Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
I picked at my food and spent most of my time moving it around my plate. I couldn’t finish too quickly because I’d promised Athair two hours – and I had to allow Hugo enough time to sneak around Culcreuch Castle. So I continued to push the pasta from one side of the plate to another and occasionally nibbled on a mushroom. Every second was excruciating.
Athair felt no such compunction about eating his dinner although he did attack his burger with a knife and fork, which baffled the brownies as much as it did me.
‘Never trust anyone who eats a burger with cutlery,’ Hester said in an overly loud voice.
Fortunately, Athair chose not to take offence. ‘It’s hard to break a habit that has been formed over several hundred years.’
Otis was growing bolder. ‘We lost over a hundred years when we were ensorcelled into a locket. We have adapted.’
‘That’s probably because you’ve had the help of my wonderful daughter.’ Athair looked at me. ‘Despite the old saying, you can actually teach an old dog new tricks. Just think what you could teach me, Daisy. With your influence, I could become a completely different person.’
Adapting your habits in order to hold a burger in your hands was slightly different to learning not to kill anyone who got in your way. ‘You are free to eat your food however you desire,’ I said icily.
He bared his teeth in a grin, put down his knife and fork and picked up the remainder of his burger with his hands. He took a huge bite, chewed, swallowed and smacked his lips. ‘Mmm. Look! I can learn. In fact, to prove it’s not a one-off, and because it seems to bother you so much, I will abstain from killing anyone for the next forty days.’
Forty days, I thought sarcastically. Woo-hoo.
‘I’ll even leave those two elves outside alone,’ Athair continued without missing a beat. I looked up, startled. ‘You know, the ones who followed you all the way here. The old woman and her male sidekick. I was going to ask my man to take care of them while we had dessert, but your presence has encouraged me towards benevolence.’
‘Stab him, Daisy!’ Hester hissed. ‘Cut off his head and let’s get out of here.’
Athair whistled. ‘Such violence – and yet you castigate me for far less.’
‘If you harm a hair on either Slim or Miriam’s head…’ I said, unable to stop myself.
‘Then you’ll do what?’ He seemed genuinely curious. ‘You know that you can’t beat me. Unless you choose to become a fiend yourself, you will never be strong enough to match me.’ He raised his index finger. ‘Now there’s a thought you should consider. Become a fiend and you might have a chance against me.’
I stared at him. ‘You’re crazy.’
‘No, I’m not. I meant it when I said I care about you, Daisy. I’ve waited a long time for a child of my own. If your rise means my demise, so be it. I can finally go to my grave knowing that I have created something wonderful. You have so much untapped potential – you can’t begin to imagine what you’re truly capable of.’
I assumed that he believed that if I became a fiend I would want to join him, not kill him. He was prepared to use any argument to encourage me.
‘I dare you,’ he said. ‘I can teach you a little blood magic, if you like. You can see what it’s like.’
‘Fuck off.’ I shoved a forkful of cold pasta into my mouth. Athair chuckled.
I swallowed the mouthful. I was nearing the end of my tether. ‘What did you mean when you said you were going to ask your man? Were you too chicken to come here alone? Did you feel the need to bring back-up?’
‘I wondered if you’d pick up on that.’ He smiled slyly. ‘Despite the current mood, there are some enlightened beings who understand that fiends are not all bad. I can introduce you.’
I scowled. ‘There’s no need.’
Athair dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. ‘No, I insist.’ He pushed his chair back and waved through the restaurant window towards the dark car park. ‘He’ll only be a moment.’
‘If you think you can bring a mindless vampire in here…’ I began.
Athair pulled a face. ‘Please. Vampires have their uses but their scope is limited. Vargas was far fonder of their kind than I’ve ever been.’ He was referring to the fiend I’d killed when I’d time-travelled back to 1994. ‘But then you know that already. This … friend of mine is something quite different. He’s not very bright but he’s far better at conversation and far more useful than a mere bloodsucker.’
I heard the bell jangle as the restaurant door opened, followed by several gasps from the diners at the tables around us. Against my better judgment, I yielded to my curiosity and looked around. When I saw who was lumbering towards us, I froze.
