Bloodline (22 page)

“Keep your eyes open. Recognize anyone?” Inigo showed him the sketches.

“No. No. Maybe.”

Micah hurried to Inigo’s side. The “maybe” had been the image of Kit.

The vampire groaned. “Let me sleep. Why are you awake?”

“Where did you see this guy?” Inigo asked.

“He chattered Pixie up one night. Week ago. I can’t…”

The vampire lost consciousness, and Inigo laid him back on the bed and pulled the cover over him.

“We need more.” Micah reached for the bed, and Inigo held him back.

“He won’t wake again. There’s no point.”

They exited the bedsit, and Micah reactivated the lock. “Now what? We’re back at the start.”

“Not quite. We’re being followed.”

“Oh shit. Who by?”

“Not the hunters. Someone who doesn’t smell too good.”

They walked down the stairs and stopped before they went out onto the street.

“There’s a café across the road. Go inside, and I’ll see if he follows.”

Micah hesitated and then nodded. Pointless suggesting he was the one who should check for whoever had them under surveillance when he hadn’t even spotted that was the case.
Shit.

He’d only just sat at a table in the window when he saw Inigo outside with a guy wearing a tatty leather jacket and scruffy jeans. Micah apologized to the approaching waitress and went to join them. The guy Inigo held didn’t look well. His skin was pale and sallow, his shoulders down. And he smelled as though he’d spent the last few weeks living on the street.

“Meet Hall,” Inigo said. “He’s even more dead than me.”

Something dropped on the floor, and Inigo bent down. He handed Hall a finger, which he pressed back into place. Then Micah got it. Pixie’s zombie stalker.

They walked around the corner into a quieter street and cornered the zombie against a Dumpster.

“Are you the one who’s been stalking Pixie?” Micah asked.

“Stalking? I’m her friend.” The zombie spoke quietly and slowly, but better than the couple of zombies Micah had previously met.

“If you’re really her friend, you’ll tell us where she is,” Micah said. “She’s in danger. We’re trying to help her.”

“You’re her brother,” Hall said. “Micah. You cut hair off her doll. Told your mother Pixie dented your father’s car and was you.”

Micah glared. “And did she tell you that I covered for her when she set fire to the kitchen, that I ate every revolting thing she ever made—and there were a lot—that I held her hair out of the way when she puked her guts up after drinking too much on more than one occasion?”

Hall smiled. Micah tried not to grimace at the state of his teeth.

“You
are
her brother. Had to be sure.”

Micah sighed. “You know where she is?”

“Secret,” the zombie said and groaned. “I love her. Can’t have her. Know it. Can’t have anyone. Can’t do anything. Can’t eat, drink, fuck. My life’s shit. Pixie only good thing. Treats me like everyone else. Kind. I watch out for her. Not stalk her.”

Micah took out the sketches. “Recognize anyone?”

“Saw those older two a month ago. Visiting younger one. Name Geo. Lives Lewisham. Nineteen Old Road. Maybe Pixie’s there.”

“Thank you,” Inigo said.

“Take me?” Hall asked. “Like to see her. Know she’s okay.”

“No,” Micah said at the same time that Inigo said, “Yes.”

He turned to glare at the vampire but saw the light briefly come back into Hall’s eyes and surrendered. They’d have to drive with the windows open or he’d suffocate. It was okay for Inigo. He didn’t need to breathe.

Hall shuffled into the back of the car and clipped on a seat belt. Micah almost laughed and then felt mean. When Inigo didn’t get in the front of the car but climbed in the back, Micah felt a jolt of jealousy and rolled his eyes at his stupidity. He tapped the address into the sat nav and pulled out into the traffic.

“How long have you been like this?” Inigo asked.

“Two years.”

“How did it happen?”

“Bite. Didn’t understand for long time. Pixie explained.” He sighed. “Had job. Flat. Car. Family buried me. Zombies dug me up. You’re different. Vampire? Can you make me like you? Anything better than this.”

Through the mirror, Micah saw Inigo shake his head. “Your heart isn’t working. No blood is flowing.”

“Can you…destroy me?”

“I don’t know how,” Inigo said.

“Take off my head. Destroy brain.”

“This is a hired car,” Micah said through gritted teeth.

“Try this,” Inigo said.

Micah groaned when he saw Inigo tilt the flask of unicorn blood into the zombie’s mouth.

“You might need it,” Micah said. “Put it back in your pocket.”

