Shadow: Bloody Fairies Part 25

"Come on." Pierus took her hand and led her further down the hall. He opened another door onto a similar room, again containing only a bed and a window. He closed and locked the door behind them and set Hippy on the edge of the bed. He knelt in front of her so they were at eye level. The wild look remained, but with it something cold and suspicious and knowing. n.o.body else had ever looked at her like he knew all of her secrets, and she didn't like it one bit. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Because it's time to go back to Shadow. With the Apple of Chaos." Hippy fought to keep her voice steady. b.u.t.terflies jumped around her stomach. In just a few days she'd forgotten the effect the muse could have on her.

"So you are with me, at least that far." Pierus ran the back of his hand down her face. His voice went hard again. "And the fairy?"

"What fairy?"

"Don't be coy Hippy, it doesn't suit you. The Freakin Fairy. The boy. I saw you two together."

A tiny, in-drawn breath. She knew it gave her away. Her heart pounded as though she'd run a marathon. "You did?"

He leaned so close their breath mingled. "You were only gone from my side for three days. Is that all it takes for a b.l.o.o.d.y Fairy to stray?"

"Stray?" He smelled of sweat and vampire blood and the amber that had spiced his tent in Shadow. She couldn't even think what he meant.

"Did you turn those eyes on him? Kiss him? Give him your body? Did you stray with one of my enemies?" Pierus's breath was hot on her ear.

Hippy shook her head. Her cheeks burned because she was about to lie. "No!"

"Are you with me and only me?" His voice softened the barest bit.

She nodded.

"Then prove it."

"How?" Hippy had a feeling she knew. Fear seeped through her blood like mercury, but it mixed with other sensations that confused her. The adrenalin of the battle running through her veins made it worse, or perhaps made it easier, to respond when Pierus kissed her. His eyes burned into her so fiercely she couldn't even think of Clockwork.

He lifted her up and deposited her squarely on the bed. His hands moved up her thighs. He knelt over her like a big black bird and shrugged off his coat. The gaslight in the room illuminated his profile. He had the face of a young man, but the eyes of someone three thousand years old. Someone bad. Someone who looked at her and saw something he both feared and wanted.

He bent down and ran his hands over her body. His breath heated the side of her face with one whispered word.

"Pandora."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE.

The room was dark and silent except for the sound of Pierus dressing.

Hippy sat on the edge of the bed, already dressed, Fluffy Ducky cupped in her hands. She'd found him roaming the floor, trembling. His tiny leg hairs fluttered against her palms.

She closed her eyes to shut out the dark. She thought about what Ishtar would say if she knew. What any fairy would say. Her cheeks burned. Her blood raced. She pushed away thoughts of Clockwork. There was no turning back now.

She just wished she didn't feel so un-shiny about it.

She wished he hadn't called her Pandora before he took the last shred of her innocence.

She wished she could go and shower and scrub the smell of the muse king out of her skin.

Pierus settled his coat over his shoulders. "Come," he said. "Time is short."

Hippy put Fluffy Ducky in his pouch, but didn't move from the bed.

Pierus crouched in front of her and took her hands. His face, little more than a shadow in the darkness, was too close. "Don't be afraid, my love."

"I'm not afraid." She had to clear her throat a few times for the words to come out right.

"Good. Because the greatest test is yet to come, and to succeed, you and I must be as one in thought and purpose. We have to be as two halves of a single being, the light and dark working together."

Her reply came out harsher than she'd intended. "Is that what you and Pandora were?"

His hands tightened around her fingers. "No," he said. "And that is why we failed. That was why we unleashed the vampires in the first place. But you and I are different. You are not Pandora."

"I'm glad you noticed."

Pierus chuckled. "My dear girl, I wouldn't have chosen just any fairy. It had to be you. Someone pure. Come now."

Hippy thought that was an odd word to use after what they'd just done, but she allowed him to pull her from the bed and lead her out of the room. She blinked in the light of the hall and was vaguely surprised to hear Rustam Badora bellow. It seemed like an eternity had pa.s.sed, but there they were, still in the middle of a vamp attack.

Pierus unlocked Badora's door.

Hippy backed away. "What are you doing?"

"He must return with us."

