my recent experience suggested otherwise, fiends were typically solitary creatures. If this one was used to little more than the company of vampires, he probably never enjoyed the pleasures of a real conversation.

I shrugged. It didn’t matter to me whether he was a social butterfly or a hermit; he was a fiend. And he was in my way.

I gave an insouciant shrug, ‘I guess we’ll have to see about that.’ I sent out another blast of strong air magic. This time, however, I didn’t aim for the fiend but at one of the parked cars on the side of the road. I used the heavy explosion of air to raise the chunk of metal a foot into the air before following with a second blast of air that threw the car in the fiend’s direction.

From his expression, in the second before a tonne of Volkswagen metal smacked him in the face, that wasn’t something he’d been expecting.

The noise was tremendous as it reverberated down the street, and the damage to the car was extraordinary, too. The windscreen shattered and the metal doors twisted; it was particularly gratifying to see the vehicle roll three times and pin the fiend to the cobblestones. Go me. And go German engineering.

Unfortunately, my delight was short lived. Before I could follow up to ensure that the fiend was taken care of, a voice drifted out of the darkness. ‘Boss? You okay?’

My stomach tightened. Another one? I’d only had a slim chance of beating one fiend but I’d definitely lose against two of the bastards. I supposed I could still run for my life; I doubted I’d get very far but I’d give it my best shot.

I scanned the shadows for the source of the voice. There was a creak of metal as the trapped fiend used his own magic to push the fallen vehicle away from his body. ‘No, Chuchi!’ he spat. ‘This is my fight!’

My mouth dropped open as, a second later, the hulking figure of an ogre stepped out from the dark opening of a nearby alley. ‘Alright,’ he rumbled. He folded his massive arms, which had to be the size of bloody tree trunks, and leaned against the wall. Then he grinned and winked at me. ‘You’ll pay for that, sweetheart.’

I had no doubt that this was the same Chuchi who had manipulated Baudi into entrapping passers-by. How many ogres could there be with that name? But an ogre was better than a fiend; at least I had a chance with an ogre.

The fiend stood up and dusted himself down with a mildly irritated scowl. ‘Clever move,’ he said. ‘But not clever enough.’ He crooked his little finger and etched out a quick rune in the air in front of him. It flared bright scarlet – and then I was thrown upwards.

My stomach rose into my mouth as I jerked into the air. This was no simple magic attack, and I wasn’t rising a few metres only to come down to earth with a hard thump. Within three seconds, I was ten metres in the air. Then fifteen. Then twenty. My arms and legs flailed but I was powerless to stop my ascent.

I spotted a white face staring out from one of the tenement windows. All the residents must have been awake by now, but few of them would be brave enough to peer out for fear of being dragged into whatever battle was underway.

But not all of them were cowering. ‘I’m calling the police!’ a shaky voice shouted. ‘I’m calling them now!’

I saw another face at a different window that was wide open: it was an older woman, dressed in a white nightgown. Cumbubbling bollocks. I waved at her frantically. ‘Stay away!’ I shouted. ‘Don’t get involved!’

It was too late. The fiend far below me was already drawing another attack rune and I knew this one wasn’t aimed at me. He was planning to hurt that woman; in fact, he meant to kill her.

I had to stop him. I was still moving higher and higher; in another moment, I’d be above the roofline. At some point the bastard below was going to release me and enjoy watching my body go splat in front of him when it hit the ground again.

My mouth flattened. If I was in the sky, then I might as well act like the sky. It was time to show the fiend that I was more than he thought.

I fixed on his position below me as he drew the last curls on the rune, then I sucked in a breath and shot out a bolt of lightning from my fingertips. It arced down and struck him on the top of his bald, golden skull. His body jerked and he started to collapse – but unfortunately so did I.

I was descending far faster than I’d ascended and, as air rushed past me, I lost my grip on Gladys’s hilt. I yelped and writhed. In the nick of time, I pushed a surge of air magic into the space beneath my falling body. Half a second before I hit the ground, its counterforce pushed me upwards. Instead of spilling my organs onto the street, I landed on all fours only slightly winded. Gladys clattered to the ground a few metres away. Phew. That had been close.

