“What?”
“Goodness me, dear, are you still in a bad mood?” Oops. It was Mrs. Alcoon.
“Hey,” I said weakly. “No, I’m fine. I just thought you were someone else, that’s all.”
“You left before I could make you a proper cup of tea yesterday, you know. I have just the right selection of herbs to help your condition.”
“My condition? You mean being a grouch?”
“Something like that, dear. Anyway, the reason I’m calling is that Mr. Slim thinks he may have found something to help you. An old document relating to the four elements. He rather thinks that you ought to see it straight away. I told him that the best thing we can do is to let you rest, but he insisted.”
I pursed my mouth. “I’ll be right over.”
I scribbled out a note for Staines, telling him to wait, and that I’d be back shortly, and stuck it to the front door, then jogged out to Clava Books. When I got there, Aubrey was making himself useful with a broom, dancing around and humming what seemed to be My Chemical Romance’s Blood. You can take the vampire out of the boy, but…
“So? What the feck happened last night? He’s going after Water next, isn’t he?” Slim appeared out of nowhere, fluttering at head height and fixing me with a beady stare.
Great. If this was where I found out I hadn’t needed to deal with Tarn after all, I was going to be seriously pissed off.
“Do you happen to know where he’s going as well?”
“How the feck would I know where he’s going? There’s water everywhere, in case you hadn’t noticed. We don’t live in a desert,” he scoffed at me.
“Water, water, everywhere and nary a drop to drink,” said Mrs. Alcoon, emerging out of the back room and handing me over a foul smelling cup. “Here. Drink this.”
“Actually,” I stalled, “I’ve got to get back home. I’ve got a meeting.”
“You’re not getting the document until you finish that cup, Mackenzie Smith,” said Mrs. Alcoon sternly, waggling her finger at me.
Slim snatched back the piece of paper he’d been holding out. When I gave him a look, he just shrugged. Yielding to what was clearly the inevitable, I took the cup and sipped it. Yes, it tasted just as bad as it smelled. I gulped the whole thing down as quickly as I could, then passed the cup back.
“Thank you. Look,” I said, feeling slightly embarrassed, “I’m sorry if I was snippy yesterday.”
Mrs. Alcoon patted me on the shoulder. “That’s alright, dear. You couldn’t help it. There’ll be more days like that.”
“Well, I think maybe I’m getting a handle on it. Tom came around this morning and we made some headway. I think I’m going to be able to rid myself of this burden more easily than I’d thought.”
The old lady looked vaguely alarmed for a moment, then her face cleared. “Oh right, yes, I see. That’s very good. Well done.”
Hmm. Something was definitely up with her. I chewed the inside of my cheek, trying to decide whether it would be worth pursuing. I didn’t really have the time right now, but I’d try and weasel it out of her at some later date. I looked back at Slim, and gestured pointedly at the now empty cup, and the document he was still clutching.
“Can I have it now?”
He held out the yellowing paper. Taking it, I scanned down, reading it quickly. It was complete gobbledegook.
“I don’t get it,” I said, thoroughly confused.
Slim exhaled melodramatically. “If you’d been educated properly, it would make total sense. Endor started with Earth, correct?”
I was absorbed in trying to make sense of the marks on the page.
“Correct?” repeated Slim, in a louder voice, obviously irritated with my multi-tasking shortcomings.
“Okay, yes, correct,” I said, hastily, before he decided to give up on me entirely.
“And of course it stands to reason that he’d begin with Earth.”
“Eh?”
“Good grief! Look at the fecking diagram on the paper! Earth binds all three other elements together. It has to be first.”
“Okay, I see,” I said, nodding. Sort of.
“Think of a tree as symbolising the Earth element.”
A sour feeling hit my stomach. “That’s certainly what Endor did.”
“A tree takes in water through its roots. That water is necessary for growth. The tree then breathes out through its leaves, providing oxygen.” He sent me a quick look. “Oxygen’s an important part of air.”
I scowled.
“And if you set that tree on fire, it provides energy and releases all the other elements back again to the earth.”
“Right.” I paused. “But the tree needs air and sunlight to grow. Not just water.”
“Exactly! You’re getting it now.”
I really wasn’t.
Slim stabbed at the piece of paper with his index finger. “It’s in there. He’s taking all the vital parts of life and the way they’re linked together in order to create power.”
“But he’s taking those parts of life by introducing death,” I pointed out.
“Death is equally a part of life.”
