Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Anthony was storming towards me, fangs bared and fists clenched. If he hadn’t been vamp, his face would have been bright red with fury. As it was, he remained pale but several veins were bulging in his neck and on his forehead.
It was far too late to hide; my only recourse was to brazen it out. I smiled brightly and clasped my hands in front of my body in an effort to appear as meek and unthreatening as I could. ‘Good afternoon! We met yesterday. I’m Kit McCafferty and…’
‘I know who you are! I don’t have bleeding on my fucking brain!’
Oh dear. He was very, very angry. Captain Montgomery would not have been best pleased if he knew how much I was upsetting the local population. This was far from conflict resolution – quite the opposite, in fact.
He stopped in front of me and bellowed in my face, ‘Have you hurt them?’
I squinted, momentarily confused. ‘Hurt who?’ Then belatedly I realised. ‘The worms? Of course not!’
‘Because the pain and suffering I will mete out if you have so much as disturbed their sleep will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before, girlie.’
Girlie? I frowned.
‘Didn’t you see the yellow warning to stay out of here?’ he spat. ‘Are you fucking colour blind?’
I opened my mouth to assure him that I was perfectly capable of registering all colours but before I could snark a word, She Without An Ear pelted past me like a streaked grey bat out of hell. She threw herself between me and Anthony and spat at him for all she was worth.
‘I know you think you’re helping,’ I said, touched that she’d decided to ignore her fear of the worms to protect me. ‘But you’re really not.’
Anthony had taken a step back and was staring at She Without An Ear in horror. ‘What the fuck is that?’
Maybe he did have bleeding on his brain. ‘Uh, a cat.’ Obviously.
When he launched a kick in her direction, something inside me snapped. Although my feisty cat easily avoided his foot, I wouldn’t put up with that sort of behaviour.
I couldn’t hurt the vampire, much as I might want to because William, the Bureaucratic Suite official, had made it clear that anything that harmed a vampire would not be tolerated.
At best I’d be thrown out of the Understream and forbidden from returning.
At worst … it was probably better not to find out.
I didn’t have to touch Anthony to put him in his place.
As I’d learned many times from watching cats, attitude and the suggestion of violence could be far more effective than drawing blood.
I didn’t care that he was a vampire and technically stronger and faster than me.
He might look like the winner on paper – but life wasn’t lived in ink and books.
I started with my death stare, which had sent many an opponent scurrying for cover long before I’d raised a hand against them. I went full wattage: this bastard had tried to hurt one of my cats and he deserved appropriate treatment.
There was an art to it. My death stare didn’t just involve tightening my eyes, bringing my brows together a fraction, lowering my chin and hardening my gaze.
No, it revealed my innermost soul and allowed my antagonist to understand that deep down I was a true killer.
They might not recognise the fact consciously, but somehow they would register it.
I didn’t have the most effective death stare ever known to man or woman – that particular honour went to an old EEL buddy of mine called Gavin – but I’d perfected it over the years and I knew it was good.
Unfortunately Anthony only laughed, and it wasn’t a nervous laugh to cover his own inadequacies. He obviously thought I was hilarious. Darn it: that was embarrassing.
‘You think that’s funny, Worm Boy?’ I spun on my heel and strode towards the nearest worm, a surprisingly slender creature whose exterior was more tan than dark brown. ‘Watch this.’
I lifted a hand. As expected, Anthony reacted instantly and shoved me away from the worm. He wasn’t laughing now; his eyes were wild and his hands were shaking. ‘Don’t touch them!’ he yelled. ‘Don’t go near them!’
‘You tried to hurt my cat.’
‘I didn’t hurt your fucking cat. I didn’t touch the mangy beast.’
She Without An Ear growled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her lower her shoulders and begin to stalk forward. She meant business. I decided to let her continue.
‘And I’ve not touched your slimy worms,’ I told Anthony. ‘So you can back off.’
‘Slimy?’ he gasped. He opened his mouth, all but shoving his glistening fangs in my face. ‘I’ll show you slimy. I’ll…’
A cold voice interrupted us, the words slicing through the air with enough force to silence us both. ‘What on earth is going on?’
We both turned to the female vampire standing at the entrance with a very irritated look on her face.
‘You are trespassing, Penelope,’ Anthony snarled.
‘That is Lady Penelope to you.’ She glanced at me. ‘And it appears I am not the only trespasser.’
I took my cue. ‘I am investigating the disappearance of four worms. It’s kinda hard to do that if I can’t look around their home.’
Anthony glared at me. ‘Your presence is disturbing them.’
‘They don’t look disturbed to me.’
‘Enough!’ Lady Penelope’s voice was sharp. I smiled smugly. ‘Both of you!’
She Without An Ear miaowed. ‘And you!’ she snapped at the cat. She rolled her eyes. ‘I am constantly dealing with children. Honestly!’ She folded her arms. ‘Ms McCafferty, are you done here?’
‘I suppose so.’ I’d seen all there was to see, which wasn’t much.
‘Then come with me.’
Anthony stepped into my path. ‘First I want recourse. This fuzz-laden sun dweller should not have come here without permission. She has broken every rule of the stables. I will not stand for it!’
Lady Penelope regarded him coolly. ‘Then perhaps you should have been more polite yesterday and answered her questions. She is here to find out what has happened to our friends. Blocking her investigation is not helpful.’
