Sight Page 6

  “If we are not, I will have to think of something to amuse me on the way.”

  Maisy couldn’t help thinking of what that might be, and when Marcus laughed, she knew that had been the point. She hated him in that moment. Steve reached out to comfort her, but Maisy didn’t dare let Marcus see that closeness between them. He would only use it against them.

  “Finally, you are learning the start of what it means to be strong,” Marcus said. “To be strong, you must be alone. You must nurse your hatred.”

  Maisy kept walking. She was so grateful when the three of them finally stepped out of the trees that she almost fell to her knees in relief. It looked just the same as it had when Briony and Mrs. Edge had still been there, right down to the car sitting on the driveway. Marcus spent several seconds staring at the building.

  “It is so much less than one of the castles of Palisor. It is hardly more than the huts of when I lived in this world. You claim that a princess lives here? You know what will happen if you lie?”

  “I know,” Maisy said, “and this is where Briony lives.”

  “People just don’t live in castles anymore,” Steve said. “Well, not many of them, anyway.”

  “And that… thing?” Marcus demanded, pointing at the car.

  “It’s a car,” Maisy explained. “It’s a type of vehicle.”

  “Like a kind of chariot,” Steve tried. “Only without any horses.”

  Marcus looked at the inn with contempt. “I expected more, but it will simply make my task here easier. Lead the way inside.”

  “I don’t know if it will be open,” Maisy said. “The door might be locked.”

  “I will open it if it is,” Marcus promised. The prospect of having to cross the threshold didn’t seem to faze him.

  “You don’t need to be invited in?” Steve asked.

  “Were you thinking of hiding inside?” Marcus countered. “Yes, I see you were. I am too powerful for that, boy.”

  Marcus strode up with them to the front door to the inn, and then kicked it so hard that the wood came off its hinges.

  “You two first,” he ordered. Maisy didn’t dare to argue. She and Steve stepped inside. Was Jake there somewhere, hiding away in the shadows, waiting to strike? No. The whole of the Edge Inn felt empty. Jake might have been staying there, but he was not there now. Perhaps he had gone after Fallon and Kevin. That meant though that she and Steve were trapped in the place with Marcus, and there wasn’t going to be any help coming.

  Marcus stood there for a second or two in the hall, apparently concentrating on something. Maisy didn’t know what. Probably it was something that only a vampire could sense. Some smell too delicate for a human to pick it up or something. Maybe he was just trying to work out where to begin his search.

  The vampire headed upstairs, straight for Briony’s room, and Maisy realized what it was he’d been doing. He’d been focusing on Briony’s scent to track down where in the house she spent the most time. That proved that he knew who she was, and that this whole thing of her being a princess wasn’t some big mistake. Maisy just hoped that she and Steve would live long enough to ask her about that.

  It occurred to her then that Marcus rushing away to search meant that he wasn’t standing guard over them. More than that, while she and Steve hadn’t had much hope of escaping in the forest, here there was Briony’s aunt’s car. Even a vampire couldn’t outpace that. Not if they drove it fast enough.

  “Look for car keys,” Maisy instructed Steve. Steve didn’t hesitate, but started going through drawers in search of them. Maisy finally found a likely looking set in the Edge Inn’s kitchen and went back out to where Steve stood, holding them up. Steve nodded and they crept out together, making for the car. They slid in silently and Maisy turned the key, ready to throw the car into gear and get it out of there as soon as it started.

  She wasn’t quite quick enough. No sooner had she started the car than Marcus was there in front of it, his anger almost palpable.

  “What is this?” he demanded.

  Maisy found herself dragged from the car along with Steve, and in just a second, they were dangling from Marcus’ hands.

  “I warned you what would happen if you tried to run again,” Marcus said, tossing Steve aside so that he rolled in the mud of the Edge Inn’s driveway. He yelped.

  “Stop it, please!” Maisy cried out.

  “Stop? I have barely begun.”