Hester and Otis, who’d never had the dubious joy of meeting Arbuthnot, frowned at each other. ‘I didn’t think this would be the sort of place a bogle would frequent,’ Otis said.
Hester eyed my erstwhile drug dealer. ‘And he doesn’t even look like a nice bogle.’
He wasn’t that bad – at least, that’s what I’d thought when I’d needed his services. I wondered if Athair had threatened him, or if Arbuthnot had joined the side of pure evil of his own free will.
Whatever his reason for being there, he certainly wasn’t trying to conceal himself. He knocked over several chairs on his way to us and jostled three wide-eyed customers, one of whom choked on her glass of wine. He didn’t pay them any attention; his focus was entirely on us.
The second waiter who’d served us might have been relaxed around the brownies but he didn’t feel that way about bogles. He stumbled over and twisted his hands together before he fixed his anxious eyes on Athair. ‘Uh, is this gentleman joining you?’ he asked. It was obvious what he wanted the answer to be.
Athair, still presenting himself as a kindly older gentleman, smiled benevolently. ‘Yes.’
The waiter swallowed, his anxiety growing by the second. ‘I’m not sure that we have a chair that will accommodate him.’
‘Told you,’ Otis muttered. ‘This is probably the first bogle that’s ever walked in here.’
Athair’s expression changed dramatically: his gaze hardened and despite his genial features there was now a definite air of menace about him. This was the real Athair, I was certain of it.
‘What kind of establishment are you running here?’ he snapped at the poor waiter.
It wasn’t so much that bogles were large creatures – although they were – but that their bone density was far higher than that of most other beings. I didn’t need to see Arbuthnot sit on any of the restaurant’s chairs to know that they would collapse under his weight, and I doubted that would go down well with either him or Athair. Neither did the restaurant staff deserve to be killed because their chairs weren’t reinforced against bogles.
As much as I wanted the bogle to disappear as quickly as possible, I couldn’t afford a confrontation so I sprang up and pointed to an empty table. ‘Why don’t we move there?’ I suggested. ‘He can sit on the window seat.’ It would be stronger than any of the chairs.
And then, because I didn’t want to give Athair the satisfaction of thinking he’d discomfited me by producing my ex-drug dealer, I forced a brilliant smile onto my face. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you again, Arbuthnot.’ I even stood up and kissed his rough cheek, much to everyone’s astonishment. When I glanced at Athair, however, instead of disappointment that I remained calm, I saw amused pride at my antics. Damn it.
We shifted over to the new table without too much faff, although everyone in the restaurant held their breath when Arbuthnot sat down on the window seat. It creaked ominously but didn’t collapse. Praise be.
He ordered a fruity cocktail, of all things. When the waiter had gone, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver box. He didn’t smile but he did waggle his eyebrows suggestively and my stomach sank to my shoes. Oh no. Oh no .
‘Go ahead,’ Athair told him, proving that the bogle was nothing more than a puppet dangling on his fiendish strings. Arbuthnot grunted and opened the box.
There were no prizes for guessing what was inside. I allowed myself one fleeting glance before I looked away. I didn’t need to taste the bitter fizz on my tongue to know that these were high-quality pills. Whichever illegal lab they’d come from, the techs had taken the time to brand each one with a tiny spider and give them a glossy white finish. Only the most expensive and well-made spider’s silk looked like that.
My fingers twitched and a gnawing hunger attacked my whole body; it would take a lot more than cold mushroom pasta to satisfy my physical needs now. Wishing that my hand wasn’t trembling, I took a sip of water and resolved to pretend that the pills didn’t exist.
Neither Otis nor Hester had any such compunction.
Otis hissed and spat at Arbuthnot like an angry cat. ‘You don’t need spider’s silk, Daisy! You’re clean now!’
Hester took a different approach. Setting aside her fear of Athair in favour of action, she floated down from my shoulder and grabbed the pill box. She clamped it to her body, even though it was practically the same size as she was, and flew away from the table.
‘No!’ she screeched. ‘No pills! No spiders! No!’ She glanced over her shoulder, clearly expecting to be followed, but Athair and Arbuthnot simply watched her.
