Changeling (18 page)

‘What can I do, Lucien? If he’s as powerful as you have said, and he knows that I am here, surely it is just a matter of time before he gets to me.’

‘We had hoped that we could keep you hidden from him until you were stronger and more prepared. He knows that if he can get at you before you have full control over your powers he will have a greater chance of destroying you. He’s already tried once, and I believe that the failure of his two assassins to eliminate you will mean that he will move forward his plans for the Ring of Amon in an attempt to distract me and those who work for me long enough so that he can get to you.
You
are the creature he fears most. If he can kill you he believes that he will be able to carry out his plans unchecked.’

‘Don’t worry, Trey,’ Tom said. ‘Lucien and I are not about to let that evil bastard get his talons into you.’

Lucien nodded. ‘We have places where you will be safe and people that can look out for you while you are there. Once we can put an end to his plans regarding the ring, we will find a more permanent solution.’

‘Why can’t I help you and Tom?’ Trey asked.

‘It’s simply too dangerous,’ Lucien replied, shaking his head. ‘We need to stop him using the ring, but you are not sufficiently in control of your powers at this time. I simply cannot allow you to be placed in such jeopardy right now.’

‘Lucien’s right,’ Tom said. ‘You’ll get your chance to help us in the future, if that is what you want to do. And by God, I hope that it is, because you are going to be one huge bloody handful for anybody to cope with, so you are. But right now we need to get you safe and get this ring business sorted out.’

Lucien nodded and took a deep breath, everything now settled in his mind. When he next spoke to the Irishman it was in a brisk and businesslike manner.

‘Tom, would you please go and ask Alexa to join us? I’d like her to accompany Trey to the safe house.’ He turned to Trey. ‘Alexa will remain with you for the duration of your stay. She is an incredibly adept sorceress and will be a great asset to ensuring your safety.’

Trey’s first reaction was to tell Lucien that he really didn’t think he needed a girl to look after him, but, in truth, he was extremely relieved to hear that Alexa was going to be with him if he was forced to go into hiding. He was certain that Lucien would ensure that he and Alexa were well provided for, and as soon as he and Tom had sorted out this matter with the ring he would send for them again.

‘Where are you sending me?’ he asked. ‘And how long do you think I might need to be there?’

Lucien considered the question. ‘I have a house outside New Jersey. We will arrange for a private jet to take you and Alexa there, where you will be cared for by one of our people. She is completely trustworthy and has been with us for a very long time. She’ll also be delighted to have house guests to spoil. I shouldn’t think that it will be necessary for you to be there for more than two or three months. Tom or I will visit whenever we are able.’

‘Are you going to war, Lucien?’

‘No,’ Lucien replied, ‘not yet. But I fear that the time will come in the not-too-distant future.’

Tom rushed in, calling for Lucien. The vampire rose to his feet at the same time as Trey, who had been sitting reading on the settee. One look at the scarred Irishman’s face was enough to make Trey’s stomach roll over sickeningly. He glanced between the vampire and the other man, wondering what could have happened to make Tom look so scared.

‘What’s happened, Tom?’ Lucien asked.

‘It’s Alexa. She was seen going into the research library to pull up some information on the Ring of Amon,’ Tom said, his face ashen and etched with concern. ‘She was keen to look up a particular reference to it in a book on demon lore that we recently acquired. Anyway, one of our people went in there a short while later to see if she wanted a drink. Her research materials, pens and pad were all neatly laid out on the table, along with a number of books, but Alexa was gone. She went in the door, but never came out.’

Trey looked over to Lucien, who was now standing in the centre of the room and seemed unable to move.

Tom reached out and handed Lucien a scrap of paper. The message was handwritten in an ornate, flowing style. Trey could see the note as Lucien held it up to read the words neatly penned on its surface. One look at the flowing script, and he instinctively knew that it had been written in blood; the bright red living ink had turned a coppery brown where it had dried on the white paper. The message was simple:

Trey could see that the bottom of the note was signed with a large letter C. He frowned at the perversity of the small ‘
x
’ that had been added after this, as if the note Caliban was sending to his brother was a simple reminder to pick up the shopping or the laundry.