My head hurt. “Slim, how is this knowledge actually going to help?”
“He’s going from Earth to Water to Air to Fire. And when he has all four, he’ll have the power of life.”
“But he’s a necromancer. Why would he want the power of life?”
Slim waited, blinking rapidly, while I tried to connect the dots.
“He’s taking strength from the life of the four different elements by introducing death.” I held up my palm to forestall the gargoyle. “Yes, yes, I get that death is a part of life, but the death he’s bringing in is unnatural. It breaks the cycle that he’s already drawing from. As a necromancer he’s already in touch with the dead anyway - except they’re always going to be dead. The best necromancer in the world isn’t going to change that fact. Unless he has the power of life.” I chewed on a fingernail. “Oh.”
“It’ll disrupt the balance of nature. Of life itself. The dead are not meant to rise again. The results could be catastrophic.”
I looked at Aubrey, who was intently chasing one little ball of dust around one of the stacks of shelves. “You say the dead aren’t meant to rise again…”
“Vampires walk the delicate balance between both worlds, neither dead nor alive.” Slim’s face twisted. “They’re a bit of an anomaly.”
“How much of an anomaly is a vampire who by his nature used to be dead-but-not-dead and is now alive?”
“Well, I didn’t say I fecking understood everything now, did I?”
I gazed at the little gargoyle with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. “I’m not sure that knowing Endor’s motives for doing what he’s doing will make me feel any better, but it really is useful information. Thank you, Slim.”
He bowed in mid-air. Mrs. Alcoon smiled at him fondly. “Aye, he’s a canny lad.”
Two high points of colour lit up his cheeks. He muttered something inaudible in a gruff voice, then flapped away to scold Aubrey for not sweeping with enough finesse.
“Are you feeling better now, dear?” asked the older woman.
Actually, I was. I guessed the icky tea had done its job. The hot lump in my stomach was still there, but it wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, and my general well-being seemed much improved.
“I really am. Your efforts have not gone in vain, Mrs. Alcoon.”
Her eyes crinkled with pleasure. “Now, didn’t you say something about a meeting?”
I checked my watch. Shit. I was more than late.
“I have to go.” I leaned down and pecked her on the cheek then skedaddled out of the shop in double quick time and pelted down the street, rounding the corner into my flat as fast as I could. I hated being late and it would put the already prickly were-bear into a bad mood. Whether he was still on the council or not, I needed to make it clear to him just what the rules of engagement were.
When I got into the small corridor leading to my flat, the note I’d left had gone, and the door was lying slightly ajar. Seriously? Staines must have wandered into my flat to wait, even though I wasn’t there. That was a move worthy of Corrigan. These fucking Brethren guys had no sense of boundaries. Irked beyond belief, I stomped up, and pushed the door fully open. Then I inhaled.
Blood. There was no mistaking the salty iron laden hit to the air. My stomach leapt up into my mouth and back down again. I was frozen for a heartbeat, listening for sounds of anything then, when it appeared that everything was as silent as when I’d left, I slammed open the kitchen door and sprang through, bloodfire flaring through every vein in my body.
I was greeted by a horror scene. Splashes of arterial red covered the entire room, more than I’d have thought possible. Staines was spread-eagled on my kitchen table, froth bubbling up at his mouth. No-one was visible. Fire sparked up at my fingers as I peered round into the bedroom, checking to see where the assailant was hiding himself. But it lay empty, the duvet cover in the same position it had been when I’d gotten out of bed. I pressed myself against the wall, shuffling along until I reached the bathroom. Then I twisted round to face the small room and shot in twin bolts of flame. They crackled and hissed, scorching the wall and causing the wallpaper to curl up at the edges. And yet nobody was there either.
The only place left was the living room. I scooped up both my daggers from where they lay on my dresser and gripped the handles tightly in my fists. Heart thudding, I barrelled back through the kitchen, past Staines’ inert body, and into the living room with a warlike cry.
“Come out and fight, you fucker!”
I stopped abruptly. It was obviously empty. Whoever had been there had come and gone. I pivoted round and ran back to the kitchen.
Staines was still breathing, but only just. I leaned over him, hands and eyes searching for the wound. If I could staunch the bleeding then I might just be able to save him. But there were multiple injuries cutting deep into his large body. He moaned slightly. Thinking quickly, I took the dagger and cut into the palm of my hand. My blood would heal him. I moved over and raised it towards his mouth but, without warning, his hand shot out and took hold of my wrist in an iron-clad grip.