Chapter 26

Chapter

Twenty-Six

I didn’t answer him immediately. I was intent on creating a very specific atmosphere and I didn’t want to rush into the denouement. I swivelled around, surveying the scene and taking stock of the hundreds of vampires who were encircling Charlotte Square. There were a lot of fangs on show.

‘You’ve come with an army,’ I said softly.

‘You could call it that, daughter, or you could call it an honour guard. It all depends on you.’

‘Their presence is problematic. There are too many of them and they pose a considerable risk to life.’

Athair shrugged. ‘So?’

I smiled pleasantly. ‘Would it upset you if I arranged for them to be dispersed?’

A gleam lit his scarlet eyes. ‘You want to see bloodshed.’

‘I want to see their bloodshed,’ I corrected.

Athair crooked his little finger and snarls rippled through a section of the watching vamps. One of the ragged figures detached themselves and limped forward. A child: of course it was. Ice filled my veins but I maintained my smile.

The bloodsucker was small, perhaps only four feet high. There was no indication as to how she had died, but she clearly hadn’t been dead for long. Although she had the pallid, bloodless skin of the undead, her clothes were immaculate and there were few signs of decomposition. She didn’t deserve this afterlife. None of those vamps did.

‘Here you go,’ Athair said with a friendly grin. ‘You can take this wee one’s blood if her existence bothers you so much.’ He raised his hand and patted her head gently.

As if on cue, a tear leaked out of her dull, glazed eyes. I knew it wasn’t as a result of any emotion she was feeling but just a physical irregularity; even so, it tore at my heart.

I set my jaw, slid Gladys out of her sheath and gazed at the undead child. ‘I will give you peace,’ I said, then I swung my blade and sliced off her head. It was a gruesome act to witness and it was even worse to be the instigator, but it was the fastest and least cruel method of sending her to oblivion where she belonged.

Athair pursed his lips and made a show of assessing my work. ‘You didn’t hesitate,’ he said. ‘I’m impressed.’ He paused. ‘But I remain concerned that you are too soft-hearted. That side of you will diminish when you become a fiend.’

‘And if I don’t become a fiend?’ I asked in a deliberately casual tone.

He smirked. ‘Your soft-hearted nature will make you suffer even more when I slowly torture and kill everyone you care about.’ He glanced over my shoulder at Hugo. ‘The blue-eyed boy you pretend to be in love with will be first.’

I put my hand in my pocket then turned my back on Athair. I withdrew my hand and released Hausman’s golden ring into Hugo’s palm. ‘Time for you to go,’ I said. ‘Take the brownies with you.’

He grinned, leaned forward and planted a brief kiss on my mouth. ‘See you soon, Daisy,’ he murmured, before turning away and jogging off towards the Royal Elvish Institute. The doors opened as he approached and within seconds he’d been swallowed into its depths with Hester and Otis trailing behind him.

‘He’s pleasingly obedient,’ Athair commented. ‘But that won’t save him.’

I turned back to face him.

‘What did you give him?’ he asked. ‘What did you take out of your pocket and hand to the boy?’

‘A souvenir,’ I replied. ‘From our recent trip.’

‘A romantic interlude before you abandon his side for mine?’

‘It was more business than pleasure,’ I said. ’We went to Lincolnshire.’

There was no obvious reaction from Athair but I fancied I saw a fleeting shadow cross his face.

‘Well,’ I said, ‘it was actually Lincolnshire and Norfolk. We spent some time in King’s Lynn and a small village over the county border. Sutton Bridge. Do you know it?’

Athair gazed at me with his unblinking red eyes. He didn’t answer – he didn’t need to because a moment later, a voice boomed out from amongst the vampires on the right-hand side of the square. ‘She’s telling the truth, boss,’ Arbuthnot called. ‘They were in Sutton Bridge first and then in King’s Lynn.’ He lumbered forward, shoving several mindless vamps out of the way.

‘You didn’t mention this before,’ Athair growled.

Arbuthnot hefted his vast shoulders into a shrug. ‘You said only to tell you if it looked like they were running away. It didn’t. As far as I reckoned, they were only searching for something.’

I kept my gaze fixed on Athair’s face but his expression remained impassive. ‘And did they find what they were looking for?’

I jumped in before Arbuthnot could answer. ‘You could ask me, your daughter, instead of your drug-dealing henchman.’

Neither Athair nor Arbuthnot paid me any attention. ‘I don’t know, boss,’ Arbuthnot said. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘You don’t think so?’ Athair sneered.

