Inhuman Heritage (19 page)

The wind brushed against the back of my head making me turn to look as Marie fell into line with her brother. LeBron looked nervous being so high up and I wondered if he got vertigo. His face was turning a shade of green that almost matched the siblings.

“Where are we meant to take them? We were supposed to be hunting for food,” Marie whined. She was holding LeBron so that he wouldn’t fall but not as close as Jacque held me. I could tell she disliked having any kind of contact with a human.

“We’ll take them home and figure out what to do when we get there,” Jacque barked swooping over the top of some trees. Home meant the abandoned church where no doubt the rest of their little family were waiting, some of whom really didn’t like me. Not because they actually had a problem with me personally but because I was what they called a sorceress and they’d had some bad experiences with them in the past, it kind of colored their whole world view. Blame the many for the works of the few, that kind of thing.

“Leantes won’t like this,” Marie said in a chiding tone but Jacque ignored her in favor of steering an accurate course and not dropping me or Sorin. Sorin was shaking a little against my hands, I didn’t know if he was tired, scared, cold or all three. Once there was some distance between us and the wolves, when we were once again safely on the ground, I was going to make sure that the kid got some proper rest. I meant comfy blanket, warm glass of milk and cookies, the whole shebang.

The church came into view on the horizon. It had no roof as the slate had been taken, probably back in the time of Henry VIII and the dissolution of the monasteries. It was crumbling slightly from the top, smashed brick lay scattered in the grass around the walls and an entire section was missing from the southeast corner. The second floor was largely intact with torn drapes of purple hanging from various points. There had been some pews last time I had been there but they were mostly gone now, dismantled I suspected for the huge fire that now graced the middle of the room. I’d had no idea that gargoyles like these liked to cook their food. The most common variety of gargoyles were carrion eaters, much smaller in size and uniformly gray in color. I’d seen a documentary about them on the Discovery Channel. They didn’t have nearly the amount of intelligence that Jacque, Marie, Leantes and even Gruesome showed. Gruesome was actually named Laverne but he was so big and hulking that I’d given him my own name. He was actually the first of them that I had met. I’d been looking around the cathedral for clues in an older case of missing children when I’d stumbled across the bones from cows they’d eaten. He’d not liked me touching their leftovers and had liked me even less when I’d used magic to throw him the distance of what amounted to the length of a tennis court using magic. We’d not gotten on much better since then.

Jacque landed in the empty room and expertly released Sorin’s vice-like grip from around his neck handing him to me while he searched for something that LeBron could be laid upon. Marie landed and there was the sound of the flap of another set of wings as someone else touched down. Leantes set down across from us, close to the alter and he stomped across the floor.

“What is going on here?” he demanded. Marie draped LeBron over a single intact pew that Jacque had dragged from out of the shadows.

“They were in trouble,” Jacque said in an attempt to defend us. I lowered Sorin to the floor and walked forward so that Leantes got a good look at me.

“Your people saved my life, Leantes.”

Leantes looked me up and down, I thought he looked like he was trying to recall who I was but from the look on his face, I knew he knew exactly who I was.

“You bring trouble to our door, sorceress?”

“Not intentionally, they were just in the right place at the right time. My friend is injured and cannot walk. I will not ask more of you than to allow us to stay here until I can get someone out here to take us back to town.”

“You have until the others return from hunting, I will not have you here when the sun rises,” he snarled, wrapped his wings around him like a cloak and stomped off into the shadows under the second floor. I searched my pockets for my mobile phone, tucked Sorin up next to LeBron, taking off my coat to drape around him. He yawned, closing his eyes as LeBron stroked his head soothingly.

“He’s being really brave,” he said admiringly.

“So are you. I’ll get us out of here.”

I took the steps up to the second floor and settled sitting with my feet dangling through a gap in the railing. I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed. It rang and rang and rang. It took five minutes before a sleepy voice answered.

“This had better be good,” came a sleepy Irish accented voice. I didn’t know if Wraith was actually Irish or whether he had just faked the accent so long it was second nature.