“I only gave him a bit. It will either work or it won’t. What’s the plan for when we get there?”

“We’ll wing it.”

Inigo laughed. “That’s okay for you. I don’t have wings.”

Micah smiled. Hall laughed, and he sounded different. Brighter. Micah glanced in the mirror. Was the zombie’s face less pale? His teeth less yellow?

“What was that?” Hall gasped. “Give me more.”

“No,” Micah snapped. “Wait and see what effect it has.”

By the time he pulled up down the road from Kit-Geo’s address, the zombie was groaning continually but insisting that he felt anything was a plus. Micah wondered how he’d explain the smell of a decaying corpse to the car rental company.

“Hall, you feel up to knocking on the door?”

“Yes.”

“Inigo, take the back entrance. I’ll follow Hall.”

The vampire slipped out of the vehicle and disappeared down a narrow side road. Micah locked the car and followed the zombie, trying to keep out of sight. But when Pixie opened the door, he sprang forward and pushed her inside.

“What part of staying with Mum and Dad didn’t you understand?” he snapped. “You’ve put everyone in danger by leaving.”

His sister wriggled out of his grasp, and her eyes widened when she looked at Hall, standing at Micah’s shoulder.

“Pixie.” Hall smiled at her.

“Your skin,” she mumbled. “You look…well.”

Hall stared at his spread hands.

“Where’s Geo?” Micah demanded.

“Here.” Inigo came down the hallway pushing a tall, blond guy ahead of him. “Kit, otherwise known as Geo.”

Pixie thumped Micah in the stomach. “You’re going to make it easy for them to catch him. You idiot.”

“We weren’t followed,” Micah said. “Apart from Hall, your friends have no idea where you are. We’re safe enough for the time being.”

“Didn’t tell,” Hall said. “Would never hurt you.”

“Who are you, and what do you want?” Kit asked.

“I’m Pixie’s brother. This is my friend, Inigo. I assume you know Hall.”

“We’ve met.” Kit nodded at the zombie. “So now we know who we are, what are you doing here?”

“We’re not sure who you are,” Micah said. “The son of April and Flint?”

Kit laughed. “The son? They’re my brother and sister.”

Chapter Fourteen

Micah looked on the floor for his jaw.
April and Flint are his brother and sister? He looks hardly any older than Oberon.

Kit sighed. “To be accurate, my stepbrother and stepsister. My father was Oberon the Fifth.”

“But that means…oh fuck,” Micah muttered.

“I’m relieved you didn’t know. I took a risk trusting you with that, but Pixie’s told me all about you. Several times.” He glanced at Inigo. “Not about the vampire, though. How are you out in daylight?”

“It’s a long story,” Micah said. “Though I think yours will be more interesting.”

Kit nodded to a door opposite. “We might as well sit down.”

Micah waited until they were all inside before he went in. He closed the door and leaned back against it. Kit and Pixie sat on an old leather couch, Hall stood staring at himself in a mirror over the fireplace, his fingers roaming his face, touching, poking and stroking, looking amazed bits weren’t falling off. Inigo slouched on a chair, his gaze shuttered. Micah went through just about everything that had happened, only pausing to shut his sister up, and didn’t take his gaze off Kit.

“So you’re not the only one in danger,” Micah said finally. “Oberon wants my family and Inigo dead. He can’t let the story come out of how your father replaced his three dead children with mortal ones, because that makes him half-mortal.”

“Oberon doesn’t know about me,” Kit said. “Well, he didn’t. Maybe he does now. I was born to Oberon the Fifth and his queen long after the three mortal children had been snatched.”

Micah straightened. “Then you’re the rightful heir. The bloodline is pure in you.”

“Not much use if no one knows or if my blood ends up spilled on the floor.” Kit gave a wry smile.

“A faerie gave me your name, told me to look for you on this side and tell you that you were needed in Faerieland. Someone knows you exist.”

Kit’s smile tightened. “Perhaps.”

What isn’t he telling me?
Maybe there was an underground movement to get rid of Oberon and put Kit on the throne. No one here was an enemy, so why didn’t he admit it?

Kit looked pointedly at Pixie and then back at Micah.
Ah not an enemy but a blabbermouth.

“How—”

“Shut up, Pixie,” Micah and Kit snapped together.

His sister winced.

“Just think it, Pix; don’t say it,” Micah told her and nodded for Kit to continue.