"Can't we just kill him?"

Pierus looked over his shoulder at her. His lips curved in a thin smile. "And have another leader rise in his place? I prefer to know my enemy. Besides, I have plans for our friend. Wait here."

Hippy waited. She tapped her foot. She looked nervously up and down the hall, half-hoping one of the others would appear and try to talk her out of going with Pierus. But it was too late for that now. She closed her eyes and listened for the sounds of battle, but just then Badora roared so loud the door shook.

Silence followed.

Pierus pushed a figure out into the hall. The vamp king was hunched over, his head and torso covered by a sheet from the bed. His hands were crossed behind him as though bound, but there were no visible bonds.

Pierus grabbed his shoulder. Hippy darted into the room and retrieved her spear, then followed them down the hall.

"I can smell the fairy," Badora said from beneath the sheet.

Gross. Hippy sniffed her hair and wondered if she needed another shower.

"Quiet." Pierus. .h.i.t him in the back of the head.

They clattered down two flights of stairs and onto the ground floor.

"Do you know where the Apple of Chaos is?" Hippy said.

Pierus gave her an indulgent smile. "Details, my dear. Did you only just think of that?"

She scowled. "I was occupied with killing vamps." She poked Badora in the back with her spear.

"I will exact revenge for every death," he growled.

"Shut up." Hippy felt more like herself again now she had something pointy to carry around. "Well? Do you know where it is?"

"It has called to me since we arrived in Dream," Pierus said. "Here, it is like a roar." He pointed at the floor.

Hippy looked at the tiles, then back at him. "It's on the floor?"

Badora snickered. "Didn't pick her for her brains, did you? When did she get dropped on her head?"

Pierus sighed and put a hand on Hippy's wrist to prevent her from driving the spear through his back. "It's underground," he said. "Come, this way. I found an entrance earlier."

He led them at a quick pace through the entrance room and down a hall Hippy hadn't seen before. This hall was lit for a way by long, flickering electric lights. Pictures of little winged girls lined it. They were all blue and pink and green, and there were so many bubbles and sparkles Hippy forgot what she was doing until they reached a cast iron door with five solid bolts. Fortunately every single one appeared to be quite broken.

Pierus pushed the vamp king through the door and flicked a switch on the other side. Fluorescent lights illuminated a stone staircase descending into darkness.

"I smell mould," Badora said. "Damp. I take it we're nearing your precious Apple, muse king. I hope you're planning on feeding me that fairy before you send me back to my army."

Pierus shoved the vamp in the back. He hit the wall, tumbled down the steep stairwell and cracked his head on the stone.

Hippy gave a delighted squeak. "Can I throw him down the next staircase?"

Pierus patted her shoulder. "Of course, dear. Come along."

They hurried down the stairs and found Badora in a crumpled heap in front of another door covered in broken locks.

"Did you break all these?" Hippy pushed the door open.

"Naturally. It was terribly good of Silver to keep the vamps so busy while I searched his house." Pierus hauled the vamp through the door by a shoulder.

Badora gave a long, low chuckle, followed by a groan of pain. "You were always famous for letting others fight your battles, Muse King."

Pierus grabbed the sheet, twisted it tighter around the vamp's head and neck and walked on.

Hippy had never heard a vamp choking before. In fact, she'd never even seen one taken prisoner. The whole thing could have been quite interesting, except she'd walked through a heavy velvet curtain and found Mr Silver's collection of shiny things.

She stood transfixed. She didn't know where to look first. There were statues twice her height of beautiful ladies with long hair and jewels in their hands. There were tables on which polished vases bearing pictures of dancing women were carefully arranged with bowls inset with sparkling stones, and other tables heaped with gleaming jewels. The walls were lined with gold and silver veils strung with coins. On one pedestal, inside a gla.s.s case, was a huge, sparkling diamond. Across the room in a similar case was an emerald the size of her fist. Everywhere she looked, things sparkled and shone.

Suspended from the ceiling in the centre of the room, the shiniest thing of all rested inside a gla.s.s case that sparkled with the unmistakable sheen of fairy dust. The shiny thing was nothing more than a gla.s.s sphere, a sphere shimmering with lights from within, a whole world in itself. Lights splayed across the gla.s.s case, danced around the roof, rippled on the floor. She couldn't look away.