  “Please,” she begged. “We’ve helped you, haven’t we? I did what you wanted.”

  “And you tried to run.”

  Maisy struggled to think of something that would placate the vampire.

  “Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked.

  Marcus dropped her, plucking something from his belt. It was wand, with a sparkling star on the end. It took Maisy a moment to recognize it as the kind of scepter given to a homecoming queen.

  “I discovered this,” Marcus said. He lifted the wand and then crushed it with one hand. “It is worthless. A decoy. An attempt to deceive me.”

  His fury seemed to be growing, and Maisy knew that she needed to do something if she and Steve were going to avoid being on the receiving end of his anger. Yet trying to explain seemed almost as likely to get them hurt. Still, she decided to risk it.

  “That isn’t meant to fool you,” she explained.

  Marcus glared at Maisy. “Do you think I am a fool? The princess is trying to trick me.”

  Maisy shook her head. It was an effort to do even that much under the weight of that stare. “That looks like the kind of scepter they award homecoming queens,” she explained.

  “You said that this was not a place for royals.” Marcus looked back at the inn. “You lied to me. I’m running out of patience, girl.”

  “It isn’t easy to explain.”

  Marcus drew a sword from his belt, placing it to Maisy’s throat. “I suggest you try.”

  Maisy did her best, explaining about the school that she and Steve went to with Briony, along with the idea of homecoming. “Briony must have gotten that scepter at her last school. She must have been the homecoming queen there.”

  Marcus thought for a few seconds.

  “Will you take the sword away please?” Maisy begged.

  To her amazement, Marcus did it, sheathing the weapon while he continued to think. Eventually, he gave Maisy a look that was marginally less terrifying than the rest had been. If anything, it looked weary.

  “It has been too long since I was last in this world,” the vampire said. “When I was born, the children of the rich were taught by tutors, while the children of the poor worked or fought. Or starved. It was the way of things. Now, there are these schools. There are chariots without horses, and homes that are strange indeed.”

  “You could always go home,” Steve suggested.

  Maisy’s heart was in her mouth in the seconds after that, but Marcus just laughed. “I almost like you, little humans. Perhaps I will not kill you the way I was planning to after all.”

  Maisy didn’t point out that Marcus had promised not to kill them. There didn’t seem to be much point.

  “So what do you want?” she asked.

  “This world is a strange one,” Marcus said. “In time that will not matter. I will take it for my own and make it as I wish. For now though, I find that I need a… guide. You will guide me through this place the way you guided me to this inn. In return, you get to live a little longer. Who knows, perhaps it will amuse me to keep you as pets when we are done.”

  Maisy wanted to tell him no. To tell him that he could do what he liked. The problem with that though was that Marcus would do exactly that. Maisy had no illusions about him being merciful. Her best option right then was exactly what it had been before. She and Steve would guide him as best they could, hoping all the while that a way would come up to get help or defeat him.

  “All right,” Maisy said, “we’ll do what you want.”

  Marcus smiled tightly. “Looking all the whil
e for a way to betray me. Remember that I can read your mind, human.”

  “You wouldn’t have trusted us anyway after we ran off,” Maisy pointed out, “so how is this different? I doubt you trust anyone around you anyway.”

  “True,” Marcus observed. “You know, that was almost insightful for a human. Now, you were talking before about this ‘school’. The princess would have spent a lot of time there, yes?”

  Maisy tried not to think of the kind of damage someone like Marcus might do in a school. There would be so many people for him to hurt, and almost no way to rein in his destruction. They wouldn’t just let him into a place like that, but there was no way for anyone to really stop him. If Marcus went to Wicked’s high school, he would just end up going on a rampage.

  Desperately, Maisy tried to think of a better option. Amazingly, one actually sprang to mind. One that, if it went well, might actually give her and Steve a chance of surviving. At the very least, it meant that there was much less chance of innocent people being killed. She had to give it a try.

  “She doesn’t spend as much time there as she used to,” Maisy said. “Since all this chaos with the vampires started, Briony has hardly been there at all. She works at a diner in town though.”