I tried to remember to keep breathing like a normal person.
Hester extracted a pill and dropped it into a jug of water that was sitting on the bar waiting to be emptied, then she threw in three more. Each one fizzed and slowly dissolved. She took the remaining pills, tossed them onto the floor and zipped down to stomp hard on them, throwing herself at them until nothing remained but specks of white dust.
By now everyone in the restaurant had stopped to watch her; even a couple of the chefs were peering at her from the porthole window in the kitchen door. I knew Hester was aware of her audience when she added a couple of flourishes and mid-air spins. When she’d finally smashed the last few crumbs of spider’s silk deliciousness into smithereens, she raised her head and gave a succession of sweeping bows. She turned to me and snapped out the sort of salute of which even a member of the Royal Guard at Buckingham Palace would be proud and returned to the table.
Unfortunately, she was now covered from head to toe in white spider’s silk dust. I swallowed hard and dragged my eyes away from her – but my left one was twitching furiously.
‘That’ll be £1,650.’ Arbuthnot spoke aloud for the first time.
‘Bill me,’ Hester snarled.
‘He just did.’ Athair regarded her mildly then turned to the bogle and nodded
Arbuthnot appeared to understand the silent request. He reached into a different pocket and pulled out another box. This one was embossed with gold.
‘Don’t worry.’ Athair winked at Hester. ‘We have plenty.’
I wanted to be the queen of nonchalant behaviour. I wanted to lean back in my chair, cross my legs and shrug so I could prove to the entire world that I didn’t need or want spider’s silk. Unfortunately I could only remain very, very still and focus on the breathing techniques that my drug counsellors had taught me.
‘You don’t look very happy, daughter,’ Athair said. ‘Are you unwell?’
Fuck. Off.
‘You’re rather sweaty. Perhaps you have a mild fever?’
As I looked down and ostentatiously checked my watch, my movement seemed jerky and un-coordinated. There were fifty-two minutes to go. In theory, I could walk away at any time – I hadn’t actually given my word that I’d stay for a full two hours – but if I left now, I’d be putting Hugo in danger.
I considered my options while Athair smirked and continued his little drama. He held out his hand, palm upwards. Arbuthnot dropped the small box onto it. ‘You can go now,’ Athair said to him.
The bogle’s heavy brow creased in protest. Athair didn’t waste his breath repeating the order; instead, the tiniest flicker of electricity zipped between his fingers, dancing across the tips from pinkie to thumb. The bogle froze then stood up, nodded at me and left.
We all pretended not to notice the collective sigh of relief from the other diners – but they were scared of the wrong person. They should have ignored the large, lumbering bogle and focused their terror on the thin old man with the twinkle in his eyes.
Athair thumbed open the little box. My eyes slid to its contents and away again. A perfect dozen.
‘There are many benefits to being a fiend,’ he said. He dipped into the box, withdrew a pill and placed it on his tongue. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his mouth and his eyes and gave a small moan of satisfaction.
He swallowed and looked at me again. ‘I can enjoy the benefits of all sorts of things without ill effect. I don’t worry about high cholesterol. My weight is not an issue. I can imbibe all the caffeine and calories I wish – and I can take all the drugs and alcohol I desire without hangovers, addiction or unpleasant side effects. It’s really rather wonderful.’
His lack of subtlety was noticeable but he didn’t need to be subtle. Not in this.
Otis tugged at my collar. ‘Daisy,’ he whispered. ‘Ignore him.’
Athair reached for a second pill and I watched him raise it to his lips and swallow it. Then he took a third.
I gazed into his eyes. His glamour was strong enough for there to be no tell-tale ring of silver around his pupils; perhaps the drug didn’t even affect him.
‘It’s quite extraordinary stuff,’ he murmured. ‘I can feel it coursing through my veins. There’s a strange fizz as it hits my heart, and the way it sneaks around the edges of my magic and rubs away at my powers is rather delicious.’
I straightened. Was the spider’s silk dampening his magic in the same way it had dampened mine? Was Athair walking into a trap of his own making?
