Legacy of Flames- The Complete Trilogy, page 26
part #1 of Legacy of Flames Series
“No, but… it’s weird,” Will said. “Carter never set foot in the Stronghold. I don’t think he’d have got hold of the Moonbeam. It’s not much use to non-shifters.”
“His shop handled odd rare objects, though, right?”
“It did, but if the Moonbeam isn’t mentioned in the records, there’s probably no way for us to find it.”
“We need clues,” I said. “If Astor’s right, this is our only chance to wake up Cori. I won’t let any possibility slide.”
“And if the hunters are involved?” asked Becks. “Think about it. We already know for a fact that Carter was an informant, and in trouble with someone dangerous. Someone he thought was more dangerous than the hunters. I don’t think we should be poking into his business. And there doesn’t seem to be anything here about the Moonbeam. If it’s so coveted, it ought to be mentioned here by name. But it isn’t.”
Unfortunately, she was right—we hadn’t found so much as a veiled mention of the mysterious Moonbeam. Impatience reared inside me again. Inaction was driving me out of my mind. I didn’t even know what we were going to do about finding a new employer. One who didn’t ask the wrong questions.
I skimmed through the papers, and almost missed the word moonbeam. I did a double-take, my heart sinking when I read it again: moonbeam leaves.
Wait a second. “Shit,” I whispered. “I think he was the one who provided the hunters with the moonbeam leaves they used to lure us in.”
“He didn’t,” said Will.
I held up the list. Unless this was a subtle way of referencing the artefact, which I doubted, apparently he’d been the one to supply the hunters with the bait to trap us.
“The bastard,” said Becks.
“We’ve got to find out how he died,” I said. “He might be a direct link.”
“Not to the Moonbeam itself,” said Will. “Someone threw him in the river, apparently. Anyone might have been the killer.”
“Great.” I glared at the papers. “So we have more proof Carter was a traitorous double-crossing bastard, and no proof whatsoever that he had any link with the Moonbeam. Which, if we don’t get it soon, will end up in the enemy’s hands sooner or later.”
“Sooner, if our so-called ally is working against us,” Becks put in.
And were back to Astor again. Why did he keep popping up at the least convenient moment? More to the point, why did he keep hanging around Magic Avenue? It was the sort of place he’d have avoided like the plague as an Elite. I’d wanted him to stay out of my life, not get himself tangled up in our supernatural hideouts. It was none of his damn business whether we found a way to help Cori or not. He didn’t have to keep interfering.
“Did Astor know Carter died?” I asked Will.
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Will said. “Someone slit his throat and threw him in the Thames. He was only found because he washed up on the embankment when the mages were passing by.”
“You asked someone about it?” I frowned.
Will shrugged. “I poked around. Some of the gargoyles saw them bring the body in. Not the same gargoyles who live around the Docklands, mind. But there’s no evidence about who might have done it. Sounds like he had a few enemies. Might have been the hunters, might have been whoever he owed money to. Either way, there’s no trail.”
“And Astor didn’t mention it?”
“No, but he did say the Moonbeam disappeared sometime back, and he didn’t know when. It wouldn’t have fallen into non-supernatural hands, I don’t think, but it sure would help to know whereabouts it disappeared. Astor said he didn’t know.”
“Great.” I ought to have asked the same questions. I hadn’t been thinking clearly. When Astor was around, rational thought flew out the window.
Crash.
We all jumped at the same time as the back window shattered, spraying glass all over the living room. Two men climbed in from the garden, while a shadowy human-sized stone figure waited in the background. Gargoyles.
“Hands up, all of you,” barked the first guy, a huge intimidating man with shoulders wider than the door and his long blond hair tied back in a ponytail.
“Ah,” said Will.
“Will,” I hissed. “What in the world did you do?”
“I think they saw me flying around their territory.”
“You’re joking.”
The second guy, a short pale man with dark sideburns, pointed a knife at us.
“You killed one of us,” he growled. “You trespassed on our territory. Now you’re going to come with us.”