I interrupted them again. ‘We didn’t find anything in Sutton Bridge,’ I said loudly. ‘There wasn’t enough time.’ This time I caught the flicker of a smile on my fiendish birth-father’s face. ‘But,’ I added quickly, ‘we also realised that the true object of our search had already been found. It wasn’t in Sutton Bridge at all.’

The smile vanished. This time it was replaced by a snarl. ‘Enough!’ Athair spat. ‘Enough talk and enough delay! I don’t care about your stupid little treasure hunts. Tell me your final decision, daughter. Are you with me? Or are you against me?’

I was grateful that he’d allowed me to babble on for as long as I had. I considered prevaricating and spinning out this dance for longer but there wasn’t really any need: I was only delaying the inevitable. I drew in a deep breath and filled my lungs to breaking point. Then I exhaled. ‘You already know what my answer is.’

Athair’s expression grew stonier. Yeah, he knew. His golden hands curled into tight fists. I saw with a brief jolt of shock that he’d dug his fingernails into his palms with such force that blood was dribbling through his fingers and splashing onto the ground.

‘Say it,’ he bit out.

I would if he insisted. ‘I’m not going to join you,’ I said aloud. ‘I am not your daughter, not in any sense that actually matters. I will not use blood magic. I will not become a fiend. I have no desire to be a soulless, friendless creature that cares for naught but herself. I don’t need more power or more wealth or a longer life. It’s quality, not quantity, that counts. You are on your own. Forever.’

Athair’s tone was devoid of emotion as he whispered, ‘Then you have signed your own death warrant. Yours and everyone else’s that you’ve ever cared for.’ He raised his hand and there was a spark of flame above our heads. It flickered and started to grow. Within seconds it was big enough to swallow up several bogles.

He laughed coldly then snapped his fingers and sent the gigantic fireball flying at high speed towards the front of the Royal Elvish Institute. I held my breath – but the vast ball of flame didn’t reach the grand building. Two metres before it hit the stone fa?ade, it jerked, sizzled and vanished.

I gazed at the spot where the fireball had been. ‘Aw.’ I pursed my lips. ‘Where did it go?’

Athair’s eyes narrowed. He flicked his fingers and repeated the process. The second fireball was larger and hotter than his first one, but when he threw it at the building exactly the same thing happened.

I smacked my lips in satisfaction. ‘It so happens that I’m friends with a couple of very powerful sorcerers,’ I said. Boonder was skilled at modern runes and Gordon was an expert in ancient ones; when their skills were combined, their ability to draw an effective ward was extraordinary.

‘No ward will stand against the might of my magic for long,’ Athair snarled.

I sniffed. ‘I seem to recall that my mother managed to create one that kept you out of the Assigney mansion for weeks.’

‘That was blood magic.’

True.

‘And at the time I didn’t want to hurt your mother,’ Athair said. ‘Or you. These circumstances are very different. I’m going to raze that fucking elvish building to the ground.’

He raised his hands in the air then thrust them downwards as he conjured up a wave of rumbling earth magic. The manicured grass across Charlotte Square ruptured as the tremor blasted towards the Royal Elvish Institute. Even though the magic was directed away from me, I was still thrown off my feet. I landed on my back with a thump, just in time to see the forceful earthquake shudder to a halt.

As I heaved myself back upright, a voice called out from one of the upper windows. ‘Mud McAlpine has established root magic beneath this ground! No earth magic shall penetrate it!’

I grinned and waved at the witch. ‘You know, Mud is an incredibly powerful witch,’ I said to Athair. ‘He banished the fiend called Zashtum all on his own.’

If this was news to Athair, he didn’t show it. ‘Zashtum was weak. No witch can banish me . As I’ve already proved.’

That part was probably true. Unfortunately. ‘There’s more than one way to skin a cat.’

Athair smiled nastily in response. ‘Indeed.’ He sprang upwards, landing on the backside of Prince Albert’s bronze horse. For a centuries-old prick, he certainly was nimble.

From his high vantage point, he moved his arms one way and his hands another. It took me a moment to realise what he was doing: he was conducting his own orchestra. There were no violinists or cellists, and certainly no woodwind section, but there were dozens upon dozens of cumbubbling vampires.

He drew upon one group, which comprised around fifty vamps, and they broke away from the others to advance upon the institute. Athair twirled his wrists and flicked his fingers. The vampires immediately screeched a loud response and threw themselves towards the ward. They bounced off it then picked themselves up and threw their bodies at it again. I realised they would repeat that movement over and over again with no regard for their soft, rotting flesh.

