Chapter 20
Chapter
Twenty
Iimmediately made the mistake of thinking that he was trying to hit me, but Alan wasn’t aiming for me. He was smarter than I’d given him credit for.
Instead of punching me in the head, he grabbed my witchlight.
As I raised my hands to block the supposed blow, he snatched it and threw it forcefully to the ground.
The glass smashed and the light went out.
Clever. Now that we were in total darkness, I could see nothing but I knew that Alan’s vampire senses would allow him to see well enough to attack me properly.
I leapt backwards before he could launch at me again.
I could either pull a pinch of the Wicker witches’ light spell out of my pocket to illuminate the area or I could reach for my dagger, but there wasn’t time to do both.
I opted for my dagger. It wasn’t my first time fighting blind and I knew I could rely on my other senses to help me.
When Alan came at me again, my dagger was in my hands. There was a rush of air and his footsteps thudded towards me. I sliced upwards through the darkness and he cried out with shock and pain.
Take that, you wanker. You didn’t expect that I’d still put up a fight, did you? I swiped once more but this time my blade met nothing but air.
‘Wotcha doing, Alan?’ I asked, keeping my voice light and airy.
I heard a grunt from somewhere on the ground, followed by a snarl, then Alan grabbed my ankle and pulled me off my feet. I kicked out and connected with soft flesh as I fell, but I jarred the base of my spine.
Alan’s breath was coming hard and fast next to me. I tightened my grip on the dagger’s hilt, sat up and lashed out again. I felt the satisfying moment the blade connected with his skin and the brief resistance before it pierced his flesh.
He yelled and pulled away beyond my reach. I heaved myself upright. I couldn’t do him mortal damage with this blade – more’s the pity – but I could still hurt him. I reached into my pocket. It was definitely time to shed some light on the situation.
As my fingers touched the small pouch, another sound filled the narrow tunnel and I froze.
I’d heard that noise before. If I needed confirmation that Alan was behind the conjured monster attack, here it was because another bastard creation was steaming towards me.
Although I couldn’t see it, I could definitely hear it.
I released my hold on the pouch and dropped to the ground, hoping that this monster was identical to my previous attacker. The tunnel was narrow and there was too little room to manoeuvre; if I wanted to beat it, I needed more space.
We’d travelled too far past the yellow marker to make moving back down the tunnel a sensible option.
I had to opt for the unknown and sprint ahead in the hope that there would be a larger cavern nearby where I could effectively defend myself.
I needed to get past the beast – and the easiest way to do that was by sliding underneath it.
The moment I’d dropped to the ground, I felt a rush of air as the monster thundered towards my sprawled body. My left hand scraped its leg as my right hand lashed out and the dagger scratched its scaly flesh. I had to be wary of its tail: one blow from that would send me flying.
As I slid a full metre on my belly, I delved into my pocket again. This time I managed to open the spell pouch and grab a pinch of the light powder. I pulled my hand free and threw the Wicker spell upwards.
The effect was even more astonishing than it had been the first time. From somewhere beyond the monster, I heard Alan shout as the tunnel exploded with light. I blinked rapidly to clear my vision and confirmed what I’d expected: I was on the ground beneath the belly of the conjured monster.
Its dangerous tail was whipping from side to side, slamming against the tunnel walls in a thumping, incessant beat.
I eyed it, timing its movements, then scrambled up and leapt over it as it arced in my direction.
I knew I’d succeeded when I landed on my feet and suddenly found that I could run.
I darted forward, away from both the beast and the vampire.
Behind me, Alan shouted again and the monster roared in response to his command. I ran for all I was worth. Although my legs were pumping hard, I could hear that the beast was catching up. It was close. Far too close.
I swallowed as I prepared to spin around for a desperate last-ditch attempt to attack it within these tight confines, but then the tunnel curved away and the walls started to widen out. The air around me was already shifting.
I managed a final spurt of energy and sprinted into a larger cavern.
My light spell didn’t extend far enough to illuminate the entire space but that didn’t matter; I had all the room I needed to mount an effective attack.
Now both the beast and Alan were mine to play with properly, I thought grimly.
Neither of them appeared to recognise the danger they were in.
I didn’t blame the monster because it wasn’t truly sentient and it would blink out of existence within minutes, no matter what I did.
Alan, however, should have assessed the situation more accurately.
He was still underestimating me, believing I was a mere cat lady and that he held the upper hand. Foolish man.