The fiend was still in a heap – I couldn’t tell whether I’d killed him or not – but suddenly he was the least of my worries. Chuchi burst from the alleyway, roaring at the top of his lungs.

Panicking, I sent out a jet of fire magic in his direction but he was incredibly nippy for such a large creature and dodged it easily. Before I could muster another magical attack, he raised his fists. I tensed as I waited for the inevitable blow, half-expecting him to knock my head clean off my shoulders. Instead, there was another blast of magic – and this one didn’t come from me.

I didn’t know exactly what the fiend had done, but whatever rune he’d etched had summoned up enough power to burn the ogre’s eyeballs and burst open his vast ribcage to reveal his still-beating heart.

Chuchi let out a single long scream and fell forward. I scrambled away in the nick of time to avoid being squashed by his dead weight. He gave a final shuddering gasp and then he was still.

I turned my head and stared at the fiend.

‘Minions aren’t what they used to be,’ he said. As he got to his feet, he rubbed the burn on the top of his head where my lightning had struck him. ‘I told him to stay out of this. It’s his own fucking fault.’

I could do little more than gape; I couldn’t begin to compete against his sort of power. I was so very, very screwed.

The fiend adjusted his shorts, pulled the waistband higher, then ambled towards me. ‘I believe introductions are in order.’ His nose twitched. ‘You know, you smell most peculiar – like … stinky marshland.’ He shrugged amiably and held out his hand. ‘I am Vargas.’

Uncontrolled earth magic flooded out from me and rocked the ground beneath our feet. Vargas tilted his head, dropped his hand, and looked at me curiously. ‘Sorry,’ I muttered, then I winced. Why the fuck was I apologising to a bloody fiend?

Rather than attacking me again, he raised a hairless eyebrow. ‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘You do not have full control. And yet, you are … what? Thirty years old?’

I eyed him warily. ‘Nearly.’

‘How have you managed to live so long without burning yourself out?’

So he hadn’t spotted the tell-tale ring of silver around my eyes. ‘Dumb luck, I guess.’

He scratched his chin. ‘You are not a fiend – not yet anyway – but your powers indicate that you were sired by a fiend.’ His face loomed towards me. ‘I will know your name,’ he said in a commanding tone. ‘And I will know your parents. Tell me who they are.’

He was within touching distance now. My mouth felt painfully dry and I shivered. Stop it, Daisy , I told myself sternly. Don’t let him see your fear .

I raised my head and met his blood-red eyes. ‘My name is Daisy Carter.’

‘Who sired you, Daisy Carter? Where have you come from?’

This time I didn’t answer; I was trying to work out how to play this new angle. Perhaps I wouldn’t be dead soon after all.

‘Magic like that doesn’t manifest in fiend-born children unless their parents are very powerful, so that rules out most of the other fiend fuckers. You’re either Zashtum’s get – and I’d have heard about it if she’d gotten herself pregnant – or you’re a product of Baltar or Athair.’

Vargas started to circle me. ‘And Baltar gave up on his attempts to create a child of his own more than a hundred years ago.’

I glanced to my right. Gladys still lay too far away on the cobbles; I wouldn’t get to her before Vargas got to me. I glanced away again, then lifted my chin mutinously.

‘But if Athair had an adult child,’ Vargas said silkily, ‘I would have heard about it by now. He likes to boast, but he has never mentioned you. He would take great pleasure in telling me about you, especially after he went to such trouble to ensure my son, Fravock, did not live to meet his full potential.’

I sucked in a sharp breath, then I took a huge gamble. ‘He doesn’t know,’ I said in little more than a whisper. For all I knew, in 1994 that was the truth. ‘He doesn’t know I exist.’

Vargas circled me again. ‘I see.’ He clicked his tongue. ‘That is somewhat annoying, if it is true. There will be little enjoyment in watching Athair’s face when I tell him I have killed his long-awaited child if he doesn’t know that child exists. But kill you I must. Athair on his own is bad enough – Athair with a dynasty would be far worse.’

I snorted. Loudly. Vargas stopped circling my body. ‘What?’