I was even more surprised than Anthony at her support.
‘Come now, Ms McCafferty.’ She beckoned me. ‘I have lined up some potential witnesses for you.’
I jerked my head at She Without An Ear. She shook out her fur and sauntered past Anthony with her tail high and brushed against his knee with its tip.
He scowled. I met his red eyes; there was something odd glistening in them.
Softening my voice, I said quietly, ‘I do want to find Nicola, Solly, Fields and Tiger. I will do all that I can.’
His mouth tightened and he swung his head away.
As I joined Lady Penelope and She Without An Ear, I glanced over my shoulder. Anthony was leaning into the slender worm and stroking her flank. My eyes narrowed speculatively before Lady Penelope grabbed my elbow and steered me away.
As soon as we were in the main tunnel outside the stables she turned to me, her lip curling with disgust. ‘I suppose that furry creature is yours and you brought it here.’
‘Not it. She is a cat,’ I said pointedly. ‘My emotional support cat.’
We both looked at She Without An Ear who had walked away and was attacking a small pebble that had offended her in some way. She batted it with her paw then tried to bite it. When that didn’t appear to satisfy her, she gave up and settled into an awkward position to groom her nether regions.
‘Yes,’ Lady Penelope said drily. ‘She clearly provides you with a great deal of support.’
I pretended to be shocked. ‘Was that sarcasm? That’s twice now.’
‘It appears you are rubbing off on me.’
I beamed. ‘In that case, would you like to stroke her?’
Both the vampire and the cat visibly recoiled, so I guessed not. ‘How did you find me?’ I asked. ‘I thought vampires slept at this time of day,’ I added in an overly casual tone of voice.
When Lady Penelope sent a sharp look in my direction, I reminded myself that she was centuries old and far from stupid.
‘I have been awake for some time.’ That told me nothing.
‘I only happened on you by accident. I wanted to suggest to Anthony that he agree to speak to you again. He was not as helpful yesterday as he could have been.’
He'd been even less helpful today, but I didn’t say so. My sojourn in the stables, unpleasant as it had been, had answered my current questions. ‘That’s very good of you.’
‘You are here to find our missing friends, Ms McCafferty. I will do whatever I can do to assist in your investigation.’ She hesitated. ‘I was also concerned about your wellbeing.’
I eyed her, curious as to what she would say about the attack. ‘I’m alright. Shocked and bruised, but alright.’
‘I can only apologise for what occurred. I suspect the creature who attacked you was conjured by one of my peers who resents your intrusion. We are not used to accepting help from sun dwellers but, even so, that attack should never have happened.’ She drew in a long breath before adding, ‘It is not lost on me that you put yourself in harm’s way and tried to protect me. ’
My insides tightened. I had given away a great deal during the first few moments of that short-lived battle. ‘Yeah.’ I shrugged as if it weren’t a big deal. ‘That was pretty stupid of me. You’re the one with extraordinary supernatural powers and immortality, not me.’
‘Vampires are not immortal, Ms McCafferty. As you are fully aware, we can be killed.’
True. I looked at her for a moment before attempting to lighten the conversation. ‘You’re welcome. Yesterday you called me Kit. You should keep on doing that. Ms McCafferty makes me feel old.’
Lady Penelope gave a small tinkling laugh. ‘Heavens forbid. Very well. Kit it is.’
I smiled. I was making progress on all fronts.
When the three of us returned to the marketplace, I was pleased to see that many of the stallholders were setting up for the night. I peered at the far end and saw the top of Trilby’s hat. Excellent. ‘Before we go any further,’ I said, ‘I want to talk to that market seller again.’
Lady Penelope didn’t need to follow my finger to know who I was referring to. ‘I do not believe that is a good idea.’
I glanced at her. ‘Why not?’ I asked.
Her expression twisted in a way that suggested she was choosing her words carefully.
‘I understand that great power can be seductive,’ she said quietly.
‘It can be desirable to spend time within the orbit of a Preternatural being who wields considerable magic, but one may not always be aware of the greater risks involved.’
I examined her face but I couldn’t see any trace of guile or calculation in her red eyes. ‘You are saying that Trilby is very powerful,’ I said. I already knew that. ‘But are you also saying that they are dangerous?’
‘Not necessarily, but in my experience Preternaturals with a great deal of magic usually have specific reasons for doing what they do. They are not always concerned with any fallout that results from their actions – or who might get hurt in the process.’
Well, that was as clear as mud. I frowned, wanting to ask her more, but she shook her head and smiled faintly. ‘Ignore me. I am an old lady who sometimes concerns herself too much with matters that shall never come to pass. Talk to this Trilby. You may find their words illuminating.’
I stayed where I was. ‘What kind of Preternatural are they? You didn’t recognise them until they took off their hat yesterday and I sense that you know exactly what they are.’ I took a long breath. ‘Lady Penelope, what exactly is Trilby?
Her face stiffened. ‘If I call you Kit,’ she said, ‘then you should call me Penelope.’
She hadn’t answered my question; in fact, she’d actively avoided it. I wondered if I should press her but decided there was no point. The vampire wouldn’t tell me anything unless she wanted to.
I nodded then headed in Trilby’s direction.