Bloodline (15 page)

“Not that I particularly feel the cold, but fucking hell, it’s freezing,” Inigo said. “Is that snow?”

Small white flakes dropped lazily onto the grass around them and didn’t melt.

“What’s the plan?” Inigo asked.

“I need to phone my boss and get Jayne to safety.”

“We could look for a late-night café in Richmond. Get out of the snow.”

“We don’t even know what time it is.”

Inigo grinned. “It’s ten minutes after seven.”

Micah laughed. “Are you making that up, or do you know?”

“I know.”

Micah rolled his eyes and then glanced around. “And which direction should we run?”

“Get on my back.”

The moment Micah grabbed him, Inigo took off, the wolf on their heels. The farther they were from the portal, the better. At least at this time of night they could move quickly without being observed. If anyone did see them, they’d appear as no more than blurs, there one moment, gone the next. Until snow covered the ground, hopefully they’d not leave a trail.

When they reached the outskirts of the town, the vampire stopped in a dark corner, and Micah offered Jayne her dress. She took it in her mouth and trotted behind a Dumpster. A moment later, a pretty girl with long, curly blonde hair emerged.

“Shit, it’s freezing,” she gasped.

“Stay here,” Inigo said and whizzed off.

“I’ve been gone months,” she whispered. “Oh God. That’s why it’s so cold. It was summer when I left. It’s not fair. I love Ryn, but I can’t live on that side, and he’s not allowed to stay here.”

“How long did you usually stay in Faerieland?”

“A single night, until I was caught and given to that bastard Oberon. Ryn managed to convince his sister she wanted a wolf, but she was shocked when he told her the truth. Oberon is a fucking monster.”

Inigo flashed to their side wearing a coat and holding two more and a pair of socks. He draped a long dark woolen coat around Jayne’s shoulders and handed her the socks. “I couldn’t bring myself to get them to give me their shoes too. Sorry. Though they likely wouldn’t have fit.”

He handed the other coat to Micah, who slipped it on.

“There’s a mobile phone in the pocket and ten quid,” Inigo said.

“Genius.” Micah smiled at him.

“I can be very persuasive. I also discovered there’s a café open on the high street, no more than five minutes’ walk.”

“I’m starving,” Jayne said.

Micah wasn’t sure ten pounds would be enough to feed a hungry werewolf.

When he pushed open the door of Café Bean, they were greeted by a blast of Christmas music and the scent of something sweet cooking. Micah suddenly felt hungry.
When did I last eat? That cheese and bread
. It seemed a lifetime ago. Jayne rushed to the counter, and Micah held Inigo back. “Careful what you say. Let me get her taken care of first.”

Inigo nodded.

Micah joined Jayne, heard the amount she was ordering, and handed her the money. “Get me a coffee, please. Black.”

“What about the vam— Oh right.” She sniggered.

Micah dropped into a seat next to Inigo at a table in the back corner and called his boss.

“Good evening,” Roman said. “Do I know you, David Timpson?”

“It’s me.”

“Ah, the prodigal returns and steals a phone.”

“I have Jayne. I need her taken to safety at once.”

“Address?”

“Café Bean, Richmond High Street, next to Monsoon. Send money too. I only have ten pounds, and she’s hungry enough to eat a horse.”

“I better not send Pye then.”

“A joke? Are you feeling ill?” Pye, one of Micah’s colleagues, was a horse-shifter.

“Moss is…now on his way.”

Micah sighed. The gargoyle. Moss was a big, sulky lump, but not many could get past him.

“What about you?” Roman asked. “Why the rush? Are you in trouble?”

“Yes.”

“What sort?”

He hesitated.

“That bad?” Roman said. “Then come to the office.”

“There’s stuff I have to do first.”

“What stuff?”

He spotted Jayne heading back to the table, gestured Inigo to stay, and went into the bathroom before he spoke again. “I need to make sure my family is safe, and then I’ll come in.”

“Hell, Micah. What have you been doing? This was a simple extraction. You and your sister took back the Kewen; everyone cheered. Then you were to find the shifter and bring her back.”

“The cheering bit didn’t happen.”

“Ah. I assume you have faeries on your tail?”