Lucien screwed the paper into his fist and stared ahead into the distance. His eyes blazed with the same ferocity that Trey had witnessed during their session in the squash courts, and the muscles in his jaw worked away at the side of his face as if he was chewing at some invisible piece of food.

‘He’s got her, hasn’t he?’ Trey said eventually.

Lucien nodded, but would not meet the boy’s eyes.

‘Do we know where has he taken her?’ Lucien asked.

‘Holland,’ Tom said. ‘We ran a tracing spell as soon as we found she was gone. They made no effort to try to block it, so they must want us to know exactly where she is and that she is still alive. They’re still on the move with her, and they look as if they are heading in the direction of Amsterdam. Martin has phoned ahead to get a jet fuelled and ready at City Airport. We can leave as soon as you give us the nod, Lucien.’

Lucien looked down at the crumpled paper in his hand, his brow creasing as though seeing it for the first time. He looked back at Tom, and gave him a nod. ‘Tell Martin that we’ll be there in thirty minutes. Tom, I want you to call our people in Holland. Get them to ensure that we don’t have any trouble getting through quickly at the other end.’

‘Already done it. We have a man at Schiphol airport whom we’ve used before. We won’t have any problems there.’

The Irishman’s eyes were flinty now, and Trey caught a glimpse of the hellraising, ne’er-do-well youth that he had described himself as.

Lucien was still staring ahead, his mind in overdrive as he considered the options and possible outcomes. Trey could tell from the way he kept furrowing his brow that he did not consider any of them to be good.

‘Do we have a full travel kit ready?’ he asked.

‘Everything will be downstairs in ten minutes,’ Tom replied.

‘Good. Then we should go.’ He started to walk out of the room, followed by Tom.

‘What about me?’ Trey said, starting to follow them.

Lucien turned and fixed Trey with a look. ‘You’re not coming, Trey – for all the reasons that we discussed earlier about my brother’s intentions as far as you are concerned. Besides, you are not in a fit state to go anywhere right now. I’ll have someone come up and take you to the airport and from there you will go on to New Jersey. The plan for you is still the same.’

‘But the note. It says—’

‘I am brutally aware of what the note says, Trey. But do you really think that I am capable of making the trade suggested by my brother? That I will take you there to him so that he can butcher you
and
Alexa in front of me? My brother’s soul – if indeed he still has one – might be a moral vacuum, but mine is not. I am not willing to sacrifice one innocent life for another, even if that other is my daughter’s. If you believe that I am capable of such a thing, perhaps you are not the person that I thought you to be.’

A sudden storm of fury rose up within Trey. He rose up to his full height and met the vampire’s stare. ‘I am not a child, Lucien. You told me that yourself. You can’t tell me in one breath that I have to grow up and accept the knowledge of what I have become, and then treat me like a baby in the next.’

‘Trey, listen—’

‘No,
you
listen to me! Recently you asked me to trust you with my life. I had no reason to do so, but something about you and the things you said made me do it. You
saved
my life, Lucien. You repaid my trust in you and I am truly grateful for that. Now I’m asking
you
to trust
me
; trust me with Alexa’s life, because if Caliban gets even the slightest idea that you have turned up without me, she’s dead. You told me earlier that it’s Alexa’s spells that have been helping me stay out of Caliban’s radar. So if anything happens to her, I’m as good as dead anyway.’ He swallowed, the noise sounding ridiculously loud in his ears. ‘So you might as well
use
me to help give Alexa,
and me
, the best chance of getting through this in one piece.’ He raised his eyebrows questioningly. It was impossible for him to maintain eye contact with the vampire any longer, and a big part of him wanted to back down, bend to the will of that stare and apologize for his outburst. Instead he looked down at the carpet for respite, before continuing in a smaller voice: ‘I’ll keep out of your way and do exactly what you or Tom tells me to do, but you should take me with you if you want to stand any chance of getting her back.’

Lucien stared at him and slowly shook his head.