“Er, no,” I said. “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”
“You. I know you,” said the dark-haired man.
Shit. “You don’t know me. I’m a stranger.”
“Everyone knows this one—” The blond man jabbed Will in the chest with his index finger— “hangs around with shifter killers.”
“You’re dead wrong.” Will tried to lean out of the way.
“We saw you flying on our territory,” he said. “Just before we found the dead body of one our own.”
We all stared at him. “What?” said Will. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Everyone knows what you are,” said the dark-haired guy, but he wasn’t looking at Will. He was looking at me.
Fear ran down my spine. They knew? Since when did the gargoyles know what I was? Since when did they care?
“And everyone knows your friend sold shifters out to the League,” the blond dude added. “Your friend owed us. He betrayed us instead, and he paid for it.”
Oh, damn. Now the pieces came together. The gargoyle gang which had once been notorious amongst shifters. That’s who Carter owed the money to? And he’d tried to get them off his back by going to the League. Small wonder the gargoyles had punished him for it. I’d got used to Will, but this dude—well, no wonder Carter had been scared shitless about owing him. Scared enough to rat us out to the hunters.
I backed up, covering the door to Cori’s room. How the hell were we meant to get out of here without anyone getting hurt?
The blond man stepped back and transformed into gargoyle form in the middle of the living room. His claws tore up the carpet, not to mention Carter’s papers. His six-six frame grew another half-foot, his horned head stooped under the low ceiling. The lightbulb swung alarmingly, sparking, but he clearly didn’t care if he set the place on fire. Good job there wasn’t anyone else in the flat upstairs, because if he reared up to his full height, his head would go through the ceiling.
“Hold him off,” I warned the others. “I’ll get Cori and—”
The gargoyle hit me. His claw sent me flying back into the door frame, and wood hit me in the back. Winded and gasping, I stumbled upright as Will turned into his gargoyle form and met the guy blow for blow. Or rather, got one punch in and was then thrown bodily into the wall. I winced. Will was small for a gargoyle and didn’t have a chance against even one of those guys. Becks’s cat form was good at biting and scratching, but neither of those things were much use against creatures made of stone. The other gargoyle transformed, too, into a blocky winged menace obstructing the shattered window. Shit.
A wail sounded from behind me. Our faerie guest had woken up. He shrieked something in another language, and the gargoyles turned to stare through the door into the bedroom. Their growls clearly translated as, what the hell is that racket?
“We have a faerie,” I warned them. “And you just woke him up.”
Becks turned into a cat and streaked past me into the bedroom. So much for holding them off. I checked Will was okay then ran through the door. I wouldn’t leave my sister behind again.
Before I reached her bed, the huge gargoyle launched himself at the door frame into the bedroom, teeth snapping, wings beating.
Beside me, the faerie let out a hoarse scream, and disappeared. As in, literally disappeared. Now we’d lost our guest. I didn’t have a clue how, but the gargoyles were a more present problem. The door frame creaked alarmingly as the gargoyle tore at it, and yells and snapping noises came from the other side. Will. Becks jumped onto the windowsill and transformed into human form to open it. I carefully lifted Cori and carried her to the window, just as the door frame buckled and the big gargoyle managed to shoulder his way halfway in.
“Shit.”
Becks yelped and fell off the windowsill. Shadows moved outside. Not more gargoyles!
Two more beasts reared their heads on a level with the window, giant shadows waiting for us to fall into their hands. We were trapped on both sides. Unless one of us figured out how to use the faerie’s disappearing act, asap, we’d be dead in less than a minute. The big gargoyle tore the door frame aside, launching himself at me—and Cori.
Becks leaped at his face, scratching at his eyes, and I used the distraction to lift Cori onto my back, as I had when we’d escaped the prison. But all we could do was stall for time. I wasn’t sure even my dragon claws could tear through a gargoyle’s tough skin. The room was too small to shift in, and either way, we were surrounded.
