Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,74

was indeed what had happened, then why hadn’t she bothered coming herself? She’d taken the time to come through on her own to deal with John. And, if it was the case that she was responsible for both monsters, then I was still unclear about the reasons for why she was hell-bent on causing such havoc.

Obviously, she felt that her business was as yet unfinished. Had John had something that she wanted? Information or maybe some kind of object to do with the Draco Wyr? If so, then he’d died rather than give it up, meaning it must be important. But then perhaps she’d achieved what she’d wanted when she killed him and now had just left the portal hanging open, in that careless and disdainful manner that otherworlders sometimes displayed. I discarded that idea as soon almost as I’d thought of it, however. I might not know that much about portals, and might never have entered one myself or know the mechanics of how to create one, but I was aware that it took power to maintain one, which is why it was so unusual that the portal on the beach was still there. Even as a so-called demi-god, Iabartu would find a strain to leave it usable.

There were so many things that just didn’t add up. I tried to avoid thinking about Craw’s assertion that it was my fault that John had died because it just hurt too much. I already was uncomfortably aware of the sick feeling of guilt in the pit of my stomach that, if I could have shifted, then I might have saved Thomson from dying and Lucy from getting hurt. Which led me on, of course, to Alex’s revelations. I wasn’t a shifter, but was I actually a human at all? It seemed that whichever direction my thoughts took, I was confronted by horrible implications and terrible scenarios.

My eyes stung with the threat of tears and I swallowed hard. If I was going to get to the bottom of all this, then crying like a little girl was not going to help. Being strong and calm would. I rubbed at my eyes with my cuff and squared my shoulders, focusing instead on how to allay any suspicions that might be forming in Trevathorn. An elephant had escaped from the local zoo, perhaps? Except the nearest zoo was about 120 miles away so that was probably rather unrealistic. Ummm…

Why didn’t you shift?

Corrigan’s growl in my head startled me so much that I almost tripped over the log that caught the ispolin earlier. He couldn’t have gotten that close to use his Voice that quickly, surely? Staines had only called him twenty minutes ago. God, just how powerful was he? As well as being stunned into silence by the revelation that his Voice could carry hundreds of miles, I didn’t have any answers for him that made sense so I just kept quiet.

Answer me.

I sighed inwardly. Everyone wanted answers and there were just none to be had. Or at least none that could be shared without more violence. Instead of feeling angry, I just felt tired. I should probably think of a way to reply to him before he used compulsion though.

Are you trying to suggest that it was my fault that this happened, my Lord? If I hadn’t been there it would have been even worse. It wasn’t me who decided that only two guards were going to be a good idea.

Silence. I didn’t feel proud of myself for trying to shift the blame onto someone else, but at least I’d managed to deflect him for the time being.

Eventually he answered. That was a mistake. It won’t happen again. There was unmistakable regret in his Voice that gave me a twinge of guilt.

So I guess none of us are completely infallible then, I sent back quietly.

I don’t suppose we are. He sighed mentally. I’ll be at the keep in a few hours, so let me know if you need any help with damage control in the village.

I wondered just how in the hell I was supposed to manage that when I couldn’t contact him by Voice and he wasn’t exactly on speed dial. He seemed to realize that, however, and rattled off a phone number that I could call him on. Fine. There was one more thing that I did need to know as well though.

How is Lucy?

Corrigan might not be at the keep yet, but I had no doubt that Staines was keeping