“Wraith, it’s Cassandra, I need a favor.”

“Cassa babe. You’re not drunk again are you?”

“No. I need help and you still drive that van right?” There was quiet on the end of the line for a minute. I wondered if he was debating whether or not to help me and how bad it would be for him if he turned me down.

“Yeah I still have it. You need me to come pick you up someplace? Why don’t you call your boyfriend?”

“Wraith, I don’t have a boyfriend right now. I won’t go into how awkward a position you put me in when you called him the other night.”

“I didn’t know, Cassa. Give me ten minutes. Where are you?”

“The old church outside of town, y’know the one.” I could almost feel him shudder through the phone.

“I’ll be there.”

“Don’t let me down, Wraith.” I hung up the phone and sat swinging my legs back and forth staring at the fire burning in the middle of the ground floor. Marie had curled up in front of it with what looked like a book. I scanned the floor for Jacque and found him slipping down to sit next to me. I jumped a little.

“Someone is coming to get us, we’ll be out of your hair soon enough. The good thing about you flying us here is that at least they don’t have a scent trail to follow.”

“That’s probably for the best. Did I hear you say you’re not with your boyfriend anymore?” he asked timidly. I tried to hide my smile.

“Yeah we broke up. I went out with someone else for a little while but well, that’s not worked out either really. I’ve got issues.”

“Oh yeah,” he said rubbing a hand along his arm, he appeared to be nervous.

“Yup, you can probably tell Leantes not to worry about me. Sorceresses are human.”

Jacque blinked at me, studied my serious face for a moment and then did something I’d not expected, he sniffed me. A deep, clear snort just above my head.

“You do smell a little different,” he said and I cocked an eyebrow at him, his face flushed again and he looked at his hand. “I didn’t mean in a bad way. You smell kind of sweet, it’s very attractive.”

“You go round sniffing every girl you come across in a barn being attacked by wolves?”

“Whenever the chance comes along,” he said and he grinned at me. He had a lot of teeth. I heard the clattering of stones as Leantes paced out from underneath us, stared up at us and then paced back under the second floor where we couldn’t see him. He did it a couple more times before I leaned into Jacque conspiratorially.

“What is his deal?”

“He doesn’t want you here when dawn hits.”

“Dawn’s not for,” I checked the clock on my phone, “three or four hours yet.”

“We are helpless when the dawn hits.”

I looked at him and practically threw myself at him, balancing my hands on his arms and looking into his face.

“You’re shitting me,” I said and I was excited for the first time all night, “you actually turn to stone during the sunlight hours.”

“Yes,” he said and placing his clawed hands delicately on my shoulders moved me back so that I was sitting on my heels on the upper floor.

“What’s it like? I mean do you still feel stuff?”

“Not really, it’s like being asleep for me, you know you do it but it feels like a brief moment of time. I don’t dream.”

“You don’t dream?”

“Nope.”

“That’s kind of sad,” I said moving to sit back on my butt and wrap my arms around my knees. “I have some of the best dreams but considering the ones I’ve been having lately a trade might be tempting.”

“Hey at least your sleepy time doesn’t make you terminally breakable.”

“That just proves everything has its ups and downs.”

The sound of an engine backfiring alerted us to an approaching vehicle. Wraith owned an old Volkswagen bus that his parents had bought in the sixties and he’d inherited it. It was painted in psychedelic colors, swirls of bright yellow, green and pink, with a big red peace sign on the sliding side door. I pulled myself up to my feet.

“I’d make yourself scarce. We’ll be out of your hair in ten.” I started down the stairs. With her book Marie slunk away into the shadows and with a last smile at me Jacque did as well. I didn’t want Wraith to know about them, it was safer for gargoyles and Wraith was such a chicken he might have run off at the sight of them. I walked to the entrance and looked out. The bus chugged to a stop in the dirt circle just out of the front and Wraith leaned out of the driver’s window. His ratty blonde dreads fell over his shoulders and around an eyebrow piercing was a puckered redness showing that it was new.