Badora struggled to his feet and turned around like a blind man seeking the source of a sound. "That," he said. "I remember that. I don't know how, but I do. Muse King, what do you think you're doing?"

"Hippy." Pierus laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hippy." He clicked his fingers in front of her eyes.

"Oh. What?" Hippy looked around at him. "I like shiny things."

"I know you do, my dear." Pierus ran a finger down her cheek. "And I need you to get me the shiniest thing of all." He pointed at the roof.

Hippy's eyes widened. "Is that the Apple of Chaos?"

"Don't do it fairy," Badora said. "You and I might not get along now, but I'm telling you, if you get him that thing, my armies will be the least of your worries."

Hippy glanced at the vamp, disconcerted.

Pierus gently prised the spear from her grasp and patted her on the shoulder. "Come along my dear, time is short and the b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies are dying. Get the Apple." He lifted the spear, swung it once and clubbed Badora in the side of the head with it. The vamp slumped into an unconscious heap.

Hippy hesitated. "What's he talking about?"

"Nothing. He's just trying to stop us from defeating his armies. Get the Apple for me, Hippy."

The edge to his voice made her want to back up a step, but she held her ground. "I don't think you're telling me everything. What's going to happen to the Apple after we get rid of the vamps?"

Pierus reached her in three steps. He put a hand under her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. "I didn't bring you with me to think," he said in a low, acid tone that made her flinch. She tried to move away, but his fingers curled around her arm and held her in place. His voice softened. "Now Hippy, my love, don't resist me like this. You are mine now. You belong to me, and you must do as I say. I promised you I would save your people, and I will. But I cannot do it until you get me the Apple of Chaos. Don't worry about the vampire. Forget his ravings. Forget them. It's me you trust. I'm looking after you. Don't you trust me?"

Hippy stared into eyes like coals. He filled the room, sucked up all the oxygen, left nothing else. Her head felt like cotton wool and deep down she knew something was wrong, badly wrong, but she couldn't get hold of it for fear of that vice-like grip hurting more than it already did, for fear of his fierce words descending into fury with her. He was like a wall she couldn't see past, dragging words from her soul she didn't think were true, to be spoken into ice cold air. "I trust you," she said.

The cold eased. He rewarded her with a smile and a kiss on the forehead. "That's my good girl. Now go get me the Apple." He let her go.

Hippy backed away, hesitant, unsure what had just happened or why she felt icky.

"Go on." He never took his eyes off her.

She climbed the nearest wall, crawled out onto the roof and looked down. Pierus stood over the p.r.o.ne vamp, watching her. Then the lights caught her attention. She let go of the roof with everything but her feet and walked, upside down, to the gla.s.s case.

Up close it was even brighter. She put her hands on the case. It was hot to the touch, like a light bulb. The very gla.s.s seemed to hum. Her breath caught. She recognised that feel. Gla.s.s didn't hum unless a fairy had put a curse on whatever was inside it. She'd only ever seen the b.l.o.o.d.y Fairies do one curse and that had resulted in an interloper from the city running screaming from the village with his pants on fire. She giggled and wondered what kind of curses Freakin Fairies put on things.

"Hurry," Pierus urged. "You need to break the gla.s.s."

"I'm not breaking that," Hippy said. "It's got a curse on it."

He made an impatient noise. "Fairy curses are nothing. Break it."

"I don't want to. It's all sparkly." Hippy smoothed her hands over the gla.s.s.

Pierus's voice took on an edge. "Break it now, Hippy."

"Oh, alright then." Hippy took a dagger from her hair and cut the fine wires attaching the case to the roof. "Look out."

"No wait. Don't let it just drop!"

The case dropped through the air. Hippy released her hold on the roof, tumbled, flipped and landed at the same time as the case. It smashed at her feet. She grabbed the Apple before it ever hit the ground and lifted it slowly up, but shut her eyes before she could look at it properly. She held it out to Pierus. "Here. Whatever the curse is, you can have it. I'm not looking at it first."

There was the sound of fabric tearing before he took the weight from her hands. "My dear girl, I told you curses are nothing. You have done well."