He clearly knew what I was thinking. ‘You’re welcome to try, sweetheart. Attack me here and let’s see if my power has diminished enough for you to beat me. I won’t hurt you.’ He paused. ‘Much.’
I exhaled: so spider’s silk did affect him, even if only slightly. However, there was no doubt that it wasn’t enough to give me the upper hand. I ran my tongue around my mouth, acknowledging my deep-seated jealousy that I was not the person tossing pill after pill into my mouth.
When Athair dipped his finger in for a fourth damned dose, I pushed my chair back and stood up. ‘Come on,’ I said to the brownies. ‘We’re leaving.’
Athair also rose to his feet. ‘I think not, daughter.’
Thank goodness he was trying to prevent my departure; I’d have been in trouble if he’d let me leave without an argument. I needed Athair to put the drugs away for my own sanity, but I couldn’t leave the restaurant if I wanted to ensure Hugo’s safety.
I lifted my chin defiantly and eyed my birth father coldly. ‘I didn’t come here to be goaded back into addiction or mocked because of my past. Not by you. Not by anyone.’
Hester and Otis folded their arms and glared at him as if they were highly trained bodyguards.
‘All I wanted to do,’ Athair said in a contrite tone that I probably would have believed if it had come from anyone else, ‘was to show you what is possible for a fiend. I went too far, and for that I apologise.’ He gestured to my chair. ‘You promised me dinner. I understand if you want to leave but I would like it if you stayed for dessert.’ He spread his palms. ‘Please, Daisy. I am entreating you to stay.’
I almost snorted. Entreating? As if that would make a difference. The entire charade with Arbuthnot and the drugs had been a test: Athair had wanted to check my limits and probe my weaknesses, and now he thought he had all the answers. But if Athair could put on an act then so could I. Maybe we were alike after all. ‘No more drugs,’ I said.
‘Of course not.’
‘No more descriptions of how wonderful it is to be a fiend, and no more waxing lyrical about what I could gain if I was stupid enough to join you.’
‘You would gain a great deal,’ Athair said.
I took out my wallet, withdrew two crisp notes and dropped them on the table. ‘We’re done here.’ I started walking away.
‘Wait!’ Athair said. ‘I will do as you request for the remainder of this meal.’
I kept walking.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing, Daisy,’ Hester muttered.
‘Of course she knows!’ Otis whispered, affronted on my behalf.
I didn’t have a bloody clue; I was making this up as I went along.
‘You can choose the topics of conversation,’ Athair called. ‘I can tell you about my early life. You can learn more about your true origins. Haven’t you ever wondered about your grandparents?’
I allowed myself to stumble as if he’d finally caught my attention. It worked.
Athair took full advantage. ‘Or other members of our family? I had several brothers and sisters, you know, and a couple survived to adulthood. Their descendants are probably still alive today.’ He paused. ‘You can ask me anything you like, Daisy. I will answer truthfully.’
I stopped next to a couple who appeared to be out for a romantic dinner. The man was fiddling with something by the side of the table and when I looked down I spotted a small velvet box. Ah: he’d been planning to propose. Unfortunately, between Arbuthnot’s appearance and the melodrama playing out between Athair and me, his thunder had obviously been stolen.
I sent him an apologetic look but he scowled at me. By contrast, his dinner companion blinked at me with what appeared to be relief. Oh dear: she didn’t want to have that question popped. That was uncomfortable.
I turned slowly and scanned the room, aware that many of the diners were watching and listening. I stood there for a while, sucking on my bottom lip, then returned to Athair. ‘How old are you?’ I asked quietly so that I wouldn’t be overheard.
Triumph flashed in his expression. ‘Six hundred and thirty-two – maybe thirty-three. I’m not sure which year I was born. Birthdays weren’t really celebrated when I was young.’
‘Where was this?’
‘York.’ He smiled slightly. ‘Back then it wasn’t a particularly pleasant place. The Black Death was rife.’ He pointed at our abandoned table. ‘I can tell you about it over coffee and cake.’
I sniffed then gave a reluctant nod and walked slowly back to my seat. This was turning out better than I could have hoped for; the more I learned about the real Athair, the better my chance of discovering his weaknesses.
And of one day ending his long life for good.