The two gargoyles outside roared in unison, one of them striking the window behind me. I dropped behind the bed to shield Cori from the storm of broken glass as the window shattered. Becks ran underneath the bed herself, while the gargoyle in the doorway bellowed in anger as a torrent of glass shards caught him full in the face. Several shrieking noises followed, presumably him yelling at his buddy outside. I risked a look behind me at the window. The glass in the lower panes had shattered, leaving a gap wide enough for a human to climb out—or a gargoyle to climb in. Except the two gargoyles outside weren’t looking at us, but had taken flight, diving at something on the ground.
Or rather, someone. Astor. What the hell was he doing here?
The gargoyle in the bedroom doorway tried to move forward and got stuck. Snapping noises from behind him culminated in a blast that took out the door frame, and the wall along with it. Apparently Will wasn’t out of witch spells after all. Brick crumbled, and alarm rang through me as the wall buckled. At this rate, the whole house would come down along with it. And the way out the window was blocked by two enraged gargoyles playing tag with an assassin.
I grabbed Cori again, settling her on my back, and aimed for the shattered window. If Astor distracted the two outside, I might be able to run. The gargoyle who’d been in the doorway roared and snapped at me, now unencumbered by the tight space. Becks jumped in his face, stopping him from hitting Cori. A smaller gargoyle limped into the bedroom through the hole in the wall. Will was alive but injured, with two gargoyles on his tail.
I stopped walking. Astor had backed up against the empty panes, blocked by two gargoyles who took turns diving at him. One of the gargoyles kicked him aside and grabbed at the windowsill, hauling himself inside. Shit.
Now all of us were trapped in the bedroom, under a ceiling which sounded like it might collapse at any second. What a way to go.
With shaking hands, I moved Cori off my back and used my body to shield her.
I’m so sorry. I failed you.
A flash of green light enveloped us. The room lit up, and the ceiling came down in a crash of bricks and dust. I held my breath and waited for the end.
The crashing sound continued, but the light didn’t abate, and nothing heavier than brick dust touched me. I glanced up, dazzled by the light. Green… wait. I knew what shone like that. Summer faerie magic.
The faerie hadn’t abandoned us after all. He reappeared beside the bed. Had he glamoured himself in terror? He’d just saved all our necks. The gargoyles hadn’t been so lucky. The shield covered everyone except the gargoyles, and the upper floor had collapsed on top of the living room and the doorway. Outside, the other two gargoyles had presumably flown out of the way of the carnage.
“Christ,” gasped Will, who’d turned human again. He was bleeding badly from one leg, but managed to limp to his feet. “Thanks, man,” he added to the faerie.
The faerie lay flat on his back, not making a sound. He hardly seemed aware of our presence here. Becks had turned human again, too. I straightened upright, wary—the upper floor continued collapsing on the rest of the house in a cloud of brick dust, wood and plaster. But it was like the green light trapped us in a bubble, preventing any of the debris from touching us. “Thank you,” I said to the faerie.
“Enough of the pleasantries,” growled Astor, climbing in through the window behind me. “Get out. Now.”
I ignored him, checking Cori was breathing. Really lucky we’d backed into the bedroom, because this was where we kept most of our supplies for a quick exit. What we had left, anyway. I reached under Cori’s bed and hauled out my rucksack. Will picked up the faerie, but was limping too much to walk in a straight line.
“I’ll carry him,” said Becks. The faerie was pretty lightweight anyway.
Balancing Cori on my back, I climbed outside without looking at Astor once.
“Another home bites the dust.” Will climbed out slowly, gritting his teeth when his injured leg caught on the broken window frame.
“What the hell now?” I asked of nobody in particular. The two gargoyles who’d flown away would be back soon, once they knew we’d survived.
“What else?” said Astor. “You don’t have a choice. Your friends are injured, your sister is unprotected, and—”
“Shut up,” I snapped. “I’ve got it. You don’t need to remind me. Don’t suppose you were involved in this, too? It’s pretty suspect how you keep showing up where there’s trouble.”
