Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 23

Hippy pressed a hand to her mouth, but she couldn't strangle the cry that tore from deep in her gut. The sound echoed through the room. "Stop it," she said. "Stop it, Pierus!"

Pierus waved his hand over the gla.s.s. The images disappeared, but the room felt cold and alien. "Hippy." He went toward her.

Clockwork got between them. His voice was as fierce as the fist he brandished at Pierus. "Haven't you done enough?"

Pierus looked down on him as though he were a gnat.

Hippy turned to Mr Silver, already suppressing her unfairylike outburst. "That's my family," she said. "My sister. You have to help them."

"She's right," Pierus said. "Silver, there are only a few more hours until dark, and then the vampires will descend on us. We must be ready for them."

Mr Silver gave a thin smile. "Vamps we can handle. You-" he shrugged. "That remains to be seen. Fitz, Ana, I think you can put away the weapons. We can trust the king of lies to behave himself for a little while. Ana, I suggest you prepare the traps. Take the human and see she is armed. Fitz, you will see this muse is adequately prepared and does not leave your sight. Clockwork, Hippy, you will also arm yourselves. You're all dismissed."

"I would like a few moments alone with Hippy," Pierus said.

Hippy's heart thumped. She could not take her eyes from the bookshelf and the box and cup it held.

Mr Silver spoke a single, cold word. "No."

Pierus's lips compressed to a thin line. "Hippy," he said. "Come to me."

Hippy tore her gaze away from the box. She pushed past Clockwork, stormed to Pierus and shoved him with all her strength.

Pierus, who had not been expecting the attack, stumbled into Fitz.

"Did you murder Pandora?" Hippy yelled.

The look he gave her was stricken. His face went pale and something dark crossed his eyes.

She needed no more answer than that. "I thought so." Hippy stormed from the room, Clockwork on her heels.

Her anger cooled quickly when Pierus was out of sight. Clockwork took her up a flight of stairs and into a room packed with so many different kinds of weapons Hippy could barely speak for excitement. She walked slowly around the perimeter, her eyes shining, trailing her fingers over tall spears leaning against the wall, swords hanging from long wooden racks, wickedly curved axes, crossbows and daggers of every shape and size.

Along the next wall she found guns, shelves of ammunition and other things she didn't even know the names of. "Wow," she said. "Your dad sure knows how to be prepared."

Clockwork chuckled. "He's been getting ready for this for years."

"This? This right here? War with the vamps?" Hippy took a thin, sharp dagger from the wall and secured it in her hair.

"Not exactly. He's been getting ready for the pretender to come and try to take the Apple of Chaos." Clockwork stuck matching daggers in his boots. "I guess he didn't really think of him having an army of vamps on his back."

Hippy picked up a shiny silver instrument and weighed it in her hands. When she slipped it over her fingers it became a heavy, spiky, very nasty thing to punch people with. She put it into her pocket for easy access. "I don't want to go back with him," she said in a low voice. "Just so you know. No matter what happens."

Clockwork secured the straps of a scabbard across his chest to brace it against his back. He slid a long sword into it. His voice was bright and confident. "Don't worry. My dad would never allow it."

Hippy strapped throwing daggers to her ankles and wrists. She ignored Clockwork's eyes widening when she lifted her skirt to strap another set to her thighs. "What makes you so sure?"

"He likes you," Clockwork said. "If he didn't, you wouldn't have been allowed to stay here. He wouldn't send anyone he liked to be killed." He planted several short daggers and a handgun securely in his belt.

"Killed?" Hippy swallowed hard and filled her other pocket with a handful of little sharp blades she presumed were for throwing at vamp's heads. "Really?"

"Of course." Clockwork wound a long, metal-tipped bullwhip around his shoulders and torso. "I wouldn't give two chances to the fairy dumb enough to stick around once the Pretender had the Apple of Chaos."

Hippy ran her palm along the shaft of a spear that was just the right size for her. It reached only an inch or two above her head, not too long, not too short. She wrapped her fingers around it. A heavy weight settled in her chest where her heart should have been. "How well do you know your father, Clockwork?"

He gave her an odd look while strapping a double-headed axe to one shoulder. "Well enough to know he'd always do the right thing."

