My heart sank. Atlanteia had seemed convinced that getting the environmentalists on side would help to stop the demolition. I certainly didn’t have the faintest idea how to go about it. “So they’re not coming?”
He waggled a finger in front of me. “That’s not what I said. Somehow, round about the time that you busted the ward, whatever was preventing them from listening to Beltran completely evaporated.”
“I was right. The ward wasn’t just a physical barrier,” I breathed in relief.
“Indeed. Whoever created it was a clever bastard because it was a psychological ward too. They’re not easy to manage, you know.”
“You sound like you admire him,” I said, faintly disgusted.
“Just his work, my little dragonlette. Not him.” He dusted off an imaginary speck from his shoulder. “Anyway, to cut a long story short, hey presto and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, they are on their way. Should be no more than a couple of hours.”
Thank fuck. I beamed gratefully at him.
He bobbed his head in arrogant acknowledgement and opened up his palms, gesturing expansively. “Bring on the accolades.”
Aubrey took that moment to spit noisily on the ground. Solus’ lip curled in revulsion. I couldn’t help snorting out a giggle.
“Can I have my phone back now?” There was a high pitched plaintive note to his voice.
“He’s different,” commented Solus, eyeing the ex-vamp with detached curiosity.
“He’s not fucking undead anymore.”
“You know what I mean.” Solus frowned. “The Aubrey I knew might have been unlikeable, even as far as vampires go, but he possessed considerable inner strength. This one,” he pointed at him with his toe, “is a pathetic excuse for a human. Why is he even with us?”
“I don’t really know,” I answered, honestly.
Aubrey scrambled to his feet, throwing away his half chewed stick behind him with an angry flourish. “I am here, you know!” he shouted. “It’s rude to talk about people as if they’re not there when they are! I didn’t ask to be turned into a human. She did it to me.” His voice continued to rise, and his right foot began stamping the ground several times in quick succession. “Now give me back my phone! It’s mine!”
As if on cue, the phone in my hands beeped. I looked over at Solus and raised my eyebrows slightly. “He’s having some adjustment issues.”
“I’ll say,” murmured the Fae, with a slightly impressed expression.
“Just let me use it for a few more minutes, Aubrey. Then I’ll give back to you, I promise.”
He folded his arms and wrinkled his nose, then sat back down and huffed loudly. I opened Alex’s text. There were three images. I opened up the first one, with Solus peering over my shoulder.
“Who’s that?”
“I’m hoping it’s the prick that’s behind all of this,” I said, staring down at the hulking figure that Alex had managed to capture.
“Looks pretty strong. No match for our dragon though.”
I gave the Fae a warning glance. Aubrey was by now no doubt starting to put the pieces together as to what I really was but that didn’t mean that Solus had to hand the information to him on a plate. Fortunately for me he was still sitting glumly on the ground and muttering away to himself, paying us very little attention. Solus was right however: whoever this was that Alex had managed to snap, he looked as if he was built for one thing and one thing only. And that was fighting. This one was definitely a contender. I opened up the next one. It was a young looking guy wearing a hoodie. Alex had only just managed to catch him in profile, but he still looked remarkably babyish to be carrying out a reign of terror. Still, appearances could be deceiving.
I flicked my thumb over to the final image. This one was rather blurry, but it was still possible to make out the features of a somewhat nondescript looking man, wearing glasses and a suit. I frowned down at the phone. There was something about him that was vaguely familiar.
“He looks like that actor,” commented Solus, “the one in that Hollywood film about a man murdering his wife and it all going terribly wrong.”
I stared up at the Fae in surprise. “You watch movies?”
He actually blushed. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess,” I said, still somewhat nonplussed. “Just, I guess I thought that you faeries would be above all that.”
“Well, maybe you could come with me sometime.” There was a sudden mischievous gleam in his eyes. “We could sit in the back row, share some popcorn, let our hands accidentally touch and then…”
I punched him in the arm. “Sod off.”
Solus just laughed musically. I tutted at him and closed down the text. The Batibat’s man could realistically be any of them or none of them. Looking at pictures was pretty much a waste of time.