“Almost certainly, and they’ll be very pissed off. I’ll talk to you later. I need to speak to my family without delay.”

He cut the connection and called his father.

“Hello?”

Micah’s heart hurt when he heard his father’s voice. He swallowed hard and gave their coded message. “Major catastrophe. Rabbits got into the garden again.”

“Didn’t you remember to lock the hutch?”

“Shit, Dad.” Not the answer his father was supposed to give.

“Er…your mother will kill you.”

That was.

“What is it? You’ve been gone weeks. We were worried. Ellie is beside herself. Your mum wanted to come over to Faer—”

“Do not cross the Divide. You need to leave the house now. Is Pixie there?”

“Yes.”

“Take her with you. I won’t say more until you’re in the car.”

His pulse raced as he listened to the sounds of his family rushing to do as he’d said. Pixie was yelling and complaining, but he knew his dad would make her leave. When he heard the car start up, he breathed out.

“We’re on the road. What’s wrong?” his father asked.

“I can’t be sure they don’t have your phone monitored. You know what you need to do. I’ll be in touch. I’m going to contact Ellie and Asher.”

“You’re scaring me, Micah,” his father said. “Things can’t be that bad.”

Yes they can
. He had to make his father understand. “The king wants the bill of sale, and he also wants us all dead. He won’t stop until he’s achieved that. Hide. Remember our codes. I love you.”

He heard his mother let out a sob as he ended the call. He called his eldest sister, Ellie, and more or less repeated the same conversation but told her to take Henry and his girlfriend, Diane, with her and Jago. Henry was Jago’s father and the ancestor of one of the three children kidnapped by Oberon the Fifth. His final call was to his brother. Asher took more convincing of the urgency. Probably because of the woman Micah could hear he had in bed with him.

By the time he switched off his phone, he felt he’d done all he could to make his family safe. From the moment he’d been old enough to take responsibility for his own security, his parents had drilled into him the need to have a way out. They all had places they could go, understood they needed to get there unseen and not to use their cell phones. Before too long, the phone he held now would be reported missing and no longer useable.

When he returned to the table, Moss stood there. His shoulders were so wide Micah thought he must have to go through doors sideways.

“Why do I have to leave with him?” Jayne muttered, a scowl on her face even as she forked in the last mouthful of sausage and mashed potato.

“Because I have something else to do,” Micah said.

Moss caught hold of her hand and swallowed it in his grip.

“Straight to her parents,” Micah ordered. “Tell them they need the highest level of protection.”

The gargoyle nodded and propelled the shifter out of the door with him.

Micah picked up his coffee and downed it in two gulps.

“You should eat something too,” Inigo said.

“No time.”

“The heavily built, silent one gave me two Oyster cards, a credit card, cash, and a phone.” Inigo handed them over. “Now what?”

Had Roman known he was with someone, or had Moss used his initiative? Micah suspected the former. Hard to hide anything from a boss who was all-seeing, all-knowing—at least it sometimes seemed that way.

“We buy clothes while the shops are still open. We find somewhere to stay and face tomorrow when it comes.” He sighed. “Well, I will until we’re sure you can tolerate sunlight.”

“I can’t go back to my place?”

Micah shook his head. “Not until it’s safe.”

“Was he a gargoyle?” Inigo asked.

“Yes.”

“Damn, I should have got him to play rock, paper, scissors for money.”

Micah smiled, dropped the stolen phone under the table, and they exited the café. He was alert for anyone watching, but no one stood still long enough to observe them. Shoppers were out in force, laden with bags, rushing up and down the street.

Thirty minutes and three stores later, they had new outfits and their clothes were in a rubbish bin. With Peruvian hats on their heads and shopping bags in their hands, Micah hoped they’d blend in. He almost walked into Inigo when the vampire halted outside a pharmacy and stared pointedly at him. Micah got it and laughed. He followed Inigo inside and chuckled when the vampire stopped at the toothpaste.

“What?” Inigo gave him an indignant look. “I have to take care of my fangs.”

He dropped toothbrushes and paste into the basket, and Micah added lube.

“What’s that for?” Inigo asked.

Micah elbowed him, and Inigo elbowed him back. They were still laughing when they emerged from the store, and then Inigo tightened his jaw. “Faeries,” he whispered.