Tom gave a nervous cough from behind him. ‘He’s got a point, Lucien. If we leave him behind, he’s in danger. If we take him with us, he’s in danger, but we have it within our power to protect him. And as he says, he might be the only way of getting her back alive. It’s his call, Lucien, and you have to respect his right to make it.’

Lucien stood there like a great granite statue. Time seemed to stretch out – an invisible elastic, pulling the tension in the room taut along with it. It was time they didn’t have, and Trey was aware of this.

Tom leaned in close and said in a low voice, ‘You’ve already lost Alexa’s mother to that evil creature. Don’t lose your daughter too. I’ll take responsibility for the boy’s well-being and make sure that he is not put in too much danger. And besides,’ he said, his stony face close to Lucien’s, ‘I seem to remember a certain vampire being held up by the throat and wondering whether he was about to get his face gnawed off by that boy standing over there. He’s tough – just like his father, by all accounts. And if it comes to it, I’m sure that he’d be able to fight his way out of a corner.’

‘He’s injured, Tom.’

‘He’s on the mend, Lucien. He heals a hell of a lot faster than you do and, like I said, I’ll make sure he’s not put in any danger.’

At this Lucien flicked a glance towards Tom before returning his gaze to Trey.

‘You are to do everything that Tom tells you to,
without question
. Do you understand?’

Trey nodded in rhythm with his hammering heart. ‘Thank you, Lucien.’

‘You might want to reconsider that thank-you once you see what it is we are about to face. Pack some clothes in a rucksack – we’re leaving in twenty minutes.’

Lucien left in the elevator, leaving Tom alone with Trey. The older man gave him the briefest of smiles and a nod of the head that told Trey everything he needed to know.

‘I’m pretty scared, Tom,’ Trey said, returning the smile.

‘Good. Then you’ll probably survive,’ Tom replied. ‘Now get your arse in gear – we don’t have much time.’

The black BMW pulled out of the garage and sped up the Aspen Way, heading for the A1020. The giant, hulking shape of the Canary Wharf building loomed into sight through Trey’s window. Its white warning beacon pulsating at the tower’s apex made him think of the dangers ahead, and while he had very little idea of what they might face when they got to Holland, he was sure of one thing: it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

A man that Trey hadn’t seen around the building before was driving; Lucien sat beside him in the passenger seat. Tom and Trey were in the back, Tom tapping at the keyboard of a laptop and barking instructions into a Bluetooth headset to someone at the airport in Holland.

Tom took a call on his phone. He listened intently to the person on the other end of the line before thanking them and ending the call.

‘We’ve found her,’ Tom said. ‘They appear to be holding her at a location just outside of the city. She’s alive.’

Lucien nodded his head, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

‘We’ll have the address in no time. We have everyone working to keep on top of this situation, Lucien. Caliban’s people are making no attempt to block our attempts to trace her, so if they move her we’ll know about it.’

Before they left in the car, Trey had followed Tom downstairs and through the office complex before finally entering a door set in the wall next to the meeting rooms that Alexa had neglected to point out during her tour of that floor. Trey found himself in a medium-sized room that was dominated by a huge, cage-like structure; its walls and ceiling made of metal mesh through which the contents of the cage could clearly be made out. It was an arsenal. Weapons of every description were arranged in rows of locked gun racks, and Trey stared at the armaments, gadgets and gizmos arranged within the cage, most of which he hadn’t the slightest clue as to what they were or what they might be used for. The door to the cage was open, and a giant of a man filled the void where it should have been. His huge red beard looked as though it had not been trimmed in years, and his hair stuck out from his head in all directions. His eyes were a dull grey, like the sea moments before a storm, and every inch of exposed flesh from his chin downwards was covered in intricate and colourful tattoos.

‘Hjelldid,’ Tom said, with a nod of his head in the giant’s direction.

‘Tom,’ the man grunted back, handing him a large black backpack and a smaller holdall before grunting something indecipherable and turning his back on them to lock the door again.

Tom quickly checked the contents of the backpack and zipped it up, satisfied. The huge guardian of the armoury finished securing the door and turned to hand Tom three passports, each of which was briefly opened to check the details before being placed in the smaller bag.