Hippy sighed and looked down. Under her fingers, leaning against the wall, was a black gun half as tall as she was and a belt bristling with ammunition underneath it. She slung the bandolier across her torso and then hoisted the gun over one shoulder by a rather handy strap.

Clockwork went to her and raised a hand gently to her cheek. "It's going to be okay," he said. "Don't worry."

"No," Hippy said. It was very difficult to keep her promise to Mr Silver and not tell when Clockwork was this close, and her breath was mingling with his, and he looked so very concerned. "It's not going to be okay, Clockwork. My family are dying. My tribe are being decimated. I can't sit here in this house and keep the Apple from Pierus if it means they become vamp food. I have to do what I can to save them. Do you understand that?"

Clockwork's lower lip trembled. Then he leaned forward and very, very gently kissed her lips.

Hippy's eyes widened. This wasn't like kissing Pierus at all. She didn't feel the least bit out of her depth. She did have a fleeting urge to pin Clockwork to the nearest wall and kiss him until she forgot her own name.

He took his mouth off hers and whispered into her ear. "I don't care where you have to go or what you have to do. I'll find you."

The door opened and they sprang apart.

Poppy strode in, closely followed by Ana, who looked the fairies over with deep suspicion. "What are you two doing?"

"Arming ourselves." Clockwork gave her an insolent look and stuck a flat disc with jagged edges in his shirt pocket.

Poppy gave them a huge grin. She nudged Hippy on her way to the row of guns. "Much more like it," she whispered. "Good girl."

Hippy scowled. She didn't want to be reminded this wouldn't last much longer. She lifted the gun with one hand. "How does this thing work?"

"Oh! Easy. Nice choice." Poppy showed her how to open the chamber and load it with bullets. "You're going to have to do this a lot, so I'd practise if I were you. You'll also find you can't kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds with one of these, but you sure can slow them down." She put an arm around Hippy's shoulders and guided her hands to hold the instrument properly. "There, now you've got it. Look down the length, that's it, and aim at something. Aim at the middle of the door there."

Hippy closed one eye and squinted down the barrel. She thought she could probably be good at this.

"Right," Poppy said. "To shoot it, squeeze the trigger. Don't pull it, just put your finger around it like that and squeeze. No don't actually squeeze now-"

The door opened mid-squeeze. The gun fired. Hippy jumped back a step with the kickback, just as Pierus threw himself to the ground and Fitz leaped out of the way. A tiny little hole appeared in the wall right behind where Pierus had been standing.

There was absolute silence.

"Good shot," Poppy said, sounding impressed.

Clockwork snorted. Then he chuckled. Then he started laughing so hard he had to sit down and clutch his stomach.

Behind them, Hippy could have sworn she heard Ana giggle. Fitz scowled at them all and helped Pierus to his feet. "Hippy, try not to shoot unless you see a vampire," he said. "Please."

Hippy pressed her fingers to her mouth. She stared at Pierus with wide eyes. "I didn't know you were there," she said. "Honest." She tried to swallow a giggle, but it came out as a snort.

"Fairies, out," Ana snapped. "Now!"

Clockwork and Hippy edged around Pierus and fled down the hall, still laughing.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE.

From the roof of Mr Silver's house Hippy watched the streets wind away, languid orange, into the gathering evening. Every leaf and fence post shone and every shadow blurred just so into the light. It was perhaps the most beautiful sunset she'd seen in Dream yet.

Behind her Clockwork paced the perimeter of the roof, impatient for battle. He hadn't stood still for an hour.

She tried to focus on vamps and vamps alone. It was just too hard to think about what would come after that, if they all survived. There was no kind of choice. Mr Silver was right about that.

Beside her, Poppy had an inscrutable expression and a semi-automatic hitched on one shoulder. Her gla.s.ses were askew and a few hairs escaped from her hastily pinned bun.

Hippy felt another ache in her ribs. She was going to miss Poppy. She blinked rapidly, glad Ishtar wasn't around to see her get all emotional about a human.

Poppy glanced at her. "I was going to ask if you were nervous," she said. "But I guess this is your thing."

Hippy shrugged. "Usually the odds are more in our favour. At least, they were before the whole vamp army turned up."

"You ever think about staying?"