‘I am not planning to kill you, Kit!’ he called from behind his conjured beast. He was still concealed by the darkness but his voice pinpointed his exact location. ‘That’s not what this is about!’
Yeah, yeah. ‘Oh, I see. This is how you make friends, is it?’ I returned, my gaze on the huffing beast in front of me.
‘I’m still a nice guy. I’m still making the best decisions I can for the greater good.’
I rolled my eyes. Did he think I’d believe that?
‘Drop your weapon and we can talk about this,’ he shouted.
I considered his suggestion then I shrugged, tugged the small ball of poison from my sleeve. I threw it upwards into the still air. The monster’s gaze tracked its progress. Come on, I whispered to myself. Come on.
Its head jerked forward and its jaws snapped; it couldn’t deny the animalistic instincts imbued by the magic that powered it. It snatched the poison from the air and swallowed it with all the commonsense of a hungry Labrador puppy. ‘Sorry,’ I said to the magicked beast. ‘It’s not personal.’
‘What? What do you mean by that?’ Alan yelled.
I stepped back and waited. The monster’s eyes widened and it began to wheeze.
‘What’s going on? What have you done?’
The creature’s front legs collapsed, then its back legs, and it fell to the ground half in and half out of the tunnel. It looked at me with an expression that I could only describe as bitter resignation before it winked out of existence.
‘What?’ Alan shrieked as he stumbled forward into the light to search for his erstwhile pet. ‘What did you do?’
I didn’t waste my breath answering him; with his vile creation out of the way, now it was his turn. I lifted my chin, met his eyes and smiled coldly, then dropped my dagger and withdrew a perfectly smooth, perfectly formed wooden stake from my backpack.
The penny finally dropped. ‘You’re no cat lady,’ Alan breathed.
I advanced towards him. ‘I am most definitely a cat lady, and very proud of it.’ I twirled the stake in one hand. ‘Curious, isn’t it? I could cut you all I like with that dagger and it wouldn’t kill you.’ I paused. ‘Unless I used it to cut off your head.’
I held up the stake. ‘But this little thing made out of oak has enough power to kill you on the spot. Technology isn’t always better.’ I glanced at the place where the monster had been standing. ‘Neither is magic always better.’
‘Wait!’ He held his hands up and staggered closer towards me. ‘Let me explain.’
A villain monologue. Oh goody. ‘Go on,’ I said.
He edged to his right, his red eyes trained on me. ‘It’s a complicated story. I brought you here for a reason.’ He continued to sidle away.
For some reason, he seemed to think I was very stupid. Or visually impaired. Or perhaps both. ‘Explain fast,’ I sighed. ‘My patience is wearing thin, Alan. Very thin indeed.’
He opened his mouth before spinning away and running out of the Wicker spell’s sphere of light. Idiot.
‘You won’t get away from me, Alan, no matter where you go. Run all you like – I will still track you down. This might be your domain but I’m in charge.’
‘No,’ he said from the darkness beyond. ‘You’re not.’ His voice sounded oddly sad.
I frowned. Taking the light with me, I strode forward – and then my mouth dropped. Oh.
Alan hadn’t run away. Darkness swirled beyond him and I was still unsure what lay inside it or how far the cavern extended. The cavern didn’t matter, though; what was important was Alan.
He wasn’t alone. Neither of us were.
My gaze travelled from the vampire to the slumped figure next to him who was chained to a large wooden pole that was set in the ground. A second pole next to him had another heavy set of metal chains with handcuffs attached to them.
‘This is Eric.’ Alan’s voice echoed emptily. He patted the motionless thrall on the head.
‘We’ve met,’ I said.
Alan’s eyebrows shot upwards. ‘Really? Rather annoying fellow, isn’t he?’
I folded my arms, still clutching the stake in one hand. ‘What the fuck is going on here?’
The vampire ran a hand through his hair and sighed. ‘I’m not a psychopath, Kit, and I’m not trying to get your blood or kill you for fun. This is honestly for the greater good.’ He gestured to his left. ‘Cast your light over there.’
My eyes narrowed.
‘It won’t hurt you to look.’ He gave a small smile. ‘I give you my word on that.’
Twitchy, but curious enough to do as he said, I reached for another pinch of the Wicker light spell and tossed it to my side, sending a cascade of light away from me. Then I blinked at the long stone wall with a single entrance in its centre which was revealed. ‘What is that?’