  “A diner?”

  “A place people go to eat,” Steve supplied.

  Marcus paused to consider it, and while he did, Maisy thought of just about anything she could other than the Preservation Society that made the diner its base.

  “Very well,” Marcus said at last. “This ‘diner’ is as good a place as any to start searching. Besides, I am hungry, and where better to get someone to eat?”

  “That wasn’t what we meant,” Maisy said.

  Marcus smiled. “I know, but haven’t you worked it out yet, little one? What you want has nothing to do with what is going to happen here.” He nodded to the car. “Now, which of you knows how to make the chariot go?”

  Chapter 10

  “So,” Josh said, leading Briony into his study, “tell me about Palisor.”

  They sat down at opposite sides of Josh’s desk. It didn’t surprise Briony that Josh knew. After all, she’d gotten some of the details on it from the old diaries of the werewolf kings. They always knew more than they let on, apparently.

  “It’s beautiful,” Briony said. “Though it still isn’t perfect. There are vampires there to go with the hugtandalfer and the rest.”

  “And is it true that werewolves are more powerful there than they are here?”

  Briony nodded. “Kevin was the only werewolf there, but he became a lot more powerful while he was there. Vampires were poisoned by his bite, and even more powerful vampires like Marcus were at risk.”

  “But he is back to normal now?” Josh asked. Was there a hint of worry there? “His bite didn’t seem to be poisoning the vampires at the gate.”

  “Yes. Kevin is back to how he was.”

  Josh considered that for a moment or two. “Well then, do you know what it was about Palisor that made the difference?”

  Briony shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “Think, Briony.” Josh was half out of his seat as he said that, but he relaxed back. “Sorry, I’m just sick of the way there always seem to be more and more vampires showing up in Wicked. I’m sick of losing wolves to them. Family.”

  “You don’t think Brian will make it, do you?” Briony asked.

  Josh winced. “I think he’ll pull through, this time. What about next time though, or the time after? What about Channing?”

  Briony understood. She’d asked herself most of the same questions. If she could do something to help, she would.

  “I really don’t know enough about Palisor yet,” she said. “It seems that werewolves are friends to the hugtandalfer, my people, but there don’t seem to be any of them there. I don’t even know why that is.”

  “Well,” Josh suggested, “perhaps I could find that out the next time you go.”

  Briony shot him a questioning look. “You could find out?”

  Josh nodded. “I want to go with you the next time you go to Palisor. As a… diplomatic mission, if you like. After all, Kevin is the only other werewolf to have been over, and I am the werewolves’ king.”

  Briony should have guessed that would play a part. Josh wasn’t about to allow Kevin to go to other worlds without at least attempting to keep up. And if that other world offered a way for Josh to become more powerful, thus cementing his position as the leader of the wolves, he definitely wasn’t going to miss out on that.

  “The others said before that you were a queen now,” Josh said. “Well, allow me to come to your kingdom, and I will be able to help you more than you might think. I could help you to secure your position in Palisor, if you want.”

  “And I should trust you?” Briony asked. She had to say it.

  Josh sighed. “I know there are reasons not to. I know I have played games with you. But I would not betray you over this.”

  Briony thought. She owed Josh a lot. He and his wolves had taken in Jake after his transformation, helping him to get more control over himself. He had sided with her against Pietre, despite the cost to his wolves. Besides, Briony got the feeling that Josh’s request was about more than maintaining his position as king. For the moment at least, he was just someone who had lost too many members of his family to the vampires, and who wanted the power to be able to strike back.

  Briony could understand that better than anyone. If she could help Josh find that power in Palisor, shouldn’t she try?

  “I’ll help you if I can,” Briony said.

  “And you won’t tell my pack?” Josh asked. “I don’t think they’d like the idea of their king wanting to abandon them.”

  Briony shook her head. “I won’t tell anyone. And in return, you will help me against the vampires in Palisor.”