“Where?”

“Across the road.”

Micah didn’t look. “We’ll get the Tube. Lose them that way.”

It was possible they weren’t after them, but he changed his mind when they were followed into the station. The Oyster cards enabled Micah and Inigo to reach the platform fast, but unfortunately there was no train due for several minutes.

“We’ll get off at Victoria,” Micah said. “It’ll be busy. We’ll lose them there.”

“How did they know where we were?”

“Maybe they persuaded Ryn to tell them which portal we used. After that, it’s not hard to assume we’d head for Richmond. It’s the nearest town.”

“You think Ryn was told to send us to that portal?” Inigo asked. “That he and the wolf betrayed us?”

Micah headed to the bottom end of the platform. “Possibly. Oberon has his sister. We know what the king is capable of.
Nothing
is more important than family.”

RIGHT
. INIGO GOT the message. He was just a convenient inconvenience, if there was such a thing. He’d forgotten what it was like to have a family.
Liar
. Yes, he was lying. He remembered all too well and wished he didn’t. He’d hoped Micah might want to be part of his fam— Yeah well, he should know better.

“You think they want to take us back?” he asked. “Or shut us up?”

“Shut us up is my guess. They thought they’d killed you. They didn’t need you once the tattoo was done.”

“Ah, not actually a tattoo.”

Micah turned to him. “It wasn’t? It looked like one.”

“A trick. It won’t last.”

Micah laughed. “Good.” He bent his head closer to Inigo’s. “How many faeries did you see following?”

“Two, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more.”

“How can you identify a faerie so easily?”

“You…sort of shine.”

Micah’s face fell. “Fuck. Really?”

“Better than sparkling.”

Micah laughed.

The train came into the station, and they hopped on board. No faeries joined them in their carriage.

“Do you have a plan?” Inigo asked.

Micah stared at him. “You should run. Go to another city. They might not pursue you. You gave the king a tattoo that stayed on his skin. You don’t necessarily know about him being half-mortal. This isn’t your fight.”

Inigo sucked in his cheeks. He wasn’t sure if Micah wanted him to go or stay. Was there anything more between them than sexual attraction? Micah was right. This wasn’t his fight. He
could
walk away, but he didn’t want to. His undead life had never been as interesting. He
liked
Micah, and he didn’t like most people.

“If you can’t stand daylight, you’ll be a liability,” Micah said. “Plus, I’m used to operating on my own.”

Push me away even harder, why don’t you?
Though he knew Micah was right.

“What is it you actually do?” Inigo tried to keep his voice bright.

Micah sighed. “I work for a paranormal agency.”

“I think I guessed that.”

When Micah didn’t say anything else, Inigo’s spirits sank further.
Maybe I
should
walk away
. He rose to his feet. “I’ll get off at the next stop and draw them off. It’s been…nice knowing you.” He held out his hand.

Micah looked up at him with those beautiful eyes, and Inigo had to fight hard not to throw himself into the faerie’s arms.

“Don’t,” Micah whispered.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t leave me.”

Inigo dropped back into the seat at his side, reached for Micah’s hand, and threaded his fingers with his.
Thank fuck for that.

They stayed holding hands until the train approached Victoria Station, then rose to their feet and let their fingers slip apart.

“Trust me?” Inigo asked.

“Yes.”

“Do exactly as I tell you.”

As they stepped out of the train, Inigo saw four faeries emerge from carriages farther down, clearly checking to see if they were getting off, and ready to reboard if they weren’t.

“On my back,” Inigo said. “Hold tight. Stay close.”

The moment Micah wrapped his arms around him, Inigo sprang through the narrow gap between the end of the train and the tunnel and ran along the track. The electrical supply to the line was no problem, but meeting a train coming the other way would be. He had to be fast.

“Fuck, Inigo. Not sure I want to play chicken with a Tube train,” Micah said at his ear.

Inigo could hear a train coming, pushing the air against them as it traveled down the tunnel, and he put everything he had into moving even faster. He tumbled the pair of them onto the platform at Sloan Square just before the train pulled in.

“Where the hell did you two come from?” A guy in uniform gaped at them.

“Hell,” Inigo said and yanked Micah to his feet.