‘Worth a try,’ Athair muttered, then he called down to me. ‘I might not be able to get into that building just yet, daughter, but it won’t hold out against for me long. Besides, this is Edinburgh.’ He grinned toothily. ‘You can’t ward every building in the city. It’s a shame there are no longer any orphanages in existence – still, I’m sure my fanged darlings can find some tasty families to snack on while your friends cower inside the elves’ shithouse. Watch this, darling Daisy. Watch the power you could have enjoyed for yourself.’

He twirled on the back of the horse, flinging out his arms and directing those blasted bloodsuckers away from Charlotte Square towards other streets, other doors and other homes.

I licked my lips as fear scorched my veins – but then there were several loud screeches as vehicles skidded through the streets towards the square.

Unable to see what was happening, I took a few steps backwards, just in time to spot an armoured car approach one group of marauding vampires. It spun to the side, halted and a window lowered enough for one of the vehicle’s occupants to point a weapon. The muzzle of a gun appeared but it didn’t fire bullets; instead it jetted out a spray of liquid.

I watched the arc of fine droplets mist through the air. They looked innocuous; to anyone who didn’t know better, they could simply have been water. But I knew better, and when the liquid hit the stampeding vampires they knew better, too.

Their screams echoed through the night sky as the enhanced vamp spray ate through their flesh in seconds. The first wave fell to their knees and pitched forward; the second wave collapsed, writhing, onto their companions. Each droplet ate through hair, skin, flesh and bone; as soon as it hit their rotting brains, it was game over. It was incredibly satisfying to watch.

Athair howled in rage, though not because he cared about his army of undead warriors. It was simply that he hated not being in full control. He directed his anger at the armoured car, sparking out magical lightning in its direction. When that didn’t work, he blasted it with air magic.

The vehicle could withstand a barrage of bullets but it couldn’t repel a powerful fiend’s magic. I grimaced as it overturned, hoping the occupants would be alright.

At least half the vampires had already been decimated and the remainder were spreading through other streets.

‘Arbuthnot!’ Athair yelled. ‘Get to that fucking car! Kill whoever is inside!’

There was no answer: the bogle had disappeared. Arbuthnot had seen his chance and taken it – he must have run off at the first opportunity. Good for him. I’d be very, very surprised if we saw him again.

If Athair realised that Arbuthnot had vanished, he didn’t react. Instead, still balanced on top of the bronze horse, he spun towards another of the departing group of vampires. I heard a muttered hiss and I followed his gaze.

We’d lost one bogle but we’d gained another. At the far end of the street on the southern side, I spotted a large female. A battle to the death wasn’t where I’d expected to see a museum director but at least Agatha Smiggleswith wasn’t alone; she was flanked to her left by Duchess. A troll and a bogle fighting together was an incongruous sight, but they looked as if they were enjoying themselves. They wore matching grins of ear-splitting proportions.

They didn’t remain alone for long, either. Uniformed police officers poured in from the side streets to join the fray. Those vamps were toast.

‘For fuck’s sake,’ Athair yelled. ‘For fuck’s sake!’

He ought to wait for the finale. I glanced to my right, towards the Firth of Forth estuary. The water wasn’t visible because there were too many grand buildings and staggered rooftops to see it from where I was standing, but I could see the dark sky above it.

And I could see the large shape wheeling in the air and flapping towards us.

Aine the dragon reached us in seconds. She might be far from home and possess far more motherly concerns than anything that elves might conjure up, but she could certainly fly fast when she put her mind to it.

Athair tilted his head upwards. As soon as he caught sight of her, he flicked a lightning bolt towards her that I knew was designed to kill. She dodged it easily and turned her attention towards the remainder of the vampires.

‘You’re losing, Father!’ I shouted. ‘Why don’t you come down off your high horse and give in to the inevitable?’

The words had barely left my mouth when a bank of fire left Aine’s massive jaws. In seconds she scorched a hundred vampires, charring their bodies beyond all recognition. They certainly wouldn’t be rising again.

‘You think killing a few bloodsuckers means you’ve won?’ Athair called back. ‘This fight is only just beginning. You’ve not seen anything yet.’

Aine turned and attacked another group of sprinting vamps. She fixed her slitted dragon gaze on the final few; soon there would be none left. In less than an hour, we’d managed to destroy Edinburgh’s entire undead population. If nothing else went right this night, I could at least be proud of that.

Gladys buzzed, her impatience growing. I couldn’t blame her. ‘Soon,’ I whispered. I tightened my hand around her hilt, wishing my palms weren’t so sweaty. ‘Soon.’

Athair jumped down from the horse and landed a metre in front of me. ‘How about now?’

I raised my chin. ‘I’m game if you are.’