Bloodlust - Helen Harper Page 0,43

and getting on the bad side of a bunch of wealthy Russians didn’t strike me as a particularly responsible thing to do.

“That’s not going to work, Alex. I need an alternative that’s going to let me source it legitimately.”

“We don’t have much time,” he began.

I exploded. “I know we don’t have much fucking time! But I’m not going to start causing more problems than I’m solving. Not this time. Find someone who can help.”

The expression on his face was strained. “Okay. I’ll go to the bookshop. Maybe they can suggest something.”

“Go.”

He nodded and took off down the street. I clenched my jaw. Helping the poverty-stricken mages avoid losing face almost seemed like a pointless task in the wake of Staines’ bloody assassination. If we could get hold of some palladium, and if Balud’s research was correct, then we might just have a shot at beating Endor. It was going to take all of us working as a team to manage it; I couldn’t keep pulling the lone wolf stunts.

But a large part of my role was to keep the three groups happy so that they could actually collaborate effectively as equals. Revealing the mages’ lack of money, inadvertently or otherwise, wouldn’t do that. Assuming Alex found a way to obtain some palladium without breaking the law, I was in a position to travel to Russia straight away. A flight to Moscow wouldn’t last more than a couple of hours. Even better, a portal would be instantaneous. Factor in the journey to the mines, and whatever it took to get someone to just give me some palladium for free, and it couldn’t take more than twenty-four hours. If it did, then I’d just have to give in to what was probably inevitable and get the Fae and the Brethren to stump up the cash after all. I nodded to myself. It was a compromise. An image of Staines’ battered body filled my head. I’d get vengeance for him one way or another. We might not have been friends, but that didn’t mean he had deserved to end like that. Not on my watch and not in my home.

Several of the shifters came out just then, carefully carrying a thick roll of carpet. Max and Larkin were following. They must have cast an Illusion spell so they could get Staines’ corpse out without any humans noticing. Then the Arch-Mage exited with Corrigan, who lifted his head and stared at me, anguish lining his face.

“Where were you?”

“At the bookshop. I was late getting here to meet him.”

“Deliberately?” he snarled, with a sudden flash of irate emotion.

“Um…” I was confused, but equally trying to tread gently.

“Because he pissed you off yesterday. Were you deliberately late?”

I shook my head, suddenly understanding. “No. Honestly, no. Slim found something important about Endor that he thought would help. I was only gone for twenty-five minutes. It must have happened so quickly.”

Tension seeped out of every pore of Corrigan’s body. “I’m going to kill him.” He said it quietly. In a way, that was scarier than if he’d been shouting.

I thought of Staines’ last words, about proving to Corrigan that he didn’t need me and just nodded. It wasn’t as if I’d been a hell of a lot of use up till now.

“We’ll get some people to clean up your flat,” the Arch-Mage said.

I didn’t react. I wasn’t going to live there ever again. “We’ve got four and a half days until he shows up at Loch Ness,” I said instead. Deciding not to lie outright, I continued on. “I have a lead on something that might help us defeat him. Instead of meeting this afternoon, we should start working on getting as many people up there as possible. We’ll need to make sure we don’t scare him off, but have enough troops on the ground to take him on.”

“Do you need some help? I can spare a few people.”

I shook my head at the Arch-Mage. “No. I may be out of contact until later tomorrow though.”

Thankfully he didn’t probe any further. He still seemed dazed from the scene of carnage just a few feet away.

“Can you get in touch with the Summer Queen and let her know what’s happened? And tell her to contact the kelpies?”

“I’ll do that,” he agreed.

Corrigan was watching me. “Where will you stay?”

I avoided looking him directly in the eyes. “I’ll crash at the bookshop. There’s already a camp bed set up there for Aubrey.”

“What if he shows up again?”

There was no need to