  “It’s a deal.” Josh stood, holding out his hand.

  Briony stood in turn and went to take it. Josh gripped her hand and used it to pull her close, his lips just brushing her forehead. The move was so totally unexpected that for a moment or two, all Briony could do was stand there staring at the king of the werewolves. He had given no sign of affection towards her before.

  “Thanks,” he said, pulling back and smiling. “I knew I could count on you.”

  Briony tried to think of an excuse to leave. She didn’t need more complications in her life. “If it helps, I’ll go visit Brian and hopefully get his spirits up. We need all the wolves we can for this.”

  Josh nodded, but his eyes were serious. “I’m sure he would be very happy to have you there while he recovers. Any hot-blooded male would be crazy not to feel attracted to you right now.”

  Briony tried to laugh that off, but Josh’s look was serious. He moved close to her again, pulling her into his arms once more. His face was so close to hers and Briony could smell the musk and wolfishness of him. Josh’s eyes had narrowed to something hungry, full of need.

  “Briony, if you knew the scent coming off you, you would take things a lot more seriously. Right now, it is taking every iota of self-control I have not to demand that you be my queen. Not to kiss you as thoroughly as you should be kissed.”

  “Josh,” Briony said, “get a grip. I’m with Kevin.”

  “And with that vampire brother of his too,” Josh pointed out.

  “Even your brother Brian seems to want me.”

  “It’s hard to blame him.” Josh looked away, then with an effort, he pushed Briony back from him. “Sorry. It’s the scent.”

  “What scent?” Briony asked carefully. She wasn’t sure if she should simply leave or not.

  “You’re giving off the scent of a female wolf in search of a mate. It’s automatic for werewolves, but I don’t understand why you would be. Still, until you’re claimed by an alpha male...”

  “But I’ve just said, I’m with Kevin and Fallon,” Briony pointed out. “I’m not just ‘claimed’, I’m kind of overcommitted here.”

  �
��I meant that in a…” It was strange seeing the king of the werewolves look uncomfortable. “I meant in a sexual way. You’re still a virgin?”

  “Yes,” Briony said. “An eighteen year old one,” she added with a wry smile.

  “And you’re powerful enough to be a prime female.” Josh looked at her again. His hunger seemed to be under control, but he was definitely thinking of something else. “The most powerful werewolves, the alphas, call out to one another. They are attracted to one another. It helps to keep the pack strong. It’s why Kevin is so attracted to you, I imagine.”

  “And not my sparkling personality?”

  Josh laughed, and that helped to ease some of the tension. “That too, I guess. You know that Kevin is alpha material, right?”

  Briony nodded. “And so do you, which is why you’re always so twitchy around him.”

  Josh ignored that. Briony had guessed he might. “It’s probably why you’re attracted to him. It’s certainly why Carol is. Annoyingly, she’s a powerful enough female to need an alpha.”

  Briony paused. “You really think that’s all attraction is, Josh? Just a bunch of random pheromones?”

  “I think it has a part to play,” Josh replied, and edged closer to her. “I know that right now you’re giving off more than most. You never did say how you came to rule Palisor.”

  “What?” That seemed to come out of nowhere. “My biological father turned out to be the king of that place, and I’m the only blood heir left.”

  “Then perhaps this new situation is Palisor’s reaction to that.”

  “What? What do you mean?” Briony demanded.

  “In history, the first task of all royal families was to continue their bloodline through marriage and producing children.” Josh looked thoughtful. “How much more important would that be in a place of magic like Palisor, where that bloodline might be the key to real power?”

  “So you’re saying that I’ve got a whole kingdom trying to play matchmaker for me?” Briony asked. It sounded impossible, but then, so much of her life did.

  Josh shrugged. “I can’t deny what I smell. It even explains why werewolves would be so attracted to you. After all, we’re driven by scent.” Josh paused. “It might be a good idea for you to go home to your inn tonight, Briony. There are too many wolves, and men here for it to be safe for you.”