“You’re going to have to get out, I’m gonna need some help.” I pulled open the sliding side door and the light came on. The back of the van was a mass of throws, bean bags and pillows, it looked comfortable enough. The engine cut off and Wraith got out. He wore the same white vest and cargo shorts he always wore, I’m sure he had more than one set of each but his wardrobe would not scream diversity to anyone.

“It’s more than just you?” Wraith asked looking around as if he expected someone to walk out behind me.

“Yes,” I said turning to go back into the church. I wasn’t in the habit of handing Wraith any more information that he needed. He wouldn’t know what to do with it. He followed me into the church and slowed, stopping dead when he recognized LeBron from the raid. He grabbed my arm.

“Cassa, he’s a pig.”

I placed my hand around his wrist and squeezed. Wraith’s eyes got big and I think he got the hint that he’d said something tactless.

“He’s my friend, Wraith, and he’s injured because he was getting my back.”

“God, I’m sorry. You vouch for him, that’s enough for me.” I let him go and he rubbed at his wrist. “Jeez, what steroids have you been pumping, girl?”

“Just help him get to the van,” I said and picked up Sorin nestling him against my chest. He sleepily rolled his head into the crook of my neck and snuffled. If he would just sleep through the rest of this night, things might be easier on the little guy. LeBron was lying back against the pillows in the back of the van as I slid into the front seat trying not to rock Sorin with my movements. Wraith got behind the wheel.

“So, where are we going?”

Chapter Sixteen

I could count how many times Virginia had allowed Wraith into her house on one hand and still have fingers to spare. She looked confused when we helped LeBron into her upstairs parlor laying him down on the couch. Incarra and Anton were hovering from the living room. It looked like they had been talked into a game of scrabble and my return provided a little much needed excitement. Once he was settled and Sorin was tucked in to sleep on the couch opposite him, Wraith trundled back out to his van and it chugged away back down the drive. I leaned against the frame of the arch into the living room and looked at my two friends as they automatically resumed their seats. Virginia was upstairs performing what healing magic she could on LeBron.

“Hey guys. How’s it going?”

“That woman,” Incarra said, “is seriously...” Incarra struggled to find a word but gave up. “I mean she sorta buzzes with this energy, she needs to learn there are other beverages than tea and she’s wicked tight when it comes to scrabble words.”

“You didn’t try to use bling-bling did you? I don’t care if they’ve now put it in the dictionary, I refuse to recognize it as an actual word.”

“That’s not what I mean but she’s more than just a little old lady.”

“She’s a witch.”

“You mean a proper one not one of those skinny posers in filmy black clothes.”

“I don’t think Virginia has worn black more than once when she lost her husband.” Anton was very silent, flipping a blank tile between his fingers and carefully not looking at either of us.

“I can feel it coming off her in waves,” said Incarra rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “You do too but yours comes and goes. Like it’s fluctuating.”

“I always thought you were a sensitive. I could tell by the way you would stare at Nancy.” Incarra bounced in her seat and pointed an accusing finger at me.

“Ha! I knew it. What is she? Hell beast? Animagus?”

“If we must bastardize Harry Potter then yes, but it wasn’t her choice and she kinda got stuck.” Incarra gave me big eyes as she took that in. I looked back over my shoulder as a whisper of movement caught my attention. Virginia was standing at the top of the stairs, her grey eyes focused intently on my profile.

“Can you guys hang tight for just a little bit longer?” They both nodded. Incarra understood I thought that I had things to deal with but Anton just looked like he wanted me away. I sighed and started walking up the stairs towards her. She said nothing turning to take the next set of stairs up to her attic. I followed. Once in the attic she crossed to her chair. Sitting down, she rubbed at her joints and I knew her arthritis was bothering her again. It always did when she felt stressed. I found another chair pulling it over so that we sat with her small tea table between us. Virginia raised her face to look at me finally.