“I said I can help,” said Astor. “My car’s parked just there. I can take you to Giselle’s place. It’s that or wait for those other gargoyles to come back and kill you.”
“Oh, fine,” I said. “Happy?”
“Ecstatic,” he said. “Let’s get out of here before one of you drops dead.”
5
It wasn’t an encouraging note to leave on. But the house was wrecked, there were gargoyles after us, and once again, I had to put my faith in someone who’d betrayed us. It occurred to me that our positions were reversed now. When we’d met, he’d had no reason to trust me. Now I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t turn us in. Maybe he was a reformed man, but what he’d done as an Elite tapped into a kind of casual cruelty I’d never be able to comprehend.
Walking to Astor’s car felt like defeat, but we didn’t have a choice. The black vehicle wasn’t the same car he’d driven before, but it held a weird familiarity I recognised from somewhere. It also had three rows of seats, which instantly made me suspicious.
“You planned this, didn’t you?” I asked, as we strapped Cori and the faerie carefully into the back seat. Neither had woken up, though the faerie was unconscious, not under a sleeping spell. We couldn’t do anything to help him, because none of us knew enough about faerie magic to figure out how he’d injured himself. Will took over two thirds of the middle row with his bleeding leg, forcing Becks to squeeze in next to him—and me to take the front seat next to Astor. Great.
“No,” said Astor. “I was here anyway, and when I saw those gargoyles all head towards your house at once, can you blame me for following them?”
“How convenient.”
“Guys!” said Will. “If any of you have a healing salve, it’d be brilliant. I’m bleeding to death all over your seat.”
Astor ground his teeth. “The car isn’t actually mine, it’s my workplace’s. Can you be more careful?”
“Sure, I’ll use my telepathic powers to force the blood to stop flowing from the giant hole in my leg.”
“Shit.” I dug through my bag. “Is it that bad?”
“Yes,” said Becks. “What did you do, walk into a gargoyle’s claw?”
“Yeah, more or less.” Will groaned.
Astor started the engine. “We need to go. If those gargoyles come back, it’ll be the worse for all of you.”
“Hang on!” I grabbed my seat belt with one hand and dug in my rucksack with the other. Buckling myself in, I found our one remaining healing salve and passed it to Becks.
“That’s why you don’t single-handedly take on two gargoyles at once,” said Becks.
“I blew one of them up,” said Will. “You people have destroyed my pacifist tendencies. I blame the assassin.”
“What?” growled Astor, his hands clenched over the wheel.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“It may have escaped your attention that we’re being followed.”
Shit. I glanced in the side mirror and saw the outline of a winged shape in the sky. No, two.
“Those gargoyles.” My heart sank. “Drive.”
“What the hell do you think I’m doing? They don’t know it’s us.”
“How don’t they know?”
“They can’t see through walls, genius.”
I flipped him off and sank in my seat so they wouldn’t see me. Not that it’d do any good if they got any closer. And there was so little traffic around, if we were spotted, we’d have a difficult job losing our tail. Especially considering half the city was difficult to drive through due to the debris left from the faeries’ invasion.
Astor picked up speed, looking considerably less freaked out than I was. Then again, he was trained not to panic even if everything was on fire.
“Bloody gargoyles,” Will said. “How did you know they were coming?” He addressed Astor.
“I didn’t. Like I said, I was in the area.”
“A likely story,” Becks muttered. “Everyone knows you’re stalking Ember. Unless you have new information on this mythical Moonbeam you’re trying to trick us into finding.”
“It’s not mythical, and we’re in more trouble than I realised,” Astor said tightly. “I heard about a witch’s death—”
“From eavesdropping,” I added. “So you followed Will and me back to Magic Avenue to spy on us. Then you must know Carter died in suspicious circumstances. And that the gargoyles were responsible.”
“They were?”
“Yep.” I glanced in the mirror again. Shit. The gargoyles were still right behind us, though they hadn’t increased their speed. Maybe they weren’t certain we were their prey yet.