‘You think I want to be part of a dynasty with Athair?’ I spat. ‘I’ll see him dead long before that happens.’

‘You cannot kill a fiend,’ Vargas said. ‘And you certainly cannot kill Athair.’

‘You’re wrong. Enough of Athair’s blood runs through my veins that I’m more than capable of killing a fiend. In fact,’ I said airily, ‘I’ve already done so.’

Vargas’s head snapped towards mine. ‘Who?’

‘Does it matter?’ I didn’t take my eyes from him. ‘You know I’m not lying.’

He narrowed his gaze. ‘No,’ he said softly. ‘I don’t believe you are.’ He stared at me for another moment or two then stepped back. ‘It would be so delicious for you to meet Athair in battle,’ he breathed. ‘He would kill you before he knew the truth. He has wanted a child of his for so many generations. This would indeed be poetic.’

I chose my words with care. ‘You sound as if you don’t like him.’

‘Don’t like him? I do not like Athair?’ Vargas scoffed. ‘I despise that fucker! He murdered my child. He lords it over the rest of us. He thinks he is better than us – but he is not. He plays with the undead, but he does not command an army of them like I do.’

He waved at the collection of fallen vampires and Chuchi, none of whom were looking like particularly effective soldiers given that they were all very dead. ‘He does not respect what I do! He does not respect me!’ He thumped his chest and his eyes sparked with scarlet fury.

‘Uh-huh.’ I licked my lips. ‘Vargas, before you kill me, promise me one thing.’ He stared at me, and I continued quickly while I had his attention. ‘Promise me that one day you will kill Athair. I can go to my grave easily knowing that you will be strong enough to overthrow him.’

A scornful laugh escaped Vargas’s mouth but he covered it hastily. He didn’t want me to know that he would never be strong enough or brave enough to risk taking on Athair; if he were, he’d have attempted it when Athair killed his son. It was obvious Vargas valued his own existence far too much.

‘Perhaps,’ he said slowly, ‘there is another way. Perhaps I do not have to kill you.’

I waited. The idea had to come from him.

He nodded and his golden jowls jiggled. ‘Perhaps I can help you to kill Athair.’

I lowered my eyes so he didn’t see the glow of satisfaction in them. He didn’t believe for a moment that I was strong enough to hurt Athair; he only wanted to inflict as much psychological damage on his fiendish rival as he could. ‘You’re toying with me,’ I said aloud. ‘I know I cannot trust you.’

‘Oh really?’ Vargas sounded cool and I felt a flash of concern that I’d been too obvious. ‘You can trust me in this, Daisy Carter, daughter of Athair. I will prove it to you.’ He dipped his head towards mine. ‘If you want to control your magic, you have to lose it first.’

I stiffened. That was not what I’d been expecting. ‘What?’

‘Release all your magic in one go, empty yourself of every scrap of power. Once you have done that, and once your energy returns, you will be able to control yourself and the magic within you.’

I almost stopped breathing. Could that be right? Was that all it took to master my powers?

Vargas laughed at my expression. ‘It is true – try it and you will see. Then maybe you will have a chance against Athair. Stranger things have happened.’

‘You will fight him alongside me?’ I asked.

‘I will do what is necessary,’ he replied. Clearly, he wasn’t prepared to make any promises.

I nodded. Then I brushed myself down and straightened the cuffs of my jacket. I checked the empty sheath by my side and went over to Gladys. With a thoughtful expression, I picked her up and re-sheathed her. She vibrated once: she understood.

I turned to Vargas and held out my hand. Triumph gleamed in his expression. He strode forward and stretched out his own hand to shake mine.

I smiled. Then, with as much speed and strength as I could muster, I snapped my hand back, yanked Gladys free and plunged her into Vargas’s chest.

His eyes widened and a gurgling sound emitted from his throat. I rammed Gladys deeper into his body and leaned in so I could whisper in his ear. ‘As if I would ever make a deal with a fiend.’

Vargas choked and dropped to his knees. His red eyes stared at me in horror for moment before the light in them went out for good and he collapsed. I nudged his body with my toe. He wouldn’t get up this time.