She smiled. "All the time. I like it here. But you know I can't."

"I know." Poppy hesitated. "But if you ever wanted to come back, or if things go really badly with Pierus-"

Hippy flinched.

"-Then look me up," Poppy said. "Seriously. You and me could have some fun together. There are lots more shiny things to be found out there, you know."

"I like shiny things." Hippy watched a shape move in the streets, too far away to be distinct. The sunset deepened to red. "Are you going to keep looking for Pandora's Box?"

"Of course."

"I wouldn't. Mr Silver covered it in fairy dust. If you touch it now you'll lose your hands."

Poppy stared. "He what? It's here? Son of a b.i.t.c.h!"

Hippy shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Poppy sighed. "There goes that wild goose chase. Never mind. Maybe I'll just write a novel about this whole thing and make myself rich that way."

"I hope Pierus isn't your muse then."

They both giggled.

"How do you know Mr Silver?" Hippy said.

Poppy winked. "Let's just say like you, he likes shiny things and I'm good at obtaining them." She grabbed Hippy's hand and pressed it hard. "Listen, this might be the last time I see you for a while. Hippy, promise me you'll be careful of Pierus. He's dangerous."

"Do you think?" She gave Poppy a toothy grin. "Ever tangled with a b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy?"

A bell clanged far below. Clockwork was by their side in a heartbeat, straining to see in the fading light. "They're here."

The streetlights flickered on up and down the street. Pale faces loomed out of the dark. The gates shook once before tall, lean shapes swarmed over them and into the garden.

Hippy tried to count them. She gave up quickly. Numbers had never been her strong point.

Clockwork kissed her on the cheek. "Bet you I get more vamps than you do."

"Oh yeah?" Hippy launched herself off the roof and dropped silently through the air, her gun clamped under her arm and her spear brandished and ready. The first of the vamps to reach the house broke her fall. She jumped up and down a couple of times, impaled him on her spear and dodged out of the way of the jet of blood that spurted from the wound.

Clockwork landed beside her, grinning. "Show off."

There was no more time for banter after that, because they were surrounded.

A vamp started toward her, lips drawn back over barely human teeth in a low snarl. His eyes had the pale pink tinge of a new vamp. Hippy drove her spear into his gut and didn't even care about all the blood this time. She took her gun in her hands and squeezed the trigger, just like Poppy had shown her. Another vamp staggered backward, blood spurting from a hole in his neck. She squeezed again and again until a path cleared through the crush.

"Gee Clockwork I'm so scared of these guys!" she yelled at the top of her voice.

Clockwork put a hand on his face and gave an exaggerated pout. "Me too. Let's run into the garden and hide."

The vamps pressed in, fangs bared. The path out narrowed. Hippy bolted through grasping white fingers, Clockwork following at her ankles. They barged into the garden, leaped hedges, dodged flowers and made as much noise as possible. The vamps rushed in on their trail.

Hippy crouched, tripped three vamps, slipped the shiny thing over her fingers and punched the next one in the face. "Suckers," she hissed.

Clockwork pulled the sword from the scabbard strapped to his back and slashed at anything that moved. Hippy skewered several more vamps with the throwing daggers, but they just kept coming.

There was a low, feral snort just above her head. A glob of saliva hit a wounded vamp in the face.

"Crunchy!" Hippy dived to the side.

Crunchy pawed the ground, snarled at the oncoming attackers and charged, flinging vamps in every direction.

Hippy and Clockwork fled further down the path, this time with only half as many vamps in pursuit. Clockwork skidded to a halt under a tree. In the lowest branch slept Ralph, his tail sweeping down to the ground. "Hey! Hey Ralph!" he shook the branch.

Ralph raised his head from under his wing and uttered a warning snarl.

The vamps burst into the glade, skidded to a halt and surrounded them. Hippy's eyes widened. "Tony! I thought Fluffy Ducky ate you!" She gave him a cheery wave.

Tony was terribly pale and his eyes had a reddish tinge. He pointed at her. "That's the one," he said. "Take her alive to the boss. Kill the other kid."

The vamps closed in.

Ralph stood up on his branch, stretched and gave a deafening screech. Then he launched himself, claws first, into Tony's face.