“Oberon the Fifth’s queen was mentally ill. Long before I was born, she smothered her three children. Only one faerie, Lucia, who was a friend of the queen, knew, and she was sworn to secrecy. My father had his queen and Lucia taken to a remote island retreat called High Royd, supposedly with the children. The three faeries who lived on the island were told the woman they were to care for was an illegitimate sister of the king who sometimes thought she was a queen. The king hoped the queen might get better away from the court, but all treatments tipped her deeper into madness. Three children who’d been somewhat transformed into the three she’d killed were delivered, along with tutors, but they were never allowed to be alone with the queen. When they went back to court, she deteriorated further.”

“Oh my God,” Pixie muttered. “Wouldn’t it have driven her further into madness if she thought the three she’d killed had come back to life?”

“She didn’t understand what she’d done. Her periods of madness grew longer. She was convinced the king had taken many lovers since he’d banished her, and on one visit by him, when she was more lucid than normal, she seduced him in the hope of getting pregnant and winning him back. But her madness was such that when she did realize she was pregnant, she hid the fact. Even worse, the king never came again. He was probably ashamed of giving way to her.”

“And she gave birth to you,” Pixie said.

“Yes, and then killed herself because she was afraid she’d kill me. Lucia was heartbroken. She loved my mother and blamed the king for her death. She took me away from the island and pretended I was hers. An act born of spite because of her hatred of the king, but an act that turned into one of love. She loved me, and I loved her. I knew only her as my mother until Oberon the Sixth…died and his delightful son came to the throne. It was then that Lucia told me the truth about who I was, and shortly after that I started an underground movement to help those faeries suffering under Oberon’s rule.”

He glanced at Pixie. “Struck you dumb?”

“What are you doing over here then?” Pixie asked.

The same question was bubbling in Micah’s mind.

“Though I begged her not to, Lucia approached Flint and April, my stepbrother and stepsister.” Kit balled his hands at his sides. “I didn’t think they’d believe her, but their brother had told them the truth about their origins just before he died, and when they saw me, they said I was the image of my father. Not only that, they remembered their time on the island. They wanted me to be king, but we already had a king.”

“Not a good one,” Micah said.

“He’s cruel and uncaring. My stepsister believed he’d killed her brother, Oberon the Sixth, and I thought she was probably right. They urged me to flee before he found out who I was, and killed me too. That’s what I did, but it wasn’t an easy decision. My plan was to find faeries to help me, and we’d go back. I have a very small army.”

Hall settled on the couch next to Pixie, who moved closer to Kit to make room for him.

Kit looked Micah in the eyes. “I’ve told you everything, so whose side are you on, Micah?”

“The right side.”

“The winning side,” Inigo said.

Kit smiled.

“You’re the rightful king,” Inigo said. “You’re the only pure-blooded child of Oberon the Fifth.”

“I can’t prove it.”

“Lucia could give testimony,” Micah said. “Is she alive?”

“Yes, but for how long? By crossing to this side, I hoped to save her. She lives a quiet life on the edge of the kingdom, close to her family. She’s my mother in everything but blood. I won’t let her be hurt, but I’m also aware I’m an alternative to the twisted bastard who sits on the throne. Guilt is a permanent resident in my heart.”

“Why didn’t you bring Lucia with you?” Pixie asked.

“I wanted her to come with me. She refused.”

Pixie lifted Hall’s hand from her knee and put it back on his. “There must be a way to get rid of Oberon and put you on the throne.”

“Not while Oberon controls the hunters,” Micah said.

Pixie pouted. “Well, kill him, then.”

Kit laughed. “You
are
a bloodthirsty little faerie. It’s not easy to kill a king, and I’m not sure it would be right to do so. West Land faeries need to decide for themselves who they wish to be king.”

“In an ideal world, we could surround ourselves with witnesses, confront Oberon with the truth, and demand he step down,” Micah said.

Inigo sat up straight in the chair. “That’s a good idea. The more faeries involved, the better.”

“We could lure him to a suitable place,” Pixie said. “Somewhere he has to stay put and listen.”

Kit shook his head. “Without a large amount of support, that’s doomed to failure. I’ve won many to my side here and in Faerieland, but I won’t risk their lives and that of their families. Over there, Oberon would merely order the arrest and detainment of any detractors, call them traitors, and have them executed. You’ve heard what he did to your brother and Inigo. He doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants.”