I sighed. I knew I should probably call Mrs. Alcoon and tell her that I might not make it back to London for the bookshop’s grand opening, but I didn’t want to let her down. Despite the fact that it was clearly foolish optimism to think that I would be there, I decided to wait. I still had the image of Corrigan’s frozen eyes in my head when I’d told him I wouldn’t keep our date. I wasn’t looking forward to doing the same to Mrs. Alcoon. I ignored the little voice whispering coward at me and decided I’d call her tomorrow, then threw the phone into Aubrey’s lap. He stopped his incessant muttering and his expression brightened immediately. I watched him carefully for a moment, trying to work out if he was up to something. He had been avoiding all of his vamp pals up till now, but I couldn’t help wondering if his sudden attachment to his phone was because he’d finally been in contact with them. Hadn’t he said something about knowing a few who could turn him back to a creature of the undead?
“Have you done something stupid, Aubrey?”
“Like what?” he asked, his face a picture of wide-eyed innocence.
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, slowly, “like contact some vampires to come here and wreak havoc on the now approaching humans?”
He evinced melodramatic hurt. “No! If I called them it would be to help me out so I can go back to being what I’m supposed to be!”
“An evil night stalker?”
“Someone who gets the respect they deserve! Someone who isn’t ignored!” His voice faltered slightly. “Someone who doesn’t feel all this inner turmoil all the time.”
Oh, the existential problems of a cured vampire. I realised that I still didn’t really have an answer to why he was suddenly concerned about where his phone might be though. I stared at him, hard, and put my hands on my hips.
“Okay, so you’ve not been calling the bloodsuckers. But you’ve definitely been phoning someone. What’s going on?”
Aubrey looked guiltily away. A wash of concern filtered through me. I’d bloody kill him if he had done something to mess up my plans just as things were starting to look up. Why in the hell had I let him tag along? I should have left his sorry arse back in London on the streets where he belonged.
“I could compel you to tell me, you know.”
He sniffed. “Go on, then.”
At that very moment the phone in his hands beeped. Aubrey glanced down at it and his face lit up. My muscles tensed. Whatever he’d done and whatever he’d summoned, I’d dispatch it pretty damn fucking quickly. Bloodfire lit up inside my belly and there was a shout from behind me.
“Mack! Someone’s coming up the hill!”
Giving Aubrey the dirtiest look I could muster, I motioned to Solus to stay and watch him, then turned round to face who – or what – was coming. I squinted downwards. The trees were masking the majority of their approach, but there were flashes of bright red and blue emerging from between the gaps in the leaves. I frowned. They clearly weren’t trying to camouflage themselves in any way. I took several steps forward to get a better look. Were they carrying something?
The mages were both on their feet, flicking anxious glances between me and the moving figure. Lucy jogged over in my direction, then took up position next to me, shoulder to shoulder.
“What is it?” she asked quietly, equal measures of concern and menace in her voice.
I shook my head to indicate that I didn’t know, and just watched, ready to defend our position of need be. It could be only one of two things: the Batibat’s master or a buddy of Aubrey’s. Both would be dangerous. Then a face appeared. Human. I cocked my head, still trying to work out what he was carrying.
Lucy sniffed. “Hold on,” she said. “I can smell that. Tomato, meat, some kind of herb…”
Her voice drifted off as a shout reached our ears. “Hey! Which one of you guys ordered pizza?”
I looked at Lucy and she looked at me. Then I turned back round to Aubrey.
He avoided my gaze. “I told you I was hungry,” he huffed.
I rolled my eyes and stomped irritably off to get things ready before the campaigners started arriving.
Chapter Seventeen
I called my merry band of ragtag Otherworlders together, leaving Aubrey in peace to eat his stupid pizza.
“So, the humans will be here soon and we need to be prepared,” I said, trying to sound as serious as I possibly could. It wasn’t easy with both the mages and Lucy casting occasional hungry glances towards Aubrey and his cheesy meal, with the constant sound of his smacking lips and delighted murmurs interrupting.
“Why do we need to bother with them?” drawled Solus.
I pursed my lips. “I’m here because the dryads asked me to come, and the dryads believe that the environmentalists will be able to stop the demolition that’s due to take place on Monday. Therefore, they want them here. They’ve got the most experience at this kind of thing. Besides, I doubt any of us want to hang around for weeks until the planning permission manages to get blocked.”
They all nodded fervently.